Four Books on Matthew 11, Book 3 · Chapter 132
CHAP. CXXXII.
The knowledg of our ſelves further proſecuted, with Six Means to get it. 1. Conſider what once we were. 2. What we might have been. 3. What it coſt God to bring us out of that condition. 4. What we are. 5. What we would be if God ſhould leave us a little to our ſelves. 6. In what caſe we ſhall certainly be in one day.
FIrſt: Conſider what ye were once, I ſpeak to thoſe that are beſt of all of the Diſciples of Chriſt conſider what once you were.
Secondly: What you might have been.
Thirdly: What great coſt God was at in bringing you out of that condition.
Fourthly: What now you are.
Fifthly: What you would be if God ſhould but leave you a little to your ſelves.
Sixthly: In what caſe ye all one day ſhall certainly be in.
Theſe are the Heads to meditate upon to know your own vileneſs, and ſo to humble your ſelves before God, theſe are the meditations that may ſerve to prick the bladders of Pride, and beat down the heart when it is lifted up.
As Firſt: Meditate what once you were, conſider that there is never a one of you whatever your condition is now, but you were a Child of wrath, and that as wel as others, as well as the vileſt, baſeſt wretch in the world, as you were by nature you you were ſuch as loſt God, had departed from him, were deprived of the Image of God, your excellency was departed from you, you were under the curſe of the Law, you were enemies unto God, your life was a continuall enmity unto God, all your daies you did nothing elſe but fight againſt him, you were guilty, condemned Creatures, you were ful of ſin, of the Seeds of all kinds of ſin, there is no ſin in Hell it ſelf but the Seeds of it were in your hearts, your hearts and lives were full of ſin, all the faculties of your Souls were full of ſin, and all the members of your bodies inſtruments of ſin, all the good things you had was defiled, Soul and Body was polluted, and al loathſome▪ you were even caſt out in your blood, and even lived in filthineſs, for al the time of your natural condition, al the Creatures that you had uſe of you defiled with ſin, and all Ordinances were polluted, all things were unclean to you: Now theſe are ſome certain Heads to meditate upon, to work upon us the knowledg of our ſelves, what we were in that naturall ſtate.
Beſides add to this, you were ſuccorleſs, helpleſs, ſhiftleſs in your ſelves, you could never deliver your ſelves, you were wandring from God, and would have wandred eternally if God had not looked upon you in mercy, you were in ſuch a condition, that all the Angels in Heaven, and all the Creatures in the world could not have helped you, there was ſuch a dreadfull breach between God and your Souls, that if all the Angels in Heaven, and men on earth would have been content to have died to have made up our breach, it could not have been, this is your condition. Is there not cauſe then you ſhould be low in your own eyes? look back to this condition, you ſee many vile Creatures going on in waies of wickedneſs, provoking the infinite wrath of God againſt them, and hanging over the pit of Hell by a twined Thred, and every moment are ready to be plunged into the bottomleſs Gulf, you were once thus, you were in as vile a condition as they.
And conſider further, What you might have been, you that are now in ſuch a condition, that have perhaps excellent parts, I have ſpoken now only of our condition in regard of our ſpirituall Eſtate, you may conſider of your condition in your riſe and beginning, that what you find your ſelves made of was but Duſt, what poor matter you were made of at firſt and ſo many of you have great eſtates that now you are proud of, but you were low enough, look back to what you were. So the Holy Ghoſt in Ezek. 16. when he would humble the People, he bids them look back to what they were, Your Father an Amorite, and your Mother an Hitite, and you were caſt out into the Streets. Theſe things if we intended to ſpeak of them largely, they would take up a great deal of time to ſhew them, only now to hint the heads of ſome meditations to you to humble your ſelves.
But Secondly: Conſider what you might have been if the Lord had taken advantage of you, you are now in a comfortable condition, now you come among the People of God into the aſſembly of the Saints, but you might have been among the damned Reprobates, you might have been roaring in Hell, and ſweltring under the wrath of the infinite God; when others▪ of Gods people were aſſembled to pray and hear the word, you might have been roaring under the wrath of God in thoſe everlaſting flames, conſider what you might have been.
Yea, If God had taken you away divers yeers ſince without the knowledg of him, and the knowledg of his Son, In what caſe had you been in, if you had died when ſuch a kinſman of yours died, or ſuch a Neighbor of yours died, where had you been? When you fit in your houſes with your Wife and Children about you, conſider what you might have been, I that ſit here, and have the day of Grace continued to me, might have been in the bottomleſs Gulf, I might have been curſing and blaſpheming God, you that God hath wrought ſomething upon, you deſire to fear him, and you come to worſhip him, and have ſome delight to worſhip him, if God had left you to your ſelf, you might have gone curſing and ſwearing, and blaſpheming, & committing any vileneſs that any the moſt vileſt have committed. It may God hath enlarged your heart in Prayer, I but if God had left you to your ſelf, inſtead of being enlarged in prayer, you might have been curſing and blaſpheming God: Now this is a mighty means to humble your heart.
Beſides, What you might have been in regard of poverty, in regard of paine and ſickneſs, you now are comfortable in your Houſes, and ſit with wives and Children, and delight one in another, you might have been in extreamity of torment and pain, you might have loſt your ſenſes, and loſt your limbs, and a Hundred ſuch things might be named, that if you would give your meditations out upon theſe things, you might find enough to keep your hearts low before God.
Thirdly: And the third head is this, If God hath made any change in your State, What a trouble it put Heaven and Earth unto, that the Son of God muſt take your nature upon him, and die, and be made a Curſe, to deliver you from that condition? Now this is a mighty humbling conſideration, for if a Man or Woman had done any ſuch thing as deſerves puniſhment, though they be delivered, yet if they know that the deliverance coſt abundance of trouble, for a Child to think, my Father might have caſt me off, and I might have been a loſt Child, I but what a deal of charge and trouble have I put my Father to? I have been a trouble to the Family, and to my Friends: So here, God hath not caſt us down to Hel as he might have done; But O! what a deal of trouble have we put God unto, & Heaven unto, that the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, the Son of God, muſt come and be made a Curſe for me? the thoughts of this ſhould humble us, it is true, to conſider of the torments of Hel is very humbling, but to conſider of the way of Gods delivering us from thoſe torments, is as great a means to humble us as any thing in the world.
Yea, Fourthly: Conſider what thou art now, though God hath delivered thee: Thou haſt yet a body of ſin and death that thou carrieſt about with thee, Oh, abundance of ſin and corruption remains in thy Soul, Conſider that of Paul, Rom. 7. 24. O! wretched man that I am who ſhal deliver me from this body of death? Conſider thine unworthy walking for all thoſe good things thou haſt received from God, that notwithſtanding all that ever God hath done for thee, yet thou walkeſt ſo unworthily as thou doſt and God foreſaw this, that thou wouldeſt walk thus unworthily and wretchedly before him, the thoughts of this, that there is ſuch unkindneſs offere do God, that thou that hopeſt to receive ſuch greatt things from God, and perſwadeſt thy ſelf that God hath done ſuch great things for thee, as he hath in ſending his Son to die for thee, I ſay, the thoughts of this, is as humbling a conſideration as any can be conceived of, next unto that one, what Chriſt did for us, and what our ſouls coſt, our unworthineſs of ſuch a mercy, and our unanſwerableneſs to ſuch a mercy is a mighty humbling conſideration, and indeed, it would be a good Argument to perſwade, that thou art one that God hath done ſuch things for in Chriſt, if ſo be thou canſt find, that the thoughts of what he hath done for thee, makes thee humble ſo much the more, in the conſideration of al thine unworthy walking for what he hath done for thee, here is matter enough for meditation to humble the Soul in the preſence of God, if theſe things be conſidered, what yet thou art.
Fifthly: Another head is this, what thou wouldeſt be if God ſhould but leave thee; though he hath done great things for thee, and ſhewed thee himſelf, and Chriſt, and ſhewed thee the evil of ſin, and eternal life, yet for al this if he ſhould but leave thee to thy ſelf one quarter of an hour, thou wouldeſt depart from him, and loſe al that Grace thou haſt, and be brought into a miſerable condition as ever thou wert, thou wouldſt be plunged into the depth of al evil. Yea, if God ſhould but withdraw his Spirit from thee one moment Oh conſider what thou wouldeſt be! and if God ſhould come out againſt thee in his anger and diſpleaſure, what a dreadful change would there be of that condition in which now thou art. Now indeed thou haſt a great many things wherein thy heart is ſatisfied and delighted and many excellencies thou haſt that perhaps thy heart is lifted up in, but what wouldeſt thou be in regard of thy ſpirituals if God ſhould withdraw from thee, thou wouldeſt leave all thy ſpiritual eſtate, thou wouldeſt be in a worſe condition than ever thou wert. And for thy natural eſtate, thy parts of nature, or activity of body, or ſtrength, what would become of them if God ſhould withdraw from thee. And ſo thy outward eſtate, how ſoon might God ſend fire upon thy Houſe, or upon thy Ship, and how ſoon mighteſt thou loſe all, and be brought into woful extremity; you that enjoy much now, yet meditate what you might be in a moment, if God ſhould withdraw himſelf from you, and eſpecially if he ſhould come out againſt you.
Sixthly and Laſtly: Conſider what you will be ere long, certainly your outward eſtate will be gone, whatever you pride your ſelves in, Beauty, or Health, or Strength, or Parts, it wil be gone and vaniſh, your ſtrength wil be turned into weakneſs, and your Health into ſickneſs, this body of yours that now you deck and trim muſt be Wormes meat ere long, and lie rotting in the Duſt; And what difference wil there be between thoſe that are rich and thoſe that are poor. I remember I have read of one, that coming into a place where was a heap of Skuls▪ and among others he heard that Alexanders Skul lay there, he deſires to know of the man which was Alexanders Skul, ſaith the man, yonder Skul that hath hollow eyes, ſaith he to the man, al Skuls hath this, I ſaith the man, and Alexanders too, there is no difference between Alexanders Skul, and others Skuls, Death makes al the ſame. You that are rich and above others, and your Hearts are ready to be …uft up within a while what difference will there be between an Almes-body and you? may be this difference will then be, that the poor man if he dies, he hath not ſo much to anſwer for ſo many Talents, and you die and have had great talents, and you have all them to anſwer for; Do but conſider of this, what you wil be if theſe things be taken from you, and that will prick the Bladder of Pride in reſpect of your naturall condition.
And what State you will be in, Conſider this, you muſt ſtand naked before the great judgment Seat of God, every one of you that are here, you muſt after a while ſtand naked before the dreadful judgment Seat of God, to receive your dreadful doom for whatſoever you have done in the Fleſh. Now you had need to walk humbly before the Lord here, conſidering what you ſhal be brought under, to ſtand naked before him, and give an account of al your waies; whatever you are proud of you muſt give account of it before God▪ of all your Grace, how you have uſed it. Now you that want matter of meditation, and want matter of Prayer, when you go to Prayer, you would fain go and humble your heart, and you would go and meditate, and you cannot meditate, you find your thoughts very barren, theſe things that have been here ſpoken, may be ſome kind of ſupply to you for meditation, and to help you in Prayer to humble your ſelves there, and bring your ſpirits Low, caſt but your thoughts upon theſe ſeveral heads, What was I? What was I in my natural eſtate? What I might have been if God had taken advantage of me, how he might have taken me in the Act of ſin, at ſuch a time, in ſuch a place, and if he had taken me, what had become of me then? And then, what a great deal of trouble it was to Heaven and Earth to redeem my ſoul; and what am I yet, in al the faculties of my ſoul, and members of my Body, what a wretched heart I carry about with me ſtil; and what ſhould I be if God ſhould withdraw himſelf from me? the Lord hath been gracious to me, but if he ſhould▪ withdraw himſelf from me, what ſhould become of me? And what ſhal I be both in my naturals, and likewiſe when I ſhal ſtand before the great God to give account of all my waies? now the working of theſe things again and again upon my heart, and eſpecially the making uſe of theſe things in Prayer, to expreſs theſe things before the Lord in Prayer, or mention theſe things when you are between God and your own ſouls, and beſeeching the Lord that he would ſettle theſe things upon your ſouls, to humble your hearts, it would be a mighty means to bring your hearts low, and to keep them low. This ſhal ſuffice for adding to what was ſaid, for the working of us to this humble frame of heart.
FINIS
THE FOURTH BOOK. VIZ. The only ready Way to Heaven.
Matth. 11. 30.
For my Yoak is eaſie, and my Burden is light.