own satisfaction and sincerity yet so lively were his apprehensions of the greatness of his approaching change and the weight of an everlasting state and what it is to enter upon another world that he was not without such fears as in our frail condition here poor mortals that are near death are lyable to And indeed fear signifieth a belief of the word of God and the life to come much more than dull insensibility But he signified his belief both by fear and hope and strong assurance XII He had the comfort of sensible growth in grace He easily perceived a notable increase of his faith and holiness and heavenliness and humility and contempt of worldly vanity especially of late years and under his affliction as the fruit of Gods correcting-rod I have truly given you the description of the man according to my familiar knowledge I shall yet review the similitude of his case with this of Paul described in my Text. I. Paul was accused by envious contentious Teachers And so was he Though I never heard any one person else speak evil of him as is said They that upbraided not Paul with his former persecution nor had any crime to charge him with yet accused his Ministry As they said of Daniel We shall find no fault against him except it be concerning the law of his God His Preaching and Writings though all for peace were the matter of his accusations The Bishop blamed him for Preaching even when the King had licensed him And a nameless Writer published a bloody Invective against his Pacificatory-book called The Interest of England as if it had been written to raise a War The enemies of Peace were his enemies II. He took boasting to be inexpedient as Paul did And when he was silenced as unworthy to be suffered in the Ministry he once offered a modest defence to the Bishop and wrote a short and peaceable account of his judgment about the sin of Schism in his own Vindication III. He had though not the Extasie of Paul yet great knowledge of things Divine and Heavenly to have been the matter of his glory IV. The heavenly Paradise was the place of his hopes where he daily studied to lay up his treasure which had his chiefest thoughts and care V. He found by experience that an immortal soul is not so tyed to this body of flesh but that it can get above it and all its interest and pleasure and live on the hopes of unseen glory VI. As he knew the incapacity of mortals to have formal and adequate conceptions of the state of the heavenly Paradise and separated souls so he submitted to Gods-concealing Will and lived on the measure of Gospel-revelation VII He knew the danger of being exalted above measure by occasion of holy Knowledge and how apt man is to be so puffed up VIII God himself saved him from that danger by his humbling wholesome sharper remedy IX A Thorn in the flesh was Gods remedy to keep him in a serious humble frame Three great Stones were found in his bladder and one small one in a corrupted Kidney And how painful a thorn these were for many years it is easie to conjecture X. Satan was permitted to try him as Job not only by the pain of his flesh but also by reproaches as aforesaid and by casting him out of his Ministry as unworthy to preach the Gospel of Christ unless he would say swear and do all that was by men imposed and the rest of those afflictions which are contained in such an ejected impoverished calumniated state are described in the late and former experience of may such XI Though I never heard him pray against poverty or reproach yet for the liberty of his Ministry he did that he might preach that Gospel of Salvation And pain forced him to have recourse to God for deliverance from the thorn in his flesh And if Christ and Paul prayed thrice with earnestness no wonder if continued pain made him continue his suit to God XII As Christ was heard in the thing which he feared and yet must drink that cup and Paul instead of the departing of the one was promised sufficient grace and the manifesting of Gods strength in his pain and weakness so it pleased not God to take away the Thorn from our dear Brothers flesh but he did better for him and gave him his supporting help and an increase of grace and shewed his own strength in all his weakness and also hastened his final deliverance beyond expectation And now he is past all at rest with Christ and all the blessed We see not them but they see God and God feeth us and is preparing us for the same felicity And if it be by the same means and we must bear the Cross and feel the Thorn it will be wholesome and short and good is the will and work of God Lord let me not account ease honour or life dear to me that I may finish my course with joy and the Ministry received of the Lord and come in season and peace to thee And is not this Providence of God and this example of our deceased friend of use to us Yes no doubt of manifold use I. It is of great use to all the Land to good and bad to observe Gods threatning in the removal of his servants O how many excellent Christians and faithful Ministers of Christ have been taken hence within a few months The same week we hear of four or five more besides our brother and some of them the most excellent useful men And is it not time 1. To repent of our neglect of such helps as God is now removing 2 And to be presently awakened to use them better before the rest be taken away Alas poor Souls what a case are you in if you dye or the word be taken from you before you are regenerated and prepared for a better life It is not so much their loss and hurt as yours which Satan endeavoureth in silencing so many hundred such And it is your heavy punishment more than theirs which God inflicteth by their death O speedily repent before that death have stopt the mouths which call'd you to repentance And it should awaken the best to prepare for death and for publick suffering It seems there is some great evil to come when God thus takes away the best Yea if it should be a forerunner of a better state yet all save two of the old stock that dishonoured God in the Wilderness must fall and it was by bloody Wars a dreadful means that Joshua and the new generation were to possess the Land of promise II. It is of use to us unworthy Ministers of Christ who yet survive 1. It calleth loudly to us to work while it is day for our night is near when we cannot work Death will shortly silence us all more effectually than men have done Do Gods work prudently do it patiently peaceably and in as much concord and true obedience as you can
cry for Mercy and abuse it no more Christ did not blame the blind and lame for crying out Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on us Nor the Canaanite VVoman for begging for the Crums is any afflicted let him pray and send for the Elders Prayers The Thorn in the Flesh will make us feel and feeling will teach us to repent and pray and prayer is the means of hope for the deliverance of Body and Soul Grace maketh us not stupid yet there are some that think a man behaveth not himself like a Believer if he cry and pray that the Thorn may depart What think they of David in Psal 6. and 17. and 88. And many more What think they of Christ that prayed that if possible the Cup might passe by him He did it to shew that even innocent nature is averse to suffering and death through Grace makes us submit to the Will of God we continue men when we are Beleivers we must mourn with them that mourn and yet not love others better than our selves nor feel their Thorns more sensibly than our own VVe must neither despise chastenings nor faint But how doth Paul pray Doth he make any great matter of of his thornes He besought the Lord thrice that it might depart Observ 13. Even earnest and oft Prayer is suitable to sharp Afflictions There is a kind of Devils and so of Satans thornes which go not out but by fasting and prayer no not by Christs own Apostles The sense and means must be suited to the malady God can do it upon one prayer or upon none but we are not so easily fited to receive it And Paul in this also is conformed to Christ who in his Agony pray'd thrice against his Cup though with submission Vse 1. You see here that the Apostles gift of healing was not to be used at their own will nor for their own flesh that it might not suffer but for the confirmation of the Faith when it pleased the Holy Spirit Troplainus and Epaphroditus might be sick and Timothy need a little VVine with his VVater though Paul had the gift of healing Vse 2. O let our pains drive us all to God who hath not some Sicknesses are all abroad what house how few persons have not some and yet is there a Prayerless house or person If Faith have not taught you to pray as Christians methinks feeling should teach you to pray as men I say not that prayer must shut out Food and Physick but Food and Physick will not do if prayer prevail not with the Lord of all Vse 3. And think not thrice or continued praying to be too much or that importunity is in vain Luk. 18. 1. Christ spake a Parable to this end that men ought always to pray and not wax faint VVhether God deliver us or not prayer is not lost it is a good posture for God to find us in we may get better if we get not what we ask Obey and Pray and Trust God But what answer doth the Lord give to Pauls thrice praying He said My grace is sufficient for thee and my strength is manifested in weakness 1. It was not a promise that the thorn should depart 2. It seems to be rather a denial at the present and that Paul must not be yet cured of his thorn for it is called a weakness that must continue for the manifesting of Gods strength and what was the sufficiency of grace and strength for but to endure and improve the thorn 3. But this promised grace and strength is better than that which was desired Obs 14. Even oft and earnest prayer of the greatest Saint for deliverance from bodily pains may not be granted in the kind or thing desired For 1. we are not Lords but beggars and must leave the issue to the donor And God hath higher ends to accomplish than our ease or deliverance It 's meet that he should first fit all his actions to his own will and glory and next to the good of many and to his publick works in the World and then to look at our interest next 2. And we are utterly unmeet judges of matter manner time or measure what God should give us for the body and how much and how and when When should we be sick or pained or persecuted or dye if all our prayers must be absolutely granted We know not how much better God is preparing us for by pain and bringing us to by dismal death He will not keep us from grace and glory because our flesh is loth to suffer and to die 3. And in this Paul also was conformed to Christ He was heard in the thing that he feared when in his agony he prayed with strong cryes but it was not by the removing of the bitter cup but by divine strength and acceptance And so it is with Paul sufficient grace and strength to bear is the thing promised Vse 1. We see then that they are mistaken that think Christs promise of giving believers whatever they ask will prove him a breaker of his promise if the strongest believer receive not all that he asketh for the body Was not Paul a strong believer All that God hath promised and we are fit to receive God will be sure to give 2. Let not unbelief get advantage by Gods not granting such prayers for the body Say not Why then is it my duty to pray 1. You know not before-hand but God may give it Possibility bids you beg 2. Why did Christ pray against his Cup 3. You lose not prayer you draw nearer God you exercise repentance and desire you signifie your dependance you are prepared for much greater gifts Obs 15. When God will not take the thorn out of our flesh and deliver us when we pray from bodily sufferings he will be sure to do better for prepared persons even to give them his sufficient grace and manifest his strength in their pain and weakness It is not for want of Love or Power that he lets us tumble on our beds in pain or lie under slanderers or persecutors rage He that with a word could make the World with a word can save us from all this But if we suffer not how shall suffering-graces be exercised faith patience self-denial and hope Is not grace better than ease or life How shall we get the benefit of suffering if we feel it not How shall grace and divine strength be manifested to our selves and others Quest What is it that Grace is sufficient for Ans 1. Not to set us up above the frailties of humanity and mortality nor to raise us to the joy that souls in heaven have 2. Not to every one alike but in our several measures some fear pain and death more than others some have greater patience and joy and long to depart and be with Christ But to all the faithful it shall suffice 1. To keep them from revolting from Christ and repenting of their choice and hope 2. To save them from
But be sure you do it whoever forbid it or be against it as long as God or your selves have not rendered you uncapable Whatever silencers say against it Necessity is upon you God calls for it Souls call for it The charge is dreadful 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. your Vows call for it Satans malice and the number of Soul-betrayers and murderers must provoke you our time is short Souls are precious Christ the chief shepherd dearly purchased them and will judge you according to your works It will not justifie your neglect to say Men forbad me Sufferings were prepared for me Bishops and famous Divines wrote learned Books to prove that preaching was to me a sin and that I was bound to forbear it when forbidden 2. And it telleth us that we as well as others must prepare for the sharpest tryals from God No thorn in the flesh so sharp and painful which we may not feel No death so violent or sudden but we may undergo Love and hatred are not known by outward events prosperity or adversity A great difference Solomon acknowledgeth between the good and the bad the righteous and wicked him that sacrificeth or worshippeth God and him that doth not him that sweareth perjuriously or prophanely and him that seareth such an Oath some are loved of God and some are hated And this difference is manifest in such disposals even of prosperity and adversity as tend to their greater holiness and happiness which shall manifest the difference fully and for ever But outward events manifest it not in themselves All such things come alike to all yea the Cross is more laid on the godly than the wicked O therefore away with the two Disciples desires of Church-preferment and worldly dignity and prepare to drink of Christs Cup and be baptized with his baptism Eccles 9. 1 2 3. Matth. 20. 22 23. Learn daily how to bear slanders and persecutions from men even from Christian Teachers and how to lie in fleshly pains night and day and how to die and all this in faith and peace and joy at least in the quiet hope of everlasting joy III. And without any disgracing or provoking design but meerly in conscience and compassion to the Souls of the people and of our Reverend Brethren themselves I do humbly intreat the Right Reverend and Reverend Imposing Clergy to lay by a while if possible all unrighteous prejudice and partiality and worldly interests and respects and consider that they also must die and as they will stand to it at last to resolve these Questions I. Whether those Terms of Church-Concord and Peace be wisely and justly made which are too narrow to receive such men as this for faith knowledge peaceableness blamelesness holines c. into the Ministry Communion of their Church or to endure themout of a Jayl Whether wise and good men could find no better And whether Christ ever directed the Church to exclude such or did not plainly require the contrary And whether the Apostles ever excluded such or made such Rules II. Whether they think in their hearts that it were better all the good were undone which hath been done by Nonconformists these 18 years to the Ministerial furthering of knowledge repentance holiness and salvation than that such should have preached the Gospel when forbidden III. Whether it will be peace to your consciences at the Judgment of Christ that any of you have furthered the silencing of such and their other sufferings IV. Whether they that have written and preached against their Preaching or for their silencing and the execution of the Laws against them or perswaded them to give over their work themselves and reproached and accused them for doing it be not engaged in this frightful Cause V. Is it not gross partiality if you will cherish men of ignorance vitiousness or far less worth while such as these are thought intollerable meerly because the former are more obedient to you than fear of sinning will suffer these to be VI. Was that Church therein guided by the Spirit of Christ which made the Canon which ipso facto excommunicateth such VII If you had known as many of the about 2000 silenced and as well as I have done how much of the grace of God shined in them Is it possible that any man that hath the true fear and love of God and sense of everlasting things could ever by any pretences of Church Government or Order or upon any byas of interest have consented to their silencing and sufferings Some will think that in partiality I over-magnifie men because they were of my own mind and party I have besides some pious Women written the Characters and published the praises of divers of Mr. Rich. Vines Mr. John Janeway Mr. Joseph Allen Mr. Henry Stubbs Mr. Wadsworth and now Mr. John Corbet and lately one Layman Alderman Ashurst and he that hath now received them whom such as you cast out or villified knoweth that I have in knowledge of them and love to Christ whose grace shined in them spoken simply the truth from my heart and it is in a time and place where it is fully known and feareth no confutation And the History shall live to the shame of Church-dividing tearing principles and all thorny hurtful dispositions and to the encouragement of the faithful and the imitation of those that in time to come shall by saith patience and well-doing seek for immortality and eternal life by serving our Redeemer and pleasing God FINIS ERRATA PAg. 3. Line 26. for great read gentle Pag. 4. l. 1. for our r. one l. 34. for grown r. groan p. 5. l. 11. for are sure r. measure l. 37. after that r. the. HIS Writings published are 1. His History of Col. Massy's Military-Actions at and near Glocester 2. The Interest of England 1st and 2d Part. 3. A Discourse of the Religion of England asserting That Reformed Christianity setled in its due Latitude is the Stability and Advancement of this Kingdom In two Parts 4. The Kingdom of God among Men With a Discourse of Schism and an Account of himself about Conformity 5. His secret Self-employment is now to be Printed Containing 1. Memorials for his own Practice 2. His Evidences upon Self-examination 3. His Thoughts in his last painful Afflictions What else may hereafter see the light we yet know not Besides his Labour in Compiling Mr. Rushworth's first Volume of Historical Collections