of these great Confirmations that I hope with assured Confidence was the Voice of my beloved God and Master yea as indeed it had been with an audible Voice said I will do for thee even exceeding abundantly c. I will surely give thee a Deliverance that shall make thee glad above all thy Sorrows past I do remember thy Prayers and Groans oft in this Walk and though I was only a Witness of them then yet now as I have seen in secret so will I reward thee openly The time is now come and it shall linger no more rejoice and be glad O my Prisoner of Hope for the Time of thy Release is come I remember thy Kindness and know thy Love be still and know that I am God I know thy Distress and that thy Straits now draw near but fear not I will take care of thee and the greater the Extremity be the greater Testimony thou givest to me c. This Thursday Evening the 17th of Aug. when I came in with some Challenges I got first great Access to my dear God in Confession and the sense of his Peace which was so lively and sweet as is unexpressible After I found some sweet renewing of former Confirmations with Power impressed on me thus 1. As your latter Works have exceeded your former so shall your latter Days also 2. As you have not made haste until my time so this is the time I have watched for when you are now so low to make my Power known 3. And do you fear to trust me Are the Consolations of God small or have they ever failed you 4. You know not my Child what I am to do for you and how near it is c. After I went down this last Night what Confirmation had I from God further And now this Morning Aug. 18. I had some lively Exercise of the same nature as before c. And now this Saturday Aug. 19. how clear an Evidence did God himself give me of the Evidence of the Work of Grace in my Soul in some most lively Actings thereof so as to rejoice in him as my alone Portion so as to say He only is my Salvation and my Defence my All in whom I desire to triumph and boast And therewith what a sweet Inbreaking followed from himself when he said thus to my Soul I will deliver you in a Way you know not and when all Means fail then is the Time I chuse I know thou hast none to look to but me It is not yours to see now But blessed are they that believe for there shall be a Performance of things promised Dost thou see the Pledges I have given you and the Conveyance of them with such Sealings and Embracements of my Love Remember the Text that Hope makes not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in thy Heart Thou hast been long trading with the Talent of the Cross for some Fruit unto me But now I will also give thee a Talent of Comfort and put it in trust under thy Hand c. And O how remarkable hath this Evening been and Close of this Week which I may call a most solemn Confirming Week And now in its close had I most near and sweet Access to my dear God in Prayer And I hope I may own these immediate Confirmations from himself As 1. What shall be done to the Man whom the King delighteth to honour to whom my Honour and Service hath been dear 2. Have I said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee and can I leave thee now when thou hast most need of me and when all Refuge faileth 3. I know thou art at the hardest Part of that Lesson to believe in Hope against Hope but fear not I am with thee which in an extraordinary Way was then spoken and though thou see not what thy Outgate shall be leave that to me 4. And what a marvellous and sweet Confirmation did the Lord give to his poor Servant as I came down Return unto thy Rest and be still Which did so deeply surprise and astonish as answering so directly to what that Day had been my Exercise what he would do with my Hope which seemed to be against Hope This was the giving me a new Text to answer what I had long been upon c. He spent his Days and Years after this Manner And in order to have the Year rightly carried on it was we find his Custom from the 15th or 16th Year of his Age to his last to set a-part the first Day of every Year in renewing his Covenant with God in a new Self-surrender and Dedication of himself to him or if interrupted the first Day then to take the first convenient Day following We cannot give any Account of the Manner of his doing this for the first Years of his Life but we may guess what they have been by the few Instances following 1691. It is in the Entry of this new Year as I have done now for many Years past most solemnly that I desire to renew again my personal Engaging of my self to the Lord my God and for him and with my whole Heart and Desire to enter my self into his Service and take on his blessed Yoke and humbly to lay claim embrace and take him O Him to be my God alone my All my Light and my Salvation my Shield and exceeding great Reward Whom have I in Heaven but thee O Lord or in the Earth whom do I desire besides thee And now under thy blessed Hand my Soul desires and does here testify my Trusting my self and securing my whole Interest my Credit my Conduct my Comfort my Assistance my Thorow-bearing and my poor Children and to leave my self herein on the gracious Hand of my dearest Lord whilst I am within time As I write this the 2d Day of Jan. 1691. R. Fleming 1692. It is in the Entry and first Day of this new Year that I desire here as formerly to enter in this hidden Record a new Surrender and Offering of my self to my dearest Lord and Master who hath been wonderfully tender and gracious to me and hath brought me by his immediate Conduct through the Days and Years of my Pilgrimage past hath still cared for his poor Thing and given more singular Mercies and Evidences of Respect than to many else and now as still formerly hath taken me through this last Year with singular Evidences of his Presence and Assistance And as I trusted my self to my Lord so hath he graciously answered for which and his special Grace hitherto I desire to insert this Witness of my Soul's blessing the Lord my God And now I do here with my full and joyful Consent testify my giving up my self again to the Lord and to his Work and Service here and where-ever he shall call me with desire to consecrate my old Age to my God and the Guide of my Youth I love my Master and his Service and let my Ears be nailed to the Posts
Prayers cease not to Ascend for You your Pious Consort and eminently Hopeful Branches May You ever be more and more Honours to them and They be more and more Joys unto You. May neither of You now sleep in the Afternoon for to that Time of Day it is come in your Lives And may both of Them have their Noon and Evening answerable to their fair Morning May Self-denial be Your and their Business without which all Religion is but your Play May your Prosperity neither slay or so much as wound you in your Eye may the Paradises which have no Tree of Life in them be contemned though they are possessed May great Roots under Ground make you great Trees above it rich Truth in the inner-parts make you rich in good Works May you prefer Heaven above Earth as manifestly as others prefer it above Hell Not accounting your selves to have much profited in Christianity till you count that you have nothing else to profit much in And always remembring that if you take not the Kingdom of Heaven by force the Kingdom of Hell will take you by it May the Mercy of the Lord rest upon the Family of the Ashhursts and his Righteousness be to their Childrens Children Under many Obligations and in sweet Hopes thus prayeth SIR Your Honourer and Humble Servant DANIEL BURGESS BOOKS published by Mr. Robert Fleming 1. THe Fulfilling of the Scripture In three Parts 2. The Confirming Work of Religion 3. The Treatise of Earthquakes 4. The Epistolary Discourse Dedicated to the Queen's Majesty 5. The One thing Necessary 6. The Survey of Quakerism 7. The Present Aspect of the Times 8. The Healing Work written twelve Years ago upon the account of Divisions among Professors in Scotland A SERMON on the Death of Mr. Robert Fleming 1 COR. XV. 55 56 57. O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law But Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ubi est Aculeus tuus O Mors Ubi est Victoria tua Inferne Syriac Ubi suprema Vis tua O Mors Arabic Ubi igitur Mortis Victoria Ubi igitur Mortis Stimulus Aethiopic UPON this mournful Occasion I present this Text as a Pearl-Cordial and the most Restorative that I could find in the Divine Dispensatory Wonderful Words it consists of such as seem too high to be uttered below Heaven and too soon-spoken before the Resurrection But what Heavenly Scribe wrote them you do all know and with how like a Boldness and Bravery of Faith our holy FLEMING did use to sing them all of you are not ignorant They are made the Theme of this Discourse for this end that they may also become our Song in the House of our Pilgrimage There are obvious in them A triumphant Song v. 55. A justifying Reason v. 56. A holy Gratulation v. 57. A triumphant Song wherein Rhetorick hath even exhausted it self such is the Melody of its Prosopopaeia speaking to Death and the Grave as Persons and not Things Such is the Pungency of its Interrogation which doth not here doubt but upbraid and insult Such the Elegancy of the Meiosis covering the biggest part of its meaning asking no more than what is become of their Power to hurt though meaning that both are made to work for Good Such is the Glory of the Celeusma and Shout wherein Victory Faith and Joy as above Expression are published in Form of Admiration O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory O Death O Grave our one Enemy bearing these two Names once so strong as to conquer all and so cruel as to spare none once a Dragon that swallowed up the World an Abaddon and Apolluon of Jewish World and Gentile Christian Faith now dares look thee in the Face and ask in Zebul's Words to Gaal Where is now thy Mouth It proclaims thee to be as the Beast in the Revelation which was and is not yea as a corrected Viper of an horrid Poison to be made a sovereign Medicine of a King of Terrors to be made a gracious Prince of Peace the loathsom Prison of thy Grave to be turned to a quiet Bed-chamber and thy Sepulchers to be no more Hell's Gates Camero in Myrothec in Mat. 16.18 but Heaven's Porches It is true thou retainest Power to kill the Bodies of Saints but having so done thou canst do no more and what is it that thou dost therein Thou killest but makest not an end of them Thou curest them of Sin their loathsom Disease and art a real Saviour and but a seeming Destroyer Power indeed thou hast sometimes to affrighten Souls Abraham our Father was affrighted by thee Gen. 12. David the valiant was also scared 1 Sam. 21. Miserably thou didst terrify upright Hezekiah Isa 38. And Peter's Magnanimity vanished at a Shadow of thee Mat. 26. But egregiam laudem spolia ampla Is this thy Praise To affrighten is no more than every Shadow can do and what is more inglorious than a Bugbear that is harmless Thy affrightning Believers speaks much Weakness in them but not any Strength in thee It is confessed as for thy Appearance it is as of a Curse and not a Blessing Thou comest with a Warrant in thy Hand from the supreme King and irresistably turnest all Flesh into Destruction Upon thy devouring Sword Christians do read Sin 's terrible Mark though Socinian Eyes see nothing but mere Nature's Puncturâ peccati morimur is the Saints Motto They believe thee sent from their God to execute Wrath on their Sins and full often do fear thee sent to inflict it on their Souls so much do thy cruel Hands look like God's vindictive ones but simillimum non est idem And what art thou O Death but as the End of Plants and Brutes and the Ruine of Sinners so the Gain of Believers such a Gain as passeth Understanding and maketh their holy Faith to proclaim thee more than a spoiled Spoiler even a good and faithful Servant become unto them a Servant unto thy old Servants who were all their days subject to Bondage through fear of thee all the days of their Christless Estate subject to Bondage But now that they are Christ's thou O Death art theirs Thy Name hath a Place in the Inventory of their Goods 1 Cor. 3. Feed on then upon thy Egyptians Psal 49.14 But know O Pharaoh and thy Princes O Death and thy Harbingers the Heads of Leviathan are broken in pieces they are given to be Meat to Israelites inhabiting the Wilderness Psal 74.14 If it be insolently said that this Triumph is too loud that Death is the great Fear of none but little Souls and deserves not so lofty a Song or that it is not yet so dead but that it has Sting enough left to pinch and pain and poison its most
exulting Victors and Strength enough to hold them in its Dungeon till the Resurrection This Mouth of Infidelity is presently stopped Here follows A justifying Reason such as clears the Triumph from the Charge of Absurdity It is confessed if Death were but it self and not Pars minima sui it would be unworthy of the Honour of being insulted over it would be an Insect of an inconsiderable Sting if not a perfect Drone An Enemy too despicable to be triumphed over with Harp and Psaltery nor would Christians blow a Trumpet for the Overthrow of a Wasp But Death's Name is Legion and as it 's an Host of Enemies in one it is a formidable one The Sting of Death is Sin q. d. Sin is the whole Element of Evil it is all the Evil of Doing Nothing beside is Evil essentially or meritoriously This Hell of Sin being infused into Death makes it like it self even the whole Element of Misery and all the Evil of Suffering where then if not here shall be found a Trophy for Faith Here in Death envenomed by Sin By Sin whereof a Spark made Devils of the most blessed Creatures And no more than the imputed Guilt made the ever-living God to sweat Blood Seems this to be a Paradox Hear then The Strength of Sin is the Law q. d. No wonder that Sin is so pernicious a thing for the Curse of the Divine Law is on it And who can think what is God's Power or his Law 's Terror His Law must be like himself as in its Precepts and Promises so in its Threats The Punishments of so great a King must necessarily be great The Breach of his Law 's Duty can deserve no less than Extremity and Eternity of Misery and the Curse laid upon it is no less No marvel then that Sin 's Guilt maketh a Hell of Death being the Law 's Curse maketh Sin a worse thing than Death or Hell an Evil that Hell it self must have all Eternity to punish But over both Law and Sin God giveth us the Victory As fiery as this Law is Christ's Blood quencheth it As boiling a Furnace as it makes of Sin it cannot make Sin to be the Death of a Believer's Soul These the worst of Enemies are first slain For upon our first believing Christ's Righteousness is imputed and by that Imputation the Law 's Curse and Sin 's Condemnation are removed Over them we have Triumph sounded Rom. 7.4 Ye are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ And ver 24 25. Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death's Dominion is therefore at an end though its Power to kill the most holy Body and to detain the most sacred Dust for a time be not taken from it In short the Grace of Christ hath made Sin a broken Enemy the Law a kind Friend and Death a useful Servant Doth the Saints Triumph therefore precede or exceed Victory let the Wise judg When Israel was brought through the Red Sea what Songs of Praise were straitway sung though they had a howling Desart to be passed through and were not presently in Canaan Their Songs injected Terror to the Dukes of Edom and the mighty Men of Moab Yea the Greeks no sooner heard the Articles of Peace purchased for them by Titus Flaminius but they cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour a Saviour Plutarch in vit T. Flam. And with such Shouts of Joy as made the Air to ring and the Birds to drop down astonished A deep Lethargy it is that maketh Christians Joy to be less while their Reason for it is infinitely more That restrains them from such Triumph as would make the Infidel World to tremble But O where shall Offerings and whole Burnt-offerings be found For this Victory this Inchoate one Lebanon is not sufficient or the Cattel upon a thousand Hills But as Jehoshaphat in Berachah the Saints throughout the Earth do bless the Captain of their Salvation and Conquest The next Verse and Breath is An holy Gratulation A lovely Heaven of it in a little Globe of Words Thanks be to God! To the Father Son and Spirit our One God be all holy Obedience Whereof Gratitude is the principal Part that which contains and animates all Laws bind to Obedience and Benefits unto Thankfulness But God our Law-giver is in all things our Benefactor His very Laws all are Benefits To him be therefore all Obedient Thankfulness and all Thankful Obedience To him Who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Of his Saints Victory we publish the Truth We declare his Gift of Grace to be the Original We testify the Limitation of this Gift unto Believers only and the Extent of it unto all Believers As well to Babes in the Cradle of Christianity as the oldest Mnason's in God's Kingdom We proclaim the never to be forgotten Purchaser of it the Lord Jesus Christ Whose Death gave the Angel of Death his mortal Wound Whose Resurrection certified and exemplified Believers Whose Righteousness by Faith received instateth them in the Power of an endless Life Whose Sanctifying Spirit mortifieth sinful Lusts which be not the least Stings of Death Whose Comforting Spirit takes out the Pain and Anguish that Sin sticketh into our Souls And whose Glorious Appearing one day will fulfil his old Word to a tittle O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Waving all others the Argument I take hence is this Holy Believers on Christ do rejoice in their Victory over Death Truly Righteously and Holily they rejoice in their Salvation by Christ They sing O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory c. The Plural Number in which he speaks may assure us that the Apostle sung in Consort Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory And it shall be shown that this Text is all the Holy Catholick Church's Song Which while Militant is so far triumphant We may say of Death and of all Enemies in Combination with it as St. John saith of the World Whosoever is born of God overcometh them And this is the Victory that overcomes them even our Faith Consequently he that overcometh and shall not be hurt of the second Death must take it for his Duty and make it his Practice to joy in the Lord and rejoice in the God of his Salvation But lest with the Dogs I should shut Children out of the Church-Doors and wound any that have already the Arrows of the Almighty sticking in them I must premise two things Obstructions are allowed for It is not affirmed that all or any Believers do always rejoice Full oft they are hindred by Bodily Maladies by Mental Mistakes by Satan's Buffetings and by Divine Desertions Under which their Harp is turned to Mourning and their Organ into the Voice of them that weep And Secondly Degrees be wondrously different Of them that sing Triumph the Voice of some is as Thunder which all
by them exposed to the Jealousies of his Children and to the Prejudices of his Enemies Their Character is blotted and they must be taken rather for the defiling Pitch than the cleansing Salt of the Earth Lastly Believers are obedient Children of God and it is their required Obedience to triumph in their Victory through Christ It is not only a Licence for it that the Gospel giveth them but it is a Precept The old Primitive Law bound Man innocent to Joy and Glory in his blessed Life The Redeemer's Law doth not less oblige Man renewed to Joy and Glory in his more wonderful Salvation in his more blessed Life brought out of Death Who knows not how expresly and repeatedly this Precept is proclaimed Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye Righteous Shout for Joy all ye that are upright Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud Rejoice and be exceeding glad Rejoice in the Lord and again I say Rejoice Rejoice evermore Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart thou shalt serve thine Enemies c. Texts are numberless Under the Law it self many were the Feasts instituted for one Fast In the Gospel-day the Holy Ghost is sent to be a Comforter extraordinary It were endless to enumerate the Ways in which God expresseth his Zeal for his Saints Joy The Reasons of which Zeal are both great and evident For Joy is the commanding Affection the End of all others that which all do subserve and seek And if this Ruler be corrupted all its Servants are necessarily wicked If this Potentate be not obedient to God it draws the whole Man into Rebellion He that rejoiceth not in Christ Jesus feels a thousand Temptations to forsake him yea in a fearful Degree he doth forsake him for not to delight and rejoice in him is to vilify and dishonour him and that is to forsake him with whatever unpleasant Services you shall all the while follow him All is Carrion that is not chearfully given it is not pure Sacrifice that is not offered with Joy and Gladness In short Thoughts of a Christ not delighted in will come but seldom and stay but little in any Mind and a Heart not delighted in him will soon believe a little Meditation of him to be enough and all the Duties which are laborious to be an Excess Why are secret ones and publick so generally neglected What maketh Backwardness to them and Weariness in them Whence rise Christians Inclinations to foolish forbidden Chats and Games Whence cometh their Quarrelsomness with each other and with their spiritual Fathers and Nurses To these and many like Questions it must be answered They rejoice not in Christ Jesus It needs not be said how impossible it is without Joy in him to rejoice in Tribulations to take joyfully the spoiling of outward Goods and to lay down our Lives for him Sense doth sufficiently certify it What shall we then judg of Believers if we take them for Men that make no Conscience of rejoicing in Christ We must judg them in the worst sense to be Solifidians very Demoniacks that break all Bonds and cast the strongest Cords of God behind their Backs which is as truly impossible as it would be unrighteous for a sound Believer ordinarily to do Extraordinary is the Case of Persons obstructed by a melancholy Habit of Body and temporary Temptations To will is present with them though how to do they find not They are not Fugitives but Captives and sold under Sorrow So that it is a Duty they would do which they do not do while remembring Death they are troubled they complain and their Spirit is overwhelmed Of other Christians I stick not to say They do not rightly seek the Lord who rejoice not and are not glad in him through whom they are Conquerors of Death who are Strangers to the Peace the Joy and the Glory of Faith Rom. 5.1 2 3. I am next to show that §. 2. Saints do Righteously triumph aloud over Death To shout for Joy as soon as they are in Christ is their reasonable Service The Equity of the Command is apparent as the Authority of the Law-giver and the Objections against it are Chaff easily blown away The Sum of them all is this Heaven only is the Seat of high Joy On Earth 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absurd and out of Place It is a Business proper for none but Spirits made perfect unspotted with Sin unclouded with Sorrow unalarmed with Fear but most unfit for Souls that are bemired with Corruption laden with Guilt clothed with Infirmities surrounded with Temptations and in Jeopardy every Hour The Answer is of no Difficulty Though the King's Presence makes the Fulness of Joy above it gives abundance below The Victory given to Believers in Vocation and Adoption possesses them of an Heaven on Earth We which have believed do enter into Rest Heb. 4.3 Ye that believe on the Name of the Son of God may know that ye have eternal Life 1 Joh. 5.13 This but-inchoate Victory makes all old things pass away and all things become new The Believer's Corruption is mortified Guilt 's pardoned Infirmities gradually healed Temptations rebuked Persecutions sweetned Death disarmed and all things are made to serve his Interests All things are yours 1 Cor. 3. What is there to hurt after removal of Sin 's Guilt and the Law 's Curse which is the Divine Hatred and Wrath What is lacking to his Comfort whose Transgression is forgiven and Sin covered In short There do meet in this inchoate Victory of Believers all things requisite to make an Object of Joy unspeakable and thereby to justify the most lofty Triumph For what should put a Soul into Exultation if not First So Great a Blessing One if it must be called it is One and All. And of a Greatness shining forth in the extreme and eternal Evil from which it exempts and Good wherewith it endows If the Pitch of Joy should be proportionable to the Good of its Object here can be no Excess Secondly So Everlasting an One The greatest things if like Jordan's Streams they hasten to a sulphurous Lake are unworthy of Delight It is a sorry Feast on which Death it self must one day feed But Duration makes things of value to be invaluable And nothing is more durable than a Believer's Victory His Crown is immortal And Heaven shall no longer be a Kingdom than he reigns in it with Christ Peccata non redeunt his Pardon is irrevocable the Love of God to him is unchangeable the Seed of God in him is incorruptible If then Immortality it self doth appretiate all Joy is not too much for him whose Object is for all Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly So Sutable an One The most durable Goodness gives little Joy without Sutableness Pleasure is applicatio convenientis convenienti All the Mines of India would less transport a famishing Man than a Morsel of Bread But never was
abundantly Bees do suck Honey out of sweet Flowers whatever it be that Spiders do extract Sixthly The very Essence of this Joy is holy Obedience And is not Obedience the Womb of Obedience as Sin is the Womb of Sin What carries to obey God more than obeying him doth Naturally Acts do strengthen Habits and institutively also God of admirable Love rewards Grace with Grace The Believer's Joy answering a known Precept prepares his Ear and Heart to answer all the Divine ones In a word how fruitful of Holiness is the Joy of Saints in Heaven Believers Joy is of the very same Nature and why should it not be their holy Strength also Seventhly The constant visible Concomitants of this Joy are extraordinarily holy Satan's Delusion it is and not divine Consolation which sheweth not out of an excelling Conversation its Works with Meekness of Wisdom Holy Joy hath these Jewels shining in the Crown of it High Esteem of Christ Jesus No Star leads to Christ more than Joy in him doth Profound Humility The most joyful Apostle stiled himself least of Saints chief of Sinners Spiritual Flame is herein like natural the higher it rises the more it trembles Sorrow for Sin after the most godly manner No where are so bitter Herbs eaten and so sweetly as in this joyful Feast of Passover Strictest Watchfulness against Sin The more Joy in a Treasure the stronger Guard is set upon it against the Robber Because Joy breeds Jealousies omnia tuta timet the Disciples for very Joy believed not Luke 24.41 and Jealousy suffers not to sleep or to slumber Thoughtfulness of Heaven The joyful Israelite had Canaan in his Mind all the while he was in the Desart True Contempt of this World's Gaudies What are Candles or Stars when the Sun appears When the Good of all the Land of Egypt was before Jacob and his Sons they regarded not their Stuff Exod. 45.20 The Joy of Paradise stains the Glory of a Paris Sweet Content in the most bitter worldly State The Joy of Faith finds Meat in the Eater and Sweetness in the Strong The God whom we serve is able and he will deliver us say the Hebrew Heroes And what follows Vpon their Bodies the Fire had no Power not a Hair of their Heads is singed they walk in the midst of the Fire and have no Hurt Lions Dens are quiet Rooms to Daniels Prisons are Musick-houses to such as Paul and Silas Exquisite Pleasure in all holy Services Being full of holy Joy St. Paul was well pleased to be kept out of Heaven for a time to serve Christ's Interest on Earth And joyful Luther professed he had rather honour God with his Service than be honoured by God with any Gifts which made great and noted in the World Mallem obedire quam miracula facere Lastly A real Indifferency towards this present Life It is only the joyful Christian that can possess this but the Heart of every one that is such doth say as his Lord Father not my Will but thy Will be done Concerning his stay in the Body it thus saith most sincerely To conclude Is God to be thought now a Loser and not a Gainer in his Glory by Believers Joy Or is it possible that Holiness should languish in a Joy wherein these Fruits do flourish In a Joy that so evidently maketh God to be the Centre of the rejoicing Heart the Centre toward which it moves and in which it rests There are many Inferences of most humbling instructing and comforting Truth which do here offer themselves and I presume will be darting in their Beams upon Minds not shut up against them Their Light is such as is ready for every prepared Eye It is therefore a tripartite Exhortation wherewith I conclude 1. To those who have not ever sang Triumph over Death 2. To those who have sung it but have lost that Voice of Joy and Gladness 3. To those that have for any time sung it and are still singing it I must have leave to think that all three Sorts are present among us Unto the first I first address my self §. 1. To such of you as have not yet sung Triumph over Death If now you believe the Truth which hath been irrefragably proved I exhort as follows First Acknowledg your selves to have no Saving-Faith if you have no stirring Desires to attain a joying Faith It hath been said by what Means a Child of God may be kept it may be all his Days from the Joy of Faith but it cannot be said whereby he should be so kept from desiring it and from pursuing it Nothing but a reigning and damning Presumption or Despair is able to keep a Soul from these Review my seven Arguments which I may not repeat and assure you it is no Child of Light that sits unconcernedly in the dark as if nothing ailed him and unto whom it is not as Death it self that he cannot triumph over Death who travels not from Ordinance to Ordinance for the Power and the Act and follows not Heaven with unutterable Sighs and Groans until he gains them Comfortless Believers are represented so doing Cant. 3.1 2 3. and Cant. 5.6 7. Secondly When you bestir your selves for the Joy of Faith be not impatient if it doth not presently become triumphant To be using the Means appointed for getting it is your unquestionable Duty but to fret against God as though he wronged you if he made you wait long for it is your certain Sin and Folly Doubt not but God will give it as soon as he sees you fit for it And nothing save Ignorance and Pride can make that wild Question Why should I wait on the Lord any longer In a word Let him not go till he bless you with it but let him take his own time to bless you with his richest Gift It is Unbelief that makes Haste and that Haste makes Woe Thirdly When you are waiting for the Joy of Faith be praising and blessing God for putting you upon the Pursuit of it and enabling of you to wait therein This Grace well deserveth your best Thanks Had you ever ran after it if Grace had not drawn you or had not you laid violent Hands on your selves as others have done under their Terrors if Grace had not restrained you Thanks are Sacrifices with which God is well pleased And who was ever known to be thankful for Twilight but he had e're long a shining Noon-day On the contrary from him who is unthankful Sun Moon and Star-light is full often removed and he is left as without Hope Fourthly When you are blessing God for drawing you to seek the Joy of Faith fail not to multiply the two first Acts of Faith That which prepareth for Union to Christ and that which uniteth unto him Plainly thus Night and Day tell your Souls that God propitiated by Christ will surely save them if they truly repent and believe on him Proceed also and perpetually be saying to your God that as far as
not that thou art none of his Plants because others do vastly excel thee in all Christian Vertues and out-do thee in all the Works of Righteousness One Rose upon a Bush though but a little one and though not yet blown proveth that which bears it to be a true Rose-tree Look well to thy Sincerity and to thy sincere Labour for Proficiency Then know that neither God or Men do cut down good Trees because small or despise unripe Flowers and Fruits if they be ripening A sorry Speaker may be a most excellent Wrestler Milo had not the Tongue of Cicero Moses that greater Prevailer with God was a Man of a very slow Utterance Do not say you cannot pray because you cannot speak much or well or long Praying is Wrestling with God The Heart is the Wrestler Holy Faith is the Strength of it If by Means of this Strength thy Heart be a good Wrestler though thou art ever so Tongue-tied thou wilt be a Prevailer Rhetorick goes for little in the heavenly Court but sincere Groans have a kind of Omnipotence A Mine of Gold may be a long time unknown The Heat of the Sun may make it many a Year before the Light of the Sun doth discover it It is long before the Spirit doth witness to some what he works in them A King is not the less a King for dreaming himself a Beggar Suppositio nil ponit in esse Victorious Believers are most truly so when they are not sensibly so The most bruised Reed maketh no little Melody to the Lord. Our compassionate Saviour tells his affrighted Dove when driven into the Clefts of the Rock that her Voice was sweet Cant. 2.14 The little Specks in the milky way be as real Stars as the Sun We must not argue that we are Darkness it self because we are not the most burning and shining Lights The crying Child is alive as sure as the laughing one If whatever stole away our Joy did steal away our Faith also where would Faith be found upon Earth The World and Church will be soon at an end when all shall kill that maketh to cry It doth often rain and shine together in the Heart of a Believer His Soul hath the Joy that is his Duty and shines with Grace acted in Desires and Endeavours to triumph When as yet it hath not the Joy that is the Largess of God's Bounty by which its Clouds must be chased away no but is lamenting after the Lord for it Dolet de dolore gaudet Joyfully it laments after him for it singing our renowned Gataker's most delectable Lamentations I thirst for Thirstiness I weep for Tears Well pleas'd I am to be displeased thus The only thing I fear is want of Fears Suspecting I am not Suspicious I cannot chuse but live because I die And when I am not dead how glad am I Yet when I am thus glad for sense of Pain And careful am lest careless I should be Then do I grieve for being glad again And fear lest Carelessness take care from me Amidst these restless Thoughts this Rest I find For those that rest not here there 's Rest behind And as for sinful Sorrow it self be it observed A Believer may gloriously conquer even when he is miserably conquered And he doth so when tho Sin strikes him down it cannot make him yield Positive Nolition is Conquest of Sin Of the unconsenting and out-crying Virgin over-powred by the Strength of a Ruffian God did pronounce that there was no Sin in her worthy of Death By resisting she made the Destroyer flee even then when she could not make the Defiler flee The Believer that resists is not struck down under the Wrath of God when he is struck down into the Mire of Sin Glory be to God in the highest Fight against Sin though it be upon our Knees is Conquest And therefore Lastly Rahab is in Heaven as sure as Abraham St. James saith that Dwarf in Faith was justified by it as well as this Giant And it 's sure if justified is glorified Now Whoso is wise and will observe these things they shall to their Joy understand the Loving Kindness of the Lord. My next Exhortation is §. 2. To those that have formerly sung Triumph over Death but have lost that Voice of Joy and Gladness All such are to be thus exhorted First Despise not your Loss For it 's a Loss of more than all the World is worth It 's a Loss of Heaven upon Earth A Loss that was to David as a Sword in his Bones And cannot but be grievous to a Heart that is not perfectly senseless Unto any other to joy in Christ's Love is sweeter than Life and to have that Joy taken away must be more bitter than Death Yet Secondly Despair not under this Loss You are not the first that have faln under it David lost his Joy and cried O spare me Jeremy was afraid to die Jer. 37.20 Hezekiah turned to the Wall and wept at the Tidings of Death Holy Latimer told his Ridley that sometimes he could run into a Hole for Fear A Balm in Gilead there was for them and a Physician that restored them Nor is there any reason why your Wound should be presumed to be incurable It is surely your Duty to pray for the Cure And it were a fond Conceit that you might not look for the things you are bound to pray for Thirdly Enquire how you came by your Loss Whether Pride were not swelling in you and made needful this Loss to keep you from being exalted above measure Or whether Earthly-Mindedness got not into you for as in Nature it cannot be Night till the Earth interpose between the Sun and us so I question whether ever a very dark Night fall on the Face of a Soul but by some earthly things interposing between Christ and it The Achan that is the Troubler must be stoned e're you are like to be quiet To which purpose you are to make diligent search after it Fourthly Blame not God for your Loss Justify God as David did and to your selves take all the Blame and Shame To be sure your own Sin was all the culpable Cause And this know till a Job let 's go his hard Thoughts of God and abhors himself in Dust and Ashes his Captivity is not to be turned But then it is presently turned and his Comforts be forthwith multiplied Fifthly Conceal not your Loss Hide it not from those to whom God saith Comfort ye comfort ye my People Peace and Joy are created by God but they are ministred by his Servants Whom not to consult in your Troubles is to despise And whom to despise is to despise Christ and him that sent him Sixthly Consent to God's Terms for the Repair of your Loss With a thousand Thanks go and enter a-new the Covenant of his Grace He cannot in honour make the Terms thereof any lower But if you humble you as low as the Gospel demands you will be seasonably
to the Vnity and Purity of Faith Speaking of the Differences of Brethren in this City he thus expressed himself I am amaz'd to see good Men thus tear one another in the dark Nor can I understand how they should have Grace in due Exercise who value their particular Designs above the Interest of the Catholick Church and who confine Religion to their own Notions and Models To another complaining of Reproaches from pretended Friends his Answer was To me to be judged of Man and of Man's Judgment is a small thing I bless God I value not my own Name but God's only I do confess when Men wound the Credit of the Gospel through me it is hard then to bear up Nor may it be forgotten what he hath said to his dear and excellent Friend and spiritual Son of this City Dr. D. H. I bless God in fifteen Years time I have not ever given any Man's Credit a Thrust behind his Back But when I had ground to speak well of any Man I did so with Faithfulness and when I wanted a Subject that way I kept Silence O in what Concord might Prelatists and Dissenters walk much more the Dissenters themselves had they more of this Balsamick Spirit What agree in Principles of Faith in all substantial Parts of Worship and assert all of us the same Necessity of Holiness and yet bite and devour one another Blessed Saviour send down thy Spirit to us with the Wisdom that is pure and peaceable But to return Of the Man so pure and peaceable it must be added His TRIUMPHS in the Favour of God were transcendent Triumphs over Law Sin Death Grave and Hell Too few do I discern to aspire to such as he had long attained O how dwelt he on the Mount How oft was he as in the third Heaven What a Jacob what an Israel was holy Fleming Such a Wrestler and Prevailer with God such a Moses to whom God spake as it were Face to Face such a Nazarite with a Soul with a Life and with a Name darkned with no Cloud except but that of his own Humility which doth together darken a Man to himself and beautify him in the Eyes of God and Saints A Man so highly favoured of God and blessed with so much of Heaven upon this Earth is not oft found I suppose in any one Age. There is no end of Instances every Day seeming to have been a holy Sabbath and Communion-day and Day of spiritual Jubilee unto him In his last Sickness he had more than one wondrous Manifestation of God's Love to his Soul and one which he declared he had not Strength enough to have born much longer But now Of his DEATH in the Lord what shall my trembling Heart utter It was but July the 17th that his Sickness seized him and the 25th he who had so much seen the Salvation of God departed in Peace On his first Arrest O Friends said he to such as were about him Sickness and Death are serious things But till the Sparks of his Fever had risen to a Flame he was not aware that that Sickness was to be unto Death for he told a Relation of his that if it should so be it was strange being the Lord did not use to hide from him the things that he did with him and his His heavenly Father knew his thorow Preparedness for Glory and pleased not to give the Premonition which he saw him not to want Sudden Death is sudden Glory to such Saints Yet before his Expiration he was apprehensive of its Approach Calling to him a Friend he asked What Freedom do you find in Prayer for me Seems God to becken to your Petitions or does he bind you up and leave dark Impressions on your Mind This way said he I have often known the Mind of the Lord. His Friend telling him he was under Darkness in the case he said Well I know your Mind Trouble not your self for me I think I may say that I have been long above the Fear of Death His Groans and Struglings argued his Flesh to be under no small Pains But his Answers to enquiring Friends certified that the Irons did not enter his Soul Always he would say I am very Well or I was never Better or I feel no Sickness Thus would he say while he was seen to be very sensible of every thing beside Pain The malignant Distemper wasting his Natural Spirits he could speak but little But what he spake was all of it like himself Having felt himself indisposed for his wonted Meditation and Prayer he thus said to some near him I have not been able in a manner to form one serious Thought since I was sick Or to apply my self unto God as I ought But though I have not been able to apply my self unto God he has applied himself unto me And one of his Manifestations was such as I could have born no more Opening his Eyes after a long Sleep one of his Sons asked him how he did he replied Never better Do you know me said the Son unto which with a sweet Smile he answered Yes yes dear Son I know you This was about two Hours before his Ascension About an Hour after it he cried earnestly Help help for the Lord's Sake And then breathing weaker and weaker he soon gave up his precious Ghost The renewed Eagle took flight to the Mountain of Spices As his Life his Death also speaketh And whosoever hath Ears to hear let him hear what the Spirit speaketh by both of them unto the Churches His Diary the rich Treasure of his Experiences is not at hand And therefore cannot as yet be brought into publick Light But from the few Manuscripts which are here found I shall add some Hints that I judg to be very directive and incentive I mean unto the Faith of Reliance and of Assurance in which he was so eminent Unto the Love of God and Men wherein he was so vigorous Unto Meditation and Prayer and Heavenly Mindedness wherein he was so grand an Exemplar They are indeed but Hints And if any Difference be they are the most ordinary of his Memorials The more sublime and extraordinary ones are kept back of a Suspicion that the Generality of good and honest Readers might be more amused than edified by things so stupendious And so very much out of the common Road of Christian Experience But to proceed Aug. 16 1685. Thus he wrote I found some sweet Access to the Lord in the Morning in the lively Actings of Grace and after I had this Day set down some Remarks of the Day before I had some clear Impress of this Since thou art careful to improve thy Talent of Observation more shall be given and the Oil shall not fail whilst there are Vessels to receive And now O the sweet Evening of this same Day when in the outer-Walk where I had found a sore Damp for some time the Door was as it were cast open with such a clear imparting