all agree to put all the troubles and calamities of men into one heap on this De Consol ad Apollon condition that after every man had brought his and thrown them there then they should all come again and take every man an equal portion of them there would be a great many that now complain who would rather take up what they brought and go their ways contented with them And so Antimachus an Ancient Poet when his wife dyed whom he loved exceedingly he went and writ a Poem bearing her name wherein he reckoned up all the calamities that he could remember had befaln any in the world By this means he did deter himself from grief for how can one suffer the miseries which others endure if he cannot bear this light one of his own Fifthly It is better with us then with those of former times Let us compare our selves with the Ancient Christians Their children were snatcht out of their arms by the hands of tyrants They see their brains dasht out against the stones their friends were buried in fires or banished into strange places and they had no comforters left but God and themselves and their chiefest comfort was that they must shortly die the same death But notwithstanding all this and much more they did not take it heavily but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Photius speaks They bare it all thankefully Epist 234. and blessed God who could tell how to govern the world beyond all the thoughts of men Let not us who suffer but common things weep with an extraordinary sorrow when they who suffered most unnatural deaths did bear it with more then natural courage They might have been allowed to have wept blood rather then we to shed tears And yet they rejoyced as if their friends had been offered in Sacrifice to God and we weep as if they had been put to some shameful torments for their crimes Shall we mourn more for the death of a friend then they for a butchery What arguments had they to comfort them which we have not What Scripture had they before their eyes to stay their tears which we read not If either of us have more to comfort us then the other it is we for we have their most excellent example And when I think of the Mother of the seven Brethren mentioned in the Macabees Mac. 2.7 she calls my thoughts back a little further then the times of Christ Did she wring her hands when she saw the skin of her son stead off from his head Did she cast any tears into the fire wherein another of them was fryed No she speaks as chearfully as if they were not stripping them of their skins but cloathing them with a royal robe She looks upon them not as if they lay upon a pan of coals but in a bridal bed She exhorted them being filled with a couragious spirit saying V. 21 22. I cannot tell how you came into my womb for I neither gave you breath nor life neither was it I that formed the members of every one of you But doubtless the Creator of the world who formed the generation of man and found out the beginning of all things will also of his own mercy give you breath and life again as you now regard not your own selves for his sake This marvellous woman as she is called v. 20. knew very well that she did not give them life and therefore why should she take so heavily their death She considered they were none of hers and why should not the owner take them She knew that she did not lose them but only restore them That life sometimes is not worth the having That unless God will have us live no wise man would desire to live That none gives any thing unto God though it be his own but he gives them something better And therefore she said Die my sons for that 's the way to live What poorness of spirit then is it that we cannot see a soul put off her cloaths without so much ado That a Jewish woman could see seven souls torn out of their body with more courage then a Christian man can see one soul quietly to depart and leave its lodging I would wish every one to save his tears till some other time when he may have some greater occasion for them If he will weep let it be when he sees the bodies of his children or friends so mangled as theirs were But if he would not weep out his eyes then let him weep soberly and not as if he were drunk with sorrow now After we have taken this course with our selves §. 7. IV. We must think with what reason we weep we shall be the more prepared to hearken unto reason And let us proceed from making comparisons to ask our selves some Questions and stay till they give a good answer Let us know of our selves why we are so sad and heavy Let us speak to our souls and say Tell me what is the matter what is the cause of all this grief thou art a rational creature what reason hast thou for all this sorrow Thou art not to be pittyed meerly for thy tears if thou canst cry without any cause Hideous things appear sometimes before us to affright us but they are the Chimera's of a childish imagination and not things really existent Let us bid fancy then to stand aside a while and let reason speak what it is that so troubles us Children cry who cannot speak and we are not much troubled at it because they cry for they know not what Unless we therefore can tell why we weep no body will pitty us because it is not weeping that we are to mind but the cause of mens weeping Let me then propose these questions to be answered some of which will discover that there is no cause of lamentation when our friends die And if there be no cause that the fountain of tears should run that is cause enough to stop it up I. For whose sake dost thou weep For the sake of him that 's dead or for thy own No cause of mourning for their sakes who are dead Not for him that is dead sure for we suppose him to be happy Is it reasonable to say Ah me what shall I do I have lost a dear friend that shall eat and drink no more Alas he shall never hunger again never be sick again never be vexed and troubled and which is more he shall never die again Yet this is the frantick language of our tears if we weep for the sake of him that is gone Suppose thy friend should come to thee and shake thee by the hand and say My good friend why dost thou lament and afflict thy soul I am gone to the Paradise of God a sight most beautiful to be beheld and more rare to be enjoyed To that Paradise am I flown where there is nothing but joy and triumph nothing but friendship and endless love There am
either doth he willingly grieve us or send such things upon us that should molest us but he loves to have all his children in peace And Thirdly Believe fully that he hath the greatest mind to give that which will remedy the greatest cause of troubles and that is his Divine Grace and Holy Spirit Sin is that which makes all our sores so angry The Spirit of the most High is that which will enable us to mortifie it and this Spirit we may have as readily from him as a peice of bread from the hands of our dearest parent Go on couragiously therefore and be confident seeing there is nothing that God is more desirous to bestow then that which will cure us of all our griefs Of these I shall say no more and of the rest nothing at all least I should weary my other Readers though not You who have given me abundant testimony that I can do nothing to displease you and thereby laid a perpetual engagement upon me to be The most affectionate of those that love and serve you Symon Patrick From your house at Batersea October 4. 1659. Reader It was intended that the summ of this Discourse should have been given at the head of every Chapter But that being by an oversight neglected it is here presented to thee AN Intrduction shewing that all mens desires are seeking for quiet In the Gospel only it is to be found Christ bequeathed it is a Legacy to his Disciples The design of this Treatise Cap. 1. Two Reasons against trouble drawn from Christs promises and Gods providence Cap. 2. Three other Reasons which shew that we may be good whatsoever comes and we may turn it into good and if we do not it will be a double evil Cap. 3. Some other reasons from the kindness that may be intended us in every thing from the nature of the world and the nature of vertue Cap. 4. Where we must lay our foundation of settlement and how it must be laid Cap. 5. Two rules directing unto peace by understanding and doing and distinguishing of our duty Cap 6. Two Rules more concerning the choise of means and carelesness about events Cap. 7. The knowledge of four selves together with consideration of the necessary consequents of every thing are two other remedies against trouble Cap. 8. It is of great import to consider well what we enjoy and we should cast that in the Ballance against our wants which is the substance of one rule more Cap 9. Two Considerations more one of the wants of others another of the uncertainty of our own enjoyments Cap. 10. Three Directions more shewing how we should shut the world out of our selves and avoid self-flattery and take heed of rash anger at our own selves Cap. 11. Humility and self-annihilation knowledge and judgement simplicity and purity constancy and fixedness in one thing are four excellent means to keep us from trouble Cap. 12. A Caution and the Conclusion shewing that these things suppose the practice of some more general rules and that we must not have these truths to get when we have need of them The Contents of the second Discourse Sect. 1. IT shows the need of a Consolatory Discourse against the loss of our friends Sect. 2. The purpose of it is to show that we may grant nature leave to ease it self by moderate tears and two Advices are given to keep us from making an ill use of this grant Sect. 3. It shows rather what might be said then what is said in this present Treatise for moderating our sorrows But yet those examples which we have from others may move us to follow their rules and so a brief touch is made upon them Sect. 4. It teaches to consider what death is First Common Secondly Necessary Thirdly Good And if we thought more of it we should not be unwilling to part neither doth the manner of parting make any considerable difference Sect. 5. It contains comforts against the loss of Children Parents Consorts Friends upon a due consideration what every one of them is Sect. 6. It directs how to quiet our selves by comparing our selves both with our selves and with others and there are five wayes of comparison insisted on Sect. 7. Several reasons are given against immoderate sorrow which are comprised in 14. Questions which we should make to our selves The reason and spirit of them you may see in the Margin at the beginning of every particular Sect. 8 Some other things are proposed for the perfect cure of the soul The first of which is deadness to the world and the casting out false opinions The second is the changing of our sorrow into another kind The third is the Life of our Lord Jesus Sect. 9. The Conclusion It contains an advice to those that are in love with sorrow And an advice for the reaping profit by this book And a brief recapitulation of the chief matters in it ERRATA PAge 1. l. 10. r. the mind p 4. l. 3. r. it brings p. 6. l. 18. r have admitted p. 25. l. 19. r. thou hast left p. 32. l. 13. r. his arms p. 51. l. 6. r. other mens trouble p 59. Marg. r. non optet p. 81. Marg. l. 3. r. 2 Cor. 4.17 18. p. 98. Marg. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 119. l. 25. r. die then as p. 158. l. penult r. here are ten p. 175. l. 10. dele then p. 188. l. 17. r. well call THE HEARTS EASE OR A Remedy against TROUBLE JOHN 14.1 Let not your hearts be troubled IT is not either fineness of Wit or abundance of Wealth or any such like inward or outward ornament that makes the difference between men and renders the one better then the other but the firmness of good Principles the settledness of the spirit and the quiet of mind To the obtaining of which all the old Philosophers many hundreds of years before our Saviour did wisely summon all their forces all whose lessons when they are summed up amount only to this to teach a man how to be contented Socrates was upon this score accounted the best amongst them because though he understood but a little of the frame of nature yet he well understood himself and perceived that he was not the wisest man that could read rare things in the Stars and could follow the paths of the Sun and trace all the heavenly bodies in the course which they run but he that could tell how not to be troubled either for the want of that knowledge or for any other thing Christianity hath not a new design in hand but more rare and excellent instruments to effect the old What Heathens could speak of it enables us to do And still it is as true as ever it was That nothing betters a mans condition but that which rids him of all his griefs and eases him of his troubles So a great Divine among the Ancients observes Macarius Homil. 5 That Christians are not distinguished from others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
own pains There is nothing that I can say will work as Physick doth in the body by its natural force whether you think of it or no but every thing must have the help of your serious consideration and you must frequently practice according to what you think As the things that will give us peace must be laid in our selves so they cannot be there laid without our selves They cannot be applyed to our minds as a Salve or an Ointment to our bodies but by the force of our own thoughts we must work them into our souls One thing more of this nature I must add but I will reserve it till the conclusion and now give you those rules that we must live by telling you as I pass along for what particular disease each one of them is a proper remedy CAP. V. KNow thy duty and do it Charge not thy self with more then thy duty as those do who think they must always be at prayer or hearing Sermons or reading spiritual books or do make rash vows nor with less then thy duty as those do who content themselves with the observation of some precepts or a seldom regard to their whole work but labour to understand what God requires and industriously labour to perform it For it is impossible that either of those in the extreams should be at rest the one never because he can never do all that which he thinks he ought the other not alwayes because his conscience will sometime rebuke him and tell him that he is an hypocrite i. e. a partial Christian An ignorant person therefore or an idle person can have no true peace We must be 1. inquisitive into the Gospel and labour to understand what we have to do 2. and then resolve heartily and endeavour seriously to do it all 3. and then enquire what remedy there is if we fail and fall short after these hearty and serious endeavours The first and last of these do most concern our knowledge the middle our practice And the knowing and doing according to our knowledge and making use of the Antidote when we have miscarryed will keep us in peace from that trouble which arises from sin A wicked man cannot be in peace if he understand himself and you must not think that I come to prescribe to any but those who will be Christs Disciples and follow him for to such the text speaks and a man of a weak understanding will not be in peace therefore we must grow in knowledge if we would be without trouble and a Christian that walks carelesly without observance of himself ought not to be in peace till he grow more watchful and then if he be surprized he knows where to take refuge But there is no sanctuary in Christ for a trifling and unguarded spirit without great sorrow repentance amendment and after-care and diligence We must understand that every indisposition of body is not a sin and that our peace must not be broken because we are not alwayes in the same temper nor cannot so cheerfully do our duty c. We must know that a sudden surprisal a hasty passion a sudden thought is not to break us all in pieces And on the contrary we must know that our voluntary admission even of these or letting of them stay our not watching against them and our frequent falling into that sin which at first did but surprize us must trouble us and there is no peace unless we grow better and more seriously mind our duty Study therefore the Christian Religion as it is contained in the Gospel and then thou wilt find there is but this one thing more to be done to keep thee in peace viz. a careful endeavour to live as thou art directed And the sum of the Gospel is this Tit. 2.12 Live soberly righteously and godlily and where after all our care we fail 1 Joh 1 7 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all unrighteousness This first rule I conceive will make very good way for all the rest into our souls and will have a kind of universal influence into us upon all occasions We need be offended at nothing if we have a care not to offend God And I think he said truly who affirmed That there is no Joy but in God and no sorrow but in an evil conscience As thou must know thy duty So labour to distinguish between thy own duty and another mans And this will keep thee from being troubled at the actions and carriage of men in the world towards thee and others If men slight us and despise us and speak evil unjustly of us and take away our good name yea if they take away our estates c. if we be not angry nor filled with hatred and despight nor retaliate their wrongs then it is not we but they that ought to be troubled Our duty is secured and therein we should rejoyce And I may take occasion here to observe that we may learn our duty by their ill behaviour and study the more to avoid those things in our selves which do so much displease us in others If we be at all troubled let it be rather for the sin of him that injures us then for out own suffering This rule may be put into other words which will make it perhaps comprehensive of more cases Let us consider what is in our own power and what is not There is nothing in thy own power but thy own will and choise all other things are in the hand of God or in the power of other men It was never in thy power to be handsome or witty or born of noble or vertuous parents c. why then art thou troubled about such things But it is in thy power to be good and vertuous thy self to have a beauteous soul and to be rich in good works c. and if thou be not thus then thou art concerned If mens tongues be unruly and their hands be violent and thou sufferest unjustly by both how canst thou help it Thou art not troubled if a Dog bark or an Ass kick because it is their nature and thou canst not rule their motions And here the case is not at all altered for the tongues of men are as little in thy hands as the mouthes of Dogs Sir W. Raliegh These do alwayes bark as a judicious Author speaks at those they know not and it is their nature to accompany one another in those clamours So it is with the inconsiderate multitude Since these therefore are wholly in anothers choice they fall not under thy deliberation and therefore are not fit for thy passion Our anger at him that reproaches us c. may make us miserable but it cannot prevent what he hath in his power Thou maist do well and none can hinder it but to meet with no opposition is not in thy choice Do what thou canst the world may make
will breath into our dust and make it stand upon its feet And then in the mean time if our condition be never so sad and we be left all alone why do we not solace our selves in the great compassion of our High Priest who hath a feeling of all our miseries which we endure Can we expect that ever he should love us more then when we are like unto him in sufferings We should be so far from being sad at what befalls us that we should think if our condition was a little worse we should be more dear unto him then now it is when nothing extraordinary is hapned to us No man can be alone as long as he lives who hath said I will not leave you comfortless like fatherless children I will come to you Did not he bid his Disciples to be well content when he himself dyed Did he not leave his peace with them and bid them that their hearts should not be troubled And what is the death of one of our friends to the departure of the best friend to the world that ever was from his little flock of friends Did not Christ know what he said when he was going to die Did he advise them not to be troubled when it was impossible that they should be otherwise And if they were not to be troubled then I am sure we have less reason to be troubled now both because we have a less loss to bewail and we have a stronger and more excellent comfort against our loss Our friends are as much below him as his state in the grave was beneath that to which he is now advanced in the Heavens Their hearts were not to be troubled when He that is the Lover of the world was held in the chains of death because they knew that he would loose them Why then should we be disturbed for the death of one that loves us only when we know that Christ is risen and that he is in the Heavens Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject to him If an Angel was necessary for our comfort we should not want his Ministry He is so full of love and compassion towards us that if he did not think he had left Cordials enough to support us he would come himself to chear us and raise our friend as he did Lazarus from the dead But now we may well live in hope and he hath given us strong consolation and good hope through grace Let us have patience but a little and we shall not be capable of mourning any more All tears shall be wiped off from our eyes sighing and sorrow shall fly away Remember then I beseech you §. 9. Let no man therefore be in love with tears whosoever you are that cast your eyes on these lines what I said at the beginning Take heed you do not indulge your selves in your tears Est enim dolendi quaedam ambitio for there is a certain ambition even in mourning and men think that they shall be the better thought of for their grief But assure your selves that if we study to exceed one another in grief it is but just with God that we should never want misery enough seeing we are so ambitious of it If we will mourn immoderately when he would have us to be patient we shall not keep our selves patient when perhaps there is little or no cause to mourn When the air is disposed to rain it is a long time before we can recover fair weather and every little cloud will fall a weeping which at another time would have been dry and barren And just so it is with those that strive to gather as many clouds as they can to overcast them and make them sad It is so long before they can disperse them all that every little thing renews their grief as if a chearful day should never shine upon them more It was a very handsome device that one of the Ancient Philosophers used to comfort Arsinoe when he observed her to weep immoderately for her sons death Let me intreat you said he to lend me your patience till I tell you this story On a time Jupiter conferred honour upon all the lesser Gods or divine Powers and there was none of them wanting but only Sorrow When all the rest were gone away rejoycing she came and begged some honour also with many tears and intreaties Jupiter having conferred all honours that were worth any thing upon the other Heavenly Powers He granted to her all that which men bestow upon their dead friends viz. grief and tears as best befitting her quality Now all these little Deities said this wise man do love those most that love and honour them and so doth Sorrow also They bestow most of their gifts on their Votaries and those that pay them constant services and they care not for those that observe none of their ceremonies If you therefore bestow no honour upon Sorrow then she will not love you nor come to you But if you studiously seek how to please her and honor her by tears and lamentations and all such sad things that are the offices wherein she delights she will be in love with you you shall never want her company nor be without occasions of doing continual honour to her She will be continually supplying thee with tears to pour upon her Altar and filling thee with sighs which are the incense which she loves thou shouldst evaporate toward Heaven By this Art the wise man staid her tears for she knew that he meant that if we give way to grief we shall never want it and much more if we seek for arguments to aggravate it it will stick so fast unto us that it will never forsake us Though love and respect to our friends and the natural affection which distinguisheth us from beasts do allow and require a moderate sorrow and contristation of our spirit yet an intemperate grief and afflicting of our souls is unreasonable for it doth them no good and it is unnatural for it doth both our body and mind abundance of harm and let me add likewise that it is unchristian and argues that we have little hope in God either for our selves or others God hath done us the honour to make us Priests unto himself and you know it was the law for the Priests Lâ—v. 21. that none of them should mourn for a dead friend unless he was of their nearest kindred And therefore let us take heed how we make our selves unclean for the dead by weeping so that we should unfit our selves for any Christian service which God hath appointed us for our constant imployment Can you mourn and praise God too Can you pour out your souls to God while you pour out these tears of grief Can you pray in faith for other things and not be able to believe that you can live without a friend Can you read seriously when your eyes are sore with the sharpness of your sorrow Can you meditate of heavenly