word It is very probable the Allegory of the wretched Infant was grounded upon some known custome Ezek. 16. Nay experience hath spoken how many poore Infants have tasted death from the cruell hands of their Strumpet-mothers who have twice dipped their soules in sin making amends for uncleannesse by committing murder But Such is the affection of Parents in the flesh that Scripture useth it as some short measure and scantling of the love of him who is the Father of Spirits to his adopted ones Psa 103.13 Like as a father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him Mal. 3.13 And I will spare them as a man that spareth his own Son that serveth him Surely none except Parents know or can be sensible how deare a child is Nay further when God would give a full and affectionate answer to his peoples lamentable but groundlesse complaint he corrects their distrust by this fit similitude Isa 49.15 Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her wombe Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee O sweet comfort to Saints Parents which are otherwise of perverse natures yet they will not neglect their Children and is it possible that the Lord the fountaine of mercy should empty himselfe of his fatherly affection and neglect his people Quantò mollior sexus tenerior affectus Ambr. Duplex est causa physica moralis Weemes Great is the love of a Father but far more tender is the affection of a mother Hence it is rendred by some as one cause why God hath placed the womans dug in her breast That she might impart her affection more to her child by giving it suck with her dug which is so neare her heart The love which she beareth to the little one that she nourisheth and suckleth at her breast is almost unutterable What care doth she use What restlesse nights doth she endure Nay love to her little one maketh her cleane forget her selfe So neare are Children to Parents that they are called Children of their loynes and are said to proceed out of their bowels So said David of his vip'rous Son Absalom 2 Sam. 16. Behold my son which came firth of my bowels seeketh my life So that we may call our spirituall children Philem. 12. as Paul doth his spirituall Son Onesimus nostra viscera our bowels I read that upon a turbulent sedition in Thessalonica Theodosius commanded that seven thousand should be put to death A Merchant there having two Sons put into the Calender of those that should be executed their good old Father put up a supplication for his two Sons The Souldiers pittying him told him they could not save both for then the Emperours number would not be fulfilled but they would spare one choose which he would The poore Father almost like a distracted man looking rufully on both could not tell which to choose So that while he delayed both were slaine Thus the naturall mother though an harlot seeing her Child in danger to be divided 1 Kin. 3.26 her bowels were hot and yearned upon her Son And David about Absalom after all his unnaturall villany yet Absalom is a Child 2 Sam. 18. Deale gently for my sake with the young man even with Absalom and againe Is the young man Absalom safe And it is very observable in Job that he sate still and did abide the boisterous blasts of all those lossefull tidings as being not very much moved untill he heard of the death of his children But O then Children dead So soone as the report of this touched his eare it struck him to the heart Ten children in the morning and now a child esse man Oh now he startles now he stirs now the poore pale father is brought to his knees Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell downe upon the ground Other losses may go skin-deep but these go heart-deepe Children are unto Parents like unto Teeth painfull both in breeding and parting Reason 3 Thirdly Psal 49.11 It is most naturall to have an eye to the preservation of Posterity Although that ought not to take up our innermost thoughts This care we see not only in the reasonable creatures but in the unreasonable also yea even in birds of Prey and wild beasts who are yet carefull in this behalfe howsoever otherwise they be of cruell and animosious natures Psal 84.3 Thus the Sparrow finds her an house and the Swallow a nest for her selfe where she may lay her young Likewise the Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreading abroad her wings taketh them and beareth them on her wings That is she carrieth them with such tendernesse and at such an height as none may reach them to do violence unto them Nay further see the force of natures instinct even the sea-monsters draw out the breast Lam. 4.3 they give suck to their young ones What piteous out-cries and cheating circuits makes the poore Lapwing And all is to divert the Passenger from her young So carefull are creatures to preserve the products of their own kind And this care must needs be more superlative in the reasonable Creature unlesse horribly degenerated Moreover God threatens this to a wicked man as a very great judgement to put out his light and expunge his name from among the living Job 18.16 17 19. As Bildad in Job very elegantly His roots shall be dried up beneath and above shall his branch be cut off His remembrance shall perish from the earth and he shall have no name in the street He shall neither have Son nor Nephew among his people nor any remaining among his dwellings And the Psalmist Psal 34.16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evill to out off the remembrance of them from the earth And againe Psa 109.13 Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out And Solomon threatens him not with a rotten house or body but a rotten name Pro. 10.7 The name of the wicked shall rot Marke shall rot The rot we say is an evill disease where ever it lights whether amongst herds or flocks But never so ill as when it lighteth on mens names or memories that either they are mentioned with disgrace as a rotten thing or not remembred at all Also God promiseth this to his people as a grand favour and great incouragement to obedience that he will multiply and keepe alive their off-spring Abraham the friend of God is blessed with a numerous Posterity like to the Sand upon the Sea shore or Stars of heaven It was no small piece of King Davids happinesse that he saw his Son Solomon sit upon the Throne of Israel before his death And that promise made unto Christ is one of the glorious things of the Gospell He shall see his seed Isa 53.10 And
in their doctrine would be carefull to lighten in their conversation Gregor Naziaâ—z We have an Age can readily retort Dost not thou feare God Luk. 23.40 seeing thou art in the same condemnation And againe Rom. 2.21 Thou that art instructed out of the Law and teachest another teachest thou not thy selfe Moreover you are not ignorant of my frequent returnes about this season how I was forced to afford so many buds and blossomes as little ripe fruit could be expected No more lest the Porch unbefit the Palace I here present you with what you had before something amplified Not waters of Meribah but Marah as more sutable to my own solitary temper and safe for you Accept my first-borne And if God give leave againe to turne the Cock perhaps the Cisterne may afford you sweeter Waters In the meane time and ever Phil. 4.9 The God of peace be with us Kingston upon Hull Jan. ult 1654. Christians I am your servant in Christ Iesus for the help of your faith Henry Hibbert Waters of Marah ZECHARIAH 12. Part of the tenth ver As one that is in bitternesse for his first-born THis Prophesie may not unfitly be compared with the yeaning of Labans flock Gen. 30.39 or those heavenly messengers mentioned in the beginning of it Cap. 1. Ver. 8. being chequered with various colours for it is mixed and made up of divers ingredients viz. reproofe exhortation comfort c. In this Chapter our Prophet an holy Herald fetteth the silver Trumpet to his mouth and in the name of God soundeth a gracious retreat to the Jewish Nation The firmament is not more full of spangled stars then Scripture is of precious Prophesies and promises concerning their calling and conversion And although they are as yet blinded and bowed downe yea Rom. 11. stark dead and dry yet God hath not cast away his people but will one day say of Israel his first-born as the Father said of the prodigall Child being returned Luk. 15.32 This my sonne was dead but now is alive If any aske how this people should be made capable of so great mercy Ver. 10. The answer is plaine I will poure upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications That is the presence operation gifts and graces of the Spirit who is both the worker of grace and former of prayer in the heart See Rom. 8.26 Note the best of men are but dry Cisterns and empty Casks untill such time as the Spirit drop upon them We are nothing we can do nothing not a prayer not a teare not a warme desire after Christ till the Spirit come And this effusion shall produce a double effect for First They shall looke upon Christ whom they have pierced Here is Conversion Formerly they turned their backs on Christ looking upon Moses and the Law Ceremonies and selfe-righteousnesse But now contrary winds shall drive them contrary courses These sweet gales of the Spirit shall make them face about they shall only mind a crucified Christ and seeke righteousnesse and life from him alone Truly Jer. 3.23 in vaine is Salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of Mountaines Truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel And secondly They shall lament over Christ They shall mourne for him Here is compunction Oh! That ever their fathers Mittunt legatot pro suis doloribus Lachrymas Cypr. and themselves by their sins should have so persecuted vilipended and crucified the Son of God! Now sadnesse is seated upon their hearts They are wholly clad in mourning All their Songs are Lachrymae And thus a poore soule made senfible of sin doth supple it selfe in teares of godly sorrow Which sorrow of theirs is further amplified and set out two manner of waies First By the particularity of it They shall mourne every Family apart Ver. 12. That is in this duty husbands and wives shall not stay for each other but every one shall so conceive sorrow and be big-bellied with griefe that they shall Joseph-like withdraw themselves seeking where to ease their hearts in showers of teares That is the best sorrow which is done in secret Note Commune with your owne heart saith David upon your bed Psal 4.4 and be still And our Saviour Christ who is the wisdome of the Father adviseth us very much unto retirednesse in duty and our heavenly Father which seeth in secret shall reward us openly Mat. 6. It is not dear Brethren it is not cutting of Antick-faces and contracting the countenance it is not grumbling forth vociferous groanes and uttering loud and hideous howlings to be seene and heard of men that will gaine acceptance No no Psal 51.17 The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit But when a poore soule can sequester it selfe from carnall Company and sinfull Society get out of the noise of the world creepe into a corner and there fit melting in Gods presence surely such sorrow will prove sweet and successefull doubtlesse whosoever thus soweth in teares shall reape in joy Psal 125.6 Secondly By the extremity of it to expresse the greatnesse of which the Prophet compares it 1. To that mourning which was made for that religious and zealous Prince 2 Chro. 35.25 good King Josiah when he was slaine in the midst of his so hopefull Reigne Whose lamentations were written and made an Ordinance in Israel that is they did not only mourne at his Funerall but also at the death of others made mention of his losse lamenting the same in all their dolefull Elegies Even so shall they look upon Christ and mourn 2. To the sorrow of an indulgent naturall and tender-hearted Parent which takes up my Text They shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first-borne In which words there are two things considerable viz. 1. Comparatio a Comparison 2. Applicatio comparationis the application of that Comparison True it is the spirituall sense and maine scope of this Scripture lies in the later of these and would require a large prosecution but the first is for our present purpose The Comparison then is to be made out by a supplement thus Great is the sorrow and griefe of a naturall Parent for an only Son for a first-borne that is for the death of an only Son or first-borne The application is brought in by this particle of similitude as As one that is in bitternesse for his first-borne The Paraphrase runs thus Behold Heb. 12.9 any of you Fathers of the flesh that is an affectionate Parent and hath an only Child a sweet and tender Sprig an hopefull Bud should this Sprig be pluckt up and tender Bud nipped This Child be taken away by death O with what intensive griefe would you pore upon it With what reluctancy part with it With what
to sorrow Oh! Quis fando abstinet à lachrymis In these divisions of Reuben here are deep impressions of heart The seamelesse Coat of Christ is sadly rent Those polished and living stones of Zion lie scattered in the dust It is even the time of Jacobs trouble This is Zion whom no man seeketh after Her waies begin to mourne and her Gates to waxe desolate Her precious Sons comparable to fine Gold how are they esteemed as earthen Pitchers Mine eye affecteth mine heart Wo is me my mother that thou hast borne me Oh that mine head were waters and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weep day and night My bowels my bowels I am pained at my very heart my heart maketh a noise in me I cannot hold my peace For these things I weepe and mine eye mine eye runneth downe with water Secondly if ye would moderate present sorrow meditate some moderating considerations This is a very effectuall meanes and much to this purpose may be couched under these three following particulars viz. First meditate and consider Gods Soveraignty There is nothing we have but God hath both the chiese interest in it and sole dispose of it 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou didst not receive Surely neither wife child nor any thing else from a morsell of bread to a drop of water Nay from a thread to a shooe-latcher God may say of any of us here before him most justly as once Benhadad said most unjustly Thy Silver and thy Gold is mine 1 King 20. thy wives also and thy children even the goodliest are mine And every one of us must needs answer as â—â—d the King of Israel My Lord according to thy saying I am thine and all that I have Or in those words of Laban Gen. 31.43 These daughters are my daughters and these children are my children and all that thou seest is mine All we have is Gods You that this day mourne for your only Son and are in bitterness for your first-borne consider upon what termes God gave this child Even upon the same that Pharaoh's daughter delivered Moses to his own mother saying Take this child away Exod. 2.9 and nurse it for me Marke what God saith Nurse it for me Suppose any of you should put forth your child to nurse and at the expiration of the time should send for the child If then the Nurse should deny you your Child or grumble to part with it would it not highly displease you What an unworthy and irrationall woman is this would ye say that hath the face to detaine from me my own naturall child Parents in this case you are only your childrens nurses and you do but nurse them for God they are his children O grudge not God his own grumble not repine not when God sends death to your houses to fetch home any Son or Daughter of his from nurse And doth not this soveraignty and supremacy in God render him also the sole disposer of all we have Omnia ex nutu arbitrioque dei aguntur Yes surely either to give or take away either to kill or keepe alive O man who art thou that repliest against God Rom. 9.21 hath not the Potter power over the clay This did silence Job in all his losses Job 1.21 he was dumbe before the shearer when he was shorne to his naked skin stripped of all and why The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Thus Aaron when his Sons were so sadly slaine by fire from the Lord Aaron hold his peace Lev. 10.3 there was silence in his Spirit Thus Eli when the ruine of his house was reported It is the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 Let him do what seemeth him good And afflicted David upon this consideration is as mute as a Fish I was dumbe saith he I opened not my mouth Psa 39.9 because thou didst it It was Gods Act and therefore he had not a word to say Thus Hezekiah What shall I say for God himselfe hath done it Isa 38.15 And the Church I will beare the indignation of the Lord. Mic. 7.9 O Parents it is God that takes away your Children therefore take heed of heart-tumuâ—ts or implicite murmurings God hath all the keyes hanging at his own girdle both the key of the wombe and of the tombe and he will let in and out as he pleaseth and who may say unto him what dost thou Job 9.12 Methinks by this time we should not make such Idols of our selves or ours as for their deaths to grow discontented at the Lords appointment But that Argument should ever sway with us Fiat domini voluntas The will of the Lord be done Act. 21.14 Againe Confider in the second place childrens frailty Look unto the Rock whence they were hewn and to the hole of the pit whence they are digged and we shall find them to be neither Rocks nor Adamants neither Pearles nor Diamonds but the off-spring of sinfull and weake Parents Adam begat a Son in his own likenesse Gen. 5.3 after his Image God by creation made man in his Image but man by procreation begets one in his own Image not only like himselfe in condition as a man but in corruption as a degenerate man Genere non vitio Adae Chrisius Tert. In this the man Christ Jesus is only free and singular Who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane not one Job 14.4 And who can bring a strong thing out of a weake not one That which is borne of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 The effect must needs answer to the cause and the Product to the Principle So that although Infants should neither live to imitate nor approve the actions of their Parents yet their death is deserved For though they be truly called Innocents in respect of actuall sin yet they are so in respect of Original From the very wombe they carry a depraved nature which prepares them to act evill We our selves hate creatures that are hurtfull though they never did hurt because of their pernicious natures The Scorpion hath his sting within him though he do not alway strike and the Serpent his venemous poyson though he do not yet hisse it out and disperse it For their final estate we meddle not but leave secret judgements to God If then our Children be weake and fraile dying and withering fin is the cause Sin is the sally-port that lets death into the world Rom. 5.12 Impatientia est quodammodo in Infantibus in cunabula tunc quanta mox incrementa Tert. Sin entred into the world and death by sin Look at your childrens birth and ye need not admire their death birth-Birth-sin merits death-suffering Children have in them at first a bad stock and should they live there would be as bad an improvement This worme is bred in the Plant and this decay at the core of the most beautifull Apple Adam and Christ are as two
together for Good to them that love God Such is the admirable power and goodnesse of God that he can bring light out of darkenesse and good out of evill yea he can so over-rule the nature of things that what of themselves would contra-operate he will cause to co-operate and make them serve for much good He can sweeten bitter waters and make waters of Marah become waters of life But lest any soule should be sick about this question 1 Tim â— 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and say Why am I thus These following reasons may minister some satisfaction unto sober minds viz. Reason 1 The first Reason respects sin Sometimes God inflicts them as Castigatory stripes because of sin It is possible whilest they are in the flesh Saints may sin nay it is impossible they should not sin True He that is borne of God doth not commit sin that is 1 Joh. 3.9 as some do unpardonably or as the wicked do continually as one in his proper element he sinneth not wilfully presumptuously impenitently c. yet not so as if he could not Deut. 32.5 or did not sin Gods purest people have their spots Pro. 20.9 Possumus quod jure possumus Jam. 3.2 Solomon bids a challenge to all the world Who can say I am pure from my sin None justly In many things we offend all The greatest selfe-justifiers will prove the greatest selfe-deceivers Take it in the Apostles own words If we marke we Apostles and Saints say that we have no sin 1 Joh. 1.8 we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Euseb Eccl. hist l. 2. Clem. Hypotypos l. 7. James sirnamed for vertue the just reckons himselfe amongst offenders There is a Generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthinesse And I guesse none to be blacker in Gods eyes than those that are whitest in their own Nitre Sope and Snow-water will not wash off their blemishes Nay further it is plaine Saints do not only sin simply but transitively even in performing duty and doing good So saith Solomon There is not a just man that doth good Eccl. 7.20 and sinneth not It was once the perverse dispute of some Pelagians Whether by the absolute power of God a just man might not live on earth without sin But what have we to do with the absolute power of God Quid in bâc vitâ uisi Aurora sumus Greg when his pleasure is otherwise we have cause here to be humbled for the imperfection of our perfection being at best like the gray morning not cleare day Though we do some things that are of the light yet we do not want the reliques of darkenesse Sin hath some life in us still on earth our sanctification being not yet absolute which God suffers mainely for three reasons viz. 1. For the exercise of our faith patience and constancy He leaves some enemies against whom we may fight the good fight of faith as the Canaanites were left in the Land to prove the Israelites 2. For our instruction to make us know how deeply we are obliged to Gods mercy and how excellent is that deliverance we have by Christ Hereby we come to know the benefit we have by grace to which we must make our recourse Did we not feele how powerfull sin is to over-rule us we could never have known the vile servitude of sin under which we lay by nature nor the excellent grace of Christ whereby deliverance is procured We find that if the reliques of sin be so turbulent how would it trouble us tyrannize were it in its full vigour 3. For his own greater glory and Sathans greater confusion Like Conquerours that slay not all enemies but reserve some alive Captive for the day of Triumph to be put to death for their greater shame and the Conquerours greater glory Josh 10.23 c. Thus Joshuah dealt with the five Kings that made war against Gibeon So Jesus Christ the Captaine of our Salvation subdues all enemies our sins yet some remaine enclosed within us as in a Cave restrained by his power from their former liberty and when the battle is ended he will utterly spoile them of life This being so men shall smart for sin where ever it is found Saintship is no shelter The best child will deserve it at one time or other and an offending Son shall lick of the whip yea Gods own Son if he undertake for sinners So long as we have in us this bitter root we may expect some bitter fruit Psal 91.30 31 32. If Davids children in Covenant with God breake his Statutes and keep not my Commandements then will he visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Saints themselves do never receive the full application of freedome from affliction till death Joh. 16.33 Yet these are castigatory not condemnatory They have the Cross but not the Curse Correction Rom. 8.1 but not Condemnation A good and a bad man may lye under a like calamity and yet here is the difference to the one it is a chastening to the other a punishment Sufferings may be alike in the nature and measure of them and yet differ in the acceptation A Merchant and Malefactor both crosse the Sea in one and the same Ship To the one it is the pursuit of his Calling and for gaine to the other exile and banishment Correction stands for a good caution Joh. 5.14 Piscu ictus sapit Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee The sins of Saints are more dishonourable unto God and cutting to the heart of Christ than others therefore a smarter rod may hang at their girdâ—es Greatnesse of mercy aggravates the greatnesse of sin Amos 3.2 and addes to misery You only have I known of all the Families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Againe sometimes God dispenseth afflictions as medicinal Pils or Potions to procure the soules health Let no man ascribe to afflictions more than is their due they cannot worke of themselves yet being sanctified of God they have a threefold operation 1. For the prevention of sin They are those thornes with which God hedgeth up our way that we may not find our paths Hos 2.6 Naturally we are like unto beasts desirous to breakeforth into wrong walkes and pastures God will by these prevent our extravagancy and keepe us within compass If they go on they shal prick themselves to the bone Physicians open a veine not only to cure but many times to prevent a disease God knows our disposition how inclinable we are to this or that evill And that we should not fall into these he sends us sicknesse in body sadnesse in soule losses in our goods friends children c. And these by Gods blessing become golden bridles to curbe and restraine us from that which otherwise we should rush upon and commit When the people
off two extreames 1. We must not faint under them breaking forth into passionate or desperate speeches Never was any so afflicted as I oh this is greater than I can beare 2. Neither must we despise them or set light by them for it is God that chasteneth whatsoever the rod or instrument be which he useth In the second place be humbled under it Sad affliction ought to worke the heart unto serious humiliation Thus Peter 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves therefore marke therefore under the mighty hand of God And David Psa 32.4 5. Thy hand is heavy upon me I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord. O let the weight of Gods hand upon you or your Families bring you to your knees Let the force of it make you fall down before him in the confession of sin This is another bough to make sweet these bitter waters The Lyon of the Tribe of Judah spareth a poore prostrate creature There is no other way to breake the violence of a divine stroake from God but humbly to run under his hand They have humbled themselves 2 Chr. 12.7 therefore I will not destroy them Nay more this is the only meanes to get the breach repaired God himselfe will dwell in the humble heart he will take up his quarters there O happy exchange O rich supply O gainefull losse I have parted maiest thou say with an Estate a Child c. But I have a God in reserve Blessed are those afflictions which fit a soule to be Gods second heaven In the next place take revenge upon sin When Gods hand is upon us it is good our hand be upon sin When God falls upon us by bitter affliction we should fall upon sin by bitter sorrow repentance mortification c. God eyes most of all what effects afflictions do produce We ought in a special manner to consider the death of those which are neare and deare unto us Son or Daughter It may be God hath deprived us of them for the punishment of our sin it may be they are taken from us because we were unworthy of them or because we gloried too much in them or were not so thankfull for them as we ought Such use as this the widdow of Sarepta made upon the death of her only Child 1 King 17.18 Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my Son upon a due search you will find Sin is the Achan that hath caused all this trouble do execution upon it When Jesabel heard that Elijah had slaine all Baals Prophets she takes a profound yet profane oath So let the Gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them O say Sin hath opened the birter fountaine Sin hath brought this bitter griefe and if I suffer it will bring me more Sin hath bereaved me of my Children Sin hath wrought me all this mischiefe by the grace of God I will forth with labour the death of sin Pluck it out though it seeme a right eye cut it off though it seeme a right hand or foot spit it out though it be a sweet morsell out with it though it be a beloved Sin Constantine the Great hearing that nothing would cure his Leprosie but the bloud of an Infant ript out of its mothers wombe the good Emperour abhorred the very mentioning of it But sin is so cruell as it would have both the bloud of our Seed and of our Souls It is reported of the Bezor the creature which hath that cordiall stone being hunted and knowing by instinct the cause leaves the stone to the Pursuers to save his life Let the credit of that lye upon the affirmers But Brethren I le tell you afflictions are sent out from God and do pursue us to this end to get from us a stone And it is no precious but a most perniâ—ious stone the stone in the heart Ezek. 11.19 Surely it is not worth keeping O cast it away with your sins and lusts that these Beagles may not too sorely seize upon you Say O Lord discover unto me this sin which engageth thee against me and makes thee contend with me Tell me what it is and take it away that thou mayest withdraw thine hand and be at peace with thy poore Creature We must cast the head of this Sheba over the wall before ever bitter afflictions will make a retreat Againe Justifie God Sore afflictions do lay us open to strong temptations And as a learned man sheweth in his Exposition upon Job Anonymus it is the Devils defigne under such dispensations to provoke us to have hard thoughts of God and to be suspitious of his love and good will towards us How apt are men in affliction to say as that wretched Prince did Behold this evill is of the Lord It is a thing very connaturall with the Sons of Adam to lay their bastard-brats at other mens doores nay rather than faile to lay the fault upon God himselfe Gen. 3.12 The woman whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eate O Adam a neat evasion but this Sophistry will not serve your turne Know therefore by sad experience the fault was not mine in giving you the woman but your own in taking the fruit from her hand and eating it against the expresse prohibition you received from God And by this time where are you Adam Whose now is the fault Adam And thus mortall man would seeme more just than God Job 4.17 and more pure than his Maker O have a Care Get to be grounded in this Principle that God is essenally just justice and purity are his very nature he cannot be God and be unjust Therefore under the bitterest crosse give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him saying Jer. 12.1 Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee Psal 51 4. Be thou justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest And lastly Submit quietly to God Do not as Israel of old murmur at Marah When Sampson had burnt up the Philistines corne they asked Judg 15 6. Who hath done this Soule when thou art under affliction make inquiry not into the lower but higher causes Tolerare est patientia necessitatis amare tolerare patientia virtutis and thou wilt conclude God hath afflicted me God hath bereaved me of my Children the Almighty hath shewed me much bitternesse Let this quiet thine heart and silence thy spirit under Gods stroakes The snared bird the more she struggles the more she intangles her selfe God hath thee in a snare struggle not It will be but as one taking the Chaine from his leg and tying it to his neck It is no striving against the streame of divine appointment Art thou or thine under a mournfull estate Submit Cast up thine
eye towards God and say Psa 39.9 I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Thus Aaron upon the strange and terrible death of his Sons Aaron held his peace Lev. 10.3 Thus Eli when he heard of that black cloud that was to empty it selfe upon his house It is the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 let him do what seemeth him good And Hezekiah under his visitation Isa 38.15 What shall I say he hath both spoken it unto me and himself hath done it Mic. 7.6 And the Church I will beare the indignation of the Lord. O content thy selfe and say with Christ Sweet or bitter I must drinke the cup my Father hath given me We should be as Adamants under afflictions indure all But because it is no easie thing to quiet our Spirits and silence the stirs and clamours of our hearts under bitter afflictions I conceive it meet to propound some considerations helpfull hereunto They may be such as these First consider God is our Father and we may not limit his chastisements We may not tell him how many stripes or lashes he must give us Children do not only take Correction patiently from their Parents Heb. 12.9 but also reverence them The Child cries out O spare good Father but may not limit him So we Mercy Lord mitigation Lord but may not limit our heavenly Father how much Thus the Church begs moderation O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger Psal 6.1 neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure Jer. 10.24 O Lord correct me but with judgement not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Hab. 3.2 In wrath O Lord remember mercy Mercy is a Saints plea in affliction Let there be the presence of mercy as well as affliction Though thy rod laid on me is smart and doth draw bloud yet let not thy wrath burne like fire Besides we forâ—e him to it Parents take no pleasure in whipping their Children it goes to the heart of a tender Father to beat his Child water ost-times stands in the Fathers eyes he turnes his back and weeps Even so God doth not afflict willingly Lam. 3.33 but sees great need before he corrects For a season if need be ye are in heavines through manifold temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 No affliction befalls us but what is incident to men yea to Saints Be it never so bitter 1 Cor. 10.13 others have tasted the same bottle And in this very kind Esau was in his degree a murtherer of his mother Rebeckah Gen. 27. whilest by his ungracious carriage he made her life bitter unto her The Shunamites only Child dieth The widdow of Naims only Son deceaseth 2 King 4. Mary beholds her only Son nailed to the Crosse Luk. 7.12 And Abraham must sacrifice his own Son Gen. 22. his only Son and upon whom depended all the promises O what a lamentable sight was this to see Abraham about the killing of his only Son That a Father should be put to this extremity to be the butcher of his own only Child Let us make it our own case and it will make us all to weep Consider the conference that was between them in the way and it must needs strike Abraham to the heart Father here is fire and the wood but where is the Lambe for the burnt offering Alas my child saith Abraham in his heart thou must be the burnt offering And no doubt but the teares went trickling down his cheekes If the bowels of the harlot yearned within her when her child was to be divided by Solomons sword What did Abrahams bowels when with his own sword he must take away the life of his own Son O my Son Isaac my sweet child beautified with so many glittering graces enriched with so many precious promises A type of Christ the joy of the world and the only stay of my old age must thou be killed and by thy Fathers own hand Yea and must I burne thee which is the sharpest death of all O! No doubt this pierced the Fathers heart and touched him to the quick It was once the Prophets complaint 1 King 19. I only am left And indeed it addes much to affliction to be singular in suffering But we are compassed with a cloud of witnesses that have broken the ice before us and do draw in the same yoke with us Nay the Apostle is very bold and saith Heb. 12.7 8. What Son is he whom the Father chasteneth not But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not Sons It is a spurious and ignominious thing to be a Bastard Bastards are despised in severall respects and many brands of infamy are set on them Being illegitimate Deut. 2 3. and neither to inherit Lands nor be advanced to office without a speciall dispensation as in the case of Jephta Judg. 11.1 Although I conceive the result of that rigour was rather to shew how God abhorred uncleannesse and to make men avoid it then to inflict a punishment upon the person so begotten if he did abhorre and forsake his fathers sin and cleave to God in sincerity Well seest thou a man without the Crosse not a finger aketh It is a great signe he is a bastard God will schoole his own children The Patriarchs Prophets Apostles yea Christ himselfe dranke of this cup and if thou be Gods child thou must pledge him There is not any one can claime priviledge This is a rule in divinity admits no exception 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution No affliction befals us but sin did deserve greater The least of sins deserts are above the greatest of our undergoings Ezra saith Thou our God hast punished us lesse than our iniquities deserve Exra 9.13 And yet whoever reads the book of Lamentations may judge of their sufferings Is any of us afflicted It is of mercy we are not consumed It may be thou hast lost an Estate a Friend a Child a Comfort Sin did deserve thou shouldst have lost all and after all thy selfe and soule in hell for ever O brother didst thou but know in what coine God paies all Sinners and how he makes even with them in another world Thou wouldst heartily bless God for the bitterest affliction that here falls to thy share Rom. 6.23 Stipendium peccati mors est The wages of sin is death Consider further No affliction so grievous but it may be increased New flies and hungry ones fall upon the same sores out of which others had already sucked their fill God can yet bring more corroding evills upon us God hath yet sharper Arrows in his quiver He can fill the cup yet fuller and add to the weight making it more bitter and burdensome God threatned Israel more than once Lev. 26. I will punish you seven times more for your sins Sad were it for a soul to make
contrariwise 2 Kin. 4.14 it was a miserable blank in the Shunamites estate that she had no child 2 Kin. 20.3 And this is conceived to be one cause why Hezekiah melted into teares when he received the fatall message Even because he had no heire-male his Son Manasses being yet unborne And Abraham himselfe complaines of a great defect amidst all his fulnesse Gen. 15.2 Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childlesse And therefore there was a provision made in the judiciall Law Deut. 25.5 6. That if a man dyed without issue his brother should raise up seed unto him that so his name might be revived and kept alive in Israel Children are nothing else but Parents multiplied Bena Banah aedificavit est enim totius structura seu aedificatio parentum and do in some sense immortalize and perpetuate them especially Sons which have their name originally from a word which signifieth to build because they beare up the name and are a support to the Family Therefore the Church prayeth Psa 144.12 That our Sons may be as plants grown up in their youth that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a Palace When the Father dyeth the Child riseth up in his roome and so Parents have a kind of resurrection in their Children A fourth Reason may be this Reason 4 Scripture upon some accounts reckoneth up steriâ—ity and barrennesse as a curse And who is not utterâ—y unwilling to bespit in the face with a Curse Doubtlesse that may seeme a strange Petition the Prophet puts up in the peoples behalfe Give them O Lord Amos 9.14 what wilt thou give them Give them a miscarrying wombe and dry breasts Comparing it with the context you shall find so great is Ephraim's sin that the Prophet is almost ashamed to pray for such a people and seemes very doubting what he should pray for yet foreseeing the fearefull plagues that were to fall he supplicates a mitigation That rather than women with child should be ripped up by the enemy or they should bring forth to the slaughter and see as Zed kiah did their Children murdered before their eyes 2 King 25.7 he prayeth to God to make them barren A paralell place is that of David who in his great straight chose to fall into the hand of God 2 Sam. 24. rather than into the hand of men That is a lesser judgement rather than a greater And yet this was a sore one three daies pestilence by which there fell seventy thousand men Even so the Prophet as if he should have said O Lord this do I beg in behalfe of this people thou wilt thus much remit the stroke It is the lesser judgement of the two not to have children at all than after they are borne bred and growne to maturity to have them slaughtered and therefore seeing the decree is gone forth give give in mercy O Lord give this mitigation of barrennesse So that the Petition serves to aggravate the ensuing judgements It is a most miserable case when that which is in it selfe a curse is to be prayed for as a blessing Coniah's curse is thus threatned Write ye this man childlesse Jer. 22.30 I do not conceive Coniah dyed without issue Ver. 28. the contrary being apparent but that he had a curse which was equivalent to being childlesse and therefore very great for so it followeth in the next words A man that shall not prosper in his daies for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the Throne of David and ruling any more in Judah And this must not only be spoken but written Litera scripta manet Write ye this man childlesse as a notable judgement to be left on record to Posterity And this was Michals punishment for vilifying her husbands person Because she conceived contempt against him in her heart she never conceived child in her wombe Therefore saith the Text Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death That is 2 Sam. 6.23 she was punished with perpetuall barrennesse Doubtlesse among the Jewes want of children was a reproach both to man and woman This may be gathered from that of the Psalmist Psa 127.5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them viz. his Family well fraught with hopefull children which are those polished shafts they shall not be ashamed but they shall speake with the enemies in the gate 1 Sam. 1.6 Thus Hannah her Adversary provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her wombe and she cals her barrennesse her affliction O Lord of hosts Ver. 11. if thou wilt indeed looke on the affliction of thine handmaid c. And Elizabeth being with child after a long time of sterility bespeakes her selfe on this wise Thus hath the Lord dealt with me Luk. 1.25 in the daies wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men I would not have any gracious heart stumble at this truth so as to hurt it selfe Good men and women may be destitute both of Children and Nephews And yet this is not so great an affliction to them because God comes in and makes up this want with a far more precious supply A worthy Grectan being mortally wounded by the Spartans a friend told him he much lamented that he dyed without Issue To whom he replied my famous victories are as so many children to renew my memory But here is more for if God have denied any of his the benefit of Children yet he hath given them a name better than of Sons and Daughters Isa 56.6 They are called the children of God Mat. 5.9 They have right and priviledge to become the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 And John speaks it with admiration Behold 1 Joh. 3.1 what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! He that hath the Spirit of Adoption and is heaven-borne that can call God Father and speake to Christ as his brother and is allied to all the Saints shall find a fulnesse in this spirituall relation A name on earth how honourable soever is perishable But a name written in heaven shall never wither but flourish for ever It is no great matter to him or her that wants Children if they themselves be the adopted ones of God But to a wicked man it must needs be a curse because he hath nothing to make up this vacuum and relieve this want He that at once is both Childlesse and Christlesse too hath reason to weepe for his Children and not be comforted because they are not Reason 5 Last of all to touch the ultimate Period of this Point frequent it is for the first-borne to be the first Dolens profere and to fit highest in Parents esteeme And there is reason with due limitation it should be so Gen. 49.3
be discouraged Frequently hereupon Children fall into an Athymy or despondency of mind being as it were out of all heart Whereby either first their Spirits if tender-hearted are too much sadned and this sadnesse inclosed in the heart is like a moth to a Garment or a worme to wood bringing diseases and immature death Or secondly through too much dejectednesse they are made stupid and so rendred incapable of any considerable attainments or commendable actions Or thirdly they become desperate and contumacious whereby they provoke God and God cuts them off Certainly Parents need abundance of prudence in correcting their Children If Parents will not be found wanting towards their Children they must mind their education Not only fitting them for an outward and particular calling in reference to the world and well being of their bodies But also having an eye mainly at their generall and spirituall calling in relation to God and their soules Thus the Apostle Eph. 5.4 Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And God himselfe seems to be very confident of his servants care in this particular he saith of Abraham I know him Gen. 18.19 that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him You are not inhibited the having of respect unto due decency for education doth consist in Religion Learning and Behaviour But have a care that sauce exceed not meat Every one ought to say of his naturall as John of his spirituall children 3 Joh. 3. I have no greater joy than to know that my children walke in truth A mamma corporali ad mammam spiritualem Chrys O Parents above all be mostly carefull of your childrens soules Hannah brought her Son Samuel very speedily from the naturall to the spirituall dugge so do ye Be good examples to your Children Instruct them Distâ—â—… good things into them as they are capable of receiving Children are like unto straight-neck'd bottles admitting by drops Isa 18.10 here a little there a little Yea Castigationes madicamentorum fimiles sunt non ciborum Cattw in Pro. 31.2 and correct them likewise when their is occasion Provided it be with moderation and upon necessity as Physick not frequent and famiâ—iar as daily food Such is the reiterated counrell of wise Solomon 1 Sam. 4. We know how fatall Ely's indulgence proved to his Sons being both slaine in one day and for the old man himselfe difficult it were to tell whether his neck or heart were first broken 2 Sam. 18.17 We leave Absalsm that was so much cockered up with an heape of stones upon him And it ended far from well with Adonijah 1 Kin. 2.25 whom his Father had not displeased at any time We shall discover in our children many vices which we had need to cut off whilest they are young lest they grow up with them when they are old It was said of Ptolomy that he was too young to reigne but old enough to love Harâ—ots So there are many who are in Age children but can commit sin like men Wise to do evill Jer. 4.22 but to do good they have no knowledge But O let not any nearenesse of relation make us to connive at wickednesse or be silent at sin In case of Gods dishonour we should forget our selves to be Parents and them Children using sin as a Serpent the nearer it creeps unto us the more to flye and hate it Youth is a plant very flexible but old age a tree and inflexible Youth is like soft wax fit to take a good impression but old age is hard and more unfit to take such a counterfeit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I read of Diogenes who seeing the rude carriage of a Boy did reach his Master a reall invective saying The fault is not in the Scholar but in the Master I am afraid much of the sin of Children will be laid to the charge of Parents If we have a piece of ground we will be at cost and paines in the manuring and tilling of it We take delight in ordering our Gardens and shall we neglect our Children Ought we not much more to weed sin out of them and to improve them Psal 127.3 Children we heard are the inheritance of the Lord and the fruit of the wombe is his reward and shall we reward the giver so unkindly as not to give them education O let us have a care of them while they are young lest both they and we repent afterwards when it is too late 1 Kin. 21.3 Naboth would not give the inheritance of his Fathers to Ahab Children are the inheritances given us of God take heed that through our negligence we do not what in us lyeth to give them to the Devill Commonly those Parents are most reverenced of their Children that have wisely and orderly corrected them They that have laid the reines on their necks and suffered them to go without correction are most contemned and despised of their Children afterward Correct thy Son Pro. 29.17 and he shall give thee rest yea he shall give delight unto thy soule 1 King 1. Adonijah whom David would not displease displeased his Father afterward and came at last to an untimely end A third thing required of Parents is To mixe Prayer with their Childrens Education When we carefully plough sow weed our Corn we may hopefully pray for a good harvest This was the quotidian practise of holy Job Quò multorum pignorum pateres plures sunt pro quibus deum de preceres multorum animae redimendae Cypr. He rose up earely in the morning marke this man prayed for his Children next his heart and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all he begs a particular blessing on every childs head thus did Job continually And thus Bathsheba bespeakes her beloved Son Solomon under the name of Lemuel What my Son and what the Son of my wombe and what the Son of my Vows O it is good for Children that they have praying Parents and good for Parents that they be at some proportionable expence for their Children in spirituals laying up Prayers as well as Portions for them The Prayers of faithfull Parents are as seed sown in their life-time the fruit of which their Children may reape after they are dead Christians I tell you the time is comming and now is that Parents prayers may be of more profit unto their Children than their Estates Fourthly let Parents take need and beware of idolizing their children They are given to succeed in your stead But beware you set them not up to your selves in Gods stead 1 Sam. 2.29 It was heavens complaint against Eli that he honoured his Sons above God that is did chuse to please them rather than God If any fond Parents be guilty of this
Stocks or Roots conveying different fruit unto their branches As the new Adam Christ Jesus grace and life to all that are engraffed in him so the old Adam sin and death In Adam all dye 1 Cor. 15.22 in Christ shall all be made alive Sin is the seed of death And it is apparent an Infant is no sooner born but he hath in him these seeds I was shapen in iniquity Psal 51.5 and in sin did my mother conceive me I presently got the infection of sin and so a subjection unto death I was even warmed in sin in my mothers wombe Eâ lege nascimur Sence An Heathen called death Exitus communis And true it is death hath both young and old in bonds alike inviolable As a Genesis so an Exodus for all A time to be borne and a time to dye Hence a certaine Philosopher Sciome mortalem genuisse hearing that his only Son was dead makes answer I am very sensible I did but beget a mortall creature like to my selfe Lastly If Children be an holy seed within the Covenant their upon their decease consider even felicity Sooner shall Gods right hand forget his cunning than he will ever be unmindfull of any little one in Covenant with him Indeed if our Children should come to maturity and then dye unnaturall and murtherous Absaloms incestuous Amnons riotous and roaring Prodigals c. If this evill were concomitant with our Orbity it might be written a mourning in good earnest Planxit merito David super parricidâ filio cui perpetuo sciret obstructum exitum c. Bernard As Bernard speakes most fearefully of the case of Absalom and David lamenting his death But Children that are justified from originall sin by Christs bloud and cleansed by the Baptisme of the Holy Ghost are in Abrahams bosome They wish not themselves againe with their Parents as sometimes the murmuring Israelites Would to God we were in Aegypt againe but rather they say as the Disciples did on Mount Tabor Lord it is good for us to be here Vita hominum caepit esse miserabilis debuit dari finis malorum ut mors restituerit quod vita amiserat Ambr. Job 5.7 Indeed here they find sad entertainment being courted with calamities so soon as they enter the world Their very teares seeme to presage their sorrows Launching into such troubled seas where stormes will never cease till they arive in heaven It is their gaine therefore as well as ours to be freed from the burden of the body Neither let it trouble us that they are nipt in their tender yeares and taken away in their minority for those that dye in the state of grace dye in a full age Eph. 4.13 and are perfect men What they want in time is made out in happy eternity David tels us we shall go to them 2 Sam. 12.23 but they shall not returne to us And a very Heathen could say Praemittimus Scnec non amittimus we lose not our friends but send them before us Why then should we immoderately bewaile the death of those whom we must shortly follow There is great joy in the meeting of friends when Moses and Aaron met in the mount for joy they kissed one another Yet the joy of these meetings may be dashed and will have an end But O what joy will it be when we meet one another in the glorious Mount of heaven never to depart any more Let us then moderate our mourning and prepare for that meeting 1 Thes 4.17 When we shall meet Christ in the aire and ahide with him for ever But I adde further lest this griefe should overwhelme you do ye overwhelme it with the consideration of a greater Suppose your Children should live â—o be a griefe to you as Adam Emperour of the whole world had his heart sadned with one Son killing another and David In like manner Rebekah who had a double desire at once hath it imbittered with feare of a murderous emulation That she confesseth I am weary of my life Gen. 27.46 and what good shall my life do me Nay suppose ye should have brought forth to the sword Seen your little ones spitted upon Pikes Their tender limbs rent like kids by cruell hands Or pluckt from their mothers breasts and have their braines dasht against the wall Whilest the affrighted mother is halfe dead with astonishment Or to see your selves so straightned by famine as to devoure the fruit of your bodies your little Infants of a span-long Being forced against nature Parturire Deglutire to turne your tender kisses into cruell bitings and suck their bloud that sucked your breasts O tender hearted Fathers and Mothers who knoweth how far this fire which is kindâ—ed among us may burne before it be quenched Seeing it hath such combustible matter to feed upon and such bellows to blow it up All ye have hitherto seen may be only the beginning of sorrows Suppose ye should live to see women with child ript up your daughters ravished your Sons captivated slaves not knowing what destiny may befall them but most likely to live abused and dye without buriall Nay which is saddest of all have the Gospell taken from your Children Would you not much rather commit them to Christ in their Infancy and lay them up with him The Vse in the last place counselleth us to keep close unto him Use 4 the enjoyment of whom supplies every want and sweetens every Crosse The summe is if we cannot keepe our children yet let us have a care to keep our God Though you part with your own seed yet be sure you have the seed of God And this child in you will cause you at the full birth to forget all the sorrow Say to thy selfe I now see the worth of Grace and emptinesse of all things else Nay I foresee a time when nothing will stay by me but Grace Therefore if I can make nothing sure 2 Pet. 1.10 I le endeavour to make my Calling and Election sure This high piece of spirituall wisdome the good Spirit of God did dictate unto Job He could not keep his goods Oxen and Sheep Camels and Asses were gone He could not keep his Servants they were slaine He could not keepe his Children Sons and Daughters were dead But yet Job will have a care to keep his God Say to God as sometime that great wrestler Jacob Gen. 32.26 I will not let thee go He would hold his God though he lost his limbes his life We will be hold-fasts of our estates and money we will not let them go Oh that we could be so of our God It is said Sir Walter Rawley that when the Persians were defeated and fled one of the Grecian Commanders followed them to the Sea and tooke hold of one of their Galleys with his right hand which being cut off he laies hold with his left hand and being deprived of both with his teeth so
goeth Not only to Mount Tabor but Mount Calvary Not only to behold him when he is glorified but to stand by him when he is crucified It is expected we should love Christ with the Crosse as well as Christ with the Crown In matters of Religion we must put on resolution Ver. 16 17 18. God loves fixed Saints Intreat me not to leave thee or to returne from following after thee for whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy God my God No sooner sets she foot in the City of Bethlehem but the report is carried abroad upon the swift wing of fame where all flock about to gaze upon her Ver. 19. with wonderment admiring her great change What a spectacle is this Is this Naomi As it were doubting whether it were she or not Note How strangely is she altered Great afflictions may deface our outward gooddness that men can scarce take cognizance of us We may be such altered Creatures as to become strange to our famiâ—iars Only here is our comfort if we have the marke of election upon our soules which Christ can never forget And never are men miserable till he say Depart from me I know you not From this doubting question of theirs she takes occasion to frame this answer Call me not Naomi call me Marah for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me And thus having brought her home to her City we are come home to our Text. Which we may digest into 1. A Doctrine 2. And Use The Doctrine is not the preaching of the word but the language of the Rod. Heare ye the rod Mic. 6.9 and who hath appointed it The Rod hath a mouth to speake if we have an eare to heare The Use is not only verball but vertuall and Practicall she heares the rod she accepts the punishment the rod is sanctified It is like Jonathans rod there is honey upon the end of it It is like Aarons rod it buds and yeelds fruit even the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse Heb. 12.11 The Doctrine speakes bitter and heavy affliction The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me The Use speakes humble submission and subjection she is sensible of it she submits to it Call me not Naomi call me Marah The first of these is for our present purpose and the later will be coincident in the discourse Let us first labour to give a little light into the words by way of Explication Call me not Naomi Naim civitas vel nomen oppidi ab amoenitate jueunditate situ Guich Minsh call me Marah Naomi signifieth sweet or pleasant and delectable and sometimes beautifull From this word the Hebrews did oft-times denominate Cities because of their beautifull buildings and sweet and pleasant scituation And Marah signifieth bitterness so we read of the waters of Marah Exo. 15.23 the Israelites could not drinke of the waters because they were bitter therefore the name of the place was called Marah or bitternesse Exod. 15.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amarus tum de sapore tum de odore dicitur The Greeks do use a very Emphaticall word signifying both such things as do disgust the taste and displease the sense of smelling The summe is she submits to Gods hand and desires to be called by a name suitable to her condition The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me I conceive these to be the words not of one murmuring though the best are apt to expresse impatiency under such a condition but of one sensible of Gods heavy hand and bemoaning her owne estate As if she should have said God hath given me a very bitter pill and disgustfull draught in depriving me of my husband and two Sons and bringing me into to this low posture of poverty for so it follows Ver. 21. I went forth full and the Lord hath brought me home againe empty and thus The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me Amongst the reft foure things are very bitter viz. Sin every act of sin is a declining of God whose glory is the chiefe marke we ought to levell at Jer. 2.19 and this is an evill thing and bitter Sin is like John's book sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly As Abner faid of the Sword It will be bitternesse in the later end It is sweet in the committing but stingeth afterward Let a man offer us wormewood so soone as we taste it wespit it out of our mouths Sin is more bitter than wormewood therefore away with it Christians I say no more when once you come to taste the pangs of death you will say ah Sin is bitter The wrathfull displeasure of God O pray you may be preserved from tasting this Cup. Pray it may passe from you A dram a drop of divine wrath is soule-undoing lethall and mortiferous O wo to the damned that must suck the very dregs of Gods displeasure and drinke whole Vials of wrath in the darke and deep Cellar of hell for evermore Death is a bitter thing When Agag was spared by Saul and doubted not to receive good quarter from Samuel he said 1 Sam. 15.32 surely the bitternesse of death is past By tasting sicknesse the brim of this cup ye may guess what bitterness there is in the bottome And lastly grievous afflictions are very bitter Because they do render the life bitter and make the condition grievous Great afflictions may be called Waters of Marah In this sense it is that Naomi speaks And some among us may this day speake something out of the like experience The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me Now to the Point God Almighty sometimes de ales very bitterly with his beautifull and belovedones Doctr. Every true Saint of God is his Hephsibah and Beaula Vel Chephsibab Isa 62.4 God's delight is in them and he is married to them They are his Naomi's his beautifull pleasant and delectable ones And yet these polished and pleasant peeces may lye under very bitter dispensations God doth not alwaies entertaine his people with Apples and Flagons But sometimes feeds them with bread of affliction and with water of affliction Here is Naomi a pretious woman whose name and disposition both render her pleasant and amiable and yet speakes of bitter dealing from the Lord. Neither is she single or passeth alone in such sufferings for clouds of witnesses keep consort and joint-harmony with her in this water-musick And though it is most true Saints never drinke the cup of pure wrath which is the proper portion of the wicked yet many ingredients of sorrow may be mingled in their cup they may taste much bitterness from God Job a man whom Scripture seems to Canonize for an eminent Saint and patterne of patience ye have heard of the patience of Job yet Jam. 5.11 reads a decree against himself written with gall and wormewood Thou writest bitterthings against me Job
without corporall contaction Sure I am surprizing evils are oppressing evils When death seemes to come in an hâc nocte Luk. 12.20 and take away our sweet relations without any considerable summons given by sicknesse as hath been at this time it is very bitter When God sends Crosses flying upon us as Arrows swiftly and silently they wound sharply and deeply Successive and continued afflictions A little weight lying long upon the back at length grows ponderous and burdensome David was weary of his groaning Pro. 27.1 When each morning seems to be big-bellied and to bring forth a new griefe When afflictions succeed and second one other One horne springing up after another and one Hydra's head after another When afflictions are like unto Jobs Messengers one treading upon the heeles of another and preventing one another How many changes had that man Oxen and Asses are gone Sheepe and Servants are gone Sons and Daughters are gone When we have not to do with single afflictions but whole armies at once assaile us When we may say as Jacobs wife in another case Gen. 30.11 A Troupe commeth When we are left to bicker with bodies and to withstand whole broad-sides Psal 42.7 When deep calleth unto deep Take a stone cast it into a Pond and presently ye will see one circle succeed another So when God plyeth a poore soule with afflictions like waves at sea that it seems overwhelmed Gutta cavat lapidem saepe cadendo When he keeps the back continually bowed down that there is no time to looke up and get a breathing This is very sad Marble decaies at length with continuall droppings When we are exercised with stripping afflictions Which may be called so in a double respect viz. When we are deprived of an only enjoyment the want of which makes a great breach as if all were gone Thus it was with Naomi here what nearer than Husband and Sons In being deprived of them she was stript indeed And thus it was with Job what nearer than Sons and Daughters He never looked upon himselfe as a naked man untill they were gone It is threatned as a great part of Jezabels punishment Apoc. 2.23 I will kill her children with death Looke as it is in an house some goods may be removed and perhaps not be much missed But other Utensils againe are so much for use and ornament that the want of them leaves an house very naked Even so our Children are more to us than all we have in the world besides Let houses be never so well fraught they are very empty if Children be wanting What wilt thou give me Gen. 15.2 seeing I go childlesse When we are deprived of all at once That we are as it was said of the young man left utterly naked Mark 14.52 Here is stripping indeed If a faire and beautifull Apple fall from our Tree we are displeased but if not one left upon it then are we troubled Thus God threatens Idolatrous Israel Hos 2.3 to strip her naked and set her as in the day that she was borne So is Naomi not an Husband not a Child And Job seven Sons and three Daughters in the morning but in a trice all dead Corpses One Chicken serves the Hen to brood over It was comfort to old Jacob that in the want of Joseph he had a Benjamin Though Joseph is not yet Benjamin is It is a great mercy all our Arrows are not spent but there remaines yet some shafts in the quiver But when all is taken away at once as with a wet finger this is to be left naked and is very bitter And lastly increasing evills such as do thrive and grow upon us When they are like the Deluge of old swelling from the ankles to the knees thence to the navell and at last to overwhelming When they come on by degrees and the greatest is reserved for the last When the dregs lye in the bottome and the last morsell proves the bitterest bit Just thus it is with Naomi first she is afflicted with Famine next she is forced abroad afterwards deprived of her meet help her Husband and last of all of her two Sons Whose heart would not have tendred to have seen Job give audience to those mournfull Messengers One comes Job your goods are all seiz'd Very sad I am beggar'd Another Job your Servants are slaine A great deal sadder here is precious life taken away A third nay Job but here is not all I am sent unto you with more heavy tidings than all this Job your Children are every one of them dead suddenly violently even all at a clap and in the midst of their mirth and rejoycing There might you have seen shattered cups and skuls the bloud of the grape and of your Children mixed together What say you to this Job Oh! Then Job arose c. And the like shots did the wife of Phinehas withstand so long as ever she was able 1 Sam. 4. Israel is defeated very sad Your Father-in-Law Brother-in-Law and Husband are dead O griefe But here is not all The Arke of God is taken away This last shot her to the heart Then she bowed her selfe Ver. 19. and travelled for her paines came on her As it is the godly mans blessing that his light shineth more and more unto the perfect day Pro. 4.18 So it is the wickeds curse Jud. 13. that his night commeth on more and more untill at last he inherit the blacknesse of darkness for ever The godly after all the manifestations of their Fathers love find the best wine reserved last But the wicked after all his plagues at last makes up his mouth with the very dregs of divine indignation The nearer unto which afflictions we do approach the more bitter they must needs be Hence it is plaine Gods waies are not as mans waies We deale bountifully with them we love and bitterly with them we hate Joseph is distinguishingly free to his brother Benjamin Gen. 43.34 And Elkanah gives a worthy portion to his beloved Hannah If any aske the reason why God is so heterogeneous in this dispensation I answer Den. 29.29 secret things belong unto the Lord whose judgements are a great deep only revealed things to us It is no imputation to be ignorant of things not revealed Where God doth not speake the eare should not itch with desire to heare Let us not soare over high with our waxen wings Sapere ad sobrietatem God severely punished those that pryed into the Arke The Philosopher while he gazed of the heavens fell into a Pit unawares As soone and sooner may we line out the way of a Serpent over a Rock or of a ship in the waves or of an Arrow in the Aire as find out the waies which God walks in Only herein we may safely rest Say ye to the righteous Isa 3.10 that it shall be well with him Rom. 8. And all things shall worke
saw Amasa wallowing in bloud 2 Sam. 20.12 every one that passed by stood still When we are in the hot pursuit of sin yea in the very chase bitter afflictions serve to give us a stand Psal 4.4 Stand in awe and sin not 2. They serve to awaken us out of sin How apt are we to take a sweet nap upon the Lap of our Delilah our beloved lusts And how unwilling to be disturbed Pro. 6.10 yet a little sleepe a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep How long did David sleep under the guilt of adultery and bloudshed before he was awaken by Nathan Sin hath a strong power to charme us into a deep sleep Pro. 23.34 Solomons Drunkard continues sleeping upon the top of a Mast Judg. 16. Sampson is dorming when enemies are upon his back Jonah 1.5 And Jonah hath his senses fast lockt up when there is but a poore planke or inch-boord betwixt him and death Who fallen into a lethargy can awake himselfe No more can men awake themselves out of this spirituall lethargy Secure sinners matter not though the house be on fire about their eares Now sanctified afflictions are meanes both to awake us and keep us wakefull Psal 77.4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking Both the eye of my body and mind How comes the Psalmist to be so wakefull Even by being plied with afflictions My sore ran I was troubled my spirit was overwhelmed I am so troubled that I cannot speake c. David in his heavy affliction of spirit could say My sin is ever before me Psa 51.3 and it was unto him as a Monster very horrid and formidable Whereas before in his jollity he was sensible of no such thing Looke up to God and beseech him in this glass to discover unto thee the thing that doth thee all the annoyance that sin may by little and little go out and grace drop in Many a soule had slept the sleepe of death if God had not sent some awakening affliction to shake them by the shoulder and shout aloud in their eares 3. They may be said to cure the soule of sin 1 Pet. 2.24 But what then becomes of the bloud of Christ by whose stripes we are healed Answer No great difficulty to unloose this knot take it in short chastisements may be said to cure the soule mediately but not immediately for they are meanes to bring to repentance which in its order and place leads us to the obtaining of pardon and God ever gives when he forgives Pardon of sin and power against sin are constant concomitants and a double portion from God given to the soule So then the bloud of Christ is the only foveraigne Medicine of souls and afflictions drive us to seeke the cure Meliores sunt ques ducit amor sed plures sunt quos corrigit timor Aug. To be wonne by love shews a spirit very Evangelicall and the love of Christ ought to constraine us yet many we see are brought home to Christ by the weeping crosse The Prodigall in prosperity had forgotten himselfe but having gone a season to the schoole of lad experience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at last he comes to himselfe The Dungeon preached to Manasses the doctrine of true Religion And fellowship with the beasts taught Nebuchadnezzar humility Afflictions and the Crosse are Gods file to take off our rust and make us bright Then let us not looke at present asperity but future profit At first Job something grudged the Lords visitations but in the issue of those great troubles he was of another mind No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous yet neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse No child takes pleasure in correction for the time it is unpleasant and irkesome he cries out O good Father good Master and thinkes he hath no worse enemies in the world But when he commeth to yeares of discretion he praiseth God he was not permitted to live as he listed Receiving of Pils and drinking of potions the cutting and lancing of a man and putting long tents into wounds Eadem est ratio disciplinae quae medicinae these are not joyous for the present And yet the health which is procured afterwards brings joy So afflictions though irkesome to the flesh yet they are wholesome to the Spirit In nature the body is most healthy when the spleen is smallest And the soule is at best when the body of sin that spirit in us that lusteth to envy is brought lowest Heavens designe in this dispensation is to kill that which would kill us The time is comming in which the soule shall say Psa 119.71 It is good that I was afflicted Blessed be those afflictions that helped to keepe me out of hell and to bring me to heaven I may say of sanctified afflictions as he said of vertue Amara radix dulcis fructus The beginning is as bitter as gall or wormewood But the end shall be sweeter than honey The second reason of the point doth respect grace Reason 2 God issueth out such bitter dispensations against his beloved ones To evidence grace To see if there be any sparke of a spirituall life in the soule We try whether instruments be in tune by smiting upon them our hearts are Gods Instruments and when he smites upon us they send forth either the sound of nature or grace God led Israel in the wildernesse to prove him and to know what was in his heart Deut. 8.2 Not that God is ignorant of our estate but to make us appeare what we are and give us a sight of our selves A Pilot is best known in a storme a Souldier in fight and a Saint in affliction This day will make us discerne betweene a tree and a man Some weeds being rubbed offend the sense whereas Pomander chafed yeelds a comfortable smell Afflictions discover the carrion-like corruptions of some but are as the breaking of a box of oyntment to others What is this man or that woman saith God Silver or Drosse Corne or Chaste Flesh or Spirit He shall no longer dissemble with the world and his own soule I le make him appeare in his colours Under the Crosse the godly pray the wicked often blaspheme To try grace We are commanded to prove all things yea our own selves 2 Cor. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To deale with our selves as the Goldsmith with his Gold bring our selves to the touchstone of triall the ballance of the Sanctuary to see if we be right metall and weight yea to pierce our selves thorough and see if we be sound at heart All is not Gold that glitters A varnished Paste-board or painted Post may shine till they come to scouring That may seeme to be grace which is not Jacob may mistake his Sons No flower in the garden but a weed may be found to resemble it in the wild wildernesse It is possible