The Great Duty of Self-Resignation to the Divine Will, Title page – Preface
THE GREAT DUTY OF Self-Resignation TO THE DIVINE WILL.
By the late Pious and Learned JOHN WORTHINGTON, D.D.
Luke xxii. 42. —Nevertheless not my will but thine be done.
Rom. vi. 13. —But yield your selves unto God.
LONDON: Printed by A. C. for Walter Kettilby, at the Bishops-Head in St. Pauls Church-yard, M. DC. LXXV.
The Preface.
THe following Treatise contains the Substance of several Sermons, which were Preached on divers Texts relating to each other, and most of them at Benet Fink in London, where the worthy Author was for some time Preacher, till his Church and Parish were laid in Ashes; and they were the last that were heard from him in that place.
On that Lord's-day whereon the dreadful Fire of London brake forth, he was come to insist on the Exemplary Resignation of holy Iob to the Divine Will under those dismal Sufferings he was exercised with, which is the Argument of the Ninth Chapter of the Second Section of this Discourse. And it is to be believed that he was directed by a very special Providence to so highly useful and seasonable a Subject, for the preparing his Hearers for that heavy Calamity which was so nearly approaching them.
Some of those Sermons I heard much commended about the time they were Preached, and since the much lamented Death of the good Doctor, a worthy Friend having found them all tied together, among a confused company of Papers, with this Inscription, Self-Resignation, he delivered them into my hands, signifying withall that he had for the most part perused them, to his great satisfaction: And I quickly saw cause to believe that it would be a good work to make them publick.
And had it not been for multiplicity of business, which forced me frequently, and that for a considerable time together, to lay it aside, this Treatise might have been completed, and seen the light above a year ago.
And now that it is (through the goodness of God) at length come abroad, I hope the same allowance will be made for it, that uses to be for Posthumous Pieces; and also that none will expect that the Author should have written with such accuracy for the Pulpit, as he would have done for the Press.
But yet, as it is, I doubt not but all understanding and ingenuous Readers will acknowledge it highly worthy a serious perusal; and that it is excellently fitted for the promoting a Christian's proficiency in his Master's School.
As for the Subject it treats of, Self-Resignation, there is no Duty more evident: Nothing is more apparently reasonable, than that we are obliged to give up our selves to God, to be used and acted by him as shall seem best to his unerring Wisdom. Nor is any thing so unnatural as for the Wills of dependent Creatures to oppose themselves to the Will of their great Creator, which is inseparably conjoyned with, and ever founded upon, the highest Reason, Righteousness and Goodness. There is not such a Prodigy or Monster in Nature, as he that will not suffer that same Will to rule him that governs the World, and refuseth to be entirely at his dispose, who being the Original, must needs be the absolute Lord of all things.
This Duty is also most comprehensive and of largest extent; the whole of that which the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth is reduceable to it: And 'tis very obvious that there is nothing either commanded or forbidden for it self in our Saviour's Religion, but is a necessary and natural expression and instance of Self-Resignation. I mean there is not any thing we are required in the Gospel to perform or forbear for its own sake, and not in order to the better enabling us to some other Duty, and guarding us from some other Sin, but it is of that nature, that Self-Resignation is, antecedently to the Command or Prohibition, inconsistent with the not doing what is so commanded, or the doing what is so forbidden. And where a Resigned Temper is, through the Divine Grace, in some good measure acquired, it will naturally draw after it most chearful Obedience and willing Submission to the good pleasure and appointments of our blessed Lord: So that we shall not complain of any of those Precepts he hath given us as harsh or grievous, nor of any affliction he trieth us with as over-severe.
Let me adde, that the entire Resignation of our Wills to the Will of God must needs be a Subject, than which there cannot be any one handled of more weighty importance, in that the restoring Mankind to this excellent Temper was the grand and main Errand upon which God the Father sent his Son into the World: This is as evident as that our Fall (which brought us under the necessity of a Saviour) was no other than the loss of this Temper accompanied with the necessary and immediate consequents thereof. Man's affecting independence on his Maker, his being impatient to be restrained within those limits which his Creator had appointed him, and chusing to gratifie his senses and fond imagination without consulting with the Divine Will made known to him by the Dictates of Natural Light and External Revelation, this was truly his Loss of Paradise, this was his Lapse from the heavenly to the hellish state. And therefore the restoring mankind to their original constitution, the reducing our Wills to a perfect harmony and compliance with the Will of God, was an undertaking of all other the most worthy of his onelyonly begotten Son's manifesting himself in our flesh, and his doing and suffering what he did in the humane nature.
And as our Author could not have made choice of a more noble or necessary Subject, so I presume his Method and way of mannaging it will not be thought unworthy of it.
First, he presents us with the most powerful Considerations in order to our being fully convinced, and affected with a great sense, of our indispensable and eternal Obligation to Self-Resignation, and to the exciting and awakening us to the most serious endeavours to subdue our Wills to the Will of God.
Secondly, he directs us to the most effectual means for the rendring this Duty as easie as is possible to our frail and corrupt natures. And under these two general Heads, he hath taken occasion, without digressing from his business, to acquaint his Readers with most, if not all, the best and most important notions and principles, (I mean such as have the most apparent tendency to the promoting of true Holiness) and to rectifie the most dangerous and fatal mistakes, which are such as either directly strike at, or in their Consequences undermine a good life.
The Reader will likewise observe an excellent and most Christian Spirit running through this whole Discourse, and see great reason to believe that the Author was very much affected with what he hath written; that his heart was powerfully touched with the Arguments he pursueth; and that he had not a mere notional but experimental knowledge of the Excellency of a Self-denying, Resigned temper; and was acted with a great zeal for the propagation of it, as being truly sensible that it is the very Life and Soul of Christianity.
He appeared to all that knew him to have a vigorous sense of this Principle, most of his Discourses in the Pulpit were much tinctured with it, and he gave many singular proofs of his living under the power and government of it.
If the Author's Copiousness of Style, and repeating (according to his usual manner) the same thing somewhat often in different expressions shall offend any, I would desire them to consider that this way is not without its advantages both to Hearers and Readers: For by this means the matters discoursed are made the more intelligible to the meaner Capacities, and apt to make in all sorts the deeper and more abiding impression. And, however it happens, we find by experience that one manner of expressing a thing doth frequently more affect us, than another that's as proper, as significant and as easily understood.
If any shall object against the Author's repeating some of his Motives to the seeking among his Directions for the obtaining a Resigned Temper, they ought to remember that the same Considerations may serve very properly both those purposes in different respects.
If some of the Arguments in the former Section shall seem in effect and for substance the same, this will not be looked upon as a just ground of exception by those that shall perceive, that they occasion, however, distinct Discourses, and those very pertinent and profitable; and 'tis sufficient if there be but a modal difference betwixt heads of discourse.
Now the God of all Grace, without whose Blessing all our Endeavors prove ineffectual, make this Treatise, with all other the pious Labours of his Servants, instrumental to the furthering the great End of our Christian Faith: The conforming us more and more to the Divine Will and Likeness, the qualifying us by Purity of Heart, and a participation of that Image of God, which consists in Righteousness and true Holiness, for his special favour and complacential love in this World, and a glorious Immortality in the complete enjoyment of the ever blessed Trinity in the World to come. And (to conclude with that excellent Prayer in our Liturgy) Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help, that in all our works begun, continued and ended in thee, we may glorifie thy holy Name, and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life, through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Edward Fowler.