put off the motions of his Spirit the directions of his word the offers of his grace the entreaties of his Son and therefore what can be more just than that God should delay thee for a time and put thee off for a season who hast delaied him and put off him daies without number if God serves thee as thou hast often served him thou hast no reason to complain But Seventhly and lastly The Lord delaies his people that Heaven may be the more sweet to them at last here they meet with many delaies and with many put offs but in Heaven they shall never meet with one put off with one delay here many times they call and cry and can get no answer Lam. 3. 8 44 here they knock and bounce and yet the door of grace and mercy opens not to them but in Heaven they shall have mercy at the first word at the first knock there whatever heart can wish shall without delay be enjoyed here God seems to say sometimes souls you have mistaken the door or I am not at leasure or others must be served before you or come some other time c. But in Heaven God is alwaies at leasure and all the sweetness and blessedness and happiness of that state presents it self every hour to the soul there God hath never God will never say to any of his Saints in Heaven come to morrow such language the Saints sometimes hear here but such language is no waies suitable to a glorified condition and therefore seeing that the Lord never delaies his people but upon great and weighty accounts let his people bee silent before him let them not mutter nor murmure but be mute And so I have done with the Objections I shall come now in the last place to propound some helps and directions that may contribute to the silencing and stilling of your souls under the greatest afflictions the sharpest trials and the saddest providences that you meet with in this world and so close up this discourse First All the afflictions that come upon the Saints they are the Prov. 3. 12 Jer. 9. 7 fruits of divine love Rev. 3. 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten bee zealous therefore and repent Heb. 12. 6. For whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom hee receiveth Job 5. 17. Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty ch 7. 17 18. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him And that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment Isa 48. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction When Munster lay sick and his friends asked him how hee did and how hee felt himself hee pointed to his sores and ulcers whereof hee was full and said these are Gods Gems and Jewels wherewith hee decketh his best friends and to mee they are more precious than all the gold and silver in the world A Gentleman highly prizes his Hawk hee feeds her with his own hand hee carries her upon his fist hee takes a great deal of delight and pleasure in her and therefore hee puts vervells upon her leggs and a hood upon her head hee hood-winks her and fetters her because hee loves her and takes delight in her So the Lord by afflictions hood-winks and fetters his children but all is because hee loves them and takes delight and pleasure in them there cannot be a greater evidence of Gods hatred and wrath than his Hos 4. 14. 19 Ezek. 16. 42 Isa 1. 5 Nihil est infaelicius â—o cui nil unquam contigit adversi Seneca refusing to correct men for their sinful courses and vanities why should you bee smitten any more you will revolt more and more where God refuses to correct there God resolves to destroy there is no man so near the Axe so near the flames so near Hell as hee whom God will not so much as spend a Rod upon God is most angry where hee shews no anger Jerome writing to a sick friend hath this expression I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity I judge you to bee miserable because you have not been miserable nothing saith another Demetrius seems more unhappy to mee than hee to whom no adversity hath hapned God afflicts thee O Christian in love and therefore Luther cries out strike Lord strike Lord and spare not who can seriously muse upon this and not hold his peace and not bee silent under the most smarting Rod Secondly Consider that the trials and troubles the calamities and miseries the crosses and losses that you meet with in this world is all the Hell that ever you shall have here you have your Hell hereafter you shall have your Heaven this is the worst of your condition the best is to come Lazarus had his Hell first his Heaven Luke 16. 19 29 last but Dives had his Heaven first and his Hell at last thou hast all thy pains and pangs and throws here that ever thou shalt have thy ease and rest and pleasure is to come here you have all your bitter your sweet is to come here you have your sorrows your joyes are to come here you have all your winter nights your summer daies are to come here you have your passion week your Ascension day is to come here you have your evil things your good things are to come death will put a period to all thy sins and to all thy sufferings and it will bee an inlet to those joyes delights and contents that shall never have end and therefore hold thy peace and be silent before the Lord. Thirdly Get an assurance that Christ is yours and pardon of sin See my Treatise called Heaven on Earth yours and divine favour yours and Heaven yours and the sense of this will exceedingly quiet and silence the soul under the sorest and the sharpest trials a Christian can meet with in this world hee that is assured that God is his portion wil never mutter nor murmure under his greatest burdens hee that can groundedly say nothing shall separate mee from the love of God in Christ hee will be able to triumph in the midst of the greatest Rom. 8. 33 ult Cant. 2. 16 tribulations hee that with the Spouse can say My Beloved is mine and I am his will bear up quietly and sweetly under the heaviest afflictions In the time of the Marian Act. Mon. Persecution there was a gracious woman who being convened before bloody Bonner then Bishop So John Noyes Alice Driver Mr. Bradford Mr. Taylor and Justin Martyr with many more of London upon the trial of Religion hee threatned her that hee would take away her husband from her saith shee Christ is my husband I will take away thy childe Christ saith shee is better to mee than ten Sons I will
Peter Paul yea Christ himself Matth. 4 who as hee was beloved above all others so hee was tempted above all others hee was tempted to question his sonship hee was tempted to the worst Idolatry even to worship the Devil himself to the greatest infidelity to distrust his Fathers providence and to use unlawful means for necessary supplies and to self-murder cast thy self down c. Those that were once glorious on earth and are now triumphing in Heaven have been sorely tempted and assaulted it is as natural and common for the choicest Saints to bee tempted as it is for the Sun to shine the Bird to flye the Fire to burn The Eagle complains not of her wings nor I am without set upon by all the world and within by the Devil and all his Angels saith Luther the Peacock of his train nor the Nightingale of hâ—r voice because these are natural to them no more should Saints of their temptations because they are natural to them Our whole life saith Austin is nothing but a tentation the best men have been worst tempted therefore hold thy peace Secondly Temptations resisted bewailed will never hurt you nor harm you distasted temptations seldome or never prevail so long as the soul distastes them and the will remains firmly averse against them they can do no hurt so long as the language of the soul is Get thee behinde mee Satan Mat. 16. the soul is safe it is not Satans tempting but my assenting it is Hee that can say when hee is tempted as that young convert ego non sum ego is happy enough under all his temptations not his enticing but my yeelding that mischiefs mee temptations may bee troubles to my mind but they are not sins upon my soul whilst I am in arms against them if thy heart trembles and thy flesh quakes when Satan tempts thy condition is good enough if Satans temptations bee thy greatest afflictions his temptations shall never worsen thee nor harm thee and therefore if this bee thy case hold thy peace Thirdly Temptations are rather hopeful evidences that thy estate is good that thou art dear to God and that it shall go well with thee for ever than otherwise God had but one Son without corruption Heb. 2. 17 18 but hee had none without temptation Pirats make the fiercest assaults upon those vessels that are most richly laden So doth Satan upon those souls that are most richly laden with the treasures of grace with the riches of glory Pirats let empty vessels pass and repass without assaulting them so doth Satan let souls that are empty of God of Christ of the Spirit of Grace pass and repass without tempting or assaulting of them When nothing will satisfie the soul but a full departure out of Egypt from the bondage and slavery Exod. 14. 9 of sin and that the soul is firmly resolved upon a march for Canaan then Satan Pharaoh-like will furiously pursue after the soul with Horses and Chariots that is with a whole Army of Temptations Well a tempted soul when Israel going into Egypt had no opposition but travelling into Canaan they were never free it is at worst with him may safely argue thus if God were not my friend Satan would not bee so much my enemy if there were not something of God within mee Satan would never make such attempts to storm mee if the love of God were not set upon mee Satan would never shoot so many fiery darts to wound mee if the heart of God were not towards mee the hand of Satan would not bee so strong against mec When Beza was tempted hee made this answer Whatsoever I was Satan I am now in Christ a new Creature and that is it which troubles thee I might have so continued long enough ere thou wouldest have vexed at it but now I see thou dost envy mee the grace of my Saviour Satans malice to tempt is no sufficient ground for a Christian to dispute Gods love upon if it were there is no Saint on earth that should quietly possess divine favour a week a day an hour The Jaylor is quiet when his prisoner is in bolts but if hee bâ—e escaped then hee pursues him with hue and cry you know how to apply it Men hate not the picture of a Toad the Wolf flies not upon a painted Sheep no more doth Satan upon those he hath in chains therefore hold thy peace though thou art inwardly tempted as well as outwardly afflicted Fourthly Whilst Satan is tempting Rom. 8. 34 1 John 2. 1 2 Zach. 3. 1 2 3 of thee Christ in the Court of glory is interceding for thee Luk. 22. 31 32. And the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that hee may sift you as wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Satan would fain have been shaking of him up and down as wheat is shaken in a fan but Christs intercession frustrates Satans designed temptations when ever Satan stands at our elbows to tempt us Christ stands at his Fathers to intercede for us Heb. 7. 25. Hee ever lives to make intercession Some of the learned think that Christ intercedes onely by virtue of his merits others think that it is done onely with his mouth probably it may bee done both waies the rather because hee hath a tongue as also a whole glorified body in Heaven and is it likely that that mouth which pleaded so much for us on earth should be Joh. 17. altogether silent for us in Heaven Christ is a person of highest honour hee is the greatest favourite in the Court of Heaven hee alwaies stands betwixt us and danger if there bee any evil plotted or designed against us by Satan the great accuser of the brethren hee foresees it and by his intercession prevents it When Satan puts in his pleas and commences sute upon sute against us Christ still undertakes our cause hee answers all his pleas and non-sutes Satan at every turn and in despite of Hell hee keep us up in divine favour when Satan pleads Lord here are such and such sins that thy children have committed and here are such and such duties that they have omitted and here are such and such mercies that they have not improved and here are such and such ordinances that they have slighted and here are such and such motions of the Spirit that they have quenched divine Justice answers All this is true but Christ hath appeared on their behalf hee hath pleaded their Saith Christ Lord here is wisdome for their folly humility for their pride heavenliness for their earthliness holiness for their wickedness c. cause hee hath fully and fairly answered whatever hath been objected and given compleat satisfaction to the utmost farthing So that there is no accusation nor condemnation that can stand in force against them upon which account the Apostle triumphs in that Rom. 8. 34. Who is hee that condemneth it is
THE SILENT SOVL WITH SOVERAIGN ANTIDOTES Against the Most Miserable Exigents OR A Christian with an OLIVE-LEAF in his mouth when he is under the greatest afflictions the sharpest and sorest trials and troubles the saddest and darkest providences and changes with Answers to divers Questions and Objections that are of greatest importance all tending to win and work souls to bee still quiet calm and silent under all changes that have or may pass upon them in this world c. By Thomas Brooks Preacher of the Word at Margarets New Fish-street London and Pastor of the Church of Christ meeting there The Lord is in his holy Temple let all the earth keep silence before him Hab. 2. 20. London Printed by R. I. for John Hancock to be sold at the first shop in Popes-head-Alley next to Corn-hill 1660. Mr. BROOKS his MVTE CHRISTIAN TO All afflicted distressed dissatisfied disquieted and discomposed Christians throughout the world Dear hearts THe choicest Saints are born to troubles as the Psal 34. 19 Job 5. 1 Psa 88. 3 4 Qui non est crucianus non est Christianus Luther sparks fly upwards Many are the troubles of the Righteous if they were many and not troubles then as it is in the Proverb the more the merrier or if they were troubles and not many then the fewer the better chear but God who is infinite in wisdome and matchless in goodness hath ordered troubles yea many troubles to come trooping in upon us on every side As our mercies so our crosses seldome come single they usually come treading one upon the heels of another they are like April showers no sooner is one over but another comes And yet Christians it is mercy it is rich mercy that every affliction is not an execution that every correction is not a damnation The higher the waters rise the nearer Noahs Ark was lifted up to Heaven the more thy afflictions are encreased the more thy heart shall bee raised Heaven-wards Because I would not hold you too long in the porch I shall onely indeavour two things First To give you the reasons of my appearing once more in Print and Secondly A little counsel and direction that the following Tract may turn to your souls advantage which is the white that I have in mine eye The true reasons of my sending this piece into the world such as it is are thâ—se First The afflicting hand of God hath been hard upon my self and upon my dearest relations in this world and upon many of my precious Christian friends whom I much love and honour in the Lord which put mee upon studying of the mind of God in that Scripture that I have made the subject matter of this following discourse Luther could not understand some Psalms till hee was afflicted the Christ-cross is no letter in the book and yet saith hee it hath taught mee more than all the letters in the book afflictions are a golden key by which the Lord opens the rich treasures of his word to his peoples souls and this in some measure through grace Judg. 14. 9 10. my soul hath experienced when Sampson had found honey hee gave some to his Father and Mother to eat some honey I have found in my following Text and therefore I may not I cannot bee such a churl as not to give them some of my honey to taste who have drunk deep of my gall and wormwood Some have accounted nothing their own that they have not communicated to others Austin observes on that Psal 66. 16. Come and hear all yee that fear God and I will declare what hee hath done for my soul Hee doâ—h not call them saith hee to acquaint them with speculations how wide the earth is how far the Heavens are stretched out what the number of the stars is or what is the course of the Sun but come and I will tell you the wonders of his grace the faithfulness of his promises the riches of his mercy to my soul gracious experiences are to be communicated Lilmod Lelammed we therefore learn that wee may teach is a proverb among the Rabbins And I do therefore lay in and lay up saith the Heathen that I may draw forth again and lay out for the good of many when God hath dealt bountifully with us others should reap some noble good by us the Family the Town the City the Country where a man lives should fare the better for his faring well our mercies and experiences should bee as a running spring at our doors which is not onely for our own use but also for our neighbours yea and for strangers too Secondly What is written is permanent litera scripta manet and-spreads it self further by far for time place and persons than the voice can reach the pen is an artificial tongue it speaks as well to absent as to present friends it speaks to them that are afar off as well as those that are near it speaks to many thousands at once it speaks not onely to the present age but also to succeeding Heb. 11. 4 Zech. 1. 5 ages the Pen is a kinde of Image of eternity it will make a man live when hee is dead though the Prophets do not live for ever yet their labours may a mans writings may preach when hee cannot when hee may not and when by reason of bodily distempers heâ— dares not yea and that which is more when hee is not Thirdly Few men if any have Iron memories how soon is a Sermon preach'd forgotten when a Sermon written remains Augustin writing to August Epist 1. ad Volus Volusian saith That which is written is alwaies at hand to bee read when the reader is at leasure men do not easily forget their own names nor their Fathers house nor the wives of their bosomes nor the fruit of their loins nor to eat their daily bread and yet Ah! how easily do they forget that word of grace that should bee dearer to them than all most mens memories especially in the great concernments of their souls are like a sieve or bowlter where the good Corn and fine Flower goes thorow but the lighâ— chaff and course bran remains behinde or like a strainer where the sweet liquor is strained out but the dreggs are left behinde or like a grate that lets the pure water run away but if there bee any straws sticks mud or filth that it holds as it were with Iron hands most mens memories are very treacherous especially in good things few mens memories are a holy Ark a heavenly Stare-house or Magazine for their souls and therefore they stand in the more need of a written word But Fourthly It s marvelous suitableness and usefulness under these great turns and changes that have past upon us As every wise husbandman observes the fittest seasons to sow his seed some hee sows in the Autumn and fall of the leaf some in the spring Isa 28. 25 of the year some in a dry season and some in
bee mute and silent under their afflictions is this because it is ten thousand times a greater judgement and affliction to bee given up to a fretful spirit a froward spirit a muttering or murmuring spirit under an affliction than it is to bee afflicted This is both the Devils sin and the Devils punishment God is still afflicting crossing and vexing of him and hee is still a fretting repining vexing and rising up against God no sin to the Devils sin no punishment to the Devils punishment A man were better to have all the afflictions of all the afflicted throughout the world at once upon him than to be given up to a froward spirit to a muttering murmuring heart under the least affliction When thou seest a soul fretting vexing and stamping under the mighty hand of God thou seest one of Satans first-born one that resembles him to Irenâ—us calleth such or a Diaboli the Devils mouth the life no childe can bee so much like the Father as this froward soul is like to the Father of lies though hee hath been in chains almost this six thousand years yet hee hath 1 Pet. 5. 8 never lain still one day nor one night no not one hour in all this time but is still a fretting vexing tossing and tumbling in his chains like a princely Bedlam â—ee is a Lion not a Lamb a roaring Lion not a sleepy Lion not a Lion standing still but a Lion going up and down hee is not satisfied with the prey hee hath got but is restless in his designs to fill hell with souls Hee never wants an Apple for an Eve nor a Grape for a Noah nor a change of rayment for a Gehezi nor a wedge of gold for an Achan nor a Crown for an Absolom nor a bagg for a Judas nor a world for a Demas if you look into one company there you shall finde Satan a dishing out his meat to every palate if you look into another company there you shall finde him a fitting a last to every shooe if you look into a third company there you shall finde him a suiting a garment to every back hee is under wrath and cannot but bee restless Here with Jael hee allures poor souls in with milk and murders them with a nail there with Joaâ— hee embraces with one hand and stabs with another here with Judas hee kisses and betraies and there with the Whore of Babylon hee presents a golden cup with poison in it hee cannot bee quiet though his bolts bee alwaies on and the more unquiet any are under the rebukes of God the more such resemble Satan to the life whose whole life is filled up with vexing and fretting against the Lord. Let not any think saith Luther that the Devil is now dead no nor yet asleep for as hee that keepeth Israel so hee that hateth Israel never slumbereth nor sleepeth But in the next place Reas 5. A fifth reason why gracious souls should bee mute and silent under the greatest afflictions and sharpest trials that do befall them is this because a holy a prudent silence under afflictions under miseries doth best capacitate and fit the afflicted for the receit of mercies When the rolling bottle lies still you may pour into it your sweetest or your strongest waters when the rolling tumbling soul lies still then God can best pour into it the sweet waters of mercy and the strong waters of divine consolation You read of the peaceable fruits of righteousness Heb. 12. 11. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to bee joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Jam. 3. 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace The still and quiet soul is like a Ship that lies still and quiet in the harbour you may take in what goods what commodities you please whilest the Ship lies quiet and still So when the The Angels are most quiet and stâ—ll and they take in most of God of Christ of Heaven soul is quiet and still under the hand of God it is most fitted and advantaged to take in much of God of Christ of Heaven of the Promises of Ordinances and of the Love of God the Smiles of God the Communications of God and the counsel of God but when souls are unquiet they are like a Ship in a storm they can take in nothing Luther speaking of God saith God doth not dwell in Babylon but in Salem Babylon signifies confusion and Salem signifies peace now God dwells not in spirits that are unquiet and in confusion but hee dwells in peaceable and quiet spirits Unquiet spirits can take in neither counsel nor comfort grace nor peace c. Psal 77. 2. My soul refused to bee comforted The Impatient Patient will take down no cordials hee hath no eye to see nor hand to take nor palate to rellish nor stomach to digest any thing that makes for his health and welfare when the man is sick and froward nothing will down the sweetest musick can make no melody in his ears Exod. 6. 6 7 8 9. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgement And I will take you to mee for a people and I will bee to you a God and yee shall know that â— am the Lord your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians And I will bring you in unto the Land concerning the which â— did swear to give it to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and â— will give it you for an heritage I am the Lord. The choicest cordials and comforts that Heaven or Earth could afford are here held forth to them but they have no hand to receive them Here Moses his lips drops hony-combs but they can taste no sweetness in them here the best of Earth and the best of Heaven is set before them but their souls are shut up and nothing will down here is such ravishing musick of paradise as might abundantly delight their hearts and please their ears but they cannot hear here are soul-enlivening soul-supporting soul-strengthening soul-comforting soul-raising and soul-refreshing words but they cannot hearken to them v. 9. And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage They were under their aguish feaverish-fits and so could neither hear nor see taste nor take in any thing that No air agrees well with weak pevish sickly bodies might bee a mercy or a comfort to them they were sick of impatiency and discontent and these humours being grown strong nothing would take with them nothing would agree with them When persons are under strong pangs of passion they have no ears neither for Reason
esteem with God God sets the greatest value upon persons of a quiet spirit 1 Pet. 3. 4. But let it bee the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price A quiet spirit is a spark of the divine nature it is a ray a beam of glory it is a heaven-born spirit No man is born with a holy Silence in his heart as hee is born with a tongue in his mouth this is a flower of paradise it is a precious Jem that God makes very great reckoning of A quiet spirit speaks a man most like to God it capacitates a man for communion with God it renders a man most serviceable to God and it obliges a man to most accurate walking with God A meek and quiet spirit is an incorruptible ornament much more valuable than gold First There is a natural quietness which proceeds from a good temper and constitution of body Secondly There is a moral quietness which proceeds from good education and breeding which flows from good injunctions instructions and examples Thirdly There is an artificial quietness some have an art to imprison their passions and to lay a Law of restraint upon their anger and wrath when they are all in a flame within As you may 2 Sam. 13. 20 33 see in Cain Esau Absalom and Joab who for a time cast a close cloak over their malice when their hearts were set on fire of Hell so Domitian would seem to love them best whom hee willed least should live Fourthly There is a gracious quietness which is of the spirits infusion Gal. 5. 22 25. Now this quietness of spirit this spiritual frame of heart is of great price in the sight of God God values it above the world and therefore who would not covet it more than the world yea more than life it self Certainly the great God sets a great price upon nothing but that which is of an invaluable price what stretching strugling and striving is there for those things that the great ones of the earth do highly prize Ah what stretching of wits interests and consciences is there this day to gain and hold up that which justice will cast down how much better would it bee if all persons would in good earnest struggle and strive even as for life after a quiet and silent spirit which the great and glorious God sets so great a price upon this is a pearl of greatest price and happy is hee that purchases it though it were with the loss of all But Sixthly Consider that if you sit not quiet and silent under your greatest troubles and your sorest trials you will bee found fighters against your own prayers How often have you prayed that the will of God may bee done yea that it may bee done on the earth as the Angels those glistering Courtiers Mat. 6. 10 those Princes of glory do it now in Heaven when troubles and afflictions come upon you the will of God is done his will is accomplished why then should you fret fling and fume and not rather quietly lye down in his will whose Voluntas Dei necessitas rei every gracious soul should say Amen to Gods Amen hee should put his fiat his placet to Gods go it never so much against the hair with him will is a perfect will a just and righteous will a wise will an over-ruling will an infinite will a soveraign will a holy will an immutable will an uncontroulable will an omnipotent will and an eternal will certainly you will but add affliction to affliction by fighting against your own prayers and by vexing and fretting your selves when the will of God is done it is sad to see a man to fight against his friends it is sadder to see him fight against his relations it is saddest of all to see him fight against his prayers and yet this every Christian doth who murmures and mutters when the Rod of God is upon him some there be that pray against their prayers as Augustine who prayed for continency with a proviso Lord give mee continency but not yet And some there bee who fight against their prayers as those who pray that the will of God may be done and yet when his will is done upon them they are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest they are still fretting against the Lord. Ah Christians have you not sins to fight against and temptations to fight against and a Devil to fight against yea a whole world to fight against why then should you bee found fighting against your own prayers But Seventhly Consider A holy Silence under the heaviest burdens the greatest afflictions the saddest providences and changes will make all tollerable and easie to a Christian the silent soul can bear a burden without a burden those burdens and troubles that will break a froward mans Micah 7. 7 8 9 10 Psal 62. 1 6 back will not so much as break a silent mans sleep those afflictions that lye as heavy weights upon a murmurer will lye as light as a feather upon a mute Christian that bed of sorrow which is as a bed of thorns to a frâ—tful soul will bee as a bed of down to a silent soul a holy Silence unstings every affliction it takes off the weight of every burden it adds sweet to every bitter it changes dark nights into Sunshiny daies and terrible storms into desirable calms the smallest sufferings will easily vanquish an unquiet spirit but a quiet spirit will as easily triumph over the greatest sufferings As little mercies are great mercies so great sufferings are but little sufferings in the eye of a silent soul the silent soul never complains that his affliction is too great his burthen too heavy his cross too weighty his sufferings too many Silence makes him victorious over all And therefore as ever you would have heavy afflictions light and bee able to bear a burthen without a burthen labour as for life after this holy silence But Eighthly Consider That a holy Silence under afflictions will bee your best armour of proof against those temptations that afflictions may expose you to times Luk. 22. 31 34. Job 1. 3 Zach. 1. 2 3 4 Mat. 4. 1 2 3 of afflictions often prove times of great temptation and therefore afflictions are called temptations James 1. 12. Blessed is the man which endureth temp 〈…〉 on for when hee is tried hee shall receive the Crown of life c. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to bee understood of temptations of probation of afflicting temptations and not of temptations of suggestion James 4. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 9 of seduction for they are not to bee endured but resisted and abhorred Now affliction is called temptation 1 Because as temptation tries what metal a Christian is made of so do afflictions 2 Because as Satan usually hath a great hand in all the temptations that
reasonable that God who is Lord Paramount should do with his own as hee pleases dost thou beleeve that the great God may do in Heaven what hee pleases and on the Seas what hee pleases and in the Nations and Kingdomes of the world what hee pleases and in thy heart what hee pleases and dost thou not beleeve that God may do in thy house what hee pleases and do with thy mercies what hee pleases Job 9. 12. Behold Job plainly alludes to Gods taking away his children servants and cattel hee taketh away or hee snatcheth away it may bee a husband a wife a childe an estate who can hinder him who will say unto him what doest thou Who dares cavil against God who dares question that God that is unquestionable that chief Lord that is uncontroulable and who may do with his own what hee pleaseth Dan. 4. 35. And all the Inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and hee doth according to his will in the Army Isa 45. 9 of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou Where is the Prince the Peasant the Master the Servant the Husband the Wife the Father the Child that dares say to God what doest thou In matters of Arithmetical accounts set one against ten ten against a hundred a hundred against a thousand a thousand against ten thousand although there bee great odds yet there is some comparison but if a man could set down an infinite number then there could bee no comparison at all because the one is finite the other infinite so set all the Princes and Powers of the earth in opposition to God they shall never bee able to withstand him It was once the saying of Pompey that with one stamp of his foot hee could raise all Italy in Arms but let the Plutarch in vita Pompei great God but stamp with his foot and hee can raise all the world in Arms to own him to contend for him or to revenge any affronts that by any are put upon him and therefore who shall say unto him what doest thou water is stronger than earth fire stronger than water Angels stronger than men and God stronger than them all and therefore who shall say unto God what doest thou when hee takes their nearest and their dearest mercies from them But Fourthly It may bee thou hast not made a happy improvement of thy near and dear mercies whilst thou injoyest them thou hast been taken with thy mercies but thy heart hath not been taken up in the improvement of them there are many who are very much taken with their mercies who make no conscience of improving their mercies have thy near and dear mercies been a star to lead thee to Christ have they been a cloud by day and a pillar of light by night to lead thee towards the heavenly Canaan have they been a Jacobs Ladder to thy soul hast thou by them been provoked to give up thy self to God as a living Rom. 12. 1 Sacrifice hast thou improved thy near and dear mercies to the enflaming of thy love to God to the strengthening of thy confidence in God to the raising of thy communion with God and to the engaging of thy heart to a more close and circumspect walking before God c. if thou hast not thus improved them thou hast more cause to bee mute than to murmure to bee silent than to be impatient to fall out with thy self than to fall out with thy God Children and fools are taken with many things but improve nâ—thing such children and fools aâ—e most men they are much taken with their mercies but they make no improvement of their mercies and therefore no wonder if God strip them of their mercies The candle of mercy is set up not to play by but to work by Pliny speaks of one Cressinus who Lib. 18. cap. 6. improved a little peece of ground to a far greater advantage than his neighbours could a greater quantity of land thereupon hee was accused of witch-craft but hee to defend himself brought into the Court his servants and their working-tools and said Veneficia mea Quirites haec sunt these are my witch-crafts O yee Romans these servants and these working-tools are all the witch-craft that I know of when the people heard this plea with one consent they acquitted him and declared him not guilty and so his little peece of ground was secured to him there is no way to secure your mercies but by improving of them there is nothing that provokes God to strip you of your mercies like the non-improvement of them Matth. 25. 24 31. Take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which hath ten talents By some stroak or other God will take away the mercy that is not improved if thy slothfulness hath put God upon passing a sentence of death upon thy dearest mercy thank thy self and hold thy peace Fifthly If in this case God had made thee a president to others thou must have held thy peace how much more then shouldst thou bee mute when God hath made many others presidents to thee Did not God smite Aaron in his dear and near enjoyments Levit. 10. 1 2. and doth hee not hold his â—eace did not God smite David in his Absalom and Abraham in his Sarah and Job in his sons daughters estate and body and Jonah in his Guard art Jonah 4. 6 7 8. thou more beloved than these no hast thou more grace than these no hast thou done more for divine glory than these no art thou richer in spiritual experiences than these no hast thou attained to higher enjoyments than these no hast thou been more serviceable in thy Generation than these no hast thou been more exemplary in thy life and conversation than these no c. then why shouldest thou murmure and fret at that which hath been the common lot of the dearest Saints Though God hath smitten thee in this or that near and dear enjoyment it is thy wisdome to hold thy peace for that God that hath taken away one might have taken away all Justice writes a sentence of death upon all Jobs mercies Job 1. at once and yet hee holds his peace and wilt not thou hold thine though God hath cropt the fairest Flower in all thy garden Anytus a young spark of Athens came revelling into Alcibiades house and as hee sate at supper with some strangers hee rose on a sudden and took away one half of his plate thereupon the Guests stormed and took on at it he bade them bee quiet and told them that hee had dealt kindly with him since that hee had left the one half whereas hee might have taken all so when our hearts begin to storm and take on when God smites us in this neer mercy and in that dear enjoyment Oh! let us lay the Law of silence upon our hearts let us charge our souls to bee
quiet for that God that hath taken away one childe might have took away every childe and hee that hath taken away one friend might have taken away every friend and hee that hath taken away a part of thy estate might have taken away thy whole estate therefore hold thy peace let who will murmure yet bee thou mute Sixthly It may bee thy sins have been much about thy near and dear injoyments it may bee thou hast over-loved them and over-prized them and over-much delighted thy self in them it may bee they have often had thy heart when they should have had but thy hand it may bee that care that fear that confidence that joy that should have been expended upon more noble objects hath been expended upon them thy heart Oh Christian is Christs bed of spices and it may bee thou hast beded thy mercies with thee when Christ hath been put to lye in an Luk. 2. 7 out-house thou hast had room for them when thou hast had none for him they have had the best when the worst have been counted good enough for Christ It is said of Gen. 49. 4. Ruben that hee went up to his Fathers bed Ah! how often hath one creature-comfort and sometimes another put in between Christ and your souâ—s how often have your dear injoyments gone up to Christs bed It is said of the babylonians that they came in to Aholah Ezek. 23. 17. and Aholibahs bed of love may it not hee said of your near and dear mercies that they have come into Christs bed of lovâ— your hearts they being that bed wherein Christ Cant. 3. 7 delights to rest and repose himself Now if a husband a childe a friend shall take up that room in thy soul that is proper and peculiar to God God will either imbitter it remove it or bee the death â—f it if once the love of a wife runs out more to a servant than to her husband the Master will turn him out of doors though otherwise hee were a servant worth gold The sweetest comforts of this life they are but like treasures of Snow now do but take a handful of Snow and crush it in your hands and it will melt away presently but if you let it lye upon the ground it will continue for some time and so it is with the contentments of this world if you grasp them in your hands and lay them too near your hearts they will quickly melt and vanish away but if you will not hold them too fast in your hands nor lay them too close to your hearts they will abide the longer with you There are those that love their mercies into their graves that hug their mercies to death that kiss them till they kill them Many a man hath slain his mercies by setting too great a value upon them many a man hath â—unk his ship of mercie by taking up in it over-loved mercies are seldome long-liv'd Ezek. 24. 21. when I take from them the joy of their glory the desire of their eyes and that whereupon they set their minds their sons and their daughters the way to lose your mercies is to indulge them the way to destroy them is to fix your minds and hearts upon them thou mayest write bitterness and death upon that mercie first that hath first taken away thy heart from God Now if God hath stript thee of that very mercy with which thou hast often committed spiritual Adultery and Idolatry hast thou any cause to murmure hast thou not rather cause to hold thy peace and to be mute before the Lord Christians your hearts are Christs royal Throne and in this Throne Christ will bee chief as Pharaoh said to Joseph Gen. 41. 40. hee will endure no competitor if you shall attempt to throne the creature bee it never so near and dear unto you Christ will dethrone it hee will destroy it hee will quickly lay them in a bed of dust who shall aspire to his royal Throne But Seventhly Thou hast no cause to murmure because of the loss of such near and dear enjoyments considering those more noble and spiritual mercies and favours that thou still enjoyest grant that Joseph is not and Benjamin is not yet Gen. 42. 36 Heb. 13. 8 Jesus is hee is yesterday and to day and the same for ever thy union and communion with Christ remains 1 Joh. 3. 9. still the immortal seed abides in thee still the Sun of Righteousness shines upon thee still thou art in favour with God still and thou art under the anointings of the Spirit still and under the influences of Heaven still c. and why then shouldest thou mutter and not rather hold thy peace I have read Jerom. of one Dydimus a godly Preacher who was blind Alexander a godly man once ask'd him whether hee was not sore troubled and afflicted for want of his sight Oh yes I said Dydimus it is a great affliction and grief unto mee then Alexander chid him saying hath God given you the excellency of an Angel of an Apostle and are you troubled for that which Rats and Mice and brute beasts have So say I Ah Ephes 1. 3 4 Christians hath God blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places hath the Lord given you himself for a portion hath hee given you his Son for your redemption and his Spirit for your instruction and will you murmure hath hee given his gracâ— to adorn you his promises to comforâ— you his ordinances to better you and the hopes of Heaven to encourage you and will you mutter Paulinus Nolanus when his City was taken from him prayed thus Lord said hee let mee not bee troubled at the loss of my gold silver honour c. for thou art all and much more than all these unto mee in the want of all your sweetest enjoyments Christ will bee all in all unto you my Jewels are my husband said Phocion's wife Col. 3. 11 Plutarâ—h in vita Phocion my ornaments are my two sons said the Mother of the Gracchi my treasures are my friends said Constantius and so may a Christian under his greatest losses say Christ is my richest Jewels my chiefest treasures my best ornaments my sweetest delights look what all these things are to a carnal heart a worldly heart that and more is Christ to mee Eighthly If God by smiting thee in thy nearest and dearest injâ—yments shall put thee upon a more thorow smiting and mortifying of thy dearest sins thou hast no cause to murmure God cures David of adultery by killing his endeared childe There is some Dalilah some darling some beloved sin or Psa 18. 23 Heb. 12. 1 other that a Christians calling condition constitution or temptations leads him to play withall and to hug in his own bosome rather than some other As in a ground that lieth untilled amongst the great variety of weeds there is usually some master-weed that is rifer and ranker than all the rest And as it
13 14. O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with saphires And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of carbuneles and all thy borders of pleasant stones And all thy children shall bee taught of the Lord and great shall bee the peace of thy children Inrighteousness shalt thou bee established thou shalt bee far from oppression for thou shalt not fear and from terrour for it shall not come near thee Though they have been long afflicted and tossed yet they shall at last upon glorious foundations bee established God will not onely raise them out of their distressed estate wherein now they are but hee will advance them to a most eminent and glorious condition in this world they shall bee very glorious and outshine all the world in spiritual excellencies and outward dignities Isa 60. 14 15. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet and they shall call thee The City of the Lord The Zion of the holy One of Israel Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated so that no man went thorow thee I will make thee an eternal excellency a joy of many Generations Ah Christians I do not mutter nor murmure under your long afflictions for you do not know but that by these long afflictions God may prepare and fit you for such favours and blessings that may never have end by long afflictions God many times prepares his people for temporal spiritual and eternal mercies if God by long afflictions makes more room in thy soul for himself his Son his Spirit his Word if by long afflictions hee shall crucifie thy heart more to the world and to thy relations and frame and fashion thy soul more for celestial enjoyments hast thou any cause to murmure surely no. But Seventhly The longer a Saint is afflicted on earth the more glorious hee shall shine in Heaven 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18 Mat. 5. 10 11 12 the more affliction here the more glory hereafter This Truth may bee thus made out First The more gracious souls are afflicted the more their graces are exercised and encreased Heb. 12. 10. Rom. 5. 3 4 5. Now the more grace here the more glory hereafter the higher in grace the higher in glory Grace differs nothing from glory but in name grace is glory in the bud and glory is grace at the full glory is nothing but the perfection of grace 2 Cor. 3. ult happiness is nothing but the perfection of holiness grace is glory in the seed and glory is grace in the flower grace is glory militant and glory is grace triumphant grace and glory differ non specie sed gradu in degree not kinde as the learned speak Now it is most certain that the more gracious souls are afflicted the more their graces are exercised and the more grace is exercised the more it is encreased as I have sufficiently demonstrated in this treatise already But Secondly The longer a gracious soul is afflicted the more his religious duties will bee multiplied Psal 109. 4. For my love they are my adversaries but I give my self unto prayer or as the Hebrew reads it But I am prayer or a man of Psa 42. 1 2 3 4 5. Psal 63. 1 2 3 8. Jâ—r 31. 18 19 Hos 5. ult with ch 6. 1 2 Psal 116. 3 4. and Psal 143. 6 7 prayer In times of affliction a Christian is all prayer hee is never so much a man of prayer a man given up to prayer as in times of affliction A Christian is never so frequent so fervent so abundant in the work of the Lord as when hee is afflicted Isa 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them Now they do not onely pray but they pour out a prayer they were freely largely and abundantly in prayer when the rod was upon them Look as men plentifully pour out water for the quenching of a fire so did they plentifully pour out their prayers before the Lord and as affliction puts a man upon being much in prayer so it puts him upon other duties of Religion answerably Now this is most certain that though God will reward no man for his works yet hee will reward every man according to Matth. 25. 14. 26. God will reward his people secundum laboâ—em Bern. works 1 Cor. 15. ult Therefore my beloved Brethren bee yee stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 2 Cor. 9. 6. But this I say hee which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and hee which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully or hee which soweth in benedictions or blessings shall reap in benedictions as it runs in the original It is an excellent observation of Calvin upon Gods rewarding the Rechabites obedience Jer. 35. 19. God saith hee oft recompenceth the shadows and seeming appearances of virtue to shew what complacency hee takes in the ample rewards hee hath reserved for true and sincere piety Now if the longer a Christian is afflicted the more his religious services will bee multiplied and the more they are multiplied the more his glory at last will bee encreased then the longer a Saint is afflicted on earth the more glory he shall have when hee comes to Heaven But Thirdly The longer any Saint is afflicted the more into the image and likeness of Christ hee will bee transformed It is one of Rom. 8. 28 29 c. 2 Cor. 1 5 6 7 Phil. 3. 10 Heb. 2. 10 2 Tim. 2. 12. Gods great designs and ends in afflicting of his people to make them more conformable to his Son and God will not lose his end men often lose theirs but God never hath nor will lose his and experience tells us that God doth every day by afflictions accomplish this end upon his people the longer they are afflicted the more they are made conformable to Christ in meekness lowliness spiritualness heavenliness in faith love self-denial pitty compassion c. Now certainly the more like to Christ the more beloved of Christ the more a Christian is like to Christ the more hee is the delight of Christ and the more like to Christ on earth the nearer the soul shall sit to Christ in Heaven nothing makes a man more conformable to Christ than afflictions Justin Martyr in his second Apology for the Christians hath observed that there is scarce any prediction or prophecy concerning our Saviour Christ the Son of God to bee made man but the Heathen writers who were all after Moses did from thence invent some fable and feign it to have been acted by some one or other of Jupiters Sons onely the Prophecies about the cross of Christ they have taken for the
fall a weeping a whining a complaining a repining a murmuring as if they were utterly undone and yet a well of water a well of comfort a well of refreshment a well of deliverance is near and their case no waies so sad nor so bad as they imagine it to beâ— Thirdly The greater thy afflictions are the nearer is deliverance to thee when these waters rise high then salvation comes upon the wing when thy troubles are very great then mercy will ride Scripture and History speaks fully to this head post to deliver thee Deut. 32. 36. For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants when hee seeth that their power or hand is gone and there is none shut up and left Israel of old and England of late years hath often experienced this truth Wine was nearest Joh. 2. 1 2 3. when the water-pots were filled with water up to the brim So oftentimes mercy is nearest deliverance is nearest when our afflictions are at the highest when a Christian is brim-full of troubles then the wine of consolation is at hand therefore hold thy peace murmure not but sit silent before the Lord. Fourthly They are not great if compared to the glory that shall bee revealed Rom. 8. 18. For I 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18 reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory that shall bee revealed in us or upon us The Apostle upon casting up of his accounts concludes that all the pains chains troubles trials and torments that they met with in this world was not to bee put in the ballance with the glory of Heaven As the Globe of the Earth which after the Mathematicians account is many thousands of miles in compass yet being compared unto the greatness of the starry skies circumference is but a center or a little prick So the troubles afflictions and sorrows of this life in respect of eternal happiness and blessedness are to bee reputed as nothing they are but as the prick of a pin to the starry Heavens they that have heard most of the glory of Heaven have not heard one quarter of that which the Saints shall finde there that glory is unconceivable and unexpressable Augustine in one of his Epistles hath this relation that the very same day wherein Jerome died hee was in his study and had got Pen Ink and Paper to write something of the glory of Heaven to Jerome and suddenly hee saw a light breaking into his study and a sweet smell that came unto him and this voice hee thought hee heard O Augustine what doest thou dost thou think to put the Sea into a liâ—tle vessel when the Heavens shall cease from their continual motion then shalt thou bee able to understand what the glory of Heaven is and not before except you come to feel it as now I do Nicephorus speaks of one Agbarus Eccles Hist a great man that hearing so much of Christs fame by reason of the miracles hee wrought sent a Painter to take his picture and that the Painter when hee came was not able to do it because of that radiancy and divine splendor which sate on Christs face such is the splendor the brightness the glory the happiness and blessedness that is reserved for the Saints in Heaven that had I all the tongues of men on earth and all the excellencies of the Angels in Heaven yet should I not bee able to conceive nor to express that vision of glory to you it is best hastning thither that wee may feel and enjoy that which wee shall never bee able to declare Fifthly They are not great if compared with the afflictions and torments of such of the damned who when they were in this world 1 Pet. 3. 18 19 20 Jude 6 7. Mat. 10. 15. â—h 11. 23 24 never sinned at so high a rate as thou hast done Doubtless there are many now in Hell who never sinned against such clear light as thou hast done nor against such special love as thou hast done nor against such choice means as thou hast done nor against such precious mercies as thou hast done nor against such singular remedies as Isa 33. 14 The fire in hell is like that stone in Arcadia which being once kindled could not be quenched thou hast done certainly there are many now a roaring in everlasting burnings who never sinned against such deep convictions of conscience as thou hast done nor against such close and strong reasonings of the Spirit as thou hast done nor against such free offers of mercy and rich tenders of grace as thou hast done nor against such sweet wooings and multiplied intreaties of a bleeding dying Saviour as thou hast done therefore hold thy peace What are thy afflictions thy torments to the torments of the damned whose torments are numberless easeless remediless and endless whose pains are without intermission or mitigation who have weeping served in for the first course and gnashing of teeth for the second and the gnawing worm for the third and intollerable pain for the fourth yet the pain of the body is but the body of pain the very soul of sorrow and pain is the souls sorrow and pain and an everlasting alienation and separation from God for the fifth Ah Christian how canst thou seriously think on these things and not lay thy hand upon thy mouth when thou art under the greatest sufferings thy sins have been far greater than many of theirs and thy greatest afflictions are but a flea-bite to theirs therefore bee silent before the Lord. Sixthly and lastly If thy afflictions are so great then what madness and folly will it bee for thee to make them greater by murmuring every act of murmuring will but add load unto load 1 Cor. 10. 10. and burden to burden The Israelites under great afflictions fell a murmuring and their murmuring proved their utter ruine as you may see in that Numb 14. Murmuâ—ing will but put God upon heating the furnace seven times hotter therefore hold thy peace But of this I have spoken sufficiently already Object 6. Oh! But my afflictions are greater than other mens afflictions are and how then can I bee silent Oh! there is no affliction to my affliction how can I hold my peace I answer First It may bee thy sins are greater than other mens Jer. 3. 6 12 sins if thou hast sinned against more light more love more mercies more experiences more promises than others no wonder if thy afflictions are greater than others if this bee thy case thou hast more cause to bee mute than to murmure and certainly if thou dost but seriously look into the black book of thy conscience thou wilt finde greater sins there than any thou canst charge upon any person or persons on earth if thou shouldest not I think thou wouldest justly incur the censure which that sowre Philosopher past upon Grammarians viz. That they Diogenes apud Laertium l. 6
Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Christs intercession should bee the souls Anchor-hold in time of temptation in the day of thy temptation thou needest not be disturbed nor disquieted but in peace and patience possess thine own soul considering what a friend thou hast in the Court of glory and how hee is most active for thee when Satan is most busie in tempting of thee Fifthly and Lastly All temptations that the Saints meet with shall work much for their good they shall bee much for their gain the profit and advantage that will redound to tempted souls by all their temptations is very great now this will appear to bee a most Rom. 8. 28 Jam. 1. 12. certain truth by an induction of particulars thus First By temptations God multiplies and encreases his childrens spiritual experiences the encrease of which is better than the encrease Rom 5. 3 4 Frequent engagements add to the souldiers skill and much encrease his experiences of gold in the school of temptation God gives his children the greatest experience of his power supporting them of his word comforting of them of his mercy warming of them of his wisdome counselling of them of his faithfulness joying of them and of his grace strengthening of them 2 Cor. 12. 9. My grace shall bee sufficient for thee Paul never experienced so deeply what Almighty power was what the everlasting arms of mercy were and what infinite grace and goodness as when hee was under the buffetings of Satan Secondly All their temptations shall bee physical their temptations shall bee happy preventions of great abominations 2 Cor. 12. 7. Lest I should bee exalted lest I Those souldiers that are most in fighting are least in sinning and most free from diseases should bee exalted it is twice in that one verse hee begins with it and hee ends with it if hee had not been buffeted hee might have been more highly exalted in his own conceit than hee was before in his exstacie Ah tempted souls you say you are naught very naught but had it not been for the school of temptation you might have been stark naught before this time you say you are sick you are even sick to death why your sicknesse had before this time killed you had not temptations been physical to you you are bad under temptation but doubtless you would have been much worse had not God made temptation a diet-drink to you Thirdly Temptations shall much promote the exercise of grace as the spring in the watch sets all the wheels a going and as Solomons virtuous woman set all her Prov. 30. 10 ult 1 Pet. 1. 6 7 maidens to work So temptation sets faith on work and love on work and repentance on work and hope on work and holy fear on work and godly sorrow on work Tapers burn clearest in the dark As the wind sets the Mill at work so the wind of temptation sets the graces of the Saints a going now faith runs to Christ now it hugs a promise now it pleads the blood of Christ now it looks to the recompence of reward now it takes the sword of the Spirit c. now Cant. 3. 6 7 love cleaves to Christ now love hangs upon Christ now love will fight it out to the death for Christ now hope flies to the horns of the Sanctuary now hope puts on her helmet now hope casts her anchor upon that within the veil c. Heb. 6. 19 Grace is never more acted than when a Christian is most tempted Satan made a bow of Jobs wife of his Rib as Chrysostome speaks and shot a tentation by her at Job thinking to have shot him to the heart curse God and dye but the activity of Jobs graces was a breast-plate that made him temptation-proof the Devil tempting Bonaventure told him hee was a reprobate and therefore perswaded him to drink in the present pleasures of this life for saith hee thou art excluded from the future joyes with God in Heaven Bonaventures graces being active hee answers no not so Satan if I must not enjoy God after this life let mee enjoy him as much as I can in this life Fourthly By temptations the Lord will make you the more serviceable and usefu to others none so fit and able to relieve tempted The skilfulest commanders and leaders are of greatest service and use to the souldiers souls to sympathize with tempted souls to succour tempted souls to counsel tempted souls to pitty tempted souls to support tempted souls to bear with tempted souls and to comfort tempted souls as those who have been in the school of temptations 2 Cor. 1. 3 4. Blessed bee God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort Who comforteth us in all our tribulation that wee may bee able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith wee our selves are comforted of God By temptations God trains up his servants and fits and capacitates them to succour and shelter their fellow brethren One tempted Christian saith Luther is Luther in Gen. 27. Rev. 2. 24 more profitable and useful to other Christians than a hundred I may add than a thousand that have not known the depths of Satan that have not been in the school of temptation hee that is Master of Arts in the school of temptation hath learned an Art to comfort to succour and gently to handle tempted and distressed souls infinitely beyond what all humane Arts can reach unto no Doctor to him that hath been a Doctor in the school of temptation all other Doctors are but illiterate dunces to him Fifthly It is an honour to the Saints to bee tempted and in the issue to have an honourable conquest ever the tempter it was a great honour to David that hee should be put to fight hand to hand 1 Sam. 17. with Goliah and in the issue to overcome him but it was a far 〈…〉 ter honour to Job and Paul Job 1. 2 Cor. 12. 7 8 9 10 that they should bee put to combate in the open field with Satan himself and in the close to gain a famous conquest over him as they did it was a very great honour to 2 Sam. 23. 13 18. Davids three mighty men that in jeopardy of their lives they brake thorow the host of the Philistines to bring water to David out of the well of Beth-lehem and did effect it in spite of all the strength and power of their enemies though it were to the extreamest hazard of their blood and lives but it is a far greater honour to the Saints to bee furnished with a spirit of Rom. 8. 35 ult 1 John 1. 3 4 strength courage and valour to break thorow an army of temptations and in the close 〈◊〉 triumph over them and yet this honour have all the Saints 1 Cor.
yet hee will return again though your Sun bee now set in a cloud yet it will rise again though sorrow may abide for a night yet joy Isa 17. 14 Psal 30. 5. Psal 40. 1 2 3 Psal 5. 11 Psal 42. 5 8 9 11 comes in the morning A Christians mourning shall last but till morning Micah 7. 19. Hee will turn again hee will have compassion upon us Cant. 3. 4. It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and I would not let him go c. Psal 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within mee thy comforts delight my soul Isa 54. 7 8 10. For a moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy redeemer for the mountains shall depart and the hills bee removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace bee removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee God will not suffer his whole displeasure to arise upon his people neither will hee forsake them totally or finally the Saints shall taste but some sips of the cup of Gods wrath sinners shall drink the dreggs their storm shall end in a calm and their winter night shall be turned into a summers day There was a woman who was thirteen years under desertion which was so vehement that for the most part of her time shee was fain to keep her bed through weakness A godly Minister who was affected with her condition went to comfort her and to pray with her but when hee came and offered to do it shee shrieked out utterly refusing and forbidding him to pray with her for said shee I have too many abused mercies to answer for already yet hee would not bee put off but prayed by her and so prevailed with God on her behalf that the next morning shee was delivered from all her fears and had such exceeding joy that the like hath rarely been heard of the Lord that had been long withdrawn from her returned at length in a way of singular mercy to her There was So Mris. Honeywood Mris. Katherine Breterg and divers others another precious woman who was several years deserted and hearing a precious godly Minister preach shee of a sudden fell down overwhelmed with joy crying out O! hee is come whom my soul loveth and for divers daies after shee was filled with such exceeding joyes and had such gracious and singular ravishing expressions so fluently coming from her that many came to hear the rare manifestations of Gods grace in her the lowest of her pious expressions did exceed the highest that ever the Minister had read in the book of Martyrs But Sixthly and lasty Gods deserting Gods forsaking of his people shall many waies work for their good As First God by withdrawing from his people will prepare and fit them for greater refreshings manifestations and consolations Psal 71. 11 20 21. Saying God hath forsaken him persecute and take him for there is none to deliver him But shall this forelorn condition work for his good yes Thou which hast shewed mee great and sore troubles shalt quicken mee again and shalt bring mee up again from the depths of the earth Thou shalt encrease my greatness and comfort mee on every side When Josephs brethren were in Gen. 45. 1 2 3 4 their greatest distress then Joseph makes known himself most fully to them so doth Christ our spiritual Joseph to his people Hudson the Martyr deserted at the stake went from under his chain and having prayed earnestly was comforted immediately and suffered valiantly 2 By Gods withdrawing from his people hee prevents his peoples withdrawing from him and so by an affliction hee prevents sin for God to withdraw from mee is but Heb. 10. 38 39. Christ the Captain of our salvation will execute Martial Law upon all that withdraw from their colours c. my affliction but for mee to withdraw from God that is my sin and therefore it were better for mee that God should withdraw a thousand times from mee than that I should once withdraw from God God therefore forsakes us that wee may not forsake our God God sometimes hides himself that wee may cleave the clâ—ser to him and hang the faster upon him As the Mother hides her self from the childe for a time that the childe may cleave the closer and hang the faster upon her all the day long God sometimes hid himself from David Psal 30. 7. Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled I was all-amort well and is that all no vers 8. I cried to thee O Lord and unto the Lord I made supplication Now hee cries louder and cleaves closer to God than ever so in that Psal 63. 1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in thy Sanctuary Well and how do these withdrawings of God work why this you may see in verse 8. My soul followeth hard after thee or as the Hebrew reads it my soul cleaveth after thee look as the husband cleaves to his wife so doth my soul cleave to the Lord the Psalmist now follows God even hard Gen. 2. 24 at heels as wee say But Thirdly The Lord by withdrawing from his people will inhance and raise the price and commend the worth excellency sweetness 2 Pet. 1. 4 and usefulness of several precious promises which otherwise would bee but as dry breasts and as useless weapons to the soul As that Micah 7. 18 19. Hee will turn again hee will have compassion upon us c. and that Isa 54. 7 8. but now opened and that Heb. 13. 5 6. and that Hab. 2. 3. and that And that John 14. 21 23. and that 1 Sam. 12. 20. Isa 60. 19 ult Psal 5. 12. For thou Lord wilt bless the Righteous with favour thou wilt compass him or crown him as with a shield the Lord will compass the righteous about with his favour as the Crown compasses about the head as the Hebrew imports and that Psal 112. 4. Unto the upright there ariseth light in darkness hee is gracious and full of compassion and righteous And that Jer. 3â— 37. Thus saith the Lord if Heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord. As sure as Heaven cannot bee measured nor the foundations of the earth searched by the skill or power of any mortal man So sure and certain it is that God will not utterly cast off his people no noâ— for all the evil that they have done
the Father of the Prodigal could say of his lost son Luk. 15. ult This my Son was lost but is found hee was dead but is alive but how few Christians can say this my good name was lost but is found it was dead but now it lives As when Orpha once left Naomi shee returned Ruth 1. 14 no more to her so when once a good name leaves a man it hardly returns to him again a crack'd credit will hardly bee sodered anew new Wine is rarely put into old bottles a man should stand upon nothing more than the credit of his conscience and the credit of his Act. 24. 16 name In Japan the very children are so jealous of their reputation that in case you lose a trifle and say to one of them sirrah I beleeve you have stollen it without any pause the boy will immediately cut off a joint from one of his fingers and say Sir if you say true I wish my finger may never heal again Three things a Christian should stifly labour to maintain 1 The honour of God 2 The honour of the Gospel 3 The honour of his own name If once a Christians good name sets in a cloud it will bee long before it rises again Thirdly Though all this bee true yet it hath been the portion of Gods dearest Saints and servants to bee slandered reproached vilified Mat. 5. 10 11 12 1 Pet. 3. 14. ch 4. 14 Psal 69. 7 Gen. 39. Psal 52. 2 Sam. 16. 11 12. 6. 13. 15. ch of Job Jer. 51. 51 and falsely accused Psal 31. 18. Let the lying lips bee put to silence which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous How sadly and falsely was Joseph accused by his wanton Mistress David by Doeg and Shimei Job of hypocrisie impiety inhumanity cruelty partiality pride and irreligion Job 22. Was not Naboth accused of speaking blasphemy against God and the King did not Haman represent the Jews to the Esth 3. King as Refractories and Rebels was not Elias accused to bee the troubler of Israel and Jeremy the Jer. 20. 7 8 9. Rom. 3. 8 2 Cor. 6. 8 1 Cor. 4. 12 13 trumpet of rebellion the Baptist a stirrer up of sedition and Paul a pestilent incendiary were not the Apostles generally accounted deceivers and deluders of the people and the off-scouring of the world c. Athanasius and Eustathius Act. Mon. were falsely accused of Adultery Adultery Heresie and Treason were charged upon Cranmer Parricide upon Philpot sedition upon Latimer As the primitive persecutors usually put Christians into Bears skins and Dogs skins and then baited them so they usually As Tertullian Minutius Faelix and others declare loaded their names and persons with all the reproach scorn contempt and false reports imaginable and then baited them and then acted all their malice and cruelty upon them I think there is no Christian but sooner or later first or last will have cause to say with David Psal 35. 11. False witnesses did rise up they laid to my charge things that I knew not they charged me with such things whereof I was both innocent and ignorant It was Hippias the saying of one that there was nothing so intollerable as accusation because there was no punishment ordained by Law for accusers as there was for theeves although they stole friendship from men which is the goodliest riches men can have Well Christians seeing it hath been the lot of the dearest Saints to bee falsely accused and to have their names and reputes in the world reproached and flie-blown do you hold your peace seeing it is no worse with you than it was with them of whom this world was not world The Kimchi Rabbins say that the world cannot subsist without patient bearing of reproaches But Fourthly Our Lord Jesus Christ was sadly reproached and falsely accused his precious name that deserves to bee alwaies writ in characters of gold as the Persians usually write their Kings was often eclipsed before the Sun was eclipsed at his death his sweet name that was sweeter than all sweets was often crucified before his body Oh the stones of reproach that were frequently rowled upon that name by which wee must bee saved if ever wee are saved Oh the jears the scoffs the scorns that were cast upon that name that can onely bless us The name of Jesus saith Chrysostome hath a thousand treasures of joy and comfort in it The name of a Saviour saith Bernard is hony in the mouth and musick in the ear and a jubile in the heart and yet where is the heart that can conceive or the tongue that can express how much dung and filth hath been cast upon Christs names and how many sharp arrows of reproach and scorn have been and daily yea hourly are shot by the world at Christs name and honour Such ignominious reproaches were cast upon Christ and his name in the time of his life and at his death It is a foolish thing saith Cato to hope for life by anothers death the world practically speaks as much every day that the Sun did blush and masked her self with a cloud that hee might no longer behold them Mat. 11. 19. The Son of man came eating and drinking and they say behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of publicans and sinners but was hee such a one no wisdome is justified of her children Wisdomes children will stand up and justifie her before all the world Mat. 27. 63. Saying Sir Wee remember The Greek word signifies one who doth profess an Art of couzening people to their faces that that deceiver said while hee was yet alive after three daies I will rise again but was hee a deceiver of the people no hee was the faithful and true witness Rev. 1. 5. chap. 3. 14. John 7. 20. The people answered and said thou hast a Devil who goeth about to kill thee chap. 8. 48. Then answered the Jews and said unto him say we not well that thou art a Samaritane and hast a Devil ch 10. 20. And many of them said he hath a Devil and is mad why hear ye him It was a wonder of wonders that the earth did not open and swallow up these Monsters and that God did not rain Hell out of Heaven upon these horrid blasphemers but their blasphemous assertions were denied and disproved by some of wisdomes children vers 21. Others said these are not the words of him that hath a Devil can a Devil open the eyes of the blind The Devil hath no such power nor any such goodness as to create eyes to him that was born blind Will you yet see more scorn dirt and contempt cast upon the Lord of glory why then cast your eyes upon that Luk. 16. 14. And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him or as the Greek reads it They blew their noses at him in scorn and Exe mukterizon
set an Adder upon it to sting it and if it cry and the flesh swell they cast it away as a spurious issue but if iâ— do not cry if it do not so much as quatch nor do not grow the worse for it then they account it for their own and make very much of it So the Lord by delaies which are as the stinging of the Adder tries his children if they patiently quietly and sweetly can bear them then the Lord will own them and make much of them as those that are near and dear unto him but if under delaies they fall a crying roaring storming vexing and fretting the Lord will not own them but reckon them as bastards and no sons Heb. 12. 8. Secondly That they may have the greater experience of his power grace love and mercy in the close Christ loved Martha and her Sisters and Lazarus yet Joh. 11. 3 5 6 17 hee defers his coming for several daies and Lazarus must die bee put in the grave and lye there till hee stinks and why so but that they might have the greater experience of his power grace and love towar 〈…〉 them Thirdly To sharpen his childrens appetite and to put a greater edge upon their desires to make Cant. 3. 1 2 3 4 Isa 26. 8 9 16. them cry out as a woman in travel or as a man that is in danger of drowning God delaies that his people may set upon him with greater strength and importunity hee puts them off that they may put on with more life and vigour God seems to be cold that hee may make us the more hot hee seems to bee slack that hee may make us the more earnest hee seems to bee backward that hee may make us the more forward in pressing upon him the Father delaies the childe that hee may make him the more eager and so doth God his that hee may make them the more divinely violent When Balaam Numb 22. 15 had once put off Balak hee sent again saith the Text certain Princes more and more honourable than they Balaam's put off did but make Balak the more importunate it did but encrease and whet his desires this is that that God aims at by all his put offs to make his children more earnest to whet up their spirits and that they may send up more and yet more honourable prayers after him that they may cry more earnestly strive more mightily and wrestle more importunately with God and that they may take Heaven with a more sacred violence Anglers draw back the hook that the fish may bee the more forward to bite and God sometimes seems to draw back but it is onely that wee may press the more on And therefore as Anglers when they have long waited and perceive that the fish do not so much as nibble at the bait yet do they not impatiently throw away the Rod or break the Hook and Line but pull up and look upon the baiâ— and mend it and so throw it in again and then the fish bites so when a Christian praies and praies and yet catches nothing God seems to bee silent and Heaven seems to bee shut against him yet let him not cast off prayer but mend his prayer pray more beleevingly pray more affectionately and pray more fervently and then the fish will bite then mercy will come and comfort will come and deliverance will come But Fourthly God delaies and puts off his people many times that hee may make a fuller discovery of themselves to themselves Few Christians see themselves and understand themselves by delaies God discovers much of a mans sinfull self to his religious self much of his worser part to his better part of his ignoble part to his most noble part When the fire is put under the pot then the scum appears so when God delaies a poor soul Oh! how doth the scum of pride the scum of murmuring the scum of quarrelling the scum of distrust the scum of impatience the scum of despair 2 King 6. 33 discover it self in the heart of a poor creature I have read of a fool who being left in a chamber and the door locked when hee was asleep after hee awakes and findes the door fast and all the people gone hee cries out at the window O my self my self O my self So when God shuts the door upon his people when hee delaies them and puts them off Ah! what cause have they to cry out of themselves to cry out of proud self and worldly self and Psal 73. 21 22 carnal self and foolish self and â—roward self c. Wee are very apt saith Seneca utimur perspicillis magis quam speculis to use spectacles to behold other mens faults rather than looking-glasses to behold our own but now Gods delaies are as a looking-glass in which God gives his people to see their own faults Oh! that baseness that vileness that wretchedness that sink of filthiness that gulf of wickedness that God by delaies discovers to bee in the hearts of men But Fifthly God delaies and puts off his people to enhaunce to raise the price of mercy the price of deliverance wee usually set the highest price the greatest esteem upon such things that wee obtain with greatest difficulty what we dearly Act. 22. 28 Cant. 3. 4 buy that we highly prize the more sighs tears weepings waitings watchings strivings earnest longings this mercy and that deliverance and the other favour costs us the more highly wee shall value them when a delaied mercy comes it â—astes more like a mercy it sticks more like a mercy it warms more like a mercy it works more like a mercy and it endears the heart to God like a mercy more than any other mercy that a man enjoyes This is the childe saith Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 27. after God had long delayed her for which I prayed and the Lord hath given mee my petition which I asked of him Delaied mercy is the cream of mercy no mercy so sweet so dear so precious to a man as that which a man hath gained after many put offs Mr. Glover the Martyr sought the Lord earnestly and frequently for some special mercies and the Lord delaied him long but when hee was even at the stake then the Lord gave in the mercies to him and then as a man over joyed hee cries out to his friend hee is come hee is come But Sixthly The Lord delaies his people that hee may pay them home in their own coin God sometimes loves to retaliate The Spouse puts off Christ Cant. 5. 2. I have put off Prov. 1. 23 ult Zach. 7. 13 my coat how can I put it on c. And Christ puts her off vers 5 6 7 8. Thou hast put off God from day to day from month to month yea from year to year and therefore if God puts thee off from day to day or from year to year hast thou any cause to complain surely no thou hast often and long