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A50858
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A beame of light darted thorough [sic] the clouds, or, Truth breaking forth from under a veil by Joshua Miller.
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Miller, Joshua, 17th cent.
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1650
(1650)
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Wing M2062; ESTC R35047
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30,283
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75
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act and speak divinely 14. No grief goes so neare his heart as his grievous strayings from the life of God he holds it as necessary in some respect to sorrow for sin as to joy in God they that sowe in tears shall reap in joy there must be a seed-time before a harvest as David speaks so doth he Psal 51.4 Against thee thee onely have I sinned that which aggravates an evill is that it 's committed against love Peter thus went out and wept bitterly Semper Lachrymis suffusos habuisse oculos some observe that ever after Peter had his checks furrowed with continuall tears relapse into sin makes relenting 15. He receives strikings as well as strokings with patience and thankfulnesse a true son of Job the Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be his Name not curse God and die as the woman counselled him This effeminate woman the world is mans Tempter to miscall his Maker look on God saith she he afflicts thee to destroy thee he will damne thee at last a gracious heart answers thou speakest like a foolish woman Rom. 8.28 I know all things worke for my good frownes as well as smiles whatever is called good or whatever is called evill God brings light out of darknesse unity out of disparity as God speaks so doth he Esa 54.17 No weapon formed against me shall prosper the true prosperity of a thing is in its continuance but all things against me shall have a change therefore not prosper he ecchoes to David it 's good for me that I was afflicted affliction in Gods Schoole makes us proficients The more you beat the wallnut-tree the more it bears so the Saints gaine by losses after such an afflicton such a mercy I had contraries frustrate one another life doth death joy doth sorrow affliction first comes and ploughs up the fallow ground of my heart then is the seed sowne he speaks not as that wicked King 2 King 6.33 This evill is of the Lord why should I wait any longer but rather what evill in me brought this true and just are all thy Judgements O Lord God 16. He sees nothing of the flesh dwelling in another but asks at home Is not this evill in me As Plato when he saw any one dumb in the street would speak to himself Num ego talis Am not I such a one the more inward any thing is the more strong whether it be good or evill sin is most aggravated by a supposing secresie he makes inquiry as the Disciples Mat. 26.22 Master is it I He loves to ask though he be not guilty 17. He is as holy in his Closet as in the Church when from the Saints as well as with them in all his walkings he is as light in the world Mat. 5.16 no society of men can extinguish his fellowship with God 18. He so pursues holinesse as if he held free-will yet he prayes for it as if he had power to do nothing 2 Cor. 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves to thinke one good thought man cannot work in Gods Mystery 't is an Art which all the Masters of Art are yet but punies in this School divine lessons are weightier harder and higher then their divinity Lectures 19. He counts no sin small but believes every sin hath weight enough to weigh him to death if he discern a mote in his brothers eye he thinks there is a beame in his owne he had rather make sin more then it is by aggravation then seek to make it lesse for he that hideth his sin shall not prosper 20. He is more zealous for power then forme he had rather leave undone smaller matters then neglect the weighty things of the Law righteousnesse justice truth these have Gods proper stamp upon them therefore to be most looked after These are some cleare demonstrations of a practicall Christian for there are many false Christians now gone out in the world CHAP. II. Whether Repentance precede Faith and which is first to be preached GOD in this last age is making out his truth in plainnesse whereas in former ages it hath been much clouded therefore marvell not if thou readest that which will be gain-sayed It hath been a great dispute amongst men whether Repentance go before Faith or Faith Repentance I shall not erre against truth nor yet disagree from some men to say that Faith is alway before Repentance in the conversion of a Sinner to God and if this be true then it will necessarily follow that Faith ought to be preached before Repentance For I judge Faith to be the instrumentall cause of Repentance and not Repentance the cause of Faith It is true that in the conversion of a sinner to God Faith and Repentance ever go together yet Faith is the first-borne and may challenge the right hand of fellowship Now the difficulty seems to be opened in this particular It is very true that Repentance is for the most part discovered before Faith to men therefore men judge that Repentance is and must be before Faith I answer First that it will not follow alwayes true that the first in appearance is first in the soul Faith I compare to the seed cast in the ground Repentance I call the blade sprung up from that seed Now no man will judge so weakly that because he seeth the blade first spring up therefore the seed is not there Againe you may understand it by this allusion when a candle is lighted in a room and I come into that room true it is I have the light first in my eye and see that first yet the candle was there before the light was so it is often true that repentance is first apprehended but not first wrought Consider secondly that if Repentance be before Faith then I ask what doth that Repentance avail man If that place be true Heb. 11.6 Without Faith it is impossible to please God I may then safely conclude if Repentance is first why was not Ahab and Judas their repentance accepted was it not for want of true Faith I never found in Scripture that any did truly repent before faith Job in his last Chapter when he had seen the Lord he abhorres himselfe Isai 6.5 so Isaiah when he had seen the Lord he cries Woe is me I am undone so that generall promise runs Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn for him all implies a seeing before sorrow I put the case thus Suppose a man should meet with his friend but disguised and so should take him for his enemie and kill him now when his vizard is taken off and he finds that it was his dear friend what think you will not sorrow follow so untill a soule come to apprehend that against his Saviour his Father and Friend he hath wounded him that loves him when he seeth this he will sorrow kindly indeed For a man will never be willing to account his own state bad untill he is brought into a beliefe
stranger as the countreyman The Law shall be plaine easie let corrupt men seek what they can to hinder it the stranger shall know it he that hath no learning as well as he that hath the same to the poor as to the rich So from all this I say not that the Saints shall have only an earthly glory grow high and they onely possesse the high places of the earth but my judgement is that there shall be a sweet moderation in Government and though we cannot expect all in Authority should be Saints yet man though carnall shall have a spirit for the liberties of the People and shall deal justly Now when God will accomplish this worke he hath promised I may not fully conclude but say it shall be wrought within these few yeares for I see God is coming to throw downe oppression injustice tyranny in all powers on earth and he hath already laid the way and foundation for this worke in these last eight years therefore rejoyce O ye people for God is delivering you from those outward bondages CHAP. X. A test of divine Joy and what that joy is DIvine Joy ariseth from a sight of and affection to the most glorious object Now in the working of joy it is necessary that there be a union to and with the object for no man can delight in that which he neither knows nor affects and indeed these two are the wings of the soule that heighten this joy Now in the order of joy these two things much aggravate it First Contemplation in the mind of man fixed upon the object for every man by a serious and solid meditation of what the affects hath a various delight in him according to the nature of the object Therefore God by way of expression as to us did not so much rejoyce in his fiat as in his vidit not so much when he gave all creatures a being as when he saw their goodnesse and he had much delight in his works made because in them he beheld his own Image and glory A soul thus beholding God as one with him in Christ being taken with the object the thoughts of God are sweet to him as David I thought of thee in the night season and it was sweet to me for serious meditation carries this soul sometimes in a rapture above it self and when a Saint comes to apprehend their infinite good in God he is swallowed up in himself and all fears are vanquished in him and is as Paul whether in the body or out of the body he can not tell Paul had forgot his former state by the present pursuit of his desire and overflowing of his affections towards that immortall good he saw he had forgot himself and had a new self Thus the soule when filled with joy all its former fears are buried in the present joyes as Jacob when he heard his son Joseph was alive his great fear of the losse of Benjamin was at present overcome by that joy he had of Josephs safety Thus a soul when touched with the loadstone of the Spirit is drawn up into a greater joy and glory Joy in this sense makes death light and small in a Christians eye for suting of en object opposite to death which is life and by this beats out the dismall apprehensions of it and with Paul ' cries O death where is thy sting As Mariners when they come to land make a shout to note their joy of a safe arrivall so the soul by divine joy is carried from the sea of earthly confusion and arrives safe into the land of Canaan where his joy is unexpressible thus divine Joy comes through the understanding and works much upon the other faculties This we may observe in all men that according to their contemplation so commonly is their joy or delight for the mind of man feeds upon his delight as the Bee sucks sweetnesse from the flower as a worldly man his mind and consequently delight is most upon his riches 2. The second assistant to joy is hope or confidence in the mind whereby a man waits for the accomplishment of his desires as a man in prison inferrs joy to himself from that hope he hath of liberty for indeed hope doth enlarge joy by carrying us from our present fears to our future joys Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in hope this quickens our present joy by hope of a more full joy for confidence addes strength to the weak and courage to the fearfull so hope drawes in joy as the loadstone doth thee needle Rom. 5.2 Rejoyce in hope of the glory of God it makes absent things present and we feed upon those joyes that are to come now besides those grounds of joy there are others that much widen it 1. First the sudden and unexpected appearance of any good to us surprizeth the soul with much joy as the long departure of a dear friend his return to us not looked for or expected causeth more joy then if he had given notice of his coming The reason of this is because they surprize us and so stir up that affection in us more earnestly Sudden joy hath so wrought upon some bodies that they have died pleasantly in the midst of their joyes I knew a man in Christ two years ago that was carried up in spirit into the heaven of joy that at present he wisht he might die instantly to go to that blessed fellowship Some have been so transported beyond themselves that they have forgot their worldly businesse and were as men lost to reason 2. The second is strength of desire For strong desires are never at rest untill they are satiated with the object of their desire For desire is like a woman with child never quieted till she obtains what she longs for When Darius in his flight drank muddy water he professed he never found greater pleasure in his drinking because the appetite of thirst being strong was much delighted where it met with a satisfaction Thus the soul of a Christian having strong desires in her she never rests till she in joyes the object of her desire For indeed a man can never rejoyce in that which he hath no desire after Proverbs 13.19 Desire accomplished is sweet to the soule it brings much joy and comfort to a Saint when his desires are fulfilled As the Hart pants after the water brooks so doth the soul after God And truly the ground why a Christian hath so little joy is because he hath not the strength of desire and is not yet drawn by a divine power to thirst after the living God 3. The third is imagination Imaginati-in in man is either the foundation of delight or sorrow Conception of any good in things moves delight in them Therefore when Diogenes in his melancholy fancie took more delight in his tub then other men do in their palaces For the fancie loves to feed upon some quaint thing distinct And as imagination works it binds the heart to a delight in whatever it