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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
day_n	fair_a	night_n	weather_n	4,455	5	10.7928	5	false

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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

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

if not cease from murmurings where murmuring is in its reign in its dominion there you may speak and write that person ungodly let murmurers make what profession they will of godliness yet if murmuring keeps the Throne in their hearts Christ will deal with them at last as ungodly sinners a man may bee denominated ungodly as well from his murmuring if hee lives under the dominion of it as from his drunkenness swearing whoring lying stealing c. A murmurer is an ungodly man hee is an ungodlike man no man on earth more unlike to God than the murmurer and therefore no wonder if when Christ comes to execute judgement hee deals so severely and terribly with him In the wars of Tamberlain one having found a great pot of Gold that was hid in the earth hee brought it to Tamberlain who asked whether it had his Fathers stamp upon it but when hee saw it had not his Fathers stamp but the Roman stamp upon it he would not own it but cast it away The Lord Jesus when hee shall come with all his Saints to execute judgement Oh hee will not own murmurers nay hee will cast them away for ever because they have not his Fathers stamp upon them Ah souls souls as you would not go up and down this world with a badge of ungodliness upon you take heed of murmuring Thirdly Consider That murmuring Numb 16. 41. ch 17. 10. is a mother sin it is the Mother of harlots the Mother of all abominations a sin that breeds many other sins viz. disobedience contempt ingratitude impatience distrust rebellion cursing carnality yea it charges God with folly yea with blasphemy Judg. 17. 2. the language of a murmuring a muttering soul is this Surely God might have done this sooner and that wiser and the other thing better c. As the River Nilus bringeth forth many Crocodiles and the Scorpion many Serpents at one birth so murmuring is a sin that breeds and brings forth many sins at once Murmuring is like the Monster Hydra cut off one head and many will rise up in its room Oh! therefore bend all thy strength against this Mother sin As the King of Syria said 1 Kings 22. 31. to his Captains Fight neither with small nor great but with the King of Israel So say I fight not so much against this sin or that but fight against your murmuring which is a Mother sin make use of all your Eph. 6. 10 11. Christian armour make use of all the ammunition of Heaven to destroy the Mother and in destroying of her you will destroy the daughters When Goliah was slain the Philistians fled when a General in an Army is cut off the common souldiers are easily and quickly routed and destroyed So destroy but murmuring and you will quickly destroy disobedience ingratitude impatience distrust c. Oh! kill this Mother sin that this may never kill thy soul I have read of Senacherib that after his Army was destroyed by an Angel Isa 37. and hee returned home to his own Country hee enquired of one about him what hee thought the reason might bee why God so favoured the Jews hee answered that there was one Abraham their Father that was willing to sacrifice his Son to death at the command of God and that ever since that time God favoured that people well said Senacherib if that bee it I have two Sons and I will sacrifice them both to death if that will procure their God to favour mee which when his two Sons heard they as the story goeth slew their Father Isa 37. 38. chusing rather to kill than bee killed So do thou chuse rather to kill this Mother sin than Psal 137. 8 9 to bee killed by it or by any of those vipers that are brought forth by it Fourthly Consider That murmuring is a God-provoking sin it is a sin that provokes God not onely to afflict but also to destroy Numb 26. ult Numb 12. 10 Rev. 16. 8 9 10 11 a people Numb 14. 27 28 29. How long shall I bear with this evil Congregation which murmure against mee I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel which they murmure against mee Say unto them As truly as I live saith the Lord as yee have spoken in mine ears so will I do to you Your carkasses shall fall in this wilderness and all that were numbred of you according to your whole number from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against mee 1 Cor. 10. 10. Neither murmure yee as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer All our murmurings do but provoke the Lord to strike us and destroy us I have read of Caesar that having Seneca prepared a great feast for his Nobles and Friends it so ●ell out that the day appointed was extream ●oul that nothing could be done to the honour of the meeting whereupon hee was so displeased and enraged that hee commanded all them that had bows to shoot up their arrows at Jupiter their chief God as in defiance of him for that rainy weather which when they did their arrows fell short of Heaven and full upon their own heads so that many of them were very sorely wounded So all our mutterings and murmurings which are as so many arrows shot at God himself they will return upon our pates hearts they reach not him but they will hit us they hurt not him but they will wound us therefore it is better to bee mute than to murmure it is dangerous to provoke a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult Irenaeus calleth murmurers ora diaboli the Devils mouth Job 1. 8 9 Luk. 22. 31 -34 2 Cor. 12. 8 9 10 Fifthly Consider That murmuring is the Devils Image sin and punishment Satan is still a murmuring ●hee murmures at every mercy that God bestows at every dram of grace hee gives hee murmures at every sin hee pardons and at every soul he● saves a soul cannot have a good look from Heaven nor hear a good word from Heaven nor receive a Love-letter from Heaven but Satan murmures at it he murmures and mutters at every act of pittying grace and at every act of preventing grace and at every act of supporting grace and at every act of strengthening grace and at every act of comforting grace that God exercises towards poor souls hee murmures at every sip at every drop at every crum of mercy that God bestows Cyprian Aquinas and others conceive that the cause of Satans banishment from Heaven was his grieving and murmuring at the dignity of man whom hee beheld made after Gods own Image insomuch that Gen. 3. hee would relinquish his own glory Satan can never bee quiet nec victor nec victus neither conquered nor conquerour to devest so noble a Creature of perfection and rather bee in Hell himself than see Adam placed in Paradise But certainly after his fall murmuring and envy at mans innocency and felicity put him upon attempting

ground of no fable they have not among all their fictions told us of any one of Jupiters Sons that was crucified that acted his part upon the cross many would wear the Crown with Christ that do not care for bearing the cross with Christ But Eighthly The longer they have been the greater cause thou hast to bee silent and patient for impatience will but lengthen out the day of thy sorrows every impatient act adds one link more to the chain every act of frowardness adds one lash more to those that have already been laid on every act of muttering will but add stroak to stroak and sting to sting every act of murmuring will but add burden to burden and storm to storm the most compendious way to lengthen out thy long afflictions is to fret and vex and murmure under them as thou wouldest see a speedy issue of thy long afflictions sit mute and silent under them Ninthly Gods time is the best time mercy is never nearer salvation is at hand deliverance is at the Act. 27. 13 ult door when a mans heart is brought into such a frame as to bee freely willing that God should time his mercy and time his deliverance for him The Physicians time is the best time for the patient to have ease the impatient patient cryes out to his Physician Oh Sir a little ease a little refreshment Oh the pains the torments that I am under Oh Sir I think every hour two and every two ten till comfort comes till refreshment comes but the prudent Physician hath turned the hour-glass and is resolved that his Physick shall work so long though his patient frets flings roars tears So when wee are under afflictions wee are apt to cry out how long Lord shall it bee before ease comes before deliverance comes Oh the tortures Oh the torments that wee are under Lord a little refreshment Oh how long are these Psal 6. 3. Psal 13. 1 2 Psal 94. 9 10 Rev. 6. 10 nights Oh how tedious are these daies but God hath turned our Glass and hee will not hearken to our cry till our Glass bee out after all our fretting and flinging wee must stay his time who knows best when to deliver us and how to deliver us ou● of all our troubles and who will not stay a moment when the Glass is out that hee hath turned But Tenthly and lastly They shall last no longer than there is need and then they shall work for thy good it is with souls as it is with bodies some bodies are more easily and more suddenly cured than others are and so are some souls God will not suffer the plaister to lye one day no not one hour no not a moment longer than there is need some flesh heals quickly proud flesh is long a healing by affliction God quickly heals some but others are long a healing 1 Pet. 1. 6. If need bee yee are in heaviness through manifold temptations or through various afflictions the burden shall lye no longer upon thee than needs must thy pain shall endure no longer than needs must thy physick shall make thee no longer sick than needs must c. thy heavenly Father is a Physician as wise as hee is loving when thy heart begins to grow high hee sees there is need of some heavy affliction to bring it low when thy heart grows cold hee sees there is need of some fiery affliction to heal it and warm it when thy heart grows dull and dead hee sees there is need of some smart affliction to enliven and quicken it And as thy afflictions shall continue no longer than there is need so they shall last no longer than they shall work for thy good if all along they shall work for thy good thou hast no cause to complain that thy afflictions are long that they shall thus work I have fully proved in the former part of this book and thus much for answer to the third Objection Object 4. I would bee mute and silent under my afflictions but my afflictions daily multiply and encrease upon mee like the waves of the Sea they come rouling one over the neck of another c. and how then can I hold my peace how can I lay my hand upon my mouth when the sorrows of my heart are daily encreased To this I answer thus First Thy afflictions are not so many as thy sins thy sins are as the stars of Psa 40. 12 Heaven and as the sands of the Sea that cannot bee numbred Psal 16. ult there are three things that no Christian can number 1 His sins 2 Divine favours 3 The joys and pleasures that bee at Christs right hand but there is no Christian so poor an accountant but that hee may quickly sum up the number of his troubles and afflictions in this world thy sins Oh Christian are like the Syrians that filled the Country but thy afflictions are like the two little flocks of Kids that pitched before them 1 King 20. 27. therefore hold thy peace Secondly If such should not bee mute and silent under their afflictions whose afflictions are increased and multiplied upon them then there are none in the world who will bee found mute and silent under their afflictions for certainly there are none who do not finde the waters of affliction to grow daily upon them if this bee not so what means the bleating of the Sheep and the lowing of the 1 Sam. 15. 14. Oxen what means the daily sighs groans and complaints of Christians amongst us if their troubles like the waters in Ezekiels Sanctuary Ezek. 47. 1 20 bee not still encreasing upon them every day brings us tidings of new straights new troubles new crosses new losses new trials c. Thirdly They are not so many as God might have exercised thee with God could as easily exercise thee with ten as with two and with a hundred as with ten and with a thousand as with a hundred let thy afflictions bee never Lam. 3. 39. Luk. 23. 41 so many yet they are not so many as they might have been had God either consulted with thy sins with thy deserts or with his own What are the number of Princes to the subjects that are under them or what are the number of Generals to the number of souldiers that are commanded by them no more are thy afflictions to thy mercies justice there is no comparison between those afflictions that God hath inflicted upon thee and those that hee might have inflicted thou hast not one burden of a thousand that God could have laid on but hee would not therefore hold thy peace Fourthly Thy afflictions are not so many as thy mercies nay they are not to bee named in the day wherein thy mercies are spoken of what are thy crosses to thy comforts thy miseries to thy mercies thy daies of sickness to thy daies of health thy daies of weakness to thy daies of strength thy daies of scarcity to thy daies