or no-where our redress is to be found Why seek we the living among the dead comfort from things that cannot yield it The Covenant can discover two things which are able to pacifie the most discomposed heart viz. 1. The good of Affliction 2. The end of Affliction 1. It will discover to us the good of Affliction and so rectifie our mistaken judgments about it God is not undoing but consulting our interest and happiness in all these dispensations It will satisfie us that in all these things he doth no more than what we our selves allow and approve in other cases It is not meerly from his pleasure but for our profit that these breaches are made upon our Families and Comforts Heb. 12.10 Who blames the Marriner for casting the Goods over board to save Ship and life in a storm or the Chirurgeon for lancing yea or cutting off a Leg or Arm to preserve the life of his Patient or Souldiers for burning or beating down the Suburbs to save the City in a siege And why must God only be censured for cutting off those things from us which he knows will hazard us in the 〈◊〉 of temptation he sees the lessâ— have of entanglement the mâ—â— promptness and fitness we 〈◊〉 have to go through the tryals 〈◊〉 are coming upon us and that the comforts he cuts off from 〈◊〉 Bodies goes to the profit and 〈◊〉 vantage of our Souls 2. Here you gain a sight 〈◊〉 only of the good of Affliction 〈◊〉 also of the comfortable end 〈◊〉 issue of Affliction This clouâ— and stormy morning will wind 〈◊〉 in a serene and pleasant eveninâ— There 's a vast difference betwâ—â— our meeting with Afflictions 〈◊〉 our parting from them You haâ—â— heard of the patience of Iob and 〈◊〉 seen the end of the Lord. O get 〈◊〉 Iob's Spirit under Affliction anâ— you may see as happy an end 〈◊〉 them as he did Had Naomy seen the end of 〈◊〉 Lord in taking away her Husband and starving her out of Moab 〈◊〉 would not have changed her name or said the Lord had dealt bitter with her in grafting her Daughteâ— by that Providence into the Noble Line out of which the Saviour of the World was to rise and could you but see that good in order to which all this train of troubles is â—aid you would not murmur or â—espond as you do Object 1. O but this is a grievous Stroke God hath smitten â—e in the apple of mine Eye and written bitter things against me No sorrow is like my sorrow 't is a mourning for an onely Son I have lost all in one Sol. 1. You can never lose all in one except that one be Christ and he being yours in Covenant can never be lost But your meaning is you have lost all of that kind in one no more Sons to build up your House and continue your Name 2. But yet Religion will not allow you to say that your dead Children are a lost Generation Praemittuntur non amittuntur They are sent before but not lost For they are a Covenant-seed by you dedicated to the Lord They were Children of many Prayers a great stock of Prayers was laiâ— up for them in them also yoâ— and all that knew them discerneâ— a teachable Spirit pious inclinaâ—tions and Conscience of secret duâ—ties some good things toward the Lord God of Israel as was saiâ— of young Abijah 1 King. 14 1â— So that you parted from them uâ— on far easier terms than good Dâ—â—vid parted from his Amnon Absâ—â—lom or Adonijah who died in theâ—â— sins and open rebellions Therâ— was a sting in his troubles whicâ— you feel not and if he comforte himself notwithstanding in thâ— Covenant of his God in this râ—â—spect may you much more Object 2. O but my Son wâ— cut off in the very Bud just whâ—â— the Fruits of Education were reâ—â—dy to disclose and open Sol. Let not that consideratioâ— so incense your sorrows Goâ— knows the fittest time both to givâ— and to take our comforts anâ— seeing you have good grounds 〈◊〉 hope your Child died interestâ—â— in the Covenant of God you have the less reason to insist upon that afflicting circumstance of an immature death He that dies in Christ hath lived long enough both for himself and us That Marriner hath sailed long enough that hath gained his Port and that Souldier fought long enough that hath won the Victory and that Child lived long enough that hath won Heaven how early soever he died Beside the sooner he died the less sin he hath committed and the less misery he saw and felt in this wretched World which we are left to behold and feel And it is but a vanity to imagine that the parting pull with him would have been easier if the enjoyment of him had been longer for the long enjoyment of desirable Comforts doth not use to weaken but abundantly to strengthen and fasten the tyes of affection Submit your Reason therefore as is meet to the Wisdom of God who certainly chose the fittest season for this Affliction O but No more Buts and Objections I beseech you Enough hath been offer'd from the Covenant of your God to silence all your Objections and to give you the ease and pleasure of a resigned Will. And what are all our Buts and Objections but a spurning at Divine Soveraignty and the thrusting in the Affliction deeper into your own hearts which are wounded but too deep already I perswade you not to put off but to regulate natural Affections To be without them would deservedly rank us among the worst of Heathens but rightly to bound and manage them would set you among the best of Christians I cannot imagine what ease or advantage holy Basil gained by such a particular and heart piercing account as he gave of a like Affliction with this nor to what purpose it can be to you to recal and recount those things which only incense and aggravate your troubles Doubtless your better way were to turn your thoughts from such subjects as these to your God in Covenant as David in the Text did and to recount the many great and inestimable mercies that are secured to you therein which death shall never smite or cut off from you as it doth your other enjoyments Quest. But yet unless we can in some measure clear our Covenant-interest all these excellent Cordials prepared will signifie no more to our relief than water spilt upon the ground help us therefore to do that or else all that hath been said is in vain How may a person discern his Covenant-right and interest Answ. This indeed is worthy of all consideration and deserves a serious answer forasmuch as it is fundamental to your comfort and all actual refreshment in times of trouble and will bring us to the next Use which is for tryal of our Covenant-interest VSE III. The great Question to be decided is Whether God be our Covenant-God and we his People A Question of the most solemn nature
Christ is far better Death to them is gain and infinite advantage Phil. 1.21.23 This World is the worst place that ever God designed his People to live in for if a state of perfect Holiness and Purity be better than a state of Temptation and Corruption if a state of Rest and Peace be better than a state of Labour and Sorrow if it be better to be triumphing above than sighing and groaning beneath then it 's better for departed Christians to be where they are than where they were And could they now communicate their minds to us by words as they lately did they would say to us as Christ said Luke 23.28 Daughter of Ierusalem weep not for us but weep for 〈◊〉 selves and for your children Or as he spake to his Disciples under their sad resentments of his departure Ioh. 14.28 If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I go to the Father So then no tears or sorrows are due to them or becoming us upon the account of any real loss or detriment they receive by death 2. Positively But the true grounds and causes of our Lamentations are upon divers other weighty accounts as First Because so much of the Spirit of God as dwelt in them when amongst us is now recall'd and gather'd up from this lower World. Those precious Graces which they exercised among us in Prayer Conference and other beneficial Duties are now gone with them to Heaven The Church had the benefit of them during their abode with men but now no more except only what the remembrance of their holy Words and instructive Examples whereby they still speak to us though dead may afford unto us There are choice effusions of the Spirit at the time of our Sanctification of which the Church reapeth the benefit whilst we live but all these are recall'd at our dissolution and thenceforth we can be no farther useful in this lower World for as the Soul is the subject in which these precious Graces inhere so they accompany and go along with the Soul into glory Now as it is a real loss to a Company when any Merchant withdraws a great Stock he had running in Trade out of the Bank so certainly it is a great loss to the Church of God when the precious gifts and graces of the Spirit dwelling in the Saints are drawn out by Death so as the Church can have no farther benefit by them their Prayers for us and with us are now ended Abraham knoweth us not and Israel is ignorant of us Secondly The death of the Saints deserves a bitter lamentation because thereby a breach is made a gap opened to let in the Judgments of God upon the Remnant that is left It is said of Moses Psal. 106.23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach lest he should destroy them A Metaphor from a besieged City when a breach is made in the Walls and an Enemy ready to enter but some Champion stands in the breach to defend the City Such a Champion was Moses who by his constant and fervent Prayers put a stop to the inundation of God's Judgments against Israel And such another was Lot Gen. 19.22 whose Prayers for that wicked place he lived in bound up the hand of Judgment insomuch as the Lord told him I can do nothing till thou art gone But when the Lord by death removes such men he thereby makes a way to his anger as the expression is Psal. 78.50 Hence the death of eminent Saints especially when many are taken away at or near the same time hath been ever look'd upon as a direful Omen and dreadful Presage of ensuing Judgments and that not without good Scripture-authority Isai. 57.1 The righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Thus Methusalah whose very Name signified a Flood cometh died the year before the Flood Augustin a little before the sacking of Hyppo Pareus a little before the taking of Hydelberg And Luther before the Wars brake out in Germany Death as a Pioneer clears the way to a Troop of Miseries following after This therefore is a just and weighty ground of our lamentations for the death of useful and goodly men Thirdly The beauty and ornaments of the places they lived in is defaced and removed by their death they look not like themselves when the godly are removed out of them for as wicked men are the spots and blemishes so good men are the beauty and ornaments of their Country A good man was wont to say of Mr. Barrington of Barrington-Hall in Essex Methinks the Town is not at home when Mr. Barrington is out of Town How desolate and dismal doth a Family look whatever other Ornaments be about it when the Religious Governour of it is gone Take away good men from their Families and Country and what are they but like a Vineyard when the Vintage is past as the Prophet speaks Micha 7.1 Fourthly The death of good men deserves a bitter Lamentation because thereby the passage of the Gospel and propagation of Religion is obstructed in the places from whence they are removed Of how great use in a Country may one zealous publick-spirited man be Hundreds may have cause to bless God for such a man. It was the Apostles desire to the Thessalonians To pray that the word of the Lord may have its free course that it might run and be glorified 2 Thess. 3.1 The removal of such a person as naturally took care for the souls of those that were about him to provide food for them is no small loss nor lightly to be passed over Fifthly The consideration of the time in which good men die aggravates the loss and justly incenses the sorrow of them that remain and that upon a threefold account 1. That it falls out in the declining state of Religion when the Spirit and power of Godliness is so much weakned and impoverished This is like the loss of good Bloud in a consumptive Body which must bring it very low 2. That it falls out also in a time when the numbers of the Godly are so much thinn'd and lessen'd not when the Churches Children say in her Ears The place is too straight give place that we may dwell but when they are every-where lamenting the paucity and scarcity of good men as the Psalmist did Psal. 12.1 Help Lord for the godly man ceaseth for the righteous fail from among the children of men At a time when they are bewailing themselves in the language of the Prophet Micah 7.1 Wo is me for I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruits as the grape-gleanings of the vintage there is no cluster to eat my soul desired the first ripe fruit Alluding to a hungry man that goes into a Vineyard to refresh his spirits with the fruit thereof but alas there is
thy self before me and didst rend thy cloaths and weep before me c. He was not so intent upon his own pleasures though in the sprightly vigour of Youth nor on the weighty concerns of the Kingdom as to forget the interest of God and the greater concerns of his Glory Fourthly He was exceeding careful to propagate the interest of Religion and spread it far and wide among his People Though he could not infuse the inward Principle that was the work of God yet he did enjoyn the external practice of it upon all his Subjects which was his part and duty ver 33. He made all that were present in Israel to serve even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the God of their Fathers But yet good Iosiah had his mistakes and failings The best of men are but men at best He was too rash and hasty in resolving and too stiff and obstinate when resolved and this was the occasion of his ruine The case was thus Pharoah Necho King of Egypt was at that time making War upon Charchemish a place that belonged to him but was taken from him by the King of Assyria so the War of Necho was a just War and Iudah lying between him and Charchemish and being at peace with Iudah he requests leave of Iosiah to march his Army peaceably through his Country to the seat of the War Iosiah takes an Alarm from this Message and arms against him Hereupon Necho send Embassadours to Iosiah chap. 35. ver 21. saying What have I to do with thee thou king of Iudah I come not against thee this day but against the house wherewith I have war for God commanded me to make hast forbear thee from medling with God who is with me that he destroy thee not Expositors conceive Necho had this discovery of the mind of God from the Prophet Ieremiah Per oraculum non scriptum sed viva voce editum even by word of mouth If so no doubt Ieremiah also disswaded Iosiah from going out against him However this is clear Iosiah did not consult the mind of God about that expedition as he ought and was too hasty and resolute therein ver 22. Nevertheless Iosiah would not turn his face from him c. By this means this excellent man came to a tragical end and that in the very flower of his days He dies in that unhappy Expedition from which he would not be diverted is brought home to Ierusalem in the second Chariot dies and is buried in the Sepulchre of his Fathers to the universal sorrow of all good men in Israel as you read in the Text wherein we have these two parts to consider I. The Nature and Quality of the Lamentation II. The Cause and Ground of it 1. For the Lamentation here made it was extraordinary never such cries heard before in Israel at any Funeral whether we consider it either 1. Extensively 2. Intensively or 3. Protensively 1. Extensively all Iudah and Ierusalem that is City and Country mourned that day not every Individual but all that had any sense of the worth of the man the good that he did or the evils that followed upon his removal No doubt the Priests of Baal their Abettors and Associates secretly rejoyced at his fall but all good men mourned But among all the Mourners one only is specified by name and that is Ieremiah the Prophet in whom all the faithful Ministers of God were included To them he was a true and faithful Friend and in him they lost a Father and a famous Instrument of Reformation 2. Consider it Intensively as to the degree of the sorrow it was a bitter Lamentation so pungent intense and deep that the Mourning of the Iews for Christ at the time of their conversion to him is compared to this Mourning for Iosiah Zach. 12. ver 11. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Ierusalem â—s the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon This Hadadrimmon was a little Town in the Valley of Megiddon near the place of this fatal Battle whose Inhabitants receiving the first tydings of the fall of Iosiah made the Town ring with doleful Outcries and Lamentations 3. Lastly Consider it Protensively in its continuance and duration it was made an Ordinance in Israel and accordingly the singing-men and singing-women spake of Iosiah in their lamentations to this day i. e. Whenever any solemn Funeral or publick Calamity was solemniz'd in Israel those persons that were skilful in Lamentations brought in the story of Iosiah's death as the burthen of that doleful Song or Funeral-Elegy II. Let us consider the Cause and Ground of this Lamentation which certainly was great and weighty enough to justifie that sorrow as great and bitter as it was for in him they lost a faithful publick useful zealous and tender-hearted Instrument whose Life had been eminently useful to the Church of God and whose Death opened the gap to all the following Calamities upon Iudah Now considering Iosiah here especially in his religious capacity as so faithful industrious and useful an Instrument for the Church of God rather than in his political capacity as a King the Note from it will be this Doctrine That faithful active and publick spirited men in the Church of God should not be laid in their Graves without great Lamentations When Iacob was buried a man famous for Religion a great and sore lamentation was made for him Gen. 50. v. 10. And when Aaron died all the House of Israel mourned for him 30 years Num. 20. v. 29. When Stephen the Proto-Martyr died devout men carried him to his Grave with great lamentations Acts 8.2 and indeed for any good man to be laid in his Grave without lamentation is lamentable The living Saints have ever paid this respect and honour to dead Saints as men sensible of their worth and how great a loss the World sustains by their removal I know the departed souls of Saints have no concernment in these things yet respect is due to their very Bodies as the Temples wherein God hath been served and honoured as they are related to Christ who will one day put great glory and honour upon them In the Explication and Confirmation of this point I will shew you 1. Negatively on what account the death of good men is not to be lamented 2. Positively on what account Tears and Lamentations are due to them with the grounds and reasons thereof 1. Negatively there is not a Tear or Sigh due to the death of any good man upon the account of any real loss or detriment that he sustains thereby No no in this case all Tears are restrained all Sorrows prohibited by the Principles and Rules of Christianity 1 Thess. 4.13 14. Religion differences the sorrows as well as the joys of its Professors from the common joys and sorrows of the World. Dead Saints are better where they are than where they were to be with
not one pleasant bunch to be found none but sower Grapes to increase his Hunger and set his Teeth on edge 3. And that which much more aggravates the loss is this when it falls in a time wherein the spring and succession of good men is obstructed In this case Death like a storm of Wind overturns the fairest pleasantest and most fruitful Trees in the Orchard when there is no Nursery from whence others may be taken to plant in their rooms Lastly There is just cause to lament the removal of publick and pious men when we consider what influence our sins and provocations have had upon those Judgments and Calamities our unworthiness of them unthankfulness for them and non improvements of such mercies have bereaved us of them I look upon every good man as a good Book lent by its Owner to another to read and transcribe the excellent Notions and golden Passages that are in it for his own benefit that they may remain with him when the Owner shall call for the Book again but in case this excellent Book be thrown into a corner and no use made of it it justly provokes the Owner to take it away in displeasure Thus you see upon what account our sorrows for the death of good men are restrained and upon what accounts and reasons they are due debt to the death of eminent and useful Instruments for God. What remains is the Application of this point And First The Point before us justly reproves three sorts of men 1. The worst of men such as secretly rejoyce and are inwardly glad at the removal of such men they took no delight in them while they lived and are glad they are rid of them when they are dead Those that persecuted and hated them when alive may be presumed to be pleased and gratified with their death But alas poor Creatures they know not what they do The innocent preserve the Island Except the Lord of hosts saith the Prophet had left us a small remnant we had been as Sodom we had been like unto Gomorrah Isai. 1.9 It 's a Proverb among the very Jews Sinè Supplicationibus non staret Mundus The World stands by the Prayers of the godly Let the World think what they will of them I tell you these men are a Screen a Partition-wall betwixt them and destruction 2. It reproves the insensibleness of good men who are apt too slightly to pass over such tremendous stroaks of God for this it was that God reproved his own People Isai. 57.1 No man layeth it to heart Where the want of affection is charged upon the want of consideration none considering their worth their use or the consequences of their fall Such Rebukes of God do certainly call for a deeper sence and sorrow than is found in most men 3. It reproves the very best of men who though they do bewail and lament the loss of such men yet they do not lament it in the due manner They lament it one to another saying Alas alas such a Worthy is fallen such an eminent Instrument in the Church or State is dead but they do not lament it in Prayer to the Lord they mourn not over the matter to him as David did Psal. 12.1 Crying Help Lord for the godly man ceaseth Help Lord the remnant that is left help Lord to repair the breach made by their death let the God of the Spirits of all flesh raise up a Man to fill the room and supply the want Alas how insignificant are the Lamentations of most men upon this account Secondly This point invites us all this day to bewail the stroak of God that is upon us I could wish that he that looks upon this Text and then upon the countenance of this Assembly might be able to discern the agreeableness of the one to the other in such a sad and solemn occasion O let all that love Sion lament this day the fall of one of her true Friends and Lovers I know Funeral Panegyricks are apt to be suspected of flattery but as I want a Rhetorical Tongue for such a work so if I had it it should never be saleable for so base a use and purpose I am sure by sending the generality that die to Heaven many are confirmed in the way to Hell. Nor can I but think of that serious Line in Chrysostom What a poor comfort is it to be praised where a man is not and to be tormented where he is But yet the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance Psal. 112.6 Expect nothing from me on this occasion but what may be spoken with greatest assurance of truth and that intended for the benefit and imitation of all that hear it Some may think it a strain too high to compare a private person with such a glorious King as Iosiah was but if Christ compared and preferr'd the very Grass of the Field to Solomon in all his glory I know no reason why we may not compare and parallel the precious Graces of a private person with a royal Saint especially since the comparison is only made in the religious not in the civil capacity I am sure the Graces and gracious Performances of David Hezekiah and Iosiah with all the other dignified Saints were intended and propounded as Patterns for our imitation and no doubt but private Christians may measure by their Pattern Beside it is abundantly more safe to relate the Vertues of the Saints when they are dead than whilst they were alive for now there is no danger of provoking pride and vain-glory in them that are praised but much hope of provoking an holy emulation and imitation in them that hear them Well then Absit invidia verbis Suffer me this day to erect a Pillar to perpetuate the Memory of this deceased Worthy to pay the tribute of my Tears due to that mournful Hearse and to engage you to imitate those Excellencies of his which I shall with equal truth and modesty display this day that we also may be duly affected with the Rebuke of God upon us and mourn over it before him If when an eminent Commander in any Army falls the whole Army is affected and concerned with his death The mourning Drum the Lance and Ensignes trail'd The Robes of Honour all in Sables vail'd Let it not be thought much Christians should express their sense and sorrow in sighs and tears for so useful and worthy a man as God hath this day removed from among us whose Character I shall give you in the following immitable particulars 1. That worthy man whose fall we lament this day was seasoned with Religion in his Youth by God's blessing upon his pious Education in this he had the advantage of Iosiah His Progenitors were men of Piety and himself a Child of many Prayers and as Monica said of her Son Austin it was not likely that a Child of so many Prayers should perish How importunately did they request the fervent Prayers of their
a man with due qualifications for the service of the Church and Common-wealth England doth not so abound with pious zealous and faithful Gentlemen at this time but that it may sensibly feel the loss of such a man. Secondly More particularly let the Ministers of Christ lament his fall as Ieremiah did the fall of Iosiah in the Text. He was a true Friend to Christ's faithful Ministers and had them in honour for their work sake 'T is true he hath no more need of us he is now wiser than his Teachers but we greatly need him and men of his Spirit in such a dull degenerate Age as we live in Thirdly And most particularly I shall apply and close all with a few words of Counsel to the dear and now desolate Relict of this Worthy Person whose sad lot it is this day to over-live the mercies and comforts she once enjoyed in him Madam God hath this day covered you with Sables written bitter things against you broken you with breach upon breach Your sorrows need not be excited but regulated 'T is my trouble that I cannot discharge my duty to the memory of your dear Husband without exasperating your Griefs which alas were too acute before but Rods have their voices Blessed is the man whom God correcteth and teacheth him out of his Law. Hear you the Rod and who hath appointed it and oh that your Soul may this day take in these necessary Counsels and Cautions without which your Afflictions cannot be sanctified to the advantage of your Soul. And 1. Learn from hence the vanity of the Creature the emptiness and nothingness of the best things here below How hath God made your best comforts on Earth to shrink up and vanish into nothing How do our fancies varnish and guild over these empty Bubbles What great expectations are we apt to raise from them How apt to fall asleep in the bosoms or laps of earthly Enjoyments and say with Iob I shall die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand When loe in a moment the projects and expectations of many years are over-turned Oh what a difference will you find betwixt hope founded in Christ Comforts drawn out of the Promises and the flattering Comforts and vain hopes founded in the Creature whose breath is in its Nostrils 'T is time for you and for us all to wean off from this vain World mortifie our Fancies and Affections to it and place them where they shall not be capable of disappointment 2. Guard carefully I beseech you against those Temptations which probably may accompany this Affliction It may be Satan will suggest to your heart what he once put into their lips Mal. 3.14 What profit is it that we have kept his ordinances and walked mournfully before him Where is the fruit of Prayer What good have I seen of Fasting What hath Religion availed Do not prayerless and ungodly Families thrive and prosper Beware of this Madam I doubt not but you will acknowledge there have been sins and provocations within your walls yea within your heart for which God may as justly and severely judge your house as he did Ely's Remember the rewards of Religion are not in this World and should we speak thus we shall offend against the generation of his Children All we must expect from Religion is to save our souls by it 3. Call not the love of God into question to your self or yours because of these severe stroaks of God upon you and them You know Iosiah was dear to God yet he died in the prime of his days by a violent hand remote from his own home and was brought home in the second Chariot to Ierusalem a Spectacle of far greater sorrow than your dear Husband was and yet notwithstanding all these sad circumstances of his death the Promise of his God was punctually performed to him that he should die in peace and not behold the Evil that was to come There is a vanity saith Solomon which is done upon the earth that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked again there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous Eccles. 8.14 But then remember that it is but in the Earth here or no-where God must chastize his Children 4. See that you maintain that holy course of Religious Exercises in your Family and in your Closet wherein he walked so exemplarily before you Let Religion live though he be dead and convince the World I pray you that it was Gods influence and not your Husbands only which was the Spring and Principle of this holy Course 5. Strive not with your Maker nor fret against the Lord under this irksome and painful Dispensation Remember there is a Woe hanging over this sin Isai. 45.9 10. Woe to him that striveth with his Maker There is a twofold striving of men with God one lawful and commendable when we strive with him upon the knee of importunity in Prayer thus Iacob wrestled with God and prevailed Hos. 12.4 the other is highly sinful and dangerous when we presume to censure or accuse any of his works as defective in wisdom or goodness He that reproveth God let him answer it i. e. at his peril be it This sinful striving with God is twofold either Vocal or Mental 1. Vocal when men in bold blasphemous language arraign the Wisdom Power Goodness or Faithfulness of the Lord at the bar of their own Reason and there condemn them setting their mouths against the Heavens Psal. 73.8 9. this is the sin of the wicked yea of the first-born sons of wickedness 2. Mental in inward frets murmurs repinings against God Prov. 19.3 The foolishness of man perverts his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord. The heart may cry out impatiently against God when the tongue is silent And if the frets and murmurs of the heart be as indeed they are interpretatively no better than a striving with our Maker then this sin will be found more common among good men in the Paroxisms of Affliction than we imagine It will be necessary therefore for your sake and the sakes of many more in a like state of Affliction with you to stay a while upon this head and consider these following Queries Query 1. How far we may enquire expostulate and complain in times of Affliction without sin Query 2. Wherein lies the sinfulness and danger of exceeding these bounds Query 3. What Considerations are most proper and powerful to restrain the afflicted soul from this sinful excess Query 1. How far we may enquire of God expostulate with him and complain to him in time of Affliction without sin 1. We may humbly enquire into the causes and reasons of Gods displeasure against us not to seek matter for our Iustification but Direction in the work of our Humiliation So David enquired about the three years Famine and the Lord inform'd him for whose sake and for what sin it was 2 Sam.