Soul is athirst for GOD yea even for the living GOD when shall I come to appear before the Presence of GOD Psal 42.1 2. Which pathetic Expressions tho' in their primary Aspect they look to GOD's Presence in the Sanctuary yet they may extend to His Presence in Heaven as well And so they show the vehemently transported Passions of a Soul ravish'd with Comforts from GOD and languishing with eager and importunate Desires of the Body's Dissolution that so she might be carri'd up hence to an everlasting Participation of more of those Comforts And therefore here we must note that none desire Death merely for it self nor can they in reason do it as being destructive to their Nature For the Nature of Man we know consists in the Vital Union of Soul and Body But Death divides these two and very rudely tears them asunder And who can desire such contra-natural Violence should ever befal them for its own sake a Violence that separates those essential Principles whereof they are compounded and so brings with it the present Ruin of their Persons The Law of Self-preservation in the animate World is universal and so must be in force among Rational Beings and can never be rooted out where Humanity grows For us therefore to desire what is fatal to us merely for its self must be nothing less than to put off our own Nature and to be what we are not even while we continue what we are which is perfect nonsense and manifest contradiction and a thing most unpracticable because impossible And then besides there is a farther malignity in Death which makes it that it cannot be desirable for its self For it is not only an enemy to Man as it demolishes his Body and breaks his vital Frame to pieces but also as it contains malediction in it For it is the cursed fruit of Adam's sin and so carries with it the bitterness of a penal severity it being justly inflicted as a punishment of Disobedience But tho' none can desire Death for it self yet we may desire it upon other Accounts particularly upon account of Divine Comforts And here let me add these Desires * Note that what follows is spoken only of eminent Christians and but of some of them neither in some eminent Christians are strangely vehement and importunate They grow so high and they run so strong that they are fain to give vent to them in Solemn Expressions For sometimes they sigh and sometimes they weep and sometimes they are ready to fret and be half discontented and sometimes to repine and be holily impatient that they cannot dye They are fit to cry out and that very often O Death where art thou thus long Why comest thou so slowly Mend thy pace and make more haste that so thine hand which others fear may lead my weary Soul to Heaven They wonder what shift those famous Men made who liv'd so long in the Primitive World and should they be condemned to the Like Abode upon Earth they would think it an hard and most cruel Sentence They rejoice exceedingly upon their own account that the Life of Man is so very much shortned and next to the Mercy of dying at all they reckon it a choice one that they dye so soon And as short as the Thread of Life is now made they grudge it should run out to its utmost Length but are willing rather to have it cut off betimes that so they may be happy in a speedier Dismission Whereas others quarrel with Time for its Swiftness and angrily wish that its Wings were clipt for flying so fast they cry out 't is slow and blame it that it does not mend its Pace For if they must be old before they depart they would be so quickly that they might the sooner be gone They hope for Death every Year they look for it every Month and they long for it every Day If they envy not the Saints that dye young they are hugely pleas'd with their happy Lot and had it been in their choice how very contentedly would they have been of their Number So very desirous are they to dye that they can scarce hear of one desperately Sick but they are ready to grieve that it is not their case So very desirous are they to dye that when they hear of one dead or see him carri'd to his Grave they are ready to cry out O that I had gone in his stead and that he had staid in my Room So very desirous are they to dye that high Distempers do but chear their Spirits and tho' through weakness of Body their countenance may droop yet their Souls even then rejoice and triumph and are vested with Robes of Light and Gladness So very desirous are they to dye that when dangerous Sickness wears off again and fair Possibilities of Life return the Sense of this makes them dumpish and heavy and is matter of Trouble and Affliction to them Now how Divine Comforts may stir up such eager desires of Death is obvious and easy enough to apprehend As for Death it self we have already hinted it is no more desirable to the very best than to any else nor is there any Reason why it should be so Pain and Sickness which usher it in and the Coffin and the Grave which follow after it if considered in themselves are as little pleasing to them as to others But then this is confessedly true on all hands that when we have once tasted what is rarely sweet 't is natural for us to desire more of it and where we are sensible most of it is there we are most desirous to be Now the Comforts of GOD which descend from Heaven being so incomparably sweet and pleasant they inflame us with Desires of removing thither And tho' our Way lies through the Gates of Death yet our burning Desires make us earnest to pass them that so we may exchange these imperfect Measures of delicious Comforts for the Entire Fulness and Immensity of them The little Draughts we drink of them here enrage our Appetites after the Fountain from whence they spring The slender Rivulets which run through us now make us thirst insatiably after that Ocean from whence they flow Those single Rays which strike us at present as through a crevise make us long incessantly to ascend into the clear and open Light and to sit under the Gleams of that Eternal Sun whose consolatory Glories shall irradiate our Souls and delight and satisfy them to everlasting Ages Thus the sweet foretasts of future Satisfactions make us greedy of dying that we may be finally settled in the Possession of them And who can deny this to be a piece of true Blessedness All must dye and most are afraid of Death and many fear it immoderately they therefore that fear it not at all but are lifted up so far above Fears that they earnestly Desire it must needs be reputed signally Blessed and which is more must really be so But then here we
how to reason very wisely argues to the purpose in this matter * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Anton lib. 4. sect 47. That if we make any difference betwixt dying to morrow or dying next day betwixt dying to morrow or a thousand years hence this must proceed from an ungenerous or abject Mind For truly as many as are of a noble Temper and think worthily always ought as he says to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. sect 48. look upon all humane things as but of a day's continuance and that it is but a †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meer Moment or indivisible Point of Time which we have to spend here And perhaps something of the same Passion is visible in Hezekiah's Carriage Who when he received the Sentence of Death from Isaiah's Mouth turned his Face towards the Wall and wept Esay 38.2 3. Which plainly shews that his Mind was cast down and consequently that he was afraid to die For Fear it self according to Theophrastus his Definition of it ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth. Char. cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but a timorous Dejection of Mind And if in the Breasts of such excellent Persons where so much Piety and Goodness dwelt there could be room for the Fear of Death then where Graces and Virtues are lower and weaker there must be higher and stronger Fears of that nature But here again divine Comforts shew themselves to be most blessed things and that very eminently and conspicuously For where these Fears are full-grown as I may say and run up to the highest Pitch that they can reach to in pious Souls holy Comforts are able to expel them Such is their Force that they no sooner enter the religious Heart but they immediately quell all Fears of Death in it or in a great measure exterminate them out of it Nor are they only able to damp the Terrors of Death in us or effectually to abolish or drive them out of us but to turn those Terrors into real Triumphs and Transports of Mind accompani'd with high and heavenly Delights Let none take these for loud Words only or think that they are spoken meerly at random Many righteous Souls departing this Life as subject to Infirmities and Fears as we have sealed them up for certain Truths by very remarkable experimental Testimony For by seasonable Influxes of these mighty Comforts they have not only had their Fears suppress'd or chased from them but their Spirits so ravisht at their dying hour that they have been forc'd to give vent to their rapturous Pleasures and delightful Passions in strange and amazing Exclamations In such exalted and surprizing Strains as have not only sweetly affected but even astonisht all those about them O the Joys the Joys the Joys that I feel said * Mrs. Brettergh See her Life and Death annext to Mr. Leigh's Souls Solace one upon her Death-bed they be wonderful they be wonderful they be wonderful I am as full of comfort as my Heart can hold said †Mr. Bolton See his Life and Death prefixt to his Discourse of the four Last things another and feel nothing in my Soul but CHRIST with whom I heartily desire to be Now farewel World and welcome Heaven the Day-star from on high hath visited my Heart O speak it when I am gone and preach it at my Funeral GOD dealeth familiarly with Man I feel His Mercy I see His MAJESTY whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell GOD He knoweth I see things inutterable O my dear Brethren Sisters and Friends it pitieth me to leave you behind c. So said a * Mr Holland See Mr. Leigh's Souls Sollace c. Third upon sight of a glorious Brightness suddenly appearing to him a little before he died He took it at first for some ordinary Light and asked if any Candles were set up Answer was made no it was the Sun-shine for it was about four a clock in a clear Summer's Evening Sun-shine said he nay it is my Saviours shine c. I know whom I have preached whom I have professed whom I have believed and now I see Heaven open and ready to receive me said a Mr. Hieron See the Relation of his Death before the 2d Vol. of his Works Fourth I shall die But O what unspeakable Glories do I see What Joys beyond Thought or Expression am I sensible of I am assured of GOD's Mercy through JESUS CHRIST Oh how I long to die and to be with my SAVIOUR said a †The Earl of Rochester See the Sermon at his Funeral by Mr. Robert Parsons Fifth And memorable it is of Severinus the Indian Saint that GOD in his last Sickness did so replenish him with holy Consolations that he earnestly besought him either to take him presently out of the World or to stay his divine Joys from descending so freely and exuberantly upon him Lest if he out-liv'd them he should be miserable through the want of them when they were withdrawn and the more miserable for having drunk so deep of their abounding Sweetness Now in the midst of such blessed Comforts what Fear even of Death it self can fasten upon us The Pleasures of them do so powerfully divert our Minds and delight our Souls that we can neither attend to any formidable Objects nor becapable of afflictive Impressions from them They give us such a lively and overcoming sense of GOD's Love to us of His Care of us of His Protection over us and of the strange Felicities He hath provided for us and is putting into our eternal Possession as quite bears down and perfectly swallows up all manner of Dread So that in these circumstances we are not only free from Fear but impossible it is that we should be touched with it while they continue Where Souls swim in such a Deluge of Comforts their Fears must be drowned in the Inundation It is a great Word which the Psalmist speaks and very significant as to our purpose * Psal 37.37 Keep innocency and take heed to the thing that is right or Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright the Original may be rendred either way for the End of that Man is Peace There 's the good Man's Felicity Whatever Troubles or Tumults Disquietments or Uneasinesses Tossings or Terrors he meets with in the Beginning or Progress of his Life yet before it comes to its final Period in all likelihood he is sure of Peace Of Prosperity that is for same time before he goes hence if best for him and of Comfort at the hour of his Departure Thus as David noted it was in his Days and so perhaps we may see it to be in ours if we take but due Care and Pains to observe it With the unrighteous Person it is quite otherwise He lives in frequent Feuds with himself and is seldom at quiet for Frays with his Conscience That checks and twitches and gripes him at every turn If he
displaced let them never be disappointed Absolve me from my sins assure me of Thy Love and fill me with thy Graces which may fit me for Thy Glory Pity my Infirmities pardon my Imperfections Hear my Prayers and grant me my Requests Bless preserve and govern me while I live and when I die take me O GOD and Father to Thy self where Thou knowest I would fain be for ever And all for the sake of my LORD JESUS CHRIST to whom with Thy Self and ever Blessed SPIRIT three most Divine Adorable PERSONS and one infinitely Glorious and most Perfect GOD be all Love and Honour and Obedience World without End Amen Amen Ejaculations to be used on Mourning-Days THE Blessing of the ALMIGHTY rest upon me the Grace and Comfort of the HOLY SPIRIT support and sanctify me and the Mercy of GOD in the Bloud of JESUS save me from the dreadful Wrath to come and Crown me with Glory everlasting Amen LORD pity my Soul and pardon my Sins strengthen my Graces and assure me of Thy Favour let me always please Thee in religious Duties and never offend Thee by any Miscarriages Amen Make me vigilant and circumspect in my Life that so my Death may be safe and blessed and a sweet and happy Passage to Thy Self Amen Gracious GOD I desire to love Thee and nothing but Thee or at least nothing in comparison of Thee My dear GOD in Mercy grant me but this one desire and as for all other deny them as Thou pleasest Amen Cause me O LORD to be tender of thine Honour and zealous for Thy Glory painful in Thy Service and sorrowful for my Sins while I live and when I die translate me I beseech Thee into Thy Kingdom and Presence where I may dwell in Rest and Peace in the Heighth of Joy and the Fulness of divine and heavenly Pleasure for evermore Amen Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Sion build Thou the Walls O blessed LORD of Thy Jerusalem Amen Have Mercy upon all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks and so fetch them home unto Thy Self O GOD as that they may be saved at the last Amen Create in the sinful People of this Land such new and contrite Hearts O LORD as that they may forthwith turn from all their Sins and through thy Mercy obtain forgiveness of the same Amen LORD I cannot live without Thee LORD I cannot die without Thee O Thou who art the GOD of my Life be Thou my GOD and Guide unto Death Amen NOTES NOTE I. Pag. 7. FOR there the Agency is direct without the dull Help or Mediation of Organs and wherever the Soul is toucht immediately she must be mov'd more forcibly And this may probably give much strength to Temptations I mean to Satanical ones or such as the Devil assaults us with For He being a Spirit for that Reason tho' his actings upon us be secret and invisible yet they may be exceeding strong and powerful For spiritual Beings are capable of nearer mutual Unions than material ones Because things corporeal touch but superficially and join only in their outsides whereas Penetrability being a Property of Spirits they can easily pervade or run through one another mingling their very Substances together And thus 't is like the Tempter deals with us He may not only make use of our Blood and our Spirits and the Humors of our Bodies to imprint and fasten his Temptations upon us but moreover may insinuate himself to our very Souls and so by most inward presential Applications strongly incline us to that which is evil Thus we sometimes find by uneasy Experience that our Minds are held close to sinful Objects even against our Wills and when we would fain break loose and turn our Fancies another way they are kept intent even by reluctant Animadversion upon Motives to Naughtiness Now what could thus far force our Minds and keep them fixt in such unvoluntary postures or dispositions but the great Enemy of our Souls And how can we conceive he should do it so well as by his own striking through them by unperceiv'd Penetration For so he may impregnate his pernicious Motions with the fiercest vigour and raise them to the highest degrees of Strength by conveying himself into us together with them Yea some Temptations are so extravagant and unreasonable so base and malicious and so much against Religion and the Christian Temper as those to atheistical and blasphemous Thoughts and the like that methinks they could never break in upon us if Satan himself were not there already to help them to enter nor could they ever continue so long with us nor press so mightily as they do upon our Souls if he were not intimately joined to us to maintain and uphold them in so high a force But then since he can tempt us so powerfully by virtue of his Spirituality which qualifies him for nearest accesses to us and conjunctions with us we should be so wise as to keep our selves always by holy living in GOD's favour and custody that so the utmost of our Adversary's fury and violence may never be able to prevail against us And as evil Spirits may tempt Men as abovesaid by insinuating into them so according to the Number and Malice of those Spirits in any loose Persons will their Temptations and their Sins be And therefore the HOLY GHOST speaking of one whose Mat. 12.45 last State was to be worse than his first gives this account of the sad Cause of that dismal Effect that seven Devils worse than that which actuated him before Were gotten into him And for the like reason Mary Magdalen was so scandalously guilty of carnal impurities even because seven Devils or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unclean Spirits as the Gospel terms them were in her as Tempters to that sort of Lewdness For so many were cast out of her by the SON of GOD S. Mark 16.9 Yet still we must allow that there is some difference betwixt the Persons thus tempted by Devils and those that are down-right possessed of them For in the first Case evil Spirits apply themselves only to our Souls and that with intention and endeavour to stimulate and urge them on to Sin But in the latter Case they seem to settle in the Body and to take up their Residence in that designing some way or other to be injurious to it And the Injuries they do it of this Nature are commonly very visible or apparent and are mostly done one of these ways Either by vitiating its Organs and so hindring its Functions or hurting its Faculties or its Senses Thus we read of one that was dumb by the Devil 's possessing him Mat. 9.32 And of another that was deaf and dumb upon the same account Mar. 9.25 Or by offering ruder Violences to it As casting it into Mar. 9.22 the Fire or casting it into the Water Or tearing it inwardly or Luk. 9.39 bruising it outwardly or Luk. 13.11 putting it into some distorted or disfiguring Posture and keeping it in the
the happiest Circumstance he can possibly be in And being so high in GOD's Favour he must consequently be as mighty with Him in Prayer And that he really was so is evident Ezek. 14.14 where He and Noah and Job are all remarked by the HOLY GHOST for extraordinary Intercessours Yet this powerful Man being to call upon GOD in a matter of very mournful concern when his own Life and the Lives of many others lay at Stake would not trust to the force of his single Invocation but desired his †Dan. 2.17 three Companions to assist that by their joint Importunity tho' in separate Devotions Strength might be added to their sorrowful Supplications Let us conform to this excellent Pattern and ingage as many good Friends as we are able to join with us in holy Mourning If there be any in the World that we are acquainted with or related to who are sincere and faithful Christians or who for Holiness of Life or Zeal in Religion outstrip others let us invite them to be our Partners in this Heavenly Imployment Let us use our own Interest and where we have none the Interest of others to draw them into the Fraternity of Holy Mourners And if that will encourage and induce them to it they may please to Consider that they can never be Members of a more choice Society upon the Face of the Earth What Respect the Great GOD will have to his People in such a Venerable Combination and what Power they again shall have with Him and what Mercies and Favours they shall Receive from Him is not easy to think much less to say even in many Words They that enter upon holy Mourning and carry it on attended with these seven Concomitants do seem to fill up the Solemnity of it according to its just and adequate Measures For to dilate or amplify it farther than thus would be to stretch it beyond the Capacities of a Man For if we look upon a Man in his entire Capacities of an holy Mourner how can he be more concerned than in His Soul His Body His Estate his Time his Enemies and His Friends And all these are plainly ingag'd in the Concomitants forementioned His Soul in Prayer His Body in Tears and Fasting His Estate in Alms His Time in Set Days His Enemies in Forgiveness and His Friends in Select Associates CHAP. V. Two Motives to holy Mourning in General It is a Christian Duty And a Duty most acceptable unto GOD. Its Acceptableness manifested in four Particulars FRom the Nature and Concomitants of Holy Mourning we should now pass to the two Branches of Private Mourning Namely to Mourning for our Own and for Other Mens sins But before we enter upon them it will be necessary to offer General Motives to Holy Mourning in General that is to the several Sorts and Branches of it mention'd in the Close of the first Chapter and to remove those Objections which lie against it tho' it takes a Considerable Part of our Discourse to do it So we being the better prepared for the Work and the Way to it being cleared from the Common Obstacles we shall step into it with more Readiness They that are fit for all Studies in General may the better enter upon any particular ones So being disposed to mourn upon all Accounts we may easily turn the Passion upon our selves or others or upon the Faults of either as we shall think best Whereas if we be not Qualified for Mourning in General we shall never mourn to purpose in the two main particular Cases that is to say either for our Personal or for National Sins Two Motives to such Mourning in General shall fill up this Chapter First Consider Holy Mourning is a Duty incumbent upon Christians And therefore tho' it be not over-pleasing to Flesh and Blood yet we must not neglect it but forthwith undertake it and resolve to go through with it as being indispensably needful That considered we must not shrink from it because it is difficult but rather carry it on with a double diligence because it is necessary And that it is a necessary Duty upon Christians may be gathered from Zech. 12.12 There the Prophet tells us that the Land the whole Land of Judea shall mourn and every Family in it apart and their Wives apart So that Persons of all Sorts and Conditions were to mourn in that Country and withal to be so solemn in it as to act it separately even in most close and distinct Retirements And when was this Remarkable Mourning to be * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that Day as we are there informed in the time of the Messiah For it was to be after He was †Ver. 10. pierced or crucified and when the fountain of his blood was ‖ Chap. 13.1 opened for Sin and for Uncleanness A manifest Proof that this Solemn Mourning was to be practised under the Gospel by the Christians of Palaestine And then why it should not be so by other Christians in all Parts of the World no good Reason can be given To which I need but add that if our dearest LORD did not command it in a way strictly preceptive yet He fairly imposed it in a predictive manner S. Mat. 9.15 JESUS said unto them Can the Children of the Bride-Chamber mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they Fast Where it is observable that our Blessed SAVIOUR seems to make Fasting and Mourning equivalent For when the Querists in the foregoing Verse asked Him about the one He plainly answered them by the other And truly Fasting was so usual or constant a Companion of pious Mourning that 't is commonly joined with it as we find both in the Canonical and Apocryphal Books And withal it was so clear and natural a signification of the same that the Jews never practised it upon their Weekly Sabbaths nor the Ancient Christians upon their LORD's Days because they were Days of Joy And to put on a Sign or Expression of Mourning in Times of Religious Mirth or Festivity would have been very unsuitable and absurd And when Fasting before our LORD's Incarnation was such a Constant Companion of Mourning no Wonder that when He was here in the Flesh He should make them synonymous by putting one for the other as in the forecited Text. But He having done so what He did will bear this Remark When He said then shall they fast it was the same in effect as if He had said then shall they mourn Which being spoken positively not then may they do it as matter of chance or then will they do it as matter of choice but then shall they do it as matter of injunction as well as prediction it amounts to no less than a peremptory Command Unless we suppose that what our REDEEMER spake at that time was meant only to His Proselytes then about Him But that cannot be For in
strangely satisfy us Yet just such is that River that River of Comforts which flows in GOD's House When our Souls drink of it it inebriates them as I may say with holy Joys and fills them with Pleasures and divine Delights like those at GOD's Right Hand for ever Which considered we need not by the way wonder at that strange Passion which raged in King David and transported Him with desire of joining in GOD's Worship when He was in Exile and under unhappy Exclusion from it * ver 2. My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the LORD my Heart and my Flesh cry out for the living GOD. And in another place †Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after Thee O GOD. My Soul thirsteth for GOD for the Living GOD when shall I come and appear before GOD And again ‖ Psal 63.1 2. O GOD my Soul thirsteth for Thee my Flesh longeth after Thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is to see Thy Power and Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Now how came it to be thus with the King of Israel What occasion'd these extraordinary Affections and Emotions of his In all likelihood at present he was banisht And being unfortunately driven out of his Territories his Mind one would think might have been taken up with that sad calamity Or else the busy thoughts of recovering his Crown and Kingdom from which he was forced should have ingross'd it in a manner entirely to themselves Yet we plainly see that it stood quite another way even to GOD's Worship and the Place where it was publicly celebrated The loss of these was that which he lamented and the Reinjoyment of them was that which he desired For these he longed for these he thirsted and that so violently that his very Soul panted and even fainted for them But why so There must be some good Reason for so great Eagerness some mighty Cause of so marvellous an Effect And truly he more than insinuates what it was where he tells us as before was noted that his Soul thirsted to see GOD's Power and Glory as he had seen it in the Sanctuary There 's an Answer to the Query which may well satisfy us without seeking farther The excellent Prince as he was a constant frequenter of GOD's House so he was throughly acquainted with that River of Pleasures which flowed in it He had very often been very sensible of those truly Powerful and Glorious Comforts which there descend upon the Servants of GOD and this made him so passionately and impatiently desirous of joining with them in public Duties Now if such measures of divine Comforts as produced these Effects came down upon the Religious in their public Performances under the Law what Fulness of Comforts must rest upon those in their sacred Offices who are faithful Professors of the Gospel For as betwixt the Legal and Evangelical Dispensations there is as much difference as there is between Moses and CHRIST so between the respective Comforts of each there is as great Difference as there is betwixt the cloudiest and the clearest Day or betwixt the rising and the meridian Sun But then hence it will follow that Christians who exceed the Jews in comforts should excell them as to Duties and the Service of GOD as having more excellent Incouragements to the same And so in Truth they do The matchless Comforts which they there meet with do greatly indear GOD's House and Ordinances They make them forward to them and also pleased with and in them beyond all Measure and Expression When in outward communion with the great GOD they feel themselves affected with inward Consolations with deep Sensations of Divine Pleasure and ineffable Perceptions of ravishing Delights the high Satisfactions they find in His Ordinances do strangely captivate their very Souls and most sweetly enamour them on the same So sweetly and passionately that if all this World and a thousand better were profer'd to draw them from those Ordinances they would be no Temptation in the Least to them to relinquish and desert them They would refuse any thing they would reject every thing and that with holy Rage and scornful Indignation rather than choose to be barred from GOD's Ordinances * In Sancto magna est consolatio in Psal 36.8 where they perceive such an affluence of Comforts For as S. Austin says in the Sanctuary there is great Consolation And this I must add That the plenty of divine Comforts which they there meet with are not only happily felt by themselves but are sometimes plainly seen by others in lively Symptoms or Indications hard to be conceal'd Thus I have observ'd of zealous Christians that after their Converse with GOD in Duty particularly at His own Mysterious Table a more than ordinary lightsom pleasant Air hath appeared in their Faces Their hidden Joys have shined in their Countenances and that they abounded with inward Consolations was outwardly manifest in their sprightly Visages I could discern methoughts that they had received JESUS by the serious graceful Gayness of their Aspects and the Spirits have danc'd so chearfully in their Eyes as if their heavenly LORD taken into their Hearts had looked out at those sparkling Windows Now where such mighty Comforts as these fall in with holy Duties Private and Public they must strangely invigorate the Performers of them and bring in such Accessions of Heavenly Strength as will effectually conduce to their Settlement in Religion And they that are fixt in true Religion may well pass for blessed here on Earth So they were accounted and ever esteemed by the best of Men and so they must be according to the Word of the infallible GOD. For the HOLY GHOST speaking of such a one in the first Psalm describes him thus His delight is in the Law of the LORD and in His Law doth he meditate Day and Night He is so well grounded and confirmed in Religion that he is always studying the Law of Heaven in order to the conscionable Keeping of it That is his Temper but what 's His Condition No less than Blessed as the first Word of that Psalm informs us Nor is He there called Blessed only but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessednesses As if He were Blessedness it self in the very abstract an Heap or aggregate Body of Beatitudes The least that can be meant is that he is Blessed in all respects or Capacities In his Soul in his Body in his Duties in his Estate c. But then remember we must that this Blessedness proceeds from Confirmation in Religion and that Confirmation flows from Spiritual Comforts and that those Comforts come in by Holy Mourning And so it is necessary as necessary for us to Mourn piously as it is for us to take the readiest Course to be thus Blessed that Exercise being a grand Instrument of this Beatitude CHAP. X. A Sixth Motive to Mourning in General
flourishes in the World Guilt within dulls his Happiness and makes it insipid yea imbitters the same and makes it unsavoury And in case he declines or falls under Misfortunes the same Guilt aggravates and inrages his Miseries It adds extreamly to the weight of his Calamities and sets so terrible an Edge upon them as makes them to cut more deeply and direfully And as the Guilt which Impious Men have contracted tortures them thus wofully while they live so it racks them a thousand ten thousand times worse when they come to die if they be not senseless of their sad condition Then quick Apprehensions of the Justice of GOD and of their own unworthiness break in upon them And being once entred they startle their Minds and they awaken their Souls that before perhaps slept securely in sin and dreamt of nothing but Ease and Pleasure And the same Apprehensions that rowze them out of their wretched Security help them to form right Notions of Death They tell them plainly and they tell them truly what it must be to their unprepared Spirits Namely a Messenger of Wrath and an Instrument of Vengeance and a sad Consignation to endless Torments A terrible Breach which the divine Anger makes upon them whereat Condemnation and their Ruine enter When GOD summons them from hence out of the Body they can think no other than that 't is to send them directly to Hell and to confine them for ever to the Regions of Darkness and the Prisons of Sorrow and the cursed Habitations of rebellious Sinners And when once they are convinc'd that their Passage hence is a Descent to everlasting Plagues and Miseries how must they fear and what Horrors will seize them when they feel it approaching As the * De Serres Historian relates concerning Lewis the Eleventh of France when he drew on a pace to his Dissolution he strictly charged all about him that they should not so much as mention that cruel Word Death to him And no wonder that from the aforesaid conviction such excessive Fear should arise to such as die impenitent For when Men perceive that they are sinking down into the bottomless Depths of eternal Sufferings how can they chuse but be lamentably overwhelmed with raging Horrors Nor does the amazing Prospect of this dismal Calamity overset Men with Fears only at their last Hour but hurries them on to other Expressions of their Astonishing Troubles For when they feel they must die and that Death will convey them to interminable Punishments then poor Souls they sigh and lament Then they ring their Hands and they tear their Hair and they curse the Day that ever they were born to be so unhappy Then they sigh when they are awake and they start in their sleep and are continually frighted with such inward Terrors that they would gladly run away even from themselves if so be they did know but how and whither Then they call for Ease but they cannot have it they seek for Rest but they cannot find it and therefore bursting out into doleful Tears in the heighth of bitter but fruitless Passion to those about them they make either this or the like heavy complaint Now we are undone O wretched Creatures we are lost for ever We might have been saved if we would and we verily thought we should have been so but alas we find that we were greatly deceived For our Hopes are now gone and our Confidence is quite sunk we are leaving the World and GOD hath left us and who can relieve whom He rejects Once we were offered Peace and Love and might have had them both upon easy Terms But those blessed Tenders are now over and the Hand that kindly reach'd them towards us is armed with Rage and stretcht out with fierce Indignation against us Oh the precious Hours that we imbezilled the sweet Opportunities that we neglected the gracious Invitations that we refused the holy Motions that we resisted the heavenly Glories that we despised Foolish rash and senseless Creatures that we were to do it O that we might but repeat our Lives that we might injoy these Mercies but once again But here 's the thing that breaks our Hearts we know that this shall never be Our Time is spent and Grace is past the LORD is just and we must perish Such are the Wailings of hopless Sinners and in such mournful Strains as these they sometimes relate their Death-bed Miseries And let none blame them as if they were too querulous at such a time they have cause enough for the Complaints they make Yea when in bitterest Words and loudest Out-cries they express their Grief they rate the Accents of it too low their Sorrow is bigger than their Lamentation Grant O GOD of Mercies we beseech thee that we may never fall under the one and never have occasion to take up the other Of all the sad Spectacles in the whole World I think none more lamentable than to see a wicked Man upon his Death-Bed To see how the nearer he draws to dying the more afraid still he is to do it because he is unfit With what terrible Anguish must this Fear of his needs sting his Soul and how intolerable must that Anguish be because it is incurable Yea the truth is in reference to the ungodly Death is armed with a double sting before it comes it strikes them with the Sting of woful Horror when past with that of cursed Misery Death to them is but an Inlet into Hell that Kingdom of Misery where Sorrow reigns without Measure or End And as they that are in this miserable state cannot but languish in grievous Tortures so they that feel themselves hasting to it cannot but lie under as grievous Fears But now when the righteous go from hence they do it in far more easy circumstances because they do it in a better condition They profess themselves strangers here upon Earth and they seek a City that hath Foundations in Heaven And as they have wisely laid up their Treasure there so their Hearts are with it already which makes them very willing to follow When their Turns come they never repine or quarrel at their Destiny nor lament the case of their dislodging Souls but lie down contentedly at the Feet of Providence and are really pleas'd that they have leave to be gone And one good Help to make them so is the Sweetness of their Passage Their uprightness according to the Royal Psalmist brings them Peace at the last And that Peace keeps all those Thorns out of their Death-bed Pillows or else plucks them thence which prick and gall ungodly Wretches and make their Heads to lie uneasy And when that is done instead of these Thorns it wreaths Olive Branches about their Temples fills them with Tranquillity and holy Quietness And then though Death comes never so suddenly and though when it comes it strikes never so furiously its fiercest Blow cannot make them unhappy They can bear it composedly and without Fear
because they can do it comfortably and without Danger It was a noble piece of courage which David put on and a gallant Resolution worthy of himself which he bravely took up Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil But whence did it spring or what was the Basis upon which it stood Not his Puissance though he was a mighty Prince not his Magnanimity though he was an Heroe of a great Mind but Divine Comforts They were the blessed and generous Stock which bare this excellent and desirable Fruit. So the following words inform us for Thou art with me Thy Rod and thy Staff they shall comfort me Whence it is plain that GOD's Presence and his supporting Consolations were the Grounds of the good Man's confidence and courage And truly as many as are happy in those though they be in the valley of the Shadow of Death must needs be above all fear of dying For for such to dye is but to step out of one Heaven into another and can the fearfullest in the World be afraid to do that Whenever we draw near to the Gates of Death if GOD be but with us if the Rod of His Power does but protect us and the Staff of His Comforts does but sustain us we are as sure to be free from distracting Terrors as they that are destitute of those Encouragements and unworthy of them are sure to be full of them at such a Time if they be themselves and think what they are about to Suffer And let none surmise as some perhaps may be ready to do that divine Comforts those Cordials from Heaven may be too weak or languid things to support them under their Death-bed Terrors For be their Illness never so great and be their Miseries never so many and be their Pains and Agonies never so strong and never so wearisome Yea be their Condition as sad and deplorable as violent Sickness or approaching Death are able to make it and so their Fear as high as dying Circumstances can possibly raise it yet if GOD will but please to be merciful to them if He will but graciously condescend to visit them if He will but look down and smile upon them or as we read in the * Chap. 1. 2. 2. 6. Canticles fall upon their Necks and Kiss and Embrace them all their fears will leave them in a Moment And no wonder that the Comforts which issue from the Face and Favour of GOD should immediately chase away the Fears of Death when they would do no less by the Pains of Hell were they shed down upon the blackest Spirit that suffers the worst or extreamest of them But alas his ruful unfitness for them and incapacity of receiving them will for ever bar and hinder the Experiment Nor will holy Comforts only expell good Peoples Fears of Death and turn them into noble courage against it but they often improve their Courage into pious Desires of it This is discoverable from several Texts of Scripture So we find Rev. 22.17 that the SPIRIT and the Bride say Come The true Church of GOD being influenc'd by His SPIRIT for in the words there is an Hendiadis one thing express'd by two does beg CHRIST's Second Coming His coming to Judgment And they who desire that Advent of His must also implicitly desire to Dye because whenever it comes if they be alive it brings upon them a Change equivalent to Death And S. Peter tells the Christians of his time that they should not only be looking for but hasting unto the coming of the Day of GOD 2 Pet. 3.12 or rather †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hasting or speeding the coming of that Day But one chief way of accelerating or hastening it is by desiring it or praying for it So S. Paul speaking of others as well as of himself professes We are willing to be absent from the Body 2 Cor. 5.8 And how willing were they to it That He tells us at the 2d Verse For in this in this Body we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven While the best Souls dwell here their Habitation is mean no better than an * V. 1. earthly House And most fitly it is so denominated as rising from the Earth and as returning to the Earth and as remaining upon the Earth while it continues undissolved In which respect it is said by the Apostle to be not only a bare ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earthly house but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an house upon the Earth And as Christians are willing to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go far out of the Body their earthly house so they are so willing we see that they are desirous of it and so desirous of it that they groan and groan earnestly for it For when they groan earnestly to be cloathed upon with their House which is from Heaven as immortal Glory is here expressed they can do no less than groan as earnestly at the same time to go out of their Earthly House that is to dye Even in the Old Testament we have Intimations of such Desires as these in the eminently Religious All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my Change comes said the good Man Job 14.14 And he that expected the great Change * That Job speaks of his change from life to death and not from death to the resurrection as some think his very Expression shows For he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will wait or hope or expect which sounds but harshly if said of one in his grave And when or how long would he wait all the days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of my warfare But could he fight when he was dead And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the change he mentions according to the Targum cannot be a change from death because that renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the changes of my life the last of which all know is death And therefore Rabbi Levi expresses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my excision or my divorce that is from the body And Aben Esra speaks it out more plainly yet by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my death And so that must be the change which Job means of Death and expected everlasting Happiness by it as Job questionless did must needs wait for it with Desire as well as with Patience Whom have I in Heaven but Thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides Thee said Asaph Psal 73.25 And when he desired GOD so much he could not chuse but desire to dye that he might come to the full and most comfortable Enjoyment of Him Especially when he apprehended him to be the Strength of his failing Flesh and Heart and his Portion for ever as it appears he did in the following Verse Like as the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so longeth my Soul after Thee O GOD. My
must call to mind that as this Blessedness also is the Offspring of Comforts so are they of Mourning And therefore as we would be blest in such Comforts as shall free us from extravagant Fears when we dye or as shall turn our Fears into Desires of Death we must live holy Mourners CHAP. XIV The Tenth Motive to Mourning in General being the Seventh Branch of that Blessedness which springs from the Comforts annexed to Mourning They sweeten our Life by conducing to our Health and by bettering the Temper of our Minds as well as the Habit of our Bodies THat holy Comforts are blessedly useful and beneficial to our Souls what hath been said on the foregoing Heads does sufficiently prove But then they have a benign and blessed Influence on our Bodies too Nor is it at all strange that those Comforts which are no other than the sweetness of Heaven in our Spirits should sweetly affect the bodily Part of our Beings For while the Spirit and the Flesh continue in this state of vital Union as what is agreeable to the Flesh or Body is frequently pleasing to the Soul or Spirit so on the contrary what is highly delightful to the Spirit will often be recreative to the corporeal fleshly Part of us A most excellent Man who knew this in himself hath transmitted his happy Experience to us in the infallible Book * Psal 84.2 My heart and my Flesh says he rejoice in the Living GOD. Where by the Heart cannot be meant that musculous piece of Flesh in the middle Region of the Body properly so called for then the Expression would have been tautological and might as well have run thus My Flesh and my Flesh rejoyce in the living GOD. But by it we are to understand the Mind or the Soul which is the Source of Understanding and of all Sense and the Spring of all Thoughts Desires and Actions But then this informs us that when Joy or Comfort descends upon the Soul it snatches the Body into Sympathy with it For here it is said of the Heart and the Flesh at once * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have rejoyced or they have broken out into †To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usurpatur etiam de dolore sed praecipuè de gaudio cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ☊ conjunctum ut hic significat ovationem c. Pol. Synop. Jubilations or Ovations in which excessive Joys do commonly shew and naturally spend themselves Not that divine Joy affects the Body no farther than just the visible Gesture or the audible Voice in which it sometimes runs out or discharges it self for the Body hath its share as well in the sweet Passion as in those Expressions of it As it is said of the Soul and Body both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Septuagint well renders the Hebrew they have exulted tho' the Soul in strictness cannot leap for joy but must leave that chiefly for the Body to do so the Body cannot strictly rejoyce neither but must leave that principally to the Soul Yet as when the Body leaps for joy the Soul must have a Perception of that Exultancy so when the Soul rejoyces for Comfort the Body hath some sense shall I say or shares in the effects of that heavenly Gladness The holy Psalmist cries out Psal 63.1 My Soul thirsteth for Thee ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Flesh longeth for Thee Whence it is plain that when the good Soul is carri'd with passionate and thirsting Desires after GOD her very Flesh at the same time pines and languishes through their Eagerness and Ardency as if that were capable of divine Longings too So when the Soul is ravisht with transporting Joys the fleshly Body it wears rejoyceth with her according to its measures It is affected I mean with the Blessed Passion Which rising at first from a spiritual Motion begun in the Soul does yet terminate in the Body which is the Instrument of Passions and by causing grateful Motions there which return upon the Soul in way of Sensation she is thereby pleased with reflected Delights Now when holy Comforts that descend upon the Soul do thus influence the Body its partaking of them may be a means to keep it in a regular state and to sweeten Life by preserving of Health The Scripture seems to insinuate as much Psal 118.15 The voice of Joy and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnimodam salutem significat tam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Health is in the dwellings of the Righteous Where by Joy a great †Interiora gaudia August Man understands the inward Joys of righteous Livers And as they have cause to lift up their Voice in praising GOD for those Joys so many times they have cause to do it likewise for that Health which is the Fruit or Product of them For the HOLY GHOST may not only signify here that the Righteous have more Joy and Health than others to praise GOD for but also that their Health may be derived from their Joy And in the Third of the Proverbs Solomon suggests something like this For there he tells us that Wisdom or true Religion ‖ Ver. 18. is a tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her That is it is like * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tree of Lives which GOD planted in the midst of Paradise And that we know was to keep Man from Sickness as well as from Death and so not only to prolong his Life but to preserve his Health And as we find in the same Chapter also to fear the LORD and depart from evil which is Wisdom or Religion in other Terms * Ver. 8. shall be Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones A good Evidence that where-ever true Religion dwells in Men in the due Course or just Order of things it will have Health for its Inmate Unless GOD for great Reasons best known to Himself shall please to order it otherwise But then we must enquire whence is this Or how comes it to be thus Why should Religion in the Soul conduce to Healthfulness in the Body The making out this is the Scope of that Point which we are upon and Solomon hath done it to our hand I mean where he declares that the ways of Wisdom are ways of Pleasantness and that all her paths are Peace Prov. 3.17 That virtuous Livers by being virtuous have great Advantages of Health on their side beyond others who are loose and vitious in the World cannot be denied For their Piety and Purity their Self-denial and Sobriety their meek or dispassionate Temper and the Like besides that they entitle them to the Blessing of Heaven do effectually secure them from those Disorders of Mind and Distempers of Body which the contrary Evils naturally breed in them or bring upon them And then they as certainly prevent those dreadful Visitations which as often come down judicially from above and are
the sad Revenges of divine Justice upon the Dissolute and Licentious as they are natural Effects of their being so And farther as the wisest of Men we see hath told us they that walk on in the ways of Wisdom that are regular and persevering in the several Duties and progressive in the noble Perfections of Religion shall not fail to meet with Pleasantness and Peace With such Peace and Pleasantness as come from GOD and fill the Soul with inexplicable Comforts And these Comforts as little as some think it may be good and great Instruments of Health unto us As where the Body is well and strong they help to confirm it in that State so where it happens to be weak and low they raise and mend its Constitution They put a spring of new Life as it were into the Soul which excites most pleasing Motions in the Body even such as serve to inliven and invigorate it For as raking Grief does not only fret and imbitter the Mind but withal casts a sad Damp upon the Body and deadens the liveliness of those inward Motions on which its Health depends and by which it is conserved so heavenly Comforts where they are often and liberally imparted do ordinarily produce the contrary Effects They quicken the Spirits where they move too slowly and help the Bloud to circulate more freely and nimbly where 't is subject to Stagnancy and by taking off the sharpness and sowreness of them they insensibly sweeten and rectify both By peculiar Motions which they put them into they alter the Figures of their disordered Particles and so better the Mass or Substance of them with more Ease and Efficacy than the best Physic can possibly do And the Bloud and Spirits being thus corrected and the Ferments of the Body made light and soft and smooth and unctuous the Wheels of Nature will by this means be freed from cumbersome Cloggs and Entanglements within and in case no Violence happens from without may run on a great way in a regular Course And thus not only Life is prolonged as Length of Days is in Wisdom's right Hand Prov. 3.16 but that Life is made more happy because the Person injoying it is made more healthful And therefore we are taught by an incomparable Writer that the Fear of the LORD which maketh Peace or produceth Comforts where it dwells does thereby make perfect health to flourish Ecclus. 1.18 Nor can it seem strange that holy Comforts should thus conduce to Health if we do but remember what wonderful Effects they have had upon Martyrs turning their dying Pangs into rapturous Pleasures as was * Chap. 11. But then the Martyrs Comforts are there said more than once to be extraordinary ones and so much above those we here speak of noted above And another Instance may abate the strangeness of the thing As 't is commonly said Witches are †Note VI. suckt by their Familiars And to this end as we may reasonably suppose that thereby they might taint and disorder their Bodies And when Distemper of Body proceeds from the influence of wicked Spirits well may Healthfulness be an Effect of the Comforts of the HOLY GHOST And divine Comforts being such Preservatives and Restoratives of Health upon this Account they must be Blessed Things Health being necessary to our present Happiness For as he that would be wise must first put off Folly and as he that would be virtuous must first throw off Vice so they that would be Happy must first be Healthful Else in spite of all Rules and Principles of Stoicism a sickly Body will disquiet the Soul and a pained Body will disturb the Mind and Trouble and Unquietness in the Soul and Mind will soon convince all Persons concern'd that if they would build up Felicity to themselves they must lay its Foundation in Ease and Indolence However * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Diog. Laer. in Anaxar pounce the Sack of Anaxarchus for Anaxarchus thou dost not strike were big words in that Abderite's Mouth when cruel Nicocreon was braying him in a Mortar and might express a stout and resolute Humour yet they were as far from rendring the Sufferer happy as the Thumpings he endured were from rendring him easy Nor do heavenly Comforts conduce more to mending the Habit of our Bodies than they do to bettering the Temper of our Minds For as Pleasures that are sensual and impure do sink and soften and emasculate the Spirit as they fill it with pensive Solicitude and fretful Anxiety to find that it is fallen below it self and inslav'd to things unworthy of its Dignity so where it is ravisht with the Comforts of Heaven and nobly transported with frequent Returns or Iterations of them it will rise by Degrees into a very delicate and desirable Frame So that if before we were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tart and waspish and peevish and passionate these in time will work a thorow and an excellent Change in us They will cool our Heat and quench our Fury and rebate the sharpness and fierceness of our Disposition and polish the Ruggedness and Unevenness of our Minds and take off the Bitterness and Sowreness of our Nature and so make us not only to be easy in our selves but obliging to others And to have our Passions thus curbed and tamed in us and all Harshness and Roughness thus taken out of us and to become moderate and well composed in our selves and meek and mild and pleasing unto all must needs be a great Improvement of our Temper And as this Improvement sweetens our Life which how it should do it the meanest Capacities can apprehend it must add considerably to our Blessedness upon Earth But then as we would live sweetly in this present World as we would have our Souls blessed with Health of Body and good Temper of Mind let us heartily take up Religious Mourning from which will result those holy Comforts that are productive of the same CHAP. XV. The Eleventh Motive to Mourning in General being the Eighth Branch of that Blessedness which springs up from the Comfort annexed to Mourning They supply us with noblest Delights in this Life when those that are less generous fail and forsake us Which they do by acquainting us farther with GOD and by inflaming us with Love to the LORD JESUS CHRIST IN our declining Years as our Strength decays so other natural Abilities and Perfections which depend upon it flag and decay with it Particularly our Faculties grow dull and our Appetites grow down our Pleasures wear off and by degrees wear out and the sinking Body so depresses the Soul that Men dye to most of their corporal Satisfactions even while they live But here the Force of holy Comforts again is blessedly felt this being a chief Juncture wherein they exert it For when in these our Declensions they dwell plentifully with us they are an inexhaustible Spring of rich and high Complacencies They do not only fill us with great Thoughts and
the Communication of His blessed Body and Blood by consecrated Elements to worthy Partakers of His holy Table Which tho' they be great and infallible Truths are dark and enigmatical and full of divine and venerable Abstruseness There are REVELATIONS wonderful for Sublimity and Nobleness As those of the Creation of the World of the Fall of the Angels of the Sin and Redemption of Man of the Immortality of the Soul of the Resurrection of the Body and of the general and eternal Judgment There are PROMISES wonderful for Truth and Preciousness As of GOD's hearing our Prayers His pitying our Infirmities His assisting us in Duties His accepting our Performances His pardoning our Miscarriages His purifying our Souls His speaking peace to our Consciences His supplying us with Blessings His adorning us with Virtues and Graces in this Life and His crowning us with everlasting and glorious Recompences in the next These amongst others are wonderful Things which are contained in the sacred Books And when we rightly apprehend them and ruminate upon them or upon any of them they will not fail to lift up our Religious Minds into refreshing Joys especially if the Light of the divine Countenance be display'd upon us at the same Time Then both the Heavenly Instruments of Comfort being at once set a Work they cannot but produce it at a mighty Rate The Fourth Mark of true Comforts is they are productive of pious Effects That they should have no Effects being powerful things would be very strange and that they should have any but good ones must be as impossible considering how excellent they are in themselves and from whence they come Their Nature and Origin proclaim them Operative and all the effects which they work in us are absolutely pious or tending to Godliness Amongst many we are sure to find these that follow Hatred of Sin and Love to Righteousness Gentleness of Spirit and Tenderness of Conscience Fear to offend GOD and Forwardness to please Him Purity of Mind and Integrity of Life Disgust of earthly things and Desire of Heavenly ones Weariness of the World and Willingness to go out of it Wherever therefore Comforts have such Effects and Symptoms they have Evidence on their side to prove that they are right But where they find men bad in case they continue so or if instead of growing better they become worse under them we may cease all Enquiry concerning their truth because there 's enough to evince they are false And as one Specific inseparable Effect of genuine Comforts I might here mention their peculiar sweetness For tho' all Comforts carry sweetness with them where they go yet the Sweetness of the true may as well be distinguisht from that of the false as the Light of the Sun from the Light of a Torch The one is exceedingly finer than the other and also as superior to it in Strength And therefore David does not only own that the Light of GOD's Countenance put Gladness in his Heart Psal 4.7 which signifies it was no flashy frothy sort of Comfort as dwelling in the Heart but he farther declares that it put more Gladness in His Heart than the Increase of Corn and Wine could do That is it produced in him an higher kind of Joy than the greatest abundance of the usefullest Blessings of this Life could possibly infuse Which does more than intimate that a particular and extraordinary Sweetness is contain'd in the true spiritual Comforts And where-ever this Sweetness comes in its Strength it claps a seal upon the Conscience as I may say warranting it to be right and by its fulness and force bears down the Soul into a fiducial belief that the Comforts which imprint it come down from Heaven But having made Sweetness the first beatifying Property of true Comforts to say more concerning it here would be superfluous Only this would be noted that when the Religious are importunate in seeking and supplicating for the Light of GOD's Countenance as we may observe they are in Scripture they have greatest Reason to be so and I heartily wish that all Men were so for it is not only an Instrument but the chiefest Instrument of raising divine Comforts in the Soul The Last Mark of true Comforts is their coming upon us when we are in a good state in a state of Regeneracy or Righteousness The truth is * Mat. 15.26 27. they are the Childrens Bread and therefore shall not be given to Dogs or impious Livers They indeed eat of the Crumbs that fall from their Masters Table They share largely in temporal Blessings and in the common Use or external Injoyment of many Spiritual ones But as for true Comforts they belong not to them nor shall they partake of them They may have Comforts that are like the true but the real Consolations of the SPIRIT fall not to their Lot For as an excellent Man said †Fiat justitia habebis pacem August divine Peace is an Appendix of Righteousness But they that travel in the Rode of Sin are out of the way of true Comfort Hence we may judge of the Quality of our Comforts and be able to determine whether they are such as they ought to be How is it with our Souls that 's the Question to be askt here Are we in a righteous or regenerate condition Have we mortifi'd our Lusts and subdu'd our Corruptions Have we repented of our Sins and fully renounc'd them and finally relinquisht them Do we honour and love GOD and are we resolv'd to do so with our whole Hearts and through our whole Lives And to come home to the point is our Love to GOD express'd in obeying Him and is our Obedience faithful and undissembled Then we may conclude that our Comforts are true But instead of loving GOD if we disregard Him instead of serving Him if we disobey Him and do it constantly or do it frequently in any known instance in all likelihood our Comforts must be false By this last Mark the truth of our Comforts may as well be tri'd as by any of the rest Tho' our safest way will not be to trust to one singly except the last lest we should be deceived King Herod as we observed heard John the Baptist gladly and the People compared to the stony Ground receiv'd the Seed of the Word with Joy And so according to the first Mark Both when their Comforts came upon them were well imployed And according to the second Mark their Comforts flow'd from divine Objects But for all that they were still but counterfeit The best and only way to be assured they are genuine is to find all these Marks upon them at once And by those Four which are here laid down it will be easy to discern True Comforts from False We are next to consider whence these false Comforts spring And they issue from several Fountains First From Nature Secondly From the Evil Spirit Thirdly From Enthusiasm Fourthly From wrong Notions in Divinity Fifthly From Texts
of Scripture mistaken and misapplied First False Comforts are sometimes Effects of Nature Where the Spirits are good and the Bloud is sweet and the Ferments of the Body regular and even besides Health and Indolency we there find a constant readiness in Men or a standing Disposition to Lightsomness and Jollity So that if they of this Constitution who dwell as it were upon the Brinks of Joy be at any time carri'd by Just occasions but a little farther they forthwith step into the pleasing Passion it self And how they should come to be advanced to it and also raised to an high Pitch in it even by a natural complexional Efficiency is easy to apprehend Melancholy in conjunction with a sanguine Temper is able to do it For by mingling its brisk acrimonious Flatulency with a sweetish heavyish kind of Bloud it strikes upon the Nerves with such grateful Touches as cause delightful Titillations in the Body and so affect the Soul with much joy and pleasure Nor need we wonder that such joyous Comforts or Delights should result from meer nature or our bodily Temper if we do but consider how other things are very productive of the like Effects Wine for instance hath a power in it to chear our Spirits or as it is expressed in holy Stile * Psal 104.15 to make glad the Heart of Man Insomuch that Josephus says of it †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiq. li. 11. cap. 4. it even transports and regenerates Souls It puts a kind of new life into them by mending or raising the Temper of their Bodies and rendring them more healthful and vegete I speak of the moderate and sober use of it it being most baneful both to Soul and Body wherever it is taken in excess So Mela informs us that the Thracians who had no Wine suppli'd the want of it at their Feasts by a certain Seed And of such a Quality was that Seed that the Smoak of it caused Intoxication and Mirth Which things considered how Melancholy should cause high Joys within us will not be difficult to conceive For it is but allowing hypocondriacal Humors to have Affinity with Wine or its Vapours to have cognation with the Fumes of the Thracian Seed and the work is done And that Nature which out-does the most exquisite Chymists should refine Melancholy to such a Degree and sublimate or exalt it to such an Height as to make it so capable of the forementioned Operations as to fill us with joyous and triumphant Delights cannot be surprizing to the intelligent For they know very well that where Melancholy is predominant and duly heated and invigorated by a sanguine Temper or Constitution very strong Joys and even rapturous Delights will result from it So * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle expressly affirms that it produces Extasies and Joys of Mind and that too as he adds †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probl. sect 30. with singing And when Men may so overflow with Joys as that their Joys shall rise up into Raptures and their Raptures run out and spend themselves in singing must not the Gratifications they feel within be exceeding high Yet these are Fruits that may grow upon the bare stock of Nature and so may have nothing at all of the Good SPIRIT in them or of His true Consolations Secondly Inward Comforts False ones I mean may be Effects of a worse Cause than this they may be derived from Satan himself As GOD sheds abroad true Joys and heavenly Consolations into the Hearts of His Servants to encourage and strengthen them in the Works of Religion so the Devil who loves to ape the ALMIGHTY where he can does sometimes cast false Joys and delusive Comforts into the Hearts of his Vassals to animate and imbolden them in the Ways of unrighteousness For should they always walk on in Dulness and Darkness this might so startle them as to make them seriously bethink themselves It might so alarm and terrify them as at some time or other to fright them out of their vitious into virtuous Courses Now and then therefore he tantalizes them with some feeble Glimmerings of false Light and Comfort He darts some glaring Joys into their Souls to make them well opinion'd of themselves And perswading them by this means that their Condition is good tho' it be quite otherwise he so prevails with them to persist in Sin till at length they fall into irrecoverable Ruine Nor is it hard to conceive how the Evil Spirit should kindle this Fire of false Joys in our Breasts and warm us as it were with Comforts which flash from Hell For since an agreeable mixture of Melancholy with our Bloud can raise us as we have heard to an Elevation of rapturous Delights the Devil who hath power to actuate the Humors and Vapours in our Bodies especially if we be his Servants by his dexterous agitation of those Vapours and Humors inforcing them beyond their natural strength he may easily transport us with ravishing Satisfactions And thus the strange Delights which some Men feel and which they reckon to be divine Influences from above and blessed Productions of the HOLY GHOST are but natural Effects or Satanical Injections and so rather hellish Infusions than Inspirations from Heaven Thirdly False Comforts may proceed from Enthusiasm For where that prevails Imagination is strong Insomuch that the Mind which should always be under the government of free Reason is wholly sway'd by this lower Faculty And where Fancy rules it easily over-powers and bears down the Soul into a firm Belief of the Truth of what she vigorously apprehends be her Apprehensions never so enormous and extravagant Hence it hath come to pass that one Fanciful Enthusiast has conceited himself to be a Prophet or an Angel another has thought himself to be the true Messiah or the great Judge of the World another has boasted himself to be GOD the FATHER or the HOLY GHOST Now when the Strength of Fancy or Force of Imagination thus carries away the Mind into a credulous Assent to such wretched Mis-conceits these or the like Conceits naturally lift up Souls which fully believe them to be great Truths into very high Joys and Ravishments of Spirit Yet be they never so lofty or never so luscious they are but a corrupt and dangerous sort of Fruit as having nothing but Enthusiasm for their chiefest Root Fourthly False Comforts may arise from wrong Notions which Men have in Divinity Thus some too opinionative are mightily for absolute or irrespective Predestination Others for Justification by Faith alone Others for being justifi'd by CHRIST's Righteousness imputed And others again are as stiff Assertors and as strenuous Maintainers of that absurd Perswasion that GOD sees no Sin in His own Children Now they that firmly believe and fiercely contend for these and such Fancies conclude they are highly beneficial to them in their greatest Interests and so they are strangely affected with them and influenced by them and feel them
good Arts and holy Exercises to seek them earnestly before we can find them Nay perhaps all we can do will not sometimes procure them at last For possibly our Sins may offend our GOD and force him to stand at a distance from us Or it may be He sees our Dispositions to be such that He durst not shed down Comforts upon us lest we should wax loose and wanton under them and so instead of kindnesses they should prove occasions of ruine to our Souls But in Heaven it shall be otherwise As we shall there be fit to receive great Joys so GOD will be ready to impart the same and nothing between us shall intercept and hinder their Descent upon us or render them more flat or less pleasing to us This is the first excellent Property of future Joys They are derived immediately from GOD Himself and pour'd into our Hearts by His sacred Hands And in this regard they far exceed our present Comforts For when they come most directly of all there are some things or other which bring them to us or work them in us as the HOLY GHOST makes them instrumental to produce them And tho' this does not make our Comforts at all impure yet it renders them the more imperfect Secondly Our future Joys will be sincere There shall be no sadness or bitterness intermixed with them This Property is an inseparable consequent of the former For Joys Immediate must needs be simple and unsophisticate Proceeding from GOD solely they must be sincere for what Composition can they bring from Him whose Perfection it is to have none in Himself Our present Comforts are not such Here our finest Gold is mingled with Dross and our purest Grain is blended with Chaff Our whitest Flour hath its Bran and our sweetest Roses have their Pricks Our highest Pleasures go off with Pain and our strongest Delights have somewhat in them or somewhat with them that damps or weakens them But in Heaven our Joys shall be pure and defaecate There shall be Light without Darkness and Peace without Trouble Mirth without Heaviness and Ease without Affliction Happiness without Care and Pleasure without Complaint or the least Lamentation There 's nothing there to stop nothing to trouble the Torrent of our Satisfactions but the deep and mighty Streams of Joy run on with undisturbed Smoothness as well as with undefiled Clearness This is the Second excellent Property of future Joys They are simple and sincere sublimated and refin'd from all drossy Mixtures Not clogg'd not stain'd not toucht with any diluting or diminishing Adherencies And upon this account they far exceed our present Comforts For when they are most divinely bright and sweet there is still some Cloudiness or Uneasiness in them or soon after them Yea GOD many times is constrain'd to dash and allay our Comforts lest by being too strong they should prove injurious Thus Numbers in the Church are so unhappy in Weakness Giddiness and Levity that were they favoured with plenty of high Consolations they would be so puft up with the valuable Privilege as to be very unseemly if not sinfully transported Thirdly Our future Joys will be Satisfactory In GOD's Presence His glorious Presence there is Fulness of Joy Psal 16.11 A compleat Satiety of heavenly Contentment An immense and also an entire Felicity A Sea of Delights where the most inlarged Appetites may not only fill themselves up to the Brim but sink and drown as it were in boundless and bottomless Gratifications Our present Comforts are not of this sort Comparatively they are slight and shrivell'd things rather and of a very narrow and contracted nature When they are shed down most copiously upon us they leave huge Chasms and Vacuities in us They are so far from satiating the Soul that when she drinks deepest of them she thirsts after more and the freest Draughts that ever she takes do rather inflame than fill her Desires And they that always burn with desires after more Joys than here they have sufficiently prove that the greatest they feel are not big enough for them But in Heaven there 's a Plenitude of divine Joys Such a perfect and absolute Fulness of them as is every way commensurate to our vast Capacities Such as will easily supply all our Necessities and also entertain all our Faculties and likewise answer all our Expectancies even beyond whatever we can think or wish And so we shall not be able to say we want this or we would have that because we shall have more than we can need or long for in the Joys we shall possess And they that are furnisht at such a Rate I hope must be satisfi'd Now one great Reason why our future Joys are so throughly satisfying is because they are so very suitable Otherwise they could never be satisfactory to us tho' most Excellent They shall not be gross and sensual indeed but then for that they will not be the less but the more suitable For being of a fine and spiritual Quality they must be the more agreeable to humane Souls because they are of the like Nature And so carnal Pleasures and secular Things can never satisfy them in regard they are of a spiritual Substance For that Reason the Soul can no more be satisfi'd with Gold and Silver with Houses and Lands with Dignities and Honours and the Delights of Sense than our Barns can be filled with Virtue or our Baggs with Grace or our Coffers with Godliness Could any Man improve his Estate to a Kingdom and then raise that Kingdom to an Empire and then make that Empire universal extending it over the whole World and so intitle Himself to all earthly Power and Pleasure yet his Soul could no more be satisfi'd therewith than his Body can be fed and nourisht with Wind. For betwixt the Soul and the World betwixt spiritual Desires and material Objects betwixt divine and lofty Appetites and low and sordid and ignoble Gratifications there is no manner of parity or congruity But therefore the Joys we speak of are spiritual and so exactly suitable and so compleatly satisfying their Suitableness being joyned with abundant Fulness This is the Third excellent Property of future Joys They reach even to our real thorough satisfaction They fill us so as perfectly to quiet us So as to leave us no Needs of or Cravings for more than we possess nor yet any Emptiness whereby they should be caused And here again they far exceed our present Comforts They never did nor can so abound as throughly to satisfy any Soul When in greatest measures they rest upon us we are capable of greater and reach after them as desirous to receive them They may be highly useful and beneficial to us as hath been shewed but satisfy us they cannot they were never designed to that End They are spiritual indeed and so suitable enough but they are short of that Sufficiency which should render them satisfactory Where the Fire is too little we may still be cold
even to the ground by mournful Prayers let us labour to defeat them Night and Day let us crave of her Supreme ALMIGHTY Head to secure Her from Dangers and to deliver Her from Troubles to build up Her Walls and to repair her Breaches to strengthen her Friends and to beat down her Enemies To settle Truth and Peace in Her to add more Purity and Holiness to Her and to continue them both for ever with Her In a word together with our Prayers let us often pour out our Tears unto Him beseeching Him with all possible Importunity to be Her everlasting Patron and Protector To settle Her upon the Basis of his infinite Power and to rest her upon the Support of his never-failing Providence to watch over Her with the Eyes of his tender care and to incircle Her with the Arms of his gracious Custody to lay Her in the Bosom of His Paternal love and to Crown Her with the Blessings of His favourable kindness That so whatever Her past Hardships have been for the future she may not only be safe and easy but flourishing and happy And whatever in this way we do for the Church we may conclude Her extremely worthy of it For the true Christian Church is a Community of the best People in the World A Fraternity of virtuous and religious Persons A Society of innocent and holy Livers that believe and act the noblest things An Association or Body of such as are excellent in themselves approved of GOD dearly bought and beloved of CHRIST competently cleansed and sanctifi'd by the SPIRIT and nearly related and united to us On whom as we cannot but place much of our Delight here on Earth so with them we shall enjoy an eternally sweet and inconceivably delectable Conversation in Heaven And how despicable soever they may now seem and however vilifi'd and abused they may be yet over a while the LORD JESUS will dignify them with such high Perfections and vest them with such bright and radiant Splendors as will render them incomparably glorious and admirable even in the Eyes of all beholders He signifies no less where He openly declares that at His Second event He shall come to be glorifi'd in his Saints and to be admir'd in all them that believe 2 Thess 1.10 Upon these Considerations to name no more what good Christians would not willingly do any thing much more humbly Pray and Mourn to advance and hasten the Church's Happiness And let none refuse or reject the Exercise upon pretence that Her Happiness cannot be hastened because the Time when it commences is immutably decreed For if the Beginning of that happy state which the Christian Church is to enter upon be inalterably prefixt to a certain Period of time Isai 60.22 and so determined by prophetick bounds or limitation as not to be accelerated in any measure yet by Prayers and Tears She may notwithstanding be made very prosperous before-hand and this signal Prosperity may be previous and introductive to that Her Felicity CHAP. XIX Objections against Holy Mourning answered as that 't is beneath us Makes us Melancholy Disparages Religion Wastes our Time And hinders Business HAving done with the Motives which invite to Holy Mourning in General and may they effectually induce us to it 't will be proper in the next place to see what Objections may be brought against it and to remove them fairly out of the way The First may be this Mourning is a thing very much beneath us Below our Nature and our Dignity Man is no less than a marvellous Compound of different Principles And tho' his Body be as mean and faeculent as the Earth he treads on being originally made out of it and so symbolical and homogeneous with it yet his Soul is a divine and noble Essence immaterial and spiritual equal to Angels and like unto GOD. And in this respect he is highly advanc'd in the Classis or Scale of living Creatures and indu'd and adorn'd with such Faculties and Perfections as are suitable to a Being of his Rank or Station in the animate World Nor was his Original Dignity short of his Frame or Nature For when GOD created Him his Favour bestow'd the high Privilege upon him to make him Prince or Head of this sublunary World Gen. 1.28 And for Him that is of so high a Nature and also bears so high a Character Mourning must needs be too low an Exercise When his Person is so extraordinary as to excell even all the visible Creation and his Power so eminent as at first to hold the Reins of this World in his hand for him to sit whimpering with Tears in his Eyes will ill become so exalted a Creature and the Empire delegated to him from above To this I answer First Grief is one of our natural Passions And whatever is a piece of Man's Nature must not be counted either unworthy of him or disgraceful to him That would be a rude and impious reflection upon the All-wise and Glorious GOD who made Him Secondly Tho' Man in this inferior World was and in some measure still is a kind of Sovereign yet he is one of the ALMIGHTY's Subjects And so whatever Commands GOD lays upon him he is bound indispensably to obey them And holy Mourning being one of his Precepts in point of Duty he must submit to that And as that which is his Duty will be so far from debasing him that 't will conduce to his Honour as well as to his Interest so holy Mourning as being a Duty which GOD injoins must improve his Nature and imbellish his Worth and while it advances both can disparage neither For this we have a Proof that puts the thing past all doubt JESUS our LORD was once an holy Mourner upon Earth He wept for Lazarus St. Joh. 11.35 And in the days of His Flesh He offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying Tears Heb. 5.7 But did this at all sink or degrade our Nature which He graciously assumed So far from that that at this very time and for many Ages past it sits at GOD's Right hand in Glory and is there exalted far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this World but also in the next Eph. 1.21 So far is Mourning from disparaging our Nature that GOD did not count it disparaged His. For when our LORD wept even He was concern'd in shedding those Tears as being hypostatically joined to our Flesh Secondly It may be objected against holy Mourning that it makes us Melancholy or is a piece of that unhappy and uneasy Temper And so indeed it will not only be of no use but of dangerous consequence For Melancholy is said and not improperly to be the Devil's * Balneum Diaboll Bath A complexion wherein our great Adversary delights as being troublesom to us and advantageous to him in carrying on his Malicious Designs against us And when religious Mourning leads to Melancholy or
measure of the stature of the fulness of CHRIST are St. Paul's Words Eph. 4.13 Which seem to insinuate that there is a decreed Pitch or Perfection for us to reach in this Life before we can dy and ascend to Blessedness And shall we not haste on then by holy Mourning with all possible speed to the heighth of Grace which must be accomplisht in us What would we not fain be in Heaven Do we not sigh and groan under the Load of our Mortality and would we not gladly be freed from the heavy Burthen and hard Bondage of it Are we not weary of our present Troubles and do we not complain of many uneasinesses and should not a call to endless Rest and perfect Joy be welcome to us Or had we rather continue here and abide still in this earthly State O senseless stupid and egregious Folly can we love our Prisons and embrace our Chains and hug our Fetters Can we court a longer Exile from our eternal Home and be content to be kept out of the coelestial Kingdom Is not God our loving Father there Is not CHRIST our tender Husband there Is not the HOLY GHOST our sweetest Comforter there And to go lower are not many of our good Friends and dear Relatives there And is not the greatest part of the true Church gone thither and now triumphing in the Presence of our LORD and can we once wish to stay behind Does not the Hireling long for his Pay The Servant for his Wages The Souldier for his Reward The Husbandman for his Harvest The Heir for his Inheritance And do not we long and pant and ardently desire to be in Heaven It will be seen here whether we do or no for then we shall mourn the oftener and the more earnestly that so we may get thither quickly To all good Christians the Gates of Heaven are set wide open and the faster we improve in Divine Grace the sooner possibly we shall enter What more forcible Reason can there be or Motive either to provoke to this Duty If we can outstand the Dint of this vain it will be to propound any more well therefore may it be the Last I offer Let good Christians think seriously with themselves what a vast difference there is between what we are now and what we hope to be hereafter What a sad case are we in here What variety of Infirmities encompass and incommode us We have stupid Minds and crooked Wills clouded Understandings and erroneous Judgments unfaithful Memories and extravagant Affections sensual Desires and unruly Appetites polluted Souls and filthy sickly mortal Bodies What a blessed Condition shall we be in above and what a fulness of Beatitude shall there surround us For besides a freedom from the aforesaid Complaints we shall have a clear and most comfortable Vision of GOD whom our Souls upon Earth so entirely loved The immediate Fruition of the eternal JESUS whose very Name was so ravishing to us The taking Society of Angels most spotless and illustrious that now do us good and we perceive it not The delightful Fellowship of departed Saints whom we prized so much and were so loth to forego Souls pure as the brightest Cherubim and Bodies at length more glittering and radiant than the Starrs or Sun And shall not the hope of such high Preferment make us forward to increase in Grace tho' it were by Mourning that so we may the sooner be invested with it Does not the sense of our many Miseries make us impatiently desirous of Heaven Are not our Sins many Are not our Doubts and Fears and Distractions many Do not these rend our Hearts and afflict our Spirits and sting and gnaw and wound our Consciences and make us oftentimes restless and joyless Can we serve and please GOD as the Souls of the just made perfect do Can we see Him and know Him and love Him and laud Him and derive Happiness from Him as they do Alas the best Services which we perform to Him and the Highest Felicities we receive from Him in these lower Regions are not worthy to be named in the same day with theirs The Duties we offer up to GOD are lame and imperfect mingled with Failings and many Weaknesses and scarce deserve the Name of Duties And answerable to our Duties to Him are our Comforts from Him so faint and low in comparison that they scarce deserve the Name of Comforts If now and then we can get a slight Taste of GOD's Goodness a short Glimpse of His Countenance a single Beam of His Favour darted into our Souls that 's all which ordinary Christians commonly attain to But O the quick and lively sense that the Saints in Glory have of GOD's Love O the close and sweet Embraces that they there feel in the Arms of His Mercy O the fresh Torrents of incessant Joys that always overflow and exceedingly affect them They continually bathe themselves in streams of delight that issue directly from the Great JEHOVAH and swim in such an Ocean of Divinest Pleasures as hath indeed neither Bounds nor Bottom Nor is the measure of their Happiness beyond its Duration for in respect of that it is really infinite being to last as long as GOD Himself Now are not these Excellent things worth the having Can there be any more valuable and so more eligible than they And consequently can we desire any thing so much as a speedy Passage into the Fruition of them Would we not gladly exchange corruption for Glory and a dying Life for blessed Immortality Had we not rather sit down before the Throne of GOD in Holiness and Triumph than abide here in a condition of Sin in a state of Sufferings and in a vale of Tears In short were it not better for us to be taken up into the Mansions on high to reap the Fruits and injoy the Rewards of our respective Labours than still to be imploy'd in any painful Exercises Why if in reality we think it better and accordingly desire it let us manifest the sincerity of our Desires by the Earnestness of our Endeavours to encrease our Graces by holy Mourning Happy are they who by any Piece of early Piety do so advance or augment their Graces as to obtain an early ascent to Heaven And to encourage a little farther yet as we shall go to Heaven perhaps the sooner for this so we shall have the more Glory there Every Vessel shall be full in that Sea but yet the biggest shall receive most That therefore we may be capable of the more Bliss in Heaven while we are on Earth let us enlarge our Graces by Religious Mourning CHAP. XXI Reasons why we must mourn for the Sins of others The Best have done it The neglect of it is blameable It prevails with Heaven It brings us Comforts It secures us from Judgments when others fall by them Both Nature and Religion bind us to it It may be we have been Sharers in the Sins of others HAving given in the Reasons why we
it seems to have been as much his settled Companion as Temptations were from which a faithful Minister of CHRIST is seldom free Nor did it hold for some Days or Weeks only but for Years together It had dwelt with him now for three Years past as he signifies at the 31th Verse By the space of three Years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with Tears Was there ever such a watchful was there ever such a mournful Monitor as this But then when he wept with such Constancy in a monitorial Capacity many of his Tears must needs be spent upon other Mens sins And what is there implied is other-where very plainly exprest As in Rom. 9.33 where he complains that he had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for his brethren his Kinsmen after the flesh For their hainous Sin that is in despising the Doctrine and rejecting the rich Privileges of the Gospel And great heaviness and continual sorrow in the heart of a Man proclaims him an unfeigned and deep Mourner for those that cause or occasion the same So he tells the Philippians and that with weeping that they were Enemies of the Cross of CHRIST Phil. 3.18 And what he did for them he was ready to do for those of another Church I mean to bewail the Corruptions and Calamities of many that had sinned and not repented 2 Cor. 12.21 And whoever bewails such as have not repented plainly mourns for them because they have sinned Out of the New Testament I offer only one Instance more But 't is such as infinitely out-does all other as being the most Holy and ever Blessed JESUS He was pleased to be a passionate Mourner as well as the great Sufferer for the Sins of Men so the Evangelist witnesseth When He came near He beheld the City and wept over it S. Luk. 19.41 And so by those * Legati doloris Embassadors of Grief as S. Cyprian calls Tears He testifi'd the tender Concern he had for the sinful Inhabitants of populous Jerusalem For thus before He shed the Bloud of his Body as †D. Hieronim Brentius P. Martyr Sanguis vulneratae animae the Learned express Tears the bloud of his wounded Soul was poured out for them An Act of extraordinary Kindness and Condescension however it gave great Offence to some For as Epiphanius relates they thought Weeping so mean and so very unsuitable to His divine Person that they blotted the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he wept out the Text in honour to His MAJESTY But far more judicious and orthodox were they and Irenaeus particularly amongst the rest who did not only strenuously assert that word to be in the Original but moreover improv'd it as well they might into an irrefragable Argument of His real humanity And truly when the Begotten SON of GOD would assume our Nature and be incarnate in our Flesh that He might dye for our Sins and that on the cursed and ignominious Cross why should any imagine it would disparage Him to weep Especially when His Tears were bestowed on Mens sins as they certainly were which He shed over Jerusalem For there as * Caecitatem Civium Stell in loc one says the LORD deplored the sinful blindness of the Citizens And as another says †Civium ingratitudinem Brugen in loc He bewailed the sinful ingratitude of the same And as a ‖ Subversionem animarum Dionysius Carthus in loc Third affirms he lamented the destruction of their Souls which only their Sins could bring upon them I might here add others of great Name and Worth in the Church tho' not recorded in the Sacred Books For says * Gemimus plerunque in peccatis fratrum nostrorum De verb. Dom. Ser. 44. S. Austin We oftentimes mourn over our Brethren's sins And he †Plangis mortuum magis plange impium De Sanct. Ser. 13. argues for it Thou wailest for the dead rather bewail the ungodly What hast thou not the Bowels of Christian Pity in thee that thou canst mourn for the Body from which the Soul is separated and not mourn for the Soul from which GOD is departed Of so mourning a Temper was S. Ambrose that when any Man came to him for Council or Conduct in ‖ Quotiescunque c. ita flebat ut illum flere compelleret Paul in vit the Matter of Repentance he could not hear his Confession without Tears But would weep at such a Rate as to force the Party to weep with him The number of such excellent Mourners might easily be increased here But instead of bringing in more Particulars I shall only remark what a learned Commentator says of them in general His Words are these * Lege divinas literas replica c. Pint. in Ezek. 9. Read the divine Writings and turn over the Records of Annals enquire into the Stories of the holy Fathers and you shall every-where find that Men illustrious in Piety turned their Eyes into Fountains of living Tears for the Sins of others whereby GOD was offended Now if we look back upon the Persons mention'd we cannot but see that they were Men of the best Ranks as well as of the best Principles David was a King and Nehemiah a Governour Ezra was a Priest and Jeremiah a Prophet Paul was an Apostle and Austin and Ambrose both Bishops And when they were great in Dignity as well as in Goodness and yet mourned so sadly for others sins their Quality in the World does honour to the Duty and is enough to convince even the highest of all that they are not above it but that People of every Order and Degree have reason to practise it And which still makes more for its Vindication and farther inforces the pious Exercise our adorable LORD and SAVIOUR performed it as we have seen And we being predestinated to be conformed to Him in His Sufferings Rom. 8.29 we must conform to Him in his Sympathies and Sorrows which were one Sort of His Sufferings And so we have reason to mourn for other Mens sins because He did so And therefore a Multitude of Considerable Writers do properly urge to that Duty upon the account of his great and prevailing Example As a Specimen of such I name only * Christus non sibi flevit sed vobis De Trin. lib. 10. Hilary †Quare flevit Christus nisi quia hominem flere docuit Austin ‖ Flenda sunt aliorum peccata ut Christus exemplo suo docet Stella and ¶ Sunt lachrymae invitantis ut nos quoque lachrymas profundamus Gerhard And when CHRIST as they say did not weep for Himself but for us when He wept that so He might teach Men to weep teach us to weep for the Sins of others as inviting us to it by His own precious Tears how can we possibly neglect the Work and outstand the Force of so powerful a President Indeed some of the Learned have positively
sinned against the Light of Conscience When we have been ready to run out of the way of Righteousness and foolishly inclin'd to commit Iniquity Conscience hath stood up in opposition to us and attempted to hinder us It hath friendly smitten us and flown in our faces and with very kind and officious checks hath warned us against the Evils we were about And when with all our Arts we could not drown its Voice nor stifle its Suggestions nor quiet its Clamours nor silence its loud tho' secret Dissuasions we have frowardly and forcibly broken through them all rushing into sin as an horse into Battel Do we not remember that it hath been thus with us When we have been lingring after any pleasing Sin and just stepping into the Perpetration of it hath not Conscience risen up and like a faithful Monitress rounded us in the Ear with proper and seasonable Cautions against it Hath She not plainly told us tho' not with an audible articulate Voice this is evil and that is forbidden here ye will offend GOD and there ye will dishonour CHRIST thus ye may endanger and so ye may undoe your immortal Souls When we have been just upon the point of doing foolishly and running unadvisedly into the Regions of Death hath not Conscience thus gently reproved us and made us feel and confess her Rebukes to be good Insomuch that indeed it hath been uneasy to resist them and a very great Pain and Trouble to us to go against such clear and strong Convictions But did all this work upon us or did it at all prevail with us When Conscience hath thus haunted us from Day to Day and Her light hath followed us from Place to Place and hath shown us the Deadliness of our respective sins from Time to Time hath this caused us to cease from them O no we have been so far from making that due use of this excellent Light that we have rather wisht it quite out that so we might sin with more Pleasure and less Reluctancy And when it was not in our Power to extinguish it wretchedly but in spite of all we could do it would glare us in the face we have walked perversely and prophanely against it sinning Presumptuously in defiance to that Light which GOD set up to keep us from Sin Secondly We have sinned against the Light of the SPIRIT When Conscience prov'd too weak to restrain us the gracious GOD hath struck in with the suasions of His Blessed SPIRIT to turn us off from our vitious Practices And with what sweet but cogent Arguments hath He sometimes set upon us When we have hankered after unreasonable Extravagancies and have been fit to plunge our selves into Perdition for the injoyment of them how watchfully and lovingly hath He appli'd himself to us in these or the like soft and compassionate Whispers to check and stop us in our unhappy Tendencies O rash and inconsiderate Creature art thou tampering again with thy dangerous Lusts and ready to reembrace thy fatal Sins It is but a while since through such Follies GOD found thee in a most rufull Plight Defiled with Guilt overwhelmed with Grief dejected with Doubts astonisht with Fears confounded with shame and by many woful but deserved Distractions brought almost to the brink of Despair Then as thou canst not chuse but remember His Mercy piti'd thee and in Pity He relieved thee He pardoned thee by His Grace and refreshed thee with His Comforts and restored unto thee the Joy of his Salvation upon thy penitent humbling of thy self before Him And art thou now disposed to apostatize from Him and rebelliously to kick against Him afresh Is this the amends He shall have for His Goodness Hast thou forgot the Smart of thy old Impieties that thou art so forward to listen to new Temptations Did Satan use thee so well when thou wert last in his hands that thou art willing to come into his hateful Power and under his hellish Tyranny again Or was GOD so hard a Master to thee that thou art so prone to desert His Service Judge for thy self in the case hadst thou not much Peace and many Pleasures when thou walkest uprightly with thy GOD And hadst thou not as much trouble and as many torments when you joinedst with His and thine own Enemies When thou was last at a Distance from Him and under His Displeasure didst thou not promise that if He would return and be reconciled to Thee thou wouldst be cautious and circumspect and take more care off offending Him than ever And did He not condescend to the measures thou desiredst Did He not hear thy Complaint and accept thy Vow and snatch thee from thy Woes and lay thee in His Bosom and renew thy Delights and give thee competent Assurance of His regained Favour And silly Wretch art thou now relinquishing this GOD and resigning thy Happiness to lie down and wallow in repeated Wickedness I appeal to Christians hath it not been thus Hath not the good SPIRIT very often thus contended with us and by his sacred Strugglings sought to check the fire of our kindling Lusts and so prevent its breaking out into flames of Sin Not that He hath spoken these very words distinctly to our Ears but He hath darted such Thoughts as these into our Minds which is His way of speaking to Men. Nor hath He barely suggested them to us but set them home upon us causing them to dwell in us so long and so powerfully to work with us as throughly to convince us of the Naughtiness of those things we were about to attempt But when all this was done it could not restrain or keep us from our sins which renders them most horrid and provoking And as it hath been with many in this case so I fear it may be still The SPIRIT of GOD pleads hard with them but alas He speaks to the deafest in the World even to a People that will not hear I mean that will not hear his charming Insinuations so as duly to regard them and be influenc'd by them O let them whose unhappy Temper and Carriage this is take all the care that possibly they can to rectify the same If they do not their Condition may prove extremely sad For then that divine and loving SPIRIT who hath striven so much and striven so long will not continue to do it always when He thus finds it to be in vain And if once He ceases His sweet Conflicts with us by reason of our affronting Him and gives us up to follow our vitious Inclinations because we grieve and quench Him by Stubborn resistance what will become of us The Curb that held us in being taken off us we shall presently fall to committing sin with greediness even all the Sins that we like and love to GOD's Dishonour and the eternal Ruine of our Immortal Souls And must not such be in a lamentable Plight They that are in it I confess are oft-times insensible of it They do not discern
ruin to both But now that which intollerably aggravates our Guilt is that we have sinned against this Wondrous Love All its Flames have not consum'd our Dross all its heat hath not melted us into Obedience to that gracious GOD who loved us so exceedingly Nay we have wretchedly made this Love of His an occasion of sinning against His MAJESTY and have done amiss with more freedom and frequency because His Love abounded towards us Our Surety was able to pay our Debts and therefore we cared not how far we ran on in the Score We valu'd not stabbing our precious Souls because we had a Sovereign Medicine at hand to heal the Wounds We have made CHRIST's Death a Patent for Licentiousness and have been the more ready to offend GOD because he gave his SON to die for our Offences The biggest Aggravation of Baseness that can be It lifts up our Guilt above that of Devils the worst of which never rebelled against Redeeming Love nor committed one sin against a crucify'd LORD who laid down his Life for their Salvation A most sad consideration and did we but keep our Minds close to it and dwell upon it in serious and compos'd Reflections methinks we should need no better suasive to Mourning for our own and the Nation 's Sins Yet here we may advance a little farther some of us at least and fitly think that we have sinned against the Love of our best Friends Our truest Friends are most concern'd for our greatest Interests They look chiefly at the Dispositions and habits of our Minds and are anxious and solicitous for the welfare of our Souls With a watchful eye and a yearning heart they mark and observe us in our Spiritual relations and capacities how we carry our selves towards GOD how we are affected with Religion how we are furnisht with Christian Perfections how well prepared we are to die and how well provided to live for ever And if they find us defective in these Accomplishments it becomes an occasion of sadness to them and sinks them down into Grief and Misery A famous instance and pattern of this was the rarely virtuous and renowned Monica Mother of St. Augustine When he was young and vain and loose in his Manners this pious Matron laid his Extravagancies deeply to heart and night and day lamented his wild and exorbitant life And this may be the case of our Real Friends and at such a rate they may be afflicted for some of us They may pine at our Wickedness and pray for our Repentance and sigh and sorrow to behold our stubborness and strange Perverseness While we with delight and brutish complacence dishonour GOD and destroy our selves they may be almost overwhelm'd with sadness at the sight of our Prophaness and the sense of our Debauchery Let us think upon this and learn to mourn for our own Sins that have been so offensive to our choicest Friends They could no way shew truer never shew greater kindness to us But then the singular Cordial Affection on their side grievously aggravates the sins on ours and that aggravation should still raise our sorrow and encrease holy Mourning If thou that readest this knowest it thy case if thou knowest that thy sins afflict thy best Friends I have this Caveat to leave with thee Take heed of abusing their affectionate Tenderness There 's too much ill Principle in thy Proceedings already do not superadd ill nature to it If sin hath eat out all sense of Religion yet surely thou hast somewhat of humanity left something of common civility in thee especially to kindest Friends and Relatives Cease to sin then in respect to them who manifest such pious compassion to thee lest thou shortnest their Lives and sendest them sorrowing to their Graves O it is a rich and invaluable mercy to dissolute Persons that they have such Friends as these I speak of Friends that can weep over their provoking miscarriages and with plenty of powerful Tears and Prayers intercede to the Merciful GOD for them But let none of these sinners be so unkind and ingrateful and unhappy too as by obstinate persistence in a course of unrighteousness to break the hearts of these incomparable Friends and so deprive themselves of an inestimable Blessing CHAP. XXIV The Third Aggravation of our own and others Sins considered as the Third suasive to mourning for the same We have sinned in a most shameful manner NOW follows the last Aggravation of our sinfulness which as it is very heinous should be as affecting to us We have sinned in a most shameful manner Light could not controll nor could Love restrain us we sinned under and against them both But which adds to our Guilt and renders it much more grievous still we have sinned withal most hideously or shamefully This will appear if we will consider these Four things 1. The nature and malignity of our Sins 2. The multiplicity or variety of them 3. The repetition or frequency of them 4. Our boldness or impudence in Sinning First Our Sins are of an high Nature or Malignity As if Sins of a lower Quality or lesser Rate would not throw us fast or far enough out of GOD's Favour or sink us down deep enough into His Displeasure we have been forward to those of a worser sort and of a larger size Sinful Thoughts and sinful Words would not content us we have broken out into sinful Actions and in actual sins we have exceeded For sins of incogitancy or inadvertency would not serve us we have run into sins of Deliberation Sins of omission or neglect would not satisfie us we have plunged into sins of commission Sins of infirmity or weakness could not bound us we have rushed into sins of Presumption And all these high Acts of sin have not been of the least kinds of Sins neither For if we look narrowly into our Transgressions perhaps we shall find them of a fouler nature of a blacker stain and of a deeper Die than we are aware Yea think what sins are most odious to GOD and flagitious in themselves and these I fear will appear to have been ours in too great measure if we throughly examine our Spiritual state Secondly Our Sins are multiform and various They are not all of one sort but of several kinds According to the Character of the Impious Psal 69.27 we have fallen from one wickedness to another or have added iniquity to iniquity To Sins against GOD we added Sins against our Neighbours and to Sins against them Sins against our selves if we distinguish them according to the Object And if diversified according to other circumstances as Time and Place and Providence c. we have sinned in our Youth and in our riper years secretly and openly by our selves and with others Against Mercies and against Judgments c. But lest in diversifying sin I should here run out into too large a Series of Particulars instead of going farther I refer the Reader to those brief * See them under
pleasest both them and me from the Strokes thereof by thy Special Providence †Psal 57.1 hiding us under thy Wings O LORD until the Calamities be over-past But if as we deserve Thou justly involvest us in the Common Miseries O mingle our Sufferings with a sense of thy Love and make them all Instruments of our Benefit and Blessedness And whatever shall happen to our Estates or Bodies LORD let our Souls be precious in thy sight and ‖ Mal. 3.17 remember them in the day when Thou makest up thy Jewels And that for His sake who redeem'd them even Thy CHRIST and our JESUS who hath given us assurance that * Joh. 16.24 whatever we ask in His Name we shall receive In His Name therefore and in His Words I humbly conclude my unworthy Supplications Our Father c. As short as this Mourning-Office may seem to be yet if it be recited deliberately and with calling to mind and sadly confessing our particular Offences compriz'd in those general Heads which come most home to our personal Extravagancies we shall find it will take up more time to rehearse it than we are aware But should it with the Intervals of Reading require all the Forenoon yet to fill up the whole Day from the time we rise till Six at night we shall want a farther supply for Devotion As meet provision therefore to carry on the pious Exercise thus far contitinu'd I shall here add another Form of Prayer And lest it should be too much to use it all at once I have divided it into several Collects or Sections that so you may the less abruptly break off where you please and as often as you think fit and then begin again where you left off A PRAYER For the Holy SPIRIT of GOD and the Principal of His Heavenly Graces O Most Merciful GOD and Father I the unworthiest of all thy Children prostrate in thy Fear and sacred Presence from my Heart do magnify Thee for the innumerable Blessings I have received from Thee And most humbly I intreat Thee to bestow such other good things upon me as I still need and can no where obtain but at thy bounteous Hands I. For the HOLY GHOST ABove all vouchsafe me thy HOLY SPIRIT which thou hast freely promised to them that * Luk. 11.13 ask Him And let Him be helpful to me in those several Offices which He came down from Heaven to execute in the Church even in comforting conducting and santifying of my Soul Make Him a Comforting SPIRIT to me That freeing my Mind from afflictive Horrors and disconsolate Heaviness I may †Phil. 4 4. rejoyce in the LORD evermore and live in that divinest Peace of GOD ‖ 4.7 which passeth all understanding Make Him a Conducting SPIRIT to me That dispelling the Darkness and Blindness of my Mind by illuminating me with bright and saving Knowledge He may help to lead me into a competent understanding of all necessary Truths Make Him a Sanctifying SPIRIT to me That Cleansing me from all moral Corruptions and Impurities I may become holy as * 1 Pet. 1.16 Thou art Holy by His infusing precious Graces into my Heart II. For Hatred to Sin LET Him fill me with Hatred and Detestation of Sin With such an Hatred as may not only turn me from it but set me against it and make me a deadly and irreconcilable Enemy to it To which End let Him open mine Eyes to see the malignant Nature of it How it is a Transgression of Thy Law a Contradiction of Thy Mind and an Opposition to Thy Will and so the worst and basest thing in the World as being contrary to Thee the Chiefest Good Let Him convince me also of its direful Effects How besides many Temporal and Spiritual Miseries it subjects me to woful Eternal Calamities which I can neither avoid nor yet abide And let the Consideration of its abominable Vileness and destructive Consequents help to beget in me speedy Repentance where I have committed it and also strongest Antipathies to it and constant and vehement Aversations from it in all presumptuous Instances whatever III. For Faith LET Him indue me with unfeigned Evangelical Faith With such a Faith as may inable me to †Heb. 11.6 believe that GOD is and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him and so to believe it as to become my self a most diligent and unwearied Seeker of Him With such a Faith as is a ‖ Gal. 5.2 fruit of the SPIRIT as will shew it self * Jam. 2.18 by my Works as will †1 Joh. 5.4 overcome the World and so throughly ‖ Rom. 5.1 justify me that I may have peace with GOD. Even peace with Him * Eph. 4.13 till we all come in the Unity of the Faith to the sweet and endless injoyment of Him who is the sole †Heb. 12.2 Author and Finisher of it IV. For Hope LET Him work in me a most firm and lively Hope Such an Hope as may not ‖ Rom. 5.5 make me ashamed by suffering me either to presume or despair But may be an * 1 Thess 5 8. Helmet to me in my Spiritual Warfare and an †Heb. 6.19 Anchor of my Soul while I am tossed in the Waves of this tempestuous World And having this Hope in me let me ‖ 1 Joh. 3.3 purify my self even as He is pure who is at once both the Object and End of my Hope the LORD JESUS CHRIST V. For Love to GOD. LET Him inflame my Heart with Love to Thy MAJESTY O my GOD. With such an holy ardent and passionate Love as becomes a Creature to his Sovereign LORD and Maker and a Dutiful Child to his indulgent heavenly Father I acknowledge my self unworthy of so high a Favour But Thy only SON died to purchase this inestimable Grace amongst others for all that need and seek it of Thee None O LORD want it more than I and with humblest Earnestness I seek and crave it O deny me not this one Request whatever else Thou with-holdest from me I am willing to be I am willing to do I am willing to bear or to suffer any thing with Thy help so I may but love Thee Turn me all into Love and indear me greatly to Thy self and I wish no more I neither want nor ask nor care for any thing in this World like that It is not Health nor Wisdom nor Riches nor Honour nor Life it self nor any thing in it or belonging to it that I so importunately beg but the Love of Thy Self O dearest GOD the Love of Thy Self is the Blessing I desire LORD give me but that and I have enough Thou hast said that Thou * Psal 107.9 satisfiest the longing Soul and fillest the hungry Soul with goodness †Ps 71.4 Thou O LORD art the thing that I long for and my Soul Thou seest hungers after Thâ—… O that Thou wouldst fill it with
3.4 the sight of GOD is of great price With such a Meekness as may make me never to be angry at any thing but sin and never to be reveng'd on any one but my self But may cause me ‖ Eph. 4.31 to put away all wrath as knowing * Jam. 1.10 that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of GOD. With such a meekness as may keep me from strife and †Eph. 4.31 clamour and evil speaking and make me ‖ 1 Pet. 3.8 courteous and * 2 Tim. 2.24 gentle unto all men That being thus truly meek in spirit I may be †Ps 37.11 refreshed in the multitude of peace and be happy in Thy Heavenly conduct and instruction who hast said ‖ Psal 25.8 The meek Thou wilt guide in Judgment and such as be gentle them Thou wilt learn Thy ways XI For Fear LET Him plant in me a Reverend Fear of thy Name * Psal 99.3 which is Great Wonderful and Holy Such a Fear as is †Psal 111.10 the beginning of Wisdom and will make me ‖ Prov. 16.6 depart from evil Such a Fear as will not only make me * Psal 4.4 stand in aw and not sin against Thee but moreover will put me upon †Eccles 12.13 keeping thy Commandments That I ‖ Act. 10.33 fearing GOD and working righteousness may be accepted of Him who hath owned * Ps 47.11 His delight in them that fear Him XII For Trust LET Him strengthen me with confidence and sure Trust in GOD. With such a Trust as Thou expectest from me and requirest of me Even such as may engage Thee to keep me from falling into evils or else to support me under them or rescue me out of them With such a Trust as in all wants and necessities in all streights and difficulties in all dangers and distresses may encourage me to seek Thee and commit my self to Thee and fiducially to rest and depend upon Thee Considering Thou hast assured us that †Psal 34.22 whoso putteth His Trust in Thee shall not be destitute but ‖ Isa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is staid on Thee because he trusteth in Thee XIII For Temperance and Contentedness LET Him make me throughly contented * 1 Cor. 9.25 and Temperate in all things So temperate and contented as not to take too much thought for this momentany Life †Mat. 6.25 what I shall eat or what I shall drink but to ‖ Joh. 6.27 labour for that meat which endureth unto Everlasting Life which the Son of Man shall give me and to seek first * Mat. 6.33 the Kingdom of GOD which is †Rom. 14.17 not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and Joy in the HOLY GHOST So Temperate and contented as not anxiously and solicitously to ‖ Mat. 6.25 care for the Body what it shall put on but to * Rom. 13.14 put on the LORD JESUS CHRIST or the Practice of His pure Religion wherewith whosoever is not clothed is naked in Thy Sight So Temperate and Contented as never to find fault with my own Circumstances in the World nor to envy or repine at other Mens but to be humble and thankful and highly pleas'd in all states and conditions as believing them the issues of thy Gracious Providence which is able to make all things work together for my Good XIV For Justice and Uprightness LET Him inable me to be perfectly Just and upright in all my Dealings So Just and upright as to be like to Thee my GOD who art †Psal 145.17 righteous in all Thy Ways and holy in all Thy Works So Just and Upright as ‖ 1 Thes 4.6 not to go beyond or defraud my Brother in any matter because the LORD is the Avenger of all such and * Col. 3.25 he that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong that he hath done a meet Punishment from Thee with whom there is no respect of Persons So Just and Upright as †Mat. 7.12 to do unto all men whatsoever I would they should do unto me as knowing my self strictly oblig'd thereunto not only by the Law and the Prophets but also by the Doctrine of CHRIST Himself So Just and Upright in every thing and to every one as not to be afraid to die at last and to ‖ Rom. 14.10 stand before that Judgment-Seat where * 2 Cor. 5.10 we must all appear that we may receive the things done in the Body according to that we have done whether good or bad XV. For a right Use of Ordinances LET Him be present with me and His Grace assist me O GOD in all thine Heavenly Ordinances that I may never exercise my self in any of them but to Thy Honour and my own improvement When I read thy Word let me do it discerningly so as I may †Luk. 24. â—5 understand the Scriptures and they may ‖ Psal 119.130 give Light and Understanding to me When I hear let me do it attentively so as my * Isa 55.3 Soul may Live When I Fast let me do it Religiously not to make a noise or †Mat. 6.16 to be seen of Men but to ‖ Isa 58.5 afflict my Soul and to humble my self before GOD and to heighten my Affections and Duties to Him When I pray let me do it devoutly so * Act. 2.21 calling upon the Name of the LORD as that I may be saved When I partake of the Sacrament of the LORD's Supper let me do it worthily so duly commemorating His Blessed Death as that the holy Performance may raise me the higher in Spiritual and the nearer to eternal life In all those Services and Divine Imployments which Thou hast called me to or put upon me let me use such faithful care and Diligence as Thou expectest from me and wilt crown with Acceptance and a Glorious Recompence XVI For Comfort in Death LET Him vouchsafe me His sweet and reviving Influence at my last hour to support and comfort me in my Departure hence Let Him fill my Soul with such generous courage as may make me not to fear Death With such Heavenly Consolations as may make me pleas'd with it With such hearty Love to Thee O GOD as may make me long †2 Cor. 5.2 and groan earnestly for it as a Translation or Passage to thy Eternal Kingdom Let Him possess my mind with such Thoughts and Hopes and Desires of thy Presence to which Death leads me that I may reckon it a Privilege or special Blessing as opening me a way to immortal Happiness And at what time or in what place or manner soever Thou shalt send it let me willingly and chearfully submit unto it rendring thanks to God who hath given me the * 1 Cor. 15.57 victory over it and great Benefits by it XVII For Thankfulness LET Him raise up my Heart the highest pitch of true
credit to Jonah and to be so happily influenc'd by his threatning Preachments is still a Question But for resolving it let us try if we cannot find something material hinted by the HOLY GHOST 2 King 14. For there perhaps we may find a Key of His making which will help to unlock this Difficulty In the latter part of that Chapter we read that Jeroboam the King of Israel recovered Damascus and Hamath and that he restored the Coast of Israel from the entring of Hamath unto the Sea of the Plain according to the word of the LORD GOD of Israel which he spake by the hand of His Servant Jonah the Son of Amittai Now as Damascus was an ancient City built before Abraham's time for his Steward was called Eliezer of Damascus and as it was a most pleasant City so delightful that Mahomet never durst enter into it lest it should tempt him to neglect his Designs so it was a great and most powerful City as being no less than the Metropolis of Syria And such a City as this the Head of a Country and the Royal Seat of a mighty Kingdom being taken by the King of Israel from the King of Syria the King of Nineveh the Confines of whose Empire were not remote from it could not but take special notice of And Jeroboam being animated to the War which was thus successful by the word of the Prophet Jonah who clearly foretold what the Issue would be we need not question but the King of Nineveh understood this too there being nothing more usual than for Kings and States where their Dominions are contiguous or no farther distant to pry into the Intrigues and affairs of each other But then he understanding that there was a Prophet in Palestine who unerringly foretold contingent Events and particularly the Fate of that flourishing City which fell out according to his Prediction when he heard that this very Prophet was come to Nineveh on purpose to denounce Destruction against it which according to his Threatning was to happen suddenly too unless the Inhabitants of it repented he might very well be concern'd as he was and set himself and his People to mourn as he did And the more readily might this be done yet in case Jonah went to Nineveh with any Merchant Caravan Trading into the East from Tyrus then the greatest Empory in that part of the World For Tyrians living upon that Sea where Jonah was thrown over-board and so miraculously preserved and knowing it to be true if any of them reported and affirmed it at Nineveh this might help to beget a more firm belief still of his dreadful Threatning NOTE III. Pag. 44. BEyond the Bounds of this Material World there is a strangely vast and infinite Place if we may so call it An Extension as illimited as GOD Himself and also as eternal as He else it could not be what He proclaims it His Habitation And very properly does He call it Eternity For neither Days nor Months nor Years nor Ages nor any thing of time was ever in it and yet it always did and shall exist And in this immense Capacity or Extension naturally boundless both in measure and Duration and holy too as being made so by Him that fills it the HIGH and LOFTY ONE does dwell There 's the Seat and everlasting Residence of His sublime and most exalted MAJESTY and by his Essence which is Ubiquitary He throughly possesses and every where replenishes that so Stately and expanded Mansion And where does He dwell besides O amazing Condescension in Him and Honour unto us as Himself declares He dwells with the Humble and contrite Spirit So that next to the highest Place He takes up His special Abode in the lowest mind In that Mind most which sinks lowest in holy Mourning NOTE IV. Pag. 80. BUT that he was far from being so appears by one Expression of his in his Laert. li. 10. Epistle to Pythocles Where he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tho a wise man be tortured yet he is blessed And from another clause in his Ib. Epistle to Menaeceus Where he declares most worthily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Drinkings and continual Banquets carnal injoyments and the sumptuous Provisions of a well furnisht Table are not the things that make a sweet life but sober Reasoning And by and by he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The greatest good is Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore Wisdom is more precious than Philosophy because out of it all Virtues spring Which teach that we cannot live pleasantly without living prudently and well and that we cannot live uprightly without living pleasantly For Virtues are connatural to a pleasant life and from these a pleasant life is inseparable And then from another Passage in the same Epistle where he says Virtutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are to be desired for pleasure and not for themselves as Physick is desired for health And says withal that Virtue is the only thing which cannot be separated from pleasure From all which it is evident that when Epicurus founded Happiness in Pleasure he meant that Pleasure which is the fruit of Virtue NOTE V. Pag. 130. WE are not to imagine that Heaven did any thing to restrain or hinder the outragious violences done to those Martyrs Their Eyes were really bor'd out their Legs cut off their Bones broken their Flesh beaten bruised mangled burned c. Not are we to conceive that when these Violences were done to their Bodies the Law or Order of communicating them to their Souls in way of Sensation was interrupted or dissolved For when their Bodies suffered in any capacity by Incisions Contusions Rackings Searings Scourgings Scaldings or the like these must make grievous Impressions on the Nerves and agitating them by furious Tensions or Vellications must transmit the Motions to the common Sensorium and so excite most dolorous Pains in their Souls For the Nerves which are thee great Instrument of Sense derive their Original from the Brain and by innumerable Sprigs or Ramifications being spread and propagated through the Body they terminate in the exterior parts of it So that nothing of violence can be done outwardly to the Body but at the same time it lights upon the Fibres of some of those Nerves whose Extremities are lodged in its Superficies I mean in the Cutis or Skin thereof And if these at any time be fiercely moved tho' at the Ends of them most distant from the Head yet the same motion at the same time is felt at their other Ends which are in the Brain And the Seat of the Soul or the proper place of her special vital Residence being some where there She cannot but be vehemently affected thereby But then we must consider that these Nerves may receive Impressions as well at the Roots of them within the Brain as in any parts of any Branches of them any where dispersed in the Body Yea there is reason why they should be most receptive of impressions there
as being nearer to the common Sentient and so to the Soul her self Now let us but suppose and the Supposition is very easy that the Blessed SPIRIT can so influence the Soul and so possess her with ravishing Delights which we call Comforts as wholly to take her up and divert her from attending to what the Body suffers and this must be one mighty Alleviation of pain if not a perfect Exclusion or Cure of it For what better Anodyne can there be than an absolute inanimadversion or non-reflection upon Evil than a compleat alienation or entire abstraction of the Mind from what should trouble it And then let us but suppose also as well we may that the same good SPIRIT can imprint such delicate Motions upon the curious Fibres of all the Nerves in the Brain as shall produce strong divine Joys and Pleasures and that these fine Motions may be so brisk and vigorous as to continue in spite of all contrary Impressions tho' never so forcible made by any Violence on other parts of the Filaments of those Nerves and the great Work we speak of is intelligibly done upon the holy Sufferers For thus we may readily and fairly apprehend how all sense of Pain should be drowned in them and how their Souls might swim in deep Consolations when their Bodies were sinking under the Executioner's hands Not that we suppose tho that the SPIRIT 's influence upon Martyrs was ever so strong and vigorous as to leave no room or occasion for their Faith Love Patience and the like divine Graces to act in for their better Support and Comfort NOTE VI. Pag. 169. AND the Chief Reasons of it are Two First Because the evil Spirit with whom they are in Covenant may be delighted with the Steams of humane Blood And for a like reason they haunt Church-yards more than other Places and appear most frequently where the Dead are interred So Origen tells Celsus pretty often how the Daemons were gratifi'd with the Steams of those bloody Sacrifices which were offered to them and how they were greedily desirous of them Which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lickorishness of Carnal Devils And that they are strangely desirous of the Blood of Mankind and delighted with it is evident from the Complaints which the Devil us'd to make amongst his Devotoes in America For oftentimes when he appeared to them he would tell them he was thirsty meaning for Peoples Blood And then his Priests would urge their Kings to offer up store of Captives to their Gods lest poor things they should die for want of refreshment And as when they had no Captives they would go out on purpose to fight and take some so when they had plenty they would offer them most freely killing them as Victims sometimes by hundreds in a Day To which we may add those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mactations of Men wherein Multitudes of old were sadly sacrific'd to heathen Deities And if the reekings of dead or dying Sacrifices were so grateful to them without all question the Nidours or Fumes exhaled from the Veins of People alive must be far more pleasing For being of an hotter and finer nature they may well yield them a brisker and more relishing Flavour Secondly Evil Spirits suck of those Wretches whom they draw into hellish Compacts with them that they may have opportunity of corrupting them by transfusing a pernicious Venom into them Of tincturing their Bodies with so vile a Malignity as will help to numm and stupify their Souls in their moral Capacity As shall fill them with Darkness and Blindness and Dulness and Deadness to all that is good and at the same time dispose them to every evil thing to which they shall think fit to excite and instigate them As to Anger Envy Malice Revenge the basest Obscenities and most barbarous Cruelties And when wicked Fiends by their noxious Breathings into People do so poyson their Souls as to pervert their Bodies no wonder that the HOLY GHOST who still countermines the Wicked One in all his Workings should by His Inspirations I mean His consolatory ones not only most heavenly affect our Souls but withal derive an healthful Temper to our Bodies And let me add by these Consolations our Bodies may be so raised and improved as in some measure perhaps to advance towards the Adamical Crasis or Original Constitution They may approach as near as readily they can do to that excellent Temper which the Protoplasts at first were happy in Whereby it may sometimes happen tho' but seldom that they may not only attain to perfect Health which otherwise they might not have acquired but possibly may rise a step higher and gain such a balsamic Quality to themselves as may inable them to preserve Health in others and also such an healing Virtue as may inable them to restore Health to those about them that are commonly or continually with them I mean by salutary Perspirations or sanative Effluvia's which stream plentifully from them For as the Bodies of Men in high Distempers are so full of morbific Virulence or Malignity in themselves as to breathe out such store of contagious Emissions as will infect others with the like Diseases so they that are arrived at this excellent Temper and delicate Complexion of Body which sends forth these salutiferous and medicinal Exhalations may secretly and unperceivably derive Health as well as preserve it to those Persons with whom they frequently or constantly converse NOTE VII Pag. 292. COncerning this Mark there are several Opinions Some think 't was a Letter out of the Name Jehovah stampt upon his Forehead Others that it was a fierce and furious and truculent Aspect arising from the Checks and Gripes of his clamorous and tormenting Conscience And truly a wounded and accusing Conscience does often change the very Looks of people blasting the pleasant Air of their Faces where the Guilt is much inferior to Cain's Others think it was a constant trembling of all his Members especially of his Head join'd with a lamentable dejection of Countenance and so the Fathers conceive it to be And that Expression Gen. 4.12 insinuates as much a Fugitive and Vagabond shalt thou be The Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify moved and agitated to which the Greek ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answer tossed and discomposed Intimating that he was subject to strange kind of Motions and Agitations in his Body the judicial Effects of GOD's Malediction upon him for his Fratricide And the appearance of these tremulous Motions about him did import or rather indicate so much terror and trouble in himself and imprint so much Awe and Dread upon others that they durst not do by him as he did by his poor Brother lest by contracting the same Guilt they should incurr the same dismal Punishment FINIS THE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE Usefulness of our Faculties and Passions What Religious Mourning is Two Sorts of it Public and Private The two Kinds of Private Mourning