A77983:86
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 indeed it is a great Argument for to make those that have any acquaintance with their own hearts to be humble, to suffer any outward meanness, to be willing to suffer any thing that might make them low outwardly, Why? Because of the great mercy of God to conceal from men what evil is in them. Thou art loth to suffer some outward affliction, but if God should discover to all the world all that evil that is in thee, and that thou art conscious to thy self of: Yea, take the best Man and Woman that is, if all the evil that they themselves are conscious to themselves of, were discovered, it would make them more vile than any mean condition that ever God put them into, Yea, than any outward affliction can possibly put them into. God rather doth esteem of us, & will rather judg us according to what we esteem of our selves, than according to what others think of us; And therefore in 1 John 3. 20. that place that is well known, If our Consciences condemn us, God is greater than our Consciences, and knoweth all things. It is no matter what others say, others may justify us, others may think we have excellent Gifts, and excellent Graces, and we perform duties in an excellent manner, but in the mean time our own Consciences may condemn us. Now the behaviour of a proud heart, is rather according at what others think of him, then what he thinks of himself, though he knows never such vileness in his own ⟨p. 517⟩heart, as now in Duty, he joins with us in Prayer, perhaps he hath excellent expressions in Duty, in Prayer, that the hearts of those that are with him, are taken with him, and bless God for the Gift of God in him, and what Graces he exerciseth in Prayer, and so others are blessing God for him and highly esteeming of him, and themselves happy that they join with him, now upon that he hath a proud heart, and blesseth himself in that and rejoiceth in that, while in the mean time his Conscience tells him, that he hath a base heart, a proud spirit, an empty heart, and a dead heart, and that all this while there hath been a mighty unsuitableness between his heart, and the expressions:
And indeed it is a great Argument for to make those that have any acquaintance with their own hearts to be humble, to suffer any outward meanness, to be willing to suffer any thing that might make them low outwardly, Why? Because of the great mercy of God to conceal from men what evill is in them. Thou art loth to suffer some outward affliction, but if God should discover to all the world all that evill that is in thee, and that thou art conscious to thy self of: Yea, take the best Man and Woman that is, if all the evill that they themselves are conscious to themselves of, were discovered, it would make them more vile than any mean condition that ever God put them into, Yea, than any outward affliction can possibly put them into. God rather doth esteem of us, & wil rather judg us according to what we esteem of our selves, than according to what others think of us; And therefore in