be more seriously affected with your Case then I am with mine who have more cause O if ever poor Creature had need to make such complaints it s I Well but do we not hear Persons most eminently Pious making such complaints very frequently We should not be quite discouraged as though our case was singular How often doth warm hearted David pray for quickning which argues a sense of his want Sensible we should be but not discouraged O that we could confess and bewail our deadness more sensibly more lively But all our work lieth not in complaining but we must use the means God hath appointed for our quickning I verily believe our greatest work lieth in prevailing with our own Hearts to the diligent constant and believing use of the means certainly quickning enlivening Grace is purchased for us by the Lord Jesus and now he hath gone through the most painful part of his Work is he not willing to apply to our Souls what he hath purchased O let us not once question this O let us not wrong a dear Redeemer so much as to think otherwise of him O methinks was I but once made a meet recipient of these influences of his Spirit I should not doubt but I should have them Well it is Grace that must make us so and we have a gracious God to deal with who delights in Communicating of his grace and goodness to his Creatures let us call to mind what we heard of this Subject when we was last together let us ply our Hearts with the serious Consideration of the Sin and Evil of such a Frame together with the necessity reasonableness excellency and usefulness of the Contrary let us pray hard for it and use other means But pray S. take heed of that ungrateful Partiality as to judge and conclude from the remainders of Sin in you that you are in a state of Sin and Death the best on Earth complain of deadness and they do not Complement but have real Cause for it a perfect freedom from all Sin and its Effects remember that is reserved for Heaven Have you not a principle of Spiritual life Else whence comes the Sense you have of your deadness Methinks if I was with you and you would be faithful to your self I should not doubt but I could convince you think as ill of Sin as you will as you can but acknowledge and honour Grace joyfully and thankfully entertain any quickning Motions you have as you would have more what I say to you I would speak home to my own Soul the Lord help me that I may The Lord who is all perfect Spirit and Life make us more like unto himself I am your truly Affectionate Loving Brother I. B. LETTER VIII To S. E. December 15. 1684. Dear S. I Receiv'd both your's and owe you more then thanks for them I would bless the Lord that hath directed us to this way of Correspondence by Writing and that about the great Concernments of our Souls which I hope may prove profitable to each of us and very comfortable in the review I am sorry to hear of the bodily grievances you are under but stormy and pationate at the providential Dispensations of our wise and good God I dare not I would not be certainly if there be any true rest and satisfaction for the Creature it is in the will of its Creator who is goodness it self and I am glad to hear of the calmness of your Spirit my daily Prayers to God are for your spiritual and eternal Welfare and that you may not want any good thing here that the Lord would rebuke Distempers and lengthen out your Life but in that you are mindful of Death I rejoyce for to tell you true I love in my Heart to read and hear and think of Death my self indeed I have now out-lived my self my own expectation some Years But O the unaccountable folly that I am guilty of in that I am yet no more fit to die O strange almost incredible I Profess to believe a Future Judgment that there is a day wherein the great God by Jesus Christ will Judge me with all the World for all my Thoughts and Words and Actions whether they have been good or bad and so sentence me to my final State But O how unaffecting are my Apprehensions of this certain great and dreadful Truth and how inconsistent is my Practice to the belief hereof I am daily running on in my Errors heaping one Sin upon the back of another so laying my self under an unavoidable necessity either of bitter Repentance here or else exposing my self to the condemning Sentence of a most just and righteous Judge hereafter to a State of inconceivable and endless Misery which is enough to make any Heart except such a Flint as mine to tremble if seriously thought of Well shall I go on in this careless Frame and Course I fear I fear I shall but God forbid Well there are two things I would commend to my self and you in order to our Preparation for Death and Judgment 1st Let us make sure of a true and thorough work of Sanctification upon our Hearts O how shall we dare to look Death in the Face if found in an unsanctified Estate Sin is the sting of Death but then how may we with undanted Courage look it in the Face and as it were play with it when the Sting is taken out when we are passed from Death to Life if Sin be dead to be sure it s pardoned so otherwise how shall we think of Judgment to which Death immediately carries our Souls Will God clear the Guilty The turning point at that Day will be whether we be such as have come up to the Terms required of us in the remedying Law of Grace all are Sinners that is certain but all are not impenitent unbelieving Sinners O Sister penitent believing holy Souls and they alone shall be able to stand in Judgment shall obtain Mercy from the Lord in that Day and none but such have real ground of Comfort in the forethoughts of it 2dly Let us labour after clear and certain Evidences of our sincerity O how sweet a thing is Assurance of God's Love peace of Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost How would these chear and revive our Souls in a dying Hour Sure I am a well grounded Assurance would then pay us our own with Interest though we should be at never so much pains to attain it but how sad to be sent to bed in the Dark it must needs be very uncomfortable to a gracious Soul to leave this World uncertain how it shall go with it in the next therefore let us study the Word more which is the Rule by which we must be judged and impartially compare our Hearts and Lives therewith by which means through God's help we may come to know how it will go with us then Blessed be God for that Revelation of his Will Well that our mortality and immortality may
a small Thread over such a place as the mouth of burning Etna would not our Bowels be moved our Flesh tremble for them Their real Case is sadder then so meer Humanity would do much in such a Case will not Grace do more 2. We must take great heed to our selves that we do nothing to harden them in this their sad and sinful Case that we do nothing to keep them where they are if we pretend to pity them as without and yet care not wilfully to shut and bolt the Door upon them this our pretended Pity is no better then a cruel wicked Lie and therefore we must take heed that by our sinful Compliance with them we do not confirm and strengthen them in that good Opinion which alass they falsly have concerning their own state and way And so we must take heed of doing any thing that may justly prejudice them against Religion against the good Ways of God particular Instances are too many to be here inserted But in General every thing that is contrary to the Truth and Purity of Religion every thing that is contrary to the Scripture Rules of Piety Justice Charity and Sobriety is carefully to be avoided by us here 3. We must see that we prudently conscientiously and diligently lay out our selves in our places doing what we can to bring them in And here 1. We must endeavour to pray them in the word is plain here that this is a thing according to God's will the Lord hath a wonderful great respect for and delight in Prayer And though he hath decreed to do this and that and though his Providence may be big with it yet ordinarily before it brings forth Prayer must come in and as it were act the Midwifes part and this would be much to our own benefit and advantage Yea though such and such we pray for should not be brought in yet being sincere this our adventure should not be lost no but should come richly home our prayers certainly returning with a blessing into our own bosoms 2. We must do what in us lieth that they may be furnished with and brought unto the ordinary necessary means of Salvation when Persons are distracted or under any such raging Distempers as take away their Senses and the use of their rational Faculties it is then peculiarly the Part of Friends and Relations to procure them a Physician and the necessary Means of their Recovery why the poor Hearts in the case before us they are besides themselves have this and that Death token on them and are not sensible of it and so care not for to look after the Lord Jesus his Ministers the necessary Means of their Salvation any more then a Man raging Mad in Bethlem cares for his Physician or for his necessary Prescriptions and then we should endeavour to bring by Perswasion such of them as are within our reach to the Means and such as are under us as Children and Servants we may and ought to use our Authority with them this way 3. We should our selves endeavour to recommend Religion its blessed Authors ways means and end unto them And that 1. With our Mouth 's 2. In our Lives 1. With our Mouth 's as we have a call and opportunity let us be speaking a good Word for God and his good Ways O they are worthy of it and we carry it very unworthily if we do not and when any of them dare let fly at God and Religion we should with a holy warmth Vindicate them to the Faces of them against any their false Charges their wicked and blasphemous Lies 2. In our Lives here one might be large but I shall confine my Thoughts to five things and that with all the Brevity I well may And 1. We should endeavour in our Lives to recommend Religion to them as a true and real thing 2. As a practicable and feasable thing 3. As a gainful and profitable thing 4. As an honourable laudable thing 5. As a cheaful pleasant thing 1. As a true and real thing they are ready to look upon Serious Religion as a meer Fancy a waking Dream of a few weak and superstitious People others as a cunning Plot and Design of some self-seeking Men tell them of Fellowship and Communion with God they believe no such thing though we are as sure of the reality of it from frequent blessed feeling convincing sweet experience as of any thing that ever we saw with our Eyes now let us labour to give them some convincing Evidences and Demonstrations of it when Moses came down from the Mount with his Face shining no doubt all the People that saw him fully concluded that the Lord and he had been together you will apply it We speak of Heaven and of our great Hopes laid up there in their Hearts they believe there is nothing in it but are ready to pity or it may be sometimes laugh at our weakness in laying so great stress upon these poor future unseen things now let us endeavour by our Carriage in the general Tenour of our Lives to strike their Hearts with this Conviction that certainly they must be mistaken that certainly there must be substance reality and life in the business we doing and suffering such things when called to them in the belief and hopes thereof and at such a rate as they cannot So 2. Let us endeavour to recommend it to them as a practicable and feasable thing be Religion true or false yet however they think as these Preachers set it forth it is Impracticable and so are ready to look on them and us as a company of Hypocrites for pretending to it O that we did not give them so much occasion here as we do But however be it known unto them they charge Religion falsly our Lord's yoak is another thing then they take it for easy and sweet all over and such of us as have had to do with his Cross have said and can still say as much for that too or the Fault hath been our own yea and they charge us falsly too as they shall know hereafter at least when they shall here our Lord say that for us which at present we have no great Mind to be saying for our selves but let us by taking out our Copy before their Eyes endeavour to convince them while it will do them any good that to mortify Lusts repel Temptations overcome the World that to deny our Selves forgive Enemies bear the greatest Afflictions from the hand of God the greatest Injuries Reproaches and Sufferings from the hands or tongues of Men that these things and the like with the Strength which Religion offers and actually affords to those who do sincerely embrace it are not such Matters of Impossibility as they take them to be 3. That it is a gainful profitable thing they think many of them that to become seriously Religious is the next way to poverty and ruine the ready way to be undone alass that they should be so mistaken
THE REMAINS OF Mr. Joseph Barrett Son of the Reverend Mr. JOHN BARRETT Minister of the Gospel AT NOTTINGHAM BEING The Second PART taken out of an Exact DIARY written by his own Hand LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst and are to be Sold by him at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside and John Richards at Nottingham 1700. TO THE READER IF you have conversed with the Former Volumn of this eminently holy Man's Papers we reckon we need do no more to envite you to a serious delightful Perusal of this Second then to assure You that they are more of Mr. Joseph Barrett's Papers and indeed we scarce need to certify that neither themselves do testify it they have the same Rich Vein of more then ordinary Judiciousness Savouringness and Spirituality running through and sparkling in them as did in the Former the same marks of eminent Impresses and large Supplies of God's Spirit and the same signs of a Man very much in Communion with God and inflamed with Love to and Zeal for God of one much in Heaven during the little time he was here on Earth his True and somewhat peculiar Character Which makes it not strange at all that he was so soon removed to Heaven the place his Heart was so much in and he drove such a great Trade with and that he was so soon removed from Earth a place so grievous to him by reason of its-aboundings Iniquity and withheld and which vexed his Righteous Soul from day to day in seeing and hearing its ungodly Deeds nothing revived him more than the Success of his Projects for Christ and Souls And in imitation of his Blessed Master whom we never find weeping for any of his own though peculiarly heavy Affliction and sore Sufferings but only for either the Sins or Calamities of others nothing grieved him more than to see the hardness of Men's Hearts their opposition to the Blessed Jesus and the sad prospect this gave of Judgment upon Them and the Nation If an ill Spirit broke out with any Prevalence and the Interest of Religion seemed to give ground if any Adventure of Prayer many of which he made and put others upon making and blessed be God with good Success but if at any time any such Adventure did not make the return he hoped for how near did it go to his Heart out of his Apprehension of God's Displeasure and fear of this precious Duty of Prayer come into Discredit This grived him much more than the failure of any the greatest Adventurers in the Business of his secular Calling Apprehesions of God's being provoked and displeased and fears of the Consequences of it sat heavy made deep Impressions upon the Spirit of this Josiah whose Heart through Grace was peculialy soft and tender the Zeal of God's house did eat him up Several things of his and upon many Accounts we have reason to conclude valuable ones are locked up from being publickly useful by being written in Characters But blessed be God that so ordered it that so much of the good Treasure of this Scribe instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven this well furnished Housholder is left unlocked and stands open for publick Vse The things this Second Volumn consists of we shall not stay you in giving you our Judgments particularly of them but leave you to make a Judgment of them your Selves when you have perused them Only it may not be amiss to give some brief Account of the nature and method of those Conferences that one of these Tracts hath relation to The Reader therefore is desired to take Notice That in the Congregation of which this Holy Man was a Member there is a meeting of several Christians once a Week from Five to Seven of the Clock at Night for mutual Edification which is spent only in Prayer repeating of Sermons and singing of Psams on those Nights when the Ministers are not present But usually once in a Month the Ministers are there and then some practical Question or Case of Conscience is propounded and discoursed of and every Man present hath liberty to propound his own Thoughts and speak his own Experience Prayer begin and together with a Psalm or Spiritual Hymn closes the Exercise The Minister opens the Question and in the Close sums up the substance of what hath been discoursed of These meetings this good Man was a great Lover and Promoter of yet such was his great Modesty that be seldom spoke himself but wrote his Thought and put them into a Friends hands with a charge of privacy as to the Author who read them towards the close of the Exercise Having thus acquainted you with what we think necessary in relation to these Papers we recommend them to your serious powerful Perusal you and them to the Blessing of the God of all Grace and our Selves to your Prayers who desire help through your Prayers and the supply of the Spirit he obtain help to be The furtherers of your Faith and helpers of your Joy in the Lord John Whitlock Jo. Whitlock Junior August 22. 1699. ADVERTISEMENT THE first Account of Mr. Joseph Barrett's Life printed contains Eight Chapters which is in several Hands single therefor these his Remains begins Chapter the Ninth BOOKS Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns the lower End of Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel Books written by the Reverend Mr. J. Howe OF Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of foreknowing things to come Of Charity in reference to other Men's Sins A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Richard Adams M. A. Sometime Fellow of Brazen-Nose Colledge in Oxford The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Souls In a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to will the Salvation of them that perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict Enquiry whether or no we truly love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson the late Wife of Hen. Sampson Doctor of Physick who died Nov. 24. 1689. The Carnality of Religious Contention In two Sermons preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet A Sermon for Reformation of Manners A Sermon preach'd on the Day of Thanksgiving Decemb. 2. 1697. To which is perfix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the KING A Sermon on the much lamented Death of the Reverend William Bates D. D. The Redeemers Dominion over the Invisible World being a Discourse on the Funeral of Mr. Houghton A Sermon at Mr. Mathew Meads Funeral CHAP. IX QUESTION I. How may a man know that he is led or acted by the Spirit of God BEfore I answer directly I beg leave to lay down a few things which I think may tend a little to clear the question and to prevent Mistakes about it As 1. That there must be a principial of Spiritual Life infused into the Soul in the Work of Regeneration before a Man can be said
hope Rom. 4.18 And we find David oft professing his Resolution to trust in the Lord whatsoever distress he was in And so Job Chap. 13.15 Tho' he kill me yet will I put my trust in him This is part of that glory which we may not give unto another when in distress we thus betake our selves to creature Refuges our Hearts depart from the Lord and set up such creatures as Idols in his place which thing the Lord hath cursed but blessed are all they that put their trust in him 11. We must wait patiently for the Lord and his Salvation He that believeth maketh not haste He was quite out in his argument and shewed a wicked Spirit who said 2 King 6.33 Behold this evil is of the Lord what should I wait on the Lord any longer God's People should be and are of another mind Tho' alass sometimes their Hearts are ready to grow sick and their eyes ready to fail them when their hopes are long defer'd but that is there infirmity But ordinarly they are of another mind Isa 8 17. I will wait on the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and will look for him Mic. 7.7 I will wait for the God of my Salvation Lam. 3.26 It is good that a Man both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord Once more 12. And lastly after all we must endeavour quietly to submit and chearfully to resign up our selves to the Lords good pleasure when he is testifying against us we must with Aaron hold our peace or say with Eli it is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good A rare Example we have for this in the Man after Gods own Heart in his sweet Frame and Carriage in that which I think considering all the Circumstances of it was the forest outward distress that ever he was in when he fled from Absolon his Son 2 Sam. 15.25 26. And the King said unto Zadock carry back the Ark of God into the City If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it and his habitation But if he thus say I have no delight in him behold here am I let him him do to me as seemeth good unto him yea which is yet higher still here we have the example of David's Lord when his holy and innocent nature began to give back with honour and amazement at the apprehension of those matchless Sorrows and Sufferings which were before him he thus pray'd O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me but immediately he adds nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Matth. 26.39 Wherein he hath left us the highest instance and example of Submission and Resignation to the Divine Will that ever was and in such things wherein he is in our poor Measure immitable by us it is unquestionably our duty to tread in his Steps QUESTION V. How must we carry our selves towards our afflicted Brethren MY time allows me to say but little to this Question But 1. We must take heed we no way add to their Affliction see we fall not under that heavy charge the Psalmist brings against his enemies Psal 69.26 which is ushered in and followed with very dreadful Propherical Imprecations Afflicting work is God's work and he cannot but be highly displeased when we are for taking this his Work out of his Hands And here 1. We must take heed we do it not by our Words 2. That we do it not by our Carriage 1. We must take heed that we do it not by our Words we must take heed we do not rashly and uncharitably Censure them take heed of such Expressions yea and of such Thoughts too our bad Hearts have by Nature a wretched faculty this way when Persons fall under Affliction especially if their Affliction be somewhat singular either for kind or degree we are ready presently to conclude it must be for some extraordinary Guilt whereas the Lord for wise and holy Ends best known to himself many times culls out his dearest and choicest Servants as to the honest Work so to the sorest Tryals the greatest Susserings as a wise Commander or General will deal with his Souldiers but this is the common Opinion If an holy upright Job who was a non-such in his Time if he fall under an unusual Calamity wise and good Men will not down with it but he must needs be an Hypocrite if a venomous Creature fasten upon a Paul's Finger the Barbarians will have it he is a Murtherer or some such like Offender whom Vengeance suffers not to live this is very sinful very dangerous and provoking we have something for the Proof of this Job 42.7 8. And the Lord said unto Eliphaz my wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two Friends for ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right as my servant Job hath c. Job's three Friends feem to have been pious good Men yet alass going upon some false Notions and Opinions they had got rigid Censurers of poor Job in his sore Distress and for this Sin of theirs had not he prayed for them and the Lord accepted him some sore Judgment had been like to fall on them as we may gather from the 8th verse We must take heed of this 2. We must take heed we do it not by our Carriage we must take heed of a lofty proud and scornful Carriage towards them it is highly-sinful and dangerous thus to trample upon those that are under God's feet already yea we must take heed of a strange Carriage towards them of any thing that looks like unkindness or disrespect this is one thing which is wont to add much to the grief of the afflicted it cuts them to the Heart when they see their Brethren standing at a distance from them in their Distress we find God's People oft times complaining very heavily of this in Scripture and such Complaints lifted up to God are not like to fall down again very light on those that justly fall under them and if their Affliction come by the Oppression of Men we must especially take heed we no way join or take part with their Oppressours we must take heed we no way add to their Affliction 2. We must do what we can and in our places lawfully may to ease them under and to help them out of their Affliction Here 1. We must heartily Pity and Compassionate them 2. We must do what we can to help them 1. We must heartily Pity and Compassionate them really Sympathize with them to him that is afflicted pity should be shown of his Friend as we have it to that purpose at least some where in the Book of Job Principles of humanity call for this yea one may see somthing of this in and among Creatures of a lower Rank but mere natural Pity is but the lesser part of that I here mean our pity must be a gracious Pity we must
in Religion the thing that makes us Godliness bath the Promise of the Life that now is whatever they think it is certainly the surest and the next way to be Rich here if the Lord see it good for one to be so and God be thanked as he hath formerly so he still doth honour Religion in the face of the World by making some that are sincerely yea exemplarily Good very considerably Great in the World but however it doth certainly bring the best Riches along with it not the poorest Saint in the World but he hath that which will more then weigh down all the Riches of an Empire its true he hath not so much lumber as many of them have but for all that he hath Riches which cannot be told in a pearless Pearl in precious Jewels in good Bonds and be it so that we are most of us as Poor as they would have or make us and may live under much Obscurity and be little taken Notice of in the World unless it be in a way of Contempt and Reproach yet let them know we scorn the Motion of changing Estates with the best Man of them all but they will never give Credit to us or think that we really believe our selves if they see us as discontented and uneasy in and with our outward Conditions as hot and eager in our pursuit after these little trifling Vanities and as much dispirited dejected and heart broken under any our outward Afflictions at any our worldly Losses Crosses and Disappointments as they themselves in such like cases are 4. As a creditable honourable thing they think that to be called Religious under those soul dirty Terms the World hath put upon it is a real and an intollerable Reproach if we go to hear these pious godly Ministers and become serious O then say they every one almost will despise spite and trample on us No no you are mistaken what says wise King Solomon in this Case Exalt her that is wisdom and she shall promote thee She shall bring thee to Honour when thou dest embrace her she shall give to thine Head an Ornament of Grace a Crown of Glory shall she deliver to thee The Lord is an Honour unto such as some render that 1 Pet. 2.7 These are they whom the King will honour and they are honoured by the wisest and best Men upon Earth yea by the highest principallities and powers in Heaven nay they have an honourable Testimony in the very Hearts and Consciences of the worst of Men their greatest Enemies so far as they are Men and not turned into meer Bruits and as for our parts let them in our Life and Carriage see it clearly and abundantly that we are not ashamed of our blessed Master nor ashamed of Prayer or of any Part of his Work which is truly honourable both considered in it self and as it is his But let them see we are of the old Apostles mind who when they would make a high and holy Brag what say they I Paul a Servant of Jesus Christ Peter a Servant of Jesus Christ and so others of them 5. And lastly Let us invite them in by endeavouring in our Lives to recommend Religion to them as a chearful pleasant thing if Religion be real and practicable and some way profitable and creditable yet however for pleasure they think they are the Men and us they look upon as a company of poor sad and melancholly People and so are afraid to cast in their Lot among us now let us endeavour to rectify this great Mistake of theirs also by letting them see that wisdoms ways are Ways of Pleasantness that it is no rare thing with us to find that sweet delight satisfaction and joy in the views and embraces of our Precious though by them despised Jesus which they never did or can find in any things whatsoever which they account their topping Enjoyments though truly where Persons are under those bodily Distempers which much encline them to dulness and sadness I think as the Lord doth so we and others should give grains of allowance but such should be especially afflicted with and strive against such Distempers upon this as one main account as some may thence take occasion to think more frightfully of Religion and such should be very desirous that others did but know what is many times at their Hearts even when they may think there is a great deal of sorrow and heaviness in their Looks but especially that they did but know what there is at the heart of Religion and be it known unto them even to the greatest pleasure Mungers of them all that we have those delights such pure solid satisfying and lasting Delights and Joys as they have none for the truth of which we are ready to pawn our Souls and all that ever we are worth in the World yea and moreover to give them leave to be judges in the case themselves if so be they will but come and make a serious tryal of Roligion as far as we have done and yet there are far greater Matters still which many others have attained unto which we are in the prospect and pursuit of QUESTION X. How are we to manage our Spiritual watch IN general I Answer we must manage it after a godly Sort that is in such a manner as that the great Ends of it may be best attained by us Scil. God's glory together with the safety preservation and salvation of our own and others Souls More particularly 1. We must manage it obedientially the Lord hath given us many express Commands for this Duty Matth. 26.41 1 Cor. 16.13 2 Tim. 4.5 and in many other Places now it is not enough barely to do the thing commanded but we must do it in Obedience to the Divine Command do it because commanded we must also do it with respect to the Manner of it as it is commanded So 2. We must manage this Duty universally watch in all things so the Command runs in one place And here 1. God is in some sort the proper Object of our watch And that 1. In what he saith 2. In what he doth 3. Particularly in what Answers he is pleased at any time to give into our Prayers 1. In what he saith we should heedfully observe take notice what he speaketh to us in his Word by the inward Motions of his Spirit by his Ministers or by any of our Christian Brethren or by our Enemies yea though they may be wicked Men for sometimes the Lord may and doth speak to us by them though they think not so whenever or however the Lord speaks we should endeavour to watch so as to have our Ears ready open so as that whatever the Lord speaks we may have it presently like a Person that 's hearkning to one who is much his Superiour when about to speak something that doth vastly concern him whose mind doth as it were hang upon the Speakers lips so that the Word is hardly got well out
a sad complaint of the disaffection of our Souls towards God he is breathing out nothing but love and joy and praise now he had perfected Affections and a perfect sight of his Aimableness and continually enjoyeth the sweet embraces of his Love it s a thing impossible for him either not to love him or to love him with such remisness coldness and inconstancy as poor unworthy we do and perfectly to love God and to be beloved of him this perfect mutual and joyful Love I think is the highest happiness the Creature is capable of O blessed Soul How pure and perfect are his Joy's What shall I say to these things O that I could feel more He hath changed his quarters indeed Glorious Angels and Saints are now his Familiar's his continual Associates which when he beareth a part in those heavenly Songs of Praise to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever O blessed Place blessed Work and blessed Company In a few words as he defined it to us while here he is now perfectly freed from all Sin and Misery in the fruition of all good being perfectly restor'd to God's Image and admitted to the beatifical Vision and Fruition of him in the most glorious Fellowship with Christ the head of our recovery and all the holy Angels and blessed Saints in Heaven O famous Description And yet the one half is not told us now shall I be so unkind as once to wish him back again with me Should I not rather long to be with him and in the mean time think well of the Rod which is a blessed means to drive me forward in Heavens way Should I not with humble Submission entertain this and all other afflictive Providences which may exceedingly befriend me in my Preparation for that blessed Place and State 8thly Death and the Grave are quite vanquished and overcome by Jesus Christ and surely this is a very staying quieting Consideration I am ready to think sadly of it that his precious Soul and Body that loving couple should be separated their Union dissolved that he in whom I have so delighted whose company hath so oft refreshed me that he should be laid in the dust and have worms for his Companions while I may see his Face no more in the land of the living that he should consume and rot in the Grave this goeth hardly down But is there not somewhat of childish pity here I am to consider that its only the Flesh that is the looser here and that but for a time which loss shall be made up with unspeakable advantage at the great Day of the Lord which draws on Death to his Soul was his present inservicable Gain as before And why should I be so immoderately concerned for what the body suffers Alass What was it but a lump of Corruption Indeed while that gracious Soul of his did animate it it was very lovely of much value But now the Jewel is gone what is the Cabinet worth Good reason why I should take delight in that House though but of Clay while the heavenly Inhabitant was there But now it s gone and House is fallen in why should I so value it And farther what was it to him what an Enemy How much care and labour grief and sorrow it hath cost him A log a prison to his Soul I may be sure he doth not grieve or grudge that God hath now by Death thus disburdened unfettered and released him But farther I am to consider that Jesus Christ the Lord of Life hath vanquished and overcome Death if Death had swallowed him up had made an end of him this had been sad indeed but God be thanked it is otherwise He had a firm Belief of this great Truth and the Comfort of it too for in his late Sickness when he called me to Pray by him he bid me bless God for a Mediator through whom he could say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead a main part of the glad tidings which the Gospel brings which is good assurance of the blessed Resurrection of all those that belong to him let me think oft of those sweet Words of his because I live ye shall live also To be sure the Lord Jesus Christ the head of his Church will not have a dead Body no nor one dead Member while it is in his Power to give it Life as sure as he is risen from the Dead and lives for ever more which is as sure as that God is True who hath declared it in his Word so sure it is that whosoever believing his shall be raised by him at the last day and live for ever with him Now think I have many a time chearfully bid him Good-night when he hath been going to take his Natural rest and why Because I hoped to see him again in the Morning and that more refreshed And why should I grieve immoderately now His grave is but a bed wherein to rest his weary Bones for a while and I may not only hope but have a confident well grounded Assurance that the Morning of the Resurrection will come when the earth shall disclose him and the dust cover him no more this shall not be an everlasting Night an endless Sleep No his Body shall be raised and that a glorious spiritual Body That blessed Day will e're long dawn and how sweet will be the Salutation between that lovely couple his glorified Soul and Body perfectly delighting in each other without jarring in the least for ever more And how happy a meeting it will be for me when I shall so meet with him as never to be parted from him more O! I shall have enough of his company in Heaven and it will be better to me there then it was here if it hath been so comfortable to spend Sabbath's and Solemn-day's of Humiliation and Thanksgiving with him here What will it then be to spend an everlasting Sabbath with him in Heaven in singing forth the high Praises of God and of the Lamb Sure I should not be so dejected with the sad thoughts of parting here as comforted with the joyful hopes of that blessed meeting Well the time is coming on a pace the Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead the first Fruits of them that sleep and by and by the Trumphet sounds and that quickning Voice which will make dead and dry Bones live Arise ye dead will be heard all the World over Then shall all the Faithful arise out of their Graves with Bodies made like unto Christ's Glorious Body Now what say I to these things Believe I this I have cause to be extream jealous of this naughty Heart of mine which I have so often found tardy and I may be sure of this that my own immoderate fear of Death and dejectedness at the death of Friends if it prove not the absence of Faith yet sadly bewrayeth the weakness of
penal Evils which God inflicts upon us Righteousness and Judgment is ever to be ascribed to our God and all the blame to be charged home upon our own naughty Hearts it is Sin which imbitters all our Comforts here O hate Sin and take a holy revenge upon it Afflictions are but the effect Sin is the cause now remove the Cause and the Effects will cease O what bruitish and unreasonable Creatures are we who are so much in love with Sin a thing so odious and hateful in the sight of God and so mischievous to our Selves O unnatural we who are so in love with our own Miseries Now that you may follow this Direction effectually it would be a good way seriously to endeavour to find out what those Sins are that have had the greatest hand in bringing this Affliction upon you for in many of God's strokes his Hand his Rod points very visibly to the Offence I have verily thought so in several of the light Afflictions he hath laid upon me When God afflicts us in Relations we ought with shame and grief to reflect upon our relative Sins I dare not but humbly mind you of this thing having found out the Achans let us dispatch them without delay let us humble our Souls exceedingly for them and earnestly beg the Pardon of them and with all our might strive against them O let us shew Sin no mercy Let the Lord see that his quarrelling with us hath broached an irreconcilable quarrel between our Souls and Sin 2dly Let us be led to see more of the emptiness and vanity of the Creature since our fall from God to the Creature we are very prone to place and seek our Happiness in it whereas our Happiness consists and ought to be placed in God alone who is the chief Good and our Gracious God many times sees good to Afflict his Children most in those things which have got the greatest share of their Affections and so are likely to draw away most of their Hearts from him O remember dear Cozen our Head and Husband the Lord Jesus hath a very jealous Eye over our deceitful Hearts he cannot brook any adultrous Affections in his Spouse when he seeth we are following strangers and so growing strange with him it much offends him yet so constant is his Love to us that he takes various Methods to recover our Affections and if nothing else will do it rather then quite loose us he will hedge up our way with Thorns and seldom that our naughty Hearts will be reclaimed till it comes to that I remember an Expression of my Father in a Sermon of his to this Purpose I am verily perswaded saith he that most of the lashes laid upon God's Children here are to pay home and sharply to correct them for some overloving of the Creature As I said before hate Sin more so here love the World less 3dly When ever we find the Devil tempting us to hard Thoughts of God then let us stand up and plead mightily for God's goodness let not our base distrustful unbelieving Hearts be suffered to entertain any such vile Suggestions when God's providences are dark and afflictive towards his People then it is the Devils trick to do what he can to possess their Minds with black and unworthy Conceptions of him as if he had an evil Eye upon them and grudged them their outward Comforts or did willingly Afflict them or took pleasure in their Grief so it is sometimes with God's Church in general Sion's Language sometimes is The Lord hath forsaken my God hath forgotten me And so it is frequently with particular Souls under their particular Tryals and Troubles here How have poor I experienced this sad Truth And with what shame and sorrow may I acknowledge the too great readiness of my base Heart to close with such Temptations And if you do not meet with the same sometimes I can assure you from sad Experience your Case is singularly Happy and if you do meet with them with abhorrence reject and cast them out fear yet scorn to entertain them labour to recollect former Experiences you have had of the Lord's loving kindness He is unchangable in his Love to his Think often what an Expression it is of his Love and Care that he will be at the pains to Afflict you clearing your Adoption you may thence easily argue that all your Afflictions are but Fatherly Chastizements And O how would that sweet Promise of God's turning all to our spiritual Good and Advantage Rom. 8.28 if frequently seriously and believingly considered of make us think very well of all he doth 4thly Live by Faith upon the Attributes and Promises of God it is nothing below this that will be able to keep up your Heart and hold up your Head above these Waters and here I would advise you to seek out those Attributes of God that most suit your Case as it may be sometimes you are puzzeled even at your Wit 's end and know not what to do not what Course to take I believe it is so with you sometimes is it not Your way is made dark in this Wilderness why then have recourse by Faith to the infinite Wisdom of God it may be you meet with a great deal of treachery and deceitfulness in the Creature in this Case live upon the Truth and Faithfulness of God which never fails It may be you may meet with cruel and harsh Usage from such as you have no reason to expect most of the Contrary in this Case solace your Soul in the Consideration of those Bowels of Compassions that are in your heavenly Father and so improve all the Attributes of God for they are all yours and strongly engaged for you if you be his and so as to the Promises of God seek out those that come nearest to your Case promises of Support under your Affliction and of Deliverance when the Lord shall see that good for you at least of a blessed Sanctification of all to your Soul which is ten Thousand times better then present deliverance without it 5thly The exercise of Patience is another thing wherein a Christian Carriage under Affliction doth consist a quiet submitting unto and acquiessing in the good Will of God consider God's disposing Will in his Providence is as really his Will and doth as firmly constitute our Duty to Obey as his commanding Will in his Word And seeing it is his Will that it should be so with you as now it is endeavour chearfully to subscribe unto it let it appear that you are a Practitioner yea a good Proficient in the holy Apostles Art who had learnt in whatsoever State he was therewith to be Content what a poor Contentment is ours if it depends upon our Creature enjoyments yet what abundant reason we should be Content with what we have we deserve nothing so surely ought to be Content with any thing and if an ever Blessed God will not Content us surely we are very unreasonable and
to the Grave I question not but Death is triping up the Heels of some young Persons about you in D. as well as here let us take warning by them and learn to prize and improve our precious Time I could wish you knew what sad Reflections I have upon my self for the mispent of time that I should have lived so long to so little Purpose Now dear S. you have several of those years before your Face if the Lord lengthen out your Life which alass are got behind my back and cannot be recalled O lay hold on this advantage and cut off the occasion of such sad Reflections now in time My Second advice is That you would keep up a constant Course of religious Duties and labour in them for sweet and sensible Communion with God I have suffered much by my neglect of Duties and by trifling in them O the long and sad interruptions of my Communion with God! O the sad effects of this Methinks sloath idleness and formality hath even cloathed my poor Soul with raggs Take heed S. take heed It can never be well with us when we are strange with God and live at a distance from him To live without God in the World is an Hell upon Earth O keep your Heart close to God in a course of Holy Duties be oft in God's walks and be not contented unless you meet with him there but alass while I am writing this methinks Conscience is whispering thou dost not follow this advice thy self as thou shouldst I must confess this is a Truth and a sad one but I think it is good Advice and I would fain have it better with me then it hath been in these respects or then it may at present be with me and besides I would have you better much better then my self therefore take and follow it my daily Prayers are for you the Lord be your God and Guide and everlasting Portion I am affectionately Your's I. B. LETTER XXV To T. W. My dear Friend METHINKS its long since I saw you and I cannot be quiet till I have imparted some of my Thoughts to you I doubt not but you have been wrestling with God for us in reference to our late Exercise methinks I feel that you and other dear Friends have been praying for us the Lord return your kindness and your prayers into your bosom double and may these lines farther engage them and also put a note of praise into your lips O love the Lord O praise the Lord for his goodness We can do little help us help us add your instrument say his goodness endureth for ever surely he hath not contended with his great Power nor withdrawn his supporting Arm we have been afflicted but he hath been with us in six Troubles and in seven he hath not forsaken us surely all his Paths are Mercy and Truth are not all things our's if we be Christ's Shall not nay is not this already working for our good Faith should and Heaven will make us see and say that God hath done all things well even just as we would have them trust his God let your dependance be upon him we have tried him and have found him very Faithful yea very Gracious and Merciful Blessed be the God of Patience the God of Meekness the God of all Grace and the God of all Comforts for what of these he hath given in at this needful time help us to make his praise Glorious and continue instant in Prayer for us that we may reap some special Benefit and that our Fruit may remain My dear Father besides his wonderful inward Supports and Joys hath had a greater freedom from his bodily Distempers at this time then he hath had for some years past bless God for that too I cannot tell you all his Mercies have been manifold have we not been full of his Goodness O may our hearts our lips our lives be full of his Praise Now what shall we render What projects for Jesus Christ now I will tell you of one when I see you which I would have your Assistance in think on me as to that great Affair of mine you know of I do not see but that Providence still smiles upon it and am apt to think it may not be long before it be put to an issue I am oft full of discouraging Fears about it pray for me and if providence do not yet cross it help me to call our great Friend to the Marriage him that turned their Water into Wine O a good guest would he be A guest did I say nay let him be an inhabitant pray him entreat him beseech him tell him I do not Complement with him But I forgot my self the Lord fill your Soul full of his Goodness and bless you in all your Ways I am your real affectionate Friend I. B. LETTER XXVI To my M. Dear M. I Have been deeply concerned for you for some time of late upon the account of that excessive trouble and sadness of Spirit which hath so sorely born you down of late and as it is my Duty so it would be greatly delightful to me could I but do any thing to help you against that which as it cannot but be displeasing unto God so also very Afflictive to your self and to all that love and tender you I was last week casting in my Thoughts for some Cordial for you and I hope the good Providence of God hath directed me to that which I have here sent you enclosed the God of all comfort bless and make it Effectual it is that which I have sometimes found a wonderful Virtue in my self and therefore I can the better recommend it to you will you promise me to read it over and not only now when you first receive it but whenever you find a fainting fit of Sorrow coming upon you Will you promise me to read it seriously and believingly Why then I dare give you leave to be sad and disconsolate if you can O that I knew but what argument to use with you or with God for you for you are never out of my praying Thoughts I dare not be unfaithful to you I must tell you plainly there is more Sin in it then you are aware of and it is the cause of much Sin I know it by too sad experience my self when I have sometimes been in your Case though then I could not see it alass things were hidden from me Again your Sorrow makes the Devil Merry O it pleaseth him he knows he cannot hurt you hereafter it will be out of his Hands therefore he takes delight in your disquiet here and I tell you mark it for its that I have experienced every time you indulge your self in it will he get the stronger hank upon you which you will be less able to shake off Herein you are very ingenious to your self you know not what inward Peace it deprives you of it quenches the Spirit then it greatly injures you as to your outward
Man and it is very Afflictive to all that love you as for my own part it clouds and dasheth all my outward Comfort when ever I think of you and the Lord knows that is not seldom and my poor F. is declining fast and your cheariness I am well satisfied would be better to him then any Physick Well dear M. I am daily pleading with G. for you as I have now been pleading with you I shall now wait for my Answer from you both may it be a comfortable one May it I then promise to bless G. for it more then I ever did for any outward Mercy he ever gave me in all my Life I am concerned for my poor S. that she hath learnt to bear her Trials no better alass we must learn to stoop and hold our Tongues the Lord will have us at that before he brings us to Heaven I intend to let her hear from me shortly but my Affection engaged me to deal with you first O that it may not be in vain I would fain take fast hold on you both and engage him to drive the nail home carry it like a Christian an that hath already a Christ in possession and an Heaven in hope the God of all grace and comfort revive and chear you dear M. what I have written comes from the tender Affection of your loving obedient S. I. B. LETTER XXVII To my M. Dear M. I Was much concerned to see you so low when you was here in Town I earnestly beg the Lord would make your burthen lighter and in the mean time encrease your Strength to bear it and it would much rejoyce my Heart could I do any thing to help you either of these Ways your Exercises are many and great and you are one of a sorrowful Spirit whereby all your other burthens fasten themselves the more and deeper upon you I can say something to your Case from my own Experience being many times much troubled with the same Distemper I will therefore tell you how I find it with my self and what course I have found most helpful to me I have my exercises many ways both inward and outward and such as are no small ones and when a melancholy Fit takes me I am many times ready quite to sink under them and can do little else but aggravate my Troubles and make every little thing great and inwardly lash and torment my self not only with what I at present feel but also with future fears being ready to conclude it will never be better but worse and worse with me a thousand sad perplexing Thoughts crowd into my Mind and I please my self in this tormenting of my self though when the fit is over I cannot but condemn my self for it yet while under it I really think I cannot do otherwise nay that I do well in it and then sometimes I can neither read nor hear any thing but I must meditate Terrour from it and make nothing of bearing false witness against my self every thing must go against me be it right or wrong at other times the best Friends I have can scarce say or do any thing to please me but I can find something to disquiet both my self and them sometimes I have gone alone to think it out but I find there is no end of that but now I will tell you of two things wherein I have found the most Relief the one is secret Prayer when I find one of these Fits is creeping on me when I find my self pinched or burthened one way or other I then take the first opportunity I can possibly get to go alone and there to give my Heart free vent endeavouring to turn my Trouble into a right Channel confessing and bewailing my Sins and while I am thus endeavouring to lay this load on my other burthens are removed before I am aware and moreover it s ten to one the Lord removes that burthen too before I have done believe me I have sometimes gone to that Duty with as heavy an Heart as I think any poor Creature ever had and have come away with it as light as though I had been in a corner of Heaven I do not say this as though I thought you a stranger to this sweet remedy but to put you in mind to take it seasonably do not defer it to your wonted times of Prayer but take the very first opportunity that you can sometimes when I have thus deferred my Heart hath been so strangely bound up that I could scarce pray at all be sure to observe this to take the remedy in time before the Distemper hath got too much hold I believe this which follows is a very needful piece of Advice to you because I know you have used much to neglect your self and I am afraid you do so still whereby you injure your self both Soul and Body more then you are aware in this case use those Creature comforts and supports the Lord affords you not only as a thing Lawful but as your Duty You assuredly Sin if you do not I dare say it is the Lord's mind that you should not deny your self any thing that might make you more chearful in his Service and he hath so provided in his Providence that you need not want any thing that tends to the support or comfort of your Life and then how dare you deny your self Dear M. I write not these things at random for I know much of your Case by my own and having tried these things I recommend them to you now let my Councel be acceptable to you and that the Lord would make it effectual my earnest Prayers shall follow these poor Lines and if I might understand they are of Advantage to you it would very much rejoyce my Heart even mine who am Your's I. B. LEETTER XXVIII To C. W. upon the Death of his Child Sept. 13. 1693. My dear F. I Now understand our gracious G. hath been pleased to remove your Babe to take away that part of the delight of your Eye with a stroke I would endeavour to bear a part with you and I think my self obliged by that bond you know of though as I may say yet unscaled to attempt to administer some relief to you under your present Presures as the Lord shall enable me for some reasons I do it this way and the Lord give my Pen good speed Methinks I hear you thus bespeaking me have pity upon me have pity upon me O my Friend for the hand of God hath touched me Well I would direct your Thoughts to that Scripture 2 Sam. 12.19 20 21 22 23. and the Lord help you to take out the Copy that is there set before you an intire humble and chearful Submission and self Resignation to the good Pleasure of God is certainly our Duty even when we are under his sadest Dispensations this he stands upon and there is the greatest Reason in the world he should and now my Friend to further you herein I would have you let