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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77618	The silent soul, with soveraign antidotes against the most miserable exigents: or, A Christian with an olive-leaf in his mouth, when he is under the greatest afflictions, the sharpest and sorest trials and troubles, the saddest and darkest providences and changes, with answers to divers questions and objections that are of greatest importance, all tending to win and work souls to bee still, quiet, calm and silent under all changes that have, or may pass upon them in this world, &c. / By Thomas Brooks preacher of the Word at Margarets New Fish-street London, and pastor of the Church of Christ meeting there.	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1660 (1660)	Wing B4962A; Thomason E1876_1; ESTC R209789	146,060	409

hee doth yet hee is not bound to shew us the reasons of his doings Jeremiah's passion was up his blood was hot and now nothing will silence nor satisfie him but the reasons why his pain was perpetual and his wound incurable So Job chap. 7. 20. Why hast thou set mee as a mark against thee so that I am a burden to my self It is an evil and a dangerous thing to cavil at or to question his proceedings who is the chief Lord of Rom. 9. 20 Dan. 4. 34 35 all and who may do with his own what hee pleaseth Hee is unaccountable and uncontroulable and therefore who shall say what doest thou As no man may question his right to afflict him nor his righteousness in afflicting of him so no man may question the reasons why he afflicts him As no man can compel him to give a reason of his doings so no man may dare to ask him the particular reasons of his doings Kings think themselves not bound to give their subjects a reason of their Eccles 8. 4 doings and shall wee binde God to give us a reason of his doings who is the King of Kings and Rev. 1. 5 6 Lord of Lords and whose will is the true reason and onely rule of justice The general grounds and reasons that God hath laid down in his word why hee afflicts his people as viz. for their profit Heb. 12. 10. for the purging away of their sins Isa 1. 25. for the reforming of their lives Psal 119. 67. 71. and for the saving of their souls 1 Cor. 11. 32. should work them to bee silent and satisfied under all their afflictions though God should never satisfie their curiosity in giving them an account of some more hidden causes which may lye secret in the abyss of his eternal knowledge and infallible will Curiosity is the spiritual drunkenness of the soul and look as the drunkard will never bee satisfied bee the cup never so deep unless hee see the bottome of it so some curious Christians whose souls are over-spread with the leprosie of curiosity they will never bee satisfied till they come to see the bottome and the most secret reasons of all Gods dealings towards them but they are fools in folio who affect to know more than God would have them Did not Adams curiosity render him and his posterity fools in folio and what pleasure can wee take to see our selves every day fools in print As a man by gazing and prying into the body of the Sun may grow dark and dim and see less than otherwise hee might So many by a curious prying into the secret reasons of Gods dealings with them come to grow so dark and dim that they cannot see those plain reasons that God hath laid down in his word why hee afflicts and tries the children of men I have read of one Sir William John Stows survey of London Champney in the Reign of King Henry the third once living in Tower-street London who was the first man that ever built a Turret on the top of his house that hee might the better overlook all his neighbours but it so fell out that not long after hee was struck blind so that hee who could not bee satisfied to see as others did see but would needs see more than others saw just nothing at all through the just judgement of God upon him And so it is a just and righteous thing with God to strike such with spiritual blindness who will not bee satisfied with seeing the reasons laid down in the word why hee afflicts them but they must bee curiously prying and searching into the hidden and more secret reasons of his severity towards them Ah Christians it is your wisdome and duty to sit silent and mute under the afflicting hand of God upon the account of revealed reasons without making any curious inquiry into those more secret reasons that art lock'd up in the golden Cabinet of Gods own breast Deut. 29. ●9 Fifthly This truth looks sourely and sadly upon those who instead 1 Sam. 21. 12 ult Gen. 12. 13 20. chap. 20. 2 14. ch 26. 7 8 9 10. Jonah 1. 1 Sam. 28. throughout of being silent and mute under their afflictions use all sinful shifts and wayes to shift themselves out of their troubles who care not though they break with God and break with men and break with their own consciences so they may but break off the chains that are upon them who care not by what means the prison door is opened so they may but escape nor by what hands their bolts are knock'd off so they may bee at liberty Job 36. 21. Take heed regard not iniquity for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction Hee makes but an ill choice who chuses sin rather than suffering and yet such an ill choice good men have sometimes made as you may see by the proofs in the Margint when troubles have compassed them round about Though no Lion roars like that in a mans own bosome conscience yet some to deliver themselves from troubles without have set that Lion a roaring within Some to deliver themselves from outward tortures have put themselves under inward torments hee purchases his freedome from affliction at too dear a rate who buies it with the loss of a good name or a good conscience Now because there is even in good men sometimes too great an aptnesse and pronenesse to sin and shift themselves out of afflictions when they should rather bee mute and silent under them Give mee leave to lay down these six considerations to prevent it Frist Consider that there is infinitely James 3. 5 11. more evil in the least sin than there is in the greatest miseries and afflictions that can possibly come upon you yea there is more evil in the least sin than there is in all the troubles that ever came upon the world yea than there is in all the miseries and torments Prov. 8. 36 1 Joh. 3. 4 chap. 1. 7. Rev. 21. 8. of hell the least sin is an offence to the great God it is a wrong to the immortal soul it is a breach of a righteous Law it If you consider sin strictly there cannot be any little sin no more than there can bee a little god a little hell or a little damnation yet comparatively some sins may bee said to bee little cannot bee wash'd away but by the blood of Jesus it can shut the soul out of Heaven and shut the soul up a close prisoner in Hell for ever and ever The least sin is rather to bee avoided and prevented than the greatest sufferings if this Cockatrice bee not crushed in the Egg it will soon become a Serpent the very thought of sin if not thought on will break out into action action into custome custome into habit and then both body and soul are lost irrecoverably to all eternity The least sin is very dangerous Caesar was stabbed with bodkins Herod was eaten

is in the body of man that although in some degree or other more or less there bee a mixture of all the four elements not any of them wholly wanting yet there is some one of them predominant that gives the denomination in which regard some are said to be of a sanguin some of a phlegmatick some of a cholerick and some of a melancholick constitution So it is also in the souls of men though there bee a general mixture and medly of all evil and corrupt qualities yet is there some one usually that is Paramount which like the Prince of Devils is most powerful and prevalent that swayeth and sheweth forth it self more eminently and evidently than any other of them do And as in every mans body there is a seed and principle of death yet in some there is a proneness to one kinde of disease more than other that may hasten death So though the root of sin and bitterness hath spread it self over all yet every man hath his inclination to one kinde of sin rather than another and this may bee called a mans proper sin his bosome sin his darling sin Now it is one of the hardest works in this world to subdue and bring under this bosome sin Oh! the prayers the tears the sighs the sobs the groans the gripes that it will cost a Christian before hee brings under this darling sin Look upon a Rabbets skin how well it comes off till it comes to the head but then what haling and pulling is there before it stirs So it is in the mortifying in the crucifying of sin a man may easily subdue and mortifie such and such sins but when it comes to the head sin to the master-sin to the bosome-sin Oh! what tugging and pulling is there what striving and strugling is there to get off that sin to get down that sin Now if the Lord by smiting thee in some near and dear enjoyment shall draw out thy heart to fall upon smiting of thy master-sin and shall so sanctifie the affliction as to make it issue in the mortification of thy bosome corruption what eminent cause wilt thou have rather to bless him than to fit down and murmure against him and doubtless if thou art dear to God God will by striking thy dearest mercy put thee upon striking at thy darling-sin and therefore hold thy peace even then when God touches the apple of thi●e eye Ninthly Consider That the Lord hath many waies to make up the loss of a near and dear mercy to thee hee can make up thy loss in Mat. 19. 27 ult something else that may bee better for thee and hee will certainly make up thy loss either in kinde or in worth hee took from David an Absalom and hee gave him a Solomon hee took from him a Michal and gave him a wise Abigail hee took from Job seven sons The first and last chapters of Job compared Joh 16. 7 8. c. Act. 2. and three daughters and afterwards hee gives him seven sons and three daughters hee took from Job a fair estate and at last doubled it to him hee removed the bodily presence of Christ from his disciples but gave them more abundantly of his spiritual presence which was far the greater and the sweeter mercy If Moses bee taken away Joshua shall bee raised in his room if David bee gathered to his Fathers a Solomon shall succeed him in his Throne if John bee cast into prison rather than the Pulpit shall stand empty a greater than John even Christ himself will begin to preach hee that lives upon God in the loss of creature-comforts shall finde all made up in the God of comforts hee shall bee able to say though my childe is not my friend is not my yoak-fellow is not yet my God liveth and blessed bee my Rock Psal 89. 46. though this mercy is not and that mercy is not yet covenant mercies yet the sure mercies 2 Sam. 23. 5. of David continue these bed and board with mee these will to the grave and to glory with mee I have read of a godly man who living near a Philosopher did often perswade him to become a Christian Oh but said the Philosopher I must or may lose all for Christ to which the good man replied if you lose any thing for Christ hee will bee sure to repay it a hundred fold I but said the Philosopher will you bee bound for Christ that if he do not pay mee you will yes that I will said the good man So the Philosopher became a Christian and the good man entred into bond for performance of covenants sometime after it happened that the Philosopher fell sick on his death-bed and holding the bond in his hand sent for the party engaged to whom hee gave up the bond and said Christ hath paid all there is nothing for you to pay take your bond and cancel it Christ will suffer none of his children to go by the loss he hath all and hee will make up all to them in the close Christ will pay the reckoning no man shall ever have cause to say that hee hath been a loser by Christ and therefore thou hast much cause to bee mute thou hast no cause to murmure though God hath snatch'd the fairest and the sweetest flower out of thy bosome Tenthly How canst thou tell but that that which thou callest a near and dear mercy if it had been The Lamentations of Jeremiah are a full proof of this continued longer to thee might have proved the greatest cross the greatest calamity and misery that ever thou didst meet with in this world Our mercies like choice Wines many times turn into Vinegar our fairest hopes are often blasted and that very mercy which wee sometimes have said should be a staff to support us hath proved a sword to peirce us how often have our most flourishing mercies withered in our hands and our bosome-contentments been turned into gall and wormwood If God had 2 Sam. 12. 16. continued the life of Davids childe to him it would have been but a living Monument of his sin and shame and all that knew the childe would have pointed at him yonder goes Davids bastard and so This age affords many sad instances of this nature who can think of Tiburn question it and of killing drowning and say how can this bee have kept Davids wound still a bleeding many Parents who have sought the lives of their children with tears have lived afterwards to see them take such courses and come to such dismal ends as have brought their gray-hairs with sorrow to their graves It had been ten thousand times a greater mercy to many Parents to have buried their children as soon as ever they had been born than to see them come to such unhappy ends as they often do Well Christian it may bee the Lord hath taken from thee such a hopeful son or such a dear daughter and thou sayest how can I hold

of plenty and this is that the wise man would have us seriously to consider Eccles 7. 14. In the day of adversity consider but what must wee consider that God hath set the one over against the other As God hath set winter and summer night and day fair weather and foul one over against another So let us set our present mercies over against our present troubles and wee shall presently finde that our mercies exceed our troubles that they mightily over-ballance our present afflictions therefore let us bee silent let us lay our hands upon our mouths Fifthly If you cast up a just and righteous account you will finde Read but the ten persecutions and thou wilt be full of this opinion that they are not so many as the afflictions that hath befallen other Saints have you reckoned up the afflictions that befell Abraham Jacob Joseph Job Asaph Heman the Prophets and Apostles if you have you will say that your afflictions are no afflictions to those that have befallen them their lives were filled up with sorrows and sufferings but so are not yours therefore kiss the rod and bee silent It may bee if thou lookest but upon thy relations thy friends thy neighbours thou mayest finde many whose afflictions for number and weight do much ou● weigh thine therefore bee silent murmure not hold-thy peace Sixthly Not so many as attended our Lord Jesus whose whole life from the cradle to the crosse Isa 53. read the whole chapter was nothing but a life of sufferings Osorius writing of the Sufferings of Christ saith that the Crown of Thorns bored his head with seventy two wounds Many seventy two afflictions did Christ meet with whilst hee was in this world none can bee ignorant of this who have but read the new Testament he is called a man of sorrows his whole life was filled up with sorrows when hee was but a little past thirty years of age sorrows pains troubles oppositions persecutions had so worn him that the Jews judged him towards fifty John 8. 57. a man were as good compare the number of his b●some-friends with the stars of Heaven as compare his afflictions and the afflictions of Christ together Seventhly Muttering and murmuring will but add to the number when the childe is under the rod his crying and fretting doth but add lash to lash blow to blow but of this enough before Eighthly and lastly Though they are many yet they are not so many Psal 16. ult Isa 64. 4. 1 Cor. 2. 9 as the joys the pleasures the delights that bee at Christs right hand as the pleasures of Heaven are matchless and endless so they are numberless Augustine speaking August de Triplici habitu cap. 4. concerning what we can say of heaven saith that it is but a little drop of the Sea and a little spark of the great Furnace those good things of eternal life are so many that they exceed number so great that they exceed measure so precious that they are above all estimation ●●c Christus nec coelum patitur hyperbolem neither Christ nor Heaven can bee hyperbolized for every affliction many thousand joyes and delights will attend the Saints in a glorified estate what will that life bee or rather what will not that life bee saith one speaking of Heaven since all good either is not at all or is in such a life Light which place cannot comprehend Voices and musick which time cannot ravish away Odours which are never dissipated a Feast which is never consumed a Blessing which eternity bestoweth but eternity shall never see at an end and let this suffice for answer to this fourth Objection Object 5 My afflictions are very great how then can I hold my peace though they were many yet if they were not great I would bee mute but alass they are very very great Oh! how can I bee silent under them how can I now lay my hand upon my mouth To this answer First Though they are great yet they are not so great as thy sins thy self being Read Psa 106. and Nehem. 9. Judge therefore hold thy peace Ezra 9. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespasse seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve They that are under the sense and guilt of great sins have cause to bee silent under their greatest sufferings Never complain that thy afflictions are great till thou canst say that thy sins are not great it is but justice that great afflictions should attend great sins therefore bee quiet thy sins are like great Rocks and mighty Mountains but so are not thy afflictions therefore lay thy hand upon thy mouth the remembrance of great sins should cool and calm a mans spirit under his greatest troubles and if the sense of thy great sins will not stop thy mouth and silence thy heart I know not what will Secondly It may bee they are not great if you look upon them with Scripture-spectacles flesh and 1 Pet. 5. 10 blood many times looks upon Mole-hills as Mountains and scratches upon the hand as stabs at the heart wee make Elephants of Flies and of little Pigmies wee frame Giants Carnal reason often looks upon troubles through false glasses As there are some glasses that will make great things seem little so there are others that will make little things seem great and it may be that thou lookest upon thy afflictions through one of them Look upon thy afflictions in the Isa 54. 7 8. ch 26. 20. glass of the word look upon them in a Scripture dress and then they will bee found to bee but little hee that shall look into a Gospel-glass shall bee able to say heavy afflictions are light long afflictions are short bitter afflictions are sweet and great afflictions are little 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. It is good to make a judgement of your afflictions by a Gospel light and by a Gospel rule Art●mon an Engineer was afraid of his own shadow men that look not upon their afflictions in a Scripture dress will bee afraid even of the shadow of trouble they will cry out no affliction to our affliction no burden to our burden no cross to our cross no loss to our loss but one look into a Gospel-glass would make them change their note The Lion is not alwaies so great nor so terrible as hee is painted neither are our troubles alwaies so great as wee fancy them to bee when Hagars bottle of water was spent shee sate down and fell a weeping as if shee had been utterly undone her provision and her patience her bottle and her Gen. 21. 17 18 19 hope were both out together but her affliction was not so great as shee imagined for there was a well of water near though for a time shee saw it not So many Christians they eye the empty bottle the cross the burden that is at present upon them and then they

10. 13. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to bee tempted above that yee are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that yee may bee able to bear it Rom. 16. 20. And the God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly 1 John 2. 13 14. I write unto you Fathers because yee have known him that is from the beginning I write unto young men because you have overcome the wicked one I write unto you children because yee have known the Father I have written unto you Fathers because yee have known him that is from the beginning I have written unto you young men because yee are strong and the word of God abideth in you and yee have overcome the wicked one 1 John 5. 18. Wee know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not that is that sin that is unto death vers 16. nor hee sinneth not as other men do delightfully greedily customarily resolvedly impenitently c. but hee that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not The glorious Exod. 14. victory that the people of God had over Pharaoh and his great Host was a figure of the glorious victory that the Saints shall obtain over Satan and his instruments which is clear from that Rev. 15. 3. Where wee have the song of Moses and of the Lamb but why the song of Moses and of the Lamb but to hint this to us that the overthrow of Pharaoh was a figure of the overthrow of Satan and the triumphal song of Moses was a figure of that song which the Saints shall sing for their overthrow of Satan As certainly as Israel overcame Pharaoh so certainly shall every true Israelite overcome Satan The Romans were worsted in many fights but were never overcome in a set war at the long run they overcame all their enemies though a Christian may bee worsted by Satan in some particular skirmishes yet at the long run hee is sure of an honourable conquest God puts a great deal of honour upon a poor soul when hee brings him into the open field to sight it ou● with Satan by fighting hee overcomes hee gains the victory hee triumphs over Satan and leads captivity captive Augustine gives this reason why God permitted Adam at first to be tempted viz. that hee might have had the more glory in resisting and withstanding Satans temptation it is the glory of a Christian to bee made strong to resist and to have his resistance crowned with a happy conquest Sixthly By temptations the Lord will make his people more frequent and more abundant in the work of prayer every temptation proves a strong alarm to prayer When Paul was in the school of temptation hee prayed 2 Cor. 12. 8 9 thrice that is often daies of temptation are daies of great supplication Christians usually pray most when they are tempted most they are most busie with God when Satan is most busie with them a Christian is most upon his knees when Satan stands most at his elbow Augustine was a man much tempted So Bernard Basil G●rgonia Trucilla James Jacob Daniel and a man much in prayer holy prayer saith hee is a shelter to the soul a sacrifice to God and a scourge to the Devil Luther was a man under manifold temptations and a man much in prayer hee is said to have spent three hours every day in prayer hee used to say that prayer was the best book in his study Chrysostome was much in the school of temptation and delighted much in prayer Oh! saith hee it is more bitter than death to bee spoiled of prayer and hereupon as hee observes Daniel chose rather to run the hazard of his life than to lose his prayer But Seventhly By temptations the Lord will make his people more and more conformable to the Image of his Son Christ was much Luk. 4 tempted hee was often in the school of temptation and the more a Christian is tempted the more into the likeness of Christ hee will bee transformed of all men in the world tem●ted souls do most resemble Christ to the life in meekness low liness holiness heavenliness c. The Image of Christ is most fairly stampt upon tempted Heb. 12. 1 2 2 Cor. 3. 18. Heb. 2. 17 18 souls tempted souls are much in looking up to Jesus and every gracious look upon Christ changes the soul more and more into the Image of Christ tempted souls experience much of the succourings of Christ and the more they experience the sweet of the succourings of Christ the more they grow up into the likeness of Christ temptations are the tools by which the Father of spirits doth more and more carve form and fashion his precious Saints into the similitude and likeness of his dearest Son Eighthly and lastly Take many things in one God by temptations makes sin more hateful and the world less delightful and relations less hurtful by temptations God discovers to us our own weakness and the creatures insufficiency 1 Pet. 5. 8 in the hour of temptation to help us or succour us by temptations God will brighten our Christian Ephes 6. 10 18 Armour and make us stand more upon our Christian watch and keep us closer to a succouring Christ by temptations the Lord will make his ordinances to bee more highly prized and Heaven to be more earnestly desired Now seeing 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 3. that temptations shall work so eminently for the Saints good why should not Christians bee mute and silent why should they not hold their peace and lay their hands upon their mouths though their afflictions are attended with great temptations Object 8 Oh! But God hath deserted mee hee hath forsaken mee and hee that should comfort my soul stands afar off how can I bee silent the Lord hath hid his face from mee clouds are gathered about mee God hath turned his back upon mee how can I hold my peace supposing that the desertion is real and not in appearance only as sometimes it falls out I answer First It hath been the common lot portion and condition of the choicest Saints in this world to be deserted and forsaken of God Psal 30. 6 7. Psal 77. and 88. Job 23. 8 9. Cant. 3. 1 2 3 4. ch 5. 6 7. Isa 8. 17. Micah 7. 7 8 9. If God deal● no worse with thee than hee hath dealt with his most bosome friends with his choicest Jewels thou hast no reason to complain But Secondly Gods forsaking of thee is onely partial it is not total God may forsake his people in part but he never wholly forsakes them he may forsake them in respect of his quickning presence and in respect of his comforting Psal 9. 4. Gen. 49. 23 24 presence but hee never forsakes them in respect of his supporting presence 2 Cor. 12. 9. My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Psal 73. 23 24. The steps

of a good man are ordered by the Lord and hee delighteth in his way Though hee fall hee shall not bee utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his As the Nurse upholds the little childe c. hand Gods supporting hand of grace is still under his people Psal 63. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee thy right hand upholdeth mee Christ hath alwaies one hand to uphold his people and another hand to embrace them Cant. 2. 16. The everlasting arms of God are alwaies underneath his people Deut. 33. 27. And this the Saints have alwaies found witness David Heman Asaph Job c. Geographers write that the City of Syracuse in Sicily is so curiously situated that the Sun is never out of sight though the children of God sometimes are under some clouds of afflictions yet the Sun of Mercy the Sun of Righteousness is never quite out of sight But Thirdly Though God hath forsaken thee yet his love abides and continues constant to thee hee loves thee with an everlasting love Jer. 31. 3. Where hee loves hee loves to the end John 13. 1. Isa 49. 14 15 16. But Zion said the Lord hath forsaken mee and my Lord hath forgotten mee But was not Zion mistaken yes Can a woman forget her The very Heathen hath observed that God doth not love his children with a weak affection but with a strong masculine love Seneca sucking childe that shee should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before mee Look as persons engrave the mark name or picture of those whom they dearly love and entirely affect upon some stone that they wear at their breasts or upon some ring that they wear on their finger So had God engraven Zion upon the palms of his hands shee was still in his eye and alwaies dear to his heart though shee thought not so As Josephs heart was full of love to his brethren even then when hee Gen. 42. spake roughly to them and withdrew himself from them for hee was fain to go aside and ease his heart by weeping so the heart of God is full of love to his people even then when hee seemes to bee most displeased with them and to turn his back upon them though Gods dispensations may be changeable towards his people yet his gracious disposition is unchangeable towards them When God Mal. 3. 6. puts the blackest veil of all upon his face yet then his heart is full of love to his people then his bowels are yearning towards them Jer. 31. 18 19 20. Is Ephraim my dear Son is hee a pleasant childe for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. The Mothers bowels cannot more yearn after the tender babe than Gods doth after his distressed ones As Moses his Mother when shee had put him into Exod. 2. the Ark of Bul-rushes wept to see the babe weep and when shee was turned from him shee could not but cast a weeping eye of love towards him So when God turns aside from his people yet hee cannot but cast an eye of love towards them Hosea 11. 8. How shall I give thee up O Ephraim c. Here are four several how 's in the text the like not to bee found in the whole book of God I am even at a stand justice calls for vengeance but mercy interposeth my bowels yearn my heart melts O! how shall I give thee up O! I cannot give thee up I will not give thee up Gods love is alwaies like himself unchangeable his love is everlasting it is a love that never decaies nor waxes cold it is like the stone Albestos of which Solinus writes that being once hot it can never bee cooled again Fourthly Though the Lord hath hid his face from thee yet certainly thou hast his secret presence with thee God is present when hee is seemingly absent The Psal 23 4 Psal 139. Gen. 28. 16 Lord was in this place and I knew it not saith Jacob. The Sun many times shines when wee do not see it and the husband is many times in the house when the wife doth not know it God is in thy house hee is in thy heart though thou feest him not thou feelest him not though thou hearest him not Heb. 13. 5. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee or as it may bee rendred according to the Greek I will not not leave thee neither will I not not forsake thee Art thou not now drawn out to prize God and Christ and his love above all the world yes art thou not now drawn out to give the Lord many a secret visit Cant. 2. 14 in a corner behinde the door in some dark hole where none can see thee nor hear thee but the Lord Psal 42. 1 2 3 Psal 63. 1 2 3 yes are there not strong breathings pantings and longings after a clearer vision of God and after a fuller fruition of God yes art thou not more affected and afflicted with the withdrawings of Christ than thou art with the greatest afflictions Cant. 5. 6. that ever befell thee yes Austin upon that answer of God to Moses Thou canst not see my face and Exod. 33. 20. live makes this quick and sweet reply then Lord let mee die that I may see thy face Dost thou not often tell God that there is no punishment Psal 30. 6 7 to the punishment of loss and no hell to that of being forsaken of God yes dost thou not finde a secret power in thy soul drawing thee forth to struggle with God to lay hold on God and patiently to wait on God till hee shall return unto thee and lift up the light of his countenance upon thee yes well then thou mayest bee confident that thou hast a secret and blessed presence of God with thee though God in regard of his comfortable presence may bee departed from thee nothing below a secret presence of God with a mans spirit will keep him waiting and working till the Sun of Righteousness shines upon him If any vain persons should put that deriding Mal. 4. 2. question to thee where is thy God thou mayest safely and boldly answer them my God is here hee is nigh mee hee is round about mee yea hee is in the midst of mee Zeph 3. 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty hee will save hee will rejoyce over thee with joy hee will rest in his love hee will joy ●ver thee with singing The bush which was a type of the Church consumed not all the while it burned with fire because God was in the midst of it It is no Argument that Christ is not in the Ship because tempests and storms arise Fifthly Though God bee gone

put off the motions of his Spirit the directions of his word the offers of his grace the entreaties of his Son and therefore what can be more just than that God should delay thee for a time and put thee off for a season who hast delaied him and put off him daies without number if God serves thee as thou hast often served him thou hast no reason to complain But Seventhly and lastly The Lord delaies his people that Heaven may be the more sweet to them at last here they meet with many delaies and with many put offs but in Heaven they shall never meet with one put off with one delay here many times they call and cry and can get no answer Lam. 3. 8 44 here they knock and bounce and yet the door of grace and mercy opens not to them but in Heaven they shall have mercy at the first word at the first knock there whatever heart can wish shall without delay be enjoyed here God seems to say sometimes souls you have mistaken the door or I am not at leasure or others must be served before you or come some other time c. But in Heaven God is alwaies at leasure and all the sweetness and blessedness and happiness of that state presents it self every hour to the soul there God hath never God will never say to any of his Saints in Heaven come to morrow such language the Saints sometimes hear here but such language is no waies suitable to a glorified condition and therefore seeing that the Lord never delaies his people but upon great and weighty accounts let his people bee silent before him let them not mutter nor murmure but be mute And so I have done with the Objections I shall come now in the last place to propound some helps and directions that may contribute to the silencing and stilling of your souls under the greatest afflictions the sharpest trials and the saddest providences that you meet with in this world and so close up this discourse First All the afflictions that come upon the Saints they are the Prov. 3. 12 Jer. 9. 7 fruits of divine love Rev. 3. 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten bee zealous therefore and repent Heb. 12. 6. For whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom hee receiveth Job 5. 17. Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty ch 7. 17 18. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him And that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment Isa 48. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction When Munster lay sick and his friends asked him how hee did and how hee felt himself hee pointed to his sores and ulcers whereof hee was full and said these are Gods Gems and Jewels wherewith hee decketh his best friends and to mee they are more precious than all the gold and silver in the world A Gentleman highly prizes his Hawk hee feeds her with his own hand hee carries her upon his fist hee takes a great deal of delight and pleasure in her and therefore hee puts vervells upon her leggs and a hood upon her head hee hood-winks her and fetters her because hee loves her and takes delight in her So the Lord by afflictions hood-winks and fetters his children but all is because hee loves them and takes delight and pleasure in them there cannot be a greater evidence of Gods hatred and wrath than his Hos 4. 14. 19 Ezek. 16. 42 Isa 1. 5 Nihil est infaelicius ●o cui nil unquam contigit adversi Seneca refusing to correct men for their sinful courses and vanities why should you bee smitten any more you will revolt more and more where God refuses to correct there God resolves to destroy there is no man so near the Axe so near the flames so near Hell as hee whom God will not so much as spend a Rod upon God is most angry where hee shews no anger Jerome writing to a sick friend hath this expression I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity I judge you to bee miserable because you have not been miserable nothing saith another Demetrius seems more unhappy to mee than hee to whom no adversity hath hapned God afflicts thee O Christian in love and therefore Luther cries out strike Lord strike Lord and spare not who can seriously muse upon this and not hold his peace and not bee silent under the most smarting Rod Secondly Consider that the trials and troubles the calamities and miseries the crosses and losses that you meet with in this world is all the Hell that ever you shall have here you have your Hell hereafter you shall have your Heaven this is the worst of your condition the best is to come Lazarus had his Hell first his Heaven Luke 16. 19 29 last but Dives had his Heaven first and his Hell at last thou hast all thy pains and pangs and throws here that ever thou shalt have thy ease and rest and pleasure is to come here you have all your bitter your sweet is to come here you have your sorrows your joyes are to come here you have all your winter nights your summer daies are to come here you have your passion week your Ascension day is to come here you have your evil things your good things are to come death will put a period to all thy sins and to all thy sufferings and it will bee an inlet to those joyes delights and contents that shall never have end and therefore hold thy peace and be silent before the Lord. Thirdly Get an assurance that Christ is yours and pardon of sin See my Treatise called Heaven on Earth yours and divine favour yours and Heaven yours and the sense of this will exceedingly quiet and silence the soul under the sorest and the sharpest trials a Christian can meet with in this world hee that is assured that God is his portion wil never mutter nor murmure under his greatest burdens hee that can groundedly say nothing shall separate mee from the love of God in Christ hee will be able to triumph in the midst of the greatest Rom. 8. 33 ult Cant. 2. 16 tribulations hee that with the Spouse can say My Beloved is mine and I am his will bear up quietly and sweetly under the heaviest afflictions In the time of the Marian Act. Mon. Persecution there was a gracious woman who being convened before bloody Bonner then Bishop So John Noyes Alice Driver Mr. Bradford Mr. Taylor and Justin Martyr with many more of London upon the trial of Religion hee threatned her that hee would take away her husband from her saith shee Christ is my husband I will take away thy childe Christ saith shee is better to mee than ten Sons I will