that there never was a Love like the Love of Christ comparable to that Love he exprest in giving himself an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for us Now not to part with our Lusts for him who parted with Life it self for us not to put our selves to some smart and pain in crucifying the Lusts of the Flesh in denying our Self-will and taking up the Cross and following him who hath to amazement denied himself and taken upon him the greatest of Sufferings for our sakes this would be an instance of the unworthiest and vilest ingratitude and the greatest unkindness imaginable done to Christ. This will be more grievous to him than all his Sufferings from the Iews and Romans it being a frustration and disappointment of him in the great design which we shewed he had in submitting to those Sufferings But a Soul truly sensible of the Love of Christ in giving himself for us can think nothing too dear and precious to part with for him cannot look upon his Commands of Self-denial and Self-Resignation as grievous and unsufferable I will adde that the particular circumstances of Christ's last Sufferings have a special force to the enabling a Christian against such and such particular sins as prevail most among men and which are the fruitfullest sprouts and branches that grow out of that cursed stock of Self-will As 1. Self-esteem An over-dear valuing a man's self his fame and regard in the world a seeking the praise and respects of men and being disturbed at their disrespects Now of how great efficacy must it needs be to the subduing this corruption to consider him who endured such contradictions of sinners against himself and how he was exercised with all manner of scorns and derisions all sorts or abuses reproaches injuries and indignities that the wit and malice of his enemies could devise to render him base and despicable before men He was called a blasphemer a deceiver an enemy to Caesar or traiterous person a seditious stirrer up of the people and all this about the time of his last Passion as before he was called a Samaritan or Heretick and Beelzebub And as an expression of their contempt they spit upon his Face that sacred Face which the glorious Angels delighted to look upon which Abraham and many Kings and Prophets and righteous persons did desire to see What indignity like to this Then they smote him on the Face adding father contempt accompanied with pain to the disgrace of having his Face besmeared with their filthy spittle And withall they covered his Face saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who it is that smote thee Thus contumeliously did they use the Anointed of the Lord and as in the last passage they mockt at his Prophetical so did they afterwards at his Kingly Office putting on him a gorgeous Robe platting Thorns into the form of a Crown and putting it on his head and a Reed for a Sceptre into his hand and then bowing the knee before him saying Hail King of the Iews These are some few instances of the many dishonours and disgraceful indignities done unto him I might adde that the kind of Death he suffered was as ignominious as painful the death of slaves and vile offenders and to adde to the disgrace they crucifie him between two Thieves Yea even when he was bleeding upon the Cross they would not forbear to deride and revile him expressing their scorn both in words was gestures Nor were they that did thus the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rude rabble onely but the chief Priests Scribes and Elders Now consider this O Christian how it fared with Christ thy great Lord and Master what affronts what dishonours and reproaches he endured and how unconcernedly and undisturbedly he bare them how he despised the shame how little he cared either for the applause or contempt of the world how he chose rather to be reputed and dealt with as the most abject and basest of men than to be glorious in the world and to shine in its vain honours And will not this prevail with thee to set thy self against thy Pride and Self-esteem Surely it is not possible that thou who art infinitely beneath thy blessed Saviour shouldest set a high value on thy self and affect the praises of men or be greatly concerned at the contemptuous behaviour and affronts of the world when thou seriously considerest how Christ was used reproached contemned and despised and with what calmness and sedateness of spirit he bore it The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord Matth. x. 24. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord ver 25. 2. As for that lust of Self-pleasing the love of ease and pleasure an averseness to endure hardships a studious care to gratifie the cravings of our fleshly appetites is there not enough in the consideration of Christ crucified to cure also this distemper of the Soul Did not Christ out of dear compassion towards men leave his Fathers house where was all fulness and all joy and humbled himself to become man and took upon him the form of a servant He endured cold and heat hunger and thirst wearisome labours long fastings and faintness he bare our griefs and carried our sorrows and as hath been shewn endured inexpressibly worse griefs and sorrows than any of ours Now how can we consider this and be any longer dearly affected to our Carkasses sollicitous for the pleasing of our appetites and pampering our Bodies curious about Meats and Drinks and studious for that which is most delicious and grateful to the flesh And as for the impure pleasures of the world no consideration can be more powerful to extinguish in us all desires to them than that of Christ upon the Cross. 3. Revenge and Hatred Who can harbour these Lusts in his Soul that considers that Christ laid down his life for his enemies And that almost the last words he spake on the Cross amidst that shame and torment they put him to were a prayer for them Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke xxiii 34. 4. Covetousness or the Love of Money Who that considers that though Christ was rich yet he became poor that we through his poverty might be rich and that it was this lust that betrayed the Lord of Life to his merciless enemies can find it difficult to mortifie and subdue his inclinations to it To conclude this To the serious Christian the word of the Cross of Christ is sharper than any two-edged sword to the destroying all our evil and corrupt affections But I fear that it is not considered as it ought by most of us Christians generally consider the Sufferings of Christ onely as they were designed to expiate sin and in reference to what he hath done for them without them not to the extirpation of sin not to the crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts And hence it is that
impetuously carried out to all iniquity with greediness so far as it is judged safe and that such or such a sin is not prejudicial to another more beloved sin or to any worldly advantage or Interest The Soul wherein Self-will is set up saith with proud Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey him This is another abomination of desolation standing in the holy place erected in the Soul which should be holy to the Lord. Self-will it is an inward and mysterious Antichrist opposing and exalting it self above God it sits as God in the heart that inward temple of God shewing it self that it is God It is an Anti-God and will be obeyed in all things It sets up its threshold by God's threshold and its posts by God's posts In the Scripture the pleasing of our own will is frequently put in the general for all sin In Ecclesiastes xi 9. going on in sinful and wicked courses is exprest by walking in the way of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes In Ieremy mens wickedness is often stiled walking after the imagination of their own heart And in Isaiah lviij 13. doing of sinful actions is called doing thine own ways and finding thine own pleasure In Numbers xv 39. sinning against God is called seeking after thine own heart and thine own eyes And as Self-will is the Root of all Sin so is it likewise the Root of Misery both here and hereafter It being the root of the former it must needs be so of the latter also Sin and Misery being inseparable And as we shewed that the Happiness of Heaven as to the main consists in being transformed into the Divine Image or the having but one Will with God so by consequence the Hellish State doth chiefly consist in a perfect contrariety to God and the Soul's opposition to the Divine Will Therefore is the Devil a most miserable creature because he is made up of Self-will because the Will of God is most grievous to him he sets himself against it and goes about the world solliciting and endeavouring to draw others from complying with it And those with whom he prevails he by so doing makes them as miserable as himself If there were no Self-will there would be no Hell according to that of St. Bernard Cesset voluntas propria infernus non erit Let Self-will cease and there will be no Hell To suppose Self-Resignation in a damned and miserable Soul and Self-will in an happy and glorified one is to suppose the greatest contradictions and inconsistences There can be nothing of Self-Resignation in Hell and nothing of Self-will in Heaven In speaking to the fourth aud fifth Considerations it hath been shewed that it is impossible that that Soul should be miserable which is sincerely and intirely resigned to the Will of God and on the contrary that that Soul cannot but be miserable that wills contrary to him and therefore I shall proceed no farther upon this Argument CHAP. XI That the Love of Christ in dying for Sinners makes the Duty of Self-Resignation most highly reasonable and lays the greatest obligation upon us thereunto XI IN the eleventh place The Love of Christ in dying for us is most powerful to oblige Christians to this great Duty of Self-Resignation Christ's giving himself a Sacrifice and Offering to God in a way of atonement and expiation layeth the strongest engagement on Christians to offer up themselves as a Sacrifice to him in a way of Resignation and Obedience This improvement the Apostle makes of this Consideration 2 Cor. v. 14 15. The Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them What could he more express Should not live unto themselves not please themselves gratifie their own Self-will and Lusts but please Christ do his will give him the preheminence in all things Not seek our own but the things which are Iesus Christs Not minde and pursue our own ease profit and honour chiefly and above all but live to his honour and glory and prefer his Interest before our own The like inference the same Apostle makes in 1 Cor. vi 20. Ye are bought with a price viz. with the precious bloud of Iesus Christ therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's And what is the best way of glorifying God hath been shewed in the third Chapter The Death of Christ is the great manifestation of his Love by the bitterness of his Cup by the depth of his Sorrows and Sufferings for us we may make an Estimate of the exceeding height of his dear affection Behold and see was there any Sorrow like unto his Sorrow and therefore was there any Love like unto his Love Greater love hath no man than this said Christ himself that a man lay down his life for his friends but he laid down his life for us when Enemies Out of Love he left Heaven and the bosom of his Father and the glorious attendance of the Angels and humbled himself to a mean low and afflicted life upon Earth He who was rich became poor that we through his poverty might be rich Such was the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ. Out of Love he died he who was Lord of all the Lord of Glory the brightness of God's Glory and the express Image of his Person he humbled himself to death even the death of the Cross a death of the greatest pain and shame And notwithstanding the pains and sorrows both inward and outward which he felt were inexpressibly great yet after his Resurrection he would have gone into the Garden again gone over his Agony again and drunk that bitter Cup which made his Soul so sorrowful He would have gone to Calvary and been crucified again he would have poured out his life to death again and again if it had so pleased God had it been the will of his Father that he should repeat his Sorrows and Sufferings for the Redemption of man for he knew nothing but to be obedient and perfectly resigned to the Will of his Father This is that Love of Christ which passeth knowledge Love beyond compare Love beyond expressions or conceptions and can there be a more natural a more powerful engagement to Self-Resignation than such a Love Did Christ so freely give himself for thee and shouldest not thou most heartily and willingly give up thy self to him Was all of Christ turned into a Sacrifice for thee and shouldest not thou make an intire Oblation of thy self without any reserve to him It 's not only Ingenuity but Iustice wholly to live to him that died for thee and bought thee with so dear a price Did he suffer such unexpressible pains for us and shall not we be willing to endure some pain and smart which at first will be in denying the sollicitations of our fleshly mind
manu Coeli excepto timore Coeli was an antient Maxim of the Hebrew Doctors implying that God himself cannot absolve and free men from the religious fear and observance of himself and a most obedient regard to his holy Will What the Apostle saith of Love that it is an old and yet a new Commandment is true also of this high and holy Commandment of Self-Resignation It is a new Commandment not as if it were first brought in by Christ as was said for men were never free to will their own wills to walk in the ways of their own hearts but it is new as the Commandment of Love is new in that it was enlivened and inforced anew by Christ had its power and virtue renewed and increased and the engagement to it heightned both by the Doctrin and Example of our Saviour Both tending to the advancement of Self-Resignation in a way beyond any Doctrin or Example of Life that ever appeared before or since in the world And therefore it is also the Law of the new Creation and by virtue thereof its Obligation is now doubled The Consideration of God as our second Creator mightily inforceth our engagement to this Duty For 1. The relation of the New-Creature is more noble and honourable In the second Creation the Image of God is repaired in the soul and man that was a disfigured and disordered thing by reason of his Apostasie and fall from God is restored now to that better and more excellent state As he is a New-Creature he partakes of the Spirit and is heavenly and spiritual Which is far more than having a natural Being by which as the Apostle speaks he is of the earth earthy 2. It is also a sweeter relation there is a most dear Love to be admired rather than to be express'd manifested herein 1 John iii. I. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God Abba Father comes more freely from the lips and heart of the New-Creature Such may draw near to God with a filial freedom and humble boldness 3. Besides it is a more advantageous relation For if children saith the Apostle then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. And the Inheritance they are heirs to is uncorruptible and undefiled reserved in the heavens for them such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard and the glory and advantages of which no heart can conceive Of which according to the abundant grace of the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ they are begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead 4. This new Creation impowers capacitates and enables us for this Duty These things might be largely insisted upon but thus much is briefly intimated that the Obligation to Self-Resignation may appear more from the notion of a New-Creature than from that of a Creature And to this purpose is that of the Apostle Eph. ii 10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works created unto intire obedience to the Will of God the Foundation and also the Sum and Abridgment whereof is Self-Resignation CHAP. II. That Self-Resignation is that which doth eminently difference a good man from the Devil and the wicked And that mere external Performances do not distinguish between the one and the other II. SElf-Resignation is that which doth eminently difference a good man from the Devil and the wicked The Angels that would not continue in Resignation that would have another will of their own that rended their wills from the will of God they are the evil and miserable Angels and still they are impetuously acted by a boisterous Self-Will and are impatient of having it checked Belial is the Devils name and that word signifies without Yoke and the Children of Belial are for a boundless lawless liberty they set themselves against the Lord and his Christ saying Let us break their bands insunder and cast away their cords from us They altogether break the yoke and burst the bonds are impatient of restraint Wicked men in whose hearts the Apostate Spirit worketh are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of disobedience they are not for intire subjection to the Divine Will though wise good sure and perfect but addicted to their own will which is childish vain perverse and boisterous and all for gratifying their many foolish and hurtful desires and longings They are all for walking after the imagination and stubbornness of their own hearts a phrase often used in the Prophesie of Ieremiah and for fulfilling the wills of the flesh and of the mind Whereas the children of God are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children of obedience 1 Pet. i. 14. not conformed to their former lusts but to the will of God as it was said of David Acts xiii 22,36 And here it is fit to advertise and admonish Christians that it is a piece of Mystery-Wickedness a policy of Satan in all ages to set up and magnifie some pieces of Outward Religion and put such a value upon them as from them to denominate men Good and Religious and so men are reputed Saints and the Children of God by such and such Opinions and Notions such Expressions such Observances such things as may be performed by very bad men So that on these different Forms are founded different Parties and Sects and each magnifies its own mode and thereupon men are tempted and invited to associate and link themselves with one or other because hereby they shall be reputed Religious and apologized for by those of that rank and way and all others shall be unsainted and decried But in the mean while the main thing is little minded that which doth intrinsecally and eminently difference the good from the wicked and that is Self-Resignation that which our Saviour makes the essential Character of a true Christian Self-Denial Now this Doctrin of denying and resigning our selves the Doctrin of the inward Cross of being dead to self-desires and self-interest is very unacceptable and grievous to the Pharisaical and formal Christians they would fain live to themselves please themselves being lovers of their own selves covetous proud incontinent fierce heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God as the Apostle speaks of some who hereby denied the Power of Godliness whereof yet they had a Form Now it is a good service done to Religion to endeavour both by Life and Doctrin to rescue it from these abuses from being thought to consist in such outward shews and to place the Kingdom of God where it should be It is for the interest of the pure and undefiled Religion and for the advancement of real Holiness to lessen the credit of such appearances viz. such an habit tone form of words mere Outward performances to lessen the repute of any sort of Mock-Holiness a mere outward Profession and Observance of only the externals of Religion be they
and cherisheth his deadly Enemy in his bosom it cannot be well with him in whom Selfness the morbifick Matter and root of all Distempers abounds Self-desires and Lusts are the diseases of the Soul they are the corrupt humours that disturb the inward man and till these be purged out there can be no health no soundness no joy no rest Inordinate Self-love breeds perpetual tumults and disorders in our breasts for having many appetites to be satisfied so long as any of them are crost or not fully pleased as they can never be they must necessarily be very troublesome but a sweet Calm and composure of Soul enters in with Self-Resignation and it must needs so do as it removes the cause of trouble and disquiet There is indeed pain in the first tearing off our Wills from those things they cleaved and stuck fast to As it is said of the Milch-kine that drew the Ark their Calves being shut up they went lowing all the way that they went to Beth-shemesh so it is with Souls in their passage to Resignation they then parting with what was dear to them fondly beloved and eagerly pursued by them with that which was their life and nature But they are no sooner arrived at this state but the bitterness of death is past the bitterness of the death of the Old corrupt man the hour of travel is over and they remember no more the anguish for joy that the New man created after the Image of God is born within them They have now broken through the difficulties in the way are got out of the Wilderness over Iordan and their feet are on the holy Land the Land of righteousness and rest The ways of Religion are not as before grievous but paths of peace and pleasantness flowry and sweet rosie and soft ways Religion is now become their temper constitution and life and sin is grievous strange and hard to them 'T is not so troublesome to them to be patient as to be passionate to forgive as to revenge Humility is more easie to them than Pride Sobriety than Intemperance Chastity and Purity are more sweet than Lust and Sensuality and the like may be said of the other Graces and Vertues It is no longer well with them than while they are true to Resignation when at any time they fail here they are sensible they take great hurt they find themselves immediately ill at ease To the Self-resigning Soul Christ's Commandments are so far from being grievous that the inward voice of such a Soul is I delight to do thy Will O my God the Divine Will is its just satisfaction its full content joy and pleasure And as the jugum legis the yoke of Christ's Law so the jugum crucis the yoke of his Cross is not grievous to the Self-resigned He saith with his Saviour the Cup which my Father giveth me to drink shall I not drink it Let God feed him with bitterness and wormwood yet his meditation of him is sweet his spirit is not imbittered against the Divine Providence he is still and silent before the Lord He possesseth his Soul with patience and often also with joyfulness It is sweet and pleasant to a Christian to find himself willing to be without that which he desired and to suffer that which he was most averse to and goes most against the hair when after his requests made known to God by Prayer and Supplication and making known his troubles and difficulties to others with desire of their help and other due means used it appears to be the Will of God that he should have such trialls and continue in such circumstances How sweet is such a temper of Patience to the Soul 't is far sweeter than the obtaining and enjoying of that we desire But as for the Unresigned his impatience and Self-willedness makes his Cup more bitter and his Cross whatever it is far heavier than it is in it self To such an one even the Grashopper is a burden and a light affliction intolerable He is sick for this or that as Ahab was for Naboth's Vineyard and will not be satisfied without it he is sowred with discontent and his spirit is embittered against Providence He would be carried through the world in a Sedan nor is he able to bear being jogged or disturbed in the way so distempered crazy and rotten is he I may in the close of this adde that Self-Resignation is the way to peace among men and that it is stiff Self-willedness which puts the world into Confusions and makes it so uncomfortable so unhabitable a place Men that are passionately carried out to please themselves are neither themselves at rest nor will they suffer others so to be These create differences heighten animosities blow the coals of strife are ready to set on fire the course of nature or the wheel of affairs and from the abounding of such comes complaining and crying in our Streets From this Self-will it is that we cannot sit down quietly under our own Vine and our own Fig-tree and from hence it is that the World is become a great Akeldama a Field of Bloud and a Vale of Tears Those that despise Government and speak evil of Dignities are such as are presumptuous and self-willed 2 Pet. 2. 10. They that make the times perillous are such as in the first place are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lovers of their own selves 2 Tim. 3. 1. CHAP. VI. That Self-Resignation is the way to true Liberty and Freedom of Spirit and the contrary to perfect Slavery and Thraldome VI. SElf-Resignation is the way to true liberty and freedom of spirit which confirms the former That which some call freedom and liberty namely to walk in the ways of their own heart and in the sight of their eyes is in truth straitness bondage and perfect slavery The Apostle Peter saith that of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage But he that lives to the pleasing his own will is overcome of Pride Envy Covetousness unruly Passions fleshly or spiritual Lusts and therefore is in bondage to them Wicked men are described as serving divers lusts and pleasures not one but many Lords and these such as to be under the power of whom is a most ignominious and shamefull bondage But if the Son make us free we shall be free indeed free with a true and excellent freedom Now he makes men free by delivering them from their Self-will By bringing them to will as his Father and he willeth By uniting their wills with those things that are intrinsecally immutably and indispensably holy things which are in their own nature good By enabling them to act conformably to the Idea of everlasting and unchangable righteousness and goodness But those that would have nothing unchangably good or evil to them that would live as they list in giving indulgence to the flesh and fulfilling it in the lusts thereof they affect such a kind of freedom as God
done and then especially when we are solicited by the Tempter within or without to sin Let us then say with holy David Thy vows are upon me O God I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments Neither hopes nor fears neither the terrours nor allurements of the world shall disswade me from a faithful obedience to them Vows prudently mannaged are of great use to secure us to Religion and this is the onely end of them To vow saith Cajetan is nothing else but to fix the mind and make it immoveable that it may not start back from the practice of Religion And as for those that are shye or slack thus to engage and devote themselves to God which I fear in most proceeds from a too dear affection to some sin or sins let them know that God's Vows are already upon them they are under the Obligation of the Baptismal Vow to renounce the Devil and all his works the vain pomp and glory of the world the covetous desires of the same and the carnal desires of the flesh so as not to follow nor be led by them So much is implied in being baptized in or into the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And besides those that have received the Lord's Supper have thereby virtually renewed their Vow in Baptism In this other Sacrament we make a Profession that we offer and present unto God our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a Holy and Lively Sacrifice to him Than which there is nothing more due or reasonable considering the great Love of God in giving his Son for us the great Love of our Saviour Christ in his Death and Sufferings represented in this Sacrament and the great Blessings procured for us by the Bloud of that spotless Lamb. So that all of us young or old have already bound our Souls with a Bond as to vow is described Numb xxx being under the engagement of either one or both these Sacramental Vows and therefore in exhorting you to oblige your selves by solemn Vows to the duties of Religion I do not advise you to a new thing but onely to repeat what you have already done and if you intend to stand to the Vows you have made what should deter you from reiterating them whilst you have need of them But always remember when you vow to the Lord to do it with a trust and faith in his power and all-sufficient Grace and with a distrust of your own natural ability to perform your Vows And when at any time you have failed in the performance of them be deeply humbled before God and renew your Engagements with a greater sense of your weakness and falseness of heart and be more watchful over your selves and let your falls make you more narrowly look to your feet for the time to come 5. Fasting is another means to be used for the mortification of the body of Sin It is of great consequence and necessary to the health of the inward man to keep under the body to humble chastise and bring it into due subjection This was the practice of St. Paul himself who had not such unruly passions and appetites to tame as we have Religious Fasting is of great use to the subduing of the Body to the Spirit and to the starving of corruptions by cutting off their provision as the ungovernable beast is made tame by taking away his provinder And there are a sort of Devils that will not go out without Fasting added to Prayer and other means but 't is most especially of force for the casting out the Vnclean Devil And according as we find we stand in more or less need of this remedy we should oftener or seldomer make use of it CHAP. V. Of the great power and efficacy of Faith in God Faith in his Power and Goodness V. FIfthly The next Direstion I shall give in order to subduin gour Wills to the Will of God is that of our Saviour Have Faith in God Mark xi 22. Have faith in his Power and Goodness this will adde life to our prayers this will animate and strengthen all our endeavours Take heed of doubting whether the Lord's hand be not shortned that it cannot save whether his ear be not heavy that it cannot hear or his bowels shut up that he is not ready to help Take heed of questioning whether thine own Will and selfish desires be not stronger than can be subdued of entertaining suspicious thoughts that after all thy endeavours to win the Spiritual Canaan there will be no arriving at that Land of Rest but that at last thou shalt die in the Wilderness that there is none or but little hope of overcoming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Giant-like mind as the expression is in Ecclesiasticus xxiii 4. and those sons of Anak that thou findest vigorous and strong in thee For by this thine unbelief or weakness of faith thou greatly dishonourest either the Power or Goodness of God who is able and as willing as able to save the Soul that trusteth in him And by this means will the Chariot-wheels of thy Soul be taken off thou wilt extreamly discourage and infeeble thy self and blunt the edge of those weapons wherewith thou art to encounter thy Spiritual Enemies If thy Soul be upright in thee if thou art sincere and hearty in imploring the aids of God's Grace and the assistances of his Spirit and hast faith to be healed and delivered from the Lusts that fight against thee thou shalt undoubtedly see the salvation of the Lord. He will teach thine hands to war and thy fingers to fight he will gird thee with strength and thou shalt be more than conquerour through Christ that loveth thee Though thou hast no might against that great company that cometh against thee against flesh and bloud principalities and powers yet if thou waitest on the Lord and art of good courage he will strengthen thine heart he will strengthen thee with strength in thy soul and through him thou shalt do valiantly and tread down thine enemies He that is in thee will be greater than they that are in the world viz. the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life Take heed therefore of all such reasonings suggestions and principles as tend to beget a despondency and fainting of Spirit but lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees To the Soul that believes all things are possible Let Faith say unto any mountain of difficulty be thou removed and it shall be done Who art thou O great mountain before this blessed Grace and in the exercise of it thou shalt become a plain Thy Self-will and Lusts are therefore strong because thy Faith is weak and thou in that regard makest but a faint resistance But if thou wert strong in the Lord and in the power of his might if thou didst resist stedfast in faith thou shouldest see thine Adversaries flye before thee
therefore we be not stronger if we are not better it is because we resist or at least neglect the Holy Spirit It is because we have not faith in God not because he is unwilling to help and assist us For what saith St. Iames chap. iv 5 6. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy such but giveth more grace He gives grace in such a measure as to overpower that spirit that lusteth in us So that for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundance of wickedness as the expression is Iames 1. 21. there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abundance of grace as the phrase is Rom. 5. 17. which the regenerate and believing Soul receiveth by Jesus Christ. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell that of his fulness all might receive even grace for grace And this grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Thus you see what abundant encouragement we have to have faith in God for the supplies of his Grace and Spirit and what reason we have to take heed of unbelief if ever we would master our sinful affections and bring our wills into compliance with the Will of God And there is a double unbelief we are to beware of as very hurtful to our Souls First An Unbelief in relation to the mercy of God for the pardon of Sin Secondly An Unbelief in relation to the power and goodness of God for the subduing of Sin Now it is much to be lamented that whereas the former sort of unbelief is much taken notice of and condemned in Sermons and Books the latter is but little mentioned But if the evil of this were no less clearly and powerfully represented than the evil of the other and men were as effectually warned to beware of this as of that Unbelief it would through the blessing of God be an excellent means to make more sincere strong and healthy Christians Whereas alas the spirits and lives of the generality of Professors do now too plainly declare that they had rather have sin pardoned than subdued that they had rather sin should not be imputed to them than destroyed in them But the compleat Faith is this in opposition to that twofold Unbelief First To believe that Christ came to make expiation for sin so that it shall be pardoned to those that do truly repent That is to those that being sensible of their sins and are affected with a godly sorrow for them and an holy hatred and abhorrence of them desire and purpose above all things to walk before God in newness of life Which conditions of pardon and non-imputation of sin are by too many either not at all or but slightly insisted on while they press the duty of recumbence and relying on Christs merits for Justification and Salvation Secondly To believe that as Christ came to make atonement for sin so he was manifested also for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And to procure grace for us whereby sin may have no more dominion over us But this part of faith I say is little urged in comparison of the other whereas it is of as great concernment to our eternal happiness to have Faith in the Power of Christ as to have Faith in his Bloud Nay as appears from what hath been said to have sin mortified and to be enabled to will after the Will of God is far more than to be meerly pardoned for willing otherwise than God doth will Now their defect in this latter part of Faith is a great cause of Christians continuing so low and weak lazy and faint in a sickly and even bed-rid condition and of their fancying that they honour and please God by complaining of their impotence and infirmities whereas the true way to please and honour him is confiding in his omnipotent grace to get up and be doing But I fear I may also adde another reason why most of those that will confess their sins and pray for grace and strength against them are still as impotent as if there were no grace or assistance promised namely their not being heartily desirous of grace as well as their want of faith in the promises of it Their unwillingness whatsoever they pretend to have some lust or other mortified and to be throughly purified Their secret fear of the searching and purging work of the Spirit and of that light and grace that would disquiet them and not let them alone in some sins to which they are fondly and tenderly devoted It was one of St. Austin's Confessions I when I was a young man begged of thee that thou wouldest indue me with the grace of Chastity and said Give me Chastity but not yet for I feared lest thou shouldest presently hear me and immediately heal me and I had rather satisfie lust than have it extinguished If this be thy case whosoever thou art that readest these lines if this be the state and temper of thy Soul then in thy complaining of weakness and that the sons of Zervia are too hard for thee and in thy praying for the assistance of God's grace against them thou dost no better than add sin to sin the sin of false dealing with God and wicked hypocrisie to that of Unbelief thy heart is not right with God and thou lyest unto him with thy tongue But to conclude this Let us take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of Unbelief and so we fall short of the Spiritual Canaan and entring into the rest of God as it befell the unbelieving Israelites who perished in the Wilderness and none of all that came out of Egypt entred into Canaan but Caleb and Ioshuah men of another Spirit and that followed God fully who were full of Faith and encouraged the people to believe and prosper And it is observable that Caleb asked for the mountainous Countrey where the Anakims dwelt and the Cities were great and fenced by the news of which the evil Spies dismayed Israel but Caleb gave proof of the strength of his Faith in freely chusing to expose himself to the hard and seemingly impossible service of gaining this Countrey and was rewarded with success answerable to so great a faith for we read that he drave out the three sons of Anak notwithstanding that it was commonly said Who can stand before the sons Anak He made it manifest that Faith could stand before them and overcome them And if we have Calebs Faith in the power and goodness of God in fighting with the Spiritual Anakims we may be most undoubtedly assured of Calebs success Let the Spiritual Israel therefore encourage themselves in the Lord their God and they may be certain that it shall be unto them according to their faith his grace shall be sufficient for them and when the enemy shall come in like a floud the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against them CHAP. VI. Of the
is another observable thing mentioned Heb. xi 27. He that had received the promises offered up his onely begotten Son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called Whom thou lovest That is very dearly and passionately as being the Son of their old age their onely Son and a Son of the promise These two go together tender and the onely one Prov. iv 3. The onely one and the choice one Cant. vi 9. To lose the onely Son is that which causeth bitter lamentation and the mourning for such a one is used to express the most passionate and doleful mourning Amos viii 10. Zech. xii 10. Ier. vi 26. And get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there Abraham himself must offer him he might not command his two servants to do it and they went no farther than till they came within sight of the place where he was to be offered The tender Father must take his onely Son whom he loved and bind him with his own hands upon the Altar and take the knife to slay him As his eyes must behold him bleeding and gasping and burning so must he be himself the Executioner And offer him there for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of This was the place where the Temple was to be built by Solomon the place of offering Sacrifices And it was three days journey from Abraham's habitation which might make the Command yet more grievous As often as in that journey he looked upon the Wood or Fire for burning the Sacrifice or the Knife that must do the Execution or the place where it was to be done which he saw afar off how could it be otherwise but that his eye must most deeply affect his heart It follows ver vi And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering and laid it upon Isaac his Son and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together What an affecting and heart-piercing sight was this And herein was Isaac a Figure of our Blessed Saviour who bare the wood of the Cross upon his Shoulders whereon he was to be offered up for a Sacrifice to God And it is hence to be concluded that Isaac was now no Child or weak Stripling in that he was able to travel with so great a burden such a quantity of wood as was sufficient to burn his body to ashes could be no small weight Iosephus makes Isaac to be now twenty five years old but an Hebrew Tradition about thirty and three If so and for what end should they feign it he was in this circumstance also a Figure of our Saviour who was offered up at about the same age Now Isaac being at this time grown up to a good age and strength it might make his Father the more unwilling to part with him and considerably added to the greatness of his Trial. And those words of Isaac which he spake in a strain of sweet innocence and simplicity v. 7. My Father behold the fire and the wood but where is the Lamb for a Burnt-offering they must needs cause a great colluctation within him and yerning of bowels No doubt Abraham's affections did strangely work now and he was pained at the very heart There is one thing more which we may take notice of in this Command of God it is said Offer him there for a Burnt-offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This kind of Offering was an Holocaust all of which was to be consumed by fire so that there was not the least Relick to remain of him This was the Command and was it not a most difficult one could there have been a sorer trial But behold the signal Resignation and Obedience of Abraham to the Will of God! He without the least delay or demurring betook himself to the performance of the divine pleasure It is said v. 3. that Abraham rose up early in the morning it is like the Command came secretly to him in a dream or vision of the night and at or before the first peep of day he addressed himself to obey it Thus he denied his natural and very great affection to his Son and gave a most illustrious proof that nothing was so dear to him nothing so powerful with him as the Will of God Wisdom kept him strong against his tender compassion towards his son saith the Author of the Book of Wisdom chap. x. 5. The completion of his Obedience is set forth in the ninth verse And Abraham built an Altar in the place which God told him of and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his Son and laid him on the Altar upon the wood By the way not onely Abraham but Isaac too was herein a rare example of Resignation He was doubtless as appears by what was said of his age and strength able to have resisted his Father now stricken in years but he expressed no reluctancy he quietly and meekly suffered himself to be bound and laid upon the Altar And herein again as in several other particulars was he a Figure of our Saviour who though he could have rescued himself from the power of the Jews and Romans yet permitted them to take and bind him to heap a many vile indignities upon him and at last to nail him to his Cross. And then it follows And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his Son This God accounted to him as if he had done it because he was fully purposed in his mind to do it and had it not been for God's interposition had performed his purpose Therefore the Scripture reports it as if he had actually offered up his Son Heb. xi 17. By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his onely begotten Son And James ii 21. Was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar And hereupon as it follows ver 23. he was called the friend of God He eminently approved him as such for this high act of obedience This is a title thrice given him in Scripture in this place in 2 Chron. xx 7. and Esay xli 8. and implied in Gen. xviii 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do Where Philo addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall I hide from Abraham my friend And by this Periphrasis the friend of God without any mention of his name is he described in the Alcoran the Turks Bible I will conclude this great Example of Resignation with that in Esay xli 2. who raised up the righteous man from the East and called him to his foot Abraham was sequacious and obeyed God in all things he had him at his call as the Faulconer hath a well man'd Hawk and calls her to his hand And shall not the Spiritual Seed of Abraham for so Christians are be sequacious and observant of every call of God though
that in Hebron too the very place where his Father was first anointed by the men of Iudah and seven years and an half after by the Tribes of Israel And now Absolom endeavours to confirm himself in his usurped dominion by the best arts of power and policy he could imagine He gains Achitophel to be of his side who was the King's Counsellor a man of that venerable esteem for his great wisdom that his Counsel is said to be as if a man had enquired at the Oracle of God Chap. xvi 23. He is busie in preparing a great Army against his Father the Conspiracy was strong and the people increased continually with Absolom which made him cry out as he did in the third Psalm ver 1 2. a Psalm penned upon this occasion Lord how are they increased that trouble me many are they that rise up against me many there be which say of my soul there is no help for him in God And that these many were not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philistims Moabites Amalakites Amonites and other Heathens but his own Subjects was a more afflicting trouble And that among these should be found Achitophel his Friend and Counsellor that his head and hand should be in all this this made it more afflicting still as he complaineth 55. 12. It was not an enemy that reproached me then I could have born it Neither was it he that hated me that did magnifie himself against me then would I have hid my self from him But it was thou a man mine equal my guide and my acquaintance we took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company And that the General he that headed the Army against him should be Amasa the son of his sister Abigail and therefore so near to him as that David saith of him that he was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh this was another aggravation of his affliction And lastly This made the affliction most sharp of all that he that was at the head of all that animated this rebellious body should be Absolom That the Son should thirst after the Fathers bloud that he which came forth of his bowels should seek his life as he complains Chap. xvi 11. And that he should be the son whom he loved most passionately even so passionately that after his three years absence from Court it is said Chap. xiii 39. That the soul of David longed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was consumed to go forth unto Absolom And then all this to befall him in his old age too and after he had by his valour and prudent conduct saved his people out of the hands of their enemies Put all these sad circumstances together and was not David in sore troubles and trials But how doth he behave and acquit himself herein Doth he quarrel with Providence and the instruments of his trouble Nothing less But his disposition and carriage was all composed of meekness and submission to the Will of God Being sensible of the eminent danger he was in he prudently provides for his security by removing from Ierusalem which he and his servants did with all speed lest Absolom should suddenly overtake them and thrust or push evil upon them as the word is For his enemies were most quick and active in their preparations against him which therefore he calls the stormy wind and tempest Psal. lv 8. Of his hasty fleeing he speaks Psal. lv 6 7. which refers to this occasion as appears by ver 14. where he cries Oh that I had wings like a dove for then would I flee away and be at rest Lo then would I wander far off and remain in the wilderness Selah I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest Being gotten out of the City in haste he and his Guard they tarry in a place that was far off v. 17. to refresh themselves not knowing whither to go or where to be at rest as he then told Ittai the Gittite who was come to him resolving to fare as he did v. 20. Having made a little pause here he passeth over the Brook Kidron ver 23. a Brook between the City and Mount Olivet the Countrey weeping with a loud voice at this sad Procession As also when they were going up Mount Olivet they went weeping as they went up every one covering his had after the manner of mourners ver 30. And in the midst of these hardships and sorrowful sympathizings of the people which could not but much affect his heart having given order to Zadok the Priest to return back to the City with the Ark of God which thus far accompanied him desiring that that Monument of God's Glory and Presence might not wander up and down with him in his desolate condition but be placed again in the City of God he thus expresseth the humble and quiet resignation of his spirit Ch. xv 25 26. If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it the Ark and his habitation Ierusalem the City of the great King but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do unto me as seemeth good unto him Though I be brought to excessive straits though I be deprived of all my glory in this my old age after all the good services I have done for Israel and Iudah yet here am I let him do as seemeth good to him not as seemeth good to me Thy will O Lord shall be my will thy pleasure I will rest satisfied with and acquiesce in Thou shalt chuse for me and to thy choice will I accommodate my self Be it so as thou wouldest have it to be O thou most holy and wise and the Lord of all who dost whatsoever pleaseth thee both in heaven and earth My heart is ready O God my heart is ready it is fixed and resolved to drink of that Cup which thou hast appointed me And his humble disposition of Soul discovered it self immediately after in his penitential behaviour already mentioned as he went up the Mount He wept as he went up and had his head covered and he went barefoot which were the most significant expressions of a great humiliation and submissness of spirit And this meek frame of Soul in reference to God's disposals did dispose him to a rare meekness and patience in reference to men There happened a little after he was past Mount Olivet a very provoking occasion For Shimei a Benjamite threw stones at him and his men and cast dust at them all along in the way and added to this indignity curses and revilings of the person of the King Abishai one of his three chief Commanders was so incensed at the horrid insolence of this dead dog as he called Shimei that he prays the King that he might go over to him and take off his head But David was so far from permitting this that he was more offended at Abishai's Zeal
he call them to such trials as are very difficult and ungrateful Let us walk in the steps of the faith and obedience of our Father Abraham in readily sacrificing our Isaac our delight and joy that sin which is most beloved the sin of our souls as the phrase is Micah vi 7. which seems to bring us most profit and most delight and pleasure By thus doing shall we be owned as the especial Friends and Favorites of God as Abraham was and receive the reward of such as he did CHAP. IX Of the Example of JOB IX SEecondly The next Example of Self-Resignation shall be that of upright and holy Iob And he will appear to be a most memorable and eminent one by these following Particulars First He was a Great man Great for Estate and Riches We read that he had seven thousand Sheep three thousand Camels five hundred yoke of Oxen five hundred She-Asses and very great store of Servants That he was the greatest of all the men of the East that is of Arabia which lay Eastward from the Land of Canaan He was great for Wisdom and by that means for Honour and Esteem of which there is a particular account Chap. xxix The aged men when they saw him arose and stood up ver 8. The Princes refrained talking and laid their hand upon their mouth the Nobles held their peace and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth ver 9 10. Such a reverence had they for him for the greatness of his Wisdom and excellent accomplishments that the car that heard him blessed him ver 11. All gave ear to him and waited and kept silence at his counsel After his words they spake not again his speeches dropped upon them and they waited for him as for the rain and opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain ver 22. 23. They received his discourse as a welcome and most desireable rain and such especially was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the latter rain before Harvest for making the Corn more plump and fair Secondly He was as Good as Great and Honourable Such was his Humility that he did not despise the cause of his man-servant or maid-servant when they contended with him Chap. xxxi 13. His Sobriety and Moderation of spirit is to be seen v. 25. c. His Charity and Compassion Chap. xxix 13 15 16. Chap. xxx 25. Chap. xxxi 16 17 19 20 32. His great Chastity Chap. xxxi 1 9. So far was he from making his great Estate to serve Sensuality and Lust. His Integrity and Honesty Ch. xxix 14. Chap. xxxi 7 38 39. His readiness to employ his power and interest for the relief and not for the crushing of oppressed Innocents Ch. xxix 12. Ch. xxxi 21. And this he did boldly and resolvedly Ch. xxxi 34. His exemplary Piety in keeping himself from the Idolatries of the Arabians Ch. xxxi 26 27. His pious sollicitude for his Children in their yearly Feastings lest they might have offended God in the heat of their Banquets Chap. i. 5. And Chap. xxiii 11 12. we have him expressing the great devotion of his Soul towards God in the constancy and universality of his Obedience My foot saith he hath held his steps his way have I kept and not declined neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food And God himself gives this character of Iob Chap. ii 3. That there was none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil Thus was this excellent Person a great Pattern of all kinds of Vertue in his flourishing estate and he was no less a Pattern of Self-Resignation in his afflictions and trials For Thirdly This Great and Good man was sorely afflicted and tried by God There were three Messengers that brought him the tidings of sad Calamities that befell him in his Possessions his Oxen Asses Sheep and Camels with his Servants being carried away by the Sabeans and Chaldeans or consumed by fire from heaven But the fourth Messenger brings the heaviest news of all viz. That all his Sons and Daughters were crusht to pieces by the fall of the house wherein they were feasting This was dismal indeed to lose all his Children at once and that not by a natural but violent death and to have them destroyed with such a sudden destruction and that also in the midst of their feasting and mirth But besides the more to aggravate his affliction these several Messengers came immediately one after another while one was speaking another came in one wave the more to overwhelm him came upon the neck of the other so that he had no respite no time to concoct his sorrows no diversion no time of breathing to prepare himself to bear the next But after all this affliction comes nearer still and more close to him God permitted Satan to exercise his cruelty upon his Body which was stricken with sore boyls and that all over even from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot Chap. ii 7. He was full of anguish in every part There was nothing about him left whole and entire but the skin of his teeth Chap. xix 20. or the skin about his gums or lips nothing was whole about him but his mouth to complain with To have one such bile is very painful but to have such angry and noisome things all over the body how exquisitely tormenting must it needs be And in this sad plight he sate down not on an easie Couch or soft Bed but among the ashes v. 8. or upon a Dunghil without the city as the Septuagint hath it Where he had none to dress his sores but himself nor any thing that we read of to help himself with but some piece of earthen vessel cast on the Dunghill Instead of using Oyls and Salves that were proper for the mitigation of his pain and the healing his Sores he scraped them or squeezed out the raging matter of them with a potsherd He was so changed by his blains and botches and in so squalid a condition that his Friends knew him not Chap. ii 12. His Brethren went far from him and his acquaintance were estranged from him his kinsfolk failed him and his familiar friends forgot him they that dwelt in his house and his maids counted him for a stranger he was an alien in their sight He called his servant and he gave him no answer he intreated him with his mouth His breath was strange to his wife though he entreated for the Childrens sake of his body The young Children despised him and spake against him His inward friends abhorred him and those whome he loved were turned against him as he most pathetically complains Chap. xix His three Friends Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar when they first came to see him sate down upon the ground seven days and nights and could not speak for astonishment at so strange