Spirit his power to sustain him his Grace to quicken him all earnestly desired these are the substance of this holy Psalm what the Father saith of that Verse Monachus qui non vigilat hunc versum non potest dicere Hieron in Psal 77. Psal 77 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking c. a sleepy Monk cannot say that Verse the same may I say in another kinde a sleepy secure Christian that mourns not for his sins and by faith and patience not earnestly trusting and waiting upon God cannot truly say this The Psalm is a congress for a Combat or a pitched field 'twixt faith and distrust the old and new man in the Soul of a sanctified man distrust of the flesh arms it self with a multitude of sorrows and fainting with waiting for Gods delayed help Faith in the new man comes strengthened with a multitude of Gods mercies against the multitudes of miseries waiting to spie Gods face though he do for a while hide it yea as winning the Battel Ver. 9 10 stedfastly concluding Though thou hide thy face yet art thou my God and my hiding place Here about Gods help we have David requesting and reasoning with God The request are two the reasons two to move the Lord to grant his re-requests 1. Request is for audience and that speedily Hear me speedily O Lord. And that is backt with reason why What haste why begest thou for so speedy hearing He gives the reason My spirit fails I can hold out no longer 2. Request is for light of Gods countenance Hide not thy face from me 2. Reason for that is the present peril he is in even ready to die If thou hide thy face Lord I shall perish and accompany them that lie in the pit We may frame him to our understanding as if he thus pleaded with the Lord Sum and Sense How long O Lord wilt thou shut out my prayers look upon me and behold how low I am brought O hear me quickly lest my tired spirit give over lest my faint heart which has now no more strength to subsist without thy help do quite break off as drowned in the whirl pit of my deep sorrows Now at length O Lord after my long waiting send and let shine the light of thy countenance upon me which may glad my Soul shew me thy face which may raise me up again else if thou still delay what is there can keep me alive any longer from the company of them that are laid in the grave and sleep under the câ—oâ—s of death my life without sense of thy love being worse than death .. Doctr. First request Hear me speedily David he is in trouble and he betakes him to prayer Prayer is the sovereign Remedy the Godly flie to in all their extremities The Saints in sorrows have fled for comfort and healing unto Prayers and Supplications Heaven is a shop full of all good things there are stored up blessings and mercies this the Children of God know who flie to this shop in their troubles begging for help from this holy Sanctuary Psal 77.2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. When any vexation makes our life grievous unto us what should we seek but help of whom should we seek but of the Lord how should we seek Psal 116.3 4. but by prayer My sore saith he ran and ceased not so his Soul ran and ceased not to pray to the Lord. When the sorrows of death compassed him and the pains of hell got hold upon him what was his course then he got hold of the Lord and prayed unto him right humbly Then called I upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my Soul We have to confirm this for a sure and saving way Precept Practice Promise Performance 1. Precept God commands us to pray at all times especially in sad times Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me He commands us to depend on him for deliverance and calling upon him is the best dependance 2. Practise the Godly have walked in this way which God has prescribed All Davids Psalms will witness that he coupled his troubles and prayers together Psa 6. Psal 38. So Hezekiah Esa 38.2 at hearing the message of death sent to the Lord a message of Prayers So Nehemiah in Jerusalems destruction Nehem. 1.4 5. sought succour to her distress by prayer 3. Promise the Lord hath armed us in our Petitions with hope Esa 65.24 John 16.23 which is made up of sure Promises we shall not pray to one that is deaf assoon as we can finde our tongue we shall finde his ear Every humble praying sinner shall have a hearing and helping Saviour 4. Performance all Saints are ready to subscribe We prayed the Lord has performed and delivered This poor man cried Psal 34.6 and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles This poor woman even Hannah prayed 1â— aâ— â— 19 2â— and the Lord heard her he gaver her Samuel the thing she asked of God as the name signifies All the Saints cry and by experience witness the Lords performance upon their prayers we have swimmed say they in all Seas of sorrows ready to sink but prayer hath held up our heads I was in the stocks I prayed and am delivered saith Joseph in the Lyons den by prayer I muzzeled those cruel Beasts that they did not bite saith Daniel our bed was made in the fire our coverings violent flames prayer prevailed with the Lord to cool all this heat say the three Children God has thus performed he will still perform our evils are no greater God is not deafer he can still deliver for he is as strong he will still deliver for he is as loving and gracious he must hear and deliver us for he is faithful and will not deny his Seal and Promise which he hath given us Use Away then with all broken reeds learn we not to lean on or to trust to vain confidences flying to carnal remedies in our evils Is there any evil which the Lord hath not wrought Are we in some trouble the arm of Heaven sent it the arm of flesh cannot remove it Has God wounded thee seek not then to the Devil or the Witch his Agent for a Plaister Art thou in poverty trust not to unlawful shifts they may raise thee up again in the world they cast thee twice as low in the world to come O the folly of worldly men who think with pleasures to drown their sorrows with mirth to stop the mouth of Conscience and to laugh away the burden of their evils Jer. 3.23 In vain is salvation hoped for from the mountains if God wound worldly comforts are but foolish Physick There is no way like this to fly to him by Prayer when we trust to earthly helps we take no notice of Gods hand Secondly 2 Use Lawful means
HEART-SALVE FOR A WOVNDED SOUL AND EYE-SALVE FOR A BLIND WORLD OR Meditations of comfort for the Holy Living and Happy Dying Christian either in the depths of dark Desertion or in the heighth of Heavens Glorious Union The Second Edition with an Addition of an Elegie upon an Eminent Occasion By Tho. Calvert Minister of the Gospel When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble When he hideth his face who then can behold him Job 34.29 O aeterna veritas vira charitas chara aeternitas Tu es Deus meus tibi suspiro die ac nocte Aug. Confes lib. 7. cap. 10. LONDON Printed by F. L. for Tho. Passenger at the Three Bibles on London-Bridge and William Thorpe in Ousegate in Yorke 1675. To the Beloved and Honoured Lady in the Lord Ursula Barwick Widow full of Grace and Gravity Madam I Have borrowed some confidence to set your name in the front of this Treatise and concionary discourses which my thoughts are you will freely vouchsafe me without grudge In this I put you not to be the lug or handle to a common Pot but to a choice and Golden Vessel and whom you know of old seasoned with Christs liquor for his service At first edition I did nominally affix no dedication there being some reasons preponderating in those wretched times full of the worst parts of Arithmatick Divisions Fractions of Church and State Now first press being all exhaust and some urging to have it in a 2d birth I have yielded it the liberty of coming into the World again Nor I hope you will be ashamed of publishing the holy life of your sanctified Neighbour Matters there are all over in print of several natures some Adoxa 〈◊〉 Zâ—zer in Chiliad 11. as pamplets in praise of Fornication Drunkenness of being in Debt in praise of Baldness of banishment c. Some are Amphilaxa praising things of a middle nature and indifferent in themselves neither good nor evil Some Paradoxa strange things cryed up and commended beyond all mens sound opinions Other writings are Eudoxa of good and stanch report withall are good and wise truly praise worthy as Grace St. Hieron in Psalm 147. Virtue Piety Sobriety c. What I here give out is of this last sort that will sute every good and holy palat as Jews fable that Manna answered every gust If they thought of Hony of Partrigdes of any desired dainty what they had in their minds Manna was the representative of it to their Mouths your Ladyship I choose for facing this Script 〈…〉 you are much 〈…〉 she was 〈…〉 much 〈◊〉 â—pon the delicate 〈…〉 one word and prayer pâ—â—â—â—â—ly privately secretly And truly I must needs approve of your diet for your body caring to live Epicratically rather than Hypocritically Studying a course dayly of slender sober and plain feeding though compast with much infirmity and indispositions rather then to live medically and Physically translating the Apothecaries Shop into your flesh Barrad in Itiner Israel in Dis The first mischief that let in all misery upon us was Eves and Adams ill diet neglecting the Tree of life to seek and taste the forbidden fruit Indeed all our sin misery sickness death wrath of God and Hell came in at this Gate of an ill diet for our first parents made it not their meat to obey and do the will of God which should have been their corporal spiritual diet But it is your spiritual order of diet I most aim at and commend the humble and quotidian feeding your Soul with waiting on God in the way he has commanded you and promised to bless you you well digesting that word of our best Lord Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that meat which endureth to everlasting life Aquin. pust 63. which the Son of man shall give unto you Other meat perishes and nourishes them that eat it to a perishing life but Christs spiritual food endures for ever abides with us and nourishes us to the growing up to eternal life Neither this meat nor the man perishes A modern Roman Doctor of Physick disputes the case Paul Zachias in Quest Medico-legal lib. 7. Tit. 2. Quest 2. whether a Popish clergy man be excused and without blame if sore troubled with the Asthma he abstain from his office of reciting divine things as Preaching Reading Praying Singing He indeed determines that unless a sore Paroxysm and a strong fit of the same be afresh come upon him his speaking singing and loud voycing will do him no harm for he saith all practical Physitians say it is profitable and helpful for them that are Asthmatick to read or speak with an high voyce that is if they be able and at the the instant not opprest with a violent assault for it helps to purge the lungs of the matter impacted in them But you look not to be ruled by him but in and out of the strong invasions of the disease you know how to breath high and loud in your Soul to God when you breath straitly and strainingly to those about you Madam go on in this wholesome diet for Body and Soul and if while you are here below you cannot in Body and Soul get into Heaven yet continue and abide on the threshold of this beautiful Gate of the Heavenly Temple of Gods mercy the Patient abiding of the meek shall not perish nay such shall be fatherly and sweetly supported to the end Physitians cannot speak so much of the advantage of good and orderly diet for Body but from the word of God we may reason as strong for the benefit of spiritual diet for the Soul Let them tell us from their puni-godling Hippocrat lib. de vet Med. that if the sick would use the same diet they do that are sound and whole the Art of medicines would fall to nothing Hereby he intimates that great is the dignity of exquisite looking to diet Aurel. Severin in Trin. Chit as if it were all medicine Wherefore they tell us that the right hand in diseases and wounds is Physick and Chyrurgery but the left hand is diet which doth very much Now if we would study the most necessary Physick by direction of divine Medicks then is nothing so necessary as to learn to know God and our Alâ—uinus Souls Philo the Jew tells us the Essens three Principles were these they studied wholly to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to season all their life and labours with love of God Philo. Jud love of men love of virtue But we have a full voice of direction Mic. 6.8 and better particulared to us from Micah in his Ternary He hath shewn thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humby with thy God Or take we St. Pauls three To live soberly Righteously and Godly Tit. 2. in this present world Or if we hearken to him he will
may not be neglected carnal and sinful means may not be used Better use none but prayer then use all without prayer As carnal and evil helps are to be avoided so let this give an exhortation for direction to the Sovereign means of help in all our necessities and exigencies to betake us unto prayer that even for the time we pray will mitigate and alleviate the evil and in Heavens appointed time will obtain a removal of it The voice of a good heart is that of the Prophets Hos 6 1â— Come let us return to the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us c. Tender before God your troubled spirits lay before him all your sorrows he will be overcome by fervent prayer to lay unto them an equal yea a far more surpassing weight of mercies in giving a gracious deliverance The Prophet knew the vertue of prayer to be so powerful that he falls a wondring why God can be angry with his people that prays Psal 80.4 For how can God be angry with a â—ruly praying heart unless he will be angry with his own Spirit which teaches to pray yea which frames the Petitions his Children put up unto him God cannot be displeased and continue his wrath if there continue in me his Spirit of prayer for then there should be discord 'twixt God the Father and the Holy Spirit when yet they are but one God If we pleaded with the bare spirit of man our Weapons were but Vitrea tela Weapons of Glass Austin as the Father calls Hereticks Arguments quickly broken of no force but being assisted by the Spirit of Grace what shall stand in our way not tribulation not anguish not sorrow of minde not temptations of Devil not malice of men not the failings of our own hearts for he that hath given us his Son to intercede above and his Spirit to intercede below for us and in us how shall he not wtth them give us all things else especially things concerning his Service If God have any marks for his sheep sure this is one that they call upon God and are accustomed in all their needs to shew their rent fleeces their weakness their evils to the eye and ear of the great Shepherd of their Souls by prayer If there be and so carnally foolish as will cavil at and seâ—m this Heavenly habit of prayer saying Who can shew us any good that comes from it many pray but where is their Cross removed and blessings conferred by it Zcch 12.10 to such this good we can shew that though their deliverance do not appear yet this appears a signe of their adoption and which shall certainly bring them peace at the last when all carnal men shall be accursed Psal 14.4 who have carried this mark of Goats that they loved not to call upon God Besides this good shall certainly come their afflictions are sanctified to them by prayer and a sweet communion and fellowship is maintained 'twixt God and the Soul which is the only Heaven to be had upon earth Verse Here are two errors about prayer would be avoided The first of wicked men who despise small evils and use not to fly to the remedy of prayer but at some sore plunge and last pinch when the Boat has tried all other Oars and cannot be brought safe into the Haven It is not the custom of them that are unaccostomed to Godliness not to betake themselves to prayer till worldly helps are out of joynt and cannot help them Then when worldly means will not delp our decayed estate the last refuge is to call on God When the Apothecaries pots cannot draw them out of the bed of sickness after all prayer chuses God for the Physition Mark 5. When 12 years Physick will do no good then the diseased woman cares not to ask Christ his counsel When death or the utmost end of any evil approaches then doth the worldly spirit turn to God because he cannot work it out himself an evil ordering when God must be put in the second and last place Thus justly doth God suffer men to despise small Crosses till they by neglect of prayer grow vehement and immense like waters from the ankle to the chin Well worth St. Austine who In Confess lib. 9. when his teeth did but ake did flie unto prayer and desired them that were present with him to pray for him and with him whereas we only foolishly ungodlily do desire the prayers of others and fly to our own prayers only when evils are grown great and ripe Be our evils never so small yet they may grow greater unless we take prayer the remedy for prevention Second error is of Godly men who by the greatness of their sins or afflictions are kept and affrighted from prayer as if it were only able to remove lighter burdens nay rather they should be more diligent in prayer by how much more vehement their anguish is If your evil be so great why do you encrease it Expectation of deliverance from the most leaden and heaviest weights is not hopeless unless we be prayerless This is as if some silly one should argue Strong ropes and good tacklings firm Masts and whole Sails are profitable in a calm Sea but in a storm and violent tempest nothing will hold all will be broken with the Winâ—s yea â—â—â—â—â—â—less if in our calm or evilâ—â—â—â—â—eâ— be profitable much more is it necessary when the winds blow the rain fall and the storms beat for this will underprop and stablish a Christian to keep him from falling But against prayer in those cases the Godly deeply afflicted have to shifts Fain would we pray 1 Shift but in our prayers we finde no delight no spiritual rellish in this duty and what shall we get in that if we go about it for which we are so unfit and indisposed so shall we rather provoke God than any way please him This is called driness and barrenness in spiritual exercises yet why should this hinder us be our hearts never so dry and barren this is the way to moisten them It may be through the trouble of our hearts we finde no delight in our devotions John 5. we know the Angel was in the Pool when the waters were stirred and troubled so though we think our troubled tumultuous thoughts unfit to meet and commune with God in prayer yet even then Gods Spirit can move in those troubled waters our unfitness cannot hinder the fitness of Gods Spirit whose best and most prevailing language is troublesome groans and sighs that cannot be exprest Rhm. 8. We may go to God unfit for prayer and yet be marvellously fitted by him that works upon hearts in the very act of prayer Yea surely a prayer which is put to God constrainedly not to please our selves for we find no tast pleasant in it but reemly to obey God because it is his will is very acceptable to him The more humble we are in
fain to pray again again it teaches us to seek out several Arguments and motives to move God some from his power he is able to help us some from his truth Psal 77.8 9 Lord what is become of thy true promise is thy Covenant come to an end for evermore some from his love and mercy Hast thou forgotten to be gracious Art thou that God of whom they sing His mercy endureth for ever and hast thou no mercy to hear and help me Thus like a scruple in our estates which makes us seek all the Court Rolls do our longing affections lead us to God with earnest and urgent prayers and seek out the wisest and movingst Arguments to put life into our Prayers O the excellent learning of afflictions which teach us to search out all Gods Promises to lay to our own hearts and before his eyes by faithful prayer There is a great deal of difference betwixt a prayer in ease Coloss 4.12 Agonizein en tais proseuchais and that in adversity especially spiritual troubles there is more Art and Arms more wisdom more life and feeling in the one than in the other it is one thing to pray another thing to strive in prayer III. Consider that the longest trouble is but short in several respects 1. In respect of the time of our sinning Thou sufferest but a week thou hast lived in sin many weeks and months or thy grief lasts a year hast thou not provoked God many a year Job 11.6 We love indeed long faults and short rods we should never be free from scourges if the Lord continued striking so long as we continue sinning God exacts less than our iniquities deserve 2. In respect of God it is long to us it is short to him with him a thousand years are but as one day we seem to suffer a thousand hours this unto him is but as one minute 2 Pet. 3.8 It is not our sentence but Gods Judgment that must stand for giving estimation to any thing He calls our sufferâ—â—gs but a To ' nun sufferings of this present time 3. In respect of tha◠〈◊〉 aâ—d enâ—less eas◠〈…〉 boâ—â— sucâ—â—eds 〈…〉 â—â—ese sorrow â—â—d sufferings 〈◊〉 now criest make haste to help me hear me speedily how long shall I be vexed in my Soul thou wilt one day say O happy heavy afflictions for a night which have brought such joy in the morning Blessed temptations which though grievous and tedious in the end have brought me to glory and peace without end Who will be afraid of suffering a little while with Christ here that he may be a partner of everlasting glory with him hereafter Jacobs hard seven years service he counted but short compared with that sweet society he should have with his wife at the end We suffer an hour we shall reign for ever Compare a moment and eternity together we shall weep but a short time we shall have a long time of joy for it The Lord would have us consider how he will make amends for our sufferings Esa 54.7 It is but for a small moment that I have forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In 〈◊〉 little wrath I hid my self from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer It is good being scourged an hour to have the Rod cast away for ever O how well should we endure the sorest afflictions if we did but consider that they are light and momentany yet work unto us an exceeding surpassing weight of glory 4. Consider 1 Cor. 4. thou hast a safe way by resignation of thy self in to the Lords hands Non corrigat aeger Medica menta sua Austin Psal 146. Cast thy self upon him he brought thee in trust him with it he will in good time bring thee out Conclude with thy self if release do not yet come it must and will chme for God is faithful who hath promised Submit to his hands and handling being sick do not correct and find fault with thy Physick the Physitian knows best what and when any thing is fittest for us when these corrasives have eaten out sins foul matter then the Cordials of Gods Spirit of Peace shall refresh thy Soul Paterete curari ita sananduses Aug. We would have no tart nor bitter Medicine when God knows it may be Sugar would mar our Physick Impatient man would have the Plaister pulled off the sore too soon before the wound be either drawn or closed Give the Lord leave to do his pleasure he continues thy grief because hasty Physick might do thee hurt If the Lord heals us slowly say to thy self Be contented O my Soul it is for thy good that he may do it soundly 5. Consider that when one eye sails thou must get another when the eye of sense is shut up open the eye of faith and thou shall see wonders Look up and wait upon God with that eye and then thou shalt sweeten darkness with the hope of light peep under the black leaves of sorrow and see a goodly fruit of joy budding forth which shall appear in time Exercise faith to see him that is invisible and that secret arm which all this while supports thee O! if thou couldest well look upon that eye thou shouldest see there is one at Gods right hand who cannot forget thee yea in thy troubles he is at thy right hand Psal 16. stopping and breaking the strength of temptations blowes so as thou shalt not greatly be moved yea he carries thee in his arms Psal 22.14 Psa 34.20 so that not one of thy bones shall be broken though they may be astonisht a while ond out of joynt And if the Lord take care and count of thy bones and hairs surely his care is more for thy Soul it shall never miscarry only learn thou a Lesson over and beyond the leaf of sense and present feeling to see something in nothing to believe that the Bush shall not be hurt though the fire be in it to hope for a sweet kernel within the hardest shell and to see the Son of Man walking with thee in the midst of thy furnace Look as well upward to the Crown Revel 2.17 on which is writ Vincenti dabitur To him that overcomes as to the bottom of thy deep Cross with an holy indifferencie resolve to indure the Lords good pleasure Say unto him this trouble O Lord is grievous O haste to deliver me yet O Lord my will shall wait as a servant upon thine I will suffer any thing only sanctifie thou my sufferings and strengthen me to bear them 6. Lastly consider and often ruminate upon the Saints carriage and words in the like extremities if thou be wearied running with footmen how wouldst thou ever have kept with the Horses if thou be so discouraged in shallow foords what wouldst thou have done if thou hadst swimmed with them in the swellings of Jordan
of the faithful which in the death of their bodies are gathered to the blessed number of the righteous Heb. 12.23 glorified in Heavens gathered to the rest of the spirits of Just men made perfect This taking away or gathering may be considered doubly as a gathering out or a gathering in This is selectio potius quam collectio First A gathering out which is when there is a mixture of things good and bad together when we pick out one sort from the other it is a gathering or selecting collection As when the Net catches all kind of fishes the good are pickt out and the bad cast away Sometimes they are thus gathered when danger is likely to seize on al together then that which is good gathered out that the danger may not fall on it Thus the righteous are mixt in this world with ungodly men and the Lord picks his Children from among the rest he is preparing plagues for the world and before hand he takes care for his by gathering them out of the danger so that phrase imports from the evil to come 2. A gathering in Both these gatherings in the Parable of the Draw-net Mat. 13.47 48. which is after the picking out to lay that which is good in a better place by themselves Thus the Righteous separated from the world by death are gathered like the good fishes into a vessel by themselves into one blessed society and unmixt company into heavenly glory where no wicked men shall enter among them any more And of this gathering is this Colliguntur they are thus taken away None considering Before none laying it to heart for so they are both taken one for another Consider your ways Hag. 1.5 in Haggai in the Original is set your heart on your ways A facie mali From the evil to come From the face or presence of evil From the evil of sin lest if he should live any longer he might be infected with the sins of wicked men But the truest is from the evil of punishment Wis 4.11 wherewith God means to plague the wicked world that they may not smart with the sinners When God has a quarrel with the earths Inhabitants he takes his Children from among them that he may be revenged upon those who have provokt him Thus the meaning of the words appearing the Prophet seems to speak to his people and in them to us after this manner O how great and graceless is our security Sum and Sense of words Which careless and sinful security is plain in the verse foregoing Esa 56.12 with what hasty feet do all men run to their pleasures How blinde are we that cannot see the Land falling under the hand of the Lords severe Judgment Do we not daily see the Lord fetching away by death his dearest and holiest Servants Surely therein he would signifie to us that his intentions are to bring punishments upon us he taking his own out of the way that they may not see nor feel the vengeance which the world has deserved and shall undergo Yet where is there a man that thinks of this or lays it to heart or takes notice what the Lord is about to do when he takes the righteous from among us From the words like clay thus tempered and prepared we may make up these five Vessels 5 Conclusions or Doctrines or extract these evident Conclusions First that Righteous and holy men are also merciful men Secondly Gods most Righteous Servants must die as well as others Thirdly The Souls of the Saints in their deaths are gathered to the Lord and by the Lord into blessedness Fourthly When the Righteous go from among us some Judgment is to be feared is coming towards us Fifthly The secure wicked world is little mov'd with the removal of the Godly None considers it none lays it to heart How easily these rise we need not fly to Reasons to demonstrate it Righteous men are merciful men 1 Doct. Our Saviour hath enjoyned it them and they lay up his sayings in their hearts Luke 6.39 Be ye merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful These have received mercy of the Lord and are thereby transformed into such a merciful and pitiful nature as his is If we should ask fire why it burns It must be answered It is the nature of fire Why doth the Sun shine It is the nature of the Sun to do so How is it the Godly man is so merciful It is the nature of him I mean the new nature that is ingrafted in Christ to be like affected to the misery of othors as he has found Christ to him These may truly say We cannot but do it the love of God constrains us to it 2 Cor. 5 14. There are no Graces poured by God into a good mans heart as water into a Tub or Pond which keeps all to it self and lets the ground be dry about it but every gracious man is a Spring a Fountain that sends forth streams to water the eatth and feeds the rivulets that flow from it When we once come to Christ the great Spring he makes us little Springs to others Zac. 13.1 Joh. 4.14 The waters that I give saith Christ shall be in him that receives it a Well springing up to everlasting life yea might some say it springs up for himself yes and for others also for out of his belly shall these waters flow to the benefit of others The woman of Samaria had no sooner drunk of this water of Christs receiving her to mercy Joh. 7.38 but it burst and flowed out of her belly in pity she laboured the salvation of her Neighbours crying earnestly on them Come and see a man c. Come and taste of that mercy which I have tasted of in Christ Joh. 4. the Prophet David has the very words of this conclusihn the Righteous is merciful and liberal that is he shews his mercy by his liberality Elsewhere he sings the Marriage song of these two in God Psal 37.21 Mercy and truth are met together and as sweet is Righteousness and Mercy Piety and Pity conjoyn'd in a Christian A sweet pair and lovely couple of young Pigeons not the offering of the poor but this Offering to the poor which the Lord loves better than a fat Bullock laid on his Altar With such sacrifices of mercy for he loves mercy better than sacrifice is God well pleased Hos 6.6 Heb. 13.16 This mercy is an holy affection of the heart sympathizing with them that are in misery and a liberal and holy action of the hand helping and refreshing those in misery Piteous affection that is the root actions of liberal distribution and relief that is the fruit which like the fruit of the Vine Judg. 9.13 chears both God and man Misery which is the object of Mercy is corporal or spiritual 1. Mercy looks at them both to the bodies sickness nakedness poverty beggery there mercy will
the reason in us is that to the Hebrews Heb. 12.11 all chastisement for the time is sharp and uncooâ—h some affliction is grievoâ—◠〈…〉 present to mankind◠〈…〉 â—mong some Priests 〈…〉 Baal thâ—◠〈…〉 â—e lancing of 〈…〉 foolish â—â—â—rs of the Romans Baal 〈◊〉 dâ—â—ght foâ— penance to lash and whip their own skins few or else none but they shrink at the Cross Or we may fetch the Reason Reason 2 from the common appetite and desire of the unreasonable Creatures the withered hand of meer sense leads the poorest Creature to seek for its own ease and quiet the simple Bird would have speedy deliverance from the Cage Use Take we heed that we do not so dote upon speedy help that for it we venture the loss of Gods love and the breach of his Commandments Never so affect speedy release unless it may come in at the right door Do we suffer hard things do we cry how long O where is he that shall deliver me yet take we heed that Gods wisdom be not thrust out of the Chair and carnal Policie put in the room of it There are such unlawful shifts and shifters that when they have waited a while and help comes not they bid farewel to dependance on God and as it were resolve we will tarry no longer come brains plod for release now Policie and arm of fleshly helps play thy part now carnal shifts invent a means of safety I do confess we may thus get a deliverance but it 's a deliverance with a vengeance when there is neither Gods Hand and Seal at it nor our faith in it it proceeds from an incredulous impatient heart to say when help is deferr'd with that impious King Why should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 6.33 If we love help and release let us cleave only to God that Rock of help and look for it only at his hand It comes soon enough and in a good time what time soever it come if it come from him Use 2 2. Let them that are in distress learn not only to call upon God but to call waiting and to tarry the Lords leisure lest we make too much speed God may love thee though he do not presently deliver thee and thou must learn to trust in God though with Simon of Cyrene thou travel a long way with an heavy Cross upon thy neck He that believeth maketh not haste for in too much haste we we may come to stumble in Gods service As the Prophet confesses his hastiness made him stumble being long afflicted Psal 116.11 He said in his haste all men were lyars that thought there were hopes of deliverance When we in passion cry out God has forgotten me do's not our patience stumble our confidence doth it not here cath a fall and cannot keep his feet Beware lest Satan give thee a reed instead of a staff and cause thee in thy weakness to think God is weak and I am now past remedy or his truth is weak he will not keep promise to deliver me Oftentimes Satan raises in the minds of Gods afflicted ones an hard conceit of God that he loves them not that he cares not for them and all is by dashing them upon this Rock because he delays and doth not speedily help them It is a point of precious wisdom to learn with Paul and Silas to sing in the stocks to be a Scholar in Jobs form praising God even upon the dunghil patiently expecting deliverance though it come with a slow foot Quod non verisimile scribit Joan Gerar. 1 Vossius de Orig. Idololat lib. 3. cap. 44. The Jews Hebrew Language 't is thought by some shall be used in Heaven but their words in the desart are the very Language of Hell to murmure grumble and repine at the Lords doings if the Salve be not as ready as the sore and meat as ready as their appetite This same speedy deliverance is good but to trust and depend upon the Lord in his Word of Truth when help lingers and is long a coming this is far better Gladly would I with good Jonathan shoot some Arrows 1 Sam. 20 55 36. to let David in his trouble know what to do and how to collect that we may have the Lords love and the Lords Rod both together and a long time to scourge us without ease and speedy help and thus I shoot them in these considerations it may be some instead of Jonathans Boy will gather them and take them up 1. Consider that the Lords reasons are for thy good though he do not speedily deliver thee now the Lord means to try what is in thee thou madest good shews in the day of prosperity and ease now he has brought thee to the proof to see if thou madest not false flourishes and gave the view of Clouds without any water in them Jude ver 12. He has brought thee into the field to see how thou canst clasp hold of him and wrastle with faith and patience There were fair promises as great as Peters in thy mouth he has brought thee into the High Priests Hall to try what is in thy heart 2 Chron. 32.31 thus he tried Hezekiah God loved Joseph though in the stocks yet he made not that haste he desired to help him he suffered the Butler to forget him this was harsh that both God and man should seem to fail him yet was it for his profit and proof all this while was the Lord a trying him in his affiance patient dependance and then he must be delivered and the Prince looses him and sets him free Psal 105.28 19 20. when the time of Gods Word is come and when the Word has tried him our time of deliverance is come when time of trial ends Thus is it with thee look to thy self the Lord is trying thee play thy part of confidence and hope in God well in thy troubles then for one blessing thou expectest thou shalt have two God will both release thee and praise thee Art thou not yet helpt why suffer a while longer thou art not yet tried the Lord knows well enough the way he takes with thee and when thou art tried Job 23.10 thou shalt not only come forth but thou shalt come forth as gold that is tried in the fire fitter by the fire to make a vessel of honour 2. Consider the great benefit that the Lord would bestow on us by deferring help the Lord by this means teaches thee an Art beyond all the seven liberal Sciences the Art of prayer In prayer we have special familiarity with God but prayer in deep affliction comes nearer him than at any other time and is more welcome to him We should never learn to beg right and soundly but by begging often and frequently Often visits breed stronger and dearer acquaintance 'twixt friends I will willingly be acquainted with troubles to get acquaintance with the Lord and his Court of mercy When we are