flesh earthly sensual and devilish Jam 3.15 So that there was not only in our nature an absence of any good that might move God to do any thing for us and an absence of that life that might be sollicitous for it self but there was a positive malignity in our nature against that God that should pardon against that Christ that should satisfie against that Grace and Spirit that should apply We were actuated with those vile affections and lusts that looked upon a Saviour with no less aversion and spite than those devils did that cryed out of the possessed man Art thou come to torment us before our time And yet for these and such as these our Saviour dyed nay some of these who had actually their hands in his blood found the efficacy of that very blood which they shed not crying for revenge against them but for merey for them and healing those who had cruelly spilt it the efficacy of that blessed prayer of his Father forgive them they know not what they do within some few months after his death did first wound their hearts with a sense of their guilt and then healed them with the infusion of his blood Act. 2.23 37. 6. From the consideration of the former particulars it will easily appear what was the Motive of this great work We have seen in the creature nothing but sin and enmity against God and consequently a just obligation to Everlasting wrath and misery so there we can find nothing that might upon any account of merit or desert draw out such merey as this We must seek for the motive in the Author of it and in him there was no necessity at all to bind him to it It was his own free will that at first gave man a being and a blessed being and when he had sinned against the law and condition of his Creation there was a necessity of justice for his eternal punishment but no necessity at all for his Restitution God made all things for his glory not because he stood in need of it for he had in himself an infinite self-sufficiency and happiness that stood not in need of the glory of his creation nor was capable of an accession by it And if it had yet the great God could have enjoyed the glory of his justice in the everlasting punishment of unthankful man and yet had glorious creatures enough the blessed Angels to have been the everlasting partakers and admirers of his goodness And if there had been yet an absolute necessity of visible intellectual creatures to be the participants of his goodness and the active instruments of his glory the same power that created man at first could have created a new generation of men that might have supplied the defection of our first parents and their descendants What then is the original of all this goodness to poor sinful man to purchase such a worthless creature at such an invaluable price as the blood of the Son of God Nothing but Love free undeserved love love that loved before it was sought that loved when it was rejected Deut. 7.7 The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because ye were more but because the Lord loved you he loved you because he loved you As Almighty could not define himself by any thing but himself I am that I am Exod. 3.14 so he can resolve his love into no other motive than his love he loved you because he loved you And here is the spring the fountain of all this strange and unheard of goodness of God in Christ nothing but the free love of God Joh. 3.16 So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. 1 Joh. 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins and that very same individual love that was in the Father to send was in the Son to come and to dye for us It was he that loved and washed us with his own blood washed us because he loved us When we lay like Ezekiel's wretched infant Ezek. 16.5 6. polluted in our blood when no eye pitied us then this love of God passed by us and said unto us live yea said unto us when we were in our blood live And when that life was not acquirable for us but by the death of the Eternal Son of God then to purchase that life for us he sold his own and to wash us from the pollutions of our blood freely spent and shed his own This was The love of Christ which passeth knowledge Eph. 3.19 7. Now let us consider the End and Scope of this admirable Love of Christ and as it looks upward towards God so it looks downward towards us as he was the Mediator between both so the end of his Mediatorship had a respect to both 1. In reference to God and so the Ends of our Lord's suffering were principally these 1. To Restore unto Almighty God the active service and glory of his creature Almighty God did at the first create man in such a constitution that he might not only passively and objectively bring unto him the glory of his Power and Wisdom in the framing of such a creature as the Heavens the Stars and other creatures below an intellectual nature do but to be a beholder of himself and his works to be an observer of his will and to glorifie his Maker in the admiration of his Power Wisdom and Goodness and in the Obedience and Observance of his Law and will and to his own glory had by an eternal bond annexed his creature's perfection and blessedness Man rebelled and thereby as he became unserviceable to the end of his creation so he lost the blessedness of his condition Christ came and by his own blood purchased as unto Man his blessedness so unto God the glory and service of his creature This was old Zachary's collection Luk. 2. 74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purâ—sie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And this was the chief part of that account that our Lord giveth unto his Father in that blessed prayer that he made a little before his Passion Joh. 17.4 I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do As if he should have said Thou hast sent me into the world about a great and weighty business the restitution of thy fallen creature and that therein as thy creature may partake of thy goodness so thou mayst reap the glory of thy creature's service And now behold according to that command of thine I here return unto thee thy creature healed and restored that it may be as well a monument as a proclaimer of thy goodness and glory unto all Eternity
distemper of our mind than to them We are like men in a Feaver that infinitely increase their heat by their tossing and tumbling more than if they lay still and then they complain of the uncasiness of their Bed Like the Prophet's wild Bull in a Net we intangle and tyre our selves worse with our strugling than if we were more patient and still or like the Ship it is not broken by the Rock but by its own violent motion against it Why then should I discontent and disquiet my self with my condition when I make it and my self thereby worse and more uneasy 10. As my discontentedness and unquietness renders my condition the more uneasy so it no way conduceth to my rescue from it For since I cannot be so brutish as to think that the occurrences which befall men are without a Divine Conduct so it is certain that all his Dispensations are wise and directed to a wise end and even afflictions themselves have their errand and business to make men more humble watchful and considerate If I correct my Child for his fault and he continue still more stubborn I shall correct him longer till he return to his submissiveness and duty Why then should I discontent my self and be impatient under my affliction when it is not only vain and fruitless thereby to expect deliverance but in all probability the likelyest way to keep me still under it 11. As thus my condition is not amended but made the worse more severe and lasting by my impatience and discontent so Patience and Contentation will give me these great advantages 1. In all probability it will shorten my affliction because it hath obtained its effect and end and the message it brings is duly answered 2. But howsoever it will make in infinitely more easy the less I struggle under it 3. And which is the best of all it gives me the possession of my own Soul internal peace and tranquility of mind a kind and comfortable serenity of spirit I remain Master of my passions of my intellectuals of my self and am not transported into another thing than what becomes a reasonable man though there be storms and tempests and rolling seas without me yet all is calm and quiet within Contentation and patience renders my outward condition of little concernment to me so long as it gives me the opportunity to possess and enjoy me self my virtue and goodness and the attestation of a good Conscience 12. Though I want somewhat that others have yet 't is ten to one that I have somewhat that many as good if not better want It may be I want wealth yet I have health it may be I want health yet I have Children that others want I will learn contentment by considering others wants and my enjoyments and not learn discontent from others enjoyments and my own wants These be the Moral Considerations and truly they be of great weight moment and use and as I said carried the Heathen a great way in the virtues of Contentation and Patience But yet they oftentimes failed and were too weak to compose the mind under a storm of crosses losses and afflictions and therefore Almighty God hath furnished us with a more excellent way which lets me into the Second Consideration namely the Divine and Evangelical Helps to Patience and Contentation Their number will not be so many as the former but their weight and efficacy greater and they are such as these 1. The worst I here suffer is less than I deserve and the least that I enjoy is more than I can in justice expect it is but gift and bounty I have therefore reason to be content and thankful for the least merey and to be patient and quiet under my greatest evil 2. There is no affliction cross or condition of life but is reached out to us from the Hand or Permission of the most glorious Sovereign of all the World to whom we owe an infinite subjection because we have our being from him And therefore it is but just and reasonable for us to content our selves with what he is pleased thus to inflict and the greatest cross or affliction of this life is not answerable to his bounty and goodness in giving us being 3. He is not only the absolute Sovereign of us and all the World but he is the most Just and wise Governour of it and all men and all the dispensations of his government are directed to most just wise and excellent ends And therefore we have all imaginable reason not only patiently to submit but cheerfully and contentedly to bear any condition that he dispenseth and with an implicit faith to resign our wills to his as being assured it is infinitely more wise and just than ours Sometimes they are the acts of his Justice to punish us for some past offence but always the acts of his Wisdom either to try us to reclaim us to prevent us from worse evils or to amend us to make us more humble watchful dutiful circumspect to draw us off from too much resting on the World to make us bethink our selves of our duty and returning to him by repentance faith and obedience 4. He is not only a Wise and Just Governour but a most Merciful and tender Father and one that out of very faithfulness love and goodness corrects us as a Father doth his Son he entirely loveth and upon this account we may rest assured 1. That he never afflicts or sends or permits any cross to fall upon us but it is for our everlasting and many times for our temporal good 2. That no cross or affliction shall lye longer or heavier upon us than is conducible to our good 3. That he doth and will always send along his Staff with his Rod his Grace with his Affliction to tutor and instruct us to support and comfort us and if we find not this support in our greatest affliction it is not because it is wanting to us but because we are wanting to it to lay hold upon it and improve it 5. For our farther assurance of his love to us and care of us we have the word of the great Monarch of the World the Mighty Faithful and All-sufficient God I will not leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 6. He hath given us the greatest pledge of his love and goodness that the most doubting or craving Heart in the World could ever desire his Son to be our Sacrifice And how shall he not with Him give us all things needful useful and beneficial Rom. 8.32 This Son of his he made the Captain of our Salvation and yet he made him a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Isa 53.3 and made perfect by sufferings Heb. 2.9 10. And this Son of God did bear not only with patience but with resignation and contentation of mind Matth. 26.39 Not as I will but as thou wilt Lu. 12.50 I have a baptism to be baptized withal and how am I straitned till it be accomplished
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
as well the fear of reverence as that of caution and vigilancy as namely 1. The Majesty and Glory of God at which the very Angels of Heaven that are confirmed in an unchangeable estate of happiness carry an inward and express an outward reverence 2. But Majesty and Glory without Power is not perfect therefore the sense and knowledge of the almighty Power of God is a great object of our fear He doth whatsoever he pleaseth all things had their being from him and have their dependance on him 3. The deep knowledge of the Goodness of God and that Goodness not only Immanent in himself but Emanent and Communicative and from this diffusive and communicative Goodness of God all things had their actual being and from him they do enjoy it And both these Goodnesses of God the Immanent and Emanent Goodnesses are the noblest exciter of the noblest fear a fear springing from Love and that love fixing upon the Immanent goodness of God which is altogether lovely and perfect and also upon the Emanent and Communicative goodness of God as he is our Benefactor and wherever there is this love there is this fear both of Reverence and Caution We cannot choose but honour and reverence and be careful to observe and please whatsoever we thus love the intrinsick nature of that which we love for its own worth and perfection binds us by a kind of natural bond or result to reverence and honour and the extrinsick emanation of that goodness unto us binds us to reverence and esteem and honour it as our Benefactor by a double bond viz. first of Gratitude or Benevolence to him that communicates this good secondly by a bond of Prudence and self-preservation not to disoblige him from whom we have our good and upon whom we have our dependance lest a disobligation should occasion his substraction or abatement of that good from us Wheresoever there is dependance as there must be naturally love to that upon which is our dependance so there must be necessarily a fear both of Reverence and Caution even upon principles of self-love if there were nothing else to command it 4. A deep sense knowledge and consideration of the Divine Omniscience If there were all the other motives of fear imaginable yet if this were wanting the fear of God would be in a great measure abated for what availeth reverence or caution if he to whom it is intended do not know it and what damage can be sustained by a neglect or omission of that fear if God Almighty now it not The want of this Consiâ—eration hath made even those Atheists that â—et acknowledged a God such were Epiâ—rus Diagoras Lucretius Lucian and others â—mong the Philosophers and such was Eliâ—has his oppressor Job 22.13 How doth God now and can he judge through the thick cloud â—r David's fool Psal 94.7 The Lord shall â—ot see neither shall the God of Jacob regard But the All-knowing God searcheth the very thoughts and knows the Heart and â—ll the actions of our lives Not a word in â—ur tongue but he heareth it and knows our thoughts a far off 5. A deep sense of the Holiness and Purity of God which must needs cause in him an averseness unto and abhorrence of whatsoever is sinful or impure Lastly the sense of the Justice of God not only an inherent Justice which is the rectitude of his nature but a transient or distributive Justice that will most certainly distribute rewards to obedience observance and the fear of his Name but punishments to the disobedient and those that have no fear of him before their Eyes The deep consideration and sense of these attributes of the Divine perfection must needs excite both the fear of Reverence and the fear of Caution or fear of offending either by commission of what may displease God of omitting of what is pleasing to him 3. But although this knowledge of Almighty God and his Attributes may just excite a fear both of Reverence and Caution yet without the knowledge of some thing else that fear will be extravagant and disorderly and sometimes begets Superstition or strange exorbitancy in this fear or in the expressions of it and a want regularity of duty or obedience if a maâ— know that Almighty God is just and will reward obedience and punish disobedience yet if he knows not what he will have done or omitted he will indeed fear to displease him but he will not know how to please or to obey him therefore besides the former there must be a Knowledge of the Will or Law of God in things to be done or omitted This Law of God hath a double Inscription 1. In Nature and that is again twofold first the natural rudiments of Morality and Piety written in the Heart secondly such as are deducible by the exercise of Natural reason and light for even from the notion of God there do result certain consequences of Natural Piety and Religion as that he is to be prayed unto to be praised that he is to be imitated as far forth as is possible by us therefore as he is holy beneficent good â—erciful so must we be 2. But we have more excellent Transcript of the Divine Will namely the Holy Scriptures which therefore a man that fears God will study and observe and practise as being the best â—ule how to obey him And the very fear of God arising upon the sense of his Being and Attributes will make that man very â—ollicitous to know the will of God and â—ow he will be worshipped and served and what he would have to be done or not â—o be done And therefore since the glorious God hath so far condescended as by his Providence to send us a Transcript of his Mind and Will and Law he will be very thankful for it very studious of it much delighted in it very curious to observe it because it is the Rule and direction how he may obey and consequently please that great God whom he fears this Word he believes and prizes as his great Charter and in this Word he finds much to excite and regulate and direct his fear of God he sees Examples of the Divine Justice against the Offenders of his Law of the Divine Bounty in rewarding the obedience to it Threatnings on one Hand Promises on the other greater manifestations of the Divine Goodness in the Redemption of mankind by Christ Jesus and therefore greater obâ—â—gations as well to fear as to love such Benefactor And thus far of the kinds of the fear of God and of the causes or objects exciting it Now let us see how it doth appear thâ— this fearing man is the wise man and how the Fear of God discovers it self to be the true and best and only Wisdom which wiâ—â— appear in these particular Consideration following 1. Many Learned men considering that great similitude and image of ratiocination in some Brutes especially have therefore declined to define a Man by his Reason because of that
his life 2. Concerning afflictions that particularly concern a man in his Estate It is very true that some are more afflicted in this kind than others The more wealth any man hath the more he is obnoxious to losses and the more any man loves wealth the deeper the affliction of this nature wounds him And this is generally true in all worldly matters whatsoever the more a man's heart is set upon it the deeper and the more bitter the cross or affliction is therein But though afflictions in this kind pinch some closer than others yet there are very few that totally escape in this kind The poor man reckons it his affliction that he wants wealth and the rich man is not without his affliction either in the loss of it or the fear of such losses which create as real a trouble as the loss it self Fire and shipwrack envy and oppression false accusations robbers a prodigal Heir or a false Friend thousands of such like avenues there are to a rich man's Treasure and either they do actually attach it and then they cause sorrow or they do continually menace it and so they cause fear Nay sometimes a rich man hath as great an affliction in his not knowing where or how to dispose of his Wealth as he hath that waâ—â—s it 3. Touching affliction in the Name Most certainly of all things in the World a good name is most easily exposed to the injury of any person a false accusation or false report an action or word misinterpreted A man hath no security of his Wealth against invasions of other but he hath much less security touching his Name because it is in the keeping of others more than of the man himself and it is visible to every man's experience that he that hath the greatest name is most exposed to the envy and therefore to the detraction and calumnies of others and he that values his name and reputation most is easiest blasted and deeper wounded by a calumny though really false than he that hath little reputation or that esteems it lightly 4. Touching Friends There are two things that induce the loss of friends 1. That which seems casual yet very common whereby either friends become enemies or at least grow into neglect which is sometimes done by misrepresentations false reports by prevalence of factions by differences in matters of interest by the declination of a man's condition 2. That which is certain Death takes away a man's friends and relations from him or him from them the more friends and relations any man hath the more losses of them or in them he shall necessarily have upon this account because every one of them is subject to all those casualties that any one of them is subject to whether in estate name body or death and consequently the more friends and relations the more crosses and calamities for all the crosses or losses that befall any of my friends are communicated to me and in a manner made mine and the greater my number of friends and relations are the more losses of them and in them I am subject to for every one of them is subject to the same calamities with my self which become in effect mine by participation So that the more friends and relations I have and the dearer and nearer they are the more crosses I have by participating theirs and every bitter Arrow that wounds any of them glanceth upon me and makes my wounds the more by how much the more friends and relations I have and makes them the deeper by how much the nearer or dearer those friends or relations are to me It is true that in a multitude of good and dear friends and relations there is a communication of more comforts but since generally the Scene of every man's life is fuller of crosses than comforts the troubles and afflictions of my many friends or relations out-ballance and over-weigh those comforts And these crosses and afflictions in body estate name and friends though possibly they may not all come together or in their perfection at one time upon any one man yet as no man is exempt from any of them at any time by any special priviledge so sometimes they have saln in together in their perfection even upon some of the best men that we read of Witness that great and signal Example of Job who at one time suffered the loss of all his Children of all his Servants of all his Goods of his great and honourable esteem among men of his health and beside all this lay under severe afflictions in his mind and under the imputation of an Hypocrite with his best and judicious friends Upon all this that hath bin said a man may and upon evident reason and experience ought to conclude That even the mâ—st sincere Piety and Integrity of Heart and Life cannot give any man an exemption or priâ—â—ledâ—e from Affiâ—ctions of some or indeed of any kind And this Consideration alone is sufficient 1. To silence and quiet that murmuring and unquiet and proud distemper that often ariseth in the minds of good men themselves that are ready to think themselves much injured if they fall under the calamities incident to mankind whereas the just and wise God never gave any promise or priviledge or exemption from external calamities and troubles to those whom yet he owns as his Children 2. This consideration is sufficient to quiet the mind of persons thus afflicted against that commâ—n temptation which is apt to arise upon this â—â—â—asion as if they were hated or sorâ—aken of God because sorely afflicted Where as most certainly the favour or love of God is not to be measured simply by externals but rather the Gospel teacheth us a quite conâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 that God â—-pleased to chasten those whom he loveth best 3. This consideration is sufficient to cheek that censorious humour that is in many who like the Barbarians presently conclude that person or place to be more sinful than others because they suffer more it may be than others This was the uneharitable and indeed unreasonable errour of Job's Friends of old and of many at this time in reference both to publick and personal visitations 2. The second good Preparative against Affliction is a frequent practical suppâ—sition where with we are to entertain our selves even in the time of our greatest Prosperity That the Case may and probably will be altered with us and so to cast our selves as it were into the mold of an afflicted condition For instance I am now in health what if I were now to enter into the valley of the shadow of death into some acute or painful or desperate disease how am I sitted with patience resignation of my self into the hand of God contempt of the World for such an estate as this I must come to sooner or later how shall I bear or carry my self in it or under it were it now upon me I have now a plentiful Estate external affluence what if at this
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
Vain-glory are not sins the Law of God and the Law of Nature tells us they are sins But an Humble man sensible of his own sins and failings will not presently be over-censorious of persons or pronounce them reprobates or men wholly destitute of the hope of salvation but will pity their failings and backslidings but yet not exterminate them from heaven And herein there must be duly considered the difference between a private person and a publick person whether Minister or Magistrate the former namely a private person humility must teach him compassion charitableness gentleness but the latter being intrusted in a publick ministration or office doth alternis vicibus agere his personal humility as a private person must teach him to be charitable but yet not to be remiss or unfaithful in the exercise of his office The farther consideration of the principles and companions of humility will appear in the consideration of the Fruits and Advantages and Benefits of true Humility And these I shall reduce to these three Relations I. in relation to Almighty God 3. in relation to the humble person himself 3. in relation to others It is true that all Virtues if they be true and real have a connexion one with another they are never single for the same principle that begetteth one begetteth all the rest and habituates and influenceth the soul in all its motions but especially this Virtue of Humility when it is genuine and true is ever accompanied with all those excellent Habits and Graces that perfect the soul as the Fear and Love of God Obedience to him Dependence on him Benificence and Charity to mankind and the like But yet in pursuit of the fruits and advantages of Humility I shall apply my self to such as do most naturally and with a kind of special reason and appropriation belong to or flow from this virtue as such and as do belong to its nature in a kind of abstract consideration First therefore in relation to Almighty God the Humble Man hath in a special manner these two great Advantages 1. He receives Grace or Favour or Honour from God 2. He receives Direction Guidance and Counsel from God Both which are singularly promised and by a kind of suitableness and congruity conferred by Almighty God upon his humble soul First Favour Honour and Grace from God is a special portion of the Humble Man The Wise man tells us here He gives Grace to the Humble And although Grace is a comprehensive word and includes in it self not only Favour and Acceptance with God but also those other accessions of the gifts of his Bounty and Goodness which come from this Great Giver of every perfect gift as Wisdom Peace Righteousness Purity of heart and the like which are all also the portion of a truly humble man yet I think the former is that which is specially intended here namely Favour Honour and Acceptance with God so often expressed in the Old and New Testament by the phrase of finding Grace in the sight of God Gen. 19. 18. Behold now I have found grace in thy sight Luk. 14. 9 10 11. He that bid thee shall say unto thee Friend come thou up hither then thou shalt have worship or grace in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee for he that exalteth himself shall be abased and be that abaseth himself shall be exalted So that by Grace is intended principally Favour Acceptance Honour and Esteem with the Great and Glorious God of Heaven and Earth And certainly were there no other reward of Humility than Acceptance and Favour with the Great Sovereign of the World it were reward enough We see daily what pains and charge and expence and servitude men undergo to attain the favour of a Prince or great man though he be but a poor mortal worm and how men please themselves when they have attained some little unprofitable respect from a great man But what is that in comparison of being in Grace and Favour with the King of kings the Lord of Heaven Especially when we consider that the Favour or Acceptance of the Glorious God is not a bare unprofitable Esteem or Grace such as many times the great Favourites of Princes obtain from them But the favour and acceptance of God is always accompanied with Bounty and Benificence As he is the Sovereign Ocean of all good so we may be sure he will be communicative and liberal of it to such as he favours He whose benignity is hourly extended to the meanest of his Creatures nay to the very worst of men cannot be parsimonious or strait-handed to those whom he accepts and esteems and honours So that the humble man finds Grace in the sight of the Glorious God and as an Effect of that grace the bountiful communication of all necessaries good from the Munificence Bounty and Liberality of him that thus favours him and this is reward enough for the most profound Humility The Reason why Almighty God accepts thus an Humble person is the very same that makes him resist the Proud which is this The Great God made all things in the world for two Ends viz. 1. Thereby to communicate his own diffusive Goodness and Benificence and principally for the Glory of his own Greatness Wisdom Power and Majesty and although he receives no addition of Happiness by the return of Glory from his Creatures yet it is a thing he values his Glory he will not give to another and it is unbecoming the Excellency of his Majesty to be disappointed in his End Glory is out of its place when it is not returned to the God of Glory or in order to him It is the natural as well as the reasonable Tribute of all his Creatures and a kind of proper Refiection of the Bounty and Splendor of all his works unto the God that made them Now the Proud man usurps that Glory which is due to his Maker and takes it to himself intercepts that due and natural return and reflection due unto the Creator of all things takes that tribute that is due to God and applies it to himself puts glory out of its place and natural course which it should hold towards the glorious God as the Rivers do to the Sea And this usurpation as it is a kind of rebellion against God so it inverts and disorders the true and just natural course of things and therefore as the proud man herein walks contrary to God so God walks contrary to him They that honour me I will honour they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 And as this is a most reasonable act of Divine Justice so they seem two things that even upon an account of natural congruity must needs make the condition of a Proud man uneasie and unhappy in relation to Almighty God 1. Every thing is beautiful and useful and convenient in its proper place but when it is out of its place it becomes troublesom and disorderly like a Bone out of
their own weapon to be as proud and consequently as violent as the rest of mankind for it is part of the Game of the world and Humility makes his case worse Veterem ferendo injuâ—â—m invit is novam Where the Countrey is full of Wolves and Tigers it is better be a Wolf or a Tiger as well as they than be a Sheep and expoted to their Violence I Answer to this Objection 1. As to the former part that though it be true that it can never be expected that all the world should be perswaded to be Humble no more than it can be expected that all should be perswaded to be Virtuous Just or Honest but yet if there were some though the lesser part of mankind truly Humble and Lowly it would make very much to the abating of those Evils that arise by the Pride and Haughtiness of men 1. Because the more Humble men there are in the world it necessarily follows there are the fewer Proud men and consequently fewer common Disturbers of the peace and welfare of mankind and humane society 2. When the contest comes by the proud man against the proud man indeed there is the same tumult between them as if there were none humble but when the contest is by the proud man against the humble man the strife is quickly at an end it is a true Proverb It is the second blow makes the sray the humble man gives way to the wrath and insolence of the proud man and thereby ends the quarrel for Yielding pacifieth wrath saith the Wise man and I have very often observed that the Quietness of spirit and Humility of a man attaqued by a Proud man hath subdued and conquered his Pride and Animosity to a wonder and made him tame that by opposition would have been furious and implacable Soft words breaks the bones and a Sword is sooner broken by a blow upon a Cushion or Pillow that yieldeth than upon a bar of Iron that resists But if it should fall out that the Proud man's Violence is not broken by the Gentleness and Facility of the Humble man whereby he suffers in his own particular yet there be two advantages that hereby happen to the publick viz. 1. That the contention is soon at an end the proud man hath got the day and the parties are quiet 2. It gains a secret compassion from the beholders to the injured humble man and a general resentment and detestation of the injury committed to the humble man that receives the injury with so much Humility and bears it with so much Patience and thereby Pride and Oppression become the common objects of the general detestation of insolence pride and oppression and the generality of mankind thereupon look on them as beasts of prey with hatred and abhorrence and endeavour means to secure themselves against it 3. A third advantage is this That though oftentimes humble and good men are exposed to the injuries of the proud violent and insolent yet they are a kind of ferment or leaven in the places where they live and by the secret influences of their virtues the commendableness of their conversation and the secret interest that virtue hath in the Soul not only of good but even of the worst men it doth work upon mankind assimulates in some measure to it self and makes others good and humble by a kind of secret Magnetism that that virtue hath upon the minds of men and the more such are in number in the world the more effectual and operative their example and influence will be upon those with whom they converse 2. As to the second namely the Damage and Detriment that the humble man receives in the world upon the very account of his humility I answer First that Detriment is abundantly recompensed with the quiet and tranquility and evenness and composedness of his own mind As a man possesseth his own Soul by patience so he doth by humility namely the composedness right temper and due estate of his own mind which no proud or violent or impatient man doth or can But secondly it is most certain that though an humble man may upon the very score of his humility and meekness receive a brush in the world yet at the long run he gains advantage thereby even in this present life When I first read the saying of our Saviour Matth. 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth I looked upon it as a meer Paradox if applied to the comforts of this life and therefore thought it must be meerly and only intended of that new Heaven and new Earth wherein dwelleth the righteous but upon deeper consideration I found it in a great measure true also of the former for 1. It is most certain that no proud man is truly loved by any but himself but so far as relates to his pride every man hates him One proud man perfectly hates another and looks upon him as his enemy and those very actions of pride that his own self love makes him approve or at least allow in himself he scorns derides abhorrs in another and though an humble man hath a common love to every man though proud or otherwise vicious as being one of mankind yet in relation to his pride he loves him not nor approves That very Consideration therefore that renders a proud man hated or not loved renders an humble man loved and approved yea and by the very proud man himself for he looks upon him as no obstacle or impediment to the attaining of his ends as one that is injurious to none benificent to all gentle and one that stands not in his way giving all due respect honour and difference suitable to his place and dignity he wisheth all the world were such as he except himself and therefore he respects and tenders him yea and we shall by daily experience see in the world that if a proud man injure or oppress an humble man 't is a thousand to one he undertakes his patronage defence and vindication and very oftentimes is a means of his protection and deliverance 3. But farther it is a certain and experienced truth that Virtue and Goodness especially that of Humility hath a secret party and interest love or at least approve it in another though they practise it not themselves for Virtue and Goodness and Humility hath a secret congruity to the true and genuine frame of the humane nature and though mens lusts and passions in a great measure obscure the consonancy to it they can never extinguish it but the mind and conscience will give a secret suffrage wherever it finds it 4. It is a thing observable that though the generality of mankind abound with pride intemperance injustice and almost all kind of vicious dispositions yea though the best of men are not without the irruptions of some of those distempers and though it must needs be that where there is the greatest number there is the greatest external force either to make