natural affections The Saints here that were the called and chosen people of God they had their sorrow and grief as well as their gladness the work of grace wherever it is in truth wrought in any soul doth much restrain mens violent passions yet when men begin to be good they do not cease to be men Religion doth not rob people of their senses The godly have their fears as well as their hopes as they have their joys so they are not without their sorrows you are in heaviness through manifold temptations Afflictions are afflictions to them that fear God as well as to others Heb. 12.11 no chashiment for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Let no Person think because the crosses and troubles he meets withal in the World do sadden and afflict him therefore he hath no grace that surely if they had grace they should have no such thing as grief and trouble of heart See the Holyest men we read of tell us the troubles of their hearts were often inlarged Though the power of godliness doth moderate our affections to things here below yet it doth not make us insensible of what we suffer here below Grace doth not rob men of Humanity as not upon a Civil account so neither doth it upon a Natural account people do not cease to be men and women when they come to be truly godly if Persons were not affected afflicted with their troubles afflictions were no afflictons to them c. Do not therefore pass sentence upon thy self as one that is an unconverted Person because the great troubles thou meetest withal in the world are laid to heart by thee though grace do diminish yet it doth not destroy mens passions James 5.17 the Apostles us Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are though he was a man of exceeding great faith yet you find him sometimes a man of great fear The Scripture records as his grace so his natural temper that eminency of grace that was in him did not destroy that that was natural in him Christianity doth not introduce a Stoical Stupidity that they do not at all regard how things go with them we may have grace in our hearts and yet lay to heart our sufferings we may be truly brought home to God and yet affected through sense of our afflictions in the World Only here let me put in a few cautions First Though God's people are in heaviness and sadness through the great troubles that they meet withal in the world yet you that fear God take heed you be not in such heaviness as those who have no hope do not sorrow as them that have no hope or no ground of hope for the blessing of God upon them here much less for happiness with God hereafter rejoyce in the Lord while you have sorrow in the world saith the Apostle rejoyce in the Lord always and he makes a repetition and againe I say rejoyce This is his councel to the suffering Saints even when most afflicted as David 1 Sam. 30.6 when he was in that great trouble when his Wives were taken Captive and his Children and the people speak of stoning David what did he do but David incouraged himself in the Lord his God so should we do when we are discouraged as to the world then we should incourage our selves in the Lord our God at what time I am afraid I will trust in thee let not our afflictions here make us think it will never be otherwise hereafter Secondly Let not your heaviness or trouble or sadness in the World be joyned with discontent do not murmur because we meet with troubles let us not think because we are afflicted that others are in a better condition then our selves because they thrive and and flourish in the world O let us not quarrel at any of God's providences let us say as that good Old man Eli It is the Lord let him do what seems him good the Lord is good and doth good and he doth nothing but what is good for us we have no cause to quarrel when God doth afflict us let us then take care that we do not fret our selves to do evil for there is no evil in the City but God doth it and good is that God that sends that evil and all evil shall be for good to them that fear God Thirdly Let your heaviness be greater for your transgressions then for any affliction or temptation let us more grieve for sin that is the cause of trouble then for all those troubles that are caused by sin let us more lay to heart our own corruptions then all the malice of wicked men and the afflictions we meet with in the world we had not known what sorrow meant had not sin been in our hearts and been in our lives let us mourn more for sin or however be sure that our natural sorrow be accompanyed with spiritual sorrow that we have that godly sorrow that workes repentance unto Salvation for worldly sorrow alone only causeth death O let sin be more laid to heart and the crosses in the World less laid to heart let us mourn more for our transgressions and we shall less mind our afflictions Fourthly Let not our heaviness or sadness or grief of spirit that is occasioned through troubles in the World cause us to neglect our duty let us take care that we do not so grieve for what we suffer as to forget what we have to do let us not so mind our misery as to forget our duty or omit our duty to God or Man in the places of our general and particular calling which God hath set us in the world When sorrow is so excessive that it drives us from God and from his wayes from delighting in him we have cause then to be in heaviness for it we are not so to mind what we suffer as to forget what we do That sorrow is never like to do us good nay that sorrow doth not make us at all to be good that keeps us from doing good if we once come to that pass to neglect our duty that heaviness is to be lamented Applicat Beloved we have heard Gods people are in heaviness through manifold temptations but let me tell you If Gods people be in heaviness here what heaviness shall Gods enemies be in hereafter If God chastise his faithful servants sure he will punish his enemies if this be done in a green Tree what shall be done in a dry if Gods people have their temptations surely wicked men shall have their tribulation tribulation and anguish upon every one that doth evil doubtless if manifold temptations be the lot of the righteous here dreadful tribulation will be the portion of the wicked hereafter doubtless the time is coming Prov. 11.8 vers The righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked cometh in his room the time is coming when sin and sorrow shall be gone from the people of God and then everlasting sorrow
more then he ought to do And Fifthly the works must be Proportionable to the happiness he expects But First no man can do good for we are born evil Secondly not only good for in many things we offend all Thirdly we are not sufficient of our selves Fourthly if we could do what we should yet not more then we are bound for we have but done our duty Luk. 17.7.8.9.10 Read it at your leasure doth the Master thank is servant c. I trow not c. Fiftly if he could do more then God requires of him his work could never be so good as to call for such a reward of everlasting happiness ther 's no Proportion between the little good we Creatures can do and that happiness God hath laid up for them that fear him it is an Opinion that hath neither Religion nor reason in it and such as some of the Papists themselves have been ashamed of Comfort your hearts whereas the Apostle prays for these blessings we may observe this Doctrine Doct. God's people have need of Comfort in this World as well as grace I say not as much need mistake me not not so much need and that in two respects First they may serve God without Comfort but cannot serve him without grace they may serve God though God hide his face and thereby excercising their patience Secondly they have not so much need because they may be saved without Comfort but they cannot without grace it is not said the Mourners shall be destroyed but the Transgressours Psal 37. vers 38. Without Holyness none shall see the Lord but he saith not without Comfort none shall see God it is possible though not usual for a Child of God to live and die without comfort that is without any manifestation of the love of God to him God may hide his face from him all his daies Heman complains that holy and wise man that he had been afflicted with terrors from his youth and so Job and David how long lay they under afflictions without comfort Saith one that was upon his Death-bed and could find no Comfort did you ever read of any one that upon his Death-bed had no comfort if he were the Child of God that God hid his face from and he was answered yes saith he one he had and that was the Son of God himself who when he was ready to give up the Ghost cried out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me But they have need of comfort in two respects first because they will have much trouble in the world Psal 34. vers 19. Many are the troubles of the Righteous 1. Cor. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we were of all men most miserable 2. Tim. 3.11.12 And all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution Secondly without comfort their hearts will be ready to fail them Gods peoples natural strength is but like to that of other mens therefore if they have not strength given them from above having more troubles then others they were never able to bear up Joh 16.33 when Christ tells them he is going out of the world he gives them a Cordial before hand to prevent their fainting In the World you shall have trouble but be of good cheer I have overcome the World and in the 14. 15. 16. Chapters are several Cordials which he gave them to support their hearts as seeing he left them in a troublesome World and therefore he promiseth them that when he was gone he would send them a comforter Joh. 14.16 And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth c. the Second Doctrine from hence in that he prays that God would Comfort their hearts is this Doct. II. Christians in time of trouble ought to pray to God to comfort them Reason I. And that First because none else can comfort them Reason II. Secondly because God hath comforted his People when they have been in trouble my flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psal 73.26 and Psal 94.17 Vnless the Lord had been mine help my soul had long since dwell't in silence and vers 18. 19. 22. when I said my foot slippeth thy mercy oh Lord held me up in the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts refresh my soule but the Lord is my defence and my God is the Rock of my refuge Reason III. Thirdly pray to God for comfort for as he hath comforted his people in the old so in the new Testament 2. Cor. 1.3 Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all Comfort ver 4. 5. who comforteth us in all our Tribulations that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble with the same Comforts wherewith we our selves are comforted of God for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ And again God hath promised he will still comfort his people he will suite comforts according to the troubles his people are in Isa 66.13 As one whom his Mother Comforteth so will I comfort you c. as a tender Parent her Child if but little faith weak in grace God will comfort his according to their trouble Joh. 14.18 I will not leave you Orphans so the word signifies now that we may have comfort in trouble let us repent those sins that are the cause of our trouble he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy God doth not willingly afflict his people let us therefore be humbled for our sins and for the sins of others for the sins of the Nation for our Sodome sins Pride Idlness and fullness of Bread let 's be humbled for our earthly mindedness luxury carnal security for our not prising the Gospel abusing the Gospel turning the grace of God into wantonness let us be humbled for our own sins the sins of our Relations of our families that we have not loved the Simplicity of the Gospel that we could not indure plain powerfull Practical Preaching of the Word if not curiously Cook't and finely drest the food of our Souls would not down with us Oh! let us be humbled for all our sins that is the way to have comfort take the Councel of the Apostle James Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up Jam. 4. ver 10. and then we may expect these three Cordials to comfort us First God will be with us in all our troubles Secondly God will do us good by them And lastly he will bring us out of them First if we humble and repent us of our sins God will be with us in our troubles who ever thou art and what condition soever thou art in Isa 43. vers 2. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when
small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my self from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer A little wrath but a great deal of Love a little while a moment God hides himself but eternally will he manifest himself and his love to his people Beloved the mercy and compassion of God is such that he will provide a way for his peoples deliverance out of their troubles As God will not himself more immediately afflict his people always so neither will he suffer others to afflict his people but he will be sure not to suffer The rod of the wicked to rest upon the back of the righteous Why Least the righteous put forth his hand to iniquity least their temptations be too strong for them and so saith the Apostle God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it You shall have such troubles as may sometimes afflict and humble you but you shall not have such troubles as shall quite deject and cause your spirits to fail before him that is the first Reason because of the mercifulness of God II. Because of the faithfulness of God God hath said he will deliver his people and he will be as good as his word though men break God will keep his Covenant he is a God of truth he hath methods to deliver his people out of temptation he will make a way to escape Now God hath made I cannot stand to shew God hath made many pretious promises for the redeeming of his people out of their adversity he will shew kindness to them though he may be angry yet he will not always chide and though he may afflict them yet he will not forsake them c. Now as Solomon said in regard of his Father David What thou hast spoken with thy mouth thou hast fulfilled it with thine hand as it is this day and so it is true of all persons that fear God what God speaks he will fulfil Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one jot or title of Gods Word shall pass away unfulfilled as Gods threatning of Judgment against the wicked shall be made good so certainly shall the promises of mercy made to the righteous All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus Applicat Now then to apply this in a word If this be so as we hear the temptations of the godly the afflictions and troubles they meet with will be but for a season Let this quiet our hearts under sufferings viz. the consideration of this That they will be but for a season they will be but for a short time they will not be always are we afflicted remember the time is coming we shall be comforted hath God laid any trouble upon us as to our inward or outward man upon our persons or relations in private or other respects it will not be always so these troubles they shall be but for a season and this season will not last always let us not be troubled or though we be troubled let this keep us from being overtroubled let this quiet our spirits under trouble the consideration of this truth That they will be but for a short time for a season Two things may quiet our Spirits under the greatest of miseries and crosses in this World if we consider either how just they are or how short they be First If we consider the equity of them all the troubles we meet with in the World they are very just upon us God doth not afflict us but there is a cause for it there is need of it and cause for it God is never displeased but we have provoked him he never hides his face but we have given him cause for it nay God is never so angry with his people as he might be we may all say with the Psalmist Psal 103.10 ver He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities What ever sad condition we are in besure it is not so sad as we deserve is God angry with us why he might manifest his hot displeasure against us is he very angry why truly he might be more angry then ever he shews himself in this World to any of his people God might to the best of men render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire Ezra speaking of the calamities of the Jews which were very great Ezra 9.13 ver saith he Thou O God hast punished us less then our iniquities deserve How did God cut of thousands of them how many perished by the Sword Plague and other Judgments and those that were left alive were carried into captivity we were punished I but not so as we deserve our troubles were great but they might have been greater Thou hast punished us less then our iniquities deserve our trespass is grown up unto the Heavens and we might all of us have been thrown into Hell God suffers us to live and hath not punished us as our iniquities deserve so that we are on this side the Grave nay that we are on this side Hell it is a mercy alas are our troubles great our sins are greater are our temptations our afflictions many our sins are more there is no body that hath so many troubles but he may sit down and soon count the number of his crosses but who can count the number of any mans sins our crosses our troubles are soon numbred but our impieties nay our iniquities are innumerable they are more then the hairs of our head and cannot be numbred have we many crosses remember we might have had more crosses remember our sorrows are not so many as our sins we may well therefore ask the question when any persons heart is disquieted so as to be discontented and fret at providence that is so afflicting as the Church Lam. 3.39 vers Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Thou art punished what then what cause to complain it is for thy sin thy sin deserves this punishment and What a living man complain thou mightest have been in the grave thou art here yet on Earth thou mightest have been long ago in Hell and What a living man and complain for the punishment of his sin and as they say we may all say under any of our troubles It is of the Lords mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Secondly As our troubles are very Just so they shall not be very long they shall be but for a little while as the pleasure of sinners so the perplexity of Saints shall be but for a season but for a season Our light afflictions which are but for a moment if any of our troubles should last as long as our lives last