his way to doe as he hath done to suffer patiently and willingly without the least gainsaying or resistance such grievous things Christ was as a sheep before the slaughter David under afflictions was dumbe also because he saw the Lord did it and not man so Aaron when he lost his sons suddenly held his peace And good old Eli said It 's the Lord let him do as he pleaseth In this sweet spiritual frame was Job when he said it was the Lord that took from him in the flesh who could give him much more in the Spirit All that they suffered was not so much from an enemy as a Father for their good who seeing how apt the current of their affections was to run more to them then to him their heart being not so fixed upon him as he would have them but very apt to be divided and to wander from him like ours as we are creatures therefore he sends afflictions as messengers to fetch them home to his Sheepfold Once this word came in Power to me when I was very sad O soul grieve not grieve not for thy Brother precious in my sight is thy Brothers death though grievous to thee and others was not Christs sufferings much more terrible and think not strange your firy tryalls for what is befallen you is common to all in this life and the same afflictions are accompanied to your fellow-members in the world Think of Samsons death a good man who died among the Philistins and seemingly in anger to be revenged on them for his two eys Consider these things and lay them to heart and sorrow no more as one without hope but know all things shall worke togeather for good even this unto ye therefore be still and know I am God doing whatever I please in heaven and earth and all places his time was not in thy hands or friends or his own but in my hands A sparrow cannot fall to the ground nor a hair off the head without my knowledge When these things was spoken to me I was very restless in my spirit even resolving to spend my few days in silent sorrow not expecting any more Sun-shine days of joy and suddenly the glory of the Lord broke forth thorow some thick darkness bidding me lift up my head and the Lord was pleased to speak to me as sweet as ever telling me he would wipe all teares from my eyes and the rebuke or reproach of his people he would take from off all the earth he had spoken it who would do it Jehovah a fulfiller of Promises therefore let not thy troubled fearfull heart be disquieted or afraid Peace Peace be unto thee I found Christ reasoned with me as once he did with his disciples when they were sad Why are ye troubled and why do such fears and doubts arise in thy heart am not I and my favour more to thee then enjoyments or Relations or any thing thou canst desire though I chasten thee sharply to draw thee neer me yet my favour will I not take from you nor alter my love is not this O soul more then all to give thee my self Who am the Desire of Desires the Beauty of all Blessedness the top of all Royalties even the fulness that silleth all in all who hath made thee beautifull thorow my comlyness though black in thy self under the bondage of coruption yet Lovely as Redeemed Justified and Sanctified my soul was even melted with in me at this sweet and powerful manifestation of love that I cryed out None but a naked Christ and who would not sell all for this Precious Pearl and willingly resigne up all even life it self to Christ who became poor and despised in the worlds eye that we though his poverty might be dignified in the Spirit and made rich in Faith in grace in humility and goodness this is to be heavenly rich in God in love O who would not leave all to follow Chrst for his treasures of wisdom and knowledg and all good things which he gives to his close followers This was one word which was spoken to me also Lovest thou me more then these more then Gold Silver Lands Livings any relations Golden gifts and Graces men or meanes and love not the world nor the things of it love nothing I say equall or above me for he or she that loves any thing more then me is not worthy of me set not thy affections on things below on earthly sensitive things but on Heavenly things above invisible glories If riches encrease set not thy heart upon them My Deare brother was such riches to me that if I could have but enjoyed his life and him spiritually restored to a comfortable state in this life according to my earnest and constant souls desire and the desire of many precious Saints that our God might have been more glorifyed in his life on earth O what riches what a portion of great joy would this have been to my soul none knows but now seeing by this uncertainty and emptyness in all things below the Lord I am forced to say What is riches or the encrease or sweet enjoyment of any creature-comforts to the lifting up of Gods lovely countenance upon us I can say now more feelingly Whom have I in Heaven or in Earth to glory in or stay my self upon but God alone from whom flows all our fresh springs of comfort joy life love and sweetness The Lord I hope by our late chastisements will make us more holy humble thankfull and fruitfull in every good work of God and cause the sword not onely to pierce into our souls but even to divide and sever more between soul and body flesh and spirit Christ and the Creature That nothing may remaine in us but what loves admires and blesses our God alone above all Sir this is all my desire to know more and do and patiently submit to the holy will of our Dear God in all things and to have more single affections to him and his naked glory Christian friend I have written in these papers some poor stamerings or what the Lord hath communicated to me with comfort in weakness through which I have written this to you that you with me may bless the Lord for his precious loving kindness to his unworthy hand-maid I cannot tell whether I may be troublesom to you because so tedious at one time When I begin to write to a Christian friend in this kind I am always much enlarged the more because but slow of speech In these few lines you may perceive a little that many are the troubles of the Righteous and also that the Righteous Lord supports sweetly under them all and in his own best time graciously delivering them out of all These troubles of ours may well be compared to waters even a flood of waters as David said that hath wave upon wave which though it be our Fathers pleasure and our portion to wade thorow yet this is our comfort VVe shall not sink in them
owning him in giving mercies to us and not friends and owning him to take them from us and not enemies the Lord gives takes also Truly the Lords tryall in these things is a firy strict tryall God tries our Faith and love as he did Abrahams by causing him to offer up his onely son Isaac the son of promise Now I know said God to him in doing this that thou lovest me and thou shalt know it for in Blessing I will multiply Blessings upon thee and thy seed This ascending spark of love in Abraham from God to God did as I may say engage the Lord to descend showers of blessings upon him and his seed Our God in wisdom doth all things he tries and proves us to do us unexpected good in the latter end he tries whether we can live in the practicall part of Christianity what we can do and suffer in truth for Christ whether we can be content to leave all for him be content with Christ alone without freinds or the world gifts graces qualities and conditions and such-like in one hand and Christ in the other whether we can be content to resign up all to God all outward and inward things all Relations Ordinances Gifts Graces Desires Hopes all that can be named or desired of Heaven and Earth that nothing of self may Remain none of our wills desires ends hopes but all crossed and destroyed in us which is contrary to the Lords will the Creatures will being so contrary to Gods will in all things it 's well to have it crossed though it be in that which may be most for its seeming comfort Surely they who are acquainted with the excellency of Gods hidden Divine will would not have it crossed but rather its own will in any thing though it may seem hurtful to it sure it 's thus Sir I shall acquaint you a little what a hard thing it was for me to submit to this will of God though easie to him to make me quietly submit and resign up all to him in the departure of my dear Brother Though the dispensation was dark and dismall yet I dare say from a full perswasion after many doubts that though it might seem in Judgment yet God hath received him to everlasting mercy for being weak I finde he was suddenly overcome by the strong man not willingly but by constraint meeting with many unnamed inward and outward fears and troubles Certainly what is not done in despite willingly against God but the violent hurrying of Temptation through weakness not willingly shall never be layed to any poor tempted souls charge The Lord doth not look so much to the weakness of his creature and temptation as to his own rich mercy and free love Surely thus the God of love hath looked upon my dear departed Brother for I had experience of him in his life-time that when he was himself he served the Lord with many Tears and Temptations oftentimes and did endeavour to walk as exact as a Christian to that light of knowledg God was pleased to measure out to him Much I might say of this nature had I oportunity and thought it convenient which causeth me to Believe the Lord hath not looked upon him to take advantage of his weakness to destroy but to save him according to the multitude of his tender mercies and being a God of love patience and long Suffering hath I am now perswaded though one while I was much troubled with doubts and feares hath taken him from sin and sorrow to bliss and blessedness He was of a very weak Constitution of body Truly dear friend the great loss of such a comfortable staff such a hopefull son and brother the maner and unexpectedness of his going from us hath been a sword in our bones first pierced thorow our soul which hath cut us to the heart First from a serious consideration of Gods dishonour by opening the mouths of the ungodly to cause them to stumble at the way of God saying What profit is it to serve God and are these they that made the Lord their trust and such-like things And secondly the Saints discouragement besides our own great discomfort in the middle of our supposed comfort I hope the effect of the sword I mention will prove the Lords severing sword to separate more between flesh and Spirit Christ and the creature I find all that God doth is to try us whether we can love God as well in the way of his Judgments as in the way of his mercies love him in casting us down as raising us up in smiting as healing in Winter as Summer for all in all changes and conditions above all many are the troubles of the holy seed of God and truly did we not suffer something the remaining part of Christs sufferings would be unfulfilled which tryal and proof he endures in us as he suffered in the patterne so we in truth O there is a necessity of our suffering something if we would be feelingly sensible of what Christ hath suffered in the flesh for us to crown us with glory in the Spirit and be sympathizing with others in affliction and really magnifying that free grace of God which ends in full glory causing us always to extol the Lord blessing him with a triumphant song of praise I am sure the Saints have cause to bless the Lord at all times even in the wilderness because this is the place where God usually speaks comfortably to his people Though he lead them this solitary way yet it 's the right way the way of the Lord is an unknown strange way even in the whirlwind O what a happyness is it to finde afflictions come not out of the dust but as we may say they are the finger the providence of God for our good he makes them antidotes to us to expell poyson the more we have of them Sanctified to us the more pure like Christ we have no cause to say when we are under the rod therefore not beloved of our Father because so and so afflicted but the rather loved of our Father because chastned hereby we are made more conformable to Christ by being buried with him in the Baptisme of his sufferings The Cup of affliction which the sanctified ones drink of is a Fathers Cup which they cannot but drink handed to them for their good from himself whose ways are all mercy and truth whose paths drop fatness whose out-goings and in-comings are all sweet and precious to us The poor creature in trouble is very apt to cry out and say Is this and this a pleasant way is this a comfortable condition and can God indeed bring good out of such great evills O it 's impossible Thus I have thought often Can any good come out of sinfull Nazareth out of my confusion and darkness O it 's impossible with us it is but not with God who at first commanded light to shine out of darkness O what cause have we to exalt Gods power and love
in the firy furnace to glorifie him in the fires is most excellent O they cannot but do it when they see him keep them alive in the midst of that fire which consumes onely the dross preserving the Gold pure for his Use That enlightening hony which is in the top of our Gods Rod doth enlighten us to behold this great and glorious sight why the Bush burns and is not consumed O this honey out of the rock Gods love-manifestations will sweeten and doth all conditions and changes to us and all Christians some are afflicted for the tryall of faith and patience that they may have their perfect work by exercise Sometimes that the handy-work of God may be made more manifest upon us the Lord may take away our corn Wine Wool and Oile which he giveth us when we do not prize him above all that hereby we may learn to love our giver more then gifts and to know the worth and sweetness of them more by the want of them a while We may be Deprived of any comforts yet not of the God of comforts and sadly cast down yea seemingly forsaken and overwhelmed with sorrows like unto David and weary of life with Job distracted as Heman and yet belong to and dearly beloved of God as they were therefore it 's good to take up this Holy Resolution to wait on God in the way of his seeming Judgments and in meditation of his loving-kindness till he shall make hard things easy and crooked things strait rough places plain and bring to light the hidden things of darkness making darkness light before us Said good Jacob who found it good to wait upon God I have waited for thy Salvation and I will wait and David In waiting I waited and Job All my appointed time will I wait till my change come O how desirable a thing is it to see Christians have such patient believing submitting hearts to the Lords will Though he kill me yet will I trust in him and I am thine save me This is a sweet rolling on God in a day of trouble and saying with Christ The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it it's a Cup not a Sea and a Fathers Cup not an enemies and a Fathers gift By considering these things the Lord pleased to work comfort renew his love to my soul when much troubled at my deare brothers death by which I hope the Lord will gradually crucifie all that he would have crucified and blast all of creature-props and helps that he alone may be our onely stay and blessedness The neerer a soul comes to God its haven of happiness the more it meets with sad storms and tempests Which makes our port of glory more desired and gladsome to us when we come unto it The bitterness of misery sets off the sweetness of mercy as the blackness of the night the glory of the day I am sure my brothers afflictions here were sharp before he went hence which causeth me to believe he is now for ever comforted Some comfort came from this word to me Refrain thy voice from weeping and thy eyes from tears when my soul was in bitterness for thy work shall be rewarded of the Lord and thou shalt see him again with greater Joy though thy desire was crossed here in some things as Davids was and others Yet ye shall rejoyce together in my Kingdom I finde this was of God coming in power to the satisfying of my troubled soul in an agony of sorrow I answered this voyce Lord it 's enough if thou make thy word good thy will thy unknown will by any but thy self be done O Father And further it was said That nothing should separate him and Christ nor estrange his love from him Till God appeared in this maner to me Quieting my heart in some measure I was much troubled touching his honour to think how he would suffer by some till he told me he knew what was most for his glory far better then silly I. Truly I may say How had it been unless the Lord had been on our side wee had almost fainted and dwelt in silence had not Jehovah our Mighty God been seen in the mount wonderfully for our preservation and deliverance for which I desire to Bless his Name for ever who comforts me much from these words bidding me look to Jesus the Authour and finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the cross despised the shame and is now set down on the Right hand of the Majesty on High He was oppressed and afflicted yet he open'd not his mouth learn of him for he is meek and lowly which makes him so unspeakable lovely Patient was Christ when he suffered he overcame by patience as well as by power As Christ was patient so was his members and so should they be like David in their suffering seasons says David I was dumbe and opened not my mouth and let the Righteous smite me and it shall be an excellent Oil it will be for my profit his correction This our loving friend Christ will not wound us but heale us when he smites he smiles upon us for he even then refreshes us with his brook and well-spring of life in our waylesse wildernesse under all our sorrows and smitings and hereby God makes us to lift up our heads with Joy and praise O what cause have We to blesse the Lord under our crosses for his supporting hand of love truly as great cause as if he took them away from us It 's a desirable thing to own God to be Just when he shews mercy and when he gives grace to be still exalting the Riches of his glory O the happyness the heavenlyness of those spiritualized souls whose wills are subdued to the Lords will in all things so to acknowledge him Righteous in all he doth and our selves vile O what a blessed state are they in who have no will to be guided by but the Fathers will in all things which easily learns them to deny and defie self fully in all they do and say and to esteem onely of God and the workings of his Spirit above all O that we might be as Christ was lovely in all conditions by our Holy submission to our Father Christ we know learn'd obedience by the things which he suffered O how lovely was he when he lay in a Manger when he lay on the ground and sweat Water and Blood when he was scourged and crowned with Thorns when he hung on the Cross between two Theeves when he lay in the grave even now Christ appeared most lovely by how much he abased himself thus low O how desirable a thing is it to see goodness and greatness kiss each other in one noble person O what a great condescention of love was this in such agreat person as Christ who is King of Kings O that such a gloryous Majesty should so low condescend to such poor weak unworthy worms to teach sinners in
A Wonderful Pleasant and Profitable LETTER Written by Mris SARAH WIGHT To a Friend EXPRESSING The joy is to be had in God IN Great Deep Long and Sore AFFLICTIONS Occasioned by the Death of her Brother the Troubles of her Mother but especially the workings of God in her own heart Published for the Use of the AFFLICTED LONDON Printed by James Cottrel for Ri. Moone at the seven Stars in Pauls Church-yard 1656. To the Right Honourable The Lady FLEETWOOD Madam I So esteem you upon the account especially of God not this World that passeth away I am bold to present this little piece not mine own to your view as suitable in some sort to your former and present state having drank in a degree as of the same Cup of inward sorrow and suffering so likewise of joy and salvation herein mentioned it being the portion of all as saith the Head of all Ye shall indeed drink of the Cup that I drink of Your Ladiships Sympathy together with your Dear and Noble Lord's with the afflicted of all sorts as I have largely and multitudes of others I believe found and this Author I suppose in particular hath occasioned this presented for a looking-Glass of solace and delight to your inward Man by Your Ladiships humbly devoted to GOD on your behalf R. B. Some Apology to Mrs. Sarah Wight Touching the printing of her Letter without her knowledge or consent Chosen of God in affliction and precious HAVing sundry times read over your Letter and found in it what my heart longed after and in God rejoyced greatly in I judged with others in the Light of him the printing of it might be of exceeding use especially now to the many bewildernessed ones to whom it might serve as a VVitness they having none left them as to Man in this cloudy and dark day to lean upon save only their dearly beloved Lord and he neither not alwayes manifest and yet manifest too in a measure in the true and alone Messiah in them the Rock of Ages and the onely Hope This I have done without consulting you about it it being judged by others your Friends and by me also it might have prevented the publishing it through a temptation perhaps of modesty in you but thus making you publick was I know divinely urged of God in many as in order to his own immortal glory and praise appearing in your most most low estate so to the profit and consolation of many the like minded but especially the like afflicted in any degree with you among whom I leave you and my self with you bowing continually as is most meet at the feet of God most holy Amen A Wonderful Pleasant and Profitable LETTER Dear Sir PRecious Christian friend much beloved in the Lord of all love in him I kindly salute you wishing you and your dear Relation with my self and all Saints an heavenly increase of knowledge in the mystery of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not doubting but as ye have received some of the Spirit so you enjoy daily fresh supplies and at last shall be perfected in the Spirit to the glory of God who hath formed you to shew forth his noble praise Sir in our winter-season of affliction I finde it a Christians crown of rejoycing to retire in the Spirit to hear what God speaks for none speaks or teaches like him never man spake like Christ In this retirement of spirit or silent waiting upon God we shall be able to see and say with the Prophet David that God is good of a truth to his purified sincere single-hearted Israelites in the midst of all troubles under Pharaohs bondage at the Red-sea in the wilderness in the firy furnace doing them unexpected good at all times he is a present help to us and an Ark or hiding-place for us from all storms and tempests I finde there is no condition so sad but there is balm enough in Gilead sutable comfort of supplies in Israels God to revive and raise up a fainting spirit The depths of misery we finde are never beyond the depthless depths of mercies When the Lord is pleased to make bare his holy Arm for the deliverance of his people out of troubles he first lays them very lowe that his work may be more admirable he many times for this very end strips us naked and bare and deprives us of all helps and props belowe that we may thereby learn to make the Lord alone our stay and trust who stiles himself A God that comforteth those that are cast down poor helpless nothings this is the very time a soul may expect great appearances and deliverances from God when its help stands onely in the Name of the Lord. That soul that findes a special presence of God with it in trouble as the children in the firy furnace hath ample cause to bless his Name This gracious presence hath been much with us in moderating the measure of our cross though not in taking it away which I desire to wait the Lords time for in praising him who hath not hitherto suffered it to be above our strength As he moderates the measure so the time it 's but a moment of affliction and light in comparison of the greatness and weightiness of the glory in eternity O what cause have we to bless the Lord who limits both measure and time and is also present in mixing some comfortable Cordial which sweetly allays the bitterness of our heavie crosses and strengthens us to bear it patiently in some measure As the Lord is present in sanctifying a cross so when he hath perfected his noble work in us he will be a present and perfect deliverer of us O what a comfort is it to know we dwell in the especial love of God under the cross as those who are free from it And though a Saint may be cast out of a happie state in the world yet never never out of their dear God's favour O what joy doth this administer to us to know That however it goeth with us yet our Father will deal kindly with us and continually accompany us with his presence seasoning our hearts with grace and mounting our spirits high carrying them forth with pure respects to advance his glory The true-divine soul you know is never satisfied till it 's as neer God as is attainable Truly the nearer we come to him the more we are emptied of sin and all selfishness A Christian's happiness lies in being emptied of all self self refined as well as gross self and in being filled with a full God and the glorious emptying satisfying incomes of his free spirit Certainly that soul that denies it self most seeks it self most for the more it endeavours to advance the Lord in all above all enjoyments experiences gifts graces relations or any creature or creature-comforts the more we exalt our condition in him It 's sweet and but meet upon the revelation of any mercy to yeeld our God all the praise saying Lord as