Thirty-Six Sermons, Collection of sermons 2 · Group of sermons 1 · Sermon 2
AD AULAM.
The Second Sermon.
WHITEHALL, November 1632.
Prov. XVI. 7.
When a mans ways please the Lord, he maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him.
1.THE words contain two blessed fruits of a gracious conversation: the one more immediate and direct, Acceptance with God: the other more remote and by consequence from the former, Peace with men. Or, if you will, a Duty, and the Benefit of it: and these two coupled together (as they seldom go single) in one conditional Proposition consisting of an Antecedent and a Consequent: wherein we have Gods part and ours. Our part lieth in the Antecedent: wherein is supposed a Duty, which God expecteth from us ex Debito; and that is to frame our ways so as to please the Lord. Gods part lieth in the Consequent: wherein the benefit is expressed, which (when we have performed the Duty) we may comfortably expect from him ex promisso; and that is, to have our Enemies to be at peace with us. The Antecedent in those former words (when a mans ways please the Lord:) The Consequent in these latter (He maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him). Of the Antecedent first; wherein three things are observable: The Subject, the Act, and the Object. The Subject, A mans ways: The Act, Pleasing: The Object, The Lord. Each of which are first to be opened apart, for the clearer understanding of the words: and then to be laid together again, for the better enforcement of the thing contained therein, [When a mans ways please the Lord.]
2. A mans ways:] That is the Subject. A mans aforeign. Basil. in Psal. 1.whole carriage in the course of his life, with all his thoughts, speeches, and actions, whether good or bad, are by an usual Metaphor in the Scriptures called, The ways of a man. And of these Ways Solomon speaketh, rather than of his person. Because it is possible, the Lord may graciously accept some mans person, and yet take just exception at some of his Ways. 1. For thus it is; when a man walketh in the beaten track of the World, without ever turning his feet into Gods Testimonies; neither that man nor his ways can please the Lord. 2. Again, When a man walketh conscionably and constantly in the good ways of God, without turning aside, either on the right hand, or on the left; both that man and his ways are pleasing unto God. 3. But duplicate page duplicate page then again thirdly, when a man in the more constant course of his life walketh uprightly, and in a right way, but yet in some few particularities treadeth awry; (either failing in his judgment; or transported with passion; or drawn on by the example or perswasion of others; or miscarrying through his own negligence, incogitancie or other subreption; or overcome by the strength of some prevalent temptation; or from what other cause soever it may proceed:) I say, when a man thus walking with God in the main, hath yet these out-steppings and deviations upon the bye, (neither acted presumptuously, nor issuing from a heart habitually evil:) although the person of such a man may still be accepted with God in Christ, and his ways also be well-pleasing unto God, in regard of the main bent thereof; yet in regard of such his sinful deviations, those particular passages in his ways do not at all please, but rather highly displease, the Sacred Majesty of God.
3. That for the Subject. The Act is, Pleasing: and Pleasing hath reference to Acceptation. Wherein the Endeavour is one thing, and the Event another. For: tuitum est placere, we use to say. A man may have a full intention, and do his best endeavour to please, and yet fail of his end: the Event not answering his Expectation. Which is most apparent when we have to deal with men. For not only mens dispositions are various one from another, and so there is no a—foreign. Tneogn.possibility of pleasing all: because what would please one man, perhaps will not please another. But even the same man is not alike disposed at all times, and so there can be no certainty of pleasing any; Because what would please him at one time, perhaps will not please him at another. Now in propriety of speech, to please signifieth rather the Event in finding acceptance, than the Endeavour in seeking it. But when it undergoeth a moral Consideration, it is quite contrary: Then it importe…h not so much the Event (which being not in our power, ought not to be imputed to us, either to our praise, or dispraise, as the Intention and Endeavour. So as he may besaid to please in a moral sense, that doth his best endeavour to please, however he speed. As S. Paul saith of himself, that he b1 Cor. 10. 33.pleased all men in all things: which in the event doubtless he neither did. (for we know he had c—16. 9.many Adversaries:) neither could do, the thing it self being altogether impossible. But he did it in his intention and endeavour, as he sundry times expoundeth himself. If it be demanded whether of the two is rather meant in the Text: I answer, both are meant; the Endeavour principally, and consequently also the Event. For by reason of Gods goodness and unchangeableness, there may be a good assurance of the Event, where the desire of pleasing is unfeigned, and the Endeavour faithful. As it was told Cain in Genesis: dGen. 4 7.If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? We may do well and not find Acceptance with men: But was there ever any thing in the World well done, and the Lord accepted it not? That for the Act, Pleasing.
4. But Act us distinguuntur secundum Objecta. Whatsoever the ways are, it is a part of every mans intention to please howsoever: it is the Object especially that maketh the difference. All men strive to please: but some to please themselves, some to please other men, and some few to please the Lord. There be that regard not either the displeasure of God or man, so they may but please themselves, foreign in S. Peters word: it signifieth as much as Self-pleasers: Translations have well rendred it self willed; men that will have their own way in every thing, that will speak their pleasure of every man, that will say what they list, and do what they list, let who will take offence at it. S. Peter in the same place where he hath given us the Name, hath also given us part of their Character. a2 Pet. 2. 10.Presumptuous are they, saith he, and they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. For commonly you may observe it, they that love to please themselves, seldom please themselves better, than when they have with most petulancy of spleen vented their disaffection towards them that are in authority. Which for the most part proceedeth from an over-weaning conceit they have of their own either wisdom or wit: although in S. Augustine's judgment, they are quite devoid of both; whose censure of them is sharp, bAug. lib. de ovibus, c…p. 9.Valdò stulto homini placet, qui sibi placet: He that casteth to please himself, casteth to please a very fool. Nor are they only void of wisdom in his, but in S. Paul's judgment also of Christianity; who voucheth against them Christ's Example; cRom. 15. 3.For even Christ pleased not himself, Rom. 15.
5. Beside S. Peter's foreign, these Self-pleasers; there are also S. Paul's aEph. 6. 6. Col. 3. 22.foreign Men-pleasers. And what, is that a fault too? To please other men out of a Christian indulgence, by condescending to their weakness, and gratifying them in the exercise of that liberty and power we have in things of indifferent nature; is so far from being a fault, that it is rather a commendable Office of Christian Charity, which every man ought to practise. bRom. 15. 2…Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good unto edification, but that must be only in lawful things, and so far forth as may tend to Edification, and subordinately to a greater care of pleasing God in the first place. But if we shall seek to please men beyond this, by doing for their sakes any unlawful thing, or leaving undone any necessary duty; by accompanying them in their sins, or advancing their designs in any thing that may offend God; then are we foreign Men-pleasers in an evil sense, and our ways will not please the Lord. S. Paul, who in one place professeth menpleasing c1 Cor. 10. 33.even as I please all men in all things) taking it in the better sense; protesteth against it as much in another place (dGal 1. 10. If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ;) taking it in the worse sense.
6. To draw to a Head then; We may please our selves, and we should seek to please our brethren, where these may be done, and the Lord pleased withall: But when the same ways will not please all, we ought not to be careful to satisfie others in their unreasonable Expectances, much less our selves in our own inordinate Appetites; but disregarding both our selves and them, bend all our studies and endeavours to this one point, how we may approve our hearts and our ways unto the Lord: that is, to God the only Lord, and our Lord Iesus Christ. God and Christ must be in the final resolution, the sole Object of our pleasing. Which is the substance of the whole words of the Antecedent laid together, which we have hitherto considered apart, and cometh now to be handled. The handling whereof we shall dispatch in three Enquiries, whereof two concern the Endeavour, and one the Event. For it may be demanded first, what necessity of pleasing God? And if it be needful, then secondly, how and by what means it may be done? And both these belong to the Endeavour: and then it may be demanded thirdly, concerning the Event, upon what ground it is that any of our endeavours should please God? Of which in their order.
7. First, That we should endeavour so to walk as to please God. The Apostle needed not to have aCol. 1. 10, 11.prayed so earnestly as he doth, Col. 1. and that without ceasing; neither to have adjured us so deeply as he doth, 1 Thess. 4. even b1 Thess. 4. 1.by the Lord Iesus; if it did not both well become us in point of Duty, and also much concern us in point of Wisdom so to do. First, It is a Duty whereunto we stand bound by many Obligations. He is our Master, our Captain, our Father, our King. Every of which respects layeth a several necessity upon us of doing our endeavour to please him: if at least there be in us any care to discharge with faithfulness, and as we ought the parts of Servants, of Souldiers, of Sons, of Subjects.
8. First, He is our Master, aJoh. 13. 13.[Ye call me Lord and Master, and ye say well, for so I am] and we are his servants, bPsal. 116. 16.O Lord I am thy servant, I am thy servant and the son of thy Handmaid. And he is no honest servant that will not strive to please his Master, cTit 2. 9.[Exhort servants to obey their own Masters, and to please them well in all things, Tit. 2.] Next he is our Captain, dHeb. 2. 10.It became him to make the Captain of their salvation perfect] and we are his Souldiers, e2 Tim. 2. 3.[Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good Souldier of Iesus Christ, saith Saint Paul to Timothy.] We received our Prest. money, and book'd our Names fVocati sumus ad militiam Dei vivi jam tunc, cum in Sacramenti verba respondimus. Tertul. ad Marty… c. 3.to serve in his Wars, when we bound our selves by Solemn Vow, and took the Sacrament upon it in our Baptism, manfully to fight under his Banner, against Sin, the World, and the Devil, and to continue his faithful Souldiers unto our lives end. And he is no generous Souldier that will not strive to please his General. g2 Tim. 2. 4.[No man that warreth entangleth himself in the Affairs of this life, that he may please him that hath chosen him to be a Souldier, 2 Tim. 2.] Thirdly, He is our Father, and we his Children, h2 Cor. 6. 18.[I will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters, saith the Lord Almighty:] and when we would have any thing of him, we readily bespeak him by the name of Father, and that by his own direction, saying, Our Father which art in Heaven. And that Son hath neither grace nor good nature in him, that will not strive to please his Father. It is noted as one of Esau's Impieties, whom the Scripture hath branded as iHeb. 12. 16.a Profane Person, that kGen. 26. 35.he grieved, and l—28. 8.displeased his parents in the choice of his Wives. mMal. 1. 6.[If I be a Father, where is mine honour? Mal. 1.] Lastly, He is our King. nPsal. 95. 3.[The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all Gods;] and we are his Subjects, o—100. 3.[his people and the Sheep of his Pasture] and he is no Loyal Subject that will not strive to please his Lawful Sovereign. That form of speech (pNehem. 2. 5, 7, &c. if it please the King) so frequent in the mouth of Nehemiah, was no affected strain of Courtship, but a just expression of Duty: otherwise that religious man would never have used it.
9. And yet there may be a time wherein all those Obligations may cease, of pleasing our earthly Masters, or Captains, or Parents, or Princes. If it be their pleasure we should do something that lawfully we may not: we must disobey, though we displease. Only be we sure that to colour an evil disobedience, we do not pretend an unlawfulness where there is none. But we can have no colour of plea for refusing to do the pleasure of our heavenly Lord and Master in any thing whatsoever; inasmuch as we are sure nothing will please him, but what is just and right. With what a forehead then can any of us challenge from him either Wages as Servants, or Stipends as Souldiers, or Provision as Sons, or Protection as Subjects; if we be not careful in every respect to frame our selves in such sort as to please him? You see it is our Duty so to do.
10. Yea, and our Wisdom too: in respect of the great benefits we shall reap thereby. There is one great benefit expressed in the Text; If we please the Lord, He will make our Enemies to be at peace with us: of which more anon. The Scriptures mention many other, out of which number I propose but these three. First, if we please him, he will preserve us from sinful temptations. Solomon, Eccl.1. 7. speaking of aEccl. 7. 26.the strange woman, whose heart is as Nets and Snares, and her hands as bands, saith that whoso pleaseth the Lord shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her. He that displeaseth God by walking in the by-paths of sin, God shall withhold his grace from him, and he shall be tempted and foyled: but whoso pleaseth God by walking in his holy ways, God shall so assist him with his grace, that when he is tempted, he shall escape. And that is a very great benefit. Secondly, If we please him, he will hear our Prayers, and grant our Petitions 2.in whatsoever we ask; if what we ask be agreeable to his will, and expedient for our good: (b1 Joh. 3. 22. whatsoever we ask, we know we receive of him, because we keep his Commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.) And that is another very great benefit. Thirdly, If we please him in the mean time, he will3. in the end cEa victoria (speaking of Martyrdom) habet & gloriam placendi Deo, & pr…dam…ivendi in aternum. Tertul. Apol. cap. 50.translate us into his heavenly Kingdom: whereof he hath given us assurance in the person of Enoch; dHeb. 11. 5.Whom God translated that he should not see death, because before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. And this is the greatest benefit that can be imagined.
11. Go then wretched man, that hast not cared to displease the immortal God, for the pleasing of thy self, or of some other mortal man; cast up thy Bills, examine thy Accounts, and see what thou hast gained. 1. By displeasing God thou hast strengthened the hands of those enemies against thee, with whom thou mightest have been at peace. 2. Thou hast exposed thy self for a prey to those temptations, from which thou mightest have escaped. 3. Thou hast blocked up the passage against thine own Prayers, that they cannot have access before the Throne of grace. 4. Thou hast utterly debarred thy self from ever entering into the Kingdom of4. glory. All this thou hast lost, not now to be regained, save only by bewailing the time past, that thou hast not sought to please him better heretofore: and by redeeming the time to come, in seeking to please him better hereafter.
12. Which how and by what means it may best be done, is our next Enquiry. Wherein to give you a general and easie direction, without descending into particulars, these two things will do it, Likeness and Obedience. For the first, aforeign Arist. 2. Rhetor.Similis Simili is a common saying, and common experience proveth it true: Likeness ever breedeth liking. As men we see are best pleased every one with such notions and expressions, as sort best with their own fancies, and with such companions as are of their own temper. So good Souldiers are best pleased with those that are valiant, like themselves: and good Wits with those that are facetious, like themsel…s: and good Scholars with those that are judicious, like themselves: and accordingly it is with all other sorts of men in their kinds. Yea, of so great moment is likeness unto complacency; as that two men, if they be of different dispositions, as it may be the one of a quick, stirring and active; the other of a slow, remiss, and suffering spirit; or it may be the one of an open, free and pleasant conversation; the other of a sad, close, and reserved temper: although they may be honest and holy men both; yet I say two such men will take little pleasure either in the company of the other, as experience also sheweth. bHorat. Epist. 18.Oderunt hilarem tristes, &c.
13. Now a wicked man is altogether unlike God, both in his inward Affections, and in his outward Conversation. He loveth the ways of sin, which God hateth: and aPsal. 50. 17.hateth to be reformed, which God requireth. He bPsal. 10. 3.speaketh well of evil men, as the covetous, and others whom God abhorreth; and cLuke 6. 22.casteth out their names as evil, in whom God delighteth. Is it possible that God who is d1 Joh. 15.light should take pleasure in him that is nothing but darkness? And God, who is eJoh. 4. 24.a Spirit, in him who is nothing but flesh? And God, who is f1 Joh. 4. 16.Love, in him who is nothing but rancour, and malice, and uncharitableness? And God, who is gPsal. 145. 15.righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works, a just, a merciful, a bountiful God: in him who is altogether unclean, or unjust, or cruel, or covetous? It cannot be.
14. But then as for the Godly, no marvel if both their persons and ways be well pleasing unto God; being that both their persons are inwardly renewed after his Image, and their ways also outwardly framed after his Example. They love what he loveth, hate what he hateth in the Affections of their hearts; and they are aEph. 5. 1.followers of God as dear children in the conversation of their lives. They desire and endeavour to be b1 Pet. 1. 16.holy as he is holy; cMat. 5. 48.perfect as he is perfect; and dLuke 6. 36.merciful as he their heavenly Father is merciful. And as earthly Parents, though they love all their Children well, yet commonly love those best that are likest themselves: so our heavenly Father is well pleased with all his Children, because they are indeed all like him; but best pleased with those that nearliest resemble him. The more we grow in likeness to him, the more shall we grow also in liking with him.
15. The other thing wherewith to please God, is our Obedience, when he beholdeth in our ways a proof of our willing and chearful subjection to his most righteous Commands. All Superiours are best pleased with those that owe them service, when they find them most pliable to their Wills, and most careful to observe what is given them in charge: neither are ever so much, or so justly displeased with them, as when they see them to slack their own Obedience, and slight their Commands. Do you think the Centurion could have been pleased with those he had under him, if aMat. 8. 9.when he said to one Come, he should have gone the other way? And to another Go, he should have stood still? And to another, Do this, he should have left that undone, and done the quite contrary? Obedience is a thing wherein God b1 Sam. 15. 21.more delighteth than in Sacrifice, and the keeping of the Commandment will please him better than a Bullock that hath horns and hoofs. The Apostle giveth this very reason, in Rom. 8. why cRom. 8. 7, 8.they that are in the flesh (carnal and worldly men) cannot please God, even because the carnal mind is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be, so long as it continueth carnal. Intimating, that if it could be subject, it could not chuse but please.
16. Great therefore is the vanity of those men, who think to gain and to hold the favour of God by the outward performances of Fasting, Prayer, Almsdeeds, hearing Gods Word, receiving the Holy Sacrament, and the like; (just as the hypocritical Iews of old did by Sacrifices and Oblations:) when as all the while their hearts are rotten, and their conversation base. But let not any of us deceive our selves with vain confidences. For as the Lord of old often cried down Sacrifices by his Prophets, though they were in those times a necessary and principal part of that holy worship which himself had prescribed: so no doubt he will now reject these outside services, though otherwise and in themselves excellent d…ties in their kinds; if there be no more in them but meer outside. And they are no better where there is not withal a conscience made of Obedience. The Lord who aProv. 16. 2.weigheth the spirits, (as it is a little before in this Chapter) and b…er. 17. 10.searcheth the hearts and reins; seeth the falseness of our spirits; and observeth every prevaricating step both of our hearts and lives. There is no dallying therefore with him: either let us set our hearts and our faces aright, and cHeb. 12. 13.make straight steps to our feet, or our ways will not please the Lord. dPsal. 5. 4.Deus non volens iniquitatem, he is a God that hath no pleasure in wickedness, Psal. 5.
17. We have hitherto enquired into the Reasons why we should endeavour to please the Lord: and into the means how it may best be done. There remains yet a third Enquiry, which concerneth the success or the Event; and that is, how it cometh about, that such poor things as our best Endeavours are, should so far find acceptance with the Lord as to please him. Likeness indeed will please, and Obedience will please: But then it should be such a likeness, as will hold at least some tolerable proportion with the Exemplar; such Obedience, as will punctually answer the Command: and such is not ours. True it is, if the Lord should look upon our very best Endeavours as they come from us, and respect us but according to our merit; he might find in every step we tread, just matter of offence, in none of acceptance. If he should aPsal. 130. 3.mark what is done amiss, and be extreme in it, no flesh living could be able to please him. It must be therefore upon other and better grounds than any desert in us, or in our ways, that God is graciously pleased to accept either of us or them. The Apostle hath discovered two of those grounds, and joined them both together in a short passage in Heb. 13. (bHeb. 13. 21. Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Iesus Christ.) Implying that our good works are pleasing unto him upon these two grounds: First, Because he worketh them in us: Secondly, Because he looketh upon us and them in Christ.
18. First, Because he worketh them in us. As we see *foreign. Arist. 4. Ethic. 2.most men take pleasure in the Rooms of their own contriving, in the Engines and Manufactures of their own devising, in the Fruits of those Trees which themselves have planted. Now the crooked ways of evil men, that walk according to the course of the World, are indeed the Works of the Devil; he is aEph. 2. 2.the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, Eph. 2. such works therefore may please the Devil, whose they are: But it is not possible they should please God who sent his Son into the World, on purpose b1 Joh. 3. 8.to destroy the Works of the Devil. And as for those strayings also and outsteppings, whereof Gods faithfullest servants are now and then guilty, although they be not the Works of the Devil (for he hath not now so much power over them as to work in them) yet are they still cGal. 5. 19.the Works of the flesh, as they are called, Gal. 5. Such works therefore may be pleasing to the flesh, whose they are: but they are so far from being pleasing unto God, that they rather dEph. 4. 30.grieve his holy Spirit. The works then that must please God, are such as himself hath wrought in us, by that his holy Spirit; which are therefore called eGal. 5. 22.the fruits of the Spirit in the same Gal. 5. As it is said by the Prophet (fIsa. 26. 12. O Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.) And again in the Psalm, (gPsal. 37. 23. The Lord ordereth a good mans ways, and maketh them acceptable unto himself) they are therefore acceptable unto him, because they are ordered by him.
19. That is one ground. The other is because God looketh not upon us as we are in our selves, neither dealeth with us according to the rigour of a legal Covenant: but he beholdeth us aEph. 1. 6.foreign, in the face of his beloved One, even Jesus Christ his only Son, and as under a Covenant of Grace. He is bMat. 3. 17.his beloved Son, in whom alone he is well pleased for his own sake; and in whom, and for whose sake alone it is, if at any time he be well pleased with any of us, or with any of our Ways. For being by him, and cGal. 3. 26.through faith in his Name, made the children of God by adoption and grace, he is now pleased with us, as a loving Father is with his beloved Child. As a loving Father taketh in good part the willing Endeavours of his Child, to do whatsoever he appointeth him, though his performances be very small: So the Lord is graciously pleased to dforeign. Nazianz. Orat. 20.accept of us, and our weak services, according to that willingness we have, and not according to that exactness we want: not weighing our merits, but pard…ning our offences, and passing by our imperfections, as our loving Father in Iesus Christ. That is the other ground.
20. And we doubt not, but the acceptance we find with God upon these two grounds, if seasonably applied, will sustain the soul of every one that truly feareth God, with strong comfort, against two great and common discouragements, whereunto he may be subject: arising the one from the sense of mens displeasure; the other from the conscience of his own imperfections. Sometimes God and his own heart condemn him not, and yet the World doth; and that troubleth him: Sometimes God and the World condemn him not, and yet his own heart doth; and that troubleth him more. If at any time it be either thus or so with any of us, let us remember but thus much, and we shall find comfort in it; that although we can neither please other men at all, nor our selves sufficiently; yet our Works may for all that be graciously accepted by our good God, and so our ways may please the Lord.
21. But I forbear the amplification of these comforts: that I may proceed from the Antecedent in those former words (when a mans ways please the Lord) of which I have spoken hitherto; unto the Consequent in the remaining words (he maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him.) Wherein also, as in the former part, we have three things observable. The Persons, the Effect, the Author. The Persons, a mans Enemies; the Effect, Peace; the Author, the Lord. (He maketh a mans Enemies to be at peace with him.) The words being of an easie understanding, will therefore need the less opening. Only thus much briefly. First for the Persons, they that wish him ill, or seek to do him Harm in his Person, Estate or good Name, they are a mans Enemies. And Solomon here supposeth it possible, that a man whose Ways please the Lord, may yet have Enemies: Nay, it is scarce possible it should be otherwise; aMat. 10. 36.Inimici Domestici, rather than fail, Satan will stir him up Enemies out of his own house. 2. And these Enemies are then said to be at peace with him (which is the Effect) when either there is a change wrought in their Affections, so as they now begin to bear him less ill-will than formerly they have done; or when at least-wise their evil Affections towards him are so bridled, or their power so restrained, as not to break out into open hostility, but (whatsoever their thoughts are within) to carry themselves fairly and peaceably towards him outwardly; so as he is at a kind of peace with them, or howsoever sustaineth no harm by them. Either of which when it is done, it is thirdly, bPsal. 77. 10. juxta vulgat▪Mutatio dextrae excelsi, it is merely the Lords doing, and it may well be marvellous in our Eyes; It is he that maketh a mans Enemies to be at peace with him.
22. The scope of the whole words is to instruct us, that the fairest and likeliest way for us to procure peace with men, is to order our ways so as to please the Lord. You shall therefore find the favour of God, and the favour of men often joined together in the Scriptures, as if the one were (and so usually it is) a consequent of the other. So it is said of our blessed Saviour (Luke 2.) that aLuke 2. 52.he encreased in favour with God and men. bProv. 3. 3, 4.My son, let not mercy and truth forsake thee, &c. so shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man, saith our Solomon, Prov. 3. And S. Paul, Rom. 14. (cRom. 14. 18. He that in these things serveth Christ, is acceptable to God, and approved of men.) In all which places favour and acceptation with God goeth before: favour and approbation with men followeth after.
23. You may see the proof of it in the whole course of the Sacred Story: wherein the Lords dealing with his own people in this kind is remarkable. When they started aside to walk after their own counsels, and displeased him, how he stirred them up enemies round about them; how he sold them into the hands of those that spoiled them; how he hardened the hearts of all those that contended with them, that they should not pity them. Again, on the other side, when they believed his Word, walked in his Ways, and pleased him, how he raised them up friends, how he made their Enemies to bow under them, how he enclined the hearts of Strangers and of Pagans to pity them. Instances are obvious, and therefore I omit them.
24. Of which Effect the first and principal cause is none other than the overruling hand of God, who not only disposeth of all outward things according to aEph. 1. 5.the good pleasure of his will, but hath also in his hands the hearts of all men, even of the greatest bProv. 21. 1.Kings, as the rivers of water, to turn them which way soever he will: as our Solomon speaketh at the 21. Chapter of this Book. The Original there is (foreign Palge majim) as you would say, the divisions of waters. Which is not to be understood of the great Rivers, though the greatest of them all, even the wide and great Sea also is in the hands of God, to turn which way soever he will: (as he turned the waters of the Red Sea backwards to let his people go through, and then turned them forward again to overwhelm their enemies.) But the Allusion there is clearly to the little trenches, whereby in those drier Eastern Countries, husbandmen used to derive water from some Fountain or Cistern to the several parts of their cforeign.—Homer. Odyss. 11.Gardens, for the better nourishing of their Herbs and Fruit-trees. Now you know when a Gardiner hath cut many such trenches all over his Garden, with what ease he can turn the water out of any one into any other of those Channels: suffering it to run so long in one, as he thinketh good, and then stopping it thence, and deriving it into another, even as it pleaseth him, and as he seeth it most conducible for the necessities of his Garden: With much more ease can the Lord stop the current of any mans favour and affections in the course wherein it presently runneth, and turn it quite into another Channel: drying it up against one man, and deriving it upon another, even as it seemeth good in his sight, and as will best serve other his holy and just purposes; whether he intend to chastize his Children, or to comfort them, or to exercise any other part or passage of his blessed providence upon them. Thus dExod. 11. 1.he gave his people favour in the sight of the Aegyptians, so as they lent them all their precious things at their departure, who but a little before had consulted the rooting out the whole generation of them. And thus after that in his just displeasure against them for their sins, he had ePsal. 106. 40, 44.given them over into captivity into their enemies hands: when he was pleased again with their Humiliations, he not only pitied them himself, according to the multitude of his mercies; but he turned the hatred of their Enemies also into compassion, and made all those that had led them away captives, to pity them, as it is in Psalm 160.
25. The Lord is a God of Power, and therefore can work such effects as he pleaseth for our peace without any apparent means on our parts. But being withal a God of order: for the most part therefore, and in the ordinary course of his providence, he worketh his own purposes by second Causes, and subordinate means. At least he hath so tied us to the use of probable means for the bringing about of what he hath promised, that although we ought to be perswaded he can, yet we may not presume he will work our good without our Endeavours. Now the subordinate means to be used on our part, without which we cannot reasonably expect that God should make our Enemies to be at peace with us; is our fair and amicable conversation with others. For a1 Pet. 13.who will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? saith St. Peter. As if he had said, so long as you carry your selves graciously and wisely, if the hearts of your Enemies will not be so far wrought upon as to love and affect you; yet their mouths will be muzled, and their hands …anacled from breaking out into any outragious either terms or actions of open hostility: so as you shall enjoy your peace with them in some measure. Though they mean you no good, yet they shall do you no harm.
26. But it may be objected, both from Scripture and Experience, that sundry times when a mans Ways are right, and therefore pleasing unto God, his Enemies are nothing less, if not perhaps much more, enraged against him than formerly they were. Our Saviour often foretold his Disciples, that they should aMatth. 10. 22.—24. 9.be hated of all men for his sake. And David complaineth in Psal. 38. of some that were bPsal. 38. 20.against him, eo nomine, and for that very reason, because he was a follower of that which was good. What a seeming distance is there between the Prophets and the Apostles speeches? Or else how may they be reconciled? c1 Pet. 13.Who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? saith the one: Yea, saith the other, there are some against me, even therefore, because I follow that which is good. As if by seeking to please God, he had rather lost his friends than gained his Enemies.
27. There are sundry Considerations that may be of good use to us in the present difficulty: As First, if God have not yet made our Enemies to be at peace with us, yet it may be he will do it hereafter: being no way bound to us, we may give him leave to take his own time. aActs 1. 17.Non est vestrum nôsse, if it be not for us to know, much less is it for us to prescribe, the seasons which the Father hath kept in his own power. It is his Prerogative to appoint the times, it is our Duty to wait bPsal. 27. 14.his leisure. It may be, (secondly) neither is it unlikely, that we do not cGal. 2. 14.foreign, walk with an even foot, and by a straight line; But tread awry in something or other which displeaseth God; and for which he suffereth their enmity to continue. But it is more certain, (thirdly) that we please him, but imperfectly, and in part: even as those Graces wherewith we please him, are in us but imperfectly, and in part. And therefore no marvel, if our peace also be but imperfect, and in part. Possibly he will procure our peace more, when we please him better.
28. But where none of these, or the like Considerations will reach home; it will sufficiently clear the whole difficulty, to consider but thus much, (and it is a plain and true answer) that generally all Scriptures that run upon temporal promises, are to be understood foreign, not as universally, but as commonly true: Or (as some Divines express it) aMelancthon.cum exceptione crucis, not absolutely and without all exception, but evermore, with this reservation, unless the Lord, in his infinite Wisdom, see cause why it should be good for us to have it otherwise. But this you shall ever observe withal, (and it infinitely magnifieth the goodness of our gracious Lord and God towards us;) that where he seeth it not good to give us that blessing in specie, which the Letter of the Promise seemeth to import; he yet giveth it us eminenter; that is to say, if not that, yet some other thing fully as good as that, and which he well knoweth (though perhaps we cannot yet apprehend it so) to be presently b—mutat utiliori dono. Bernard. serm. 5. de quadrag.far better for us than that. Say he do not give us Wealth or Advancement, yet if he give us a contented mind without them, is it not better? Say he do not speedily remove a temptation from us, whereunder we groan, (which was St. Paul's Case;) yet if he supply us c2 Cor. 12. 9.with a sufficiency of grace to encounter with it; is it not better? So in the present Case, if he do not presently make our Enemies to be at peace with us? yet if he teach us to profit by their Enmity, in exercising our faith and patience, in quickning us unto prayer, in furthering our humiliations, or encreasing any other grace in us, is it not every way and incomparably better? Now will any wise man tax him with breach of Promise, who having promised a Pound of Silver, giveth a Talent of Gold? Or who can truly say, that that man is not so good as his Word, that is apparently much better than his Word?
29. From the Words thus cleared may be deduced many profitable Inferences, for our further instruction; but that the time will not suffer us to enlarge them. As first, We may hence know, what a blessed and desirable thing Peace is:1. not only that inward peace with God, and in our own breasts, whichaPhil. 4. 7. passeth all understanding: but even this outward peace with men. When the Holy Spirit of God here in the Text useth it as an especial strong inducement to quicken us up the rather to the performance of that with chearfulness, which we are in Duty bound to perform howsoever, in seeking to please the Lord. We may learn hence (secondly,) if at any time we unfeignedly desire peace, by what course we may be2. likeliest to procure it. Preposterous is the course, which yet most of men take, when to make their Peace with mortal men, they hazard the disfavour of the Eternal God. The right and ready way is chalked out in the Text: First, to make our peace with God, by ordering our Ways so as to please him; and then to commit our Ways to his ordering, by leaving the whole success to him: and so doing it is not possible we should miscarry. Those that are now our Enemies, either he will turn their hearts towards us, so as to become our Friends, if he seeth that good for us; or else he will so curb and restrain them, that with all their Enmity they shall not be able to do us any harm, if he see that better for us; or if by his just sufferance they do us harm one way (and yet he will not suffer that neither, unless he see that absolutely best for us) it shall be recompensed to us by his good providence, in a far greater comfort another way. We may learn hence, (Thirdly) how hateful the practice is, and how wretched the condition of3. Make-bates, Tale-bearers, Whisperers, and all those that sow dissention among Brethren. Light and Darkness are not more contrary than are Gods Ways and theirs. He is the Author of Peace, and lover of Concord: they are the Authors of Strife, and lovers of Discord. It is his Work to make a mans enemies to be at peace with him: It is their business to make a mans friends to be at odds with him. We may learn hence (Fourthly,) if at any time our Enemies grow to4. be at peace with us; to whom we owe it. Not to our selves; it is a thing beyond our power or skill to win them: Much less, to them; whose Malice is stiff, and will not easily relent. But it is principally the Lords own Work. He is bHeb. 13. 20.the God of Peace, which maketh men cPsal. 68 6.to be of one mind in an house; it is he that d—46. 9causeth wars to cease in all the Earth, and that giveth unto his people e—29. 11.the blessing of peace. And therefore the glory of it, and the thanks for it, belong to him alone.
30. But I willingly omit all further enlargement of these inferences, that I may somewhat the longer insist upon one other inference only, very needful to be considered of in these times; which is this. We may hence learn, (Fifthly) if5. at any time we want peace, probably to guess where the fault may partly be, and that by arguing from the Text thus. I read here, that when a mans ways please the Lord, he maketh his Enemies to be at peace with him: I find in mine no relenting, but an utter averseness from peace (aPsal. 120. 6. I am for peace, but when I speak to them thereof, they make them ready to battel:) I have cause therefore to fear that all is not right with me: either my heart is not right, or my ways are not right: I will examine them both throughly, and search if I can see bPsal. 139. 24.any way of wickedness in me, for which my God may be justly displeased with me, and for which he thus stiffneth mine Enemies still against me.
31. Thus to be jealous over our selves with a godly jealousie, would not only work in us a due consideration of our ways, that so we might amend them, if there be cause: but would be also of right use to prevent two notable pieces of Sophistry, two egregious fallacies, wherewith thousands of us deceive our selves. The former fallacy is, that we use many times, especially when our Enemies do us manifest wrong, to impute our sufferings wholly to their iniquity, whereof we should do wiselier to take some of the blame upon our selves. Not at all to excuse them, whose proceedings are unjust, and for which they shall bear their own burthens: But to acquit the Lords proceedings who still is just, even in those things wherein men are unjust. Their hearts, and tongues, and hands, are against us, only out of that aJam 1. 21.foreign that superfluity of maliciousness wherewith their naughty hearts abound, and for to serve their own cursed Ends; which is most unjust in them. But the Lord sundry times hardneth their hearts, and whetteth their tongues, and strengthneth their hands against us in such sort, to chasten us for some sinful Error, Neglect, or Lust in part still remaining in us unsubdued; which is most just in him.
32. For (as I touched in the beginning) a mans heart may be right in the main, and his Ways well-pleasing unto God in regard of the general bent and intention of them: and yet by wrying aside in some one or a few particulars, he may so offend the Lord, as that he may in his just displeasure for it, either raise him up new Enemies, or else continue the old ones. As a loving father that hath entertained a good opinion of his son, and is well pleased with his behaviour in the generality of his carriage, because he seeth him in most things dutiful and towardly; may yet be so far displeased with him for some particular neglects, as not only to frown upon him, but to give him sharp correction also. Sic parvis componere magna. Not much otherwise is it in the dealing of our heavenly Father with his children. We have an Experiment of it in David, with whom doubtless God was well pleased for the main course of his life: otherwise he had never received that singular testimony from his own mouth, that he was aActs 13. 22.secundum cor; a man after his own heart; yet because he stepped aside, and that very fouly in the matter of Uriah the Text saith, 2 Sam. 11. that b2 Sam. 11. 27.the thing that David had done, displeased the, Lord: and that which followed upon it in the ensuing Chapter was, the Lord c12. 11.raised up Enemies against him for it out of his own house.
33. The other fallacy is, when we cherish in our selves some sinful Errors, either in judgment or practice, as if they were the good ways of God, the rather for this, that we have Enemies, and meet with Opposition: as if the Enmity of men were an infallible mark of a right way. The Words of the Text ye see, seem rather to incline quite the other way. Indeed the very truth is, neither the favo… or disfavour of men, neither their approving nor opposing, is any certain mark at all either of a good or of a bad way. Our Solomon hath delivered it positively (and we ought to believe him,) Eccl. 9. that aEccl. 9. 1.no man knoweth either love or hatred, by all that is before them. It is an error therefore of dangerous consequence, to think that *Non ex passione certa est justitia: sed ex justitia, passio gloriosa. Aug. 1. cont. Epist. Parmem. c. ult.the enmity of the wicked is an undoubted mark either of truth or goodness. Not only for that it wanteth the Warrant of truth to support it, (which is common to it with all other Errors:) but for two other especial reasons besides. The one is, because through blind self-love we are apt to dote upon our own opinions more than we ought. How confidently do some men boast out their own bforeign [foreign] foreign Nazainz. Orat. 34.private fancies and unwarranted singularities, as if they were the holy ways of God. The other reason is, because through wretched uncharitableness we are apt to stretch the Title of the wicked further than we ought. How freely do some men condemn all that think or do otherwise than themselves, but especially that any way oppose their courses, as if they were the wicked of the World, and Persecutors of the godly!
34. For the avoiding of both which mischiefs, it is needful we should rightly both understand and apply all those places of Scripture which speak of that Opposition, which is sometimes made against truth and goodness. Which opposition the Holy Ghost in such like places intended not to deliver as a mark of godliness; but rather to propose as an Antidote against Worldly fears and discouragements: That if in a way which we know upon other and impregnable Evidences to be certainly right, we meet with opposition; we should not be dismayed at it, as if some strange thing had befallen us, foreign, Beloved, a1 Pet. 4. 12.think it not strange, saith St. Peter (concerning all such trials as these are) as if some strange thing had hapned: because it is a thing that at any time may and sometimes doth happen. But now to make such opposition a foreign or mark whereby infallibly to judg of our ways whether they be right or no (as some out of the strength of their heat, or ignorance, have done) is to abuse the holy Scriptures, to pe…vert the meaning of the Holy Ghost, and to lead men into a maze of Uncertainty and Error. We had all of us need therefore to beware, that we do not like our own ways so much the better because we have Enemies: it is much safer for us to suspect lest there may be something in us otherwise than should be, for which the Lord suffereth us to have Enemies.
36. And now the God of grace and peace give us all grace to order our ways so as may be pleasing in his sight: and grant to every one of us, First, perfect peace with him, and in our own consciences; and then such a measure of outward peace both publick and private, with all our Enemies round about us, as shall seem good in his sight. And let the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of him, and of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord: And let the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be upon us, and upon all them that hear his word and keep it, at this present time and for evermore.
Amen, Amen.