.»>^D13>DT>)-» 7)D»»>^ ip^^ .w ^l^i^- Kvg >, >i>.^> s> a > > :> •^' t) ^Mi — ^ :$> is ^V>^ i\\\\ \ ■•\^6v^:sa!^x: ^ c:^. ^ :^- X^,^ iWcfibcb i;C y^d^^ '^<^ V. 1 •^ C €^* T^O < ■- <-' ' You cannot ^or^et that in the years lately past, the Almighty visited my tabernacle with the rod, and in one year, cut off from it the root and tjie branch, the tender mother and the only son. What the effects of those strokes, or rtither of my own unmortified passions were, I have felt, and you and others have heard. Surely IT EPISTLE DEDICATORY. I was as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke ; yea, I may say with them, Lam. iii. 19, 20, " Remem- bering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still in remem- brance, and is humbled in me."" I dare not say, that ever I felt my heart discon- tentedly rising and swelling against God ; no, I could still justify him, when I most sensibly smart- ed by his hand ; if he had plunged me into a sea of sorrow, yet I could say in all that sea of sorrow, there is not a drop of injustice ; but it was the over-heating, and over-acting of my fond and un- mortified affections and passions, that made so sad impressions upon my body, and cast me under these distempers which soon embittered all my re- maining comforts to me. It was my earnest desire, so soon as I had strength and opportunity for so great a journey, to visit you ; that so, if the Lord had pleased, I might both refresh, and be refreshed by you, after all my sad and disconsolate days ; and you cannot imagine what content and pleasure I projected in that visit ! But it proved to us, as all other com- forts of the same kind ordinarily do, more in expec- tation than fruition ; for how soon after our joyful meeting, and embraces, did the Lord overcast and darken our day, by sending death into your taber- nacle, to take away the desire of your eyes with a stroke ! to crop off that sweet and only bud, from which wc promised ourselves so much comfort ; but EPISTLE DEDICATORY. T no more of that, I fear I am gone too far already. It is not my design to exasperate your troubles, but to heal them ; and for that purpose have I sent you these papers, which I hope may be of use both to you, and many others in your condition, since they are the after-fruits of my own troubles : things that I have not commended to you from another hand, but wliich I have, in some measure, proved and tasted in my own trials. But I will not hold you longer here, I have only a few things to desire for and from you, and I have done. The things I desire are, First, That you will not be too hasty to get off the yoke which God hath put upon your neck. Remember when your child was in the womb, nei- ther of you desired it should be delivered thence, till God's appointed time was fully come ; and now that you travail again with sorrow for its death, O desire not to be delivered from your sorrows one moment before God's time for your deliverance be fully come also. Let patience have its perfect work ; that comfort which comes in God's way and season, will stick by you, and do you good indeed. Secondly, I desire, that though you and your afHictions had a sad meeting, yet you and they may have a comfortable parting. If they effect that upon your hearts which God sent them for, I doubt not but you will give them a fair testimony when they go off. If they obtain God's blepsing upon them in their a3 V VI EPISTLE DEDICATORY. Operation, surely they will have your blessing too at their valediction ; and what you entertained with fear, you will dismiss with praise. How sweet is it to hear the afflicted soul say, when God is loosing his hands, "It is good for me that I have been af- flicted!" Thirdly, I heartily wish, that these searching afflictions may make the more satisfying discoveries, that you may now see more of the evil of sin, the vanity of the creature, and the fulness of Christ, than ever you yet saw. Afflictions are searchers, and put the soul upon searching and trying its ways. Lam. iii. 14 When our sin finds us out by afflic- tion, happy are we, if by the light of affliction we find out sin. " Blessed is the man whom God chas- teneth, and teacheth out of his law 5"^ Psal. xciv. 12. There are unseen causes, many times, of our trou- bles ; you have an advantage now to sift out the seeds and principle from which they spring. Fourthly, I wish that all the love and delight you bestowed on your little one, may now be placed to your greater advantage upon Jesus Christ; and that the stream of your affection to him may be so much the stronger, as there are now fewer chan- nels for it to be divided into. If God will not have any part of your happiness to lie in children, then let it wholly lie in himself If the jealousy of the Lord hath removed tliat which drew away too much of your heart from him, and hatli spoken by his rod, saying, " Stand aside, child, thou art in my way, and fillest more room in thy parents' hearts than be- EPISTLE DEDICATORY. Vil longs to thee T O then, deliver up all to him, and say. Lord, take the whole heart entirely and undi- videdly to thyself. Henceforth let there be no parting, sharing, or dividing of the affections be- twixt God and the creature, let all the streams meet and centre in thee only. Fifthly, That you may be strengthened witli all might in the inner man to all patience, that the peace of God may keep your hearts and minds, labour to bring your hearts to a meek submission to tlie rod of your father. We had fathers of the flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence, shall we not much more be in subjection to the Fa- tlier of spirits and live ? Is it comely for children to contest and strive with their father ? Or is it the way to be freed from the yoke by struggling under it ? O that your hearts may be in a like frame with his who said, " Lord, thou shalt beat, and I will bear !"" It was a good observation that one made, " The soul grows wise by sitting still and quiet under, the rod.''* And the apostle calls those excellent fruits which the saints gather from their sanctified afflictions, the peaceable fruits of righte- ousness, Heb. xii. 11. Lastly, My heart's desire and prayer to God for you is, that you may die daily to all visible enjoy- ments, and by these frequent converses with death in your family, you may be prepared for your own change and dissolution when it shall come. • Anima scdendo et quiesceado fit sapiens. Vlil EPISTLE DEDK ATORY. O friends ! how many graves have you and I seen opened for our dear relations? How often hath death come up into your windows, and summoned tlie delight of your eyes ? It is hut a little while, and we shall go to them ; we and they are distin- guished but by short intervals. Transivere patres, simul hinc transibimus omnes. Our dear parents are gone ; our lovely and de- sirable children are gone ; our bosom relations, who were as our own souls, are gone. And do not all these warning-knocks at our doors acquaint us, that we must prepare to follow shortly after them ? O that by these things our own death might be both more easy and familiar to us ! The oftener it visits us, the better we should be acquainted with it ; and the more of our beloved relations it removes before us, the less of either snare or entanglement remains for us when our turn comes. My dear friends, my flesh and my blood, I be- seech you, for religion"'s sake, for your own sake, and for my sake, whose comfort is in great part bound up in your prosperity and welfare, that you read frequently, ponder seriously, and apply believ- ingly, these scripture consolations and directions, which in some haste, J have gathered for your use ; and the God of all consolation be with you. I am. Your most endeared Brother. JOHN FLAVEL. TOKEN FOR MOURNERS Luke vii. 13. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, Weep not. i- O be above the stroke of passions, is a condition equal to angels ; to be in a state of sorrow, without the sense of sorrow, is a disposition beneath beasts : but duly to regulate our sorrows, and bound our passions under the rod, is the wisdom, duty, and excellency of a Christian. He that is without na- tural affections, is deservedly ranked amongst the worst of heathens ; and he that is able rightly to manage them, deserves to be numbered with the best of Christians. Though when we are sanctified, we put on the divine nature ; yet till we are glorified, we put not off the infirmities of our human nature. Whilst' we are within the reach of troubles, we cannot be without the danger, nor ought not to be without the fear of sin ; and it is as hard for us to escape sin, being in adversity, as to ')e calm in pros- perity. 10 A TOKEN FOR MOURXERS. How apt are we to transgress the bounds both of reason and religion under a sharp affliction, ap- pears as in most men's experience, so in this woman's example, to whose excessive sorrow Christ puts a stop in the text, " He saw her, and had compassion on her, and said to her. Weep not.'"* The lamentations and wailings of this distressed mother, moved the tender compassions of the Lord in beholding them, and stirred up more pity in his heart for her, than could be in her heart for her dear and only son. In the words we are to consider, both the condi- tion of the woman, and the counsel of Christ, with respect unto it. First, The condition of this woman, which ap- pears to be very dolorous and distressed, her groans and tears moved and melted the very heart of Christ, to hear and behold them ; " ^Vhen he saw her, he had compassion on her." How sad an hour it was with her when Christ met her, appears by what is so distinctly marked by the evangelist in ver. 12; where it is said, "Now when they came nigh to the gate of the city, behold there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and much peo])le of the city was with her.'" In this one verse, divers heart-piercing circum- stances of this affliction are noted. 1. It was tho death of a son. To bury a child, any child, must needs rend the heart of a tender THE TEXT OPENED. ]1 parent ; for what are children but the parent mul- tiplied ? A child is a part of the parent made up in another skin: but to lay a son in the grave, a son who continues the name, and supports the family ; this was ever accounted a very great afflic- tion. 2. This son was not carried from the cradle to the coffin, nor stripped out of its swathing to be wrapped in its winding-cloth. Had he died in his infancy, before he had engaged affection, or raised expectation, the affliction had not been so pungent and cutting, as now it was ; death smote this son in the flower and prime of his time. He was a maii^ saith the evangelist, ver. 12; a young man, as Christ calls him, ver. 14 ; he was now arrived at that age which made him capable of yielding his mother all that comfort which had been the expectation and hope of many years, and the reward and fruit of many cares ar.d labours : yet then when the endear- ments were greatest and her hopes highest even in the flower of his age, he is cut off. Thus Basil bewailed the death of his son : " I once had a son who was a young man, my only suc- cessor, the solace of my age, the glory of his kind, the prop of my family, arrived to the endearing age; then was he snatched away from me by death, whose lovely voice but a little before I heard, who lately was a pleasant spectacle to his parent.'"* Reader, if this hath been thine own condition, as 12 A TOKEN FOR MCURXERS. it hath been his who writes it, I need say no more to convince thee, that it was a sorrowful state in- deed, Christ met this tender mother in. 3. And wliich is yet more, he was not only a son, but an only son. So you find in verse 12, " He was the only son of his mother ;'" one in whom all her hopes and comforts of that kind were bound up ; for all her affections were contracted into this one object.* If we have never so many children we know not which of them to spare. If they stand like olive plants about our tables, it would grieve us to see the least twig among them broken down. But surely the death of one out of many, is much more tolerable, than all in one. Hence it is noted in scripture as the greatest of earthly sorrows, Jer. vi. 26, " O daugliter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation." Yea, so deep and pene- trating is this grief, that the Holy Ghost borrows it to express the deepest spiritual troubles by it, Zech. xii. 10, *'They shall mourn for him,"' namely, Christ whom they pierced, " as one mourneth for an only son."" 4. And yet to heighten the affliction, it is superadded, ver. 12, "and she was a widow;'" so that the staff* of her age, on which she leaned, was broken. She had now none left to comfort or assist • Omnis in Ascanio stat cari cura parentis rVirgil. THE TEXr OPENED. IJ her in her helpless, comfortless state of widowhood » which is a condition not only void of comfort, but exposed to oppression and contempt. Yea, and being a widow, the whole burden lay upon her alone ; she had not a husband to comfort her, as Elkanah did Hannah, in 1 Sam. i. 8, " Why weepest thou, and why is thy heart grieved.'^ am not I better to thee than ten sons ?'' This would have been a great relief, but her husband was dead as well as her son ; both gone, and she only surviving to lament the loss of those comforts, that once she had. Her calamities came not single, but one after another, and this reviving and aggravating the former : this was her case and condition when the Lord met her. Secondly, Let us consider the counsel which Christ gave her, with respect to this her sad and sor- rowful case ; " And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her. Weep not."" Relieving and supporting words ; wherein we shall consider the occasion, motive, and counsel itself. 1 . The occasion of it, and that was his seeing of her. This meeting at the gate of the city, how ac- cidental and occasional soever it seems, yet without doubt it was providentially suited to the work in- tended to be wrought. The eye of his omniscience foresaw her, and this meeting was by him designed, as an occasion of that famous miracle which he wrought upon the young man. Christ hath a quick eje to discern poor, mourning, and disconsolate crea- B 14 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. tures : and though he be now in heaven, and stands out of our sight, so that we see him not; yet he sees us, and his eye, which is upon all our troubles, still affects liis heart, and moves his bowels for us. 2. The motive stirring him up to give this re- lieving and comfortable counsel to her, was his own compassion. She neither expected nor desired it from him ; but so full of tender pity was the Lord towards her, that he prevents her with unexpected consolation : her heart was nothing so full of com- passion for her son, as Christ was for her ; he bore our infirmities, even natural as well as moral ones, in the days of his flesh; and though he be now exalted to the highest glory, yet still he continues as merci- ful as ever, and as apt to be touched with the sense of our miseries, Heb..iv. 15. 3. The counsel itself, "weep not,*" herein fulfilling the office of a comforter to them that mourn, v,'here- unto he was anointed, Isa. Ixi. 1 — 3. Yet the words are not an absolute prohibition of tears and sorrow ; he doth not condemn all mourning as sin- ful, or all expressions of gTief for dead relations as uncomely. No, Christ would not have his people stupid and insensate ; he only prohibits the excesses, and extravagances of our sorrows for the dead ; that it should not be such a mourning for the dead as is found among the heathen, who sorrow without mea- f^ure, because without hope, being ignorant of tliat grand relief by the resurrection, which the gospel reveals. THE TEXT OPENED. 15 The resurrection of her son from the dead, is the ground upon which Christ builds her consolation and relief Well might he say, " Weep not," when he intended quickly to remove the cause of her tears, by restoring him again to life. Now, though there be somewhat in this case ex- traordinary and peculiar; for few or none that carry tlieir dead children to the grave, may expect to re- ceive them again from the dead immediately, by a special resurrection, as she did ; I say, this is not to be expected by any that now lose their relations : the occasion and reason of such miraculous, special resurrections, being removed, by a sufficient and full evidence and confirmation of Christ's divine power and Godhead ; yet those that now bury their rela- tions, if they be such as die in Christ, have as good and sufficient reason to moderate their passions, as this mourner had, and do as truly comxC within the reach and compass of this Christ's comfortable and supporting counsel, " weep not,"" as she did : for do but consider, what of support or comfort can a parti- cular and present resurrection from the dead give us, more than that it is, and as it is a specimen, handsel, or pledge of the general resurrection ? It is not the returning of the soul to its body, to live an animal life again in this world of sin and sorrow, and shortly after to undergo the agonies and pains of death again, that is in itself any such privilege as may afford much comfort to the person raised, or his relations. It is no privilege to the person raised, 16 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. for it returns him from rest to trouble, from the harbour back again into the ocean. It is matter of trouble to many dying saints, to hear of the likeli- hood of their returning again, when they are got so nigh to heaven. It was once the case of a godly minister of this nation, who was much troubled at his return, and said, I am like a sheep driven out of the storm al- most to the fold, and then driven back into the storm again : or, a weary traveller that is come near his home, and then must go back to fetch some- what he had forgotten ; or, an apprentice whose time is almost expired, and then must begin a new term. But to die, and then return again from the dead, hath less of privilege, than to return only from the brink of the grave ; for the sick hath not yet felt the agonies and last struggles or pangs of death ; but such have felt them once, and must feel them again ; they must die twice before they can be happy once; and besides, during the little time they spend on earth, betwixt the first and second dissolution, there is a perfect prceteritorum oblivio, forgetfulness and insensibleness of all that which they saw or enjoyed in their estate of separation : it being necessary both for them and others, that it should be so. For them- selves it is necessary, that they may be content to live and endure the time of separation from that blessed and ineffable state, quietly and patiently ; and for others, that they may live by faith, and not by sense, •nit TEXT OPENED. 17 and build upon divine, and not human authority and report. So that here you see, their agonies and pangs are doubled, and yet their lives not sweetened by any sense of their happiness, which returns and remains with them ; and therefore it can be no such privilege to them. And for their relations, though it be some comfort to receive them again from the dead, yet the consi- deration, that they are returned to them into the stormy sea, to partake of new sorrows and troubles, from which they were lately free ; and in a short time they must part with them again, and feel the double sorrows of a parting pull, which others feel but once ; surely such a particular resurrection, con- sidered in itself, is no such ground of comfort as at first we might imagine it to be. It remains then, tliat the ground of all solid com- fort and relief against the death of our relations, lies in the general and last resurrection ; and what is in a particular one, is but as it were a specimen, and evidence of the general : and there the apostle places our relief, 1 Thess. iv. 17, that we shall see and enjoy them again at the Lord's coming: and surely this is more, than if, with this mother in the text, we should presently receive them from the dead, as she did her son. And if we judge not so ; it is because our hearts are carnal, and measure things rather by time and sense, than by faith and eternity. Thus you sec the counsel, with its ground, which B 3 18 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. for the most part is common to other christian mourners with her ; the dili'erence being but incon- siderable, and of little advantage. Here then you find many aggravations of sorrow meeting together , a son, an only son, is carrying to the grave: yet Christ commands the pensive mother not to mourn. Hence v/e note the Doctrine, That Christ ought to moderate their sorrows for their dead relations, how many afflicting circumstances and aggravations soever meet toge- ther in their death. It is as common with men, yea, with good men, to exceed in their sorrows for dead relations, as it is to exceed in their love and delights to living relations ; and both of the one and the other, we may say as they say of waters, it is hard to confine them within their bounds. -It is therefore grave advice which the apostle delivers in this case, 1 Cor. vii. S9, 30, "But this I say, brethren, the time is short ; it remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none ; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they re- joiced not."" As if he had said, the floating world is near its port ; God hath contracted the sails of man's life ; it is but a point of time we liave to live, and shortly it will not be a point to choose, whe- ther we had wives or not, children or not. All these are time-eaten things, and before the expected fruit of tliese comforts be ripe, wo ourselves may be rotten. It is therefore a liigh point of wisdom to THE TEXT OPENED. 19 look upon tilings -which shortly ^7ill not be, as if already they were not, and to behave ourselves in the loss of these carnal enjoyments, as the natural man behaves himself in the use of spiritual ordi- nances ; he hears as if he heard not, and we should weep as if we wept not : their affections are a little moved sometimes by spiritual things, but they never lay them so to heart, as to be broken-hearted for the sin they hear of, or deeply affected with the glory revealed : we also ought to be sensible of the stroke of God upon our dear relations ; but yet still we must weep, as if we wept not ; that is, we must keep due bounds and moderation in our sorrows, and not be too deeply concerned for these dying, short-lived things. To this puq50se the apostle exhorts, Heb. xii. 5, " x\Iy son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, neither faint v/hen thou art rebuked of him."" These are two extremes, despising and fainting: when God is correcting, to say, I do not regard it, let God take all if he will ; if my estate must go, let it go ; if my children die, let them die : this is to despise the Lord's chastening, and God cannot bear it, that we should bear it thus lightly. There is also another extreme, and that is faint- ing : if when goods arc taken away, the heart be taken away, and when children die. tlicn tlie spirit of the parent dies also ; this is faintirg under the rod. Thou lamentest, saith Seneca, thy deceased friend ; but I would not liave thee grieve beyond 20 A TOKKX FOR MOL'KNEKS. what is meet : that thou shouldst not grieve at all, I dare not require thee ; tears may be excused if they do not exceed. Let thine eyes therefore be neither wholly dry, nor let them overflow : weep thou mayest, but wail thou must not. Happy man that still keeps the golden bridle of moderation upon his passions and affections, and still keeps the possession of himself, whatsoever he lose the possession of Now the method in which I propose to proceed shall be, 1. To discover the signs. 2. To dissuade from the sin. 2. To remove the pleas. 4. To propose the cure of immoderate sorrow. 1. I shall give you the signs of immoderate sor- row, and shew you when it exceeds its bounds, and becomes sinful, even a sorrow to be sorrowed for ; and for clearness' sake, I will first allow what may be allovi^ed to the christian mourner, and then you will the better discern wherein the excess and sin- fulness of your sorrow lies. And, (1.) How much soever we censure and con- demn immoderate sorrow, yet the afflicted must be allowed an awakened, and tender sense of the Lord's afflicting hand upon them. It is no virtue to bear what we do not feel ; yea, it is a most un- becoming temper, not to tremble when God is smiting. 'i'he Lord saith to Moses, in the case of MiriiiDi, THE METHOD STATED. 21 Numb. xii. 24, " If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days ?"' The face is the table and seat of beauty and honour ; but when it is spit upon, it is made the sink of shame. Had her own father spit upon her face, when she had displeased him, would she not have gone aside as one ashamed by such a rebuke, and not have shewed her face to him again in seven days ? How much more should she take it to heart, and be sensible of this rebuke of mine, who have filled her face with leprous spots, the signs of my displeasure against her ? Surely God will be ashamed of those that are not ashamed when he rebukes them. It is not magnanimity, but stupidity to make light of God's corrections ; and for this the afflicted are smartly taxed, Jer. v. 3, " I have smitten them, but they have not grieved." When God smote Job in his person, children, and estate, he arose and rent his mantle, and put dust upon his head, to shew he was not senseless and unaffected, and yet blessed the afflicting God, which as plainly shewed he was not contumacious and unsubmissive. (2.) We must allow the mourning, afflicted soul, a due and comely expression of his grief and sor- row, in his complaints both to God and men. It is much more becoming a Christian, inge- nuously to open his troubles, than sullenly to smo- ther them. There is no sin in complaining to God but much wickedness in complaining of him. Griefs are eased by groans, and heart-pressures relieved S2 A TOKEN FOR MOURKEnS. by utterance. This was David's course, and con- stant way, who was a man of affliction, Psal. cxlii. 2, 3, " I poured out my complaint before him, I shewed before him my trouble; when my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path." To whom should children go, but to their fatlier, to make their moan ? whence may they expect re- lief and comfort but from him ? The cii. Psalm is entitled, " A Psalm for the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pouretli out his complaint before the Lord." And happy were it, if every afflicted soul would choose this way to express his sorrows ! Did we complain mere to God, he would complain less of us, and quickly abate the matters of our com- plaint. O you cannot think how moving, how melt- ing, how prevailing it is with God, when his poor, burdened, and afflicted people, in a day of distress and despondency, wlien deep calleth unto deep, and one wave drives on another, then for the oppressed soul with humility, filial confidence and faith, to turn itself to the Lord, and thus bespeak him : " lather, what shall I do ? jMy soul is greatly bowed dov/n by trouble ; I am full to tlie brim, my vain heart hath looked for relief this way and that way, but none comes ; every door of comfort is shut up against me. Tliou hast multiplied my sorrows, and renewed my witnesses against me : comfort is removed from my outward, and peace from my THE METHOD STATED. 23 inner-man ; sharp afHictions without, and bitter reflections within. O Lord, I am oppressed, under- take for me. Fathers of the flesh pity their dis- tressed children, when they complain to them, and wilt not thou, O Lord, whose compassions as far exceed creature compassions, as the sea exceeds a drop ? O my Father, pity me, support me, deliver me." O how acceptable is this to God ! how advan- tageous to the soul ! We may also make our complaint to men. So did Job, chap. xix. 21 , " Have pity, have pity on me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me." And it is a mercy, if we have any friends that are wise, faitliful, and experienced; they are born for such a time as this, Prov. xvii. 17. But be they what they will, they cannot pity as God, relieve and succour as he : and often- times we may say with Job, chap. xxi. 4, *'As for me, is my complaint to men ? and if it were, why should not my spirit be troubled.'*" As if he should say, what great advantage can I get by these complaints ? I may burden the heart of my friend, but how little doth that ease my own ? Yet the very opening of the heart to an experienced, ten- der Christian, is some relief, and the engaging his prayers is more. Thus far you moan safely ; in all this there is no danwr. o (3.) The afflicted person may ordinarily accuse, judge, and condemn himself, for being the cause S-i A TOKJiN Foil MOUilNlSilS. and procurer of his own troubles. He may law- fully be discontented, and vexed with himself for his own folly, when the iniquity of his heels com- passeth him about. And truly it is but seldom that any great affliction befalls a gracious person, but he saw the need of such a rod before he felt it. Hath God smitten thy child or friend, and didst thou not foresee some sharp trial coming ? Did not thy fond, secure, carnal temper need such a scourge, to awaken, quicken, and purge thee ^ Or, if you did not foresee it, it is now your duty to search and examine yourselves. So the church in their affliction, resolved, Lam. iii. 40, " Let us search and try our ways.""* When God is jsmiting, we should be a searching ; surely our iniquities will in- quire after us, if we will not inquire after them. Yea, in the day of affliction, a gracious soul is in- quisitive about nothing more than the procuring and provoking cause of his troubles. Job x. 2, *' Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me .f*^' As if he should say. Lord, what special corruption is it that this rod is sent to rebuke ? What sinful neglect doth it come to humble me for ? O discover it now to me, and recover me now from it. And having found the root and cause of their troubles, ingenuous souls will shame themselves for it, and give glory to God by an humble submission, and vindication of the equity of his proceedings. Job vii. 20, "I hav€ sinned, what shall I do unto thee, thou preserver of men ? " He thinks it no THE METHOD STATED. ^ bhame freely to discover unto God, and deeply to abase himself before him for his folly. I remember a choice note that Mr. Brightman hath in his commentary upon the Canticles: " Holy men," saith he, " after their hearts are renewed by repentance, are not ashamed to remem- ber and confess their slips and shameful falls, to the glory of God ; for they account that the glory which such confessions take from them is not lost, whilst it goes to the glory of God : if his glory may rise out of our shame, how willing should we be to take such shame to us ? Holy David was not ashamed [to acknowledge, Psal. xxxviii. 5, ' My wounds stink and are corrupt, because of my fool- ishness." He is the wisest man that thus befools himself before God." It is true, God may afflict from prerogative, or for trial ; but we may always see cause enough in ourselves, and it is safest to charge it upon our own folly. Lastly, The afflicted Christian may, in a hum- ble, submissive manner, plead with God, and be earnest for the removal of the affliction. When "affliction presseth us above strength, when it disables us for duty, or when it gives advantage to temptation; then we may say. with David, "Re- move thy stroke from me, I am consumed by the blow of thine hand,'' Psal. xxxix. 10. Even our Loid Jesus Christ, in the day of his troubles, poured ofut liis no-al wich stror.g cries and many tear*, wy- 26 A TOKEN FOR MOUENERS. ing, " Father, if thou be willing, let this cup pass from me,'"* Luke xxii. 42. Oppressed nature desires ease ; and even our renewed nature desires free- dom from those clogs and temptations, which hin- der us in duty, or expose us to snares. Thus far we may safely go. But isorrow then becomes sinful and excessive, when, (1.) It causes us to slight and despise all our other mercies and enjoyments, as small things, in comparison of what we have lost. It often falls out, that the setting of one comfort clouds and benights all the rest. Our tears for our lost enjoyments so blind our eyes, that we cannot see the many other mercies which yet remain. We take so much notice of what is gone, that we take little or no notice of what is left. But this is very sinful ; for it involves in it, both ignorance, ingra- titude, and great provocation. It is a sin springing from ignorance. Did we know the desert of our sins, she would rather wonder to see one mercy left, than that twenty are cut off. They that know they have forfeited every mercy, should be thankful that they enjoy any, and patient when they lose any of their comforts. Did we know God, even that sovereign Lord, at whose disposal our comforts come and go, who can the next moment blast all that remain, and turn you into hell afterwards, you would prize the mercies ho yet indulges to you, at a higher value. Did you WHEN SORROW BECOMES SINFUL. 27 understand the fickle, vanishing nature of the crea- ture, what a flower, what a bubble it is ; O how thankful would you be to find so many yet left in your possession. Did you know the case of thousands, as good, vea, better than you, whose whole harvest of com- fort in this world is but a handful to the gleanings of the comforts you still enjoy, who in all their hves never were owners of such comfortable enjoyments as you now overlook ; surely you would not act as you do. Besides, what vile ingratitude is in this ? What, are all your remaining mercies worth nothing ? You have buried a child, a friend ; well, but still, you have a husband, a wife, other children ; or if not, you have comfortable accommodations for your- selves, with health to enjoy them ; or if not, yet have you the ordinances of God, it may be, an interest in Christ and in the covenant, pardon of sin, and hopes of glory. What ! and yet sink at this rate, as if all your mercies, comforts, and hopes, even in both worlds, were buried in one grave ? Must Ichabod be written upon your best mercies, because mortality is written upon one ? Fie, fie, what shameful ingratitude is here ! And really, friend, such a carriage as this under the rod, is no small provocation to the Lord, to go on in judgment, and make a full end of all that remains, so that affliction shall not rise up the se- cond time. S8 A TOKEN FOn MOURNERS. What if God, taking notice how little thou re- gardest the many undeserved favours thou yet pos- sessest, should say. Well, if thou thinkest them not worth the owning, neither do I think them worth the continuing. Go, death, there is a husband, a wife, other children yet left, smite them all. Go, sickness, and remove the health of his body yet left. Go, losses, and impoverish his estate yet left. Go, reproach, and blast his reputation, which is yet sweet. What would you think of this ? And yet if you be out of Christ, you are in danger of a far sadder stroke than any, or all yet mentioned. What if God should say, prizest thou not my mercy ? Hast thou no value for my goodness and forbearance towards thee ? Is it nothing that I have spared thee thus long in thy sins and rebel- lions ? Well then, I will stretch out my hand upon thy life, cut off that thread which hath kept thee so ifnany years from dropping into hell. O think then what you have done, by provoking the Lord, through your vile ingratitude. It is a dangerous thing to provoke God, when he is already in a way of judgment. And if you be his own peo- ple, and so out of the danger of this last and worst stroke ; yet know, you have better mercies to lose than any you have yet lost. Should God cloud your soul with doubts, let loose Satan to buffet you, remove joy and peace from your inner man, how soon would you be convinced, that the funeral of your dearest friend is but a trifle to this ? WHEN SORUOW BECOMES SINFUL. J?9 AVell then, whatever God takes, be still thankful for what he leaves. It was the great sin of Israel in the wilderness, that though God had delivered them from their cruel servitude in Egj'pt, miracu- lously fed them in the desert, and was leading them on to a land flowing with milk and honey ; yet, as soon as any want did but begin to pinch them, presently all these mercies were forgotten and slighted. Numb. xiv. 2, " Would to God,'' say they, "we had died in Egypt.'"* And Numb. xi. 6, " There is nothing at all beside this manna." Beware of this, O ye mourning and afflicted ones ; you see both the sin that is in it, and the danger that at- tends it. (2.) And no less sinful are our sorrows, when they so wholly ingulph our hearts, that we either mind not at all, or are little or nothing sensible of the public evils and calamities which lie upon the church and people of God. Some Christians have such public spirits, that the churcirs troubles swallow up their personal troubles. Melancthon seemed to take little notice of the death of his child, which he dearly loved, being almost overwhelmed with the miseries lying on the church. And it was a good evidence of the graciousness and publicness of Eli's spirit, who sitting in the gate anxiously waiting for tidings from the army, when the tidings came that Israel fled before tlie Philistines, that his two sons Hophni and Phinehas < 3 so A TOKEN FOE MOURNERS. were dead, and that the ark of God was taken, just at the mention of that word, the ark of God, before he heard out the whole narration, his mind quickly presaged the issue, he sunk down and died, 1 Sam. iv. 17, 18. O that was the sinking, the killing word ! had the messenger stopped at the death of his two sons, like enough he had supported that burden ; but the loss of the ark was more to him than sons or daughters. But how few such public spirits appear even among professors in this selfish generation ? May we not with the apostle complain, Phil. ii. 21, " All seek their own, and not the things that are Chrisfs t^ Few men have any great cares or designs lying beyond the bounds of their own private interest. And what we say of cares, is as true of sorrows : if a child die, we are ready to die too, but public ca- lamities pierce us not. How few suffer either their domestic comforts to be swallowed up in the church's troubles, or their domes- tic troubles to be swallowed up by the church''s mer- cies ? Now when it is thus with us, we little re- gard what mercies or miseries lie upon others, but are wholly intent upon our own afflictions, this is a sinful sorrow, and ought to be sorrowed for. (3.) Our sorrows then become sinful and exorbi- tant, when they divert us from, or distract us in our duties, so that our intercourse with heaven is stopped and interrupted by them. How long can we sit alone mueing upon a dead WHEN SORROW BECOMES SINFUL. 31 creature ? Here our thoughts easily flow ; but 1io\t hard to fix them upon the living God ! When our hearts should be in heaven with our Christ, they are in the grave with our dead. May not many afflicted souls justly complain, that their troubles had taken away their Christ from them, (I mean, as to sweet sensible communion,) and laid the dead child in his room. Poor creature, cease to weep any longer for thy dead relation, and weep rather for thy dead heart. Is this thy compliance with God's design in afflicting thee ? What ! to grow a greater stranger to him than before ! or is this the way to thy cure and comfort in affliction, to refrain prayer, and turn thy back upon God ? Or if thou darest not wholly neglect thy duty, yet thy affliction spoils the success and comfort of it : thy heart is wandering, dead, distracted in prayer and meditation, so that thou hast no relief or comfort from it. Rouse up thyself. Christian, and consider this is not right. Surely the rod works not kindly now. W^hat ! did thy love to God expire when thy friend expired ? Is thy heart as cold in duty, as his body is in the grave ? Hath natural death seized him, and spiritual deadness seized thee.? Sure then, thou hast more reason to lament thy dead heart, than thy dead friend. Divert the stream of thy troubles speedily, and labour to recover thyself out of this temper quickly ; lefct sad experience shortly S2 A TOKEN FOR ilOLllNKKS. tell tlicc, that what thou now moiirnest for, is but a trifle to what thou shalt mourn for hereafter. To lose the heavenly warmth and spiritual liveliness of thy affections, is undoubtedly a far more considerable loss, than to lose the wife of thy bosom, or the sweet- est child that ever a tender parent laid in the grave. Header, if this be thy case, thou hast reason to challenge the first place among the mourners. It is better for thee to bury ten sons, than to remit one degree of love or delight in God. The end of God in smiting, was to win thy heart nearer to him, by removing that which estranged it : how then dost thou cross the very design of God in this dispen- sation ? Must God then loose his delight in thy fellowship, because thou hast lost thine in the crea- ture ? Surely, when thy troubles thus accompany thee to thy closet, they are sinful and extravagant troubles. (4.) Then you may also conclude your sorrows to be excessive and sinful, when they so overload and oppress your bodies, as to endanger your lives, or render them useless and unfit for service. "Worldly sorrow works death,"' 1 Cor. vii. 10, that is, sorrow after the manner of worldly men ; sorrow in a mere carnal, natural way, which is not relieved by any spiritual reasonings and considerations. This falls so heavy sometimes upon the body, that it sinks under the weight, and is cast into such dis- eased, as are never more wrought oIT or healed in this world. " Heaviness in the heart of a man WIir.N 80 It ROW BECOMES SINFUL. 155 makes it stoop," saith Solomon, Prov. xii. 25. The stoutest body must stoop under heart-pressures. It is with the mind of man, saith one, as with the stone tyrhenus ; as long as it is whole, it swim- meth ; but once broken, it sinks presently. Grief is a moth, which getting into the mind, will, in a short time, make the body, be it never so strong and well wrought a piece, like an old seary gar- ment. Philosophers and physicians generally reckon sorrow among the chief causes of shortening life. Christ was a man of sorrows, and acquainted v/ith grief: and this, some think, was the reason he appeared as a man of fifty, when he was little more than thirty years old, John viii. 57 ; but his sor- rows were of another kind. Many a m.an's soul is to his body, as a sharp knife to a thin sheath, which easily cuts it through; and what do we, by poring and pondcrmg upon our troubles, but whet the knife that it may cut the deeper and quicker ? Of all the creatures that ever God made, devils only excepted, man is the most able and apt to be his own tormentor. How unmercifully do we load our bodies in times of affliction ? How do we not only waste their strength by sorrow, but deny relief and necessary refreshment .'' They must carry the load, but be allowed no refresh- ment : if they can eat the bread of affliction, and drink tears, they may feed to the full ; but no plea- sant bread, no quiet sleep is permitted them. Surely 34? A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. you would not burden a beast, as you do your own bodies; you would pity and relieve a brute beast groaning and sinking under a heavy burden, but you will not pity nor relieve your own bodies. Some men's souls have given such deep wounds to their bodies, that they are never like to enjoy many easy or comfortable days more, whilst they dwell in them. Now, this is very sinful and displeasing to God ; for if he have such a tender care for our bodies, that he would not have us swallowed up of over-much grief, no, though it be for sin, 2 Cor. ii. 7, but even to that sorrow sets bounds; how much less with outward sorrow for temporal loss ? May not your stock of natural strength be employed to better pur- poses, think you, than these ? Time may come, that you may earnestly wish you had that health and strength again to spend for God, which you now so lavishly waste, and prodigally cast away upon your troubles to no purpose, or advantage. It was therefore a high point of wisdom in David, and recorded no doubt for our imitation, who, when the child was dead, ceased to mourn, arose, washed himself, and eat bread, 2 Sam. xii. 20. (5.) When affliction sours the spirit with discon- tent, and makes it inwardly grudge against the hand of God, then our trouble is full of sin, and we ought to be humbled for it before the Lord. Whatever God doth with us or ours, still we should maintain good thoughts of him. A gracious WHEN SORROW BECOMES SINFUL. 35 heart cleaves nearer and nearer to God in affliction, and can justify God in his severest strokes, acknow- ledging them to be all just and holy, Psal. cxix. 75, " I know also that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me."*"* And hereby the soul may comfortably evidence to itself its own uprightness, and sincere love to Gcd. Yea, it hath been of singular use to some souls, to take right measures of their love to God in such trials ; to have lovely and well pleased thoughts of God, even when he smites us in our nearest and dearest com- forts, argues plainly, that we love him for himself, and not for his gifts only. And thus his interest in the heart is deeper than any creature interest is. And such is the comfort that hath resulted to some from such discoveries of their own hearts, by close smarting afflictions, that they would not part with it, to have their comforts, whose removal occasioned them, given back in lieu of it. But to swell with secret discontent, and have hard thoughts of God, as if he had done us wrong, or dealt more severely with us than any ; O this is a vile temper, cursed fruit springing from an evil root ; a very carnal, ignorant, proud heart ; or, at least, from a very distempered, if renewed heart. So it was with Jonah, when God smote his gourd ; yea, saith he, " I do well to be angry, even unto death," Jonah iv. 9. Poor man, he was highly dis- tempered at this time, and out of frame ; this wa3 not his true temper, or ordinary frame, but a sur- 56 A TOKEN FOR MOL'llXKIlS. prise ; the effect of a paroxysm of temptation, in which his passions had been overheated. Few dare to vent it in such language. But how many have their hearts embittered by discontent, and secret risings against the Lord ? Which, if ever the Lord open their eyes to see, will cost them more trouble than ever that affliction did, which gave the occasion of it. I deny not, but the best heart may be tempted to think and speak frowardly concerning these works of the Lord ; that envious adversary, the devil, will blow the coals, and labour to blow up our spirits at such times into high discontents. The temptation was strong, even upon David him- self, to take up hard thoughts of God, and to con- clude, " Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain."*' As if he had said, how little privilege from the worst of evils hath a man by his godliness ? But he soon suppressed such motions : " If I should say thus, I should offend against the generation of thy children.'"* Meaning, that he should condemn the whole race of godly men through the whole world ; for who is there among them all, but is, or hath been, or may be afflicted as severely as myself.? "Surely, it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more,"*"* Job xxxiv. 31. Whatever God doth with you, sj>eak well, and think well of him and his works. ('>.) 0\ir sorrows exceed due bounds, wheii >rc WHEN SORROW BECOMES SINFUL. 37 continually excite and provoke them by willing irri- tations. Grief, like a lion, loves to play with us before it destroys us. And strange it is, that we should find some kind of j^leasure. in rousing our sorrows. It is Seneca's observation, and experimentally true, " That even sorrow itself hath a certain kind of delight attending it."' The Jews that were with Mary in the house to comfort her, when they saw that she went out has- tily, followed her, saying, " she goeth to the grave to weep there,'' John xi. S2 ; as they do, saith Cal- vin, " That seek to provoke their troubles, by going to the grave, or often looking upon the dead body." Thus we delight to look upon the relics of our deceased friends, and often to mention their actions and sayings, not so much for any matter of holy and weighty instruction or imitation, for that would warrant and commend the action ; but rather to rub the wound, and fetch fresh blood from it, by piercing ourselves with some little trivial, yet wound- ing circumstances. I have known many that will sit and talk of the features, actions, and sayings of their children, for hours together, and weep at tlie rehearsal of them, and that for many months after tliey are gone : so keeping the wound continually open, and excruciating their own hearts without any benefit at all by them. A lock of hair, or some such trifles, must be kept for this purpose to renew their sorrow daily, by looking on it. On this ac- 38 A TOKEN FOR MOL'KNKKS. count, Jacob would not have his son called Benoni, lest it should renew his sorrow, but i 'enjamin. I am far from commending a brutish oblivion of our dear relations, and condemn it as much as I do this childish and unprofitable remembrance. O friends, we have other things to do under the rod than these. Were it not better to be searching our hearts and houses, when God's rod is upon us, and studying how to answer the end of it, by mortifying those corruptions which provoke it.^ Surely the rod works not kindly, till it comes to this. (7.) Our sorrows may then be pronounced sinful, when they deafen our ears to all the wholesome and seasonable words of counsel and Comfort, offered us for our relief and support. Jer. xxxi. 15, "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children, and refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.""* She will admit no comfort, her disease is curable by no other means but the restoration of her children : give her them again and she will be quiet, else you speak into the air, she regards not whatever you say. Thus, Israel in the cruel bondage in Egypt, Moses brings them the glad tidings of deliverance ; but they hearkened not to him, because of the an- guish of spirit, and their cruel bondage, Exod. vi. 9. Thus obstinately fixed are many in their trouble, that no words of advice or comfort find any place ^ith them : yea, I have known some exceeding WHEN SOHHOW BECOMFS SIXIUL. 39 quick and ingenious, even above the rate of their common parts and abilities, in inventing shifts, and framing objections to turn off comfort from them- selves, as if they had been hired to plead against their own interest ; and if they be driven from those pleas, yet they are settled in their troubles, too fast to be moved ; say what you will, they mind it not, or at most it abides not upon them. Let proper, seasonable advice or comfort be tendered, they re- fuse it ; your counsel is good, but they have no heart to it now. Thus Psal. Ixxvii. 2, " My soul,'"* saith he, " refused to be comforted." To want comfort in time of affliction is an ag- gravation of our affliction ; but to refuse it when offered to us, wants not sin. Time may come when we would be glad to receive comfort, or hear a word of support, and shall be denied it. Oh ! it is a mercy to the afflicted to have Barnabas with them, an interpreter, one among a thousand; and it will be the great sin and folly of the afflicted, to spill, like water upon the ground, those excellent cordials prepared and offered to them, out of a fro- ward or dead spirit, under trouble. Say not, with them, Lam. iii. 18, 19, " My hope is perished from the Lord, remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.'' It is a thousand pities the wormwood and gall of affliction should so disgust a Christian, as that he should not at any time be able to relish the sweetness that is in Christ, and in the promises. And tlius I have despatched the first 40 A TOKEN FOR MOUKNERS. part of my design, in shewing you wherein the sin of mourners doth not lie, and in what it doth. II. Having cleared this, and shewn you wherein the sin and danger lies, my way is prepared to the second thing proposed, namely, to dissuade mourn- ers from these sinful excesses of sorrows, and keep the golden bridle of moderation upon their passions in times of affliction. And O that my words may be as successful upon those pensive souls that shall read them, as Abigail's were to David, 1 Sam. xxv. 32, 33, who, when he perceived how proper and sea- sonable they were, said, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me, and blessed be tliy advice."" I am sensible hov/ hard a task it is, I here under- take, to charm down, and allay mutinous, raging, and tumultuous passions ; to give a check to the torrent of passion, is ordinarily but to provoke it, and make it rage and swell the more. The work is the Lord's, it wholly depends upon his power and blessing. He that saith to the sea, when the waves thereof roar. Be still, can also quiet and compose the stormy and tumultuous sea, that rages in the breasts of the afflicted, and casts up nothing but the froth of vain and useless complaints of our misery, or the dirt of sinful and wicked complaints of the dealings of the Lord with us. The rod of affliction goes round and visits all sorts of persons v/ithout difference. It is upon the tabernacles of the just and the unjust, the righ- UXSAXCTIFIED AIOUIINERS SUPPORTED. 41 teous and the wicked, both are mourning under the rod. The godly are not so to be minded, as tliat the other be wholly neglected; they have as strong and tender, though not as regular affections to their relations, and must not be wholly suffered to sink under their unrelieved burdens. Here, therefore, I must have respect to two sorts of persons, whom I find in tears upon the same ac- count, I mean the loss of their dear relations : the regenerate and the unregenerate. I am a debtor to both, and shall endeavour their support and assist- ance ; for even the unregenerate call for our help and pity, and must not be neglected and wholly slighted in their afflictions. We must pity them that cannot pity themselves. The law of God com- mands us to help a beast, if fallen under its burden, how much more a man sinking under a load of sor- rows ? I confess, uses of comfort to the unregenerate are not, ordinarily, in use among us, and it may seem strange, whence any thing of support should be drawn for them that have no special interest in Christ or the promises. I confess also, I find myself under great disad- vantages for this work. I cannot offer them those reviving cordials that are contained in Christ and the covenant, for God's afflicted people ; but yet, such is the goodness of God, even to his enemies, d3 42 A TOKEN FOR MOUKXEKS. that they are not left -wholly without support, or means to allay their sorrow. If this, therefore, be thy case, who readest these lines ; afflicted and unsanctified, mourning bitterly for thy dead friends, und more cause to mourn for thy dead soul, Christiess and gTaceless, as well as childless or friendless ; no comfort in hand, nor yet in hope, full of trouble, and no vent by prayer or faith to ease thy heart. Poor creature, thy case is sad, but yet do not wholly sink, and suffer thyself to be swallowed up of grief; thou hast laid thy dear one in the grave, yet throw not thyself headlong into the grave after him : that will not be the way to remedy thy mi- sery ; but sit down awhile and ponder these three things : First, That of all persons in the world, thou hast most reason to be tender over thy life and health, and careful to preserve it : for if thy troubles destroy thee, thou art eternally lost, undone for ever. " Worldly sorrow,"" saith the apostle, " works death ;"' and if it works thy death, it works thy damnation also; for hell follows that pale horse, Rev. vi. 8. If a believer die, there is no danger of hell to him : the second death hath no power over him ; but woe to thee, if it overtake thee in thy sin ; beware, therefore, what thou dost against thy health and life ; do not put the candle of sorrow too near that thread, by which thou hangest over the mouth of hell. UNSANCTIFIKD MOURNERS SUPPORTED. 453 O ! it is far better to be childless or friendless on earth, than hopeless and remediless in hell. Secondly, Own and admire the bounty and good- ness of God manifested to thee in this afHiction ; that when death came into thy family to smite and carry oft* one, it had not fallen to thy lot to be the person ; thy husband, wife, or child is taken, and thou art left ; had thy name been in the commission, thou hadst been now past hope. O the sparing mercy of God ! the wonderful long- suffering of God towards tliee ; possibly that poor creature that is gone, never provoked God as thou hast done; thy poor child never abused mercies, neg-* lected calls, treasured up the ten thousandth part of that guilt that thou hast done ; so that thou mightest well imagine it should rather have cut thee down, that hadst so provoked God, than thy poor little one. But oh, the admirable patience of God ! Oh the riches of his long-suffering ! Thou art only warned, not smitten by it ; is there nothing in this, worth thankful acknowledgment ? Is it not better to be in black for another on earth, than in the blackness of darkness for ever } Is it not easier to go to the grave with thy dead friend and weep there ; than to go to hell among the damned, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth ? Thirdly, This affliction, for which thou mournest, may be the greatest mercy to thee that ever yet be- fel thee in this world. God hath now made thy heart soft by trouble, shewed thee the vanity of thi^ 44 A TOKEN FOR MOUnNERS. world, and what a poor trifle it is which thou madcst thy happiness : there is now a dark cloud spread over all thy worldly comforts. Now, O now ! if the Lord would but strike in with this affliction, and by it open thine eyes to see thy deplorable state, and take off thy heart for ever from the vain world which thou now seest hath nothing in it ; and cause thee to choose Christ the only abiding good for thy portion. If now thy affliction may but bring thy sin to remembrance, and thy dead friend may but bring thee to a sense of thy dead soul, which is as cold to God and spiritual things, as his body is to thee ; and more loathsome in his eyes than that corpse is or shortly will be to the eyes of men : then this day is certainly a day of the greatest mercy that ever yet thou sawest. O happy death, that shall prove life to thy soul ! AVhy this is sometimes the way of the Lord with men; Job xxxvi. 8 — 10, "If they be bound in fetters, and holden in cords of affliction, then he sheweth them tlieir work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded ; he openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.'' O consider, poor pensive creature, that whicli stole away thy heart from God is now gone : that v/hicli eat up thy time and thoughts, that there was no room for God, soul, or eternity in them, is gone : all the vain expectations that thou raisedst up unto thyself, from that poor creature which now lies in the dust, arc in one day quite peri^ihcd. O what an ad- ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. 45 vantage hast thou now for heaven, beyond whatever thou yet hadst ! if God will but bless this rod, thou wilt have cause to keep many a thanksgiving day for this day. I pray let these three things be pondered by you ; I can bestow no more comforts upon you, your con- dition bars the best comforts from you ; they belong to the people of God, and you have yet nothing to do with them. I shall, therefore, turn from you to them, and present some choicer comforts to them, to whom they properly belong, which may be of great use to you in reading ; if it be but to convince you of the blessed privilege, and state of the people of God in the greatest plunges of troubles in this world, and what advantages their interest in Christ gives them for peace and settlement, beyond that state you are in. And here I do with much more freedom and hope of success, apply myself to the work of counselling and comforting the afflicted. You are the fearers of the Lord, and tremble at his word, the least sin is more formidable to you than the greatest affliction. Doubtless, you would rather choose to bury all your children, than provoke and grieve your heavenly Father. Your relations are dear, but Christ is dearer to you by far. AVell then, let me persuade you to retire a while into your closets, redeem a little time from your un- profitable sorrows, ease and empty your hearts be- *b A TOKEN VOR MOURXKUS. fore the Lord, and beg his blessing upon the reliev- ing, quieting, and heart-composing considerations that follow ; some of which are more general and common, some more particular and special, but all of them such as through the blessing of God, may be very useful at this time to your souls. 1. Consider in this day of sorrow, who is the framer and author of this rod by which you now smart. Is it not the Lord ? And if the Lord hath done it, it becomes you meekly to submit; Psal. xlvi. 10, " Be still, and know that I am God.'' Man and man stand upon even ground : if your fellow-creature does any thing that displeases you, you may not only inquire, who did it .'' but, why he did it ? You may demand his grounds and reasons for what he hath done, but you may not do so here ; it is expected that this one thing, '' The Lord hath done it," should without any farther disputes, or con- tests, silence and quiet you, whatever it be that he hath done ; Job xxxiii. 13, " Why dost thou strive against him ? For he giveth not an account of any of his matters.'"' The Supreme Being must needs be an unaccountable and uncontrollable Being. It is a shame for a child to strive with his father ; a shame for a servant to contend with his master ; but for a creature to quarrel and strive with the God that made him, O how shameful is it ! Surely it is highly reasonable that you be subject to that will ■whence you proceeded, and that he who formed you and yours, should dispose of both as seemeth him ADVICK AND SUri'DHT TO THK GODLY. 47 good : it is said, 2 Sam. iii. 36, " That whatsoever the king did, pleased all the people.'" And shall any thing the Lord doth displease you ? he can do no wrong. If we pluck a rose in the bud as we walk in our gardens, who shall blame us for it ? it is our own, and we may crop it off when we please. Is not this the case ? Thy sweet bud which was cropt off before it was fully blown, was cropt off by him that owned it, yea, by him that formed it. If his dominion be absolute, surely his disposal should be acceptable. It was so to good Eli, 1 Sam. iii. 18, " It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.'' And it was so to David, Psalm xxxix. 9, " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it." O let it be for ever remembered, " That he whose name alone is Jehovah, is the Most High over all the earth," Psalm Ixxxiii. 18. The glorious sovereignty of God is illustriously displayed in two things, his decrees, and his provi- dences. With respect to the first, he saith, Rom. ix. 15, " I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." Here is no ground of disputing with him ; for so it is said, ver. 20, 21, " Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay .^" And as to his providences, wherein his sovereignty is also manifested, it is said, Zech. ii. 13, " Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord, for he is raised up out of his holy habitation." It is spoken of his providential 48 A TOKEN FOR :»IOURXEIlS. working in the changes of kingdoms, and desolations that attend them. Now, seeing the case stands thus, that the Lord hath done it ; it is his pleasure to have it so ; and that if it had not been his -will, it could never have been as it is ; he that gave thee, (rather lent thee) thy relation, hath also taken iiim. O how quiet should this consideration leave thee ! If your landlord, who hath many years suffered you to dwell in his house, do at last warn you out of it, though he tell you not why ; you will not contend with him, or say he hath done you wrong : much less if he tell you, it will be more for his profit and accommodation, to take it into his own hand, than let it to you any longer. Doubtless, reason will tell you, you ought quietly to pack up and quit it. It is your great Landlord from whom you hold (at pleasure) your own, and your relations' lives, that hath now warned you out from one of them ; it being more for his glory, it may be, to take it in his own hands by death ; and must you dispute the case with him ? Come, Christian, this no way becomics thee, but rather, Job i. 21, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.'** Look off from a dead creature, lift up thine eyes to the sovereign, wise, and holy pleasure, that ordered this affliction : consider who he is, and wliat thou art ; yea, pursue this consideration till thou canst say, I am now filled with the will of God. 2. l^onder well the quality of the comfort you are ADVICE AND SUPPOnX TO THE GODLY. 49 deprived of, and remember, that when you had it, it stood but in the rank and order of common and inferior comforts. Children and all other relations are but common blessings, which God indifferently bestows upon his friends and enemies ; and by the having or losing of them, no man knows either love or hatred. It is said of the wicked, Psal. xvii. 14, that " they are full of children," yea, and of children that sur- vive them too ; for they " leave their substance to their babes.'' Full of sin, yet full of children, and these children live to inherit their parents' sins and estates together. It is the mistaking of the quality and nature of our enjoyments, that so plunges us into trouble when we lose them. We think there is so necessary a connection betwixt these creatures and our happi- ness, that we are utterly undone when they fail us. But this is our mistake ; there is no such neces- sary connection or dependance ; we may be happy without these things. It is not father, mother, wife, or child, in which our chief good and felicity lie; we have higher, better, and more enduring things than these, all these may perish, and yet our souls be secui-e and safe ; yea, and our comfort in the way, as well as end, may be safe enough though these are gone. God hath better things to comfort his people with than these, and worse rods to afflict you with than the removal of these. Had God let your children live and flourish, and E 50 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. given you ease and rest in your tabernacle, but in the mean time inflicted spiritual judgments upon your souls, how much more sad had your case been ? But as long as our best mercies are all safe, the things that have salvation in them remain, and only the things that have vanity in them are removed ; you are not prejudiced or much hindered as to the at- tainment of your last end, by the loss of these things. Alas, it was not Christ's intent to purchase for you a sensual content in the enjoyment of these earthly comforts ; but to redeem you from all ini- quity, purge your corruptions, sanctify your na- tures, wean your hearts from this vain world, and so to dispose and order your present condition, that finding no rest and content here, you might the more ardently pant and sigh after the rest which re- mains for the people of God. And are you not in as probable a way to attain this end now, as you were before ? Do you think you are not as likely by these methods of Providence, to be weaned from the world, as by more pleasant and prosperous ones ? Every wise man reckons that station and condition to be best for him, which most promotes and secures his last end and great design. Well then, reckon you are as well without these things as with them ; yea, and better too, if they were but clogs and snares upon your affections ; you have really lost nothing, if the things wherein your eternal happiness consisteth be yet safe. Many of God's dearest children have been denied such com- ADVICE AXD SUIPOHT TO THE GODLY. 51 forts as tliese ; and many have been deprived of them, and yet never the farther from Christ and heaven for that. 3. Always remember, that how soon and unex- pected soever your parting with your relations was, yet your lease was expired before you lost them, and you enjoyed them every moment of the time that God intended them for you. Before this relation, whose loss you lament, was born, the time of your enjoyment and separation was unalterably fixed and limited in heaven, by the God of the spirits of all flesh ; and although it was a secret to you whilst your friend was with you, yet now it is a plain and evident tiling, that this was the time of separation before appointed, and that the life of your friend could by no means be protracted or abbreviated, but must keep your com- pany just so far, and then part with you. This position wants no full and clear scripture au- thority for its foundation ; how pregnant and full is that text. Job xiv. 5, '' Seeing his days are de- termined, the number of his months are with thee : thou hast appointed him his bounds which he can- not pass.""* The time of our life, as well as the place of our habitation, was prefixed before we were born. It will greatly conduce to your settlement and peace to be well established in this truth, that the appointed time was fully come, when you and your dear relation parted ; for it will prevent and save 52 A TOKEN FOR KOURNERS. a great deal of trouble which comes from our after- reflections. O, if this had been done or that omitted, had it not been for such miscarriages and oversights, my dear husband, wife, or child, had been alive at this day ! No, no, the Lord's time was fully come, and all things concurred and fell in together, to bring about the pleasure of his will, let that satisfy you : had the ablest physicians in the world been there, or had they that were there prescribed another course, as it is now, so it would have been, when they had done all. Only it must be precautioned, that the decree of God no way excuses any voluntary or sinful neglects or miscarriages. God overrules these things to serve his own ends, but no way a])- proves them ; hut it greatly relieves, against all our involuntary and unavoidable oversights and mistakes about the use of means or the timing of them ; for it could not be otherwise than now it is. Objection. But many things are alleged against this position, and that with much seeming counte- nance from such scriptures as these, Psal. Iv. 23, " Blood-thirsty men shall not live out half their days.'' Eccles. vii. 17, " Why shouldest thou die before thy time ?" Psal. cii. 24, " O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days." Isa. xxxviii. JO, "I am deprived of the residue of my years." And Prov. x. 27, " The fear of the Lord pro- longeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened." It is demanded, what tolerable sense ADVICE AXD SOrrORT TO THE GODLy. 53 we can give these scriptures, whilst we assert an un- alterable fixation of the term of death. Solution. The sense of all these scriptures will be cleared up to full satisfaction, by distinguishing death and the terms of it. (1.) We must distinguish death into natural and violent. The wicked and blood-thirsty man shall not live out half his days ; that is, half so long as he might live according to the course of nature, or the vigour and soundness of his natural constitution : for his wickedness either drowns nature in an excess of riot and luxury, or exposes him to the hand of justice, which cuts him off for his wickedness before he hath accomplished half his days. (2.) V\e must distinguish of the term or limit for death, which is either general or special. The general limits are now seventy or eighty years, Psa. xc. 10, " The days of our years are three- score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow.'" To this short limit, the life of man is generally reduced since the flood ; and though there be some few exceptions, yet the general rule is not thereby destroyed. The special limit is, that proportion of time which God, by his own counsel and will, hath allotted to every individual person ; and it is only knov/n to us by the event : this we affirm to be a fixed and unmoveable term ; with it all things shall fall in, and 54 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. observe the will of God in our dissolution at that time. But because the general limit is known, and this special limit is a secret hid in God's own breast; therefore man reckons by the former account, and may be said, when he dies at thirty or forty years old, to be cut off in the midst of his days ; for it is so, reckoning by the general account, though he be not cut off till the end of his days, reckoning by the special limit. Thus, he that is wicked dies before his time ; that is, the time he might attain to in an ordinary way; but not before the time God hath appointed. And so in all other objected scriptures. It is not proper at all, in a subject of this nature, to digress into a controversy. Alas, the poor mourner, overwhelmed with grief, hath no pleasure in that ; it is not proper for him at this time, and therefore I shall for the present wave the contro- versy, and wind up this consideration with an humble and serious motion to the afflicted, that they will wise- ly consider the matter. The Lord's time was come, your relations lived with you every moment that God intended them for you, before you had them. O parents ! mind this, I beseech you : the time of your child's continuance in the womb was fixed to a minute by the Lord : and when the parturient fulness of that time was come, were you not willing it should be delivered thence into the world ? The tender mother would not have it abide one minute longer in the womb, how weD soever she loved it : ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO TlIK GODLY. 55 and is there not the same reason v»'e should be will- ing when God's appointed time is come to have it delivered by death out of this state, which, in res- pect of the life of heaven, is but as the life of a child in the womb, to its life in the open world ? And let none say, the death of children is a pre- mature death. God hath ways to ripen them for heaven, whom he intends to gather thither betimes, which we know not : in respect of fitness they die in a full age, though they be cut off in tlie bud of their time. He that appointed the seasons of the year, ap- pointed the seasons of our comforts in our relations : and as those seasons cannot be altered, no more can these. All the course of providence is guided by an unalterable decree ; what falls out casually to our apprehension, yet falls out necessarily in re- spect of God's appointment. O therefore be quieted in it, this must needs be as it is. 4. Hath God smitten your darling, and takon away the delight of your eyes with this stroke ? Bear this stroke with patience and quiet submission : for how know you but your trouble might have been greater from the life, than it is now from the death of your children ? Sad experience made a holy man once to say, it is better to weep for ten dead children, than for one living child : a living child may prove a continual dropping, yea, a continual dying to the parent's 56 A TOKEN FOR MOURXERS. heart. "WHiat a sad word was that of David to Abishai, 2 Sam. xvi. 11, "Behold,'' saith he, " my son, which came out of my bowels, seeketh my life.""* I remember Seneca, in his consolatory epistle to his friend Marullus, brings in his friend thus aggra- vating the death of his child : "O,'' saith IVIarullus, " had my child lived with me, to how great modesty, gravity, and prudence might my discipline have formed and moulded him ? But, saith Seneca, (which is more to be feared,) he might have been, as others mostly are ; for look, (saith he) what children come, even out of the worthiest families ; such who exercise both their own and others' lusts, in all whose life, there is not a day, without the mark of some notorious wickedness upon it ! " * I know your tender love to your children will scarce admit such jealousies of them ; they are for the present, sweet, lovely,, innocent companions; and you doubt not, but by your care of their edu- cation, and prayer for them, they might have been the joy of your hearts. Why, doubtless Esau, when he was little and in his tender age, promised as much comfort to his parents as Jacob did ; and I question not, but Isaac and Re- becca, a gracious pair, spent as many prayers, and bestowed as many holy counsels upon him, as they did upon liis brother : but when the child L;rew up to riper years, then he became a shai-p aflhction to his * Seneca's Epistle, pngc 04. ADVICE AXD SUPPOI?T TO THE GODLY. 57 parents ; for it is said, Gen. xxvi. 34, " That when Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beerith, the Hittite,'' which was a grief to the mind of Isaac and Rebecca. The word in the original, comes from a root that signi- fies to embitter : this child embittered the minds of his parents by his rebellion against them, and de- spising their counsels. And I cannot doubt, but Abraham disciplined his family as strictly as any of you ; never man received a higher encomium from God upon that account, Gen. xviii. 19, " I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." Nor can I think, but he bestowed as many and as frequent prayers for his cliildren, and particularly for his son Ishmael, as any of you ; we find one, and that a very pathetical one recorded, Gen. xvii. 18, "O that Ishmael might live before thee.'^^'* And yet you know how he proved, a son that yielded him no more comfort than Esau did to Isaac and Rebecca. O, how much more common is it for parents to see the vices and evils of their children, than their virtues and graces .'' And where one parent lives to rejoice in beholding the grace of God shining forth in the life of his child, there are twenty, it may be a hundred, that live to behold to their vexation and grief, the workings of corruption in them. It is a note of Plutarch in his morals,* " Xicoles,"" * Plutarch's florals, page 222. 58 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. saith he, " lived not to see the noble victory ob- tained by Themistocles his son ; nor Miltiades, to see the battle his son Cimon won in the field ; nor Xantippus, to hear his son Pericles preach, and make orations ; Ariston never heard his son Plato''s lectures and disputations: but men," saith he, " commonly live to see their children fall a gaming, revelling, drinking, and whoring ; multitudes live to see such things to their sorrow."" And if thou be a gracious soul, O what a cut this would be to thy very heart, to see those (as David spake of his son Absalom,) that came out of thy bowels, to be a sinning against God, that God whom thou lovest, and whose honour is dearer to thee than thy very life ! But admit they should prove civil and hopeful children, yet mightest thou not live to see more misery come upon them than thou couldst endure to see ? O think what a sad and doleful sight was that to Zedekiah, Jer. lii. 10, " The king of Babylon brought his children and slew them before his eyes."' Horrid spectacle! And that leads to the consi- deration, 5. How know you, but by this stroke which you so lament, God hath taken them away from the evil to come ? Is it God's usual way, when some extraordinary calamities are coming upon the world, to hide some of his weak and tender ones out of the way by death, Isa. Ivii. 1,2," He leaves some, and removes others, )Dut taketh care for the security of all." He ADVICE AND SUPPOUT TO THE GODLY. 59 provideth a grave for Methuselah before the flood. The grave is a hiding place to some, and God sees it better for them to be under ground, than above ground in such evil days. Just as a careful and tender father, who hath a a son abroad at school, hearing the plague is broken out in or near the place, sends his horse presently to fetch home his son, before the danger and diffi- culty be greater : death is our Father's pale horse which he sends to fetch home his tender children, and carry them out of harm's way. Surely, when national calamities are drawing on, it is far better for our friends to be in the grave in peace, than exposed to the miseries and distresses that are here, which is the meaning of Jeremiah, chap. xxii. 10, '• Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him ; but weep for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country."*' And is there not a dreadful sound of troubles now in our ears ? Do not the clouds gather black- ness ? Surely all things round about us seem to be preparing and disposing themselves for affliction. The days may be nigh in which you shall say, " Blessed is the womb that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck." It was in the day wherein the faith and patience of the saints were exercised, that John heard a voice from heaven, saying to him, " Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from hence- forth. CO ' A TOKEX FOR MOURNERS. Thy friend by an act of favour is disbanded by death, whilst thou thyself art left to endure a great sight of affliction. And now, if troubles come, thy cares and fears will be so much the less, and thy own death so much the easier to thee ; when so much of thee is in heaven already. In this case, the Lord, by a merciful dispensation, is providing both for their safety, and thy own easier passage to them. In removing thy friends before hand, he seems to say to thee, as he did to Peter, John xiii. 7, " AVhat I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." The eye of Providence hath a prospect far beyond thine : probably it wovild be a harder task for thee to leave them behind, than to follow them. A tree that is deeply rooted in the earth re- quires many strokes to fell it ; but when its roots are loosened beforehand, then an easy stroke lays it down upon the earth. 6. A parting time must needs come, and why is not this as good as another ? You know beforehand, your child or friend was mortal, and that the thread that linked you toge- ther, must be cut. " If any one,'' saith Basil, " had asked you when your child was born. What is that which is born ? What would you have answered ? W^ould you not have said. It is a man ? And if a man ; then a mortal, vanishing thing. And why then are you surprised with wonder to see a dying thing dead ?'' ADVICE AND SUPPOllT TO THE GODLY. 61 ** He/"' saitli Seneca, " who complains that one is dead, complains that he was a man.''* All men are under the same condition, to whose share it falls to be born, to him it remains to die. We are indeed distinguished by the intervals, but equalized in the issue : " It is appointed to all men once to die,'' Heb. ix. ^7. There is a statute law of heaven in the case. Possibly you think this is the worst time for part- ing that could be ; had you enjoyed it longer, you could have parted easier, but how are you deceived in that ? The longer you had enjoyed it, the more loth still you would have been to leave it ; the deeper it would have rooted itself in your affection. Had God given you such a privilege as was once granted to the English parliament ; that the union betwixt you and your friend should not be dissolved, till you yourself were willing it should be dissolved ; when, think you, would you have been willing it should be dissolved ? It is well for us and ours that our times are in God's hand, and not in our own. And how immature soever it seemed to be when it was cut down ; " yet it came to the gfave in a full age, as a shock of corn in its season," Job v. 26. " They that are in Christ and in the covenant, never die unseasonably when- soever they die," saith one upon the text, " they die in a good old age, yea, though they die in the spring and flower of youth ; they die in a good old * Seiiecu's Epistles, pnge 804. r 62 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. age, that is, they are ripe for death whenever they die. Whenever the godly die, it is harvest time with him ; though in a natural capacity, he be cut down while he is green, and cropped in the bud or blossom ; yet in his spiritual capacity, he never dies before he is ripe ; God can ripen his speedily, he can let out such warm rays and beams of his Holy Spirit upon them, as shall soon maturate the seeds of grace into a preparedness for glory .""* It was doubtless the most fit and seasonable time for them that ever they could die in, and as it is a fit time for them, so for you also. Had it lived longer, it might either have engaged you more, and so your parting would have been harder ; or else have puz- zled and stumbled you more by discovering its na- tural corruption ; and then what a stinging aggra- vation of your sorrow would that have been ? Surely the Lord of time is the best judge of time, and in nothing do we more discover our folly and rashness, than in presuming to fix the times either of our comforts or troubles : as for our comforts, we never think they can come too soon, we would have them presently, whether the season be fit or not, as Numb. xii. 13, " Heal her how. Lord.'' O let it be done speedily, we are in post haste for our comforts : and for our afflictions, we never think they come late enough ; not at this time. Lord, ra- ther at any other time than now. But it is good to leave the timing both of the • Caryl on the place. o ADVICE AKD SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. 63 one and the other to him, whose works are all beau- tiful in their seasons, and never doth any thing in an improper time. 7. Call to mind in this day of trouble, the cove- nant you have with God, and what you solemnly promised him in the day you took him for your God. It will be very seasonable and useful for thee, Christian, at this time to reflect upon these trans- actions, and the frame of thy heart in those days, when a heavier load of sorrow pressed thy heart, than thou now feelest. In those your spiritual distresses, when the bur- den of sin lay heavy, the curse of the law, the fear of hell, the dread of death and eternity beset thee on every side ; and shut thee up to Christ, the only door of hope. Ah, what good news wouldst thou then have accounted it, to escape that danger with the loss of all earthly comforts ? Was not this thy cry in those days, " Lord, give me Christ, and deny me whatever else thou pleasest .'' Pardon my sin, save my soul ; and in order to both, unite me with Christ, and I will never repine or open my mouth. Do what thou wilt with me ; let me be friendless, let me be child- less, let me be poor, let me be any thing rather than a Christless, graceless, hopeless soul.'*'' And when the Lord hearkened to thy cry and shewed thee mercy, when he drew thee off from the world into thy closet, and there treated with thee 64 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. in secret, when he was working up thy heart to the terms of his covenant, and made thee willing to accept Christ upon his own terms; O then, how heartily didst thou submit to his yoke, as most rea- sonable and easy, as at that time it seemed to thee ? Call to mind these days, the secret places where Christ and you made the bargain. Have not these words, or words to this sense, been whispered by thee into his ear, with a dropping eye and melting heart ? " Lord Jesus, here am I, a poor, guilty sinner, deeply laden with sin, fear and trouble upon one hand, and there is a just God, a severe law, and everlasting burnings on the other hand; but blessed be God, O blessed be God for Jesus the Mediator, who interposeth between me and it. Thou art the only door of hope at which I can escape, thy blood the only means of my pardon and salvation. Thou hast said. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Thou hast promised, that he that cometh to thee shall in no wise be cast out. " Blessed Jesus, thy poor creature cometh to thee upon these encouragements. I come, O but it is with many staggerings, with many doubts and fears of the issue ; yet I am willing to come and make a covenant with thee this day. " I take thee this day to be my Lord, and sub- mit heartily to all thy disposals : do what thou wilt with me or mine ; let me be rich or poor, any thing or nothing in this world. I am willing to ADVICE AND SCrPORT TO THE GODLY. G5 he as thou wouldst have me. And I do likewise give myself to thee, this day, to be thine ; all I am, all I have, shall be thine ; thine to serve thee, and thine to be disposed of at thy pleasure. Thou shalt henceforth be my highest Lord, my chief good, my last end.'' Now, Christian, make good to Christ what thou so solemnly promisedst him ; he, I say, he hath disposed of this thy dear relation as pleased him ; and is thereby trying thy uprightness in the cove- nant which thou madest with him : now where is the satisfaction and content thou promisedst to take in all his disposals ? where is that covenanted sub- mission to his will ? Didst thou except this afflic- tion, that is come upon thee ? Didst thou tell him. Lord, I will be content thou slialt, when thou pleasest, take any thing I have, save only this husband, this wife, or this dear child ; I reserve this out of the bargain ; I shall never en- dure that thou shouldst kill this comfort. If so, thou didst in all this but prove thyself a hypocrite; if thou wast sincere in thy covenant, as Christ had no reserves on his part, so thou hadst none on thine. It was all without any exception thou then re- signedst to him, and now wilt thou go back from thy word, as one that had out-promised himself, and repents the bargain ? Or at least, as one that hath forgotten these solemn transactions in the days of thy distress ? Wherein hath Christ failed in one tittle that he promised thee ? Charge him if thou F 3 66 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. canst with the least unfiiithfiilness ; he hath been faithful to a tittle on his part, O be thou so upon thine ; this day it is put to the proof, remember what thou hast promised him. 8. But if thy covenant with God will not quiet thee, yet methinks God's covenant with thee might be presumed to do it. Is thy family, which was lately hopeful and flourishing, a peaceful tabernacle, now broken up and scattered.'* Thy posterity from which thou raisedst up to thyself great expectations of comfort in old age, cut off .^^ So that thou art now like neither to have a name or memorial left thee in the earth. Dost thou sit alone, and mourn to think whither- to thy hopes and comforts are now come ? Dost thou read over those words of Job, chap, xxix. 1 — 5, and comment upon them with many tears ? " O that I were as in months part, as in the days when God preserved me ! when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness ; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me."" Yet let the covenant God hath made with thee, comfort thee in this thy desolate condition. You know what domestic tronblcs holy David met with in a sad succession, not only from the death of children : but which was much worse, from ADVICE AND SUPPOIIT TO THE GODLY. 67 the wicked lives of his children. There was incest, murder, and rebellion in his family ; a far sorer trial than death in their infancy could have been : and yet see how sweetly he relieves himself from the covenant of grace, in 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, " Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure : for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.'' I know this place principally refers to Christ, who was to spring out of David's family, according to God's covenant made with him in that behalf. And yet I doubt not but it hath another, though less principal aspect upon his own family, over all the afflictions and troubles whereof the covenant of God with him did abundantly comfort him. And as it comforted him, although his house did not increase, and those that were left were not such as he desired : so it may abundantly comfort you also, whatever troubles or deaths are upon your far- milies, who have an interest in the covenant. For, (1.) If you be God's covenant people, though he may afflict, yet he will never forget you, Psalm cxi. 5, " He is ever mindful of his covenant." You are as much upon his heart in your deepest afflic- tions, as in the greatest flourish of your prosperity. You find it hard to forget your child, though it be now turned to a heap of corruption, and loath- some rottenness. O how doth your mind run upon it night and day ! your thoughts tire not upon that ob- 68 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. J3Ct : why surely it is much more easy for you to for- get your dear child whilst living and most endearing, much more when dead and undesirable, than it is for your God to forget you. Isaiah xlix. 15, " Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee.'" Can a woman, tlie more affectionate sex, forget her sucking child, her own child, and not a nursing child? Her own child, whilst it hangs on the breast, and together with the milk from the breast, draws love from its mother's heart ; can such a thing as this be in nature ? Possibly it may ; for creature love is fickle and variable ; but I will not forget thee ; it is an everlasting covenant. (2.) As he will never forget you in your trou- bles, so he will order all your troubles for your good. It is a well ordered covenant, or a covenant orderly disposed ; so that every thing shall work together for your good. The covenant so orders all your trials, ranks and disposes your various troubles so, as that they shall in their orders and places sweetly co-operate and join their united influences to make you happy. Possibly you cannot see how the present affliction should be for your good; you are ready to say with Jacob, Gen. xlii. 36, " Joseph is not, and Si- meon is not ; and ye will take Benjamin away : all these things are against me."" But could you once see how sweetly and orderly all these afflictions ADVICE AND SUrPORT To THE GODLY. 69 work under the blessing and influence of the cove- nant to your eternal good ; you would not only be quiet, but thankful for that which now so much afflicts and troubles you. (3.) This covenant is not only well ordered in all things, but sure ; the mercies contained in it, are called the sure mercies of David, Isa. Iv. 3. Now, how sweet, how seasonable a support doth this consideration give to God's afflicted under the rod J You lately made yourselves sure of that creature com- fort which hath forsaken you. It may be, you said of your child which is now gone, as Lamech said of his son Noah, Gen. v. 29, " This same shall com- fort us concerning our work, and toil of our hands."' Meaning that his son should not only comfort them by assisting them in the works of their hands, but also in enjoying the fruit of their toil and pains for him. Probably such thoughts you have had, and raised up to yourselves great expectations of comfort in your old age from it ; but now you see you built upon the sand: and where were you now, if you had not a firmer bottom to build upon ? But bless- ed be God, the covenant-mercies are more sure and solid ; God, Christ, and heaven, never start or fade as these things do. The sweetest creature enjoyments you ever had, or have in this world, cannot say to you as your God doth, " I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."" You must part with your dear husbands, how well soever you love them ; you must bid adieu to the 70 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. wife of your bosom, how nearly soever your affections be linked, and heart delighted in her. Your chil- dren and you must be separated, though they be to you as your own soul. But though these vanish away, blessed be God, there is something that abides. " Though all flesh be as grass, and the goodliness of it as the flower of the grass, though the grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it : yet the word of our God shall stand for ever,"" Isa. xl. 6 — 8. There is so much of support contained in this one consideration, that could but your faith fix here, to realize and apply it, I might lay down my pen at this period, and say, the work is done, there needs no more. 9. The hope of the resurrection should power- fully restrain all excesses of sorrow in those that do profess it. Let them only mourn without measure, who mourn without hope. The husbandman doth not mourn when he casts his seed corn into the earth, because he sows in hope ; commits it to the ground with an expectation to receive it again with improve- ment. Why, thus stands the case here, and just so the apostle states it, 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14, " 13ut I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, con- cerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope ; for if we believe, that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. 71 As if he should say, look not upon the dead as a lost generation: think not that death hath anni- hilated and utterly destroyed them. O no, they are not dead but only asleep, and if they sleep, they shall awake again. You do not use to make out cries and lamentations for your children and friends when you find them asleep upon their beds. Why, death is but a longer sleep, out of which they shall as surely awake as ever they did in the morning in this world. I have often wondered at that golden sentence in Seneca, " My thoughts of the dead,"" saith he, "are not as others are ; I have fair and pleasant appre- hensions of them ; for I enjoyed them as one that reckoned I must part with them ; and I part with them as one that makes account to have them.*" He speaks, no doubt, of that enjoyment of them, which his pleasant contemplations of their virtuous actions could give him, for he was wholly unacquaint- ed with the comfortable and heart-supporting doc- trine of the resurrection. Had he known the ad- vantages which result thence, at what a rate may we think he would have spoken of the dead and cf their state ; but this you profess to believe, and yet sink at a strange rate. O suffer not Gentilism to outvie Christianity. Let not Pagans challenge the greatest believers, to outdo them in a quiet and cheerful behaviour under afflictions. I beseech thee, reader, if thy deceased friend have left thee any solid ground of hope that he died 72 A TOKEN FOll MOUKNEKS. interested in Christ, and the covenant ; that thou wilt distinctly ponder these admirable supports which the doctrine of the resurrection aftbrds. (1.) That the same body which was so plea- sant a spectacle to thee, shall be restored again ; yea, the same numerically, as well as the same specifically ; so that it shall not only be what it was, but the who it was ; " These eyes shall behold him, and not another ,"" Job xix. 27. The very same body you laid, or are now about to lay in the grave, shall be restored again : thou shalt find thy own husband, wife, or child, or friend again : I say, the self-same, and not another. (2.) And farther, this is supporting, that as you shall see the same person that was so dear to you ; so you shall know them to be the same that were once endeared to you on earth in so near a tie of relation. Indeed you shall know them no more in any carnal relation, death dissolved that bond : but you shall know them to be such, as once were your dear relations in this world, and be able to single them out among that great multitude, and say, this was my father, mother, husband, wife, or child. This was the person for whom I wept and made suppli- cation, who was an instrument of good to me, or to whose salvation God then made me instrumental. For we may allow in that state all that knowledge which is cumulative and perfective, whatsoever may enlarge and heighten our felicity and satisfaction, ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. iO as this must needs be allowed to do. Luther's judgment m this point, being asked by his friends at supper the evening before he died, replied thus, " What (said he) befcl Adam ? He never saw Eve, but was in a deep sleep when God formed her ; yet when he awaked and saw her, he asked not, what she was, nor whence she came? But saith, she was flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone. Now, how knew he that ? he being full of the Holy Ghost, and endued with the knowledge of God, spake thus.'*'* After the same manner we also shall be in the other life renewed by Christ, and shall know our parents, our wives, and children. And this among other things was that with which Augustine comforted the lady Italica, after the death of her husband, telling her, " That she should know him in the world to come among the glorified saints."'* Yea, and a greater than either of these, I mean Paul, comforted himself, that the Thessalonians whom he had converted to Christ, should be his joy and crown of rejoicing, in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming, 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20. Which must needs imply his distinct knowledge of them in that day, which must be many hundred years after death hath separated them from each other. Whether this knowledge shall be by the glorified eyes discerning any lineaments or property of individuation remaining upon the glorified bodies of our relations : or, whether it shall be by imme- * AiigTistirus Epistle 6.. G 74 A TOKEN FOil MOUilNKUS. diate revelation, as Adam knew his wife; or as Peter, James, and John knew Moses and Elias in the mount ; as it is difficult to determine, so it is need- less to puzzle ourselves about it. It is the concurrent judgment of sound divines, and it wants not countenance from scripture and reason, that such a knowledge of them shall be in heaven, and then the sadness of this parting will be abundantly recompensed by the joy of that meet- ing. Especially considering, (3.) That at our next meeting they shall be unspeakably more desirable, swxet, and excellent than ever they were in this world. They had a desirableness in them here, but they were not alto- gether lovely, and in every respect desirable ; they had their infirmities, both natural and moral , but all these are removed in heaven, and for ever done away: no natural infirmities hang about glorified bodies, nor sinful ones upon perfected spirits of the just. O what lovely creatures will they appear to you then, when that which is now sown in dishonour, shall be raised in honour, 1 Cor. xv. 43. And then to crow^n all, (4.) You shall have an everlasting enjoyment of them in heaven, never to part again. The children of the resurrection can die no more, Luke XX. 36. You shall kiss their pale lips, and cold cheeks no more : you shall never fear another part- ing pull, but be together with the Lord for ever, 1 Thess. iv. 14; and this the apostle tliought an ADVICE AXD SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. 75 effectual cordial in this case, when he exhorted the Thessalonians " to comfort one another with these words.""* 10. The present felicity into which all that die in Christ are presently admitted, should abundantly comfort Christians over the death of such, as either carried a lively hope out of the world with them, or have left good grounds of such a hope behind them. Such there are that carried a lively hope to hea- ven with them, who could evidence to themselves and friends their interest in Christ and in the cove- nant. Yea, though they had died in silence, yet their conversations would speak for them, and the tenour of their lives leave no ground of doubting, touching their death ; others dying in their infancy and youth, though they carried not such an actual hope with them, yet they have left good grounds of hope behind them. Parents, now ponder these grounds ; you have prayed for them, you have many times wrestled with the Lord on their behalf: you have taken hold of God's covenant for them, as v/ell as for yourselves, and dedicated them to the Lord ; and they have not by any actions of theirs destroyed those grounds of your hope, but that you may with much proba- bility conclude they are with God. Why, if the case be so, what abundant reason have you to be quiet and well satisfied with what God hath done ? Can tliey be better than where they are ? Had you better provisions and enter- 76 A TOKEX FOR MOUUNEllS, tainments for them liere, than their heavenly Fa- ther hath above ? There is no christian parent in the world, but would rejoice to see his child outstrip and get be- fore him in grace, that he may be more eminent in parts and service than ever he was ; and what rea- son can be given why we should not as much rejoice to see our children get before us in glory as in grace? They are gotten to heaven a few years before you, and is that matter of mourning ? AVould not your child (if he were not ignorant of you,) say, as Christ did to his friends a little before his death, when he saw them cast down at the thoughts of parting, John xiv. 28, " If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I go unto the Father :" as if he should say, do not value your own sensible comfort from my bodily presence with you, before my glory and advance- ment in heaven. Is this the love to me ? or is it not rather self-love ? So would your departed friend say to you : " You have professed much love all along to me, my happi- ness seemed to be very dear to you ; how comes it to pass then, that you mourn so exceedingly now ? This is rather the effect of a fond and fleshly, than of a rational and spiritual love ; if you loved me with a pure, spiritual love, you would rejoice that I am gone to my Father. It is infinitely better for me to be here, than with you on earth, under sin and sorrow : weep not for me, but for yourselves."' Alas, though you want your friend's company, he ADVICE AND SUrPOIlT TO THE GODLY. 77 wants not yours : your care was to provide for tliis child, but Jesus Christ hath provided infinitely better for it than you could ; you intended an estate, but he a kingdom for it : you thought upon such or such a match, but Christ hath forbid all others, and married your child to himself. Would you imagine a higher preferment for the fruit of your bodies ? A King from heaven hath sent for your friend, and do ycu grudge at the journey ? O think, and think again, what an honour it is to you, that Christ hath taken them out of your bosom, and laid them in his own ; stript them out of those garments you provided, and clothed them in white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Let not your hearts be troubled, rather rejoice exceedingly, that God made you instruments to replenish heaven, and bring forth an heir for the kingdom of God. Your child is now glorifying God in a higher way than you can : and what though you have lost his bodily presence for a time ; yet I hope you do not reckon that to be your loss, which turns to God's greater glory. When Jacob heard his Joseph was lord of Egypt, he rather wished himself v.ith Joseph, than his Jo- seph with him, in wants and straits. So should it be with you. You are yet rolling and tossing upon a tempe*otuous sea ; but your friend is gone into the quiet harbour : desire rather to be there, than that he M'crc at sea witi; you again. G 3 78 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. 11. Consider how vain a thing all your troubles and self-vexation is : it no way betters your case, nor eases your burden. As a bullock, by wrestling and sweating in the furrow, makes his yoke to be more heavy and galls his neck, and spends his strength the sooner, and no way helps liimself by that : why, thus stands the case with thee ; if thou be as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, what Christ saith of caring^ we say of grieving^ Matt. vi. 27, " AVhich o^you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature .^'' Cares may break our sleep, yea, break our hearts ; but they cannot add to our stature, either in a natu- ral or in a civil notion : so our sorrowing may sooner break our hearts, than the yoke God hath laid on you. Alas, what is all this, but as the fluttering of a bird in the net, which, instead of freeing, doth but the more entangle itself .f^ It was therefore a wise resolution of David in this very case, when the will of God was signified in the death of his child, 2 Sam. xii. 23, " But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him back again ? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.''' Can I bring him back again ? No, I can no more alter the purpose and work of God, than I can change the seasons of tlie year, or alter the course of the sun, moon, and stars, or disturb the order of the day and night : which are all unalterably establish- ed by a firm constitution and ordinance of heaven. ADVICE AXD SUPPOIIT TO TIIK CODLY. 7V) As these seasons cannot be changed by man, so neither can this course and v/ay of his providences be changed : Job xxiii. 13, " He is of one mind, and who can turn him ? and what his soul desire th, even that he doth." Indeed, while his pleasure and purpose are unknown to us, there is room for fasting and prayer to prevent the thing we fear ; but when the purpose of God is manifested in the issue, and the stroke is given, then it is the vainest thing in the world to fret and vex ourselves, as David's servants thought he would do, as soon as he should hear the child was dead : but he was wiser than so, his tears and cries to God before, had the nature and use of means to prevent the affliction ; but when it was come, and could not be prevented, then they were of no use, to no purpose in the world. " Wherefore should I fast ?'' as if he should say, to what end, use, or purpose will it be now ? Well then, cast not away your strength and spirits to no advantage, reserve them for future exercises and trials. Time may come, that you may need all tiie strength you have, and much more, to support greater burdens than this. 12. The Lord is able to restore all your lost comforts in relations, double to you, if you meekly submit to him, and patiently wait upon him under the rod. When Esau liad lost his blessing, he said, " Hast thou but one blessing, my father ?" Gen. xxvii. 38. Eut your Father hath more blessings for you than 80 A TOKKK lOil .MOUilXERS. one : his name is, " The Father of mercies/' 2 Cor. i. 3. He can beget and create as many mercies for you as he pleaseth : relations, and the comforts of them are at his command. It is but a few months or years past, and these comforts, whose loss you now lament, were not in being, nor did you know whence they should arise to you ; yet the Lord gave the word, and com- manded them for you: and if he please, he can make the death of these but like a scythe to the meadow that is mown down, or a razor to the head that is shaved bare ; which though it lay you under the present trouble and reproach of barrenness, yet doth but make way for a double increase, a second sprmg, with advantage. So that even as it was with the captive church, in respect of her special children, in the day of her captivity and reproach, the Lord made up all with advantage to her even to her own astonishment, Isa. xlix. 20, " The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thy ears, the place is too strait for me, give place to me that I may dwell.'' Thus may he deal with you as to your natural children and relations : so that what the man of God *aid to Amaziah, 2 Chron. xxv. 9, may be ap- plied to the case in hand; "Amaziah said to the man of God, what shall we do for the hundred talents ? and the man of God answered, the Lord is able to give tiicc much more than this." ADVICE AXT) SUPPOIIT TO Tin: GODLY. 81 O say not, what shall I do for friends and rela- tions ? death hath robbed me of all comfort in them. Why, the Lord is able to give you much more. But then, as ever you expect to see your future blessings multiplied, look to it, and be care- ful that you neither dishonour God, nor grieve him by your unsubmissive and impatient carriage under the present rod. God took away all JoVs children, and that at one stroke, and the stroke immediate and extraordinary, and that when they were grown up, and planted (at least some of them) in distinct families ; yea, whilst they were endearing each other by mutual expres- sions of aifection. This must be yielded to be an extraordinary trial ; yet he meekly receives, and patiently bears it from the hand of the Lord. " You have heard of the patience of Job," saith the apostle James, chap. v. 11, "and seen the end of the Lord." Not only the gracious end or intention of the Lord in all his afflictions, but the happy end and issue the Lord gave to all his afflictions of which you have the account, Job xlii. 10, " The Lord "gave Job twice as much as he had before.'"* The number of his children was not dou- ble to what he had, as all his other comforts were ; but though the Lord only restored the same number to him again that he took away, yet it is likely, the comfort he had in these latter children, was double to what he had in the former. There is 82 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS, nothing lost by waiting patiently, and submitting willingly to the Lord's disposal. It is as easy with the Lord to revive, as it is to remove your comforts in relations. There is a sweet expression to this purpose in Fsalm xviii. 28, " For thou. Lord, wilt light my candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness." Every comfortable enjoyment, whether it be in relations, estate, health, or friends, is a candle lighted by Providence, for our comforts in this world, and they are but candles, which will not always last, and those that last longest will be consumed and wasted at last ; but oftentimes it falls out with them as with candles, they are blown out before they are half consumed ; yea, almost as soon as lighted up, and then we are in darkness for the present. It is a dark hour with us when these comforts are put out : but David's faith did, and ours may com- fort us with this, that he that blew out the candle, can light up another : " thou. Lord, shall light my candle, the Lord my God shall enlighten my dark- ness.'"* That is, the Lord will renew my comforts, alter the present sad estate I am in, and chase away that trouble and darkness which at present lies upon me. Only beware of offending him, at whose beck your lights and comforts come and go. Mi- chal displeased the I^ord, and " therefore had no child unto the day of her death," 2 Sam. vi. 23. Hannah waited humbly upon the Lord for the ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. 83 blessing of children, and the Lord remembered her, he enlightened her condition with that comfort when she was as a lamp despised. There is no comfort you have lost, but God can restore it, yea, double it in kind, if he sees it convenient for you. And if not, then, 13. Consider, though he should deny you any more comforts of that kind, yet he hath far better to bestow upon you, such as these deserve not to be named with. You have an excellent scripture to this purpose, in Isa. Ivi. 4, 5, " For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my cove- nant : even to them will I give in my house, and within my walls, a place and a name better than of sons and daughters ; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off." Men's names are said to be continued in their issue,* in their male issue especially, and conse- quently to fail in such as wanted issue. Numb, xxvii. 4. And a numerous issue is deemed no small honour. Psalm cxxvii. 4, 5. God, therefore, pro- mised here to supply and make good the want of issue, and whatsoever, either honour here or memo- rial hereafter, might from it have accrued to them, by bestowing upon them matter of far greater ho- nour, and more durable ; a name better, or before the name of sons or daughters. * 8ee Euglibli Anuotatioiis on the place. 84 A TOK^:^f for mouiikeii.s. It is a greater honour to be the child of God, than to have the greatest honour or comfort that ever children afforded their parents in this world. Poor heart, thou art now dejected by this afflic- tion that lies upon thee, as if all joy and comfort were now cut oit from thee in this world. A cloud dwells upon all other comforts, this afflic- tion hath so imbittered thy soul, that thou tastest no more in any other earthly com.forts than in the white of an egg. O that thou didst but consider the consolations that are with God for such as answer his ends in afiiiction, and patiently wait on him for their comfort ! he hath comforts for you far trans- cending the joy of children. This some have found when their children have been cut off from them, and that in so eminent a degree, that they have little valued their comfort in children in comparison with this comfort. I will therefore set down a pregnant instance of the point in hand, as I find it recorded by the grave and worthy author of that excellent book, entitled, "The Fulfilling of the Scripture."* " Another notable instance of grace, with a very remarkable passage in his condition, I shall here mention. One Patrick Mackewrath, who lived in the west parts of Scotland, whose heart in a remark- able way the Lord touched, and after his conver- sion, as he shewed to many christian friends, was in such a frame so affected with the new world, • '' Fulfilling of the Scripture," p^ge 121. ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE GODLV. 85 wherein he was entered, the discoveries of God, and of a life to come : that for some months together he did seldom sleep, but was still taken up in wonder- ing. His life was very remarkable for tenderness, and near converse with God in his walk ; and, which was worthy to be noted, one day, after a sharp trial, having his only son suddenly taken away by death, he retired alone for several hours, and when he came forth, did look so cheerfully, that to those who asked him the reason thereof, and wondered at the same in such a time, he told them, he had got that in his retirement with the Lord, that to have it afterwards renewed, he would be con- tent to lose a son every day.'" O what a sweet exchange had he made ! Surely he had gold for brass, a pearl for a pebble, a trea- sure for a trifle ; for so great, yea, and far greater is the disproportion betwixt the sweet light of God's countenance, and the faint, dim light of the best creature enjoyment. Would it please the Lord to make this sun arise and shine upon you, now when the stars that shined with a dim and borrowed light are gone down, you would see ^uch gain by the exchange, as would quickly make you cast in your votes with him we now mentioned, and say, Lord, let every day be such as this funeral day ; let all my hours be as this, so that I may see and taste what I now do. Hov/ gladly would I part with the dearest and nearest creature comforts I own in this world. 86 A TOKEN FOR MOUIIXEKS. The gracious and tender Lord hath his divine cordials reserved on purpose for such sad hours; these are sometimes given before some sharp trial, to prepare for it, and sometimes after, to support under it. I have often heard it from the mouth, and found it in the diary of a sweet Christian now with God, that a little before the Lord removed her dear hus- band by death, there was such an abundant outlet of the love of God unto her soul for several days and nights following, that when the Lord took away her husband by death, though he was a gra- cious and sweet tempered, (and by her most ten- derly beloved) husband, she was scarce sensible of the stroke, but carried quite above all earthly things, their comforts, and their troubles; so that she had almost lost the thoughts of her dear hus- band in God. And had not the Lord taken this course with her, she concluded that blow had not been possible to be borne by her, she must have sunk without such a preparative. A husband, a wife, a child, are great, very great things, as they stand by other creatures ; but surely they will seem little things, and next to nothing, when the Lord shall set himself by them before the soul. And how know you, but God hath bidden these earthly comforts stand aside this day, to make way for heavenly ones ? It may be, God is coming to communicate himself more sweetly, more sensibly ADVICE AND SUPrORT TO THE GODLY. 87 than ever to your souls ; and these are the provi- dences which must cast up and prepare the way of the Lord. Possibly, God's meaning in their death is but this : child, stand aside, thou art in my way, and fillest my place in thy parent's heart. 14. Be careful you exceed not in your grief for the loss of earthly things, considering that Satan takes the advantage of all extremes. You cannot touch any extreme, but you will be touched by that enemy, whose greatest advantages lie in assaulting you here. Satan is called the " ruler of the darkness of this world,"' Eph. vi. 12 ; that is, his kingdom is sup- ported by darkness. Now there is a twofold darkness which gives Satan great advantage ; the darkness of the mind, namely, ignorance ; and the darkness of the condition, namely, trouble and affliction. Of the former, the apostle speaks chiefly in that text ; but the latter also is by him often improved, to carry on his designs upon us : when it is a dark hour of trouble with us, then is his fittest season to tempt. That cowardly spirit falls upon the people of God v/hen they are down and low in spirit as well as state. Satan would never have desired that the hand of God should have been stretched out upon Job's person, estate, and children ; but that he promised himself a notable advantage therein to poison his spirit with vile thoughts of God. " Do this," saith lie, " and he will curse thee to thy face." What the Psalmist observes of natural, is as true 88 A TOKEN FOR MOUKXERS. of metapliorical darkness. Psal. civ. SO, " Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth, the young lions roar after their prey." When it is dark night with men, it is noon-day with Satan, that is, our suffering time is his busiest working time ; many a dismal suggestion he then plants and grafts upon our affliction, which are much more dangerous to us than the affliction itself. Sometimes he injects desponding thoughts into the afflicted soul, " Then, said I, I am cut off from before thine eyes," Psal. xxxi. 22 ; and Lam. iii. 18, 19, " My hope is perished from the Lord, re- membering mine affliction and my misery, the worm- wood and the gall. Sometimes he suggests hard thoughts of God, Ruth i. 20, '*' The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." Yea, that he hath dealt more severely with us than any other: Lam. i. 12, " Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me, wherevvith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." And sometimes murmuring and repining thoughts against the Lord ; the soul is displeased at the hand of God upon it. Jonah was angry at the hand of God, and said, " I do well to be angry even unto death," Jonah iv. 9. What dismal thoughts are these ? And how much more afflictive to a gracious soul, than the loss of any outward enjoy- ment in this world .^ ADVICE AND .SUPPOIIT TO TIIK GODI.V. 89 And sometimes very irreligious and atheistical thoughts ; as if there were no privilege to be had by religion, and all our pains, zeal, and care about duty were little better than lost labour. Psal. Ixxiii. 13, 14, " Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency; for all the day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning.'"' By these things Satan gets no small advantage upon the afflicted Christian ; for albeit these thoughts are his burden, and God will not impute them to the condemnation of his people ; yet they rob the soul of peace, and hinder it from duty, and make it act uncomely under affliction, to the stum- bling and hardening of others in their sin ; beware, therefore, lest by your excesses of sorrow, ye give place to the devil : we are not ignorant of his devices. 15. Give no way to excessive sorrows upon the account of affliction, if ye have any regard to the honour of God and religion, which will hereby be exposed to reproach. If you slight your own honour, do not slight the honour of God and religion too. Take heed how you carry it in a day of trouble, many eyes are upon you. It is a true observation, that a late worthy * author hath made upon this case : "What will the atheist, and what will the profane scoiTer say, when they shall see this .^ So sottish and ma- licious they are, that if they do but see you in afflic- * M. M. His Apendix to Solomon's Prescription, paire 112. li i^ 90 A TOKEN FOR JIOUKNEIIS. tion, they are straightway scornfully demanding, where is your God ? "But what would they say, if they should hear you yourselves unbelievingly cry out, where is our God? Will they not be ready to cry, this is the religion they make such boast of, which you see how little it does for tliem in a day of extremity ; they talk of promises, rich and precious promises — but where are they now ? or, to what purpose do they serve ? They said they had a treasure in heaven, what ails them to mourn so then, if their riches be there ?" O beware what you do before the world : they have eyes to see what you can do, as well as ears to hear what you can say ; and as long as your car- riage under troubles is so much like their own, they will never think your principles are better than theirs. Carnal worldlings will be drawn to think that whatever fine talk you might have about God and heaven, your hearts were most upon the same things that theirs were, since your grief for their removal is as great as theirs. They know by experience, what a stay it is to the heart to have an able, faithful friend to depend upon, or to have hopes of a great estate shortly to fall to them ; and they will never be persuaded you have any such ground of comfort, if they see you as much cast down as they that pretend to no such matter. By this means, the precepts of Christ to constancy and contentment in all estates, will come to be looked ADVICE AND buri'oirr to the godly. 01 upon, like those of the Stoics, only as magnijiva verba, brave words, but such as are impossible to be practised ; and the .whole of the gospel will be taken for an airy notion, since they that profess greatest regard to it, are no more helped thereby. what a shame is it that religion should in this case make no more difference betwixt man and man ? Wherefore shew to the world (whatever their com- mon censures are) that it is not so much your care to differ from them in some opinions, and a little strictness, as in humility, meekness, contempt of the world, and heavenly mindedness ; and now let these graces display themselves by your cheerful, patient deportment under all your grievances. Wherefore hath God planted those excellent graces in your souls, but that he might be glorified, and you benefited by the exercises of them in tribu- lation ? Should these be supprest and hid, and no- thing but the pride, passion, and unmortified carth- liness of your hearts set on work, and discovered in time of trouble ; what a slur, what a wound will you give to the glorious name which is called upon by you ? And then if your hearts be truly gracious, that will pierce you deeper than ever your affliction which occasioned it did. 1 beseech you therefore, be tender of the name of God, if you will not be so of your own peace and comfort. 16. Be quiet and hold your peace: you little know how many mercies lie in the womb of this affliction. 92 A TOKEN For. MOUIINKRS. Great are the benefits of a sharp, rouzing affliction to the people of God at some times, and all might have them at all times, v/ere they more careful to improve them. Holy David thankfully acknow- ledgeth, Psal. cxix. 71, " It is good for me that I liave been afflicted." And surely there is as much good in them for you, as for him ; if the Lord sanctify them to such ends and uses as his were sanctified unto. Such a smarting rod as this came not before there was need enough of it, and possibly you saw the need of some awakening providence yourselves ; but if not, the Lord did : he took not up the rod to smite you, till his faithfulness, and tender love to your souls called upon him to correct you. You now sit pensive under the rod, sadly la- menting and deploring the loss of some earthly com- fort ; your heart surcharged with sorrow ; your eyes run down upon every mention and remem- brance of your dear * friend. Why, if there were no more, this alone may discover the need you had of this rod ; for doth not all this sorrow at parting plainly speak how much j^our heart was set upon, how fast your heart was glued to this earthly comfort.^ Now you see that your affections were sunk many degrees deeper into the creature than you are aware of: and what should God do in this case by you.^ Should he suffer you to cleave to the creature more and more ? should he permit it to purloin and ex- haust your love and delight, and steal away your heart from himself? tli is he could not do and Icve ADVICE AND SUrPORT TO THE GODLY. 93 you. The more impatient you are under this affliction, the more need you had of it. And what if by this stroke the Lord will awaken your drowsy soul, and recover you out of that plea- sant, but dangerous spiritual slumber you were fallen into, whilst you had pillowed your head upon tliis pleasant, sensible creature enjoyment ? Is not this really better for you, than if he should say, Sleep on : he is joined to idols, let him alone; he is departing from me the fountain, to a broken cis- tern, let him go ? Yea, what if by this stroke upon one of the plea- santest things you had in this world, God will dip- cover to you, more sensibly and effectually than ever, the vanity both of that and all other earthly comforts, so as that you shall from henceforth never let forth your heart, your hope, your love, and de- light to any of them as you did before ? You could talk before of the creature's vanity ; but I question whether ever you had so clear and convincing a sight of its vanity as you have this day : and is not this a considerable mercy in your eyes ? Now, if ever God is weaning you from all fond opinions, and vain expectations from this world ; by this your judgment of the creature is rectified, and your affections to all other enjoyments on earth moderated : and is this nothing ? O doubtless it is a greater mercy to you than to have your friend alive again. And what if by this rod your wandering, gadding 94 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. heart shall be whipped home to God ? your neg- lected duties revived ? your decayed communion with God restored ? a spiritual, heavenly frame of heart recovered ? What will you say then ? Surely you will bless that merciful hand which removed the obstructions : and adore the divine wisdom and goodness, that by such a device as this recovered you to himself. Now you can pray more constantly, more spiritually, more affectionately than before. O blessed rod, which buds and blossoms with such fruits as these ! let this be written among your best mercies ; for you shall have cause to adore and bless God eternally for this beneficial affliction. 17. Suffer not yourselves to be transported by im- patience, and swallowed up of grief, because God hath exercised you under a smarting rod : for as smarting as it is, it is comparatively a gentle stroke to what others as good as yourselves have felt. Your dear relation is dead ; be it so, here is but a single death before you, but others have seen many deaths contrived into one upon their relations, to which yours is nothing. Zedekiah saw his children murdered before his eyes, and then had those eyes (alas ! too late) put out.* The worthy author of that excellent book be- fore-mentioned, tells us of a choice and godly gentle- woman in the north of Ireland, who when the re- bellion broke out there, fied with three children, one of them upon the breast ; they had not gone far be- • The fulfilling of the Scripture. ADVICE AND SUrPOllT TO THE GODLY. 95 fore they were stripped naked by the Irish, who to their admiration spared their lives, (it is like, con- cluding that cold and hunger would kill them) after- wards going on at the foot of a river which runs to Lochneach, others met them, and would have cast them into the river; but this godly woman, not dismayed, asked a little liberty to pray; and as she lay naked on the frozen ground, got resolution not to go on her own feet to so unjust a death, upon which having called her, and she refusing, was dragged by the heels along that rugged way, to be cast in with her little ones. But she then turned, and on her knees said, You should, I am sure, be Christians, and men I see you are ; in taking away our miserable lives you do us a pleasure ; but know, that as we never wronged you nor yours, you must remember to die also yourselves, and one day give an account of this cruelty to the Judge of heaven and earth : hereupon they resolved not to murder them with their own hands, but returned them all naked upon a small island in the river, without any provision, there to perish. The next day the two boys having crept aside, found the hide of a beast which had been killed at the root of a tree ; which the mother cast over them lying upon the snow. The next day a little boat goes by, unto whom she calls for God's sake to take them in, but they being Irish, refused. She desired a little bread, but they said they had none ; then she 96 A TOKEN FOR MOUIIXEIIS. begs a coal of fire, which she obtained, and thus with some fallen chips, made a little fire, and the children taking a piece of the hide, laid it on the coals and began to gnaw the leather ; but without any extraordinary divine support, what could this do ? Thus they lived ten days without any visible means of help, having no bread but ice and snow, nor drink except water. The two boys being nearly starved, she pressed them to go out of her sight, not able to see their death : yet God delivered them as miraculously at last, as he had supported them all that while. But, judge whether a natural death in an ordinary way, be comparable to such a trial as this ; and yet thus the Lord did by this choice and eminently gi-a- cious woman. And Mr. Wall, in his " None but Christ," re- lates a sad passage of a poor family in Germany, who were driven to that extremity in the famine, that at last the parents made a motion one to the other, to sell one of their children for bread to sus- tain themselves and the rest ; but when they came to consider which child it should be, their hearts so relented and yearned upon every one, that they resolved rather all to die together. Yea, we read in Lam. iv. 10, " The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children."' But why speak I of these extremities.'^ How many parents, yea, some godly ones too, have lived to see their children dying in profaneness, and some ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. 97 by the hand of justice, lamenting their rebellions with a rope about their necks. Ah, reader, little dost thou know, what stings there are in the afflictions of others ; surely you liave no reason to think the Lord hath dealt more bitterly with you than any. It is a gentle stroke, a merciful dispensation, if you compare it with what others have felt. 18. If God be your God, you have really lost nothmg by the removal of any creature comfort. God is the fountain of all true comfort; creatures, the very best and sweetest, are but cisterns to re- ceive and convey to us what comfort God is pleased to communicate to them ; and if the cistern be broken, or the pipe cut off, so that no more comfort can be conveyed to us that way, he hath other ways and mediums to do it by, which we think not of ; and if he please, he can convey his comforts to his people without any of them : and if he do it more immediately, we shall be no losers by that ; for no comforts in the world are so delectable and ravishingly sweet, as those that flow immediately from the fountain. And it is the sensuality of our hearts, that causes us to affect them so inordinately, and grieve for the loss of them so immoderately, as if we had not enough in God without these creature supple- ments. Is the fulness of the fountain yours ? and yet do you cast down yourselves, because the broken I 98 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. cistern is removed? The best creatures are no better, Jer. ii. 13. Cisterns have nothing but what they receive, and broken ones cannot hold what is put into them. Why then do you mourn, as if your life were bound up in the creature ? You have as free an access to the fountain as you had before. It is the advice of a heathen, (and let them take the comfort of it,) to repair by a new earthly comfort, what we have lost in the former. " Thou hast carried forth him whom thou lovedst,'"* saith Seneca ; " seek one whom thou mayest love in his stead ; it is better to repair than bemoan thy loss."' But if God never repair your loss, in things of the same kind, you know he can abundantly repair it in himself Ah, Christian ! is not one kiss of his mouth, one glimpse of his countenance, one seal of his Spirit, a more sweet and substantial comfort than the sweetest relation in this world can afford you ? if the stream fail, repair to the fountain, there is enough still , God is where he was, and what he was, though the creature be not. 19. Though you may want a little comfort in your life, yet surely it may be recompensed to you by a more easy death. The removal of your friends before you, may turn to your great advantage, when your hour is come that you must follow them. O, how have many good souls been clogged and ensnared in their dying hour, by the loves, cares, and fears they ADVICE AXD SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. 99 have had about those they must leave behind them in a sinful, evil world ? Your love to them might have proved a snare to you, and caused you to hang back as loth to go hence, for these are the things that make men loth to die. And thus it might have been with you, ex- cept God had removed them beforehand, or should give you in that day such sights of heaven, and tastes of divine love, as should master and mortify all your affections to these things. I knew a gracious person, now in heaven, who, for many weeks in her last sickness, complained that she found it hard to part with a dear relation, and that there was nothing proved a greater clog to her soul than this. It is much more easy to think of going to our friends, who are in heaven before us, than of parting with them, and leaving our desirable and dear ones behind us. And who knows, what cares and distracting thoughts you then may be pestered and distracted with on their account.? AVhat shall become of these when I am gone ? I am now to leave them, God knows to what wants, miseries, temptations, and afflictions, in the midst of a deceitful, defiling, dan- gerous world. I know it is our duty to leave our fatherless children and friendless relations with God ; to trust them with him who gave them to us: and some liave been enabled cheerfully to do so, when they were parting from them. I^uther could say, 100 A TOKEM FOR MOURNERS. " Lord, thou hast given me a wife and children, I have little to leave them ; nourish, teach, and keep them, O thou Father of the fatherless, and Judge of the widow." But every Christian hath not a Luther's faith. Some find it a hard thing to dis- entangle their affections at such a time ; but now if God hath sent all yours before you, you have so much the less to do ; death may be easier to you than others. 20. But if nothing that hath been yet said will stick with you ; then lastly, remember, that you are near that state and place which admits no sor- rows nor sad reflections upon any such accounts as these. Yet a little while, and you shall not miss them, yott shall not need them, but you shall live as the angels of God. We now live partly by faith, partly by sense, partly upon God, and partly upon the crea- ture. Oiu: state is mixed, therefore our comforts are so too : but when God shall be all in all, and we shall be as the angels of God, in the way and manner of our living, how much will the case be altered with us then, from what it is now ? Angels neither marry nor are given in marriage, neither shall the children of the resurrection ; when the days of our sinning are ended, the days of our mourning shall be so too. No graves were opened till sin entered, and no more shall be opened when sin is excluded. Our glorified relations shall live with us for ever, ADVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE GODLY. 101 they shall complain no more, die no more; yea, this is the happiness of that state to which you are passing on, that your souls being in the nearest conjunction with God the fountain of joy, you shall have no concernment out of him. You shall not be put upon these exercises of patience, nor subjected to such sorrows as you now feel, any more. It is but a little while, and the end. of all these things will come. O, therefore, bear up as persons that expect such a day of jubilee at hand. And thus I have finished the second general head of this discourse, which is a dissuasive from the sin of immoderate sorrow. III. I now proceed to the third thing proposed, namely, to remove the pleas and excuses for this immoderate grief. It is natural to men, yea to good men, to justify their excesses, or at least to extenuate them by pleading for their passions, as if they wanted not cause and reason enough to excuse them. If these be fully answered, and the soul once convinced, and left without apology for its sin, it is then in a fair way for its cure, which is the last thing designed in this treatise. jMy present business, therefore, is to satisfy those objections, and answer those reasons, which are commonly pleaded in this case to justify our exces- sive grief for lost relations. And though I shall carry it in that line of relation to which the text directs, yet it is equally applicable to all others. 1 Plea. You press me by many great consider- 1 3 102 A TOKEK FOE MOURNEllX. ations to meekness and quiet submission under this heavy stroke of God; but you little know what stings my soul feels now in it. This child was a child of many prayers, it was a Samuel begged of the Lord, and I concluded when I had it, that it brought with it the returns and answers of many prayers. But now I see it was no- thing less ; God had no regard to my prayer about it, nor was it given me in that special way of mercy as I was imagining it to be. My child is not only dead, but my prayers in the same day shut out and denied. Ans. (1.) That you prayed for your children before you had them, was your duty ; and if you prayed not for them submissively, referring it to the plea- sure of God to give or deny them, to continue or remove them, as should seem good to him, that was your sin ; you ought not to limit the Holy One of Israel, nor prescribe to him, nor capitulate with him, for what term you should enjoy your outward comforts. If you did so, it was your evil, and God hath justly rebuked it by this stroke : if you did pray conditionally and submissively, referring both the mercy asked, and continuance of it to the will of God as you ought to do ; then there is nothing in the death of your child, that crosses the true scope and intent of your prayer. (2.) Your prayers may be answered, though the thing prayed for be withheld, yea, or though it should be given for a little while, and snatched THE PLEAS OF MOURNERS ANSWERED. J 03 away from you again. Tlierc are four ways of God's answering prayers ; by giving the tiling prayed for presently, Dan. ix. 23 ; or by suspending the answer for a time, and giving it afterwards, Luke xviii. 7 ; or by withholding from you that mercy wliich you ask, and giving you a much better mercy in the room of it, Deut. iii. 24, compared with Deut. xxxiv. 4, 5 ; or lastly, by giving you patience to bear the loss and want of it, 2 Cor. xii. 9- Now, if the Lord have taken away your child or friend, and in lieu thereof given you a meek, quiet, submissive heart to his will, you need not say, he hath shut out your cry. 2 Plea. But I have lost a lovely, obliging, and most endearing child, one that was beautiful and sweet : it is a stony heart that would not dissolve into tears for the loss of one so desirable, and so en- gaging as this was. Ah ! it is no common loss. Ans. (1.) The more lovely and engaging your relation was, the more excellent will your patience and contentment with the will of God in its death be ; the more loveliness, the more self-denial ; and the more self-denial the more grace. Had it been a thousand times more endearingly sweet than it was, it was not too good to deny for God. If therefore obedience to the will of God do indeed master na- tural affections, and that you look upon patience and contentm.ent as much more beautiful than the sweetest and most desirable enjoyment on earth, it may turn to you for a testimony of the truth and 104 A TOKEN FOR MOUllNEllS. Strength of grace: that you can, like Abraham, part with a child whom you so dearly love, in obedience to the will of your God, whom you love infinitely more. (2.) The loveliness and beauty of our children and relations, though it must be acknowledged a good gift from the hand of God, yet it is but a com- mon gift, and oftentimes becomes a snare, and is in its own nature but a transitory vanishing thing, and therefore no such great aggravation of the loss as is pretended. I say it is but a common gift ; Eliab, Adonijah, 4ind Absalom, had as lovely presences as any in their generation. Yea, it is not only common to the wicked, with the godly, but to brute animals, as well as men, and to most that excel in it, it becomes a temptation ; the souls of some had been more beautiful and lovely, if their bodies had been less so. Besides, it is but a flower which flourishes in its month, and then fades. This therefore should not be reflected on as so great a circumstance, to aggravate your trouble. (3.) But if your relation sleep in Jesus, he will appear ten thousand times more lovely, in the ■morning of the resurrection, than ever he was in this world. What is the exactest, purest beauty of mortals, to the incomparable beauty of the saints in the resurrection ? " Then shall the righte- ous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father,"" Matt. xiii. 43. In this Iiope you part with them, therefore act suitably to your hopes. THE PLEAS OF IMOURNERS ANS>VERED. 105 3 Plea. O, but my cliild was nipt off by death in the very bud : I did but see, and love, and part; had I enjoyed it longer, and had time to suck out the sweetness of such an enjoyment, I could have borne it easier ; but its months or years with me were so few, that they only served to raise an ex- pectation, which was quickly, and therefore the more sadly disappointed. Ans. (1.) Didyourfriend dieyoungjOt was the bond of any other relation dissolved almost as soon as made? Let not this seem so intolei-able a load to you ; for if you have ground to hope they died in Christ, then they lived long enough in this world. It is truly said,* he hath sailed long enough, that hath won the harbour ; he hath fought long enough, that hath obtained the victory ; he hath run long enough, that hath touched the goal ; and he hath lived long enough on earth, that hath won heaven, be his days here never so few. (2.) The sooner your relation died, tlie less sin hath been committed, and the less sorrow felt. What can you see in this world but sin and sorrow ? a quick passage through it to glory, is a special pri- vilege. Surely the world is not so desirable a place, that Christians should desire an hour's time longer in it for themselves or theirs, than serves to fit them for a better. (3.) And whereas you imagine the parting would have been easier, if the enjoyment had been * See Mr. Baxter's Ejjistle to the Life 3Ir. J. Janeway. lOf) A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. longer, it is a fond and groundless suspicion. The longer you had enjoyed them, the stronger would the endearments have been. A young and tender plant may be easily drawn, up by a single hand ; but when it hath spread and fixed its roots many years in the earth, it will require many a strong blow and hard tug to root it up. Affections, like those under-ground roots, are fixed and strengthened by nothing more than consuetude, and long possess- sion ; it is much easier parting now, than it would be hereafter, whatever you think. However this should satisfy you, that God's time ia the best time. 4 Plea, O but I have lost all in one, it is my only one, I have none left in its room to repair the breach, and make up the loss ; if God had given me other chil- dren to take comfort in, the loss had not been so great ; but to lose all at one stroke is insupportable. Ans. (1.) Religion allows not to Christians a liberty of expressing the death of their dear relations, by so hard a word as the loss of them is. They are not lost, but sent before you. And it is a shameful thing for a Christian to be reproved for such an un-, comely expression by a heathen. It is enough to make us blush to read what an heathen said in this case : " Never say thou hast lost any thing, (saith Epictetus) but that it is returned. Is thy son dead? he is only restored. Is thy inheritance taken from thee ? it is also returned." And a while after he adds, sit omne (juod dil vohiiit^ that is, let every thing be as the gods would have it. THE PLEAS OF MOUIIXERS ANSWERED. 107 (2.) It is not a fit expression, to say, you have lost all in one, except that one be Christ, and he being once yours, can never be lost. Doubtless your meaning is, you have lost all your comfort of that kind : and what though you have ? Are there not multitudes of comforts yet remaining of a higher kind, and more precious and durable nature .? If you have no more of that sort, yet so long as you have better, what cause have you to rejoice ! (3.) You too much imitate the way of the world in this complaint ; they know not how; to repair the loss of one comfort, but by another of the same na- ture, which must be put in its room to fill up the vacancy : but have you no other way to supply your loss ? have you not a God to fill the place of any creature that leaves you.'^ Surely this would better become a man whose portion is in this life, than one who, professes God is his all in all. 5 Plea. O but my only one is not only taken away, but there remains no expectation or probability of any more ; I must now look upon myself as a dry tree never to take comfort in children any more, which is a cutting thought. A?is. (1.) Suppose what you say, that you have no hope nor expectation of another child remaining to you; yet if you have a hope of better things than children, you have no reason to be cast down ; bless God for higher and better hopes than these. In Isaiah Ivi. 4, 5, the Lord comforts them that have no expectations of sons or daughters with this : that 108 A TOKliN FOR MOURNERS. he " will give unto them in his house ahd within his walls, a place, and a name, better than of sons and daughters ; even an everlasting name that shall not be cut off^ There are better mercies, and higher hopes than these ; though your hopes of chil- dren, or from children, should be cut off, yet, if your eternal hopes be secure, and such as shall not make you ashamed, you should not be so cast down. (2.) If God will not have your comforts to lie any more in children, then resolve to place them in himself, and you shall never find cause to complain of loss by such an exchange. You will find that in God which is not to be had in the creature : one hour's communion with him, shall give you that which the happiest parent never yet had from his children ; you will exchange brass for gold, perish- ing vanity for solid and abiding excellency. 6 Plea. But the suddenness of the stroke is amazing. God gave little or no warning to prepare for this trial; death executed its commission as soon as it opened it. My dear husband, wife, or child was snatched unexpectedly out of my ai*ms by a surprising stroke ; and this makes my stroke heavier than my complaint. A71S. (1.) That the death of your relation was so sudden and surprising, was much your own fault, who ought to have lived in the daily sense of its vanity, and the expectation of your separation from it ; you knew it to be a dying comfort in its best estate, and it is no such wonderful thing to see THE PLEAS OF MOUllNERS ANSWERED. 109 that dead, which you knew before to be dying : be- sides, you heard the changes ringing round about you in other families; you frequently saw other parents, husbands, and wives, carrying forth their dead; and what were all these but warnings given to you to prepare for the like trials ? Surely then, it was your own security and regard- lessness, that made this affliction so surprising to you; and who is to be blamed for that, you know ? (2.) There is much difference betwixt the sud- den death of infants, and that of grown persons : the latter may have much work to do, many sins actually to repent of, and many evidences of their interest in Christ to examine and clear, in order to their more comfortable death ; and so sudden death may be deprecated by them. But the case of infants, who exercise not their reason, is far different ; they have no such work to do, 'but are purely passive; all that is done in order to their salvation, is done by God immediately upon them. So it comes all to one, whether their death be more quick, or more slow. (3.) You complain of the suddenness of the stroke : but another will be ready to say, had my friend died in that manner, my affliction had been nothing to what it is now ; I have seen many deaths contrived into one ; I saw the gradual ap- proaches of it upon my dear relation, who felt every tread of death as it came on towards him, who often cried with Job, chap. iii. 20 — 22, ''Wherefore 110 A TOJvEX FOR MOURNERS. is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul? Which long for deatli, but it cometh not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures: which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave.'" That which you reckon the sting of your afflic- tion, others would have reckoned a favour and privilege. How many tender parents and other relations, who loved their friends as dearly as your- selves, have been forced to their knees upon no other errand but this, to beg the Lord to hasten the separation, and put an end to that sorrow, which to them was much greater than the sorrow for the dead ? 7 Plea. You press me to moderation of sorrows, and I know I ought to shew it; but you do not know how the case stands v/ith me ; there is a sting in this affliction, that none feels but myself; and O how intolerable it is now ! I neglected proper means in season to preserve life, or miscarried in the use of means. I now see such a neglect, or such a mis- take about the means, as I cannot but judge greatly to contribute to that sad loss which I now, too late, lament. O my negligence ! O my mshness and inconsi- derateness ! How doth my conscience now smite me for my folly ? And by this, aggravate my burden beyond what is usually felt by others. Had I seasonably applied myself to the use of proper means, and kept strictly to such courses and coun- THE PLEAS OF MOURNERS AKsWERED. Ill sels as tliose who are able and skilful might have prescribed, I might now have had a living husband, wife, or child ; whereas I am now not only bereaved, but am apt to think I have bereaved myself of them. Surely there is no sorrow like unto my sorrow. Jns. (1.) Though it be an evil to neglect and slight the means ordained by God for the recovery of health, yet it is no less evil to ascribe too much to them, or rely too much on them. The best means in the world are weak and ineffectual, without God's assistance or concurrence, and they never have that his assistance or concurrence, when his time is come : and that it was fully come in your friend's case, is manifested now by the event. So that, if your friend had had the most excellent helps the world affords, they would have availed nothing. This consideration takes place only in your case, who see what the will of God is by the issue, and may not be pleaded by any whilst it remains dubious and uncertain, as it generally doth in time of sick- ness. (2.) Do you not unjustly charge and blame yourselves for that which is not really your fault or neglect ? How far are you chargeable in this case, will best appear by comparing the circum- stances you are now in, with those you were in when your relation was only arrested by sickness ; and it was dubious to you what was your duty and best course to take. 112 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. Possibly, you had observed so many to perisli in physicians' hands, and so many to recover without them, that you judged it safer for your friend to be without those means, than to be hazarded by them. Or, if divers methods and courses were pre- scribed and persuaded to, and you now see your error, in preferring that which was most improper, and neglecting what was more safe and probable ; yet as long as it did not so appear to your under- standing at that time, but you followed the best light you had to guide you at that time, it were most unjust to charge the fault upon yourselves, for choosing that course that then seemed best to you, whether it were so in itself or not. To be angry with yourselves for doing or omitting what was then done or omitted, according to your best discretion and judgment, because you now see it by the light of the event far otherwise than you did before, it is to be troubled that you are but men, or that you are not as God, who only can fore- see issues and events ; and that you acted as all rational creatures are bound to do, according to the best light they have, at the time and season of action. (3.) To conclude, times of great affliction are or- dinarily times of great temptation, and it is usual with Satan then to charge us with more sins than we are really guilty of, and also make those things seem to be sins, which upon impartial examination will not be found to be so. THE PLEAS OF MOURNERS ANSWERED. 113 Indeed, had your neglect or miscarriage been known or voluntary, or had you really preferred a little money (being able to give it) before the life of your relation, and did deliberately choose to hazard this, rather than part with that ; no doubt then but there had been much evil of sin mixed with your afflic- tions ; and your conscience may justly smite you for it, as your sin. But in the other case, which is more common, and I presume yours, it is a false charge, and you ought not to abet the design of Satan in it. Judge by the sorrow you now feel for your friend, in what degree he was dear to you, and what you could now willingly give to ransom his life, if it could be done with money. Judge, I say, by this, how groundless the charge is that Satan now draws up against you ; and you are but too ready to yield to the truth of it. 8 Plea. But my troubles are upon a higher score and account. My child, or friend is passed into eternity, and I know not how it is with his soul. Were I sure my relation was with Christ, I should be quiet ; but my fears of the contrary are over- whelming ; O it is terrible to think of the damna- tion of one so dear to me. Ans. (1.) Admit what the objection supposes, that you have real grounds to fear the eternal condition of your dear relation, yet it is utterly unbeseeming you, even in such a case as this, to dispute with, ot repine against the Lord. k3 114 A TOKEX FOR aMOUIlNEKS. I do confess, it is a sore and heavy trial, and that there is no case more sad and sinking to the spirit of a gracious person. Their death is but a trifle to this; but yet if you be such as fear the Lord, methinks his indisputable sovereignty over them, and his distinguishing love and mercy to you, should at least silence you in this matter. First, His indisputable sovereignty over them, Rom. ix. 20, " Who art thou, O man, who disputest with God.^'' He speaks in the matters of eternal election and reprobation. What if the Lord will not be gracious to those that are so dear to us ? is there any wrong done to them or us thereby ? Aaron's two sons were cut off in the act of sin by the Lord's immediate hand, and yet he held his peace, Lev. X. 8. God told Abraham plainly, that the cove- nant should not be established with Ishmael, for whom he so earnestly prayed, " O let Ishmael live before thee !"" and he knew that there was no salva- tion out of the covenant, and yet he sits down silent under the word of the Lord. Secondly, But if this do not quiet you, yet me- thinks his distinguishing love and mercy to you should do it. O what do you owe to God, that root and branch hath not been cast together into the fire ! that the Lord hath given you good hope, through grace, that it shall be well with you for ever. Let this stop your mouth, and quiet your spirit, though you would have grounds for this fear. (2.) But pray examine the grounds of your THE PLEAS OF MOURNERS ANSWERED. 115 fear, whether it may not proceed from the strengtli of your affections to the eternal welfare of your friend, or from the subtlety of Satan, designing hereby to overwhelm and swallow you up in supposed, as well as from just grounds and causes ? In two cases it is very probable, your fear may proceed only from your own affections, or Satan's temptations. First, If your relation died young, before it did any thing to destroy your hopes. Or, Secondly, If grown, and in some good degree hopeful ; only he did not in life, or at deatli, mani- fest and give evidence of grace, with that clearness as you desired. As to the case of infants in general, it is none of our concern to judge their condition ; and as for those that sprang from covenanted parents, it be- comes us to exercise charity towards them ; the scripture speaks very favourably of them. And as for the more adult, who have escaped the pollutions of the world, and made conscience of sin and duty, albeit they never manifested what you could desire they had ; yet in them, as in young Abijah, " may be found some good things toward the Lord,'' which you never took notice of. Rever- ence of your authority, bashfulness, and shamefaced- ness, reservedness of disposition, and many other things may hide those weak and small beginnings of grace that are in children, from the observations of the parents. God might see that in them that you never saw : he despiseth not the day of small things. 116 A TOKEX FOR MOURNERS. However it may be, it is now out of your reach ; your concernment rather is to improve the affliction to your own good, than judge and determine their condition which belongs not to you, but to God. 9 Plea. O but I have sinned in this relation, and now God hath punished my sin in dissolving it. O, saith one, my heart was set too much upon it, I even idolized it, that was my sin ; and saith ano- ther, I wanted due affections, and did not love my relation, at least not so spiritually as I ought, that was my sin. Now God is visiting me for all the neglects and defects that have been in me towards my relation. Ans. (1.) There is no man so thoroughly sanctified, as not to fail and come short in many things, per- taining to his relative duties. And to speak as the thing is, the corruptions of the holiest persons are as much discovered in this, as in any other thing whatsoever ; and it is a very common thing for conscience, not only to charge these failures upon us, but to aggravate them to the utmost, when God hath made the separation. So that this is no more than what is usual and very common with persons in your case. (2.) Admit that which the objection supposes, that God had afiiictcd you for your sins, and re- moved that comfort from you, which you idolized, and too much doted on ; yet there is no reason you should be cast dovvn under your affliction ; for all this may be, and probably is the fruit of his love to. THE PLEAS OF ArOURXEHS AKsM'EIiED. 117 and care of your souls, Rev. iii. 19. He tells the afflicted for their comfort, " Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten/' How much better is it to have an idolized enjoyment taken from you in mercy, than if God should say concerning you as he did of Ephraim, Hos. iv. 17, " He is joined to idols, let him alone/' O it is better for you that your Father now reckons with you for your follies with the rod in his hand, than to say as he doth of some, let them go on, I will not hinder them in, nor rebuke them for their sinful courses ; but will reckon with them for all to- gether in hell at last. (3.) And as to what you now charge upon yourself, that the neglect of duty did spring from the want of love to your relation ; your sorrow at parting may evidence that your relation was rooted deep in your affection ; but if your love was not so spiritual and pure, to love and enjoy them in God ; that was undoubtedly your sin, and is the sin of most Christians, for which both you, and all others ought to be humbled. 10 Plea.' God hath blessed me with an estate, and outward comforts in the world, which I reckoned to have left to my posterity : and now I have none to leave it with, nor have I any comfort to think of it ; the purposes of my heart are broken off, and the comfort of all my other enjoyments blasted by this stroke in an hour. How are the pains and cares of many years perished ! 118 A TOKEN FOR MOURNEKS. A}is. (1.) How many arc there in the world, yea, of our own acquaintance, whom God hath either denied, or deprived both of the comforts of children and of estates too ? If he have left you those out- ward comforts, you ought to acknowledge his good- ness therein, and not to slight these, because he hath deprived you of the other. (2.) Though your children be gone, yet God hath many children left in the world, whose bowels you may refresh with what he hath bestowed upon you; and your charity to them will doubtless turn to a more considerable account, than if you had left a large estate to your own posterity. Surely we are not sent into this world to heap up great estates for our children ; and if you have been too eager in this design, you may now read God's just rebuke of your folly. Bless God, you have yet an opportunity to serve him eminently by your charity ; and if God deny you other executors, let your own hands be your executors, to distribute to the necessity of the saints, that the blessings of them that are ready to perish may come upon you. 11 Plea. O but the remembrance of its witty words, and pretty actions is wounding. A71S. (1.) Let it rather lift up your heart to God in praise, that gave you so desirable a child, than fill your heart with discontent at his hand in remov- ing it. How many parents are there in the world, whose children God hath deprived of reason and understanding, so that they only differ from the THE PLEAS OF MOUllNEllS AXSWEKED. J IQ beasts in external shape and figure ? And how many shew betimes so perverse a temper, that little comfort can be expected from them ? (2.) These are but small circumstances, and trivial things in themselves ; but by these little things Satan manages a great design against your soul, to deject or exasperate it. And surely this is not your business at this time ; you have greater things than the words and actions of children to mind ; to search out God's end in the affliction, to mortify the corruption it is sent to rebuke, to quiet your heart in the will of God : this is your work. 12 Plea. Lastly, It is objected, O but God hides his face from me in my affliction ; it is dark within as well as without, and this makes my case more de- plorable, greatly afflicted, and sadly deserted. Ans. (1.) Though you want at present sensible com- fort, yet you have reason to be thankful for gracious supports. Though the light of God's countenance shine not upon you, yet you find the everlasting arms are underneath you ; the care of God worketh for you, when the consolations of God are withdrawn from you. (2.) To have God hide his face in the time of trouble is no new, or unusual thing. God's dearest saints, yea, his own Son hath experienced it ; who in the deeps of inward and outward trouble, when wave called unto wave, felt not those sweet, sensible influences of comfort from God, which had always filled his soul formerly. If Christ cry in extremity, 120 A TOKEN FOIL MOUllNEllS. " My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" then sure we need not wonder, as if some strange thing had happened to us. (3.) May not your unsubmissive carriage under the rod, provoke God to hide his face from you ? Pray consider it well, nothing is more probable than for this to be the cause of God's withdrawment from you. Could you in meekness and quietness receive that cup your Father hath given you to drink ; accept the punishment of your iniquities ; say, good is the word of the Lord, it is the Lord, let him do what he will : you would soon find the case altered with you ; but the comforting Spirit finds no delight or rest in a turbulent and tumultuous breast. And thus I have satisfied the most considerable pleas urged in justification of our excesses. IV. I come now to the last thing proposed, namely, the means of curing and preventing these sinful excesses of sorrow for the death of our dear relations. And although much hath been said already, to dissuade from this evil, and I have enlarged already much beyond my first intention, yet I shall cast in some farther help and assistance towards the healing of this distemper, by prescribing the following rules. 1 Rule. If you would not mourn excessively for the loss of creature comforts, then beware that you set not your delight and love excessively or inor- dinately upon them whilst you do enjoy them. Strong affections make strong afflictions ; tlio RULES TO MODERATE SORROW. 121 higher the tide, the lower the ebb. According to the measure of our delight in the enjoyment, is our grief in the loss of these things. The apostle knits these two graces, temperance and patience, together in the precept, 2 Pet. i. 6. And it is very observ- able, how intemperance and impatience are in- separably linked in experience, yea, the experience of the best men. You read, Gen. xxxvii. 3, how Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colours. This was the darling, Jacob's heart was so exceed- ingly set upon him, his very life was bound up in the life of the lad. Now, when the supposed death of his child was brought to him, how did he carry it.'^ See verses, 34, 35, " And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days ; and all his sons, and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, for I will go down to the gi-ave to my son mourning." Thus his father wept for him. Here, as in a glass, are the effects of excessive love to a child represented. Here you may see what work immoderate love will make, even in a sanctified heart. O, therefore, let your moderation be known to all men, in your delight and sorrows about earthly 123 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. things ; for ordinarily the proportion of the one is answerable to the other. 2 Rule. If you would not be overwhelmed with grief for the loss of your relations, be exact and careful in discharging your duties to them while you have them. The testimony of your conscience, that you have laboured in all things, to discharge the duties you owe to your relations whilst they were with you, will prove an excellent allay to your sorrows for them, when they are no longer yours. It is not so much the single affliction, as the guilt charged upon us in times of affliction, that makes our load so heavy. O what a terrible thing it is to look upon our dead friends, whilst conscience is accusing and upbraiding us for our duties neglected, and such or such sins committed ? O thou little thinkest how dreadful a spectacle this will make the dead body of thy friend to thee ! Conscience, if not quite stupid or dead, will speak at such a time. O, therefore, as ever you would provide for a comfortable parting at death, or meet again at judgment, be exact, punctual, and circum- spect in all your relative duties. 3 Rule. If you would not be overwhelmed by trouble for the loss of dear relations, then turn to God under your trouble, and pour out your sor- rows by prayer into his bosom. RULES TO MODERATE SORROW. 123 This will ease and allay your troubles; blessed be God for the ordinance of prayer ; how much are all the saints beholden to it at all times, but espe- cially in heart-sinking and distressful times ? It is some relief when, in distress, we can pour out our trouble into the bosom of a wife, a faithful friend ; how much more when we leave our complaint before the gracious, wise, and faithful God ? I told you before of that holy man, who, having lost his dear and only son, got to his closet, there poured out his soul freely to the Lord, and when he came down to his friends that were waiting below to comfort him, and fearing how he would bear that stroke, he came from his duty with a cheerful countenance, telling them, " He would be content to bury a son (if it were possible) every day, provided he might enjoy such comfort as his soul had found in that private hour." Go thy way. Christian, to thy God, get thee to thy knees in the cloudy and dark day : retire from all creatures, that thou mayest have thy full liberty with thy God, and there pour out thy heart before him, in free, full, and broken-hearted confessions of sin ; judge thyself worthy of hell, as well as of this trouble ; justify God in all his smartest strokes ; beg him in this distress to put under thee his everlast- ing arms ; entreat one smile, one gracious look to enlighten thy darkness, and cheer thy drooping spirit. Say, with the prophet Jeremiah, chap. xvii. 17, "Be thou not a terror to me, thou art my hope 124 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. in the day of evil ;" and try Vhat relief such a course will afford thee. Surely if thy heart be sin- cere in this course, thou shalt be able to say, with that holy man, Psal. xciv. 19, " In the multitude of my thoughts which I had within me, thy com- forts have delighted my soul.'' 4 Rule, If you would bear the loss of your dear relations with moderation, eye God in the whole process of the affliction more, and secondary causes and circumstances of the matter less. " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it," Psal. xxxix. 9. Consider the hand of the Lord in the whole matter. And that. First, As a sovereign hand, which hath right to dispose of thee and all thy comforts without thy leave or consent. Job xxxiii. 13. Secondly, As a father's hand correcting thee in love and faithfulness, Prov. iii. 12, " Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, as a father the son in whom he delighteth." O, if once you could but see affliction as a rod in a father's hand, proceeding from his love, and intended for your eternal good ; how quiet would you then be ? And surely if it draw your heart nearer to God, and mortify it more to this vain world, it is a rod in the hand of special love : if it end in your love to God, doubt not but it comes from God's love to you. Thirdly, As a just and righteous hand ; hast not thou procured this to thyself by thy own folly ? RULES TO MODERATE SORROW. 125 Yea, the Lord is just in all that is come upon thee ; whatever he hath done, yet he hath done thee no wrong. Fourthly and lastly, As a moderate and merciful hand, that hath punished thee less than thine ini- quities deserved. He that hath cast thee into afflic- tion, might justly have cast thee into hell. It is of the Lord's mercy that thou art not consumed. Why doth the living man complain ? 5 Rule. If you will bear your affliction with moderation, compare it with the afflictions of other men, and that will greatly quiet your spirits. You have no cause to say, God hath dealt bitterly with you, and that therfe is no sorrow like your sor- row : look round about you, and impartially consider the condition that others are in ; and they nothing inferior to you, in any respect. You had one dead child, Aaron had two at a stroke. Job all at one stroke, and both these by an immediate stroke from the hand of God. Some godly parents have lived to see their children die in their sin by the hand of justice. Others have seen them live to the dishonour of God, and breaking of their own spirits ; and would have esteemed it a mercy if they had died from the womb, and given up the ghost when they eame out of the belly, as Job speaks. In what misery have some parents seen their children die ? God holding them as so many terrible spectacles of misery before their eyes ; so that they begged the Lord with importunity, to let 1.3 126 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. loose his hands and cut them off, death being, in their esteem, nothing to those continual agonies in which they have seen them lie weltering from day to day. Oh, you little know what a bitter cup others have had given them to drink ! Surely, if you com- pare, you must say. The Lord hath dealt gently and graciously with me. 6 Rule, Carefully shun and avoid whatsoever may renew your sorrow, or provoke you to impa- tience. Increase not your sorrow by the sight of, or dis- courses about sad objects, and labour to avoid them, as occasions presented by the enemy of your souls, to draw forth the corruptions of your heart. I told you before, why Jacob would not have the child, of which Rachel died, called after the name his wife had given, Benoni, the son of my sorrows ; lest it should prove a daily occasion of renewing his trouble for the loss of his dear wife ; but he called his name Benjamin. Your impatience is like tinder, or gunpowder, so long as you can prevent the sparks from falling on it, there is no great danger; but you that carry such dangerous prepared matter in your own hearts, cannot be too careful to prevent them. Do by mur- muring, as you do by blasphemous thoughts; think quite another way, and give no occasion. 7 Rule. In the day of your mourning for the death of your friends, seriously consider your own death as approaching, and that you and your dead RULES TO MODERATE SORROW. 127 friends are distinguished by a small interval and point of time. 2 Sam. xii. 23, "I shall go to him.'' Surely the thoughts of your own death as approaching also, will greatly allay your sorrows for the dead that are gone before you. We are apt to fancy a long life in the world, and then the loss of those comforts which we promised ourselves so much of the sweetness and comfort of our lives from, seems an intolerable thing. But would you realize your own deaths more, you would not be so deeply concerned for their deaths as you are. Could you but look into your own graves more seriously, you would be able to look into your friend's grave more composedly. And thus I have finished what I designed from this scripture. The Father of mercies, and God of all comforts, whose sole prerogative it is to com- fort them that are cast down, write all his truths upon your hearts, that they may abide there, and reduce your disordered affections to that frame which best suits the will of God, and the profession you make of subjection and resignation thereunto. ARMATUEA DEI : A PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING IN AN EVIL DAY. BY E. POLHIL, ESQ. i TO THE READER. It is the saying of a grave divine, that in the school of Satan, the first ABC of atheism is, "All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me ;" but in the school of Jesus, the first ABC of religion is this, " If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and foUow me." Opposition is evangelii genius, the church hath the cross for its inheritance : it is the ordinance of God, that through tribulation we must enter into his kingdom. This hath been the way of the saints in all ages ; the cloud of witnesses have walked in it to heaven ; Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, was made perfect through suffer- ings ; and therefore Christians, who are to foUow him whithersoever he goeth, must provide for the cross, especially at such a time as this. Now, not only the common lot of Christianity, but the dark aspect of the times bid us prepare for sufferings : charity is cold, diiferences are hot, moderation vanishes, enmity every where appears. Popery lifts up itself in the world, Protestants help on the design, by destroying each other, sin is gone up with a great cry to heaven, black clouds of wrath hang over our heads for it, the decays of holy love 132 TO THE READER. threaten a removal of our candlestick, lukewarmness in religion shows, that we are fit to be spued out of God's mouth. Every one that hath eyes in his head, may see the tendency of such things as these; and therefore Christians have more than an ordinary obligation on them to provide for the cross, and nothing less than a stock of holy graces can put them into a posture for it. It is true, Diogenes, when he was asked, what he gained by his philo- sophy, answered, that he gained this by it, that he was ad omnem fortunam paratiis, ready for every thing that should fall out. Philosophy may pre- tend to this, but nothing but true Christianity can effect it ; it is an easy matter to speak finely, and say, as one did, aS'^ fractus illabatur orhis, impa- vidum ferient riiincB ; if the broken world fall about our ears, the ruins of it shall not startle us : but nothing less than gracious and divine principles can enable a man piously to suffer for the cause of God and conscience ; he that parts from all out- ward things here, had need have an interest in Him who is better than all ; he that stands fast in a storm of persecution without, had need of a pure, serene conscience within; he that will adhere to persecuted truth, had need to be well settled in it, and carry the sweet savour of it upon his heart ; he that will stand out against the threatenings of men, had need be well fixed in the promises of God, and from thence draw out comfort in an evil day. How can a Christian part with the present world, if he TO THE READER. 166 hath not another — a better, to go to ; or lay down a temporal life, if he hath not a lively hope of an eternal one in heaven ? How can he lift up him- self above the dregs of a corrupt world, if he be not wrapped up in love to God ; or, bear the terrors and cruelties of men, if the fear of God do not prevail and overrule his heart? Humility must make him a worm, a nothing in his own eyes, that he may be willing to be trampled on by men. Obedience must form him to a compliance withGod's commanding will, that patience may prepare him to be subject to his disposing will. Believe it, it is a great, a heroical thing, to suffer for religion ; it must be grace, true grace, (such as carries a man above himself and the world, and joins him to the fountain of comfort and happiness) that will make him fit to suffer and lose all for righteousness"' sake. Reader, the ensuing discourse hath no other design, but only to show, how Christians are to bear sufferings, and what graces are requisite there- unto. If any glory may come to God, or profit to men by it, it is as much as is desired by him, who is A lover of truth, EDW. POLHIL. M ARM AT Un A DEI : OR, A PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING IN AN EVIL DAY, CHAP. I. Persectit'ion will come on good men — This world is a viijcture of comforts and sorrows — The old enmity will persecute — Corruption in saints will show itself in^ wardly and outwardly — The church is heir to the cross — God orders sufferings for good — Things abroad and at home admonish us. One Apostle tells us, " That all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution."'* Another acquaints us, that " this is no strange thing ;■" a third directs us, not " to marvel at the world's hatred." It is true, the sufferings of good men have been an old stumbling block. Pompey complained, that Providence was very dark; the poet was ready to think that there were no gods ; nay, the holy psalmist cried out, " I have cleansed my heart in vain ;'" as if religion were to no pur- pose. Yet, if we consider all, those suflerings are not to be wondered at. 136 rREPARATIOX FOR SUFFERING. This world standing between heaven and hell, must partake of both. Heaven is all comfort ; hell is all misery. The middle world must have a mix- ture ; here evil men may meet with comforts, and good men may meet with afflictions. The old enmity between the seed of the serpent, and the seed of the woman will stir up persecution to the world's end. " He that is born after the flesh, will persecute him that is born after the Spirit C it is his nature and property to do so ; a thing no more to be wondered at than the stinging of a serpent, or the tearing of a briar. ]\lany pre- tences were made to palliate the persecution of the primitive Christians. Under Trajan it was said, that the Christians were too numerous; under Antoninus Pius it was given out, that all kinds of penal evils came for their sakes ; under Severus it was alleged, that they were guilty of every kind of villanies ; under Dioclesian it was openly asserted, that there must be but one religion in the empire. But in truth all these were but so many colours, the venom of the serpent was at the root ; the diaboli- cal enmity, which is in carnal men against the saints, was the real cause of all those persecutions. Wickedness will proceed from the wicked ; the old enmity will break out, and that, not only in men grossly wicked, but in fair moralists too. A Tra- jan or Antoninus can persecute, as well as a Nero. The same root of bitterness is in all carnal men. The inherent corruption in believers will show PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 137 itself inwardly and outwardly : inwardly it will produce a conflict in their own bosom ; " the flesh lusteth against the spirit." No sooner is the new creature born, than the indwelling sin doth hunt it as a partridge upon the mountains, and seeks the life of its infant-graces, as Herod did the life of Christ in the cradle. And how can believers won- der at a persecution without, when they have one within, in their own souls ? Or how can they expect less than briars in the world, when they feel a thorn in their own flesh ? Outwardly it will, even in them, when let out, be injurious to others. A David, when his corruption breaks forth, can be inhuman towards the Ammonites ; an Asa can im- prison the seer, and oppress the people. And if corruption may do so in a good man, in whom it is in part mortified, what may it not do in a son of BeHal, in whom it is the sole ruling principle ? In the one, the regenerate part holds back ; but in the other, the whole soul is carried out to wickedness. It is no wonder that such a one should persecute ; his principles are entirely for it. The church is heir to the cross. Its suffering began from the blood of Abel, and hath continued ever since. Israel, God's peculiar people was first oppressed in Egypt, under cruel bondage; then vexed in Canaan by the neighbouring nations round about them ; afterwards carried captive into Babylon, and at last trod under foot by Antiochus Epiphanes. The christian church was first persecuted by the 138 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. pagan emperors ; then torn in pieces by Arians and other heretics ; afterwards overrun with Goths and Vandals, and at last wasted by Mahomet and Anti- christ. All along it hath been in a suffering con- dition, and it is no wonder, if it suffer on till it come to rest in heaven. God orders the sufferings of the church for his own glory, and his people'^s good. He orders them for his own glory : Providence is admirable in pre- serving a suffering church. The ark floats upon the waters, and is not overwhelmed; the bush burns and is not consumed ; the lily is among thorns, and withers not ; the saints are perplexed but not in de- spair; persecuted but not forsaken ; cast down but not destroyed. Strength comes forth out of weak- ness; light arises out of darkness; the bones, though sometimes dry and hopeless, live ; the witnesses are slain and revive again; pressures multiply the church, and sufferings propagate it. And what a sight is this ? Who may think much at those suffer- ings in which so much of God appears ? Again, he orders them for his people^s good ; the fan will purge away their vanity; the furnace will melt out their dross ; every name of persecution will lift them up nearer to heaven ; their sufferings will make them white ; their traces will come forth as gold out of the fire in their pure lustre ; the rod "will blossom, and bring forth peaceable fruit of righteousness ; the holy Spirit will come down upon them in larger effusions of grace and comfort ; and rREPARATION FOR SUFFERIXG. 139 what tilings are these? Who can imagine those sufferings needless, which have so excellent an issue ? To conclude, Things abroad and at home ad- monish us : Abroad, the Protestant religion runs very low ; idolatry grows in the world, and where that goes before, cruelty follows after ; the fiery furnance waits upon the idol ; the scarlet whore, full of forni- cations, will drink the blood of saints: the false worshippers will persecute the true ; the sighs and groans of the poor souls in France do alarm all that have any sense of piety or humanity. Who can but mourn at such mournful providences? At home our sins are grown up to heaven ; oaths, blas- phemies, perjuries, hellish plots, uncleannesses, excesses, atheism, contempt of ordinances, deadness and formality in religion, un thankfulness and un- faithfulness to God, are found among us. The cloud of guilt which hangs over our heads, is very black and ready to come down in storms of wrath upon us. Sword, and plague, and fire have already consumed us ; and, because we sin on with a stiff neck, hard heart, and impudent face, more judg- ments may be expected. Eliphas seeing the wicked taking root, " suddenly cursed his habitation," Job V. 3. He that sees our aggravated sins, may easily foretel our sudden destruction. 140 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. CHAP. II. // is useful to Chrislians to discern the signs of the times, and to he ready for all the ivill of God — Pro^ vidence bids us prepare for sufferings — we have need to do so — Suffering is hard to sense, and the excel' lency of a Christian — The prepared Christian is a happij man, and the unprepared, miserable. Two things are of great use to Christians; the one is, to discern the signs of the time. He that looks without and sees the state of things there, and then turns to scripture, and there sees the issues that wait upon such states, may discern the signs of the time. The luxury of the old world was a sign of the deluge ; the persecution of the prophets was was a sign of Jerusalem's desolation. AVhen Ephesus declined, and left its first love, the candle- stick was removing : when Laodicea was lukewarm, God was ready to spue them out of his mouth. And so it is in other things ; such and such a state of things will have such and such an issue. The discerning of this will make Christians time their duties, and do every thing in the true season of it, which is no less profitable than beautiful. The other thing is, to be ready for all the will of God ; to have graces aptly answering to Providence ; such holy joy as may tune the heart to prosperity ; and such humble submission as may frame the heart to adversity. This is that blessed temper, that bids PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 141 every thing welcome which comes according to the will of God. If we observe the signs of our times, we may easily discern judgments coming ; and therefore nothing can be more necessary than to prepare for sufferings. God hath a controversy with us, and seems to speak to us by his providence, as he did to Israel by his prophet, "Prepare to meet thy God.'" Sit down then, O Christians, and consider how to do it, and think with yourselves with what penitential tears, wrestling supplications, real reform- ation, and holy resignation you will meet with him. Jesus Christ the Captain of your salvation, seems now to ask you by his providence, as the Roman general did his soldiers, Are you ready .^^ Reflect upon yourselves, and consider ; are you ready to keep the word of Christ's patience, to take up his cross and walk ? Though the cross be not yet upon your backs, yet you must carry it in your hearts ; your minds must be ready at his call to suffer any thing, rather than to part with the gospel. Preparation is necessary to every good work. The pagan priests had preparatory washings before the sacrifice. The Jews were to wash their clothes at the giving of the law ; they had their prepa- rations for Sabbaths and ordinances : Christians are to prepare for the holy table : but above all, pre- paration is necessary to sufferings. The greater the thing is, the more requisite is the preparation : suffering is a great thing, hard to sense, harsh to 142 PRErARATION FOR SUFFERING. flesh and blood. It may be, it takes away the worldly goods which are dear to men ; it may be, it comes nearer, and touches the bone and the flesh, which is dearer than outward things : it may be, it goes further, and treads down the precious life, which is highly valuable. Nature, in the best, shrinks and flies away from such things as these ; and, superna- tural grace and assistance lift men above themselves, or they will never bear them. In such a case as this we have need to put on all our spiritual armour; not this or that piece only, but all of it ; and not only to put it on, but to gird it on too : all will be little enough to make us stand in the evil day. Again, the more excellent a thing is, the more re- quisite is the preparation: suffering for Christ is the excellency of a Christian, the complement and perfection of all his graces ; faith cannot rise higher; love cannot show itself better than in this ; no pro- fession of Christianity is so high, nor imitation of Christ is so full, as that which is made in blood : here is the Christian's consummatiim est; his wotk is done, and heaven opens to receive him into glory : and how should we prepare our souls, and gird up the loins of our minds, that we may be capable of that which is the highest stature of a Christian in this world, and the nearest capacity to a better ? This preparation is of very great moment to Christians : Upon their having, or not having of it, depends their happiness or misery. He that is prepared for sufferings, come what PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 143 will come, is a happy man; if sufferings do not come, he is yet a martyr in mind and purpose. God sees the suffering frame that is in him ; his willing mind ^ is accepted as much as if his blood were actually shed ; and being ready to die for Christ, he is ready to live with him in heaven : if sufferings come, he is provided for them. St. Paul was ready to be bound and die for the name of Jesus. Polycarp, when threatened with various deaths, made this reply, Quid tardas ? AVhy dost thou delay ? Inflict what thou wilt. The pre- pared Christian is ready for all the will of God, which is a happiness that no suffering can interrupt : he is in a posture to overcome all the world, and he will do it. The very pagan emperors did observe the primitive martyrs to be victors in death. It is said of the martyr Vincentius, that according to his name, he overcame in words, and overcame in punishments ; overcame in confession, and over- came in tribulation ; overcame in fire, and overcame in water ; overcame living, and overcame dying. * The prepared Christian is a Vincent, a conqueror of the world ; his love is above the smiles of it, his fear above the terrors of it : nay, he is more than a conqueror ; he overcomes by suffering, and lives by death; even being dead, he yet speaks forth the trutli he suffered for, and propagates it to all pos- terity : neither need we wonder at this conquest, he is not alone but hath God with him. And, as the * 3Iagd. Hist. Cent. 4, cap. 12. 144* PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. emperor Antoninus Verus said of the primitive Christians, " He carries God about with him in conscience:'"* and where God is, there must be hap- piness in the most afflicted condition ; the whole sacred Trinity are present with him ; the everlast- ing Father will strengthen him ; the Son will walk with him in the fiery furnace ; the Holy Spirit will come to him with all his cordials. Stephen was never so full of enjoyment as when he was stoned. The martyr Felicitas, * professed to her persecutor, that she had the Holy Spirit in her. The pre- pared Christian hath a spirit of power in infirmities, a spirit of glory in reproaches, a spirit of comfort in distresses. There are no such rich unctions, as those that wait upon the cross of Christ : at other times the Christian hath some measures of the Spirit ; but then, he hath such large effusions of it, that no sufferings can make him miserable. The clouds without cannot break the serenity in his con- science; the noise of a troublesome world cannot interrupt that divine peace which keeps his heart ; no malice of man can hinder the sheddings of God's love into him ; no wants or exigencies can deprive him of the hidden manna promised to the over- comer ; he is happy even in a vale of tears. And what will he be in heaven ? There his reward will be great, nay, greater than that of others. On the other hand, he that is not prepared for sufferings, is a miserable man. He hath a name • Hist. Mag. Cent. 2. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 145 of religion and that is all ; a notion of the gospel, but without a root ; he hath a false Christ, that is, a Christ without a cross, but the right Christ he knows not ; a pretence to heaven he hath, but he is not in a posture for it, neither will he go thither in a hard way. If sufferings come, he is snared, as fishes in an evil net ; the surprize will rob him of that which he seems to have; he will not have so much as the name or notion of religion left ; Christ will be an offence, or stumbling block to him. Heaven itself will not be worth suffering for. Thus those of the stony ground received the word with joy, but because their hearts were not ready for it, as soon as persecution arose, they were offended. Thus it was observed among the primitive Chris- tians, that the unready and unprepared did faint and fall in time of persecution.* The cup of suffer- ings is bitter, nature starts at it. The unprepared Christian, rather than drink it, will in all hkelihood turn apostate in the day of trial ; prosperous error •will be embraced by him before persecuted truth ; idolatry with the world will go down better than the pure worship without it ; Christ coming in poverty and tribulation will be forsaken ; Antichrist ap- pearing in the pomp and outward greatness of the world, will be followed ; mere vanity will outweigh all the great offers of \he gospel ; a soul and a God will be staked for a little outward prosperity ; and what a forlorn condition is this ? And without re- * Magd. Hist. Cent. 2, cap. .i. N 146 PREPAllATION FOR SUFFERING. pentance, how dismal must the end be ? The good God, whom he hath forsaken, will depart from him ; Jesus Christ the Saviour will cast him out ; a curse and a blast will be upon his prosperity ; a sting and a wound in conscience will make him weary of him- self; in a word, he will become loathsome to God, men, and himself. It is related,* That in the third century the tokens of God's wrath came in an extraordinary way upon those Christians that fell off in time of persecution; some of them were struck dumb, some vexed with devils, some tor- mented in their bowels unto death ; and, though not in these ways, yet in others will his wrath come down upon all apostates ; if they are not dumb be- fore men, they will be speechless before God ; if devils vex not their bodies, they will yet possess their souls ; if there be no torments in their bowels, yet there are in their consciences. The miseries, which apostates incur, are much greater than those, which they avoid by their apostacies. It is there- fore highly reasonable, that we should prepare for sufferings, lest by apostacy we make ourselves more miserable, than any outward suffering can make us. • Cypr. de Lapsis. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 147 CHAP. III. Preparation for sufferings considered more generally^^ A Christian that will he prepared for sufferings must secure to himself three things : — that is, a good cause — « good heart — and a good God. Having seen the necessity of persecution, and the necessity of preparation, I come now to the main thing intended : to consider how a Christian may be prepared for sufferings. And here I shall first speak in general, and then more particularly. In general, a Christian that would be prepared for sufferings, must secure to himself three things : a good cause, a good heart, and a good God. The first will make suffering honourable; the second will make us meet for it ; the third will give assist- ance and comfort under it. 1. The Christian must secure to himself a good cause ; he must take care not to suffer as an evil doer ; this is not grateful to God, nor honourable among men ; in it Christ is not imitated, but Chris- tianity is disgraced. Such sufferers are the devil's martyrs; it cannot be reasonably expected that they should have the gracious presence of God, or any comfort in conscience ; their own hearts cry out, guilty, and plainly tell them, that their suffering is but the just wages of their iniquity. A Christian must be sure, that there be no guilt in that which he suffers for. Holy Daniel saith, "that innocency 148 TREPARATIOX FOR SUFFERING. was found in him,^' Dan. vi. 22. He speaks not of the innocence of his person, as if he were without sin ; but of the innocence of his cause, for which he suffered. His praying against a law did not merit a den of lions ; he broke the human command only to keep the divine. It highly concerns the Chris- tian to have an innocent cause ; it is the cause, not the mere suffering, that makes the martyr. Again, the Christian must take care, that he suffer not as a busybody in other men's matters ; he must not leave his own station, nor forfeit God's protection, he must abide with God in his calling, and do his own business. God took care of the bird sitting over her young in her nest, Deut. xxii. 6, but not of the wandering one. The learned Johannes Fancius, from a minister of the gospel in his prince's court, turned minister of state to his prince, and was at last, for some evil counsel, condemned to die ; and before he suffered, he much lamented the leaving of his calling, and left this distich : — " Disce meo exemplo mandato munere fungi, Et fuge ceu pestem ttiv TToXvirpayfioavvriv*^ Learn this of me, thine own office to bear, In others meddle not, the plague is there. It is very uncomfortable to a Christian, when he runs into sufferings by going out of his own sphere. Moreover, the Christian must take care, that he suffer not for his own rashness. He that defaced the emperor's edict against Christians, and suffered for it, was not accounted a martyr. Bishop Audas PREPARATIOX FOR SUFFERING. 149 demolished the Persian temple, dedicated to the iire, as their 7iumen or divinity, and suffered for it; but it was reckoned as a piece of rash and unrea- sonable zeal : we must not cast ourselves into dan- gers ; God will keep us in our ways, not in our precipices.* We must take up the cross that God makes for us, but not make one of ourselves by our own rashness. If we must suffer, let it be for that good conscience which is a continual feast ; for that righteousness which is in conjunction with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost ; let it be for that Jesus who suffered for us ; for that God who crowns mo- mentary sufferings with eternal glory. This was the case of the primitive Christians ; they suffered, but it was in a good cause. Justin Martyr, and Athenagoras in their apologies for them,' show, that there was nothing amiss found among them; no atheism, no Thyestean suppers, no unchaste con- nections, no unjust actions; the only crime was Cliristianity. And afterwards Tertullian shows, that the name of Christians was condemned, but no crim.e was found in them towards God or man. This IS the first thing we are to do, we must secure a good cause. 2. We must secure good hearts. It is said of the children of Ephraim, that " being armed, and carrying bows, they turned back in the day of battle,'' Psal. Ixxviii. 9 ; and the reason of this we have in the preceding verse, tliey " set not their • Theod. Hist. lib. 4, cap. 39. x3 150 niEPARATIOX FOR SUFFER I XO. hearts aright/' Unless the heart be good, as well as the cause, men will turn back from God, and the pure religion. Corrupt hearts will fall in with the world, and ever be on the sunny side. In Dio- clesian's time they can be pagans ; in Constantine''s, Christians ; in Constantius's, Arians ; in Julian''s, pagans again.* It is the good heart only that is fit for sufferings. Now two things are requisite to make a good heart : it must be purged from sin ; and again, it must be furnished with principles of grace. (1.) It must be purged from sin, from the guilt and power of it. It must be freed from the guilt of sin. A man that hath an inward wound is unfit to bear outward ones. Guilt upon the conscience, like a boil upon the back, makes one incapable to bear the burden of a cross. They that are partakers of Chrises sufferings in martyr- dom, had need first partake of them for remission : they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, by suffering for him, had need first to wash their consciences in it to take away their guiltiness. It is not imaginable that a man can piously embrace a temporal death, when immediately after it he shall fall injo an eternal one : or that he can patrently bear the wrath of man, when the wrath of God is to ensue upon it. It was a very forlorn case with the Egyptians, when they were drowning in the sea, and God looked through the cloud upon them : and so it will be with Christians, if the world will be as * Pnrjmram colunt, non Deum., PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 151 a troubled sea to them, and withal God look with an angry face upon them. Therefore it much con- cerns them to have a pardon sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, that, when they come to suffer, they may have nothing to bear but the single cross, without any pressure of guilt upon their consciences to affffravate it. Again, It m.ust be delivered from the power of sin. Every lust is a Delilah, an ex- hauster, (as the Hebrew word signifies) it takes away the heart, drains and debases the man, makes him vile and impotent, and by consequence alto- gether incapable of so heroic a thing as suffering for God. He that hath sin reigning in his heart, will comply with it reigning in the world ; he that carrieth an idol within will fall down to an outward one ; such a one will do any thing rather than suf- fer ; the power of sin must be broken, that a man may be ready to take up the cross. (2.) Further, the heart, that it may be good, must not only be purged from sin, but furnished with principles of grace. The old heart will not hear or pray, or give alms, or do any thing for God in a right manner, much less will it suffer for him. A man must have gra- cious principles, such as spiritual knowledge, faith, fear, love, zeal, hope, humility, obedience, and pa- tience, that he may be ready for suffering. There is a double preparation for it, habitual and actual ; habitual, consists in having those principles, and actual, in using them. He that hath them, hath a divine temper disposing him for every part of the 152 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. divine will ; he is in the frame of his heart above creatures, and hath no centre but in his Creator ; he is higher than time and this lower world, and lies upon the borders of heaven and eternity : his great concerns are not in the smiles and frowns of men, but in the will and favour of God : his fear has respect to greater evil than the world can in- flict ; and his expectation, to greater good than the world can bestow : his principles make him habi- tually ready for suffering, and when occasion comes, the practice of them will make him actually so. Such a one may say at the fiery trial, as the famous Jerome of Prague did when the wood was laid to him, Salve festa dies, Welcome thou joyful day of suffering for Christ. • 3. We must secure a good God to be with us in our sufferings. A good cause will not bear us up without a good heart, nor will a good heart stand without a good God to support it. The prayer of David is very remarkable, " Let integrity and up- rightness preserve me, for I wait on thee,"*' Psal. XXV. 91. Integrity is a preservative; but we must wait on God to have our very integrity preserved ; and pray, as the holy psalmist doth in the preceding verse, "O keep my soul;" the most upright soul needs it. Graces keep the heart, but those very graces must be kept by the Keeper of Israel. The God of grace is as necessary to the new creature as the God of nature is to the old. If he withdraw, faith will fail, love will cool, hope will wither, zeal PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 153 ^ill be extinct, and all graces will vanish, as the beams do on the absence of the sun ; the gracious presence of God is necessary to us at all times, especially in times of suffering. Joseph's prison would have been very dismal, if God had not been there. When all men forsook Paul, he had been very forlorn if God had forsaken him too. How hard is it to be in wants, if the all-sufficient One be gone ? How intolerable are distresses, if the God of all comfort be absent.? How shall we bear the cruelties of men, if the Father of mercies do not assist us ? Or, how shall we stand under our own creature-weakness, if the ncvcr-fainting Creator do not strengthen us ? What shall we do in dt)ubts, if the only wise One do not guide us ? Or, what shall we do in the valley of the shadow of death, if the living God be not with us ? " The presence of God,'' saith a worthy divine, " will turn a prison into a palace, a fiery furnace into a gallery of pleasure, and the stocks into a music- school," Acts xvi. 25. I may add, it is instead of all things to us : with it, no suffering can be too heavy; without it, none can be tolerable. Let us therefore labour to secure his presence with us, and for that end, let us secure our being in Christ, and our walking in him. First, let us secure our being m Christ : God manifest in the flesh, is the foun- dation of God's inhabiting in the spirits of men : if Christ had not come and mediated for us, God would never have come to dwell and to walk in us • 154 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. if we are in Christ, God, who is personally present with his human nature, will be graciously present with us as members of him : we shall be pre- served in Christ, as parts of him, by that special presence which accompanies those that are in him. Our blessed Saviour prays, that those that were given him might be kept through the Father's name, John xvii. 11, that is, through that divine power, wisdom, mercy, and grace which is with them. Again, let us secure our walking in Christ : let us walk after his command and pattern ; that is, in meekness of wisdom, in zeal for God's glory, in readiness of obedionco, in o-vrcetness of charity, in a universal compliance with the divine will. Let there be somewhat of Christ in every step, this -is the way to have the divine presence with us. Thus our Saviour promised, " If any man love me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him ; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him," John xiv. 23. Such as keep his words, shall have the Shechinah, the divine presence in a pecu- liar manner with them. This will be to them joy in sorrow, security in fears, strength in weakness, life in death, and all things in the want of all. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 155 CHAP. IV. To pi-epare for suffering — the first direction is — Try the heart — see the deceit of it — what relics of sin are there ' — hojv it steals out of duties — how Jalse it is in pro^ mises — hoiv it extenuates sin — search and see what ■uprightness is there — Doth thy heart set God before thee? — doth it respect all his commands ? — doth it eye God's glory, and did it make a right contract with Christ ? Having spoken somewhat in general touching pre- paration for suffering ; I now come to speak of it more particularly : and here I shall lay down several directions, and show how a Christian may be in a fit posture for suffering. ] . If we would be in a fit posture for suffering, let us diligently try own our hearts. Suffering is a searching thing ; it tries a man as fire doth metals ; sifts and winnows him as corn is shaken in a sieve ; and discovers his thoughts and the bottom of his heart. Many a man seems to be fully for God, yet when the test comes, proves to be for the world. Therefore, it is very proper for us, to search our- selves beforehand ; to try our hearts inwardly be- fore the outward trial come; to sift and winnow ourselves before Providence do it ; to discover our hearts to ourselves, before God discover them to others. This is God's own direction to his people, " Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, 156 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. O nation, not desired;" or, as the words in the original may be rendered, " search, sift yourselves, yea, search, sift yourselves, O nation not desired, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you.'' Zeph. ii. 1, 2. Approaching judgments alarm us to self-examination. Sit down, O Christian, and consider, what the state of thy heart is ; what corruption is there, and what grace ; how much is there for the world, and how much for God; what strings of inordinate desire are there that tie thee to the present world, and what anchors cast in heaven are there to bear thee up in a storm ; what chaff or vanity is there that will go away with every wind, and what massy grace that will abide the trial. Never is it more necessary to descend into ourselves, than in a time of suffering. Search out the corruption and deceitfulness in thy heart. If thou wilt believe him that knows the heart better than it knows itself, " The heart is deceitful above all things," Jer. xvii. 9, full of wind- ings and turnings ; deceitful beyond its own power of reflection, which, when put into action, knows the deceit in part, but cannot dive into the bottom of it. Commune with thine own heart, O Chris- tian ; ask seriously, is there not much corruption within ? arc there not relics of unbelief, earthliness, sensuality, pride, hypocrisy, apostacy found in thee ? Consider what these are; these fight under the PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING 157 same colours, and aim at the same end with the persecuting world ; these would root grace out of thy heart, as wicked men would root good out of the world. As it was with Israel, there went up with them out of Egypt a mixed multitude, which was ready to return again thither; so it is with good men, there are corrupt mixtures in them, which would turn back to Egypt again. Be not deceived, thy whole entire self is not for suffering ; the un- regenerate part will hang back, and say to thee, as Satan in Peter did to our Saviour, " Master, spare thyself." When dangers approach, the flesh will cry out. Oh, spare thy estate, spare thy relations, spare thy life, why shouldst thou destroy thyself.? Take notice therefore, that there is a traitor in thy own bosom, which unless thou watch, will like the idolaters deceived heart, turn thee aside from God. Again, ask thy heart, doth it not steal out of holy duties ? When thou art hearing the holy word, will not thy heart go out to worldly objects ? When thou art joining with others in prayer, do not thy thoughts rove up and down about carnal tilings ? If thy heart be a little elevated towards heaven, doth it not immediately fall down again ? If it be a little inflamed towards God, doth it not instantly cool again .? Think with thyself, that heart which steals away from duties in wliich there is nothing grievous to the body, will be ready to steal away from sufferings which grate upon flesh and sense. Thou hadst need to have thy heart fixed on God o 158 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. in duties, that when thou comest to suffering, thou may est not start away from him. Further yet, ask thy heart, hath it not been false in vows and pro- mises of better obedience, and those made at sacra- ments or upon sick beds ? Is not thy goodness as a morning cloud, and thy life a vain circle of com- missions of sin and confessions ? And canst thou trust such a heart as this ? Assure thyself, that a heart which is false in promises, will not be true in sufferings ; that goodness which passes away like the early dew at other times, will utterly vanish when a scorching persecution comes. Learn there- fore, to be true in promises, that thou mayst be true in suffering ; that thou mayst have such a real goodness as may abide the trial in an evil day. Moreover, ask thyself one question more, cannot thy heart colour over evil things ? Is it not apt to extenuate sin, and say. It is but a little one; to make nothing of idle words or petty oaths ? And what may not such a heart do to avoid sufferings ? May it not put a fair gloss upon popery itself, and say, the papists have the substance of religion, and why should we scruple human rights and cere- monies? They have the sacred scriptures, and why should we stumble at superfluous traditions ? Their images are not the terminative object of wor- ship, but the motive only ; and why may we not use human inventions to mo-ve us to devotion? Transubstantiation itself is but a kind of nicety : they say, the body of Christ is in the eucharist PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 159 after the manner of spirits ; we say, that it is there spiritually.* And how little doth the difference seem to be ? Praying to saints and angels is hut a vanity, a void thing. Human merit is a harmless thing, if it be grafted upon Christ and the promise. The Pope himself is a bishop, and what need we think him Antichrist ? The false heart can paint the whore in every part, and make her look as if she were not " Mystery, Babylon, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth."" Labour then to know more and more of the deceitfulness of thy heart, that it may not cheat thee in times of persecution. He that trusts in his heart is a fool, nay, a secret idolater ; let us carry a holy jealousy over our hearts. The carnal heart will presume, but knows not its own weakness; it will promise much, but perform little or nothing. Peter said in a very high strain, "though all men be offended, yet will not I," Matt. xxvi. 33; and again, "though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee," ver. 35. But alas he was herein, as Forus observes, but a figure of those that lean upon their own free will ; he knew too little of himself, presumed too much upon his own power, and fell miserably in the denial of his Lord. This great pillar fell before the breath of a poor damsel ; his confidence and presumption proved but a mere vanity.'f Do not, • Bellar. de Euch. lib. i. cap. 2. lib. iii. cap. 4. •f Ecce colutnna firmissima ad uniiis aurae impulsum tota con- tremuit ; ubi est ilia promittentis audacia, et de se plurimum presumentis ? — Aiiff. 160 TREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. O Christian, think thyself better than this great apostle ; study thy own heart, and see the corrup- tion there, that thou mayest not fall by presump- tion ; but stand in the power of his grace, which is able to confirm thee to the end. 2. Search thy heart and see what uprightness is there. Thou hast a name, a notion of religion, a form of godliness ; but hast thou the thing, the truth of grace, the power of religion in thy heart ? It is grace, true grace that must establish the heart, Heb. xiii. 9 ; it is " gold tried in the fire," Rev. iii. 18, that is, pure grace, that must endure the fiery trial. Consider thyself, O Christian, is there any true integrity in thee ? Where are the marks and characters of it appearing in thee ? Put interroga- tories to thy own heart ; Dost thou indeed set the Lord always before thee.f* Dost thou do every thing as in his presence and under his eye ? This is very comfortable ; he that truly walks with God in other things, will through grace walk with him in sufferings too ; he that hath a holy respect to God's presence and eye at other times, will have so in a time of trial also. The constancy of God's people set forth in Psalm xliv, is very observable ; they were given as sheep for meat, sold for nought, made a reproach, and a scorn, a by-word, and a shaking of the head among the people ; yet their heart was not turned back, neither did their steps decline from God's ways, ver. 18. They were " broken in the place of dragons, covered in the PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 161 shadow of death.*" Yet they did not forget the name of their God, nor stretch out their hands to a strange god, ver. 20. And whence was this close adherence unto God ? The reason is rendered in in the 21st verse ; if they should forsake God, "he would search them out, for he knoweth the secrets of the heart." We see how they were affected with the presence and all-seeing eye of God, and how doth it affect us ? If it make us depart from other sins, it will much more make us depart from so great a sin as apostacy is. Again, art thou true in thy active obedience to God ? Hast thou a uni- versal respect to all his commands, even to those that call for right hands and right eyes ? This is very well ; he that is true in active obedience, will be so in passive ; he that is for all the commands of God, will be for the command of taking up the cross, and suffering for Christ. The commands are copulative, one of them is linked to another ; the stamp of divine authority is upon all ; the glory of God is concerned in all ; they are all united in the root of love. Those principles of grace which prompt to the obedience of one, will prompt to the obedience of all. He that is sincere in doing, will be sincere in suffering. Further, hast thou a single eye, a pure aim at the great end ? is it thy real intention that God in all , things may be glorified ? Tliis is a good sign ; he that hath a single eye in one thing, will have it in another ; he that glorifies God in other things, will glorify liim in sufferings o3 162 niErARATION FOR SUFFERING. too. A man is as his end is ; what the form is in natural things, that the end is in moral. He that Ijath God for his centre and ultimate end, will em- brace all the mediums that tend thither, and suffer- ing as the highest medium of all ; therein is the highest love demonstrated, and God is practically- lifted up above all ; his glory is upon the throne, and estates, relations, lives ; all earthly concerns are at the footstool. Let us set our hearts upon the great end, that, whether we be doing God's commanding will, or suffering under his disposing one, the great design of God's glory may be still carried on by us. Moreover, ask thyself, what was thy original con- tract with Jesus Christ? How and upon what terms didst thou espouse him? Didst thou take him entirely as he is offered in the gospel ? Didst thou take him, cross and all ? Didst thou sit down and count what Christianity might cost thee ? It may be, thou mayest be called to part with all, to hate father, mother, wife, children, life itself for Christ ? Didst thou deliberately consider these things, and yet piously resolve, that thou wouldst have Christ whatever he cost thee ? this is very excellent, thou art now a martyr in purpose, and virtually hast consented to all the persecutions that go along with the gospel. When the cross comes thou wilt take it up. The fiesh possibly may murmur ; but thou wilt say, this was my original contract with Christ;* • Veniant crux, ignis, ossium confractiones, modo Cliristura habeam, said Ignatius. PRErxVRATIOX FOR SUFFERING. 163 these were the terms of my espousals : I accept the cross, and will follow my suffering Savioiu: ; he is worthy for whom I suffer, and the sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come. Let us therefore be sure that we have made a right contract with Christ, and accepted him cross and all, that when sufferings come, we may not fall off from him. CHAP. V. The second preparation for suffering is — mortification of sin ; an unmoriijied man is not in a capacity to suffer — We must mortifij all sin — particularlij the unbelief of the heart — the love of the world in the three great lusts of it — the hypocrisy of the heart— » and the vain superstition that is there. Having despatched the first direction, I come to a second : if we would be in a posture for suffering, let us seriously set ourselves to mortify sin : there is in Christians a double conformity to Christ's death ; the one consists in the mortification of sin ; our " old man is crucified with him,'" Rom. vi. 6, dying away by a secret virtue from his cross : the other stands in bearing the cross ; thereby we will fill up the afflictions of Christ, Col. i. 24. The sufferings of Christ, in his natural body, were full, but the sufferings of Christ, in his mystical body. 164) PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. are daily to be filled up : the first conformity makes way for the second : the mortifying of inward lusts, is an excellent preparative to the enduring of out- ward sufferings. An unmortified man, that is un- der the power of his lusts, is in no fit capacity to suffer for Christ : he is a part of that world that lieth in wickedness ; the world will love him as a part of itself, and he will connect with the world as a part doth with the whole ; a little particle of water will, if it be possible, fall into a round drop, that it may answer to the figure of the great ocean whereof it is a part ; and an unmortified man will be al-a-mode, and of the same figure (be it Pagan or Popish idolatry,) with the corrupt world, whereof he is a part ; his compliance will be such, that he will have no occasion for sufferings ; neither is it imaginable for what he will suffer from the world : Will he suffer, as good men do, to avoid that great- est of evils, sin ? That is, what he allows and in- dulges in himself, that is, the darling of his soul, the joy of his way, the current of his life, the only ele- ment in which he abides, and will he suffer to avoid such a thing as that is ? Or, will he suffer to avoid the greatest of punishments — hell and death ? No, surely, in willing his sensuality, he virtually wills hell and the torments of it ; in acting his sin, his feet ffo down to death, and all the wrath that is to come : or, will he suffer for God, out of love to him, and respect to his glory ? It is not imagin- able that he should suffer for God, whom he serves PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 165 not, or love him, with the idol in his heart, or re- spect his glory, against whom he is in arms, and whose laws and honour he treads down under his feet : or, will he suffer for Christ his Saviour, who died to wash away his sins in his blood? It is not credible that he should suffer for a Christ whom he never yet received, or take up the yoke of the cross, when he casts off the yoke of the com- mand ; he cannot be saved in his sins, no, not by Christ himself; the atoning blood will not wash him that wallows in those corruptions for which it is the price : or, will he suffer for the gospel ? he turns a deaf ear to the calls ; violates the sacred commands, casts away the precious offers of it, and it is not to be thought, that he will suffer for that gospel which he so despises. Indeed it would be a very strange thing for him to suffer; in so doing, he must part with all this world in which his por- tion and total sum of happiness lies ; he must suf- fer the spoiling of his goods when he hath no en- during substance in heaven ; be a reproach among men when he hath no honour with God ; and cast away a temporal life when he hath no title to an eternal one. We see by these things that an un- mortified man is not in a case to suffer for Christ. Awake, therefore, O Christian, set upon the work of mortification ; resist inward corruptions, that thou mayest stand against outward temptations, lay holy restraints upon sin, that thou mayest have a badge for Christ ; die unto sin, that thou mayest be 166 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. able to die for the gospel; set thy heart against every thing of concupiscence that breathes in thee, that there may be nothing to turn thee aside from pure religion ; cast every secret idol out of thine heart, that thou mayest not fall down and worship the outward idols in the world: do this ^work impartially, do not mortify one or two sins, but all: every indulged lust is a traitor in thy bosom, a false bias upon thy heart, spare it not. But to give some particular instances, labour to mortify the sins following : — 1. Mortify the unbehef in thy heart. This is the foundation of apostasy, the greatest of sins,* be- cause the widest separation from God ; it " departs from the living God," Heb. iii. 12; it "gives the lie to the true God,'' 1 John v. 10; it blasts the pre- cious gospel, as if it were not worthy to be obeyed in its precepts, or credited in its mysteries or pro- mises. If it totally prevail in the heart, there can be no such thing as suffering for religion. To such an unbeliever Christ is but a fancy, and the gospel but a golden dream, for which, suffering is plainly ridiculous ; and if it be in thy heart but in some degree, it will in the same degree weaken thee, and make thee ready to stagger at the cross : watch, therefore, over the unbelief in thy bosom ; assure thyself of this, that which inwardly departs from God will be ready to depart from him outwardly too ; that which secretly gives him the lie, will be • Aquin. 22. qu. 10. PREPAKATION FOR SUFFERIXG. 167 ready to deny him openly when suffering comes : look narrowly to thy heart, if there arise there scru- ples touching the mysteries or promises of the gospel, bid them be gone, drive them out of thy heart in the power of the word ; these come to un- dermine thy Christianity, and make thee fall in a day of trial. If distrusts and desponding fears dis- quiet thee, chide tliy base heart, charge it to trust in that God that never leaves those that are his : when thou art ready to sink in the deep waters, call to thy fccirful heart, ask it, why it doubts ? the Lord will be with thee to bear thee up in his arms. When thou startest at the fiery furnace, tell thyself, that the Lord will be there in those inward com- forts which will make outward torments tolerable ; set thy heart to hate and extirpate this cursed root of apostasy ; expostulate with thy soul, and say, Hath God let down a gospel of grace and salvation from heaven to us, and shall it not be believed ? Hath he given us the two immutable things, his word and his oath, and wilt thou yet be such a wretch as not to believe him ? Hath thy Saviour Christ sealed the evangelical truth with his own blood, and wilt thou be so vile as not to seal it by faith ? Arm and strengthen thy heart against un- belief, that when the trial comes, thou mayest be ready to speak to thy soul, as Hilarion did, '' Egre- dere, anima mea, egredere^ quid times ? quid dubitasf Go out, my soul, go out, why dost thou fear or doubt? Heaven is ready for thee, and great is thy reward there. 168 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 2. Mortify the love of tlie world, the three great lusts mentioned, 1 John ii. 16, "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, aiid the pride of life," that is, the inordinate love of sensual pleasures, earthly riches, and worldly honour : these three make the world in the heart, and join us to the outward world to become one with it ; unless these chains of earthly desire be broken, we can never be in a posture for suffering ; if thou wilt not part with a little sensual pleasure for Christ, thou wilt never suffer for him : if lust blind thee and turn thee into a brute, thou wilt be too low and base to be capable of it : he that is melted in the fire of un- chaste passion, will not endure the flames of mar- tyrdom ; he that makes his belly his god, will never suffer to avoid idolatry. It is very observable in the prophet, that first, he tells them, that " whore- dom, and wine, and new wine take away the heart," Hos. iv. 11 ; and then adds, " My people ask counsel at their stocks;" that is, their idols, ver. 12. A sensual man, that is effeminated by his lusts, is much fitter to fall down to an idol, than to suffer for religion. Separate thyself, tlierefore, from the sensuality of the world, that thou mayest never fall into the idolatry of it : put away the cup of plea- sures, that thou mayest be in a capacity to drink of the cup of sufferings; the sensual cup leads to stings and torments ; but the suffering one tends to the pure pleasures that are above. Again, if thou wilt not part with one earthly estate for Christ, thou wilt never suffer for him. When our Saviour bid PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 169 the young man sell all, "he went away sorrowful,'' Matt. xix. 22. Cyprian, speaking of some in his time that fell off in persecution, saith, " that their estates were as chains and fetters to them ; so that they could not go and suffer for Christ.''* The covetous man, who is a mental idolater, will, if oc- casion require, be an outward one too, and fall down to a stock or stone, rather than lose his land. If thou wouldest be able to suffer for Christ, thou must break off the earthly chains from thy soul, that, when the temptation comes and thou art offered, as the blessed martyr Julitta was, to have thy estate upon the denial of Christ, thou mayest then be able to give the same answer as she did, Valeat vita, va- leant mece facultates^f hre^ell life, farewell estate. Take heed that thy poor soul do not hang about houses and lands, when thou art called forth to suf- fer for Christ and the pure religion. Further, if thou wilt not part with thy worldly honour for Christ, thou wilt never suffer for him. An ambitious man will do any thing for advancement ; he will bow to an idol, that himself may be honoured ; he lives upon the wind, a little popular air, and is too vain and light to suffer for religion; cast away therefore the love of earthly glory, that thou mayest bear the reproach of Christ ; humble thyself before • Facultates suae velut compedes ligaverunt ; ilia fuerunt vincula, illfe eaten??, quibus virtus erat retardata et fides pressa, et aniraa vincta — De Lapsis, f Magd. Hist. ceut. 4. cap. 12. r 170 PllEPARATION FOR SUFFERING. God, that thou mayest be able to suffer for his truth. Count it an honour to suffer shame for Christ ; be willing to be reproached for him who can give thee the Spirit of glory. 3. Mortify the hypocrisy that is in thy bosom. This sin is the art of seeming goodness, or vice in a vizor. It is by this that men personate more grace than they have, and enlarge their forms of godli- ness beyond the power, and make a profession much greater than is ever filled up. It is from the remnants of this in good men that they sometimes take false steps, and look askance at bye-ends, and start aside from God like a deceitful bow. It is from hence that the saints now and then faint in their faith, cool in their love, and halt and make stops in their obedience. Watch, therefore, O Christian, against this close evil, consider the vile- ness of it, think with thyself how grievous a thing it is to be false to that God, who makes all other things true to thee ; the sun to give thee true light, and the creatures true nourishment ; the blood to run right in thy veins and the breath in thy nostrils ; loath and abhor this abominable thing, cry to hea- ven for more truth in thy inward parts, labour to have the very power of religion that thou mayest fiU up thy profession ; mourn over thy falls and withering graces, check thy starting heart and charge it to maintain a firm and close adherence to God ; set thyself all manner of ways to root out and extirpate the remnants of hypocrisy out of thy PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 171 heart, that, when thou comest to suffer for religion, thy heart may not deceive thee. Truth in the heart is necessary in hearing, praying, repenting, believing, obeying, but above all it is so in suffer- ing for Christ ; hypocrisy can personate all other graces, but usually it stumbles and discovers itself in a day of trial ; therefore mortify the secret guile that is in thy heart, that thou mayest stand fast under the cross. 4. Mortify the vain superstition that is in the heart. It is natural to us to desire the same thing as the children of Israel did, to have gods to go before us, to have visible images or pictures of the Deity, a pompous and stately worship, a gaudy re- ligion made up of human additions and inventions, and such a way of serving God as is accommodated to sense, and framed after the commandments of men ; every one is ready to think in his false heart, what Ticonius said with his lips, Qiiod vohimus sanctum est,* that which we will is holy. That which in the worship of God is fine and decent in our eyes, is so in God\s too. But consider with thyself: he that places his religion in such things as these, may chance to fall in love with that fine "whore which is decked with gold and precious stones,'' Rev. xvii. 4. He that will have a religion suitable to sense, will hardly stand to that rehgion which hath a cross annexed to it. If the command of man be the reason of thy worship, thou wilt turn • Aug. Ep. Contr. Pannen ; Lib. ii. cap. 13. 17S PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. to every point as that command doth vary. If thou canst nod in superstition, thou hadst need watch lest thou fall into .flat idolatry. Remember, God is a Spirit, the true worshippers worship in spirit and truth ; and the true worshippers will prove the true sufferers. Stand to tlie pure worship, thou mayest not fall into a corrupt one. "Worship God in spirit, that tliou mayest never fall down to an idol. CHAP. VI. The third preparation for suffering is — the knorvledge of God — A71 ignorant man is not cainihle of suffering — neitJier will every knoivledge serve the turn — The hiowledge that prepares Jor suffering, must he a 7velU rooted, a right-estimating, an experimental, a prac-* iical or operative knowledge. The third direction for suffering is this, if we would be in a fit posture for suffering we must la- bour after the knowledge of God and the things of God. An ignorant man, who is a man in shape, but a brute in heart, is not a person capable of pious suffering. He knows not the principles of religion, and for what should he suffer ? He hath no prin- ciples of grace in him, and how should he suffer ? He is in darkness, and to him truth or error, one God or more, pure worship or idolatry, are all one ; PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 173 he is " alienated from the life of God;' Eph. iv. 18; and therefore it is not imaginable that he should die for God or his truth : for him to suffer for an unknown God or Christ, is to suffer for he knows not what. As the Samaritans worshipped they knew not what ; so the ignorant man, if he suffer, suffers for he knows not what. The Athenians had an altar to the unknown God, Acts xvii. 23; and possibly they offered up other creatures to him. But for a man to offer up himself as a sacrifice to an unknown God, and to part with all this world when he knows nothing of a better, is a very strange unaccountable thing. Let us therefore cry after wisdom, and lift up our voice for un- derstanding. Let us "seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures," as the wise man exhorts, Prov. ii. 3, 4. Let our prayers ascend up to heaven, to bring her down from thence; and our endeavours dig in the mines of scripture to fetch her up from thence, that so understanding may keep us, as it is said ver. 11. Knowledge is a preservative to him that hath it ; " the people that know their God shall be strong," Dan. xi. 32. ^'Thc young men, who have the word of God abiding in them, are strong," 1 John ii. 14. " Understanding is a well-spring of life to him that hath it," Prov. xvi. 22. It streams out in living graces, and strengthens the inner man, and prepares it for a day of trial; only it is to be remembered, that every knowledge will not do this, but it must be V o 174 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. a well-rooted, a right-estimating, an experimental, a practical, or operative knowledge that doth it. 1. It must be a well-rooted knowledge that will prepare us for suffering. Job tells his friends, " That the root of the matter,"" or, (as the original will bear) "the root of the wood was in him,*" Job xix. 28. He was sorely afflicted by God and men, yet he held fast his integrity, because he was not a man of mere leaves, but had a root of knowledge and grace in him. It is with Christians as it is with trees, the more the tree is rooted in the ground, the faster it stands in a storm ; the more a Christian is rooted in evangelical truths, the firmer he stands in a time of persecution. Those of the "stony ground received the word with joy,'' but fell off in time of persecution, "because they had not root in them- selves," Matt. xiii. 21. The heavenly truth did but lie upon the face of their hearts, and never sunk into them to become a vital principle in them. The truth, that we would suffer for, had not need be a loose notion, but truth in the hidden parts, fastened there as a nail in a sure place, sealed on the heart by the Holy Spirit, ingrafted and na- turalized in the mind that we may not let it go : we had need be "grounded and settled in the faith," as the apostle speaks, Col. i. 23. Grounded as a house upon a sure foundation, and settled as a man sitting fast in a chair : we had need have a good scripture ground, and be firmly seated in the truth, that we may be capable of suffering for religion. The PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING 175 scripture tells us, that "there is but one God, one only to be worshipped and served,'' that "his glory- may not be given to another,'' nor " his praise to graven images;" that "idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands ;" that " they have mouths and speak not — eyes, and see not — ears, and hear not — noses, and smell not — hands, and handle not — feet, and walk not ;" that the makers and wor- shippers of them are like unto them, as stupid as the senseless images are ; that an idol is nothing, a thing of no moment or power at all, a mere nothing to be itself made a god, or so much as to represent one. If such truths as these (of which Cyprian hath given a large catalogue in his Exhortation to Martyrdom) be intimately radicated in the heart, they will strengthen it against idolatry. The glo- rious martyr, Eulalia, seemed to be full of them, when in her great sufferings she sung, that Isis, Apollo, Venus, were nothing, and Maximianus, the worshipper of them, was himself nothing.* O let us adhere to the holy truths in the word ; these came down from heaven, and, like their original, are no- thing but pure truth without any mixture of error in them ; these appear to us in the light of the first truth, and lead to the bliss-making vision of him in heaven; and as we desire to be there, let us firmly adhere to them, especially to the word of Christ's patience ; the truth that must be suffered for, at such a time as this, to that we must cleave • Magd. Hist. Cent. 4, cap. 12. 176 niEPARATION FOR SUFFERING. closest, because in that will be the greatest stress and trial. It is good to be established in all truth, but now it is in a special manner necessary to be well fixed in the truth that concerns the pure reli- gion, which runs very low in the christian world, while in the meanwhile the idolatrous one is like to be triumphant. 2. It must be a right-estimating knowledge that -will prepare us for suffering. Every notion of the things of God will not do ; he that hath a high notion of them, but a low esteem, hath but a know- ledge falsely so called ; he knows them not as he ought to know them, because he knows them only to know them, but not to value them. We must so know them, as to rate them above a world , this is of great moment in order to suffering. A man is capable of suffering or not, according as his estimate of spiritual things is higher or lower. When the martyr Polycarp was urged by the Pro- consul to deny Christ, his answer was, A potloribus non esse transeundum ad pejora,'^ we must not pass from better things to worse. He esteemed Christ better than the world, and therefore he suf- fered for him ; but if he had esteemed the world better than Christ, he had never been a martyr : as the estimation is, so is the man. We know the evangelical truth, but if we do not rate it higher than all the world, we shall never be able to suf- fer for it. It is indeed in itself a glorious beam * Eusel). lib. 4, cap. 10. PKEPARATION FOR SUFFEKING. 177 darted from heaven, a pure discovery of the great salvation that is in Jesus Christ, and in that respect incomparably more worth than all the worjd ; but if we do not so account it, we shall fall from it to embrace the world as being better in our eyes. It is very remarkable, that when the Emperor's Prefect allured the great Basil to the Arian doctrine, as being but a small thing, the holy man answered, " That he would not part with one syllable of scrip- ture, no, not to save his life.''* Such an esteem of truth is of excellent use to make a man adhere to it in an evil day. We know the pure worship, but if we do not prize it above all earthly things, we shall never be able to suffer for it : it is a thing in itself exceedingly precious ; it is the choicest part of life that is spent in it ; the honour of God is more immediately concerned in it than in other things. That noble convert, Galeacius Carrae- ciolus, who left all for Christ, prized one day's com- munion with Christ more than all the gold or silver in the world : and if we can rate it so, we shall never turn aside from it to the idolatrous world, nor be carried into sin by the stream of the time : or say, as one going to mass did, Eamus ad com- mu7iem errorem ; let us go to the common error. We know the glory of Christ is to be promoted, but if we do not value it above our own reputation, we shall never suffer reproach for him. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than • Theod. b. 4. cap. 19. 178 PRErARATION FOR SUFFERING. the treasures of Egypt, Heb. xi. 26. Reproach in itself is a vile thing, no way estimable, but the re- proach of Christ hath an honour in it, and out- shines the glories of the world. Marsacus, a French soldier, being adjudged with others to the fire, and for his military service not having, as others had, a withe put about his neck, demands the reason why he might not be permitted to wear such a chain as his fellows did, and to be made of the same illustrious order as they were of.* If we have such a divine spirit as this is in us, we shall count it a high honour to suffer reproach for Christ. A right estimation of things, is an excellent help to bear sufferings for religion. 3. It must be an experimental knowledge that will prepare us for suffering. "It is the taste of God's word," saith Dr. Jackson, " that sweetens sufferings to us, and makes us courageous to adven- ture upon all difficulties that are objected, to deter us from entering into the land of promise.^'f Such speculative conceits of the food of life as we may find in the schoolmen, are of as little force to inflame our hearts with longing after that heavenly king- dom, as poetical descriptions of far countries, are to make us undertake their conquest. We must have knowledge and sense, Phil. i. 9- Theory and experience too, to make us stand in the evil da) ; we must taste and see that the Lord is gracious, that we may be able to suffer for him. A spiritual • Thuan. lib. 12, An. 1553. -}• Treat, of Faith, cap. 9. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 179 relish for the sweet streams of grace that flow from him, is a choice preparative to make us take and drink of the bitter cup. Gotteschalcus suffered a close imprisonment for twenty years together, merely for preaching up the doctrine of grace ; and it is without question, that he had not a mere notion, but an experimental taste of it in his suffering. Many have the knowledge of Christ in a way of spe- culation, but we must have the savour of his sweet ointments upon our heart that we may follow him into suffering. AVe had need feel the preciousxiess of his blood in the calms of conscience, that we may shed our own blood for him. Let us not content ourselves to have Christ only in our Bibles, but endeavour to have a proof of him in our hearts ; a proof of his sweet-smelling sacrifice in our inward peace ; a proof of his rich anointings in our supplies of grace. The experience of Christ in us, is a strong encouragement to suffer for him. He that hath a Christ only in notion, will fall off from him, but he that hath a tried Christ will hardly leave him. 4. It must be a knowledge practical and operative in the life, that will prepare us for suffering. A mere theoretical knowledge of Christ is not a right one. He that saith, " I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him,'' 1 John ii. 4. Such a one contradicts himself: his conversation gives the lie to his pro- fession ; the truth is not in him in a practical way ; his knowledge is but a flash, a vanishing vapour, ISO PREPARATION FOR SUFFEKIKG. that gives no vital influence to liis life ; he will not do other commands, much less will he take up the cross, which is a command more grievous to sense than others are. He, that would be prepared for sufferings, must labour for such knowledge as gives a proof of itself in holy obedience. Doing is a good preparative for suffering; he that sincerely doth other commands, will take up his cross too, that being a command as well as others. He that indeed is subject to God's commanding will, will be sub- ject to his disposing one too, which orders the com- ing of the cross to us. It is the active Christian that will, if occasion serve, be passive. Our Saviour Christ doth notably set forth what kind of Christians will stand in time of persecution, and what will fall. He, that " heareth his sayings and doth them, builds upon the rock, and when the storm comes, he stands fast, because he is founded upon the rock,'' Matt, vii. 24, 25 ; that is, he is founded upon Christ by feith and obedience ; and in the storm he continues upon him by patience ; the rock bears him up as a part of itself. But, he that " heareth Christ's say- ings, and doth them not, builds upon the sand, and when the storm comes," he falls, ver. 26, 27 ; be- cause he is upon the sand; he hath no true founda- tion for his religion, he never did dig deep enough to come to self-denial, and therefore in the storm, his fall is very great, he and his religion utterly perish ; as when a house is broken up from the very foimdation, or a tree is blown up by the roots. PREPARATION TOR SUFFERING. ISl Therefore if we would stand firm and unmoveable in a storm, let us labour to have such a lively and operative knowledge of Christ, as may diffuse itself into a universal obedience to his precepts. He that enures himself to do the will of God, will be ready, when the cross comes, to take it up, and say, " This is the will of God too and must be done.'' To conclude, that we may have this excellent knowledge, we must not only read the holy scrip- tures, but with Zuinglius, look up to heaven for that Holy Spirit that is able to lead us into all truth, and to seal it upon our hearts for ever. CHAP. VII. The fourth preparation for suffering, is precious faith — This hath a triple respect— A respect to God, his pro- vidence, po)verj and grace — A respect to Christ, as a Propitiation, a Pattern, a Head and Helper — A re- sped to the promises — the promises of God's presence, the promises of confirmation, the promises of a good issue. The fourth direction is this, if we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must labour after a pre- cious faith. A dogmatical faith will not do it ; the devil himself, who is the chief agent in persecution, liath such a faith ; neither will a temporary faith do it, this is but a mere blossom, that falls off in a storm of persecution ; it must be a precious faith, 18S PRErARATION FOR SUFFERING. a furnace faith, that will endure the fiery trial This is the apostle's ^vpeog, shield, like a door, broad enough to cover the soul and all its graces, Eph.yi. 16, this is to be taken above all other pieces of spiritual armour ; it is eminent among the graces as the sun is among the planets ; it is the great conquering grace; all other graces act in conjunction with it. In the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews, styled by some the little book of martyrs, the saints are brought in doing and suffering great things, but all is ascribed to faith, as the captain- grace of all the rest, the first mover to other graces. It works by love, and not only so but by meekness, obedience, patience, running like blood and spirits in every part of the new creature. Faith hath a triple respect, to God, to Christ, to the promises, and in each of these it is of singular use in order to sufferings. 1. Faith hath a respect to God ; it makes its approaches to him, nay, it fixes the soul in him as in its centre. Hence it is, that the "righ- teous fears no evil tidings, because his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord,'' Psal. cxii. 7. The world rolls about, but he by faith stands fast in the unmoveable God. Hence it is that the church becomes unmoveable too. " God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved," Psal. xlvi. 5. There are three things in God which faith fixes upon in order to pious suffering. (1) Faith fixes upon his Providence. The PREPARATIOX FOR SUFFERING. 183 Stoic could say, " That ther£ was no living in a world empty of God and providence :" much more may the Christian that is tossed up and down in a persecuting world say so. But his faith tells him^ that persecution comes not by chance, man rages, but God reigns. The world is as a tempestuous sea, but God sits at the stern and governs all : he limits the fury of persecutors ; the wrath of man shall praise him ; " the remainder of wrath,'' (or, as it is in the original) " the remainder of wraths he will restrain,'' Psal. Ixxvi. 10. He lets out wrath in the singular number, and restrains wraths in the plural ; nothing of it comes forth but what is per- mitted ; nothing of it is permitted but the minor part only. He it is that orders the sufferings of the saints : sense, indeed, sees only the outward confusion, but faith knows, that there is invisibly divine order in it : sense looks at the wicked hands that are red with the blood of innocents, but faith looks at the holy hand that is in it : this is one thing that bears up good men, that their Father in heaven disposes of all. When Attila called himself fagellum Del* the scourge of God ; Lupus bid him come and do as he pleased. When Christians, by faith, look on persecutors as the rod and staff in God's hand, they are ready to subject themselves to the cross. " It is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil- doing," 1 Pet. iii. 17. That interposed phrase, "if • Spond. An. 451. 18i PREP All ATION FOR SUFFERING. the will of God be so,^" is very remarkable in refer- ence to believers : were there nothing in their suf- ferings but the will of cruel men, they would bear them more hardly and unwillingly ; but because the will of the good God is there, they endure them more easily and freely than otherwise they would do. They know very well that God will turn all to good ; his ends are far other than those of Satan and his instruments. Our Saviour tells the church of Smyrna, that "the devil would cast some of them into prison, that they might be tried,'' Rev. ii. 10. In which words, it is to be observed, that God's end is joined unto Satan's act : Satan would have them in chains, but God would try them, that their graces might come forth as gold out of the fire. The Assyrian Monarch meant to cut off nations not a few, Isa. x. 7 ; but God meant to chastise his people, and then to burn the rod, ver. 12, 17. He that by faith can see the holy hand and the design of God in persecution, will be ready to suffer un- der it. (2.) Faith fixes upon his power. When Shad- rach, Meshach, and Abednego were threatened with a fiery furnace for not worshipping the golden image, their answer was, "Our God is able to de- liver us," Dan. iii. 17. Persecutors may be strong, but faith assures the soul, that God is much stronger, and can deliver liis people; nay, and will do it also ; not as those three worthies were, in a visible manner, yet in an invisible one : suffering PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 185 saints have ever found, by experience, that the power of God hath borne them up in their sufferings. When Ca?locerius, in the persecution under the Emperor Adrian, saw the support and patience that Faustina and Jobita had in their sufferings for Christ, he cried out, Vere magnus Deus Christia7iori(m, The God of the Christians is truly great. When Justin Martyr saw the martyrs cheerfully dying for their religion, he thereupon fell off from Plato's school to Christ. St. Paul, the great experienced sufferer, exhorts Timothy to be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, " according to the power of God,'' 2 Tim. i. 8 ; that is, he should suffer not in his own power, but in God's. Think thus with thyself, O Christian, God can and will give such internal supports and comforts as shall more than counterpoise all thy sufferings for him; fix thy faith upon his power, and thou canst not fail in the trial. (3.) Faith fixes upon his grace and mercy. Men are cruel, but God is gracious and merciful to his people at all times, but especially in a time of trial : he chooses them "in the furnace of affliction," Isa. xlviii. 10. When men reprobate them as the off- scouring of all things, then God doth as it were choose them afresh; I mean his sovereign love, which was in his heart towards them, as early as eternity itself, doth then break out, in renewed acts of grace towards them. St. Paul tells the Philip- pians, that it was freely given to them "in tlie 186 niEPARATIOX FOR SUFFERING. behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but to suffer for his sake;' Phil. i. 29. Faith, which is the first gift, and suffering, which is the last in this life, do both issue out from the fountain of grace. Cast thyself, O Christian, upon the grace and mercy of thy good God; that grace which calls, justifies, sanctifies thee, will also give thee the gift of suffering ; that mercy which spares thee in thy ordinary duties, will, in a time of suffering, be indulgent over thee in a more than ordinary manner. The mercy of God will be upon us, ac- cording as we trust in him ; the sweetest strains of mercy are reserved for the highest acts of faith, which are seen more in sufferings than in other things. If we carry faith with us into prisons and fiery furnaces, goodness and mercy will follow us thither in an eminent way. 2. Faith hath a respect to Christ : it comes to him as to a centre of rest, receives him as a precious gift, leans on him as a sure foundation ; nay, it appropriates him to the soul. There are three things in Christ which faith looks to in order to suffering. o (1.) Faith looks to him as a propitiation. It hides in his wounds, as in the clefts of the rock ; it washes the soul in that "atoning blood that cleanses from all sin f hereby the Christian is so strengthened in the inner man, that he can " glory in tribulations,'' Rom. v. 3. The world persecutes, but he hath peace with God ; man hates, but he PREPARATIOX FOR SUFFERING. 187 hath the love of God in his heart ; sufferings may come, but they fall only upon the outward man; there is no sting within, nor guilt pressing upon con- science. When Luther was in fear of an apoplexy, he cried out, Feri^ Dojnine, ferl, paratus sum, quia a peccatis absolidus, Strike, Lord, strike, I am ready, because absolved from sin. A Christian that is washed from sin in the blood of Jesus, may bear the persecuting stroke , he hath refrigerium Christi, a sweet refreshment from Christ's atone- ment in that inward peace, which is made by it in conscience. (2.) Faith looks to Christ as a pattern. He is not only a propitiation to be trusted in, but a pat- tern to be imitated by us. He " suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps,'' 1 Pet. ii. 2L Whom should we follow but our Lord and Saviour ? How can we spare our own blood, if we be w ashed in his ? He drank up the bitter cup to the bottom, and shall we not take some drops of it ? He bore the wrath of God for us, and shall we not bear the wrath of man for him ? He learned obedience by the things which he suf- fered, and how much more should we poor crea- tures do so ? He entered by suffering into glory ; and why should we dream of another way thither ? If we would be ready to suffer, let us " look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising shame :" let ils " consider him that 188 rUEPARATION FOR SUFFERING. endured such contradiction of sinners against him- self, lest we be weary and faint in our minds,'^ Heb. xii. 2, 3. The noble Alzearius, being asked, how he could so patiently bear injuries, answered thus : Converto me ad injurias Christi ; * I turn to the injuries done to my Saviour. We must look to Christ's cross, that we may bear our own, it being now no longer mere suffering, but sanctified by the sufferings of our Saviour. (3.) Faith looks to Christ as a Head and Helper. He is not a mere pattern, but a head and helper too. Were there no supporting grace for the saints but that little in their own bosom, they might expect to fail in the trial ; but there is an inex- haustible fountain of grace in their head in heaven, and that will bear them up in all their sufferings. This made St. Paul glory in persecutions, because the power of Christ would rest upon him ; and when he was weak in himself, in that he was strong, 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10. Cyprian, speaking of Christ in the martyrs, saith. Qui pro nobis mortem semel vicit, semper mncit in nobis^-f he that once over- came death for us, always overcomes it in us. This the martyr Blandina, though weak in body, found by experience ; being borne up in the midst of tor- ments by the power of Christ, and finding a re- newed refreshment, as often as she said, Christiana snm^X I am a Christian. The same was seen in the martyr Sanctus, who bore various torments • Arr. Tact. 161. f Epist. 9, ad Mort. + Euseb. lib. 5, cap. 1. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 180 above all human strength, because he was bedewed and confirmed out of the celestial fountain of living water flowing down from Christ. Whatever thou doest, O Christian, be sure to apply thyself by faith unto the never-failing fountain of grace in him, that thou mayest have such supplies of grace, as may bear thee up in an evil day. S. Faith hath a respect to the promises. These are the breasts of consolation, the channels in which the grace in God's heart flows down to the sons of men ; here the Christian may provide himself with cordials against the time of suffering. I shall in this place only mention three kinds of promises, for faith to live upon in a day of trial. (1.) Faith must live upon the promises of God's gracious presence. God tells his people, that he " will be with them in the fire and in tlie water,'' Isa. xliii. 2 ; that is, in all danger and calamities whatsover ; neither shall this presence be for a little time only, but constant and perpetual. He " will never leave them, nor forsake them," Heb. xiii. 5. This is a choice comfort to good men, that in tri- bulations, they are not left alone, but God is with them. St. Paul had experience of this, " all men forsook him, but God stood with him and strength- ened him," 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. The presence of God was to him more than a world, and able to support him against all his adversaries. Cyprian, speaking of the martyrs in his time, saith, That God was not a mere spectator in their sufferings. 190 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. but ipse luctatur, in nobis, ipse congreditur, ipse in certamine coronat, pariter et coronatiir ; * he strives in us, he encounters our adversaries, he crowns us in the battle,, and is himself crowned therein. Let us therefore by faith rest upon the promise of God's presence, and assure our hearts that he will be with us in our suffering. " All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ,'" and his being Immanuel, God with us in the human nature, is a pledge to believers, that God will be with them in their sufferings for him. (2.) Faith must live upon the promises of con- firmation. The apostle tells the Corinthians, that *' God shall confirm them unto the end ;" and adds this as a reason, " God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord/' 1 Cor. i. 8, 9- God doth as it were, pledge his faithfulness upon it, that they being once brought into union with Christ, shall never fall off, but be confirmed untt) the end ; " The gates of hell shall never prevail against them ; they shall be kept through faith unto salvation ;" nay, and their Mth shall be kept too. Christ did not only pray for Peter, that his faith fail not, but he prays so for all the faithful. O how comfortable are such promises to the saints ! Let us by faith lay up these rich cordials in our hearts to keep up from fainting in persecution. (3.) Faith must live upon the promises of a good • Epist. 9. PHEPARATION FOR SUFFERING. IQI issue or termination. " All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to his peoj^le/' Psal. xxv. 10. " All things shall work together for their good/' Rom. viii. 28, persecutions and all. God alters the property of his people's afflictions, and by an almighty alchymy turns dross into gold ; he makes persecution turn to the refining of the believer's graces, and to the glorifying of his own great name. O ! what great good things doth he bring out of evil ? How much of his love and faithfulness may be seen in the cross.? Let us therefore fix our hearts upon such promises, that, passing through the fiery trial, we may see tlie good end the Lord makes of it. CHAP. VIII. Thejtfth preparation for suffering, is^love to God and Christ — Love to God — such as value Mm, desire him, delight in him, and ivill and endeavour to serve and honour him — and love to Christ, distinguished and operating in the same maimer. The fifth direction is this : if we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must have a sincere love to God and Christ. Augustine saith, " That two loves made two cities ; the love of self made the earthly city, the love of God makes the heavenly one; the persecutor dwells in the one, and the 192 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. martyr in the other."'* There is an assimilating efficacy in love, whereby it casts the mind into the mould of the thing beloved; if thou love earth, thou art earth ; if thou love God, thou art partaker of the divine nature, and dost resemble God him- self, "f* The greatest impediment to pious suffer- in sr is the love of the world and self; and the greatest preparative to it is the love of God and Christ. I shall first speak of love to God, as a preparative thereunto ; and then of love to Christ as such. 1. Love to God is a preparative to suffering. If we love him above all things, no outward object will draw us from him ; if we love him with all the heart, no inward depraved passion will make us fall from him. Love to him consists of four things ; each of which will dispose us to suffer for him. (1.) Love to him implies a high valuation of him ; it esteems him to be such a one as he is set forth in scripture : to be the only wise God, the only Potentate, the only One that is good ; to be all these essentially, originally, supereminently : he that hath such an estimate of him, will be ready to suffer for him. To such a one, it is folly to leave the only AVise — weakness to leave the only Poten- tate — misery to leave the only Good : and how can he leave so excellent an object ? To such a one, • De Civit. lib. xiV. cap. 20. •f- Si terrara amas terra es ; si Deum, quidui dicerem Deus es. — Aug^ PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 193 it is prudence to adhere to the only Wise — strength to adhere to the only Potentate — happiness to ad- here to the only Good : and how can he but adhere to him ? It was the saying of an ancient, Turn digne Deum cestimamus cum incBstimahilem did- mus,* Then we rightly esteem God, when we ac- count him inestimable. Estates, bodies, lives may be valued, but he is infinitely beyond all estimation. All creatures are but as shadows, and little drops of being, in comparison of him : it is a just debt we owe to him, to rate him incomparably above all things, and in so doing, the soul itself is ennobled and made fit to suffer for him. As a man by va- luing the world above its worth, becomes base and brutish, and like the beasts that perish ; so a man, by estimating God above all things, becomes heroic and divine, and like the angels that live altogether upon him. Such a one is able to part with life in the channel, to have it in the fountain ; to let go all other things, to have all in the one all-sufficient God. (2.) Love to God consists in holy desires after him ; it makes the soul pant after him as the heart panteth after the water brooks,"h and go out of itself in holy breathings after union with him. Such is the heavenly property of it, that it aspires to be one spirit with him, to have idem velle, and idem nolle, • Minucius Felix, p. 89. Cant. 1712. ■f Dulcissimo Deo totus immergi cupit et inviscerari — Car. thus. R 194 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. to will as he wills ; and when once our wills are melted into his, every thing that comes from him will be welcome to us. Though flesh and blood may cry out of suffering, as a very hard thing, yet love will say, that nothing can be better or wiser than that which our Father orders and lays out for us. If desire after God as the supreme good once put our souls into motion, we shall follow him not into ordinances only, but into sufferings also. His gracious presence is in both ; in ordinances, it is in a good measure, but in sufferings, which are the highest services on earth, it is in a more emi- nent manner. God doth not barely say to his afflicted people, "I am with thee ; but I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteous- ness," Isa. xli. 10 ; many words are heaped up to- gether to import the excellence of his presence with them. O let our hearts burn within us with ardent desires after him, that we may be able to bear the fiery trial at its coming. (3.) Love to God implies holy complacence in him ; it makes the soul rest upon him as Noah's dove did upon the ark, and centre in him as m the supreme good. Holy desires terminate in inward satisfaction; David thirsting after God comes to have his soul satisfied as with marrow and fatness, Psal. Ixiii. 5. And Christians that breathe after him, come to have sweet spiritual joys and delights, tastes of heaven and drops from the pure rivers of PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 105 pleasures that are above. These are able to sweeten the bitterest sufferings. It is said of the Thes- salonians, " that they received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost,'' 1 Thess. i. 6 The gospel doth not go alone, but affliction accom- panies it ; neither will affliction go down alone, but the joy of the Holy Ghost sweetens it. The blessed martyrs have experimentally found these divine joys in their hearts. It is said of Alexander the martyr, famous for his love to God, that ne inge- muit,* he did not so much as fetch a groan in the midst of his torments ; and doubtless, he had strong consolations within to bear him up in his sufferings. The martyr Algerius, being in prison, wrote thus: " In the dark dungeon I find a paradise of plea- sure ; in a place of sorrow dwells tranquillity; in an infernal cave I have joy of soul : O how good is the Lord ! How easy and sweet his yoke ; " Such heavenly cordials will bear up Christians in the greatest trials. O let us labour to delight our souls in God, that we may be able to suffer for him. (4.) Love to God consists in a holy benevolence towards him ; it delivers and surrenders up the whole man to him ; it wills and endeavours (so far as a poor creature can to an infinite Creator,) to bring all service and glory to him. Thus " the twenty-four elders fell down before him and cast down their crowns, saying, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power," Rev. iv. • Magd. Hist. Ceut 2, cap. 12. 196 mEPARATIOX FOR SUFFERIXG. 10, 11 ; renouncing themselves, they refer all that they have and are to him alone : this is an ex- cellent preparative to suffering. If we would in- deed serve him, we must be willing to suffer for him ; for that is the highest service that can be done to him on earth. If we would indeed glorify him, we must be ready to suffer for him ; for that is the greatest glory that we can possibly give unto him ; therein we do practically declare to all the world, that God is our all ; riches, honours, relations, life itself, are as nothing to him. O let us labour to surrender up ourselves to him in other things, that we may not fail to make the greatest surrender of all in suffering. 2. Love to Christ is a preparative to suffering : Ignatius (whose motto was. Amor mens crucifiwus, My love was crucified,) would suffer any thing for Christ. The martyr Felicitas* was so in love with Christ, that she would not only suffer herself, but have her seven sons suffer for him also. Love to Christ consists in four things, each of which will dispose us to suffer for him. (1.) Love to Christ implies a high valuation of him : it esteems him altogether precious ; precious in his person, being Immanuel, God and man in one person : precious in his atoning sufferings, which (being by his Deity elevated into a kind of infinity,) were enough to atone for the sins of a world: precious in his holy words, his mysteries • Magd. Hist. Cent. 2, cap. 12. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 197 being heights ; his commands, rectitude ; his pro- mises, grace : precious in the rich treasures of grace, which are in him, and ever-flowing out towards be- lievers : he that thus esteems him will be ready to suffer for him. To leave his atoning sufferings is to run into hell ; to leave his words is to run into all error ; to leave his treasures of grace is to run into spiritual poverty. And how can we leave him ? To adhere to his atonement is peace and comfort ; to adhere to his words is to keep the way of life ; to adhere to his treasures of grace, is to have con- tinual influences of grace from him. And how can we think but of adhering to him ? St. Paul counted all things dross aud dung for him, Phil. iii. 8. Cyprian, in his E.vhortation to Martyrdom^ gives this as one rule, that we should nihil Christo prcB- po7iere, prefer nothing before Christ. To esteem any thing better than him, is the way to turn apos^ tate ; but to esteem him better than all, is the way to stand in a day of trial. (2.) Love to Christ consists in holy desires after him ; it causes a man to long and faint for him, and, as one in extremity, to cry out, '' Give me Christ, or else I die." Without the laver of his blood, I die in my sins; without the supplies of his grace, I die in my wants. O ! that I may have him ! the spouse in the Canticles was sick of love, languishing and ready to fall into a spiritual swoon from her passionate desires after him and his gracious presence ; nothing in all the world could k3 198 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. cure or satisfy her, but his all-desirable self. That soul that truly desireth Christ, doth not desire aliud prcBter ilium, aliud tanquam ilium, aliud post ilium, any thing besides him, any thing equally to him, any thing after him. Such an ardour and holy flame of love, as this is, is an extatical thing ; it makes a man go out of himself to seek after him ; it will sell all for him, and, like those virgin souls, Rev. xiv. 4, " follow him whithersover he goeth ;*" not only into the banqueting house of ordinances, but into sufferings and afflictions for him. The martyr Gordius had such an ardent love to Christ, that he was ready to suffer, onille inortes,^ a thou- sand deaths for the name of Jesus Christ. O let us labour to have our hearts kindled and inflamed with holy desires after him, that we may be able to stand and endure the fiery trial. (8.) Love to Christ implies a holy complacence in him, it makes the soul enjoy a kind of heaven in his presence, and delight itself in his satisfying sweetness. The spouse in the Canticles was ra- vished, and as it were, swallowed up in him ; the savour of his sweet ointments lay upon her heart ; his love was better to her than all the wine of the world ; she sat under the broad shadow of his merits with great delight, pardons and graces drop- ping down from the tree of life upon her ; he is in her eyes, totus desideria, all loves or desires ; every thing in him hath a divine sweetness in it. This * Magd. Hist. Cent. 4, cap. 12, PRErARATION FOR SUFFERING. 109 spiritual joy and delight in Christ our Saviour, is an excellent preparative in order to suffering. The church will have him near her all night, that is, in times of fear and temptation, that his presence may- sweeten the bitterest condition to her. The cross of Jesus, if we feel the preciousness of it, will turn a Marah into joy and comfort. Tua presentia, Bomine^ Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit^ thy presence, O Lord, made the tormenting gridiron sweet to St. Lawrence, saith an ancient. Philip Landgrave of Hesse, being a long time prisoner under Charles the Fifth, felt the divine consolations of martyrs supporting him. O let us labour to taste more of the sweetness of Christ, to find his blood in every pardon, his spirit in every grace, his wine cellar in every ordinance, that the divine comforts, which we experimentally feel in him, may sweeten the cross to us. (4.) Love to Christ implies a holy benevolence towards him ; it surrenders up the whole man to him; it endeavours to serve and honour him to the utmost. Thus those many thousands cry out, "worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing,'' llev. v. 11, 12; they give all to Christ. This is an excellent pre- parative for suffering. If we would serve him in other things, we must serve him in suffering for him ; if we would honour him in obedience to other commands, we must honour him in taking up the 200 PREPAUATION FOR SUFFERING. cross too. St. Paul desired, that " Christ might be magnified in his body, whether it were by life or by death,"' Phil. i. 20. If he lived, he would magnify Christ by active obedience; and if he died, he would do it by passive : either way he would have Christ glorified in him. The martyr Rom anus, having a multitude of wounds in his body, thanked the persecutor for opening so many mouths to glorify Christ.* In nothing is Christ so much glorified, as in his suffering saints; therein they demonstrate the highest love, seal the evangelical truth with their own blood ; practically prefer Christ before all the world, and offer up themselves for him who gave himself a sacrifice for them. O let us labour to make a total resignation of ourselves to him, that if sufferings come, we may be able to bear them for his sake. • Tot laudant ora, quot sunt vulnera. — Magd. Hist, cent. 4, cap, 12. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 201 CHAP. IX. The sixth preparation for suffering, is a lively hope of eternal life — Hope assures us — thai there is another world — that the good things oj it exceed those of this life — that we have an interest in them — Hope disposes us for them — Hope waits for them unto the end. The sixth direction is this : If we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must have a lively hope of eternal life. As our life is a sea, hope is com- pared to an anchor, which makes us stand steady in a storm. As our life is a warfare, hope is compared to a helmet, which covers the soul in times of dan- ger. As the body liveth spirando, by breathing, so the soul lives sperando, by hoping. A jnan cannot drown so long as his head is above water: hope lifts up the head, and looks up to the redemp- tion and salvation that is to come in another world in its fulness and perfection. Hope doth three things ; it assures good things to come ; it disposes us for them ; it waits for them unto the end. Each of which will be of singular use to fit us for pious sufferings. 1. Hope assures good things to come. It is called, "the hope of salvation,'' 1 Thess. v. 8; " the hope of glory,'' Rom. v. 2 ; " the hope of eternal hfe," Tit. i. 2; because it assures these things. To this I shall speak in three particulars. (1.) Hope assures us that there is another worldj SOS PREPARATION FOR STJFFERTXG. called in scripture, " the world to come f without this there can be no foundation for pious suffering ; no man can freely part with this world unless he be assured of another. " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable," 1 Cor. XV. 19 ; miserable indeed, to be persecuted out of one world, and to have never another to go to. If Christians were in as dark a case, as the emperor Adrian was, when dying he cried out, " O my poor soul, whither art thou going ?"" they could be in no rational capacity for suffering. But hope assures them, that there is another world, where things are administered in a different manner from what they are in this. Here good men bear the cross, there they wear the crown; here they are black with reproaches, there they shine as the sun; here they are tossed at sea, there they enter into rest ; here they drink of the bitter cup, there of the rivers of pleasures above ; here they are in the bloody hands of men, there in the arms of a gracious God.* Hope is sure, that these things are so, God's promises secure them, and, that we might have strong consolation, God's oath is superadded also. Our Saviour hath sealed up the truth of them with his own blood, and we may venture our dearest lives upon them. Hence it is, that hope is said to be " the anchor of the soul, sure and sted- • Duas vitas novit ecclesia, una est in fide, altera in specie ; una in tempore, altera in leternitate ; una in labore, altera in re- quie J una cum hoste pugnat, altera sine hoste regnat.— -4w^. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. OQf^ fast, entering into that within the veil," Heb. vi. 19, Other anchors may break, but this will never fail ; other anchors are fastened in this world, but this enters into that within the veil, and fixes itself in the unmoveable heaven; and in respect thereof, Christians become in some measure unmoveable in the midst of all the storms here below. Cyprian saith of the Christians in his time, that their faith and hope did stand unmoveable and unshaken mter ipsas seculi ruinas* among the ruins of the world. When the excellent Melancthon was threatened by his enemies, that they would not leave him a foot- step in Germany, he replied, " That he should have one in heaven.'' f In like manner, when a poor persecuted Christian is ready to be cast out of this world, he may comfort himself with this, that he hath another to go to, where he shall have bet- ter usage, and a reward for his sufferings. (2.) Hope assures us, that the good things of the world to come do incomparably exceed the things of this world. If the things of this world were the better, no man would leave better for worse; nay, if they were but equal, no man would part with that in possession for that in expectation. But hope assures us, that the good things of the world to come do far transcend those that are in this life. The mansions in glory are better than the houses of clay; the incorruptible inheritance ex- ceeds a fading one ; eternal life is much more pre- • Ad Demetriauum. f Mel. Ad. in vita ejus. 204 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. cious than temporal ; the crowns of immortality above outshine all the titles of honour here below ; the pure rivers of pleasures in heaven are far sweeter than the delights on earth ; the fruition of God (who is the supreme good, centre of souls, Sabbath of rest, and fountain of blessedness,) cannot but be infinitely beyond the enjoyment of creatures. A good as- surance that these things are so, will dispose us to part with the lesser concerns here below, that we may enjoy the greater that are above. We read of some worthies that took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, because they had in heaven a better and enduring substance, Heb. x. 34. And again, of some that would not accept deliverance, because they would obtain a better resurrection, Heb. xi. 35. Shadows and trifles were to be parted with rather than massy and durable felicity; the bubble or vapour of a transitory life was to be let go, rather than an everlasting one. When in the perse- cution under Dioclesian, the martyrs were asked, What made them bear such torments ; and what they expected after all their sufferings ? They made this answer, That they did hope for those good things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, which God hath prepared for them that love him. We see what bore up their spirits in their suflerings ; let us labour to have a high sense of the excellencies of the world to come, that, if need be, we may part with all for it. rSEPARATION LOR SL'l FEIIING. 205 (3.) Hope assures our interest in the good things of the world to come. And here two thino^s are to be noted ; the one is this, — hope, in its commence- ment, assures our interest in them finally : he that hath a true lively hope of them, hath a real interest in them ; every genuine grace touches upon heaven, and gives a right to it ; but hope doth it in a kind of peculiar way ; it enters within the veil, and in a sort takes possession of the other world. As the ship is at land in its anchor, so the soul is in heaven in its hope ; and he that hath a true interest there, will not part with it in a time of suffering. The anchor, being in heaven, and fastened in the unmoveable felicity there, will hold out in a storm. Such a one will reckon as St. Paul did, " that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,"' Rom. viii. 18. Or, if a comparison be made, the suffer- ings in respect of the glory, will be but as a drop of wormwood, to a vast sea of infinite sweetness. The other thing is this : hope in its full stature assures our interest in the good things to come sensibly ; he that hath a plerophory, or full assurance of hope, certainly knows that he hath an interest in them. " We know that we have passed from death to life,"*'' saith St. John, 1 John iii. 1 4 ; as if the apostle had said, we are on the borders of heaven, and we know it, as it were, sensibly, as we do our passage from one place to another. Holy Job saith, " I know that my Redeemer liveth C and notTvithstand- 206 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERIXG. ing all tlie worms, " in my flesh I shall see God," Job xix. 25, 26 ; he was sure of the bliss-making vision, and could look through the dust to immortality. Such a full hope ushers in a kind of paradise into the soul, and admirably fits it to bear sufferings ; the internal suavity is able to sweeten any outward condition. The learned Rivet, at his dying hour, brake forth into these words, E.vpecto, credo, per- servero, dimoveri nequeo, Dei Spiritus meo spiri- tui testatur, me esse e.v JUiis suis, O amorem in- effahileml I expect, believe, persevere, cannot be moved ; God's Spirit witnesses to mine, that I am one of his children ; O, ineffable love ! Let us labour to have, not only a lively hope, that we may have a title for heaven, but a full hope, that we may know our title to it. This will be a high cor- dial in an evil day, and make us able, whatever the sufferings be, to go on triumphantly and with full sail to heaven. 2. Hope doth not only assure the good things to come, but disposes us for them. Hope is not an idle dream or notion, but it is an active and lively thing ; it doth not merely look to the glory above, but puts the soul into a posture for it. Every one, that hath in him the hope of so great a thing as seeing the blessed God is, " purifieth himself, even as he is pure," 1 John iii. 3 ; he knows darkness cannot have communion with light ; unclean eyes cannot be opened in so pure a place as heaven is ; the earthly heart is too gross to be in the region of PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 207 holy spirits; he that drowns himself in sensual pleasures is not meet to drink of the pure rivers that are above. Malicious spirits cannot be capable of dwelling there, where infinite love opens itself in all its sweetness. The false hearted hypocrite can never be admitted to see truth in the original, nor the evil man to drink goodness at the fountain head. He, therefore, that hath a well grounded hope of being with God in heaven, will purify himself for such a high estate ; he will labour to have more of the liglit of faith to fit him for that of vision ; to have more purity of heart, to make him meet to see the Holy One ; to have more of heaven in his af- fections, to prepare him for that blessed region ; to have more spiritual delight here, that he may be capable of entering into the joy of his Lord here- after ; to have his heart more filled with holy love, that he may be in an apt posture for the rich effu- sions of love in heaven ; to have more truth and goodness in his heart, that he may be the more ready to enjoy the fountain and fulness of both, I mean, the blessed God, who is " All in all." Thus this lively hope makes a man meet for heaven, and in so doing, it makes him meet for those sufferings that lie in his way thither. That purity, which disposes him to enjoy God in heaven, doth also dis- pose him to suffer for him on earth; and the greater disposition there is for heaven, the centre of blessed- ness, the stronger will the resolution be to break through all difficulties that are in the passage there- 208 PRErARATION FOR SUFFERING. unto. I^et US, therefore, get a purifying hope, that \7e may be fit for the cross. 3. Hope doth not only dispose us for the good things to come, but it waits for them unto the end. Hope is a waiting grace, it makes a Christian's life to be a perpetual waiting. " All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come," saith Job xiv. 14; Job had many changes, but he waited for that great one, which should bring him into a state of unchangeable happiness. Whatever holy men are doing, still they are in a waiting pos- ture. When Jacob was blessing his sons, he did not forget this, but broke out in a sudden sweet ejaculation, " I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord,'' Gen. xlix. 18. Hope makes Christians to wait for the good things to come^ at all times, but in a special manner in time of sufferings. St. Paul speaking first of the suffering saints, and then of the groaning world, expresseth himself thus : " We ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop- tion, the redemption of our body, for we are saved by hope," Rom. viii. 23, 24 ; here we may observe the true state and posture of the saints ; afflictions make them groan, but the divine hope, the first- fruit of the Spirit, makes them wait for a better world, in which adoption and redemption shall have their complete perfection. A Christian in afflictions being tormented in this world, will wait for abetter. The martyr Agatha, having her breasts cruelly cut PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 209 off for religion, told her persecutor, " That yet she had two breasts remaining, such as he could not touch ; the one of faith, the other of hope ;'' which afforded her great comfort in her torments. Faith adheres to the promise, hope waits for the good things promised ; both strengthen in a day of trial. It is the very nature of divine hope, to wait for the good things to come. When the sun of prosperity shines, it waits in a way of obedience; " Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy command- ments,'' saith David, Psal. cxix. 166. He waited in a way of obedience to God's commands; and when the storm of persecution comes, the believer waits in a way of patience. Hence the apostle speaks of the patience of hope, 1 Thess. i. 3. That hope, which in prosperity waited in a way of obedi- ence, will in adversity wait in a way of patience. Hope would have the Christian to be always wait- ing for the upper world, but when the cross comes, it presseth upon him more vehemently, and will speak after this manner to him: "What, hast thou waited for the great reward in heaven in duties and ordi- nances, and wilt thou not wait for it in sufferings too ? Heaven is the same still, and sufferings are not w^orthy to be compared with it ; do but suffer a little, and thou shalt be there." W^hen the martyr Ananias, in the Persian persecution, seemed to- tremble at the approaching cross, Pusices spake thus to \mx\,^ Paulispery senex, ociilos daiide, nam • So^om. lib. ii, cap. 10. s3 210 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. stat'im lumen Dei videbis, shut thine eyes a little. O old man, and immediately thou shalt see the light of God. Excellent is that of the apostle, " Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal," 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. Here it is observable, affliction is light and momen- tary, but glory is weighty and eternal, there is no proportion between them. If by hope we look at the invisible and eternal things, this will support our hearts, that it is but a little short suffering, and we shall be in heavenly bliss for ever. Let us, therefore, labour after a waiting hope, that we may patiently bear the cross. CHAP. X. The seventh preparation for suffering is hohj fear — not the fear of man, hut of God — not a diffident fear, hut a fiducial one — not a servile fear, hut a flial one — holy fear looks at sin more than at suffering — at suf- . ferings in hell more than at those on earth — at spiri- tual and eternal losses more than at carnal and temporal. The seventh direction is this, — if we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must have a holy fear in PRErARATION FOR SUFFERING. 211 our hearts. The wise Solomon begins his Proverbs with this : " The fear of the Lord is the beginning (or head) of knowledge,'' Prov. i. 7 ; and ends his Ecclesiastes with this, " That to fear God and keep his commandments is the whole duty of man,'' Eccl. xii. 13. Other things appertain to the beast or the devil, but holy fear is the all of man ; it makes him a perfect man, not only to do God's will, but to suffer under it. In speaking to this, I shall first consider what that fear is which prepares us for suf- fering, and then how it prepares us thereunto. 1. I shall consider what that fear is which pre- pares us for suffering, and this I shall despatch in three things. (1.) It is not the fear of man, but of God, that doth it. It is not the fear of man that can do it ; God gives us a charge against this, — " Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die r Isa. li. 12. There is no cause to fear a weak piece of clay, a very breath, a fading leaf; he must die, and there is an end of him, and all his thoughts perish with him. The wise man tells us, " That the fear of man bringeth a snare," Prov. xxix. 25. It made Abraham dissemble, as if he had no wife ; David change his behaviour, as if he had no reason; Peter curse and swear, as if he knew not his Master. This fear disposes to apostasy, and must be cured by that fear of God, which disposes to suf- fering. When we are ready to drown in worldly sor- row, it is of singular use to spring another — a godly S12 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. sorrow in our hearts ; and when the fear of man puts us into trembling fits, it is an excellent remedy to raise up the fear of God in our souls, above the other. Thus God directs his people not to fear confederate enemies, but to " sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and to let him be their fear and their dread," Isa. viii. 12, 13. He is Lord of Hosts, God over all, and the fear of him should be above all other fears ; this is the way to have him to be a sanctuary to us, as it follows. If we fear him, he will be an inviolable place of retreat where we may repose ourselves in a day of trouble. (2.) It is not a diffident fear, but a fiducial one, that doth it. A diffident fear makes the mind, as meteors in the air, to hang in suspense, and, in case affliction come, to fail under the burden. " St. Peter walked upon the water to go to Jesus ; but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and began to sink," Matt. xiv. 29, 30. By faith he walked, and by difSdence he began to sink. * Our condition is the very same ; in the waves of a trou- blesome world we stand by faith, but fall by diffi- dence: that fear which prepares us for suffering, must be a fiducial one. " Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord, he is their help and their shield," Psalm cxv. 11. Holy fear is and must be in con- junction with faith. Fear flies from the evils of sin and hell ; faith closes in with the promises of grace • Non ambnlaret nisi crederet, nee mergeretur nisi dul)itaret. — Aug. de Verbis Rmt. Scrm. 14. mEPARATIOX FOR SUFFERIXC. SI 3 and glory; both concur to make a man fit for suffer- ing, and such a suaerer shall have God for his help and shield. (3.) It is not a servile fear, but a filial one, that doth it. He that hath a mere servile fear of the wrath to come, may forbear an act of sin, but he hath the love of it in his heart ; adhuc vivit in eo peccandi volimfos, the love of sin lives in him still, us an ancient hath it. Such a one is not in a fit case to suffer for the truth ; he hath not a love to God to move him to it, nor a capacity to have hea- ven after it ; and how can he suffer ? It is very hard for a man to suffer for a God that he loves not ; or part with the good things of this world, when he hath no hope of those in a better. That fear which prepares for suffering, is not servile, but filial; it stands not in conjunction with the love of sin, but with the love of God ; the nature of it is such, that he that hath it, will displease man rather than offend God; part with a world, rather than let go the truth and pure worship ; nay, and lay down his life rather than forfeit the divine presence and favour which are better than life. Thus much touching the nature of that fear, which prepares us for suffering. 2. I come to consider how holy fear doth prepare us for sufferings ; and this I shall open in three things. (1.) Holy fear looks upon sin as an evil much greater than any suffering. Suffering is opposed to the creature, but sin is opposed to the infinite God ; 2145 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. it is a rebellion against his sovereignty, a contradic- tion to his holiness, a provocation of his justice, an abuse of his grace, a stain cast (as much as in us lies) upon his glory ; nay, as the schools speak, it is a kind of Deicidmm, it strikes (in a sort) at the very life and being of God ; it wishes that there were none at all ; and, if it could effect it, there should be none. Suffering doth not make a man worse than he was before, but sin doth. Those saints that were destitute, afflicted, tormented, wan- dering in deserts, and mountains, and dens and caves of the earth, were yet such excellent ones, that " the world was not worthy of them,*" Heb. xi. 87, 38. On the other hand, Antiochus Epiphanes (who was, as his name imports, illustrious and glori- ous in the world) was yet but a vile person, and was made such by his wickedness. Suffering strikes at the estate or body of man, but sin strikes at his soul, a thing more precious than a world ; nay, and at the divine image there, which is more worth than the soul itself. It doth, where it can prevail, turn men into beasts in its sensual gratifications, or into devils in its spiritual wickednesses. Suffering may have good, nay, great good in it, but sin is evil, only evil; it is called by St. James Tr^piaaua KQKiac, " the superfluity of all evil/' James i. 21. It con- tains all evils in it ; and if all evils (saith a worthy divine) were to have a scum or refuse, sin is it, as being the abstracted quintessence of all evil, and liaving nothing at all of good in it. Sin, saith PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 215 Bradwardine, is a thing not to be done, pro quan- tiscunque bonis lucrandis, aut pro quantiscunque malls prcecavendls ; for the gaining ever so great a good, or for the avoiding ever so great an evil. He that hath this holy fear in his heart, will choose suffering as the lesser evil, rather than sin, which is much the greater. When Antiochus Epiphanes brought forth wheels, rods, hooks, rakes, racks, caldrons, cages, gridirons, gauntlets, awls, bellows, brazen pots, and frying-pans, before Salamona and her seven sons to terrify them, they could not be induced by all his tormenting engines to trespass so far as to eat of a little sacrificed swine's flesh, to save themselves from a cruel death. * It was the saying of Anselm, " That if sin were set before him on one hand, and hell on the other, he would rather choose hell than sin. Henry Flander,f be- ing a prisoner for the Protestant religion, would not say, that his wife was his harlot, no, not to save his life offered to him on those terms. Holy fear will tell us, that sin must not be done to avoid suffering; that it were better to bear all reproaches than dis- honour God ; to lose our estates than leave our re- ligion ; nay, and to lay down our lives than be se- parated from the divine love. O let us look upon sin as the maximu7n formidahile ; as that which hath in it the most proper cause of fear and flight, that no external miseries and dangers may be able to drive us into it. * Joseph. Ant. f Scult. Decad. An. Dom. 1528. S16 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. (2.) Holy fear looks at the sufferings which God inflicts in hell, as incomparably greater than those v/hich man doth or can inflict upon earth. Our Saviour directing our fear to its right object, takes notice of the vast difference between them ; " Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear him, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell,'" Matt x. 28. Man's killing is one thing, but God's destroying another : man may kill the body, and it may be in a tormenting manner ; but there is no death like the second — no torments on earth are comparable to those in hell — no flnite arm can strike so hard as the infinite One — no culinary or elementary fire can burn so hot as the infernal. God bid Moses " take and sprinkle the ashes of the furnace, and they should become boils and blains," Exod ix. 8, 9. A great Doctor of ours glosses on the words thus : " The sufferings here on earth are but the ashes of the fur- nace, small things in comparison of the furnace itself, a hell of unquenchable fire ; man may kill the body, but he is not always killing of it ; he may torment, but he cannot bear up the patient in long suffering ; the torments in a little time will cease, and the martyr sleep in Jesus ; but God kills the lost, and is still killing them, power supports them, and justice punishes them ; the fire of hell, kindled by eternal breath, never goes out, and the smoke of their torments ascends for ever and ever. After thousands, and ten thousands of years, still there rREPAIlATlOX I'OIl SUFFKUING. SIT will be wrath to come, such as no time can measure. Man may kill the body, but after that he can do no more, his engines of cruelty cannot reach the soul, or touch the inward man, which is a sanctuary for God ; but God kills the soul, his wrath is in a peculiar manner poured out there where the chief seat of sin was ; the never dying worm is ever gnawing upon conscience. The spirit of the damned furiously reflects upon itself, over the eternal misery that it lies under. All the horrors of a Spira or a Judas are far short of that desperate rage and anguish which tortures lost souls in hell." He that hath this holy fear in him will choose any suffer- ings on earth rather than those in hell. One of the sons of Solomona told the tyrant Antiochus, that his fire was cold, and indeed it was so com- paratively to the fire of hell. Augustine putting the question, whom we should obey ? God com- manding one thing, or the emperor commanding another, makes this answer. Da veniam, iinperator, til carcerem mbiaris, ille gehennam,'^ give place, O emperor, thou threatenest a prison, he a hell. When Polycarp was threatened with fire, his an- swer was, " That the persecutor threatened only a momentary fire, but knew not th^ eternal one.^' He that ever heard that true thunder, which is the voice of God, would hardly be afraid of such arti- ficial cracks as the emperor Caius Caligula used to make, to show himself a God. And lie that carries • De YQvh, Dam, Serm. G. T PAS PllEPARATION FOR SUFFERING. upon his heart an awe of those sufferings which God inflicts in hell, will hardly fear those which men inflict on earth. 3. Holy fear looks upon spiritual and eternal losses, as incomparably greater than carnal and temporal ones. The loss of the world may be made up in the saving of the soul ; but for the loss of a soul, nothing can make a recompence. That little spark of divinity mightily outweighs the great globe of the world. What are bodies to spirits ? Nemo, (saith Augustine,) bene se inspewit, qui non, on'mi corpoTi qualemlibet animam prcEponendam esse, fateatur, he that looks well into himself must confess, that any soul is to be preferred before all bodies. The loss of man's favour may be richly made up by the presence of God. Moses endured the king's wrath, as seeing the invisible one ; the presence of God was so with him, that he feared no human frowns. But if the divine favour be want- ing, nothing can supply the defect of it. It is true, a man without it may have all outward blessings flowing round about him ; but he eats, and drinks, and sleeps under the wrath of God, which hangs over his head, as the sword did over the head of Damocles at the tyrant's table ; and, as soon as the thread of life breaks, it comes down upon him in an utter ruin. The loss of creatures may be made up by an interest in God ; a real Christian having no- thing, may possess all things in him ; but if a man forsake God, what will the world give in exchange PREPARATION FOR SUFFERIKC. S19 for him ? Its riches arc but poor moth-eaten things, which in a little time vanish away ; its plea- sures are but the titillations of sense, and perish in the using; its honours are but a breath, a little popular air, which will soon pass away and come to nothing. When once God, who is the fountain and spring of all good, departs, it is in vain to hope for any thing from the little rivulets and cisterns of the creature. He that hath this holy fear in him will choose to suffer loss in carnal and temporal things, rather than in spiritual and eternal. It is the saying of Ambrose, Ea est vera pietas, quce prceponit divina humanis, perpetua iemporalibus^* that is true piety, which prefers divine things to human, and perpetual things to temporal. Augus- tine sets out servile and filial fear by an adulterous and a chaste wife. Timet mulier adultera^ ne vir ejus veniat ; timet et casta 7ie vir ejus abscedat, the adulterous woman fears, lest her husband should come ; the chaste woman fears lest her husband depart. In like manner servile fear makes us afraid that God will punish, and filial fear makes us afraid that God will depart ; the loss of him is more than the loss of all things. When the martyr Menas, under the persecution of Dioclcsian, was brought forth to suffer, he gave this reason for it. Nihil est, quod med sententid cmiferri possit cum regno coslorum ; neque enim totus mundus potest, cequd lance e^rpensus uni comparari animce,-\' • Lib. vii. Epist. 50. f ^i^^- Hist. Cent. 4. cap. 12. 2^0 I'K EPA RATION FOR SUFFERIXG. there is nothing in my judgment like the kingdom of heaven ; neither mcay the whole world, if weighed in an equal balance, be compared with one soul. He had rather lose any thing in the world than a heaven and his soul. O let us labour to know where the great loss lies, that we may never forsake spiritual and eternal things for carnal and temporal. CHAP. XI. The eighth preparation for sufferings is hnmility — A high Jabric must have a low foundation — Hmnility hath such rays from God, as make ns very low in our own eyes — It is a capacity for larger effusions of grace — It subjects a man to all the j)leasure of God — // causes him to depend upon God for support and comfort. The eighth direction is this : if we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must labour after humi- lity of mind. It is the direction of our Saviour to Christians, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,'' Matt. xi. 29. Augustine upon those words gives an excellent rule : Cogitas magnam fahricam construere celsitudiiiis^ de fundamento jyrius cogita hnmillfatis. Thou thinkest to build a great high fabric, but first think to make a low foundation. The higher the building is, the lower must be the foundation. If we would build our Christianity as high as suffering for religion, we PREPARATION FOR SUFFERIKG. 221 had need lay for it a deep foundation in humility!* Our Saviour, Christ, was not only a pattern of suf- fering, but of humility too. St. Peter tells us, that " he suffered, leaving us an example,"' 1 Pet. ii. 21. St. Paul tells us, how he came to suffer ; he emp- tied himself or made himself of no reputation, "he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, the death of the cross," Phil. ii. 7, 8. He laid by his robes of majesty, and became, as it were, no- thing, that he might suffer for us. If we would follow Christ in suffering, we must put off our ornaments, and lay by our proud plumes ; we must empty ourselves of all our self-excellencies, and be- come vile ; yea, nothing in our own eyes, that we may endure the trial. St. Paul was a great sufferer for Christ, but withal he was one of the humblest that ever lived : indeed, before his conversion, he was a Saul, a proud persecutor ; but after it, he was a Paul, persecuted, and little in his own eyes. Athanasius, who suffered so much under the Arians, had this character given him by Nazianzen : He was high in worth, and humble in heart. There are four things to be noted in humility ; each of which tends to prepare us for suffering. 1. Humility dwells in an enlightened mind, and hath such rays from God, as make the heart where it is, take up very low thoughts of itself Of old, the appearances of God in outward symbols of glory, made men lie very low before him. When Job heard the voice of the Lord out of the whirlwind, •r 3 222 niEPAllATION FOn SUFFERING. " he abhorred himself in dust and ashes,'' Job xlii. 6. Wlien the prophets saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and Ufted up, he cried out, " Woe is me, I am undone," Isa. vi. 5. When Daniel saw the vision of the '' bright shining man, his come- liness was turned into corruption,'' Dan. x. 8. The humble man, now hath not such outward visions, but he hath an inward light of faith, and when he looks up to God, and reflects upon himself, it makes him go to the centre of the earth, and there see his own nothingness. I shall give a triple instance of this : AVhen the humble man looks up to the glory and greatness of God, he reflects and communes with his heart after this manner, O how exalted is God ! his glory is above the heavens, his Majesty is infinitely brighter than a thousand suns, the rays of it bid me go down and hide myself in the dust of my own vileness and nothingness ; how great is he that " spans the heavens, weighs the mountains, and measures the seas in the hollow of his hand ? To him all nations are but as a drop of the bucket, a dust of the balance ; nay, less than no- thing itself : and I, what am I ? the drop of a drop, a particle of dust, and much less than that which is less than nothing itself. Such thoughts as these do so abase and annihilate a man in his own sight, that the great and glorious God may do any thing with him ; his own littleness will keep him from murmuring under any cross or afflic- tion that comes from the Most High. Again, PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 223 ■when the humble man looks to the holinesss of God, he says to his heart, O how holy is God! he is perfect purity without any spot — infinite light, without any darkness at all ; the glance of his pure eyes bids me go down into my polluted self, and there cover myself with the shame of that corruption, which is worse than nothing. The " stars are not pure in his sight,"' and how can I be so ? The glorious " angels cover their faces, and cry holy, holy, holy;"' and what should worms do! What reason have I to cry out over myself, as the leper was to do, unclean, unclean. The sense of this is so deeply humbling, that it disposes him that hath it to be willing to go into any furnace, which God orders for the melting out of dross. The ex- cellent martyr, Mr. Hooper, carried his humility with him to the fiery trial, there he prayed thus : " Lord, I am hell, but thou art heaven ; I am a mass of sin, but thou art a gracious Redeemer." The sense of his own imperfections made him lie very low. Moreover, when the humble man looks to the grace of God, he adores that pure self-moving fountain of all good; and withal, abases himself under his great unworthiness of the least drop of it : " The evil that is in me,'' saith he, ''is my own, but all the good that is in me, is entirely from grace." This taste of grace admirably disposes him to bear the cross : such a one will argue with him- self, shall God give me grace and glory, and shall I not su.ffer for him,^ The suffering. is not the S245 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. misery I deserve, but that which is much less, and shall I not suffer ? There is a glorious heaven to come after it, and why should I hang back ? The words of Dr. Sclater are very remarkable : God, saith he, rewards ultra condignum^ beyond our deserts ; afflicts citra condignum^ short of our de- serts ; * that person who so feels, and is acquainted with his heinous sins, willingly prays with Augus- tine, Hie ure, Jiic seca, tit in ceternum parcas, here burn, here cut me, that thou may est spare for ever. Thus humility, by the rays that it hath from God, makes a man very vile in his own eyes, and so prepares him for the cross. The proud man that thinks highly of himself, will murmur at anything ; and the humble man that thinks meanly of himself will bear with anything. 2. Humility puts the soul into a capacity to have larger effusions of grace bsstowed upon it; "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the hum- ble,"** James iv. 6. God hath two hands ; with the one, he casts down the proud that lift up themselves against him; with the other, he lifts up the humble that lie at his feet for mercy. Humility is not only a grace, but a capacity to receive more of it. He that goes to a river to take up water, puts the mouth of his vessel downward to do it ; he that goes to God for grace, must put his mouth in the dust, and cry to obtain it, not for his worth's sake, but for his spiritual poverty. A humble heart is (as * Exposit. on the Tliessal. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING, 225 Parisiensis calls it) a spiritual vacuum ; and as na- ture doth not suffer a vacuum in bodies, but fills up tlie space one way or other, so grace doth not suf- fer a vacuum in spirits, but fiUs up the humble soul with fresh supplies of grace. Augustine sets out tliis by a notable similitude, '"The water that falls down from heaven upon the mountains, flows away ; but the water that falls upon the valleys, stays there.''* In like manner, the divine grace that distils from above, doth not rest upon high proud persons, but upon humble ones : God leaves the full souls, and fills the empty; abases the exalted, and exalts the abased. All other graces grow together with humi- lity; the more humble we are, the more we have of God with us, the more we have of grace in us ; and the more we have of these, the more we have of strength in the inner man, and the more we have of preparation for a day of trial. If we build so high as suffering for Christ, we must dig deep, and lay the foundation low ; that when the storm comes, we may stand fast and unmoveable. 3. Humihty makes a man freely to bow and sub- ject himself to God in all things. This is a choice and excellent preparative for suffering ; the same which our Saviour commends to " weary and heavy laden souls ; take my yoke upon you, says he, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,''' Matt. xi. 29. Christians are to take up a double • Si humiles sunt, valles sunt, quod infuderis capiunt, non diraittunt. — Aug. de Verb. Apost. Serm. 9. SS6 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. yoke, the yoke of evangelical commands, and the yoke of the cross that accompanies them ; in both subjection is requisite. In the one, subjection to Christ^s authority commanding ; in the other, sub- jection to his Providence ordering. And that Christians may be subject to both, they must look to the great pattern, and learn meekness and hu- mility from him. The heart of man naturally is a very proud Belial thing, that will bear no yokes, it will not be under Christ, nor under his righteous commands by obedience, nor under his afflictive providences by patience ; it lifts up itself, and by a kind of blasphemy practically aspires to be above God himself But when divine grace hath melted the heart and made it humble, then it will bow down and take both yokes upon itself; it v/ill be- come freely subject to God and all his holy plea- sure. I say, freely ; a proud man may be bowed down under the pressure of an external calamity, but an humble man bows liimseif down by an in- ternal principle of grace ; in the one, the subjection is merely of necessity, in the other it is free and of choice. Humility makes a man lie at God's feet, and say, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do .f"" or what wilt thou have me to suffer ? " Let the word of God come," saith Baldasser, the German divine, " and we will submit to it six hundred necks, if we had so many."" Let the cross come, saith the humble man, and I will submit to it. Humility is virtually all obedience and patience, it makes a PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. O^J man to be as a little child, ruleable by all the will of God. Whether that will come forth in precepts or providences, humility will comply and bow down under it. The lowly in heart will do, or be any- thing for God ; therefore our Saviour promises rest to such, as the gracious reward of their labours and sufferings. It is good counsel that Augustine gives, Esto parvus in ocidis tuis, ut sis magnus in oculis Dei* be thou little in thine own eyes, that thou mayest be great in God's ; subjecting thyself to all his pleasure is the way to be exalted by him. 4. Humility causes a man to depend upon God for support and comfort in his sufferings. The proud person stand sin the posture of the Pharisee, (T-a^ng rrpbg tavTov, " standing by himself," Luke xviii. 11; he stands upon his own merits, and thinks himself able by his own po.ver to do or suffer any thing as he pleases. Standing, however, in his own presumption, it is very Hkely that he will fall off as soon as the trial comes. But it is otherwise with the humble man ; he knows that he is weak in himself, and must be strong in God, and therefore he will not trust to his own power or will, but look up to God for support and comfort in the evil day. It is a notable passage of Augustine, Multos impedit a fivmitate prcBsumptio Jirmitatis, nemo a Deo fit firmus, nisi qui a selpso sentit injirmum,-f a pre- sumption of firmness hinders many from being firm; no man is made firm by God, but he that feels in- * De Tempore Ser. 213. f De Verb. Dora. Ser. 13. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. firmity in himself. The story in the Marian perse- cution is very memorable: "Mr. Sanders, the martyr, at first showed much weakness and fear, but Dr. Pendleton said to him, What man! fear? I will see every drop of my grease melted before I forsake Christ and his truth. But afterwards, Sanders triumphantly suffered, kissing the stake, and say- ing, AVelcome the cross of Christ ; but proud Pen- dleton turned papist.'' Unto this instance I shall add a more ancient one : Peter a great apostle fell and denied his Lord ; but among the primitive Christians, women and little children suffered in a brave and heroic manner. The greatest Christians may fall, by presuming upon themselves ; the least may stand, by depending on the power of God. The poor in spirit would not be their own keepers, but would commit themselves unto God, Psal. x. 14, as being safer in his hands than in their own. Humble souls, not being able to bear up their own weight, lean upon the rock of ages ; and, having no rest in themselves, they acquiesce in the centre of souls. The feeble conies have their houses in the rocks, and the weak Christians dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Annas Burgus, a senator of Paris, suffered for the pure religion with such constancy, that many were curious to know what religion that was, for which he so patiently endured death ; and one reason of his patience was his Immble dependance upon God, which he expressed in that often repeated prayer at his death. Dens j)ii, PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 229 ne me derelinquas, ne ego te derelinqicam,* O my God, leave me not, lest I leave thee. He knew that his strength was in God only. O let us labour to have an humble dependance upon God, that, when sufferings come, we may look and be supported, wait and renew strength, be nothing in ourselves and have all in God. So we shall be safe and se- cure from anxious fears ; support and comfort will come in the time of need. . CHAP. XII. The ninth preparation for suffering is active obedience to the will of God — it flows from a good and honest heart — it respects God's will and glory — it makes us to grow up into Christ, and to be allied to him — it in^ creases grace and spiritual strength — it obtains the gracious presence of God, and it is the way to heaven. The ninth direction is this : if we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must labour after an active obedience to the will of God ; to do in a right man- ner as he would have us to do. It is a notable saying of the Rabbins, Merces prceceptiim prcs- cepti, one precept is the reward of another. He that rightly observes one precept, shall have in the name of a reward such grace from God, as shall en- able him to do another and a more difficult com- • Thuan. Lib. 23. u 230 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. mand. It is an excellent thing to enure ourselves to the doing of God's will ; obedience is the chain about the church's neck, Cant. iv. 9, one link hangs upon another, one piece of obedience draws on ano- ther, active obedience will prepare us for passive, the doing of God's will, will dispose us for the suf- fering of it. The apostle prays for the Colossians first, " that they might walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work;"" and then in the next verse, " that they might be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness," Col. i. 10, 11. Where we may observe, that a holy life goes before, and then suffering graces follow after. There are in obedience six things observable, each of which tends to prepare us for suffering. 1. True obedience flows from a good and an honest heart ; nay, I may add, it flows from the Holy Spi- rit of God. It flows from a good and honest heart ; many unprofitable hearers there are, but the good and honest heart brings forth fruit. It was a high character which the apostle gives to the Romans : " That they had obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine which was delivered to them," or, (as it is in the original) "into which they were delivered," Rom. vi. 17. The gospel was not only delivered to them, but they were delivered, and, as it were, cast into the mould of it, and that was the reason that they obeyed from the heart. Nay, further, obedi- PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 231 ence flows from the Holy Spirit; it is a choice promise in the covenant, "I will put my Spirit into you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,"" Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Obedience being a mere super- natural act, comes from the Holy Spirit as the prime cause thereof; a general concurrence suffices not, there must be a peculiar agency and impulse of the Spirit in it, which made Gerson say, That all spiritual life was founded in miraculo influen- ticE divmcje, in the miracle of a divine influence. We see what are the principles and fountains of active obedience, and the very same will produce passive too. " The good and honest heart brings forth fruit with patience," Luke viii. 15. The words " with patience'' are very remarkable ; the " good and honest heart'' may meet with persecu- tions in the world, yet it would blossom and "bring forth fruit" in the midst thereof. " The righteous flourishes as the palm-tree," Psal. xcii. 12. The palm-tree growing under its burden, is a symbol of immortality ; and the righteous, who hath an immor- tal seed in him, flourishes under all the pressures of a persecuting world. Again, the Holy Spirit, which makes good men do God's will, will enable them to suffer it too; St. Paul took pleasure in persecutions, because when he was weak, then he was strong, 2 Cor. xii. 10 ; that is, the Holy Spirit did strengthen his inward man to bear the cross. The Holy Spirit in the saints is a " well of water, springing up to everlasting life" John iv. 14. The 232 PREPARATION FOE SUFFERING. persecuting world would fain stop and dam it up ; but in the midst of all opposition it springs, and never leaves springing till the saints be in heaven ; and before they come thither, it is, as St. Peter speaks, "A spirit of glory resting upon them," 1 Pet. iv. 14 ; it brings down some glimpses of hea- ven into their hearts, whilst they are suffering for religion. 2. True obedience hath a pure respect to God's will and glory. It hath a pure respect to God's will ; it doth not do the commands of God upon a by-account, as Jehu destroyed Ahab's house ; but it doth them intuitu Voluntatis^ because it is the will of God ; it is that which sways and casts the balance in a good man's heart and life. As in mat- ters of faith he believes, because God hath said it ; so in matters of practice he obeys, because God hath commanded it. Also, it hath a pure respect to God's glory ; Mens cujusque id est quisque, the man is as his mind is, and the mind is as his end is : an obedient person will not be a centre to him- self, nor make God, the most excellent being, a me- dium to any other thing. His great design is, that God in all things may be glorified : his holiness is but to shine as a beam from the Holy One; his mercy is but as a little drop flowing from the divine ocean ; his obedience is to tell the world that God is supreme; like his Saviour Christ, "he seeks not his own glory, but his Father's. Such an obedi- ence as this admirably disposes a man for suffering; PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 233 he that doth some things because they are com- manded, will take up the cross too, because it is in a peculiar manner commanded in the gospel. The stamp of the divine authority is not only found upon the precepts of piety and justice, but upon those of patience too. Also, he that doth sincerely glorify God in other things, will, if occasion be, glorify him in pious sufferings. Some honour may be done to God in other duties, but in no other thing is there such honour given to him as in bearing the cross ; therein a man doth practically declare, that he va- lues God above all the world ; and therefore the martyrs have (as the schoolmen tell us) a greater reward in heaven than others : others have the ce- lestial glory in the vision of God, but for the mar- tyrs is reserved an aureola, a peculiar coronet to be added to their crown of glory, j^ropter victoriam de mundo, for their victory over the world. 3. True obedience makes us to grow up into Christ the Head, and to be of near alliance to him. It makes us to " grow up into Christ the Head,'** Eph. iv. 15. Obedience, being the exercise of all graces, brings us into a near union with Christ, and makes us more and more like to him. The more we exercise our love, meekness, mercy, goodness, or any grace, the more we are united to him and incor- porated with him ; nay, true obedience makes us to be of near alliance to him. When our Saviour was told, that his mother and brethren stood with-< out to see him, his answer was : " My mother and u3 2S4i PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. my brethren are those which hear the word of God and do it," Luke viii. 20. 21. Ambrose upon these words tells us, Religiosiores copulce mentium quam corporum, the connection of minds is more sacred than that of bodies. Obedient Christians are bre- thren to Christ, being born of the same Holy Spirit in regeneration, of which he was conceived in his incarnation ; nay, they are as a mother to Christ, bringing forth in the exercise of holy graces some- what of the love, mercy, piety, and meekness of Christ. In both these respects doth obedience dis- pose us for suffering ; the more we grow up into Christ the Head, the more divine power and virtue we have from him; our chief strength lies not in ourselves, but in our Head ; we may do, nay and suffer any thing, through him strengthening us: and the more we are allied to him, the more we are bound to adhere to him. Our supernatural birth obhges us to live to him, nay, and if need be, to die for him ; and we are to bring him forth not only in every other holy virtue, but also in that of patience. St. Paul bore about in his body "the dying of the Lord Jesus,'' 2 Cor. iv. 1 ; and the allies of Christ must be ready at God's call to suffer with him. 4. True obedience produces an increase of grace and spiritual strength. Obedience is a Christian's daily walk ; the more he exercises himself to godli- ness, the more grace he hath in his soul. That faith, which was but as a little grain of mustard-seed, becomes a tree spreading itself forth at last as high PBEPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 235 as assurance : that love, which was as a little spark raked up in the ashes, comes to be a vehement flame aspiring after the fruition of God in heaven : that hope, which was but a poor weak thing in the soul, comes to have more liveliness and supernatural stature. The path of the just, which is in obedi- ence, is as the shining light, " which shines more and more unto the perfect day in heaven," Prov. iv. 18. The more a Christian exercises himself in obedience, the stronger he grows in the inner-man : of a plant, he comes to be a tree of righteousness ; of a babe, he comes to be a man in Christ. His vital principles become stronger, his supernatural vigour is increased, he holds on his way of obedi- ence, and so grows stronger and stronger. Job xvii. 9. Such an obedience as this admirably disposes a man for suffering : the greater his stock of grace is, the better will he hold out in the straits of the world : the more strength he hath in the inner man, the more able he will be to bear the burden of the cross : " If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small,'' Prov. xxiv. 10. Great strength will keep a man from fainting. When the children of Israel were come to be above six hundred thousand, Num. i. 46, it was a great encouragement to make them go on gallantly against their enemies. And when Christians have their graces multiplied, and among the rest patience comes to be all patience, as the expression is, Col. i. 11, it gives them spirit and life to bear sufferings. 236 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 5. True obedience obtains the gracious presence of God to help and comfort good men in doing his will. The rabbins say, " That if two sit to- gether conferring about the law, the Shechinah is among them.'' I may say, if one single Christian be doing of God's will, the divine presence is with him. Thus our Saviour saith, " If any man love him, and keep his words, the Father and the Son will come and make their abode with such a one," John xiv. 23 ; such a one hath a Shechinah in his heart; God will be there helping and comforting him. Whilst he is doing of God's will, strength will come in, as it did to the Levites, 1 Chron. xv. 26 ; and not only strength but comfort too. " In keeping his commands there is great reward ;" some of the oil of joy, which is upon Christ the great doer of God's will, drops down upon good men in their sincere obedience ; they have an inward peace, and joy unspeakable : in this respect obedience pre- pares the heart of Christians to endure suffering. An obedient Christian can argue thus with himself: I have found God's gracious presence strengthening and comforting me in the doing of his will, much more shall I have it when I come to suffer, and part with all for his sake. When all forsook St. Paul, yet " the Lord stood with him, and strength- ened him," 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. When Mr. Sanders was examined about his religion, he was wonderfully comforted, and received a taste of the communion of saints, a pleasant refreshing did issue from every PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 237 part of his body to his heart, and from thence into all parts again. Cicely Ormes was filled with such joy and comfort, that at the kindling of the fire she said, " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour.^ O let us firmly conclude this with ourselves, " that God will not leave nor forsake his people,"' no, not at other times, much less will he do it in the time of fiery trials : then they shall have strength and comfort in a more than ordinary way, enough to make them to triumph over their sufferings, or at least to bear them with patience. 6. True obedience is the way to heaven. Those blessed ones that do the commands of God, "have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city," Rev. xxii. 14. The more obedient a man is to the divine will, the richer entrance he hath into the blessed kingdom. After sowing to the Spirit, comes the crop of eternal glory; after walking in holy obedience, comes the blessed end of life and immortality : in this respect obedi- ence fits us for sufferings. A man that is in the way to hell, is not capable of suffering ; it is not imaginable that a man should bear reproach for Christ, who hath no hope of glory ; or that he should part with his treasure here, who hath none in heaven ; or that he should lay down his life tem- poral, who hath no right to an eternal one ; or that he should let go his portion of good in this world, who hath none in another. But the obedient Chris- ^38 TREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. tian, who is in the way to heaven, is in a capacity to suffer anything that meets him in the passage thither. Reproaches may come, but he is going to shine in glory ; worldly goods may be spoiled, but he hath an inheritance incorruptible that fadeth not away ; temporal life may be lost, but in the very instant there begins an eternal one with the blessed God in heaven ; he may by a persecution be justled out of this world, but he hath a better to go to, where there are crowns of glory, rivers of pleasure, a plentitude of joy, and all in the blessed God. Our Saviour Christ for " the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,^"* Heb. xii. 2. St. Paul would finish his course that he might have the crown of righteousness, 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. AVhen the martyr Babylas suffered, he sung that of the Psalmist, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul;""* his mind was upon the eternal Sabbath in heaven. When Basil the great, was threatened with banish- ment and death, he was not at all moved at it. Banishment is nothing to him that hath heaven for his country ; neither is death anything to one to whom it is the way to life. He that is in the way to heaven hath great reason to break through all difficulties to get thither. • Magd. Hist. Cent. 3, cap. 12. PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 239 CHAP. XIII. The tenth preparation for suffering is, patience under God's will — With respect to the Christian — it tnakes him possess his soul — conquer the world — and have inward satisfaction — With respect to God — it subjects the soul to his will — it waits upon God for strength and a good issue — it produces spiritual joy and praise. The tenth direction is this : if we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must labour after patience under the will of God ; this must he joined to our obedience, that we may be able to answer to all his will. As obedience respects God's commanding •will, so patience, which is also a duty, respects his disposing one ; " Ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might re- ceive the promise," saith the apostle, Heb. x. 36. AVe are not only to do other commands by obedi- ence, but when Providence calls us to it, we are to do that of taking up the cross by patience. Other graces may help to bear the cross, but patience takes it up upon its back ; it is its proper peculiar office v7rof.iiveiv to make a man abide piously under the cross. This grace m.ay be considered two ways, either in that which it doth with respect to the Christian in whom it is, or' in that which it doth with respect to God ; both ways it is of singular use in order to sufferings. 240 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 1. Patience may be considered in that which it doth with respect to the Christian in whom it is ; and thus three things may be noted. (1.) Patience makes a Christian "possess his soul," Luke xxi. 19 ; there is a great difference between the worldly man's patience and the Christian's. The worldly man endeavours much that he may possess the things that are without him, but the Christian bears that he may possess his own soul. The Christian, in a fit of impatience may lose him- self, and put himself as it were out of possession, not only of his rational faculties, but of his graces too ; at that time he acts not like a man or a Chris- tian. When Jonah told God, that he " did well to be angry unto death,'' Jonah iv. 9, he was in his furious passion, more like a beast than a man or a saint. " If thou deal thus with me," saith Moses to God, " kill me out of hand," Numb. xi. 15 ; the word, " thou," here is of the feminine gender, at for atta ; perturbation of mind made Moses, " the meekest man on earth," unable to fill up his words, or to speak as he meant to do. It is by patience that the Christian possesseth himself, and hath the free use of his reason and holy graces : while he is patiently bearing the cross, his faith will roll out as gold out of the fire, his hope will fix itself in the unmoveable heavens, his love will burn within him towards God and his glory. All the powers in earth and hell caimot put Jiim out of the posses- sion of himself, or hinder his graces from coming PREPABATION FOR SUFFERING. 241 forth into exercise ; he will be like himself in his suffering. (2.) Patience makes a Christian to be a conqueror of the persecuting world. The overcomer, men- tioned in the second and third chapters of the Reve- lation of St. John, to whom so many precious and excellent promises are there made, is not one that overcomes by martial fighting, but one that hath the victory by patient suffering. " Who shall se- parate us,"" saith St. Paul, "from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? In all these things vTrepviKiijfiEVi we are 'more than con- querors through him that loved us,"" Rom. viii. 35, 37 ; more than conquerors, because they conquered by suffering ; while their bodies where slain their souls were triumphing over death itself Thus Augustine saith, that the pagans were overcome, non a repugnant ibus, sed d morientibus Chris- tianis, not by resisting, but by dying Christians. Patience makes their persecutors secure them, and frame crowns of glory for them. This made the martyr Vincentius say to his tormentor, Nunqiiam aliquis aded bene servivit mihi ac tii, no man ever served me so much as thou hast done. Patience doth so frame the heart to the will of God that it makes a Christian to be a king over his crosses, losses to him are gain, reproaches glory, confine- ment liberty, and death life ; while he suffers in any- thing, he is above it. X 242 PREPARATIOX FOR SUFFERING. (3.) Patience makes a Christian to have inward content and satisfaction in suffering. It is the apostle's exhortation : " Let patience have her per- fect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, want- ing nothing/' James i. 4. He that hath not pa- tience, is but a lame and imperfect Christian ; he may go a little way in religion, as far as his prin- ciples reach, but if he come to suffering, which is beyond them, he will halt and turn aside : but if a Christian hath an effectual patience, he is then per- fect and entire, wanting nothing; he hath every thing that may fill up his Christianity or happiness in this life. The cross may come, but he hath principles to bear it : outward blessings may be taken away, but he hath all in God. Augustine brings in patient Job, stript of all, but only his God, speaking thus : Quid milii deerit, si Deiim habuero? quid alia prosunt, si Deum no7i habic- ero? What can I want, if I have God.? what can other things profit, if I have him not ? Patience gives the suffering saint quiet and sweet satisfaction in God, and, not only so, but in the very suffering, as it is a pious submission to his will : there is a sweetness and a secret reward in the doing of God's will, much more in holy suffering for him. The blessed martyr Baynham, at the stake, told the bloody Papists : " O ye Papists ! ye talk of miracles, behold here a true one, these flames are to me a bed of roses.'** It is true, all holy sufferers cannot say thus; but all of them find by experience, that there PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 243 is a sweet satisfaction in suffering for a gracious God. 2. Patience may be considered in that which it doth with respect to God; and here are three things to be taken notice of (1.) Patience subjects the soul to the will of God ; when the cross comes, patient Christians will with Aaron hold their peace ; or if they speak, they will do it in some such language as that of Eli, " It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." Patience will instruct them to lie in the lowest pos- ture of humility, and to argue the matter with them- selves in this manner : Is God the governor of the world, and shall we not be subject to him ? His presence is in all, his power is over all, his wisdom and righteousness order all; who can stay his hand, or say to him, what doest thou, or call him to give account of any of his matters ? To strive with him is folly ; to murmur at any part of his government is rebellion ; to think that things might have been better, is to blaspheme his wise and just Providence. And is he the Father of spirits, and shall we not be under him ? AVe give reverence to the fathers of our flesh, and how much rather should we be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live ? Our Saviour Christ, who suffered for us to sweeten sufferings to us, argued thus with himself, " The cup that my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" John xviii. 11. After his pattern we should submit ourselves to suffering, remember- 244 PREPARATIOX FOll SUFFERING. ing, that though it come through bloody hands to us, yet it is ordered by the Father of spirits ; nay, and by the Father of mercies too, who assures us, " That all things," even afflictions among the rest, '' shall work together for good ;" in those very suf- ferings, in which man is cruel, God will be merci- ful. While the world hates and persecutes us, God will embrace us in the arms of his love, and carry us through the cross to the crown of glory : on such accounts as these, patience doth subject the soul unto the cross. Our Saviour, the mirror of patience, being to drink up the cup of wrath, expresses himself thus, " not my will, but thine be done," Luke xxii. 42. His will was swallowed up in his Father's ; Ambrose in his Commentary on those words, gives us this excellent note, Disce Deo esse siibjectus, ut non quod ipse vis eligas^ sed quod Deo scias esse jilaciturum, learn to be subject to God, that thou mayest not choose what thou wouldest, but what thou knowest to be pleasing to God. Patience teaches us to be pleased with God's pleasure, and to will every thing, not as it is in our own will, but as it is in God's. (2.) Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the cross, and for a good issue out of it. We have both these promised in that expression of the apostle, " God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape," 1 Cor. x. 13. In the first clause we have a promise of strength proportionable PHErARATION FOR SUFFERING. 245 to the temptation ; in the last, we have a promise of a good termination of it. First, Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the cross ; this is the right method of obtaining strength : " Wait on the Lord, and he shall strengthen thy heart,'' Psal. xxvii. 14. Strength comes in a way of dependance upon God. Augustine speaks of a double patience, there is patient'ia siiperborum, the patience of the proud ; and patientia paupemm, the patience of the poor humble soul ; the one waits upon the will of man, the other upon the grace of God. True patience knows, that it is God only that can strengthen the " inner man by his Spirit,'' Eph. iii. 16 ; no other than his " glorious power can strengthen with all might unto all patience," Col. i. 11. Notable is that saying of Augustine, Hcsc est vov martyrum^ omnia tolerare, et de se nihil prcesiimere^ this is the voice of the martyrs, to bear every thing, and to presume of themselves nothing. Thus the noble martyr Potamenia, being threatened to be cast into a vessel of burning pitch, begged that she might not be cast in all at once, but gra- dually, that they might see, how much patience the unknown Christ had given to her. True pa- tience waits upon God for strength ; but this is not all, it also waits upon God for a good termination of sufferincr • salvation belono-s unto the Lord, and he gives many good issues to his suffermg people. If they have " an increase of graces and comforts," that is one good issue ; if they " hold out and pep- x3 246 PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. severe to the end,'' that is another good issue ;*" if " by death they pass from the cross to the crown, from a temporal life to an eternal one,'' that is the best issue of all. For such issues as these do pa- tient souls wait, till the Lord put an end to all their troubles. (3.) Patience produces spiritual joy and praise. This is the difference between philosophical patience and christian patience ; philosophical may bear ad- versity, but christian hath joy in the bearing of it. It was the ancient custom of the primitive Chris- tians to have often in their mouths, Deo gratias, God be thanked for this mercy, and for that mercy. The patient Christian that looks upon the good results of suffering, may sit down and sing, Deo gratias, not for blessings only, but for afflictions also. Job being stript of all, cried out, "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord," Job i. 21. Augustine, speaking of Job, observes, that when he had no- thing of outward things, yet there were Gemmce laudis Dei, the jewels of the praise of God found with him. Suffering saints have so much of the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, that they have prcemium ante prcemizun, a lesser heaven before a greater. St. Paul saith, vir^pTr^Qiaa^vofxai, I superabound, or overflow in joy in all our tribu- lations, 2 Cor. vii. 4. The gracious presence of God did not only cause joy, but the overflowing of it in his heart. St. James saith to the scattered PREPARATIOX FOR SUFFERING. 247 Christians, " Count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations," James i. 2. That is, when ye fall into afflictions for the gospel. All joy ; How can poor afflicted souls reckon thus ? In the trial, their graces appear in their pure beauty ; strength is made perfect in weakness ; consolations abound as much, nay, more than afflictions ; the beams of divine love irradiate the heart, and fill it with a sweet serenity ; hope enters heaven, and fixes upon the crown of life, and heaven comes down in a spirit of glory upon the heart. Here is joy, all joy in- deed ; the total sum of it in this life is made up in these things. It was a saying of the martyr Mr. Philpot, " That to die for Christ is the greatest promotion that God can bring any unto, in this vale of misery; yea, so great an honour as the greatest angel in heaven is not permitted to have." It was the prayer of Mr. Bradford, the martyr : " God forgive me my unthankfulness for this ex- ceeding great mercy, that among so many thousands he chooseth me to be one in whom he will suffer.'^ It was the observation of one of the ancients : " That it was peculiar to Christians to give thanks in ad- versity." Jews and Gentiles can praise God for benefits, but the patient Christian can thank him for afflictions. O let us labour after patience, that that we may not only suffer for Christ, but do it with joy. Thus our Saviour directs his persecuted ones : " Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven," Matt. v. 12. Inward and 248 PREPARATION FOR. SUFFERING. outward joys are very proper in suffering saints, because then they are arrived at the highest pitch of Christianity, and ready to enter into a blessed heaven, there to enjoy God for ever and ever. CfiAP. XIV. Some inducements to suffer anything rather than part with the pure religion — Pious sufferers glorify God — they propagate the church — they give a token of wrath to come upon persecutors — they are happy here and hereafter — Here in the proof of sincerity, and in the presence of God — hereafter in a freedom from, all evil, and a communicatio?i of all good. Having laid down directions in order to suffering, I will shut up all with a few considerations, which may serve as motives to induce us at God's call to suffer anything rather than part with the pure re- ligion, which is a jewel incomparably more worth than all those things, which we can lose for it. 1 . Pious sufferers do glorify God in a very signal eminent manner. What is said of St. Peter's death, " That it was a glorifying of God,'' John xxi. 19 ; the same may be said of the death of all other martyrs ; we glorify God by offering praise ; much more by offering our lives for him. We glorify him by giving some of our estates in charity, much more by giving our blood for his name : we glorify PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING. 249 him when we present our bodies a living sacri- fice to him in active obedience, much more when we present them a dying sacrifice in passive obedi- ence. Much of the glory of God breaks forth in his suffering saints ; free-grace shines in raising up witnesses to his truth in a contradicting, persecuting world; power admirably appears in bearing them up with holy joy and pleasure in the midst of all the torments, which men and devils can invent for them. Excellent is that passage of the apostle : " Strengthened with all might, according to his glo- rious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness," Col. i. 11. God's power is glori- ous in other things, but in his suffering saints it appears in a most illustrious manner. The perse- cutors have all torments, all kinds of death ; but the martyrs have all might, all patience, and long- suffering with joyfulness. As it was with Christ, his power was seen in miracles, but above all, in that he triumphed over principalities and powers upon the cross ; so it is with Christians, the divine power appears in other graces, but above all, in that patient suffering which overcomes the world : the truth of God is in martyrs practically proved to be exceedingly precious. The fathers, in the first Ge- neral councils, were so earnest for the trutli, that they would not exchange a letter or syllable of it. The Arian 6fioiovVELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 303 €mplo}Tnents : some take comfort in their cups and companions, and indeed all are apt to fancy a con- tentment in creature-enjoyments. But in a time of great affliction all these are gone, or at least have no savour in them ; and where shall the weary soul find rest then ? Then there is no intimation of rest but in God alone ; when all other props fail, then ei- ther catch hold of God or fall. There is now no- thing left to give any settlement or contentment to the soul but God alone ; and in him there is ease to the sick, rest to the weary, settlement to the restless, contentment to the troubled Christian. Therefore converse with God in the day of greatest affliction, which is the same counsel in effect with that of our Saviour, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (2.) There is need of it to give relief to the body also. And so conversing with God in a right manner is the best policy, the surest way to recovery and relief See what a speedy cure there is in it: " They looked unto him, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed : this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.'"* In vain is conversing with friends, physicians, counsellors ; in vain is all creature-con- verse without this ; no rest to the soul, no ease to the body in a time of affliction, without converse with God : so that a man in affliction, estranged from God, straggling off from God, is altogether miserable. In a word, separate a soul from God, 304 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. in prosperity his enjoyments are low, and in adver- sity the want of them is very bitter : so that there is good reason why a Christian should study to con- verse with God in the way of his judgments. But the great art is to know how? This therefore I now come to : — IV. In the fourth place, to show particularly, '• how we are to converse with God in afHictions.'"* ISow, there are two ways of explaining this: — First, by showing with what attributes of God we are to converse. Secondly, by what acts of the soul. But I shall bring both these into one. 1. We ought to converse with the absolute and unlimited sovereignty of God, whereby he, as a free and Supreme agent, doth what he will, and none can say unto him, " "What dost thou .'"' This Job often eyes and owns, particularly in chap. ix. 1 2, " He taketh away, who can hinder him ? who will say unto him. What dost thou ? '' This we must also eye often, and own heartily ; this we may well argue from God's creating us ; he that made us thus without any constraint, can he not, may he not make us otherwise, and alter us without any con- straint ? So Job argues, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord.'' We may also argue it from the subor- dinate sovereignty and inferior supremacy of men ; even a monarch among men dotli whatsoever he pleases, and who may say unto him, "What dost WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 305 thou?'' Yea, a very centurion hath a kmd of so- vereignty in his sphere, over as many as are under him ; he saith unto one man, *■' Go, and he goeth ; and to another. Do this, and he doth it.'' And shall we not then acknowledge a sovereign power, and independent absolute authority in the great and blessed God over the whole creation, the workman- ship of his own hands ? So the good centurion argues, and infers, in the passage last quoted. Nay, as the apostle saith in one place : " We have fiithers of our flesh," who use us at their pleasure, and we do not gainsay their authority ; we do not say to our fother, "What begettest thou.?" nor to our mother, "What hast thou brought forth .^" Isa. xlv. 10. Nay, if these similitudes will not teach you, I will say to you, as God to the prophet, "Arise, go down to the potter's house ;" there I will cause you to learn this lesson; he maketh or marreth his ves- sels of clay as oft as he pleaseth ; and are not ye in the hand of the Lord, as the clay is in the hand of the potter ? I speak the more to this, inasmuch as I find, that however m.en may give God good words, and confess his dominion over them and theirs, yet when it comes to it, i.iat he touches them in any of their darling comforts, they are ready to clamour against him in their hearts, as if he did them some wrong, if not to curse him to his face. Certainly there is some atheistical opinion of right of property, that in some degree or other is apt to steal into the most devout minds : and sure I am, we do not only barely ^c3 306 -WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. offend, but we do ourselves much hurt ; we wound our own peace, we shake the settledness of our own hearts, we put ourselves mto briars : in a word, we both lessen our creature-comforts, and multiply our griefs, and aggravate our sorrows, by calling things our own ; if we had not taken them to be our own, it would not have troubled us to part with them. Be sure therefore to eye and own the absolute and unlimited sovereignty of God. But that is not all ; it is not enough to believe it, we must converse with it otherwise than by thinking of it, or assent- ing to it. Then do we converse with the sove- reignty of God. (1.) "When the powerful sense of it doth silence quarrelling, yea, murmurings, yea, even disputings in the soul." We may indeed modestly contend with men concerning their dealings with us; the the potsherd may strive with the potsherds of the earth, but it must not say to the potter, Why hast thou made me thus ? A subdued and quiet frame of heart is a real conversing with the sovereignty of God : so did Aaron when he held his peace. Lev. X. 3, and Job, when he attributed nothing unseemly to God. (2.) " When the sense of it doth suppress self- will."" This is an unruly lust in the soul, a giant- like spirit, warring against heaven, and breeding hate continually. This is that which maintains a meum and tuum, even with God himself, that sets up interests, as the Jews set up princes, but not WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 307 by God, yea, indeed, in opposition to him. This is the seditious party in the soul that is always cry- ing out, We will not have this man to rule over us : and when that darling interest, which this proud rival hath set up, is touched of God, and smitten and blasted from heaven, it is ready to fret and storm, yea, and to think it hath reason to be angry. If this son of the bond-woman were cast out, Abra- ham's family would be all of a piece, all in order, and at rest. If this undisciplined and perverse spirit were quite banished, O what a calm day would it be in the soul ! what fair and sweet corres- pondence would there be between God and his creature ! for certainly this is the Jonah that raises the storm, and makes the great deeps of the soul that it cannot rest, but do perpetually roll and toss, yea, and cast out mire and dirt continually. But, alas, I doubt this spirit is not quite laid, no not in the most spiritual man : the best of men are ready to nourish up some darling, some private interest or other of their own, distinct from God, and the grand interest of their souls, which God himself must not touch ; some gourd or other that the cold wind must not blow upon. He is a blessed man indeed, who doth so understand that he lives and moves in God alone, and is so overpowered with the sense of the infinite goodness and holiness of God, and the absolute perfection of his divine will, as that he reckons it his greatest perfection to be nothing in himself, nor to have anything of his own distinct 308 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. from God, but only studies to be great in God, to be filled with God, to live to him and for him, to enjoy all things as in and under him, who counts it his only interest to quit all self-interest, and parti- cular ends, and to be freely at the disposal of the highest Mind, conformable to the highest Good, cheerfully compliant with the uncreated Will. Poti- phar had so committed all to Joseph, in the sense of his great faithfulness, that " he knew not ought he had, save the bread that he did eat." But this similitude is too low : a pious soul should commit all its interest, its life and livelihood, and all to God, in the sense of his sovereignty, and not know ought that he hath, no not his own life, but despise it in comparison of uncreated life, as Job speaks, " Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life." Methinks the sovereignty of God speaks such language to the soul, and in it, as Eli to Samuel, " My son, hide nothing from me, keep nothing back of all that thou hast f ' and the pious soul should not, with foolish Rachel, conceal any selfish interest, so as not to be willing to part with it, when its sovereign Lord and Father comes to search the tent, but when God comes to ferret out all self-interests, and shall ask, *' Is there any such yet with thee .^" should be able to answer boldly. No, there is none. Blessed is the man that is in such a case ; blessed is the man whose only interest it is to serve the will of tlie Lord ! Well, improve the infinite sovereignty of WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 309 God to this end, and work it upon and into your own hearts, that all self-will may stoop to it : and let the main interest of your souls be so planted and established in them, that no other interest may be able to grow by it : charm your own self-will with such severe reproofs as this is, Either deny thyself, O my soul, or deny thyself to be a creature : either be wholly at God's command, or call him not thy Sovereign. (3.) " AVhen the sense of it doth beget reverence in the soul towards God.""* We ought not only to be subject to the rod of God, but even to reverence him when he correcteth with it ; and so not only to accept of the rod, but to kiss it too. And surely if the fathers of our flesh correct us, and we give them reverence, much more ought we to reverence the sovereign Father both of flesh and spirit. This is a devout act of the soul, whereby it looks up and adores the infinite and sovereign IMajesty, and thinks equitable and honourable thoughts of him, even when he is in the way of his judgments. And these are the proper acts of a soul conversing with God's sovereignty in the time of afflictions. When we are silent before him, subject unto him, and re- verencing of him, then we do really and truly con- verse with him as our almighty and absolute Sove- reign. But God's authority and prerogative, though it may silence, will scarce satisfy , such a corrupt and rebellious pass are our natures grown to.— Therefore, 310 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 2. Converse with the perfect and infinite righ- teousness of God in the time of afflictions; that divine perfection whereby he renders to every man what is just and due, and no more. This we are to eye and own, and sincerely to acknowledge, even in the time of our greatest extremity, after the ex- ample of Daniel — " The Lord our God is righteous in all his works ;" and of the godly Levites — "Thou art just in all that is brought upon us, thou hast done right.'' Argue with Abraham — "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" Can righ- teousness itself err in judgment.^ Shall the timber say unto the rule, Why hast thou measured me thus.^^ or to the line, Thou art crooked.'* "Are not my ways equal.?" saith the Lord. Are not the Lord's ways equal .'^ let your souls say so too. Be ye firmly persuaded of the infinite and incorruptible righteousness and equity of God. But that is not all ; we do not then converse with the righteousness of God, when we do believe it, or acknowledge it : a very Pharaoh may be brought to make such a con- fession — "The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked." But then do we converse with the righteousness of God, in general, when the sense of it doth give a rational satisfaction to the soul. And indeed, whereas the sovereignty of God is enough to silence, yet his righteousness had need to be called in to administer satisfaction : the former is sufficient to stop the mouth, but there is need of the latter to settle the heart. And indeed, me- WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 311 thinks it is a heart-settling consideration : for how can the interest of the creature be better secured than in the hands of a righteous God? Where can we venture all we have better than on such a certain and steady bottom? How can we better trust ourselves than on such firm and even ground? We will trust ourselves far with an upright and righteous man ; and if we hear of the miscarriage of any interest of ours at any time, it doth mightily calm and satisfy our hearts, if we are assured that it was in the hands of a just and upright person : much more rational and steady satisfaction may the infinite righteousness of God administer even in the time of the greatest affliction, if it be duly wrought into the heart. But more particularly : — (1.) " The powerful sense of the righteousness of God should make us sensible and serious." It becomes us seriously to ponder, duly to weigh, and in good earnest to lay to heart, all that is done to us by a righteous God. We use slightly to pass by, and lightly to esteem the words or actions of a vain man : but it is not for nothing that the righ- teous God afflicts any man, in any measure, at any time. The voice of God, though it be not always articulate, yet it is always significant. Will a lion roar for nothing ? Surely every action of the righ- teous God hath a meaning in it. A hair falls not from our head, nor a sparrow to the ground, with- out him ; much less, sure, do greater changes befal us without him. And in all things he is infinitely 312 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. righteous. Oh liow doth this call us to sensible- ness and seriousness ! How ought all the powers of the soul to be awakened to attention, when the righteous God utters his dreadful voice, and the whole frame of the heart and life to be composed under his heavy hand ! Now, if ever one would " say of laughter, It is mad f' one would reckon trifling to be ^a kind of profaneness, and judge that foolish jestings do almost border upon blasphemy, formerly not convenient, now not lawful ; for in- deed a vain, frothy, light, trifling spirit, in the day of affliction, is, in a sense, a blaspheming of the righteousness of God. As a consequent of this, (2.) " It should put us upon self-examination.'" Nature itself had taught the heathenish mariners, m the case of Jonah, to enquire in a storm, where the fault was ; much more may the knowledge of God's infinite righteousness teach us. So may the holy word too, that word in Lam. iii. 40, " Let us search and try our ways," 8:c. and many others. Now do the faculties of the pious soul, be- ing awakened, begin to cast lots upon themselves, to find out the guilty party : and certainly God hath a great hand in ordering these lots ; he doth ordinarily show unto man his sin, even by the ver- dict of his own heart. Conscience, I mean, is God's vicegerent in the soul : and though it is true, this judge is ofttimes corrupted and bribed, or at least overruled in prosperity, yet God instructs it to speak good sense, and to speak out, and speak WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. S13 the truth in the time affliction. I believe they hit the nail upon the head, who cried out one to ano- ther, " Verily we are guilty concerning our bro- ther " Another cries, Verily I am guilty concerning my master, concerning my people, guilty concern- ing my wife, concerning my children, concerning my estate, my time, my talents ; and it may be all true. I believe the heathen was in the right, who looked upon his hands and feet, and cried out, " As I have done, so God hath requited me :'" and the Babylonish monarch harped upon a right string, after he was come to his right wits again — *' Those that walk in pride, he is able to abase." God hath not given to our faculties any infallibility indeed, but he enables them to make good guesses ; and, I am verily persuaded, doth many times lay the hand upon the right sore, and order this secret lottery from heaven; so that that faculty, or that frame, or that action, which stands convicted in the court of conscience, is seldom held guiltless in the court of heaven. (3.) " It should work us to humiliation and re- formation ; a heart broken, and a conversation healed of its breaches.'' By humiliation I mean a heart broken purely, properly, and spiritually for sin. I do not mean by it, a heart broken for losses and afflictions, and bowing down itself heavily under the burden of its distresses ; no : nor a heart broken for sin, as viewing it only in the calamitous effects and bitter fruits of it, which I doubt not is the hu- 2 D 314 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. miliation of most. Many may say concerning their humiliation, (to use the prophet's words in a dif- ferent sense) — " These are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends," by the loss of my friends, the loss of my health, the loss of my goods ; these tears that you see, these groans that you hear, are nothing but the scars which the sore hath left behind it, and the wails which the rod hath made. I doubt our very sorrow for sin, in a time of affliction, admits of a mixture of carnal self and passion, and so of sin too. But I mean a pure, spiritual, proper sorrow and hatred of sin ; which I know may be broached by sharp afflictions, and have vent given it by piercing the vessel ; but that is not the proper cause and ground of it. Moses, in his joy, had an eye to the "recompence of reward ;"" and so a Christian, in his sorrow, may have respect to the recompence of his sin, I mean his afflictions ; but it is not primarily and principally caused by these : for though these dreadful showers from heaven should cease, yet the stream of his eyes, or at least the fountain of his heart, would not cease issuing forth bitter waters ; though the righteous- ness of God serves to give vent to godly sorrow, yet it is the goodness and holiness of God that gives it. Do we sorrow for sin because it spoiled us of our comforts, stripped us of our ornaments ? then, sure, we think there is something in the world worse than sin, for which we should bewail it, and hate it, and consequently, that there is something better than WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 315 God, for which we would love him. Alas! how apt are we to run into practical blasphemy before we are aware ! In a word, to decide this contro- versy, our afflictions, losses, distresses in the world, may possibly be as a bucket to draw up this water of godly sorrow, but they must not be the cistern to receive and hold it. Serious and spiritual humili- ation is a real conversing with the righteousness of God: to meet God, is indeed to fall down before him ; and to converse with him, is to lie down under him : the truth of which temper is best evidenced by that excellent commentator, the life of a Chris- tian : this doth best declare the nature, and inter- pret the meaning of heart-humiliation. He that breaks off his sins doth best make it appear that his heart is broken for them. If you would know whe- ther there has been rain in the night, look upon the ground and that will discover. Oh, my friends ! if the dust be laid, if all earthly joys, contentments, pleasures, concerns, be laid, you may conclude your sorrow was a shower sent into your souls from heaven. If you see a boy both sobbing and minding his book, you may conclude he hath some right sense of his master''s severity. Conversion to God is the most proper and real conversing with him in the way of his judgments: so he himself interprets in that complaint — '* The people turneth not to him that smiteth them."" That which happened to Moses, when he had been in the mount with God, 316 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. Exod. xxxiv. 29, should also be the condition of every good Israelite, when he hath been with God in the valley, the vale of tears, an afflicted state, his face should shine, his conversation should wit- ness that he had been with God ; the smell of this fire should pass upon his garments, his whole out- ward man ; the spirit of mourning should be de- monstrated by the spirit of burning. If God from heaven set fire to the standing corn of our worldly comforts, we must answer him from within, and set fire to the stubble of our worldly lusts and corrup- tions. Let me change our Saviour's words a little, and exhort you earnestly: thou. Christian, when thou fastest, when thou humblest thy soul for sin, " wash thy face'' also, cleanse thy outward conver- sation from all sinful pollution, that thou mayest appear to be humbled indeed : and this shall be ac- counted as a true and real conversing with the righ- teousness of God in the time of affliction. 3. Converse with the faithfulness of God. This attribute of God hath respect unto his promises, and therefore it may be you will think strange that I should speak of this in a course of afflictions, as not having place there at all. Every one will readily acknowledge, that God's sovereignty and righteous- ness do clearly appear in his judgments ; but how his faithfulness can be exercised therein, they see not. What ! faithful in punishing, in plaguing, in visiting, in afflicting, distressing his creature, how can that be ? Many will be ready to think rather WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 317 that God is not faithful at such a time, when he denies what he had promised to give, takes awav what he had promised to continue ; when he plagues David every morning, when he had promised him that the plague should not come nigh his dwelling ; when he brings Abijah to the grave, to whom he had promised that his days shoidd be long upon the land ; and Job to the dunghill, to whom all the promises were made, both of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Is this faithfulness ? doth God fulfil his promises by frustrating them ? Notwithstanding all this, it seems that the feithful- ness of God hath place in the afflictions of his peo- ple ; for so saith David expressly, " I know that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me ;'' if indeed faith- fulness be taken properly in that place. Neither indeed need it seem so strange as some men make it ; for God hath promised his covenant-people to visit their iniquity with a rod, — "the rod of a man," a fatherly chastisement, as it is explained, where this seems to be made a branch of the covenant, and is understood by many as a plain promise. But if that be not a plain promise, I am sure there is one in Psal. Ixxxiv. 11, " No good thing will he with- hold from them that walk uprightly." And if no good thing, then no correction either ; for that is often good and profitable for the people of God in this world, for many excellent ends, which consider- ing the nature of man, cannot well be accomplished without it, as might appear in many particulars ; 2 D 3 318 WELCOME TO THE TLAGUE. but it is not needful to run out into them. God will take more care of his own people than of the rest of the world, and will rather correct them than not restore them. It is their main happiness that he takes care for, and he will in kindness take out of the way whatever hinders it, and give whatever may promote it. God's thoughts are not as our thoughts ; he judges otherwise of health, riches, liberty, friends, &c. than we do. We are apt to measure God by ourselves, and our own affections, which is the ground of our mistake in this business : we mind the things that please our flesh, our senses, our appetite, our fancy ; but God minds the things that concern our souls, and their true happiness. The saints are much dearer to God, and much more beloved of him, than they are to themselves ; and therefore he will not give them what is sweet, but what is meet ; he will give them what makes for their real and eternal happiness, whether they would have it or not. He loves them with a strong and powerful love, and will not deny them anything that is truly good for them, though they cry out under it ; nor allow them anytliing that is really hurtful, though they cry after it. So will a wise father upon earth do by his children, to the best of his skill and power ; much more will God then, whose bowels are infinitely more tender than those of a father. Now then, labour to converse with the faithfulness of God in the time of afflictions, which is by studying the covenant, and the promises of it. WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 319 and your present condition, and comparing them together, and observing how consonant and agree- able they are, each interpreting the other ; as also, by persuading your hearts of the consistency of afflictions with divine love and favour, and by study- ing to reconcile the hand and heart of God together. But especially converse with it practically, by a holy establishment and settlement of heari; under all afflictions : for, whereas afflictions in themselves are apt to beget a fearfulness, despondency, or at least fluctuation in the soul, the lively sense of God's faithfulness in inflicting them will settle and sustain it ; it is a firm and consistent thing, upon which the shaking soul may settle safely, and centre itself boldly. 4. Converse with the holiness and unspotted purity of God. He is angry, and sins not; he corrects for sin without sin ; " Fury is not in me, saith the Lord.'' There is no passionate, maUcious temper in the pure and holy God, no revengful appetite to feed upon the blood of his creature : he is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity, and of a purer nature than any way to miscarry in any of his dealings or dispensations. Converse then with this infinite holiness of God ; keep up pure, equitable, honourable thoughts of him in your hearts ; take heed of fancying to yourselves a God guilty of passion or partiality, or carried away with such weak and mixed affections as we ourselves are. But, more practically, converse with God's hohness 520 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. in the time of afflictions, by laying even little sins greatly to heart ; little sins, compared with infinite holiness and purity, ought to be matter of great and serious sorrow to a sensible soul. Again, take heed of the least miscarriages under affliction, of depart- ing from God in the least. This I know is the great duty and care of every tender-hearted Chris- tian at all times ; but, I conceive, we ought more especially to press it upon our hearts in the time of affliction, because we are then most apt to indulge some kind of human passions, which we call natural affections, as if we had a licence to care, and fear, and grieve, and complain, not only in an extraordi- nary, but even in an irregular manner. Oh ! let the sense of God's infinite purity and perfect holi- ness check and awe those very natural affections, be they what they will, if they offer to exceed their bounds, and overflow their banks. But this I touched upon before under another head, amongst the reasons of the doctrine ; therefore, 5. Converse with the almighty power of God. That God is infinite and almighty in power, I need not undertake to demonstrate : no man hath read a leaf in scripture, nor indeed turned over one leaf in the book of the creatures who hath not learned this. I need not turn you to any particular mighty work of God ; they that instance in his letting loose the powers of the creatures, in the case of the universal deluge, or binding up of their influences, as in the three captive Jews, and of Daniel and Jonah, when ' "WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 321 he kept the fire from burning, and forbade the lions to devour the one, and the fish to digest the other, whom he had swallowed, make a poor guess at al- mighty power, but a faint essay to describe it. The creation of the least creature out of nothing is a higher argument of divine power than the command of the greatest that is already created. Eye God duly in the notion of a Creator, yea, the Creator of your own souls and bodies, and you have enough to fill you with everlasting admiration, as David was filled : " I am fearfully and wonderfully made." But it is not enough to eye, or acknowledge, or admire ; we must yet do more, if we will rightly converse with the almighty power of God, by the acts of reverence and dependence. (1.) " Reverence that almighty and glorious God in your hearts,"*' who can bring anything out of any- thing, yea, out of nothing, yea, anything to nothing in a moment. Reverence that power of God, that can pour contempt upon princes ; that can bring Job, the greatest of all the men of the east, to lie in the ashes, and make his bed on the dunghill ; that can send home Naomi empty, who went out full and flourishing. Hath he done so by you, debased you when you were high, tumbled you down from the clouds, and rolled you in the dust, emptied you when you were full, withered you when you were fresh and flourishing ? Let not God lose the glory of his almighty power; reverence that glorious hand of God. 5S^ WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. (2.) " Rest upon the same almighty God,"*' who can also bring up the same Job from the dung- hill, and set him with princes ; and give Naomi a famous offspring, even one of the ancestors of the Messiah according to the flesh. The same power that caused your sun to go down at mid-day, when you least suspected, can also cause it to rise at mid- night, when you least hope. Dwell not upon crea- ture-probabihties or improbabilities ; but lift up thyself, believing soul, and be assured, that God can do what he will, and he will do what is good for them that love him, according to the dictates of unsearchable wisdom and goodness. Thou that art rolled in the dust, yet arise, and roll thyself upon those almighty arms that brought thee thither, and are able to advance thee ; as I have seen a child thrown off by his father, and thrown down to the ground in a seeming displeasure, yet clinging to the same hand, and will not let it go, till at length he rise up again by it : a fit emblem of a child of God, whom his heavenly Father seems as if he had cast off. The wounding hand of God is apt to amaze indeed, and to beget consternation and astonish- ment ; but remember, the same hand that wounds can also heal ; he that breaks us, can also make up all our breaches : let this beget confidence and de- pendence. God never wounds deeper than that he can easily bind up the wound again ; never throws his people so low, as that they should be out of his reach. Take heed therefore of unseemly despon- WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 823 dencies ; cast not away your confidence, which shall have a recompence, if ye maintain it : a recompence, I say; for that God who can recover the setting sun, and exalt it in its beauty and brightness, and doth so every morning; who can clothe the forlorn and naked trees with leaves and fruits; who can recover the verdure of the withering grass, and doth so every year ; he can also cause light to arise to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, Isa. ix. 2. He who could give unto Amaziah much more than that which he parted with at his command ; who could turn again the captivity of Job, and give him double for what he had taken from him ; he can surely make his people " glad according to the days wherein he hath afflicted them, and the years wherein they have seen evil ;" he can recompence and restore to his penitent people the fruits which the locusts and the caterpillars have consumed, ac- cording to his promise ; he can recompense to his people the comforts of health and liberty, which sickness hath consumed, the comforts of friends and relations, which the grave hath devoured. He who made the springs dry, can as easily make " the parched ground to become a pool,"" and "the thirsty land springs of water,'' as you find both elegantly joined together, Psal. cvii. 33, 35, " He turneth water-springs into dry ground.'' Say not therefore with the captive Jews, " Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost," for God can cause even " those dry bones to live." Say not therefore with that SM WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. low-spirited courtier,'' 2 Kings vii. 19, " If the Lord should make windows in heaven,"'' then might such plenty be in Samaria ; for he did accomplish it, and yet not rain it from heaven either : but say rather with Job, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him ;"" and with the three worthies, " Our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us out of thine hand, O king ;"" so he is able to deliver us out of thine hand, O enemy, O prison, O sickness, yea, out of thine hand, O grave. If we despond and be dejected both in mind and body at the same time, then is our condition indeed sad and shame- fiil ; nay, we do more reproach God by such a tem- per in our affliction, than he reproach eth us in afflicting us. Make it appear. Christians, that though God hath cast you down, yet you do be- lieve that he hath not cast you off; and that you, although you be sorely shaken by him, yet are not shaken off from him. Thus you shall glorify the almighty power of God in the day of your visitation. 6. Converse with the infinite and unsearchable wisdom of God in izeference to his judgments, and our afflictions. He is infinitely wise in reference to our afflictions: For, (1.) He knows what, and what manner, and what measure of correction we stand in need of. (2.) When and how best to deliver us. (3.) How to make the best use of all for our good. (1.) " He knows what, and what manner, and what measure of correction we stand in need of."" He is that wise Physician, who knows what humour WliLCOME TO THE PLAGL'K. 3525 is most predominant in the souls of his servants, and what is the most proper medicine to purge it out ; where the most corrupt blood is settled, and at what vein to let it out. He is infinitely knowing of the various tempers and distempers of his ser- vants, and can apply himself suitably to them all. And as to the measure and degree, he is also in- finitely wise and exact ; he weighs out the afflictions of his people to a grain for quantity, and measures them to a day and hour for duration. He did not miss of his time, no not one day in four hundred and thirty years : so many years of bondage were determined upon the people ; and after tlicse years were expired, the very next day the hosts of the Lord went up out of Egypt. And as for measure, he observes a certain proportion, as you may see in Isa. xxviii. 27, 28. As the husbandman uses dif- ferent ways of purging and cleansing different sorts of grain, beating the fitches with a staff, and cummin with a rod, because they are a weaker sort of grain, and will not endure hard usage, but bruising the bread-corn, because threshing will not suflBce, and he is loth to break it all to pieces with turning his cart-wheels upon it. An elegant similitude, where- by God intimates his different ways of correcting his people, and observing a suitableness to their strength and temper, when less would not do, and more would overdo : he must correct so far as to bruise, but will be sure not to break and spoil. He that saith to the proud waves of the swcllino" se;i, 326 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. " Hitherto shall ye come, and no further,^"* hath the same command over those metaphorical waves, those floods of affliction, which he lets loose upon his peo- ple, and they cannot go an inch further than he hath appointed : he saith. Hitherto shall this sick- ness, this mortality, this persecution go, and no fur- ther; and even these storms, and this sea obey him. Now, we converse with this instance of divine ■wisdom, not only when we observe it, and acknow- ledge it, but, [i.] " AVhen it begets in us a friendly and chari- table temper towards second causes : when we are at peace with the whole creation, even with enemies themselves, and in perfect charity with those very plagues and sicknesses that do arrest us, rather ad- miring and delighting in their subserviency to God, than at all maligning their severe influences upon us. A good man is so much in love with the pure, and holy, and perfect will of God, that he desires also to fall in love with, at least he is at peace with every thing that executes it, that serves the will of his heavenly Father : he sees no reason in the ■world to fall out with, and fret against any man, or anything that is a means to afflict him, but views them all as instruments in the hand of God, readily serving his will, and doing his pleasure, and under this notion is charitably affected towards them all. Observe a little, and admire, how David was recon- ciled to the rod, because it was in the hand of his Father, and seems to kiss it for the relation that it WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 32? had to the divine will, " Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him." This gracious soul is so wonderfully in love with the will ^^of^God^ that J)|e jcould almost find in his heart to be reconSed to^^^M?self, if it do accomplish it, and " to be friends with the wrath of man, if it work the ^- righteousness of God. And if David can be so charitably affected towards a cursing Shimei, view- ing him as an instrument in the hand of God, me- thinks we may be almost in love with anything under that notion, and much rather say concernino- a poor harmless sickness. Let it alone, so let it put us to pain, for God hath sent it. To this sense may a devout soul draw the words of our Saviour concerning the woman in Matt, xxvi 10, "Why trouble ye the woman ? she hath wrought a good work upon me :"" Why do ye interrupt and disturb this disease? why do you fret against this persecutor.? why do you repine at this prison ? it executes the will of my God upon me. What though these men pour out their venom in such abundance.? what though this disease spend its influences upon my body so plentifully ? there is no waste in all this ; there is need of just so much ; God doth not lavish out his arrows in vain, nor shoot at rovers, as Jonathan did, who cozened his lad, making him believe he shot at a mark, when he shot at none. A soul overpowered with the sense of God's infinite wisdom in appointing, measuring, timing all afflic- tions, will easily be reconciled to a poor harmless 328 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. creatnrc, which is set on and taken off at his pleasure. [ii.] " When it begets in us a holy acquiescence and resting in God,"" which is opposed to a larger and disorderly hastening towards deliverance. Then do we indeed own and honour the skill of our chi- rurgeon, when we do quietly suffer the corrosive plaisters to lie on, and do not offer to pluck them off, notwithstanding the smart they put us to. And surely he who believes the infinite wisdom of God, who knows what, and what manner and measure of correction we stand in need of, will not make haste to be delivered from under his hand, but composeth himself quietly, as young Samuel laid himself down, and when he was called, answered cheerfully, — " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." A soul sensible of God's infinite wisdom in this particular, argues thus. Who am I, poor worm, shallow creature, that I should contend with infinite wisdom about the time or manner of my being in the world ? why did not I also undertake to appoint him the time and place of my being born ? shall I say it is too much, when infinite wisdom thinks it is not enough ? Cease, wrangling soul, and be at rest, for the Lord deals wisely with thee. Such a soul, so conversing with the all-wise God, dare freely refer all to him, venture all with him ; if he smite him on the one cheek, he dare turn to him the other ; if he take away his coat, he dare offer him his cloak also ; if he take away his liberty, he WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 329 dare trust him with his life too ; if he smite him in some of his comforts, he dare turn to him tlie rest also : for he knows that infinite wisdom cannot err in judgment, nor miscarry in his dispensations. (2.) " God knoweth when and how best to de- liver us." This necessarily follows upon the former. To him all time, and all things, past, present, and to come, are equally present ; in one single act of understanding he doth wonderfully comprehend both causes and events, sicknesses and cures, afflic- tions and deliverances. Let the atheistical world cry, as their manner is to blaspheme. These are they that are forsaken, whom no man careth for ; there is no hope for them in their God ; still the promise stands unrepealed in both Testaments, " I will never leave you nor forsake you ;" though the case be ever so extreme and desperate, still the apostle's words hold good, '' The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations." If all passages be blocked up, he will rather make a gap in the sea than his people shall not escape. And this way and time of God's delivering is the most excellent, suitable, and certain, as might abun- dantly appear in many particulars : but that would be a digression. In the general, be assured that God's way is the best way of deliverance, and his time is also the best time. He that sits as a refiner of silver, knows how and when to take out the metal, that it be purified, and not hurt. Here I might enter into a large discourse, and show you how th© 2e3 330 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. judgment of man is ordinarily deceived, and his ex- pectations disappointed, which he had built upon creature-probabilities, when in the mean time the purpose of God takes place in a far better and more conformable deliverance of his servants. But it may suffice to have hinted it only. Our duty is to converse with this instance of di- vine wisdom by the exercises of patience and hope. If God seems to tarry long, yet wait patiently for his appearance ; for he will appear in the most ac- ceptable time, and " in the end ye shall consider it," and acknowledore it. Take heed of limitin.c^ the Holy One of Israel, as that murmuring generation did, Psal. Ixxviii. 41. Take heed of fixing your deliverance to such or such a train and series of causes which you have laid in your own heads, and of engaging God to act by your method ; if God be a wise agent, it is fit he should be a free agent too. Bear up. Christian soul, faint not when thou art rebuked of him ; " Cast thy burden upon the Lord," and he will, in due time, find out a way, either of lessening it, or removing it. "You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord :" be you patient, and you shall see it too ; a better end than ever you could have accomplished by your own art and industry. In the mean time, cherish in your hearts a lively hope of a happy issue ; for your lives and comforts are all hid in him, in whom also are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. As the con- WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 831 sideratlon of infinite wisdom, in knowing how and wlien best to deliver us, may settle our hearts that they do not rise up as a foam upon the waters through impatience ; so it may bear up our hearts, that they do not sink within us, as a stone in the waters, through desperation. (3.) " God knoweth how to make the best use of all for our good/' I say, of all, both of the afflic- tion, the manner and measure of it, of his delay, and of the season which he chooses to redeem us. He can make Paul's imprisonment turn to his ad- vantage; Job's captivity to redound to his far greater state; Joseph's banishment to make him great, and Manasseh's to make him good. This is a large theme, and therefore I dare not go into it particularly ; take all in one word from the Apostle; " All things do work together for good to them that love God." Whatever the premises be, the only wise God knows how to draw a happy conclusion from them. Get a firm belief of this radicated in your hearts : and converse with the wisdom of God, in this instance of it, by the great grace of self- resignation. The sovereignty of God may well work us into a resignation of our interests, and com- forts, and concerns to him ; but this infinite wisdom of God ought in reason to work us into a resigna- tion even of our very wills unto him. Oh ! this debasing of self-will, this self-resignation is a noble and ingenuous act of a pious soul, (for so I dare call him in whom it is found,) whereby it honours 332 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. God greatly in all that comes upon it ! A pious soul, considering itself ignorant of many things, burdened with many corruptions, and clogged with an animal body, senses, appetite, fancy, which are always calling for things inconvenient, if not un- lawful, doth conclude it would not be good for it to be at its own finding, or caring, or carving ; and duly eyeing that infinite Mind and Understanding, who, in a wonderful, unaccountable manner, orders all things, and all events, to the best and certain issue, is so mastered by, and indeed enamoured ■with the sense of it, that he renounces his own wis- dom, and throws out his own clamourous will, and complies readily with the all-wise God. This is truly to converse with the wisdom of God, when we do out of choice refer ourselves to it, and roll our- selves upon it. Every bare acknowledgment of divine wisdom is not a proper conversing with it ; but when the same is wrought into the soul, and the lively sense of it doth so overpower the heart, that the will is prepared to close readily with such methods as God shall please to use to accomplish his own ends, then do we properly and feelingly con- verse with God, under the notion of the all- wise God. But on this topic of self-resignation I spoke something under the first head, and much of that which is spoken there may be indifferently referred liither. Therefore, 7. Converse with the unbounded goodness, love, and mercy of God. God is infinitely and unchange- WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 333 ably loving and merciful to his people: "he is good,"" saith the Psalmist, and, " he is love," saith the Apostle. Those dreadful and terrifying appre- hensions which men have of the blessed and good God, as if he were some austere and surly majesty, given to passion and revenge, are apt to destroy that cheerful and ingenuous converse with him, which the creature should maintain with its Creator at all times. But then we are most prone to enter- tain those apprehensions, and to harbour such un- seemly notions of him, when he appears in the way of his judgments, when we take a view of hira in the ruins of our comforts, the blood of our friends, the spoil of our goods, and in the distresses of our lives. We are apt to frame notions of God according to what we find in our own disposition, to fancy a God like unto ourselves ; and therefore we cannot eye an afflicting God, but we presently conclude an angry God ; as though the eternal and pure Being were subject to passions and changes as we are. These apprehensions being once drunk into the soul, it becomes unhinged presently, and almost afraid to behold the face of Love itself, but flies and hides itself, as Adam in the garden : or if the soul do converse with God at all, it is as a city that is besieged converses with the enemy without, sending out to seek peace, and to obtain a cessation of arms. And so a soul may bestow 'much upon God, surrender up the castle, give him all that he hath almost, not for any love that he bears to him, 334} WELCOME TO THE TLAGUE. but as Joash gave Hazael a present of gold and precious things, to hire him to depart from him. Oh ! then they will up and do any thing, yea, cir- cumcise their lives, as Zipporah circumcised her son, to escape the hands of an angry God. Every one will converse with God as an enemy in time of extremity, hang out a flag for peace, send presents, pay homage, send ambassadors to entreat his face ; but few know how to converse with the goodness and mercy of God, with him as their dear and only friend in a time of affliction, freely and cheerfully. Now, there seems to be a double account to be given of men's not conversing with the goodness and mercy of God in the time of afflictions. (1.) " Many cannot believe the mercy and kind- ness of God, when he is in the way of his judg- ments." If it be so, why am I thus ? cries the poor soul, struggling under its burden, and travailing in pangs to be delivered of its griefs. Thus unbeliev- ingly argues Gideon, who was otherwise famous for faith, in the time of his bitter bondage under the Midianites, when an angel from heaven was sent to assure him of the good-will of God towards him, he could not entertain the news, nor believe the re- port, because of the anguish of his soul, but cries out, " Oh, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why is all this evil befallen us .?" No, the Lord hath for- saken us, for he hath delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. The sad soul is ready to cry con- cerning Christ's gracious presence, as the two sisters WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 335 concerning his personal presence, " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died :" Lord, if thou hadst been here, if thou hadst loved me, if thou hadst any delight in me, my brother had not died, my husband, my wife, my children had not died ; I had not been thus plagued, afflicted, wounded, tormented, as I am. Hence we have those many complaints of the afflicted soul up and down the Psalms, " Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious ? is his mercy clean gone ? hath he shut up his tender mercies in anger .?" and many such like. The smart of our senses is apt to pervert the judgment of our minds ; and the sense of bodily evils is ready to destroy all sense of the infinite and unchangeable goodness and love of God. Now, this great evil seems to arise from these two causes : namely, our measuring God, and his divine dispo- sitions, by ourselves and human passions and affec- tions, as I hinted before ; and our measuring the love of God too much by the proportion that he gives us of worldly prosperity. Woe to him in a day of distress, who was wont to judge of divine love by the things that are before him, as Solomon calls the things of this world. This, I say, is the temper, the infirmity of many in the time of afflic- tions, though indeed there be no reason for it : for why should we conclude harshly concerning Job upon the dunghill, any more than we would con- clude charitably concerning Ahab on the throne ? Besides, the scripture teaches expressly, that the 336 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. love of God doth consist with correction, " I will visit his iniquity, but ray loving-kindness will I not take from him.'' Nay, it seems as if it could not well appear without it, " AVhom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourge th every son whom he receiveth." (2.) Others do indeed believe the goodness and mercy of God to them in a time of affliction ; " but either they cannot, or dare not, or will not converse with it, nor take comfort in it.'' They remember God with the Psalmist, " I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed;" that is, the goodness,, bounty, mercy of God, saith Mollerus, and yet at the same time are troubled ; their hearts are unquiet, fluctu- ating, tumultuous within them ; the soul is so im- pressed with the sense of sin, which it hath con- tracted from the consideration of its sufferings, that it dare not presume to meddle with mercy ; but though this mercy of God be its own, yet it is ready to think that it is a duty to forsake its own mercies, as though it heard God chiding it in the words of Jehu to Joram's scout, " What hast thou to do with peace ?'^ what hast thou to do with mercy ? " turn ye behind me." An afflicted soul hath much ado to believe it to be a duty to converse with the goodness and love of God in a time of affliction. It easily agrees to converse with the justice, holi- ness, and power of God indeed ; but thinks it very improper and unseasonable, if not unsafe, to con- WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 337 verse with his mercy. It is ready to cry with Solo- mon, for the present, " In the day of prosperity re- joice, but in the day of adversity consider f or with the Apostle, " If any be afflicted, let him pray ; if any be merry, let him sing psalms."" Conversing with the goodness of God seems not to be a duty at this season. I confess this is a high and hard duty. Every smatterer in religion will cry out in his af- fliction, " Thou art just and righteous, O Lord :"" but, " Thou art good and merciful ; blessed be the name of the Lord," is the voice of a Job only. But it is a duty, though a hard one, and affording much pleasure ^nd contentment to them that are exercised therein. That the kindness and benignity of God doth not fail, that his love is not broken off from his people, no, nor suspended either, when he afflicts them most, is most certain : for though he works changes in and upon us, yet himself is eternally and unchangeably the same ; and though some of his dealings towards his people seem to be rough and severe, yet, if we judge rightly of them, they are all mercy and truth towards them that keep his covenant. And that the people of God ought to converse with this divine love and mercy, even in their greatest afflictions, is as clear. To this purpose I might allege the fore-quoted example of holy Job, and might enfore this doctrine from the apostle's words, " Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say. Rejoice :"" and " Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations T' and from many 2 F QSS WELCOME TO THE TLAGUE. good reasons too, if it were needful. I know in- deed that it is a hard thing to keep up a right frame towards, and converse rightly with the righ- teousness and goodness of God at the same time : the one frame is ready to justle out the other. Sor- row is apt to contract the heart, and destroy the large and cheerful temper of it ; and joy dilates and enlarges it, and is ready to make it forget its grief. But though it be hard, yet it is possible : these two may well consist in the same soul, according to that passage, " Rejoice with trembling.'" But how must we converse with the love and mercy of God in the time of afflictions .J I have partly prevented myself in this already, but I shall speak a little more distinctly of it. AVe do not then converse with the goodness and mercy of God, when we barely think of it, or acknowledge it ; but, [i.] " When we believe and apply it, and take to ourselves the comfort of it i"' when we look through the clouds that are round about us, and quite cover us, and by the eye of faith behold the Fountain and Father of light; when we can look beyond the frowns that are in his face, and the rod that is in his hand, and see the good-will that dwells in the heart of God towards us : more especially, [ii.] When we do not only see and beheve it, but also "■' draw virtue and influences down from it into our souls, to establish, settle, and satisfy them."'' Not so much when we see it, as when we taste it ; when we feel the Sun of righteousness warm us, WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 339 though it does not dazzle us, and though we cannot perceive it to shine upon us, yet we find it to shine in us. We do then converse with the love and mercy of God in an afflicted state, when the same doth bear us up, not only from utter sinking, but even from inordinate sorrowing ; when we draw a virtue from it into our souls to sustain them, yea, and to cherish them too. Thus Job comforts him- self in his living Redeemer, and the Psalmist in the mercy of God, even when he was ready to slip — " In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul." In a word, we converse with divine goodness, when we are really warmed with it, and with almighty love, when we rejoice in it, and can with holy venturousness, and humble confidence, throw ourselves into the bosom of it ; when we receive impressions of it from the Spirit of God, and are thereby moulded into a temper suit- able to it, and becoming it ; for then indeed do we most happily converse with the love and goodness of God, when we for our part do live upon it ; when we being assured of an interest in a loving and good God, do render up ourselves also unto him, iA the most beautiful and becoming aflections of love, joy, confidence, and holy delight. This is an ex- cellent frame : and sure I am it is much for our in- terest thus to converse with God in the time of our afflictions. It is a high way of glorifying God, and bringing much credit to religion : and indeed he who keeps up this frame, can be afflicted but in 340 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. part : he escapes the greater half of the evil : for though it be never so stormy a time without him, a storm upon his house, upon his goods, upon his relations, yea, upon his own body, yet it is a calm day within ; in the soul there is peace and tran- quillity. Lastly, and indeed everlastingly too, we are to converse with the infinite self-sufficient fulness of God, in a day of the greatest extremity : that is, as if I should say, not with any one single attribute, but with the very Godhead of God, the immense perfection of God, and the allness of the Deity. Oh ! how seasonably doth this blessed object pre- sent itself to the soul in a time of afflictions, losses, mortalities, persecutions, when we are most emptied of creature-enjoyments, and the emptiness of them doth most appear ! for upon these two doth our con- versing with God much depend. I need not tell you how apt we are to live beside God, when we have our fill of creature-delights : whilst we can entertain our hearts with a created sweetness, we foolishly forget and neglect the Supreme Good. And so fond and unreasonable is this affection, that no warnings, no precepts will serve the turn ; God is forced to break that off from us, from which we would not be broken. Sure I am, the blessed and bountiful God envies not his servants any of their creature-comforts or delights ; but he loves them, as I said before, with a strong and powerful love, and will not suffer them to live so much to their WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 341 loss as they do, when they spend noble affections upon transitory things, in the everlasting enjoyment of which they could never be happy. Now, afflic- tions are a negative, if we speak properly, «5&^atg ^!SB^ and whenever we are afflicted in any kind, we are emptied of some created good ; as poverty is nothing but the absence of riches; sickness the want of ease, of order, of health in the constitution; restraint is the loss of liberty. So then it appears, that in a time of affliction God is emptying us of creature-enjoyment : for indeed affliction itself is little or nothing else but such an emptying or de- privation : and that then the emptiness of the crea- ture doth most appear, I suppose all will grant. The sick person looks upon his decayed strength, and withering bodily frame, and is feelingly convinced of the truth of the scripture, — " All flesh is grass."" Another casts about his eyes with Samson, and sees heaps upon heaps, and cries out like one that feels the weight of his own words, " Childhood and youth are vanity :" or, Alas ! how soon is the de- sire of one's eyes taken away with a stroke ! Ano- ther sees his goods carried away before his face, and his house on fire before his eyes, and then cries out, that he hath a real proof of the vanity of those things, which Solomon hath long ago observed: *' Riches make themselves wings ; they fly away as an eagle towards heaven." Whilst we see the crea- tures stand, we will not believe but they are stable : whilst we see them fair and flourishing, we cannot 2f3 342 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. rightly lay to heart the withering nature of them ; but when we see them cut down, we then conclude they were but flowers ; when we see them flitting, we conclude they are shadows ; when God pours them out upon the ground, we are then convinced that they were unstable as water : to show us what the best of our creature-enjoyments are, God is forced to take them quite away, that they may be no more. Now then, in such a case, at such a time, con- verse with the infinite self-suflicient fulness of God. Oh ! now it is seasonable, now it is your duty, nay, now it will be your greatest policy. If that channel, that creature-channel be stopt, in which your affec- tions were wont to run too freely, turn the stream of them into their proper channel in which they may run freely, and neither ever meet with obstruction, nor ever overflow. Let your soul grow up into ac- quaintance and union with God by creature-breaches and disappointments. More particularly, converse with the self-sufficient fulness of God, (1.) By the act of creature-denial. The eyeing of an infinite, absolute, uncreated fulness in a right manner, takes off* the soul from all created objects, earthly things; even as the beholding the sun in its glory dazzles the eyes to all things below. God becomes so great in the eye of the soul, that it can- not see the poor motes of worldly comforts. Give a soul a feeling taste of the infinite sweetness and fulness of the Fountain, and its thirst after the poor WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 343 puddles of the world is presently abated, if not per- fectly quenched, according to that of our Saviour " Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst ;'' that is, not after any other thing. Like unto which is that gospel-pro- mise — " They shall not thirst,'' who do enjoy these springs of water. When this fountain is opened in the eye of the soul, and the *soul begins to taste of it, it longs to drink deeper of that indeed ; but as for all other waters, waters of the cistern, the soul looks upon them as not being, or at least as being bitter waters of Marah in comparison. We do then truly converse with the infinite self-sufficient fulness of God, when we look upon all created good with a noble disdain, are content to part with it ; or if we do still enjoy it, are resolved to enjoy it only in God, and so look upon it, and love it, only as a beam from the Father of lights, as a drop of the infinite Fountain of all perfections. Tell me, is it not a poor and low thing that many professors do, who acknowledge and magnify the uncreated goodness, the fulness of God, and yet at the same time do covet and court the creature with all eager- ness, and their worldliness is apparently too hard for their religion ? Methinks I hear God speaking to such seeming friends as Delilah to Samson — " How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me ?" To these men s hearts, methinks our Saviour's doctrine should strike cold — "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also :" and 344* WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. those words of his beloved Apostle — " If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." LetTa man pretend and profess what he will, and in words magnify the fulness and sufficiency of God as much as he will, if in the mean time his soul be bound up in the creature, such a man's religion is vain ; nay, indeed his profession of God becomes ^ real reproaching of*liim, and a blasphemy against reason itself. Let your low esteem of all created good in comparison of the supreme Good, your readiness to quit your title to every creature-com- fort, and in the meantime your care to live beside it, witness the true and honourable esteem, the true and feeling sense that you have in your hearts of the infinite and self-sufficient fulness of God : for however men may make a shift to cheat themselves, God is not truly great in the soul till all other things become as nothing; neither doth the soul rightly converse with his infinite fulness, so long as any thing stands in opposition to it, or competi- tion with it. (2.) Converse with the self-sufficient fulness of God by the grace of faith ; I mean by that act of it, whereby we do interest ourselves, and, as it were, wrap up our own souls in this fulness, and make it our own. And herein there is no danger of a humble soul being too bold or venturous ; for the proclamation is full, and the invitation free — - '• Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely."*' What Seneca says of the soul, in regard of WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 345 the divine original of it, may sure be better said of a pious soul, in respect of the divine nature and qua- lities of it — '' It doth not converse with things di- vine, as with another's, but as its own.'' And in- deed we cannot truly and comfortably converse with the infinite perfection and fulness of God, if we have no title to it ; but then we converse with God, when we converse with our own God, not another's ; when the soul is able to say, All the fulness of power, wisdom, goodness, is all mine in my Head Christ Jesus, for in him all this fulness dwells, and he dwelleth in me ; in him are hid all these trea.- sures, and " my life also is hid with Christ in God." You see then that a soul cannot converse with the infinite fulness and self-sufficiency of God, but by Christ ; for it is in and by him that we receive of divine fulness. The fulness of a fountain is nothing to me, except it be mine. There is bread enough in my father's house, says the poor prodigal, but for all that I perish with hunger : so is there living waters evermore in this uncreated life, this infinite spring of all perfection ; yet many souls are choked with thirst, because the fountain is not theirs. It is a fountain sealed, as Solomon speaks in another case. " The well is deep," and they " have nothmg to draw with," as the woman said to Christ concern- ing another well. Therefore be sure you get an interest in the fulness and sufficiency of God, or, as Solomon speaks in another case, " Drink waters out of thine own well." 346 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. (3.) Converse with the self-sufficient fulness of God, by delighting yourselves in it. Drink of this fountain, yea, drink abundantly, ye beloved of God; yea, lie down by it ; yea, bathe yourselves wholly in it ; " Enter into the joy of your Lord," lie down in his bosom, spread yourselves in his love and ful- ness. The beloved disciple leaning upon the breast of his Lord at supper, was but a dark shadow, a poor scanty resemblance of a beloved soul, which by the lovely acts of joy, confidence, and delight, lays itself down in the bosom of Jesus, and doth not feed with him, but feed upon him, and his all-suf- ficiency. Then do we converse indeed feelingly and comfortably with the infinite fulness, when the soul is swallowed up in it, doth rest in it, is filled with it, and centered upon it. Oh the noble and free-born spirit of true religion, that disdaining the pursuit of low and created things, is carried out with delight to feed and dwell, and live upon un- created Fulness ! Then is a soul raised to its just altitude, to the very height of its being, when it can spend all its powers upon the supreme and self- sufficient Good, spreading and stretching itself upon God with full contentment, and wrapping up itself entirely in him. This is the soul's way of living above losses ; and he that so lives, though he may often be a loser, yet shall never be at a loss. He who feeds upon created goodness or sweetness, may soon eat himself out of all ; the stock will be spent, and, which is worse, the soul will be dried up that WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 347 hath nothing else to nourish it. But he who lives upon uncreated Fulness is never at a loss, though he lose ever so much of the creature : for who will value the spilling of a dish of water, who hath a well of living water at his door, from whence he had that, and can have more as good, though not the same. Nay, to speak properly, this is the only way to lose nothing : for how can he be properly said to lose anything who possesses all things.^ And so doth he, I am sure, who is filled with the fulness of God. Be sure therefore, that in the want, in the loss of all things, you live upon the Fountain-ful- ness ; delight yourself in the Lord, after the exam- ple of the prophet Habakkuk, chap. iii. 17, 18. I have gone through the doctrinal part of my discourse upon these words, which was the thing I mainly intended. IMany inferences might be drawn from it ; but I shall content myself to forbid, and so, as it were, to remove out of the way some things that hinder this great duty, and so sliut up all with one word of exhortation. 1. "Converse not with creature-comforts,"' the poor, low, and scanty enjoyments of this world, for so I may v>'ell call them. Though they be ever so high in the opinion of those who have them, and ever so large as to the proportion that any one hath of them, they are low in comparison of that high and supreme Good for which the soul was made, and scanty as to any real happiness or satisfaction that they can possibly give ; for indeed those sinful S48 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. and sensual souls that take up their rest and happi- ness most in them, are not properly satisfied, but surfeited; not filled, but for the present glutted with them. There are many unlawful and hurtful ways of the soul's conversing with created comforts : I will not go over them all, as not intending any large discourse upon these heads. Converse not with them, fondly delighting in them, and doting upon them ; especially take heed of this when God is shaking his rod over any of them. Doth God arise and begin to plead with you in judgment, lay- ing his hand ujwn any of these, and threatening to take them from you ? Oh then, touch them not. What an unseemly and indeed monstrous sight, is it to see a creature pulling and tugging against his Creator, and maintaining his supposed right against heaven itself ! Is it for a heaven-born soul to stand gazing and doting upon, or passionately weeping over created friends, carnal liberty, corporeal health, houses made with hands, things below God, yea, and below itself too ? Pore not too much upon them ; value them only in God, and refer them freely to him. If you can say you have anything of your own, make much of it, and spare not ; but give unto God the things that are God's ; and by that time you have done so, I think you need not dote upon what is left. We ought indeed at all times to enjoy all our creature-comforts with hearts loosed from them; but if formerly our hearts have been too much joined to them, it is now time to loosen them. WELCOME TO Tin: PLAGUE. 549 2. " Converse not vnth creature-Ccauscs in a time of affliction.'' This is a strange kind of atheistical temper, into which we are very prone to fall. I speak properly when I say fall ; for it is indeed a falling down from God in our hearts, in whose infi- nite essence all creature-causes are wrapped up, and in whose hands the several successes and events of them all do lie. Let a beast, that judges by sense, kick at the poor thorn that pricks him ; but let rational souls fix upon the highest and supreme Agent, who, in an infinite, powerful, and skilful manner, uses what creature he will, for what end he will, and sends it on an errand which itself knows not. Why do we run hunting poor partridge- instruments upon the mountains of contemplation .'' Shall the noble faculties of an immortal soul spend themselves upon such an inquisition ? or is it just to pursue an innocent creature out of breath, for being an instrument in the hand of God ; to quar- rel with the sword, because it suffered itself to be drawn ; or beat the air, because it is infected ? This were indeed to go out with the king of Israel, with much warlike preparation, to catch fleas. I deny not but that wise men may look into second causes, and make many profitable observations on them, both for the present and future, and all men may and ought to learn many wholesome lessons even from the instrument that afflicts them. But sure I am, a pious man will not dwell upon these ; he will not fix here, but readily resolve all into a higher cause, 2 G 350 WELCOME TO THE rLAGLE. and so falls to converse with that : much less will he blame or murmur at a poor harmless arrow, that flew no further than it was shot, and pierced no higher than it was bidden. Yea, though the se- cond cause was a sinful cause, a rational agent, and so consequently acted by malicious and evil princi- ples, yet a pious soul knows how to distinguish be- tween him and his action : he hates him as a sinner, but comports well enough with him as God's instru- ment; and though he condemns his action as it varies from God's command, yet he approves of it as being ordered by God's hand and counsel. David hated cursing as much as any man ; yet did he so eye the hand of God in every thing, and comply with it too, that there was a time when he said con- cerning Shimei, "So let him curse." Concerning this I hinted something before under another head. Therefore, 3. " Converse not with creature-cures, creature relief" These may indeed be looked out after, and safely made use of when they are found: nay, I will add further, that they are to be sought dili- gently and used carefully. Those who know the infinite sovereignty, power, and wisdom of God, will not tie him to means, much less to those or these particular means : but, on the other hand, they that understand God's usual and ordinary way of acting, governing, and upholding the world, will not tie him up from means ; no, nor expect that he should appear for their relief immediately and mira- WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 351 culously : though if any one have a miraculous faith, truly grounded upon some special and parti- cular promise, I will not contend with him ; only I would desire to see his miraculous faith justified by some miraculous works, which I conceive do always attend it. But the converse with creature- cures, which I forbid, is the immoderate seeking of then), or the inordinate using of them. To seek after means in themselves unlawful, can never be- come lawfld : but I speak not of these. For al- though some are come to that height of atheism and abjuration of God, as to retain the devil himself for a counsel in a time of straits, as Saul did, and contract with the prince of death for the preserva- tion of life in time of sickness, as Ahaziah did ; and I doubt very many do fall into acquaintance with that evil spirit, and receive assistance from him be- fore they be well aware, by meddling with unphy- sical, unscriptural, unwarrantable cures; yet the greatest danger is not in these ; the greatest danger is of miscarrying about things in themselves lawful, and that is chiefly by those two ways which I named just now. Take heed therefore of immoderate seek- ing after created helps ; be not anxious, perplexed, tormented in mind by a passionate desire of any of these. Oh what a raging and unquenchable thirst have many men after creature-cures ! they will move heaven and earth, and almost hell too, (with her in the poet,) but they will find out relief Give me a physician, or I die, says one ; give me trading, 352 M'ELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. good markets, a plentiful crop, or I am undone, says another. What, man ! is thy life wrapt up in a pill, or incorporated into a potion ? is thy main happiness in the abundance of these things here below ? or wilt thou say to the wind, Blow here in this quarter, and no where else ? tie up the supreme and free Agent to a form and method of working ? Let not such a profane disposition be found amongst us. Again, if you have found out hopeful creature- cures, take heed of using them in an inordinate manner, laying stress upon them, looking earnestly on them, as though they by their own power and proper virtue, could make the lame to walk, or the sick to recover. Eye not, much less depend upon the virtue of any created means, as distinct from God ; but acknowledge the power, and virtue, and goodness of every created being, to be the power, and virtue, and goodness of God in that creature ; and so consequently use it in subordination and sub- serviency to the supreme Cause, who can at plea- sure let loose or suspend the influences and virtues of every such means. 4. '' Converse not with creature-losses in a time of affliction." The sinful soul that hath strayed off from God, and centered upon the creature, is always intemperate and restless : if it be disappointed in its converse with creature-cures, and sees that for all these his comforts are cut off*, health, liberty, friends, are perished; then he falls to converse with his losses, and spends the powers of his soul in discon- WELCOJIE TO THE PLAGUE. 353 tents, and many dismal passions. Oh then ! alas ! I am undone ! " What shall I do for the hundred talents ? I am the only man that hath seen afflic- tion : no sorrow like unto my sorrow :"" I shall go softly all my days, for the joy of my heart is pe- rished, the delight of mine eyes is cut off. Thus Rachel weeps for her children, and will not be com- forted; Rizpah attends the carcasses of her sons, and will not be parted from them. It is a strange thing tliat a soul should live upon its losses, and yet how many do so.'^ Their very soul cleaves to the dust, where their creature-comforts are interred ; whose souls are so much bound up in creatures, that they will needs live and die together with them. If God smites the gourd, and makes it to wither, Jonah droops, and will needs die too. If Joseph be miss- ing awhile, Jacob will not be comforted ; no, he will go down into the grave unto his son mourning. Who would have thought to have heard such words from such wise men, as a prophet and a patriarch ! Oh the strange and unbounded power which this unseemly creature-love hath obtained over the best of men ! whicli makes me call him a happy man, almost more than a man, a compeer of angels, who hath learned to converse with God alone. Well, converse not with creature-losses ; let not your soul take up its lodging by the carcasses of your created comforts, with Uizpah ; dwell not upon the lowest round of the ladder, but climb up by it to the design of God, and to some higher good, and more 2g 3 S5i WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. excellent attainment. They live to their loss who live upon their losses, who dwell upon the dark side of tlie dispensation ; for every dark providence hath one bright side, wherein a godly soul may take comfort, if he be not wanting to himself 5. " Converse not with flesh and blood.*" By flesh and blood, I suppose, the apostle means no more than men — " I conferred not with flesh and blood.'' And indeed, if we confer with men only for counsel, and repair to men only for comfort in a time of affliction we shoot short of the mark. But by flesh and blood, the scripture elsewhere often means man in this his animal state, as he is in his corruptible, mortal body, as 1 Cor. xv. 50, and many other places. And in this sense I speak, when I say, converse not with flesh and blood. Judge not according to yonr senses ; let not your own sensual appetite determine what is good or evil, sweet or bitter ; consult with rectified reason, and not with brutish appetite ; confer with faith, and not with fancy. Rectified reason will judge that to be really good which our sensual appetite distastes ; an enlightened mind will judge that to make for the interest of the soul, and its eternal happy state, which sense judges hurtful to the interest of the body and its animal state. It is not possible there should be any order, nor consequently any peace or rest in that soul, where the inferior faculties domi- neer over the superior, and sensitive powers lord it over the intellectual, and where raging appetite and WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. 355 extravagant fancy must clamber up into the throne to determine cases, and right reason must stoop and bow before it. Be admonished to fly converse with all these, if you would converse rightly, purely, properly, com- fortably with God, which is the highest oflice and attainment of created nature. Consider what I have said concerning this excellent and high em- ployment, and awaken your souls, and all the powers of them, to meet the Lord God, and converse with him aright in the w^ay of his judgments. Converse with God, with God in Christ, with God in his promises, with God in his attributes ; and labour to do it, not speculatively, notionally, but really, prac- tically, according as I have directed in the forego- ing discourse. Religion is not an empty, airy, no- tional thing; it is not a matter of thinking, nor of talking, but it hath a real existence in the soul, and doth as really distinguish, though not specifi- cally, one man from another, as reason distinguishes all men from beasts. Converse with God is set out in scripture by living and walking, and the like. Let me inculcate this thing therefore again, and press it upon you, and I shall finish all. As the way of glorifying God in the world is not by a mere thinking of him, or entertaining some notion of his glory into our heads, but consists in a real partici- pation of his image, in a God-like disposition, and holy conversation, according to that of our Saviour, '• Herein is my Father glorified in that ye bear much fruit ;'" so the way of conversing with God (^56 WELCOME TO THE PLAGUE. in his several attributes is not a thinking often with ourselves, and telling one another that God is just, wise, and merciful, though tliis be good ; but it is a drinking in the virtue and value of these divine per- fections, a working of them into the soul : and, on the other hand, the soul's rendering of itself up to God in those acts of grace which suit with such attributes, as in water face answereth face. I do not call bare performance of duties a conversing with God : prayer and meditation, &c. are excellent means, in and by which our soul converses with God , but communion with God is properly somewhat more spiritual, real, powerful, and divine, according as I described it just now. As for example, the soul receives the impressions of divine sovereignty into it, and gives up itself unto God in the grace of self- denial, and humble subjection: the soul receives the communications of divine fulness and perfection, and entertains the same with delight and compla- cency, and, as it were, grows full in it ; even as the communications of the virtues of the sun are an- swered with life, and warmth, and growth in the plants of the earth. So a souFs conversing with the attributes of God is not an empty notion of them, or a dry discourse concerning them, but a reception of impressions from them, and a recipro- cation to them : the effluxes of these from God are such as do beget reflections in man towards God. This is to know Christ, to grow up in him unto all things, according to that passage — " Whosoever sinneth hath not seen liim neither known him." FAREWELL TO LIFE, BY SAMUEL SHAW. FAREWELL TO LIFE. 2 Cor. v. 6. Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. The holy Apostle having, in the first verse of this chapter, laid down the doctrine of eternal glory, which shall follow upon this transitory state of be- lievers, shows in the following verses how he him- self longed within himself, and groaned after that happy state ; and then proceeds to give a double ground of this his confident expectation. The one is in verse 5, where the apostle is confident con- cerning the putting off of this mortal body, because God had wrought and formed him for this state of glory, and already given him an earnest of it, even his Holy Spirit : the other ground of the confidence and settledness of his mind, as to his desires of a change, is taken from his present state in the body, which was but poor and uncomfortable in compari- son of that glorious state held forth in the words of the^ text — " Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, v. c 3G0 I'AllEVVELL TO LIFE. are absent from tlie Lord.'"* For I do not take the words, " we are confident,'" concerning the apostle's resolvedness, with a quiet and sober mind, to suffer any kind of persecution or affliction whatever, but " we are always confident" — that is, we do with con- fidence expect, or at least we are always well satis- fied, contented, well resolved in our minds, concern- ing our departure out of this life : for the apostle was speaking, not of afflictions or persecutions in the former verses, but indeed of death, which he calls a dissolving of the earthly house of this tabernacle, verse 1, and a being clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, verses 2, 4. Yea, and thus the apostle explains himself, verse 8, where he tells you, what he means by this his confidence — "We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body ;" where the latter words are expository of the former: as if he should say. It is better to be with the Lord than in this mortal body ; but we cannot be with the Lord whilst we are in this body, it keeps us from him ; therefore we have the confidence to part with it: It is the reason of the apostle's confidence and willingness to part with the body that I am to speak of; and the reason is, because this body keeps him from his Lord, — "Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." The words are a metaphor, and are to be translated thus — "We indwelling in the body, do dwell out from the Lord ;" which our translation renders well, taking little. notice of this metaphor, "whilst we are at J'AllEWELL TO Lil-E. o61 home in the body, we arc absent from the Lord;"' though indeed, if tliey had left out that word at home^ it would have been as well, and so have neg- lected the metaphor altogether, as we may perhaps hint hereafter. The words are a reason of the apostle's willingness to be dissolved, and contain a kind of accusation of the body, and so seem to lay a blame upon it, and upon this animal life, which must be remembered. Now, for the former phrase of being " at home in the body,'' it is easily understood, and generally, I think, agreed upon, to be no more than whilst we carry about with us this corruptible flesh, whilst we live this natural animal life : it only signifies man in his compounded animal state, and doth not at all allude to his sinful, unrege- rate, or carnal state: but the latter phrase, "absent from the Lord," is capable of a double sense, both good and true, and, I think, both fit enough to the context and drift of the apostle. I shall speak to both, but insist most upon the latter. L "Whilst we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord," that is, from the bodily presence of the Lord in heaven, absent from Christ Jesus and his glory ; and so the words are the same in sense with " Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God :" for by flesh and blood there must needs be meant man in this animal corruptible state. And so the apostle accuses this kind of life in the body, and as it were blames it for standing between him and his glorified Lord; and so, consequently, be- 362 FAREWELL TO LIFE. tween him and the glory of his Lord. And this sense doth well agree with what went before, and with what follows. The apostle hath a great mind to depart, for whilst he is in the body, he is absent from his perfect happiness ; for this is the consum- mation of a Christian's happiness, to be with the Lord, to be admitted to a beholding of his infinite glory, as appears by our Saviour"'s earnest prayer for this, " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory."" Besides, if we shall see him as he is, we must also needs be made like unto him, else how can we be fit to live for ever in his presence ? Now are we kept from this seeing and beholding of the Lord in glory by this animal life ; it stands between us and the crown, between us and our IMaster's joy, between us and the perfect enjoy- ment of God. To be with the Lord is a state of perfect freedom from sin. No unclean thing shall or can enter into heaven. A perfect freedom from all manner of afflictions — " There shall be no more sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, and all tears shall be wiped away from their eyes."" A state of freedom from all temptations to sin ; for a tempting devil, and all tempting lusts, shall be cast out for ever : a state of perfect peace, without the least disturbance from within, or from without ; of perfect joy, that shall never have end or abatement ; and of perfect holiness, when the whole soul shall be enlarged, and raised to know, and love, and enjoy the blessed FAREWELL TO LilK. 5G3 God, as much as created nature is capable. This is the happy state of seeing God, of being with the Lord ; and it is our corruptible body , this animal life, that interposes between us and it ; so that the apostle is confident, and rather willing to depart and be with the Lord, than stay here and be without him. 2. " AVhilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord,'" without any reference to the world to come ; and so it may be fitly translated, "distant from the Lord, estranged from God/'' This agrees well with the context, and scope of the apostle also. And thus the words are also a good ground of the apostle's resolution and willingness to die ; as if he should say, I am willing to be absent from this body ; for whilst I am in it, I find myself to be at great distance from God. And indeed the word £K^i]fiav signifies properly to be at a distance, or to be estranged : so I find it interpreted by a learned critic, without any mystery, as he speaks, of the distance that even believers themselves stand at from God in this life. And in this sense I shall choose to prosecute the words. In which sense the apostle blames this body and animal life, because it keeps us at a distance from God : is a clog, a snare, a fetter, a pinion to the soul. And so the words do agree in sense with those of our Saviour, " The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak :" where by the flesh must needs be understood the body, if we consider the context, namely, the occasion upon which the words were spoken, the sleepiness of the 8G4 FAREWELL TO LIFE. apostles ; or if we consider the propriety of speech, according to the style of the New Testament. True indeed, the corruption of nature is sometimes called flesh ; but according to that way of speaking, our Saviour would rather have said, that the spirit was willing, but the flesh was strong ; as he saith else- where, that the strong man armed kept the house. Now, to explain this doctrine a little, " That even the godly, themselves, whilst they are in this body, are at a distance from the Lord." It must be granted, that the pious soul is nigh unto God, even whilst it sojourns in this mortal body and tottering flesh. All souls are involved in the apo- stacy of Adam, and are fallen down from God, have alike strayed from their God, and are sunk into self and the creature : God opened a w^ay for their re- turn by the blood of Jesus ; for we owe it unto Christ's death, not only that God is reconciled to us, pardoning our sins, but that any of our natures become reconciled to God, by accepting of him as our God, and loving him as the chief Good. Now, there is a double being hroKght nigh to God by Christ. The first is more general, external, and, as I may say, rational : thus the partition-wall be- ine: broken down, the Gentiles that were converted from their idolatry to a profession of God and Christ, and admitted to a communion with the visible church, are, upon that account, said to be brethren to the rest of God's children : and as to the church, they are said to be within it, though some time FAREWELL TO LIFE. 365 before they were fornicators, covetous, drunkards ; and as to God, they are said to be made nigh. A professing of God is said to be a being nigh to him ; and even an external performance is said to be a drawing nigh to him; and so Nadab and Abihu, even in the offering of strange fire, are said to have drawn nigh to God. And this, tliough it be a pri- vilege, yet is not that honourable privilege of the truly pious souls, who are by Christ Jesus raised up to God in their hearts, and reconciled to him in their natures, and united to him in their affections, and so are made nigh to him in a more especial and spiritual manner. Thus all sinful and wicked souls, notwithstanding all their profession and perform- ances, are far from God, estranged from the life of God. Enmity and dissimilitude are the most real distance from God, and truly God-like souls are only nigh unto him ; they dwell in him, and he dwelleth in them, as in his most proper temple. As to any kind of apposition, no man can draw nigh to God, nor by any local accession, for so all men are alike nigh to him who is every where, and the worst as well as the best of men do live and move in him. But they are really nigh unto God; and they only enjoy him, whose natures are con- formable to him in a way of love, goodness, and God-lilve perfections. We do not enjoy God by any gross and external conjunction with him, but we en- joy him and are nigh unto him, by an internal union ; *' when a divine spirit informetli and actuateth 2 H 3 366 FAREWELL TO LIFE. our souls, and derives a divine life into them and through them."" And so a pious soul only is really and happily nigh unto God. Thus the apostle Paul, I believe, was as nigh unto God as any man in the world, who did not only live and move in God, as all men do, (though few understand it,) but God did even live, and, as it were, breathe in him : the very life that he lived, was " by faith in the Son of God ;" for though he walked in the flesh, yet he did not walk after the flesh. And yet this gracious soul, even as all other believers, was at a distance from God ; and that not so much by reason of his being a creature, for of that he doth not speak, (so the very angels of God are at an infinite distance from God), but by reason of this mortal body, and animal life, which hindered him from being so nigh to God as his soul was capable to be : — " Whilst we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord (^ that is, at a great distance from God. 1. We are distant from God "as to that know- ledge which we shall have of him."' Philosophical divines speak of a threefold knowledge. (1.) An essential knowledge of God. This is that unspeak- able light, whereby the divine Nature comprehends its own essence, wherein God seeth himself. (2.) By science. This man is capable of in this life. But this kind of knowing of God by way of science is but a low and dry thing, common to good and bad, men and devils ; and is indeed the perfection of the learned more than of the pious : " And this FAREWELL TO LIFE. 367 kind of knowledge of God the glorified soul will reckon but like a fable, or a parable, when it shall be once swallowed up in God, feasting upon truth itself, and seeing God in the pure rays of his own divinity.'' (3.) By intuition. This man cannot attain to in this life, in its perfection, because it arises from a blissful union with God himself, which in this animal state is imperfect. This, in the Pla- tonic phrase, is a contact with God, and, in scripture language, a beholding of God face to face, which we are not capable of in this animal concrete state. So may the answer of God to Moses be understood, when he besought God to show him his glory; that is, to imprint a distinct idea of his divine essence upon his mind. "No man can see me and live;'' that is, no man in this corruptible state and animal life is capable of seeing me as I am, to apprehend my divine essence, to see my face. The vision of God is not in this life, but in the other ; so that a man must die before he can thus know God. This is the exposition of Jewish doctors, and our learned countrymen do approve it also. This blessed know- ledge of God we are at a distance from, whilst we are in this body : so the apostles declare plainly — " Now we see darkly, as through a glass ;" but the time will come when we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known. Now, our body prin- cipally hinders the operation of our minds, when they do exercise themselves about the nature of God, whilst it presents its fancies and gross imagin- 368 FAREWELL TO LIFE. ations to the soul ; so it becomes, as it were, a veil upon the face of the soul, draws a cloud, and casts a mist over its eyes, that it cannot discern distinctly, nor judge properly and spiritually. And, with allusion to this, that passage of the apostle is pro- per and significant : " We see as through a glass — which glass is indeed continually sullied and dark- ened whilst we look into i":, by the breathing of our animal fancies and imaginations upon it." Not only those fogs of pride and self-love, and other sinful corruptions, that do arise out of the soul itself, hinder our right perceptions of God ; (as the earth sends out vapours out of itself, which arise and interpose between itself and the sun ;) but even the animal fancy casts in its fantasms and imagin- ations as a mist before the eye of the soul, which through divine grace hath been somewhat enlight- ened, and cleared from its inbred sinful humours. Though corruption in the mind be as a rheum in its eye, so that it cannot well see, yet, that doth not hinder but that the fancy, by presenting its unspi- ritual imaginations, doth also cast a mist before it, that it cannot see well, nor judge rightly ; and so it is either held in gross ignorance, or lapses into error. But in the regeneration, this sense either shall not be, or shall be pure and spiritual. 2. Whilst we are in the body, we are distant from God, "as to that service which we ought to perform to him in the world." And herein it were endless to run through all those outward duties which we FAREWELL TO LIFE. 369 owe unto God in the body, and to show how the body becomes a hinderance either to them, or in them. Though the soul be made willing and for- ward, by a divine principle implanted in it, yet the body remains a body, a weak and sluggish instru- ment ; and so it will be whilst it is animal ; it will go down into the dust a weak body. What man ever had a more willing and cheerful heart than Moses the friend of God. ^ yet his hands were heavy, and ready to hang down. Shall I instance in the excellent duty of preaching and hearing, wherein the spirits of the most spiritual preacher are soon exhausted, the tongue of the learned is ready to cleave to the roof of his mouth, the head is seized with dizziness, the heart with pantings, the organs of speech with weariness, and the knees with trem- bling ? and the ears of the most devout hearers with heaviness, the eyes with sleepiness, and the whole body in a short time with weakness ? Shall I in- stance in the noble duty of prayer, wherein the pious soul goes out to God, but can scarce get its body to accompany it .^ and there the fancy dis- tracts, the senses divert, and indeed all the mem- bers are ready to play the truants, if not the traitors too ; especially the brain, where the soul sits en- throned, is suddenly environed with a rude host of sluggish vapours arising from the stomach, and being no longer able to defend itself against them, falls down dead in the midst of them ; insomuch that the poor soul is ready to wish sometimes with the sorrow- 370 FAREWELL TO LllE. ful prophet, '"Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place, that I might leave my members, and go from them, for they are all an assembly of treach- erous servants;"" or wish that it were like its Sa- viour, who could leave his raw disciples asleep, and go and pray apart, and come again unto them ! Shall I instance in that high duty of sustaining martyrdom, bearing persecutions for God? Come on, my body, cries the holy soul, come on to the stake ; come, my head, lay down thyself upon this block ; come, my body, compose thyself in this dark dungeon ; come, my feet, fit yourselves into these stocks; come, my hands, draw on these fetters, these iron bracelets ; come, come drink the cup that my Father gives thee. But oh, how it follows to the stake ! what shaking, shivering, trembling, and reluctancy, may you see in the whole structure of it ! the hjead hangs down, the eyes run over, the lips quiver, the shoulders pull back, the hands trem- ble, the knees knock together, and the whole fabric is ready to tumble down, for fear of falling. Ei- ther to this, (as some interpret) or to that duty of prayer, (as others) doth that of our Saviour refer — " The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.*' It seems the spirit of the weakest Christian is strong, though the body (as we have seen) of the strongest saint is weak : though indeed it is not properly the weakness that is in the body that I am to speak to, but the influence that the body hath upon the soul to weaken that ; for wliilst the soul FAREWELL TO LIKE. fJTl sympathizes with the body, attends to it, spares it, pities it, itself becomes almost ill-affected to the ser- vice of God. I am not so much blaming the body, because it hath need, by reason of its slothfulness, to be drawn on to duty, but because, by its influ- ence, it draws off* the soul also from them ; for so we find it by woful experience, that if the body do sleep, the soul cannot wake, it cannot hear without the ear, nor see without the eyes ; so that the body's weariness at length ends in the soul's unwillingness, and the weakness of the one grows to be the sin of the other. 3. Whilst we are in the body we are at a distance from God, " as to communion with him ;" we are estranged from fellowship with him : and this is in- deed to be absent from the Lord. Oh ! how many weary and uncomfortable days do poor saints live, at a great distance from their God, their life, their happiness, whilst they are in their worldly pilgrim.- age, in their cage of flesh ! Oh ! how many days do they forget God, and are apt to think that God hath forgotten them too ! how do they live some- times, as it were without God in the world, their souls being surfeited with carnal pleasures, benumbed with fears, frozen with self-love, choked with cares, stifled with griefs, and seem to have no more feel- ing of God, their life, than a body in the dust hath of the soul its life ! Oh ! what a heavy yoke doth the poor soul draw under, when it ploughs to the flesh, and cannot lift up its head to heaven ! Oh ! how is our 3T2 I'AIIEWELL TO LllE. intercourse with God obstructed ; our bcliolding of him obscured ; our entertaining of liim prevented ; our enjoyment of him disturbed and violated ; our love to him deadened, and his love to us damped ; ours rendered infirm, and his rendered insensible ; and all by this make-bate mortal flesh ! Alas ! what uncertainties and vicissitudes, what changings and tossings, turnings and windings, are our poor pil- grim souls here exercised with ! what breakings and piecings, reconciliations and fallings out, closing and parting, rising and falling, what ups and downs, what forwards and backwards, doth the poor dis- tressed soul experience in this animal state ! The flourishing soul withers, the lofty soul languishes, the vigorous soul faints, the nimble soul flags, the devout soul swoons, the lively soul sickens, and is ready to give up the ghost ; and she that was a while ago resting and glorying in the arms of her Lord, anon lies embracing the dust, and hath al- most forgotten that ever she was happy ; her peace is violated, her rest is disturbed, her converse with heaven interrupted, her incomes from God are few and insensible, her outgoings to him are rare and lazy, and the rivers of her divine pleasures are al- most dried up ; and all this whilst she is in this body ; and indeed a great part of it by reason of this body in which she is ; the animal body keeps us distant from the Lord, that we cannot converse with him, mind him, enjoy him, live upon him and unto him. The body being fitted only for this l-AREWELL TO LIFE. 373 animal slate, is ever drawing down the soul, when it would raise up itself in contemplation of, and communion with the blessed God. And so (1.) The necessities of the body hinder the soul's communion with the Lord. Not that the necessities of the body are simply in themselves to be blamed, but the caring for these doth so exercise the soul in this state, that it cannot attend upon God without distraction. Oh ! how much doth the necessary caring for meat and drink, food and physic, yea, the ordering of temporal affairs, estrange from com- munion and converse with God ! so that the soul, like poor Martha, is cumbered with many cares, and busied with much serving in this house, and cannot attend so devoutly and entirely as it ought upon the Lord. If the body be pinched with pain, the soul cannot be at rest, but must needs look out for relief; if the body be pinched with hunger and thirst, the soul can take no rest till it have found out a supply for it ; if the one be sick, the other is sad; if the one be hungry or thirsty, the other seems to languish; like Hippocrates' twins, that laughed and cried, lived and died together. It is a wonderful mystery, and a rare secret, how the soul comes to sympathize with the body, and to have not only a knowledge, but, as it were, a feeling of its necessities ; how these come to be conveyed to the soul, and how it comes to be thus affected with them. But we find it so; and indeed, to speak truth, it seems necessary for the maintaining of this 374) FAREWELL TO LIFE. animal state that it should be so, that the soul should be, as it were, hungry, weary, sick, and sleep too together with the body. " For if our soul should not know what it is to be hungry, thirsty, cold, or sick, or weary, but by a bare ratiocination, or a dry syllogistical inference, without any more especial feeling of these necessities, it would soon suffer the body to languish and decay, and commit it wholly to all changes and casualties; neither would our own body be any more to us than the body of a plant or of a star, which we do many times view with as much clearness and contemplate with as much contentment, as we do our own."" But in the mean time the soul is diverted from its main employment, and turned aside from its com- munion with God ; not so much by providing some- what for our bodies to eat, and drink, and put on, which is lawful and needful, as our Saviour im- plies; as by sinking itself into the body, being pas- sionately and inordinately affected with its wants, and so being sinfully thoughtful, as our Saviour intimates in the same chapter. (2.) ^Thejpassions of the body hinder the souFs communion with the Lord. So powerful is the in- terest and influence that this body hath in and over the soul, that it fills it with desires, pleasures, griefs, joys, fears, anger, and various passions. The body calls out the soul to attend upon its several passions, which I dare not say arc sinful in themselves, as they first affect our souls, no more than it is our sin FAREWELL TO LIFE. 375 that we are men ; our blessed Saviour seems not to have been free from them, as grief, fear, who yet was free from all sin. Nay, it seems necessary, as I said before, considering the nature of this animal life, that the soul should have the corporeal passions and impressions feelingly and powerfully conveyed to it, without which it could not express that due benevolence to the body which belongs to it ; and indeed, were it not so, we could not properly be said, in the apostle's phrase here, to be at home in the body ; the soul would rather dwell in any other house than its own. But the soul being called out to attend upon these passions, is easily ensnared by them ; for it can hardly exercise itself about them, but it slips insensibly into a sinful inordinacy. As for example, " The animal spirits nimbly playing in the brain, and swiftly flying from thence through the nerves up and down the whole body, do raise the fancy with mirth and cheerfulness, which we must not presently mistake for the power of grace, nor condemn for the working of corruption ; so also when the gall empties its bitter juice into the liver, and that mingles itself with the blood there, it begets fiery spirits, which presently fly into the brain, and cause impressions of anger." Now, though I dare not say that the souFs first experiencing and entertain- ing of these passions is sinful, yet it is sadly evident that our souls being once moved by these undis- ciplined animal spirits, are very apt to sit upon and cherish those passions of grief, fear, mirth, anger, 376 FAREWELL TO LIFE. and, as it were, to work them into itself, in an in- ordinate manner, and contrary to the dictates of reason ; and so the will presently makes those sin- ful, which before were but merely human, or as one calls them, the mere blossomings or shootings forth of animal life within us. We see then, in these particulars, that not only the depraved dispositions of the soul do keep us at a distance from God, but even this body also is a great hinderance to that knowledge of God to which we shall attain, that service of God which we might perform, and that sweet communion with him which we shall enjoy. It is a clog to the soul that would run, a mist to the soul that would see clearly, a manacle to the soul that would work, a snare to the soul that would be free, a fetter to chain it to earthly and material things, and, as it were, a pinion to the wings of con- templation. More particularly, it is a hinderance to it, as to these three things which I have named : as to the souFs knowledge of God, the body is an occa- sion of ignorance and error ; as to its serving of God, an occasion of distraction and weariness, lightness and triflingness ; and, as to its communion with God, an occasion of earthliness and sensuality. Now, this distance which this body keeps the soul at from God, might more particularly appear in another way of explication, by observing the es- pecial grievances that arise to the soul from those three great animal faculties, (if I may so speak,) the Senses, the Appetite, the Fancy. FAREWELL TO LIFE. 377 [i.] The Senses ; I mean the external senses of tlie body, seeing, hearing, &c. These convey pas- sions to the soul, upon which it subsists and feeds with a sinful fondness and eagerness. . Set open the eye, and it will go hard to convey some species of earthly objects to the soul, that shall exclude the ideas of God out of it. Set open the ear, and it will fill the soul with such a noise of earthly tumult, that the secret whispers of the divine Spirit^cannot be heard. The like I may say of the rest. Oh ! how easily do these discompose the fixed soul, distract the devout soul, cast a mist be- fore the contemplative soul, and draw down the raised soul from communion with heaven, to con- verse with earthly objects ! The souls of most men are quite sunk into their sens?s, and do nothing but, as it were, become their lacqueys all their lives; and so the servants are on horseback, and princes go on foot. Though the eye will never be satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing, yet forsooth these importunate suitors must be gratified; the eye must see what it will see, and the ear must hear what it will hear : nothing must be withheld from them, that these childish senses do whine after. These men's souls are indeed incarnate, swallowed up in their eyes, ears, and mouths. But not only these, but even pious souls are often charmed and ensnared by their senses ; even they converse not only in the body, but too much with it also, and it becomes as a Delilah to lull them asleep, and bind 2 I 13 378t FAREWELL TO LIFE. them too. Good Job found his senses so treacher- ous, that he was fain to make a covenant with them, and well if he could escape even with this. The words are a metaphor ; for indeed the worst of it is, that these senses are not capable of any discipline : one cannot bring them into any covenant terms ; so that whilst we have senses, they will be treacherous ; whilst our eyes are in our heads, they will be wan- dering after forbidden objects. [ii.] The Appetite, the sensitive appetite, which is a faculty of the sensitive soul, whereby this ani- mal man is stirred up to desire and lust after the things which his senses have dictated to him. This bodily lust following upon the neck of the former, becomes a greater snare to the soul : this restless suitor comes whining ever and anon to the soul for every trifle that the eye hath seen, or the ear heard, or the mouth hath tasted, and by its continual com- ing, and importunate crying, wearies her into an observance of it: as the fond child comes crying to the mother for every toy that it hath seen upon the stalls, and she, though she cannot in judgment approve of the request, yet either in fond indul- gence, or for peace' sake, will condescend to pur- chase it. This is the daughter of the horse-leech» that cries continually. Give, give. Why, what would it have ? even anything that it hath seen, or heard, or touched, or tasted, anything that it sees a fellow-creature to be possessed of: and so indeed the appetite doth not only ensnare the soul unto drunkenness and gluttony, but voluptuousness, las- KARKWELL TO Lll'E. S79 civiousiiess, and all manner of sensuality. The evil of the sensual appetite appears in wantonness and lasciviousness, (whether real, verbal, or mental,) in immoderate and inordinate trading, engrossing, sporting, building, attiring, sleeping, visiting, as well as in eating and drinking. I will determine nothing concerning the first motions of the appetite, whereby it solicits the will to gratify it ; only this, that if it solicit to anything simply and morally evil, it is sinful in that first act, and that at all times it ought carefully to be watched, lest it seduce to intemperance in things lawful. But concerning the gratifying of the appetite, seeing there must be in us a sensitive appetite, whilst we are in this ani- mal state, it is to be endeavoured, as far as may be, that we gratify the appetite, not as it is a sensitive appetite, but under this notion, as the thing that it desires makes for our real good, and tends to the enjoyment of the supreme Good : to eat and drink, not because we are hungry or thirsty, because the appetite desires it, but with reference to the main end with respect to the highest good, that the body may be enabled, strengthened, and quickened, to wait upon the soul cheerfully, in the actions of a holy life. But to this, man, in his animal state, cannot perfectly attain, which shows that the appe- tite doth keep us at a distance from God. [iii.] The Fancy : this also keeps man at a dis- tance from God, and hinders us in the knowledge and service of God, an;l interrupts the soul's com- 380 FAREWELL TO LIFE. munion with God. This is a busy and petulant faculty, or inward sense, and the soul doth readily gratify the passions of it, so that it doth frequently hinder its mental operations, and becomes a great snare. A working fancy, how much soever it is magnified by the wisdom of this world, is a mighty snare to the soul, except it work in a fellowship with right -reason, and a sanctified heart. I am persuaded there is no greater burden in the world to a serious soul, especially in hot and dry consti- tutions, where it is commonly most pregnant, and most impatient of discipline ; and, I confess, I have often wondered at the souFs readiness to be so speedily affected with the phantasms and imaginations of it, and fondness to cherish them so dearly. This indeed, if it be so far refined, as to present sober and solid imaginations to the mind, and to act in subserviency to sanctified reason, is an excellent handmaid to the soul in many of her functions ; but otherwise is a snare, as we have partly observed al- ready, and may observe more, if we study the secrets of our own souls, and the mighty mysteries that are within us. And this doth not only disturb, dis- tract, and hinder in ordinary duties, but even when the soul is at the highest pitch of communion and contemplation, it endeavours to pull it down to at- tend to its vain phantasms, and indeed gives it many a grievous fall. I hesitate not to affirm, that this whicii I named, is the most pernicious enemy of the three to the soul's happiness, as might appear in FARKWELL TO LIFE. 381 many respects ; I will only name one. It hath an advantage against us, which neither of the other two hath : it infests us and annoys us sleeping as well as waking. In sleep the senses are locked up^ and the appetite is, for the most part, silent from its begging ; but then the fancy is as busy and tumul- tuous as ever, forming and gathering imaginations, and those are commonly wild and senseless, if not worse. The mind, in way of kindness and benevo- lence to the body, suspends its own actions, whilst the body takes its rest in the night, and then the rude fancy takes its opportunity to wander at liberty, as being without its keeper, and acts to the disturb- ance of the body : but that is not the worst ; for it becomes so tumultuous and impetuous sometimes, as that it awakens the mind to attend upon its imagin- ations ; and this the soul doth condescend to in an inordinate manner, and sets the stamp of sinfulness upon them, to its own wounding. And now that I am speaking of sleep in this discourse, I cannot but observe how this very thing also keeps us at a distance from God in this animal state. How is our communion with God interrupted by this ! for herein we cease not only from the actions of an animal life, but commonly from the actions of a. spiritual life too. What a great breach, what a sad interruption is there made in our converse with God by this means ! Such a poor happiness it is that we have in this world, that it is cut off, and seems, as it were, not to be one fourth part of our 382 FAREWELL TO LI IE. time ; for kideed a happiness that is not felt, de- serves not the name of happiness. Some learned and active men have been ashamed that they have slept away so much of their time, which was all too little for their studies and exploits. Ah, poor Christian ! that, as it were, sleeps away so much from his God, being as much estranged from him in the night, as though he had never conversed with him in the day, and in the morning when he awakes, can- not always find himself with him neither, v/hich is enough to make a poor saint wish, either that he might have no need of sleep, or that, though he sleep, his heart might wake perpetually. We have seen in what sense this mortal body keeps believers absent from the Lord, and in what respects it keeps them at a distance from God, even in this life, from the knowledge of God, the service of God, and communion with him. Here then, by way of application, 1. We may see that it was for good reason the blessed apostle is confident and willing to depart ; nay, he groans within himself, desiring that " mor- tality might be swallowed up of life," as he speaks, verse 4. I told you before, that these words did contain the reason or ground thereof; and by this time I hope you see that the reason is good, and the ground is sufficient. What ! will the men of this world say, Will you persuade us out of our life.'^ should anything in the world make a man weary of his life.^ "It is better to exist in misery than not FAREWELL TO LTIE. 383 to exist.'"* The apostle was surely beside himself, or he would never have fallen out with his own life; or else he was in a passion, and knew not what he said ; or else his life was bitter to him by reason of the poor, afflicted, persecuted condition that he lived in, and so he was become desperate, and cared not what became of him. No, none of these : the apo- stle was in his right wits, and in a sober mind too. It was not a passion, or a fit of melancholy, but his judgment and choice upon good deliberation ; and therefore you find him in the same mind elsewhere ; " I desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better."'' Besides, he gives a reason for what he desires ; but we know that passion is unruly and unreasonable. Neither was the apostle beside him- self, for he gives a good, solid, and wise reason — " Whilst we are at home in the body,'' &c. : he will part with his life rather than not be perfectly happy. For, whereas worldlings put such a high price upon life, and think that nothing should persuade men out of their lives ; (it is indeed true, if we speak pro- perly, life is the perfection of the creature, the happi- ness of every thing is its life ; "A living dog is better than a dead lion ;") but 1 may say to these, even as our Saviour said to the woman concerning her husband, the life that we live here is not our life. The union of the sensitive soul with the body is in- deed truly and properly the life of a beast, and its greatest happiness, for it is capable of no higher per- fection : but the union of the rational soul with God 384 FAREWELL TO LIFE. is the noblest perfection of man, and his highest life : so that the life of a believing soul is not de- stroyed at death, but perfected. Neither was the apostle weary of his life because of the adversities of it. The Apostle was of a braver spirit, surely, than any Stoic ; he durst live, though he rather de- sired to die. All the conflicts he endured with the world never wrung such a sigh from him, as the conflict he had with his own corruptions did, " O wretched man," &c. All the persecutions in the world never made him groan so much as the bur- den of his flesh doth here, and his great distance from the Lord. A pious soul can converse with persecuting men and a tempting devil, can handle briers and thorns, can grapple with any kind of op- pressions and adversities in the flesh, without de- spondency, so long as it finds itself in the bosom of God, and in the arms of omnipotence ; but when it beffins to consider where it is, how far it is from its God, its life, and the happy state that God hath prepared it for, then it cannot but groan within it- self, and be ready with Peter, to cast itself out of the ship to get to its God, to land itself in eternity. Neither indeed, to speak truly, is it only the sense of sin against God, which sets the pious soul a-long- ing ; for though it must be confessed that this is a heavy burden upon the soul, yet the apostle makes no complaint of this here, but only of his distance from God, that necessary distance from God that the body kept him at. FAliEWELL TO lAVK. 385 2. See here tlie excellent spirit of true religion. Pious souls do groan after a disembodied state, not only because of their sins in the body, but even because of the necessary distance at which the body keeps them from God. We may suppose a pious soul, at some time, to have no manner of affliction in the world to grieve him, no sin unpardoned, un- repented of, to trouble him ; yet for all this he is not at perfect rest; he is burdened, and groans within himself, because he is at such a distance from that absolute Good, whom lie longs to know more familiarly, and enjoy more fully than he doth yet, or than is allowed to mortal men : and though no- thing else trouble him, yet the consideration of this distance makes him cry out, oh ! " when shall I come and appear before God ? " be wholly swallowed up in him, see him as he is, and converse v/ith him face to face.^ Mere innocency, or freedom from sir, cannot satisfy that noble and large spirit that is in a truly god-like soul ; but that spirit of true goodness, being nothing else but an efflux from God himself, carries the soul out after a more intimate union with that Being from whence it came : God dwelling in the soul, doth, by a secret mighty power, draw the soul more and more to himself. In a word, a pious soul that is really touched with the sense of divine sweetness and fulness, and im- pressed with divine goodness and holiness, as the wax is with the stamp of the seal, could not be con- tent to dwell for ever in this kind of animal body, ^2k FAREWELL TO LIFE. nor take up an eternal rest in this imperfect mixed state, though it could converse with the world with- out a sinful sullying of itself, but must needs endea- vour still a closer conjunction with God ; atid, leaving the chase of all other objects, pant and breathe not only after God alone, but after more and more of him ; and not only when it is under the sense of sin, but most of all when it is under the most powerful influences of divine grace and love, cry out with Paul, " Oh, who will deliver me out of this body?" 3. Suffer me from hence to expostulate a little, to expostulate with christian souls about their unseem- ly temper. Doth this animal life and mortal body keep us at such a distance from our God, our hap- piness ? Why are we then so fond of this life and mixed state ? why do we so pamper this body ? why so anxiously studious to keep it up, so dreadfully afraid of the ruins of it ? If we take the apostle's words in the first sense that I named, then I may ask with him in the first verse, " Know we not, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- solved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ?" or verse 8, Why are we not willing rather to be " absent from the body,'' and to be " present with the Lord?" If we take tliem in the latter sense, as this animal body is a hinderance to the soul's knowledge of, and communion with God, then I ask concerning this, as the apostle doth concerning rich men, James ii. FAREWELL TO LIFE. '387 6. Why do we pamper, prize, honour, dote upon this body ? Doth not this body oppress you, dis- tract you, burden you, clog you, hinder you ? doth not this body interpose between the Sun of righ- teousness, between the Father of lights, and your souls, that should shine with a light and glory borrowed from him ; even as the dark body of the earth interposes between the sun and moon to eclipse its light ? why are we not rather weary that we are in the body ? Surely there are some objec- tions, some impediments to the souFs longing after its happy state; but I doubt also, that there is something that chains the soul to this animal life, some cords in this earthly tabernacle that tie up the soul in it ; but I cannot well imagine what they should be. Say not, there is something of God to be enjoyed in this life, which makes it pleasant ; for, although this be true, yet I am sure God gives nothing of himself to a soul thereby to clog it or cloy it. Did Moses send for some clusters of the land of Canaan into the wilderness, think ye, that the people might see and taste the fruits, and sit still, and be satisfied, and say. Oh, it is enough, we see that there are pleasant things in that land, we will never come at it ? or did he not rather do it that they might make the more haste to possess themselves of it ? Will any man say. Away, I will have no more land, no more money, I have some already.? Can a pious soul say, God hath given me an earnest, I desire no more ? No, no ; but the 388 rAiiEwp:i.L to liie. report that a Christian hears of a rest remaining, a happy hfe remaining for it, and the chariots of divine graces that he sees God hath sent out into his soul to convey it thither, make him cry out, not •with Jacob, " It is enough, Joseph my son, is yet alive ;"" but, oh ! this is not enough, this report is not enough : it is not enough that I taste some of the good things of the land ; it is not enough that I see these carriages sent for me ; it is not enough that my soul hath a happy and honourable life pre- pared for it ; I see it indeed before I die, but I will also die that I may see it better, and enjoy it more. But I doubt there is some earthly tie, even upon the heavenly soul, that chains it to this present animal body ; but sure I am, that whatsoever it is, it is but a weak one. Is there any worldly accom- modation, any creature-toy, that should in reason step between a soul and its God ? Is this life sweet, because there are creature-comforts to be enjoyed ? and will it not be a better life, when creature-com- forts shall not be needed ? and are the pleasures of this body, the comforts of this life, the Hattering smiles, the fawning embraces of the creature, such a mighty contentment to a soul, to a soul acquainted with the highest Good ? Hast thou, O my soul, any such full and satisfying entertainment in thy pil- grimage, as to make thee loth to go home? wilt thou hide thyself with Saul among the stuff, among the lumber of the world, when thou art sought for to be crowned.^ are the empty sounds of popular FAREWELL TO LIFE. S89 applause, the breaking bubbles of secular greatness, the shallow streams of sensual pleasures, the smiles and lisping eloquence of wives and children, the flying shadows of creature-refreshments, the momen- tary flourishes of worldly beauty and bravery, are these meat for a soul ? are tliese the proper object, or the main happiness of such a divine thing as an immortal soul ? Why are we not rather weary of this body, that makes us so weary of heavenly em- ployment ? why do we not rather long to part with that life that parts us from our life ? and instead of the young apostle, " It is good to be here,''"' cry out with the sweet singer, " Oh that one would give me the wings of a dove, that I may fly away and be at rest." And now, methinks, by this time I might be somewhat bold, and form my remaining discourse into an exhortation. But it may be, you will not bear it all at once ; therefore I will first begin with a dehortation, to dissuade from two evils concern- ing your body, namely, fear and fondness. 1. Take heed of fear for the body. I speak not so much of those first impressions which our fancies and animal spirits do make upon our minds, though it were to be wished that the mind did not so much as once entertain these ; but of those acts of the will whereby it doth receive, allow, cherish these impressions, until the cockatrice-egg be hatched into a viper. I speak not against care and circum- spection, no ; nor against that kind of suspicion 390 FAREWELL TO LIFE. whereby wise and prudent persons are jealous of cir- cumstances and events, and so do watch to prevent, remove, or manage bodily evils, which is called fear ; though even in these there may be an ex- treme, a " fear where no fear is,"*' which is there ascribed to the wicked, and elsewhere threatened as a judgment. " The sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them.'' " The Lord shall give thee a trem- bling heart." " A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself;" but there are also many fools who hide themselves, though they see no evil. But I am not speaking of these ; there is a vast differ- ence between care and fear. Ey fear I mean that trembling, fluctuating, tormenting passion, that doth not suffer the heart to be at rest, but doth, as it were, unhinge it, and loose the joints of the soul, whether it breaks out into expressions or not; it clouds the understanding, unsettles the will, disor- ders the affections, confounds the memory, and is like an earthquake in the soul, taking it off from its own basis, destroying the consistency of it, and hurling all the faculties into confusion ; this, whe- ther it break out into any unseemly acts or not, which commonly it doth, is itself an unseemly tem- per for a wise man, much more for one pious. I might speak as a philosopher, and show how unbe- coming a man, and how destructive to him this passion is: so much, that whilst it doth predominate, it almost robs him of that which is his greatest glory, even reason itself But, to say no worse of FAREWELL TO LIFK. 591 it, it is very opposite, if not contrary, to that noble grace of faith, whereby the steady soul rests and lodges in the arms of God, as in its centre. But, to speak to the thing in hand, what an unseemly passion is this ? we would have the world to believe that we have laid up our happiness in God, and that we are troubled that we are so far from him ; and yet we are afraid lest that should be taken out of the way that keeps us at a distance from him ; we flatter ourselves that we are in haste for heaven, and yet we are dreadfully afraid lest our earthly objects should be taken out of the way. How do these things agree together ? Are we persuaded, that if this earthly house of our tabernacle were taken down, we have a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ? if not, why do we yet call ourselves Christians ? But, I think, I may take it for granted we are all so persuaded ; and if so, why are we so afraid it should be taken down ? I am loth to speak what I think ; yet methinks the entire and ardent love which we either do bear, or ought to bear, to the blessed God, and union and communion with him, should cast out this fear. This is suitable to scripture, 1 John iv. 18. I will not dispute how far sinful fear for the body may carry a pious soul ; the further the worse, I am sure : but if any will needs be so indulgent to his own passions, and so much an enemy to his own peace, as to encourage himself to fear, which is a strange thing, from the example of Abraham deny- 392 FAREWELL TO LIFE. ing his wife, or Peter denying his Lord, let him compare the issue, and tlien let me see whether he dare go and do likewise : but if that will not fright you from fear, ponder upon these two considera- tions : (1.) I pray you seriously dispute the matter with yourselves, how far fear of sickness and death may consist with that ardent thirst after union and per- fect communion with the blessed God, with which we ought to be possessed. (2.) Dispute seriously how far it can stand with the sincerity of a Christian. God hath not left us in the dark as to this matter. I will turn you to a passage or two, which, methinks, should strike cold to all slavish, trembling professors — " The wicked travaileth with pain all his days, a dreadful sound is in his ears."" They are the words of Eliphaz in- deed, but they do agree with the words of God himself. " The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearful- ness hath surprised the hypocrites.""* When I read over these passages, I cannot but pray, and cry, O my soul, come not thou into the number of the wicked, and be not united into the assembly of hypocrites ! 2. Take heed of fondness of the body ; of a double act of it, priding, pampering. (1 .) Take heed you pride not yourselves in any excellencies of the body. Doth this mortal body keep us at a distance from our God ? do we well then to love that which keeps us from that which is most lovely.'^ why then do we stand fondly gazing FAREWELL TO LIFE. 393 upon that which keeps us from the blessed sight of God ? If you ask me, Did ever any man hate his own flesh ? I will ask you again, Did ever any wise man love his own flesh above him that made it ? did ever any pious soul love his body in op- position to his God ? Oh, but it is a comely body ! And what is a beautiful body but a fair prison ? A silver twist, or a clog of gold, do as really hinder the flight of a bird, and forestal her liberty, as a stone tied at her heels. Nay, those very excellencies which you so much admire, are so much the greater hinderances. If we had learned that excellent les- son indeed, of enjoying all things only in God, then the several beauties and braveries of the body would be a help to our devotion, they would carry us up to an admiration and contemplation of that glorious and most excellent Being from whom they were communicated : so we might, in some sense, look into a glass, and behold the beauty of God. But, alas ! these commonly prove the gi'eater snares : many had been more beautiful within, had they been less beautiful without; more chaste, if less comely ; many had been more peaceable, and more at peace too, if they had been less able to have quarrelled and fought. It was said of Galba, who was an ingenuous man, but deformed, that his soul dwelt ill ; but sure I am, it might better have been so said of beautiful Absalom, or Jezabel, whose bodies became a snare to their souls. On the other hand, they that want a beauty in their bodies, will 394! TAREWELL TO IJFE. perhaps labour to find an excellency in tlieir minds far beyond it ; as the philosopher advised to look often into a glass, that if you be deformed, you may correct it by the beauty of your morals. (2.) Take heed of pampering the body, of treat- ing it too gently and delicately. Deny it nothing that may fit it for the service of God, and your own souls, and allow it no more than may do that. Thy pampering is, [i.] Unseemly : What ! make a dar- ling of that which keeps us from our Lord ; carry it gently, and delicately, and tenderly towards that, which whilst we carry about with us we cannot be happy ! [ii.] Injurious : If you bring up this ser- vant delicately from a child, you shall have him become your son at length, yea, your master. If you do by your bodies, as the fond king did by his son Adonijah, never displease it, never reprove it, never deny it, it will do with you in time as he did, raise seditions in your soul. Go on, and please and pamper your bodies, and it will come to this at length, that you must deny them nothing; you must give whatsoever a whining appetite will crave, go whither your gadding senses will carry you, and speak whatsoever wanton fancy will suggest. Doth not the body itself set us at a sufficient distance from God, but we must estrange ourselves more from him, by pleasing it, spend the time that should be for God in decking, trimming, and adorning it ! ■when you do this, you feed a bird that will pick out your eyes ; you nourish a traitor when you gra- FAREWELL TO LIFE. 395 tify this Adonijah. In a word, is it not enough that we do all carry fire in our bosoms, but we must also blow it up into a flame ? " Nay, my bre- thren, do not so foolishly." And now, methinks, by this time, I may venture upon an exhortation, by degrees at least. 1. "Watch against the body." You have heard how the senses, appetite, and fancy, become a snare to the soul's living unto, and conversing with God. Now then, if you seriously design communion with heaven, if you place your happiness in the know- ledge and enjoyment of that supreme and eternal Good, it becomes you to watch against all things that may distract or divert you from it, or make you fall short of the glory of God. Men that live upon earthly designs, whose great ambition it is to be great in the world, do not only use the most effectual means, and take the most direct courses to accomplish those designs, and attain those ends, but do continually suspect, and diligently watch against all the moths that would corrupt, the rust that would consume, the thieves that would plunder their treasures ; and, in a word, against all possible hinderances and disappointments : so will we sus- pect and watch, surely, against all enemies and traitors to our souls, if we live here upon eternal designs, if our ambition be to be great in God alone. And the more eminent the danger is, the more will we watch. Have you not found by ex- perience, which of these tliree have been most pre- 390 FAREWELL TO LIFE. judicial to your communion with God ? if not, you have not been so studious to know the state, nor pursue the happiness of your own souls as you might ; if so, then watch against that most of all which you have found to be most injurious. For it ordinarily comes to pass, either by the difference of Constitutions, or difference of temptations, or dif- ferent ways of living, or some other thing, that God's children are more ensnared by some one of these than by another. Well, be sure to watch and pray, and strive more especially against the more especial enemies of your souls. 2. "Live above the body;"" above bodily enjoy- ments, ornaments, and excellencies. Though these bodily enjoyments be ever so svv'eet, these bodily ornaments ever so glorious, yet is not your happi- ness in these. Certainly they live to their loss, who live upon the excellencies of their own souls, whether natural or supernatural ; they deprive them- selves of the infinite glory, fulness, and sufficiency that is in the blessed God, v/ho take up their hap- piness in these : much more do they pinch and im- poverish their own souls who live upon bodily orna- ments or excellencies, wherein many inferior crea- tures do excel them ; the rose in beauty, the sun in brightness, the lion in strength, the stag in swift- ness, &c. If a woman were as lovely as the morn- ing, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun;'' if a man were full of personal grace and majesty, "terrible as an army with banners ; '' yet were not their hap- FAllEWELL TO LIKE. 397 piness in these accomplishments. Nay, wliich is worse, these ornaments stand between us and our happiness. When you begin therefore at any time fondly to admire any of these bodily excellencies, then think with yourselves. Oh, but all these do not make my soul happy ! Nay, this beautiful outside must rot, and be deformed ; these fair and flourish- ing members must wither in the dust ; this active, strong, and graceful body, must be buried in dis- grace and weakness, before I can attain to entire and perfect happiness. This consideration will ad- vance us to live above the body. 3. "Be content to be disembodied for a time." Is it true, that we can no otherwise be happy, no otherwise be present with God, know him familiarly, enjoy him perfectly and entirely ? cannot we get to him, except we go through the dust.^ Be it so, then ; be content to be disembodied for a time. " Let him die, only let him reign,'" could the heathen say concerning her son ; much rather may a Christian say concerning his Father, Let him slay me, so my soul may but reign with him, which is by his reigning in it ; let him kill me, so he will b&t fill me ; let him draw me through the dust of the earth, so he will but draw me out of this dust of the world, so he will but draw me nigh unto himself, and bring me into a full and inseparable conjunction with my Lord ! IMethinks I need not use many arguments to persuade a soul that is feel- ingly overpowered, mastered, ravished with the 2l S98 FAREWELL TO LIFE. infinite beauty, goodness, giory, and fulness of his God, to be willing to quit a dusty tabernacle for a time, wherein it is almost swallowed up, to depart, and to be entirely swallowed up in him. Nay, suppose a Christian in the lowest form, who hath but chosen God for his highest good and only hap- piness, as every sincere Christian hath, methinks, he should have learned this lesson, to comply with that infinite, perfect will, that governs both him and the whole world. I cannot conceive a pious soul without the subduing of self-will, nor suppose a sincere saint void at least of the habit of self-resig- nation. Therefore I will add no more concerning this,],but rise a step higher. 4. " Long after a disembodied state :^' desire to depart, and to be with the Lord ; groan within yourselves to have mortality swallowed up of life, in which temper you find the holy apostle. To be content to die, is a good temper ; a temper scarce to be found, I think, in any wicked man ; not from a right principle, I am sure : but, methinks, it is no very great thing, in comparison of what we should labour to attain to. Think on a little; what a strange kind of cold, uncouth phrase it is. Such a man is content to be happy ! Men are not said to be content to be rich, but covetous ; not willing *o be honoured, but ambitious; and why should ye only be content to be with God 'f I am persuaded there is no show nor semblance of satisfactory bh.ss and happiness for a soul, a noble immortal nature, FAREWELL TO LIFE. 899 but only in the supreme, essential, perfect, absolute Good, the blessed and eternal God : and should not this noble, active being be carried out with vehe- ment longings after its proper and full happiness, as well as this earthly, sluggish body is carried with restless appetite after health, safety, and liberty ? Why should a soul alone be content to be happy, when all other things in the world do so ardently court, and vehemently pursue their respective ends and several perfections ? Certainly, if the blessed and glorious God should display himself in all his beauty, and open all his infinite treasures of good- ness, and sweetness, and fulness, within the view of a soul, it could not but be ravished with the object, eaniestly press into his presence, and, with a holy impatience, throw itself into his arms : there would be no need of setting bounds to the mount, to keep it from breaking through unto the Lord. What is said of the Queen of the South, when she had heard the wisdom, and seen the glory of Solomon, would be more true of a Christian, there would be no more spirit left in him. Some have therefore ob- served the wisdom of God, in engaging the soul in so near a union with the body, that it might care for it, and not quit it : yea, the heathen ob- served the wisdom of God, in concealing the happy state of a separated soul, that so men might be con- tent to live out their time. But, alas ! we see but darkly as through a glass, and our affections toward* God are proportionable to our apprehensions of 400 FAREWELL TO LIFE. liim; these are dark, and therefore those are dull. And oh ! would to God they were but indeed pro- portionable ! for then we should love him only, if not earnestly ; and desire him entirely, if not sufficiently. Consider what I have hinted concern- ing the happiness of the soul in the enjoyment of God, and what I have more fully demonstrated con- cerning the body's hindering of it, and keeping it at a distance, and then argue. Is happiness the main end of every being ? must not this soul, then, being of a noble and immortal nature, needs look out for some high and noble happiness, suitable to its ex- cellent self .-^ can that be any where but in the en- joyment of the highest and uncreated Good ? and can this never be attained whilst we are in this ani- mal state ? Oh ! why then do we not look out after so much enjoyment of this blessed God as we are now capable of, and long after a departure hence, that we may enjoy him freely and fully, and be eternally happy in him ? Oh ! be not only content, but even covetous. But what ! shall the soul break the cage, that she may take her flight ? God forbid ! how can he pretend to be a lover of God, who is not formed into his will, subject to his ordination, content to abide in the station that he hath allotted him ? But if we may not break it to escape, yet, methinks, it may be safe enough, with submission, to wish it were broken ; if we may not, with Saul, dissolve ourselves, yet with Paul, we may desire to be dis- FAREWELL TO LIFE. 401 solved. The perfection that the most Christians attain to, is but to desire to live, and be content to die. Oh ! consider what 1 have said in this matter, and invert the order of those words in your hearts. Be content to live, desire to die. But what ! would you have us pray for death ? Answer :• I speak not of a formal praying either for one or other. What the Apostle speaks of the greatest of sins, I am ready to say of this state of freedom from all sin, " I do not say that ye should pray for it.'' You will tell me, that David and Hezekiah prayed for life ; and I can tell you that Elijah prayed for death : he was indeed a man sub- ject to passions, but I believe this was none of them. But I will not inveigle myself in any controversy : methinks the sad consideration laid before your eyes. Whilst we are in the body, we are absent, distant from the Lord, should wring out an " O wretched man that I am,'' &c. or an " I desire to be dis- solved ;" or if not words, yet at least a groan after immortality, with our apostle here, — " We groan within ourselves, that mortality may be swallowed up of life." But can a soul possibly long for the destruction af the body.? Philosophy mdeed tells us that it cannot. Be it so ; yet I am sure divinity teaches, that a soul may long after the redemption of the body, the redemption of it from this kind of animal, corruptible, ensnaring condition that it is now in — *' We groan within ourselves, waiting for the re- 402 FAREWELL TO LIFE. demption of our body." If we cannot wish to be unclothed, yet we may long to be clothed upon, ver. 4. of this chapter ; at least, methinks, the hea- then should not outdo us, who could say, " I am unwilling to die, but I care not when I am dead.'' But, will all cry. Oh ! if we were sure of an in- terest in Christ, of pardon of sin, of truth, of grace, of eternal life, then we could freely leave all ? Ans. 1. That is, you would live to be more holy before you die : you are not yet holy enough, no, nor ever shall be till you die. If you long after holiness, long to be with God. for that is a state of perfect holiness. To desire to live, upon pretence of being more holy, is a mere fallacy, a contradic- tion. But, it may be, this is not the meaning of the objection : therefore, 2. A not having of what we would have, is not an excuse for not doing what we should do. It is our duty to rejoice in the Lord, which our not hav- ing of assurance doth not exempt us from ; though, if we have assurance, we might indeed rejoice the more. But, to take off this plea at once, 3. Our earnest longings after a full and perfect enjoyment of God, and so our breathings after an immortal state, do not depend upon our assurance, but indeed assurance rather depends upon that. I doubt we are commonly mistaken in the nature of assurance, and, it may be, are in a wrong manner curious about the signs of Christ's appearing in our souls ; for certainly a well-grounded assurance of FAREWELL TO LIFE. 403 the love of God doth most discover and unfold itself in the growth of true godliness in the soul. Now, tlie love of God, and an earnest desire to be like unto him, and to be with him, is the better half of all religion ; so that it rather seems, that assurance springs up from this frame of soul, than that this arises out of assurance. If assurance be the thing that you desire, get your souls joined to God in a union of affections, will, and ends ; and then labour and long to be closer to him, hker to him, perfectly holy and happy in him, and be assured that Christ is in you of a truth : for these mighty works which he hath wrought, these divine breathings, these holy pantings after him, do bear witness of him. 4. Whether ever you come to that feeling know- ledge, that powerful sense of your state, or not, which you call assurance, yet know that it is your duty to long after immortality. We are wont to call assurance the privilege of some few, but the Scripture makes this temper that I am speaking of, the duty of all believers; which I do the rather name, because I find few professors of this temper, and indeed but few that are willing to believe that they ought to be. Our Saviour calls all believers to as much in effect as I do — " Look up, and lift up your heads, for the day of your redemption draweth nigh :'' whereby is not meant a bare pos- ture and speculation, but joy and longing are re- quired by tliat phrase. Consider further, (which, methinks, should strike cold to the hearts of cold- 404 FAREWELL TO LIFE. hearted professors,) that this very temper is made one of the greatest characters of true and sincere saints : I do not know of any one oftener named — *'We groan within ourselves, waiting for the re- demption of our body"' — *' The Lord shall give the crown to them that love his appearing."' We should live godly in this present world, "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ'' — "What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy con- versation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God?'' — "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Do all these plain and pathetical Scriptures stand for ciphers in your eye .? methinks they should not. But not to stand upon the proof of it to be a duty, it matters not whether there be an express com- mand for it or not : this that I am speaking of is not so much the duty of godly persons, as the very nature, genius, and spirit indeed of godliness itself. Methinks a pious soul, that is truly touched with divine goodness, influenced by it, and impressed with it, as the needle is with the loadstone, must needs strive powerfully within itself, to be in con- junction with it: a holy soul, that after all its wearisome defeats, and shameful disappointments in the creature, finds itself perfectly matched with this infinite, full, and perfect object, must certainly und necessarily be carried, without any other argu- FAREWELL TO LIFE. 405 ment, with fervent longings after union to it, and communion with it. The spouse might say con- cerning Christ, as he concerning her, " Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadab : and every pious soul may, in some de- gree, say with that spouse, " My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him : I rose up,'' &c. Tell me, friends, how can divine grace, that well of living water in the soul, choose but spring up into eternal life ? I hesitate not to affirm, that that which is of God in the soul must needs carry the soul after God ; as it belongs to heaven, so it will be longing towards heaven. That which is of a divine original, must needs have a divine tendency; that which is of divine extraction, will have in it a divine attraction, and pursue a divine perfection. That divine life and spirit that runs through pious souls, doth awaken and exalt, in some measure, all the powers of them into an active and cheerful sympathy with that absolute Good that renders them completely blessed. Hohness and purity of heart will be attract- ing God more and more to itself; and the more pure our souls are, and the more separate from earthly things, the more earnestly will they endea- vour the nearest union that may be with God ; and so, by consequence, methinks they must needs, in some sense, desire the removal of that animal life, and dark body that stands in their way ; for they know, that that which now letteth will let, (such is 406 FAREWELL TO LIFE. the unchangeable nature of it,) till it be laid in the dust, till it be taken out of the way. The thirsty king did but cry for water of the well of Bethlehem, and his champions broke through the host of the Philistines and fetched it ; and will ye not allow the tliirsty soul, if not to break through to fetch it, yet at least to break out into an " Oh that one would give me to drink'' of the living water of the fountain of grace, and peace, and love ? Will ye allow hunger to break down stone-walls ; and will ye neither allow the hungry soul to break down these mud-walls, nor to wish within itself that they were broken down ? In a word, then, give me leave earnestly to exhort you to an earnest pressing after perfect fruition of, and eternal converse with God ; and, to change the apostle's words, Seeing we are compassed about with so great a divine light, and glory, and brightness, let us be willing and de- sirous to lay aside this weight of flesh, and this body, that so easily resists us with sins and snares, and run with eagerness to the object that is set be- fore us. "Draw me, we will run after thee." — Amen, Amen. END OF VOL. I. Printed by J. Vint, Id>e. ClC:.^ Date Due ,p«4-«*»» JiC si iblr.h ' I ' m PRINTED IN U. S. A. Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries /^*' ^C^. .. 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