A77983:110
Four books on the eleventh of Matthew
Four books on the eleventh of Matthew: viz: I. Christ inviting sinners to come to him for rest. II. Christ the great teacher of souls that come to him. To which is added a treatise of meekness and of anger. III. Christ the humble teacher of those that come to him. IIII. The only easy way to heaven. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel at Stepney and Cripple-Gate, London.Four books on the eleventh of Matthew: viz: I. Christ inviting sinners to come to him for rest. II. Christ the great teacher of souls that come to him. To which is added a treatise of meekness and of anger. III. Christ the humble teacher of those that come to him. IIII. The only easie way to heaven. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel at Stepny and Cripple-Gate, London.
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1659
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
And then for the other, he admires Gods mercies, that we have likewise in David, in 2 Sam. 7. 18, 19. When the Lord tells him what great things he would do. Then went David in and sate before the Lord, and said, who am I, O! Lord God, and what is my House that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight. O Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of thy Servants House for a great while to come, and is this the manner of man O Lord God. What am I? I bring this Scripture to this end, to show, that the mercies of God will humble an humble Heart, the more God bestows any mercy upon an humble heart, the more low will it grow, in admiring that God should deal thus and thus with it. Whereas a proud heart, when God bestows mercies, presently his heart swells, but now if the higher that God raiseth you in your estates or otherwise, the lower you are, here is true humility. Let the Brother of high degree be so much the lower in Heart, Because his degree is made higher, So it was with David, and Lord, saith David, Who am I? That thou shouldest do these things. And so Jacob, you have him admiring Gods mercy to him in Genesis, 32. 9, 10. There you have the good man, when the Lord had manifested his goodness to him in his journey, I am not worthy, saith he, of the least of all thy mercies, and of all the truth that thou hast showed unto thy Servant, for with my staff, I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies that thou hast showed to thy Servant, He stands admiring at the mercies of God towards ⟨p. 536⟩him, and doth look upon himself as vile, because Gods mercies were so great. There is nothing more proper to Christian humility then this, therefore to look upon our selves as vile, because God bestows great mercies upon us. Many men, they seem to be low in time of affliction, O then they are humble and low, but when God raiseth them in prosperity then their hearts are high, now a Christian in affliction he is low too, but in prosperity he is more humble, humility takes as much advantage upon Gods mercies to be humble as in affliction, and when it is thus with you, then you have Christian humility in your hearts. Humility doth not say of any mercy as Hiram of the Cities that Solomon gave him, what are these my Brother? But what am I that I should have such a mercy?