and if we will be good Souldiers must we not follow and be like unto our Leader O how unlikre him do we acquit our selves who court this World which he so scorn'd and trampled on and pamper the Body which he made drudge of to the Soul and in God's service Is' t probable at this rate when Poverty Sickness Persecution or Death assault and how near any of them may be to us who can tell we should be dumb and open not our mouth submitting quietly to his Father's Hand as he did constantly At least let 's labour to tread in his Apostle's steps keep under our body as it were by Club-law and bring it into subjection 1 Cor. 9.27 that the vain Fancies and sond Appetites there may be restrain'd and curb'd and our Souls may fasten and abide on what will fully satisfie them and never can be rifled from them Direct 3. Lay not thy treasure up on earth but in the heavens Matth. 6.19 Excellent Counsel of our blessed Lord For where the Treasure is there will the Heart i. the Man himself be also And if a Man hath once his Heart viz. his Love Delight Desire and Hopes as high as Heaven with God and Jesus Christ above he can't be so concern'd with any Disaster here below as to be disorder'd greatly by the same As he that looketh down from some high Steeple sees every thing beneath him but as a small and little matter so Earthly Good and Bad must necessarily seem to one whose Conversation is in Heaven 'T is certain that there are those Mountains in the World whose tops will be serene and clear and calm when Thunder Storms and Lightning threaten to mix Heaven and Earth together at the lower parts thereof Could we take off our Affection from things Below to set and always keep them upon what 's Above how should we live as in a constant Sun-shine Nihil erus sentit in nervo cum animus in caelo est Tert. ad Mart. cap. 2. When Pestilence Famine Sword should range the Earth when Poverty Sickness Death should knock at our own Doors how little would the Disturbance be unto us Poor Archimedes was so intent upon his Mathematical Studies that he knew not when his City was storm'd and taken And verily as Christian that gets his Heart full bent towards Heaven will find the distracting Hurries of the Earth slip over him with but little observation by him The holy Apostle Paul was certified by the Holy Ghost in every City he pass'd through that bonds and afflictions waited for him at Jerusakm and yet he faith none of those things so much as moved him Acts 20.24 The Joy in finishing his Course and the Reward after it made even his life it self tho likely to be lost but a little matter with him We are very sure that Moses refused being a King's Grandson and chose rather an afflicted state with the People of God than sinful Pleasures in a Prince's Court valuing the Reproach for Christ as a Better Estate than the Exchequer of Egypt Heb 11.24 25 26. But what was that which betrayed so wise and good a Man into such a Paradox in the World's Opinion Why let them think so still but his Judgment was truly Orthodox notwithstanding For he had respect unto the recompence of reward Verse 26 fin And sure to be Heir apparent unto the Crown of Egypt deserves not to be compared with an undoubted Title to God's Kingdom And the Delights in Heaven are so surpassing that all Earthly Joys are not insipid only but nauseous fulsome Carrion and Poison to them Which having his Heart affected with by a Believing Prospect thereof what was 't to him to throw off the Courtier and take up the Clown Nay worse To skulk and hide a while for scaping of those Blood-hounds that were hunting after him And at the last to flee his Country and abide those many dangers and distresses that attend a Banish'd Outlaw Seculi hujus quem non decipit prosperit as non frangit adversit as S. Aug. de verb. Dom. Serm. 42. All that the Earth could do against him you see how little 't was unto him because his Treasure was in Heaven he had respect to the recompence of reward Were Christians heartily making after him although they should not fully overtake him how light and easie would their many great and heavy Burdens lye upon them To conclude The Author and Finisher of our Faith for the Joy above that was set before him endured the pain and despised the shame of the Bloody Cross whereon he suffer'd Heb. 12.2 And would the Christian duly look to Christ he surely would be like him much more than he is Direct 4. Lastly Let Sin be more uneasie and be sure thy Sufferings then will be easier far Wert thou worse able to endure Corruptions thou would'st be better to abide Afflictions When once Iniquity is our greatest Burden all others will be little felt The very reason why Distresses sometimes triumph is because we have not made a Conquest over our Transgressions They are these that bring Tribulations to us and make them sit more heavy on us when they are come Guilt is a most heavy Load to an Awarkened Mind although Another's Eye should not be able to espy so much as a light Feather on its back But the weight must needs be much increased when Actual Punishment cleaveth unto Guilt Whether the good Woman of Zarephath's words spoken to the Prophet Art thou come to call may Sins to remembrance and to slay my Son 1 King 17.18 do not imply that a fresh cognizance took by Conscience of her faultiness towards God had imbittered the Affliction to her tho it seem probable I will not determine But it is very plain that This added Chains as I may call them to the Confinement of Joseph's Brethren For their open Confession is We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear THEREFORE IS THIS DISTRESS COME VPON VS Gen. 42.21 Whence it must follow would we be more Innocent we should be less Unhappy most certainly our Misery would pinch and gall us less What made our blessed Lord so Easy Patient and Submissive in those worst of Evils upon him Verily because He had the best of Souls within Him No Sin had ever thouched it and how should Sorrow fetch Blood from it O let us grow in Grace and then our bitter Cup shall have no Dregs to touch our Lips Those are reserved for the Graceless Ones to wring them out and drink them up Ps 75.8 But thriving Christians tho' they must have Burthens shall not sink under them Such wait upon the Lord to purpose and so renew their strength They are enabled to walk without fainting and run and not be weary Isa 40.31 Wherefore abound ye in the work of God and your labour will not be in vain 1 Cor. 15.58 Not only by a more diligent Attendance on all Ordinances but especially about increasing Faith inslaming Love confirming Hope perfecting Patience and setting and keeping the whole Heart on Heaven This would advance the Spirit to its due Soveraignty and reduce the Flesh to just Subjection And what can bring Disorders then This will draw back Sin 's Fuel and then its Fire goeth out of itself But the neglect hereof is throwing off our Armour instead of girding it close about us and then we are easily Shot ands fall Meer Nature with all the strength that Reason brings it proves a weak Creature at the last however But Grace and when like David waxing stronger and stronger overcomes all Difficulties in the way to Glory And tho' a Pharoah be behind a Sea before and a Wilderness on both sides it will bear up the Soul until it see the Salvation of its God The Sum of all my Advice is this 1. Make sure of Saving Grace and being Right at Heart 2. Be not indulgent to the Flesh nor fond upon thy Earthly Tabernacle 3. Lay not thy Treasure up on Earth but in the Heavens and let thy Heart be with it there 4. Lastly Let Sin be more Uneasie to thee and thy Sufferings will be easier far Grow but in Grace and thou shalt Out-grow all Grief that can possibly seize thee here For Then thou wilt be the fullest Eccho to the Psalmist I was dumb I opened not my mouth because c. FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by J. Salusbury at the Rising-Sun over-against the Royal-Exchange in Coruhill THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ by William Bates D. D. The Changeableness of this World with reflect to Nations Families and particular Persons with a Practieal Application thereâ—f to the various Conditions of this Mortal Life by Timothy Rogers M. A. A Mirror for Athiests being some Passages of the Life and Death of the Right Honourable John Earl of Rochester written by his own Direction on his Death-bed by Gilbert Burnet Lord Ep. of Sarum An end of Doctrinal Controversies which have lately troubled the Churches by Richard Baxter The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits fully evinced by unquestionable Histories of Apparitions and Witchcrafts Voices proving the Immortality of Souls by Richard Baxter The Protestant Religion truly Stated and Justified by the late reverend Mr. Richard Baxter prepared for the Press sometime before his Death Whereunto is added some account of the learned Author by Mr. Daniel Willams and Mr. Matthew Sylvester The Christian's Coverse with God or the Insufficiency of Haman-friendship and the Improvements of Solitude in Converse with God with some of the Author's breathings after him by Richard Baxter Recemmended to the Readers serious Thoughts when at the House of Mourning and in Retirement by Mr. Matthew Sylvester The Mourners Memorial in two Sermons on the Death of the truly Pious Mrs. Susannah Soame with some account of her Life and Death by Timothy Wright and Robert Fleming
children so the Lord doth them that fear him For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but dust Parents are wont to be most tender to their weak and sickly Ones others can make a better shift And shall not he that puts these Bowels into them towards theirs have them much more within himself to His What tho' a Mother Should forget her sucking babe Esa 49.15 and such a Worse-thing-than-a-Brute is found sometimes in Humane shape God will not cannot do so We read that suffering Saints are said to Glory in tribulations And Glorying is no sign of Grieving and Repining How should impatient Lamentations be able then to keep their Ground When light afflictions and for a moment work a far more exceeding and external weight of glory This is the 1st Argument And the 2d will prove like unto it Arg. 2. Distresses should not raise great Storms and Tempests in the pious Soul because our First and second Birth do both dispose us to them As we are Men and Christians they are the Lot appointed for us And ought we not and therefore to be quiet under them How great 's the Folly to be so disturbed at what is not to be avoided Man now is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward as we heard at first was spoken by Holy Job And all Men know neither Art nor Force can make the Flames descend but they are always mounting upward That is the Nature of them Wherefore to be Impatient under Trouble is to be quarreling with the Almighty Majesty by whom a Humane Body and a Rational Soul is bestowed on us And so there is Ingratitude and Rebellion link'd together Thus to requite him that brought them out of nothing by meer Bounty and by the same hath made them capable of injoying all things and the best of all His blessed self for ever if they will be ruled by him And for the second Birth it commonly hath the throws and pangs of a travelling Woman and often worser far General Experience makes a proof of this However in growing up unto Maturity there is no escaping of Adversity Through much tribulation saith St. Paul we must enter the kingdom of God We must 't is necessarily and unavoidably so Heaven is on high and it is hard to climb an Hill a steep and long one especially The Lungs will labour Feet will faulter and Bones will ake in doing it Were there no Difficulty in our way to Glory and we met no Troubles in our Travel thither we might indeed be called and accounted Christians but how we should be really so I mean Legitimate Children unto God is hard to manifest and may very well be doubted from the holy Apostle's words who saith Heb. 12.5 6 7 c. My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him For whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom his father chastneth not But if ye are without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are you bastards and not sons Let now a distressed Christian seriously ponder this and let him not stagger through Vnbelief and 't is not possible for Discontent to keep its post any longer in his Heart Let him be strong in Faith and this will turn his Crosses into Crowns and make what 's bitter to the outward relish sweetly to the inward Man Now if ever the Apostle's words will be certainly verified with the upright tho' afflicted Person We faint not but tho' our outward man should perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 Earth's Darlings and who have their portion only in this life cannot avoid a world of Miseries and shall Heaven's Off-spring be disorder'd at abiding what both Grace and Nature hath prepared for them Especially since Truth it self hath plainly told them That their Affliction is but a certain Token of God's Affection Now surely there is no reason for Repining but occasion rather of Rejoycing Arg. 3. Impatience is so far from doing service to us in our Sufferings that it makes our Case a great deal worser than it was before and bringeth many and very evil Inconveniences with it Imagine that under a sore Distress we should make hoarse our throat with crys Impatientes non efficiunt ut a malis eruantur sed ut mala gravior a patiantur S. Aug. de Patient cap. 2. and drown our bed with tears and crack our brain with cares and break our heart with sighs and groans what would the Upshot be of all this pitiful Passion Would such a Course so void of Reason and Religion prove an effectual Relief unto us Would the loss of Livelihood be hereby repaired A bodily Sickness be recovered The Life of a deceased Friend again restored Or any Calamity whatever be removed or so much as eased Alas poor silly Creatures as we are what do we else by such a Procedure but plainly imitate the folly of the Fly when 't is intangled in the Spider's Web She makes a Noise and is greatly Fluttering and hampers herself thereby the faster in that Net and becomes a sooner Prey to him that spread it Methinks we are resembled fitly by the corded Beast whose head the Axe and heart the Butcher's Knife hath struck which the more it struggles silly Wretch the faster letteth out its lood and life therewith together Such is the natural Issue of Mens Impatience They look for peace and there is no good for a time of healing and behold trouble The Benefit which they promise proves a Dammage to them Undoubtedly a manifold Mischief flows from hence How can the Offices of Love and Service be discharged as they ought to be unto Relations by a Mind disordered and unhing'd by this Distemper Expect as soon a Man that hath a Palsie or is Bedrid should fetch you Food or make your Fire Beside it so affects the Body that sometimes Death itself is quickly call'd unto it always the Seeds thereof in lingring Sicknesses are deeply rooted in it And how untuned the Soul must necessarily be and bar'd its acting with spiritual life and vigour is very easily understood The griefs and cares and fears are apt to usher in Despair but certainly drive out Faith and Hope and Love To conclude he that is thus captivated cannot be capable to pay due Homage to his God How should he as becomes him fear his Threats obey his Precepts trust in his Promises and rejoyce before him with Thanksgiving I will say but this Impatience and Murmuring under the Hand of God is a great Affront unto his blessed Majesty and cannot be well taken by him Nay he hath often set the Marks of his Displeasure on it I will pass by that which * Exod. 16 7 8 c. Numb 14.27 c. Moses once and again hath recorded thereof remembring you only of the Apostle's
Assure your selves that tho Best Christians be not in all respects True Lazarus's yet must they with Him expect to have their Evil things here and happy are they that they shall be sure of their Good hereafter A Traveller in a strange Country far distant from his Native Soil A Mariner sailing a long and dangerous Voyage on the Ocean and especially a Soldier that hath a Crafty Cruel and Powerful Enemy to contest withal must not befool himself with hopes of Ease and Rest and Quiet and his Heart's desire without all thoughts of trouble ever coming near him This were so silly a Self-Flattery as must at last make Men to rue it sadly with too late Repentance Are we not going out of Egypt and through the Wilderness towards the Heavenly Canaan Is not this World wherein we all are lanched more like the Earth surrounding Main than the Three Leagues Red Sea which Israel passed through And are not the Devil World and Flesh All mortal Foes unto us and of too much strength to do us mischief Can we be free from trouble then Nor is this any just discouragement unto serious Piety as he well knows that hath not lost already the things before discoursed on at large It only serves to make us stand unto our Arms that we be not surprised and whets our Courage the better to ingage the Difficulties that we meet with Our blessed Saviour never meant to drive Men from him when he tells them plainly That they should count their Cost resolving to bear their Cross and follow him as they would be his Disciples Luke 14.27 28 c. The Gospel gives most full Assurance and experienc'd Christians know right well that true RELIGION weighs down to the ground whatever Inconveniences lye in the Scale against it Nor is there any Comparison to be made betwixt the sufferings of this present time in an holy course and the glory that shall succeed hereafter Rom. 8.18 The Proportion is much nearer betwixt losing a Brass Counter for gaining of Ten hundred thousand Guinea's And what a Bargain worth the having is That But still a Christian's Life is a Continual Warfare Suppose there be a present Truce who knoweth but that a few hours hence it may be broken And if we are surprised then at unawares of how great dammage may it prove unto us if not irreparable Look therefore for Afflictions if thou be truly Godly not with a frightful but a fixed Mind Look for them so and whensoever they come they will not then look ghastly on thee Infer 2. Since c. Then the worst of Sufferings that can befal God's Servants are not so terrible as the World doth commonly reckon and perhaps the Sufferers themselves may take them for This followeth plainly because that Wise and Gracious God who looks for nothing from his People but what 's most just and equal doth yet expect that they should be sedate and quiet under all Distresses Wherefore they cannot duly be accounted as amazing Prodigies and monstrous Portents Indeed there is no Affliction but is grievous in its own nature And many go a great deal nearer to the quick than others do Yet still the very worst upon a pious Person hath not Plague-Tokens with it is not Incurably Mortal He that hath swallowed up Death in Victory Esay 25.8 gives us encouragement to say of the very worse of their Diseases This Sickness is not unto Death John 11. I mean not Tantuâ— interest non qualia sed qualis quisque patiatur S. Aug. de Civit D. 1.8 as to Temporal but 't is not to Eternal Death For the plain truth is for such to die on Earth is nothing else but to live in Heaven for ever Then no Distress whatever it is can be truly deadly to him that lives in Christ No as the Hand that gives the stroke is ever set on work and guided too by Infinited Love and Wisdom so likewise there is the Good Samaritan always standing by and ready to apply the Balm of Gilead with tender Pity and sure Success I know that a wicked and malignant World inspired from Hell and thrust on by the Devil thereof will make what havock they are able on God's People and then erect their Trophies and Triumph upon the Spoils that by themselves are made Yea tho their own Life doth vouch themselves sworn Vassals unto Satan yet under such Calamities they will pronounce the Righteous but Meer Pretenders unto God And this they count is perfect proof thereof in that they think they have them at their own Mercy whose Mercies we are sure are very Cruelty The Man after God's heart could fare no better at their hands His Enemies that lay in wait for his Soul took counsel together and spake thus against him God hath forsaken him for there is none to deliver him Psal 71.10 11. But their Measures fail'd them there as they will do elsewhere upon like occasion The last Verse faith They are confounded they are brought to shame that seek my hurt The Wicked are God's Staff indeed yea and they are his Rod. And how frequent if not constant is it for the merciful Providence to break that Staff and burn that Rod wherewith his Children had been smitten Sure I am that the Proud and Powerful King of Assyria altho he feared no such matter was forc'd to feel it Esay 10. And neither Turk nor French nor Pope can hope for better when the Season is Faith then should banish Fear and suffer Terror to take no hold upon us Improve That and 't will be able to scorn the sury of the Oppressor Esay 51.12 13 tho Earth and Hell together abet him Nay and All other Evils that may happen then cannot be dismal to us If neither Life nor Death not Angels Principalities nor Powers neither present things nor future nor height nor depth nor any Creature can separate the truly Pious from the love of God in Christ Romans 8.38 39. What should be greatly Terrible and Affrighting to them I may therefore well conclude with the Apostle Peter's Charge That none of us think it strange concerning the severest Providences suppose it should be a fiery Tryal as if some strange thing happened to us 1 Pet. 4.12 For a Christian's Sufferings whatever they are cannot seem Uncouth and Horrid Matters if our past Discourse be well considered by us Infer 3. Since c. Then in the last place it ought to be the care and labour of us All in all our sad'st Conditions to acquit our selves not only as God s Creatures but as good Christians also i. to be still and quiet under the severest Providences of God Being the Work of his Hands All that we have and are is his own and due to him both when and how he will please to call for it But being the Price of his Blood too his Right is double and there can be no dispute but that we are and ought to be most absolutely and most