of plenty and this is that the wise man would have us seriously to consider Eccles 7. 14. In the day of adversity consider but what must wee consider that God hath set the one over against the other As God hath set winter and summer night and day fair weather and foul one over against another So let us set our present mercies over against our present troubles and wee shall presently finde that our mercies exceed our troubles that they mightily over-ballance our present afflictions therefore let us bee silent let us lay our hands upon our mouths Fifthly If you cast up a just and righteous account you will finde Read but the ten persecutions and thou wilt be full of this opinion that they are not so many as the afflictions that hath befallen other Saints have you reckoned up the afflictions that befell Abraham Jacob Joseph Job Asaph Heman the Prophets and Apostles if you have you will say that your afflictions are no afflictions to those that have befallen them their lives were filled up with sorrows and sufferings but so are not yours therefore kiss the rod and bee silent It may bee if thou lookest but upon thy relations thy friends thy neighbours thou mayest finde many whose afflictions for number and weight do much ouâ— weigh thine therefore bee silent murmure not hold-thy peace Sixthly Not so many as attended our Lord Jesus whose whole life from the cradle to the crosse Isa 53. read the whole chapter was nothing but a life of sufferings Osorius writing of the Sufferings of Christ saith that the Crown of Thorns bored his head with seventy two wounds Many seventy two afflictions did Christ meet with whilst hee was in this world none can bee ignorant of this who have but read the new Testament he is called a man of sorrows his whole life was filled up with sorrows when hee was but a little past thirty years of age sorrows pains troubles oppositions persecutions had so worn him that the Jews judged him towards fifty John 8. 57. a man were as good compare the number of his bâ—some-friends with the stars of Heaven as compare his afflictions and the afflictions of Christ together Seventhly Muttering and murmuring will but add to the number when the childe is under the rod his crying and fretting doth but add lash to lash blow to blow but of this enough before Eighthly and lastly Though they are many yet they are not so many Psal 16. ult Isa 64. 4. 1 Cor. 2. 9 as the joys the pleasures the delights that bee at Christs right hand as the pleasures of Heaven are matchless and endless so they are numberless Augustine speaking August de Triplici habitu cap. 4. concerning what we can say of heaven saith that it is but a little drop of the Sea and a little spark of the great Furnace those good things of eternal life are so many that they exceed number so great that they exceed measure so precious that they are above all estimation â—â—c Christus nec coelum patitur hyperbolem neither Christ nor Heaven can bee hyperbolized for every affliction many thousand joyes and delights will attend the Saints in a glorified estate what will that life bee or rather what will not that life bee saith one speaking of Heaven since all good either is not at all or is in such a life Light which place cannot comprehend Voices and musick which time cannot ravish away Odours which are never dissipated a Feast which is never consumed a Blessing which eternity bestoweth but eternity shall never see at an end and let this suffice for answer to this fourth Objection Object 5 My afflictions are very great how then can I hold my peace though they were many yet if they were not great I would bee mute but alass they are very very great Oh! how can I bee silent under them how can I now lay my hand upon my mouth To this answer First Though they are great yet they are not so great as thy sins thy self being Read Psa 106. and Nehem. 9. Judge therefore hold thy peace Ezra 9. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespasse seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve They that are under the sense and guilt of great sins have cause to bee silent under their greatest sufferings Never complain that thy afflictions are great till thou canst say that thy sins are not great it is but justice that great afflictions should attend great sins therefore bee quiet thy sins are like great Rocks and mighty Mountains but so are not thy afflictions therefore lay thy hand upon thy mouth the remembrance of great sins should cool and calm a mans spirit under his greatest troubles and if the sense of thy great sins will not stop thy mouth and silence thy heart I know not what will Secondly It may bee they are not great if you look upon them with Scripture-spectacles flesh and 1 Pet. 5. 10 blood many times looks upon Mole-hills as Mountains and scratches upon the hand as stabs at the heart wee make Elephants of Flies and of little Pigmies wee frame Giants Carnal reason often looks upon troubles through false glasses As there are some glasses that will make great things seem little so there are others that will make little things seem great and it may be that thou lookest upon thy afflictions through one of them Look upon thy afflictions in the Isa 54. 7 8. ch 26. 20. glass of the word look upon them in a Scripture dress and then they will bee found to bee but little hee that shall look into a Gospel-glass shall bee able to say heavy afflictions are light long afflictions are short bitter afflictions are sweet and great afflictions are little 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. It is good to make a judgement of your afflictions by a Gospel light and by a Gospel rule Artâ—mon an Engineer was afraid of his own shadow men that look not upon their afflictions in a Scripture dress will bee afraid even of the shadow of trouble they will cry out no affliction to our affliction no burden to our burden no cross to our cross no loss to our loss but one look into a Gospel-glass would make them change their note The Lion is not alwaies so great nor so terrible as hee is painted neither are our troubles alwaies so great as wee fancy them to bee when Hagars bottle of water was spent shee sate down and fell a weeping as if shee had been utterly undone her provision and her patience her bottle and her Gen. 21. 17 18 19 hope were both out together but her affliction was not so great as shee imagined for there was a well of water near though for a time shee saw it not So many Christians they eye the empty bottle the cross the burden that is at present upon them and then they
fall a weeping a whining a complaining a repining a murmuring as if they were utterly undone and yet a well of water a well of comfort a well of refreshment a well of deliverance is near and their case no waies so sad nor so bad as they imagine it to beâ— Thirdly The greater thy afflictions are the nearer is deliverance to thee when these waters rise high then salvation comes upon the wing when thy troubles are very great then mercy will ride Scripture and History speaks fully to this head post to deliver thee Deut. 32. 36. For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants when hee seeth that their power or hand is gone and there is none shut up and left Israel of old and England of late years hath often experienced this truth Wine was nearest Joh. 2. 1 2 3. when the water-pots were filled with water up to the brim So oftentimes mercy is nearest deliverance is nearest when our afflictions are at the highest when a Christian is brim-full of troubles then the wine of consolation is at hand therefore hold thy peace murmure not but sit silent before the Lord. Fourthly They are not great if compared to the glory that shall bee revealed Rom. 8. 18. For I 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18 reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory that shall bee revealed in us or upon us The Apostle upon casting up of his accounts concludes that all the pains chains troubles trials and torments that they met with in this world was not to bee put in the ballance with the glory of Heaven As the Globe of the Earth which after the Mathematicians account is many thousands of miles in compass yet being compared unto the greatness of the starry skies circumference is but a center or a little prick So the troubles afflictions and sorrows of this life in respect of eternal happiness and blessedness are to bee reputed as nothing they are but as the prick of a pin to the starry Heavens they that have heard most of the glory of Heaven have not heard one quarter of that which the Saints shall finde there that glory is unconceivable and unexpressable Augustine in one of his Epistles hath this relation that the very same day wherein Jerome died hee was in his study and had got Pen Ink and Paper to write something of the glory of Heaven to Jerome and suddenly hee saw a light breaking into his study and a sweet smell that came unto him and this voice hee thought hee heard O Augustine what doest thou dost thou think to put the Sea into a liâ—tle vessel when the Heavens shall cease from their continual motion then shalt thou bee able to understand what the glory of Heaven is and not before except you come to feel it as now I do Nicephorus speaks of one Agbarus Eccles Hist a great man that hearing so much of Christs fame by reason of the miracles hee wrought sent a Painter to take his picture and that the Painter when hee came was not able to do it because of that radiancy and divine splendor which sate on Christs face such is the splendor the brightness the glory the happiness and blessedness that is reserved for the Saints in Heaven that had I all the tongues of men on earth and all the excellencies of the Angels in Heaven yet should I not bee able to conceive nor to express that vision of glory to you it is best hastning thither that wee may feel and enjoy that which wee shall never bee able to declare Fifthly They are not great if compared with the afflictions and torments of such of the damned who when they were in this world 1 Pet. 3. 18 19 20 Jude 6 7. Mat. 10. 15. â—h 11. 23 24 never sinned at so high a rate as thou hast done Doubtless there are many now in Hell who never sinned against such clear light as thou hast done nor against such special love as thou hast done nor against such choice means as thou hast done nor against such precious mercies as thou hast done nor against such singular remedies as Isa 33. 14 The fire in hell is like that stone in Arcadia which being once kindled could not be quenched thou hast done certainly there are many now a roaring in everlasting burnings who never sinned against such deep convictions of conscience as thou hast done nor against such close and strong reasonings of the Spirit as thou hast done nor against such free offers of mercy and rich tenders of grace as thou hast done nor against such sweet wooings and multiplied intreaties of a bleeding dying Saviour as thou hast done therefore hold thy peace What are thy afflictions thy torments to the torments of the damned whose torments are numberless easeless remediless and endless whose pains are without intermission or mitigation who have weeping served in for the first course and gnashing of teeth for the second and the gnawing worm for the third and intollerable pain for the fourth yet the pain of the body is but the body of pain the very soul of sorrow and pain is the souls sorrow and pain and an everlasting alienation and separation from God for the fifth Ah Christian how canst thou seriously think on these things and not lay thy hand upon thy mouth when thou art under the greatest sufferings thy sins have been far greater than many of theirs and thy greatest afflictions are but a flea-bite to theirs therefore bee silent before the Lord. Sixthly and lastly If thy afflictions are so great then what madness and folly will it bee for thee to make them greater by murmuring every act of murmuring will but add load unto load 1 Cor. 10. 10. and burden to burden The Israelites under great afflictions fell a murmuring and their murmuring proved their utter ruine as you may see in that Numb 14. Murmuâ—ing will but put God upon heating the furnace seven times hotter therefore hold thy peace But of this I have spoken sufficiently already Object 6. Oh! But my afflictions are greater than other mens afflictions are and how then can I bee silent Oh! there is no affliction to my affliction how can I hold my peace I answer First It may bee thy sins are greater than other mens Jer. 3. 6 12 sins if thou hast sinned against more light more love more mercies more experiences more promises than others no wonder if thy afflictions are greater than others if this bee thy case thou hast more cause to bee mute than to murmure and certainly if thou dost but seriously look into the black book of thy conscience thou wilt finde greater sins there than any thou canst charge upon any person or persons on earth if thou shouldest not I think thou wouldest justly incur the censure which that sowre Philosopher past upon Grammarians viz. That they Diogenes apud Laertium l. 6
on the other side of him and there hee sees infernal fiends in fearful shapes amazing and terrifying of him and waiting to receive his despairing soul as soon as shee shall take her leave of his wretched body hee looks above him and there hee sees the gates of Heaven shut against him hee looks beneath him and there hee sees hell gaping for him and under these sad sights hee is full of secret conclusions against his own soul there is mercy for others saith the despairing soul but none for mee grace and favour for others but none for mee pardon and peace for others but none for mee As that despairing Pope said the cross could do him no good because hee had so often sold it blessedness and happiness for others but none for mee there is no help there is no hope no Jer. 2. 25. ch 18. 1â— this seems to be his case who died with this desperate saying in his mouth spes fortuna vâ—lete farewel life and hope together Now under these dismal apprehensions and sad conclusions about its present and future condition the despairing soul sits silent being filled with amazement and astonishment Psal 77. 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak But this is not the Silence here meant But Seventhly and lastly There is a prudent Silence a holy a gracious Silence a Silence that springs from prudent principles from holy principles and from gracious causes and considerations and this is the Silence here meant And this I shall fully discover in my Answers to the second Question which is this Quest 2 What doth a prudent a gracious a holy Silence include Answer 1 It includes and takes in these eight things First It includes a sight of God and an acknowledgement of God as the author of all the afflictions that come upon us And this you have plain in the Text I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it The Psalmist In second causes many times a Christian may see much envy hatred malice pride c. But in the first cause he can see nothing but grace and mercy sweetness and goodness looks through secondary causes to the first cause and so sits mute before the Lord. There is no sickness so little but God hath a finger in it though it bee but the aking of the little finger As the Scribe is more eyed and properly said to write than the pen and hee that maketh and keepeth the Clock is more properly said to make it go and strike than the wheels and weights that hang upon it and as every work-man is more eyed and properly said to effect his works rather than the tools which hee useth as his instruments so the Lord who is the chief Agent and mover in all actions and who hath the greatest hand in all our afflictions is more to bee eyed and owned than any inferiour or subordinate causes whatsoever So Job hee beheld God in all Job 1. 21. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Had hee not seen God in the affliction hee would have cried out Oh these wretched Chaldeans they have plundred and spoiled mee These wicked Sabeans they have robbed and wronged mee Job discerns Gods Commission in the Chaldeans and the Sabeans hands and then laies his own hand upon his mouth So Aaron beholding the hand of God in the untimely death of his two sons holds his peace Levit. 10. 3. the sight of God in this sad stroak is a bridle both to his mind and mouth hee neither mutters nor murmurs So Joseph saw the hand of God in his brethrens selling of him into Egypt Gen. 45. 8. and that silences him Men that see not God in an affliction are easily cast into a feaverish fit they will quickly bee in a flame and when their passions are up and their hearts on fire they will begin to bee sawcy and make no bones of telling God to his teeth that they do well to bee angry Jonah 4. 8 9. Such as will not acknowledge God to bee the author of all their afflictions will bee ready enough to fall in with that mad principle of the Manachees who maintained the Devil to bee the Author of all calamities As if there could bee any evil of affliction in the City and the Lord have no hand in it Amos 3. 6. Such as can see the ordering hand of God in all their afflictions will with David lay their hands upon their mouths when the Rod of God is upon their backs 2 Sam. 16. 11 12. If Gods hand bee not seen in the affliction the heart will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction Secondly It includes and takes in some holy gracious apprehensions of the Majesty Soveraignty Dignity Authority and presence of that God under whose afflicting hand we are Hab. 2. 20. But the Lord is in his holy Temple let all the earth bee silent or as the Hebrew reads it bee silent all the earth before his face When God would have all the people of the earth to bee husht quiet and silent before him hee would have them to behold him in his Temple where hee sits in state in majesty and glory Zephan 1. 7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God Chat not murmure not repine not quarrel not Whist stand mute bee silent lay thy hand on thy mouth when his hand is upon thy back who is totus oculus all-eye to see as well as all hand to punish As the eyes of a well-drawn picture are fastened on thee which way soever thou turnest so are the eies of the Lord and therefore thou hast cause to stand mute before him Thus Aaron had an eye to the soveraignty of God and that silences Levit. 10. 3 Job 37. 23 24. 1 Sam. 3. 11 19. him And Job had an eye upon the majesty of God and that stills him And Elie had an eye upon the authority and presence of God and that quiets him A man never comes to humble himself nor to bee silent under the hand of God till hee comes to see the hand of God to bee a mighty hand 1 Pet. 5. 6. Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God When men look upon the hand of God as a weak hand a feeble hand a low hand a mean hand their hearts rise against his hand Who is the Lord said Pharaoh that I should obey his voice Exod. 5. 2. And till Pharaoh came to see the hand of God as a mighty hand and to feel it as a mighty hand hee would not let Israel go When Tiribazus a Noble Persian was arrested at first hee drew out his sword and defended himself but when they charged him in the Kings name and informed him that they came from the King and were commanded to bring him to the King he yeelded willingly So when afflictions arrest us we shall murmure and grumble and struggle and strive even to the death before wee shall yeeld to that God that
affliction comes in love upon a soul the language of that soul is this Lord remove the cause rather than the effect the sin rather than the punishment my corruption rather than my affliction Lord what will it avail mee to have the sore skinned over if the corrupt matter still remains in there is no evil Lord to the evil of sin and therefore deliver mee rather from the evil of sâ—n than the evil of sufferings I know Lord that affliction cannot bee so displeasing to mee as sin is dishonourable and displeasing to thee and therefore Lord let mee see an end of my sin though in this world I should never see an end of my sorrows Oh! let mee see an end of my corruptions though I should never see an end of my corrections Lord I had rather have a cure for my heart than a cure for my head I had rather bee made whole and sound within than without I had rather have a healthy soul than a healthy body a pure inside than a beautiful outside if this bee the setled frame and temper of thy spirit certainly thy afflictions are in love There was one who being under marvelous great pains and torments in his body occasioned by many sore diseases that were upon him cryed out had I all the world I would give it for ease and yet for all the world I would not have ease till the cure bee wrought sure his afflictions were in love the first request the great request and the last request of a soul afflicted in love is a cure Lord a cure Lord a cure Lord of this wretched heart and this sinful life and all will bee well all will bee well Eighthly and lastly If you live a life of Faith in your afflictions then your afflictions are in love Now what is it to live by Faith in affliction but to live in the exercising These following promises have been choice cordials to many Christians under sore distresses Isa 57. 15 ch 41. 10 1 Tim. 1. 15 Joh. 10. 27 28 29 Isa 26. 3 Mat. 11. 28 1 Joh. 3. 14 of Faith upon those precious promises that are made over to an afflicted condition God hath promised to bee with his people in their afflictions Isa 43. 2 3. hee hath promised to support them under their afflictions Isa 41. 10. hee hath promised to deliver his people out of their afflictions Psal 50. 15. hee hath promised to purge away his peoples sins by affliction Isa 1. 25. hee hath promised to make his people more partakers of his holiness by affliction Heb. 12. 10. hee hath promised to make afflictions an inlet to a more full and sweet enjoyment of himself Hosea 2. 14. hee hath promised that hee will never leave nor forsake his people in their afflictions Heb. 13. 5 6. hee hath promised that all their afflictions shall work for their good Zech. 13. 9. Rom. 8. 28. Now if thy Faith bee drawn forth to feed upon these promises if these bee heavenly Manna to thy Faith and thy soul lives upon them and sucks stre 〈…〉 〈◊〉 sweetness from them und 〈…〉 〈◊〉 trials and troubles that 〈◊〉 〈…〉 on thee thy afflictions are in love A Bee can suck honey out of a flower which a Flie cannot if thy Faith can extract comfort and sweetness in thy saddest distresses out of the breasts of precious promises and gather one contrary out of another Honey out of the Deut. 32. 13. Rock thy afflictions are in love The Promises are full breasts and God delights that Faith should As the mother delights that the childe should draw hers draw them they are pabulum fidei anima fidei the food of Faith and the very soul of Faith They are an everlasting spring that can never bee drawn dry they are an inexhaustible treasure that can never bee exhausted they are the garden of Paradise and full of such choice flowers that will never fade but bee alwaies fresh sweet green and flourishing and if in the day of affliction they prove thus to thy soul thy afflictions are in love Sertorius paid Plutarch what hee promised with fair words but so doth not God men many times eat their words but God will never eat his all his promises in Christ are Yea and in 2 Cor. 1. 20. him Amen hath hee spoken it and shall it not come to pass if in all thy troubles thy heart bee drawn forth to act Faith upon the promises thy troubles are from love and thus much by way of answer to the first Objection Object 2 Oh but Sir The Lord hath smitten mee in my nearest and dearest comforts and contentments and how then can I hold my peace God hath taken away a husband a wife a childe an onely childe a bosome friend and how then can I bee silent c. Answ To this I Answer First If God did not strike thee in that mercy which was near and dear unto thee it would not amount to an affliction that is not worthy the name of an affliction that doth not strike at some bosome mercy that trouble is no trouble that doth not touch some choice contentment that storm is no storm that onely blows off the leaves but never hurts the fruit that thrust is no thrust that onely touches the cloaths but never reaches the skin that cut is no cut that onely cuts the hatt but never touches the head neither is that affliction any affliction that onely reaches some remote enjoyment but never reaches a Joseph a Benjamin c. Secondly The best mercy is not too good for the best God the best of the best is not good enough for him who is goodness it self the best childe the best yoak-fellow the best friend the best Jewel in all thy Crown must bee readily resigned to thy best God Isa 43. 22 25. Mal. 1. 13 14. there is no mercy no enjoyment no contentment worthy of God but the best the milk of mercy is for others the cream of mercy is due to God the choicest the fairest and the sweetest flowers are fittest for the bosome of God if hee will take the best flower in all thy garden and plant it in a better soil hast thou any cause to murmure wilt thou not hold thy peace Thirdly Your near and dear mercies were first the Lords before they were yours and alwaies the Lords more than they were yours when God gives a mercy hee doth not relinquish his own right in that mercy 1 Chron. 29. 14. All things come of thee and of thine own have wee given thee The sweet of mercy is yours but the sovereign right to dispose of your mercies is the Lords Quicquid es debes creanti quicquid potes debes redimenti Bern. Whatsoever thou art thou owest to him that made thee and whatsoever thou hast thou owest to him that redeemed thee You say it is but just and reasonable that men should do with their own as they please and is it not just and
is in the body of man that although in some degree or other more or less there bee a mixture of all the four elements not any of them wholly wanting yet there is some one of them predominant that gives the denomination in which regard some are said to be of a sanguin some of a phlegmatick some of a cholerick and some of a melancholick constitution So it is also in the souls of men though there bee a general mixture and medly of all evil and corrupt qualities yet is there some one usually that is Paramount which like the Prince of Devils is most powerful and prevalent that swayeth and sheweth forth it self more eminently and evidently than any other of them do And as in every mans body there is a seed and principle of death yet in some there is a proneness to one kinde of disease more than other that may hasten death So though the root of sin and bitterness hath spread it self over all yet every man hath his inclination to one kinde of sin rather than another and this may bee called a mans proper sin his bosome sin his darling sin Now it is one of the hardest works in this world to subdue and bring under this bosome sin Oh! the prayers the tears the sighs the sobs the groans the gripes that it will cost a Christian before hee brings under this darling sin Look upon a Rabbets skin how well it comes off till it comes to the head but then what haling and pulling is there before it stirs So it is in the mortifying in the crucifying of sin a man may easily subdue and mortifie such and such sins but when it comes to the head sin to the master-sin to the bosome-sin Oh! what tugging and pulling is there what striving and strugling is there to get off that sin to get down that sin Now if the Lord by smiting thee in some near and dear enjoyment shall draw out thy heart to fall upon smiting of thy master-sin and shall so sanctifie the affliction as to make it issue in the mortification of thy bosome corruption what eminent cause wilt thou have rather to bless him than to fit down and murmure against him and doubtless if thou art dear to God God will by striking thy dearest mercy put thee upon striking at thy darling-darling-sin and therefore hold thy peace even then when God touches the apple of thiâ—e eye Ninthly Consider That the Lord hath many waies to make up the loss of a near and dear mercy to thee hee can make up thy loss in Mat. 19. 27 ult something else that may bee better for thee and hee will certainly make up thy loss either in kinde or in worth hee took from David an Absalom and hee gave him a Solomon hee took from him a Michal and gave him a wise Abigail hee took from Job seven sons The first and last chapters of Job compared Joh 16. 7 8. c. Act. 2. and three daughters and afterwards hee gives him seven sons and three daughters hee took from Job a fair estate and at last doubled it to him hee removed the bodily presence of Christ from his disciples but gave them more abundantly of his spiritual presence which was far the greater and the sweeter mercy If Moses bee taken away Joshua shall bee raised in his room if David bee gathered to his Fathers a Solomon shall succeed him in his Throne if John bee cast into prison rather than the Pulpit shall stand empty a greater than John even Christ himself will begin to preach hee that lives upon God in the loss of creature-comforts shall finde all made up in the God of comforts hee shall bee able to say though my childe is not my friend is not my yoak-fellow is not yet my God liveth and blessed bee my Rock Psal 89. 46. though this mercy is not and that mercy is not yet covenant mercies yet the sure mercies 2 Sam. 23. 5. of David continue these bed and board with mee these will to the grave and to glory with mee I have read of a godly man who living near a Philosopher did often perswade him to become a Christian Oh but said the Philosopher I must or may lose all for Christ to which the good man replied if you lose any thing for Christ hee will bee sure to repay it a hundred fold I but said the Philosopher will you bee bound for Christ that if he do not pay mee you will yes that I will said the good man So the Philosopher became a Christian and the good man entred into bond for performance of covenants sometime after it happened that the Philosopher fell sick on his death-bed and holding the bond in his hand sent for the party engaged to whom hee gave up the bond and said Christ hath paid all there is nothing for you to pay take your bond and cancel it Christ will suffer none of his children to go by the loss he hath all and hee will make up all to them in the close Christ will pay the reckoning no man shall ever have cause to say that hee hath been a loser by Christ and therefore thou hast much cause to bee mute thou hast no cause to murmure though God hath snatch'd the fairest and the sweetest flower out of thy bosome Tenthly How canst thou tell but that that which thou callest a near and dear mercy if it had been The Lamentations of Jeremiah are a full proof of this continued longer to thee might have proved the greatest cross the greatest calamity and misery that ever thou didst meet with in this world Our mercies like choice Wines many times turn into Vinegar our fairest hopes are often blasted and that very mercy which wee sometimes have said should be a staff to support us hath proved a sword to peirce us how often have our most flourishing mercies withered in our hands and our bosome-contentments been turned into gall and wormwood If God had 2 Sam. 12. 16. continued the life of Davids childe to him it would have been but a living Monument of his sin and shame and all that knew the childe would have pointed at him yonder goes Davids bastard and so This age affords many sad instances of this nature who can think of Tiburn question it and of killing drowning and say how can this bee have kept Davids wound still a bleeding many Parents who have sought the lives of their children with tears have lived afterwards to see them take such courses and come to such dismal ends as have brought their gray-hairs with sorrow to their graves It had been ten thousand times a greater mercy to many Parents to have buried their children as soon as ever they had been born than to see them come to such unhappy ends as they often do Well Christian it may bee the Lord hath taken from thee such a hopeful son or such a dear daughter and thou sayest how can I hold
were better acquainted with the evils of Ulysses than with their own Never complain that thy afflictions are greater than others except thou canst evidence that thy sins are lesser than others Secondly It may bee thou art under some present distemper that dis-inables thee to make a right judgement of the different dealings Deut. 28. 28. Good men are sometimes strangely besotted and infatuated of God with thy self and others When the mind is distempered and the brain troubled many things seem to bee that are not and then little things seem very great Oh! the strange passions the strange imaginations the strange conclusions that attend a distempered judgement I have read of a foolish Emperour who to shew the greatness of his City made shew of many Spiders when the mind is disturbed men many times say they know not what and do they know not what it may be when these clouds are blown over and thy mind cleared and thy judgement setled thou wilt bee of another opinion The supplicant woman appealed from drunken King Philip to sober King Philip it is good to appeal from a distempered mind to a clear composed mind for that is the way to make a righteous judgement of all the righteous dispensations of God both towards our selves and towards others Nothing but strong vomits strong purges strong glisters will cure some Thirdly It may bee that the Lord sees that it is very needful that thy afflictions should be greater than others it may bee thy heart is harder than other mens hearts and prouder and stouter than other mens hearts it may bee thy heart is more impure than others and more carnal than others or else more passionate and more worldly than others or else more deceitful and more hypocritical than others or else more cold and careless than others or else more secure than others or more formal and luke-warm than others now if this bee thy case certainly God sees it very necessary for the breaking of thy hard heart and the humbling of thy proud heart and the cleansing of thy â—oul heart and the spiritualizing of thy carnal heare c. that thy afflictions should bee greater than others and therefore hold thy peace where the disease is strong the physick must bee strong else the cure will never bee wrought God is a wise Physician and hee would never give strong physick Jer. 30. 11. ch 46. 28. if weaker could effect the cure Isa 27. 8. The more rusty the Iron is the oftner wee put it into the fire to purifie it and the more crooked it is the more blows and the harder blows wee give to straiten it thou hast been long a gathering rust and therefore if God deal thus with thee thou hast no cause to complain Fourthly Though thy afflictions are greater than this and that particular mans afflictions yet doubtless there are many thousands in the world whose afflictions are greater than thine Canst thou seriously consider the sore calamities and miseries that the devouring sword hath brought upon many thousand Christians in forein parts and say that thy afflictions are greater than theirs surely no. Lib. 8 cap. 21. Pliny in his natural history writeth that the nature of the Basilisk is to kill all trees and shrubs it breathes upon and to scorch and burn all Read Josephus and the history of the Bohemian persecution herbs and grass it passeth over Such are the dismal effects of war the sword knows no difference between Catholicks and Lutherans as once the Duke of Medina Sidonia said betwixt the innocent and the guilty betwixt young and old betwixt bond and free betwixt male and female betwixt the precious and the vile the godly and the prophane betwixt the Prince and the subject betwixt the Noble man and the beggar the sword eats the flesh and drinks the blood of all sorts and sexes without putting any difference betwixt one or the other The poor Protestants under the Duke of Savoy and those in Poland Denmark Germany and several other parts have found it so Many of their wounds are not healed to this day Who can retain in his fresh and bleeding memory the dreadful work that the sword of war hath made in this Nation and not say surely many thousands have been greater sufferers than my self they have resisted unto blood but so have not I Heb. 12. 4. But Fifthly As thy afflictions are greater than other mens so it may bee thy mercies are greater than other mens mercies and if so thou hast no cause but to hold thy peace as Jobs afflictions were greater than other mens so his mercies were greater that other Job 1 mens and Job wisely sets one against another and then laies his hand upon his mouth It may bee thou hast had more health than others and more strength than others and more prosperity than others and more smiling providences than others and more good daies than others and more sweet and comfortable relations than others And if this bee thy case thou hast much cause to bee mute thou hast no cause to murmure if now thy winter nights bee longer than others remember thy summer daies have formerly been longer than others and therefore hold thy peace But Sixthly and lastly By great afflictions the Lord may greaten thy graces and greaten thy name and James 5. 10 11 fame in the world by Jobs great afflictions God did greaten his faith and greaten his patience and greaten his integrity and greaten his wisdome and knowledge and greaten his experience and greaten his name and fame in the world as you all know that have but read his book Bonds and afflictions Act. 20. 23. 2 Cor. 11. waited on Paul in every City his afflictions and sufferings were very great but by them the Lord greatned his spirit his zeal his courage his confidence his resolution and his name and fame both among sinners and Saints Certainly if thou art dear to Christ hee will greaten thee in spirituals by all the great afflictions that are upon thee hee will raise thy faith and inflame thy love and quicken thy hope and brighten thy zeal and perfect thy patience and perfume thy name and make it Prov. 22. 1 Eccles 7. 1 like a precious ointment like a preciouâ— ointment poured forth so that good men shall say and bad men shall say Lo here is a Christian indeed here is a man more worth than the gold of Ophir therefore hold thy peace though thy afflictions are greater than others Object 7. I would bee silent but my outward affliction is attended with sore temptations God hath not onely outwardly afflicted mee but Satan is let loose to buffet mee and therefore how can I bee silent how can I hold my peace now I am fallen under manifold temptations To this I answer First No man is the less beloved because hee is tempted nay those that God loves best are usually Eph. 6. 12 tempted most witness David Job Joshua
more bee under the rich influences and glorious pourings out of the Spirit that I may bee an able Minister of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3. 6 not of the Letter but of the Spirit that I may alwaies finde an everlasting spring and an overflowing fountain within mee which may alwaies make mee faithful constant and abundant in the work of the Lord And that I may live daily under those inward teachings of the Spirit that may inable mee to speak from the heart to the heart from the coâ—science to the conscience and from experience to experience that I may bee a burning and a shining light that everlasting arms may bee still under mee that whilst I live I may bee serviceable to his Glory and his Peoples good that no discouragements may discouâ—age mee in my work and that when my work is done I may give up my account with joy and not with grief I shall follow these poor labours with my weak prayers that they may contribute much to your internal and eternal welfare And so rest Your souls servant in our dearest Lord THOMAS BROOKS THE MUTE CHRISTIAN Under the SMARTING ROD. PSAL. 39. 9. I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it NOt to trouble you with a tedious Preface wherein usually is a flood of words and but a drop of matter This Psalm consists of two parts the first Exegetical or narrative the second Eutical or precative a Narration and Prayer take up the whole In the former you have the Prophets Disease discovered and in the latter the Remedy applied My Text falls in the latter part where you have the way of Davids cure or the means by which his soul was reduced to a still and quiet temper I shall give a little light into the words and then come to the point that I intend to stand upon I was dumb the Hebrew word Some read it thus I should have been dumb and not have opened my mouth according to my first resolution vers 1 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to bee mute tongue-tied or dumb the Hebrew word signifies also to binde as well as to bee mute and dumb because they that are dumb are as it were tongue-tied they have their lips stitcht and bound up Ah the sight of Gods hand in the afflictions that was upon him makes him lay a law of silence upon his heart and tongue I opened not my mouth because thou didst it hee looks thorow all secondary causes to the first cause and is silent hee sees a hand of God in all and so sits mute and quiet the sight of God in an affliction is of an irresistable efficacy to silence the heart and to stop the mouth of a gracious man In the words you may observe three things 1 The person speaking and that is David David a King David a Saint David a man after Gods own heart David a Christian and here we are to look upon David not as a King but as a Christian as a man whose heart was right with God 2 The action and carriage of David under the hand of God in these words I was dumb and opened not my mouth 3 The reason of this humble and sweet carriage of his in those words because thou didst it the Proposition is this Doct. That it is the great duty and concernment of gracious souls to bee mute and silent under the greatest afflictions the saddest providences and sharpest trials that they meet with in this world For the opening and clearing up of this great and useful truth I shall enquire First What this silence is that is here pointed at in the Proposition Secondly What a gracious a holy silence doth include Thirdly What this holy silence doth not exclude Fourthly The Reasons of the point and then bring home all by way of application to our own souls For the first What is the Silence here meant I answer there is a sevenfold Silence First There is a Stoical Silence the Stoicks of old thought it altogether below a man that hath reason and understanding either to rejoyce in any good or to mourn for any evil but this Stoical Silence is such a sinful unsensibleness as is very provoking to a holy God Isa 26. 10 11. God will make the most insensible sinner sensible either of his hand here or of his wrath in Hell It is a Heathenish and a horrid sin to be without natural affections Rom. 1. 31. And of this sin Quintus Fabius Maximus seems to be foulely guilty who when hee heard that his Mother and Wife whom he dearly loved were slain by the fall of an house and that his younger son a brave hopeful young man died at the same time in Umbria hee never changed his countenance but went on with the affairs of the Common-wealth as if no such calamity had befallen him this carriage of his spoke out more stupidity than patience And so Harpalus was not at all appalled when hee saw two of his sons laid ready drest in a charger when Astyages had bid him to Supper this was a sottish insensibleness Certainly if the loss of Job 36. 13 Isa 57. 1 a childe in the house bee no more to thee than the loss of a Chick in Hos 7. 9 Balaams Asse reproves this dumbness the yard thy heart is base and sordid and thou mayest well expect some sore awakening judgement This age is full of such Monsters who think it below the greatnesse and magnanimity of their spirits to bee moved affected or afflicted with any afflictions that befalls them I know none so ripe and ready for Hâ—ll as these Aristotle speaks of Fishes that though they have spears thrust into their sides yet they awake not God thrusts many a sharp spear thorow many a sinners heart and yet hee feels nothing hee complains of nothing these mens souls will bleed to death Seneca reports of Senecio Cornelius who minded his body more than his Epist 10. soul and his mâ—ny more than Heaven when hee had all the day 〈◊〉 waited on his dying friend 〈◊〉 his friend was dead hee re 〈◊〉 his house sâ—ps merrily 〈◊〉 himself quickly goes to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his sorrows were ended and the time of his mourning expired before his deceased friend was interred Such stupidity is a curse that many a man lies under But this Stoical Silence which is but a sinful fullenness is not the Silence here meant Secondly There is a Politick Silence Many are silent out of policy should they not bee silent they should lay themselves more open either to the rage and fury of men or else to the plots and designs of men to prevent which they are silent and will lay their hands upon their mouths that others may not lay their hands upon their estates lives or liberties And Saul also went home to Giheah 1 Sam. 26. 27 and there went with him a band of men whose hearts God had touched But the
28. Job 40. 4 5. chap. 42. 1 7. Surely this affliction shall issue in the purging away of my drosse Isa 1. 25. Surely as plowing of the ground killeth the weeds and harrowing breaketh hard clots so these afflictions shall kill my sins and soften my heart Hos 5. ult chap. 6. 1 2 3. Surely as the plaister draws out the core so the afflictions that are upon mee shall draw out the core of pride the core of self-love the core of envy the core of earthlinesse the core of formality the core of hypocrisie Psal 119. 67 71. Surely by these the Lord will crucifie my heart more and more to the world and the world to my heart Gal. 6. 14. Psal 131. 1 2 3. Surely by these afflictions the Lord will hide pride from my soul Job 33. 14 21. Surely these afflictions are but the Lords pruning-knives by which hee will bleed my sins and prune my heart and make it more fertil and fruitful they are but the Lords potion by which hee will clear mee and rid mee of those spiritual diseases and maladies which are most deadly and dangerous to my soul Affliction is such a potion as will carry away all ill humours better than all the benedicta medicamenta as Physicians call them Zach. 13. 8 9. Surely these shall encrease my spiritual experiences Rom. 5. 3 4 Surely by these I shall bee made more partaker of Gods holinesse Heb. 12. 10. As black sope makes white cloaths so doth sharp afflictions make holy hearts Surely by these God will communicate more of himself unto mee Hos 2. 14. Surely by these afflictions the Lord will draw out my heart more and more to seek him Isa 26. 16. Tatianus told the Heathen Greeks that when they were sick then they would send for their gods to be with them as Agamemnon did at the siege of Troy send for his ten Counsellors Hos 5. 15. In their afflictions they will seek mee early or as the Hebrew hath it they will morning mee in times of affliction Christians will industriously speedily early seek unto the Lord. Surely by these trials and troubles the Lord will fix my soul more than ever upon the great concernments of another world Joh. 14. 1 2 3. Rom. 8. 17 18. â— Cor. 4. 16 17 18. Surely by these afflictions the Lord will work in mee more tendernesse and compassion towards those that are afflicted Heb. 10. 34. chap. 13. 3. As that Tyrian Queen said Evils have taught mee to bemoan All that afflictions make to groan The Romans punished one that was seen looking out at his window with a Crown of Roses on his head in a time of publick calamity Bishop Bonner was full of guts but empty of bowels I am afraid this age is full of such Bonners Surely these are but Gods love-tokens Some say if a knife or needle be touched with a loadstone of an Iron-colour it will cut or enter into a mans body without any sense of pain at all so will afflictions when touched with the loadstone of divine love Rev. 3. 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Seneca perswaded his friend Polybius to bear his affliction quietly because hee was the Emperours favourite telling him that it was not lawful for him to complain whilst Caesar was his friend So saith the holy Christian O my soul bee quiet bee still all is in love all is a fruit of divine favour I see hony upon the top of every twig I see the rod is but a Rosemary-branch I have sugar with my gall and wine with my wormwood therefore bee silent O my soul And this general Conclusion that all should bee for good had this blessed effect upon the Church vers 28. Hee sitteth alone and keepeth silence because hee hath born it upon him Afflictions abase the loveliness of the world without that might entice us It abates the lustiness of the flesh within which might else ensnare us And it abates the spirit in his quarrel against the flesh and the world by all which it proves a mighty advantage unto us Secondly They shall keep them humble and low vers 29. Hee putteth his mouth in the dust if so bee there may bee hope Some say that these words are an allusion to the manner of those that having been conquered and subdued lay their necks down at the conquerours feet to bee trampled upon and to lick up the dust that is under the conquerours feet Others of the learned look upon the words as an allusion to poor petitioners who cast themselves down at Princes feet that they may draw forth their pitty and compassion towards them As I have read of Aristippus who fell on the ground before Dionysius and kissed his feet when hee presented a petition to him and being asked the reason answered Aures habet in pedibus hee hath his ears in his feet take it which way you will it holds forth this to us That holy hearts will bee humble under the afflicting hand of God When Gods Rod is upon their backs their mouths shall bee in the dust A good heart will lye lowest when the hand of God is lifted highest Job 42. 1 7. Act. 9. 1 8. Thirdly The third soul-quieting Conclusion you have in vers 31. For the Lord will not cast off for ever the Rod shall not alwaies lye upon the back of the righteous At even-tide loâ— there is trouble but afore morning it is gone Isa 17. 14. As Athanasius said to his friends when they came to bewail his misery and banishment Nubecula est cito transibit 't is but a little cloud said hee and will quickly bee gone There are none of Gods afflicted ones that have not their lucida intervalla their intermissions respites A little storm as one said of Julians persecution and an eternal calm follows breathing-whiles yea so small a while doth the hand of the Lord rest upon his people that Luther cannot get diminutives enough to extenuate it for hee calls it a very little little cross that wee bear Isa 26. 20. Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment or for a little space a little while until the indignation bee overpast The indignation doth not transire but pertransire pass but over-passe The sharpnesse shortnesse and suddenness of the Saints afflictions is set forth by the travel of a woman John 16. 21. which is sharp short and sudden Fourthly The fourth soul-silencing Conclusion you have in vers 32. But though hee cause grief yet will hee have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies in wrath God remembers mercy Hab. 3. 2. Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal 30. 5. their mourning shall last but till morning God will turn their winters night into a summers day their sighing into singing their grief into gladness their mourning into musick their bitter into sweet their
I know not what is As there are two kinds of Antidotes against poison viz. hot and cold so there are two kinds of Antidotes against all the troubles and afflictions of this life viz. prayer and patience the one hot the other cold the one quenching the other quickning Chrysostome understood this well enough when hee cryed out O! saith hee it is more bitter than death to be spoiled of prayer and thereupon observes that Daniel chose rather to run the hazard of his life than to lose his prayer Well this is the second thing a holy Silence doth not exclude prayer But Read the 9th of Ezra the 9th of Nehemiah and the 9th of Daniel and Psalm 51. with that 7th chapter of Job Thirdly A holy a prudent Silence doth not exclude mens being kindly affected and afflicted with their sins as the meritorious cause of all their sorrows and sufferings Lam. 3. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin Let us search and try our waies and turn again to the Lord. Job 40. 4 5. Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I proceed no further Micah 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned In all our sorrows wee should read our sins and when Gods hand is upon our backs our hands should bee upon our sins It was a good saying of one I Vivaldus hide not my sins but I shew them I wipe them not away but I sprinkle them I do not excuse them but accuse them The beginning of my salvation is the knowledge of my transgression When some told Prince Henry that delitiae generis humani that darling of mankind that the sins of the people brought that affliction on him O no said hee I have sins enough of mine own to cause that I have sinned saith David but what have these poor sheep done When a Christian is under the afflicting hand of God hee may well say I may thank this proud heart of mine this worldly heart this froward heart this formal heart this dull heart this backsliding heart this self-seeking heart of mine for that this cup is so bitter this pain so grievous this loss so great this disease so desperate this wound so incurable it is mine own self mine own sin that hath caused these floods of sorrows to break in upon mee But Fourthly A holy a prudent Silence doth not exclude the teaching and instructing of others when wee are afflicted the words of the afflicted stick close they many times work strongly powerfully strangely savingly upon the souls and consciences of others Many of Pauls Epistles were written to the Churches when hee was in bonds viz. Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Philemon hee begot Onesimus in his bonds Phil. 10. And many of the brethren in the Lord waxed bold and confident by his bonds and were confirmed and made partakers of grace by his Ministery when hee was in bonds Phil. 1. 7. 13 14. As the words of dying persons do many times stick and work gloriously so many times doth the words of afflicted persons work very noblely and efficaciously I have read of one Adrianus who seeing the Martyrs suffer such grievous things in the cause of Christ hee asked what that was which inabled them to suffer such things and one of them named that 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him This word was like Apples of Prov. 25. 11 Gold in Pictures of Silver for it made him not onely a Convert but a Martyr too And this was the means of Justin Martyrs conversion as himself confesseth Doubtless many have been made happy by the words of the afflicted the tongue of the afflicted hath been to many as choice silver the words of the afflicted many times are both pleasing and profitable they tickle the ear and they win upon the heart they slide insensibly into the hearers souls work efficaciously upon the hearers hearts Eccles 10. 12. The words of a wise mans mouth are gracious or Grace as the Hebrew hath it and so Hierome reads it Verba oris sapientis gratia the words of the mouth of a wise man are grace They minister grace to others and they win grace and favour from others gracious lips make gracious hearts gracious words are a grace an ornament to the speaker and they are a comfort a delight and an advantage to the hearer Now the words of a wise mans mouth are never more gracious than when hee is most afflicted and distressed Now you shall finde most worth and weight in his words Now his lips like the Spouses are like a threed of Scarlet they are red with talking much of a crucified Christ and they are thin like a thred not swell'd with vain and unprofitable discourses Now his mouth speaketh wisdome and his tongue talketh judgement for the Law of the Lord is in his heart Psal 37. 30. now his lips drop hony-combs Cant. 4. 10. now his tongue is as a tree of life whose leaves are medicinable Prov. 12. 18. Numb 10. 10 As the silver Trumpets sounded most joy to the Jews in the day of their gladnesse so the mouth of a wise man like a silver Trumpet sounds most joy and advantage to others in the daies of his sadnesse The Heathen man could say Quandâ— sapiens loquitur aulea animi â—perit when a wise man speaketh hee openeth the rich treasures and wardrobe of his mind so may I say when an afflicted Saint speaks Oh the pearls the treasures that hee scatters But Fifthly A holy a prudent Silence doth not exclude moderate mourning or weeping under the Psal 6. 6. Psa 39. 12. Jer. 9. 1 2 Lam. 1. 2. chap. 2. 11. 18. afflicting hand of God Isa 38. 3. And Hezekiah wept sore or as the Hebrew hath it wept with great weepings But was not the Lord displeased with him for his great weeping no vers 5. I have heard thy prayer I have seen thy tears behold I will add unto thy daies fifteen years God had as well a bottle for his Psal 56. 8 tears as a bagg for his sins There is no water so sweet as the Saints tears when they do not overflow the banks of moderation tears are not mutes they have a voice and their oratory is of great prevalency And the Greeks call the apple of the eye the damsel of the eye the girle of the eye and the Latines call it the babe of the eye with the Almighty God And therefore the weeping Prophet calleth out for tears Lam. 2. 18. Their heart crieth unto the Lord O wall of the daughter of Zion let tears run down like a river day and night give thy self no rest let not the apple of thine eye
hee doth yet hee is not bound to shew us the reasons of his doings Jeremiah's passion was up his blood was hot and now nothing will silence nor satisfie him but the reasons why his pain was perpetual and his wound incurable So Job chap. 7. 20. Why hast thou set mee as a mark against thee so that I am a burden to my self It is an evil and a dangerous thing to cavil at or to question his proceedings who is the chief Lord of Rom. 9. 20 Dan. 4. 34 35 all and who may do with his own what hee pleaseth Hee is unaccountable and uncontroulable and therefore who shall say what doest thou As no man may question his right to afflict him nor his righteousness in afflicting of him so no man may question the reasons why he afflicts him As no man can compel him to give a reason of his doings so no man may dare to ask him the particular reasons of his doings Kings think themselves not bound to give their subjects a reason of their Eccles 8. 4 doings and shall wee binde God to give us a reason of his doings who is the King of Kings and Rev. 1. 5 6 Lord of Lords and whose will is the true reason and onely rule of justice The general grounds and reasons that God hath laid down in his word why hee afflicts his people as viz. for their profit Heb. 12. 10. for the purging away of their sins Isa 1. 25. for the reforming of their lives Psal 119. 67. 71. and for the saving of their souls 1 Cor. 11. 32. should work them to bee silent and satisfied under all their afflictions though God should never satisfie their curiosity in giving them an account of some more hidden causes which may lye secret in the abyss of his eternal knowledge and infallible will Curiosity is the spiritual drunkenness of the soul and look as the drunkard will never bee satisfied bee the cup never so deep unless hee see the bottome of it so some curious Christians whose souls are over-spread with the leprosie of curiosity they will never bee satisfied till they come to see the bottome and the most secret reasons of all Gods dealings towards them but they are fools in folio who affect to know more than God would have them Did not Adams curiosity render him and his posterity fools in folio and what pleasure can wee take to see our selves every day fools in print As a man by gazing and prying into the body of the Sun may grow dark and dim and see less than otherwise hee might So many by a curious prying into the secret reasons of Gods dealings with them come to grow so dark and dim that they cannot see those plain reasons that God hath laid down in his word why hee afflicts and tries the children of men I have read of one Sir William John Stows survey of London Champney in the Reign of King Henry the third once living in Tower-street London who was the first man that ever built a Turret on the top of his house that hee might the better overlook all his neighbours but it so fell out that not long after hee was struck blind so that hee who could not bee satisfied to see as others did see but would needs see more than others saw just nothing at all through the just judgement of God upon him And so it is a just and righteous thing with God to strike such with spiritual blindness who will not bee satisfied with seeing the reasons laid down in the word why hee afflicts them but they must bee curiously prying and searching into the hidden and more secret reasons of his severity towards them Ah Christians it is your wisdome and duty to sit silent and mute under the afflicting hand of God upon the account of revealed reasons without making any curious inquiry into those more secret reasons that art lock'd up in the golden Cabinet of Gods own breast Deut. 29. â—9 Fifthly This truth looks sourely and sadly upon those who instead 1 Sam. 21. 12 ult Gen. 12. 13 20. chap. 20. 2 14. ch 26. 7 8 9 10. Jonah 1. 1 Sam. 28. throughout of being silent and mute under their afflictions use all sinful shifts and wayes to shift themselves out of their troubles who care not though they break with God and break with men and break with their own consciences so they may but break off the chains that are upon them who care not by what means the prison door is opened so they may but escape nor by what hands their bolts are knock'd off so they may bee at liberty Job 36. 21. Take heed regard not iniquity for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction Hee makes but an ill choice who chuses sin rather than suffering and yet such an ill choice good men have sometimes made as you may see by the proofs in the Margint when troubles have compassed them round about Though no Lion roars like that in a mans own bosome conscience yet some to deliver themselves from troubles without have set that Lion a roaring within Some to deliver themselves from outward tortures have put themselves under inward torments hee purchases his freedome from affliction at too dear a rate who buies it with the loss of a good name or a good conscience Now because there is even in good men sometimes too great an aptnesse and pronenesse to sin and shift themselves out of afflictions when they should rather bee mute and silent under them Give mee leave to lay down these six considerations to prevent it Frist Consider that there is infinitely James 3. 5 11. more evil in the least sin than there is in the greatest miseries and afflictions that can possibly come upon you yea there is more evil in the least sin than there is in all the troubles that ever came upon the world yea than there is in all the miseries and torments Prov. 8. 36 1 Joh. 3. 4 chap. 1. 7. Rev. 21. 8. of hell the least sin is an offence to the great God it is a wrong to the immortal soul it is a breach of a righteous Law it If you consider sin strictly there cannot be any little sin no more than there can bee a little god a little hell or a little damnation yet comparatively some sins may bee said to bee little cannot bee wash'd away but by the blood of Jesus it can shut the soul out of Heaven and shut the soul up a close prisoner in Hell for ever and ever The least sin is rather to bee avoided and prevented than the greatest sufferings if this Cockatrice bee not crushed in the Egg it will soon become a Serpent the very thought of sin if not thought on will break out into action action into custome custome into habit and then both body and soul are lost irrecoverably to all eternity The least sin is very dangerous Caesar was stabbed with bodkins Herod was eaten
said another it were a sad condition indeed iâ— they were carried to a place where they should not finde their God but let them bee of good chear God goes along with them and will exhibit the comforts of his presence whithersoever they go the presence of God with the spirits of his people is a breast of comfort that can never bee drawn drye it is an everlasting spring that will Heb. 13. 5 6 Isa 40. 29 30 31 never fail Well Christian thou art under many great troubles many sore trials but tell mee doth God give into thy soul such cordials such supports such comforts and such refreshments that the world knows not of O then certainly thy affliction is in love Fourthly If by your affliction you are made more conformable Witness Judas Demas and those in the 6th of John and many Qâ—akers and other deluded people among us this day to Christ in his virtues then certainly your afflictions are in love many are conformable to Christ in their sufferings that are not made conformable to Christ in his virtues by their sufferings many are in poverty neglect shame contempt reproach c. like to Christ who yet by these are not made more like to Christ in his meekness humbleness heavenliness holiness righteousness faithfulness fruitfulness goodness contentedness patience submission subjection Oh but if in these things you are made more like to Christ without all peradventure your afflictions are in love If by afflictions the soul bee led to shew forth or to preach forth the virtues of Christ as that word imports in that 1 Pet. 2. 9. then certainly Exaggeilete publickly to set forth those afflictions are in love for they never have such an operation but where they are set on by a hand of love when God strikes as an enemy there all those stroaks do but make a man more an enemy to God as you see in Pharaoh and others but when the stroaks Isa 26. 8 9 10 Jer. 5. 3. Amos 6. 1 ult of God are the stroaks of love Oh then they do but bring the soul nearer Christ and transform the soul more and more into the likeness of Christ if by thy afflictions thou art made more holy humble heavenly c. they are in love Every afflicted Christian should strive to bee honoured with that Elogie of Salvian singularis domini praeclarus imitator An excellent Disciple of a singular Master But Fifthly If by outward afflictions thy soul bee brought more under Job 34. 31 32 the inward teachings of God doubtless thy afflictions are in love Psal 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law All the chastening in the world without divine teaching will never make a man blessed that man that findes correction attended with instruction and lashing with lessoning is a happy man If God by the affliction that is upon thee shall teach thee how to loathe sin more and how to trample upon the world more and how to walk with God more thy afflictions are in love if God shall teach thee by afflictions how to dye to sin more and how to dye to thy relations more and how to dye to self-interest more thy afflictions are in love if God shall teach thee by afflictions how to live to Christ more how to lift up Christ more and how to long for Christ more thy afflictions are in love If God shall teach thee by afflictions to get assurance of a better life and to bee still in a gracious readiness and preparedness for the day of thy death thy afflictions are in love if God shall teach thee by afflictions how to minde Heaven more how to live in Heaven more and how to fit for Heaven more thy afflictions are in love if God by afflictions shall teach thy proud heart how to lye more low and thy hard heart how to grow more humble and thy censorious heart how to grow more charitable and thy carnal heart how to grow more spiritual and thy froward heart how to grow more quiet c. thy afflictions are in love When God teaches thy reins as well as thy brains thy heart as well as thy head these lessons or any of these lessons thy afflictions are in love Socrat. lib. 4. cap. 18. Pambo an illiterate dunce as the Historian terms him was a learning that one lesson I said I will take heed to my waies that I sin not with my tongue nineteen years and yet had not learned it Ah! it is to bee feared that there are many who have been in the school of affliction above this nineteen years and yet have not learned any saving lesson all this while surely their afflictions are not in love but in wrath where God loves hee afflicts in love and where-ever God afflicts in love there hee will first or last teach such souls such lessons as shall do them good to all eternity But Sixthly If God suit your burdens to your backs your trials to Isa 27. 8 Jer. 30. 11. ch 46. 28 your strength according to that golden promise 1 Cor. 10. 13. Your afflictions are in love There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to bee tempted above that yee are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that yee may bee able to bear it When Gods stroaks and a Christians strength are suited one to another all is in love let the load bee never so heavy Gen. 49. 23 24. that God laies on if hee put under his everlasting arms all is in love As Egypt had many venemous creatures so it had many antidotes against them when God shall lay antidotes into the soul against all the afflictions that befall a Christian then they are all in love it is no matter how heavy the burden is if God gives a shoulder to bear it all is in love it is no matter how bitter the cup is if God give courage to drink it off it is no matter how hot the furnace is if God gives power to walk in the midst of it all is in love Seventhly Iâ— thou art willing to lye in the furnace till thy dross bee consumed if thou art willing Job 23. 10 Mic. 7. 9 that the plaister should lye on though it smart till the cure bee wrought if thou art willing that the physick should work though it makes thee sick till the humors bee expelled all is in love Cain and Saul and Pharaoh were all for the removing away of the stroak the affliction they cry not out our sins are greater than wee are able to bear but they cry out our punishment is greater Gen. 4. 13 Isa 28. 1 6. ch 59. 9 17 Exod. 7 8 9 10. chapters than wee are able to bear they cry not out Lord take away our sins but Lord remove the stroak of thy hand Oh! but when an
quiet for that God that hath taken away one childe might have took away every childe and hee that hath taken away one friend might have taken away every friend and hee that hath taken away a part of thy estate might have taken away thy whole estate therefore hold thy peace let who will murmure yet bee thou mute Sixthly It may bee thy sins have been much about thy near and dear injoyments it may bee thou hast over-loved them and over-prized them and over-much delighted thy self in them it may bee they have often had thy heart when they should have had but thy hand it may bee that care that fear that confidence that joy that should have been expended upon more noble objects hath been expended upon them thy heart Oh Christian is Christs bed of spices and it may bee thou hast beded thy mercies with thee when Christ hath been put to lye in an Luk. 2. 7 out-house thou hast had room for them when thou hast had none for him they have had the best when the worst have been counted good enough for Christ It is said of Gen. 49. 4. Ruben that hee went up to his Fathers bed Ah! how often hath one creature-comfort and sometimes another put in between Christ and your souâ—s how often have your dear injoyments gone up to Christs bed It is said of the babylonians that they came in to Aholah Ezek. 23. 17. and Aholibahs bed of love may it not hee said of your near and dear mercies that they have come into Christs bed of lovâ— your hearts they being that bed wherein Christ Cant. 3. 7 delights to rest and repose himself Now if a husband a childe a friend shall take up that room in thy soul that is proper and peculiar to God God will either imbitter it remove it or bee the death â—f it if once the love of a wife runs out more to a servant than to her husband the Master will turn him out of doors though otherwise hee were a servant worth gold The sweetest comforts of this life they are but like treasures of Snow now do but take a handful of Snow and crush it in your hands and it will melt away presently but if you let it lye upon the ground it will continue for some time and so it is with the contentments of this world if you grasp them in your hands and lay them too near your hearts they will quickly melt and vanish away but if you will not hold them too fast in your hands nor lay them too close to your hearts they will abide the longer with you There are those that love their mercies into their graves that hug their mercies to death that kiss them till they kill them Many a man hath slain his mercies by setting too great a value upon them many a man hath â—unk his ship of mercie by taking up in it over-loved mercies are seldome long-liv'd Ezek. 24. 21. when I take from them the joy of their glory the desire of their eyes and that whereupon they set their minds their sons and their daughters the way to lose your mercies is to indulge them the way to destroy them is to fix your minds and hearts upon them thou mayest write bitterness and death upon that mercie first that hath first taken away thy heart from God Now if God hath stript thee of that very mercy with which thou hast often committed spiritual Adultery and Idolatry hast thou any cause to murmure hast thou not rather cause to hold thy peace and to be mute before the Lord Christians your hearts are Christs royal Throne and in this Throne Christ will bee chief as Pharaoh said to Joseph Gen. 41. 40. hee will endure no competitor if you shall attempt to throne the creature bee it never so near and dear unto you Christ will dethrone it hee will destroy it hee will quickly lay them in a bed of dust who shall aspire to his royal Throne But Seventhly Thou hast no cause to murmure because of the loss of such near and dear enjoyments considering those more noble and spiritual mercies and favours that thou still enjoyest grant that Joseph is not and Benjamin is not yet Gen. 42. 36 Heb. 13. 8 Jesus is hee is yesterday and to day and the same for ever thy union and communion with Christ remains 1 Joh. 3. 9. still the immortal seed abides in thee still the Sun of Righteousness shines upon thee still thou art in favour with God still and thou art under the anointings of the Spirit still and under the influences of Heaven still c. and why then shouldest thou mutter and not rather hold thy peace I have read Jerom. of one Dydimus a godly Preacher who was blind Alexander a godly man once ask'd him whether hee was not sore troubled and afflicted for want of his sight Oh yes I said Dydimus it is a great affliction and grief unto mee then Alexander chid him saying hath God given you the excellency of an Angel of an Apostle and are you troubled for that which Rats and Mice and brute beasts have So say I Ah Ephes 1. 3 4 Christians hath God blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places hath the Lord given you himself for a portion hath hee given you his Son for your redemption and his Spirit for your instruction and will you murmure hath hee given his gracâ— to adorn you his promises to comforâ— you his ordinances to better you and the hopes of Heaven to encourage you and will you mutter Paulinus Nolanus when his City was taken from him prayed thus Lord said hee let mee not bee troubled at the loss of my gold silver honour c. for thou art all and much more than all these unto mee in the want of all your sweetest enjoyments Christ will bee all in all unto you my Jewels are my husband said Phocion's wife Col. 3. 11 Plutarâ—h in vita Phocion my ornaments are my two sons said the Mother of the Gracchi my treasures are my friends said Constantius and so may a Christian under his greatest losses say Christ is my richest Jewels my chiefest treasures my best ornaments my sweetest delights look what all these things are to a carnal heart a worldly heart that and more is Christ to mee Eighthly If God by smiting thee in thy nearest and dearest injâ—yments shall put thee upon a more thorow smiting and mortifying of thy dearest sins thou hast no cause to murmure God cures David of adultery by killing his endeared childe There is some Dalilah some darling some beloved sin or Psa 18. 23 Heb. 12. 1 other that a Christians calling condition constitution or temptations leads him to play withall and to hug in his own bosome rather than some other As in a ground that lieth untilled amongst the great variety of weeds there is usually some master-weed that is rifer and ranker than all the rest And as it
13 14. O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with saphires And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of carbuneles and all thy borders of pleasant stones And all thy children shall bee taught of the Lord and great shall bee the peace of thy children Inrighteousness shalt thou bee established thou shalt bee far from oppression for thou shalt not fear and from terrour for it shall not come near thee Though they have been long afflicted and tossed yet they shall at last upon glorious foundations bee established God will not onely raise them out of their distressed estate wherein now they are but hee will advance them to a most eminent and glorious condition in this world they shall bee very glorious and outshine all the world in spiritual excellencies and outward dignities Isa 60. 14 15. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet and they shall call thee The City of the Lord The Zion of the holy One of Israel Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated so that no man went thorow thee I will make thee an eternal excellency a joy of many Generations Ah Christians I do not mutter nor murmure under your long afflictions for you do not know but that by these long afflictions God may prepare and fit you for such favours and blessings that may never have end by long afflictions God many times prepares his people for temporal spiritual and eternal mercies if God by long afflictions makes more room in thy soul for himself his Son his Spirit his Word if by long afflictions hee shall crucifie thy heart more to the world and to thy relations and frame and fashion thy soul more for celestial enjoyments hast thou any cause to murmure surely no. But Seventhly The longer a Saint is afflicted on earth the more glorious hee shall shine in Heaven 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18 Mat. 5. 10 11 12 the more affliction here the more glory hereafter This Truth may bee thus made out First The more gracious souls are afflicted the more their graces are exercised and encreased Heb. 12. 10. Rom. 5. 3 4 5. Now the more grace here the more glory hereafter the higher in grace the higher in glory Grace differs nothing from glory but in name grace is glory in the bud and glory is grace at the full glory is nothing but the perfection of grace 2 Cor. 3. ult happiness is nothing but the perfection of holiness grace is glory in the seed and glory is grace in the flower grace is glory militant and glory is grace triumphant grace and glory differ non specie sed gradu in degree not kinde as the learned speak Now it is most certain that the more gracious souls are afflicted the more their graces are exercised and the more grace is exercised the more it is encreased as I have sufficiently demonstrated in this treatise already But Secondly The longer a gracious soul is afflicted the more his religious duties will bee multiplied Psal 109. 4. For my love they are my adversaries but I give my self unto prayer or as the Hebrew reads it But I am prayer or a man of Psa 42. 1 2 3 4 5. Psal 63. 1 2 3 8. Jâ—r 31. 18 19 Hos 5. ult with ch 6. 1 2 Psal 116. 3 4. and Psal 143. 6 7 prayer In times of affliction a Christian is all prayer hee is never so much a man of prayer a man given up to prayer as in times of affliction A Christian is never so frequent so fervent so abundant in the work of the Lord as when hee is afflicted Isa 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them Now they do not onely pray but they pour out a prayer they were freely largely and abundantly in prayer when the rod was upon them Look as men plentifully pour out water for the quenching of a fire so did they plentifully pour out their prayers before the Lord and as affliction puts a man upon being much in prayer so it puts him upon other duties of Religion answerably Now this is most certain that though God will reward no man for his works yet hee will reward every man according to Matth. 25. 14. 26. God will reward his people secundum laboâ—em Bern. works 1 Cor. 15. ult Therefore my beloved Brethren bee yee stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 2 Cor. 9. 6. But this I say hee which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and hee which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully or hee which soweth in benedictions or blessings shall reap in benedictions as it runs in the original It is an excellent observation of Calvin upon Gods rewarding the Rechabites obedience Jer. 35. 19. God saith hee oft recompenceth the shadows and seeming appearances of virtue to shew what complacency hee takes in the ample rewards hee hath reserved for true and sincere piety Now if the longer a Christian is afflicted the more his religious services will bee multiplied and the more they are multiplied the more his glory at last will bee encreased then the longer a Saint is afflicted on earth the more glory he shall have when hee comes to Heaven But Thirdly The longer any Saint is afflicted the more into the image and likeness of Christ hee will bee transformed It is one of Rom. 8. 28 29 c. 2 Cor. 1 5 6 7 Phil. 3. 10 Heb. 2. 10 2 Tim. 2. 12. Gods great designs and ends in afflicting of his people to make them more conformable to his Son and God will not lose his end men often lose theirs but God never hath nor will lose his and experience tells us that God doth every day by afflictions accomplish this end upon his people the longer they are afflicted the more they are made conformable to Christ in meekness lowliness spiritualness heavenliness in faith love self-denial pitty compassion c. Now certainly the more like to Christ the more beloved of Christ the more a Christian is like to Christ the more hee is the delight of Christ and the more like to Christ on earth the nearer the soul shall sit to Christ in Heaven nothing makes a man more conformable to Christ than afflictions Justin Martyr in his second Apology for the Christians hath observed that there is scarce any prediction or prophecy concerning our Saviour Christ the Son of God to bee made man but the Heathen writers who were all after Moses did from thence invent some fable and feign it to have been acted by some one or other of Jupiters Sons onely the Prophecies about the cross of Christ they have taken for the
ground of no fable they have not among all their fictions told us of any one of Jupiters Sons that was crucified that acted his part upon the cross many would wear the Crown with Christ that do not care for bearing the cross with Christ But Eighthly The longer they have been the greater cause thou hast to bee silent and patient for impatience will but lengthen out the day of thy sorrows every impatient act adds one link more to the chain every act of frowardness adds one lash more to those that have already been laid on every act of muttering will but add stroak to stroak and sting to sting every act of murmuring will but add burden to burden and storm to storm the most compendious way to lengthen out thy long afflictions is to fret and vex and murmure under them as thou wouldest see a speedy issue of thy long afflictions sit mute and silent under them Ninthly Gods time is the best time mercy is never nearer salvation is at hand deliverance is at the Act. 27. 13 ult door when a mans heart is brought into such a frame as to bee freely willing that God should time his mercy and time his deliverance for him The Physicians time is the best time for the patient to have ease the impatient patient cryes out to his Physician Oh Sir a little ease a little refreshment Oh the pains the torments that I am under Oh Sir I think every hour two and every two ten till comfort comes till refreshment comes but the prudent Physician hath turned the hour-glass and is resolved that his Physick shall work so long though his patient frets flings roars tears So when wee are under afflictions wee are apt to cry out how long Lord shall it bee before ease comes before deliverance comes Oh the tortures Oh the torments that wee are under Lord a little refreshment Oh how long are these Psal 6. 3. Psal 13. 1 2 Psal 94. 9 10 Rev. 6. 10 nights Oh how tedious are these daies but God hath turned our Glass and hee will not hearken to our cry till our Glass bee out after all our fretting and flinging wee must stay his time who knows best when to deliver us and how to deliver us ouâ— of all our troubles and who will not stay a moment when the Glass is out that hee hath turned But Tenthly and lastly They shall last no longer than there is need and then they shall work for thy good it is with souls as it is with bodies some bodies are more easily and more suddenly cured than others are and so are some souls God will not suffer the plaister to lye one day no not one hour no not a moment longer than there is need some flesh heals quickly proud flesh is long a healing by affliction God quickly heals some but others are long a healing 1 Pet. 1. 6. If need bee yee are in heaviness through manifold temptations or through various afflictions the burden shall lye no longer upon thee than needs must thy pain shall endure no longer than needs must thy physick shall make thee no longer sick than needs must c. thy heavenly Father is a Physician as wise as hee is loving when thy heart begins to grow high hee sees there is need of some heavy affliction to bring it low when thy heart grows cold hee sees there is need of some fiery affliction to heal it and warm it when thy heart grows dull and dead hee sees there is need of some smart affliction to enliven and quicken it And as thy afflictions shall continue no longer than there is need so they shall last no longer than they shall work for thy good if all along they shall work for thy good thou hast no cause to complain that thy afflictions are long that they shall thus work I have fully proved in the former part of this book and thus much for answer to the third Objection Object 4. I would bee mute and silent under my afflictions but my afflictions daily multiply and encrease upon mee like the waves of the Sea they come rouling one over the neck of another c. and how then can I hold my peace how can I lay my hand upon my mouth when the sorrows of my heart are daily encreased To this I answer thus First Thy afflictions are not so many as thy sins thy sins are as the stars of Psa 40. 12 Heaven and as the sands of the Sea that cannot bee numbred Psal 16. ult there are three things that no Christian can number 1 His sins 2 Divine favours 3 The joys and pleasures that bee at Christs right hand but there is no Christian so poor an accountant but that hee may quickly sum up the number of his troubles and afflictions in this world thy sins Oh Christian are like the Syrians that filled the Country but thy afflictions are like the two little flocks of Kids that pitched before them 1 King 20. 27. therefore hold thy peace Secondly If such should not bee mute and silent under their afflictions whose afflictions are increased and multiplied upon them then there are none in the world who will bee found mute and silent under their afflictions for certainly there are none who do not finde the waters of affliction to grow daily upon them if this bee not so what means the bleating of the Sheep and the lowing of the 1 Sam. 15. 14. Oxen what means the daily sighs groans and complaints of Christians amongst us if their troubles like the waters in Ezekiels Sanctuary Ezek. 47. 1 20 bee not still encreasing upon them every day brings us tidings of new straights new troubles new crosses new losses new trials c. Thirdly They are not so many as God might have exercised thee with God could as easily exercise thee with ten as with two and with a hundred as with ten and with a thousand as with a hundred let thy afflictions bee never Lam. 3. 39. Luk. 23. 41 so many yet they are not so many as they might have been had God either consulted with thy sins with thy deserts or with his own What are the number of Princes to the subjects that are under them or what are the number of Generals to the number of souldiers that are commanded by them no more are thy afflictions to thy mercies justice there is no comparison between those afflictions that God hath inflicted upon thee and those that hee might have inflicted thou hast not one burden of a thousand that God could have laid on but hee would not therefore hold thy peace Fourthly Thy afflictions are not so many as thy mercies nay they are not to bee named in the day wherein thy mercies are spoken of what are thy crosses to thy comforts thy miseries to thy mercies thy daies of sickness to thy daies of health thy daies of weakness to thy daies of strength thy daies of scarcity to thy daies
Peter Paul yea Christ himself Matth. 4 who as hee was beloved above all others so hee was tempted above all others hee was tempted to question his sonship hee was tempted to the worst Idolatry even to worship the Devil himself to the greatest infidelity to distrust his Fathers providence and to use unlawful means for necessary supplies and to self-murder cast thy self down c. Those that were once glorious on earth and are now triumphing in Heaven have been sorely tempted and assaulted it is as natural and common for the choicest Saints to bee tempted as it is for the Sun to shine the Bird to flye the Fire to burn The Eagle complains not of her wings nor I am without set upon by all the world and within by the Devil and all his Angels saith Luther the Peacock of his train nor the Nightingale of hâ—r voice because these are natural to them no more should Saints of their temptations because they are natural to them Our whole life saith Austin is nothing but a tentation the best men have been worst tempted therefore hold thy peace Secondly Temptations resisted bewailed will never hurt you nor harm you distasted temptations seldome or never prevail so long as the soul distastes them and the will remains firmly averse against them they can do no hurt so long as the language of the soul is Get thee behinde mee Satan Mat. 16. the soul is safe it is not Satans tempting but my assenting it is Hee that can say when hee is tempted as that young convert ego non sum ego is happy enough under all his temptations not his enticing but my yeelding that mischiefs mee temptations may bee troubles to my mind but they are not sins upon my soul whilst I am in arms against them if thy heart trembles and thy flesh quakes when Satan tempts thy condition is good enough if Satans temptations bee thy greatest afflictions his temptations shall never worsen thee nor harm thee and therefore if this bee thy case hold thy peace Thirdly Temptations are rather hopeful evidences that thy estate is good that thou art dear to God and that it shall go well with thee for ever than otherwise God had but one Son without corruption Heb. 2. 17 18 but hee had none without temptation Pirats make the fiercest assaults upon those vessels that are most richly laden So doth Satan upon those souls that are most richly laden with the treasures of grace with the riches of glory Pirats let empty vessels pass and repass without assaulting them so doth Satan let souls that are empty of God of Christ of the Spirit of Grace pass and repass without tempting or assaulting of them When nothing will satisfie the soul but a full departure out of Egypt from the bondage and slavery Exod. 14. 9 of sin and that the soul is firmly resolved upon a march for Canaan then Satan Pharaoh-like will furiously pursue after the soul with Horses and Chariots that is with a whole Army of Temptations Well a tempted soul when Israel going into Egypt had no opposition but travelling into Canaan they were never free it is at worst with him may safely argue thus if God were not my friend Satan would not bee so much my enemy if there were not something of God within mee Satan would never make such attempts to storm mee if the love of God were not set upon mee Satan would never shoot so many fiery darts to wound mee if the heart of God were not towards mee the hand of Satan would not bee so strong against mec When Beza was tempted hee made this answer Whatsoever I was Satan I am now in Christ a new Creature and that is it which troubles thee I might have so continued long enough ere thou wouldest have vexed at it but now I see thou dost envy mee the grace of my Saviour Satans malice to tempt is no sufficient ground for a Christian to dispute Gods love upon if it were there is no Saint on earth that should quietly possess divine favour a week a day an hour The Jaylor is quiet when his prisoner is in bolts but if hee bâ—e escaped then hee pursues him with hue and cry you know how to apply it Men hate not the picture of a Toad the Wolf flies not upon a painted Sheep no more doth Satan upon those he hath in chains therefore hold thy peace though thou art inwardly tempted as well as outwardly afflicted Fourthly Whilst Satan is tempting Rom. 8. 34 1 John 2. 1 2 Zach. 3. 1 2 3 of thee Christ in the Court of glory is interceding for thee Luk. 22. 31 32. And the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that hee may sift you as wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Satan would fain have been shaking of him up and down as wheat is shaken in a fan but Christs intercession frustrates Satans designed temptations when ever Satan stands at our elbows to tempt us Christ stands at his Fathers to intercede for us Heb. 7. 25. Hee ever lives to make intercession Some of the learned think that Christ intercedes onely by virtue of his merits others think that it is done onely with his mouth probably it may bee done both waies the rather because hee hath a tongue as also a whole glorified body in Heaven and is it likely that that mouth which pleaded so much for us on earth should be Joh. 17. altogether silent for us in Heaven Christ is a person of highest honour hee is the greatest favourite in the Court of Heaven hee alwaies stands betwixt us and danger if there bee any evil plotted or designed against us by Satan the great accuser of the brethren hee foresees it and by his intercession prevents it When Satan puts in his pleas and commences sute upon sute against us Christ still undertakes our cause hee answers all his pleas and non-sutes Satan at every turn and in despite of Hell hee keep us up in divine favour when Satan pleads Lord here are such and such sins that thy children have committed and here are such and such duties that they have omitted and here are such and such mercies that they have not improved and here are such and such ordinances that they have slighted and here are such and such motions of the Spirit that they have quenched divine Justice answers All this is true but Christ hath appeared on their behalf hee hath pleaded their Saith Christ Lord here is wisdome for their folly humility for their pride heavenliness for their earthliness holiness for their wickedness c. cause hee hath fully and fairly answered whatever hath been objected and given compleat satisfaction to the utmost farthing So that there is no accusation nor condemnation that can stand in force against them upon which account the Apostle triumphs in that Rom. 8. 34. Who is hee that condemneth it is
God they will not leave him nor â—orsake him they will to the grave to glory with him In that famous battel at Leuctrum where the Thebans got a signal victory but their Captain Epaminondas a little before his death demanded whether his buckler were taken by the enemy and when hee understood that it was safe and that they had not so much as laid their hands on it hee died most willingly chearfully and quietly Well Christians your shield of faith is safe your portion is safe your Royal Robe is safe your Kingdome is safe your Heaven is safe your happiness and blessedness is safe and therefore under all your afflictions and troubles in patience possess your own souls But Sixthly If you would be silent and quiet under your sorest troubles and trials then set your selves in good earnest upon the mortification of your lusts it is unmortified Austin saith if thou kill not sin till it dye of it self sin hath killed thee and not thou thy sin lusts which is the sting of every trouble and which makes every sweet bitter and every bitter more bitter sin unmortified adds weight to every burden it puts gall to our wormwood it adds chain to chain it makes the bed uneasie the chamber a prison relations troublesome and every thing vexatious to the soul James 4. 1. From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members So say I from whence comes all this muttering murmuring fretting and vexing c. come they not hence even from your unmortified lusts come they not from your unmortified pride and unmortified self-love and unmortified unbeleef and unmortified passions c. Surely they do Oh therefore as ever you would be silent under the afflicting hand of God labour for more more of the grace of the Spirit by which you may mortifie the lusts Rom. 8. 13 of the flesh it is not your strongest resolutions or purposes without the grace of the Spirit that can over-master a lust a foul sore till it bee indeed healed will run though wee resolve and say it shall not It was the blood of the Sacrifice and the Oil that cleansed the Leper in the Law and that by them was meant the bloud of Levit. 14. 14 15 16 Mark 5. 25 26 27 Christ and the grace of his Spirit is agreed on all hands It was a touch of Christs garment that cured the woman of her bloody Issue Philosophy saith Lactaâ—tius it may hide a sin but it cannot quench it it may cover a sin but it cannot cut off a sin like a black patch in stead of a plaister it may cover some deformities in nature but it cures them not neither is it the Papists purgatories watchings whippings c. nor St. Francis his kissing or licking of Lepers sores which will cleanse the fretting leprosie of sin in the strength of Christ and in the power of the Spirit set roundly upon the mortifying of every lust Oh! hugg none indulge none but resolvedly set upon the ruine of all One leak in a ship will sink it one wound strikes Goliah dead as well as three and twenty did Caesar one Dalilah may do Sampson as much spight and mischief as all the Philistines one broken wheel spoils all the whole Clock one veins bleeding will let out all the vitals as well as more one Fly will spoil a whole box of ointment one bitter herb all the pottage by eating one Apple Adam lost Paradise one lick of honey endangered Jonathans life one Achan was a trouble to all Israel one Joâ—â—h raises a storm and becomes lading too heavy for a whole ship so one unmortified lust will bee able to raise very strange and strong storms and tempests in the soul in the daies of affliction and therefore as you would have a blessed calm and quietness in your own spirits under your sharpest trials set throughly upon the work of mortification Gideon had seventy sons Judges 8. 30 31. ch 9. 1 7. and but one bastard and yet that bastard destroyed all his seventy sons Ah Christian thou dost not know what a world of mischief one unmortified lust may do and therefore let nothing satisfie thee but the blood of all thy lusts Seventhly If you would bee silent under your greatest afflictions your sharpest trials then make this consideration your daily companion viz. That all the afflictions that come upon you come upon you by and through that covenant of grace that God hath made with you in the covenant of grace God hath engaged himself to keep you Jer. 32. 36 ult from the evils snares and temptations of the world in the covenant of grace God hath engaged himself to purge away your sins to brighten and encrease your graces to crucifie your hearts to the world and to prepare you and preserve you to his heavenly Kingdome and by afflictions hee effects all this and that according to his covenant too Psal 89. 30 31 32 33 34. If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my commandements If they break my statutes and keep not my commandements in these words you have a supposition that the Saints may fall both into sins of commission and sins of omission in the following words you have Gods gracious promise Then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquities with stripes God engages himself by promise and covenant not onely to chide and check but also to correct his people for their sins Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail Afflictions are fruits of Gods faithfulness to which the covenant bindes him God would bee unfaithful if first or last more or less hee did not afflict his people afflictions are part of that gracious covenant which God hath made Psal 119. 75 with his people afflictions are mercies yea covenant-mercies Hence it is that God is called the terrible God keeping covenant and mercy Neh. 1. 5. Because by his covenant of mercy hee is bound to afflict and chastise his people God by covenant is bound to preserve his people and not to suffer them to perish and happy are they that are preserved whether in Salt and Vinegar or in Wine and Sugar All the afflictions that come upon a wicked man come upon him by virtue of a covenant of works and so are curst unto him but all the afflictions that come upon a gracious man they come upon him by virtue of a covenant of grace and so they are blest unto him and therefore hee hath eminent cause to hold his peace to lay his hand upon his mouth Eighthly If you would bee silent and quiet under afflictions then dwell much upon this viz. that all your afflictions do but reach the worser the baser and the ignobler part of a Christian viz. his body his outward man 2 Cor. 4. 16. Though our outward man decay yet our inward man
is renewed day by day As Aristarchus the Heathen said when hee was beaten by the Tyrants Beat on it is not Aristarchus you beat it is 1 Tim. 5. 23 3 John 2. onely his shell Timothy had a very healthful soul in a crazy body and Gaius had a very prosperous soul in a weak distempered body Epictetus and many of the more refined Heathens have long since concluded that the body was the organ or vessel the soul was the man and Merchandize Now all the troubles and afflictions that a Christian meets with they do not reach his soul they touch not his conscience they make no breach upon his noble part and therefore hee hath cause to hold his peace and to lay his hands upon his mouth the soul is the breath of God the beauty of man the wonder of Angels and the envy Heb. 12. 9 Zach. 12. 1 of Devils it is a caelestial plant and of a divine off-spring it is an immortal spirit souls are of an Angelick nature a man is an Angel cloathed in clay the soul is a greater miracle in man than all the miracles wrought amongst men the soul is a demi-semi-God dwelling in a house of clay Now it is not in the power of any outward troubles and afflictions that a Christian meets with to reach his soul and therefore hee may well sit mute under the smarting Rod. Ninthly If thou wouldest bee silent and quiet under the saddest providences and sorest trials then keep up Faith in continual exercise Now Faith in the exercise of it will quiet and silence the soul thus 1 By bringing the soul to sit Joh. 14. 8 Psa 17. 15 down satisfied in the naked enjoyments of God 2 By drying up the springs of pride self-love impatience murmuring unbeleef and the carnal delights of this world 3 By presenting to the soul greater sweeter and better things Heb. 11. 8 9 10 14. Phil. 3. 7 8 in Christ than any this world doth afford 4 By lessening the souls esteem of all outward vanities do but keep up the exercise of Faith and thou wilt keep silent before the Lord. No man so mute as hee whose Faith is still busie about invisible objects Tenthly If you would keep silent then keep humble before the Lord. Oh! labour every day to bee more humble and more low and little in your own eyes who Job 7. 1 18 am I saith the humble soul but that God should cross mee in this mercy and take away that mercy and pass a sentence of death upon every mercy I am not worthy of the least mercy I deserve not a crum of mercy I have forfeited Prov. 13. 16 every mercy I have improved never a mercy Onely by pride comes contention it is onely pride that puts men upon contending with God and men an humble soul will lye quiet at the foot of God it will bee contented with bare commons As you see sheep can live upon the bare Commons which a fat Oxe cannot A Dinner of green herbs relisheth well with the humble mans palate whereas a stalled Oxe is but a course dish to a proud mans stomack an humble heart thinks none less than himself nor none worse than himself an humble heart looks upon small Gen. 32. 10 11. Austin being asked what was the first grace answered humility what the second humility what the third humility mercies as great mercies and great afflictions as small afflictions and small afflictions as no afflictions and therefore sits mute and quiet under all do â—ut keep humble and you will keep silent before the Lord pride kicks and flings and frets but an humble man hath still his hand upon his mouth Every thing on this side Hell is mercy much mercy rich mercy to an humble soul and therefore hee holds his peace Eleventhly If you would keep silence under the afflicting hand of God then keep close hold fast these soul-silencing and soul-quieting maxims or principles As First That the worst that God doth to his people in this world is in order to the making of them a Heaven on Earth hee brings them into a wilderness but it is that hee may speak comfortably to them he Hos 2. 14 casts them into the fiery furnace but it is that they may have more of his company doe the stones come thick and threefold about Stephens ears it is but to knock Act. 7. him the nearer to Christ the corner-stone c. Secondly If you would bee silent then hold fast this principle viz. That what God wills is best Heb. 12. 10 when hee wills sickness sickness is better than health when hee wills weakness weakness is better than strength when hee wills want want is better than wealth when hee wills reproach reproach is better than honour when hee wills death death is better than life As God is wisdome it self and so knows that which is best so hee is goodness it self and therefore cannot do any thing but that which is best therefore hold thy peace Thirdly If thou wouldest bee silent under thy greatest afflictions then hold fast to this principle viz. That the Lord will bear thee company in all thy afflictions Isa 41. 10 ch 43. 2. Psal 23. 4. Psal 90. 15. Dan. 3. 25. Gen. 39. 20 21. 2 Tim. 4. 16 17. These Scriptures are breasts full of divine consolation these wells of salvation are full will you turn to them and draw out that your souls may bee satisfied and quieted Fourthly If you would bee silent under your afflictions then hold fast this principle that the Lord hath more high more noble and more blessed ends in the afflicting of you than hee hath in the afflicting of the men of the world The stalk and the ear of corn fall upon the threshing flore under one and the same flail but the one is shattered in peeces the other is preserved from one and the same Olive and from under one and the same press is crushed out both Oil and dreggs but the one is tunn'd up for use the other thrown out as unserviceable and by one and the same breath the fields are perfumed with sweetness and annoyed with unpleasant savours so though afflictions do befall good and bad alike as the Scripture speaks yet Eccles 9. 2 the Lord will effect more glorious ends by those afflictions that befall his people than hee will effect by those that befall wicked men and therefore the Lord puts his people into the furnace for their trial but the wicked for their ruine the one is bettered by affliction the other is made worse the one is made soft and tender by afflictions the other is more hard and obdurate the one is drawn nearer to God by afflictions the other is driven further from God c. Fifthly If you would bee silent under your afflictions then you must hold fast this principle viz. Matth. 15. 21 29 That the best way in this world to have thine own will is