necessity the absolute necessity of our duty in order to our happiness till by degrees we come to a love and liking of goodness and Religion and then holy pious and devout thoughts will be easie free and almost natural to us it is I grant it a vain thing to persuade you to look after your thoughts whilst your minds are estranged from God but a renewed mind a new heart as the Scripture calls it would produce new and other-ghess thoughts As the fountain is such will the streams be where the treasure is there will the heart be also An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit nor can we gather figs from thorns or grapes from thistles evil thoughts lusts foolish imaginations are the natural genuine spawn of a wild dishonest mind When I was a child saith St. Paul I thought as a child I spake as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things As it is impossible for a wise man after that he is arrived to years of understanding and his mind is furnished with the knowledge of the best and worthiest things to please himself with those silly fancies and childish imaginations which were the entertainment and diversion of his younger rawer years so 't is no less impossible for any one who is deeply touched with the things of God and hath a due sense of those things which are more excellent to endure such silly worldly extravagant thoughts as possessed his soul and pleased him in the days of his ignorance and folly How do I love thy law saith David it is my meditation day and night This is the first rule look after your heart and affections 2. And more particularly Consider what care and art wicked men use to prevent good thoughts and let us use the same diligence and endeavours to hinder evil and wicked thoughts and motions There is no man especially that lives in any place where Religion is professed and in any tolerable credit that can go on in a course of sin without some regret and remorse sometimes his conscience will find a time to speak to him the natural notions of a God and a future state will ever and anon be stirring and are apt to disturb the repose and jollity of the most secure and hardened sinner Now to one resolvedly wicked such thoughts of a judge a future accompt and everlasting punishments cannot but be very uneasie and unwelcome and therefore doth he strive all that he can to stifle such chilling thoughts in their very first rise to silence or drown the whispers of his conscience he would fain even run away from himself he chuses any diversion entertainment or company rather than attend to the dictates of his own mind and reason is afraid of nothing so much as being alone and unemployed lest such ghastly and frighting apprehensions should croud in upon him he keeps himself therefore always in a hurry and heat and by many other artifices endeavours to shut all such cool and sober thoughts out of his mind till by often quenching the motions of God's good spirit and resisting the light and voice of his own conscience he by degrees loses all sense of good and evil all good principles are laid asleep within him and he arrives at his wisht-for happy state of sinning without disturbance or interruption Now if we would but use equal diligence and watchfulness to prevent or expell evil thoughts we should find just the same effect that in time our minds would become in a great measure free from their solicitations and importunity would we but presently reject them with the greatest disdain and indignation use all manner of means to fix our minds on more innocent and usefull subjects avoid all occasions or provocations or incentives to evil thoughts as carefully as wicked men do reading a good book or keeping of good company we certainly should find in a short time our minds no longer pestered or troubled with them we should begin to lose all savour and relish of those sins we formerly delighted in by their being for some considerable time kept out of our minds there would arise a strangeness between them and us and they would become as uneasie to us as now they are pleasant and gratefull 3. Would you prevent evil thoughts above all things avoid idleness the spirits of men are busie and restless something they must be doing and what a number of monstrous giddy frothy improbable conceits do daily fill our brains merely for want of better employment no better way therefore to prevent evil thoughts than never to be at leisure for them I went by the field of the slothfull saith Salomon and loe it was all grown over with thorns and nettles and therefore indeed those are most of all concerned in this discourse about thoughts whom providence hath placed in such a station as that they are under no necessity of minding any particular calling for the gaining of a livelihood for whom God hath provided a subsistence without their own labouring and working for it such as these are in manifest danger of consuming a great part of their time in idle and unprofitable if not lewd and wicked imaginations having little else to doe the Devil or their own vain fancies will find work for them and when consideration and argument alone are not able to drive out these wicked inward companions yet business will and therefore I know nothing more advisable than that we should be always stored with fit materials and subjects to exercise our thoughts upon such as are worthy of a reasonable creature that is endued with an immortal soul that is to live for ever Those who are most busie yet have some little spaces and intervals of time in which they are not employed Some mens business is such as though it employs their hands and requires bodily labour yet doth not much take up their thoughts nor need their minds be very intent upon it now all such should constantly have in their minds a treasure of innocent or usefull subjects to think upon that so they may never be at a loss how to employ their minds for many of our evil thoughts are owing to this that when our time hangs upon our hands we are to seek what to think of Let us therefore every one resolve thus with our selves the first opportunity of leisure I have the first vacant hour I will set my self to consider of such or such a good subject and have this always in readiness to confront and oppose to any wicked or evil thoughts that may sue for entrance or admission for if we doe thus temptations will always find our minds full and prepossessed and it is an hard case if neither the visible nor invisible world neither God's works nor providences nor word can supply us with matter enough for our thoughts unless we feign extravagant conceits or repeat our old sins in our minds or tickle our selves with wild suppositions of things that never were
beg your patience whilst I put you in mind of some of those arguments and considerations which seem most proper and effectual to engage men to the imitation of this blessed example to doe all the good they can in the World 1. This of all other employments is most agreeable to our natures By doing good we gratify and comply with the best and noblest of our natural inclinations and appetites The very same sense which informs us of our own wants and doth powerfully move and instigate us to provide for their relief doth also resent the distresses of another and vehemently provoke and urge us to yield him all necessary succour This is true in all men but most apparent in the best natures that at beholding the miseries and calamities of other men they find such yernings of their bowels and such sensible commotions and passions raised in their own breasts as they can by no means satisfy but by reaching forth their helping-hand and to deny our assistance according as our ability permits us is a violence to our very natural instincts and propensions as well as contrary to our religious obligations Our very flesh which in many other instances tempts us to sin yet in this case prompts us to our duty This is a gratious provision God Almighty hath made in favour of the necessitous and calamitous that since his providence for great reasons is pleased to permit such inequalities in mens fortunes and outward conditions the state of some in this life being so extremely wretched and deplorable if compared with others lest the sick and blind and naked and poor should seem to be forgotten or wholly disregarded by their Maker he hath therefore implanted in men a quick and tender sense of pity and compassion which should always solicit and plead their cause stand their friend and not onely dispose us but e'en force us for our own quiet and satisfaction though with some inconvenience to our selves to relieve and succour the afflicted and miserable according to our several capacities and opportunities And this sympathy doth as truly belong to humane nature as love desire hope fear or any other affection of our minds and it is as easie a matter to devest our selves of any other passion as of this of pity and he who like the Priest and Levite in our Saviour's Parable of the wounded man is void of all compassion is degenerated not so much into the likeness of a brute beast as of the hardest rock or marble Thus to doe good is according to the very make and frame of our beings and natures 2. Hence it follows that it must be the most pleasant and delightfull employment we can choose for our selves Whatever is according to our nature must for that reason be pleasant for all actual pleasure consists in the gratification and satisfaction of our natural inclinations and appetites Since therefore the very constitution and temper of our nature sway and prompt us to the exercise of charity and beneficence the satisfying such inclinations by doing good must be as truly gratefull to us as any other thing or action whatever that ministreth to our pleasure and it cannot be more delightfull to receive kindnesses than it is to bestow them A seasonable unexpected relief doth not affect him that stands in great need of it with more sensible contentment than the opportunity of doing it doth rejoice a good man's heart Nay it may be doubted on which hand lies the greatest obligation whether he who receives is more obliged to the giver for the good turn he hath done him or the giver be more obliged to the receiver for the occasion of exercising his goodness When we receive great kindnesses it puts us to the blush we are ashamed to be so highly obliged but the joy of doing them is pure and unmixed and this our Saviour hath told us Acts 20.35 It is more blessed to give than to receive and some good men have ventured to call it the greatest sensuality a piece of Epicurism and have magnified the exceeding indulgence of God who hath annexed future rewards to that which is so amply its own recompence These two advantages this pleasure of doing good hath above all other pleasures whatever 1. That this satisfaction doth not onely just accompany the act of doing good but it is permanent and lasting endures as long as our lives The very remembrance of such charitable deeds by which we have been really helpfull and serviceable to others our after-reflexion upon the good we have done in the world doth wonderfully refresh our souls with a mighty joy and peace quite contrary to all other worldly and corporeal pleasures There are indeed some vices which promise a great deal of pleasure in the commission of them but then at best it is but short-lived and transient a sudden flash presently extinguisht It perishes in the very enjoyment like the crackling of thorns under a pot as the Wise-man elegantly expresses it it presently expires in a short blaze and noise but hath very little heat or warmth in it All outward bodily pleasures are of a very fugitive volatile nature there 's no fixing them and if we endeavour to make up this defect by a frequent repetition and constant succession of them they then soon become nauseous men are cloyed and tired with them Nor is this yet all these sensual pleasures do not onely suddenly pass away but also leave a sting behind them they wound our consciences the thoughts of them are uneasie to us guilt and a bitter repentance are the attendants of such indulging our selves sadness and melancholy comes in the place of all such exorbitant mirth and jollity These are the constant abatements of all outward unlawfull pleasures Whereas that which springs from a mind satisfied and well pleased with its own actions doth for ever affect our hearts with a delicious relish continually ministers comfort and delight to us is a never-failing fountain of joy such as is solid and substantial fills our minds with good hopes and chearfull thoughts and is the onely certain ground of true peace and contentment 2. This pleasure and joy that attends doing good doth herein exceed all fleshly delights that it is then at the highest when we stand in most need of it In a time of affliction old age or at the approach of death the remembrance of our good deeds will strangely cheer and support our spirits under all the calamities and troubles we may meet with in this state By doing good we lay up a treasure of comfort a stock of joy against an evil day which no outward thing can rob us of But now it is not thus with bodily pleasures they cannot help us in a time of need they then become miserably flat and insipid the sinner cannot any longer taste or relish them nothing remains but a guilty sense which in such time of distress is more fierce and raging especially at the hour of death Yet even
for those Laws which he hath made and by which he will govern and judge the world as wicked men themselves have but should we grant all that can be asked in this case and suppose it very doubtfull whether our souls are immortal and surely no man will pretend to prove it impossible that they should be so nay should we suppose it great odds that there is not a future state yet that man doth nevertheless most notoriously betray his want of prudence and discretion who will not contradict his own brutish inclinations and deny himself some short pleasures and chuse that course of life which our reason no less than our Religion doth recommend to us rather than run the least hazard though it were of an hundred to one of being for ever miserable And thus much concerning being enticed to wicked practices And now I might discourse at large of another sort of enticing which is to erroneous and pernicious doctrines and of such as go about to inveigle and corrupt our judgments and debauch our understandings by seducing us to the belief of opinions no less wicked than false But I shall at present onely crave leave briefly to shew 1. What danger men are in of being seduced by such temptations 2. What is our best armour and security against them 1. What danger we are in of being enticed from that profession and belief which is publickly taught and own'd amongst us which danger arises partly from the earnestness importunity or the arts that subtile men use to bring us off but most especially from the doctrines themselves which they would learn us and instill into us which are such as are most pleasing and gratefull to one who delights in his sins such as cannot but be most acceptable to him as giving him hopes of heaven though he deny himself very little for it such as lay the grounds and foundations of sinning chearfully without any fear or remorse and therefore as long as the greatest part of the world love vice and ease will succeed and be greedily entertained It is no hard matter to persuade men to believe what they before-hand wish were true and there needs no great store of proof or arguments to recommend those opinions to the sensual and prophane which give them leave to fulfill their lusts without any regret of conscience or dread of punishment Is it not a comfortable doctrine and will it not be readily embraced by every resolved sinner that after a long wicked life at the last gasp a bare sorrow for sin out of fear of hell with the Priest's absolution shall at least free him from eternal pains and take away the guilt of his sins so that he need not be afraid of any thing besides a sudden death which happens but seldom When he is at any time disturbed with the sense of his dangerous condition when the forced remembrance of his sins doth gall and fret his mind and fill him with fears and melancholy thoughts what a relief must it needs be to him to be assured that it is but going to a Priest and confessing his sins and undergoing some small penances and he is safe for then he may go on in his full carriere with the greatest security imaginable then he may sin with judgment and commit all manner of wickedness with discretion He who hath no mind to part with his lusts is easily persuaded that they are invincible nor is it very difficult to make him who is loth to take any pains or be at any trouble for keeping of Christ's commands to believe that they are impossible to be kept and that our Saviour fulfilled even his own law in our stead and that we have nothing to doe but to believe that he hath done all and be thankfull In a word where the obscurity of Scripture or the difficulty of the matter or the weakness of our understandings have caused one to mistake multitudes have been drawn aside to the most pernicious errours by their lusts and secular interests and carnal designs and love to gain sloth or sensuality and by this chiefly are the several dissenting parties amongst us maintained and do encrease their numbers to wit by levelling the doctrine of Christianity to mens corrupt inclinations and passions whilst we of the Church of England dare not be so false either to our own trust or the souls of men as to give them hopes of everlasting bliss on any other condition but that of living godlily righteously and soberly in this present world from all which follows 2. That our security against such temptations doth not consist in much reading and great learning in our skill in controversies or cunning in managing a dispute or ability of discerning between good argument and sophistry so much as in an honest mind and humble heart an unfeigned desire of knowing and sincere endeavour of doing the will of God Him who is thus minded God by his infinite goodness is ingaged not to suffer to fall into any errour of mischievous effect and as for other mistakes wherein a good life is not concerned God is ready to overlook and pardon what is the result onely of the imperfection of our present state besides which honesty of mind or love to vertue is in it self and its own nature our best preservative against being infected with any bad opinions I am far from taking upon me to judge or condemn those that were born and bred up and have lived well under any forms of Religion different from what is established amongst us for it is very possible for men to hold opinions very wicked and yet not perceiving nor acknowledging the just consequences of them to live very good lives yet this is true that one that designs nothing so much as pleasing God and saving his soul and is willing to take any pains for it and hath no by-ends to serve will not desire to be excused from the mortification of his lusts subduing his appetites crucifying his flesh and from the severities of an holy life by substituting in the room of them pilgrimages vain oblations bodily austerities or such formal devotions as very bad men may perform and be very bad still Those principles which most advance the honour of God by laying the strictest obligations on men to all manner of goodness he will hearken to and readily believe but if they serve the ends of avarice or ambition if they are apt to make men dissolute or licentious lazie or presumptuous this alone to such an one will be reason sufficient utterly to reject them let them be propounded to him with never so much advantage or subtilty I shall conclude all with this that did I know any constituted Church in the world that did teach a Religion more holy and usefull that delivered doctrines in themselves more reasonable or in their consequences tending more directly to the peace of Societies and the good of every particular person to the promoting of piety and true morality and
us to recompence the trouble of his service what advantage will it be to me if I be cleansed from my sin Here is a deal of doe and bustle made about Conscience and Religion I will e'en venture my self as I see a thousand others do I shall scape as well as the rest of my company or acquaintance and the like God onely knows how many of us suffer such vile thoughts as these to lodge in our breasts 3. I might instance in our thinking and musing upon things innocent and harmless enough in themselves which yet become evil because of the seasons of them that is because we should then be thinking of better things for it is certainly lawfull to think of our friends relations temporal concerns but then it must be in due time and place they must not justle out all other thoughts nay we must wholly banish them our minds when we come into God's more especial presence at our prayers or at receiving of the Sacrament such thoughts are by no means to be admitted I speak not now of the sudden excursions of our thoughts even when the mind is about the most serious employments nor of the greater unruliness of our thoughts upon some particular accidents or occasions I mean onely our gross heedlesness in suffering them to wander to the ends of the earth whilst in pretence and shew we are engaged in worshipping that God who is a spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth What man that now hears me would be content that all the several things not onely that have suddenly come into his mind but which he hath voluntarily for a considerable time dwelt upon and entertained his mind with during this short exercise should be here openly exposed to the whole Congregation How many of us have been telling our money or counting over our bags or selling or buying in our shops or at our games and sports or ordering our houshold affairs or conversing with distant friends into how many Countries have some of us travelled how many persons have we visited how many several affairs have we dispatched to say no worse since we first this day began Divine Service 4 I might farther mention envious malitious fretting thoughts when our spirits are disquieted and vexed at the prosperity and happiness of other men who get the start of us and are preferred before us because they have a greater trade or are better loved and more respected than our selves Or 5. Troublesome anxious thoughts of future events multiplying to our selves endless fears and solicitudes distracting our minds with useless unnecessary cares for the things of this life perplexing our selves about things that do not at all concern us nor belong to us How many who want nothing they can reasonably desire render their lives strangely wretched and miserable onely by discontented and melancholy thoughts and ill-boding apprehensions their souls continually shaking with the pannick dread of improbable crosses and misfortunes creating to themselves great pain and confusion by tragical and idle jealousies of evils to come and by vexing at what they cannot help or avoid or 6. I might insist on haughty proud admiring thoughts of our selves How much time do many men spend in studying and considering their own worth and excellencies how do they please themselves with viewing their own endowments and accomplishments and imagine all others to have the same opinion of them they have of themselves that every one is speaking of their praise and that all that pass by them take notice of them and ask who they are I might instance in carking and projecting thoughts plotting and contriving for years and ages to come as if our houses were to continue for ever and our dwelling places to all generations I might instance in thoughts of presumption and security bidding our souls take their ease and satisfy themselves with those good things we have laid up for many years I have not time now to speak of vain unprofitable insignificant thoughts when as we ordinarily say we think of nothing that is not any thing we can give an account of when our thoughts have no dependence nor coherence one upon the other which I may call the nonsense of our thoughts they being like the conceits of madmen or like little boys in a School who as long as the Master is with them all regularly keep in their several places every one minding his proper work but as soon as his back is turned are all streight out of their places in disorder and confusion such are our thoughts when we forget to watch over them or command them but this is an endless subject III. The onely thing remaining is to name to you some plain practical rules for the right government of our thoughts 1. The first Rule shall be grounded upon the words of my Text Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts If they proceed from our hearts then we must look especially after them In the words therefore of Solomon Prov. 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Thus the Prophet Jeremiah 4.14 Wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee and here our Saviour out of the heart proceed evil thoughts Now by heart in the Scripture phrase is most ordinarily meant the affections such as love hope fear joy desire and the like so that the plain sense of this place is that such as mens affections are such as the objects are upon which they are placed and towards which they are most carried out such will their thoughts be we shall certainly think most of those things that we love most that we fear most that we desire most Do we not find it thus in all other instances and were our affections but duely set upon divine and heavenly objects we should as constantly and as pleasantly think of them as the worldly or ambitious man doth of his honours and riches Were our hearts but once throughly affected with a sense of God and goodness and the things of the other world we should hardly find any room in our thoughts for meaner and inferiour objects such divine and spiritual matters would fill our souls and wholly employ and take up our minds If we once really loved God above any present enjoyment or temporal contentment it would be impossible that things sensible should exclude the thoughts of him out of our minds or that we could pass any considerable time without some converse with him and addresses to him Have we a business of such infinite moment depending upon those few hours that yet remain of our lives how few God onely knows and have we time and leisure to spend whole days and weeks in unprofitable useless fancies and dreams in the mean time forgetting the danger we are in and the onely necessary work we have to doe Here then must the foundation be laid in setting our affections upon things above in frequent considering the importance the
Vertue and goodness purifies and exalts a man's natural temper and makes his very looks more clear and brisk 3. Our bodies shall be raised in power This is that which the Schools call the agility of our heavenly bodies the nimbleness of their motion by which they shall be rendred most obedient and able instruments of the soul In this state our bodies are no better than clogs and fetters which confine and restrain the freedom of the soul and hinder it is all her operations The corruptible body as it is in the wisedom of Solomon presseth down the soul and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things Our dull sluggish and unactive bodies are often unable oftner unready and backward to execute the orders and obey the commands of our souls so that they are rather hindrances to the soul than any-ways usefull or serviceable to her But in the other life as the Prophet Isaiah tells us Isaiah 40.31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint or as another expresses it They shall shine and run too and fro like sparks amongst the stubble the speed of their motion shall be like that of devouring fire in an heap of dry stubble and the height of it shall surpass the towring flight of the Eagle for they shall meet the Lord in the air when he comes to judgment and afterwards mount up with him into the third and highest Heavens This earthly body is continually groveling on the ground slow and heavy in all its motions listless and soon tired with action and the soul that dwells in it is forced as it were to drag and hale it along but our heavenly bodies shall be as free as active and nimble as our very thoughts are 4. And Lastly Our bodies shall be raised spiritual bodies not of a spiritual substance for then the words would imply a contradiction it being impossible that the same thing should be both a spiritual and a bodily substance But spiritual is here opposed not to corporeal but to natural or animal and by it is exprest as it is ordinarily interpreted the subtilty and tenuity and purity of our heavenly bodies But I would rather explain it thus In this state our spirits are forced to serve our bodies and to attend their leisure and do mightily depend upon them in most of their operations but on the contrary in the other world our bodies shall wholly serve our spirits and minister unto them and depend upon them So that by a natural body I understand a body fitted for this lower and sensible world for this earthly state by a spiritual body such an one as is suited and accommodated to a spiritual state to an invisible world to such a life as the Saints and Angels lead in Heaven And indeed this is the principal difference between this mortal body and our glorified body This flesh which now we are so apt to dote upon is one of the greatest and most dangerous enemies we have and therefore is defied and renounced by all Christians in their baptism as well as the world and the Devil It continually tempts and solicits us to evil every sense is a snare to us and all its lusts and appetites are inordinate and insatiable it is impatient of Christ's yoke and refuseth discipline it is ungovernable and often rebelleth against reason and the law in our members warreth against the law of our minds and brings us into captivity to the law of sin which is in our members and when the spirit is willing the flesh is weak so that the best men are forced to keep it under and use it hardly lest it should betray them into folly and misery We are now in a state of warfare and must always be upon our guard and watch continually arming and defending our selves against the assaults of the flesh and all its violent and impetuous motions How doth it hinder us in all our religious devotions How soon doth it jade our minds when employed in any divine or spiritual meditations or how easily by its bewitching and enchanting pleasure doth it divert them from such noble exercises So that St. Paul breaks forth into this sad and mournfull complaint Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Who shall Death shall That shall give us a full and final deliverance When once we have obtained the resurrection unto life we shall not any more feel those lustings of the flesh against the spirit which are here so troublesome and uneasie to us our flesh shall then cease to vex our souls with its evil inclinations immoderate desires and unreasonable passions But being its self spiritualized purified exalted and freed from this earthly grosness and all manner of pollution shall become a most fit and proper instrument of the soul in all her divine and heavenly employments It shall not be weary of singing praises unto God Almighty through infinite Ages It shall want no respite or refreshment but its meat and drink shall be to doe the will of God In these things chiefly consists the difference between those bodies which we shall have at the resurrection and this mortal flesh which we can but very imperfectly either conceive or express but yet from what hath been discoursed on this subject it doth sufficiently appear that a glorified body is infinitely more excellent and desireable than that vile and contemptible flesh which we now carry about with us The onely thing remaining is III. And Lastly to draw some practical inferences from all I have said on this subject I shall but just mention these five and leave the improvement of them to your own private meditations 1. From what I have said we may learn the best way of fitting and preparing our selves to live in those heavenly and spiritual bodies which shall be bestowed upon us at the resurrection which is by cleansing and purifying our souls still more and more from all fleshly filthiness and weaning our selves by degrees from this earthly body and all sensual pleasures and delights We should begin in this life to loosen and untie the knot between our souls and this mortal flesh to refine our affections and raise them from things below to things above to take off our hearts and leisurely to disengage them from things present and sensible and to use and accustome our selves to think of and converse with things spiritual and invisible that so our souls when they are separated from this earthly body may be prepared and disposed to actuate and inform a pure and spiritual one as having before hand tasted and relished spiritual delights and pleasures and been in some degree acquainted with those objects which shall then be presented to us A soul wholly immersed and buried in this earthly body is not at all fit and qualified
it when he was reduced to the meanest condition a man can possibly sink into and such a change is most apt to open the mouths not onely of our own consciences but of all that know us against us I say in this his worst estate neither his own mind nor his friends nor his enemies if so good a man had any could find matter of complaint or reproach against him And this was such a remarkable instance of pure and resolute vertue that God Almighty seemed to rejoice and triumph that he had now found a man who could preserve himself innocent and upright even amidst all the flattering temptations that attend riches and power and worldly greatness Hast thou considered said the Lord unto Satan chap. 1. verse 8. as it were in a boasting manner my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil but 2. Behold the scene of a sudden quite changed and extreme poverty loss and pain dwelling there where plenty and honour and riches formerly made their abode The great enemy of mankind was at length satisfied that this renowned servant of God was not to be enticed by any of his baits that he had a soul too great to fall in love with the fading beauties and perishing glories of this world and therefore when he saw he would not be moved from his duty by fair means he uses force and violence and sets himself openly to assault that vertue which would not be caught in any of his snares nor yield to any of his gilded temptations And to this end in one day he spirits away all his wealth and servants slays all his children by the fall of an house and exercises such cruelty upon his body that there was nothing about him whole and entire and free from sores but onely the skin of his teeth he arms his own wife and his best friends against him his brethren went far from him his acquaintance were estranged from him his kinsmen failed him and his familiars forgot him the young children despised him those that dwelt in his house counted him for a stranger and those whom he loved most were turned against him But when he was thus abandoned and forsaken of all he yet held fast his righteousness and would not remove his integrity from him he still preserved a good conscience which neither the Sabaeans nor the Chaldaeans nor the Devil himself could rob him of Notwithstanding all these violent attaques of Satan he bravely stood his ground and the greatness of his sufferings served onely to make his courage and constancy still more glorious and illustrious Under all these afflictions he entertained not an unworthy thought never uttered one hard word concerning God but humbly kissed the hand that struck him and received evil things from him with the same gratefull resentment he used to receive good things and was as thankfull for these sad misfortunes and dire calamities as other men are for the greatest favours and blessings And whatever betided him in this world yet he would never fall out with God or doe any thing that might displease him or wound his own mind and conscience Thus this heavenly Champion came off with success and victory and the trial of his faith and patience was found unto praise and honour and glory Now the words thus understood relating in particular to Job as exercised with these various conflicts and temptations afford us these two plain but usefull rules 1. That we should so manage our selves in times of prosperity and so use and improve our worldly advantages of health riches honour authority and the like that whenever we come to be deprived of them our hearts may have nothing to reproach us for 2. That we should never either to prevent or to redeem our selves from any outward evil and calamity doe any thing which our own minds and consciences do disapprove and condemn 1. We should so manage our selves in times of prosperity and so use and improve all worldly advantages of health riches honour authority and the like that whenever we come to be deprived of them our hearts may have nothing to reproach us for It is certain that so long as the world goes on our side and we live in ease and plenty and enjoy whatever our hearts can wish for we have not so quick and lively a sense of good and evil nor do we ordinarily suffer our consciences to speak so freely and plainly to us as when we are under some affliction or distress Whilst we enjoy an uninterrupted prosperity the noise and tumult of the world the hurry and multiplicity of business and secular affairs the variety of sensual pleasures and delights the mirth and jollity of company and the several temporal projects and designs we have in hand do generally so wholly engross and prepossess our thoughts as that they drown the softer whispers of our minds and reasons and allow no time or opportunity to our consciences to doe their office But when once we meet with a sudden check and stop and are brought into straits and difficulties when we are crossed and disappointed and all our fine hopes and expectations are blasted and defeated especially when death and judgment draws nigh then doth conscience take the advantage against us and fly in our faces and set our sins in order before us and fill our minds with galling regrets and misgiving fears and disquieting and uncomfortable reflexions upon our past follies and we soon begin to have quite other notions and apprehensions of things than we had formerly in the days of sunshine and security Thus Joseph's brethren after they had sold him into Egypt and thereby had afflicted their Father's soul even unto death for a long time seemed pleased and satisfied with themselves that they had done no worse to their innocent brother that they had not slain him but afterwards when they found themselves captives in a strange Land they laid their hands upon their breasts and thought more impartially on what they had done and said one to another we are verily guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us When we come to languish upon a bed of sickness our minds will then take the liberty to reproach us for those many days of health and strength which now without any sense or remorse we fondly trifle and squander away Should our riches take to themselves wings and flie away and we all know how slippery and uncertain all these earthly enjoyments are it would then wound us sore to think how much we stretched our consciences to get some part of them and how prodigally we mis-spent other part of them how much we loved them and trusted in them and what an ill use we made of them If ever we our selves should come to stand in need of the help
assistence and charity of others how irksome and uneasie will it be to us to remember how little our bowels were moved at the misfortunes of our poor neighbours and what little compassion we shewed to the miserable and necessitous and how loth we were in our flourishing condition to doe any one a good turn if it put us but to the least expence or trouble However great and prosperous your present condition may be yet often consider it may shortly be otherwise with you daily interpose the thoughts of a change should I lose this honour esteem authority and dignity I am now possessed of how many untoward scars and blemishes will stick upon me should I be reduced to a mean low estate shall I not then blush to be put in mind of that pride vain-glory haughtiness oppression and domineering I was guilty of when I was in place and power and will not the forced remembrance of such our base and unworthy behaviour be more grievous and afflictive to us than any outward loss or pain our consciences which now we stifle and smother will at such a time be even with us and our own wickedness shall reprove us and our iniquity shall correct us as the Prophet expresseth it Learn therefore so to demean your selves in prosperity as that your hearts may acquit you and have nothing to chide and rebuke you for when you come into adversity and so to husband and improve those present advantages and opportunities you have in your hands that when they are withdrawn from you you may be able with great comfort and satisfaction to reflect upon the good you have done with them the sense of which will mightily blunt the edge and mitigate the sharpness of those evils that do at any time befall you this was Job's great comfort and support under all his dismal sufferings when he was fallen from the highest pinacle of wealth and honour almost as low as hell that he had held fast his integrity and that his mind could not reproach him 2. We should never either to prevent or to redeem our selves from any outward evil or calamity doe any thing which our own minds and consciences do disapprove and condemn Though Job had lost all other things that men usually call good yet his righteousness he held fast and would not let it go and indeed the peace of our own minds is more to be valued than any temporal blessing whatever and there is no pain or loss so intolerable as that inward fear regret and shame which sin and guilt create so that whatever external advantage we acquire in the world by wounding our consciences we are certainly great losers by it no real good can ever be obtained by doing ill a guilty conscience being the sorest evil that a man can possibly be afflicted with Herein especially do inward troubles exceed all outward afflictions whatever that can happen to our bodies or estates namely that under all temporal calamities how desperate and remediless soever they be yet we have something to buoy up and support our spirits to keep us in heart and ennable us to bear them the joys of a good conscience the sense or hopes of God's love and favour the inward satisfaction of our own minds and thoughts these things will wonderfully carry us through all those difficulties and adversities which we shall meet with in the world and are able to uphold and chear our hearts under the greatest pressures and hardships but when a man's mind it self is disturbed and disquieted where shall he seek for where can he find any ease or remedy This seems to be the meaning of the Wise-man in the 18th of the Proverbs the 14th Verse the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear It is a saying much like that of our Saviours if the salt hath lost its favour wherewith shall it be salted if that by which we season all other things it self want it by what shall it be seasoned so here the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity i. e. a mind and spirit that is at peace within it self that is conscious of its own innocence and integrity will enable a man to bear with great patience and contentment those chastisements which God may see good to exercise him with in this life but a wounded spirit who can bear i. e. if that spirit or mind which should help us to bear all those evils that betide us be it self wounded and disquieted what is there then left in a man to sustain it when our onely remedy is become our disease when that which alone can support us in all our troubles and distresses is become it self our greatest torment how shall we be able to bear it What dangers soever therefore we are exposed unto let us be sure to preserve a good conscience nay let us rather suffer the greatest evils than doe the least If we always continue faithfull and constant to the dictates of reason and religion our minds will be in peace and the conscience of our having pleased God and done our duty and secured our greatest interest will hugely ease and alleviate our afflictions and sustain us under the most pressing evils we can suffer in this life whereas on the other side the greatest confluence of the good things of this world will not be able to free us from the disturbance and anxiety of an evil conscience or to quiet and settle our minds when harassed and tortured with the sense of guilt And this shall lead me to the second thing I propounded which was II. To consider these words more generally as they may be applied to men in all states and conditions and then they propound to us this rule which we should always live by namely that we should upon no consideration whatever doe any thing that our minds or consciences reprove us for And this is the just character of an honest man and of one fit to be trusted that he will never either out of fear or favour consent to doe any thing that his mind tells him is unfit unworthy or unbecoming or that he cannot answer or justify to himself but in all cases will doe what is right and honest however it may be thought of and relished by other men and resolutely adhere to his plain duty though perhaps it may hinder his preferment and advancement his trade and gain and expose him to many inconveniences in this world I wish you would all with Job in my Text take up this brave resolution My righteousness I will hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live For your encouragement I shall onely crave leave to represent unto you these two things 1. That this is the plainest easiest and most certain rule that we can propound to our selves 2. That it is the wisest and safest rule the best policy all things considered 1. That this is the plainest easiest and
and severely threatens him and therefore amidst all worldly distractions and confusions he is not dismayed his innocence doth inspirit him with boldness and courage he is not afraid to trust God with his life and honour and estate or any thing else that is dear to him and can with an humble confidence and assurance as it were challenge the favour of Heaven saying with good Hezekiah Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight though the earth should be removed and the mountains carried into the midst of the Sea though the waters thereof should roar and be troubled and the mountains shake and tremble with the swelling thereof nay though the world should crack and break in pieces about his ears yet intrepidum ferient ruinae he would still be unmoved and unshaken Knowing that his father his friend his patron and benefactour whom he hath always served in the honesty and simplicity of his heart is Pilot of the Ship in all the storms and tempests of this lower world he can put his trust in God and with an unshaken confidence commit himself and all he hath to him who is engaged to protect and defend the innocent who encourage and support themselves in him alone The Lord is his strength his fortress his refuge in the day of affliction and under the shadow of his wings as in an impregnable castle he can securely hide and shelter himself till these calamities be overpast But now on the other side the worldly projectour who will not trust himself or his concerns with Almighty wisedom and power but endeavours to secure himself and to raise his fortunes and make himself great and considerable in the world by ways of his own devising such as God doth not allow nay doth strictly forbid who as it were renounces God Almighty's care and protection and places all his hope and confidence in his own craft and sagacity hath nothing to support and bear up his spirit under any misfortunes In a time of publick danger and calamity he is the most disconsolate forsaken wretch in the world his guilt arms every thing against him and makes him afraid even of his own shadow like that wicked Emperour Caligula who every time it thundred ran under his bed as if he had been aimed at in every crack at such a time he is at his wits end and knows not where to turn himself and his hope is as a spider's web nay as the giving up of the ghost 2. An honest and upright man is most likely to find the best treatment from other men even from the most wicked and ungodly Who is he that will harm you saith St. Peter if ye be followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3.13 a good man is armed with innocence and harmlesness which will guard and defend him from the injuries of wicked and lawless men his unaffected piety and unbyassed honesty and undissembled charity the excellency of his temper and disposition and the unblameableness of his life and conversation will speak in his behalf and plead his cause and procure him so much love and esteem in the world that there will be but few that can find the heart to doe him any mischief as the harmless innocence and simplicity of little children do secure and protect them from all harm and violence and engage every one almost in their defence Whence this observation hath been made and is justified by experience that one who is unstable and wavering is loved by no man because he is not fit to be trusted but a man who is constant to worthy and generous principles commands the like constancy of esteem and veneration from all men and is commonly safe and secure in all times his very enemies reverencing such invincible vertue and honesty He that desires and designs nothing but what is fair and reasonable may promise himself the good-will of all round about him whereas he that is deeply engaged in worldly intrigues and is resolved per fas nefas to enrich himself and is always climing higher trampling upon all that stand in his way must necessarily be engaged in many quarrels and make many enemies and draw on himself the envy and ill-will of the proud and ambitious and live in perpetual emulation and contention for as he striveth to exceed and overtop others so others endeavour as much to get before him and though for a-while he getteth the better yet his enemies are at work to undermine him and blow him up and he must expect that in a little time some sudden change of affairs some unlucky hit or other will tumble him down and put an end to all his fine designs and projects 3. Whatever misfortunes and disappointments an honest upright man may meet with in the world yet he incurs no real disgrace he shall not be ashamed in an evil day no man can reproach him or justly insult over his fall Whereas when the designs of ambitious and covetous oppressours are frustrated and defeated when the crafty Politicians of this world are ensnared in their own devices the city rejoiceth it is matter of sport and triumph to their neighbours and every one acknowledges the justice of it But I hasten 4. An upright man how miserable and forlorn soever his outward condition be yet is pleased and satisfied with himself his mind is at quiet and though the weather abroad be never so blustering and tempestuous yet there is a calm within and he is then most sensible of the joy and contentment which flows from innocence and a rightly ordered conversation when there is the most trouble and confusion without him When all the plagues of God are poured upon Egypt a good man is a Goshen to himself hath light in darkness and under the most cloudy appearance of the Heavens finds nothing but clearness and serenity in his own breast and a good conscience can make a man rich and great and happy even in the midst of the greatest worldly miseries and distractions Whereas when wicked men are in any danger or distress they have a secret enemy in their own bosoms and their guilty consciences will fly in their faces and fill them with amazing fears and terrours and wrack and torture their souls with unexpressible grief and anguish And oh how sad and disconsolate must their condition needs be when the arrows of the Almighty stick fast in them and the poison thereof drinks up their spirits and the terrours of God set themselves in array against them when there is nothing but dismaying dangers and distractions abroad and all outward hopes fail them and at the same time their own minds write bitter things against them this will double every evil that befalls them the sense of guilt being the very sting and venom of all outward troubles and distresses But 2. He that exactly observes the rules and dictates of