A51838:641
Christs temptation and transfiguration practically explained and improved in several sermons /
Christs temptation and transfiguration practically explained and improved in several sermons / by the late Reverend Tho. Manton ...
A51838:641
Christs temptation and transfiguration practically explained and improved in several sermons / by the late Reverend Tho. Manton ...
London printed : s.n., 1685
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Peter said, It is good for us to be here, but alas how ill would it have been for the World if Christ had abode still in the Mount. Peters instance showeth us two things.
Peter said, It is good for us to be here, but alas how ill would it have been for the World if Christ had abode still in the Mount. Peters instance sheweth us two things.
1. That we are apt to consult with our own Profit, rather than Public Good. The World needed him, he had great business to do in the Valley, but he would be in the Mount. It is our Nature, if it be well with our selves, to forget others. Peter little minded his Fellow Apostles, the Redemption of the World, the Conversion of Nations, &c.
1. That we are apt to consult with our own Profit, rather than Publick Good. The World needed him, he had great business to do in the Valley, but he would be in the Mount. It is our Nature, if it be well with our selves, to forget others. Peter little minded his Fellow Apostles, the Redemption of the World, the Conversion of Nations, &c.
2. How much we are out when we judge by present sense, and the Judgment of Flesh. We consult with the ease of the Flesh, and so desire Rest more than Pains and labour; what pleaseth rather than what profiteth. Peter saith, It is good to be here, but he must labour first, suffer first, before he entereth into Glory.
2. How much we are out when we judge by present sense, and the Judgment of Flesh. We consult with the ease of the Flesh, and so desire Rest more than Pains and labour; what pleaseth rather than what profiteth. Peter saith, It is good to be here, but he must labour first, suffer first, before he entreth into Glory.
Well then, Let us learn by what measure to determine Good or Evil.
1. Good is not to be determined by our Fancies and Conceits, but by the Wisdom of God: for he knoweth what is better for us, then we do for our selves; and the Divine Choices are to be preferred before our foolish Fancies; and what he sendeth and permitteth to fall out, is better for us than any thing else. Could we be persuaded of this, how would we be prepared for a cheerful Entertainment of all that is or can, or shall come upon us. God is wiser than we, and loves us better than we do our selves. The Child is not to be governed by his own Fancy, but his Fathers Discretion, nor the sick Man by his own Appetite, but the skill of the Physician. It is Expedient God should displease his People, for their Advantage; Joh. 16. 6, 7. Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient to you that I go away. We are too much addicted to our own Conceits; Christs dealing is expedient and useful, when yet it is very unsatisfactory to us. He is to be Judge of what is good for us, his going or tarrying, and not we our selves: We are short-sighted Creatures, distempered with Passions; our Requests many times are but Ravings, we ask of God we know not what, as the two Brethren, Matth. 20. ⟨p. 120⟩22. we pray our selves into a mischief and a snare, and it were the greatest Misery if God would carve out our Condition according to our own Fancies and Desires.
1. Good is not to be determined by our Fancies and Conceits, but by the Wisdom of God: for he knoweth what is better for us, then we do for our selves; and the Divine Choices are to be preferred before our foolish Fancies; and what he sendeth and permitteth to fall out, is better for us than any thing else. Could we be perswaded of this, how would we be prepared for a chearful Entertainment of all that is or can, or shall come upon us. God is wiser than we, and loves us better than we do our selves. The Child is not to be governed by his own Fancy, but his Fathers Discretion, nor the sick Man by his own Appetite, but the skil of the Phisitian. It is Expedient God should displease his People, for their Advantage;
2. That Good is to be determined with respect to the chief Good, and true Happiness. Now what is our chief happiness, but the Enjoyment of God. Our happiness doth not consist in outward Comforts, Riches, Health, Honour, Civil Liberty; or comfortable Relations, as Husband, Wife, Children; but our Relation to and Acceptance with God. Other things are but additional Appendages to our Happiness: Matth. 6. 33. [Greek or Hebrew], they shall be added to you. Therefore Poverty is good, Afflictions are good; they take nothing from our essential, solid happiness, rather help us in the enjoyment of it, as it increaseth Grace, and Holiness, and so we enjoy God more. Surely, that is good that sets us nearer to God, and that Evil that separateth us from him. Therefore sin is evil because it makes an estrangement between us and God, Isai. 59. 2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you. But Affliction is good, because many times it makes us the more earnestly to seek after him. Hos. 5. 16. In their affliction they will seek me early.
2. That Good is to be determined with respect to the chief Good, and true Happiness. Now what is our chief happiness, but the Enjoyment of God. Our happiness doth not consist in outward Comforts, Riches, Health, Honour, Civil Liberty; or comfortable Relations, as Husband, Wife, Children; but our Relation to and Acceptance with God. Other things are but additional Appendages to our Happiness: Matth. 6. 33. 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, they shall be added to you. Therefore Poverty is good, Afflictions are good; they take nothing from our essential, solid happiness, rather help us in the enjoyment of it, as it encreaseth Grace, and Holiness, and so we enjoy God more. Surely, that is good that sets us nearer to God, and that Evil that separateth us from him. Therefore sin is evil because it makes an estrangement between us and God, Isai. 59. 2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you. But Affliction is good, because many times it makes us the more earnestly to seek after him. Hos. 5. 16. In their affliction they will seek me early.
Therefore every Condition is good or evil, as it sets us further off or draweth us nearer to God; that is good that tendeth to make us better, more like unto God, capable of Communion with him; and conduceth to our everlasting happiness. So it is good that man bear the yoke from his youth, that he be trained up under the Cross, in a constant Obedience to God, and Subjection to him, and so be fitted to entertain Communion with him. If Afflictions conduce to this end they are good, for then they help us to enjoy the chief good.
3. That Good is not always the Good of the Flesh, or the Good of outward Prosperity; and therefore certainly the Good of our Condition is not to be determined by the Interest of the Flesh, but the welfare of our Souls. If God should bestow upon us so much of the Good of the outward and animal Life as we desire, we could not be said to be in a good Condition: if he should deny us Good Spiritual, we should lose the one half of the Blessings of the Covenant by doting upon, and falling in love with the rest. The Flesh is importunate to be pleased, but God will not serve our carnal Appetites. We are more concerned as a Soul than as a Body; Heb. 12. 10. He verily chastened us for our profit, that we might be partakers ⟨p. 122⟩of his Holiness. Certain it is, God will chasten us for our profit: What do we call Profit? the good things of this World, the great Mammon which so many Worship? If we call it so, God will not; he meaneth to impart some Spiritual and Divine Benefit, which is a Participation of his own Holiness. And truly the People of God, if they be in their right Temper, value themselves, not by their outward enjoyments, but by their inward Improvement of Graces; 2 Cor. 4. 16. For this cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day. A discerning Christian puts more value upon Holiness wrought by Affliction, then upon all his Comforts; so that though Affliction be evil in it self, it is good as sanctified.
3. That Good is not alwayes the Good of the Flesh, or the Good of outward Prosperity; and therefore certainly the Good of our Condition is not to be determined by the Interest of the Flesh, but the welfare of our Souls. If God should bestow upon us so much of the Good of the outward and animal Life as we desire, we could not be said to be in a good Condition: if he should deny us Good Spiritual, we should lose the one half of the Blessings of the Covenant by doting upon, and falling in love with the rest. The Flesh is importunate to be pleased, but God will not serve our carnal Appetites. We are more concerned as a Soul than as a Body; Heb. 12. 10. He verily chastened us for our profit, that we might be partakers
4. A particular Good must give way to a General Good, and our Personal Benefit to the Advancement of Christs Kingdom, and the Glory of God. The Advancement of Christs Kingdom, or the good of the Church, must be preferred before our Personal Benefit or Contentment. Paul could want the Glory of Heaven for a while, if his continuance in the Flesh were needful for the Saints; Phil. 1. 24. To abide in the flesh is more needful for you. We must ⟨p. 123⟩not so desire good to our selves, as to hinder the good of others. All Elements will act contrary to their particular nature, for the conservation of the Universe, so for the Glory of God. That may be good for the Glory of God, which is not good for our Personal Contentment and Ease. Now the Glory of God is our greatest Interest; if it be for the Glory of God that I should be in pain, bereft of my Comfort, my sanctified subjection to the Will of God must say it is good: Joh. 12. 27, 28. Here you must have the innocent Inclination of Christs Humane Nature; Father save me from this hour; and the over-ruling sense of his Duty, or the obligation of his office, but for this cause came I to this hour. We are often tossed between Inclination of Nature, and Conscience of Duty; but in a gracious heart, the sense of our Duty, and the desire of glorifying God, should prevail above the desire of our own Comforts, Ease, Safety and Welfare. Nature would be rid of Trouble, but Grace submits all our Interests to Gods Honour, which should be dearer to us than any thing else.
4. A particular Good must give way to a General Good, and our Personal Benefit to the Advancement of Christs Kingdom, and the Glory of God. The Advancement of Christs Kingdom, or the good of the Church, must be preferred before our Personal Benefit or Contentment. Paul could want the Glory of Heaven for a while, if his continuance in the Flesh were needful for the Saints; Phil. 1. 24. To abide in the flesh is more needful for you. We must ⟨p. 123⟩not so desire good to our selves, as to hinder the good of others. All Elements will act contrary to their particular nature, for the conservation of the Universe, so for the Glory of God. That may be good for the Glory of God, which is not good for our Personal Contentment and Ease. Now the Glory of God is our greatest Interest; if it be for the Glory of God that I should be in pain, bereft of my Comfort, my sanctified subjection to the Will of God must say it is good:
5. This Good is not to be determined by the Judgment of sense, but by the Judgment of Faith, not by present feeling, but future profit. That which is not good may ⟨p. 124⟩be a means to good. Affliction for the present, is not pleasant to natural sense; nor for the present, is the fruit evident to spiritual sense; but it is good, because in the issue it turneth to good, Rom. 8. 28. All things work together for good to them that love God, &c. While God is striking, we feel the Grief, and the Cross is tedious; but when we see the end, we acknowledge it is good to be afflicted, Heb. 12. 11. No affliction for the present seems joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised therein. A Good, present, is the cause of Joy; and an Evil, present, is the cause of Sorrow: But there are two termini diminuentes, terms of abatement, [Greek or Hebrew], and [Greek or Hebrew], present sense, and the conceits of the sufferer. When we are but newly under the affliction, we feel the smart, but do not presently find the benefit; but within a while, especially in the review, it is good for me. It is matter of Faith under the Affliction, it is matter of Sense afterwards. Gods Physic must have time to work. That which is not good, may be good; though it be not good in its Nature, it may be good in its Use; and though for the present we see it not, we shall see it. Therefore good is not to be determined by Feeling, but by ⟨p. 125⟩Faith. The Rod is a sore thing for the present, but the bitter Root will yield sweet Fruit. If we come to a Person under the Cross, and ask him, What is it good to feel the lashes of Gods correcting hand? to be kept poor, sickly, exercised with losses and reproaches, to part with Friends and Relations, to lose a beloved Child? he would be apt to Answer No. But this poor Creature after he hath been exercised, and mortified, and gotten some renewed Evidences of Gods Favour; ask him then, Is it good to be afflicted? Oh yes, I had been Vain, Neglectful of God, wanted such an Experience of the Lords Grace. Faith should determine the case when we feel it not.
5. This Good is not to be determined by the Judgment of sense, but by the Judgment of Faith, not by present feeling, but future profit. That which is not good may
Well then, Let us learn to distinguish between what is really best for us, and what we judge to be best. Other Diet is more wholesome for our Souls than that which our sickly Appetite craveth. It is best many times when we are weakest, worst when strongest, all things are good as they help on a blessed Eternity, so sharp afflictions are good. That part of the World, that is governed by sense will never yield to this. You cannot convince a Covetous Man that the loss of an Estate is good, or a worldly rich man that Poverty ⟨p. 126⟩is good; or an Ambitious man, that it is good to be despised and contemned; or a sensual Voluptuous Man, that it is good to be in Pains; that the Body be afflicted for the good of the Soul, they will never believe you: But those that measure all things by Eternity, they know that Poverty makes way for the true Riches; and Ignominy for the true Glory; Want, for fullness of Pleasures; and Misery mortifies Sin.
Well then, Let us learn to distinguish between what is really best for us, and what we judge to be best. Other Diet is more wholesome for our Souls than that which our sickly Appetite craveth. It is best many times when we are weakest, worst when strongest, all things are good as they help on a blessed Eternity, so sharp afflictions are good. That part of the World, that is governed by sense will never yield to this. You cannot convince a Covetous Man that the loss of an Estate is good, or a worldly rich man that Poverty ⟨p. 126⟩is good; or an Ambitious man, that it is good to be despised and contemned; or a sensual Voluptuous Man, that it is good to be in Pains; that the Body be afflicted for the good of the Soul, they will never believe you: But those that measure all things by Eternity, they know that Poverty makes way for the true Riches; and Ignominy for the true Glory; Want, for fulness of Pleasures; and Misery mortifies Sin.
MATTH. 17. 5. While he yet spake, behold, a bright Cloud overshadowed him: and behold, a voice out of the Cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
IN this branch of the story two things are remarkable, and there is a Behold prefixed before either of them, to excite our Attention. First they see a bright Cloud, and then they hear a voice out of the Cloud.