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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15580	The saints aduantage or The welfare of the faithfull, in the worst times A sermon, preached at the Hage the 18. of May, 1623. before the most high, and mighty princesse, Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queene of Bohemia, Countesse Palatine of the Rhene, &c. By Iohn Wing, an vnworthy minister of the gospel and pastor to the English Church at Flishing in Zealand.	Wing, John, of Flushing, Zealand.	1623 (1623)	STC 25847; ESTC S120119	54,386	92

prooue a meere nullity a very vanity and we should be able not only to endure or holde out in such a hard time as we cannot shun as divers of Gods deare children haue done but with Moses rather make choyse of such a meane state and forsake a better to approue our obedience then to dwell in the tents and enjoy the delights of the vngodly vpon such tearmes as ordinarily their tenure is taken and holden betweene the divell and them here in this world Let no mans temporall condition then be the least occasion to call his spirituall or eternall state into question be it farre from every faithfull man to judge according Note to such owtward and vnceartaine appearance God never built his goodnes to vs nor our happines before him vpon such sand which will swell and sincke vpon the shift of every wynd and surges of every tyde the foundation of his loue is more firme and vnmooveable And know there is no happines in the whole earth good enough to be the least tokē of his true loue nor any earthly evill vnder heavē bad enough even at the worst to distemper the harts of his elect in the least yea though all the poyson and malignity thereof were possible to be emptyed vpon one man He that hath assured vs that our worst doth exceede the best of other men would haue vs harten our selues and solace our soules herein knowing that the true weight of this most worthy truth will overpoyze and beare downe all temporary affliction that hangeth on or presseth downe in this present evill world Be it graunted for it cannot be denyed that the worst end of the staffe is in the hand of Gods people and that it is ill with them when worse men fare well let the divell haue thus much yeelded if he will dispute the case truth is able giue error some advantage and yet conquer too well what will he herevpon inferre what shal be his forced and infernall conclusion of this our free concession why this that Gods people are in worse case then wicked wen well be it soe and what of that say they are will any thing follow to their true discomfort whose soules the Lord would not haue made sad if any thing more then this let the divell say his worst and produce and presse it to the vtmost but if this be all all is nothing Satan is confounded we are confirmed wicked men are befoold ' in all this for why though in some earthly and temporary sence we may say our case may be worse then theirs and theirs better then ours yet God hath given vs to know that in spirituall and heavenly consideration our worst is better then their best and this proposition we doe and dare avouch in the face of our feircest adversary the divell or the most furious of those tyrants which he provoketh against vs who thought to inferre some hydeous and hopeles consequence out of these poore premisses whereas nothing can issue from our perplexity and their peace by any sound evidence but that which wil be Glorious to the Lord Ioyous to his people Greivous to the vngodly and Mischeivous to the divell himself Who observing vs thus compleately armed against his mightiest engyne must now either with shame give over his olde trade of tempting or with sorrow giue over his jdle hope of prevayling and begin to thinke himself lesse able to conquer vs and every child of God who hath this hope to be more then a conquerour through Christ who hath loved them Ro. 8 3● and in his loue made thus much knowne vnto them to make them most harty in their hardest estate And now beloved is the accuser of our bretheren and of our selues cast out and overcome we haue woone Rev. 18.10 he is downe for at the lowest he see 's that we know our selues to be farre aboue all his lymms even all the highest and happiest they can be in and seing he perceive's that we now vnderstand this truth what hope hath he to make vs by any meanes miserable seing we can beleeue that we are more happy then any of his can be in our greatest misery And that we may be the better enabled in our selues to overbeare him let vs descend from the generall notice herof vnto those particuler instances of all kinds of evill wherevnto we are incident and we shall finde true cause tryumphantly to out-face him in every of them from one to another as we may haue occasion to enquire into them in order Put the case where you please nay let Satan haue leaue if you will to particulate where he will in those miseryes which he imagine's may be most for his advantage and our damage whether poverty or captivity or infamy or tyranny or death it selfe we shall sufficiently solace our selues and silence him in each of these Let vs looke a litle into them severally Poverty Is not the poverty of a childe of God better then the wealth of the wicked let Lazarus and Dives be the men that shall decide the matter I dare say you haue read and heard of them both in Gods booke the one is described by his penury and want the other by his superfluity and abundance the one fared deliciously every day and was sumptuosly arayed in purple and fine lynnen the other had but rags and scarce them to cover him and desired but the offall or reliques of the rich mans table to refresh his hungry body and to fill his empty belly Now I pray you which of these two was in the better case and which of their two conditions would you chuse all things considered I suppose no man that hath heard all the truth that is tolde of them both but he had much rather be in Lazarus poore state then haue the riches of the other and soe the poverty of Gods child is happier then the vngodly mans abundance and that which was here but parabolically propounded Ps 37.16 Prov. 15 16. cap. 16.8 vnder these two persons wil be found really true betweene any two in the world in their condition Better is a litle saith David first and Salomon once againe that the righteous hath then the plenty store of a wicked man nay of many wicked mē Our least doth much exceede their most in every respect whether of money meats apparrell or watsoever Imprisonement Againe is not our restraint and jmprisonement better then their liberty and freedome Let Gods child be the prisoner and the jmpious person be free at pleasure a prison wil be found happier to him then a pallace to the other It may soone be tryed betweene Peter Act. 12. and Herod the one was in hard restraint even in chaynes the other might goe where he would yet I warrant you he that reade's the story of these two and count's the middle and both ends would rather be Peter in the loathsome dungeon then Herod in the highest admiration Base vermine

hath the better end or which is the happier state any man that hath but a mans soule jndued with reason will soone preferre safety to danger in themselues but whosoever hath a Christians soule seasoned with religion will preferre the former vpon any tearmes even the very worst and accept the latter vpon noe tearmes no not the best The fourth advantage followeth 4. Advantage 4. A childe of God at the worst he can be in in this world hath no true cause of feare And a wicked man at his best is in a state most fearefull The most afflicted condition of the faithfull is voyd of feare and the fayrest estate of a wicked man is full of feare Gods booke giue 's abundant testimony of both fully freeing the saint from feare and filling the sinners hart with litle else Let vs take notice of that which is revealed for the people of God in this particuler The Prophet Isaiah Isa 43.1.2.3 for tell 's marve lous misery vnto the Church vnder the names of fire and water both which doe resemble both great distresses and great abundance of them also you know they are merciles and outragious creatures that doe wholy burne and vtterly overturne all they prevaile vpon and like vnto them must the calamityes be that are likened to vs by them Now though the very naming of fire and water of floods and flames especially to this end to be metaphors of more heavy miseryes were enough to terrify and affright men and to cause feare to overflow all hope of any happines yet the Lord will in no wise haue his children afrayd but laye's it vpon them by expresse inhibition here as he also doth many a time elswhere Feare not O Iacob my servant and because this might seeme an exceeding strange injunction he giue 's them a stronge excellent reason for it For I am with thee the waters shall not drowne the fire shall not burne thee c. Behold when he tell 's them of things most fearefull he will not haue them feare at all And the Apostle is of the same mynde with the Prophet writing to the Church at Philippi and in those dayes the times were terrible tyranny and extreame persecution prevayled exceedingly vpon all such as could be found to professe Christianity and exhorting them in nothing to feare the adversayes for our is not originally expressed Phi. 1.28 Observe how generall the exhortation is both touching the adversaryes and the things to be feared in them in nothing feare the adversaryes let them be who they may be never so merciles feirce or inhumane let their rage be what it wil be never soe vile villanous dyrefull yea diabolicall yet when both are come to the most and worst that can be neither is worth fearing In like manner Iohn writting to the Church of Smyrna giue 's them the same comfortable counsell and encouragement against their persecutions now approaching saying Feare nothing that thou shalt suffer and yet he tell 's them that their tribulation shal be soe extreame and extraordinary as if the divell were broke loose among them and come from hell it self to make the earth a kinde of hell vnto them for in what sence their to rmentors are called Divells their torments may be called hell and yet he would not haue them feare at all though he tell them of that which would feare yea affright yea almost amaze any body to thinke that their enemyes are divells that is soe exceedingly surpassing and beyond all ordinary oppressors that none is bad enough to represent them but the divell himself These are the generall accquittances that the Lord hath given his servants to free them from all feares in all afflictions yea let them seeme never so fearefull or insernall they are not all of them noe not at the worst worth fearing in the least Thou drewest neere saith good Ieremiah in the day of my trouble Lam. 38.55.56.57 and saydst vnto me Feare not and that when I was in the low dungeon Though I walke in the valey of the shaddow of death that is in the most discomfortable state of death it self yet I will feare noe evill saith good David Ps 23.4 And in a word our Lord Iesus Christ gaue this for one among those many most gracious lessons he left behinde him Feare not them let the men be as many Mat. 10.28 as mighty as malicious as they may be that can kill the body be their manner of killing as tyrannous torturous yea barbarous and cruell as it can be as if he would say neither persecutors nor persecutions of any kinde are cause of any feare in the faithfull he who spake it as man well knew what he sayd as God and therefore we stand bound to obey him as Christ both God and man knowing right well that if any thing in mans power might haue beene just matter of feare to the faithfull he would not haue layd this jnjunction vpon them but being man and accquanited with humane frailety and being God having command over such corruptions as he knew would flow from the same he forbids all feare in all cases because no such feare in vs can consist with the freedome of his graces 1. Ioh. for as true loue so true faith casteth out feare and soe doth every saving grace which he hath given vs. But now on the other side the feare of the profane doth overflow him at his best in the fullest streame of his externall happines it breake 's in vpon him to the disturbance of his hart yea to the fearfull destroying of himself even when he feare 's nothing Pharaoh followed Israell with a resoved mynd to reposesse and re-enslaue them vnto him for ever he hath all the successe hart can wish the sea is holden vp for him by the same miraculous hand of the Almighty which kept it for his owne people to passe over why should he feare any ordinary danger of drowning who had an extraordinary meanes of preservation and now that he see 's God to seeme at least to favour him he is bolde and adventurous and feare 's not but he may follow them close but you know the fearefull issue of this feare-les attempt to wit his owne and his peoples helples overthrow in the middst of that sea wherein he supposed himself as safe as Gods saints were and besides the wofull perishing of his body the losse of his soule was most heavy of all Belshazzar Dan. 5. was were he would be you know when he had his princes his peeres his wiues and concubines about him to quaffe swill and carouse in the sacred vessells of Gods house how frolike joviall and merry that King was we may easily conceive and how farre he had put away all feare of any dismall accident from him we may also well jmagine Howbeit beholde when he suspected nay surmized nothing that might any way disaffect much lesse amaze him he hath such a suddayne and

dreadfull object in his eye as the like hath never beene heard or read off before a mooving hand writting wofull things against him on the wall and there with was he so distempered terrifyed and in such a taking as his chattering teeth his throbbing hart his knocking knee's and the rest of his quaking members though not mentioned may signify the state of his perplexed spirit and distracted mynde It were most easy to multiply many of this fearfull crew whome the Lord hath accursed many wayes and among the rest with such forlorne nay infernall feares as many a time are threatned vnto them from him who is FEARE it self even the most fearfull and terrible GOD who hath shewed all men now farre he can and doth and will for ever keepe them evē at their best vnder the bondage of base fare shewing himself vnto them evermore both it his word by those terryfying titles of a Iudge an Avenger a Consuming fire and in his worke by those amazing soule-distracting accidents which doe most vnexpectedly overtake them are as it were the very beginnings of hell vnto them wherein there shal be an infinite and endles I say not consummation bu combynation of all fearfull things for ever to abide and abound vpon them And this is the fourth difference betweene the righteous and the jrreligious and the fourth advantage we who are Gods haue of the other The faithfull are free from feare the profane are full of it it hath scarce and ought not to haue at all a being in those that are the Lords and belong to his loue and in the rest nothing is more powerfull not only being in them but being the greatest predominant that beareth rule and overbeareth both themselues and that when they are best at ease and all those things wherein they doe most boast and blesse themselues as their manner is to doe And which of these two to take is most easily and quickly determined by any man who is not feared out of his witts The fift advantage followeth 5 Advanage 5. That the very worst that ever befell any child of God in this world was sent of purpose to prevent the worst of all viz perdition in the world to come but the best that ever wicked man had was but to helpe him the neerer to hell The scripture is playne and plentifull for either part we will take a taste of both The Apostle writting to the Corinthians and in them to all true Christians doth assure vs that what correction or chastisement we endure here is to saue vs from confusion for ever we are saith he chastened of the Lord ● Cor. 11.32 that we might not be condemned with the world the Lord doth as good parents doe to bad children bestow many a whipping vpon vs to saue vs from hanging his sharpest rod is but to prevent a sharper sworde is it not better to smart then to bleede or to bleede a litle by the gracious hand of a good father then to bleede to death by the severe hand of a rigorous excecutioner Surely there was somewhat in it Psa 119.17 that David tell 's vs it was soe good for him that he had beene afflicted which intimate's he had beene in an ill case if it had not beene soe Heb 11.8 And what may be that sweete fruit that come's to such as haue beene not once or soe smitten but excercised often vnder affliction if it be not this we speake of Or what colour of reason can be rendred Rom. why we should not only rejoyce but even glory in tribulation if it were not a sanctifyed and assured meanes to escape destruction Thy Rod and thy Staffe saith good David they comfort me why how soe it were a sencles speech and vntrue if he had not told vs before that the Lord was his shepheard and dealt with him as carefull shepheards doe vse the rod and staffe to saue them from the beare and wolfe and therevpon he tell 's vs that no danger can affright him because the Lord by correction deliver's him from the ruyine whereinto els he would run Better the shepheard smyte then the wolfe byte they are good stroakes that keepe vs from the pawes and jawes of the devourer And this was smel't of one of Iobs freinds long before these dayes who tell 's him Iob. 33.18.19 and God tell 's vs in him that when the Lord meaneth to saue a mans soule from the pit c he chasteneth him with payne c scourging him severely that he may saue him graciously And wherein but in this alone could his loue vnto vs and his chastisement of vs goe together But on the vngodly mans part you haue heard before that his best estate helpe's him to hell nothing doth more further his eternall misery thē the things he accounts his greatest mercy What sayd the Lord to Isaiah Is 6.9.10 make the hart of this people fatt their eares heavy c let them remayne insensible of any instruction incapable of any humiliation stirre them not never trouble them but giue them their owne way and will that they may be at harts ease but to what end is all this graunted why that their endles misery may be hastened to prevent their salvation which they refused to procure their damnation which they deserved And the same sayd Christ out of this Prophet to those of his time who resting in the same condition were reserved to the same destruction Doe we not reade of some that were free from all miseryes and had a kinde of exemption from all afflictions Iob. 21.11.12.13 all their dayes and passed their time as merrily as ever men did in royott and revelling and the next newes we heare of them is their everlasting overthrow for ever and ever what was it which was sayd to Dives being in hell torments Luk. 16.25 even this thou in thy life time hadst thy pleasure c but now thou art tormented as if he should say thy pleasure ease delicacy c were the things that hastened this perdition wherein thou art Note And you must jmagine this one to be the embleme or person representative of all that Great one's that ever came or shall come into hell nothings is a surer harbinger of eternall damnation to an vngodly man then his freedome from temporall affliction Did you not heare before that Therefore hell had enlarged her self and opened her mouth Isa 5.15 c because it seemed most greedy to devoure the fattest and greatest of those that were never taken downe nor abated by any earthly calamity as if such men were the sweetest morsells hell could haue And doe you not read againe on the contrary that Reu. 7.14.15 Therefore the saints of God are in his glorious presence day and night for ever and ever and haue all teares wyped from their eyes because they came out of great tribulation and persecution and had beene soe miserablely handled here

in this world that being so thynne and leane so poore and bare for Christ they might the better even for that cause come to be partakers of this celestiall blessednes with Christ. And this is the fift difference and the saints fift advantage and it is no meane but a mighty odd's that we haue of them herein Our temporall misery preventeth our eternall their temporary happines doth hasten their everlasting misery What man in his right mynde would not soone say which of the two he would take whether the worst of this world with assurance of no evill in that which is to come or that which may be best here with ceartainety of the worst that hell can yeelde him afterward Alwayes we see a childe of God at his worst hath his best estate be hynde and a wicked mans worst is to come when he hath had the best this world could affoord him This earth is our hell even all the hell we shall haue heaven shall surely follow it It is their heaven even all the heaven they can haue and hell must shall surely ensue and succeede it And this is our fist advantage The sixt and last followeth and that is this 6. Advantage 6. That a child of God at his worst even in all his evill whatsoever is evermore in actuall posession of all his excellencyes but a wicked man hath nothing but ignominy and basenes at his best even in all this honours Take a childe of God and conceit him to be cloathed with all the calamity and contempt you can jmagine suppose him vnder all the reproach and misery that is possible to be put vpon him yet now in Gods account he is A childe of God An heire of heaven A coheire with Christ A King and more then a conquerour And jndeede more then can be vttered by vs or conceived by himselfe according to that of the Apostle 1 Ioh. 3.2 we are now the sons of God but it doth not appeare what we shal be as if he should say we know we haue a state to come whose excellency cannot be knowne here all the world cannot devise a name good enough to declare it the vtmost here is to be called the sons of God but what we shal be is such a state as can be called by no name on earth we haue a life which is hid with Christ in God and till he be revealed from heaven Gol. 3.3 at his second comming the glory of this our condition cannot be discovered But on the other side how base worthlesse contemptible and contumelious is every vngodly man in the middest of all his glory and renowne and all the applause the world putt's vpon him he that take's notice by what tearmes the Holy Ghost doth enstile them cannot but say we say the truth at least in part for their full infamy being infinite that is also reserved till the infinite honour of the elect shal be manifested In the meane time are the not called Children of hell Slaues of Satan Vile persons Dogs swyne vypers yea divells With many other more of the like loathsome kinde inspired by the Lord penned by his secretaryes recorded in his scriptures preached by his messengers and remayning for ever as the righteous brands and most proper appellations that God himself hath put vpon them and which they must beare from him who is too great and too good to vnsay one jot or tittle of that he hath spoken To instance particuler persons were to litle purpose all that are mentioned by name or comprehended and meant in that peereles catalogue which we haue in this chapter though they were exposed to the worst and vtmost contempts that could be for infamy and to the most tyrannous and villanous torments that could be for extreamity ver 13.39 ver 38. yet the worst word we heare of them is this All these dyed in the faith and obtayned a good report and againe Of whome the world was not worthy loe a world nay more then a world of honour in two or three words for the whole world to wit of worldly and vngodly persons is not valued at the worth of one childe of God no not by God himself who hath bought them at a high price yet gaue no more for them then he thought them worth and hath made knowne their worth to the world by the price he bestowed on them viz the most precious blood of his only son which it pleased him not to thinke too good to be given for the purchase of their redemption glory So that they are not overvalued at this invaluable rate seing the most wise God out of his owne wisdome and loue hath set thus much vpon them and in not accounting the world worthy of them hath also pleased through the meritts of the Lord that bought them to account them worthy of the world to come Reu. and of all that glory jmmortality life and belessednes there which all the witt reason and vtmost reach of mortall man is not so much as able once to gresse at for it being soe absolutely infinite it doth in finitely surpasse all possibility of man to ayme at it much lesse comprehend On the contrary now where shall the vngodly and the sinner appeare or what shal be accounted of them if the Lord come to giue sentence vpon them at the very best of their estate what are they worth how are they esteemed before him why nothing vanity Psal Isa 40. yea lesse then nothing lighter then vanity more vile then the basest vermyne they tread vpon yea more vile then the earth which harboureth both them and all base vermyne whatsoever no creature so bad as they vpon the whole earth only the Divell in hell he is somewhat worse and by how much he is worse then they because he made them naught by so much are they worse then all other creatures who were by them and for their sakes accursed To be entituled dogs swyne vypers and such like is only to shew their basenes as these creatures seeme to vs Iob. not as they are in themselues for soe saith Iob they are not to be compared to the dogs of my flock for these creatures God made them exceeding good only sin their sin hath made them soe naught as we vsually account them to be in themselues they haue no sin nor ought els that is bad but only by them by whose sins they are corrupted and degenerate from that noble excellency and those notable qualityes of their nature which once they had when they had an estate as pure in nature as we our selues in our created condition Now therefore as the Divell only is worst of all because he made wicked men so bad soe they next him are the worst in the world because all other things are jmbased by them Besides take the mightiest among the men of the world haue not their names pilaished with them and are beome as rotten as their bodyes yea