A SOVEREIGN ANTIDOTE against all Grief.  
Extracted out of the choicest Authors, Ancient and Modern, both Holy and Humane.  
Necessary to be read of all that any way suffer Tribulation.  
The Fourth Impression.  
By R. YOUNG, Florilegus.  
Imprimatur Thomas Gataker.   

CHAP. 33. Use and Application of the former Reasons.  

Use 1.  
THese latter Reasons being dispatched, return we to make use of the former; for I may seem to have left them, and be gone quite out of sight: though indeed it cannot properly be called a digression, seeing the last of the former reasons, was; That God suffers his Children to be persecuted and afflicted for the increase of their Patience. First, if God sends these afflictions, either for our Instruction, or Reformation, to scour away the rust of corruption, or to try the truth of our sanctification, either for the increase of our patience, or the exercise of our saith, or the improvement of our zeal, or to provoke our importunity, or for the doubling of our Obligation: seeing true gold flies not the touchstone; Let us examine whether we have thus husbanded our affliction to his glory, and our own spiritual and everlasting good. I know God's fatherly chastisements for the time, seem grievous to the best of his Children; Yea, at first they come upon us, like Samsons Lion, look terrible in show; as if they would devour us; and as Children are afraid of their friends when they see them masked, so are we. But tell me, hath not this roaring Lion prevailed against thy best part? Hast thou kept thy head whole? (I mean) thy soul; free? For as Fencers will seem to fetch a blow at the leg, when they intent it at the head; so doth the Devil, though he strike at thy name, his aim is to slay thy soul. Now instead of being overcome dost thou overcome? Hath this Lion yielded thee any Honey of Instruction, or Reformation? Hath thy sin died with thy fame, or with thy health, or with thy peace, or with thy outward estate? Dost thou perceive the graces of God's Spirit, to come up, and flourish so much the more in the spring of thy recovery, by how much more hard and bitter thy winter of adversity hath been? Then thou hast approved thyself Christ's faithful Soldier, and a Citizen of that Jerusalem, which is above: Yea, I dare boldly say of thee, as Saint Paul of himself, That no●…hing shall be able to separate thee from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Rom. 8. 39 To find this Honey in the Lion, more than makes amends for all former fear and grief: and in case any man, by his humiliation under the hand of God, is grown more faithful and conscionable: there is Honey out of the Lion: or is any man by his temptation or fall, become more circumspect after it? There is also Honey out of the Lion, etc. For there is no Samson, to whom every Lion doth not yield some Honey; for as affliction sanctified, ever leaves some blessing behind it, like the River Nilus, which, by overflowing the Land of Egypt, fattens, and fills it, with flowers and fruits; so a fine wit, and a Christian will, makes use of any thing: like the little Bee, which will not off the meanest flower, till she hath made somewhat of it. Even Saul's malice shall serve to enhance David's zeal: and the likelihood of losing Isaac, shall both evidence and improve Abraham's love to God: or, Hath the Lord made Hannah barren? And doth her adversary vex her sore, year by year; and grievously upbraid her for it, so that she is troubled in her mind? why even that shall make her pray, and weep sore unto the Lord, and make vows: yea, and when God gives Samuel to her, she will give Samuel back again to God. Lastly, Saint Paul in this School of Affliction, will learn in what estate soever he is, (prosperous, or adverse,) therewith to be content: Phil. 4. 11. And thou mayest foully suspect thyself, if thou be'st not the better for thy being the worse. He is no true born Christian who is not the better for his evils, whatsoever they be; no price can buy of the true believer, the gain of his sins. Yea, Satan himself, in his exercise of God's Children, advantageth them. And look to it, if the malice and enmity of wicked men hath beaten thee off from thy profession, thou wert at the best but a counterfeit, and none of Christ's own Band. A little faith, even so much as a grain of Mustardseed, would be able to remove greater mountains of fear and distrust out of thy soul; then these: for know this, that Good men are like Diamonds, which will shine in the dirt: yea, they resemble Glow-worms, which shine most in the dark; or Juniper, which smells sweetest in the fire; or Pomander, which becomes more fragrant by chase; or Roses which are sweeter in the Still, then on the stalk.   

Use 2.  
2 If the malice of our enemies, as it is husbanded to our thirst (by a divine and supreme providence) doth make so much for our advantage and benefit here, and hereafter; as namely, that it opens our eyes no less than peace and prosperity had formerly shut them; that nothing doth so powerfully call home the conscience, as affliction; and that we need no other art of memory for sin, besides misery; It commonly we are at variance with God, when we are at pe●…ce with our enemies, and that it is both hard and happy, not to be the worse with liberty, as the sedentary life is most subject to diseases: if vigour of body, and infirmity of mind, do for the most part lodge under one roof, and that a wearish outside be a strong motive to mortification: if God, the Alwise Physician, knows this the fittest medicine for our souls sickness, and that we cannot otherwise be cured; if our pride forceth God to do by us, as S●…rtorius did by his Army, who perceiving his Soldiers puffed up through many Victories, and hearing them boast of their many Conquests, led them of purpose into the lap of their Enemies, to the end that stripes might learn them moderation.  
If this above all will make us pray unto him with heat and fervency: As whither should we fly but to our Joshua, when the powers of darkness, like mighty Aramites, have besieged us? If ever we will send up our prayers to him, it will be when we are beleaguered with evils.  
If true, and saving joy be only the daughter of sorrow, if the security of any people be the cause of their corruption, as no so●…ner doth the Holy Ghost in sundry places say, Israel had rest; but it is added, They committed wickedness: Even as standing waters soon grow noisome, and Vines that grow out at large, become wild and fruitless in a small time: if it weans us from the love of worldly things; and makes us no less enamoured with heavenly: as Zeno, having but one flie-boat les●… him, hearing news that both it and all therein was cast away, said, O Fortune, thou hast done well to send me again to our School of Philosophy: whereas if we find but a little pleasure in our life; we are ready to do at upon it. Every small contentment glues our affections to that we like, neither can we so heartily think of our home above, whilst we are furnished with these worldly contentments: But when God strips us of them, straightways our mind is homeward. If this world may be compared to Athens, of which a Philosopher said, that it was a pleasant City to travel through, but not safe to dwell in: If by smarting in our bodies, states, or names, we are saved from smarting in our souls: If it was good for Naaman, that he was a Leper; good for David that he was in trouble; good for Bartimeus that he was blind; if with that Athenian Captain, we should have perished for ever, in case we had not thus perished for a while; if our peace would have lost us, in case we had not a little lost our peace: Then refuse not the chastening of the Lord, neither be grieved with his correction, as Solomon adviseth, Prov. 3. 11. And so much the rather,  
1 First, because our struggling may aggravate, cannot redress our miseries.  
2 Secondly, because the Lord will be sanctified either of us, or on us; one of the two, as Saint Anstine speaks.  
3 Thirdly, because that is little which thou sufferest in comparison of what thou deservest to suffer; for thou hast deserved to be destroyed: and he that hath deserved hanging, may be glad if he scape with whipping. Besides, as David told Saul, he could as easily have cut his throat, as he had, his coat: or as Caesar boasted to Metellus, he could as soon make him hop headless, as bid it be done: so the Lord may expostulate with thee, and much more.  
Wherefore be patient, I say, but not without sense; be not of those Stoics, (stocks rather you may style them) who like beasts, or rather like blocks, lie under their burden, and account it greatest valour to make least ado, and lay it as little as may be to heart: For if you mean to be the King's sons, you must bring him the foreskins of an hundred Philistines: show him the fruit of your former sufferings. But above all, let us not resemble the wicked; who if affliction comes to them, receive the curse with cursing; and if the Devil throw but one cross●… to them, they will take their souls and throw them again to him, for they presently break out, either into some cursed rage, or into the rage of cursing, or into some cursed action.  
An usual thing, when men are crossed by the creatures (I might say, their own husbands or children) to fall a cursing, and blaspheming them, to whom we may say, as the Prophet did to Sennacherib: 2 Kings 19 22. Whom hast thou blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thyself? Even against the Holy One of Israel. Whom are you angry withal? Doth the rain and waters, or any other creature displease you? Alas, they are but servants, if their Master bid smite, they must not forbear: they may say truly what Rabshakeh usurped, Are we come without the Lord? Isai. 36. 10. Yea, are we not sent of the Lord in love, and to do you good, and to give you occasion of rejoicing afterward, if you bear the Cross patiently, and make that use of it which others do, and the Lord intends? Yea, Saint Paul could rejoice even in tribulation.  
But alas, these are so far from rejoicing with that blessed Apostle, that they rave in tribulation; and like some beasts, grow mad with baiting; or like frantic men wounded, who finding ingredients prepared to dress them, tear them all in pieces. But let us not be like them, if Satan robs us of a bag of silver, let not us call after him, and bid him take a bag of gold also: If he afflict thee outwardly, yet surrender not to him the inward; rail not at the Hangman, but run to the Judge; fret not with Joash, 2 Kings 6. 33. but submit with Hezekiah: Isai. 39 8. When God's hand is on thy back, let thy hand be on thy mouth: If thou be'st wronged, call not thine adversary to account, but thy self, and let it trouble thee more to do ill, then to hear of it; be more sorry that it is true, then that it is known.  
Yea, neither rage at the Chirurgeon, as madmen, nor swoon under his hand, as Milksops; but consider with whom thou hast to do: The Lord, the Lord strong, merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth, reserving mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, but visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon children's children, unto the third and fourth generation: Exod. 34. 6, 7. And this (if any thing) will do: It was before the Lord, saith David, and therefore I will be yet more vile. Reproach in God's service, is our best preferment: the Lord so noble; the servant cannot be too bumble: even Bucephalus, that disdained any other rider, in all his trappings would kneel down to his Master Alexander, and go away Proud of his burden.  
Yea, to go yet further, let us with good old Eli, (who was a good son to God, though he had been an ill Father to his sons) even kiss the very rod we smart withal; and say, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good: for whatsoever seemeth good to him, cannot but be good, howsoever it seems to us. Yea, let us receive his stripes with all humility, patience, piety, and thankfulness; resolving as that holy Martyr, John Bradford, who said to the Queen (how much more did he mean it to the great King of Heaven and Earth) If the Queen will give me life, I will thank her; if she will banish me, I will thank her; if she will burn me, I will thank her; if she will condemn me to perpetual imprisonment, I will thank her. A man will easily swallow a bitter Pill, to gain health. The stomach that is purged, must be content to part with some good nourishment, that it may deliver itself of more evil humours: and the Physician knows what is best for the Patient: the Nurse better than the Infant, what is good and fit for it. Now the Tenant is more noble than the House; therefore why are we not more joyed in this, then dejected in the other? since the least grain of the increase of grace, is more worth, then can be equalled with whole pounds of bodily vexation. Yea, let us take them as tokens and pledges of God's love and favour, who loves his Children so, as not to make wantoness of them. They that would tame pampered Horses, do add to their travel, and abate of their provender, as Pharaoh served the Children of Israel. Which of us shall see pieces of Timber cut and squared, and plained by the Carpenter, or Stones hewn and polished by the Mason, but will collect and gather, that these are Stones and Timber which the Master would employ in some building? If I suffer, it is that I may reign. And how profitable is that affliction, which carrieth me to Heaven? Oh, it is a good change, to have the fire of affliction for the fire of Hell: Who would not rather smart for a while, then for ever? It's true, these Wasps, wicked men, sting shrewdly, but the Hornet, Satan, would sting worse a great deal. And not seldom doth the infliction of a less punishment, avoid a greater.  
Neither must any man think to be always free from censures, aspersions, and wrongs, nor sometimes from faults: The very Heathen could say, It is for none but God to feel or want nothing. Indeed, many are too apt to expect it, and therefore can bear nothing, like Minderides; the Sybarite, who was grieved for that some of the Rose-leaves which he lay upon, were rumpled together: But this is to vilipend, and undervalue his kindness; to make no rep●te, nor reckoning of his deepest indulgencies, whereas the contrary, approves our sincerity beyond all exceptions. Every man can open his hand to God while he blesses, but to expose ourselves willingly to the afflicting hand of our Maker, and to kneel to him while he scourges us, is peculiar to the faithful.   

3. Use.  
3. Thirdly, if the sharp sufferings, and bitter conflicts, and sore travels of God's children, are usually the forerunners of a joyful issue; even the happy birth of saving repentance: & that the sharp pain of the Surgeon's 〈◊〉 them, is only to ease them of a more durable and dangerous, yea, a far heavier pain, the stone of the heart: If while their enemies go about to rob them, they do but enrich them; As that Sexton, who in the night went to rob a Gentlewoman, that had been buried the day before, with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and having opened the coffin, loosed the sheet, and chafed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to get it off, she having been but in a swoone before: her spirits 〈◊〉, she revived, and for many years after lived comfortably. If they may be resembled to the five loaves in the Gospel, which by a strange Arithmetic, were multiplied by Division, and augmented by Substraction; then let none dare to flatter, or flesh themselves, because their estate is prosperous; especially in an evil way: As it fared with Leah, whom we may hear thus chanting her happiness: God, saith she, hath given me my reward, because I have given my maid to my husband: Gen. 30. 18. when she should rather have repent then rejoiced. And the like with Micah, Judg. 17. 13. and Saul, 1 Sam. 23. 7. and Dionysius, when he found the winds favourable in his navigation, after he had despoiled the Temple of all the gold therein. Neither let such as suffer not, censure their brethren that do, as those three mis-judged of job, that he was an hypocrite, and a greater sinner than others, and God had cast him off, or else it could not go so ill with him. Or as the Jews censured our Saviour, Isa. 53. 3, 4. And those Barbarians, Saint Paul, Acts 28. 4. which is to condemn the generation of God's children, Psal. 73. 15. But rather mistrust themselves, which was the use our Saviour warned those to make of it, who told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, Luke 13. 1, to 6.  
And indeed, he is blind that judgeth of man's felicity by his outward prosperity, or concludes of one's misery from his calamity: Eccles. 9 1, 2. The Sun of prosperity shines no less upon brambles in the wilderness, then fruitful trees in the Orchard. The cold frost and snow of adversity, lights upon Gardens, aswell as the wild waste. Ahabs and Josiahs' end, concur in the very circumstances, the one destroyeth Religion. the other restoreth it: yet both shot with an Arrow. Saul and jonathan, though different in dispositions, yet in their deaths they were not divided: Zedekiah a wicked man, had his eyes put out: so had Samson, the valiant Judge of Israel, and Type of Christ. Moses and Aaron, both were shut out of Canaan, aswel as the malignant spies: so that if we judge of men's persons by their outward conditions, we must needs err.  
Yea, usually God doth most afflict those, whom he best affecteth; dealing with his children, as the good husband deals with his Trees; those in the Garden he is ever and anon meddling with them, either lopping off the superfluous branches, or scraping oft the moss, or paring of the root, or digging and dunging them; so using all good means to make them fruitful: whereas he lets them alone which grow in the Hedg-row, or Forest, till at length he comes with his Axe, and cuts them down for the fire. He was not the best Disciple that had the bag: and fatted ware, you know is but fitted for the shambles. God puts money indeed (as some Hoorders do) into these earthen boxes, that have only one chink to let in, but none to loc out, with purpose to break them when they are full. What was Haman the better for his honour, while the King frowned on him; or the happier for being lift up the ladder, when he was to come down again with a rope?  
And for aught thou knowest, (at least, if thou takest not heed, for prosperity is the more dangerous enemy of the two, and skilful to destroy,) thy preservation is but a reservation; as it fared with Sodom and her sisters, which were preserved from the slaughter of the four Kings, that God might rain down Hell from Heaven upon them. And Sennacherib, who escaped the stroke of the destroying Angel, that he might fall by the sword of his own sons, Isa. 37. 37, 38. Say then, one woe, the woe of adversity, (as thou accountest it) hath passed thee, perhaps there is a second, and a third, worse; behind: Revel. 9 12, and 8. 13. The Philosopher would see a man's end before he pronounced him happy. Yea, it may be, that which thou account'st thy primest privilege, may prove to thee a snare, and may be granted thee rather out of anger then love, as the Devil left Jobs tongue un-touched of all the rest, but why? in hope that therewith he would have cursed God; or charged him with folly and cruelty: so that we may say of prosperity, as Antigonus did of his garment; O noble, rather than happy privilege! but of adversity, O happy rather then noble favour!   

4 Use.  
4. Fourthly, if Affliction be so profitable, and prosperity so dangerous as hath been shown; if it be our Isaac's use, first to feel us by tribulation, and then to bless us; then away with those foolish queries, Why doth God this, and why that? why doth he punish the innocent, and acquit the peccant? why doth he permit so many, and such notorious crimes? why is he so severe towards his own; so gentle to others? Ask not (saith Salvianus) why one is greater, another less; one wretched, another happy? I know not God's intent, but it is sufficient satisfaction to me, that this is done by God. Why doth a Physician give more Wormwood, or Hellebore to this sick party, then to that? even because, either his disease, or his constitution so requires it.  
Neither let us value things as they seem, or according to sense; but rather when we are best pleased let us be most suspicious: let us desire and choose blessings, as he chose his friend; not him that would be plausible to his humour for a day, but him that should be profitable to his mind during life. Let us imitate Bees that pass over Roses and Violets, to set upon Thyme: If crosses are not tooth some; let it suffice that they are wholesome: 'Tis not required in Physic that it should please, but heal: unless we esteem our pleasure above our health.  
Experience tells us, that those things (for the most part) which are least pleasing, are most wholesome: Rue is an herb most bitter to the taste, yet in regard of the virtue, which is in it, we call; Herb of Grace: And Mithridate, though of all other Electuaries it be most distasteful; yet of all others, it is the most wholesome.  
The world hates thee, and deals most spitefully with thee; a good sign: It hath always been the portion of good men, to suffer at the hands of evil men; as appears both by holy, and humane Writers: as for Divine Authority, you know how it fared with the Prophets, Apostles, and our Saviour Christ himself, whose whole life, by reason of spiteful enemies, was but one continued cross. And as touching secular; examples are infinite; whereof a few: In Athens, we read of wise Socrates, good Photion, just Aristides, victorious Milliades; but how unworthily were they dealt withal? At Rome they had Marcus Cato, the pattern of a wise and prudent man, a lively emblem of Virtue; how was he hated, thrust down, spit upon, stripped both of his Senatorship, and Pratorship, cast into prison, etc. Rutilius and Camillus were both exiled. Pompeus and Cicero both yielded their necks to their Clients: Who so often cursed by the Popes, with Bell, Book, and Candle, as Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory? though she outlived seven of them.  
But to leave examples; and come to reason: Is it not an evident sign, that if the world hates thee, thou art none of the World? yea, therefore it hates thee, because thy practice shames the world; and because thou discoverest, and opposest her treasons and deceits. Wicked men are like dogs, in condition, who will let a man amble a fair pace, quietly: but if he gallop through the Town, though his errand be of importance, and to the King, perhaps, they will bark and fly at him, which is a token to them, of perdition, but to thee of salvation: Phil. 1. 28. yea, it is an evident sign, that they are of the stock of Ishmael, and not the seed of Israel. I find many acts of deception in the Saints; I find infirmity in those acts, but that any one of them hath scoffed at, and hated another for goodness; I find not: or that have used to dispute against it: Gregory Nazianzen, (I pray mind it seriously) told his friends; that Julian would prove a notorious wicked man: he took such delight in disputing against that which was good. Much less that any after regeneration, have in this case been cruel. If we would know (saith chrysostom) a Wolf from a Sheep (since their clothing is alike) look to their fangs, and their mouth, if they be bloody: for who ever saw the lips of a Sheep besmeared with blood? which being so; No matter though the gate be straight, and the way narrow, if the end to which it leadeth be everlasting life.   

5 Use.  
5 Fiftly, if in conclusion the most malicious and damnable practices of our worst and greatest enemies prove no other in effect to us, than did the malice of joseph's brethren, Mistress, and Lord to him: the first, in selling of him; the second, in falsely accusing him; the third, in imprisoning him; (all which made for his inestimable good and benefit;) then the malice of Haman to Mordecai, and the Jews; whose bloody decree obtained against them, procured them exceeding much joy and peace: then Balaacs' malice to the children of Israel, whose desire of cursing them, caused the Lord so much the more to bless them, Numbers 23. Then the Devil's spite to Job, who pleasured him more by his sore afflicting him, than any thing else could possibly have done, whether we regard his name, children, substance, or soul; then Judas his treason against the Lord of life, whose detestable fact served not only to accomplish his will, but the means also of all their salvations, that either befonre or after should believe in him: this should move wonder, to astonishment, and cause us to cry out with the Apostle; O the deepness of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! Rom. 11. 33. O the wonderful and sovereign goodness of our God that turns all our Poisons into Cordials; that can change our terrors into pleasures; and makes the greatest evil beneficial unto us, for they are evil in their own nature, and strong temptations to sin: James 1. 2. also fruits of sin, and part of the curse, and work those former good effects, not properly by themselves, but by accident; as they are so disposed by the infinite wisdom, goodness, and power of God, who is able to bring light out of darkness, and good out of evil: yea, this should tutor us to love our enemies. (We love the medicine, nor for its own sake, but for the health it brings us) and to suffer cheerfully whatsoever is laid upon us: for how can God's Church in general, or any member in particular but fare well, since the very malice of their enemy's benefits them? How can we but say, Let the World frown, and all things in it run cross to the grain of our minds? Yet, With thee, o Lord, is mercy, and plenteous redemption: thou makest us better, by their making us, worse.  
Objection. But perhaps thou hast not proved the truth of this by thy own knowledge; and particular experience.  
Answer. If thou hast not; thou shalt in due time: the end shall prove it: stay but till the conclusion, and thou shalt see that there is no cross, no enemy, no evils can happen unto thee, that shall not be turned to good, by him that dwelleth in thee. Will you take Saint Panls word for it, or rather Gods own word, who is Truth itself, and cannot lie? His words are, We know that all things work together for the best, unto them that love God; even to them that are called of his purpose, Rom. 8. 28. And in Verse 35, 36. after he hath declared that God's chosen people shall suffer tribulation, and anguish, and persecution, and famine, and nakedness, peril, sword, etc. be killed all the day long, and counted as sheep for the slaughter; he concludeth with, Nevertheless, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us: and so goeth on, even to a challenge of our worst enemies, Death, Angels, Principalities and Powers, things present, and to come; height, depth, and what other creature besides, should stand in opposition. What voluminous waves be here, for number, and Power, and terror! yet they shall not separate the Ark from Christ, nor a soul from the Ark, nor a body from the soul, nor an hair from the body, to do us hurt. What saith David? Mark the upright man, and behold the just; for the end of that man is peace: Psal. 37. 37. Mark him in his setting out, he hath many oppositions; mark him in the journey, he is full of tribulations; but mark him in the conclusion, and the end of that man is peace. In Christ all things are ours, 1 Cor. 3. 22. How is that? Why, we have all things, because we have the Haver of all things. And if we love Christ, all things work together for our good; yea, for the best: Rom. 8. 28. And if all things, (quoth Luther) then; even sin itself. And indeed, how many have we known the better for their sin? Marry Magdalen had never loved so much, if she had not so much sinned: had not the incestuous person sinned so notoriously, he had never been so happy. God took the advantage of his humiliation, for his conversion. Had not one foot slipped into the mouth of Hell, he had never been in this forwardness to Heaven: Sin first wrought sorrow (saith Saint Augustine) and now godly sorrow kills sin; the daughter destroys the mother: neither do our own sins only advantage us, but other men's sins work for our good also.  
Objection. But may some say, Can any good come out of such a Nazarite?  
Answer. Yes, The advantage we have by Christ, is more than the loss we had by Adam. If Arrius had not held a Trinity of Substances, with a Trinity of Persons; and Sabellius an Unity of Persons, with an Unity of Essences; the Mysteries of the Trinity had not been so clearly expl●…ned by those great Lights of the Church. If Rome had not so violently obtruded her Merits; the doctrine of Justification only by faith in Christ, might have been less digested into men's hearts. We may say here, as Saint Augustine doth of Carthage and Rome; if some enemies had not contested against the Church, it might have gone worse with the Church. Lastly suppose our enemies should kill us, they shall not hurt, but pleasure 〈◊〉 yea, even death itself shall work our good. That Red-sea shall put us over to the Land of Promise: and we shall say to the praise of God, we are delivered, we are the better for our enemies, the better for our sins, the better for death; yea, better for the Davil: and to think otherwise, even for the present; were not only to derogate from the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, but it would be against reason; for in reason, if he hath vouchsafed us that great mercy to make us his own, he hath given the whole army of afflictions, a more inviolable charge, concerning us, than David gave his Host, concerning Absalon; See ye do the youngman, my son Absalon no harm. Now, if for the present thou lackest faith, patience, wisdom, and true judgement how to bear, and make this gain of the cross; Ask it of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and reproache●…h no man, and it shall be given thee, Jam. 1. 5. For every good giving, and every perfect gift, is from above; and cometh down from the Father of lights: Verse 17.   

6 use.  
6 Sixthly, (for this point calling more for practice then proof, it behoves us to be larger here, briefer there) If that which is one man's meat, proves another man's poison; let it be acknowledged, that the fault is not in the meat, but in the stomach: and that it is the wickedness of our hearts, & want of a sincere endeavour, to make good use of God's corrections, which causeth him to withdraw his blessing from them. Wherefore let it provoke us as we love ourselves, as we love our souls, through all the transitory, temporary, moment any passages of this World; first, to strive after, and then to preserve the life of our lives, and soul of our souls, sincerity, and integrity.  
Again, if afflictions (which are in their own nature, evil, and unto others, strong temptations to sin) by the goodness of God, do make so much for our advantage, and benefit here, and hereafter: If our Heavenly Father turns all things, even the malice of Satan, and wicked men, yea, our own sins to our good: Rom. 8. 28. If for our sakes, and for his Names sake, he even changeth the nature and property of each creature, rather than they shall hurt us; as it is the nature and property of fire to burn, yet that vehement fire in Nebuchadnezars Furnace, did not burn the three servants of God. It is proper to the Sea to drown those that be cast into it; yet it did not drown the Prophet, in the very depth of it. It is proper for hungry ravenous Lions to kill, and devour, yet they did Daniel no harm. And the like, when we need their help. It is proper for the Sun to move, yet it stood still at the prayer of Joshua: proper for it to go from East to West; yet for Hezekiahs' confirmation, it went from West to East: It is proper for Iron to sink in the water, yet it swom when the children of the Prophet's 〈◊〉 need of it. In like manner; It is proper for affliction to harden, and 〈◊〉 worse, as well as for riches and prosperity to ensnare: But as some Simples are by Art, made medicinable, which are by nature, poisonable: So afflictions which are in nature destructive; by grace, become preservative. And as evil waters when the Unicorns born hath been in them, are no longer poisonable, but healthful; or as a Wasp when her sting is out, may awaken us by buzzing, but cannot hurt us by stinging. so fares it with affliction, when God pleaseth to sanctify the same, as he doth to all that love him, Rom. 8. 28. For of God it is, (without thanks to Affliction, or ourselves, or our sins) that we are bettered by them: All the work is thine, let thine be the glory.  
But lastly, (for though we can never be thankful enough for this, yet this is not all) that we should find him a Saviour, whom our enemies finde a just revenger; That we should be loosed from the chains of our sins, and they delivered into the chains of Plagues; That the same Christ should with his precious blood free us, that shall with his Word sentence them.  
Again, if we were by nature the Seed of the Serpent, children of the Devil, and Subjects to that Prince which ruleth in the air, even that spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience, Ephes. 2. 2. We may learn by it, to be humble and thankful, if changed to be the woman's seed, children of God, and members of Christ: since we were once in so v●…le a condition; for God found nothing in us but Enmity, 1 Cor. 15. 10. Rom. 7. 18, 25. We are not born, but newborn Christians: And whereas he might have left us in that perishing condition (being bound to none) and have chosen others; he hath of his free grace adopted us, and left others. What's the reason? surely no reason can be given, but O the depth! only this I am sure of, it is a mercy beyond all expression! O my soul, thou hast not room enough for thankfulness.  
Wherefore let it provoke us so to love him, that we show forth the ●…tues, and fruits of him that hath called us, and done all this for us, 1 ●…ter 2. 9 But I fear we sorseit many of God's favours, for not paying that easy rent of thankfulness.  
For conclusion, If we be the seed of the Woman, and our enemies, the Seed of the Serpent; let us go before them in goodness, as far as God hath preferred us before them in mercy: let us be able to say of our enemies, as Job of his, I have not suffered my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse unto his soul, Job 31. 30. Yea, let us send down water from our compassionate eyes, and weep for them by whom we bleed. In brief, let us hate their opinions, strive against their practice, pity their misguidings, neglect their censures, labour their recovery, and pray for their salvation.    

CHAP. 34.  
That though God disposeth of all their malice to his children's greater good, yet they shall be rewarded according to their mischievous intentions.  
Ob. IF it be so, that the malice of wicked men makes so much for the behoof of God's people; and that whatsoever they do unto us, is but the execution of God's will, and full accomplishment of his just decree; it may seem to make on their side, and not only extenuate their evil, but give them occasion of boasting.  
Ans. Although God disposeth it to the good of his children, that he may bring about all things to make for his own glory; yet they intent only evil in it, as namely; the Dishonour of God, the ruin of men's souls (as I have proved in the Drunkard's Character) and the satisfying of their own serpentine enmity, and thirst of revenge. We must therefore learn to distinguish betwixt the act of God and of an enemy, as indeed God's people do; When ye thought evil against me (saith Joseph to his brethren) God disposed it to good, that he might bring to pass as it is this day, and save much people alive, Gen. 50. 20. God had no hand in doing the evil, but God will have a hand in the disposing of it: When Satan and wicked men have their wills, even therein also is God's will fulfilled, for Gods will is the highest cause of all things, Psal. 115. 3, 4. Yea, the holy God challengeth to himself whatsoever is done in the City, Amos 3. 6. but so, as neither wicked men's sins shall taint him, nor his decree justify them: the sin is their own, the good which comes of it is Gods, the benefit ours; He doth well, in suffering to be done, whatsoever is evil done, saith Saint Augustine, and is just in their injustice. God wils the same action, as it is a blessing, trial, or chastisement of his children, which he ●…es as the wickedness of the agent: because in dhe same thing which they did, there was not the same cause for which they did it. The lewd tongue, hand, or heart, moves from God, it moves lewdly from Satan: wicked men are never the freer from guilt and punishment, for that hand which the holy God hath in their offensive actions. To instance in some examples; Satan did nought touching Job, but what the Lord upon his request gave him leave to do; what then? Did God and Belial join in fu filling the same act? No: sooner shall Stygian darkness blend with light, the frost with fire, day with night: true, God and Satan willed the selfsame thing; but God intended good, Satan ill; Satan aimed at Jobs, and God at his confusion. God used the malice of Pharaoh and Shimei unto good; what then? God afflicted his people with another mind than Pharaoh, did; God, to increase them, Pharaoh, to suppress them. The sin of Shimeis curse was his own, the smart of the curse was Gods; God wills that as David's chastisement, which he hates as Shimeis' wickedness. God owed a revenge to the house of Eli, and by the delation of Doeg, he took occasion to pay it, when the Priests were slain: It was just in God, which in Doeg, was most unjust: Saul's cruelty, and the treachery of Doeg, do not lose one dram of their guilt, by the counsel of God: Neither doth the holy counsel of God, gather any blemish by their wickedness: If it had pleased God, to inflict death upon them sooner, without any pretence of occasion; his justice had been clear from all imputations. Now if Saul or Doeg be instead of a Pestilence or Fever; who can cavil? The judgements of God are not ever manifest, but are always just. Again, the curse of the Serpent bestowed blessedness on Man; yea, our first Parents had been less glorious, if they had not wanted a Saviour. What then? Doth Satan merit thanks? No, but the contrary; for he only intended the final ruin and destruction of them and all mankind, with the dishonour of their Maker. Lastly, the Devil does us good in this particular case, for while he assaults us with temptations, and afflicts us with crosses, he in effect helps us to Crowns. Yet still no thanks to Satan, for to be charitable is more than his meaning; it is that Divine and overruling Providence of God, which we are beholding unto, and to him give we the thanks.  
But above all, our Saviour's example will most excellently distinguish the ends of God, Satan, and wicked Men; for if we observe, Judas delivered him to death for gain, the Jews for envy, Pilate for fear; the Devil provoked each of them through this enmity; Christ himself, to obey his Father's will, God the Father in love to sinners, and for their Redemption: each furthered one and the same thing, but to contrary ends: so when this enmity breaks forth in the wicked, Satan hath a hand in it as a malicious author; as when he entered into Judas, and made him betray Christ, Luke 22. 3. Man himself as a voluntary instrument, as when Pharaoh hardened his own heart against the children of Israel, Exod. 9 34. God as a most righteous Judge, and avenger, as when he also hardened Pharoahs' heart, so punishing his former hardness, with further obduration, Exod. 9 12. But how in this case? Even by permitting the seed of the Serpent, from their own malicious inclination, to hate the seed of the Woman, not by infusing this malice, but by withdrawing his grace when he sees it abused: he doth not infuse corruption, he doth not withhold the occasion; as when the Rider gives his horse the reins, we say he puts him on.  
Whence that distinction of adversities, as they come from Satan, they are usually called temptations; as they come from Men, persecutions; as from God, afflictions.  
Now as God turned the treachery of Judas, not only to the praise of his justice, mercy, wisdom, power, etc. but to the good of all believers: so he turns this enmity of Satan and wicked men, to his children's great advantage (in stopping them in their courses of sin and keeping them in exercise) and his own glory: And well may he work good by evil instruments, when every Prince and Magistrate hath the seàt to make profitable instruments, aswell of evil persons, as of good: yea, when there is nothing in the world, be it gall itself; yea, the excrement of a Dog, or the poison of a Serpent, but man's shallow invention can find it is good for something: neither do two contrary poisons mingled together prove mortal.  
And thus you see that the will of God may be done thanklessely, when in fulfilling the substance, we fail in the intentions, and err in circumstances.  
Now see with the like patience, how it will far with these men in the end. Pomponius Atticus being destined to famishment, & receiving no manner of sustenance for many days; contrary to the intention; was freed by means of that abstinence from a violent pain, & recovered of a disease; which otherwise had cost him his life. Prometheus' being run in with a Rapier, and Jason receiving a great blow on the breast, each was restored to health, from dangerous and deadly impostumes, which otherwise were thought ineurable. And this is our case, for even as that cured them, which their enemies intended should have killed them; so this enmity of the Serpent and his Seed, c●…res our souls, and makes us everlastingly happy. Yet they intending only evil in it, or at least the satisfying of their own wicked wills, (as they know better than I, wherein they imitate the Weasel, which doth a man pleasure in destroying of Vermin, yet only intends the satisfying of her own hunger, not his good that keeps the house) can no way assume the least praise to themselves, nor expect the more favour. That which is ill of itself is not to be ventured on for the good which cometh by accident. It is no privilege to be an instrument of good by evil means: Nor can you expect to far better without a healing of your errors, than the Worm in the stomach, which, when it hath devoured all the matter proper for it, dies itself: or Heleborus, which after it hath wrought the cure within the body, is cast up again, together with the Malady.  
The Lord doth often good to his Church, even by those Instruments whom for their sins he means to cast into Hell-fire. Ashur was his Rod to scourge Israel; that done, they fell under a sharper lash themselves: Those Nations, saith God, shall serve the King of Babel seventy years, and when the seventy years are accomplished, I will visit the King of Babel and that Nation for their iniquities, and will make it a perpetual desolation, etc. Jer. 25. 11, 12. and 30, 16. even the greater sinners may punish the less, and prosper for a time, Ezekiel 7. I will bring the most wicked of the Heathen, and they shall possess their Houses, verse. 24. When iniquity hath played her part, vengeance leaps upon the Stage; the Comedy is short, but the Tragedy is longer.  
We use rubbish to scour our vessels, when those vessels are cleared, we fling away the rubbish. Bridges that help men over the stream, at last themselves rot and sink in. When Balaams' Ass had done speaking, humana voce, she lived an Ass, and died an Ass: So when God hath sufficiently afflicted the righteous, by the rod of the wicked, he will fling the Rod into the fire which is unquenchable, Isa. 33. 1.  
And it stands with the strength of reason, for if God, saith Saint Gregory, strike so smartly those whom he spareth; how heavy will his blows be on them whom he condemneth; and with what severity shall castaways be punished, when his own children are so visited and afflicted. If Gods own Children, who are as dear and near to him, as the Apple of his eye, or the signet on his right hand, suffer so many and grievous afflictions here; what shall his adversaries suffer in Hell? undo●…btedly, when the Patient is made whole, he shall be preserved; but the Plaster shall be thrown away: For as God doth turn evil to good to them that love him; so he turns good to evil to those that hate him.  
Again secondly, if the wicked are punished for doing wrong to the wicked, much more for wronging the just, and innocent: But we have many examples of the former, as that of Adonibezeck, who having cut off the Thumbs and great Toes of Seventy Kings that were wicked like himself, had also his his own Thumbs and Toes cut off; Judg. 1. 〈◊〉. 7. And Moab, of whom the Lord saith, he hath burnt the bones of the King of Edo●… into lime, therefore will I send a fire upon Moab●… and it shall devour, etc. Amos 2. 1, 2. If the greater Serpent devours the less, there is a Dragon to devour him, therefore the enemies of God's Church, have no hope to escape. The everlasting punishments of the ungodly are deferred, not remitted.  
But all the evil thou dost to the godly, is with thy tongue?  
Answ. That's bad enough, the Serpents hissing betrays his malice; and Ishmael's tongue made him a Persecuter, as well as Doeg's hands; he did but flout Isaac, yet Saint Paul saith, he persecuted him Gal. 4. 29. I'm only scoffed at Noah, yet it brought upon him his Father's curse, and Gods upon that. The Athenians but scoffed once at Silla's wife, and it had well nigh co●…t the razing of their City, he was so provoked with the indignity. And whatever thou conceivest of it, let this fault be as far from my soul, as my soul from Hell. For assuredly, God will one day laugh you to scorn, for laughing his to scorn: and at last despise you, that have despised him in us.   

CHAP. 35.  
Other grounds of comfort to support a Christian in his sufferings. And first, that God is specially present with his servants in their afflictions, takes notice of their sufferings, and allays their grief.  
THis rub being removed, and the passage made clear, proceed we to other grounds of comfort which the Word of God affords in this case, for the better upholding, and strenghtening of a weak Christian in his sufferings: Wherein, that we may not exceed, I will select out only five, because instructions, if they exceed, are wont, like nails, to drive out one another.  
First, we shall bear the Cross with the more patience and comfort; if we consider, that God is specially present with his servants in their afflictions; takes notice of their sufferings, and allays their grief. The troubles of a Christian are very great for number, variety, and bitterness; yet there is o●… ingredient that sweetens them all, the promise of God, I will be with thee introuble, and deliver thee, Psal. 91. 15. And tho●… shalt not be tempted above thy strength, 1 Cor. 10. 13. Again, fear not; for when thou passest through the water, I will be with thee; and through the floods, that they do not overflow thee: When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be butnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee, Isa. 43. 1, 2. Lo, here are promises like Flagons of Wine, to comfort the distressed soul. Wherefore as Caesar said to the trembling Mariner, Be not afraid; for thou carriest Caesar; so, O Christian! be not afraid, for he that is in thee, for thee, with thee, that guides thee, that will save thee, is the invincible King Jehova. And upon this ground David was so comforted and refreshed in his soul, Psal. 94. 19 that he was able to say, Though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: Why? For thou art with me, thy Rod and thy Staff shall comfort me, Psal. 23. 4. Yea, our Enemies can no sooner assault us with their tongues, but God come in to our rescue. If ye be railed upon for the name of Christ, (saith Saint Peter) blessed are ye, for the Spirit of God resteth upon you, 1 Pet. 4. 14. God is never so much enjoyed of us, as when we are in the deep, with David, Psal. 130. 1. and when we are worst of all bestead with Jehosaphat, 2 Chron. 20. 12. When did Jacob see a Vision of Angels? but when he fled for his life, making the cold earth his bed, and a stone his pillow; or when was his heart so full of joy, as now that his head lay hardest? When was Paul wrapped into the third heaven to hear words from Christ not fit to be uttered, 2 Cor. 12. 2. 4. but as some of the learned conceive, when he was bereft of his sight. Stephen saw great happiness by Christ, in his peace: but under that shower of stones, he saw heaven itself open, Act. 7. When we are slain all the day long for his sake, with the Martyrs, than we are given to see him with our eyes, as Job did, who till that time had only heard of him by the hearing of the ear. Then we come to know that the Lord, he is God, with Manasses 2 Chron. 33. 13. and that he is our hope and strength and refuge, and a very present help in troubles, ready to be found of all that seek to him, 2 Chron. 15. 4. 15. Psal 9 9, 10, and 46. 1.  
The Israelites never fared so well, as when they lived at God's immediate finding, and at night expected their morrows break-fast from the clouds: When they did daily ask and daily receive, their daily hread. Yea, even when they were wandering in a forlorn wilderness, how did God as it were attend upon them in their distress, to supply their wants? They have no guide, therefore God himself goes before them in a pillar of fire; they have no shelter, the Lord spreads a Cloud over them for a Canopy; are they at a stand, and want way; the Sea shall part and give them passage; do they lack bread? Heaven itself shall power down the food of Angels; have they no meat to their bread? a wind shall send them innumerable Quails; do they yet want drink, behold a hard rock smitten with a little wand, shall power them out water in abundance; have they no supply of Apparel, their Garments shall not wax old on their backs; be their Enemies too strong for them for want of Engines, the Walls of Jericho shall fall down before them; are their enemies yet too many and potent, hailstones shall fall and brain them: Lamps, Pitchers, and Dreams shall get them Victory, the Sun shall stand still in Gibeon, and the Moon in the valley of Ajalon: lack they yet a Land to inhabit, the Lord will cast out all the inhabitants, and give them a Land which flows with milk and honey, etc. Afflictions have this advantage, that they occasion God to show that mercy to us, whereof the prosperous are uncapable; as we further see in Hagar, Gen. 21. 17, 18, 19 And Manoah's Wife, Judg. 13. 3. to whom the Angel of the Covenant had not been sent, if they had not been in distress.  
It would not become a mother to be so indulgent to an healthful child, ss to a sick: and in deed some have found their outward castigations so sweetened with the inward consolations of God's Spirit, that they have sonud and confessed their receipts of joy and comfort, to be an hundred sold more than their payments, even in this present life according to that promise of our Saviour, Mark. 10. 29, 30. So that a Christian is still a gainer in all his losses; yea, he gains by his losses.  
Now if we could but remember and lay to heart these promises, thus backed with examples; when we feel the greatest assaults or pangs, how could we want courage? But alas, most of us are like the Prophet's servant, 2 King. 6. who saw his foes, but not his friends: we are like joseph's brethren, who saw him, conversed with him, were fed by him, yet knew him not. Like Peter, who when the Angel brought him out of prison, and went before him; wist not that it was so, but thought he saw a vision, Act. 12. 9 Christ at his Resurrection was so changed, that his own Disciples knew him not; much more since his ascension may he pass by us, as he did by Job, Chap. 9 11. or meet us as he did Saul in the way to Damascus; or walk and talk with us, as he did with the two Disciples in the way to Emaus, Luk. 24. 16. or stand by us while we are seeking him, as he did by Mary in the Garden, Joh. 20. 1●…. and yet we be ignorant that it is he. Yea, he may be in us by his spirit; even whilst we seel him not. Jacob saw him both asleep and awake, yet (saith he) the Lord was in this place, and I was not aware of it, Gen. 28, 16. at least we are apt to think, that God is removed from us, when we any way suffer calamity; as the Israelites do but want water, and presently they cry, Is the Lord among us, or no? Exod. 17. 7. as if God could not be with them, and they a thirst; either he must humour carnal minds, or be disinherited.  
But both his presence and love, is the same in adversity, as it is in prosperity; our sense only makes the difference, even as a Church, Castle, or Town, is unmoveable, and keepeth one place; though to us it may seem sometime on our right hand, other while on our left: as we change our standing, sitting, or walking. Yet if some unusual crosses disturb our peace, presently there breaks out a voice mixed with mur●…uring, and despair, God hath forsaken us. It was a common complain●… with David. The Lord hath forsaken us; thou hast cast off, and abhorred us: why hast thou forsaken me & c.? Yea, the only Son of God came to this, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Yet consider, did God forsake either of them? he might be angry with David, more angry with Christ, for the fins of all the world: and in their present sense, that anger might work in them an apprehension of his forsaking them: but he did not forsake them, nor will he forsake thee, if thou dost not first forsake him. Thou mayst think so, but God will not do so; but in the mean time, how can this be well taken? we see our wretchedness, we do not see our blessedness: No talk of his presence, of his absence we complain. Our cowardly spirits give him for quite gone; yet he is not far from every one of us, Act. 17. 27. Yea, this confession could Seneca make, (but like a Divine) God is near unto thee, he is with thee, he is within thee: and surely if he had not been with these Israelites, they had not lived; if he had been in them, they had not murmured. We can think him absent in our want, and cannot see him absent in our sin; yet, wickedness, not affliction, argues him gone: yea, he is then most present, when he most chastiseth; for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolations abound through Christ, 2 Cor. 1. 5.  
Again, God may be present with us, and yet we not be pleased; as the Israelites repined for a King, when the Lord was their King: or Christ may be with us, and yet we want something that we desire. Christ was in the Ship, and yet (say the Apostles) we have no bread. Jesus was at the Marriage, yet saith his Mother, they have no Wine, Joh. 2. 3. We may want Bread and Wine, and yet have Christ's company: but if food fail, it is because Manna is to come; if Wine be absent, yet grace and salvation is present: if God takes away flesh, and gives Manna; deny Sun and Moon, and gives himself; he doth us no wrong.  
Now why doth God by his promise tie himself to be present with us; more especially in affliction? but that he may resist our enemies, sustain us when we faint, and crown us when we overcome; but that he may be exact in taking notice of our particular sufferings, and as David saith, Count our wander, put our tears into his bottle, and enter all into his Register, Psal. 56. 8. 9 All our afflictions are more noted by that God that sends them, than of the patient that suffers them; every pang, and stitch, and gird, is first felt of him that sends it: could we be miserable unseen, we had reason to be heartless: but how can it be but less possible to endure any thing that he knows not, than that he inflicted not? As he said to Manoah by an Angel, Thou art barren, Judg. 13. 3. so he saith to one, thou art sick, to another, thou art poor, to a third, thou art defamed; thou art oppressed to another; that allseeing eye takes notice from heaven of every man's condition, no less than if he should send an Angel to tell us he knew it: and his knowledge compared with his mercy, is the just comfort of all our sufferings. O God we are many times miserable, and feel it not; thou knowest even those sorrows which we might have, thou knowest what thou hast done, do what thou pleasest.   

CHAP. 36.  
That all afflictions, from the least to the greatest, do come to pass, not by accident, chance or fortune, but by the especial providence of God.  

Section 1.  
2. We shall bear the cross with more patience and comfort. If we consider, that all afflictions, from the least to the greatest, do come to pass, not by accident, chance, or fortune, but by the special providence of God; who not only decreeth and fore-appointeth every particular cross, Eccles. 3. 1. Rom. 8. 28. 29. but even effecteth them, and brings them into execution, as they are crosses, corrections, trials, and chastisements: Isa. 45. 7. Amos 3. 6. and also ordereth and disposeth them; that is, limiteth and appointeth the beginning, the end, the measure, the quality, and the continuance thereof: yea, he ordereth them to their right ends; namely, his own glory, the good of his servants, and the benefit of his Church: Jer. 30. 11. Gen. 50. 19, 20. 2 Sam. 16. 10. Psal. 39 9 God useth them but as instruments, wherewith to Work his good pleasure upon us. As what are our enemies, but God's Axes to cut us down, not for the fire, but for the building: God's Masons to ●…ew us here in the Mountain, that we may be as the polished corner stones of the Temple, Psal. 144. 12. Or admit the Mason pulls down the House, it is not with an intent to destroy it, but to re-edify it; and raise it up again in better form and fashion. God's scullions to scour up the vessel of his House, that they may be meet for the Master's use.  
If then they be but as instruments, and tools in the hand of the workman; we must not so much look to the instrument, as to the Author, Gen. 45. 5. and 50 20. Well may the Priests of the Philistims doubt whether their plague be from God, or by fortune, 1 Sam. 6. 2, 9 but let a Joseph be sold into Egypt, he will say to his enemies, Ye sent not me hither, but God; when ye thought evil against me, God disposed it to good, that be might bring to pass as it is this day; and save much people alive: Or let a David be railed upon by any cursed Shimei, he will answer, Let him alone, for he curseth, even because the Lord hath bid him curse David: who dare then say, wherefore hast thou done so? 2 Sam 16. 10. Or let a Micha be trodden upon, and insulted over by his enemy, his answer will be no other than this. I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgement for me: Micha 7. 9 The believer that is conversant in God's book, knows that his adversaries are in the hands of God, as a hammer, axe, or rod, in the hand of a smiter; and therefore as the hammer, axe, or rod, of itself can do nothing, any further than the force of the hand using it, giveth strength 〈◊〉 to it: so no more can they do any thing at all unto him, further than it is given them from above; as our Saviour told Pilate: Job. 19 11. See this in some examples; you have Laban following Jacob with one troop, Esau meeting him with another, both with hostile intentions; both go on till the uttermost point of their execution, both are prevented ere the execution: for stay but a while, and you shall see Laban leave him with a kiss, Esau meet him with a kiss; of the one he hath an oath, tears of the other, peace with both. God makes fools of the enemies of his Church, he lets them proceed that they may be frustrate; and when they are gone to the uttermost reach of their teather, he pulls them back to the stake with shame. Again, you have Senacherib let loose upon Hezekiah and his people, who insults over them intolerably: 2 Kings 18. Oh! the lamentable and (in sight) desperate condition of distressed Jerusalem; wealth it had none, strength it had but a little, all the country round about was subdued unto the Assyrian: that proud victor hath begirt the walls of it with an innumerable army, scorning that such a shovell-full of earth should stand out but one day: yet poor Jerusalem stands alone, blocked up with a world of enemies, helpless, friendless, comfortless, looking for the worst of an hostile fury; and on a sudden, before an Arrow is shot into the City, a hundred fourscore and five thousand of their enemies were slain, and the rest run away, 〈◊〉 Kings 19 35, 36. God laughs in heaven at the plots of Tyrants, and befools them in their deepest projects. If he undertake to protect a people, in vain shall earth, and hell conspire against them. Nothing can be accomplished in the Lower House of this world, but first it is decreed in the Upper Court of heaven; as for example, what did the Jews ever do to our Saviour Christ, that was not first both decreed by the Father of Spirits, and registered in the Scriptures for our notice and comfort? They could not so much as throw the Dice for his Coat, but it was prophesied: Psal. 22. 18. and in Psal. 69. 21. It is foretell that they should give him gall in his meat, and in his thirst, vinegar to drink; the very quality and kind of his drink is prophesied: yea, his face could not be spit upon without a prophecy; those filthy excrements of his enemies fell not upon his face, without God's decree, and the Prophet's relation: Isa. 50. 6. Yea, let the Kings of the earth be assembled, and the Rulers come together; Let Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, gather themselves in one league against him, it is in vain; for they can do nothing, but what the hand of God and his Counsel hath before determined to be done: as Peter and John affirmed to the rest of the Disciples, for their better confirmation and comfort: Act. 4. 26. to 29. No, notwithstanding the Devil raged, the Pharisees stormed, Herod and Pilate vexed, Caiaphas prophesied, all combined, and often sought to take him: yet no man-laid hands on him (until his hour was come that God had appointed): so that by all their plots, they were never able to do him any more hurt, than only to show their teeth, Joh. 7. 30. If we are in league with God, we need not fear the greatest of men.  
Indeed, it was pilate's brag to Christ, knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee? Joh. 19 10. And Laban's to Jacob, Gen. 31. 29. I am able to do you hurt; but they were vain cracks: for doth not Pharaohs overthrow tell all boasting Champions, that an Host is nothing without the God of Hosts. Yea, Satan himself was fain to say unto God in Job's case, stretch out now thine hand, etc. Job 1. 11. and 2. 5. True as Themistocles once said of his son; this boy can do more than any man in all Greece: for the Athenians command the Grecians, and I command the Athenians, and my wife commands, me, and my son commands my wife: so the Church's adversaries in some places, may boast what their Father the Devil can do: for he commands the Pope, and the Pope commands the Jesuits, and the Jesuits command such a King, or Emperor, Rev. 17. ver. 12. 13. and that Emperor, or King, commands his Officers of State; and they command the common people. And yet to speak rightly, even all these can do just nothing of themselves, for he that sits in the heavens laughing them to scorn, commands all.  
Now it must needs comfort and support us exceedingly, if in all cases we do but duly consider, that inequality is the ground of order, that superior causes guide the subordinate, that this sublunary Globe depends on the celestial; as the lesser wheels in a Clock do on the great one, which I find thus expressed: 
As in a Clock one motion doth convey,  
And carry divers wheels a several way;  
Yet altogether by the great wheels sarce,  
Direct the hand unto his proper course.   
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lordcommandeth it not? Lamenta. 3. 37. Suppose the Legions of hell should combine with the Potentates of the earth to do their worst, they are all nothing without God: as in Arithmetic, put never so many Ciphers together, one before another, and they make nothing; but let one figure be added, it makes them infinite. So is it with men and Devils; if God be not with them, they are all but Ciphers: And yet for the praise of his glory, and the good of his Church, these enemies of his, whether they rise or sit still, shall by an insensible ordination perform that will of the Almighty, which they least think of, and most oppose: The inhabitants of Jerusalem, and their Rulers, (because they knew him not, nor yet the words of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day) have fulfilled them in condemning him, Act. 13. 27. so that as Saint Austin speaks, by resisting the will of God, they do fulfil it: and his will is done by and upon them, even in that they do against his will.  
That even Satan himself is limited, and can go no further than his chain will reach, we may see Rev. 20. 2. More particularly; he could not touch so much as Job's body or substance, no not one of his servants, nor one limb of their bodies, nor one hair of their heads, nor one beast of their herds, but he must first beg leave of God, Job 2. 6. Nay Satan is so far from having power over us living, that he cannot touch our bodies being dead; yea, he cannot find them when God will conceal them, (witness the body of Moses): and I doubt not, but as the Angels did wait at the Sepu●…chre of their and our Lord: so for his sake, they also watch 〈◊〉 our graves: he could not seduce a false prophet, nor enter into a Hog without licence; the whole Legion sue to Christ for a sufferance, not daring other than to 〈◊〉, that without his permission they could not hurt a very Swine.  
And when he hath leave from God, what can he do? he cannot go one hairs breadth beyond his commission: being permitted, he could bring Christ himself, and set him on the Pinnacle of the Temple, but he could not throw him down; which even a little child might have done with permission. As the Lion, 1 King. 13, killed the Prophet, but neither touched the Ass whereon he road, no●… yet the dead carcase contrary to his nature.  
True Satan could boast even to Christ himself, that all the world was his, and all the Kingdoms thereof, but when it came to the push, he could not enter into a very Hog, without ask him leave, and having leave given him, he presently carried the whole heard headlong into the Sea: Why did he not so to the man possessed? no thanks to him, he had leave for the one, not so for the other, and therefore a whole Legion of them were not able to destroy one poor simple man, Matth. 8. ver. 31. 32.  
So that all our enemies are kerbed and restrained by the divine providence of our heavenly Father: Satan may be his Executioner, but God is the Judge, and the Executioner cannot lay on a stroke more than the Judge appoints,  
I confess Satan is so strong comparatively, and withal so crafty and malicious, that we may with reverence and love, wonder at the mercy of God in our delivery: But this is our comfort, first, that Spirit (as we have shown) can do nothing without the God of Spirits. Secondly, we have the Angel's aid, as the Prophet Elisha against that bloody King, 2 King. 6. 17. Lot against the Sodomites, Gen. 19 10. Jacob against the fear of Esau, Gen. 32. ver. 24. 28. Hezekiah against Senacherib, Isa. 37. 36. and England against that invincible Navy of the Spaniards in Eighty eight. True, they appear not ordinarily, what then? no more do the evil Angels, but the Word of God assures us it is so, the Angel of the Lord pitcheth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them, Psal. 34. 7. And do but thou get spiritual eyes, whereby thou may'st see, as with Moses, the invisible God, so the invisible Angels: do but pray as Elisha for his servant, that thine eyes may be opened, and then thou shalt see more with thee, than against thee 2 King. 6. 16. 17.  
Yea, had wicked men their eyes opened, as Ba●…aam once had, they would at every torn see an Angel stand in their way, ready to resist what they go about, as he did: for this is one of the noble employments of those▪ glorious spi●…its, to give a strong, though invisible opposition to lewd enterprises: Many a treacherous act have they hindered, without the knowledge of the Traitor. Yea, O! God, many are the dangers which we see, and fear; innumerable, those we neither see nor fear, Therefore to take away all attribution to our selus, even when we know not thou dost deliver us.  
Now if it be fearful to think how great things evil spirits can do with permission; it is comfortable to think how they can do nothing without permission: for if God must give him leave, he will never give him leave to do any harm to his chosen, be will never give him leave to do the least hurt to our souls. Now as by way of concession, every greater includes the less, he that can lift a Talon, can easily lift a Pound; so by way of denial, every greater excludes the less. If Satan himself cannot hurt ●…s, much less his instruments, weak men: but for proof of this, see also an instance or two: that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our heavenly Father; and that without leave from him, our enemies cannot diminish one hair of our heads; we have our Saviour's express testimony, Matth. 10. 29. 30. Let the Powder-Traytors plot and contrive the ●…uine of our state never so cunningly and closey, let them go on to the utmost, (as there wanted nothing but an actor to bring on that Catholic doomsday) yet before the match could be brought to the Powder, their artificial fireworks were discovered, their projection, prodition, deperdition, all disclosed, and seasonably returned on their own heads: And the like of their invincible Navy. And of Pope Alexander the sixth, who prepared a feast for divers Cardinals and Senators, purposing to poison them: but by the providence of God, they escaped; and he alone was poisoned. Let Jezabel fret her heart out, and swear by her gods, that Eliah shall die, yet she shall be frustrate; Eliah shall be safe. Let the red Dragon spout forth floods of venom against the Church, the Church shall have wings given her to fly away, she shall be delivered, Rev. 12. Let the Scribes and Pharisces, with their many false witnesses accuse Christ never so, yet in spite of malice, innocency shall find abbottors: and rather than he shall want witnesses, the mouth of Pi●…ate shall be opened to his justification. Yea, let Jo●…as through frailty run away from the execution and embassage of God's charge, and thereupon be cast into the Sea, though the waves require him of the Ship, and the Fish require him of the waves, yet the Lord will require him of the Fish: even the Sea, and the Fish, had as great a charge for the Prophet, as the Prophet had a charge for Niniveh: for this is a sure rule, if in case God gives any of the creatures leave to afflict us, yet he will be sure to lay no more upon us than we are able, or he will make ●…s able to bear: yea, than shall make for our good, and his glory. He hath a provident care over all the Creatures, even Beasts and Plants: and certainly we are more precious than Fowls and Flowers; yet the Lord cares for them. Will the Householder take care to water the herbs of his Garden, or to fodder his cattle, and suffer his Men and Maids to famish through hunger and thirst? Or will he provide for his Men and Maids, and let his own children starve? Surely, if a man provide not for his own, He hath denied the faith, and is worse than an Infidel: 1 Tim. 5. 8. Far be it then from the great Householder, and Judge of allthe earth, not to provide for his dear Children and Servants, what shall be most necessary for them: indeed we may fear our own flesh, as Saint Paul did; but God is faithful, and will not suffer us to be tempted above our strength, but will even give the issue with the temptation, and in the mean time support us with his grace, 2 Cor. 12. 9 You have an excellent place to this purpose, Jer. 15. 20, 21.   

Section. 2.  
Objection. But we see by experience, that God gives wicked men power often times to take away the very lives of the godly.  
Answ. What then? If we lose the lives of our bodies, it is, that we may save the lives of our souls; and attain the greater degree of glory, Luk. 9 24. and so we are made gainers even by that loss. Now if God takes away temporal, and gives eternal life for it, there is no hurt done us: he that promiseth ten pieces of silver, and giveth ten pieces of gold, breaks no promise. Peace be unto this house, was the Apostles salutation, but it was not meant of an outward peace with men of the world: and Christ faith, you shall have rest, Matth. 11. 28. but it is rest unto your souls. Again, thou hast merited a threefold death: if thou be'st freed from the two worse, spiritual, and eternal; and God deal favourably with thee touching thy natural death, he is merciful: if not, thou must not think him unjust. Though the Devil and the world can hurt us, aswell as other men, in our outward and bodily estates: as the Devil had power over Job in his Ulcers, over his children in their death, over Mary Magdalen that was possessed, and over that daughter of Abraham's, Luk, 13. whom he kept bound 18. years, ver. 16. yet they can do us no hurt, nor endanger our souls; they shall lose nothing but their dross, as in Zachary 13. 9 Isa. 12. Let them sluice out our blood, our souls they cannot so much as strike; let wild beasts tear the body from the soul, yet neither body, nor soul are thereby severed from Christ. Yea, they can neither deprive us of our spiritual treasure here, nor eternal hereafter; which makes our Saviour say, Fear ye not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Helt, Matth. 10. 28. The body is but the Bark, Cabinet, Case, or Instrument, of the soul; and say it falls in pieces, there is but a pitcher broken; the soul a glorious Ruby, held more fit to be set in the crown of glory, than here to be trodden under foot by dirty swine; and therefore so soon as separated, the Angels convey her hence to the place of everlasting bliss. Alas, what can they do? they cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, Rome, 8. 38. 39 Yea, they are so far from doing us harm, as that chose we are much the better for them; In all these these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us: ver. 37. Whatsoever then becomes of goods, or lives, happy are we so long as (like wise Soldiers) we guard the vital parts, while the soul is kept sound from impatience, from distrust, etc. Our enemy may afflict us, he cannot hurt us.  
Objection. Nevertheless, that which I suffer, is exceeding grievous.  
Answer. Not so grievous as it might have been, for he that hath afflicted thee for a time, could have held thee longer; he that toucheth thee in part, could have stricken thee in whole; he that laid this upon thy body, hath power to lay a greater Rod both upon thy body and soul. Again, there is no chastisement not grievous; the bone that was dis-jointed, cannot be set right without pain; no potion can cure us, if it work not; and it works not, except it make us sick: Nay, my very disease is not so painful for the time, as my remedy: how doth it turn the stomach, and wring the in trails, and work a worse distemper than that whereof I formerly complained? neither could it be so wholesome, if it were less unpleasing, neither could it make me whole, if it did not first make me sick. But we are contented with that sickness which is the way to health. There is a vexation without hurt, such is this: we are afflicted; not overpressed: needy; not desperate: persecuted, not forsaken: ca●…t down, but perish not, how should we? when all the evil in a City, comes from the providence of a good God, which can neither be impotent, nor unme cifull? It is the Lord, let him do what he will. Woe worth us! if evils could come by chance, or were let loose to light where they l●…st; now they are overruled, we are safe. In the name of God then, let not the tall stature of the Anakims, nor the combination of the Edomites, nor the politic counsels of all the Achitopels and Machivillians, nor the proud looks not the big words of all the Amaziahs, combining themselves together, deter or dismay you. Let not the over-topping growth of the sons of Zerviah seem too hard for you; for God is infinitely more strong and mighty to save us, than all our enemies are todestroy us: and he hath his Oar in their Boat, he hath a special stroke in all actions whatsoever, and can easily overreach, and make stark fools of the wisest; by making their own counsels and endeavours like Hushai's, to overthrow those intentions which they seem to support.  
As touching the continuance of afflictions, God so ordereth and tempereth the same, in his merciful wisdom; that either they be tolerable, or short; either our sorrows shall not be violent, or they shall not last; if they be not light, they shall not be long: grievous and sore trials last but for a season, Pet. 1. 6. A little while, Joh. 16. 16. Yea, but a moment, 2 Cor. 4. 17. He endureth but a while in his anger, (saith the Psalmist) but in his favour is life; weeping may abide for a night, but joy cometh in the morning, Psal. 30. 5. And this had he good experience of; for if we mark it, all those Psalms whose first lines contain sighs and broken complaints, do end with delight and contentment; he began them in fear, but they end in joy: you shall see terrible anguish fitting in the door, irremediable sorrow looking in at the window, despair bordering in the margin, and offering to creep into the text; yet after a sharp conflict, nothing appears but joy and comfort. God loves to send relief, when we least look for it; as Elisha sent to the King of Israel, when he was rending his clothes, 2 Kings 5. 8. Hear what the Lord thy Redeemer saith by Isaiah, For a moment in mine anger, I hid my face from thee for a a little season, but with everlasting mercy have I had compassion on thee: Isa. 54. 8. It is but a little, for a moment that his anger lasts, his mercy is everlasting: and I hid my face, never turned my heart from thee: joseph when he lay down to sleep, was full of care about his Wives being with child; Matt. 1. 20. but he awakened well satisfied: ver. 24, To day a measure of fine flower, is lower rated in Samaria, than yesterday of dung. Although Christ's Star left the wisemen for a time, yet instantly it appeared again, and forsook them not till they had found Christ; which was the mark they aimed at, Matt. 2. 9 Afflictions are like running waters, which make many grounds fruitful, but tarry with none of them. Yea, it is a rule in nature, that violent things cannot last long: The Philosophers could observe, that no motion violent is wont to be permanent; and Seneca concludes, That if the sickness be tedious and lasting, the pai●… is tolerable; but if violent, short: and so of spiritual temptations, the which were so vehement upon Luther, that the very venom of them drank up his spirits; and his body seemed dead; so that neither speech, sense, blood, or heat, appeared in him; but this sharp fit lasted but for one day: so if we suffer much, it shall not be long; if we suffer long, it shall not be much. Some misery is like a Consumption, gentle, but of long continuance; other like a Fever, violent, but soon over. If our sorrows be long, they are the lighter; if sharper, the shorter. The sharp North-East wind (saith the Astronomer) never lasteth three days, and thunder, the more violent the less permanent. Wherefore cheer up thou drooping soul, if the Sun of comfort ●…ee for the present clouded; it will ere long shine forth bright again: if now with the Moon thou art in the wane, stay but a little, thou shalt as much increase; for as days succeed nights, Summer, Winter; and rest travel; so undoubtedly, joy shall succeed, and exceed, thy sorrow. Thy grief shall dissolve, or be dissolved; yea, it is in some measure dissolved by hope for the present. The Portugals w●…ll rejoice in soul weather why? because they know, fair will follow; and so may the believer, in his greatest exigents; because God will shortly tread Satan under our feet, Rom. 16. 20. Here also the distressed soul may raise comfort to himself out of former experience; who is he that hath not been delivered out of some miserable exigent? which if thou hast, thou mayst well say unto God with the Psalmist, Thou hast showed me great troubles and adversities, but thou will return and revive me, and wilt come again, and take me up from the depth of the earth, and comfort me Psal. 71. 20. 21. For God's former actions are patterns of his future; he teacheth you what he will do, by what he hath done: and nothing more raiseth up the heart in present affia●…ce, than the recognition of favours, or wonders passed: he that hath found God present in one extremity, may trust him in the next: every sensible favour of the Almighty, invites both his gifts and our trust.  
Objection. But thou will say with the Psalmist, thine e●…emies have long prevailed against thee, and God seemeth altogether to ●…de his face, and to have clean forgotten thee: and so thou fearest he will for ever, Psal. 13. 1, 2.  
Answer. It is but so in thy apprehension, as it was with him; God's deliverance may over-stay thy expectation, it cannot, the due period of his own counsels: for know first, that God's works are not to be judged of, until the fifth act. The case deplorable and desperate in outward appearance, may with one smile from heaven find a blessed issue: Dotham is besieged, and the Prophet's servant distressed, they are in a grievous case (as they think); yet a very apparition in the clouds shall secure them: not a squadron shall be raised, and yet the enemy is surprised: 2 Kings 6. here was no slackness. The Midianites invade Israel, and are suddenly confounded by a dream, Judg. 7. Mistress Honywood, that Religious Gentlewoman, famous for her virtues, after she had been distressed in her mind thirty years, without feeling the least comfort, not being able to hold out any longer, (as a wounded spirit who can bear)? flung a Venice-glass against the ground, and said to a grave Divine that sought to comfort her, I am as sure to be damned, as this glass is to be broken; but what followed? the glass was not broken, but rebounded and stood upright: at the sight whereof, she was so confirmed, that ever after to her dying day, she lived most comfortably: much like that of Apelles, who striving to paint a drop of foam falling from a Horse mouth, after long study how to express it, even despairing, flung away his Pencil, and that throw did it. How opportunely doth God provide succours to our distresses? It is his glory to help at a pinch, to begin where we have given over; that our relief might be so much the more welcome, by how much it is less looked for: superfluous aid can neither be heartily desired, nor earnestly looked for, nor thankfully received from the hands of mercy. Besides our infirmity best sets off the glory of his strength, 2 Cor. 12. 9 Spiritual consolations are commonly late and sudden; long before they come, and speedy when they do come, even preventing expectation: and our last conflicts have wont ever to be the forest, as when after some dripping rain, it pours down most vehemently, we think the weather is changing. When he means to ease us of our burden, he seems to lay on heavier; wherefore trust in God killing, and l●…ve God chiding, it is a good sign of our recovery.   

Section 3.  
Again, in the next place thou must know, that man's extremity is God's opportunity; well may he forbear, so long as we have have any thing else to rely upon: but we are sure to find him in our greatest exigents, who loves to give comfort to those that are forsaken of their hopes, as abundance of examples witness. When had the Children of Israel the greatest victories, but when they feared most to be overcome? 2 King. 19 35. Exod. 14. ver. 28, 29. When was Hagar comforted of the Angel, but when her child was near fanished, and she had east it under a Tree for dead? Gen. 21. 15. to 20. When was Eliah comforted and relieved by an Angel, with a Cake baked on the coals, and a Cruise of Water, but when he was utterly forsaken of his hopes? 1 Kings 19 4. to 7. When was the Sareptan relieved? it was high time for the Prophet to visit her: poor soul she was now making her last meal: after one mean morsel, she was yielding herself over to death. As long as Egypt's flower lasted, Manna was not reigned. When did God answer the hopes of Sarah, Rebeccah, Rachel, the wife of Manoah, and Elisabeth, touching their long and much desired issues? but when they were barren, and past hope of children, by reason of age, Gen. 18. Judges 13, Luke 1. 6. 7. When did our Saviour heal the woman of her bloody issue? but after the Physicians had given her over, and she becoming much worse, had given them over, when she had spent all she had upon them: for to mend the matter, poverty, which is another disease was superadded, to make her completely miserable. When man's help fails, than Gods begins. When did Moses find succour, but when his Mother could no longer hide him, and he was put into the River among the Bulrushes? she would have given all she was worth to save him, and now she hath wages to nurse him: she doth but change the name of mother into nurse, and she hath her son without fear, not without great reward. When Israel was in so hard a strait, as either to be drowned in the Sea, or slain by the Sword; how miraculously did God provide an evasion by dividing the waters? When Rochel, like Samaria, had a strong enemy without, and a sore famine within; how miraculously did God provide an evasion, by making the tide their Purveyor, to bring them in an Ocean of Shellfish? the like of which was never known before, nor since. We read how Merline, during the Massacre at Paris, was for a fortnight together, nourished with one egg a day, laid by a hen, that came constantly to a hay-mow, where he lay hid in that danger, When the English had lest Cales, and the Spainard was again repossessed of it; by some neglect or oversight, there was an English man left behind: but how did God provide for his escape? it's worth the remembering, he was no sooner crept into a hole under a pair of stairs, but instantly a Spider weaus a web over the hole, and this diverted them; for when one of them said, here is surely some of them hid, another replies, What a fool art thou, dost thou not see, it's covered with a firm cobweb: and so past him, that in the night he escaped. O! Saviour, our extremities are the seasons of thy aid: even when Faux was giving sire to the match, that should have given fire to the Powder, which should have blown up Men and Monuments, even the whole State together; thou that never sleepest didst prevent him, and disclose the whole design: yea, thou didst turn our intended Funeral into a Festival. And why doth the goodness of our God pick out the most needful times for our relief and comfort? but because our extremities drive us to him that is omnipotent; there is no fear, no danger, but in our own insensibleness: but because when we are forsaken of all succours and hopes; we are fittest for his redress, and never are we nearer to help: than when we despair of help; but because our extremities give him the most glory, and our comfort is the greater, when the deliverance is seen before it is expected. His wisdom knows when aid will be most seasonable, most welcome: which he then loves to give, when he finds us left of all other props. That merciful hand is reserved for a dead list, and then he falls us not; as when Abraham had given Isaac, and Isaac had given himself for dead; then God interposeth himself; When the knife is falling upon his throat, then, then comes the deliverance by an Angel, calling, forbidding, commending him. When things are desperate, then look most for God's help; for than is the time, Psal. 119. 126. Isa. 33. 9 10.  
And indeed, our faith is most commendable in the last act; it is no praise to hold out until we be hard driven, but when we are forsaken of means, then to live by faith in our God, is thought worthy of a Crown. O! wretched Saul, hadst thou held out never so little longer without offering, and without distrust, Samuel had come, and thou hadst kept the favour of God, whereas now for thy unbelief, thou art cast off for ever, 1 Sam. 13. 10. to 15. To shut up all in a word, were thy soul in such a strait, as Israel was between the Red Sea and the Egyptians; the spirits of vengeance, (like those enemies) pursuing thee behindo; Hell and death (like that Read Sea) ready to ingulf thee before; yet would I speak to thee in the confidence of Moses, Exod. 14. ver. 13. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Thy Word O! God, made all, thy Word shall repair all: hence all ye diffident fears, he whom I trust is omnipotent  
Again Secondly, thou must know that God in his wisdom hath set down a certain period of time, within which he will exercise his children more or less; and at the end whereof, and not before, he will relleve and comfort them again. As we may perceive by Eccles. 3. 1. Act. 7. 25. Exod. 12. 41. Gen. 15. 13. Dan. 12. 1. 4. 11. Jer. 25. 11. Gen. 6. 3. Four hundred years he appointed to Abraham and his seed, that they should be Sojourners in a strange land, where they should be kept in bondage, and evil entreated, Gen. 15. At the end of which time, even the self same day, they returned from the land of Egypt: that was the precise time appointed, and the selfsame day it was accomplished: and till than Moses undertook it in vain. Why were they so long kept from it? the land was their own before, they were the right heirs to it, lineally descended from him who was the first possessor of it after the flood: God will do all in due time, that is, in his time, not in ours; if at any time the Lord deliver us, it is more than he owes us. Let him (saith Saint Augustine) choose his own opportunity, that so freely grants the mercy. Again, he appointed that the Jews should serve the King of Babylon seventy years; not a day, not an hour to be abated, Jer 25. 11. but at the end thereof, even that very night, Dan. 9 it was accomplished; neither did Daniel, (who knew the determinate time) once pray for deliverance, till just upon the expiration. Thirty eight years he appointed the sick man at Bethesda's Pool, Joh. 5. 5. Eighteen years to that daughter of Abraham, whom Christ loosed from her disease, Luk. 13. 16. Twelve years to the woman with the bloody issue, Matth. 9 20. Three months to Moses, Exod. 2. 2. Ten days tribulation to the Angel of the Church of Smy●…na, Apocal. 2. 10. Three days plague to David, 2 Sam. 24. 13. Each of these groaned for a time, under the like burden as thou dost; But when their time which God had appointed, was come, they were delivered from all their miseries, troubles, and calamities; and so likewise ere long, if thou wilt patiently tarry the Lord's leisure, thou shalt also be delivered from thy affliction and sorrow, either in the Morning of thy trouble, with David, Psal. 30. 5. or at the Noon of thy life, with Job, Chap. 42. 10 to 17. or toward the Evening, with Mr Glover, that holy Martyr, who could have no comfortable feeling, till he came to the sight of the stake: but then he cried out and clapped his hands for joy to his friend, saying, O! Austin, he is come, he is come, meaning the feeling joy of faith, and the Holy Ghost: Acts and monuments, Fol. 1555. Or at night with Lazarus, at one hour or another thou art sure to be delivered, as time will determine. Many were the troubles of Abraham, but the Lord delivered him out of all. Many were the troubles of David, but the Lord delivered him out of all. Many were the troubles of Joseph, but the Lord delivered him out of all. Many were the troubles of Job, but the Lord delivered him out of all: therefore he can and will deliver thee out of all. But if he do not, (saith Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) yet we will not do evil to escape danger; because Christ hath suffered more for us: therefore if I perish, I perish, saith Hester. Be our troubles many in number, strange in nature, heavy in measure, much in ●…urthen, and long in continuance; yet God's mercies are more numerous, his wisdom more wondrous, his power more miraculous; he will deliver us out of all: Many are the troubles of the righteous. Yea, he riseth higher, and calls them millions, for so the words may be rendered; but the Lord delivereth them out of all: Psal. 34. 19 How many? or how great soever they be? or how long soever they continue? yet an end they shall all have: For the Lord either taketh troubles from them, or takes them from troubles, by receiving them into his heavenly rest; where they shall acknowledge, that God hath rewarded them as far beyond their expectation, as he had formerly punished them less than they did deserve.  
Objection. Oh! but my condition is so desperate, and irrecoverable, that it's impossible I should ever get out of it.  
Answ. There is no impossibility (saith Ambrose) where God is pleased to give a dispensation: But bethink thyself, is it worse with thee than it was with those beforementioned? and yet they were delivered; Or is thy case worse than that of Ionas in the Sea, yea, in the Whale's belly? and yet he was delivered: Worse than Nebuchadnezars grazing in the Forest among beasts, even until his hairs were grown to be like Eagles feathers, ●…nd his nails like birds claws? Dan. 4. 31. to 36. and yet he again reigned in Babel. Worse than joseph's? when he was thrown into a Pit, and left hopeless; or when sold to the Ishmaelitish Merchants, and then cast into prison? yet after all this, his said brethren were fain to become petitioners to him: Worse than Job when he sat scraping his soars on the dunghill, had all his houses burnt, all his cattle stolen, and his children slain? yet he was far richer afterwards, than before.  
How rashly then hast thou judged of thy Maker's dealing with thee? It were more agreeable to reason and religion, to conclude the contrary; for both experience, and reason teacheth, that violent pressures, like violent motions, are weakest at the furthest. When the morning is darkest, then comes day: yea, usually after the lowest ebb, follows the highest ●…ingtyde: And religion teaches, that if we love God, all things, even the worst of afflictions shall so concur, and cooperate to our good, that we would not have wanted them for any good. Wherefore hold but fast to God, and my soul sor thine, neither affliction, nor ought else shall hurt thee. You know, while Adam was at peace with God, all things were at peace with Adam.  
Now this doctrine well digested will breed good blood in our souls, and is especially useful to bond our desires of release; for though we may be importunate, impatient we may not be; stay he never so long, patience must not be an inch shorter than affliction: If the bridge reach but half way over the brook, we shall have but an ill favoured passage. We are taught in Scripture to praise patience, as we do a fair day at night; He that endureth to the end shall be saved Matth. 24 13. Whereas coming but a foot short, may make us miss the prize, and lose the wager we runsor: and then as good never have set foot out of doors. Much the better for that light which will not bring us to bed! perseverance is a kind of all in all, continuance is the Crown of all other graces; and heaven shall be the Crown of continuance.  
But not ●…ldom doth the Lord only release his children out of extreme adversity here, but withal makes their latter end so much the more prosperous, by how much the more their former time hath been miserable and adverse. We have experience in Job, You have heard, saith Saint James of the patience of Job, and what end the Lord made with him. What end is that? the holy Ghost tells you▪ That the Lo●…d blessed his latter end, more th●…n his beginning; and gave him twice as much as he had before: for whereas at first he had 7000 Sheep, 3000 Camels, 500 yoke of ●…xen, and 5●…0: she Asses: after his reparation he had 14000 Sheep, 6000 Camels, 1000 yoke of Oxen and 1000 she Asses, every one double: and whereas the number of his children remained the same they were before▪ namely seven Sons, and three Daughters, the number of them were also doubled▪ as the learned observ: for whereas his Beasts, according to the condition of Beasts utterly perished; the souls of his Children were saved: so that he had twice so many children also, whereof ten were wit●… him on earth, and the other ten with God in heaven. Job 42. 10, to 14. And in Joseph, who was bred up in the school of affliction from his infancy; yet when his turn was come, one hour changes his setters of Iron into chains of Gold; his rags into Robes, his stocks into a Chariot, his prison into a Palace, the noise of his Gyves into a brooch; and whereas he was thirty years kept under, he ruled in the height and lustre of all honour and glory the space of eighty years. And one minute made in Lazarus a far greater chang●…, and preferment. And in David, who for a long time was in such fear of Saul, that he was forced to fly for his life, first to Samuel, where Saul pursued him; then to jonathan, where his grief is doubled, then to Ahimele●…k, where is Doeg to betray him; after that he flieth to Achish, King of Gath; where being discovered, he is in greatest fear of all, lest the King should take away his life; and lastly, when he returns to his own Ziklag, he finds it smitten, and burnt with fire, and his wife's take●… prisoners▪ and in the midst of all his grief, when he had wept until he could weep no more; the people being vexed, intent to stone him; so that, as he had long before complained, there was but a s●…ep between him and death; but mark the issue, though his heart were now not only brimful, but ran over with grief: yet within two days the Cr●…n of Israel is brought unto him, and he is anointed King, 2 Sam. 1. and for the present he was able to comfort himself in the Lord his God, 1 Sam. 30. 6. Yea, after th●…s, when by that foul sin of Adultery and Murder, he had brought more enemies about his ea●…s, (God, and men, and Devils) having once repent his fault, he was able to say with confidence, O God thou hast showed me great troubles and adversities, but thou wilt take me up from the depth of the earth, and increase my honour, Psal. 71. 20, 21. He kn●…w well enough that it is Gods use to bring comfort out of sorrow, as he brought water out of the rock, and that cherishing was wont to follow stripes: And indeed, how oft hath a Tragic entrance had a happy end? Like that we read of Michael, who was condemned to death by the Emperor Leo, upon a false accusation; but before the execution, the Emperor died, and Michael was chosen in his stead. And of Mordecay, who being in the forenoon appointed to the Gibbet, was in the afternoon advanced next of all to the throne, And Queen Elisabeth of blessed memory, who reigned at the same time that she expected to suffer, and was Crowned, when she looked to be beheaded. God loves to do by his children, as joseph did by his Father; first, we must have our beloved joseph a long time derained from us, than he robs us of Simeon; after that, sends for our best beloved Benjamin, and makes us believe he will rob us of all our children at once, all the things that are dear to us: But why is it? even that when we think to have lost all, he might return himself, and all again with the greater interest of joy and felicity. The Lord, saith Hanna, killeth and maketh alive; first, killeth, and then maketh alive; bringeth down to the grave, and raiseth up: The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich; bringeth low, and exalteth; he raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the Dunghill; to set them among Princes, and to make them inherit the seat of glory: 1 Sam. 2. 6, 7, 8. And why all this? but that in his own might, no man might be strong. ver. 9 That which Plutaroh reports of Dionysius, (how he took away from one of his Nobles, almost his whole estate, and seeing him nevertheless continue as jocund and well contented as ever, he gave him that again, and as much more) is a common thing with the Lord: and thousands can witness, that though they went weeping under the burden, when they first carried the precious s●…ed of repentance; yet they still returned with joy, and brought their sheaves with them, Psal. 〈◊〉. 26. 5. 6.  
Objection. But thou thinkest thou shalt not hold out, if God should long delay thee.  
Answer. If he delay thee never so long, he will be sure to support thee 〈◊〉 long, 1 Cor. 10. 13. which is much at one upon the matter. If he suffer thee to be sorely tempted, he will not suffer thee to be tempted above thy strength: 2 Cor. 4. 8, 9, 16. His grace shall be sufficient for thee at the least, 2 Cor. 12. 6. Phil. 1. 29. which was Paul's answer, and it may suffice all suitors; the measure of our patience shall be proportionable to our ●…ings, and our strength equalled to our temptations, 1 Cor. 1●…. ver. 13. Now if God do either take away our 〈◊〉, or give us 〈◊〉, it is enough.  
True, a Ship of never so great a burden, may be over-laden till it sink again; or if we shall wear away all the steel with whetting; the Tool is left unprofitable. But my thoughts (saith God) are not as your thoughts, nor my ways as your ways, Isa. 55. 8. God is n●… Tyrant to afflict th●…e unmeasurably, neither will he draw a sword to kill flie●…; or call for Scorpions, when a rod is too much. He that made the vessel, knows her burden, and how to ballast her; yea, he that made all things, very good, cannot b●…t do a●…l things very well. Indeed, God seemeth to w●…astle with us, as he did with jacob; but be supplies us with hidden strength at length to get the better: And grace to stand i●… affliction, and to gain by it, is better than freedom or deliverance. The Bush which was a Type of the Church, consumed not all the while it burned with fire; because God was in the midst of it. The Ship at Anchor is shrewdly tossed to and fro, but cannot be carried away, either by waves, wind, or weather: Sin, Satan, and the world may disturbus, but they can never destroy us: Our head Christ being above, we cannot be drowned. There can be no dis●…nction, unless we could be plucked from his arms, that is Almighty; for our life is hid with Christ in God, Colos. 3. 3. He doth not trust us with our own souls life, but▪ hides it in his Son Jesus: because if it were in our own hands, we should easily be tempted to sell it, as Adam did for an Apple, and Esau for 〈◊〉 mess of Pottage: Whereas now we are safe, for to pluck us out of his hands that is Almighty, requires an adversary stronger than himself. Neither wants he ca●…e; he that numbers our very hairs, what account doth he make of our souls? Nor love, for if he hath bought us with his blood, and given us himself, will he deny us any thing that is good for us?  
Wherefore silence your reason, and exalt your saith, (how pressing, or piercing so ever you●… sufferings be) which pulls off the vizard from his face, and sees a loving heart, under contrary appearances. Trust the mercy of God, which is of infinite perfection; and the merits of Christ, which are of perfect satisfaction: and then hope will bear up thy heavy heart, as bladders do an unskilful swimmer: Otherwise, if thou shalt walk by sense, and not by faith, 2 Cor. 5. 7. fear will no less multiply evils, th●…n saith would diminish them: and thou shalt resemble 〈◊〉, who was not afraid of his burden, the shadow only frighted him.   

Section 4.  
Objection. Although Christ in the Gospel hath made many large and precious promises, yet there are none so general which are not limited with the condition of faith, and the 〈◊〉 thereof, ●…ained Repentance: and each of them are so tied▪ and enrayled, that none can lay claim to them but true believers which 〈◊〉, and turn from all their sins to serve him in holines●…, without whi●… 〈◊〉 man shall see the Lord: Heb. 12. 14. Isa. 59 20. But I want there 〈◊〉 without which, how 〈◊〉 I expect supportation in my su●…erings; or an happy deliverance o●…t of them? however it fares with believers, whom Christ hath undertaken for: yea, I have such a wicked heart, and my sins are so many, and great; that these comforts nothing concern me: for they that pl●…w iniquity, and sow wickedness, shall ●…eap the same, Joh. 4. 8.  
Answer. So our 〈◊〉 be not wilful, though they be many and great; yet they cannot hinder our interest in the promises of God.  
Admit thou art a great sinner, what then? art thou a greater sinner than Matthew, or Z●…cheus, who wer●… sinful 〈◊〉; and got their livings by pilling, and polling, oppression, and 〈◊〉? than Marry Magdulen, a common strumpet; possessed of many Devils? than Paul, a bloody pers●…cutor of Christ and his Church? than the Thief upon the Cross, who had spent his whole life to the last hour in abominable wickedness? than Manasses, that out-rageous sinner, and most wicked wretch that ever was▪ an Idolater, a malicious Perseculo●… of the truth, a d●…filer of God's holy Temple, a sacrficer of his own chil●…ren unto Idols, that is, Devils; a notable wi●…ch, and wicked sorcerer; a bloody murderer of exceeding many of the dear Saints, and true Prophets of the Lord; and one who did not run headlong alone into all hellish impiety, but led the people also out of the way to do more wickedly than did the Heathen, whom the Lord ca●… out and destroyed? I am sure thou wilt not say thou art more wicked, th●… he was; and yet this Manasses, this wretch, more like a Devil 〈◊〉, than a Saint of God, repented him of his sins from the bottom of his heart, was received, (I cannot speak it without ravishing wonder of God's bottomless and never sufficiently admired mercy) was received, I say to grace, and obtained the pardon of all his horrible sins, and most abo●…nable wickedne●… And are not these; and many the like examples, written for our learning; and recorded by the holy ghost, to the end that we may gather unto our selus assurance of the same pardon, for the same sins, upon the same repentance, and believing.  
Are thy sins great? his mercies are infinite; hadst thou committed all the sins that ever were committed, yet in comparison of God's mercy, they are less than a more in the Sun to all the world, or a drop of water to the whole Ocean: for the Sea though great, yet may be measured; but God's mercy cannot be circumscribed: and he both can and will, 〈◊〉 easily forgive us the debt of ten thousand millions of pounds, as one penny; and assoon pardon the sins of a wicked Manasses, a●… of a righteous▪ Abraham, if we come unto him by unfeigned repentance, and earnestly desire and implore his grace and mercy, Rom. 5. 20.  
The Tenure of our salvation is not by a covenant of works, but by a covenant of grace; founded not on our worthines●…s, but on the free mercy ●…d good pleasure of God; and therefore the Prophet well annexeth blessedness to the remission of sins; Blessed is be whose transgression is forgiven, Psal. 32. 1.  
Yea, the more miserable, wretched, and sinful we are, the more fit objects we are, whereupon he may exercise, and show the infinite riches of his bounty, mercy, virtue, and all-sufficiency. And this our spiritual Physician can aswell, and easily cure desperate diseases, even the remediless Consumption, the dead Apoplex, and the filthy: L●…prosie of the soul, as the smallest malady, or least faintness. Yea, he can aswell raise the dead, as cure the sick, and aswell of Stones as of Jews, make Abraham's: children. Did he not without the Sun at the Creation, cause light to shine forth; and without rain, at the same time, make the earth fruitful? why then should you give yourself over, where your Physician doth not? Besides: what sin is there whereof we can despair o●…●…e remission, when we hear our Saviour pray for the forgiveness of his m●…rtherers, and blasphemers? And indeed, despair is a sin which never knew Jesus.  
It was a sweet saying of one at his death, When mine iniquity is greater than thy mercy O God, then will I fear and despair; but that can never be: considering our sins be the sins of men, his mercy the mercy of an infinite God. Yea, his mercies are so great, that among the thirteen properties of God mentioned Exod. 34. almost all of them appertain to his mercy, whereas one only concerns his might, and only two, his justice. Again, shall it ever enter into our hearts, to think that God gives us rules to keep, and yet break them himsef? Now his rule is this, Though thy brother sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, it repenteth me; thou shalt forgive him. The son angers his father, he doth not strait disinherit him, but Gods love to his people, exceeds a father's love to his son, Matth. 7. 11. and a mothers too, Isa. 49. 1●….  
I hear many menaces and threats for sin, but I read as many promises of mercy, and all they indefinite, excluding none whose impenitency and infidelity excludeth not themselves: every sin deservs damnation, but no sin shall condemn, but the lying and continuing in it.  
Wherefore if our clamorous conscience, like some sharp fanged officer, arrests us at God's suit, let us put in bail, two subsidue virtues, Faith, and Repentance; and so stand the trial: the Law is on our side, the Law of gr●…ce is with us, and this Law is his that is our Advocate; and he is our Advocate, that is our Judge; and he is our Judge, that is our Saviour; even the head of our selus, Jesus Christ.  
For the first of these; do but repent, and God will pardon thee, he thy sins never so many, and innumerable for multitude, never so heinous for quality and magnitude, Isa. 55. 7. Ezek. 18. & 33. 17. Yea, sins upon Repentance are so re●…itred, as if they had never been committed: I have put away thy transgressions as a cloud, and thy sins as a mist; Isa. 44. 22. and what by corruption hath been done, by repentance is undone, as the former examples, and many other, witness. Come and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, Isa. 1. 18. yea whiter; for the Prophet David laying open his bloodguiltiness, and his original impurity, useth these words: Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than Snow, Psal. 51. 7.  
And in reason; did he come to call sinners to repentance, and shall he not show mercy to the penitent? Or, who would nor cast his burden upon him, that doth desire to give ease? As I live, saith the Lord, I would not the death of a sinner, Ezek. 18. 32. and 33. 11.   

Section 5.  
Ojection. Yea, but I cannot Repent.  
Answer. In time of temptation, a man is not a competent Judge in his own case: In humane Laws, there is a nullity held of words and actions exto●…ted, and wrung from men by fear: because in such cases, a man is held not to be a freeman, 〈◊〉 to have power or command in some sort, of himself. A troubled soul 〈◊〉 like troubled waters, we can discern nothing clearly in it; wherefore (if thou canst) lay aside prejudice, and tell me in cold blood, how it fares with thee at other times, though indeed thy words at present are enough to convince thee: For first, thou findest sin a burden too heavy for thee to bear, which thou didst not formerly; what's the reason? are thy sins more and greater? No, but the contrary: for though they appear more, yet they are less; for sin, the more it is seen and felt, the more it is hated; and thereupon is the less. Motes are in a room, before the Sun shines, but they appear only then.  
Again secondly, the very complaint of sin, springing from a displeasure against it, shows that there is something in thee opposite to sin: viz. that thou art penitent in affection, though not yet in action, even as a child is rational in power, though not in act. Yea more, thou accusest, and condemnest thyself for thy sins; and by accusing our selus, we prevent Satan; by judging our selus, we prevent God. Neither was the Centurion ever so worthy, as when he thought himself most unworthy: for all our worthiness is in a capable misery; nor does God ever think well of him, that thinks so of himself. But to let this pass.  
Are not your failings, your grief? are they not besides your will? are they not contrary to the current of your desires, and the main bend of your resolutions, and endeavours? Dost thou determine to continue in the practice of any one sin? Yea, dost thou not make conscience of all God's Commandments, one aswell as another; the first table, aswell as the second, and the second, aswell as the first, Matt. 5. 19 Dost thou not grieve for sins of all sorts, secret aswell as known, original, aswell as actual, of emission, aswell as commission, lesser, (viz thoughts) aswell as greater: ye●…▪ aswell for the evil which cleaus to thy best works, as for the evil works, Rom. 7. 21. and as heartily and unfaignedly desire that thou mayst never commit it, as that God should never impute it? 2 Tim. 〈◊〉. 19 Dost thou not fear to displease him, not so much because, he is just to punish, as for his mercy and goodness sake; and more fear the breach of the Law, than the curse? Dost thou not love rather to be, than seem or be thought good; and seek more the power of godliness, than the show of it? joh 1. 1. If so, well may Satan, and thine own conscience accuse thee of impenitency, and unbelief; but Christ thy judge never. Yea, then, notwithstanding your failings, you may say with David, I have kept thy Word, Psal. 18. 21. 22. 23. for though this be not such a measure of keeping as the Law requireth; yet it is such a keeping, as God in Christ accepteth: for suppose thy knowledge is still small, thy saith weak, thy charity cold, thy heart dull, and hard, thy good works few and imperfect, and all thy zealous resolutions easily hindered and quite overthrown with every small temptation: yet God that worketh in us both the will and the work, will accept the will for the work; and that which is wanting in us, Christ will supply with his own righteousness: He respecteth not what we can do, so much as what we would do; and that which we would perform, and cannot, he esteemeth it as though it were performed: whereas, take away the will, and all acts (in God's sight) are equal.  
As the wicked sin more than they sin, in their desire, so the righteous do more good than they do, in their will to do it. If there be a paratum cor, though there be not a perforatum cor; a proffer of blood, though no expense of blood for the honour of Christ, it is taken for Martyrdom, as Origen testified of one: Non ille Martyrio, sed Martyrium illi defuit. I know thy poverty, but thou art rich, saith the Spirit to the Church of Smyrna: poor in thy condition, rich in thy affection to goodness: Facultas secundum voluntatem, non voluntas secundum facultatem estimanda est; God esteems our charitable beneficence, not only secundum quod habemus, but secundùm quod tribuere velimus. We are charged to forsake all houses, lands, friends, liberties, lives, for Christ; yet many die with houses, lands, and riches, in their possession, whom Christ receives and Crowns in Heaven, because they did part with all secundùm animae preparationem: What we would have done, shall be reckoned to us, as done; we do it quoad conatum, though non quoad effectum? In like manner God taketh a heart desirous to repent and believe, for a penitent and believing heart; volens & dolens, The vehement desire of godly sorrow, or a sorrow because we cannot sorrow, goes for godly sorrow with God: so that to sigh and grieve for what we cannot do, is to come short, and yet to do it too: for God likes the will so well, that in his Son what we would do, is in acceptance done, 2 Cor. 8. 12. which textone brings in thus: O! what an unspeakable comfort was this cordial verse to my afflicted soul; And well it might: for if we hate our corruptions, and strive against them, they shall not be counted o●…. It is not I (saith Paul) but sin that dwelleth in me: Rom. 7. 20 for what displeaseth us, shall never hurt us; and we shall be esteemed of God, to be what we love, and desire, and labour to be.  
The comfort of this doctrine is intended, and belongs to troubled consciences, and those that would fain do better: but let no presumptuous sinners meddle with it; for what hast thou to do to take (I say not the children's bread to eat. Matth. 15. 26. but even) the least parcel of God's Word into thy mouth? seeing thou hatest to be reform, Psal. 50. 16. 17. But if thou be'st a weary and heavy laden sinner: thou mayst comfort thyself thus: I do hateful things, but I hate that I do; I break the Law, but yet I love the Law, as holy, just, and good: Flesh is in me, but I am not in the Flesh: I must not fix mine eyes only upon mine own resistance, or failings, but on God's assistance and acceptance in his Son, by which I shall be able to leap over all walls and impediments, Psal. 18. 29. The Law is given, that Grace may be required; Grace is given, that the Law may be fulfilled: by us, evangelically, for us, by Christ (whose righteousness is ours) perfectly, as Saint Augustin speaks. The Law is a glass to show us our spots, the Gospel a fountain to wash them away. Wherefore cast not both thine eyes upon thy sin, but reserve one, to behold the remedy: look upon the Law to keep thee from presumption, and upon the Gospel, to keep thee from despair.  
Canst thou not aggravate thine own sins, but thou must 〈◊〉, and call in question God's mercy, and Christ's all-sufficiency, spoil him of his power and glory? Though the grievousness of our sins should increase our repentance, yet they should not diminish our faith, and assurance of pardon, and forgiveness. As the plaster must not be less than the sore, so the tent must not be bigger than the wound. It was a sweet and even co●…rs which Saint Paul took, who when he would comfort himself against corruption, and evil actions, Rom. 〈◊〉. 20. then; not I, but sin dwelling in me: when he would humble himself, notwithstanding his graces, then; not I, but the grace of God in me, 1 Cor. 15. 10.   

Section 6.  
Objection. But I am not worthy the least mercy, I have so of●…en abused it, and so little profited by the means of grace.  
Answer. I think so too, for if thou refusest the offer of mercy until thou deservest it, woe be to thee: But if thou wilt take the right course; renounce the broken reed of thine own free will, which hath so often deceived thee; and put all thy trust in the grace of Christ: The way to be strong in the Lord, is to be weak in thy sells, be weak in thyself, and strong in the Lord, and through faith thou shalt be more than a Conqueror. Leave tugging and struggling with thy sin, and fall with Jacob to wrestle w●…th Christ for a blessing; and though thyself go limping away, yet shalt thou be a Prince with God, and be delivered from Esau's bondage. But thou stand●…st upon thine own feet, and therefore fallest so foully: thou wilt like a child, go alone, and of thyself, and therefore gettest so many knocks. And thou wouldst accept of a pardon too, if thou mightest pay for it: but God's mercies are free, and he bids thee come and buy without silver, and without price; or else he says, thou and thy money perish. Thou wouldst go the natural Way to work, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? but it is impossible to inherit it by any thing that we can do; for all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, Isa. 64. 6. Yea, if our doings could have done it, Christ died in vain; whereas, if Christ had not died, we had perished, every mother's child of us, 1 Cor. 15. 22. and 2 Cor. 5. 14, 15. Ephes. 2. 1. Colos. 2. 13. Ezek. 18. 4. Job. 11. 50. Rom. 5. 6. 8. and 14. 9 1 Cor. 15. 3. Matth. 18. 11.  
O fool? dost thou not know that our sins are his sins, and his righteousness, our righteousness: Jer. 23. 6. Psal. 4. 1. and that God esteems of Faith above all other graces, deeds, or acts of thine? as what did our Saviour answer, when the people asked him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? The work of God is, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent, Joh. 6. 28, 29. and yet thou talkest of thy worthiness, and thou takest this for humility too, but it is pride; for if thou wouldst deny thyself, and be nothing in thine own eyes, renounce thine own righteousness, and wholly and only rest on thy Saviour Jesus Christ for thy salvation; thou wouldst not hope the more in regard of thine own worthiness, nor yet doubt in respect of thine own unworthiness: But thou wouldst first be worthy, and deserve of God; and then accept of Christ, and deserve Christ at God's hands, by thy good works, and graces: which pride of thine, and opinion of merit, is a greater sin than all thy other sins which thou complainest of: and except you do abandon it, and wholly r●…ly upon the grace, and free mercy of God for salvation, Christ shall profit you nothing, Gal. 2. 16. and 5. 1. to 7. Colos. 3. 11. for nothing is available to salvation, but faith, which worketh by love, Gal. 5. 6. whence it is called righteousness through faith, ver. 5. Faith is the staff, whereupon we stay our selus, in life and death; by saith we are blessed, Gal. 3. 9 by faith we rejoice in tribulation, Rom. 5. 2. by faith we have access unto God, Ephes. 3. 12. by faith we overcome the world, 1 Joh. 5. 4. the flesh, Gal. 5. 24. and this is the shield whereby we quench the fiery darts of Satan, and resist his power, Ephes. 6. 16. Yea, whosoever seeks to be justified by the Law, they are abolished from Christ, and ●…aln from grace, Gal 5. 4. Stand fast therefore in the liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not tangled again with the yoke of bondage. And say, Lord we are not worthy to be servants, and thou makest us sons; nay, heirs, and coheirs with thee, of everlasting glory.  
Objection. I grant the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin: but he is just, aswell as merciful, and therefore he will not acquit the wicked Exod. 34. 6. 7. but reward them according to their works, Revel. 20. 12. 13. and 22. 12.  
Answer. He will therefore pardon all thy sins, (if thou unfeignedly. ●…pent and wholly rely upon Christ for thy salvation by a lively saith) because he is just: for as the Lord cannot in justice let sin go unpunished (for the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. Death in the person, if not in the surety; and therefore hath punished the sins of all men, either in his Son, or will throughly punish them in the parties themselves) so the same justice will not admit, that the same fins should be twice punished; once in our Saviour and again, in the faithful: or that a debt once paid, should be required the second time, 1 Joh. 1. 9 Now that Christ hath sufficiently satisfied for all the sins of the faithful, and paid our debt even to the utmost farthing, it is evident by many places of Scripture, as Isa. 53. 4. 5. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Heb. 9 26. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Rom. 3. 25. 26. 1 Joh. 1. 7. 9 and sundry others.  
Are we bound to perform perfect obedience to the Law? he performed it for us: were we for disobedience subject to the sentence of condemnation, the curse of the Law, and death of body and soul? he was condemned for us, and bore the curse of the law; he died in our stead an ignominious death; did we deserve the anger of God? he endured his father's wrathful displeasure, that so he might reconcile us to his father, and set us at liberty. He that deserved no sorrow felt much, that we who deserved much might feel none: and by his wounds we are healed, Isa. 53. 5. Adam eat the Apple, Christ paid the price. In a word, whatsoever we owed, Christ discharged; whatsoever we deserved, he suffered; if not in the self same punishments: (for he being God could not suffer the eternal torments of Hell) yet in proportion, the dignity of his person (being God and Man) giving value unto his temporary punishments, and making them of more value and worth, than if all the world should have suffered the eternal torments of Hell: for it is more for one that is eternal to die, than for others to die eternal. Therefore was the Son of God made the Son of man, that the Sons of men might be made the Sons of God; and therefore was he both God and man: lest being in every respect God, he had been too great to suffer for man; or being in every respect man, he had been too weak to satisfy God.  
Seeing therefore our Saviour Christ hath fully discharged our debt, and made full satisfaction to his Father's justice: God cannot in equity exact of us a second payment, no more than the Creditor may justly require that his debt should be twice paid; once by the Surety, and again, by the Principal.  
Again secondly, it is the Lords Covenant made with his Church, and committed to writing, Jer. 31. 34. Heb. 10. 16, 17. Psal. 32. 10 Isa. 55. 7. Ezek. 18. 21, 22, 23. and 33. 11. Mal. 3. 17. Confirmed and ratified by his seals, the Sacraments; together with his Oath, that there might be no place left for doubting: for, God willing more abundantly to show unto the Heirs of promise, the stableness of his counsel; bound himself by an oath, that by two immutable things, wherein it is impossible that God should lie, we might have strong consolation, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. 6. 17. 18.  
And ●…est the aff●…icted conscience should object, that he entered into covenant, and made these promises to the Prophets, Apostles, and holy men of God; but not to such heinous and rebellious sinners, who have most justly deserved, that God should pour out upon them the Vials of his wrath, and those fearful punishments threatened in the Law: All the promises made in the Gospel are general, indefinite, and universal, excluding none that turn from their fins by unfeigned repentance, and believe in Christ Jesus, resting on him alone for their salvation, as appears, Isa. 55. 1. Ezek. 33. 11. Mark. 16. 16. Joh. 3. 14, 15, 16. 36. and 6. 37. 40. Act. 10. 43. 1 Joh. 2. 1. Neither is there any limitation or exception of this or that sin; for be they never so grievous and manifold, yet if we perform the condition of faith and repentance, they cannot debar us from receiving the benefit of God's mercy, and Christ's merits, as appears, Isa. 1. 18. Titus 2. 14. 1 Joh. 1. 7. 9  
And therefore unless thou conceivest of God, that he is unjust in his dealing, untrue in his Word, a covenant-breaker; yea, a perjured person▪ (which were most horrible blasphemy once to imagine,) thou must undoubtedly assure thyself, that he will pardon and forgive thee all thy sins, be they in number never so many and innumerable; or in nature and quality never so heinous and damnable: if thou turnest unto him by unfeigned repentance, and layest hold upon Christ by a true and lively faith. For consider, doth the Lord say he will extend his mercy unto all that come unto him? doth he invite every one? doth he say I would have all men saved, and none to perish? and dost thou say, nay, but he will not extend his mercy unto me, he will have me to perish, because I am a grievous sinner? What is this but in effect, and at a distance to contradict the Lord, and give the lie to truth itself.  
Indeed God says not, Believe thou John, or Thomas, and thou shalt be saved; but he says, Whosoever believeth, and is baptised, shall be saved, which is as good. And yet thou exceptest thyself, he excludes none; and dost thou exclude one, and that one thyself? He would have all men saved, and thou comest in with thy exceptive, All but me; Why thee? a precious singularity, but beware of it: For whereas others that believe not the threatenings, flatter away their souls in a presumptuous confidence; thou by not believing the promises, wilt cast away thine, in a sullen prodigious desperateness, if thou take not heed. For infidelity on both sides is the cause of all, of presumption in them, of despair in thee, of impiety in every one.  
But be better advised, believe the Lord who never broke his Word with any soul. Thou wilt give credit to an honest man's bare word, and hast thou no affiance in the merciful promises of God, past to thee by Word, Oath, Seals, Scriptures, Sacraments, the death of his own Son, and (I presume) the Spirits testimony, if not now, yet at other times: take heed what thou dost, for certainly nothing offends God more, than the not taking of his Word.   

Section 7.  
Objection. I know well that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness, unto every one that believeth, Rom. 10. 4. But I want faith.  
Answer. This is the objection I expected: (for the true Christian is as fearful to entertain a good opinion of himself, as the false is unwilling to be driven from it) But is it so? or doth Satan only tell thee so? I know it is not so, I know that thou believest with some mixture of unbelief, and that this is but a slander of Satan's; for as Satan slandereth us to God, job 1. 9 and God to us, Gen. 3. 4. 5. so he slandereth us to our selus, job 16. 9 But lest thou shouldest think I slander Satan; know, that you believe, even whiles you complain of unbelief: for as there could be no shadow, if there were no light, so there cannot be this fear, where there is no faith. They that know not Christ, think it no such great matter to lose him. But if God once say, this is my Son, Satan will say, if thou be the Son of God, Matth. 3. 17. and 4. 3. That Divine testimony did not allay his malice, but exasperated it. Neither can the happy building of, Lord I believe, stand without that column to underprop it, Help thou mine unbelief. And he that doubts not of his estate, his estate is much to be doubted of; doubting and resolution are not meet touchstones of our success: a presumptuous confidence commonly goes bleeding home, when an humble fear returns in triumph. As it fared between the Philistims and Israel, 1 Sam. 17. 10. 11. The Philistims and Goliath were exceeding confident of the victory, but Saul, and all Israel much discouraged, and greatly afraid: yet Israel got the victory, and the Philistims with their great Goliath were overcome, ver. 51. 52. They that are proudly secure of their going to heaven, do not so frequently come thither, as they that are afraid of their going to hell.  
As it is in this world for temporal things, so for the World to come in spiritual things; Cantant pauperes, lugent divites; poor men sing, and rich men cry. Who is so melancholy, as the rich worldling? and who sings so merry a note, as he that cannot change a groat? so they that have store of grace, mourn for want of it; and they that indeed want it, chant their abundance. But the hopes of the wicked fail them when they are at highest, whereas God's Children had those comforts in extremity; which they durst not expect.  
As there is nothing more usual, than for a secure conscience to excuse when it is guilty: so nothing more common than for an afflicted conscience to accuse, when it is innocent; and to lay an heavy burden upon itself, where the Lord giveth a plain discharge: but a bleeding wound is better than that which bleeds not. Some men go crying to heaven, some go laughing and sleeping to hell. Some consciences aswell as men, lie speechless before departure: they spend their days in a dream, and go from earth to hell, as jonas from Israel towards Tarshish, fast a sleep. And the reason is, they dream their case is passing good, like a man which dreams in his sleep that he is rich and honourable, and it joys him very much, but awaking, all is vanished like smoke. Yea, they hope undoubtedly to go to heaven, as all that came out of Egypt hoped to go into Canaan, and inherit the blessed promises: when only Caleb and joshua did enter, who provoked not the Lord. And the reason of this reason is, whereas indeed they are Wol●…, the Devil and their own credulity persuades them that they are Lambs.  
The Philosopher tells us, that those Creatures which have the greatest hearts, as the Stag, the Do, the Hare, the ●…oney, and the Mouse, are the most fearful: and therefore it may be; God refusing Lions, and Eagles, the King of Beasts, and Queen of Birds; appointed the gentle Lamb, the fearful Dove for his sacrifices. A broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise, Psal. ●…1 17. And sure I am Christ calls to his; only w●…ary, and heavy-laden sinners, Matth. 11. 28. not such as feel no want of him, Mark, 2. 17. and will fill only such with comfort, as hunger and thirst after: righteousness; not such as are in their conceit righteous enough witho●… him, Luk. 1. 53. Matth. 15. 24. And yet it is strange, (yea, a wonder) to see how many truly humbled sinners, who have so tender conscience●…, that they dare not yield to the least evil, for the world's goods, and refuse no means of being made better; turn every 〈◊〉 into reprobation, every dejection into rejection, and if they be cast down, they cry out, they are cast away: who may fitly be compared to Ar●…emon in Plutarch, who when ever he went abroad, had his jervants to carry a Canopy over his head, lest the heavens should fall and crush him: or to a certain foolish melancholy Bird, which (as some tell) stands always but upon one leg; lest her own weight should sink her into the Centre of the Earth; holding the other over her head, lest the Heavens should fall.  
Yet be not offended, I cannot think the worse of thee; for good is that fear which hinders us from evil acts, and makes us the more circumspect. And God hath his end in it, who would have the sins to die, but the sinner to live.  
Yea, in some respect thou art the better to be thought of, or at least the less to be feared, for this thy fear: for no man so truly loves, as he that fears to offend; as Salvianus glo●…es upon those words, Blossed is 〈◊〉 man that feareth always: And which is worth the observing, this fear i●… a commendation often remembered in holy Scripture, as a special and infallible mark of God's Children: as for example; job (saith the holy Ghost) was a just man, and one that feared God, Job. 1. 1. Simeon a just many and one that feared God, Luk, 2. 25. Corne●…us a devout man, and one that feared God, Acts 10. 2. And so of Father Abraham, a man that feared God, Gen. 22. 12. joseph a man who feared God, Gen. 42. 18. The Midwives in Egypt feared God, Exod. 1. 17. So that evermore, the fearing of God (as being the beginning of wisdom) is mentioned as the 〈◊〉 note, which is as much as to say, if the fearing of God once go before; working of righteousness will instantly follow after, according to that of the wise man: He that feareth the Lord, will do good.  
And this for thy comfort, when Mary Magdalen sorrowed, and wept for her sins, Luke 7, 50. Christ tells her, Thy faith hath made the whole: intimating; that this weeping, this repenting saith, is faith indeed: And the like to the Woman with the bloody issue, who presuming but to touch the hem of his garment, fell down before him with fear and trembling, Mark 5. 27 to 35. And that humble Canaani●…e, Matth, 15. 22. to 29. And that importunate blind man, Luke 18. 38. to 43. As if this humble, this praying saith; were only the saving faith. Neither can thy estate be bad, for as Saint Ambrose told Monica weeping for her seduced Son, Fieri non potest, ut filius istarum lachrymarum pereat: It cannot be, that the son of those tears should ever perish.  
Wherefore lift up thyself thou timorous fainting heart, and do not suspect every spot for a plague token; do not die of a mere conceit: for as the end of all motion is rest, so the end of all thy troubles shall be peace: even where the days are perpetiall Sabbaths, and the diet undisturbed feasts.  
But as an empty vessel bunged up close, though you throw it in to the midst of the Sea, will receive no water, so all pleas are in vain to them that are deas'ned with their own fears: for as Mary would not be comforted with the ●…ight and speech of Angels, no not with the sight: and speech of Jesus himself, till he made her know that he was Jesus; so until the holy Spirit sprinkleth the conscience with the blood of Christ, and sheddeth his love into the heart, nothing will do. No creature can take off wrath from the conscience, but he that set it on. Wherefore, the God of peace give you the peace of God which passeth all understanding. Yea, O Lord, speak thou Music to the wounded conscience, Thunder, to the feared; that thy justice may reclaim the one, thy mercy relieve the other, and thy favour comfort us all, with peace and salvation in Jesus Christ.   

Section 8.  
But secondly, if this will not satisfy, call to thy remembrance the time past, and how it hath been with thee formerly, as David did in thy very case, Psalm 77. 2. to 12. And likewise Joh, Chapter 13. for as still waters represent any object in their bottom clearly, so those that are troubled, or agitated, do it but dimly, and imperfectly. But if ever thou hadst true faith begotten in thy heart, Joh. 1. 13. by the ministry of the Word, Romans 10. 17. Jam. 1. 18. 21. and the Spirits powerful working with it, Joh. 3, 3, 5, 8. whereby thine heart was drawn to take Christ, and apply him a Saviour to thine own soul; so that then wert forced to go out of thyself, and rely wholly and only on his merits: and that it further manifested itself by working a hatred of sin, and an apparent change in thy whole life, by dying unto sin, and living unto righteousness; and that thou hast not since, returned to thine old sins, like the Dog to his vomit: if it hath sometime brought forth in thee, the sweet friat of heavenly and spiritual joy; if it hath purified thine heart in some measure from noisome lusts and affections; as secret pride, self-love, hypocrisy, carnal confidence, wrath, malice, and the like: so that the spirit within thee fighteth against the flesh. If thou canst now say, I love the godly, because they are godly, 1 Joh. 3. 14. and hast an hungering after Christ, and after a greater measure of heavenly and spiritual graces, and more lively tokens of his love and favour communicated unto thee: My soul for thine, thou hast given false evidence against thyself; for as in a gloomy day there is so much light whereby we may know it to be day, and not ●…ight; so there is something in a Christian under a cloud, whereby he may be discerned to be a true believer, and not, an hypocrite. But, to make it manifest to thyself, that thou art so.  
Know, first, that where there is any one grace in truth, there is every one in their measure. If thou art sure thou hast love, I am sure thou hast faith: for they are as inseparable, as fire and heat, life and motion, the root and the sap, the Sun and its light: and so of other graces. Or, dost thou feel that Christ is thy greatest joy, sin thy greatest sorrow; that when thou canst not feel the presence of the spirit in thy heart, thou goest mourning, notwithstanding all other comforts? Assuredly as that holy Martyr said, if thou were not a wedding Child, thou couldst never so heartily mourn for the absence of the Bridegroom. Thus I might go on, but a few Grapes will show that the Plant is a Vine, and not a Thorn. Take but notice of this, and several graces will one strengthen another, as stones in an Arch. As for example, Master Peacock, Fellow of a House, being afflicted in conscience, (as thou art) and at the point of despair; when some Ministers asked whether they should pray for him, answered, By no means do no so dishonour God, as to pray for such a Reprobate as I am: but his young Pupil standing by, said, (with tears in his eyes) Certainly a Reprobate could never be so tender of God's dishonour; which he well considering, was thereby comforted and restored: when neither he with his learning, nor any other Ministers with their sage advice, could do any good.  
Again secondly, if ever thou hadst true faith wrought in thy heart, be not discouraged; for as the former graces show, that thou hast with Mary made choice of that better part, which shall never be taken from thee: So this grace of faith is Christ's wedding Ring, and to whomsoever he gives it, he gives himself with it; we may lose the sense, but never the essence of it: It may be eclipsed, not extinguished: Fides concussa, non excussa: The gifts and calling of God are without repentance: as it is, Rom. 11. 29. Friends are unconstant, riches, honours, pleasures, are unconstant; the world is unconstant, and life itself is unconstant; but. I the Lord change not, Malachi. 3. 6.  
In a swound the soul doth not excercise her functions; a man neither hears, nor sees, nor feels, yet she is still in the body. The Frantic man in his mad fits, doth not exercise reason; yet he hath it: ●…e loseth the use for a time, not the habit. Yea, a sober man hath not always the use of his senses, reason, and understanding, as in his sleep: shall we therefore conclude that this man is senseless, unreasonable, and without understanding? it were most absurd: for if we have patience but a while, our argument will appear manifestly false.  
Trees (and so we are fitly called) be not dead in Winter, (which resembles the time of adversity) because the sap is shut up in the root; and confined thither by the cold frosts, that they cannot show themselves in the production of leavs and fruits: for by experience we know, that for the present they live, and secretly su●… nourishment out of the earth; which maketh them spring and revive again, when Summer comes: Yea, even whiles they are grievously sha●…on with the winds, and nipped with cold frosts, they are not hurt thereby; but contrarily they take deeper root, have their worms and cankers killed by it; and so are prepared, & made fit to bring forth more fruit, when the comfortable Spring approaches, and the sweet showers, and warm Sunbeams fall and descend upon them. Elementary bodies, lighten and darken, cool and warm, die and revive, as the Sun presents, or absents itself from them, And is not Christ to our souls the only Sun of reghteousness, and 〈◊〉 of all comfort? so that if he withdraw himself but a little, we become like plants in the Winter, quite withered; yea, in appearance stark dead 〈◊〉 or like Trees void both of leavs and fruits though even then there remains faith in the heart, as sap in the root, or as pre raked up in the ashes.  
Which faith, though it be not the ●…ie strong, yet it is the like precious faith to that of Abraham's: whereby to lay hold, and put on the perfect righteousness of Christ. The Woman that was diseased with an issue, did but touch, and with a trembling hand, and but the hem of his garment, and yet went away both healed, and comforted.  
Well might I doubt of my salvation, says Bradford, feeling the weakness of my faith, love, hope, etc. if these were the causes of my salvation: but there is no other cause of it; or, of his mercy, but his mercy. Wherefore hast thou but a touch of sorrow for sin, a spark of hope, a grain of faith in thy heart? thou art safe enough. The Anchor lieth deep, and is not seen, yet is the stay of all. 
The Bladder blown, may float upon the flood,  
But cannot sink, nor stick in filled by mud.   
But thou dreamest of a saith without doubling, which some doungly boast they have: but as no righteousness can be perfect without sin; so no assurance can be perfect without doubting: Take the evenest balances, and the most equal weights; yet at the first putting in; there will be some in-equality; though presently after they settle themselves in a just poise. Sin is a cloud that often hinders the Sun from our eyes, yet it is still a Sun; the vision or feeling of this comfort may be sometime suspended, the Union with Christ is never dissolved.  
An usual thing with believers to have their ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning, Summer and Winter; to be sometimes so comfortable and courageous, that we can say with David, Though I were in the valley of death, yet would I fear none ill, Psal. ●…3. 4. otherwhiles again so deadened and dejected in our spirits, that we are like him when he said, One day I shall die by the hand of Saul, 1 Sam. 27. 1. Sometimes so strong in faith, that we can overcome the greatest assaults; and with Peter, can walk upon the swelling waves: by and by so faint, and brought to so low an ebb, that we fall down even in far less dangers, as Peter began to 〈◊〉 at the rising of the wind, Matth. 14. 29. 30. And indeed, if the wings of our faith be clipped, either by our own sins, or Satan's temptations, how should not our spirits lie grovelling on the ground?   

Sect. 9  
But thirdly and lastly, (for I hasten) suppose thou art at the last cast, even at the very brink of despair; and that thy conscience speaks nothing but bitter things, of God's Wrath, bell and damnation; and that thou hast no feeling of faith, or grace; yet know that it is God's use (and I wish we could all take notice of it) to work in, and by contraries: For instance, in creating of the world, he brought light out of darkness, and made all things not of something, but of nothing; clean contrary to the course of Nature.  
In his preserving of it, he hath given us the Rainbow, which is a sign of rain, as a certain pledge that the world shall never the second time be drowned. He caused Elias his sacrifice to burn in the midst of water: and fetcheth hard stones out of the midst of thin vapours. When he meant to bless Jacob, he wrestled with him as an Adversary, even till he ●…amed him: When he meant to prefer Joseph to the Throne, he threw him down into the Dungeon; and to a golden chain about his neck, he laded him with ●…on ones about his legs, Thus Christ opened the eyes of the blind, by anointing them with clay and 〈◊〉; more likely to put them out: And would not cure Laxarus till after he was dead, buried, and stunk again; no question, to reach us, that we must be cast down by the Law, before we can be raised up by the Gospel: that we must die unto sin, before we can live unto righteousness: and become fools, before we can be truly wise.  
In the work of Redemption, he gives life, not by life, but by death, and that a most cursed death; making that the best instrument of life, which was the worst kind of death: Optimum fecit instrumentum vitae, quod erat pessimum mortis genus.  
In our effectual vocation, he calls us by the Gospel, unto the Jews, a stumbling-block, and unto the world mere foolishness: And when it is his pleasure that any should depend upon his goodness, and providence, he makes them feel his anger, and to be nothing in themselves; that they may rely altogether upon him.  
Thus God works joy out of fear, light out of darkness; and brings us to the Kingdom of heaven, by the Gates of hell: according to that 1 Sam. 2. ver 6. 7. And wherein does thy case differ? He sends his Sergeant 〈◊〉 arrest thee for thy debt; commands thee and all thou hast to be 〈◊〉 But why? only to show thee thy misery without Christ, that so 〈◊〉 mayst seek to him for merby: for although he hides his fatherly 〈◊〉 as Joseph onoe did his brotherly, his meaning is in conclusion to forgive thee every farthing, Matth. 18. 26, 27.  
And dost thou make thy slight sufferings an argument of his displeasure? for shame mutter not at the matter, but be silent: It is not said, God will not suffer us to be tempted at all, but that we shall not be tempted above that we are able to bear, 1 Cor. 10. 13. And assure thyself, what ever thy sufferings be, thy saith shall not fail to get the victory; as oil over-swims the greatest quantity of water you can power upon it. True, let none presume; (no not the most righteous) for he shall scarcely be saved, 1 Pet. 4. 18. yet let him not despair, for he shall be saved, Rom. 8. 35.  
Only accept with all thankfulness the mercy offered, and apply the promises to thine own soul: for the benefit of a good thing, is in the use; wisdom is good, but not to us, if it be not exercised; cloth is good, but not to us, except it be worn; the light is comfortable, but not to him that will live in darkness: a preservative in our pocket, never taken, cannot yield us health, nor bags of money being ever sealed up, do us any pleasure; no more will the promises, (no nor Christ himself, that only summum bonum) except they are applied: Yea, better there were no promises, than not applied. The Physician is more offended at the contempt of his Physic in the Patient, than with the loathsomeness of the disease. And this I can assure thee, if the blood of Christ be applied to thy soul, it will soon staunch the blood of thy conscience; and keep thee from bleeding to death, 1 Joh. 1. 7.  
But secondly, instead of mourning continually as the tempter bids thee; rather rejoice continually as the Apostle bids thee, 1 Thes. 5. 16. Neither think it an indifferent thing, to rejoice, or not to rejoice; but know that we are commanded to rejoice, to show that we break a commandment if we rejoice not: Yea, we cannot believe if we rejoice not; for faith, in the commandments breeds obedience; in the threatenings, fear; in the promises, comfort. True, thou thinkest thou dost well to mourn continually; yea, it is the common disease of the innocentest souls: but thou dost very ill in it: for, when you forget to rejoice in the Lord, than you begin to must, and after to fear, and after to distrust, and at last to despair: and then every thought seems to be a sin against the holy Ghost. Yea, howmany sins doth the afflicted conscience record against itself; repenting for breaking this commandment, and that commandment; and never repenteth for breaking this commandment, rejoice evermore.  
But what's the reason? Ignorance: thou thinkest thyself poor and miserable, and only therefore thinkest so, because thou knowest not thy riches and happiness in Christ: for else thou wouldst say with the Prophet Habbakuck, in the want of all other things, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation, Habbak. 3. 17, 18. Thou wouldst rejoice that thy name is written in the book of life, as our Saviour injoines, Luk. 10. 20. though thou hadst nothing else to rejoice in.  
But it is nothing to be blessed, until we understand ourselus to be so; wherefore  
Thirdly, wait God's leisure with patience, and hold fast to him in all pressures: Time (saith Seneca) is the best Physic for most diseases, for the body, and so likewise for the soul: if it be an afflicted conscience, waiting God's leisure for the assurance of his love, is the best remedy: and so in all other cases.   

Section. 10.  
Ob. But when will there be an end of this long disease? this tedious affliction? this heavy yoke of bondage? etc.  
Answ. It is a sign of cold love, scarce to have begun to suffer for Christ and presently to gape for an end: It was a far better speech of one, Lord, give me what thou wilt, as much as thou wilt, when thou wilt. Thou art God's Patient, prescribe not thy Physi●…ian. It is the Goldsmith's skill to know how long his gold must be in the Crusible, neither takes he it out of that hot bath, till it be sufficiently purified.  
What if the Lord for a time forbear coming, as Samuel did to Saul; that he may try what is in thee? and what thou wilt do, or suffer for him, that hath done and suffered so much for thee? as why did God set Noah about building the Ark an hundred and twenty years, when a small time might have finished it? It was for the trial of his patience. Thus he led the Israelites in the deserts of Arabia forty years; whereas a man may travel from Ramesis in Egypt, to any part of Canaan in forty days: this God did to prove them, that he might know what was in their hearts, Deu. 8. 2. He promised Abraham a son in whom he should be blessed; this he performed not, in thirty years after. He gave David the Kingdom, and anointed him by Samuel, yet was he not possessed of it in many years: in so much that he said, Mine eyes fail for thy Word, Psal. 119. 123. Joseph hath a promise that the Sun and Moon should do him reverence, but first he must be bound in the Dungeon. This God doth to try us, for in these exigents we show our selus, and our dispositions.  
What saith God to his people in their misery? Psal. 75. When I see convenient time, I will execute judgement, ver. 2. he doth not say, when you think the time convenient. Let us tarry a little the Lords leisure, deliverance will come, peace will come, joy will come; in mean while to 〈◊〉 ●…nt in misery, makes misery no misery.  
Again secondly, he may delay his coming for other ends of greater consequence, Martha and Mary send to Christ, as desiring him to come and restore Lazarus their sick brother to health, Joh. 11. 3. expecting him without delay; now he loved both Martha and her Sister, and Lazarus, ver. 5. yet he neglects coming for many days, lets him die, be put in the grave until he stank; but what of all this? he that would not restore sick Lazarus to health, restored dead Lazarus to life; which was a greater mercy than they either did, or drst ask. Neither did this only increase their joy, and thankfulness, give them occasion ever after to believe, and hope above and against all hope: but it made many of the Jews believe 〈◊〉 him, which before did not, ver. 45.  
Thirdly and lastly; he delays thee the longer, that when he comes, he may bring with him the greater recompense of reward: for be will comfort us according to the days we have been afflicted, and according to the years that we have seen evil, Psal. 90. 15.  
Neither will he stay overlong, for behold, saith he, I come quickly, and my reward is with me; to give every man according as his works shall be, Rev. 22. 12. and suffering is accounted none of the meanest works. So that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the conquest. Wherefore hold out yet a little, and help shall not be wanting to the combatants; not a crown to the conquerors. Yea, fight to the last minute, for the eye of thy Saviour is upon the; if thou faint, to cheer thee; if thou stand to it, to second thee; if thou conquer, to crown thee; whereas no combat, no conquest; no conquest, no triumph.  
Object. But my sufferings are so great, that if they continue, I shall never be able ●…o hold out.  
Answ. True, if thou trustest ●…o thine own strength; for perseverance is the gift of God; yea, it is he that worketh in us both to will and to do at his good pleasure, Phil. 2. 13. For first, man's will is a fugitive Onesimus, and God must call home that runagate, subdue that rebel, befor●… we can choose that which is good. Neither when we have begun, can we continue: perficit qui efficit, He that begun a good work in us, will perform 〈◊〉, Phil. 1. 6. Jesus is the founder and finisher of our faith, Heb. 12. 2 Neither can we of our selus suffer for him: Datur pati, it is given to us to suffer for his sake, Phil. 1. 29. Without me ye can do nothimg, Joh. 15. 5. not parum, but nihil; But in him, and through him, all things. I can do all things through him that strengthens me, Phil. 4. 13. In our selus we are weak Captives, in him we are more than Conquerors, Rom. 8. 37. Whence it is, many sick men undergo patiently such pressures, as when they were in health, they would not have believed they could have born.  
The truth of grace (be the measure never so small) is always blest with perseverance; because that little is said with an everlasting spring. Yea, if grace but conquer us first, we by it shall conquer all things else, whether it be corruptions within us, or temtations without us: for as ●…he fire which came down from heaven in Elias time, licked up all the water, to show that it came from God; so will this fire spend all our corruptions: No affliction without, or corruption within, shall quench it. Wherefore do but thy endeavour to hold out, I mean with patience; (for that Spirit which came in the likeness of a Dove, will not come but upon a Dove,) and pray for divine assistance, this sadness shall end in gladness, this sorrow, in singing.  
But above all; pray unto God, for Prayer is the key of heaven, as Saint Austin terms it; and the hand of a Christian, which is able to reach from Earth to Heaven, and to take forth every manner of good gift out of the Lords Treasury. Did not Elias by turning this Key one way, lock up the whole Heaven from raining for three years and six months; and another while by turning the same Key of prayer, as much another way, in the turning of a hand, unlock all the doors and windows of heaven, and set them wide open, that it reigned, and the earth brought forth her ●…uit.  
Yea, as all Samsons strength lay in his hair, so all our strength lieth in Prayer: Prayers and tears are the Church's Armour, Prayers and patience her weapo●…s; and therefore when Pe●…er was imprisoned by cruel Herod, the congregation joined their forces to pray for him; and so broke his chains, blew open the Iron Gates, and fetched him ou●…t, Act. 12. 4. to 18. Arm●… Christianorum in adversis, alia esse non debent quam patientia, & precatio saith Salmeron.  
Yea, prayer is so powerful, that it commandeth all things in Heaven and Earth: It commandeth all the four Elements, Air, jam. 5. 17. 18. Fire, Ecclesiasticus 48. 3. Dan. 3. 27. ●…ater, Exod. 14. 21. and 15. 25. Earth, Num. 16. 31. 32. 33. Nay, the Prayer of one devou●… man, is able to conquer an host of enemies in battle, Exod. 17. 11. What shall I say? it hath made the Sua stand still in the Firmament one while, go back another; fetch fire and hait-stones from heaven, thrown down the walls of jericho, subdued Kingdoms, stopped the mouths of Lions quenched the violence of fire, etc. Yea, Prayer is so potent, that it raised●… the dead, 1 King. 17. 21. overcometh Angels, Gen. 19 22. casteth out Devils, Matth. 17. 21. and that which is yet more wonderful, overcometh him that cannot be overcome; and mastereth even God himself; for doth not the Lord say to Moses, ●…et me alone? And Moses would not let him alone, till he had obtained his petition, Exod. 32. 10. 14. And again to jacob, wrestling with him, let me go: and Jacob would not let him go, until he had prevailed, Gen. 32. 16.  
Wherefore, Pray upon all occasions and that without doubting: say not to God, as the Leper said to Christ, If, thou wilt, thou canst make me clean: for he both can, and will, as that very text, Matth. 8. 2, 3. proves. Yea, I would to God we were but so willing, as he is, for he desires to be desired: Neither hath he his own will, except we have ours. Christ doth ask no more of us, but only that we would vouchsafe to ask him▪ True, the fainting heart that hath waited some time, may with the Psalmist mutter out some such speech, as this, Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Psal. 77. 9 But if he forgets any of his, he hath lost his old wont; for who can no●…inate one that ever came to Christ with any lawful suit, that received a repulse? Who ever asked any thing of him which was profitable for him to receive, and did not obtain his suit? Did not the sick ever receive their health? The lame, their limbs? the blind their sight? Did ever any sinner implore the forgiveness of his sins, which did not receiv full remission and pardon? Yea, did not this our gracious King and Redeemer, prevent his poor miserable subjects with his grace, in giving, before they had the grace to ask; or more than they desired? The sick of the Palsy ask but cure of his disease, received not only that, but the remission of his sins also, Matth. 9 Zacheus desired but to see his face, he became his guest; and gave him salvation to boot, Luk. 19 The Woman of Samaria requested but elementary and common water, he offered unto her the water of life, Joh. 4. The people followed him to be fed by miracle with corporal food, he offered unto them the bread of life, Joh. 7. The poor blind man desired but his bodily sight, Christ illuminated the eye of his soul, Joh. 9  
Neither hath honours changed manners with him, as is usual amongst men; for he is a God immutable in goodness, and without change, or shadow of turning, Jam. 1 17. so that if thou speak, he will hear; and answer thy suit in supporting thee: so that thou shalt be sure to persevere, and hold out unto the end.   

Section 11.  
Object. But I have no evidence of divine assistance, nor can I pray for it to purpose.  
Answ. We have the presence of God's Spirit, and grace many times, and feel it not; yea, when we complain for want of i●…, (as Pilate asked Christ what was truth, when the truth stood before him). The stomach finds the best digestion, even in sleep, when we least perceive it; and whiles we are most awake, this power worketh in us, either to further strength, or disease, without our knowledge of what is done within; and on the other side, that man is most dangerously sick, in whom nature decays without his feeling, without his complaint. To know our selus happy is good; but woe were to us Christians, if we could not be happy, and ●…now it not. As touching Prayer, every one is not so happy as Steven was, to be most servant when they are most in pain; yea, many in time of sickness (by reason of the extremity of pain) can hardly pray at all: whence Saint James wisheth us in affliction, to pray our selus; but in case of sickness, to send for the Elders: that they may, as those in the Gospel, offer up the sick person to God in their prayers, being unable to present their own case, Jam. 5. 13. 14. 15. Yea, it were miserable for the best Christian, if all his former Prayers and Meditations did not serve to aid him in his last straits, and meet together in the Centre of his extremity; yielding, though not sensible relief, yet secret benefit to the soul: whereas the worldly man in this case, having not laid up for this hour, hath no comfort from God, or from others, or from himself.  
Besides, thou art happy in this, there is not the poorest and meanest of God's Children, but as he hath the benefit of Christ's intercession in heaven, Rom. 8. 34. Joh. 16. 26. so hath he also the benefit of the Prayers of all the Saints on Earth: we have the graces and gifts, each of other in common.  
Yet, because thine own Prayer is most proper; and seeing it is the mi●…des Ambassador to God, and never saileth of success, if it be fervent, (as if our prayers want success, they want heart, their blessing is according to their vigour) pray that thou mayest pray better: If thy Leg be benum●…d, go upon it a little, and it will come to itself again. To which if thou ●…in fasting, thou shalt do well; for prayers are made sat with fasting, as Tertullian speaks: Yea, pray ●…ft, though thy prayers be the shorter; weak stom●…s which cannot digest large meals, seed oft, and little. O! (saith holy Bernard most sweetly), How oft hast thou (meaning prayer) sound ●…ee lamenting, and despairing; and lest me rejoicing, and triumphing!  
And what though thou canst not power out thy soul in a flood of words? The Woman diseased with an issue of blood, said but within herself, she did not speak to be heard of others, and yet Christ heard her, and answered her request, Matth: 9 21. 22.  
The Lord esteemeth the will for the deed, and the affection for the action; Man sees the countenance, God the heart; man the deeds, but God the meaning. Hast thou but thoughts and desires, and canst thou only express them with sighs and groans? these speechless words, or rather no words, but a few poor thoughts, conceived aright, pass all the flowing eloquence of Demosthenes and Tully, yea, Tertullus and all the Orators that ever were in the world; for this matter is not expressed with words, but with groan; and these groan are from the blessed Spirit. A Father delights more in the stammering of his little Child, than in the eloquence of the best Orator.  
Neither is hearty prayer in our own power, but it is the gift of God, which at sometimes in plentiful measure he bestoweth upon his children, and at other times again he pulleth back his liberal hand: that by the want thereof, we may leern ●…o ascribe the glory and praise of this grace to the giver, who worketh in us the will and the deed: which praise otherwise, in pride of heart, we would arrogate unto our selus, as being in our own power. Also that we may more highly esteem it, and with more joy and diligence use it, when we have it bestowed on us.  
If it be asked why God reckons so highly of a sew sighs and groans? and why the prayers of the faithful are so powerful? it is, because they be not ours, but the intercession of Gods own Spirit in us, poured out in the name of Christ, his own Son, in whom he is ever well pleased: for, as for us, we know not what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit it solf maketh request for us, with sighs which cannot be expressed, Rom. 8. 26. It is the Spirit whereby we cry Abba Father, ver. 15. Gal. 4. 6.  
Now if thou wouldst have the Spirits assistance, and be heard of God, when thou makest supplication to him; do not (as too many do) fall into prayer without preparation, and utter a number of words without devotion, or affection: for no marvel, if we ask and miss, when we thus ask amiss, Jam. 4. 3.  
Neither do as Children, which never look after their Arrow; but like Daniel, Dan. 9 take notice of thine inlargements in prayer, and of thy success after.  
Nor only pray, and no more; for to pray, and to do nothing else, is in effect to do nothing less. But let your Prayers be ushered in, by Meditation, and attend by zealous devotion, and then believing that you sh●…ll receie whatsoever you ask in Christ's name, and according to his will, 1 John 5. 14. John 16. 23. God will be sure to give you that you desire, 1 John 5. 14. 15. Mark 11. 23. 24. or that which is better for you, Deut. 34. 4, 5.  
And suppose thou art not presently heard: yet continue ask still, as Peter continued knocking till the door was opened: for after an ill harvest we must sow, and after d●…ls woe must wo●… God. Yea, if it be possible with the Woman of Canaan, let delays, and seeming denials increase the strength of thy cries. And commonly they be earnest suits which issue from a troubled soul, like strong streams in narrow straits, which bear down all that stands in their way. Nothing so strong as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, ●…or it overcame the roaring Lion; yet the Prayer of Faith, from the knees of humility, and a broken heart, will conquer even that Conqueror, Matth. 15. 28.  
And thus you see that nothing can befall us without the special appointment of our good God, who not only takes notice of our sufferings, but sweeteneth them with his presence, takes our part, stints our enemies, and so ordereth the whole, that our grief is either short or tolerable; and that though he is oftentimes harsh, in the beginning, and progress, and late in coming; yet he comes on the sudden, and is always comfortable, in the conclusion. And lastly, that if he deser his help, it is on purpose that our trials may be perfect, our deliverance welcome; our recompense glorious. And may not this comfort thee?    

CHAP. 37.  
That stripes from the Almighty, are special tokens and pledges of his adoption and love.  
3 We shall bear the Cross with more patience and comfort; if we consider, that stripes from the Almighty are so far from arguing his displeasure, that contrarily there are no better rokens and pledges of his Adoption and love: As many (saith God) as I love, I rebuke, and chasten, Rev. 3. 19 My Son (saith the Author to the Hebrews, out of Solomon's Proverbs) Despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou a●…t rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth, be chasteneth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God offereth himself unto you, as unto sons: for what son is it whom the Father chastenith not? If therefore ye be without correction, whereof all are partakers; then are ye bastards, and not so●…s, Heb. 12. 5. to 13. Prov. 3. 11. 12. He is a Thistle, and not good Corn, that cometh not under the ●…ail. Yea, what use of the grain itself, if it pass not the edge of the sickle, the stroke of the ●…ail, the wind of the Fan, the weight of the ●…ilstone, the heat of the oven.  
Many a man's fellicity driveth him from God; and where happiness domi●…eereth, virtue is commonly banished. And doth not experience show, that fear and joy, sweet and sour, sharp and flat, one with another, do better than either alone: for if you be too 〈◊〉, you make the child a fool; if ●…oo fond. a wanton. The ●…ridle governs the horse, the spur quickens, him; the weight upon the line makes the Jack go, the oil upon the wheel makes it go glib, and ●…imble: The sails give the speed, the ballast steadiness to the motion of the shhip. And hereupon God weighs out to us our favours and crosses in an equal balance; and so tempers our sorrows, that they may not oppress; and our joys, that they may not transport us. Each one hath some matter of envy to others, and of grief to himself.  
Thou dealest mercifully with us, lest we should fall from thee, and despair; thou beatest us, lest we should forget thee, and so perish, (saith Saint Austin:) He that knows our frame, knows we are best when we are worst, and live holiest when we are miserablest: wherefore by affliction he separates the sin, that he hates, from the sinner, whom he loves; and we are by much the better for this scouring. It is the wont of Fathers to hold in their Children, when they suffer the children of bondmen to go at large, and do as they list; yea, when divers children are playing the wantoness, if we see a man take one from the rest, and whip him sound; we conclude that alone to be his Child. Yea, wise and discreet Fathers will force their Children earnestly to apply themselves to their study, or labour; and will not let them be idle, although it be holiday: yea, constrain them to sweat, and ostentimes ●…o weep, when their Mothers would set them on their laps, and keep them at home all day in the shadow, for burning their white. Jacob is bound Apprentice, while profane Esau rides a hunting: of Elkanah his two wives, Hanna was in more esteem with God, yet barren, and Peninnah less, yet she was fruitful 1 Sam. 1. They were all gross inconsequences; for Gedeon to argue God's absence by affliction, his presence by deliverances, and the unlikely-hood of success, by his own disability, Judg. 6. 13. 15. (It is no argument, that Christ is not in the Ship: because tempests, and storms arise.) The valiant man was here weak; weak in saith, weak in discourse; for rather should he have inferred God's presence upon their correction; for wheresoever God chastiseth, there he is; yea, there he is in mercy; nothing more proves us his, than his stripes; he will not bestow whipping, where he loves not: fond nature indeed, thinks God should not suffer the wind to blow upon his dear ones, because herself makes this use of her own indulgence; but none (out of the place of torment) have suffered so much, as his dear Children. If he had said we are Idolaters, therefore the Lord hath forsaken us, because we have forsaken him; instead of, the Lord hath delivered us unto the ●…ianites, therefore he hath forsaken us; the sequel had been as good, as now it's faulty; for sins, not afflictions, argue God absent: Yea, commonly, the measure of our sufferings is according to the measure of grace in us, and Gods love to us; He is a chosen vessel unto me (saith God to Ananias touching Paul;) therefore he must suffer great things for my sake, Act. 9 15. 16. Job, for a righteous and upright man, had no fellow; by the testimony of God himself, Job 1. 8. Yet the next news we hear of him, Job is afflicted in his Sons, in his substance, in his body; from the crown of the head, to the sole of the foot. Saint Austin, when God called him, was far more assaulted by Satan, than Alippius; because God had endued him with greater learning and gifts, and intended him an instrument of bringing more glory to his Name. And lastly, as Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness above his sellows, Psal. 45. 7. so he was anointed with the oil os sadness above his fellows: as was his back, so was his burden,; as were his parts, so were his passions, and his strokes, answerable to his strength.  
Never any have had so bitter draughts upon earth, as those he loves best: and that of Saint Austin, is a sure rule, whom God smites not, he loves not: If he do not think thee worthy of his Rod, he will never think thee worthy of his Crown. Yea, where he uses not the Rod, he means to use the Sword. Never was Jerusalem's condition so desperate, as when God said unto her, My fury shall depart from thee, I will be quiet, and no more angry, Ezek, 16. 42. Thus not to be angry, was the greatest anger of all. Never were the Jews more to be pitied, than when their Prophet delivered these words from the Lord, why should ye be stricken any more? Isa. 1. 5. Not to be afflicted, is to be sorsaken: And as the sick man is in small hope of his life, when the Physician giveth him over; so his soul is in a desperare case, whom God forbeareth to chastise for his sins. As many there be, who never knew what any sorrow meant●…nless it were such as Amnons', such as Ahabs, when they are crossed in their corruptions, kerbed in their lewd courses, or restrained of their wicked wills. But let them take it for a fearful sign of some sore judgement to come: Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, as Paulinus relates, took into a Rich man's house as he traveled, who, that he might bid him throughly welcome, entertained him both with great cheer, and curteons discourses: and amongst other matters, told of his continued happiness, and that he never suffered any ill all his days, but had all things as he would; and happiness so flowing in upon him, that he knew not what calamity meant: which conference did so startle Saint Ambrose, that presently he took his leave, telling his company that he feared to stay in that place, which never felt any disaster; and was no sooner gone thence, but suddenly the house fell down, and proved a grave to all her inhabitants. Polycrates, King of the Samians, never felt any ill all his life, his hopes never fell short of his expectation, he could not wish for the thing which was not fulfilled; what he willed, he did: Yea, having but once a Ring of excellent rarity that fell into the water, this loss was recovered; for the Fish was taken which had swallowed it, and was presented to Polycratus: but at length all this his happiness epilogized in a gallo●…es. None more happy than great Pompey all his life, yet at last he was made to drink his own blood by the hands of the Executioner. Who but Andronic●…s, Emperor of the East for many years? but at length he was see upon a scabbed Chamell, with a Crown of Onions plaited on his head, and in great mockery car●…ed in triumph through the City. And does nor sacred Writ certify, how Haman, whose command ere while almost reached to Heaven, was instantly adjudged by the King to the Gibbet; while Mordecai who was condemned to the balter, was all of a sudden made second in the Kingdom.  
Nevertheless, as Haman rejoiced in his preferment to the Queen's Banquet, which was the path way to his destruction: so, many think it the only argument of God's love, and that they are in favour with him, because they prosper in all their ways: which would m●…e a wise man the more suspicious, for, (as Seneca that wise Roman saith) he that hath been longest happy, shall at length have his portion of misery; and who so seemeth to be dismissed. is but deferred.  
And commonly their change is not more doleful, than sudden; for as it often happeneth, that in very fair weather a storm doth arise: and as I have read of certain Trees, which on Monday have been growing in the Forest, and before Sunday following, under sail on the Sea: so the same hour hath seen the knee bowing to the head; and again, the head stooping, and doing reverence to the knee, as every age gives instance: for else I might muster up a multitude of examples for proof of the point. Or in case it seems better, yet it is worse with them when their life and happiness shall end together: as it fared with Belshazzar, who was sitting at a Feast merry, while on a sudden, Death came like a Voider to take him away. And Pope Adrian, who when he was to die; broke out into this expression: Oh my soul, whither art thou going? thou shalt never be merry again.  
Neither are men of this world, whose bellies God filleth with his hid treasure, upon occasion of their outward prosperity, only apt to be brought into a fools Paradise, of thinking themselves to be the special darlings of God: but even the godly themselves have oftentimes their eyes so dazzled, with the outward glittering and flourishing estate of the wicked, that thereupon they are ready to say of them, The generation of God's children, as it fared with David, Psal. 73. 15. But these are not sober thoughts, yea, they are rather the dreams of men, drunk with the love of the World: for although it be as common a phrase, as it is foolish, when any great matter falls to a man, O he is made! yet experience proves, that it rather mars than makes him; for not seldom do men possess riches, as sick men do fevers, which indeed rather possess them. And certainly, if riches were such pearls, as most men esteem them, it is not likely the Lord would cast them to suh Swine, as mostly he doth: If such happy things, he would not throw them to such Dogs. As what saith Luther of the whole Turkish Empire? it is but a crumb of bread, which the master of the house, throweth to his Dogs. And the truth is, what men think most pleasing, (viz. to have their wills, and their lusts granted) is most plaguing, Psal. 81. 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts, and they walked in their own counsels; so that the greatest temptation, is to be without temptation: and the greatest affliction, not to be afflicted, 2 Cor. 12. 7.  
Wherefore lift up your hands which hang down, because of some sore affliction, and your weak knees, Heb. 12. 12. and know, that the worst of temporal afflictions, are an insufficient proof of divine displeasure: yea, that stripes from the Almighty, are tokens of his love, and seals of his Sonship.  
Yea, since he that hath most grace, commonly complains of most discomfort, confess that the palate is but an ill Judge of the favours of God: as it is in great love no doubt, however it be taken, that the tender Father medicines his Child for the ●…orms, gives him Alo●…s, or the like: the Child cries, and sputters, and keckes, as if it were poisoned, yet still the Father's love is never the less: say it be bitter, yet bitter potions bring sweet health, and who will not rather take a vomit, than hazard life? In the Sweeting sickness in England, their friends would stand by them and strike them over the faces with sprigs of Rosemary, to keep them awake: the poor souls faint, and full of pain, would cry out you kill me, but yet they must do it, or else they killed them indeed: for all that slept, died. Look we (saith Saint Ambrose) with the eyes of our body, upon Lazarus estate, and we think it miserable; but, if with the eyes of the mind, it will be otherwise; for how did the Angels do by him? but as Nurses are wont to do by their little children, all the day long they carry them about in their arms, and at night they lay them down in their beds to rest.  
But the supernatural works of God, when we look upon them with our own eyes, are subject to a dangerous misprision; the Sunbeams, 〈◊〉 whom we are beholding for our ●…ight, if we eye them directly, blind us. Miserable men! we are ready to suspect truths, to run away from our safety, to be afraid of our comforts, to mis-know our best friends.  
We usually think it a great sign of God displeasure, when he ruins our estate, and brings us to nothing; when he in his wisdom knows, that these riches would shipwreck the soul, were they not cast overboard: and his love only forces him to it. A Mother seeing her little So●… brustled at by Turcki-cocks catcheth him up, and strippeth him of his red coat, at which those ●…des are offended; the child cries for his coat, but she regarding his good, letteth him weep, but satisfieth him not. And the like of Enemies, we think our selus mightily wronged by them: But God finds it to far with us, as it doth with the Oak, which gains by the maims and wounds given it, and thereupon spreadeth out thicker than before. Whence it is, God suffers them to live, and domineer, as some Countries suffer Ravens, enacting ●…aws to prohibit the kill of them; that they may devour the Carrions, which else would corrupt the air. And so in all other trials: for, be the root of this ●…ee never so bitter, yet the fruit is pleasant. Well may we carch a maim as Jacob did, but such a blessing comes withal, that we would not (if wife) be without it. Say it be a sore and fiery trial, yet better this fire to purge us, than Hell fire to burn us. But all the skill is in making men see this; wherefore he that opened the eyes of Paul, open ours.  
But furthermore, as not to be afflicted, argues an absolute defect of goodness; so if our troubles be light and few, it is because we are weak and tender, for therefore God imp●…th no more upon us, because he sees we can 〈◊〉 no more: The Physician will not suffer a milksop to see his vein opened, but makes him wink or look another way: The Master giveth not to his sick servant strong meats, as he doth to the rest, but more dainty fare; not because he is worthier than the rest, but because he is weaker, and in greater need. The skilful Armourer trieth not an ordinary Piece with musket-shot. The wise Lapidary brings not his softer stones to the Stithy.  
So that freedom from affliction is not a sign of potency, but of impotency. Wherefore, when I am stronger, I will look for more; when I am a vessel fit for this strong and new wine, I shall be filled with it; but not before, Mark 2. 22.  
Indeed, the calling of God never leavs a man unchanged, nor does he employ any in his service, whom he does not enable to the work he sets them about. Will any make choice of a weak Champion? no more will God: he will either find us fit, or make us fit to discharge the place he puts us in; as when he called Saul to be a King, he gave him a Kings bear't, 1 Sam. 10. 9 And when he called the Apostles to that function, he gave them gifts answerable; so when he calls any to suffer for him, be it Martyrdom; he giveth them the courage of Martyrs, as the times of Queen Mary, witness. But yet for the most part he ●…rains us up by degrees; (as we eat divers things by morsels, and easily digest them; which if we should eat whole, would choke us) and doth not make us fit to undergo great matters on a sudden. We must learn to fence in the School, before we fight in the Field; and with wooden weapons men learn to fight at the sharp: we must encounter with some beasts or other, (I mean unreasonable men) before we fight with that fearful Goliath, death. And indeed, if we do not learn to give entertainment to smaller crosses, the harbingers, messengers and servants of death; how shall we be able to entertain the Lord and Master, when he cometh? Wherefore, as Jehoram said to Jebu, when he marched furiously; Comest thou peaceably? As if he should say, if thou comest peaceably, march as furiously as thou wilt: so let us say unto God, provided, thy afflictions and chastisements be directed to us as messengers of peace, and love; let them march towards us as furiously as thou pleasest, but in any case, let us not be without correction: for as Mariners at Sea, find, that of all storms, a Calm is the greatest; so we; that, to be exempt from misery, is the most miserable condition of all other.  
Object. But thou fearest that God hath not pardoned thy sins, and this makes him so severe against thee.  
Answ. Many times after the remission of the sin, his very chastisements are deadly; as is clear by David's example: and Lots, who had a sharp misery clap on the heels of a sweet mercy: for he that was so beloved of God, that he saved a whole City, could not save his own Spouse.  
When God delivers us from destruction, he doth not secure us from all affliction. Grace was never given us for a Target against external evils. Though we ●…ee not condemned with the world, yet we may be chastened in the world. Neither the truth nor strength of Jobs saith could secure him from the outward and bodily vexations of Satan, against the inward and spiritual, they could, and did prevail: so no repentance can assure us that we shall not smart with outward affliction; that can prevent the eternal displeasure of God; but still it may be necessary, and good, we should be corrected: our care and suit must be, that the evils which shall not be averted, may be sanctified.   

CHAP. 38.  
That Christ and all the Saints are our Partners, and partakers wito us in the Cross; yea, our sufferings are nothing in comparison of theirs.  
4 We shall bear the Cross with more patience and comfort, if we consider that Christ and all the Saints are our partners, and partakers therein; yea, thy sufferings are nothing in comparison of what others have suffered before thee. Look upon righteous Abel, thou shalt see his elder brother Cain had dominion and rule over him by God's appointment, Gen. 4. 7. Yea, in the next ver. thou shalt see him slain by his brother: After him look upon Noab, a most calamitous person as ever lived, as the Chronologer computes him: as for Lot, he had his righteous soul vexed from day to day. Look upon Job, thou shalt see that miseries do not stay for a mannerly succession to each other, but in a rude importunity throng in at once, to take away his children, substance, friends, credit, health, peace of conscience, etc. leaving him nothing but his wife, whom the Devil spared on purpose to vex him, as the Fathers think: so that in his own apprehension, God was his mortal enemy; as hear how in the bitterness of his soul he complains of his Maker, saying, He teareth me in his wrath, he hateth me; and gnasheth upon me with his teeth, he hath broken me asunder, taken me by the neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me lip for his mark: his Archers compass me round about, he cleaeth my reins asunder, and doth not spare to pour out my gall upon the ground, he breaketh me with breach upon breach, and runneth upon me like a Giant, Job. 16. Now when so much was uttered, even by a none-such for his patience; what may we think he did feel, and endure? Look upon Abraham, thou shalt see him forced to forsake his Country, and Father's house, to go to a place he knew not, to men that knew not him; and after his many removes, he meets with a famine, and so is forced into Egypt, which indeed gave relief to him, when Canaan could not; showing, that in outward things, Gods enemies may far better than his friends: yet he goes not without great fear of his life, which made it but a dear purchase; then he is forced to part from his brother Lot, by reason of strife and debate among their Herdsmen: after that; Lot is taken prisoner, and he is constrained to wage War with sour Kings at once, to rescue his Brother; then Sarah his wife is barren, and he must go childless, until (in reason) he is past hope: when he hath a Son, it must not only die, but himself must stay him. Now if that bosom wherein we all look to rest, was assaulted with so many sore trials, and so divers difficulties, is it likely we should escape? Look upon Jacob, you shall see Esau strive with him in the womb, that no time might be lost; after that you shall see him fly for his life from a cruel Brother, to a cruel Uncle; with a staff goes he over Jordan, alone, doubtful, and comfortlosse; not like the son of Isaac. In the way he hath no bed, but the cold earth; no pillow, but the hard stones; no sheet, but the moist air; no Canopy, but the wide Heaven: at last he is come fat to find out an hard friend, and of a Nephew becomes a servant; aafter the service of an hard Appronticeship, hath earned her whom he loved; his wife is changed, and he is not only disappointed of his hopes; but forced to marry another against his will, and now he must begin another Apprenticeship, and a new hope, where he made account of fruition: all which fourteen years he was consumed with heat in the day, with frost in the night: when he hath her whom he loves, she is barren: at last, being grown rich, chiefly in wives and children, accounting his charge, his wealth, he returns to his Father's house, but with what comfort? Behold, Laban follows him with one troop, Esau meets him with another; both, with hosile intentions: not long after, Rachel, the comfort of his life, dieth; his children, the staff of his age, wound his soul to death: Rouben proves incestuous, Judah adulterous, Dina is ravished, Sime on and Lovi are murderous, Er and Onan are stricken dead, Joseph is lost, Simeon imprisoned, Benjamin (his right hand) endangered, Himself driven by famine in his old age, to die among the Egyptians; a people that held it abomination to eat with him: And yet before he was born, it was, Jacob have I loved, and before any of this befell him, God said unto him, Be not afraid, I am with thee, and will do thee good, Gen. 28. 15. And did so, even by these crosses, for that's my good (saith the Proverb) that doth me good. Now what Son of Israel can hope for any good days, when he heats his Fathers were so evil? It is enough for us, if when we are dead, we can rest with him in the Land of Promise. Again, hear what David saith of himself; Thy arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore, Psal. 38. 2. And see what cause he had so to say; what were these Arrows? To let pass those many that Saul shot at him, which were sharp and keen enough: and those other of Doeg, when he flew fourscore and five of the Priests, and the whole City of Nob, both man and woman, child and suckling, for showing him kindness: Likewise Shimei's carriage towards him; also his distress at Ziglag, and those seventy thousand which perished by the Pestilence, upon his numbering the people, and the like. First, Nathan tells him from the Lord, that the sword should never depart from his house; and that he would raise up evil against him out of his own loins: here were as many Arrows as words. Again, the child which he had by Bathsheba was no sooner born, but it died, there was another Arrow: Tamar his daughter being marriageable, was destowred by his own Son Amnon: there was two more: Amnon himself, being in drink; was killed by Absalon at a Feast; there was another: This Absalon proves rebellious, and riseth in Arms against his own Father, & makeshim fly beyond Jordan, there was one more: He lieth with his Father's Concubines in the fight of all Israel, there was another: And how much do you think, did these Arrows wound the King's heart, and pierce his very soul? Lastly, look upon Lazarus, though Christ's bosom friend? Joh. 11. thou shalt see him labour under a mortaldisease, etc. though many souls were gained to the Gospel, and cured by his being sick: Si amatur (saith Saint Austin) quomodo infirinatur.  
Thus it were easy to show the like of Joseph, Jeremy, Daniel, John Paptist, Peter, Paul, and all the generaton of God's Children, and servants: For as the Apostle giveth a general testimony of all the Saints in the Old Testament; saying, That some endured the violence of fire, some were racked, others were tried by mockings and scourge, bonds and imprsonments; some stoned, some hewn in sunder, some slain with the sword, some wandered up and down in Sheepskins, and Goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented; some forced to wander in Wildernesses, and Mountains, and hide themselves in Dens, and Caves of the earth, being such as the world was not worthy of, Heb. 11. So Ecclesiastical History gives the like general testimony of all the Saints in the New Testament, and succeeding ages; for we read that of all the Apostles, none died a natural death save only Saint John, and he also was banished by Domitian to Pathmos: and at another time, thrust into a Tun of seething Oil at Rome; as Tertullian, and Saint Jerome do report. As for other believers, there was such a multitude of them suffered Martyrdom for professing the Gospel; whereof some were stoned, some crucified, some beheaded, some thrust through with spears, some burnt with fire, and the like; (for we read of twenty nine several deaths they were put unto) that Ecclesiastical History makes mention of, two thousand which suffered the same day with Nicanor. And after that, in the time of the Ten persecutions, were such an innumerable company of innocent Christians put to death, and tormented; that Saint Jerome, in his Epistle to Chromatius and Heliodorus, saith, There was not one day in the whole year, unto which the number of five thousand Martyrs might not be ascribed; except only the first day of January, who were put to the most exquisite deaths and torments, that ever the wit or malice, of Men or Devils could invent to inflict upon them. Since which time, the Turk and the Pope have acted their parts in shedding the blood of the Saints, as well as the Jews and Roman Empeours, as appears in the Book of Acts and Monuments, and Rev. 17. where the holy Ghost hath foretold, that the Whore of Babylon should fight with the Lamb, and they that are on his side, called, and chosen, and faithful, until she were even drunk with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus; which in part was fulfilled in England, under the Reign of Queen Mary: when in one year a Hundred seventy six persons of quality were burnt for Religion, with many of the common sort, and in France, where before theselate bloody Massacres, there were two Hundred Thousand which suffered Martyrdone, about Transubstantiation. And it is well known, that our Saviour Christ's whole life, even from his Cradle to his Grave, was nothing else but a continued act of suffering; yea, he was the person, upon whom, as upon one Centre, all our sorrows met: He that had all, possessed nothing, except the punishment due to our sins, which lay so heavy upon him for satisfaction; that it pressed his soul as it were to the nethermost Hell, and made him cry out in the anguish of his spirit, My God, My God, why hast thou sorsaken me? so that there is nothing befalls us, but hath befallen our betters before us: and to be free from crosses and afflictions, is the privilege only of the Church triumphant. For, qui non est Crucianus, non est Christianus, saith Luther: there is not a Christian, that carries not his Cross. It is only Heaven, that is above all winds, storms and tempests: Not hath God (saith Bernard) cast n●…n out of Paradise; for him to think to find out another Paradise in this world.  
Now the way not to repine at those above us, is to look at those below us; we seldom or never see any man served with simple favours. It is not for every one to have his soul sucked out of his mouth with a kiss, as the jews tell of Moses.  
It is a great word that Zazomen speak; of Apollonius, that he never asked any thing of God in all his life, that he obtained not. This is not our Paradi●…e, but our Pargatory; not a place of pleasure but a Pilgrimage; not a Triumph, but a Warfare: We cannot say of this world as Tully reports of Siracuse in Sicily, and others of Rhodes, that not one day passeth in which the Sun shines dot cl●…arly on them. Yea, we think he speeds well, that lives as it were, under a perpetual Equinoctial, having night and day equal, good and ill success in the same measure: for these compositions make both our crosses tolerable, and our blessings wholesom●… We that know not the afflictions of others, call our own the heaviest; every small current is a torrent, every brook, a River; every River a Sea: we make ourselves more miserable than we need, than we should, by looking upon our miseries in a multiplying glass; we measure the length of time, by the sharpness of our afflictions, and so make minutes seem hours, and days months. If we be sick, and the Physician promises to visit us to morrow with his best relief; with what a tedious longing do we expect his presence? Our imagination makes every day of our sorrows appear like Ioshua's day, when the Sun stood still in Gibeon. The Summer of our delights is too short: but the Winter of our affliction goes slowly off. We are so sensible of a present distress, and so ingrateful for favours past, that we remember not many years' health so much, as one days sickness: it is true, former meals do not relieve our present hunger, but this cottage of ours ruins strait, if it be not new daubed every day, new repaired. What then? shall todays Ague, make us forget yesterday health? and all Gods former favours? if he do not answer us in every thing; shall we take pleasure in nothing? Shall we slight all his blessings, because in one thing he crosseth us, whereas his least mercy is beyond our best merit? But if we think of our deliverance from the fire of Hell, this is cause enough to make us both patient and thankful; though the trifles we delight in be taken from us. Lord take away what thou pleasest for thy glory and my good, so long as thou savest me from the fire of Hell, and thy everlasting wrath. Neither is there a better remedy for impatience, than to cast up our receipts, and to compare them with our deservings. If thou lookest upon thy sufferings, thou shalt find them far easier than thy fins have deserved; nothing to what thy fellow Saints, and Christ, thy elder brother hath suffered before thee: at a Lion's den, or a fiery furnace; not to turn tail, were a commendation worthy a Crown: do but compare thy own estate with theirs, and thou shalt find cause to be thankful that thou art above any, rather than of envy or malice, that any is above thee, to domineer and insult over thee. Yea, compare thine own estate with thine enemies, thou shalt see yet greater cause to be thankful; for if these temporary dolours which God afflicts his people with, are so grievous to thee; how shall thine and God's enemies (though they suggest to themselves that God is all mercy, as if he wanted the other hand of his justice) endure that devouring fire, that everlasting burning? Isa. 33. 14. Psal. 68 21. Doth he make bloody wails on the backs of his Children? and shall bastards escape? doth he deal thus with his Sons; what will he do with his Slaves? cannot all the obedience of his beloved ones bear out one fin against God, as we see in Moses, David, Zachary, etc. Where will they appear that do evil, only evil, and that continually? The meditation whereof may be of some use to thee: Thales being asked how adversity might best be born? answered, By seeing our Enemies in worse estate than ourselves.   

CHAP. 39  
That the more we suffer here (so it be for righteousness sake) the greater our reward shall be hereafter.  
5 FIfthly, we shall bear the Cross with more patience and comfort; if, with Moses, we shall have respect unto the recompense of reward, which is promised to all that (notwithstanding what they shall suffer) persevere in well doing. Great are our trials, but salvation in heaven will one day make amends, when we shall have all tears wiped, from our eyes, when we shall cease to grieve, cease to sorrow, cease to suffer, cease to sin; when God shall turn all the water of our tears, into the wine of endless comfort; Yea, when our reward shall be so much the, more joyous, by how much more the course of our life hath been grievous.  
First, see what promises are made to suffering; Blessed are they which mourn, saith our Saviour, for they shall be comforted, Matth. 5. 4. Blessed are they which suffer persecution for righteousness, for theirs is, the Kingdom of heaven, ver. 10. They that suffer here for well-doing, shall be Crowned hereafter for well-suffering. Blessed shall you be when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you for my sake, sasty. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, ver. 11. 12. And nothing we suffer here, can be compared either with those woes we have deserved in Hell, or those joys we are reserved to in Heaven.  
When Marcus Marcellus, who was the first that saw the back of Hannibal in the field, was asked how he durst enter into battle with him 〈◊〉 he answered, I am a Roman born, and a Soldier, and by him I shall make my renown everlasting: How much more should the hope of life immortal, wihch is the life of our lives mortal, whe●… o●… ●…ude, and encourage us in the Christian warfare? And so it hath done with thousands: Origen was so earnest to suffer with his Father, when he was but sixteen years of age, that if his Mother had not kept his clothes from him, he would have run to the place where his Father suffered; to profess himself a Christian, and to have suffered with him: which was a common thing with the Martyrs, making all haste, lest they should miss of that noble entertainment.  
Yea, it hath not only been common for men in a bravado, to encounter death for a small flash of honour; but you shall see a bired servant venture his life for his new master, that will scarce pay him his wages at the years end: And can we suffer too much for our Lord and Master? who giveth every one that serveth him, not ●…lds and 〈◊〉 Saul pretended, 1 Sam. 22. Nor Towns and Cities, is Cicero is pleased to bo●…st of 〈◊〉: but even an hundred-fold more than we part withal in this life, and 〈◊〉 mansions in Heaven, John 14. 2. Therefore Bazil, when he was offered money and preferments to tempt him, answered: Can you give me money that can last for ever? and glory that may eternally flourish? And certainly nothing can be too much to endure, for those pleasures which endure for ever. Yea, if the love of gain makes the Merchant refuse no adventures of Sea: if the sweetness of honey makes the Bears break in upon th●… ●…ves, contemning the stings; Who would not get heaven at any rate, at any cost or trouble whatsoever? But to go on, Behold, saith God, it shall come to pass, that the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days, yet fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. For be but thou faithful unto death, and I will give th●… the Crown of life, Rev. 2. 10. And again, ●…ssed is the man that endureth temtatation; for when he is tried he shall receive the Crow●… of life, Jam. 1. ver. 12. A Crown without cares, without rivals, without 〈◊〉, without end. 
Now if you consider it,  
The gain with hardness makes it far less hard;  
The dangers great, but so is the reward.   
The sight of glory future, mitigates the sense of misery pres●…: For if Jacob thought not his service tedious, because his beloved Rachel was in his eye; what can be thought grievous to him, that hath Heaven in his eye? Adrianus seeing the Martyrs suffer such grievous things: he asked why they would endure such misery, when they might (〈◊〉 ●…ing) free themselves? to which one of them aleadged that text, Eye hath not seen, nor ear beard, etc. the ●…eing whereof, and seeing them suffer so cheerfully, did so convert him; that, afterwards he became a Martyr ton●….  
Lastly (not to enlarge myself, as I might in promises of reward) Whosoever shall forsake Houses, or Brethren, or Sisters, or Father, or Mother, or Wife, or Children, or Lands, for my name sake; he shall receive an hundred-●…old more, and shall inherit everlasting life Matth. 19 29. This is ●…reasure worthy our hearts, a purchase worth our lives. Wherefore, eye not the stream thou wadest through, but the firm Land thou tendest to.  
And indeed, who is there that shall hear these promises, and compare the seedtime with the Harvest; look up from the root to the fruit, consider the recompense of the reward: 〈◊〉 will not choose rather to suffer adversity with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season, Heb. 11. 25. Who will not be willing to suffer with Christ, that he may also reign with him 3 2 Tim. 2. 12. Who will not suffer these light afflictions which are but for ●…ment, when they cause unto us a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory 3 2 Cor. 4. 16. 17. Was Lazarus for a time extreme miserable? he is now in Abraham's bosom. Yea, blessed Lazarus, thy sores and sorrows 〈◊〉 ceased, but thy joys are everlasting. Now me thinks if thou but considerest that thy pain will shortly pass, but thy joys shall never pass away; it should prove a notable sovereign Cordial to strengthen thee; not only against reproaches which attend thy profession, but even against fire and fagg●…t. Who would not be a Philpot for a mo●…th, o●… a Lazarus for a day, or a Stephen for an hour, that he might be in Abraham's bosom for ever? nothing can ●…ee too much to endure, for those pleasures which endure fore●…er▪  
It is true, if in this life only ●…ce had hope in Christ, we ●…re of all men the most miserable, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Cor. 1●…. 1●…. But thou must consider, that as this life is our Hell, and ti●…e wickeds Heaven, Job. 16. 20. So the next life shall be their Hell, and our Heaven, ver. 21. 33. Prov. 16, 4. As Dives was in Abraham's bosom, when Lazarus was in torments; so Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom, when Dives was in torments, Luk. 16. ver. 23. 25. And herein we ●…re no worse, than C●…st; Did not his Spirit pass from the Cross, into Paradise? Did not he first descend into Hell, and then had his ascension? Suppose thy sufferings be great, what then? Assure thyself, that every pang is a prevention of the pains of Hell, and every respite, an earnest of Heaven's rest; and how many stripes dost thou esteem Heaven worth? It is true, flesh and blood is so sensual, that it feels a little pain in the finger, a great deal more than the health of the whole body. But let us better consider on it, and behold at once the whole state of a Christian, we shall see his peace exceed his pain; ye●…, we shall see both the torments present, and the glory following. Hope makes absent jales, present, wants, plenitude●…, and beguiles calamity, as good company does, the way. The poor traveller, in thinking of his Inn, goes on more cheerfully, and the bond man, in calling to mind the year of Jubilee. When the Apprentice calls to ●…nd that his years of covenant will now shortly expire, and then he shall have his freed●… confirmed; the very ●…emembrance thereof ●…eth many labour some works seem more light, and less grievous unto him: neither doth he afterwards repent it. Did it ever repent Jacob, when he came to inherit his Father's blessing, that he had endured a long exile, and tedious bondage? Or Joseph, when he was once made Ruler in Egypt, that he had formerly been sold thither and there imprisoned? and he had never been a Courtier, if he had not f●…st been a prisoner: Or did it repent the Israelites when they came to inherit the Land of promise, that they had formerly been forty years passing through a forlorn wilderness. Or which of God's servants did ever repent that they had passed the apprenticeship of their service here, and were now gone to be made free in glory? If so, let us do and fu●…er cheerfully, patiently, courageously, what God imposeth upon us: knowing that after we have sweat and smarted but fix days at the utmost, then cometh our Sabbath of eternal rest, which will make a mends for all; knowing that death ends our misery, and begins our glory, and a few groans are well bestowed for a Preface to an immortal joy. Let then our eyes he continually on the joys which follow, and not on the pain which is present; the pain neglected and unregarded cannot be very uncomfortable.  
But that there is reward promised to those which suffer in Christ's cause, is not all, for our reward shall be answerable to our sufferings: the greater our sufferings are here, the greater shall our reward ●…ee hereafter, Matth. 16. 27. The deluge of calamities may assault us, but they shall exalt us. By our crosses sanctified, weight is added to our Crown of Bliss, for according to the measure of our afflictions, God weigheth unto us of his graces, that we may be able to bear them, and according to the measure of our graces, he proportioneth our glory, and sature happiness. Suffering for the Gospel is no inferior good work, and every one shall be rewarded, though not. for, yet according to his works, Psal. 62. 12. Rom. 2. 6. Rev 22. ver. 12. The Apostles tell Christ, we have left all and followed thee, Matt●…. 19 27. Christ tells them, when I sit on my Throne, ye s●…ll sit on Thrones with me, ver. 28. They that turn many unto righteousnes●… 〈◊〉 shine as the stars in the Kingdom of heaven, Dan. 12. 3. And they ●…t suffer Martyrdom, shall be clothed with long white Robes, and have Palms in their hands, Rev. 6. 9 11. Now, there be three sor●… of Martyrs, Re & intention; intention, non re; re, non intention: in both deed and intention, as was Saint Steven; in intention, not deed, as was Saint John; in deed, not in intention, as were the innocents'. But, where the conflict is more hard, the conquest obtained shall be more glorious: for as Chrysostom speaks, According to the tribulations laid upon, and born by us; shall our retribution of glory be proportioned. And persecutors (saith Bernard) are but our Father's Goldsmiths: working, to add pearls to the Crowns of the Saints.  
Yea, ever where more work is done, there more wages is given; and when the fight, or conflict is sharper, and the victory harder, the glory of the triumph is greater, and the Crown of reward more glorious. Whence it was that those Saints in the Old Testament, which were racked and tortured, would not be delivered, or accept of their enemies fair offers, to the end they might receive a bet●…er resurrection, and a more glorious reward; Heb. 11. 35. Neither would we wish our work easirs; or our burden lighter, if we looked up to the recompense of reward: for it may be well applied here, which was misapplied in the trial of that holy man Job, We do not serve God for nothing. Though we must not serve him merely for reward, as hir●…lings, nor for fear as servants; but as children, for love.  
O that (when we suffer most) we would but meditate and look upon with the eye of faith, the fullness of those joys, and sweetness of those pleasures, which (having once finished our course) we shall enjoy at God's righ●… hand for evermore: Psal. 16. 11. being such as eye hath not seen, nor ea●… heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man to conceive: 1 Cor. 2. 9 Fo●… certainly the remembrance thereof, would even raise up our souls from ou●… selves, and make us contemn▪ and slight what ever our enemies could do; as it did our forefathers: much more to sleight reproaches, which are such hug-●…ears to a great many. And no marvel, if that which ha●… made so many contemn fire and saggot, make us contemn the blasts of men's breath.  
But I hope enough hath been said, in showing that our enemies in stea●… of robbing, enrich us; and in lieu of hurting, pleasure us; sith they greate●… our graces, and augment our glory; sith if the conflict be more sharp, th●… Crown will be more glorious. Wherefore if our trials be small, let us bear them with patience, which makes even great burdens easy; if they be great and grievous, let us bear them patiently too; since great is the weight of glory that ensueth them: whereas no suffering, no reward; yea, if we be not chastened here, we shall be condemned hereafter, 1 Cor. 11. 32. And whether had you rather rejoice for one ●…it, or always? you would do both, which may not be; you would be both Dives and Lazarus, have happiness both here and hereafter: pardon me, it is a fond covetousn●…sse, a●… idle singularity to affect it: What, that you alone may far better than 〈◊〉 Saints? That God should strew Carpets for your feet only, to walk 〈◊〉 your Heaven; and make that way smooth for you, which all Patriarches, Prophets, Evangelists, Confessers, and Christ himself have found rugged, and bloody? Away with this self-love, and come down you ambitious sons of zebedees; and ere you think of sitting near the Throne, be contented to be called unto the Cup. Now is your trial: Let your Savio●…r see how much of his bitter potion you can pledge; then shall you see ho●… much of his glory he can afford you. In all Feasts, the coursest meats are tasted first: be content to drink of his Vinegar and Gall, and after you shall drink new wine with him in his Kingdom. Besides, without some kind of suffering, how shall your sincerity be approved? Even nature is j●…d and cheerful whiles it prospereth, but let God withdraw his hand; no sight, no trust: The mother of Micha, while her wealth lasteth, can dedicate a good part of her silver to the Lord, but now she hath lost it, she falls a cursing, Judg. 17. 1, 2, 3. Catiline, whiles poor, had many seeming virtues, but having feathered his nest, you could hardly say, whether he was most lavish of his money, or of his modesty. But to be equally good in a prosperous, and adverse condition, deservs praise: When our resolution and practice is like that Maids in Plutarch, who being set in the Market. to be sold, when a Chapman asked her, Wilt thou be faithful, if I buy thee●… said; Yea, that I will, though you do not buy me.  
We all are never weary of receiving, soon weary of attending; we are ready to shrink from Christ, so soon as our profits or pleasures shrink from us: But if with the Needle of the Compass, in the midst of tempestuous weather, we remain always unmoveable, and stayed upon one point; it is a sign the Loadstone of the Gospel hath changed our hearts; and we are governed by Christ, as the Needle is by the North-Pole. Wherefore if God should not frame outward things to thy mind, do thou frame thy mind to endure with patience and comfort what he sends; and this will be an Odour smelling sweet, a Sacrifice acceptable and pleasant to God: yea, herein thou shalt approve thyself with David, a man after God's own heart; and you know, that as David was unto God according to his heart, so was God unto David according to his.   

CHAP. 40. Application of the former grounds.  
ANd so you have the residue of the grounds of comfort, it remains that I should apply them: For this Doctrine, though it be better▪ understood then practised, as Cassandra was better known than trusted: yet being both known, applied, and duly trusted to, will (like the Sun) not only delight our understandings with its contemplation, but also warm and quicken our affections. Wherefore, is there any weak Christian so white●…ver'd with Nicodemus, that the reproaches and Persecutions which attend his profession, make him ashamed of Christ, or cause him to think that it is in vain to serve the Lord: whereby he is frighted our of the narrow way that leadeth to life? Let him draw near, for I chiefly direct my speech unto him: Are afflictions and persecutions so necessary and profitable, as hath been showed? Doth not God only gain glory by our sufferings? but do they also bring us to repentance, and amendment of l●…fe? stir us up to prayer, wean us from the love of the world, keep us always prepared for our enemy's assaults, discover whether we are sincere or no, make us humble, improve all Christian graces in us? Is God more specially present with us in afflictions? Cannot our enemies diminish one hair of our heads, without God's special leave and appointment? Hath he promised that we shall not be tempted above our strength? Are these stripes the chiefest tokens and pledges of God's love and adoption? Were none of his children ever exempted from the like? And lastly, shall our momentany sufferings be rewarded with everlasting glory? Yea, shall our glory be increased, as our sufferings have been more? Then let them serve as so many ●…estoratives to thy fainting spirit; yea, Lift up thy hands which hang down, and strengthen thy weak knees, Heb. 12. 12. For, I suppose thy fainting and drooping is from fear, and thy fear from doubting, and thy doubting from unbelief, and thine unbelief chiefly from ignorance of these things: and whence is thine ignorance of these, but this? Thou hast never been conversant in the book of God; or if thou hast, thou didst never seriously ponder these Scriptures which have formerly been rehearsed: for hadst thou seriously considered them, thou wouldst not have dared to make that an occasion of grief and prejudice, which the Spirit of God maketh the greatest cause of joy and confirmation that can be. For, what can be spoken more express, direct, and significant? What demonstrations can be given more solid? What Fortifications or Bulwarks so strong and safe agaiest the affronts of Satan, and the World? Thou sayest thou art persecuted for well-doing, and therefore thinkest it a strange thing. God saith it is, and ever hath been common to all his children, not Christ himself excepted.  
Take notice of these things, (for it is the God of all truth and blessedness that speaks them) and apply them to thyself, as if they were particularly spoken to thee by name; even as when twenty be in a room, where is a fair well-drawn picture; every one thinks the picture loo●… upon him: and have not more modesty or manners (in leaving those dishes for thy betters) than will do thee good. Be not like a Monkey which looking in a glass, thinks he sees another Monkey's face, and not his own: And know withal, that it is no small sin even to doubt, when we have God's command and warrant to secure us.  
Thou thinkest thyself miserable; God saith, thou art blessed: Thou sayest, thou art hated of the world; God saith, thou art beloved of Christ; who hath chosen thee out of the world: Thou thinkest it a shame to be reproached; God saith, It is thy glory: Thou grievest at it; God saith, thou hast great cause to rejoice; for it showeth thee to be born of God, thine enemies to be the seed of the Serpent. Thou sayest, that all things go cross with thee; God saith, That all things shall work together for the best; it may be the increase of thy temporal happiness: however, that it shall be for the improvement of thy graces here, for the advancement of thy glory hereafter. Thou thinkest it a sign of displeasure; God saith, it is to thy Enemies, a token of perdition, but to thee, of salvation: Thou thinkest thyself near forsaken; God saith, The spirit of glory, and of God, resteth upon thee: Thou sayest, thou shalt one day perish; God saith, that neither things present, nor things to come, shall ever▪ be able to separate thee from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thou thinkest the Lord doth not hear thee, because he doth not presently answer thee in the things that thou requirest: I tell thee, it were ill jor the best of us, if we were permitted to be our own choosers: Let Peter have his desire, and his Master shall not die; so Peter himself, and the whole world had been lost. In unfit supplications we are most heard, when we are repelled: our God often times doth answer our prayers with merciful denials, and most blesseth us in crossing our desires. We may ask either bad things to a good purpose; or, good things to a bad purpose; or, good things to a good purpose, but in an ill season. Now, if we ask what is either unfit to receive, or unlawful to beg, it is a great favour of our God to be denied: granting is not always the effect of love; if so, then had Paul been less loved than Satan: Satan begged but once, and had his payer granted, concerning Job: S. Paul begged thrice that he might not be buffeted, yet was denied: Satan begged his shame; who envied his success? Saint Paul that freedom from temptation, which would have been worse had than wanted: yea, if granting were always an effect of love; then was our blessed Saviour less loved than Satan; for the Lord would not let the Cup of his Passion pass from him upon his earnest prayer, which he made as he was Man. But you must know, that denials in some cases are better than grants: the Lord will not take away the body of sin from us upon our earnest prayers, yet he granteth us that which is equivalent; viz. Grace to subdue our corruptions; and withal takes away the occasion of pride, which is better: for certainly he is more supported of God, that hath grace given him to conquer a temptation; as had the Martyrs, in being able to suffer those tortures; than another who is excused to fight.  
Again, we must not measure God's hearing of our suit, by his present answer; or his present answer by our own sense: touching the first, Zachary a long time failed of a Son for all his Prayer; but when he had even forgot that Prayer, he had a Son; the Angel brings him good news, Luk. 1. 13. Thy Prayer is heard: When did he make this Prayer? Not lately; for than he was gr●…n old, and had given over all hope of a child: so that his request was passed over many years, and no answer given.  
The like example we have in Hannah, who pouring out her soul before the Lord, in the trouble of her spirit; God did not immediately tell her by revelation that she should conceive a Son, but he gave her for the present, faith; which did work in her joy, and peace of conscience: for (saith the text) she looked no more sad; and when she had waited his leisure a certain time, The Lord remembered her with a Son, 1 Sam. 1. There is nothing between God and thee, but time; prescribe not his wisdom, hasten not his mercy, now his grace is enough for you, his glory shall be more than enough hereafter. Tarry a little the Lords leisure, deliverance will come, peace will come, joy will come: thy tears are reserved, thine hunger shall be satisfied, thy sorrow shall be comforted: In the mean while to be patient in misery, makes misery no misery: while we consider that when a little brunt is once past, troubles will cease, but joys shall never cease.  
Wherefore, let us never give over, but in our thoughts knit the beginning, progress, and end together; and then shall we see ourselves in Heaven, out of the reach of all our enemies.  
2. To prove that we are not to judge of Gods answering our prayers, by our own sense; I need but to instance the woman of Canaan, (as what can speed well, if the prayer of faith from the knees of humility succeed not?) and yet behold, the further she goes, the worse she fares; her discouragement is doubled with her suit: It is not good (saith our Saviour) to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs; here was cold comfort: yet stay but a while, he clears up his brows, and speaks to her so comfortably, that 'twere able to secure any heart, to dispel any fears. O Saviour! how different are thy ways from ours, when even thy severity argues favour! The trial had not been so sharp, if thou hadst not found the saith so strong, if thou hadst not meant the issue so happy: It is no unusual thing for kindness to look sternly for the time, that it may endear itself more, when it lists to be discovered.  
It was cold comfort that the Cripple heard from Peter and John, when he begged of them an alms; Silver and gold have I none: but the next clause, 'vise up and walk, made amends for all. O God we may not always measure thy meaning by thy semblance; sometimes what thou most intendest, thou showest least●… In our afflictions thou turn'st thy back upon us, and hidest thy face from us, when thou most mindest our distresses. So Jonathan shot the arrows beyond David, when he meant them to him: So, Joseph calls for Benjamin into bands, when his heart was bound to him in the strongest affection; so, the tender mother makes as if she would give away her crying-child, whom she hugps so much closer in her bosom. If thou pass by us whiles we are struggling with the tempest, we know it is not for want of mercy, thou can●…st not neglect us: Oh let not us distrust thee! if thou comest, it is to relieve us; if thou stayest, it is to try us; howsoever, thy purpose is to save us. Surely God will work done, and man must not be of his counsel. Wherefore many times he deals with wicked men, as Eutrapilus sometimes did with his subjects; who when he was minded to do a poor man a mischief, would give him abundance of wealth; whereas contrarily his children find themselves crossed with a blessing. Possidonius tells us of Austin, that when there was wait laid for his life; through God's providence he missed his way; whereby his life was preserved, and his adversaries disappointed. As when Isabel Queen of England was to repass from Zealand into her own Kingdom, with an Army, in favour of her Son against her Husband, she had utterly been cast away, had she come unto the Port intended, being there expected by her enemies: but Providence, against her will, brought her to another place, where she safely landed. Yea, this I have seen, two men striving for the way, one receiving a switch over the face, draws his Bapyer to kill the other; but by a providence, in making the offer, his saddle swayed to the horse-belly; whereby in all likelihood, the one was saved from killing, the other from hanging: for before he could make after him, he was rid a mile. And have not some been detained (by a violent storm) from coming home, whereby they have been exempt from ceiling the down-fall of their house? Sure I am the letting fall of my Glove in the dark, once proved a means of saving me from drowning; while another stepping before me, found the danger to his cost. And indeed, how infinitely should we entangle ourselves, if we could sit down and obtain our wishes! Do we not often wish that, which we after see would be our confusion; because we ignorantly follow the flesh, and blinded appetite, which looks on nothing but the shell and outside; whereas God respecteth the soul, and distributeth his favour for the good of that, and his glory? It is an argument of love in the Father, when he takes away the Child's knife, and gives him a book. We, cry for riches, or liberty, or peace; they are knives to cut our fingers: wherefore God gives us his Word, the riches of verity, not of vanity: He gives us that glorious liberty to be the Sons of God, he gives us that peace which the world cannot give, nor take away: wherefore let the Christian understand, God his Physician, Tribulation his physic; being afflicted under the medicine, thou criest, the Physician hears thee, not according to thy will, but thy weal; thou canst not endure thy malady; and wilt thou not be patient of the remedy? No man would be more miserable, than he that should cull out his own ways: What a specious show carried Midas his wish with it, and how did it pay him with ruin at last? Surely I have seen matters fall out so unexpectedly, that they have tutored me in all affairs, neither to despair, nor to presume; not to despair, for God can help me; not to presume, for God can cross me: One day made Marius Emperor, the next saw him rule, and the third he was slain of his Soldiers. Well then, if with Paul thou hast besought the Lord often, that thy present affliction might depart from thee, and canst not be heard in the thing which thou desirest; know that thou art heard in that which is more conducible to thy profit: and consequently rejoice more in that thy petition is denied, than if it had been granted. This was the use which Saint Paul made of God's denial, and he knew what he did, though he had as much to boast, and rejoice of, as any one living: yet, saith he, of myself I will not rejoice, except it be, of mine infirmities: that is, afflictions, reproaches, persecutions, inward temptations, fears, distrust, etc. But in these I will very gladly rejoice, Why? That the power of Christ may dwell in me: Note his reason, he had heard God say, that his power was made perfect through weakness, 2 Cor. 12. 8, 9 Neither had he only cause to rejoice in his infirnities, but all God's people have the same cause to rejoice; for, what the spirit of comfort speaks in this, and in all the former places recited, do equally belong to thee for thy consolation, with all the regenerate; for whatsoever was written afore-time, was written for thy learning and mines that we through patience, and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope, Rom. 15. 4. And accordingly, will a good hearer apply to himself whatsoever is written in the Word; for as the stomach sends the strength of the meat into every, member of the body: so we should send to the eye, that which is spoken to the eye; and to the ear, that which is spoken to the ear; and to the tongue, that which is spoken to the tongue; and to the hand, that which is spoken to the hand; and so to the heart, and every faculty and member of soul and body: if we hear comfort, we should apply it to fear; if we hear a promise, we should apply that to our distrust; if we hear a threatening, we should apply that to our presumption; and so fill up the gap still where the Devil would enter. And indeed, had it not been for this Aqua coelestis, David had surely fainted in his affliction, Psal. 27. ver. 13. & 119. 72. but this good Word from heaven fetch him again, when he was ready to sink: and indeed, if Moses and the Prophets, the Evangelists and Apostles will not comfort us in this case, then as Abraham told Dives in another ca●… nothing will persuade, nor prevail. Believest thou the former. Scriptures spoken by Christ, and his Apostles? I know that thou believest, with some mixture of unbelief; and art almost persuaded, not only to do, but to suffer cheerfully for well-doing. But why dost thou not altogether believe, that it is a blessed and happy thing thus to suffer? Mat. 5. 10, 11, 12. That thou hast great cause to rejoice and be glad that thou art counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ's name? Acts 5. 41. Thou seest it is not for nothing that David acknowledgeth, It was good for him that be was afflicted, Psal. 119. 71. that Job blesseth the time that ever he was corrected, Job 42. That Jeremy prayed for correction as a good thing, Jer. 10. 24. That a whole Church voted the same, Lam. 3. 27. It is not for nothing that Chr●…t saith, Blessed and happy are ye when men revile you, and persecute you: That Saint James saith, Count it exceeding joy, when ye fall into divers temptations, James 1. 2. It is not for nothing that Saint Paul saith, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, an ●…cessities, in persecutions, in anguish, for Christ's sake, etc. 2 Cor. 12. 10. That Peter and John, when they were beaten and imprisoned, departed from the Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer rebuke for Christ's name, Act. 5. 41. For, even bearing the Cross with Christ, is as great a preferment in the Court of Heaven, as it is in an earthly Co●…t for the P●…nce to take off his own Robe, and put it on the back of one of his servants; as you may perceive by the Lord's speech to Paul, Act. 9 15, 16. & 23. ver. 11. and our Saviour Christ's words to his Apostles, Ast. 1. 8. yea, to suffer for Christ (saith Father Latimer) is the greatest privilege that God gives in this world: and the story of Job is a book-case to prove it: for did not God by him, as sometimes a Schoolmaster with his Pupil, who when he hath polished and perfected a good Scholar, brings him forth, provokes adversaries to set upon him with hard questions, and takes a pride to see the fruit of his own labours. And in the wars, to have the bottect and most dangerous services imposed upon them by their ●…eneral, is accounted the greatest honour: neither will he confer the same upon any, but the stoutest and most valiant. This Rod of the Lord (like Abasuerus his Sceptre) is never stretched forth toward any of his, but in great love and favour. It is like the kiss, which Cyrus, in Xenophon, gave to Chrysanthas, which was accounted a greater and more special favour, than the Cup of gold which he gave to Artabazus: Which being so, let us in this particular, imitate the Muscovitish women, who will not think their husbands love them, unless they chastise them; and the Indians, who are ambitious to be burnt with them; and the Thracians, who are proud to wear their scars. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, Heb. 11. 25, 26. And the Apostles esteemed it a grace, to be disgraced for him: and shall we grumble, or think much at it? No: in the greatest extremity of straits, let us acknowledge it a favour, and give him thanks: and so much the rather, for that it is more acceptable to God, to give him thanks once in adversity, than six hundred times in prosperity, as a grave Divine well observs: and indeed, it is the sum of all Religion to be thankful to God in the midst of miseriex.  
True, it is hard for Job, when the terrors of God fight against him, and the arrows of the Almighty stick so sast 〈◊〉 him, that the venom thereof hath drunk up his spirit, Job 6. 2, 3, 4. to think it a special favour and dignity, but so it was, being rightly considered. It was hard for joseph's br●…hren to hear him speak roughly unto them, take them for spies, accuse them of theft, and commit them to prison, Gen. 42. 30. and think, it is all out of love; much more hard for 〈◊〉 to be cull▪ d cut from the rest, and committed to ward, while his brethren are set at liberty, Vers. 24. and yet it was so; yea he loved him best, whom he seemed to favour least: yet, such is the 〈◊〉 of our nature; that as weak eyes are dazzled with the ●…ght which should comfort them, so there is nothing more common with God's Children, than to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 causes of 〈◊〉 joy, and 〈◊〉 with that which is intended for their confirmation. Even Manoah conceius death in that vision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 did consist: Judg. 13. 22. And the Shepherds, Luk. 2. who were sore afraid, when the Angel of the Lord came to bring them good tidings of great joy to all people; viz. their Saviour's Birth, which ●…as Christ the Lord, Vers. 9 10. But what hath been the answer of GOD always to his children, in such their ecstasies, but this? Fear not, Gideon, Judg. 6. 23. Fear not, Joseph, Mat. 1. 20. Fear not Zachary, 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉. 13. Fear not Abraham, for I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward, Gen. 15. 1. Fear not, Paul, for I am with thee, and no man shall lay hands on thee to do thee hurt, etc. Acts. 18. 9 10. the words are often repeated (as Pharaohs dreams were doubled) for the sureness. Yea, to the end, that we should be fearless in all our sufferings, so long as we suffer not as evil doers, 1 Pet. 4. 15. Fear not, as one well notes, is the first word in the Annunciation of Christ's Conception; and the first word in the first An●…iation of his Birth: and the first word in the first Annuuntiation of his Resurrection, and almost the last words in his last exhortation, a little before his death, are, Let not your hearts be troubled, and be of good comfort, strengthening his followers, and sweet●…ing his Cross by divers forcible reasons, 〈◊〉 21. Mark. 13. And the words of dying men have ever been most emphatical, most effectual. Nay, more than all this, if yet thou wilt not be comforted, look but Joh. 16. 20. and thou shalt have thy Saviour assure ●…hee by a double bond: His Word I say, Oath Ver●…ly, verily, I say unto you. that though for the present you do fear, and sorrow, and weep; yet all shall be turned into joy, 〈◊〉 that joy shall no man be able to take from you, v. 22. And so much of the Patience of the Woman's seed. Innocency Felicity If you will see the Malice of the Serpent's seed: Subtly Misery  
Read the three foregoing parts; viz. 


The cause and cure of Ignorance Error. etc.  
The cure of Misprision.  
Characters of the kinds of preaching.     
The last where●… sold only by James Crump, in Little bartholomew's Well-yard.   

A twofold PRAYER for the Morning and for the Evening, as also another to be said at any time.  Jer. 1●… 25. Pour out thy fury upon them that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. Psal. 145. 18. Rom. 10. 12. The Lord is nigh and rich unto all that call upon him in truth. Isa. 65. 24. Before they call I will answer, and whiles they are yet speaking I will hear. Jer. 33. 3. Call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. 1 Joh. 5. 14. If we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. Joh. 16. 23. Mat. 21. 22. Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name, believing, he will give it you. Psal. 55. 17. Evening and Morning, and at Noon will I pray. 

A PRAYER for the Morning. O Lord prepare our hearts to Pray.  
O Most glorious LORD GOD, and in JESUS CHRIST our most merciful and loving Father; in whom we live, and move, and have our being; in the multitude of thy mercies we desire to approach unto thee, from whom all good things do proceed; who knowest our necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in ask. It is true, O Lord, if we should consider only our own unworthiness, and how we have heretofore abused thy goodness and long-suffering towards us; we might rather despair with Judas, and like Adam run from thee, then dare to approach thy glorious presence. For we confess, O Lord, to the shame and confusion of our own faces, that—  
— as we brought a world of sin into the World with us, and deserved to die so soon as we began to live; so ever since that thou hast spared us, we have done nothing but add sin unto sin, as thou hast added mercy to mercy: For we have been no less rebellious unto thee, than thou hast been beneficial unto us. We do daily and hourly break all thy commandments, adding unto that our original corruption which we were conceived and borne in, all manner of actual transgressions, by sins of Omission, sins of Commission, sins of Ignorance, sins of Knowledge, sins against conscience; yea, sins of Presumption and Will fullness, and that in thought, word, and deed. We have sinned against thy Law, and against thy Gospel, against thy mercies, and against thy judgements, against the many warnings, and the abundance of means, afforded by thee to reclaim us, against the spirit ●…of grace cotinually knocking at the doors of our hearts, with infinite checks and holy motions, — as our first Parents left us a large stock of sin, so we have improved the same beyond measure; O that we could have so improved that stock of grace which we have received from thee! But whereas thou gavest us as large a portion, we suddenly lost it. We were created indeed by thee, after thine own image, in righteousness, & holiness, & in knowledge of the Truth: But alas! now our understandings are so darkened and dulled, our judgments so blinded, our wills so perverted, our affections so corrupted, our reason so exiled, our thoughts so surprised, our desires so entrapped, and a●…l the faculties and functions of our souls so disordered, that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think, much less to speak, least of all to do aught that is good. And yet usually like Bladders, we are not more empty of grace, than we are blown up with pride: whereby with Laodicea, we not once see our own spiritual misery and nakedness; but think we are rich and good enough, as wanting nothing; when as scarce Our ears have been always open to the 〈◊〉, sh●… unto thee; we have abused our eyes to wantonness, our mouths to filthiness, and our feet have been swift to all evil, flow to aught that is good. any ●…ark of grace yet appears in us. Yea, so far have we been from loving and serving thee, that we have hated those that do it, and that for their so doing. And so far have we been from performing that vow which we made to Christ in our Baptism, when we took his press-money to be his Soldiers, and serve him in the field of this world, against his and our enemies; that we have renounced our vow made ●…o him, ●…dd fled from his standard; yea, fought for Satan and the World, seeking to win all we could from Christ, by tempting to sin, and by persecuting such as were better than ourselves; so that all our recompense of thy love unto us, hath been to do that which thou hatest, and to hate those whom thou lovest. Yea, we cannot deny but we have persecuted thee with Paul, denied thee with Peter, betrayed thee with Judas, and crucified thee with those cruel Jews. And as we have committed one sin on the neck of another, so we have multiplied, and many times repeated them, by falling often into the same wickedness, whereby our sins are become for number, as the sands of the Sea, and as the Stars of Heaven. Now Lord it being thus with us, how can we expect that thou shouldest hear our prayers, & grant our requests? yea, how can we look for other at thine hands, then great and grievous, yea, then double damnation? as most justly we have deserved. Yet—   
Yet most most merciful Father, being that thou hast given thy Son, and thy Son himself for the ransom of so many as shall truly repent, and unfeignedly believ in him, who hath for our sakes fulfilled all righteousness; yet, suffered on the Cross, and there made full satisfaction for the sins of all thine Elect.  
And seeing thou hast appointed Prayer, as one special means for the obtaining of thy grace, unto which thou hast annexed this comfortable promise, that where two or three be gathered together in thy Name, thou wilt be in the midst of them, and grant their requests; and since our Redeemet hath assured 〈◊〉, that And likewise knowing, that mercy pleaseath thee, and that the sole perfection of a Christian, is the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and the not-imputation of his own unrighteousness: whatsoever we shall ask thee in his name, thou wilt give it us:   
We are emboldened to sue unto thee our God for grace, that we may be able to repent and believe.  
Wherefore for thy promise sake, for thy Son's sake, and for thy great Names sake, we beseech thee send down thy holy Spirit into our souls, regenerate our hearts, change and purify our natures, subdue our reason, rectify our judgements, strengthen our wills, renew our affections, put a stop to our madding and straying fancies, beat down in us whatsoever stands in opposition to the Sceptre of Jesus Christ; and enable us in some measure, both to withstand that which is evil, and perform that which is good and pleasing in thy sight.  
Yea give us repentance never to be repent of, and possess our souls with such a dreadful awe of thy Majesty, that we may fear as well to commit small sins as great ones, considering that the least sin is mortal without our repentance, & thy mercy: as well fear to sin in secret as openly, since there is nothing hid from thee: as well condemn ourselves for evil thoughts as evil deeds, considering that the Law is spiritual, binding the heart no less than the hands; as well abstain from the occasions of fin, as sin itself; and consider that it is not enough, to abstain from evil, unless we hate it also, and do the contrary good. And because every day which does not abate of our reckoning, will increase it; and that by procrastinating, we shall but heap unto ourselves wrath against the day of wrath: Good Lord, suffer us not, we beseech thee, to defer our repentance, lest the custom of evil makes it altogether unalterable in us: or lest we die before we begin to live: or lest thou resusest to hear us another day, calling upon thee for mercy: because we refuse to hear thee now, calling to us for repentance. And now O Lord, since thou hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day, we beseech the to defend, and dierct us in the same: and as thou hast blest us in our lying down, and in our rising up, so protect & prosper us in our going forth, & in our coming home: shield and deliver us from the snares of the Hunter, who lieth in wait for our souls; and is continually labouring our everlasting destruction. And no less arm us against the allurements of the world, wherein we shall meet with many provocations, and temptations: and that 〈◊〉 may not lead ourselus, nor be Wherefore if we be not yet converted, let this be the happy hour of our conversion; that as our bodies are risen by thy power, and providence from sleep, so our souls may daily be raised from the sleep of sin, and the darkness of this world; that so we may enjoy that everlasting light, which thou hast prepared for thine; and purchased with the blood of thy dear Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Give unto us, we beseech thee, a true, lively, and justifying faith, whereby we may lay hold upon those gracious promises, which thou hast made unto us in him; and wherewith we may vanquish all our spiritual adversaries. Seal up unto us the assurance of our salvation, by the testimony of thy blessed Spirit. Give to led into temptation; give us wisdom to beware of men, even of associating ourselves with the vicious, like Joseph: lest otherwise with David, we be drawn to dissemble: or with Peter, to deny thee: for sin is of a catching, and infectious quality: and our corrupt hearts are like tinder, which will kindle with the least spark: especially O Lord, keep us from yielding to their solicitations, or following their customs, of drink ing, swearing, slandering, and making the worst construction of thin●…s: of mocking, and scoffing at religion, or the religious: let not custom and example any whit prevail with us, without, or against thy written Word; lest we miss of the narrow way, which alone leadeth unto life: only give us wisdom, and grace, to look upon thy Sons whole life: & see how he would speak, and do, before we speak or do anything, & then having thy word for our warrant, and thy glory for our aim; let no censures, not flouts of anydiscourageus. us thy servants, that wisdom which descendeth from above, that we may be wise unto our eternal salvation: so shall our hearts (instead of a Commentary) help us to understand the Scriptures, and our lives be an Exposition of the inward man. Give us grace, to account all things in this world even as dross, and dung, that we may win Christ Jesus; and Heaven and happiness by means of him. Give us single hearts, and spirits without guile, that we may love goodness for itself, and more seek the power of godliness, than the show of it; and love the godly for thy sake: and because they are godly. Grant that in the whole course of our lives, we may do unto all others, as we would that they should do unto us: considering, that whether we do good or evil, unto any one of thy members, thou takest it as done unto thyself. Discover unto us all our own fins, that we may not be so forward to censure others, as we have been heretofore. Give us patience to bear thy Fatherly chastisements, which through thy grace sanctifying them to us, become both Medicines to cure us, and Antidotes to preserve us from the sickness of sin: considering, that all the afflictions of this life, are not worthy those joys which shall be revealed unto us. Finally, good Father we beseech thee, enable us so to walk in thy fear; that in mirth we be not vain, in knowledge we be not proud, in zeal we be not bitter; instruct us by thy Word direct us by thy Spirit, mollify us by thy grace, humbleus by thy, corrections, win us by thy benefits, reconcile our nature to thy will, & teach us so to make profitofevery thing, that we may see thee in allthings, & all things in thee. And as we are suitors unto thy Majesty, for these thy blessings spiritual: so likewise we humbly beg at thy merciful hands, all necessaries appertaining to our temporal welfare: beseeching thee to bless us in our persons, with health, strength, and liberty: in our estates, with sufficiency, and the right use of it; cons●…dering that is we spend what ●…ee And in these our prayers we are not mindful of ourselves alone, but forasmuch as thou hast commanded us to pray one for another; as being the members of one and the same mystical body: we beseech thee to bless thy whole Church Universal, wheresoever dispersed, and howsoever  distressed, or despised, far and wide over the face of the whole earth: and vouchsafe unto thy Gospel such a free and effectual passage, that it may sound throughout all Nations. Yea, we humbly pray thee, let it convert and reclaim the Turks, Jews, Infidels, Indians, Atheists, Epicures, Heretics, and Schismatics. Prevent all plots, and projects against the Kingdom of thy Christ: let thy Word and Spirit alone, bear rule in all places. Extend thy tender mercy O Lord, to all Protestants beyond the Seas; to all Christians under the Turks, or other Infidels: strengthen all such as suffer for thy cause, and let thy presence with them counterpoise whatsoever is laid upon them, and enable them to continue constant in thy faith and truth to the end. More Particularly, be good unto that part of thy Church planted here amongst us, in this sinful Land, and endue us with thy grace as thou hast already with other blessings; that they may not rise up hereafter in judgement against us. be propitious to the Nobility, Gentry, and Communality. Bless the Tribe of Levi, all Ministers of thy Word and Sacraments; let their lips, O God, preserve knolewdg, and their lives righteousness; and for ever bless thou their labours: increase the number of those that are saithful and painful; and reform, or remove such as are either scandalous, or idle: and for a constant and continual supply of their mortality, bless all Schools of learning, and good literature; especially the Universities. Remember in much mercy all that are afflicted, whether in body, or in mind, or in both; whether in conscience, have upon our own lusts, we may ask, but we shall nor receive: in our good names, with an 〈◊〉 report: and so, bless and sanctify unto us all the things of thislife, that they may be furtherances of us in the way to a better.  And seeing that it is in vain for us to labour, except thy blessing go along with it: neither can our endeavours succeed well except thou prosper them: bless every one of us in our several places and callings, and so direct us in all we shall take in hand, that whatsoever we do, may tend to thy glory, the good of others, and the comfort of our own souls: when we shall come to make our final account unto thee sor them. groaning under fin; or for a good conscience, because they will not fin: and as thou makest them examples to us, so teach us to take example by them, and learn wisdom by thy hand upon them.   
These, and all things else which thou knowest we stand in need of, we humbly crave at thy merciful hands, and that for the alone worthiness, and satisfaction of thy son: and the honour of our only Redeemer, and Advocate Jesus Christ: to whom with thee O Father, and thy blessed Spirit, be given as is most due, all praise, glory, and dominion, the residue of this day, and for evermore.  
Amen.   

A Prayer for the Evening, which would be performed before Supper, and not when we are more prone to sleep, then to pray.  
O Eternal, Almighty, and incomprehensible Lord God; who art great and terrible, of most glorious Majesty, and infinite purity: Creator, and Preserver of all things, and Guider, and Governor of them being created: who fillest Heaven and Earth with thy presence, and art every where at hand to receive, and hear the prayers of all that repair to thee in thy Christ.  
Thou hast of thy goodness bestowed so many, and so great mercies upon us, that we know not how to express thy bounty herein. Yea, we can scarce think of any thing more to pray for, but that thou wouldst continue those which thou hast bestowed on us already: yet we covet still, as though we had nothing, and live as if we knew nothing of all this thy beneficence.  
Thy blessings are without number, yet our sins strive with them which shall be more: if we could count the numberless number of thy Creatures, they would not be answerable to the number of thy gifts; yet the number of our offences which we return in lieu of them, are not much inferior thereunto. Well may we confess with Judas, we have sinned, and there stop; but we cannot reckon their number, nor set forth their nature. We are bound to praise thee above any Nation We no sooner lived, than we de served to die; neither need we any more to condemn us, than what we brought into the world with us: but thou hast spared us to this hour, to try if we would turn unto thee by repentance, as our first Parents, and we have turned from thee by sin: yet thy mercy seems to have been in vain, and thy long-suffering to no end: For whereas many have been won by thy Word, we would not suffer it to change us; many have been reform by the Gross, but whatsoever: for what Nation under Heaven enjoys so much light, or so many blessings as we? above any Creature, for all the Creatures were ordained for our sakes: and yet Heaven, Earth; and Sea, all the Elements, all thy Creatures obey thy Word, and serve thee as they did at first: yea, call upon us to serve thee: only men for whom they were all made, ingratefully rebel against thee. we would not suffer it to purge us; many have been moved by thy benefits, but we would not suffer them to persuade us: yea, as if we had contracted with the Devil, that we would abuse all thy gifts so fast as they come: thy blessings make us proud, thy riches covetous, thy peace wanton, thy mea●…s intemperate, thy mercy secure; and all thy benefits serve us but as weapons to rebel against thee. We have profaned thy days, contemned thy ordinances, resisted thy Word, grieved thy Spirit, misused thy Messengers, hated our Reprovers, slandered and persecuted thy people, seduced our friends, given ill example to our Neighbours, opened the mouths of thine and our adversaries, to blaspheme that glorious Name after which we are named, and the truth we profess: whereas meaner mercies, and far weaker means, have provoked others no less to honour thee, and the Gospel; who may justly rise up in judgme●…t against us. Besides, (which makes our case far more miserable) we can scarce resolve to amend; or if we do, we put off our conversion to hereafter: when we were children, we deferred to repent till we were men: now we are men, we defer until we be old men: and when we be old men we shall defer it until death, if thou prevent us not: and yet we look for as much at thine hands, as they which serve thee all their lives. Thou mightst have said before we were form; let them be Toads, Monsters, Infidels, Beggars, Cripples, or Bondslaves so long as they live, and after that, Castawaies for ever and ever: but thou hast made us to the best likeness, and nursed us in the best Religion, and placed us in the best Land, and appointed us to the best and only Inheritance, even to remain in bliss with thee for ever: so that thousands would think themselves happy, if they had but a piece of ou●… happiness. Perhaps we have a form of godliness, but thou who search●…st the heart, and triest the reins, knowest that too often we deny the power of it: and that our Religion is much of it hypocrisy, our zeal envy, our wisdom policy, our peace security, Why shouldest thou give us thy Son for a ransom, thy holy Spirit for a pledge, thy Word for a guide, thy Angels for our guard; and reserve a Kingdom for our perpetual inheritance? Why shouldest thou bestow health, wealth, rest, liberty, limbs, senses, food, raiment, friends, and the means of salvation upon us, more than upon others, whom thou hast denied these things unto? We can give no reason for it, but that thou art merciful; and if thou shouldest draw all back again, we had nothing to say but that thou wert just: which being considered, why should any serve thee more than we, who want nothing but thankfulness? Why should we not hate the Way to Hell, as much as Hell itself? and  why should we not make every cogitation, speech, and action of ours, as so many steps to Heaven? yet 〈◊〉 tho● shouldst now ask us what lust is assuaged, what affection qualified, what passion expelled, what sin repented of, what good performed since we began to receive thy blessings to this day? we must needs confess against our selus, that all our thoughts, words, and works, have been the service of the World, the Flesh, and the D●vel: yea, it hath been the course of our whole life, to leave that which thou commandest, and to do that which thou forbiddest: yet, miserable wretches that we are, if we could give thee our bodies and souls, they should be saved by it; but thou wert never the richer for them. our life rebellion, our devotion deadness; and that we live so securely, as if we had no souls to save. Thus while we look upon our selus, we are ashamed to lift up our eyes unto thee; yea, we are ready to despair w●th Cain: yet when we think upon thy Son, and the rich promises of the Gospel, our fear is in some measure turned into joy: while we consider that his righteousness for us, is more than our wickedness against our selus; only give us faith we beseech thee, and settle it in thy beloved, that we may draw virtue from his death and resurrection, whereby we may be enabled to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness; and it sufficeth for all our iniquities, necessities, and infirmities. Indeed, thy Word and Spirit may work in us some flashes of desire, and purposes of better obedience; but we are constant in nothing, but in perpetual offending, only therein we cease not: for when we are waking, our flesh tempts us to wickedness; if we are sleeping, it solicits us to filthiness; or perhaps when we have offended thee all the day, at night we pray unto thee: but what is the issue of our praying? First we sin, and then we pray thee to forgive it; and then return to our sins again; as if we came to thee for no other end, but to crave leave to offend thee: Or, of thy granting our requests, we even dishonour thee, and blaspheme thy name, while thou dost support and relieve us; run from thee, while thou dost call us; and forget thee, while thou art feeding us: so thou sparest us, we sleep; and to morrow we sin again. O how justly mightest thou forsake us, as we forsake thee; and condemn us, whose consciences cannot but condemn our selus! But who can measure thy goodness, who givest all, and forgivest all? Though we be sinful, yet thou lovest us; though we be miserably ingrateful, yet thou most plentifully blessest us: What should we have, if we did serve thee, who hast done all these things for thine enemies? O that thou who hast so endeared us to serve thee, wouldst also give us hearts and hands to serve thee with thine own gifts. It is true, O Lord, as we were made after thine own Image; so by sin we have turned that Image of thine, into the Image of Satan: but turn thou us again, and we shall be turned into the Image and likeness of thy Son: And what though our  sins be great, yet thy mercy is far greater than our sins either are, or can be: we cannot be so bad, as thou art good; nor so infinite in sinning, as thou art in pardoning, if we repent. O that we could repent! O that thou wouldst give us repentance! for we are weak, O Lord, and can no more turn our selus, than we could at first make our selus: yea, we are altogether dead in sin, so that we cannot stir the least joint, no not so much as feel our deadness, nor desire life, except thou be pleased to raise and restore our souls from the death of sin, and grave of long custom, to the life of grace: Apt we are to all evil, but reprobate and indisposed to all grace and goodness; yea, to all the means thereof. We are altogether of our selus unable to resist the force of our mighty adversaries, but do thou free our wills, and set to thy helping hand, in casting down by thy Spirit our raging lusts: and by thy grace subdue our untamed affections, and we shall henceforth as much honour thee, as by our wickedness we have formerly dishonoured thee.   
Wherefore of thy goodness, and for thy great Names sake, we beseech thee take away our stony hearts, and give us hearts of flesh: enable us to repent what we have done, and never more to do what we have once repent, not fostering any one sin in our souls.  
Reform and change our minds, wills, and affections, which we have corrupted; remove all impediments which hinder us from serving of thee, and direct all our thoughts, speeches, and actions to thy glory, as thou hast directed our eternal salvation thereunto. Let not Satan any longer prevail, in causing us to defer our repentance; since we know, that late repentance is seldom sincere, and that sickness is no fit time for so And because infidelity is the bitter root of all wickedness, and a lively faith the true mother of all grace and goodness: nor are we Christians indeed, except we imitate Christ, and square our lives according to the rule of thy Word: Give us that faith which manifesteth itself by a godly life; which purifieth the heart, worketh by love, and sanctifieth the whole man throughout. Yea since, if our faith be true and great a work; as many have found that are now in Hell: Neither is it reasonable, thou shouldest accept of our feeble and decrepit old age, when we have spent all the flower, and strength of our youth, in serving of Satan, not once minding to leave sin, until sin left us. saving, it can no more be severed from unfeigned repentance, and sanctification, than life can be without motion, or the sun without light: give us spiritual wisdom, to try and examine our selus, whether we be in the faith or not: that so we may not be deluded with opinion only, as thousands are. Yea, O Lord, give us firmly to resolve, speedily to begin, and continually to persevere, in doing and suffering thine holy will: Inform and reform us so, that we may neither mis-believe, nor mis-live: subdue our lusts to our wills, submit our wills to reason, our reason to faith; our faith, our reason, our wills, our selus, to thy blessed Word and Will. Dispel the thick mists and clouds of our sins, which corrupt our souls, and darken our understandings; separate them from us, which would separate us from thee: Yea, remove them out of thy sight also, we most humbly beseech thee, as far as the East is from the West; and in the merits of thy Son, pardon and forgive us all those evils, which either in thought, word, or deed, we have this day, or any time heretofore committed against thee: whether they be the sins of our youth, or of our age; of omission, or commission; whether committed of ignorance, of knowledge, or against conscience, and the many checks and motions of thy holy ●…pirit. Discover unto us the emptiness, vanity and insufficiency of the things here below, to do our poor souls the least good; that so we may be induced to set an higher price upon Jesus Christ, who is the life of our lives, and the soul of our souls: considering, that if we have him, we want nothing; if we want him, we have nothing. And now, O Lord, seeing th●… time approacheth which thou hast appointed for rest; and because we can neither wake nor sleep without thee, who hast made the day and night, and rulest both: therefore into thy hands we commend our souls and bodies, beseeching thee to watch over us this night, and preserve Finally, O Lord, give unto us, and increase in us all spiritual graces: enlighten our minds with the knowledge of thy truth, and inflame our hearts with the love of whatsoever i●… good; that we may esteem it our meat and drink to do thy blessed will. Give us religious thoughts, godly desires, zealous affections, holy endeavours, assured persuasions of faith, steadfast waiting through hope, constancy in suffering through patience, and hearty rejoicing from love: regenerate our minds, purify our natures, turn all our joys into the joy of the Holy Ghost; and all our peace into the peace of conscience; and all our fears into the fear of sin, that we may love righteousness, with as great good will, as ever we loved wickedness; and go before others in thankfulness towards thee, as far as thou goest in mercy towards us before them.  Give us victory in temptation, patience in sickness, contentment in poverty, joy in distress, hope in us from all our spiritual, and bodily enemies; from thieus, fire, and from all other dangers. troubles, confidence in the hour of death: give us always to think and meditate of the hour of death, the day of judgement, the joys of heaven, and the pains of hell; together with the ransom which thy Son paid, to redeem us from the one, and to purchase for us the other: so shall neither thy benefits, nor thy chastisements, nor thy Word return ineffectual: but accomplish that for which they were sent, until we be wholly renewed to the image of thy Son.  
These things we humbly beg at thy fatherly hands, and whatsoever else thou knowest in thy divine wisdom to be needful and necessary for our souls, or bodies, or estates, or names, or friends, or the whole Church, better than we ourselus can either ask or think: and that for thy Names sake, for thy promise sake, for thy mercy's sake, for thy Son's sake, who suffered for sin, and sinned not; and whose righteousness pleadeth for our unrighteousness: in him it is that we come unto thee, in him we call upon thee, who is our Redeemer, our Preserver, and our Saviour; to whom with Thee, and thy blessed Spirit, be ascribed as is most due, all honour, glory, praise, power, might, majesty, dominion, and hearty thanksgiving, the rest of this night following, and for evermore,  
Amen.   

A Prayer to be used at any time.  
O Almighty, Eternal, most Glorious, and only wise God; giver to them which want, comforter of them which suffer, and forgiver of them that repent; whom truly to know, is everlasting life: We thy poor creatures acknowledge and confess unto thee, who knowest the secrets and desires of all hearts: that—  
— of our selus, we are not worthy to lift up our eyes to heaven, much less to present ourselves before thy Majesty with the least confidence, that thou shouldest hear our prayers, or accept of our services: but rather that thou shouldest take these our confessions, and accordingly condemn us to the lowest place in Hell: for our continually — we have used all our wisdom, to commit the foolishness of sin: our whole conversation hath been to serve Satan, and fulfil the lusts of the flesh. We even suck in iniquity like water, and draw on sin as it were, with cart-ropes.  Neither is there any part, power, function, or faculty, either of our souls abusing thy mercy, and those many means of grace, which in ●…hy long suffering thou hast afforded for our reclaiming. We are the cursed seed of rebellious Parents, we were conceived in sin, and born the children of wrath: And whereas thou mightest have executed thy fierce displeasure upon us, so soon as thou gavest us being; and so prevented our further dishonouring thee: we have instead of humbling ourselves before thee our God, and seeking reconciliation with thy Majesty: done nothing from our infancy, but added sin unto sin, in breaking every one of thine holy Laws, which thou hast given us as rules and directions to walk by, and to keep us from sinning. Yea, there is not one of thy righteous precepts, which we have not broken more times, and ways, than we can express: so far have we been from a privative holiness, in reforming that which is evil: and a positive holiness in performing that which is good: which thou mayst justly require of us, being we had once ability so to do, if we had not wilfully lost it: for thou didst form us righteous and holy, had not we deformed ourselves; whereas now like Satan, we can do nothing else but sin, and make others sin too, who would not so sin, but for us: for we have an army of unclean desires, that perpetually fight against our souls: whereby we are continually tempted, drawn away, and enticed through our own concupiscence. Yea, thou knowest, that the heart of man is deceitful above all things; and that the imaginations thereof, are only, and continually evil. O the infinitely intricate windings and turnings of the dark Labyri●…hs of man's heart! who finds not or bodies, which is not become a ready instrument to dishonour thee: for as our heart is a root of all corruption, a seedplot of all sin; so our eyes, are eyes of vanity; our ears, ears of folly; our mouths, mouths of deceit; our hands, hands of iniquity: and every part doth dishonour thee, which yet would be glorified of thee. The understanding which was given us to learn virtue, is apt now to apprehend nothing but sin; the will which was given us to affect righteousness, is apt now to love nothing but wickedness; the memory which was given us to remember good things, is apt now to keep nothing but evil things: for sin (like a spreading leprosy) is so grown over us, that from the crown of our heads, to the sole of our feet, there is nothing whole th●…rein, but wounds, and swellings, and sores full of corruption. Yea, our souls and bodies are even a very sink of sin; for like the common shore, we have not refused to welcome any, the most loathsome pollutions, that either the world, our own corruption, or the Devil at any time hath offered unto us.  Or, admit we are exempt from some evils, we may thank thee, and not ourselves for it: for we are ready without thy restraining grace, to run out into all manner of enormities whatsoever: we are swift to all evil, but to all good immovable: when we do evil, we do it cheerfully, and quickly, and easily; but if we do any good, we do it faintly, and ra●…ly, and slackly. When did we talk without vanity? when did we give without hypocrisy? when did we bargain without deceit? when did we reprove without anger, or envy? when did in himself an indisposition of mind to all good, and an inclination to all evil? we hear without wearysomness? when did we pray without tediousness? such is our corruption, as if we were made to sin, in deed, in word, or in thought. O the pride, passion, lust, envy, ignorance, awkwardnesse, hypocrisy, infidelity, vain thoughts, unprofitableness, and the like; which cleaves to our very best actions! and how full of infirmity are our primest performances! for we have not done any one action legally justifyable all our days: neither can aught we do, abide the examinatirn of thy strict justice, until it he covered with thy Son's righteousness; and the corruption thereof washed away in his most precious blood. Yea, if thou shouldest behold these our prayers, as they be in themselves, without having respect unto us in Christ Jesus; they would appear no better in thy sight, than a menstruous cloth. And according to this our inclination, hath been our practice: we have yielded our hearts as cages to entertain all manner of unclean spirits, when on the contrary we have refused to yi●…ld them as Temples for thine holy Spirit to dwell in.  Yet, miserable wretches as we are, we like our own condition so well, that we are not willing to go out of ourselves unto thee; who wouldst new make us, according to the Image of thy Son: for by long custom, we have so turned delight into necessity, that we can as willingly leave to live, as leave our lusts: yea, we love our sins so well, and so much above our souls, that (except thou change our hearts) we shall choose to go to Hell, rather than part with them. Thou hast used all manner of means to reclaim us, but nothing will serve; neither the menaces and terrors of thy Law, nor the precepts and sweet promises of thy Gospel can do it: We are neither softened with benefits, nor broken with punishments; thy severity will not terrify us, nor thy kindness mollify us. No, shouldest thou send an Angel from the dead to warn us, all persuasions would be in vain, since we hear Moses and the Prophets, Christ and his Apostles daily, and are never the better  True, O Lord, there is a main reason of it, which we cannot now help; for naturally we have eyes and see not, ears and hear not, hearts and understand not. Yea, we are quite dead in sin, until thou dost boar our ears, soften our hearts, and break in upon our consciences by the irresistible power of thy Spirit, and by going along with thy Word, shall quicken our souls, and regenerate  the whole man anew: In the mean time we are ready to receive all, and return nothing but sin and disobedience; wherein we more than abound: for we have done more against thee this week, than we have done for thee ever since we were born. And whereas the least of thy mercies, is greater than all the courtesies of men, we are not so thankful to thee for them all, as we are to a friend for some one good turn.  Neither do we alone lay the fault upon our inability, or want of supply from thee; but upon our own perverseness, and want of endeavour, and putting forth that strength and ability, which thou hast given us: for how long hast thou (O most gracious God) stood at the doors of our hearts; and how often hast thou knocked, when we have refused to open, and let thee in; And if at any time we have been overruled by the good motions of thy holy Spirit, yet have we still returned (with the Dog) to our vomit, and (with the Sow) refused the clear streams of thy Commandments, to wallow in the mire of our filthy sins: whereby we have justly deserved, that thou shouldest have called us to an account in the dead of our sleep, and have judged us to eternal destruction; and never have suffered us again to have seen the light of the Sun: the remembrance of which, together with our other rebellions, when we rightly consider them, makes us even speechless like him in the Gospel: as neither expecting mercy, nor daring to ask it.   
Howbeit, when we call to mind thy manisold mercies, showed to Manasses, Paul, Mary Magdalen, the Thief, and the Prodigal Son, with many others; who were no less vile than we, and who notwithstanding found thee more ready to hear, than they were to ask; and to give above what they durst presume to beg: we stay ourselves, and receive some encouragement from the application of the merits of Christ Jesus; which thou hast promised, shall be a sufficient satisfaction for all our sins: and the rather, for that then ca●…est all that are weary and heavy laden, with the burden of their sins unto thee; with promise that thou wilt ease them: and hast promised, that though our sins be as red as scarlet, thou wilt make them white as snow, and that thou wilt not the death of a sinner, but that he turn from his wickedness and live: and that if a sinner doth repent him of his sins, from the bottom of his heart, thou wilt blot out all his wickedness out of thy remembrance. And lest we should yet be discouraged, thou who didst no less accept the will of David, than the act of Solomon, hast further promised, that if there be but first a willing mind, thou wilt accept of us according to that which we have, and not according to that which we have not.  
But forasmuch O Lord, as thou knowest, that is not in man to turn his own heart, unless thou dost first give him grace to convert; for thou O Lord, must work in us both the will and the deed: and being that it is as easy with thee to make us righteous and holy, as to bid us be such, O our God, give us ability, and willingness to do what thou commandest, and then command what tho●… wilt; and thou shalt find us ready to do thy blessed will. Wherefore give to us, and increase in us all Christian graces, that we may know, and believe, and repent, and amend, and persevere in well doing. Create in us O Lord, a new heart, and renew a right spirit within us: take away from us our greedy desire of committing sin, and enable us by the powerful assistance of thy grace, more willingly to obey thee in every of thy commandments then ever we have the contrary.  
Be favourable to thy people every where; look down in much compassion upon thy Militant Church, and every several member thereof: bless it in all places with peace and truth, hedge it about with thy providence, defend it from the mischievous designs, and attempts of ●…hine, and her malicious enemy: let thy Gospel go on and conquer, maugre all opposition; that Religion and uprightness of heart may be highly set by with all, and all profaneness may be trod under foot. More particularly, be merciful to this sinful Land; the civil Magistrates, the painful Ministers, the two Universities; those people that sit yet in darkness; all the afflicted members of thy Son. Lord, comfort the comfortless, strengthen the weak, bind up the broken hearted, make the bed of the sick, be a father to the fatherless, and Yea, let thy Spirit bear such rule in every one of our hearts, that neither Satan that foreign enemy, and roaring Lion, which seeketh to devour us, may invade us; nor our own concupiscence, that homebred traitor, may by conspiring with the world, work the ruin and overthrow of our poor souls: but that all our wills which have been altogether rebellious, our hearts which have been the receptacles of unclean spirits, & our affections which are altogether carnal; may be wholyframed according to thy holy & heavenly will. and that we may the better know how to avoid the evil, and do the good, let thy word as a light, discover unto us all the sleights and snares of our spiritual adversaries: yea, make it unto us as the Star which led unto Christ; and thy benefits like the Pillar which brought to the Land of Promise; and an husband to the widow; cloth the naked, feed the hungry, visit the prisoners, relieve the oppressed, sanctify unto them all their afflictions, and turn all things to the best to them that fear thee. thy Cross like the Messenger, that compelled guests unto the Banquet. Prosper the Armies that fight thy battles, and show a difference between thy servants, and thine enemies, as thou didst between the Israelites and the Egyptians; that the one may be confirmed, and the other reclaimed. Give us, O Lord; to consider, that although sin in the beginning seem never so sweet unto us, yet in the end it will prove the bane, and ruin both of body and soul: and so assist us with thy grace, that we may willingly part with our right eyes of pleasure, and our right hands of profit, rather than sin against thee, and wrong our own consciences: considering that it would be an hard bargain, for us to win the whole world, and lose our own souls. These, Bless, preserve and keep us from all the temptations of Satan, the world, and our wicked hearts: from pride, that Lucifer-like sin, which is the forerunner of destruction; considering that thou resistest the proud, and givest grace to the humble: from covetousness, which is the root of all evil; being taught out of thy word, that the love of money hath caused many to fall into divers temptations, and snares, which drown them in perdition and destruction; from cruelty, that infernal evil, of which thou hast said, that there shall be judgement merciless, to him that showeth not mercy: from hypocrisy, that sin with two faces, whose reward is double damnation; and the rather, because wickedness doth most rankle the heart, when it is kept in, and dissembled; and for that in all the Scriptures, we read not of an hypocrites repentance: from whoredom, which is a sin against a man's own body, and the most inexcusable: considering the remedy which thou hast appointed against it: for the punishment whereof, the Law ordained death, and the Gospel excludeth from the Kingdom of Heaven: from profanation of thyday, considering thou hast said, that whosoever  sanctifieth it not, shall be cut off from thy people; and didst command that he should be stoned to death who only gathered a sew sticks on that day: from swearing, which is the language of hell; considering that because of oaths the Land doth mourn, and thou hast threatened that thy curse shall never depart from the house of the swearer: from drunkenness, that monster with many heads, and worse than beast like sin, which in thy Word hath many fearful woes denounced against it: and the rather, for that it is a sin (like the pit of Hell) out of which there is small hope of redemption.  Finally, O Lord, give us strength to resist temptation, patience to endure affliction, and constancy to persevere unto the end in thy truth: that so having passed our pilgrimage here, according to thy will, we may be at rest with thee hereafter, both in the night of death, when our bodies shall sleep in the grave, and in the day of our resurrection; when they shall awake 〈◊〉 judgement, and both bodies and souls enjoy everlasting bliss.  
These, and all other good things, which for our blindness we cannot ask, vouchsafe to give us thine unworthy servants, not for our sakes, but for thy mercy's sake; and for thy Son our Sa●…iour Jesus Christ's sake, in whom thou art well-pleased; and in whom thou wast fully satisfied upon the Cross for our sins: who with thee and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth ever one God, world without end.  
Let thy mighty hand, and outstretched arm, O Lord, be still our defence; thy mercy and loving kindness in Jesus Christ thy dear Son, ou●… salvation; thy true and holy word our instruction; thy grace and holy Spirit our comfort, consolation, illumination, and sanctification, now and for ever,  
Amen.   

A Thanksgiving to be brought in to any, or every one of them, next before the Conclusion, where the hand is placed.  
ANd as we pray unto thee, so we desire also to praise thee: rendering unto thy Majesty upon the bended knees of our hearts, all possible laud, and thinksgiving, for all thy mercies and favours, spiritual and corporal, temporal and eternal: For that thou hast freely elected us to salvation from all eternity; when thou hast passed by many millions of others, both Men and Angels, whereas we deserved to perish no less than they; and thou migh●…est justly have chosen them, and lest us: for that thou hast created us Men, and not Beasts; in England, not in AEthiopia, or any other savage Nation: in this clear and bright time of the Gospel, not in the darkness of Paganism, or Popery. For thine unexpressible love, in redeeming us out of Hell, and from those unsufferable and endless torments, by the precious blood of thy dear Son: who spared not himself, that thou mightest spare us. For calling us home to thee by the Ministry of thy Word, and the work of thy good Spiri●…. For the long continuance of thy Gospel with us, (the best of blessings). For sparing us so long, and giving us so large a time of repentance. For justifying, and in some measure sanctifying us, and giving us ground for assured hope of being glorified in thy heavenly Kingdom. For preserving us from so infinite many perils and dangers, which might easily have befallen us every day, to the taking away of either our estates, our limbs, or our lives. For so plentifully and graciously blessing us all our life long, with many and manifold good things; both for necessity and delight. For peace of conscience, and content of mind. For our health, wealth, limbs, senses, food, raiment, liberty, prosperity. For thy great mercy in correcting us, and turning thy corrections to our good. For preserving us in the night passed from all dangers of body and soul; and for infinite more mercies, of which we could not well want any one: and which are all greatned, by being bestowed upon us, who were so unworthy; and have been so ungrateful for the same. O that we could answer thee in our thankfulness, and obedient walking, one for a thousand!  
Neither are we unmindful of those national blessings, which thou hast vouchsafed unto our Land in general: as namely, that deliverance from the Spanish Invasion in 88, and from that devilish design of the Gunpowder-Treason: for preserving us from the noisome, and devouring Plague and Pestilence. Lord grant, that our great unthankfulness for these thy mercies, may not cause thee to deliver us into the hands of our enemies: and although we have justly thereby deserved the same, yet we beseech thee, give us not up unto their wills, neither suffer Popery ever to bear rule over us; nor thy blessed Word and Sacraments to be taken away from us; but continue them unto us, and to our posterity after us, if it be thy good pleasure; until the coming of thy Christ.  
Babes that are inexpert in the Word of righteousness, use milk: but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, Heb. 5. 13, 14.