of the Spirit after them that they fell not a whit short of Heaven what wrestling was there then of Faith what strugling then of hope what working and striving of patience then thou came to know effectually the meaning of those Scriptures Hope maketh not ashamed we are saved by hope in patience possess ye your Souls thou then felt more charity more bowels more compassion more fellows-feeling of others troubles then thou came to know better the meaning of that Text which perhaps in thy fair Dayes thou never considered so much Remember them that are in Adversity as being your selves also in the Body having paslible weak Bodies subject to all the like miseries which you see in others and what the Preacher intended when he exhorts to give a portion to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the Earth whether such evil may not be in the World that may bring thee to like need How was thou then weaned from the world how didst thou contemn it the pleasures honours and riches of it thou did experience the mutable and tranfitoty Nature of them thou gave earnest heed to our Saviour's Counsel Lay not up for your selves treasures on Earth where moth and rust corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust can corrupt nor thieves dig through and steal and then thou conned over the Apostle Pauls hard lesson and got it pretty perfect That they that had Wives should be a though they had none they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not they that buy as though they possessed not for the fashion of this World passeth away Thus though there was a decay upon thy outward-man by reason of Affliction yet the inward man was renewed day by day those dayes which helped thee nearer Heaven and made thee more fit and more willing to die were good dayes now painful and tormenting so ever they were in the passing through them and those dayes which delighted thy fleshly desires and carnal part which were very pleasant to the outward-man but did make thee neglect duty or slubber it over did deaden thy Spirit in it and caused a decay in thy zeal and Love and delight in God and made thee less mindful of the great concerns of thy pretious Soul those dayes though seemingly happy and blessed in their spending were not so good dayes be careful therefore of reckoning and numbring right about your conditions and out ward states and beings in the World and mourn over the disorder thou hast put thy self into by not placing thy condition right and placing thy self aright in it but by bustling and quarrelling at some times with thy state and thy over pleasedness again another time with it Thou hast been still disturbing and doing harm both to thy self and others what hard and loud words have passed between thee and thy adverse state have hot some over-heard thee saying that thou thought no Bodies condition was worse than thine none so straitned none so perplexed what sickness thou didst undergo what pain thou went through what poverty and pinching thou endured what crosses every way thou met with and wishing thou had had not been born or that thou might quickly die and be removed out of this troublesome World or that God would but be so kind to thee that thou might but live as such and such do though their conditions are not looked on as the best c And to answer this chiding temper has not that witness for God in thy own Conscience and of his kindness to thee in every condition made this smart reply Oh what a murmuring unbeleeving Creature art thou What nothing but complaints look about thee canst thou find nothing to thank God for is thy case so bad that all comfort is shut out of it thou art out of Hell which thou deserves every moment that 's a Mercy art not thou in health many would give thousands to enjoy as much of that as thou dost art thou harbourless knows not where to have a lodging to night that 's the condition of many a good Soul where cruelty and persecution Reigns art thou hungry and knows not where to get bread this day it's a great Mercy to have bread for the day and a greater to be able to beg and believe on God for bread for the day a lesson which I heard a worthy Minister say the Lord had taught him and an high piece of Learning it is The Apostle knew what he said and that it was a great degree he had attained to when he professed I have learned in the things wherein I am therewith to be self-sufficient there is a kind of self-sufficiency in every good contented mind he is rich not that has much but that does not desire much Art thou thirsty and knows not where to get some good water art thou cold and knows not where to get a covering to keep thee warm But for thy Spiritual estate art thou tempted so was Christ who was in all points tempted likeas we are that we might come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find grace to help in time of need and has promised that he will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able and is it your misery that you are called to follow the Captain of your Salvation in the honourable path of suffering the highway to peace and rest and Glory Art thou under the tidings of his love did not the Lord Jesus cry out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Art thou unwilling that the Lord should make a trial of thy Love and faithfulness to him whether thou will abide for him and that by endear himself more to thee and prepare thee for fuller manifestations and them for thee Dost thou complain of an hard unbelieving Heart its a mercy thou feels it to be so how many hard Hearts in the World that are not felt they that can say and cry out save us Master we perish shall never sink if there be sense there is life though that life may be a very sickly Life thy condition is sase though it it may be very uneasie where there is the root of the matter where there is the living substance if circumstances be a little troublesome it may be born better a little crying here than weeping and wailing hereafter pains and pangs and gripings here are kindly and not at all dangerous To conclude this wilt thou for the future keep a better account of thy condition wilt thou number and place the Providences of God towards thee in better order this right reckoning will reconcile thee to all the difpensations of God and make you long Friends this will be your Wisdom and this is your way to true Wisdom and so much for this Ufe of Lamentation and Humiliation It is much to be bewailed and that because
is I this dispensation has Love in it it is for thy good it wil not hurt thee be not so afrighted not an hair of thy Head shall perish by thy affliction thou shall lose nothing but what would have done thee harm to have kept how afterwards the Lord quieted composed and satisfied his Soul made him see how much need there was of such a severe Providence such a sharp Passage such a bitter Dispensation as also how much Love and Goodness there was in it which at first sight carried so much of the Face of enmity disturbance and destruction so that he comes to say this Affliction this Loss this great Trial though I thought at first I could not have born it yet I now see I could not have been without it as he said once I had been undone if I had not been undone I had perished if I had not perished and lastly how he no sooner had got through one Affliction but the Lord brought him to the borders of another he was no sooner Landed and safe in his Harbour but God bids him prepare for another Voy age in those dayes was Hezekiah seek unto Death see Isa 38.1 comp with 3 last verses of 37. cha To hear him tell you how gladly now he would have taken a little rest and was thinking surely he should now meet with no more Troubles so dismal when presently another messenger came to tell him that the Lord did intend to try him again the first chapter of Job did not conclude his combate and bid him make ready for a new on-set either in the same or another kind how he treated the Messenger and spake wisely and kindly unto him in such language as this it is but lately that my Lord laid an heavy and an amazing Affliction upon me it found me much unready and unprepared I did storm and rage at it I was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the Yoke I was cast down and dejected I did murmur and repine many an hard thoght had I of my maker and several unhandsom and unbecoming expressions came from me some that favoured of despair Oh I shall never have a comfortable day more my good dayes are gone better for me that I had never been Born than to live to see this Trouble why does the Lord let me live why does he not destroy me it would be an happiness for me if some would come and take a Knife and cut my throat its happy for them that are Dead they endure no such tormenting pain they sustain no such losses they know not tht meaning of such piercing Heart-breaking Sorrows c. But it plesed the Lord by degrees to bring me to more sober expressions he began to convince me that I had deserved a great dealmore it is a wonder I was out of Hell he set my sins in order before mine eyes and then I saw that he had Puhished me less than mine Iniquities did deserve that if I had my Due I should be in Endless Easeless and Remediless Torment and then I came to acknowledg him his Justice his Mercy and to fall down at his Feet he then began to speak some comfortable Words to me to give me a little reviving a little Faith and Hope in himself and to let me see his end and design ih Afflicting me he shewed me my work and my transgressions wherein I had exceeded he opened my ear to Discipline and commanded me to depart from Iniquity and now he has recovered me and made me to live in his sight if it be his pleasure to bring me into the fire again I know it is for the purging away of my Iniquity I desire I may not dishonour him and then let him do with me what he pleases I hope he will lay no more upon me than he will enable me to bear and then his will be done thus you see what great experience is to be got by Affliction how needful it is for the exercise of Grace Reason third The Lord fills our day with trouble for distinction sake that we may know Earth from Heaven and God from the Creature To Know the meaning of that text there remaineth therefore a rest for the People of God if it were not so we should be apt to say it is good being here There are two things the World is hardly brought to Believe First That quietness and peace and rest cannot be obtained here And Secondly That it is to be enjoyed hereafter and in himself Now it is impossible that we should ever meet with any full contentive good under Heaven if one could show me that which the Tempter shewed our Saviour even all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them they are too beggarly a good to give content excellently to this purpose one of the Antients O Lord saies he thou hast made us for thy self and our Hearts cannot be at quiet till they come to rest in thy self I tumble and toss this way and that way upon Back and Belly this side and that side and every way to get a little ease and yet I find every thing to be hard and God is the only true Rest No satisfaction to he had from any thing here below look but upon the several Conditions of Men in City Court and Country and see if every one would not be a little higher a little Richer and a little bettered in estate or else what means their endless carking and caring what means so many hands working and Heads hammering about this thing and that thing there is not the veriest frock and apron but by little and little it would hirstle up to the Rob and Purple not the poorest Friars cowle but by step and step have at the Popes mitre This unsatisfied desiring of one thing after another which Is very troublesome and grieving the Preacher elegantly calls the walking of the desire better saies he is the sight of the Eyes that is the comfortable beholding and enjoying these things we have then the walking of the desire the rambling of it after the things we have not or as some render it the walking Soul a walking Soul is very uncomfortable to be haunted night and day with a Spirit of greediness and unsatisfiedness to have its company going out and coming in lying down and rising up nay to have disturbing and troublesome dreams too The Lord never intended that the world should be a quiet place do you know any place upon Earth that a man may go to have one day of rest and freedom from care and trouble within and without I would go many miles to see that place and enjoy such a Day he that kept the key of such a place would quickly heap up Treasures what flocking would there be thither from all quarters of all sorts of People you would see great numbers of Great-one and Noble-men posting thither The Apostle dehorts us from seeking things that are upon the Earth the reason is
hadest with him during the time thou wast upon Earth what Apprehensions thou hadst of him what Adresses thou madst to him as a Mediatour an Advocate and Saviour what Faith thou hast had in him whether there was an agreement made between him and thee whil'st thy dayes were in being that thou wouldst give up thy Soul and Body and Sins to him thy Unrighteousness and Righteousness and that he would undertake to satisfie the Justice of God and appease his Wrath for thee and reconcile thee to his Father that he would cloth thee with his Righteousness and sanctifie thy Nature by his Holy Word and Spirit that he would make thee meet to be a partaker of Glory and present thee blameless and unreproveable in the sight of God and give thee a full possession of an everlasting Kingdom and Glory with himself what fear thou hadst upon thy Heart in thy dayes of the Great God whether in every thing thou didst in Natural Civil and Religious Actions thou didst design and aim at his Glory How thy Affections were placed and what kind of love passed between thee and the World during their abode there what acts of Self-denial and Mortification thou put forth what exercise of Heavenly-mindedness what Duties thou didst and how they were done how thou didst honour God in the Conditions he placed thee what patience and contentedness in a low condition what humility meekness and repentance in an high condition how thou bore sickness and straits and how thou used thy riches and how honest thou wast in thy dealings There will be no discourses there of such vain matters as are here below but as Paul discoursed of Temperance and Righteousness and the Judgment to come of Uprightness and Sincerity and unfeigned Repentance and a true and full closing with the Person of Christ the Son of the Living God equal with the Father the Mediatour for poor Sinners the Saviour of all that truly believe on his Name and come to him what Obedience thou manifested to his Laws how thou loved him and kept his Commandments how thou loved the Brethren and there by manifested thy being passed from Death to life how fruitful thou wast in all good works and thereby didst justify thy Faith to be sound and true and of the right kind how willing and desirous thou was to do much for God and how little thou didst esteem thy self the better for what thou didst but how much thou didst abhor thy self and hate thy self for thy daily defects manifold infirmities and much unsuitable carriage to such great goodness and loving kindness and unworthiness of such rich Grace and Mercy c. Of this Nature will be the Discourses then and the more thou hast been exercised in these thing the greater will be thy consolation Oh my Beloved where is that Professor that lives under the serious frequent and powerful meditation of these things this and the other work I am imployed in this and the other thing I am discoursing of if God should now cut off the threed of my Life what should I be advantaged hereby would it turn to my advantage when I come in the presence of the Great God shall I be glad that I was exercised or rather wish that I had never medled or been concerned in such affairs and matters our dayes are not intended to be the dayes of Noah and Lot wherein Men built and planted and bought and sold and married and were given in Marriage all these Lawful things and not one of them sinful that is that did do all these things as the work of the day for themselves and rested in them rejoiced themselves in them and did not do them with respect to another Life with such fear regularity moderation righteous principles and designs as would have yeelded them comfort when those dayes had been cut off in another world are we not fallen into such dayes as Noah's and Lot's were eating drinking c. Eating Drinking is an unlawful thing if you do not do it to the Glory of God and honour God in it observe it as there is no time allotted for sin so neither are there any dayes allowed for the doing of lawful and good actions if they have not a reference to Eternity thy Prayers and Almes and duties are not numbred aright if they be not numbred for God and another world if they be numbred for thy self and thy present interest they are quite lost and which is worse do become sin and so prove mortal and damning you see how necessary it is to number every day for Eternity if thou mindest this Rule thou wilt reap much fruit hereafter from thy common and worldly actions because hereby those actions which otherwise are but common and worldly actions as the actions of our ordinary and homliest callings we shall sanctifie them and translate them out of themselves and their own base Element into an higher Orb and Element viz. to go as for actions truly holy and Religious and parts of God's own worship before him and rewardable as so at his hand 's what a comfort might this be to Men in going about worldly callings to the very Shuttleman and Sheersman Spinster and Carder and the veriest drudge and droil in the servilest condition what a comfort this to consider that if they do but honestly and faithfully in obedience to God that hath set them in those callings go about them they might sanctifie those and the like actions and translate them out of a Worldly into an Heavenly Orb and Element and Glorifie God and by that thou providest for Eternity as well in their proportion by those actions as the Angels that stand continually before God do by their standing and praising and singing Hallelujahs to him The poor Servants that in obedience to God do faithful and honest service be it in never such drudgeries to their Master are said to adorn thereby the Doctrine of God Titus 2.10 And is not this a working a numbring time and work for Eternity those that honour him and his Gospel he will honour them another day What a comfort is this that meer drudgeries and Worldly Actions that might seem only to smell of the World and this present life and time that these being gone about in the Obedience and Fear of God baulking iniquity and injustice in them may go for Holy and Heavenly actions The actions of the vertuous Woman Prov. 31. a Man would think were the actions only of a meer worldling she seeketh wool and flax c. yet those and such-like are all the actions for which she is called a vertuous Woman in the Beginning and to have done vertuously above all in the latter end Many Daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all and the next verse shews the reason because she did these in the Fear of the Lord A Woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised shall have praise at the end of dayes