to take us to be his inheritance and can we think our selves poore that have God to our inheritance 'T was the honour of the tribe of Levi that they had no portion among their brethren but that the Lord was their portion Every beleeving person is of Gods * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5.3 Clergie and portion and therefore if God be his God his lot is fallen in a faire ground he hath a goodly heritage O the humilitie of our blessed God that can denominate us to be his inheritance that have nothing in us good but what is from him O the happinesse of that soule that can truly say The Lord is my portion for that thou art Gods doth nothing benefit God but that God is thine is all in all to thee This is the onely abiding this the abounding portion If any one think not this enough Let his portion be in this life Psal 17.14 And then when times of losing come it shall be said of him This is the man that took not God to his portion X. GOD being Lord over all even of the earth and its fulnesse hath an universall soveraigntie over all an independent royaltie in all things so that whatsoever man doth injoy is by his dispensation Now if among men estates are incident to such forfeits as their Land-lords may by Law deprive them and reenter why may not the supreame Lord of heaven and earth deprive us of that which is his when we break our Covenants with him and run into so many forseits and arrearages And if in such a case none dare aske a Prince or Landlord why he doth it so here neither dare any one open his mouth against his Maker seeing he may doe what he please with his own To him that hath that is useth well what he hath shall more be given and from him that hath not i. e. useth not or abuseth what he hath shall it be taken away O Lord what I have is thine by right and dominion thine by my forfeit and self-deprivation mine onely by usurpation at most by dispensation I blesse thy mercy for the forbearance of thy right so long I blesse thy justice for depriving me of that right at last The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord. XI GOD as he is the author of all the good wee partake so he hath a hand in all the evill we suffer His holinesse denies him to be a cause of the evill of sinne his justice forceth him to inflict the evill of punishment Is there any evill in the Citie and the Lord hath not done it This Job knew when he saith The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away not onely the Chaldeans and Sabeans though they were the theeves what they did was by Gods permission Who gave Jacob for a spoyle and Israel to the robbers did not the Lord God concurreth in every evill action though not in the evill of the action The substance of it may be of God when the obliquitie is of man God hath an over-ruling hand over all mens wills yet those wills may have contrary motions of their owne Foolish men are they then who being afflicted either look upon the evill and not the cause or if the cause either the wrong or more immediate causes as misfortune malice of man want of discretion I will therefore look not so much on my affliction as on my afflicter and that not subordinate but supreame so shall I finde my suffering to be the more sweet as proceeding from a gracious father whose hand as it casts down will raise up as it woundeth will heale Thus in looking up to him the agent he will look down on me the patient and either remove the evill from me or make mee able to beare it XII GOd as he made man good so hee made every thing good for man Man was made uncapable of corruption and they of alteration If man had not fallen from God his Maker they had not fallen from man their owner Thus by one man sinne death corruption alteration came into the world It is sinne which separateth God from man man from man soule from body man from his goods his goods from himselfe Sinne corrupteth not onely the soule but the body not onely the body but the earth whence he came and the heavens whither he should goe It breedeth a moth in our garments a worme in our provision rust in our silver it exposeth all to the theese It setteth not only God at enmity against man but man with man yea beast with beast yea and makes one man be a beast a Wolfe a Lyon to another So that if wee lose the creature it is because wee have made it lose its primitive nature Now there 's no other way to gain this permanency either to our selves or others but by righteousnesse as this corruptibilitie came by unrighteousnesse But on the earth dwelleth not this righteousnesse nor durablenesse but we look for a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth not onely righteousnesse but perpetuitie and never fading happinesse XIII THe Lesson of the creatures corruptibilitie is that which the word of God doth still dictate and which this world doth daily demonstrate Wee have the volume of holy Writ and the large volume of the creatures to teach us this The Word says All is vanitie The world sheweth wherein this vanitie lyes Wee see men daily taken from their goods and their goods from them Wee see corruptions and alteration of things and yet wee dreame of such an unalterable condition in all things which may reach to eternitie Imaginary continuance of things is in our heads when reall changes are before our eyes Every creature groanes out this and yet wee heare not its voyce Wee build Castles in the ayre and upon the sandy foundation of our owne speculations promise to our selves an estate above the reach of enemies whereas the next storme that riseth doth not onely discover the weaknesse but overthrow the foundation of this imaginary fabrique The foole in the Gospel well so called hugg'd himselfe with this conceit that he had enough laid up for many dayes and therefore bid his soule take its repose whereas the next night his soule was taken from him Had his soule not been taken his goods might God though he had not destroyed his corn in the field yet he could have sent devourers into his barns yea if he had still brought his corne into his mouth he could have sent leanenesse into his soule Teach me O Lord to know not onely my selfe but all flesh to bee as grasse and all things to be vanity so shall I use the world as if Iused it not so shall I enjoy my goods and not bee enjoyed by them Thus the longer I possesse my riches the more I shall know them and the lesse shall be not onely my affection to them but my affiance in them XIV WEre Riches ever tokens of Gods love
there 's a viall reserved for him in the hands of God which he must drinke to the bottome O Lord I know that to flesh and blood this cup is bitter even as the waters of Marah cast in the sweet wood of thy grace or else let this cup passe from me XXXIV LIght is sown for the righteous Psal 97.11 and joy for the upright in heart saies David Now that which is sown doth not presently appeare but may lie covered with clods and a long time is required before harvest come in the mean-while the husband-man waiteth patiently O then though I see no light yet I may expect it for t is not cast away but sown and being sown is not buried but covered there 's hope it will sprout again What then though I have sown in tears I shall reap in joy and though I have gone out weeping I shall bring my sheaves with me though all I have be sown nay cast on the waters yet shall it return after many dayes I will be content with all sorts of weather so my harvest be seasonable and fruitfull let my heavinesse be all the night yet joy shall come in the morning and this I need not doubt of for though it be midnight now shall I therefore conclude the Sun will never rise or that it is not neerer its rising XXXV WHerefore doth a living man complain Lam. 3.39 40. a man for the punishment of his sin In which words the Spirit of God coucheth a three-fold argument against murmuring under our sufferings First we are men creatures and what impudence is it for such to complain against their Creator who may place us in what condition he pleases Secondly we are sinners so that what wee suffer is our demerit and wages and what madnesse is it to accuse the just Judge of Heaven and Earth with injustice Thirdly we are living men and therefore God hath punished us lesse then other sinners as wee are on this side the grave and hell and what unthankfulnesse is it to repine against that hand that hath punished us in mercy These reasons well applyed may stop the mouth of any murmurer for as thou art a man God hath power over thee as a Potter over his vessel to make thee for honour or dishonour As thou art a sinner t is Gods mercy thou art not consumed for sin being finished bringeth forth death As thou art yet alive so praise the Lord and murmure not against him who might as justly have turned thee into hell as he hath turned thee out of thy house and might have deprived thee of thy life as hee hath of thy livelihood XXXVI VVHy art thou cast downe O my soule and why art thou disquieted within mee Still trust in God Here David reproves and directs himselfe The spirit of a man is a tender part and yet a strong part As there is nothing more sensible and apt to be cast down so nothing is more strong being upheld by divine power For the spirit of a man will sustaine its infirmities but a wounded spirit who can beare Extremities and pressures may for a while deject disquiet it but falth will raise it up and quiet it So much unbeliefe as is in it so much weakness and so much faith as is in it so much boldnesse Why are yee fearfull Oyee of little faith says our Saviour there wee see the excesse of feare arose from the defect of faith So farre as my heart is evill it is unbelieving and as farre as 't is unbelieving it departs from God and as farre as it departs from God it departs from true peace and comfort To prevent this Davids own counsell must be mine Still trust in God Distrust in God is the cause of all disquietnesse in our selves XXXVII IN the world yee shall have tribulation Ioh. 16.33 but be of good comfort I have overcome the world saith Christ The world as it is a Christians prison and tormentor so it is also his captive Yet notwithstanding the world be overcome it opposeth though it be crucified it strugleth The world is the way and therefore may be foule as well as faire We are strangers here and therefore are spectacles to the men of this world the objects not onely of their admiration but indignation That dogge which fawnes on the inmate may not only bark at but bite a stranger Our happinesse is that as we suffer here we conquer here yea we conquer whiles we suffer and doe overcome whiles we are overcome Yea wee are more then conquerers through him that loved us and this is our victory that overcometh the world even our faith XXXVIII VVHen beleevers are pensive and sad by reason of outward crosses they must examine and try the object of their faith and the grounds of their beleeving For usually sorrow is there excessive where faith is little and too much sorrow for outward crosses doth commonly argue too much confidence in outward goods Above all persons a true beleever may alwayes rejoyce and then most when it goes worst with him For his God is the God of consolation the fruit of Gods Spirit is joy unspeakable and glorious it is one of Christs offices to comfort his people The Ordinances yeeld strong consolation by the communion of Saints their joy is made more full and the fulnesse of joy they are assured of hereafter T is Satan therefore onely that makes these consolations of the Almighty seeme light for the Devill in the overthrowing the outward estate aymes chiefly to impaire the inward In the spoyling of Jobs goods it was his endeavour to rob him of his comfort and make him curse God XXXIX IT is observable that Paul though he had as much as any to glory of yet he gloried in nothing so much 2 Cor. 12.5 as in his infirmities reproaches necessities distresses for Christs sake in his bonds and chaines for Jesus Surely there was something in those bonds that made them so precious it was the name of Jesus which like a precious Jewel fixed in these bonds that did so endeare them to him Yet wee see what was Pauls glory is others shame when some glory in their wealth others in their power others in their wisedome none glory in the Lord such glory in their shame But how much glory then have the persecutors conferred on Gods people Surely did they know that to be honour which they confer on them as shame they would dispose of it elswhere Why art thou then ashamed O my soule of that which others did glory Know that to these bonds is a crowne annexed and if with the Apostle thou art layd in them there is laid up a crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge hath not onely given Paul but will give to thee and to every one that loves his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 XL. A Sin poverty 't is hard to keep under our nature and bridle our mouths from expressions of discontent and murmuring so it is
I shall not onely know but know all things what I had by study inspection I may now have by inspiration and thus I need not complain for want of bookes Besides having deprived me of books had they left me a Peripatetick not having a chamber so well furnished as Elisha's was at Shunem having in it a bed stoole table or candlestick their mercy would then have lessened my misery yet herein my comfort is that I shall lie no worse then my master did who had not whereon to lay his head and the remembrance of this my conformity to my Master and Saviour shall make any lodging as easie as a bed of Downe though it seeme as hard as Jacobs pillowes of stone Yet besides these losses of bed and bookes there had been some mercy in their crueltie if they had not deprived mee of house and means but in this my God is my comfort for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof so that though I am dispossessed of one place the worlds widenesse and the Lords goodnesse can yeeld me another But if I have no further lot ordained for me on earth heaven also is the Lords and there are many mansions and I am assured he will provide a place for me there CV AS we ought not desire afflictions and losses before they come so we ought to pray that they may be sanctified unto us when they come upon us Now they are never truly sanctified to us till we see God in them and our selves altered by them Many men that are non-proficients under the word of God become well learned being a while under his rod. They who onely heard of God before with the eare will now see him with the eye As for my own part I ingenuously confesse that what I have preached to others I could never truly practise till now I have delivered to others many speculations of the use of afflictions of the life of faith in them now I find in my self experimentally true what I taught I am with the Apostle made able to comfort others which are in any trouble by the same comfort wherewith I am comforted of God 2 Cor. 1.4 In briefe I find these afflictions so far sanctified to me that I can say w th David It is good for me to be afflicted yea can say with him that said * Themistocles Periis sem nisi perussem I had been undone unlesse I had been undone True it is what Luther sayes is required to make a good Divine viz. Meditation Prayer Tentation CVI. VVHen I read of the beginning and end of Job I know not whether to admire the mutable insufficiency of the creature or the immutable sufficiency of the Creator We all know our beginnings but our ends are hid from us The Lord maketh rich and poore he setteth up on high and he casteth down The estate of Job at first consisted of seven thousand sheep and three thousand Camels five hundred yoke of Oxen and five hundred shee Asses Besides his own issue was seven sons and three daughters Here was an estate seeming impossible to begained by one man but more impossible being lost to be repaired in one mans time Yet we read that the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more then his beginning for his former substance was at the last doubled unto him in all things save onely his children they also as some think Conra Dieteric ex Aug. were multiplied so many being in heaven with the Lord as were on earth with him This should also bee my judgement were not my doubt that which was their fathers that they might at last curse the Lord in their hearts O Lord thou hast brought mee as low as Job and thou canst advance me as high as thou didst him I beleeve what thy Prophet told Amaziah that the Lord could give him much more then this However if thou dost not increase my substance with Job increase and continue in me the patience of Job CVII IT hath been the usuall proceeding of Beleevers for the acting of their faith on some difficult thing to reflect on some former act wherein the Lord demonstrated his power Thus did Abraham confirme himselfe in the faith of Isaacs resurrection because he was by the power of God raised to him from a barren wombe as a figure Heb. 11.29 And Job from the resurrection of his body argues the possibilitie of the raising of his estate Iob 19.25.26 27. Now there be two demonstrations of Gods power which being applyed by any beleever may keepe him from casting away his confidence in the greatest extremitie or distresse and povertie The first is Gods removing his sinne from him for there 's more evill and obliquitie in sinne then can be in any affliction or judgement for sinne and therefore why may not the same God remove the one that removed the other The second is the resurrection of their bodies at the last day which if they truly beleeve they cannot doubt of the raising their estates now Ezek. 37 That God that can make dry scattered bones reunite can make scattered goods come together he that shall raise the bodies of his people from the dust can also raise the poore and needie from the dunghill and set them with Princes That God who is a God pardoning iniquitie sinne will he so gracious as to remove mountains of trouble For he that can make the cause to cease can make the effect to discontinue CVIII TOo many there are that make hast to be rich I feare more hast then good speed and have nested themselves on high with more celeritie then sinceritie T is the end which most ayme at not regarding the means of attaining it they care not how bad the meanes be so the end be great Yet is it not unusuall to see men decline faster then they were raised and poverty to come upon them with more hast then their wealth did The higher the rise is the swifter and more precipitate is the fall If riches be my end I will choose the most right and plainest wayes and use the fairest and most lawfull meanes and if my corruptions drive mee on too fast I will slack my pace by faith He that beleeveth doth not make hast thus though I have waited the longer for an estate it shall stay the longer with me CIX OUr Saviour having sent forth his Apostles unprovided to see too without staffe scrippe money demands of them at their returne what they wanted and they said nothing A strange answer considering the length of their journey the diversitie of their hearers and the contrarietie of their new doctrine to flesh and bloud yet that they should be accommodated with every thing No question but they were truly welcome to many and it might appear so by their entertainment yet such a worke as they went about might want a supply of many things Christ told them That the labourer was worthy of his hire but many might thinke then as now in our dayes preaching to be scarce worth the hearing much lesse paying Surely in this worke of Christ Christ was with them in a more speciall manner His fulnesse was enough to supply all their wants at least to make them content in all estates not murmure at their pay so their worke went on Lord as thou wast with them so thou hast promised to be with thine till the end of th e world Goe thou forth therefore with me thy servant who is to goe forth emptie as they and then at my return their answer to thee shall be mine to others I want nothing CX VVicked men are the rod of Gods anger Isa 10.5 and the staffe of his indignation so call'd by the Prophet where 't is worth the observing where 't is said the staffe i.e. the power in their hand is not their indignation but Gods Now the anger of God is but for a moment theirs is implacable and if therefore they are Gods rod wee must not so much look to the instrument as to the hand that useth it They cannot give a blow more if God lay downe the rod and when the childe is chastised and amended the rod is cast into the fire The rod of the wicked may fall on the lot of the righteous but it shall not rest there Judgement may begin at Gods house but it shall be but a little while Isa 10.25 the indignation of God shall cease in ungodly mens destruction ISA. 33.1 WOe to thee that spoylest and thou wast not spoyled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoyle thou shalt be spoyled and when thou shalt make an end to deale treacherously they shall deale treacherously with thee FINIS
for good they would afflict mans heart w th as much sorrow in lofing as they doe affect it with joy in possessing But we see that sometimes God gives some their wealth as Ebud did the present to Eglm with a dagger to destroy them or as God gave Israel a King in his wrath or as Saul gave David his daughter to ensnare him This God doth out of justice to satiate their exorbitant desires till furfeit of the creature comming thereby causeth some greater evill He puts this knife in these mad mens hands whereby they will destroy themselves and others Of such David sayes Their table shall be made a snare So that if we are brought to low commons we are delivered from the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken and wee are escaped If thy wealth then proceed out of Gods love it shall be as durable as comfortable but if it be given thee out of wrath it will either be an occasion of misery and vexation for the present or of thy ruine at the last The wealth of the ungodly is either a snare to entangle their soules or else a thiese to steale them away XV. COuld the creatures vexation be separated from its substance it would bee a desirable object but experience shewes that to be impossible We see men vex and trouble themselves to procure wealth thinking then to be eased of trouble when they are laden with substance whereas in stead of their desired content they find abundance of unexpected cares Looke upon a worldling either sleeping or waking standing or going at home or abroad and you shall find that his distracted countenance his needlesse fears his jealous imaginations his corroding cares to get more and keep what he hath doe plainly demonstrate this Now God is pleased there should be this medley to embitter these dugges to cause these prickles about these Roses to intermingle our joyes with sorrowes and interlace our commodities with discommodities that we may bee weaned from them and seek for such treasures above which are not onely without mixture but without measure even at the right hand of God for evermore XVI MAn being a reasonable creature doth not in any thing shew himselfe more unreasonable then in this to thinke that any thing in the world hath that in it which is proportionable to the capacitie of his soule This appeares in those persons whose desires seeming for a while to be satiated with severall objects supposing that this or that thing being obtained will terminate their appetites and settle their roving soules with a sweet repose as if there could be a nil ultra to seek for whereas indeed in the prosecution of more the soule loseth what it hath and thinking to gain more abundance is deprived of the true use and comfort of what it enjoyes For the hope of what such a one may have swallowes up the comfort of what he hath So vast and capacious a thing is the soul the sooner shall the barren womo be satisfied yea sooner wil the mouth of hell be filled then it be satisfied with the greatest confluence of outward things and therefore sooner will the Sunne be weary and stand still in its course then it in the prosecution of earthly objects The reason hereof is because the world yeelds nothing proportionable to the soules nature its nature is divine infinite immortall but things of this life are earthly finite perishing Now that which is earthly savours earthly things and is satisfied with them but that which is spiritual savours spiritual things and can bee onely satisfied with them You may fill a Chest with money but not with wisdome knowledge grace And so may the soul be filled with knowledge and grace but not with money for the one hath dimensions the other none so that in one the thing contained may equalize the thing containing but not in the other That then which satisfies the soule is onely that which created it redeemed it So that after all the rovings and disquisitions of the mind it can finde no true rest till it pitch on God in Christ Like Noahs Dove it being sent about the earth finding no place to light on it must returne to the place from whence it came Thou O Lord who didst endue my soule with such capacious faculties fill them with they selfe for after its manifold wandring in the circle of this world it find no adequate satisfactory object but in thee its center in whom all fulnesse dwels and who art not onely above all and in all but All in All. XVII GEN. 33.19 wee read strange sentence dropping out of Esau's mouth I have enough Afterward vers 13. Jacob is in the same tune I have enough or as some translations have it I have all i.e. both temporall and spirituall Out of the fulnesse of the heart the mouth speaketh and out of the fulnesse of pride of heart might Esau say thus in that he scorned to be beholding to Jacob or else out of a fulnesse of modesty in that he would not seem to receive any of his Hee that could in an outward forme even with teares say Hast thou not a blessing for me might rest unsatisfied with temporall blessings His rough hands were not onely tenacious of what he had but as fit to receive more hold more Lautent Anat. The Anatomists observe one speciall Artery to passe from the heart to the tongue to shew that Nature would have the tongue to be the hearts Oratour to express the same thing moving in the same motion Yet we see where the heart is not right the tongue is not uniforme this Artery suffers a distortion Many men with Esau say I have enough but it is either because they know not how to get more or use more Give me O Lord the blessings of Jacob the blessings of thy right hand and then my voyce shall be the voyce of Jacob I have enough yea I have all XVIII FOolish men that spend their labour for that which satisfieth not and expend their money for that which is not bread that let loose their thoughts which like Noabs Raven returne not againe but rove about after the carrion of this world It was the complaint of Jeremiah that they who are cloathed with skarlet lie on the dunghill and and how may wee complain of them who are highly deseended yet doe seeke onely things below 'T is true that every man is placed here on the earth as a treasurer of his own soule the godly lay up a good foundation the wicked also even in treasuring up the world doe treasure up wrath and oppression How abundantly then soever my estate comes in I will never bid my soul be at rest till it finde it in Christ nor will I ever think I have much laid up for many dayes unlesse it be in heaven with the Ancient of dayes XIX LVke 10. wee read of the respect that two sisters bore to Christ the one to his person the other to his