blessings of the Gospel are quite of another complexion Blessed are you when you shall be persecuted for righteousness sake And again at the 11. verse Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil of you for my names sake These are the blessings of the Gospel Persecution is the Ensign of Christianity The Cross in a Field of Bloud are the Arms of Christ and Afflictions are the Sables that belong to his Coat When our Saviour Christ went out of the World he left his Disciples this Legacy in his last Will and Testament In the world ye shall have Tribulation This was all the Legacy our Saviour left his Disciples he had nothing else to leave them for Joseph of Arimathea had begged his Body his Spirit he had commended into the hands of God his Father and the Souldiers cast lots for his Garments and what then could our Saviour leave them Yet he left them a Royal Legacy for he left them a Crown but it was of Thorns he left them a Scepter but it was of Reed he left them a purple Robe but it was of Derision he left them likewise the rich embroydery of his scourged Flesh the marks and wounds of his crucified Body This was our Saviour's Legacy this was his Livery and S. Paul seems to wear it daily I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus This was the state of the Church in the time of the Gospel for the Spouse of Christ is black though comely God will have it so for these reasons 1. To withdraw his Children from the love of the World It is in our very nature to love the World Adam is more seen in our Covetousness then in our Concupiscence There is a kind of Magick in the things of this life that doth so enchant the hearts of God's dearest Children that they cannot draw their affections from them Lot was a righteous Person and yet he had no mind to part from his wealth and beloved Sodom and his Wife though she went out with him yet she left her self behind she went with her feet only not with her affections and therefore she could not for her life but she must look back upon Sodom though in flames and she look'd back till she could look no more The World is our Dinah to which our soul so cleaveth that we are content to part with our Rights and Priviledges with our Religion and would be circumcised if we might but enjoy this our Dinah our new-got wealth and honour in peace But God will not have his Children live in peace in this World that they may long for a better a better World and a better Peace Should we always swim in worldly pleasures and meet with no storms and tempests in this our vast Ocean of Prosperity we should say with S. Peter It is good for us to be here let us build us Tabernacles and so think to live here for ever But God will have it otherwise and therefore he keeps his Children in this World in a vale of tears and often leads them through Aceldama a field of bloud and persecution that with Jacob they may long for their Father's house and say with S. Paul I desire to depart and to be with Christ. 2. God will have his Children in a troubled condition not only to make them long for the Kingdom of Glory but to keep them in the Kingdom of Grace The Valleys are more fruitful then the Hills and the lowest estate of a Child of God doth more abound with grace and goodness then the highest Mountain of their Prosperity The Prophet David sayes of God's own People Cum occideret eos When he slew them then they sought him early Strange that they must be slain before they seek God is a gracious God and would lead us unto himself by the hand but we will not go without a Rod. A strange dulness or rather perverseness in our nature that we must be whipt into our own happiness and beaten into heaven I find it likewise thus with Christ's own Disciples in the Gospel the first time they call'd upon him was in a storm at Sea that School of prayer when the Ship was cover'd with waves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hidden in the Sea Then they were as loud as the Wind and as high as the Tempest in their devotion Master save us we perish And I observe in the Gospel after our Saviour began to shew himself unto the World in the Office of his Ministery the first that came to him were the Blind the Lame and the Diseased Is it not strange that the Blind should find the way to Christ and that the Lame should first come to him and that the Sick should crawl out of their Beds to him nay more bring their Beds with them Which made our Saviour say sometimes to the sick Take up thy Bed and walk It was the affliction of the Body that brought them first to Christ who when they came cured both Body and Soul For he never cured any that came to him of the Diseases of their Bodies but he forgave them their Sins and so heal'd their Souls Thy sins are forgiven thee was the very Physick that cur'd the man sick of the Palsey It is a Salve that cures all Diseases Lord forgive me my sins and then I am sure I shall be whole So then if by the infirmities of their Bodies these men gain'd the salvation of their Souls was it not happy for that man that he was born blind good for that man that he was lame and health for that man that he was sick Beloved we do not know when we are well we are most happy when we think our selves miserable rich when we are poor like the Church of Smyrna and blessed when we mourn If nothing but poverty will bring us unto Christ who would not willingly be as poor as Job If nothing but the pains of the body would bring us unto our Saviour who would not be content to be rack'd with the Gout and grownd in pieces with the Stone If sickness alone would save my Soul let me be sick as Hezekiah was even unto death so I may gain eternal life Who would not go to heaven though in a fiery chariot of a burning Fever Vse 1. Seeing then afflictions are such powerful means to draw us unto Christ whatsoever God shall lay upon us of this sad Nature let us bear it aequo animo with a quiet and even mind But that is not enough we must undergo it laeto animo with a joyful Spirit such a spirit as S. Paul had who rejoyc'd in his bonds and sang in prison and which is above the common Passions of men being inflam'd with an holy and divine Ambition 2 Cor. 11. we shall find him triumphing in his sufferings glorying in his infirmities and exalting himself in his abasement Even as Hezekiah in the
trust in God neither can there be a greater Cordial in grace then the assurance of Gods love It is like the blessing of a good Conscience a perpetual Feast an abiding Comfort a dwelling Consolation Beza confesseth that when he had left his own Countrey and all that he had one and thirty years that he might more freely serve Jesus Christ it came to pass the first time he entred into the publick assembly that the company did sing this Psalm by the singing whereof as though he had heard God calling him in particular he felt himself so comforted that he kept it ever after engraven in his heart The Soul of man if it be well sanctified might take as much pleasure in reading this Psalm as Adam did in walking in Paradise even in the state of his Innocency when the garden was in her prime and perfection in all her greens and sweetness For the beds of new-blown Roses and banks of morning Violets hills of Frankincense and mountains of Camphire cannot be sweeter to our sense then this Psalm is to the Soul of an afflicted child of God I do confess I do love to read it as an hungry man loves to eat his meat for beside the nourishment and food I receive from it my Soul is satisfied and ravished with divine pleasure For as it is a great Cordial so it is given us in a cup of Gold and this blessed fountain of Consolation runs to us in Silver streams of divine Eloquence Mollerus calls it Pulcherrimum exemplar Eloquentiae a beautiful picture and pattern of divine Eloquence Look over the whole Psalm and you shall find it every where enrich'd with sweet Allegories and adorned with delicious Metaphors which the holy Spirit useth to present the dearness and love of God to his afflicted Children that they might be not only comforted but delighted with his sweetness and enamour'd with his goodness How most elegantly is Gods care of the safety of his children presented to us in divine Rhetorick verse 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings thou shalt trust The very same Allegory doth our Blessed Saviour sanctifie with his own lips when he bewails the present sin and the approaching ruine of Jerusalem O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as an hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not The greatest Emblem of love and safety in all Nature And as if this had not been kindness enough God further promiseth vers 11. that he will send his own royal guard the Militia of Heaven his holy and glorious Angels to be our Guardians He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy waies they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone Even as a tender Mother hath a care of her Sucking child or as a Nurse cherisheth her Children And as if that had been too little he himself will be with them not in their high estate only but in their meanest condition I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him My Text consists of two parts 1. The Estate and Condition of Gods Children on Earth which is a troubled and afflicted Condition they are in troubles 2. God's care and love to his Children in that condition expressed by a threefold promise First there is Promissum praesentiae a promise of his presence I will be with him and according to the old Translation set down in the present tense yea I am with him in trouble as God's promises are often in the Scripture to shew both the speed and certainty of the things promised Secondly Promissum liberationis a promise of deliverance I will deliver him Thirdly Promissum recompensationis a promise of reward and recompence I will honour him And what can an afflicted soul desire more in his troubles then the Presence of God to comfort him the Power of God to deliver him and the Goodness of God to recompense him Who would not be miserable on such conditions and afflicted on such promises First of the State and Condition of Gods Children here upon earth which is a troubled state an afflicted condition Few and evil have the days of my life been saith good old Jacob and yet he was the chosen and beloved child of God Jacob have I loved saith God but Esau have I hated and yet this chosen one and precious vessel of Election was filled up to the brim with the very gall and bitterness of affliction He was sequestred from all the comforts of this life banish'd from his own house and home forc'd to flee from the knees of his aged and dying Father and likewise from the bosome of his beloved Mother hated of his Brother Esau going on Pilgrimage with his Staff and Scrip only sometimes the cold Earth was his bed a Stone his pillow and after all this which was before it in bitterness he was forced for a meer livelihood and sustenance to serve an Idolater in a strange land many years Nothing sure can be more grievous to a true Child of God And as we have seen this in Jacob in his person so we may behold it in his Posterity for even the Sons of Jacob possess'd their Father's sorrow as well as his substance and were Inheritors of both But to tell you of all their troubles and afflictions were to lead you in a wilderness And yet these people were God's own people his portion and the lot of his inheritance his anointed and chief treasure and as the Prophet Zechary calls them the friends of God There were no people dwelt so near and in the very bosome of God as these people and yet no people felt so much the hand of God not in embraces but chastisements But you will say this was in the time of the Law in the time of the Gospel we shall see better days when the day doth spring from on high and visit us then sure we shall all be clothed with the beams of that Sun of righteousness and shall shine in the bright garments of joy and gladness No in respect of temporal blessings it will be far worse with God's children then in the time of the Law Then they shall meet with days black and dark as death it self for as one says ingeniously Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament Adversity the blessing of the New In the time of the Law the rewards of faith and obedience were wealth and worldly prosperity then God said to Moses I will make of thee a great Nation But in the Gospel our Saviour says My flock it is a little one Again in the time of the Law God blessed faithful Abraham with a promise of plenty and abundance All the land thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever But now the
speak for my passage he like a kinde man as well as a King's-man promised me passage gratis the English Company at Dantzick understanding so much the greater part of them came to me and importun'd me to stay with them and continue my preaching with a promise to answer my pains with more then I could desire or deserve This unexpected kindness and love which is above the price of any reward upon earth soon melted me into a compliance with their desires and so without any contract I freely as suddenly without farther counsel promised to stay with them But God was in it who inclines our hearts to those ways which lead to our safety and felicity though we do not for the present see the secrets of his love and wisdom for this good man Captain Sharper with all his company some few days after they went to Sea were cast away neer the Zound not a man escaped Thus God sometimes prevents his children from falling into evil as well as to deliver them when fallen that they may enjoy the comforts of his mercy without the sorrow of suffering To deliver his children when they are fallen into any calamity and trouble is an high and broad expression of his love and kindness to them yet there is some bitternesse in the evil though there be sweetness in the deliverance but now by his grace and goodness to escape before we are taken and to be delivered before we suffer is a mercy we cannot hope for a blessing we could not expect and I am sure cannot express It is like pure wine without the Allay of water a lively picture and true portraicture of the state of the blessed in Heaven who possesse fullness of joy without any mixture of sorrow and life without the shadow of death I hope I shall never forget this great mercy and it is the greater because it was bestowed upon one that had no title to it but the free grace and goodness of God After these great and many dangers at Sea and as many and great deliverances I had thought once to tell you what happened to me on the shore Plus habet infestâ terra timoris aquâ But I will conceal them from my friends for in this sad Age every man hath sorrow enough of his own and is not at leisure to consider the sad condition of another from bemoaning and pitying himself I will therefore conclude giving glory to God for his many mercies and my thanks to you for giving me an opportunity to remember them I hope you will pardon my plain language Sorrow is dull and black and sad stories ought not to be presented in painted words and gaudy Expressions of Rhetorick No man mourns in colour'd Taffaty What is wanting in Allegories you have in reality Truth needs no Metaphors You have a true relation of many sad accidents and afflictions at Sea by him who did undergo them who is SIR Your most affectionate friend to serve you Will. Johnson TO The Right Worshipful the Governour Assistants and Fellowship of East-Land Merchants in London Right Worshipful IN Ours of the 28th of August we gave you notice that in our destitute Condition it pleased God by his singular Providence to supply our spiritual wants by the Ministry of Mr. William Johnson an able and pious Divine But he being now called home by a Charge fallen unto him We cannot suffer him to pass without this deserved Testimony That for his Person he hath been amongst us grave retired Learned in his life without blame or scandal in his studies laborious in his preaching both Orthodox and powerful So that truly in regard of the singular fruition of his Labours past and considering our desolate ensuing Condition We cannot but mourn at his departure Yet hath he left us this Comfort behind him That the present distractions at home may be a motive to dispose of his living there and to return to us again in the Spring if it please God that he be thereunto lawfully chosen and called Vnto us he is a man without Exception which we testifie by this our general Subscription It may please you therefore and it is our serious and earnest request that if his Occasions will suit with our desires you will hear him preach and by an undoubted Election return him back again with all speed And this will be an actual prayer to implore Divine mercy and to turn curses into blessings We say no more but the Lord be your Protector and Director Dantzig Jan. 1. 1648. Your Worships in full assurance to command Will. Gore Rich. Jenks Sam. Travell Robert Searles Ed. Westcomb Sam. Short John Collins Rich. Wallis Will. Williamson Will. Shires Ja. Hutchinson Jo. Coozin Rich. Waynde Ambrose Griggs Geo. Hackett Fran. Sanderson Amb. Medcalfe And. Taylor Ed. Daniel Jos. Oley Nic. Mitchel Tho. Clench Tho. Dawson Will. Lockwood Jo. Whitehall Jo. Pearce The Name of the SHIP The William and John of IPSWICH The Chief Owners Were William Blithe and Were John Smythier both Merchants in Ipswich From whom the Ship had the Name the latter of these my worthy Friend and yet alive The Names of those that suffered in the Shipwrecks were Daniel Morgan Master Edmund Morgan Mate Robert Lakeland Mate Matthew Bird Boat-swain Taylor Carpenter John Holmes Mariners Rob. Lawrence Mariners Will. English Mariners Tho. Crofferd Mariners Two Boyes James Tillet Merchant And others whose Names I cannot remember most of these are alive and can testifie these sad things and some are faln asleep FINIS Luk. 13.34 Gen. 47. Rom. 9.15 Gen. 28.12 Zâ—ch 1â— c. Gen. 13.15 Mat. 5.10 Joh. 16.33 Gal. 6.17 Mat. 17.4 Phil 1.13 Psal. 78.34 Mat. 8.25 Mar. 2.9 Mat. 5. Job 1.21 Ephes. 1.4 Zach. 2.8 Mat. 25. Dan. 3.27 Mat. 8.25 Isa. 61.3 Gen. 32.10 Psal. 22.2 2 Cor. 11. Psa. 124.3 Habac. 2.3 1 King 19. Mat. 19.27 Isa. 43.2 Jer. 2.21 Psa. 16. Revel 2. Psal. 113. Dan. 2.49 Dan. 12.3 Mat. 13.43 Omnes quibus res sunt minus secundae magis sunt nescio quomodo suspiciosi se semper credunt negligi Terent Adelp * Which served us as a Scoop to cast the water out of the Boat Acts 27. Psa. 107. Jonah 2. Psal. 69. Exod. 2. Psa. 69. Gen. 28.11 Matthew Bird of Ipswich Jer. 12. Rom. 11.33 34 35. Mat. 14. Psal. 107. Psa. 107.8 Dr. H. M. B. Mat. 8. My Lord of E. Dr. H. Acts 28.2 1 Cor. 15. Tho. Loman Esq. of Wenbeston in Suffolk Orat. 16. Acts 28. Luke 2. Luke 1.33 M. B. * Whose Brother Mr. Robert Fane was in our company At Westonhangar my Lord Strangfords house which was then made a Prison to secure the honest Gentlemen of that County Amongst them were my two loving Friends Mr. Randolph Price eldest Son to Mr. Price of Esher a Gentleman of great hopes taken away in the flower of his youth and vertue I gave him the Holy and blessed Sacrament before he went to Sea which he received with much devotion which no doubt was a present and heavenly Cordial to himself so I mention it as a dwelling and perpetual comfort to his still weeping Friends Captain Vaughan who accompanyed me in my first Voyage into the East-Country