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
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
clothed for this is meere folly in us because with all our carking and caring we cannot better our condition this I say was the scope of Christs words and not to beat us off from a provident and wise fore-casting of businesse or from fitting and preparing of our selves for afflictions against which we shall be the better armed if we can weane our hearts and take off our affections from immoderate and inordinate loving of the world and the things thereof Whereupon saith Paul 1. Corinth 7.32 I would have you without care .i. without setting your mindes and hearts upon the world for the fashion of this world goeth away vers 31. and our time here is but short this night may our souls be fetched away from us for which change of ours and all other tryals that in the meane time may befall us we shall be the better fitted and armed if we will prepare for them If every morning thou wilt addresse thy selfe to meet with thy crosse and arme thy selfe against all assaults resolve ere it be night to meet with some trouble this I dare boldly and confidently promise and assure thee will be an excellent help yea singular means of carrying thee a great deale more chearfully thorow thy afflictions or else furnish thee with a great deale more strength and abilitie to beare and undergo them so long as it shall please God to lay them upon thee But when I speake of preparing for afflictions and arming your selves against them I would have you know that there must be more then a bare minding of affliction or a resolution not to be dismayed or daunted with them the soul must lay in some spirituall provision we must treasure up faith and a good conscience A stocke of true holinesse lying by us will alay the heat ease the smart and sweeten the bitternesse of any affliction that can befall us It is from the want of this spirituall and heavenly provision that many carnall worldlings when any crosses or troubles befall them are struck to the very heart with fearfull amazements fears and terrors of minde and spirit yea with passionate distempers sometimes of rage and fury which puts them upon desperate resolutions I may instance in Ahitophel a man of that brain and worldly wisedome that his counsell was esteemed as the oracle of God 2. Sam. 16.23 This great statist finding himself to be over-topped by the counsell of Hushai and fearing that the rejecting of his counsell would be the obscuring of his glory it is said That he sadled his asse arose and went home and put his houshold in order and hanged himself 2. Sam. 17.23 Would this man have laid a little disgrace so neere his heart if his heart had beene sound towards the Lord and his anointed Surely no. But being a traiterous time-server and going as he conceived with the strongest side making flesh his arme and his outward esteeme and glory his idoll he desperately plungeth himselfe into a sea of horror Whereas holy Job having other manner of tryals severall tydings one upon the neck of another of the losse of all his cattell substance yea and of all his children the least of which losses would have struck so cold to the heart of many a carnall worldling that it would have dyed within him like a stone as Nabals did What was the cause that Jobs heart was not crusht into pieces under the wait of so many losses but that still he kept within compasse and blesseth God for all Would you know the true ground of his patience and holy fortitude Job was one that feared God one who in the time of his prosperitie and outward happinesse laid up store of spirituall riches and treasures He had wisely layed in store of faith and holinesse and uprightnesse upon which his soul did feed in the dayes of his affliction So as no afflictions which befell him could beat him from his hold he resolves to trust in God though he slay him Job 13.15 The consciousnesse of his former gratious and righteous carriage towards great and small especially towards the oppressed the poore and fatherlesse did furnish him with strength to undergo the sorest of his sufferings Oh be then taught by this holy example how to be fitted and prepared against afflictions A godly life the feare of the Lord faith and a good conscience will lay such a foundation for time to come that though never so many stormes do arise though the winde of affliction waves of tentation do beat upon thee yet shalt thou stand as a tower impregnable no affliction shall be able to vanquish or overcome thee It may be thy afflictions may rise like a spring of bitter waters yet the salt of a good conscience wil sweeten these waters and heal them It may be afflictions like to over-flowing Jordan are come over thee so as thou cryest with David I am come into deepe waters and the streames runne over me Psal 69.2 yet a good conscience like to Elias his mantle will cut and divide this Jordan so as thou shalt be able to passe over it For this promise hath the Lord made to every one that is godly Surely in the flood of great waters they shall not come neere him Psal 32.6 That Panoplie and whole armour of God which the Apostle exhorts us to be furnished withall that so we may resist in the evil day Ephes 6. that is to say A girdle of vertue shooes of preparation the breast-plate of righteousnesse the shield of faith an helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit are all where a good conscience is for this is armour of righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left Righteousnesse will keep thee from being shaken with afflictions though the earrh be moved and the foundations thereof totter though all things are in combustion about thine eares yet if iniquitie be put farre away and no wickednesse dwell in thy Tabernacle then truly shalt thou lift up thy face without spot and shalt be stable and shalt not feare Job 11.14 15. For though a just man falleth that is into trouble and affliction seven times yet he riseth again Pro. 24.16 For the Lord putteth under his hand Psal 37.24 Vse 3 Thirdly if it be thus let us be the more exercised in the Word of God which will teach us how to beare afflictions and minister comfort unto us even in the heat and extremity of them Whiles means and liberty is afforded be wise now to store thy self with heavenly provision that is to say comfort out of Gods Word to cheare up thy soul and refresh thy drooping spirits in the day of affliction If thy law had not beene my delight I should now have perished in mine affliction saies David Psal 119.92 My affliction would have destroyed me and made me perish from the right way if it had not beene lenified and sanctified by thy Word The Word of God teacheth us in all times of tryall to rest upon the
which so farre estrangeth us from the world that it changeth us into the similitude of Christ unto whom wee must be conformed in sufferings that so wee may as hath been formerly delivered bee like him in glory unto which glory wee are furthered by affliction it being a means of driving us out of the broad way of the world which leadeth unto destruction and bringing us into the narrow and crosse way which leadeth to salvation If thus much good comes by afflictions then it is good for a man to beare the yoke in his youth Lam. 3.27 The sooner wee be afflicted the better for us If these bee the ends of Gods afflicting us are wee not shrewdly hurt when the Lord corrects us is there any cause of mourning Vnlesse it be for our rebellion and stubbornnesse which puts the Lord as it were out of his course besides himself if wee may so say with reverence to his Majestie to do his work his strange work his act his strange act Esay 28.21 Have wee then any cause to bee angry or do wee well to be angry as the Lord asked Jonah 4.9 When as the Lord hath more cause to bee angry with us for putting him to that trouble and grieving him with out sinnes No no let us rather be angry with our sinnes which provoke the Lord to afflict us and let us be comforted in all our tribulation that wee may bee able to comfort them which are in any affliction by the comfort wherewith wee our selves are comforted of God 2. Cor. 1.4 Bee cheerfull therefore in thine affliction say as David Psalm 42.11 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Think not the worse but the better of thy self for the Lords correcting of thee Thy case is no other then the case of Gods deare children yea of Christ himselfe There hath no tentation taken hold of thee but such as appertaineth to man 1. Cor. 10.13 Affliction is the beaten path of all the Lords people Which of the godly and faithfull before us have not drunk of this cup and been baptized with this baptisme This being a common case me thinks it should be a common comfort Why should any man that loves or feares God or is any way desirous to honor God in that condition the Lord hath set him seek and with a priviledge above all the children of God that ever were yea above Christ Jesus the sonne of God himselfe Is it not a favor is it not a mercie nay is it not an honor to be used and to be dealt withall as Christ and all the godly have been before us And should not the consideration of this comfort us It may be the Lord hath taken away thy goods thy plenty from thee and brought thee to a morsell of bread It may be he hath taken away thy health and welfare and doth afflict thee with deseases and sores and aches so as thou hast no rest day nor night Was not this Jobs condition who lost more goods and substance in one day then thou hast in all thy life besides hee had painfull dayes and long nights of sorrow And art thou better then he was It may bee the Lord hath cast thee into prison and spoiled thee of thy liberty Was not faithfull Joseph unjustly kept divers yeares in prison where they held his feet in the stocks and he was laid in Iron untill his appointed time came and the counsell of the Lotd had tried him Psalm 105.18 19. It may be thou hast many great and malicious enemies which without any just cause of thine who doe backbite thee slander thee speake all manner of evill of thee and with more then Vatinian hatred doe persecute thee Was not this the case of Christ and did not he tell his Apostles John 15.18 19. that they should meete with the same entertainment in the world that he had found amongst them It may be the Lord doth exercise thee with gracelesse stubborn and rebellious children This cannot be but a great griefe to the heart of a parent especially if he be one fearing God but have not Gods deere children been thus tryed Had nor Noah that just and upright man a wretched Cham that discovered and scoffed at his fathers infirmities Gen. 9. Had not good Isaack a prophane Esau as he is termed Heb. 12.16 who of set purpose to vex his parents tooke unto him wives of other nations which was a griefe of minde unto Isaack and Rebâ—ckah Gen. 26.35 What wicked children had Ely the Priest and judge of Israel such as abused the women that assembled at the doore of the Tabernacle of the Congregation that men abhorred the offering of the Lord the sin of the sonnes of Ely was so great before the Lord. It may be the Lord hath taken unto himself some of thy children which were as deer and neer unto thee as thine own soule But what if the Lord had taken them away by the sword of the enemies as he did Fly his sonnes 1. Sam. 4.11 Or by fire from heaven as he did the sonnes of Aaron Lev. 10.2 Nay what if the Lord should have taken away ten of thy children all of thy children at one blow by overwhelming the house upon them where they were eating and drinking as he did Jobs children Job 2.19 And to conclude what if the Lord should raise up evill in thy family suffering one child to defloure and to devoure each other yea to seeke thy life as Davids children did Were thy case and condition in any of all these â—oâ—e afflictions worse then those of Gods deer and faithfull servants of the Lord who have been thus exercised and afflicted yea and now are Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethâ—en that are in the world 1 Pet. 5.9 Let us therfore learne to judge wisely of our selves conflicting with afflictions Afflictions though they be judgements upon us for our sinne yet are they not judgements upon us unto condemnation We shall then adde unto our affliction and sorrow and needlesly increase our griefe if we condemn our estate because the Lord corrects us for our transgressions If we cast off our hope of happinesse in heaven because we be recompensed with judgements on earth we shall both wrong God and our selves Therfore he will have us to rejoyce in tribulation Romans 5.3 Though he visit our iniquities with rods Psal 89.32 33. Yet his loving kindnesse will he not utterly take away from us nor suffer his faithfulnesse to faile Therefore beware of charging the Lord with any hardnesse or unreasonable dealing with us as if he marred his gold by casting it into the fornace to refine it But let us rather look into our own hearts and mourne for our own stubbornnes and rebellion which hath moved the Lord thus to shackle and hamper us that he might take down our proud hearts O proud hearts of ours subdue our stubborn and rebellious wils and make us vile and
of olde were much puzled about the divine Providence thinking it an unseemly thing to make God the author of an evill and therefore affirmed that there were two gods The one was the Father of mercies and author of all good that doth betyde man The other was an evill god the enemie of mankind the actor of such evills as do befall man But wee acknowledge onely one God the wise and just dispenser of good and evill for out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth both evill and good Lam. 3.38 Plato and other Heathens would say That God was the cause of all good things in Nature beleeving and acknowledging a Divine Providence in prosperity but when adversity came they were of another minde It is reported of Cato that hee stoutly held and defended a Divine Providence all the while that Pompey prospered and the citie flourished but when he did see Pompey to bee overthrown by Caesar in so just a cause when hee beheld the body of Pompey cast upon the shoare without any honor of buriall and himselfe exposed to danger by Caesars army hee then changed his opinion denying that there was any Divine Providence but that all things fell out by chance It were well with many Christians which know or at least should know more of Gods minde then Coto knew if they were not somtimes sicke of Cato his disease for they can trust God and acknowledgeâ— his Providence all the while they live at ease and in prosperitie but let the Lord change their estate and then they change their minde or an the least they begin to demurre about the truth of this doctrine Object But how can it be said That God ordereth and disposeth of all afflictions when there be many euils which wee bring upon our selves and may thank our selves for as appeareth in divers places of Scripture Hast thou not procured this unto thy selfe in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Jerem. 2.17 Againe it is said Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe And ordinary experience tells us how many mischiefes many bring upon themselves through surfets ryot c. Answ Wee procure unto our selves by reason of our sins whatsoever evills do befall us Besides God by withdrawing or with-holding of his grace gives us over to our own lusts or Satanâ— tentaâ—ions and so makes us his instruments to worke our selves that mischiefe or to bring upon our own paies those evills hee intended should befall us Therefore it is undoubted truth that God hath his hand in our afflictions and it may bee confirmed by these reasons Reason 1 First in regard of the infinitenesse of his being filling both Heaven and Earth with his presence Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God afarre off Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Doe not I fill Heaven and Earth Jerem. 23.23 24. Whither shall we goe from his spirit or whither shall wee flee from his presence Psal 139.7 If wee be in hell there shall the Lords hand take us yea though wee more hid in the bottome of the sea the Lord can thence command the serpent to bite us Amos 9.2 3. So that the Lord is every where The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is not able to containe him 1. King 8.27 Hee is above us beneath us he is before us and behind us he is without us and within us hee is not only all eye to observe all for his eyes behold all nations Psal 66.7 But he is also all hand to order and dispose of all particulars If any thing were out of Gods reach or did fall out beyond his presence and privity then were not the Lord infinite and then were he not God But the Lord being every where and filling every place must needs have the ordering and disposing of all things which are done in Heaven or in the earth for as it pleaseth the Lord so all things come to passe Reason 2 that the Lords hand should bee in every affliction which befalls us because Hee worketh all things after the counsell of his will Ephe. 1.11 Man may devise and plot what he please hee may take others into confederacie with him but the Lord laughes them to scorne Psal 37.13 Their counsell shall bee brought to nought their decree shall not stand Esay 8.10 But the counsell of the Lord shall stand and the thoughts of his heart throughout all ages Psal 33.11 So Esay 46.10 My counsell shall stand and I will do whatsoever I will If the Lord hath a will to any thing that thing must needs follow for his willing of it is the doing of it I have purposed it and I will do it Esay 46.11 Therefore they blasphem the omnipotencie and power of God who say That Gods will attendeth and follows mans and worketh in many things as our will inclineth which is to set the cart before the horse to make the supreme governesse come after the handmaid Object But doth it not please the Lord to afford so much libertie to his creature that some thing may bee done as wee will and best liketh us Answ The Scripture doth no where tell us that God doth at any time suspend his omnipotencie and purpose so farre as to put the staffe at any time out of his owne hand that man may will any thing against or without the will of God Wee may not say wee will go to the next towne But if God will Jam. 4.15 The heart of man purposeth a way but the Lord directeth his steps Prov. 16.9 Howsoever the wicked may bandy themselves against the Lord his anointed they can do no more nor other but whatsoever his hand and counsell hath appointed to bee done Act. 4.28 Reason 3 Thrdly because all the creatures both of Heaven and Earth and under the Earth are ready prest as so many servants and souldiers to be sent forth and commanded at the will of God their Soveraigne Lord and chieftaine If the Lord will lead any of his hosts against Pharoah and his people for the rescue and deliverance of Israel his chosen they shall march in battell aray and they shall follow in ten severall troups and at the heeles of one another The least the meanest and the vilest of these hosts though of Lice or Grashoppers under the conduct of the Lord shall be able to make head against this great Monarch Pharoah and bring down the spirit and stomack of this proud King who a little before asked Who is the Lord that I should heare his voice and let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exodus 5.2 All which considered namely That the Lord is every where fulfilling all places and that all things are effected as hee will and that all creatures are at his bay wee may safely conclude That no affliction can befall us but that which the Lord appointeth unto us as 1. Thes
3.3 No man should bee moved with afflictions for ye your selves know that wee are appointed thereunto Vse 1 Is it so that all our afflictions come from God Away then with that heathenish conceit or dreame of Fortune Luck or Chance words too frequent in the mouths of Christians If any thing befall our neighbor better then ordinary and beyond our expectation wee are ready to congratulate his good fortune If any thing succeeed evill contrary to his desire or if any affliction doth befall him wee are ready to bemone or condole his ill luck and his bad chance Would you know from whence Fortune did first spring One tells us from nature I rather think from ignorance of nature Nature is nothing else but that order and course which the Lord hath set and established in all his creatures Why doth bread strengthen us rather then stones You will say it is the nature of bread to nourish and strengthen us and why so even because God hath said it and appointed it to be so This order and course of nature the Heathen being ignorant of as also of the Divine Providence guiding and disposing of all particulars they ascribed the event of things to a power of their own devising which they called Fortune Now for Christians who have the light of truth so clearely shining amongst us that wee should take up the language and termes of blind Pagans what a shame is it to our profession and reproach to our God Object But doth not the Scripture speake of chance Luk. 10.31 By chance there came down a certaine Priest that same way Answer In regard of God there is no chance although things may be said to bee casuall in respect of our ignorance who know not the causes of many things which fall out many times suddenly and beyond our expectation but all things past present and future are present with the Lord. And that all things in appearance casuall are ordered and governed by God may be gathered by that Vision of Ezechiel 1.18 Who beheld all things in the World in appearance to runne upon wheeles the ring of which wheeles hee observed to bee full of eyes implying hereby the universall and intentive Providence of the Lord overseeing all things Neither may wee ascribe any thing to that unluckie and as many call it unfortunate or fortunate Planet under which any may be said to be borne as the starre-gazer doth fondly hold and maintaine or that some dayes be good and some bad is a heathenish conceit For the Lord God Almightie that Most High and Incomprehensible JEHOVAH that Everlasting Alpha and Omega He that was that is and is to come He is the former framer and governor of all things Who made Arcturus Orion and Pleiades those famous starres and placed them in the firmament of heaven Who limited the North and South climats Hath not the Lord formed them and doth not He governe them Hath not He appointed them their severall spheares and motions Have they not their influences from him and doth not He withdraw from them at His pleasure Do they not remaine and continue as servants for the behoof of man as other creatures do and are not as gods or governors of mans nature neither can they dispose of our inclinations constitutions and affections or make us happy or unhappy at their pleasure but are ruled and commanded by God to stand or move at His will and pleasure Did not the Sunne stand still in Gibeon and the Moone in the valley of Ajalou a whole day Josh 10.12 By which and many other places it is evident that Sun and Moon and so all other creatures are subject to the will of the superior Governor who needeth not the helpe of such weake instruments to draw out or to shorten the life and wellfare the happinesse or the miserie of man to make our portion the more fat or lean to further or hinder us either in our spirituall or bodily welfare Thinke not therefore that either thy good or bad successe in thy proceedings the prosperous or adverse issues of thine indeavors thy riches or thy povertie proceedeth from the influence domination or power of the creatures but that all are ordered and disposed of by a higher cause the wise and righteous Providence of Almighty God Let us not therefore so much as name Fortune seeing all things in the World though many of them seem casuall and contingent to our weake and shallow apprehension are notwithstanding regulated by Divine Providence Some will say that Jonah being cast into the sea had good fortune that a fish should be ready at hand to swallow him up and so carry him a shore againe but this fortune was no other then Gods providence For the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah 1.17 The selling of Joseph unto the Ishmaelitish Merchants in appearance seemeth to be no other then the cruell act of his unnaturall brethren disputing and debating with themselves what they were best to do with him Yet Joseph telleth his brethren You sent me not hither but God Gene. 45.8 Can any thing appeare more casuall then the drawing of a lot yet it is the Lord that directeth my hand to this lot rather then unto another The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord Prov. 16.33 Gods Providence extendeth it selfe even to the smallest things the falling of every sparrow on the ground Matt. 10.29 The numbring of the haires of oun heads the feeding of the birds of the ayre and what not Hold wee it therefore as an undoubted truth that there is no fortune and that nothing comes to passe without the decree of God no not any of our afflictions nor any judgements which at any time befall any wicked person When the Drunkard hath besotted himselfe with excessive drinking and even transformed himselfe into a swine he takes his horse homeward goes the beast but the man more sencelesse then the beast is carried he knowes not whither down at last hee tumbles from his horse and breaks his neck or being on foot falls into the ditch and there is drowned you will say This man hath hard fortune And so when two roaring ruffians shall fall to word it upon some indignitie or wrong received or conceived and from words proceed either to blows or stabbing each other their companions will say the wounded party had a hard mischance befalne him verie ill lucke No no these had the just and righteous hand of God against them the Lord in justice and wrath appointing these heavie judgments unto them Hence it is that Jude speaketh of some which were before of old ordained to this condemnation Jude 4. The word ordained is very emphatical in the originall and signifies as much as if they were inrolled or set down upon record or registred and set down by the hand-writing of God to this condemnation Fortune befits the mouth of a heathen but Gods Providence the
many of his deare children groane under many long and tedious sharp and biting afflictions Answ The Lord hath many ends in dealing thus with his children First because they have been a long time delighted with some sinne which through custome is become as it were naturall and being so will not easily will not quickly be purged out of them That which is gotten to the bone will not easily be had out of the flesh Hard knubbs and knurles must have great and long wedges driven in to them many hard and great stroaks given them before they will yeeld Many hard and stony hearts will not be broken with little and short afflictions some kinde of mettles must be kept a great while longer in the furnace then others or else they will never be dissolved even so it fareth with some natures little and short afflictions work not upon them no whit at all molifie nor soften their hard and stony hearts therfore the Lord is forced to keep them down the longer Many men when any trouble befals them think to out-growe it or to beare it off by head and shoulders and to make as good a shift as they can never looking up to God whom they have offended and provoked by their sinnes but let these know that God will bow them or else he will breake them The Lord is the Lord of hosts he can send crosses thick and three-fold upon us to abate our lofty and proud spirits to break our rocky and stony hearts Gods wrath is answerable to his power as this is infinite so he can make the other insupportable Many are stiffe and stubborn as the Lord complaines They obeyed not neither inclined their eares but made their necks stiffe and would not heare nor receive correction Ier. 17.23 Little and short afflictions will not serve to reclaime such as these are therefore the Lord keeps them longer under his hand Againe the Lord doth thus deale with many of his children to work their hearts to a greater dislike of their sinne as that which hath brought upon them all those troubles which now lye upon them therfore in the time of our affliction we should fall upon our sinne upbraiding it and charging it with all our crosses Ah thou vile and loathsom sinne I may thank thee for this expence for this reproach and shame Ah cursed sin how hast thou heretofore domaniered over me Thou hast hitherto been too strong for me but God by this affliction I trowe will tame and hamper thee Is this the fruit I reape by entertaining thee Oh cursed be the time that ever I knew thee that ever I was ruled by thee The more grievous our affliction is the greater hatred we should beare our sinnes the causes of them and the more fearfull should we be for time to come of medling any more with them We say The burnt child dreads the fire Ephraim had been a long time polluted with idolatry The Lord stops her way with thorns and makes a wall that she may not finde her pathes Hos 2.6 exerciseth her with long affliction untill shee come to say What have I any more to do with Idols Hos 14.9 If I must buy my sinne at so deare a rate if thus long I must be afflicted for my sinne away with all I will no more of it Theirdly the Lord doth oft-times keepe the rod long upon his children for their greater and deeper humiliation Great sinnes must bee greatly repented of Great transgressions require great and long humiliation Davids sinnes of adultry and murder killing the husband with the sword that he might injoy his wife were great sinnes and those which caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme therefore the Lord threatned him with long affliction The sword shall never depart from thine house 2. Sa. 12.10 Neither will the Lord give us over or cease to afflict us one way or other untill hee hath brought us upō our knees broken our hard hearts and sufficiently humbled us under his hand For if we walk stubbornly against him he will walke stubbornly against us then their uncircumcised heart shall be humbled and they shall willingly beare the punishment of their iniquity Lev. 26.41 Remembering mine affliction and my mourning the wormwood and the gall my soule hath them in remembrance and is humbled in mee Lament 3.19 20. Fourthly the Lord by continuing his hand of affliction long upon his children doth hereby make known the strength of his Grace which is sufficient to support his children under long and tedious afflictions A wise builder will lay the heaviest burden upon that peece of timber which is most heart and most able to beare it Greatest peeces are put to greatest stresse because little peeces would warpe and yeeld if not break asunder Even so where there is most strength of Grace there the Lord oft times laies on the greatest load of affliction which as it makes for the praise and glory of his Grace so doth it serve much for example unto all that are neer unto them that they may live by faith and hope that if ever they come into the like trial the Lord as he is able to support and strengthen them so he will doe it and graciously stand by them even in long and sharpe afflictions as he hath upheld others in the like case Fiftly and lastly the Lord doth this that so he may afterward replenish the hearts of his children with aboundance of inward and spiritual joy After they have tasted of more gall then others they shall eate of more hony then others Heavines hath some long time sojourned in their hearts but joy and gladnesse followeth after to inhabit in them for ever The spirit of the Lord is upon mee saith Esay to comfort all that mourne appoint unto them that mourne in Sion and to give unto them beauty for ashes the garment of gladnes for the spirit of heavinesse that they may bee called trees of righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Esay 61.2 3. Yee shall sorrow saith Christ but your sarrow shall be turned into joy Iohn 16.20 If thy sorrows and afflictions have been longer then ordinary they shal make way for more then ordinary joy and thankfulnes for issue and deliverance according to that which the Church uttered Lam. 3.21 22. I consider this in mine heart therefore have I hope It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not Have wee not then good cause to bee patient in afflictions although they bee sharp and tedious seeing they proceed from the hand of our pitifull and mercifull father To helpe forward and further your patience do but consider of these 4. things First how exceedingly we have a long time provoked the Lord by our sinnes amongst which our unbeliefe is that which hath most offended him If the Lord should deale unto us our weight and measure that is punish us according to our deserts what would become of
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
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