for the body and so likewise for the soule If it be an afflicted conscience waiting Gods leasure for the assurance of his love is the best remedy and so in all others cases Section 10. Objection But when will there be an end of this long disease this tedious affliction this heavy yoake of bondage c. Answer It is a signe of cold love scarce to have begun to suffer for Christ and presently to gape for an end It was a farre better speech of one Lord give me what thou wilt as much as thou wilt when thou wilt Thou art Gods Patient prescribe not thy Physitian It is the Goldsmiths skill to know how long his gold must be in the Crusible neither takes he it out of that hot bath till it be sufficiently purified What if the Lord for a time forbeare comming as Samuel did to Saul that hee may try what is in thee and what thou wilt doe or suffer for him that hath doâ—e and suffered so much for thee as why did God seâ— Noah about building the Arke an hundred and twenty yeares when a small time might have finished it It was for the tryall of his patience Thus hee led the Israelites in the Desarts of Arabia forty yeares whereas a man may travell from Ramesis in Aegypt to any part of Canaan in forty dâ—yes this God did to prove them that hee might know what was in their hearts Deut. 8. 2. He promised Abraham a Sonne in whom he should be blessâ—d this heâ— pâ—rformed not in thirty yeares after He gave David the Kingdome and annointed him by Samuel yet was he not possessed of it in many yeares insomuch that he said Mine eyes faile for thy Word Psal. 119. 123. Joseph hath a promise that the Sunnâ— and Moone should do him râ—verence but fiâ—st he must be bounâ— in the Dungeon This God doth to â—ry 〈◊〉 for in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we shâ—w our selves and our 〈◊〉 Whâ—â— saith God to his 〈…〉 Psal. 75. When 〈◊〉 I â—ee 〈◊〉 â—ime I will execute jud 〈…〉 ment 〈◊〉 Verse a. he doth not â—â—y 〈◊〉 you thinke the time convenient Let us tarry a little the Lords leasure deliverance will come peare will come joy will come in meane while to be patient in misery makes misery no misery Againe secondly he may delay his comming for other ends of greater consequence Marthae and Mary send to Christ as desiring him to come and restore Lazarus their sicke brother to healthâ— John 11. 3. expecting him without delay now he loved both Martha and her Sister and Lazarus Verse 5. yet he neglects comming for many dayes le ts him dye be put in the grave untill he stanke but what of all this he that would not restore sicke Lazarus to health restored dead Lazarus to life which was a greater mercy then they either did or durst aske Neither did this onely increase their joy and thankefulnesse give them occasion ever after to beleeve and hope above and against all hope but it made many of the Jewes beleeve in him which before did not Verse 45. Thirdly and lastly he delayes thee the longer that when he comes he may bring with him the greater recompence of reward for he will comfort us according to the dayes we have beene afflicted and according to the yeares that we have seene evill Psal. 90. 15. Neither will he stay over-long for behold saith he I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his workes shall be Revel 22. 12. and suffering is accounted none of the meanest workes So that the harder the conflict the more glorious the conquest Wherefore hold out yet a little and helpe shall not be wanting to the co 〈…〉 batants nor a crowne to the conquerours Yea sight to the last minute for the eye of thy Saviour is upon thee if thou faint to cheere thâ—e if thou stand to it to second thee if thou conquer to crowne thee whereas no combate no conquest no conquest no triumph Objection But my sufferings are so great that if they continue I shall never be able to hold out Answer True if thou trustâ—st to thine owne strength for perseverance is the gift of God yea it is hee that worketh in us both to will and to doe at his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. â—irst mans will is a fugitive Onesimus and God must call home that runnagate subdue that rebell besore we can chuse that which is good Neither when we have begun can we continue perficit qui efficit He that begun a good worke in 〈◊〉 will performe it Phil. 1. 6. Jesus is the founder and finisher of our faith Hebr. 12. 2. Neither can wee of our selves suffer for him Datur pati It is given to us to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 29. Without me ye can doe nothing Iohn 15. 5. not parum but nihil But in him and through him all things I can doe all things through him that strengthens me Phil. 4. 13. In our selves we are weake Captives in him wee are more then Conquerours Rom. 8. 37. Whence it is many sicke men undergoe patiently such pressures as when they were in health they would not have beleeved they could have borne The truth of grace be the measure never so small is alwayes blest with perseverance because that little is fed with an everlasting spring Yea if grace but conquer us first we by it shall conquer all things else whether it be corruptions within us or temptations without us for as the fire which came down from Heaven in Elias time licked up all the water to shew that it came from God so will this fire spend all our corruptions No affliction without or corruption within shall quench it Wherefore doe but thy endeavour to hold out I meane with patience for that Spirit which came in the likenesse of a Dove will not come but upon a Dove and pray for divine assistance this sadnesse shall end in gladnesse this sorrow in singing But above all pray unto God for Prayer is the Key of Heaven as Saint Austin tearmes it and the hand of a Christian which is able to reach from Earth to Heaven and to take forâ—h every manner of good gift ouâ— of the Lords Treasury Did not Elias by turning this Key one way lock up the whole Heaven from raining for three yeares and six moneths and another while by turning the same Key of Prayer as much another way in the turning of a hand unlock all the doores and windowes of Heaven and set them wide open that it rained and the Earth brought forth her fruit Yea as all Sampsons strength lay in his haire so all our strength lyeth in Prayer Prayers and teares are the Churches Armour Prayers and patience her weapons and therefore when Peter was imprisoned by cruell Herod the Congregation joyned their forces to pray for him and so brake his chaynes blew open the Iron Gates and fetcht him out Acts 12. 4. to 18. Armâ— Christianorum
of Israel Judg. 3. 9 15. Elisha 2 Kings 6. 18. Hezekiah 2 Kings 19. 15 16. Stephen Acts 7. 59 60. And lastly in Jehosâ—phat who being told that there was a great multitude comming against him from beyond the Sea out of Aram it followes That Jehosaphat feared and set himselfe to seeke the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah Yea they came out of all parts and joyned with him to enquire of the Lord 2 Chro. 20. 3 4 13. Neither doth it make us alone which suffer earnest in prayer but it makes others also labour in prayer to God for us 2 Cor. 1. 10 11. Acts 12. 5 12. As what true members participate not some way of the bodyes smart It is onely a Nero can sit and sing whiles Rome burnes whence we are taught to pray in the plurall number Our Father and certainely he cannot pray or be heard for himselfe that is no mans friend but his owne No prayer without faith no faith without Charity no Charity without mutuall intercession But I proceed Crosses are the files and whetstones that set an edge on our Devotions without which they grow dull and ineffectuall Ionah sleepes in the Shippe but prayes hard in the Whales belly Prayer is the wing of the soule wherewith it flyes to Heaven as meditation is the Eye wherewith wee see God But our hearts are like â—lintstones which must be smitten ere they will cast out these sparkes of devotion Christ never heard of the Canaanitish woman untill her daughter was miserably vexed with a Divell but then shee comes to him and doth not speake but cry need and desire have raised her voyce to an importunate clamour The God of mercy is light of hearing yet he loves a loud and vehement solicitation not to make himselfe inclinable to grant but to make us capable to receive blessings And indeed the very purpose of affliction is to make us importunate hee that heares the secret murmurs of our griefe yet will not seeme to heare us till our cryes be loud and strong as Demosthenes would not plead for his Client till he cryed to him but then answered his sorrow Now I feele thy cause Prayer is as an Arrow if it be drawne up but a little it goes not farre but if it be puld up to the head flyes strongly and pearses deep if it be but dribled forth of carelesse lips it falls downe at our feet the strength of our â—jâ—culation sends it up into heaven and fetches downe a blessing The Childe hath escaped many a stripe by his loud crying and the very unjust Judge cannot endure the widdowes clamour So unto servent prayer God will deny nothing Whereas heartlesse motions doe but teach us to deny Fervent sutes offer violence both to earth and heaven so that if we aske and misse it is because we aske amisse wee beat back the flame not with a purpose to suppresse it but to raise it higher and to diffuse it We stop the streame that it may swell the more and a deniall doth but invite the importunate as wee see in the Canaanitish woman Mat. 15. Our holy longings are increased with delayes it whets our appetite to bee held fasting and whom will not Need make both humble and eloquent If the case be woefull it will bee exprest accordingly the despaire of all other helpes sends us importunately to the God of power but while money can buy Physicke or friends procure inlargement the great Physitian and helper is not sought unto nor throughly trusted in It is written of the children of Israel that so soone as they cryed unto the Lord hee delivered them from their servitude under Eglon King of Moab yet it is plaine they were eighteene yeares under this bondage undelivered Judg. 3. 14 15. Doubtlesse they were not so unsensible of their owne misery as not to complaine sooner then the end of eighteene yeares the first houre they sighed for themselves but now they cried unto God They are words and not prayers which fall from carelesse lips if we would prevaile with God we must wrestle and if we would wrestle happily with God we must wrestle first with our owne dulnesse yea if wee felt our want or wanted not desire wee could speake to God in no tune but cries and nothing but cries can peirce Heaven the best mens zeale is but like a fire of greene wood which burneth no longer than whiles it is blowne Affliction to the soule is as plummets to a Clock or winde to a Ship holy and faithfull prayer as oares to a Boat and ill goeth the Boat without oares or the Ship without winde or the Clock without plummets Now are some afflicted in reputation as Susanna was others in children as Elie some by enemies as David others by friends as Joseph some in body as Lazarus others in goods as Job others in liberty as John In all extremities let us send this messenger to Christ for ease faithfull and servent prayer if this can but carry the burthen to him he will carry it for us and from us for ever Neither can we want incouragement to aske when as the sicke of the palsie but asked health and obtained also forgivenesse of sinnes When Solomon but desired wisedome and the Lord gave him wisedome and honour and abundance of wealth When Jacob asked but meat and cloathing and God made him a great rich man When Zacheus desired onely to â—â—ave a sight of Christ and was so happy as to entertaine him into his hâ—use into his heart yea to be entertained into Christs kingdome We doe not yea in many cases we dare not aske so much as God is pleased to give Neither dost thou O Saviour measure thy gifts by our petitions but by our wants and thine owne mercies True if the all-wise God shall fore-see that thou wouldest serve him as the prodigall sonne served his father who prayed but till he had got his patrimony and then fâ—rsooke him and spent the same in Ryot to the givers dishonour as too many use 〈◊〉 the Ocean of Gods bounty as we doe the Thames it brings us in all manner of provision cloathes to cover us fuell to warme us foode to nourish us wine to cheâ—re us gold to enrich us and wee in recompence soyle it with our rubbish filth common shores and such like excretions even as the Cloud that 's lifted up and advanced by the Sunne obscures the Sun In this case he will either deny thee in mercy as hee did Saint Paul 2 Cor. 12. 8 9. and our Saviour himselfe Math. 26. 39. or graunt thee thy requests in wroth as he did a King to the Israelites and Quayles wherewith hee fed their bodyes but withall sending leannesse into their soules Psal. 106. 15. And well doth that Childe deserve to be so served who will lay out the money given him by his father to buy poyson or weapons to murther him with Wherefore let thy prayers not onely be fervent but frequent for thy
above whiles we are furnished with these earthly contenâ—ments below but when God strips us of them straitwayes our minde is homewards Whiles Naomies husband and sonnes were alive wee finde no motion of her retiring home to Judah let her earthly stayes be removed she thinkes presently of removing to her Courstry a delicious life when every thing about us is resplendent and contentfull makes us that we have no minde to goe to Heaven wherefore as a loving mother when shee would weane her childe from the dug maketh it bitter with Wormewood or Aloes so dealeth the Lord with us he maketh this life bitter unto us by suffering our enemies to persecute and oppresse us to the end wee may contemne the world and transport our hopes from Earth to Heaven he makes us weepe in this Vale of misery that wee may the more eagerly long for that place of felicity where all teares shall bee wip't from our eyes Our wine saith Gregory hath some Gall put into it that wee should not be so delighted with the way as to forget whâ—ther wee are going And this is no small abatement to the bitternesse of adversities that they teach us the way to Heaven for the lesse comfort we finde on earth the more we seeke above and the more wee esteeme the best things and wee are very ungratefull if we do not thanke him for that which so overcomes us that it overcomes the love of the world in us Experience shewes that in Countries where be the greatest plenty of fruits they have the shortest lives they doe so surfet on their aboundance Sicily is so full of sweet flowers if we beleeve Diodorus Siculus that dogs cannot hunt there and it is questionable whether the injoying of outward things or the contemning of them be the greatest happinesse for to be deprived of them is but to be deprived of a Dye wherewith a man might either win or lose yea doth not a large portion of them many times prove to the Owner like a treacherout Dye indeed which flatters an improvident Gantester with his owâ—e hand to thrâ—w away his wealth to another Or to yeeld it the uttermost gold may make a man the richer not the better honour may make him the higher not the happier and all temporall delights are but as flowers they onely have their moneth and are gone this morning in the bosome the next in the Besome The consideration whereof made the very Heathen Philosophers hate this world though they saw not where to finde a better Yea it made Themistocles so undervalue transitory thingâ— in comparison of vertue that seeing rich Bracâ—lots of previous stones lie in his path he â—ad his friend take them up saying Thou art not Themistocles And indeed in â—s Heaven onely that hath a foundation Earth hath none God hath hanged it upon nothing and the things therein are very nothing Nothing feeds pride nor keepes off repentance so much as prosperous advantage T is a wonder to see a Favourite study for ought but additions to his Greatnesse God shall have much adoe to make him know himselfe The cloath that hath many staines must passe through many â—arders no lesse than an odious leaprosie will humble Naaman wherefore by it the onely wise God thought meet to sawcâ— the valour dignity renowne victories of that famous Generall of the Syrians If I could be so uncharitable as to wish an enemies soule lost this were the onely way let him live in the height of the worlds blandishments for how can he love a second Mistresse that never saw but one beauty and still continues deeply inamoured on it Why is the Lapwing made an Hieroglyphicke of infelicity but because it hath a little Corronet upon the head and yet feeds upon the worst of excrements The Peacock hath more painted Plumes yet is the Eagle accounted the Queene of Birdes because she flyeth neerest heâ—ven We often see nothing carries us so far from God as those favours he hath imported to us T is the misery of the poore to be neglected of men t is the misery of the rich to neglect their God The Bâ—dger being wounded with the prickles of the Hedghog his invited guest whom at first hee welcomed and entertained in his Cabbiâ— as an inward friend mannerly desiring him to depart in kindnesse as he came could receive no other answer then that hee for his owne part found himselfe very well at ease and they that were not had reason to seeke out another seat that might like them better It is but a fable yet the morrall is true perspicuous profitable Many shall one day repent that they were happy too soone Many a man cryes out O that I were so rich so healthfull so quiet so happy c. Alas though thou hadst thy wish for the present thou shouldst perhaps be a loser in the sequoll The Physitian doth not heare his Patient in what he would yet heareth him in taking occasion to doe another thing more conducible to his health God loves to give us cooles and heats in our desires and will so allay our joyes that their fruition hurt us not he knowes that as it is with the body touching meates the greater plenty the lesse dainty and too long forbearance causes a Surfet when wee come to full food So it fares with the minde touching worldly contentments therefore hee feeds us not with the dish but with the spoone and will have us neither cloyed nor famished In this life Mercy and misery griefe and Grace Good and bad are blended one with the other because if we should have nothing but comfort Earth would be thought Heaven besides if Christ-tide lasted all the yeare what would become of Lent If every day were Good-friday the world would be weary of Fâ—sting Secundus calls death a sleepe eternall the wicked mans feare the godly mans wish Where the conscience is cleare death is looked for without feare yea desired with delight accepted with devotion why it is but the cessation of trouble the extinction of sinne the deliverance from enemies a rescue from Satan the quiet rest of the body and infranchizement of the soule The woman great with childe is ever musing upon the time of her delivery and hath not hee the like cause when Death is his Bridge from woe to glory Though it bee the wicked mans shipwrack t is the good mans putting into harbour And hereupon finding himselfe hated persecuted afflicted and tormented by enemies of all sorts he can as willingly leave the world as others can forgoe the Court yea as willingly dye as dine yea no woman with childe did ever more exactly count her time No Jew did evermore earnestly wish for the Jubily No servant so desires the end of his yeares No stranger so longs to be at home as he expects the promise of Christs comming It is the strength of his hope the sweet object of his faith in the midst of all sorrowes the comfort of his heart the heart
saith Saint Hierom in the like case by our sinnes are these Infidels made strong and therefore a meane to lessen our punishments is to lessen our sinnes yea even Achior a very Ammonite could say thus to Holefâ—rnes Enquire if this people have offended their God otherwise all our warring will come to nothing And it is very rare in this case if there be not some Achan in the Army some Sheba in the towne some Jonas in the Ship some distemper in the soule disorder in the life that God would have removed and remedied as for instance Jonas how came he into the Whales belly was it not his owne undutifulnesse David whence came all his troubles by Absalom Ammon Adoniah was it not his fondnesse and indulgence aâ—d so of Ely Jacob what might hee thanke for all his afflictions whereof God gave him not a draught but made him a diet drinke so that hee had scarce a merry day for one trouble or another whom had he to thanke for it did he not thrust his owne feet into the stocks by that threefold lye of his uttered in a breath to get the blessing Wherefore if thou lovest thine owne ease deale freely and ingenuously with God and thine owne soule for sinne and punishment are inseparable companions and goe tyed together with chaines of Adamant as the Poet speakes like individuall twins they are borne together live together are attended one by the other as the body by the shadow where sinne is in the Saddle there punishment is on the Crupper whence it is that the Hebrewes have but one and the same word for them both Ob But thou hast repented and râ—solvest to bee reformed An Many in time of distresse have strong resolutions and promise faire even a Candle as bigge as a Mast but trouble being over one of ten in the pound were well which proves they never truly repented Yea in stead of being better they grow worse like one that fals into a relapse from an Agâ—e to a burning feaver which peradventure would be thy case if God should now release the at least thou mayst feare it for to seeke unto God onely in affliction is suspitious and such seekers commonly are rejected with scorne Proverbs 1. 24. to 33. Indeed if thou shalt persevere when thou art released in doing that which now thou purposest it is an infallable signe thy repentance is sound Otherwise not CHAP. V. That it serves to worke in us amendment of life 2. SEcondly the malice of our enemies serves to worke in us amendment of life Every Affliction sanctified rubs off some rust melts off some drosse straines out some corruption c. which done we rise out of trouble as Christ rose out of the grave for when the gold is fined the fire shall hold it no longer The outward cold of affliction doth greatly increase the inward beate and fervor of the Graces of God in us Indeed no Chastisement saith the Author to the Hebrewes for the present seemes to bee joyous but grievous But afterwards it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse to them that are thereby exercised Heb. 12. 11. We are dunged with reproaches that we may prove a richer soyle for grace as Nazianzen speakes alluding to the parable of the Figtree God beates us that he may better us he hedgeth us about with thornes that he may keepe us within compasse least wee breake over into Satans pastures which indeede will fat us but to the slaughter Yea he pricks us with Goades that he may let out our ill humours and happy thornes or Landsets of tribulation are those which open a veyne for sin to gush out at God strips the body of pleasures to cloath the soule with righteousnesse and oâ—tentimes strengthens our state of grace by impoverishing our temporall estate for commonly the more Prosperity the lesse Piety The poore saith Christ receive the Gospell though the rich are more bound It was an observation of Tacitus that raising of the fortune did rarely mend the disposition onely Vespasâ—an was changed into the better yea if it makes us not worse it is a wonder Evagrius gives it as a high praise of the Emperour Mauritious that in the height of all his Majesty he retained his ancient Piety We serve God as our servants serve us of which many have too good cloathes others too much wages or are too fine fed to doe worke as esops Hen being over fed was 〈◊〉 fat to lay or perhaps too many under them as a Gentleman having but one servant thought him over burdned with worke and therefore tooke another to helpe him but having two one of them so trusted to the others observance that oft-times they were both missing and the worke not done then he chose a third but was worse served then than before whereupon he told his friend when I had one servant I had a servant when I had two I had but halfe of one now I have three I have never an one Few men can disgest great felicity Many a man hath been a looser by his gaines and found that that which multeplyed his outward estate hath abated his inward and so on the contrary David was never so tender as when hee was hunted like a Partridge 1 Sam. 26. 20. Jonah was at best in the Whales belly Stevens face never shone so faire as when he stood before the Counsell Acts 6. 15. Whilst the Romans had warres with Carthage and enemies in Affricke they knew not what â—ices meant in Rome Now if the winter of the one is found to bee the spring of the other and the corruption of prosperity the generation of piety who will esteeme those things good which make us worse or that evill which brings such gaine and sweetnesse Before I was afflicted saith David I went astray but now doe I keepe thy Commandements Psal. 119. 67. These evilâ— doe presse us but it is to God and to holinesse Yea how much lower our afflictions weigh us downe on Earth so much the more earnestly our affections mount up to Heaven An Egg will swim in salt water but sink in fresh so we King David among so many publick and private calamities and dysasters kept his head above water and stood upright in his heart to God but King Salomon his Sonne even sunke in the midst of delights and pleasures Too much ranknesse layeth the Corne and Trees over-laden with Fruit are their owne ruine Happy was hee John 9. in being borne blinde whose gaine of bodily sight made way for the spirituall who of a Patient became an Advocate for his Savieur who lost a Synagogâ—e and found Heaven who by being abandoned of sinners was received of the Lord of glory God rarely deprives a man of one faculty but he more then supplies in another The defect of corporall sight hath not seldome mended the memory for what is taken from one Sense is divided amongst the rest When Zachary was dumbe John Baptist the voice was a breeding Hannibal had
greatest sway with us yea to please men wee could be like certaine pictures that represent to divers beholders at divers stations divers formes but now it is enough to regulate our thoughts words and actions that God seeth and indeed where are braines there needes no more We reade that paphnutius converted Thais and Ephron another famous strumpet from uncleannesse only with this argument that God seeth all things in the darke when the dores are fast the windowes shut the curtens drawne Before too much devotion was made an argument of too little discretion and mischiefe called vertue when it was happy in the successe as with the Papists the Ostentation of the prosperity of their estate is the best demonstration of the sincerity of their Religion yea and thinke also they have clypt the wings of prosperity as the Athenians did the wings of victory that she cannot fly away Before we thought drinking and joviall company the best receit to drive away sadnesse but now nothing like living well as an Heathen hath confest Once we thought Earth Heaven but now we apprehend the World and glory thereof to be like a beautifull harlot a Paradise to the eye a Purgatory to the soule Yea hee that before was indifferent in nothing but conscience and no cause so bad but hee would undertake it for gaine or glory and thinke it well done As Sathan prevailes chiefly by deception of our Reason whereby wee mistake vertue for vice and vice for vertue wherein hee imitates Hanniball who having overcome the Romans put on their Armour and so his souldiers being taken for Romans won a City by that pollicy and to this purpose what stone so rough but he can smooth it what stuffe so pittifull but hee can set a glosse upon it like a Beare he can licke into fashion the most mishapen and deformed lumpe or like a dogge heale any wound he can reach with his tongue yea what golden eloquence will he whisper in our eare what brazen impudence what subtill shifts what quaint querks what cunning conveyances what jugling shuffling and packing will he use to make any sinne feazable like the Hare which if she dare not trust to her speed she will try the turne and so on the contrary to discourage us in good shewing each thing as it were in triangular glasses among the opticks which will represent a way so fowle so deepe that 't is impassable as if it were all covered with Tapestry But as he pleades now with eloquence so when he sees his time hee will speake with Thunder Even such a man I say now hath his eyes opened to discerne good and evill when God speaks and when Satan for Gods chastisements are pills made of purpose to cleare the sight and vertue if it be clearely seene moves great love and affection as Plato speaks Yea when to our cost we can Adam like see good from evill clearely the subtile Serpent can deceive no longer whereas before wee were easily deceived and led away with the multitude into innumerable errours Yea if the fish did know of the hooke or the bird did but see the net though they have but the understanding of fishes and birds yet they would let the bait alone fly over the net and let the Fowler whistle to himselfe Thus Gods corrections are our instructions his lashes our lessons his scourges our schoolemasters his chastisements our advertisements And commonly the soule waxeth as the body wayneth and is wisest to prescribe when the bones and sinnewes are weakest to execute neither doe wee hereby become wise for our owne soules good only but affliction makes us wise and able to doe others good also that are in any the like affliction Blessed be God saith S. Paul which comforteth us in all our afflictions that we may be able to comfort them which are in any affliction by the comfort wherewith wee our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1. 4. Yea the whole Church and every particular member thereof have their wisedome and knowledge improved even by their greatest enemies If Arius and Sabellius had not vexed the Church the deepe mysteries of the Trinity had not beeâ—e so accurately cleared by the Catholike Doctors Subtill arguments well answered breed a cleare conclusion heresie makes men sharpen their wits the better to confute it as Worme-wood though it be bitter to the taste yet it is good to cleere the eyes yea further the very stormes of persecution make us looke to our Tackling Patience and to our Anchor Hope and to our Helme Faith and to our Card the Word of God and to our Captaine Christ whereas security like a calme makes us forget both our danger and deliverer Experience is the best informer which makes Martin Luther say When all is done tribulation is the plainest and most sincere divinity And another most emphatically shewing that knowledge is in many respects cumulative as well as originall like water that besides his owne spring head is fed with other springs and streames That Prayer Reading Meditation and temptations make a Divine So that to be altogether exempt from misery is a most miserable thing CHAP. XVI How it increaseth their patience 13 BEcause the malice of our enemies makes for the increase of our patience We rejoyce in tribulation saith Paul knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience Rom. 5. 3. My brethren saith S. James count it exceeding joy when ye fall into divers temptations knowing that the tryall of your faith bringeth forth patience James 1. 2 3. Thus the malice of our enemies doth both prove and improve our patience see it exemplified in Job and David whose practise doth most excellently confirme this point you know Job was not so miserable in his afflictions as happy in his patience Job 31. 35 36 37. And David after he had beene so many yeares trayned up in the Schoole of Affliction and exercised with continuall sufferings from innumerable enemies of all sorts became a wonder of patience to all succeeding Ages as take but notice of his carriage towards Shimei and you will say so when this his impotent Subject cursed and cast stones at him and all his Men of War called him Murderer wicked man c. he was so farre from revenging it when hee might so easily or suffering others that you shall heare him make that an argument of his patience which was the exercise of it Behold my sonne saith he which came forth of my bowels seeketh my life how much more now may this Benjamite doe is 2 Sam. 16. 11. The wickednesse of aâ— Absalom may rob his Father of comfort but shall helpe to adde to his Fathers goodnesse it is the advantage of great crosses that they swallow up the lesser One mans sinne cannot be excused by anothers the lesser by the greater if Absalom be a Traytor Shimei may not curse and rebell but the passion conceived from the indignity of a stranger may be abated by the harder measure of our owne Indeed in the
his God banish him his Countrey hee hath his conversation in Heaven kill his body it shall rise againe so he fights with a shadow that contends with an upright man Wherefore let all who suffer in their good names if conscious and guilty of an enemies imputations repent and amend if otherwise contemne them owne them not so much as once to take notice thereof A wicked heart is as a Barrell of powder to temptation let thine bee as a River of water Yea seeing God esteems men as they are and not as they have been although formerly thou hast beene culpable yet now thou mayest answer for thy selfe as Paul did for Onesimus Though in times past I was unprofitable yet now I am profitable and oppose to them that sweet and divine sentence of sweet and holy Bernard Tell me not Satan what I have beene but what I am and will be Or that of Beza in the like case Whatsoever I was 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 me the grace of my Saviour Or that Apopthegme of Diogenes to a base fellow that told him he had once beene a forger of money whose answer was T is true such as thou art now I was once but such as I am now thou wilt never be Yea thou mayst say by how much more I have formerly sinned by so much more is Gods power and goodnesse now magnified As Saint Augustine hearing the Donatists revile him for the former wickednesse of his youth answered The more desperate my disease was so much the more I admire the Physitian Yea thou mayst yet straine it a peg higher and say the greater my sinnes were the greater is my honour as the Divels which Mary Magdalen once had are mentioned for her glory Thus if we cannot avoid ill tongues let our care bee not to deserve them and t is all one as if we avoyded them For how little is that man hurt whom malice condemnes on Earth and God commends in Heaven let the World accuse mee so long as God acquits me I care not CHAP. XVIII That it is more laudable to forgive than revenge 2. BEcause it is more generous and laudible to forgive than revenge certainely in taking revenge a man is but even with his enemy but in passing it over he is superiour to him for it is a Princes part to pardon yea qouth Alexander There can be nothing more noble than to doe well to those that deserve ill And Saint Gregory it is more honour to suffer injuries by silence than to overcome them by answering againe Princes use not to chide when Embassadours have offered them undecencies but deny them audience as if silence were the way royall to correct a wrong And certainely he injoyes a brave composednesse that seats himselfe above the flight of the injurious claw Like the Emperour Augustus who though of a most tenatious and retentive memory would forget wrongs as soone as they were offered Or Agathocles Antigonus and Caesar who being great Potentates were as little moved at vulgar wrongs as a Lyon at the barking of Curres yea the Orator gives it as a high praise to Caesar that he could forgeâ— nothing but wrongs remember nothing but benefits and who so truely noble as he that can doe ill and will not True it is not rare to see a great man vex himselfe at the neglect of a peasant but this argnes a poore spirit A true Lyon would passe it by with an honourable scorne You 'l confesse then t is Princely to disdaine a wrong and is that all No forgivenesse saith Seneca is a valiant kind of revenge and none are so frequent in pardoning as the couragious Hee that is modestly valiant stirs not till he must needs and then to purpose Like the Flint he hath fire in him but it appeares not untill you force it from him who more valiant than Joshua and he held it the noblest victory to overcome evill with good for the Gibeonites tooke not so much paines in comming to deceive him as he in going to deliver them And Cicero more commends Caesar for overcomming his owne courage in pardoning Marcellus than for the great victories he had against his other enemies Yea a dominion over ones selfe is greater than the Grand Signiory of Turkie For as the greatest knowledge is truely to know thy selfe so the greatest conquest is to subdue thy selfe he is a wise man that can avoid an evil he is a patient man that can indure it but hee is a valiant man that can conquer it And indeed for a man to overcome an enemy and be overcome by his owne passions is to conquer a petty Village with the losse of a large City What saith a Father miserable is that victory wherein thou overcommest thine enemy and the Divell in the meane time overcoms thee thou slayest his body the Divell thy soule now wee deeme him to have the honour of the warre that hath the profit of it But as an Emperour said of the meanes prescribed him to cure his Leprosie which was the blood of Infants I had rather be sicke still than bee recovered by such a medicine so wilt thou in this case if thou hast either Bowels or braines Yea if the price or honour of the conquest is rated by the difficulty than to suppresse anger in thy selfe is to conquer with Hercules one of the Furies To tame all passions is to leade Cerberus in chaines and to indure afflictions and persecutions strongly and patiently is with Atlas to beare the whole World on thy shoulders as saith the Poet. It is no shame to suffer ill but to doe it to bee evill we are all naturally disposed to be holy and good is the difficulty Yea every Beast and Vermine can kill It is true prowesse and honour to give life and preserve it Yea a Beast being snarled at by a Cur will passe by as scorning to take notice thereof I but is it wisedome so to doe Yes first the ancient received opinion is that the sinewes of wisedome are slownesse of beleife and distrust Secondly none more wise than Salomon and he is of opinion That it is the glory of a man to passe by an offence Pro. 19. 11. We fooles think it ignominy and cowardise to put up the lye without a stab a wrong without a challenge but Salomon to whose wisedome all wise men will subscribe was of another judgement and to this of Salomon the wisest heathen have set their seale Pittacus the Philosopher holds That pardon is better than revenge inasmuch as the one is proper to the spirit the other to a cruell Beast But how Socrates whom the Oracle of Apollo prâ—nounced the wisest man alive and all the rest of Philosophers approved of it both by judgement and practice We shall have occasion to relate in the reasons insuing No truer
suffer him to curse for the Lord hath bidden him 2 Sam. 16. 11. Againe secondly if wee make this use of our sufferings what more pretious than the reproaches of an enemy for thereby we shall sooner and more plainly heare of our faults than by a friend although neither in a good manner nor to a good end Wee have great need quoth Diogenes of faithfull friends or sharpe enemies Every one hath use of a Monitor but friends in this kind are so rare that no wise man would willingly forgoe his enemâ— at any rate Wherefore saitâ— one he shall be no friend to me that is a friend to my faults and I am no friend to my selfe if I thinke him my enemy that tells me of them CHAP. XXI They are patient because their sufferings are counterpoysed and made sweet with more than answerable blessings 5. HE beareth the crosse patiently because it is counterpoysed and made sweet with more than answerable blessings Satan and the world may take many things from us as they did from Job viz. health wealth outward peace friends liberty credit c. but they can never take God from us who gives all and at the same time supplyes the want of these with comforts farre surpassing and transcending them And therefore in the midst of misery we say with Joh blessed be the name of the Lord. Quest. But with what comforts doth the Lord supply our losses Answer The assurance of the pardon of sinne alone is able to clear all stormes of the minde it teacheth misery as sicknesse poverty famine imprisonment infamy c. to laugh not by reason of some imaginary â—picycles but by naturall and palpable reasons Yea let death happen it matters not When a Malefactor hath sâ—ed out his pardon let the Assizes come when they will the sooner the better But to this is added the peace of conscience the marrow of all comforts otherwise called the peace of God which passeth all understanding and surpasseth all commending and never did man finde pleasure upon earth like the sweet testimony of an appeased conscience reconciled unto God clensed by the bloud of the Lambe and quieted by the presence of the Holy Ghost Yea hadst thou who most dotest upon the world but these comforts thou wouldest not change them for all that Satan once offered to our Saviour and is now accepted by many O good life saith an Ancient Father what a Joy art thou in time of distresse And another Sweet is the felicity of that man whose workes are just and whose desires are innocent though hee be in Phaleris Bull. For these are priviledges which make Paul happier in his chaine of Iron than Agrippa in his chaine of Gold and Peter more merry under stripes then Caiphas upon the Judgement-seat and Steven the like For though hee was under his persecutors for outward condition yet he was farre above them for inward consolation Neither had wealthy Cressus so much riches in his coffers as poore Job had in his conscience Yea how can he be miserable that hath Christ and all his merits made sure to him that hath his name written in Heaven yea that is already in Heaven for where our desires are there our selves are And the heavenly minded live not so much where they live as where they love that is to say in Christ surely his soule must bee brim full of brave thoughts that is able to refresh himselfe with this Meditation God is my Father the Church my Mother Christ the Judge my elder Brother and Advocate the Holy Ghost my Comforter the Angels mine attendance all the Creatures mine for use the stock of the Churches Prayers mine for benefit the world mine Inne Heaven my home God is alwayes with mee before mee within mee overseeing me I talke with him in Prayer he with me in his word c. Sure if these be the accustomed meales of a good soule it cannot chuse but keep naturall heat from decaying and make it happy But behold yet a greater priviledge These comforts doe not onely support and refresh us and so supply our losses in common calamities but even in the midst of â—ortures and torments which otherwise were intollerable The naturall mans stomack cannot of all enemies indure hunger yea a prison where hee must alwayes lie under hatches makes him all amort but worthy Hawkes could clap his hands for joy in the midst of the flames and another that I reade of say my good friends I now finde it true indeed he that leaveth all to follow Christ shall have in this world centuplum a hundred fold more I have it in that centuplum peace of conscience with me at parting And Anaxarchus being laid along in a Trough of stone and smitten with Iron sledges by the appointment of Nicocreon the Tyrant of Cyprus ceased not to cry out strike smite and beate it is not Anaxarchus but his vayle you martyr so And a childe in Josephus being all rent to death with biting snippers at the commandment of Antiochus could cry with a loud assured and undaunted voyce Tyrant thou losâ—st time loe I am still at mine ease what is that smarting paine where are those torments which whilome thou didst so threaten me withall my constancy more troubles thee than thy cruelty me And how many more of those Martyrs in Queene Maryes Raigne were even ravished before they could be permitted to dye so great and so passing all expressing is the peace and comfort of a good conscience Now as the Priâ—sts of Mercury when they eate their sigges and honey cryed out O how sweet is Truth so if the worst of a Beleevers life in this world be so sweet how sweet shall his life be in Heaven but I le hold you no longer in this A man that hath his sinnes pardoned is never compleatly miserable till conscience againe turnes his enemy whereas on the contrary take the most happy worldling that ever was if hee have not his sinnes pardoned he is compleatly wretched though he sees it not suppose him Emperour of the whole world as Adam when he was in Paradise and Lord of all what did it avayle him so long as hee had a tormenter within a selfe-condemning conscience which told him that God was his enemy and knew no other then that hell should be his everlasting portion certainly this like a dampe could not chuse but put out all the lights of his pleasure so that Paradise it selfe was not Paradise to him which is the case of all wicked men be they never so great never so seemingly happy True wicked men thinke the godly lesse merry and more miserable than themselves yea some that mirth and mischiefe are onely sworne brothers but this is a foundation lesse opinion For first no man is miserable because another so thinkes him Secondly Gods word teacheth and a good conscience findeth that no man can be so joyfull as the faithfull Indeed carnall men laugh more but that laughter is onely the
be in charity shall never bee in Heaven And why should I doe my selfe a shrewd turne because another would Yea we desire pardon as we give pardon and we would be loath to have our owne lips condemne us When wee pray to God to forgive us our trespasses as wee also forgive them that trespasse against us and doe not resolve to forgive our brethren wee doe in effect say Lord condemne us for we will be condemned whereas he that doth good to his enemy even in that act doth better to himselfe It is a singular sacrifice to God and well pleasing to him to doe good against evill and to succour our very enemy in his necessity But we may perchance heape coales of fire upon the others head Rom. 12. 20 though we must not doe it with an intent to make his reckoning more but our reckoning lesse Againe Blessed is the man saith Saint James that indureth temptation viz. with patience for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crowne of life James 1. 12. And this made Moses not onely patient in his sufferings but joyfull esteeming the rebuke of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Aegypt For saith the Text he had respect unto the recompence of the reward Heb. 11. 26. And well it might for whereas the highest degree of suffering is not worthy of the least and lowest degree of this glory Rom. 8. 18. Saint Paul witnesseth that our light affliction which is but for a moment if it be borne with patience causeth unto us a farre most excellent and eternall weight of glory while we looke not on the things that are seene but on the things which are not seene 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. Where note the incomparablenesse and infinite difference between the work and the wages light affliction receiving a weight of glory and momentany afflictionâ— eternall glory answerable to the reward of the wicked whose empty delights live and dye in a moment but their insufferable punishment is interminable and endlesse their pleasure is short their paine everlasting our paine is short our joy eternall What will not men undergoe so their pay may be answerable The old experienced Souldier feares not the raine and stormes above him nor the numbers falling before him nor the troopes of enemies against him nor the shot of thundring Ordnance about him but lookes to the honourable reward promised him When Philip asked Democritus if hee did not feare to lose his head hee answered No for quoth hee If I dye the Athenians will give mee a life immortall meaning he should be statuted in the treasury of eternall fame if the immortallity as they thought of their names was such a strong reason to perswade them to patience and all kind of worthinesse what should the immortallity of the soule be to us Alas vertue were a poore thing if fame onely should be all the Garland that did crowne her but the Christian knowes that if every paine he suffers were a death and every crosse an hell he shall have amends enough Why said Ambrose on his death bed we are happy in this we serve a good Master that will not suffer us to be losers Which made the Martyrs such Lambes in suffering that their persecutors were more weary with striking than they with suffering And many of them as willing to dye as dine No matter quoth one of them what I suffer on earth so I may be crowned in Heaven I care not quoth another what becommeth of this fraile Barke my flesh so I have the passenger my soule safely conducted And another If at night thou grant me Lazarus boone Let Dives dogs like all my sores at noone And a valiant Souldier going about a Christian atchievement my comfort is though I lose my life for Christs sake yet I shall not lose my labour yea I cannot endure enough to come to Heaven Lastly Ignatius going to his Martyrdome was so strongly ravished with the Joyes of Heaven that hee burst out into these words nay come fire come beasts come breaking of all my bones rackings of my body come all the torments of the Devill together upon me come what can come in the whole earth or in hell so I may enjoy Jesus Christ in the end They were content to smart so they might gaine and it was not long but light which was exacted of them in respect of what was expected by them and promised to them 2 Cor. 4. 17. Neither did they thinke that God is bound to reward them any way for their sufferings no if he accepts me when I have given my body to bee burned saith the beleever I may account it a mercy Thus hope refresheth a Christian as much as misery depresseth him it makes him defie all that menâ—o â—o devils can doe saying take away my goods my good name my friends my liberty my life and what else thou canst imagine yet I am well enough so long as thou canst not take away the reward of all which is an hundred fold more even in this world and in the world to come life everlasting Mark 10. 29 30 as when a Courtyer gave it out that Queene Mary being displeased with the Citie threatned to divert both Terme and Parliament to Oxford an Alderman askt whither shee meant to turne the Channell of the Thames thither or no if not saith he by Gods grace wee shall doe well enough For what are the things our enemies can take from us in comparison of Christ the Ocean of our comfort and Heaven the place of our rest where is joy without heavinesse or interruption peace without perturbation blessednesse without misery light without darkenesse health without sickenesse beauty without blemish abundance without want ease without labour satiety without loathing liberty without restraint security without feare glory without ignominy knowledge without ignorance eyes without teares hearts without sorrow soules without sinne where shall be no evill present or good absent for we shall have what we can desire and we shall desire nothing but what is good In fine that I may darkelyshaddow it out sith the lively representation of it is meerely impossible this life everlasting is the perfection of all good things for fulnesse is the perfection of measure and everlastingnes the perfection of time and infinitenes the perfection of number and immutability the perfection of state and immensity the perfection of place and immortality the perfection of life and God the perfection of all who shall bee all in all to us meate to our taste beauty to our eyes perfumes to our smell musicke to our eares and what shall I say more but as the Psalmist saith Glorious things are spoken of thee thou Citie of God but alas such is mans parvitie that he is as far from comprehending it as his armes be from compassing it Heaven shall receive us we cannot conceive Heaven Doe you aske what Heaven is saith one when I meet you there I will tell you for could this care
patiently instructing them with meeknesse that are contrary minded proving if God at any time will give them repentance that they may know the truth 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. And it stands to good reason for first every Christian is or ought to be a crucified man Secondly love is Christs badge the nature whereof is to cover offences with the mantle of peace And thirdly Religion bindes us to doe good unto all even our enemies so resembling the Sunne which is not scornfull but lookes with the same face upon every plot of earth not onely the stately Pallaces and pleasant Gardens are visited by his beames but meane Cottages but neglected Boggs and Moates And indeed sincerity loves to be universall like a light in the window which not onely gives light to them that are in the house but also to passengers in the street well knowing that the whole earth and every condition is equidistant from heaven if God but vouchsafe to shew mercy in which case who would not doe his utmost Aristippus being demanded why he tooke so patiently Dionysius spitting in his face answered the Fishermen to take a little Gudgeon doe abide to be imbrued with slime and salt water And should not I a Philosopher suffer my selfe to be sprinkled with a little spittle for the taking of a great Whale The House of God is not built up with blowes A word seasonably given after we have received an injury like a Rudder sometimes steares a man quite into another course The nature of many men is forward to accept of peace if it be offered them and negligent to sue for it otherwise They can spend secret wishes upon that which shall cost them no endeavour unlesse their enemy yeelds first they are resolved to stand out But if once their desire and expectation be answered the least reflection of this warmth makes them yeelding and plyable and that endeavour is spent to purpose which either makes a friend or unmakes an enemy We need not a more pregnant example than the Levites father in Law I doe not see him make any meanes for reconciliation but when remission came home to his doore no man could entertaine it more thankefully seeing such a singular example of patience and good condition in his Sonne When Iron meets with Iron there is a harsh and stubborne jarre but let Wooll meet that ruffer mettle this yeelding turnes resistance into embracing Yea a man shall be in more estimation with his enemy if ingenous having vanquisht him this way then if hee had never beene his enemy at all Thy greatest enemy shall if hee have any sparke of grace yea if hee have either bowels or braines confesse ingenuously to thee as Soul once to David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rendred me good and I have rendred thee evill as what heart of stone could have acknowledged lesse Saul would have kil'd David and could not David could have kil'd Saul and would not Besides the approbation of an enemy as one saith is more than the testimony of a whole Parish of friends or neuters And such a conquest is like that which Euagrius recordeth of the Romans namely That they got such a victory over Chosroes one of the Persian Kings that this Cosroes made a Law That never after any Kings of Persia should move warre against the Romans Actions salved up with a free forgivenesse are as not done Yea as a bone once broken is stronger after well setting so is love after such a reconcilement Whereas by returning a bitter answer he makes his enemies case his owne even as a mad dog biting another dog maketh him that is bitten become mad too But this is not all for happily it may and not a little further Gods glory and make Satan a loser as thus let us shake off their slanders as Paul did the Viper and these Barbarians which now conceive so basely of Gods people will change their mindes and say we are petty gods Yea will they say surely theirs is a good and holy and operative Religion that thus changes and transformes them into new Creatures The hope whereof should make us thinke no indeavour too much For if Zopyrus the Persian was content and that voluntarily to sustaine the cutting off his nose eares and lips to further the enterprize of his Lord Darius against proud Babylon what should a Christian bee willing to suffer that the Lord of Heaven and Earths cause may bee furthered against proud Lucifer and all the powers of darknesse But suppose thy patiâ—nt yeelding produceth no such effect as may answer these or the like hopes yet have patience still and that for three reasons 1. First seeme you to forget him and he will the sooner remember himselfe 2. It oft fals out that the end of passion is the beginning of repentance Therefore if not for his sake yet at least for thy owne sake be silent and then in case thou hearest further of it from another if ill beware of him but condemne him not untill thou hearest his owne Apologie for Who judgement gives and will but one side heare Though he judge right is no good Justicer Or lastly if not for his sake nor thine owne then for Gods sake have patience and beare with him because his maker beares with thee CHAP. XXVIII Because they will not take Gods Office out of his hand 5. Reasons in regard of God are three The 1 hath respect to his Office The 2 hath respect to his Commandement The 3 hath respect to his Glory Reason 1. BEcause hee will not take Gods Office out of his hand who saith avenge not your selves but give place unto wrath for vengeance is mine and I will repay it Rom. 12. 19. Peter speaking of our Saviour Christ saith When he was reviled he reviled not againe when he suffered he threatned not but comâ—itted it to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. 23. And the Prophet David of himselfe I returne not reviling for reviling for on thee O Lord do I wait thou wilt heare me my Lord my God meaning if I call to thee for a just revenge Psal. 38. 13 14 15. If the Lord see it meet that our wrongs should be revenged instantly he will doe it himselfe as hee revenged the Israelites upon the Aegyptians and so that all standers by shall see their fault in their punishment with admiration Now I know saith Jetbro that the â—â—rd is greater than all the gods for â—s they have dealt proudly with them so are they recompenced Exod. 18. 11. And as once he revenged Davids cause upon Nabal For about ten dayes after the Lord smote Nabal that he dyed saith the Text and it followes when David heard that Nabal was dead hee said Blessed be the Lord that hath judged the cause of my rebuke at the hand of Nabal and hath kept his servant from evill for the Lord hath recompenced the wickednesse of Nabal upon his owne head 1 Sam. 25. 38 39. And that
and fore-appointeth every particular crosse Eccles. 3. 1. Rom. 8. 28. 29. but even effecteth them and brings them into execution as they are crosses corrections tryals and chastisements Isaiah 45. 7. Amos 3. 6. and also ordereth and disposeth them that is limiteth and appointeth the beginning the end the measure the quality and the continuance thereof yea hee ordereth them to their right ends namely his owne glory the good of his servants and the benefit of his Church Jeremy 30. 11. Gen. 50. 19. 20. 2 Sam. 16. 10. Psal. 39. 9. God useth them but as Instruments wherewith to worke his good pleasure upon us As what are our enemies but Gods Axes to cut us downe not for the fire but for the building Gods Masons to hew us here in the Mountaine that we may be as the pollished corner stones of the Temple Ps 〈…〉 144. 12. Or admit the Mâ—son pulls downe the House it is not with an intent to destroy it but to reedifie it and raise it up againe in better formâ— and fashion Gods skullains to scowre up the vessell of his House that they may be meâ—t for the Masters use If then they be but as Instruments or Toâ—les in the hand of the worke-man we must not so much looke to the Instrument as to the Author Gen. 45. 5. and 50. 30. Well may the Priests of the Philistims doubt whether their plague bee from God or by Fortune 1 Sâ—m 6. 2. 9. but let a Joseph be sold into Aegypt he will say to his enemies Yee sent not me hither but God when ye thought evill against me God disposed it to good that hee might bring to passe as it is this day and save much people alive or let a David be rayled upon by any cursed Shimei hee will answer Let him alone for he curseth even because the Lord hâ—th bid him curse David Who dare then say wheresore hast thou done so 2 Sam. 16. 10. Or let a Micha be trodden upon and insulted over by his enemy his answer shall be no other than this I will beare the wrâ—th of the Lord be 〈…〉 se I have sinned against him untill be plead my cause and execute judgement for me Micha 7. 9. The beleever that is conversant in Gods booke knowes that his adversaries are in the hands of God as a Hammer Axe or Rod in the hand of a smiter and therefore as the Hammer Axe or Rod of it selfe can doe nothing any further than the force of the â—and using it gives strength unto it so no more can they doe any thing at all unto him further than it is given them from above as our Saviour told Pilate John 19. 11. See this in some examples you have Laban following Jacob with one troope Esau meeting him with another both with hâ—stile intentions both goe on till the utter most point of their execution both are prevented â—re the execution for stay but a while and you shall see Laban leave him with a kisse Esau meet him with a kisse of the one hee hath an oath tâ—â—res of the othâ—r peace with both GOD makes sooles of the enemies of his Church he lets them proceed that they may be frustrate and when they are gone to the uttermost reach of their teather hee puls them back to the stake with shame Againe you have Senâ—châ—rib let loose upon Hezekiah and his people who insults over them intolerably 2 Kings 18. Oh the lamentable and in sight desperate condition of distressed Jerusalem wealth it had none strength it had but a little all the Countrey round about was subdued unto the Assâ—rian that proud victor hath begirt the wals of it with an innumerable army scorning that such a shovell-full of earth should stand out but one day yet poore Jerusalem stands alone blockt up with a world of enemies helplesse friendlesse comfortlesse looking for the worst of an hostile sury and on a sudden before an Arrow is shot into the City a hundred fourscore five thousand of their enemies were slâ—ine and the rest run away 2 Kings 19. 35. 36. God laughs in Heaven at the Plots of Tyrants and befooles them in their deepest projects If he undertake to protect a people in vaine shall Earth and Hell couspire against them Nothing can be accomplished in the Lower-House of this world but first it is decreed in the Upper Court of Heaven as for example what did the Jewes ever doe to our Saviour Christ that was not first both decreed by the Father of Spirits and registred in the Scriptures for our notice and comfort They could not so much as throw the Dice for his Coat but it was prophesied Psal. 22. 18. and in Psal. 69. 21. It is â—ore-told that they should give him gall in his meat and in his thirst vineger to drinke the very quality and kinde of his drinke is prophesied yea his face could not be spit upon without a prophesie those filthy excrements of his enemies fell not upon his face without Gods decree and the Prophets relation Isay 50. 6. Yea let the Kings of the earth be assembled and the Rulers come together Let Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel gather themselves in one league against him it is in vaine for they can doe nothing but what the hand of God and his Councell hath before determined to be done as Peter and John affirmed to the rest of the Disciples for their better confirmation and comfort Acts 4. 26. to 29. No notwithstanding the Devill raged the Pharisees stormed Herod and Pilate vexed Cayaphâ—s prophesied all combined and often sought to take him yet no man laid hands on him untill his houre was come that God had appointed so that by all their Plots they were never able to doe him any more hurt then onely to shew their teeth John 7. 30. If we are in league with God we need not feare the greatest of men Indeed it was Pilates brag to Christ knowest thou not that I have power to cruciâ—ie thee John 19. 10. And Lâ—bans to Jacob Gâ—â— 31. 29. I am able to doe you hurt but they were but vaine cracks for doth not Pharoabs overthrow tell all boasting Champions that an Host is nothing without the God of Hosts Yea Sathan himselfe was saine to say unto God in Jobs case stretch out now thine hand c. Job 1. 11. 2. 5. Now it must needs comfort and support us exceedingly if in all cases we do but duly consider that inequalitâ— is the ground of order that superiour causes guide the subordinate that this sublunaâ—y Globe depends on the celestiall as the lesser wheeles in a Clock doe on the great one which I â—inde thus expressed As in a Clock one motion doth convay And carry divers wheeles a severall way Yet altogether by the great wheeles force Direct the hand unto his proper course Who is he that saith and it commeth to passe when the Lord commandeth it not Lament 3. 37. Suppose
to the Woman with the bloudy issue Matth. 9. 20. Three moneths to Moses Exod. 2. 2. Ten dayes tribulation to the Angel of the Church of Smyrna Apocal. 2. 10. Three dayes plague to David 2 Sam. 24. 13. Each of these groaned for a time under the like burden as thou doest But when their time which God had appointed was come they were delivered from all their miseries troubles and calamities and so likewise ere long if thou wilt patiently tarry the Lords leasure thou shalt also be delivered from thy affliction and sorrow either in the Morning of thy trouble with David Psal. 30. 5. or at the Noone of thy life with Job Chapter 42. 10. to 17. or toward the Evening with Mr Glover that holy Martyr who could have no comfortable feeling till he came to the sight of the stake but then he cryed out and clapt his hands for joy to his friend saying O Austin he is come he is come meaning the feeling joy of faith and the Holy Ghost Acts and Monuments Fol. 1555. Or at night with Lazarus at one houre or another thou are sure to be delivered as time will determine Many were the troubles of Joseph but the Lord delivered him out of all Many were the troubles of Abraham but the Lord delivered him out of all Many were the troubles of David but the Lord delivered him out of all Many were the troubles of Job but the Lord delivered him out of all therefore hee can and will deliver thee out of all But if he do not saith Shadrach Meshach and Abednego yet we will not do evill to escape danger because Christ hath suffered more for us therefore if I perish I perish saith Hester Be our troubles many in number strange in nature heavy in measure much in burthen and long in continuance yet Gods mercies are more numerous his wisedome more wondrous his power more miraculous he will deliver us out of all Many are the troubles of the Righteous Yea he riseth higher and calls them millions for so the words may be rendered but the Lord delivereth them out of all Psal. 34. 19. How many or how great soever they be or how long soever they continue yet an end they shall all have Fâ—r the LORD either taketh troubles from them or takes them from troubles by receiving them into his heavenly rest where they shall acknowledge that GOD hath rewarded them as farre beyond their expectation as he had formerly punished them lesse than they did deserve Objection Oh! but my condition is so desperate and irrecoverable that its impossible I should ever get out of it Answer There is no impossibility saith Ambrose where God is pleased to give a dispensation But bethinke thy selfe is it worse with thee than it was with those bâ—fore mentioned and yet they were delivered Or is thy case worse than that of Jonas in the Sea yea in the Whales belly and yet he was delivered Worse than Nebuchadnâ—zzars grazing in the Forrest among beasts even untill his haires were growne to be like Eagles feathers and his nayles like Birds clawes Daniel 4. 31. to 36. and yet he againe reigned in Babell Worse than Josephs when he was throwne into a Pitâ— and left hopelesse or when sold to the Ishm â—elitish Merchants and then cast into prison yet after all this his said brethren were faine to become petitioners to him Worse than Job when he sate scraping his soares on the dunghill had all his houses burnâ— all his cattell stolne and his children slâ—ine yet he was farre richer afterwards than before How rashly then hast thou judged of thy Makers dealing with thee It were more agreeable to reason and religion to conclude the contrary for both experience and reason teacheth that violent pressures like violent motions are weakâ—st at the furthest When the morning is darkest then comes day yea usually after the lowest ebbe followes the highest spring-tyde And Religion teaches that if we love God all things even the worst of Afflictions shall so concurre and cooperate to our good that wee would not have wanted them for any good Wherefore hold but fast to God and my soule for thine neither Affliction nor ought else shall hurt thee You know while Adam was at peace with God all things were at peace with Adam Now this Doctrine well digested will breed good bloud in our soules and is specially usefull to bound our desires of release for though we may be importunate impatient we may not be stay he never so long Patience must not be an Inch shorter than Affliction If the Bridge reach but half way over the Brook we shall have but an ill-favoured passage Wee are taught in Scripture to praise Patience as we doe a faire day at night He that endureth to the end shall be saved Matth. 24. 13. Whereas comming but a foot short may make us misse the prize and lose the wager we runne for and then as good never have set fâ—oâ— out of doores Much the better for that light which will not bring us to bed perseverance is a kinde of all in all continuance is the Crowne of all other graces and Heaven shall be the Crowne of continuance But not seldome doth the Lord onely release his Children out of extreame adversity here but withall makes their latter end so much the more prosperous by how much the more their former time hath been miserable and adverse We have experience in Job You have heard saith Saint Ja 〈…〉 es of the patience of Job and what end the Lord made with him What end is that the Holy Ghost tels you That the Lord blessed his latter end more than his beginning and gave him twise as much as he had before For whereas at first he had but 7000 Sheep 3000 Camels 500 yoke of Oxen and 500 shee Asses after his reparation hee had 14000 Sheep 6000 Cammels 1000 yoake of Oxen and 1000 shee Asses every one double and whereas the number of his Children remained the same they were before namely seaven Sonnes and three Daughters the number of them were also doubled as the learned observe for whereas his Beasts according to the condition of beasts utterly perished the soules of his Children were saved so that hee had twise so many Children also whereof ten were with him on Earth and the other ten with God in Heaven Job 42. 10. to 14. And in Joseph who was bred up in the Schoole of Affliction from his infancy yet when his turne was come one houre changes his fetters of Iron into chaynes of Gold his ragges into Roabes his stocks into a Charriot his Prison into a Pallace the noyse of his Gives into a breach and whereas he was thirty yeares kept under he ruled in the heigth and lustre of all honour and glory the space of eighty yeares And one minute made in Lazarus a farre greater change and preferment And in David who for a long time was in such feare of Saul that he was forc't
this world for temporall things so for the world to come in spirituall things Cantant pauperes lugent divites poore men sing and rich men cry Who is so melancholy as the rich worldling and who sings so merry a note as he that cannot change a groat so they that have store of grace mourne for want of it and they that indeed want it chante their abundance But the hopes of the wicked faile them when they are at highest whereas Gods children finde those comforts in extremity which they durst not expect As there is nothing more usuall then for a secure conscience to excuse when it is guilty so nothing more common then for an afflicted conscience to accuse when it is innocent and to lay an heavy burthen upon it selfe where the Lord giveth a plaine discharge but a bleeding wound is better then that which bleeds not Some men goe crying to Heaven some goe laughing and sleeping to Hell Some consciences aswell as men lie speechlesse before departure they spend their dayes in a dreame and goe from Earth to Hell as Jon as from Israel toward Tarsh sh fast a sleepe And the reason is they dreame their case is passing good like a man which dreamès in his sleepe that he is rich and honourable and it joyes him very much but awaking all is vanisht like smoake yea they hope undoubtedly to goe to Heaven as all that came out of Aegypt hoped to goe into Canaan and inherit the blessed promises when onely Caleb and Joshua did enter who provoked not the Lord. And the reason of this reason is whereas indeed they are Wolves the Devill and their owne credulity perswades them that they are Lambes The Philosopher tels us that those Creatures which have the greatest hearts as the Stag the Doe the Hare the Coney and the Mouse are the most fearefull and therefore it may be God refusing Lyons and Eagles the King of Beasts and Queene of Birds appointed the gentle Lambe the fearefull Dove for his sacrifices A broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt net despise Psal. 51. 17. And sure I am Christ calls to him onely weary and heavy laden sinners Matth. 11. 28. not such as feele no want of him Marke 2. 17. and will fill onely such with comfort as hunger and thirst after righteousnesse not such as are in their conceit righteous enough without him Luke 1. 53. Matth. 15. 24. And yet it is strange yea a wonder to see how many truly humbled sinners who have so tender consciences that they dare not yeeld to the least evill for the worlds goods and refuse no meanes of being made better turne every probation into reprobation every dejection into rejection and if they be cast downe they cry out they are cast away who may fitly be compared to Arteman in Plutarch who when ever he went abroad had his servants to carry a Canopy over his head least the Heavens should fall and crush him or to a certaine foolish melancholy Bird which as some tell stands alway but upon one legge least her owne weight should siâ—ke her into the Center of the Earth holding the other over her head least the Heavens should fall Yet he not offended I cannot thinke the worse of thee for good is that feare which hinders us from evill acts and makes us the more circumspect And God hath his end in it who would have the sinnes to die but the sinner to live Yea in some respect thou art the better to be thought of or at least the lesse to be feared for this thy feare for no man so truly loves as he that feares to offend as Salvianus glosses upon those wordes Blessed is the man that feareth alway And which is worth the observing this feare is a commendation often remembred in Holy Scripture as a speciall and Infallible marke of Gods Children as for example Job saith the Holy Ghost was a just man and one that feared God Job 1. 1. Simeon a just man and one that feared God Luke 2. 25. Cornelius a devout man and one that feared God Acts 10. 3. And so of Father Abraham a man who feared God Gen. 22. 12. Joseph a man who feared God Gen. 42. 18. The Midwives in Aegypt feared God Exod. 1. 17. so that evermore the fearing of God as being the beginning of wisedome is mentioned as the chiefe note which is as much as to say if the fearing of God once goe before working of righteousnesse will instantly follow after according to that of the wise man He that feareth the Lord will doe good And this for thy comfort when Mary Magdalen sorrowed and wept for her sinnes Luke 7. 50. Christ tels her Thy faith hath made thee whole intimating that this wesping this repenting faith is faith indeed And the like to the Woman with the bloudy issue who presuming but to touch the hem of his garment fell downe before him with feare and trembling Marke 5. 27. to 35. And that humble Canaanite Matth. 15. 22. to 29. And that importunate blinde man Luke 18. 38. to 43. as if this humble this praying faith were onely the saving faith Neither can thy estate be had for as Saint Ambrose told Monica weeping for her seduced Sonne Fieri non potest ut filius istarum lachrymarum pereat It cannot be that the Sonne of those teares should ever perish Wherefore lift up thy selfe thou timorous fainting heart and doe not suspect every spot for a plague token doe not die of a meere conceit for as the end of all motion is rest so the end of all thy troubles shall bee peace even where the dayes are perpetuall Sabbaths and the diet undisturbed feasts But as an empty vessell bung'd up close though you throw it into the midst of the Sea will receive no water so all pleas are in vaine to them that are deasened with their owne feares for as Mary would not be comforted with the sight and speech of Angels no not with the sight and speech of Jesus himselfe till hee made her know that he was Jesus so untill the holy spirit sprinkleth the conscience with the bloud of Christ and sheddeth his love into the heart nothing will doe No Creature can take off weath from the conscience but he that set it on Wherefore the God of peace give you the peace of God which passeth all understanding Yea O Lord speake thou Musicke to the wounded conscience Thunder to the seared that thy justice may reclaime the one thy merey releeve the other and thy favour comfort us all with peace and salvation in Jesus Christ. Section 8. But secondly if this will not satisfie call to thy remembrance the times past and how it hath beene with thee formerly as David did in thy very case Psal. 77. 2. to 12. And likewise Job Chap. 31. for as still waters represent any object in their bottome clearely so those that are troubled or agitated do it but dimly and imperâ—ectly But if ever thou hadst true
in adversis alia esse non debent quà m patientia precatio saith Salmeren Yea Prayer is so powerfull that it commandeth all things in Heaven and Earth It commandeth all the foure Elements Ayre Iames 5. 17 18. Fire Ecclesiasticus 48. 3. Dan. 3. 27. Water Exod. 14. 21. 15. 25. Earth Numbers 16. 31 32 33. Nay the Prayer of one devout man is able to conquer an host of enemies in battell Exodus 17. 11. What shall I say it hath made the Sun stand still in the Firmament one while goe backe another setcht fire and haylestones from Heaven throwne downe the walls of Iericho subdued Kingdomes stopt the mouths of Lyons quencht the violence of Fire c. Yea Prayer is so potent that it raiseth the dead 1 Kings 17. 21. overcometh Angels Gen. 19. 23. casteth out Devils Matth. 17. 21. and that which is yet more wonderfull overcometh him that cannot be overcome and mastereth even God himselfe for doth not the Lord say to Moses let me alone and Moses would not let him alone till he had obtained his petition Exod. 32. 10. 14. And againe to Jacob wrestling with him let me goe and Jacob would not let him goe untill he had prevayled Gen. 32. 16. Wherefore Pray upon all occasions and that without doubting say not to God as the Leaper said to Christ If thou wilt thou canst make me cleane for hee both can and will as that very text Matth. 8. 2 3. proves Yea I would to God we were but so willing as he is for he desires to be desired Neither hath he his owne will except we have ours Christ doth aske no more of us but only that we would vouchsafe to aske him True the fainting heart that hath waited some time may with the Psalmist mutter out some such speech as this Hath God forgotten to bee gracious Psal. 77. 9. But if he forgets any of his he hath lost his old wont for who can nominate one that ever came unto Christ with any lawfull sute that received a repulse Who ever asked any thing of him which was profitable for him to receive and did not obtaine his sute Did not the sicke ever receive their health the lame their limbes the blinde their sight Did ever any sinner implore the forgivenesse of his sinnes which did not receive full remission and pardon Yea did not this our gracious King and Redeemer prevent his poore miserable subjects with his grace in giving before they had the grace to aske or more then they desired The sicke of the Palsie asking but cure of his disease received not onely that but the remission of his sinnes also Matth. 9. Zacheus desired but to see his face he became his guest and gave him salvation to boâ—â—e Luke 19. The Woman of Samaria requested but elementall and common water hee offered unto her the water of life John 4. The people followed him to be fed by miracle with corporall food hee offered unto them the bread of life John 6. The poore blinde man desired but his bodily sight Christ illuminated the eyes of his soule John 9. Neither hath honours changed manners with him as is usuall amongst men for he is a God immutable in goodnesse and without change or shaddow of turning James 1 17. so that if thou speake he will heare and answer thy sute in supporting thee so that thou shalt be sure to persevere and hold out unto the end Section 11. Objection But I have no evidence of divine assistance nor can I pray for it to purpose Answer We have the presence of Gods Spirit and grace many times and feele it not yea when we complaine for want of it as Pilate asked Christ what was the truth when the Truth stood before him The stomack findes the best digestion even in sleep when we least perceive it and whiles we are most awake this power worketh in us either to further strength or disease without our knowledge of what is done within and on the other side that man is most dangerously sick in whom nature decayes without his feeling without his complaint To know our selves happy is good but woe were to us Christians if wee could not be happy and know it not As touching Prayer every one is not so happy as Steven was to be most servent when they are most in paine yea many in time of sicknesse by reason of the extremity of paine can hardly pray at all whence Saint James wisheth us in affliction to pray our selves but in case of sicknesse to send for the Elders that they may as those in the Gospell offer up the sicke person to God in their prayers being unable to present their owne case Iames 5. Vers. 13 14 15. Yea it were miserable for the best Christian if all his former Prayers and Meditations did not serve to ayde him in his last straights and meet together in the Center of his extremity yeelding though not sensible reliefe yet secret benefit to the soule whereas the worldly man in this case having not layed up for this houre hath no comfort from God or from others or from himselfe Besides thou art happy in this there is not the poorest and meanest of Gods Children but as he hath the benefit of Christs intercession in Heaven Rom. 8. 34. Iohn 16. 26. so hath he also the benefit of the Prayers of all the Saints on Earth wâ—e have the graces and gifts each of other in common Yet because thine owne Prayer is most proper and seeing it is the mindes Embassadour to God and never faileth of successe if it be servent as if our prayers want successe they want heart their blessing is according to their vigor pray that thou maist pray better If thy Legge be ben 〈…〉 ed goe upon it a little and it will come to it selfe againe To which if thou joyne fasting thou shalt doe well for Prayers are made fat with fasting as Tertullian speaks Yea pray oft though thy prayers be the shorter weake stomacks which cannot digest large meales feed oft and little O faith holy Bernard most sweetly How oft hast thou â—eaning prayer found me lamenting and despairing and left me rejoycing and triumphing And what though thou canst not poure out thy soule in a 〈…〉 ud of words The Woman diseased with an Issue of bloud said but within her selfe shee did not speake to be heard of others and yet Christ heard her and answered her request Matth. 9. Vers. 21 22. The Lord esteemeth the will for the deed and the affection for the action Man sees the countenance God the heart man the deedes but God the meaning Hast thou but thoughts and desires and canst thou onely expresse them with sighes and groanes these sâ—eechlesse words or rather no words but a few poore thoughts conceived aright passe all the flowing eloquence of Demoâ—â—â—enes and Tully yea Turtullus and all the Oratâ—rs that ever were in in the world for this matter is not expressed with words but with groanings
sinne his very â—â—â—stisements are deadly as is cleare by Davids example and Lots who had a sharpe misery clapt on the heeles of a sweet mercy for he that was so beloved of God that he saved a whole City could not save his owne Spouse When God delivers us from destruction hee doth not secure us from all affliction Grace was never given us for a Target against externall evils Though we be not condemned with the world yet we may be chastned in the world Neither the Truth nor strength of Jobs faith could secure him from the outward and bodily vexations of Satan against the inward and spirituall they could and did prevayle so no repentance can assure us that we shall not smart with outward afflictions that can prevent the eternall displeasure of God but still it may be necessary and good we should be corrected our care and suit must be that the evils which shall not be averted may be sanctified CHAP. XXXVIII That Christ and all the Saints are our Partners and partakers with us in the Crosse yea our sufferings are nothing in comparison of theirs 4. WE shall beare the crosse with more patience and comfort if wee consider that Christ and all the Saints are our partners and partakers therein yea thy sufferings are nothing in comparison of what others have suffered before thee Looke upon righteous Abel thou shall see his elder brother Cain had dominion and rule over him by Gods appointment Gen. 4. 7. Yea in the next Verse thou shalâ— see him slaine by his brother After him looke upon Noah a most calamitous person as ever lived as the Chronologer computes him as for Lâ—t he had his righteous soule vexed from day to day Looke upon Job thou shalt see that miseries doe not stay for a mannerly succession to each other but in a rude importunity throng in at once to take away his children substance friends credit health peace of conscience c. leaving him nothing but his Wife whom the Devill spared on purpose to vex him as the Fathers thinke so that in his owne apprehension God was his mortall enemy as heare how in the bitternesse of his soule he complaynes of his Maker saying He teareth me in his wrath he hateth me and gnasheth upon me with his teeth he hath broken me asunder taken me by the necke and shaken me to peeces and set me up for his marke his Archers compasse me round about hee cleaveth â—y raines asunder and doth not spare to powre out my gall upon the ground he breaketh me with breach upon breach and runneth upon me like a Gyant Job 16. Now when so much was uttered even by a non-such for his patience what may we thinke hee did feele and indure Looke upon Abraham thou shalt see him forced to forsake his Countrey and Fathers house to goe to a place he knew not to men that knew not him and after his many removes hee meets with a famine and so is forced into Aegypt which indeed gave reliefe to him when Canaan could not shewing that in outward things Gods enemies may fare better than his friends yet hee goes not without great feare of his life which made it but a deare purchase then hee is forced to part from his brother Lot by reason of strife and debate among their Heardsmen after that Lot is taken prisoner and he is constrained to wage w 〈…〉 rre with foure Kings at once to rescue his Brother then Sarah his wife is barren and he must goe childlâ—sse untill in reason he is past hope when he hath a Sonne it must not onely dye but himselfe must slay him Now if that bosome wherein we all look to rest was assaulted with so many sore tryals and so divers difficulties is it likely we should escape Looke upon Jaoob you shall see Esau strive with him in the wombe that no time might be lost after that you shall see him fly for his life from a cruell Brother to a cruell Unkle with a staffe goes he over Jordan alone doubtfull and comfortlesse not like the sonne of Isaac In the way he hath no bed but the cold earth no pillow but the hard stones no shect but the moist aire no Canopie but the wide Heaven at last he is come far to finde out an hard friend and of a Nephew becomes a servant after the service of an hard Apprentiship hath earned her whom he loved his Wife is changed and he is not onely disappointed of his hopes but forced to marry another against his will and now hee must begin another Apprentiship and a new hope where hee made account of fruition all which fourteene yeares he was consumed with beat in the day with frost in the night when hee hath her whom he loves she is barâ—en at last being growne rich chiefly in wives and children accounting his charge his wealth hee returnes to his Fathers house but with what comfort Behold Laban followes him with one troope Esau meets him with another both with hostile intentions not long after Rachel the comfort of his life dyeth his children the slaffe of his age wound his soule to death Reuben proves incestuous Judah adulterous Dina is ravished Simeon and Levi are murtherous Er and Onan are stricken dead Joseph is lost Simeon imprisoned Benjamin his right hand endangered Himselfe driven by famine in his old age to dye among the Aegyptians a people that held it abomination to eate with him And yet before he was borne it was Jâ—cob have I loved and before any of this befell him God said unto him Be not afraid I am with thee and will doe thee good Genesis 28. 15. And he did so even by these crosses for that 's my good saith the Proverbe that doth mâ— good Now what Sonne of Israel can hope for any good dayes when hee heares his Fathers were so evill It is enough for us if when we are dead we can rest with him in the Land of Promise Againe heare what David saith of himselfe Thy Arrowes sticke fast in mee and thy hand presseth me sore Psal. 38. 2. and see what cause he had so to say what what were these Arrowâ—s to let passe those many that Saul shot at him which were sharpe and keene enough and those other of Doeg when hee slew fourescore and five of the Priests and the whole City of Nob both man and woman child and suckling for shewing him kindnesse Likewise Shimeis carrâ—age towards him also his distresse at Ziglag and those seventy thousand which perished by the Pestilence upon his numbring the people and the like First Nathan tels him from the Lord that The sword should never depart from hâ— hoâ—se and that he would raise up evill against him out of his owne loynes here were as many Arrowes as words Againe the Childe which he had by Bathsheba was no sooner borne but it dyed there was another Arrow Tamar his daughter being marriageable was deslowred by his owne Sonne Amnon there was two
were ill for the best of us if we were permitted to be our owne choosers Let Peter have his desire and his Master shall not dye so Peter himselfe and the whole world had beene lost in unfit supplications we are most heard when we are repelled our God oftentimes doth answer our prayers with mercifull denyals and most blesseth us in crossing our desires We may aske either bad things to a good purpose or good things to a bad purpose or good things to a good purpose but in an ill season Now if wee aske what is either unsit to receive or unlawfull to beg it is a great favour of our God to be denyed granting is not alwayes the effect of love if so then had Paul beene lesse loved then Satan Satan beg'd but once and had his prâ—yer granted conceâ—ning Job S. Paul beg'd thrice that he might not be bufferted yet was dâ—nyed Satan beg'd his shame who envied his successe Saint Paul that freedome from temptation which would have beene woâ—se had then wanted yea if granting were alwayes an effect of love then was our â—â—â—ssed Saviour lesse loved than Satan for the Lord would not let the Cup of his passion passe from him upon his earnest prayer which he made as he was Man But you must know that denyals in some cases are better than grants the Lord will not take away the body of sinne from us upon our earnest prayers yet he granteth us that which is equivalent viz. Grace to subdue our corruptions and withall takes away the occasion of pride which is better for certainly he is more supported of God that hath grace given him to conquer a temptation as had the Martyrs in bâ—ing able to suffer those tortures than another who is excused to fight Againe we must not measure Gods hearing of our suit by his present answer or his present answer by our owne sense touching the first Zachary a long time failed of a Sonne for all his Prayer but when he had even forgot that Prayer he had a Sonne the Angell brings him good newes Luke 1. 13. Thy prayer is heard When did he make this Prayer Not lately for then he was growne old and had given over all hope of a childe so that his request was past over many yeares and no answer given The like example we have in Hâ—nnah who powring out her soule before the Lord in the trouble of her spirit God did not immediately tell her by râ—velation that she should conceive a Sonne but he gave her for the present faith which did worke in her jâ—y and peace of conscience for saith the text she looked no more sad and when she had waited his leisure a certaine time The Lord remembred her with a Sonne 1 Sam. 1. There is nothing betweene God and thee but time prescribe not his wisedome hâ—sten nâ—t his mercy his grace is enough for you nâ—w his glory shall be more than enough hereafter Tarry a little the Lords leisure deliverance will come peace will come joy will come thy teares are reserved tâ—ine hunger shall be satiâ—fied thy sorrow shall be comforted In the meane while to be patient in misery makes misery no misery while we consider that when a little brunt is once past troubles will cease but joyes shall never cease Wherefore let us never give over but in our thoughts knit the beginning progresse and end together and then shall we see our selves in Heaven out of the reach of all our enemies 2. To prove that we are not to judge of GODS answering our prayers by our owne sense I need but to instance the Woman of Canaan as what can speed well if the prayer of saith from the knees of humility succeed not and yet behold the further she goes the worse she fares her discouragement is doubled with her suite it is not good saith our Saviour to take the Childrens bread and cast it to dogges here was cold comfort yet stay but a while he cleares up his browes and speaks to her so comfortably that 't were able to secure any heart to dispell any seares O Saviour how different are thy wayes from ours when even thy severity argues savour The tryâ—ll had not beene so sharpe if thou hadst not found the faith so strong if thou hadst not meant the issue so happy it is no unusuall thing for kindnesse to looke sternly for the time that it may indeare it selfe more when it lists to be discovered It was cold comfort that the Câ—iple heard from Peter and Jâ—hn when he begg'd of them an almes Silver and Gold have I none but the next clause Rise up and walke made amends for all O God we may not alwaies measure thy meaning by thy semblance sometimes what thou most intendest thou shewest least in our afflictions thou turn'st thy backe upon us and hidest thy face from us when thou most mindest our distresses So Jonathan shot the arrowes beyond David when he meant them to him So Joseph calls for Beâ—jamin into bands when his heart was bound to him in the strongest affection so the tender mother makes as if she would give away her crying Childe whom she hugges so much closer in her bosome If thou passe by us whiles we are strugling with the tempest we know it is not for want of mercy thou canst not neglect us Oh let not us distrust thee if thou commest it is to relieve us if thou stayest it is to try us howsoever thy purpose is to save us Surely God will worke alone and man must not be of his councell Wherefore many times he deales with wicked men as Eutrapllus sometimes did with his Subjects who when he was minded to do a poor man a mischief would give him abundance of wealth whereas contrarily his Children s 〈…〉 de themselves crost with a blessing As when Isibel Queene of England was to re-passe from Zealand into her owne Kingdome with an Army in favour of her Son against her Husband had utterly beene cast away had she come unto the Port intended being there expected by her enemies but providence against her will brought her to another place where shee sasely landed Yea this I have seene two men striving for the way one receiving a switch over the face drawes his Rapier to kill the other but by a providence in making the offer his sadle swayed to the horse belly whereby in all likelihood the one was saved from killing the other from hanging for before he could make after him he was rid a mile And have not some been detained by a violent storme from comming home whereby they have beene exempt from feeling the dâ—wnefall of their house Sure I am the letting fall of my Glove in the darke once proved a meanes of saving me from drowning while another stepping before me found the danger to his cost And indeed how infinitely should wee intangle our selves if wee could sit downe and obtaine our wishes do we not often wish that which we after see
in correcting us and turning thy corrections to our good For preserving us in the night past from all dangers of body and soule and for infinite more mercies of which we could not well want any one and which are all greatned by being bestowed upon us who were so unworthy and have beene so ungratefull for the same O that we could answer thee in our thankefulnesse and obedient walking one for a thousand Neither are we unmindfull of those nationall blessings which thou hast vouchsafed unto our Land in generall as namely that deliverance from the Spanish Invasion in 88 and from that devillish designs of the Gun-powder-Treason for preserving us from the noysome and devouring Plague and Pestilence Lord grant that our great unthankefulnesse for these thy mercies may not cause thee to deliâ—er us inâ—â— the hands of our enemies and although wee have justly thereby deserved the same yet we beseech thee give us not up unto their wils neither suffer Popery ever to beare rule over us nor thy blessed Word and Sacraments to be taken away from us but continue them unto us and so our posterity after us if it be thy good pleasure untill the comming of thy Christ. These and all things else which thou knowest we stand in need of we humbly â—raâ—e at thy mercifull hands and that for the alone worthinesse and satisfaction of thy Son and the honour of our onely Redeemer and Advocate Jesus Christ to whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit â—e given as is most due all prayse glory and dominion the residue of this day and for evermore Amen A Prayer for the Evening which would be performed before Supper and not when we are more prone to sleepe then to pray O Eternall Almighty and incomprehensiblâ— Lord God who art great and terrible of most glorious Maiesty and infinite purity Creator and Preserver of all things and Guider and Governour of them being created who â—â—â—lest Heaven and Earth with thy preseues and art every where at hand to receive and heare the prayers of all that repaire to thee in thy Christ. Thou hast of thy goodnesse bestowed so many and so great mercies upon us that we know not how to expresse thy bounty herein Yea we can scarce thinke of any thing more to pray for but that thou wouldest continue those which thou hast bestowed on us already yet we covet still as though we had nothing and live as if we knew nothing of all this thy beneficence Thy blessings are without number yet our sinnes strive with them which shall be more if wee could count the numberlesse number of thy Creatures they would not bee answerable to the number of thy gifts yet the number of our offences which we returne in lieu of them are not much inferiour thereunto Well may we confesse with Judas we have sinned and there stop but we cannot reckon their number nor set forth their nature We are bound to praise thee above any Nation whatsoever for what Nation under Heaven enâ—oyes so much light or so many blessings as we above any Creature for all the Creatures were ordained for our sakes and yet Heaven Earth and Sea all the Elements all thy Creatures obey thy Word and serve thee as they did at first yea call upon us to serve thee only men for whom they were all made ingratefully rebell against thee Thou mightest have said before we were formed let them be Toades Monsters Infidels Beggers Criples or Bondslaves so long as they live and after that Cast-awayes for ever and ever but thou hast made us in the â—eâ—t 〈…〉 nesse and nursed us in the best Religion and placed us in the best Land and appointed us to the best and onely Inheritance even to remaine in blisse with thee for ever so that thousands would thinke themselves happy if they had but a péece of our happinesse Why shouldest thou give us thy Sonne for a Ransome thy Holy Spirit for a pledge thy Word for a guide thy Angels for our guard and reserve a Kingdome for our perpetuall inheritance Why shouldest thou bestow health wealth rest liberty limbes senses foode rayment friends and the meanes of salvation upon us more then upon others whom thou hast denyed these things unto We can give no reason for it but that thou art mercifull and if thou shouldest draw all backe againe wée had nothing to say but that thou wert just which being considered why should any serve thee more then we who want nothing but thankefulnesse Why should we not hate the way to Hell as much as Hell it selfe and why should we not make every cogitation spéech and action of ours as so many steps to Heaven Yet if thou shouldest now aske us what lust is asswaged what affection qualified what passion expelled what sinne repented of what good performed since we began to receive thy blessings to this day We must néeds confesse against our selves that all our thoughts words and workes have béene the service of the World the Flesh and the Devill Yea it hath béene the course of our whole life to leave that which thou commandest and to doe that which thou forbiddest yet miserable wretches that we are if we could give thee our bodies and soules they should be saved by it but thou wert never the richer for them Perhaps we have a forme of godlinesse but thou who searchest the heart and tryâ—st thâ— reynes knowest that too often we deny the power of it and that our Religion is much of it hypocrisie our zeale envy our wisedome policy our peace security our life rebellion our devotion deadnesse and that we live so securely as if we had no soules to save Indeed thy Word and Spirit may worke in us some â—â—â—shes of desire and purposes of better obedience but we are constant in nothing but in perpetuall offending only therein we cease not for when we are waking our flesh tempts us to wickednesse if we are sleeping it sollicites us to filthinesse or perhaps when we have offended thee all the day at night we pray unto thee but what is the issue of one praying first we sinne and then we pray thee to forgive it and then returne to our sinnes againe as if we came to thee for no other end but to â—rave leave to offend thee Or of thy granting our requests we even dishonour thee and blaspheme thy name while thou dâ—st support and relieve us runne from thee while thou dost call us and forget thee while thou art feeding us so thou sparest uâ— wee sleepe and to morrow wee sinne againe O how justly mightest thou forsake us as we forsake thee and condemne us whose consciences cannot but condemne our selves but who can measure thy goodnesse who givest 〈◊〉 and forgivâ—st all though wee be sinfull yet tho â—lovâ—st us though we 〈◊〉 miserably ingratefull yet thou most plentifully blessâ—sâ— us what should we have if we did serve thee 〈◊〉 hast done all these things for thine enemies O that
unto us and increase in us all spirituall graces inlighten our mindes with the knowledge of thy truth and inflame our hearts with the love of whatsoever is good that we may esteeme it our meate and drinke to doe thy blessed will Give us religious thoughts godly desires zealous affections holy endeavours assured perswasionâ— of â—aith stedfast waiting through hope constancy in suffering through patience and hearty rejoycing from love regenerate our mindes purify our natures turne all our joys into the joy of the Holy Ghost and all our peace into the peace of conscience and all our feares into the feare of sinne that we may love righteousnesse with as great good will as ever we loved wickednesse and goe before others in thankefulnesse towards thee as farre as thou goest in mercy towards us before them Give us victory in temptation patience in sicknesse contentment in poverty joy in distresse hope in troubles confidence in the houre of death give us alwayes to thinke and meditate of the houre of death the day of judgement the joyes of Heaven and the paines of Hell together with the ransome which thy Sonne paid to redeeme us from the one and to purchase for us the other so shall neither thy benefits nor thy chastisements nor thy word returne ineffectuall but accomplish that for which they were sent untill we be wholly renewed to the Image of thy Sonne And now O Lord séeing the time approacheth which thou hast appointed for rest and because we can neither wake nor sléepe without thee who hast made the day and night and rulest both therefore into thy hands we commend our soules and bodies beséeching thee to watch over us this night and preserve us from all our spirituall and bodily enemies from theeves fire and from all other dangers These things we humbly beg at thy fatherly hands and whatsoever else thou knowest in thy divine wisedome to be needfull and necessary for our soules or bodies or estates or names or friends or the whoâ—â— Church better thâ—n we our selves can either aske or thinke and that for thy names sake for thy promise sake for thy mercies sake for thy Sonnes sake who suffered for sinne and sinned not and whose righteousnesse pleadeth for our unrighteousnesse in him it is that we come unto thee in him we call upon thee who is our Redeemer our Preserver and our Saviour so whom with thee and thy blessed Spirit be ascribed as is most duâ— all honour glory praise power might maiesty dominion and hearty thankes-giving the rest of this night following and for evermore Amen A Prayer to be used at any time O Almighty Eternall most Glorious and onely wise God giver to them which want comforter of them which suffer and forgiver of them that repent whom truly to know is everlasting life We thy poore creatures acknowledge and confesse unto thee who knowest the secrets and desires of all hearts that of our selves we are not worthy to lift up our eyes to Heaven much lesse to present our selves before thy Majesty with the least confidence that thou shouldest heare our prayers or accept of our services but rather that thou shouldest take these our confessions and accordingly condemne us to the lowest place in Hell for our continually abusing thy mercy and those many meanes of grace which in thy long-suffering thou hast afforded for our reclayming We are the cursed séed of rebellious Parents we were conceived in sinne and borne the Children of wrath And whereas thou mightest have executed thy fierce displeasure upon us so soone as thou gavest us béeing and so prevented our further dishonouring thee we have instead of humbling our selves before thee our God and â—â—â—king reconciliation with thy Majesty none nothing from our infancy but added sinne unto sinne in breaking every one of thine holy Lawes which thou hast given us as rules and directions to walke by and to kéepe us from sinning Yea there is not one of thy righteous precepts which we have not broken more times and wayes then we can expresse so far have we béen from a privative holinesse in reforming that which is evill and a positive holinesse in performing that which is good which thou mayest justly require of us being we had once ability so to doe if we had not wilfully lost it for thou diddest forme us righteous and holy had not we deformed our selves whereas now like Satan we can doe nothing else but sinne and make others sinne too who would not so sinne but for us for we have an Army of uncleane desires that perpetually fight against our soules whereby we are continually tempted drawne away and enticed through our owne concupiscence Yea thou knowest that the heart of man is deceitfull above all things and that the imaginations thereof are onely and continually evill O the infinitely intricate windings and turnings of the darke Labyrinths of mans heart who findes not in himselfe an indisposition of minde to all good and an inclination to all evill And according to this our inclination hath béene our practice we have yéelded our hearts as cages to entertaine all manner of uncleane spirits when on the contrary we have refused to yéeld them as temples for thine holy Spirit to dwell in We have used all our wisedome to commit the foolishnesse of sinne our whole conversation hath béene to serve Satan and fulfill the lusts of the flesh We even sucke in iniquity like water and draw on sinne as it were with cart-ropes Neither is there any part power function or faculty either of our soules or bodies which is not become a ready instrument to dishonour thee for as our heart is a root of all corruption a seed-plot of all sinne so our eyes are eyes of vanity our eares eares of folly our mouthes mouthes of deceit our hands hands of iniquity and every part doth dishonour thee which yet would be glorified of thee The understanding which was given us to learne vertue is apt now to apprehend nothing but sinne the will which was given us to affect righteousnesse is apt now to love nothing but wickednesse the memory which was given us to remember good things is apt now to keepe nothing but evill things for sinne like a spreading leaprosie is so growne over us that from the crowne of our heads to the soale of our feet there is nothing whole therein but wounds and swellings and soares full of corruption Yea our soules and bodies are even a very sinke of sinne for like the common shoare we have not refused to welcome any the most loathsome pollutions that either the world our owne corruption or the Devill at any time hath offered unto us Or admit we are exempt from some evils wee may thanke thee and not our selves for it for we are ready without thy restrayning grace to run out into all manner of enormities whatsoever we are swift to all evill but to all good immoveable when we doe evill we doe it chearefully and quickly and easily
hope of salvation my Anchor passive obedience the Capstaine holy revenge the Cat and Fish to hawle the sheate Anchor or last hope feare of osfending is the Buoy vertues are the Cabloâ— hol 〈…〉 d 〈…〉 ires and sodaine ejaculations the shrouds the zeale of Gods glory is my Main-mast prâ—meditation the foâ—e-mâ—st desire of mine owne salvation the Mizzâ—n-mast saving knowledge the B 〈…〉 sprit Circumspection a sounding line my Light is illumination Justice is the â—ard Gods Word the Compasse the meditation of lifes brevity a Foure-houregâ—asse Contemplation of the Creatures the Crosse-staffe or Jacobs stasfe the Creede a Sea-grammar the life of Christ my Load-starre the Saints falls are Sea-markes Good examples Land-markes Repentance Pumps out the sinke of my sinnes a good Conscience keepes me cleane imputative righteousnesse is my Flagge having this Motto BEING CAST DOWNE WE PERISH NOT The Flag-staffe is sinceâ—ity the Shippe is vict 〈…〉 led afresh by reading hearing receiving Bookes are Long-boates Letters are little Sciffes to carry and re-carry my spirituall merchandize Perseverance is my speed and Patience my name my fire is lust which will not be cleane extinguished full feeding and strong drinke is the fuell to maintaine it whose slame if it be not supprest is jealousie whose spâ—rkes are evill wordes whose ashes is envy whose smoake is infamy Lascivious talke is as â—â—int and steele Concupiscence as tinder opportunity is the match to light it Sloath and idlenesse are the Servants to prepare it The Law of God is my Pilot Faith my Captaine Fortitude the Master Chastiâ—y the Masters mate my will the Coxen Conscience the Preacher Application of Christs death the Chirurgion Mortification the Cooke Viviâ—ication the Calker Selfe-denyall is an Apprentice of his Temperance the Steward Contentation his Mate Truth the Purser Thankefulnesse the Pursers mate Reformation the Boatswam The 4. humors Sanguin Choler c. are the Quarter-masters Christian vigilancy undertakes to supply the office of Starbord and Larbord watch Memory is Clerke of the Checke Assurance the Corporall the Armour Innocency the Mariners Angels Schismaticks are searchers sent aboard my understanding as Master Gunner culls out from those two Budgecaskes of the New and Old Testament certaine threats and promises which is my onely Powder and Shot and with the assistance of the Gunners mate holy anger against sin chargeth my tongue which like to a Peece of Ordnance shootes them to the shame and overthrow of my spirituall Adversaries My Noble Passengers are Joy in the Holy Ghost and the peace of Conscience whose reâ—inue are divine graces my ignoble or rather mutinous passengers are worldly cogitations and vaine delights which are more then a good many besides some that aee arrant theeves and traytors namely pride envy prejudiâ—e but all these I 'le bid farewell when I come to my journeys end though I would but cannot before Heaven is my Countrey where I am registred in the Booke of life my King is Jehovah my tribute Almes-deeds they which gather it are the poore Love is my Countries badge my language is holy conference my fellow companions are the Saints I am poore in performances yet rich in Gods acceptation The foundation of all my good is Gods free Election I became bound into the Corporation of the Church to serve him in my baptisme I was inrolled at the time when he first called me my freedome is Justification it was purchased with the bloud of Christ my evidence is the earnest of his Spirit my priviledges are his sanctifying Graces my Crowne reserved for me on high is Glorification My Maker and Owner is God who built me by his Word which is Christ of earth which was the materiall he fraught it with the essence of my soule which is the Treasure and hath set me to sayle in the Sea of this world till I attaine to the Port of Death which letteth the terrestriall part into the 〈…〉 ur of the grave and the celestiall into the Kingdome of Heaven in which voyage conveniency of estate is as Sea-roome good affections serve as a tyde and prayer as a prosperous gale a winde to helpe forward But innumerable are the impediments and perils for here I meet with the proffers of unlawfull gaine and sensuall delights as so many Syrens the baytes of prosperity as high bankes on the right hand or weather-shoare and there with evill suggestions and crabbed adversity as Rocks on the left hand or Lee-shore ready to split me the feare of Hell like quicke-sands threatens to swallow me Originall sinne like weeds clogge me and actuall transgressions like so many Barnacles hang about me yea every sinne I commit springs a new leake my senses are as so many stormes of raine haile and snow to sinke me lewd affections are roaring billowes and waves selfe-confidence or to rely upon any thing but divine assistance is to lose the Boltsprit Restitution is heaving goods over-board to save the Ship Melancholy is want of fresh-water the scoffes of Atheists and contempt of Religion in all places is a notable becalming the lewd lives and evill examples of the most a contagious aire Idlenesse furres it and is a shrewd decay both of Hull and Tackling Moreover sayling along and keeping watch for they that are Christs friends you know must looke for all they meet to be their enemies we no sooner looke up but presently we ken a man of warre and then we must be for warre too and provide for a skirmish Now the Gallyon that hath our Pinnace in chase and alwayes watcheth for advantages to surprise it is the Piracy of Hell the Synagogue of Satan her fraight is Temptations and Persecutions with all the Engines of mischiefe in which the Devill is Master malice the Masters mate cruelty the Captaine Murder the Cooke Flattery the Calker Prophanenesse a Quarter-master Ryot the Steward Never-content his mate Pride the Cockeson Superstition the Preacher Hypocrisie the Boatswain Covetousnesse the Purser Lust the Swabber Fury the Gunner Presumption the Corporall Sedition the Trumpeter Drunkennesse the Drummer Vices are the Sayles Custome the Main-mast Example of the multitude the Fore-mast Lusts and passions the Cables Blindnesse of minde the Rudder Hardnesse of heart the Helme the wisedome of the flesh the Card the mystery of iniquity the Compasse the five senses or if you will scosling Atheists prophane fowle-mouthed drunkards and all the rabble of Hell are the Mariners lewd affections the Passengers little conscience the Load-starre she hath two Tyre of great Ordnances planted in her heresie and irreligion being either for a false God or none Oathes Blasphemy and Curses are the Powder and Shot which they spit against all that worship the Lambe or fight under the ensigne of faith her Armour is carnall security the Flag in her top is infidelity the Motto There is no God but Gaine Her ballast which keepes her upright is ignorance most of her Tackling she has from Rome Antichrist as Pilot steares her in such a course that she
leane meate of adversity 138. the more guilty the more impatient 96. Philosophers endued with great patience 192. yet come not neare a Christian 193. how to know whether our patience and other graces be right 202. rules to be observed in bearing 2â—4 touching thoughts 216. words ibid. actions 217 Paine wee feele more the fingers paine then the health of the whole body 344. our paine will soone cease our joyes never 343 Peace of conscience what a great blessing 125 Perseverance the truth of grace alwayes blest with perseverance 314. it is the gift of God ibid. the crowne of all 〈◊〉 279 Pleasures of the body are poysons to the soule 56 Poverty before affliction more contemptible then dishonesty 86 Prayer the key of Heaven 315. the hand of a Christian ibid. all our strength lyes therein 315. prayers and teares the Churches Armour ibid. patience and prayer the weapons of a Christian 218. prayer can doe all things 3â—5 it even overcommeth God himselfe 316. pray in faith ibid. inducements to prayer 362. Prayer for the Morning 363. a Prayer for the Evening 373. a Prayer for all times 382. none ever came to Christ with a lawfull suite and was denyed 316. yea he gives before we aske ibid. and more then we aske 33. 317. hearty prayer not in our owne power it is the gift of God 319. which hee doth not alwayes bestow in the sam measure ibid. not fall into prayer without preparation 320. wee must not only pray ibid. seeming deâ—yalls must encrease the strength of our cryes 321. in affliction pray our selves in sicknesse get others to pray for us 318. because in extremity we may not be able to pray ibid. we have the benefit of Christ intercession in Heaven 318. and of all the Saints prayers on Earth ibid. affliction makes us servent in prayer 〈◊〉 granting our suites not alwayes an effect of love 352. denyalls better then grants in some cases ibid. in unfit supplications we are most heard when repelled 351. we must not measure Gods hearing us by his present answer 352. not his present answer by our owne sence 353 Prayse to the godly to be dispraysed of the wicked 157. and a disprayse to be praysed of them ibid. Prepared affliction keeps us prepared to the spirituall combat 43 Presence of Gods Spirit and grace many times yet perceive it not 317. yea when we complaine for the want of it ibid. Pride how proud we are by nature 63. an humble pride 350. selfe-confidence is pride without wit 66. we thinke too well of our selves till the Crosse confuteâ— us 63. God lets proud men fall into some soule sinne that they may the better know themselves 64. if we would thinke worse of our selves wee should be better thought of 121. Pride makes us over apprehensive of wrongs 121 Profit we are apt to shrinke from Christ when our profits or pleasures shrinke from us 348 Promises are all generall excluding none that repent and beleeve 297. where is no Commandement there is no Promise 177. if we want Gods Word in vaine we look for his aide 177 Prosperity makes us drunke with the love of the world 35. but the Crosse brings us to our selves againe 36. Prosperity is â—o Religion as the â—vy to the Oake 37. nothing carryes us so farre from God as his favours 41. riches honour health c. would shipwrack the foule if they were not cast over-board 328. it were ill for us if permitted our owne choosers 351. the more prosperity the lesse piety 25. Prosperity no signe of felicity 232. not to judge the better of men for prosperity nor the worse for their misery ibid. long continued prosperity a fearefull signe of judgement 324. of which many examples 325. how apt men are to deceive themselves in thinking God favours them because they prosper 326. what we think most pleasing is most plaguing 327. nature is jocund while it prospereth 347. but to be equally good in a prosperous and adverse condition deserves prayse â—48 if outward things frame not to us let us frame our mindes to them ibid. Punishment we may often read our sinne in our punishment 120. the punishment of our enemies 248. it is deferred not remitted 250 R RAâ—gning the way to it is by suffering 69 Rayling in rayling at us they shame themselves 147 Release God not onely releaseth his but makes their latter end more prosperous 279 Religion no true vertue where is no true Religion 193 Repentance how to know whether we have repented 23. signes of tryall touching repentance 289. true repentance begins at originall sinne 86. affliction brings to repentance 13 Report crediting of evill reports a signe of wickednesse or â—olly 161 Restitution without it no forgivenesse 20 Revenge we are commanded not to revenge 173. if we doe we lose Gods protection 177. neglect will sooner kill an injury then revenge 109. forgivenesse the most noble valiant wise divine and Christian-like revenge 101 Reward for suffering great 340. the greater our sufferings the greater our reward 345. let us looke up to the recompâ—nce of reward and we shall not with our burthen lighter ibid. S SAdnesse nothing will drive it away like living well 87 Safe the way to be safe is never to be secure 43 Salvation nothing availeable to salvation but faith 294 Sanctifie God will either be sanctified of us or on us 227 Satan chiefly prevayles by deception of our reason 87. he will set a fâ—ire glosse on the foulest sinne 87 Scoffe a Christian in name will scoffe at a Christian in deed 47. Scoffiâ—g at Religion no meane sinne 250 Sicknesse we remember not many yeares health so much as one dayes sicknesse 338 Silence nothing more vexeth an enemy then silence 153. the best answer to reproaches is no answer 155 Sinne and punishment inseparable 23. sinne the ground of all griefes 118. the sting of all troubles 189 God doth not meerely though mainly chastisâ— for sinne 21. our sinnes weaken us strengthen our enemies 2â— one sinne keepes possession for Satan aswell as twenty 17. and is enough to condemne ib. small sinnes bring great danger 18. small sins not to be ventured on 179. a godly man feares more the least sin then the greatest trouble 181. be our sins great Gods mercies are infinite 286. be they great and many so they be not wilfull they shall not condemne us 285. what displeaseth us shall never hurt us 290. sinnes upon repentance are so remitted as if they had never beene committed 288 Christ calls onely heavy laden siâ—ners 300. Originall sin the most soule and hatefull of all 86 Sivill honesty how short it comes of Christianity 203 Sorrowes shall not be violent or shall not last 269 Soule neitheâ— Satan nor our enemies can hurt our soules 266 Speake the worsâ— evill men speake of us the better 157. and the better the worse 159. if another speake evill of thee call not him but thy selfe to account 121 Spirit a sound spirit will beare his infirmity 139. a good spirit will be a mans Crosse-bearer 98. the palate but an ill judge of spirituall things 327 Suffering when thou sufferest looke up from the instrument to God the author and to sinne the cause 116. it is nothing to what we have deserved 339. our sufferings doe not satisfie Gods justice for sinne 71. A blessed and happy thing to suffer for Christ 357. it is the greatest preferment that God gives in this world 358 an â—â—ard matter to thinke suffering a speciall favour but so it is 359. God loves those best whom he seemes to favour least ibid. commonly the measure of oâ—r sufferings is according to the measure of graâ—e in us and Gods love to us 324. our sufferings require patience with thankfulnesse 129. we must suffer willingly cheerefully and thankfully 206. a Christian rejoyceth in his sufferings 205. our sufferings are counterpoysed with answerable blessings 124. and as our sufferings exceed so doe our comfortâ— 313. Satan makes suffering seeme more difficult then it is 210. suffering the way to prevent suffering 108. we must suffâ—r patiently because we suffer justly 221. our sufferings shall be either short or tolerable 269. our sufferings are nothing compared with Christs 332. or the Saints in former ages ibid. T TEmptation the greatest not to be tempted 32â— in time of temptation a man is not a competent judge in his owne case 288 Thankfulnesse we must suffer with thankefulnesse 228. to give God thankes once in adversity more acceptable then to doâ— it many times in prosperity 359. we arâ— more apt to pray then give thankes because we are more sensible of our owne wants then Gods glory 81 Time when the time which God hath appointed is come he will deliver us and not before 276. wâ— must not prescribe him the time but waite 312. he will release us in due time that is in his time not in ours 276. he forbeares to try what is in us and what we will doe or suffer for him 312 Tryals small a signe of weakenesse in grace 329 Tribulation we must not rave in tribulation like the wicked nor be patient without sense as the Stoicks 228. but kisse the Râ—d we smart withall 230 V VAlorous nonâ— truly valorous bâ—t such as are truly religious 184 W WAnt where is no want is much wantonnesse 57 Wayâ— examples of such as miscarried being our of their way 177 Waite Gods leisure 311 Weary we are never weary of receiving soone weary of attending 348 Will the will is all in all with God 290. God accepteth the will for the deeâ— 319. the affection for the action ibid. Wise that which makes the body smart makes the soule wise 83 Wish we should strangely intangle our selves if wee could sit downe and obtaine our Wishes 355. none would bee more miserable then he that should cull out his owne wayes 356 World we are weaned from it by calamities 35 Workes the tenure of our salvation is not by a covenant of workes but by a covenant of grace 286 Worthy we are most worthy when wee thinke our selves most unworthy 289 Z ZEale must be mixed with knowledge and discretion 218 FINIS * Sin stigma tized * In a Treatise not yet Printed 3. 4. * In the cure of prejudis Prov. 31. 14. Job 9. 26. â—say 23. 1. Rev. 8. 9.