Discourse of the Gospel of Peace, Tract 2 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
SECT. I.
FROM the Words explained as before, I shall lay down this Proposition.
That he who governs his own Spirit, is a better Man than he that makes a Conquest of a multitude of other Mens Bodies and external Possessions. Or,
That it is Man's Excellency to govern his own Spirit.
This is that wherein he excels the Brutes, who are carried by a mere Impetus of Inclination or Aversation. It is that wherein he excels the far greater Number of Men, who so far unman themselves, as to be hurried blind-fold by their Passions, knowing no other Law or Interest but their Appetites, no other Happiness or Satisfaction, but making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof.
This brutal feral Power subservient to Ends more vile than it self, may render Men greater, but 'tis the Government of a Man's own Spirit that renders him better than others: That by its appearances may carry the Opinion of Fools, this as real and substantial, obtains the Preference with God and all wise Men.
It is this Government of the Spirit wherein the Righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour. The holy Scriptures give us no Encomiums, no Elogies of Praise in the Memorials of great Conquerors, for that mere Consideration, but often the contrary: But the Volume of that sacred Testimony is every where furnished with the Commendations of those Men, who were so much Men and Saints, as by the Grace of God, governed their own Spirits, crucified the old Man with its Affections and Lusts, lived by Rule, ordered their Conversations aright.
'Tis said of Aaron that he held his Peace, i. e. heLevit. 10. 3. held so straight a Rein upon his Passions, that (his Sons Nadab and Abihis being devoured by strange Fire from the Lord, for offering strange Fire to the Lord in contempt of his Command) he sanctified the Severity of God, acknowledging by his Silence, that the Breach made on his Family by so stupendious a Judgment was just; so just and necessary as it became him to revere it; and he well content that God should vindicate his own Honour, though so much to his Cost. And probably it was for this that he obtained the Honour, which no Man ever obtained but he, scil. to be recorded in Scripture under that high Character, Aaron the Saint of the Psal. 106. 16.Lord.
Job had the greatest Tryals that ever Man had, enough to have routed the Patience, and broken the Consistency of the greatest Composure and Fortitude; but he held the Helm in his Hand, he kept himself steady, while the Storm of unparallel'd Providences made a wrack of all but a perverse Wife. In all this (saith the Text) Job sinned not with his Lips, nor charged God foolishly. Ye have heard ofJob 2. 10. the Patience of Job. The Devil designed to proveJam. 5. 11. Job an Hypocrite in his Appearances of Piety, and God a Liar in saying Job was such an upright Man: but by Job's ruling his Spirit, the Devil was confounded, God and his Servant Job justified▪ and the Words of the Text are the matter of God's Triumph and Glorying in Job thus ruling and over-ruling his own Spirit.
In order to this Excellency the Apostle Paul wisely prepared himself against the Tyranny of Custom or Superstition in indifferent things. All things are lawful, but I will not be brought under the Power of 1 Cor. 6. 12.any; i. e. neither my Passions, nor those of others shall usurp Authority over my Understanding or my Liberty to act accordingly.
Above all other Examples to this End, those of our blessed Redeemer excelled in the steady Government of his own Spirit; he was in all things purely Heb. 4. 15.natural of the same Make with the rest of Mankind; he had the same Affections, was equally exposed to Hunger, Thirst, Pain, Weariness; his Temptations exceeded those of any other: Yet under all he so governed his Spirit, that nothing of Disorder was to be found in it. His Affections moved not, but at the Command of a sanctified Will, guided by a clear and pure Understanding: He had nothing of that Corruption within him, that in us ecchoes to the Call of Temptations from without; when he was reviled, he reviled not again: The Agitations of his Soul was like that of the most pure Water, retaining its Clearness, (though shaken) and nothing sullied with those Dregs which lodg in us, and are so easily stirred and mix themselves with our best Motions.
The highest Instance of the Rule of his Spirit appeared in that Scene which some of his Detracters have dared to charge with the manifest Tokens of Weakness and Pusillanimity. My Soul (saith he) is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death.—O my Mark 14. 34.Father, if it be possible, let this Cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Our Saviour in these Passages most abundantly expresses the just and due Measures by which his Passions moved. He permitted those deep Impressions of that Prospect he had of his dying Sufferings, as they were Penal, (not for his own Faults, for he was most perfectly innocent, but) as in them he bare the Punishment of our Sins in his own Body and Soul. In all of this Nature he was voluntarily complying therein with his Love to faln Man, and that Obedience and Duty wherein he was by his own Consent obliged to his Father. And though his Fortitude was infinitely beyond any Man's, by which he could have faced the severest and most terrifying Objects, without the least change of Countenance or depression of his Spirits: yet he did not so, because he ought not; his Duty as Mediator (and being under that peculiar Law) was to suffer, and to chuse Suffering. He was sent and came into the World to that very End, which never was the case of any Man but of him.
And whereas his ardent Prayer, that if possible that Cup might pass from him, hath been by some Adversaries of Christianity reflected on as a kind of Repentence of his great Undertaking; There is nothing in it but what answered the Conduct of the most deep Wisdom, and the answer of the most stayed and well-govern'd Affections.
The Spirit and Grace of God which dwelt in our Lord Jesus without measure, did not destroy or abate in him any thing of that which was purely natural. Death, as a dissolution of those Bands of Union between the Soul and the Body, was a proper and sinless object of Fear: But as his Death was accompanied with Pain and Sufferings to such a degree, as answered to what was due to them whom he redeemed, it was to be feared to a degree proportionable.
And as this Fear was a part of his Suffering (which was so necessary to his Body and Soul, being made a Sacrifice and Offering for Sin,) so it was but the Motion of pure Nature, of pure natural Affection; which to be without is reckoned by the Spirit of God, to be not only a Sin in it self, but also a cause of2 Tim. 2. 3. those that should render the last Days so perilous.
But herein shined especially the Government our blessed Redeemer had of his own Spirit, that he could give to pure natural Fear such a Scope as became him; and yet make so full and perfect a stop, when its farther Advance would have usurped on the Soveraignty of the Divine Law; of that Divine Law which obliges by both the Light of Nature, and that of Evangelical Grace, to sacrifice some natural Rights to his Glory and the Good of our Brethren; trusting to the Divine Benignity to make a full Compensation some other way.
And by so much the more, as his pure natural Fear, Aversation and Abhorrence of so great a Misery was risen in his Soul; so much the more noble and conspicuous was the Government of his Passions, in their not so much as relucting against the Divine Will, abstracting perfectly from such an Evil; yea from the Consideration of the Divine Will, that so he must suffer; they, even those Affections assist in forwarding his Sufferings; and a greater Zeal appears for suffering than ever was of a Fear and Abhorrence of it. The Roman Heroes did not with so great a Resolution cast themselves into the gaping Chasm, as he into this manifold Hell of Misery. He seemed afraid lest his Adversaries should by mistake miss their Prey, or his Friends should feel one Spark of that Fire, which he was designed to embrace and quench in his own Bosom.
Whom seek ye? (says he to these who sought his Blood) I am he. Let these go their way. AndJohn 18. 7, 8. elsewhere; I have a Baptism to be baptised with, and O how I am straitned till it be accomplished! ThisLuke 12. 50. Cross of our Lord Jesus was the greatest Tryal, and the greatest Proof of the Government and Rule of his Spirit, that in so great a Difference and seeming Contrariety of Duties, he could answer all with that Exactness, as if he had been a mere Intelligence, and had nothing of humane Passions or Affections moving in him. This was a most perfect Proof and Exemplar of the Excellency of governing our Spirits.
SECT. II.
The Goodness of governing our own Spirits, above that of Power over the Persons and Concerns of other Men.
First, The governing a Man's own Spirit hath in it much more of Generosity and true Greatness.
What Greatness of Spirit is in those Men, who are so feeble as to be hurried on by vicious Passions; obstinately bent to have their Wills how blind and unreasonable soever in themselves, and mischievous and destructive to others? What mighty Vertue or worthy of Praise, to thirst after the Applause of Greatness, and a remembrance to Posterity as an Heroe, by a mad hair-braind World, who have generally had so poor a Spirit as to flatter Greatness for fear its Weight should otherwise crush them. Certainly mere Power subduing others, without any Consideration of Right, Justice, or any Vertue (for 'tis such a Power and Domination we speak of) is the most feeble and slavish in it self, and the most pernicious to Mankind.
I can hardly believe that any Man who has a sense of that great after-reckoning, which all Men must make with the most high and holy God; would not rather choose in that dreadful Day to stand before God an humble, meek, self-denying mortified Believer (tho the most obscure Person in the World) who hath endeavoured to live according to a divinely inlightned and sanctified Reason, than an Alexander or a Julius Caesar, a Dyonisius, or any that have been the very Image of the great Abaddon.
But he that governs his own Spirit is truly great and generous: His Conflicts are the most just and also the most difficult. It is no great matter for a Man to ride over other Mens Bellies whom he hates, as cross to his Ambition and Self-will: but to turn our Weapons into our own Bosoms, and stab those Lusts that have been dearer to us than our very Souls; those Lusts that were bred and born in us, from the Service of which we have drawn all our sensual Delights, and those sweet Dreams of Felicity wherein we have blessed our selves, and have had our grateful Sentiments, accompanied with the Consent and Applauses of the Generality of Mankind; and those in vogue for wise sagacious Persons: This is great indeed; especially considering that the Strugles of these inordinate Affections are so strong, continuate,Mat. 18. 8, 9. and near to us, that every blow we reach them, we feel the Smart of, at least so long as their Interest is great in us, as if it were a wounding our selves, and a Dagger piercing our own Bowels. I will add, what renders it most generous, viz. that this bridling our Affections, and mortifying their corrupt and extravagant Motions, is to reduce our selves to a right and sanctified Reason to serve the Will and Interests of God and his Glory, which is the most becoming an intelligent Being that is his Creature, as 'tis the only genuine Gratitude to, and Acknowledgment of his Creator, and the only wise Method for obtaining Holiness and Happiness which are inseparable.
A governing and bridling a Man's own Spirit, from far less generous Principles, was deemed by the better sort of Heathens more great and glorious than their other Victories. Alexander the Great gloriedQuin. Curt. in Vitâ. more in his abstinence from beholding the temptatious Beauties of the Captive Persian Women, than in subduing to his Will the Persons and Possessions of their Princes. Agesilaus a King of Sparta, refusing the Kisses of a beautiful Boy, and being by some Lookers-on wondred at, and in some kind reproved Plut. in Vitâ.as too morose, replied, that he would give away one half of his Kingdom to be able to resist such another Temptation.
This self-Government is that Greatness and Generosity that renders a Man so free, as 'tis not in the Power of bad Men, nor the evil Angels neither to enslave him. This Notion was the Philosopher's Glory; but the Christian's is so much more glorious, that the Glory of mere Philosophers is no Glory by reason of that Christian Glory which so far excelleth it. A singular Instance of this Christian Greatness we have in the Apostle Paul: None of these things move me: I stand as a Rock against all their Billows: The strong Winds and Storms that beat onActs 24. 20. my outward Concerns, do not so reach my inward Man as to make any Commotion there, much less so as to remove me through a base Fear of suffering from my Duty.
Another Expression of the same Gospel Hero is, God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus, by whom the World is crucified unto Gal. 6. 14.me, and I unto the World. He accounted nothing more great and generous, than to be as much above, or out of the reach of the World's Temptations, as a dead Man: Nor any thing conducing to this Greatness so much as the Cross of Christ, i. e. the practical Knowledg of a crucified Redeemer. So that in fine, this Government of our own Spirits is not only better than that other Might and Dominion to which it is opposed; but, 'tis also more mighty, overcomes greater Difficulties, and its very Power as Moral, much more as Christian, has a Goodness in it equal to its Power; yea the very Power is Goodness in the Principle, and its Exercise is Goodness in the Practice.
Secondly, The ruling of our own Spirits is our Duty, and a Compliance with that which is the true and only Measure of Goodness.
A Man beside his Duty, is so far vain and waste; a Man opposite to his Duty, is so far vile, polluted a Sinner, a crooked deformed thing. This only have Eccl. 7. 29: foreignI found, that God made Man upright, but they have sought out many Inventions. God made Man streight or as the Hebrew, most significantly [right]. He made him right what he ought to be, every way adapted and disposed to his Duty, and the holy Ends of his Being. And this was that Goodness which God saw in him, which he calls very good: Yea, for the sake of this his perfect disposedness to Goodness, which was not then crook'd by any perverse ungoverned Passion; all the rest of the Creation with him was said to be very good, being capable by Man to reach their final End, the glorifying their Creator.
Power and Dominion by Conquest or Force over others may be our Sin. And though the Violence of Arms is in some cases not only lawful, but a necessary Duty; yet 'tis rare that either that, or its End, or both, be not as sinful against God, as miserable to Men. And 'tis one part of the Goodness of the Government of our own Spirits, that it can spare those Powers in their best Exercise; for did every one govern his own Spirit, the Sword of Justice would rust in its Sheath. The Law is not made for a righteous Man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the Ʋngodly and Sinners, for Ʋnholy and Profane, 1 Tim. 1. 9. foreign.&c. It is made for, and to be executed upon the lawless, and them only: upon them who are not a Law to themselves, who do not, by the Law embraced and written in the Heart, govern their own Spirits.
Thirdly, To rule our own Spirits, is (beyond all dispute) every Man's own Business and Concern.
He that rules his own Spirit, discharges his own Province. He is not a Busie-body in other Mens matters in so doing. Who was ever charged as an Evil-doer, an Oppressor, a Breaker of the Peace, an Usurper of the Rights of another, for ransacking his own Heart and Ways to the bottom; for exercising a Dominion over himself; directing to that which is right to God, to Men, to himself; correcting what is amiss, and restraining his own Spirit as with a Bridle, that it may not pass its due Bounds, in thought, word or deed?
Keep thy Heart with all Diligence: for out of it Prov. 4. 2…are the Issues of Life. This is a Province, the discharge of which is committed to every Man by the Supream Authority of God himself. It may be a pertinent Question, and a just Rebuke to some in some cases, Who made thee thy Brother's Keeper? Who made thee a Lord or a Ruler over Ʋs? But a Man's ruling himself, correcting his own Disorders, was never imputed as a Crime by God or Man.
But Might, and the forcing others by its Violence, though so necessary that there were no living without it in so licentious a World, yet how ordinarily doth it break over its proper Channel, and prove Ruinous by its Excess? How much more often is it taken into, and abused by those Hands that have nothing to do with it? There is a double Fault, where Wrong is done by him who hath no Authority to do Right.
It is too natural to every Man to be desirous that all Men should be under the check of Government and Correction but himself: Therefore Might or Power is fearful to its Neighbour. He that has it, can rarely keep it quiet, that like Fire it take not hold of his Neighbour's House. Be not afraid Psal. 49. 16.(saith the Text) when one is made rich.
What need this Caution, this Inhibition? Riches are a Man's Happiness: He that attains them, is esteemed a blessed Man, all Men commend and honour him; Whiles he lived, he blessed himself: and Men V. 18.will praise thee when thou doest well to thy self. This Estate seems rather to move Envy than Fear. But there is somewhat certainly in Riches, of which the wise Men saith it answereth all things, that tempts Men to fear also. In short, a Man that hath them, hath the means in a great degree to do Good, there is no fear of that indeed: But also to do Evil, there's the Fear. Mens Hearts are generally so bad, that they will do Evil, if for no other cause but this, that it is in the Power of their Hand. Riches and Power areMic. 2. 1. mostly; as much Provender, little Work, and no Bridle to a mettl'd Horse, that kicks and flings at all near him, 'tis Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Rom. 13. 14.Lu…s thereof.
Might and Power knows no Bounds, but what it cannot break over: It doth not intermeddle with all Wisdom, but it will intermeddle with all Mens doings and interests; to subdue them to be his own, or at his own dispose; 'tis a great Ingrosser and Usurper, where self-Government doth not bank and bound it to the Channel and Service of Vertue. Wo to them that devise Iniquity, and work Evil upon their Beds; when the Morning is light, they practise it; because it is in the Power of their Hand. And they covet Fields, and take them by Violence, and Houses, and take them away; so they oppress a Man and his House, even a Man and his Heritage.
Fourthly, Ruling our own Spirits by Christ's Rule, hath the most excellent Principles, and the highest Ends.
There may be a ruling our Spirits, which is but a Mis-rule, bending them from one Crookedness to another: But where the Rule of Christ is the Rule by, and to which we endeavour to manage our Spirits: This governing hath Principles and Ends that have no Parallel for Goodness and true Greatness.
For its Principles, shall I give you that first which is first (in order of being) of all Christian Vertues or Graces, Evangelical sanctifying Faith.
That Faith, by which we have a Prospect of those Motives, that are of greater weight in the Ballance, than the All of this lower World. That Faith byGal. 2. 20. which we adhere to God's Will, trusting on God's Word; who can as soon die as lie, cease to be God as cease to be true, and can as easily perform hisEp. 2. 12. Promises as speak them: That Faith by which we enter into the Covenant of Grace. and become (I dare not say Confederates with God, but) Foederati, or Parties to that Covenant, wherein God hath graciously become bounden to us. That Faith by which we become so united to Christ, as to be his Members; Members of a Divine Head, and Head of Influence, from whom Faith derives a Power,Col. 2. 19. greater and better than ever subsisted in any more Man without it. I will only add one Quality more of this Principle; viz. that it sanctifies the Heart; which is to say, it purifies our Affections, as well as impowers us in the pursuing their Objects.
A second Principle is Love, a holy, a Divine Love, a Divine Love, as it hath principally a Divine Object, and a Divine Original and Author, and in a way supernatural derived to us. 'Tis the Love that is the Chariot of the Government of a Christian's Spirit; the Vehicle of its Motions. A Chariot the midst Can. 3. 10.thereof being paved with Love. What more powerful than Love? What more sweetning to doing or suffering? What more regular in its designs and Tendencies than a holy Love?
A third Principle (which is not the meanest) is a Principle of Righteousness, an inherent prevailing Disposition to give to every one their due, and to God in the first place. This Principle is that which we commonly call Honesty. And indeed that Rule that is governing, that is on the bottom of pure impartial Honesty, must needs excel. The Apostle gives us three Qualifications of what he commendsPhil. 3. 8. to us; True, honest, just; And they seem all to intend much the same thing. When once a Man comes to this Point, that he will not, he dares not do or be otherwise than becomes him, than is his Duty; He loves Righteousness, and hates Iniquity: ThatPsal. 45. 7. Man's ordering and managing his Spirit must be lovely, truly comely and excellent. I might add the Principle of Gratitude, the most generous of all, and most abounding in a real Christian, who, in all his ways is designed to acknowledg God; such a due Object of highest Gratitude from all Men, that he that lives in the Neglect of it, is an ungrateful Wretch; let him complement his Fellow-sinners at what rate he will.
The Ends of governing our Spirits according to Christian Principles are more excellent, being especially five, which I shall but name.
1. To reduce it to, and maintain it in its Rectitude.
2. To live more happily: This Rectitude being as conducible to it, as Health is to bodily Happiness. To serve our Generation, which is next to be preferred after our selves, and sometimes before our selves.
3. It hath for its End a preparedness for Heaven.
The Grace of God in us, though it be nothing meritorious of the State of the Blessed; yet it is that which renders us meet to be Partakers of th… Inheritance of the Saints in Light. It is Gratia Col. 1. 12.disponens, that which fits us for Heaven. An unmortified Spirit, wherein the Lusts and Passions of Men are unbridled, and take their Swing, and are not subdued so far as a sincere Disposition to Holiness and Pursuit of it, is no way capable of thisRom. 9. 23. Blessedness. The Vessels designed for Glory, must be before prepared unto Glory, wrought for the selfsame 2 Cor. 5. 5.thing. Every Imagination and high Thought must (in sincere designation) be brought under the Obedience of Christ.
I know not how Men of any Discretion and impartial Inquiry into their own Hearts, can satisfy themselves of the Sincerity of their Disposition to this Obedience, who do not watch, and pray, and work to some degree of Industry for the obtaining of it; And, as the Apostle speaks, keep under their Bodies, i. e. use all means to bring their Affections into order; lest after all their presumptions of their Security for another World, they should prove Cast-aways.
4. They rule their Spirits, that they may in this World be to the Honour and Glory of God and the Redeemer.
These are none of the Principles from which, nor Ends for which Men ordinarily greaten and lift up themselves in the World by Force and Might: They are commonly Principles and Ends of quite another Nature, have nothing to do with things of so worthy a Character; self, corrupted self, is their Spring, and their Aims rise no higher.
5. The Advantage of governing our own Spirits above Power to subdue others, is, That to the overcoming and subduing others, many Hands are necessary beside our own, and thereby the Action and its Success is common to many: Whereas the Government of our own Spirits is our own peculiar Act. And although the Honour of every good Act especially is to God, as performed by his Grace; yet an Act which is peculiarly ours (which a Conquest over our selves is) doth give us a much greater share of the Character of Goodness, than what is dependent on thousands for the help of Heads, Hearts and Hands.
6. The Capacity of governing our own Spirits renders us capable of a Law, and the Ends of it, which is obtained by governing our Spirits.
Whether we consider a Law as the Law of God or Man (if a Law indeed) we are obliged to render Obedience to it. All Laws are supposed to have to do with rational Creatures, and the Scripture supposes, and affirms also, should be obeyed for Conscience sake; that is, not only an external politick Obedience is to be given them, but an internal and conscientious Obedience.
Divines and Philosophers agree, that mere Animals, on the consideration of their being without Reason, cannot be guilty of Sin or moral Polution, because they are not capable of a Law: Certainly this places them at a great distance below rational Creatures. To bring this home to our purpose; Doth not that highly contribute to our Goodness, that so far ranks us above Beasts? And indeed though a Man be a Man as to his essential Considerations, who is a Lawbreaker, a lawless Person, with whom a Law has no regard, and, as such, no effect; yet as being a Man, and yet so bad a Man, he becomes more vile than a Beast; as he that neglects and destroys the Ends of Reason, which is so great an Excellency, is more vile than that which never had such a trust, but acts suitably to its natural Principles tho of a lower kind.
7. We are able to resist Temptation, no farther than we have the Government of our own Spirits.
Temptation, whether from Men, or from the wicked one, is no Temptation to us, any farther than it finds or begets an Inclination to compliance with it. 'Tis this Inclination therefore that is to be disposed and ordered according to Duty: But he that doth not govern and rule his Affections, is like the Chaff driven to and fro with the Wind. Tinder or Gun-powder does not sooner take the Spark faln into it, nor is more violently affected by it, thanJohn 14. 30. an ungoverned Spirit by Temptations. The Prince of this World cometh (saith our Saviour, that great Commander of his own Spirit) and hath nothing in me, i. e. no inordinate Affection, no sinful Passion or Inclination for his Temptation to work upon, or that is of his Party. But was this a sufficient Security from the Prevalence of Temptation? No such matter; it was the compleat Government of his own Spirit, not only in the Habit and Power, but in the Act and Exercise also that was his Security. Tho some add the Impossibility of his Defection, because of the Hypostatical Union.
Adam in his Integrity, and the glorious Angels had nothing in them that inclined them to Sin. As they came out of God's Hand, there was a pure and entire Goodness in them; only they were in a Possibility of Defection: Their actual Defection, in the first Disposition to Sin, arose from their letting loose the Reins of the Government of their own Spirits, which they ought to have preserved untainted, and had Power to do so.
But how much more have we need to put the Bridle on our Spirits, that are already so full of Disorder, and wholly ingaged under the Power of Corruption to an Indisposition and aversion to Good, and a violent Disposition to Evil till sanctified? And God saw that the Wickedness of Man was great upon the Earth, and that every Imagination of the Gen. 6. 5.Thought of his Heart was only evil continually. Vain Man would be wise, though he be born as a wild Job 14.Asses Colt. And for those who have the new Creature born from Heaven in them; those holy Principles that dispose them to all Righteousness; they know, and Experience tells us, how great a Power of corrupt Affections and Lusts abide within them, insomuch that that Saint and Apostle, Paul, groans out this Complaint; O wtetched Man that I am, who shall deliver Rom. 7. 24.me from the Body of this Death?
8. That Man who can rule his own Spirit, is the most fit to rule other Men. This will hold true from the smallest Family to the greatest Monarchy. No Man so fit to govern others as he that hath first attained to the Government of himself. Magistracy is God's Ordinance, and Magistrates are in God'sstead, and bear his Name: But that which carries the exactest Image of God in it that they are capable of, is their extensive Knowledg, and being free from the Tyranny of any Passion. Solomon's large Heart so capacious of Knowledg, and of so generous a Greatness, did undoubtedly much adorn the Beginning of his Reign; but his Wisdom which preserved his Spirit in so great a Calm and Serenity, adorned it much more: It was this Government of his own Spirit that added to his reaching Head an understanding Heart: The exact Answer to that Prayer of his, inspired by the Divine Spirit; Give therefore thy Servant an understanding Heart, to judg thy People, and to discern between good and bad: His1 Kings 3. 9. Father David was a Man cut out for Government, as he was Master of his own Passions: The Lord hath sought him a Man after his own Heart; a Man1 Kings 3. 9. whose Will followed God's Will, not his own corrupt Inclinations. The greatest Instances of this was in his correcting those violent Passions of Revenge and Ambition, from so noble Principles as Duty and Loyalty, when the Life of Saul his implacable Enemy and unreasonable Injurer, was by so signal a Providence brought within his Power: He did not here, as some have done, plead Providence to justify the Breach of a Precept and his Duty, and make God himself serve with his Sins.
A Spirit of Power derived from the Spirit that is almighty sanctifies all our Powers, and renders the Political Powers, which are of God, to be for God; and that cannot be for the hurt, at least for the Injury of any. Happy those Kingdoms, those Countries, Cities, Families, whose Governours act their Parts without perverse unbridled Passions, moving in so exact and regular an Order, as not to be tempted out of it by any Man, no nor by themselves. This is an Excellency beyond compare, to be fit to be a God by resemblance among Men.
9. He that governs his own Spirit, is good in all his Relations; which no other can be.
This makes a Husband without Bitterness, and that dwells with his Wife, and uses his Superiority as a Man of Knowledg: This disposes a Wife to that Faithfulness and Respect as becomes her Place. Parents to rule Children so, as not to provoke them to Wrath, by correcting for their Pleasure, rather than the Childrens Profit: A Child to filial Respect and Obedience. A Master not to be froward, surly, threatning, but to give to his Servant that which is meet, and not to despise his Cause, when for his Right he meekly contends with him: A Servant to be faithful, diligent, obedient, and to bear Rebukes, and sometimes Corrections, not only for Evil, but also for well-doing; to carry it well, not only to the kind and gentle, but also to the froward. A Subject to honour, obey, and serve his Prince; not to expose the Infirmities of a Political Father through Levity or Malignity; much less to slander him, not to be unruly, troublesom, if their own Partialities are not countenanced; and to intermeddle with things belong not to him, but are above his Sphere; yea it will render a Prince to be indeed Pater Patriae, who will be well pleased that Salus Populi should be his Suprema Lex.
10. He who in good earnest designs and endeavours to rule his Spirit, cannot be a bad Man.
Though he may have Infirmities, he cannot be wicked; though he come not up to legal Perfection, he will not come short of Evangelical Sincerity; (supposing him acquainted with the Scriptures) he can neither be an Enemy to God in his Mind, nor an Heretick in his Opinion: Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo, is St. Austin's well known Saying. That of the Apostle is certainly the Character of a good Christian, who I think cannot be a bad Man; Herein (i. e. the Christian Principles) do I exercise my self, to have a Conscience void of Offence towards God, Acts 24. 16.and towards Men.
The Doctrine which asserts the Excellency of ruling our own Spirits, and the Goodness of those who bare this Rule, above all those that have natural Force, by which a Man prevails against others being thus far proved: I shall next consider what Improvement may be made of this important Truth.