AN INQUIRY TOUCHING HAPPINESS.

1. ANy man that compares the Per­fection of the Humane Nature with that of the Animal Nature, will easily find a far greater Ex­cellence in the former than in the latter: For 1. The Faculties of the former are more Sublime and Noble: 2. The very External Fabrick of the former much more Beautiful and fuller of Majesty than the latter: 3. The latter seems to be in a very great measure ordained in a Subserviency to the former: Some for his Food, some for Cloathing, some for Use and Service, some for Delight: 4. All the inferiour Animals seem to be pla­ced under the Discipline, Regiment, and Order of Mankind; so that he brings them all, or the most of them, under his Order and Subjection:

2. It is therefore Just and Reasonable for us to think, that if the Inferiour Animals have a kind of Felicity or Happiness attend­ing their being, and suitable to it, that much more Man, the nobler being, should not be destitute of any Happiness attending his be­ing, and suitable to it.

3. But rather consequently, that Man, being the nobler Creature, should not only have an Happiness as well as Inferiour Ani­mals, but he should have it placed in some more Noble and Excellent rank and kind than that wherein the Brutes have their Happiness placed.

4. It is plain that the Inferiour Animals have a Happiness or Felicity proportionate to their Nature and Fabrick; which as they ex­ceedingly desire, so they do in a great mea­sure Enjoy: namely, a sensible Good, an­swering their sensible Appetite. Every thing hath Organs and Instruments answer­ring to the Use and Convenience of their Faculties; Organs for their Sense and Local motion, and for their Feeding, for their Generation of their kind: Every thing hath its peculiar Instincts and Connatural Artifi­ces and Energies for the Exercises of their Organs and Faculties for their Preservation and Nourishment: Every thing hath a sup­ply of External Objects answering those Fa­culties, [Page 3]Desires and Instincts; Meats proper for their Nourishment; Places proper for their Repose; difference of Sexes in their several kinds answering their Procreative Appetite: And most commonly such a pro­portion of Health and Integrity of Nature, as goes a long to that period of time allotted for their duration; and in default thereof they are for the most part furnished with Medicines naturally provided for them, which they naturally know and use, so that they seem to want nothing that is necessary to the complement of a Sensible Felicity.

It is true, they are in a great measure Subjected to the Dominion of Mankind, which is sometimes over severely exercised, but then they have the Benefit of Supplies from them, Protection under them, and, if they meet not with Masters more unreasonable than themselves, they find Moderation from them. They are also exposed to the Rapine one of another, the weaker Beasts, Birds and Fishes, being commonly the prey of the grea­ter: but yet they are com­monly endued with Nimble­ness, v. Lactant. de Opi­fic. Dei. c. 2. Artifices or Shifts to a­void their Adversaries. But be these what Abatements of their Sensible Happiness may be, yet they have certain Negative Advanta­ges that conduce very much to their Happi­ness, [Page 4]or at least remove very much of what might abate it, and thereby render their fruition more free and perfect and uninter­rupted, for instance, they seem to have no Anticipations or Fear of Death as a com­mon Evil incident to their nature: They have no Anticipations of Dangers till they immediately present themselves unto them: They have no great sense or apprehensions of any thing better than what at present they enjoy: They are not under the Obligation of any Law, or under the Sense of any such thing, and consequently the Sincereness of what they enjoy, not interrupted by the strokes of Conscience under a sense of de­viation from Duty, or Guilt.

5. It is therefore plain, that if the Humane Nature have no greater or better Happiness than what is accommodate only to a Sensi­ble Nature, they have no greater Happiness than the Beasts have, which is not reasonable to be supposed for a Nature so far exceeding them.

6. Farther yet, if the Humane Nature were not under a capacity of a greater Happiness than what is terminated in Sense, mankind were much more Ʋnhappy than the basest A­nimal; and the more Excellent the Humane Nature is above the Beasts, nay, the more excellent any one individual of the Humane [Page 5]kind were above another, the more misera­ble he were, and the more uncapable of being in any measure happy: for the more Wise and Sagacious any man were, the more he must needs be sensible of Death, which sense would sower all the Happiness of a sensible Good: the more sensible he must needs be, not only of the shortness and uncertainty of sensible Enjoyments, but also of their Poor­ness, Emptiness, Insufficiency, Dissatisfacto­riness. It is evident, that a Fool sets a grea­ter rate upon a Sensible Good than a Man truly Wise, and consequently the Fool could be the only man capable of Happiness: for it is most certain, that according to the measure of the Esteem that any man hath of any good he enjoys, such is the measure of his Happiness in that Enjoyment, Since the Happiness is somewhat that is intrinsecal to the Sense or Mind that enjoys it. A thing really Good can never make that man Hap­py, who is under a Sense of Evil or Incon­venience by that enjoyment, so long as he is under that sense. Since therefore it is pre­posterous and unreasonable to suppose that Man, the best of terrestrial Creatures, and Wise men, the best of men, should be Exclu­ded from at least an equal degree of Hap­piness with the Beasts that perish; and since it must needs be that a bare Sensible Good [Page 6]can never communicate to a man an Equal degree of Happiness with a Beast, nor to a Wise man an Equal degree of Happines with a Fool, it remains, there must needs in com­mon reason be some other subject wherein the Happiness of a Man, of a Wise Man, must consist, that is not barely Sensible Good.

7. All the good things of this Life they are but Sensible Goods, and therefore they can­not be the true matter of that Happiness, which we may reasonably think belongs to the reasonable Nature as such, the former will appear by an induction of particulars, which I shall pursue in order, with the par­ticular instances of their Insufficiencies to make up a true Happiness to the Reasonable Nature, as well as that general that they are but Sensible Goods, and meerly accommo­dated to a Sensible Life and Nature.

1. Life it self is not as such a sufficient constituent of Happiness: and the Instance is Evident, because it is possible that Life it self may be Miserable: there may be Life where there is Sickness, Pain, Disgrace, Po­verty, and all those External Occurrences that may render life Grievous and Burthen­some. Life may indeed be the Subject of Happiness, when it hath all those contribu­tions that concur to make it such; but Life alone, and as such, cannot be Happiness, [Page 7]because there may be a Miserable Life.

2. Those Bona Corporis or Compositi, the Goods of the Body, are not sufficient to make up a suitable Happiness to the Reaso­nable Nature; as Health, Strength; for the Beasts themselves enjoy this, and for the most part, the Brutes enjoy a greater mea­sure of these than Mankind: and besides still, there is that which is like the Worm at the root of the Gourd, that spoils the Hap­piness that must arise from it; viz. Mortali­ty and Death, which will certainly pull down this Tabernacle, and Man hath an un­intermitted Pre-apprehension of it, which sowers the very enjoyment it self. And in this as hath been said, the Beasts that perish have a pre-eminence over Mankind; for though both are Mortal, yet the Beast is not under that Pre-apprehension of it that Man incessantly hath, whereby his Fruition of that Happiness of Health is the more Sin­cere, and this consideration must run through all those other contributions of Sensible Goods, that hereafter follow. And as for Beauty, the Happiness thereof as it is but fading and empty, so the Felicity that it gives, is not to the party that hath it, but to others, unto whom perchance it may be a delightful and amiable spectacle, but not to him that hath it.

3. There are a secondary sort of Bodily Goods, namely, Pleasures of the Senses, as delightful Meats, Drinks, Sights, Musick, pleasant Odors, and other Gratifications of the Sensitive Appetite; or Lust, as the Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of Revenge, the Lust of Desire, &c. These cannot make up a competent Happiness to the Humane Na­ture: 1. They are but Sensible Goods, com­mon to the Beasts as well as Men. 2. Though they may be competent to make up the Hap­piness of the Sensible Nature, yet they are not such to the Reasonable Nature; because they are still accompanied with a present concurring Sense of Mortality, which Em­bitters their very Enjoyment, and renders them insipid, if not bitter. 3. The wiser the Man is, the less he values them, and conse­quently are at best a Happiness to Fools, and such as degenerate from the Nobleness of the Humane Nature into the degree of Beasts by setting an Over-value upon them. Again. 4. They are transient, and the Happiness of them is only before their Enjoyment; when they are Enjoyed to Satiety, they lose their Use and Value. 5. These placenta sensus, especially of the Sensual Appetite, are not for their own sakes, but in order to some­thing else, viz. To invite and excite the Appetite in order to the Preservation of the [Page 9]individual, or the species; and therefore cannot be in themselves in relation to a Rea­sonable Nature any Happiness, since they terminate in something else.

4. Those Bona Fortunae, as Wealth, Ho­nour, Power, cannot at all pretend to make up a Happiness for the Reasonable Nature; for though in truth we do not find so emi­nently, in the animal Nature, any such thing as Wealth or Honour, but only some­what analogal to it, as in Ants and Bees; yet these are of a far inferiour nature to the Bona Corporis, whether Health or Pleasure; for they are in their true Use only in order to them. The primary Corporeal Good is Health, and Conservation of the individual in his being: next to that, and indeed in order to it, are the Refreshments and Sup­ports by Eating and Drinking. Wealth again is Subservient and in order to that, viz. To have a convenient Store and Provision for the supply of the exigencies of Nature and preserving the individual: what is more then Necessary for that, is Superfluous, Vain, and Unnecessary. Power again is only desi­rable to secure those Provisions from Rapine and Invasion: so that in truth these are so far from making up a Happiness, that they are only Provisional and in Order to those Goods of the Body, which are before [Page 10]shewn incompetent to that End; and with­out that respect they are vain and imperti­nent things. But besides this, there are cer­tain Specifical Defects that accompany these Goods, that render them utterly uncapable of making up a Happiness to Mankind: 1 It is impossible they can be as large as the Hu­mane Nature; because unless there were some Poor, none could be Rich; unless some were Under, there could be none in Power; if all were equal in Wealth and Power, there could be no such thing as Wealth or Power: and consequently the supposition of Happiness in those who are Rich or Pow­erful, would exclude the greatest part of Mankind from any share in that which must make up their common Happiness. 2. In the fruition of all Wealth, Honour and Power, besides the common fate of Morta­lity, which imbitters their very Enjoyment, there is annexed a certain peculiar Infelicity that renders them uncapable of making up a Happiness: For, 1. They are the common mark of Covetousness, Envy, Ambition, and Necessity, which most ordinarily render Rich and Powerful, and Great Men less safe than others, and ordinarily they stand tot­tering dangerously, and subject to fall. 2. There is always Care and Anxiety at­tending the possessors of Great Honour, [Page 11]Wealth, or Power, which imbitters the ve­ry injoyment, and puts it out of the capa­city of being a Happiness; for it is impossi­ble that great Cares and great Fears can con­sist with true Happiness. And thus far of Sensible Goods.

8. Besides these Sensible Goods there seem to be two sorts of Goods that Mankind is peculiarly capable of, which are not com­mon to the Beasts; viz. First, The Good of Esteem, Glory and Reputation, wherewith perchance the Beasts are not affected, though some seem to have somewhat analogal to it, but this cannot at all make up a Happiness to the Humane Nature: 1. Because it is not accommodate to all Uses and Exigents: Laudatur & alget. 2. Because it resides not in the party, but in those who give it; a man may have a great esteem with others and a low esteem of himself. 3. It is of all others the most brittle and unstable possession: those that perchance deservedly give it, may undeservedly resume it: a Word or Action mistaken by others, a false Report, Envy, Emulation, want of success in any one Action: the mis-interpretation of the Superior or the Vulgar, may quite overturn the greatest, and perchance most deserved Reputation, and render a man more despised and contemptible than he was before emi­nent [Page 12]or esteemed: he that bottoms his Hap­piness upon such an unstable blast, inherits the wind.

9. But yet there (are) certain Bona A­nimae which are competible to Man, but not to Beasts, which are of two kinds, accord­ing to the two great Faculties in Man, his Understanding and Will: viz. Knowledg, and Moral Virtues, and although these are excellent Goods, yet (exclusively of true and sound Religion) they cannot make up that Happiness which we may reasonably Judg to be proper and specifical to the Humane Nature: First, Therefore for Knowledg there are these Incompetences in it, in reference to our Happiness: 1. Our Knowledg is very little and narrow in re­spect of the Object of it: What we know is the least part of what we know not: Though we daily converse with things natu­ral, even with the frame of our own bodies, we scarce know the nature or cause or moti­on of any one Nerve or Muscle. 2. Even in those things we think we know, our know­ledg is very Dark and Uncertain; and from these ariseth: 3. That our increase in Know­ledg is our increase of Sorrow and Trouble: Trouble to attain that little Knowledg we have, and Sorrow in that we can acquire no more: 4. The whole Scheme of Knowledg [Page 13]we attain, for the most part serves only the meridian of our short, unstable, uncertain life: And what kind of Happiness can that be, which while we are attaining, we can­not secure to be of any long or certain con­tinuance, and vanisheth, or proves utterly unuseful when we die? Of what use will then the knowledg of Municipal Laws, of History, of Natural Philosophy, of Po­liticks, of Mathematicks, be in the next World, although our Souls Survive us?

As to the 2. Namely, Moral Virtues: It is true, Aristotle, 1. Ethicor. Cap. 7. Tells us that Happiness or Blessedness is the Exer­cise or Operation of the Reasonable Soul, according to the best and most perfect Vir­tue, in vita perfecta, in a perfect Life: But he tells us not what that vita perfecta is, nor where to be found, and yet without it there is no Happiness.

But even this exercise of Virtue (though much more noble than the bare habit of Vir­tue, which is but in order to Action or Ex­ercise) if considered singly and apart, and abstractively from the reward of it, is not enough to constitute a Happiness suitable to the Humane Nature: 1. The Actions of Vir­tue for the most part respect the good and benefit of others more than of the party that exerciseth them, as Justice, Righte­ousness, [Page 14]Charity, Liberality, Fortitude; and principally (if not only) Religion, Temperance, Patience, and Contentation, are those Virtues that advantage the party himself; the rest most respect the good of others. 2. We find it too often true, that most good men have the least share of the comforts and conveniencies of this Life, but are exposed (many times even upon the ac­count of their very Virtues) to Poverty, Want, Reproach, Neglect, so that their ve­ry Virtues are occasions oftentimes of such Calamities, which must needs abate the per­fection of Life, which is a necessary ingre­dient into Happiness. 3. But if their life be not rendred grievous upon the account of their Virtues, yet they are not thereby priviledged from many Calamities, which render their lives unhappy, and oftentimes renders them uncapable of the exercise of those Virtues, which must make up their Happiness: Poverty disables them from acts of Liberality; Neglect and Scorn by great Men and Governors renders them uncapable of acts of distributive Justice; Sickness and tormenting bodily Diseases many times attack them, and render their lives misera­ble, and many times disables even their very intellectuals; and to these disasters they are at least equally lyable with others; and if [Page 15]all these Calamities were absent, yet there are two states of life, which they must ne­cessarily go through if they live, that in a great measure renders them necessarily un­capable of these actions of Virtue, namely, the Passions and Perturbations of Youth, and the decays and infirmities of Old Age. 4. The highest Good attainable by the ex­ercise of Virtue in the party himself is Tran­quillity of Mind; and indeed it is a noble and excellent portion; but as the case stands with us in this life, (without a farther pro­spect to a life to come,) even such a Tran­quillity of mind is not perfectly attainable by us, and hath certain appendances to it, that abate that sincereness of Happiness, that is requirable in it, to compleat the Hap­piness of the Humane Nature: and these are principally these two: 1. The necessity that we are under (considering the weak­ness of our nature) by our daily failings, Errors, and Sins, to turn aside from the per­fect rule of Virtue; whereby we are under a kind of moral necessity of violating or abating that Tranquillity of mind; so that it seems in it self morally impossible either fully to attain, or constantly and uniformly to hold that Tranquillity of mind: 2. Still Mortality, Mortality, Death, and the Grave terminates this Felicity, if it only respect [Page 16]this life; and the fear and pre-apprehension of such a termination sowers and allays even that Felicity, which Tranquillity of mind otherwise offers: This fear and anti­cipation of death (as the Apostle says, Heb. 2.) detains men Captive all the days of their life, and in a great measure breaks that Tranquillity of mind, which is the con­stituent of this Happiness. Again, though Virtue, and Virtuous actions have had their Elogia by excellent Philosophers, Orators, Poets, and we are told by them, that Si Vir­tus oculis cerneretur, it would appear the most beautiful thing in the World; yet it hath had but few followers in respect of the rest of the World; and possibly would find a much colder entertainment, if the recom­pence of Reward were not also propounded with it and believed: Therefore there is and must be somewhat else besides bare Plato­nick Notions of Virtue and naked proposals of it, that must give it a conquest over the satisfaction of our Lusts and Pleasures, espe­cially in the time of our Youth and Strength, and before old age overtake us.

And hence it is, that in all ages wise Ru­lers and Governors have annexed sensible Rewards and Honours, and such things as have a lively and quick relish with them unto the exercise of Virtue.

And hence it is that the most wise God himself hath not propounded Virtue and Goodness to the children of men singly as its own and only Reward, but hath also pro­mised and really and effectually provided a Recompence of Reward for it, that Hap­piness which I have been all this while in quest after, and hath made Virtue and Goodness the way, the method to attain that happiness, which is in truth the end of it.

Upon the whole matter I therefore con­clude that the Happiness of Mankind is not to be found in this life, but it is a flower that grows in the Garden of Eternity, and to be expected only in its full complement and fruition in that life which is to succeed after our bodily dissolution: that although Peace of Conscience, Tranquillity of mind, and the sense of the favour of God, that we enjoy in this Life, like the bunches of Grapes brought by the Spies from Canaan, are the prelibations and anticipations of our Hap­piness, yet the complement of our Happi­ness consists in the Beatifical Vision of the ever blessed God to all Eternity; where there is a vita perfecta, a perfect life free from Pain, from Sorrow, from Cares, from Fears, vita perfecta, a perfect life of Glory and Immortality, out of the reach or dan­ger [Page 18]of Death, or the loss of that Happiness, which we shall then enjoy in the presence of the ever Glorious God, in whose presence is fulness of Joy, and at whose right hand are Pleasures for evermore, Amen.

OF THE Chief End of Man, what it is, AND The Means to attain it.

TWo things are principally commend­ed to us in this Text. 1. A Duty injoyned, to remember our Crea­tor. 2. The principal Season of that Duty, The days of our Youth. Which Season is recommended for this duty by way of preference above the evil days; not as if the Remembring our Creator were unseason­able at any time, but because the time of our Youth is more seasonable than that Evil time, or those Evil days, wherein we shall say, We have no pleasure in them.

1. The Duty injoyned, is to Remember our Creator, which imports two things. 1. To know our Creator; for we cannot remem­ber what we have not some knowledge of. 2. To Remember him, often to call him to mind.

1. The former part of this Duty is to Know our Creator. This is that which aged David commended to his young Son Solo­mon. 1 Chron. 28.9. And thou Solomon, my Son, Know thou the God of thy Father. And we have Two excellent Books, wherein the Knowledge of God is discovered to us; the Book of his Works, the Works of his Creation and Providence; and the Book of his Word, contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, wherein he is more fully, and explicitly, and plainly discovered unto us: These Books we are often to read and consider. And this is the chief reason, why Understanding and Rea­son is given unto Mankind, and not unto the Beasts that perish, namely, that we might improve it to the attaining of the Knowledge of Almighty God, in the due consideration of the Works and Word of God; and hereby we learn his Eternity, his Infiniteness, his Wisdom, his Power, his Goodness, his Justice, his Mercy, his Al­sufficiency, his Soveraignty, his Providence, his Will, his Purpose concerning Mankind, his Care of them, his Beneficence towards them. And the Nature of this Knowledge is not barely Speculative, but it is a know­ledge that is Operative; that perfects our Nature; that conforms it to the Image of [Page 45]that God we thus know; that sets Man­kind in its due state and station; keeps it in its just subordination unto the God we thus know, which is our greatest Perfection. This Knowledge must necessarily make us love him, because he is Good, Merciful, Boun­tiful, Beneficent; and therefore the Wise man chuseth to express him by that Title of Creator, from whom we receive our very Being, and all the good that can accompany it. This Knowledge teacheth us to be thankful unto him, as our Greatest Bene­factor; to depend upon him, because of his Power and Goodness; to fear him, because of his Power and Justice; to obey him, be­cause of his Power, Justice and Soveraign­ty; to walk before him in Sincerity, be­cause of his Power, Justice, and Wisdom. In sum, the several Attributes of Almighty God do strike upon the choicest parts, and faculties, and affections, and tendencies of our Hearts and Souls, and do tune them in­to that order and harmony that is best suit­able to the perfecting of our Nature, and the placing of them in a right and just po­sture, both in relation to Almighty God, our selves, and others.

2. The second part of our Duty is, To Remember our Creator thus known; which is to have the Sense and Exercise of this Know­ledge [Page 46]always about us; to set Almighty God always before our eyes, frequently to think of him, to make our application to him: For many there are that may have a knowledge of God, but yet the exercise of that knowledge is suspended; sometimes by Inadvertence and Inconsiderateness; some­times by a wilful Abdication of the exercise of that Knowledge. And these are such as forget God, that have not God in all their thoughts, that say to the Almighty, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

The Benefits of this Remembring our Creator, are very great: 1. It keeps the Soul and Life in a constant, and true, and regular frame. As the want of the Knowledge, so the want of the Remembrance of God, is the cause of that disorder and irregularity of our minds and lives. 2. And consequent­ly the best Preventive of Sin, and Aposta­cy, and Backsliding from God and our Du­ty to him. 3. It keeps the Mind and Soul full of constant Peace and Tranquillity; because it maintains a constant, humble, and comfortable converse of the Soul, with the Presence and Favor of God. 4. It rend­ers all conditions of life comfortable, and full of contentment; because it keeps the Soul in the presence of God, and communi­cates [Page 47]unto it continual Influxes of Con­tentment and Comfort; for what can di­sturb him, who, by the continual Remem­brance of his Creator, hath the constant acquaintance with his Power, Goodness, and Alsufficiency? 5. Though no Man hath ground enough to promise to himself an Immunity from Temporal Calamities, yet certainly there is no better expedient in the World to secure a Man against them, and preserve him from them than this: For, the most part of those sharp Afflictions that be­fal Men, are but to make them Remember their Creator when they have forgotten him, that he may open their ears to Disci­pline, and awake them to Remember their Creator, Read Job 33. A Man that keeps about him the Remembrance of his Creator, prevents in a great measure the necessity of that severe Discipline. 6. In short this Re­membrance of our Creator is an Antidote against the Allurements of the World; the Temptations of Satan; the deceitfulness of Sin. It renders the best things the World can afford inconsiderable, in comparison of him, whom we remember; it renders the worst the World can do, but little and con­temptible; so long as we Remember our Creator, it makes our lives happy, our deaths easie, and carries us to an everlasting [Page 48]Injoyment of that Creator, whom we have here remembred.

The Injunction of the Duty of Remem­bring our Creator, is the more importantly necessary. 1. In regard of the great conse­quence of the benefit we receive from it, as before. 2. In regard of the great danger of omitting it. The truth is, the greatest part of the miscarriages of our lives, are occasioned by the want of the remembrance of our Creator; then it is that we fail in our Duty, when we forget him. 3. In regard of the many Temptations this World affords to make us forget our Creator; the Pleasures, and Profits, and Recreations, and Prefer­ments, and Noise, and Business of this Life; yea, many of them, which are in themselves, and in their Nature lawful, are apt to ingross our Thoughts, our Time, our Cares, and to leave too little room in our memory for this great Duty that most deserves it, name­ly, The Remembrance of our Creator. Our memory is a noble Cabinet, and there can­not be a more excellent Jewel to lodge in (it) than our Great and Bountiful Creator; yet for the most part we fill this noble Cabi­net with pebles and straws, if not with dung and filth; with either sinful, or, at least, with Unprofitable, Impertinent, Trifling Furniture.

2. The Season for this Duty, that is here principally commended, is, The days of our Youth. And the Reasons that commend that Season for this Duty are principally these:

1. Because this is the most Accepted Time. God Almighty was pleased under the Old Law to intimate this, in (the) reservation to himself of the first fruits, and the first born. And surely, the first fruits of our Lives, when dedicated to his remembrance, are best ac­cepted to him.

2. Because this Season is commonly our Turning Season to Good or Evil. And if in Youth we forget our Creator, it is very great difficulty to resume our Duty: Commonly it requires either very extraordinary Grace, or very strong Affliction, to reclaim a Man to his Duty, whose Youth hath been seasoned with ill Principles, 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 [Page 50]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 [Page 51]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, [Page 52]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, [Page 53]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 [Page 54]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 Ʋncleanness of the Heart, and how it is Cleansed.

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 [Page 56]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 Ʋncleanness 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 [Page 57]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 Ʋnclean 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 Ʋnclean 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 [Page 58]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 Ʋnclean Objects, the Desires whereof do denominate an Ʋnclean 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 Ʋncleanness, 2 Pet. 2.10. Perchance bearing some Analogy to those Legal Uncleannesses in the Levitical [Page 59]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 Ʋnclean 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, [Page 60]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 [Page 61]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 [Page 62]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 [Page 63]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 [Page 64]could arrive unto, and this is an Ʋnclean 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 [Page 65]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 [Page 66]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 benefit in the latter, but yet not such as may with Consi­derable Advantage preponderate the Con­tentment of Lust, [which is present and sen­sible,] there ought to be a Conviction of such [Page 67]an Inconvenience in the former, and such a Benefit in the latter, as may most evidently and clearly preponderate the Contentment and Advantage of the satisfying of a Lust.

3. And because, though these Inconveni­ences and Benefits be never so great, yet if there be but a faint, and weak, and imper­fect Conviction of it, it will work but a weak resistance against the Invasions or Rebellions of Lust, and a sensible present enjoyment of what delights, will easily pre­ponderate the weak and faint, and imper­fect Convictions, or Suspicions rather, of what is Future. It is necessary that such Convictions, should be Sound, Deep, and Strong; or otherwise they will be but Slug­gish and Languishing opponents against the Rhetorick of Lusts, that yield a present Delight or Advantage.

4. And because, though the Convictions are never so strong, yet if they be not Ac­companied with Constancy, Vigilancy, and supplemental Excitations, as the opportuni­ty requires, the Constant and perpetual Im­portunity of Lust may happen upon a time of Intermission, and gain an Advantage against a Soul habitually thus Convinced, it is further necessary that there be a Fre­quent Constant Acting of that Conviction up­on [Page 68]the Soul, or otherwise it may be Intang­led by the Assiduous Importunities of his Lusts.

These things being thus premised, it is necessary to see what kind of Means it must be that must work such a Conviction of such weight and evidence, that may rectifie the Judgment in reference to this Contest with the sensual Appetite, and actuate such a Conviction to attain its due effect. Moral Philosophy contains in it excellent Precepts and Reasonings to the subjecting of the sensual Appetite to the dictate of Reason, and to a Moral Cleansing of the Heart: But it cannot attain its end; for though it pro­pounds Inconveniences on the one side, and Conveniences on the other, yet they have great defects that make it Ineffectual: The things which it proposeth are in themselves of unequal weight to the Pleasure and Content of satisfying the sensual Appetite, viz. On the one side Fame and Glory, and Reputation and Serenity of mind; on the other side, the Baseness of Lust in Compa­rison of the excellency of Reason, that it is a thing common to us with the Beast; and such like: and therefore, though these be fine Notions, and such as may be weighty with old Men, whose Lusts have left them, yet with young Men, they Import nothing: [Page 69]And therefore the Philosopher well pro­vides for it by determining that Juvenis non est idoneus auditor Moralis Philosophiae, and Consequently it is a kind of Physick, that may be good for them that need it not, but of no use for them that want it: for the truth is, the Fame and the Infamy are not of weight equivalent to Counterpoise the satis­faction of a Lust in those that are Inclinable to them. 2. Another great defect in the things propounded is this, that is also com­mon to Humane Laws, that though they may be of some efficacy to prevent the Ex­ternal Act, when it meets with Infamy in the Action, or Reputation in the forbearing, yet it doth inevitably give a dispensation to Sin, if committed with Secrecy; much less doth it at all Cleanse the Heart from the love of Lust, the delight in it, the Contemplation of it. We are therefore to search for a higher, or more effectual Conviction than this; and therefore, 1. We must see whether there be any thing that propounds some thing that may over ballance the Advantage of Lust, or the love of it in the Heart; 2. A means of Conviction of the truth and rea­lity of the thing so propounded.

For the former, it is apparent that the Sacred Scriptures, and they alone, do furnish us with such materials; prohibiting not only [Page 70]the Acts of Lust, but also the very Motions and Inclinations to it; the Desires of the Heart, of it; the Love of the Heart to it; and this under pain of the displeasure of God, everlasting Death, Hell fire, on the one side; on the other side, in case of Obe­dience to this Command, the Favor of God, Everlasting Life, and Happiness: and in order to the discovering whether our Hearts walk in Sincerity, according to the Com­mand of God, assures us that God beholds and observes the Motions, Desires, Inclina­tions, Thoughts, and Purposes of our Hearts, and will one day lay them open, When the secrets of all Hearts shall be Revea­led. And these are things that are of such a Nature as preponderates all the good, that can be in Lust; furnisheth the Soul with such Arguments against it, as carries thunder in them. 2. And that these may be effectu­ally assented to by the Soul, without which they Import nothing to the end we speak of, there are these effectual Means, which Almighty God affords us: First, The word of God, which doth not only contain Ma­terials and Perswasions for the Cleansing of the Heart; but also a high evidence of the Truth and Reality and Benefit of those Materials and Perswasions: it is a Convin­cing and a Cleansing word: Jo. 15.3. Ye [Page 71]are clean through the word, which I have spoken unto you. Secondly, A high Congruity of the word of God, in relation to a future life of Rewards and Punishments, unto the very Sentiments of Reason and the light of Nature it self; the Sense of which life of future Rewards and Punishments carries with it, not only a Conviction of the great Advantage of a Clean Heart above an Un­clean Heart, but also a very effectual motive to the Cleansing of the Heart, greater and more vigorous than all the Arguments of the best Philosophers. Thirdly, The Powerful Spirit of God works up in the Soul an assent unto them; and that of such a strength as is no less Convincing than Science it self, which is Faith: and therefore Faith thus wrought, purifies the Heart, as well as the life. 3. And for a Constant and un-inter­mitted Application and re-minding us of these Truths, God is pleased to assist us with the continual assisting Grace of his Spirit acting in and by the Conscience, which is in a great measure cleansed, quickned, and actuated, which watcheth us and our very Thoughts, and Chides them, re-minding us of these great Truths, which we have re­ceived; and thereby actuating and acting our Faith of these Truths, as often as the occasion offers it self.

5. And by this means, 1. The Intellectual Power of the Soul is restored in a great measure to its primitive Dominion, or at least is qualified aright in order to the exer­cising of it.

2. The Will, wherein indeed the Em­pire of the Soul is principally seated, is likewise restored to its Domination and Rule.

1. Partly by these Impressions, which are as before received by the Understanding and the practical Determination thereof: for it is clearly presented now to her, that it is the Greater 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 [Page 73]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.

THE FOLLY, AND Mischief of SIN.

1. IT is a most Ʋnprofitable 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 [Page 76]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, a [...]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 Pre­apprehensions 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 [Page 77]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 [Page 78]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 [Page 79]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 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, [Page 80] 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 [Page 81]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 [Page 83]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 [Page 84]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 [Page 85]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 greater Strength, and Consequently of greater Danger than be­fore, and this upon a double reason: First, Because the Soul is made the weaker, and more emasculated by the reception and en­tertainment of a Lust: then it is like amisa pudicitia, which is the likelier to make a [Page 86]Prostitute: Sense of Reputation is a great matter to keep Innocence, but a lost Repu­tation makes way for a further degree of Guilt. Again, the Soul, by admittance and entertainment of Lust, gains a kind of inti­macy and dearness with the Lust, and admits it with less difficulty a second time; because it is become now an acquaintance. And lastly, every sin causeth a withdrawing of Divine assistance from the Soul, and an e­stranging of the Soul from it, a kind of shameful absenting of the Soul from God; and so as it loseth its strength, it loseth its confidence of address for it; which every Mans experience will teach him. Secondly, On the part of Lust, it is made more bold, and confident, and adventuring, than it was before it was entertained: It was then more modest and bashful, because it knew not how-it should be entertained; but now it grows Confident and Imperious.

10. When Lust hath gotten the Victory in the Soul, it either makes the Soul, which is Gods Vicegerent, his Vassal, or his Pri­soner; either the Soul becomes servant and vassal to Sin, or at best it is led away Cap­tive by it: And in both cases, God is dethro­ned, the Soul imbased, and Lust gets the Empire and Dominion; and the Soul hath either broken his trust with God, or not [Page 87]performed it as it should: The Province committed to his management lost, the Go­vernment abused, the Soveraign injured, and the Vicegerent is either become a Rebel, or at best a Prisoner, by his own default.

11. The Means of Prevention of this in­version of the Order settled by the great Soveraign is. First, That the Deputy take due notice of his Instructions; for he is not placed in that Province without his Rules of Government, which his Soveraign hath de­livered him. Secondly, That he be very Vigilant over the secret Confederacies, motions, and risings of Lust against those Instructions; for Lust is busie, troublesome, and active, and studies and watcheth all op­portunities of Defection. Thirdly, That he keep his Authority with Resolution and Courage; for Lust, if it be worthy the name of a Subject, it is a petulant and sawcy, but yet a slavish base-minded Subject; a little countenance will make it insolent, and a severe hand over it will make it servile; and especially, that this severity be held over those Lusts, that have or pretend to the greatest interest in the Age, Complexion, Disposition, Quality, Station, or Condition of the Province; for as they have the great­est [Page 88]opportunities to do mischief, so they will soonest grow Insolent.

12. Though a slight and gentle superin­tendency over Lust will teach it to com­mand, yet under a severe and rigid govern­ment the most it will adventure upon, will be to ask admission: and upon such addres­ses the Duty of this Deputy is to be so far from giving admission to it, that it ought not to Complement, or Treat, or hold Con­ference or Debate with it, but flatly deny it; As a severe Deportment of the Soul must keep Lust from commanding, so it must check and discountenance it in asking: the holding of conference, and debate, and reasoning with any Lust, is but a preparato­ry to its admission, and gives but the more Confidence, Boldness, Importunity and hope of success to it. Eves reasoning with the Serpent was the first breach of her Inno­cence: Lust must not be mannerly treated withall, but flatly denyed. This is that great Doctrine of Self-Denial which the New Testament so solemnly enjoyns: for though in truth, our Lusts are not our selves, yet those that grow out of our natural Constitution or Condition, are next to our selves, and by mistake we are apt to esteem them, our Eyes, our Hands, our Selves.

13. This kind of dealing with Lusts and Temptations will in a little time dis-ac­quaint the Soul with them, and make the Soul and them strangers one to another. It is easily seen, that those things which a Man useth himself unto, so that they seem to be­come another nature, yet some desuetude from them do evidence to him, Asperam nobis, & insuavem virtutum viam nimia facit vitiorum Consuetudo, quae si in partem alteram transfera­tur, invenietur (si­cut Scriptura dicit) Semita Justitiae li­nis. S. Hier. Ep. 14. that they are not so ne­cessary and unseparable as he once thought them: A man that hath accustomed himself to vain Swearing, so that he can scarce speak a sentence without an Oath, and when he is told of it, professeth he cannot help it, yet let him resolvedly break the custom of it, he will not find that he misseth that unhappy Rhetorick in his Dis­course; the like is easily seen in Drinking, Gaming, Wantonness, and those other Sins that are precious and dear to a man in his custom and use of them; by a little resolute dis-user of them, he will soon find he doth not miss them; he can easily spare them, and be without them: nay, he finds as great an inconvenience and burdensomness to re-as­sume them, as before to leave them. And besides the Reasons before given, there is this more in it, that the Value and Content­ment [Page 90]that is taken in them, is by the great Expectation and Contentment that the mind seeks in the pre-apprehensions & Image that the mind makes to it self of them: for the Contentment of the things themselves bare­ly considered, and in themselves, is but flat and empty; but the Imagination dresseth them up beyond themselves, both in their pre-apprehension and fruition: and so the Value and Contentment of them is due more to the Fancy and false Idea of the mind, than to the things themselves: and therefore, if once the mind can be estranged from Conversing with the thought and Imagination of them, they will soon lose their Estimate and Delight; because they are separated and kept asunder from that which gilds and dresseth them into that delightful and amiable shape, which cousens and deceives men into their actings of them. Now this severe hand against them, denying their access, refusing Converse with them, doth prevent the mind from fashioning of Imaginations of them, and dressing up those Imaginations of them in pleasing and de­lightful representations, and then in a little while they are quite laid aside, and not mis­sed, nor thought of; and their own natural worth, without that secret brooding of the mind upon them, doth not with any strength, [Page 91]solicit or subdue the mind to the actings of them. We are in this kind like Children, who have gotten some toy into their hands, that, it may be, may be hurtful, and they mightily prize them and set a great rate up­on them: but let them be taken away, in a little while they will not miss them, but be as merry and contented, as when they had them.

14. The Success of 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 [Page 92]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 [Page 93]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 [Page 94]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 [Page 95]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 [Page 96]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 Displeasure be not a neces­sary consequence of that Sin? and if it be, may not he inflict the issues of that wrath of his, when, and in what measure he pleaseth? and if he may, what security can this Tempta­tion give against it? hath it an Arm of Om­nipotence to secure me against the power of him, that is Omnipotent? and if it cannot, what Compensation or amends can it make me, to countervail the Damage of his Wrath, or the very Danger of it? Can the Pleasure or Con­tentment of the Sin do it? alas! the Pleasure will pass away, in, it may be, a Life, a Day, a moment; but the Guilt and Torment continues to Eternity.

Motives to Watchfulness, In reference to the Good and Evil ANGELS.

AS we see Plants in a Nursery, when they come to a due growth, are Transplanted into Orchards; and those that are unuseful are pulled up and cast into the Fire; or as we see Boys in a Free-School, such as are undisciplineable, are after some years of probation sent away to Mechanical Imployments; and those that are Ingenious and Diligent are Transplanted to the Universities: So among the Children of Men in this Life, those that are Vitious and Incorrigible are by Death rooted out and cast into a suitable Condition, and those that are Vessels fit for their Masters use, Towardly Plants, are by Death Transplant­ed into another Region, a Garden of Hap­piness and Comfort. And possibly, as by continuance of time, they received Im­provement and Perfection here: So in that other Region they add to their Degrees of Perfection, and are promoted to further Ac­cessions, and Degrees, and Stations of Hap­piness and Glory, till they come to the state of Spirits of just Men made perfect.

Could we see the Invisible Regiment of the World, by the subordinate Government of Good and Evil Angels, as once Elisha's servant saw the Fiery Chariots and Horsmen in the Mount, it would give us another kind of representation of things, than now they ap­pear to us. We have just reason to believe that there are infinite numbers of Spirits of both kinds, that have their passings to and fro, and Negotiations, as well among them­selves, as among the Children of Men, and as Ravens, Kites, and other unclean Birds haunt Carrion; and as Vermine haunt after Putre­faction, and are busie about it; or as disor­derly, debauched Companions and Ruffians, ever haunt out, and hang upon a dissolute and foolish Heir, till they have sucked out all his Substance and Wealth: So the Impure and corrupted Angels haunt and flock about a Man given over to Vice, till they have wholly corrupted and putrified his Soul; and those Good Men, whom they cannot win over to them, they pursue with as much Malice and Envy as is possible; and though they cannot come within them, yet as far as they can, they raise up External Mischiefs against them, watch opportunities to insnare or blemish them, though the Vi­gilancy of a better Guard, and their own Prudence and Circumspection do for the [Page 99]most part disappoint and prevent them. Besides the displeasure of the great God, there be some Considerations, even in refer­ence to these Good and Evil Angels, to make Good Men very Watchful, that they fall not into presumptuous or foul Sins.

1. It cannot chuse but be a Grief to the Good Angels, Luk. 15.10. to be present and Spectators of the Enormities of those, Matth. 18.10. for whose Preserva­tion they are imployed.

2. It must in all probability work in them a nauseousness and retiring themselves from such Offenders, at least, till they have re­newed and washed themselves by Repent­ance, and made their Peace with God in Christ: For there is no greater Antipathy than between these Pure and Chast Spirits, and any Sin or Foulness.

3. It cannot chuse but be a most grate­ful Spectacle to these Envious and Malignant Evil Spirits, who upon the discovery of such a fall of a Good Man, call their impure Company together, and make pastime about such an object, as Boys do about a Drunken Man, and upbraid the Sacred and Pure An­gels. Look here is your Pious Man, your Pro­fessor: Come see in what a condition he is, and what he is about.

4. It lays open such a Man to the Power and Malice of those envious Spirits; they have gotten him within their Territories and Dominions; and unless God in great Mercy restrain them, renders a Good Man obnoxious to their Mischief: And as the contagion and noysomness of Sin, drives away the Pure and Holy Spirits; so it attracts and draws together those Impure and Ma­lignant Spirits, as the smell of Carrion doth Birds and Beasts of prey. It concerns us therefore, to be very vigilant against all Sin, and if through Inadvertence, Infirmity, or Temptation, we fall into it, to be dili­gent to make our Peace, and wash our selves as soon as we can, in the Blood of Christ, and Water of Repentance.

OF THE MODERATION OF THE AFFECTIONS.

MOderation, is that Grace or Vertue whereby a Man governs his sen­sual Appetite, his Passions and Affections, his Words and Acti­ons, from all Excess and Exorbitancy.

It refers, 1. To the sensual Appetite: 2. To the Passions of the Mind: 3. To Speech and Words: 4. To the Actions of our Life.

1. Moderation in the sensual Appetite: and this is properly Temperance, which is a Prudent Restraint of our Appetite from all Excess in Eating, Drinking, and those other inclinations that gratifie our senses.

And certainly this becomes us not only as [Page 102]Christians, but as Reasonable Creatures; for the sensual Appetite, and those inclina­tions that tend to the gratification of our External senses, are in a great measure the same in Men and in Brutes, and they are in the due order and use Good and Convenient for both: we cannot live without them But Almighty God hath given to Mankind a Higher and a Nobler Nature; namely, Un­derstanding and Reason, which in the right posture and constitution of the Humane Nature is to Govern, Guide, Moderate, and Order that inferiour Faculty, that is common to the Brutes, as well as to Man. And that Man that keeps not this Regiment and Superintendency of his Nobler Faculty, degrades himself into the condition of a Brute, and indeed into somewhat worse; for even the Instincts of Brutes do for the most part regulate their sensual Appetite from Excess and Immoderation. But because this belongs to that distinct vertue of Tem­perance, I forbear further Instances herein.

2. Moderation of our Passions and Affe­ctions; and these are here principally intend­ed; namely, Love, Hatred, or Anger, Joy, Grief, Hope, Fear, and those other mixt or derivative Passions, that arise in Man upon the presentment of their several Objects.

And although the Passions of the Mind considered simply in themselves are a part of [Page 103]our Nature and not Evil: but when duely re­gulated and ordered, are of excellent Use to us; yet if they once become unruly, mis-placed, or over-acted, they occasion the greatest troubles in the World, both to the persons themselves in whom they are, and to others. Jam. 4.1. We may easily trace almost all the Sins and Enor­mities, and Distempers, and Troubles, and Disorders, that we observe in our selves or others, to the Immoderation, and Disorder of the Passions.

And therefore the due Moderation of them is of great consequence, both for the attaining of true Tranquillity of Mind, of great Regularity in all we do or say, and to the common Peace, Order and Benefit of Mankind.

The Moderation therefore of all our Passions consists principally in these two things: 1. That they be not mis-placed or set upon wrong Objects; as to Love that which we should not Love, but possibly Hate; or to Hate that which we should Love; and so for the rest; 2. That being rightly placed in respect of their Objects, yet that they be not intended or acted beyond that degree that may be justly allowed to those Objects: And this is properly Immoderation, the for­mer is merely Misprision, Errour, Enormity, Folly.

And therefore when we speak of Mode­ration of our Passions, it is intended in re­lation to those things, about or upon which our Passions may be lawfully used or exer­cised, so that they be kept within their just bounds and measures.

And since all the Objects of our Passions are either something that is Good or so thought, as the Objects of our Love, Joy, Hope, or something that is Evil, or so esteem­ed, as the Objects of our Hatred, or Anger, Sorrow, Fear, the true measure of these Af­fections or Passions is to be made according to the true measure of that Good, or that Evil that is the present Object of my Passi­on. If the Good or Evil be Great, it de­serves a greater intention of that Passion, or Affection that is imployed about them; if it be but little, the measure of my Passion or Affection ought not to exceed it, if it doth, it becomes Immoderate.

And hence it is, that the same Passion or Affection may be, and indeed ought to be variously acted or intended about Objects of the same Nature; yet under different degrees of Good or Evil: I may at the same time have different objects of my Love, dif­ferent sorts or kinds of Good, and of diffe­rent allayes, some more, some less Good, and my Love may be extended to them all [Page 105]at the same time; but the degrees of my Love are diversified according to the diver­sity of the degrees of Good, that each Ob­ject hath, all circumstances, adjuncts and consequences being considered. The like may be said, touching Evils that are the Ob­jects of my Hatred, Anger, Sorrow, or Fear.

The Moderation therefore of Affections requires these things principally: 1. A Right Judgment or Estimate of things Good or Evil, according to their true natures or de­grees; for without this we shall not only mistake in the degrees of Good or Evil, but even in their very natures: we shall not on­ly take the Lesser Good or Evil for the Grea­ter, or the Greater for the Less; but we shall be apt to mistake the things themselves, and call Evil Good, and Good Evil. Now it is certain that according to the Judgment that we have touching things Good or Evil, and their Values and Degrees, accordingly are our Passions, and their Extents and Trans­ports measured out. If I Judg or Esteem that to be truly Good, which indeed is not, I deliver over to it my Affection of Love, Joy, or Hope: and if I Judg that to be a Great and Important Good, which is but Small or Inconsiderable; yet according to the measure or proportion of such Estimate, I measure out the degree of my Love, Joy [Page 106]or Delight in such Good. A Child will set as great a Rate, and consequently allow as great a measure of his Love or Delight to a Rattle, as a Boy doth to his Top and Scourg, or as a Man doth to a Diamond, all arising from the variety of their Judgment, or Esti­mate of the Value of the thing. And the like may be said of Evils, and their several Degrees, with relation to the Passions of Hatred, Sorrow, or Fear: 2. The second thing required to Moderation, is a Prudent staied Deliberation before the Passion be put into motion, that so the Judgment be con­sulted, touching the nature of the Object; first, whether it be Good or Evil; and then what Degree of Good or Evil it hath: for be the judgment never so Good, yet if Pas­sion run before it, and be precipitate upon the first and sudden apprehension of the thing proposed, or objected, and so antivert the use of Deliberation, and the ripening of the Judgment, there must necessarily, or at least ordinarily follow either Mistake or Disorder, or Immoderation in the Passion of what kind soever; and then the Mind is disturbed, and put into disorder suddenly, 'tis difficult then to make a right Judgment, or at least, it comes too late, and many times after the mischief is done by the hasty and precipitate Passion, either without or at [Page 107]least within the Mind; thus transported with Passion of any kind.

And therefore the General Rule for Mo­deration of all kind of Passions, is, reso­lutely to prescribe to a Mans self this Law: That before he any way gives leave to his Passion, he will pause and consider a while, touching the Object presented, what it is, whether Good or Evil, and if either, then what Degree or Value it bears. And when once a Man hath thus peremptorily resolved to give himself this Law, and hath a little while inured himself to the practice of it, he will find it easie and familiar.

This will better appear in the several in­stances of the several Affections or Passions of the mind, principally in these of Love and Hatred, or Anger, Joy and Sorrow, Hope and Fear.

1. The Affection of Love, is the Principal and Governing Affection of the Mind, and the Root of all other Passions: For what­soever I love, renders that hateful and dis­pleasing, which either prevents me from it, or deprives me of it, and so occasions the Passion of Hatred or Anger: whatsoever I love, makes me joyful, or delighted in the Enjoyment of it, or Sorrowful in the loss or deprivation of it, and so produceth Joy and Sorrow: whatsoever I love, I hope for, if [Page 108]absent, or I fear the loss or deprivation of it, and so produceth Hope and Fear.

The Object of this Affection is something that is Good, or so apprehended: The greater that Good is, the greater is the Love of it: Therefore the chiefest Good drawes out the chiefest Love; and an Infinite Good an Unmeasurable and Boundless Love: and since Almighty God is the chiefest and an Infi­nite Good, there cannot be any Immodera­tion or Excess of Love to him: and there­fore this Moderation of our Affection of Love, hath no place in relation to my Love of God; for I cannot love him too much. But this Moderation of this Affection prin­cipally respects the good things of this World; as Wealth, Honour, Power, Reputation, Relations, Friends, Health of Body, Plea­sures, and External 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 [Page 109]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 [Page 110]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 [Page 111]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 [Page 112]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 [Page 113]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 [Page 114]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, [Page 115]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 [Page 119]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 [Page 120]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, and worse than a disappointment. And indeed the things of the World are generally of such a Consistency, that a very little evil joyned to it, will sowr and make it unsavory. A want of a little spot of Ground for a Garden, will make the fruiti­ons of a Kingdom but insipid to Ahab; and a want of a Mordecai's Knee, will disrelish all the Honor of the great Courtier Haman. The truth is, the Mind is that which makes any thing uneasie; and it falls out, that a small cross or trouble to a Mind, especially filled with expectation of a full and intire Happiness, will be as troublesome as a small Thorn in a great Mans Foot.

3. But yet further, suppose we that the thing projected, is attained without any mixture of mischief attending it; yet here [Page 122]is an inseparable unhappiness that doth at­tend the most perfect injoyment of the best Worldly advantage projected and expected; it is always less than it was expected. The Expectation flattered it self with much more than what it finds; and a Man doth infallibly find that his Mind and Phantasie had dressed up and adorned the Image and Phantasm of what was projected, much finer and goodlier than he finds it when he attains it. A Man projecting Happiness in Honor, Wealth, Friends, Applause, Pleasure, or any other Earthly thing, is much like a Builder, that hath much more content in his contrivance and expectation of the Beauty, Comliness, Usefulness, Contentment, and other Com­placency of his Building, than when it is finished; and when he hath done all, nay, though exquisitly suitable to his Mind, yet his Contentment vanisheth in the fruition; and the Contentment as it falls short of the Expectation, so for the most part it dies and vanisheth with the injoyment.

Take therefore this Counsel: First, In all thy Designs of Temporal Advantages, keep thy Expectations and Hopes low, clog them with Suspicions, and Abatements, and Al­lays; otherwise thy Expectations will cheat thee; and not only so, but render that good that thou shalt attain (even upon honest de­signs) [Page 123]insipid and flat, because less than what thou expectest; whereas a low Expectation gives a relish to a low injoyment. Secondly, Set not thy heart upon an earnest prosecution of Temporal Advantages: For, if they do not vex thee by Disappointment, or some Thorn or Gall that doth adhere to them, yet it is Ten to One they will cheat thee, appear more glorious at a distance and in Expecta­tion, than nearer hand, and in Fruition. They are trimmed up with Report and Ex­pectation; but in reality, and in themselves are like the Apples of Sodom, Beautiful to the Eye, but vanish into dust when touched. Solomon, was certainly the Wisest and Ex­ternally Happiest King that ever the World knew: He had the greatest opportunity that ever any Man had, to take a full Esti­mate of the World in its choicest Enjoy­ments, by reason of his Wealth, and Peace, and Power, and Interest, almost with all the Princes and Potentates that then Reigned. He had a vast Judgment and Understanding of all things in Nature, and could with ex­quisite Skill and Relish, search into, and at­tain all that was Externally Good and De­sireable in this World. And besides all this, he made it his chief business to search out what was that Good for the Sons of Men, under the Sun; and this he did neither [Page 124]bruitishly, as led thereunto by sensuality, nor superficially, or barely by speculation; but he made it his business not only strictly to inquire into it by his Reason and Judg­ment, but also really to experiment and try the matter he thus sought after: And having with much industry and observation climb­ed, as it were, to the top of all Worldly Felicity and Enjoyment, and beholding the rest of Mankind, as well as they were able, Reaching and Clambering, as it were, to­wards this precipice of Worldly Felicity:

From this high Mountain he bespeaks Mankind in his critical Book of Ecclesiastes, as it were in this manner: Ye Children of Men, I see ye are full of great Expectations of and by Worldly Contentments; and you take much pains for the acquest of them: Listen a while what I shall say to you; I have had those Opportunities of a full discovery of the best that this World can afford, Wealth, Honor, Pleasures of all sorts and kinds, and such Op­portunities as none of you ever had or can ex­pect to make the like discovery; and I have denied my self nothing that this World can afford to give me Content, and the most exqui­site [Page 125]Taste and Relish of them; and I have now arrived to the very Fastigium, the very highest point of this Mountain of Pleasure and World­ly Fruition; and I find my self wholly deceived in what I expected: I expected indeed as great Contentation as you do, but now I have tasted of every dish, I find them all to be but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit. I have not been only disappointed in what I expected from them, but instead thereof I have reaped no­thing but Sorrow, Anxiety, Vexation, you do therefore deceive your selves in all the pains ye take, while ye think from these Worldly Enjoy­ments, ye shall acquire Happiness, yea, or Contentation in them. Be wise therefore, and take warning by me, the greatest example that ever the World knew of this kind. Give over these laborious busie and vain pursuits of yours; and take out but this concluding Lesson of mine, which I have learned by infallible Experience. Fear God, and keep his Commandments, for this is the whole Duty of Man.

I Have in my course of life, had as many Stations and places of Habitation as most Men. I have been in almost con­tinual Motion; and although of all Earthly things I have the most desired Rest, Retiredness, and a Fixed Private Station, yet the various changes that I have seen and found, the Publick Imployments, that with­out my seeking, and against my Inclination have been put upon me, and many other Interventions, as well Private as Publick, have made the former part of this Text true to me in the Letter, that I have had no con­tinuing City, or place of Habitation. When I had designed unto my self a setled Mansion in one place, and had fitted it to my conve­nience and repose, I have been presently con­strained by my necessary imployments to leave it and repair to another: And when again I had thoughts to find repose there, and had again fitted it to my convenience; [Page 128]yet some other necessary occurrences have diverted me from it; and thus by several vicissitudes my dwellings have been like so many Inns to a Traveller, though of some longer continuance, yet almost of equal instability and vicissitudes. This unsettled­ness of Station, though troublesome, yet hath given me a good and practical Moral; namely, that I must not expect my Rest in this lower World, but must make it as the place of my Journey and Pilgrimage, not of my Repose and Rest, but must look further for that Happiness. And truly when I con­sider that it hath been the Wisdom of God Almighty to exercise those Worthies, which he left as Patterns to the rest of Mankind, with this kind of Discipline in this World, I have reason not to complain of it, as a Difficulty, or an Inconvenience, but to be thankful to him for it as an Instruction and Document, to put me in remembrance of a better Home, and to incite me to make a due provision for it; even that Everlasting Rest which he hath provided for them that love him; and by pouring me thus from Vessel to Vessel, to keep me from fixing my self too much upon this World below. But the truth is, did we consider this World as becomes us, even as Wise Men, we may easily find, without the help of any such particu­lar [Page 129]Discipline of this Nature, that this World below, neither was intended, nor indeed can be a place of Rest, but only a kind of Laboratory to fit and prepare the Souls of the Children of Men for a better and more abiding State, a School to exercise and train us up into habits of Patience and Obedi­ence, till we are fitted to another Station, a little narrow Nursery, wherein we may be dressed and pruned, till transplanted into a better Paradise. The continual Troubles and Discomposures, and Sicknesses, and Weaknesses, and Calamities that attend our lives, the shortness and continued Vexations occurring in them; and finally, the common examples of Death and Mortality of all Ages, Sexes, Conditions of Mankind, are a sufficient instruction to convince reasonable Men, that have the Seriousness and Patience to consider and observe, That we have no abiding City here. And on the other side, if we will give our selves but the leasure to consider the Great Wisdom of Almighty God, that orders every thing in the World to ends suitable and proportionable; the excellence of the Soul and Mind of Man; the great Advances and Improvements his Nature is capable of; the admirable means, the Merciful and Wise God hath afforded unto Mankind, by his Works of Nature [Page 130]and Providence, by his Word and Instructi­ons, to inable him for a Nobler Life, than this World below can yield, will easily con­fess that there is another State, another City to come, which becomes every Good, and Wise, and Considerate Man to look after and fit himself for. And yet let a Man look upon the generality of Mankind with a due and severe consideration, they will appear to be like a company of mad or distempered People. The generality of the World make it their whole business to provide for a Rest and Happiness in this World, to make these vain acquests of Wealth and Honor, and Preferments, and Pleasures of this World their great, if not only Business and Happi­ness; and, which is yet a higher degree of frensie, to esteem this the only Wisdom, and to esteem the careful Provision for Eternity, the Folly of a few weak, melancholy, fanci­ful Men: Whereas it is in truth, and in due time it will most evidently appear, that those Men that are most sedulous and solicitous touching the attaining of their Everlasting Rest, are the only true Wise Men, and so shall be acknowledged by those that now despise them. Wisd. 5.4. We Fools accounted his life Madness, and his end to be without Ho­nor. How is he numbred among the Children of God, and his Lot is among the Saints?

When I come to my Inn I have this con­sideration presently occurs to me. If my Lodging be good and fair, the Furniture splendid, the Attendance great, the Provisi­ons good and well ordered; yet I streight consider this is not the place of my Rest, I must leave it to morrow, and therefore I set not my Heart upon it. And again, if my Inn be but poor, my Entertainment mean, my Lodging decayed, I do not presently send for Painters, Carpenters, and Masons to Repair, or Beautifie it; but I content my self with it, and will bear with the inconve­niencies, because I consider it will be but for a night, and to morrow I shall be gone, and possibly come to my home, where I shall be better convenienced. And although the truth is, that this World is little other than our Inn to entertain us in our Journey to another Life; and our stay in it is many times very short, yea, our longest stay here in comparison of Eternity, is infinitely more short than a nights lodging at an Inn in com­parison to the longest life here; yet it is a wonderful thing to observe how much we are taken up with the concerns of this our Inn, what a stir we keep about it? what pains and cost we imploy in it? how much of our time is laid out upon it? as if it were our only home. If our Lot cast us upon a [Page 132]handsome Lodging (as it were) and in it furnished with Wealth, or Glory, or Honor, How we pride our selves in it? how goodly we look upon our selves? how happy we think our selves? what care we have to make it more Rich, Glorious, and Splendid: And on the other side, if our Lot cast us upon a lower, meaner Station; if we are Poor, or Sickly, or Neglected, or under Hatches, what a deal of Impatience, and Discontent, and Unquietness appears? Nay, though our Lodging and Entertainment in this Inn of the World be pretty well, and will serve till we take our Journey; yet if it be not so Fine, and Splendid, and Rich, and Comely as anothers; if our Meat be enough to suffice nature, if our Cloaths enough to protect us from cold, if our House good enough to keep off the Storms, and defend us from Injuries, yet if these be not so good as such a Mans, or such a Neighbors, not so good as my Ancestors or Relations, Lord! What a deal of Unquietness, and Complaining, and Envy, and Impatience, and Turbulency of mind there is in Men? What Designs, and Frauds, and Plots, and Underminings, and Undue Means Men take to advance their own condition, and to depress others? and all this while never consider that which would easily cure the extravagance, as well [Page 133]of one hand, as of the other: Namely, This is not my home, it is but my Inn; if it be Beautiful, Splendid, Convenient; if my con­dition in it be Wealthy, Honorable, Prosperous, I will not set my heart upon it, nor think any better of my self for it, nor set up my Rest in it: It is but my Inn, I must leave it, it may be to morrow. On the other side, if it be but Poor, Weak. Infirm, Ignoble, Low, I will content my self, it is but my Inn, it may serve for my passage, I shall, it may be, leave it to morrow, and then if I have taken that due care that becomes me in my provision for my Eternal State, I am certain the case will be mended with me; however my Inn be Poor, Mean, In­convenient, Troublesome, it is but for a night, my home will be better; I have learned, that I have here no abiding City, but I seek one to come. The benefits of the consideration of this Text are many.

1. It will teach a Man a very low esteem of this present World, and never to set the heart upon it. Wilt thou set thy heart up­on that which is not? It is not an abiding City: Either like the old feigned inchanted Castles, it will vanish and come to little, while we think we have fast hold of it; or else we must leave it, we know not how soon: It is full of trouble and vexation when we injoy it; and very unstable and uncertain [Page 134]is our stay in it. 2. But let it be as good as it will, or can be, yet this Text tells of a City that is better worth our thoughts, an abiding City, a City that cannot be shaken, where there are no Troubles, no Thorns, no Cares, no Fears, but Righteousness and Everlasting Peace and Rest.

2. Consequently it will teach us to seek that which is most of value first and most, and make that our greatest Endeavor, which is our greatest Concernment; name­ly, to seek that City that is to come, Peace with God in Christ Jesus, and the Hope of Eternal Life. It is true, while we are in this City that continues not (this Inferior World) God Almighty requires a due care for Externals, and Industry in our Imploy­ments, and Diligence in our Callings: It is part of that service we ow to God, to our Families, to our Relations, to our Selves; and being done in Contemplation of his Command, it is an act of Obedience and Religious Duty to him: But this Considera­tion will add this Benefit even to our Ordi­nary Imployments in our Calling, it will be sure to bring a Blessing upon it. Seek first the Kingdom of God, and the Righteousness thereof, and all these things shall be added unto you. It shall be given in, as an advantage and over-measure. 2. It will add great Chear­fulness [Page 135]to the Imployments of your Calling, and to those Worldly Imployments that are requisite for your support and subsistence, when you shall resign up your endeavors therein to the Good Pleasure of Almighty God. 3. It will remove all Vexatious Soli­citousness and Anxiety from you, when you shall have such Considerations as these. Al­mighty God (it is true) hath placed me in this World, as in a passage to another, and re­quires of me an Honest Imployment for my support and subsistence; or else hath lent me a reasonable liberal portion, whereby I may com­fortably subsist without much pains or labor; I will use it Soberly, Chearfully, Thankfully: If he bless me with Increase or greater Plenty, I will increase my Humility, Sobriety, and Thankfulness; but if it be not his pleasure to bless me with Plenty and Increase, his Will be done, I have enough in that I have, there is an­other more abiding City, wherein I shall have supplies without Want, or Fears, or Cares.

3. This Consideration will give abun­dance of Quietness, Patience, Tranquillity of Mind in all conditions. Am I in this World Poor, or Despised, or Disgraced, or in Sick­ness, or Pain; yet this Text gives me two great Supports under it. 1. It will be but short, this lower World, the Region of these Troubles and Storms, is no continuing, [Page 136]no abiding City, and consequently the Troubles and Storms of this inferior City are not abiding or long. 2. After this flit­ting, perishing City, that thus passeth away, this sower life which is but the Region of Death, there succeeds another City that in­dureth for ever, a City not made with hands, Eternal in the Heavens, a State of Ever­lasting Blessedness, where are neither Cares, nor Tears, nor Fears, nor Poverty, nor Sor­row, nor Want, nor Reproach: I will there­fore with all Patience, Chearfulness, and Contentedness bear whatsoever God plea­seth to exercise me withal in this life; for I well know that my light Afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall be attended with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory.

These Considerations will seem but dry and empty, to Men that do not deeply and considerately weigh matters: Ordinarily young heads think them, at least, unsea­sonable for their youth; but they must know that Sickness and Death will over­take the youngest in time, and that will un­deceive People, and render the best appear­ances of this World, either Bitter, or at least Insipid, and without any pleasant relish; and then the Hopes and Expectations of this City to come, will be more of value to us [Page 137]than the best Conveniencies and Delights this lower World can afford. Let us there­fore in our health make it our business to se­cure our Interest in it, and it will be our Comfort and Benefit both in Life and Death.

OF CONTENTEDNESS AND PATIENCE.

COntentedness and Patience differ in this; that the Object of the for­mer is any condition, whether it be Good, Bad, or Indifferent; the Object of the latter is any present or incum­bent Evil. But though they differ in the Latitude or Extent of their Object, yet they both arise from the same Principle, which, if rightly qualified, gives both.

The Measure and Original of all Passions is Love; and the Object of Love, is, That which is really or apparently Good. If our Love be right, it regulates all our Passions: For Discontent or Impatience ariseth from the absence of somewhat that we love and value, and according to the measure of our love to the thing we want, such is the mea­sure of our Discontent or Impatience under the want of it.

He that sets his love upon that, which the more he loves, the more he injoys, is sure to avoid the danger of Discontent or Impatience; because he cannot want that which he loves: and though he love something else, that may be lost, yet under that loss he is not obnoxi­ous to much Impatience or Discontent, be­cause he is sure to retain that which he most values and affects, which will answer and supply lesser wants with a great advantage: The greatest bent and portion of his love is laid out in what he is sure to injoy, and it is but a small portion of love that is left for the thing he is deprived of, and conse­quently his discontent but little, and cured with the fruition of a more valuable Good.

He that sets his love upon the Creature, or any result from it, as Honor, Wealth, Reputation, Power, Wife, Children, Friends, cannot possibly avoid Discontent or Impatience; for they are mutable, uncer­tain, unsatisfactory Goods, subject to Casu­alties; and according to the measure of his love to them, is the measure of his Discon­tent and Impatience in the loss of them, or disappointment in them.

He that sets his love upon God, the more he loves him, the more he injoys of him, and the surer hold he hath of him. In other [Page 141]things the greatest danger of disappoint­ment, and consequently of impatience, is when he loves them best; but the more love we bear to God, the more love he returns to us, and Communicates his Goodness the more freely to us. Therefore we are certain that we cannot be disappointed, nor conse­quently have any ground of impatience or discontent in that which is our unum mag­num, the thing we chiefly value.

He that sets his intirest love on God, yet hath a liberty to issue a subordinate portion of love to other good things; as Health, Peace, Opportunities to do Good, Wife, Children, Friends: And in these he may be crossed and disappointed. But the predomi­nant love of God delivers the Soul from Dis­content and Impatience, even under these losses.

1. Because the Soul is still assured of what it most values, the love of God returned to the Soul, which compensates and drowns the other loss, and the discontent that may arise upon it.

2. Because the Heart is satisfied, that these losses come from the hand of him, whom he loves, of whose Truth, Wisdom, Love, and Goodness he hath assurance, and therefore will be delivered out in measure, upon most just Grounds, and for most excel­lent [Page 142]ends. He sends an Instruction along with his Rod; and the Soul reads love as well in the Rod of God, as his Staff.

3. Because the Love of God, taking up the principal bent and strength of the Soul, leaves but a gentle and moderate Affection to the things it loseth, and consequently a gentle and easie parting with them, or being without them. The great tumult and dis­order that is made in the mind upon Losses, Crosses, or Discontents, is not so much from the Intrinsical Value of the things them­selves, but from the Estimation that is put upon them; were the love to them no more than they deserve, the Discontent and Im­patience in the loss would be very little. Our chiefest love, when it is placed upon God, it is placed where it should be; and the mind is then in its right frame and tem­per, and dispenseth his love to other things regularly, and orderly, and proportionably to their worth; and thereby the Discontent or Trouble, that ariseth upon their Loss or Disappointment is weighed out according to their true value, agreeable to the just measure of Reason and Prudence: But when our love is out of his place, it becomes Immoderate and Disorderly; and conse­quently the Discontents that arise upon Dis­appointments in the things we immoderately [Page 143]love, become Immoderate, Exorbitant Dis­contents, Impatience, and Perturbation of Mind.

4. Our love to God brings us to a free Resignation of our will to His: For we therefore love him, because we conclude him most Wise, most Bountiful, most Merci­ful, most Just, most Perfect; and therefore must of necessity conclude, that his Will is the best Will, and fit to be the measure and rule of ours, and not ours of his: And in as much as we conclude that no Loss or Cross befals us without his Will, we do likewise conclude that it is most fit to be born: And because he never Wills any thing, but upon most Wise and Just Reasons, we conclude that surely there are such Reasons in this Dispensation; and we study, and search, and try whether we can spell out those Rea­sons of his.

OF MODERATION OF ANGER.

THe Helps against Immoderate Anger are of two kinds. 1. Previous Considerations before the occasi­on is offered, to habituate the Mind to gentleness and quietness. 2. Expe­dients that serve to allay or divert Anger, when the occasion is offered.

Of the first sort are these:

1. The consideration of our own Failings, especially, in reference to Almighty God, and our duty to him; which are much great­er than any demerits of others toward us. I provoke my Creator daily, and yet I desire his Patience towards me, and find it. With what face can I expect gentleness from my Creator, if every small provocation from my fellow Creature puts me into passion?

2. The consideration of the Ʋnreasonable­ness [Page 146]of that Distemper in respect of my self: It puts me into a Perturbation, and makes me unuseful for my self or others, while the distemper is upon me: It breaks and discom­poseth my thoughts, and makes me unfit for business: It disorders my Constitution of Body till the storm be over: It discovers to others my Impotency of Mind, and is more perceived and observed by others, than it can be by my self: It gratifies my Adversary, when by my Passion I improve his Injury beyond the value of it, and injure and tor­ment and damnifie my self more by my own Perturbation, than he can by the injury he doth: It evidenceth a Prevalence of my more inferior and sensual part, common to me with the Beasts, above my Reasonable and more Noble part. Sometimes indeed a Personated Anger, managed with Judgment, is of singular use, especially in persons in Authority; but such an Anger is but a paint­ed fire, and without perturbation: But a Passionate Anger upon Injuries received, or upon sudden Conceptions of them, is always without any end at all of Good, either in­tended or effected: Nay, It is an impedi­ment to the attaining of any Good end; because it blinds the Judgment, and trans­ports Men into inconsiderate Gestures, Words, and Actions.

3. Consideration in respect of others, even of the very persons provoking. It may be they are Instruments, permitted by God as his Instruments, either to correct, or try me. Peradventure God hath bidden Shimei curse David; be not too violent against the In­strument, lest peradventure thou oppose therein the principal Agent. Again, many Men are of such a pitiful constitution, that their injuries arise from very Impotence of Mind in them: Shall I be angry with them, because they want that understanding they should have? And yet it is very strange to see the weakness and folly of our nature in this Passion, that it will break into a Pertur­bation even with Children, Drunken Men, Mad-men, Beasts; yea, very dumb things: Witness our anger with the Cards and Dice, when their chances please us not; which shews the Unreasonableness and Frenzy of this Passion.

2. There be some Expedients against it, even when the occasion is offered.

1. Carry always a Jealousie over thy Passion, and a strict Watch upon it. Take up this peremptory Resolution and Practice. I will not be angry, though an occasion be ad­ministred. And let the return upon that Resolution be the first act after the Provo­cation given: For if a Man can but bring [Page 148]himself to this pass, that he take not fire up­on the first offer, the Passion will cool: A Man calls then his Reason about him, and debates with himself: Is there cause I should be angry? Or, is there any Good end attainable by it? Or if it be, what is the just medium, or size, or measure of Anger proportionable to that end? And these Considerations will break the first on-set of Passion, and then it seldom prevails: For, it is the first Wave that carries on the Perturbation to the end, which if it be broken at the first, Serenity of Mind is preserved with much Contenta­tion, and sense of advantage.

2. Take up this Resolution, never to give thy self leave to be angry, till thou seest the just Dimensions of the Provocation. First, Learn whether there be any such thing done or no: For many times we shall find that a false report, or a mis-conception in the Mind, sets up the Image of an Injury, and presently the Passion swells upon it; when, it may be, upon a due examination, there is no such thing at all. Secondly, Admit there be an injury, yet learn what the Circumstances of it are: For till that be known, though thou hast a mind to be angry, thou knowest not what Proportion or Measure of Anger to allow, till thou knowest the Measure of the injury done. It may be it is not so great; [Page 149]or it may be it was done by mistake; it may be it was done upon some provocation gi­ven by thee, or at least so understood; and then it is not so malicious: and it may be the Man is coming to make thee amends, or to ask thee pardon. This will give leasure to thy Reason, to thy Grace, to come in; and will break the first shock, which the cholerick blood gives to the Heart, which raiseth the combustion; and then a Thou­sand to one it comes to nothing, and either dies presently, or languisheth below the name of a Passion.

3. In case of Provocation to Anger by Words, consider this, that there is nothing so much gratifies an ill Tongue, as when it finds an angry hearer: nor nothing so much dis­appoints and vexeth it as Calmness and Un­perturbedness. It is the most exquisite and innocent Revenge in the World to return gentle words, or none at all to ill language. But on the other side, Anger and Perturbati­on doth not only produce what thy adver­sary desires, but also puts a Discomposedness and Impotence upon thee, that thou becom­est unable to keep silence, or to speak with that reason and advantage thou shouldest.

A PREPARATIVE A GAINST AFFLICTIONS; WITH Directions for our Deportment under them, and upon our Delivery out of them.

1. IT is the great folly that ordinarily possesseth Men, especially in a pro­sperous condition, that they cannot suppose a change of their Estates: a living Man can hardly think of dying; a healthy Man can hardly think of sickness; a Wealthy Man can hardly think of Pover­ty; a Man in the Applause and Glory of the World, can hardly think of being un­der Disgrace end Reproach.

2. The Reasons of this Difficulty seem to be these: 1. The present condition is a thing [Page 152]that falls under our present sense, and takes up our whole consideration: things that yet are not, are made present only by Contem­plation: and that, as it doth not so strongly affect the mind, so there is a long operation that must precede before it can be brought home: a Man must consider whether the State wherein he is, be changeable, and what may change it; and whether it may change for the worse; or unto what degree of badness; and the probabilities or possi­bilities of it; and so it requires a long pro­cess of the mind, before a Man can bring himself under a supposition that his condi­tion may change, and change extreamly for the worse. 2. When that supposition is received or admitted, yet it being but noti­onal and imaginary, hath not the like strength of impression upon the mind, as that which is present and sensible; and so it soon passeth away, and hath not strength enough to hold out for any time upon the mind, to work a due preparation and tem­per in the mind for a change. 3. The pre­sent condition, when it is grateful to the sense, we are for the most part willing to embrace and make the most of it: we have not patience to give an allay or abatement to our present fruition, by mingling any such sad considerations with it, as that it [Page 153]may change, when the mind begins to put it self upon thoughts of a change of a belo­ved condition, such replies as these do often meet with it: What? shall I be dying while I live? be Sick when I am Well? be Poor when I am Rich? be in Disgrace when I am in Glory? make my self Miserable while I am Happy? it will be time enough to take and bear that Lot when it comes, and not to dye, or be in Sickness, Poverty and Disgrace by anticipati­on: I will take the benefit and sweetness of my present happiness, and not sowre or abate it by the pre-apprehension of a change, if it happens, it will come before it's welcome. I will there­fore think as little of it as I may before hand, and not make that present by a needless Con­templation, which I would willingly be freed from, if it should at all attack me. These and such like considerations do make Men rather procrastinate the evil day, than put themselves under the supposition of it.

3. The Inconveniences that arise to the Children of Men, by this aversness from thinking of a change of a prosperous condi­tion for a worse, are very great: 1. A mind, that oftentimes in a prosperous condition casteth it self in worse by supposition and contemplation, doth ordinarily use his pre­sent condition Warily, Moderately, Watch­fully; but on the other side, this incogitan­cy [Page 154]of a change makes Men Presumptuous and Confident in their Estate, Voluptuous, Imperious, Proud, Immoderate, Vain-glori­ous; for they want that Correction that should allay and discipline it into Modera­tion. If I am Rich, or in any other prospe­rous condition, and begin to pride up my self, and to take upon me; presently a mind accustomed to assume upon it self, by pre­apprehension, a contrary condition will presently check that Pride and Vanity with such a kind of expostulation as this: How unseemly, Imprudent, and Vain is this? what if to morrow I should be cast down from my Greatness, or cast upon my Bed of sickness, or under the cloud of Disgrace, or, it may be, taken away by Death? what will then become of this Immoderation? carry it along with me I can­not; for the change of my condition will not bear it; and if, with the change of my condi­tion, I do, as I must, put off these Follies that attend me in this, that which is now my Excess, my Sin, will then be my Shame, my Sorrow and Vexation. 2. As a frequent pre-appre­hension of disadvantageous changes tutors the mind to a right use of the present con­dition; so it admirably fits a Man with such a temper of Spirit, as becomes his changed condition: doth his change require Pati­ence to bear it, Contentedness under it, Pre­paredness [Page 155]for it? He hath learned this in the Theory, and hath them laid up ready to be put in ure if the occasion call for them: if there be no occasion to practise them, they are no burthen; but if there be, he hath put himself to School to Affliction by Pre­meditation before it comes, and is ready to exercise those Vertues when it comes. But on the other side, a Man, that being in a con­dition of Prosperity, never puts himself under the sad thoughts of a change of his present Happiness, if such a change befalls him, he is at his wits end; he is surprized, and overwhelmed with it; he knowes not how to bear it, but falls into Impatience, or his very Soul dies within him; he is taken before he is prepared, and none of those dis­positions, or rather distempers of mind, that were bred up upon his former condition, will at all serve the present, but do distract, and disquiet, and perplex him; as his former Pride, Haughtiness of mind, Greatness of Spirit, Intemperateness, Luxury, they are so far from being at all serviceable and useful to him, that they are as so many Haggs and Furies to torment him; and the things called Patience, and Contentedness, and Humility, and Calmness of Spirit, which are of abso­lute necessity for his present change, he knowes not how to attain or use. 'Tis a [Page 156]miserable, or, at least, a very great Improvi­dence for a Man then to be learning those Virtues, when the present necessity calls for the use of them: it is like a Thief, who is to learn to read, when he is to pray his Clergy.

4. It is therefore a most useful and necessary course for Men in Prosperity to take up the frequent Contemplation of their Change. Bilney, when the true profession of the Gospel in this Kingdom was under Persecu­tion, was used to put his finger into the Candle to inure himself the better to under­go Martyrdom; which he at length suffe­red, possibly with more Resolution and Patience, than if he had omitted that expe­riment. And surely this practice of Pati­ence would be with more ease, and no less advantage, if in the time of our external Happiness, we did sometimes, and often­times, take up such serious Contemplations as these, both in reference to Death, and other external Afflictions: I am now alive and well, but I cannot but know that I am mortal and must dye, and my own reason, and every days experience tells me that my time is very uncertain and casual: a small distemper or disorder in any little Vein or Artery, a little cold, a little meat undigested, may cast me into a mortal Disease; a Crum going aside, a con­tagious [Page 157]Air, the fall of a Stone on me, or of me upon a Stone, may suddenly take away my life. There are such infinite Casualties that may be mortal to me, that it is no wonder that I should die, but it is that I live. What if it should please God by any Disease or accident sud­denly to call me to account for my Stewardship? are my Accounts ready? is my Peace made? are my Sins pardoned? is my pardon sealed? is all as ready as it becomes that hour? if it be, well, if not, it becomes me speedily to set things in order, especially my great concern­ment: for as this Tree of mine falls, so it will lie to all Eternity. Such thoughts as these, often and seriously iterated, would not ha­sten a Mans death, but would much amend his life: it would put and keep the Soul in a right order and temper. Again, I am now in Health and Strength, free from Disease and Pains; if I am not out off by an untimely end, I must expect that Disease and Pains will lay hold of me; it may be, a burning Feavor, or a languishing Consumption, or some such Disease as may make the nights long, and the days troublesome, every place uneasie, all things I eat or drink insipid, every Limb or Vein, Bone or Sinew contributing some Pain, or Weakness, or Faintness, or Anguish to the common stock of that Disease, which I must suffer. How am I furnished with Patience to bear it? can I amend [Page 158]in my self that Frowardness, Ʋnquietness, Peevishness, and Impatience that I behold in others in the like case? Believe it, Sickness is not the fittest time either to learn Virtue, or to make our Peace with God: it is a time of distemper and discomposedness: those must be learned and practised before Sickness comes, or it will be too late, or very diffi­cult, to do it after. Again, I am now abound­ing with Wealth; but Riches many times make themselves Wings and fly away; a Thief, or a Robber, a Plunder, or a Sequestration, a false Information, or a false Oath, the change of Times or Casualties of Fire or War, Oppression from those above, or Tumult from those beneath, the Chaldean or the Sabean, a Word or Action mis-understood, mis-apprehended, or mis-in­terpreted, and a Thousand Contingences, may take away all my Wealth, So that I may stand and see my servants deserting me, my Children utterly unprovided for, my self in Extremity and Want, So that I, that have relieved Thou­sands, must be fain to gain Bread for my self and my little Children, either by the sweat of my own browes in some low Imployment, or by the charity of others: This may, and may be speedily: Experience of these times have made it visibly possible, wherein Thousands, that never dreamt of a change, have unexpectedly felt it; can I come down to so low a condition with [Page 159]quietness and serenity of mind, without mur­muring against Providence, or Cursing, or studying Revenge upon the Instruments of it? Nay, can I entertain this change with Patience? nay, with Chearfulness? nay, with Thank ful­ness to God, that he gives me my evil things in this life? if he be pleased but to bless my Affli­ctions to me, and to reserve my portion of Happiness for the life to come? can I still de­pend upon God? live upon him? and bless his Liberality, if he allow me and my poor Children a piece of Bread and a cup of Water? can I look through the darkness of my present condition, and behold that Hope of Eternity that is beyond it, and gather more Comfort in that Hope, than all the present Disasters can give Discomfort? If I can do this, my Loss will be my Gain; if I cannot, it should be my business in the time of my Prosperity, to lay up such a stock and treasure against the evil day, which will be above the Malice, and Power, and reach of Men and Devils to deprive me of. Again, I am now in Honour and Esteem in the World, my Place makes me Eminent, and if it did not, yet my Reputation is fair and clear, and great, it may be I can without Va­nity or Ostentation own as much esteem as Job doth in his 29 Chap. The young Men saw me and hid themselves, and the Aged arose and stood up; when the Ear heard me, it blessed [Page 160]me; and when the Eye saw me, it gave wit­ness to me: but for all this my condition may be changed, as his was, and my next Complaint may be with him, Chap. 30. But now they that are younger than I, have me in derision, whose Fathers I would have disdained to have set with the Doggs of my Flock: and now I am their Song, yea I am their by­word. I may be branded with the Imputation of the highest Crimes; nay, my very Religion and Piety to Almighty God, and my Justice, Honesty, and Fidelity to Men, may be covered with an Imputation of the basest Hypocrisie and Dishonesty under Heaven, and though this part of my Reputation hath been my darling, that I valued highest of any thing in the World, and consequently a blemish cast upon me in this behalf would wound me deeper than any world­ly loss; yet a consequent of greater Importance would follow upon it, which I value higher than my Reputation, viz. The Honour of God, the value and esteem of Religion, would be wound­ed through this wound; yet if this should be­fall me, am I in a frame and temper of mind to bear it as I should? can I be contented to sit under Reproach and Infamy with Patience and Quietness of mind? can I content my self with the secret witness of my own Conscience, attesting my Innocence, though the Imputati­ons, under which I fit, are as black as Hell? [Page 161]can I chearfully make my secret appeal to the Searcher of Hearts, and please my self with the Serenity of his Countenance towards me, though I am cloathed with Calumnies and Reproaches? can I wait his time for my Vindication, and content my self, though the World never know my Innocence, so as my God and my Conscience can attest it? if I have not arrived at this temper and pitch of mind, it should be my labour to attain it; for without it I sink under my Reproaches and Infamies, but if I have at­tained it, then under the most dark and cloudy storm of undeserved Reproach and Infamy I enjoy a Goshen within my self, I have a beam of light that follows me in the blackest night, and I Conquer my Reproaches by suffering them.

5. But though this exercise, of putting our selves under Notional Afflictions, is of singular use to habituate and fit us for such a temper as becomes such a change; yet this is not all; Afflictions are not only Notional and Possible, but there is something more in it; there is a greater Probability of them, than to be freed and exempt from them: they are not only under that degree of things that may be, but they come near to that degree of things that must be, and that in these re­spects.

1. In respect of our Sin and Demerits. [Page 162]Although Afflictions many times are not principally intended as Punishments, but are sent for higher ends; yet it is most certain, that they are deserved to be inflicted as Pu­nishments, and are in their own nature a most necessary consequent of Sin. They are not expiatory or satisfactory Punish­ments, but they are most certainly Fruits and Effects of Sin: and worldly Crosses and Calamities do as naturally flow from prece­dent Sins, as the Crop doth from the Seed that is Sown. Now in as much as every day I commit some Sin or other, it is no wonder if I reap the Fruits of it in Affliction: It is a wonder rather that I meet with no more Calamities and Crosses in this World; and it is a Mercy if I meet with them only in this World, and not both in this and that which is to come. Wherefore doth a living Man complain, a Man for the Punishment of his Sin? Certainly, though they were no Devil or Wicked Men to inflict Punishment upon me, as long as I carry Guilt and Sin about me, its no wonder if it raise storms upon me: and therefore I have no cause to hope for an Immunity from Trouble, so long as I have no Immunity from Sin.

2. In respect of our Corruption, we have seen Troubles and Afflictions under the for­mer Consideration, Sub ratione poenae, under [Page 163]the nature of a Punishment; in this Consi­deration sub ratione medicinae, in the nature of a medicine. The former shews some­what of the Divine Justice to inflict them, the latter much of the Divine Mercy to ap­ply them. The truth is, our Natural Cor­ruptions are very Many, and very Great; and for the most part they are most disor­derly and dangerous when our condition is Prosperous; it is indeed the Fewel of our Corruptions. Pride, and Vain-glory, and Carnal Confidence, and Security, and Lux­ury, and Intemperance, and Insolence, and Arrogance, and Forgetfulness of God, and of our selves, and of our Mortality, and of our Duty, and a Thousand such kind of Vermin do grow and thrive upon Prosperity. God Almighty therefore sends Crosses, and Afflictions, and Troubles, and those to cure, and chase away, and starve these evil Beasts. And let any Man observe it either in himself or others, we are generally the worse for Prosperity, and generally the better under Adversity, what ever Sects or Professions we are of: and it is a far greater difficulty to manage a Prosperous Glorious condition, than a low or Afflicted condition. Many times when I have read in the Scriptures, that Affliction is the Lot of the Righteous, and in the World ye shall have Tribulation, [Page 164]I have looked upon it not only as the Issue of the Devil and wicked Mens hatred, but al­so as the Wise Dispensation of Almighty God to suffer it; for it is for their Safety and Benefit. Affliction doth in no sort so much endanger a good Man to lose his Innocence, Worth, and Virtue, as Prosperity, Wealth, and Honour do: and therefore I have al­wayes thought that Man the securest from Afflictions upon this account, that useth his Prosperity with the greatest Piety, Watch­fulness, Moderation and Equality of mind; because such a Man keeps a check upon his Corruptions, and so stands in less need of this Physick: he is like a Man, that in his health keeps a good and orderly Diet, whereby in probability he stands in less need of a Corrective for Peccant Humours.

3. As God, out of his Mercy to Good Men, sends many times Afflictions to cure or allay their Corruptions; So the Devil or evil Men will be sure to inflict them out of Hatred and Envy at their Graces, Marvel not if the World hate You, it hated Me before it hated You. And it is a great marvel, if any Good Man escape Afflictions upon this ac­count: for if he be such a one, as being in Prosperity sets his Heart too much upon it, then the Devil and the World endeavours to deprive him of his Comfort, to draw him [Page 165]to Murmuring, and Discontent, and using of unlawful Means, or unworthy Compli­ances, to preserve that which he so much loves: or if he be a Man that in his Prospe­rity keeps his Heart in a right frame and temper, then the World or the Devil, being disappointed in that condition, endeavours to shake him with the other extream: and though in reference to both, there is Envy, and Malice in the Devil inflicting, yet there is Mercy and Wisdom in God permitting it: in reference to the former, for the checking and curing of this growth of Lust, and Corruption; in reference to the latter, for the Tryal of the Sincerity of his Graces, as in the case of Job.

4. Another reason of the Necessity of Afflictions to Good Men, is to carry their Hearts upwards, and to make them reach af­ter their Everlasting Hope, and set a price upon it. The Good things of this World, though in our judgment we set not the like esteem upon them as upon Heavenly, yet they have this advantage that they are pre­sent, and therefore affect the Sense and the Mind more than things that are better, at a distance: and therefore we are apt to set up our rest here, And this is the reason that even Good Men, though they value and prize Grace and the inwa [...]d favour of God, [Page 166]yet they commonly love the World a little too much; and divide their Affections too equally between God and the World; and therefore study and indeavour such a Con­temperation that they may hold both. And hence it is, that God, who requires intirely the Heart, doth many times make the world bitter to us, to make us weary of his Rival, that so we may with more Intireness and Integrity set our Hearts upon Him and upon that Everlasting Hope, and long after and Integrity set our Hearts upon Him and it, and satisfie our selves with the Expectati­on of it, and make it our Treasure, and set up our rest upon it, and in it. And these are some of those many reasons that evi­dence the Necessity of Afflictions.

6. And now we will come to consider these Three matters, 1. What Preparations we should use before Afflictions overtake us. 2. What should be our Exercise under it. 3. What should be our frame of mind in case of Deliverance from it.

I. And in the first place of the first of these; We have seen that it is a Lot to be expected in this World: we cannot upon any terms promise our selves an exemption from it; nay, if we should escape all other Temporal Calamities; yet sickness, and in­firmities of Body will most infallibly over­take us: they are part of that black guard, [Page 167]that commonly attends death, which is the inevitable Lot of the living. It concerns us all therefore to be prepared for that, which must necessarily, sooner or latter, be our condition, in some kind or other, it may be in many, it may be in all kinds.

1. Therefore the first Expedient Prepara­tory to Afflictions is this: In the time of our Prosperity it must be our care to walk with as much Innocence, Watchfulness, and Circum­spection as can be: for it is a most certain truth that the Malignity, and Sting, and Venome of Affliction is not so much in the things I suffer, as in the sense of my former Guilt and Sin. No Man is in a better con­dition to bear Afflictions, than he that hath the cleanest Conscience: for, as any di­stemper in any part of the Body draws all the mischievous and hurtful humours of the Body to that part, so it is a most sure conse­quent of any manner of Affliction, it brings all former Sins to remembrance, and calls the thoughts of them together upon such an oc­casion. When Joseph's Brethren were under a strait in Egypt, under the threatnings and seeming jealousies of their unknown Bro­ther, then comes in the remembrance of their injury to their Brother, and it is repre­sented to them with all the aggravations that can be, Gen. 42.21. We are verily guilty [Page 168]concerning our Brother, in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us, and we would not hear: therefore is this distress come upon us. Conscience, that they had before stifled and injured, now takes her time to be even with them, and flies upon them when they are in a strait, and then she will be heard, though in their Prosperity she could not. And this Return of the Remembrance of former Sins is the very Gall of Afflictions; and that principally upon these two reasons: 1. It is that which weakens and impares the strength that should bear them, for, for the most part all ternal Afflictions they concern the Body, or the outward Man, whether it be Poverty, or Reproach, or Sickness, or Pain; and if for all this the Mind be but free, she will be able to bear them pretty well, will suggest Reasons for Patience, Hopes for Delive­rance, and Twenty allayes, at least to miti­gate the present sufferings: but when that Mind, and Reason, and Judgment, that should support, is likewise wounded, and vexed, and tormented, with the sense of past Sins, and the Storms that are within be as vi­olent and turbulent as those without, there is nothing to bear up against the Afflictions; the Soul it self, that should support the out­ward Man, wants support for it self. 2. In [Page 169]all external Troubles, as it is the Duty, so it is the Nature of Man to fly to God, and that application possibly gains Relief from it, but howsoever it bears up the Man with a convenient strength against them: the very liberty of recourse to God gains a De­pendance, a Hope, a Confidence, which sup­ports in a very great measure under the Greatest Troubles: but this Return of Sins past upon the Conscience and Memory, if it doth not wholly deprive, yet it doth wonderfully interrupt, discourage, and divert the Soul from this most admirable expedient. When a Man shall have such thoughts as these: I am under a very great Affliction either in my Estate, Friends, Name, Body, and I know no way to extricate my self but one, and that is by application to the Al­mighty and Merciful God; and if I could but do so, I were safe: but alass! the Memory of my former Sins, my breach of Covenant with him, my frequent Relapses into Sin, my Ingratitude to him, they fall in upon me, and I dare not, I know not how, I have not the face, the confidence to come unto him; and so I must lie and sink under as well my Guilt, as my Affliction. And although this is a very false way of Argumentation and such as is most displeasing to God, and derogatory to his high Prerogative of Mercy, as well in for­giving [Page 170]as in delivering, who hath given to the most hainous Sinner, and under the greatest Afflictions a Commission to ask his mercy both to Pardon and to Deliver, and that with a Promise of Mercy; yet it is most certain, that, what by our own weak­ness, and what by the Devils subtilty, the Remembrance of our past Sins doth most ordinarily make our addresses to God under our Afflictions very difficult. Little there­fore do people consider in the time of their Prosperity, what a stock of Venom and malignity they lay up against an evil day by a dissolute and sinful life. Affliction with­out this most accursed contribution were much more tolerable. If thou meanest therefore to make thy Affliction easie, keep thy Conscience clean before it comes: thou hast then the Strength of thine own Soul to support thee, and the liberty of Access to the most Mighty and Gracious God to deliver thee, when thou canst in the sinceri­ty of thy Heart with Hezek. Isa. 38.3. appeal unto God: Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in Truth, and with a perfect Heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. I say with reverence, keep God thy Friend in thy Prosperity, and thou mayest with confidence resort to him, and relie upon him in Adversity.

2. But alass! when we have used all the Care and Industry, and Watchfulness we can, who can say he hath made his wayes clean before God? our Prosperity, and the Temptations that await us from without, and the Corruptions that are within us, give us often falls that we know of, and many more that we know not of: if therefore the necessity of our condition subject us to Afflictions, and the prevalence of our Cor­ruptions subject us to Temptations, what hope can I have to have a comfortable Affli­ction, when I cannot hope to have an Inno­cent Conversation? yet there is another ex­pedient to ease and lighten Afflictions: If thou canst not be Innocent, yet be sincere and upright Hearted, an Honest and Plain Heart, that holds no confederacy with any known Sin, keeps a quiet Conscience even under Affliction it self. If thou hast not a perfect Life, yet be careful in thy Prosperity thou keep a perfect Heart.

3. But yet if thy Heart hath proved de­ceitful to thee, and thou hadst fallen into any Sin, yet there remains one expedient to stop and anticipate the malignity of it from mingling with thy Affliction: Before Affli­ctions come, be sure thou break of thy Sin by Repentance. Every Sin leaves a kind of Poyson in the Soul, and there it many times [Page 172]lies raked up till an evil day comes, and then it begins to work to some purpose: Sound and Serious Repentance fetcheth out this Core, this nest of malignity; cleanseth this Ulcer that Sin hath gathered. And lest the malignity of Sin should remain in thy Soul, when Affliction overtakes thee, be careful. 1. That thy Repentance be fre­quent and iterated; and to that end let thy Examinations of thy heart and life be strict and daily. Possibly thou mayst find a Sin upon the review that thou didst not before espie, that may deserve a special Repentance: but if thou dost not, yet thy Sins of daily Incursion require a daily Repentance. 2. That thy Repentance, upon any known Sin committed, be Speedy while thou art in thy Prosperity; let it not lie upon thee till to morrow. Who can tell whether some bitter Affliction may not overtake thee be­fore thou hast repented? and then that Sin will reach out its Venome and Malignity into thy Affliction, and make it worse. Therefore intercept that accursed influence of Sin by a speedy Repentance. Thy Re­pentance will be the easier, and thy Affli­ction the lighter; thy Heart the stronger to bear it, thy Access unto Heaven for Delive­rance the readier. When a Man lies under a Sin till Affliction come, he hath two great [Page 173]Suits to dispatch in the Court of Heaven: First, To gain his Pardon. Secondly, To gain Deliverance from, or strength under Affliction. Be careful therefore to get the former dispatched in thy Prosperity: thou hast the less to do under thy Affliction. When Guilt and Affliction come upon a Man together, they add to each others weight and difficulty of removal: but Affliction meeting with a Conscience cleansed by Faith and Repentance is always tolerable, and for the most part Comfortable; it lo­seth its nature, and becomes another thing; It is a prevention of Sin, a Corrective of Corruptions, an Exercise of Grace, a Con­formity to Christ, an Assurance of Gods love, a Preparative for Heaven, rather than an Affliction.

4. Above all things be very careful that thy Affliction be not the just production of thy Sin or Folly: for in the one case thou sufferest as an Evil Doer; in the other thou sufferest as a Fool; and in neither thou canst take any Comfort. If thou sufferest without thy fault, or for thy Vertue, Piety, and Goodness, thou needest not be troubled for the one, and thou mayst most justly rejoyce in the other: but to suffer as an Evil Doer, or as a Busie-body in other mens matters, or for ill Language or Passionate Words, or Di­sturbance [Page 174]of the civil Power; these take away both the Comfort and the Glory of these Sufferings. Nay, though the end in­tended in these Extravagances, may possibly be good, and though the Punishment infli­cted excede the due proportion, and so hath somewhat of injustice or extremity in the infliction, yet such a kind of suffering brings little Honour to God, little Peace to a Mans self, and little Advantage to others; but rather the contrary. A Man that hath Sins about him hath ill Companions, and such as abate the Comfort, even of an Innocent Suffering: but when a Man suffers for a Sin, or any unjustifiable Action, his sufferings lose the name of Afflictions, and become for­mally, and in their own nature Punishments: and in such a kind of suffering, though some­times the Goodness and Wisdom of God brings Good out of it to the party that suffers, yet in such, a Man doth not only undergo temporal Loss, Pain and Inconve­nience, but hath the inevitable prospect of his Fault and Offence in them, which makes the suffering the more bitter and distastful.

5. Be careful to bring thy self to a right Estimate of the World, and the Good or Evil of it. Our over valuation of the World is that which makes us excede either in the Comfort we take in the enjoyments, or in [Page 175]the Perturbation that we suffer in the Losses or Crosses of it: and commonly according to the measure of our Love unto, or valua­tion of the things of this life, such is the measure of our Grief or Sorrow, or Dis­pondency, or Anger, or Vexation that we entertain in our loss or disappointment in them: for indeed all other Passions and Per­turbations of the Mind are but the Hand­maids of the Passions of Love, or Love acted in a different shape or method, if I set too high a value upon my Wealth, or my Health, or my Honour, or my Relations, or my Credit, then my loss or disappointment of any of them will produce an Excess of Sorrow, or Vexation, or Despondency, or Anger, or Revenge. Therefore let it be thy business in the time of thy quiet and prosperity, in the first place to settle thy Judgment aright, and consequently thy Affections aright, in reference to Externals. Consider, first they are but Externals: they have no ingredient at all into the Man; a Man may be a Fool, or a Vitious and wick­ed Man, and yet injoy these things in a great measure: and a Man may be a Wise, a Just, a Vertuous, a Pious, a Man, a Man in the favor of God, and yet be without them. 2. They are in their own nature very uncertain things: they are subject to a Thousand con­tingencies: [Page 176]nay, if they stand secured unto me with the greatest stability that may be, yet my Body is subject to many weaknesses and Distempers, and a Disease in my Body will render all these things insipid and vain to me. What good or content will all my Wealth, my Honour, my fine Houses, my great Retinue, my great Power, do me when I am in a burning Feaver, in a painful Con­sumption, nay, under a fit of the Head-ach, or Stone? for so small a Distemper will make 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 [Page 177]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 [Page 178]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 [Page 179]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 [Page 180]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 [Page 181]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 [Page 182]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 [Page 183]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 over­weigh the Reproaches of the basest Peasant. In the midst of my closest and darkest Restraints, I have that converse, which the strictest guard, [Page 184]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 [Page 185]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, [Page 186]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 [Page 187] 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 [Page 188]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 [Page 189]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 [Page 190]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, [Page 191]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 [Page 192]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, thou dost find the true cause of thy suffering is for Righteousness sake, for keeping a good Conscience, for the honour of thy Redeem­er, for adhering to the Truth, and that this is the cause that stirs up evil Angels and evil Men against thee: and then indeed thy suf­fering loseth the name and nature of an Affliction, and becomes an Honour, a filling up of the measure of thy Saviours suffe­rings, a suffering that hath not only a Bles­sing in it, but it is a very Blessing it self; for Blessed are ye, Mat. 5.10. if Men perse­cute you for Righteousness sake. Suffering for or under a Sin committed, re­quires thy Repentance and Humiliation, for it is a Judgment: Suffering without any Sin before hand signally requiring it, re­quires thy Patience and Vigilance, it is an Affliction: but suffering for the Testimony of a Good Conscience requires thy Rejoycing it is a Persecution: But beware thy Heart de­ceive the not, and make thee believe thou [Page 193]sufferest for a Good Conscience, when, it may be it is for thy Folly, or Frowardness: in this case, though they that inflict Punish­ment may want somewhat of that Charity and Moderation that is fit, yet thou hast reason to repent for thy Folly, and not to Glory in thy Suffering; we are wonderful apt to believe well of our selves, and flatter our selves many times, into the title of Per­secution, when it is but the fruit of our Folly and Inconsiderate Rashness.

Seventhly, Receive and bear all thy Affli­ctions with Humility and lowliness of mind: for it is a Message sent to thee from the most Wise and Soveraign Lord of the World, though it may be by the hands of a most vile and unworthy Man. It was an excel­lent temper in David, that, when his disloyal Subject cursed him, restrained the just indig­nation of his followers: Let him alone, it may be the Lord hath commanded him to Curse. It may be the Instrument executes his own Malice and Spight, and it may be thou canst not find any Signal cause of this Affliction even from the hand of God, yet be not Vin­dictive against the Instrument; he doth Gods Errand, though he vent his own Ma­lice: receive Gods Message, and leave the Revenge to him that hath reserved it to himself as his own Prerogative; and it may [Page 194]be he will burn the Rod, when he hath done with it. Neither storm at Gods dispensation, it may be thou hast deserved it, though thou dost not see it; or If thou hast not, give leave to thy great Soveraign to deal with his Creature, as he pleaseth, and put thy mouth in the dust.

Eighthly, Receive it Thankfully, as well as Humbly. Know that it is sent from the most Wise and Merciful God; what he doth, he doth upon most excellent Grounds and Reasons. It may be it is Preventing Phy­sick against a greater mischief: It may be it is for an Improvement of thy Grace; it may be it is intended, as an evidence, that thou art a Son, and not a Bastard; it may be it is to wean thee from the World; it may be it is to fit and qualifie thee for a greater Blessing, and to give thee a capacity to re­ceive and bear such a Benefit, which with­out the Preparation of an Affliction would make thee Proud; it may be it is to make thee an Example, a strengthning to others; it may be it is because thy Good things are reserved for the better World, and there­fore thy Evil things are dispensed to thee here. If God be thy Father, trust his Wis­dom, because he is God, and trust his Love, because he is thy Father; and then thou canst not doubt that any thing that he sends [Page 195]deserves thy Thanks though thou seest not wherein the Benefit of it lies: Be content­ed herein with an Implicite Faith, and be Thankful to him at all adventures. A Cup of Wormwood would not be reached to thee from so Wise, and so Good a Father, but that his Love and thy Benefit is mingled with the bitter Cup, though thou canst not at present taste the one or the other.

Ninthly, Bear it Patiently and Quietly. 1. If it come for thy Sins, thou hast reason to bear it patiently, for it is but the fruit of thine own Plant, the Crop of thine own Seed. Why doth the living Man complain? a Man for the Puuishment of his Sin? Thou hast pro­cured it to thy self, be contented to bear the issue of thine own way. 2. Bear it patient­ly, for it might justly have been worse, and more severe; thou wantest somewhat that another injoys, but hast not thou some­what that another wants? thou hast lost a considerable part of thy Estate, but hast thou not somewhat left? or, if thou hast lost all, hast thou not still thy Health, and thy limbs, that may supply thy necessities by honest Labors? thou hast lost thy Limbs or thy Health, but dost thou not injoy thy Senses, and thy Understanding and Reason? thou hast lost thy Reputation, Honor, and [Page 196]Esteem in the World, but hast thou not thy Integrity and Uprightness? the Witness and Serenity and Peace of thine own Con­science? thou hast lost many of thy near Relations, but hast thou not some left? thou art visited with Sickness and Pain, but hast thou not seen some that have had more a­cute, and less strength to bear them, and less hopes to be delivered from them, and less means to support them? but suppose thou hast lost all thy Wealth, thy Reputation, thy Health, thy Friends, yet hast thou not Peace with God? the Light of his Counte­nance? the Assurance of his Favor? the Hope of Eternal Life? and wouldst thou exchange this Hope for the return of all thy Temporal Comforts and Advantages? be­lieve it, that Mans condition cannot be ex­quisitely miserable, where there is any Hope, much less where there is such a Hope, a Hope that out-weighs whatso­ever the World can afford, or inflict; a Hope that is so much the nearer to fruition, by how much the greater thy External pressures are, when thou dost deserve the loss of all, thou hast reason to be patient, if thou dost injoy any thing; the Interro­gation of the Prophet is pathetical: Why doth the living Man complain? a Man for the Punishment of his Sin? Where there is [Page 197]Life, there is Hope; and for a sinful Man to complain while he yet is living, carries with it the conviction of the unreasonableness of his complaint; because he injoys somewhat that yet he deserved to lose. 3. Bear it pa­tiently, because it is but short, though it be never so sharp, it may be that the same God that inflicted or permitted it, is at this instant resolving to turn thy Captivity, to give thee Beauty for Ashes: And what an unseemly thing will thy Impatience be? How troublesome will the remembrance of it be to thy Soul upon the change of thy condition? How much wilt thou be ashamed at thy return of thy undecency of thy car­riage under thy Affliction? I am perswaded there was nothing more sowred Jobs return­ing Prosperity, than the remembrance of his former Murmuring and Impatience under the visiting hand of God. But again, Sup­pose thy Affliction wait upon thee till thy dissolution, yet it is but a Night, but an hour of Affliction: This Night, and this Hour will end with thy life; and this life of thine is but a Span, and then thy day will dawn, and thy Sun will arise, and thy Affliction will vanish and never return again. 4. Bear it patiently, Because thy Patience will shorten thy Affliction. The Tryal and Improvement of thy Patience is one of the chief ends and [Page 198]business of thy Afflictions: It is sent to teach thee that Lesson, and the sooner thou learn­est it, the sooner the business is dispatched, and the Discipline dismist: Thy Impatience doth but protract and lengthen out thy Discipline: If thou wouldst be discharged of this importunate and troublesome Messen­ger, speedily dispatch his business, and he is likely the speedier to leave thee. 5. Bear it patiently, Because thy Patience will make thy burthen the more easie and tolerable. When God sends Afflictions to tame a Man, and bring him to a right temper, believe it, he will not be over-matched, he will bring thee down, and if one Affliction will not do it, he will add more, and make thy bond the stronger, and can and will yet visit thee se­venfold more, till he hath reduced thee to Patience and Humility: Struggle not with him, for he will be too hard for thee: If thou bear thy Yoke patiently, thou wilt bear it easily; but if thou fling and toss, like a Wild Bull in a Net, thou mayest ham­per thy self worse, and thy Yoke will gall thee the more; but it will neither break the Net, nor the Yoke. Be contented there­fore, Resign up thy self to his Will with Humility, and receive the chastisement of thy folly with Patience, thou wilt have this double Advantage by it. First, The great God [Page 199]will then lay no more upon thee, for he hath attained his end and purpose, by what he hath already inflicted; but will either re­move it from thee, or put his own hand to help thee to bear it. Secondly, By the quiet­ness and composure of thy mind, thou wilt be of greater strength to bear thy burthen, and with more ease under it; for it is a most certain truth, That the turbulency, and storming, and strugling of the mind, is that which makes Affliction more sharp and trou­blesome, than the nature, or quality, or measure of Affliction it self, it is the mind that gives the value and weight of external Pro­sperity or Adversity. Take two Men the one of a proud and great Spirit, as they call it, the other of a mild, humble, patient Spirit, we shall easily see that a small disgrace or loss shall more afflict and torture the former, than Five times as much of either or both shall trouble the latter. And this is the true reason why Afflictions at the first are more troublesome and grievous, than after, though they continue the same. At the first, they meet with a mind unacquainted with it, and contesting against it, as a Heifer unaccu­stomed to the Yoke; but when by time and continuance, the mind is accustomed to it, though the Yoke be the same, yet it finds no such severity and importableness in [Page 200]it. A Patient Heart gains that habit quick­ly, which custom, length of time, and neces­sity, doth with more difficulty produce in another temper. 6. Bear it patiently, because thou hast an Example of greater Patience, un­der a greater Cross, in a most innocent per­son: Thy Saviour hath left a Copy of his own Patience for thee to imitate; and thy Affliction is sent to thee to teach thee to write after his Copy, and to conform thee to the Captain of thy Salvation, who was made perfect by suffering, consider the disparity of the persons; He most innocent without any Sin to deserve it: Thou a person laden with Sin, that meritoriously deserves as much, if not more than thou hast a capacity to bear: He, the Son of God cloathed with Innocent Flesh, Thou a Worm cloathed with Impurity and Sin. Consider the dis­parity of the Sufferings; He a Man of Sor­rows, under the Persecution of those whom he came to save, subjected to all the scorns and torments that the wit of most Exquisite Malice could inflict, and above all this, un­der the sense even of the wrath and seeming desertion of his Father: Thou, it may be hast lost some Estate, or Reputation, or art in Prison, or Banishment, or Sickness, or Pain, but under all this dost or mayest injoy that Peace, and Pardon, and Favor of God [Page 201]that his sufferings purchased for thee: The ingredients of His Cup, nothing but Gall and Vinegar, but thy Cup, though never so seem­ingly bitter, yet sanctified and sweetned by His Sufferings: And yet under all this, As a Sheep before his Shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth; though his most Innocent Humane Nature shrunk at the pre-apprehen­sions of this bitter portion, yet with Patience he resigned up his Will to his Father, Not my Will, but thine be done. In sum, as His Pati­ence was meritorious and expiatory for thy Sin, so it was left as a Patern and Example for thy practice. 7. Bear it patiently, For it is reached unto thee from the hands of God, though it may be by the hands of most vile and accursed instruments, and this con­sideration is enough to tutor thee to an In­vincible Patience. 1. It is the Dispensation of God, who is Infinite in Mercy and Goodness; and therefore it is most certain it is a Message of Mercy; for He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the Children of Men. Be sure that it coming from the Fountain of Goodness and Love, it hath a Blessing in it, though thou canst not at the present see it. 2. It comes from the Hands of the most Wise God, that doth all things for most excellent ends, and even in those Dispensations that are most ob­scure and rugged, that we cannot unriddle, [Page 202]yet there is always a complication of most Soveraign and Excellent designs, which shall not be disappointed. 3. It comes from the hands of that God, that is under the relation of a most tender Father, that hath the very same Bowels of Mercy, Goodness, and Love to us, in his corrections, as in his favors. A poor silly child, when a Father either corrects him for a fault, or takes that from him that will hurt him, or keeps him hard to his Book, or other imployment, or denies him some­what that is noxious to him, thinks his Father deals hardly with him, when in truth the very same tender and Fatherly love, that dis­covers it self in more grateful dispensations, is the cause and companion of these. The same is thy case and mine, be patient there­fore; it is the hand of a Father that afflicts thee; and that may assure thee that it is for thy good, and it shall be in measure. 4. It comes from that God, that is thy absolute Lord, that hath that unlimited right over his Creature, that his 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 [Page 203]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 [Page 204]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 [Page 205]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 [Page 206]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 [Page 207]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 Ʋnum Magnum, this [Page 208]one thing necessary, that alone doth stand by thee, when all things else forsake thee, and will accompany thee in and through Death it self; and fix in thy Heart such a value upon this that hath been thy only Comfort, when all others forsake thee, as not to let go thy valuation of it, though thy Temporal Prosperity should return unto thee.

Eleventhly, Wait Gods leisure for thy Deli­verance out of Afflictions, and use no Ʋnlaw­ful Means to be delivered from it. Use no base or unworthy Compliances with the World, either by dissimulation or flattery, or violence, or falsity, to extricate thy self; for that will either intangle thee worse, or at least and Guilt to thy Sufferings. And above all, avoid that accursed temptation of ridding thy self from thy Troubles by put­ting an End to thy own life; for thereby thou dost at once two great Evils; an Evil of ex­tream Folly and Madness to exchange a Tem­poral Inconvenience by running the hazard of an Eternal Misery; for the very same Impatience and Perturbation and Anxiety of Soul, that puts thee upon such an accursed Resolution, goes with thee into the other World with a great improvement of it, and makes thy Soul in its Separation infinitely more vexed and tormented than it was be­fore [Page 209]in the Body; and an Evil of Rebellion against God, who hath sent thee these Af­flictions, and hath made it thy Province, and thy Task, and thy Service, that he injoyns thee, to bear with Patience, and to his Ho­nor till he deliver thee. Thou art just like an hired Servant, who art set on work by a most righteous Lord, and thy labor set out to thee, and thy Reward appointed in the end of thy day, and thou wilt run away be­fore the day be ended, whereby thou dost not only lose thy Wages, but art justly ob­noxious to be pursued and cast into Prison for thy Disobedience and Rebellion: Be contented, wait Gods time with Prayers and Patience, and thou mayest be sure to find his Mercy in moderating thy Afflictions, his Power to support thee under them, his Good­ness in his time, which is always the best time, to deliver thee from them, and his Bounty to reward thee for thy Patience and Obedient bearing of them.

Twelfthly, Take this for a most certain expedient to be prevented from many Af­flictions, and to be delivered from them: Meddle as little with the World, and the Ho­nor, Places, and Advantages of them, as you can; and extricate thy self from them as much, and as soon as thou canst. Although the Divine Wisdom and Providence governs [Page 210]the World in a most infallible and unerring method, yet in the External Administration of it, it seems to be full of confusion and un­certainty: When I have seen a Lottery with a goodly show of fine Plate, and a great many persons parting with certain money for an uncertain Lot, and though possibly one or two may gain a fair prize, yet a Hundred for one drawing nothing but blanks, and when they have opened their Papers vexing and tormenting themselves with their Loss and Disappointment; or, when I have seen at Christmas time a few Apples thrown a­mong a Room full of Boys, and one scram­bling, and another catching, some getting nothing but a fall, or bruise, or a broken Shin, or a broken Limb, and another getting it may be two or three, and those that miss falling upon him that hath gotten; so the company fall together by the Ears: Or, when I have seen a match at Footbal, one while one getting the Ball, and then another kick­ing up his heels and getting it from him, and then another doing the like by him. These give me a kind of Resemblance of the World, wherein, though by the help of Civil Go­vernment there are certain Rules put to the Game, yet they are not always kept, and when they are, yet it is not without a mix­ture of Irremediable Deceit and Violence, though it be of a finer sort.

If now my Child should run among this Company, and in the scuffle should receive a knock, or a fall, or a bruise, or be tumbled in the dirt, and then should come running to me, and complain of his usage, my answer would be to him, What made you there? What made you in such boisterous and un­ruly Company? If you mingle with such Company, you must be contented to share in the prejudice, and to take your Lot; it is the Play, if you dislike with your success, come no more among them. And indeed, this is in a great measure the case of many of the true Children of God, they see fine gay things in the World, as Wealth, and Honor, and Place, and External Advantages scatter­ed among the Children of Men, and gotten by scrambling for them, and sometimes are apt to flatter themselves into the pursuit of them, with a pretence that if they could come by their share of them, they would do more Good with them than those do that get them; or, at least, they think it as law­ful, and as fit for them to have them as others; and thereupon they thrust them­selves into the Crowd and Scramble for them, or are, at least, cousened into an af­fectation of them; and possibly they are roll­ed and tumbled into the dirt in their under­takings, and it may be miss of them when [Page 212]they have all done: But suppose they gain them, then they think they may keep them, and yet keep their Conscience and Integrity and Religion too; and many times in that indeavor they lose somewhat of their Inte­grity, and then God visits them with some Loss or Reproach; or in case they stand to their Integrity, and will not part with it, but will make a scruple of things that others down with, then commonly they are exposed and pillaged, and lose all that they have thus gotten, and the Evil one, and Evil Men tell them, Nay, Sir, if you come into our ground, if you will hold the World, pray be contented to hold it upon our term, and as we do, or else leave it; it is part of the game. And then the Man complains of his Afflicti­on, and his hard Usage in the World, and that he suffers for keeping a Good Consci­ence, and if he would have done as the rest of the World do, it had been better with him. But Sir, what made you in that Company? What made you to be tampering with great Places and Preferments? Do not you know, that if you will be dealing and trafficking with these kind of matters, you must take them upon those conditions the World doth usually afford them? Do not you know that by medling with them, you list your self in a manner under the Worlds command, put your [Page 213]self into that Corporation? And therefore if you are minded to hold these Temporal Advant­ages, you must observe the Orders of your Com­mander, and so hazard your Conscience and Peace with God? And if you will not observe the Orders of your Commander, you must be contented to be subject to the Discipline, and Frowns, and Scorns, and Rejections of the World; for you cannot serve God and Mam­mon. Therefore if thou wouldst prevent or avoid very many Afflictions, mingle as little as is possible, with the concerns of the World, especially in great Places; and if through inadvertency or importunity thou art drawn into the scuff [...]le and intanglements of the World, get out as soon as thou canst safely, and fairly, and honestly: For it is a Thousand to one but, first or last, thou shalt otherwise hazard thy Conscience, or receive some scratches and worldly prejudices, which are in truth rather the Issues of thy Folly, and Inconsiderate Adventure, than true Affliction.

But for medling with Places of Magistracy, Honor or Publick Imployment, I would not have it thought that it is my intention that Good Men, awfully called, and duly qua­lified, should morosely or frowardly wholly reject their due call unto them. The World cannot be kept in order without [Page 214]Magistracy: and Good Men, if otherwise fitted for it, and duly called unto it, are like­ly to administer it best for the Publick good of Mankind: and it were an unreasonable thing for them to expect the benefits of Ma­gistracy and Government from others, when under such circumstances they wilfully de­cline the communication of the like advan­tage to others: and therefore the wisest Kingdoms, States and Politicians have im­posed a necessity upon Men of honesty and abilities to take upon them Publick Imploy­ments: Aristot. 2. Politicorum, although he condemns Ambition after Magistracy, [that Men should be incouraged or permit­ted to stand or solicit for places] Nemo enim Magistratum petet, nisi Honoris sit affectator: atque pleraque eorum quae homines injuste faci­unt, per Ambitionem & Avaritiam committun­tur: yet tells us, Oportet enim & volentem & non volentem ad Magistratum assumere, si dignus sit eo Magistratu. That therefore which I mean is, 1. That Men that love their own Peace and Tranquillity should not seek great Imployments, 2. That if they are of­fered, they do, as far as consists with modesty and duty to their Superiors and Country, decline and avoid them: 3. That if upon such an account they are perswaded to un­dertake them, yet they be sure that before [Page 215]they undertake them, they have sufficient abilities to perform them. 4. If by the Command of the Soveraign Power they are required to undergo them, and are able and fit for the Imployment, they do not either frowardly or ungratefully refuse them: For 1. Herein they are but passive; it is an act of their Submission and Duty, not of their Choice. 2. Being thus called to it, if they meet with any rubs in their way, they have no reason to blame themselves, so long as they observe their duty in the exercise there­of; The Prince that injoyned them to this Province, is to be their support in it. 5. Rea­dily and Chearfully to entertain a dismission from it when it pleaseth the Prince to call them from it, or when by reason of disabling occurrences they may fairly attain such dis­mission.

III. And thus I have done with some of those principal Considerations touching our Deportment under Afflictions; now con­cerning the frame and temper of a Soul un­der our Deliverance from them.

1. Accept of thy deliverance with all Thankfulness to God, and Humility in thy self. Attribute it wholly to his Goodness and Mercy; Think not that thou art delive­red because of thy Worth or Desert; for any one sin that ever thou committest would [Page 216]detain thee Everlastingly under the severest Affliction: Think not thy Affliction hath expiated thy Demerit, and that thou owest thy Deliverance to the satisfaction that is made by thy suffering; for most certainly the greatest Affliction under Heaven cannot satisfie for the least Transgression; nothing but the Blood of the Son of God can coun­tervail the weight of the least Sin against God: Think not that thy Deliverance is due to thy Wit, Friends, or Interest; for though God be pleased to use the interven­tion of Means, yet he Administred that Means, and Blessed that Means, and made it effectual; or otherwise it would have been but a flat and unprofitable Means. As God sends Afflictions to evidence his Power, and Wisdom, and Soveraignty; so he sends De­liverance to manifest his Goodness and Bounty: and the Tribute that he most just­ly expects for the same, is but easie and rea­sonable: Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will Deliver thee, and thou shalt Glorifie me, Psal. 50.15.

2. Forget not the time of thy Trouble, and the promises and ingagements that thou didst then make. We observed in the beginning of this Discourse the difficulty of Pre-ap­prehension of Adversity before it comes; and truly it is almost as hard to think of [Page 217]Adversity when it is past. We please our selves with what we enjoy, and never reflect upon what is past, unless it be to heighten and advance our present enjoyments: and if we do chance to think upon the serious resolutions we then entertained, we look up­on them as the weak results of our Infirmity, useful indeed for that time, but now anti­quated and grown unseasonable.

3. Not only call to mind thy Promises, but call them to mind with a Resolution to ob­serve and perform them, in such expostulati­ons as these: Alass! the time was when I was under great Afflictions, it may be of a painful and a desperate sickness, and then I resolved, if God would restore my health, I would walk more strictly with him; I would pray more frequently, and more constantly, and more fer­vently than formerly; I would be more diligent to make even my Accounts with him, to make sure my Calling and Election, for which I found the time of my Sickness was very unseasonable; I would redeem my pretious Time, and value those minutes of life, that God shall lend me at a dearer rate than formerly; I would neglect no opportunity of doing Good to others, or im­proving my Everlasting Peace; how pretious then was one hour of repose and quietness, and freedom from pain? and how much should I then have valued it? and how industriously [Page 218]should I have then improved it in the great con­cerns of my Everlasting Soul? God hath now heard my Prayers, restored my Health, put that pretious Opportunity into my hands of perform­ing my Vowes and Promises, which I then made in the sadness of my Soul, and shall I deal falsly in my Covenant, disappointing my God that hath delivered me? No, I will up and be do­ing; I will Perform all my Vowes to him: nay, the sense of the Mercy and Condescention of God to my requests shall increase my Ingage­ments before him; As he hath added Mercy to me, so I will add new Obligations to my self of better Obedience, and farther Duties than the sense of my Misery could suggest unto me, or draw from me.

4. Be very Watchful over thy self, and re­member thy Saviours Counsel, Go away and Sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee: and in a special manner recollect and call to mind those Sins that did most trouble and disquiet thee in the time of thy Adversity; renew thy Repentance for them, and take a special care to avoid Relapses into them; Remember the mischiefs they then did thee, and let them know they shall do thee no more: be most severe and strict against them.

5. Make a frequent Ʋse of thy Delive­rance as a singular Preservative against the [Page 219]Power of thy Temptations and Corruptions. Deliverance carries in the very apprehension of it these two things: 1. A supposition of a former Misery or Visitation: 2. A present injoyment of a freedom from that Misery. Therefore if any Corruption or Temptation unto Sin sollicite thee, improve this conside­ration to this or the like effect: I was lately under the Rack, under the Rod, under extream Want, Imprisonment, Disgrace, Losses, Sickness, Sorrows, Fears, and an imminent expectation of the worst of Evils; and though these were sore and sharp Afflictions, yet the sense of my former Sins, and the importunate restlesness of that Guilt, that was contracted from them, were more bitter and tormenting than all the rest of my sufferings; it was that which was the sting and venome of all my Afflictions; and it hath pleased Almighty God to accept of my Humilia­tion, and to remove my Afflictions, and to give me Beauty for Ashes, and shall I be so very a fool as by committing of a new sin to run the hazard of another plunge, another scourge? which in all probability must be much more severe than the former, because it would be the Issue not only of Sin, but of Presumption, a Sin committed against the experience that I have had of the bitterness of Sin; and with what face or hope could I expect any possibility of Deliverance from a second Relapse into Misery occasioned by [Page 220]so Desperate a presumptuous relapse into Sin? But suppose it were possible, that notwithstand­ing my yielding to this Temptation, I might escape the Vengeance, yet can I be so false, so un­grateful to that God, that hath delivered me from my Sufferings and from my Fears, as to recompence his Love and Mercy, and Goodness with a Presumptuous Apostacy from him? shall I thus requite his Mercy and Goodness, that heard me in my Anguish and Sadness of Soul, in my Extremity and Misery, and so heard me that he hath delivered me out of all my Trou­bles and Miseries? Certainly, if either com­mon Prudence, or common Ingenuity be left in a Man, the sense of a former Calami­ty, and the sense of so great a Mercy, will make a Man abhor the least submission to that Temptation that may at once hazard the continuance of his present Comfort, and cannot be entertained without the Pre­sumptuous rejection of him, that thus Mer­cifully sent Deliverance.

6. Let the remembrance of thy Misery, and thy present Mercy make thee most jea­lously and passionately careful to keep thy Inte­rest, and (if it be not too bold a word) thy Friendship with God. Remember he was thy support in thy Affliction, and he was thy Deliverer out of thy Affliction: let Grati­tude bind thee to it, as he was thy Benefa­ctor; [Page 221]and let Prudence bind thee to it, thou knowest not how soon thou mayst have the same necessity again, and where canst thou find such a friend? The truth is, when we are in extremity and have no whither else to fly, O then we run to God, and we pray un­to him, and promise him fair: but when once our turn is served, and we have gotten our ends, and think our selves out of Gun­shot, we are like Mariners after a Storm, and God hears no more of us: but this is, as extream Ingratitude, so, extream Folly. Oh keep thy God thy Friend, for most cer­tain it is, thou wilt have occasion to use him again, and thou knowest not how soon: keep thine interest in him, and estrange not thy self from him in thy Recovery, whom thou canst not be without in thy Afflicti­on.

7. As I would have thee recollect what were the things in thy life past that most troubled thee in thy Affliction, that so thou mayst avoid them; so think what things or practices, or expence of time in thy life past was most Acceptable and Comfortable to thee in thy Affliction, that so thou mayst practise them after thy restitution. Consider, whe­ther in thy Affliction thou didst remember thy past Recreations, thy Merriments, thy Feastings, thy Lusts, thy Honours, thy [Page 222]Greatness, with any Comfort or Content­ment, or whether the remembrance of the Hours thou hast formerly spent in Prayer, Reading the Scriptures, Hearing Sermons, Relieving the Poor, Visiting the Sick, Re­lieving the Oppressed, Harbouring the Per­secuted Members of Christ, gave thee more contentment. And I dare appeal to any Mans Experience under Heaven, that when the former sort of Transactions of our lives were either extreamly bitter, or at best very insipid, to his remembrance, yet the remem­brance of these of the latter sort were most Comfortable and Contenting. Thou art now recovered, it is true, but as sure as thou shalt dye, so sure thou shalt pass through new Afflictions, though it may be not of the same kind, yet of some kind: let it be thy care, after God hath thus delivered thee from thy former Affliction, to lay up a stock of Good Works against another Evil day; such Cordials will lie warm at thy Heart, even when the cold pangs of Death it self shall be ready to invade and seize up­on it, and the Comfort of them shall pass into the other World with thee.

8. Though the portion of thy life before thy Affliction and under it, were very well spent, yet remember that the Mercy of God in thy Deliverance doth call upon thee for [Page 223] a farther degree of Goodness and Perfection than thou hadst before: it calls for more Humility, and more Thankfulness, and more Heavenly Mindedness, and more Cha­rity, and more Devotion, and more Self-Denial, and more Sanctity, and more Jea­lousie for the Honour of God, For 1. On Gods part, thou hast more Ingagements and Obligations put upon thee than before: Every increase of Mercy calls for an increase of Duty. 2. On thy own part, thy Expe­riences are greater, thou hast past through the School of Afflictions, and that is a season wherein God opens the Ear to Discipline, the Rod hath a voice and a lesson to teach; and thou hast past through the experience of Gods Goodness, Tenderness, and Faith­fulness in thy Deliverance, and that tutors thee to more Dependance upon him, Thank­fulness to him, and Love of him, and these affections carry out the Heart to Duty and Obedience.

9. Beware that after Deliverance from Afflictions thou be not secure: think not with Agag, surely the bitterness of death is past; that now, thou hast escaped this brunt, all is safe, and the danger past; still be Watchful, and stand upon thy Guard. 1. Thou hast Sins and Corruptions within thee, that if thou art not watchful, may surprize thee, [Page 224]and raise new storms. 2. Thou hast watch­ful and vigilant Enemies without thee, Evil Men, and Evil Angels, that envy thee the more, because thou hast escaped. 3. As long as thou livest in the World thy condi­tion is uncertain and unstable in Externals, and though one Wave be past; another may follow. And if there were nothing else to make thee Watchful, yet be sure the hour of Sickness, and the hour of Death will overtake thee, and that is an hour of Affli­ction, which thou must alwayes prepare for, lest it take thee unawares.

OF SUBMISSION, PRAYER & THANKSGIVING.

HF that freely Submits not to the Di­vine Disposition and Providence, gains nothing by his Contumacy; for submit he must, whether he will or no.

But he gains this Loss and Disadvantage thereby, that those Providences, that are not according to his desire, gall him more by the Unquietness and Impatience of his mind under them.

He that with an entire freeness of Soul submits to the Divine Providences, gains thereby these Advantages; namely, 1. That certainly, such a resolved willing submission, never makes the Providences the more harsh or severe. 2. That commonly they are even in themselves more gentle and easie, because the Man needs not a severity to bring him to a right temper of mind; namely, due sub­jection to the Divine Will. 3. But be the Providences never so harsh and hard, they [Page 306]sit more easie upon a quiet, patient, resigning Soul.

A Man never loseth by Prayer, for if the thing be Granted it makes the Blessing both the sweeter and the safer, being the Humble Victory and Acquest of his Prayer: and it makes the Man the Better, the more Thank­ful; for he looks upon it as a Gift, and not a Chance; the more Dependent upon God, and the readier upon all occasions to call upon him, who hath honoured the Prayer of his Servant with a Concession.

And if it be Denied, yet he loseth not; for it may be the thing he asked might have done him harm, and been his prejudice. Again, though he be not gratified in the thing he desired, a Thousand to one but he is gratified, with what was fitter or better; But if not, yet the man receives infallibly this benefit by being denied, that he is made the better, the more Humble and Patient, and to be content that Almighty God should be Master of his own Bounty, and not to be commanded by our Prayers. Or at least it discovers unto him the Distemper of his Heart; if he be not contented to be denied, his Heart was Proud, and his Prayer Hypo­critical; he seemed to Pray, but indeed meant to Command, not to pray for what he desired, which makes him thus Impatient of a denial.

Sense of Misery, Want, or Danger, when we find no other means of Remedy or pre­vention, doth carry us to prayer, and Invoca­tion upon God. The Sailors did this in the Storm. But commonly, though Delive­rance follows even upon our very Prayers, we rarely with that seriousness and intention of mind, return unto God the praise and Acknowledgment of his Goodness. Of the Ten Leapers that were cleansed, we read only of One that returned Thanks for the Benefit; and commonly we either forget the Benefit, and our Benefactor, when our turn is served, and are content to attribute our Deliverance to Chance, to Means, or to any thing, rather than to the Goodness of God. And the Reasons may be these. 1. The Pride and Naughtiness of our Hearts, that are unwilling to own our De­pendance upon God, when we think we stand not in need of him. 2. Necessity, and Fear, and the Incumbent sense of Evil are more pressing and urgent, and by a kind of force oftentimes drive us to Pray, when we cannot probably find help elsewhere; But when the Necessity and Fear, and In­cumbence of Evil is removed, it is only a true Judgment, and the Grateful temper of our Hearts, that do ingage us to render Thanks for the Mercy received, which is [Page 228]ordinarily more flat and less active than Evils felt or feared. Natural Necessity prompts a Man to Prayer oftentimes, but it is sincerity and a right temper of the Soul that prompts a Man to Gratitude and Thankfulness.

He that in his Necessity prayes for Help and orbtains it, if his prayers were the fruit barely of his Exigence, is seldom Thank­ful, and if he be not Thankful, it is an Evi­dence that his Prayers did not move from a Heart sincere, and truly principled with a Dependence upon God, and a habit of Du­tifulness to him. But if he be Thankful for the Mercy received, it is an Evidence that not only his Gratitude, but his Prayers sprang from the same Principle; namely, a Good and sincere Heart, principled with the same habit of Grace, Piety, Depen­dance upon God, and Obedience to him.

There is an admirable Oeconomy of the Di­vine Goodness and Wisdom, to bring his Crea­ture Man both to his Duty and Happiness; many times he invites us to come to him by Perswasions, and Monitions, and secret Mo­tions; and when we neglect that voice, he oftentimes sends upon us Troubles, and Afflictions, and Dangers: and this he doth by a kind of moral force to make us flie to him by prayer for help, and relief, & deliverance.

And it seldom misseth its effect, if there be but any Wisdom or the Common In­stinct implanted generally in the Humane Nature. When we know not which way to turn, we then flie to God, 2 Chro. 20.12. because all other ways are most commonly obstructed and hedged up, and this passage only left open to an escape: In their Affliction they will seek me early. Hos. 5.15. Almighty God deals by us, as a wise Artist, that hath a purpose to turn a stream towards some designed place, stops all other egresses but that which fits his design; or, as a Father, that is minded to bring an Extravagant Son to his Duty and Dependance, obstructs all supplies but such as may be had from himself. So oftentimes God Almighty doth so methodise his Afflictions, that all ways of relief are ob­structed, but such as may lead a Man to him. It is true, many times in such cases we will be shifting and trying every avenue to get out at; but when we find every passage hedged up with Thorns, but that only which leads to him, our Stomachs come down, and we are glad to seek relief in that way where we find only it can be had. Like Jonas his Mariners in the Storm, we try all experi­ments and Artifices to save our selves, throw out our Anchors, take down the Sails, ply [Page 230]the Pump, throw over the Goods to lighten the Vessel; and when all will not do, then we begin to call upon God, Lord save us, we perish.

But yet the method of the Divine Good­ness resteth not here, but brings us a step forward: He is often graciously pleased to grant the Deliverance we pray for, to let us see that we call not upon his Name in vain, and to incourage us to depend upon him, to draw near unto him, to make him our Confidence as well as our Fear: And though sometimes he defers our De­liverance, yet he doth it, partly to give unto our selves an Experiment of our own Sincerity and Patience, partly to Disci­pline and Tutor us to Constancy and Pa­tient waiting upon him; partly to carry us on to more Importunity and Continuance in Prayer; and by this means our Souls are made the better by drawing nearer and nearer to him, that is the Fountain of Light and Goodness; for the repetition of Prayers rectifies the Soul, brings it nearer to God, lays more hold upon his Strength, and Goodness, as the sinking Man draws himself nearer to the shore by the repeat­ed laying hold upon that Cord that is from thence thrown out to save him.

Neither doth he rest here, for the Deli­verance he sends, is not barely sent to deliver us from the Affliction or Danger, nor barely to gratifie our Prayers; but to bring us yet nearer to God, and to make us active In­struments to give Glory to that God, that hath thus delivered us; whereby at once we are drawn nearer to the Fountain of our own Happiness, and Almighty God receives and attains the great end of his Goodness, in the active Glory and Gratitude that he receives from his Creature. And this is attained,

1. By a kind of Natural Instinct, Inge­nuity, and implanted Tendency, as I may call it, of a Good Nature; whereby, un­less a Man be a fool, or hath put off the common Rudiments of Humanity, he is carried out to Thankfulness, Gratitude, and an indeavor of complacency to him that is his Benefactor; which, as it is the most rational consequence imaginable, so it is a principle so riveted in the very Con­stitution of Humanity it self, that even without any antecedent ratiocination, or rational discourse, it doth presently, and at first view, and antecedently, antevert any rational discourse of the Mind. We are Grateful, and study to be complacent to him that doth us good, without any [Page 232]using of Topicks or Arguments, by a kind of Natural Instinct or Sympathy.

2. By a kind of Stipulation or bargain made by Almighty God with his poor Creature, to have this Tribute of Grati­tude and Benevolent Affection from his Creature, as the Tribute and return of his Goodness and Beneficence, Psal. 50.15. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorifie me. And this Retribution, as it is most admira­bly Con-genious and Con-natural to the right constitution of the Humane Nature, so it is the most Reasonable, and the most Noble, and the most Easie, and the most Beneficial Retribution in the World to him that makes it. For first, Whereas the Creature in his Prayer seeks, and in the returns thereof, receives something from God, in his Gratitude, and Glorification of God he performs that, which his Maker graciously accepts, as a return made to him from his Creature. Secondly, By this means he attains the two great Ends of his Being; namely, the Glorifying of God, and the Improvement of his own Felicity; for Gratitude and Thankfulness brings the Soul to a nearer approach to God, if it be possible, than his very Prayers doth; be­cause it is the greatest motion of Love and [Page 233]Beneficence in the Soul unto God that can be; and the nearer the Soul is moved unto God, the nearer it is joyned to its Life, its Perfection, its Happiness: The more it par­ticipates of the Love, the Goodness, the Influence, the Communication of the Di­vine Goodness.

OF PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING.

THere are two great Duties that we ow unto God, which are never out of season: But such as we have continual occasion and ne­cessity to use whilest we live; namely, Prayer and Thanksgiving.

Prayer, Is always seasonable in this life, because we ever stand in need of it; we al­ways want something, and have always occasion to fear something; although we could be supposed in such a state of Happi­ness in this World, that we could not say, [Page 236]we wanted any thing, yet we have cause to pray for the continuance of the Happiness we injoy, which is not so fixed and stable, but that it may leave us: I said in my prospe­rity, I shall never be moved: Thou hiddest thy face, and I was troubled. We are never out of the reach of the Divine Providence, either to Relieve or Afflict us; and there­fore we are under a continual Necessity of Prayer, either to Relieve and Supply us, or, at least, to preserve and uphold us.

Thanksgiving, is likewise always season­able, because we are never without some­thing, that we receive from the Divine Goodness, that deserves and requires our Thankfulness. It may be we want Wealth, yet have we not Health? If we want both, yet have we not Life? If we want Temporal Blessings, yet have we not Eternal Ever­lasting Blessings? If we have any thing that is comfortable to, or convenient for us, we have it from the Goodness and Bounty of God. And though we have not all we would, yet we have what we deserve not, and what we prize and value; and therefore while we have any thing, we have occasion of Thanksgiving to our great Bene­factor.

But yet it seems, though both those Du­ties be highly due and necessary, yet Thanks­giving hath a kind of preference even above Prayer it self, in these considerations especi­ally.

1. The Duty of Thanksgiving seems to be a more Permanent Duty, even than Prayer it self, and of a greater extent and durable­ness. The Blessed Angels, and the Saints that are and shall be settled and fixed in a state of full and unchangeable Happiness, that enjoy whatsoever they can desire, and therefore have no reason to pray for more, because they cannot enjoy more than they do; yet have an Everlasting occasion of Thanksgiving for that Happiness they Ever­lastingly enjoy: And as this is their Ever­lasting occasion, so it is and shall be their Everlasting business unto all Eternity to Praise and Glorifie God. And as the Beams of the Divine Goodness shall Everlastingly shine upon them, so there will be an Ever­lasting Reflection, as it were, of the same Goodness in the necessary and uncessant re­turns of Praise and Thanksgiving by them.

2. The Duty of Thanksgiving seems to be a Duty of more noble Nature, than even [Page 238]Prayer it self, because it answers more appo­sitly and closely the noblest End in the World; namely, the Glory of God, which certain­ly is a more ultimate and noble End, than even the very Good of the Creature. It is true, Almighty God receives no accession to his Happiness and Perfection by all the Ho­nour and Praise and Thanksgiving that all the Creatures in the World can pay him, yet the Glory of his Majesty is the chief ultimate End why he made all things, Rev. 4.11. Thou art worthy to receive Glory, Honour, and Power; for thou hast Created all things, and for thy pleasure they were and are Created. It is true the proximate immediate reason of the Creation of all things was, that the Re­dundant Goodness of Almighty God might be communicated unto Being, derived from him by Creation: But the ultimate and more universal End was, that by this Com­munication of the Divine Goodness unto something without himself, the Glory, and Honour, and Praise thereof might return unto himself, who only can be the adequate End of himself, of all he doth. Thanks­giving therefore and Praise answers the greatest and most noble End in the World: If I want, and pray for what I want, my im­mediate End therein is my own Good, and [Page 239]yet that End is too narrow, if I propound not to my self to Praise and Glorifie the Bounty of that God which answers my Prayer.

3. Again, whereas all the Irrational and inanimate Creatures in the World do pas­sively praise Almighty God, in that they bear every one of them the Inscription of his Wisdom, Goodness, Power. The Rea­sonable and Intellectual Natures of Men and Angels have that noble Advance, that they can and may Actively and Intentionally Glo­rifie and Praise the Goodness of God: and it is indeed the noblest Harmony that they can make when they summon all their Un­derstanding, Will, Affections, all that is within them, to Praise that God, to whom they owe their Being and Benefits: And the Wise and Glorious God doth therefore Communicate the sensible, Experimental, Eminent Influences of his Mercy, Good­ness and Bounty unto the Reasonable and Intellectual Natures of Men and Angels, that they might touch and strike upon those noble strings of the Heart and Mind and Affections, that may thereupon return the Harmony of Thanksgiving, and Praise to the great Lord of the World: And surely [Page 240]the Nature of Man, in its true state and temper, is as naturally and effectually mo­ved to the returning of Thanksgiving to God for Mercies received, as a well tuned Lute, or other Instrument doth give an Harmonious sound upon the touches of a skilful Artist. And most certainly that na­ture is strangely out of Tune and Order, that upon Mercies received makes not a sweet return of Thanksgiving and Praise. This therefore, as it is the noblest, so it is the most natural production of the Reaso­nable Nature, the fullest of Congruity to the right disposition of its Faculties.

Almighty God sends upon the Children of Men Benefits, Blessings, Deliverances, Favours; And the fruit that he doth (and that most justly) expect, is a Crop of Praise, Glory, Honour and Thanksgiving, Call upon me in the day of Trouble, and I will Deliver thee, and thou shalt Glorifie me. And it is a barren, degenerate, stupid Heart, that yields not such fruit of such a Semination. So that Praise and Thanksgiving is Con-na­tural to our very Faculties, the tribute that the Rational Nature, naturally payes to the Divine Being as his Benefactor, the very fruit that the great Lord of the Harvest ex­pects for all his Goodness and Mercy.

4. The truth is, Thanksgiving is the very End of Prayer: and as the End is more no­ble than the means conducible to the End, so therefore is the Duty, the business of Thanksgiving in its self, though equally necessary, yet more noble than Prayer it self.

I want something that I would desire Almighty God to give me, and I therefore pray; my Merciful Lord grants me my de­sire, and gives me what I pray for, and therefore gives it, and gives it upon my Prayer to him, that therefore his Mercy and Goodness may be more Evident unto me, and that thereupon I may Praise, and Glorifie, and give Thanks unto him.

And if, with the Nine Lepers in the Gospel I receive the Benefit I ask, and do not with the Tenth give Glory to God for the Benefit I receive, I disappoint both the Giver, of what he designed in the Gift, and disappoint my very Prayers in that which is their just and proper End.

And hence it is, that our Blessed Lord in that absolute form of Prayer, which he hath taught us, premiseth the first and [Page 242]greatest Petition of the Hallowing or Glo­rifying of the Name of God, and the first, the great, the regnant Petition, that is to influence all the rest that follow, especially those that are for the supplies of our own wants.

5. Whereas in Prayer we ask that we may receive from God, Almighty God hath been pleased to Honour and Dignifie our Duty of Thanksgiving, with so much con­descention of his Majesty, that he receives, or at least interprets it as a Receipt from his poor Creature. It is true, our Praises add nothing to his Perfection and self-sufficiency; Nay, our very Thanksgiving and Praise is but a gift that he gives to himself; He gives us a Being that may be Capable to Praise him, gives us Hearts and Affections that may be willing to Praise him, gives us Grace that may enable us to Praise him, gives us Benefits that may Excite us to Praise him, gives us Directions how to Praise him, gives us Laws, Commands, Promises, Encourage­ments to Praise him: So that in truth our very Thanksgivings and Praises to him, are but his own work, and yet such is his Good­ness, that he takes and accepts and Re­wards our Praises and Thanksgivings, as [Page 243]if they were our own Actions. And whereas in Prayer we receive from him, in Thanksgiving he is pleased so far to Honour this Duty, as if he received somewhat from us, and accordingly accepts and re­wards it.

MEDITATIONS UPON THE Lord's Prayer.

BY the Sin of Adam, and the Cor­ruption and Obliquity that there­upon entred into the humane na­ture, Mankind had contracted a three-fold mischief. 1. Guilt, that needed an Expiation; 2. Blindness, that needed an Illumination; 3. Perverseness and Rebellion, that needed Power and Victory to subdue it. In the fulness of time God sent his Son [Page 2]into the World with healing for all these Diseases:

1. He sent his Son to be our Sacrifice and our Priest: and not only so in his own Per­son, but by derivation unto those that be­lieve on him, he hath imprinted upon them and communicated unto them a participa­tion of his own Office, and hath made them Kings and Priests: 1. By making an Atone­ment for them with his Father, whereby they are accepted; John 16.26, 27. I say not unto you I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you: not to Exclude the continuance and Efficacy of his Inter­cession, but to intimate the fulness of our Reconciliation, that having made us of his houshold, Ephes. 2.19. we may have access to the Master and Father of the Family; Ephes. 2.18. for through him we have access unto the Father. 2. By sending his own Spi­rit to instruct, and warm, and fit our spirits to come into the presence; for through him we have access by one Spirit, Ephes. 2.18. teach­ing what to ask, and inabling us to ask as we should, Rom. 8.26. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought.

2. As he made him a Sacrifice for our Guilt, so he sent him to be a Light for our darkness, John 1.5. the World was all in Darkness and Error; the most Exact Subli­mate [Page 3]Wits inscribed their Altar, To the Un­known God. They were ignorant of things to be known, and of things to be done. The Son of God that came out of the Bosome of his Father, and knew all his Mind, received a Commission from him to instruct Man­kind in the way to Life. Joh. 17.8. I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me. Joh. 3.34. He whom God hath sent speak­eth the Words of God. Matth. 11.27. No man knoweth the will of the Father save the Son, and him to whom the Son revealeth it.

3. As he came with Light to instruct us, so he came with Power to conquer in us: Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power: and to conquer for us Death and Hell.

The Business that we are to consider re­specteth principally the first and second part of his Meditation, viz. in bringing the Will and Mind of God to us, to teach us what to ask, which concerns his Prophetical Office: And again, having formed desires in us ac­cording to that Will of God, to present them unto his Father, which concerns his Priestly Office.

After this manner pray: Luke 11.1, 2. One of his Disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, and he said, When ye pray, say, &c. In general we may learn:

1. That Christ doth not exclude other Prayers: The injunction of this excludes not all other prayers. Our Saviour himself, and those that were acquainted with his Mind and Practice, used variety of prayers, ac­cording to the several occasions, differing from this form, and therefore the Apostle commands, Ephes. 6.18. Praying always with all prayers and supplications. Prayers formed for every occasion. And that Spirit, that maketh intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered, is not confined to any particular form, not to vary from it.

2. Though thou art not restrained to this form only, yet in all thy prayers pray after this manner. There is somewhat in this Prayer that must be ingredient to all thy prayers.

1. Be sure thou hast a Commission, a Pro­mise, for what thou prayest; desire those things that are warrantable by the Will of God revealed in his Word. Christ was ac­quainted with the Mind of God, and gives us a pattern to ask those things which are warrantable. Ask for thy good, but ask not for thy Lust, James 4.2.

2. Though the things thou askest be war­rantable and agreeable to the revealed Will of God, Yet in the particularity of thy desires [Page 5]refer thy self and submit unto the Will of God: because thou art not wise enough to know what is fit for thee in particular, Espe­cially in the measure, time, and manner of the thing thou askest. The Son of God hath taught us to pray for the fulfilling of the Will of God before the supply of our own Wants; and in his own Prayer in the Gar­den, Matth. 26. Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt. Whatsoever thou desirest, yet confine not God. Thou shalt be sure thy Prayer shall not lose his fruit, though the thing desired seem not to be granted. The Cup did not pass from our Saviour, though he asked it, Matth. 26.39. Yet he was heard in that he feared, Heb. 5.7.

3. As much as thou canst let thy prayer be a reasonable service, a work of thy Spirit and Understanding. 1 Cor. 14.15. not only of thy Lips and Tongue: for thou hast to do with the God of the Spirits of all flesh, that will be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Pray with thy Lips, that thou mayst by that means fix thy Mind the better to the work; but let thy words be the production of thy Soul. Let thy Heart pray as well as thy Tongue. And this was one of the Reasons of our Saviour's inditing this Prayer in this short and pithy form, to condemn the va­nity [Page 6]of the Gentiles, who had confidence in their vain repetitions of words, without the intention and application of the heart, Matt. 6.8.

4. Here we see Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, delivers out a Form of Prayer, framed with a great deal of Wisdom, con­taining very much matter in a few words: Learn that, though thou art not to put con­fidence in studied Devotions, nor to make thy prayers the work of thy invention or wit, but of thy Heart and Soul, yet let the Reverence and Awe thou bearest to him, before whom thou comest in thy prayers, the seriousness of the business about which thou goest, put thee in mind to Prepare thy self and thy Soul, and to tune it by these con­siderations to an humble frame of spirit; to a fore-casting of thy desires; to an humble approach to the presence of God; to all be­seeming Reverence both in thy words and gesture. The Heart, it is true, should be in a continual frame of prayer, and almost eve­ry occurrence of our Life requires a lifting up of the Heart to God in Prayer, or in Thanksgiving; which cannot be so ordered with preparation; but a solemn Prayer, though in private, requires a just prepara­tion of the Heart, and a performance of it [Page 7]with the whole contribution of the whole Soul, and strength, and understanding, and affection.

3. Though thou art not bound to use no other form, yet use this frequently, upon these Considerations:

1. It is the Command of thy Lord and Ma­ster. There is somewhat of Command in these words. He, that commands to pray, after this manner, meant not that this Prayer should be forgotten. That which was made a pattern to thy other prayers, was not in­tended to be a thing only to be looked upon, and not to be used. Thou mayest use other Prayers to give scope to thy spirit, but con­clude with this.

2. It is a great means of strengthning the Heart in Prayer. When I shall consider I am now using that very Prayer which the Son of God, when he was in the flesh, at the re­quest of his Disciples, gave unto them, not only as a rule and pattern, but as a form, When ye pray, say, &c. I call the great God my Father, and it is no presumption in me so to do; the Eternal Son of God, that knew all his Father's mind, commanded me to call him so, and to come before him as my Fa­ther. I am begging for the conveniencies of my Life, for the pardon of my Sins, for my preservation in and from temptation. [Page 8]Had they not been things that I might hope to be granted, the Son of God would never have taught me to ask them. O Lord, it is true, I can see nothing in my self why I should expect that thou shouldest hear me; my Sins are renewed every day, and I beg­ed pardon but yesterday, and I have sinned against thee the same Sin this day: But yet thy Son, that knowes all thy Will, that would never have put me to beg that which were unfit for me to ask, or thee to grant, he it is that taught me to begg my daily bread of thee, and as often in the same Prayer to begg thy forgiveness: I will not learn hereby to presume in offend­ing, but yet I will learn to be confident in thy Mercy.

3. It is a Comprehensive Prayer, and there­fore fit to be supplemental unto thine own prayers. Thy present wants or fears or desires carry thy spirit in thy own prayers eagerly and vehemently in pursuit of those thy wants, fears, or desires; because they are things presently incumbent upon thee, and in thy view; and by that means thou dost many times in thy prayers overshoot many matters, that are of more concernment, it may be, for thee to ask: as the Glory of God, thy preservation from future inconvenien­cies, that are not yet in thy view; and this [Page 9]prayer gathers up thy omissions, calls home thy spirit unto that frame and temper of heart that is fit; viz. Submission to the Will and Glory of God in the first petition of this Prayer, furnisheth in a short Compendium to pray over that which thou hast before asked, and to pray for that which before thou hast omitted.

4. As it is a Comprehensive Prayer, and contains much, so it is a Compendious Prayer, and contains much in little. The Wise and Merciful God knowes the frailty of our Na­ture, and therefore hath fitted us according to our own narrowness with abridgments; he knowes the shortness of our Memory, and therefore he gave his Will under the Old Law in Ten Words. Christ he gave us an­other abridgment of that abridgment: Love God and thy Neighbour. God also knowes the weakness of our spirits, and therefore he gives us a short Prayer, that in the using of it our spirits may bear up, and the fire last till the Prayer ended. It is true, when we have a continuing sense of Evil felt or feared upon us, our spirits are able to hold out a Prayer long in warmth and heat: But when the matters of our desires are not so apparent to our sense, our spirits are apt to grow cold before we come at the end of it. Here is a short Prayer, furnish'd in all things [Page 10]fit to be asked, and such as thy spirit may go along with to the End, without being tyred. It is true, that a Man shall usually find more intention of spirit in his own prayers, than in this. Bless God that thou hast this intention of spirit in thy own pray­ers, and neglect them not, but pray for par­don that thou wantest it in this, and strive to amend it.

Now the great Cause of the unprofitable use even of this Prayer, and of divers other Ordinances, grows from this, That people use them without a distinct and deep con­sideration of the things contained in them. The Sun in the Firmament is the greatest Wonder in the World, and of infinite more consideration than the appearance of a new Star or a Comet; But the commonness of the Sun makes Mankind pass over that with­out any observation, and yet look upon the latter with much admiration and astonish­ment. Just thus it is with this and other Prayers: This Prayer, being taken up and learnt with our speech, we swallow by whole-sale, and never weigh it or consider it; but other Prayers of our own or others, whilest they are new to us, we use more at­tentively, and it may be more profitably. It should therefore be our care to rub out the Corn out of this Ear; to Examine and Con­sider [Page 11]this excellent Prayer distinctly, that so in the use of it a full understanding and affection may go along with it; without which it is no Prayer: for in Prayer we have to do with the God of the Spirits of all flesh, that judgeth not, neither regardeth the bare repetition of words, the thing con­demned by our Saviour when he command­ed this Prayer. But by the uniting our Souls and Spirits to him, our words are not so much our prayers, as the consequents and signs of our prayers.

The known Division of this Prayer, is first, the Preamble. Secondly, the Requests. Thirdly, the Conclusion.

1. The Preamble, Our Father which art in Heaven. The general duty we learn from it is this, that we come not suddenly and un­seemly in our Requests to him, but as much as may be to prepare our Souls, with fitting apprehensions and affections before we come to ask of him; with apprehensions of his goodness, that may draw us to him in that he is our Father; and with apprehensions of his Greatness, that may make us consider our distance, and come before him with Reve­rence, in that he is in Heaven. Eccles. 5.2. Be not rash with thy Mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God; for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth: therefore [Page 12]let thy words be few. God is in Heaven, and thou upon Earth: it teacheth thee thy di­stance, and it is fit thou should'st throughly digest that apprehension before thou ask, that thy asking may be with Reverence. Ex­ternal Reverence of it self is inconsiderable, but as it is the figure of that internal Reve­rence that is in the Soul. Where the exter­nal Reverence is without the internal, it is base and odious Hypocrisie, a dead and a de­spised performance, a picture of Piety with­out life. But the internal Reverence of the Mind cannot be without an external expres­sion of it. The Forms or Natures, that God hath put into every creature, are those which shape their external figure, in some propor­tion answerable to their internal Form. And it is as impossible for an heart sensible of the Majesty, Glory, Greatness and Power of God, to come before him either with a petulant sawcy, presumptuous or unseemly carriage, as it is for the Form of a Lamb or a Child to render it self either in the shape of a Lion, or a Wolf. Again, God is in Heaven and thou up­on Earth: As thou hast a business to do to prepare thy heart with the sense of thy di­stance, that thy desires may be with a sutable humility when thou prayest, so thou hast need of preparation to bring up thy heart out of that Earth, wherein thou art, unto [Page 13]Heaven, to defecate that Earthy heart of thine, that it may be fit to come into the pre­sence of the God of Heaven. When God be­holds the highest things in nature, the Hea­vens, he humbles himself, he descends be­low his own Excellency, Psalm 113.6. And if thou art a Sutor to this great King, it is fit thou shouldest come unto the Throne of his Majesty, and not expect that he should come to thy Cottage to be importuned, though yet he doth this also in his great Mercy and Condescention; yet it is not fit for thee to expect it: Again, thy lifting up of thy heart to him is thy Advantage; the nearer thou drawest to his Glory and Presence, so it be with an humble and clean heart, the more thou wilt partake of his Bounty and Good­ness; the fitter thy heart will be to have communion with him. The Holy and Glori­ous Angels and Souls departed partake more of his fulness and perfection than Man doth, because by the purity of their nature they have a nearer approach to the Fountain of Good, than Man hath; and the nearer or farther off the Spirit of a man comes or keeps off from God, the more or less of his Goodness he participates. Now in this act of prayer we endeavour to lay hold of his Goodness and Promises: Necessary it is there­fore we bring our hearts by preparation as [Page 14]near to him as we can. 1. That we may be near unto him; and in this nearness consists an advantage of Communion with him. 2. That we may be like him; and that likeness is every day increased by our beholding of him, whereby we are in some measure tran­slated into the same Glory. 3. That we may be in our proper place. God hath commu­nicated his goodness to all things according to their several degrees of perfection in those stations, wherein his own Great and Infinite Wisdom placed them, and the place of Man was nearer to God by his nature, than he can now arrive unto in this Life in his own Per­son, (though we have a High-Priest that continually bears our names before our Fa­ther.) And certainly, if it be at any time sea­sonable for a Man to wind up his heart in the greatest nearness to God, that he can do, it is when he comes before him in Praises for the things he hath, and Petitions for the things he wants. Learn therefore in gene­ral to bring up thy heart as near as thou canst to the great God in preparation and medita­tion, before thou offerest thy Prayer, that thy sacrifice may be mingled with a true fire, and thy Soul may be raised up with the due con­sideration of what thou art about, and who thou art to deal withal.

THE Lord's Prayer. PARAPHRASED.

Our Father.

O Eternal and Glorious Lord God, for thou gavest at first Being to the Common Parents of all Mankind: Thou art our Father by Nature; we owe our own im­mediate Being more to Thee, than we do to our immediate Parents; for thou art the Father of our Spirits: Thou art our Father by our Preservation; we could not support our selves in being one mo­ment of time, without the uncessant in­fluence of thy Providence and Goodness: Thou art our Father by Adoption, recei­ving us in a more special manner to be [Page 204]thy Children in and through Jesus Christ. In all the course and passages of our lives, thou hast manifested unto us the Love, and Compassion, and Tender­ness, and Goodness, and Affection, and Kindness of a Father; Forgiving our offences, Healing our back-slidings, Pi­tying our weaknesses, Supplying our wants, Delivering us from dangers, Ac­cepting our weak endeavours to please and serve thee, Providing things neces­sary for us, and an Immortal inheritance of Glory and Happiness. Blessed be thy Name, that art pleased even from Heaven to commissionate us to come unto thee, & to call upon thee under that encourage­ing, comfortable, and near Relation and Title of our Father; which carries in it the most full and ample assurance of Au­dience and Acceptation: for with whom can we expect Acceptation or Access? from whom can we expect the conces­sion of what we need, if not from Our Fa­ther? to whom should we resort for sup­plies but to our Father?

Which art in Heaven.

It is true, the Fathers of our Flesh did bear to us Tenderness and Affection: but alas they were Mortal Fathers, Fathers on earth, Fathers that either are dead, or [Page 205]must dye. And besides, though their af­fections might be large to us, they were straitned in Power; they were Earthly Fathers; and possibly their affections to us were larger than their ability. But thou art our Father, an Abiding, Everlasting Father, a Father in Hea­ven. As thy Love is abundantly exten­ded to us as a Father, so thy Power and Ability to answer us is as large as thy Goodness. Thou art an Heavenly Father, an All-sufficient Father, we are not strait­ned in thy Love to us, because thou art our Father: neither are we straitned in thy Power, Wisdom, Goodness; for thou art Infinite in all thy Attributes. Isa. 66.1. And yet though thou art in Heaven as thy Throne, yet Earth is thy Footstool: though thou dwellest in the Heavens by the glo­rious manifestation of thy Majesty, yet the Heaven, 1 Kings 8.27. nor the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee. Thou art in all pla­ces by thy Power, Presence and Essence. Our Prayers have no long journey to thee; for thou art near unto us, and ac­quainted with all our thoughts, and wants, and desires. And thou art not on­ly present to hear our Prayers, but to Relieve, supply, support us; and art plea­sed by a special Promise to make the poor [Page 206]cottage of an humble, sincere, praying Soul to be thy Temple, and to be present there, Psal. 145.18. and to be near to all them that in integrity call upon thee.

Hallowed be thy Name.

And since thy Glory and Honour is the great End of all thy works, we desire that it may be the beginning and end of all our Prayers and Services. Let thy great Name be Glorious, and Glorified and Sanctified through all the World: Isa. 11.9. Let the knowledge of thee fill all the Earth, as the waters cover the Sea: Let that be done in the World that may most advance thy Glory: Let all thy works Praise thee: Let thy Wisdom, Power, Justice, Good­ness, Mercy and Truth be evident unto all Man-kind, that they may observe, ac­knowledge and admire it, and Magnifie the Name of thee, the Eternal God. In all the dispensations of thy Providence enable us to see thee, and to sanctifie thy Name in our hearts with Thankfulness, in our lips with Thanksgiving, in our lives with Dutifulness and Obedience: Enable us to live to the Honour of that great Name of thine by which we are called; and that as we profess our selves to be thy Children, so we may study and sincerely endeavour to be like thee in all [Page 207]Goodness and Righteousness, that we may thereby bring Glory to thee Our Father, which art in Heaven: that we and all Man-kind may have high and Ho­nourable thoughts touching thee, in some measure suitable to thy Glory, Ma­jesty, Goodness, Wisdom, Bounty and Pu­rity; and may in all our words and actions manifest these inward Thoughts touching thee, with suitable and becom­ing Words and Actions.

Thy King­dom come.

Let thy Kingdom of Grace come. Let all the World become the true subjects of thee, the Glorious God. And let the Gospel of thy Kingdom; the everlasting Gospel, run victoriously over the face of the whole World; Revel. 11.15. that the Kingdoms of the Earth may become the Kingdom of God and of his Christ. Let thy Grace, and thy Fear, and thy Love, and thy Law rule in all our hearts, and in the hearts of all Man-kind. And subdue and exterminate the Kingdom of darkness, the Kingdom of Satan, the Kingdom of Anti-Christ, bring all Men to the knowledge and Obe­dience of the Truth: and let the Scepter of thy Kingdom be set up and upheld as long as the Sun endureth. And let thy Kingdom of Glory come. Also make us [Page 208]fit Vessels of it, and that having this hope, we may perfect holiness in thy fear, 2 Cor. 7.1. 2 Pet. 3.12. wait­ing for, and hastning unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the day wherein he shall deliver up the Kingdom unto the Father, 1 Cor. 15.24.28. that God may be all in all.

Thy will be done.

And since thy Will is a most Holy, Righteous, Gratious, Just and Wise Will, let it be evermore our choice, to make thy will to be ours, and to resign up our wills unto thee, and to thy Will. Let the will of thy Counsel be done: and although we know it is not in the power of Men or Devils to hinder it, yet so we do testifie our duty unto thee, in praying that no­thing may impede or retard the Will of thy Counsels; for thy Counsels are full of Goodness, and Benignity, and Purity, and Righteousness. And we beg thee to give us hearts most entirely to wait upon thee, in whatsoever thou shall appoint concerning us: that if thou shalt give us Prospeirity and success in this life, we may receive it with all Thankfulness and Hu­mility; and use it with Sobriety, Mode­ration and Faithfulness: if thou shalt send us Adversity, we may entertain it with all Submissiveness, Patience, Contented­ness; [Page 209]chearfully submitting to the Di­spensation of our Heavenly Father; ever acknowledging thy Will to be the best Will, and that whereunto it becomes us with all Humility to submit to; and in the mid'st of all to rejoyce that our Por­tion, and Patrimony; and Happiness is re­served for us in a better life. And as we desire the Will of thy Counsels may be done upon us, so we desire the Will of thy Commands may be done by us, and by all Man-kind; that we may conform our Hearts and Lives to the Rule of thy Bles­sed Word, that we may live in all Piety to thee our God, in all Righteousness to­wards men, in all Sobriety towards our selves; that we may follow those Precepts and Patterns of Holiness, Righteousness, Justice; Temperance, Patience, Goodness; Charity, and all other Moral and Chri­stian Vertues, that thou hast in thy Word commanded or propounded for our Pra­ctice and Imitation.

In Earth at it is in Hea­ven.

And that this Obedience unto Thee and thy Will, may be performed by us and all Man-kind in some measure answerable to what is done by thy Glorious Angels in Heaven: that we (may) do it Chear­fully without Murmuring; Sincerely [Page 210]without Dissimulation; Speedily with­out Delay or Procrastination; and Con­stantly and Uncessantly without Defici­ency or Fainting: And that we may not at all fail in our duty herein, be pleased daily more and more to reveal thy Hea­venly Will unto us, that so our Wills on Earth may answer thy Will in Heaven: and keep us alwaies careful and circum­spect, in sincerity and integrity of heart, to keep close unto it; that neither the corruptions of our own hearts, the se­ducements of Satan, the deceits of this present World, may at any time with­draw us from the Obedience of thy most Perfect and Holy Will.

Give us this day our daily Bread.

And now, most Gracious Father, as we have Petitioned Thee for things that more immediately concern thy Glory, Kingdom and Will, we beg Thee to give us leave to Petition Thee for some things that more immediately concern our selves. Blessed Lord, thou hast given us our Be­ing; and yet when thou hast so given it us, we cannot support our selves in that Be­ing one day, nay onemoment, without thy further Influence and Bounty. We there­fore beg of Thee our Daily Bread, and in that all the Blessings and convenient Ne­cessaries for our support. We beg bread [Page 211]for this Life: Thou that feedest the young Ravens when they cry, we, that are thy Children, beg of Thee to feed us with food convenient for us: Thou that cloathest the Lillies of the field, give us cloathing for our covering and defence; and all those necessaries and convenient supplies for our wants and conditions. And be­cause it is thy Blessing that giveth our Food ability to nourish us, our Cloaths to keep us warm, and all other outward supplies, their serviceableness and useful­ness for our Conditions, we beg thy Blessing may come along with thy Bene­fits. And because it is part, as well of our Duty, as of that State and Condition wherein thou hast placed us in this Life, that in the sweat of our brows we should eat our bread, enable us, we beseech Thee, for the Duties of our several Call­ings and Imployments; and bless our Labours, that we may serve Thee faith­fully therein, and may be enabled there­by honestly to provide for our selves and Families. And as we beg of Thee this meat that perisheth, the convenient sup­plies of our external conditions in this life; so, we beseech Thee, give us that Bread that may feed us unto everlasting life; an Interest in the Righteousness and Me­rits [Page 212]of thy Son Jesus Christ, thy Grace, and the Direction, Guidance, and Sancti­fication of thy Holy Spirit; whereby we may be directed, strengthned and com­forted in a walking according to thy Will here, and may everlastingly enjoy thy Presence and Glory hereafter.

And forgive us our Tres­passes.

Thou art the great Creator, Lord and Governor of all the World; and art in a more special relation the Soveraign, the Father, the great Benefactor of Man-kind; and therefore may'st most justly expect from the children of Men our uttermost Love, and Fear, and Reverence and Obe­dience: and thou hast by the Light of Na­ture, and by that greater Light of thy Ho­ly Word, revealed unto us a most Holy and Righteous Law, to which we owe a most entire and sincere Obedience: and yet notwithstanding all these obligati­ons, we poor sinful Creatures do daily and hourly violate that Holy Law of thine, both in Thought, Word and Deed: we omit much of what thou requirest of us; and we commit often what thou for­biddest us: we are deficient in the remem­brance of thee, in our Love to thee, in our Fear of thee. We often omit those Duties that thou requirest, of Invocation, [Page 213]Thanksgiving, Dependance; and when we perform them, they want that due measure of Love, Humility, Reverence, Intention of mind, that thou most justly dost require and deserve: we omit those duties of Charity, Justice, Righteousness, that we owe to others; that Sobriety, Temperance, Moderation, Vigilance, that relate to our selves; and we daily commit offences against thee, the Glorious God; against our neighbours; against our selves; contrary to the injunctions of thy Holy Law revealed to us: and these we often reiterate against Mercies, Chastisements, Promises of better Obedience. And al­though many of our Neglects and Offen­ces immediately concern our selves or others, yet they are all offences against thy Holy and Righteous Law; and against that Subjection, and Obedience, and Du­ty, and Thankfulness, that we owe unto thee. And when we have done all this, we are not able to make thee any satisfaction, for any of the least of our offences or neg­lects, but only to confess our Guilt, and to beg thy Mercy, Pardon and Forgiveness. We therefore come unto thee, who art our Lord and Soveraign, whose Preroga­tive it is to forgive Iniquity, Transgressi­on and Sin; to thee, which art our Father, [Page 214]who art full of Pity and Compassion to thy Children, though disobedient and backsliding Children; to thee, who art a Father of Mercies as well as of Men; and hast delight in Forgiving thy disobedient and returning and repenting Children: and we confess our Sins, our backslidings, our failings. And upon the account of thy own Mercy and Goodness, upon the ac­count of thy Son's Merits and Sufferings, upon the account of thy own Promises contained in that Word, whereupon thou hast caused thy Servants to trust, Pardon the sins of our Duties, and the sins of our Lives; the sins of our Natures, and the sins of our Practice; the sins of our Thoughts, Words and Actions; the sins of Omission, and the sins of Commission; the sins of Infirmity, Failing and daily Incur­sion, and the sins of Wilfulness, Presump­tion and Rebellion, whereof we stand guilty before thee. Our Request, we con­fess, is great. The Debt whereof we desire Forgiveness, is a great and a vast debt: but we ask it of the great and glorious Mo­narch of the World; we ask it of our gra­cious and merciful Father; and from that glorious God, who rejoyceth more in mul­tiplying Pardons upon repenting sinners, than the Children of Men can delight in offending.

As we for­give them that Tres­pass against us.

And besides all this, we have been taught by him that knew thy Will to the full, that if we from our hearts forgive those that trespass against us, thou that art our Heavenly Father wilt forgive us our Trespasses against thee. Upon this Promise of thine we lay hold. In obedi­ence to thy Commands, we forgive our brethren their offences against us, and beg thee therefore to make good that thy Promise, of Forgive us our offences. It is true, our forgiving of others cannot me­rit thy Pardon of us. When we forgive, we do but our duty, because thou com­mandest it. And besides, the Trespass that we remit is but to our Brother, and is but a small inconsiderable trespass, in comparison of those Trespasses whereof we beg the forgiveness of Thee: his Trespass not an hundred pence, ours more than ten thousand talents. Yet, blessed Lord, give us leave to lay hold upon thy Promise, which thou haft free­ly made, and to strengthen our hearts in this, that that God that hath commanded us to forgive our repenting Brother, will not deny a Pardon to his repenting Chil­dren; and that God that hath been plea­sed to promise forgiveness to us upon our forgiveness of others, is a God of Truth [Page 216]and Faithfulness, as well as a Father of Mercies: and though our forgiveness of our Brother cannot in any proportion deserve our God's forgiveness of us, yet when the God of Truth hath freely inga­ged himself by his Word to forgive us, if we forgive, he will never break it: and he that hath raised in our hearts by his Grace this Merciful temper and disposition to­wards others, hath thereby given us a pledge of his Mercy and Goodness unto us in Pardoning all our offences.

And lead us not into Temp­tation.

And because we are weak and frail Creatures, subject to be overcome with every Temptation to depart from our duty to thee; and we hourly converse with all varieties of Temptations; Temp­tations from the World; Temptations from Satan, the Prince of this World; and, which is the worst of all, Temptati­ons from our own sinful hearts, corrupt natures, unruly affections; and without thy continual Grace Preventing or Assist­ing us, the least of all these our Enemies and Temptations are able to over-match us: And because we are obnoxious to Temptations in all our actions, in all our conditions, in all our wants, and in all our enjoyments; in our lawful actions we are [Page 217]subject to the Temptation of Immodera­tion and Excess; in our religious actions, to Formality and Vain-Glory; in our Pro­sperity, to Pride and Forgetfulness of thee; in Adversity, to Murmuring, and Discon­tent, and Accusing of thy Providence; un­der Injuries, to Vindictiveness and immo­derate Anger; under Comforts and En­joyments, to Security and Abatement of our Love to thee, and setting up our hopes and our rest upon the present World; in our Knowledge, to vain and impertinent Curiosity, Pride and Self-conceit; in cases of Wants, to unlawful Means for our sup­plies; in case of Abundance, to Luxury, In­temperance and Contempt of others; in Sickness, to Impatience; in Health, to Pre­sumption and Forgetfulness of our latter ends; in our Callings, either to Negligence, Unfaithfulness and Idleness on the one hand, or to overmuch Solicitousness and vexation on the other hand: If we are in Company, we are in danger to be mis­guided by evil Perswasions or Examples from others; if we are alone, we are apt to be corrupted by the evil suggestions of our own corrupt hearts, or of that evil one, that watcheth all opportunities, ei­ther to seduce or mischief us. And since all our ways are before thee, and thou [Page 218]knowest the snares that are in them, and how to prevent them, or to prevent us from them, or to preserve us against them, we beseech thee, by thy Pro­vidence preserve us from all those Temptations which thou knowest to be too strong for us; and by thy Grace pre­serve us from being overcome by those Temptations, that unavoidably occur in all our actions and conditions. Grant us the Spirit of Watchfulness and Sobriety, the Spirit of Moderation and Humility, the Spirit of Patience and Wisdom, the Spirit of Faith and Dependance, and the Spirit of the Love and Fear of thy Maje­sty, that may support us against all those Temptations unto any sin, that may oc­cur in the course and passages of our Lives; that though thy Providence should permit us to fall into Temptation, we may not fall under it, but by thy Grace be delivered from the evil of it.

But deliver us from Evil.

Deliver us therefore, we pray thee, from Evil of all kinds and natures: from the Evil of Sin, and from the evil of Suf­fering; from such Evils as may befal our Souls, either to disturb and discompose them, or to defile and corrupt them; from the Evils that may befal our Bodies, by Casualties or Diseases; from the Evils [Page 219]that may befal our Estates by Losses and Calamities; from the Evils that may be­fal our good Names by Calumnies and Slanders; from the Evil that may befal our Relations in any kind; from Pub­lique Evils to the Church or State, wherein we live; from Private Evils to our selves or others.

For thine is the King­dome.

And though in this short Prayer we have been bold to ask of thee many large and ample Benefits and Mercies, which, if we look upon our selves only, seem too great for us to ask, yet they are not too great for thee to give; for thou art the great King and Soveraign Lord of all the World, in comparison of whom, all the Kings of the Earth are but small inconsi­derable things; and yet even their Ho­nour is much advanced by Beneficence and Bounty; all which nevertheless is but a drop in comparison of that Ocean of Goodness and Bounty and Beneficence, that resides in, and hourly flows from Thee, the great Monarch of the whole World. Thy Subjects are all of thy own making; and all the good that is in them, or enjoyed by them, is derived from thee to them. The Strength and Glory and Beauty and Excellence of thy Kingdom [Page 220]is not derived from thy Subjects, but from thy Self to them. And therefore, though my Petitions be great, they are fit to be such, because directed to the Mighty Creator and King and Monarch of the whole Universe, the Root and Fountain of all Being and Goodness.

The Power.

And as thou art the Great Soveraign of all the World, and art invested with the Supream Authority, so thou art the great Creator of all things, and art in­vested with Infinite Power and All-Suf­ficiency. And as thou hast the Supream Authority, so thou hast Boundless Power to grant and effect what we have asked. As thou art the Great and Glorious King of Heaven and Earth, and the Father of all Mankind, we have reason to be con­fident in thy Goodness and Beneficence. And as thou art the Almighty Creator, we have assurance of thy Power, to give us whatsoever thy Wisdom and Good­ness doth move thee to bestowe. And therefore upon both accounts we have reason to be confident in the obtaining of what we ask in this Prayer from the great Lord of all things, that is Abundant in Goodness, and All-sufficient in Power.

And the Glory.

And although thy Infinite All-suffici­ency and Glory can receive no increase from thy Creatures, yet give us leave with Humility to press Thee ever with this argument also: Thou hast been plea­sed to declare unto us, That thy Glory is thy great end of all thy Works, and art pleased to set the greatest value that may be upon thy own Glory; and art pleased to command thy Creatures to Glorifie Thee; and dost accept that small Tribute of Praise and Thanksgiving and Glorify­ing of thy Name from thy Creatures in good part. Thou hast the Glory of our Dependance upon Thee, which we testi­fie by invoking thy Great Name; thou wilt have the Glory of thy Goodness, thy Power, thy Bounty in granting these our Petitions, and Requests; and the Glory of our Praises and Thanksgivings for thy Bounty and Goodness in accept­ing and answering them; which though it cannot benefit Thee, yet it is all thy poor Creatures can return unto Thee, and thou hast declared thy self well plea­sed with it. Psal. 50.32. He that offereth Praise glo­rifieth Thee.

Amen.

Blessed Lord, therefore be it according to these our Petitions and Desires: and [Page 222]so much the rather, because these our Requests, are not the product of our own Imaginations and weak Judgments; but that Son of thine, who best knew thy Will, and what thou wouldest grant, hath taught us thus to Ask, and com­manded us thus to thus to Pray. Luk. 11.2. When ye pray, say, Our Father, &c.