and catched nothing to what purpose should I cast it yet in thy Word in thy command I will cast it he obeyed and he drew so many that the net brake again with the fish So I say it is thy command Lord that I should go on in the duties of my calling that I should do that that belongs to me and in well doing to commit my self to thee as to a faithful Creator and a gracious Redeemer and to cast my self on thy Promises do what thou wilt you shall see then as the Apostle graciously speaks Your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Cast your care on him for he cares for you I but when we have done there are so many imperfections cleave to that we do that they discourage us Why look the Promise is Yea and Amen for acceptance a cup of cold water is accepted offer that thou doest in the mediation of Christ God will pardon that which is faulty and accept that which is good So we have Promises of acceptance in Christ God will pardon and spare us as a Father spares his child Doth not a father accept the endeavour of his poor child and pardon his weaknesse when he cannot do as he would God looks on us as a Father on his children Therefore let us not fear this we have a promise of acceptance of what we do though it be weak and maimed and lame obedience If we cannot do as much as others yet bring two Turtles They that could not bring an Oxe a great sacrifice a lesse was accepted two Pigeons if thou canst not do as much as others a little sacrifice shall be accepted Oh that we had faith we might run through all the passages of our life justification sanctification perseverance for the time to come the duties of our calling the issue of our labours whatever you can imagine There is no passage of our life but our soules would be supported if we could think that these promises are Yea and Amen in Jesus Christ. There is no estate that we are in but there are Promises made to it we want no good but we have a promise of supply we are under no ill but we have a promise either for the removall of it or for the sanctifying of it which is better We may enlarge it likewise to posterity If the Promises in Christ be Yea and Amen that is true to us and to them that succeed us for as I said Christ is yesterday to day and the same for ever He was yesterday to our ancestors to day to our selves to morrow to our posterity Therefore saith Peter to the believing Jewes Act. 2. The Promise is made to you and to your children your children are in the Covenant and God is the God of thee and of thy seed For the Promises in Christ are Yea and Amen they are constant to us and to our children to the end of the world It is a comfort to parents that can leave their children no inheritance they leave them God in Covenant and he is a good portion I will be thy God for the grand promise is the promise of the Father Son and Holy Ghost God hath promised to be a Father and the Father gives his Son and the Father and Son give the Holy Ghost Well then God is the God of us and of our children he is the Father of us and of our children Christ is the Christ of us and them the Holy Ghost is the Spirit that sanctifies us and them Is not this a comfort to those that can leave their children nothing else that they leave them God in Covenant And this is a comfort for children if they have good Parents that they may say when they pray O God of my father Abraham And as David Psal. 116. I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid I am thy servant my self and the son of one that was thy servant Is not this a comfort to a Christian to say I am thy servant and the son of thy servant therefore there is a double bond why thou shouldest respect me I cast my self on thee and I am the son of a believing father of a believing mother Oh it is a blessed thing to be in Covenant with God that those that can leave their children little else can leave them a place in the Covenant by their own goodnesse and faith Wicked Parents are cruel they damn their own soules and they are cruel to posterity Jeroboam hurt his posterity more then all the world besides for his sin God cursed his posterity They walked in the wayes of Jeroboam God many times will not punish men themselves but their posterity Wicked Kings God spares them themselves sometimes but he punisheth their posterity Jeroboam was spared for his own life but his posterity was punished when wicked men dye others applaud their wisdome they dye thus and thus c. and their posterity applaud their wisdome God therefore curseth their posterity walking in their wayes Jeroboam's children I say had cause to curse their father they had a prejudice in his example they thought him a very wise man that by setting up the Calves he could make such a rent but it turned to their destruction I say parents are cruel to posterity for God revengeth their sins on their posterity Let this be a strong motive to men to believe in Christ that they may leave a good posterity a posterity in Covenant with God Men are very Atheists in this point for they are more careful a great deal to leave them rich to leave them great then to leave them good and so they leave them a little goods perhaps but they leave the curse and vengeance of God with it I beseech you therefore enlarge this comfort that the Promises of God concerning all good things are made in Christ they are Yea and Amen to our selves and to all ours to our posterity Thus I have laboured to lay open a little to you the Promises you may enlarge them your selves Therefore take this course First consider your present estate if you would make use of this portion it is our portion our best inheritance are the Promises and indeed they are a good childs portion though the world take all from us though God strip us of all if he leave us his Promises we are rich men Therefore the Psalmist calls them his portion and his inheritance and indeed so they are because they are so many bonds whereby God is bound to us they are so many obligations And if a wretched exacting man think himself as rich as he hath bonds though he have not a penny in his purse He that hath a thousand pound in bonds thinks himself richer then he that hath an hundred pounds in money and he thinks he hath reason to be so because he hath good security Certainly a Christian that hath rich faith in the rich promises he is a rich man because he hath many
death in our selves St. Paul dyed not now and he had the Spirit of God in him to know what he spake how doth this agree then that he had the sentence of death passed I answer St. Paul spake according to the probability of second causes according to the appearance of things and so he might pronounce of himself without danger as being no sinfull errour that indeed I am a dead man I see no hope of escaping if I look to the probabilitie of second causes all my enemies are about me I am in the Lyons mouth there is but a step between me and death He doth not look here to the decree of God but he looks to the disposing of present causes So Gods ' children are often deceived in themselves in that respect it is no great errour for it is true what they speake in regard of second causes though it be not true in regard of Gods decree The Objections being satisfied we may observe some points of doctrine And out of the first part of St. Paul's tryall which some take it to be that in Acts 19. At Ephesus Dimetrins the Smith raised up a trouble against him when they cryed out Great is Diana of the Ephesians but those are but conjectures It may be it was some great sickness it may be some other affliction the Scripture is silent in the particular what it was To come then to the points themselves In the first part this is considerable in the first place that God suffers his Children to fall into extream perils and dangers And then secondly that They are sensible of it For the first God suffers his children to fall into great extremities This is clear here we see how he riseth by degrees We were pressed above measure above strength that we even despaired of life we received the sentence of death in our selves He riseth by five steps to shew the extremity that he was in This is no new thing that God should suffer his Children thus to be exercised It is true in the head it is true in the body and it is true of every particular member of the body It is true of our head Christ Jesus himself we see to what exigences he was brought in what danger of his life oft-times he was as when they would have cast him down from the mount Luke 4. and when in apprehension of his Fathers wrath he sweat water and blood in the garden and on the Crosse cryed out My God My God why hast thou forsaken me none was ever so abased as he was he humbled himself to the death of the Crosse nay lower then the Crosse he was in captivity in the grave three dayes They thought they had had their will on him there they thought they might have trampled on Christ and no doubt but the Divel triumphed over the grave and thought he had had him where he would but we see afterward God raised him again gloriously Now as the head was abased even unto extremity So it is true of the whole body of the Church from the beginning of the world The Church in Egypt was in extremity before Moses came therefore a learned Hebrician Capne that brought Hebrew into these western parts was wont to say When the tale of brick was doubled then comes Moses that is in extremity when there was no remedy then God sent them deliverance In what a pittiful case was the poor Church and people of God in Hesters time there was but a haires breadth between them and destruction it was decreed by Haman and they had gotten the Kings decree too they were as it were between the hammer and the anvil ready to be crushed in pieces presently had not God come between And so in Babylon the Church was in extremity insomuch as that when deliverance was told them they were as men that dream as if there had been no such matter they wondred at it And so in the times of persecution God hath suffered his Church to fall into extream danger as now at this time the Church is in other parts I might draw this truth along through all Ages It is true of the whole body of the Church It is true likewise of the particular members Take the principall members of it you see Abraham before God made good his promise he was brought to a dry body and Sarah to a dead womb that they despaired of all second causes And David though God promised him a Kingdom yet he was so straitned that he thought many times he should have died I said in my haste All men are liars they tell me this and that but there is nothing so he was hunted as a Partridge in the wildernesse It was true of St. Paul we see what extremity he was brought unto as the Psalmist saith Psal. 118. I was afflicted sore but I was not delivered to death Even as we say only not killed It is and hath been so with all the members of the Church from Abel to this day sometime or other if they live any long time they shall be like Moses at the Red-Sea we see in what a strait he and his company was there there was the Egyptians behind them the Mountaines on each side of them the Red-Sea before them what escaping was here for Moses so it is with the poore Church and Children of God oft-times there are dangers behind them and perils before them and troubles on all fides God brings them so low as deaths doore sometimes by sickness as there is an instance in Psal. 107. of those that go down to the sea in ships He brings them to deaths door saith the Psalmist What is the reason that by persecution and afflictions by one grievance or another God brings his Children to such a low ebb The reasons are many The first may be he will thus trie what mettle they are made of light afflictions light crosses will not trie them throughly great ones will Jonas that slept in the Ship he fals a praying in the Whales belly he that was pettish out of trouble and fals a quarrelling with God himself in trouble he fals to praying when he was in the bottom of hell as he saith himself Little afflictions may stand with murmuring and repining but great ones trie indeed what we are what we are in great afflictions he are indeed Againe To trie the sincerity of our estate to make us to know our selves to make us known to the world and known to our selves what good we have and what ill we have A man knows not what a deal of loosness he hath in his heart what a deal of falseness till we come to the cross to extremity Whereas before I thought I had had a great deal of patience a great deal of faith and a great deal of heavenly mindedness now I see I have not that store laid up as I thought I had And somtime a man is deceived on the contrary I thought I
uncharitable men judge amiss of the generation of the righteous Whereas they should set the Court in their own hearts and begin to censure there and to examine themselves they goe out and keep their Court abroad but I say passe not a harsh censure upon others or on thy selfe no not for extream dangers for God now is making way for great comfort let God go on his way without thy censuring of him Again This should teach us that we should not build overmuch confidence on earthly things on the things of this world neither on health of body or on friends or on continuance of life alas it is Gods ordinary course to strip us of all in this world we think of great reputation but saith God I will take that from you you shall learn to trust in me You think you have strong and vigorous bodies and you shall live long and therefore you will venture upon such and such courses I but God suffers his children to come to extream dangers and hazards that they think the sentence of death is passed upon them And since this is Gods course with the body and with the Members and with our head Christ himself shall we think to have immunitie and to escape and not looke to Gods order The Church is in great miserie and we are negligent in prayer we think there are many good people and there is strong munition c. As if when Gods people are in security and forget him and his blessings it were not his course to strip them of all to suffer them to fal into extream dangers have we not the Church before our eyes to teach us Let us trust therefore in nothing in this world So much for that point The second thing in the first part is this that As Gods Children are brought to this estate so they are sensible of it They are flesh and not steele they have not the strength of steele as Job saith they are men they are not stones they are Christians they are not Stoicks Therefore St. Paul as he was in extremity so he apprehended his extremity and with all his heart he would have escaped if he could he looked about to all evasions how he might escape death Gods children are sensible of their crosses especially they are sensible of death as he speaks here of himself We despaired even of life it self The word is very significant in the originall we were in such a strait that we knew not how to escape with life so that we despaired of life we would have escaped with our lives but we saw no way to escape To make this clear there are 3. things in Gods Children There is Grace Nature Corrupt nature nature with the tang of Corruption Grace that looks upward to glorie and comfort Nature looks to the present grievance nature looks not to things to come to matters revealed in the Word to supernatural comforts nature looks to the present crosse even nature without sin Corrupt nature feeles and feeles with a secret murmuring and repining and heavinesse and dulnesse as indeed corrupt nature will alway have a bout in crosses it will alway play its part first or last There are alway these three works in the Children of God in all extremities Grace works and that carries up up still trust in God it looks to heaven it looks to the end and issue that all is for good Nature it fills full of sense and pain and makes a man desire remedy and ease Corrupt nature stirs a man up to fret and say what doth God mean to do thus it stirs a man oft-times to use ill meanes indirect courses St. Paul was sensible from a right principle of nature and no doubt here was some tang of corruption with it he was sensible of the fear of death Adam in innocencie would have been affected and exquisitly sensible no doubt if his body had been wronged for the more pure the complexion the more sensible of solution as Physicians say when that which should be knit together if any thing be loosed by sicknesse or by wounds that should by nature not be hurt but continue together it breeds exquisite pain As to cut that which should not be cut to disjoyn that which should be together this is in nature The Schoolemen say and the reason is good that Christs paines were the greatest paines because his senses were not dulled and stupified with sensuality or indirect courses he had a body of an excellent temper and he was in the perfection of his years when he died therefore he received such an impression of grief in his whipping and when he was crowned with thornes that was it that made him so sensible of grief that when he sweat he sweat drops of blood and upon the crosse it made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Gods Children out of a principle of nature are sensible of any grievance to this outward man of theirs to the body especially in death as we see here St. Paul And there is most patience where there is most sense it is stupidity and blockishnesse else Why are Gods Children so sensible in grief especially in death Oh there is a great cause indeed in some regards they are not afraid of it for death is an enemy to nature it is none to Grace but when I speake not of Grace and Glory but of nature hath not nature great cause to tremble at death when it is an enemy to nature even to right nature It is the King of fears as Job saith it is that Tyrant that makes all the Kings of the earth to tremble at him when death comes it is terrible why because it strips us of all the contentments of this life of all comforts whatsoever we have here Nature without â—…n is sensible of earthly comforts that God hath appointed for nature and when nature sees an end of them nature begins to give in and to grieve Again death parts the best friends we have in this world the body and the soul two old friends and they cannot be parted without exquisite grief If two friends that take contentment in each other common friends cannot part without grief how shall these bosom-friends these united friends body and soul part without grief This marriage between the soul and the body cannot be disunited without exquisite pain being old acquaintance Again nature abhors death it hinders us of all imployment it hinders of all service of God in Church and Common-wealth And so grace which is beyond nature doth a little desire the continuance of life But nature even out of no sinful principle it sees that now I can serve God no longer I can do God no more service I can do good no longer in this World and therefore it takes it to heart Our Savour saith While you have light walke the night cometh when no man is able to work the night of sicknesse and death So
might have kept himself out of this trouble I would ask such a party had not Christ as much wisdom as thee He was the wisdom of the Father did he keep out of reproaches was he not reproached as a troublesome man as an enemie to Cesar and taxed for base things as a wine bibber c. and one that had a divell and many other waies Was not St. Paul as discreet as we are who in our understanding and conceit are ready to conceive distastfully of men that suffer any thing for the Gospel and yet notwithstanding all his wisdom kept him not from the crosse but the crosse abides me saith he every where The Divell and the crosse follow Gods Children wheresoever they go all their wisdome and holinesse cannot keep them from it because God hath decreed it and called them to it and they must be conformable to Christ. Therefore let us take heed that we do not suffer men to suffer in our conceits when they suffer in a good cause the crosse of Christ reproachful things base death c. Afflictions are therefore called the crosse because there is a kind of basenesse with them and as it is so so carnal men esteem it presently with the suffering there goes a taint and an abasing in their conceit of those men that suffer in a good cause there is a diminishing conceit goes in carnall men of that which should be their glorie our crosses abound but what ought we to judge of these crosses They are the sufferings of Christ. Why Christ suffers nothing he is in heaven in glorie how can he suffer This is to disparage his Glorious estate to make him suffer any thing I answer the sufferings of Christ they are two-fold the sufferings of Christs person that which he suffered himself which were propitiatory and satisfactory for our redemption and the sufferings of Christ in his mystical body which likewise is called Christ. For Christ in scripture is taken either for Christ himself or for the members of Christ why persecutest thou me saith he to Saul or for the whole body mysticall with the head 1 Cor. 12. so is Christ Christ head and members is called Christ. Now when he calls the sufferings of the Church the sufferings of Christ he meanes not the sufferings of Christ in his own person for he suffers nothing he is out of all the malice of persecutours they cannot reach to heaven to Christ but he means the sufferings of Christ in his mystical body these are called the sufferings of Christ. Why are these called the sufferings of Christ Partly because they are the sufferings of mystical Christ the body of Christ the Church for the Church the companie of true belevers are the fulnesse of Christ they make up the mystical body of Christ therefore when they suffer he that is the head suffers Again they are called the sufferings of Christ those that his members and Children suffer because they are for Christ they are in his quarrell they are for his truth for his cause and by his appoyntment he calls us to suffering it is for his cause in our intendment we intend to suffer for Christ to maintain his cause they are the sufferings of Christ likewise in the intent of the opposites and enemies they persecute us for some goodnesse they see in us they persecute the cause and truth of Christ in us so they are the sufferings of Christ both waies Especially they are the sufferings of Christ by way of sympathie because Christ doth impute them to himself The sufferings of Christ. It is a phrase that springs from the near union that is between Christ and his members the Church which is as near or nearer then any natural union between the head and members hereupon it comes that we are said to suffer with him to die with him to be crucified with him to ascend with him to fit in heavenly places with him to judge the world with him to do all with him by reason of this union and he is said to suffer with us to be afflicted in us to be reproached with us he was stoned in Stephen he was persecuted by Saul he was beheaded in Paul he was burned with the Martyrs he was banished with the Christians and he suffers in all his Children not that he doth so in his own person but because it pleaseth him by reason of the near communion that is between him and us to take that which is done to his members as done to himself therefore they are called the sufferings of Christ he suffers when we suffer and we suffer when he suffers The difference is all the comfort in our sufferings it comes from communion in his sufferings because he is our surety for why are we encouraged to suffer by way of sympathy and communion with him because he in love died for us and was crucified for us and abased for us and shamed for us And when is the soul encouraged to suffer afflictions for Christ when it hath a little felt the wrath of God that Christ suffered for it Oh how much am I beholding to God for Christ that endured the whole wrath of God They are the sufferings of Christ this is a wondrous comfortable point and it is a notion that doth sweeten the bitterest crosses that they are the sufferings of Christ not onely that we are conformable to Christ in them we suffer as he did but they are the sufferings of Christ he imputes them as done to him he suffers with us And another reason why they are the sufferings of Christ it is because he not onely takes it as done to himself but he is present with them he was with St. Paul in the dungeon he was with the 3. young men in the firie-furnace there were 3. put in and there was a fourth which was Christ the son of God he goes with the martyrs to the prison to the stake he is with them till he hath brought them to heaven he is present with them when they suffer Here I must before I come to make use of it distinguish between the crosses and sufferings of Christ and of ordinary sufferings as men Something in this vale of misery we suffer as creatures as being subject to mutability and change because this is a world of changes In this sublunary world there is nothing but changes thus we suffer as creatures all creatures are subject to vanity and complain and groane under it Somwhat we suffer as men it is the common condition of men this nature of ours since the fall is subject to sicknesses to crosses and pain and casualties every day brings new crosses with it this we suffer as men Now the sufferings of Christians as religious holy men those are here meant those are the sufferings of Christ. Yet notwithstanding the sufferings as men by the Spirit of God helps our conformity to Christ by them the
did Again Afflictions doe good to others by ministring occasion to them to search deeper into the cause when they they see the people of God are so used they take occasion hereby to enquire what is the cause and so take occasion to be instructed deeply in matters of Religion for mans nature is inquisitive and grace takes the hint of any thing What is the matter that such and such indure such things Hereupon I say they come to be better grounded in the cause little occasions oft times are the beginnings of great matters by reason that the spirit as well as wit is of a working nature and will draw one thing from another We see what a great Tree riseth of a little seed how a little thing upon report worketh conversion Naaman the Assyrian had a Servant and she told him that there was a Prophet in Jurie that was a famous man that did great matters and if he would go to him he should be cured of his leprosie that little occasion being ministred Naaman comes to the Prophet and he was cured of a double leprosie both of soule and body and went home a good man so by way of ministring occasion of inquisition the sufferings of others doe good And then seeing the constant and resolute spirits of those that suffer it doth them good and comforts them for first it makes them conceive we of the cause certainly these men that suffer constantly and chearefully it is a good cause that they suffer for when they see the cause is such a resolution and courage in the sufferers And it makes them in love with and begin to think well of the persons when they can deny themselves surely these men care not for the pleasures and vanities of the world that can indure to suffer these So Justin Martyr saith when he saw Christians suffer he thought they were men that cared not for pleasures for if they had they would not suffer these things Besides They can gather from the presence of Gods spirit imboldening the sufferers what they may hope for themselves if they should suffer They may reason thus Is God by his spirit so full and so strong in these that are flesh and blood as we are is he so strong in women in young men in aged men that neither their yeares nor their sex nor their tenderness can any kind of way hinder them from these kind of abasements and sharp sufferings surely the same spirit of God will be as strong in me if I stand out in the same cause and carrie my self as they do and there is good reason for God is the same God the spirit is the same spirit the cause is the same cause therefore it is no false reasoning I may upon a good presumption hope for the presence and assistance of the Spirit of God to inable and strengthen me as he did them for the same Spirit of Godwill be strong in all And this is partly likewise in the intent of them that suffer There is a double intent it is the intent of God to single them out to suffer for the good of others and it is their intent to suffer that others may have good This is one reason why they are willing rather to suffer shame or bodily punishment then they will hinder others of the good they may take by their suffering So it is Gods end and their end It is for your consolation in Gods intent and in my intent and purpose and in the event it self Thus you see how afflictions suffered in good cause help for the consolation and salvation even of others the example of those that suffer flow into the mind and insinuate into the judgment and affection of the beholders many wayes And this the Factors of Antichrist know very well for if ever there be any persecution again we shall hardly have fire and fagor that they may not give example they will come to Gun-powder plots and Massacres and such violent courses to sweep away all They know if it come to matter of example once the grace of God in his children and the presence of his Spirit that shall appeare to others it is of a wondrous working force they are wise enough to know that the Devill teacheth them that wit when he hath been put by all his other shifts If it be so that the sufferings of Gods Children are for the good of others then to make some use of it Let us not take any offence at the cause of religion for suffering we ought not to have an ill conceit of a cause for suffering but rather think the better of it I speak it is in this regard we have many that will honour the Martyrs that are dead that are recorded in the book but if any suffer in the present view before their eyes they are disgracefull to them This should not be For first of all if the cause be good the end of good men by the help of the spirit of God is for thy good Was it not a cruell thing in Saul to strike at David when he played on his Harpe when he sought his good and easement To kill a Nightingale in singing it is a barbarous thing Gods Children by all that they suffer intend the good of others now to hurt and and maligne them in doing good to persecute them that indure ill for our good or that labour and do any thing for our good it is a barbarous savage thing All is for the Elect I suffer not for the Elects sake saith St. Paul in 2. Tim. so my sufferings are for you We may know we are elected of God if we take good by the sufferings of others if we take no scandall and offence and doe not add affliction to the afflicted for all is in Gods intent and in their intent for our good For instance a little to enlighten the point because it is not usually stood on and it is a notion that may help our conceits of the excellent estate of Gods Children Reprobation to go as high as we may it is for their good to shew mercy to them to set by and neglect so many and to single them out The creation of the World is for their sakes Gods providence directs all for their Good for why doth he suffer wicked men it is that they may be instruments to exercise them that are good it is by reflexion or some way for the cause of the good that the wicked are suffered to be upon the earth The administration of the world it is not for the Rebels that are in it it is for those that are Gods Children and he tosseth and tumbleth Empires and Monarchies the great men of the world they think they doe great matters but alas all this is for the exercise of the Church this is reductive to the Church by Gods providence All their attempts are for the little flock for a few that are a despised company that he meanes to save
me to beare crosses and afflictions and likewse to indure the tediousness and length of time till I come to Heaven so salvation is wrought by suffering we come not to the possession of it but by suffering and induring you have need of patience saith the Apostle Heb. 10. Give me leave to cleare the point a little How doth patience enter into this great worke of helping our salvation Patience in induring affliction it helps many wayes They work salvation not by way of merit for that were to disable the title we have by Christ but by way of evidence it helps the evidence of the title for I have title by Christ but how do I know that my evidence to that title is good Afflictions and the patient suffering of them not afflictions alone but afflictions joyned with the grace of patience to indure them for else they do no good afflictions are evill in themselves for thus it increaseth my evidence every heire is a son for heaven is the inheritance of Sons and every Son must be corrected and I am corrected and afflicted in this life and God doth give me grace to indure them and to see my good in them these afflictions therefore mingled with patient induring of them do evidence that I am not a bastard In Heb. 12. the Apostle proves this every one that hath not some affliction or other he is a bastard and not a Son It increaseth my evidence that I am the child of God especially if I suffer for a good cause if we suffer with him we shall reign with him here the evidence is increased By this I know I am in the way which is strewed with crosses and afflictions we must enter into heaven this way I know it for the way so it furthers my salvation it gives me assurance that my euidence is good It is the Scriptures manner to say things are done when the knowledge of the thing is increased As to say we are saved when we know more assuredly that we shall be saved to say we are in the Kingdom of heaven when we know we are in the state of the Kingdom of heaven as in 2 Pet. 1. saith he grow in grace c. for by this meanes a further entrance shall be ministred unto you into the Kingdome of God The knowledge of a mans estate in grace is a further entance into the Kingdom of God that is begun here in this life The knowledge that I am an heire of heaven is to be in heaven before my time Thus afflictions joyned with patience help salvation because they help the evidence of salvation they shew that we are sons and not bastards it is an evidence of our adoption And then sufferings joyned with the grace of induring help forward salvation by vvay of qualification there is a qualification and disposition of soule which is necessary before we come to Heaven because no unclean thing shall ever come to Heaven Now suffering joynd with patience having a mighty and blessed worke this vvay to purge us of that soile that vve cannot carrie to heaven with us We may not think to carrie our unmortified pride and lusts and base earthly affections and our pleasures and riches ill gotten to heaven with us oh no the presence of heaven is a more pure presence then so and the place will not indure such defilements we must be cleansed thereore Now because afflictions indured with patience have a blessed power to subdue that which by nature is powerfull in us to purge out those base affections that are contrary to the glorious estate we look for therefore they help us to heaven they help the qualification of the person not the merit and desert of it They help likewise the qualification by removing that which corruption feeds on for affliction indured removes that which corruption works on and strengthens it self by affliction is either in removing riches or honours or pleasures somewhat that corruption feeds on for all corruption is about those Idols greatness or pleasure or profit of the world Now sufferings crossing us in our reputation or estates or body one way or other they withdraw the fewell that feeds our corruptions and so help mortification and purgation and so fit us for Heaven They help our repentance they make the favour of God sweet and sin bitter it is a bitter thing to offend God we feel it by the afflictions that are laid on us Again many positive graces are required before we come to Heaven affliction indured helps al graces whatsoever the only time for grace to thrive in is the time of affliction for affliction indured helps our zeal our love we have experience of the patience of God and they stir up prayer all graces are set on work in affliction Out of the deep have I cried prayers are cries in in affliction they are not cold dull things but set on fire they set the spirit on worke to crie to God with earnest frequent and fervent in prayer Then again Afflictions indured they work salvation and help us to Heaven because they whet and sharpen our desire of heaven for when we find ill usage here below in our pilgrimage we have a great desire to be at home at rest and that is one maine end why God sends afflictions to help salvation this way by sharpening our desires For were it not for afflictions and the induring of them would we ever say Come Lord Jesus come quickly would we not be of Peters mind It is good for us to be here would we ever be wearie of the world before we be fired out of it and pulled out of it as Lot out of Sodom No they help our desire and earnestness The creature groanes Rom. 8. Those that have received the first fruits of the spirit they wait for the adoption of the sonns of God Those that have the beginnings of grace they wait for the accomplishment what makes this but afflictions and troubles of the world They desire a State wherein all teares shall be wiped from their eyes So we see these and many other wayes but these are the principall how afflictions indured as they should be they help salvation they worke our salvation though they vvork not the title of it yet they help us in the vvay First Because they assure us that vve are the sons of God and so have evidence that vve are in a good state and then they remove the hindrances and purge us of our sins and then they help us in all graces they cherish all graces and they sharpen and whet the edge of our desires to be out of this world And all this must be in every Christian before he come to Heaven for God never brings a man of yeares to Heaven but he gives him cause to see why he would be out of this world either by long sickness or affliction or by one thing or other he makes them see that it is better
affliction but now he specifies what afflictions they were I would not have you ignorant of the troubles which came to us in Asia c. I would not have you ignorant of He knew it was behofull for them to know therefore to insinuate into their respect the more he tells them of it Indeed to know both together is very sweet and comfortable to know both the afflictions of Gods people and their comforts as here he tells them what ill he indured in Asia and how God delivered him to see how these are linked together in Gods people is very comfortable therefore I would not have you ignorant Now that they might not be ignorant he sets before their eyes the particular grievance that he suffered in Asia And see how he doth raise himself by degrees and represent it to them most lively First of all saith he We were pressed out of measure There is one degree we were pressed It is a metaphor we were pressed as a Cart is pressed under sheaves as a man is pressed under a burden as a Ship that is over-laden is pressed deep down with too much burden so it was with us we were pressed with afflictions afflictions are of a depressing nature they draw down the soule as comfort raiseth it up Out of measure There is the second degree they were not onely pressed but pressed out of measure Above strength Above my strength above ordinary strength And he riseth higher still the waters rise higher insomuch that we despaired of life we despaired of any escaping out of trouble at the present encounter nay we did not see how we should escape for the time to come Nay it was so great in the first place that we passed the sentence of death upon our selves It is a speech taken from malefactors that are condemned for even as they having the sentence pronounced upon them we account them dead men they esteem themselves so and so do others esteem them the sentence being passed upon them so I even passed the sentence on my self seeing no evasion or escape out of the troubles I was in the sentence of death passed upon me We had the sentence of death in our selves It was not passed by God nor by the World for they had not decreed to kill him but he passed it upon himself when he saw no way to escape He was deceived though as oft-times Gods Children are for he died not at that time And then afterwards he sets down the end why all this was a sweet end a double end That we should not trust in our selves what should we trust in then But in God that raiseth the dead First to speake of his grievance and then of the reason why God did thus follow him We would not have you ignorant He prevents all scandal by this I would not have you ignorant I am so far from caring or fearing or being ashamed that you should know of any affliction that I suffer that I would not have you ignorant of it for know this that when you know my afflictions you shall know my deliverance also St. Paul was wondrous scrupulous at this left they should take any offence at his sufferings indeed it is the state of Gods Children their worst crosse sometimes are censures upon them for the crosse the harsh censures of others in their troubles It was the last and the greatest of Job's troubles that and his wife together when his house was overthrown his Children killed his goods taken away himsef stricken with boiles then for his indiscreet friends to become miserable comforters those that should have comforted him to become censurers and judges of him as if he had been a man deserted and forsaken of God as if all had been from God as a punishment for his sins this was his grearest crosse as it was his last when his wife in his bosom she that should have comforted him most should solicit him to ill and his friends by their rash and vile censures to make his crosse heavier So it is with Gods Children in the world they cannot endure hardnesse in the World they cannot be used otherwise then their cause deserves but they must also undergo hard censures that grieves them more then the crosse it self It was the case of this blessed Apostle the Spirit of God in him therefore sets him to mention his affliction with boldnesse and confidence yea with comfort and joy I would not have you ignorant I am not of the mind of carnal men that would have it concealed nay I would not have you ignorant I pray understand it he laies it open to their view that they might be affected with it as he was for those things that we are affected with we are large in the discourse of them he shewes that the misery though it were past and were off yet he was affected with it We were pressed out of measure above strength This seems to thwart another place of scripture in 1. Cor 10. 13. God is faithful and will lay no more upon you then you shall be able to bear and yet here he saith we were afflicted above strength how can these hang together I answer God will not suffer his Children to indure any thing above strength above that they are able to bear especially in spirituall evils but for sickness and persecution or such sometimes he may lay more upon them then they have present strength to beare But put the case that St. Paul speaks of inward grievance and outward afflictions too as both usually accompany one another St. Paul's meaning is here undoubtedly We were pressed above strength that is above ordinary naturall strength that unless God had made a supply by a new supernaturall strength we had never been able to indure it therefore take it so above ordinary naturall strength for extraordinary crosses must have extraordinary strength and crosses with grievance of spirit must have more then naturall strength to beare them Again Where it is said Insomuch that we despaired of life as if he had cared much for his life this seemeth to cross another place Phil. 1. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and here he seems to be very carefull in a strait lest he should die I answer We must take St. Paul in diverse considerations and respects As St. Paul hath finished his course and done his work so Henceforth is laid up for me the crown of righteousness so he thinks of nothing but life and glory he cares not for his life but take Saint Paul in the midst of his course and so he had a care to his charge Take Saint Paul as he looked to glory so he desired to be dissolved take him as he was affected to edifie the Church so he laboured to live by all meanes and so he saith he despaired of life as desiring to live to do good to the Church Again It may be Objected against the last We received the sentence of
will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate of all thy works and talk of thy doings c. See his infirmity when he was in trouble of mind his sins began to upbraid him that God had left him I said in my infirmity God hath forgotten me c. and hath God forgotten to be gracioue hath he shut up his tender mercies in displeasure then saith he this was my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high c. And the same he hath in many other places as Psal. 143. 4 5. It argues the great weaknesse of our nature which is ready to distrust God upon every temptation of Satan as if God had never dealt graciously with us as if God were changeable like our selves Let us labour to support our selves in the time of temptation with the former experience of Gods gracious goodnesse and his blessed work upon our souls he that delivered us from the power of Satan keeps us from him stil that we sink not into despair he will keep us for the time to come so that Neither things present nor things to come as the Apostle saith shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ. And let us as it were make diaries of Gods dealing to us this is to be acquainted with God as Job speakes this is to walk with God to observe his steps to us and ours to him it is a thing that will wondrously strengthen our faith especially in old years in gray hairs What a comfortable thing is it when an aged man can look back to the former part of his life and can reckon how God hath given him his life again and again how God hath comforted him in distresse how God hath raised him up in the middest of perplexity when he knew not which way to turn him how God comforted him when he was disconsolate all these meeting together in our last conflict when all comfort will be little enough what a comfort will it be And those that disfurnish themselves by their negligence and carelesnesse of such blessed helps what enemies are they to their own comfort Therefore consider Gods dealing remember it observe it think of it and desire Gods Spirit to help your minds and memories herein that nothing may be lost for I say all will be little enough the comfort of others our own experience the promises of Scripture Our Hearts are so readie to sink and to call in question Gods truth and Satan will ply us so in the time of temptation Especially those that are old and grow into years they should be rich in these experiments and able even to have a story of them we should be able to make a book of experiments from our Child-hood Gods care to every man in particular it is as if there were none but he and there is no man that is a Christian but he observes Gods wayes to him that he can say God cares for me as if he cared for none but me let us therefore treasure up experiments We see one notable example in David how he pleads with God Psalme 71. 3. from his former experience Be thou my habitation wherein I may continually rest thou hast given command to save me for thou art my rock and my fortresse Whatsoever is comfortable in the creature God hath taken the name of it to himself that in all troubles we might flie to him as the grand deliverer for it is he that delivers whatsoever the meanes be whether it be Angells or men it is he that sets all on work therefore he is called a rock and a fortresse c. Thou hast given command to save me that is God hath the command of all creatures he can command the fish to give up Jonas he can command the Divels to go out Christ did it when he was on earth in the daies of his flesh Therefore much more now he is in heaven he can command winds and storms and divells and all troubles He hath the command of all as he saith to Elias Behold I have commanded a widow to feed thee The hearts of Kings are in his hand as the rivers of waters he that commands the creatures can command deliverance Thou hast commanded to save me for the time past What doth he say for the time to come Deliver me oh God from the wicked thou art my hope and trust from my youth c. Cast me not off in mine old age when my strength faileth me for sake me not It is a good argument Thou hast been my God from my Mothers womb therefore cast me not off in my old age Well we see here the practice of Gods Children in all times Let it be a pattern for our imitation that we do not forsake our own mercy as Jonas saith When God hath provided mercy and provided promises to help us with experience let us not betray all through unbelief through base despair in the time of trouble If we had but onely Gods promise that he will be our God that he will forgive our sins were not that enough Is it not the promise of God of Jehovah that is truth it self but when he hath sweetned his promise by experience and every experience is a pledge and an earnest of a benefit to come what a good God have we that is content not onely to reserve the joyes of heaven for us but to give us a taste to give us the assurance and earnest of the time to come and besides his promise to give us comfortable experience and all to support our weak faith But remember withal that this belongs onely to Gods Children and in a good cause for wicked men to reason thus He hath and therefore he will it is a dangerous argument they must not trust former experience We must hope that God will continue as he hath been upon this ground that we are his Or else the ground of the ruine of wicked men is presumption that God will bear with them as he hath done The King of Sodom and his People were rescued out of trouble by Abraham and the army that he raised yet they were pittifully consumed not long after by fire from Heaven Pharaoh was delivered by Moses prayer God delivered him from ten plagues they made not a good use of it and they perished after miserably in the Red-sea Rabshakeh comes and tells of the former prosperitie of Sennacherib Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad c. Hath not my Lord overcome all I but it was immediately before his reign Herod he prospered and had good successe in the beheading of James and therefore he would set upon Peter he thought to trust to his former successe he was flushed in the execution of James he thought God hath given me successe and blessed me in this He thought God was of his mind as it is Psalm 50. Thou thinkest me to
be like thy self thou thinkest I hate those that thou hatest that are my dear Children therefore Herod presumed to go on and lay hold on Peter but the Church falls a praying and God smites Herod with a fearful death he was eaten up with lice with worms bred in his body So I say it is no good argument to say I have prospered in wicked courses I do prosper and therefore I shall prosper I have gotten a great deal of goods by ill means and I have kept such ill company and though some mislike my courses yet I hope to morrow shall be as to day c. Take heed blesse not thy self Gods wrath will smoak against such Treasure not up wrath unto thy self against the day of wrath argue not so upon Gods patience It is an argument for Gods Children he hath been my God he is my God and he will be my God it is a Sophisme else for others and as the Prophet Amos saith He that hath escaped the Lyon shall fall into the hands of the Bear so the wicked that escape one danger shall fall into another at length it is no good argument for them to hope for the like of that they have had Nay rather it is the worst outward sign in this world of a man in the state of reprobation of a man hated of God to prosper and have security in ill courses God blesseth him and lets him go on in smooth courses as the streames of Jordan go on smooth and still and then enter into the dead sea so many men live and go on in smooth easy courses and we see at length they either end in despair as Judas or in deadnesse of heart as Nabal So that of all estates it is the most miserable when a man lives in a naughtie course and God interrupts him not in his course with some outward judgment It is a reason onely for the Children of God to support themselves with in a good cause wherein they walk with a good conscience then they may say truly God that hath been my God till now will be my God to the end of my dayes Is God so constant to his Children in his love and in his fatherly care providence that whom he hath delivered he doth deliver and will deliver let us be constant in our service and love back again let us return the echo back again and say I have served God I do serve God and I will serve God because he hath loved me he doth love me and he will love me he hath delivered me he doth deliver me and he will deliver me as he is constant in love to me so will I be constant in respect in reverence and obedience to him Therefore we see the Saints of God as God loves them from everlasting to everlasting being Jehovah as he never alters in his nature so not in his love to them so they never alter in their love to him therefore it is a clause in Scripture expressed by holy men To whom be praise for ever as they knew that he was their God for ever and for ever so they purposed to be his people and to praise him for ever and for ever And because they cannot live here alway themselves they desire that there may be a Generation to praise him for ever and for ever and they lay a plot and ground so much as they can that Gods Name may be known that Religion may be propagated for ever They know God is their God for ever they know he is constant in love to them and they are constant in their love to him and for his glory To whom be glory for ever See here the happinesse of a true Christian that is in Covenant with God he can say I have had my happinesse and my portion I have it and I shall have it for ever Take a worldling can he say so he cannot God will confound his insolence if he should say so I have been rich I have prospered in my course I have attained to this and that means I yet thrive and I shall thrive I is it so No thou buildest upon the sands howsoever God hath done and howsoever he doth thou canst not secure thy self for the time to come Onely the Christian that makes God his rock and his fortress his shield and strong tower of defence he may say he hath had that which is certain he enjoyes that which is immutable and constant God is his portion his eternal portion he hath been good he is good and he will be good to eternity no man else that hath a severed happinesse out of God can say so A sound Christian take him in all references of time he is a happy man if he look back God hath delivered him from Satan from hell and damnation and many dangers If he look to the present he is compassed about with a guard of Angels and with the providence of God God doth deliver him he hath a guard about him that cannot be seen but with the eye of faith The Divel sees it well enough as we see in Job Thou hast hedged him about how can I come to him He looked about to see if he could come into Job to see if the hedg had any breach but there was none Gods providence compassed him about God hath and doth deliver And if he look to the time to come he will deliver he seeth that neither things present nor things to come shall be able to separate him from the love of God And this is not onely true of outward dangers but especially in spiritual God hath been gracious he hath given Christ How shall he not with him give us all things A Christian is in the favour of God now how shall he not be so for ever He hath eternity world without end to comfort himself in that God as long as he is God he hath comfort as long as he hath a soul so long Jehovah the living God will be his God both of his body and soul he is the God of Abraham therefore he will raise his body he is the God that raiseth the dead and he will for ever glorifie both body and soul in heaven Look which way he will a Christian hath cause of much comfort why should he be dismayed with any thing in the world why should he not serve God with all the encouragement that may be when he hath nothing to care for but to serve him As for matter of deliverance and protection it belongs not to us but to him let us do that that belongs to us and he will do that belongs to him if we commit our soules to him as to a faithful Creator in weldoing he hath delivered us he doth deliver us and he will deliver us and preserve us to his heavenly Kingdom VERS 11. You also helping together by prayer for us IN these words the holy Apostle sets down the subordinate means that God hath sanctified to continue
deliverance to his children He hath delivered he doth deliver and he will deliver us for the time to come Was this confidence of St Paul a presumption without the use of means he will deliver us you also helping together by prayer for us The chief cause doth not take away the subordinate but doth establish it And though God be the great deliverer and salvation belong to the Lord as the Scripture speaks salvation and deliverance it is his work yet notwithstanding he hath not for defect of power but for the multiplication and manifestation of his goodnesse ordained the subordinate means of deliverance and as he will deliver so he will deliver in his own manner and by his own means He will deliver but yet notwithstanding you must pray you also helping together by prayer for us The words have no difficulty in them you helping together that is you together joyning in prayer with me I pray for my self and you together helping me by prayer God will deliver me The points considerable in the words are these First of all that in the time of peril or in the want of any benefit the means to be delivered from the one and to convey the other it is prayer God will do this you praying The second is this that Gods children can pray for themselves The third is that notwithstanding though they can pray for themselves yet they require the joynt help of others and they need the help of others The fourth is that our own prayers and the prayers of others joyning all together is a mighty prevailing means for the conveying of all good and for the removing of any ill God will deliver me you helping by your prayers Prayer is a means to convey all good and to deliver from all ill Because God hath stablished this order Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee Psal. 50. he joyns deliverance to calling upon him So in Psal. 91. 15. a notable place besides others indeed the Psalmes are wonderous full in this kind He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him mark it He shall call upon me and I will deliver him and more then so for Gods benefits are complete he doth not onely deliver but he honours I will deliver him and advance him God doth not onely deliver his Children by prayer but he delivers them from evil works and preserves them to his heavenly Kingdom he delivers them and advanceth them together he doth not do his work by halves Psal. 34. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open to their cry his eyes are upon them to see their miseries and wants I but though his eyes be open his ears must be open too to hear their cry if his eyes were open to see their wants if his ears be not open to hear their cry his children might be miserable still Sometimes God delivers wicked men he preserves them but the preservation of a wicked man is but a reservation of him for future judgment to feed him for the slaughter and that deliverance is not worth the speaking of But for his children his eyes are open on them and his ears to hear their cry as they be in misery that he sees them so they must cry that he may hear them God hath stablished this order he will deliver but prayer is the means Now the reason that he hath established this order It is for his Glory our own good It is for his own glory because prayer gives him the glory of all his attributes for when we go to him do we not give him the glory of his omniscience that he knowes our hearts and knowes our wants Do we not give him the glory of his omnipotence that he can help us Do we not give him the glory of his omnipresence that he is every where do we not give him the glory of his truth that he will make good his promise which we alledge to him and presse him with what a world of glory hath God by prayer And then for our sakes he hath established this order to convey all by prayer to shew our dependance on him for we being in such a low distance under God it is good that we should know from whom we have all therefore he will have us to pray to him he commands it Prayer is an act of self-denial it makes us to look out of our selves higher Prayer acknowledgeth that we have that which we have not of our selves but from him Prayer argueth a necessary dependance upon him to whom we pray for if we had it at home we would not go abroad And then again it doth us good because as it gives God all the glory so likewise it exerciseth all the graces in a man There is not a grace but it is put into the fire it is quickned and kindled by prayer For it sets faith on work to believe the promise it sets hope on work to expect the things prayed for it sets love on work because we pray for others that are members of the Church it sets obedience on work because we do it with respect to Gods command prayer sets humility on work we prostrate our selves before God and acknowledge that there is no goodnesse or desert in us there is not a grace in the heart but it is exercised in prayer The Divel knowes it well enough and therefore of all exercises he labours to hinder the exercise of prayer for he thinkes then we fetch help against him and indeed so we do for in one prayer God is honoured the Church is benefited grace is exercised the Divel is vanquished what a world of good is by prayer So that God hath established this order upon great reasons fetched from our own comfort and good and from his glory Since God hath established this order away with idle suggestions partly carnal and partly divellish God knowes what we want and God knew before all time what we have need of and he may grant it if he will I but that God that decreed at the same time that he decreed to convey good at the same time he decreed to convey it this way by prayer therefore let us not disjoyn that which God hath joyned Christ knew that God decreed all and yet he spent whole nights in prayer and who knew Gods love more then he Yet because as he was man he was a creature because as he was man he received good from his Father to shew his dependance he continually prayed he sanctified every thing by prayer And all holy men of God from the beginning the more certain they were of any thing by promise the more eager and earnest and fervent they were in prayer it was a ground of prayer they knew that this was Gods order therefore if they had a promise they turned it into prayer presently The
God The Church of God now abroad you see is in combustion if the Spirit of God in any measure and degree be in our breasts we will sympathize with the state of the Church We wish them wel it may be but wishes are one thing and prayer is another doest thou pray for the Church if we could pray for the Church it would be better we should do more good with our prayers at home then they shall do by fighting abroad as Moses did more good in the mount by prayer then they did in the valley by fighting undoubtedly it would be so We may fear the lesse successe the spirits of men are so flat and so dead this way The time hath been not long since that we have been stirred up more to pray upon the apprehension of some fears to pray with earnestnesse and feeling expressing some desire in wishing their welfare but now a man can hardly converse with any that have so deep an apprehension as they have had in former times Now therefore as we desire to have interest in the good of the Church so let us remember to present the estate of the Church to God And let us present the Church of God to him as his own as his Turtle as his Love You know when they would move Christ they tell him Him whom thou lovest is sick Lazarus whom thou lovest So Lord her whom thou lovest the Church whom thou gavest thy Son to redeem with his blood the Church to whom thou hast given thy Spirit to dwell in the Church wherein thou hast thy habitation amongst men the Church that onely glorifieth thee and in whom thou wilt be eternally glorified in heaven that Church is sick it is weak it is in distresse it is in hazard Let us make conscience of this dutie let us help the Church with our prayers Saint Paul saith I shall be delivered together with the help of your prayers Without doubt the Church should be delivered if we had the grace to help them with our prayers And God will so glorifie the blessed exercise of calling upon him that we I say shall do more good at home then they shall do abroad let us believe this it is Gods manner of dealing In the book of Judges in that story of the Benjamites concerning the wrong done to the Priests concubine the rest of the Tribes of Israel when they set on the Benjamites they asked counsell of God twice and went against them and were discomfited but the third time they come to God Judg. 20. 26. Then all the Children of Israel came to the house of the Lord and wept and sat there before the Lord and fasted that day till the evening They thought because they had a good cause they might without fasting and prayer and without seeking to the Lord prevail and therefore they went against them twice and were shamefully foiled to their great losse but when at the last they came and humbled themselves before God and fasted end enquired of God the cause of that ill after that they had a glorious victory Christ tells his Disciples that there were some kind of Divells that will not be cast out but by fasting and prayer so there are some kind of miseries some kind of calamities some kind of sins that will not be overcome and which God will not deliver the Church from but by fasting and prayer And so for private Christians they have some sins that are master-sins personall sins it is not a slight prayer and a wish that will mortifie them there must be fasting and prayer and humiliation and that way those divells are cast out I would we were perswaded of it that it is such a prevailing thing holy prayer to help our selves in sin and to help us in misery to help the Church of God Well since the prayers even of the meanest Christians are so prevailing let us learn to respect them for as they can pray so their prayers will prevail And take heed we grieve not the Spirit of God in any poor Saint that so they may pray for us with willingnesse and cheerfulnesse do but consider what a blessing it is to have a stock going to have our part in the common stock as there is a common stock of prayer in the Church every Christian can pray and pray prevailingly What a blessing is it to be a good Christian to have a portion in the prevailing prayers of others That when a man is dead and dull and unfit himself this may comfort him that others have the spirit of zeal and will supply his want it is a blessed thing Let us consider the excellency of this duty of prayer from the prevalency of it to whet us on to the exercise of it It is a happinesse to have a part in it it is a blessing whereby we can do good to others we can reach them that are many hundred miles off those that be at the farthest end of the world when we cannot reach them otherwaies we can reach them by prayer we cannot speak to them they are far off but we can speak to God for them and he can convey that good to them that we desire what a blessed condition is this But some man may say How shall I know that I can pray that I am in a state to help the Church of God and to prevail for it by my prayers I answer First of all thou shalt know it if thou be as willing to help otherwise if thou canst as well as by prayer St. James speaks in his time of certain men that would feed the poore people of God with good words Now good words are good cheap but they will do nothing they will buy nothing they will not cloath nor feed So Saint James tells them that that is but a dead faith So there are a company that will onely pray for the Church when they are able to do otherwaies when they have countenance and estate and riches and friends and place and many things that they might improve for the good of others and for the good of the Church Some will be ready to say I pray for the Church and I will pray I but art thou not able to do somewhat else St. Paul when he wishes them to pray for him he means not onely prayer but that duty implies to do all that they pray for to help their prayers or else it is a mocking of God If thou pray aright for the Church thou art willing to relieve them if thou pray for thy friend thou art willing to help him and succour him if thou pray for any thou art willing to countenance them That is one tryal which discovers many to be hypocrites if their prayers were worth any thing and the times stood in need of them it is likely they should not have them because they only give good words and nothing else Again he that is in a state of prayer he must be such
imperfection that desires to be searched in preaching hearing searching Sermons and desiring to be searched in Conference and that doubts not his conscience but would be searched throughly When men fret at the searching of their sins they will not be searched and are content to go on in presumptuous courses and think all is well it is a sign there is not so much as an Earnest But not to go farther that in the Revelation shews the truth of a little grace what saith he Thou hast a little strength what doth that little strength move the Church of Philadelphia to do Thou hast kept my Word and hast not denyed my Name Where there is a little strength there will be a keeping of the Word in obedience a keeping of it in conversation where is not a regard to Gods Word a moulding of the soul into it in obedience of it there is not so much as a little strength of grace and therefore those that live in rebellious courses have not so much as an Earnest to them yet Thou hast kept my Word and withal thou hast not denyed my Name Where a little strength is there they will not deny Christs Name they will hold out in the profession of the truth and confesse it if occasion serve and therefore where any are slight in their profession that give in if they be ready to dash upon any displeasure of any one if they be to venture their estates or so then they are ashamed of Christ and that profession which they took upon them they deny his Name at least they do not own it they have not so much as a little strength if they do not recover Peter was in such a temptation but he recovered his strength and got more strength and a firm standing upon it the shaking of Peter was for the rooting of him So God to shame his children suffers them sometimes to have dastardly spirits but they recover themselves they are ashamed of it but those that are common Politicians in this kind that will not stand out in a good cause to maintain their truth and profession when God thrusts his cause into their hands specially at such times when God saith to them Who is on my side who now is the time to appear then if they have not a word for God they will not own the quarrel and cause of God and Religion they have not a little strength for they that have a little strength here keep the Word and have not denyed the Name Those therefore that can fashion themselves to all Religions to all companies they will have a Religion mutable and flexible to their occasions where is the Earnest of the Spirit the Spirit as much as he is is strong and vigorous and powerful these men have not so much as a little strength that are as water which is fashioned to the vessel it is in like to the Samaritans as Joseph the Historian of the Jews writes of them When the Jewes prospered oh then they would be Jewes when the Jewes had ill successe then they were great enemies to the Jewes so you have many that are no friends to the afflicted to the disgraced truth but as long as the Cause of Religion is carried out with the Countenance of the State with the favour of great ones so far they will own it but if Christ once comes to be abased they will not know Christ nor his Cause I beseech you let us take notice of it it is a sign there is no grace at all where there is such an habitual disposition without shame or grief or repentance for Gods children sometimes may be overtaken with a spirit of dastardlinesse which afflicts them sore afterwards that they gather more strength A man may know if he be Gods child in such a state for it is universally true Gods children are never overtaken with a spirit of cowardlinesse and fear but they regain it and grow more strong upon it as we see in Cranmer and others God purposeth sometimes to let them see what they are in themselves without his support and strength but afterwards they gather new resolutions new purposes to stick firmer to the truth then ere before I might adde many other things but I go on to that which followes You see here now how we may try if we have any true Earnest in us at all or no. Now I beseech you let us labour to have this Earnest if we have it not to have this assurance especially let me desire those of the younger sort to labour to have the seal of this Spirit and the Earnest before they be further and further engaged into the world and before they be so hardened that they will not receive a contrary stamp to their corruptions It is a wondrous advantage that Gentlemen and others that are young before the world hath soiled them and before their understandings be darkened and their affections are crooked and carried away much with the stream and errours of the time they have much advantage above others for they have spirits fitter for grace fitter to receive the impression of this seal of the Spirit fitter for the Earnest Let us labour for this Earnest betimes what a comfortable thing will it be to carry along with the Earnest an assurance of a better estate from our youth to our age and from our age to our old age and so to heaven with us what a deal of comfort do young ones deprive and rob themselves of that will not be gracious betimes Let us labour to have the stamp of the Spirit set on us in our prime time in the strength of our years But I will presse the Point if the time will give leave afterwards Now we must know that God gives this Earnest not for himself but for us to secure us and that is one reason why it is called an Earnest There is besides bargaining another state and condition that Earnest is applyed unto which perhaps the Apostle aimes at as marriage whatsoever was before the Consummation of the marriage was a kind of Arrah a kind of Earnest to assure the affection of the contracted person and persons that loved one another till the Consummation of the marriage So Christ now contracts us on the earth and having love to us and taking our Nature on him that he might woo us in our own flesh and in our own nature taking upon him the Earnest of our flesh he gives us the Earnest of his Spirit and to assure us thaâ—… he loves us and that he means to make up the bargain afterwards he sends us love-tokens graces and comfort and joy Even as Isaac when he was to marry Rebecca he sent by his servants Bracelets and Jewels and such things to secure her of his love So Christ in heaven intending the consummation of the Match he sends us here graces and comforts of the Spirit and all to secure us all is for us I say