which were to be eaten with rejoicing ); then she prayed, and vowed a vow unto the Lord; and having cast her cares upon him, she then went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. Hezekiah in his sickness chattered like a 'swallow,' and mourned as a 'dove;' but after his prayer, he sung songs of deliverance to the stringed instruments. Habakkuk', before his prayer, trembled; but, after his prayer, he triumphed in the midst of death. David, full of heaviness, and of groanings in his prayer; but after, as full of comfort against all his enemies." m n Sect. 61.-Secondly, As irregular cares are needless and superfluous, so they are sinful too. First, in regard of their object, they are worldly cares, the cares of the men of this world: therein we declare ourselves to walk in conformity to the Gentiles', as if we had no better foundation of quietness and contentment than the Heathen, which know not God. And this is Christ's argument; " After all these things do the Gentiles seek." We are taken out of the world; we have not received the spirit of the world; and therefore we must not be conformable P unto the world, nor bring forth the fruits of a worldly spirit, but walk as men that are set ¶ apart, as a peculiar people, and that have heavenly promises, and the grace of God to establish our hearts. "Illi terrena sapiant, qui promissa cœlestia non habent; " It is seemly for those alone, who have no other portion but in this life, to fix their thoughts and cares here. Secondly, They are sinful in regard of their causes, and they are principally two: first, 'inordinate lust, or coveting, the running of the heart after covetousness: secondly, distrust of God's providence; for those desires which spring from lust, can never have faith to secure the heart in the expectation of them. Lastly, They are sinful in their effects. First, They are murdering " cares; they work sadness, suspicions, uncomfortableness, and at last death. Secondly, They are choking cares; they take off the heart from the Word, and thereby make it unfruitful. Thirdly, They are adulterous cares; they steal away the 81 Chron. xxix. 9. Deut. xii, 18. Deut. xxviii. 47. Mal. ii. 13. 14.20. i Hab. iii. 2, 16, 18, 19. k Psal. vi. 9. Eph. iv. 17. q Psal. iv. 3. n John xv. 19. 1 Pet. ii. 9. y Jam. iv. 4. o 1 Cor. ii. 12. P Rom. xii. 2. s Cyprian. * Jam. iv. 3. u 2 Cor. vii. 10. h Isa. xxxviii. m Matt. vi. 32. Tit. ii. 14. Matt. xiii. 22. heart from God, and set a man at enmity against him. In all which respects, we ought to arm ourselves against them. Sect. 62.-Which that we may the better do, we will, in the last place, propose two sorts of directions: First, How to make the creature no vexing creature. Secondly, How to use it as a vexing creature. For the former, First, Pray for conveniency; for that which is suitable to thy mind; I mean not to the lusts, but to the abilities, of thy mind. Labour ever to suit thy occasions to thy parts, and thy supplies to thy occasions. If a ship out of greediness be overloaden with gold, it will be in danger of sinking, notwithstanding the capacity of the sides be not a quarter filled: On the other side, fill it to the brim with feathers, and it will still toss up and down, for want of due ballasting. So is it in the lives of men; some have such greedy desires, that they think that they can run through all sorts of business, and so never leave loading themselves, till their hearts sink, and be swallowed up with worldly sorrow and security in sin. Others set their affections on such trivial things, that though they should have the fill of all their desires, their minds would still be as floating and unsettled as before. Resolve, therefore, to do with thyself as men with their ships: there may a tempest arise, when thou must be constrained to throw out all thy wares into the sea. Such were the times of the apostles, and after bloody persecutions, when men were put to forsake father, mother, wife, children, nay, to have the ship itself broken to pieces, that the mariner within might escape upon the ruins. But besides this, in the calmest and securest times of the Church, these two things thou must ever look to, if thou tender thine own tranquillity: First, Fill not thyself only with light things: such are all the things of this world in themselves; besides the room and cumbersomeness of them (as light things take up ever the most room), they still leave the soul floating and unsettled. Do therefore as wise mariners: have strong and substantial ballasting in the bottom, faith in God's promises, love and fear of his name, a foundation of good works; and then whatever becomes of thy other loading, thy ship itself shall be safe at last, thou shalt be sure in the greatest tempest to have thy life for a prey. Secondly, Consider the burden of thy vessel: all ships are not of an equal capacity; and they must be freighted, and manned, and victualled with proportion to their burden. All men have not the same abilities: some have such a measure of grace, as enables them, with much wisdom and improvement, to manage such an estate as would puff up another with pride, sensuality, superciliousness and forgetfulness of God. Again, some men are fitted to some kind of employments, not to others; as some ships are for merchandise, others for war: and, in these varieties of states, every man should pray for that which is most suitable to his disposition and abilities, which may expose him to fewest temptations, or, at least, by which he may be most serviceable in the body of Christ, and bring most glory to his master. This was the good prayer of Agur; "Give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me with food convenient for me." This is that we all pray: "Give us our daily bread;" that which is most proportioned to our condition; that which is fitted for us to have, and most advantageous to the ends of that Lord whom we serve. Sect. 63.-Secondly, Labour ever to get Christ into thy ship; he will check every tempest, and calm every vexation that grows upon thee. When thou shalt consider that his truth, and person, and honour is embarked in the same vessel with thee, thou mayest safely resolve on one of these: Either he will be my pilot in the ship, or my plank in the sea to carry me safe to land: if I suffer in his company, and as his member, he suffers with me; and then I may triumph to be made any way conformable unto Christ my head. If I have Christ with me, there can no estate come, which can be cumbersome unto me. Have I a load of misery and infirmity, inward, outward, in mind, body, name, or estate? This takes away the vexation of all, when I consider it all comes from Christ, and it all runs into Christ. It all comes from him as the wise disposer of his own body; and it all runs into him as the compassionate sharer with his own body: It all comes from him, who is the distributer of his Father's gifts; and it all runs into him who is the partaker of his members' sorrows. If I am weak in body, Christ my head was wounded; if weak in mind, Christ my head was heavy unto death. If I suffer in my estate, Christ my head became poor, as poor as a servant; if in my name, Christ * 2 Cor. viii. 9. Phil. ii. 7. с b my head was esteemed vile, as vile as Beelzebub, Paul was comforted in the greatest tempest with the presence of an angel; how much more with the grace of Christ? When the thorn was in his flesh, and the buffets of Satan about his soul, yet then was his presence a plentiful protection; "My grace is sufficient for thee:" and he confesseth it elsewhere", "I am able to do all things through Christ that strengthens me." Christ's head hath sanctified any thorns; his back, any furrows; his hands, any nails; his side, any spear; his heart, any sorrow that can come to mine. Again: Have I a great estate, am I loaden with abundance of earthly things? This takes away all the vexation, that I have Christ with me; his promise to sanctify it, his wisdom to manage it, his glory to be by it advanced, his word to be by it maintained, his anointed ones to be by it supplied, his Church to be by it repaired; in one word, his poverty to be by it relieved. For as Christ hath strength and compassion to take off the burden of our afflictions; so hath he poverty too, to ease that vexation, which may grow from our abundance. If thou hadst a whole wardrobe of cast apparel, Christ hath more nakedness than all that can cover: If whole barns full of corn and cellars of wine, Christ hath more empty bowels, than all that can fill: If all the precious drugs in a country, Christ hath more sickness than all that can cure: If the power of a great prince, Christ hath more imprisonment than all that can enlarge: If a whole house full of silver and gold, Christ hath more distressed members to be comforted, more breaches in his Church to be repaired, more enemies of his Gospel to be opposed, more defenders of his faith to be supplied, more urgencies of his kingdom to be attended, than all that will serve for. Christ professeth himself to be still hungry, naked, sick and in prison, and to stand in need of our visits and supplies. As all the good which Christ hath done, is ours, by reason of our communion with him; so all the evil we suffer, is Christ's, by reason of his compassion with us. The apostle saith, that we "sit together with Christ in heavenly places;" and the same apostle saith, that the sufferings of Christ are made up in his mem a Matth. xii. 24. b Acts xxvii. 23. c 2 Cor. xii. 7, 9. d Phil. iv. 13. bers. "Nos ibi sedemus, et ille hic laborat"; " we are glorified in him, and he pained in us: in all his honour we are honoured; and in all our affliction he is afflicted. i Sect. 64.-Thirdly, Cast out thy Jonah, every sleeping and secure sin that brings a tempest upon thy ship, vexation to thy spirit. It may be, thou hast an execrable thing, a wedge of gold, a Babylonish garment, a bag full of unjust gain, gotten by sacrilege, disobedience, mercilessness, oppression, by detaining God's or thy neighbour's rights. It may be, thou hast a Dalilah, a strange woman in thy bosom, that brings a rot upon thine estate, and turns it all into the wages of a whore. Whatever thy sickness, whatever thy plague be, as thou tenderest the tranquillity of thine estate, rouse it up from its sleep by a faithful, serious, and impartial examination of thine own heart; and though it be as dear to thee as thy right eye, or thy right hand, thy choicest pleasure, or thy chiefest profit, yet cast it out in a humble confession unto God, in a hearty and willing restitution unto men, in opening thy close and contracted bowels to those that never yet enjoyed comforts from them. Then shall quietness arise unto thy soul; and that very gain which thou throwest away, is but cast upon the waters; the Lord will provide a whale to keep it for thee, and will at last restore it thee whole again. 6 Sect. 65. The last direction which I shall give to remove the vexation of the creature, is out of the text, and that is, to keep it from thy spirit,' not to suffer it to take up thy thoughts and inner man. They are not negotia,' but viatica' only; and a man's heart ought to be upon his business, and not upon matters accidental. If, in a tempest, men should not address themselves to their offices, to loose the tacklings, to draw the pump, to strike sails, and lighten the vessel, but should make it their sole work to gaze upon their commodities; who could expect that a calm should drop into such men's laps? Beloved, when the creature hath raised a tempest of vexation, think upon your offices: to the pump, to pour out thy corruptions: to the sails and h August. Όπου ἁμαρτία, ἐκεῖ χείμων· ὅπου παρακοὴ, ἐκεῖ κλυδώνιον.—ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν τὸν Ἰώναν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος ἔρριψαν, καὶ ἔστη τὸ πλοῖον. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καταποντίζωμεν, καὶ στήσεται πάντως ἡ πόλις, &c. Chrysost. ad Pop. Antioch. Hom. 5. |