for those Graces to yield their Fruit those Spices to flow forth Now act submission to the Divine Will Here am I let him do what seemeth good unto him Fall to Improving of the Affliction get Meat out of the Eater Honey from the Carkase of the Lion that what hath devoured thy Comforts may seed thy Graces see if you cannot by an holy Chimistry extract Gains out of Losses and turn Iron into Gold Try what advantage you can make of the Sickness that consumes you of the pain that grinds and tortures you what Life you can fetch out of the Grave the death of such a Friend or Relation there is no Affliction with which we are exercised but it puts into our hands an opportunity for some special work or other there is no Condition but what hath a particular duty belonging to it Do not say I am now altogether useless and unserviceable who is it that hath made thee so God hath not have a care thou dost not make thy self so What thô thy Work doth not lie where it did it lieth somewhere find it out and do it I most freely and readily grant you cannot do your present Duty nor any thing else in your own strength as it ought to be done You cannot stir a Finger without Divine Concurrence nor lift up a Prayer unless the Spirit set his hand to it there must be an helping of the Infirmity else no performance of the Duty It is one above that worketh both to will and to do of his own good pleasure But however go you about your Work set to it heartily and in good earnest going for strength where it is to be had Seek it in and from Christ in whom it is laid up for you To this purpose for your Encouragement remember that of Paul in the 4 Phil. 13. I can do all things thrô Christ who strengtheneth me Upon the gracious conveyances of Life Spirit and Power from Christ he is able to do the work of a Christian and of an Apostle to resist Temptation to bear Affliction and glory in Tribulation He was able wisely to improve what he had and willingly to part with it able to deny himself and yet enjoy himself when he had done so In short while you bitterly complain that you know not what to do have a care you do not overdo in inflaming your own wounds afflicting and sinking your own Spirits when the hand of God hath touched you Secondly Labour to extricate your selves and with all possible speed procure your own deliverance and enlargement out of these Distresses Submit to the Loss God hath order'd out to you and to the Affliction with which you are exercised Hath he brought you into the Dust lay your Mouths there and lie quietly till he bring you forth to the light and shew you his Smiles and Salvation but get out of the distress as fast as may be only see that it be in the right way Be content that a Storm should be upon thy Tabernacle as long as God will have it there but command thy Soul to be silent and still and as soon as thou canst recover the calm of thy Spirit Our Lord and Saviour of his own accord came to do the Will of his Father and without hesitancy yielded to a suffering Condition not running from it to the last but breathing out his last upon a Cross but his Agony did not last long very sharp indeed it was so that therein he sweat drops of Blood but it was short and quickly went over again and in all his after Trials he expressed a full and most sweet Composure of Soul and carried it with a true greatness of Spirit There should be in us a due sense of Losses and Afflictions otherwise we shall be guilty of offering an Affront unto God and putting a slight upon him and we shall prejudice our selves by not serching that good out of an Actiction which we might But still we must be careful to moderate our grief as much as possibly we can both as to degree and duration returning to a right and even Temper It is most honourable for the Christian and comfortable to him when Grace doth that which Time will In order hereunto I advise these four things First Ease your selves in a way of Prayer It is indeed very good when an Oppressed Person can broach the Vessel and give his Sorrow vent in Tears I my self have known some among others an Eminent and Noble Lady so full of Sorrow that their Hearts were ready to break relieved by Weeping when all their Friends that came to Comfort them prov'd Physicians of no value but the best and most excellent way is to mingle Tears and Prayers together Weep over your Afflictions if you can but withal go and tell your Father of them pouring out the Complaints and Desires of your Souls into his Bosom Poor Hannah was in great distress having an Adversary in the House with her who multiplied provocations to make her fret whereupon she became bitter of Soul In that Case she tried what God would do and sought unto him 1 Samuel 1. 10. She wept sore that she could not help nor did she endeavour it Tears have their Rhetorick but she also prayed And O! how much did she gain by it what abundance of Peace what Quietness and Comfort did her Prayer fetch into her It is said ver 18. She went away and her Countenance was no more sad While she was praying God gave her a Gracious Smile a look of Love and she was a cheerful Woman ever after Faith and Prayer will do the work notwithstanding the difficulties of it and scatter the Clouds be they never so thick The more a gracious Soul relies on God in a way of Believing and seeks him in a way of humble fervent Supplication the easier will every Burden be to it the lighter every Affliction and the more comfortable every Condition Secondly Put the most fair and candid sense you can upon Providences and make the best interpretation of every thing God doth with you We should have both Honourable Thoughts of it and Amicable too for He is too Righteous to do wrong to any of his Creatures and too Gracious to do hurt to any of his Children When our Lord had open'd the Ears of the Deaf Man and loos'd his Tongue the People said 7 Mark 37. He hath done all things well say the same of God for it is true He doth not fail in any of his Undertakings nor miscarry in any of the works of his hands but doth all things like himself like a God Do not only assert this of his Providences in General but bring it down and apply it to particular Dispensations He hath done well in this and well in that 119 Psalm 65. Thou hast dealt well with thy Servant O Lord according to thy Word 71 Verse It is good for me that I have been afflicted 75. I know O Lord that thy judgments are right
Mountains therefore his Death I look upon not as my Affliction but Deliverance accordingly some Tears I will drop over him and bestow a sigh or two there but can soon wipe mine eyes and dry my Cheeks again leaving sorrow and mourning upon his account as a business more proper for them who find themselves concern'd 2 Sam. 1. 24. Ye daughters of Ierusalem weep over Saul who cloathed you in Scarlet with other delights who put on Ornaments of Gold upon your Apparel You have reason for he was your Friend and Benefactor As for mourning over Ionathan that is my Province my Business and I undertake it and will go about it with all my might there is none to be found in Israel that I will trust with it none that can do it so well as my self there being none so much concerned none so inwardly sensible none so great a Sufferer none so deeply wounded I am distress'd for him brought into a great strait While I had him my Heart was enlarged with Love to him and Joy in him how did it flame how did it leap how strong was my Affection how high my Delight but now he is gone those Comforts are gone with him my Heart is pent and opprest my Sun is set and I am clouded benighted left alone to bemoan my self We have finished the Doctrinal part and now come to the Improvement of all in a way of Application And there are only three things which I shall bring in as so many Corollaries and speak to in order to the making the late Providence and my present Discourse profitable to you USE 1. From hence learn the weak slippery hold you have of all your worldly Comforts Tho' your Title to them be good the best that can be founded not only upon Providence but Covenant yet they may slip thro' your Fingers before you are aware your Possession is not sure Whatever sweetness you taste in them whatever expectations you have from them they may take their leave and disappoint you there by at once proving their own Vanity and your Vexation Hence they are called things that are not because they have so little of being are of so uncertain continuance and no further removed from nothing They are here to Day looking pleasantly but may be gone to Morrow yea before and leave you drown'd in Tears Fragrant Flowers they are by which you are at present greatly refreshed but know not how soon they may wither in your hands You greatly rejoice in your loving Friends dear Relations faithful Ministers but their Breath is in their Nostrils and wherein are they to be accounted of Ionah was exceeding glad of the Gourd under the refrigerating shadow whereof he sate comfortably and at ease in a scorching day but a Worm smote it that it dyed by this the good Man was transported into an excess of Passion and disordered throughout Iob complained not without Cause Iob 10. 17. that Changes and Wars were upon him or against him a multitude a variety of Changes they trod upon the heels of one another so that he was at no time safe knew not what a Settlement meant could not say the Morrow will be as this Day nay he could not commend one Day before the Night the fairest Morning he had seen overcast and converted into a blustering Afternoon He that hath the most Eagle-eye and pierceth into Mysteries cannot look into the Purposes of God concerning his present State nor into the Womb of Providence so as to tell aforehand what a Day will bring forth The gross Mistakes of every Almanack about the Weather proclaim the Impudence and Ignorance of the Star-gazers and it is to be attributed to the Patience and Mercy of God that he doth not strike those Diviners mad As God hath a variety of Mercies and Blessings so that Day unto Day sheweth Love and Night unto Night Faithfulness he compasseth his Children with Favour as a shield loads them with Benefits and we may say many such things are with him so hath He great store of Afflictions and Exercises for them too an House of Bondage an howling Wilderness and a red Sea Before you have finished your Course pass'd through the World and enter'd into your Rest you may be sure of Changes but none of you can tell what those Changes will be how God will try you nor in what Vein bleed you Now through Mercy you have your Comforts but know not how little awhile you shall have them Ruth 1. 20 21. Call me not Naomi call me Marah for the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty The Comforts of Life are not sure for Life it self is not that is at best a Vapour and may be soon exhal'd Upon this account let the Advice I shall give in four things be acceptable to you First Do not overvalue any of those outward good things you have Do not withhold from them that which is meet There is a Love and Delight due to them according to the several degrees of Excellency which they have and of nearness in which they stand to you this is a Debt you owe them and what you owe you are obliged to pay if you do not Divine Justice may come upon you for it Oh that you would wisely consider how dreadful and tormenting a sting it would be to you at the last if Conscience which is now a Curious Observer of you and all the Passages of your Lives should arrest you and say Man Woman thou art now fetching thy last Breath a dying Creature ready to launch into Eternity and to appear before the Tribunal of God but know thou diest desperately in debt to thy Friends thy Relations and thy Family thou hast lived with them and conversed with them but not carried toward them as thou oughtest to have done thou didst not abound in those Expressions of Love which thou shouldest nay thou didst want the Love its self thou didst not take that Care of them thou shouldest neither Care of their Bodies nor of their Souls Indeed it is no wonder that their Souls were neglected by thee since thou didst not at all mind thine own thou wast not so kind to them as Civility would have taught thee to have been but morose and chubbid at one time thy Carriage was strange at another thou didst put on the Countenance of a Fury thy Words were cutting like sharp Swords nor didst thou hold thy Hands but they lighted heavy upon the Wife of thy Bosom unnatural Brute as thou art whom thou shouldest have been tender over and loved as thine own flesh As for you that are herein guilty I cannot but tell you Your Relations now feel the want of your Love and Care and Kindness but you will then feel the Smart and Horrour of your having been so willingly and wickedly wanting to your Duty Therefore amend your wayes and put away the evil of your doings from before the Eyes of
he delighted not in the blood of Bullocks or Rams or He-goats but their Oblations were Vain their Incense an Abomination and their solemn Meetings Iniquity Why was Ionathan so very pleasant to David The words immediately following the Text tell us Thy Love to me was wonderful Secondly Labour for and in all your Converses be expressive of a sweetness of Temper there is without peradventure a great deal lieth in the Natural Disposition Many Persons who are enriched with the true Grace of God are notwithstanding that Burdens to themselves and very uneasie to their Friends because of the Untowardness of their Temper I have heard of a Person very Eminent for his Place and Learning yea and Godliness too of whom yet it was said Tho' he had Grace enough for ten men he had not Grace enough for himself The Soil was rank and the Weeds that grew in it got to such an height that too often they overtopt the Divine Plantation Is it not too ordinary and common to find some Imperious and Lordly others fretful and peevish Some are Lions and others are Wasps every little thing almost unhingeth and puts them out of humour they are angry for Trifles the very wagging of a Feather by no means enduring a contradiction in their Speeches or a being crost in their Wills but all must study their Humour and comply with it otherwise they will be all on a Flame and soon make the House too hot But this will not do they are to be greatly condemned and those that live with them to be as greatly pitied specially those that are stak'd down and must bide by it The Lord give them of his Comforts for indeed they have Cross enough As for you that are so much Friends to your selves as to desire a being pleasant to those that are concerned with you labour to file off this Ruggedness rectifie your own Spirits conquer your selves pray and labour for a Mastery over your unruly Passions Get that meek and quiet spirit which is an Ornament of great price in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3. 4. A singular Friend of mine by nature hasty and furious attained to so great a Victory over himself by Prayer Reading of and Meditation upon the History of Christ that none could put him into a Discomposure Make you use of the same Remedy remembring that which is to sweeten other things must it self be much more so Wormwood and Gall are very improper Means for so excellent an End Thirdly Give diligence that ye may know the whole duty of your place and make Conscience of doing whatsoever you know to be so Contribute all that is within the compass and reach of your Power to the spiritual eternal good and temporal comfort of those with whom you have to do It is a very good Commendation which Lemuel's Mother gives of a virtuous Woman 31 Prov. 26. That she opens her mouth with wisdom and in her Tongue is the Law of Kindness She hath a Liberty to speak it is her right but she useth it with discretion and affection and when her Lips are opened specially to her Husband they drop like an Honey-comb There you see the amiableness of her Temper and Conversation But that is not all there was another curious stroke given in her Picture before a choice Character in the 12th Verse She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life She is carefull to avoid doing evil ready and constant in doing good yea all the good she can being as Paul would have every one unwearied in well-doing Oh! this is a noble Life what our precious Lord and Saviour led while upon Earth He went up and down doing good therein leaving us an Example that we may tread in his steps Do good all of you in those several places in which Providence hath set you all the good you can fill them up with Love and Duty and do good to the several Persons you have to do with Let nothing be wanting in you in order to their being really the better for you their Souls being the better for you that they may have cause to say Blessed be God that ever I lived in such a Family that ever I had such a Wife was married to such an Husband descended of such Parents served such a Master and Mistress You will then be pleasant indeed when you are profitable when you teach the Ignorant and reduce the Wanderer when you enlighten the dark Mind and blow up the languishing Flame when you strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble Knees And I beseech you seriously consider with your selves why God did make the Woman and order out the Conjugal Relation and we may say the same of others It was that Persons in those Relations might be Helps meet for one another And truly that Person lives to no purpose that doth not live to good purpose and he doth not live to good Purpose who doth not live to that Purpose for which God made him and sent him and set him in the place where he is That person who is an useless Vessel I do not and you need not wonder if he be a Vessel in which there is no pleasure All that know him may look upon him as an unprofitable burden to the Earth and so he may be to his Friends for he doth nothing else but take up a room and cumber the ground USE Third Since the taking away of pleasant things doth bring Saints themselves in distress we may learn how weak impotent and inconsiderable a Creature man is The Royal Prophet tells us 39 Psal. 5. Verily every man at his best state is altogether Vanity This is a Truth I have searched it I have found it I am sure of it Verily it is so not onely some men those that are poor and sickly and silly but every man the youngest the strongest the wisest the most holy and that not only at some times and in some Conditions when he is diseased and discompos'd but at his best state when he is most himself when his Faculties and Powers of Soul and Body are raised up to the highest pitch and most in tune for work then even then He is vanity He not only hath some Vanity in him some mixture of vanity some Dross with his Gold some Water with his Wine but He is vanity He may e'en be defined by it nay more He is altogether Vanity it over-spreads him it runs through the whole from the sole of the Foot to the Crown of the Head he is Vanity In se uno omne genus vanitatis complectitur In himself alone he contains all sorts of Vanity If any one is lost it may be found again in Man The several and manifold lines of Vanity meet in Man as in the Centre of them The Doctrin we have been discoursing of is one proof and Evidence hereof David was a good Man a godly Man a man after Gods own Heart a Man of War a man of
and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me Go ye and do likewise He hath done well in emptying me for had I continued full I might have grown proud and denied him saying who is the Lord He hath done well in taking my Husband my Father my Teacher from me for being ripe for Heaven he was gathered He had finished that Work which was given him to do and it is more than a thousand pities that a Good Man should outlive his Work or stay in a place where he hath nothing to do It is pity but that a Faithful Servant of Christ when he hath dispatch'd the business he came for should forthwith be taken up to his Rest and have an entrance granted him into the Ioy of his Lord Believe this also That in all God's dealings with you he intends you a Kindness if a Raven be sent to Elijah it shall carry Food for him the very Rod blossoms with Love and bears the peaceable fruit of Righteousness Iacob was mistaken when he said 42 Gen. 36. All these things are against me Good Man he little knew then what God was doing for him Do you rather say with Paul 8 Romans 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God this shall work so and that likewise Thirdly Look off from the Afflictions you feel to the mercies you have from the Comforts you have lost to those that are yet left God might have stript you of all for you have made frequent forfeitures We took notice before of God's dealing with Vpright Iob who in a little time was deprived of all brought to the Ashes having his Body over and above smitten with fore Boils from the sole of his Foot even to his Crown yet had he then something left him for his Support and Comfort viz. The witness of his Conscience Tho' his Wife was very unkind a Thorn in his side and spake bitterly when she bade him Curse God and die yet Conscience was within him like a Bird of Paradise that sung sweetly while it told him he was not wicked and bare Testimony to his Integrity God hath taken from you an Husband a Father a Wife a Mother a Child one Child after another a dear Brother or Sister a faithful Friend a diligent Labourer in the Vineyard But ask your selves the Question what hath God left me And be sure that the present Loss be it what it will do not so corrupt and vitiate thy Palate as that thou shouldest not taste the remaining Mercy Rather let the Mercy which remains influence thy Spirit to the alleviating of the present Loss and enabling thee to bear thy Burden the better Possibly some here have lost the Husband or Father is dead Estate is spent Debtors are broke Trade fails all is gone and no visible way for a Livelihood Be it so yet there is something left for you namely a God can you not live upon him Cannot you rejoyce in him You may read of one that could 3 Habbuk 17 18. and you have Promises left which are exceeding great and precious Go feed upon them believe them plead them and turn them into Prayer Lastly Often relieve your selves with Meditations upon the fulness and sweetness of Christ. Was Ionathan pleasant to David how pleasant then is Iesus far more than Ionathan was or ever could have been And tho' Ionathan be dead yet Iesus is risen He is said to rejoyce over his Church as the Bridegroom over the Bride And he saith 7 Cant. 6. How fair and how pleasant art thou O love for delights And shall not Saints reckon Christ so They that know what he is and what Communion with him is do and will witness with the Spouse in 1 Cant. 16. Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea and pleasant O how fair must he needs be who is the Sun of Righteousness who outshines all the Beauties in the World all the Angels in Heaven and who is the brightness of his Fathers Glory the express Image of his Person 1 Heb. 3. And how pleasant must he needs be who puts a sweetness into our worst things so that the Saints have taken joyfully the spoiling of their goods 10 Heb. 34. and a deliciousness into their best things It is He that makes Truths sweet being the Marrow of the Gospel and Ordinances sweet they are but the Dishes he the Feast It is He that makes Heaven sweet What would that place be without his Company There indeed Saints are and shall be without Sin and without Sorrow above Affliction and above Temptation all this is very good but that which commends it and is its self yet better is they shall there be with Christ. 14 Ioh 3. Where I am there ye shall be also And said Paul 1 Phil. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Yea it is Christ that commends God himself to us for out of him he is a consuming Fire and everlasting burnings 33 Isa. 14. We could not endure his Presence In him He is reconciled a Father of Mercies and God of Comforts 2 Cor. 1. 3. So that he must needs be pleasant and with this comfort your selves Whoever is dead whatever is gone you have Christ still who hath said He will not leave you comfortless but will come to you It may now be expected I should speak something concerning my Dear Brother who fought a good Fight kept the Faith served his Generation according to the Will of God and hath now finished his Course but there is no need his Works praise him You have known his Doctrine and manner of Life and so have others who were gainers by his Ministry being begotten nourished and built up by the Gospel he Preached Take therefore what I shall say in short thus He was well accomplished with Learning and furnished for the Work to which God had call'd him His Abilities and stock of Knowledge were very considerable as they found who conversed with him He was I am perswaded truly Gracious an humble Christian a profitable Preacher an able Catechist and a Faithful Friend He was a wise Man and a Man of Peace one that did adorn his Profession by his unreproveable and exemplary Conversation God hath been pleased to take him from us I do bewail my Loss and so do many of you yours But he had done his Work and is now I doubt not taking an Everlasting Rest in the Bosom of his dearest Lord. His Faith let us follow considering the end of his Conversation FINIS