enemies and unintermitted dangers and difficulties that our light afflictions which are here but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Our afflictions and incoveniences in this world 1. are light in comparison of that exceeding far more exceeding weight of glory 2. As they are but light so being compared with that eternal weight of glory they are but for a moment The longest life we here live is not ordinarily above threescore and ten years and though the more troublesom and uneasie that life is the longer it seems yet compared with the infinite abyss of Eternity it is but a moment yea less than a moment if less can be yet such is the longest stay in this life if compared with Eternity And the gracious God hath presented this greatest and most important truth to us with the greatest evidence and assurance that the most desponding and suspitious Soul can desire 1. He hath given his own Word of Truth to assure us of it 2. He hath given his own Son to seal it unto us by the most powerful and convincing evidence imaginable by his mission from Heaven on purpose to tell us it by his Miracles by attestations from Heaven by the laying down his own Life in witness of it by his Resurrection and Ascention by the miraculous Mission of his Holy Spirit visibly and audibly Again 3. He hath confirmed it to us by the Doctrine and Miracles of his Apostles by their Death and Martyrdom as a Witness of the Truth they taught by the numerous Converts and Primitive Christians and godly Martyrs who all lived and dyed in this Faith and for it who made it their choice rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season declaring plainly that they sought a better City and Countrey that is a heavenly Heb. 11.15 25. and this Countrey and this City they had in their Eye even whiles they lived in this troublesom world And this prospect this hope and expectation rendred this lower world of no great value to them the pleasures thereof they esteemed but low and little and the troubles and uneasiness thereof they did undergo patiently cheerfully and contentedly for they looked beyond them and placed their hopes their treasure their comfort above them And even whiles they were in this life yet they did by their faith and hope anticipate their own happiness and enjoyed by faith even before they actually possessed it by fruition for Faith is the substance of things hoped for Heb. 11. and makes those things present by the firmness of a sound perswasion which are in themselves future and to come And this is that which will have the same effect with us if we live and believe as they did and be but firmly and soundly perswaded of the truth of the Gospel thus admirably confirmed unto us This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith Heb. 10.38 The just shall live by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 We live by faith and not by sight and excellent is that passage to this purpose 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal And therefore if we do but seriously believe the truth of the Gospel the truth of the life to come the best external things of this world will seem but of small moment to take up the choicest of our desires or hopes and the worst things this world can inflict will appear too light to provoke us to impatience or discontent He that hath but Heaven and everlasting glory in prospect and a firm expectation will have a mind full of contentation in the midst of the lowest and darkest condition here on Earth Impatience and discontent never can stay long with us if we awake our minds and summon up our faith and hope in that life and happiness to come Sudden passions of impatience and discontent may like clouds arise and trouble us for a while but this faith and this hope rooted in the Heart if stirred up will like the Sun scatter and dispell them and cause the light of patience contentation and comfort to thine through them And as we have this hope of immortality and blessedness set before us so the means and way to attain it is easie and open to all no person is excluded from it that wilfully excludes not himself Isa 51.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat without money and without price Rev. 22.17 Whosoever will let him take of the waters of life freely Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest The way to everlasting happiness and consequently to contentation here is laid open to all It was the great reason why God made mankind to communicate everlasting happiness to them and when they wilfully threw away that happiness it was the end why he sent his Son into the world to restore mankind unto it And as the way is open to all so it is easie to all his yoak is easie and his burthen light The terms of attaining happiness if sincerely endeavoured are easie to be performed by virtue of that grace that God Almighry affords to all men that do not wilfully reject it namely to believe the truth of the Gospel so admirably confirmed and sincerely to endeavour to obey the precepts thereof which are both just and reasonable highly conducing to our contentation in this life and consummating our happiness in the life to come And for our encouragement in this obedience we are sure to have if we desire it the special grace of the Blessed Spirit to assist us and a merciful Father to accept of our sincerity and a gracious Saviour to pardon our failings and deficiencies So that the way to attain contentation in this life and happiness in the life to come as it is plain and certain so it is open and free none is excluded from it but it is free and open to all that are but willing to use this means to attain it And I shall wind up all this long Discourse touching Contentation with this plain and ordinary Instance I have before said that our home our Countrey is Heaven and Everlasting Happiness where there are no sorrows nor fears nor troubles that this World is the place of our travel and pilgrimage and at the best our Inn Now when I am in my journey I meet with several inconveniencies it may be the way is bad and foul the weather tempestuous or stormy
life and all things 2. As in the certainty so in the Plainness and Easiness of the truth The most excellent subjects of other knowledge have long windings before a man can come at them and are of that difficulty and abstruseness that as every brain is not fit to undertake the acquiring of it so much pains labour industry advertency assiduity is required in the best of judgments to attain but a competent measure of it witness the studies of Arithmetick Geometry Natural Philosophy Metaphysicks c. wherein great labour hath been taken to our hands to make the passage more easie and yet still are full of difficulty But in this knowledge it is otherwise as it is a knowledge fitted for a universal use the bringing of mankind to God so it is fitted with a universal fitness and convenience for that use easie plain and familiar The poor receive the Gospel Matth. 11.5 and indeed the plainness of the doctrine was that which made the wise world stumble at it and thence it was that it was hid from the wise and prudent Matth. 11.25 who like Naaman with the Prophet could not be contented to be healed without some great ostentation nor were contented to think any thing could be the wisdom of God and the power of God unless it were somewhat that were abstruse and at least conformable to that wisdom they had and were troubled to think that that wisdom or doctrine that must be of so great a use and end should fall under the capacity of a Fisherman a maker of Tents a Carpenter But thus it pleased God to choose a Doctrine of an easie acquisition 1. That no slesh should glory in his sight 1 Cor. 1.29.2 That the way to Salvation being a common thing propounded to all mankind might be difficult to none Believe and thy sins be forgiven Believe and thou shalt be saved Believe and thou shalt be raised up to Glory Joh. 6. 40. This is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and Believeth on him may have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day 3. As in the Certainty and Plainness so in the Sublimity and Loftiness of the subject And hence it is that Metaphysicks is reckoned the most noble knowledge because conversant with and about the noblest subject substance considered in abstractâ— from corporeity and particular adherents falling under other Sciences But the subject of this knowledge is of the highest consideration Almighty God the dispensation of his counsel touching man in reference to the everlasting condition of mankind the true measure of just and unjust the pure will of God the Son of God and his miraculous Incarnation Death Resurrection and Ascention the great Covenant between the Eternal God and fallen man made sealed and confirmed in Christ his great transaction with the Father in their Eternal Counsel and since his Ascention in his continual Intercession for man the means of the discharge and satisfaction of the breach of the Law of God the state of the Soul after death in blessedness or misery these and many of these are the subject of that knowledge that is revealed in the knowledge of Christ such as their very matter speaks them to be of a most high nature the great transactions of the counsel and administration of the mighty King of Heaven in his Kingdom over the children of men such as never fell under the discovery or so much as the disquisition of the wisest Philosophers and such as the very Angels of Heaven desire to look down into 1 Pet. 1. and behold with admiration that manfold wisdom of God which is revealed unto us poor worms in Christ Jesus 4. As the matters are wonderful high and sublime so they are of most singular Use to be known There be many pieces of Learning in the World that are conversant about high subjects as that part of Natural Philosophy concerning the Heaven and the Soul the Metaphysicks the abstruser parts of the Mathematicks that are not in order to practice But as it may fall out that the knowledge of the subject is unaccessible in any certainty so if it were never so exactly known it goes no farther and when it 's known there 's an end and no more use of it Whereas many times subjects of an inferiour nature are more useful in their knowledge as practical Mathematicks Mechanicks Moral Philosophy Policy but then they are of an inferiour nature more useful but perchance less noble But here is the priviledge of the knowledge of Christ Jesus that as it is of Eminence and Height so it is of Use and Convenience and that in the highest measure as it is a Pearl for Beauty so it is for Value This knowledge is a kind of Catholicon of universal use and convenience In reference to this life Am I in Want in Contempt in Prison in Banishment in Sickness in Death This knowledge gives me Contentedness Patience Cheerfulness Resignation of my self to his will who hath sealed my Peace with him and Favour from him in the Great Covenant of his Son and I can live upon this though I were ready to starve when I am assured that if it be for my good and the glory of his Name I shall be delivered if not I can be contented so my Jewel the Peace of God and my own Conscience by the Blood of Christ be safe Am I in Wealth Honour Power Greatness Esteem in the world This knowledge teacheth me Humility as knowing from whom I received it Fidelity as knowing to whom I must account for it Watchfulness as knowing the Honour of my Lord is concerned in some measure in my carriage and that the higher my employment is the more obnoxious I am to temptation from without from the that watch for my halting and from within by a deceitful heart And in all it teacheth me not to overvalue it nor to value my self the more by it or for it because the knowledge of Christ Jesus presents me with a continual object of a higher value the price of the high calling of God in Christ it teacheth me to look upon the glory of the World as rust in comparison of the glory that excelleth and the greatest of men as worms in comparison of the great God And as thus in reference to the temporal condition of my life this knowledge of Christ is of singular use and makes a man a better Philosopher than the best of Morals in reference thereunto So it guides me in the management of all Relations 1. To God it presents him unto me in that representation that is right full of Majesty yet full of Love which teacheth me Reverence and yet Access with boldness Love and Obedience 2. To Man Justice giving every man his due for so the knowledge of Christ teacheth me Do as ye would be done by Mercy to forgive Compassion to pity Liberality to relieve Sobriety in the use of creatures and yet Comfort in
moment I were bereft of all either by Fire or Depredation how were my mind fitted with humility and patience to submit to a poor strait wanting condition I have now a good Husband Wife Children many Friends that esteem me and are faithful to to me what if God should in a moment deprive me of all these what if my dearest Friends should become my bitterest Enemies how should I bear my self under these changes I have a great Name and Esteem in the World what if in a moment a black cloud of Infamy and Scorn and Reproach were drawn of it and that I should become a scorn and reproach with Job 30.8 among children of fools yea children of base men viler than the earth how were I fitted with humility and evenness of mind to comport with such a condition till it pleaseth God by his Providence and the manifestation of my Innocence if he think sit to scatter this black cloud of Calumny and Reproach or if not yet quietly under it to enjoy the testimony of a good conscience and my own integrity These and the like anticipations of troubled and afflicted conditions would habituate and fit our minds to bear them furnish us with suitable tempers for them render them casie to us when they come and keep our Souls in a due state of moderation and watchfulness before they come As the good Martyr Bilney before his martyrdom by often putting his Finger into the Candle made the Flames which he was after to endure more familiar and tollerable 3. The third Preparative against Affliction and calamitous seasons is to reason our selves off from over-much love and valuation of the World and the best things it affords Philosophy hath made some short essay in this business but the Doctrine of the Gospel hath given us far more noble and effectual topicks and arguments than any Philosophy ever did or can 1. By giving us a plain and clear estimate and valuation of this World and all that seems most valuable in it but this is not all but 2. by shewing us plainly and clearly a more valuable certain and durable estate after death and a way of attaining it with much more ease and contentation than we can attain the most splendid temporals of this World Certain it is that the weight and and stress of afflictions and crosses lyes not so much in the things themselves which we suffer in them or by them as in that overvaluation that we put upon those conveniences which afflictions or crosses deprive us of When news was brought to that noble Roman of the death of his Son it was a great pitch of patience that even that Moral consideration wrought in him Novi me genuisse mortalem though perchance it was not without a mixture of Stoical vain-glory We set too great a value upon our health our wealth our reputation and that makes 〈◊〉 unable to bear with that evenness and contentedness of mind the loss of them by sickness poverty reproach We set too great a rate upon our temporal life here because we set too great a rate upon this World to the enjoyment whereof this life here is accommodated and proportioned and that makes us fear death not only as the ruine of our nature but as that which puts a period to all our comforts Whereas had we but Faith enough to believe the Evangelical truths touching our future happiness it would make us not desire death because we might in the time of this life secure unto our selves that great and one thing necessary and it would make us not to fear death because we see a greater fruition to be enjoyed after it than all the glory of this present World can yield 4. The next Preparative against Afflictions is to keep Piety Innocence and a Good Conscience before it comes As Sin is the sting of death so it is the sting of affliction and that which indeed gives the greatest bitterness and strength unto affliction and the reason is this because it weakens and disables that part in man which must bear and support it This is that which the Wise man observes Proc. 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear which is no more than this It is the mind and spirit of man rightly principled that doth bear and carry a man through those difficulties and afflictions and infirmities under which he is but if that spirit or mind which should carry and bear those evils be hurt or wounded or faint or infirm what is there left in a man to bear that which indeed should be our support Innocence and a Good Conscience keeps the mind and spirit of a man in courage and considence and indeed it hath an influence and suffrage and attestation and support from the God of Heaven to whom a good conscience can with an humble confidence appeal as Hezekiah did under a great affliction Isa 38. and this access to Almighty God doth give new supplies succours and strength to the Soul to bear it up under very great and pressing afflictions But on the other side Sin doth disable the Soul to bear affliction till it be throughly repented of 1. Because it doth in a great measure emasculate and weaken the spirit of a man makes it poor cowardly and unable to bear it self up under the pressure of afflictions 2. It doth in a great measure obstruct the intercourse between God and the Soul and that influence that might and would otherwise be derived to the spirit or mind of a man by the God of the spirits of all flesh Therefore the best preparative against affliction is to have the Soul as clear as may be from the guilt of Sin 1. By an innocent and watchful life in the time of our prosperity before affliction attach us 2. Or at least By a speedy sincere and hearty Repentance for Sin committed and this repentance to be speedy before affliction come For although it is true that many times affliction is the messenger of God to awaken a sinner to repentance and that repentance is accepted by the merciful God yet that repentance is most kindly and easie and renders afflictions less difficult and troublesom which prevents affliction and performs one great end and use of afflictions before it comes He that hath a Soul cleansed by Faith and Repentance from the guilt of Sin before the severity of affliction comes upon him hath but one work to do namely to fit himself with patience to undergo the shock of affliction But he that defers his repentance till driven to it by affliction his work is more difficult because it is double namely to begin his repentance and to bear his affliction And because in many things we offend all and the best have their failings and sins of daily incursion a daily revising and examining of our own failings and renewing of our repentance for our daily faults is of singular use to render afflictions easie because repentance
wealth or honour or power or splendour or great equipage in this World but all that he demes in reference to this World is 1. That the comfortable presence and sense of the favour and love of God should be with him If God will be with me 2. That the Protection of the Divine Providence may be continually over him and will keep we in the way that I go 3. That he would supply him not with curiosities or delicacies but with necessaries and will give me bread to eat and raâ—ment to put on And the truth is this should be the Rule und Measure of every good man in reference to this life and the enjoyments of it and the desires of them until he come to his Father's house in peace that house wherein there are many mansions that the great Father of whom all the Family in Heaven and Earth is named hath provided for such as fear and love and obey him Indeed the two former of these though they be no more than what the bountiful God freely affords to all that truly love him and depend upon him are of a strange and vast extent First the comfortable presence of God supplies abundantly all that can be desired by us and abundantly countervails whatsoever else we seem to want it is better than life it self And when the Ancients would express all that seemed beneficial or prosperous in this life they had no suller and comprehensive expression of it than that God was with him Joseph Gen. 39. 3. And when his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper 1 Sam. 18. 14 28. the wisdom and courage and success of David is resolved into this one thing The Lord was with him But certainly though the Divine presence should not manifest it self in external successes and advantages the very sense of the savour and comfortable presence of God carries with it an abundant supply of all other deficiences Psal 4. 6 7. The light of the countenance of Almighty God is the most supereminent good and occasions more true joy and contentment than the redundance of all external advantages Secondly the Divine protection and providence is the most sure and safe protection and supplies the want of all other The munition of Rocks is thy defence and all other desences and refuges without this are weak impotent and failing defences Except the Lord watch the city the watchman watcheth but in vain That therefore which I shall fix upon is the last of his three desires If he shall give me meat to drink and rayment to put on The desires of a good man in relation to the things of this life ought not to be lavish and extravagant not to be of things for grandeur or delicacy or excess but to be terminated in things of necessity for his present subsistence convenient food and rayment If Almighty God give more than this it is matter of the greater gratitude as it was to Jacob Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies c. for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands But if he gives no more we have enough for our contentation Almighty God who is never worse than his word but most commonly better hath not given us any promise of more neither hath he given us commission to expect or ask for more If he gives more than necessary he exalts his bounty and benificence and yet if he gives no more it is bounty that he gives so much and is matter both of our contentation and gratitude This the wise man Agur made his request Prov. 30. 8. Give me neither poverty nor riches seed me with food convenient for me This our Lord teacheth us to ask in his excellent form of Prayer Give us this day our daily bread and this is that which the Apostle prescribes for the Rule of our contentation 1 Tim. 6.8 And having food and rayment let us be therewith content And truly if it pleaseth God to allow us a sufficiency and competency for the necessity of our nature we have very great Reason to be contented with it not only as it is a duty enjoyned unto us but upon most evident conviction of sound Reason both in regard unto Almighty God in regard of our selves and in regard of others I shall mingle these Reasons together 1. It becomes us to be contented because whatsoever we have we have from the free allowance bounty and goodness of God he owes us nothing but what we have we have from free gift and bounty If a man demands a debt of another we think it just he should be paid what he demands but if a man receive an alms from another we think it reasonable he should be content with what the other gives without prescribing to the measure of his bounty But the case is far stronger here we are under an obligation of duty to be charitable to others wants by virtue of a Divine Command but Almighty God is under no other law of conferring benefits but of his own bounty goodness and will 2. It becomes us to be content because our measure and dole is given unto us as by him that is absolute Lord of his own bounty so by him that is the wisest dispenser of his own benefits he knows far better than we our selves what proportion is fittest for us he hath given us enough for our necessity and we are desirous to have somewhat more the wise God knows it may be that more would do us harm would undo us would make us luxurious proud insolent domineering forgetful of God The great Lord and Master of the great Family of the World knows who are and who are not able to bear redundancy And therefore if I have food convenient for me I have reason to be content because I have reason to believe the great and wise God knows what proportion best sits me it may be if I had more I were ruined 3. We must know that we are but Stewards of the very external blessings of this life and at the great Audit we must give an account of our Stewardship and those Accounts will be strictly perused by the great Lord of all the Family in Heaven and Earth Now if our external benefits be but proportionable to our necessities and necessary use our Account is easily and safely made Imprimis I have received so much of thy external blessings as were necessary for my food and clothing and for the feeding and clothing of my Family But on the other side where there is a superfluity and redundance given over and above our necessary support the account is more difficult where much is given much will be required There will be an account required how the redundant overplus was employed how much in Charity how much in other good works and God knows that too too often very pitiful accounts are made of the surplusage and redundancy
all places knows our thoughts our wants our sins our desires and is ready to supply us with all things that are good and fit for us beyond all we can ask or think hath incomprehensible Wisdom and irresistible Power to effect what he pleaseth that leaves not any of his works especially mankind without his special care and superintendence over them without whose will or designed permission nothing befalls us 2. That this most Wise and Just and Powerful God hath appointed a law or rule according to which his will is that the children of men should conform themselves and according to the upright endeavours of the children of men to conform thereunto he will most certainly give rewards and according to the wilful transgressions thereof he will inflict punishments and that he is a most strict and infallible observer of all the wayes of the children of men whether of obedience or disobedience thereunto 3. That this law and will of his he hath communicated and revealed unto the children of men in his Holy Word especially by the mission of his Son Jesus Christ who brought into the world a full and complete collection of those holy Laws of God whereunto he would have us conform 4. That he hath given unto mankind in and through Christ Jesus a full manifestation of a future life after this of rewards and punishments and according to that law of his thus manifested by his Son he will by the same Jesus Christ dispense and execute the sentences of rewards and punishments and judge every man according to his works 5. And that the reward of faith and obedience in that other life to come shall be an eternal blessed happy estate of soul and body in the glorious Heavens and in the presence and fruition of the ever Glorious and Eternal God 6. And that the punishment of the rebellious and disobedient unto this will and law of God thus manifested by his Son shall be an eternal separation of soul and body from the presence of God and the conclusion of them under chains of darkness and everlasting torments in hell fire 7. And that the Son of God hath given us the greatest assurance imaginable of the truth of this will of God of this happiness and misery by taking upon him our nature by his miracles by his death and resurrection and ascention into glory and by his mission of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation into his Apostles and Disciples both to instruct the world in his trust and to evidence the truth of their mission from him 8. That Almighty God though full of justice and severity against obstinate and rebellious yet is full of tenderness love and compassion towards all those that sincerely desire to obey his will and to accept of terms of peace and reconciliation with him and is ready upon repentance and amendment to pardon whatsoever is amiss and hath accordingly promised it And that he hath the care and love and tenderness of a father towards us that in our sincere endeavour of obedience to him we shall be sure of his love favour and protection that in all our afflictions and troubles he stands by us and will not leave us that he will most certainly make good every promise that by Christ he hath sent unto us for the life that is present and that which is to come that the Law he hath sent us by Christ to submit unto is an easie and good Law such as will perfect our nature and fit it to be partaker of his glory and that all his thoughts towards us in our faithful endeavour to obey him are thoughts of love favour peace bounty and goodness And of this he hath given the greatest assurance that is possible for mankind to expect or desire even the sending of his Eternal Son into the world to take upon him our nature to acquaint us with his Father's will and love to live a life of want and misery and to dye a death full of shame and horror to rise again to dispatch Messengers into all the world to publish the good will of God to mankind to ascend up into glory and there to make intercession for us poor worms at the right hand of God giving us also hereby assurance of our resurrection and of his coming again to judge the world and to receive his obedient servants into eternal glory These be some of those principal Objects of that Faith that overcometh the World being soundly received believed and digested 2. As touching the act it self it is no other than a sound real and firm belief of those Sacred Truths And therefore it seems that they that perplex the notion of Faith with other intricate and abstruse definitions or descriptions either render it very difficult and scarce intelligible or else take into the definition or description those things that are but the consequents and effects of it He that hath this firm perswasion will most certainly repent of his sins past will most certainly endeavour obedience to the will of God which is thus believed by him to be holy just and good and upon the obedience or disobedience whereof depends his eternal happiness or misery will most certainly depend upon the promises of God for this life and that to come for those are as natural effects of such a firm perswasion as it is for the belief of a danger to put a man upon means to avoid it or for the belief of a benefit to put a man upon means to attain it Some things are of such a nature that the belief or knowledge of them goes no further but it rests in it self as the belief or knowledge of bare speculative truths But some things are of such a nature as being once truly and firmly believed or known carry a man out to action and such are especially the knowledge or belief of such things as are the objects of our fears or of our hopes the belief of such objects do naturally and with a kind of moral necessity carry a man out to action to the avoiding of such fears and the attaining of such hopes And therefore faith and belief in reference thereunto comes often in the Scripture under the names of hope and fear as being the proper effects of it Instances we have of both 2 Cor. 5.10 11. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men 1 Joh. 3.2 3. But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and every man that bath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure Therefore we need not be so sollicitous touching the nature of faith what kind of faith it is that must save us certainly if it be a true and real assent of the mind to these great truths of
hast set up And therefore our Blessed Lord redoubles the injunction of our fear toward him that can destroy both body and soul in hell but forbids any fear of such persecutors who can only destroy the body and then can do no more And certainly that man that hath full assurance of favour and esteem with the great God of heaven and earth of an incorruptible weight and crown of glory the next moment after death must needs have a low esteem of the reproaches and scorns and persecutions of men for righteoufness sake and so much the rather because that very favour with God and that very crown of happiness that he expects is enhanced by those very scorns and those very afflictions For Our light afflictions which are here for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 3. Concerning the third kind of world namely the Providential world consisting in external dispensations of adversity or prosperity And first concerning the dark part of this world namely Adversity as casualties losses of wealth or friends sicknesses the common effects whereof are impatience distrust murmuring and unquietness Faith conquers this part of the world and prevents those evil consequences which either temptations from without or corruptions from within are apt to raise 1. Faith presents the soul with this assurance that all external occurrences come from the wise dispensation or permission of the most glorious God they come not by chance 2. That the glorious God may even upon the account of his own Sovereignty and pro imperio inflict what he pleaseth upon any of his creatures in this life 3. That yet whatsoever he doth in this kind is not only an effect of his power and sovereignty but of his wisdom yea and of his goodness and bounty No affliction can befall any man but it may be useful for his instruction or prevention 4. That the best of men deserve far worse at the hands of God than the worst afflictions that ever did or ever can befall any man in this life 5. That there have been examples of greater affliction that have befallen better men in this life witness Job and that excellent pattern of all patience and goodness even as a man our Lord Christ Jesus 6. That these afflictions are sent for the good even of good men and it is their fault and weakness if they have not that effect 7. That in the midst of the severest afflictions the favour of God to the soul discovering it self like the Sun shining through a cloud gives light and comfort to the Soul 8. That Almighty God is ready to support them that believe in him and to bear them up under all their afflictions that they shall not sink under them 9. That whatsoever or how great soever the afflictions of this life are if the name be blasted with reproaches the estate wasted and consumed by fire from heaven if friends are lost if hopes and expectations disappointed if the body be macerated with pains and diseases yet Faith presents to the believer something that can bear up the Soul under these and many more pressures namely that after a few years or days are spent an eternal state of unchangeable and perfect happiness shall succed that death the worst of temporal evils will cure all those maladies and deliver up the soul into a state of endless comfort and blessedness and therefore he bears all this with patience and quietness and contentedness and cheerfulness and disappoints the world in that expectation wherein its strength in relation to this condition lyes namely it conquers all impatience murmuring unquietness of mind 2. As to the second part of this Providential world namely Prosperity which in truth is the more dangerous condition of the two without the intervention of the divine grace the foils that the world puts upon men by this condition are commonly pride insolence carnal security contempt or neglect of duty and religion luxury and the like The method whereby Faith overcometh this part of the world and those evil consequences that arise upon it are these 1. Faith gives a man a true and equal estimate of this condition and keeps a man from overvaluing it or himself for it lets him know it is very uncertain very casual very dangerous and cannot out-last this life death will come and sweep down all these cobwebs 2. Faith assures him that Almighty God observes his whole deportment in it that he hath given him a law of humility sobriety temperance fidelity and a caution not to trust in uncertain riches that he must give an account of his stewardship also to the great Master of the Family of Heaven and Earth that he will duly examine all his Items whether done according to his Lord's commission and command and it lets him know that the more he hath the greater ought his care to be because his account will be the greater 3. Faith lets him know that the abundance of wealth honour power friends applause successes as they last no longer than this short transitory life and therefore cannot make up his happiness no nor give a man an ease or rescue from a fit of the Stone or Colick so there is an everlasting state of happiness or misery that must attend every man after death And on the one hand all the glory and splendor and happiness that this inferior world can afford is nothing in comparison of that glory that shall be revealed to and enjoyed by them that believe and obey 1. Nothing in respect of its duration if a man should live a thousand years yet that must have an end and the very pre-apprehension of an end is enough to dash and blast and wither any happiness even while it is enjoyed but that happiness that succeeds after death is an everlasting happiness 2. Nothing in respect of its degree there is no sincere complete perfect happiness in this world it is mingled with evils with fears with vicissitudes of sorrow and trouble but the happiness of the next life is perfect sincere and unmixed with any thing that may allay it And upon these accounts faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen and therefore by a kind of anticipation gives a presence to the Soul of those future joys renders the best happiness this world below can yield but languid and poor like the light of a Candle in the presence of the Sun On the other side the misery that after death attends the mispent present life over-ballanceth all the good that this life can yield both in its degree and duration and therefore with the pre-apprehension of it it sowres and allays all the good that is in the greatest happiness of this life 4. Faith doth assute every believing Soul that as sure as he now liveth and enjoyeth that worldly felicity it hath so surely if he in belief and obedience to the will of God revealed in and through Christ
that feareth God discovereth it â—elf in this that it provides and lays up a good and safe store for the future and that â—n respect of these three kinds of futurities 〈◊〉 For the future part of his life 2. For the future evil days 3. For the future life that is to take place after this present short uncertain and transitory life 1. In respect of the future time of his life It is true our lives in this world are but short at best and together with that shortness they are very uncertain But yet the man fearing God makes a due and safe provision for that future portion of his life how short or how long soever it be I. By a constant walking in the fear of God he transmits unto the future part of his life a quiet serene and fair Conscience and avoids those evil fruits and consequences which a sinful life produceth even in the after time of a man's life The bruises and hurts we receive in youth are many times more painful in age than when we first received them Our lives are like the Husbandman's seed-time if we sow evil seeds in the time of our yourh it may be they may lye five ten or more years before they come up to a full crop and possibly then we taste the fruit of these evil ways in an unquiet mind or conscience or some other sowre effects of that evil seed All this inconvenience a man fearing God prevents and instead thereof reaps a pleasing and comfortable fruit of his walk in the fear of God namely a quiet Conscience and an even setled peaceable Soul 2. But besides this by this means he keeps his Interest in and Peace with Almighty God and makes sure of the best Friend in the world for the after time of his life to whom he is sure to have access at all times and upon all occasions with comfort and acceptance for it is an infallible truth That God Almighty never forsakes any that forsake not him first The Second futurity is the future Evil day which will most certainly overtake every man either the day of feeble and decrepit age or the day of sickness or the day of death and against all those the true fear of God makes a safe and excellent provision so that although he may not avoid them he may have a comfortable passage through them and in the midst of all these black clouds the witness of a good conscience fearing God and the evidence of the divine favour will shine into the Soul like a bright Sun with comfort when a man shall be able with Hezekiah Isa 38.3 to appeal to Almighty God Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and in uprightness of heart and â—ave done that which was good in thy sight this will be a cordial under the faintness of old age a relief under the pains of sickness and cure of the fear of death it self which to such a Soul will be only a gate and passage to a life that will be free from all pains and infirmities a life of glory and immortality 3. The third futurity is the Life and State after Death Most certain it is that such a state there will be and that it is but of two kinds a state of everlasting happiness or a state of everlasting miâ—â—ry and that all men in the World do most certainly belong to one of these two states or conditions and as it is most just and equal so it is most true that they that truly fear God and obey him through Jesus Christ shall be partakers of that everlasting state of blessedness and immortal happiness And on the other side they that reject the the fear of God contemn and disobey his will shall without true repentance be subject to a state of everlasting misery Now herein the truest and the greatest â—isdom of a man appears that he duly provides against the latter and to obtain the former all other wisdom of men either to get humane Learning Wealth Honour Power all wisdom of Statesmen and Politicians in comparison of this wisdom is but vain and trivial And this is the wisdom that the fear of God teacheth and bringeth with it into the Soul 1. It provides against the greatest of evils the everlasting state of misery and infelicity and eternal death 2. It provides for and attains an everlasting estate of blessedness and happiness of rest and peace of glory and immortality and eternal life a state of that happiness and glory that exceeds expression and apprehension for Eye hath not seen nor car heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things that God hath laid up for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. and they only truly love God that truly fear him Mal. 3.13 And they namely that fear God shall be mine saith the Lord in that day when I make up my jewels And now for the Conclusion of this whole matter let us now make a short Comparison between the persons that fear not God and those that truly fear him and then let any man judge who is the fool and who is the wise man A man hath but a very short uncertain time in this life which in comparison of eternity is less than a moment The great God of Heaven in his Word assures us that there is an estate of Immortality after this life and that that immortal estate is but of two kinds an estate of never-dying misery or an estate of endless glory and tells them If you fear me and obey those easie Commands that are contained in the Book of the Holy Scriptures which I have given you you shall infallibly attain everlasting life and happiness and even in this present life shall have the influence and presence of my favour to support to direct and bless you On the other side if ye refuse my fear and reject my commands and prefer the unlawful and vain delusions of this present life before the obedience of my will and persist impenitently in it your portion shall be everlasting misery And now everlasting life and everlasting death being set before the children of men there are a sort of men that rather choose to disobey the command of God reject his fear and all this that they may enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season those pleasures that are fading and dying that leave behind them a sting that renders their very enjoyment bitter and that make even that very little life they enjoy but a life of discomfort and unhappiness in spight of all their pleasures or be they as sincere as their own hearts can promise them yet they are but for a season a season that in its longest period is but short but is uncertain also a little inconsiderable accident the breath of a vain ... an ill air a little ill digested portion of that excess wherein they delight may put a period to all those pleasures and to that life in a
fear was over then he fears that the rumor of his wealth and the former displeasure of his Brother Esau might make him and all his wealth a prey to his Brother and certainly had not the immediate providence of Almighty God strangely interposed he had not only selt the difficulties and unquietness of his great wealthy condition which were profitable for his instruction but he had suffered a total deprivation of it either by Laban or Esau or at least by the neighbours of the Shechemites exasperated by the treachery and cruelty of his two Sons Simeon and Levi. Upon these and many more Considerations it is most evident That a state of mediocrity in externals is to be preferred before an estate of much wealth honour or grandeur that of the two extremes poverty on the one side or very great wealth and glory on the other the latter is in truth more dangerous and difficult than the former but that Agur's Prayer a state of mediocrity neither poverty nor riches but food convenient for a man's coudition is the most desireable state in this life and that which avoids the difticulty of both extremes I would willingly from these Considerations therefore learn to attain such a temper and disposition of Soul as might be safe and useful for me in relation to all these three Conditions of Life which-soever of them the Divine Providence should send unto me 1. In reference to a Mediocrity or such a state of externals as might be suitable to the exigence and nature of my condition in this life I should make such a state my choice and not my trouble I should with all thankfulness acknowledge both the goodness and wisdom of Almighty God in giving me so competent and so safe a condition that hath by his Providence delivered me from the difficulties and inconveniencies and dangers and temptations of both extremes namely great want and great wealth and I shall bear my lot not only with great patience and quietness but with great contentation and thankfulness 2. In reference to an estate of Want or Indagence If it should please the Divine Providence to appoint that condition to me I should nevertheless comfort and support my self with such Considerations as these 1. Though my condition be narrow and necessitous yet it is that which the great wise Lord of the great Family of the World hath appointed to me I will therefore bear it with patience and resignation 2. Though it be an estate of indigence and narrowness yet it is such as affords me and my Family life and subsistence though not without much pains and difliculty it might have been worse and it may please God to make it better when he sees fit I will therefore bear it with contentedness as well as patience 3. Though my state be very narrow and pinching yet it is possibly much more safe than an estate of grandeur and affluence my account is the less my temptations not so dangerous my cares fewer my lessons of dependence upon God of humility and lowliness of mind of temperance and sobriety of contempt of the World of valuation of Eternity and provision for it are better learned in this extreme than in the other I shall therefore endeavour to improve the opportunities even of this hard condition and bear it not only with contentedness but thankfulness 3. In reference to an estate of Redundance and Affluence of externals an estate of wealth and plenty of honour and grandeur of power and authority and preheminence I will consider 1. That this is an estate full of temptations and temptations of the greatest size and the most dangerous nature as pride and insolence forgetfulness of God luxury intemperance carnal confidence and security contempt of others and infinite more and if any of these get the advantage they will do me more mischief than all my wealth will do me good 2. Therefore I will learn and exercise very great vigilance and attention that I be not cheated into these temptations 3. I will take a true estimate of the World and of all these goodly appearances that I am attended with from it and I will not take my measure and estimate of them by common opinion of the world or by their splendid outside but I will look more strictly into them and find whether they are not incertain deceiving things what stability there is in them what good they will do me after death what quietness or tranquility of mind they will give me or rather take from me whether they have in themselves any real influence to make me better or wiser 4. Upon these Considerations if I find as find I shall that they have not that real worth in them that the vain World imagins I will not set my Heart upon them nor lay any confidence upon them nor lay out much of my love unto them or any great esteem for them 5. I will set my Heart to a true and serious consideration of those durable riches and glory and honour that our dear Lord hath provided for us in the life to come and that eternal weight of glory will infinitely out-weigh all the wealth and honour and glory that I do or can enjoy in this World 6. And upon this consideration also I will rectifie my judgment concerning this World and the greatest glory of it and thereby habituate my self to a low esteem of the wealth I have or can have and set up my hopes and treasure in more noble and durable enjoyments 7. I will consider I am but a Steward when all is done and the greater my wealth or honour is the greater my account must be and the more difficult to keep them fair 8. That in as much I am but a Steward I will be very careful that my management of my trust may be such as will bear my Lord's scrutiny I will not employ my stock of wealth or honour to the dishonour of my Lord in riot or excess in vanity or oppression but will do as much good with it as I can according to the trust committed to me that I may give a just and fair and comfortable account of my Stewardship when my Lord and Master calls for it 9. That in as much as those very externals are in themselves blessings if well employed though not the blessings of the greatest magnitude I will with all humility and thankfulness acknowledge the Divine Bounty to me in trusting me with Abundance and will employ it to his Honour Seneca Thyest Act. 2. STet quicunque volet potens Auloe culmine lubrico Me dulcis saturet quies Obscuro positus loco Leni perfruar otio Nullis nota Quiritibus Altas per tacitum fluat Sic cum transierint met Nullo cum strepitu dies Plebeius moriar senex Illi mors gravis incubat Qui notus nimis omnibus Ignotus moritur sibi LEt him that will ascend the tottering Seat Of courtly Grandeur and become as great As are his mountain Wishes as for
his creature to blessedness and the vision of his Creator 2. That he so ordered the means of man's Redemption that a greater glory came even by that Redemption that if man had never faln and a greater benefit to mankind For the latter it is apparent that if there had been no Mediator sent the least sin that any of the sons of men had committed had been inexorably fatal to them without any means of pardon And as Adam though in his full liberty and power was misled by temptation so might have he been or any of his posterity though he had stood that shock which now is admirably provided against by the satisfaction of Christ Jesus And as thus it is better with the children of men so the glory of God is wonderfully advanced by it for if man had stood in his innocence God had had only the glory of his justice in rewarding him or if he had faln the glory of his justice in punishing him but there had been no room for that glorious attribute of his Mercy in forgiving without violation to his Purity Truth and Justice that glorious attribute by which he so often proclaimeth himself Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God Merciful Gracious Long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and yet that will by no means clear the guilty 3. That he so wonderfully ordered the Redemption of Man that all his Attributes were preserved inviolable His Truth The day thou eatest thou shalt dye his Justice yet his Mercy his Love to his creature yet his Hatred to Sin his Son shall dye to satisfie his Truth and Justice yet the sinner shall live to satisfie his Mercy the sin shall be punished to justifie his Purity yet his creature shall be saved to manifest his Love and Goodness And thus his Wisdom over-ruled Sin the worst of evils to the improvement of his glory and the good of his creature 4. His wisdom is manifested in this that by the redemption of man all those ways of his administration before the coming of Christ do now appear to be excellently ordered to the redemption of man and the making of it the more effectual The giving of a severe and yet most just Law which was impossible for us to fulfil shews us the wretchedness of our condition our inability to fulfil what was just in God to require shews us the necessity of a Saviour drives us to him and makes this City of refuge grateful and acceptable and makes us set a value upon that mercy which so opportunely and mercifully provided a Sacrifice for us in the Blood of Christ and a Righteousness for us in the Merits of Christ and a Mediator for us in the Intercession of Christ And by this means also all those Sacrifices and Ceremonies and Observations enjoyned in the Levitical Law which carried not in themselves a clear reason of their institution are now by the sending of Christ rendred significant 5. The wisdom of God is magnified and advanced in this in fulfilling the Prophecies of the sending the Messias to satisfie for the sins of Mankind against all the oppositions and casualties and contingencies that without an over-ruling wisdom and guidance might have disappointed it And this done in that Perfection that not one circumstance of Time Place Person Concomitants should nor did fail in it and so bearing witness to the infinite Truth Power and Wisdom of God in bringing about his Counsels in their perfection touching this great business of the Redemption of Man which was the very end why he was created and placed upon the earth and managing the villany of men and the craft and malice of Satan to bring about that greatest blessing that was or could be provided for mankind besides and above and against the intention of the Instrument Act. 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain 6. The unsearchable Wisdom of God is manifested in that he provided such a Mediator that was fit for so great a work had all the world consulted that God must suffer it had been impossible and had all the world contrived that any man or all the men in the world should have been a satisfactory Sacrifice for any one Sin it had been deficient Here is then the wonderful Counsel of the most high God the Sacrifice that is appointed shall be so ordered that God and Man shall be conjoyned in one Person that so as Man he might become a Sacrifice for Sin and as God he might give a value to the Sacrifice And this is that great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh 2. The wonderful Love of God to Mankind I. In thinking upon poor sinful creatures to contrive a way for a Pardon for us and rescuing us from that Curse which we had justly deserved 2. Thinking of us for our good when we sought it not thought not of it 3. When we were enemies against God and against his very being 4. Thinking of us not only for a Pardon but to provide for us a state of Glory and Blessedness 5. When that was not to be obtained saving his Truth and Justice without a miraculous Mediator consisting of the divine and humane nature united in one person in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ here was Love and Goodness of the greatest magnitude that ever was or ever shall be heard of and sufficient to conquer our Hearts into admiration and astonishment But yet it rests not here As God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 so the only begotten Son of God was not behind in this wonderful Love No sooner as we may with reverence say was the Counsel of the Father propounded for the sending of his Son but presently the Son saith Lo I come Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 And now we will consider upon what terms he must come or else the redemption of mankind must dye for ever I. He must come and empty himself of his Glory of his personal Majesty and take our nature yet without sin he must go through the natural infirmities of infancy and childhood 2. And not only must he undergo this abasement but he must undergo the condition of a mean a low birth born of a poor Virgin in a Stable laid in a Manger under the reputation of a Carpenter's Son 3. And not only thus but as soon as he is born must use the care of his Mother to shift for his life away to Egypt to prevent the jealousie and fury of Herod 4. And when grown up to youth he must undergo the form of a Servant become a poor Carpenter to work for his living without any patrimony or so much as a house to cover him 5. He comes abroad into the World to exercise the Ministry and the Prologue to
Immortality which was wrapt up in the mysteries of the Old covenant and yet those mysteries vailed and inclosed up within the vail is now brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 and the vail rent in twain that as well the meaning of those mysteries and types under the Law is discovered 4. That now the use of the Ceremonial Law is at an end the greatest and most sacred mystery of the Tabernacle and indeed of the whole ceremonial Law was this that was within the vail the most holy place wherein were the most holy and revered mysteries the Ark and the Mercy-Seat But now the vail is rent the use abolished the covenant of the people is given the Body of Christ typified by the Temple separated and so the use of the other Temple Tabernacle and the holy Places Vessels Instruments thereof ceased 5. That now the Kingdom of Heaven the most Holy Place is open unto all believers Christ our High Priest is entred in with his own blood and hath not closed the vail after him but rent it in sunder and made and left a passage for all believers to follow him with our prayers and access to the glorious God and hereafter in our persons Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore bloldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he bath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh let us draw near with a true heart And now we have gone thus far with our Lord unto his death we shall follow him to his Grave Joseph of Arimathea having an honorable mention by all four Evangelists Matth. 27.57 a rich man and Jesus disciple Mar. 15.43 an honorable Counsellor who waited for the Kingdom of God Luk. 23.50 a Counsellor a good man and a just who had not consented to the counsel or deed of the Jews and waited for the Kingdom of God Joh. 19.38 a disciple of Christ but secretly for fear of the Jews this man manifested his faith and love to his Master when he was in his lowest condition goes to Pilate boldly and begs his Saviour's body he wraps it in a clean linnen cloth laid it in a Tomb provided for himself and hewed out of the rock and rolled a great stone upon the door of the Sepulchre And as by his death with the malefactors so by his burial in this rich man's Sepulchre he fulfilled both parts of the Prophecy Isa 53.9 He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death The high Priests continued their malice and their jealousie even against the dead body of our Saviour and to secure themselves against the suspition of his Resurrection the third day take order for making the Sepulchre sure till the third day was past Matth. 27.60 they seal the stone and set a watch And it is very Observable how the almighty Counsel of God made use of the very malice and jealousie of these people for the confirming of his own truth Christ's Resurrection and our Faith Their malicious and curious industry to prevent the possibility of a fictitious Resurrection abundantly and uncontrollably convincing the reality of our Saviour's death and true Resurrection He is laid in the grave the evening of the day wherein he suffered a Stone rolled upon the mouth of the grave such as required a considerable strength to remove it insomuch that the women that came the first day of the week to embalm the body were in a great difficulty how it should be removed Mar. 16.3 for it was a Great stone Matth. 27.60 and this stone Sealed and as if all this were too little and the bonds of death and the grave were too weak they add a Watch of Souldiers to secure the body Matth 27.66 And here we leave for a while our Saviour's body interred with Spices Joh. 19.39 in a new Sepulchre wherein never before any lay Joh. 19.41 hewen out of a rock in the garden Joh. 19.42 that as in the garden death at first laid hold of the first Adam so in the garden the second Adam undergoes the state of death and gains the victory over the grave his agony in a garden and his interrment in a garden his body rests in the grave and his soul translated into Paradise for so he witnessed of himself This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. For at the instant of his dissolution our Satisfaction was made and the work of our Redemption so far as it depended upon his suffering finished So that had it not been for a witness of the reality and truth of his death and of the power and reality of his Resurrection and the fulfilling of the decree of God manifested in the Scriptures he might have reassumed life in the next instant after his death For the debt to the Justice of God was fully satisfied and his continuance in the grave until the third day was not by the power of death which he vanquished in the instant of his dissolution but a voluntary subjecting of himself unto that state for the strengthening of our faith and the fulfilling of the Scriptures And now we come to the Consideration of the Resurrection of our Lord by which he was declared to be the Son of God with power and by which the fulness and compleatness of our Redemption by him is abundantly manifested He chose that Time to dye when the Passover was slain that time wherein Adam was created the sixth day of the week at even He chose that time for his body to rest in the grave and for his soul to rest in Paradise wherein his Father rested from all the great work of the Creation the seventh day of the week and he chose that day to rise again which his Father chose to begin the Creation the first day of the week that the same day might bear the inscription of the Creation and of the Resurrection of the World and that as in that day the Lord God brought light out of darkness so this light the light that enlightneth every man that comes into the world should arise from the land of darkness the grave This is the day that the Lord hath made let us be glad and rejoyce therein The Time of the Day wherein our Lord arose was very early in the morning of the first day of the week as it began to dawn Matth 21.1 while it was yet dark or scarcely full light Joh 17.1 And the Manner of it was full of wonder and astonishment An Angel from heaven comes down to draw the curtain of our Saviour's grave and with an Earthquake rolls away the stone that covered it the Keepers who had watchfully observed the command of their Commanders were stricken with astonishment and became as dead Matth. 28.2 3 4. Our Lord who had power to lay down his life and power to take it up again Joh. 10.17 reassumes his body which though it had tasted death yet had not seen
precious must needs be a more noble useful precious Knowledge and accordingly more to be desired There have been doubtless many excellent understandings that have been conversant about an exact disquisition of some particular truths which though as truths they agree in a common value with all others yet in respect of their nature use and value are of no great moment whether known or not As concerning the precise time of this or that passage in such a prophane History the criticism of this or that Latin word and the like which though by accident and by way of concomitance they may be of considerable use when mixed with or relating to some other matter of moment yet in themselves have little value because little use Others have spent their thoughts in acquiring of the knowledge in some special piece of Nature the fabrick of the Eye the progression of generation in an Egg the relation and proportion of Numbers Weights Lines the generation of Metals and these as they have a relative consideration to discover and set forth the wisdom of the great Creator or to publick use have great worth in them but in themselves though they have this excellence of truth in them and consequently in their kind feed and give a delight to the understanding which is a power that is naturally ordained unto and greedy of and delighted in truth though of a low or inferiour constitution yet they are not of that eminence and worth as truths of some other either higher or more useful or durable nature As once our Saviour in relation of things to be done pronounced One thing only necessary Luk. 10.42 so the Apostle among the many things that are to be known fixeth in the same One thing necessary to be known Christ Jesus and him Crucified There are three steps 1. Not to know any thing Not as if all other knowledge were condemned Moses learning was not charged upon him as a sin Paul's secular learning was not condemned but useful to him to be knowing in our calling in the qualities and dispositions of persons in the Laws under which we live in the modest and sober inquiries of Nature and Arts are not only not condemned but commended and useful and such as tend to the setting forth the glory of the God of Wisdom Even the discretion of the Husbandman God owns as his Isa 28.26 for his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him But we must determine to know nothing in comparison of that other knowledge of Christ Jesus as the Apostle counted what things were gain yet to be loss for Christ Phil. 4.7 so we are to esteem that knowledge of other things otherwise excellent useful admirable yet to be but folly and vile in comparison of the knowledge of Christ And this requires 1. A true and right Estimate of the Value of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus above other knowledge and consequently an infinite preferring thereof before all other knowledge in our judgments desire and delight and the preponderation of the knowledge of Christ above other knowledges excells most knowledge in all the ensuing particulars but excells all knowledge in some and those of most concernment 1. In the Certainty of it Most other knowledge are either such as we take in by our Sense and Experience and therein though it is true that the gross part of our knowledge that is nearest to our sense hath somewhat of certainty in it yet when we come to sublimate and collect and infer that knowledge into universal or general conclusions or to make deductions ratiocinations and determinations from them then we fail and hence grew the difference between many Philosophers Again the knowledge that we elicit from sense is but very narrow if it staid there for the forms of things the matter or substance which is the subject of Nature are not easily perceptible by sense we see the colour and the figure and the variations of that but we do from thence only make conjectures concerning the forms â—â—bstances and matter Or they are such as we receive by Tradition whether historical or doctrinal and the former depends upon the credit of the relator which most an end depends upon another's credit and so vanisheth into much incertainty unless the authors be very authentical and eye-witnesses and as to matters doctrinal still that depends upon the opinion of a man it may be deduced upon weak convictions crossed by persons of as great judgments and so breeds uncertainty distraction and dissatisfaction in the knowledge But in the knowledge of Christ we have greater certainty than can be found in any of all these other Knowledges 1. A constant tradition and reception by millions before he came that the Messias was to come and since he came that in truth he is come 2. The Apostles Evangelists and Disciples that were purposely chosen to be witnesses of Christ his Miracles Doctrine Suffering and Resurrection 3. The Miracles he did that are witnessed to us by a greater consent of testimony than any one part of any History of that antiquity 4. The Purity Sanctity and Justness of his Doctrine which was never attained unto in the teaching of the Philosophers nor ever any could in the least measure unpeach or blame 5. The Prophecies stiled most justly by the Apostle a more certain evidence than the very vision of his Transfiguration and a Voice from Heaven 2 Pet. I. 19 and so in truth is a more undeniable argument than any is for it is not capable of any fraud or imposture 6. The wonderful prevailing that the knowledge of Christ had upon the World and this not only de facto but backed with a Prophecy that it should be so 7. The admirable concordance and symmetry that this mystery of Christ makes in the whole method of the proceeding of God in the World as will be casily observable upon the collation of these things together The Creation the Fall the Law the State of the Jews the Immortality of the Soul the Necessity of a Satisfaction for Sin if pardoned the Types and Sacrifices the Prophecies the Rejection of the Jews the Calling of the Gentiles the Progress of the Gospel to the new discovered parts of the World successively as discovered that a due collection being made of all these and other Considerations it will appear that the doctrine of Christ Jesus and him crucified is that which makes the dispenstation of God towards the children of men to be all of a piece and one thing in order to another ther and Christ the Mediator in whom God hath gathered together all things in one Eph. 1.10 made it as one System Body-fabrick 8. Besides the undeniable Prophecies there bears witness to this truth the secret powerful witness of the Spirit of God convincing the Soul of the truth of Christ beyond all the Moral perswasions in the world beyond the conviction of demonstration to believe to rest upon to assert it even unto the loss of