are absolutely pure they Rejoyce while we Mourn tho' thanks be to God we mourn in hope what we pray for they enjoy When we see these calm and patient Christians going to Heaven we say O our fathers our fathers the Horsmen of Israel and the Chariots thereof ye were our Defence and our Glory we can hardly forbear saying Oh that we were with you why have you left us behind but you were in Christ before us and are with him sooner you entered into the Vineyard sooner and so before us are rewarded we will indeavour to tread in your steps then you and we nay Jesus our dearest Jesus and we shall meet together I often think of that place Eccl. 4.1 2. because so many afflictions and miseries and judgments are the portion of the Living Blessed are they that sleep in the quiet Grave no more terrified with Dreams no more complain of restless Nights and of Months of Vanity no more do they hear the Confusions and Disorders of our World And to the quietness of our slumbers there nothing contributes more than patient waiting when we are alive How did Jacob bless his Sons before he dyed and how sweetly did he yield his Breath Gen. 49.3 O happy death to wait for God's Salvation and to see the Salvation that he waited for Salvation carries a very pleasant sound but the Salvation of a God is very great and glorious The hope of this sweetens the lives of the blessed Heirs of Heaven it pulls out the thorns of sickness and the sting of death it relieves their age it makes the Grave to lose its horrour it makes their Bed of dust very soft they live in motion and they rest in peace They exhaust their Spirits in the work of God but they never come to the dregs of Life for theirs is clear and pure to the very bottom Exhortations to those that have patiently watied on God even in Old Age. Reflect 1. How gracious he has been to you in giving you many years wherein to get Oyl and to trim your Lamps and to prepare for another World How many storms have you out-lived that made others sink Many many young People are gone to Judgment a great while ago while that Hand that crusht them has been very gentle and merciful to you You have survived the dangers and the sins and the giddiness of Youth and are now almost at our Journeys end 2. Endeavour to do good to others that have not had such experience of God as you Thus you bring forth fruit in old age and are fat and flourishing Ps 92.14 you do as it were grow young again with a vast accession to your Spiritual stature When you are full of patience and by your Example and your Words declare to others how faithful and how kind God has been to you So by teaching them knowledge you will rekindle and inflame your own Light whilst others younger then you decay you shall thrive and prosper He that planted you makes the green Tree to wither and the dry to grow You 'll not only go to Heaven fully ripe for Glory like a shock of Corn gathered in due season but there will be something for others to glean when you are gone And in the mean time Summer and Winter Youth and Old Age doe as it were meet in you the decays of one and the fruitfulness of the other In your Evening there is Light Zech. 8.4 5. Fortifie your selves with the Experiences of God goodness whenever your patience is like to tire as Polycarp said when he was urged by the Proconsul to deny Christ or to do something like it These fourscore and six Tears have I served Christ and he never did me any harm and how can I then blaspheme my Master and my Saviour Exhort others to fear and love and trust God as you have done by your Holy Awe and Reverence seek upon all occasions to Correct their Lightness and their Vanity You have served a good Master and you have had the Honour to serve him very long be not now weary of his work be not now for going out of his Vineyard when he that employed you is just coming to reward your diligence Be of good Courage The Lord is at hand O ye aged People bless the Lord your Preserver and daily sing his praise let your Winter as well as the Spring of Youth praise the Lord. How few have had that time for Heaven that you have had Oh the blessed Seasons and Days of Grace that you have had It 's a wonderful Honour to those that are old that they have so large a space wherein to do a World of Good to enlarge the Kingdom of Christ and to make their future Crown more weighty And none should grudge to labour for fourscore or an hundred Years when for so short a Duration of painful Diligence he shall have an Everlasting Recompence By living to old Age you have more Wisdom and Experience and Skill than others your Graver Years teach you to beware of several Rocks that they split upon And all these Mercies are heightned to such as arrive to an Healthful old Age not loaded with the usual Pains and Griefs and Languishing Motions of decaying Age for then the longer the Life the more the Misery Joshua 14.10 11. Thus Life does smoothly take its course without meeting with great Obstructions in the way and is not only Long but Happy too This was the peculiar Felicity of the Patriarchs before the Flood their Lives were extended to almost a thousand Years and yet we read of none of those Sad Symptoms attending them that attend us now at fourscore Psal 90.10 It 's a very comfortable thing to have neither a poor nor sickly Age neither to want Necessaries nor to be in Pain 'T is a Blessing to live to see your Posterity and a greater Joy to see them walking in the Truth Psal 128.6 but yet none can expect to be freed from the evil days mentioned Eccles 12.1 full of trembling Palsies grievous Aches lingering Pains and innumerable Evils but if you patiently wait on God and improve well your declining Years you 'll at length be satisfied with living as 't is said of Job Chap. 42.17 He died being old and full of days He rose as from a Feast not Surfeited but well pleased with the Joys and Plenty of his latter Days He was once indeed in another Frame when his Spirits were over-clouded with Melancholy and his Soul was burnt with Anguish when he had restless Pain by day and no sweet Sleep at night Chap. 7.4 then he wish'd for any sort of Death tho' Shameful and Untimely tho' Violent and Uncommon Verse 5 16. But this was more Job's Disease than his Grace 't was a most rash and hasty Wish to die in Terror and Anguish is a forlorn and doleful way of dying He eagerly thirsted for the Grave but at last he looked upon it with another Eye and went to it as a weary
Mortification you will out-grow that anxiety of thought which others have as to what shall befal the World or themselves this Earth by most of its Inhabitants is over-rated and so they are loath to quit it Seventhly That you may patiently wait on God keep your Eye most constantly and steddily fixed on your blessed Master When the Storms arise look on him whose Power can in a moment make the Sea calm and the lowring Skie clear again In your trouble look to your Helper as when we ford a deep River we look to the further side Whereas if we only pore upon our Miseries we tire our Spirits and raise to our selves more hideous prospects of Calamity You need not go far to see your Saviour for he is with you in your Assemblies in your Closets he is in the Scriptures and in all the Promises no part of the World is out of his Dominion and he has all Power in Heaven and Earth The Prince of the Air that is limited to his own Principality and to his changeable Empire cannot raise a Storm without his leave tho' he is in himself very powerful yet he is Subject to a greater Power The Apostle directs the Christians of his days to wait for the Lord from Heaven 2 Thes 3.5 To wait for the sight of that glorious Person on whom they have believed with whom they hope to live for ever the sight of him is what they extreamly long for It will be an Heaven to see him who has done so much for them and of whom they have heard so very much When he comes he will reward his patient Servants he will manifest their Grace and make the World to wonder at his Power in their support Behold the Faith and Patience of the Saints Thus in the Text David says I have waited for the Lord. I have not waited so much for mine own Exaltation or the Conquest of mine Enemies as for the Favour and the Love of God I have not long'd to see mine House flourish and my Friends enriched or my Name perpetually celebrated on Earth No truly Lord I have longed for thee and thee alone This is all my Satisfaction this is all my Desire tho' no Deliverance come yet if thou O my God dost thy self come I shall have enough Another sort of Spirit have those who are only of this World they all would climb and are uneasie to attain some high or Lofty things Oh that I were Honourable says the Rich and O that I were Rich says the Poor Man Every one that has Money would fain have more and he that has a deal of Land would fain be Master of another Field he that is obscure would fain be noted and he that is publickly talked of would fain be more popular These are the things they long and wait for not satisfied with what God thinks fit to give them Even Princes sometimes think they have not room enough unless they invade the Dominions of others as well as lord it in their own And Ahab a wicked King could find no pleasure in his Crown unless he had the Vineyard of honest Nabaoth But be you satisfied with whatever is allotted you by Providence and do not grumble if you meet with Pain Reproach Poverty and various Crosses For all the Saints in Heaven went through great Tribulations thither most of the Illessed Saints performed their Voyage to that happy Land And now I come to speak of our Departed Friend Mrs. Hasselborn who dyed this Month in the 95th Year of her Age in a good old Age indeed Few very few of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam have in these times of the World so long a Life few of those that dye of Age hold out so long as she I shall make no manner of excuses nor tell you whilst I am praising her that I am not for praising those that are Departed nor confute my self as some do that say they are against commending the Dead even when they say of them all that ever they can Our Saviour said of this or that Person O Woman great is thy Faith and he that commends his Saints when they live would not have their Memory roughly treated when they are Dead No body will suspect the Humble Jesus as guilty of Flattery or of over-admiring any Persons and yet what a large Character does he think fit to give of his Predecessor Matth. XI 11. Verily I say unto you among them that are born of Women there has not risen a greater then John the Baptist And the plain-hearted free-spoken Paul that never never balked the boldest truth or the most searching reproof yet he was not so morose as to chide the People for commending Dorcas for her good Work and Alms-deed for the Coats and Garments which she made Acts 9.36 Nay so far was he from so four a temper that he highly extols Andronicus and Junias who were in Christ before him and who were of note among the Apostles It is a fault not to commend good People if it be done with truth and modesty especially in an ill-natured Age where those that God will own as his Jewels are trampled on and those that he will commend and accept are Censured and Reproacht though for their hard speeches that Men utter against the Innocent they must be rigorously Judged therefore for my part I reckon it my Duty to contribute what I can to embalm the Memory of such as were dear to Christ on Earth and now live with him above All the Graces of the blessed Spirit are too valuable to be neglected or obscured in the dark We are to invite others to behold the aimableness and beauty of Religion behold how it shines and triumphs and spreads its healing Beams Behold an Israelite indeed John 1.47 And it 's an Encouragement to others to be good when they find their works shall praise them in the gates of Zion it shall be said this or that man was born there we ought with great freeness and candor to acknowledge the Gifts and Graces that are bestowed on others Let us not bury the remembrance of their excellent Actions in the Grave Thus we may lawfully give them Praise while we do not give them Worship We think the Virgin Mother blessed among Women and to all Generations she is blessed We will honour her Memory but never think she is above her Son nor will we take the Crown from his Head to place it upon hers We will imitate the Examples of the Saints Departed but not pray to them for even Abraham himself is ignorant of us In preserving the Memory of good People we act suitably to the Design of God who has taken care to Record several of his Excellent Servants of whom we otherwise had never heard As they were zealous for his Glory whilst they were alive he will not let their Names be trampled on with the Feet of Pride when they are Departed Such Persons are like withered Flowers In their flourishing
Condition they recreated and pleased their Acquaintance with the sweet Odours of their Charity their Meekness and their good Works For when the Flower and the Green is Blasted by the cold of Death they are after all like the tender Plants Medicinal even when dryed and in their most unbeautiful State of great use and service to the World The Scripture perpetuates the Memory of several good Women as well as Men as Sarah and Rebeccah and Rachel and Miraim and Hannah and Deborah and the Blessed Virgin and that affectionate Person that scrupled no cost to shew her respect to our Saviour Mark 14.9 And Jesus loved Martha and her Sister and Lazarus John 11.5 He often met with a welcome at their Hospitable House And St. Paul greets Priscilla as well as Aquila and Mary and Julia and several others in Rom. 16. This Old Disciple of Christ of whom I am now to speak had spent her years in the Fear and the Love of God and full of Days full of pleasant quietness and hope she is gone to Rest She calmly Sleeps till the Morning of the Resurrection when she will have a Body without all the marks of withering and decayed Age a Body full of Lustre full of Activity and Like to the glorious body of our Lord Like the Angels that possess an eternal Youth their Beams never dimly shine their Light never weakly burns After a long Circulation of Hymns and Joys their Praises are as cheerful and their Voices as loud as ever This aged Servant of our Lord had made it her great business to trust in him and in the midst of Revolutions that were attended with threatning Prospects she remain'd unmoved When others were frighted with Alarums and the imagined approaches of Bloody Enemies she was undisturb'd saying I have a good God and I fear nothing and often used to say They are well kept that God keeps for she safely dwelt under the shadow of his Wings and as one that knew that the thoughts and discourse of worldly things were very unseasonable in a dying Hour she settled all her affairs before Death gave the last Summons and so was prepared to dye She possessed to almost an Hundred a a very good Age without pineing weakness and the sorrows that cloud others and send them early to the Grave She was now and then afflicted but she was never overwhelmed This good Woman spent her time in Prayer and Reading of the Holy Scripture that best of Books that great Conveyer of all Heavenly Light and Heat Where are the gracious Souls to whom this Revelation was not dear and precious What sort of People are those whose Ignorance and Rudeness forces them to Ridicule what others lay their whole stress for another World upon Dear to her as well as to all other Holy Souls was her Bible there she placed her trust thence she drew her Supports and Consolations This was her Lanthorn in this World during the darkness of her Pilgrimage she now needs it not where there is everlasting Day Next to the Blessed Scripture she often read in Dr. Preston Dr. Sibbs and in the Lives of Luther and Calvin and some of their Works in English On Precious and Reviving Names of Men that were Stars of the first Magnitude that shined in the Church And when they were placed in superiour Orbes lest their influence and heat behind they still edifie the Church by their Grave and Learned Writings in which every thing is manly and substantial and nothing slovingly or ridiculous or trifling and unbecoming the Majesty of Divinity and the Character they bore How much more happy were those useful Men in leaving such solid Writings behind them then are some of the Poets of our days who sauce a great part of their Composures with Wit and Folly or as I may say with foolish Wit whilst they content themselves in dressing up Vice with soft and easie Names and accommodate every thing to the gust and humour of a depraved Age and do not so much Combat with Sin as discover it study more to please then to profit their Books are Contagious whilst the Authors are alive and when they dye they do like Nero leave Poison behind them and propagate infection for a long time together Among all the rest of the Old Divines she had a particular respect to Dr. Preston which shewed that she had both a good Tast and Judgment in Divine things His solidity and wise management of truth gave Light to her Understanding and his serious and devout Applications warmed her Heart And of all the Works of this Pious Doctor she was most pleased and edified with his Discourse about God's All-sufficiency and so was another Old Disciple that I knew of above 90. that found always a peculiar refreshment in that very Treatise So wisely did these Aged People having sorrowfully viewed the Vanities of Life and of all Creatures betake themselves to God alone whose help they sought and whose help they found As she was careful to prepare her own Soul for another World she also thirsted for the welfare and happiness of others and often passed the moments that were most free from pain in pressing them to mind things of the greatest and most lasting Consequence desiring them to prepare to dye and earnestly moving them in order to this to live an Holy Life fully thinking with the great Apostle that Without holiness none can see the Lord. The sight of the pure Majesty of Heaven would be amazing and astonishing to a Soul full of evil inclinations to objects terrene and sensual Therefore this excellent Woman did often desire her Friends to take care least they were in their way of living like persons walking in a Gallery that went forwards and backwards without advancing any nearer to their Journeys end intimating that she wisht they might every day be nearer Heaven then they were before With a mighty pleasure when I was once with her she discoursed of the forementioned famous Divines and of the advantages she had by the Preaching and Sermons of many worthy Men such as Mr. Burroughs Mr. Lockyer old Mr. Calamy and several others whom she had long Survived Her Lot indeed was cast in happy times and she had the favour to live in the days of our Fore-fathers when Religion was more practised and esteemed then alas now it is The Puritans disputed less then we and lived better Oh that their Catholick Charity their peaceable Spirit and their innocent simplicity might have a Resurrection She lived to see most of her old Acquaintance removed by Death and so was after having been satisfied with living very willing to depart that she and her Friends might meet again She trusted God in her Health and so she died when her Pain and Sickness came upon her She often desired one that attended her in her near approaches to Eternity to read the first words of the 40th Psalm as extremely suitable to her own Case and Temper She was very
THE HAPPINESS OF A Quiet Mind BOTH In Youth and Old Age With the way to Attain It. In a DISCOURSE occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Martha Hasselborn who died March 13th 1695 6. in the 95th year of her Age. By TIMOTHY ROGERS M.A. LONDON Printed for Iohn Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill MDCXCVI THE Epistle Dedicatory TO Mr. Jacob Hasselborn Merchant THere is nothing Men are more apt to value themselves upon than the being descended from Great and Honourable Persons who have either had Noble Blood running in their Veins or have signalized themselves by a series of Heroical Actions for the good of their Countrey and by this means have delivered their names down to Posterity Crowned with those Garlands which the thirst of Glory made them to desire And yet many thus descended stain the Memory of their Predecessors and as far as in them lies make all their Laurels wither by Lives led according to their own humour and fancy and the contagious Examples of a depraved Age. But you have the Honour to be akin to one who was on earth related to the family of Heaven Your Good Mother after having with continued Patience sustained the troubles of her weary Pilgrimage calmly at length arrived at her dearest home where she longed to be The Remembrance of her I doubt not is a great help to you in your Christian Race such an example of goodness so unaffected and sincere whilst it is always brightly shining before your Eyes gives you both light and strength to follow her in the same happy path wherein she went The frequent thinking on the Holiness of her Life will be a great Motive to quicken you to be like her in every commendable and praise worthy thing To think of her Faith and Meekness and Patience will make you flourish in the same Vertues As young Painters encrease their skill by frequently Copying old and excellent Originals In your pious Mother you have seen living and exemplified Religion a quiet Mind not as represented in the coldness of Precepts but as warmed and animated by the blessed Spirit and Patient holding out to the Conclusion of a great Age such a Patience as is to be admired but not to be described for no Colours can be soft enough to draw this Admirable Grace St. Paul rejoyced in his beloved Timothy and expressed a very lively pleasure upon the thought of one that had very good Parents and was himself ve-very good When says he I call to remembrance the unfeigned Faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy Grandmother Lois and thy Mother Eunice and I am perswaded in thee also wherefore I put thee in remembrance c. I hope that the pure and constant Faith that was in your Mother is passed into you not by a propagation of Blood but of Spirit not of Nature but of Grace That you and your Relations may meet her and all the blessed Saints with comfort at the Great Day live together in that place where there will be no Sin nor Pain nor Old Age but an Eternal Holiness Spring and Youth and where our present Weakness shall be swallowed up of Strength is the hearty Prayer of Your Real Friend And Servant T. Rogers Psal XL. Verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry AS of all the Ages of the Life of Man Infancy is the most Innocent and Childhood the most Vain and Youth the most Brisk and Daring so Old Age is the most clog'd with Pains and Miseries In other Stages of our Journey we are annoyed now and then with Trouble and Calamity with Sickness and decayes of Strength but this last part of our Pilgrimage this feeble part of Life is its self a Disease 'T is so weak that generally the Powers of the Soul as well as the Members of the Body have not the Liveliness and Vigor that they had in their greener Years the Evening is much more Cloudy and Tempestuous more Dark and Frightful then the Morning of their Days And yet there are found some Blessed Souls that flourish even in Winter neither the sharpness of the Weather nor the uncomfortableness of the Season hinders their being over Green Such an one was David as he was all his Life Musically given of an Harmonious Heavenly Temper in his pleasant Angelick Airs he had often mounted up to Heaven and at last with praise he took his Flight thither to change his Hymns into sweeter Hallelujahs 1 Chr. 29.10 He blessed the Lord before all the Congregation v. 20. He said to all the Congregation Now bless the Lord. V. 28. He dyed in a good old Age full of Days Riches and Honour So old Jacob when the decays of Strength and the weakness of his Age would not allow him to be long in his Devotions he improved the more easie Intervals of his Illness to breath after God Gen 49.18 I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord His Expression was short but his Faith and Patience were very great So Moses prepared his Soul for the Joyes of Heaven by tuning his Harp below he Sung before he dyed Deut. 32. And before his death he blessed the Children of Israel Ch. 33. And after this he went up to the Mount and put off his Body to be Cloathed upon with Life and Immortality Deut. 34.5 And good old Simeon who had a Promise that he should not depart till he had seen the Lords Christ He did not hide himself from the glorious sight tho' he knew that after that he must quickly dye but he came by the Spirit into the Temple and there he met with the Child Jesus that for many past years he had long'd to see And having seen the Blessed Babe he took him up in his Arms and was full of Transports saying Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Luke 2.27 28. I might alledge the Example of Paul the Aged who was then in Chains and near his Execution by the Lyon Nero and yet after having served several Years under the Banners of Christ neither the Cruelties of his Imprisonment nor the prospect of death nor all the weight of Age that laid upon him did abate his hope in God nay his hope was ripened to assurance when he says I have fought the good fight He spoke as if he had been in Paradise as if the Crown of Glory had been already on his Head to all these I may joyn that daughter of Abraham for whom I Preach this Funeral Sermon who served God with chearful hope many years and bore all the advances of Death as well as her declining Age with admirable Calmness and Resignation and long continued Faith and Hope and dyed near an Hundred Years old dropping into the Grave like Fruit from the Tree when 't is fully Ripe She had no Clouds and Darkness in her Soul she was all calm and serene she lived in Joy and she
Life such as are those raging Plagues Famines and Devastations which send many thousands early to the Grave We shall by this means not pass our days in his wrath An aged Christian that has been patient for many years comes at length like a Vessel richly laden home after a tedious and stormy Voyage full of reviving Experiences of the Divine Goodness from the Morning to the Noon and to the Evening of his Life Ps 71.17 18. He calls to mind with joy the various and admirable conduct of his Heavenly Father and sleeps in quiet on the lap of Providence Seeing with what beautiful Wisdom he had laid the soundation of his Happiness and carried on the Structure how he healed his Diseases and has safely brought him to the borders of a perfect cure How they were planted as Trees of Righteousness and by various Acts of Love and Power maintained in the Vineyard how they were in pain and how they were eased with his tender hand how they wept in agonies and how he wiped their tears away new support arises to the patient holy Soul Isa 40.31 It hastens our escape from trouble as the stilness and composure of any Person in a Fever tends to mitigate its force but a restless agitation of the Body does more and more inflame and fire the Blood By suffering we learn to suffer and patience reconciles us to the Cross Ps 27.14 No studied arguments no fine Sentences do so fortify the Soul in trouble as its own experience This is the Lenitive of anxious and unquiet thoughts gives a secret refreshing and a mighty strength this pours balm into those Wounds that otherwise might gangreen and fester when clog'd with outward infirmities and when there are the marks and signs of a falling habitation there will be the prospect of an house not made with hands and when death is in the windows there will be strength in the heart Reas 6. This patient waiting does most excellently prepare for the mercies waited for and gives them when they come the sweetest relish they are welcome as rest to weary Travellers that long to be at home When God and a waiting Soul meet together What transports and joys are there O he is come he is come that I long'd to see it revives me to hear his chearing Language to see his smiling face In what an extasie was Old Simeon whilst he embraced his Saviour many a long year had he waited for the blessed sight O happy eyes that saw that Sun begin his Race happy Arms that embraced and hugg'd so great a Treasure Luke 2.36 O what a joy to a Father to see a Prodigal returning home after he had long stayed and waited for his return With what Musick with what Joys with what Feasts does he solemnize such a pleasant day Thus 't is reported of Augustin's mother what a concern she had for her Son he was the daily Subject of her Prayers and Tears that St. Ambrose often when she mourned sent her away with this Answer That it was not possible that a Child of so many Prayers should perish No sooner was he Converted but her Spirit was at ease and she now desired no more He tells us in his Canfessions that when the day approacht that his Mother was to pass to a better Life as they were talking together of the joys of Heaven in the Conclusion of this Conference which was the most agreeable in all the World she said to me My Son I avow to you that as to what relates to my self that I have now no further hopes nor pleasure in this world I know not what I do here for I have nothing more to look for The only thing that made me desirous to live was to see thee a good Christian before my death now my good God has granted me so great a favour as to see thee become entirely his Servant by the contempt that thou hast of all the goods and pleasures of this Life Why then do I tarry here any longer Reas 7. It cures the frowardness of our spirits in our last sickness and makes death very happy and Heaven very sweet not an unbecoming thought nor word of God The Conclusion of such a serene Life is still and fair as the Evening of a Summers day Such an one is not pusht or hurryed out of the World but walks out as from one Room into another sleeps in death with the composure of an Infant sucking at its Mothers Breast they go by a smooth descent to death some without much pain tho' but rarely is that exemption from the assaults of the last Enemy granted Some are laid down very gently on their bed of dust and others with groans and sighs extinguish the dwindgling lamp of Life A patient Soul is ready and if God give the word it gladly flies away it longs and flutters to be gone and in the parting moment such an one shall not be left a Convoy of Angels shall wait upon it to see it safe through all the Regions of the Air where the Evil Spirits would dispute its passage to Glory Oh how welcome is Heaven to a troubled weary Soul How welcome are Hallelujah's to one that upon Earth heard the slanders and reproaches of many a bitter Tongue the Clouds of Life are then scattered and there succeeds an eternal day Then patience has no further work for there is no pain there hope is vanish't for the Good that was once desired is possest The calm of that quiet Region into which we enter after death will make amends for all the Storms we met with in the way thither How many Blessed Souls shall we meet that were in Storms as well as we that were sick and tempted and scorned and afflicted that had weak Bodies and fearful Spirits and to go thither from such a World as this from the Subburbs of Hell into the New Jerusalem Tho' we are in Tempests yet we are not to live upon the Sea Our Life may be very calamitous but 't is also very short Tho' loaded with bitter and uneasie griefs yet in Heaven there is no more sorrow for there is no sin there will be light in our Minds peace in our Consciences and comfort in our Hearts there will be no more fear in the place of Eternal Love no trembling doubting Soul in all the vast Assembly they cannot question whether they Love Christ or not when they are with him All their former suspicions are turned into pleasant wonder Isa 60.2 It s an Honour to be in Christ betimes an Honour to be Christ's Disciple and much more Honourable to be in his glorious Temple Oh Blessed are they that are at their Journeys end after having waited long for God he seeing they could find no durable rest below put out his hand and took them into his Ark above How can we almost forbear congratulating those happy Souls that have fought the good fight of faith and have got the Victory While we sin they
and your smoothest delights into the roughest thorns Psal 78.31 It is a friendly act of God to refuse us often what we ask when it is really for our hurt and to save us from our misguided wishes is the love and kindness of a Father If Paul had had his thorn removed immediately he might too greatly swell with his Gifts and Revelations or be like a Saul again 2dly Tho' God do not immediately hear our Crys yet he may gratifie us in better things Moses begged to enter into Canaan but he had no remaining longing after that happy Land when he was once in Heaven The joys of Paradise had with him a sweeter taste than all the Milk and Honey of that could ever give We have no cause to grumble that our Suits too long depend if in the delays of desired help he now and then gives us a sight of his amiable Face The Cross will not overwhelm us when his Arms are underneath when tho' he do not remove the Cup yet he sweetens it with his Love he delays to save us to try our faith and to make his Salvation more illustrious As Jesus tho' he heard that Lazarus was sick Joh. xi 6 7. he did not hasten to his dying Friend as knowing he intended to glorifie his power in his Resurrection 3. He delays an immediate Answer to our Crys to see whether we can patiently wait and believe his promise when we have no sensible proofs of his good will Whether with the Woman of Canaan we will continue Suppliants when he seems to chide us from his presence This is an evidence of confirmed patience when we abide waiting at his door tho' for several hours or days he seems to take no notice of our Crys 4. He suffers us to wait a long time before he hear our Crys to bring our sins to remembrance and to put us in mind how we used him how long how many a tedious hour we made him stay before we bid him welcome to our hearts a long time he knockt e're we let him in It 's no wonder that he uses us as we used him 't is a most equitable and unblameable retaliation that we should tast of the Fruit that we have planted 5. He loves to see his Servants in a praying posture for it is an argument of Love and of Humility their Tears are botled he knows that these Sorrows like April showers will make them more fruitful afterwards and that by praying they learn to pray and the frequent returns of duty make them to perform it with greater zeal and skill As to your Crys to God for help in trouble observe these Rules 1. Be sure to offer up all your Crys in the Name of Christ and all the while you pray think of his kind and compassionate and prevailing Intercession Cry in his Name for you are encouraged so to do from his Promises from the vertue of his Blood and Merits from his nearness to God and his Love to you You find Mat. 14.23 that he was praying on the Mountain when his Disciples were in a storm at Sea As he suffers not in all our Agitations so he is not unmindful of our Troubles when we are tost hither and thither by the changes of our Bodys or our Souls He is the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 How many Gulphs would swallow us up and against how many Rocks should we be dasht if it were not for the powerful and tender remembrance of our Saviour Let us under every Cross pray to God in his Name for by his sufferings we are reconciled and have access to the Throne of Grace a Throne sprinkled with Blood whereas without him we had trembled at the Bar of strict Justice And he prays for us not only as a Favourite but as the Surety of the Covenant not meerly by intreaties but in the vertue of his Blood And whenever we make mention of his blessed Name it must be with the lowest reverence with a due apprehension of our unworthiness and an high value of the Love and Grace of Christ and take care to avoid whatsoever may obstruct the success of your repeated Crys For says the Apostle Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss James 4.3 2. When you have Prayed and Cryed look for an answer of your Prayers Let not your Requests be shot at random propose to your selves some good end and see whether you have obtained it If you have asked peace of Soul enquire whether all be still within and whether his Light has shined upon you with its chearing Beams If you have beg'd Patience enquire whether you have more willingness to suffer and so in all other Cases it argues that we perform our duties as a Task and from a slavish temper or a cold indifference when we never concern our selves for the success and it is a with-holding of that Glory that is due to God for upon every answer of our prayers we should give him fresh Acts of Praise If we have a Petition depending in any Court as we wait with hope so we fail not on all occasions to enquire whether it be remembred and kindly received and whether we are like to have what we petitioned for But if we neglect to review this part of solemn Worship we lose that trust and hope that we might have had and we weaken our own hands For to mind our answered prayers would encrease our Love Psal 116.1 and our neighbours fare the worse for this Omission we do not incourage and invite them to praise God with us 3. Wonder greatly that such poor Crys as yours should reach Heaven It was matter of great thought to Solomon when he said 1 Kings 8.27 Will God indeed dwell on the Earth He that has all the spatious Heavens for his Circuit and Dominion will he not only visit this Earth but dwell there So may you say will he whose Court is thronged with Angels and happy Saints regard such a poor Wretch as I Will he that sits upon a Throne regard me a Prisoner on this Earth Will he that is surrounded with Hallelujah's regard my sight my groans my tears Oh what Grace is this What adorable condescention I know he would not regard me but for the sake of Christ Glory be then given to him that fits upon the Throne and to the Lamb. I am not worthy to look towards Heaven what am I then that my prayers should reach thither and enter and be recorded and answered there A poor Beggar is not disdained by the King of Kings he does not trample on a worm Ps 34.3 6. O what am I that I should be admitted into the Presence and have audience of the King of Heaven Lord what is man or the son of man How shall I know that God has heard my Cry and that my patient waiting has not been in vain 1. If he bestow upon you the very thing that you requested If after your cry for ease you
are eased if you are recovered after you have prayed to be brought from the Gates of Death If after having had many sollicitous thoughts about your being falsly accused God is at length pleased to scatter the Cloud and make your Innocence appear to the shame of your malicious Enemies Thus Jabez prayed in 1 Chro. 4.10 That God would bless him and enlarge his Coast And he granted him that which he requested It was a superabundant kindness to one desirous of Grandeur and Dominion for Jabez might have been a very happy man tho' his Coast had not been enlarged he might have governed and enjoyed himself and his Friends in a little room and he might have gone to Heaven by the way of grief 2. Your Crys are heard when God gives you resignation to his Will even in the absence of that which you most eagerly desired if after having poured out your supplications you return from his presence chearful and easie and well pleased leaving him that is insinitely wise to do with you and your Bodies with you and your Friends what seems best to him when you find your hearts unbroken with anxious cares and solicitude whether you are gratified or no This secret contentment is a foretast of Heaven and a pledge and instance of Divine Love 3. 'T is a most certain sign of your Cry being heard when even in the delays of the desired Comfort you love God more than you ever did When your thoughts of him are more frequent and delightful when your love to all his appointments and even to paintful Duties is increased and that you are thankful for the smallest mercies for the smallest intervals of pain and trouble and when even in the way of his judgments you wait for him by all which you may plainly perceive that your prayers may be heard when your affliction is not removed and many times the Mercies may be given and they are so sudden or surprizing that you scarce can believe your selves delivered even when you are delivered Psal 126.1 and Acts 12.14 tho' they had the faith to pray for Peter they had not the faith to believe that he was escaped and knocking at the door The Second General Head in order to your patient waiting upon God you must endeavour to keep up in your minds good and honourable thoughts of him all the while you are in trouble It is with great industry and art that the Devil takes occasion from our affliction to possess us with unbecoming thoughts of him that is our best Friend and to make him during our dark and gloomy seasons to pass for an Enemy as the Disciples in the storm mistook their approaching Saviour for a Spirit and in hideous consternation shouted out as thinking some Evil Spirit was come to make their Death more terrible for they looked upon themselves as just drowning If we have irregular apprehensions of God as rigorous and inexorably severe as rouzing up the greatness of his Power to crush and ruine us such undue thoughts breed black and superstitious fears and shrink all the faculties of our minds with despairing unbelief our minds are weakned and cramped by the terror of our thoughts and the consequent of this will be that we shall either give him no service or that which is very trifling and full of vain and idle Ceremonies For to such a sort of pompous insincere Worship does Superstition lead those poor People whose Eyes are hoodwink't and blinded with it Under our dark mistaken thoughts of God and his Designs our Obedience is the Action of a Slave 't is with unwillingness and constraint that we Obey retaining at the same time a disposition to throw off the Yoak We proceed in our Devotions like those that Row in Galleys 't is with a backward Heart and an unwilling Shrug Whatever we give to our Maker is with a convulst and stingy Hand for we apprehend him as a severe and a rugged Master as full of stern and ghastly Majesty Now to remedy these uneasie fears our Saviour came into this World to give us admiring thoughts of God to represent him as aimable and worthy to be delighted in to make him the object of our Trust and Hope and not of our Dread As a Benefactor or a most liberal Physician most tender and compassionate that wounds us in order to a lasting Cure and his Spirit is sent to promote our Love to him and St. John whose Soul was most full of Love was the most beloved God has in a great measure left off dealing with Men in visible terrors as he did heretofore Nay says the Apostle Tho' we know the terrors of the Lord yet 2 Cor. 5.11 we perswade Men we use towards them the most gentle and soft and easie Methods we are to say to them Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and there is nothing frightful in him that has all the tender Qualities of one of the meekest of all Animals a Lamb. Thirdly If you would patiently wait upon God beware of having only little Faith We are not to lay the blame of our being troubled so much on the greatness of our danger as on the weakness of our Faith when we doubt and tremble then with Peter in the Storm we begin to sink That our Faith may grow we must use all the good means we can to enlarge our knowledge of God and Christ for the dwarfishness of our trust is owing to the darkness of our Minds They that know thy Name will trust in thee Knowledge of its self does not produce this admirable reliance of the Soul The Devils are very Learned and Knowing Spirits but their Light does only serve to scortch them it gives no comeliness to their horrid shape nor to their Flaming Torments any Relaxation But such a Knowledge as is founded upon Love and Hope and sweet Experiences of the Truths and Mercies of God will convey to us great degrees of Strength In order to remove our little Faith we may make frequent and delightful use of Christ we must run to his Arms with all the speed and force we can and by being near to him we shall learn to bear the Crosses of this Life and how to long for that which is to come Such whose Faith is rooted and spread to a mighty breadth and of a tall Stature scruple none of the greatest Tribulations and many of them go to Heaven with as much calmness as if they were but going into another Room or changing their Rags for a new Suit of Cloaths But a little Faith shivers and trembles and is loath to go hence as amazed at the painfulness of the Passage and the greatness of the Change In no case let us blame God for his Rigor but our selves for our unbelief In this Life we are exposed to very great Tryals and these will not be patiently born with a little Patience O! What a Contest is there between great Storms and little Faith
The time will come when we shall wish to have had more Oyl in our Lamps and more Grace in store against an evil day when the Devil and his Temptations and Diseases and pale and dreadful Death with all his mourning Train of Evils will set upon us How shall we meet such Enemies without well-polisht Armour on What shall the Sick and the Lame and the Blind and the Decrip't do in the day of Battle Will not our little Faith be a most unkind and disingenious return to the great Love of Christ How unsuitably do these two look his Love in its strength and our Faith in its decay his Love in its flourishing perfection and our Faith withered and lyable to be extinguished almost with every little breath And our grief will be encreased from the time we had wherein to prepare for all the sorrows that might come upon us the leisure and the helps of many Years But if our Faith be strong we shall not be discouraged with the delays of God we shall trust him tho' he kill us and cast our Anchor in the dark we shall look to even an absent Saviour and wait for his Salvation when there is no deliverance within the Ken and View of Sense when all other resuge fails when all the Greatures cannot help us even in the most threatning and the last extremities when we see no light we shall cast our selves at the Power and Love of God Fourthly If you would patiently wait upon God in trouble you must have suitable promises to rely upon You have but small encouragement to wait if you have no promise that your waiting shall not be in vain We are not with vexatious labour to pain our selves by stretching our thoughts too much upon futurity or to plunge our selves into the unfathomable depths to know the secret decrees of God Our Eyes are too weak to read the Records of Heaven and they are far distant from our Sight But it is more easie and profitable to look into the Revelation that is made to conduct our lives both in Prosperity and in Trouble and in this Revelation there are abundance of very reviving Promises for the most trembling Soul to rely upon And all those are most sincerely true not like those of many Men in high Places who draw along such as wait upon them with large Promises most kind Looks and obliging Words but never think much of what they Promise and so make the poor Expector of Preferment at length to go away ashamed after having spent a deal of time and perhaps Money too to no purpose And so all they gain is a little bought Wit which alas they dearly bought with the Circulation of many torturing and unquiet Hopes But it often happens that they go away both with their Heads and their Purses empty But now they that wait upon the Lord shall not be ashamed of their hope Psal 34.5 Psal 25.3 they shall at length obtain what God hath promised and what they waited for Fifthly That you may patiently wait upon God remember how many kind experiences you have had of his love hitherto 2 Cor. 1.10 Without this Reflection you 'll be startled at your new Tryals But no Goliah with all his stalking Greatness and his big Words will make you quit the Field if you consider how God has often secured you from as near and as bulky dangers from the hissing Serpents that were swollen with Venom and ready to spit it all upon you and from the paw of the Lyon and the Bear But unless we call to mind the years of the right hand of the most High every present Storm will always seem the most blustering and every present pain the most sharp it will be a most unreasonable thing for us now to sink when we have been formerly delivered from as near and as great Calamities That arm that saved us once is not now shortned that it cannot save The sweet Experiences we have had of God should cause us to be assured that when we wait on him we do not wait in vain and no Evidence can give us so unshaken a certainty both of his Being and his Providence as those inward tasts and relishes of his Love This inward Sensation is extreamly quieting 't is a beam of Divine Light Nor can we by any troubles how long or how sharp soever be forced to quit our Religion and our Faith when we have once felt the joy and pleasure of them A good Man has Two Harvests every Year one from the Furrows of the Field and another from his own Thoughts Such efficacious Faith diffuses a vital warmth over every faculty and is no more to be separated from a Christian than he can be divorced from himself and keeps the pleased recreated Soul from being listless and indisposed from being chilled and frozen with excessive fear and anguish To have a Treasury of Experiences whereto to have recourse is the Priviledge of those that are arrived to a good old Age every year of their Pilgrimage they have had new Experiences of the kindness of their unerring Guide they can look back and see wonders of Mercy and Deliverance O! What a Catalogue of joyful passages offers its self to their Observation How often they were dying and God made them to recover how often they were sinking and afraid and he bid them be of good Courage It 's comfortable to old People to have a great deal of Money by them which they got in the Spring and Summer of their Active Life It supplies their wants makes their Attendants respectful and the decays of weary Age more tolerable when they cannot work for a livelihood as they used to do But O! How much more comfortable is it to be Rich in Faith such their good Master looks upon with a pitiful and watchful Eye He takes care of their weakness as all good People have a great kindness for an old Servant that has lived many years in their Family Very Honourable and Blessed is that Age that has been long faithful to God Besides Such as have been careful to remember their Experiences of his Mercies may plead them with hope in Prayer Judg. 15.18 Psal 77.7 Lord thou hast been my Father hitherto be not now my Enemy thou hast heretofore dealt graciously with me do not now overwhelm me with the weight of numerous and too great Afflictions In other distresses I have had thy Presence O be not now a stranger to me Sixthly That you may patiently wait on God maintain in your Spirits a great indifference to the things of this World that you may be prepared upon the first Summons to take your flight from it Regard without concern or too passionate Affection all that is dear to you in this Life and while you are on Earth let your Eye be on Heaven Cease to live to sin that you may not be torn from your Enjoyments but bid them farewel without a sigh by a continued progress in