THE BALM OF GILEAD Or, COMFORTS For the DISTRESSED; Both Moral and Divine. Most fit for these woeful Times. By Jos. HALL., D. D. and B. N. London, Printed by Thomas Newcomb; and are to be sold by John Holden, at the blue-Anchor in the New-Exchange. 1650. To all the distressed Members of Jesus Christ, wheresoever, whose souls are wounded with the present sense of their sins, or of their afflictions; or with ●he fears OF Death & Judgement: The Author humbly recommends this Sovereign BALM, which God hath been pleased to put into his hands for their benefit; earnestly exhorting them to apply it carefully to their several sores; together with their faithful prayers to God for a blessing upon the use thereof: Not doubting but (through God's mercy) they shall find thereby a sensible ease and comfort to their souls: which shall be helped on, by the fervent devotions of the unworthiest servant of God and his Church J. H. B. N. The CONTENTS. Comforts for the sick Bed. 1 The Preface. Sect. 1. AGgravation of the misery of sickness. 2 Sect. 2. 1 Comfort, from the freedom of the soul. 4 Sect. 3. 2 Comfort, from the Author of sickness, and the benefit of it. 7 Sect. 4. 3 Comfort, from the vicissitudes of health. 12 Sect. 5. 4 Sickness better than sinful health 14 Sect. 6. 5 Comfort from the greater sufferings of holier men, and the resolutions of Heathens 17 Sect. 7. 6 Our sufferings far below our deservings 24 Sect. 8. 7 Comfort from the benefit of the exercise of our patience 27 Sect. 9 8 The necessity of our expectation of sickness 29 Sect. 10. 9 Comfort from Gods most tender regard to us in sickness 31 Sect. 11. 10 Comfort, from the comfortable end of our suffering 34 Sect. 12. 11 Comfort, from the favour of a peaceable passage out of the world 36 Comforts for the sick soul 39 Sect. 1. The happiness of a deep sorrow for sin 39 Sect. 2. Comfort from the wel-grounded declaration of pardon 41 Sect. 3. Aggravation of the grievous condition of the patient, and the remedies from mercy applied 43 Sect. 4. Complaint of unrepentance and unbelief satisfied 47 Sect. 5. Complaint of a misgrounded sorrow, satisfied 49 Sect. 6. Complaint of the insufficient measure of sorrow for sin, answered 52 Sect. 7. Complaint of the want of faith, satisfied 57 Sect. 8. Complaint of the weakness of faith satisfied 63 Sect. 9 Complaint of inconstancy, and desertions, answered 66 Sect. 10. Complaint of unregeneration, and deadness in sin, satisfied 72 Sect. 11. Complaint of the insensibleness of the time and means of conversion, answered 87 Sect. 12. Complaint of irresolution, and uncertainty in matter of our election, answered 87 Comforts against Tentations 101 Sect. 1. Christ himself assaulted. Our trial is for our good 101 Sect. 2. The powerful assistance of God's Spirit; and the example of S. Paul 106 Sect. 3. The restraint of our spiritual enemies, and the infinite power of God over-matching them 109 Sect. 4. The advantage made to us by our Temptations and foils 113 Sect. 5. Complaint of relapses into sin, with the remedy of it 118 Comforts against weakness of Grace 125 Sect. 1. Comfort from the common condition of all Saints 125 Sect. 2. Comfort from the improvement of weak graces; and the free distribution of the Almighty 128 Sect. 3. Comfort from God's acceptation of the truth of grace, not the quantity 131 Sect. 4. Comfort from the variety of God's gifts; and the ages and statures of Grace 132 Sect. 5. Comfort from the safety of our condition even in leisurely progresses in Grace 134 Sect. 6. Comfort from our good desires and endeavours 136 Sect. 7. Comfort from the happiness of an humble poverty in spirit 137 Sect. 8. An incitement to so much the more caution and faster adherence to God 139 Comforts against Infamy and Disgrace 142 Sect. 1. Comfort from the like suffering of the holiest men, yea, of Christ himself 142 Sect. 2. Comfort of our recourse to God 145 Sect. 3. Comfort from the clearness of our conscience 147 Sect. 4. From the improvement of our reason 148 Sect. 5. From the cause of our suffering 149 Sect. 6. From our envied virtue 150 Sect. 7. From others slighting of just reproaches 153 Sect. 8. From the narrow bounds of infamy 154 Sect. 9 From the short life of slander 155 Comforts against public calamities 157 Sect. 1. Comfort from the inevitable necessity of changes 157 Sect. 2. From the sense and sympathy of common evils 159 Sect. 3. From the sure protection of the Almighty 161 Sect. 4. From the justice of God's proceedings 165 Sect. 5. The remedy, our particular repentance 167 Sect. 6. The unspeakable miseries of a Civil War 168 Sect. 7. The woeful miseries of Pestilence, allayed by consideration of the hand that inflicts it 173 Comforts against the loss of Friends 180 Sect. 1. The true value of a friend; and the fault of overprizing him 180 Sect. 2. The true ground of an undefeisible enjoying our friends 183 Sect. 3. The rarity and trial of true friends 185 Sect. 4. It is but a parting, not a loss 187 Sect. 5. The loss of a virtuous wife mitigated 189 Sect. 6. The mitigation of the loss of a dear and hopeful son 190 Comforts against poverty and loss of our estate. 193 Sect. 1. Comfort from the fickle nature of these earthly goods 193 Sect. 2. They are not ours, but lent us 196 Sect. 3. The estimation of our riches is in the mind 198 Sect. 4. It may be good for us to be held short 200 Sect. 5. The danger of abundance 201 Sect. 6. The cares that attend wealth 202 Sect. 7. The imperiousness of ill used wealth 203 Sect. 8. Consideration of the causes and means of impoverishing us 204 Sect. 9 Examples of those who have affected poverty 207 Comforts against Imprisonment 209 Sect. 1. Comfort from the nature and power of true liberty 209 Sect. 2. The sad objects of a free beholder's eye 211 Sect. 3. Comfort from the invisible company that cannot be kept from us 213 Sect. 4. Comfort from the inward disposition of the Prisoner 215 Sect. 5. The willing choice of retiredness in some persons 217 Sect. 6. Comfort from the causes of Imprisonment 218 Sect. 7. Comfort from the good effects of retiredness 222 Sect. 8. The souls imprisonment in the body ibid. Comforts against banishment 224 Sect. 1. Comfort from the universality of a wise man's Country 224 Sect. 2. From the benefit of self-conversation 227 Sect. 3. From the examples of those holy ones that have abandoned society 228 Sect. 4. From the advantage that hath been made of removing 231 Sect. 5. From the right we have in any Country, and in God 233 Sect. 6. From the practice of voluntary Travail 234 Sect. 7. All are Pilgrims 235 Comforts against the loss of our senses, of seeing, and hearing 236 Sect. 1. Comfort from the two inward lights of reasan and faith 236 Sect. 2. The supply of better eyes 239 Sect. 3. Comfort from the better object of inward sight ib. Sect. 4. The ill off●ices done by the eyes 241 Sect. 5. The freedom from temptations by the eye, and freedom from many sorrows 243 Sect. 6. The cheerfulness of some blind men 247 Sect. 7. The supply which God gives in other faculties 248 Sect. 8. The benefit of the eyes which once we had 252 Sect. 9 The supply of one sense by another 255 Sect. 10. The better condition of the inward ear 258 Sect. 11. The grief that arises from hearing evil things 260 Comforts against barrenness 261 Sect. 1. The blessing of fruitfulness, seasoned with sorrows 261 Sect. 2. The pains of childbearing 263 Sect. 3. The misery of ill disposed and undutiful children 265 Sect. 4. The cares of Parents for their children 267 Sect. 5. The great grief in the loss of children 273 Comforts against want of sleep 276 Sect. 1. The misery of the want of rest; with the best remedy 276 Sect. 2. The favour of freedom from pain 280 Sect. 2. The great favour of health without sleep 281 Sect. 4. Sleep is but a symptom of mortality 284 Sect. 5. No use of sleep whither we are going 286 Comforts against the inconveniencies of old age 287 Sect. 1. The illimitation of age and the miseries attending it 287 Sect. 2. Old age is a blessing 292 Sect. 3. The advantages of old age. 1 Fearlesness 295 Sect. 4. The next advantage of old age, Freedom from impetuous passions of lust 298 Sect. 5. The third advantage; Experimental knowledge 301 Sect. 6. Age in some persons vigorous and well-affected 306 Sect. 7. The fourth advantage of age; near approach to our end 308 Comforts against the fears and pains of death 311 Sect. 1. The fear of death natural 311 Sect. 2. Remedy of fear, acquaintance with death 313 Sect. 3. The misapprehension of death injurious 315 Sect. 4. Comfort from the common condition of men 318 Sect. 5. Death not feared by some 320 Sect. 6. Our deaths-day better than our birthday 322 Sect. 7. The sting of death pulled out 323 Sect. 8. Death but a parting to meet again 324 Sect. 9 Death but a sleep 326 Sect. 10. Death sweetened to us by Christ 330 Sect. 11. The painfulness of Christ's death 332 Sect. 12. The vanity and miseries of life 334 Sect. 13. Examples of the courageous resolutions of others 338 Sect. 14. The happy advantages of death 341 Comforts against the terrors of Judgement 347 Sect. 1. Aggravations of the fearfulness of the last judgement 347 Sect. 2. Comfort from the condition of the elect 350 Sect. 3. Awe more fit for thoughts of judgement, than terror 354 Sect. 4. In that great and terrible day, our Advocate is our judge 356 Sect. 5. Frequent meditation, and due preparation, the true remedy of fear 361 Comforts against the fears of spiritual enemies 364 Sect. 1. The great power of evil spirits, and their restraint 364 Sect. 2. The fear of the number of evil spirits, and the remedy of it 368 Sect. 3. The malice of the evil spirits, and our fears thereof remedied 373 Sect. 4. The great subtlety of evil spirits, and the remedy of the fear thereof 376 The universal Reeeipt for all Maladies 385 I Have perused this excellent Treatise, entitled, The Balm of GILEAD, containing in it many singular medicines, and sovereign Salves, compounded and made up with so many sweet and spiritual Ingredients of holy and heavenly consolations, as may be sufficient and effectual, being rightly applied, to cure and heal all sicknesses and sores of body and mind, caused by the fearful apprehension of imminent dangers, or the sense of present evils; unto which I subscribe my probatum est, and do allow it to be Printed and Published: JOHN DOWNAME. THE COMFORTER. Comforts for the sick Bed. The Preface. WHat should we do in this vale of tears, but bemoan each others miseries? Every man hath his load, and well is he whose burden is so easy that he may help his neighbours. Hear me, my son; my age hath waded through a world of sorrows; The Angel that hath hitherto redeemed my soul from all Gen. 48. 16. evil, and hath led me within few paces of the shore, offers to lend thee his hand, to guide thee in this dangerous foard; wherein every error is death; Let us follow him with an humble confidence, and be safe in the view and pity of the woeful miscarriages of others. § 1. Aggravation of the misery of sickness. Thou art now cast upon the bed of sickness; a Ps. 32▪ 3 roaring out all the day long for the extremity of thy pain, measuring the slow hours, not by minutes, Job 10▪ 1. but by groans; Thy soul is weary of thy life, through the intolerable anguish of thy spirit; Job 7. 11 Of all earthly afflictions this is the soarest. Job himself, after the sudden and astonishing new●● of the loss of his goods, Job 1. 21 and children, could yet bear up, and bless the God that gives and takes; but when his body was tormented, and was made one boil, Job 3. 3. now his patience is wretched so far as to curse (not his God, but) his Nativity. The great King questioning with his Cupbearer NEHEMIAH, Neh. 2. 2 can say, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? as implying, that the sick man of all other hath just cause to be dejected; worldly crosses are aloof off from us; sickness is in our bosom; those touch ours only, these ourselves; here, the whole man suffers; what could the body feel without the Soul, that animates it? how can the soul (which makes the body sensible) choose, but be most affected with that pain, whereof it gives sense to the body? Both partners have enough to do to encounter so fierce an enemy: The sharper assault requires the more powerful resistance; Recollect thyself, my son, and call up all the powers of thy soul, to grapple with so violent an enemy. § 2. 1 Comfort, from the freedom of the soul. Thy body is by a sore disease consigned to thy bed. I should be sorry to say, thou thyself wert so: Thy soul (which is thyself) is, I hope, elsewhere; That, however it is content to take a share in thy sufferings, soars above to the heaven of heavens; and is prostrate before the throne of grace, suing for mercy and forgiveness; beholding the face of thy glorious Mediator, interceding for thee: woe were to us if our souls were coffined up in our bosoms, so as they could not stir abroad, nor go any further than they are carried; like some snail, or tortoise, that cannot move out of the shell; Blessed be God, he hath given us active spirits, that can bestir themselves, whiles our bodies lie still; that can be so quick and nimble in their motions, as that they can pass from earth to heaven, ere our bodies can turn to the other side▪ and how much shall we be wanting to ourselves, if we do not make use of this spiritual agility; sending up these spirits of ours, from this dull clay of our bodies, to those regions of blessedness; that they may thence fetch comfort, to alleviate the sorrows of their heavy partners? Thus do thou, my son, employ thy better part; no pains of the worse can make thee miserable; That spiritual part of thine shall ere long be in bliss, whiles this earthen piece shall lie rotting in the grave: Why shouldst thou not, even now before thy separation, improve all the powers of it, to thy present advantage? Let that still behold the face of thy God in glory▪ whiles thy bodily eyes look upon those friends at thy bed side, which may pity, but cannot help thee. § 3. 2 Comfort from the author of sickness, and the benefit of it. Thou art pained with sickness: Consider seriously whence it is that thou thus smartest; Affliction cometh not out of the dust; couldst thou but hear the voice of thy disease, Job 5. 6. as well as thou feelest the stroke of it; it saith loud enough, Am I come up hither without the Lord to torment thee? 2 Kings 18. 25. The Lord hath said to me, Go up against this man, and afflict him. Couldst thou see the hand that smites thee, thou couldst not but kiss it; Why man, it is thy good God, the Father of all mercies, that lays these stripes upon thee; He that made thee, he that bought thee at so dear a rate as his own blood, it is he that chastiseth thee; and canst thou think he would whip thee but for thy good? Thou art a Father of children, and art acquainted with thine own bowels; Didst thou ever take the ●od into thy hand, out of a pleasure that thou tookest in smiting that flesh which is derived from thine own loins? Was it any ease to thee to make thy child smart, and bleed? Didst thou not suffer more than thou inflictedst? Couldst thou not rather have been content to have redeemed those his stripes with thine own? Yet thou sawest good reason to lay on, Prov. 19 18. and not to spare for his loud crying, and many tears; and canst say, thou hadst not loved him, if thou hadst not been so kindly severe: And if we that are evil, know how to give loving and beneficial correction unto our children, how much more shall our Father which is in heaven know how to beat us to our advantage? so as we may sing under the rod, with the blessed Psalmist; Ps. 119. 75. I know O Lord that thy judgements are right, and that of very faith fullness thou hast afflicted me. Might the child be made arbiter of his own chastisement, do we think he would award himself so much as one lash? yet the wiser parent knows he shall wrong him, if he do not inflict more; as having learned of wise Solomon; Prov. 23 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell; Love hath his strokes, saith Ambrose, which are so much the sweeter, by how much they are the harder set on: Dost thou not remember the message that the two sisters sent to our Saviour; Joh. 11. 3 Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick: Were it so that pain, or sickness, or any other the executioners of Divine justice should be let loose upon thee, to tyrannize over thee at pleasure, on purpose to render thee perfectly miserable; there were just reason for thy utter disheartening; now they are stinted, and go under commission; neither can they be allowed to have any other limits than thy own advantage: Tell me whether hadst thou rather be good, or be healthful: I know thou wouldst be both, and thinkst thou mayst well be so. Who is so little in his own favour as to imagine he can be the worse for faring well? But he that made thee looks farther into thee than thine own eyes can do; he sees thy vigour is turning wanton; and that if thy body be not sick, thy soul will: if he therefore find it sit to take down thy worse part a little, for the preventing of a mortal danger to the better, what cause hast thou to complain, yea, rather not to be thankful? When thou hast felt thy body in a distemper of fullness, thou hast gone to sea on purpose to make thyself sick; yet thou knewest that turning of thy head and stomach would be more painful to thee then thy former indisposition; why should not thine al●wise Creator take liberty to cure thee with an afflictious remedy? § 4, 3 Comfort, from the vicissitudes of health. Thou art now sick: Wert thou not before a long time healthful? Canst thou not be content to take thy turns? If thou hadst had more days of health than hours of sickness, Job 2. 10 how canst thou think thou hadst cause to repine? Had the divine Wisdom thought sit to mitigate thy many day's pain, with the ease of one hour, it had been well worthy of thy thanks; but now that it hath beforehand requited thy few painful hours, with years of perfect health, how unthankfully dost thou grudge at the condition? It was a foul mistake, if thou didst not from all earthly things expect a vicissitude; they cannot have their being without a change; As well may day be without a succession of night▪ and life without death, as a mortal body without sits of distemper; and how much better are these momentany changes, than that last change of a misery unchangeable? It was a woeful word that Father Abraham said to the damned glutron; Son, remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, Luk 16▪ 25. and Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented: Oh happy stripes wherewith we are here chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world! 1 Cor. 11. 32. Oh welcome fevers that may quit my soul from everlasting burnings! burnings 5, 4 Comfort Sickness better than sinful health. Thou complainest of sickness; I have known those that have bestowed tears upon their too much health, sadly bemoaning the fear and danger of God's disfavour for that they ailed nothing; and our Bromiard tells us of a devout man in his time, Bro. Sum. V. Infirmitas that bewailed his continued welfare as no small affliction; whom soon after God fitted with pain enough: The poor man joyed in the change, and held his sickness a mercy; neither indeed was it otherwise intended by him that sent it. Why are we too much dejected with that, which others complain to want? why should we find that so tedious to us, which others have wished? There have been Medicinal Agues, which the wise Physician hath cast his Patient into, for the cure of a worse distemper. A secure and lawless health, how ever Nature takes it, is the most dangerous indisposition of the soul: if that may be healed by some few bodily pangs, the advantage is unspeakable. Look upon some vigorous Gallant, that in the height of his spirit, and the heat of his blood, eagerly pursues his carnal delights, as thinking of no heaven, but the free delectation of his sense; and compare thy present estate with his: Here thou liest groaning, and sighing, and panting, and shifting thy weary sides, complaining of the heavy pace of the tedious hours; whiles he is fro licking with his jocund companions, carousing his large healths, sporting himself with his wanton mistress, and bathing himself in all sensual pleasures; and tell me whether of the two thou thinkest in the happier condition: Surely, if thou be not shrunk into nothing but mee● Sense, if thou hast not cast off all thoughts of another world, thou shalt pity the misery of that godless jollity; and gratulate to thyself the advantage of thine, humble and faithful suffering; as that which shall at last make thee an abundant amends, by yielding thee the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Heb. 12. 11. § 6. 5 Comfort: The greater sufferings of hol●er men; and the resolutions of heathens. Thy pain is grievous; I apprehend it such, and pity thee with all my soul. But let me tell thee, It is not such, but that holier men have susfered more. Dost thou not hear the great precedent of patience crying out from his dung ● hill; Job 6. 2, 3, 4. Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamities laid in the balance together! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirits: The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me? Psal. 22. 1. Dost thou not hear the man after Gods own heart speak of the voice of his roaring? Psal. 6. 6 Dost thou not see him that shrunk not from the Bear, the Lion, the Giant, drenching his bed with his tears? Dost thou not hear the Faithful crying out, Lam. 3. 1, 3, 4. I am the man that hath suffered affliction by the rod of his wrath, etc. Surely, against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day: My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. Might I not easily show thee the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, (the great favourites of heaven) some on the Gridirons, others in boiling Cal drons, some on the Spits, others under the Saws, some in the Flames, others crashed with the teeth of Wild beasts: some on the Racks, others in fiery furnaces: most of them in such torments, as in comparison whereof thy pains are but sport? Yea, what speak I of these mortal, and (at the best) sinful men; when thou mayst see the Son of God, the Lord of life, the King of glory, God blessed for ever, sweeting drops of blood in his dreadful agony; and mayst hear him cry upon the tree of shame and curse, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Alas, what are we capable to suffer in proportion of these tortures? Who are we, that we should think much to share with the best of God's Saints, yea with the dear and eternal Son of his love, our ever blessed Redeemer? Had not God found this the way to their heaven, they had not trod so deep in blood: Why do we grudge to wet our feet where they waded? Yea, if from these holy ones, thou shalt turn thine eyes to some mere Pagans, let me show thee the man whom we are wont to account infamous for voluptuousness; Epicurus, the Philosopher; who on his dying day, when he lay extremely tormented with the stone in the bladder, and a tearing Colic in his bowels, as it were gasping for life; yet even then writing to his Idomeneus, can out of the strength of his resolutions profess his cheerfulness; and can style even that day blessed. It was the same mouth that could boast, ●hat if he were frying in the brazen Bull of Phalaris, he could there find contentment. What should I tell thee of a Mutius Scaevola, who in a glorious revenge voluntarily burns off his own right hand, not without the envy and pity of his enemies: or of a Regulus, that after so high a provocation, offers himself to the worst of the merciless fury of his tormentors? Why shouldst thou think it strange (saith wise Seneca) that some men should be well pleased to be scorched, to be wounded, to be racked, to be killed? Frugality is a pain to the riotous; labour is a punishment to the lazy; continence is a misery to the wanton; study is a torture to the slothful: All these things are not in their own nature difficult; but we are feeble, and false-hearted. Shall these Pagans attain to this height of magnanimity, out of the bravery of their manly resolutions; and shall we Christians droop, and pule under gentler sufferings? whiles we profess to have moreover the advantage of Faith to uphold and cheer us? Poor Heathen souls! they never heard of any gracious Engagements of a merciful God to stand by them, and to comfort them: they never had met with those sweet messages from heaven; Call upon me in the day of thy trouble, Psal. 50. 15. and thou shalt glorify me: Come unto me, Mat. 11. 28. all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest: Strengthen ye the weak hands, Isai. 35. 3, 4. and confirm the feeble knees: Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. They had not the heart of a Job, to say, I know that my Redeemer lives; nor the eyes of a Steven, to pierce the heaven, and to see their Saviour standing at the right hand of God: but merely tugged it out in the strength of their natural courage, heightened with a vainglorious ambition of that fame which they did believe would survive them; whereas we Christians know that we have a God, the Father of all mercie●▪ to stand by us; a Redeemer, to deliver us; a Comforter, to strengthen and refresh us; sweet and unfail able promises, to sustain us; and at last, a crown of eternal glory, to recompense us. § 7. 6 Comfort: Our sufferings far below our deservings. Thou art pained with Sickness: Look not at what thou feelest, but at what thou hast deserved to feel. Why doth the living man complain? Man suffereth for his sin. Lam. 3. 39 Alas, the wages of every sin is death; a double death; of body, of soul●; temporal, eternal: Any thing below this, is mercy. There is not the least of thy many thousand transgressions but hath merited the infinite wrath of a just God; and thereby, more torments than thou art capable to undergo. What dost thou complain of ease? Luke 1●▪ Where thou owedst a thousand talents, thou art bidden to take thy bill, and sit down and write fifty: wil● thou not magnify the clemency of so favourable a creditor? Surely, were every twig wherewith thou smartest, a scorpion, and every breath that thou sendest forth, a flame; this were yet less than thy due. Oh the infinite goodness of our indulgent Father, that takes up with so gentle a correction! Tell me, thou nice & delicate patient, if thou canst not bear these stripes, how wilt thou be able to endure those that are infinitely sorer? Alas, what are these to that hell which abides for the impatient? There are exquisite pains, without mitigation; eternal pains, without intermission; which thou canst neither suffer nor avoid; fear them, whiles thou grudgest at these; lay thyself low under the hand of thy good God, and be thankful for a tolerable misery. How graciously hath the wisdom of our God thought fit to temper our afflictions; so contriving them, that if they be sharp, they are not long; and if they be long, they are not over-sharp; that our strength might not be over-laid by our trials, either way! Be content man; either thy languishment shall be easy, or thy pain soon over. Extreme and everlasting, are terms reserved for God's enemies in the other world: That is truly long, which hath no end; that is truly painful, which is not capable of any relaxation. What a short moment is it that thou canst suffer? short, yea nothing, in respect of that eternity which thou must either hope for, or fear. Smart a while patiently, that thou mayst not be infinitely miserable. § 8. 7 Comfort: T●● benefit 〈◊〉 the exercise of our pat●●ence. Thou complainest of pain: What use were there of thy Patience, if thou a●ledst nothing? God never gives virtues without an intent of their exercise. To what purpose were our Christian valour, if we had no enemy to encounter? Thus long thou hast lain quiet in a secure Garrison, where thou hast heard no trumpet but thine own, and hast turned thy drumshead into a Dicing table, lavishing out thy days in varieties of idle Recreations: now God draws thee forth into the field, and shows thee an enemy; where is thy Christian fortitude, if thou shrink back, and cowardly wheeling about, choosest rather to make use of thy heels, then of thy hands? Doth this beseem thee, who professest to fight under his colours, who is the Great Conqueror of Death and Hell? Is this the way to that happy Victory, which shall carry away a crown of glory? My son, if thou faint in the day of thine adversity, thy strength is but small: Stir up thine holy courage; Eph. 6. 10. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might: Buckle close with that fierce enemy wherewith thy God would have thee assaulted; looking up to him who hath said, and cannot fail to perform it; Be faithful to the death, and I will give thee a crown of life. § 9 8 Comfort: The necessity of expecting sickness. Thou art surprised with Sickness; whose fault is this but thine own? Who bade thee not to look for so sure a guest? The very frame of thy body should have put thee into other thoughts: Dost thou see this living fabric made up as a clock consisting of so many wheels, and gimmors? and couldst thou imagine that some of them should not be ever out of order? Couldst thou think that a Cottage, not too strongly built, and standing so bleak in the very mouth of the Winds, could for any long time hold tied, and unreaved? Yea, dost thou not rather wonder that it hath outstood so many blustering blasts, thus long, utterly unruined? or that the wires of that engine should so long have held pace with time? It was scarce 〈◊〉 patient question which Job Job 6. 12 asked: Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my fl●sh as brass? No, alas, Job, thy best metal is but ●lay; and thine, as all flesh, is grass; the clay mouldereth, and the grass withereth; what do we make account of any thing but misery and fickleness in this woeful region of change? If we will needs over-reckon our condition, we do but help to aggravate our own wretchedness. §. 10. 9 Comfort. Thou art retired to thy sick bed; Be of good comfort; God was never so near thee, God's most tender regard to us in sickness never so tenderly indulgent to thee as now: The whole, saith our Saviour, need no● the Physician, but the sick: Lo, the Physician, as being made for the time of necessity, Ecclus. 38. 1. cometh not but where there is need; and where need is, he will not fail to come. Our need is motive enough to him, Mat. 8. 17. who himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses; our health estranges him from us: Whiles thou art his patient, he cannot be kept off from thee; The Lord, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 41. 3 will strengthen thee upon the bed of languishing. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness: Lo, the heavenly comforter doth not only visit, but attend thee; and if thou find thy pallet uneasy, he shall turn, and soften it for thy repose. Canst thou not read Gods gracious indulgence in thine own disposition? Thou art a Parent of children; perhaps thou findest cause to affect one more than another, though all be dear enough; but if any one of them be cast down with a feverous distemper, now thou art more carefully busy about him then all the rest; how thou pitiest him, how thou pliest him with offers and receipts? with what silent anxiety dost thou watch by his couch? listening for every of his breathe; jealous of every whispering that might break off his slumber; answering every of his groans with so many sighs; and in short, so making of him for the time, that thy greatest darling seems the while neglected in comparison of this more needful charge: How much more shall the Father of mercies be compassionately intent upon the sufferings of his dear children, according to the proportion of their afflictions? § 11. 10 Comfort. The comfortable end of our sufferings▪ Thou art wholly taken up with the extremity of thy pains; Alas poor soul, thy purblind eyes see nothing but what is laid close to thee: It is thy sense which thou followest, but where is thy faith? Couldst thou look to the end of thy sufferings, thou couldst not but rejoice in tribulation▪ Let Patience have her perfect work, and thou shalt once say, It is well for me that I was afflicted; Thou mightst be jocund long enough ere thy jollity coul● make thee happy; Yea, wo● be to them that laugh here: Luk. 6. 25. But on the contrary, our light affliction, 2 Cor. 4. 17. which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory. Oh blessed improvement of a few groanes●● Oh glorious issue of a short brunt of sorrow! What do we going for Christians, if we be nothing but mere flesh and blood? And if we be more, we have more cause of joy then complaint; For whiles our outward man perisheth, 2 Cor. 4. 16. our inward man is renewed daily: Our outward man is but flesh, our inward is spirit; infinitely more noble than this living clay that we carry about us; whiles our spirit therefore gains more than our flesh is capable to lose, what reason have we not to boast of the bargain? Let not therefore these close curtains confine thy sight, but cast up thine eyes to that heaven whence thy soul came, and see there that crown of glory which thy God holds forth for all that overcome; and run with patience the race that is set before thee, looking unto jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, Heb. 12. 2. who is set down at the right hand of the throne of God; And solace thyself with the expectation of that blessedness, which if thy torments were no less than those of hell, would make more than abundant amends for all thy sufferings. §. 12. 11. Comfort. The favour of a peaceable passage out of the world. Thou art sick to die; having received the sentence of death in thyself; thy Physician hath given thee up to act this last part alone; neither art thou like to rise any more till the general resurrection; How many thousands have died lately, that would have thought it a great happiness to die thus quietly in their beds? whom the storm of war hath hurried away furiously into another world, snatching them suddenly out of this; not suffering them to take leave of that life which they are forced to abandon; whereas thou hast a fair leisure to prepare thyself for the entertainment of thy last guest; to set both thine house in order, and thy soul: It is no small advantage, my son, thus to see death at a distance, and to observe every of his paces towards thee; that thou mayst put thy self into a fit posture to meet this grim messenger of heaven, who comes to fetch thee to immortality; That dying thus by gentle degrees, thou hast the leisure with the holy Patriarch jacob, to call thy children about thee, to bequeath to each of them the dear legacy of thy last benediction; and that being encompassed with thy sad friends, now in thy long journey to a far country (though thine, and their home) thou mayst take a solemn farewell of them, as going somewhat before them to the appointed happy meeting place of glory and blessedness: That one of thine own may close up those eyes, which shall in their next opening, see the face of thy most glorious Saviour, and see this flesh (now ready to lie down in corruption) made like to his, in unspeakable glory. Comforts for the sick Soul. § 1. The happiness of a deep sorrow for sin. THy sin lies heavy upon thy soul: Blessed be God that thou feelest it so; many a one hath more weight upon him, and boasteth of ease. There is music in this complaint; the Father of mercy's delights to hear it, as next to the melody of Saints and Angels. Go on still, and continue these sorrowful notes, if ever thou look for sound comfort: 2 Cor. 7. 10. It is this godly sorrow that worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repent of. Weep still, and make not too much haste to dry up these tears; for they are precious, and held fit to be reserved in the bottle of the Almighty: Psal. 56. 8. Over-speedy remedies may prove injurious to the Patient: and as in the body, so in the soul, diseases and tumours must have their due maturation, ere there can be a perfect cure: Leu. 1. 9 The inwards of the Sacrifice must be three times rinsed with water; Hebr. doct. in locum. One ablution will not serve the turn: but when thou hast emptied thine eyes of tears, and unloaded thy breast of leisurely sighs, I shall then, by full commission from him that hath the power of remission, say to thee, Son, be of good comfort, thy sins are forgiven thee. § 2. Comfort from the welgrounded▪ declaration of pardon. Think not this word merely formal, and forceless: * Rev. 1. 18. He that hath the keys of hell, and of death, hath not said in vain, Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted. The words of his faithful Ministers on earth, are ratified in heaven: Only the Priest under the Law had power to pronounce the Leper clean: Leu. 13. 3. had any other Israelite done it, it had been as unprofitable, as presumptuous. It is a precious word that fell from Elihu; Job 33. 22, 23, 24. When a man's soul draweth nigh to the grave, and his life to the destroyer, if there be a messenger (of God) with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto that man his uprightness; then he (i. e. God) is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom. Behold, this is thy case, my son; the life of thy soul is in danger of the Destroyer, through his powerful temptations: I am (howsoever unworthy) a messenger sent to thee from heaven; and in the Name of that great God that sent me, I do here, upon the sight of thy serious repentance, before Angels and men, declare thy soul to stand right in the Court of heaven: the invaluable ransom of thy dear Saviour is laid down and accepted for thee; thou art delivered from going down into the pit of horror and perdition. § 3. Aggravation of the grievous condition of the Patient, and remedies from mercy applied. Oh happy message, thou sayest, were it as sure as it is comfortable! But, alas, my heart finds many and deep grounds of fear and diffidence, which will not easily be removed: That smites me, whiles you offer to acquit me; and tells me, I am in a worse condition than a looker on can imagine; my sins are beyond measure heinous, such as my thoughts tremble at, such as I dare not utter to the God that knows them, and against whom only they are committed: there is horror in their very remembrance; what will there then be in their retribution? They are bitter things that thou urgest against thyself, my son; no adversary could plead worse: But I admit thy vileness; be thou as bad as Satan can make thee: It is not either his malice, or thy wickedness that can shut thee out from mercy. Be thou as foul as sin can make thee, yet there is a fountain opened to the house of David (a bloody fountain in the side of thy Saviour) for sin, Zech. 13 1. and for uncleanness. Be thou as leprous as that Syrian was of old, if thou canst but wash seven times in the waters of this Jordan, 2 Kings 5. 18. thou canst not but be clean; thy flesh shall come again to thee, like to the flesh of a little child; thou shalt be at once sound and innocent. Be thou stung unto death with the fiery serpents of this wilderness, yet if thou canst but cast thine eyes to that Brazen Serpent which is erected there, thou canst not fail of cure. Wherefore came the Son of God into the world, 1 Tim. 1. 15. but to save sinners? Add, if thou wilt, whereof I am chief; thou canst say no worse by thyself then a better man did before thee; who in the right of a sinner, claimeth the benefit of a Saviour. Were it not for our sin, what use were there of a Redeemer? Were not our sin heinous, how should it have required such an expiation as the blood of the eternal Son of God? Take comfort to thyself, my son; the greatness of thy sin serves but to magnify the mercy of the Forgiver: to remit the debt of some few farthings, it were small thank; but to strike off the scores of thousands of talents, it is the height of boun●y: Thus doth thy God to thee; he hath suffered thee to run on in his books to so deep a sum, that when thy conscious heart hath proclaimed thee bankrupt, he may infinitely oblige thee, and glorify his own mercy in crossing the reckoning, and acquitting thy soul. All sums are equally dischargeable to the munificence of our great Creditor in heaven: as it is the act of his Justice, to call for the least; so of his Mercy, to forgive the greatest. Had we to do with a finite power, we had reason to sink under the burden of our sins: Now there is neither more nor less to that which is infinite: Only let thy care be, to lay hold on that infinite mercy which lies open to thee: And as thou art an object fit for mercy, in that thou art in thyself sinful, and miserable enough; so find thyself (as thou art) a subject meet to receive this mercy, as a penitent believer. Open and enlarge thy bosom, to take in this free grace, and close with thy blessed Saviour; and with, and in him, possess thyself of remission, peace, salvation. § 4. Complaints o● unrepentance an● unbelief. Sweet words (thou sayest) to those that are capable of them: But what is all this to me, that am neither penitent nor believer? Alas, that which is honey to others, is no better than gall & wormwood to me, who have not the grace to repent, and believe as I ought. Why wilt thou, my son, be so unwise, and unjust, as to take part with Satan against thine own soul? Why wilt thou be so unthankfully injurious to the Father of mercies, as to deny those graces which his good Spirit hath so freely bestowed upon thee? If thou wert not penitent for thy sins, wherefore are these tears? What mean these sighs, and sobs, and passionate expressions of sorrow which I hear from thee? It is no worldly loss that thus afflicts thee; it is no bodily distemper that thus disquiets thee: Doubtless, thou art soul-sick, my son, thy spirit is deeply wounded within thee; and what can thus affect thy soul, but sin? and what can this affection of thy soul be for sin, but true penitence? § 5. Complaints of a misgrounded sorrow, satisfied. Alas, thou sayest, I am indeed sorrowful for my sin, but not upon the right grounds; I grieve for the misery that my sin hath brought upon me, not for the evil of my sin●; for the punishment, not the offence; for my own danger, not for the displeasure of my good God. Beware, my son, lest an undue humility cause thee to belie the graces of God's Spirit: thou art no meet judge of thyself, whiles thou art under temptations: Had not thy sorrow a relation to thy God, why wouldst thou thus sigh● towards heaven? why would thy heart challenge thee for unkindness in offending? why dost thou cry out of the foulness, not only of the peril, of thy sin? What is it that makes the act of thy sin to be sinful, but the offence of the Divine Majesty? how canst thou then be sorry that thou hast sinned, and not be sorry that thou hast offended? Tell me, What is it that thy conscience primarily suggests to thee in this deep impression of thy sorrow? Is it, Thou shalt be punished? or i● it not rather, Thou hast sinned? And were it put to thy choice, whether thou hadst rather enjoy the favour of God, with the extremest smart, or be in his displeasure with ease; whether wouldst thou pitch upon? Or if liberty were tendered unto thee, that thou mightst freely sin without the danger of punishment; whether doth not thy heart rise at the condition, as ready to flee in the face of the offerer? Besides fear and horror, dost thou not find an inward kind of indignation at thy miscarriage, and such an hatred of thy sin, that were it to be done again, if it were possible to be hid from God, and men; and if there were not an hell to avenge it, thou wouldst abhor to commit it? All these are strong convictions of the right grounds of thy repentance, and of the wrong which thou dost to thine own soul, in the unjust scruples which thou raisest against it. § 6. Complaint of the insufficient measure of sorrow, satisfied. If the grounds (thou sayest) of my repentance be right, yet the measure is insufficient: I am sorrowful for my sins, but not enough: An effectual grief for sin should be serious, deep, hearty, intensive; mine is slight, and superficial: I sigh, but my sighs come not from the bottom of an humbled heart: I can sometimes weep, but I cannot pour out myself into tears: I mourn, but I do not dwell upon my sorrow. My son, thou hast to do with a God, which in all the dispositions of our soul regards truth, and not quantity: If he find thy remorse sound, he stands not upon measure: He doth not meet out our repentance by inches, or by hours; but where he finds sincerity of penitence, he is graciously indulgent: Look upon David, and acknowledge his sin formidably heinous; no less than adultery seconded with inebriation and murder; yet no sooner did he in a true compunction of heart cry Peccavi, 2 Sam 12▪ 13. I have sinned against the Lord; then he hears from the same mouth that accused him, The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die; you do not hear of any tearing of hair, or rending of garments, or knockings of breast, or lying in sackcloth and ashes; but only a penitent confession availing for the expiation of so grievous crimes. Thou art deceived, if thou thinkst God delights in the misery and afflictedness of his creature: So far only is the grief his dear ones pleasing unto him, as it may make for the health of their souls, in the● due sensibleness of their sin, in their meet capacity of mercy. I do not, with some Casuists, flatter thee with an opinion of the sufficiency of any slight attrition, and empty wishes that thou hadst not sinned; doubtless, a true contrition of spirit, and compunction of heart, are necessarily required to a saving repentance; and these, wert thou but an indifferent censurer of thine own ways, thou couldst not choose but find within thyself; why else is thy countenance so dejected, thy cheeks pale, and watered so oft with thy tears, thy sleeps broken, thy meal's stomacklesses? wherefore are thy so sad bemoanings, and vehement deprecations? But after all this, be thou such 〈◊〉 thou accusest thyself, defective in the measure of thy repentance; d●st thou rest contented in this con●ition? dost thou not complain of it as thy greatest misery? Art thou not heartily sorry that thou canst be no more sorry for thy sin? Comfort thyself, my son▪ even this, this alone is an acceptable degree of repentance: Our God, whose will is his deed, accounts ours so; What is repentance but a change of mind from evil to good? and how sensible is this change, that thou who formerly delightedst in thy sin, now abhorrest it, and thyself for it, and art yet ambitious of more grief for being transported into it? Let not the enemy of thy soul, who desires nothing more than to make thee perfectly miserable, win so much of thee, as to render thee unsatisfied with the measure of that penitence which is accepted of thy God; rather turn thine eyes from thy sins, and look up to heaven, and fasten them there upon thine all-sufficient Mediator at the right hand of Majesty; and see his face smiling upon thine humbled soul, and perfectly reconciling thee to his eternal Father; as being fully assured, Rom. 5. 1, 2. That being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. §. 7. Complaint of the want of faith, satisfied. Yea, there, there, thou sayest, is the very core of all my complaint; I want that faith that should give me an interest in my Saviour, and afford true comfort to my soul, Ephes. 3. 12. and boldness, and access with confidence to the throne of grace; I can sorrow, but I cannot believe: My grief is not so great as my infidelity: I see others full of joy and peace in believing; Rom. 15. 3. but my earthen heart cannot raise itself up to a comfortable apprehension of my Saviour; so as, me thinks, I dwell in a kind of disconsolate darkness, and a sad lumpishness of unbeleef; wanting that lightsome assurance which others profess to find in themselves. Take heed, my son, lest whiles thou art too querulous, thou prove unthankful; and lest whiles thine humbleness disparages thyself, thou make God a loser: Many a man may have a rich mine lying deep in his ground which he knows not of; There are shells that are inwardly furnished with pearls of great price, and are not sensible of their worth: This is thy condition; thou hast that grace▪ which thou complainest to want: It is no measuring of thyself by sense, especially in the time of temptation; Thou couldst not so feelingly bemoan the want of faith if thou hadst it not; Deny it if thou canst, thou assentest to the truth of all the gracious promises of God; thou acknowledgest he could not be himself if he were not a true God; yea truth itself; Thou canst not doubt but that he hath made sweet promises of free grace and mercy to all penitent sinners; thou canst not but grant that thou art sinful enough to need mercy, and sorrowful enough to desire and receive mercy: Canst thou but love thyself so well, as that when thou seest a pardon reached forth to thee to save thy soul from death, thou shouldst do any other than stretch forth thy hand to take it? Lo, this hand stretched forth is thy faith, which so takes spiritual hold of thy Saviour, that it calls not thy sense to witness. As for that assurance thou speakest of, they are happy that can truly feel, & maintain it; and it must be our holy ambition (what we may) to aspire unto it; but that is such an height of perfection, as every traveller in this wretched pilgrimage, cannot, whiles he is in this perplexed, and heavy way, hope to attain unto: It is an unsafe and perilous path, which those men have walked in, who have been wont to define all faith by assurance; Should I lead thee that way, it might cost thee a fall; so sure a certainty of our constant and reflected apprehension of eternal life, is both hard to get, and not easy to hold unmovably; considering the many and strong temptations that we are subject unto in this vale of misery and death: Should faith be reduced to this trial, it would be yet more rare than our Saviour hath foretold it: For, as many a one boasts of such an assurance, who is yet failing of a true faith, (hugging a vain presumption in stead of it) so many a one, also, hath true faith in the Lord jesus, who yet complains to want this assurance. Canst thou in a sense of thine own misery, close with thy Saviour? canst thou throw thyself into the arms of his mercy? canst thou trust him with thy soul, and repose thyself upon him for forgiveness and salvation? canst thou lay thyself before him as a miserable object of his grace and mercy? and when it is held forth to thee, canst thou lay some (though weak) hold upon it? Labour what thou mayst for further degrees of strength daily; set not up thy rest in this pitch of grace; but, cheer up thyself, my son, even thus much faith shall save thy soul: Thou believest; and he hath said it, Joh. 3. 36. that is Truth itself; He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life. § 8. Complaint of the weakness of faith, satisfied. I know, thou sayest, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; And that whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life: Joh. 3. 15. Neither can I deny, but that in a sense of my own sinful condition, I do cast myself in some measure upon my Saviour, and lay some hold upon his All-sufficient Redemption: But alas, my apprehensions of him are so feeble, as that they can afford no sound comfort to my soul. Courage, my son; were it that thou lookedst to be justified, and saved by the power of the very act of thy faith, thou hadst reason to be disheartened with the conscience of the weakness thereof: but now that the virtue and efficacy of this happy work is in the object apprehended by thee, which is the infinite merits and mercy of thy God and Saviour, (which cannot be abated by thine infirmities) thou hast cause to take heart to thyself, and cheerfully to expect his salvation. Understand thy case aright: Here is a double hand that helps us up towards heaven: our hand of Faith lays hold upon our Saviour; our Saviour's hand of mercy and plenteous redemption lays hold on us: our hold of him is feeble, and easily loosed; his hold of us is strong, and irresistible. Comfort thyself therefore, in this, with the blessed Apostle; When thou art weak, than thou art strong; when weak in thyself, strong in thy Redeemer. Shouldst thou boast of thy strength, and say, Tush, I shall never be moved; I should suspect the truth and safety of thy condition: now thou bewailest thy weakness, I cannot but encourage and congratulate the happy estate of thy soul. If work were stood upon, a strength of hand were necessary; but now, that only taking and receiving of a precious gift is required, why may not a weak hand do that as well as a strong? as well, though not as forcibly. Be not therefore dejected with the want of thine own power, but comfort thyself in the rich mercies of thy blessed Redeemer. § 9 Complaint of inconstancy, and desertion, answered. Now thou sayest; Sometimes, I confess, I find my heart at ease, in a comfortable reliance on my Saviour; and being well resolved of the safety of my estate, promise good days to myself; and after the banishment of my former fears, dare bid defiance to temptations: But alas, how soon is this fair weather over? how suddenly is this clear sky overclouded, and spread over with a sad darkness, and I return to my former heartlesness? Didst thou conceive, my son, that grace would put thee into a constant, and pepetually-invariable condition of soul, whiles thou art in this earthly warfare? Didst thou ever hear or read of any of God's prime Saints upon earth, that were unchangeable in their holy dispositions, whiles they continued in this region of mutability? Look upon the man after Gods own heart, thou shalt find him sometimes so courageous, as if the spirits of all his Worthies were met in his one bosom. How resolutely doth he blow off all dangers, trample on all enemies, triumph over all cross events? Another while thou shalt find him so dejected, as if he were not the man. One while, The Lord is my Shepherd, Psa. 23. 1 I shall lack nothing: Another while, Why art th●● so sad, 42. 14. my soul, and why art thou so disquieted within me? Psal. 3 6. One while, I will not be afraid for ten thousands of the people, that have set themselves against me round about: Another while, Psal. 17. 8, 9 Hide me under the shadow of thy wings, from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies who compass me about. One while, Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes, Psa. 26. 3 and I have walked in thy truth: Another while, Lord, Psal. 89. 49. where are thy loving kindnesses? Yea, dost thou not hear him with one breath professing his confidence, and lamenting his desertion? Lord, Psa. 30 7 by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. Look upon the chosen vessel, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, one while thou shalt see him erecting trophies in himself of victory to his God: In all these things we are more than conquerors, Rom. 8 37 through him that loved us: Another while thou shalt find him bewailing his own sinful condition; Oh wretched man that I am, Rom. 7▪ 2● who shall deliver me from the body of this death! One while thou shalt find him caught up into the third heaven, and there in the Paradise of God: another while thou shalt find him buffeted by the messenger of Satan, and sadly complaining to God of the violence of that assault. Hear the Spouse of Christ, (whether the Church in common, or the faithful soul) bemoaning herself, I opened to my Beloved, Cant. 5. 6. but my Beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. Thus it will be with thee, my Son, whiles thou art in this frail flesh; the temper of thy soul will be, like her partner, subject to vicissitudes. Shouldst thou continue always in the same state, I should more than suspect thee. This is the difference betwixt Nature and Grace, That Nature is still uniform, and like itself; Grace varies according to the pleasure of the giver: The Spirit breathes when and where it listeth. ●oh. 3. 8. When therefore thou findest the gracious spirations of the holy Ghost within thee, be thankful to the infinite munificence of that blessed Spirit; and still pray, Arise, Cant. 4. 1●. O North, and come thou South wind, ●blowe upon my garden, that the spices thereof may slow out. But when thou shalt find thy soul becalmed, and not a leaf stirring in this garden of thine; be not too much dejected with an ungrounded opinion of being destituted of thy God; neither do thou repine at the seasons, or measures of his bounty: that most free and infinitely-beneficent agent, will not be tied to our terms, but will give what, and how, and when he pleaseth: Only do thou humbly wait upon his goodness; Phil. 1. 6. and be confident, that he who hath begun his good work in thee, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. § 10. Complaint of unregeneration, and deadness in sin, answered. It is true (thou sayest) if God had begun his good work in me, he would at the last, for his own glories sake, make it up: But for me, I am a man dead in sins and trespasses; neither ever had I any true life of grace in me: some show, indeed, I have made of a Christian profession; but I have only beguiled the eyes of the world with a mere pretence; and have not found in myself the truth, and solidity of those heavenly virtues whereof I have made a formal ostentation. It were pity, my son, thou shouldst be so bad as thou makest thyself: I have no comfort in store for hypocrisy; no disposition can be more odious to the God of truth; in so much as when he would express his utmost vengeance against sinners, he hath no more fearful terms to set it forth, than I will appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. Mat. 24. 51. Were it thus with thee, it were more than high time for thee to resolve thyself into dust and ashes, and to put thyself into the hands of thine Almighty Creator, to be moulded anew by his powerful Spirit; and never to give thyself peace, Eph. 4. 23. till thou findest thyself renewed in the spirit of thy mind: But in the mean while, take heed lest thou be found guilty of misjudging thine own soul; and misprising the work of God's Spirit in thee: God hath been better to thee, than thou wilt be acknown of; Thou hast true life of grace in thee, and for the time perceivest it not: It is no heed to take of the doom thou passest upon thyself in the hour of temptation: When thy heart was free, thou wert in another mind, and shalt upon better advice return to thy former thoughts. It is with thee, as it was with Eu●ychus, that fell down from the third loft, and was taken up for dead; yet for all that, his life was in him. We have known those who have lain long in trances, without any perception of life; yea, some (as that subtle Joannes Duns Scotus) have been put into their graves for fully dead, when as yet their soul hath been in them, though unable to exert those faculties which might evince her hidden presence. Such thou mayest be, at the worst: yea, wert thou but in charity with thyself, thou wouldst be found in a much better condition. There is the same reason of the natural life, and the spiritual: Life, where it is, is discerned by breathing, sense, motion: Where there is the breath of life, there must be a life that sends it forth: If then the soul breathes forth holy desires, doubtless there is a life whence they proceed. Now deny, if thou canst, that thou hast these spiritual breathe of holy desires within thee? Dost thou not many a time sigh for thine own insensateness? Is not thine heart troubled with the thoughts of thy want of grace? Dost thou not truly desire that God would renew a right spirit within thee? Take comfort to thyself; this is the work of the inward principle of God's Spirit within thee: as well may a man breathe without life, as thou couldst be thus affected without grace: Sense is a quick discrier of life: pinch or wound a dead man, he feels nothing; but the living perceiveth the easiest touch. When thou hast heard the fearful judgements of God denounced against sinners, and laid home to the conscience, hast thou not found thy heart pierced with them? hast thou not shrunk inward, and secretly thought, How shall I decline this dreadful damnation? When thou hast heard the sweet mercies of God laid forth to penitent sinners, hath not thy heart silently said, Oh that I had my share in them! When thou hast heard the Name of Christ blasphemed, hast thou not felt a secret horror in thy bosom? All these argue a true spiritual life within thee. Motion is the most perfect discoverer of life: He that can stir his limbs, is surely not dead: The feet of the soul are the Affections: Hast thou not found in thyself an hate and detestation of that sin whereinto thou hast been miscarried? Hast thou not found in thyself a true grief of heart for thy wretched indisposition to all good things? Hast thou not found a secret love to, and complacency in those whom thou hast thought truly godly and conscionable? Without a true life of grace, these things could never have been: Are not thine eyes and hands many times lifted up in an imploration of mercy? Canst thou deny that thou hast a true, though but weak appetite to the means, and further degrees of grace? What can this be but that hunger and thirst after righteousness, to which our Saviour hath pronounced blessedness? Discomfort not thyself too much, son, with the present disappearance of grace, during the hour of thy temptation; it is no otherwise with thee, then with a ●ree in winter-season, whose sap is run down to the root; wherein there is no more show of the life of vegetation by any buds or blossoms that it might put forth, then if it were stark dead; yet when the Sun returns, and sends forth his comfortable beams in the spring, it burgens out afresh, and bewrays that vital juice which lay long hidden in the earth: No otherwise then with the hearth of some good huswife, which is towards night swept up, and hideth the fire under the heap of her ashes, a stranger would think it were quite out; here is no appearance of light, or heat, or smoke, but by that time she hath stirred it up a little, the bright gleeds show themselves, and are soon raised to a flame: Stay but till the spring, when the Sun of righteousness shall call up thy moisture into thy branches; stay but till the morning, when the fire of grace, which was raked up in the ashes, shall be drawn forth and quickened, and thou shalt find cause to say of thy heart, as jacob said of his hard lodging, Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not; Gen. 28. 16. Only do thou, not neglecting the means, wait patiently upon God's leisure; stay quietly upon the bank of this Bethesda, till the Angel descend and move the water. §. 11. Complaint of the insensibleness of the time and means of conversion. I could gladly, thou sayest, attend with patience upon God in this great and happy work of the excitation of grace, were I but sure I had it; could I be but persuaded of the truth of my conversion; but it is my great misery that here I am at a sad and uncomfortable loss; for I have been taught that every true convert can design the time, the place, the means, the manner of his conversion; and can show how near he was brought to the gates of death, how close to the very verge of hell, when God by a mighty and outstretched arm snatched him away, in his own sensible apprehension, from the pit, and suddenly rescued him from that damnation; and put him into a new state of spiritual life, and undefaisible salvation: All which I cannot do; not finding in myself any such sudden and vehement concussion, and heart-breaking; any such forcible, and irresistible operation of God's Spirit within me, not being able to design the Sermon that converted me, or those particular approaches that my soul made towards an hardly-recovered desperation. My son, it is not safe for any man to take upon him to set limits to the ways of the Almighty; or to prescribe certain rules to the proceedings of that infinite Wisdom; That most free, and alwise agent will not be tied to walk always in one path; but varies his courses according to the pleasure of his own will: One man he calls suddenly, another by leisure; one by a kind of holy violence, as he did S. Paul, another by sweet solicitations, as Philip, Nathaniel, Andrew, Peter, Matthew, and the rest of the Apostles; One man he draws to heaven with gracious invitations, another he drives thither by a strong hand; we have known those who having misspent their younger times in notoriously lewd and debauched courses, living as without God, yea, against him, have been suddenly heart-stricken with some powerful denunciation of judgement, which hath so wrought upon them that it hath brought them within sight of hell; who after long and deep humiliation, have been raised up through God's mercy, to a comfortable sense of the divine favour, and have proceeded to a very high degree of regeneration, and lived, and died Saints: But this is not every man's case; Those who having from their infancy been brought up in the nurture and fear of the Lord; Eph. 6. 4. and from their youth have been trained up under a godly and conscionable Ministry; where they have been continually plied with the essectuall means of grace; Precept upon precept, Isai. 28. 10. line upon line, here a little, and there a little; and have by an insensible conveyance received the gracious inoperations of the Spirit of God, (though not without many inward strifes with temptations, and sad fits of humiliation for their particular failings) framing them to all holy obedience, these cannot expect to find so sensible alterations in themselves; As well may the child know when he was naturally born, as these may know the instant of their spiritual regeneration; and as well may they see the grass to grow, as they can perceive their insensible increase of grace; It is enough that the child attaining to the use of reason, now knows that he was born: and that when we see the grass higher than we left it, we know that it is grown. Let it then suffice thee, my son, to know, that the thing is done, though thou canst not define the time, and manner of doing it: Be not curious in matter of particular perceptions, whiles thou mayst be assured of the reality & truth of the grace wrought in thee: Thou seest the skilful Chirurgeon, when he will make a fontinell in the body of his patient, he can do it either by a sudden incision, or by a leisurely corrasive; both sort to one end, and equally tend towards health: trust God with thyself, and let him alone with his own work: what is it to thee which way he thinks best to bring about thy salvation? § 12. Complaint of irresolution, and uncertain●y in matter of our election, answered. All were safe, thou sayest, if only I could be ascertained of mine election to life: I could be patient, so I might be sure: But, wretched man that I am, here, here I stick●: I see others walk confidently, and comfortably, as if they were in heaven already; whereas I droop under a continual diffidence; raising unto myself daily new arguments of my distrust: could my heart be settled in this assurance, nothing could ever make me other then happy. It is true, my son, that as all other mercies flow from this of our election, so the securing of this one, involves all other favours that concern the well-being of our souls. It is no less true, that our election may be assured; else the holy Ghost had never laid so deep a charge upon us, to do our utmost endeavour to ascertain it: and we shall be much wanting to ourselves, if hearing so excellent a blessing may be attained by our diligence, we shall slacken our hand, and not stretch it forth to the height, to reach that crown which is held out to us: But withal, it is true, that if there were not difficulty more than ordinary in this work, the Apostle had not so earnestly called for the utmost of our endeavour to effect it. 2 Pet. 1. 10. Shortly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the truth is, in all Christianity there is no path, wherein there is more need of treading warily, then in this: on each side is danger and death; Security lies on the one hand, Presumption on the other: the miscarriage either way, is deadly. Look about thee, and see the miserable examples on both kinds: some walk carelessly, as if there were no heaven; or if there were such a place, yet, as if it nothing concerned them: their hearts are taken up with earth; neither care nor wish to be other than this world can make them: The god of this world hath blinded their minds that believe not: 2 Cor. 4. 4. Some others walk proudly, being vainly puffed up with their own ungrounded imaginations, as if they were already invested with their glory; as if, being rapt up with the chosen vessel into the third heaven, they had there seen their names reco●●ded in the book of life; where as this is nothing but an illusion of that lying spirit, who knows the way to keep them for ever out of heaven, is, to make them believe they are there. It must be thy main care to walk even, in a jus● equidistance from both these extremes, and so to compose thyself, that thou mayst be resolute without presumption, and careful without diffidence. And first, I advise thee to abandon those false Teachers, whose trade is to improve their wits for the discomfort of souls, in broaching the sad doctrines of uncertainty and distrust: Be sure, our Saviour had never bidden his disciples to re●joyce that their names are written in heaven, Luk. 10▪ 20. if there had not been a particular enrolment of them▪ or if that Record had been alterable; or if the same Disciples could never have attained to the notice of such inscription. Neither is this a mercy peculiar to his domestic followers alone, but universal to all that shall believe through their word; even thou and I are spoken to in them, so sure as we have names, we may know them registered in those eternal Records above. Not that we should take an Acesius his Ladder, and climb up into heaven, and turn over the book of God's secret counsels, and read ourselves designed to glory: but that as we by experience see that we can by reflections see and read those Letters, which directly we cannot: So we may do here, in this highest of spiritual objects. The same Apostle that gives us our charge, gives us withal our direction: 2 Pet. 1. 10, 11. Wherefore (saith he) brethren, give all diligence to make your calling and election sure; (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as divers copies read it; by good works:) For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Lo, first our Calling, than our Election: not that we should begin with heaven, and thence descend to the earth; (it is enough for the Angels on that celestial Ladder of Jacob, to both descend, and ascend:) but that we should from earth ascend to heaven; from our Calling to our Election: as knowing that God shows what he hath done for us above, by that which he hath wrought in us here below. Our Calling therefore first; not outward, and formal, but inward, and effectual. The Spirit of God hath a voice, and our soul hath an ear: that voice of the Spirit speaks inwardly, and effectually to the ear of the soul, calling us out of the state of corrupt Nature, into the state of Grace; out of darkness into his marvellous light. By thy calling therefore mayst thou judge of thine election: God never works in vain, neither doth he ●ver cast away his saving graces, (what ever become of the common;) But whom he did predestinate, Rom. 8. 30. them also he called; and whom he called, them he justified; and whom he justified, them also he glorified. This doubtless, thou sayest, is sure in itself; but how is it assured to me? Resp. That which the Apostle adds, (as it is read in some copies) By good works, (if therein we also comprehend the acts of believing, and repenting) is a notable evidence of our election: But not to urge that clause, which (though read in the vulgar) is found wanting in our editions; the clear words of the Text evince no less; For, if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: here is our negative certainty: And for our positive; So, an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: Lo, if we shall never fall, if we shall undoubtedly enter into the Kingdom of Christ; what possible scruple can be made of the blessed accomplishment of our election? What then are these things, which must be done by us? Cast your eyes upon that precious chain of graces which you shall find stringed up in the fore going words; 2 Pet. 1. 5, 6. If you add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. If you would know what God hath written concerning you in heaven, look into your own bosom, see what graces he hath there wrought in you: Truth of grace (saith the divine Apostle) will make good the certainty of your election. Not to instance in the rest of that heavenly combination; do but single out the first and the last, Faith and Charity: For Faith, how clear is that of our Saviour, He that believeth in him that sent me, Joh. 5. 24. hath everlasting-life, and shall not come into condemnation, but hath passed from death to life? Lo, what access can danger have into heaven? All the peril is in the way: now the believer is already passed into life: This is the grace, by which Christ dwells in our hearts; Eph. 3. 17▪ and whereby we have communion with Christ, and an assured testimony of, and from him: 1 Joh. ●▪ 10▪ For, he that believeth in the Son of God, hath the witness in himself: And what witness is that? 1 Joh. 5. 11, 12. This is the record, that God hath given us eternal life; and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son, hath life. O happy and sure connexion! Eternal life first; This life eternal is in and by Christ Jesus; This Jesus is ours by faith; This faith witnesseth to our souls our assurance of life eternal. Chari●y is the last; which comprehends our love both to God and man: for from the reflection of God's love to us, there ariseth a love from us to God again: The beloved Disciple can say. 1 Joh. 4. 19▪ We love him, because he loved us first: and from both these, resulteth our love to our brethren: Behold, so full an evidence, that the Apostle tells us expressly, That we know we are passed from death to life, 1 Joh. 3. 14. because we love the brethren: For the love of the Father is inseparable from the love of the Son: He that loveth him that begets, 1 Joh. 5. 1▪ loves him that is begotten of him. Now then, my son, deal unpartially with thine own heart; ask of it seriously, as in the presence of the searcher of all hearts, Whether thou dost not find in thyself these unfailing evidences of thine election: Art thou not effectually (though not perfectly) called out of the world, and corrupt nature? Dost thou not inwardly abhor thy former sinful ways? Dost thou not think o● what thou wert with detestation? Dost thou not heartily desire and endeavour to be in all things approved to God, and conformed to thy Saviour? Dost thou not gladly cast thyself upon the Lord Jesus, and depend upon his free all-sufficiency for pardon and salvation? Dost thou not love that infinite good●ness, who hath been so rich in mercies to thee? Dost thou not love and bless those gleams of goodness which he hath cast upon his Saints on earth? In plain terms, Dost thou no● love a good man because he is good? Comfort thyself in the Lord, my son; let no fainting qualms of fear and distrust possess thy soul: 1 Thes. 5 24. Faithful is he that hath called thee, who will also preserve thy whole spirit, 1 Thes. 5 23. and soul, and body blameless unto the coming of oer Lord Jesus Christ. Comfort against Temptations. § 1. Christ himself assaulted: our trial is for our good. THou art haunted with Temptations: that which the Enemy sees he cannot do by force or fraud, he seeks to effect by importunity. Can this seem strange to thee, when thou seest the Son of God in the Wilderness forty days and forty nights under the hand of the Tempter? He that durst thus set upon the Captain of our salvation, Heb. 2. 10. God blessed for ever; how shall he spare frail flesh and blood? Why should that Saviour of thine (thinkst thou) suffer himself to be tempted, if not to bear thee out in all thy temptations? The keys of the bottomless pit are in his hands; he could have shut up that presumptuous spirit under chains of darkness, so as he could have come no nearer to him then hell; but he would let him lose, and permit him to do his worst, purposely, that we might not think much to be tempted, and that he might foil that great enemy for us. Canst thou think that he, who now sits at the right hand of Majesty, commanding all the powers of heaven, earth, hell, could not easily keep off that malignant spirit from assailing thee? Canst thou think him less merciful than mighty? Would he die to save thee? and will he turn that bandog of hell loose upon thee to worry thee? Dost thou not pray daily to thy Father in heaven, that he would not lead thee into temptation? If thou knowest thou hast to do with a God that heareth prayers, oh thou of little faith, why fearest thou? Lo, he that was led by his own divine Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of that evil Spirit, bids thee pray to the Father that he would not lead thee into temptation; as implying that thou couldst not go into temptation, unless he led thee; and whiles he that is thy Father leads thee, how canst thou miscarry? Let no man when he is tempted, james 1. 13. say, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: God tempteth thee not, my son; yet know, that being his, thou couldst not be tempted without him; both permitting, and ordering that temptation to his own glory, and thy good. That grace which thy God hath given thee, he will have thus exercised, thus manifested; So we have known some indulgent Father, who being assured of the skill and valour of his dear son, puts him upon Tilt, and Barriers, and public Duels, and looks on with contentment, as well knowing that he will come off with honour: How had we known the admirable continency of good Joseph, if he had not been strongly solicited by a wanton Mistress? How had we known David's valour, if the Philistims had not had a Giantly Challenger to encounter him▪ How had we known the invincible piety of the three Children, if there had not been a Furnace to try them? or of Daniel, if there had been no Lions to accompany him? Be confident, thy glory shall be according to the proportion of thy trial; neither couldst thou ever be so happy, if thou hadst not been beholden to temptations. §. 2. The powerful assistance of God's Spirit, and the example of S. Paul. How often (thou sayest) have I beaten off these wicked suggestions, yet still they turn upon me again, as if denials invited them, as if they meant to tyre me with their continual solicitations; as if I must yield, & be over-laid, though not with their force, yet with their frequency? Know, my son, that thou hast to do with spiritual wickednesses; Eph. 6. 12. whose nature is therefore as unweariable, as their malice unsatisfiable: Thou hast a spirit of thine own, and besides, God hath given thee of his; so as he looks thou shouldst, through the power of his gracious assistance, match the importunity of that evil spirit, with an indefatigable resistance: Be strong therefore in the Lord, Eph. 6. 10, 11, 13. and in the power of his might; and put in the whole armour of God, that thou mayst be able to withstand ●n the evil day, and having done all to stand: Look upon a stronger Champion than thyself, the blessed Apostle; thou shalt find him in thine own condition; 2 Cor. 12. 7. see the missenger of Satan sent to buffet him; and he did it to purpose; how sound was that chosen vessel buffeted on both sides, and how often? Thrice he besought the Lord that it might depart from him; but even yet it would not be; the temptation holds, only a comfort shall countervail it, My grace is sufficient for thee, Verse 8, 9 for my strength is made perfect in weakness▪ It is not so much to be considered how hard thou art laid at, as how strongly thou art upheld: How many with the blessed Martyr Theodorus, have upon racks and gibbets found their consolations stronger than their pains? Whiles therefore the goodness of thy God sustains, and supplies thee with abundance of spiritual vigour and refreshment answerable to the worst of thine assaults, what cause hast thou to complain of suffering? The advice is high and heroical, which the Apostle James, giveth to his Compatriots; My brethren, james 1. 2. count it all joy, when ye f●ll into divers temptations; Let those temptations be rather trials by afflictions, than suggestions of sin; yet even those overcome yield no small cause of triumph; for by them is our faith no less tried, and the trying of our saith worketh patience; and the perfect work of patience is a blessed entireness of grace; The number of enemies adds to the praise of the victory; To overcome single temptations is commendable, but to subdue Troops of temptations is glorious. § 3. The restraint of our spiritual enemies, and their over-matching by the power of God. Alas, thou sayest, I am overlaid not with multitudes only, but with power: In all challenges of Duels, there is wont to be respect had to the equality both of the Combatants and weapons; But woe is me, how am I overmatched! For me, I am a weak wretch; and we wrestle not against flesh and blood, Eph. 6. 12. but against Principalities and powers; against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places: Amos 2. 9 Behold, the Amorite, whose height is like the height of the Cedars, and their strength as the strength of oaks: What are we but poor pismires in the valley, to these men of measures? Who can stand before these sons of Anak? I did not advise thee, my son, to be strong in thyself; alas, we are all made up of weakness: One of those powers of darkness were able to subdue a whole world of men; but to be strong in the Lord, whose lowest Angel is able to vanquish a whole hell of Devils; and in the power of his might, who commandeth the most furious of those infernal spirits to their chains: Woe were us, if we were left in our own hands; there were no way with us but foiling, and death: But, our help is in the Name of the Lord, Psa. 124. 8. who hath made heaven and earth. Psa. 28. 7 The Lord is our strength and our shield; he is our rock and our salvation; Psal. 62. 2, 6. he is our defence, so as we shall not be moved. Psal. 18. 29, 40. It is he that hath girded us with strength unto battle, and that subdueth those that rise up against us. Take courage therefore to thyself, man; there cannot be so much difference betwixt thee, and those hellish powers, as there is betwixt them, and the Almighty: their force is finite, and limited by his omnipotence. How fain dost thou think Jannes and Jambres, the great Magicians of Egypt, by the conjoined powers of hell, would have made but a Louse, in an affront to Moses? yet they could not. How earnestly was that legion of Devils fain to beg but for leave to prevail over a few Gaderene-swine? How strong therefore soever they 〈◊〉 to thee, yet to him they are so mere weakness, that they cannot so much as move without him. Who can fear a Bear or a Lion, when he sees them chained to their stake? Even children can behold them baited, when they see their restraint. Look not upon thyself therefore; look not upon them; but look up to that overruling hand of the Almighty, who ordinates' all their motions to his own holy purposes, and even out of their malice, raises glory to himself, and advantage to his servants. §. 4. The advantage that is made to 〈◊〉 by our temptations and foils. It is a woeful advantage, thou sayst, that I have made of temptations: for, alas, I have been shamefully foiled by them; and what by their subtlety, and what by their violence, have been miscarried into a grievous sin against my God, and lie down in a just confusion of face to have been so miserably vanquished. Hadst thou wanted tears, my son, for thine offence, I should willingly have lent thee some: It is indeed a heavy case, that thou hast given thy deadly enemy this cause to triumph over thee, and hast thus provoked thy God: Be thou thoroughly humbled under the consci●ence of thy sin, and be not too sudden in snatching a pardon out of the hand which thou hast offended: be humbled; but after thou hast made thy peace with God, by a serious repentance, be not disheartened with thy fa●lings; neither do I fear to tell thee of an advantage to be made, not of thy temptations only, but even of thy sin: What art thou other than a gainer, if having been beaten down to thy knees, thou hast in an holy indignation risen up, and fought so much the more valiantly? A wound received, doth but whet the edge of true fortitude: Many a one had never been victorious, if he had not seen himself bleed first. Look where thou wilt, upon all the Saints of God; mark if thou canst see any one of them without his scars: Oh the fearful gashes that we have seen in the noblest of God's Champions upon earth, whose courage had never been raised so high, if it had not been out of the sense of some former discomfitures! As some well-spirited wrestler, therefore, be not so much troubled with thy fall, as zealous to repay it with a more successful grappling. We know (saith the blessed Apostle) that all things work together for good to them that love God: ●om. 8. 28. All things; yea, even those that are worse than nothing, their very sins. The Corinthians offended in their silent connivance at the incestuous person: the Apostles reproof produceth their sorrow: what was the issue? Cor. 7. 11. For behold, this selfsame thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you? yea, what clearing of yourselves; yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge? Lo, what a marvellous advantage is here made of one offence? What hath Satan now gotten by this match? One poor Corinthian is misled to an incestuous copulation: The evil spirit rejoiceth to have got such a prey; but how long shall he enjoy it? Soon after the offending soul, upon the Apostles holy censure is reclaimed; he is delivered over to Satan, that Satan should never possess him. The Corinthians are raised to a greater height of godly zeal then ever. Corinth had never been so rich in grace, if it had not been defiled with so foul a crime. Say now, whether this be not, in effect, thy case? Shouldst thou ever have so much hated thy sin, if thou hadst not been drawn in to commit it? Shouldst thou have found in thyself so fervent love to thy God, if it had not been out of the sense of his great mercy in remitting it? Wouldst thou have been so wary of thy steps as now thou art, if thou hadst never slipped? Give glory to God, my son, whiles thou givest shame to thyself; and bless him for the benefit that he hath been pleased to make of thine offending him. § 5. complaint 〈◊〉 relapses 〈◊〉 to sin; ●ith the ●●medy ●ereof. But, alas, thou sayst, my case is far worse than it is conceived; I have been more than once miscarried into the same sin: Even after I have made profession of my repentance, I have been transported into my former wickedness: Having washed off my sin (as I thought) with my many tears, yet I have suffered my soul to be defiled with it again. I may not flatter thee, my son; this condition is dangerous. Those diseases, which upon their first seizure have without any great peril of the Patient received cure, after a recidivation have threatened death. Look upon the Saints of God, thou shalt find they have kept aloof from that fire wherewith they have been formerly burnt: Thou shalt not find Noah again uncovered through drunkenness in his tent; thou shalt not find Judah climbing up again to Tamars' bed; Thou shalt not take Peter again in the High-Priests hall denying his Master; or (after Paul's reproof) halting in his dissimulation. Gal. 2. 11, 12, 13. But, tell me, notwithstanding, art thou truly serious with thy God? hast thou doubled thine humiliation for the reduplication of thine offence? hast thou sought God so much the more instantly with an unfeigned contrition of heart? hast thou found thy soul wrought to so much greater detestation of thy sin, as thine acquain●tance with it hath been more? hast thou taken this occasion to lay better hold on thy Saviour, and to reinforce the vows of thy more careful and strict obedience? Be of good cheer; this unpurposed reiteration of thy sin, shall be no prejudice to thy salvation. It is one thing for a man to walk on willingly in a beaten path of sin; another thing for a man to be justled out of the way of righteousness by the violence of a temptation, which he soon recovers again by a sound repentance. The best cannot but be overtaken with sin: but, 1 Joh. 3. 9 he that is born of God, doth not commit sin: he may be transported whither he meant not, but he makes not a trade of doing ill: his heart is against that which his hand is drawn unto: and if in this inward strife he be overpowered, he lies not down in a willing yeeldance, but struggles up again, and in a resumed courage and indignation tramples on that which formerly supplanted him. Didst thou give thyself over to a resolved course of sinning, and betwixt while shouldst knock thy breast with a formal God forgive me, I should have no comfort in store for thee, but send thee rather to the Whipping-stock of the Almighty for due correction, if possibly those seasonable stripes may prevent thine everlasting torments: But now, Rom. 7. 15, 16, 17. since what thou hatest, that thou dost; and thou dost that which thou wouldst not; and it is no more th●u that dost it, but sin that dwells in thee; cry out as much as thou wilt on the sinfulness of thy sin; Rom. 7. 13. bewail thy weakness with a better man than thyself; O wretched man that I am, Rom. 7. 24. who shall deliver me from the body of this death! But know, that thou hast found mercy with thy God: thy repeated sin may grieve, but cannot hurt thy soul. Had we to do with a finite compassion, it might be abated by spending itself upon a frequent remission; like as some great river may be drawn dry by many small outlets: But now that we deal with a God whose mercy is as himself, infinite; it is not the greatness or the number of our offences that can make a difference in his free remissions: That God who hath charged our weak charity not to be overcome with evil, Rom. 12▪ ult▪ but to overcome evil with good, justly scorneth that we should think his infinite and incomprehensible goodness can be checked with our evil. It was not without a singular providence, that Peter came to our Saviour with that question in his mouth, Lord, Mat. 18. 21. how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? that it might fetch from that blessed Son of God that gracious answer, for our perpetual direction and comfort; Mat. 18. 22. I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Lord, if thou wouldst have us sinful men thus indulgent to one another, in the case of our mutual offences; what limits can be set to thy mercies in our sins against thee? Be we penitent, thou canst not but be gracious. Comforts against weakness of grace. §. 1. Comfort from the common condition of all Saints. THou complainest of the weakness of grace; some little stir thou feelest of God's Spirit within thee; but so feeble, that thou canst not find any solid comfort in them: Thou seest others (thou sayst) whose breasts are full of milk, Job 21. 24. and their bones moistened with marrow, whiles thou languishest under a spiritual leanness and imbecility: Thou wantest that vigorous heat of holy affections, and that alacrity in the performance of holy duties, which thou observest in other Christians. I love this complaint of thine, my son; and tell thee, that without this thou couldst not be in the way of being happy. Thinkst thou that those whom thou esteemest more eminent in grace, make not the same moan that thou dost? Certainly, they never had any grace, if they did not complain to have too little: Every man best feels his own wants, and is ready to pass secret censures upon himself for that, wherein he is applauded by others: Even the man after Gods own heart can say, Psal. 69. 29. But I am poor and sorrowful: He was a great King when he said so; it was not meanness in outward estate that troubled him, but a spiritual neediness: for he had before, in the same heavenly Ditty, professed, O God, Psal. 69. 5. thou knowest my foolishness, and my guiltiness is not hid from thee: It was an old observation of wise Solomon; Prov. 13. 7. There is that maketh himself rich, and hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches; In this latter rank are many gracious souls, and thine (I hope) for one; who certainly, had never been so wealthy in grace, if they had been conceited of greater store: Even in this sense many a Saint may say with Saint Paul, When I am weak, than I am strong: Since the very complaint of weakness, argues strength; and on the contrary, an opinion of sufficient grace, is an evident conviction of mere emptiness. §. 2. Comfort from the improvement of weak graces; and Gods free distribution. But suppose thyself, so poor as thou pretendest; It is not so much what we have, as how we improve it. How many have we known that have grown rich out of a little, whereas others out of a great stock have run into debt and beggary? Had that servant in the Gospel, who received but one talon, employed it to the gain of a second, he had been proportionably as well rewarded as he that with five gained ten. In our temporal estate we are warned by the wisest man to take heed of making haste to be rich; Pro. 28. 20. and the great Apostle tells us, 1 Tim. 6. 9 That he that would be rich falls into many temptations; Surely, there is no small danger also in affecting to be too suddenly rich in the endowments of the soul; this cannot but be accompanied with the temptation of an unthankful distrust; for on the one side, he that believes makes not haste; and on the other, we cannot be sufficiently thankful for what we have, whiles we do over-eagerly reach after what we have not. Tell me, thou querulous Soul, dost thou not acknowledge what thou hast to be the gift of God? And wilt thou not allow the great Benefactor of heaven to dispense his own favours as he pleaseth? If he think fit rather to fill thy vessel with drops of grace, art thou discontented because he doth not pour out his Spirit upon thee in full v●als? If thou have have any at all, it is more than he owes thee, more than thou canst repay him; Take what thou hast as an earnest of more; and wait thankfully upon his bounty for the rest: Is it not mee● in a free gift to attend the leisure of the donor? What sturdy, and ill mannered beggars are we, if we will not ●●ay at the door till we be served; and grudge at our alms when it comes? Look upon the Father of the faithful, thou shalt find him fourscore and six years childless; and at last after he had got an Ishmael, he must wait fourteen years more for the promised seed; and when he had enjoyed him not much longer than he expected him, he must then sacrifice him to the giver: Thus, thus my son must our faith be exercised in attendance both for time, and measure of mercy. §. 3. Comfort from God's acceptation of truth, not quantity. Thy graces are weak; yet, if true, discomfort not thyself; how many weak bodies have we known which with careful tendance, have enjoyed better and longer health, than those that have had bigger limbs, and more brawny arms? neither is it otherwise in the soul; Soundness of grace is health; increased degrees of grace make up the strength of that spiritual part; if thou have but this health tenderly observed, thou mayst be happy in the enjoying of thy God, although more happy in a comfortable sense of a stronger fruition. We have to do with a God that stands not so much upon quantity, as truth of grace; he knows we can have nothing but what he gives us, and enables us to improve; and where he sees our wills and endeavours not wanting, he is ready to accept and crown his own gifts in us: Mat. 12. 20. He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. §. 4. Comfort from the variety of God's gifts, and the ages and statures of grace. Thou art weak in grace: Be not discouraged, my son, there are all ages, all statures in Christ: Shall the child repine that he is not suddenly grown a man? Shall the Dwarf quarrel that he is not a Giant? Were there a standard of graces, less than which would not be accepted, thou hadst reason to be troubled; but it is so far from that, as that our Saviour hath encharged, Mat. 19 14. Suffer little children to come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. In some legal oblations it pleased God to regard time and age; Leu. 3 7. The Lamb for the Passeover, and for the peace-offering; Leu. 4. 14 the Bullock for the sin offering of Israel, have their date assigned; Lev 1. 14 And in divers cases he hath called for two Turtle Doves, Leu. 5. 7, 11. or two young Pigeons: Young Turtles, Leu. 12. 8 and old Doves, in the mean while, (according to our Jewish Doctors) were unlawful to be offered; Leu. 15. 14. but in our spiritual sacrifices all ages are equally accepted; He that is eternal regards not time; he that is infinite and almighty regards not statures; Even the eleventh hour carried the penny as well as the first: and, Let the weak say, joel 3. 10. I am strong. §. 5. Comfort from the safety of our leisurely progress in grace. It troubles thee that thou hast made so slow progress in graces; thy desire is to heaven-ward, & thou checkest thyself for no more speed: It is an happy ambition that carries thee on in that way to blessedness. Quicken thyself what thou mayst, with all gracious incitations in that holy course: But know, my son, that we may not always hope to go thitherward on the spur; in that passage there are ways that will not admit of h●ste; how many have we known that by too much forwardness have been cast back in their journey, whether through want of breath, or mistaking their way, or mis-placing their steps? I praise thee, that it is the desire of thy soul to run the way of God's Commandments; Psal. 119▪ 32. and do encourage thine holy zeal in speeding that holy race; ever praying thou mayst so run, 1 Cor. 9: 24. as that thou mayst obtain. But withal, I must tell thee, Psal. 119▪ 1● that, Blessed is the man that doth but walk in the Law of the Lord: Whiles thou passest on, though but a footpace, thou art every step nearer to thy glory: so long as thou riddest way, thou art safe: Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, Psal. 84. 5, 6, 7. O God; in whose heart are thy ways; who passing through the vale of misery, goes on from strength to strength, till he appear before thee his God in Zion. §. 6. Comfort from our good desires and endeavours. Thy grace is little; but thou wishest and labourest for more; this is a good beginning of heavenly wealth: He is in a good way to riches, that desires to thrive: Never any holy Soul lost her longing: If thy wishes be hearty and serious, thou hast that which thou cravest, or at least be sure thou shalt have: If any man ●ick wisdom, Jam. 1. 5. let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth no man, and it shall be given him: Were this condition offered us for Worldly riches, who would be poor? If we embrace it not in spiritual, either we distrust the promises, or neglect our own mercies: In these temporal things how many have so eagerly followed the chase of the world, that they have over-runne it, and whiles they have greedily swallowed gain, have been choked with it? but in those better blessings, earnestness of desi●●, ●nd fervour of prosecution, was never but answered with a gracious impetration. §. 7. Comfort from the happiness of an humble poverty. Thou art poor in grace, but in an humble self-dejection longest for more; know, that an humble poverty, is better than a proud fullness; Wert thou poor and proud, there were no hope of thy proficiency: thy false conceit lies in the way of thy thrift; and many a one had been gracious, if they had not so thought themselves: but now, that thou art meaner in thine opinion, then in thine estate, who can more justly challenge our Saviour's blessing, Blessed are the poor in spirit; Mat. 5. 3. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven? Thou art weak in grace; It is thine own fault if thou gettest not more strength: Wherefore serves that heavenly food of the Word and Sacraments, but to nourish thy soul to eternal life? Do but eat and digest, and thou canst not but grow stronger: God will not be wanting to thee in an increase of grace, if thou be not wanting to thyself: He offers his Spirit to thee with the means; it is thy sinful neglect, if thou separate them: Thou knowest in whose hands is the staff of bread; pray that he who gives thee the food and the mouth, would also give thee appetite, digestion, nourishment. § 8. An incitement to more caution, an● faster adherence t● God. Thy grace is weak: It concerns thee so much the more to be cautious in avoiding occasions of temptation. He that carries brittle glasses, is chary of them, that they take not a knock; whereas strong metal fears no danger. He that hath but a small Rush-candle, walks softly, and keeps off every air: Thou art weak, thy God is strong: Dost thou not see the feeble child that finds he cannot go alone, how fast he clings to the hand of his mother; more trusting to her help, than his own strength; Do thou so to thy God; and say with the blessed Psalmist; Hold up my goings in thy paths, Psal. 17. 5. that my footsteps slip not; Psal. 119. 117, 116. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe; Uphold me according to thy Word, that I may live, and let me not be ashamed of my hop●● Peter was a bold man, that durst step forth and set his foot upon the liquid face of the waters; Mat: 14: ●9, 30, 31 but he that ventured to walk there, upon the strength of his faith, when he felt the stiff wind, and saw the great billow, began to sink in his weakness; but no sooner had Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, than he takes courage, and walks now with the same confidence upon the Sea, that he want to walk on the L●nd: Together with a check, he receives more supportation from Christ, than his own legs could afford him: Fear no miscarriage through thine own weakness, whiles thou art held up by thate strong helper. Comforts against Infamy and Disgrace. § 1. Comforts from like sufferings● of the holiest, yea, of Christ himself. NExt to our body and soul, is the care of our reputation; which whoso hath lost, is no better than civilly dead. Thou sufferest under a public infamy, I do not ask how justly: He was a wise man that said, It was fit for every good man to fear even a false reproach: A good name is no less wounded for the time with that, then with a just crimination. This is a sore evil, my son, and such, as against which there is no preservative, and for which there is hardly any remedy: Innocence itself is no antidote against evil tongues: Neither greatness nor sanctity can secure any man from unjust calumny. Might that be any ease to thy heart, I could tell thee of the greatest of Kings, and holiest of Saints, that have grievously complained of this mischief, and yet were not able to help them● selves: Thou hast the company of the best that ever the earth bore, if that may be any mitigation of thy misery: Yea, what do I speak of sinful men, whose greatest purity might be blurred with some imperfections? Look upon the Lord of life, the eternal Son of the everliving God, God clothed in flesh; and see whether any other were his lot, whiles he sojourned in this Region of mortality; Dost thou not hear him for his gracious sociableness, branded as a man gluttonous, a Wine-bibber, a friend of Publicans and Sinners? Mat: 11: 19: Dost thou not hear him for his powerful and merciful cure of Demoniacs, blazoned for a fellow that casts out Devils through Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils? Mat: 12: 24: Dost thou not hear him sclandred to death for treason against Caesar, Io. 19 12 and blasphemy against God? Dost thou not hear the multitude say, Mat: 26: 65: He is mad, and hath a Devil? Joh: 10: 20: Dost thou not hear him after his death charged with Imposture? Mat: 27: 63: And can there be any worse names than Glutton, Dtunkard, Conjurer, Traitor, Blasphemer, Mad man, Demoniac, Impostor? Who now can henceforth think much to be slandered with meaner crimes, when he hears the most holy Son of God, Joh: 14: 30: in whose mouth was no guile, & in whom the Prince of this world could find nothing, laden with so heinous calumniations? § 1. Comfort of our recourse to God. Thou art smitten with a foul tongue; I marvel not if it go deep into thy soul; That man gave an high praise to his sword, that said it was sharper than slander; And if a razor be yet sharper, such did David find the Edomites tongue: Ps. 52: 2: And if these wea●pons, reach not yet far enough, Ps: 57: 4: he found both spears and arrows in the mouths of his traducers. Lo, thou art but in the same case with the man after Gods own heart: What shouldst thou do, but for David's complaint, make use of David's remedy? I will cry unto God most high; Psal. 57 2, 3. unto God that performeth all things for me: He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up: God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. Do by thy slander, as Hezekiah did by the railing lines of Rabshak●h, spread them before the Lord, and leave thy quarrel in the just hands of that great arbiter of heaven and earth, who will be sure in his good time to revenge thy wrong, and to clear thine innocence, 2 Sam. 16 12. and will requite thee good for these causeless curses. § 3. Comfort from the clearness of our conscience. In the mean while, thou sayst, I stand blemished with an odious aspersion; my name passes thorough many a foul mouth. Thou hearest, my son, what some others say; but what dost thou hear from the bird in thy bosom? If thy conscience acquit thee, and pronounce thee guiltless, obdure thy forehead against all the spite of malice: What is ill fame, but a little corrupted, unsavoury breath? Do but turn away thine ear, that thou receive it not, and what art thou the worse? Oh thy weakness, if thou suffer thyself to be blown over by the mere air of some putrified lungs, which if thou do but a little decline by shifting thy foot, will soon vanish. § 4. Comfort from the improvement of our reason. Thou art under ill tongues; This is an evil proper only to man; Other creatures are no less subject to disease, to death, to outward violence than he; but none else can be obnoxious to a detraction; sith none other is capable of speech, whereout a slander can be form; they have their several sounds and notes of expression, whereby they can signify their dislike and anger; but only man can clothe his angry thoughts with words of offence; so as that faculty which was given him for an advan●tage, is depraved to a further mischief; But the same liberal hand of his Creator hath also endued him with a property of reason, which as it ought to direct his language to others, so also to teach him how to make use of others language to him; and where he finds it wrongful, either to convince it by a just apology, or to contemn it; If therefore thou understandest thyself to lie under an unjust obloquy, have so much of the man in thee, as either to confute or despise it. § 5. Comfort from the cause of our suffering. Thou art shamefully traduced; I could pity thy suffering, but withal give me leave to inquire not so much what thou sufferest, as for what; If for a good cause, I shall turn my pity into envy: Truth itself hath told thee, thou art in the way to blessedness: Who can pity thee for that wherein thou hast cause to rejoice? Mat. 5. 11. Blessed are ye when men revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven. Yea, rather pluck up thy spirits, and take up the resolution of holy Job; Job 31. 35, 36. If mine adversary had written a book against me, surely I would take it upon my shoulders, and bind it as a crown to me: And say with that gracious King of Israel, 2 Sam. 6. 22. I will be yet more vile for the Lord. § 6. Comforts from our enured virtue. Thou art reproached by lewd men: Thank thine own virtue that thou art envied; wert thou so bad as thy detractors, thou shouldst sit quiet enough; If ye were of the world, John 15. 19 saith our Saviour, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Whiles the Moon sits, no dogs bark at her; it is her shining that opens their mouth: Wert thou either obscure or wicked, thou mightst be safe; but if thou wilt needs be eminently good, look for the lashes of ill tongues: 1 Pet. 4. 4 They think it strange that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you, saith the prime Apostle. It was not without reason that the great Musician in the story struck his scholar, because he saw the multitude applaud his skill; as well knowing that had he been true to his art, those misjudging ears could not have approved him: What more excellent instruments had God ever in his Church then the blessed Apostles, and what acceptation found they on the earth? Being defamed, 1 Cor. 4. 13. we entreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day: We are made a Spectacle to the World, to Angels, and to men. Complain if thou canst of a worse condition than these great Ambassadors of the high God; 1 Cor. 4. 9 otherwise, resolve with the chosen vessel, to pass cheerfully through honour, and dishonour, through evil report and good report, towards the goal of immortality. § 7. Comfort from others slighting of reproaches. Thou art disgraced through sclanderons reports. It is not mere air that we live by; How many hast thou known that have blown over a just infamy with a careless neglect? pleasing themselves to think that they have thriven even under curses; and shall their guiltiness be entertained with more courage than thine innocence? Let those whose heart is as foul as their name, be troubled with deserved censures; do not thou give so much way to malice, as to yield any regard to her misraised suggestions; thou canst not devise how more to vex a detractor, then by contempt; thus thou shalt force spite, as that wise heathen truly said, to drink off the greatest part of her own poison. §. 8. Comfort from the narrow bounds of infamy. Thou art disgraced with an ill fame: What a poor matter is this? How far dost thou think that sound reacheth? perhaps to the next village, perhaps further to the whole Shire wherein thou dwellest; it is like the next County never heard of thy name; and if thou look yet further off; assoon moist thou be talked of amongst the Antipodes, as in the neighbouring region: and what a small spot of earth is this to which thy shame is confined? Didst thou know the vast extent of this great world, thou wouldst easily see into how narrow a corner our either glory, or dishonour can be penned up: and shouldst confess how little reason we can have to affect the one, or be disheartened with the other. §. 9 Comfort from the short life of slander. Thou art wronged with an unjust disgrace; Have patience a while; slanders are not long lived: Truth is the child of time; ere long she shall appear and vindicate thee. Wait upon the God of truth, who shall cause thy light to break forth as the morning; Isai. 58. 8 and thine health to spring forth speedily: But if otherwise, what speakest thou of his name, which as it is local, so it is momentany, soo● passed over in silence, and oblivion; There is a shame, my son, which is worthy of thy fear; which is both Universal, before the face of all the world of Angels, and men, and beyond the reach of time, eternal; fear this, and contemn the other; On the contrary, if fame should befriend thee so much, as to strain her cheeks in sounding thy praises; and should cry thee up for virtuous, and eminent every way; Alas, how few shall hear her, and how soon is that noise stilled, Eccles. 9 1. and forgotten? Shortly then, let it be thy main care to d●mean thyself holily and conscionably before God and men; leave the rest upon God, who shall be sure to make his word good in spite of men and devils; The memory of the just shall be blessed, Prov. 10. 7. but the name of the wicked shall rot. Comforts against public Calamities. §. 1. Comfort from the inevitable necessity of changes, and God's overruling them. THOU art afflicted with the public calamities; so it becomes thee as a good man, a good Christian, a good Patriot. We are not entire pieces, but are all limbs of a community both of Church and Kingdom; whiles the whole body suffers, how can we be free? This should be no news to us; what earthly Kingdom or Sat hath ever enjoyed a constant felicity? These public bodies, like as single persons, have their birth, their infancy, their youth, their vigour, their declinations: Even the white marble of that famous Emblem, and type of God's Church, after not many centuries of years felt the dint of time, and mouldered to nothing; It is as much as those heavenly bodies above can do, to avoid change: well might we be distracted with these troubles, my son, if we did not well know whence they come, even from a most wise, holy, powerful, just providence: He that sits in heaven order these earthly affairs according to the eternal counsel of his will; It is that Almighty hand that holds the stern of this tossed vessel, and steers it in that course which he knows best: it is not for us that are passengers to meddle with the ●ard or Compass: Let that all-skilful Pilot alone with his own work; he knows every rock and shelf that may endanger it, and can cut the proudest billow that threatens it, 1 Sam. 3. 18. with ease: It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. § 2. The sense and sympathy of common evils. Were there no other respects then personal, I cannot blame thee if thy fears strive with thy grief for the public evils: every man's interest is involved in the common: And if the Ship sink, what will become of the passengers? But withal, there is a kind of inbred sympathy in every good heart, which gives us a share in all others miseries, and affects us more deeply for them, then for our own. Old indulgent Eli loved his sons too well, and was therefore no doubt very sensible of their death; yet that part of the news passed over with some, not mortal, passion: But when he heard of the Ark of God taken, 1 Sam. 4. 17, 18. now his neck and his heart were broken together: and his religious daughter in law, though she were delivered upon this report, of a son, yet she died in travel of that heavy news, and could live only to say, 1 Sam 4. 21, 22. I●habod, The glory is departed from Israel, for the Ark of God is taken: disregarding her new son, when she heard of the loss of her people, and of her God. How many Pagans have we read of, that have died resolutely for their Country, cheerfully sacrificing themselves to the Public? How many that would die with their Country, hating to think of overliving the common ruin? How many that have professed a scorn to be beholden for their lives to their people's murderer? We shall as soon extinguish both grace and nature, as quit this compassionate sense of the common calamities. § 3. Comfort from the sure protection of the Almighty. Thou grievest for the public distempers: Mourn not as one without faith: Be sure, He that keepeth Israel, will neither slumber nor sleep. Wherefore was the holy Tabernacle overspread with a strong tent of skins, Exod. 26 7. but to figure out unto us God's Church sheltered under a sure protection? He that was so curious of the custody of his material Temple, by night as well as by day, that a sleeping Levite might not escape beating, and burning of garments; how careful do we think he will ever be of his spiritual & living house? How unmeet Judges are we of his holy proceedings? We are ready to measure his love still by an outward prosperity, than which nothing can be more uncertain: The Almighty goes by other rules, such as are most consonant to his infinite justice and mercy. I am abashed to hear a Pagan, though no vulgar one, Senec. Epist. 107 say, Whatsoever is brought to pass, a wise man thinks aught to be so done; neither goes about to rebuke nature, but finds it best to suffer what he cannot alter. And shall we Christians repine at those seemingly harsh events, which we see fall out in God's Church, whiles we are ignorant of his designs? and be ready to bless a thriving profaneness? Look abroad upon the ancient lot of God's inheritance, and their corrivals in glory; thou shalt see the Family of Esau flourishing and renowned, yielding besides Dukes, eight Kings of his line, whiles poor Israel was toiling and sweeting in the Egyptian furnaces; yet we know the word to stand inviolable, The elder shall serve the younger; and, Jacob have I loved, Esau I have hated: What if that great and wise God (who works ofttimes by contraries, and brings light out of darkness) have purposed to fetch honour and happiness to his Church out of this sad affliction? Metals are never so bright as when they are scoured: Perfumes and spices never so redolent, as when they have felt the fire, and the p●stle. Wilt thou not give the Physician leave to make use of his Mithridate, because there are vipers in the composition? how unworthy art thou of health, if thou wilt no trust the fidelity and skill of the Artist in mixing so wholesome a Cordial? § 4. Consideration of the justice of God's proceedings. Thou art troubled with the public miseries: Take heed that thy grief be clear of all impiety. Wouldst thou not have God to be just, that is, himself? Wouldst thou not allow it an act of his justice to punish sins? Canst thou deny that our sins have reached up to heaven, and called for judgement? Lam. 3. 39 Why is the living man sorrowful? man suffereth for his sins. I read of a devout man that was instant with God in his prayers for a Nation not far off, and was answered, Suffer the proud to be humbled: Whether we will suffer it or no, the just God will humble the proud, and punish the sinful. The wonderful patience, and infinite justice of the Almighty, hath set a stint to the wickedness of every people: The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full, Gen. 15. 16. saith God to Abraham; when the measure is once made up▪ it is time for God to strike; we shall then complain in vain, and too late. Wouldst thou know then what is to be done for the preventing of a destructive vengeance? there is no way under heaven, but this, To break off our sins by a seasonable and serious repentance: by the united forces of our holy resolutions, and endeavours, to make an head against the over-bearing wickedness of the time; and not to suffer it to fill up towards the brim of that fatal Ephah; till which time the long-suffering God only threatens and corrects a people; but then he plagues them; and stands upon the necessity of his inviolable justice: Shall I not visit for these things, Jer. 5▪ 9 saith the Lord? and shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this? § 5. The remedy; our particular repentance Thou mournest for the common sufferings: thou dost well; our tears can never be better bestowed. But the while, is not thine hand in them? have not thy sins helped to make up this irritating heap? hast no▪ thou cast in thy symbol into the common shot? May not the times justly challenge thee in part, as accessary to their misery? Begin at home, my son, if thou wish well to the Public; and make thine own peace with thy God for thy particular offences. Renew thy Covenant with God of a more holy and strict obedience; and then pour out thy prayers and tears for an universal mercy: so shalt thou not only pull away one brand from this consuming fire, but help effectually to quench the common conflagration. § 6. The unspeakable miseries of a Civil War. Thy heart bleeds to see the woeful vastation of Civil discord, and the deadly fury of home-bread enemies: Certainly there is nothing under heaven more ghastly and dreadful than the face of an intestine War; nothing that doth so nearly resemble hell: Woe is me; here is altogether killing, and dying, and torturing, and burning, and shrieks, and cries, and ejulations, and fearful sounds, and furious violences, and whatsoever may either cause or increase horror: the present calamity oppresses one, another fear: one is quivering in death, another trembles to expect it: one begs for life, another will sell it dearer: here one would rescue one life, and loseth two; there another would hide himself where he finds a merciless death: here lies one bleeding, and groaning▪ and gasping, parting with his soul in extremity of anguish; there another of stronger spirits, kills, and dies at once: here one wrings her hands, and tears her hair, and seeks for some instrument of a self-inflicted death, rather than yield her chaste body to the lust of a bloody ravisher; there another clings inseparably to a dear husband, and will rather take part of the murderer's sword, then let go her last embraces: here one tortured for the discovery of hid treasure, there another dying upon the rack out of jealousy. Oh that one man, one Christian, should be so bloodily cruel to another! Oh that he who bears the image of the merciful God, should thus turn fiend to his own flesh and blood! These are terrible things, my son; and worthy of our bitterest lamentations, and just fears. I love the speculation of Seneca's resolutely-wise man, Sen. Ep▪ 76. that could look upon the glittering sword of an executioner with erected and undazeled eyes, and that makes it no matter of difference whether his soul pass out at his mouth, or at his throat; but I should more admire the practice; whiles we carry this clay about us, nature cannot but in the holiest men shrink in at the sight and sense of these tyrannous and tragical acts of death: Yet even these are the due revenges of the Almighty's punitive justice, so provoked by our sins as that it may not take up with an easier judgement: Dost thou not see it ordinary with our Physicians, when they find the body highly distempered, and the blood foul, and inflamed, to order the opening of a vein, and the drawing out of so many ounces, as may leave the rest meet for correction? Why art thou over-troubled to see the great Physician of the world take this course with sinful mankind? Certainly, had not this great Body, by mis dieting and wilful disorder, contracted these spiritual diseases under which we languish; had it not impured the blood that runs in these common veins, with riot, and surfeits, we had never been so miserable, as to see these torrents of Christian blood running down our channels. Now yet as it is, could we bewail and abandon our former wickedness, we might live in hope, that at the last this deadly issue might stop, and dry up; and that there might be yet left a possibility of a blessed recovery. § 7. The woeful miseries of Pestilence, allayed by consideration of the hand that smites us. Thou art confounded with grief, to see the pestilence raging in our streets; in so frequent a mortality as breeds a question concerning the number of the living, and the dead: That which is wont to abate other miseries, heightens this, The company of participants. It was certainly a very hard, and sad option that God gave to King David, after his sin of numbering bring the people; Choose thee whether seven year's famine shall come unto thee in thy Land, 2 Sam. 24▪ 13. or three month's flight before thine enemies, or three days pestilence: We may believe the good King, when we hear him say, I am in a great strait: Doubtless so he was: but his wise resolutions have soon brought him out: Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, (for his mercies are great;) and let me not fall into the hand of man. He that was to send these evils, knew their value, and the difference of their malignity: yet he opposes three days pestilence, to seven year's famine, and three months' vanquishment: so much odds he knew there was betwixt the dull activity of man, and the quick dispatch of an Angel! It was a favour that the Angel of death, who in one night destroyed an hundred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians, 2 Kings 19 35. should in three days cut off but seventy thousand Israelites; It was a great mercy that it was no worse: We read of one (City shall I call it, or Region, of Cayro) wherein eighteen hundred thousand were swept away in one years' pestilence; enough, one would think to have peopled the whole earth: and in our own Chronicles of so general a mortality, that the living were hardly sufficient to bury the dead. These are dreadful demonstrations of Gods heavy displeasure; but yet there is this alleviation of our misery, that we suffer more immediately from an holy, just, merciful God; The Kingly Prophet had never made that distinction in his woeful choice, if he had not known a notable difference betwixt the sword of an Angel, and an enemy, betwixt Gods more direct and immediate infliction, and that which is derived to us through the malice of men; It was but a poor consolation that is given by a victorious enemy, to dying Lausus, in the Poet; Comfort thyself in thy death with this, that thou fallest by the hand of great Aeneas: but surely, we have just reason to ●aise comfort to our souls, when the pains of a pestilential death compass us about, from the thought and intuition of that holy and gracious hand, under which we suffer; so as we can say with good Eli, It is the Lord. It is not amiss that we call those marks of deadly infection, God's Tokens, such sure they are: and ought therefore to call up our eyes and hearts to that Almighty power that sends them, with the faithful resolution of holy job, Though thou kill me, yet will I trust in thee: It is none of the least miseries of contagious sickness, that it bars us from the comfortable society and attendance of friends, or, if otherwise, repaies their love and kind visitation with death: Be not dismayed, my son, with this sad solitude; thou hast company with thee whom no infection can endanger, or exclude, there is an invisible friend that will be sure to stick by thee so much more closely, by how much thou art more avoided by neighbours, and will make all thy bed in thy sickness, and supply thee with those cordials which thou shouldst in vain expect from earthly visitants: Indeed, justly do we style this, The sickness, eminently grievous both for the deadliness, and generality of the dispersion; yet there is a remedy that can both cure and con●ine it; Let but every man look well to the plague of his own heart, and the Land is healed. Can we with David, but see the Angel that smites us, and erect an Altar; and offer to God the sacrifices of our prayers, penitence, obedience; we shall hear him say, 2 Sam. 24▪ 16. It is enough: The time was, (and that time may not be forgotten) when in the days of our late Sovereign, our Mother City was almost desolated with this mortal infection, When thousands fell at our side, Psal. 91. 7. and ten thousands at our right hand▪ upon the public humiliation of our souls, the mercy of the Almighty was pleased to command that raging disease in the height of its fury (like somehead-strong horse in the midst of his career) to stop on the sudden, and to leave us at once (ere we could think of it) both safe and healthful: This was the Lords doing, Isai. 59 1 and it was marvellous in our eyes: Behold, the Lords hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear; The same mercy is everlasting, the same remedy certain; Be we but penitent, and we cannot be miserable. Comforts against loss of Friends. § 1. The true value of a friend, and the fault of overprizing him. THou hast lost thy friend; Thy sorrow is just; the earth hath nothing more precious than that which thou hast parted with: For what is a friend, but a man's self in another skin, a soul divided into two bodies, both which are animated by the same spirit: It is somewhat worse with thee therefore, then with a palsied man, whose one half is stricken with a dead kind of numbness, he hath lost but the use of one side of his body, thou the one half of thy soul. Or may I not with better warrant say that a true friend hath as it were, two souls in one body, his own, and his friends? Sure I am, so it was with Jonathan and David; The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, 1 Sam. 18 1. and jonathan loved him as his own soul: Still the more goodness, the stronger union; Mere nature can never be so fast a cement of souls, as grace; for here the union is wrought by a better spirit than our own, even that blessed spirit who styles himself by the name of Love; 1 joh. 4. 16. By how much greater thine affection was, so much heavier is thy loss. But let me tell thee, I fear thou art too much accessary to thine own affliction: Didst thou look for this loss? Did thy heart say, What if we should part? Didst thou not over-enjoy this blessing whilst thou hadst it? Surely, these are no small disadvantages; As every other evil, so this especially is aggravated by our unexpectation; neither hadst thou been so oppressed with this sorrow, if thou hadst foreseen it, and met it on the way: It is our weak inconsideration, if we do so welcome these earthly comforts, not as guests, but as inmates; and as some that are importuntely hospitable, so entertain our friends, that we cannot abide to give them leave to depart: Whereas we ought, according to the wise advice of our Seneca, Sen. Ep. 63. (not much abluding from the counsel of that blessed Apostle with whom he is said to have interchanged Letters) so to possess them, 1 Cor. 7. 30, 31. as those that make account to forgo them; and so forgo them, as if we possessed them still. § 2. The tru● ground of a● undefeisible enjoying of our friends. Thou art grieved for the loss of a dear friend: Take heed lest thy love had too much of the man, and too little of God: All blessings, as they come down from the Father of mercies, so should be enjoyed in him: and if we enjoy them as in themselves, our love begins to degenerate into carnal. It is a sure rule, that all love that depends upon a thing affected, when that thing ceaseth, than the love ceaseth: as he that loves a face only for beauty, when that beauty is defaced by deformity, presently cools in his affection: he that respects a man for his bounty only, disregards him when he sees him impoverished. Didst thou value thy friend only for his wit, for his ready compliances, for his kind offices; all these are now lost, and thy love with them: but if thou didst affect him for eminence of grace, for the sake of that God that dwelled in him; now thy love is not, cannot be lost, because thou still enjoyest that God in whom thou lovedst him. Comfort thyself therefore in that God, in whom he was thine, and yield him cheerfully into those hands that lent him thee. §. 3. The rarity and trial of true friends. Thou hast lost a true friend: That Jewel was worthy to be so much more precious, by how much more rare it is. The world affords friends enough, such as they are; Friends of the purple, as Tertullian calls them; friends of the basket, as the Poet: such as love thy loaves and fishes, and thee for them: Prov. 14 20. Wealth makes many friends, Prov. 19 4. saith the Wise man; but where is the man that loves thee for thyself? that loves thy Virtue, and thee for it, devested of all by-respects? Whiles there is honey in thy galley-pot, the wasps and flies will be buzzing about it; but which of them cares to light upon an empty vessel? Was he so much thine, that he would not be set off by thine adversity? Did he honour thee when thou wert despised of the world? Did he follow thee with applause whiles thou wert hooted at by the multitude? Would he have owned thee if he had found thee stripped and wounded in the Wilderness? Such a friend is worthy of thy tears: But take heed thy love prove not envious: If thy God hath thought him fitter for the society of Saints and Angels, dost thou repine at his happiness? Thou hast lost his presence; he is advanced to the beatifical presence of the King of glory: Whether is thy loss, or his gain the greater? § 4. It is but parting, not a 〈◊〉 Thou hast lost thy friend: say rather, thou hast parted with him. That is properly lost, which is past all recovery, which we are out of hope to see any more: It is not so with this friend thou mournest for; He is but gone home a little before thee; thou art following him; you two shall meet in your Father's house, and enjoy each other more happily than you could have done here below. How just is that charge of the blessed Apostle, that We should not mourn as men without hope, 1 Thes. 4. 13, 14. for those that do but sleep in Jesus? Did we think their souls vanished into air, (as that Heathen Poet profanely expresseth it) and their bodies resolved into dust, without all possibility of reparation, we might well cry out our eyes for the utter extinction of those we loved: but if they do but sleep, Joh. 11. 12. they shall do well. Why are we impatient for their silent reposal in the bed of their grave, when we are assured of their awaking to glory? §. 5. The loss of a virtuous wife, mitigated. Thou hast lost a dear wife, the wife of thy youth, the desire of thine eyes: Did ye not take one another upon the terms of redelivery when ye should be called for? Prov. 5. 18. Were you not in your very knitting put in mind of your dissolution? Isai. 54. 6. Till death us depart. Ezek. 24 16. Was she virtuous? knowest thou not that there was a Precontract betwixt thy Saviour, and her soul, ere thou couldst lay any claim to her body? And canst thou now grudge his just challenge of his own? Wilt thou not allow him to call for a consummation of that happy match? Didst thou so overlove her outside, that thou wouldst not have her soul glorious: If thou lovedst her not as a man, but as a Christian, envy her not to that better Husband above, who gives her no less dowry than immortality. § 6. The mitigation of the loss of a dear and hopeful son. Thy son is dead: What marvel is it, that a mortal Father hath begot a mortal Son? Marvel rather, that thyself hath lived to have or to lose a son: We lie open to so many deaths, that our very subsistence is almost miraculous. Thou hast lost a piece of thyself: for what are our children, but as colonies deduced from our own flesh? yea rather, ourselves made up in other models. This loss cannot but go near thee: But tell me, What was the disposition of the son thou mournest for? If he were graceless and debauched, as thy shame, so thy sorrow should die with him: set the hopes thou mightst have had of his reclaiming, against the fears of his continuing, and increasing wickedness, and thou couldst have made no other present account but of dishonour, and discomfort: If it be sad that he is taken away in his wildness; it had been more heavy, that he would have added to the heap of his sin, and therein to his torments. If he were gracious, he had a better Father than thyself, whose interest was more in him than thine: and if that heavenly Father have thought good to prefer him to a crown of immortal glory, why shouldst thou be afflicted with his advancement? Why shouldst thou not rather rejoice that thy loins have helped to furnish heaven with a Saint? Were it put to thy choice that thy son might be called off from his blessed rest, and returned to his former earthly relations; couldst thou be so injurious in thy self-love, as to wish the misery of so disadvantageous a change to that soul, which, as it was never of thy production, so it were pity it should be at thy disposing? Rather, labour to have thine own soul so disposed, that it may be ready to follow him into those blessed mansions, and that it may love and long for heaven so much more for that one piece of thee is there beforehand. Comforts against Poverty, and loss of our estate. § 1. The fickle nature of these earthly goods. THou art driven into want, and that which is worse, out of abundance. Those evils that we have been enured to, as being bred up with us from our cradle, are grown so familiar, that we are little moved with their presence: but those into which we fall suddenly, out of an outward felicity of estate, are ready to overwhelm us. Let thy care be, not to want those better riches, which shall make thy soul happy, and thou shalt not be too much troubled with the loss of this trivial, and perishing stuff: Had these been true goods, they could not have been lost: for that good that is least capable of loss, as it is unsatisfying in the time of an imperfect and unsure fruition, so in the losing it turns evil. Didst thou not know that riches have wings? Prov. 23 5. and what use is there of wings, if not to fly? If another man's violence shall clip those wings, even this very clipping is their flight. Set thy heart upon that excellent and precious wealth which can never be taken from thee, which shall never leave thee, nor thou it, thou shalt easily slight these poor losses. As these were not goods, so they were not thine: Here thou foundst them, 1 Tim. 6. 7. and here thou leavest them: What hadst thou but their use? Neither can they be otherwise thine heirs whom thou leavest behind thee. I am ashamed to hear the Heathen Philosopher say, All that is mine I carry about me; when many of us Christians are ready to bug those things as most ours, which are without ourselves. It was an unanswerable question which God moves to the rich man in the Parable, upon the parting with his soul: Luk. 12. 20. Then, whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? perhaps a strangers, perhaps (as in case of undisposed Lands) the occupants, perhaps a false Executors, perhaps an enemies Call that thine, that thou shalt be sure to carry away with thee; that shall either accompany thy soul in its last passage, or follow it: such shall be thy holy graces, thy charitable works, thy virtuous actions, thine heavenly dispositions: Lo, these are the Treasures which thou shalt lay up for thyself in heaven, Matth. 6. 20. where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt; where thiefs do not break thorough nor steal. § 2. Consideration that they are not ours, but lent us Thou hast lost thy goods: May I not rather say, Thou hast restored them? He parted with more than thou, that said, The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken: Job 1. Lo, whether it were by way of patrimony, or by way of providence and industry, the Lord gave it; and whether it were by the hands of Chaldeans, or Sabeans, the Lord hath taken it: the Lord is in both; he did but give and take his own. Is it not just so with thee? What reason hast thou then to complain? Or may I not yet rather say, It was not given, but lent thee, for a while, till it were called for? and dost thou grudge to restore what thou borrowedst? Nay, (that thou mayst have yet less claim to this pelf) was it not only left in thy hand by the owner, to employ for his use, till he should re-demand it with the increase? What is it to thee, but to improve, and to account for? If others have taken off thy charge: whiles they have spoiled, they have eased thee. § 3. That the right valuation of riches is in the mind. Thy wealth is gone: Hast thou necessaries left? Be thankful for what thou hast, forget what thou hadst: Hadst thou had more, thou couldst have made use of no more than Nature calls for; the rest could but have lain by thee, for sight, for readiness of employment: Do but forbear the thought of superfluities, and what art thou the worse? Perhaps, thy fare is coarser, thy dishes fewer, thy utensils meaner, thy clothes homelier, thy train shorter; what of this? how is thy mind affected? Cuntentment stands not in quantities, nor in qualities, but in the inward disposition of the heart; that alone can multiply numbers, and raise prices; that alone can turn honest freezes into rich velvets, pulse into delicates, and can make one attendant many Officers: Senec. Ep. 107. Wise Seneca tells thee truly, that the true mould of wealth is our body, as the Last is of the shoe; if the shoe be too big for the foot, it is but troublesome, and useless; and how poor an answer would it be of the Cordwainer to say, that he had Leather good store; it is fitness which is to be regarded here, not largeness; neither is this any other than the charge of the blessed Apostle, Having food and raiment, 1 Tim. 6. 8. let us be therewith content; And if we have no more, we shall be but as we were, as we shall be, 1 Tim 6. 7. For we brought nothing into the world, neither shall we carry any thing out. §. 4. It may be good for us to be held short. Thou hast parted with thy wealth; perhaps for thine own good; how many have we known that have been cumbered with plenty, like as the ostrich, or bustard with bulk of body, so as they could not raise their thoughts to spiritual things; who when their weight hath been taken off, have mounted nimbly towards their heaven? How many have we known that had lost their lives, if (with the Philosopher) they had not forgone their gold? Yea, how many that had lost their precious souls? The whole vessel had sunk in this boisterous sea, if the luggage of this earthly freight had not been cast overboard; And why art thou so troubled to lose that which might have undone thee in the keeping? §. 5. The danger of abundance. Thou hadst wealth; Hast thou not parted with that for which many a man hath been the worse? worse both in body and soul: and by which never any soul was better: Have we not seen many good corn fields marred with rankness? have we not seen many a good bough split with the weight of too much fruit? whereas those fields, had they been either thinner swoon, or seasonably eaten down, had yielded a fair crop; and those boughs had they been but moderately laden, had outlived many Autumns: Dost thou not hear thy Saviour say, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God? Mark 10 23. Art thou troubled that there is a rub removed out of thy way to happiness? That the bunch of the Camel is taken off, if yet thou mayst pass through the eye of the needle? §. 6. The cares that attend wealth. Thou hadst riches? But hast thou not cares to boot? Surely, else thou hast fared better than all thy neighbours? No body but thyself could ever handle these roses without pricking his fingers: Rab. Gamaliel. He was famous amongst the Jewish Doctors, whose rule it was, He that multiplies riches, multiplies cares: and our blessed Saviour hath coupled these two together, The cares of the world, Mar. 4 19 and the deceitfulness of riches; We have heard of one who was glad to be rid of his lately found bag, that he might sleep, and sing again: He was noted and envied at Rome for his wealth, Sen. Ep. 80. which could experimentally say, The poor man laughs more often, and more heartily than the rich; Epist. 36. and tells us, That outward felicity is an unquiet thing, never ceasing to vex itself: Thy sides are now rid of these thorns, why dost thou grumble at thine own ease? §. 7. The imperiousness of ill used wealth. Thou lately possessedst great riches; yea, mayst thou not rather say, thou wert possessed of them? That wise Roman truly observed that many a one hath wealth, Ep. 109. as we are wont to say, a man hath taken an ague, when indeed the ague hath taken him, and holds him in a painful manner: The truth is, many a man's wealth is his Master, and keeps him under hard conditions, not allowing him sufficient diet, not competent rest, not any recreation; If thou wert thus a drudge to thine estate, thou art now thine own man; enjoy thy liberty, and together with thy patience, be thankful. §. 8. Consideration of the causes and means of impoverishing us. Thou art very poor; who made thee so? If thine own negligence, laziness, improvidence, unthriftiness, rash engagements; thou hadst reason to bear that burden which thou hast pulled upon thine own shoulders: and if thou be forced to make many hard faces under the load, yet since thy own will hath, brought upon thee this necessity, even the necessity should move thy will to trudge away as lightly, and as fast as thou mayst with that pressing weight: If the mere oppression and injury of others, thou shalt the more comfortably run away with this cross, because thy own hand hath not been guilty of imposing it; how easy is it for thee here, to see God's hand chastising thee by another man's sin? and more to be grieved at the sin of that others wrong, then at thine own smart; How sad a thing is it for any good soul to see brethren a prey to each other? that neighbours should be like the reed and the brake set near together, whereof the one starves the other? that we should have daily occasion to renew that woeful comparison of our Bromiard, Brom. v. Elcemosyna. betwixt the friends and enemies of Christ; That Jews do not suffer beggars, that Christians make beggars? In the mean time, if God think fit to send poverty to thy door upon the message of men, bid it welcome for the sake of him that sent it, and entertain it not grudgingly for its own sake; as that, which if it be well used, will repay thee with many blessings; the blessings of quiet rest, safe security, humble patience contented humility, contemptuous valuation of these earthly things; all which had balked thy house in a prosperous condition. § 9 The examples of those who have affected poverty. Thou art stripped of thy former conveniences for diet, for lodging, for attendance. How many have purposely affected to do that out of choice, which is befallen there upon need; some out of the grounds of Philosophy●, others of Religion? Senec. Ep: 108. Attalus the Philosopher might have lain soft, yet he calls for, and praises the Bed and pillow that will not yield to his body: Epist: 83 And Neroe● great and rich Master brags of his usual dining without a Table; what should I tell then of the Pharisees uneasy couches, and penal garments; of the Mats of the elect Manichees; of the austere usages of the ancient Eremitical Christians; their rigorous abstinences, their affamishing meals, their nightly watchings, their cold groundlying, their sharp disciplines? Thou art in ease, and delicacy, in comparison of these men, who voluntarily imposed upon themselves these hardnesses, which thou wouldst be loath to undergo from others cruelty: It was a strange word of Epicurus the Philosopher, Epic. in Ep. Sen. 110 not savouring of more contentment, than presumption; Give us but water, give us but barley meal, and we shall vie with Jupiter himself for happiness; and if this Ethnic, who was in an ill name for affectation of pleasure, could rest so well pleased with a poor mess of water-gruel; what a shame were it for us Christians not to be well paid with a much larger (though▪ but homely) provision? Comforts against Imprisonment. § 1. Consideration of the nature and power of true liberty. THOU art restrained of thy Liberty. I cannot blame thee to be sensible of the affliction. Liberty is wont to hold competition for dearness, with life it self; yea, how many have lost their life to purchase their liberty? But take heed lest thou be either mistaken, or guilty of thine own complaint; for certainly, thou canst not be bereft of thy liberty, except thou wilt: Liberty is a privilege of the will; will is a sovereign power that is not subject to either restraint, or constraint: Hast thou therefore a freedom within, a full scope to thine own thoughts? It is not the cooping up of these outward parts, that can make thee a Prisoner: Thou art not worthy of the name of a man, if thou thinkest this body to be thyself: and that is only it which humane power can reach unto. Besides, art thou a Christian? then thou hast learned to submit thy will to Gods; Gods will is declared in his actions; for sure what he doth, that he wills to do. If his will be then to have thee restrained, why should it not be thine? and if it be thy will to keep in, what dost thou complain of restraint? § 2. The sad objects of a free beholder. Thou art restrained; Is it such a matter that thou art not suffered to room abroad? How ill hast thou spent thy time, if thou hast not laid up matter both of employment and contentment in thine own bosom? And what such goodly pleasure were it for thee to look over the world, and to behold those objects which thine eye shall there meet withal; here men fight, there women and children wailing; here plunders, there riots, here fields of blood, there Towns and Cities flaming; here some scuffling for Patrimonies, there others wrangling for Religion; here some famishing for want, there others abusing their fullness; here schisms and heresies, there rapines and sacrileges: What comfortable spectacles these are to attract, or please our eyes! thy closeness frees thee from these sights; the very thought whereof is enough to make a man miserable; and in stead of them presents thee only with the face of thy Keeper, which custom and necessity hath acquitted from thy first horror. §. 3. Comfort from the invisible company that cannot be kept from us. Thou art shut up close within four walls, and all company is secluded from thee; Content thyself, my son, God and his holy Angels cannot be kept out; thou hast better company in thy solitude, than thy liberty afforded thee; the jollity of thy freedom robbed thee of the conversation of these spiritual companions, which only can render thee happy: they which before were strangers to thee, are now thy guests, yea, thy inmates, (if the fault be not thine) to dwell with thee in that forced retiredness. What if the light be shut out from thee? this cannot hinder thee from seeing the invisible; The darkness hideth not from thee, Ps. 139. 12. (saith the Psalmist) but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Yea, I doubt not to say, God hath never been so clearly seen as in the darkest Dungeons; for the outward light of prosperity distracts our visive beams, which are strongly contracted in a deep obscurity: He must descend low, and be compassed with darkness, that would see the glorious lights of heaven by day: They ever shine, but are not seen save in the night: May thine eyes be blessed with this invisible sight, thou shalt not envy those that glitter in Court, and that look daily upon the faces of Kings and Princes; yea, though they could see all that the Tempter represented to the view of our Saviour upon the highest Mountain, all the Kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. § 4. Comfort from the inward disposition of the Prisoner. Thou art forced to keep close; but with what disposition both of mind and body? If thou hadst an unquiet and burdened Soul, it were not the open and free air that could refresh thee; and if thou have a clear and light heart, it is not a strict closeness that can dismay thee; thy thoughts can keep thee company, and cheer up thy solitariness: If thou hadst an unsound and painful body; as, if thou wert laid up of the gout, or some rupture, or luxation of some limb, thou wouldst not complain to keep in; thy pain would make thee insensible of the trouble of thy confinement: but if God have favoured thee with health of body, how easily mayst thou digest an harmless limitation of thy person? A wise man (as Laurentius the Presbyter observed well) doth much while he rests; his motions are not so beneficial as his sitting still: So mayst thou bestow the hours of thy close retiredness, that thou mayst have cause to bless God for so happy an opportunity. How memorable an instance hath our age yielded us, of an eminent Person, Sir Walter Raleigh. to whose encagement we are beholden, (besides many Philosophical experiments) for that noble history of the World, which is now in our hands? The Court had his youthful and freer times, the Tower his later age; the Tower reform the Court in him, and produced those worthy monuments of art and industry, which we should have in vain expected from his freedom and jollity. It is observed, that shining wood, when it is kept within doors, loseth its light. It is otherwise with this and many other active wits, which had never shined so much, if not for their closeness. § 5. Comfort from the willing above of ●●●rednes in some persons. Thou art close shut up: I have seen Anachorites that have sued for this as a favour which thou esteemest a punishment, and having obtained it, have placed merit in that wherein thou apprehendest misery; Yea, our History tells us of one, who when the Church, whereto his cell was annexed, was on fire, would not come out, to live, but would die, and lie buried under the ashes of that roof where his vow had fixed him. Suppose thou dost that out of the resolution of thine own will, which thou dost out of another's necessitating, and thou shalt sit down contented with thy Lot. § 6. Comfort from the causes of imprisonment. Thou art imprisoned; Wise men are wont in all actions and events to inquire still into the causes: Wherefore dost thou suffer? Is it for thy fault? Make thou thy Gaol God's correction house for reforming of thy misdeeds: Remember and imitate Manasses, the evil son of a good Father, who upon true humiliation, by his just imprisonment, found an happy expiation of his horrible Idolatries, Murders, Witchcrafts, whose bonds brought him home to God, and himself. Is it for Debt? Think not to pay those who have entrusted thee with a lingering durance, if there be power in thine hand for a discharge; there is fraud and injustice in this closeness; Fear thou a worse prison if thou wilt needs wilfully live and die in a just indebtment, when thou mayst be at once free, and honest: Stretch thine ability to the utmost, to satisfy others with thine own impoverishing: But if the hand of God have humbled and disabled thee, labour what thou canst to make thy peace with thy Creditors: If they will needs be cruel, look up with patience to the hand of that God who thinks fit to afflict thee with their unreasonableness; and make the same good use of thy sufferings, which thou wouldst do from the immediate hand of thy Creator. If it be for a good cause, rejoice in this tribulation, and be holily proud and glad, with the blessed Apostles, Acts 5. 41. that thou art counted worthy to suffer shame and bonds for the Name of the Lord Jesus: for every just Cause is his; neither is he less a Martyr that suffers for his conscience in any of God's Commandments, than he who suffers for matter of Faith and Religion. Remember that cordial word of thy Saviour, Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In such a prison thou shalt be sure to find good company: there thou shalt find Joseph, Micaiah, Jeremiah, John Baptist, Peter, Paul and Silas, and (what should I think of the poll?) all the holy Martyrs, and Confessors of Jesus Christ from the first plantation of the Gospel to this present day: repent thee if thou canst to be thus matched, and choose rather to violate a good conscience, and be free, then to keep it under a momentary restraint. §. 7. The good 〈◊〉 of retiredness; and the partnership of the souls imprisonment Thou art a Prisoner; make the best of thy condition; close air is warmer than open; and how ordinarily do we hear Birds sing sweeter notes in their cages, than they could do in the wood? It shall be thine own fault if thou be not bettered by thy retiredness. Thou art a Prisoner; so is thy soul in thy body; there, not restrained only, but fettered, yet complains not of the straightness of these clay walls, or the weight of these bonds, but patiently waits for an happy Gaole-delivery: so do thou, attend with all long-suffering the good hour of the pleasure of thy God; thy period is set, not without a regard to thy good, yea, to thy best; he in whose hand are all times, shall find, and hath determined, a fit time to free both thy body from these outward prison-walls, and thy soul from this prison of thy body; and to restore both body and soul from the bondage of corruption to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Rome 8: 21: Comforts against Banishment. § 1. Comfort from the universality of a wise man's Country. THOU art banished from thy Country: Beware lest in thy complaining thou censure thyself; A wise man's Country is every where; what such relation hath the place wherein thou wert born, to thy present being? What more than the time wherein thou wert born? what reason hast thou to be more addicted to the Region wherein thou fellest, then to the day of the week, or hour of the day in which thou salutedst the light? What are times and places of our birth but unconcerning circumstances? Wherever thou farest well, thou mayst either find or make thy Country; But thou sayest, there is a certain secret property in our native soil, that draws our affection to it, and ties our hearts to it, not without a pleasing kind of delight, whereof no reason can be yielded; so as we affect the place, not because it is better than others, Senec: Ep. 66. but because it is our own; Ulysses doth no less value the rocky soil of his hard and barren Ithaca, than Agamemnon doth the noble walls of his rich and pleasant Mycenae: I grant this relation hath so powerful an influence upon our hearts naturally, as is pretended; yet such a one as is easily checked with a small unkindness; How many have we known, who upon an actual affront (not of the greatest) have diverted their respects from their native Country, and out of a strong alienation of mind have turned their love into hostility: We shall not need to seek far for Histories, our times and memories will furnish us too well: Do we not see those, who have sucked the breasts of our common Mother, upon a little dislike, to have spit in her face? Can we not name our late homebred compatriots, who upon the disrelish of some displeasing Laws have flown off from their Country, and suborned Treasons, and incited foreign Princes to our invasion? So as thou seest this natural affection is not so ardent in many, but that it may be quenched with a mean discontentment. If therefore there were no other ground of thine affliction, thy sorrow is not so deep-rooted, but that it may be easily pulled up. § 2. Comfort from the benefit of self-conversation. It is not the air or earth that thou standest upon; it is the company, thou sayest, from which it is a kind of death to part; I shall leave all acquaintance, and conversation, and be cast upon strange faces, and languages that I understand not; my best entertainment will be solitude, my ordinary, inhospitality; What dost thou affright thyself, my son, with these bugs of needless terror? He is not worthy of the name of a Philosopher, much less of a Christian Divine, that hath not attained to be absolute in himself; and which way soever he is cast, to stand upon his own bottom; and that, if there were no other men left in the world, could not tell how to enjoy himself: It is that within us, whereby we must live, and be happy: some additions of complacency may come from without: sociable natures, (such is man's) seek and find pleasure in conversation, but if that be denied, sanctified spirits know how to converse comfortably with their God, and themselves. § 3. Examples of those holy ones that have abandoned society. How many holy ones of old have purposely withdrawn themselves from the company of men, that they might be blessed with an invisible society; that have exchanged Cities for Deserts, houses for caves, the sight of men for beasts, that their spiritual eyes might be fixed upon those better objects, which the frequency of the world held from them? Necessity doth but put thee into that estate, which their piety affected. Oh! but to be driven to forsake Parents, kinsfolk, friends, how sad a case must it needs be? What is this other than a perfect distraction? What are we but pieces of our Parents? and what are friends but parts of us? what is all the world to us without these comforts? When thou hast said all, my son, what is befallen thee other, than it pleased God to enjoin the Father of the faithful? Get thee out of thy Country, Gen: 13: 1: and from thy kindred, and from thy Father's house into a Land that I will show thee; Lo, the same God by the command of authority calls thee to this secession; If thou wilt show thyself worthy to be the son of such a Father, do that in an humble obedience to God, which thou art urged to do by the compulsion of men; But what so grievous a thing is this? Dost thou think to find God where thou goest? Dost thou make full account of his company both all along the way, and in the end of thy journey? Hath not he said (who cannot sail) I will not leave thee nor forsake thee? Certainly, he is not worthy to lay any claim to a God, that cannot find parents, kindred, friends in him alone: Besides, he that of very stones could raise up children unto Abraham, how easily can he, of inhospital men, raise up friends to the sons of Abraham? Only labour thou to inherit that faith wherein he walked; that alone shall free-denizen thee in the best of foreign States, and shall entertain thee in the wildest deserts. § 4. The advantage that hath been made of removing. Thou art cast upon a foreign Nation: Be of good cheer; we know that flowers removed, grow greater; and some plants which were but unthriving, and unwholesome in their own soil, have grown both safe and flourishing in other Climates. Had Joseph been ever so great, if he had not been transplanted into Egypt? Had Daniel and his three companions of the Captivity eve● attained to that Honour in their native Land? How many have we known, that have found that health in a change of air, which they could not meet with at home? In afric the south-wind clears up; and the North is rainy. Look thou up still to that hand which hath translated thee; await his good pleasure: Be thou no stranger to thy God, it matters not who are strangers unto thee. § 5. The rig●● that we have in any country, and i● God. Thou art a banished man: How canst thou be so, when thou treadest upon thy Father's ground? The earth is the Lords, and the fullness of it: In his right, where ever thou art, thou mayst challenge a spiritual interest: 1 Cor. 3▪ 21, 22, 23▪ All things, saith the Apostle, are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is Gods. No man can challenge thee for a stranger, that is not thy Father's child. Thine exile separates thee from thy friends: This were no small affliction, if it might not be abundantly remedied. That was a true word of Laurentius, That where two faithful friends are met, God makes up a third: But it is no less true, That where one faithful spirit is, there God makes up a second: One God can more than supply a thou sand friends. § 6. ●he practise of voluntary travel. Thy banishment bereaves thee of the comfort of thy wont companions: Would not a voluntary travel do as much? Dost thou not see thousands tha● do willingly for many years change their Country for foreign Regions; taking long farewells of their dear friends and comerades; some out of curiosity, some out of a thirst after knowledge, some out of covetous desire of gain? What difference is there betwixt thee and them, but that their exile is voluntary, thy travel constrained? And who are these whom thou art so sorry to forgo? Dost thou not remember what Crates the Philosopher said to a young man, that was beset with parasitical friends; Young man, said he, I pity thy solitude: Perhaps thou mayst be more alone in such society, then in the Wilderness: such conversation is better lost then continued: if thou canst but get to be well acquainted with thyself, thou shalt be sorry that thou wert no sooner solitary. § 7. All ar● pilgrims Thou art out of thy Country: Who is not so? We are all pilgrims together with thee: 1 Pet. 1● Whiles we are at home in the body, Heb. 1▪ 1● we are absent from the Lord: 2 Cor. ● Miserable are we, if our true home be not above; Heb. 1▪ 1● that is the better Country which we seek, even an heavenly: And thither thou mayst equally direct thy course in whatsoever Region. This centre of earth is equidistant from the glorious circumference of heaven: if we may once meet there, what need we make such difference in the way? Comforts against the loss of the Senses; of Sight, and Hearing. § 1. Comfort from the ●●o in●ard ●ghts of ●ason ●nd faith. THou hast lost thine eyes: A loss, which all the world is uncapable to repair: Thou art hereby condemned to a perpetual darkness; For, the light of the body is the eye: Matth. 6. 22, 23. and if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? Couldst thou have foreseen this evil, thou hadst anticipated this loss, by weeping out those eyes for grief, which thou must forgo. There are but two ways, by which any outward comfort can have access to thy soul; The Eye, and the Ear: one of them is now foreclosed for ever. Yet know, my son, thou hast two other inward eyes, that can abundantly supply the want of these of thy body; The eye of Reason, and the eye of Faith: the one, as a Man; the other, as a Christian: Answerable whereunto, there is a double light apprehended by them; Rational, and Divine: Solomon tells thee of the one; Prov. 20. 27. The spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly: The beloved Disciple tells thee of the other; God is light; Joh. 1. 9, 7. and we walk in the light, as he is in the light: Now these two lights are no less above that outward and visible light, whereof thou art bereft, than that light is above darkness: If therefore by the eye of Reason thou shalt attain to the clear sight of intelligible things; and by the eye of Faith, to the sight of things supernatural and Divine; the improvement of these better eyes, shall make a large amends for the lack of thy bodily sight. § 2. The supply of better eyes. Thy sight is lost: Let me tell thee what Antony the Hermit (whom Ruffinus doubts not to style blessed) said to learned (though blind) Didymus of Alexandria; Ruffinus Hist. l. 2. c. 7. Let it not trouble thee, O Didymus, that thou art bereft of carnal eyes; for thou lackest only those eyes which Mice, and Flies, and Lyzards have: but rejoice that thou hast those eyes which the Angels have, whereby they see God, and by which thou art enlightened with a great measure of knowledge. Make this good of thyself, and thou shalt not be too much discomforted with the absence of thy bodily eyes. § 3. The better object of our inward sight. Thine eyes are lost: The chief comfort of thy life is gone with them: Eccl. 11. 7. The light is sweet, saith Solomon; and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. Hath not God done this purposely, that he might set thee off from all earthly objects, that thou mightst so much the more intentively fix thyself upon him, and seek after those spiritual comforts, which are to be found in a better light? Behold, the Sun is the most glorious thing that thy bodily eyes can possibly see: thy spiritual eyes may see him that made that goodly and glorious creature, and therefore must needs be infinitely more glorious than what he made. If thou canst now see him the more, how hast thou but gained by thy loss? § 4. The ill officer done by the eyes. Thou art become blind: Certainly, it is a sore affliction. The men of Jabesh-gilead offered to comply with the Tyrant of the Ammonites, 1 Sam. 11. 1. so far as to serve him: but when he required the loss of their right eyes, as a condition of their peace, they will rather hazard their lives in an unequal War; as if servitude and death were a less mischief than one eyes loss; how much more of both? For though one eye be but testis singularis, yet the evidence of that is as true, as that of both; yea, in some cases more: for when we would take a perfect aim, we shut one eye, as rather an hindrance to an accurate information: yet for ordinary use, so do we esteem each of these lights, that there is no wise man but would rather lose a limb then an eye: Although I could tell thee of a certain man not less religious than witty, Bromiard v. Sensus. who when his friends bewailed the loss of one of his eyes, asked them, Whether they wept for the eye which he had lost, or the eye which remained? Weep rather, said he, for the enemy that stays behind, then for the enemy that is gone. Lo, this man looked upon his eyes, with eyes different from other men's; he saw them as enemies, which others see as officious servants, as good friends, as dear favourites: Indeed, they are any or all of these, according as they are used: good servants, if they go faithfully on the errands we send them, and return us true intelligence: Good friends, if they advise and invite us to holy thoughts; enemies, if they suggest and allure us to evil: If thine eyes have been employed in these evil offices to thy soul, God hath done that for thee, which he hath in a figurative sense enjoined thee to do to thyself; Matth. 5. 29. If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. § 5. Freedom from temptations by the eyes, and from sorrows. Thou hast lost thine eyes, and together with them much earthly contentment: But withal, thou art hereby freed of many temptations: those eyes were the in-lets of sin; yea, not only the mere passages by which it entered; but busy agents in the admission of it; the very Panders of lust, for the debauching of the soul. How many thousands are there, who on their deathbeds, upon the sad recalling of their guilty thoughts, have wished they had been born blind? So as if now thou have less joy, thou shalt sin less; neither shall any vain objects call away thy thoughts from the serious and sad meditation of spiritual things. Before, it was no otherwise with thee, than the Prophet Jeremich reports it to have been with the Jews, That death is come up by the windows. Jer. 9 21 So it was with our great Grandmother Eve; she saw the tree was pleasant to the eyes, Gen. 3. 6 and thereupon took of the fruit. So it hath been ever since with all the fruit of her womb, both in the old, and later world: Gen. 6. 2 The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose: In so much as not filthy lusts only, but even adulteries take up their lodgings in the eye: there the blessed Apostle finds them; Having eyes (saith he) full of adultery, 2 Pet. 2. 14. and that can not cease from sin. Whiles therefore, Job 31. 7 thine heart walked after thine eyes, as Job speaks, it could do no other but carry thee down to the chambers of death: Prov. 7. 27. thou art now delivered from that danger of so deadly a misguidance. Hath not the loss of thine eyes, withal, freed thee of a world of sorrows? The old word is, What the eye views not, the heart ●ues not: Hadst thou but seen what others were forced to behold, those fearful conflagrations, those piles of murdered carcases, those streams of Christian blood, those savage violences, those merciless rapines, those sacrilegious outrages, thine heart could not choose but bleed within thee: Now thou art affected with them only aloof off, as receiving them by the imperfect intelligence of thine ear from the unfeeling relation of others. §. 6. The cheerfulness of some blind men. Thine eyes are lost, what need thy heart to go with them? I have known a blind man more cheerful, than I could be with both mine eyes: Old Isaac was dark-sighted when he gave the blessing (contrary to his own intentions) to his son Jacob, yet it seems he lived forty years after, and could be pleased then to have good cheer made him with wine and v●nison; Gen. 27. 25. our life doth not lie in our eyes; Pro. 18. 14. The Spirit of man is that which upholds his infirmities; Labour to raise that to a cheerful disposition; even in thy bodily darkness, there shall be light and joy to thy soul. Esth. 8. 16. §. 7. The supply which God gives in other faculties. Hath God taken away thine eyes? But hath he not given thee an abundant supply in other faculties? Are not thine inward senses the more quick? thy memory stronger, thy fantasy more active, thy understanding more apprehensive? The wonders that we have heard, and read of blind men's memories, were not easy to believe, if it were not obvious to conceive that the removal of all distractions gives them an opportunity both of a careful reposition of all desired objects, and of a sure fixedness of them where they are laid: Hence have we seen it come to pass that some blind men have attained to those perfections which their eyes could never have feoffed them in: It is very memorable that our Ecclesiastical Story reports of Didymus of Alexandria, who being blind from his infancy, Ruffin. Eccl. hist l. 2. c. 7. through his prayers, & diligent endeavours reached unto such an high pitch of knowledge in Logic, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy, as was admired by the learned Masters of those Arts; and for his rare insight into Divinity, was by great Athanasius approved to be the Doctor of the Chair in that famous Church. What need we doubt of this truth, when our own times have so clearly seconded it? having yielded divers worthy Divines, Gods Seers, bereft of bodily eyes; amongst the rest, there was one in my time, Mr. Fisher of Trinity College in Cambr. very eminent in the University of Cambridge, (whom I had occasion to dispute with for his degree) of great skill both in Tongues and Arts, and of singular acuteness of judgement. Suidas ex Aristophane. It is somewhat strange that Suidas reports of Neoclldes, that being a blind man he could steal more cunningly than any that had use of eyes; Sure, I may say boldly of our Fisher, that he was more dextrous in picking the locks of difficult Authors, and fetching forth the reasures of their hidden senses, than those that had the sharpest eyes about him; in so much as it was noted those were singular Proficients which employed themselves in reading to him; If they read Books to him, he read Lectures the while to them; and still taught more than he learned. As for the other outward senses, they are commonly more exquisite in the blind; We read of some who have been of so accurate a touch, that by their very feeling they could distinguish betwixt black and white; And for the ear, as * The Lord Verul. Fr. Bacon in his Natural History. our Philosophers observe, that sounds are sweeter to the blind, then to the sighted; so also that they are more curiously judged of by them; the virtue of both those senses being now contracted into one. But the most perfect recompense of these bodily eyes, is in the exaltation of our spiritual, so much more enlightened towards the beatisicall vision of God, as they apprehend more darkness in all earthly objects; certainly, thou shalt not miss these material eyes, if thou mayst find thy soul thus happily enlightened. §. 8. The benefit of the eyes which once we had. Thine eyes are lost; It is a blessing that once thou hadst them; hadst thou been born blind, what a stranger hadst thou (in all likelihood) been to God and the world? hadst thou not once seen the face of this heaven, and this earth, and this Sea, what expressions could have made thee sufficiently apprehensive of the wonderful works of thy Creator? What discourse could have made thee to understand what light is? what the Sun the fountain of it, what the heavens, the glorious region of it, and what the Moon and Stars illuminated by it? How couldst thou have had thy thoughts raised so high, as to give glory to that great God, whose infinite power hath wrought all these marvellous things? No doubt, God hath his own ways of mercy, even for those that are born dark; not requiring what he hath not given; graciously supplying by his spirit in the vessels of his election, what is wanting in the outer-man; so as even those that could never see the face of the world, shall see the face of the God that made it; But in an ordinary course of proceeding, those which have been blind from their birth, must needs want those helps of knowing and glorifying God in his mighty works, which lie open to the seeing: These once filled thine eyes, and stay with thee still after thine eyes have forsaken thee; What shouldst thou do but walk on in the strength of those fixed thoughts, and be always adoring the Majesty of that God whom that sight hath represented unto thee so glorious, and in an humble submission to his good pleasure strive against all the discomforts of thy sufferings. Our Story tells us of a valiant Soldier (answerable to the name he bore) Polyzelus, Suidas v. Hippias. who after his eyes were struck out in the Battle, covering his face with his Target, fought still, laying about him as vehemently, as if he had seen whom to smite. So do thou, my son, with no less courage; let not the loss of thine eyes hinder thee from a cheerful resistance of those spiritual enemies, which labour to draw thee into an impatient murmuring against the hand of thy God: wait humbly upon that God who hath better eyes in store for thee, than those thou hast lost. § 9 The supply of one sense by another Thou hast lost thy hearing: It is not easy to determine whether loss is the greater, of the Eye, or of the Ear: both are grievous. Now all the world is to thee as dumb, since thou art deaf to it: How small a matter hath made thee a mere cipher amongst men! These two are the senses of instruction: there is no other way for intelligence to be conveyed to the soul, whether in secular or in spiritual affairs. The eye is the window, the ear is the door by which all knowledge enters: In matter of observation, by the eye; in matter of faith, Rom. 10. 17. by the ear. Had it pleased God to shut up both these senses from thy birth, thy estate had been utterly disconsolate: neither had there been any possible access for comfort to thy soul: and if he had so done to thee in thy riper age, there Had been no way for thee but 1 to live on thy former store: But now that he hath vouchsafed to leave thee one passage open, it beh●ves thee to supply the one sense by the other, & to let in those helps by the window, which are denied entrance at the door. And since that infinite goodness hath been pleased to lend thee thine ear so long, as till thou hast laid the sure grounds of faith in thy heart; now thou mayst work upon them, in this silent opportunity, with heavenly meditations, and raise them up to no less height, than thou mightst have done by the help of the quickest ear. It is well for thee, that in the fullness of thy senses thou wert careful to improve thy bosom as a Magazine of heavenly thoughts, providing with the wise Patriarch for the seven years of dearth: otherwise, now that the passages are thus blocked up, thou couldst not but have been in danger of affamishing. Thou hast now abundant leisure to recall and ruminate upon those holy counsels, which thy better times laid up in thy heart, and to thy happy advantage findest the difference betwixt a wise providence, and a careless neglect. § 10. The better condition of the inward ear. Thine outward hearing is gone: But thou hast an inward and better ear, whereby thou hearest the secret motions of God's Spirit, which shall never be lost: How many thousands whom thou enviest, are in a worse condition? they have an outward and bodily ear, whereby they hear the voice of men; but they want that spiritual ear, which perceives the least whisper of the holy Ghost: Ears they have, but not hearing ears; for fashion, more than use: Wise Solomon makes and observes the distinction; Prov. 20. 12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them: And a greater than Solomon can say of his formal auditors, Hearing they hear not. Mat. 13. 13. If thou have an ear for God, though deaf to men; how much happier art thou then those millions of men, that have au ear for men, and are deaf to God? § 11. The grief that arises from learning evil. Thou hast lost thy hearing; and therewith no small deal of sorrow: How would it grieve thy soul to hear those woeful ejulations, those pitiful complaints, those hideous blasphemies, those mad paradoxes, those hellish heresies, wherewith thine ear would have been wounded, if it had not been barred against their entrance? It is thy just grief that thou missest the hearing of many good words; it is thy happiness that thou art freed from the hearing of many evil. It is an even lay betwixt the benefit of hearing good, and the torment of hearing evil. Comforts against Barrenness. §. 1. The blessing of fruitfulness seasoned with sorrows. THou complainest of dry loins, & a barren womb: so did a better man before thee, even the Father of the faithful: What wilt thou give me, Gen. 25. 2. seeing I go childless? So did the wife of faithful Israel, Gen. 30. 1. Give me children, or else I die. So desirous hath Nature been, even in the holiest, to propagate itself, and so impatient of a denial: Lo, Psa. 127. 4. children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift that cometh from the Lord. Happy is he that hath his quiver full of such shafts. Vers. 6. It is the blessing that David grudged to wicked ones, Psal. 17. 14. They have children at their desire. It was the curse which God inflicted upon the family of Abimelech King of Gerar, Gen. 20. 17, 18. that he closed up all the wombs in his house for Sarahs' sake: And the judgement threatened to Ephraim, Hos 9 14 is a miscarrying womb, and dry breasts: And Jechoniah's sad doom is, Jer. 22. 30. Write this man childless: As on the contrary, it is a special favour of God, that the barren hath born seven: 1 Sam. 2. 5. And it is noted by the Psalmist, as a wonder of God's mercy, Psa. 113. 8. That he maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. It is pity he was ever born, that holds not children a blessing; yet not simple and absolute, but according as it may prove: She hath a double favour from God, that is a joyful mother of children: many a one breeds her sorrow, breeds her death. There is scarce any other blessing from God seasoned with so much acrimony both of misery and danger. Do but lay together the sick fits of breeding, the painful throws of travel, the weary attendances of nursing, the anxious cares of education, the fears and doubts of misguidance, the perpetual solicitude for their provision, the heart-breaking grief for their miscarriage; and tell me whether thy bemoaned sterility have not more ease, less sorrow. §. 2. The pains of childbearing. It is thy sorrow then that thou art not fruitful: Consider that thou art herein freed from a greater sorrow: In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. Gen. 3. 16. Do but think upon the shrieks and torments that thou hast seen and heard in the painful travels of thy neighbours: One thou hast seen wearying the days and nights in restless pangs, and calling for death in a despair of delivery: Another after the unprofitable labours of Midwives, forced to have her bowels ransacked by the hand of another sex. One hath her dead burden torn from her by piece-meal; another is delivered of her life and birth together: One languisheth to death after the hand of an unskilful Midwife; another is weary of her life through the soreness of her breasts: All these sorrows thou hast escaped by this one: In these regards, how many whom thou enviest, have thought thee happier than themselves? §. 3. The misery of ill-disposed and undutiful children. Thou art afflicted that thou art not a mother: Many a one is so, that wishes she had been barren: If either the child prove deformed and misshapen; or, upon further growth, unnatural and wicked; what a Corrosive is this to her that bore him? Rebecca thought it long to be (after her marriage) twenty years childless; Gen. 25. 20, 21. her holy husband (at sixty year's age) prays to God for issue by her: his devotion (as the Jewish Doctors say) carried him to Mount Moriah for this purpose, that in the same place where his life was miraculously preserved from the knife of his Father, it might by the like miracle be renewed in his posterity: God hears him; Gen. 25. 22. Rebecca conceives: but when she felt that early combat of her struggling twins in her womb, she can say, If it be so, Gen. 25. 25. why am I thus? And when she saw a child come forth all clad in hair, and after saw his conditions no less rough than his hide, Gen. 27. 41. do we not think she wished that part of her burden unborn? Certainly, children are according to their proof, either blessings, or crosses. Hast thou a child well disposed, well governed? Prov. 10. 1. A wise Son maketh a glad Father. Prov. 15. 20. Hast thou a child disorderly and debauched? Prov. 10. 1. A foolish son is the heaviness of his Mother; Prov. 19 13. and the calamity of his Father. Hast thou a son that is unruly, stubborn, unnatural? (as commonly the cions overrule the stock:) He that wasteth his Father, Prov. 19 26. and chaseth away his Mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach. And if such a son should live and die impenitent, what can be answerable to the discomfort of that Parent who shall think that a piece of himself is in hell? § 4. The cares of parents for their children. Thou hast no children: As thou hast less joy, so thou hast loss trouble: It is a world of work and thoughts that belongs to these living possessions. Artemidor. de Insomniis, l. 1. c. 16. Artemidorus▪ observes, that to dream of children, imports cares to follow. Surely, as they are our greatest cares, so they bring many lesser cares with them: Before thou hadst but one mouth to feed, now many. And upon whom doth this charge lie, but upon the Parent? not Nature only, but Religion casts it upon him: 1 Tim. 5. 8. For, if any provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the Faith, and is worse than an infidel. Dost thou not see that many suckers growing up from the root of the tree, draw away the sap from the stock? and many rivulets let out from the main Channel, leave the stream shallow? So it must be with thee, and thine: But this expense is not more necessary than comfortable. I remember a great man coming to my house at Waltham, and seeing all my children standing in the order of their age, and stature, said, These are they that make rich men poor: But he strait received this answer; Nay, my Lord, these are they that make a poor man rich; for there is not one of these whom we would part with, for all your wealth. Indeed, wherefore do we receive, but to distribute? and what are we but the Farmers of those we leave behind us? And if we do freely lay out of our substance beforehand for their good, so much of our rent is happily cleared. It is easy to observe that none are so gripple and hard-fisted, as the childless: whereas those who for the maintenance of large Families are enured to frequent disbursements, find such experience of Divine providence in the faithful managing of their affairs, as that they lay out with more cheerfulness than they receive: Wherein their care must needs be abated, when God takes it off from them to himself; and if they be not wanting to themselves, their faith gives them ease, in casting their burden upon him who hath both more power, and more right to it, since our children are more his then our own: He that feedeth the young ravens, Psa. 147. 9 can he fail the best of his creatures? Worthy Mr Greenham tells us of a Gentlewoman, who coming into the cottage of a poor neighbour, and seeing it furnished with store of children, could say, Here are the mouths, but where is the meat? but not long after she was paid in her own coin, for the poor woman coming to her after the burial of her last, and now only child, inverted the question upon her, Here is the meat, but where are the mouths? Surely, the great Housekeeper of the world, whose charge we are, will never leave any of his menials without the bread of sufficiency; and who are so fit to be his Purveyors as the Parents for their own brood? Nature hath taught the very Birds to pick out the best of the grains for their young; Nature sends that moisture out of the root which gives life to the branches, and blossoms. Sometimes indeed it meets with a kind retaliation; some Stork-like disposition repaies the loving offices done by the Parents in a dutiful retribution to their age or necessity: But how often have we seen the contrary? Here, an unsatisfiable importunity of drawing from the Parent that maintenance which is but necessary for his own subsistence: So we have seen a young Bat hanging on the teat of her Dam for milk, even when she is dying: So we have seen some insatiable Lambs forcing the udder of their dams, when they have been as big as the Ewe that yeaned them: There, an undutiful and unnatural neglect, whether in not owning the meanness of those that begot them; or in not supporting the weakness of their decayed estate by due maintenance. Ingratitude is odious in any man, but in a child, monstrous. §. 5. The great grief in the loss of children. It is thy grief that thou never hadst a child; Believe him that hath tried it, there is not so much comfort in the having of children, as there is sorrow in parting with them, especially, when they are come to their proof; when their parts, and disposition have raised our hopes of them, and doubled our affection towards them; And as (according to the French Proverb) he that hath not cannot lose; so contrarily, he that hath must lose; our meeting is not more certain than our parting; either we must leave them, and so their grief for us must double ours; or they must leave us, and so our grief for them must be no less than our love was of them. If then thou wilt be truly wise, set thy heart upon that only absolute good, which is not capable of losing: Divided affections must needs abate of their force; now since there are no objects of dearness which might distract thy love, be sure to place it wholly upon that infinite goodness which shall entertain it with mercy, and reward it with blessedness. If Elkanah therefore could say to his barren Wife Hannah, 1 Sam. 1. 8. Why weepest thou? and why is thy heart heavy? am not I better to thee then ten sons? How much more comfortably mayst thou hear the Father of mercies say to thy soul, Why is thy heart heavy? am not I better to thee then ten thousand sons? Comforts against want of Sleep. § 1. The misery of the want of rest; with the best remedy. THOU art afflicted with want of sleep: A complaint incident to distempered bodies, and thoughtful minds: Oh how wearisome a thing it is to spend the long night in tossing up and down in a restless bed in the chase of sleep, which the more eagerly it is followed, flies so much the farther from us! Couldst thou obtain of thyself to forbear the desire of it, perhaps it would come alone; now that thou suest for it (like to some froward piece) it is coy and overly, and punishes thee with thy longing: Lo, he that could command an hundred and seven and twenty Provinces, yet could not command rest; Esth 6. 1 On that night his sleep departed from him; neither could be either forced, or entreated to his bed. And the great Babylonian Monarch, though he laid some hand on sleep, yet he could not hold it, Dan 2. 1. for his sleep broke from him: And for great and wise Solomon, it would not so much as come within his view, Eccl. 8▪ 16 Neither night nor day seeth he sleep with his eyes: Surely, as there is no earthly thing more comfortable to nature then bodily rest, Jer. 31. 26. so there is nothing whose loss is more grievous and disheartening; If the senses be not sometimes in meet vicissitudes, tied up, how can they choose but run themselves out of breath, and weary and spend themselves to nothing? If the body be not refreshed with a moderate interchange of repose, how can it but languish in all the parts of it? and as commonly the soul follows the temper of the body, how can that but find a sensible discomposure and debilitation in all her faculties, and operations? Do we not see the savagest creatures tamed with want of rest? Do we not find this rack alone to have been torture enough to fetch from poor souls a confessionall discovery of those acts they never did? Do we not find raveries, and frenzies the ordinary attendants of sleeplesness? Herein therefore thy tongue hath just cause to complain of thine eyes. For remedy, in stead of closing thy lids to wait for sleep; lift up thy stiff eyes to him that giveth his beloved rest: Ps. 127. 2 what ever be the means, he it is that holdeth thine eyes waking: Psa. 77. 4 He that made thine eyes, keeps off sleep from thy body, for the good of thy soul: let not thine eyes wake without thy heart. The Spouse of Christ can say, I sleep, Cant. 5. 4. but my heart waketh; how much more would she say, Mine eyes wake, and my heart waketh also? When thou canst not see sleep with thine eyes, labour to see him that is invisible: one glimpse of that sight is more worth, than all the sleep that thine eyes can be capable of: give thyself up into his hands, to be disposed of at his will: What is this sweet acquiescence, but the rest of the soul? Which if thou canst find in thyself, thou shalt quietly digest the want of thy bodily sleep. § 2. The favour of freedom from pain. Thou wantest sleep: Take heed thou do not aggravate thine affliction: It is only an evil of loss, no evil of sense: a mere lack of what thou wishest; not a pain of what thou feelest. Alas, how many besides want of rest, are tortured with intolerable torments in all the parts of their body; who would think themselves happy, if they might be put into thy condition: might they but have ease, how gladly would they forbear rest? Be not therefore so much troubled that it is no better with thee, but rather be thankful that it is no worse. §. 3. The favour of health without sleep. Thou lackest sleep; A thing that we desire not so much for its own sake, as in a way to health. What if God be pleased so to dispose of thee, as to give thee health without it? So he hath done to some. It is a small matter that Goulart reports out of Gaspar Wolfius, Goul. Histoires Memorables. c. Ve●lles. of a woman in Milan that continued fifteen days and nights without sleep. That is very memorable which Seneca tells us of great Maecenas, that in three years he slept not (ne horae momento) so much as the space of an hour: which however Lipsius thinks good to mitigate with a favourable construction, as conceiving an impossibility of an absolute sleeplesness yet if we shall compare it with other instances of the same kind, we shall find no reason to scruple the utmost rigour of that relation: That a frantic man (of whom Fernelius writes) should continue a year and two months without any sleep at all, Patholog. l. 5. c. 2. is no wonder, in comparison of that which learned Heurnius tells us, Lib. De morbis capitis, c. 16. upon good assurance given him, when he was a Student in Milan, that Nizolius the famous Ciceronian, lived ten whole years without sleep▪ And even in our time and climate, I have been informed by credible testimony, that Monsieur L' Angles, a French Physician at London, lived no fewer years altogether sleepless. But that exceeds all example, which Monsieur Goulart reports out of an Author of good reputation, Goulart ibidem. of a certain Gentlewoman, who for thirty five years, remained without any sleep, and found no inconvenience or distemper thereby, as was witnessed by her husband and servants. Lo, the hand of God is not shortened: He who in our time miraculously protracted the life of the Maid of Meures so many years, without meat; hath sustained the lives of these forenamed persons thus long, without sleep, that it might appear, Matth. 4. 4. Man lives not by meat or sleep only, Deut. 8. 3. but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. If he should please to bless thee with a sleepless health, the favour is far greater, then if he allowed thee to short out thy time in a dull unprofitable rest. §. 4. Sleep but a symptom of mortality. Thou wantest sleep: Behold, he that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep: and those blessed spirits that do continually see the face of God, never sleep. Sleep is but a symptom of frail mortality; whereof the less we do or can partake, we come so much the nearer to those spiritual natures whose perfection makes them uncapable of sleep. Hereupon it was, that those retired Christians in the Primitive times, which affected to come nearest to an Angelical life, Sozomen. l. 6. c. 29. wilfully repelled sleep, neither would ever admit it, till it necessarily forced itself upon them. Lo then, thou sufferest no more out of the distemper of humours, or unnatural obstructions, than better men have willingly drawn upon themselves out of holy resolutions. It is but our construction that makes those things tedious to us, which have been well taken by others. §. 5. No use of sleep whither we are going. Thou wantest sleep: Have patience, my son, for a while; thou art going where there shall be no need, no use of sleep: and in the mean time, thy better part would not, cannot rest: Though the gates be shut, that it cannot show itself abroad, it is ever, and ever will be active. As for this earthly piece, it shall ere long sleep its fill, where no noise can wake it, till the voice of the Archangel, 1 Thes. 4. 16. and the trumpet of God shall call it up in the morning of the Resurrection. Comforts against the inconveniences of Old age. § 1. The illimitation of age; and the miseries that attend it. OLd age is that which we all desire to aspire unto; and when we have attained, are as ready to complain of, as our greatest misery: verifying in part that old observation, That Wedlock and Age are things which we desire, and repent of. Is this our Ingratitude, or Inconstancy, that we are weary of what we wished? Perhaps this accusation may not be universal: There is much difference in constitutions, and much latitude in old-age: Infancy and youth have their limits, age admits of no certain determination: At seventy years David was old, and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, 1 King 1. 1. but he got no heat: Whereas Caleb can profess, Josh. 14. 10, 11. Now lo, I am fourscore and five years old: as yet, I am as strong this day, as I was in the day that Moses sent me to spy out the Land: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and come in. And beyond him, Moses was an hundred and twenty years old, Deut. 34 7. when his eye was not dim, nor his natural strength abated. Gen. 5. 27. Methuselah was but old, when he was nine hundred sixty five. But as for the generality of mankind, the same Moses, who lived to see an hundred and twenty years▪ hath set man's ordinary period at half his own term: Psal. 90. 10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten: and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow: Lo, fourscore years alone, are load enough for the strength (much more for the weakness) of age: but when labour and sorrow are added to the weight, how can we but double under the burden? Sen. Ep. 58▪ He was both old and wise, that said out of experience, that our last days are the dregs of our life: the clearer part is gone, and all drawn out, the lees sink down to the bottom. Who can express the miserable inconveniences that attend Old-age! wherein our cares must needs be multiplied according to the manifold occasions of our affairs: For the world is a Net, wherein the more we stir, the more we are entangled. And for our bodily grievances, what varieties do we here meet withal? what aches of the bones, what belching of the Joints, what Convulsions of Sinews, what torments of the Bowels, Stone, Colic, Strangury? what distillations of Rheums, what hollow Coughs, what weaknesses of retention, expulsion, digestion, what decay of Senses? So as Age is no other than the common sewer into which all diseases of our life are wont to empty themselves: Well therefore might Sarah say, Gen. 18. 12. After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure? And good Barzillai justly excuses himself for not accepting the gracious invitation of David: 2 Sam. 19 35. I am this day fourscore years old, and can I discern between good and evil? Can thy servant taste what I eat, or what I drink? Can I hear any more the voice of singing men, and singing women? Wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the King? Lo, Eccl. 12. 1, 2, 3. these are they which the Preacher calls the evil days, and the years wherein a man shall say, I have no pleasure: wherein the Sun, or the Light, or the Moon, or the Stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain: when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease, because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened. Shortly, what is our old-age, but the Winter of our life? How can we then expect any other then gloomy weather, chilling frosts, storms and tempests? § 2. Old-age a blessing. But whiles we do thus querulously aggravate the incommodities of age, we must beware lest we derogate from the bounty of our Maker, and disparage those blessings which he accounts precious; amongst which, Old-age is none of the meanest: Had he not put that value upon it, would he have honoured it with his own style, calling himself, Dan. 7. 9 13. 22. The Ancient of days? Would he else have set out this mercy as a reward of obedience to himself, (I will fulfil the number of thy days) and of obedience to our Parents, Exod. 23 26. To live long in the Land? Exod. 20 12. Would he have promised it as a marvellous favour to restored Jerusalem (now become a City of Truth,) That there shall yet old men, Zech. 8. 4. and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age? Would he else have denounced it as a judgement to over-indulgent Eli, 1 Sam. 2. 32. There shall not be an old man in thine house for ever? Far be it from us to despise that which God doth honour, and to turn his blessing into a curse. Yea, the same God, who best knows the price of his own favours, as he makes no small estimation of age himself, so he hath thought fit to call for an high respect to be given to it by men, out of an holy awe to himself: Leu. 19 32. Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God. I am the Lord. Hence it is, that he hath pleased to put together the Ancient and the Honourable; Isai. 9 15. and hath told us, that an hoary head is a crown of glory, Prov. 16 31. if it be found in a way of righteousness: Prov. 20. 29. And lastly, makes it an argument of the deplored estate of Jerusalem, that they favoured not the Elders. Lam. 4. 15. As therefore, we too sensibly feel what to complain of, so we well know what privileges we may challenge as due to our age; even such as nature itself hath taught those heathens which have been in the next degree to savage: If pride and skill have made the Athenians uncivil, yet a young Lacedaemonian will rise up, and yield his place in the Theatre to neglected age. §. 3. The advantages of old age: 1. fearlessness. It is not a little injurious so to fasten our eyes upon the discommodities of any condition, as not to take in the advantages that belong to it; which carefully laid together, may perhaps sway the balance to an equal poise: Let it be true that old age is oppressed with many bodily griefs; but what if it yield other immunities which may keep the scales even? whereof it is not the least, that it gives us firm resolution, and bold security against dangers and death itself; For the old man knows how little of his clew is left in the winding, and therefore, when just occasion is offered, sticks not much upon so inconsiderable a remainder. Old age and orbity, as Cesellius professed, were those two things that emboldened him. And when Castritius refused to deliver the hostages of Placentia to Carbo the Consul, and was threatened with many swords, he answered those menaces with his many years. And that we may not disdain homebred instances, and may see that brave spirits may lodge in cottages; In my time a plain Villager in the Rude Peake, when thiefs taking advantage of the absence of his family, breaking into his solitary dwelling, and finding him sitting alone by his fire side, fell violently upon him; and one of them setting his dagger to his heart, swore that he would presently kill him, if he did not instantly deliver to them that money which they knew he had lately received; the old man looks boldly in the face of that stout Villain, and with an undaunted courage returns him this answer in his Peakish Dialect, Nay, even put from thee, son, I have lived long enough, but I tell thee, unless thou mend thy manners, thou wilt never live to see half my days; put from thee if thou wilt. What young man would have been so easily induced to part with his life, and have been so ready to give entertainment to an unexpected death? Surely, the hope and love of life commonly softens the spirits of vigorous youth, and dissuades it from those enterprises which are attended with manifest peril; whereas extreme age teacheth us to contemn dangers. §. 4. The second advantage of old age, Freedom from passions. Yet a greater privilege of age is a freedom from those impetuous passions wherewith youth is commonly over-swayed; for together with our natural heat is also abated the heat of our inordinate lusts, so as now our weaker appetite may easily be subdued to reason: The temperate old man in the Story, when one showed him a beautiful face, could answer, I have long since left to be eyesick: And that other could say of pleasure, I have gladly with drawn myself from the service of that imperious mistress. What an unreasonable vassalage our youthful lusts subject us unto, we need no other instance then in the strongest, and wisest man; How was the strongest man Samson effeminated by his impotent passion, and weakened in his intellectuals so far, as wilfully to betray his own life to a mercenary Harlot, and to endure to hear her say, Tell me wherewith thou mayest be bowed to do thee hurt: Judg. 16. 6. How easily might he have answered thee, O Delila, Even with these cords of brutish sensuality, wherewith thou hast already bound me to the loss of my liberty, mine eyes, my life? How was the wisest man, Solomon, besotted with his strange Wives, so as to be drawn away to the worship of strange gods! And how may the fir trees howl, when the Cedars fall! who can hope to be free from being transported with irregular affections, when we see such great precedents of frailty before our eyes? From the danger of these miserable miscarriages our age happily secures us, putting us into that quiet harbour, whence we may see young men perilously tossed with those tempests of unruly passions, from which our cooler age hath freed us. §. 5. The third advantage of age, experimental knowledge. Add hereunto the benefit of experimental knowledge, wherewith age is wont to enrich us, every dram whereof is worth many pounds of the best youthly contentments; in comparison whereof, the speculative knowledge is weak and imperfect; this, may come good cheap, perhaps costs us nothing; that, commonly we pay dear for, and therefore is justly esteemed the more precious: If experience be the mistress of fools, I am sure it is the mother of wisdom; neither can it be (except we be too much wanting to ourselves) but the long observation of such variety of actions and events as meet with us in the whole course of our life, must needs leave with us such sure rules of judgement, as may be unfailing directions for ourselves, and others: In vain shall this be expected from our younger years, which the wise Philosopher excludes from being meet Auditors, much less Judges of true morality: In regard whereof, well might the old man say, Ye young men think us old men fools, but we old men know you young men to be fools: Certainly, what value soever ignorance may put upon it, this fruit of age is such, as that the earth hath nothing equally precious. It was a profane word, and fit for the mouth of an Heathen Poet, That Prudence is above Destiny: But surely, a Christian may modestly and justly say, That, next to Divine Providence, Humane Prudence may challenge the supreme place in the administration of these earthly affairs; and that Age may claim the greatest interest in that Prudence: Young Elihu could say, Job 32 7 Multitude of years should teach wisdom: And the wise man, Ecclus 25. 4, 5. Oh how comely a thing is judgement for grey hairs, and for ancient men to know counsel! Oh how comely is the wisdom of old men, and understanding and counsel to men of honour! In regard whereof, the Grecians had wont to say, that young men are for Action, old men for Advice: And among the Romans we know that Senators take their name from age. That therefore which is the weakness of old men's eyes, that (their visual spirits not uniting till some distance) they better discern things further off, is the praise and strength of their mental eyes; they see either judgements or advantages afar off, and accordingly frame their determinations. It is observed that old Lutes sound better than new: and it was Rehoboam's folly and undoing, 1 Kings 12. 6, 7, 8▪ 9, 10, etc. that he would rather follow the counsel of his green heads that stood before him, then of those grave Senators that had stood before his wiser father. Not that mere Age is of itself thus rich in wisdom and knowledge; but Age well cultured, well improved: There are old men that do but live, or rather have a being upon earth, (so have stocks and stones as well as they) who can give no proof of their many years, but their grey hairs, and infirmities. There are those, who, like to Hermogenes, are old men, whiles they are boys; and children, when they are old men: These, the elder they grow, are so much more stupid. Time is an ill measure of age, which should rather be meted by proficiency, by ripeness of judgement, by the monuments of our commendable and useful labours. If we have thus bestowed ourselves, our Autumn will show what our Spring was; and the colour of our hair will yield us more cause to fear our pride then our dejection. §. 6. Age in some is vigorous and well affected. We accuse our Age of many weaknesses and indispositions: But these imputations must not be universal: Many of these are the faults of the person, not of the age. He said well, As all Wine doth not turn sour with age, no more doth every Nature. Old Oil is noted to be clearer, and hotter in Medicinal use then new. There are those who are pettish and crabbed in youth; there are contrarily those who are mild, gentle, sociable in their decayed years: There are those who are crazy in their prime; and there are those who in their wane are vigorous: There are those who ere the fullness of their age have lost their memory; as Hermogenes, Cornivus, Antonius Caracalla, Georgius Trapezunti●s, and Nizolius. There are those, whose intellectuals have so happily held out, that they have been best at the last: Plato in his last year (which was fourscore and one) died, as it were, with his Pen in his hand: Isocrates wrote his best Piece at ninety four years: And it is said of Demosthenes, that when death summoned him at an hundred years, and somewhat more, he bemoaned himself, that he must now die, when he began to get some knowledge. And as for spiritual graces and improvements; Psal. 92. 12, 13. Such as be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God: They also shall bring forth more fruit in their age; and shall be fat and well liking. § 7. The fourth advantage of Age, Near approach to our end. But the chief benefit of our Age is, our near approach to our journey's end: for the end of all motion is rest; which when we have once attained, there remains nothing but fruition: Now our Age brings us (after a weary race) within some breathe of our goal: for if young men may die, old men must. A condition which a mere carnal heart bewails and abhors, complaining of Nature as niggardly in her dispensations of the shortest time to her noblest creature; and envying the Oaks, which many generations of men must leave standing and growing. No marvel; for the worldling thinks himself here at home, and looks upon death as a banishment: he hath placed his heaven here below, and can see nothing in his remove, but either annihilation, or torment. But for us Christians, who know, that whiles we are present in the body, 2 Cor. 5. 6. we are absent from the Lord; and do justly account ourselves foreigners, our life a pilgrimage, heaven our home; how can we but rejoice, that after a tedious and painful travel, we do now draw near to the threshold of our Father's house; wherein we know there are many mansions, and all glorious. I could blush to hear an heathen say, Cicero de Senect. If God would offer me the choice of renewing my age, and returning to my first childhood, I should heartily refuse it; for I should be loath, after I have passed so much of my race, to be called back from the goal, to the bars of my first setting out; and to hear a Christian whining and puling at the thought of his dissolution. Where is our faith of an heaven, if having been so long sea-beaten, we be loath to think of putting into the safe and blessed harbour of immortality? Comforts against the fears and pains of death. §. 1. The fear of Death natural. THou fearest death: Thou wert not a man if thou didst not so▪ The holiest, the wisest, the strongest that ever were, have done no less. He is the King of fear, and therefore may and must command it. Thou mayst hear the man after Gods own heart say, The sorrows of death compassed me: Psa. 116. 3. And again, My soul is full of troubles, Psal. 88 3, 4, 5. my life draweth nigh to the grave: I am counted with them that go down to the pit, as a man that hath no strength; free among the dead. Thou mayst hear good and great Hezekiah, upon the message of his death, Isai. 38. 14. chattering like a Crane or a Swallow, and mourning as a Dove. Thou fearest as a man; I cannot blame thee: But thou must overcome thy fear, as a Christian: which thou shalt do, if from the terrible aspect of the messenger, thou shalt cast thine eyes upon the gracious and amiable face of the God that sends him: Psal. 18. 5, 6. Holy David shows the way; The snares of death prevented me: In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God; he heard my voice out of his Temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears: Lo, he that is our God, Psal. 68 20. is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues of death: Make him thy friend, and Death shall be no other than advantage. Phil. 1. 21. It is true, as the Wise man saith, Wisd. 1▪ 13. 2. 24. that God made not Death; but that through envy of the devil Death came into the world: But it is as true, that though God made him not, yet he is pleased to employ him as his messenger to summon some souls to judgement, to invite others to glory: and for these later, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints: Psa. 116. 15. And what reason hast thou to abominate that which God accounts precious? §. 2. Remedy o● fear, Acquaintance with death. Thou art afraid of death: Acquaint thyself with him more, and thou shalt fear him less: Even Bears and Lions, which at the first sight affrighted us, upon frequent viewing lose their terror: snure thine eyes to the sight of death, and that face shall begin not to displease thee. Thou must shortly dwell with him for a long time, (for the days of darkness are many) do thou in the mean time entertain him; Ecel. 11. ult. let him be sure to be thy daily guest: Thus the blessed Apostle; I protest by our rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus, ● Cor. 15▪ 31. I die daily. Bid him to thy board, lodge him in thy bed, talk with him in thy closet, walk with him in thy garden, as Joseph of Arimathea did; and by no means suffer him to be a stranger to thy thoughts: This familiarity shall bring thee to a delight in the company of him whom thou didst at first abhor; so as thou shalt with the chosen vessel say, Phil. 1. 23. I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is best of all. § 3. The misapprehension of death injurious. Thou art grievously afraid of death: Is it not upon a mistaking? Our fears are apt to imagine and to aggravate evils: Even Christ himself, walking upon the waters, was by the Disciples trembled at, as some dreadful apparition. Perhaps, my son, thou lookest at death as some utter abolition, or extinction of thy being; and Nature must needs shrink back at the thought of not being at all: This is a foul and dangerous misprision: It is but a departing, which thou callest a death. See how God himself styles it to the father of the faithful; Gen. 15. 15. Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace, thou shalt be buried in a good old-age: And of his holy grandchild Israel, the Spirit of God says, When Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, Gen. 49. 33. he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. Lo, dying is no other, then going to our Fathers, and gathering to our people, with whom we do and shall live in that other and better world, and with whom we shall reappear glorious. Let but thy faith represent death to thee in this shape, and he shall not appear so formidable. Do but mark in what familiar terms it pleased God to confer with his servant Moses concerning his death; Deut. 32 49. Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, and behold the land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession; And die in the mount whither thou go est up, and be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his people: Lo, it is no more, then Go up and die: Should it have been but to go a days journey in the Wilderness to sacrifice, it could have been no otherwise expressed; o●●s if it were all one to go up to Sinai, to meet with God, and to go up to Nebo and die. Neither is it otherwise with us; only the difference is, that Moses must first see the land of Promise, and then die; whereas we must first die, and then see the promised Land. land 4. Comfort from the common condition of men. Thou art troubled with the fear of death: What reason hast thou to be afflicted with that which is the common condition of mankind? Remember, my son, the words of Joshua, the victorious Leader of God's people; Josh. 23. 14. Behold, this day (saith he) I am going the way of all the earth. If all the earth go this way, couldst thou be so fond as to think there should be a by-path left for thee, wherein thou mayst tread alone? Were it so that Monarches and Princes, that Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles were allowed any easier passage out of the world, thou mightst perhaps find some pretence of reason to repine at a painful dissolution, but now since all go one way, and (as the wise Philosopher says) those which are unequal in their birth, Sen. Ep. 91. are in their deaths equal, there can be no ground for a discontented murmur: Grudge if thou wilt, Psal. 89. 49. that thou art a man, Psal. 90. 3, 5, 7. grudge not that being a man thou must die: It is true that those whom the last day shall find alive, shall not die, but they shall be changed; but this change of theirs shall be no other than an analogical death, wherein there shall be a speedy consumption of all our corrupt and drossy parts▪ so as the pain must be so much the more intense, by how much it is more short than in the ordinary course of death: Briefly, that change is a Death, and our Death is a change, Job 14. 14. as Job styles it; the difference is not in the pain, but in the speed of the transaction: Ecclus. 41. 3. Fear not then the sentence of death; remember them that have been before thee, and that come after, for this is the sentence of the Lord over all flesh. §. 6. Death not feared by some. Thou fearest death: So do not infants, children, distracted persons, as the Philosopher observes: Sen. Ep. 36. Why should use of reason render us more cowardly, than defect of reason doth them? Thou fearest that which some others wish: Ecclus. 41. 2▪ O death, how acceptable is thy sentence to the needy, and to him whose strength faileth, that is now in the last age, and is vexed with all things, and to him that despaireth, and hath lost patience: Wherefore is light given (saith job) to him that is in misery, job 3. 21, and life unto the bitter in soul? which long for death, but it cometh not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures; which rejoice exceedingly, 22, 23. and are glad when they can find the grave? How many are there that invite the violence of death, and if he refuse it, do, as Ignatius threatened he would do to the Lions, force his assault? Death is the same to all: the difference is in the disposition of the entertainers; Couldst thou look upon death with their eyes, he should be as welcome to thee, as he is unto them: At the least, why shouldst thou not labour to have thy heart so wrought upon that this face of death, which seems lovely, and desirable to some, may not appear over-terrible to thee? §. 6. Our death day, better than our birth day. Thou art afraid to die; Couldst thou then have been capable of the use of reason, thou wouldst have been more afraid of coming into the world, than thou art now of going out: for why should we be more afraid of the better, then of the worse? Better is the day of death, than the day of ones birth, saith the Preacher: Eccles. 7. 2. Better every way; Our birth begins our miseries, our death ends them: Our birth enters the best of men into a wretched world, our death enters the good into a world of glory: Certainly, were it not for our infidelity, as we came crying into the world, so we should go singing out of 〈◊〉 And if some have solemnised their birthday with feasting and Triumph, the Church of Old hath bestowed that name and cost upon the deaths-day of her Martyrs, and Saints. §. 7. The sting of death pulled out. Thou abhorrest death, and fleest from it as from a Serpent: But dost thou know that his Sting is gone? What harm can there be in a Stingless Snake? i Cor. 15. 35. Hast thou not seen or heard of some delicate Dames that have carried them (thus corrected) in their bosom for coolness, and for the pleasure of their smoothness? The sting of death is sin; He may hiss, and wind about us, but he cannot hurt us when that sting is pulled out: Look up, O thou believing soul, to thy blessed Saviour▪ who hath plucked out this sting of death, and happily triumphs over it, both for himself and thee; O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? §. 8. Death is but aparting to meet again. Thy soul and body (old companions) are loath to part: Why man, it is but the forbearing their wont society, for a while; they do but take leave of each other till they meet again in the day of Resurrection, and in the mean time they are both safe, and the better part happy: It is commendable in the Jews (otherwise the worst of men) that they call their grave (Beth Chajim) the house of the living; and when they return from the burial of their neighbours, they pluck up the grass, and cast it into the air, with those words of the Psalmist, Ps. 72. 16 They shall flourish and put forth as the grass upon, the earth: Did we not believe a Resurrection of the one part, and a reuniting of the other, we had reason to be utterly daunted with the thought of a dissolution; now we have no cause to be dismayed with a little intermission. Is it an Heathen man, Sen. Ep. 36. or a Christian (such I wish he had been) whom I hear say, The death which we so fear, and flee from, doth but respite life for a while, doth not take it away, the day will come which shall restore us to the light again. Settle thy soul, my son, in this assurance, and thou canst not be discomforted with a necessary parting. § 9 Death is but a sleep. Thou art afraid of death: When thou art weary of thy day's labour, art thou afraid of rest? Hear what thy Saviour, who is the Lord of life, esteems of death, john 11. 11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. And of Jairus his daughter, Matth. 9 24. The maid is not dead, Luke 8. 52. but sleepeth: Neither useth the Spirit of God any other language, concerning his servants under the Old Testament: Job 7. 21. Now shall I sleep in the dust, saith holy Job: And of David, 2 Sam. 7. 12. When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers. Nor yet under the New: 1 Cor. 11▪ 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep, saith the Apostle. Lo, the Philosophers of old were wont to call sleep the brother of death; but God says death is no other than sleep itself; A sleep both sure and sweet: When thou liest down at night to thy repose, thou canst not be so certain to awake again in the morning, as when thou layest thyself down in death, thou art sure to wake in the morning of the Resurrection. Out of this bodily sleep thou mayst be affrightedly startled with some noises of sudden horror, with some fearful dreams, with tumults, or alarms of War; Psal. 94. 17. but here thou shalt rest quietly in the place of silence, free from all inward and outward disturbances, whiles in the mean time thy soul shall see none but visions of joy, and blessedness. But, Oh the sweet and heavenly expression of our last rest, and the issue of our happy resuscitation, which our gracious Apostle hath laid forth, for the consolation of his mournful Thessalonions: For, if we believe (saith he) that Jesus died and rose again; even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. Lo, our belief is antidote enough against the worst of death: And why are we troubled with death, when we believe that Jesus died? And what a triumph is this over death, that the same Jesus who died, rose again? And what a comfort it is, that the same Jesus who arose, shall both come again, and bring all his with him in glory? And lastly, what a strong Cordial is this to all good hearts, that all those which die well, do sleep in Jesus? Thou thoughtst, perhaps, of sleeping in the bed of the grave; and there indeed is rest: but he tells thee of sleeping in the bosom of Jesus; and there is immortality and blessedness. Oh blessed Jesus, in thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. Who would desire to walk in the world, when he may sleep with Jesus? § 10. Death sweetened to us by Christ. Thou fearest death: It is much on what terms, and in what form death presents himself to thee: If as an enemy, (as that is somewhere his style, the last enemy death) thy unpreparation shall make him dreadful; thy readiness and fortitude shall take off his terror: If as a messenger of God to fetch thee to happiness, what reason hast thou to be afraid of thine own bliss? It is one thing what death is in himself, a privation of life; as such, Nature cannot choose but abhor him: Another thing what he is by Christ made unto us; an introduction to life, an harbinger to glory. Why would the Lord of Life have yielded unto death, and by yielding vanquished him; but that he might alter and sweeten Death to us; and of a fierce Tyrant, make him a Friend and Benefactor? And if we look upon him thus changed, thus reconciled, how can we choose but bid him welcome? § 11. The painfulness of Christ's ●eath. Thou art afraid of the pangs of death: There are those that have died without any great sense of pain: some we have known to have yielded up their souls without so much as a groan: And how knowest thou, my son, what measure God hath allotted to thee? Our death is a Sea, (so the Apostle, Phil. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I desire to launch forth) wherein some find a rough and tempestuous passage; others, calm and smooth: such thine may prove; so as thy dissolution may be more easy than a fit of thy sickness. But if thy God have determined otherwise. Look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, ●eb. 12. 2 the Son of God, the Lord of glory; see with what agonies he conflicted, what torments he endured in his death for thee: Look upon his bloody sweat, his bleeding temples, his furrowed back, his nailed hands and feet, his racked joints, his pierced side: Hear his strong cries, consider the shame, the pain, the c●rse of the Cross which he underwent for thy sake: Say, whether thy sufferings can be comparable to his. He is a cowardly and unworthy Soldier, that follows his General sighing. Lo, these are the steps wherein thy God and Saviour hath trod before thee: Walk on courageously, in this deep and bloody way; after a few paces thou shalt overtake him in glory: For if we suffer with him, 2 Tim. 2. 12. we shall also reign together with him. §. 12. The vanity and miseries of life. Thou shrinkest at the thought of death: Is it not for that thou hast, overvalued life, and made thy home on earth? Delicate persons that have pampered themselves at home, are loath to stir abroad, especially upon hard and un●●uth voyages: Perhaps it is so with thee; wherein I cannot but much pity thy mistaking, in placing thy contentment there, where a greater and wiser man could find nothing but vanity, and vexation. Alas, what can be our exile, if this be our home? What woeful entertainment is this to be enamoured on? What canst thou meet with here, but distempered humours, hard usages, violent passions, bodily sicknesses, sad complaints, hopes disappointed, frequent miscarriages, wicked plots, cruel menaces, deadly executions, momentany pleasures sauced with lasting sorrows; lastly, shadows of joy, and real miseries: Are these the things that so bewitch thee, that when death calls at thy door, thou art ready to say to it, as the Devil said to our Saviour, Art thou come to torment me before the time? Matth. 8. 29. Are these those winning contentments, that cause thee to say of the world, as Peter said of Mount Tabor, Master, Mat. 17. 4. It is good for us to be here. If thou have any faith in thee, (and what dost thou profess to be a Christian without it?) look up to the things of that other world, whither thou art going; and see whether that true life, pure joy, perfect felicity, and th● eternity of all these, may not be worthy to draw up thy heart to a lo●ging desire of the fruition of them, and a contemptuous disvaluation of all that earth can promise, in comparison of this infinite blessedness. It was one of the defects which our late Noble and learned Philosopher the Lord Virulam * Lo. Ba●●● his Advancement of learning. found in our Physicians, that they do not study those remedies that might procure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the easy passage of their Patients (since they must needs die) thorough the gates of death: Such helps I must leave to the care of the skilful Sages of Nature; the use whereof I suppose must be with much caution, lest whiles they endeavour to sweeten death, they shorten life. But 〈◊〉 me prescribe, and commend to thee, my son, this true spiritual means of thine happy Euthanasia; which can be no other than this faithful disposition of the labouring soul, that can truly say, I know whom I have believed: 1 Tim. 1. 12. I have fought a good fight; 2 Tim. 4. 7, 8. I have finished my course; I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day. § 13. Examples of courageous resolutions in others. Thou startest back at the mention of death: How canst thou but blush to read of that Heathen Martyr, Socrates, who when the message as death was brought to him, Plato Phaedone. could applaud the news of most joyful: Or of a Cardinal of Rome, F▪ Cosfin. de morte Bella●mini, p. 28. (who yet expected a tormenting Purgatory) that received the intimation of his approaching death, with Bu●na nuova, buona nuova, O che buona nuova è questa! Is not their confidence thy shame; who believing that when our earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved, 2 Cor. 5. 1. we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, yet shrinkest at the motion of taking the possession of it? Canst thou with dying Mithridates (when he took his unwilling farewell of the world) cry out, oh light! when thou art going to a light more glorious than this thou leavest, than the Sun is more weak than a Rush-Candle? It is our infidelity, my son, it is our mere in● idelity that makes us unwilling to die: Did we think (according to the cursed opinion of some fanatic persons) that the soul sleeps as well as the body, from the moment of the dissolution, till the day of Resurrection: Or did we doubt lest we should wander to unknown places where we cannot be certain of the entertainment; or did we fear a scorching trial (upon the emigration) in flames little inferior, for the time) to those of hell, there were some cause for us to tremble at the approach of death: But now that we can boldly say, with the Wise man, ` The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, Wisd. 3. 1, 2, 3. and there shall no torment touch them: In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction; but they are in peace. Oh thou of little faith, why fearest thou? Why dost thou not chide thyself, as that dying Saint did of old, Go forth, my soul, go boldly forth; what art thou afraid of? Lo, the Angels of God are ready to receive thee, and to carry thee up to thy glory; neither shalt thou sooner have left this wretched body, than thou shalt be possessed of thy God: after a momentany darkness cast upon nature, thou shalt enjoy the beatifical vision of the glorious God: Be not afraid to be happy; but say, out of faith, that which Jonah said in anger; Jona. 4. 3 It is better for me to die then to live. § 14. The happy advantages of death. I am afraid to die: This is the voice of Nature: but wilt thou hear what Grace saith? To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If therefore mere Nature reign in thee, thou canst not but be affrighted with death: But if true grace be prevalent in thy soul, that guest shall not be unwelcome: Was ever any man afraid of profit and advantage? Such is death to the faithful: Whosoever he be that finds Christ to be his life, shall be sure to find Death his gain, for that he is thereby brought to a more full and near communion with Christ: whereas before he enjoyed his Saviour only by the dim apprehension of his Faith, now he doth clearly and immediately enjoy that glorious presence, which only makes blessedness: This is it which causeth death to change his Copy; and renders him who is of himself formidable, pleasing and beneficial; I desire to depart and to be with Christ, saith the man who was rapt up to the third heaven; Had it been only departing, surely he had had no such great edge to it; Phil. 1. 23. but to depart, and be with Christ, is that which ravisheth his soul. When the Heathen Socrates was to die for his Religion, he comforted himself with this, That he should go to the place where he should see Orphaeus, Homer, Musaeus, and the other Worthies of the former ages; Poor man! could he have come to have known God manifested in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3▪ 16. and received up into glory, and therein that glorified flesh sitting at the right hand of Majesty; could he have attained to know the blessed order of the Cherubin, and Seraphim, Angels, Archangels, Principalities, and Powers, and the rest of the most glorious Hierarchy of heaven; could he have been acquainted with that celestial Chore of the Spirits of just men made perfect: Heb. 12. 23. could he have reached to know the God and Father of Spirits, the infinitely, and incomprehensibly glorious Deity, whose presence transfuses everlasting blessedness into all those Citizens of glory: and could he have known that he should have an undoubted Interest (instantly upon his dissolution) in that infinite bliss; how much more gladly would he have taken off his Hemlock; and how much more merrily would he have passed into that happier world? All this we know, and are no less assured of it, then of our present being; with what comfort therefore should we think of changing our present condition with a blessed immortality? How sweet a song was that of old Simeon? Luke 2. 29. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mineties have seen thy salvation: Lo, that which he saw by the eye of his sense, thou seest by the eye of thy faith; even the Lords Christ; Vers. 26. he saw him in weakness, thou seest him in glory; why shouldst thou not depart, not in peace only, but in joy and comfort? How did the holy Protomartyr Stephen triumph over all the rage of his enemies, and the violent fury of death, when he had once seen the heavens opened, Acts 7. 56. and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God? Lo, God offers the same blessed prospect to the 〈◊〉 of thy soul; Faith is the key that can open the heaven of heavens; Fix thy eyes upon that glorious and saving object; thou canst not but lay down thy body in peace, and send up thy soul into the hands of him that bought it, with the sweet and cheerful recommendation, of Lord Jesus receive my spirit. Comforts against the terrors of Judgement. §. 1. Aggravation of the fearfulness of the last judgement. THOU apprehendest it aright; Death is terrible, but Judgement more; Both these succeed upon the same decree, It is appointed unto man once to die, Heb. 9 27. but after this the judgement: Neither is it mo●e terrible, then less thought on; Death, because he strikes on all hands, and lays before us so many sad examples of mortality, cannot but sometimes take up our hearts; but the last judgement, having no visible proofs to force itself upon our thoughts, too seldom affrights us: Yet who can conceive the terror of that day? before which the Sun stall be turned into darkness, Acts 2. 20. and the Moon into blood; That day, which shall burn as an Oven, Mal. 4▪ 1. when all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be as the stubble; 2 Pet. 3. 10. That day, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat; the Earth also, ●●d the works that are therein shall be burnt ●p: 2 Thes. 1▪ 7, 8. That day, wherein the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels; In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord jesus Christ; Isai. 66. 15, 16. That day, wherein the Lord will come with fire, and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire; For by Fire, and by his Sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: Mat. 25. 31, 32. That day, wherein the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him; and shall sit upon the Throne of his glory; and all Nations shall be gathered before him; Rev. 1. 7. That day, wherein all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him: S●ortly, Joel 2. 31. that great and terrible day of the Lord, wherein if the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken, how can the heart of man remain unmoved? wherein, if the world be dissolved, who can bear up? Alas, we are ready to tremble at but a Thunder-crack in a poor cloud; and at a small flash of lightning that glances through our eyes; what shall we do when the whole frame of the heavens shall break in pieces, and when all shall be on a flame about our ears? Oh, who may abide the day of his coming; and who shall stand when he appeareth? appeareth 2. Comfort from the condition of the elect. Yet be of good cheer, Mal. 3. 2. m● son; Amids all this horror there is comfort▪ Whether thoube one of those whom it shall please God to reserve alive upon earth to the sight of this dreadful day, he only knows in whose hands our times are; This we are sure of, that we are upon the last hours, of the last days: Justly do we spit in the faces of S. Peter's scoffers, that say, 2 Pet. 3. 4▪ Where is the promise of his coming? 2 Pet. 3. 9 Well knowing, that the Lord is not slack, as some account slackness; but that he that shall come, Heb. 10. 37. will come, and not tarry. Well mayst thou live to see the Son of man come in the clouds of heaven, and to be an Actor in this last Scene of the world: If so, let not thy heart be dismayed with the expectation of these fearful things: Thy change shall be sudden and quick; one moment shall put off thy mortality, and cloth thee with that incorruption, which shall not be capable of fear and pain: The majesty of this appearance shall add to thy joy and glory: 1 Thes. 4. 16. Thou shalt then see the Lord himself descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the Trump of God: Thou shalt see thyself, and those other which are alive and remain, Verse 17 to be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shalt thou be ever with the Lord. Upon this assurance, how justly may the Apostle subjoin, Verse 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Certainly, if ever there were comfort to be had in any words, not of men or Angels only, but of the everliving God, the God of Truth, these are they that can and will afford it to our trembling souls. But if thou be one of the number of those whom God hath determined to call off beforehand, and by a faithful death to prevent the great day of his appearance; here is nothing for thee, but matter of a joy unspeakable and full of glory: 1 Thes. 4. 15. For those that sleep in Jesus, shall God bring with him; they shall be part of that glorious train which shall attend the Majesty of the great Judge of the world: yea, 1 Cor. 6. 1. they shall be counselors to the Lord of heaven and earth, in this awful Judicature; as sitting upon the Bench, when guilty men and Angels shall be at the Bar: Verse 3. To him that overcometh, Rev. 3. 21. saith the Lord Christ, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. What place▪ then is here for any terror, since the more state and heavenly magnificence, the more joy and glory? § 3. Awe more fit for thoughts of judgement, then Fear. Thou art afraid to think of Judgement: I had rather thou shouldst be awful, then timorous. When Saint Paul discoursed of the judgement to come, Acts 24. 25. it is no marvel that F●●ix trembled: But the same Apostle, when he had pressed to his Corinthians, 2 Cor. 5. 11. the certainty and generality of our appearance before the Judgement-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, whether good or evil; addeth, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men▪ but we are made manifest to God, etc. Lo, the holiest man may not be exempted from the dread, but from the slavish fear of the great Judge: We know his infinite justice; we are conscious to ourselves of our manifold failings: how can we lay these two together, and not fear? But this fear works not in us a malignant kind of repining at the severe Tribunal of the Almighty, (as commonly whom we fear we hate) but rather a careful endeavour so to approve ourselves, that we may be acquitted by him, and appear blameless in his presence. How justly may we tremble, when we look upon our own actions, our own deserts? but how confidently may we appear at that Bar, where we are beforehand assured of a discharge? Being justified by faith, Rom. 5. 1. ●we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. When we think of an● universal conflagration of the world, how can we but fear? but when we think of an happy restitution of all things in this day; Act. 3▪ 21 how can we but rejoice in trembling? § 4. In that great and terrible Day, our Advocate is our Judge. Thou quakest at the expectation of the last Judgement: Surely, the very Majesty of that great Assize must needs be formidable: And if the very delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai were with so dreadful a pomp of Thunder and Lightning, of Fire, Smoke, Earthquakes, that the Israelites were half dead with fear in receiving it; with what terrible magnificence shall God come to require an account of that Law at the hands of the whole sinful generation of mankind? Represent unto thy thoughts, that which was showed of old to the Prophet Daniel in Vision: Imagine that thou sawest the Ancient of days sitting upon a Throne like the fiery flame 〈◊〉, Dan. 7. 8, 9, 10. a fiery stream issuing and coming forth from before him; thousand thousands ministering unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him; the judgement set, and the Books opened. Or as John, the Daniel of the New Testament saw, a great white Throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and the dead both small and great standing before God; and the Books opened, and the dead judged out of those things which were written in those Books, according to their works. Let the eyes of thy mind see beforehand that which these bodily eyes shall once see; and tell me how thou feelest thyself affected with the sight of such a Judge, such an appearance, such a process: And if thou findest thyself in a trembling condition, cheer up thyself with this, That thy Judge is thine Advocate; That upon that Throne there sits not greater Majesty than Mercy: It is thy Saviour that shall sentence thee. How safe art thou then under such hands? Canst thou fear that he will doom thee to death, who died to give thee life? Canst thou fear he will condemn thee for those sins which he hath given his blood to expiate? Canst thou fear the rigour of that Justice which he hath so fully satisfied? Canst thou misdoubt the miscarriage of that soul which he hath so dearly bought? No, my son, all this divine state and magnificence makes for thee: Let those guilty and impenitent souls, who have heaped unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. 2. quake at the glorious Majesty of the Son of God; Heb. 10. 27 for whom nothing remains, but a fearful expectation of judgement, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries: But for thee, who art not only reconciled unto God by the mediation of the Son of his love, but art also incorporated into Christ, and made a true limb of his mystical Body; thou art bidden (together with all the faithful) to look up, Luke 21. 28. and lift up thy head; Eph. 4. 30. for now the day of thy redemption is come. And indeed, how canst thou do other, since by virtue of this blessed union with thy Saviour, this glory is thine; every member hath an interest in the honour of the Head. Rejoice therefore in the day of the Lord Jesus; Phil. 2. ● and when all the Tribes of the earth shall wail, Rev. 1▪ 7. do thou sing and rejoice; and call to the heavens and the earth to bear thee company: Psal. 96▪ 11. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad: let the sea make a noise, and all that is therein: let the field be joyful, Verse 12 and all that is in it. Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord: Verse 13 for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth, and with righteousness to judge the world, and the people with his truth. §. 5. Frequent meditation and due preparation, the remedies of our ●ear. Thou art affrighted with the thought of that Great Day: Think of it oftener, and thou shalt less fear it. It will come both surely, and suddenly; let thy frequent thoughts prevent it. It will come as a thief in the night, without warning, without noise: let thy careful vigilance always expect it; and thy soul shall be sure not to be surprised, not to be confounded. Thine Audit is both sure, and uncertain: sure that it will be, uncertain when it will be. If thou wilt approve thyself a good Steward, have thine account always ready; set thy reckoning still even betwixt God and thy soul: Blessed is the servant whom his Master shall find so doing: Mat. 24. 46. Look upon these heavens, and this earth as dissolving; and think, with Jerome, that thou hearest the last Trump, and the voice of the Archangel shrilling in thine ears, (as once thou shalt) Arise, ye dead, and come to judgement. Shortly, let it be thy main care, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity; Who shall change our vile body, Phil. 3. 21. that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body; according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. Comforts against the fears of our spiritual enemies. § 1. The great power of evil spirits, and their restraint. THou art affrighted at the thought of thy spiritual enemies: No marvel; Neither earth nor hell hath any thing equally formidable: Those three things which are wont to make enmity dreadful and dangerous▪ (Power, Malice, Subtlety) are met in them: neither is it easy to say in which of these they are most eminent. Certainly, were we to be matched with them on even hand, there were just cause, not of Fear only, but Despair. I could tremble, thou sayst, to think what Satan hath done, what he can do▪ what contestation he enabled the Egyptian Sorcerers to hold with Moses; Exod. 7▪ 12. how they turned every man his rod into a Serpent; so as they seemed to have the advantage, for the time, of many Serpents crawling and hissing in Phoraoh's pavement, for one: How they turned the waters into blood: Vers. 22. How they brought Frogs upon the Land of Egypt 〈◊〉 as if thus far the power of hell would presume to hold competition with heaven: Exod. 8. 7. What furious tempests he raises in the air, as that which from the Wilderness▪ beat upon the four corners of the house of Job's eldest son, Job 1. 19 and overthrew it: Lo, Job 1. 3. Job was the greatest man in the East; his heir did not dwell in a cottage; that strong Fabric could not stand against this Hurricane of Satan. What fearful apparitions he makes in the upper regions: what great wonders he doth, Rev. 13. 13. causing fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men: Lastly, what grievous tyranny he exerciseth upon all the children of disobedience. Eph. 5. 6. Couldst thou look for any less, my son, from those, whom the Spirit of God himself, Eph. 6. 12. styles Principalities, and Powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickednesses in high places, and the Prince of the power of the air. Eph. 2. 2. Surely, it were no Mastery to be a Christian, if we had not powerful opposites: But dost thou not withal consider that all this power is by concession, and the exercise of it but with permission, with limitation? What power can there be in any oreature, which is not derived from the Almighty? This measure the infinite Creator was pleased to communicate to them, as Angels, which they retain, and exercise still as Devils; their damnation hath stripped them of their glory; but we know not of how much of their strength: And seest thou not how their power is bounded? Those that could in appearance turn their rods into Serpents, could not keep all their Serpents from being devoured of that one Serpent of Moses: Those that could b●ing Frogs upon Egypt, Exod. 8. 8, 9, 10, 11 cannot bring a base creature, Lice: Those that were suffered to bring Frogs, shall not have power to take them away: Restrained powers must know their limits; and we knowing them, must set limits to our fears; A Lion chained up can do less harm than a cur let loose: What is it to thee how powerful the evil Spirits are, whiles they are by an overruling power tied up to their stake, that they cannot hurt thee? §. 2. The fear of the number of evil spirits, and the remedy of it. Thy fears are increased with their number; they are as many as powerful: One, Demoniac was possessed with a Legion; How many Legions than shall we think there are to tempt those millions of men, which live upon the face of the earth, whereof no one is free from their continual solicitations to evil? That holy man, whom our counterfeit Hermit's would pretend to imitate in the vision of his retiredness, saw the air full of them, and of their s●ares for mankind; and were our eyes as clear as his, we might perhaps meet with the same prospect: But be not dismayed my son: Couldst thou borrow the eyes of the servant of an holier Master, 2 Kings 6. 16. thou shouldst see that there are more with us, than they that are against us; thou shouldst see the blessed Angels of God, pitching their Tents about thee, as the more powerful, vigilant, constant guardians of thy soul: Lo, these are those valiant ones, which stand about thy Bed; Cantic. 3▪ 7, 8. They all hold swords, being expert in War; every one hath his Sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night: Fear not therefore, but make the Lord, even the most High, thy Habitation: Ps. 91. 9 Then there shall no evil befall thee, Vers. 10, neither shall any Plague come nigh thy dwelling: Vers. 11. For he shall give his Angels charge ever thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Vers. 12. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone; yea, (and besides this safe indemnity) Thou shalt tread upon the Lion, Vers. 13. and Adder; the young Lion, and the Dragon shalt thou trample under feet. In secular enmity, true valour may be oppressed, will not easily be daunted with multitude; Psal. 3. 6▪ I will not be afraid of ten thousand, (saith David) They came about me like Bees, Ps. 118. 12▪ but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them: It was a brave resolution in that General, who when one of his Soldiers could tell him, that the cloud of Persian arrows (shot at them) darkened the Sun; Be of good cheer, (said he) we shall sight in the shade: Answerable whereunto, was that Heroical determination of Luther, who (after his engagements) against all threats, and dissuasions. would go ●nto the City of Worms, though there were as many Devils in it, as Tiles upon their houses; and why should not we imitate this confidence? What if there were as many Devils in the air, as there are spires of grass on the earth? God is our refuge and strength, Ps. 46. 1, 2. a very present help in trouble; therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed; though the mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea. Isai. 12. 2 Behold, God is our salvation, we will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song, he also is become our salvation. Let God arise, Psal. 68 1▪ 2. and let his enemies be scattered; let them also that hate him flee before him; like as the smoke vanisheth, so shalt thou drive them away. §. 3. The malice of the evil spirits, and our fears thereof remedied. But oh the malice of those infernal spirits, implacable, and deadly; whose trade is temptation, and accusation; whose delight is torment; whose music is shrieks, and howl, and groans, and gnashing; and whose main drift is no less than the eternal death, and damnation of miserable mankind! Why should we, my son, expect other from him, who is professedly the manslayer from the beginning? that carries nothing but destruction both in his name and nature? that goes about continually like a roaring Lion, seeking whom he may devour? Surely, this malignity is restless; neither will take up with any thing on this side hell. But comfort thyself in this, that in spite of all the malice of Hell, thou art safe▪ Dost thou not know that there stands by thee the victorious Lion of the Tribe of judah, whom that Infernal Ravener dare not look in the face? Dost thou not remember, that when the Sentence was pronounced of eternal enmity, between the seed of the Woman, and the seed of the Serpent, it was with this Doom, It shall bruise thy Head, Gen. 3. 15. and thou shalt bruise his Heel: Lo, a bruise of a man's heel is far from the heart; but a bruise of the Serpent's head is mortal; there his sting, there his life lies: Neither did the seed of the woman (Christ Jesus) this for himself, (who was infinitely above all the power and malice of the Devil) but for us the impotent and sinful seed of man: Rom. 16▪ 20. The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet, saith the blessed Apostle: Under your feet; not under his own only: of whom God the Father had long before said, Ps. 11●▪ ●▪ Sat thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Yea, what do I speak of the future? Already is this great work done; already is this great work achieved: Col. 2. 15. For the Lord of life, having spoiled principalities and powers, hath made a show of them openly, triumphing over them on his Cr●ss. Lo, all the powers of hell were dragged after this glorious Conqueror, when he was advanced upon that Triumphant Chariot. Look therefore, my son, upon these hellish forces, as already vanquished; and know, that in all things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us. Rom. 8. 37. Only do thou by the power of thy faith, apply unto thyself this great work, that thy victorious Saviour hath done for the salvation of all the world of believers. § 4. The great subtilfy of evil spirits, and the remedy of the fear of it. Power without malice were harmless; and malice without power were impotent: but when both are combined together, they are dreadful. But, whereas Malice hath two ways to execute mischief, either Force, or Fraud; the malice of Satan prevails more by this latter; so as the subtlety of these malignant spirits is more pernicious than their power: Gen. 3. ●▪ In regard of his power, Rev. 12▪ 9 he is a Lion; in regard of his subtlety, Rev. 20▪ 2. he is a Serpent, yea, that old Serpent, whose craft must needs be marvellously increased by the age and experience of so many thousand years. So much the more careful aught we to be, my son, 2 Cor. 2. 11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: This is that he seeks; and if our spiritual wisdom & circumspection be not the more, will be sure to find. It is a great word, and too high for us, which the Apostle speaks; 2 Cor. 2. 11. For we are not ignorant of Satan's devices. Alas, he hath a thousand stratagems, that our weak simplicity is never able to reach unto: The wisest of us knows not the deceitfulness of his own heart, much less can he dive into the plots of hell that are against us. We hear, and are forewarned of the wiles of the Devil: Ephes 6. 11. but what his special machinations are, how can we know, much less prevent? Luke 16▪ 8. Even the children of this world (saith our Saviour) are in their generation wiser than the children of light: how much more crafty is their Father, from whom their cunning is derived? Be as mean as thou wilt, my son, in thine own eyes; say with Agur the son of Jakeh, Prov. 30▪ 2. Surely, I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man: I neither learned wisdom, Verse 3. nor have the knowledge of the holy. But what ever thou art in thyself, know what thou art, or mayst be in thy God: Consider what the man after Gods own heart sticks not to profess; Psal. 119▪ 98. Thou, through thy Commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me: Lo, the spirit of wisdom is ours; Deu●▪ 3▪ 9▪ and he who is the eternal Wisdom of the Father, Ephes. 1▪ 17▪ is made unto us wisdom, 1 Cor. 1▪ 30▪ as well as righteousness: And he who overrules hell, hath said, The gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church: What are the gates of hell, but the deep plots and consul●tations of those infernal powers? The Serpent is the known emblem of subtlety: The Serpents of the Egyptian Sorcerers, were all devoured by Moses his Serpent: wherefore? but to show us, that all the crafty counsels and machinations of hellish projectors, are easily destroyed by the power and wisdom of the Almighty: when all was done, it was the Rod of God that swallowed them all, and was yet still itself, when they were vanquished: So as that whereby Satan thought to have won most honour to himself, ended in his shame and loss. What an infinite advantage did the powers of darkness think to have made, in drawing our first Parents (by their subtle suggestions) into sin, and thereby into perdition; as imagining either mankind shall not be, or shall be ours? the incomprehensible wisdom and mercy of our God disappointed their hopes; and took occasion by man's fall, to raise him up to a greater glory; and so ordered it, that the Serpents nibbling at the heel cost him the breaking of his head. What Trophies did that wicked spirit think to erect upon the ruins of miserable Job? and how was he baffled by the patience of that Saint? and how was that Saint doubled both in his estate and honour, by his conquering patience? How confidently did the subtlety of hell say, concerning the Son of God exhibited in the flesh; Mat. ●▪ This is the heir, Mark▪ ●▪ come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours? Luke▪ ●▪ How sure work did they think they had made, when they saw him, through their subtle procurement, nailed to the Cross, and dying upon that tree of shame and curse; when they saw him laid dead under a sealed and guarded Grave-stone? And now, behold, even now begins their Confusion, and his Triumph; now doth the Lord of Life begin to trample upon Death and hell; and to perfect his own glory, and man's redemption, by his most glorious resurrection. And as it was with the Head, so it is with the members: when Satan hath done his worst, they are holier upon their sins, and happier by their miscarriages; God finds out a way to improve their evils to advantage, and teaches them of these Vipers to make sovereign Treacles, and safe and powerful Trochisces. Shortly, the temptations of Satan sent out from his power, malice, subtlety, are no other than fiery darts, for their suddenness, impetuosity, penetration: If we can but hold out the shield of faith before us, they shall not be quenched only, Eph▪ 6. 16. but retorted into the face of him that sends them; and we shall, with the chosen vessel, find and profess, Rom. 8. 37. that in all things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us; and in a bold defiance of all the powers of darkness, shall say, I am persuaded, Rom. 8. 38. that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come; nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; To whom be all honour, glory, praise, power and dominion, now and for evermore. The Universal Receipt for all Maladies. THese are, my son, special compositions▪ of wholesome Receipts for the several Maladies of thy soul: wherein it shall be my happiness to have suggested unto thee such thoughts as may any whit avail to the alleviation of thy sorrows. But, there is an universal Remedy, which a skilfuller Physician hath ordained for all thy grievances; and I from his hand earnestly recommend to thee: Is any among you afflicted? James 5. 13. let him pray. Lo here the great and sovereign Panpharmacum of the distressed soul, which is able to give ease to all the forementioned complaints. Art thou cast● down upon thy sick bed? Call for the Elders of the Church, James 5. 14. and let them pray. This was Hezekiah's receipt, when he was sick unto death; He turned his face to the wall, ● King's ●0. 1, 2. and prayed. This was David's receipt; Have mercy on me, Psal. 6. 2. O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord heal me, for my bones are vexed. Take therefore the counsel of the Wise man; My son, ●cclus ●8▪ 9 in thy sickness be not negligent, but pray unto the Lord, and he will make thee whole. Art thou soul-sick? Psal. 18. 5, 6. pray: So did holy David; The sorrows of hell compassed me about, and the snares of death prevented me: Psal. 116▪ 3, 4. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God. Art thou infested with importunate temptations? Pray: So did S. Paul, when the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him: ● Cor. 1●▪ 8. Thrice I besought the Lord that it might depart from me. Psal. 88, 15, 16. So did David; Whiles I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted; thy fierce wrath goeth over me: But unto thee have I cried, Verse 13 O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Art thou disheartened with the weakness of grace? Pray: so did David: Psal. 38. 8, 9 I am feeble, and sore broken, I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart: Lord, all my desire is before thee. Art thou afflicted with the slanders of evil tongues? Pray: Psa. 109. 2. So did David; The mouth of the wicked, and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue: Hold not thy peace, Verse 1. O God of my praise. Art thou grieved or affrighted with the Public Calamities of War, Famine, Pestilence? Pray: So good Jehosaphat presseth God with his gracious promise made to Solomen: 2 Chro. 7. 13, 14, 15. If when evil cometh upon us, 2 Chron. 20. 19, 12. as the sword, judgement, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, and cry unto thee in our affliction, than thou wilt hear and help: and shuts up his zealous supplication with, Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Art thou afflicted with the loss of friends? Pray, and have recourse to thy God, as Ezekiel, Ezek. 11▪ 13. when Peletiah, the son of Benaiah died: Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? Art thou distressed with Poverty? Pray: So did David: Psa. 109▪ 22, 25, 26. I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me: I became also a reproach to them, when they that looked upon me, shaked their heads: Help me, O Lord my God; Oh save me according to thy mercy. Art thou imprisoned? Pray: So did Jonah, when he was shut up within the living walls of the Whale; Jonah 2. 1, 2. I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord; Ps. 79. 11. so did Asaph: Let the sighing of the Prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou them that are appointed to die. Art thou driven from thy Country? pray; This is the remedy prescribed by Solomon, in his supplication to God; 2 Chron. 6. If thy people be carried away into a Land far off, or near: yet if they bethink themselves in the Land whither they are carried and turn, 36, 37. and pray to thee, in the Land of their Captivity. 38, 39 If they return to thee with all their hearts, and pray towards the Land which thou gavest to their Forefathers, etc. then hear thou from heaven their prayer, and their supplication. Art thou bereft of thy bodily senses? Make thy address to him that said, Exod. 4. 11. Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, and the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Cry aloud to him with Bartimeus, Mark 10. 47, 51. Lord, that I may receive my sight: And if thou be hopeless of thine outward sight, yet pray with the Psalmist, Psal. 119. 18. O Lord open thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law. Art thou afflicted with sterility? Gen. 25. 21. pray; so did Isaac, so did Hannah; 1 Sam. 1. 10. she was in bitterness of soul, 1 Sam. 2. 21. and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore and received a gracious answer. Art thou troubled and weakened with want of rest? pray; Ps. 77. 3. so did Asaph, I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Verse 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking, I am so troubled that I cannot speak: Verse 1. I cried to God with my voice, unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. Dost thou droop under the grievances of old age? pray; so did David; Ps. 71. 9 Oh cast me not off in the time of old age, forsake me not when my strength faileth. O God thou hast taught me from my youth: Vers. 17, 18. Now also when I am old, and gray-headed, O God forsake me not. Art thou troubled and dismayed with the fears of death? Ps. 88 3 pray; so did David, My soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave; Verse 4. I am counted with them that go down into the pit, Verse 5. I am as a man that hath no strength. Free among the dead, Vers. 6. thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darknese, in the deeps: But unto thee have I cried, Vers. 13. O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Dost thou tremble at the thought of judgement? So did the man after Gods own heart; Psal. 119▪ 120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgements; Look up with Jeremiah, and say to thy Saviour, Lament. 3. 58, 59 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul, thou hast redeemed my life: O Lord, judge thou my cause. Lastly, art thou afraid of the power, malice, subtlety of thy spiritual enemies? pray: so did David; Deliver me from mine enemies, Ps. 59 1. O my God, defend me from them that rise up against me; Oh hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; Consider mine enemies, Psal. 25. 19, 20. for they are many, and they hate me with cruel hatred; O keep my soul, and deliver me: So did S. Paul pray, 2 Cor. 12▪ that he might be freed from the messenger of Satan whose buffets he felt, and was answered with, My Grace is sufficient for thee; so he sues for all God's Saints, May the God of peace tread down Satan under your feet shortly. Rom. 16▪ 19 Shortly, what ever evil it be that presseth thy soul, have speedy recourse to the throne of Grace; pour out thy heart into the ears of the Father of all mercies, 2 Cor. 1. 3. and God of all comfort, and be sure, if not of redress, yet of ease: We have his word for it that cannot not fail us; Call upon me in the day of trouble, Psal. 50. 15. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me: Fashionable suppliants may talk to God; but be confident, he that can truly pray, can never be truly miserable: Of ourselves we lie open to all evils; our rescue is from above; and what intercourse have we with heaven but by our prayers? Our prayers are they that can deliver us from dangers, avert judgements, prevent mischiefs, procure blessings; that can obtain pardon for our sins, furnish us with strength against temptations, mitigate the extremity of our sufferings, sustain our infirmities, raise up our dejectedness, increase our graces, abate our corruptions, sanctify all good things to us, sweeten the bitterness of our afflictions, open the windows of heaven, shut up the bars of death, vanquish the powers of hell: Pray, and be both safe, and happy. FINIS.