Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

and Meribah, of the waters of ftrife? As the church faid concerning God, Jer. i. 6. Will he referve his anger for ever? fo may I fay of fuch, Will they referve their anger for ever? Surely this anger is finful in refpect of time.

4 It is fuch an anger as miffes in refpect of meafure; holy anger keeps within compafs, but fo doth not this, nor do I wonder, for amongst all the affections or paffions of the mind, there is none more like to abound in measure than the paffion of anger, it is a fiery paffion, and fire we know is apt to exceed: How great a fire will one spark kindle!

?

4. It is fuch an anger as miffes in refpect of the end; holy anger hath right aims and ends, as the glory of God, and good of fouls: But what is the end of this anger What! is it a paffionate man aims at? If I may answer for him, either he aims at this, that he may fatisfy a pee vih fpirit, or he aims at this, that he may bring others under him, or he aims at this, that he may be elteemed of others as fomebody in the world, or he aims at this, that he may have his will another time. These are the chief ends of a paffionate fpirit. But oh it is otherwise with a gracious fpirit! fuch an one may be angry fometimes, but it is not to fatisfy himself, but to bring things into order, it is not to fubject others under him, but to bring all under God; it is not to appear fomebody in the world, but that the glory of God may more appear; it is pot to have his will more at another time, but that God's will may be done on earth as it is in heaven; it is not that he may avenge himself, but that he may do good to others, never more aiming at the party's good that he is angry withal, than at that very time when he is moft angry. Now you may fee what anger I inveigh againft, and what anger it is which gives place to the devil.

IN

SECT. XIV.

Of our Wrestling with Satan to overcome this Sin. N refifting Satan and this fin, do you wrestle thus, 1. Be you humbled for what hath been been past; Were you but humbled for fin in general, it would much mecken your fpirits; but were you humbled for this par ticular fio, in that you have been formerly so peevish and

pettish, Oh the good that you might get by this humiliation! Is not this the way to mortify fin at the root? As when weeds are moiftned at the root, then it is the time to get them up, and not when all is dry. So when the heart is humbled for this fin at the root, when the heart is bedewed with tears of repentance, and becomes foft and fleshy, which before was ftony and hard, then will this fin up or be mortified with far more eafe. I lay this humiliation as the foundation of all other helps, many being convinced that fuch or fuch a thing ought not to be done, they refolve presently they will do fo no more, but they bottom not their refolution upon humiliation, and fo all comes to nothing, but as the morning dew it quickly va Difheth. O begin here, repent of fins paft, of former pettishness and peevishness of spirit, and upon this foundation we may comfortably hope the building may ftand, notwithstanding the rain, and floods, and winds that may beat upon it.

2. Resolve and renew your resolutions and covenants with God from day to day; it may be you find that natu• rally you are overcome with paffion, and therefore each morning think but thus with yourself, I may meet with occafion this day to difquiet my heart, I have had experience, that tho' the day hath been fair in the morning, yet it hath been foul before night; I fee I am weak, I have fometimes promised and covenanted with God against this fin, but I have been overcome again and again, I will now therefore in the strength of Chrift refolve that this day, whatsoever falls out, I will bear it quietly, and if I be wronged I will implead it the next day, or the next opportunity, only this day I will retain my quiet of fpirit. Why thus would you refolve, and renew your refolution from day to day, who knows but it might gain upon your hearts to overcome paffion? And if a little were but done for the prefent, yet would it not be so hard as now it is to overcome it afterwards.

3. Set a high price upon the quietnefs of your fpirit, Better is a dry morfel and quietness therewith, than an boufe full of facrifices with frife, Prov, xvii. 1. There is as much difference betwixt quietnefs and ftrife, as betwixt a ftormy,

a stormy, dark, tempeftuous night, and a calm, fweet, fun fhine fummer's day. When the apoftle speaks of the ornament of a ineek and quiet fpirit, he adds, that in the fight of God it is of great price, 1 Pet. iii. 4. Other graces are precious with God, but a meek and quiet fpirit is in the fight of God of great price, it is worth a great deal, it is a jewel of great worth; kings, and princes, and nobles wear jewels fometimes worth thousands of pounds, but every meek man and woman that goes up and down, tho' never fo poor, yet they wear a pearl worth a world; thus God efteems it, and so should we alfo. Tell me you that bear croffes with a quiet and meek fpirit, do you not find a great deal of comfort in this quiet and meek frame? Why then fay, It fhall coft me dear but I will keep this frame: If a man fhould throw dirt at you, and you had a golden ball in your hand, would you throw that away because he throws dirt at you? What if others caft upon you reproaches, and froward words? They have no other weapons for themselves, they scarce ever knew in all their lives what the sweetness of a quiet fpirit meant: Oh but you that fear God, and whom God hath adorned with the graces of his own Spirit, do you prize a quiet fpirit at an high rate, do you fuffer for it, for there is much good in it.

4. Remove the occafions of anger. As Cotys king of Thrace, when one brought him curious veffels, but brittle, I fuppofe of glafs, or the like, he commended their rare workmanship, yet prefently brake them, left (being of an hafty nature) when his fervants by any accident had broken them, he should have been exceffively angry. When Saul caft a javelin at Jonathan to fmite him, then Jonathan arofe from the table, and would eat no meat in Saul's prefence. It is our wisdom to get out of the com pany of fuch as have offended us, as Jonathan did, rather than finful anger thould break out. Or,

5. If the occafion cannot well be removed, then give reafon leave to interpofe and divert. It was good counsel which Athenodorus gave to Auguftus, that when the object and occafions of choler were in his eye, he should not be moved before he had pronounced over the letters of the alphabet a

1

alphabet: When the mind is diverted, there may be fome room to deliberate, and therefore in this cafe, divert to fome other bufinefs, company, pleafant employment, thoughts of content: These are noble coolers, and very cony nient to flack this paffonate fire. As phyficians ob. ferve in bleeding, when a man or woman bleeds very violently at the nose, the way to french the blood is to let them blood in another vein: So thofe that are paffionate, they fhould labour to turn the channel of their affections another way. For iuftance, What! do I feel my anger fur? let me ftir up fears; oh let me have the fear of the great God before mine eyes; or doth my anger flir? let meftir up forrow; oh let me grieve for their fin, whereby they have provoked God more than me: Or doth my anger flir? let me ftir up love, I am called on to love mine enemies, and will not the heat of love take out the heat of anger the fhining of the fun upon a fire deadens the fire, and furely the beams of love in my heart towards God, and towards his faints, and towards my enemies, should deaden or weaken this fire of paffion that is fo frong in me. Thus by a wile, as it were, mayft thou fubdue thy anger, if thou canft but turn thy affection another way.

6. If diverfions will not do it, then ftand at the staves end, and refift this fin at its firft breaking out. A little thing will quench a great fire, when the fire is new kindled, but if you stay a while, then buckets of water will not do it: The beginning of firife is as when one letteth out water, (I may fay, as when one letteth out fire) therefore leave off contention before it be meddled withal, Prov. xvii. 14. You are to take as great care of the beginning of an ger, as you would be careful to quench a little fpark of fire that is in the midft of many barrels of gun pouder; and great reafon, for the fire of contention which begins at a little (if not prevented) rifeth to a great deal. Camerarius tells us a story of two brothers, who walking out in the evening, and feeing the element full of bright spangling ftars, one of them being a grafier wifhed that he had as many oxen as there were ftars in the firmament; then faid the other brother, and if I had a pafture as big as the world,

where

where would thou keep thy oxen? he answered, in your pafture: What, faid the other, whether I would or not? Yes, faid his brother: The matter was very light, but it fell out very heavy, for they presently fell to words, drew one upon another, and killed one another. Do we not fee many neighbours fall out about very fmall maters? and if fome wife men in the beginning did but mediate between them, how cafily might they be reconciled? otherwise the fire kindles to fuch a flame, that few or none know how to extinguish it, or to make them friends.

7. Be convinc'd it is much better to bear wrong, than to be finfully angry for wrong. In bearing wrong there is no danger of Satan's hurt; but for the devil to come and tempt thee by this or that wrong, to be in a pet or angry fit, there lies the danger. It is Auftin's expreffion, when the fowler hath fet a net to catch fowls, then he comes and throws ftones in the hedges to fright the birds out: 80 when the devil hath fet his nets and temptations to catch poor fouls in, then he fets others on to do them wrong, that fo he may take them in his net: Oh take heed now of anger! take heed of the net that the devil hath on the other fide of the hedge; it is better to fuffer wrong from another, than to fuffer fin in thy own foul.-Buc how must I do if I be injured? I answer, 1. Look on God, and confider all thy wrongs and unworthy ufages, are ordered by God, for thy everlafting good; this very one thought, that God is the principal agent, kept fresh and on foot in thy mind, will be of fovereign power to cool and beat back any intemperate anger, yea, and make thee fay to God with David, I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, becaufe thou didst it, Pfal. xxxix. 9. Thus Jofeph looked beyond his brethren's barbarous dealing with him, and faid, The Lord fent me before you. Thus Job looked beyond the Chaldeans lawless outrages, and faid, The Lord hath taken away. Thus David looked beyond Shimei's dogged rancor, and faid, The Lord hath bidden him to curfe. Thus Jefus Chrift himself, bleffed for ever, looked beyond the Pharifees, priests, Jews, Judas and the foldiers, to his Father's cup; This cup which my Father hath given me to drink, fhall I not drink it? In cafe of injuries;

« AnteriorContinua »