therewith to be contented Phil. 4.11 In Health and Plenty in Peace and Liberty this is no difficult Lesson all Men know But in the case of Sickness Poverty loss of Friends Estate of Liberty or in the danger of Life how many then will quickly cry out This is an hard saying who can bear it I answer them Such a one as Paul can do it And further he that hath been taught of God and hath learned the truth as it is in Jesus even He can do it also If all the World should frown upon them if Midnight-Darkness hide all Comforts from them if neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars appear unto them yet these People are able to retire within themselves or rather run into the Name of the Lord and All is well For the Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe saith Solomon Prov. 18.10 This also made the holy Apostle say He could do all things through Christ that strengthen'd him Phil. 4.13 And the Context sheweth that this Doing Chiefly respecteth Suffering Wherein Christ's Presence with the Soul converts Complaints into Thanksgivings and Repinings to Rejoycings The Church of old makes a clear Proof of this Altho the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vine the labour of the Olive shall fail and the Field shall yield no meat the Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stall Yet I will Rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation Habak 13 18. And how are Murmuring and Impatience sent into Exile then never to take harbour in such Breasts as these Well now we know how quiet and at what hearts ease the holy Apostle was in in the worst condition He was content And what are Any or the very Best of us that in our Sufferings we should not bring our Minds to that Sedateness wherein his was who was so much Above us The plain reason is Because in Grace we are so much Beneath him Recapitulation Now looking back upon this Cloud of Witnesses we must acknowledge that they all conspire to ring it loudy in our ears Let Patience have its perfect Work within you whatever Distresses lye upon you If we are Real Christians to be Meek with Moses to hold our Peace with Aaron leave God to himself with Eli possess our thoughts with our own approaching End as David did to bless God's Name for our Adversity as well for Prosperity after Job's example approve his Methods altho severe in a compliance with Hezekiah submit our Wills entirely unto his as was our Saviour's holy Practice and lastly to learn with the great Apostle of the Gentiles in all estates to be contented If God see meet to take away Estate to be content if Name content if Health content if Liberty Friends or Children nay Father Husband or Wife dear to us as our selves yea or life it self to be Contented still Whatever Distress the gracious Providence shall bring us to it is our Duty after the Examples of all these Famous Worthies Christ Jesus Soldiers and the Captain of their and our Salvation himself to learn the Doctrine of my Text To be dumb and open not our mouth and that because God doth it And so much of the Examples II. Arguments Now for Powerful Arguments which will evince the necessary Obligations that Pious People do lye under to bear Afflictions without Impatience and a Quiet Mind There are but five I shall make use of but that which bringeth up the Rear if I may not say 't will prove a Mother of Nations at least 't will shew it hath a Teeming Womb and bring us forth a double Number to the whole Tale mention'd They are these in brief 1. Hereby they are conformed to the Best of Saints and in their Best Condition on the Earth 2. The first and second Birth do Both dispose to Troubles 3. Impatience is so far from helping then that it doth more hurt 4. There is Undoubted Good unto the Godly at the Bottom of all they suffer And 5ly 'T is the Lord that sendeth their Distresses to them Arg. 1. Good Christians should bear with Patience their Distresses because They but conform them to the best of Saints and in their Best Condition upon Earth Then why such sore Complaints among them Had there been formerly no famous Instances given to this Purpose who that hath only tasted Holy Scriptures can be ignorant that * In origine statim mundi Abel a fratre occiditur Jacob fugatur Joseph venundatur David Saul persequitur c. S. Cypr. de Exhort Mort. cap. 11. Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles had Generally this Measure meted out unto them nay pressed down shaken together and running over especially to the Last and I may say the Best of them our Lord 's most dear Disciples 'T is certain that St. Paul saith not barely that They were appointed to asslictions 1 Thess 3.3 but that he thought God had set Them forth as Men appointed to death it self for they were made in their Sufferings a Spectacle to the World the upper and the lower of Angels and Men too 1 Cor. 4.9 And should it now be accounted a grievous matter for the Successors to be like their Predecessors What Are we better than they Alas How much beneath them Whose Modesty will not prompt him freely to confess himself far shorter of them in real worth than he is in time behind them And pray now do we not all desire to be Partakers with them in point of Prosit and shall we grudge our share of Pains Would we arrive at the blessed Harbour where they are driving an heavenly Trade and yet refuse to cross the swelling Waves after them Is it fit and equal that we should settle in their Canaan without the Troubles and the Dangers of that Wilderness which they have pass'd and is the strait way to it If we have hopes to be such as They in Heaven it must not be grudg'd if we be like them on the Earth How proper is it that a Similitude should be betwixt the Eellow-members And how much more with the Head it self Is it not written Heb. 2.10 That the Captain of our salvation was made perfect thro' sufferings He put not on his Crown but going from the Cross nor sat he on the Throne before he had hung upon the Tree And shall it be thought intollerable or any thing hard to follow such a Leader And unto such a Journey 's End But as I said before Saints suffering State was best unto them even so it is The Riddle was of old that the Eater affords meat and the strong sweetness Judg. 14.14 And truly good Men's sorrows on Earth bring solace down from Heaven unto them When the Knife was putting to Isaac's Throat by the sad Father an Angel comes and puts a Ram into his room unto his greater joy Gen. 22.14 As a father pittieth his
Lord and a more strange fire from the Lord falls down upon them and devoured them Levit. 10.1 2 3. Fire in it self is a very furious and frightful Element but this being not the fire that burned in the bush and burnt it not Exod. 3.2 3. nor that which carried up Elijah into Heaven so far from hurting him as making of him happy and putting him out of the reach of Hurt for ever No but a fire from the Lord saith the Text who is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 especially to bold Offenders that are as dried Stubble before him This offers one terrible Circumstance to our thoughts Moreover this Fire falls down not upon the good Man Aaron's House or Goods or Cattel any of which might have had dread enough therein but on his Children on his Sons his Sons that were God's Ministers nor upon one alone but two at once not in the Fields or in a private House where possibly it might have been concealed at least but little notice taken of it but in the Tabernacle and at God's Publick Worship and in their Ministration there and before the face of all the Congregation Here is an heap of Circumstances not one of which but carrieth horrour and astonishment with it but all together are utterly confounding Well but hereupon how doth the good but sad Father behave himself What Doth he fret and fume and vex his Soul to death again No no. Doth he rage and rave and flie in the face of God upon it 'T was further from him Jehoram's great but wicked Messenger in a time of Distress would say This evil is of the Lord why should we wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6.33 He bids adieu to God and let him find some other Attendants if he please Job's naughty Wife would have prompted him to relieve himself by cursing God and dying together with his sons Job 2.9 But this pious Person was of another spirit sor saith the Text Aaron held his peace His silent Soul seal'd up his lips and the submission of his heart kept his mouth close shut He knew who did it and to undo God's Work so much as by a word or thought no Creature ought to make one attempt The least dislike abetted bids all in Humane reach unto it No when God hath done he will not begin but end together with him and be most humbly 〈…〉 to him He held his peace A 〈…〉 and well worth the writing after 3. 〈…〉 next and against this good old Man though under much Infirmity the Almighty dips his Pen in Gaul and Vinegar 1 Sam. 3.11 c. And truly they are sharp and bitter things that are written in the sacred Book against him and his Family with him 'T is not the pruning Branches or lopping off some greater Boughs but 't is the digging up by the very Roots that is insisted on And for his full assurance he must be certified once and again thereof Chap. 2 3. First by a nameless Prophet and then by his Darling-pupil Samuel The former tells him from the mouth of God that The days come that I will cut off thine arm and the arm of thy father's house and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever Chap. 2.31 32. with much more terrible Tydings besides this And the latter That God would perform against Eli all things which he had spoken concerning his house and that he would judge it for ever Chap. 3.13 c. with other Threats like those Well now how doth this aged Father entertain the doleful News Doth he dispatch the Messenger that brought such unwelcome Tydings Or so much as wish unto him Micaiah's Doom from wicked Ahab To be clapt in goal and be fed with bread and water of affliction Doth he curse his harder Fates whereby he was chained unto such unavoidable Misery and like the Desperate * Qui manu sanguine suo repleta in aeâ—a 〈◊〉 dixit Vicisti Galilaee Theed Hist 4.25 Julian go off the Earth with bidding a Defiance to the God of Heaven As much unlike those Tempers as Heaven is unto Hell 'T is taken by him without the least Complaint and without so much as any Token of Regret If you feel his Pulse there 's nothing of a Feavour on him The very Attendants of Impatience are driven into Exile by him Hear his own words It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Verse 18. As who should say All are his own and he may therewithal and ought to do what is best pleasing to himself Who are we entire Dependants on him to call him to account about his matters God past a Sentence that seem'd hard indeed but this good Man approves it Here was Contentment unto admiration Perhaps you 'll say But Judgment was not executed yet onely threatned Right else 't would have been too late to have enquired how he took the Tydings when he was not But the double Assurance that a Besom of Destruction was ready to sweep him and by no means to be prevented by him was enough to speak as Men to strike a terrour of Distraction on him But yet when others who are meer Mortals might have proved like a tempestuous Sea we find with him the profoundest Calm Oh! what a Pattern for our Imitation 4. David is Fourth And how doth he acquit himself when the provoked Majesty of Heaven strikes even to death that Child he so much laboured to preserve in life While it was yet alive saith he I fasted and wept for I said Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live But now he is dead wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12.22 23. If you reflect upon the beginning of this Chapter and bring down your eyes unto these Verses read you will find this Judgment on his Child was but on link of that long Chain prepared for him by the Prophet Nathan from the mouth of God and when a single link of any Chain is touching of us it shews the rest are drawing after and that the whole will quickly reach us Besides this Punishment also had those Sins that were the Parents of it engraven in such Capital Letters upon its Forehead that though the Prophet brought him a Pardon sealed for his own Life the way of bringing him foul Transgressions into fresh remembrance could not but create as fresh both blushings startlings and convulsions in his Conscience for such great Miscarriages Moreover the Child we speak of was very dear unto him witness his deep Humiliation on behalf thereof in Fasting Prayer and lying on the Earth all night Verse 16 17. in spite of the Importunity of his Counsellors unto the contrary if possible to have gotten a Reprieve at least from Heaven for it And lastly his Servants were afraid to impart the Tydings of the Child's Death to him for
them Only 't is requisite that we should retrieve our former thoughts upon the words and with this short Improvement Thou Lord didst it seemeth to make the holy Prophet after this manner to address himself to God O Lord I still'd my Soul and stopt my Mouth under my doleful Case because no Luck or Chance without me none Evil Accident on me none Inadvertency or Presumption in me no Lusts of Men or Rage of Devils against me was the Prime Cause of my Calamity Whatsoever Mischief mine Enemies or my sinful Self might be instrumental in unto me 't was only as thy Justice and thy Goodness gave Commission or Permission thereunto Whence mine Impatience were nothing else but Quarelling at thy Providence Therefore was I silent both as to Words and Thoughts too Because Thou Lord didst it 1. Now the First-Born of this Argument shews it thus Thou Lord didst it Thou whose we are All and Every of us the very Work of thine own Hands We are the Clay and thou our Potter Esay 64.8 And who can justly take offence at thee Ye are not your own 1 Cor. 6.19 We are the Lords Rom. 14.8 for doing as thou pleasest with thine own Mat. 20.15 If the Potter make one Vessel of siner Earth than he doth another and appointeth this for the common service of the Kitchin when that is to be set up in the Closet where is the reason to complain Nay if one or more or many of them be broken into Potsherds by him is he not without controul for that Altho Himself be not yet They are his own But we are much more God's to be dealt with by him as it seemeth good unto him So if the Husbandman will put one Parcel of his Sheep into rich Pastures when the rest can hardly live upon the barren Common and fatten some of his working Cattel with Food and Rest for Weeks and Months together whilst constant Labour and coarser Provender make others leaner than a Rake as we say who shall call him to account for this Are they not his own But we have no such property in what is called Ours as the Almighty hath in us In truth we are but Stewards He Absolute Lord. We are All the Highest in the World responsible unto God but God to None Then at what rate soever it pleaseth him to deal with us tho he afflict us sorely in our Person Relations or Estate our Duty is to say We must be dumb because thou Lord didst it 2. Thou Lord didst it Who canst do whatsoever thou wilt do and none can hinder thee Thy whole pleasure shall be effected in Heaven Gen. 18.14 Is any thing too hard for God and Earth the Seas and all deep places nor is there any thing too hard for thee Psal 135.6 And Lord if thou sendest one Affliction on me it might have been an hundred Hast thou withdrawn one choicest Mercy why is there any left Say that the comfort of our Life were gone why hath not our Life it self taken wing and flown away together with it Should we say Nay would that have prevented it Or was there Power enough or Craft at least with us to have put a Bar to Who is so great a Fool as to entertain such Thoughts Let God once speak the word 't is instantly done Ezek. 12.25 If he command Estate or Health or Liberty or Friends away if he require our Soul can we compel perswade or intreat the longer stay of any of them Admit it then that it may go hard with us in some respects why is it better wherefore not bad or at the very worst in all He that hath only given a gentle lash upon our Hand could have cut off our Head or stabb'd us at the Heart if that had been his mind How easie were it for Almighty Power so to do And is not God thus furnished Wherefore well might the holy Psalmist say in his distress and the very best of us say after him upon the like occasion I was dumb I open'd not my mouth because thou Lord didst it 3. Thou Lord didst it Thou hast seen it meet to take suppose One Mercy from us but yet hast left us Many Nay hast bestowed Hundreds Thousands on us For thy compassions never fail but are new every morning Lam. 3.23 And thou dost Encompass them that truly trust in thee with mercy Psal 32.10 When we with grief remember what a Blessing we have lost shall we forget the while those many others which we still injoy What Favours much above all reckoning dost thou O Lord afford for Soul and Body too Unto our selves and Friends likewise If we be real Christians we then must be Disciples to the Psalmist and say our Lesson that he teacheth How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God How great is the sum of them If I should count them they are more in number than the sand Psal 139.17 18. That only one which is worth ten thousand others the Gift of thy blessed Son to die for our offences rise for our justification and at thy right-hand to live for making intercession for us that we may have Pardon Pity Support and Comfort under all our Pressures What an Invaluable Mercy is it We have God's sure Promise That he will never leave nor forsake his People Heb. 13.5 till he hath brought them through the Wilderness of this World in safety to the heavenly Canaan God gave his Son unto this very purpose And as Joshua who was the Type of Jesus led the Carnal Israel into the Promised Land Below so Jesus by him typified will certainly conduct the Spiritual Israel into that Above Oh Ravishing Blessing And the very Quintessence of all Blessings Able to make a Pious Soul Rejoyce in spite of Sorrow and to triumph in its Tribulations To be sure it will and must have influence on him in his Sufferings to say with David Lord I am dumb because thou didst it 4. Thou Lord didst it Who notwithstanding hast made it better with us much better than with many others much our betters Imagine some of us have lost a fair Estate there are those good People who with their Estate have lost their Health too Say thou art sick why such a Friend or Neighbour or Acquaintance at the least is sick and lame withal and some poor Souls with Poverty into the bargain Admit that thou hast parted with One dear Relation Many are they that have lost Many such and some All. If Death hath snatch'd away one Child from thee there are those that have none left them now tho time was they had many Hath the Just Providence removed an Affectionate Mother from thee There are not a few whom it hath bereaved of such a Father And several that it hath made Orphans destitute both of Father and of Mother too If a Good Man's Help-meet be gone there are Pious Women that have had their Head taken from them Whoever thou art that truly fearest God
As for thy Prayers how can they be Frustrate either to the Deceased or unto thyself Surviving If all things work together for good to them that love God this providence also must do so Suppose thee such And then to pass by lesser matters Thy Friend is not properly Gone away only Gone before a little Nor are Requests denyed because not answered as we expected God hath a better way to grant them in when he doth not give them to us our way Our dearest Lord was heard in that he feared altho he dyed the Death against which he so earnestly prayed Heb. 5.7 Obj. 3. There are those also with whom this Language is to be found I have lost at once my dearest Friend a comfortable Estate nay my Subsistance and Support How should I bound my Lamentation Ans Being taking for a Person fearing God thou deservest the Reproof that was given St. Peter by our Saviour O thou of little faith wherefore dost thou fear Doth man live by bread alone and not by every word that goeth out of the mouth of God Matt. 4.4 whose is the world and the fulness thereof who feeds the fowls and cloaths the lillies And art thou less to God than they But there is worse than this at bottom of this Complaint The guile and fraud herein is plain to Man much more to God It is not the Friend but what was His it seems thou dost Bewail the loss of But to spare thee there Who is it bids us Take no thought for our life no nor for our body Matth. 6.25 Let not Anxiety seize us either for food or raiment For if our Souls be now as they should be in Heaven our Bodies will make good shift enough on Earth never fear it Our Gracious Lord who cannot deceive us bids us Seek God's kingdom and his righteousness above all things else and he hath pass'd his Word and is both able and willing to make it good that all things necessary shall be added to us Verse 33. thrown in as Thread and Paper at the Grocers without distracting Cares about them Nature is contented with a little And Satisfaction Peace and Quiet with our Portion is never attained by an Addition to but a Substraction from our fond Desires I need not send these People to that Cloud of Witnesses recorded in the Book of God who in their greatest wants could cast their care on Him and found supply enough in him That blessed Name whereby we all are called although he made the World and had it wholly at his Command and Beck was notwithstanding pleased well enough when he had not where to lay his head Mat. 8.20 But the Morals of a very Heathen will cry shame on such a Christian Thence you shall often hear much to the purpose * Dici potest de Divitijs quod in Medicum gloriosum dictumest tuum remedium morbum gravorem facit Plut. de Cupid divit Is maxime divitije affluit qui minime indiget Sen. de Pauper Non in Paupertate vitium sed in Paupere c. Id. de Remed fort of contemning Wealth and being content with a mean Estate What danger 's there and what safety here and therefore how far from being repined at are lower Circumstances in the World The Divine Oracle assures us That Godliness with Contentment is great gain And if we be Godly whatever Portion God shall allot unto us that will certainly serve and ought to please us And so this Storm is calm'd Obj. 4. The Comfort of my Life is gone say others What Counsel Support Refreshment and Encouragement was I wont to have from the true Sympathy of ANOTHER SELF But all is vanish'd and gone for ever And who can bear it Ans And is' t no Comfort that thou sometimes hadst such a Comfort and didst so long injoy it Methinks thy cheerful Thanks for that should some-what check thy doleful Moanes for this But to deal more plainly Is' t so indeed No marvel if a Jealous God would not endure a Rival with him His Kindness he is liberal of unto his People but his glory he 'll not give unto any other Esa 42.8 We often lose our Mercies because we dote so much on them as to have God too little in our Thoughts by reason of them And should he like that when Reason and Religion tell us the Creator should have the Throne within our Hearts the Foot-stool serves the Creature well enough Nay this is real kindness to us that God diverts the muddy Streams to make us run to the Crystal Spring When the loving Master will not give the Trencherscraps unto his honest Servant but the while allows him a well-stor'd Larder hath he any cause to take that ill Or if an affectionate Husband liketh not to have his Pocket pick'd whilst he gives his Wife the Keys to take out Gold and Silver at her own discretion hath she cause to make Complaint for this No doubt but every good Man will say to God with David All my springs are in thee Ps 87.7 And with the Apostle to our Saviour Whither shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life John 6.68 Now such a Providence calls aloud upon him to hasten to his Fountain and his Store-house Indeed suppose a Saint in this distress had not a God to go to or were he bar'd access unto his Presence when his desired Comfort were gone for ever there might I grant be a little pardon for his Impatience But blessed be the Lord His Eyes are ever looking after him His Ears stand always open to him His Hands are stretched out continually for him and His Heart never without yearnings towards him and surely this is ample Compensation for and abundant Consolation in the worst Affliction if People will duly apply their Souls to God 'T is that He aims at and urgeth us unto Call upon me in the time of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorise me Psal 50.15 Psal 55.22 Phil. 4.6 1 Pet. 5.7 Cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee Be careful for nothing But cast all your care on God What loss cannot he make up in Specie Puta Deum dicere quid habetis quod de me queri possitis Sen de Pro vid. c. 6. if he please And if he doth not give the Idem the Tantundem is as good To be sure tho Elkanah ask'd his Wife only was not he better than Ten Sons God who is his Peoples Portion in all Distresses is better than Ten thousand Worlds Obj. 5. But 't was my woful Folly or else mine Evils had not come upon me That Loss This Sickness The Other bad Accident had never happen'd to me if becoming Frudence had been my Conduct Such Means would have prevented all my Misery Now Woe is me for my hard Hap Ans Remember first That Hap was certainly God's Hand For Fortune Luck and Chance Sed te nos facimus Fortuna Deam Coeloque
and if we will be good Souldiers must we not follow and be like unto our Leader O how unlikre him do we acquit our selves who court this World which he so scorn'd and trampled on and pamper the Body which he made drudge of to the Soul and in God's service Is' t probable at this rate when Poverty Sickness Persecution or Death assault and how near any of them may be to us who can tell we should be dumb and open not our mouth submitting quietly to his Father's Hand as he did constantly At least let 's labour to tread in his Apostle's steps keep under our body as it were by Club-law and bring it into subjection 1 Cor. 9.27 that the vain Fancies and sond Appetites there may be restrain'd and curb'd and our Souls may fasten and abide on what will fully satisfie them and never can be rifled from them Direct 3. Lay not thy treasure up on earth but in the heavens Matth. 6.19 Excellent Counsel of our blessed Lord For where the Treasure is there will the Heart i. the Man himself be also And if a Man hath once his Heart viz. his Love Delight Desire and Hopes as high as Heaven with God and Jesus Christ above he can't be so concern'd with any Disaster here below as to be disorder'd greatly by the same As he that looketh down from some high Steeple sees every thing beneath him but as a small and little matter so Earthly Good and Bad must necessarily seem to one whose Conversation is in Heaven 'T is certain that there are those Mountains in the World whose tops will be serene and clear and calm when Thunder Storms and Lightning threaten to mix Heaven and Earth together at the lower parts thereof Could we take off our Affection from things Below to set and always keep them upon what 's Above how should we live as in a constant Sun-shine Nihil erus sentit in nervo cum animus in caelo est Tert. ad Mart. cap. 2. When Pestilence Famine Sword should range the Earth when Poverty Sickness Death should knock at our own Doors how little would the Disturbance be unto us Poor Archimedes was so intent upon his Mathematical Studies that he knew not when his City was storm'd and taken And verily as Christian that gets his Heart full bent towards Heaven will find the distracting Hurries of the Earth slip over him with but little observation by him The holy Apostle Paul was certified by the Holy Ghost in every City he pass'd through that bonds and afflictions waited for him at Jerusakm and yet he faith none of those things so much as moved him Acts 20.24 The Joy in finishing his Course and the Reward after it made even his life it self tho likely to be lost but a little matter with him We are very sure that Moses refused being a King's Grandson and chose rather an afflicted state with the People of God than sinful Pleasures in a Prince's Court valuing the Reproach for Christ as a Better Estate than the Exchequer of Egypt Heb 11.24 25 26. But what was that which betrayed so wise and good a Man into such a Paradox in the World's Opinion Why let them think so still but his Judgment was truly Orthodox notwithstanding For he had respect unto the recompence of reward Verse 26 fin And sure to be Heir apparent unto the Crown of Egypt deserves not to be compared with an undoubted Title to God's Kingdom And the Delights in Heaven are so surpassing that all Earthly Joys are not insipid only but nauseous fulsome Carrion and Poison to them Which having his Heart affected with by a Believing Prospect thereof what was 't to him to throw off the Courtier and take up the Clown Nay worse To skulk and hide a while for scaping of those Blood-hounds that were hunting after him And at the last to flee his Country and abide those many dangers and distresses that attend a Banish'd Outlaw Seculi hujus quem non decipit prosperit as non frangit adversit as S. Aug. de verb. Dom. Serm. 42. All that the Earth could do against him you see how little 't was unto him because his Treasure was in Heaven he had respect to the recompence of reward Were Christians heartily making after him although they should not fully overtake him how light and easie would their many great and heavy Burdens lye upon them To conclude The Author and Finisher of our Faith for the Joy above that was set before him endured the pain and despised the shame of the Bloody Cross whereon he suffer'd Heb. 12.2 And would the Christian duly look to Christ he surely would be like him much more than he is Direct 4. Lastly Let Sin be more uneasie and be sure thy Sufferings then will be easier far Wert thou worse able to endure Corruptions thou would'st be better to abide Afflictions When once Iniquity is our greatest Burden all others will be little felt The very reason why Distresses sometimes triumph is because we have not made a Conquest over our Transgressions They are these that bring Tribulations to us and make them sit more heavy on us when they are come Guilt is a most heavy Load to an Awarkened Mind although Another's Eye should not be able to espy so much as a light Feather on its back But the weight must needs be much increased when Actual Punishment cleaveth unto Guilt Whether the good Woman of Zarephath's words spoken to the Prophet Art thou come to call may Sins to remembrance and to slay my Son 1 King 17.18 do not imply that a fresh cognizance took by Conscience of her faultiness towards God had imbittered the Affliction to her tho it seem probable I will not determine But it is very plain that This added Chains as I may call them to the Confinement of Joseph's Brethren For their open Confession is We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear THEREFORE IS THIS DISTRESS COME VPON VS Gen. 42.21 Whence it must follow would we be more Innocent we should be less Unhappy most certainly our Misery would pinch and gall us less What made our blessed Lord so Easy Patient and Submissive in those worst of Evils upon him Verily because He had the best of Souls within Him No Sin had ever thouched it and how should Sorrow fetch Blood from it O let us grow in Grace and then our bitter Cup shall have no Dregs to touch our Lips Those are reserved for the Graceless Ones to wring them out and drink them up Ps 75.8 But thriving Christians tho' they must have Burthens shall not sink under them Such wait upon the Lord to purpose and so renew their strength They are enabled to walk without fainting and run and not be weary Isa 40.31 Wherefore abound ye in the work of God and your labour will not be in vain 1 Cor. 15.58 Not only by a more diligent Attendance on all Ordinances but especially about increasing Faith inslaming Love confirming Hope perfecting Patience and setting and keeping the whole Heart on Heaven This would advance the Spirit to its due Soveraignty and reduce the Flesh to just Subjection And what can bring Disorders then This will draw back Sin 's Fuel and then its Fire goeth out of itself But the neglect hereof is throwing off our Armour instead of girding it close about us and then we are easily Shot ands fall Meer Nature with all the strength that Reason brings it proves a weak Creature at the last however But Grace and when like David waxing stronger and stronger overcomes all Difficulties in the way to Glory And tho' a Pharoah be behind a Sea before and a Wilderness on both sides it will bear up the Soul until it see the Salvation of its God The Sum of all my Advice is this 1. Make sure of Saving Grace and being Right at Heart 2. Be not indulgent to the Flesh nor fond upon thy Earthly Tabernacle 3. Lay not thy Treasure up on Earth but in the Heavens and let thy Heart be with it there 4. Lastly Let Sin be more Uneasie to thee and thy Sufferings will be easier far Grow but in Grace and thou shalt Out-grow all Grief that can possibly seize thee here For Then thou wilt be the fullest Eccho to the Psalmist I was dumb I opened not my mouth because c. FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by J. Salusbury at the Rising-Sun over-against the Royal-Exchange in Coruhill THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ by William Bates D. D. The Changeableness of this World with reflect to Nations Families and particular Persons with a Practieal Application thereâ—f to the various Conditions of this Mortal Life by Timothy Rogers M. A. A Mirror for Athiests being some Passages of the Life and Death of the Right Honourable John Earl of Rochester written by his own Direction on his Death-bed by Gilbert Burnet Lord Ep. of Sarum An end of Doctrinal Controversies which have lately troubled the Churches by Richard Baxter The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits fully evinced by unquestionable Histories of Apparitions and Witchcrafts Voices proving the Immortality of Souls by Richard Baxter The Protestant Religion truly Stated and Justified by the late reverend Mr. Richard Baxter prepared for the Press sometime before his Death Whereunto is added some account of the learned Author by Mr. Daniel Willams and Mr. Matthew Sylvester The Christian's Coverse with God or the Insufficiency of Haman-friendship and the Improvements of Solitude in Converse with God with some of the Author's breathings after him by Richard Baxter Recemmended to the Readers serious Thoughts when at the House of Mourning and in Retirement by Mr. Matthew Sylvester The Mourners Memorial in two Sermons on the Death of the truly Pious Mrs. Susannah Soame with some account of her Life and Death by Timothy Wright and Robert Fleming
children so the Lord doth them that fear him For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but dust Parents are wont to be most tender to their weak and sickly Ones others can make a better shift And shall not he that puts these Bowels into them towards theirs have them much more within himself to His What tho' a Mother Should forget her sucking babe Esa 49.15 and such a Worse-thing-than-a-Brute is found sometimes in Humane shape God will not cannot do so We read that suffering Saints are said to Glory in tribulations And Glorying is no sign of Grieving and Repining How should impatient Lamentations be able then to keep their Ground When light afflictions and for a moment work a far more exceeding and external weight of glory This is the 1st Argument And the 2d will prove like unto it Arg. 2. Distresses should not raise great Storms and Tempests in the pious Soul because our First and second Birth do both dispose us to them As we are Men and Christians they are the Lot appointed for us And ought we not and therefore to be quiet under them How great 's the Folly to be so disturbed at what is not to be avoided Man now is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward as we heard at first was spoken by Holy Job And all Men know neither Art nor Force can make the Flames descend but they are always mounting upward That is the Nature of them Wherefore to be Impatient under Trouble is to be quarreling with the Almighty Majesty by whom a Humane Body and a Rational Soul is bestowed on us And so there is Ingratitude and Rebellion link'd together Thus to requite him that brought them out of nothing by meer Bounty and by the same hath made them capable of injoying all things and the best of all His blessed self for ever if they will be ruled by him And for the second Birth it commonly hath the throws and pangs of a travelling Woman and often worser far General Experience makes a proof of this However in growing up unto Maturity there is no escaping of Adversity Through much tribulation saith St. Paul we must enter the kingdom of God We must 't is necessarily and unavoidably so Heaven is on high and it is hard to climb an Hill a steep and long one especially The Lungs will labour Feet will faulter and Bones will ake in doing it Were there no Difficulty in our way to Glory and we met no Troubles in our Travel thither we might indeed be called and accounted Christians but how we should be really so I mean Legitimate Children unto God is hard to manifest and may very well be doubted from the holy Apostle's words who saith Heb. 12.5 6 7 c. My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him For whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom his father chastneth not But if ye are without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are you bastards and not sons Let now a distressed Christian seriously ponder this and let him not stagger through Vnbelief and 't is not possible for Discontent to keep its post any longer in his Heart Let him be strong in Faith and this will turn his Crosses into Crowns and make what 's bitter to the outward relish sweetly to the inward Man Now if ever the Apostle's words will be certainly verified with the upright tho' afflicted Person We faint not but tho' our outward man should perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 Earth's Darlings and who have their portion only in this life cannot avoid a world of Miseries and shall Heaven's Off-spring be disorder'd at abiding what both Grace and Nature hath prepared for them Especially since Truth it self hath plainly told them That their Affliction is but a certain Token of God's Affection Now surely there is no reason for Repining but occasion rather of Rejoycing Arg. 3. Impatience is so far from doing service to us in our Sufferings that it makes our Case a great deal worser than it was before and bringeth many and very evil Inconveniences with it Imagine that under a sore Distress we should make hoarse our throat with crys Impatientes non efficiunt ut a malis eruantur sed ut mala gravior a patiantur S. Aug. de Patient cap. 2. and drown our bed with tears and crack our brain with cares and break our heart with sighs and groans what would the Upshot be of all this pitiful Passion Would such a Course so void of Reason and Religion prove an effectual Relief unto us Would the loss of Livelihood be hereby repaired A bodily Sickness be recovered The Life of a deceased Friend again restored Or any Calamity whatever be removed or so much as eased Alas poor silly Creatures as we are what do we else by such a Procedure but plainly imitate the folly of the Fly when 't is intangled in the Spider's Web She makes a Noise and is greatly Fluttering and hampers herself thereby the faster in that Net and becomes a sooner Prey to him that spread it Methinks we are resembled fitly by the corded Beast whose head the Axe and heart the Butcher's Knife hath struck which the more it struggles silly Wretch the faster letteth out its lood and life therewith together Such is the natural Issue of Mens Impatience They look for peace and there is no good for a time of healing and behold trouble The Benefit which they promise proves a Dammage to them Undoubtedly a manifold Mischief flows from hence How can the Offices of Love and Service be discharged as they ought to be unto Relations by a Mind disordered and unhing'd by this Distemper Expect as soon a Man that hath a Palsie or is Bedrid should fetch you Food or make your Fire Beside it so affects the Body that sometimes Death itself is quickly call'd unto it always the Seeds thereof in lingring Sicknesses are deeply rooted in it And how untuned the Soul must necessarily be and bar'd its acting with spiritual life and vigour is very easily understood The griefs and cares and fears are apt to usher in Despair but certainly drive out Faith and Hope and Love To conclude he that is thus captivated cannot be capable to pay due Homage to his God How should he as becomes him fear his Threats obey his Precepts trust in his Promises and rejoyce before him with Thanksgiving I will say but this Impatience and Murmuring under the Hand of God is a great Affront unto his blessed Majesty and cannot be well taken by him Nay he hath often set the Marks of his Displeasure on it I will pass by that which * Exod. 16 7 8 c. Numb 14.27 c. Moses once and again hath recorded thereof remembring you only of the Apostle's