to take us to be his inheritance and can we think our selves poore that have God to our inheritance 'T was the honour of the tribe of Levi that they had no portion among their brethren but that the Lord was their portion Every beleeving person is of Gods * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5.3 Clergie and portion and therefore if God be his God his lot is fallen in a faire ground he hath a goodly heritage O the humilitie of our blessed God that can denominate us to be his inheritance that have nothing in us good but what is from him O the happinesse of that soule that can truly say The Lord is my portion for that thou art Gods doth nothing benefit God but that God is thine is all in all to thee This is the onely abiding this the abounding portion If any one think not this enough Let his portion be in this life Psal 17.14 And then when times of losing come it shall be said of him This is the man that took not God to his portion X. GOD being Lord over all even of the earth and its fulnesse hath an universall soveraigntie over all an independent royaltie in all things so that whatsoever man doth injoy is by his dispensation Now if among men estates are incident to such forfeits as their Land-lords may by Law deprive them and reenter why may not the supreame Lord of heaven and earth deprive us of that which is his when we break our Covenants with him and run into so many forseits and arrearages And if in such a case none dare aske a Prince or Landlord why he doth it so here neither dare any one open his mouth against his Maker seeing he may doe what he please with his own To him that hath that is useth well what he hath shall more be given and from him that hath not i. e. useth not or abuseth what he hath shall it be taken away O Lord what I have is thine by right and dominion thine by my forfeit and self-deprivation mine onely by usurpation at most by dispensation I blesse thy mercy for the forbearance of thy right so long I blesse thy justice for depriving me of that right at last The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord. XI GOD as he is the author of all the good wee partake so he hath a hand in all the evill we suffer His holinesse denies him to be a cause of the evill of sinne his justice forceth him to inflict the evill of punishment Is there any evill in the Citie and the Lord hath not done it This Job knew when he saith The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away not onely the Chaldeans and Sabeans though they were the theeves what they did was by Gods permission Who gave Jacob for a spoyle and Israel to the robbers did not the Lord God concurreth in every evill action though not in the evill of the action The substance of it may be of God when the obliquitie is of man God hath an over-ruling hand over all mens wills yet those wills may have contrary motions of their owne Foolish men are they then who being afflicted either look upon the evill and not the cause or if the cause either the wrong or more immediate causes as misfortune malice of man want of discretion I will therefore look not so much on my affliction as on my afflicter and that not subordinate but supreame so shall I finde my suffering to be the more sweet as proceeding from a gracious father whose hand as it casts down will raise up as it woundeth will heale Thus in looking up to him the agent he will look down on me the patient and either remove the evill from me or make mee able to beare it XII GOd as he made man good so hee made every thing good for man Man was made uncapable of corruption and they of alteration If man had not fallen from God his Maker they had not fallen from man their owner Thus by one man sinne death corruption alteration came into the world It is sinne which separateth God from man man from man soule from body man from his goods his goods from himselfe Sinne corrupteth not onely the soule but the body not onely the body but the earth whence he came and the heavens whither he should goe It breedeth a moth in our garments a worme in our provision rust in our silver it exposeth all to the theese It setteth not only God at enmity against man but man with man yea beast with beast yea and makes one man be a beast a Wolfe a Lyon to another So that if wee lose the creature it is because wee have made it lose its primitive nature Now there 's no other way to gain this permanency either to our selves or others but by righteousnesse as this corruptibilitie came by unrighteousnesse But on the earth dwelleth not this righteousnesse nor durablenesse but we look for a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth not onely righteousnesse but perpetuitie and never fading happinesse XIII THe Lesson of the creatures corruptibilitie is that which the word of God doth still dictate and which this world doth daily demonstrate Wee have the volume of holy Writ and the large volume of the creatures to teach us this The Word says All is vanitie The world sheweth wherein this vanitie lyes Wee see men daily taken from their goods and their goods from them Wee see corruptions and alteration of things and yet wee dreame of such an unalterable condition in all things which may reach to eternitie Imaginary continuance of things is in our heads when reall changes are before our eyes Every creature groanes out this and yet wee heare not its voyce Wee build Castles in the ayre and upon the sandy foundation of our owne speculations promise to our selves an estate above the reach of enemies whereas the next storme that riseth doth not onely discover the weaknesse but overthrow the foundation of this imaginary fabrique The foole in the Gospel well so called hugg'd himselfe with this conceit that he had enough laid up for many dayes and therefore bid his soule take its repose whereas the next night his soule was taken from him Had his soule not been taken his goods might God though he had not destroyed his corn in the field yet he could have sent devourers into his barns yea if he had still brought his corne into his mouth he could have sent leanenesse into his soule Teach me O Lord to know not onely my selfe but all flesh to bee as grasse and all things to be vanity so shall I use the world as if Iused it not so shall I enjoy my goods and not bee enjoyed by them Thus the longer I possesse my riches the more I shall know them and the lesse shall be not onely my affection to them but my affiance in them XIV WEre Riches ever tokens of Gods love
as difficult to restrain them from glorying boasting when riches doe increase See this in good Hezekiah Isa 39.1 who was not happie enough to enjoy his gold silver spices oyntments unlesse also he might shew it to the servants of Merodachbaladan So vaine are our natures that we never know we have enough till others know it so also Such hath also been the abundance of many among us in times of peace that their wealth delectable things have served onely to satiate their own eyes with reviewing and others with viewing Vaine men would not onely be rich but be esteemed so Now as in a Plethora of body so of the soule something must be taken from the whole left the whole perish Hezekiahs goods are shewed to the Babylonish Messengers and therefore God threatens that they shall be taken away by the Babylonians When we cannot be content with much without shewing it to others we must be content with lesse for shewing it to others 'T is not onely justice but wisdome in God to have that stollen from us which otherwise would steale our hearts from God If therefore the Lord hath dealt with thee as with Hezekiah get his patience saying Good is the Word of the Lord. Know that that is of most worth which is not worth shewing We cannot shew our fulnesse to others without discovering our emptinesse to God Let not him that is rich glory in his riches for his glorying in them may be the onely meanes to deprive him of them XLI VVHen the pride of Israel did testifie against it selfe Isa 3. the Lord tooke from her her delectable pleasant things Of all sinnes God doth and will resist pride for that doth most resist him That being followed will depose him and therefore he will follow to depose that The mother of pride is usually plentie now this daughter would in time devoure the mother did not God bring her downe As Israels so Englands pride doth testifie against her and therefore as he dealt with the daughters of Israel he will deale with the daughters of England Because the daughters of Sion are haughtie therefore he will smite with a scab the crown of their head he will take away their bravery and tinkling ornaments Thus shall our sorrow for the losse be more then the comfort in the injoying That which was the pride of many is now become their shame Those things which in possessing yeeld most comfort at parting produce most sorrow Falst objects of love yeeld false comforts and true fears XLII AS nature is content with little for food so would it be with as little for rayment But the excesse in one is as great as the excesse in the other Dives did not onely fare sumptuously every day but was also clothed in purple and fine linnen Leaves and skins were our first parents array rayment was to them a shame though it be to us a glory Man had not knowne himselfe naked had he not sinned Garments then are onely a covert for that which sin laid open If clothing therefore followed mans misery I see not how its excellency should truly further mans happinesse Such adorned bodies may have naked soules If ever I am ambitious of cloathing it shall be of those garments of salvation which will alone make me glorious within I scorn such array wherein I shall seem admirable to men and abominable to my God XLIII TO all things there is an appointed time Eccles 3.6.8 says Solomon A time to lose and a time to keep a time for warre and a time for peace God is the Lord of times and seasons and these times through his disposing have a successive intercourse in this life Yet spiritually all times are one to a true beleever for in times of warre he finds peace when the Assyrian is in the land Christ is their peace and in times of losing they are gainers for as the outward man like the house of Saul decreaseth the inner man like that of David waxeth greater But then in the next life when time shall be no more there will bee nothing but gaining and keeping no losing nor warres and discord there but peace and concord XLIV IN the history of Joseph we read Gen. 45. that hee sent Waggons and provision for his father Jacob and his family having procured and reserved the land of Goshen for him till his comming Now lest Jacob might hardly be perswaded to leave behinde him his houshould goods the King of Aegypt bids him not regard that stuffe for the Land of Aegypt was before him Joseph was a type of Christ as well in his low estate when he was sold as in his high estate when hee was able to give Now Christ hath invited me to forsake all and come unto him having provided and promised me a Goshen a mansion hee also will send me enough to maintain me by the way Why then should I regard such stuffe as will cumber me by the way and be no comfort to me at the end I will be content with ordinary provision in the way when I am sure to finde extraordinary entertainment at home XLV THe Church is described Rev. 12. to bee clothed with the Sunne and to have the Moon under her feet By the Sun is meant Christ by the Moon all earthly things by being under feet notes subjection shame disesteeme Those new converts therefore in the Acts did not cast their mony into the Apostles laps or put it into their hands but threw it down at their feet as so much dung fitter for trampling on then handling But as the Church doth so the wicked doe the contrary putting Christ the Sunne under feet and the Moon on their heads Though for the present use I may have the Moon in my hands yet in opposition to the Sun it shall be at my feet I will esteeme all these sublunary things as losse for Christ For all things are so farre under us as we are above our selves He that is clothed after this womans fashion shall surpasse others as farre as the Sunne doth the Moone in glory XLVI VVHere onely temporall things are enjoyed by a man that man is in danger of being enjoyed by them such objects are likely to engross his affections and desires But when by losses a divorce is made from the first love another is sought for The heart will more easily bee brought to affect a more abiding object Prosperity dilates the affections and makes a man lose himselfe in the creature but adversity unites and gathers in all the powers of the soule and settles them on God more fervently and lastingly Either we must leave earthly things or they leave us before we affect or possesse spirituall The children of Israel had spent their Garlick and Onions before they tasted any Manna XLVII ALL things are yours 1 Cor. 3.21 saith the Apostle all things present and and to come yea having nothing to see they possesse all things by faith Beleevers have a
Son Isaac not Ishmael take him thy selfe and seek no other executioner take him presently and delay not the time I le not allow thee a day or houre to conferre with or comfort thy distracted heart Get thee into the land of Moriah three dayes journey so long shall thy soule be in suspence When thou comest thither slay him having slaine him burne him to me in sacrifice so many wayes did the Lord exercise his faith Thus our most delectable things are those wherein the Lord tryeth us 'T is wisdome then not to be too much endeared to that in affection which wee would still keepe with us in possession I will therefore endeavour to take off my heart from those things which God may take from me LXXX SOme there are who in prayer for temporall things are importunate beggers as if such things were absolutely and in their owne nature good But I know not whether to admire in them their folly or their sawcinesse Had the Lord made an absolute promise of temporalls it would be a sufficient ground for such prayers But oftentimes those things which seeme good prove ill unto us so that by desiring them we wish evill to our selves So farre as temporall things may doe us good so farre God hath promised them and we may expect them The Lord knows what to give and what we want better then we our selves But as for spirituall things wee may be as bold beggers as we will either in manner or measure These are simply good and are simply desirable When ever therefore I pray for a temporall thing I will first say Thy will be done and then Give me my daily bread LXXXI I Have learned in whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content Phil. 41.11 saith the Apostle A lesson which though Paul the Master had learned his Schollers may be to learne Mens estates rise and fall ebbe and flow now the art is to make our spirits have the same cadence with our estates For herein a mans minde and estate resemble the scales of a Ballance which when one ascends the other descends Sometimes our minds are higher then our means otherwhiles our means are higher then our minds greater and requiring other behaviours Now nothing can exactly poize these but a contented minde If God set us low and give us povertie we must know how to be abased and to be hungry if he send us plentie and abundance then to know how to be full and to abound The difficultie lyes herein that when some are brought low they are overcome with impatience unbeliefe murmuring if they are set on high and have all things at full they prove either forgetfull of God or unthankfull to God or unkinde to others Now this knowledge and art of contentation orders our conversation a right in both God gives some plentie but withholds this knowledg from them thus their rising proves to be their fall God gives others povertie and teacheth them this art of contentment and then they have more comfort in a low estate then they had in a high O Lord I am brought very low make me know how to be abased and if ever thou settest mee on high teach me how to abound Let me not sinke being now poore nor swell if ever I be rich LXXXII GOdlinesse with contentment is great gaine 1 Tim. 6.6 No godlinesse without contentment and no true contentment without godlinesse He that hath enough may very well be content but a godly man hath enough he hath all he hath both things present and things to come he is an heir of the promises and he may bee sure of their performance because faithfull is he that promiseth A sufficiencie hee shall have here a satietie hereafter If any one say he is religious and is not content he hath but the form of godlinesse he denieth the power Godlinesse is of it selfe gain but with contentment it is great gain LXXXIII WHat way soever a Christian looketh hee may fide something to forward him in this art of contentation If hee look under him he sees what he is dust and ashes that from whence hee come and to which he must returne If within him he shall find nothing but unworthinesse whereby hee is lesse then the least of Gods favours If without him hee may see many better then him poorer and lower then himt If above him hee may see the place whither hee shall goe and where is fulnesse of joy Thus both heaven and earth our selves and others teach us the lesson of contentment If thou art therefore discontent with thy estate thou forgettest whence thou camest whither thou must goe what thou art what others are I will never murmure at my condition seeing others have lesse I am lesse then it seeing earth is my beginning and heaven my end LXXXIV GIve me neither poverty nor riches Pro. 30.8 was Agurs prayer A prayer which savours as much of modesty as wisdome of modesty seeing beggars ought not to be chusers of wisdome seeing a mean estate is the best estate he that knowes the inconveniences of a low or high estate will chuse a meane They that wil be rich fall into many temptations and they that are poore fall into them likewise Either of these extreames are fit baits for Satan and our corrup hearts but he that likes and keeps the mean is freed from both As I would not be a shrub of the vallies to be trampled on by all so I would not be a Cedar of the mountains to be envied at by most I have read a meane estate to be compared to the glasse of a window which keeps out a storme and admits the light such and estate is best as frees a man from the stormes of the world and admits the light of Gods countenance A great estate like a great wall may keep off the injuries of the world but not let in a beam of this light As I will not pray then for poverty so neither for riches but for a convenient estate LXXXV IT is written Psal 4.5 Man shall not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God The Word doth not only sanctifie our bread but satisfie us in stead of bread when the staffe of bread failes us the staffe of the Word upholdeth us They that think to live only by bread without the word may for the present abound but they that can live by the Word when they have no bread are sure never to want Carnall men may deride this kind of life but at destruction and famine they shall laugh the surest way to injoy our food is in the promise I will satisfie her poore with bread The heaven may with-hold its rain and the earth not yeeld her increase but before one word or tittle of Gods promise shall faile heaven and earth shall passe away Lord I should perish in my affliction but thy Word quickens mee Thy House is the house of bread the true
for good they would afflict mans heart w th as much sorrow in lofing as they doe affect it with joy in possessing But we see that sometimes God gives some their wealth as Ebud did the present to Eglm with a dagger to destroy them or as God gave Israel a King in his wrath or as Saul gave David his daughter to ensnare him This God doth out of justice to satiate their exorbitant desires till furfeit of the creature comming thereby causeth some greater evill He puts this knife in these mad mens hands whereby they will destroy themselves and others Of such David sayes Their table shall be made a snare So that if we are brought to low commons we are delivered from the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken and wee are escaped If thy wealth then proceed out of Gods love it shall be as durable as comfortable but if it be given thee out of wrath it will either be an occasion of misery and vexation for the present or of thy ruine at the last The wealth of the ungodly is either a snare to entangle their soules or else a thiese to steale them away XV. COuld the creatures vexation be separated from its substance it would bee a desirable object but experience shewes that to be impossible We see men vex and trouble themselves to procure wealth thinking then to be eased of trouble when they are laden with substance whereas in stead of their desired content they find abundance of unexpected cares Looke upon a worldling either sleeping or waking standing or going at home or abroad and you shall find that his distracted countenance his needlesse fears his jealous imaginations his corroding cares to get more and keep what he hath doe plainly demonstrate this Now God is pleased there should be this medley to embitter these dugges to cause these prickles about these Roses to intermingle our joyes with sorrowes and interlace our commodities with discommodities that we may bee weaned from them and seek for such treasures above which are not onely without mixture but without measure even at the right hand of God for evermore XVI MAn being a reasonable creature doth not in any thing shew himselfe more unreasonable then in this to thinke that any thing in the world hath that in it which is proportionable to the capacitie of his soule This appeares in those persons whose desires seeming for a while to be satiated with severall objects supposing that this or that thing being obtained will terminate their appetites and settle their roving soules with a sweet repose as if there could be a nil ultra to seek for whereas indeed in the prosecution of more the soule loseth what it hath and thinking to gain more abundance is deprived of the true use and comfort of what it enjoyes For the hope of what such a one may have swallowes up the comfort of what he hath So vast and capacious a thing is the soul the sooner shall the barren womo be satisfied yea sooner wil the mouth of hell be filled then it be satisfied with the greatest confluence of outward things and therefore sooner will the Sunne be weary and stand still in its course then it in the prosecution of earthly objects The reason hereof is because the world yeelds nothing proportionable to the soules nature its nature is divine infinite immortall but things of this life are earthly finite perishing Now that which is earthly savours earthly things and is satisfied with them but that which is spiritual savours spiritual things and can bee onely satisfied with them You may fill a Chest with money but not with wisdome knowledge grace And so may the soul be filled with knowledge and grace but not with money for the one hath dimensions the other none so that in one the thing contained may equalize the thing containing but not in the other That then which satisfies the soule is onely that which created it redeemed it So that after all the rovings and disquisitions of the mind it can finde no true rest till it pitch on God in Christ Like Noahs Dove it being sent about the earth finding no place to light on it must returne to the place from whence it came Thou O Lord who didst endue my soule with such capacious faculties fill them with they selfe for after its manifold wandring in the circle of this world it find no adequate satisfactory object but in thee its center in whom all fulnesse dwels and who art not onely above all and in all but All in All. XVII GEN. 33.19 wee read strange sentence dropping out of Esau's mouth I have enough Afterward vers 13. Jacob is in the same tune I have enough or as some translations have it I have all i.e. both temporall and spirituall Out of the fulnesse of the heart the mouth speaketh and out of the fulnesse of pride of heart might Esau say thus in that he scorned to be beholding to Jacob or else out of a fulnesse of modesty in that he would not seem to receive any of his Hee that could in an outward forme even with teares say Hast thou not a blessing for me might rest unsatisfied with temporall blessings His rough hands were not onely tenacious of what he had but as fit to receive more hold more Lautent Anat. The Anatomists observe one speciall Artery to passe from the heart to the tongue to shew that Nature would have the tongue to be the hearts Oratour to express the same thing moving in the same motion Yet we see where the heart is not right the tongue is not uniforme this Artery suffers a distortion Many men with Esau say I have enough but it is either because they know not how to get more or use more Give me O Lord the blessings of Jacob the blessings of thy right hand and then my voyce shall be the voyce of Jacob I have enough yea I have all XVIII FOolish men that spend their labour for that which satisfieth not and expend their money for that which is not bread that let loose their thoughts which like Noabs Raven returne not againe but rove about after the carrion of this world It was the complaint of Jeremiah that they who are cloathed with skarlet lie on the dunghill and and how may wee complain of them who are highly deseended yet doe seeke onely things below 'T is true that every man is placed here on the earth as a treasurer of his own soule the godly lay up a good foundation the wicked also even in treasuring up the world doe treasure up wrath and oppression How abundantly then soever my estate comes in I will never bid my soul be at rest till it finde it in Christ nor will I ever think I have much laid up for many dayes unlesse it be in heaven with the Ancient of dayes XIX LVke 10. wee read of the respect that two sisters bore to Christ the one to his person the other to his