which is no service but the glorious liberty of the sons of God then thou art in him thou mayest assure thy self thy residence thy abode thy dwelling is in Christ Thirdly If we dwell in Christ we shall rely and depend on him as on our tutelary God and Protector and so we may be said to dwell in him indeed as in a house which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Civilian our fort and Sanctuary commune perfugium saith Tull. our common place of refuge and what is our hope whither should we fly but to him I am thine save me saith David because I am thine because I have none in Heaven but thee and on earth desire none besides thee Thou art my House my Castle my Fortresse and Defence thou art my Hope to the ends of the World thou art my Christ And this is a principal mark of a true Christian of a man dwelling in Christ that he wholy flings himself into his Protection that he here sixeth his hope and doth not busie himself to finde any shelter but here for as the full perswasion of the Almighty power of God was the first rise to Religion the fountain from which all worship whether true or false did flow for without this persuasion there could be none at all and we finde this relying on his power not onely rewarded but magnified in Scripture Heb. 11. so the acknowledgement of Gods wonderful power in Christ by which he is able to make good his rich and glorious promises to subdue his and our enemies and do abundantly above all that we can conceive to work joy out of sorrow peace out of trouble order out of confusion life out of death is the foundation the pillar the life of all Christianity and if we build not upon this if we abide not if we dwell not here we shall not finde a hole to hide our heads For man such is out condition even when he maketh his nest on high when he thinks he can never be moved when he exalteth himself as God is a weak indigent insufficient creature subject to every blast and breath subject to misery as well as to passion subject to his own and subject to other mens passions when he is at his highest pitch shaken with his own fear and pursued with other mens malice rising soaring up aloft and then failing sinking and ready to fall and when he falls looking about for help and succour when he is diminished and brought low by evil and sorrows he seeks for some refuge some hole some Sanctuary to flie to as the sieman speaks of the Conies they are a generation not strong and therefore have their Burrows to hide themselves in Prov. 30. Now by this you may know you dwell in Christ if when the tempest come you are ready to run under his wing and think of no house no shelter no protection but his Talk what we will of Faith if we doe not Trust and rely on him we doe not believe in him For what is faith but as our Amen to all his promises our subscription to his Wisdom and power and goodnesse and here we fix our tabernacle and will abide till the storm be overpast Beleeve in him and not trust in him you may say as well the Jews did love him when they nayled him to his Crosse Why are you fearful Matt. 8.26 Oh ye of little faith said Christ to his Disciples that faith was little indeed which would let in fear when Christ the wisdom of the Father and mighty power of God was in the ship little lesse then a grain of mustardseed which is the least of seeds so little that what Christ calls here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little faith he plainly calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbelief Matt. 17.20 the faith of this World the weak and cowardly faith of this world which speaks of principalities and powers speaks swelling words and at the sight of a cloud which is not so big as a mans hand strikes in and is not seen but leaves us groaning under every burden for to such a faith every light affliction is so leaves us to complaints and despaire or to those inventions which will plunge us in greater evils then those we either suffer or fear The unbeleeving man he that dwells not in Christ hath either no place to fly to or else that he flyes to is as full of molestation and torment as that which he did fly from he flies to himself from himself he flies to his wit and that befools him he flies to his strength and that overthrows him he flies to his friend and he failes him he asks himself counsel and mistrusts it asks his friend Counsel and is afraid of it he flies to a reed for a staff to impotency and folly and hath not what he lookt for when he hath what he lookt for is ever seeking ease and never at rest and when these evils without him stir up a worse evil within him a confiscience which calls his sins to remembrance what a perplext distracted thing is he what shifts what evasions doth he catch at her runs from room to room from excuse to excuse from comfort to comfort he flutters and flies to and fro as the Raven and would rest though it were on the outside of the Ark. This is the condition of those who are not in Christ but he that dwelleth in him that abideth in him knoweth not what fear is because he is in him in whom all the treasuries of Wisdom and power are hid and so hath ever his protection above him knows not what danger is for wisdom it self conducts him knows not what an enemy is for power guards him what misery is for he lives in the Region of happinesse he that dwells in him dwells in his armory cannot fear what man what devil Eph. 7. what sin can do unto him because he is in his armory abides in him safely as in a Sanctuary as under his wing I know whom I have trusted saith Saint Paul not the world not my friends 2 Tim 1,12 not my riches not my self for not onely the world and riches and friends are a thin shelter to keep off a storm but I know nothing in my self to uphold my self but I know whom I have trusted my Christ my King my Governour and Counsellor who hath taken me under his roof who cannot denie himself but in these evil dayes in that great day will be my patron my defence my protection And thus doth the true Christian dwell and abide in Christ 1. admiring his majesty 2. Loving his command and 3. by depending wholy upon his protection these three fill up our first part our first proposition that some act is required on our parts here exprest by dwelling in him 2. part We passe now to our second that something is also done by Christ in us some virtue proceeds from him which is here called dwelling in us There goes forth virtue
are but as one day so in the case we now speak of a thousand a million a world of men are with him but as one man and when the Lord Chief Justice of Heaven and Earth shall sit to do judgement upon sinners what Caligula once wantonly wished to the people of Rome all the world before him have but as it were one neck and if it please him by that jus pleni Dominii by that full power and Dominion he hath over his creature A Platone dicitur Deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Plutarch quaest convival l. 8. q. 2. He may as he welneer did in the Deluge strike it off at a blow His judgements are past finding out and therefore not to be questioned He is the great Geometrician of the World which made all things in number weight and measure and hath infinitely surpast all human inventions whatsoever and therefore we cannot do him less honour then Hiero King of Sicily did to Archimede the great Mathematician for when he saw the Engins which he made and the marvellous effects which they did produce he caused it to be proclaimed that whatsoever Archimede did after affirme how improbable soever it might seem yet should not once be called into question but be received and entertained as a truth Let the course of things be carried on as it will let death passe over the door of the Egyptian and smite the Israelite let Gods Thunder misse the house of Dagon and shiver his own Tabernacle yet God is just and true and every man a liar that dares but ask the question why doth He this Look over the whole Book of Job and you shall see how Job and his Friends are tost up and down on this great deep For it being put to the question why Job was thus fearfully handled his Friends ground themselves upon this conclusion that all affliction is for sin and so lay folly and hypocrisie to his charge and tell him roundly that the judgement of God had now found him out though he had been a close irrigular and with some art and cunning hid himself from the eye of the World but Job on the contrary as stoutly pleads and defends his innocencie his justice his liberality and could not attain to the sight of the cause for which Gods hand was so heavy on him why should his Friends urge him any more Job 30.32 or persecute him as God they dispute in vain for in their answers he sees nothing but lies At last when the controversie could have no issue C. 21.34 Deus è machina God himself comes down from Heaven and by asking one question puts an end to the rest Job 38.2 who is this that darkneth Counsel with words without knowledge condemns Iob and his Friends of ignorance and weaknesse in that they made so bold and dangerous attempt as to seek out a cause or call his judgement into question 2. It may be we may save the labor that we need not move the question or seek any reason at all for in these common calamities which befall a people it may be God doth provide for the Righteous and deliver him though we perceive it not Some examples in Scripture make this very probable the old World is not drowned till Noah be stript and in the Ark the shower of fire falls not on Sodom till Lot be escaped Daniel and his fellows though they go away into captivity with rebellious Judah yet their captivity is sweetned with honours and good respects in the Land into which they go and which was a kinde of leading captivity captive they had favour and were intreated as friends by their enemies who had invaded and spoiled them And may not God be the same upon the like occasions How many millions of righteous persons have been thus delivered whose names notwithstanding are no where recorded some things of no great worth are very famous in the world when many things of better worth lie altogether buried in obscurity caruerunt quia vale sacro because they found none who could or would transmit them to posterity Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona no doubt but before and since millions have made the like escapes though their memory lies rak'd up and buried in oblivion But then suppose the righteous do taste of the same cup of bitternesse with the wicked yet it hath not the same taste and relish to them both for calamity is not alwayes a whip Calamitas non est poena militia est minus Foe lix nor doth God alwayes punish them whom he delivers over to the sword to lose my goods or life is one thing and to be punisht another it is against the course of Gods providence and justice that innocency should come under the lash Gen 28.23 shall not the Judge of all the earth do right yes he shall and without any breach of his justice take away that breath of life which he breathed into our Nostrils though we had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression for he may do what he will with his own and take away our goods or lives from us when and how he pleaseth because he is Lord over them and we have nothing which we received not from his hands God is not alwayes angry when he strikes nor is every blow we feel given by God the avenger for he may strike as a Father and therefore these evils change their complexions and very natures with the subject upon whom they are wrought they are and have the blacknesse of darknesse in the one but are as Angels and messengers of light to the other and may lead the righteous through the valley of death into the land of the living when the wicked are hewen down by the sword to be fuel for the fire What though they both be joyned together in the same punishment as a Martyr and a Thief in the same chain August de civitate Dei l. 1. c. 8. yet manet dissimilitudo passorum in similitudine passionum though the penalties may seem alike yet the difference is great betwixt the patients though the world perhaps cannot distinguish them and death it self which is a key to open the gates of Hell to the one may be no the other what the Rabbles conceive it would have been to Adam had he not fallen but osculum pacis a kisse of peace a gentle and loving dismission into a better state to conclude this then a people a chosen people a people chosen out of this choice Gods servants and friends may be smitten Josiah may fall in the battle Daniel may be lead into Captivity John Baptist may lose his head and yet we may hold up our inscription Dominus est it is the Lord. And now let us but glance upon the inscription and so passe to the third particular and the first sight of it may strike a terror into us and make us afraid of those sins which bring these general judgements upon
when we sow our own seed in our own ground we have laid the foundation of a faire hope and we seldome misse of a rich plenteous harvest When we venture out of our place we venture as at a Lottery where we draw many blanks before we have one prize and when that is drawne it doth not countervaile the fourtieth part of our venture but the trumpet sounds as at a triumph and we leave behind us more then we carryed with us and go away with the losse So it is when we move in another mans place we move upon hopes which most times deceive us when we do our own businesse we find no difficulty but in the businesse it self and no enemy but negligence but when we break our limits and leap into other mens affaires we meet with greater opposition we meet with the Law which is against us and very often too strong for us we meet with those who will be as violent to defend their station as we are to trouble it and if we chance to break through all these yet when we have cast up our accounts and reckon up the trouble we have undergone the illegality and injustice of our proceedings the detestation of all good men and the vengeance which hangs over us with that benefit which we have reapt we may put our advantage in our eyes as they say and drop it out Lastly à necessario from the necessity of doing it and I doe not meane a legall and Causative necessity as the Civilians speak a precise necessity which the law and honesty layes upon us but a necessity in respect of the end which is to be quiet which we cannot attaine to but by our motion in our own place for other paths are strange paths and heterogeneous to it and the further we goe in them the further we are off and meet with nothing but that which is Diametrically opposed to it injustice hatred the curse both of God and man goods which are of no value whilst they are in our hands and never estimable but in his whose they truly are which all are ill materialls to make a pillow to rest on In a word in this our irregular motion we look toward the rising Sun and travell towards the West we run from the shade into a tempest we seek for ease and rest and have thrust our selves into the Region of noise and thunder and darknesse Ask those boysterous and contentious spirits which delight in warre ask the Tyrants of the earth those publique and priviledg'd thieves ask those who doe wade to their unwarranted desires through the fortunes and bloud of others and see how they are filled with horror and anxiety how the riches which they so greedily desired have eaten them up Behold them afraid of their fortunes of their friends of themselves even fainting and panting on the Pinacle of State ready to be blown down with every puffe of wind as busie to secure their estate as they were to raise it and yet forced to that unhappy prudence which must needs endanger it Behold one slaine by his friends another by his sonnes a third by his servants and some by their very souldiers who helpt to raise them to this formidable height Look over all the Tragedies which have been written scarce any but of these Sine caede sanguine pauci Few of them have brought their gray haires unbloudy to their grave and if this be to be quiet we may in time be induced to believe that rest and peace may be found even in hell it self This then is not the way and if we will reach home to the end we must choose that path which leads unto it This is not the Apostles method no saith Saint Paul we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office having therefore different callings and different gifts and different places to move in let every man wait upon and move in his own for there he may be quiet and no where else let the Lawyer plead and the Divine preach let the husbandman plough the earth and the Merchant the Sea let the Tradesman follow his trade let the Magistrate governe and let all the people say Amen let all men make good their place and every man doe his own businesse and so rejoyce together in the publique order and peace And as Cuiacius that famous Lawyer in France Papyrius Massonius in Elog. illust Viror in vita Cuiacii when he was askt his opinion in points of Divinity was wont to give no other answer but this Nihil hoc ad Edictum Praetoris this which you ask me hath to relation to the Edict of the Praetor so when any temptation shall take us and invite and flatter us Ire in opus alienum to put our hands to another mans work let us drive it back and vanquish it with this considerate resolution that it is not amongst the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is none of our businesse no more pertaining to our calling then Divinity doth to the Edict of the Praetor And then as we confine our selves to our own calling so let us be active and constant in our motion in it and as it follows in the Apostles method let us shake off sloth and work with our hands which is next to be consider'd For indeed idlenesse is the mother and nurse of this pragmaticall curiosity Plaut Mostell Haec mihi verecundiam virtutis modum deturbavit saith he in Plautus this takes off our blush and makes us bold adventurers to engage our selves in other mens actions for when the mind of man is at loose not taken up and busied in the adorning of it self then Dinah-like it must gadd abroad to see the daughters of the Countrey and mingle it self with those contemplations which are as it were of another Tribe and Nation meere strangers unto her It is the character of the strange woman Prov. 7. That she is garrula vaga that she is loud and ever stragling vagum scortum as Horace calls her and her feet abide not in her house Polit. 7. c. 3. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle in his Politicks He that will be Idle will be evil and he that will do nothing will do that which he should not and the reason is given by the Stoick mobilis inquieta mens homini data est the mind of man is full of activity ever in motion and restlesse now carried to this object and anon to that it walks through the world and out of the world and is not at rest when the body sleeps and if it do not follow that which is good it will soone fasten to that which is evil for it is not as a wedg of lead but of the nature of an Angel which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cannot sleep as Aristotle spake of children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it cannot rest and be quiet and therefore the same Philosopher much