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

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, Rom. 9.3. to serve his brethren; how much rather might this be done for the glory of God? yet take heed of a mistake here; some have gone so far as to say, that a godly man is never truly humbled till he can be willing to be damned for Gods glory, and that it's unlawful to look at the reward in heaven; This is dangerous as well as false, for it's not lawful but a duty to seek our salvation, Rom. 2.7. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for honour and glory, and Moses is said [Greek or Hebrew], to have a fixed earnest eye upon the reward, Heb. 11.26. So that it's a Speech full of vanity, and no man can speak it truly, that he is willing to be damned for Gods glory, for such a thing cannot be, and our salvation we are bound to desire, so that we must take heed lest by overmuch wringing a good truth we make blood come out, instead of milk; yet though this be so, it's no contradiction to say, that a godly man hath such an holy principle within him that would carry him out to the obedience of God, though there were no heaven, and that the glory and honour of God is his principal end, that it's dearer to him then his own soul, and truly if we see in nature God hath so ordered it, that every particular denieth it self to preserve the universal; The water will ascend upwards that there may not be a vacuum, and the particular orbs are carried about against their own motion, according to the power of the first mobile, how much more must this hold in man and God?