it may be I meet with some rough companions that either turn me out of my way or all dash and dirt me in it yet I content my self for all will be mended when I come home but if I chance to lodge at my Inn there it may be I meet with bad entertainment the Inn is full of guests and I am thrust into an inconvenient lodging or ill diet yet I content my self and consider it is no better than what I have reason to expect it is but according to the common condition of things in that place neither am I solicitous to furnish my lodging with better accommodations for I must not expect to make long stay there it is but my Inn my place of repose for a night and not my home and therefore I content my self with it as I find it all will be amended when I come home In the same manner it is with this world perchance I meet with an ill and uncomfortable passage through it I have a sickly Body a narrow Estate meet with affronts and disgraces lose my friends companions and relations my best entertainment in it is but troublesom and uneasie But yet I do content my self I consider it is but my pilgrimage my passage my Inn it is not my countrey nor the place of my rest this kind of usage or condition is but according to the law and custom of the place it will be amended when I come home for in my Father's house there are Mansions many Mansions instead of my Inn and my Saviour himself hath not disdained to be my Harbinger he is gone thither before me and gone to prepare a place for me I will therefore quiet and content my self with the inconveniencies of my short journey for my accommodations will be admirable when I come to my home that heavenly Jerusalem which is the place of my rest and happiness But yet we must withall remember that though Heaven is our home the place of our rest and happiness yet this World is a place for our duty and employment and we must use all honest and lawful means to preserve our lives and our comforts by our honest care and diligence As it is our duty to wait the time till our Lord and Master calls so it is part of our task in this world given us by the great Master of the Family of Heaven and Earth to be employed for the temporal good of our selves and others It is indeed our principal business to fit our selves for our everlasting home and to think of it but it is a part of our duty and an act of obedience whiles we are here to employ our selves with honesty and diligence in our temporal employments Though we are not to set our hearts upon the conveniencies of this life yet we are not to reject them but to use them thankfully and soberly for they are blessings that deserve our gratitude though they ought not entirely to take up our hearts Again though crosses and afflictions must be the exercise of our patience we must not wilfully choose them nor run into them Let God be still the Master of his own Dispensation for he is wise and knows what is fit for us when we know not what is so fit for our selves When he sends them or permits them our duty is patience and contentation but commonly our own choice is headstrong and foolish It was the errour of many new Converts to Christianity that they thought that when Heaven and heavenly-mindedness was pressed that presently they must cast off all care of the World desert their callings and busily and unnecessarily thrust themselves into dangers that so they might be quit of all worldly cares and business and of life it self This the Apostles frequently reprove and shew the errour of it and that justly For the truth of it is our continuance in this life and in our honest employments and callings our thankful use of external blessings here and our honest endeavours for them the endeavour to do good in our places so long as we continue in them our prudent prevention of external evils are part of that obedience we owe to our Maker and part of that exercise or task that is given us by him to perform in this life and our cheerful faithful diligent conversation herein is so far from being incompatible to Christianity that it is a part of our Christian duty and of that service we owe to our Maker and it is indeed the exercise of our patience and the evidence of a contented mind For whosoever presently grows so weary of the World that presently with froward Jonah he wisheth to dye or throws off all it is a sign of want of that contentation that is here commended because true Contentation consists in a cheerful and ready compliance with the will of God and not in a froward preference of our own will or choice It was part of our Saviour's excellent prayer for his Disciples Joh. 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil The business therefore of these Papers is to let you see what are the Helps to attain Patience and Contentation in this World that our passage through it may be safe and comfortable and agreeable to the will of God and to remedy that impatience and discontent which is ordinarily sound among men To teach men how to amend their lives instead of being weary of them and to make the worst conditions in the World easie and comfortable by making the mind quiet patient and thankful For 't is the discontented and impatient mind that truly makes the World much more uneasie than it is in it self OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST CRUCIFIED 1. COR. 11.2 For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified AS the Understanding is the highest faculty of the reasonable creature because upon it depends the regularity of the motions or actings of the will and affections so Knowledge is the properest and noblest act or habit of that faculty and without which it is without its proper end and employment and the whole man without a due guidance and direction Hos 4.6 My people perish for want of Knowledge And as knowledge is the proper business of that great faculty so the Value of that Knowledge or employment of the understanding is diversified according to the subject about which it is exercised For though all knowledge of the most differing subjects agree in this one common excellence viz. the right representation of of the thing as it is unto the understanding or the conformity of the image created in the understanding unto the thing objectively united to it which is truth in the understanding Yet it must needs be that according to the various values and degrees of the things to be known there ariseth a diversity of the value or worth of that knowledge that which is of a thing more noble usesul
obedience to his Command and Ordinance by means whereof you make it not only an act of civil conversation but of obedience to Almighty God and so it becomes in a manner spiritualized into an act Religion 10. Whatever you do be very careful to retain in your heart a habit of Religion that may be always about you and keep your heart and your life always as in his presence and tending towards him This will be continually with you and put it self into acts even although you are not in a solemn posture of Religious worship and will lend you multitudes of Religious Applications to Almighty God upon all occasions and interventions which will not at all hinder you in any measure in your secular occasions but better and further you it will make you faithful in your Calling even upon the account of an actual reflexion of your mind upon the presence and command of the God you fear and love It will make you actually thankful for all successes and supplies temperate and sober in all your natural actions just and faithful in all your dealings patient and contented in all your disappointments and crosses and actually consider and intend his Honour in all you do and will give a tincture of Religion and Devotion upon all your secular imployments and turn those very actions which are materially civil or natural into the very true and formal nature of Religion and make your whole life to be an unintermitted life of Religion and Duty to God For this habit of piety in your soul will not only not lie sleeping and unactive but almost in every hour of the day will put forth actual exertings of it self in applications of short occasional Prayers Thanksgivings Dependance resort unto that God that is always near you and lodgeth in a manner in your heart by his fear and love and habitual Religion towards him And by this means you do effeually and in the best and readiest manner imaginable doubly Redeem your Time 1. In the lawful exercise of those natural and civil concerns which are not only permitted but in a great measure injoyned by Almighty God 2. At the same time exercising acts of Religious duties observance and Vencration unto Almighty God by perpetuated or at least frequently reiterated though short acts of devotion to him And this is the great act of Christian Chymistry to convert those acts that are materially natural or civil into acts truly and formally Religious whereby the whole course of this life is both truly and interpretatively a Service to Almighty God and an uninterrupted state of Religion which is the best and noblest and most universal redemption of his Time 11. Be very careful to prefer those actions of your life that most concern you be sure to do them first to do them chiefest to do them most Let those things that are of less moment give place to those things that are of greatest moment Every man of the most ordinary prudence having many things to do will be sure to be doing of that first and chiefest which most concerns him and which being omitted and possibly wholly disappointed might occasion his most irreparable loss We have it is true many things to be done in this life Ars longa vita brevis and we have seasons and opportunities for them but of these many things some are barely conveniencies for this life Some though they seem more necessary yet still they rise no higher nor look no surther nor serve no longer but only for the Meridian of this life and are of no possible use in the next moment after death The Pleasures the Prosits the Honours the most florid accommodations of great humane Learning stately Houses and Palaces goodly Possessions greatest Honours highest Reputation deepest Policy they are fitted only to this life when death comes they are insignisicant pittiful things and serve nothing at all to the very next moment after death nay the diseases and pains and languishings that are the praeludia of death render them perfectly vain if not vexatious and torturing But there are certain businesses that are not only excellently useful in this life but such as abide by us in sickness in death nay go along with us with singular comfort into the next life and never leave us but state us in an eternal state of rest and happiness such as may be with much ease acquired in the times of health and life but very difficult to be attained in the time of Sickness and the hour of death but never to be gotten after death such as are of that necessity that in comparison of them all other things are impertinent and vain if not desperately noxious and hurtful There is no necessity for me to be Rich and to be great in the World to have such a title of Honour such a place of Dignity or Profit to leave such an Inheritance or titular Dignity to my Son or to have so many thousand pounds in my Inventory when I die but certain matters of absolute necessity to me such as if I am without I am undone and lost and yet such as if not attained here in this life can never be attained and therefore as it concerns me in the highest degree to attain them so it concerns me in the highest degree to attain them in this life and to take all opportunities imaginable in order thereunto and to redeem every minute of time for that purpose lest I should be for ever disappointed and not to be like the foolish Virgin to be getting of Oyl when the door is ready to be shut and with the Truant-Scholar to trifle away my time allotted me for my lesson and then to begin to learn it when my Master calls for me to repeat it and those businesses are such as these the Knowledg of Christ Jesus and him Crucified the attainment of Faith in God through him the acquaintance of my self with the will God the comparing of my self with that will the exercise of true and serious Repentance for sins past the steady resolution of Obedience to his will for the time to come the attaining of the pardon of my sins and peace with God through Christ our Lord the subduing of my Lusts and Corruptions the conformation of my will and life to the holy will of God and the perfect pattern of Holiness Christ Jesus the working out my salvation with fear and trembling the giving all diligence to make my Calling and Election sure the fitting and purging of my self to be a Vessel of Glory and Immortality and fitted for the use of my great Lord and Master the casting of my self into such a frame and posture of mind and life that I may be fitted and ready to die and give up my account to my Lord with peace and chearfulness and comfort so that if I should either by the hand of some disease or casualty or other providence receive this solemn message Set thy House in order for thou shalt die I
necessary with ease and quietness yea and without any neglect of what is necessary to be done in order to the common necessities of our Lives and Callings it is not these that disable us and rob us of our time But the Thieves that rob us of our time and our one thing necessary are negligence excess of pleasures immoderate and excessive cares and solicitousness for Wealth and Honour and Grandeur excessive eating and drinking curiosity idleness these are the great consumptives that do not only exhaust that time that would be with infinite advantage spent in our attainment and perfecting and finishing the great work and business of our lives and then when Sickness come and Death come and God Almighty calls upon us to give up the Account of our Stewardship we are all in confusion our business is not half done it may be not begun and yet our Lamp is out our day is spent night hath overtaken us and what we do is with much trouble perplexity and vexation and possibly our Soul takes its flight before we can finish it and all this would have been prevented and remedied by a due consideration of our latter End and that would have put us upon making use of the present time and present opportunity to do our great work while it is called to day because the night cometh when no man can work 3. Most certainly the wise consideration of our latter End and the employing of our selves upon that Account upon that One thing necessary renders the life the most contenting and comfortable life in the World For as a man that is a man afore-hand in the World hath a much more quiet life in order to externals than he that is behind-hand so such a man that takes his opportunity to gain a stock of grace and favour with God that hath made his peace with his Maker through Christ Jesus hath done a great part of the chief business of his Life and is ready upon all occasions for all conditions whereunto the Divine Providence shall assign him whether of life or death or health or sickness or poverty or riches he is as it were aforehand in the business and concern of his everlasting and of his present state also If God lend him longer life in this World he carries on his great business to greater degrees of perfection with ease and without difficulty trouble or perturbation But if Almighty God cut him shorter and calls him to give an account of his Stewardship he is ready and his accounts are fair and his business is not now to be gone about Blessed is that Servant whom his Master when he comes shall find so doing 2. As thus this Consideration makes the Life better so it makes Death easie 1. By frequent consideration of death and dissolution he is taught not to fear it he is as it were acquainted with it aforehand by often preparation for it Thâ— fear of death is more terrible than death iâ— self and by frequent consideration thereof a man hath learned not to fear it Everâ—â—â— Children by being accustomed to what was at first terrible to them learn not to fear 2. By frequent consideration of our latter End death becomes to be no surprize unto us The great terror of death is when it surpriseth a man unawares but anticipation and preparation for it takes away any possibility of surprize upon him that is prepared to receive it Bilney the Martyr was used before his Martyrdom to put his Finger in the Candle that so the flames might be no novelty unto him not surprize him by reason of unacquaintedness with it and he that often considers his latter end seems to experiment death afore it comes whereby he is neither surprised nor affrighted with it when it comes 3. The greatest sting and terror of death are the past and unrepented Sins of the past life the reflection upon these is that which is the strength the elixir the venom of death it self He therefore that wisely considers his latter end takes care to make his peace with God in his life time and They true Faith and Repentance to get his Pardon sealed to enter into Covenant with his God and to keep it to husband his time in the fear of God to observe His Will and keep His Laws to have his Conscience clean and clear And being thus prepared the malignity of death is cured and the bitterness of it healed and the fear of it removed and when a man can entertain it with such an Appeal to Almighty God as once the good King Hezekiah made in that sickness which was of it self mortal Isa 38. 3. Remember now I beseech thee O Lord how I have walked before thee with a perfect heart c. it makes as well the thought as the approach of death no terrible business 4. But that which above all makes death easie to such a considering man is this That by the help of this Consideration and the due improvement of it as is before shewn death to such a man becomes nothing else but a Gate unto a better life not so much a dissolution of his present life as a change of it for a far more glorious happy and immortal life So that though the Body dyes the Man dyes not for the Soul which is indeed the Man makes but a transition from her life in the Body to a life in Heaven no moment intervenes between the putting off the one to the putting on the other And this is the great Priviledge that the Son of God hath given us that by His death hath sanctified it unto us and by His life hath conquered it not only in Himself but for us 1 Cor. 15.57 Thanks be unto God who hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord and our Victory that is thus given us is this 1. That the sting of death is taken away and 2. That this very death it self is rendred to us a Gate and passage to life eternal and upon this account it can neither hurt nor may justly affright us It is reported of the Adder that when she is old she glides through some strait passage and leaves her old skin in the passage and thereby renews her vigour and her life It is true this passage through death is somewhat strait and uneasie to the Body which like the decayed skin of the Adder is left by the way and not without some pain and difficulty to it but the Soul passeth through without any harm and without any expence of time and in the next moment acquires her estate of Immortality and Happiness And this is the Victory over Death that all those have that by true Repentance and Faith are partakers of Christ and the benefits of His Death and Resurrection who hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel And now having gone through the benefits of this wise consideration of our latter ends I shall now add some Cautions that are necessary to be
annexed to this Consideration We are to know that although Death be thus subdued and rendred rather a benefit than a terrour to good men yet 1. Death is not to be wished or desired though it be an object not to be feared it is a thing not to be coveted for certainly life is the greatest temporal blessing in the World It was the passion not the virtue of that excellent Prophet Elijah that desired to dye because he thought himself only left of the true worshippers of God 1 Kings 19.4 We are all placed in this World by Almighty God and a talent of life is delivered to us and we are commanded to improve it a task is set every one of us in this life by the great Master of the Family of Heaven and Earth and we are required with patience and obedience and faithfulness to perform our task and not to be weary of our work nor wish our day at an end before its time When our Lord calls us it is our duty with courage and chearfulness to obey His call but until He calls it is our duty with patience and contentedness to perform our task to be doing of our work And indeed in this life our Lord hath delivered us several tasks of great importance to do as namely 1. To improve our graces and virtues our Knowledge and Faith and those works of piety and goodness that he requires the better and closer we follow that business here the greater will be our reward and improvement of glory hereafter And therefore as we must with all readiness give over our work when our Master calls us so we must with all diligence and perseverance continue our employment out till he calls us and with all thankfulness unto God entertain and rejoyce in that portion of life he lends us because we have thereby an opportunity of doing our Master the more service and of improving the degrees of our own glory and happiness 2. And besides the former he hath also set us another task namely to serve our Generation to give an example of virtue and goodness to encourage others in the ways of virtue and goodness to provide for our Families and Relations to do all good offices of Justice Righteousness Liberality Charity to others cheerfully and industriously to follow our Callings and Employments and infinite more as well Natural Civil Moral employments which though of a lower importance in respect of our selves yet are of greater use and moment in respect of others and are as well as the former required of us and part of the task that our great Lord requires of us and for the sake of which he also bestows many Talents upon us to be thus improved in this life and for which we must also at the end of our day give our Lord an account and therefore for the sake of this also we are to be thankful for our life and not be desirous to leave our post our station our business our life till our Lord call us to Himself in the ordinary way of His Providence for He is the only Lord of our lives and we are not the Lords of our own lives 2. A second Caution is this That as the business and employments and concerns of our life must not estrange us from the thoughts of death so again we must be careful that the overmuch thought of death do not so much possess our thoughts as to make us forget the concerns of our life nor neglect the businesses which that portion of time is allowed us for As the business of fitting our Souls for Heaven the businesses of our callings relations places stations Nay the comfortable thankful sober enjoyments of those honest lawful comforts of our life that God lends us so as it be done with great sobriety moderation as in the presence of God and with much thankfulness to Him for this is part of that very duty we owe to God for those very external comforts and blessings we enjoy Deut. 28.47 A wise and due consideration of our latter ends is neither to render us a sad melancholy disconsolate people nor to render us unfit for the businesses and offices of our life but to render us more watchful vigilant industrious soberly cheerful and thankful to that God that hath been pleased thus to make our lives serviceable to Him comfortable to us profitable to others and after all this to take away the bitterness and sting of death through Jesus Christ our Lord. OF VVISDOM AND The Fear of GOD That that is True WISDOM JOB XXVIII 28. And to man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding THe great preheminence that Man hath over Beasts is his Reason and the great preheminence that one man hath over another is Wisdom though all men have ordinarily the priviledge of Reason yet all men have not the habit of Wisdom The greatest commendation that we can ordinarily give a man is that he is a wise man and the greatest reproach that can be to a man and that which is worst resented is to be called or esteemed a fool and yet as much as the reputation of wisdom is valued and the reputation of folly is resented the generality of mankind are in truth very fools and make it the great part of their business to be so and many that pretend to see◠after wisdom do either mistake the thing or mistake the way to attain commonl◠those that are the greatest pretenders 〈◊〉 wisdom and the search after it place it i◠some little narrow concern but place i◠not in its true latitude commensurate to th◠nature of mankind And hence it is tha◠one esteems it the only wisdom to be 〈◊〉 wise Politician or Statesman another t◠be a wise and knowing Naturalist anothe◠to be a wise acquirer of Wealth and th◠like and all these are wisdoms in their kind and the World perchance would be much better than it is if these kind of wisdom were more in fashion than they are bu◠yet these are but partial wisdoms the wisdom that is most worth the seeking and finding is that which renders a man a Wise Man This excellent man Job after a diligen◠search in the speech of this Chapter after Wisdom what it is where to be found doth at length make these two Conclusions viz. 1. That the true root of wisdom and that therefore best knew where it was to be found and how to be attained is certainly none other but A mighty God vers 23. God understandeth the way thereof and knoweth the place thereof and 2. As he alone best knew it so he best knew how to prescribe unto mankind the means and method to attain it To man he said to fear God that is wisdom that is it is the proper and adequate wisdom sutable to humane nature and to the condition of mankind and we need not doubt but it is so because he that best knew what was
and Favour avail not so long as Mordecai sate in the Gate and did him no reverence any small neglect or affront any cross in expectation any little inconsiderable disappointment in what he sets his mind upon disorders him even to distraction The other Extreme is Baseness and Sordidness of Mind which though it carries the shadow of humility yet it is quite another thing And though sometimes as in pride so in this of baseness of mind the complexion and temperament may have an influence yet it is most commonly upon another account namely when a man is forlornly given over to the love of Wealth or Honour or bodliy Pleasures or Lusts this doth make him prostitute himself to any base sordid means or compliances to compass and attain those ends there is nothing so base or unworthy that such a man will not undertake or do to the attainment of what he thus designs such as are base Flattery of Men in Power ugly Compliance with their humors though most nauseous unsavoury creeping and cringing even almost to Adoration of them making pitiful Addresses to their meanest dependents even as low as Pages and Foot-boys performing the most unwarrantable offices for them and many times an external disguise a shape of lowliness and humility in gesture shape habits and deportment till they can attain their ends like the Monk that was always looking upon the earth in a shape of humility till he was chosen Abbot and then changed his figure and being questioned for his sudden change by one of his Covent answered in his former posture he was only looking for the keys of the Abbey but now he had found them he needed not the former posture And this baseness of mind is many times also the effect of the Fear of Men which many times works so much upon the mind that it carries men to base and unworthy compliances But true Humility is a virtue and temper of mind of another nature and arising from better principles It is a lowly frame and habit of spirit arising from the due sense of the Glorious Excellency of the Almighty God and our own frailty and infirmity and our infinite dependence upon his Bounty Goodness Mercy whereby we are under a constant firm and sound conviction that all the good that is in us or that is enjoyed or can be expected by us is from the free and undeserved liberality of that Glorious God So that although possibly the helps of complexion and constitution and education may be contributory to the more easie acquest and exercise of this virtue yet it is in it self the effect of a mind truly and foundly principled the Spirit of a sound mind And this humility of mind is not barely in the external habit or counterfeited deportment many times a Cynical intollerable Pride is clothed with the mantle of Humility but principally it is rooted in the very mind it self and for the most part evidenceth its being by these ensuing particulars 1. A most awful and sincere Reverence 0130 0 and Fear of the Great and Glorious God a habitual prostration of our souls always before him as the great and glorious Sovereign of Heaven and Earth in whose presence we always are and to whom we owe an infinite subjection and dependence 2. A most high and constant Gratitude and Thankfulness of heart and soul to him for all the good we have in us or that is or can be enjoyed by us recognizing him as the giver of our Being of our Faculties our abilities and strength of Mind and Body our Wealth our Honour our Comforts our Hope and Expectations that he is not only the giver of them but the Sovereign Lord of them and as may resume them when he pleaseth 3. And consequently upon this that we owe to that great and Sovereign Lord a due Employment of all that he hath thus given us to his Glory and Service and that we must therefore be accountable for them to him who is our great Lord or Proprietor and Master 4. A constant Vigilancy and Attention of mind upon all our thoughts words and actions but especially lest we forget that habitude of mind that we thus owe to Almighty God and lest pride arrogancy vanity or vain-glory steal in upon us checking and plucking up the first ebullitions and risings the first buds and motions thereof 5. Which is but the consequence of the former a Sober Opinion concerning our selves and all we can do and say not thinking of our selves above what we ought to think and since self-love so naturally adheres to us to be very jealous over our selves especially in those actions that are good or that meet with some applause in the world lest we either value them too high or over-value our selves by reason of them or lest we are short in giving to Almighty God that Honour that is due to him and to him only for them 6. A diligent and impartial and frequent Consideration and Examination and Animadversion of and upon our defects and failings for these and these only are truly and properly our own There are a sort of artificial Pictures that if a man look upon them one way they represent some beautiful comely person but if we look upon them another way they present some deformed mishapen Monster Our own partiality to our selves prompts us to look upon the Picture of our lives and actions in that position or posture that renders nothing but beautiful and virtuous and we have seldom the patience to look upon it in that position that may render our Deformities and Vices and thereupon we give our selves the denomination accordingly of Good and Virtuous and either do not observe or do not consider our own failings and defects If we did as well consider our sins which we commit as the duties which we perform and if in the consideration of our duties we did but consider how much more of duties we omit than we perform and in the duties we perform if we did consider how much deadness formality hypocrisie vain-glory self-seeking and other unhandsom ingredients were mingled with them and should lay our sins our omissions our defects in one scale and that which were really and truly duty and good and worthy in another scale the best of mankind would soon find that that which was truly good in the whole course of his life were a pitiful slender scantlet and would be infinitely out-weighed by his sins omissions and defects and the due comparison and prospect of this would quickly give him a Lecture of Humility the Good we do would indeed make us Thankful but the good we omit the evil we commit and the deficiencies of our duties would make us Humble 7. Charitable Opinions of the persons of others as far as possible may be It is true that neither Religion nor Charity commands or allows any man to say or think that that which is in it self a sin is not so as that Drunkenness and Whoredom or Pride or