WHatsoever the Prophet David, (whose Character is, A man after Gods own heart) doth un­dertake, he performs it cordi­ally and heartily: If he be in a gratulatory vein, and fall to the praises of God, he cannot nullifie and debase man too low with him; He is but vanity, and his days are but as a shadow, not worthy to be taken notice of, ver. 3, 4. And he cannot magni­fie and advance the Lord too high; He is his Goodness, his Fortress, his Tower, his De­liverer, and his Shield: If he be in a pray­ing posture, he is so pathetical and powerful, as if God, q. d. could not deny him audi­ence: Bow the Heavens, O Lord, and come down, send thine hand from above, and deliver [Page 2] me out of great waters; I, and with such a majesty and life, as if he had the key of Gods Armory to open it at pleasure, and to throw out swords and flaming fire of wrath against the wicked: Cast out lightning, and scatter them; shoot out sharp arrows, and de­stroy them, ver. 5, 6, 7. Finally, If he begin to exalt God, he sets him out with such beauty and excellency, as no Creature or created comfort can be preferred before, no not possibly be weighed in the balance with him; to which purpose it is observable, that as the maledictions threatned against David, were presented by the Prophet under three forms, of War, Famine, and Pestilence; so here in the latter part of this Psalm, the Blessings of God are expressed under three contraries; against the Pestilence is opposed this Petition, That our sons may be as Plants grown up in their youth, ver. 12. Against Fa­mine, That our Garners may be full, afford­ing all manner of store, ver. 13. Against War, That our oxen may be strong to labor, that there be no breaking in nor going out, that there be no complaining in our streets, ver. 14. And my Text is an Epiphonema, with which he con­cludes, Happy is that people that is in such a case, &c.

There is a double blessedness, sinistra bea­titudo, [Page 3] a Blessedness of the left hand, a Bles­sedness of this World. And secondly, There is dextra beatitudo, a right hand Blessedness, a Blessedness of Grace, of Salvation; This Blessedness is the aim of men on earth, but the perfect possession onely of men in Hea­ven: Accordingly there is a double interpre­tation of this Text, suitable to the double Blessedness in it; One interpretation propo­seth it by way of competition, Blessed is the people that is in such a case; that is, while o­thers are annoyed with the Pestilence, have prosperity; while others are consumed by the Famine, have plenty; while others are destroyed and harrassed with Wars, Tumults and Alarums, have peace and quietness in their Borders, sic aiunt, ferunt: This is the Popular rumor, this is the onely Language and Dialect of the vulgar: If they can but have these things, they think themselves hap­py; whatever become of Religion or of their immortal souls; but David stands up as of­fended with this vote and verdict: How now? Is this true Blessedness, to enjoy the shell without the kernel, the Ring without the Jewel, to live like a Beast, and die like a Dog (and having no portion in God) after­wards to be damned like a Divel? No, no, saith the Prophet, this is a false Maxime, a [Page 4] man may be thus imaginarily happy, he may have riches, honor, plenty, pleasures, and the world at will, and yet be really in a miserable case to all eternity: But if you speak of happiness, I will put you a better case, Happy, yea thrice happy is that people, whose God is the Lord; a notable Epanortho­sis and correction of the Opinion of world­ly happiness. But the second interpretation more probably supposeth it to be spoken by way of subordination and comparison; as if David had said, You call poverty, and dis­grace miseries; and you call riches, and ho­nor happiness: Why? let this be granted that there is some kinde of felicity in this world, and that it is better to be rich then poor, to be in honor, then in disgrace: I will not affirm that there is an inconsistency & in­choherency between a possession in this life, and a propriety in the next; let it be so, that a people in such a case is happy (and so it is a Synchoresis or grant) it is true what you say, How happy then is that people, that hath not onely peace without, but peace within; that hath a portion in this world, but yet not this world for their portion; that hath a title not onely to the streams and Creatures, but also to the Fountian & Creator? yea doubt­less, happy indeed: Well fare that man, that [Page 5] Nation, who in this sense have God to be their Lord; and farewell the contrary.

Prop. The proposition from hence is, That the greatest happiness in this world, is not to have this world to be our happiness; but in our Worldly happiness, to have God to be our Lord.

The truth whereof will the better appear, by setting before your eyes, as in a Table, and by weighing as in scales, the happiness of this world, and the happiness of Gods people.

1. We must make an Anatomy of the World, view it, and see what it bids towards happiness, and without offence I presume I must personate the moral or meer worldly man, and shew you the happiness of being in his case.

1. Let health, strength, and an [...], or good temper of body appear: and in­deed, what is a velvet Pantofle to a dis-joynt­ed foot; a Velvet Jacket to a broken arm; the most delicate vyands to a dis-eased Sto­mach? The world, my Beloved, is like an Hospital of diseased Patients; Here stands one man crying out of the Tooth-ach, there sits another tormented with the stone; there lies a third distracted with the Collick, a fourth wracked with the Gout: And who is there in this great Assembly that can say, For [Page 6] my part I know not who you speak to, I feel no distemper, I bless God I ail nothing; But how many are ready to complain with him that cryed out, 'tis true, God hath set his Rain-bow in the Heavens, his mark in the clouds, that the world shall not again be drowned with water: But whats that to me, that am like to be drowned presently? So what is Peace and Tranquillity abroad, when I have a burning fear within my body? what is it to have plenty in the Land, when I have a lingring Consumption and Feaver in my blood? It is true, there is never a gracious heart, but would of the two, rather be a Lazarus here, then a Dives hereafter; rather (if God put it to his choice) beg his bread on earth, then his water in hell; yet as to this world it is better to fare delicately, then to be a Beggar, to be a Dives then a Lazarus; for a man to have work for God to do, and to have ability of God to do it, while others groan out their days, and waste their precious time in languishments, for others to have good blood running in their veins, to have their bones, as the Prophet speaks, full of marrow and strength: Who would not think himself happy to be in such a case?

Secondly, What though a man have health, if he enjoy not his Liberty? I must confess, [Page 7] It is better to be a Gally-slave at Algiere, then to be a drudge to the Divel; it is better to be a Cato in a Prison, with shackels & fet­ters about ones heels, then a Caesar in the Senate house, with a chain of Gold about his neck: Yet how sweet is freedom, not onely in Conscience, but of Body? Whom doth it not pity to see anothers Body to be a Gaol to his Soul, and his House to be a Prison to his Body? And who would not give the greatest sum, with that Greek Captain (in another sense) to obtain this free­dom, Matth. 22.28. When I take a view of our weekly Bills of Mortality in London, I finde a report of so many dying in one Pa­rish of a Fever, of so many dying in another Parish of a Consumption, &c. But when I cast my eye down to the bottom of the Leaf, suspecting still that I should see some Fune­rals of the Plague, contrarily for these 12. moneths and above, I finde there nothing but Ciphers: Ah Lord, how unthankful are we for such a blessing! when thou might'st as justly as suddenly, turn our Ciphers into Figures, cause our faces to gather paleness, hang our streets with mourning, and make us know what an happiness health and liberty is, by the doleful and dreadful effects and restraint of the Plague and Pestilence.

[Page 8]Thirdly, But what a case were man in, though he had his health, if he wanted Re­lations and Friends? How comfortable is it in the Marriage state, for a man to have his Table compassed about not with Thorns and Bryars, but with Olive-plants, emblems of peace: How much better is it for a man to have so many children to call him Father, then to have so many pieces of gold to call him Lord? Therefore it is, that when God would give us an Inventory of Jobs happi­ness, he first sets down his piety, A man fearing God; but descending to his comforts in this life, he begins with his children before his estate: Item, saith God, Job had given him so many sons and daughters, whereas certainly some ungodly men count children but Bills of charges; and its an ordinary thing to say, such a man hath a fair estate, and would be an happy man but that he hath a great charge of children. Man is immor­tal, not onely Physically in his soul, because that dies not being immortal; not onely morally in his name and reputation, if godly, because God hath engaged himself to make men afraid to pollute the names of them (who while living feared his name) but also natu­rally, in regard of off-spring, a man lea­ving so many Lamps burning behinde him, [Page 9] as he hath children surviving; and as it was an Old Testament curse to be barren, and to have no light, so also for God to put out a mans Lamps, and in that sense, to leave a man no light to follow him: Happy, or Blessed am I, said Leah, (when Zilpah her maid bare Jacob another son) for the daugh­ters will call me Blessed; and she called his name Ashur.

And as for friendship, a Friend is a mans second self, he careth at all times, he is par­ticeps curarum, partaker of our care; he is (as Alexander was wont to boast) the best treasure: We know diseases of stoppings and suffocations, are the most dangerous in the body, and it is not much otherwise in the minde: You may take Sarza to open the Liver, and Steel to open the Spleen; flour of Sulphur for the Lungs, but no receipt, in a moral sense so opens the heart, as a faithful Friend: The Parable of Pythagoras is ob­scure, but true, Cor ne edito, Eat not the heart: Certainly if a man would give it a hard phrase, those that want friends to open them­selves to, are Canibals of their own hearts: Two, saith the Wise-man, are better then one, when one falleth, the other helpeth him up. To have health, and liberty, and re­lations, and friends, is comfortable under [Page 10] God, and who doth not applaud his happi­ness that is in such a case?

But Fourthly, What though a man had all these Providential favors, if he wanted an Estate; though its a thing more honorable to be master over his Lusts, then to be ma­ster of a great estate; and more glorious for a man to have Grace, Love, and Faith, and Patience in his heart, then silver and gold in his purse; yet who knows not but Money is a Queen, and those that abound in it are Kings upon earth with men; that the Bor­rower is a servant, I oft a very slave to the Lender; that he that hath riches, hath wherewithal to give, which because its an imitation of God, is better then to be on the receiving hand; that it is somewhat for a man to be able to defray his charges as he passeth out of the world, and when he is dead, rather to have the Parish left to his children, then his children to the Parish: And riches (as the great States-man saith) are so honorable among wordlings, that its hard to distinguish between virtue and fortune; for the most virtuous, if unprosperous, have been despised; and the most impious, if prosperous, have ever been applauded. It is certain, that its onely the right hand of Christ, the light of his countenance that [Page 11] must save, that must imbrace us; yet his left hand may be under our heads, the mer­cies of this world may help keep us from murmuring and distrust, they may uphold us: It is not for nothing that God coupleth Poverty and Shame together, Prov. 13.18. The reason whereof may be either, because poverty usually maketh men ashamed (though in it self its no more shame for a man to be poor then to be honest) and of­ten is a temptation to men to do things that are shameful; and that Solomon intimates to us, that there is greater danger in extremity of want, then in excess of wealth: Give me, saith he, neither poverty nor riches: Why so? Not riches, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? A desperate Interogatory indeed! but yet not poverty neither: Why so? Lest I be poor, and steal, and take the Name of God in vain: Mark it, the Tem­tation of Riches is Pride, but the temptati­on of Poverty, is sacriledge against God, and it is a greater sin to Blaspheme God, whom we own, then to turn Athiest and deny him.

But,

Fifthly, How can this man be yet happy, if in his wealth he want Honor and Reputa­tion? It is known that our Lord and Master lost his good name, and was mis-called, be­fore [Page 12] he lost his life; and sure enough there will, to the comfort of the righteous at the last day, be a Resurrection of their Names, as well as of their Bodies: Though it be the affliction of a just man to be traduced, yet its the sin onely of the Traducer; for though we have the command of our ears, yet we have no bridle to restrain others tongues, and its an ordinary, yet a royal thing to do well, to hear ill: And let no man be de­spondent that his coat be torn, if his consci­ence be whole; yet it must be acknowledged a great Blessing, though not to be flattered, yet to be well reported of; not onely to have a good conscience towards God, but a just credit before men; and if a man lose the opinion of being good, though yet he be good, he may be packing out of the world for any advantage of doing good; for though a good conscience be necessary for our own salvation, yet a good name is ne­cessary for the salvation of others; and though it be the care of men generally, ra­ther to be thought honest then to be ho­nest: To covet a milk white name, and to be cryed up and down the world, to have the encomiums of men, There goes a righteous man, there goes a charitable man; yet its an honor for a man to have a pot of oynt­ment, [Page 13] and to have no dead flies in it to make it stink, Eccles. 10.1. And a good name is rather to be chosen then great riches, and loving favor rather then sil­ver and gold; though such may not have the Lord to be their God, yet hap­py is he in a moral sense that is in such a case.

Sixthly. But how inestimable were a man, and so a Nation, with all this respect, if they should want Dominion and Em­pire: It is a promise that Gods People shall possess the Gates of their Enemies, Gen. 22.17. and that their Rule shall extend from Sea to Sea. The Athenians reckon­ed their great Empire to be their great­est glory: Alexander thought himself un­happy that he had not another World to Conquer: Caesar had rather be King of a Cottage, (he so loved Rule) then the second at Rome: The King of SPAIN gives for his Arms a Shield, with the Sun rising and setting on it. It is obser­ved, That he that hath the command of the Sea hath the command of the world, and he that hath the command of the Navy, hath the command of the Sea: Now let us suppose a [Page 14] Nation to have riches at home, and power abroad; for a Nation to be Admiral of the vast Ocean, to wear the victorious Flag, and to bring all others under the Lee, and to strike Sail to them as supream, to be instrumental hereby to report their glo­rious acts in the world, that all Kingdoms and Crowns should admire and honor them; What Nation that had this opportunity to bridle their Neighbors, and awe their most distant powers into a respect, would not count it their glory and happiness to be in such a case?

Seventhly, But what is Wealth, and Ho­nor, and Dominion, without Peace? How sad is it to consider, that while we contend for an ounce of truth, we lose a pound of love? that like children in the dark mis­taking our enemies, we strike our friends that are nearest us? How many are there with us that have once shed their blood together, that now are ready even to shed the blood one of another? Hitherto we have in England been running so far from Babylon, that we are building a Babel; what one calls truth, another calls error; what one calls order, another names Tyranny and Cruelty; but what if Providence should now confound our confusions? Hitherto we have, like [Page 15] Noahs Ark, been tossed up and down upon the waves of publick contentions, and endless controversies; What if Providence should send some Dove with an Olive-branch of Peace, to give us intelligence that our wa­ters shall be asswaged, that our swords here­after shall be turned into plow-shares, that we shall neither smite one another with the sword of the tongue, nor with the tongue of the sword; that the falling out of Lovers, shall be the renewing of love; that if we can't love one another as men of one Opini­on, yet we shall as men of one nature and of one Nation; that though we can't bury all our controversie, yet we shall banish all our contention: Suppose, my Beloved, the Wolf should now lie down with the Lamb (that he may do, and yet not be turn'd into a Lamb) and the Lyon should eat straw like the Ox, and a little childe should lead them; suppose that every man should [...] under his own Vine and Fig-tree (instead of mens longing after their Neighbors Vineyards, like Ahab) What if sound and sollid know­ledge, even of moral righteousness, should revive amongst us, and should increase ex­tensively and intensively, as waters upon the Sea; and that in England, the mountain of the Lord, there should be no destroying [Page 16] thing; that we should rather minde the stear­age of the whole Ship, then the guiding of our particular Cabins; rather consider the common Principles of Reason and Religion, to unite us, then the disputable Points in Church and State that seek to divide us: I believe none among us but would deem this Nation happy if ever it should come to be in such a case. But though this be much,

Yea Eightly, For Governors to be as the Angels of God; for Princes to be Shep­herds, to make it their business to defend the People, and for the People to make it their business to defend their Princes; For Magistrates to paint the Walls of a Nation, and not to pluck up also the Foundation; to beautifie a Kingdom with Peace, and to build it also with Righteousness, that those in a Nation that have no will to do Ju­stice, should have no power to do in­justice; that the Mountains should bring forth Equity, and the little Hills Peace, Psalm 72.3. That the grand Principle of Nature should universally be put into pra­ctice amongst us, for no man to do to another, but that which he would be content another should do to him; that [Page 17] there should be satisfaction given for wrongs done to all parties; that a com­position and composure should be of all Injuries, by a sweet Amnesty or Act of Oblivion; What a Golden Age would such things make? For though Morality be not Grace, nor Justice to men Righ­teousness before God for Satisfaction; yet what a shame is it for People to pre­tend to Gospel Light, and yet not to live up to Natural Light? And assuredly, I had rather converse in common dealing with a man that is but a Moralist, though he be no Christian, then with a Professor, an high Professor of Christianity, that is not a Moralist.

But if we could imagine a Blessedness of Health, without permanency, we might call an intermitting Ague a good day without health.

If a Blessedness of Plenty, without per­manency, we might call one mans surfeit in a time of dearth, plenty.

If Peace a Blessedness, without perma­nency, we might call a nights sleep in the midst of a field of Arms, peace. If Riches without permanency Blessedness, then a tray­tor might be a landed man, that is condemned [Page 18] and must die to morrow: Now suppose what we there call Blessedness, should be possest, not onely by this present Generation, but by Providence entailed on our Posterity, and the ages to come? Whose Vote is it not that we might see this good? and who hath faith to believe that God will render us thus hap­py? Yet were we thus happy, it were no­thing comparable to that happiness which follows, of having the Lord to be our God, the Lord God to be our Portion.

And now I come to take off the vail, and shew you the world in its deformed, at least, defective colour, in respect of the liveliness and loveliness of their estate who have an interest in the God the Lord. Yea happy, &c. Happy, Ashrei. Happiness is the subject of most Books, of all Tongues; Aristotle be­gins his Ethicks with Happiness, David his Psalms with Blessedness; so Christ himself the Gospel, Blessed are the poor, &c. It may be noted, That no Grammarian among the Jews could ever tell us what this word Ashrei signifies, as no Philosopher among the Gen­tiles what Happiness is; some place it in one thing, some in another; the Peripateticks place it in Contemplation; the Stoicks in Contemplation and Practice; the Academicks in Practice; the Epicure shot nighest the [Page 19] mark (however time hath represented them) they placed it in the delight that did arise from virtuous Actions. Some Criticks say Ashrei is an Adverb, and signifies Happily; others rather conclude it a Substantive, and that P [...]ural or Dual, and so its to be ren­dred Blessednesses: And the reason why a gra­cious man is so called, may be either because his happiness is a Catholick happiness: God is not a partial or fragmentary, but a full and perfect good; as all the Lines meet in the Centre, so all the happinesses that are scat­tered in the Creature, centre in God. Or secondly, Because such an ones happiness is not onely in the Present, but also in the Fu­ture Tense; he is happy (its true) here, but imperfectly, his greatest happiness is yet to come; here indeed happiness enters into him, but hereafter he shall enter into happiness. The Moralist speaks at a great rate, when he saith, Call no man happy that hath a great Estate, but him that lives up to the Prescript of Reason and Law; He that sees no man with whom he would change his condition, he that loseth that he cares not to enjoy, and enjoys that he can't lose: And in a spiritual sense he onely is such a man whose God is the Lord: Methinks the words are here represented as Antiphanys, Dialogue-wise, The world [Page 20] begins, Happy is he whose Sons grow like Olive plants, yea saith David, whose God is the Lord; the World succeeds, Happy is he whose Oxen are strong to labor, and that Nation whose streets knows no complaining; yea, saith David, whose God is the Lord; still that is the note of a gracious heart, as he rescribed back nothing but King of France, King of France, King of France; and why happy such a man above a worldling.

1. He that hath outward happiness in the world, may not have a title to the Lord; but he that hath God to be his Lord hath a title, a spiritual title to the World: The Corinthians were ready to quarrel about their properties; I am of one from Paul, saith one, I am from Apollo, said another; tush, said a third, I care neither for Paul nor Apollo, give me Cephas, I am for Cephas: The Apostle rounds them in the ear, what saith he, Is Christ divided? will you contend for a part? All men are gain, not onely Paul, Apollo, Cephas, but all things, life, death, things present, and things to come; But by what tenure? Why? Because Christ is gain: When we lost our Title to God, we lost our comfortable title to the Creatures, and no wonder the Creature rebels against us, since we have rebell'd against the Creator: The [Page 21] Creatures may justly say to unregenerate men, that hunt after, and dig for happiness in them; I say, Honors, Riches, Pleasures, may say to such, as Samuel did to Saul, Why come ye to us, since God is departed from you? He is a Rebel that harboreth him whom the King hath Proclaimed a Traytor: And what comfort can that soul have, to lay his head in the bosome of any Creature, when God himself hath turned his back on him? But he that hath a new title to God, hath a bet­ter title to outward comforts, he holds them in capite: God hath provided for him a Kingdom, and therefore doth not grudge him crums? How sweet are those mo [...]sels of bread, that by Faith are dipt in Christs blood? not that property comes by Grace, but it is cleared up by Grace: Many a man hath an Estate, and a childe of God enjoys the com­fort of it: The worldly man may say, This house, this childe is mine by Creature right; a Saint saith, These are also mine by Cove­nant right; but you may have all worldly happiness and not be happy.

Therefore secondly, Grace claims a title to all the Ordinances of God: Preaching is thy Chariot, to bring the Lord down to thee: Prayer and Meditation, are wings to carry thy soul up to God. It is generally belie­ved, [Page 22] and without scruple among the judi­cious, that the visible, and not the invi­sible Church, is the prime and proper subject for the dispensation of Gospel Seals, but his title to them that hath a right to Christ, is in­disputable: He that can say the body and blood of Christ is his, may challenge and claim the Bread and Wine that signifie those as his: He that hath right to the Pearl, hath right to the Casket: He that is marryed to the King of Glory, ought not upon any pretences whatsoever, to be kept out of the Presence Chamber, and from prayer, while others stand like strangers without doors knocking, and speaking to God at a distance, as slaves to a master, you have freedom to enter into the Palace of Heaven, and cry, Abba, Father: The Ordinances are the glory of a Nation, and where ever God goes, his Ordinances go too, and where ere they reside and abide, he abides too.

My Beloved, God and his Institutions go and come from and to a Nation together; as its the honor of a Nation to say, Jehovah-Nissi, The Lord is our Banner, in a Military sense for God to fight for us; so a greater for others to say of any Nation, Jehovah-Shammah, The Lord is there, in an Ecclesi­astical sense: The Ordinances are the com­fort [Page 23] of the soul, they are not as some new Anti-scripturists calumniate, the Grave wherein Christ lies, but the Throne where­on he sits as King of the Church; and we were better lose our evidences for our Lands, then part with the seals of the Gospel: Is it then a small matter to have liberty to tread in Gods courts, to sit under the tree of Life and dew of Heaven? to have commerce with An­gels, to have communion with the Lord of Glory; when thou art hungry, to have freedom to run to Gods House for Bread; when thou art di­stracted and troubled with doubts of thy Faith, thy salvation, to have recourse, with David, to Gods Sanctuary for resolution, and that by thy title to the Lord, as thy Lord?

Thirdly, Thou hast moreover a propriety in all his Providences; his Providences are thine for thy satisfaction; if thou wantest enlightning, he is thy Sun; if defending, he is thy shield; if a Nation be fearful, he is a wall of fire without; if fainting, he is a well of water within: They may be with­out many things, but we have the Broad-Seal of Heaven for it that they shall want no good thing: Thou art in trouble, and if thy Friend could but see thee, How happy? God is therefore Omniscient: Thou art weak, if thy Friend could help thee? God is there­fore [Page 24] Omnipotent, El Shaddai, All-sufficient: If thou art weak, he hath a shoulder to car­ry thee; if feeble, a bosom to warm and cherish thee: He that hath him that is all, hath all.

Secondly, For thy security, and that 1. To sustain thee: If thou goest into the water, I will be with thee; if into the fire, Ile be with thee, said God, q. d. If thou burn, Ile burn too; if thou drown, Ile drown too: Hence it was that Israel was safe in the Red-sea, and the three children secure in the Furnace: God may cast his childe down, and so his Nation, yet not cast them away; he often breaks your hearts, that he may not break your backs. 2. To order all for thee: The Devil may turn Cordials into poyson, but providence turns those poysons into Cordials again: God hath his fairest ends in our foulest ways, when temptations have sucked our corrupt blood away, those Leeches shall be taken off; when you are provoked to storm at God, and quarrel with the seeming inequality of his ways, are ready to judge his present carriage to your souls, inconsistent with the hopes of election past, or future glory: Let despair vail, and murmuring be tongue-tyed, and consider the Lord thinks it better rather to bring order out of these [Page 25] spiritual disorders, then not to suffer those disorders to be at all: Its easier for vain man to wrangle with the Almighty, and to set up in his pride an Anti-Providence in the world, then rightly to discern what God is a doing; we neglect to consider his way which lies open, and no wonder then we are hampered in finding out his ends, which are secret: Its sufficient, though God for the present seem to scrible to a natu­ral eye, yet he will, before he hath done, make his Copy fair: Though the building of Sion seem confused, here lies a beam, there an heap of morter, there unhewn stones, yet all things in the end shall serve this great Ar­chitect: God hath not more glory now, then we shall have good (according to our capacity) hereafter, Rom. 8.28. Gods house may be stormed, but it shall not be shattered; Sion like a bottle may be dipt, but it shall not be drowned; who dare invade that Nation where God is Pilot, or levy an army against that people whose God is the Lord? For,

Fourthly, All the Promises of God are thine, both first for this life: I profess Chri­stians, though we slightly overlook the Oracles of God: Yet as there is not one c [...]m­mand we could miss, we stand in need of so much holiness; so there's not one promise (though there be thousands there we could miss) we stand in [Page 26] need of so much comfort: And moreover, there is as much reallity in the promises of your God, as there is of formality in the promises of men; what men speak falsly, God speaks faithfully: And if any poor soul say, If God be mine, why then is not comfort and peace mine? Can a man have God to be his Lord, and yet be tormented with so many doubts, scruples as I am? Yes, your comfort is not always so much as your title (your title is to Christ, to peace of Conscience, to a full and perfect joy in the Spirit, but your com­fort may be little) but yet your title is always more then your actual comfort: The reason why you are perplexed in your consciences, is not because you have relation to God, or because their's no satisfaction for you in the Bible, but because you want a mouth to suck the breast of Consolation, and an hand of Faith to reach the Pearl of Price: God always hath a promise for your Faith, but you have not always Faith for a promise. Special­ly the promises are yours,

1. For the Perseverance of your Graces: I fear, saith a Believer, I shall one day fall by the hand of this Saul, of this lust; no, saith God, The house of David shall grow stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul weaker and weaker: But though I depart not [Page 27] from God, yet God may depart from me; he may give me a Bill of Divorce, and recal my sense of his Love, and the testimonies of his Grace: No, saith God, I will be your God, and I will not depart from you: The truth is, our Faith could not keep us, unless the power of God kept our Faith: There­fore the Apostle tells us, We are kept by Faith, but it is also through the power of God to salvation: You say you may fail, because Gods promises are your conditions, but re­member withal, your conditions are Gods promises, he bids you make you a new heart, that you may see your weakness, and his faithfulness; therefore he saith, Ile take a­way your stony heart, &c. God is on both sides the Covenant of Grace, and though the evidence of a Believer may be blurred and blot [...]ed, yet the Seal remains on, and is ne­ver broken off: Whatever Doctrines some vent against the immutability of special Love, yet we may easily know by experi­ence, or rather, I confess, by Scripture, That God hath other ways to correct his children, then by casting them out of his Family.

2. To pardon infirmities and sins: God hath an hook to fetch in your wandrings, and a brest to take in your weaknesses: Christ hath righteousness against your unrighte­ousness, [Page 28] blood to wash our tears: Your Coyn, though it have some allay, yet if it have the right stamp, that shall not hinder its currency in Heaven: If you bring your du­ties to the touch-stone, God will ne'r bring them to the Balance: O how happy are they, that though the world see it dirty under their feet, can themselves at that time see it fair above head! That when riches, and health, and friends fail them, and they can't say, we have cloathes to cover us, or food to refresh us; that can yet say, Blessed be God we are not miserable, for we have the promises, the honey-combs of sweetness still by us. And though you have but little in possession, yet,

2. For the future you have riches in Re­version: Is he an Infidel that will not pro­vide for his Family, and will God neglect his own? Shall ever any be able to write Infidel on Gods door? He is a Father, and as he now lays out by Providence, so by Pro­mise he hath laid up for his Children: Will communion with God in his Ordinances sa­tisfie you? if not, you have a promise of communion with God above Ordinances, where the Sun shan't shine by day, or the Moon by night, for the Lamb shall be your light: God hath already prepared Heaven [Page 29] for his, and wonder not at the crosses, cala­mities of this life, for they are our Fathers foils and fires to prepare his for Heaven: Earth is the place where you seek happiness; Hea­ven is the place where you shall finde it. A great part of our Estates lies in Bills and Bonds, and it is kept for you in your Fa­thers hands till you come to Heaven: You may look for much, and often turn over your Evidences, I mean your promises, and see your future riches, but you'l never know all your Estate till you come to enjoy it, and then you shall have as much peace, as much glory in possession, as now you have in hopes: If therefore the promise of a Land of Canaan, after a Wilderness; the promise of an Harbor, after storms and tempests, will make you happy, you can't be miserable; and if the sense of the joy of Heaven, if the Contemplation and Be­atifical Vision of God; if the actual par­ticipation of Glory, with the Communi­cation of the beauty and face of Christ himself can take away your miseries, then you shall be happy, for the Lord shall with­out doubt of scruple, then manifest him­self to be your God.

[Page 30]Fifthly, You have a title to all the Attri­butes of God, his Providential care is yours: the eye is the tenderest part of the body, the apple is the tenderest part of the eye; now you all are as dear to God as the apple of his eye, Zech. 1.8. A man will rather endure a thump on the back, then a touch on the eye: When you are asleep, God is awake; when you are in a fit of temptation, careless of his glory, yet even then he is careful for your salvation: Israel that is kept, may both slum­ber and sleep; but he that keeps Israel can­not sleep, no not slumber: God so provides for all his children, as if they were but one, and so provideth for every single or particu­lar childe, as if he had never another childe to provide for in all the world besides: The Lord hath a Book to write down your names, and a bottle to put your tears in. His power likewise is yours: the Lord hath not so much need of your patience, as you have of his power; and as what the Lord is, he is for you; and as what the Lord hath, he hath for you; so what the Lord can do, he will do for you. Though the promise of God be the measure of your faith (and therefore beware in times of tryal, of charging your selves for unbelief, when God himself possibly doth not in that particular command you to be­lieve) [Page 31] yet your faith is not the measure of his power: The Lord usually doth for his Church more then they believe, and we must believe he can do more for his Church then he doth; nothing but contradiction (to speak re­verentially of God) passeth omnipotency: Gods people have a double guard, one within them, and that is, The finger of God, the Spirit; another without them, and that is, The arm of God, his Power; a double hold also on God, as he hath that double guard on them; Promise what he will do, experi­ence what he hath done: As Sions cause is good, so she wants not as good a Champion to maintain it: The name of the Lord is a strong Tower; and though the righteous can­not rest in a name of Godliness, yet they may in the name of God; and therefore in times of trouble they run to it, Prov. 16.10. Lord, may Syon say, Support under tryals, and deliverance from danger, is an Article of thy Covenant; And will not the Lord be faithful? Are our infirmities many? the Lord our God hath mercy to pardon them: Are our corruptions many? he hath power to subdue them: Are our sins great? he hath love to cover them: What a Constel­lation and Centre of Attributes are in God! Righteousness, Holiness, Wisdom, Power, Grace, [Page 32] and mercy? I, every one of these Attributes is God; and as when Mithridates espoused the daughter of a poor laboring man, the General to testifie the approbation of his choice, sent the old Father a Cap full of gold, with which he being over-joyed, runs up and down the streets shewing of it to all the peo­ple, crying out, All this is mine: So may the people of God, whose Promises, Provi­dences, Ordinances, Attributes, Graces, are theirs, triumphantly signifie to the world, All these are ours; and that which is more then all this, if more can be, you whose God is the Lord,

Sixthly, Have a propriety in God himself, in Christ himself; as the Lord, when he could swear by no greater, sware by himself; so he having no greater thing to give, gives him­self: Christ, who is the beloved of the Fa­ther, and the First-born of every Creature, he likewise is yours, your King to Rule you, your Priest to satisfie for you, your Prophet to Indoctrinate and teach you; his Death, and Resurrection, and Intercession are yours, not onely for signification, but for efficacy: His blood, his precious and pearless blood is yours to pardon you; His glorious and [Page 33] sweet Spirit is yours, to purifie and purge you: And for all things else in the World, they are,

1. But short and transitory: Riches are well called Moveables, and ere long they will either take their leave of us, or we shall certainly take our leaves of them: Honor is but brittle, it is even like Glass, of which they say, when it shineth bright­est its nighest melting: And for the rest, how uncertain are all things, money for the Thieves, Merchandizes for the Winds, Cattel for the Rot, Buildings for the Fire? The glory of this World is in it self but the Scheme, but the Picture of Happiness, and it will not sit so long before your eyes, as that you may draw its Picture, its gone before you can say 'tis here: But suppose Worldly happiness were long, yet,

Secondly, Its Insatisfactory: Worldly comforts are even like drink to the Drop­sie man, encreasing thirst; like Wood to the Fire, enlarging its Flame: The chest may be filled with gold, but God onely can fill the heart: These things cannot make you happy, [Page 34] because they are desired not for themselves, but for other things; but the Lord is desirable not for something else beside himself, but onely for himself: Deus propter Deum: If you have Riches, you may look beyond them and see Honors to tempt your eye; if you have Riches and Honors, you may look be­yond them, and see moral Wisdom to tempt your head; if you have all these, you may yet look beyond, and see health to tempt your heart: And while these partial and im­perfect happiness lay before you, you may look beyond them all, and see a necessity of something else, that is, God to be your God: But let a man be made an heir of salva­tion, let a man be adopted into the Family of God, and be able to say, The Lord is my God; and I provoke that man to say its true, God and Christ, and Heaven and Grace are mine, but I want something else besides these in the world to make me happy: These things are not uni­versally good; clothes are but for the back, meat for the belly, musick for the ears, flow­ers for the smell and eye, &c. but the Lord is a Catholick, a viscerate and entire good, he is Almighty or All-sufficient: As a man that hath a minde to some particular dish, can finde all dishes in that one dish; as suppose Patridges, Capons, or Pheasants: So a childe [Page 35] of God can finde all things in God, riches, honor, pleasure: The covetous man makes his gold his God, but a gracious heart, saith God is my Gold: A man may have silver, but silver shall never satisfie him without God; but if a man love God, he will satisfie him without silver: When a poor Beggar is matched to a Royal Prince, she views his Palace, she surveys his gardens, and pleaseth her self in a delightsome prospect of all his greatness and glory, and can say, These are mine, for the Prince himself is mine: So because you have a title to the Fountain, the streams are yours: What­ever happiness is scattered here and there a­broad in the Creatures, it is all virtually, eminently, and superlatively in God. I read of a couple of Ambassadors, the one a Spa­niard, the other a Venetian, and they did both of them extol and prefer the Revenues of their particular Masters; said the Venetian Ambassador, My Master hath so many chests of Silver and Gold; alass, said the Spanish Ambassador, Your Masters Treasures have a bottom, but my Masters Treasures in the Indies, have a Root, a Spring: So may a true Saint say to the World, your riches and com­forts have a leak or limitation; but my Lord Jesus, his comforts and riches, his Treasures, [Page 36] have neither Banks nor bottom: God is mine, and if he can make me happy I shall not be miserable: This, this my Beloved, is your Inventory for Happiness, that can say, The Lord is our God.

I shall now come to the Application of the Proposition, and treat with your Consci­ences in these following Deductions or Con­clusions.

First Conclusion from hence is, a Vindica­tion of that true Opinion that Gods people have of the false happiness of the World: Wicked men are infiliciter felices, unhappily happy; you feliciter infelices, miserable in your Imagination, but happy really and in­deed: You rightly and righteously deter­mine, that a man may have a gay coat and a festered Conscience; a great Estate in his hands, but little or no true comfort in his heart; that though Riches have not so much as the wings of a Sparrow in flying to us, yet they, when gotten, make to themselves wings, and that of an Eagle, to flie away from us: That worldly delights are but as a Snow-ball, which being with much pains heaped up together, melteth presently if the Sun do but shine out: That restless man, in wrestling and contending for what he de­sires, is but like a childe running up and [Page 37] down in a pleasant Meadow after a painted Butterfly, which when he hath taken, all the recompence it affords, is, but onely to be­smear his fingers. You speak truly and sound­ly, when you say, That a dram of Grace is worth a pound of Gold; that all the con­tents and Creatures in the earth are but meer Ciphers, unless God be purposed to set on the first Figure: That while a Diadem sit­teth light on a Princes head, it may for all that lie heavy enough on his conscience: That there is no indivisible connexion be­tween a Kingdom on Earth, and a Crown in Heaven: That a man may possibly swim in a Sea of Pleasures in this World, and yet sink into an Ocean of wrath and Brimstone in the next: That a man may be so honor­able, so rich, so glorious, while he lives, that every man may be ready to say, There goes an happy man; yet that man, when he dies, for want of a configuration to Christ and title to God, may be miserable to all Eter­nity. Could men carry their estates beyond the Line of Mortality, and with their money [...]ee the Angels at last day to plead for them, to prevent the Sentence of the Judge of Heaven and Earth; or after that Sentence is pronounced, bribe the flames of Hell-fire to be pitiful towards, and not to prey on or [Page 38] torment them: this were something for worldly happiness, but when we see that there is no advantage, though a man gain the whole world, if yet he lose his own soul; that all these sublunary felicities, are consistent with Gods eternal indignation, that these things, neither singly nor joyntly; can so much as asswage grief, put off cares, much less adjourn death or prevent Hell, where there is no remission of sin, no inter­mission of punishment; where the pangs of the damned are not onely for the present in­tolerable, but for the future interminable. Who would not pray with a gracious heart, Lord let me be rather miserable for a time (as the world speaks) that I may be happy for ever, then that I should be happy for a season onely, and after that miserable for ever: Lord, though I desire to be of the number of those Christians that have their hope and expectation in this world, yet deliver me from those worldlings, whose entire portion is in this world, is this world, Psal. 17.14. Now we are ready to call the proud, happy; to lift up them high in our thoughts, that are lifted up in the world; but when Jesus Christ shall come to give to every man according to his works, and in flaming fire to render vengeance to them that know him not, on the one hand; and on [Page 39] the other hand when he shall come to make up his Jewels that now are despised, and to repair their reproaches before God, in the sight and audience of men and Angels, that now are triumphed over and trampled upon by men: Who would deem himself happy at that day, if he be not in their case whose God is the Lord?

The second, Deduction: Here we see, as in a Looking-glass, the false Opinion that worldly men have of true happiness, or of the state of the godly: How ready is a wicked man to compassionate the children of God? Alas, saith he, To what purpose are these men so precise and exact? It may be there may be a Judgement day, it may be not; and how miserable are they to provide for that which no man living ever saw, while they neglect that which is obvious to their very senses? Honors are certain, riches are certain, and while they expect their food, they starve; while they pretend after a King­dom, they go naked, while they call God Father, they want even the bread of chil­dren; Whereas no man is miserable in ano­ther mans accompt, but in his own: You may possibly see a Joseph in Prison, while Pharaoh keeps a Court; a Job on a dung-hill, while a Julian is on a Throne: You may see [Page 40] them poor and reproached, but did they ever tell you they were miserable; and when they were without Estates and reputation, that they wanted them to make them happy? never say a childe of God is miserable, till he say so of himself. A wicked man may have Blessings, and yet not be blessed; and a childe of God may have curses (still from men) and yet not be cursed.

Its observed, That men thus varyed their Opinion about happiness, because they suppo­sed the fruition of that whereof they were de­stitute, would make them happy: He that was poor, said, If I had but riches, I should be happy; and so riches came to be called happiness: He that was in reproach, said, Oh! If I were but respected I should be happy, and so respect and repute came to be called happiness: He that was diseased said, If I had my health I should be happy, and so health came to be accompted an happi­ness: The natural man is mistaken in his verdict; the Saint saith, I accompt all things loss and dung for Christ; the natural man; I accompt Christ loss and dung for any thing else in this life: The Saint seeks for happiness in crosses, Job 5.10. but the na­tural man or Philosopher will assoon seek for light in darkness, heat in cold, fire in water, [Page 41] sweetness in gall and wormwood, as for comfort in calamities. Hence Christ reads a Lecture contrary to nature, Not blessed are the merry, but the mourners; not the lofty, but the weak; not the Mammonist, but the poor in spirit, Matth. 5.3. Vos editis beatos esse pauperes. Ergo ut tanto facili­us f [...]atis be­ati, omnia bona vobis adimimus. Juliani scomma in Christianos factum. Those eight Beatitudes, are the eight Paradoxes of the world: As Christ said, He had bread to eat that his Disciples knew not of; so the Disciples of Christ have an hap­piness to enjoy, that the natural man knows not of: The World should consider, That a man can never properly be miserable, till he lose that which made him happy: You that call outward things your hap­piness, your Greatness your happiness, your Gold and Silver your happiness; when your greatness is abated, and you made little or low before the people, when your Gold and silver is cankered or corrupted; when the scales turn, and you meet with poverty, your happiness is gone, you are miserable: But because the happiness of a Saint consisteth not in these things, but in Communion with God, but in the Justification of his PERSON, and a [Page 42] title to everlasting life; therefore whatever you take from him you make him not mi­serable, till you can take from him his God, his Justification, his everlasting life, for these are the things that make him happy: Suppose a man that hath thousands per an­num should lose a few farthings, his Estate suffers no loss, because he hath not suffered in, hath not lost his estate: Or take a Tra­veller that hath a precious Jewel about him, a Jewel of inestimable price; he hath some loose money, some spending money for his journey in his pockets, but his Jewel is made secure in some private place about his body; a company of thieves surprize him and rob him of some few shillings, or some small pence; do you think this man, when he comes to the next Town, would run up and down the streets like a mad man, and cry, I am undone, I am undone? No, because what­ever he hath lost, he hath kept and not lost his Jewel: How can a childe of God com­plain of the loss of outward things, of friends, of estate, while his God and Christ, his Pearl of price are safe? As he, said a wise man, will not pine at his bad fortune, while Caesar, while his Emperor is safe: When they have lost God, then they may justly ex­claim they are undone. Even Plato could [Page 43] recommend to the Writers of his age, that they should chracterise to posterity no man to be happy that was wicked, and no man to be miserable that was good: There is no greater thing on earth then man; there is no greater thing in man then his soul; and there is no greater thing in the soul of Man then God. 'Twas a vain conceit of that Po­tentate, who refusing the name of Pius, would be called Foelix; but Scylla, sirnamed Foelix, accompted it not the least part of his happiness, that Miletus, sirnamed Pius, was his friend. Piety is the best friend to Feli­city, though Felicity, outward Felicity, do not always befriend Piety: Foelix, Acts 24.22. thought Paul unhappy, but Paul knew Foelix miserable; because though he might have a chain of Gold about his neck, he had not a dram of true Grace in his heart, the Lord was not his God.

Third, Conclusion: This Text rectifies a latent and secret error, a rash suspition, as if a man could not be great and good toge­ther, rich and righteous at the same time; as if a man might not have Gold in his chest, and yet Grace in his heart. My Beloved, That man is not miserable that hath a pro­portion in this world, but he that hath his Portion in this world, or this world for his [Page 44] portion: And though outward excellencies be not godliness, yet a man may have out­ward excellencies, and yet have godliness too; as a wicked man may have some sparks of wrath here, yet the Furnace of wrath is re­served for hereafter; so a child of God shall have his inheritance hereafter; yet he may have some legacies, some largesses, some com­mon gifts of Providence here: Covetousness is not the Attribute of Riches (for all covetous men are not rich so all rich men are not covetous) but of the Man: Though a man cannot serve God and Mammon, yet he that hath served Mammon may serve God, he may have God and Mammon; I, and through Grace, may serve God with his Mammon: Here stands a poor man in rags, and for ought we know, he is covetous; there sits a rich man, a wealthy Alderman, and we trust charitable: Its notable that God doth indifferently di­spose of the black and white sides of Provi­dence: Many times he bestoweth the good things of this world on evil men, there we have an argument that these things are not goodness in themselves, and don't make a man happy; and often he dispenseth these outward good things on the godly; and then you may see Job, the richest man in the East, and Solomon King of Israel: Here we [Page 45] have an Argument, that these things are not evil in themselves, and so don't conclude a man miserable that hath them.

The Apostle gives a charge to rich men that they be not high minded, but no charge that a poor man become not rich, 1 Tim. 1.17. The Prophet tells us, That though here there be a difference between man and man, yet in the bed of the Grave the poor and rich meet together, and God owns himself the Maker of them both, Eccles. 9.1. And therefore we finde in the Gospel, poor La­zarus in the bosom of wealthy Abraham; I, Christ himself bids us not to throw away our Treasures, but to lay them up by im­ploying them.

The Father acquaints us, That one day meeting two men in the streets, the one a Gallant, the other a Beggar, censured nei­ther, but had this charitable reflection on himself, There goes a Beggar, and for ought I know, may better bear his Cross then I do; and there goes a rich Gallant, and for ought I know, may have a better heart un­der his velvet Jacket then I have. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, saith Job, so that Riches are GODS gift, as well as poverty, and for ought I know, you may enjoy your Honour and your [Page 46] graces too, your favor, your lawful favor with men, and the smiles of Gods countenance too; you may keep (and so to improve them by Chari­ty) your wealth, your strength, and your re­lations, and your title to God, and the grace of God too: I know nothing but that you may be rich and happy, if you will be rich and godly: I don't love to hear a poor man declaim a­gainst riches, and a beggar to spit at and vi­lifie a Crown: Religion may be the pre­tence, but the heart may be deceitful for all that: But for Magistrates that are highly advanced, to be lowly minded; for Kings to throw down their Crowns at Christs feet, and to say, Let him reign (and for ought I know, Christ may put them on their heads again) for such learned men as Paul, that know the price of Learning, and have known the value of worldly felicities, for these to count all nothing for Christ, this is to inrich riches and honor, honors indeed.

Let men beware of discontented humors in these times: The Fox dispraiseth the Grapes he cannot reach; let poor men be­ware of prjudice against men because they are rich; and it may be rich men may think better of the poor, and of the Lord our God for their sakes.

[Page 47]Fourth Corollary: This condemns the de­spondency of those that profess themselves to be the people of the Lord: It is strange to consider how the wicked many times de­port themselves so comfortably, so chear­fully, as if they were the children of God; and on the contrary, the children of God carry themselves so melancholily, so despair­ingly, as if they were wicked men, and had no interest in God at all; they rejoyce when they should mourn, and you mourn when you should rejoyce. Christians! Is the Lord contented with you, and is not God sufficient? Will not you be contented with him? Is the Lord satisfied with a My son, give me thy heart, and are not thou satisfied with this, the Lord hath given me his spirit? tolle meum, tolle Deum: Its remarkable that all the Beatitudes are fixed on unlikely con­ditions; to intimate, That the Judgement of this world, and the Judgement of Gods children differ about Blessedness: Shall that man rejoyce that hath but his Angels of gold to smile on him, and wilt thou not rejoyce that hast the Angels of God, I, the God of Angels to tend on thee? Is not he sad that hath onely a claim to the dirty and muddy streams of Peace, and outward prosperity, and wilt thou be sad that hast a title to the [Page 48] Well-head of Comfort, to the Spring and Fountain of Happiness? Shall he be merry that can but say, This mirous House, that Mannor is mine; and wilt thou not be glad, when thou saist, That this God, the Land­lord of Heaven and Earth is mine? Religion is no melancholy thing, though the Religious may be often melancholy; and what ever worldlings phansie, though oft the body be sad, yet the heart of a childe of God keeps Holy-day; and if he be troubled, it is not because he is Religious, because the Lord is his God, but because he is so carnal, and doubts of that claim: And surely one great reason why we are not so composedly chear­ful enough, it is because we are not Christi­ans enough.

Is God thy Father, Christ thy Redeemer, the Spirit thy Comforter; & will not this sup­port thee? Hast thou sometimes such triumph of heart, that thou wouldst not exchange those few sweet minutes for all the World? and dost thou live in the longing and thirst­ing for Death and a Resurrection, and after them the sight of Glory, and an immutable and immortal state of Heaven and Happi­ness, where thou shalt sigh and sorrow no more? And will not these hopes relieve thee? Hath the Gospel disappointed thy thoughts? [Page 49] Didst thou unadvisedly enter into Covenant with God? Is not there that felicity and favor in Gods presence, that thou didst promise thy self to finde in him? Wilt thou change portions, and exchange properties with the world? Shall this man have thy pardon of sin, and thou his rich­es? that man thy hopes of Glory, and thou his Lordship and Honor? Speak out, what wilt thou take for God, what price for thy soul? Will Pleasure and Past-time buy it? Will Riches or Revenues buy it? Are not all these things partial and improportionable, to the God of Glory and Centre of all Happiness? If the World can't come up to thy price, and thou canst not mend thy market, for shame be sa­tisfied and be at rest? If you would credit Christianity, and commend thy God to the lost world; get comfort in thy conscience, away with unjust scruples against thy enti­tuled peace; part not with thy priviledge or thy God, till thou canst meet with better: If you value not your own peace, have an estimation of Gods glory.

What will carnal men say? Would you have us part with all for God, when you are ready to part with God for nothing? Why do you exclaim against our world­liness and our vain Pleasures, when you your selves do seem to count Mortifica­tion [Page 50] and Heavenliness a burthen? either keep your breath to your selves, and reprove us no more, or live up to your interest, and to honor your God? How do you con­vince us it is worth the while to sell all for the Pearl of price, that when we have done so, we should think our selves miserable af­ter the bargain? It seems rather by the anxi­ety and perplexity of your mindes, that you envy our comforts in the world, to which for shame you dare not return; and would esteem it a piece of your happiness, if we would be miserable with you for company? But let the world consider, that a Saints want of com­fort proceeds not from the insufficiency of his purchase, but from his want of faith to claim it: And let Believers consider, that as their unbelief is uncomfortable to them­selves, so it reproacheth God. Hence many have denyed God, and so have turned Athe­ists, because they could not maintain Gods All-sufficiency, and live like Epicures: Ha­bitual distrust of God, is a greater Blasphe­my in some sense, then a total denyal of God; for what greater shame, then not to believe him whom we profess cannot deceive us, and not to be content with him whom we acknowledge to be All-sufficient? Veri­ly the poorest soul in all this Congregation, [Page 51] that can but say, God is mine, is happier then if he could say, all the Mines of Gold and Sil­ver in the West-Indies are mine.

Fifth Inference: By way of perswasi­on to the worldly happy, that they would look after the Lord: Why will you seek any longer, vitam beatam, a blessed life; in re­gionem mortis, in the Region of death? Pearls in the dust, and Heaven (compara­ratively) in Hell: Wilt thou perish for that which shall perish? Dost thou love Gold so well, as to run into Hell fire to fetch it? Thou proclaimest thy happiness because of an healthy Body; and wilt thou be less hap­py in having a sound Conscience? How hap­py wert thou, if besides these Rings of gold, thou hadst but the inestimable Jewel, if in thy Terrestrial and Earthly Paradice, thou hadst but in the midst thereof the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ? You ought not to throw away Christ when you imbrace the world, neither need you prodigally throw away the world when you embrace Christ. Christ and the werld may dwell both in one house, though not in one heart: Be as covetous as thou wilt, be as ambitious as thou wilt; wouldst thou have earth, wouldst thou have this World? so thou maist, and Heaven, and the next too.

[Page 52]As Achsah, when her Father gave her a Portion, desired a Blessing, so do thou at Gods hand, and say, Lord, Thou hast given me the nether springs, but I yet want the up­per springs; thou hast given me the Streams, but what are all they without the Fountain? As thou art not content with my things with­out my self; so Lord I have thy Gold and Sil­ver, thy Comforts and Creatures, but these are not thy self; all these I may have, and yet be poor, naked, be hopeless in this life, and a damn'd wretch to all Eternity. As the Fa­ther brings in King Ahab, sitting in his chair of State, with his Nobles attending about him, and environed with all outward glory, in the three years Famine, crying out, What avails all this, if yet the Heavens continue to be Brass and the earth Iron? So what is it to have Friends & favor, &c. and to have a hard heart, a reprobate minde; for God to frown on me, for to live like a Rebel and Runagate without Christ and the Covenant of Pro­mise? It is true, you should have sought the Kingdom of Heaven first, and then all things would have been added to you; but yet since you have begun with the World for Gods sake, for your souls sake end with God; you are already in possession of temporal Bles­sings, will it be any damage to have the ac­cession [Page 53] of eternal happiness? Are you jea­lous, lest as you should gain Christ, you should lose the world, and that as Grace comes into your hearts, that your Estates must needs go out of your hands? Have there been many, that in the midst of their outward pomp and splender, that yet have cryed out Undone; and that for want of Gods presence and will, their riches im­poverish you, their wisdom make you fools, and their Plaister wound you? Can All-sufficiency it self undoe you? Will security always bar out wrath? Will your Opinion never alter concerning the World? Will Je­sus Christ never be precious? Will there not come a time when the favor of God will be more necessary there, then this mans favor is now? What will you give for a Christ at the last day? Will the sense of your past joys, kill the then stinging worm of conscience? Do but try what peace of conscience means after your troubles, how much the Pearl of Price weighs after your worldly experience; and if one smile (after true possession) of Gods favor, if the least assurance of the pardoning sins, do not out-weigh all things else, return to the world and to your lusts a­gain. Its reported of Pyrrhus, That one day he opened his minde to his friend Cyneas, [Page 54] and told him, If he were but Possessor of Italy▪ what then, said his friend? Why then if he could but conquer Africa; what then Pyrrhus? O then if he could but subdue Asia, he would be at rest, and be merry with his friends; so you may be now, saith Cyn [...]as, without all that trouble.

Sixthly and lastly, By way of Satisfaction: How shall I have evidence in the enjoyment of worldly (happiness, or) goods, that the Lord is my God?

A. 1. If thy Estate come to thee by de­scent, Industry, or the bounty of Provi­dence; it is one thing to have what we have be Covenant, another to have it by Extor­tion▪ Many can say, This Estate, this Land is mine, because God is mine; but others have occasion to say, If God had been mine, this had not been mine: It is a currant, but unhappy Proverb in England, Happy is that childe whose Father goes to the Divel; the meaning of it is, The Son oft comes by a great Estate, and the Father sells his soul to get it for him; but better it were, that the estate should never come to the children, then that the father should go to the Divel for it, Ah Lord! How sollicitous are men to adorn the bodies of their children, but how careless for their souls? How many leave [Page 55] vast Estates to their children (there's no hurt in providing for their Families, that's a duty) but this is their misery, their Oppression and Extortion, which procured them entail the curse of God on those Estates: Wo be to them, says the Prophet, Isa. 5.8. that joyn house to house, and that lay field to field, till there be no place, &c. Then wo be to me, said a Land­ed Extortioner, and to my children.

2. Another evidence of our true enjoy­ment of this world upon a good ground is, when we can see God in what we enjoy: The Language of Esau is, I have enough; but Jacobs Dialect is otherwise, The Lord hath gi­ven to me; and that which is remarkable, he saith of his children, Which the Lord hath graciously given to me: One would think Ja­cob were speaking of the pardon of sin, of the hope of the Messias, or of everlasting life. Grace seems to be the language of the Gospel, and proper onely to spiritual Bles­sings; but a gracious heart sees not onely providence, but Grace in what he hath; he sees grace in his cat el, grace in his children: The rich fool in the Gospel talked at a great rate, I will pull down my barns, and I will bestow my fruits; all belike was his own, God was not in all, in any of his thoughts: Though we must not look on the Creatures [Page 56] with doting eyes, so as too much to admire them; yet we must not look away from them with shut eyes, so as to neglect to see God in them: How comfortable is it for the soul to see the love of God to him in the love of his children, and the protection of God ratified to him in the obedience of his servants to him, and the Image of the King of Glory in graven in all his Coyn, on all his gold and silver?

3. We may know the Lord is our God in the fruition of the world, by the enjoyment of God in them: It is nothing for a man to finde a piece of Parchment, a Deed signed and sealed, unless there be Land conveyed in it; so the possession of a great Estate is no Argument of Gods love: You have the Deeds, the Conveyances, the Honor and riches of Gods left hand, but by what title? Evidences (my Beloved) are Evidences to them that have a title: If a man enjoy God in his Goods, he hath a title with his Evi­dence, a better title then that the worldling hath: It is a suspitious thing to finde Goods in a mans house, and for him not to be able to tell how he came by them. My soul, How camest thou by thy Estate, is it given to thee as to a Son, or as to a slave? thou art ad­vanced into high place, but since thou art [Page 57] lifted up, hast thou lifted up God in thy Ho­nor? Ah Lord! How many are risen in ho­nor, but forgot that hand that lifted them up, and the ground from whence they came? Are your Estates as Looking-glasses, to see God in, to see his wisdom and care, and load-stones, to draw out your love by? Are they wings to make you mount up to Hea­ven, or no? If they be not wings, they will be weights to sink you down to Hell: Do Riches make you charitable? Doth Ho­nor make you humble? Doth your strength make you watchful? Do you not cast away the Net, now you have got the Fish? Are you in satisfied when you have the cap full of gold, till you have the kiss? To allude to the competition of Cyrus his two Friends, Chrysautus and Artabarus; are your turns served of God, and do you turn your backs on God? Are you the better for your goods, and the more in love with the Rose of Sha­ron for your beauty? Can you bless God the more for your Blessings, and say, There was a time I was poor and passionate, but as God hath given me riches, so also a thankful heart, as God hath encreased my store, so he hath encreased my Faith; and the higher I am, the more holy; the greater, the better? If so, we are happy; otherwise it were better [Page 58] we had had less of this World, then that like the Moon at the full, we should be more distant from the Sun; then that with Jona­than we should follow the chase, be exact Pro­fessors, or Professors of exactness, no lon­ger then till we meet with honey. It is a se­rious Observation of a great Traveller, That notwithstanding all the Religious pretences of the Court of Rome, That the Indians have brought more of the Spaniards to wor­ship their gold, then the Spaniards have brought of the Indians to worship their God; that is, The Indians have made more Infidels, then the Spaniards have made Christians.

4. When we imploy our Treasures for God, then we spiritually enjoy our Treasures from God: They are not Goods to us, if we do not good to others with them: We are too ready to receive the Token, and to neg­lect the Contents of the Letter that God sends us. We say such a man hath an happy Estate, when he hath a great Estate; but whatever the Estate be, the man is unhappy if he be not charitable: Wherefore David giving the Character of a blessed man, tells us, Blessed is the man; What man? not he that hath riches, but he that considers the poor: Consider how to bestow them, Psalm 41.1. Oh that men would consider they are not [Page 59] masters of their Estates (and it is well if their Estates be not master over them) but Stew­ards: And the Language of a gracious Stew­ard is, How shall I dispose of my Trust best for my Masters use; where shall I finde a naked back, that I may clothe it; an empty belly, that I may fill it; an aged Christian, or Minister of God, past the labors of their special Callings, that I may succor and supply them. And it would be a noble enquiry of Magistrates, whom God makes successful against Babylon, how shall we consecrate the gain taken from them to the Lord, for Sions good? for the advancement of the Gospel, and Ministerial Propagation of Christs Kingdom; for the preservation of Gospel Ordinances amongst us, from the Invasion of Prophaneness, and the attempts of Heresie and Atheism? But where are these ubies? How many are loaden with Blessings, and yet load God with Curses? How do men employ their Estates rather against, then for God; like water put­ting out the fire, and like clouds hindring the sight of the Sun? But there is a time a caming, when ye men of the World shall see that Charity was the best Usury, that a good Estate was better then a great Estate; when they shall take their leave of this World, and the glory thereof; when they [Page 60] shall by Death be summoned out of this life, and lose their Estates and their Souls toge­ther; how happy soever they have been ac­compted of by men on earth, yet when they shall arrive to that Infelicity and ruine, Who would be in their case, whose God is not the Lord?