left Reprobate to euery good Worke. As for euill of Punishment Let God forsake them with Saul 1 Sam. 28 6 7.8 1 Samuel 28. verses 6 7 8. they will forsake God and runne from his presence like Cain turne Vagabonds Genesis 4. verse 16. Gen. 4.16 If the Euill of Sinne pursue them and their owne Conscience haue raysed a Heu and Cry against them with Achitophell they flye to a Halter for Remedie and for feare of Hell leape into Hell Outward Crosses do them no good Esay 1.5.7 Esay 1. verses 5 7. I haue smitten them yet they haue not turned vnto me is an olde Complaint nay much hurt Ahaz in his Affliction transgresseth more and more 2 Chro. 28 22. The wicked King cries out This euill comes from the Lord shall I serue him any longer 2 Kings 9 33. 2 Kings chap. 6. verse 33. Iobs Wife will Curse God Iob. 2.6 and Dye Iob 2. 9. Is their Credite crackt They grow as shamelesse now as they were gracelesse before proclayming their sinnes as Sodome and fearing neyther God nor Man Is their state impouerished The stick not to put foorth their handes to vnlawfull shiftes adding Sin to Affliction In the Diseases of their Bodies with Asa they seeke not vnto God 2 Chro. 16.12 but trust to the Physitian In extreamity of paine they soone loose themselues and their patience like the raging Sea they vomit out their owne shame In Death they goe away lumpishly as Nabal or ridiculously with a Sardonicall Laughter or desperately like that Gallant M. Perkins in gouernment of the tongue who spurring his Horsse till hee sprang aside into the water as hee was tumbling ouer the Bridge cryed out Horse Man and all to the Diuell All this is but the beginning of Sorrow Isaiah 66.24 Death giues them vp to the Gnawing of that worme which neuer dyet the burning of that Lake which shall neuer slake and the scorching of those flames that shall neuer cease Death cuts off their Hope which endeth with their Life and giues life to those Torments which shall neuer end Thus is their Life Miserable their Death Lamentable their End Damnable The last Grape which I shall plucke from this Goodly Cluster and presse forth is An Exhortation to Patience vnder the Crosse If all things shall worke for thy Good why dooest thou murmure and mutine against God because hee followes thee with a Succession of Crosses Thy Afflictions are many and great tedious and greeuous say not thou with Caine Gen. 4.13 My punishment is Greater then I can beare Genes 4. verse 13. Whateuer euill it bee that lyes so heauie whether on thy Bodie Name or State whether inward Temptation or outward Tribulations is it not for thy Good Wilt thou be such an Enemy to thine owne Soule as to repine at thine owne Good The Cup is bitter I but happily the lesse toothsome the more wholesome Thy teeth are set an edge with eating sowre Grapes this bitter Aloes must set them right Thou canst happily make a shift to turne ouer a draught of Worme-wood Beere euery morning next thy heart Is it not bitter as Gall Is it not distastfull to the Palate Why doest thou drinke it Oh the Phisitian assures me it 's for my good Thou sufferest the Surgeon to launce thy raging vlcer to lay a sharpe Corazine which may eate downe the dead flesh It stings cruelly smarts terribly yet thou endurest it patiently Why The Surgeon tells thee it is good for thee If the Grand Phisitian of thy Soule prescribe a bitter draught next thy heart murmure not if that skilfull Soule-Surgeon clap on a Coraziue murmure not hee assures thee it 's for thy Good Stay not here neither this will teach thee to vndergoe thy trouble not onely patiently but chearefully according to that of the Apostle Reioyce in Tribulation Why Tribulation brings forth Patience Patience Experience Rom. 4.3.4 5. Experience Hope that maketh not ashamed Oh the sweete Fruite that growes from this bitter roote S. Iames. 1.23 Iames seconds Paul My Brethren count it great ioy when you fall into diuers tentations knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth foorth Patience and let Patience haue her perfect worke Set before your eyes that Mirrour of patience remember Iob when crosses came thronging thick and threefold one vpon the necke of another like a showre of haile-shot Luke 21.19 yet the Holy man possesses his soule by his patience Set before you that Mirrour of Mirrours the Sauiour of the vvorld how willingly did hee drinke of that bitter Potion Mat. 26.39 Iames. 1.13 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for vvhen he is tryed hee shall receiue the Crowne if life which the Lord hath promised to them that loue him Thou art now in the furnace waite till the drosse bee consumed thou art now in the Scouring-house stay till the soile be wiped off then shalt thou bee translated from this valley of teares to that Region of ioy where all sinne shall bee wiped from thy soule all sorrow from thy heart all teares from thine eyes that ioy shall no man take from thee FINIS Gentle Reader I thought good to fill vp this vacant Page with this Table All things worke for the best to the Godly whether Good Supreme God consider'd in his Nature Atributes Workes Either of Mercy Iudgement Or By meanes without means Against means Subordinate Persons Angels Men in their ordinances Ciuill Magistrates Ecclesiasticall Ministers Things Gifts of Minde Ornaments of Body Gifts of Fortune so termed Euill Sinne whether That of our first Parents That which flows thence Originall Actuall Smaller in the Vnderstanding Errours Will. Passions grosser Punishment Inward Spirituall Dissertion Horror of Conscience Generall All Affliction Outward Priuat euill of State Pouerty Name Ignomy Persons Diseases Death National Plagues Publike A Post-script Gentle Reader if I seeme to breake off abruptly and to doe my worke by halues the truth is my desire was to present this my first and imperfect essay to the world for a tast onely If it may finde fauour acceptation I shall be encouraged to perfect what is left vnfinished if not little said soone amended Errata For bee read is Pag. 1. line 4. for his read this p 3. l. 6. read to p. 4. l. 3. read the crowne p. 7. l. 10. read gastred p. 27. line last read make p. 44. l. 1. read lockes p. 51. l. 26. read him p. 56. l. 18. them l. 19. read Lo-ammi p. 64.13
the other herbes and makes theÌ„ that tasts cry Mors in Olla 2. Kings â— 40 Death is the pot Against both these Paul addresses his discourse in this chapter wherein like a valiant champion expert in the Lords battailes hauing mustred vp his forces and marshalled them in battaile array in the Fore-front he affronts sinne the head of this Serpent in the Rereward he encounters with Affliction the taile of this Serpent the after a long skirmish wins the field and sounds the Triumph Neither life nor death things present nor things to come shall separate vs from the loue of God in Christ More plainely here is an Antidote a Cordiall proposed an Antidote against the poyson of sin a Cordiall against the anguish of the crosse The Antidote against sin is propounded verse 1. confirmed verse 2. prosecuted applyed in the sequel to verse 17. The Cordials to mittigate the anguish of the crosse are threefold The first is drawne from the end of it our conformity to Christ verse 17. The second from the guide we haue in it the Spirite helpeth 〈◊〉 infirmities verse 26. The third is taken from the good issue wee shall haue out of it verse 28. So that these words carry in them a soueraigne Cordial against all miseries crosses calamities whatsoeuer wheresoeuer how many how great soeuer which may or shall vex the Israel of God while they soiourne in this valley of teares and vale of misery In treating heereof that I may acquaint you with my method we with consider the connexion first then the proposition In the proposition the Circumstance the substance is obserueable The Circumstances will lead vs into the consideration of the persons to whom this Cordiall is intended restrained We of the manner how it is deliuered euidently confidently Wee know for the substance in it you haue first the generality all things then the Harmony worke together thirdly the scope or drift of their working for good lastly the description of the parties whom this concerns from their inward affection they that loue God from their effectual vocation that they are called of God from their eternall election that they are called according to his purpose These be the rude lineaments of our present discourse which wee intend by the Diuine Assistance to prosecute and pollish ouer with a second more accurate draught That which first offers it selfe to our Meditation is the Connexion which shall bee dispatched in a word Also this copulatiue particle like some corner stone in a curious structure knits this verse to the verses immediately preceding as if the Apostle had deliuered himselfe more plainely and fully If this be not sufficient to strengthen your feeble knees to erect your deiected spirits that suffering is the way to glory that by the Crosse you doe but climbe to this Crowne that Mount Caluary lies onely in the rhode to Mount Tabor that heerein stands your conformitie to him vvho vvas consecrated your High-Priest by Affliction If the sweete meditation of the glorie to come cannot digest the present bitternesse of the Crosse if the presence the assistance of that Spirit of Consolation that Comforter who is Comfort it selfe cannot cheare your disconsolated spirits nor asswage your sorrow adde to the former heape a serious meditation of the power ouer-ruling Prouidence of your heauenly Father whereby all things are so wisely disposed so sweetly carried so cunningly contriued that what-euer happens in the world all worke together for the best of them that loue God c. All things and among the rest your afflictions which are so far froÌ„ preiudicing your fatuation that they aduance it so farre from being as your deeme in your weake distempers clogges to wedge you to the earth that they proue after a sort as wings whereby you soare aloft to heauen so farre from being Scala inferni a pâ—acipice from whence your soules should bee tumbled headlong into the infernall Lake that indeed they proue to be a Scala coeli a Iaakobs ladder vpon whose staires the Angels of God are continually ascending and descending by which steps the Elect mount into Abrams bosome These tall Anakims serue not to tread you as mire vnder their feete but to lift you vp as Kings and Princes vpon their shoulders neerer heauen He that hath but halfe an eye may now see the drift of the Apostle which is to reach foorth a strong Cable of Consolation vnto those poore Saints and seruants of God who sayling in the troublesome Sea of this tumultuous world hauing encountred with great storms and now almost ouer-whelmed with the succession of many hideous waues one pressing on another are labouring for life ready to be plunged into the gulfe of despaire A strong Cable it is composed of many threds so twisted together that all the Diuels in hell shall neuer be able to breake it Eccle. 4.9.12 Two sayth Salomon are better then one a threefold cord cannot easily be broken In that our Apostle contents not himselfe with one Argument of Consolation but to the first addes a second and strengthens the second with a third the obseruation is plaine and euident As many are the Crosses of the Righteous so their Comforts are many the Afflictions of the iust goe not single but by throngs troopes one following on the neck one treading vpon the heele of another Velus vnda vndam as waues seconds waue in the Sea neither are their consolations single Loe here is a double nay a trebble ground of solid comfort Psal 34 19. Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord will deliuer them out of all Many troubles many deliuerances so many troubles so many deliuerances euery seuerall trouble hath a seuerall rescue till he be deliuered not from some or from few or from many but from al. Euery proper temptation hath it owne proper issue 1. Cor. 10 15. So Zach. 1.21 Looke how many hornes were raised to push at the Israel of God so many Carpenters were appointed so many hammers lifted vp to breake those hornes in pieces Iohn 16 33. In the world you shall haue trouble there 's the crosse In me you shall haue peace there 's the comfort Act. 14 22 Through many tribulations you must enter into the kingdome of heauen Tribulations many Tribulations there 's many crosses these tribulations minister a passage by which we get heauen there 's many comforts if with Paul wee haue terrors without and terrors within we shal finde comforts without and comforts within if we be distressed on all sides with him with him wee shall be comforted on all sides Notable to this purpose is that of the same Apostle 2 Cor. 4.8 9. We are afflicted on euery side there 's crosse vpon crosse yet not in distresse there 's comfort Hee goes on wee are in doubt but despaire not we are persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but wee perish not c. It is very remarkable to obserue how the crosses comforts
a Saint to morrow a Deuill See how they are infatuated in the Fore-front of their booke In ipso lamine impingere thus to contradict themselues The very Title ouerthrowes the Tractate What The Apostacy of Saints If they bee Saints how can they then be Apostatates If they bee Apostatates how can they bee Saints What is if this bee not Vno ore frigidum calidum spirare To blow hot and cold at a breath Surely surely if once a true Saint that man can neuer be a total Apostatate if once a totall Apostatate that man was neuer a true Saint Incorruptible These are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They went out from vs but they were not of vs for if they had beene of vs they would haue continued with vs. 1. Iohn 2.19 The beloued Disciple sure was not infected with the Sowre leauen Arminanisme his phrase then must haue beene inuerted They were sometimes ours but now they are not for they are gone from vs They were neuer ours but in shew onely nay faith Iohn they were not of vs intimating once their's and euer their's once a Saint and euer a Saint Certainely these great Clerkes erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God Mat. 22.26 or else they forget themselues exceedingly while they swim against the streame of Sacred writ which speakes in another Dialect That the gift and calling of God are without Repentance Whereupon Rom. 11.29 the Apostle giues the Epithite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That whom God loues once hee loues for euer That Ier. 32.36.40 Mal. 3.6 Iames. 1.17 in him there is no shaddow of change That Christ hath prayed and was heard in that hee prayed for that their Faith faile not Simon Simon Iohn 17.9.15.20 Satan hath desired to winnow thee but I haue prayed that thy faith faile not Their faith may faint Luke 22.31.32 but faile it cannot They may haue their swooning fits terrible Agonies Acts. 10.20 but still as Paul of Eutichus their life is in them Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sinne because he is borne of God 1. Iohn 3.9 He cannot sinne the sinne vnto death I know they may fall fearefully as Dauid they may fall frequently Prou 24.10 as Peter The Righteous man falls seuen times a day I see no ground why it may not bee intended as well of their falling into Sinne Marke the opposition as into Affliction but totally finally they cannot fall Prou. 10.25 The Righteous man is an euerlasting foundation Be not dismaied yee Select vessels with these Bugge-beares but go on boldly couragiously and in spight of all opposition maugre the malice of Satan and all his instruments hang out the Apostles flagge of defiance presented in the cloze of this Chapter Who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ verse 35. Be perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall bee able to separate vs from the Loue of God which is Christ Iesus our Lord. 2. Instruction Secondly as Iron sharpneth Iron as the Sunne is seene best by his owne light so Scripture interprets Scripture and this place giues light to many other places Many excellent promises are made to the Righteous concerning blessings Temporall that in times of famine they shall haue enough Iob. 5.20 Psal 34.10 that though Thousands fall on their right hand Ten thousands on their left Psa 91.5.6.7 the plague shall not touch them and yet Iobs penary is gone into a Prouerb As poore as Iob. Lazarus was glad to beg crums and yet was starued to death It is said Luke 16.21.22 they that feare the Lord shall want nothing when as he that was Lord of all had nothing not so much as a house to harbor him or a pillow to rest his head on Mat. 8.20 We see by experience how they are plagued and die like other men The limitation is heere expressed which is onely there intimated The Sword shal not raze their skinne nor pouerty encroach vpon their estates the Pest shall not poison their bodies if it be for their Good as the Psalmist in pregnant termes Psal 34 10. They shall want nothing that is good for them If it be good for them to bee kept low in their fortunes to haue their bodies pinched and their mindes preplexed they shall not want that neither If good things may proue their bane they shall not haue them if euill things may do them good they shal not want them Hitherto wee haue spoken to a people whose eares are boared now wee must charme the Deafe Adder As this Doctrine serues to informe the Godly so to instructe and withall to affright the Wicked whose cursed Machinations are layde as deepe as hell to Ruine the Good Man Vaine Men why doe you goe about to mischiefe those whome the Almighty purposes to aduance Hath the Lord of Hoastes engaged his Honour and plighted his Faith that All things shall worke for their Good and will yee seeke their Hurt 1 Cor. 10 22 Acts 5.39 Tell me are ye stronger then God Will ye be euer fighters against God Shal the potsheard contend with his Maker Is there any possibility of crossing his designes Is there any Knowledge Councell or Vnderstanding against the LORD Prou. 21.30 Will you euer bee snatching at the Signet of his right hand Will yee euer be raking in the Apple of his eie Be wise now therefore Zechar. 2 8. O ye Kings and Learned yee that are Princes of the earth Psalme 2.10 Touch not his Annointed and doe his Prophets no harme Psal 2 10 He will rebuke Kings Psal 105.15 and ouer-turne Kingdomes for their sakes Hee will translate Crownes from Aegypt to Ashur from the Caldees to the Medes from the Medes to the Persians for the good of his Church Well may you vexe his Chosen for a time but hurt them you cannot Well may the Lord vse you as Scullions to scoure these Vessels of Honour when the rust is eaten in too farre or as Roddes to scourge his vnruely Children Ashur is the rod of mine Anger and the staffe of mine Indignation Esay 10 5.12 I will send him vnto a dissembling Nation Esay 10 5 12. But when the rust is scowred off the Scullion shall haue his paiment When the Childe is corrected the Rod shall be cast into the fire Psalme 14.4 Psalme 79.3 O Remember this ye that forget God that deuoure his people as it were Bread and shedde their blood as water in the streetes He that sits aboue will speake to you in his wrath Psalme 2.5 and vexe you in his displeasure You doe but rowle a great stone vpon a steepe Rocke which will tumble back vpon your own heads and grinde all vnder it to powder