to what ever Afflictions God is pleased to inflict upon us In this Humility is a great Assistant and renders things easie to us perswading us not to murmur or repine at any thing God does but let what Afflictions soever come though in the heaviest kind we may be always ready to say Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven And with old Eli when that great Affliction came of Gods threatning the Destruction of his Family he loss of the Priesthood the Cutting off both his Sons in one Day yet considering it was the Lord inabled him calmly to yield to 'em saying Let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 The same Effect it had on David in his Affliction I was dumb I opened not my Mouth because thou didst it Psal. 39.9 God doing it silenc'd all Murmurings and Repinings in him And it must operate the same Effect in us in all our Afflictions if we intend to acquire this Duty of Patience 4. THEREFORE when ever God strikes we are not only Patiently to endure his Rod but kiss it also that is be truly thankful that he is pleased not to Give us over to our own Hearts Lusts Psal. 18.12 But still continuing his tender Care over us sending Afflictions as so many Messengers to call us to himself From whence we may learn what an absurd Folly it is to murmur at those Stripes which are design'd so graciously 5. THIS Duty is not compleated by only a Quietness and Thankfulness under Affictions but there must be Fruitfulness also or all the rest will be of no Advantage which is the production of that for which the Afflictions were sent viz. the Amendment of our Lives So that in Time of Affliction it is a necessary Duty to examine our Hearts and Lives and make a severe Scrutiny what Sins have provoked God to scourge us and whatsoever we find our selves guilty of humbly to confess to him and immediately to forsake them Redeeming what we have lost the Time to come 6. OUR next Duty concerning Patience is That we are as much bound to comply with one sort of Sufferings as another whether they be immediately from God as Sickness loss of Friends or the like or whether it be from Men who sometimes are Instruments of afflicting us and cannot prejudice us without Gods Permission And God may as well create the Instruments of punishing us as to do it directly Himself for it is a Counterfeit Patience that pretends to submit to God and yet can bear nothing from Men. We see an Instance of Holy Job who is recorded in Sacred Scripture as a Pattern of true Patience he made no such Difference in his Afflictions but took the loss of his Cattle which the Chaldeans and Sabeans robb'd him of with as much Meekness as he did that which was consumed by Fire from Heaven Therefore whatever we suffer from Men if it be never so unjust in respect of them we are humbly to confess it is most just in respect of God and instead of looking upon them with Rage and Revenge as the vulgar custom of the World is we are to look up to God and acknowledge his Justice in the Affliction imploring his Pardon most earnestly for those Sins which have provoked his wrath against us and patiently and thankfully to bear those Sufferings till He shall in his own good time see fit to remove them still saying with Job Blessed be the Name of the Lord Job 1.21 7. A Second sort of Submission in Humility is to the Wisdom of God and that is to acknowledge him Infinitely Wise And whatsoever he doth we must confess it the best and fittest to be done And this Confession we are to put in practice both in his Commands and in his disposing and ordering of all things First Whatsoever he commands us to believe we are to believe how impossible soever it seems to our shallow Understandings Secondly To do whatever he commands us how opposite soever it be to our Carnal Reason and Humour and to conclude in both that his Commandments are most reasonable and not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 8. NEXT we are to submit to his Wisdom in disposing and ordering of Things which is to acknowledge He desposes of all things most wisely Not only to the World in General but in what concerns every one in particular So that in what Condition soever we are in We are to be Content 1 Tim. 6.8 and not to be impatient and disturb'd at any Choice which God makes since he chuses for us who cannot err But to leave all things to him to fit us with such an Estate and Condition as he sees best for us Perhaps it may not please our unreasonable Humours because we cannot live in that Splendour equal to our Superiours And the Reason is we are so full of our selves that we can see nothing beyond it We expect God should place us where we please though by it he discomposes the whole Scheme of his Providence But he like a wise Master-Builder knows that every Stone is not fit for the Corner not every little Rafter for the main Beam And sure there cannot be a more vile contempt of the Divine Wisdom than to dispute his Choice who knows what is fitter for us than we do our selves Therefore when ever we are disappointed of any of our Aims or Wishes let us not only patiently but joyfully submit to it and acknowledge that it is certainly best for us it being chosen by the unerring Wisdom of our Heavenly Father 9. HAVING spoken of the Humility due towards God I am now to speak of Humility as it concerns our selves which will be no less necessary than the former This Humility is of two sorts the first is the having a mean and low Opinion of our selves the second is being content that others should have so of us The first of these is contrary to Pride and the second to Vain-glory. Pride cast the Angels out of Heaven and it is the greatest Sin the Devil hath been guilty of And we may frequently find in Scripture the hainousness of it Prov. 16.5 Every one that is proud in Heart is an abomination to the Lord and in Chap. 6. among many things which the Lord hates a Proud Look is set as the chiefest It is indeed a most prolifick Vice and there are few Sins to which it is not either Parent or Nurse to There are many places of Scripture which shews the detestableness of it I shall only add one James 4.7 That God resisteth the Proud but giveth Grace to the Humble 10. AND the means of relinquishing this Sin of Pride is perform'd by Humility by these Directions First We are to consider the hainousness of the Sin with that Regret as may operate in us no petty Contempt but a deep and irreconcileable Hatred against it Secondly To be vigilant over our Hearts that they foment not any Originals of it never suffering them to feed on the Phantasm
had not been in such an extasie but to depart and to be with Christ is that which raiseth his Soul 35. WHEN Socrates was to dye for his Religion he comforted himself with this that he should go to Orpheus Homer Musaeus and the other Worthies of former Ages Poor Man Could he have known God manifested in the flesh and received up into Glory 1 Tim. 3.16 and in that glorified state sitting at the right hand of Majesty could he have known the Blessed Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Angels Arch Angels Principalities and Powers and the rest of the most Glorious Hierarchy of Heaven Could he have been acquainted with that Celestial Choir of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect Heb. 12.23 Could he have known the God and Father of Spirits the Infinite and Incomprehensible Glorious Diety whose Presence transfuses Everlasting Blessedness into all those Citizens of Glory And could he have known that he should have an undoubted interest in that infinite Bliss how gladly would he have taken of his hemlock and how joyfully would he have passed to that happy World 36. ALL this we know and no less assured then of our present being with what comfort should we think of changing our present Condition with a Blessed Immortality How sweet a Song was that of old Simeon Luke 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation That which he saw by the Eye of Sence thou seest by the Eye of Faith even the Lords Christ verse 16. he saw him in Weakness thou seest him in Glory why should'st thou not depart not in peace only but in joy and comfort 37. HOW did the Proto-Martyr Stephen triumph over the rage of his Enemies and the fury of Death when he had once seen the Heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.56 God offers the same blessed prospect to the Eye of thy Soul Faith is the Key that opens the Heav'n of Heav'ns fix thy eyes upon that Glorious and Saving Object Thou canst not but lay down thy Body in peace and send thy Soul into the hands of him that bought it with the cheerful and sweet Recommendation of Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Acts 7.39 A Prayer at the Hour of Death O LORD GOD Almighty I humbly acknowledge my own vileness through the whole course of my Life And seeing thou hast thus long spared me now accomplish thy Mercy in me Be thou my God forever and my Guide unto the end O Comfort me now my Heart trembleth in me and the terrors of Death are fallen upon me give me the long expected fruits of my hopes proposed to me in thy Word O Blessed Jesu who art the Death of death now shew thy self my Saviour Take from my afflicted Soul the sting of Death and assure me of Victory Loose the Pains allay the Fears and Sorrows and Sweeten the bitterness of Death untill in my enjoying thy Presence it be swallowed up in Victory O Holy Saviour who hast had Experience of all our miseries for Sin without Sin and hast admitted us to be Baptized into the Similitude of thy Death and Resurrection Let me now feel in my Languishing Soul the Power and Efficacy thereof 2. O Christ whose Human Soul in thy Passion for my Redeemption was heavy unto Death now mercifully Consider my Frailty who am now at the point of Dissolution O now give me an Invincible Faith in thee against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail now speak Peace and Comfort to my poor Soul Thou who pouredst out thy Soul to Death for me receive my wearied Spirit to Eternal Life Let not this fearful passage be too bitter to me but be thou ever present with me in all my sufferings O Holy Ghost the Comforter of all the Elect leave me not Comfortless let me be gathered to my Fathers in Peace Bring me to that Life wherein thou hast promised to wipe away all Tears from our Eyes Where shall be no more Death Sorrow Pain nor any bitter Effects of Sin Lord hear me O thou who despisest not a broken contrite Heart have mercy upon me Lord receive my Petitions and in thy appointed hour come Lord Jesus my Saviour and Redeemer deliver me from this bondage of Corruption even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen SECT XVII Of Judgment 1. THOU apprehendest true Death is terrible but Judgment more both succeed upon the same decree It is appointed unto Men once to dye but after this the judgment Heb. 9.27 It is not more terrible than thought on Death because he strikes and lays before us examples of Mortality cannot but sometimes take up our hearts but the last Judgment having no visible proofs upon our thoughts too seldom fright us 2. YET who conceives the Terror of that day When the Sun shall be turn'd into darkness and the Moon into blood Acts 2.20 That day which shall burn as an Oven when all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as the stubble Mal. 4.1 That day in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 That day wherein the Lord Jesus shall be reveal'd from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess. 1.7 8. That day wherein the Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh Isa. 66.15 16. That day wherein the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the Holy Angels with him and shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory and all Nations shall be gathered before him and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats Mat. 25.31 32. And that day wherein all the kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of him Rev. 1.7 3. THAT great and terrible day of the Lord Joel 2.31 wherein if the powers of Heav'n be shaken how can the heart remain removed And if the World be dissolved who can abide it Alas we are ready to tremble at Thunder in a Cloud and at Lightning that glances our Eyes what shall we do when the Heavens shall break in pieces and be on flame about our Ears Oh who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth Mal. 3.2 4. YET be of good cheer amidst all this horror there is comfort whether thou be one whom it shall please God to reserve upon the Earth to the sight of this dreadful day he knows in whose hands our times are but this we are sure of that we are upon the last days And we may spit
in the Faces of St. Peters Scoffers that say where is the promise of his coming Knowing that the Lord is not slack but he that shall come will come and not tarry 2 Pet. 3.4 9. Heb. 10.17 And some may live to see the Son of Man come in the Clouds of Heaven in this last Scene of the World 5. IF so let not thy heart be dismay'd with these fearful things Thy change shall be sudden one Moment shall put off Mortality and clothe thee with Incorruption not capable of fear and pain The Majesty of this appearance shall add to thy Joy and Glory Thou shalt then see the Lord himself descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel and with the trump of God Thou shalt see thy self and those other which are alive and remain to be caught up into the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shalt thou be ever with the Lord. On this Assurance the Apostle subjoyns Wherefore comfort one another with these words 1 Thes. 4.16 17 18. And if ever there were comfort in words not of Men or Angels but of the God of Truth these will afford it to our trembling Souls 6. BUT if thou be one whom God hath determin'd to Summon before the great day of his appearance here is a joy unspeakable and full of Glory For those that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him 1 Thes. 4.15 They shall be of that Glorious Train which shall attend the Great Judge of the World Yea they shall be Co-assessors to the Lord of Heaven and Earth in this Judicature sitting upon the Bench when guilty Men and Angels shall be at the Bar To him that overcometh saith Christ will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father upon his Throne Rev. 3.21 What place is here for any terror since such heavenly Magnificence fulness of Joy and Eternal Glory 7. THOU art afraid think of Judgment I had rather thou wert awful than timorous when St. Paul Acts 24.25 discoursed of the judgment to come it is no marvel that Felix trembled But the same Apostle when he pressed to his Corinthians the certainty and generality of our appearance before the Judgment-Seal of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body whether good or evil adding knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men but we are made manifest to God 2 Cor. 5.10 11. 8. THE holiest Man is not exempted from the dread but slavish fear of the great Judge We know his infinite Justice and are Conscious of our manifold failings And how can we acknowledge these and not fear But this fear works not in us a Malignant repining at the severe Tribunal of the Almighty but a careful endeavour to approve our selves that we may be acquitted by him and appear blameless in his presence How justly may we tremble when we look upon our Actions and Deserts But confidently appear at the Bar where we are assur'd of a discharge Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5.1 When we think of a Conflagration of the World how can we but fear But when we think of a happy restitution of all things how can we but rejoice in trembling Acts 3.21 9. THOU quakest at the expectation of Judgement Surely the Majesty of that great Assize must needs be formidable And if the delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai Exod. 19.16 18. were with so dreadful a Pomp of Thunder and Lightning Fire Smoak and Earthquakes that the Israelites were half dead with fear in receiving it with what terrible Magnificence shall God come to require an account of that Law at the hands of the whole sinful generation of Mankind 10. REPRESENT unto thy thoughts that which was shewed to the Prophet Daniel Dan. 7.9 10. Imagine thou sawst the Ancient of days sitting upon a Throne like a fiery flame a fiery stream issuing and coming forth from before him thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him the judgment set and the Books opened Or as John the Daniel of the New Testament saw Rev. 20.11 12. A great white throne and him that sat on it from whose Face the Earth and the Heavens fled away and the dead both small and great standing before God and the Books opened and the Dead judged out of those things which were written in those Books according to their works 11. LET the eyes of thy mind foresee that which these bodily eyes shall once see and tell me how thou feelest thy self affected with the sight of such a Judge such an appearance and such a process And if thou art in a trembling Condition cheer thy self with this that thy Judge is thine Advocate that upon that Throne sits not greater Majesty than Mercy It is thy Saviour that shall sentence thee how safe art thou then under such hands Canst thou fear he will doom thee to death who dyed to give thee life Canst thou fear he will condemn thee for those sins which he hath given his blood to expiate Canst thou fear the rigour of that Justice which he hath so fully satisfied Or canst thou misdoubt the miscarriage of that Soul he hath so dearly bought 12. NO all this Divine State and Magnificence makes for thee Let those guilty and impenitent Souls Rom. 2.5 who have heaped unto themselves Wrath against the day of wrath quake at the Glorious Majesty of the Son of God for whom nothing remains but a fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries Heb. 10.27 But for thee who art reconciled unto God by the Mediation of the Son of his love and incorporated into Christ and made a Member of his Mystical Body thou art Commanded with all the Faithful to look up and lift up thy head for now the day of Redemption is come Luk. 21.28 Ephes. 4.30 13. AND indeed it is thy priviledge since by vertue of a blessed Union with thy Saviour this Glory is thine every Member hath an interest in the Honour of the Head Rejoyce therefore in the day of the Lord Jesus Phil. 2.16 And when the Tribes of the Earth shall wail Rev. 1.7 Do thou Sing and call to the Heavens and Earth to bear thee Company Let the Heavens rejoyce and let the Earth be glad Let the Sea make a noise and all that is therein Let the Fields be joyful and all that is in it Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoyce before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the Earth and with righteousness to judge the World and the People with his Truth Psal. 96.11 12 13. 14 THOU art affâ—ighted with the thought of the Great Day Think oftner and thou shalt less fear it it will come surely and suddenly let thy frequent thoughts prevent it it will come as a Thief in the
when he hath once fastned he sooner leaveth his life then his hold Contrariety of Events Exercise not dismay him and when Crosses Afflict him he seeth a Divine Hand invisibly striking with those sensible scourges against which he dares not Murmur nor Rebel 9. HE troubleth not himself with Exciting Thoughts nor others with needless Suits He intermeddles not in others business nor adventures upon rash Attempts he offends none with provoking Terms not taketh offence at others Actions He lendeth not his Ear to idle Tales nor soweth discord or seeketh Revenge But hath a meek heart a contented mind and a charitable eye his Tongue is Affable hand Peaceable and his gesture sociable His Deportment is Neighbourly his Judgment charitable a loving Speaker and a friendly Converser He puts up all wrongs patiently and wrongs none willingly And such manner of Men ought we to be in all holy Conversation And I shall end with the words of the holy Apostle and desire of God that he would direct your hearts into his love and into the patient waiting for him 2 Thes. 3.5 I shall not think it improper to insert here a Relation of Sir Thomas Moore that excellent Pattern of Patience who wholly resigned himself to the will of the Divine Providence Sir Thomas returning from beyond Sea after his Embasy and being remote from his House with the King in the Month of August part of his dwelling House and all his Barns laden with Corn were by a sudden Fire consumed his Lady by a Letter certified him of this sad mischance to which he return'd her this Answer Madam All Health wished to you I do understand that all our Barns and Corn with some of our Neighbours likewise are wasted by a fire an heavy and lamentable loss but only that it was Gods will of such abundance of Wealth but because it so seemed good to God we must not only patiently but also willingly bear and submit to the hand of God so stretched out upon us God gave whatsoever we have lost and seeing it hath pleased him to take away what he gave his Divine Will be done Never let us repine at this but let us take it in good part we are bound to be thank-ful as well in Adversity as in Prosperity and if we cast up our Accounts well this which we esteem so great a loss is rather a great gain For what is necessary and conducing to our Salvation is better known to God than us I intreat you therefore to have a good heart and to take all your Family with you to the Church and there give thanks to God for all these things which he hath pleas'd to take away as well as for his blessings which he hath bestow'd on us and to praise him for that which is left It is an easie matter with God if he please to Augment what is yet left but if he shall see good to take away more even as it shall please him so let it be And let Enquiry be made what my Neighbours have lost and wish them not to be sorry For I will not that my Neighbours shall suffer any thing by my loss though I leave not my self any thing and though all should be taken away I pray thee O Alice be joyful in the Lord with my Children and all our Family all these things and we are in the hands of the Lord. Let us therefore wholly depend upon his good will and so no losses shall ever hurt us Farewel From the Court at Woodstock September 13th 1529. What a sincere Devotion was here to the Divine Will of God! What a Letter from a heart truly setled upon Heav'n This Master of the Family had learn'd his Lesson well and was grown a proficient in the Art of Patience This was a Man that by supporting himself upon God's Providence was able to bear all losses sweetly Behold an Ostrich able to digest Iron His Barns were burnt but his Mind was cool Patience kept him in his uprightness In a short space after God requited his Losses in September he received this heavy news In October he was promoted Lord Chancellor of England so that not only Honour but his Means also were mightily enlarged that now he needs not repair his Barns but may build new ones Certainly there is not in the World such a holy sort of Artifice so Divine a charm to unite God to us as this of resigning our selves to him We find the Gibeonites by yielding themselves Vassals to the Israelites had their whole Army at their back to rescue them in their danger Jos. 10.6 and can we think God is less considerate of his Homagers and Dependents No certainly his Honour as well as his Compassion is concern'd in the relief of those who have Surrendred themselves to him A Prayer for Patience O Most gracious God let not the Spirit of Impatience possess me whereby I may in any measure incur thy displeasure thou art my Maker O let me not strive with thee I am the Work of thy Hands and therefore with thee there is no contending if I provoke thee by strugling under the Yoke of Affliction the end thereof will be Gaul to my Neck and Bitterness to my Conscience But O Lord it is not my Punishment thou pursuest after but my Repentance and Amendment of Life and what thou art pleased to inflict upon me is but to chase me to my Duty which when I have perfectly learnt I know thou wilt fully Reward and Recompence my Patience that I may possess my own Soul in the day of the Lord Jesus 2. O thou that art the wise disposer of all Things both in Heaven and Earth let me look up to thee from whence cometh Affliction and then inspect into my own Heart where I shall find out the efficient Cause O let nothing then seem to perplex me which thou in thy good pleasure knoweth to be advantagious but let me ever be content to drink of the bitterest Cup of Affliction which thou hast allotted me O let thy good Spirit still strive with me and draw me unto thee with the Cords of thy Love it is of thy tender Mercies that I am not consumed but I know thy Compassion fails not towards poor and wretched Sinners Lord give me Grace to perform this Duty and say of my Affliction as thou O Jesu didst of thy bitter Cup and Passion Father if it be thy will let this Cup pass from me if not not my Will but thy Will be done Amen The CLOSE Consisting of Scriptural Ejaculations referring to the several Sections of the before-going Treatise 1. HAVING gone through this short Tract of the Art of Patience I shall now lay down these following Ejaculations as being most necessary and we have St. James 's Testimony for it Is any among you afflicted let him pray James 5.13 This is the Great and Soveraign Catholicon of the distressed Soul which is able to give relief to all the forementioned Complaints 2. FOR
beset with Parasitical Friends Young Man said he I pity thy Solitude Perhaps thou may'st be more alone in such Society than in the Wilderness Such Conversation is better lost than continued If thou canst but be well acquainted with thy self thou shalt be sorry thou wert no sooner solitary 12. THOU art from thy Country Who is not so We are all Pilgrims together with thee 1 Pet. 2.11 Heb. 11.13 Whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 Miserable are we if our true home be not Above That is the Better Country which we seek even an Heavenly Heb. 11.16 And thither thou mayst equally direct thy Course in whatsoever Region This Center of Earth is equidistant from the Glorious Circumference of Heaven If we may once meet there what need we make such Difference in the way A Prayer in Exile O LORD GOD Lord of the Mountains and Vallies Land and Sea and the God of the Exiled and Out-crst thou dost with much Patience behold Oppression and Wrong until the measures of Iniquity be filled up O Lord behold the pressures of me thy poor dispised and dejected Servant Thy Mercy and Gracious Audience of the Afflicted is neither limited to Jerusalem nor this Mountain every place is equally near Heaven and where ever Men lift up pure Hands and Hearts Worshipping of thee in Spirit and Truth thou art there present to hear and help them Lord thou seest good to permit me to the power of Men to Exercise me yet can they not shut thy Merciful Ear against me O let my Complaint therefore come before thee Let thy word be as the Cloudy-Pillar to lead me in thy Way and let thy good Spirit direct me 2. LORD leave me not destitute and comfortless in my Afflictions Be my Guide and Helper in this Earthly Pilgrimage and Valley of Tears unto and in the Hour which thou hast appointed to take me hence into the incorruptible and undefiled Inheritance which thou by â—hy Power hast reserved in Heaven for all Believers There no hand of the Oppressor can reach and where shall be no Curse no Sin nor fear of Forfeiture Into which no Enemy shall be admitted and from which no Inhabitant shall ever be cast out Lord Hear and Help me Lord have Mercy on me and grant me that which I ask according â—o thy will and that which I should ask which thou knowest best for me through the Infinite Merits of of the Son of thy Love the Author and Finisher of our Salvation Christ the Righteous Amen SECT XII Of Blindness and Deafness 1. THOU hast lost thine Eyes a Loss which all the World is uncapable to repair and thou art condemn'd to perpetual Darkness For the Light of the Body is the Eye and if the Light that is in thee be Darkness how great is that Darkness Mat. 6.22.23 Couldst thou have foreseen this Evil thou hadst anticipated this Loss by weeping out those Eyes for Grief which now thou art destitute of There are but two Senses by which any external Comfort can have free access to thy Soul Seeing and Hearing One of 'em is now extinguish't for ever Yet thou hast two internal Eyes that can supply the want of thy external the Eye of Reason and the Eye of Faith The One as a Man the Other as a Christian. Answerable to which there is a double Light apprehended by 'em Rational and Divine 2. SOLOMON tells thee of the one Prov. 20.23 The Spirit of a Man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the Inward Parts of the Belly St. John tells thee of the other 1 John 1.5 7. God is Light and in Him is no Darkness and we walk in the Lgiht as he is in the Light Now the two Lights so far exceed that external and visible of which thou art depriv'd as Light Darkness If then by the Eye of Reason thou attainst to intelligible Things and by the Eye of Faith to things Supernatural and Divine the Improvement of these Eyes will make amends for the want of thy Natural ones 3. THY Sight is lost Let me tell thee what Antony the Hermite whom Ruffinus is not doubious of stilling Blessed said to Learned Didymus of Alexandria that was Blind Let it not trouble thee O Didymus that thou art bereft of thy Carnal Eyes for thou lackest only those Eyes which Mice and Flyes and Lyzards have But rejoice that thou hast those Eyes which the Angels have whereby they see God and by which thou art enlightned with a great measure of Knowledge Endeavour to perfect this and thou shalt not be much discomforted with the absence of them 4. THINE Eyes are lost and the chief Comfort of thy Life gone with them The Light is sweet saith Solomon and a pleasant thing it is for the Eyes to behold the Sun Eccles. 11.7 Hath not God done this purposely that he might take thee off from all Earthly Objects that thou might'st fix thy self upon him and seek those Spiritual Comforts which are to be found in a better Light The Sun is the most glorious Planet the Eyes can possibly see but thy Spiritual ones may behold him that Created that glorious Luminary who is infinitely more glorious than what he Created If thou hast now an Inspection into him more than thou hadst that which thou countedst thy Loâ—s hath prov'd thy Gain 5. THOU art Blind and certainly it is a sore Affliction The Men of Jabesh Gilead offered the Tyrant of the Ammâ—nites to serve him 1 Sam. 11.1 But when he required the loss of their Kâ—â—ht Eyes as a Condition of Peace they will rather hazard their Lives in an unequal War as if Servitude and Death were a less Mischief than one Eye's loss How much more of Both For tho one Eye be but Testis Singularis yet the evidence of that is as true as of both and in some Causes more For when ye take a perfect Aim we shut one Eye as being conducive to an accurate Perspective Yet for ordinary use we value equally these Lights that there is no wise Man but would rather lose a Limb than one of them 6. A Person not less Religious than Witty when his Friends bewail'd the loss of one of his Eyes ask'd them whether they wept for the Eye which he had lost or the Eye which remain'd Weep rather said he for the Enemy that stays behind than for the Enemy that 's gone He look'd upon his Sight with Eyes different from others he look'd upon 'em as Enemies which others beheld as Officious Servants good Friends and dear Favourites 7. INDEED they are all of these as they are us'd Good Servants if they go faithfully on their Errands and return true Intelligence Good Friends if they advise and invite us to Holy Thoughts But Enemies if they suggest Evil. If thine Eyes have been employ'd in evil Offices to thy Soul God hath done that for thee which he hath in a Figurative Sense enjoyn'd thee to
following If you add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness Charity 2 Pet. 1.5 6. 23. IF Thou wouldst be inform'd what God hath written concerning thee in Heaven look into thy own Bosom and see what Graces he hath wrought in thee Truth of Grace saith the Divine Apostle will make good the certainty of your Election Not to instance the rest of that Heavenly Combination do but single the first and the last Faith and Charity For Faith how clear is that of our Saviour He that believeth in him that sent me hath Everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but hath passed from Death to Life Joh. 5.24 What danger can befall us in our acquiring Heaven All the Peril is in the way Now the Believer is already passed into Life This is the Grace by which Christ dwells in our Hearts Ephes. 3.17 and whereby we have Communion with him and an assured Testimony of and from him For he that believeth in the Son of God hath the Witness in himself And what Witness is that This is the Record that God hath given us Eternal Life And this Life is in his Son he that hath the Son hath Life 1 Joh. 5.10 11 12. Oh happy Connexion Eternal Life first This Life Eternal is in and by Christ Jesus he is ours by Faith and this Faith testifieth to our Souls assurance of Life Eternal Charity is the last which comprehends our love to God and Man For from the reflection of God's Love to us ariseth a Love from us to him again The beloved Disciple can say We love him because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4.19 And from these resulteth our Love to our Brethren And such an Evidence we have that the Apostle tells us expresly That we know we are passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren 1 Joh. 3.14 For the love of the Father is inseperable from the love of the Son He that loveth him that Begets loves him that is Begotten of him 1 Joh. 5.1 25. NOW deal impartially with thine own Heart and enquire seriously as in the Presence of the Searcher of all Hearts Whether thou dost not find in thy self these Evidences of thine Election Art thou not effectually tho not perfectly called out of the World and corrupt Nature Dost thou not inwardly abhor sinful ways and think of what thou wert with Detestation Dost thou not endeavour to be in all things approved to God and confirmed to thy Saviour Dost thou not cast thy self upon the Lord Jesus and depend upon his free All sufficiency for Pardon and Salvation Dost thou not love that infinite Goodness who hath been so rich in Mercies to thee and bless those Beams of Goodness which he hath cast upon his Saints on Earth Lastly Dost thou not love a good Man because he is so Comfort thy self in the Lord and let no Fear and Distrust possess thy Soul Faithful is he that hath Called thee 1 Thes. 5.24 who will also Preserve thy whole Spirit and Soul and Body blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes. 5.23 A Prayer for an Afflicted Conscience O GOD the Father of all Mercies and Heavenly Consolation suffer me not at any time to fall from thee or to be swallowed up in the depth of Affliction but when ever it shall please thee to try me in that Furnace let my sure Hope and Confidence be fixed on thee that when multitude of Sorrows shall encompass my Soul my only trust may be in thy Mercies Give me the Oil of Joy for Mourning and the Garment of Gladness for the Spirit of Heaviness that thy great Name may be Glorified by me in a thankful acknowledgement of thy Goodness towards me 2. LORD thou beholdest afar off the manifold Perils and Dangers I am exposed to in this World which is a sea of Miseries and numerous Calamities The Winds blow the deep Waters lift up their proud swelling Waves and the stormy Tempests threaten me with Ship-wrack to the Ruine and Destruction both of Soul and Body But O thou who art the God of Unity speak Peace unto this inward Voice and say unto it I am thy Salvation so shall I be refreshed with thy loving Kindness and Praise thee ever more Amen SECT IV. Remedies against Temptations 1. THOU art assaulted with Temptations And what the Enemy cannot do by Force or Fraud he seeks by Importunity Can this seem averse to thee when the Son of God was in the Wilderness forty Days and forty Nights under the Tempter He that durst set upon the Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2.10 How shall he spare frail Flesh and Blood Why should Christ suffer himself to be Tempted but to support thee in all thy Temptations The Keys of the Bottomless Pit are at his disposal He could have confin'd that Presumptuous Spirit to Chains of Darkness and admitted him no nearer to him than Hell but he would let him loose and permit him to act his worst purposely that we might not dislike to be Tempted and that he might foyl our greatest Enemy 2. CANST thou think that he who sits at the right Hand of Majesty commanding the Powers of Heaven Earth and Hell could not keep off that malignant Spirit from assailing thee Canst thou think him less Merciful than mighty Would he die to save thee And will he turn that Miscreant of Hell loose to worry thee Dost thou not Pray daily to thy Father in Heaven to Lead thee nâ—t into Temptation Thou hast to do with a God that heareth Prayers Oh thou of little Faith why fearest thou He that was led by his Divine Spirit into the Wilderness to be Tempted of that Evil Spirit bids thee pray to the Father that he would not Lead thee into Temptation implying that thou couldst not go into Temptation unless he lead thee and whilst he that is thy Father leads thee how canst thou miscarry Let no Man when he is Tempted say I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with Evil neither tempteth he any Man Jam. 1.13 God Tempteth thee not yet being his thou couldst not be Tempted without him both permitting and ordering that Temptation to his own Glory and thy eternal Welfare 3. THAT Grace which God hath given thee he will have thus manifested How had we known the admirable Continency of Joseph if he had not been strongly sollicited by a Wanton Mistress Or David's Valour if the Philistines had not had a Giantly Challenger to encounter him How had we known the invincible Piety of the Three Children had there been no Furnace to try ' em Or of Daniel if no Lyons to accompany him Be assured thy Glory shall be Proportionable to thy Tryal Neither couldst thou ever be so happy hadst thoâ— not been beholding to Temptations How often sayst thou have I beaten off these base Suggestions yet still they retort upon
me as if Denials invited 'em as tho' they meant to tire me with their Solicitations as if I must yield and be overpow'rd though not with their Force yet with their Frequence 4. KNOW thou hast to do with Spiritual Wickedness Ephes. 6.12 whose Nature is as unweariable as their Malice unsatisfiable Thou hast a Spirit of thine own and God hath inspir'd thee with his So as he expects thou should'st through the Pow'r of his Gracious Assistance match the Importunity of that Evil Spirit with an indesatigable Resistance Be strong therefore in the Lord and in the Power of his Might and put on the whole Armour of God that thou may'st be able to stand in the Evil Day and having done all to stand Ephes 6.10 11 13. Look upon a stronger Champion than thy self the blessed Apostle thou shalt find him in thy own Condition See the Messenger of Satan sent to buffet him 2. Cor. 12.7 and he did it to purpose With what extream Rigour was he buffeted on both sides and how often Thrice he besought the Lord that it might depart from him Verse 8. but the Temptation holds only a Comfort countervails it My Grace is sufficient for thee for my Grace is made perfect in VVeakness Verse 9. 5. IT is not to be consider'd how hard thou art aim'd at as how strongly thou art upheld How many with the Blessed Martyr Theodorus have upon Racks and Gibbets found their Courage stronger than their Pains Whilâ—st therefore the Goodness of God supplies thee with abundance of Spiritual Vigour and Refreshment answerable to the worst of Assaults what dost thou complain of suffering The Advice is Sublime which St. James gives his Compatiots My Brethren count it all Joy when ye fall into divers Temptations Let Temptations be rather Trials by Afflictions than Suggestions of Sin yet even those overcome yield no small cause of Triumph For by them is our Faith tried and the trying of our Faith worketh Patience and the perfect work of Patience is a blessed Entireness The number of Enemies adds to the Praise of Victory To overcome a single Temptation is commendable but to subdue Multitudes is glorious 6. ALAS thou repliest I am opprest not with Multiplicity but with Pow'r In Duelling respect is had to the Equality both of the Combatants and Weapons But alas how am I overmatch'd I am a weak Wretch and We wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against Spiritual Wickedness in Heavenly Places Ephes. 6.12 Behold the Amorite whose height is like the height of Cedars and their Strength as the Strength of Oaks Amos 2.9 We are but poor Pismirs in the Valley to these Men of Measures Who can stand before these Sons of Anak I did not advise thee to be strong in thy self we are all Compounds of weakness One of those Pow'rs of Darkness were able to subdue all Mortality But to be Strong in the Lord whose inferiour Angel is able to vanquish a Hell of Devils And in the Pow'r of his Might commandeth the most furious of those Infernal Spirits to their Chains What a Condition should we be in if left to our selves there were no way for us but Circumvention and Death But Our Help is in the Name of the Lord who hath made Heaven and Earth Psal. 124.8 The Lord is our Strength and our Shield Psal. 28.7 He is our Rock and our Salvation He is our Defence so as we shall not be moved Psal. 62.2 6. It is he that hath girded us with Strength unto Battle and that subdueth those that rise up against us Psal. 18.39 7. ASSUME Courage therefore to thy self there can't be so much difference betwixt thee and those Hellish Pow'rs as there is betwixt them and the Almighty There Force is finite and limited by Omnipotence How glad do'st thou think Jannes and Jambres the great Magicians of Egypt would have made but an Insect in affront to Moses but could not How earnest was that Legion of Devils fain to beg leave to prevail over a few Gaderene-Swine How strong soever they seem to thee yet to him they are so weak that they cannot move without him Who fears a Bear or a Lion when chain'd to a Stake Children then can be Spectators when they are so Restrained Look not on thy self therefore nor them but look up to the Almighty who ordinates all Motions to his own holy Purposes and even out of their Malice raises Glory to himself and Advantage to his Servants 8. IT is a sad Advantage thou say'st I have made of Temptations For Alas I have been soil'd by 'em what by their Subtilty and Violence have been seduced into a grievous Sin against God and lie down in a just Confusion of Face to have been so miserably vanquished Had'st thou wanted Tears for thine Offences I should willingly have lent thee some But it is indeed a deplorable Case that thou hast given thy deadly Enemy this occasion to Triumph over thee and hast thus provoked God Nevertheless be thou throughly humbled under the Guilt of thy Sin and be not too hasty in snatching a Pardon out of the hand thou hast offended Be humbled and after a serious Repentance be not dis-heartned with thy Failings Neither do I dread to tell thee of an Advantage to be made not of thy Temptations only but of thy Sin 9. ART not thou a Gainer if after this thy Assault thou dost in a Holy Indignation rise up and fight the more valiantly A Wound received whets the Edge of Fortitude Many a one had not been Victorious if he had not bled first Look where thou wilt upon all the Saints of God observe if thou canst see any of them without his Scars Many fearful Gashes we have beheld of the Noblest of God's Champions whose Courage had not been raised to so high a Pitch had it not been out of the sense of some former Discomfortures As some well-spirited Wrestler be not troubled with thy Fall as zealous to repay it with a successful Encounter We know saith the blessed Apostle that all things worketh together for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 Yea even their very Sins The Corinthians offended in their silent Connivance at the Incestuous Person The Apostles Reproof produced their Sorrow What was the Issue For behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what Carefulness is wrought in you Yea what clearing of your selves yea what Indignation yea what Fear yea what vehement Desire yea what Zeal yea what Revenge 2 Cor. 7.11 What a marvellous Advantage is here made of one Offence And what hath Satan gain'd by this Encounter One poor Corinthian is misled to an incestuous Copulation The Evil Spirit rejoiceth at such a Prey but how long shall he enjoy it Soon after the offending Soul upon the Apostles Censure is reclaim'd he is deliver'd to Satan that he should never possess him 10. THE Corinthians
wish well to the Publick and make thine own Peace with God for thy particular Offences Renew the Covenant with God of a holy and strict Obedience and then pour out thy Prayers and Tears for an universal Mercy Then thou wilt not only pull away one Brand from this Consuming Fire but assist to quench the common Conslagration 11. THY Heart bleeds to see the woful Vastation of Civil Discord and the deadly fury of domestick Enemies Certainly there is nothing under Heaven more dreadful than the Face of an Intestine War nothing that so nearly resembles Hell Killing Dying Torturing Burning Shrieks Cries and Ejaculations fearful Sounds and furious Violences and whatsoever may increase Horror The present Calamity oppreâ—â—es one another Fear One is quivering in Death another trembles to expect it One begs for Life another will sell it dearer Heâ—e one would rescue one Life and loseth two another would hide himself where he finds a Merciless Death Here lies one bleeding groaning and grasping parting with his Soul inextremity of Anguish and another of a Vigorous Spirit kills and dies at once Here one wrings her Hands teaâ—s her Hair and seeks for some Instrument of a self-inflicted Death rather than yield her Chastity to a bloody Ravisher another clings to her Husband and takes part of the Murtherers Sword rather than let go her Embraces One is tortured for the Discovery of hid Treasure another dying upon the Rack out of Jealousie 12. IT is pity that Christians should be so bloodily Cruel to one another That he who bears the Image of God should thus turn Fiend to his own Flesh and Blood These are worthy of our bitterest Lamentations I love the Speculation of Seneca's Resolutely-Wise Man that could look upon the glittering Sword of an Executioner with undazled Eyes and makes it indifferent whether his Soul pass out of his Mouth or Throat But I should more admire the Practice Whilst we carry this Clay about us Nature in the best of us must shrink in at the sight of Death Yet these are the due Revenges of the Almighty's Punitive Justice so provok'd by our Sins that we cannot claim an easier Judgment 13. DOST thou not see Physicians when the Body is highly Distemper'd and the Blood Inflam'd to order the opening of a Vein and extracting out so many ounces as may leave the rest sit for Correction Why art thou over-troubled to see the great Physician of the World take this Course with sinful Mankind Certainly had not this great Body by wilful Disorder contracted these Spiritual Diseases and defiled the Blood that runs in these Vulgar Veins with Riots and Surfeits we had never been so Miserable as to see these Torrents of Christian Blood running down our Channels But could we bewail and abandon our former Wickednesses we might live in hope that at last this deadly Issue might stop and dry up and leave a Possibility of a Blessed Recovery 14. THOU art amaz'd with Grief to see the Pestilence raging in our Streets in so frequent a Mortality as breeds a question concerning the number of the Living and the Dead That which is wont to abate other Miseries heightens this the Company of Participants It was certainly a hard and sad Option that God gave to David after his numbring the People Chuse thee whether Seven Years Famine shall come unto thee in thy Land or three Months Flight before thine Enemies or two days Pestilence 2 Sam. 24.13 We may believe him when we hear him say I am in a great Strait but his wise Resolutions soon brought him out Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord for his Mercies are great And let me not fall into the hands of Man 2 Sam. 24.14 He that sent these Evils know their Value and the difference of their Malignity 15. YET he opposes three days Pestilence to seven Years Famine and three Months Vanquishment He knew there was advantage betwixt the dull Activity of Man and the quick Dispatch of an Angel It was a favour that the Angel who in One Night destroy'd an Hundred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians 2 King 19.35 should in three days cut off but Seventy thousand Israelites But the Almighty in his Judgments remembers Mercy We read of Grand Cairo wherein Eighteen hundred thousand were swept away in one Years Pestilence enough one would imagine to have De-Populated the whole Earth And in our Chronicles of so general a Mortality that the Living were hardly sufficient to Bury the Dead In the Year 1624 died of the Plague in one Week Four thousand four hundred sixty three and in our last Visitation 1665 was a larger Number In one Week Seven thousand one hundred sixty and five and in the whole Year Sixty eight thousand five hundred ninety six It was his tender Mercy that he spared any Alive But he Wounds that he may Heal and in wounding heals us for his Compassions fails not to us Sinners 16. THESE are dreadful demonstrations of God's Displeasure but there is this alleviation of our Misery that we suffer more immediately from a Holy Just and Merciful God The Kingly Prophet had never made that distinction in his Choice if he had not known a difference betwixt the Sword of an Angel and an Enemy betwixt God's more direct and immediate Infliction and the Malice of Men. It was but a poor Consolation given by a Victorious Enemy to dying Lausus Comfort thy self in thy Death with this that thou fallest by the Hand of Aeneas But surely we have just Reason to Comfort our Souls when a Pestilential Death compasses us about from the Thought and Intuition of that Gracious Hand under which we suffer So as we can say with good Eli It is the Lord. 17. IT is not amiss to nominate those Maâ—ks of Infection God's Tokens such they are and ought to Summon up our Eyes and Hearts to that Almighty Power that sends them with the Resolution of Holy Job Tho thou kill me yet will I trust in thee It is none of the least Miseries of Contagious Sickness for it bars us from the Comfortable Society and Attendance of Friends or else repays their Love and kind Visitation with Death Be not dismaid with this Solitude thou hast Company with thee whom no Infection can indanger or exclude There is an invisible Friend that will be sure to adhere to thee though thou art avoided by Neighbours and will make all thy Bed in thy Sickness and supply thee with those Cordials which thou in vain expect'st from earthly Visitants 18. INDEED justly do we stile this Sickness for the Mortalness and Generality of the Dispersion Yet there is a Remedy that can cure and confine it Let but every one inspect the Plague of his own heart and the Land is healed Can we with David see the Angel that smites us and erect an Altar and offer God the Sacrifices of our Prayers Penitence and Obedience we shall hear him say It is enough 2 Sam. 24.16 His
Mercies are everlasting and Remedies certain Be we but Penitent we cannot be Miserable 19. WE soon forgot this Visitation loss of Friends and God's Judgments and thought with foolish Agag that Surely the Bitterness of Death is past 1 Sam. 15.32 and provok'd him still to Wrath against us we must have after our Contagion a Purgation by Fire which the best Naturalists say is a proper Remedy against Infection the Almighty seeing it necessary to use this Prescription prepar'd it into a Medicine That great Conflagration which consum'd most part of our City to Ashes It was dreadful to behold and made most tremble yet what signs of Remorse do we shew What Vanity I fear I may ask what Vice have we substracted upon the Sense of God's Anger What nicety in Cloaths or Diet have we cut off in sympathy with the Nakedness and Hunger of our afflicted Brethren Nay do not the unreasonable Jollities among us look as if we triumpht in their Miseries found Musick in the Discordant Sound of their Groans and our own Laughter and emulated that infamous Barbarity of Nero who play'd while Rome burn'd 'T is mention'd by the Prophet as a most prepost'rous thing a kind of impious Solecism to revel under the Menace of Judgments Amos 4.11 I have over-thrown some of you as God over-threw Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a Fire-brand pluckt out of the Burning yet have ye not return'd to me saith the Lord. 20. FIRE is the Eagle in Nature nothing in the Elementary World mounts so high to its Place and stoops so low to its Prey The two Properties God himself ascribes to that Bird Job 39.27 30. And if we still refuse obstinately to be gather'd like Chickins under our Lord's Wings he can again let loose this Bird of Prey this Eagle of Heaven upon us and from the East where it began before flie it home like Lightning even to the utmost West to seize and to devour where-ever there is the least Quarry remaining 21. NEXT Gebal and Ammon and Amalek and the rest that Hell and Rome and their Partizans our Enemies on all hands both Foreign and Domestick have been so long Confederate against us saying Come and let us root them out that they be no more a People that the Name of that Reformed Church of England may be no more in remembrance They have often attempted to bring about their malicious Designs and yet have not been able to seize us To what can we justly ascribe all this but to the gracious Protection of the Almighty to whom we must fly for Defence and Aid 22. AND now when restless and unquiet Men the true Spawn of him whose Tail drew the third part of the Stars of Heaven and cast them to the Earth would fain by their Hellish Plots and Contrivances bring us down again from thence even down to the Ground and lay our Honor in the Dust When by their secret Machinations they are at work on all sides to hurry us back into the old Confusions in hope that out of that disorder'd Mass they may at length rear up a new World of their own but what a World A World made up of a new Heaven of Superstitions and Idolatries A new Earth too of Anarchy first and pretended Liberty but of Tyranny insufferable at the next Remove 23. IN such a dangerous State of Affairs as this whether should we nay whether else can we seek for Help and Deliverance but under his Protections the stretching out of whose Arms of Providence fills the Breadth of thy Land O England He can make these Cockatrice Eggs on which this Generation of Vipers that eat out the the Bowels of their Mother have sat so long abrood windy and addle So that out of the Serpents Root shall never proceed an Adder to bite us or a fiery flying Serpent to Devour us He can confound these Babel Builders with their City Tower and Temple their Foreign Policy and strange Worship their Novel Modes and Models of Governmnet in Church and State and scatter them abroad from hence upon the Face of the Earth like as a Dream when one awaketh So shall he despise their Images and their Imaginations too and make their whole Contrivance consume away like a Snail and Become like the untimely Fruit of a Woman which shall never see the Sun 24. AND And now let us cry mightily unto God and say Remember not Lord our Offences nor the Offences of our Fore-Fathers neither take thou Vengeance of our Sins Spare us good Lord spare thy People whom thou hast Redeemed with thy most Precious Blood and be not angry with us for ever And good Lord deliver us from Lightning and Tempest from Plague Pestilence Fâ—mine and Fire from Battle and Murder and from sudden Death From all Sedition and Faction Privy Conspiracy and Rebellion from all false Doctrin Heresie and Schism from hardness of Heart and Contempt of the World and Commandment Libera nos Domine A Prayer in time of Publick Calamity O THOU God of Justice I humbly beseech thee in this thy Wrath to remember Mercy We confess O Lord our Guilt flasheth in our Faces and Woe unto us for we have Sinned We have not kept the way of the Lord but perfidiously departed from thee our God the Wise hath trusted in his Wisdom the Strong in his Strength and the Rich in his Riches Thus have we brought our selves under the Curse by trusting in the Arm of Flesh and the Ballances of Deceit are in our Hands and throughout the whole course of our Lives we have wrought a deceitful Work 2. BUT O God bow down thy Ear unto our Prayers attend unto the voice of our Supplications create in us new Hearts O God and renew right Spirits within us We have all been Examples of Sin O make us all Examples of Reformation that old things may pass away and all things may become new Deliver us O Lord from these Publick Calamities which we so Righteously have deserved and let not thy Displeasure arise any more against us and grant that we may serve thee for the future in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our Lives Amen SECT VIII Loss of Friends 1. THOU hast lost thy Friend Thy Sorrow is just the Earth hath nothing more precious than what thou hast parted with For what is a Friend but a Man's self A Soul divided in two Bodies and animated by the same Spirit It is somewhat worse with thee than a Palsied Man whose half is stricken with Numbness he hath lost but the use of one side of his Body thou the half of thy Soul Or may I not with assurance say that a true Friend hath two Souls in one Body his Own and his Friend 's It was so with Jonathan and David The Soul of Jonathan was knit with the Soul of David and Jonathan lov'd him as his own Soul 1 Sam. 18.1 2. STILL the more Goodness the stronger Union Nature can never so fast
And our Saviour hath annexed The Cares of the World and the Deceitfulness of Riches Mark 4.19 He was envied at Rome which could experimently say The poor Man laughs oftner and freer than the Rich and that external Felicity is a perplexity never ceasing to vex it self Thy sides are now freed from Thorns why do'st thou repine at thine Ease 10. THOU lately possessed'st great Riches But rather say Thou wert possess'd by them A wise Roman truly observed That many a one hath Wealth which clogs him as many aptly say Such a one has an Ague when indeed the Ague hath him and holds him with severity Indeed many a Man's Wealth is his Master and keeps under rigid Articles not allowing sufficient Diet Competent Rest nor any Recreation If thou wert thus a Slave to thine Estate thou art not thine own Man enjoy thy Liberty and with thy Patience be thankful THOU art very poor Who made thee so If thy Negligence Laziness Improvidence Prodigality and rash Engagements thou hast reason to bear that Burthen which thou hast pull'd upon thy Shoulders And if forc'd to groan under thy Load which thy own Will hath procured in this Necessâ—ty let the same Necessity move thy Will to run as lightly as thou canst with that pressing Weight If the Occasion comes by others God will enable thee cheerfully to flie with this Cross because thy Hand was not Guilty of imposing it 12. HOW easie is it for thee to see God's Hand chastising thee by another Man's Sin And to be griev'd as the Sin of others Injuriousness than at thine own Correction How dismal it is for Christians to see Brethren a Prey to each other That Neighbours should be like the Reed and Brake set near together the one to Starve the other That we should have daily occasion to renew that woful Comparison of Bromiard betwixt the Friends and Enemies of Christ That Jews don't suffer Beggars but Christians make them 13. NOW if God thinks fit to send Poverty to thy Door by the Message of Men bid it Welcom for his sake that sent it and entertain it not repiningly for its own sake for if well us'd 't will repay thee with many Blessings as quiet Rest safe Security humble Patience contented Humility and a contemptuous Valuation of Earthly Things All which absented thy House in a Prosperous Condition 14. THOU art depriv'd of thy former Conveniencies as Diet Lodging and Attendance How many have affected that which is befallen thee upon Necessity Some out of the Grounds of Philosophy others of Religion Attalus the Philosopher might have lain Soft yet he Praises the Bed and Pillow that will not yield to his Body And Nero's great and rich Master brags of his usual dining without a Table What should I tell then of the Pharisees uneasie Couches and penal Garments the Mats of the Elect Manichees and the austere Usages of the antient Eremitical Christians their rigorous Abstinences affamishing Meals nightly Watchings cold Ground-lyings and sharp Disciplines Thou art in Ease and Splendor in comparison of these who voluntarily impos'd upon 'em these Severeties which thou wouldst be loath to undergo from others Cruelty It was a strange word of Epicurus not savouring of Contentment but Presumption Give me but Water with Barley-Meal and I shall vie with Jupiter for Happiness And if this Ethnick who had an ill Name for Affectation of Pleasure could rest so well contented with a poor Mess of this Composition what a shame it is for Christians not to think themselves satisfied with a larger tho homely Provision A Prayer in time of Poverty O MOST Great and Glorious Lord God the Earth is thine and thy Providence divideth it among the Sons of Men thou makest Poor and thou makest Rich thou bringest low and liftest up the Needy out of the Dust that he may Glorifie thee Thou art the Saviour and Deliverer of the Fatherless and him that hath no helper Lord behold my Necessities who despisest not the Needy tho thou hast Afflicted me yet Strengthen me so that my Wants may never cast me down to despair of thy Favour nor endeavour their supply by any thing which offendeth thee and whatever I want let me never want the comfortable assurance of thy Love and Mercy neither take thy holy Spirit from me 2. BE my Strength in Distress a Refuge from the Storm and a Shadow from the Heat O thou who art the God of all Consolation supply I beseech thee my Necessities hear me and make speed to relieve me forsake me not O my God open the high Places and the Fountains in the midst of the Valleys for the Thirsty Soul Let thy hand relieve me until thou shalt be pleased to bring me into thy blessed Presence where is fulness of Joy without want measure or end Lord sanctifie those Wants unto me make me rich in Faith and those Spiritual Treasures which once had shall never be lost again Grant me these things O merciful God and whatever else thou knowest necessary for me for the sake of thy dear Son my ever Blessed Lord and Saviour Amen SECT X. Of Confinement 1. THOU art restrain'd of thy Liberty I cannot blame thee to be sensible of the Affliction Liberty uses to hold competition with Life it self And how many have lost their Lives to purchase Liberty But take care that thou art not guilty of thine own Complaint for certainly thou canst not be depriv'd of Liberty except thou wilt Liberty is a priviledge of the Will Will is a Sovereign Power not subject to Restraint or Constraint 2. HAST thou freedom to thine own Thoughts It is not the Inclosing of these external Parts that can make thee a Prisoner Thou art not worthy the name of a Man if thou imagin'st this Body thy self which Human Power can reach to Art thou a Christian Then thou hast learn'd to submit thy Will to God's and his Divine Will is declared in his Actions And if his will be to have thee Restrain'd why should it not be thine And if thou desire to be Confin'd why dost thou complain for want of Liberty 3. THGU art Restrain'd And is it such Injustice thou art depriv'd from ranging Abroad How ill hast thou improv'd thy Time if thou hast not laid up enough both of Employment and Contentment in thy Bosom What pleasure can'st thou enjoy abroad to behold those Contentions and horrid Actions thine Eye shall meet withal which thy Confinement frees thee from being a Spectator The Thought is enough to make a Man Miserable And instead of them thou art presented only with the Face of thy Keeper which Custom and Necessity hath made Familiar 4. THOU art immur'd within Stone-Walls and all Company secluded from thee but content thy self God and his Angels cannot be kept out Thou hast better Company in Solitude than Liberty afforded thee The Jollity of Freedom rob'd thee of the Conversation of Spiritual Comforts which only can render thee Happy They which were Strangers to thee
Fruits of Righteousness which thou hast laid up for all those who rest on thee Hear me O Lord and let my Cry come unto thee and have Mercy upon me Amen SECT XI In Exile 1. THOU art banish't thy Country Beware lest in Complaining thou censure thy self A wise Man's Country is every where What relation hath the Place of thy Nativity to thy present Station any more than the Time of thy Residing What Reason hast thou to be more affected to the Region where thou drewest thy first Breath than to the day of Week or the Hour of the Day in which thou salutest the Light What are Times and Places of our Birth but unconcerning Circumstances Where-ever thou enjoy'st thy self thou mayst make that thy Country 2. BUT thou say'st There is a secret Property in our Native Soyl that attracts our Affection and weds our Hearts to it not without a pleasing kind of Delight now no Reason can be granted why we affect the Place it is not because better than others but being our own we esteem it Ulysses doth no less value the Rocky Soyl of his barren Ithaca than Agamemnon the noble Walls of his rich and pleasant Mycenae I grant this Relation hath so powerful an Influence upon our hearts naturally as is pretended yet such a one as is easily check'd with a small unkindness How many upon an actual Affront have diverted their Respects from their Native Country and out of a strong Alenation of Mind have turn'd their Love into Hostility 3. WE shall not seek far for Histories our Times and Memories will furnish us sufficiently Some who have sucked the Breasts of our common Mother upon a little dislike have spit in her Face Others of our Domestick Compatriots have upon the disgust of some displeasing Laws fled their Country suborn'd Treasons and incited Forreign Princes to our Invasion That have endeavour'd to subvert the Government extirpate that Religion Establish't amongst us and to set up a piece of Pageantry of their own So this Natural Affection is not so ardent in many but may be quench'd with a mean Discontentment If there were no other ground of thine Affliction thy Sorrow is not so deep-rooted but it may easily be pluck'd up 4. PERHAPS it is not the Air or Earth thou insists upon but the Company from whom it is Death to part Thou arguest I shall leave all Acquaintance and Conversation and be cast upon strange Faces and Languages I understand not My best Entertainment will be Solitude and my Ordinary Inhospitality What do'st thou perplex thy self with these superfluous Terrors He is not worthy the Name of a Philosopher much less of a Christian that hath not attain'd to be absolute in himself and which way soever he is cast to stand upon his own Bottom that if there were no other Men left in the World was ignorant how to enjoy himself It is that within us whereby we must live and be happy Some Additions of Complacency may come from without Sociable Natures find Pleasure in Conversation but if that be deny'd Sanctify'd Spirits know how to converse comfortably with God and themselves 5. HOW many holy Ones of old have purposely withdrawn themselves from Worldly Company that they might be blessed with an invisible Society that have exchanged Cities for Deserts Houses for Caves the Sight of Men for Beasts that their Spiritual Eyes might be fixed upon those Objects which the World held from them And necessity puts thee into that Estate which their Piety affected But to be driven to forsake Parents Kinsfolk Friends how sad a Case must it needs be What is this but a perfect Distraction What are we but Off-springs of our Parents What are Friends but dear to us And what is the World without these Comforts 6. WHEN thou hast said all what is befaâ—n thee more than it pleased God to enjoyn the Father of the Faithful Get thee out of thy Country and from thy Kindred and from thy Fathers House into a Land that I will shew thee Gen. 13.1 The same God by the Command of Authority calls thee to this Separation If thou wilt shew thy self worthy the Son of such a Father do that in an humble Obedience to God which thou art urg'd to do by Compulsion of Men. 7. BUT is this so vexatious a Case Do'st thou think to find God where thou goest Or dost thou believe his Company will attend thee to the End of thy Journey Hath he not said who cannot fail I will not leave thee nor forsake thee Certainly he is not worthy to lay Claim to God that cannot find Parents Kindred and Friends in him alone Besides he that of Stones could raise up Children unto Abraham how easily can he of Inhospitable Men raise up Friends to the Sons of Abraham Only labour to inherit that Faith wherein he walked that alone shall free Denizen thee in the best of Foreign States and shall entertain thee in the wildest Desarts 8. THOU art cast upon a Foreign Nation Be of good Chear Flowers remov'd grow greater and some Plants which were unthriving and unwholsom in their own Soil have grown safe and flourishing in other Climates Had Joseph been great if not transplanted into Egypt Had Daniel and his three Companions of the Captivity ever attained honour in their Native Land Many have found that health in a Change of Air which they could not meet at home In Africa the South-Wind clears up and the North is Rainy Look still to that hand which translated thee wait his good Pleasure Be thou no Stranger to God it matters not who are Strangers to thee 9. THOU art banish't How canst thou be so when upon thy Fathers Ground The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the World and they that dwel therein Psal. 24.1 In his Right where-ever thou art thou may'st challenge a Spiritual Interest All things saith the Apostle are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's 1 Cor. 3.21 22 22. No Man can challenge thee for a Stranger that is not thy Father's Child 9. THINE Exile separates thee from Friends This were no small Affliction if it might not be remedied That was a true Word of Laurentius That where Two Faithful Friends are met God makes up a Third But is it no less true that where one Faithful Spirit is God makes up a Second One God can more than supply a thousand Friends 11. THY Banishment deprives thee of the Comfort of thy Companions Would not a voluntary Travel do as much Do not thousands willingly for many Years change their Country for Forreign Regions taking long Farewels of their dearest Friends and Acquaintance some out of Curiosity and a thirst after knowledge and some out of a covetous desire after a Gain What Difference is there betwixt thee and them but that their Travel is voluntary thy Exile constrain'd But who are there thou art so sorry to part with Remember what Crates the Philosopher said to a Young Man that was
the days of a mispent Youth so now accomplish thine own Work give me an Heart faithfully to adhere unto thee that I may constantly Endeavour to Redeem the many Errors of my life past by becoming a Pattern of Faith and Obedience in all those with whom I Converse with for the Future Lord fill me with thy Holy Spirit that I may bear more fruit in my Age Forsake me not now I am Old and Gray-Headed Neither Remember the Sins and Follies of my Youth 2. O let thy Power appear in my Weakness and the Operation of thy Spirit in the Decays and Ruins of this Earthly Tabernacle by the evident repair of thine own Image in me Mortifying the remainds of Sin and assuring me of my Election and Calling in Christ Jesus And now O Lord that the time of my departure draweth nigh give me a vigilant Spirit that I may be ready when thou Summonest me Lord there are but few steps between me and this Worlds period O strengthen me with thy Grace give me a lively Faith an Invincible and Constant perseverance in this Race of the few and evil dayes of this Earthly Pilgrimage that by thy merciful Assistance I may so run that I may obtain That when thou pleasest to give me rest from my Labours and gather me to my Fathers I may against all the pains and Sorrows of Death willingly and cheerfully yield up my Soul into thy Gracious Hands in full assurance of my Redeemption and Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen SECT XVI Of Mortality 1. THOU fearest Death The Holiest Wisest and Strongest have done no less He is King of Terrors and must command Thou mayst hear the Man after God's own heart say Psal. 116.3 The sorrows of Death compassed me And Psal. 88.3 4 5. My Soul is full of troubles my life draweth nigh to the Grave I am counted with them that go down to the Pit as a Man that hath no strength free among the Dead And Good Hezekiah upon the message of Death Chattered like a Crane or a Swallow and went mourning as a Dove Isa. 38.14 2. THOU fearest as a Man but must strive too ver-come as a Christian which thou mayst perform if from the terrible aspect of the Messenger thou cast thine eyes upon the Amiable Face of God that sends him Holy David shews the way Psal. 18.5 6. The snares of Death prevented me In my distress I called upon the Lord and cryed unto my God and he heard my voice out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues of death Psal. 68.20 3. MAKE God thy Friend and Death shall be an advantage Phil. 1.21 It is true what the Wise Man said VVisd 1.13 Chap. 2.24 that God made not death but through envy of the Devil death came into the VVorld But though God made him not he is pleas'd to employ him as his Messenger to Summon some to Judgment and Invite others to Glory and those the Psalmist makes mention of are these latter Psal. 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints And what reason hast thou to abomâ—nate that which God accounts precious 4. THOU art afraid of Death Acquaint thy self with him more and thou wilt fear him less Bears and Lyons at the first sight affright us but upon frequent viewing lose their Terror Inure thine eyes to the sight of Death and that Face shall not displease thee Thou must shortly dwell with him for a long time for the days of darkness are many Eccl. 11.8 but in the mean time entertain him as the blessed Apostle doth 1 Cor. 15.31 I protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I dye daily 5. INVITE him to thy Board lodge him in thy Bed discourse him in thy Closet and walk with him in thy Garden as Joseph of Arimathea did and by no means suffer him to be a stranger to thy thoughts This familiarity shall bring thee to delight in his company whom thou didst formerly dread then thou mayest with the blessed Apostle say Phil. 1.23 I have a desire to be with Christ which is far better 6. THOU art gievously afraid of Death Fears are apt to imagin and aggravate evils Even Christ himself walking upon the waters and the Disciples trembled as at some dreadful Apparition perhaps thou lookst at Death as some utter abolition or extinction of thy being and nature must needs shrink at the thought of not being at all This is an ill and dangerous misprision For it is but departing which thou call'st Death 7. SEE how God stiles it to Abraham Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace thou shalt be buried in a good old Age Gen. 15.15 And Jacob Gen. 49.33 When Jacob had ended commanding his Sons he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the Ghost and was gathered unto his People So that dying is going to our Fathers and gathering to our People with whom we shall live in a better World and re-appear Gloâ—ious Let but thy Faith represent Death to thee in this shape and he will not appear terrible 8. DO but observe in what familiar terms God Confer'd with Moses concerning his Death Deut. 32.49 Get thee up into this Mountain Abarim unto Mount Nebo which is in the Land of Moab and behold the Land of Canaan which I gave unto the Children of Israel for a Possession and dye in the Mount whither thou goest up and be gathered to thy People as Aaron thy Brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his People So it is no more go up there and dye should it have been go a days Journey in the Wilderness to Sacrifice it could have been no otherwise expressed or as if it were all one to go up to Sinai to meet with God and go up to Nebo and dye Neither is it otherwise with us only the difference is that Moses must first view the Land of Promise and then dye whereas we must first dye and then see the Promised Land 9. THOU art troubled with the fear of Death What reason hast thou to be Afflicted with that which is common to Mankind Remember the words of Joshua Josh. 23.14 Behold this day saith he I am going the way of all the Earth If all the Earth go this way couldst thou think there is a by-path left thee to tread in were it so that Monarchs Princes Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles were allow'd any easier passage out of the World thou mightst perhaps repine at a painful dissolution but now since all go one way there can be no ground for a discontented murmur 10. GRUDGE if thou wilt that thou art a man but grudge not that being a man thou must dye It is true those whom the last day shall find alive shall not dye but they shall be changed 1 Cor. 15.51 52. but this change shall be
the Lyon and Adder the young Lyon and the Dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet Psal. 91.9 10 11 12 13. In secular Enmity true Valour may be oppress'd but not easily daunted with Multitude I will not be afraid of ten thousand saith David Psal. 3.6 and Psal. 118.12 They came about me like Bees but in the Name of the Lord will I destroy them 8. IT was a brave Resolution in that General when a Soldier told him the Persian Arrows darkned the Sun be of good chear said he then we shall sight in the shade Answerable to which was that Heroical Determination of Luther who against all Threats and Disswasions would go into the City of VVorms though as many Devils were in it as Tiles upon the Houses and why should we not imitate this Confidence What if there were as many Devils in the Air as are Spires of Grass upon the Earth God is our refuge and strength as a very present hâ—lp in trouble therefore will we not fear though the Earth be removed though the Mountains be carryed into the midst of the Sea Psal. 46.12 Behold God is our Salvation we will trust and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song he also is become our Salvation â—â—a 12.2 Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee bâ—fore him like as the smoake vâ—nisheth so shalt thou drive them away Psal. â—8 1 2. 9. BUT on the malice of those infernal Spirits is implacable and deadly whose Artifice is Temptation and Accusation whose delight Torment Shrieks Howlings Groans and Gnashing whose main Drift is the Eternal Damnation of miserable Mankind Why should we expect otherwise from him who is a Manslayer from the beginning That carries Destruction in his Name and Nature That goes about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour 10. SURELY this Malignanty is restless on this side Hell But comfort thy self in spight of Hells malice thou art safe Dost thou not know by thee stands the Victorious Lyon of the Tribe of Judah whom that infernal Fiend dare not look in the Face Dost thou not remember when sentence was pronounc'd of Eternal Enmity between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent it was with this Doom It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Gen. 3.15 11. A bruise of a Heel is far from the Heart but a bruise of the Serpents Head is Mortal where his Sting is there his Life lies Neither did the Seed of the Woman Christ Jesus this for himself who was infinitely above all the Power and Malice of the Devil but for us the impotent and sinful Seed of Man The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your Feet saith the blessed Apostle Rom. 16.20 not under his own only Of whom God the Father had long before said Sit thou on my Right Hand till I make thine Enemies thy Foot-stool Psal. 110.1 But what do I speak of the Future Already is this great work atchieved For the Lord of Life having spoiled Principalities and Powers hath made a shew of them openly triumphing over them on his Cross Col. 2.15 12. ALL the Powers of Hell were dragg'd after this Conquerour when he advanced upon that Triumphant Chariot Look therefore on these Hellish Forces as vanquished and know that in all things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 Only do thou by the power of thy Faith apply to thy self this great work that thy Victorious Saviour hath done for Salvation of all Believers 13. POWER without Malice were Harmless and Malice without Power Impotent But when both combine together they are Dreadful But Malice to execute Mischief hath Force or Fraud now the Malice of Satan prevails more by the latter and the Subtilty of these Malignant Spirits is perniciouser than their Power In his Power he is a Lion Psal. 7.2 in his Subtilby he is a Serpent Gen. 3.1 He is that Old Serpent Rev. 20.2 Whose craft is marvellously increased by the Experience of so many thousand Years 14. THEN the more careful ought we to be lest as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 2.11 Satan should get an advantage of us This he seeks and if our Spiritual Wisdom and Circumspection be not vigilant will be sure to find It is a Word too sublime for us which the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 2.11 For we are not ignorant of Satans devices Alas he hath a thousand that weak Simplicity is not able to reach The Wisest knows not the Deceitfulness of his own heart much less can we dive into the Plots of Hell that are against us 15. WE hear and are forwarned of the wiles of the Devil Eph. 6.11 But what his Machinations are how can we know or prevent Ev'n the Children of this world saith our Saviour Luke 16.8 are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light How Craftier is their Father from whom their cunning is deriv'd Be as humble then as thou wilt and say with Agur the Son of Jakeh Prov. 30.2 3. Surely I am more brutish then any man and have not the understanding of a man I neither learned Wisdom nor have the knowledge of the Holy 16. BUT what ever thou art in thy self know what thou art in Gods esteem Consider what the Psalmist impartially professes Psal. 119.98 Thou through thy Commandments hast made me wiser than mine Enemies for they are ever with me The Spirit of Wisdom is ours as well as Righteousness Deut. 34.9 Eph. 1.17 1 Cor. 1.30 And he who over-rules Hell hath said Mat. 16.18 The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church 17. WHAT are Hell Gates but the deep Plots of those Infernal Powers The Serpent is the Emblem of Subtilty The Serpents of the Egyptian Sorcerers were devoured by Moses his Serpent Wherefore but to shew that all crafty Counsels and Machinations of hellish Projectors are easily destroyed by the Power and Wisdom of the Almighty It was the Rod of God that swallow'd 'em all and was still it self when they were vanquished And when Satan thought to have won most honor to himself attended him shame and loss 18. WHAT an advantage did the Powers of Darkness think to acquire in drawing our first Parents by their subtil Suggestions into sin and perdition imagining either Mankind shall not or shall be ours But the Incomprehensible Wisdom and Mercy of God disappointed their hopes and took occasion by Man's fall to raise him to a greater Glory and so order it that the Serpents nibling at the heel lost him the breaking of his head What Trophies did that wicked Spirit think to erect upon the Ruines of miserable Job and how was that Saint doubled in his Estate and Honour by his conquering Patience 19. HOW confidently did the Subtilty of Hell say concerning the Son of God exhibited in the flesh This is the Heir come let us kill him and the Inheritance shall be ours Mat. 21.38