its proper Actions so doth the Sins and Defilements and Guilt the result of it upon the Soul disable it in its Works and Offices and this is the evidence of it Every thing is then in its right Constitution when it is in that state that the Wise God of Nature ordered it and so far as it declines from that position or state so far forth it looseth its Usefulness and proper Happiness and therefore it is consequently evident that every thing that loseth its Usefulness and Happiness is out of that Constitution that God Almighty meant for it and therefore in as much as apparently all Sin doth introduce this Disorder and Irregularity it is plain that Mankind thereby is in another condition than God at first made him and intended he should be in Hence therefore It is apparent That all Sin is against Nature and a Violation and Breach even of the Law and Order of Nature which is nothing else but the Station Course and Frame that God with most Admirable Wisdom and Goodness framed for Man Man stands in a double subordination 1. A Subordination within himself viz. Of the Faculties inferiour to the Superiour And 2. A Subordination to something without himself viz. To the Will of his Creator which though it seems extrinsecal yet in truth it is essential and necessary The Internal Subordination is of the inferiour parts and faculties to the Superiour viz. The Sensual Appetite and Passions to Reason and to Judgment God hath committed the Body of Man and those Faculties that are subservient to it unto the Government of the Light of Judgment and Understanding that he hath put into the Soul and because as it is most just that the Soul and its Superiour Faculties should be subordinate to the Will and Direction of God so the Soul stands in need of that Direction in order to the Government of his little Province committed to him and therefore as it happens in Government when the People break the subordination to the Intermediate Magistrate or the Intermediate Magistrates break the subordination to the Supream presently there insues Disorder and Mischief and Confusion so when the Body or those Faculties that are exercised in order to it as the natural Lusts and inclinations of the Body or those that result much from it as the Passions prevail upon the Judgment or Reason either by their Violence or want of due Vigilance and Severity in the Soul in its Administration or if the Reason and Judgment do neglect or cross the Commands of God or make not use of the Divine Directions to assist and guide her in her Administration this is Sin and presently brings Confusion and Disorder and Discomposure in the whole man and makes it Unserviceable for the Ends to which it was ordained Of Self-Denial 1. GOd Almighty hath substituted the Soul of Man as his Deputy or Vieegerent in that Province which is committed to him and expects an Account from the Soul at his return or sooner how he hath managed that Province or petty Dominion committed to him 2. The Province or Territory committed to the management of the Soul are his Body and those Affections and Inclinations incident to it and the Place Condition Relation Abilities and opportunities put into his hand by Providence and Divine dispensation together with that Body in this World 3. The end of this Substitution of the Soul in this Province is first the Improvement of the Revenue of this Principle viz. The Glory of his Name Secondly The improvement of the perfection and advantage of the Soul the perfecting of the Soul thereby in a Conformity to his Masters will and fitting of it self and the Body with it for a more noble and divine condition and imployment 4. The Breach of that Trust committed to the Soul consists either in the want of that due Improvement of the Province committed to the Souls Vicegerency according to the Advantages that it hath which is the Case of the unprofitable Servant that did not mis-imploy his Talent but did not Improve it to his Masters Advantage or which is worse Mis-government and Misimployment of the Province committed to its Charge to the disadvantage of the Soveraign and it self 5. The Mis-government of our Province consists principally in one of these particulars viz. Either in the original and primary Defection of the Soul it self in its Commands and Proceedings whereby it Studieth Practiseth and Commands Originally and Primarily against its Principal and this is Devilish or Secondly in the want of Exercise of a due Superintendency over its Province whereby the Subjects which should be under its Rule and Superintendency are not kept in their due Subjection neither to the Vicegerent nor to the Soveraign but rebell and by their Rebellion either wholly cast off their Vicegerent and Soveraign together or by degrees draw over the Vicegerent or Deputy to their Defection 6. The great Engins of this Defection are the Corrupt Inclinations of the sensual Appetite Lusts and Passions of the Body and especially those which are the great Favorites and most powerful in respect of their Congruity to the Natural Inclinations and temper or rather distemper of the Body or those Temptations which the World offers especially such as are most incident to the Place Station Relation or Condition wherein we stand in the World The former come under the name of the Lust of the Flesh the latter under the name of the Lusts of the Eye and Pride of Life 7. Those Lusts and Temptations are the Instruments in the hand of Satan either by Solicitation to Corrupt or by Power to oppose the Vicegerency of the Soul under God and to bring it over by Allurements or Force to a Defection from him and in both ways fight against the Soveraignty of God and consequently his Glory and against the Perfection of the Soul and consequently its Happiness 8. Those Lusts are of greatest Power that have the greatest dearness to the Body either in respect of Age Complexion Inclination Condition or Station and therefore of greatest Danger to the Soul and fight against it with greatest Advantage In a young Man or a strong sanguine Complexion Luxury Wantonness and Uncleanness are most ordinarily most prevalent In an old or Melancholy Man Covetousness In a middle Aged or Cholerick Man Anger Ambition Violence In a Rich or Powerful Man Oppression Disdain Pride In a Poor Man Discontent Rapin. And there is scarce any Man but hath some Beloved Lust or Sin that he will be content to sell all the rest of his Lusts for the enjoyment of that tempt him to a Lust not suitable to his Complexion Age or Condition he will easily reject it but if it be a Lust suitable to his Age Complexion or Condition he will hardly or with difficulty enough refuse it 9. As every Lust suitable to our Age Complexion or Condition is of greatest power and consequently of greatest Danger so every such Lust once entertained in Practice becomes of
the more concernment The End which most concerns us to enquire after is the end of our Being why or for what end we were made for as that is the thing of the greatest moment to us so the ignorance or mistake therein is of the greatest danger Now touching this End of Man we must know 1. That in all wise workers that act by deliberation and choice the appointment of the end of any work belongs to him that makes it 2. In as much therefore as Mankind is in its Original the workmanship of God therefore it belongs to him to appoint the end of his own workmanship and of him it must be inquired 3. That in as much as God is the wisest worker and in as much as Mankind is a piece of excellent workmanship it becomes the Wisdom of God as to appoint man to an end of his own designing so to appoint him to an end answerable to the excellency of the work an end as much above other creatures as man exceeds them in worth and excellency So that certainly Man is ordained by God to an End and to an excellent End beyond the condition of other inferior Creatures for we see them all appointed for the use and service of Man to feed and cloath and heal and delight him What therefore is common to the Beasts as well as Man cannot be the End of Man The Beasts Eat and Drink and Live and Propagate their kind with as much delight and much more contentment than Man they are free from Cares and from Fears which Man is not and though they die so doth Man also therefore to live and eat and drink and perpetuate their kind is too low an End for Man And if so then much more is it below him to make Wealth and Honor and Power his End For they are but in order to his temporal life here either to provide for it or to secure it And besides that they cannot answer the desires and continuance of an Immortal Soul which Man bears with him And hence grows the Weariness and Vexation and Unquietness and Restlesness of Man in the midst of all Wealth and Honors and Pleasures therefore there is some other End to which Man was appointed Which is 1. In reference to God to glorifie him 2. In reference to Man an everlasting injoyment of God 1. To glorifie God two things are considerable 1. What it is for Man to glorifie God 1. There is a Glorifying of God common to all the Works of God in as much as they all bear in them the visible footsteps of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God Thus the Sun and Heavens glorifie God Psa 19.2 There is a glorifying of God properly belonging to Intellectual Creatures Angels and Men. 1. In his Understanding whereby he learns to know God in his Word and in his Works his Power Goodness Wisdom and Truth and with his heart admires and with his tongue praiseth him 2. In his Will whereby he submits to him Worships Fears him and in the course of his life Obeys him whereby he acknowledgeth his Soveraignty and submits to it Psal 50.23 He that offereth Praise glorifieth him and to him that orders his conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God Both these are imperfectly done here but shall be perfectly done in the life to come 2. Why the Glorifying of God is made the Chief End of Man 1. It is the Chief End that God proposed in all his Works of Creation Prov. 16.4 He made all things for himself that is his own Glory In his Works of Preservation and Providence Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me In his Work of Redemption Ephes 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his Grace whereby he hath made us accepted in the beloved In his Work of Sanctification Matth. 5.16 That Men seeing your good Works may glorifie your Father who is in Heaven 2. It is but just it should be the Chief End of Man to glorifie God because it is a most Reasonable Tribute to pay to him for all his Mercies and Goodness From him we receive our Being and all the Blessings of it and it is but just for God to require and for Man to perform the due acknowledgment of the Goodness of that God from whom he receives them which is his Glorifying of God 2. To injoy God for ever 1. Two things are to be explained 1. What it is to injoy God 2. Why this is part of the Chief End of Man 1. To injoy God is either 1. In this Life which is to have Peace with God Assurance of Reconciliation with him for then we have Peace with our selves Contentment and Quietness of Soul Access to him as to our Father for all we want and Hope and Assurance of Everlasting Life which will make the Comforts of our Life safe and the Afflictions thereof easie and the End and Dissolution thereof Comfortable 2. In the life to come the fulness of fruition of the Knowledge Goodness Glory and Presence of God according to the uttermost measure and capacity of our faculties which in the Resurrection shall be great and capacious and this is called the Beatifical Vision 2. Why this is part of the Chief End of Man Because this is the Happiness and Blessedness of Man to injoy God and nothing besides can make him Happy which appears 1. in all other injoyments without the injoyment of God there is a great deal of Vanity and emptiness whether in Pleasures or Profits or worldly Advantages Men expect great matters from them but after a little injoyment of them they are weary and find themselves disappointed and that there is not that comfort in them that they expected and then they travel to some other worldly injoyment and there they find the like This therefore cannot afford Man his Happiness 2. In all other injoyments without God there is a great deal of Vexation and Trouble The Cares and Fears and Sorrows and Disappointments that we meet with in the injoyment of them doth out weigh all the Contentment and Benefit that we receive in them and therefore this cannot be our Happiness 3. All other injoyments without God have their End and Term Sometimes we over live them the Pleasures and Contentments of youth leave us when we are old And sometimes we see our Riches our Health our Earthly Comforts taken from us but if not yet when we die we leave them and yet our Souls continue after death and our Bodies and Souls continue after our Resurrection for ever The injoyments therefore of this Life cannot be our Happiness but that Happiness which continues as long as we continue which is the injoyment of the Favor Love and Presence of God for ever Now put both together The Glorifying of God and the injoyment of him for ever is the Happiness and Blessedness of Man the Chief End for which he was made Such is the
and the Forgetfulness of God 3. Because the time of Youth is most Obnoxious to forget God there is great Inadvertency and Inconsiderateness Incogitancy Unstableness Vanity Love of Pleasures Easiness to be corrupted in Youth and therefore necessary in this season to lodge the Remembrance of our Creator in our Youth to be an Antidote against these defects to establish and fix the entrance of our lives with this great Preservative the Remembrance of our Creator 4. When Almighty God lays hold of our Youth by a timely Remembrance of himself and thereby takes the first possession of our Souls commonly it keeps its ground and seasons the whole course of our ensuing Lives it prevents and anticipates the Devil and the World It is true it may possibly be that Natural Corruption and Worldly Temptations may suspend the actings of this Principle but it is rarely extinguished It is like that abiding seed remaining in him spoken of by John 1 Joh. 3.9 Which will recover him again 5. The last reason is because there are Evil Days that will certainly come which will render this work of Remembring our Creator difficult to be first begun and therefore it is the greatest Prudence imaginable to lay in this stock before they come for it will certainly stand us in great stead when they come It is the greatest Imprudence in the World to defer that business which is necessary to be done unto such a time wherein it is very difficult to be done and it is the greatest Prudence in the World to do that work which must be done in such a season wherein it may be easily and safely done He that lays in this store of Remembrance of his Creator before the Evil Day come will find it of the greatest use and service to him in that Evil Day Now those Evil Days are many and all of them befall some but some of them will certainly befall all Mankind 1. An Evil Day of Publick or Private Calamities He that beforehand hath laid in this stock of Remembring his Creator will be easily able to bear any Calamity when it comes but a man that hath not done this before hand will find it a very unseanable time to begin to set about it when Fear and Anguish and Perplexity and Storms and Confusion are round about him and take up all his thoughts 2. The Evil Day of Sickness is an unseasonable time or at least a very difficult time to begin such a business When Sickness and Pain and Disorder and uneasiness shall render a man Impatient and full of Trouble and his Thoughts full of Disorder and Discomposure and Waywardness then it will be found a difficult business to begin the Remembrance of our Creator It is true no time is utterly unacceptable of God for this work but surely it is best to begin before this Evil day come for then it will be a comfort and mitigate the Pains and Discomposure of Sickness when a man can thus reflect upon his life past as Hezekiah did in his Sickness Remember O Lord that I have not failed to remember my Creator in the days of my Health 3. The evil Day of Old and Infirm Age which is a Disease and burthen of it self and yet is ever accompanied with other Sicknesses Pains and Diseases and a Natural frowardness and Morosity and Discontentedness of mind and therefore not so seasonable to begin the undertaking of this work as the flourishing Youth And indeed a man cannot reasonably expect that the Great God who invites the Remembring our Creator in the Days of our Youth and hath been ungratefully denied should accept the Dreggs of our Age for a Sacrifice when we have neglected the thoughts of him in our strong and flourishing age But on the other side that man that hath spent the time of his Youth and Strength in the remembrance of his Creator may with comfort and contentment in his old and feeble age reflect upon his past life with Hezekiah Remember O Lord I pray thee that I have not failed to remember thee in the days of my Youth and Strength and I pray thee accept of the endeavours of my Old Decayed Age to preserve that Remembrance of thee which I so early began and have constantly continued and pardon the defects that the natural decays of my strength and age have occasioned in that duty 4. The evil day of Death when my Soul fits hovering upon my lips and is ready to take its flight when all the World cannot give my Life any certain truce for a day or for an hour and I am under the cold embraces of Death then to begin to remember my Creator is a difficult and unseasonable time But when I have began that business early and held on the Remembrance of my Creator it will be a Cordial even against Death it self and will carry my Soul unto the Presence of that God which I have thus remembred in and from the days of my Youth with Triumph and Rejoycing Briefly therefore 1. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth because thou knowest not whether thou shalt have any other Season to Remember him Death may overtake thee and lay thee in the Land of Forgetfulness thy Spring may be thy Autumn and thy early bud may be the only fruit that Mortality may afford thee 2. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth because it is a time of Invitation neglect not this Season because thou knowest not whether ever thou shalt be again invited to it Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth that thy Creator may remember thee in the days of thy Sickness and Old Age and in the Evil Day 4. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth lest thy Creator neglect thee in the Evil Day Neglected Favours especially from thy God may justly provoke him never to lend thee more Because I called and ye refused I also will laugh at your Calamity and mock when your Fear cometh Prov. 1.24 26. 5. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth because it will heal the Evil of Evil days when they come it will turn those days that are in themselves Evil to become days of Ease and Comfort it will heal the Evil of the day of Affliction of Sickness of Old Age and of Death it self and make it a passage into a better a more abiding Life OF THE Vncleanness of the Heart and how it is Cleansed Psal 51.10 Cor mundum crea in me Deus THis Prayer imports or leads us into the Consideration of these things 1. What the condition of every mans Heart is by Nature It is a foul and unclean Heart 2. Wherein consists this uncleanness of the Heart 3. What is the ground or cause of this uncleanness of the Heart 4. Whence it is that the condition of the Heart is changed It is an act of Divine Omnipotence 5. What is the condition of a Heart thus cleansed or wherein the cleanness of the Heart consists
I. If the Heart must be created a new before it can be a clean Heart Certainly before it is thus new formed is is an Impure and unclean Heart And this that is here implyed is frequently in the Scriptures directly affirmed Gen. 7.5 The imagination of the thoughts of the Heart of Man is only Evil continually Jer. 17.9 The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Mark 7.21 Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Adulteries c. And indeed all the Evils that are in the World are but evidences of the Impurity of the Heart that unclean Fountain and Original of them II. Concerning the second wherein the Vncleanness of the Heart consists The Heart is indeed the Crasis or Collection of all the Powers of the Soul in the full extent of it and therefore takes in not only the Will and Affections but the Understanding and Conscience and accordingly hath its Denomination proper to those several faculties as a Wise Heart a Foolish Heart a Believing Heart an Unbelieving Heart an Hard Heart a Soft Heart and the like But answerable to the propriety of the Epithete Clean or Unclean it principally concerns the Heart under the notion of Will or Desire and the Consequents that are thereupon and consequently according to the propriety of Application a Clean Heart is such a Heart as hath Clean Desires and Affections an unclean Heart is that which hath unclean and impure Desires a Heart full of evil Concupiscence And because the Cleanness or Uncleanness of the Desires are denominated from their Objects and not from the Affections or Desires themselves which are diversified according to their Objects Hence it is that a Heart that fixeth her Desires upon pure and clean Objects is said in that act to be a Clean Heart and that which fixeth its Desires upon Unclean or Impure Objects is an Unclean Heart in that Act Therefore before we can determine what an Unclean Heart is it is necessary to know what are Vnclean Objects the tendency of the Desires of the Heart whereunto doth denominate an Unclean Heart Generally whatsoever is a thing prohibited by the Command of GOd carries in it an Immundities an Impurity and Uncleanness in it But that is not the Uncleanness principally intended it is more Large and Spacious than the intent of the Text bears But there are certain Lusts and Impure or Immoderate Propensions in our Natures after certain Objects which come under the name of Vnclean Lusts and those are of two kinds the Lusts of the Mind and the Lusts of the Flesh for so they are called and distinguished by the Apostle The Lusts of the Mind are such as have their Activity principally in the Mind though they may have their Improvements by the Crasis and Constitution of the Body as the Lusts of Envy Revenge Hatred Pride Vain-glory. These are more Spiritual Lusts and therefore though they are more Devillish yet they are not properly so Unclean as those we after mention The Lusts of the Flesh are such Lusts as arise from our sensual Appetites after sensual Objects as the Lusts after Meats Drink and Carnal Pleasures And though these Objects are not in themselves sinful nor consequently the Appetites of them unlawful for they are planted in our Natures by the Wise and Pure God of Nature to most necessary and excellent Ends for the Preservation of our selves and our Kind yet they do accidently become Impurities and Uncleanness to us when inordinately Affected or Acted And these are those Vnclean Objects the Desires whereof do denominate an Vnclean Heart but principally the Latter the Lust of Carnal Concupiscence called by the Scriptures in an eminent manner the Lust of the Flesh 1 John 2.16 Fleshly Lusts that fight against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 Walking after the Flesh in the Lusts of Vncleanness 2 Pet. 2.10 Perchance bearing some Analogy to those Legal Uncleannesses in the Levitical Law especially to those of Levit. 15. Even the very natural Infirmities nay those that are not only tolerated but allowed carry in them a kind of Impurity and Uncleanness And hence grow those many Legal Impurities which disabled the Jews from coming into the Camp or Tabernacle till they were Purified as that of Leprosie touching of dead bodies unclean issues uncleanness after Child-birth uncleanness of natural Commixtions Lev. 15.18 Exodus 19.15 The uncleanness of natural Secessions Deut. 23.13 14. The washings of Aaron and his Sons Exod. 30.20 All which are but Emblems of the Impurity of the Heart and of the great Care that is to be used in the keeping of it Clean and the Reason is Morally and Excellently given Deut. 23.14 For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the Camp to deliver thee and to give up thine Enemies before thee therefore shall thy Camp be Holy that he see no Vnclean thing in thee and turn away from thee The Conclusion therefore is that this Carnal Concupiscence the Lust of the Flesh predominate in the Heart is that which principally and by way of Eminence in respect of the subject matter of it denominates an Unclean Heart But in as much as this Concupiscence hath somewhat in it that is natural and consequently is not simply of it self Sin or Uncleanness therefore it is requisite to give a denomination of Uncleanness and Impurity to those desires that there be some Formalities requisite to the denomination of this to be Unclean and Sinful which is when those Desires are not in subjection to right Reason for it being a proceed of the inferior Faculties the sensual Appetite when the same is not in subordination to that Empire which God hath given the more Heavenly and Noble Powers of the Soul it becomes Confusion and inverting of the order of Nature and this is principally Discovered when these Desires are 1. Immoderate 2. Unseasonable 3. Without their proper end 4. Irregular 5. Unruly and without the Bridle of Reason III. The Causes of this Uncleanness of the Heart are principally these two 1. The Impetuousness and continual solicitations of the sensual Appetite which continually sends up its foul Exhalations and Steems into the Heart and thereby taints and infects it The Soul of Man is like a kind of Fire which if it be fed with clean and sweet materials it yields sweet and comfortable Fumes but if it be fed with impure and unclean and stinking oyl and exhalations it is tainted with them and makes unsavory thoughts which are a kind of Fume that rise from this Fire and therefore if the distemper of the Body or sensual Appetite send up cholerick Steems into this sacred Fire it yields nothing but thoughts of Anger and Indignation If it sends up Melancholy and Earthy fumes it fills the Soul with black and dismal and discontented thoughts If it send up as most ordinarily it doth sensual and fleshly Steems it fills the Heart with sensual and wanton thoughts 2. The Weakness and Defect of the imperial part
of the Soul the Reason and Understanding and this Defect is commonly upon these two occasions 1. The Soul wants a clear Sense and Judgment that these Desires are not fit to be gratified but to be denied at least when they become Immoderate or Unseasonable It is ordinarily our Infirmity to judge of things as they are at present and therefore if the Present presents it self pleasing or displeasing we accordingly entertain it or refuse it without any due prospect to the event or state of things at a distance either because we Know it not or Believe it not or Regard it not If a Man being solicited to unwarrantable or unseasonable carnal Pleasures hath not a prospect that the end thereof will be bitterness or if he have such a Prospect yet he believes it not or if he do yet if his Judgment prefer the satisfaction of a present Lust before the avoiding of an endless pain it is no wonder if he submit to the solicitation of his sensual Appetite 2. But if the Judgment be right yet if the Superiour and more noble part of the Soul have not Courage and Resolution enough to give the Law to the Inferiour but yields and submits and becomes base the sensual Appetite gets the throne and Captivates Reason and rules as it pleaseth and this is commonly the condition of the Soul after a fall for the sensual Appetite once a Victor becomes Imperious and Emasculates and Captivates the superior Faculty to a continued Subjection And this is the Reason why when Lusts of any kind especially that of the Flesh having gotten the Mastery makes a Man indued with Reason and Understanding yet infinitely more Intemperate and Impure than the very Beasts themselves which have no such Check or Advantage of Reason for those noble Faculties of Phantasie and Imagination and Memory and Reason it self being prostituted to Lust doth bring in all the Advantages of its own perfection to that service and thereby sins beyond the extent of a bare sensual Creature the very Reason it self invents new and prodigious Lusts and Provisions for them and fulfillings of them the Phantasie improves them the Heart and Thoughts feed upon them and so by that very Perfection of his Nature which was placed in him to Command and Regulate these Lusts or Desires of the sensual Appetite becomes the most exquisite and industrious Advancer of them and makes a man infinitely worse than a Beast for a Beast hath no antecedent speculations of his Lust no provisions for them but when the opportunity and his own natural propensions encline him to them when he hath fulfilled his Lust thinks no more of it but Man by the advantage of his Reason his Phantasie his Memory makes Provisions for his Lusts yields up his thoughts to speculations of them studies stratagems and contrivances to satisfie them So that by how much his nature is the more perfect his sensual Lusts are the more exquisite and unsatiable and by this means his Heart becomes Unclean a very Stewes of Wantonness and Impurity a box full of nothing but stinking and unsavory Vapors and Steems the very sink receptacle of all the Impure desires of the Flesh where they are cherished and entertained and sublimated into Impurities more exquisite and yet more filthy than ever the sensual Appetite could arrive unto and this is an Vnclean Heart And upon these Considerations a man may easily see how little ground there is for to think there should be a Communion between Almighty God or his most Holy Spirit with a man thus qualified 1. The Heart as it is the seat of the Desires is the only fit Sacrifice to be offered up to God as it is the Chamber of our thoughts it is the only fit Room to entertain him in as it is the fountain of our Actions the fittest part to be assisted with the Spirit of God it is the only fit thing that we can give to God and indeed the only thing in effect that he requires of us 2. Again that God is a most Pure God his Spirit a most Pure and delicate Spirit and let any man then judge whether such a nasty impure unclean Heart is a fit Sacrifice to be offered to such a God or a fit receptacle for such a Spirit It therefore imports such a man that hopes to have Communion with God to have his Heart in a better Temper Again it seems more than probable to me that as a Body fed with poysonous and unwholsome Food must needs by such a Diet contract foulness and putrefaction So the very Soul of Man which hath so strict a Conjunction with and union to the Body by continual Conversation with and Subjection to such unclean and fleshly thoughts receives a Tincture and an imbasement by them which if there were no other Hell must needs make it Miserable in its Separation upon these two Respects 1. Upon the Consideration of that Ugliness which it hath contracted by those impure Conversations and which it might have avoided if it had in the Body exercised its proper Empire over them 2. By that Disappointment which it finds in the State of separation from the fulfilling and satisfying those sensual Inclinations which it effected here and now carrieth with it but stands utterly disappointed of any satisfaction of them IV. We consider How it comes to pass that a Heart thus naturally unclean is Cleansed which in general is by a Restitution of the Soul to its proper and native Soveraignty and Dominion over the sensual Appetite and those Lusts that arise from the Constitution of the Body and the Connexion of the Soul to it And this Restitution is answerable to the Depravation or Impotence whereby the Soul is Subjected and Captivated under those Lusts which are principally these following 1. The first ground of the Impotency of the Soul in subduing of the sensual Appetite is in the Understanding which is so far weakned or darkned by natural Corruption that it is ready in point of Judgment to prefer the present fruition of Corporal Pleasures and the satisfaction of the sensual Appetite before the denying of it for it sees and finds a present contentment in the former but sees not the danger and inconvenience that will insue upon it nor the benefit and advantage that will insue upon a due Restraint and Moderation of them It finds a present Contentment and Satisfaction in the one but it hath not the Prospect of the other or if it have yet the Conviction thereof is so Weak and Imperfect that the Pleasures of Sin for a season do overcome and subdue it For the Cure therefore of this Error and Impotency in the Judgment there ought to be 1. A Conviction that there is a Danger and Inconvenience that will certainly attend the Dominion of Lust over the Soul and a Benefit and Advantage that will attend the Victory of the Soul over these Lusts 2. And because there may be an Inconvenience in the former and a
this Uncourteous dealing with our Lusts and Temptations will much countervail the unpleasingness of the Duty A man is tempted to a Sin he holds conference with it and is inticed to treat with it and to think of it and it pleaseth him but it is a Thousand to one if it stay there but unless some great diversion by the Grace of God or some External restraint by Shame or Punishment prevent him he commits the Sin and so Lust when it hath Conceived will bring forth Sin and Sin when finished will bring forth Shame and Death or at the best Shame and Sorrow How will a Man reckon with himself What am I the better for that Contentment that I took in this Sin the Contentment is past and that which it hath left me is nothing else but a mis-giving Conscience a sense of a displeased God ashamed to bring my mind in his presence a pre-apprehension of some mischief or inconvenience to follow me a despondency of mind to draw near to God under it and either a great deal of Sorrow and Vexation or Affliction under it or which is the usual gratification of Satan after Sin committed to put away the remembrance of a Sin past with the committing of another till at last the Guilt grows to such a moles that a Man is desperately given over to all kind of Villany and as his Sins increase his Guilt and Shame increaseth On the other side I have denyed my Lust or my Temptation and it is gone First I am as well without it as if I had committed it for it may be the Sin had been past and the contentment that I took in it and I had been as well without it but besides all this I have no Guilt cleaving to my Soul no sting in my Conscience no dispondent nor mis-giving Mind no Interruption of my Peace with God or my self I enjoy my Innocence my Peace my Access to God with Comfort nay more than all this I have a secret Attestation of the Spirit of God in my Conscience that I have obeyed him and have pleased him and have rejected the Enemy of his Glory and my Happiness I have a secret advance of my Interest and Confidence in him and Dependance upon him and Favour with him and Liberty and Access to him which doth Infinitely more than counter vail the satisfaction of an impure and unprofitable and vexing Lust which leaves no footsteps behind it but shame and Sorrow and Guilt 15. As Resolution and Severity to a mans self is one of the best remedies against the flatttery and deceit of Lust so there are certain Expedients that are subservient to that Resolution as namely First Avoiding of Idleness for the Soul in the Body is like a flame that as it were feeds upon that oily substance of the Body which according to the various qualifications or temper of the Body gives it a tincture somewhat like it self and unless the Soul be kept in action it will dwell too much upon that tincture that it receives from it and be too intent and pleased or at least too much tainted and transported and delighted with those fuliginous foul Vapors that arise from the Flesh and natural Constitution Keep it therefore busied about somewhat that is fitter for it that may divert that Intention and Complacency in those fumes that the inferiour part of the Soul is apt to take in them and so be tempted transported or abused by them Secondly A frequent and constant Consideration of the Presence of God and his Holy Angels Luke 15.7 10. 1 Cor. 4.9 who are Spectators of thy Constancy to God and his party and delighted in it or of thy Apostasie Bruitishness and Baseness of mind and grieved at it If a good Man were but acquainted with all my Actions and Motions of my mind upon the Advance of Lusts and Temptations it would make me ashamed to offend in his sight but much more if a pure and glorious Angel did in my view attend observe and behold me but when the Eternal God doth behold me who hath given me this Command to deny my Lusts and hath told me the danger of yielding to them that they bring forth Sin and Death and Hell offers his Grace to assist me promiseth Reward to my Obedience and Constancy how shall I then dare to offend with so much presumption Thirdly A frequent Consideration of Christ's Satisfaction Sufferings and Intercession These Lusts that now solicit me to their observance were those that Crucified my Saviour it was the end of his Passion to Redeem me not only from the Guilt but from the subjection to them It is he that beholds me how shall I trample his Blood under foot If I prostitute my self to them how shall I despise and as much as in me lies disappoint him in the very end of his Incarnation How shall I shame his Gospel before men and as much as in me lies put him to shame in the presence of the Father and all the Holy Angels when they shall be witnesses of my preferring a base Lust before him How can I expect the Intercession of my Saviour for me at the right hand of God who beholds me thus unworthily to serve a Lust though to my Damnation rather than obey my Redeemer to my Salvation 4. Frequent Consideration of Death and Judgment A base Lust solicites me to obey it Shall I accept or deny it It may be this may be the last action of my Life and possibly Death that might have been respited if I shall deny my Lust may be my next event if I obey it and as Death finds me so will Judgment find me Would I be content that such an act as this should be the Amen of my Life and it may be seal me up to eternal rejection Would I be content that my Soul should be presently carried into the presence of God under the last act of my Life to his dishonor Or on the other side if I deny this base importunate Messenger of Hell and it should please God to strike me presently after with Sickness or Death would it not be a more comfortable entrance into that black Valley with a clear Conscience and an Innocent Heart that could with Comfort say as once Hezekiah did upon the like occasion Isai 38.3 Remember O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart Fifthly A due Consideration of the Issue of those solicitations of Lust if assented unto the end of it is Death it will be bitterness in the end it cannot with all its pleasures countervail that bitterness that will most certainly attend it nor can it give any security against it Suppose thou art solicited to a thought or act of Injustice Impurity or Intemperance if thou wilt needs be talking with the Temptation ask it whether it be not a Sin against that God in whose hands thy Soul is and if it be whether his Anger and
Contentments Recreations Good Cloaths Equipage and State and such like These good things of this life have in themselves a just measure of Good and therefore according to that measure of Good that is in them they deserve a proportionable measure of our Love for External Blessings are really Blessings And among the several good things of this World there are several Ranks and Degrees of Good some are Good some are Better and accordingly the proportion or measure of love that I lend to them is to be moderated and distributed and expressed according to these different Degrees and Ranks of Good that we find in them or the relation they bear to me for instance I may love my Wealth but since Wealth is but a useful Instrument directed to other ends as to support my Life my Health my Relations I am to love it less than these because these are more valuable and my Wealth is only Desirable or Good to these Ends and subordinate to these Uses Moderation of the Affection of Love in relation to Externals consists therefore principally in these things 1. That we have a just Estimate of the Good that is in the things we set our Love upon and that we do not over-value them or Expect that Good to be in them that really is not we must look upon them as they are it may be they are such as have not a perfect sincere Good in them but mixture of Evil or such as have not a stable or permanent Good in them but are mutable or mortal or such as have a Good in them proportionate only to our present condition and when our condition is altered the Good that is in them vanisheth And if they be such we must esteem them as such and love them as such and such for the most part are all Worldly things Health Wealth Friends Relations nay our very Lives 2. That we look upon all the Good that is in the World as derived from the Goodness of God and infinitely below that Good that is in him and therefore all our Love to them must be subordinate to that Love that we owe to God and must be controlled by it and in all competitions must give place unto it Suppose I have great Wealth or many Relations I may nay in reason I ought to bear some Love to them but I must remember it is but a derivative and a subordinate Good and therefore I must Love them with this reserve and qualification that if God please to call for them I must quietly part with them for as I have them under that condition so the Love I owe to God the supreme Good engageth me to submit to his Will and to obey it for if I Love him best I must be pleased with what his Will is pleased for I judg him the best Good and therefore his Will the best Will and the Good Pleasure of his Will must be the rule of my subjection otherwise his Love hath not the preheminence 3. That we make aright a due Comparison between Good things of several kinds and give that the preference in our Love which upon a due Judgment ought to be preferred and this concerns and principally discovers it self in the Competition of several good things and of our Affections to them The Merchant loves his Goods well but in a Storm to save his Life is content to throw his Goods over-board And the exercise of Wisdom in this kind principally consists in the due weighing the several values of Good things of several natures and ranging of them in their several Ranks and also in the diligent consideration of the several Circumstances that accompany several things for many times some good things that are in themselves preferrable before others receive an abatement and allay by circumstances and others less preferrable receive an advance by the circumstances that attend them 1. Therefore touching the Different Ranks of things themselves in matters of my own private concernment I am to prefer my Soul and the Good thereof before all my External advantages for what shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul I am to prefer the Good of my Health before the Good of my Wealth Again in things relating to my self and others I am to prefer the safety of the State wherein I live before my Wealth yea and before my own safety because I am sure when the whole is in danger I must needs be in danger and many more I am to prefer a Great Good that may accrue to many before a Smaller Good nay possibly an Equal Good that may accrue to my self nay I am to prefer an apparent greater good to any person than a small and inconsiderable good to my self But above all I am to prefer the Honour and Glory of God before my own Honour Reputation Estate Contentment or Life it self Because he is the Greatest Good and most to be Loved and the Love to his Honour is but the result of my Love to him Again in things relating to others I am to prefer a Greater Good that may accrue to one before a smaller Good to another The good of one Neighbours Soul before the good of anothers Estate where the one but not both are justly in my power I may prefer an Equal Good to a Relation before an Equal Good to a Stranger where the concernment or condition of both are equal because I have just reason to love a Relation before a Stranger Again 2. As there are different Ranks of Good so differing Circumstances make one Good preferrable before another If I see two Men in danger and I can relieve but one of them both being equal to me I am to prefer the relief of him whose danger is greater or more imminent before the relief of him whose danger is less or more remote and herein Prudence and Integrity of Heart must be the director of my Love and of the Emanations of it always provided that nothing unjust or dishonest be mingled with what I do 4. That as among Goods of different Sizes or Degrees I am to prefer the Best so among Good things that at least seem equal I do prefer the most Lasting and Durable for Lastingness and Durableness is a special part of the Goodness of any thing nay oftentimes a Good that in its present degree or extent is greater yet if it be less Durable is not so Valuable as a less but more lasting Good as the greater Wealth that must be spent in a year is truly less Valuable than a smaller portion that lasts two years 5. That we observe that General Rule before given namely That we never give our Affection of Love leave to run out alone without Judgment and Consideration going before it and going along with it That we suffer not our Passions to deal out their own measure but our Judgment Deliberation That we always keep this Affection especially under Discipline Government and suffer it not to run away from us as an
unruly Beast without a Chain for it is certain the due Government of this Affection governs all the rest And now if we look abroad into the World or indeed but strictly and impartially observe our selves we shall easily observe a marvellous want of Moderation of this Affection For not to mention the misplacing of this Affection upon what we should really hate we may see a great Irregularity in the Measure and Order of Exerting this Affection about things that we may in their measure and kind love we talk indeed of loving of God above all and of the great value we set upon our Souls and Everlasting life and of Self-Denial and against loving of the World and how vain and contemptible a thing the World is But for the most part they are but Words and Speculations when we come to Practice and Life there appears nothing or very little that answers these Notions and Speculations little of that Moderation that those Notions import We love the World the Wealth the Honour the Pleasures the Profits of it with all our Souls we make it our principal business to attain and enjoy it we account it our greatest Calamity when we are crossed or disappointed in it One Man sets his whole heart upon his Greatness another upon his Wealth another upon his Pleasures and Recreations another upon his Preferment another upon the Favour of Great Men another upon Applause of his Learning or Eloquence another upon the Beauty of a Mistress or Servant nay so Childish we many times are that we are inamoured on very Toyes as fine Cloaths handsome Furniture a fine House splendid Entertainments a fine Head of Hair or Mad Antick Postures or Complements Affected Words Gestures or Phrases Apish Imitations Plays and Gaming new Fashions that many there are that make such Feathers as these the Principal Objects of their Love the Business and Study of their Lives and are as much concerned in their disappointment herein as if they were undone These are preposterous and want Moderation in their Affection because they have no true Judgment or Estimate of things according to their true Values THE VANITY AND VEXATION THAT Ariseth from Worldly Hope and Expectation IT is very evident to every Mans experience that Hope and Expectation of Good is the great Wheel or rather Weight that moves Man to all Actions and Undertakings The Plough-man ploughs in Hope and the Merchant-Adventures in Hope and the Scholar Studies in Hope and the Soldier Fights in Hope and so for all Humane Actions And thus it must needs be for in Hope or Expectation there are these Ingredients 1. Some End that a Man hath in prospect which carries a Complacency and Suitableness to the mind as to be Rich or Powerful or Learned or Applauded These are the ordinary ends of ordinary Men but there are ends of a nobler Condition as to be everlastingly happy c. But of these nobler and higher Ends I do not now speak 2. That end is also represented as an End Possible and Attainable 3. That there be also a Means proposed probably conducing to the attaining of that End and the Hope or Expectation of that End is the Spirit or Life that puts a Man upon the use and exercise of that Means thus conducible to it For the most part the Complacency that is taken in the Exercise of the Means to the attaining of the End proposed is at all times equal and most times exceeds the Complacency that is taken in the injoyment of the End when attained for the reason hereafter given For the End is present in Expectation in the most ample and Comprehensive Image or Idea thereof that can be And this is that which quickens and drives on Action with intensiveness proportionable to that measure of Worth and Value that the Soul puts upon the End thus prospected And therefore he that hath a great and high Expectation and Value of the End propounded acts with Vigor and Industry he that sets but a low Price or Valuation upon the End as a business but little preponderating the Trouble and Industry to attain it is cold in his Prosecution of it But if the Labor and Industry that is required in the use of that means appear to equal the Good that is attained in the End the whole action is for the most deserted as he that sets a great Value upon Wealth or Honor spares no pains to attain it So he that sets but a low value upon it is flat and lazy in his prosecution of it and he that looks upon it as not countervailing the pains in acquiring it sits still and is idle in it For the most part the Good Things of this World are presented to Men in expectation not only in their best dress but in an Elevated Value above what is in truth in them and this is therefore so upon a double Reason 1. The Wise Providence of God permitting it and that for this excellent End to keep Men in Action and in Motion which is of singular use for Mankind For if the things exciting the ordinary Actions of Life did appear with no greater an Elevation than possibly they do really and intrinsically bear the most part of Mankind would sit still and do nothing This very fallacy that Men put upon themselves in over expecting is a Spur to Action and Motion which in most Men would be wholly intermitted unless the very Worldly concerns did set them in Action as the end stands thus represented to their Expectation 2. Mankind being indued with a Fancy or Imagination that hath not only a power of separating the Good of every thing from the Evil that may possibly accompany what it expects but also of stuffing and filling the Good with great Imaginary Advances it doth to please and gratifie it self exercise both these Delightful Deceits If it finds any good in what it expects it doth upon choice thrust away and remove all that Evil that is really annexed to it that so it may not be vexed with the pre-apprehensions of it and it multiplies and augments and advanceth and magnifieth that Good that it hath left that so he may with the greater delight expect what he by this phantasie hath wrought himself up to a belief that he shall injoy The misery and unhappiness that falls upon Mankind from this advance of the Hope and Expectation of Worldly Ends is observable in one of these Events thereof 1. It may be there is an utter Frustration of the whole thing designed and aimed at and so his Expectation is like the dream of the Hungry Man in the Prophet Isai 29.8 that dreamed he had Eaten and he wakes and behold he is hungry 2. If he attain the End he expected be it Wealth or Honor or Pleasure or the like yet many times there doth attend it some signal Mischief or Evil that he had not before the patience to think of that doth render the whole injoyment to be utterly a thing mischievous
me take no contentment or satisfaction at all in all or any of these enjoyments the truth is they are but Provisions for the Flesh and in order to the Body and when the Body is under a distemper they become but insignificant useless things He that is under a strong Pain or Disease finds as little contentment though he lie on a soft Bed richly furnished in a Chamber richly hanged in it a Cupboard furnished with massie Plate as if he lay in a Cottage 3. They are but for a time Death will at last overtake me and as all my Riches and Pleasures and Honours and Worldly Accommodations cannot prevent or buy it off so neither will they be of any comfort or value to me in that hour Indeed they may make death more troublesom and unwelcome to me but they cannot at all secure me against it The plain truth is Death doth undeceive and open the eyes of the Children of Men it teacheth us to put the true value upon every thing as it deserves My Riches and my Honour my Pleasures and my Profits my Gallantry and my Policy which I made much reckoning of in my life time when Death comes I shall perceive them to be but Vanity at the best and set no Esteem upon them but Piety and Prayers and Charity and Interest in God and in the Merits of Christ and the Promises of the Gospel that perchance in my life time I esteemed as dry and useless things I shall then see to be of greatest value and accordingly prize them These I shall carry with me into the succeeding World but all my Worldly Comforts when I pass through this strait Gate of Death I shall leave behind me as a Snake leaves behind his antiquated Skin when he passeth through a brake and never make use of them or take comfort in them more And when I come unto the other side of this dead Lake the Fruitions of all my life past will be forgotten or at least remembred as a Man remembers a Dream when he awakes only the Good or Evil of my past life will stick upon me unto all Eternity Why then should I set my Heart upon that which is of so small a value so little use so short and so uncertain a continuance they are things which I may lose while I live but I am sure I cannot keep them when I die and if they take their farewel sooner they do but their kind and at best do but a little anticipate their last and necessary valediction I resolve therefore I will not set my Heart upon them but carry a loose and flaccid Affection towards them And if I lose them I will not over-much afflict my Soul for the loss of that which I had not much reason to value while I had it And as thus a Man should tutor himself to a just Estimate of the Good things of the World so a Man should bring himself to a just and due Esteem of the Evil things of the World such as Sickness and Pain and Imprisonments and Reproach and Want and the like There are these two things that do much allay the severity of those Evils 1. They are but Corporal they reach no farther than the Body the Husk the outward Man the Cottage they cannot at all get so deep as the Soul 2. They are but Temporal It is most certain that Death will cure and heal these Evils and possibly these Distempers and Sufferings the less severe they are the more tolerable the more severe the more in probability they will hasten and advance the cure As nothing that hath an end can make a Man truly Happy so nothing that hath an end can make a Man truly Miserable because he hath under his greatest Misery the Lenitive of Hope and Expectation of a Deliverance 6. But yet farther Gain Assurance of thy Peace with God in Christ and consequently of thy future Happiness and be frequent in the Contemplation and Improvement of it This is the great Engine of a Christian a Magistery that was never attained by the most exquisite Philosopher nor is attainable but in and by the knowledge of Christ who brought Life and Immortality to Light It is the great expedient whereby a Man attains Victory over the World whereby he is able to injoy Prosperity with Moderation and undergo Affliction with Patience 1 Joh. 5.4 This is the Victory which overcometh the World even your Faith When a Man under the severest Afflictions shall have this Assurance and these Contemplations It is true I am in as low a condition as the World can cast me my Estate torn from me by the basest of Men and I and my Children exposed to extream Want and Necessity so that I am become little better than a Vagabond upon the Earth for the very attaining of Bread or at best am driven to the hardest and most sordid imployment that can be consistent with honesty for my supplies of Necessaries and if by chance my own sweat or others charity supply me to day I cannot imagine what shift to make for to morrow and if this were a condition to which I had been born or in which I had been bred use might have made it easie and familiar but it is not so I am fallen into this low condition from a plentiful and liberal condition wherein I had my Table crowned with plenty and as I wanted not Charity to imploy my Plenty so I wanted not Plenty to supply my Charity Again I was in the greatest Reputation and Esteem among Men that may be but now I am fallen under the saddest the basest Scorn and Obloquy and Reproach and Imputation that can be and all this without any cause my Enemies Triumph over me with Scorns Derisions and Exprobrations my former Friends bestow upon me a kind of Scornful Pity that is more bitter than the upbraidings of my Enemies the abjects and dregs of the people make me their by-word and the Calumnies under which I suffer are of such a nature that none dares be my Advocate but the silent Testimony of my own Conscience and Innocence Again under all these pressures it had been some allay if I were but a Citizen of the World that I had but the liberty to forsake the place of my suffering and go to some more auspicious or tolerable corner of the World but in that I am also prevented my liberty is taken from me and I am penned up in the narrow dark loathsome stinking confines of a most odious Prison without the benefit of Light or Friends or indeed of any other Company than such as make my Imprisonment the more intolerable Chains and Vermine and the most accursed Malefactors Again I suffer not only under restraint of a loathsome Goal but I am exposed to lingring Torments Racks and Whips and Famine and Nakedness and Cold and continual Threats and sad Expectations of worse to follow if worse there may be Again dismal and painful and tormenting Diseases
seise upon my Body no part of my Body free from pain no place affords me ease no Cordial gives me comfort my Breath short and painful and even loathsome unto my self my eyes consumed and weary with expectation of Deliverance my Heart faint and not able to support its weak and languishing motion my Stomach gone and not able to receive or digest the most pleasant meat my exhausted consumed Body standing in need of supply and yet unable to receive it my Intrails parcht and scorcht with burning heat which is nevertheless the more increased by that which should allay it my Limbs and Joynts and Arteries torn and racked with tormenting Convulsions my Sleep gone or more troublesome than if I were awaked no posture no place affording me ease or relaxation in the Morning I wish it were Night and in the Night I long for the Morning my easie Bed assords me no ease and I desire to rise and when I am risen I cannot bear it I must presently lie down importunately longing for this or that meat and when I have it loathing the very sight of it In sum the whole mass of my Blood corrupted and my whole Body a bag full of putrefaction stink and corruption loathsome to my self and others a very Carcass bound to a living Soul tired with her burthen exquisitly sensible of it unable either to bear it or deliver her self of it These be some of those sad attendants that accompany this condition and it may be all those Calamities befal a Man at once together with the loss of Friends or near Relations as in the case of Job and then what remains to denominate a Man perfectly miserable if the calamities of this World can do it But if under any or all of those Pressures I can upon sound grounds and assurance rest upon my Hope of Immortality these and a thousand more External miseries will not only be tolerable but easie When I can upon sound Convictions and Experiences practically entertain my self with such thoughts as these It is true I am as miserable in Externals as the World can make me but in the midst of all my External Losses and Poverty I have in my prospect a Kingdom prepared for me that cannot be shaken a Treasure in Heaven above the malice and reach of Men and Devils and after a few days spent in my poor Pilgrimage through this World I shall as surely possess it as if I were already actually invested in it and as this Hope doth allay the sharpness of my passage so in my arrival to my Happiness my present suffering will make my future rest more welcome That Beam of Light and Comfort that this Hope darts into my Soul will inlighten my darkest Night here and walk along with me to my Canaan when my Hope shall be swallowed up in Vision and Fruition in the midst of all the Storms and Reproaches and Vilifyings that the World heaps upon me I injoy the Comfortable Presence and Favor of my God in my Soul and his Suffrage and Attestation and Acceptance of my Innocence which doth infinitely more over-ballance the Frowns and Contempts of the World than the favor of the greatest Prince doth over-weigh the Reproaches of the basest Peasant In the midst of my closest and darkest Restraints I have that converse which the strictest guard the strongest Bars cannot exclude I have the Presence and Conversation of my Saviour Christ and his Blessed and Sacred Spirit which doth cure and heal the noysomness and supply the retiredness of my closest Restraints and this company makes my Prison a Temple wherein I can with his Blessed Apostle with a chearful Heart magnifie my God my Soul and Mind is at liberty and free in despight of Gates of Brass and Bars of Iron In the midst of all my Pains and Sickness and the tedious declination of my Body to its final corruption and dissolution I can satisfie my self with an expectation of a happy Resurrection when this weak and frail and dying Body of mine shall be made like unto the glorious Body of my glorified Saviour and translated into the Company of Saints and Angels where there shall be no Sickness nor Sorrow nor Pain nor Sin nor Death and I shall meet with those Friends and Relations of mine which died before me in the same hope I look upon these my present Pains and Sickness and Weakness as the Harbingers of that dissolution which shall put an end to them and begin my Happiness and hereupon I bear them not only with-Patience but Comfort the greater their Violence is the sooner they will finish their business and rend away this mortal corrupted Carcass from my Immortal Soul and even in the instant of my dissolution can by the eye of my Faith discern the Blessed Angels ready to transport my Soul cleansed by the Blood of Christ into the joys of Heaven and my Blessed Redeemer standing on the other side as it were of this dead Lake ready to receive me and lead me into those Heavenly Mansions of Rest and Happiness which he went before to prepare for me This Hope and Assurance as it makes the best things of this World in their best appearance and dress but light and vain and empty and nothing So it makes the worst things that the World and Mortality can inflict or suffer light and easie For these light Afflictions which are but for a moment work 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 2 Cor. 4.17 18. These be some of those Preparations that will admirably fit and prepare us to meet with Afflictions and in them these two things are to be remembred First That we do not only content our selves with Notions and bare Speculations of these things but that we may practically digest them into our Hearts and Resolutions for if they be but notional only Afflictions when they come will easily rend and defeat these Notions I have known many Men that have had very excellent Notions of this kind and could discourse excellently of them nay could urge them very effectually upon others but when any little Cross hath overtaken them they have been quite out of all Patience and Comfort and as much to seek how to entertain it as those that had never known any such matter nay a poor experienced Christian that could not talk half so much hath received the shock of Affliction with much more Christian Resolution than the other and the reason is The former had digested these Matters barely into Notion and the latter he made it Practical and Cordial When I read Plutarch and Seneca and Tully I find excellent Instances and Reasonings to support the Mind in Afflictions and many times upon the soundest Grounds that can be Plutarch de Animae Tranquillitate tells us That he
that hath learned the Nature of the Soul and thinks that by death it shall attain a better or at least not a worse condition hath a great freedom from fear of Death and no small viaticum to attain Tranquillity of mind in his life And many such instances are given by the Stoicks especially Seneca and by Tully But when the latter came to an exquisite apprehension of his danger from Anthony his Philosophical Notions and Contemplations were too weak to bear up his mind against those fears and therefore in his Sixteenth Epistle Lib. 10. to Atticus he writes to him to this effect If thou hast any thing to comfort me gather it up and write it not out of Learning or Books for I have these here with me Sed nescio quomodo imbecillior est medicina quam morbus But I know not how it comes to pass the Physick is too weak for the Disease And Job though a Wise and Experienced Man and bore up pretty well in his Afflictions yet his friend Eliphaz tells him and that truly Job 4.3 5. Behold thou hast instructed many and thou hast strengthned the weak hands but now it is come upon thee thou faintest c. Men may have excellent Theories to support in Affliction and can apply them to others in that condition with singular dexterity and advantage yet when the case comes to be their own their Spirits sink under them because these Theories many times flote in the Understanding but are not digested deeply and practically in the Heart Secondly What ever you do gain this Habit and Temper of Mind Actuate and Exercise your Faith make even your Reckonings get your Peace and Assurance setled before Sickness comes For a Man in any kind of suffering besides possibly may learn them because his mind is or may be in his intire strength but most certainly Sickness is an ill time to begin to learn these Contemplations unless they are learned before the Distempers of the Body discompose the Mind and make it unfit to begin to learn It is a time when that which hath been before fitted and laid up in store in the Soul must be drawn out and exercised but it will be a most difficult business then to begin that Lesson which should be learned in Health though practised in Sickness II. Thus much for our Preparation to meet Afflictions Now concerning our carriage under them First In the beginning and first Onset of any Affliction be very careful to keep the Mind in a due temper Call in all your Aids of Reason Religion and Duty to keep you in a right frame and temper of Moderation for Affliction of any kind when it hath lain a while upon a Man will probably bring him into order but at the first Onset the Passions begin to flie out and play reaks and disorder the Soul and fill it with Perturbation Then immoderate Anger or Murmuring or immoderate Sorrow or Fear flie out and Men thereby become less able to bear for the future and many times flie out into that Immoderation and Distemper at first either in Thoughts or Words or Actions that they are sorry for after and so draw upon themselves a double trouble First to Repent of their folly and immoderation and then to fit themselves for sufferings it throws more grains of Sin into the Scale of Afflictions and makes it heavier and many times longer than otherwise it would be And after such Perturbation and Exorbitancy of Passion upon the first inroads of Affliction a Man hath much ado to bring himself into a right and due temper This was Jobs case in the beginning of his Affliction he flies out into more Impatience and Disorder than all the rest of the time therefore beware and see thou keep thy mind in temper and check Perturbation at the first Onset call together all thy Grace and Resolutions and Reason to keep thy mind in due temper at first Secondly On the first Onset of any Affliction Lift up thy heart to God desire his Assistance and Grace to inable thee to carry a due temper and frame of Heart This is not only thy Duty and expected from thee by God but it is a singular help to inable thee to avoid any present Distemper For first it is a means to supply thee with more strength from Heaven to order thy self aright 2. It brings thy Soul into the Presence of God before whom it were a shame to bring any Perturbation the Passions and Distempers of our Minds are under an aw in his Presence 3. It is a diversion of the present bustle and stir that Passions are apt to make and being diverted at first they do not so suddenly nor so easily fall into a disorder Commonly Passions are most disorderly and impetuous upon the first occasion And if they be then interrupted or diverted the succors even of common Reason much more of Grace have opportunity to rally themselves and prevent Immoderate Perturbation Thirdly Make as speedy an Inquisition as thou canst into thy own state and what the cause of this Affliction may be Let us search and try our ways is the voice of every Affliction and commonly every Affliction upon any person that lies under any Sin unrepented of and not forsaken soon leads the Conscience to point out that Sin and indeed most Afflictions in such a case carry upon them the very Inscription of the Sin and bear some Analogy or Proportion with it Adonibezeks Cruelty and Davids Adultery were as it were written in the Punishments they suffered and might easily bring them to their remembrance If thou sufferest in thy Estate consider whether either Immoderate Worldliness and Covetousness or Confidence and Glory in thy Wealth went not before If thou sufferest in thy Name consider whether thy Reputation hath not been thy Idol or whether thou hast not born thy self too high upon thy Reputation and so of other Crosses Fourthly If upon this inquiry thou findest Sin written upon thy Sufferings or in the bottom of them speedily Repent of that sin Humble thy self in the sight of God for it take up Resolution against it This is the voice the injunction that this Rod gives thee and here thy special duty is Humiliation Fifthly If upon search thou findest thy Heart and Conscience clear look upon this Affliction as a Dispensation sent from God and with all Humility submit to his hand and know that the most Wise God sends it for most wise ends though thou seest not any Enormity in thy self that might deserve it It may be it is to exercise thy Patience thy Faith thy Dependance upon him It may be he discerns that some Temptation is like to meet with thee or some Corruption is growing in thee that thou dost not perceive and he sends this Messenger to divert the one and to prevent the other study to improve this Affliction to that end and here thy special duty is Patience and Vigilance Sixthly But it may be upon this search
only Will is a sufficient rule of his Justice thou owest an infinite subjection to him from whom thou hast received thy Being His Soveraignty over his Creature is even by the very right of Nature Infinite and Boundless Be contented therefore to bear whatsoever he inflicts without the least disputing of the Justice or Injustice of it This was that Excellent Contemplation of old Eli under the most severe denuntiation of Gods judgment It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good And it was that great Lesson that Jobs Afflictions was sent to teach him though he could not learn it till God himself as well for our Instruction as His taught him out of the Whirlwind but then he learned it and abhorred himself in Dust and Ashes for his former Ignorance and Frowardness 8. Yet further bear it patiently for that God that sent thee this Messenger doth behold and observe how thou entertainest it wherein we may with all due Reverence suppose the Lord of Heaven thus resolving Yonder is such a Man that professeth to Know and Fear and Love me and I see him nevertheless fond of his Wealth or Honor or some other Blessing I will give leave to Evil Men or Evil Angels as once in the case of my Servant Job to spoil him of Wealth and to cast him into Disgrace and I will observe his carriage and deportment under it and though I know what it will be yet I will make it now conspicuous both to Himself and Men and Angels And if his Deportment be not answerable to his Profession if he storm against my Providence or use unworthy Means to free himself or grow Impatient and Disorderly under it I will make his folly conspicuous and send more and sharper Visitations unto him till this fire of Afflictions hath brought him to his due temper of Patience Humility Submission to my Will Dependance upon my Power Subjection to my Soveraignty But if on the other side I see him humble himself under my hand Submit to my will Justifie me in his Sufferings Patient under them and Waiting my time to be delivered from them I will exhibit him before Men and Angels as a Patern of Patience and I will make him as Signal in his Deliverance as he is Eminent in his Patience Suppose thou couldst hear such a Deliberation and see and behold such Spectators of thy Deportment how wouldst thou indeavor to compose thy self with all Patience and Contentedness and Quietness and Resignation of thy self under the most severe Affliction And how little wouldst thou dare in such a Presence to discover or so much as entertain any Murmuring or Impatient thought Assure thy self though thou canst not with a bodily eye behold this Great Lord of the World beholding thee while thou art in this Scene of Affliction yet he beholds and observes thee and the very motion of thy Soul and the Glorious Angels though they cannot look into the secret retirements of thy Thoughts yet they behold thy external Deportment and are grieved if it be unseemly and unsuitable to the Honor of their and thy Lord and are glad to behold a Deportment suitable to the Ends and Glory of their Lord And the Evil Angels which irritate and provoke thee to Impatience are pleased and gratified if they effect it and ashamed and vexed if they are disappointed in it Believe it in a signal and eminent degree of Prosperity or Adversity thou art like a Man upon a Stage a spectacle exposed to the view of God and Men and Angels and Devils let thy carriage therefore be such as if thou didst as visibly behold thy Spectators as they most certainly do see thee Tenthly As thus thou art to bear thy Affliction patiently so indeavor to use it profitably and besides these advices before mentioned add to them these insuing 1. Learn by them to have a just Estimate of the World Affliction pulls of those fine gay Cloaths from the World by which in Prosperity it deceives us and renders it as it is a Vain Empty Vexing World 2. From that sound and just Estimate of the World Discipline thy Affections to a moderate and loose application to it It is true Afflictions do ordinarily imbitter the World to us and so for the present our Affections may be dull towards it but this arising meerly from Sense without a sound practical established Judgment it ordinarily lasts no longer than the Afflictions last and as they wear away and worldly comforts begin to grow up and increase so our love to the World comes on and grows up again But when a Man by the advantage of Afflictions digests this principle into his Judgment commonly it abides and moderates the love of the World notwithstanding the return of the Comforts and Advantages of the World 3. Keep up thy heart in a dependance upon Gods Power and Alsufficiency to deliver thee from Affliction or to support thee under it and labor by Observation and Experience to rivet this Dependance into thy Judgment and Choice It is most certain that almost every Man as long as he can have any thing to lay hold of besides will make that his Dependance The Sick Man will depend upon his Physician the Impoverished Man upon his Friends and the like but when there is nothing else to rest upon then Men will to their Prayers with the Mariners in the Storm but this being but an Act of Necessity as it riseth upon Necessity so it vanisheth with it When the Necessity is over and other Dependances come to hand we are apt to throw off our Dependance upon God Labor therefore for an Experimental and Judicious Dependance upon God Sometimes in Afflictions we begin to attain it but the best way is to begin to entertain such a Dependance before we are driven to it and then the Necessity of our Afflictions will fasten and improve it that it will stick with us after 4. By thy Afflictions learn to value and improve thy Hope and Assurance of Everlasting Life And indeed thy Necessity now doth in a special manner drive thee to it and it is a great End of Gods sending Afflictions that it may drive us off from the clasping of this present World and thereby carry us over to the valuation of our Eternal Condition Thy Wealth is gone and thy Honor and Reputation is sunk and blasted and thy Friends have forsaken thee and thy Body is mouldering to dust and rottenness and thy Soul sits hovering upon thy Lips ready to take her flight and all thy hold of this present life is broken and gone so that thou hast nothing now to lodge and fasten thy Hopes upon but the Promises of Everlasting Life thy interest in Christ the Hope of Everlasting Life and now if ever these things will be welcome to thee God hath scattered and broken all other Confidences improve this Vnum Magnum this one thing necessary that alone doth stand by thee when all things else forsake thee and
did lead him And all these and a world of the like Expressions in the Book of God to unvail the love of God to his Creatures and thereby to draw out an aweful love to him and an humble boldness to make an approach unto him Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace and to bless our Redeemer who by the price of his Blood hath purchased this free liberty of access unto God as our Father Ephes 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence Who as he hath purchased access for us so when notwithstanding that we are fearful and backward and ashamed to come is pleased in the virtue of his own Mediation to stand between the Glory and Brightness of the Father and us poor Creatures and to shew us more of his Goodness and Mercy than of his Glory and to receive our desires and to bring both them and us into the presence of his Father and our Father 2. As this Expression leads us unto God and gives us access so it gives us assurance of success in our Petitions This Prayer as is said is a comprehensive Prayer we thereby in an Abridgement ask whatsoever is necessary for this life or that to come but the Name of a Father is a comprehensive Name the Petitions that thou art asking are large Petitions and the Promise is yet more large John 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you Matth. 7.7 Ask and it shall be given you But here is the Foundation thy application is to thy Father Matth. 7.11 If ye being evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him Whatsoever thou canst find or expect from thy Natural Father so much and much more may'st thou expect from thy Heavenly Father Patience to bear with thy infirmities and failings Psalm 78.18 Compassion to pity thy suffering Psal 103.13 Goodness to supply thy wants Justice to avenge thy injuries Psal 105.14 Protection to defend thee from dangers Vigilancy and care to support thee against Temptations Mercy to pardon thy back-slidings Jer. 3.14 Skill to interpret and Tenderness to accept thy weak and stammering Petitions Providence and Bounty abundantly to reward all thy sincere performances Luk. 12.32 Fear not little flock it is my Fathers good will to give you a Kingdome And this Consideration of God as our Father when we come before him in Prayer as it teacheth us our duty so it doth most naturally teach us the three first Petitions to desire the Glory of his Name the Increase of the manifestation of his Kingdom and Power the full submission unto and desire of the fulfilling of his Will And as that relation looks downward upon us so it concludes the three last Petitions From whom shouldest thou desire or expect Mercy to forgive thee Conveniencies to supply thee Care and Protection to preserve and deliver thee from Evil if not from a Father and as from this appellation of a Father we gather Confidence in his love so in the next qualification or description of this Father we gather Confidence in his Power Which art in Heaven or Heavenly Father Matt. 6.26 To denote 1. The eminence of his Glory and Power The Heavens are the most Eminent and Glorious Creatures that our Eyes behold and speak much of the Glory and Majesty of God Psal 19.1 and in this adjunct of Heavenly we give him the acknowledgement and attribution of the Greatness of his Power and Glory Psal 1.5 For our God is in the Heavens and he hath done whatsoever he pleaseth 2. Heaven the Throne of his Majesty Psal 11.4 Isa 66.1 The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Foot-stool Psal 68.4 Extol him that rideth upon the Heavens Deut. 33.26 who rideth upon the Heavens for thy help and in his excellency upon the sky 1 Kings 8.49 Heaven thy dwelling place Which though it be the Seat of his glory yet it is not the circumscription of his Presence 1 Kings 8.27 The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee Psal 113.4 his Glory is above the Heavens Isa 57.15 The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity an incomprehensible infinitude Psal 139.8 If I ascend into Heaven thou art there and if I make my bed in Hell thou art there Isa 40.22 It is he that sitteth on the Circle of the Earth So that his Presence is in all places and though in respect of his Creatures the greatest manifestation of his Presence is above the Heaven yet his Infinite and Essential Glory is equally in all places Now from this attribution we learn 1. Our Duty in Prayer As a Christian should always have his Conversation in Heaven from whenee he expects his Saviour Phil. 3.20 so in a special manner when he comes to God in Prayer Hence Prayer is called a drawing near to God Heb. 10.22 lifting up the Heart unto God Know therefore thou do'st or at least shouldest in Prayer bring thy Heart up into Heaven before the Throne of the Infinite Majesty which imports or inforceth these Consequents 1. Let thy Spirit be mingled with thy Prayers for there is no other way to draw near to God but by bringing thy spirit into his presence He is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit thy Body is here upon the Earth and thy words vanish before they are gone far from thee Thou canst not get before the presence of the Lord of Heaven but with thy Spirit and Soul and unless thy Prayer be the drawing near of thy Spirit to him thy Prayer is a Provocation and not a Service unprofitable and useless for thee and unaccepted and not regarded by God it dyes and is rotten in the Earth and it cannot come up to thy Father which is in Heaven 2. Let thy Spirit be a pure Spirit and thy Prayers be pure Prayers for what hath any thing that is impure to do with Heaven a place of Purity and Holiness None but the pure in spirit can see God Matth. 5.8 and none but pure hands are fit to be lifted up to him 1 Tim. 2.8 Psal 24.4 And that thy Spirit may be pure and fit to come up into this High and Holy Place and to have Communion with the Holy and Glorious God get thy Spirit and Soul and Conscience washed by the Blood of Christ and thy Prayers mingled with the Incense of Christ Rev. 8.3 and labour to get an Inherent Holiness a pure and a sanctified Heart and from that will thy Words and thy Conversation and thy Services and thy Sacrifices all which are but the Emanations and Fruit of thy Heart be Holy and bear some though a weak proportion to that place and to that Person whither thou art sending thy Prayers And more especially and particularly labour to cleanse thy Heart when thou art about to pray because thy Prayers are a drawing near unto God
which hath overspread the whole race of Mankind and of the Truth and Efficacy and sufficiency of that Redemption which came by Christ and is published in that Word striving and contending with and mastering and over-ruling the opposition of the will against it Calming and quieting and rectifying the distempers and disorders and misplacings of our affections opposing and subduing the lusts of our sensual appetite inlightning and quickning and cleansing the conscience and bringing it about to take part with God and the actings of this Spirit upon our Souls mingling the word of the Gospel conveyed into the Heart with a secret and powerful Energy whereby it becomes a Seed of Life in the Heart growing unto Eternal Life And thus as at first the Motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the waters and the powerful word of Command produced the several Creatures so by the like Motion of the Spirit upon the Heart and the powerful call of the Word of Christ by the publication of the Gospel is wrought this Second Creation of the new Creature Ephes 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the Dead and Christ shall give thee life And these two great Instruments produce in the Heart two active or operative Principles which after they are produced are not only an Effect of the work of God but also become instrumental for the increase of it viz. Faith and Love Faith whereby we receive this Message of Salvation and entertain it and rest upon it and Love whereby out of the apprehension of this great Love of God to us we love him again we love him because he loved us First And this Love of God ingageth the Soul to a Sincere Obedience to the Will of God The Misery from which we are redeemed is so great the Price by which we are redeemed so invaluable the Glory and Blessedness to which we are redeemed so full and all these appearing so to the Soul by Faith that the Soul can think nothing too much to return to that God that hath so freely done so much for it Thus Faith worketh by Love And this is that Kingdom of God that is within us Luk. 17.20 the subjection of the whole Soul to the Scepter and Rule of Christ If he command Purity of Life forsaking of all things denying our selves crucifying our Lusts laying down our Lives the Soul is tutored to that subjection unto the Will of Christ that it chearfully obeys him in this and whatever he commands This is that Kingdom of God Rom. 14.17 consisting in Righteousness a full Conformity of the Soul to the Will of God the only and absolute Rule of Righteousness Peace upon the sense and belief of reconciliation with God through him that is our Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost upon the apprehension of the Protection and Love of Christ our King and that Glory which he hath most assuredly prepared for all his Subjects 3. We have the Degrees of the Manifestation of this Kingdom Here and Hereafter the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom of Glory both making but one Kingdom of God under different degrees of manifestation God by his Word and Spirit casts into the Soul a Seed of Life like that grain of Mustard-seed whereunto the Kingdom of Heaven is resembled Matt. 13. And this seed of Life abideth in the Heart 1 John 3.9 And there it quickens and fashions and moulds the Heart to the Image of God it opposeth and struggleth against Lusts and Temptations which labour to stifle and to kill this Seed of Life and like the leaven that was hid in the 3 measures of Meal Mat. 13.33 It doth by degrees assimulate the whole inward Man to this living principle and conforms the Life unto it Now though this principle of Life is thus operative yet in respect of the outward view it is a hidden Life The External appearance of this Life is reserved till Christ who is our Life shall appear and then shall that hidden Life be revealed Colos 3.4 Behold now we are the Sons of God 1 John 3.2 But it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him By this seed of Grace sown in our Hearts we become the Sons of God and of this Sonship we have a secret Evidence in our own Souls but there shall be a fuller Manifestation of it when Christ who is our Life shall appear So then the Kingdom of Grace and of Glory are the same Kingdom but under a different manifestation that a concealed Kingdom a seed in the ground this the Manifestation of that Kingdom a seed in the Tree To conclude When thou prayest Thy Kingdom come let thy Soul enlarge it self in these or the like desires O Lord I know thou art King of Heaven and Earth and the least of all thy Creatures in their most seemingly Casual and inconsiderable events and motions are under thy most certain and powerful Providence Yet such is our blindness and so mysterious are the ways of thy Providence that sometimes we are at a loss and desire with thy Prophet Jer. 12.1 to expostulate with thee touching thy Judgments If it stand with thy Glory and Will I beseech thee let all the events and occurrences of the World appear to be under thy Administration and Government that all may see thy Wisdom and thy Power and thy Justice and thy Goodness in all the passages of it and that all men may be convinced that thou the most High rulest in the Kingdoms of Men and that all thy Works are Truth and thy ways are Judgment and those that walk in pride thou art able to abase Dan. 4.32 37. That they may all acknowledge he is a God that Judgeth in the Earth Psal 58.11 And because thou hast a more peculiar Kingdom even those that thou hast given unto thy Son let that Kingdom of thine come do thou send out thy Spirit and thy Word into the World and subdue the Hearts of all People to the Belief and Obedience of the Gospel of Christ that all the Kingdoms of the World may be the Kingdoms of God and of Christ Bring in the Jews and the fulness of the Gentiles that there may be one Fold and one Shepherd and let thy Son ride on victoriously conquering and to conquer and preserve thy Flock from the mischiefs that are from without Oppression and Persecution and from those that are from within Divisions and Heresies Let them walk as becomes the Subjects of the Prince of Peace Purity and Truth in Unity Holiness and Truth that they may appear to be the People of thy Holiness Rule every Member thereof by thy Grace preserve them from their Enemies within them Lusts and Defections from their Enemies without them the Incursions of Satan Make hast to fulfill the number of thine Elect and when thy Kingdom of Grace is consummate then let thy Kingdom of Glory come the day of the manifestation of thy Righteous
stifle it mingle thy Word in our Hearts with Faith that may purifie our Hearts and make thy Word powerful to the subduing of all those strong holds and oppositions that stand out against it thy Will in Heaven is a Perfect Pure and Holy Will send out such discoveries of thy Will that we may know it in the Spiritualness and Truth of it vindicated from the false Glosses that the Corruptions and degenerations of the times or our own deceitful and false Hearts are apt to put upon it and that thy Will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven let it be known on Earth as it is in Heaven 2. Because the only true principle of Obedience is Love shed abroad thy Love in our Hearts and because the sense of thy Love to us is the cause and ground of our Love to thee shew us the greatness and fullness of thy Love to us in Christ and that will reflect acts of Love to thee again and make us ready and willing to obey thy Will and exceeding thankful to thee that thou art pleased to accept the sincere though imperfect obedience of thy Creature 3. And because the end of the manifestation of thy Love to Mankind in Christ was to redeem us from all Iniquity and to purifie unto thy self a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 2.14 And in as much as our conformity to thy Will as it is our Perfection so it is the Great and Just Tribute that we owe unto thee for our Being as Creatures and much more for our Redemption as redeemed and purchased Creatures Let all our Thoughts Words and Works be universally subject and obedient to thy Will revealed in thy Son that we may be Holy as thou art Holy in all manner of Conversation purge our Hearts from vain and unprofitable Thoughts from sinful and polluted thoughts from Devilish and Atheistical thoughts and let our thoughts be such as becomes the presence of God before whom they are all naked and legible such as becomes that Heart where Christ is pleased to make his residence Pious Charitable Pure Chast Clean Sober Humble thoughts fit to be attendants upon so Heavenly a Guest wash my Tongue from that fire of Hell that is naturally in it James 3.6 deliver it from blasphemous Atheistical calumniating uncharitable false vain and unprofitable words and let me use my Tongue as one whose words are all Registred and that must give an account for every idle word Let my Speeches be seasoned with salt glorifying thy Name edifying others true profitable seasonable serious charitable discreet for by my words I shall be justified and by my words I shall be condemned Deliver me from all sinful impure unseemly unjust Actions in the first life of any action or intention let me bring them to the Rule of thy Word to the Rule of my Conscience to the Rule of thy Presence and impartially measure them thereby and if they will not abide that Examination or upon that Examination want their due conformity let me reject them without any more reasonings or disputings In all my actions relating immediately to thy Majesty Let them be warrantable pious sincere reverent humble in all my actions relating to others let them be full of Justice Charity free from Revenge disdain fullenness measuring out impartially as in the presence of God the same measure which I would desire to be done unto my self in all my actions relating to my self let there be sobriety temperance moderation seasonableness And let all this be done out of that only true principle of obedience Love to God presented unto him upon that only ground of acceptation Jesus Christ and seasoned with that acceptable grace of Humility If when I have done all that is injoyned I am but an unprofitable Servant how unprofitable am I when I Infinitely fail of what I am Commanded And as I pray that the things that thou willest to be done in Heaven may be done by us on Earth so I desire that that Heavenly Will of thine may be done on Earth as thy Will is done in Heaven by those Glorious and Pure Creatures that alwayes behold thy Face Perfectly Universally Speedily Cheerfully Humbly 1. Perfectly The Angels do clearly discern and know the Will of God by a double act 1. On God's part a Clear Emanation or Beam of the Mind of God shining into their clear intellectual Nature and conveying into them a perfect discovery of the Mind and Will of God concerning them 2. On their part by a clear Intuition of God and beholding his Mind and Will in him concerning them the Wise God having fitted their Natures with such a measure of intuition of him whereby though they cannot see all his Perfections yet they are fitted and inabled to see so much as is suitable to their Nature conducible to the fulness of that Perfection which they are capable of and to the performance of that active service which he requires of them And as thus they perfectly know His Will so Their Wills are most purely inclined and moved to the obedience of it there is no mixture of impurity or resistance in their wills against the Will of God no mixture of Hypocrisie or base self-Ends for their Pure Natures are taken up with a fulness of Love of God as large and comprehensive as their Natures and upon that principle they move in all their acts of obedience and they clearly see that their highest Perfection consists in the most Even and Unbyassed Conformity to the Command of God and so the more perfect their Obedience is the more absolute is their Perfection they need no other motive to obey him but this that it is the most Perfect Command of the most Perfect and Wise and Holy God And as thus their Minds and Wills are fashioned and fitted to a most perfect obedience so they are indued with a Power from God exactly commensurate to an exact performance of his Will whether it be in their reflexed actions unto God or whether it be in their instrumental actions unto others If God command an Angel to destroy an Host of the Assyrians he can dispatch 185000 of them in one night if he command an Angel to deliver Daniel out of the Lions Den he can shut the Lions Mouth that they shall be rather his Guard than his Executioners Dan. 6.22 If he command an Angel to deliver Peter out of the Prison he can make his Chains fall off from him like the towe when it feeleth the fire Acts 12.7 When he commands an Angel to comfort his Son though under a pressure and weight more heavy to his Soul than the weight of the whole Earth he can dart into the tender and vital parts of the Soul such Comforts and Cordials that can enable his humanity to bear that burden Luke 22.43 When he commands an Angel to attend the Resurrection of his Son he can at the same instant shake terror and amazement and dissolution into the Spirits of
his Lusts And this variety may arise by the difference of stations or degrees that may be but Bread for Solomon's Table which may be Quails for a meaner person the difference of relations and dependencies the difference of tempers and constitutions of body the difference of seasons and occurrences There may be a Season when our Lord gives us a commission to eat whatsoever our Soul desireth so it be done before the Lord and as in his presence Deut. 14.26 And there is a Season when slaying of Oxen and killing Sheep and eating Flesh is an iniquity not to be purged Isa 22.12 13 14. The Wise God that ordereth and disposeth all times and persons and circumstances doth with the same Wisdom fit them with suitable Concomitants and Adjuncts He hath made every thing beautiful in its time Eccles 3.11 But besides this Bread for our Bodies there is Bread for our Souls which comes under this Petition The Bread of Life and the Water of Life John 6.33 this is the Life of our Souls And as much as the Good and Support and Life of our Souls is of more concernment to us than the Life of our Bodies so is the Bread of our Souls of more concernment for us to ask than the Bread of our Bodies this is Christ John 6.34 I am the Bread of Life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Bread like the Widows Barrel of Meal that shall never diminish unto all Eternity This Bread our Lord hath been pleased already to give us Christ and his fulness and nothing is wanting if we have but a hand to receive it And this Bread we eat when we believe the Truth of God concerning him when we often contemplate upon the Mercy of God in giving him and upon that mighty Salvation which in him he hath given us when we have often recourse unto him for Grace and Mercy when we carry unto him all our stock of Love and Admiration and Dependence and Recumbence and Resolution of Spirit And here we find Bread for our Souls in the most comprehensive latitude accommodate to every condition of the Soul Here is Bread to feed and to strengthen it the Grace and Spirit of Christ Physick to cure and recover it the Satisfaction and Merit of Christ Varieties to feast and to refresh it the Promises of God Joy in believing unspeakable and full of Glory Bread that will satisfie yet never satiate but the more we feed upon him the greater is our plenty and the better our stomach To conclude then the whole consideration of this Petition When I pray for my daily Bread my Soul doth or should run out into such thoughts as these O Lord thou did'st at first freely give me my Being I could not deserve it when I was not The same Title that I have to my Being I have to my Preservation and Support of my Being it is still free gift and therefore I come to thee for my Bread upon no other terms than as a poor Beggar to a most bountiful Lord. And because thou hast commanded me to cast my care upon thee therefore I seek my Bread of thee for this day which thou hast hitherto lent me I desire to trust thee with my Portion and it is my happiness that my Portion is not in my own hands but in thine Give therefore I pray thee Bread for this day and when to morrow comes I will beg Bread of thee for to morrow and if thou givest me this day supplies beyond the expence of this day I will use it thankfully and nevertheless dependingly for I will renew my Petition for my daily Bread still It is thy blessing that gives my Bread power to nourish me And that which is Bread to day and sufficient for to morrow may without thy blessing upon it like the Israelites Manna kept beyond thy Command be Worms to morrow And because thou hast promised that verily I shall be fed Psal 37.3 upon that promise of thine I beg food and cloathing convenient for me If thou givest me no more or not so much give me Contentedness and Thankfulness and if thou givest me more give me Thankfulness for it Sobriety in the use of it and Liberality in the dispencing of it In giving me but Enough I am Steward for my self and in giving me more than Enough I am but a Steward of that abundance for others But above all Ever give me of the Bread of Life that whilest my Body is fed my Soul may not be starved either for want of that Everlasting Bread or for want of an appetite to it And forgive us our Debts Matt. 6. Our Sins Luk. 11. Sins We are all under the guilt of sin No man lives and sins not Eccles 7.20 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves 1 John 1.8 God made Man Righteous at first and gave him a Righteous Law and in as much as Man owed an infinite subjection to the Authour of his Being he owed an Exact Obedience to the Law of his Maker yet God was pleased to give him this Law not only as the Rule of his Obedience but as a Covenant of Life and of Death viz. that so long as he and his Seed should observe that Law so long they should enjoy Blessedness and Immortality and if they should break any part of that Law they should die the death The first man made a stipulation for himself and his Posterity and this was but just for he had in himself the Race of all Mankind all succeeding Generations are but pieces of Adam who had not nor could have their Being but from him and so it was but Reasonable and Just for him to contract for all his Posterity And as it was just in respect of the Person contracting so it was just in respect of the Manner of the Contract the Law that was his covenant was a just and righteous Law a Law sutable to the indowments and power of his Nature Again the Blessedness which by his obedience he was to hold was not of his own creating nor obtaining it was the free gift of God and it is but reasonable that the Lord of this gift might give it in what manner he pleased and it could not be unjust that the Lord that gave him this Blessedness should give it him under what Conditions he pleased but he gave it him under most reasonable and just Conditions viz. an Obedience to a most just and reasonable Law which suited with the ability and perfection of his Nature and therefore when upon the breach of Covenant by Man he withdrew that blessedness from him and his posterity he did no more than what was most just for him to do And thus we stand Guilty of that Sin which our first Father committed and are deprived of that Blessedness and Life which our first Father had and the Privation of that Blessedness and Immortality is Death Rom. 5.12 By one Man sin
Almighty God in the entrance into our Prayers And because our thoughts are easily taken off from these considerations and like Moses Arm our Faith soon declines and our light soon burns out and because there is an equal necessity of Intention of spirit as well in our last request as in our first our Saviour teacheth us to remind those considerations that may support and fortifie our Souls in the close of our Prayers as well as in the beginning that so the consideration of Almighty God his Power and Goodness who is the Beginning and the End the First and the Last may be also the Beginning and the End as of our Prayers so of all our Services Thine is the Kingdom Thou art the only and absolute and rightful Soveraign of all thy Creatures and to thee do all the Creatures in the World owe an Infinite subjection for by thy Power and Goodness they were created and are preserved and yet if it were possible that Infinitude could admit of degrees the children of Men owe a more Infinite subjection unto thee than any of the rest of thy Creatures for thou yet sparest unto them that being that by sin they have forfeited unto thee and yet more than this those whom thou hast redeemed by the Passion of thy Son and sanctified owe thee yet a more Infinite debt of subjection than the rest of the Children of Men and because thou art our King whither should we go to make our requests but unto our King in whom all Authority is justly placed and if thou art our King it is but reasonable for me to desire That thy Name may be glorified that all the subjects of thy Kingdom according to their several conditions may Magnifie and Glorifie the Name of their King That thy Kingdom may come with evidence and demonstration of it self and that all thy Creatures as they owe a just subjection to thee so they may duly perform it that those that have rebelled against thee may return and be brought into subjection to thee that though other Lords have had an usurped dominion over us yet that thy Kingdom may break in pieces all Usurpations and recover thy revolted subjects unto their just Allegiance That thy Will the only rightful Law and Rule of Justice may be done in all places of thy Dominion in Earth and Heaven and that all thy Creatures may submit freely to this thy Will which is the only rule and measure both of their perfection and obedience The Wills of Earthly Kings are subject to Error Oppression and Injustice and therefore thy Providence hath regulated their administrations by Laws and Rules but thy Will is the only Rule Exemplar and Foundation of Justice therefore let thy Will be done That thou wouldest give us our daily bread when the seven years of plenty had filled Pharaoh's store-houses and were after entertained with seven years of Famine the Egyptian's cryed unto their King for bread Gen. 41.55 And whither should we go for Bread for our Bodies but to our King who is Lord of all the store of the World and gives meat to all his Creatures in their season and feeds the young Ravens when they cry And whither should we go for bread for our Souls but to Thee our King who hast intrusted this Bread of Life under the hands of our Joseph our Saviour that thou wouldest Forgive us our sins For our sins are as so many Treasons against thy Majesty and thou alone canst remit against whom alone we can offend the pardoning of Sins as it is thy peculiar Prerogative for who can forgive sins save God only so it is thy Property a part of thy Name pardoning iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.7 That thou wouldest deliver us from Temptation the cause of sin and from Evil the fruit of sin from the incursions of that Rebel against thy Majesty the Prince of Darkness for whither should the Subjects fly for Protection but to their King and though that Prince hath a Kingdom too yet it is regnum sub graviore regno the very Kingdom of Hell is subject to thy Authority and therefore as thou art our King we beseech Thee Protect and Deliver us And the Power There may be a lawful and a just Authority where yet there wants Power to act it but as thou hast a just Sovereignty and Authority over all thy Creatures so thou hast an Infinite Power to do whatsoever thou pleasest nothing is too hard for thee Evil Men and evil Angels though they resist thy Authority cannot avoid thy Power My requests that I have here sent up unto thee they are great requests but yet they are all within thy Power to grant Sin hath drawn a cloud and darkness over our understandings that we cannot see thee It hath infused a malignity into our wills that we cannot abide thee and how then shall we sanctifie that Name which we know not or if we know yet we hate it But thou hast Infinite Power to scatter this darkness that we may see thee to conquer this perversness that we may love and glorifie thee The Prince of darkness hath set up his usurped power and is become the Prince of the World and sets up strong holds in our hearts and mans them with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness but thou hast Infinite Power even by a poor despised Gospel to pull down these strong-holds to subdue those Principalities and Powers to bind the strong man that keeps the House and to set up thy Throne and thy Kingdom even where Satan's seat is The state of our nature is so changed that we that were once fitted for an obedience to thy Will are now become enemies to it resisters of it dead to the obedience of it but thou hast infinite Power by thy very Word of Command to quicken us as well as to create us to change our Natures to conform our Wills to the obedience of thine that so thy Will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Sin hath put a curse into the Creature that it hath lost much of that effectual power to support and to preserve our Nature that once it had and it hath put a disorder into the whole Creation so that it is a wonder to see that such a World of men and Creatures amongst whom sin hath sown such a disorder and enmity should be one able to live by another yet thou hast power to remove that curse to provide for the several Exigencies of all thy Creatures according to their several conveniencies to feed us in times and places of necessity to make a Raven our purveyor a Cruise of Oyl or a Barrel of Meal to be a supply for three years Famine Our daily sins committed so often against so great a duty against so many Mercies so much Patience so much Love so much Bounty received from one that owes us nothing are enough to sin away any stock of Pardoning Mercy and Patience below Infinitude But thou hast
Good to deny Lust both in the Practice and Love of it than to Entertain it And Consequently the Will moves towards the Greater Good according to its proper and natural Inclination 2. There is yet a further Effect wrought upon the Will viz. The sense of the Love of Christ the end of his Death to redeem us from these Lusts whereby even by an obligation of Gratitude it takes up Resolutions of Obeying him This Truth though it be first received in the Understanding and entertained by Faith yet it doth immediatly work upon the Will and Affections viz. An Aversion to that Lust that Crucified her Saviour and which the same Saviour upon the Indearment of his own Blood begs us to Crucifie 3. There is yet a further work upon the Will by the secret and powerful working of the Spirit of God strengthning and perswading and restoring it to its Liberty and Just Soveraignty over the sensual Appetite A Poem THe Great Creator gave to Brutes the light Of Sense and Natural Instinct that might Conduct them in a Sensual Life by this They steer their course and very rarely miss Their instituted Rule nor yet reject Its Guidance or its Influence neglect But the Creators great Beneficence Gave unto Man besides the Light of Sense The Nobler Light of Reason Intellect And Conscience to Govern and Direct His Life and Actions and to keep at rights The Motions of his sensual Appetite But wretched Man unhappily deserts His Makers Institution and perverts The End of all his Bounty prostitutes His Reason unto Lust and so pollutes His Noble Soul his Reason and his Wit And Intellect that in the Throne should sit Must lacky after Lust and so fulfil The base commands and pleasure of her will And thus the Humane Nature's great Advance Becomes its greater ruine doth inhance Its Guilt while Judgment Reason Wit Improve those very sins it doth Commit Dear Lord Thy Mercy sure must overflow That pardons Sins which from thy Bounty grow THE FOLLY AND Mischief of SIN 1. IT is a most Vnprofitable and Foolish thing The Content that is in it is but Imaginary and dyes in the compass of a Thought The Expectation of it is nothing but Disappointment and the Fruition of it perisheth in a moment 2. It is the infallible Seed of Shame and Mischief which without it be intercepted by Repentance and the Mercy of God doth as naturally and infallibly grow from it as Hemlock and Henbane do from their proper Seeds and though the nature of some Sins is more speedy and visible in producing that Fruit yet most certainly sooner or later every Sin yields his Crop even in this life The best Fruit it yields is Sorrow and Repentance which though it be good in comparison of their Fruit ensuing if omitted yet certainly it is not without much Trouble and Discomposure of Mind and the Bitterness even of Repentance it self infinitely over-ballanceth the Contentment that the Sin did yield 3. Sin doth not only produce an Ungrateful Fruit but there is also a certain Spight and Malignity in the Fruit it yields carrying in it the very Picture Resemblance and Memorial of the Sin for the most part which doggs a Man in the punishment of it with the very Repetition of the Guilt aâ—lex talionis 4. It Poysons and Invenomes all Conditions If a Man be in Prosperity it either makes it an occasion of new Sins to cover or secure them that are past or it sowers and infests the very State it self with sad Pre-apprehensions of the Fruit due to his Sin Or hants him in his Jollity like as I have seen an Importunate Creditor a young Gallant which blasts all his Comfort and Contentment If a Man be in Adversity it adds Affliction to Affliction The best Companion of Affliction is a clear Conscience but when a Man hath outward Troubles and a Mis-giving Guilty Soul it makes his Affliction black and Desperate 5. It Discomposeth and disorders and unqualifies a Man for any Good Duty either to God or Man I pray but I bring along with me a sense of Sin that makes me Ungrateful to my self and how can I expect to be Acceptable to God the Pure and Holy God who hates nothing but Sin I beg Blessings but how can I expect to receive a Blessing from him whom I but lately presumptuously offended If my Son or Servant hath offended me and comes to ask a benefit of me I look upon it as a sawcy Presumption and can I expect to have better Entertainment from my Maker than I think fit to allow my fellow Creature The truth is there is no Petition comes seasonably from a Man under the Guilt of Sin but Pardon Forgiveness and Mercy If I do a Good Work the Sin that I stand guilty of makes the Comfort I take in it or in other commendations of it Insipid and Empty my Heart tells me there is a Sin in my Conscience that makes me ashamed to own the Good that is in the Action If I see a fault in another that my Place or Condition requires me to Reprove the sense of my own Guilt makes me either backward to Reprove or Condemn my self while I am Reproving another with such thoughts as these I am Reproving a Sin in another where I stand as Guilty in the sight of God as the person reprehended if he knew my Sin how justly might he throw my Reprehension into my own face and if he know it not yet the God of Heaven before whom I stand and the Conscience which I bear within me makes my Reprehension of another a Condemnation of my self If I go about any action of my life though never so Honest Just and Lawful yet my mis-giving thoughts make me either un-active in it or fill me with pre-apprehensions of mischief or disappointment in it how can I expect a blessing from God whom I have offended in any business I undertake I carry along with me in all I do the Curse that the Lord threatned Deut. 28.20 The Lord shall send upon thee Cursing Vexation and Rebuke in all that thou settest thy hands unto and verse 29. Thou shalt not prosper in thy ways and verse 34. So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see and verse 67. In the morning thou shalt say Would God it were Evening and at Evening thou shalt say Would God it were Morning for the fear of thine Heart wherein thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine Eyes which thou shalt see And Certainly all this grows from the Inconguity and Dissonancy that is between sin and the true right constitution of the Nature of Man that is thereby made unuseful for his proper Operations just as a sore or a bone out of joynt disables the proper serviceableness of a Limb or as a noxious humour disorders the Stomach Liver or Spleen in its proper Office or as a Disease or ill disposition of the Body makes it unserviceable to