CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

Having thus considered Christs intentions in all his works, that the Sun cannot be free• from spots, then his holy will was from all oblique and sinister respects, Let us consider man, who being a mere creature, having all both in being and continuation from God, as the beams from the Sun, and the streams from the Fountain, it lieth as unavoidable upon him to be affected more with ⟨p. 32⟩Gods glory then his own good: This is a very hard task to flesh and blood, but self-love and de-ordination of the faculties of the soul hath made it thus difficult.

Having thus considered Christs intentions in all his works, that the Sun cannot be free• from spots, then his holy will was from all oblique and sinister respects, Let us consider man, who being a meer creature, having all both in being and continuation from God, as the beams from the Sun, and the streams from the Fountain, it lieth as unavoidable upon him to be affected more with ⟨p. 32⟩Gods glory then his own good: This is a very hard task to flesh and bloud, but self-love and de-ordination of the faculties of the soul hath made it thus difficult.

¹Now we may divide the good of a godly man into two sorts, Either that in heaven,² his treasure laid up there in the upper Region, Or all the good he can have in this life in the lower Region; And of both these we commit a kind of horrible Idolatry, when we desire them upon any other terms then in tendency to God▪ If it be so great a sin to alter the bounds and change the Landmarks which the Laws of a Nation have set, how much more to break that good and excellent order which God hath appointed between him and the creature? Let us consider the first kind of a godly mans good, his eternal felicity and salvation; even this glory he is to desire in subordination to Gods glory; For if Paul could make a conditionate wish and velleity, that he might be accursed from Christ,