this world for temporall things so for the world to come in spirituall things Cantant pauperes lugent divites poore men sing and rich men cry Who is so melancholy as the rich worldling and who sings so merry a note as he that cannot change a groat so they that have store of grace mourne for want of it and they that indeed want it chante their abundance But the hopes of the wicked faile them when they are at highest whereas Gods children finde those comforts in extremity which they durst not expect As there is nothing more usuall then for a secure conscience to excuse when it is guilty so nothing more common then for an afflicted conscience to accuse when it is innocent and to lay an heavy burthen upon it selfe where the Lord giveth a plaine discharge but a bleeding wound is better then that which bleeds not Some men goe crying to Heaven some goe laughing and sleeping to Hell Some consciences aswell as men lie speechlesse before departure they spend their dayes in a dreame and goe from Earth to Hell as Jon as from Israel toward Tarsh sh fast a sleepe And the reason is they dreame their case is passing good like a man which dreamès in his sleepe that he is rich and honourable and it joyes him very much but awaking all is vanisht like smoake yea they hope undoubtedly to goe to Heaven as all that came out of Aegypt hoped to goe into Canaan and inherit the blessed promises when onely Caleb and Joshua did enter who provoked not the Lord. And the reason of this reason is whereas indeed they are Wolves the Devill and their owne credulity perswades them that they are Lambes The Philosopher tels us that those Creatures which have the greatest hearts as the Stag the Doe the Hare the Coney and the Mouse are the most fearefull and therefore it may be God refusing Lyons and Eagles the King of Beasts and Queene of Birds appointed the gentle Lambe the fearefull Dove for his sacrifices A broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt net despise Psal. 51. 17. And sure I am Christ calls to him onely weary and heavy laden sinners Matth. 11. 28. not such as feele no want of him Marke 2. 17. and will fill onely such with comfort as hunger and thirst after righteousnesse not such as are in their conceit righteous enough without him Luke 1. 53. Matth. 15. 24. And yet it is strange yea a wonder to see how many truly humbled sinners who have so tender consciences that they dare not yeeld to the least evill for the worlds goods and refuse no meanes of being made better turne every probation into reprobation every dejection into rejection and if they be cast downe they cry out they are cast away who may fitly be compared to Arteman in Plutarch who when ever he went abroad had his servants to carry a Canopy over his head least the Heavens should fall and crush him or to a certaine foolish melancholy Bird which as some tell stands alway but upon one legge least her owne weight should siâ—ke her into the Center of the Earth holding the other over her head least the Heavens should fall Yet he not offended I cannot thinke the worse of thee for good is that feare which hinders us from evill acts and makes us the more circumspect And God hath his end in it who would have the sinnes to die but the sinner to live Yea in some respect thou art the better to be thought of or at least the lesse to be feared for this thy feare for no man so truly loves as he that feares to offend as Salvianus glosses upon those wordes Blessed is the man that feareth alway And which is worth the observing this feare is a commendation often remembred in Holy Scripture as a speciall and Infallible marke of Gods Children as for example Job saith the Holy Ghost was a just man and one that feared God Job 1. 1. Simeon a just man and one that feared God Luke 2. 25. Cornelius a devout man and one that feared God Acts 10. 3. And so of Father Abraham a man who feared God Gen. 22. 12. Joseph a man who feared God Gen. 42. 18. The Midwives in Aegypt feared God Exod. 1. 17. so that evermore the fearing of God as being the beginning of wisedome is mentioned as the chiefe note which is as much as to say if the fearing of God once goe before working of righteousnesse will instantly follow after according to that of the wise man He that feareth the Lord will doe good And this for thy comfort when Mary Magdalen sorrowed and wept for her sinnes Luke 7. 50. Christ tels her Thy faith hath made thee whole intimating that this wesping this repenting faith is faith indeed And the like to the Woman with the bloudy issue who presuming but to touch the hem of his garment fell downe before him with feare and trembling Marke 5. 27. to 35. And that humble Canaanite Matth. 15. 22. to 29. And that importunate blinde man Luke 18. 38. to 43. as if this humble this praying faith were onely the saving faith Neither can thy estate be had for as Saint Ambrose told Monica weeping for her seduced Sonne Fieri non potest ut filius istarum lachrymarum pereat It cannot be that the Sonne of those teares should ever perish Wherefore lift up thy selfe thou timorous fainting heart and doe not suspect every spot for a plague token doe not die of a meere conceit for as the end of all motion is rest so the end of all thy troubles shall bee peace even where the dayes are perpetuall Sabbaths and the diet undisturbed feasts But as an empty vessell bung'd up close though you throw it into the midst of the Sea will receive no water so all pleas are in vaine to them that are deasened with their owne feares for as Mary would not be comforted with the sight and speech of Angels no not with the sight and speech of Jesus himselfe till hee made her know that he was Jesus so untill the holy spirit sprinkleth the conscience with the bloud of Christ and sheddeth his love into the heart nothing will doe No Creature can take off weath from the conscience but he that set it on Wherefore the God of peace give you the peace of God which passeth all understanding Yea O Lord speake thou Musicke to the wounded conscience Thunder to the seared that thy justice may reclaime the one thy merey releeve the other and thy favour comfort us all with peace and salvation in Jesus Christ. Section 8. But secondly if this will not satisfie call to thy remembrance the times past and how it hath beene with thee formerly as David did in thy very case Psal. 77. 2. to 12. And likewise Job Chap. 31. for as still waters represent any object in their bottome clearely so those that are troubled or agitated do it but dimly and imperâ—ectly But if ever thou hadst true
but one â—ye Appius Claudius Timelon and Homer were quite blind So was Mulâ—asses King of Tunis and John King of Bohemia But for the lâ—sse of that one Sense they were recompenced in the rest they had most excellent memâ—ries rare inventions and admirable other parts Or suppose he send sicknesse the worst Feaver can come does not more burne up our blood than our lust And together with sweating out the Surfets of natâ—â—e at the poares of the body we weepe out the sinfull corruption of our nature at the poares of the Conscience Yea the Author to the Hebrewes saith of Christ himselfe that though he were the Son yet as he was man Hee learned obedience by the things which heâ— suffered Heb. 5. 8. As in humane proceedings Ill manners beget good Lawes So in Divine the wicked by their evill tongues beget good and holy lives in the godly Whence Plutarch adviseth us so circumspâ—ctly to demeane our selves as if our enemies did alwayes behold us Nothing sooner brings us to the knowâ—edge and amendment of our faults than the scoffes of an enemy which made Philip of Macedon acknowledge himselfe much beholding to his enemies the Athenians for speaking evill of him for saith hee they haâ—e made mee an honest man to prove them lyars Even baâ—â—en Leah when she was despised became fâ—uitfull So that we may thanke our enemies or must thank God for our enemies Our soules shall shine the brighter one day for such rubbing the cold winde cleanses the good graine the hot fire refines the pure gold Yea put case we be gold they will but try us If Iron they will scowâ—r away our rust I say not that a wicked heart will be bettered by affliction for in the same fire that gold is made bright and pure drosse is burnt and consumed and under the same flaile that the graine is purged and preserved the huskes are broken and deminished Neither are the Lees therefore confounded with the Wine because they are pressed and trâ—dden under the same presse or planke but I speake of affliction sanctified and of the godly Yet let not the wickedâ—st man bee discouraged for as when Christ called the blind man the Disciples said be of good comfort Hee calleth thee so may I say to thee that art burthened with any kind of affliction be of good comfort Christ calleth thee saying Come unto me by repâ—ntance and amendment of life and I will ease thee of thy sinnes and sorrowes here and hereafter onely as the blind man threw away his garment and followed Christ so doe thou answer him I will forsake my sinâ—es aâ—d follow thee For if God like a prudent Prince makes offers and famos of warre it is but to mend the conditions of peace But farewell I am for the already resolved to whom I say if the needle of affliction bee drawne through us by reason of wicked mens malice it is but to conveigh with it the thred of amendment and their worst to the godly serves but as the Thorne to the brest of the Nightingale the which if shee chance to sleep causeth her to warble with a renewed cheerfulnesse For as blowes make balsâ— to mount and lashes make tops to goe which of themselves would fall so with their malice we are spurred up to duty and made persevere in it for commonly like tops no longer lasht no longer we goe Yea these very tempestuous showers bring forth spirituall flowers and hearbs in abundance Devotion like fire in frâ—sty weather burnes hottest in aflliction Vertue provoked addes much to it selfe With the Arke of Noah the higher wee are tossed with the â—lood of their malice the neerer we mount towards Heaven When the waters of the â—lood came upon the face of the earth downe went stately Turrets and Towers but as the waters rose the Arke rose still higher and higher In like sort when the waters of afflictions arise downe goes the pride of life the lust of the eyes In a word all the vanities of the World But the Arke of the soule ariseth as these waters rise and that higher and higher even neerer and neerer towards Heaven I might illustrate this point by many observable things in nature We see Wâ—ll-waters arising from deep Springs are hotter in Winter than in Summer because the outward cold doth keepe in and double their inward heate And so of mans body the more extreame the cold is without the more doth the naturall heate fortifie it selfe within and guard the heart The Corne receives an inward heate and comfort from the Frost and Snow which lyeth upon it Trees lopt and pruned slourish the more and beare the fuller for it The Grape when it is most pressed and trodden maketh the more and better Wine The drossie gold is by the fire resined Winds and Thunder cleares the ayre Working Seas purge the Wine Fire encreaseth the sent of any Perfume Pounding makes all Spices smell the sweeter Linnen when it is buckt and washt and wrung and beaten becomes the whiter and fairer The earth being torne up by the Plough becomes more rich and fruitfull Is there a peece of ground naturally good Let it lye neglected it becomes wilde and barren Yea and the more rich and fertile that it is of it selfe the mâ—re waste and fruitlesse it proveth for want of Tillage and Husbandry The Razor though it be tempered with a due proportion of steele yet if it passe not the Grindstone or Whetstone is neverthelesse unapt to cut yea though it bee made once never so sharpe if it be not often whetted it waxeth dull All which are lively Emblemes of that truth which the Apostle delivers 2 Cor. 4. 16. Wee faint not for though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed dayly Even as a Lambe is much more lively and nimble for sheering If by enmity and persecution as with a knife the Lord pareth and pruneth us it is that we may bring forth the more and better fruit and unlesse we degenerate we shall beare the better for bleeding as Anteus every time rose up the stronger when Hercules threw him to the ground because he got new strength by touching of his Moher O admirable use of affliction health from a wound cure from a disease out of griefe joy gaine out of losse out of infirmity strength out of sinne holinesse out of death life yea we shall redeome something of Gods dishonour by sinne if we shall thence grow holy But this is a harder Riddle than Samsons to these Philistims CHAP. VI. That it stirres them up to prayer 3. THirdly because they quicken our devotion and make us pray unto God with more fervency Lord saith Isaiah in trouble they will visite thee they powred out prayers when thy chastening was upon them Isay 26. 16. In their affliction saith Hosea they will seeke thee diltgently Hosea 5. 15. That we never pray so feelingly fervently forcibly as in time of affliction may be seene in the examples of the children
wants are so And be sure to aske good things to a good end and then if we aske thus according to Gods will in Christs name we know that he will heare us and grant whatsoever petitious we have desired 1 John 5. 14 15. CHAP. VII That it weanes them from the love of the world 4. FOurthly our sufferings weane us from the love of the world yea make us loath and contemne it and contrary wise fix upon Heaven with a desire to be dissolved S. Peter at Christs transfiguration enjoying but a glimpse of happinesse here was so ravished and transported with the love of his present estate that hee breakes out into these words Master it is good for us to bee here hee would faine have made it his dwelling place and being loath to depart Christ must make three Tabernacles Mat. 17. 4. The love of this world so makes us forget the world to come that like the Israelites we desire rather to live in the troubles of Aegypt then in the land of promise Whereas S. Paul having spoken of his bends in Christ and of the spirituall combate concludeth I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1. 22 23. Yea it transported him to heaven before hee came thither as Mary was not where shee was but where her desire was and that was with Christ. Prosperity makes us drunke with the love of the world like the Gadereans who preferred their swine before their soules or him in the parable that would goe to see his farme and lose heaven or the Rich glutton who never thought of heaven till he was in hell and thousands more who if they have but something to leave behinde them 't is no matter whether they have any thing to carry with them But as sleep composeth drunkennes so the crosse will bring a man to himselfe againe for when the staffe we so nourish to bare us becomâ— a cudgell to beat us when we finde the world to serve us as the Jewes did Christ carry us up to the top of the hill and then strive to throw us downe headlong Luke 4. 29. When the minde is so invested with cares molested with griefe vexed with paine that which way soever we cast our eyes wee finde cause of complaint wee more loath the world then ever we loved it as Amnon did his sister Tamor yea when life which is held a friend becomes an enemy then death which is an enemy becomes a friend and is so accounted as who having cast Ankor in a safe Road would againe wish himselfe in the stormes of a troublesome Sea Yea in case wee have made some progresse in Religion and found a good conscience sprinkled with the bloud of Christ the marrow of all comforts and resolved with Joseph to forsake our Coate rather than our Faith yet if the world but make new offers of preferment or some large improvement of profits and pleasures we begin to drawback or at least we know not whether to chuse like a horse that would and yet would not leap a ditch And after a little conflict having halfe yeelded to forsake that with joy which cannot be kept but with danger we resolve thus The same God which hath made my crosses cheerefull can aswell make my prosperity conscionable Why then should I refuse so faire an offer but alas having made our obayce it is not long ere these pleasures and honours these â—icbes and abundance prove as thornes to choake the good seed of Gods word formerly sowâ—e in our hearts as it is Math. 13. 22. For prosperity to Religion is as the Ivy to the Oake it quickly eates out the heart of it yea as the Misselto and Ivy sucking by their straight embraces the very sap that onely giveth vigetation from the rootes of the Oake and Hawthorne will stourish when the Trees wither so in this case the corrâ—ption of the good is alwayes the generation of the evill and so on the contrary crosses in the estate diseases of the body malladies of the minde are the medsons of the soule the impayring of the one is the repayring of the other When no man would harbour that unthrift Son in the Gospell hee turned back againe to his Father but never before Lais of Corinth while she was young doated upon her glasse but when she grew old and withered shee loathed it as much which made her give it up to Venus When Satan is let loose upon us to shew us our sinnes and the danger wee are in then farewell profit farwell pleasure treasure and all rather than I will endure such a racke such a hell in my conscience Whereas if wee should onely heare of misery or reade what is threatned in the word though it might a little fright us it would never mend us Birdes are frighted at first with the husbandmans scar-crowes but after a while observing that they stir not are bold to sit upon them and defile them Thus as harmonious sounds are advanced by a silent darkenesse so are the glad tydings of salvation The Gospell never sounds so sweet as in the night of persecution or of our private affliction When Virtue came downe from heaven as the Poets faigne rich men spurned at her wicked men abhorred her Courtyors scoft at her Citizens hated her and being thrust out of doores in every place she came at last to her sisters poverty and affliction and of them found entertainment When it ceased to bee with Sarah after the manner of the world shee conceived Isaac so when it ceaseth to be with us after the manner of the worlds favorites we conceive holy desires quietnesse and tranquillity of minde with such like spirituall contentments Yea we make faith our onely option whereas before we kept open house for all vices as the States are said to keepe open house for all Religions or if not it fares with piety as with holy water every one praiseth it and thinkes it hath some rare vertue in it but offer to sprinkle them with the â—â—me they shut their eyes and turne away their faces and no marvell for wee never taste this manna from heaven untill we leave the leaven of this Aegypt Now better the body or estate perish than the soule though wee are too sensuall to consent unto it Plus pastor in vulnere gregis sui vulneratur The losse of a gracelesse childe cannot but greive the father though the father himselfe were in danger of mischiefe by that childe as David mourned for Absolom that would have cut his throat True prosperity is hearty meat but not digestible by a weake stomack strong wine but naught for a weake braine The prosperity of fooles destroyeth them Prov. 1. 32. So that all temporall blessings are as they hit but if the minde doe not answer they were better mist. The more any man hath the more cause he hath to pray Lord leade us not into temptation for wee cannot so heartily thinke of our home
with Christ is never dissolved A usuall thing with 〈…〉 eleevers to have their ebbing and flowing waxing and wayning Summer and Winter to be sometimes so comfortable and couragious that we can say with David Though I were in the valley of death yet would I feare none ill Psal 23. 4 other whiles againe so deaded and dejected in our spirits that we are like him when he said One day I stall dye by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27. 1. sometimes so strong in faith that wee can overcome the greatest assaults and with Peter can walke upon the swelling waves by and by so faint and brought to so low an ebbe that we fall downe even in farre lessâ—r dangers â—s Peter began to sinke at the rising of the winde Matth. 14. 29 30. And indeed if the wings of our faith be clipt either by our owne sinnes or Satans temptations how should not our spirits ly groveling on the ground Section 9. But thirdly and lastly for I hasten suppose thou art at the last cast even at the very brinke of despaire and that thy conscience speaks nothing but bitter things of Gods wrath hell and damnation and that thou hast no feeling of faith or grace yet know-that it is Gods use and I wish wee could all take notice of it to worke in and by contraries For instâ—nce in creating of the world he brought light out of darkenesse and made all things not of something but of nothing clean contrary to the course of Nature In his preserving of it he hath given us the Rainebow which is a signe of raine as a certaine pledge that the world shall never the second time be drowned He caused Elias his sacrifice to burne in the midst of water and fetcheth hard stones out of the midst of thinne vapours When hee meant â—o blesse Jacob hee wrestled with him as an Adversary even till hee lamed him When he meant to prefer Joseph to the Throne hee threw him downe into the Dungeon and to a goâ—den chayne about his necke he laded him with Iron ones about his legges Thus Christ opened the eyes of the blinde by annointing them with elay and spittle more likely to put them out And would not cure Lazarus till after he was dead buried and stunke againe no question to teach us that we must be cast downe by the Law before we can be raised up by the Gospell that we must dye unto sinne before we can live unto righteousnesse and become fooles before we can be tâ—uly wise In the worke of Redemption he gives life not by life but by death and that a most cursed death making that the best instrument of life which was the worst kinde of death Optimum fecit instrumentum vitae quod â—rat pessimum mortis genus In our effectuall vocation he calls us by the Gospell â—nto the Jewes a stumbling-blâ—cke and unto the world meere foolishnesse And when it is his pleasure that any should depend upon his goodnesse and providence hee makes them feele his anger and to be nothing in themselves that they may rely altogether upon him Thus God workes joy out of feare light out of darkenesse and brings us to the Kingdome of Heaven by the Gates of Hell according to that 1 Sam. 2. 6 7. And wherein does thy case differ he sends his Serjeant to arrest thee for thy debt commands thee and all thou hâ—ft to be sold but why onely to shew thee thy misery without Christ that so thou mayst seeke to him for mercy for although he hides his fatherly affections as Joseph once did his brotherly his meaning is in conclusion to forgive thee every farthing Matthew 18. 26 27. And dost thou make thy slight sufferings an argument of his displeasure for shame mutter not at the matter but be silent It is not said God will not suffer us to be tempted aâ— all but that we shall not be tempâ—ed above that we are able to beare 1 Cor. 10. 13. And assure thy selfe what ever thy sufferings be thy faith shall not faile to get the victory as oyle over-swimmes the greatest quantity of water you can powre upon it True let none presume no not the most righteous for he shall searcely be saved 1 Pet. 4. 18. yet let him not despaire for he shall be saved Rom. 8. 35. Onely accept with all thankefulnesse the mercy offered and apply the promises to thine owne soule for the benefit of a good thing is in the use wisedome is good but not to us if it be not exercised cloath is good but not to us except it be worne the light is comfortable but not to him that will live in darkenesse a prefervative in our pocket never taken cannot yeeld us health nor bagges of money being ever sealed up doe us any pleasure no more will the promises no nor Christ himselfe that onely summum bonum except they are applyed Yea better there were no promises then not applyed The Physitian is more offâ—nded at the contempt of his Physicke in the Patient then with the loathsomenesse of the disease And this I can assure thee if the bloud of Christ be applyed to thy soule it will soone stench the bloud of thy conscience and keepe thee from bleeding to death 1 John 1. 7. But secondly in stead of mourning continually as the tempter bids thee rather rejoyce continually as the Apostle bids thee 1 Thess. 5. 16. Neither thinke it an indifferent thing to rejoyce or not rejoyce but know that wee are commanded to rejoyce to shew that wee breake a Commandement if wee rejoyce not Yea we cannot beleeve if we rejoyce not for faith in the commandements breeds obedience in the threatnings feare in the promises comfort True thou thinkest thou dost well to mourne continually yea it is the common disease of the innocentest soules but thou dost very ill in it for when you forget to rejoyce in the Lord then you begin to muse and after to feare and after to distrust and at last to despaire and then every thought seemes to be a sinne against the Holy Ghost Yea how many sins doth the afflicted conscience record against it selfe repenting for breaking this Commandement and that Commandement and never repenteth for breaking this Commandement Rejoyce evermore But what 's the reason Ignorance thou thinkest thy selfe poore and miserable and only therefore thinkest so because thou knowest not thy riches and happinesse in Christ for else thou wouldest say with the Prophet Habbakuk in the want of all other things I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Habbak 3. 17 18. Thou wouldest rejoyce that thy name is written in the books of life as our Saviour injoynes Luke 10. 20. though thou hadst nothing else to rejoyce in But it is nothing to be blessed untill we understand our selves to be so wherefore Thirdly waite Gods leasure with patience and hold fast to him in all pressures Time saith Seneca is the best Physicke for most diseases