means of comfort Answ Gods wayes are not your wayes Esay 55.8 The Lord hath his wayes many times in the deep many times in the darke and secret Haply deliverance shall come some other way then thou canst imagine or thinke of When thou thinkest comfort and deliverance is farthest off it may be neare at hand yea when thou seest least likelyhood of it for In the mount will the Lord be seen Gen. 22.14 It may be thou seest no means but the Lord can worke without means yea by contrary meanes that his wisedome and power may appeare the more in thy deliverance What means had Daniel to save him from the fury of those hungry and devouring Lyons yet you know the Lord did deliver him Therefore Commit thy way unto the Lord and trust in him and hee shall bring it to passe Psalm 37.5 So that all things considered wee have little cause to bee disquieted in our afflictions seeing our heavenly Father sendeth them in love for our great good and lesse cause we have to fret or be disheartned if they tarry by us longer then wee would have them for when wee are fit for deliverance wee shall bee sure of it In the mean time if dangers or feares do increase upon thee say to the Lord as good King Jehosaphat 2. Chron. 20.12 Wee know not what to do but our eyes are towards thee Consider into what great distresse and strait the Lord brought the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt the sea before them their enemies behind them death as it were round about them yet how miraculously did the Lord make way for them So assure thy selfe whatsoever thy trouble or danger bee the Lord will one way or other give issue to his glory and thy good although thou seest not how because hee is the same God no changeling in his goodnesse towards his children It is a sweet motto which one hath I suffer I hope Though sorrows and afflictions increase upon thee yet give not over thy confidence but resolve with holy Job Loe though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 The motion of a thing the neerer it comes to the center the swifter it is Doth thy sorrow thy paine thy trouble increase upon thee hope it is neere at an end The children of Israel the neerer they were unto comfort and deliverance the sorer grew their afflictions and the greater were the burthens which their cruell taske-masters layd upon them and so doth the Lord oft deale in other kindes with his children Therefore wait with patience seeing the Lord many times doth suddenly turne tragedies into comedies sorrow into joy as he dealt with his people in Esters dayes to day in heavinesse through feare of being swallowed up and made a prey unto their enemies to morrow triumphing over their enemies and treading them underneath their feet Ester 8.15 16. For what thing can there bee under Heaven so heavie upon the heart of his children which the Lord cannot remove and put joy in the place of it before the day be light Therefore hope in the Lord and bee strong and hee shall comfort thine heart Psalm 27.14 Be cheerefull therefore in thy affliction Object Some will be ready to say I hope I hurt no body by my sadnesse but they are deceived for Answ First they wrong the Lord by their uncheerfulnesse not only in going and doing against his word which willeth us to bee joyfull in the Lord as Psal 32.11 Be glad ye righteous and rejoyce in the Lord and bee joyfull all ye that are upright in heart but they do also wrong the Lord in robbing him of that honor and praise which they might bring unto him by their rejoycing in affliction Secondly they wrong if not hurt their brethren being occasions of discouragement and disheartning them making them to feare and doubt of Gods goodnes and their own abilitie to bear any burden which the Lord shall lay upon them seeing others or longer standing in Christ his school and of greater knowledge to shrink and buckle under their affliction Thirdly they wrong their profession by opening the mouthes of those that are without or by putting a stumbling-blocke before them causing them to abhorre the way and practise of godlinesse when they see so great troubles to attend upon it and so little courage and cheerefulnesse in those that professe it Fourthly and lastly they wrong and hurt themselves not only by disinabling and indisposing themselves to the generall and particular dueties of their callings for a joyfull heart causeth good health but a sorrowfull spirit dries up the bones Prov. 17.22 that is makes the body weake and feeble for a man is said to bee in his full strength when his bones run full of marrow Job 21.23 24. but also in spoiling themselves of that peace and comfort which they might enjoy by their cheerfull undergoing of afflictions and loosing that holy vigor and strength they might partake of by rejoycing in the Lord for the joy of the Lord is your strength Nehe. 8.10 Besides by their lumpishnesse they make themselves unfit for holy dueties they cannot serve God as they should being oppressed with sadnesse For we are to serve the Lord with gladnesse of heart Serve the Lord in feare and rejoyce before him Psal 2.11 How can any serve God joyfully or praise him heartily when the heart is laden with griefe and the mind oppressed with sorrow If no joy in the sweet promises of God what delight can be had in his worship and service And last of all they expose themselves unto Satans tentations when they are dejected with worldly sorrow then are they baits for Satan to catch at and fit subjects for him to worke upon How many have been brought to a shamefull and miserable end through Satans subtiltie and malice working upon them and taking them at advantage in the time of their sorrow and heavinesse So that it is evident that such by their sadnesse oft times do wrong both others and themselves But admit it were so as you see it is false that wee hurt no body but our selves by our sadnesse is this a sufficient warrant to bear us out in our lumpishnesse In what court was that commission sealed unto us which gives us liberty to harme or wrong our selves Are wee not delinquents against Gods law and the law of nature in offring wrong unto our selves Therefore seeing thy afflictions are but for a season hold fast the Confidence and the rejoycing of thy hope unto the end Heb. 3.6 Live by faith and as the Prophet exhorteth enter into thy chambers and shut thy doores after thee hide thy selfe for a little while untill the indignation passe over Esay 26.20 By chambers the Prophet meanes a quiet and peaceable conscience into the which he would have us sequester our selves all the while the storme of affliction bloweth that so with patience we may waite for the event of them And whereas he
That the end of Gods afflicting of us is the bettering of us When as by affliction hee brings us to a thorow knowledge and understanding of our selves to judge aright of the nature of sinne and so to come to abhorre and detest it and last of all by affliction wee are brought to feare the Lord. Not that afflictions of themselves do work this good in any for they only make the wound they do not heal they only cast us down but cannot raise us up againe they are as a Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ they bring not Christ into the heart of a sinner It prepares the heart and makes a way for good it is only the spirit of God working with the Word and helping us to apply the same aright unto our selves which is the efficient cause of all good that betideth us yet because the Lord doth work good by affliction that thing is figuratively applyed unto affliction which is the proper worke of Gods Spirit in the hearts of his children Vse Is it so that the chiefe end of the Lords afflicting of us is the bettering of us Then are the Romanists grosly mistaken who say that God hath another end in correcting of us and that is say the Papists for the punishment of our sinnes and the satisfying of Gods Justice All sinne doth deserve a double punishment both temporall and eternall This latter say they Christ hath undergone for all his members but the former the temporall punishment lyeth upon our necks and must be undergone by us as a satisfaction to be made of our parts to the Justice of God And for proofe hereof they alledge the example of David who howsoever hee was received into mercie upon his humiliation and contrition and so freed from eternall punishment yet was hee not quit of that satisfaction which he was in his own person to make unto God for his offences therefore did hee say they indure temporal punishments A foul and a grose error and that which doth not only derogate from the all-sufficiencie of Christ his merrit and satisfaction for with one offering hath hee consecrated for ever them that are sanctified Hebrewes 10.24 But it also takes much from the goodnesse of God his love and mercie is wonderfully clouded eclipsed by their doctrine For whereas the Lord telleth us that hee doth afflict us in great love for the bettering of us for the beating of sinne down in us and driving it away from us they say that God correcteth us for the punishment of sinne in us and the satisfying of his justice Away therefore with their blasphemous doctrine and beleeve wee the Word of truth and be wee assured that our afflictions are rather furtherances of sanctification then any helps or means of satisfaction administred unto us rather as medicines and preservatives to help us then as swordes to wound or hurt us For the Lord in afflicting of us seeks us not himselfe alone and rather the bettering of us then the satisfying of his own minde for hee goeth unwillingly to punish Lam. 3.33 And yet how ready are wee to turn the truth of God into a lie wee are ready to think that the Lord doth punish us to ease his mind of us and that wee suffer to satisfie Truth it is that the Lord doth punish the wicked his enemies to ease himselfe and to be avenged of them Esay 1.24 But hee hath other ends as we have heard in afflicting his children therefore wee may not say by our temporall punishments wee are any way able fully to satisfie the justice of God for one sinne If this debt had not been discharged by Christ our surety wee should be cast into prison wee should perish everlastingly Vse 2 Therefore hold wee this as an undoubted truth that God may forgive us our sins yet here punish our persons not to exact any satisfaction of us as if Christ his satisfaction were insufficient and wee reconciled unto God by halves but to make us better for time to come Secondly if the end of Gods correcting us bee the bettering of us wee may take notice of our perverse and crooked nature and temper with whom gentle and faire means that is the Word of God and benefits bestowed upon us cannot prevail but that the Lord must bee forced to take this tart and unpleasing course with us namely correcting us for our amendment The Lord as hee proclames himselfe is a father of mercies slow to anger and of great patience long in his long-suffering one that delights not in our griefes but is rather grieved for our miseries Judges 10.16 and his bowels are troubled for us Jeremie 31.20 Object If the Lord were so unwilling to punish his children and so grieved for their sorrow and miserie as the Scripture telleth us why doth hee not which if it please him he might spare himselfe that labor and us those paines hee putteth us unto Answ His love and your good constraineth him so to deal with you Suppose thou hadst a childe that had broken his leg what course wouldst thou take with him for the helping and healing of him wouldst thou not bind him hand and foot tye him down to some place or other c Thy childe it may be cries out good father let me alone you hurt me c. Wouldst thou give over because of his cry Dost thou not rather cry with him to consider what paine thou art constrained to put him unto Wouldest thou not tell him O childe I may not let thee alone for then thou wilt be lame for ever yet still thy childe renews his cries good father if you love me let me alone Wouldst thou not reply againe O childe because I love thee I cannot let shee alone for then thou wert spoil'd for ever Even thus dealeth the Lord with us it is for our good and in love that hee doth any way chasten us this course hee must take with us unlesse hee should suffer us to perish which thing his love will not give him leave to do He smites us with the rod that wee die not and that our soules may bee delivered from hell Proverbes 23.13.14 Oh the wickednesse of our hearts and the rebellion of our wils that wee must bee thus hampered and handled before we can be bettered We may see and confesse if wee were not blind and hardned that corruption is deeply setled in us in that such sharp physick such bitter and unpleasing potions must be administred and that again and again unto us before we can be cleansed from that filthinesse of the flesh and spirit which is innated and setled in us Vse 3 In the third place wee are to be admonished from hence to profit by those light and gentle afflictions wherewith it shall please the Lord to exercise us For if little ones will not serve the turn to reclaim us greater shall bruise if not breake us If we shal dare to walke stubbornly against the Lord Then will he
A CORDIALL FOR THE AFFLICTED Touching The Necessitie and Utilitie of Afflictions Proving unto us The happinesse of those that thankfully receive them AND The misery of all that want them or profit not by them By A. HARSNET B. D. and Minister of Gods Word at Cranham in Essex The Second Edition enlarged with direction touching Spirituall Afflictions LONDON Printed by Ric. Hodgkinsonne for Ph. Stephnes and Chr. Meridith at the Golden Lion in Pauls Churchyard 1638. TO THE HONOrable Lady the Lady JOHAN BARRINGTON The Wife of that Noble and renowned Sr. FRANCIS BARRINGTON late of Barrington Hall and to the Right Worshipfull The Lady MARY EDEN the Wife of Sr. THOMAS EDEN late of Ballingdon Hall Much honored Ladies IT is too true a saying that Greatnes and Goodnesse seldom go together for not many mighty not many noble are called Yet blessed be God for his mercies to you-wards wee finde both of these in both of you For your Greatnesse next under God yee are beholding unto your Parents out of whose loynes you came For your Goodnesse yee are in in some measure beholding unto Affliction by which The Lord hath done you good so as I make no question but that ye may both of you say with David It is good for mee that I have beene afflicted Hereupon worthy Ladies I have adventured to put forth this small Treatise touching the Necessitie and utility of Affliction under your Ladiships names and Patronage joyning you both together because God hath already conjoyned you so neere in affinity by the marriage of your Pious and Religious children beseeching your Ladyships to accept of these my poore labors being such as tend to the furtherance and increase of your comfort in present or future trials For allbeit yee bee good proficients in the School of Affliction Yet peradventure yee may have forgotten some good lessons which Affliction hath formerly taught you or else have not attained as yet to that good wherein it may hereafter instruct you To help you in either or both of these be pleased I heartily beseech your Ladiships seriously to peruse what is here tendered unto you and then I doubt not but by Gods blessing yee shall be able to make that good use of Affliction that yee shall not only blesse God the Father of mercies and God of all comfort who as hee hath afflicted so hath hee comforted you in all your tribulations but yee shall also be able to comfort others which are in Affliction by the cōfort wherewith yee your selves have been comforted of God Which fruit that yee may reape I shall sow my Prayers before throne of Grace and for ever rest your Ladyships to be commanded in the Lord AD. HARSNET Cranham TO THE CHRIstian Reader Increase of Faith Hope and Patience SVch is our blindnesse and ignorance that wee are too ready to judg amisse of our selves as may appeare by two extreames into which the most runne The one is self-conceitednesse or flattering our selves in and about our spirituall estate perswading our selves that wee are in the estate of Grace and that wee have the love and favor of God when as it is neither so nor so For the redressing of which mischiefe I have heretofore undertaken the discoverie of true and sound grace from false counterfeit that so we may no longer be deluded by an overweening of our selves and too high an opinion of our goodnesse as if we were that which wee are not or were not that which wee are The other extream is a diffidence and distrust of Gods love and our own happines through the sense and smart of some troubles and afflictions wherewith it pleaseth the Lord in mercy and wisdom to exercise and trie us Whence it commeth to passe that too many of Gods deere ones are ready to cēsure themselves as out-casts or at the best as a people but meanly beloved or regarded of God in that they are so sorely afflicted For the healing of which error that there may be no mistaking that we neither charge the Lord with any want of love to us ward or hard dealing with us in afflicting of us nor surcharge our selves with unnecssary needles feares and cares nor yet causelesly increase our griefe by adding of more sorrow to our affliction I have now undertaken this Treatise Wherein my desire and ayme is to minister some comfort to such as are in affliction that so they may not cast off their hope of hapines in Heaven because they are exercised with judgments upon earth but rather beleeve that the Lord it now refining and pollishing them that so they may bee the fitter for that glory which is prepared for thē I know it is a hard thing to obey in suffering yet because it is that which maketh for our good we should with the more willingnes and cheerfulnes undergo whatsoever afflictiōs it shal please the Lord to exercise us with If our afflictions brought God out of love with us or us more in love with that which God hates and is hurtfull unto us or if our afflictions were sent unto us as curses wee had great cause to mourn in them but seeing they make so much for our good being sanctified unto us and the word of truth telleth us that wee are blessed in thē have wee not great cause to bee thankfull to God for them the Lord sees how ready we are to plunge our selves into perils if we be but a while exempted from afflictions therefore that wee may not be too bold with sin the Lord wil have us to fall into affliction least being let alone wee fall into condemnation For where God is most silent in threatning and most patient in sparing there is he most inflamed with anger and purpose of revenge And seeing we are willing to receive being sick or diseased any medicine from the hand of him that can truely say probatum est good experience hath been made of the worth working of it let my counsel good reader be acceptable unto thee give me leave to tell thee how much good thou maist gain by afflictiō if through thine unbelief and impatience thou doest not put it from thee I assure thee by good experience that howsoever afflictiō be untoothsome and unpleasing to the flesh it is most soveraign and profitable unto the soul as in the Treatise following I have made plaine unto thee Now if the stile and phrase dislike any because it is so plain and homelike let him know that I prepared this provision for poore and hungry souls unto whom course mean things are welcome and bitter things are sweet not for queasie and full stomacks which despise an hony-combe He that is falne into a pit wil refuse no hand that may help him out of it He that hath a wound in his body will be glad of any plaister that may heal or ease him Accept then of these my poore labors which I desire may be as a hand to help thee out of affliction
a decree yet shall it not stand Esay 9.10 There is no wisedome neither understanding nor counsell against the Lord Pro. 21.30 Thus wee see how the stayes and props of the wicked are but like reeds or Aegyptian staves which cannot helpe them Neither Heaven nor Earth can save or priviledge those whom the Lord will punish Then there is little cause why wee should grieve at the prosperitie or impunity of godlesse persons they are sorer plagued then the world takes notice of though no apparant judgement be seen upon them For doth not the Lord give them up to a reprobate mind even to fill and glut themselves with sinne and can there bee a greater punishment an heavier judgement then this not to be restrained from evill courses Desperate is the case of that patient whom the Physician gives over to his own appetite to eate and drinke what liketh him best When a father begins to cast off the care of his sonne suffering him to take his swinge sink or swim hee will not look after him doth it not appeare that he intendeth to disinherit such a childe Even so as the water where it is stillest is deepest and most dangerous to drown when God is most silent in threatning and patient in sparing there is hee most inflamed with anger and purpose of revenge For the fewer judgements are powred upon the wicked in this life the more are reserved for them in the life to come Therefore fret not thy selfe because of the wicked men neither bee envious for the evill doers for they shall soon be cut down like the grasse and shall wither as the green hearbe Psalm 37.1 2. Peruse the whole Psalme and it will teach thee that how prosperously soever the wicked do live for a time yet their happinesse is but transitory because they are not in the favor of God for in the end they shall be destroyed as his enemies Againe in that the Lord saith not they which I love shall be rebuked and chastened but whom I love I rebuke I chasten wee may in the next place observe this doctrine that All our trialls and afflictions come from the Lord. Of what nature and condition soever the affliction bee wherewith wee are exercised it is Physick of the Lords preparing hee hath his hand in it and therefore by a kind of proprietie afflictions be termed his judgements Wee have waited for thee O Lord in the way of thy judgements Esay 26.8 And in the next vers Thy judgements are in the earth c. That which Naomi spake to the people of Bethlehem makes much for the proof of the point in hand Call me not Naomi but call me Mara for the Almighty hath given me much bitternesse I went out full and the Lord hath caused mee to return empty why call ye me Naomi seeing the Lord bath humbled mee and the Almighty hath brought me unto adversitie Ruth 1.20 21. All her crosses and losses of what nature soever they were all her sorrows and bitternesse shee fathers upon the Lord. As personall so nationall evills come from the Lord as appeareth 2. Cron. 15.6 Nation was destroyed of Nation and citie of citie For the Lord did trouble them with all adversitie To the same purpose speaketh the Prophet Isaiah Who gave Jacob for a spoile and Israel to the robbers Did not the Lord because wee have sinned against him Isa 42.24 Whatsoever the outward means or instruments bee Gods hand hath a principall strok in all those afflictions which befall either the church in general or any particular member thereof whether it bee pestilence or sword or famine or captivity It is not the heedlesnesse and wilfulnesse of people which will adventure into places infected or upon goods that are contagious which beginneth or continueth the plague amongst us It is not alone the malice and cruelty of the enemie which bringeth the sword or causeth any to fall by it It is not unseasonable winter or summer which causeth and bringeth the famine amongst us these are but secondary causes the prime and supream cause is that all disposing wisedome and providence of God which causeth and ordereth both the one and the other Such as hee hath appointed to death shall go unto death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for captivitie to the captivitie Jerem. 15.2 So likewise for particular judgments whether in our body or estate all commeth from the Lord. Who hath made the dumb or the deafe or the blind have not I saith the Lord Exod. 4.11 From whom come consumptions burning agues other bodily diseases Doth not the Lord apoint them Lev. 26.16 Hence the Church professeth Hos 6.1 The Lord hath spoiled us and hee will heale us he hath wounded us he will bind us up If wee peruse that bedroul of curses Devt 28. It will appeare that neither povertie sicknesse nor any crosse or losse doth befall us but that which God doth send us Is there any evill in the citie and I have not done it Amos 3.6 I the Lord do all these things Esay 45.7 Here I might quickly lead you into a Labyrinth by propounding ambiguous and unnecessary questions how farre God hath his hand in every evill but such questions will breed strife rather than godly edifying 1. Tim. 1.4 Know therefore that something the Lord effects in and by himselfe without the helpe or assistance of inferior causes such are the workes of creation and some miracles Some things the Lord causeth to be effected by means as castigations and deliverances And some things the Lord suffers to be done by his permissive will yet so as if hee pleased he could easily prevent and hinder or alter the doing of them thus the Lord may be said to have a finger in every sinne not as it is a breach of his revealed will but that it may be an occasion of the manifestation of his power and justice in punishing and revenging of it These truths the heathen which either knew not God or else did not glorifie him as God were utterly ignorant of and therefore turned the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of the image of a corruptible man and of birds and foure footed beasts and of creeping things Rom. 1.23 And hence it came to passe that they forged unto themselves so many Gods one of the sunne another of the moone one of the sea another of the windes c. By whose wisedome providence and power as they conceived the whole world with all occasions and occurences therein were ordered and swayed Whereas there is but one only true God Who by wisedome hath laid the foundation of the earth and hath stablished the heavens through understanding by his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew Prov. 3.19 20. See Jerem. 10.12.13 of him and by him and for him are all things Rom. 11.36 The Pelagians
us If the Lord should dispute with us wee could not answer him one thing of a thousand When hee visiteth what shall I answer him said Iob 31.14 Whereupon David saith Psalm 130.3 If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquities O Lord who shall stand The least sinne wee commit makes us liable to the vengeance of eternall torments How grear a measure of punishment do wee then deserve for our many for our grievous sinnes our sinnes being like unto the sand by the sea shore which is innumerable What ever our afflictions are or may be they come short of our sinnes they fall short of that which wee have deserved and that which the Lord may justly without any wrong to us lay upon us Amongst many other one maine cause why we are so troubled and vexed with affliction is because we are so little galled with our sinnes a true sense of these would make our afflictions to be more easie and us lesse sensible of them then many times we are Do we not see it by experience that when the stone and the gout or some other bodily malady meet together the paine of the stone being the more grievous alaies if not takes away the sense pain of the gout even so would it be here when sinne and affliction are both upon us at once the consideration of our sinnes deserving farre greater punishment then we beare should so grieve us that the punishment it selfe should not move us much lesse stirre us up to impatience Is there not then great cause that we should willingly and patiently bear Gods chastisements as the Church resolved Mica 7.9 I will beare the wrath of the Lord because I have sinned against him And confesse with the good theef in the Gospell We indeed are justly here for we receive the due reward of our deeds Luke 23.41 And thus did that Emperor Mauritius who beholding his wife and children murthered before his face cried out just art thou o Lord and just are thy judgements And thus David confessed I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou hast afflicted me justly Ps 119.75 Secondly compare thine afflictions with the sufferings of many of the Lords Worthies and thou hast great cause to be patient Looke but into the 11. Chap. to the Heb. ver 35 36 37. and tell mee if thine afflictions be answerable or sutable to their fiery trials Looke into the sufferings of Christ Consider him that indured such speaking against of sinners lest you should be wearied and faint in your mindes ye have not yet resisted unto blood Heb. 12.3 4. If the Lord deal so sharply with many of his deare children and with thee so mildly so gently wonder at Gods clemency and lenity lay thy hand upon thy mouth and bee patient Thirdly consider how short thine affliction will bee in comparison of that eternall torment the Lord might lay upon thee our afflictions are but light and moment any as Paul calls them 2. Cor. 4.17 The Lord himselfe saith Esay 54.8 For a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee for a little season but with everlasting love have I had compassion on thee Who would not bee content with a course of physick for a few daies though the physick be untoothsome and very bitter in hope of health for ever after What if thou hast indured months of sorrow and painfull nights have beene appointed unto thee as they were to Job 7.3 What are they in comparison of those eternall torments the Lord might throw thee into in which there will be no ease out of which there shall be no release A great cause of impatience and storming at afflictions is the ignorance of our selves and of the desert of our sinnes which if we knew aright we would confesse with Ezra let our miseries and troubles be what they will that the Lord hath punished us lesse then our iniquities have deserved Ezra 9.13 I will beare the wrath of the Lord saith the Church Mic. 7.9 I will not repine at his dealing with me I wil not open my mouth by way of complaint or murmuring but from what doth this holy resolution and patience proceed It followeth in the same verse because I have sinned against him I have carried my selfe proudly stoutly and rebelliously against him I have provoked the eyes of his glory I have many waies many times broken his holy lawes I have deserved farre more farre greater judgements then he hath laid upon me it is his mercy that I am not confounded that I am of this side hell Fourthly and lastly the consideration of the blessed end that God for the most part makes of the afflictions of his servants will further our patience After they have endured any great fight in affliction he doth usually bestow some speciall favor or other upon them yea proportionable to the measure of the affliction hath the recompence and the blessing been such as have had the bitterest crosses have received the sweetest comforts Ye have heard of the patience of Job and what end the Lord made Jam. 5.11 What this end was is recorded Iob. 42. where it is said that the Lord turned a way the captivitie of Iob and gave him twice as much as he had before So the Lord blessed the last daies of Iob more then the first Iob 42.12 This hope of future mercy kept David from fainting in his affliction Psal 71.20 21. Thou hast shewed we great troubles and adversities but thou wilt return and revive me and wilt come againe and take me from the depth of the earth Thou wilt increase mine honnor and receive and comfort me if not with temporall assuredly with spirituall comfort here for they bring forth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse unto them that are thereby exercised Heb. 12.11 They are occasions as hath been formerly proved of purging our corruption and bringing of us neerer God and into more conformity with Christ and should not this comfort us Besides they make way for glory and endlesse comfort They that sow in teares shall reape in ioy Psalm 126.5 Afflictions cause unto us a farre more excellent and eternall weight of glory 2. Cor. 4.17 Art thou in any affliction thou art but under a short cloud it will quickly blow over and thou shalt have a faire season a most comfortable and glorious sun-shine when all teares shall be wiped away from thine eyes Rev. 7.17 After two dayes hee will revive us and in the third day he will raise us up and wee shall live in his sight Hos 6.2 Art thou in affliction be patient the third day is comming wherein the Lord will deliver thee There must be a time for thee to sow thy prayers in and a time for thee to water them with the teares of true repentance and then presently comes the joyfull harvest in due season thou shalt reape if thou thou bee patient if thou faint not Gal. 6.10 What made Steven in his martyrdome to bee so patient and chearefull but
forth the daughter but as a tradesman bringeth forth his wares and shewes them to others what they are or rather as the Sun in the spring bringeth forth hearbs and fruits by its working influence For first of all faith perswades the heart that the cause of all evill that befalls us lieth in our owne bosomes our sins as you have heard are the ground of all and therefore if wee will be angry with any body it should be with our sinnes Secondly faith perswades us as you shall heare anon that God in afflicting of us loves us and deales with us as a father with that child in whom he delights Nay a father may somtime bee transported with passion and correct his childe above measure laying on that in his heat which in his cool blood he doth heartily wish were off againe Whereas our heavenly Father is so wise as he puts not in one dramme of any ingredient more then shall serve the turne and need requireth A third and last helpe unto patience is Heavenly-mindednesse or the setting our affection on things that are above and not on things which are on the earth Col. 3.2 For he that immoderately and inordinately loves the world and earthly things will bee impatient at the losse of them How waspish and impatient was Ionah for the withering of his Gourd even so much that hee durst tell the Lord to his face that he did well to be angry unto the death Ion. 4.9 Our blinde judgements making a false report unto our affections of these outward things wee come to set them at too high a rate and so grow impatient at the losse of them Whereas if wee did esteem them as the wise man reports them to be and as they are in truth that is nothing Pro. 23.5 wee would be lesse moved with the losse of them There is a kind of venom in worldly things to puffe up and swell the heart of a man By thy wisdome and by thine occupying hast thou increased thy riches and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches Ezek. 28.5 Now when trouble and affliction comes to encounter with a proud heart every veine swells and the heart rebells and breaks out into impatience and they can not beare it And the greater their tryalls are the more do they fret and fume as a running water the greater the flood and stream is the more doth it foame and roare where there be any arches to withstand it And now that wee may be willing to take the more paines to be furnished with patience I will lay down a few priviledges which wee shall partake of through patience every one of them a strong motive to stirre us up to labour for patience First by the helpe of patience wee shall be the better able to manage those gifts and graces which God shall endow us withall Patience keeps the mind in such a stayed and setled temper that wee shall be able to manage and direct our selves in all our straights and advise and counsell others in their doubts and difficulties By our patience wee possesse our soules Luk. 21.19 Wee enjoy and command our selves for impatience puts a man out and makes to be beside himselfe By faith wee possesse Christ by love wee possesse our neighbor yea our enemie and by patience wee possesse our selves He hath but a weak hold of Christ or of his neighbor that hath no hold or command of himselfe An impatient person is as one out of the way or as a bone dislocated and out of joynt What stabilitie can be where Patience sits not at the stern to direct and govern A ship that rides at sea well ballanced is steddy and so proves comfortable unto the Passengers that bee abord her whereas an unballanced vessell reels like a drunken man and tumbles too and fro with every little gale and blast of wind and so make those weary if not sick that be in her How sick must that soul needs be whom troubles and afflictions the waves and billows of this world a raging and tempestuous sea through the want of patience the stearsman do tumble up and down and are disquiet Where patience is there is quietnesse because patience brings a Christians minde unto his estate when his estate and condition cannot suite with his minde Secondly Patience will conforme thee unto Christ and make thee a compleat Christian Let patience have her perfect worke that ye may be perfect and entire lacking nothing Jam. 1.4 That soul which wants no patience wants nothing for patience is able to supply all wants and make up all defects A patient and contented mind is rich and hee that is rich cannot want unlesse he will Thirdly patience will make thee to be a profitable entertainer of Gods Word it will make thee fruitfull in Christianitie the honest and good heart brings forth fruit with patience Luk. 8.15 So many evills there bee to encounter goodnesse so many oppositions and reproaches to nip if not blasâ— good beginnings so many troubles to attend Pietie and godlinesse so many principalities and powers and spirituall wickednesse in high places to stop our course and to interrupt us in our holy profession that without patience little or no fruit will appeare in our lives and conversations Fourthly patience wil make thy life comfortable whatsoever thy afflictions be Thou art armed with mettall of proof no dart of Satan no malice of the world can wound thy soul if patience have got the keeping of it Outward calamities and afflictions may make a great noise about thine eares as hailstones falling thick upon the tyles over thy head keep a great ratling but cannot come neere to hurt thee So afflictions may rattle about thine eares but patience shelters thee from receiving any hurt by them Let thy afflictions be never so mischievous and noxious in themselves they shall not prove so to thee If patience possesse thy soul so many afflictions as befall thee will fall out to be so many arguments of Gods love so many consolations unto thee especially if they be such as wee undergoe for Christ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation aboundeth through Christ 2. Cor. 1.5 Misery it selfe shall not be able to make thee miserable for patience is a most soveraigne antidote and preservative against the venom of any affliction which can betide thee Vse 4 Fourthly is it so that all our afflictions come from God then here is a ground of comfort and matter of rejoycing in affliction not that we have ministred matter and occasion unto the Lord to chastise us but in that having sinned against the Lord hee will take the rod into his hand and have the ordering of that affliction which befalls us For nothing as hath been said can bee in which our heavenly Father hath not a chiefe stroke before it can be brought to passe The consideration whereof as it should settle and quiet us so should it minister much comfort unto us
because our safety and security lieth in it As God loveth a cheerfull doer so hee loveth a cheerfull sufferer A childe that is willing to kisse the rod wherewith it was beaten gives great content unto the parent which corrected it and makes halfe amends for the fault it hath committed Christ will have every one of his to take up his Crosse daily Luk. 9.23 the taking up of our crosse implyeth willingnesse and cheerfulnesse in the bearing of it Many a childe of God is content to beare his crosse when the Lord hath laied it upon his shoulders as the Prophet Jeremiah speakeath Woe is me for my destruction and my grievous plague But I thought yet it is my sorrow and I will beare it Jerem. 10.19 Hee dares not mutter or repine at the Lords doing but here was no rejoycing in tribulation Whereas James tells us that wee must count it exceeding joy when wee fall into divers afflictions Jam. 1.2 When the Lord commeth as it were in open hostilitie against us mustering his forces towards us when one affliction comes upon the neck of another when wee fall into divers afflictions even then we have cause of rejoycing For our afflictions comming from the hand of our loving Father cannot be hurtfull but profitable unto us Hee chasteneth us for our profit that wee might he partakers of his holinesse Hebr 12.10 Indeed if our afflictions brought God out of love with us or us more in love with sinne which God hates and is hurtfull unto us if our afflictions were sent unto us as curses wee had cause to mourn in them But when the Word of truth so often pronounceth us blessed in them as Psalme 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest O Lord. Have wee not then great cause of rejoycing in them especially seeing our Heavenly Father hath the ordering and disposing of all our afflictions both in respect of their kinde and nature and also in respect of their measure either of quantity or continuance First in regard of their kind If you would know why this affliction befalls thee rather then another it is because the Lord the only wise and soveraign Physitian knows how to strike thee in the right veine hee knowes thy heart and the nature of thy corruption and therefore applieth such medecines unto thee as will bee most available for thy cure Which thing Job teacheth us Behold hee will break down and it cannot be built he shutteth a man up and hee cannot be loosed Behold hee withholdeth the waters and they drie up but when he sendeth them out they destroy the earth with him is strength and wisedom Job 12.14 15 16. Yea hee is mighty in strength and wisedom Job 36.5 Which he could not be said to be if any other course were better for us then that which he taketh with us The Lord is perfect wisedom and therefore will not cannot but go the best the safest and wisest way to worke for the good of his children Some peradventure may think that some other kind of affliction might have been better for them then the present some other they thinke would have done them more good then this can do But they speak they know not what And I may say unto them as Christ to his Disciples Luk. 9.55 Yee know not of what spirit yee are The choosing of the rod belongeth unto him that is to give the correction not to him that taketh it Indeed the Lord did once put David to his choice 2. Sam. 24.12 I offer unto thee three things chuse thee which of them I shall do unto thee But this was an extraordinary favor shewed unto David first to make triall of his Faith whether he had rather fall into the hand of the Lord then into the hand of man and secondly to let him know that the Lord would correct him in mercy in that hee gave him libertie to make choise of the punishment The Lord knew that either of those rods would bee sufficient to scourge David withall And none knows so well as the Lord how to meet with our corruptions or what afflictions are meet for us If thou canst not profit by that affliction which the Lord appointeth unto thee thou wilt profit by none To say some other kind were better for thee were to controll the judgement of the wise God as if hee knew not better then our selves to order and dispose of us Is it fit the patient should prescribe his Physitian what course to take with him wilt thou teach him what he shall administer unto thee this were to dishonor the Physitian therefore thou submittest to his judgement and takest what hee prescribeth thee resting upon his skill And wilt thou dare so highly to dishonor God as to question his wisedome and knowledge as if some other affliction were better for thee then this which hee is pleased to administer unto thee No no say as Ely did 1. Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Secondly the Lord hath the disposing of our afflictions for quantitie for hee doth order all things in their measure number and weight but especially the afflictions of his children Jerem. 30.11 I will not utterly destroy thee but correct thee in judgement or in measure as the new translation hath it God therefore metes out unto his children not according to their merit but in mercy according to their strength looking more what they are able to undergoe then what they do deserve to be laid upon them Hee correcteth in judgement that is wisely proportioning our affliction to our strength and not in anger least he bring us to nothing Jere. 10.24 Feare not therefore O Jacob my servant saith the Lord for I am with thee I will not utterly destroy thee but correct thee by judgement and not utterly cut thee off Jerem. 46.28 Comfort thy selfe therefore in this that God is faithfull who will not suffer thee to be tempted above that thou art able to beare but will with the tentation make a way to escape that thou maist be able to beare it as was formerly spoken Thirdly and lastly the Lord disposeth of all our afflictions in respect of their time and continuance which he hath promised shall be but short For the rod of the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the righteous Psal 105.3 Hee indureth but a while in his anger Weeping may abide at the evening but joy commeth in the morning Psal 30.5 Who is a God like unto thee saith Micah that taketh away iniquitie and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his wrath for ever because mercy pleaseth him Mic. 7.18 Therefore wait patiently upon the Lord for issue out of thine affliction which in due time thou shalt bee sure of For the Lord deals not with his children as the Devill doth with his servants bringing them into the briars and there leave them to scratch and rent and teare themselves but the
violence to thy person in all these or any other wrong they can do unto thee they are but the Lords rods to whip thee withall Seeke not revenge against them but leave them to the Lord and hee will one day recompence them for their malice and cruelty against thee Implacable is the malice and rage of the wicked against the godly so furious that if the Lord should not curbe and restrain them as Jezebel vowed to take away the life of Eliah 1. King 19.2 So they would not suffer a soul to breath amongst them which feareth God and walketh not after the course of the World But blessed be our good God that giveth not up his children as a prey into their teeth Psalme 124.6 but avengeth the afflicted Psalme 140.12 And will recompence the wicked according to their deeds Psal 28.4 For it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you which are troubled rest 2. Thess 1.6 7. Object But is the Lord just in this is it equall that any should bee punished for that worke which the Lord hath set them about Answ Yes if they do it not to that end and in that manner which God would have them True it is they can do no other then God will have them to do but God wills them not to do his worke in that manner which they perform it The Lord commanded Jehu to root out the posterity of Ahab which Jehu according to the Word of the Lord fulfilled Yet the Lord by the Prophet Hoseah 1.4 saith I will visit the blood of Israel upon the house of Jehu For though Jehu was Gods instrument and servant and did that worke which the Lord imployed him about and the Lord was well pleased with the doing of it yet the manner and the end of his doing it caused God to be offended with him For Iehu did it not in conscience and obedience to the will of God hee did it not with an upright heart but with an ambitious and wicked mind Hee did it not in zeal of Gods glory as he boasted but hee did it to advance himselfe and to settle the crown more surely upon the head of his posterity Hee threw down Baal Ahabs Idoll to set up Jeroboams calfe Hee did it not in detestation of Ahabs sinne but in the hatred of his person and love unto himselfe and therefore the Lord threatned and afterward punished him So many that trouble and vexe the Lords people do that which the Lord would have them but not to that end or in that manner as the Lord speakes by the Prophet Zachariah I was angry but a little and they helped forward the affliction Zach. 1.15 Therefore when our enemies have done their worst spit out all their malice and spewed out all their venom against us which they can disgorge then will the Lord take them to taske then will hee recompence and reward them for their malice and mischiefe Behold thus saith the Lord unto the Ammonites because thou hast clapped thy hands and stamped with thy feet and rejoyced in heart with all thy despight against the land of Israel Behold therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee c. Ezek. 25.6.7 This shall they have for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Lords people Zepha 2.10 The more our enemies do insult over us and wee patient the sooner wil the Lord help and deliver us Jere. 30.17 If wee did but seriously consider of these things much matter of patience would be administred unto us Men would not swell with the desire of revenge if these truths could enter into them Did wee beleeve that whatsoever wrongs and injuries either by word or deed any of our enemies offer unto us the Lord sets them on worke the Lord wills them to do it for the exercising of our faith the triall of our patience and other ends would wee durst wee fret and fume and chafe as wee do at our enemies Were wee but perswaded of this truth That if wee patiently sat down by our wrongs seeke not revenge but commit and commend our causes and our enemies to our God hoping that the Lord wil do us good for that evill they have done unto us as David said It may bee the Lord will look upon mine affliction and do me good for his cursing 2. Sam. 16.12 Wee would be more patient and there would be lesse heart-burnings and fewer quarrells and suits at law amongst us then be Before I passe from this use of the doctrine in hand it will not be amisse to lay down some helps how a Christian may attaine to this gift of patience which is so needfull to the carrying of him on cheerfully and peaceably in his race for wee must runne with patience the race that is set before us Hebr. 12.1 How may wee come to bee furnished with patience First by our profitable and fruitfull entertaining and welcoming the Word of God for this being effectuall in us will still the heart in all stormes and cause us quietly to sit downe by all wrongs done unto us by all afflictions that befall us Hence it is that the Lord cals the Word The Word of his patience Revel 3.10 And so it is called either because it teacheth and instructeth us unto patience For whatsoever things are written aforetime are written for our learning that wee through patience and comfort of the Seriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 Or else because it is an instrument and means of working patience in us promising unto us peace with God through Christ and not only so but also a sanctified use of all our afflictions heere and salvation hereafter to all that keep this Word which doth much pacifie the heart and cause us to be patient in our afflictions Or else it may be called a word of patience because without patience the Word cannot be rightly professed nor wee hold out in a holy profession unto the end whence wee may safely conclude that it is either through ignorance of the Word or neglect of the Word or want of the power of the Word that wee are impatient A second meanes of furnishing the heart with patience is the exercising of our faith Knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth forth patience James 1.3 Object But doth not Saint Paul say Rom. 5.3 That tribulation bringeth forth patience Answ Yes and both speake the truth and meane one and the same thing Know that neither faith nor tribulation do beget procreate patience for patience is a fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 Tribulation doth not naturally and of it selfe beget and bring forth patience but originally and by accident for to speak properly it is the work of the Spirit to still and pacifie the troubled mind of man but tribulation is a means and instrument by which patience is brought forth that is is exercised and manifested Neither doth faith bring forth patience as the mother bringeth