Kingdom and forced to fly for his Life yet we see how sweetly they took it These and such like examples should both encourage and quicken our endeavours here 8. We should consider how good it is that we thus bear them hereby we shall please and honour God hereby we shall credit Religion letting the World see that whatever they faney yet we find something in it that is real something that yields us real Support Hereby we shall lay in for our own both present and future sweet Peace and Satisfaction 9. We should consider the Evil of the Contrary as thereby we shall dishonour God gratisy the Devil discredit Religion harden the World in their Mistakes about it break our present Peace and lay in for our future Sorrow which is the best that can come of it 10. We should consider if we are the Persons concerned in this Case Christians indeed then whatever we have lost yet our all is safe the Lord is his Peoples portion their All and so all that he is all that he hath it s all theirs as they need it and as it would be for their Good thus it is and thus it shall be in spite of Sin Earth and Hell for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it I will be their God and the Zeal of the Lord God of Host's shall perform this shall make it good O methinks there is life and soul in this consideration if we know but how to draw it out Other things might be added but I fear least before this I should be thought tedious 3. We must diligently apply our selves to other seasonable Christian Duties So 1. We must give diligence to clear up our special Covenant Interest in God I cannot reasonably think to perswade my Heart to bear such Losses as it should unless I can shew it something that I have or at least may have which is as good or better then that which I have lost and to bare worldly Losses quietly because I have much more of these things left this is not right and the bear having an Interest in God will not be sufficient for my Support unless it be in some measure known to me but if I know that this God whose Name is I am if I can make it out that he is my own God I need not fear then at next word to say all 's my own and then my Work here would be easy 2. We must exercise our selves much in lively believing Meditations on him and our unspeakable Happiness in him there is certainly that in God which doth amply suit our case and which would effectually do our work but we must not expect this in the way of a Charm or that God should work Miracles for us though I have the best Food upon my Table yet it will not nourish or strengthen me unless I open my Mouth take chew and digest it so it is here 3. We must endeavour all we can to maintain constant Communion with God while a Soul enjoys real Communion with God it s well with that Soul and much at one to it whether it enjoys more or less of the Creature a gracious Soul tasts that sweetness in near and intimate Communion with God that while this is enjoy'd it takes little or no notice of what of the World it either hath or wants O it finds Meat and Drink House and Lands Friènds Earth yea and Heaven too in Communion with God! Hereupon there are such ineffably swet Communications of God to the Soul and such mutual endearing Embraces as immediately fill the Soul in each corner of it with unspeakable Satisfaction and Joy but I must add there is yet something in it which is an unutterable Secret such as experimentally know what it is for the Lord to deal familiarly with them this way such will understand what I mean and would not this do our business now What think you 4. We must endeavour to keep up every Grace in good Heart but especially see we nourish and cherish the Grace of Faith and keep that close to its work every Grace hath its proper work and office in the Soul but among all the rest Faith is the great doer and not the least among the bearers of Burthens and in reference to this present Case it will be well or ill with us as our Faith is either lively or languishing 5. We must be much in the search and study of the holy Scriptures the Word of God abounds with precepts promises examples very Applicable to our present Case some little hath been hinted I had thoughts here to have added more but must forbear being sensible I have over done Once more 6. And lastly We must give our selves unto Prayer when we have done our best Satan will be solliciting Evil and distempered Frames will be creeping on us when it s thus we must run to God by earnest and believing Prayer there 's no way like it if ever we bear our Losses graciously it must be by the special help of the Spirit as hath been hinted and though the Lord sometimes in the way of Prerogative or of his soveraign Grace is found of those that seek him not yet the promise is made unto those that ask QUESTION VII How may a christian improve outward Prosperity to God 's Glory and to his own and others Good TO know how to abound is as high and rare an attainment of Grace as to know how to want but though few in comparison do yet some have and therefore we in our advantagious Circumstances may attain to it in the strength of the same Christ Phil. 4.12 13. Now in answer to this Question the scope and drift of which is as I take it to instruct us in this Lesson 1. We must labour to discover and then carefully to avoid those Sins and Temptations which this Estate doth especially expose us to 2. We must labour to get acquainted with and then dilligently and conscienciously to discharge those Duties and exercise those Graces which this Estate doth especially call us to and gives us an advantage for 3. As we would do thus we must carefully observe and follow some Rules and Directions 1. We must labour to discover and then carefully to avoid those Sins and Temptations which this Estate doth especially expose us to And 1. Those which do respect others And so 1. Those which more directly respect God himself such as these unmindfulness forgetfulness of God an alienation of our Hearts and Affections from him a careless neglect of the Duties of his Worship or a formal customary dead and heartless Performance of them O that in these things and the like we did not speak from so much sad experience as we do Again Disobedience and Rebellion if Jesheron be waxed fat the next news we hear of him is that he kicked we must beware of these things and the like 2. Those which do more directly respect our Brethren and do we never in Prosperity meet with a
Temptation and find a Proneness in our Hearts when we are as it were on the Top of the Hill to overlook despise contemn our poor Brethren that are below us in the Valley Job saith He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised of him that is at ease if so we must take heed of that Again Beware of unmercifulness towards them have we a care they do not want our Bowels but especially that we do not hurt their's take we heed that when we are at ease our selves we be not among them who are not greived for the Affliction of others but especially that we add not to their Affliction O beware we of any thing that looks like injury or oppression and as we must thus labour to discover and carefully to avoid those Sins and Temptations which respect to others So 2. Those which do more directly respect our slves and so take heed of Pride this was the Devils Sin and his Ruine and he would have us like him in both and do we not find our Spirits ready to be puffed up on this occasion I dare say they are no ordinary Christians with whom its otherwise Again Take we heed of Security when our Mountain seems to stand strong it s well if our Hearts say not next it shall never be moved take heed of that Again Take we heed of Prodigality an unlawful excessive wastful Spending or spending Wastfulness of the Creature I remember a choise Servant of God one that hath laboured much amongst us once when I was with him in a fit of Sickness taking a Medicine he called for the Spoon back to lick it saying Jesus Christ would have nothing lost in which as I concluded he had reference to his ordering the Fragments to be gathered up after that large and plentiful Feast upon a few Barly-loaves and two or three small Fishes Again Take we heed of Sensuality our Lusts will expect our Prosperity should be a Feast for them they will crave it and the Devil will sollicite for them but these Beggers must be denied we must take heed of sensuality and of worldiness take heed of sinful inordinate pantings after love to use of or delights in the Creature This as to the first General 2. We must labour to get acquainted with and then conscientiously and diligently to discharge those Duties and exercise those Graces which this Estate gives us a special call to and advangage for And 1. Those which more directly respect others And so 1. Those which more immediately respect God himself and so we must own and acknowledge God as the free and gracious author founder and maintainer of our Prosperity and then it naturally follows hence that we be thankful to him for it and here a true Christian hath far the Advantage of another Man and is thereby laid under a stronger Obligation to this Duty for he may see his outward Prosperity his outward Mercies coming from that self same loving Hand and Heart that gave him his dear Christ O how thankful should a Christian be In a mercy that in it self may be but small yet may he see and tast that which is of more worth then a World this is no phanatical Dream but a proved and experienced Truth Again Doth it not also follow that we should love him more dearly Love would and should be paid in its own Coin and by the way observe it if we can but find this that we love God more for our outward Prosperity this would be an infallible sign that it comes from his Love for as one saith this is a certain Rule that which causeth love cometh from love and then see that we grieve more ingenuously for our Sins against him and the consideration of the cursed Ingratitude and Disingenuity that there is in our Sin 's sure this will when the Spirit strikes it home open a Vein to purpose in a gracious Heart Again Let us see we learn to trust in him more stedfastly we have promises and experiences too see we trust him in our Prosperity see we trust in him and not in uncertain riches friends or the like and if he bring us into straits again let us now learn to trust him then trust him for these things if they be good for us however that he will give us that in himself which is infinitely better and so le ts learn to trust him for better things if from his Love he give us Earth will he not much more give us Heaven and all that we need in the way And then le ts see we make him the chief object of our delight and joy Again Let 's see we be more abundant vigorous and chearful in his Service in all acts of Obedience 2. Those which more directly respect our Brethren and so we must see we be humble courtious and affable in our Carriage towards them and that we do heartily pity and compassionate them in their Necessities and Troubles and that we do actually relieve and help them as we have abillity and opportunity remembring that the Lord hath more backs to cloath more bellies to fill more hearts to chear with our Prosperity then our own and as we must thus labour to get acquainted with and then conscientiously and diligently to discharge those Duties and exercise those Graces which a prosperous Estate calls to and gives us advantage for with respect to others So 2. Those which do more immediately respect our selves such as self-denial moderation holy contentation a grave and sober joy and rejoycing weanedness from the World heavenly mindedness and the like But I fear I have enlarged too much and would fain leave a little room for the last thing and so as that I may not streighten others neither So 3. As we would thus improve our outward Prosperity as hath been confusedly hinted we must carefully observe and follow some rules and directions To name five or six 1. We must labour to get throughly convinced of our own Impotency and utter insufficiency to do this of our selves and truly we know e'ne nothing of our selves if we know not this that of our selves without Christ we can do nothing alass we can't bare a Cross no more can we handle a single Comfort as we ought then what shall we do in a State of full Prosperity especially if of any long continuance How certainly it sinks us into security sensuallity worldliness into a neglect of God our Souls Eternity and the like if left to our selves 2. We must see to it that we be Christians indeed that we have a thorough work of Grace wrought in our Hearts there are many Natural carnal Men that know what it is to be in Prosperity what it is to Abound but not one of them knows how to Abound nor can they know any thing of it while they so continue in the right improving of Prosperity there are many spiritual Acts and Motions required as you have heard but this cannot be
heed of doing any thing at any time to cool chill and damp one anothers Graces and holy Affections or of imitating and provoking one anothers Corruptions and we must take heed of doing any thing that may justly grieve and sadden or lay a stumbling-block before one another and then on the other hand it concerns us to take heed that we do not through ignorance infirmity mistakes but above all that we do not through prejudice take offence where it is not justly given 2. We must see we be positively helpful one to another as in the natural Body the several Members are mutually helpful and serviceable one to another so it should be amongst us we must see we be so according to our abilities opportunities and others necessities look what Talents any of us have of estate parts gifts graces experiences or whatever else is improvable for others good we should endeavour to make it as a Common-stock so far as with prudence without pride self-ostentation or stretching the line of our places we lawfully may And 1. We must endeavour to be mutually helpful one to another with respect to the outward Man the outward Conditions and Concerns one of another we must be ready to advise counsel direct assist one another with respect to these Oh base selfishness amongst us is an unnatural thing for lo we be Brethren and Members one of another and then we must also relieve such of them as are in Poverty and Want according to our Abilities and Opportunities yea we must give more freely more largely to such then to others 2. We must especially endeavour to be mutually helpful to one anothers Souls I will humbly adventure to lay down a few things here I will do little more then name them And 1. Such as have a stock of knowledge and spiritual understanding the word of Christ dwelling richly in them should be ready to disperse it among those that want should be ready to instruct such as are more ignorant and raw Col. 3.16 2. It is our duty to be often jogging exciting provoking one another to our Duty when we are any of us growing dull sleepy careless and lukewarm Heb. 10.24 3. When any of us are steping aside or are overtaken with a fault it is our duty to admonish reprove restore such a one in the Spirit of Love and Meekness Lev. 19.17 Gall. 6.1 such a poor distorted Member must be skilfully and tenderly set in joint again 4. When any of our Brethren are sad dejected disconsolate of a wounded and sorrowful Spirit we should endeavour to comfort and strengthen such feeble minded ones in all their Troubles with the Comforts wherewith we have been comforted of the Lord 2 Cor. 1.4 2 Thess 4.18 Chap. 5.14 5. It is our duty to be mutually helpful one to another in the way of Prayer Jam. 5.16 And let the case be what it will Prayer will reach it because it is the way to engage him that can and here none of us can reasonably frame an excuse who have found the way to Heaven for our selves Give me leave to say two Words more 1. All this and more as to Particulars as I doubt not you will hear is our Duty but yet the Lord will take in good Part will graciously accept and reward a sincere desire and endeavour to trade and improve our two Talents where we have no more it is my own case and its likely it may as well be some of yours we may be ready under discouragement to complain alass we can do very little we want Abilities want Opportunities we can do almost nothing well if there be but in us a willing Mind witnessed by sincere Endeavours I think we may take this home with us for our Comfort and Encourgement I do not mean to be idle sloathful and careless but chearfully to fall to work as the Lord shall enable us to wit that we shall be accepted of the Lord according to that which we have and not according to that which we have not we unworthily bely our Lord and Master if we say or think he is austeer the poor Widows mite was not rejected 2. As for such as have much riper Parts every way larger Abilities and fairer Opportunities then we they must improve them but it must be their Care to see they keep within the compass of their Places and Callings and that they no way encroach upon the Ministerial Office which the Lord hath paled in by it self this was very dangerous and the way to spoil all a Person may be very useful in a civil Society in a Kingdom or Commonwealth while he keeps in his proper Post but if he will needs be steping up into the Throne he spoils all but I do think none of us may need this Caution And then as Moses said to his Servant Joshua Numb 11.29 Would God that all the Lord's people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them so this I dare say for our Men of God that it would be no Eye-sore to them but on the contrary the joy and rejoycing of their Hearts to see any in their Flock striving if by any means they might come to be as wise and knowing in the great Mysteries of Religion and every way as Gracious as themselves and then endeavouring to make what they have according to the Rules of Christian Prudence and Sobriety as a Common-stock to the glory of God the benefit of their brethrens Souls and the furtherance of their own Salvation in the day of the Lord Jesus QUESTION IX How must we Carry towards them that are without BY them that are without I here understand such who though they are within the Pale of the visible Church yet are out of Christ and in their Hearts and Lives strangers to the life and power of that Christianity which they some way outwardly profess and then I look upon the inward frame and temper of our Spirits as comprehended in this Case as well as our outward Carriage and Behaviour So 1. We must see that we do heartily tenderly pity and compassionate this their sad Case a sadder then which I think I may say is scarce to be found on this side Hell though indeed the Case of some of them is much more sad then that of others their Persons and Case call for pity at our hands they are our fellow Creatures of Adam's race and not of the tribe of Apostate Angels Again They are Men and Women upon Earth and not among damned Spirits in Hell their Case is very deplorable and such as once was our own and though it be not so now yet also upon that account it may the rather be expected from us because we now pretend at least to know better then others do what God's Favour and his Wrath what Heaven and Hell what Salvation and Damnation mean it is a thing both greatly sad and strange if we do not pity them did we see any of them hanging by
so a Father when he strikes as well as when he stroaks What is his Design in this Affliction Assuredly he intends me Good and not Evil by this means he would set my Heart more against Sin causing me to taste of its Bitterness And wean me more from the Creature shewing me its vanity and insufficiency for my Happiness and so draw up my Affections more to himself who is the only Soul-satisfying good this is to mortisy and spiritualize me to make me place my Happiness in God and fetch my Comfort from him and those eternal Joys with him in a word to turn me from Sin to God to raise me from Earth to Heaven And is not all this Good Is not that good Physick which is a means to cure such mortal Distempers and he a good Physician who doth prescribe and give it though in it self it be a bitter Potion But farther as his Design is Gracious in sending this Affliction so his Providence exercised about it is very Compassionate this stroke might have come with many more sad and aggravating Circumstances he might have given me a larger Dose but like a wise and merciful Phycian he considereth my Strength or he might have left me to my self to have sunk under this heavy Pressure But behold underneath is his supporting Arm he helps to bear the Burthen himself lays on And when is it so well with me when have I so much of God when do I enjoy such sweet incomes from the Spirit as then when all things look black and dark about me in the World It s ordinarily God's use to know me my felicity to enjoy him most in the time of my greatest Adversity O therefore let me kiss that Rod which is bound up with so much love 6thly God even my God is all sufficient a few serious Thoughts of this may tend much to my Satisfaction and Comfort He who is the only self sufficient independent Being is his Peoples Potion and enough for them all O how happy do ten thousand times ten thousand of his Saints justly deem themselves in him And is he not enough for me Why what 's the matter Sure either I do not know him or else my interest in him is doubtful or I am inconsiderate not truly weighing my Happiness in him Ah what a poor Creature should I be had nothing but a God left me Why what would I have more To have God is as much as to have God and all the World have I him O then I have all in him I am ready to cry out wo is me for I am broken with a grievous breach this day Ah my loss how great it is I have lost a loving tender hearted careful Father one that had not only the name and relation but the heart and bowels of a Father as well How solicitous he was for my Welfare What care he took for my temporal Welfare but especially how concerned he was for my Soul O! Methinks I have sometimes seen even his very Heart in his Prayers Counsels Warnings Reproofs yea and Corrections too but now I am at once deprived of all O sad loss Why true my loss is very Great it pincheth sore it is my Duty to be sensible of it and much affected with it But hold what is become of my God of my heavenly Father He is yet alive and behold he lives for evermore Let it be with me here as it was with Jacob of Old when he was convinced that his Son Joseph was alive the good old Man his Spirit revived within him and so let mine upon this Consideration and let me say with him it is enough Is it not he that hath cared for me all this while and may I not humbly and confidently rely upon him still Is he not the same he was Nay is he not in a more especial manner the helper of the Fatherless What though this instrument and the other be removed out of the way He never wants Instruments to do his Work he can either make use of new Ones or do his Work without them when his People are in Distress if he see it good he can and will create Deliverance for them and that 's a Work done without a Tool I but what will become of that poor Family What will become of poor Relations Why by Faith and Prayer let me commit them all to the same God who will look after and provide for them too I have great Incouragement thus to do whether I look at him or them the little knowledge I have of him may assure me that they cannot be in better Hands He wants neither Wisdom Power nor Will to do them good under his Fatherly care and custody they are sure to want no good Thing which is consistent with his Love to bestow and their real Benefit to enjoy and are secured here from all real and destructive Evils It seems on purpose to strengthen the Faith and revive the Souls of his poor Creatures under such Tryals that he hath taken upon him those sweet relative Titles of a Father a Husband Again If I look at them I have farther Incouragement having a comfortable Assurance of the special covenant Interest that the most of them have in this God and a good Hope concerning the rest now let God alone he loves and will take care of his Children Let me not at once both grieve and dishonour him and torment my self with my Distrust But farther the loss is Publick O my Father the Chariots of England and the Horse men thereof God's poor Church hath lost a judicious faithful and painful Minister how many poor Souls that may want him How will that poor Place where he lived want him Well though here is a wide gap made yet sure such a God can fill and stop it up which of the Prophets live for ever God that sends his Servants appoints them their Work and when they have done that they must away and others come in their room He will not have all his Work done by one Minister or in one Generation but by a Succession of such in his Church to the end of the World so this precious Servant of his having acted his Part is gone down to make way for such as the Lord shall send having dispatched the Work given him to do he is gone to his Great Lord and Master to receive an ample Reward And still God's Church while upheld that is so long as the World stands shall be provided for 7thly The inconceivable Happiness his Soul enjoyeth the Soul of Man is a spiritual immortal Substance and Jesus Christ hath purchased eternal Life for all true Believers and firmly entituled it upon them in the Gospel So that their Souls no sooner depart this Life but immediately they are with him It is my great Sin and Misery both that my belief of such great and comfortable Truths as these is no more firm and stable And what a shame it is that I should be so wavering
it Did I so firmly believe this great Truth as I ought to do it would infallibly help me with more comfort and confidence to resign my own Soul and the Souls of departing Friends into the hands of a dear Redeemer who though he was dead yet is a live and lives for ever more therefore let me frequently and seriously think of those firm substantial Grounds which I have for my belief of this grand Article of the Christian Faith and with abhorrence reject any vain and trifling Cavils or Objections which may by any means be raised in me about it seeing the Power of the omnipotent God is here engaged by word of Promise and having once sufficiently cleared up the Matter to my Judgment let me bring it near and close unto my Heart and take to my self the comfort of it and let the thoughts hereof keep me from sinking under this heavy smarting Affliction while with weeping Eyes I am peeping into his Grave let Faith the Eye of the Soul which can see afar off have a clear and fixed view of the Resurrection 9thly My case is not singular none other Affliction hath befallen me then what is common unto Men the daily Experience of the World testifieth that it s no rare thing for Children to see your dear Parents head 's laid in the Dust And this if soberly weighed might do something towards the mitigation of my present Trouble when any Affliction befals a Man which is strange unheard of this consideration puts a signal Acerbity into it touches the very quick as it may possibly point at some signal Guilt in the Person on whom it is inflicted or may be a token of God's signal Displeasure against him but God be thanked this is not my Case I am ready in a fit of peevish unruly Passion to cry out would God I had dwelt in perpetual silence Or would God I had never lived to see this sad and doleful day Hath this Affliction of mine its paralel Is there any Sorrow like unto mine But hold a little what meaneth this great Heat Is not this strange Language to come from the Mouth of such a one as I profess my self to be Would not sober Reason utterly condemn it I am not the first by Millions that have been in this Case how many if I consider that in a short time I may reckon up and such as upon sundry Accounts might have promised themselves an exemption from this tryal of Affliction before me and yet it came upon them and yet with such aggravating Circumstances as mine doth not many have been snatched away suddenly and such as they had just cause to fear was in their natural unregenerate Estate But I have had a fair time of warning to prepare my self and as to his good Estate God-ward better assurance I could not well desire and what sayest thou How wouldest thou have escaped the stroke Why I would have gone first By the way I doubt my desires after Heaven are not rightly grounded I fear I do not truly desire Heaven and so am not like to come there ever the sooner for such desires if it be only or chiefly that I may be eased of or escape and avoid Afflictions here was I the most miserable Creature in the World yet the thoughts of being rid of Corruption and Temptation thus freed from Sin this should make Heaven more desirable to me then the being eased of all my miseries here But to return was not he more fit for Heaven by far than I more ripe for Glory more meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in light And is it not a thing very fitting and equal that he should go first Since he hath been so hard at work and so quick in the dispatch of it why should I think much that the Lord should give this his laborious Servant a writ of ease admitting him into his rest before such an idle lazay loiterer as I Your young Scholars who have made some good proficiency in Learning at your Country Schools are sent to the University But what should dull raw School boy's do there They must be whipt and whipt again before they will learn to say their Lessons just so it s here The Lord Jesus Christ the great Doctor of his Church hath kept him a considerable time at his School here on Earth and very teachable he was he had learnt to take out his Lesson exceeding well few so good at it as he he had learnt Christ indeed and so being ripe he is gone to take his Degrees in the University of Heaven Whereas such a dull blockish sot as I such a loiterer who love my ease and my play better then my book am like to have many a frown and many a blow many a whiping bout before I can follow him or come where he is if ever I come there if I hold on this idle lazy rate Thousands will get the start of me will get to Heaven before me while I lie loitering behind if I do not in the end fall short of it why true I must grant that he was more fit for Heaven then I and that God's ways are equal in taking them first who are most speedy in their Preparations But O that he would have spared him a little longer Would he but have lengthned out his Life one Year more Yea how thankful would I have been for one Month or one Week more But one Day one Hour will not be granted He is gone so that I must never see his Face more here in the land of the living the dark and silent Grave hath inclosed and shut him in and that he should be snatched away so hastily and at a time when I could so ill have parted with him is not this sad Do I not well if not to be angry yet to grieve to purpose Is not this a sufficient Apology for me was my Heart more imbittered with grief by many degrees then it is let me here a little expostulate the case with my self And I must needs say this that fretful Anger and immoderate Grief are each of them both highly sinful and unreasonable I beg nay I command a true and sober Answer to these few Queries hath not the Lord indulged me with him a considerable time and that since I was in a capacity to have improved him Methinks so many years Mercy of this Nature should seem something to me who would now be so glad of one Day have I not had many and many an opportunity of geting good by him which I have carelesly let slip Such a time he was preaching to me and such a time he was praying with me and many a time he hath been privately at work for my good reproving exorting directing and comforting me both by word of mouth and writing how fain would he have had me been some body for a Christian But alass I have not known the day of my visitation O that I had been wise in time I may well
give my self leave to grieve for my folly here in bitterness of Spirit And farther had I not good reason to expect and a fair time of warning to prepare for that which is now come upon me The comman fate of Mankind more by far dying before his Age then exceeding it should not this have put me in mind of his approaching change Again the weakness of his Body the many Distempers that have been almost continually preying upon him was not this a fair item Hath not his Body for several Years been like a poor old crazy building that must be underpropt again and again to keep it from falling in How many supporters that poor tottering Cottage of his hath continually required to make it a tollerable dwelling for his Soul Is it not a wonder that so tender neat and delicate an inhabitant hath not forsaken it before now Many a time he hath been at the Graves mouth and seemed to have as good as one Foot in when yet the Lord hath said return and shall I yet have a face to say he was snatched away hastily as if the Lord had taken me at an advantage and urge this as an excuse for my Impatience This is shameful Impudence indeed And farther how many plain hints I have had from his own Mouth How oft hath he been droping words of that nature lest after all when the time of his departure came I should be surprized and so taken unprovided So that its evident the Lord hath been no way a-wanting to me here and let me have a care how I reflect upon his Wisdom in the ordering of this sad Providence as to the circumstance of time He doth all things well and in their proper Season To preposterate and act disorderly belongs to such as I but is below a Being so infinitely Perfect as God's is speak out is it a fitting thing that I should be his Counceller That my Folly should correct his infinite Wisdom Look back to hints of this nature given under the 5th Head and if they be not sufficient thou shalt have another Lecture and another after that till thou be forced to yield up the cause for God will he must and shall have the day and now seeing my Afflictions is rather singular for its alleviating then aggravating Circumstances let it be my great care and endeavour that my Carriage and Behaviour under it be singularly Pious and Exemplary 10thly My time here is likely to be very short with which all my Troubles and Sufferings will expire if I be one to whom the Lord hath graciously forgiven the everlasting Punishment a truly regenerate sanctified Person interested in the righteousness and satisfaction of Jesus Christ as I hope I am I may then easily see to an end of these temporal Afflictions Death will put a final Period to them all and why should these things grieve me much which shall not grieve me long The length and continuance of any Affliction or Calamity doth hughly aggravate it This consideration doth most amaze and torment the Damned when they think on their intollerable insupportable Miseries as endless was but that one word everlasting out of their Sentence though it was inconceiveably sad to be separated from God the fountain of bliss and cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone though but for a short term yet me-thinks it was not one half so terrifying the hopes of approaching ease and rest will make a Man go through present pain and labour with Patience in the midst of my troubled thoughts within me when I am poreing upon my Crosses and Afflictions here let me think with seriousness and delight how short lived both they and I am like to be and of those pure and eternal joy's that will abide me I must expect a multitude of Calamities constantly to attend me here Sin and Suffering being so linked together it is a wonder of God's mercy that I am not afflicted only and oppressed always While I Sin I must expect to smart for it if I reckon otherwise its fond and groundless flat contrary to what God in his Word and in the constant methods of his Providence teacheth what can the issue then be but my most shameful Disappointment Let me not therefore promise my self ease and rest and quiet here as if this was Jerusalem when alass it is the Wilderness Yet for my comfort this though the day 's of my life here are evil full of trouble yet they are but few What is my life but a vapor which appeareth for a little time and then passeth away My day 's upon earth are a shadow they are swifter then a Post they fly away they are spent as a tale that is told what are a thousand Years to the eternal God who knows neither beginning nor end of Day 's Alass they are as nothing And what are they to future Eternity A very small inconsiderable thing then why should short momentary Afflictions make so deep an impression upon an immortal Spirit that hath endless Felicity in its eye Should not the lively Contemplations of those eternal Joy's reserved for me in Heaven even swallow me up and make me as it were forget my present Miseries Though for the present I am confin'd to this poor Cottage and kept in hold in this dark sinful dirty World and am put upon many inconveniencies and endure many hardships here Yet I may look up and see a glorious Mansion prepared for me and be surveying a very large and fair Estate indeed Heaven a glorious Kingdom which the Lord hath made over to me by deed of gift sealed and ratified in his Son's blood which I am at present Heir to through the abundant riches of his Grace and shall be put into full possession of when once I come at Age here is something for my thoughts to work upon indeed A large and pleasant Field to walk in by holy Meditation had I never so much time was I as well acquainted with this spiritual Art as ever Saint on earth was and should I spend never so many thoughts upon this most delightful Subject and make use of the greatest helps that earth affords yet I should never be able to reckon up my spiritual Riches here able either to conceive or express what the Sum of all amounts to all this World is not sufficient to contain it I am not able to imagine what happiness Angels and Saints enjoy in one single hours Communion with God and Jesus Christ in Heaven O then what will Eternity be Blessed eternity Here I am quite lost how comes it to pass that I can so easily forget such things as these How sad and shameful a thing it is that I should have a Heart and find time and leisure to think of almost any thing else but not of God and Christ and Heaven And why is my Heart no more filled with heavenly Joy in such divine Contemplations Doth Earth out-ballance Heaven Light momentary Afflictions weigh down
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
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
to enter a contest with him Am I stronger then he It is my wisdom to meddle with my Match but wo unto me if thus I strive with my Maker Ah how easily he who could make the World with a word of his Mouth and doth but look upon the Earth and it trembleth how easily he could crush me I am but a little breathing dust he would surely blow me away with a blast of his Nostrils what would the combined Forces of the whole Creation be in the Hands of the omnipotent God to whom Power belongs He could frown all into a confused Chaos in a moment how easy is it then for him to deal with me Let me think soberly what the Event of the Matter will be who ever hardened himself against God and prospered what am I like to get by my impatient unsubmissive Carriage Nothing sure unless it be redoubled and heavier strokes what more like then this farther to insense him Will he put up so vile an Affront Rather will he not humble me to purpose before he hath done and make me know who I am a silly worm yea sinful dust and ashes and what it is for a Creature yea a Hell deserving wretch to fly in the Face of Omnipotency it self A principle of self Preservation is common to the very Bruits sure then the Rational Soul is not without it Where is it then am I utterly bereaft of it If not methinks that should effectually perswade me to submit and humble my self under God's mighty Hand as a course more eligible by far then by my proud and stubborn Resistance even to force him as he tenders his own honour and loveth me to spend more Rods upon my Back yea to force him from Rods to Scorpions Let sanctified Reason possess its Throne and lay a law of silence both upon Heart and Mouth that so the disorderly Motions of my unruly Passions being regulated I may instead of charging God foolishly with my Lips in this and in every thing give thanks 4thly This Dispensation though sad yet is the product of infinite Wisdom which should be a powerful Argument to move me with humble Submission to subscribe unto it The King immortal is also the only Wise God none originally essentially and infinitely Wise but he This attribute of his he hath wonderfully displayed have I not sometimes been filled with wonder and admiration at the thoughts of his Wisdom manifested in the Creation of the World Though I am such a poor shallow Creature able to comprehend so little so very little of it O what a wise intelligent Being must he needs be who hath created Heaven and Earth with all the Creatures their inhabitants in such variety excellency and harmony How great and marvellous are thy Works O Lord Thy infinite Wisdom is Engraven in plain and legible Characters upon the face of the whole Creation so that he that runs may read and now I am to consider that its the same God who at first made all things that doth order and dispose of them in his Providence and as he hath so he doth and ever will act like himself all his Works are perfect all his Ways are judgment O the Divine Misteries that are in the Works of Providence Full little do I think what the all Wise God may now be doing with me my thoughts of this sad Providence may be wonderfully altered when the Lord shall please to open the Matter more fully to me O what a day will that be when the Lord will unriddle all his Providences to his Servants and rectify all our Mistakes about them clearly discovering their sweet harmonious Contribution to his own glory and our good Thy thoughts are not our thoughts nor thy ways are not our ways O Lord how little did Joseph think of his high Advancement which the Lord was makeing way for when he was sold as a Salve into Egypt or when he was in Prison there He hath a thousand ways to bring his own Glory and his Peoples Good out of the heaviest Afflictions and most dismal Dispensations that at any time they are under and he not only can but will do it its usual with him to bring light out of darkness good out of evil meat out of the devourer sweetness out of the strong O therefore let me stand still and with silent Admiration contemplate the Wisdom of God in the various Methods of his Providence But let me not quarrel with him or find fault with any of his doings Can I mend them I dare not speak such Blasphemy as to say I can But is not my Heart full of impatient discontented fretful furious or at least dejected Thoughts If so the Lord whose sole Prerogative it is to search and try the Heart cannot but know it and knowing will certainly bring me to Judgment for them he is as well acquainted with my most inward deep and secret Thoughts as others can be with my outward Expressions and Behaviour being nearer to me then I am to my self And he takes most Notice of them they being the truest and most certain Indication of my Mind one may best judge of the Spring by the Water which doth immediately issue forth and as a Man thinketh in his Heart even so is he O foolish wretch Shall I in my Peevishnefs enter a Dispute with Wisdom it self Who am I that dare thus to darken Counsel with Words without Knowledge For this thing let me abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes And for the future be dumb and not open my Mouth because the All-wise God hath done it 5thly The consideration of that amiable Attribute of God his Goodness should work much upon me God is Love a most sweet Notification of the ever blessed Deity he is not a being that sporteth himself with his Creatures Misery He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men much less his own Children Judgment is his strange Work but Mercy pleaseth him His tender Mercies are over all his Works and I have tasted abundantly of them O how highly Injurious I am to so sweet and amiable a Being if I entertain hard and black thoughts of him He hath caused goodness and mercy to follow me he hath done me good and not hurt all the days of my life and shall I now bury the grateful Remembrance of all former Mercies in my Father's Grave How many Mercies and Comforts he yet continues to afford me More then I can easily reckon up And shall I in my Frowardness cast away all as it was because he hath resumed Part O let me beware of such foolish Ingratitude Farther If I take a serious and impartial view of this Affliction I shall find this bitter Cup is allayed and sweetned with much Mercy it is not a Cup of Vengance the stroke not purely Vindictive it s not the Wound of an Enemy nor the Chastizement of a Cruel one No the Rod is in a Father's hand he is a God that changeth not and
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
the crown of Life and Glory Surely no let it then be so seen in my looks carriage and behaviour let it appear that I have other manner of Thoughts of future invisible eternal Things than the Men of the World have that I do indeed look upon them as the greatest Realities and am suitably affected towards them let it now be manifested to the World that I do practically believe the indubitable Certainty and unparalel'd Excellency of the Saint's happiness in the life to come I should live with as much seriousness to day as though I was to die to morrow And why then may I not be as cheary to day as though I was to go to Heaven to morrow not knowing but I may And what a pleasant Life might I thus lead let my outward Circumstances in the World be what they will I say could I but live from day to day in the believeing views of near approaching Glory what a comfortable Life might I lead Why is it not thus with me Where doth the hinderance lie Is there any defect in the Object No no it s in my sight it s a carnal unbelieving a sloathful and negligent Heart that hinders me away with such a Heart And farther let me think how great a part of my evil Day 's are certainly already spent now above twenty Years are gone and for ought I know a twentieth Part doth not remain Faith and Patience lengthen out a while I cannot have long to suffer here it may be not near so long as I think of a few day 's more and the Tables are turned the Scene quite alter'd let me lift up my Head and hold up my Heart under present Pressures for the time of my full and compleat Redemption draws nigh my Salvation is nearer then when I first believed and every day its drawing on yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry any longer it s but waiting a while and I am with him the loss of whom I am now lamenting in the new Jerusalem the City of our God where sorrow and sighing flee away where God is all and in all to his Saints To conclude the time is short therefore let me weep as though I wept not let me have Life with all its Troubles in quiet enduring Patience and Death with its blissful Consequents in lively Hope and earnest Desire The PREFACE to his CATALOGUE of some of his dear Christian Friends and Relations whose Souls are now with GOD. METHINKS the sensible decays I have found of late are a fair Item that Death is not only upon its way towards me but that it may be nearer in its approaches then possibly I am aware of and so a loud call to me in good earnest to be thinking of it and of that eternal State I must immediately thereupon be fixed in Sometimes I cannot but verily hope that the Lord hath cut me out for Heaven though there is not nor ever was there a wretch upon the Face of God's Earth that less deserved it nor can I think there is a Saint in Heaven that will have more reason amazingly to adore such rich free distinguishing Grace and Mercy then my self But yet though I have this Hope that when Death turns me out of this World I have a better Place to go to and though I can thereupon sometimes rejoyce and please my Self with the thoughts of its Approach while I look upon it at some distance yet when I come nearer to it I find my thoughts and apprehensions concerning it and concerning the separate State of my Soul thereupon to have much strangness and terrour in them which its like doth much arise from my Ignorance and Unbelief I should account it a blessed thing could I but get to converse with these things in my Thoughts with that familiarity and delight as I wish and there is one thing I have sometimes found a little to befriend me herein which is to think how many of my dear Christian Friends with whom I have here had delightful Converse and Communion to think I say how many of these are gone before me and so ready to bid me welcome to that our blessed home Indeed was they not with my dearest Lord this Argument would loose its Force Heaven was not Heaven was he not there O let me live with Christ let me ever behold the King in his Beauty O let me but have my fill of Christ and then I am content to spend my Eternity any where was it in a Desert in a Denn But yet there is methinks some additional sweetness in it to think of enjoying Christ in the Fellowship and Communion of the blessed ones above and under the present low and languishing Circumstances of Faith and other Graces in my Soul it hath methinks some particular sweetness in it to think of my old Acquaintance who are got to Heaven I intend therefore to have in my view a Catalogue of some of them as they come to my Thoughts that so I may now and then make them a Visit and take a few turns with them in my serious Thoughts and this in order to the End above mentioned CHAP. XI Ten QVERIES seriously Propounded to CARD-GAMESTERS By one who much Questioneth the Lawfulness of that GAME Introduction I Doubt not but some Recreation is lawful yea needful and therefore a Duty to some Men But among things that go under this Denomination there are some utterly unlawful in their own Nature and others which may be lawful in Themselves are by the abuse of them rendred sinful or at best very doubtful among many other Games and Sports in common Practice amongst us I fear upon serious Examination this of Card's will be found extream Faulty I shall give you some of my Thoughts by Propounding the following Queries to you hoping I may do it inoffensively and if I may prevail with you so far as to be at the Pains to Read and entertain a few sober Thoughts about them I shall leave it to your Selves to draw up a Conclusion and pass Sentence according to the Merit of the Cause Query 1. Is it not unlawful or highly to be suspected as such to use Lots in so vain and trivial a Matter as Gameing is You will readily grant me this that it is a Sin of no small Magnitude to take God's sacred Name in Vain I mean to do it needlesly or but upon weighty Occasions Exod. 20.7 You cannot deny but God's name is used in Lots Prov. 16. 33. The disposing of the Lot is of the Lord. Not of Man or of Fortune it is an appealing to God's Sentence and that this Game do much depend upon Lottery if Persons play honestly is a thing notoriously Evident I deny not but Lot's have been and may be lawfully used in some Cases we We read of Divine Lot's which have been used upon a special Command Josh 7.14 15. Acts 1.24 26. There are also civil and political Lot's used in
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
be more in our thoughts is the Prayer of your poor Brother weak in Grace and low in Comfort I. B. LETTER IX To S. E. January 13. 1684 5. Dear S. I Receiv'd your's and am glad to hear of the removal of that afflictive Distemper you have of late been under a mercy I have been often seeking to God for for which I am with you obliged and shall endeavour to bless the Lord I am rejoyced to hear you are so much upon the praising pin O that I could but learn that heavenly Note But O what a strange lumpish Heart have I I talk of Heaven Of an Eternity to be spent in the love and joyful Praises of God and a dear Redeemer Truly it is a shame while my Heart is so backward to and unskilful in this blessed Work O had Heaven no better singers then I am or am like to make what poor harmony what harsh melody would there be among them But for the eternal Praise of the great Jehovah it shall not be thus many times when I hear the pretty Bird's singing forth his Praises in their kind I am ashamed of my self I am generally secure and senseless sometimes sad but seldom joyful 1st Oh how secure and dead I am many times I have scarce any Sense or feeling of Spiritual things upon my Heart I have such a senseless benumed Conscience through Custom in Sin that I feel little of the weight and burthen of it or of my need of a Saviour alass while others are joyfully prasing God and a dear Redeemer I have need to pray for a more awakned Conscience and for more Sorrow for Sin 2dly When my Conscience doth begin to speak home and my Heart doth a little relent then either my Sorrow is slighty and superficial not bearing a proportion to my Sins O how many Tears I have need to weep over as not coming from a Heart thoroughly sensible of Sin Or else I am ready to be dejected but it is more rarely thus with me I mostly err on the other hand But then 3dly When shall you find me in a joyful thankful praising frame The Lord hath laid me though an unworthy wretch under many obligations I do not want Matter whereof to compose my Song but alass I want a musical Heart well I yet hope that in Heaven if the Lord will bring me thither at last I hope then he will change my Note That I shall then have no more cause to complain of this Heart of mine but shall then with an innumerable Company of Angels and Saints sing a new Song to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Amen I am your Loving Brother I. B. LETTER X. To S. E. February 5. 1684 5. Dear S. I Receiv'd your's and return you thanks for it and for your I do not doubt hearty Prayer for me for spiritual Joy but O that you would help me to pray more Sorrow into my Heart first you tell me I know what they shall reap that sow in tears to wit Joy But if that be Scripture as I know it is I may expect but a small Crop not that I think my Tears can wash away the Guilt of the least Sin or merit the least favourable Glance of God's Countenance but Repentance of which Godly sorrow is one part is a necessary Qualification O therefore pray for more of that and herein you will exceedingly befriend me I am afraid you are exceedingly mistaken in me I do not wish you so ill as you wish your self to be in my State and Frame Sure I am if you did believe the Discription I have given you of it which I do again own and acknowledge to be worse then I did or can discribe to you you would not wish so however if I do think worse of my self then I should which yet I am confident I do not yet sure I am you err more on the other hand in thinking better of me then I deserve and be not troubled at my Complaints O will you not give me leave to Complain Was I under any outward Trouble I am sure you would and that you would gladly endeavour to help me too and will you not give me leave to Complain of my Spiritual wants and burthens What want Grace and not Complain Be so doged with such domineering Lusts and hanted with such impetuous Temptations as I am and not Complain Give me leave and will you not do what you can to help me O if you love me help me down with my Lusts by your Prayers but I will not longer detain you I am your Loving Brother I. B. LEETTER XI To S. E. March 8. 1684 5. Dear S. I Receiv'd your's but have time to write but a line or two I was sorry to hear of the return of your Ague but am glad to hear it hath left you again O that all fatherly Corrections might leave us better then they find us I saw my F. lately and was glad to here there was hopes of your getting home I would not have you think I forget you as to that business you hint at I know not how to advise you my self but I shall endeavour to pray for you to him that can however one thing I will say acknowledge the Lord in all your ways then take his Word for it that he will direct your Steps I am ready to think from some Circumstances that there may be something of Providence in it but let us wait a while and see what the Lord will do I am your Loving Brother I.B. LETTER XII To S. E. April 9. 1685. Dear S. I Receiv'd your's and was much perplexed in my Mind not understanding your meaning in some Passages of it as to your coming home I cannot but desire it and methinks it is plainly your Duty considering the Circumstances that you are in and considering your poor Parents how crazy they are and in what need they stand of your help Dear S. have a care of giving way to melancholy discontented Thoughts remember former Experiences that you have had of God's goodness have you not many a notable one I believe you have if you do but think on them I remember an Expression of my Father old Sins and old Mercies should not be forgotten we should not give way to any more Sorrow for Sin than we can give a good Account of much less then for any outward Trouble and what matter is it if the Lord should mark us out for Crosses and Troubles here if he will but mark us out for himself mark us out for Heaven O Sister all will be well in the End How short is this Life if we should have nothing else but Trouble here Then comes Heaven the day is at hand and then all is forgotten O nothing but joy nothing but joy in Heaven remember that Sister the thoughts of Heaven are my own and as thy own what would such Thoughts do Would they not make all our Troubles here