Chron. 33.13 For God is neer unto all that call upon him in truth hee will fulfill the desire of them that feare him hee also will heare their cry and will save them Psal 145.18 19. Object Oh but my troubles are such as there is no possibility of being delivered out of them therefore I feare it will bee but lost labor for mee to pray unto the Lord. Answ Though it bee impossible in thine eyes should it therefore bee impossible in my sight saith the Lord of hosts Zach. 8.6 Is there any thing too hard for the Lord Jerem. 32.27 Is thy condition worse then Manasses was Is thy case more desperate then Jonahs was yet hee prayed out of the deepe and was helped Therefore be not dismayed but draw neere with a true heart in assurance of faith Hebr. 10.22 It is a hard taske I confesse to beleeve that God will deliver us out of al our troubles but as hard as it is faith makes it easie by apprehending Gods power and truth in all his promises Thy troubles thou sayest are great But faith tells thee that God is greater and mightier to helpe thee out of them then the devill and all his instruments are able to keepe thee in them Object But I have a long time prayed and hoped but cold comfort appeares for all my prayers Answ It may be there lieth some sinne secretly in thy bosom unrepented of and so long never look that God should heare thee in mercy Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sinnes have hid his face from you that hee will not hear Esay 59.2 Therefore Let every one that calleth upon the Name of the Lord depart from iniquitie 2. Tim. 2.19 For God heareth not sinnrrs John 9.31 It was a curse laid upon Moab That hee shall come into the Temple to pray but hee shall not prevail Hab. 16.12 It was a token of Gods heavie displeasure and judgement upon Saul That he sought unto the Lord but hee would no way answere him neither by dreames nor by Vrim nor yet by Prophets 1. Samv 28.6 Thus will the Lord deal with all ungodly persons When you shall stretch out your hands I will hide mine eyes from you and though you make many prayers I will not heare for your hands are full of blood Isay 1.5 Mine eye shall not spare them neither will I have pittie and though they cry in mine eares with a loud voice yet will I not heare them Eze 8.18 Object But I have searched my heart and sorrowed for my sinnes and yet God answeres not my prayers Answer It may bee thou art not instant and earnest enough in prayer thou must be fervent and wrestle with God in thy prayers if thou wouldest speed The prayer of a righteous man availeth much if it bee fervent Jam. 5.16 God is a living God and therefore will not be sought unto with dead and drowsie affections Thou must cry and be instant with the Lord if thou wouldst have him to heare thee Object I have been as instant and earnest in my prayers as I can but yet I have no answer from the Lord. Answ It may be so but it may be thou hast not prayed in faith which if thou dost not it is impossible that thou shouldest be able by any prayers to prevaile with God Hee that commeth to God must beleeve that God is and that hee is a rewarder of them that seek him Hebr. 11.6 True it is that the strength of our wrestling and prevailing with God lieth in our prayers but how not as they be a forme and sound of words but as they are the worke or fruit of faith Let our prayers be never so many never so loud never so long yet if faith be wanting they want their virtue they will be as weake as Sampson was when he wanted his haire The stronger thy faith is the freer is thy accesse with boldnesse and confidence to the throne of grace and the better successe shall thy prayers finde with God though he do not by and by answere thee for the Lord peradventure intendeth to exercise thy faith and make triall of thy patience to see whether thou wilt grow weary or no. For hee loveth to bee importuned as appeareth by that parable Luk. 11.8 Let us therefore use this excellent help of Prayer seeing it is so prevalent with the Lord as the Scripture doth plentifully witnesse unto us Prayer being a service so acceptable and well pleasing unto God hee cannot but heare the cries and satisfie the requests of his children if they faithfully holily and uncessantly do seek unto him Object But have all that do thus pray their requests granted unto them Answ Either they have their requests or that which the Lord sees better for them As the Lord doth sometimes deferre so hee doth sometimes transferre his benefits giving unto us in stead of that which wee aske something better for us As he answered not Paul in that particular he desired but in bestowing his Grace upon him which was sufficient for him 2. Cor. 12.9 Vse 6 Sixtly is it thus Here then is a ground of admirable comfort unto the children of God in the midst of all those afflictions which shall befall them This may strengthen the weak hands and comfort the feeble knees Esay 35.3 of all such as are by God afflicted when they consider that hee intendeth our great good in afflicting of us For our afflictions are as eye-salves ro cleer our dim sight that our sinnes may more evidently appeare they serve for sowre sawce to bring us out of love with our sweet sinnes and as sand to scoure off the drosse and corruption of our nature They are occasions of preventing many evills which if they were not wee should be ready to runne into They are as a School-master to teach and instruct us in the way of godlinesse They serve to manifest unto the world but especially unto our selves the truth and soundnesse of our faith obedience patience and the rest of Gods graces to the honor of him that hath bestowed them upon us and to the comfort of our own soules who have received them They are instruments of fitting us for that service wherein the Lord is pleased to use us They teach us how to prize the benefits of God and to make more account of them then formerly wee have done They are as wormewood to wean us from the love of this world Whose pleasing delights and bewitching pleasures wee should linger after and be ever and anon sucking of them if our mouthes were not imbittered and so distasted with some afflictions They are as cords to draw us unto the Lord in prayer and to seek him more often and more diligently at the Throne of grace then formerly wee have done They bring us into some conformity with Christ Wee cannot deny but that the crosse is somthing an uncomfortable companion to consort with flesh and blood But blessed bee that affliction
with the net of the Gospel all the cost that is bestowed upon them all the pains that are taken with them do them little or no good All the good that the most of us learn is in the school of affliction So that affliction may say concerning the good wee have as Laban in another case said to Jacob Gen. 31.43 All that thou seest is mine So in some sence may affliction say Thy humility thy faith thy charity thy obedience c. all mine from whence hadst thou them of whom didst thou learn them but of me and therefore mayest thank me for them Blessed is the man saies David to the Lord Psal 94.12 whom thou chastisest and teachest him thy Law If we can pick no good out of our afflictions learn nothing from them woe will be unto us that ever we were corrected The judgements which are upon others should better us according to that of Esay 26. 9. Seeing thy judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world shall learn righteousnesse If God will have us to profit by the calamities and miseries which do befall others how much more by those afflictions which touch our own skin or come into our own bowels But alas such blocks such non-proficients wee are that the Lord may justly complain of us as he did of Israel in the dayes of Amos I have thus and thus corrected you Yet have you not returned unto mee saith the Lord. Amos. 4.8 9 10. Reason 5 Fiftly the Lord doth sometime afflict his children to try the truth of grace in them 1. Pet. 1.6 7. Ye are in heavinesse through manifold tentations that the triall of your Faith being much more precious then gold that perisheth might be found unto your praise Apoc. 2.10 Some of you shall be cast into prison that you may be tried The Lord thy God led thee saies Moses to Israel Deut. 8.2 this forty yeere in the wildernesse for to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart Why doth not God know the secrets of al hearts doth not he understand our thoughts afarre off Psal 139 1. Why then should hee afflict his children to prove what is in their hearts That we being afflicted may know our own hearts the better and that others also may discern the truth of grace in us Every one almost will bee good whiles all things goe according to their hearts desire as the old saying is The devill is good while hee is pleased Even the wicked whiles there is nothing to thwart and crosse them will carry themselves temperatly and smoothly But let the Lord set fire upon their hedge of prosperity let the Lord but a little lay his hand upon them and you shall see that verified in them which Satan maliciously and falsly layd unto Jobs charge They will curse God to his face they will in a blasphemous manner spit out their venome and poison against the Lord. There is a bottomlesse gulfe of self-deceit in the hearts even of Gods children whence it comes to passe that they can hardly be brought to beleeve there is so much corruption in them as indeed there is but affliction yea sometime the fear of danger doth discover it unto us as appeares in Peter who hearing Christ say that all his Apostles should be offended that night and flie from him Matt. 26.31 utterly disclaimes such unfaithfulnesse and therefore telleth Christ that whatsoever became of the rest he would not forsake him whereas the very fear of some danger or trouble made him denie and forsware his master as if he knew him not Little do wee beleeve what filthy stuffe lurketh in these wicked hearts of ours untill such time as the Lord stirreth and provoketh us by afflictions A mans strength is never known untill such time as it be tried and he have some enemie to resist him Afflictions are tentations to try both the truth and the strength of grace in us our faith our patience our humilitie our obedience our love our courage and heavenly mindednesse then appeareth when affliction which is so contrary unto our nature doth encounter us For that corruption which dwelleth in us being exasperated and provoked by affliction will then or never shew it self in its proper colours Our frowardnesse impatience and infidelity will then appeare when wee are pained or pinched by affliction for then the flesh begins to kick and winch because Heb. 12.11 No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous though afterward it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are thereby exercised So that by affliction every one comes to have an experimentall knowledge of the truth and measure of any grace in him Whence hee may say of himselfe and others may beleeve and report of him as the Lord said to Abraham when hee saw how ready and willing he was to offer up his onely son Isaac whom hee so dearely loved Genes 22.12 Now I know that thou fearest God Whiles the Gospel doth go with a fair and calme gale whiles ease liberty and prosperity doth attend upon the profession thereof every one will be a Gospeler as Ester 8.17 Many of the people of the land became Jews when the fear of the Jews fell upon them But trouble and persecution tries the sound-hearted from false and hypocritical professors So that as Paul speaketh of heresies 1. Cor. 11.19 There must be heresies among you that they which are approved among you may be known So I may say of affliction there must bee afflictions among you that the truth of grace may be known in you Affliction saith Paul brings forth patience Rom. 5.31 which words to a carnall ear may sound like Samsons riddle Judges 14.14 Out of the eater came meat Patience to come out of affliction it may seem a paradox but it is a most divine truth not that afflictions do beget patience in the heart of a man but by them this gift and grace of patience is exercised and manifested in us and in our afflictions wee come to make experience of our patience Hence it is that our Saviour Christ is said Heb. 5.8 To have learned obedience by the things which he suffered Not that Christ was then to learn obedience but that in the time of his passions himself and others mighr see and discerne his obedience who preferred the will of his Father in drinking of that cup which was given him though it were never so bitter and unpleasing unto him Wee are all of us too prone to think better of our selves then there is just cause wee can promise our selves great things and build castles in the ayre all the while wee stretch our selves upon our beds and drink wine in bowles live at ease and in fulnesse but these paper buildings these clay walls of ours are quickly shaken and beaten downe if the Lord do but shoot one arrow of affliction out of his quiver against us Therefore the Lord in love and wisedome exerciseth
unto Gods will and then whatsoever thy sinns have been whatsoever thy tentations distractions feares or doubtings be if thou wilt beleeve the Lord will graciously accept of thee for his sonns sake The Lord stands not upon thy sinns nor thy unworthynesse as I have formerly said he bids thee beleeve therefore tho thou beest unworthy of Gods favor and mercy yea beleeve because God commands thee and he is worthy to be obeyed By beleeving Christ and his righteousnesse become thine and having Christ neither sin nor the law shall be able to hurt thee for faith reprives us from the law and puts us under grace Therefore beleeve else never looke to have any sound joy or true peace to thy soul the heart is filled with joy and peace in beleeving Rom. 15.13 Where there is doubting of Gods love or our own salvation there can bee neither joy nor peace but anxiety trouble vexation and griefe Faith pacifies and quiets all For being justified by faith we have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoyce under the bope of the glory of God neither do we so onely but also we rejoyce in tribulations Rom. 5.1 2 3. True faith tho never so little is able to keepe thy soul from sinking under any affliction be it never so great or grievous When Peter was strong in faith he could cast himself into the Sea but his heart and faith failing he began to sink little and weak faith will be able to keep us from drowning but not from beginning to sink When Peters faith was weakest Christ was nearest at hand to helpe him Christ who never did nor will reject the weakest beleever put forth his hand and saved Peter but yet withall reproved him for doubting O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt Mat. 14.31 Doubt not therefore but beleeve And be perswaded that if the Lord intended not to shew mercy unto thee he would never haue given thee an eye to see thy sinnes a heart to grieve and mourn for them or a tongue to desire the pardon and forgivenesse of them Therefore assure thy selfe that a grieved spirit a sorrowfull heart a wounded conscience is no sure argument of a forlorn condition or of the want of the love of God Vse 2 Againe is it so is this the best way for us to bee patient and cheerfull in affliction to bee perswaded of Gods love Labor wee then to get our hearts setled in this perswasion and thou shalt finde the anguish of thy affliction much alaied thou shalt feel the smart of it much abated Holy Job was brought to a low and pittyfull condition when he desired to he let alone whiles he might swallow his spittle Job 7.19 Yet even then Job wondred at the goodnesse and favor of God that he would think him worthy the melting and trying What is man that thou dost magnifie him and that thou settest thine heart upon him And dost visit him every morning and triest him every moment Job 7.17 18. Being then undoubtedly perswaded that when God comes neer thee with affliction he is neer thee in affection that when he corrects thee he loves thee for until the heart of man be thorowly perswaded hereof hee shall never take comfort in nor pick any good out of his affliction Imagine with me a man who hath every day his full feed of the best and what outward comfort he will call for what true content can hee take in these things when hee knows that hee is under the displeasure of his Prince and so in danger every day of being cast into prison whereas if through the rage and malice of some of his enemies hee were cast into prison if he were perswaded of the Kings love hee would rest contented knowing and beleeving that the King will honor him for his reproach and ere it be long set him free againe Even so it is with every one that is perswaded of Gods love in his affliction Therefore as at all times so especially in the time of affliction Gods children should live by faith Affliction is like to do us little good if it be not tempered with faith As that meate which we take into our stomack concocteth not if the native heat be defective and wanting even so that affliction which is administred unto us will profit us little if faith be wanting unto us Faith stilleth the heart even in our sorest and greatest afflictions perswading us of Gods love in correcting us and that the Lord intendeth our great good by this affliction which lyeth upon us the love and care which parents have of their childrens good and wellfare doth not wholy consist in providing of meat drink and apparel for them but partly in correcting of them for their good and partly in providing of physick for them when they are any way distempered Even so almighty God our mercifull and loving father doth no lesse love us when he corrects afflicts us which as you have heard is the physicking of our soules then when he provideth outward necessaries for us and this faith doth perswade the heart of For faith judgeth not of things by sense or outward appearance but as the truth is in Jesus Christ justifying the Lord in all his waies alway magnifying the wise and holy proceedings of our good God as the only best and most profitable for us It is only the apprehension of some losse the feare of some evill or the sense of Gods wrath and displeasure in our affliction which makes the heart so sad and the spirits so lumpish in the time of affliction then set thy faith on work and it will blow over all these clouds it will answer all carnall doubts and reasonings and so settle the heart in a constant perswasion of Gods love that we shall rejoyce and be thankfull for our afflictions because we know and beleeve that God in afflicting of us loves us And to put the matter out of all doubting I will lay down a few but sure and certain evidences of Gods love in correcting of us Dost thou desire to know whether God in afflicting of thee loveth thee whether his stripes bee the blowes of an enemy or the chastisement of a loving father thou mayest know it by these tokens First when God gives thee a heart to be contented and a minde to be willing to beare whatsoever he shall lay upon thee and to want whatsoever thou seest the Lord is not willing thou shouldst injoy Hee that doth not rest content with the love and favor of God in the want of outward yea the best of outward things doth not rightly prize the love of God in that the want of other things doth more affect him and take up his minde then the consideration of Gods love and he more discontented in the missing of the one then contented with the possession of the other He that cannot be content to part with any earthly benefit when God shall call for it it is to
companions of our sorrow to have those that fellow-feele with us cannot but be a comfort to any that are in misery Little do you think what refreshing if not ease it is to one in affliction to heare or see another to pittie his case to weep with those that weep and mourn with those that mourn doth excedingly abate though not remove and take away the smart of their affliction We shall be the more ready and willing to put forth our hand of comfort to lift our neighbor out of the ditch if wee consider how soone his case may be ours and our selves before it be long may stand in as much need of pitty and comfort as our neighbor now doth What measure you meat it shall be measured to you againe Matt. 7.2 Therefore denie not unto the afflicted any comfort which thou art able to afford him But above all beware as I said before of insulting over those that are afflicted This was the sinne of the Edomites which the Lord reproveth and threatneth by the Prophet Obadiah Thou shouldest not have rejoyced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of their affliction As thou hast done it shall be done to thee thy reward shall returne upon thine head Obadiah vers 15. The Lord will not have any to solace themselves with others sorrow nor make themselves merry at others misery though hee were our enemie Bee not thou glad when thine enemie falleth and let not thine heart rejoyce when hee stumbleth least the Lord see it and it displeaseth him and hee turn his wrath from him towards thee Prov. 24.17 18. But rather pitty those that are afflicted and then no doubt but the Lord will stirre up the hearts of others to extend mercy and bowels of compassion towards thee when thou art in affliction And if there be no man to pittie thee here the Lord himselfe will most certainly remember and recompense thy kindnesse hereafter in that day wherein hee will reward every one according to his workes and will say unto the mercifull Come yee blessed of my Father inherit yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the World for I was an hungry and yee gave me meat I thirsted and yee gave me drink I was a stranger and yee lodged me I was naked and yee clothed me I was sicke and yee visited mee I was in prison and yee came unto mee for as much as wee have done these things to the least beleever yea if wee do them to a bad liver for Christs sake wee have done them unto Christ who will abundantly recompense us Vse 5 Fiftly is this the end of God afflicting of us that hee may better us Then let faith perswade thy heart and wait in hope of a blessed and happy issue and end of thy affliction Though thou hast not wisedome enough to make good use of thy chastisments yet thy God who is perfect wisedome will make good his promise and perfect his own handy-wotke so as if thou beleeve thou shalt finde thy selfe one day much bettered by thy affliction If thou beleeve thou wilt patiently wait for the fulfilling of Gods promise a beleeving patient had rather be held to a long and continuall course of physick in hope of future health then to be in danger of his life by interrupting his course of Physick And for asmuch as our understandings are exceedingly blinded through ignorance and selfe love and much darkned with fleshly lusts as you shal see a looking glasse to be sometime covered with dust that we can neither see what is amisse in our selves nor yet amend on the suden what we find amis in us we had need to exercise our faith in praier in patience to wait for the accomplishing of that good the Lord intends us by afflicting us For as God prescribes the physick so he must cause it to work blesse it unto us we of our selves are like children who being taken in som fault and feeling the smart of the rod are ready to promise amendment but presently forget both the fault the punishment and our promise Faith will teach us not only to beg grace from God to amend our lives but also help and strength from him to walke more closly with him For as no force of the hammer can worke the Iron unto any forme unlesse it be softned by the fire even so afflictions will beat in vaine upon us until God by his spirit molifie and soften these hard hearts of ours and teach us to profit by our afflictions And although thou dost not presently finde or feel that good to be wrought in thee which the Lord intendeth yet live by faith and wait with patience and in the end thou shalt confesse that God hath shewed thee his love made good his promise and much bettered thee by afflicting thee Vse 6 Lastly if the end of Gods afflicting of us bee the bettering of us be wee then both thankfull to the Lord for our afflictions and joyfull in them Suppose thou wert fallen into some dangerous pit or quagmyre in danger of perishing wouldst thou not be glad to see any comming neere to help thee wouldest not bee thankfull to that person that should bee a meanes of thy deliverance though it were by putting some hook into thy flesh which may for the present hurt and wound thee Sinne is a dangerous pit and gulfe wherein many soules do perish When the Lord afflicts thee he doth cast a cord unto thee to lay hold of or it may bee hee strikes some hooke into thy flesh some sore affliction by which he desires to pull thee out of thy sinne hast thou not then great cause of thanks and rejoycing offered unto thee when the Lord afflicteth thee If wee had wisedome and understanding to consider aright of Gods goodnesse and love toward us there would be more thanks for and cheerfulnesse in affliction and lesse repining and mourning amongst us then there is If wee were not poysoned with infidelity and distrust it could not be but wee should be more joyfull in afflictions and thankfull for them then wee many times seeme to bee Some when the hand of God is upon them are like to a man cast into a deep lethergie which is a drousie and forgetfull sicknesse when the use of memory and reason is almost or altogether taken from us so they are like stocks and stones insensible of their afflictions they have neither hearts nor eyes to consider of or see their sinnes which have pulled this judgment upon them nor yet the end which God aimes at in smiting them And there be other some of a contrary temper and these are like to a man in a phrensie hee rages and stormes if not blasphems the hand of God upon him kicking and spurning against the Lord unwilling to beare that burthen the Lord is willing should lye upon him of both these sorts of people the
unto better objects that wee may seek better things then this life can afford us and make heavenly things our chiefest treasure and portion the Lord will have us to feed upon this world as the children of Israel did eate the Passeover not only with sowre hearbs to allay the sweetnesse of their bread but also with their staves in their hands as those that were ready to go towards Canaan their place of rest For wee are strangers and pilgrims on the earth here wee have no continuing citie Hebr. 13.14 This world is but a bayting place as an Inne to rest our selves in for a while Therefore God will have us so to use it as if wee used it not because the fashion of this world goeth away 1. Cor. 7.31 They that set their affections on things below do not live as those that lay up for themselves treasures in heaven seeking better and more durable riches then the world is able to afford them but as those that make their belly or their Mammon their God These may well be compared to a swinish sot who travelling towards the place of his inheritance is content to become an hostler in some base or obscure Inne to give content unto the tapster thereof Little do wee know how the Lord takes it and well hee may to heart to see us so dote upon the things of this world and set our hearts so much upon them as wee do God would have his children to live by faith to trust in him and to rest and bear themselves upon his promises Remember saith David Psal 119.49 thy promise made to thy servant wherein thou hast caused mee to trust How can wee trust in the Lord if wee make outward things our confidence Therefore it is just with the Lord to strip us and spoile us of these base props that so our hope and confidence our joy and delight may be chiefly in the Lord. It is said that Zeno having suffered shipwrack addicted himselfe to the study of Philosophy the sweetnesse whereof after he had once tasted hee accounted that an happy shipwrack which caused him to affect such excellent knowledge So first or last hath and will every regenerate childe of God say O blessed be that affliction whether it be sicknesse poverty reproch or contempt of the world persecution imprisonment c. which weaned my wicked heart from delighting in these transitory things and brought my mind and affections to pitch upon heaven and heavenly things Reason 9 Ninthly the Lord doth many times afflict his children to bring them unto the throne of grace and to make them more ready and desirous to seek his face and to call upon his name who are too seldom upon their knees before the Lord and to make those which do daily seek him seek him more earnestly with greater ardency and affection then formerly they have done Many of Gods children are too great strangers with the Lord they visit him not so often as hee would have them and therefore he is constrained to send for them by affliction a messenger which doth its errand so well as he brings along with him those for the most part unto whom he is sent In trouble they have visited thee they powred out a prayer when thy chastning was upon them Esay 26.16 The Prophet complaining of the sins of his time and of the sencelesse stupiditie of the people who as it seems were not moved nor affected at the first with their misery but when troubles came thicke upon them and the hand of God grew heavie then they could cry out upon their sinnes and call and cry to God Our iniquities like the winde have taken us away There it none that called upon thy name neither that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities But now O Lord thou art our father wee are the clay and thou art our potter and wee are all the work of thine hands Be not angry O Lord above measure neither remember iniquity for ever loe wee beseech thee behold wee are all thy people Ha. 6.4.7 8 9. Manasses who it may be had never offered up prayer to the Lord being so grosse an idolater one that made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to erre and to do worse then the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel 2. Chro. 33.9 Yet this monster of men who brought vengeance upon Judah and Jerusalem for his sinne as appeares Jere. 15.4 When he was in tribulation prayed unto the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers 2. Chro. 33.12 Wee are naturally like to those proud poor people who are loth to aske any almes till very need and necessitie drives them out of doores to make their wants known and to beg relief but need will make the old wife trot Want many times brings proud stout rebells upon their knees Psal 107.5.6 They were hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them then they cryed unto the Lord in their trouble When they were in any straights through oppression or in any heavinesse then they cried unto the Lord in their trovble Psal 107.12.13 When sicknesse hath brought them low and made them so weak that their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they are brought to deaths doore then they cry unto the Lord. Psal 107.18 19. When Jonah was shipt for Tarshish the Lord sent out a great winde into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken Jon. 1.4.5 6. Then the Mariners were afraid and cryed every man unto his god And Jonah being asleep they awaken him and bid him a rise and call upon his God that they perish not It may be Jonah being conscious to himselfe of his stubbornnesse and disobedience did not seek to the Lord in the time of the storme or if hee prayed it may be it was not in faith for none of their prayers could aswage the storme untill such time as Jonah was cast into the sea and of this thing was Jonah perswaded whereupon said Jonah Take mee and cast me into the sea so shall the sea be calme unto you for I know that for my sake this great tempest it upon you Jon. 1.12 And howsoever the Mariners at first abhorred the fact yet when they saw that there was no remedy into the sea they cast Jonah Where the Lord prepared a Whale to swallow him up Then Ionah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and said I cryed in mine affliction unto the Lord he heard me Ion. 2.1 2. Which places with many moe do teach us how affliction drives people unto prayer and makes them as well as they can to lift up hands and eyes toward heaven to fall upon their knees intreat the Lord to save them to spare them or to deliver them from that evill their fear is
comming towards them in the time of a tempest at sea when every wave threatens to swallow up the ship or in the time of any terrible thunder and lightning how godly how holy will the prophanest be out of their beds they must and to prayer they will if they be able themselves if not as Pharaoh intreated Moses Exod. 9.28 Pray unto the Lord that there be no more mighty thunders and hail So they will intreat those that can to pray for them But what sayes holy Job of such hypocrites as these are Will God hear his cry when trouble commeth upon him will be set his delight on the Almighty will hee call upon God at all times Job 27.9 10. Is hee like to speed that seldome or never goes unto the Lord but when want necessity drives him for if affliction were not he would not come at God It fares with many as with young chickins in á faire calme sun-shine day you may see them all stragling from the hen one heere and another there the hen desirous to have her young ones neere here clucks and clucks again for them as having some provision for them but they regard not her call untill at length the kyte draws neer them ready to catch one of them up then they cry and runne with all speed to their dam for shelter Even so the Lord seeing us to straggle too farre from him calls us unto him but wee regard not his call whereupon he lets flie at us hee causeth some affliction or other to terrifie us and then wee speed it to the Lord then wee can lay on tongue Help Lord c. So that the Lord deales with us as Absalom did with Joab because we deal with the Lord as Joab did with Absalom Absalom sends for Ioab but hee would not come to him 2. Sam. 14.29 Absalom sends again and Ioab was the same man still he stirs not a foot hee would not come Whereupon Absalom commandeth his servants to set fire on a field of barley which Ioab had Ioab then needs no more messengers hee can then arise and come in haste to Absalom without any more sending for Thus it is with us the Lord sends for us by the mouth of his Ministers he would have us come and appeare continually before him Cant. 2.14 Shew me thy sight let me hear thy voice but wee have little or no minde this way he may send in haste but wee take time and will goe at our own leisure whereupon the Lord sets on fire something wee have that is spoiles us of some-thing that is pleasing and delightfull unto us and then wee can run with open mouth Save us Lord c. So that it is meere need drives many unto God by prayer If they could have helpe elsewhere or by any other wayes be furnished or have their turn served they would not come at God Davids words may well be applyed unto them Psal 142.4 5. I looked upon my right hand and beheld but there was none that would know me all refuge failed mee and none cared for my soul then cried I unto the Lord and said Thou art my hope and my portion When other refuge and helpe failes then they can runne unto the Lord for help and succour These do in a manner tell the Lord as many rogues do answere us at our doores Truely they never asked any thing of us before and if they could shift it or if great necessitie did not compell them to begge they would not now have troubled us Therefore the Lord deales with these as many a wise and discreet tradesman doth with some pedling chapman whose custome he never had before neither now should have it if hee could elsewhere have furnished himselfe with wares and commodities for his turne If any wares be worse then other the tradesman will put them off to such a fellow because he knows it is not love but necessitie that brought him unto his shop As for his choyce and best commodities those he will reserve for his best chapmen whose custome he hath alwayes had and who will not leave his shop to go to another Even so will the Lord deal with the wicked who do not continually trade with the Lord in prayer but now and then when they are at some pinch Haply the Lord who is good unto all and his mercies are over all his works Psal 145.9 may put them off with some of his refuse wares helping them at their need with some outward worldly commodity but as for his choice and rich wares his love his grace his Christ his salvation these shall those have who seeke him continually Reason 1 Againe affliction puts life into our devotion and maketh us more instant in Prayer For if Affliction maketh us not importunate nothing will The Lord holds us many times at the staves end and seemeth to turn away from our prayers that so our prayers may grow more fervent for though God knows our wants and takes no delight in our sorrows yet oft times hee seems not to heare us till our cries be loud and strong God sees it best to let his penitent ones dwell for a time under their affliction and when he sees them sinking he lets them alone till they be at the bottome that out of the deep they may fetch deep sighes and cry louder to the Lord and so prevail For a vehement suiter cannot but speed with God whatsoever he askes If our prayers want successe it is because they want mettall and heart their blessing is according to their faith and fervencie In this behalfe affliction is very needfull for the best of Gods children for too many of them too often seek the living God with dead affections Oh the perfunctory cold drowsie lifelesse prayers which are made by some Many which make conscience of the duty and dare no day omit it do pray so coldly with so little zeal and devotion all the while they are full and at ease that the Lord is even compelled to lash them to sharpen their fervency and to shake off that lythernesse and luskishnesse wherewith they were wont to come before him Our God that heareth prayers knoweth how cold and feeble how slight and perfunctory oft times wee be when wee are in prosperity and the rod of God is not upon us so as little or no life and power appeareth in them do wee not find by our own experience that trouble and affliction whether it be outward or inward not onely drives us to prayer but causeth us to set all our might and strength when wee are wrestling with the Lord that so wee may be the more able to prevaile with his Majestie Affliction will fashion and forme the flowest tongue unto this holy duty and doth oft times furnish us with sighs and grones which cannot be expressed If ever a Christian will tugge and wrestle with the Lord it shall be when affliction lieth sore upon him All the while the childe feels the
is the portion of Gods dear children hast thou not read that wee are every day to take up our crosse Why hast thou not then prepared thy soul for tentation Art thou now free from affliction now barrell up against an hard time the winter of adversity for the day of affliction is a time of living upon the old store spending or using not getting of spirituall strength Strength to bear affliction must be provided before affliction come Is it not childish folly or rather desperate securitie for any man that hath his enemie ready to assault and wound him to have his weapons to seek Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that yee may be able to withstand in the evill day Eph. 6.13 This evill day is the time of temptation and affliction which that wee may be the better able to encounter wee must bee well appointed and furnished with Christian fortitude and courage that so affliction although it may at the first daunt us yet it may neither vanquish nor foil us To this purpose first of all I advise thee to be oft and serious in this meditation Whose thou art and whose all thou hast is Art thou not the worke of Gods hands hath he not formed and fashioned thee and may not hee alter and change thee at his pleasure So the things of this life health wealth honor libertie and the like doe they not hold all in chiefe is not the earth the Lords and the fulnesse thereof Is it not lawfull for the Lord to do with his own as seemeth good in his eyes Do not wee hold these outward things with condition of the crosse and with a limitation of Gods correction Secondly know as afterward you shall hear that Gods love is immutable though our outward estate and condition be changeable Gods love never changeth he is the same God and his love as entire and great when wee are in affliction as when wee are out of it He may and doth as you have heard for speciall ends change our estate yet for his own glory sake and our comfort hee continues still the same A loving father to all that love and fear him before affliction a tender and loving father in affliction and so for ever after for whom once he loves unto the end hee loves These things setled in our hearts by the help and assistance of the Lord wee shall be armed to encounter affliction strengthned with all might through his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulnesse Col. 1.11 Which words do teach us that the power and strength by which wee stand upright in time of trouble and bear with patience any affliction is not of our selves but from the Lord It is God that doth stablish our hearts with his grace hee it is that worketh faith in us and a feeling perswasion of his unchangeable love and a voluntary and cheerfull resignation of our selves and all wee have to be ordered and disposed of by God as seemeth good in his eyes Whereupon saith Saint Paul I can be abased and I can abound every where in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry and to abound and to have want I am able to doe all things through the helpe of Christ which strengtheneth mee Phillippians 4.12 13. Wee say fore-warned fore-armed Bee warned therefore betimes to prepare for thy triall that when it comes thou mayst be the better armed against it Evils the more suddenly they come upon us the more grievous they prove unto us and we are the lesse able to grapple with them and encounter them Whereas preparation doth as it were pull out the sting or beat out the teeth of affliction that either it bites us not at all or else doth not so deadly wound and hurt us When Agabus had told St. Paul what welcome and entertainment hee should find at Jerusalem how they would manacle him and deliver him over into the hands of the Gentiles Acts 21.11 Some of his friends besought him that hee would not go up to Jerusalem unto whom he answered What do yee weeping and breaking mine heart for I am ready not to be bound onely but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus vers 13. Saint Paul being thus prepared for his triall could chearefully and joyfully undergoe it Hee is like to look his enemy in the face and not like a dastard to turn his back upon him and betake himselfe to his leggs that armes himselfe and prepares for the encounter The life of a Christian is a continuall warrefare and wee are souldiers Thou therefore suffer affliction as a good souldier 2. Tim. 2.2 A good souldier in garrison or in the field is every day armed at all seasons ready for the assault which may suddenly come the enemie being at hand Affliction is our common enemie which as it hath foyled many for want of preparation so hath it been vanquished of many of the Lords worthies being evermore armed against it For thy sake are wee killed all the day long wee are counted as sheep for the slaughter Neverthelesse in all these things we are more then Conquerors What bee killed and yet be a conqueror This may seem a paradox a thing contrary to common reason but it is a divine truth Would you know how Gods children do conquer trials and afflictions it is thus First when troubles and afflictions cannot vanquish or overcome them cannot spoyle them of their patience and inward peace cannot batter down their comfort but that they still rejoyce in tribulation Rom. 15.3 A Christian is then beaten when his heart and minde is beaten A man is then overcome when his heart failes when his patience joy and peace is vanquished and put to flight But if these hold it out howsoever tribulation persecution may vanquish yea destroy the outward man yet the heart and minde being not overcome wee are conquerers though outwardly conquered Object Haply you will reply and say That even the best of Gods children through the extremity of their afflictions do oft times utter many rash and inconsiderate words and shew much impatience under their crosse how then may these be said to be conquerers Answ True it is that the flesh being pinched and pained may kick and winch but yet the heart is untouched neither doth the childe of God allow of any impatient carriage or passage but is ready to take himselfe in the manner and to reprove himselfe for it As Job said I will lay mine hand upon my mouth once have I spoken but I will answere no more yea twice but I will proceed no farther Job 40.4 5. Now the minde in Gods account is the man And so long as the heart is not vanquished though through the sence and smart of the affliction the outward man and flesh may storme the Lord will crowne such for conquerers 2. Againe we are said to be conquerers when still we hold our own ground and
violence to thy person in all these or any other wrong they can do unto thee they are but the Lords rods to whip thee withall Seeke not revenge against them but leave them to the Lord and hee will one day recompence them for their malice and cruelty against thee Implacable is the malice and rage of the wicked against the godly so furious that if the Lord should not curbe and restrain them as Jezebel vowed to take away the life of Eliah 1. King 19.2 So they would not suffer a soul to breath amongst them which feareth God and walketh not after the course of the World But blessed be our good God that giveth not up his children as a prey into their teeth Psalme 124.6 but avengeth the afflicted Psalme 140.12 And will recompence the wicked according to their deeds Psal 28.4 For it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you which are troubled rest 2. Thess 1.6 7. Object But is the Lord just in this is it equall that any should bee punished for that worke which the Lord hath set them about Answ Yes if they do it not to that end and in that manner which God would have them True it is they can do no other then God will have them to do but God wills them not to do his worke in that manner which they perform it The Lord commanded Jehu to root out the posterity of Ahab which Jehu according to the Word of the Lord fulfilled Yet the Lord by the Prophet Hoseah 1.4 saith I will visit the blood of Israel upon the house of Jehu For though Jehu was Gods instrument and servant and did that worke which the Lord imployed him about and the Lord was well pleased with the doing of it yet the manner and the end of his doing it caused God to be offended with him For Iehu did it not in conscience and obedience to the will of God hee did it not with an upright heart but with an ambitious and wicked mind Hee did it not in zeal of Gods glory as he boasted but hee did it to advance himselfe and to settle the crown more surely upon the head of his posterity Hee threw down Baal Ahabs Idoll to set up Jeroboams calfe Hee did it not in detestation of Ahabs sinne but in the hatred of his person and love unto himselfe and therefore the Lord threatned and afterward punished him So many that trouble and vexe the Lords people do that which the Lord would have them but not to that end or in that manner as the Lord speakes by the Prophet Zachariah I was angry but a little and they helped forward the affliction Zach. 1.15 Therefore when our enemies have done their worst spit out all their malice and spewed out all their venom against us which they can disgorge then will the Lord take them to taske then will hee recompence and reward them for their malice and mischiefe Behold thus saith the Lord unto the Ammonites because thou hast clapped thy hands and stamped with thy feet and rejoyced in heart with all thy despight against the land of Israel Behold therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee c. Ezek. 25.6.7 This shall they have for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Lords people Zepha 2.10 The more our enemies do insult over us and wee patient the sooner wil the Lord help and deliver us Jere. 30.17 If wee did but seriously consider of these things much matter of patience would be administred unto us Men would not swell with the desire of revenge if these truths could enter into them Did wee beleeve that whatsoever wrongs and injuries either by word or deed any of our enemies offer unto us the Lord sets them on worke the Lord wills them to do it for the exercising of our faith the triall of our patience and other ends would wee durst wee fret and fume and chafe as wee do at our enemies Were wee but perswaded of this truth That if wee patiently sat down by our wrongs seeke not revenge but commit and commend our causes and our enemies to our God hoping that the Lord wil do us good for that evill they have done unto us as David said It may bee the Lord will look upon mine affliction and do me good for his cursing 2. Sam. 16.12 Wee would be more patient and there would be lesse heart-burnings and fewer quarrells and suits at law amongst us then be Before I passe from this use of the doctrine in hand it will not be amisse to lay down some helps how a Christian may attaine to this gift of patience which is so needfull to the carrying of him on cheerfully and peaceably in his race for wee must runne with patience the race that is set before us Hebr. 12.1 How may wee come to bee furnished with patience First by our profitable and fruitfull entertaining and welcoming the Word of God for this being effectuall in us will still the heart in all stormes and cause us quietly to sit downe by all wrongs done unto us by all afflictions that befall us Hence it is that the Lord cals the Word The Word of his patience Revel 3.10 And so it is called either because it teacheth and instructeth us unto patience For whatsoever things are written aforetime are written for our learning that wee through patience and comfort of the Seriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 Or else because it is an instrument and means of working patience in us promising unto us peace with God through Christ and not only so but also a sanctified use of all our afflictions heere and salvation hereafter to all that keep this Word which doth much pacifie the heart and cause us to be patient in our afflictions Or else it may be called a word of patience because without patience the Word cannot be rightly professed nor wee hold out in a holy profession unto the end whence wee may safely conclude that it is either through ignorance of the Word or neglect of the Word or want of the power of the Word that wee are impatient A second meanes of furnishing the heart with patience is the exercising of our faith Knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth forth patience James 1.3 Object But doth not Saint Paul say Rom. 5.3 That tribulation bringeth forth patience Answ Yes and both speake the truth and meane one and the same thing Know that neither faith nor tribulation do beget procreate patience for patience is a fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 Tribulation doth not naturally and of it selfe beget and bring forth patience but originally and by accident for to speak properly it is the work of the Spirit to still and pacifie the troubled mind of man but tribulation is a means and instrument by which patience is brought forth that is is exercised and manifested Neither doth faith bring forth patience as the mother bringeth
forth the daughter but as a tradesman bringeth forth his wares and shewes them to others what they are or rather as the Sun in the spring bringeth forth hearbs and fruits by its working influence For first of all faith perswades the heart that the cause of all evill that befalls us lieth in our owne bosomes our sins as you have heard are the ground of all and therefore if wee will be angry with any body it should be with our sinnes Secondly faith perswades us as you shall heare anon that God in afflicting of us loves us and deales with us as a father with that child in whom he delights Nay a father may somtime bee transported with passion and correct his childe above measure laying on that in his heat which in his cool blood he doth heartily wish were off againe Whereas our heavenly Father is so wise as he puts not in one dramme of any ingredient more then shall serve the turne and need requireth A third and last helpe unto patience is Heavenly-mindednesse or the setting our affection on things that are above and not on things which are on the earth Col. 3.2 For he that immoderately and inordinately loves the world and earthly things will bee impatient at the losse of them How waspish and impatient was Ionah for the withering of his Gourd even so much that hee durst tell the Lord to his face that he did well to be angry unto the death Ion. 4.9 Our blinde judgements making a false report unto our affections of these outward things wee come to set them at too high a rate and so grow impatient at the losse of them Whereas if wee did esteem them as the wise man reports them to be and as they are in truth that is nothing Pro. 23.5 wee would be lesse moved with the losse of them There is a kind of venom in worldly things to puffe up and swell the heart of a man By thy wisdome and by thine occupying hast thou increased thy riches and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches Ezek. 28.5 Now when trouble and affliction comes to encounter with a proud heart every veine swells and the heart rebells and breaks out into impatience and they can not beare it And the greater their tryalls are the more do they fret and fume as a running water the greater the flood and stream is the more doth it foame and roare where there be any arches to withstand it And now that wee may be willing to take the more paines to be furnished with patience I will lay down a few priviledges which wee shall partake of through patience every one of them a strong motive to stirre us up to labour for patience First by the helpe of patience wee shall be the better able to manage those gifts and graces which God shall endow us withall Patience keeps the mind in such a stayed and setled temper that wee shall be able to manage and direct our selves in all our straights and advise and counsell others in their doubts and difficulties By our patience wee possesse our soules Luk. 21.19 Wee enjoy and command our selves for impatience puts a man out and makes to be beside himselfe By faith wee possesse Christ by love wee possesse our neighbor yea our enemie and by patience wee possesse our selves He hath but a weak hold of Christ or of his neighbor that hath no hold or command of himselfe An impatient person is as one out of the way or as a bone dislocated and out of joynt What stabilitie can be where Patience sits not at the stern to direct and govern A ship that rides at sea well ballanced is steddy and so proves comfortable unto the Passengers that bee abord her whereas an unballanced vessell reels like a drunken man and tumbles too and fro with every little gale and blast of wind and so make those weary if not sick that be in her How sick must that soul needs be whom troubles and afflictions the waves and billows of this world a raging and tempestuous sea through the want of patience the stearsman do tumble up and down and are disquiet Where patience is there is quietnesse because patience brings a Christians minde unto his estate when his estate and condition cannot suite with his minde Secondly Patience will conforme thee unto Christ and make thee a compleat Christian Let patience have her perfect worke that ye may be perfect and entire lacking nothing Jam. 1.4 That soul which wants no patience wants nothing for patience is able to supply all wants and make up all defects A patient and contented mind is rich and hee that is rich cannot want unlesse he will Thirdly patience will make thee to be a profitable entertainer of Gods Word it will make thee fruitfull in Christianitie the honest and good heart brings forth fruit with patience Luk. 8.15 So many evills there bee to encounter goodnesse so many oppositions and reproaches to nip if not blasâ— good beginnings so many troubles to attend Pietie and godlinesse so many principalities and powers and spirituall wickednesse in high places to stop our course and to interrupt us in our holy profession that without patience little or no fruit will appeare in our lives and conversations Fourthly patience wil make thy life comfortable whatsoever thy afflictions be Thou art armed with mettall of proof no dart of Satan no malice of the world can wound thy soul if patience have got the keeping of it Outward calamities and afflictions may make a great noise about thine eares as hailstones falling thick upon the tyles over thy head keep a great ratling but cannot come neere to hurt thee So afflictions may rattle about thine eares but patience shelters thee from receiving any hurt by them Let thy afflictions be never so mischievous and noxious in themselves they shall not prove so to thee If patience possesse thy soul so many afflictions as befall thee will fall out to be so many arguments of Gods love so many consolations unto thee especially if they be such as wee undergoe for Christ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation aboundeth through Christ 2. Cor. 1.5 Misery it selfe shall not be able to make thee miserable for patience is a most soveraigne antidote and preservative against the venom of any affliction which can betide thee Vse 4 Fourthly is it so that all our afflictions come from God then here is a ground of comfort and matter of rejoycing in affliction not that we have ministred matter and occasion unto the Lord to chastise us but in that having sinned against the Lord hee will take the rod into his hand and have the ordering of that affliction which befalls us For nothing as hath been said can bee in which our heavenly Father hath not a chiefe stroke before it can be brought to passe The consideration whereof as it should settle and quiet us so should it minister much comfort unto us
exhorteth us to shut the doore after us hereby he perswades us unto courage constancy or else to keep our selves close from Satans temptations that he may find no chink nor crevis open whereby he may enter into us to disturbe us for if our hearts lie but a little open so as he may have but the least advantage he is at hand to disquiet and perplex us And whereas he bids us to hide our selves he would have us to enjoy a secure freedom under Gods promise and pretection in faith and humility we should shrowd our selves under Gods wings that so he may keep us from inordinate fears and terrors untill the affliction be past which is but as a cloud or storm that will not last alwaies but will blowe over ere it be long and be at an end Therefore be cheerefull in thine afflictions Againe in that it is said As many as I love I rebuke and chasten not barely I rebuke and chasten you but I rebuke and chasten as many as are deere unto me or beloved of me this manner of speech is used for the confirmation of our faith in time of trouble and to keep us from sinking through grief or despaire For what argument can bee more forcible to perswade us to the quiet and patient bearing of our afflictions then to beleeve they be Gods love-tokens sent us for our good Whence mee may learne this Instruction that A great helpe to keep us from sinking and to enable us to beare up our heads with patience and cheerfullnesse in the time of affliction is to be perswaded of Gods love in afflicting of us This hath been in part touched before therefore I shall bee the briefer in the point How fearefull our nature is of troubles how unwilling the flesh is to taste of the cup of affliction yea how we labor to shift and avoyde it with a kinde of abhorring it common experience teacheth us And the mistrust of Gods providence and love wherewith naturally the best are infected makes us to shun and avoyd afflictions as much as possibly wee can lest wee should not bee able to grappie and encounter with them Wherein as wee bewray much weaknesse so do wee expresse great incredulity for hereby we do manifestly shew that wee thinke that God in afflicting doth not love us and that therefore hee cannot or will not helpe us to beare them that hee cannot or will not bring us fairely off them Therefore let us not give way to carnall reason nor heare what flesh and blood shall suggest unto us but what is delivered from the Word of truth which tels us that the Lord correcteth him whom he loveth even as the father doth the childe in whom hee delighteth Prov. 3.12 If wee give eare to carnall wisdome it will tell us surely if God loved us he would not thus afflict us As if our afflictions were a wall of separation twixt Gods love and us But what saies Paul Ro. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus This strong perswasion of Gods love carried Paul on cheerfully in his troublesome pilgrimage and made him joyfull in all his sorrowes and afflictions Thus strongly should wee bee perswaded of Gods love for hath not the Lord said Esay 54.10 The mountaines shall remove and the hils shall fall downe but my mercy and love shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace fall away as if hee should have said though the whole world be turned topsy turvy and heaven and earth do meet together yet standeth still my love and affection firm to theewards The change and alteration of our outward estate and condition causeth no change of Gods love for hee is still the same unto us and with us though the face and fashion of the world goeth away 1. Cor. 7.31 The things of this life are mutable and our condition is subject to daily change and alteration Times have their vicissitudes to day it is well with us to morrow ill to day at ease to morrow in paine to day we have something to morrow lesse it may be nothing to day in honor to morow in disgrace seldome continuing in one stay In which variable condition of ours and amids all changes and chances of this life here is comfort to the child of God that God is the same and changeth not but as he now loveth him so hee will for ever continue loving and gracious to him John 13.1 And hosoever we cannot tell what shall bee to morrow James 4.14 wee know our beginning as the old saying is but we know not what our end shall be as Paul went up to Jerusalem but knew not what things should come unto him there Acts 20.22 Yet such is our happinesse and comfort that come what will come no event whatsoever can keepe back or turne away Gods love from us and though our state be changed yet Gods love to us is not changed but still the same as true and as intyre as over it was My enemies may take away my liberty my goods my good name my deare friends and that which of all other things is most deare unto me even my life but I have one Jewwell all the devils in hell all the powers of darkenes all the rage and malice of the world can never spoile me of they cannot rob me of the love of my God This confidence and perswasion of Gods love and favor beares up the godly from sinking under the burden of their affliction and makes them cheerfull when as the wicked wanting this assurance are either sencelesse or else faithlesse and impatient under the crosse The faithfull making God and his favor their portion and happinesse enjoy this priviledge in time of adversity as well as in the day of prosperity and therefore their hearts or their desire is to bee as joyfull when they are in trouble and afflictions as if they were most free from them Whereas the wicked placing their whol felicity in these earthly things their profits pleasures c. When their wealth and worldly things faile their joy their hope and comfort ends with them These have nothing but nature to helpe them beare their burdens Whence it commeth to passe that infidelity and impatience do make them more grievous and burdensome whereas the faithfull having the perswasion of Gods love and the presence of his Spirit to support them take comfort in their troubles during the time of their tryall and wait for a seasonable and cumfortable issue and deliverance out of them So that it is a truth not to be questioned that the perswasion of Gods love in afflicting of us is a great help to keepe us from sinking under afflictions and to enable us with patience and cheerfullnesse to undergo them this
personally holy and pure free from all fault without any blot or blemish of iniquitie but hee is holy and unblamable in regard of Gods gracious acceptation of him through Christ as if he had never sinned For you must know that where sinne is pardoned it is purged If thou canst truely mourne for thy sinne thou art forthwith disburdened of the guilt and freed from the eternal punishment of all thy former wickednesse Repentance if it be true doth cast sinne out of the heart and where this is done God laies down all quarels against such a person Therefore nourish no sin abandon it banish it from thee break off thy course of sinne betimes even whiles it is called to day and then Gods countenance will appear friendly comfortable unto thee and thy conscience will be quiet and speak peace unto thee Object This were some comfort if I could beleeve what you say or be able to apply it unto my selfe which I can not doe Answ This indeed is another sore affliction which lies heavie upon the hearts of many of Gods dear children They are for the most part annoyed and pestered with doubttings and unbeliefe The glad tidings of the Gospel some say are too good to be true or if true too good for them to share in And why for them because they say they are such sinners And came not Christ into the World to call sinners yea the greatest sinners such as Manasses and Paul was who acknowledged himselfe to be the chiefe of sinners 1. Tim. 1.15 The greater thy sinnes have been the more thine unworthinesse is the more will the grace of God shine in receiving of thee into grace and mercie Object If it were with me as it is with good people I could beleeve this if there were that grace in mee I perceive to be in others I make no question but God would be good unto me Answ Oh beware of spirituall Symonie Too many thinke that the mercie of God must be purchased by somthing of theirs if they were thus or thus quallified they durst beleeve if they had thus much sanctification they durst hope But these erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the goodnesse of God whose grace is freely bestowed upon all that partake of it Ho every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and yee that have no silver come buy wine and milk without silver and without money Isa 55.1 In which words all condition of merit on our part is utterly excluded Christ in the Gospel is offered freely unto sinners and there is no more required at our hands but to receive and welcome him being offered freely unto us The water of life is tendered freely to all that desire it I will give to him that is athirst of the well of the water of life freely Revel 21.6 The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that is athirst come Revel 22.17 Object But I cannot thirst as I should Answ But hast thou a will Dost thou desire to thirst wouldest thou faine thirst hast thou a will These words are also added to draw on fearfull and doubting sinners and let whosoever will take of the water of life freely Revel 22.17 O sweet words O comfortable words Thou sayest thou wouldst faine have mercy faine have Christ what hinders thee from receiving him from beleeving Heere is a word heere is thy warrant to take Christ Nay thou art peremptorily commanded to beleeve 1. John 3.23 This is then his Commandment that wee beleeve in the namt of his Sonne Jesus Christ Thou hast as good warrant to beleeve the promises and to receive Christ as to love thy neighbor or to absteine from theft murder c. Darest thou kill commit adultrey or steale No. And why so Because these are breaches of Gods Commandment And dost thou not also break Gods Commandment when thou doubtest of his goodnesse when thou beleevest not God commands thee to receive Christ for thy salvation therefore if thou hang back through doubting if thou question Gods truth thou committest a greater sinne then if thou didst break the whol morral law therfore stand not on rhine own termes with God The Lord knew how base unworthy the best of us were when he tendred his Christ unto us The Gospell was to be preached unto every creature and Christ tendred unto every sinner for of what kind soever our sinnes have been the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sinne 1 Jo. 1.7 If thou wilt accept of Christ he will aceept of thee thou hast his word and promise Come unto me all ye that are weary and laden and I will ease you Mat. 11.28 Christ requires no more of thee but to come unto him no more but thy hearts consent to receive him before any other If thou canst but come and desire and take Christ to be thine it is enough for thy happinesse and salvation If thou hast but so much humiliation as may cause thee to abhorre thy selfe and to disclaime thine own worth as dung and dogs meate if thou hast but so much sorrow and heart breaking as may divorce thee from thy sinnes and make thee willing to accept of Christ thou art a happy person How darest thou then stand a loofe upon termes of thine own unworthinesse Is it any other then ingratefull rudenesse to prescribe the Lord upon what termes we shall have his wine and milke when as he bids us come and take it for nothing If any master should call one of his servants unto him and he should draw back and go away saying I am not fine enough to come before thee would this frivolous excuse be sufficient to beare him out in his unmanner like disobedience So when the Lord cals thee to partake of his mercy if thou hangest back because thou art not good enough as thou supposest what dost thou else but slight yea scorne the free grace and undeserved kindnesse of the Lord. Therefore be perswaded to make choice of Christ to be thine which if thou dost I dare assure thee thou art a justified person although thou dost not by and by feele the sweet influence of his grace nor the presence of his spirit perswading thy heart that heaven and salvation are questionlesse thine Object But some will say I have falne off from Christ I have broken that vow and covenant made betwixt us I have not walked so closely with the Lord as is required of me and as I have promised I have abused his love and favor and turned his Grace into wantonnesse nay which is worse my heart hath not melted nor dissolved into teares upon the view of my faylings which makes me feare that the Lord in displeasure hath cast me off and is departed from me Answ If he be so it will be but for a moment to humble thee to see how thou wilt take his absence but whereas thou saist thou hast broken covenant and therfore thinkest that the Lord hath cast thee off know that
not any of thy failings can nulifie Gods covenant which he hath made because it is an everlasting covenant Jer. 32.40 The best of Gods children do daily faile in one part of the covenant or other yet if there be not a revolting a turning back a falling away from God a betaking of thy selfe unto an other husband another love thou art no breaker of the covenant tho there be failings All this is come upon us yet do we not forget thee neither deal we falsly concerning thy covenant Psal 44.17 As the Lords love towards us did not begin in us so doth it not so much depend upon us but upon the mercy goodnesse and truth of him with whom there is no variablenesse neither shaddow of turning Jam. 1.17 For I am the Lord I change not and ye sons of Jaakob are not consumed Mat. 3.6 If Gods grace and mercy should depend upon our deservings the Devill would alwayes pick some hole or other in our coate we should never have inward rest nor assurance either of Gods love or of our own salvation For Satan is subtle and deceiptfull and he will not faile to tell us that we have broken covenant and therfore God hath cashiered us and cast us off therefore whensoever Satan comes to parlie with thee it must be thy wisdom and it will be thy safety not to hold him chat but to break off reasoning and dispute with him Object But Satan doggs and followes me with restles assaults he daily casts his firy darts at me he is daily battering my faith Answ Then go to Heaven for helpe encounter him in the name of Christ as David set upon Golia in the name of the Lord have recourse unto the promises which being well and wisely mannaged by faith will be able to foile the Devill and send him packing from thee A greater and a surer signe of victory we cannot have then this viz. To renounce our own confidence not to stand upon our own bottom but to cast our selves upon the Lord and so wee shall be strong in the power of his might Ephesians 6.10 Therefore give no way to Satan howsoever for the present he may bang thee and cause thee to bauke yet be stedfast in the faith and thou shalt be able to resist him because the Lord taketh thy part For the exceeding greatnesse of his power is toward us which beleeve Eph. 1.19 Assure thy selfe Satan shall be foiled if the power of God doth underprop thee which power if thou wilt call for and beleeven thou art sure to partake of and then if thou chance to be foiled thou standest as one undefiled in Gods account In the old Law if any womans chastitie was assaulted by any varlet if shee cryed out for helpe shee was blamelesse Deutr. 22.27 Even so when satanicall tentations do assault us if wee in the assault crie unto the Lord for helpe the Lord will not require the tentation at our hands but of Satan whose worke it was The ravished woman was chaste in Gods account because her heart and mind was so though her body was defiled So if Satan draw not consent from us his tentations may prevaile with us but shall not be layd unto our charge Therefore slie to God for help cry unto him and hee will either weaken Satan and strenâ—â—hen thee or else not lay the tentation to thy charge And take heed that thou beest not over much disquieted or unsetled by any of Satans tentations for this may give Satan some advantage if hee sees thee to be dejected hee will be the more insolent and double his forces against thee Therefore be strong in the faith feare not be not disheartned the Lord will be thy defence and under the shadow of his wings shalt thou have shelter Thinke never the worse but the better of thy selfe because Satan assaults thee it is a signe thou goest not the way that hee would have thee When any man drives his cattle to pasture if they go the way that hee would have them he is well pleased with them but if they hap to straggle out of the way he throwes a stone at one and his staffe at another even so when wee go the way Satan would have us hee lets us alone as implied by those words of our Saviour Luk. 11.21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace the things that hee possesseth are in peace but if wee disquiet him hee will not faile to disquiet us so far as he may or can for satan can not tempt thee longer then the Lord wil permit him and hee that suffers Satan to tempt thee will not suffer thee to be tempted by him above that which thou shalt be able to beare but will even give issue with the tentation 1. Cor. 10.13 But I am feeble and weak and am not able to hold out against such fierie darts such furious oppositions as I am assaulted withall Answ But if thou wilt trust in the Lord hee will not faile thee nor forsake thee Object But I feele my heart to faint and my strength to faile Answ Hee giveth strength to him that sainteth and to him that hath no strength hee increaseth power Isa 40.29 Object I had a little strength but it is gone and vanished my faith begins now to flagge and therefore I feare I shall not hold out long Answ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall runne and not be weary they shall walke and not faint Isa 40.31 If thou hadst strength of thine own it were not to be trusted unto and though thine bee gone the Lord remaines his arme is not shortned his power is not lessened Therefore cheere up thy drooping and fainting heart let the tentation be never so smart or tart yet it is no other then that out of which God intends to fetch some glory and thou in the end shalt receive some good And know it for truth that the more restlesly Satan doth follow thee with varietie of tentations the more sweetly and securely thou maist repose thy perplexed soule upon this comfortable perswasion and assurance that thou art the Lords Object But I feele much lumpishnesse and dead-heartednesse in the best duties I performe my prayers have little or no life in them my mind is full of wandrings and idle vagaries as soone as I have begun to seek the Lord whereupon I am oft times at a stand not knowing whether I were best proceed or recede and leave off And which doth most of all perplexe mee Satan spares not to cast in oft times Atheisticall and blasphemous thoughts which makes me to feare that when I have ended my prayer God may justly begin my punishment seeing I have more offended him I feare in my prayers then I should have done with my silence Answ But dost thou admit of any of these evill thoughts are they not such as make thy heart to ake and thy soul to bleed within thee Dost thou not ever tremble at the
and safety Who can say that Abrahams heart at the first smote him not for this evill Yet it is evident that hee fell into the same sinne againe Hee that peruseth the book of the Judges shall find Israel fallen into idolatry and upon correction humbled and penitent and yet afterwards againe and again fallen into the same wickednesse they had formerly repented of Was not Jonas thinke you thorrowly humbled for his sinne of stubbornnesse and disobedience when hee felt the smart of it in the Whales belly yet for all this when he saw the Lord so mercifull as to spare Ninivie upon her humiliation and repentance how angry was he with God justifying his former sinne which in effect and before God was all one to have committed the same sinne againe yet the Lord forgave these and received them againe to mercie Doth not the Lord enjoyne us to forgive our brother offending us daily even unto Seventy times seven times if hee repent Matth. 18.22 And will the Lord enjoyn us that act of mercie and compassion wherein himselfe will not be exemplar unto us Is there any drop of pittie or kindnesse in us which comes not out of that bottomlesse sea of love and mercie in the Lord if wee must forgive our brother so many times in the day no doubt but the Lord in whom is the fulnesse of goodnesse and compassion will receive humbled sinners as often as they returne unto him There is no sinne but blasphemie against the holy Ghost which upon repentance shall not be pardoned If residnation and relapsing into the same sinne may bee repented of questionlesse it may it shall be pardoned at Gods hand And whereas some may think that true grace will preserve any from falling into the same sinne againe whereof hee hath formerly repented it is a fond error for if the Lord leave any unto themselves they will be as ready nay more ready to fall into the old sin then into a new the disposition and naturall temper being more inclinable to that evill then any other and Satan knowing which way the poore sinner hath been most foiled will that way most strongly againe assault him It is therefore a binding of the Lords hands a confining and limiting of his boundlesse mercie and compassion yea an undervalewing of the all-sufficiencie of Christ his merit and passion to say that relapsing into former sinnes is a thing unpardonable or that a person so offending was never in the state of grace or can be a true member of the Lord Christ The covenant of grace excludes none but impenitent and unbeleeving persons Truth it is that the burnt child dreads the fire and it is not an ordinary thing for the childe of God in the state of grace to fall back againe to his old byas but that it is not possible for him it God leave him so to fall or that true grace will not admit of any such falls is more then can be warranted or proved by the Word of God I speak not this God knowes to countenance or bolster any in their sinne but partly to magnifie the boundlesse and unlimited patience and mercy of our good God and partly to underlay and comfort that poore afflicted soul wounded conscience who through his owne pride selfe confidence or securitie and Satans pollicie hath been againe intangled in that snare out of which by former repentance hee hath been delivered This is the childrens bread it belongs not unto dogs Impudent and impenitent sinners can claim no interest in this comfort it is baulme to heale onely wounded consciences whom I would not have to be so strongly deluded by satan as to be beat off from repentance and the throne of grace or to think that they never had any true grace or that their former repentance was ever sound because old sores are againe broke out in them they have relapsed into old sinnes The worke of grace doth not wholly take away all sinne nor free us from it but only weakens it and workes the heart to a hatred and detestation of it And know that if thy sinne when thou wert Gods enemie could not prevent his love much lesse shall it now thou art reconciled Object But by my relapsing I have made the Lord such a gracelesse requitall of his former love and kindnesse as I know not how to look him in the face againe yea I begin to feare I shall never againe recover that which I have so wretchedly lost Answ I pitie thee Doth thy heart faint hath thy faith lost its former feeling or working in thee dost thou now behold Gods angry countenance bent against thee hath the Lord as thou concievest set thee up as a spectacle for men and Angels to wonder at throw thy self prosttate at Gods feet let not thy soul leave cleaving to the dust never leave knocking at the dore of his goodnesse and compassion intreat him to look upon thee a poore confounded wretch beseech him to behold thee in the face of Christ tell him here lyes a miserable caitiffe a forlorn creature a wounded and forsaken sinner one that resolves to lye and dye at his feet one that will set down at the threshold of his tender mercyes and never depart without some almes some crums of mercy to revive and refresh thy languishing soul withall and my life for thine in due time the Lord will satiate thy heart with comfortable tydings from Heaven of his reconciliation and of the pardon and forgivenesse of all thy sinnes Object There were some hope if I had not gon on so long in my sinne as I have done there was a time I am perswaded when I was capable of mercy but that time I feare is gon and past Gods mercy is out of date with me and therefore I am undone for ever Answ No no the Lord waites that he may have mercy upon thee and therefore will he be exalted that he may have compassion upon you Isa 30.18 The Lord hath proclamed himself to be abundant in goodnesse reserving mercy for thousands Exod. 34.6 7. Hee hath mercy in store for thee as well as for others if thou canst truly repent thee of thy former wickednesse The Lord forgiveth iniquity transgression and sinne Ez. 34.7 It would highly derogate from the Lords power from his all-sufficiencie and boundlesse goodnesse and mercy it he should not forgive capitall and foul sinnes as well as petty and small sinnes Consider what the Lord hath promised Ezek. 18.21 22. None of all his transgressions shall be mentioned And againe verse 23. Hath the Lord any desire thou shouldest perish or shalt thou not live if thou returne from thine owne wayes It is not any sinne but the love of sinne and the going on in sinne that seperates betwixt God and a poore sinner Now then cheer up thy drooping spirits stand it out no longer against the Lord and his goodnesse lay downe not only thy weapons of disobedience but also all carnall reasonings captivate thy will