vanquisht and the Parties urged and solicited by them most happily secured Now this Kindness divine Comforts do us when Temptations assault us They dash them to pieces or help us to do it by diluting or deadning the Pleasures which they proffer And that they do by out-shooting Temptations as I may say in their own Bow or by producing higher Pleasures in us than any that they can allure us with For when two sorts of Pleasures are tendred to us common sense will incline us to the sweetest And look how far one sort excells the other and so far it recommends it self more forcibly to our choice tho' at the same time it diminishes our Estimate of the other and causes us to despise it as inferior to it and the more for thrusting it self into competition with that sweeter pleasure Now when Temptations court us tho' they bring pleasures with them to recommend them yet if comforts strike in at the same Juncture they will come attended with so much nobler and sweeter Pleasures that those of Sin which gild the Temptation or set it off will be nothing to them For be they never so high these will far surmount them be they never so sweet these will far out-vie them And therefore for us to close with them and to reject these would be to go against inward Sense as well as against Reason and to prove our selves stupid as well as inconsiderate Whence it will follow that if Comforts and Temptations chance to be co-incident or to come together we must as certainly refuse the Pleasures of the latter for the Pleasures of the former and so by resisting bring the Power of Temptations to a stand it is impossible but People in their right Wits must preferr Gold before Dirt. As it is impossible but Christians * Heb. 5.14 who have their senses exercised to discern Good and Evil must preferr Life before Death and the solid vital Delights of Heaven before the frothy deadly and damnable Complacencies of lewd and vile and vitious Satisfactions And if Comforts do not always keep Time with Temptations yet that will not hinder them from strengthening us against them For as when they come before them they fortify us in way of Preparative so when they follow them they fortify us against others yet to come by recompencing our Constancy in those already past To what hath been said we may add that these sacred Comforts do not baffle Temptations and sink them only by their own proper Weight but also as they help us to look upward and inable us to form fair and lovely Idea's of those Superlative Joys and Consolations above The Man that never beheld the glorious Sun will know the better what to make of it if he sees but the twinkling Stars And the viewing and sounding some large and deep Lake will help us to conceive what the Ocean is So from the holy Comforts we feel in this Life we may argue and conclude what shall be in the next And if our present Comforts can convince us that there are more and better to come and our present Capacity of injoying these Comforts can also convince us that better Capacities of injoying better Comforts are now dormant in us and shall at last be awakened and drawn forth into Action than which nothing can be more probable then these Comforts which we have as they point out others which are ours in Expectancy and Reserve must strengthen us more against Temptations still For when the single Pleasures of the Comforts we possess can swallow up the biggest unlawful Pleasures that can tempt us then when they open us a Window into Heaven as it were and back their own Force with the Prospect of others much beyond themselves the sight of those Comforts in Reversion together with the sweetness of these in our Fruition cannot but double our Courage against Temptations Be they never so pressing and importunate here 's enough methinks to make us so inflexible to them that even Stiffness it self should bend and yield sooner than we Will not this be a most blessed Circumstance Yet thus Blessed thus really and highly Blessed shalt Thou be if thou wilt but make one amongst Holy Mourners For they that mourn shall assuredly be comforted and Comforts will fortify against all Temptations CHAP. XIII The Ninth Motive to Mourning in General being the Sixth Branch of that Blessedness which springs from the Comforts annexed to Holy Mourning They animate us against the Fear of Death and instead of Dreading make us Desire it THO' Good Men differ greatly from others in regard of their Principles and their Practices their Perfections and their Privileges yet they are made of the same Matter and so must consist of the same Nature and consequently must be liable to the same Destiny with the Rest And so they are for Death being the * Eccles 7.2 End of all Men the very best of Men cannot escape it And as the best are mortal and must die as well as others so they are too subject to the Fear of Death also tho' others are more afflicted with it than they To the Heathen for Instance it was the most dreadful thing According to †Aristot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of their greatest Philosophers the most Terrible of all Terribles And well might it be so to such as knew so little what they should be after it Nor is it less formidable to ill living Christians when they come to suffer it And in Reference to the Impious it is that Bildad calls it ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King of Terrors or Conturbations Job 18.14 And as it is called so it really is to all ungodly Persons the most terrible and troublesome Evil that can befall them They fear to think of it They fear to bear of it and they fear to view it at a distance but when it approaches them they faint and sink and are amazed and astonished Nor can I blame them for being so over-powred with Dread For as Death is their Enemy so when it comes GOD knows 't is to do them a sad Office To rend their immortal Souls from their Bodies and to hale them out into the eternal State And there we believe but two Conditions of abode Heaven and Hell For the first they are unfit and for the second how shall they endure it Well therefore may they fear and tremble too when they are about to die nor can they ever do it too much Now tho' good Men are not thus afraid of Death as indeed they have not equal cause for it yet in them the Fear of Death is too predominant It may be somewhat of this Timorousness discover'd it self in that good Man's Petition when he prayed O my GOD take me not away in the midst of my Days Psal 102.24 For what but Fear should make him more loth to die in his middle-age than when he should be older And therefore the Philosophic Emperour who knew
how to reason very wisely argues to the purpose in this matter * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Anton lib. 4. sect 47. That if we make any difference betwixt dying to morrow or dying next day betwixt dying to morrow or a thousand years hence this must proceed from an ungenerous or abject Mind For truly as many as are of a noble Temper and think worthily always ought as he says to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. sect 48. look upon all humane things as but of a day's continuance and that it is but a †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meer Moment or indivisible Point of Time which we have to spend here And perhaps something of the same Passion is visible in Hezekiah's Carriage Who when he received the Sentence of Death from Isaiah's Mouth turned his Face towards the Wall and wept Esay 38.2 3. Which plainly shews that his Mind was cast down and consequently that he was afraid to die For Fear it self according to Theophrastus his Definition of it ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth. Char. cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but a timorous Dejection of Mind And if in the Breasts of such excellent Persons where so much Piety and Goodness dwelt there could be room for the Fear of Death then where Graces and Virtues are lower and weaker there must be higher and stronger Fears of that nature But here again divine Comforts shew themselves to be most blessed things and that very eminently and conspicuously For where these Fears are full-grown as I may say and run up to the highest Pitch that they can reach to in pious Souls holy Comforts are able to expel them Such is their Force that they no sooner enter the religious Heart but they immediately quell all Fears of Death in it or in a great measure exterminate them out of it Nor are they only able to damp the Terrors of Death in us or effectually to abolish or drive them out of us but to turn those Terrors into real Triumphs and Transports of Mind accompani'd with high and heavenly Delights Let none take these for loud Words only or think that they are spoken meerly at random Many righteous Souls departing this Life as subject to Infirmities and Fears as we have sealed them up for certain Truths by very remarkable experimental Testimony For by seasonable Influxes of these mighty Comforts they have not only had their Fears suppress'd or chased from them but their Spirits so ravisht at their dying hour that they have been forc'd to give vent to their rapturous Pleasures and delightful Passions in strange and amazing Exclamations In such exalted and surprizing Strains as have not only sweetly affected but even astonisht all those about them O the Joys the Joys the Joys that I feel said * Mrs. Brettergh See her Life and Death annext to Mr. Leigh's Souls Solace one upon her Death-bed they be wonderful they be wonderful they be wonderful I am as full of comfort as my Heart can hold said †Mr. Bolton See his Life and Death prefixt to his Discourse of the four Last things another and feel nothing in my Soul but CHRIST with whom I heartily desire to be Now farewel World and welcome Heaven the Day-star from on high hath visited my Heart O speak it when I am gone and preach it at my Funeral GOD dealeth familiarly with Man I feel His Mercy I see His MAJESTY whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell GOD He knoweth I see things inutterable O my dear Brethren Sisters and Friends it pitieth me to leave you behind c. So said a * Mr Holland See Mr. Leigh's Souls Sollace c. Third upon sight of a glorious Brightness suddenly appearing to him a little before he died He took it at first for some ordinary Light and asked if any Candles were set up Answer was made no it was the Sun-shine for it was about four a clock in a clear Summer's Evening Sun-shine said he nay it is my Saviours shine c. I know whom I have preached whom I have professed whom I have believed and now I see Heaven open and ready to receive me said a Mr. Hieron See the Relation of his Death before the 2d Vol. of his Works Fourth I shall die But O what unspeakable Glories do I see What Joys beyond Thought or Expression am I sensible of I am assured of GOD's Mercy through JESUS CHRIST Oh how I long to die and to be with my SAVIOUR said a †The Earl of Rochester See the Sermon at his Funeral by Mr. Robert Parsons Fifth And memorable it is of Severinus the Indian Saint that GOD in his last Sickness did so replenish him with holy Consolations that he earnestly besought him either to take him presently out of the World or to stay his divine Joys from descending so freely and exuberantly upon him Lest if he out-liv'd them he should be miserable through the want of them when they were withdrawn and the more miserable for having drunk so deep of their abounding Sweetness Now in the midst of such blessed Comforts what Fear even of Death it self can fasten upon us The Pleasures of them do so powerfully divert our Minds and delight our Souls that we can neither attend to any formidable Objects nor becapable of afflictive Impressions from them They give us such a lively and overcoming sense of GOD's Love to us of His Care of us of His Protection over us and of the strange Felicities He hath provided for us and is putting into our eternal Possession as quite bears down and perfectly swallows up all manner of Dread So that in these circumstances we are not only free from Fear but impossible it is that we should be touched with it while they continue Where Souls swim in such a Deluge of Comforts their Fears must be drowned in the Inundation It is a great Word which the Psalmist speaks and very significant as to our purpose * Psal 37.37 Keep innocency and take heed to the thing that is right or Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright the Original may be rendred either way for the End of that Man is Peace There 's the good Man's Felicity Whatever Troubles or Tumults Disquietments or Uneasinesses Tossings or Terrors he meets with in the Beginning or Progress of his Life yet before it comes to its final Period in all likelihood he is sure of Peace Of Prosperity that is for same time before he goes hence if best for him and of Comfort at the hour of his Departure Thus as David noted it was in his Days and so perhaps we may see it to be in ours if we take but due Care and Pains to observe it With the unrighteous Person it is quite otherwise He lives in frequent Feuds with himself and is seldom at quiet for Frays with his Conscience That checks and twitches and gripes him at every turn If he
because they can do it comfortably and without Danger It was a noble piece of courage which David put on and a gallant Resolution worthy of himself which he bravely took up Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil But whence did it spring or what was the Basis upon which it stood Not his Puissance though he was a mighty Prince not his Magnanimity though he was an Heroe of a great Mind but Divine Comforts They were the blessed and generous Stock which bare this excellent and desirable Fruit. So the following words inform us for Thou art with me Thy Rod and thy Staff they shall comfort me Whence it is plain that GOD's Presence and his supporting Consolations were the Grounds of the good Man's confidence and courage And truly as many as are happy in those though they be in the valley of the Shadow of Death must needs be above all fear of dying For for such to dye is but to step out of one Heaven into another and can the fearfullest in the World be afraid to do that Whenever we draw near to the Gates of Death if GOD be but with us if the Rod of His Power does but protect us and the Staff of His Comforts does but sustain us we are as sure to be free from distracting Terrors as they that are destitute of those Encouragements and unworthy of them are sure to be full of them at such a Time if they be themselves and think what they are about to Suffer And let none surmise as some perhaps may be ready to do that divine Comforts those Cordials from Heaven may be too weak or languid things to support them under their Death-bed Terrors For be their Illness never so great and be their Miseries never so many and be their Pains and Agonies never so strong and never so wearisome Yea be their Condition as sad and deplorable as violent Sickness or approaching Death are able to make it and so their Fear as high as dying Circumstances can possibly raise it yet if GOD will but please to be merciful to them if He will but graciously condescend to visit them if He will but look down and smile upon them or as we read in the * Chap. 1. 2. 2. 6. Canticles fall upon their Necks and Kiss and Embrace them all their fears will leave them in a Moment And no wonder that the Comforts which issue from the Face and Favour of GOD should immediately chase away the Fears of Death when they would do no less by the Pains of Hell were they shed down upon the blackest Spirit that suffers the worst or extreamest of them But alas his ruful unfitness for them and incapacity of receiving them will for ever bar and hinder the Experiment Nor will holy Comforts only expell good Peoples Fears of Death and turn them into noble courage against it but they often improve their Courage into pious Desires of it This is discoverable from several Texts of Scripture So we find Rev. 22.17 that the SPIRIT and the Bride say Come The true Church of GOD being influenc'd by His SPIRIT for in the words there is an Hendiadis one thing express'd by two does beg CHRIST's Second Coming His coming to Judgment And they who desire that Advent of His must also implicitly desire to Dye because whenever it comes if they be alive it brings upon them a Change equivalent to Death And S. Peter tells the Christians of his time that they should not only be looking for but hasting unto the coming of the Day of GOD 2 Pet. 3.12 or rather †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hasting or speeding the coming of that Day But one chief way of accelerating or hastening it is by desiring it or praying for it So S. Paul speaking of others as well as of himself professes We are willing to be absent from the Body 2 Cor. 5.8 And how willing were they to it That He tells us at the 2d Verse For in this in this Body we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven While the best Souls dwell here their Habitation is mean no better than an * V. 1. earthly House And most fitly it is so denominated as rising from the Earth and as returning to the Earth and as remaining upon the Earth while it continues undissolved In which respect it is said by the Apostle to be not only a bare ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earthly house but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an house upon the Earth And as Christians are willing to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go far out of the Body their earthly house so they are so willing we see that they are desirous of it and so desirous of it that they groan and groan earnestly for it For when they groan earnestly to be cloathed upon with their House which is from Heaven as immortal Glory is here expressed they can do no less than groan as earnestly at the same time to go out of their Earthly House that is to dye Even in the Old Testament we have Intimations of such Desires as these in the eminently Religious All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my Change comes said the good Man Job 14.14 And he that expected the great Change * That Job speaks of his change from life to death and not from death to the resurrection as some think his very Expression shows For he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will wait or hope or expect which sounds but harshly if said of one in his grave And when or how long would he wait all the days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of my warfare But could he fight when he was dead And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the change he mentions according to the Targum cannot be a change from death because that renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the changes of my life the last of which all know is death And therefore Rabbi Levi expresses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my excision or my divorce that is from the body And Aben Esra speaks it out more plainly yet by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my death And so that must be the change which Job means of Death and expected everlasting Happiness by it as Job questionless did must needs wait for it with Desire as well as with Patience Whom have I in Heaven but Thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides Thee said Asaph Psal 73.25 And when he desired GOD so much he could not chuse but desire to dye that he might come to the full and most comfortable Enjoyment of Him Especially when he apprehended him to be the Strength of his failing Flesh and Heart and his Portion for ever as it appears he did in the following Verse Like as the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so longeth my Soul after Thee O GOD. My
Light of Passive Examples Nothing being so fatal to us as Sin it hath ever been the Design of our gracious GOD to keep us from it by all the methods of Wisdom and Goodness applicable that way and conducive to that End And to this purpose He hath set Passive as well as Active Examples before us That so others sufferings might be a Warning to us and we might learn to be wise by their Woes while the Sight of their Miseries issuing from their Sins might preserve us innocent But we Wretches would not be so restrained But have broken the Barrs of these strong Impediments and torn those Bands of aw in pieces and have sinned daringly in contempt and scorn if not in despight of the great Discouragements Thus as many amongst us as have been guilty of Murder have sinned against the Light of Cain's Example who suffered hideously for that Sin For besides the * Gen. 4.12 Curse pronounced on the Earth upon his shedding his Brother Abel's Bloud which brought a father Barrenness into it than that which befell it for Adam's transgression he was driven from GOD's †v. 14. Face or excommunicated He was driven from ‖ ib. the Face of the Earth or from his native Country by being banished He was kept under sad consternations of Mind afflicted with such black Apprehensions of Dying and affrighted with such woful horrors of Death that he verily thought every one that saw him would certainly * ib. kill him But that he might live miserably to the terror of men and to keep them from venturing upon the like Wickedness GOD set a †Note VII dreadful Mark upon him that none might ‖ v. 15. dare to dispatch him That so he might live in terrorem to fright others from so great a Sin by the punishment which he suffered As many as have been guilty of Adultery have sinned against the Light of David's Example who suffered grievously for that Sin Inwardly in his Spirit and outwardly in Judgments which fell heavy upon him His inward Sufferings show themselves in sorrowful complaints which he makes aloud in the Penitential Psalms There he stands as it were in a white sheet and does open Penance for his gross Miscarriages giving the World clearly to understand what he felt in his Mind for the Enormities of his Life In the 6th Psalm he complains of vexed Bones and a troubled Soul of weary Groans and a washed Bed of a watred Couch and a worn-out Beauty In the two and thirtieth Psalm of Bones consumed by his assiduous Roaring Of the hand of GOD that was heavy upon him heavy upon him day and night so heavy that it quite drank up his natural moisture and made it like to the Drought in summer The Anguish of his Soul inflamed his Bloud and the Feverishness of his Bloud parch'd up his Body In the thirty eighth Psalm he makes piteous Lamentations and seeks to ease himself in very piercing and pathetic Out-cries He exclaims that the Arrows of the LORD stuck fast in him and that his Hand pressed him sore That there was no Health in his Flesh because of GOD's Displeasure nor Rest in his Bones by reason of his Sins That his Foolishness had brought stinking Diseases upon him and that the grievous pain and noisomness of them did so afflict him that he went about mourning all the Day long That he was smitten with Feebleness and roared for Disquietness That his Heart panted and His Strength failed and the Sight of his Eyes was gone from Him And surely he must undergo direful things that could be attended with such dismal Symptoms And besides these woful Miseries within he lay under the Scourge of external Judgments which was terribly sharp and cutting to him GOD threatned to raise up evil against him out of his own house and what He thus menaced in the Event He made good For His Daughter Tamar was wickedly ravisht by his Son Amnon and His Concubines abused and that shamefully and publicly by his Son Absolom And these were lamentable tho' proper Punishments of his scandalous defilement of Bathsheba as the Death of Amnon and the Rebellion and untimely End of Absolom were of his murdering her Husband Uriah As many as have been guilty of Fornication have sinned against the Light of Zimri's and Cosbi's Example who were both destroyed in committing it And against the Light of Sampson's Example who by means of his lewd Paramour first lost his Innocence then his Strength then his Liberty then his Eyes and at last his Life As many as have been guilty of rebelling against lawful Magistracy or of usurping and invading the holy Ministery have sinned against the Light of Korah's Dathan's and Abiram's Example who together with their schismatical and seditious Accomplices for those very Crimes were either swallowed up * Numb 16.31 c. alive of the gaping Earth or consumed by devouring Fire from Heaven As many as have been guilty of Drunkenness have sinned against the Light of Noah's and Lot's Example The first of which †Gen. 19.21 22. by Intemperance was expos'd to great shame and the second drawn into an abominable ‖ Gen. 19.36 sin As many as have been guilty of Lying have sinned against the Light of Anania's and Sapphira's Example who telling Lies * Act. 5.4 c. were immediately struck dead with them in their Mouths As many as have been guilty of communicating unworthily have sinned against the Light of the Corinthian's Example †1 Cor. 11.30 Many of whom were weak and sickly and many slept or died for their rash Prophanation or irreverent Usage of that sacred Ordinance Now when Providence hath dealt thus severely with Sinners with Sinners of all Sorts and hath kindly recorded these its Dispensations to keep them alive in our Memories and exhibit them unto us for us then instead of fearing their Punishments to follow their Impieties must be a tremendous Aggravation of our sinfulness When GOD hath hang'd up some Transgressours in Chains as it were to make us dread those immoral Doings which brought them to such deplorable Ends if we will not be reformed but go on and live and dye in such Sins this will be such an inhancement of our Guilt as I can only recommend to your sober Thoughts and desire you well and throughly to consider for indeed I cannot duly express it Seventhly We have sinned against the Light of Admonitions The private Admonitions of such as either out of just Authority over us or else out of Christian Compassion to us have occasionally bestowed their pious and wholsom Counsel upon us It was an excellent Rule laid down by Moses and ought to be practis'd by CHRIST's best Disciples Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Levit. 19.17 Now if none have done this good Office towards us if none have been so much our Friends as plainly to reprove us for our sinful Exorbitancies yet
the 〈…〉 Love O that Thou wouldst satisfy it with the abundance of thy Goodness of thy sweet delicious and most ravishing Kindness I know Thou discernest and understandest every thing and if Thou seest any thing that hinders me from loving Thee above all I beseech Thee take it forthwith out of the way or make it for ever cease to be any manner of impediment of my Love to Thee Especially dispel O dispel and scatter those Clouds of Darkness and Mists of Ignorance which keep me from beholding thy great and wonderful and most amiable Perfections and give me a Sight of Thy Beauty and a Prospect of Thy Glories and such clear Apprehensions of Thy marvellous Excellencies that I may never conceive amiss of Thee But seeing Thy incomparable and surpassing Loveliness the Eyes of my Soul may so affect my Heart that my Heart may burn with holy Fervours towards Thee With such Fervours as may make me not only live in thy Love but ready to dye even with Torments for the same if Thou callest me to it And that I may ‖ Cant. 1.4 run after Thee with a LOVE * 8.6 stronger than Death with a LOVE kindled into so †ib. vehement a Flame as no ‖ v. 7. Waters of Affliction can quench or Flouds of Temptation or Persecution drown draw me I intreat Thee with the Cords of Thy Love Give me such a lively and powerful sense of * Tit. 3.4 the Kindness and Love of GOD our SAVIOUR which hath appeared towards men as may †2 Thes 3.5 direct my Heart into the Love of GOD and make me most entirely to love Thee ‖ 1 Joh. 4.19 because Thou hast first loved me and that so miraculously And help me so to * Jude 21. keep my self always in Thy Love that no †Rom. 8.39 Creature may be able to separate me from it Of all the Sections here I may safely say that this deserves to be oftenest used to be used even day and night For of all the Divine Graces there is none more sweet than divine Love None more excellent in it self or useful unto us as being most conducive to an Heavenly Life upon Earth VI. For Love to Neighbours LET Him enrich me with a large and noble Charity With such a Charity as is the ‖ Col. 3.14 Bond of Perfectness and will make me * Mat. 19.19 love my Neighbours as my self With such a Charity †1 Cor. 13.4 5 6 7. as is kind and long-suffering and neither envieth vaunteth nor is puffed up As thinketh no evil as seeketh not her own as is not easily provoked nor behaves it self unseemly As rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the Truth bearing all things believing all things hoping and enduring all things ‖ Rom. 13.10 Love I know is the fulfilling of the Law * Mat. 22.39 and the great and †1 Joh. 2.8 New Commandment which thou hast given us As it behoves me therefore let me keep it inviolate in all respects Let me never shut up the Eyes of my Observation or the Bowels of my Compassion or the Hands of my Bounty from those that are in need But let me chearfully ‖ Luk. 11.41 give Alms of all things that I have and be * 1 Tim. 6.18 19. ready to distribute and willing to communicate according to my Abilities laying up in store for my self a good foundation against the Time to come that I may lay hold on Eternal Life And as GOD laid down His Life for me so let me be content to do the same for others upon good accounts as †1 Joh. 3.16 I ought to do that so I may prove I am passed from ‖ ver 14. death to life because I love the Brethren * Rom. 12.9 without dissimulation Nor let my Charity extend only to †Psal 16.3 the Saints upon Earth to such as excell in virtue and are of the Houshold of ‖ Gal. 6.10 Faith but to all that partake of humane Nature and even to the worst with whom I converse Let it teach me gently to forbear and frankly to forgive * Col. 3 13 if I have quarrels against any even as GOD for CHRIST's sake hath †Eph. 4.32 forgiven me chusing rather to take ‖ 1 Pet. 2.20 all patiently than to * 1 Thes 5.15 render evil for evil to any man And let my Charity I pray Thee be more ample still and raise me up to so Christian a Temper as that I may not only be able to put up evil but forward and desirous to the utmost of my power to do good against evil and never to †Gâ—l 6.9 be weary of such well-doing till I ‖ Rom. 12.21 overcome evil with good If my * ver 12. Enemies hunger let me feed them if they thirst let me give them drink Let me love them †Mat. 5.44 that hate me and bless them that curse me and pray for them that despitefully use me and persecute me that so I may ‖ Luk. 6.35 be one of the Children of the HIGHEST who hath declared He is kind to the unthankful and the evil VII For Humility LET Him * 1 Pet. 5.5 clothe me with real and profound Humility Even with such an Humility as my REDEEMER practised That so the same †Phil. 2.5 8. mind that was in Him who humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross may be in me and I may never ‖ Rom. 12.3 think more highly of my self than I ought to think VIII For Patience LET Him beget in me a true Christian Patience Such a Patience as may make me submissive to GOD's Pleasure in all His Providences Such a Patience as may make me thankful and make me joyful in the worst Emergencies and Occurrencies of the World and in the wofullest Circumstances and contingencies of Life and in the Approaches and Agonies of Death it self That I thus * Luk. 21.19 possessing my Soul in Patience and †Jam. 1.5 Patience having its perfect work upon me I may be perfect and entire wanting nothing IX For Chastity LET Him beautifie me with an excellent and unspotted Chastity With such a Chastity as becomes the Servants and the Spouse of CHRIST With such a Chastity as may enable me to hate Uncleanness and to ‖ 1 Cor. 6.18 flee Fornication and to * 1 Thes 4.4 possess my vessel in Sanctification and honour as a †1 Pet. 2.11 Pilgrim and stranger abstaining from fleshly lusts which war against the Soul With such a Chastity as may make me * Mat. 5.8 pure in my Heart as well as in my Actions that so I may see GOD. See Him to my comfort while I live upon Earth and my Eternal Satisfaction and Bliss in Heaven X. For Meekness LET Him adorn me with Religious Meekness which in †1 Pet.
Plenty they fill her with such solid Pleasure and Sweetness as never can result from external Injoyments The choicest of that sort of Contentments in comparison to these are but slight and superficial but frothy and insipid things For the same Reason that holy Sorrows are the heartiest as hath been * Chap. I. noted holy Comforts will and must be the sweetest upon Earth even because as they are seated in the Soul so they are raised by the profound and mighty Workings of the SPIRIT of GOD. And where He is active in a Soul on purpose to comfort it what an Heaven of Sweetness must He produce in it It was the Sweetness of these Comforts that made St. Austin cry out in a kind of rapturous Surprise or in a Pang of Admiration when he felt Himself happily incircled with them †Nescio in quam dulcedinem me duces Domine O LORD I know not into what sweetness Thou wilt lead me It was the Sweetness of these Comforts that made St. Jerom profess with a Solemn Appeal to ALMIGHTY GOD that he thought he convers'd with Quires of Angels * Testor DEUM post Hebdomadarum Jejunia visus sum mihi inter ipsa agmina Angelorum versari I take GOD to witness that after my keeping the Lenten Fast I seemed to be conversant with Throngs of Angels It was the Sweetness of these Comforts that hath so fortifi'd and animated some pious Christians that in confidence of their Pardon and Salvation they have Scorn'd and Triumph'd over the Devil and His Angels and in their Languishing Sickness and under near and sensible Approaches of Death have even mockt and derided the Powers of Darkness and challenged and dared them to do their Worst It was the Sweetness of these Comforts that hath privileg'd some with a desirable Euthanasy or easy Death And not only with an easy but most blessed and hapyy one Exalting their Souls to such Excess of Rapture as their frail Bodies were unable to endure they have broken in pieces as it were just as we see Glasses crack and fly through the Strength of Spirits contained in them Farther yet such is the Sweetness of these Comforts that 't is really inutterable And therefore St. Peter says of the Saints of his time that they rejoyced †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.8 with Joy unspeakable All the Rhetoric in the World and all the Orators who use that Rhetoric cannot fully express the delicious Sweetness which holy Comforts derive to good Men. Don't think therefore that I am here going about to explain the native Sweetness of these Comforts or that I am attempting to give in an exact Account of it For when Heaven tells us it is unspeakable that must needs be a Task impossible As we noted even now insufferable is the torment of a wounded Spirit And one Reason may be because the Wounds are made in it by the force of Spirits Either by GOD Himself touching them with the finger of his heavy wrath which no poor Creature is able to endure * Psal 76.7 Who may stand in thy Sight when thou art angry or else by Devils the Ministers of His Severity For whenever GOD gives up sinners to them by withdrawing the care of their Guardian Angels to whose watchful Tutelage or Custody they were committed or by removing any other Defence of His Providence whereby they were protected they immediately assault them with dreadful Violence and in the Heat of their Malice lay on such furious Strokes upon them as poor Mortals are not able to stand under As in time of temptation they tickle Mens minds with Thoughts of Pleasure which wind and draw them to evil Inclinations not easy to be resisted and which indanger their falling into Deadly sin So in time of Desertion they Strike mens Consciences with such dismal Terrors as that being unable to sustain the terrible concussions they sink into horror and raging despair And if the wrath of GOD or of His revengefull Ministers can make such direful Impressions on our Spirits as wound them with Pains beyond all manner of Patience well may His comforts infused by His SPIRIT affect us with Pleasures which for Sweetness shall exceed all measure of Apprehension For such Comforts wrought in us by such a Comforter must needs enter deep enter very deep into our Souls They will pierce to the very Root of their Being and to the center of their Life and flow in upon them with most exquisite Sweetness With such a Sweetness that as it can come from none but GOD so it will draw us most powerfully after Him And were it not for the Luggage of these earthly Bodies which weigh us down it would not fail when it is strong upon us to snatch us hence and carry us up into the glorious Place above O Blessed Creatures they that are favoured with the injoyment of such sweet Comforts Yet that solemn Mourners are sensible of them I dare confidently appeal to themselves to say When ye have withdrawn from the World betaking you to your Chambers or entring into your Closets hath not your FATHER who seeth in secret visited you there Hath He not visited you with sweet Consolations in the midst of your closest mournful Privacies Yea hath He not so visited you as to fill your Hearts with consolatory Sweetness And so hath He filled you many times as that you have been overflowed with it So overflowed as that you have Sunk in it as it were or have been swallowed up by it And then forgetting the World and forgetting your selves like to Angels in their heavenly Extasies ye have perceived nothing but divine Delights And tho' these be Heighths to which all Mourners do not ascend and to which the same holy Mourners cannot at all times attain yet I doubt not but their own Experience being witness their Mournings do commonly lift them up to very raised Comforts Even to such Comforts as are attended with Sublime and inlivening Sweetness tho' some degrees below the highest of all For let me ask when thou hast spent a Day in religious Mourning how hast Thou found thy self after it at night Hast thou not felt a grave Lightsomness in thy Spirit and a serious Gladness in thy Mind and a most pleasant Joy lie glowing at thine Heart And was not the Gratification arising from thence such for Sweetness as no Worldly things did ever afford thee When thou hast spent several Days or it may be some Weeks in the worthiest civil Imployments or Recreations hast thou met with any thing in them so grateful as this or hast thou perceived any such satisfaction after them or can any like it be derived from them But then when the Comforts which here rest upon Mourners are so incomparably Sweet must they not contribute to their being Blessed in this present state In way of Corollary I add but this When the Christian that is constant to his Mourning-days and accustom'd on those