death another trembles to expect it one beggs for life another will sell it dearer here one would rescue one life and loseth two there another would hide himself where he findes a merciless death here lies one bleeding and groaning and gasping parting with his soul in extremity of anguish there another of stronger spirits kills and dies at once here one wrings her hands and tears her hair and seeks for some instrument of a self-inflicted death rather then yeeld her chaste body to the lust of a bloody ravisher there another clings inseparably to a dear husband and will rather take part of the murtherers sword then let go her last embraces here one tortured for the discovery of hid treasure there another dying upon the rack out of jealousie Oh that one man one Christian should be so bloodily cruel to another Oh that he who bears the image of the merciful God should thus turn fiend to his own flesh and blood These are terrible things my son and worthy of our bitterest lamentations and just fears I love the speculation of Seneca's resolutely-wise man that could look upon the glittering sword of an executioner with erected and undazeled eyes and that makes it no matter of difference whether his soul pass out at his mouth or at his throat but I should more admire the practice whiles we carry this clay about us nature cannot but in the holiest men shrink in at the sight and sense of these tyrannous and tragical acts of death Yet even these are the due revenges of the Almighties punitive justice so provoked by our sins as that it may not take up with an easier judgement Dost thou not see it ordinary with our Physitians when they finde the body highly distempered and the blood foul and inflamed to order the opening of a vein and the drawing out of so many ounces as may leave the rest meet for correction Why art thou over-troubled to see the great Physitian of the world take this course with sinful mankinde Certainly had not this great Body by mis dieting and wilful disorder contracted these spiritual diseases under which we languish had it not impured the blood that runs in these common veins with riot and surfets we had never been so miserable as to see these torrents of Christian blood running down our chanels Now yet as it is could we bewail and abandon our former wickedness we might live in hope that at the last this deadly issue might stop and dry up and that there might be yet left a possibility of a blessed recovery § 7. The woful miseries of Pestilence allaid by consideration of the hand that smites us Thou art confounded with grief to see the pestilence raging in our streets in so frequent a mortality as breeds a question concerning the number of the living and the dead That which is wont to abate other miseries heightens this The company of participants It was certainly a very hard and sad option that God gave to King David after his sin of numbring bring the people Chuse thee whether seven yeers famine shall come unto thee in thy Land or three moneths flight before thine enemies or three days pestilence We may believe the good King when we hear him say I am in a great strait Doubtless so he was but his wise resolutions have soon brought him out Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of man He that was to send these evils knew their value and the difference of their malignity yet he opposes three days pestilence to seven yeers famine and three months vanquishment so much oddes he knew there was betwixt the dull activity of man and the quick dispatch of an Angel It was a favour that the Angel of death who in one night destroyed an hundred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians should in three daies cut off but seventy thousand Israelites It was a great mercy that it was no worse We read of one City shall I call it or Region of Cayro wherein eighteen hundred thousand were swept away in one years pestilence enow one would think to have peopled the whole earth and in our own Chronicles of so generall a mortality that the living were hardly sufficient to bury the dead These are dreadfull demonstrations of Gods heavy displeasure but yet there is this alleviation of our misery that we suffer more immediatly from an holy just mercifull God The Kingly Prophet had never made that distinction in his wofull choyce if he had not known a notable difference betwixt the sword of an Angell and an enemy betwixt Gods more direct and immediate infliction and that which is derived to us through the malice of men It was but a poor consolation that is given by a victorious enemy to dying Lausus in the Poet Comfort thy selfe in thy death with this that thou fallest by the hand of great Aeneas but surely we have just reason to â—aise comfort to our souls when the pains of a pestilentiall death compasse us about from the thought and intuition of that holy and gracious hand under which we suffer so as we can say with good Eli It is the Lord. It is not amisse that we call those marks of deadly infection Gods Tokens such sure they are and ought therefore to call up our eyes and hearts to that Almighty power that sends them with the faithfull resolution of holy Iob Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee It is none of the least miseries of contagious sicknesse that it bars us from the comfortable society and attendance of friends or if otherwise repaies their love and kinde visitation with death Be not dismaid my son with this sad solitude thou hast company with thee whom no infection can indanger or exclude there is an invisible friend that will be sure to stick by thee so much more closely by how much thou art more avoided by neighbours and will make all thy bed in thy sickness and supply thee with those cordialls which thou shouldst in vain expect from earthly visitants Indeed justly doe we style this The sicknesse eminently grievous both for the deadlinesse and generality of the dispersion yet there is a remedy that can both cure and conâ—ine it Let but every man look well to the plague of his own heart and the Land is healed Can we with David but see the Angell that smites us and erect an Altar and offer to God the sacrifices of our praiers penitence obedience we shall hear him say It is enough The time was and that time may not be forgotten when in the dayes of our late Soveraigne our Mother City was almost desolated with this mortall infection When thousands fell at our side and ten thousands at our right hand upon the publique humiliation of our soules the mercy of the Almighty was pleased to command that raging disease in the height of its fury
infinite blisse how much more gladly would he have taken off his Hemlock and how much more merrily would he have passed into that happier world All this wee know and are no lesse assured of it then of our present beeing with what comfort therefore should we think of changing our present condition with a blessed immortality How sweet a song was that of old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mineties have seen thy salvation Loe that which hee saw by the eye of his sense thou seest by the eye of thy faith even the Lords Christ he saw him in weaknesse thou seest him in glory why shouldst thou not depart not in peace onely but in joy and comfort How did the holy Protomartyr Stephen triumph over all the rage of his enemies and the violent fury of death when he had once seen the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God Loe God offers the same blessed prospect to the 〈◊〉 of thy soul Faith is the key that can open the heaven of heavens Fixe thy eies upon that glorious and saving object thou canst not but lay down thy body in peace and send up thy soul into the hands of him that bought it with the sweet and cheerfull recommendation of Lord Jesus receive my spirit Comforts against the terrours of Judgement §. 1. Aggravation of the fearfulness of the last judgement THOU apprehendest it aright Death is terrible but Judgement more Both these succeed upon the same decree It is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgement Neither is it moâ—e terrible then lesse thought on Death because he strikes on all hands and laies before us so many sad examples of mortality cannot but sometimes take up our hearts but the last judgement having no visible proofs to force it self upon our thoughts too seldome affrights us Yet who can conceive the terrour of that day before which the Sun stall bee turned into darknesse and the Moon into blood That day which shall burne as an Oven when all the proud and all that doe wickedly shall bee as the stubble That day in which the heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also â—â—d the works that are therein shall be burnt â—p That day wherein the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ That day wherein the Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like a Whirlewinde to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire For by Fire and by his Sword will the Lord plead with all flesh That day wherein the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him and shall sit upon the Throne of his glory and all Nations shall bee gathered before him That day wherein all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him Sâ—ortly that great and terrible day of the Lord wherein if the Powers of Heaven shall bee shaken how can the heart of man remain unmoved wherein if the world be dissolved who can bear up Alas we are ready to tremble at but a Thunder-crack in a poor cloud and at a small flash of lightning that glances through our eyes what shall wee doe when the whole frame of the heavens shall break in peeces and when all shall be on a flame about our eares Oh who may abide the day of his comming and who shall stand when hee appeareth §. 2. Comfort from the condition of the elect Yet bee of good chear mâ— sonne Amids all this horrour there is comfort Whether thoube one of those whom it shall please God to reserve alive upon earth to the sight of this dreadfull day he only knowes in whose hands our times are This we are sure of that we are upon the last houres of the last daies Justly doe we spit in the faces of S. Peters scoffers that say Where is the promise of his coming Well knowing that the Lord is not slack as some account slackness but that he that shall come will come and not tarry Well mayst thou live to see the Son of man come in the clouds of heaven and to be an Actor in this last Scene of the world If so let not thy heart be dismayed with the expectation of these fearful things Thy change shall be sudden and quick one moment shall put off thy mortality and clothe thee with that incorruption which shall not be capable of fear and pain The majestie of this appearance shall adde to thy joy and glory Thou shalt then see the Lord himself descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God Thou shalt see thy self and those other which are alive and remain to be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shalt thou be ever with the Lord. Upon this assurance how justly may the Apostle subjoyn Wherefore comfort one another with these words Certainly if ever there were comfort to be had in any words not of men or Angels onely but of the ever-living God the God of Truth these are they that can and will afford it to our trembling souls But if thou be one of the number of those whom God hath determined to call off before-hand and by a faithful death to prevent the great day of his appearance here is nothing for thee but matter of a joy unspeakable and full of glory For those that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him they shall be part of that glorious train which shall attend the Majestie of the great Judge of the world yea they shall be coâ—â—seâ—â—ors to the Lord of heaven and earth in this awful Judica ture as sitting upon the Bench when guilty men and Angels shall be at the Bar To him that overcometh saith the Lord Christ will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne What place then is here for any terrour since the more state and heavenly magnificence the more joy and glory § 3. Awe more fit for thoughts of judgement then Fear Thou art afraid to think of Judgement I had rather thou shouldst be awful then timorous When Saint Paul discoursed of the judgement to come it is no marvel that Fâ—â—ix trembled But the same Apostle when he had pressed to his Corinthians the certainty and generality of our appearance before the Judgement-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body whether good or evil addeth Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men but we are made manifest to
Didst thou conceive my son that grace would put thee into a constant and pepetually-invariable condition of soul whiles thou art in this earthly warfare Didst thou ever hear or read of any of Gods prime Saints upon earth that were unchangeable in their holy dispositions whiles they continued in this region of mutability Look upon the man after Gods own heart thou shalt finde him sometimes so courageous as if the spirits of all his Worthies were met in his one bosom How resolutely doth he blow off all dangers trample on all enemies triumph over all cross events Another while thou shalt finde him so dejected as if he were not the man One while The Lord is my Shepherd I shall lack nothing Another while Why art thâ—â— so sad my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me One while I will not be afraid for ten thousands of the people that have set themselves against me round about Another while Hide me under the shadow of thy wings from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who compass me about One while Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth Another while Lord where are thy loving kindnesses Yea dost thou not hear him with one breath professing his confidence and lamenting his desertion Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Look upon the chosen vessel the great Apostle of the Gentiles one while thou shalt see him erecting trophies in himself of victory to his God In all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us Another while thou shalt finde him bewailing his own sinful condition Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death One while thou shalt finde him caught up into the third heaven and there in the Paradise of God another while thou shalt finde him buffeted by the messenger of Satan and sadly complaining to God of the violence of that assault Hear the Spouse of Christ whether the Church in common or the faithful soul bemoaning her self I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not finde him I called him but he gave me no answer Thus it will be with thee my Son whiles thou art in this frail flesh the temper of thy soul will be like her partner subject to vicissitudes Shouldst thou continue always in the same state I should more then suspect thee This is the difference betwixt Nature and Grace That Nature is still uniform and like it self Grace varies according to the pleasure of the giver The Spirit breathes when and where it listeth When therefore thou findest the gracious spirations of the holy Ghost within thee be thankful to the infinite munificence of that blessed Spirit and still pray Arise O North and come thou South winde â—blowe upon my garden that the spices thereof may slow out But when thou shalt finde thy soul becalmed and not a leaf stirring in this garden of thine be not too much dejected with an ungrounded opinion of being destituted of thy God neither do thou repine at the seasons or measures of his bounty that most free and infinitely-beneficent agent will not be tied to our terms but will give what and how and when he pleaseth Onely do thou humbly wait upon his goodness and be confident that he who hath begun his good work in thee will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. § 10. Complaint of unregeneration and deadness in sin answered It is true thou saist if God had begun his good work in me he would at the last for his own glories sake make it up But for me I am a man dead in sins and trespasses neither ever had I any true life of grace in me some shew indeed I have made of a Christian profession but I have onely beguiled the eyes of the world with a meer pretence and have not found in my self the truth and solidity of those heavenly vertues whereof I have made a formal ostentation It were pity my son thou shouldst be so bad as thou makest thy self I have no comfort in store for hypocrisie no disposition can be more odious to the God of truth in so much as when he would express his utmost vengeance against sinners he hath no more fearful terms to set it forth then I will appoint him his portion with the hypocrites Were it thus with thee it were more then high time for thee to resolve thy self into dust and ashes and to put thy self into the hands of thine Almighty Creatour to be moulded anew by his powerful Spirit and never to give thy self peace till thou findest thy selfâ— renewed in the spirit of thy minde But in the mean while take heed lest thou be found guilty of mis-judging thine own soul and mis-prising the work of Gods Spirit in thee God hath been better to thee then thou wilt be acknown of Thou hast true life of grace in thee and for the time perceivest it not It is no heed to take of the doom thou passest upon thy self in the hour of temptation When thy heart was free thou wert in another minde and shalt upon better advice return to thy former thoughts It is with thee as it was with Euâ—ychus that fell down from the third loft and was taken up for dead yet for all that his life was in him We have known those who have lien long in trances withovt any perception of life yea some as that subtil Joannes Duns Scotus have been put into their graves for fully dead when as yet their soul hath been in them though unable to exert those faculties which might evince her hidden presence Such thou mayest be at the worst yea wert thou but in charity with thy self thou wouldst be found in a much better condition There is the same reason of the natural life and the spiritual Life where it is is discerned by breathing sense motion Where there is the breath of life there must be a life that sends it forth If then the soul breathes forth holy desires doubtless there is a life whence they proceed Now deny if thou canst that thou hast these spiritual breathings of holy desires within thee Dost thou not many a time sigh for thine own insensateness Is not thine heart troubled with the thoughts of thy want of grace Dost thou not truly desire that God would renew a right spirit within thee Take comfort to thy self this is the work of the inward principle of Gods Spirit within thee as well may a man breathe without life as thou couldst be thus affected without grace Sense is a quick discrier of life pinch or wound a dead man he feels nothing but the living perceiveth the easiest touch When thou hast heard the fearful
for the benefit that he hath been pleased to make of thine offending him § 5. â—omplaint 〈◊〉 relapses 〈◊〉 to sin â—ith the â—â—medy â—ereof But alas thou sayst my case is far worse then it is conceived I have been more then once miscarried into the same sin Even after I have made profession of my repentance I have been transported into my former wickedness Having washed off my sin as I thought with my many tears yet I have suffered my soul to be defiled with it again I may not flatter thee my son this condition is dangerous Those diseases which upon their first seizure have without any great peril of the Patient received cure after a recidivation have threatned death Look upon the Saints of God thou shalt finde they have kept aloof from that fire wherewith they have been formerly burnt Thou shalt not finde Noah again uncovered through drunkenness in his tent thou shalt not finde Judah climbing up again to Tamars bed Thou shalt not take Peter again in the High-Priests hall denying his Master or after Pauls reproof halting in his dissimulation But tell me notwithstanding art thou truly serious with thy God hast thou doubled thine humiliation for the reduplication of thine offence hast thou sought God so much the more instantly with an unfained contrition of heart hast thou found thy soul wrought to so much greater detestation of thy sin as thine acquainâ—tance with it hath been more hast thou taken this occasion to lay better hold on thy Saviour and to reinforce the vows of thy more careful and strict obedience Be of good chear this unpurposed reiteration of thy sin shall be no prejudice to thy salvation It is one thing for a man to walk on willingly in a beaten path of sin another thing for a man to be justled out of the way of righteousness by the violence of a temptation which he soon recovers again by a sound repentance The best cannot but be overtaken with sin but he that is born of God doth not commit sin he may be transported whither he meant not but he makes not a trade of doing ill his heart is against that which his hand is drawn unto and if in this inward strife he be over-powered he lies not down in a willing yeeldance but struggles up again and in a resumed courage and indignation tramples on that which formerly supplanted him Didst thou give thy self over to a resolved course of sinning and betwixt whiles shouldst knock thy brest with a formal God forgive me I should have no comfort in store for thee but send thee rather to the Whipping-stock of the Almighty for due correction if possibly those seasonable stripes may prevent thine everlasting torments But now since what thou hatest that thou doest and thou doest that which thou wouldst not and it is no more thâ—u that doest it but sin that dwells in thee cry out as much as thou wilt on the sinfulness of thy sin bewail thy weakness with a better man then thy self O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death But know that thou hast found mercy with thy God thy repeated sin may grieve but cannot hurt thy soul. Had we to do with a finite compassion it might be abated by spending it self upon a frequent remission like as some great river may be drawn dry by many small out-lets But now that we deal with a God whose mercy is as himself infinite it is not the greatness or the number of our offences that can make a difference in his free remissions That God who hath charged our weak charity not to be overcome with evil but to overcome evil with good justly scorneth that we should think his infinite and incomprehensible goodness can be checked with our evil It was not without a singular providence that Peter came to our Saviour with that question in his mouth Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times that it might fetch from that blessed Son of God that gracious answer for our perpetual direction and comfort I say not unto thee Until seven times but until seventy times seven Lord if thou wouldst have us sinful men thus indulgent to one another in the case of our mutual offences what limits can be set to thy mercies in our sins against thee Be we penitent thou canst not but be gracious Comforts against weakness of grace §. 1. Comfort from the common condition of all Saints THou complainest of the weakness of grace some little stirrings thou feelest of Gods Spirit within thee but so feeble that thou canst not finde any solid comfort in them Thou seest others thou sayst whose brests are full of milk and their bones moistned with marrow whiles thou languishest under a spiritual leanness and imbecillity Thou wantest that vigorous heat of holy affections and that alacrity in the performance of holy duties which thou observest in other Christians I love this complaint of thine my son and tell thee that without this thou couldst not be in the way of being happie Thinkst thou that those whom thou esteemest more eminent in grace make not the same moan that thou dost Certainly they never had any grace if they did not complain to have too little Every man best feels his own wants and is ready to pass secret censures upon himself for that wherein he is applauded by others Even the man after Gods own heart can say But I am poor and sorrowful He was a great King when he said so it was not meanness in outward estate that troubled him but a spiritual neediness for he had before in the same heavenly Ditty professed O God thou knowest my foolishnesse and my guiltinesse is not hid from thee It was an old observation of wise Solomon There is that maketh himselfe rich and hath nothing there is that maketh himselfe poore yet hath great riches In this latter rank are many gracious soules and thine I hope for one who certainly had never been so wealthy in grace if they had been conceited of greater store Even in this sense many a Saint may say with Saint Paul When I am weak then I am strong Since the very complaint of weaknesse argues strength and on the contrary an opinion of sufficient grace is an evident conviction of meere emptinesse §. 2. Comfort from the improvement of weak graces and Gods free distribution But suppose thy selfe so poor as thou pretendest It is not so much what we have as how we improve it How many have we known that have grown rich out of a little whereas others out of a great stock have run into debt and beggery Had that servant in the Gospel who received but one talent imployed it to the gain of a second he had been proportionably as well rewarded as he that with five gained ten In our temporall estate we are warned by the wisest man
like somehead-strong horse in the midst of his career to stop on the sudden and to leave us at once ere wee could think of it both safe and healthfull This was the Lords doing and it was marvellous in our eyes Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear The same mercy is everlasting the same remedy certain Be wee but penitent and wee cannot be miserable Comforts against losse of Friends § 1. The true value of a friend and the fault of over-prizing him THou hast lost thy friend Thy sorrow is just the earth hath nothing more precious then that which thou hast parted with For what is a friend but a mans selfe in another skin a soul divided into two bodies both which are animated by the same spirit It is somewhat worse with thee therefore then with a palsied man whose one halfe is stricken with a dead kinde of numnesse he hath lost but the use of one side of his body thou the one halfe of thy soul. Or may I not with better warrant say that a true friend hath as it were two soules in one body his own and his friends Sure I am so it was with Jonathan and David The soule of Jonathan was knit with the soule of David and Ionathan loved him as his owne soul Still the more goodnesse the stronger union Meer nature can never be so fast a cement of soules as grace for here the union is wrought by a better spirit then our owne even that blessed spirit who styles himselfe by the name of Love By how much greater thine affection was so much heavie◠is thy losse But let mee tell thee I feare thou art too much accessary to thine owne affliction Didst thou look for this losse Did thy heart say What if we should part Didst thou not over-enjoy this blessing whilest thou hadst it Surely these are no small disadvantages As every other evill so this especially is aggravated by our unexpectation neither hadst thou been so oppressed with this sorrow if thou hadst fore-seene it and met it on the way It is our weak inconsideration if we do so welcome these earthly comforts not as guests but as in-mates and as some that are importuntely hospitable so entertain our friends that we cannot abide to give them leave to depart Whereas we ought according to the wise advice of our Seneca not much abluding from the counsel of that blessed Apostle with whom he is said to have interchanged Letters so to possess them as those that make account to forgo them and so forgo them as if we possessed them still § 2. The tru◠ground of a◠undefeisible enjoying of our friends Thou art grieved for the loss of a dear friend Take heed lest thy love had too much of the man and too little of God All blessings as they come down from the Father of mercies so should be enjoyed in him and if we enjoy them as in themselves our love begins to degenerate into carnal It is a sure rule that all love that depends upon a thing affected when that thing ceaseth then the love ceaseth as he that loves a face onely for beauty when that beauty is defaced by deformity presently cools in his affection he that respects a man for his bounty onely disregards him when he sees him impoverished Didst thou value thy friend onely for his wit for his ready compliances for his kinde offices all these are now lost and thy love with them but if thou didst affect him for eminence of grace for the sake of that God that dwelt in him now thy love is not cannot be lost because thou still enjoyest that God in whom thou lovedst him Comfort thy self therefore in that God in whom he was thine and yeeld him chearfully into those hands that lent him thee §. 3. The rarity and trial of true friends Thou hast lost a true friend That Jewel was worthy to be so much more precious by how much more rare it is The world affords friends enow such as they are Friends of the purple as Tertullian calls them friends of the basket as the Poet such as love thy loaves and fishes and thee for them Wealth makes many friends saith the Wise man but where is the man that loves thee for thy self that loves thy Vertue and thee for it devested of all by-respects Whiles there is honey in thy gally-pot the wasps and flyes will be buzzing about it but which of them cares to light upon an empty vessel Was he so much thine that he would not be set off by thine adversity Did he honour thee when thou wert despised of the world Did he follow thee with applause whiles thou wert hooted at by the multitude Would he have owned thee if he had found thee stripped and wounded in the Wilderness Such a friend is worthy of thy tears But take heed thy love prove not envious If thy God hath thought him fitter for the society of Saints and Angels dost thou repine at his happiness Thou hast lost his presence he is advanced to the beatifical presence of the King of glory Whether is thy loss or his gain the greater § 4. It is but parting not a 〈◊〉 Thou hast lost thy friend say rather thou hast parted with him That is properly lost which is past all recovery which we are out of hope to see any more It is not so with this friend thou mournest for He is but gone home a little before thee thou art following him you two shall meet in your Fathers house and enjoy each other more happily then you could have done here belowe How just is that charge of the blessed Apostle that We should not mourn as men without hope for those that do but sleep in Jesus Did we think their souls vanisht into air as that Heathen Poet profanely expresseth it and their bodies resolved into dust without all possibility of reparation we might well cry out our eyes for the utter extinction of those we loved but if they do but sleep they shall do well Why are we impatient for their silent reposal in the bed of their grave when we are assured of their awaking to glory §. 5. The loss of a vertuous wife mitigated Thou hast lost a dear wife the wife of thy youth the desire of thine eyes Did ye not take one another upon the terms of redelivery when ye should be called for Were you not in your very knitting put in minde of your dissolution Till death us depart Was she vertuous knowest thou not that there was a Pre-contract betwixt thy Saviour and her soul ere thou couldst lay any claim to her body And canst thou now grudge his just challenge of his own Wilt thou not allow him to call for a consummation of that happie match Didst thou so over-love her outside that thou wouldst not have her soul glorious If thou lovedst her
know that Senators take their name from age That therefore which is the weakness of old mens eyes that their visual spirits not uniting till some distance they better discern things further off is the praise and strength of their mental eyes they see either judgements or advantages afar off and accordingly frame their determinations It is observed that old Lutes sound better then new and it was Rehoboam's folly and undoing that he would rather follow the counsel of his green heads that stood before him then of those grave Senators that had stood before his wiser father Not that meer Age is of it self thus rich in wisdom and knowledge but Age well cultured well improved There are old men that do but live or rather have a being upon earth so have stocks and stones as well as they who can give no proof of their many yeers but their gray hairs and infirmities There are those who like to Hermogenes are old men whiles they are boys and children when they are old men These the elder they grow are so much more stupid Time is an ill measure of age which should rather be meted by proficiency by ripeness of judgement by the monuments of our commendable and useful labours If we have thus bestowed our selves our Autumn will shew what our Spring was and the colour of our hair will yeeld us more cause to fear our pride then our dejection §. 6. Age in some is vigorous and well affected We accuse our Age of many weaknesses and indispositions But these imputations must not be universal Many of these are the faults of the person not of the age He said well As all Wine doth not turn sowre with age no more doth every Nature Old Oil is noted to be clearer and hotter in Medicinal use then new There are those who are pettish and crabbed in youth there are contrarily those who are milde gentle sociable in their decayed yeers There are those who are crazie in their prime and there are those who in their wane are vigorous There are those who ere the fulness of their age have lost their memory as Hermogenes Cornivus Antonius Caracalla Georgius Trapezuntiâ—s and Nizolius There are those whose intellectuals have so happily held out that they have been best at the last Plato in his last yeer which was fourscore and one died as it were with his Pen in his hand Isocrates wrote his best Piece at ninety four yeers And it is said of Demosthenes that when death summoned him at an hundred yeers and somewhat more he bemoaned himself that he must now die when he began to get some knowledge And as for spiritual graces and improvements Such as be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God They also shall bring forth more fruit in their age and shall be fat and well liking § 7. The fourth advantage of Age Neer approach to our end But the chief benefit of our Age is our neer approach to our journeys end for the end of all motion is rest which when we have once attained there remains nothing but fruition Now our Age brings us after a weary race within some breathings of our goal for if young men may die old men must A condition which a meer carnal heart bewails and abhors complaining of Nature as niggardly in her dispensations of the shortest time to her noblest creature and envying the Oaks which many generations of men must leave standing and growing No marvel for the worldling thinks himself here at home and looks upon death as a banishment he hath placed his heaven here belowe and can see nothing in his remove but either annihilation or torment But for us Christians who know that whiles we are present in the body we are absent from the Lord and do justly account our selves forraigners our life a pilgrimage heaven our home how can we but rejoyce that after a tedious and painful travel we do now draw neer to the threshold of our Fathers house wherein we know there are many mansions and all glorious I could blush to hear an heathen say If God would offer me the choice of renewing my age and returning to my first childhood I should heartily refuse it for I should be loth after I have passed so much of my race to be called back from the goal to the bars of my first setting out and to hear a Christian whining and puling at the thought of his dissolution Where is our faith of an heaven if having been so long sea-beaten we be loth to think of putting into the safe and blessed harbour of immortality Comforts against the fears and pains of death §. 1. The fear of Death natural THou fearest death Thou wert not a man if thou didst not so The holiest the wisest the strongest that ever were have done no less He is the King of fear and therefore may and must command it Thou mayst hear the man after Gods own heart say The sorrows of death compassed me And again My soul is full of troubles my life draweth nigh to the grave I am counted with them that go down to the pit as a man that hath no strength free among the dead Thou mayst hear good and great Hezekiah upon the message of his death chattering like a Crane or a Swallow and mourning as a Dove Thou fearest as a man I cannot blame thee But thou must overcome thy fear as a Christian which thou shalt do if from the terrible aspect of the messenger thou shalt cast thine eyes upon the gracious and amiable face of the God that sends him Holy David shews the way The snares of death prevented me In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God he heard my voice out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears Lo he that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues of death Make him thy friend and Death shall be no other then advantage It is true as the Wise man saith that God made not Death but that through envie of the devil Death came into the world But it is as true that though God made him not yet he is pleased to employ him as his messenger to summon some souls to judgment to invite others to glory and for these later Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints And what reason hast thou to abominate that which God accounts precious §. 2. Remedy oâ— fear Acquaintance with death Thou art afraid of death Acquaint thy self with him more and thou shalt fear him less Even Bears and Lions which at the first sight afrighted us upon frequent viewing lose their terrour snure thine eyes to the sight of death and that face shall begin not to displease thee Thou must shortly dwell with him for a long time for the days of darkness are many do thou
carried them thus corrected in their bosome for coolnesse and for the pleasure of their smoothnesse The sting of death is sinne Hee may hisse and winde about us but he cannot hurt us when that sting is pulled out Look up O thou beleeving soul to thy blessed Saviour who hath pluckt out this sting of death and happily triumphs over it both for himself and thee O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory §. 8. Death is but aparting to meet again Thy soul and body old companions are loth to part Why man it is but the forbearing their wonted society for a while they doe but take leave of each other till they meet againe in the day of Resurrection and in the mean time they are both safe and the better part happy It is commendable in the Jews otherwise the worst of men that they call their grave Beth Chajim the house of the living and when they return from the buriall of their neighbours they pluck up the grasse and cast it into the aire with those words of the Psalmist They shall flourish and put forth as the grasse upon the earth Did wee not beleeve a Resurrection of the one part and a re-uniting of the other wee had reason to be utterly daunted with the thought of a dissolution now wee have no cause to bee dismayed with a little intermission Is it an Heathen man or a Christian such I wish he had been whom I hear say The death which wee so fear and flee from doth but respite life for a while doth not take it away the day will come which shall restore us to the light again Settle thy soul my sonne in this assurance and thou canst not bee discomforted with a necessary parting § 9. Death is but a sleep Thou art afraid of death When thou art weary of thy dayes labour art thou afraid of rest Hear what thy Saviour who is the Lord of life esteems of death Iohn 11. 11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth And of Jairus his daughter The maid is not dead but sleepeth Neither useth the Spirit of God any other language concerning his servants under the Old Testament Now shall I sleep in the dust saith holy Job And of David When thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers Nor yet under the New For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep saith the Apostle Lo the Philosophers of old were wont to call sleep the brother of death but God says death is no other then sleep it self A sleep both sure and sweet When thou liest down at night to thy repose thou canst not be so certain to awake again in the morning as when thou layest thy self down in death thou art sure to wake in the morning of the Resurrection Out of this bodily sleep thou mayst be affrightedly startled with some noises of sudden horrour with some fearful dreams with tumults or alarms of War but here thou shalt rest quietly in the place of silence free from all inward and outward disturbances whiles in the mean time thy soul shall see none but visions of joy and blessedness But Oh the sweet and heavenly expression of our last rest and the issue of our happie resuscitation which our gracious Apostle hath laid forth for the consolation of his mournful Thessalonions For if we believe saith he that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Lo our belief is antidote enough against the worst of death And why are we troubled with death when we believe that Jesus died And what a triumph is this over death that the same Jesus who died rose again And what a comfort it is that the same Jesus who arose shall both come again and bring all his with him in glory And lastly what a strong Cordial is this to all good hearts that all those which die well do sleep in Jesus Thou thoughtst perhaps of sleeping in the bed of the grave and there indeed is rest but he tells thee of sleeping in the bosome of Jesus and there is immortality and blessedness Oh blessed Jesu in thy presence is the fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Who would desire to walk in the world when he may sleep with Jesus § 10. Death sweetned to us by Christ. Thou fearest death It is much on what terms and in what form death presents himself to thee If as an enemy as that is somewhere his style the last enemy death thy unpreparation shall make him dreadful thy readiness and fortitude shall take off his terrour If as a messenger of God to fetch thee to happiness what reason hast thou to be afraid of thine own bliss It is one thing what death is in himself a privation of life as such Nature cannot chuse but abhor him Another thing what he is by Christ made unto us an introduction to life an harbinger to glory Why would the Lord of Life have yeelded unto death and by yeelding vanquisht him but that he might alter and sweeten Death to us and of a fierce Tyrant make him a Friend and Benefactor And if we look upon him thus changed thus reconciled how can we chuse but bid him welcome § 11. The painfulness of Christs â—eath Thou art afraid of the pangs of death There are those that have died without any great sense of pain some we have known to have yeelded up their souls without so much as a groan And how knowest thou my son what measure God hath allotted to thee Our death is a Sea-voyage so the Apostle I desire to lanch forth wherein some finde a rough and tempestuous passage others calm and smoothe such thine may prove so as thy dissolution may be more easie then a fit of thy sickness But if thy God have determined otherwise Look unto Jesus the Authour and Finisher of our faith the Son of God the Lord of glory see with what agonies he conflicted what torments he endured in his death for thee Look upon his bloody sweat his bleeding temples his furrowed back his nailed hands and feet his racked joynts his pierced side Hear his strong cries consider the shame the pain the câ—rse of the Cross which he underwent for thy sake Say whether thy sufferings can be comparable to his He is a cowardly and unworthy Souldier that follows his General sighing Lo these are the steps wherein thy God and Saviour hath trod before thee Walk on courageously in this deep and bloody way after a few paces thou shalt overtake him in glory For if we suffer with him we shall also reign together with him §. 12. The vanity and miseries of life Thou shrinkest at the thought of death Is it not for that thou hast over-valued life and made thy home on earth Delicate persons that have pampered themselves at home are loth to stir abâ—â—ad especially
upon hard and unâ—â—uth voyages Perhaps it is so with thee wherein I cannot but much pity thy mistaking in placing thy contentment there where a greater and wiser man could finde nothing but vanity and vexation Alas what can be our exile if this be our home What woful entertainment is this to be enamoured on What canst thou meet with here but distempered humours hard usages violent passions bodily sicknesses sad complaints hopes disappointed frequent miscarriages wicked plots cruel menaces deadly executions momentany pleasures sauced with lasting sorrows lastly shadows of joy and real miseries Are these the things that so bewitch thee that when death calls at thy door thou art ready to say to it as the Devil said to our Saviour Art thou come to torment me before the time Are these those winning contentments that cause thee to say of the world as Peter said of Mount Tabor Master It is good for us to be here If thou have any faith in thee and what dost thou profess to be a Christian without it look up to the things of that other world whither thou art going and see whether that true life pure joy perfect felicity and thâ— eternity of all these may not be worthy to draw up thy heart to a loâ—ging desire of the fruition of them and a contemptuous disvaluation of all that earth can promise in comparison of this infinite blessedness It was one of the defects which our late Noble and learned Philosopher the Lord Virulam found in our Physitians that they do not studie those remedies that might procure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the easie passage of their Patients since they must needs die thorow the gates of death Such helps I must leave to the care of the skilful Sages of Nature the use whereof I suppose must be with much caution lest whiles they endeavour to sweeten death they shorten life But 〈◊〉 me prescribe and commend to thee my son this true spiritual means of thine happie Euthanasia which can be no other then this faithful disposition of the labouring soul that can truely say I know whom I have believed I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kâ—pt the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day § 13. Examples of courageous resolutions in others Thou startest back at the mention of death How canst thou but blush to read of that Heathen Martyr Socrates who when the message as death was brought to him could applaud the news of most joyful Or of a Cardinal of Rome who yet expected a tormenting Purgatory that received the intimation of his approaching death with Buâ—na nuova buona nuova O che buona nuova è questa Is not their confidence thy shame who believing that when our earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens yet shrinkest at the motion of taking the possession of it Canst thou with dying Mithridates when he took his unwilling farewel of the world cry out oh light when thou art going to a light more glorious then this thou leavest then the Sun is more weak then a Rush-Candle It is our infidelity my son it is our meer inâ— idelity that makes us unwilling to die Did we think according to the cursed opinion of some fanatick persons that the soul sleeps as well as the body from the moment of the dissolution till the day of Resurrection Or did we doubt lest we should wander to unknown places where we cannot be certain of the entertainment or did we fear a scorching trial upon the emigration in flames little inferiour for the time to those of hell there were some cause for us to tremble at the approach of death But now that we can boldly say with the Wise man ` The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shall no torment touch them In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die and their departure is taken for misery and their going from us to be utter destruction but they are in peace Oh thou of little faith why fearest thou Why dost thou not chide thy self as that dying Saint did of old Go forth my soul go boldly forth what art thou afraid of Lo the Angels of God are ready to receive thee and to carry thee up to thy glory neither shalt thou sooner have left this wretched body then thou shalt be possessed of thy God after a momentany darkness cast upon nature thou shalt enjoy the beatifical vision of the glorious God Be not afraid to be happie but say out of faith that which Jonah said in anger It is better for me to die then to live § 14. The happy advantages of death I am afraid to die This is the voice of Nature but wilt thou hear what Grace saith To me to live is Christ and to die is gain If therefore meer Nature raign in thee thou canst not but be affrighted with death But if true grace be prevalent in thy soul that guest shall not be unwelcome Was ever any man afraid of profit and advantage Such is death to the faithful Whosoever he be that findes Christ to be his life shall be sure to finde Death his gain for that he is thereby brought to a more full and neer communion with Christ whereas before he enjoyed his Saviour onely by the dim apprehension of his Faith now he doth clearly and immediately enjoy that glorious presence which onely makes blessedness This is it which causeth death to change his Copie and renders him who is of himselfe formidable pleasing and beneficiall I desire to depart and to be with Christ saith the man who was rapt up to the third heaven Had it been onely departing surely he had had no such great edge to it but to depart and be with Christ is that which ravisheth his soule When the Heathen Socrates was to die for his Religion he comforted himselfe with this That hee should goe to the place where he should see Orphaeus Homer Musaeus and the other Worthies of the former ages Poor man could he have come to have knowne God manifested in the flesh and received up into glory and therein that glorified flesh sitting at the right hand of Majesty could he have attained to know the blessed order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Angels Archangels Principalities and Powers and the rest of the most glorious Hierarchy of heaven could he have been acquainted with that celestiall Chore of the Spirits of just men made perfect could he have reached to know the God and Father of Spirits the infinitely and incomprehensibly glorious Deity whose presence transfuses everlasting blessednesse into all those Citizens of glory and could he have known that he should have an undoubted Interest instantly upon his dissolution in that
God c. Lo the holiest man may not be exempted from the dread but from the slavish fear of the great Judge We know his infinite justice we are conscious to our selves of our manifold failings how can we lay these two together and not fear But this fear works not in us a malignant kinde of repining at the severe Tribunal of the Almighty as commonly whom we fear we hate but rather a careful endeavour so to approve our selves that we may be acquitted by him and appear blameless in his presence How justly may we tremble when we look upon our own actions our own deserts but how confidently may we appear at that Bar where we are beforehand assured of a discharge Being justified by faith â—we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When we think of anâ— universal conflagration of the world how can we but fear but when we think of an happie restitution of all things in this day how can we but rejoyce in trembling § 4. In that great and terrible Day our Advocate is our Judge Thou quakest at the expectation of the last Judgement Surely the very Majestie of that great Assize must needs be formidable And if the very delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai were with so dreadful a pomp of Thunder and Lightning of Fire Smoke Earthquakes that the Israelites were half dead with fear in receiving it with what terrible magnificence shall God come to require an account of that Law at the hands of the whole sinful generation of mankinde Represent unto thy thoughts that which was shewed of old to the Prophet Daniel in Vision Imagine that thou sawest the Ancient of days sitting upon a Throne like the fiery flame 〈◊〉 a fiery stream issuing and coming forth from before him thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him the judgement set and the Books opened Or as John the Daniel of the New Testament saw a great white Throne and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and the dead both small and great standing before God and the Books opened and the dead judged out of those things which were written in those Books according to their works Let the eyes of thy minde see before-hand that which these bodily eyes shall once see and tell me how thou feelest thy self affected with the sight of such a Judge such an appearance such a process And if thou findest thy self in a trembling condition cheer up thy self with this That thy Judge is thine Advocate That upon that Throne there sits not greater Majestie then Mercie It is thy Saviour that shall sentence thee How safe art thou then under such hands Canst thou fear that he will doom thee to death who died to give thee life Canst thou fear he will condemn thee for those sins which he hath given his blood to expiate Canst thou fear the rigour of that Justice which he hath so fully satisfied Canst thou misdoubt the miscarriage of that soul which he hath so dearly bought No my son all this divine state and magnificence makes for thee Let those guilty and impenitent souls who have heaped unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath quake at the glorious Majestie of the Son of God for whom nothing remains but a fearful expectation of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries But for thee who art not onely reconciled unto God by the mediation of the Son of his love but art also incorporated into Christ and made a true limb of his mystical Body thou art bidden together with all the faithful to look up and lift up thy head for now the day of thy reâ—emption is come And indeed how canst thou do other since by vertue of this blessed union with thy Saviour this glory is thine every member hath an interest in the honour of the Head Rejoyce therefore in the day of the Lord Jesus and when all the Tribes of the earth shall wail do thou sing and rejoyce and call to the heavens and the earth to bear thee company Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad let the sea make a noise aud all that is therein let the field be joyful and all that is in it Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoyce before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth and with righteousness to judge the world and the people with his truth §. 5. Frequent meditation and due prepaâ—ation the remedies of our â—ear Thou art affrighted with the thought of that Great Day Think of it oftner and thou shalt less fear it It will come both surely and suddenly let thy frequent thoughts prevent it It will come as a thief in the night without warning without noise let thy careful vigilance always expect it and thy soul shall be sure not to be surprised not to be confounded Thine Audit is both sure and uncertain sure that it will be uncertain when it will be If thou wilt approve thy self a good Steward have thine account always ready set thy reckoning still even betwixt God and thy soul Blessed is the servant whom his Master shall finde so doing Look upon these heavens and this earth as dissolving and think with Jerome that thou hearest the last Trump and the voice of the Archangel shrilling in thine ears as once thou shalt Arise ye dead and come to judgement Shortly let it be thy main care to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Comforts against the fears of our spiritual enemies § 1. The great power of evil spirits and their restraint THou art affrighted at the thought of thy spiritual enemies No marvel Neither earth nor hell hath any thing equally formidable Those three things which are wont to make enmity dreadful and dangerous Power Malice Subtilty are met in them neither is it easie to say in which of these they are most eminent Certainly were we to be matcht with them on even hand there were just cause not of Fear onely but Despair I could tremble thou sayst to think what Satan hath done what he can do what contestation he enabled the Egyptian Sorcerers to hold with Moses how they turned every man his rod into a Serpent so as they seemed to have the advantage for the time of many Serpents crawling and hissing in Phoraoh's pavement for one How they turned the waters into blood How they brought Froggs upon the Land of Egypt 〈◊〉 as if thus far the power of hell would
counsel of the Wise man My son in thy sickness be not negligent but pray unto the Lord and he will make thee whole Art thou soul-sick pray So did holy David The sorrows of hell compassed me about and the snares of death prevented me In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God Art thou infested with importunate temptations Pray So did S. Paul when the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him Thrice I besought the Lord that it might depart from me So did David Whiles I suffer thy terrours I am distracted thy fierce wrath goeth over me But unto thee have I cried O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Art thou disheartned with the weakness of grace Pray so did David I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart Lord all my desire is before thee Art thou afflicted with the slanders of evil tongues Pray So did David The mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue Hold not thy peace O God of my praise Art thou grieved or affrighted with the Publike Calamities of War Famine Pestilence Pray So good Jehosaphat presseth God with his gracious promise made to Solomen If when evil cometh upon us as the sword judgement or pestilence or famine we stand before this house and in thy presence and cry unto thee in our affliction then thou wilt hear and help and shuts up his zealous supplication with Neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee Art thou afflicted with the loss of friends Pray and have recâ—urse to thy God as Ezekiel when Peletiah the son of Benaiah died Then fell I down upon my face and cried with a loud voice and said Ah Lord God! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel Art thou distressed with Poverty Pray So did David I am poor and needy and my heart is wounded within me I became also a reproach to them when they that looked upon me shaked their heads Help me O Lord my God Oh save me according to thy mercy Art thou imprisoned Pray So did Jonah when he was shut up within the living wals of the Whale I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord so did Asaph Let the sighing of the Prisoner come before thee according to the greatnesse of thy power preserve thou them that are appointed to die Art thou driven from thy Country pray This is the remedy prescribed by Solomon in his supplication to God If thy people be carried away into a Land far off or near yet if they bethink themselves in the Land whither they are carried and turn and pray to thee in the Land of their Captivity If they return to thee with all their hearts and pray towards the Land which thou gavest to their Fore-fathers c. then hear thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication Art thou bereaved of thy bodily senses Make thy addresse to him that said Who hath made mans mouth or who maketh the dumb and the deaf or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord Cry aloud to him with Bartimeus Lord that I may receive my sight And if thou be hopelesse of thine outward sight yet pray with the Psalmist O Lord open thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law Art thou afflicted with sterility pray so did Isaac so did Hannah she was in bitternesse of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore and received a gracious answer Art thou troubled and weakned with want of rest pray so did Asaph I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak I cryed to God with my voice unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me Dost thou droop under the grievances of old age pray so did David Oh cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth O God thou hast taught me from my youth Now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not Art thou troubled and dismayed with the feares of death pray so did David My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave I am counted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength Free among the dead thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darknese in the deeps But unto thee have I cried O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Dost thou tremble at the thought of judgement So did the man after Gods own heart My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Look up with Jeremiah and say to thy Saviour O Lord thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul thou hast redeemed my life O Lord judge thou my cause Lastly art thou afraid of the power malice subtilty of thy spirituall enemies pray so did David Deliver me from mine enemies O my God defend me from them that rise up against me Oh hide me from the secret counsell of the wicked Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with cruell hatred O keep my soul and deliver me So did S. Paul pray that he might be freed from the messenger of Satan whose buffets he felt and was answered with My Grace is sufficient for thee so he sues for all Gods Saints May the God of peace tread down Satan under your feet shortly Shortly what ever evill it be that presseth thy soul have speedy recourse to the throne of Grace pour out thy heart into the eares of the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort and be sure if not of redresse yet of ease We have his word for it that cannot not fail us Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mee Fashionable suppliants may talk to God but be confident he that can truly pray can never be truly miserable Of our selves we lie open to all evils our rescue is from above aud what entercourse have we with heaven but by our prayers Our prayers are they that can deliver us from dangers avert judgements prevent mischiefs procure blessings that can obtain pardon for our sins furnish us with strength against temptations mitigate the extremity of our sufferings sustain our infirmities raise up our dejectednesse increase our graces abate our corruptions sanctifie all good things to us sweeten the bitternesse of our afflictions open the windows of heaven shut up the bars of death vanquish the powers of hell Pray and be both safe and happy FINIS Gen. 48. 16. a Ps. 32 3 Job 10 1. Job 7. 11