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
even to the ground by mournful Prayers let us labour to defeat them Night and Day let us crave of her Supreme ALMIGHTY Head to secure Her from Dangers and to deliver Her from Troubles to build up Her Walls and to repair her Breaches to strengthen her Friends and to beat down her Enemies To settle Truth and Peace in Her to add more Purity and Holiness to Her and to continue them both for ever with Her In a word together with our Prayers let us often pour out our Tears unto Him beseeching Him with all possible Importunity to be Her everlasting Patron and Protector To settle Her upon the Basis of his infinite Power and to rest her upon the Support of his never-failing Providence to watch over Her with the Eyes of his tender care and to incircle Her with the Arms of his gracious Custody to lay Her in the Bosom of His Paternal love and to Crown Her with the Blessings of His favourable kindness That so whatever Her past Hardships have been for the future she may not only be safe and easy but flourishing and happy And whatever in this way we do for the Church we may conclude Her extremely worthy of it For the true Christian Church is a Community of the best People in the World A Fraternity of virtuous and religious Persons A Society of innocent and holy Livers that believe and act the noblest things An Association or Body of such as are excellent in themselves approved of GOD dearly bought and beloved of CHRIST competently cleansed and sanctifi'd by the SPIRIT and nearly related and united to us On whom as we cannot but place much of our Delight here on Earth so with them we shall enjoy an eternally sweet and inconceivably delectable Conversation in Heaven And how despicable soever they may now seem and however vilifi'd and abused they may be yet over a while the LORD JESUS will dignify them with such high Perfections and vest them with such bright and radiant Splendors as will render them incomparably glorious and admirable even in the Eyes of all beholders He signifies no less where He openly declares that at His Second event He shall come to be glorifi'd in his Saints and to be admir'd in all them that believe 2 Thess 1.10 Upon these Considerations to name no more what good Christians would not willingly do any thing much more humbly Pray and Mourn to advance and hasten the Church's Happiness And let none refuse or reject the Exercise upon pretence that Her Happiness cannot be hastened because the Time when it commences is immutably decreed For if the Beginning of that happy state which the Christian Church is to enter upon be inalterably prefixt to a certain Period of time Isai 60.22 and so determined by prophetick bounds or limitation as not to be accelerated in any measure yet by Prayers and Tears She may notwithstanding be made very prosperous before-hand and this signal Prosperity may be previous and introductive to that Her Felicity CHAP. XIX Objections against Holy Mourning answered as that 't is beneath us Makes us Melancholy Disparages Religion Wastes our Time And hinders Business HAving done with the Motives which invite to Holy Mourning in General and may they effectually induce us to it 't will be proper in the next place to see what Objections may be brought against it and to remove them fairly out of the way The First may be this Mourning is a thing very much beneath us Below our Nature and our Dignity Man is no less than a marvellous Compound of different Principles And tho' his Body be as mean and faeculent as the Earth he treads on being originally made out of it and so symbolical and homogeneous with it yet his Soul is a divine and noble Essence immaterial and spiritual equal to Angels and like unto GOD. And in this respect he is highly advanc'd in the Classis or Scale of living Creatures and indu'd and adorn'd with such Faculties and Perfections as are suitable to a Being of his Rank or Station in the animate World Nor was his Original Dignity short of his Frame or Nature For when GOD created Him his Favour bestow'd the high Privilege upon him to make him Prince or Head of this sublunary World Gen. 1.28 And for Him that is of so high a Nature and also bears so high a Character Mourning must needs be too low an Exercise When his Person is so extraordinary as to excell even all the visible Creation and his Power so eminent as at first to hold the Reins of this World in his hand for him to sit whimpering with Tears in his Eyes will ill become so exalted a Creature and the Empire delegated to him from above To this I answer First Grief is one of our natural Passions And whatever is a piece of Man's Nature must not be counted either unworthy of him or disgraceful to him That would be a rude and impious reflection upon the All-wise and Glorious GOD who made Him Secondly Tho' Man in this inferior World was and in some measure still is a kind of Sovereign yet he is one of the ALMIGHTY's Subjects And so whatever Commands GOD lays upon him he is bound indispensably to obey them And holy Mourning being one of his Precepts in point of Duty he must submit to that And as that which is his Duty will be so far from debasing him that 't will conduce to his Honour as well as to his Interest so holy Mourning as being a Duty which GOD injoins must improve his Nature and imbellish his Worth and while it advances both can disparage neither For this we have a Proof that puts the thing past all doubt JESUS our LORD was once an holy Mourner upon Earth He wept for Lazarus St. Joh. 11.35 And in the days of His Flesh He offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying Tears Heb. 5.7 But did this at all sink or degrade our Nature which He graciously assumed So far from that that at this very time and for many Ages past it sits at GOD's Right hand in Glory and is there exalted far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this World but also in the next Eph. 1.21 So far is Mourning from disparaging our Nature that GOD did not count it disparaged His. For when our LORD wept even He was concern'd in shedding those Tears as being hypostatically joined to our Flesh Secondly It may be objected against holy Mourning that it makes us Melancholy or is a piece of that unhappy and uneasy Temper And so indeed it will not only be of no use but of dangerous consequence For Melancholy is said and not improperly to be the Devil's * Balneum Diaboll Bath A complexion wherein our great Adversary delights as being troublesom to us and advantageous to him in carrying on his Malicious Designs against us And when religious Mourning leads to Melancholy or
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
and venture so far as to make trial of it but a small number would heartily espouse it and prove its true and faithful Admirers GOD therefore pities His tender Converts and that they might not be overset in * They who begin their Conversion have commonly need of a prepossessed and indeliberate Pleasure to free them from their sensible Goods Malebranch Search after Truth Book 3. ch 4. sect 4. their first Approaches to Himself He affords them such Comforts as are able to support them Excellent Job seems to be a pregnant Instance of this In the 29th Chapter of his Book he wisheth thus O that I were as I was in the days of my Youth when the Secret of GOD was upon my Tabernacle The Body of Man as is well known was called a Tabernacle by the best Philosophers the Pythagoreans and Platonists as well as by the Hebrews And in the sacred Books it is very often so denominated And therefore when the SON of GOD had taken upon him an humane Body and dwelt on Earth it was said of Him †Joh. 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He tabernacled among us And S. Paul speaking of CHRIST's Power resting upon him says that it may dwell upon me as in a ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tabernacle 2 Cor. 12.9 By Job's Tabernacle then we may understand Job Himself whose Body under that Appellative is here put for his whole Compositum or entire Person By the Secret of GOD some will have GOD's Providence meant His Providence blessing and enriching Job But we may better take it to be GOD's Propitious Presence The hidden Motions and silent secret Operations of His consolatory SPIRIT According to that of David the Secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him Psal 25.14 Or that of Solomon His Secret is with the Righteous Prov. 3.32 And indeed the Comforts of the HOLY GHOST are such a Secret as is imparted but to few and is seldom and little revealed by those that possess it and so may much better be called a Secret as being a truer or deeper one than the Blessing of GOD bringing Secular Prosperity unto Men. For that cannot be hid but must publish it self or be openly discovered in very visible or notorious Effects Gejerus expounds the Secret of GOD to our Sense For by it He will have the inward Consolations of the SPIRIT to be meant And so does * Me consolando in loc Yra And very properly may they be termed GOD's Secret because by them He secretly chears and strengthens His Servants And therefore they are called Hidden Manna Rev. 2.17 as being reposited as secretly in pure Souls as the Manna was in its Golden Pot which being put in the Ark was kept in the most secret as well as in the most holy Place of the Sanctuary Heb. 9.4 And this Secret or these Comforts rested upon Job in the days †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Youth says he In the days of my Childhood as the ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Targum speaks it While he was very young and so green in Religion and as a Beginner newly acquainted with the ALMIGHTY And thus it fairly falls in with whit we assert That GOD by His Comfort does usually strengthen Men when they first undertake the true Religion The effect of which is it prevents their being damped or too much disheartned by any harsh Occurrencies and establishes them firmly in the Profession of it And no Wonder He should favour these Persons so much For like young Children being unable to stand of themselves or to go alone as they should is in giving them these Comforts He takes them by the Hand as it were to uphold and lead them And good Reason there is according to humane Judgment why weak Christians should have strongest Consolations Not only because they are weak but because their Temptations may probably be more and also more violent than those that are incident to the strongest of all For Satan we may conclude will fight most furiously where he hath the best Prospect and most hopes of Victory Where He sees the Fort of Virtue weakest there he 'll ply his fiercest Batteries 'T is usual with an Enemy to pass by a Garrison that is well fortifi'd or a Castle that he thinks impregnable and to attaque or besiege others that are less able to hold out in a good Defence or vigorous Resistance And 't is very likely that our Spiritual Adversary does ordinarily act at the same Rate Where He sees Christians arm'd and well appointed to the Combate their Graces strong their Judgments clear their Affections warm and themselves Resolute and like to prove invincible he passeth them by and ingageth not with them But where he spies out others that are weak and feeble and unfit to conflict and grapple with Him there he sets on with rage and vehemence expecting to vanquish and devour them Reasonable it is therefore as was said before according to the judgment of Men that weakest Christians should have strongest Comforts For as they meet with most and sharpest Encounters perhaps so they have least Abilities to endure them They who are most subject to faint had need be suppli'd with best Cordials And the good God hath taken care for this But farther as holy Comforts thus help to fix us so they help us as well to forward us in Religion I mean by incouraging us to and in its Duties To undertake to be Religious is an easy Work and soon done And therefore in Countries where Christianity prevails there are few but embrace it But then the misery is that these populous Multitudes who take up Religion with seeming Seriousness are generally plausible Pretenders to it only instead of sincere Practitioners of it They are nominal Christians but real Hypocrites and the Duties they act are but meer formal and theatrical things They may make a loud noise and a fine show but they have nothing of Life or Substance in them and so nothing of true Service to GOD or Benefit to themselves And tho' such as are sincere and thorough-pac'd Christians be commonly hearty in the Works of Religion yet very often they are so backward to them and so heavy in them that they want some help to overcome their Reluctancy and to quicken their Dulness Here therefore Comforts are helpful to them in aiding them through those weighty Duties which are required of them If ye * Joh. 13.17 know these things said our dear LORD happy are ye if ye do them signifying that Christians must not be Persons of Speculation only but of Practice It is not enough for them to understand well to think well and to intend and resolve well unless they do so too They must be active in the Offices incumbent on them in all the good Works which the Religion they profess obliges them to perform And these they must discharge with all good Conscience and Perseverance But then we being to
the sad Revenges of divine Justice upon the Dissolute and Licentious as they are natural Effects of their being so And farther as the wisest of Men we see hath told us they that walk on in the ways of Wisdom that are regular and persevering in the several Duties and progressive in the noble Perfections of Religion shall not fail to meet with Pleasantness and Peace With such Peace and Pleasantness as come from GOD and fill the Soul with inexplicable Comforts And these Comforts as little as some think it may be good and great Instruments of Health unto us As where the Body is well and strong they help to confirm it in that State so where it happens to be weak and low they raise and mend its Constitution They put a spring of new Life as it were into the Soul which excites most pleasing Motions in the Body even such as serve to inliven and invigorate it For as raking Grief does not only fret and imbitter the Mind but withal casts a sad Damp upon the Body and deadens the liveliness of those inward Motions on which its Health depends and by which it is conserved so heavenly Comforts where they are often and liberally imparted do ordinarily produce the contrary Effects They quicken the Spirits where they move too slowly and help the Bloud to circulate more freely and nimbly where 't is subject to Stagnancy and by taking off the sharpness and sowreness of them they insensibly sweeten and rectify both By peculiar Motions which they put them into they alter the Figures of their disordered Particles and so better the Mass or Substance of them with more Ease and Efficacy than the best Physic can possibly do And the Bloud and Spirits being thus corrected and the Ferments of the Body made light and soft and smooth and unctuous the Wheels of Nature will by this means be freed from cumbersome Cloggs and Entanglements within and in case no Violence happens from without may run on a great way in a regular Course And thus not only Life is prolonged as Length of Days is in Wisdom's right Hand Prov. 3.16 but that Life is made more happy because the Person injoying it is made more healthful And therefore we are taught by an incomparable Writer that the Fear of the LORD which maketh Peace or produceth Comforts where it dwells does thereby make perfect health to flourish Ecclus. 1.18 Nor can it seem strange that holy Comforts should thus conduce to Health if we do but remember what wonderful Effects they have had upon Martyrs turning their dying Pangs into rapturous Pleasures as was * Chap. 11. But then the Martyrs Comforts are there said more than once to be extraordinary ones and so much above those we here speak of noted above And another Instance may abate the strangeness of the thing As 't is commonly said Witches are †Note VI. suckt by their Familiars And to this end as we may reasonably suppose that thereby they might taint and disorder their Bodies And when Distemper of Body proceeds from the influence of wicked Spirits well may Healthfulness be an Effect of the Comforts of the HOLY GHOST And divine Comforts being such Preservatives and Restoratives of Health upon this Account they must be Blessed Things Health being necessary to our present Happiness For as he that would be wise must first put off Folly and as he that would be virtuous must first throw off Vice so they that would be Happy must first be Healthful Else in spite of all Rules and Principles of Stoicism a sickly Body will disquiet the Soul and a pained Body will disturb the Mind and Trouble and Unquietness in the Soul and Mind will soon convince all Persons concern'd that if they would build up Felicity to themselves they must lay its Foundation in Ease and Indolence However * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Diog. Laer. in Anaxar pounce the Sack of Anaxarchus for Anaxarchus thou dost not strike were big words in that Abderite's Mouth when cruel Nicocreon was braying him in a Mortar and might express a stout and resolute Humour yet they were as far from rendring the Sufferer happy as the Thumpings he endured were from rendring him easy Nor do heavenly Comforts conduce more to mending the Habit of our Bodies than they do to bettering the Temper of our Minds For as Pleasures that are sensual and impure do sink and soften and emasculate the Spirit as they fill it with pensive Solicitude and fretful Anxiety to find that it is fallen below it self and inslav'd to things unworthy of its Dignity so where it is ravisht with the Comforts of Heaven and nobly transported with frequent Returns or Iterations of them it will rise by Degrees into a very delicate and desirable Frame So that if before we were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tart and waspish and peevish and passionate these in time will work a thorow and an excellent Change in us They will cool our Heat and quench our Fury and rebate the sharpness and fierceness of our Disposition and polish the Ruggedness and Unevenness of our Minds and take off the Bitterness and Sowreness of our Nature and so make us not only to be easy in our selves but obliging to others And to have our Passions thus curbed and tamed in us and all Harshness and Roughness thus taken out of us and to become moderate and well composed in our selves and meek and mild and pleasing unto all must needs be a great Improvement of our Temper And as this Improvement sweetens our Life which how it should do it the meanest Capacities can apprehend it must add considerably to our Blessedness upon Earth But then as we would live sweetly in this present World as we would have our Souls blessed with Health of Body and good Temper of Mind let us heartily take up Religious Mourning from which will result those holy Comforts that are productive of the same CHAP. XV. The Eleventh Motive to Mourning in General being the Eighth Branch of that Blessedness which springs up from the Comfort annexed to Mourning They supply us with noblest Delights in this Life when those that are less generous fail and forsake us Which they do by acquainting us farther with GOD and by inflaming us with Love to the LORD JESUS CHRIST IN our declining Years as our Strength decays so other natural Abilities and Perfections which depend upon it flag and decay with it Particularly our Faculties grow dull and our Appetites grow down our Pleasures wear off and by degrees wear out and the sinking Body so depresses the Soul that Men dye to most of their corporal Satisfactions even while they live But here the Force of holy Comforts again is blessedly felt this being a chief Juncture wherein they exert it For when in these our Declensions they dwell plentifully with us they are an inexhaustible Spring of rich and high Complacencies They do not only fill us with great Thoughts and
measure of the stature of the fulness of CHRIST are St. Paul's Words Eph. 4.13 Which seem to insinuate that there is a decreed Pitch or Perfection for us to reach in this Life before we can dy and ascend to Blessedness And shall we not haste on then by holy Mourning with all possible speed to the heighth of Grace which must be accomplisht in us What would we not fain be in Heaven Do we not sigh and groan under the Load of our Mortality and would we not gladly be freed from the heavy Burthen and hard Bondage of it Are we not weary of our present Troubles and do we not complain of many uneasinesses and should not a call to endless Rest and perfect Joy be welcome to us Or had we rather continue here and abide still in this earthly State O senseless stupid and egregious Folly can we love our Prisons and embrace our Chains and hug our Fetters Can we court a longer Exile from our eternal Home and be content to be kept out of the coelestial Kingdom Is not God our loving Father there Is not CHRIST our tender Husband there Is not the HOLY GHOST our sweetest Comforter there And to go lower are not many of our good Friends and dear Relatives there And is not the greatest part of the true Church gone thither and now triumphing in the Presence of our LORD and can we once wish to stay behind Does not the Hireling long for his Pay The Servant for his Wages The Souldier for his Reward The Husbandman for his Harvest The Heir for his Inheritance And do not we long and pant and ardently desire to be in Heaven It will be seen here whether we do or no for then we shall mourn the oftener and the more earnestly that so we may get thither quickly To all good Christians the Gates of Heaven are set wide open and the faster we improve in Divine Grace the sooner possibly we shall enter What more forcible Reason can there be or Motive either to provoke to this Duty If we can outstand the Dint of this vain it will be to propound any more well therefore may it be the Last I offer Let good Christians think seriously with themselves what a vast difference there is between what we are now and what we hope to be hereafter What a sad case are we in here What variety of Infirmities encompass and incommode us We have stupid Minds and crooked Wills clouded Understandings and erroneous Judgments unfaithful Memories and extravagant Affections sensual Desires and unruly Appetites polluted Souls and filthy sickly mortal Bodies What a blessed Condition shall we be in above and what a fulness of Beatitude shall there surround us For besides a freedom from the aforesaid Complaints we shall have a clear and most comfortable Vision of GOD whom our Souls upon Earth so entirely loved The immediate Fruition of the eternal JESUS whose very Name was so ravishing to us The taking Society of Angels most spotless and illustrious that now do us good and we perceive it not The delightful Fellowship of departed Saints whom we prized so much and were so loth to forego Souls pure as the brightest Cherubim and Bodies at length more glittering and radiant than the Starrs or Sun And shall not the hope of such high Preferment make us forward to increase in Grace tho' it were by Mourning that so we may the sooner be invested with it Does not the sense of our many Miseries make us impatiently desirous of Heaven Are not our Sins many Are not our Doubts and Fears and Distractions many Do not these rend our Hearts and afflict our Spirits and sting and gnaw and wound our Consciences and make us oftentimes restless and joyless Can we serve and please GOD as the Souls of the just made perfect do Can we see Him and know Him and love Him and laud Him and derive Happiness from Him as they do Alas the best Services which we perform to Him and the Highest Felicities we receive from Him in these lower Regions are not worthy to be named in the same day with theirs The Duties we offer up to GOD are lame and imperfect mingled with Failings and many Weaknesses and scarce deserve the Name of Duties And answerable to our Duties to Him are our Comforts from Him so faint and low in comparison that they scarce deserve the Name of Comforts If now and then we can get a slight Taste of GOD's Goodness a short Glimpse of His Countenance a single Beam of His Favour darted into our Souls that 's all which ordinary Christians commonly attain to But O the quick and lively sense that the Saints in Glory have of GOD's Love O the close and sweet Embraces that they there feel in the Arms of His Mercy O the fresh Torrents of incessant Joys that always overflow and exceedingly affect them They continually bathe themselves in streams of delight that issue directly from the Great JEHOVAH and swim in such an Ocean of Divinest Pleasures as hath indeed neither Bounds nor Bottom Nor is the measure of their Happiness beyond its Duration for in respect of that it is really infinite being to last as long as GOD Himself Now are not these Excellent things worth the having Can there be any more valuable and so more eligible than they And consequently can we desire any thing so much as a speedy Passage into the Fruition of them Would we not gladly exchange corruption for Glory and a dying Life for blessed Immortality Had we not rather sit down before the Throne of GOD in Holiness and Triumph than abide here in a condition of Sin in a state of Sufferings and in a vale of Tears In short were it not better for us to be taken up into the Mansions on high to reap the Fruits and injoy the Rewards of our respective Labours than still to be imploy'd in any painful Exercises Why if in reality we think it better and accordingly desire it let us manifest the sincerity of our Desires by the Earnestness of our Endeavours to encrease our Graces by holy Mourning Happy are they who by any Piece of early Piety do so advance or augment their Graces as to obtain an early ascent to Heaven And to encourage a little farther yet as we shall go to Heaven perhaps the sooner for this so we shall have the more Glory there Every Vessel shall be full in that Sea but yet the biggest shall receive most That therefore we may be capable of the more Bliss in Heaven while we are on Earth let us enlarge our Graces by Religious Mourning CHAP. XXI Reasons why we must mourn for the Sins of others The Best have done it The neglect of it is blameable It prevails with Heaven It brings us Comforts It secures us from Judgments when others fall by them Both Nature and Religion bind us to it It may be we have been Sharers in the Sins of others HAving given in the Reasons why we
nor do they consider it But then for this they are not the less but the more miserable as being indeed the more like to perish They think they are safe and they conclude they shall be happy and so of all living on the face of the Earth are most sure to be undone because when they are in the very Jaws of Perdition they do not perceive that they are in Danger If therefore we love or value our Souls let us fear and tremble to go on in sin against this Light of the Blessed SPIRIT Thirdly We have sinned against the Light of the Word Thy Word is a Light Psal 119.105 And so bright and glorious a Light it is that it makes a most perfect Discovery of sin For it shows us the Vanity and Vileness of it together with the heavy Curse that attends it and its sad and direful Effects in this Life And it shows us the horrible Threatnings against it and the hideous Plagues and Punishments of it in the State of future eternal Sufferings into which it will sink all final Impenitents And yet we have sinned against this Light too and that as boldly as if it had never shined amongst us Nor does the Word only show the Evil of Sin in Gross and the Menaces that lie against it in General but moreover it descends to Particular Transgressions pointing out the Evil of them by threatning respective Penalties to them or to the Actors and Abettors of them Thus it shows the Evil of Pride Pride goeth before Destruction and an haughty Spirit before a Fall Prov. 16.18 Of Carnality if ye live after the Flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8.13 Of Cheating That no man go beyond or defraud his Brother because the LORD is the Avenger of all such 1 Thess 4.6 Of Swearing because of Swearing the Land mourneth Jer. 23.10 Of Lying lying Lips are an abomination to the LORD Prov. 12.22 And in the Fifth of the * Ver. 1â— 20 21. Galatians there is a Black List containing many Sins as Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like the Punishment of which to all that live and dye in them is declar'd to be no less than Exclusion from Heaven they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of GOD Can any things be more plainly told us than these Can they be set in a clearer Light before us But then if we will not believe what we plainly see or if our Faith be too weak to sway our Practice and we do not take due care to strengthen it this must greatly aggravate our present Guilt and so by consequence our future Punishment For he that knows his Master's Will and does it not shall be beaten with many Stripes S. Luk. 12.47 And then we have sinned against the Word Preached as well as against the Word written How many useful how many excellent Sermons have we heard wherein the destructive Nature and Qualities of Sin have been sufficiently opened What fair Caveats against loving it what faithful Warnings against committing it what mighty Dehortations from continuing in it have we there met with And these have sometimes gone very near us They have touched us to the Quick and pricked us to the Heart they have startled our Spirits and rowzed our Minds and awakened our Consciences and to our thinking have turned us entirely from our Naughtiness For hereupon we have fully resolved and frequently determined to renounce all loose and sinful Ways and to enter upon a stricter Course of Living But how long hath this lasted Perhaps by that time the Preacher had done Speaking we had done Resolving and the very next Temptation hath foiled us as easily and vanquisht us as shamefully as any did before And when notwithstanding those fatal Hooks which Satan covers with alluring Baits be thus plainly shown us by skilful Ministers we yet catch at them readily when he offers them again and swallow them down with delight and greediness must not this be another Aggravation of our Sinfulness and a very sad one Believe it it will double our Folly and our Guilt and they will double our Punishment to us or else the Difficulty of our Repentance If I had not spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no Cloke for their sin said our Dear LORD Joh. 15.22 So if GOD had not spoken in his Word preached and spoken to us so plainly constantly and vehemently we should not have had the sin which we now have for it would have been considerably less than it is But now our Contempt hath been bold and our Contumacy high and we have nothing to excuse or extenuate either It may be hundreds thousands millions of Souls have been reclaimed from Sin and brought over to Righteousness by half those divine pathetic Discourses which we have sat under and sullenly withstood and which still perhaps we despise and resist And when we were otherwise bad this cannot but render us a great deal worse Fourthly We have sinned against the Light of Experience We have felt the Sweetness of Innocence and the Joys of Holiness and the Pleasures of Obedience and the Comforts of a good Conscience and we have sinned against these And on the other side we have been sensible of the vanity of Dissoluteness and the trouble of Irreligion and the bitterness of Impiety and the terrors and torments of a guilty Mind and we have sinned against these First We have sinned against the Sweetness of Innocence and the Joys of Holiness When we have walked in Uprightness before GOD how often and how graciously hath He met us and what pleasing Effects hath His gracious Presence had upon us It hath filled us strangely with divine Peace and inflamed us mightily with divine Love and both together have so wrought with us and indear'd Him to us that we have been all on fire with Zeal for His Honour We have immediately vow'd all Fidelity to His MAJESTY and devoted our whole Life to His Glory and Worship We have nobly resolved not only to spend our Time but our Bloud for His Interest and rather to dye in His Service than once yield to sin But hath this held on No alas we have soon relaps'd into our former deadness and our wonted indisposition to Virtue and Righteousness Our Zeal hath been surpriz'd with sudden Chilness and our hot Resolutions of doing GOD's Will have grown quite Cold. Nay which is worse the Stream it may be hath not only thus stopped with us but turned the clean contrary way Our Resolutions for Piety have changed into stiff Inclinations to Naughtiness and we have pursued Evil with as much eagerness as before we intended to practise Godliness And must not this again notoriously aggravate our Wickedness To close with Satan and consent to Sin and plunge our selves headlong into hainous Guilt when we have tasted the Delights of Innocence and Sanctity