bee mute and silent under their afflictions is this because it is ten thousand times a greater judgement and affliction to bee given up to a fretful spirit a froward spirit a muttering or murmuring spirit under an affliction than it is to bee afflicted This is both the Devils sin and the Devils punishment God is still afflicting crossing and vexing of him and hee is still a fretting repining vexing and rising up against God no sin to the Devils sin no punishment to the Devils punishment A man were better to have all the afflictions of all the afflicted throughout the world at once upon him than to be given up to a froward spirit to a muttering murmuring heart under the least affliction When thou seest a soul fretting vexing and stamping under the mighty hand of God thou seest one of Satans first-born one that resembles him to Irenâ—us calleth such or a Diaboli the Devils mouth the life no childe can bee so much like the Father as this froward soul is like to the Father of lies though hee hath been in chains almost this six thousand years yet hee hath 1 Pet. 5. 8 never lain still one day nor one night no not one hour in all this time but is still a fretting vexing tossing and tumbling in his chains like a princely Bedlam â—ee is a Lion not a Lamb a roaring Lion not a sleepy Lion not a Lion standing still but a Lion going up and down hee is not satisfied with the prey hee hath got but is restless in his designs to fill hell with souls Hee never wants an Apple for an Eve nor a Grape for a Noah nor a change of rayment for a Gehezi nor a wedge of gold for an Achan nor a Crown for an Absolom nor a bagg for a Judas nor a world for a Demas if you look into one company there you shall finde Satan a dishing out his meat to every palate if you look into another company there you shall finde him a fitting a last to every shooe if you look into a third company there you shall finde him a suiting a garment to every back hee is under wrath and cannot but bee restless Here with Jael hee allures poor souls in with milk and murders them with a nail there with Joaâ— hee embraces with one hand and stabs with another here with Judas hee kisses and betraies and there with the Whore of Babylon hee presents a golden cup with poison in it hee cannot bee quiet though his bolts bee alwaies on and the more unquiet any are under the rebukes of God the more such resemble Satan to the life whose whole life is filled up with vexing and fretting against the Lord. Let not any think saith Luther that the Devil is now dead no nor yet asleep for as hee that keepeth Israel so hee that hateth Israel never slumbereth nor sleepeth But in the next place Reas 5. A fifth reason why gracious souls should bee mute and silent under the greatest afflictions and sharpest trials that do befall them is this because a holy a prudent silence under afflictions under miseries doth best capacitate and fit the afflicted for the receit of mercies When the rolling bottle lies still you may pour into it your sweetest or your strongest waters when the rolling tumbling soul lies still then God can best pour into it the sweet waters of mercy and the strong waters of divine consolation You read of the peaceable fruits of righteousness Heb. 12. 11. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to bee joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Jam. 3. 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace The still and quiet soul is like a Ship that lies still and quiet in the harbour you may take in what goods what commodities you please whilest the Ship lies quiet and still So when the The Angels are most quiet and stâ—ll and they take in most of God of Christ of Heaven soul is quiet and still under the hand of God it is most fitted and advantaged to take in much of God of Christ of Heaven of the Promises of Ordinances and of the Love of God the Smiles of God the Communications of God and the counsel of God but when souls are unquiet they are like a Ship in a storm they can take in nothing Luther speaking of God saith God doth not dwell in Babylon but in Salem Babylon signifies confusion and Salem signifies peace now God dwells not in spirits that are unquiet and in confusion but hee dwells in peaceable and quiet spirits Unquiet spirits can take in neither counsel nor comfort grace nor peace c. Psal 77. 2. My soul refused to bee comforted The Impatient Patient will take down no cordials hee hath no eye to see nor hand to take nor palate to rellish nor stomach to digest any thing that makes for his health and welfare when the man is sick and froward nothing will down the sweetest musick can make no melody in his ears Exod. 6. 6 7 8 9. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgement And I will take you to mee for a people and I will bee to you a God and yee shall know that â— am the Lord your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians And I will bring you in unto the Land concerning the which â— did swear to give it to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and â— will give it you for an heritage I am the Lord. The choicest cordials and comforts that Heaven or Earth could afford are here held forth to them but they have no hand to receive them Here Moses his lips drops hony-combs but they can taste no sweetness in them here the best of Earth and the best of Heaven is set before them but their souls are shut up and nothing will down here is such ravishing musick of paradise as might abundantly delight their hearts and please their ears but they cannot hear here are soul-enlivening soul-supporting soul-strengthening soul-comforting soul-raising and soul-refreshing words but they cannot hearken to them v. 9. And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage They were under their aguish feaverish-fits and so could neither hear nor see taste nor take in any thing that No air agrees well with weak pevish sickly bodies might bee a mercy or a comfort to them they were sick of impatiency and discontent and these humours being grown strong nothing would take with them nothing would agree with them When persons are under strong pangs of passion they have no ears neither for Reason
esteem with God God sets the greatest value upon persons of a quiet spirit 1 Pet. 3. 4. But let it bee the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price A quiet spirit is a spark of the divine nature it is a ray a beam of glory it is a heaven-born spirit No man is born with a holy Silence in his heart as hee is born with a tongue in his mouth this is a flower of paradise it is a precious Jem that God makes very great reckoning of A quiet spirit speaks a man most like to God it capacitates a man for communion with God it renders a man most serviceable to God and it obliges a man to most accurate walking with God A meek and quiet spirit is an incorruptible ornament much more valuable than gold First There is a natural quietness which proceeds from a good temper and constitution of body Secondly There is a moral quietness which proceeds from good education and breeding which flows from good injunctions instructions and examples Thirdly There is an artificial quietness some have an art to imprison their passions and to lay a Law of restraint upon their anger and wrath when they are all in a flame within As you may 2 Sam. 13. 20 33 see in Cain Esau Absalom and Joab who for a time cast a close cloak over their malice when their hearts were set on fire of Hell so Domitian would seem to love them best whom hee willed least should live Fourthly There is a gracious quietness which is of the spirits infusion Gal. 5. 22 25. Now this quietness of spirit this spiritual frame of heart is of great price in the sight of God God values it above the world and therefore who would not covet it more than the world yea more than life it self Certainly the great God sets a great price upon nothing but that which is of an invaluable price what stretching strugling and striving is there for those things that the great ones of the earth do highly prize Ah what stretching of wits interests and consciences is there this day to gain and hold up that which justice will cast down how much better would it bee if all persons would in good earnest struggle and strive even as for life after a quiet and silent spirit which the great and glorious God sets so great a price upon this is a pearl of greatest price and happy is hee that purchases it though it were with the loss of all But Sixthly Consider that if you sit not quiet and silent under your greatest troubles and your sorest trials you will bee found fighters against your own prayers How often have you prayed that the will of God may bee done yea that it may bee done on the earth as the Angels those glistering Courtiers Mat. 6. 10 those Princes of glory do it now in Heaven when troubles and afflictions come upon you the will of God is done his will is accomplished why then should you fret fling and fume and not rather quietly lye down in his will whose Voluntas Dei necessitas rei every gracious soul should say Amen to Gods Amen hee should put his fiat his placet to Gods go it never so much against the hair with him will is a perfect will a just and righteous will a wise will an over-ruling will an infinite will a soveraign will a holy will an immutable will an uncontroulable will an omnipotent will and an eternal will certainly you will but add affliction to affliction by fighting against your own prayers and by vexing and fretting your selves when the will of God is done it is sad to see a man to fight against his friends it is sadder to see him fight against his relations it is saddest of all to see him fight against his prayers and yet this every Christian doth who murmures and mutters when the Rod of God is upon him some there be that pray against their prayers as Augustine who prayed for continency with a proviso Lord give mee continency but not yet And some there bee who fight against their prayers as those who pray that the will of God may be done and yet when his will is done upon them they are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest they are still fretting against the Lord. Ah Christians have you not sins to fight against and temptations to fight against and a Devil to fight against yea a whole world to fight against why then should you bee found fighting against your own prayers But Seventhly Consider A holy Silence under the heaviest burdens the greatest afflictions the saddest providences and changes will make all tollerable and easie to a Christian the silent soul can bear a burden without a burden those burdens and troubles that will break a froward mans Micah 7. 7 8 9 10 Psal 62. 1 6 back will not so much as break a silent mans sleep those afflictions that lye as heavy weights upon a murmurer will lye as light as a feather upon a mute Christian that bed of sorrow which is as a bed of thorns to a frâ—tful soul will bee as a bed of down to a silent soul a holy Silence unstings every affliction it takes off the weight of every burden it adds sweet to every bitter it changes dark nights into Sunshiny daies and terrible storms into desirable calms the smallest sufferings will easily vanquish an unquiet spirit but a quiet spirit will as easily triumph over the greatest sufferings As little mercies are great mercies so great sufferings are but little sufferings in the eye of a silent soul the silent soul never complains that his affliction is too great his burthen too heavy his cross too weighty his sufferings too many Silence makes him victorious over all And therefore as ever you would have heavy afflictions light and bee able to bear a burthen without a burthen labour as for life after this holy silence But Eighthly Consider That a holy Silence under afflictions will bee your best armour of proof against those temptations that afflictions may expose you to times Luk. 22. 31 34. Job 1. 3 Zach. 1. 2 3 4 Mat. 4. 1 2 3 of afflictions often prove times of great temptation and therefore afflictions are called temptations James 1. 12. Blessed is the man which endureth temp 〈…〉 on for when hee is tried hee shall receive the Crown of life c. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to bee understood of temptations of probation of afflicting temptations and not of temptations of suggestion James 4. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 9 of seduction for they are not to bee endured but resisted and abhorred Now affliction is called temptation 1 Because as temptation tries what metal a Christian is made of so do afflictions 2 Because as Satan usually hath a great hand in all the temptations that
strip thee saith hee of all thy outward comforts yea but Christ is mine saith shee and you cannot strip mee of him Oh! the assurance that Christ was hers bore up her heart and quieted her spirit under all You may take away my life saith Basil but you cannot take away my comfort my head but not my Crown yea quoth hee had I a thousand lives I would lay them all down for my Saviours sake who hath done abundantly more for mee John Ardley professed to Bonner when hee told him of burning and how ill hee could endure it that if hee had as many lives as hee had hairs on his head hee would lose them all in the fire before hee would lose his Christ Assurance will keep a man from muttering and murmuring under the sorest afflictions Henry and John two Augustine Monks being the first that were burnt in Germany and Master Rogers the first that was burnt in Queen Maries daies did all sing in the flames A soul that lives in the assurance of divine favour and in its title to glory cannot but bear up patiently and quietly under the greatest sufferings that possibly can befall it in this world That Scripture is worth its weight in gold The Inhabitants of Sion shall not say Isa 33. 24 I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity Hee doth not say they were not sick no but though they were sick yet they should not say they were sick but why should they forget their sorrows and not remember their pains nor be sensible of their sickness why the reason is because the Lord hath forgiven them their iniquities The sense of pardon took away the sense of pain the sense of forgiveness took away the sense of sickness Assurance of pardon will take away the pain the sting the trouble of every trouble and affliction that a Christian meets with no affliction will daunt startle or stagger an assured Christian assured Christians Psal 23. 1 4 5 6 7 will be patient and silent under all Melanchthon makes mention of a godly woman who having upon her death-bed been in much conflict and afterward much comforted brake out into these words Now and not till now I understand the meaning of these words Thy sins are forgiven the sense of which did mightily chear and quiet her Hee that hath got this Jewel of assurance in his bosome will be far enough off from vexing or fretting under the saddest dispensations that hee meets with in this world Fourthly If you would be quiet and silent under your present troubles and trials then dwell There was a good man that had got so much good by his afflictions that hee counted it his greatest affliction to want an affliction and therefore hee would sometimes cry out Oh my friends I have lost an affliction I have lost an affliction much upon the benefit the profit the advantage that hath redowned to your souls by former troubles and afflictions that have been upon you Eccles 7. 14. In the day of adversity consider Oh! now consider how by former afflictions the Lord hath discovered sin prevented sin and mortified sin consider how the Lord by former afflictions hath discovered to thee the impotency the mutability the insufficiency and the vanity of the world and all worldly concernments consider how the Lord by former afflictions hath melted thy heart and broken thy heart and humbled thy heart and prepared thy heart for clearer fuller and sweeter enjoyments of himself consider what pitty what compassion what bowels what tenderness and what sweetness former afflictions have wrought in thee towards others in misery consider what room former afflictions have made in thy soul for God for his word for good counsel and for divine comfort consider how by former afflictions the Lord hath made thee more partaker of his Christ his Spirit his Holiness his Goodness c. Consider how by former afflictions the Lord hath made thee to look towards Heaven more to minde Heaven more to prize Heaven more and to long for Heaven more c. Now who can seriously consider of all that good that hee hath got by former afflictions and not be silent under present afflictions who can remember those choice those great and those precious earnings that his soul had made of former afflictions and not reason himself into a holy silence under present afflictions thus Oh my soul hath not God done thee much good great good special good by former afflictions yes Oh my soul hath not God done that for thee by former afflictions that thou wouldest not have to do for ten thousand worlds yes and is not God Oh my soul as powerful as ever as faithful as ever as gracious as ever and as ready and willing as ever to do thee good by present afflictions as hee hath been to do thee good by former affliction yes yes why why then dost thou not sit silent and mute before him under thy present troubles Oh my soul It was the saying of one that an excellent memory was needful for three sorts of men first for trades men for they having many businesses to do many reckonings to make up many Irons in the fire had need of a good memory Secondly Great talkers for they being full of words hâ—d need to have a good store-house in their heads to feed their tongues Thirdly For lyers for they telling many untruths had need of a good memory lest they should be taken in their lying contradictions And I may add for a fourth viz those that are afflicted that they may remember the great good that they have gained by former afflictions that so they may be the more silent and quiet under present troubles Fifthly To quiet and silence 2 Tim. 1. 12 1 Tim. 1. 5 2 Tim. 4. 8 your souls under the sorest afflictions and sharpest trials consider that your choicest your chiefest treasure is safe your God is safe your Christ is safe your Portion is safe your Crown is safe your Inheritance is safe your royal Palace is safe and your Jewels your Graces are safe therefore hold your peace I have read a story of a man that had a sute and when his cause was to be heard hee applied himself to three friends to see what they would do for him one answered hee would bring him as far on his journey as hee could the second promised him that he would go with him to his journies end the third engaged himself to go with him before the Judge and to speak for him and not to leave him till his cause was heard and determined These three are a mans riches his friends and his graces his riches will help him to comfortable accommodations while they stay with him but they often take leave of a man before his soul takes leave of his body 1 Tim. 6. 18 19 his friends will go with him to the grave and then leave him but his graces will accompany him before
they go to read a book never look up never look after the Rain of Gods blessing but onely look to the River Nilus they onely look to the wit the learning the Arts the parts the eloquence c. of the Author they never look so high as Heaven and hence it comes to pass that though these read much yet they profit little Secondly Hee that would read to profit must read and meditate meditation Animae viaticum est meditatio Bern. Lectio sine meditatione arida est meditatio sine lectione erronea est oratio sine meditatione livida est August is the food of your souls it is the very stomach and natural heat whereby spiritual truths are digested A man shall as soon live without his heart as hee shall bee able to get good by what hee reads without meditation Prayer saith Bernard without meditation is dry and formal and reading without meditation is useless and unprofitable Hee that would bee a wise a prudent and an able experienced states-man must not hastily ramble and run over many Cities Countries Customes Laws and Manners of People without serious musing and pondering upon such things as may make him an expert States-man So hee that would get good by reading that would compleat his knowledge and perfect his experience in spiritual things must not slightly and hastily ramble and run over this book or that but ponder upon what hee reads as Mary pondered the saying of the Angel in her heart Lord saith Austin the more I meditate on thee the sweeter thou art to mee So the more you shall meditate on the following matter the sweeter it will be to you they usually thrive best who meditate most meditation is a soul-fatning duty it is a grace-stergthning duty it is a duty-crowning duty Gerson calls meditation the nurse of prayer Hier 〈…〉 calls it his Paradise Basil calls it the treasury where all the graces are lock'd up Theophylact calls it the very gate and portal by which wee enter nâ—o glory and Ariâ—tâ—â—le though a Heathen placeth felicity in the contemplation of the mind you may read much and â—ear much yet without meditation you will never bee excellent you will never bee eminent Christians Thirdly Read and try what thou readest take nothing upon trust but all upon trial As those Noble Bereans 1 Joh. 4. 10 Act. 17. 10 11. did You will try and tell and weigh gold though it be handed to you by your Fathers and so should you all those heavenly truths that are handed to you by your spiritual Fathers I hope upon trial you will finde nothing but what will hold weight in the ballance of the sanctuary and though all bee not gold that glisters yet I judge that you will finde nothing here to glister that will not be found upon trial to be true gold Fourthly Read and do read and practise what you read or else all your Augustine speaking of the Scripture saith verba vivenda non legenda reading will do you no good hee that hath a good book in his hand but not a lesson of it in his heart or life is like that Ass that carries rich burdens and feeds upon thistles In divine account a man knows no more than hee doâ—h Profession without practice will but make a man twice told a childe of darkness to speak well is to sound like a Cymbal Isiodorus but to do well is to act like an Angel hee that practiseth what hee reads and understands God will help him to understand Joh. 7. 16 17 Psal 119. 98 99 100 what he understands not there is no fear of knowing too much though there is much fear in practising too little the most doing man shall bee the most knowing man the mightiest man in practice will in the end prove the mightiest man in Scripture Theory is the guide of practice and practice is the life of Theory Salvian relates Salvianus de G. D. l. 4. how the Heathen did reproach some Christians who by their lewd lives made the Gosbel of Christ to bee a reproach where said they is that good Law which they do beleeve where are those rules of godliness which they do learn they read the holy Gospel and yet are unclean they hear the Apostles writings and yet live in drunkenness they follow Christ and yet disobey Christ they proprofess a holy Law and yet do lead impure lives Ah! how may many Preacher stake up sad complaints against many Readers in these daies they read our works and yet in their lives they deny Seneca had rather bee sick than idle and do nothing our works they praise our works and yet in their conversations they reproach our works they cry up our labours in their discourses and yet they cry them down in their practices Yet I hope better things of you into whose hands this Treatise shall fall The Samaritan woman did not fill her piâ—â—her with water that shee might talk Joh. 4. 7. Gen. 30. 15 of it but that she might use it and Rachel did not desire the Mandrakes to hold in her hand but that shee might thereby be the more apt to bring forth The Application is easie But Fifthly Read and apply reading is but the drawing of the bow application is the hitting of the white the choicest truths will no further profit you than they are applied by you you were The plaister will nor heal if it bee not applied as good not to read as not to apply what you read No man attains to health by reading of Galen or by knowing Hippocrates his Aphorisms but by the practical application of them all the reading in the world will never make for the health of your souls except you apply what you read the true reason why many read so much and profit so little is because they do not apply and bring home what they read to their own souls But Sixthly and lastly Read and pray hee that makes not conscience of praying over what hee reads will finde little Prayer is porta caeli â—lavâ—s pâ—râ—disi sweetness or profit in his reading no man makes such earnings of his reading as hee that praies oveâ— what hee reads Luther professeth that hee profited more in the knowledge of the Scriptures by prayer in a short space than by study in a longer Aâ— John by weeping got the sealed book open so certainly men would gain much more than they do by reading good mens woâ—ks if they would but pray more over what they read Ah Christians pray before you read and pray after you read that all may bee blest and sanctified to you when you have done reading usually close up thus So let mee live so let mee die That I may live eternally And when you are in the Mount foâ— your selves bear him upon your hearts who is willing to spend and 2 Cor. 12. 15 bee spent for your sakes for your souls O pray for mee that I may more and
more bee under the rich influences and glorious pourings out of the Spirit that I may bee an able Minister of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3. 6 not of the Letter but of the Spirit that I may alwaies finde an everlasting spring and an overflowing fountain within mee which may alwaies make mee faithful constant and abundant in the work of the Lord And that I may live daily under those inward teachings of the Spirit that may inable mee to speak from the heart to the heart from the coâ—science to the conscience and from experience to experience that I may bee a burning and a shining light that everlasting arms may bee still under mee that whilst I live I may bee serviceable to his Glory and his Peoples good that no discouragements may discouâ—age mee in my work and that when my work is done I may give up my account with joy and not with grief I shall follow these poor labours with my weak prayers that they may contribute much to your internal and eternal welfare And so rest Your souls servant in our dearest Lord THOMAS BROOKS THE MUTE CHRISTIAN Under the SMARTING ROD. PSAL. 39. 9. I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it NOt to trouble you with a tedious Preface wherein usually is a flood of words and but a drop of matter This Psalm consists of two parts the first Exegetical or narrative the second Eutical or precative a Narration and Prayer take up the whole In the former you have the Prophets Disease discovered and in the latter the Remedy applied My Text falls in the latter part where you have the way of Davids cure or the means by which his soul was reduced to a still and quiet temper I shall give a little light into the words and then come to the point that I intend to stand upon I was dumb the Hebrew word Some read it thus I should have been dumb and not have opened my mouth according to my first resolution vers 1 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to bee mute tongue-tied or dumb the Hebrew word signifies also to binde as well as to bee mute and dumb because they that are dumb are as it were tongue-tied they have their lips stitcht and bound up Ah the sight of Gods hand in the afflictions that was upon him makes him lay a law of silence upon his heart and tongue I opened not my mouth because thou didst it hee looks thorow all secondary causes to the first cause and is silent hee sees a hand of God in all and so sits mute and quiet the sight of God in an affliction is of an irresistable efficacy to silence the heart and to stop the mouth of a gracious man In the words you may observe three things 1 The person speaking and that is David David a King David a Saint David a man after Gods own heart David a Christian and here we are to look upon David not as a King but as a Christian as a man whose heart was right with God 2 The action and carriage of David under the hand of God in these words I was dumb and opened not my mouth 3 The reason of this humble and sweet carriage of his in those words because thou didst it the Proposition is this Doct. That it is the great duty and concernment of gracious souls to bee mute and silent under the greatest afflictions the saddest providences and sharpest trials that they meet with in this world For the opening and clearing up of this great and useful truth I shall enquire First What this silence is that is here pointed at in the Proposition Secondly What a gracious a holy silence doth include Thirdly What this holy silence doth not exclude Fourthly The Reasons of the point and then bring home all by way of application to our own souls For the first What is the Silence here meant I answer there is a sevenfold Silence First There is a Stoical Silence the Stoicks of old thought it altogether below a man that hath reason and understanding either to rejoyce in any good or to mourn for any evil but this Stoical Silence is such a sinful unsensibleness as is very provoking to a holy God Isa 26. 10 11. God will make the most insensible sinner sensible either of his hand here or of his wrath in Hell It is a Heathenish and a horrid sin to be without natural affections Rom. 1. 31. And of this sin Quintus Fabius Maximus seems to be foulely guilty who when hee heard that his Mother and Wife whom he dearly loved were slain by the fall of an house and that his younger son a brave hopeful young man died at the same time in Umbria hee never changed his countenance but went on with the affairs of the Common-wealth as if no such calamity had befallen him this carriage of his spoke out more stupidity than patience And so Harpalus was not at all appalled when hee saw two of his sons laid ready drest in a charger when Astyages had bid him to Supper this was a sottish insensibleness Certainly if the loss of Job 36. 13 Isa 57. 1 a childe in the house bee no more to thee than the loss of a Chick in Hos 7. 9 Balaams Asse reproves this dumbness the yard thy heart is base and sordid and thou mayest well expect some sore awakening judgement This age is full of such Monsters who think it below the greatnesse and magnanimity of their spirits to bee moved affected or afflicted with any afflictions that befalls them I know none so ripe and ready for Hâ—ll as these Aristotle speaks of Fishes that though they have spears thrust into their sides yet they awake not God thrusts many a sharp spear thorow many a sinners heart and yet hee feels nothing hee complains of nothing these mens souls will bleed to death Seneca reports of Senecio Cornelius who minded his body more than his Epist 10. soul and his mâ—ny more than Heaven when hee had all the day 〈◊〉 waited on his dying friend 〈◊〉 his friend was dead hee re 〈◊〉 his house sâ—ps merrily 〈◊〉 himself quickly goes to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his sorrows were ended and the time of his mourning expired before his deceased friend was interred Such stupidity is a curse that many a man lies under But this Stoical Silence which is but a sinful fullenness is not the Silence here meant Secondly There is a Politick Silence Many are silent out of policy should they not bee silent they should lay themselves more open either to the rage and fury of men or else to the plots and designs of men to prevent which they are silent and will lay their hands upon their mouths that others may not lay their hands upon their estates lives or liberties And Saul also went home to Giheah 1 Sam. 26. 27 and there went with him a band of men whose hearts God had touched But the
silent under the afflicting hand of God Wee see that it is possible that wee may attain to the same noble temper of being tongue-tied under a smarting Rod certainly it is our greatest honour and glory in this world to bee eying and imitating the highest and woâ—thiest examples What Plutarch said of Demosthenes that hee was excellent at praising the worthy acts of his Ancestors but not so at imitating them may bee said of many in these daies Oh they are very forward and excellent at praising the patience of Job but not at imitating it at praising the silence of Aaron but not at imitating it at praising Davids dumbness but not at imitating it at praising Elies muteness but not at imitating it It was the height of Caesars glory to walk in the steps of Alexander and of Selymus a Turkish Emperour to walk in Caesars steps and of Themistocles to walk in Miltiades steps Oh how much more should wee account it our highest glory to imitate the worthy examples of those worthies of whom this world is not worthy It speaks out much of God within when men are striving to write after the fairest copies And thus much for the Reasons of the Point I come now to the Application You see beloved by what hath been said That it is the greatest duty and concernment of Christians to bee mute and silent under the greatest afflictions the sadest providences and the sharpest trials that they meet with in this world If this bee so then this truth looks sourely and wishly upon several sorts of persons As First This looks sourely and sadly upon murmurers upon such as do nothing but mutter and murmure under the afflicting hand of God This was Israels sin of Exod. 16. 7 8 9 Numb 12. 14 27 29. chap. 17. 5 10. Exod. 15. 24 Deut. 1. 27 Psal 106. 25. old and this is Englands sin this day Ah what murmuring is there against God! what murmuring against instruments and what murmuring against providences is to bee found amongst us Some murmure at what they have lost others murmure at what they fear they shall lose some murmure that they are no higher others murmure because they are so low some murmure because such a party rules and others mutter because themselves are not in the saddle some murmure because their mercies are not so many as others and others murmure because their mercies are not so great as others are some murmure because they are afflicted and others murmure because such and such are not afflicted as well as they Ah England England hadst thou no more sins upon thee thy murmuring were enough to undo thee did not God exercise much pitty and compassion towards thee But more of this hereafter and therefore let this touch for the present suffice Secondly This truth looks sourely upon those that fret chafe and vex when they are under the afflicting hand of God Many when they feel the Rod to smart ah how do they fret and fume Isa 8. 21. When they were hardly bestead and hungry they fret themselves and curse their King and their God Prov. 19. 3. The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord. The heart may bee fretful and 2 King 6. 33 Psal 37. 1 7 8 froward when the tongue doth not blaspheme Folly brings man into misery and misery makes man to fret man in misery is more apt to fret and chafe against the Lord than to fret and chafe against his sin that hath brought him into sufferings A fretful soul dares let fly at God himself When Pharaoh is troubled with the frets hee dare spit in the very face oâ— God himself Who is the Lord that I should obey him And when Jonah is in a fretting humour hee dares tell God to his face that hee doth well to bee angry Jonah 4. 8. Jonah had done well if hee had been angry with his sin but hee did very ill to bee angry with his God God will vex every vein in that mans heart before hee hath done with him who fumes and frets because hee cannot snap in sunder the cords with which hee is bound Ezek. 16. 43. Sometimes good men are sick of the frets but when they are it costs them dear as Job and Jonah found by experience No man hath ever got any thing by his fretting and flinging except it hath been harder blows or heavier chains therefore fret not when God strikes Thirdly This truth looks sourely upon those who charge God foolishly in the day of their adversity Lam. 3. 39. Why doth a Lam. 1. 12 Psal 77. 7 12. Ezek. 18. 25. ch 29. 33. 17 20 29. living man complain Hee that hath deserved a hanging hath no reason to charge the Judge with cruelty if hee escape with a whiping And wee that have deserved a damning have no reason to charge God for being too severe if Some of the Heathens as Homer observes would lay the evils that they did incur by their own folly upon their gods so do many upon the true God we escape with a fatherly lashing Rather than a man will take the blame and quietly bear the shame of his own folly hee will put it off upon God himself Gen. 3. 12. It is a very evil thing when wee shall go to accuse God that wee may excuse our selves and unblame our selves that wee may blame our God and lay the fault any where rather than upon our own hearts and waies Job was a man of a more noble spirit Job 1. 22. In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly When God charges many men home then they presently charge God foolishly they put him to bear the brunt and blame of all but this will bee bitterness in the end When thou art under affliction thou mayest humbly tell God that thou feelest his hand heavy but thou must not blame him because his hand is heavy No man hath ever yet been able to make good a charge against God and wilt thou bee able surely no. By charging God foolishly in the day of thy calamity thou dost but provoke the Lord to charge thee thorow and thorow more fiercely and furiously with his most deadly darts of renewed misery it is thy greatest wisdome to blame thy sins and lay thy hand upon thy mouth for why should folly charge innocency That man is far enough off from being mute and silent under the hand of God who dares charge God himself for laying his hand upon him But Exod. 32. 11 Psal 10. 1 Psal 22. 1 2 Job 3. 11 12. ch 19. 11 13 14. Fourthly This truth looks sourely and sadly upon such as will not bee silent nor satisfied under the afflicting hand of God except the Lord will give them the particular reasons why hee laies his hand upon them Good men sometimes dash their feet against this stumbling-stone Jer. 15. 18. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable c. Though God hath alwaies reason for what
field and the birds of the Isa 3. 8 Jer. 7. 6. Mat. 6 Prov. 6. air and the creeping things of the earth how to cease from murmuring and how to bee mute Ah Sirs as you would have the name the honour the reputation of being men I say men Take heed of murmuring and sit silent before the Lord. Tenthly Murmuring is a timedestroying sin Ah the precious time that is buried in the grave of murmuring when the murmurer should bee a praying hee is a murmuring against the Lord when hee should bee a hearing hee is a murmuring against divine providences when hee should bee a reading hee is a murmuring against instruments the murmurer spends much precious time in musing in musing how to get out of such a trouble how to get off such a yoak how to bee rid of such a burden how to revenge himself for such a wrong how to supplant such a person how to reproach those that are above him and how to affront those that are below him and a thousand other waies murmurers have to expend thaâ— precious time that some would redeem with a world As Queen Sumptus pretiocissimus tempus Time is of precious cost saith Theophrastus Elizabeth on her death-bed cryed out time time a world of wealth for an inch of time the murmurer lavishly and profusely trifles away that precious time that is his greatest interest in this world to redeem Ephes 5. 16. every day every hour in the day is a talent of time and God expects the Rev. 2. 21 1 Pet. 4. 2. 5 improvement of it and will charge the non-improvement of it upon you at last Caesar observing the Ladies in Rome to spend Plutarch in the life of Pericles much of their time in making much of little Doggs and Monkies asked them whether the women in that Country had no children to make much of Ah murmurers murmurers you who by your murmuring trifle away so many golden hours and seasons of mercy have you no God to honour have you no Christ to beleeve in have you no hearts to change no sins to bee pardoned no souls to save no Hell to escape no Heaven to seek after Oh! if you have why do you spend so much of your precious time in murmuring against God against men against this or that thing Eternity rides upon the back of Time Hoc est momentum this is the moment Aut male aut nihil aut aliud agendo if it bee well improved you are made for ever if not you are undone for ever I have read of Archias a Lacedemonian that whilst hee was rioting and quaffing in the midst of his cups one delivers him a letter purposely to signifie that there were some that lay in wait to take Plutarch away his life withall desires him to read it presently because it was a serious business and matter of high concernment to him Oh! said hee seria cras I will think of serious things to morrow but that night hee was slain Ah murmurer cease from murmuring to day or else thou mayest bee for ever undone by murmuring to morrow the old saying was nunc aut nunquam now or never So say I now or never now or never give over murmuring and let it swallow up no more of your precious time what would not many a murmurer give for one of those daies yea for one of those hours which hee hath trifled away in murmuring when it is a day too late The Rabbins glory in this conceipt that a man hath so many bones as there bee latters in the Decalogue and just so many joints and members as there bee daies in the year to shew that all our strength and time should bee expended in Gods service Ah murmurers you will gain more by one daies faithful serving of God than ever you have gained by murmuring against God But Eleventhly Consider this Christians that of all men in the world you have least cause yea no cause to bee murmuring and Lam. 3. 24 Ephes 3. 8 1 Pet. 1. 3 4 muttering under any dispensations that you meet with in this world is not God thy portion Chrysostome propounds this question Chrysost Hom. 4. de patientia Job was Job miserable when hee lost all that God had given him and gives this answer no hee had still that God who gave him all Is not Christ thy treasure is not Heaven thine inheritance and wilt thou murmure hast thou not much in hand and more in hope hast thou not much in possession but much more in reversion and wilt thou murmure hath not God given thee a changed heart a renewed nature and a sanctified soul and wilt thou murmure hath hee not given thee himself to satisfie thee his Son Omne bonum in summo bono to save thee his Spirit to lead thee his grace to adorn thee his covenant to assure thee his mercy to pardon thee his righteousness to cloathe thee and wilt thou murmure hath he not made thee a friend a son a brother a bride an heir and wilt thou murmure hath not God often turned thy water into wine thy brass into silver and thy silver into gold and wilt thou murmure when thou was dead did not he quicken God is all in all and all without all thee and when thou wast lost did not hee seek thee and when thou wast wounded did not heâ— heal thee and when thou wer't falling did not hee support thee and when thou wer 't down did not hee raise thee and when thou wer't staggering did not hee establish thee and when thou wer't erring did not hee reduce thee and when thou wer 't tempted did not hee succour thee and when thou wer 't in dangers did not hee deliver thee and wilt thou murmure what thou that art so highly advanced and exalted above many thousands in the world Murmuring is a black garment and it becomes none so ill as Saints Twelfthly and lastly Consider That murmuring makes the life of man invisibly miserable every murmurer is his own executioner Murmuring vexes the heart it wears and tears the heart it inrages and inflames the heart it wounds and stabs the heart every murmurer is his own Martyr every murmurer is a murtherer hee kills many at once viz. his joy his comfort his peace his rest his soul no man so inwardly miserable as the murmurer no man hath such inward gripes and grief as hee such inward bitterness and heaviness as hee such inward contentions and combustions as hee every murmurer is his own tormentor murmuring is a fire within that will burn up all it is an earthquake within that will overturn all it is a disease within that will infect all it is poison within that wiâ—l prey upon all And thus I have done with those motives that may perswade us not to murmure nor mutter but to be mute and silent under the greatest afflictions the saddest providences and sharpest trials that wee meet with in
this world I shall now address my self to answer those Objections and to remove those Impediments which hinder poor souls from being silent and mute under the afflicting hand of God c. Object 1. Sir did I but know that I were afflicted in love I would hold my peace under my affliction I would sit mute before the Lord but Oh! how shall I come to understand that these stroaks are the stroaks of love that these wounds are the wounds of a friend I answer First If thy heart bee drawn more out to the Lord by the affliction Psal 18. 1 8. Psal 116. 1 2 3 4 5. Psal 119. 67 71. Isa 38. then the affliction is in love if they are so sanctified as that they draw out thy soul to love the Lord more and to fear the Lord more and to please the Lord more and to cleave to the Lord more and to wait on the Lord more and to walk with the Lord more then they are in love Oh! then they are the wounds of a friend indeed It is reported of the Lioness that shee leaves her young whelps till they have almost killed themselves with roaring and yelling and then at last gasp when they have almost spent themselves shee relieves them and by this means they become more couragious and so if the afflictions that are upon us do encrease our courage strengthen our patience raise our faith inflame our love and enliven our hopes Certainly they are in love and all our wounds are the wounds of a friend But Secondly If you are more careful and studious how to glorifie God in the affliction and Dan. 3. 6. chapters Heb. 11. how to bee kept from sinning under the affliction than how to get out of the affliction then certainly your affliction is in love where God smites in love there the soul makes it his work how to glorifie God and how to lift up God and how to bee a name and an honour to God the daily language of such a soul under the rod is this Lord stand by mee that I sin not Josh 7. 7 8 9 10 uphold mâ—e that I sin not strengthen mee that I sin not hee that will not sin to repair and make up his losses though hee knew assuredly that the committing of such a sin would make up all again hee may conclude that his affliction is in love I have read of a Noble man whose Son and Heir was supposed to bee bewitched and being advised to go to some wizard or cunning man as they are called to have some help for his Son that hee might bee unwitched again hee answered Oh by no means I had rather the Witch should have my Son than the Devil his Son should suffer rather than hee would sin him out of his sufferings Hee that will not break the hedge of a fair Command to avoid the foul way of some heavy affliction may well conclude that his affliction is in love Christians what say you when you are in the Mount do you thus bespeak the Lord Lord take care of thy glory and let mee rather sink in my affliction than sin under my affliction if this bee the bent and frame of thy heart it is certain the affliction that is upon thee is in love the primitive times afforded many such brave spirits though this age affords but few Thirdly If you enjoy the special presence of God with your spirits in your affliction then your Psal 23. 4 5 6 affliction is in love Isa 43. 2. When thou passest thorow the waters I will bee with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee The bush which was a type of the Church consumed not all the while it burned with fire because God was in the midst of it when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not bee burnt neither shall the flames kindle upon thee Hast thou a special presence of God with thy spirit strengthening of that quieting of that steeling of that satisfying of that chearing and comforting of that Psal 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts that is of my troubled intricated insnarled intertwined and perplexed thoughts as the branches of a tree by some strong wind are twisted one within another as the Hebrew word properly signifies thy comforts delight my soul Here 's a presence of God with his soul here 's comforts and delights that reaches the soul here 's a cordial to strengthen his spirit When Knoles Turk Hist pag. 164 all things went cross with Andronicus the old Emperour of Constantinople hee took a Psalter into his hand and opening the same hee lighted upon Psal 68. 14. When the Almighty scattered Kings they shall bee white as Snow in Salmon which Scripture was a mighty comfort and refreshment to his spirit Now you are to remember that Salmon signifies shady and dark and so was this Mount by the reason of many lofty fair spread trees that were neer it but made lightsome by Snow that covered it so that to bee white as Snow in Salmon is to have joy in affliction light in darkness mercy in misery c. And thus God was to the Psalmist as Snow in Salmon in the midst of his greatest afflictions When Paul would wish his dear Son Timothy the best mercy in all the world the greatest mercy in all the world the most comprehensive mercy in all the world a mercy that carries the virtue value and sweetness of all mercies in it hee wishes the presence of God with his spirit 2 Tim. 4. 22. The Lord Jesus Christ bee with thy spirit in point of honour in point of profit and pleasure in point of safety and security and in point of comfort and joy it is the greatest blessing and happinesse in this world to have the presence of God with our spirits especially in times of trials 2 Cor. 4. 16. For which cause wee faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day By the outward man you are to understand not meerly our bodies but our persons estates and outward condition in this world and by the inward man you are to understand our souls or persons considered according to our spiritual estate Now when the inward man gains new strength by every new trouble when as troubles pressures afflictions and tribulations are increased a Christians inward strength is increased also then his afflictions are in love when the presence of God is with our inward man chearing comforting encouraging strengthening and renewing of that wee may safely conclude that all these trials though they are never so sharp and smart yet they are in love I have read of a company of poor Christians that were banished into some remote parts and one standing by seeing them pass along said That it was a very sad condition those poor people were in to bee thus hurried from the society of men and to bee made companions with the beasts of the field true
affliction comes in love upon a soul the language of that soul is this Lord remove the cause rather than the effect the sin rather than the punishment my corruption rather than my affliction Lord what will it avail mee to have the sore skinned over if the corrupt matter still remains in there is no evil Lord to the evil of sin and therefore deliver mee rather from the evil of sâ—n than the evil of sufferings I know Lord that affliction cannot bee so displeasing to mee as sin is dishonourable and displeasing to thee and therefore Lord let mee see an end of my sin though in this world I should never see an end of my sorrows Oh! let mee see an end of my corruptions though I should never see an end of my corrections Lord I had rather have a cure for my heart than a cure for my head I had rather bee made whole and sound within than without I had rather have a healthy soul than a healthy body a pure inside than a beautiful outside if this bee the setled frame and temper of thy spirit certainly thy afflictions are in love There was one who being under marvelous great pains and torments in his body occasioned by many sore diseases that were upon him cryed out had I all the world I would give it for ease and yet for all the world I would not have ease till the cure bee wrought sure his afflictions were in love the first request the great request and the last request of a soul afflicted in love is a cure Lord a cure Lord a cure Lord of this wretched heart and this sinful life and all will bee well all will bee well Eighthly and lastly If you live a life of Faith in your afflictions then your afflictions are in love Now what is it to live by Faith in affliction but to live in the exercising These following promises have been choice cordials to many Christians under sore distresses Isa 57. 15 ch 41. 10 1 Tim. 1. 15 Joh. 10. 27 28 29 Isa 26. 3 Mat. 11. 28 1 Joh. 3. 14 of Faith upon those precious promises that are made over to an afflicted condition God hath promised to bee with his people in their afflictions Isa 43. 2 3. hee hath promised to support them under their afflictions Isa 41. 10. hee hath promised to deliver his people out of their afflictions Psal 50. 15. hee hath promised to purge away his peoples sins by affliction Isa 1. 25. hee hath promised to make his people more partakers of his holiness by affliction Heb. 12. 10. hee hath promised to make afflictions an inlet to a more full and sweet enjoyment of himself Hosea 2. 14. hee hath promised that hee will never leave nor forsake his people in their afflictions Heb. 13. 5 6. hee hath promised that all their afflictions shall work for their good Zech. 13. 9. Rom. 8. 28. Now if thy Faith bee drawn forth to feed upon these promises if these bee heavenly Manna to thy Faith and thy soul lives upon them and sucks stre 〈…〉 〈◊〉 sweetness from them und 〈…〉 〈◊〉 trials and troubles that 〈◊〉 〈…〉 on thee thy afflictions are in love A Bee can suck honey out of a flower which a Flie cannot if thy Faith can extract comfort and sweetness in thy saddest distresses out of the breasts of precious promises and gather one contrary out of another Honey out of the Deut. 32. 13. Rock thy afflictions are in love The Promises are full breasts and God delights that Faith should As the mother delights that the childe should draw hers draw them they are pabulum fidei anima fidei the food of Faith and the very soul of Faith They are an everlasting spring that can never bee drawn dry they are an inexhaustible treasure that can never bee exhausted they are the garden of Paradise and full of such choice flowers that will never fade but bee alwaies fresh sweet green and flourishing and if in the day of affliction they prove thus to thy soul thy afflictions are in love Sertorius paid Plutarch what hee promised with fair words but so doth not God men many times eat their words but God will never eat his all his promises in Christ are Yea and in 2 Cor. 1. 20. him Amen hath hee spoken it and shall it not come to pass if in all thy troubles thy heart bee drawn forth to act Faith upon the promises thy troubles are from love and thus much by way of answer to the first Objection Object 2 Oh but Sir The Lord hath smitten mee in my nearest and dearest comforts and contentments and how then can I hold my peace God hath taken away a husband a wife a childe an onely childe a bosome friend and how then can I bee silent c. Answ To this I Answer First If God did not strike thee in that mercy which was near and dear unto thee it would not amount to an affliction that is not worthy the name of an affliction that doth not strike at some bosome mercy that trouble is no trouble that doth not touch some choice contentment that storm is no storm that onely blows off the leaves but never hurts the fruit that thrust is no thrust that onely touches the cloaths but never reaches the skin that cut is no cut that onely cuts the hatt but never touches the head neither is that affliction any affliction that onely reaches some remote enjoyment but never reaches a Joseph a Benjamin c. Secondly The best mercy is not too good for the best God the best of the best is not good enough for him who is goodness it self the best childe the best yoak-fellow the best friend the best Jewel in all thy Crown must bee readily resigned to thy best God Isa 43. 22 25. Mal. 1. 13 14. there is no mercy no enjoyment no contentment worthy of God but the best the milk of mercy is for others the cream of mercy is due to God the choicest the fairest and the sweetest flowers are fittest for the bosome of God if hee will take the best flower in all thy garden and plant it in a better soil hast thou any cause to murmure wilt thou not hold thy peace Thirdly Your near and dear mercies were first the Lords before they were yours and alwaies the Lords more than they were yours when God gives a mercy hee doth not relinquish his own right in that mercy 1 Chron. 29. 14. All things come of thee and of thine own have wee given thee The sweet of mercy is yours but the sovereign right to dispose of your mercies is the Lords Quicquid es debes creanti quicquid potes debes redimenti Bern. Whatsoever thou art thou owest to him that made thee and whatsoever thou hast thou owest to him that redeemed thee You say it is but just and reasonable that men should do with their own as they please and is it not just and
my peace but heark Christian heark canst thou tell mee how long thou must have travelled in birth again with them before they had been born again before they had been twice born would not every sin that they had committed against thy gracious God cause a new throw in thy soul would not every temptation that they had fallen before been as a dagger at thy heart would not every affliction that should have befallen them been as a knife at thy throat what are those pains and pangs and throws of child-birth to those after pains pangs and throws that might have been brought upon thee by the sins and sufferings of thy children Well Christians hold your peace for you do not know what thorns in your eyes what goads in your sides nor what spears in your hearts such near and dear mercies might have proved had they been longer continued Eleventhly Thou canst not tell how bad thy heart might have Deut. 32. ult 5. to the end Jer. 5. 7 8 9. ch 2. 31. ch 22. 21. Hosea 4. 7 proved under the enjoyment of those near and dear mercies that now thou hast lost Israel were very bad whilst they were in the wilderness but they were much worse when they came to possesse Canaan that Land of desires mans blood is apt to rise with his outward good In the winter men gird their cloaths close about them but in the Summer they let them hang loose in the winter of adversity many a Christian girds his heart close to God to Christ to Gospel to Godliness to Ordinances to Duties c. who in the summer of mercy hangs loose from all I have read of the Pine-tree that if the bark bee pulled off it will last a long time but if it continue long on it rots the tree Ah! how bad how rotten how base would many have proved had not God pulled off their bark of health wealth friendship c near and dear relations they stick as close to us as the bark of a tree sticks to the tree and if God should not pull off this bark how apt should wee be to rot and corrupt our selves therefore God is fain to bark us and peel us and strip us naked and bare of our dearest enjoyments and sweetest contentments that so our souls like the Pine-tree may prosper and thrive the better who can seriously consider of this and not hold his peace even then when God takes a Jewel out of his bosome Heap all the sweetest contentments and most desirable enjoyments of this world upon a man they will not make him a Christian heap them upon a Christian they will not make him a better Christian many a Christian hath been made worse by the good things of this world but where is the Christian that hath been bettered by them therefore bee quiet when God strips thee of them Twelfthly and lastly Get thy heart more affected with spiritual losses and then thy soul will bee less afflicted with those temporal losses that thou mournest under Hast thou lost nothing of that presence Qui te non habet Domine Deus totum perdidit Bern. of God that once thou hadst with thy spirit hast thou lost none of those warmings meltings quicknings and chearings that once thou hadst hast thou lost nothing of thy communion with God nor of the joyes of the spirit nor of that peace of conscience that once thou enjoyedst hast thou lost none of that ground that once thou hadst got upon sin Satan and the world hast thou lost nothing of that holy vigour and heavenly heat that once thou hadst in thy heart if thou hast not which would bee a miracle a wonder why doest thou complain of this or that temporal loss for what is this but to complain of the loss of thy purse when thy gold is safe if thou art a loser in spirituals why dost thou not rather complain that thou hast lost thy God than that thou hast lost thy gold and that thou hast lost thy Christ than that thou hast lost thy Husband and that thou hast lost thy Peace than that thou hast lost thy Childe and that thou art damnified in spirituals than that thou art damnified in temporals Dost thou mourn over the body the soul hath left mourn rather over the soul that God hath 1 Sam. 15. 35 forsaken as Samuel did for Saul saith one I have read of Honorius a Roman Emperour who was simple and childish enough when one told him Rome was lost hee was exceedingly grieved and cried out Alass Alass for hee supposed it was his Hen that was called Rome which Hen hee exceedingly loved but when it was told him it was his imperial City of Rome that was besiedged by Aâ—aricus and taken and all the Citizens rifled and made a prey to the rude enraged souldiers then his spirits were revived that his loss was not so great as hee imagined now what is the loss of a husband a wife a childe a friend to the loss of God Christ the Spirit or the least measure of Grace or Communion with God c. I say What are all such losses but the loss of a Hen to the loss of Rome and yet so simple and childish are many Christians that they are more affected and afflicted with the loss of this and that poor temporal injoyment than they are with the loss of their most spiritual attainment Ah Christians bee but more affected with spiritual losses and you will bee more quiet and silent under temporal losses let the loss of Rome trouble you more and then the loss of your Hen will not trouble you at all Let these things suffice for answer to the second Objection Object 3. Oh but my afflictions my troubles have been long upon mee and how then can I hold my peace were they but of yesterday I would bee quiet but they are of a long continuance and therefore how can I bee silent c. To this I answer First Thou canst not date thy affliction from the first day of thy pollution thou hast been polluted from the womb but thou hast not been afflicted from the womb many have Psal 51. 5 Rom. 5. 12 been the daies the years since thou wast born in sin few have been the daies the years that thou hast experienced sorrow thou canst not easily number the daies of thy sinning thou canst easily number the daies of thy suffering thou canst not number thy daies of mercy thou canst easily number thy daies of calamity thou canst not number thy daies of health but thou canst easily tell over thy daies of sickness Secondly Thy afflictions are not so long as the afflictions of other Saints compare thy winter nights and other Saints winter nights together thy storms and troubles and other Saints storms and troubles together thy losses and other Psalms 77 88. Gen. 15. 12 13. Exod. 12. 40 41 42 Jer. 25. 11 12. Saints losses together thy miseries and other Saints miseries together
put off the motions of his Spirit the directions of his word the offers of his grace the entreaties of his Son and therefore what can be more just than that God should delay thee for a time and put thee off for a season who hast delaied him and put off him daies without number if God serves thee as thou hast often served him thou hast no reason to complain But Seventhly and lastly The Lord delaies his people that Heaven may be the more sweet to them at last here they meet with many delaies and with many put offs but in Heaven they shall never meet with one put off with one delay here many times they call and cry and can get no answer Lam. 3. 8 44 here they knock and bounce and yet the door of grace and mercy opens not to them but in Heaven they shall have mercy at the first word at the first knock there whatever heart can wish shall without delay be enjoyed here God seems to say sometimes souls you have mistaken the door or I am not at leasure or others must be served before you or come some other time c. But in Heaven God is alwaies at leasure and all the sweetness and blessedness and happiness of that state presents it self every hour to the soul there God hath never God will never say to any of his Saints in Heaven come to morrow such language the Saints sometimes hear here but such language is no waies suitable to a glorified condition and therefore seeing that the Lord never delaies his people but upon great and weighty accounts let his people bee silent before him let them not mutter nor murmure but be mute And so I have done with the Objections I shall come now in the last place to propound some helps and directions that may contribute to the silencing and stilling of your souls under the greatest afflictions the sharpest trials and the saddest providences that you meet with in this world and so close up this discourse First All the afflictions that come upon the Saints they are the Prov. 3. 12 Jer. 9. 7 fruits of divine love Rev. 3. 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten bee zealous therefore and repent Heb. 12. 6. For whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom hee receiveth Job 5. 17. Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty ch 7. 17 18. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him And that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment Isa 48. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction When Munster lay sick and his friends asked him how hee did and how hee felt himself hee pointed to his sores and ulcers whereof hee was full and said these are Gods Gems and Jewels wherewith hee decketh his best friends and to mee they are more precious than all the gold and silver in the world A Gentleman highly prizes his Hawk hee feeds her with his own hand hee carries her upon his fist hee takes a great deal of delight and pleasure in her and therefore hee puts vervells upon her leggs and a hood upon her head hee hood-winks her and fetters her because hee loves her and takes delight in her So the Lord by afflictions hood-winks and fetters his children but all is because hee loves them and takes delight and pleasure in them there cannot be a greater evidence of Gods hatred and wrath than his Hos 4. 14. 19 Ezek. 16. 42 Isa 1. 5 Nihil est infaelicius â—o cui nil unquam contigit adversi Seneca refusing to correct men for their sinful courses and vanities why should you bee smitten any more you will revolt more and more where God refuses to correct there God resolves to destroy there is no man so near the Axe so near the flames so near Hell as hee whom God will not so much as spend a Rod upon God is most angry where hee shews no anger Jerome writing to a sick friend hath this expression I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity I judge you to bee miserable because you have not been miserable nothing saith another Demetrius seems more unhappy to mee than hee to whom no adversity hath hapned God afflicts thee O Christian in love and therefore Luther cries out strike Lord strike Lord and spare not who can seriously muse upon this and not hold his peace and not bee silent under the most smarting Rod Secondly Consider that the trials and troubles the calamities and miseries the crosses and losses that you meet with in this world is all the Hell that ever you shall have here you have your Hell hereafter you shall have your Heaven this is the worst of your condition the best is to come Lazarus had his Hell first his Heaven Luke 16. 19 29 last but Dives had his Heaven first and his Hell at last thou hast all thy pains and pangs and throws here that ever thou shalt have thy ease and rest and pleasure is to come here you have all your bitter your sweet is to come here you have your sorrows your joyes are to come here you have all your winter nights your summer daies are to come here you have your passion week your Ascension day is to come here you have your evil things your good things are to come death will put a period to all thy sins and to all thy sufferings and it will bee an inlet to those joyes delights and contents that shall never have end and therefore hold thy peace and be silent before the Lord. Thirdly Get an assurance that Christ is yours and pardon of sin See my Treatise called Heaven on Earth yours and divine favour yours and Heaven yours and the sense of this will exceedingly quiet and silence the soul under the sorest and the sharpest trials a Christian can meet with in this world hee that is assured that God is his portion wil never mutter nor murmure under his greatest burdens hee that can groundedly say nothing shall separate mee from the love of God in Christ hee will be able to triumph in the midst of the greatest Rom. 8. 33 ult Cant. 2. 16 tribulations hee that with the Spouse can say My Beloved is mine and I am his will bear up quietly and sweetly under the heaviest afflictions In the time of the Marian Act. Mon. Persecution there was a gracious woman who being convened before bloody Bonner then Bishop So John Noyes Alice Driver Mr. Bradford Mr. Taylor and Justin Martyr with many more of London upon the trial of Religion hee threatned her that hee would take away her husband from her saith shee Christ is my husband I will take away thy childe Christ saith shee is better to mee than ten Sons I will