deriving all her nocturnal beauty from the Sun Eâ—e 1.14 so must Saints shine by the comeliness of Christ And as a Gracious Husband labours to change his Spouse into his own Image and likeness by kindnesses precepts and example that he may take the more delight in her person Ps 45.10 So does our spiritual Solomon change the hew of his Egyptian Queen to deem of things and persons as her Lord and Husband judges and frames her Spirit to delight in doing his Will and Pleasure and take the highest solace in obedience to enjoy a heavenly freedom mixt mith aimiable and joyful reverence He roots out of her heart all changeable affections worldly fancies and hankering longings after the fond fashions of Shechem Gen. 34.1 and all carnal inclinations to the Daughters of Canaans Linage and all the beggerly humours of the besotted world and to pass by with a Holy scorn all the pitiful Pageantry of this perishing and fading life and rise to a mean estimate of the Baubles and trifles that inchant a carnal Heart At length she arrives to a noble and generous judgment counting all but dung and dross that she may win Christ As her Prince of life was crucified by the World for her Redemption so she begins to be crucified to it in token of conformity to him and at length becomes all glorious within She takes down the Pendants of folly Ps 45.13 and hangs all her Jewels within Her Pearls and Diamonds are the gracious Sermons and dying Prayers of her Holy Lord they hang at her ears Songs 1.13 they lye between her Breasts all night Her clothing is of the Gold of Ophir made with Needlework of divers colours Judg. 5.30 twined by the Daughters of the New Jerusalem The 12 precious Stones in the breast-plate of Aaron are upon her Heart She is Holy like him and goes about doing good with the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit with a Crown of Carbuncles of flaming love to Christ upon her Head and thus reflecting the Glory of Christ here is preparing and fitting for fuller visions and brighter reflections of Glory hereafter Here 's nothing but noise and confusion in the dust and smoak of folly This World is like the Sea in Habakuk Hab. 1.14 where the great Fish swallow the small storms and pirats rocks and sands shipwrecks and new furprizing dangers every moment Let 's long and pack up for our best and sweetest home looking upon every secret Mercy every joyful income of the Spirit as so many earnests of glory as so many bent tokens put in hand to secure Heaven Let 's draw off and wean our affections from sublunary vanishing Vapors which perish in the very use Carnal persons in their heights have but a wordly Heaven and Saints while here in their lowest depths by the Sunshine of divine Favour have a sweet portion of Heaven here upon Earth Oh what a Heaven shall they have in Heaven it self Here though sometimes deep in the mire of affliction yet when conscience sings 't is fair above head still travelling towards Zion Since our natures are chang'd like a Cion or Graft inserted into the Vine of the Church we shall in due time be transplanted to Paradise Strengthen assurance by perseverance and both by the promises to each and mix prayer with Praises Our Harps must always sound while our Sacrifice burns on the Altar Every day adds to the treasury of evidence Like laborious Bees increase your stock from the flowers of Scripture and the Honey of Assurance will sweeten every Prayer and cheer persevering grace and enliven the strings of praise till we come with Harps in our hands well tuned to the Gate of Heaven Let our chaste Souls be a Garden enclos'd to Christ Our eyes ears Song 4.12 affections seal'd and shut up from worldly communion Hearken O Daughter Ps 45.10 11. and forget thine Egyptian people and thy Fathers house in Zoan So shall the King of Glory greatly desire to see and enjoy thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him Some Passages to be inserted in page 26. which through a casualty did happen to be misplaced AS that Person in Bisseter Market who having a piece of Bread in his Mouth and turning suddenly to answer a question while the Bread was swallowing was immediately choack'd and though he survived about two or three days yet no remedy prevailed Remarkable was that providence of a poor Taylor at Reading choak'd with a bit of Mutton having wish'd it to himself as he was eating if he had stoln the Stockings whereof he was accused Which story is set down in the Register of one of the Parishes of that Town A sudden accident also besell Colonel Rossiter endeavouring to crack a Plum-stone as I am informed brake a Tooth and thereby lost his Life I would not let pass two or three stories more of signal providences as to sudden accidents There lived some time since in Grassechurch-street LONDON a Vintner Mr. Fowler by name who playing with his little Child abed received a scratch of a Pin First it rankled and cost him a Hundred Pounds-under design of cure but at length his Arm was cut off and shortly after lost his life There hapned also a notable memorial of Divine providence upon a Child in Bishops-gate Parish where sometime the good hand of God was pleased to use my poor labours in the honourable service of the Ministry This little Child looking up through a wooden case to a ponderous Jack-weight in that very moment the Weight drop'd down and kill'd it I have also received intelligence of a Person worthy of credit that a Woman having a very fair Hand molested by a Wart and submitting to the skill of a Chirurgeon at Thomas Hospital in Southwark in order to cure But the sore place began to be angry at the improper Medicines and Festers and shortly receives from his hand the cure of all her Diseases To end with a comfortable story My good Friend Mr. Ch. Morton then at Sea and yielding to the advice of a Ship-Chirurgeon to lay the Lapis Infernalis to eat down a Wart his Arm swelled very dangerously but the Lord delivered him So true is that saying of Paracelsus That the greatest Wounds may issue prosperously and little Scratches may end disastrously since the Keys of Life and Death are in the Hand of God FINIS Books printed toy and are to be sold by John Hancock at the Sign of the three Bibles in Popes Head Alley in Cornhill TWelve Books lately published by Mr. Tho. Brooks late Preacher of the Gospel at Margarets New Fish-street 1. Precious Remedies against Satans Devices or Salve for Believers and Vnbelievers Sores being a Companion for those that are in Christ or out of Christ 2. Heaven on Earth Or a serious Discourse touching a Well-grounded Assurance of Mans Everlasting Happiness 3. The Vnsearchable Riches of Christ held forth in 22 Sermons 4. Apples
not entangle us or Captious or Suspicious tempers do not wrest us to displease or distrust our ancient Friends or raise new Enemies When we sleep that the House do not entomb us by stormy blasts or secret failing in the Timber That fire by careless servants or other latent causes does not burn us to ashes as the Merchant in Lothbury That Armies of Weasels Rats or Mice Munster Cosmog p. 606. do not feast upon us and knaw out our bowels as they did to Hatto that wicked Bishop of Mentz That we are not scared by Visions and terrified by Dreams Job 7.14 and Satans Chain let out upon us It was the case of Job a better person then any of us That sudden Noise and Alarms of the night do not fright us to awakening so hurtful to the Animal spirits That we can sleep quietly Ps 122.2 that he gives his beloved rest That some greater persons are awakened by Musick and meaner by the sonnets of Birds near their houses could we but praise him with joyful lips when we comfortably behold the morning light Of the innumerable evils these are some few touches and the innumerable mercies that instead thereof we enjoy O that man would learn to praise him for his wonderful works to the children of men Ps 107.8 Let 's treat a little of the second he prevention of evils by afflictions both the evil of sin and danger As to sin we ought to present God as a Father in afflictions Prov. 29.16 An uncorrected child brings his parents to shame We should shame Religion and our holy Profession if God did not often hedge up our ways with thorns that we may search out the paths of holiness Hos 2.6 It 's a sweet argument of Divine Love We weed the Gardens wherein we delight to walk file off the rust of useful Instruments and refine the rugged Oar by the fire and purge our own bodies from that feculency in the bowels that might produce obstructions We lose nothing but dross and corruption in the fire Our Spiritual Physician lets out nothing but impure bloud by his Phlebotomy Nay sometimes God prevents sin by sin preserves from fouler sins by lesser falls and it proves very profitable to some proud and presumptuous spirits to stumble into sin thereby receiving a check to their haughty stomachful and censorious tempers Such trials and afflictions imbitter sinful courses We are dangerously addicted to present enjoyments and to put confidence in the arm of flesh and value the vanities of this Life Sanctified afflictions drive us from the World to God teach us to live by Faith warm the Spirit in prayer and whets prayer into crying as it did to Moses We usually send up faint prayers in times of prosperity when Halcyon calms are upon our Tabernacles In stormy times we fly toour Rock and mourn like holy doves in the clefts of the Mountains we are more mortified to the World weaned from troublesom and peevish Relations relish spiritual motions and have a sweet savour of the Promises upon the Souls palat are fortified against Death and prepared for the Kingdom We learn to bless God for crosses who makes the worst of a Christian to work together for the best of a Kingdom We learn to make peace not so much with the Instruments as God the principal cause For affliction cometh not out of the dust but drops down from Heaven and therefore piously turn the eye and the heart to him that smiteth Not to fight with the Rod or bite at the Stone as carnal persons but to be very humble and seriously penitent like Hezekiah who chattered like a Crane under his sorrows but went softly as in Sackcloth and Ashes all his days and like David not onely pray for present pardon Ps 51.10 but for a free spirit to walk holily in time to come No false heart can truly desire preventing grace as the sweet Singer of Israel after cleansing and purging mercy begs establishing grace That repentance in sickness is always sincere which hungers after grace more truly then it hankers after recovery knowing that the end of the Rods discipline is then accomplished Lastly as to danger both temporal and eternal What 's the Life of Man but a Sea of dangers what 's the Mercy of God but the haven of deliverance Every affliction should be a Memorial of the day of Judgment and teach men to call their ways to account and esteem all to be mercy so he save us at last Many by sin bring the affliction in kind shorten their own days cut off the thread with their own Knives and put out the candle of Life with their own Extinguishers God sanctifies the approches of such bitter dangers to a sight of corruption and to saving repentance before the dying hour to such as are elect according to the purpose of grace Good men may be judged of the Lord may drink of bitter cups 1 Cor. 11.32 as the Corinthians were sick and weak and slept for unworthy receiving that they might not be condemned and perish with the world We must learn to justifie God yea to praise him here for afflictions for which hereafter we shall fully glorifie him Our troublesom pilgrimage must be sweetned with songs of praises to him who crowns our prickles with roses Ps 65.11 and plants our low Vallies with fragrant mirtles and at length will beautifie our musing temples with Diadems of joy and glory Ps 25 10. For all his ways are like a Fathers full of mercy and truth to such as keep his Commandments and Testimonies To conclude Such is the divine grace that the bitterest potions of this life are given to prevent the deadly draught of nhe Stygian Lake of Hell Nay in this day how many of the Saints afflictions have been rises and preparatives for greater mercys Patient Joseph first dragged his irons in prison before he was drawn in Pharao's second Chariot and adorned with chains of Gold The strongest stormes often precede the most sunshine calms and when winds blow highest they scatter the thick Clouds with greater vehemency The darkest calamity of the Church ushers in the most glorious times It was so in Egypt Babylon and Shushan and after the Decumanus fluctus the tenth persecution rose up famous Constantine and so it shall be again The last stroke of Papal sury in the state of the Witnesses burial shall open a door for their rising and ascent to a Heaven of Church Ordinances and outward Grandeur never to be conquered or oppressed more Out of her Cinamon ashes shall arise a new and most Illustrious Phoenix to fly with delicious Songs through the whole World CHAP. IV. The excellency and pleasantness of preventing mercys THe Rainbow of the Heavens knows not more rare and delightful colours then the rainbow of the Covenant under which our Saviour hath placed his Throne The beauty of a picture shines in variety Rev. 4.3 which sets such a
delicious and pleasant lustre upon prospects and Land-shapes where Hills and Dales Woods and Plains Rivers and Seas Castles and Cities and the carcases of ancient ruines and hanging Rocks are curiously drawn by the Pencil of nature Nay the sweet singer of Israel depaints the Churches garments Ex opere Phrygionico Ps 45.14 like Joseph's Coat with changeable Silks and the * Ps 68.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 54.12 greens of gold compared with the flowing colours that wave in the necks of Doves The Evangelical Prophet and the bosome Disciple build up the Towers of Zim the streets and walls of the new Jerusalem with Saphires Carbuncles Agats and pleasant stones lay the pavement of that glorious City with malleable transparent Gold There is nothng renders our preventing mercys so illustrious and glittering in glory as their wonderful changes and successive varieties in all ages and times of life When we first hung on the breasts of our Mothers we suckt in the sweet nectar of preventing mercy we drew our milk out of the milky way in Heaven Yea as prudent Physicians cure an infant by a potion to the nurse thus hath our gracious God by hidden means transmitted frequent cures to hidden maladies How hath our youth flowed with fragrant mercies and riper years smelt deliciously like a Garden of Pomgranates Cant. 4.13 How hath the goodness of God crowned gray hairs with a wreath of holiness honour and happiness How have the loving Angels carried some triumphant to Heaven who feared their setting in a dark cloud of horrour and despair Let 's take some turnes in this Garden of Eden and eye the curious walk of secret sudden and various mercies 1. Secret mercies whereof some are never fully known in this life like mazes and labyrinths and close arbours which the vultures eye could never discern strange and unforeseen deliverances whereof ensuing providences have made beautiful discoveries as Saul and his men went on one side of the Mountain when David escaped on the other in the Wilderness of Maon Some have been preserved by a Cobweb others by a Hen laying of eggs others by shoals of fishe in time of great persecution When afflictions themselves have been Seminaries of mercy and the dark and stormy showers of April have rained down flowers of savour end plentiful crops of summer deliverances 2. Sudden mercies in plunges of distress When the Church hath dream't of nothing but drinking the Wine of astonishment yet awakned at the brink of streams in the South How have the Saints been supported Ps 126.4 sustained enlightned How have doors opened on a sudden and Iron shackles been struck of by Angels and Jaylors bathed with their tears the prints of their own stripes How have the oars struck light in a dark tempest and the Ships we sail in ploughed up sparkles from the briny billows of the Ocean in a stormy night there being a native fire in salt from which the rapid motion hath extracted light Affliction it self hath taught a way to the haven of deliverance Nay usually when we begin to be willing and humble and patient to set down by the affliction and to consider Gods gracious dealings in the depths of correction to erect us into some thankful cheerful and admiring thoughts that it is not worse that thousands drink of more bitter cups and all out of hell is stupendious mercy Many times the wind of Divine favour blows from a fresh corner and our feet are set upon the rock that is higher then us 3. New and various mercies God seldom delivers in the same methods There was never the same face of Heaven from the Creation to this day The aspects clouds and weather do always vary as the shells on the Sea-shore and the pebble-stones none exactly alike No veins on the handback no lines in the palm no features in the millions of faces no voices from the windpipe no gate in the postures of walking but if curiously observed do differ to admiration No temptations no graces no afflictions and no deliverances are fully conformed to an union We have new songs for every moment had we hearts to tune them When Gods wisdom takes one mercy away his beneficent bounty sends another When some setting Stars dip their flaming rays in the Western Ocean new ones glitter in the East Never did the same water bubble from the same fountain but as God is the inhexhaustible spring of new and amiable Mercies So we find he adorns the Out-rooms of the World and the Chambers of the Tabernacle of his Church with the Diaper and Tapestry-hangings of the curious Needlework of his Providence Such Wisdom dwells with Prudenee Pro. 8.12 and finds out the Knowledge of witty Inventions All the curiosities of Art and the cunning devices of Artificers are from God the swarthy Plow-man derives his seasons and management of his Lands Is 28.26 Tillage and Culture from Heaven The Women that sit at the Wheel Exod. 35.25 26. turn it about by the direction of God for the Ornaments of the Tabernacle The Weaver the Embroyderer and the ingenious Lapidary learnt all in the School which is above the Stars Exod. 35.35 the most admirable of all Inventions have dropt into the Fancy from the Celestial Intelligence For what the vain unthankful world calls casualty is a graft upon the minds of Men cut from the Trees of Paradise Accident is the Mother of far more excellent Inventions than Industry Glass was found out by the Tyrian Merchants Polyd. Vâ—r. gil l. 2. c. 22. when boyling or broyling their Meat upon lumps of Nitre on the Sands of the River Belus * Munstâ—r Cosmogr l. 1. c. 173 174. Gun-powder was found out by a Monk A. 1354. and Printing by a Souldier A. 1440. and the Minerall Spaw at Tunbridge by a Page The purple colour by Hercules his Dog as 't is storied in Pollux l. 1. c. 4. and thousands of the like which were pleasant to recite did they not over-swell the proper place And shall we not think that infinite wisdom cannot always present new and ravishing wonders of Mercies upon the Stage Tullies Offices first printed A. 1466. Salmuth in Pancirol p. 244 246. from him who is unconceiveable in counsel and as admirable in working When we study in this Library we still find new Lines and new Editions we sail upon new Coasts and see new Stars as in the Southern Hemisphere and enjoy a new set of Creatures and smell at many Leagues distant fragrant odoriferous Sents as of Cinamon from the Mountains of Ceylon in India of Rosemary from Spain Cedar from Lebanon that perfume the very thoughts af a Saint and the further we travel the more delicious are the surging Tops of the Hills of Canaan and the more we taste the more surprising sweetness astonishes our Palates like the Queenpine in Barbadoes that supplies and transcends expectation with new and rasive savours and tunes our
vocal Instruments for new Songs to bear a part with the Harmony of Angels for ever CHAP. V. Of the Instruments used for conveyance of these Mercies WHatever Hand presents our Mercies or whosoever's Heart was inclin'd to hand them all flowes from the grand Original Every Mercy is the Fruit of the Thoughts of God When David was poor and needy Ps 40.17 Gods thinking upon him enrich'd his Spirit But Instruments must have their due place in our respect and reverence since God honours them They were Golden Pipes that convey'd Golden Oyl in Zechaery Zech. 4.12 Heavens Ambassadors deserve Angelical Salutations remembring what 's due to Servants without prejudice to Divine Glory who bends and inflects the hearts of of men to shew that Benevolence which passes through them as a River between its Banks but springs from the infinite Fountain of Divine Mercy Few or no Enjoyments but have their enamelled means and methods of Providence and when its Beryl Wheels move towards us full of Eyes and Glory Ezek. 10.13 we may cry out with admiration of God O Wheel Our Health Beauty Feature Strength good Name Estate Utterance or any other Endowment of Soul or Body are the Product of Divine Love though second Causes may intervene for those very causes have their Creation Motion and Direction and Success from God Children are the Heritage of the Lord Ps 127.3 and yet the fruit of the Womb by his Reward Prov. 18.22 He that findeth a Vertuous Wife as if by casualty obtaineth favour of the Lord by the Designation of Heaven Whoever wishes he receives those wishes dropt into his Heart from higher influence Gen. 24.31 And faithful Eliezer must be called the Blessed of the Lord when he knocks at the Door and brings the Tidings The Presents which David sent from the Spoils of Amalek to his Friends though taken from his Enemies 1 Sam. 30.25 yet were given of the Lord. Senders and Messengers may vary but all comes from Heaven God is pleased sometimes to send an Olive-Branch by the Hand of a Dove to Noah Food by the Mouth of a Raven to Elijah at Cherich and sometimes by a Jay to others sometimes a Star passes before the Zabii the Wisemen of the East and enlightens them to Bethlchem and otherwhile an Angel is employed to the Prophet at Rithmah and many times the Methods of great Mercies are deep and intricate and we can never dive to the bottom of Wisdoms Ocean The stately River Nile rises from a latent head and the foundations of Famous Cities are under ground The Great and Holy God sometimes stirs up the Hearts of Relations most times Strangers and now and then even Enemies themselves are turned to help and favour his People Ps 106.46 Rare is that story of a good Woman at Sandwich imprisoned by the Major for a Religious Meeting and being askt by him how she would do in Prison being poor She reply'd I serve such a Master that rather than I shall starve I shall be fed from your Table The Magistrates Wife overhearing her confidence in God sent every day constantly from the Majors house a portion of Meat for about three Weeks being the time of her Restraint So that whatever are the Motives in the Hearts of inferiour Agents still the Supreme and Heavenly Cause is to be eyed with Adoration and Worship Many may unwillingly profit us we then owe not the benefit to them but the great Incliner the Soveraign Mover of Hearts Let us not trouble our Spirits about that question Quo animo with what design their Favours are calculated to our use Ignoble Spirits may perform some noble Actions upon a superstitious or vainglorious aim as to merit Heaven to gain applause to restrain the barkings of Conscience to stop the Mouth of Reprovers and to oblige men to their humours or some base intrigue or other Of all persons Ministers should be most sagacious and the Seers of the Temple must be blind in such Emergencies When sordid tempers exact difficult Secrecies for a little pelf while themselves spend ten times more on a base lust like those that fat their Horses for a riding or their Slaves at Algier for to sell in the Market at a higher Price Homines vaenalis animae that buy and sell their souls for advantage and are meer Merchants of all the Benefits they exert to others Some Mens Favours are like Chrystal Glasses of a curious frailty every Spider of suspicion cracks them He that ponders too much upon the Publican return of his benefits gratifies the trade of gain and covetousness not his Conscience to God or the genuine good of others There be many that take a pride to be counted liberal when they let fall a few drops of charity upon famished poverty and love that the Sun should shine upon their forward bounty and make their Cock crow at the scratching out a few Corns from their lofty Dunghills that can empty their laden Stomachs into China Dishes and hang Jewels and Pearls the price of whole Cities upon their Ears and vest themselves with the Tribute of large Territories and make as great a noise in scattering their Offals among the Poor as when the Russian Emperor blows his Trumpet after Dinner and all the World must know when they give that which their high-fed Lap-curs many times refuse They 'le wear Silk Garments like the Roman Matrons of such a fine Web that neither their Bodies are defended from weather nor their Chastity from observation but think much of a few Rags to cover a poor Lazarus at the Door God gives them Hundreds by the Year and they carry single Pence in their Pockets or brass Farthings to buy off the Clamours of Conscience But yet such as are inward Enemies to true Evangelical Charity shall be Instruments sore against their will to preserve the Soul of the Needy from death and ruine Wicked and debauched Persons Prov. 13.22 shall in the issue lay up Treasures for the Righteous But when Instruments act generously like wise Stewards of the manifold Talents of Gods Mercies they are to be highly esteemed like the Gold Ring that encompasses an Orient and Sparkling Diamond They are to be nourished and cherished like the Doves of Aleppo to whose Feet the Missives and Letters of Merchants are tyed for speedy conveyance Embassadors are Sacred Persons and are to be sacredly handled The very Feet of them that bring glad tidings of Peace and Mercy are to be washt and anointed with Oyl and counted beautiful There 's a Glory shines upon the Sandals of them who come down from Heaven and we ought to crows the Footsteps of the Messengers of Heavenly Favours with Branches of Olives and the persons sent back to Heaven with grateful Acclamations to the Harps of Joy to hold in consort with the Host of Angels praising the Divine Beneficence CHAP. VI. The Beneficial Improvement of sudden and unexpected Mercies WOnderful Mercies speak
found a Holy Prophet and a glittering Diadem The magnificent Kingdom of Solomon was almost all quite rent from his Son Rehoboam by a few harsh inconsiderate words to his People A Dream hurries Joseph from Canaan to Aegypt and a Dream hands him out of Prison into Pharaoh's Chariot 2 Kin. 7.6 A meer rumour saves Samaria from Famine and a Kingdom from ruine Ezek. 38.10 An evil thought in the Heart of Gog in the later days shall bring the Turkish Armies into the Mountains of Israel and there to a fatal slaughter in the Vally of Harmageddon The motions of Hearts are sometimes infused but always conducted by God Sacred Story derives from Heaven the kindness of Abimelech to Abraham of Laban and Esau to Jacob of Ruth to Naomi of Boaz to Ruth and Jonathan to David When others think of kindness to us Ps 40.17 let 's imitate David 'T is the Lord that thinketh upon me and forms those thoughts within their hearts This should calm our Spirits when a former Friends heart is alienated by rash admissions of false suggestions or when any faithful Jonathan expires his Spirit into the bosom of God It should not be lost what Hobson the late noted Carrier of Cambridge said to a young Student receiving a Letter of the sad tidings of his Uncles decease who maintain'd him at the University and weeping bitterly and reciting the cause of his grief he reply'd Who gave you that Friend Which saying did greatly comfort him and was a sweet support to him afterward in his Ministry The ever-living God is the Portion of a living Faith and he can never want that hath such an Ocean He that turns the Hearts of Kings like Rivers at his pleasure turns all the little Brooks in the World into what scorched and parched ground he pleases The Seed-plots of Mercy are often moistned with soaking showers of affliction before they sprout and appear above the ground Our hopes may be long buried under clods of pressing troubles the Blade nipt and withered by keen Frosts and lye foot deep under Mantles of Snow before the quickning Spring Jacob had the Seed of the Promise in his bosom and carried it to Padan in Mesopotamia and 20 bleak Winters must blow over him before he comes to set one foot upon his Rich Inheritance Joseph's Feet were hurt in Irons to fit him to tread more delicately in the King's Palace at Zoan and when the Lord's time was come Ps 105.18 by the same stairs which winded him into the Dungeon he climbs up into the next Chariot to Pharaoh's Few can bear great and sudden Mercies without pride and wantonness till they are hampered and humbled to carry it moderately Many heads run round in a maze of folly if their haughty stomachs be not well cleansed with the Wormwood-wine of adversity The prints of the Babylonian Iron fitted the Neck of Manasseh to wear a Chain of Gold and the weight of his Fetters prest down his Knees to Prayer Some are forced to stoop like Camels and take up their Loads and trace many a weary trot in a sandy desert and drink their own Tears to slake their thirst lest they should kick when Provender-prick'd with prosperity Such insolent Spirits like Beggers suddenly advanced on horse-back will ride most tyrannically on the backs of others because never made to bite on the Bridle Did not wise providence in great mercy to their Souls by breaking a Leg or an Arm break their Hearts the Earth were not able to bear some proud impotent insulting Rufflers Wise and wary and well-advised persons remember that the Wheel is alway turning and that they who have been low may below again Solomon had seen Servants on Horse-back Eccl. 10.7 and Princes walk on foot upon the Earth Bajazet was a mighty Emperor commanding a great and puissant Army in the morning and shut in an Iron Cage by night And Valerian the Roman Prince that ruled from Euphrates to the Atlantick Ocean was made a Foot-stool for Sapor King of Persia to ascend on Horse-back Matthias Hist Rom. p. 263. Ex Agathiae l. 4. Goth. Eccl. and at last had his Skin flead off and his Body seasoned with Salt and perish'd miserably Let none boast of to morrow for who knows what bloudy Rain may follow upon a red evening It hath been reported that a Learned Doctor of Oxford hung up his Leathern Breeches in his Study for a Memorial to Visitors of his mean Original The truth I avouch not but History tells us of Agathocles who arose from a Potter to be King of Sicily and would be served in no other Plate at his Table but Earthen Ware to mind him of his former drudgery 'T were well if some would remember whose Shoos they have cleaned whose Coals they have carried and whose Money they have borrowed and deal gratefully with their Creditors Fox Martyrol vol. 2. as the good Lord Cromwel did by the Florentine Merchant in the time of Henry the 8th when Woolsy like a Butcher forgot the King his Master 'T was otherwise with Holy David who being in Kingly dignity Ps 78.71 graciously calls to mind his following the Ewes great with young when now feeding the Sheep of Israel His Golden Scepter points at his Wooden Hook and he plays the old Lessons of his Oaten Pipe upon his Algum Harp and spreads his Bethlehem ' Tent within his Marble Palace on Mount Zion There be profound Mysteries of Mercy in the deep of Affliction and golden Oar is often dug from the dark Caves of restraint and great deliverances slide into us upon the streams of Sorrow God sometimes sets our Corn fields on fire to enlighten our path to himself Storms in the Voyage to Tarsus drive Jonah 2 Sam. 14.30 quite back to Nineveh He shuts our Shops that we may open our Souls to him Many break and are undone here that they may be made for ever A crack'd credit heals a Shipwreck'd Conscience Their Coin is melted by a London Fire that the Heart may not trust in uncertain Riches and a melted Heart is more worth than a Kingdom of Bullion Naked Job when scraping his Boils on the Dunghill was clad with the rich Array of Humility and his Ruby Botches glittered with patience and became a more honourable Person than in Purple among the Elders at the Gate of Aezia Earthly Riches take wings and fly up to Heaven to receive a new disposal Pro. 23.5 and Heavenly Riches fly down and make a happy change When poor and sordid Spirits are listed up by a yellow Muckhill Is 4.6 God is pleated to sink their Ships by a southwest wind that they may learn in their old Age to swim naked to the Rock of Ages When Estates flow into mens Chests and their aflections ebb from God if good in the main no wonder if shortly their Ears tingle with a rousing Hurrican and a Moth of envy reproach eat up their credit
away Not unlike a more glorious Instance of our blessed Lord Joh 4.4 who the Spirit of God says must needs go through the Province of Samaria that he might convert the poor old Woman of Sychar or Shechem at the Well of Jacob. How should we admire God who is often pleased to go out of the ordinary way of Providence to bring some into the way of Paradise Meditation must sweeten our thoughts of God by pondering on his Mercy and what special goodness is wrapt up in every divine kindness The circumstances of time and place the methods the means the straits and exigencies the persons and speeches and thoughts of heart are transcendent in contributing to and producing of admirable ends and issues Gen. 22.14 In the Mount will the Lord be seen When the Psalmist's Feet had well nigh slipt Ps 73.2 v. 24. Ps 66.11 12. yet was continually with God and held by the right hand of his Counsel till received to glory He brings us into the Net causeth men to ride over our heads and carries us through fire and water into it wealthy place When the Oil scarce wets the bottom of the Cruse and the Meal spent from the Barrel then comes the Prophet with a Miracle 1 K. 19.6 When Elijah was faint under a Tree at Rithmah then comes the Angel and bakes a Cake for him with Juniper Coals while yet asleep and awakes him to eat it When Moses lay crying in a Cage of Bulrushes upon the River Nile instead of a Crocodile to devour him comes the Daughter of Pharaoh to relieve him and nurse him up for a King nay to pay his own Mother for nursing her own Son We should nourish sweet thoughts of God when afflictions minister sharp to Sense We may be nourish'd by the Meat from the Eater and suck Honey from Flowers that grow on Thorns God hath ordained varieties and successions in all The Night the Storms the Winters and Wilderness of a Saint shall end in a glorious Sun-shine day and an everlasting Somer in Heaven that so in the midst of all anxious perplexing thoughts within us thy Comforts may delight our souls Ps 94.19 It 's a double word or a quadrate-root in the Hebrew and signifies to play or sport with delight and excessive Joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is used by the Prophet Esay to note the exuberant felicity of the Church in the later days when she shall be dandled and danced over and over upon the knees of prosperity and mercy Is 66.12 The aims and ends of God should be eyed in every providence Sennacharib was sent to correct and not destroy his people Is 10.7 howbeit he meant not so but to cut off Nations not a few Stay says the Lord shall the Ax boast against the Hewer and the Saw shake against the Handler Let the Staff know it self to be but wood For yet a very little while and mine indignation against Jerusalem shall cease and mine anger shall end in the destruction of Nineveh and Babylon When men determine they must ask leave of God or else they shall suck the Venome of the Cockatrice Eggs which themselves have laid Like that infamous Pope Baleus in Alexand. 6. p. 485. who was himself poysoned with the same wine he had prepared for his Cardinals Joseph's Brethren meant his ruine Gen. 50.20 but God meant it for good to save much people alive to nourish his Father just 17 years in Egypt the same number that he was nourish'd by his Father in Canaan and to lay the foundation of a People that should be the ruine of Egypts Armies Ps 37.6 7. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him and he shall bring forth thy Righteousness as the light and thy Judgement as the noon day Jam 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and seen the end of the Lord he is very pitiful and of tender mercy Although my house be not so with God 2 Sam. 23.5 says David yet he hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure Let 's finish this Chapter with some Inferences The Anatomy of former Mercies puts an Argument in the mouth of Prayer a Glass to the Eye of Faith and a Harp in the Hand of Thankfulness Whoso knows and considers he is worthy of nothing will be meek and sweetly satisfied with every dispensation of God Zeph. 2.3 Seek the Lord all ye meek of the Earth A meek Spirit is of a praying and thankful frame Holy contentation is the Fruit that grows upon the Tree of Observation of foregoing Providences All former storms have issued in spiritual calms When the Disciples Ship was full of Waves Mat. 8.26 Mark 6.48 Christ comes and treads the boisterous billows into a smooth plain under the Foot of his Command Who can divine what infinite wisdom is doing who knows what errand a flight of Snow or a clap of Thunder or ashower of Rain is sent upon When a Gentleman once riding furiously was stopt by a terrible storm and forced into a Smith's Shop demanding of him for what particular use some of his mechanick Tools might serve He replyes in a chaff He knew not Then says the good man How much less can you tell for what ends the wise God may send this forcible Rain from the Clouds Judg. 5.21 A Lion was once forced into a Pit by Snow and perhaps many a life saved and the valour of Benajah tried and proved 1 Sam. 12.10 Samuel obtained a Victory upon the Philistines by thunder 2 Sam. 23.20 Great Rains from Heaven overflowed the Banks of Kishin and swept away the Canaanites into the Gulf of Destruction Experiences of the presidents in former conducts teach a Saint not to ask riches preferment or health or success or any outward mercy with an impotent and impetuous Spirit but with submission to and consistency with the love and good pleasure of God Say upon thy knees Blessed Lord I beg to have and see and taste thy love in every mercy Nay to discern that every cross is the fruit of fatherly Love and every deliverance sweetned by the straits and pressures which turn the answer of prayer into an experience to fortifie faith If then we are instructed by former escapes to carry our Cross to Golgotha with our Lord and Simon we shall certainly rise from Mount Olivet to a Crown in Heaven CHAP. X. Repentance of Secret and Sudden Sins THE Divine Visitation by secret sudden and unexpected Mercies lays strong Bonds and Obligations upon us to repentance and watchfulness against secret sins They are always in the light of Gods countenance to discern Ps 90.8 and ought to be in the light of our Conscience to prevent David sets a president to hide the word within our Hearts Ps 119.11 to preserve from hidden offences Set up the strict Judicature of Conscience upon heart inquiries to
testifie both thy sincerity and gratitude He that always makes conscience of secret duties and secret sins is a sound and sincere Christian A good conscience is a continual feast and makes a cheerful Christian Pr. 15.15 Pr. 15.13 Pr. 17.22 And a cheerful heart does good like a Medicine and places a man in a Paradice of peace and delight One of the most dreadful roarings in Hell will most probably flow from the neglect of the warning voice of conscience upon earth That 's the Salamander which lives in perpetual Flames and stings like a Scorpion both with head and tayl looking backward upon ill-spent life scorning the rebukes within and forward upon endless and remedyless misery What makes men so fearful here at the noise and alarm of any temporal judgment without but guilt within As Juvenal mourned over the Varlets of Rome in his days Hi sunt qui tripidant ad omnia fulgura pallem Cum tonat examines primo quoque murmure coeli At every flash of lightning they wax pale When distant thunder rumbles villains quail O happy Man that makes peace betimes with that inward Viceroy Sueton. lib. 6. c. 48. Commertar Schild before the thunderbolt overthrows the luxurious Table and strike the Cup out of his Hand as it did to Nero Obey the faithful counsel of Conscience now and he 'll prove a faithful friend at death and judgment Let him be thy present Counsellor and he 'll be thy future Comforter He that 's sound at Coar needs fear no searching Whoso hath judg'd himself already may with peace and comfort expect the judgment to come 1 Cor. 11.31 Upon sincere scrutiny of thine own Spirit thou mayest with some Holy Confidence lift up that gracious Prayer Ps 139.23 Ps 19.12 Lord search and try me and cleanse me from secret sins In the close renew holy covenants purposes and resolutions with God Col. 1.11 and in the might of his glorious power to perform If thou find thy heart thus sincerely ingaged in the Court of Conscience to condemn and arraign thy self to ponder and consider thy ways hence will arise a Fountain of unfeigned repentance under the Threshold of this Tribunal as in Ezekiels Vision hence thou mayest conclude that thy sins are pardoned and a Christian may surely know it by these Signs 1. If after deep Humiliation and serious care of Holiness the Soul find some inward relish and some lively sweetness from the Hope of Pardon 2. If he finds that the Spirit of God infuses some sweet inclinations to lay hold of the Covenant founded in Christ and closes with him on Gospel-foundations that is the meer grace and mercy of God in Christ to lost Sinners coming weary and heavy laden to his Throne That man is in the happiest condition in the whole world The consequence will shine out most illustriously when God shall heal iniquity graciously Ps 103.1 by pouring peace into the Conscience and subdue iniquity victoriously Mic. 7.19 Ps 19.12 that no sin shall have dominion over him Secret tears for secret sins are an excellent sign of an Holy Heart and a Healing Balsam for broken Spirits God well understands the Language of half words interrupted with sighs and interprets them as the Steems and breathings of a broken Heart My groaning says David Ps 38.9 Ps 69.5 Ps 69.6.20 is not hid from thee And as all our foolishness is before him to cover it so is all our heaviness to ease it and therefore shall our Souls praise and please him more than a Bullock with young Horns and Hoofs upon his Altar Bochart de animal vol. 1. col 944. Holy mourning keeps out carnal sorrow and produces spiritual Joy It stirs up the Heart of a Saint to beg preventing grace which no false heart can perform without secret reserves This inward sorrow prevents open shame God will never give up such a soul to be trampled on by spiritual Enemies who are already humbled by themselves In Saints humiliation there 's a door opened for secret hope because of the precious promises that are plighted to it and especially of preventing future Sin by strengthning grace Jam. 4.6 For as the Love of God is the Fountain of all true repentance so 't is the attractive of more incomes of divine Love to the Soul According to our Love so is our Faith and Trust in God and according to our trust such is our freedom at the Throne of Grace Trust in him Ps 62.8 and pour out your hearts before him pour them out like water in joyful tears For when the stone in the heart is melted by mercy the eyes will issue like a fountain of tears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good men have melting Spirits 'T is a branch of the Covenant Ezek. 36.26 and a fruit of the effusion of the Spirit of Grace It 's asserted by the Learned in Chymistry that no Menstruums are so powerful as Sulfureous and Oily Liquors to melt down the hardest Minerals To be sure there 's nothing like the Oil of Mercy so potent a Solvent for an Iron Heart A true Holy Soul takes up his time within and begs the presence and assistance of the Spirit He principally labours at inward corruptions to hack down that cursed thorn and stub it up by the Roots He judges himself for secret iniquities because God being a Spirit has a special eye upon the frame of Spirits Not the issues of the Tongue and vaunting of High Attainments is pleasing in his Sight but the Spiritual issues of a humble Heart God abhors that person who wallows in hearts defilements and much more if he has a Golden Tongue tipt with Hypocritical Eloquence The numbers of heart sins as to their kinds are many as to their acts innumerable Yet an Israelite indeed is continually bending his Bow and shooting forked Arrows into their bowels Such are inward anger pride envy revenge earthiness sloth of Spirit security unthankfulness unpreparings of heart for Holy Communion and the like I might spread forth the odiousness of some of these inward Sins and lay open the sources and springs of many outward enormities which break out into the life but shall surrender that Province to Moral Philosophy or rather the Divine Ethicks of Solomon to cure these inward corruptions and advise all Christians to beware of the first motions and conceptions of the Heart to set a guard against sudden Tentations and to startle at the first occasions to sin A gracious person may be surprized and fall suddenly among Thieves that lurk behind the Bushes Occasions Nay very holy men unless wonderful wary may be quickly tript up by sudden Questions and unexpected Emergencies Who knows the subtilty of sin and the deceitfulness of his own heart Take heed of answering quickly and send up sudden Ejaculations to Heaven before you reply to a weighty and doubtful motion Ps 106.33 Abraham fell twice in the case of Sarah Moses spake
that which I see not teach thou me A gracious Soul not stung in Conscience by former miscarriage when he sails in a Storm calmly ponders that a milder Gale may breath from the South and better days may come He may as suddenly be drawn out of as cast into the pit The ratling Hailstones may be melted by a warmer Sun and a dark thundring night may end in a bright morning to cherish his vital Spirits Junge nigra candidis as Bernard Bernard Epist 78. f. 195. b. Songs 2.12 Set black by white and clouds by clear and winter by spring and remember the singing of Birds will come when bitter and deadly Gourds are in the Pot 2 K. 4.44 Elisha may come with a handful of Meal and cure both taste and danger When bitter afflictions fill a Cup to the brim cast in the fine flower of a Sanctuary offering and pardon will come and mercy will fly down with silver wings and a shining countenance from Heaven and then the ravishing sense of divine love will extinguish all discontents from earthly sorrows Nothing can be very sharp on the back of a Saint when Gods Love sweetens his heart We are as we love if worldly then earthy love and earthly losses break an earthy heart if holy and spiritual then treasures pleasures and affections all suit and center in Heaven And what affliction can make him miserable whose heart 's above it Every Saint does gradually arrive to a Masculine Heroick Angelical Spirit Be patient then Rom. 8.28 and things will work together wonderfully for the good of such as are called according to purpose When we pore upon the down-end of the Cross we are ready to faint as if it could never be pull'd up As the Romans dismayed at an inauspicious Omen when their Eagle Ensign could not be haled for a March But let 's consider the upper end reaches Heaven and the same Hand that fixed it can rear and raise it at pleasure And remember there is an appointed time for every Tryal moneths and days that it cannot pass Though the Waves toss themselves yet cannot prevail Jer. 5.22 they roar yet cannot tumble beyond the Sandy Banks oppos'd by an Omnipotent Arm. Israel came out of Egypt the self same night according to the Promise of 430 years to Abraham Exod. 12.42 Affliction is the Churches Physick and will certainly work cum summa euphoria with great success and ease Earthly Physicians often complain of Ineffectual purges but here stay a while and the Event will issue happily When affliction makes us jealous of sin it begins when sick of sin when hateful to it when holy resolutions rise against it then it works to purpose When we see the depth of Corruption in the Flouds of Affliction Rom. 5.3 't is then sanctified and the Love of God is shed abroad in the Heart Afflictions are known to be sanctified when sin begins to wither Affliction sanctified and is in part mortified The rust is filing off when persons begin to shine in meekness humility and patience and accept correction when discontented fumes are scattered and the Thorns of fretfulness are burnt up Oh how plyable and capable of gracious impressions when the Wax is melted by the fire of trouble Take heed then of being rough and furious again when danger 's over Ask Pharaoh if this be not the fruit of a proud and hard heart Again 1 Tim. 2.8 't is then sanctified when it whets prayer to lift up Holy Hands without wrathful revenge and despondent diffidence when it deadens the Spirit to worldly enjoyments and crucifies the heart to carnal vanities Gal. 6.1 When it renders us compassionate and tender-hearted forgiving and forgetting injuries remembring how ourselves were tempted when it sweetens Heaven and prepares the heart for a holy departure and while here makes us ready for service in every good work knowing that all shall end well with a Saint when every tear shall be turned in an Oriental Pearl to adorn his Crown in Glory Are such great Mercies sown in the furrows of affliction and suddenly wax green even in the winter and under cold blasts of adversity With what submission and expectation of issues should we behave our selves under the hand of a Wise and Holy Father Set Faith to work in its Heavenly Imployment of thirsting for Christ Rev. 21.6 Is 45.22 Joh. 6.35 Joh. 1.12 Songs 8.5 4 Pet. 5.7 Luk. 23.46 Heb 3.14 of looking towards him of coming to him receiving of him leaning upon him a casting the cares of our Souls into his Bosom and commending our spirits into his hands and after all in fainting times cast not away the beginning of your confidence but hope to the end Phil. 1.8 1 Cor. 1.8 1 Thâ—s 5.24 since he will perfect what is begun to the Day of Christ and confirm us to the end From reflection upon Faith if careful of Holiness in due time will rise assurance by beholding our Faces in the Glass of Promise when the Soul has been sometime nourish'd by the sincere Milk of the Word at length it may take off the Cream of Joy and Assurance 1 Joh. 3.19 which lies in perswading the Heart of the Love of God So that a sound Christian may arrive to this Heavenly Pitch by discerning the true Acts of Faith and the lively workings of it in times of troubles by the growth of the fruits of the Spirit in times of Tentation and a vigorous conflict against Sin with success and by the immediate Testimony of the Spirit of God witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 These things have I mentioned as preservatives of the Heart in the Flouds of many Waters and as preparations for sudden mercies which will season the Spirit to bear up valiantly in our present stations and qualifie for emergencies of future Joys For when the Soul sits down quietly under hatches in a present storm and buckles to it with an even frame light arises suddenly shines illustriously and beautifies the Soul with joyful and abiding Deliverance Let 's conclude this Chapter with a Memorable Story of Mr. Leverton's Escapes in his West-India Voyages contracted out of the Manuscript of my good Friend Mr. Ch. Morton which thirsts for light to shew what wonderful methods God sometimes uses in bringing out of deep and amazing distresses This Gentleman putting to Sea from the Isle of Sr. Christopher in a French Frigat commanded by Monsieur de Voe of Rochel after a fortnights sail fell under a dead calm in the vast Atlantick Ocean Victuals being almost spent they stinted each person to 8 Spoonfuls of Pease and one pint of Water in a day till at last they grew black with famine and their Backs and Bellies shrunk together Twice a day he prayed with and fed them with Spiritual Food they hung upon his Lips with greedy attention They had much Manna though no Corn and streams