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
therewith to be contented Phil. 4.11 In Health and Plenty in Peace and Liberty this is no difficult Lesson all Men know But in the case of Sickness Poverty loss of Friends Estate of Liberty or in the danger of Life how many then will quickly cry out This is an hard saying who can bear it I answer them Such a one as Paul can do it And further he that hath been taught of God and hath learned the truth as it is in Jesus even He can do it also If all the World should frown upon them if Midnight-Darkness hide all Comforts from them if neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars appear unto them yet these People are able to retire within themselves or rather run into the Name of the Lord and All is well For the Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe saith Solomon Prov. 18.10 This also made the holy Apostle say He could do all things through Christ that strengthen'd him Phil. 4.13 And the Context sheweth that this Doing Chiefly respecteth Suffering Wherein Christ's Presence with the Soul converts Complaints into Thanksgivings and Repinings to Rejoycings The Church of old makes a clear Proof of this Altho the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vine the labour of the Olive shall fail and the Field shall yield no meat the Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stall Yet I will Rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation Habak 13 18. And how are Murmuring and Impatience sent into Exile then never to take harbour in such Breasts as these Well now we know how quiet and at what hearts ease the holy Apostle was in in the worst condition He was content And what are Any or the very Best of us that in our Sufferings we should not bring our Minds to that Sedateness wherein his was who was so much Above us The plain reason is Because in Grace we are so much Beneath him Recapitulation Now looking back upon this Cloud of Witnesses we must acknowledge that they all conspire to ring it loudy in our ears Let Patience have its perfect Work within you whatever Distresses lye upon you If we are Real Christians to be Meek with Moses to hold our Peace with Aaron leave God to himself with Eli possess our thoughts with our own approaching End as David did to bless God's Name for our Adversity as well for Prosperity after Job's example approve his Methods altho severe in a compliance with Hezekiah submit our Wills entirely unto his as was our Saviour's holy Practice and lastly to learn with the great Apostle of the Gentiles in all estates to be contented If God see meet to take away Estate to be content if Name content if Health content if Liberty Friends or Children nay Father Husband or Wife dear to us as our selves yea or life it self to be Contented still Whatever Distress the gracious Providence shall bring us to it is our Duty after the Examples of all these Famous Worthies Christ Jesus Soldiers and the Captain of their and our Salvation himself to learn the Doctrine of my Text To be dumb and open not our mouth and that because God doth it And so much of the Examples II. Arguments Now for Powerful Arguments which will evince the necessary Obligations that Pious People do lye under to bear Afflictions without Impatience and a Quiet Mind There are but five I shall make use of but that which bringeth up the Rear if I may not say 't will prove a Mother of Nations at least 't will shew it hath a Teeming Womb and bring us forth a double Number to the whole Tale mention'd They are these in brief 1. Hereby they are conformed to the Best of Saints and in their Best Condition on the Earth 2. The first and second Birth do Both dispose to Troubles 3. Impatience is so far from helping then that it doth more hurt 4. There is Undoubted Good unto the Godly at the Bottom of all they suffer And 5ly 'T is the Lord that sendeth their Distresses to them Arg. 1. Good Christians should bear with Patience their Distresses because They but conform them to the best of Saints and in their Best Condition upon Earth Then why such sore Complaints among them Had there been formerly no famous Instances given to this Purpose who that hath only tasted Holy Scriptures can be ignorant that * In origine statim mundi Abel a fratre occiditur Jacob fugatur Joseph venundatur David Saul persequitur c. S. Cypr. de Exhort Mort. cap. 11. Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles had Generally this Measure meted out unto them nay pressed down shaken together and running over especially to the Last and I may say the Best of them our Lord 's most dear Disciples 'T is certain that St. Paul saith not barely that They were appointed to asslictions 1 Thess 3.3 but that he thought God had set Them forth as Men appointed to death it self for they were made in their Sufferings a Spectacle to the World the upper and the lower of Angels and Men too 1 Cor. 4.9 And should it now be accounted a grievous matter for the Successors to be like their Predecessors What Are we better than they Alas How much beneath them Whose Modesty will not prompt him freely to confess himself far shorter of them in real worth than he is in time behind them And pray now do we not all desire to be Partakers with them in point of Prosit and shall we grudge our share of Pains Would we arrive at the blessed Harbour where they are driving an heavenly Trade and yet refuse to cross the swelling Waves after them Is it fit and equal that we should settle in their Canaan without the Troubles and the Dangers of that Wilderness which they have pass'd and is the strait way to it If we have hopes to be such as They in Heaven it must not be grudg'd if we be like them on the Earth How proper is it that a Similitude should be betwixt the Eellow-members And how much more with the Head it self Is it not written Heb. 2.10 That the Captain of our salvation was made perfect thro' sufferings He put not on his Crown but going from the Cross nor sat he on the Throne before he had hung upon the Tree And shall it be thought intollerable or any thing hard to follow such a Leader And unto such a Journey 's End But as I said before Saints suffering State was best unto them even so it is The Riddle was of old that the Eater affords meat and the strong sweetness Judg. 14.14 And truly good Men's sorrows on Earth bring solace down from Heaven unto them When the Knife was putting to Isaac's Throat by the sad Father an Angel comes and puts a Ram into his room unto his greater joy Gen. 22.14 As a father pittieth his
locamus Juv. Sat. 10. are meer Heathen Deities altho the Wiser there did laugh thereat The Almighty Wise and Righteous Providence governs even our Inadvertencies and Mistakes and directs them to the issue they arrive at Nay all Events whatever are so much influenced Thence as to be Effected or thereby Permitted Gen. 45.8 Acts 4.28 Such hand it had about the selling Joseph into Egypt and the villanous Murder of the blessed Jesus that neither That nor This were brought to pass without it Yet wicked Men and Devils are the sole Efficients of all Moral Evil. Sin is hateful unto God Psal 45.7 Psal 5.5 Hab. 1.13 and Sinners too who persist therein and they shall be punish'd to a sad Eternity for the same So tho it be highest Blasphemy once to conceit it that God is the Author of Iniquity yet He undoubtedly sets Bounds thereto as to the Raging Sea and saith Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy Proud Waves be staid Wherefore notwithstanding All our Culpable Errors are to be truly and fadly repented of with Supplication for God's Pardon yet we may not overlook his Hand in ordering of them to their Issue Under which being humbled duly we may expect seasonably to be lifted up 1 Pet. 5.6 But most especially let 's never forget the Lesson that our blessed Saviour taught his most dear Disciples That not one of the poor Matth. 10.29 little and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magna hic emphasis Diminutivi Bez. despicable Sparrows fell to the ground without our Father his License Order or Appointment that is Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many Sparrows Vers 31. is our dear Lord's Inference thence And so we may conclude That the most unhappy Accidents in Estate Health Relations or any other way are of God's wise and good sufferance or sending to us Then as for the Lives of the Saints of God if their Hairs be all numbred v. 30. and their Death be precious in his sight Ps 116.15 as both are certain with what exactness will he keep the reckning of their Abode on Earth Surely no single Day nor Hour nor Minute shall carelesly or casually be cast away Yea doubtless not only our times are in God's hand Psal 31.15 but our days are determined and the number of our months are with the Lord our bounds are appointed which we cannot pass Job 14.5 And then we need not fear but that we shall reach up thereto whatever may be thought unto the contrary Indeed the Will of Purpose in the Lord is unknown to us until the Event declares it And 't is our Duty only to attend his Will of Precept We must use lawful Means which he approves yet be content that the Almighty's pleasure be effected by them And as for Means suggested to be omitted Either it was really so or not If not how childish is it to complain for nothing If so 't was either through thy fault or not If this Not through thy fault And how unlikely is it that the fear of God and love of one so dear would suffer Means to be omitted wilfully Suppose it thine Unhappiness 't is not thy Sin and should not be thy Torment Therefore such Fears and Jealousies which often overcome afflicted Spirits must be withstood and banished Obj. 6. Some yet may say But I am ignorant of God's meaning towards me in his heavy Dispensation And what to do but Mourn I know not Ans Admit thou art to seek therein wil't make thy self yet more uncapable to find it out This is the readiest way of all thereto Excessive Grief both blinds and deafs the Soul at once And what is to be seen in Midnight-darkness or heard at the Cataracts of Nilus or by the beating of a Drum Thou raisest Clouds and makest Clamours within thy Bosom that put thee to confusion and astonishment Be therefore Master of thy self in patience and thou mak'st it possible to enquire to purpose Whil'st Job was in this Hurry he saith indeed to God Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me Job 10.2 c. But this came from such discontent that it return'd without its Errand Tho afterwards when he came fully to himself and dealeth in a quiet humble and submissive way with God abhorring himself for his past frowardness and impatience Job 42.6 c. per tot and repenting in dust and ashes he quickly meets with blest success unto abundant satisfaction as may be read in the Chapter quoted in the Margin Observe beside it is no easie matter ordinarily and doubtless oftentimes impossible to assign the special Message of such or such a severer Providence toward those that truly sear the Lord. 'T is true it sometimes happens that the Judgments carry such visible Tokens of the Sins that sent them written as it were in Capital Letters on them that it becomes no difficulty to understand the special Errand that they bring You saw it the Case of Holy David Example 4. Supra spoken of before But commonly and for the most part as I said 't is otherwise And the Pious in affliction if they find not full satisfaction in our Saviour's words to Peter spoken of before What I do thou knowest not now but shalt know afterwards yet I am very confident that under the smartest darkest and most uncouth Providence let them nut loath themselves in their own sight for all their offences be numbled under the mighty Hand of God run to the Fountain open'd for Sin and for Vncleanness die more unto the World and lay up their Treasure and Heart too more in Heaven have none but God Above and God above all Below unto them Let them make this their Business under their saddest Sufferings and persevere thereat And most undoubtedly as God obtains his End they shall not miss his Mind Thus all Afflictions shall serve his greater Glory and surely issue in their greatest Good And then I conclude with confidence This will not only still a distressed Saint but turn his weeping into laughter and put off his Sackeloth for more beautiful Garments and exchange his Lamentations into Songs of Praises unto the God of his Salvation who commandeth light to shine forth out of darkness and will bring Good from Evil to them are good and upright in heart before him 3. The last Thing undertaken was Some Guidance for the better Application of the whole unto our selves for good And this I shall dispatch in these two or three following Inferences Infer 1. Since it is so That c. Then certainly pious People must not expect all Halcyon Days on Earth nor flatter themsleves with hopes of a Summer that shall last their life without any storm or cloud attending it but they must reckon on 't and be content to take their share of trouble that happens to them How otherwise could it be a Duty on them To be quiet in Distresses if none should ever reach them
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
righteously at his Disposal But I shall not stay on Arguments to perswade hereto being fully of opinion that those on whom the former Discourses will not have sufficient Influence to convince them of their Duty in the point neither would they believe themselves obliged should a Messenger from the Dead come and acquaint them with it All I shall therefore further meddle with at present will be to do what service I am capable of in giving the best Directions that I can for our more ready Obedience unto God in this important Business Of being still and silent under the greatest troubles that befal us There are but three or four though many more are ready that I shall insist upon and they are these Direct 1. Make sure thy Soul be furnished with effectual and saving Grace that thou be not barely an Appendant unto Jesus Christ but implanted into him and hast devoted thy self entirely to him Then being found a Christian in Sincerity either there is little danger of thy being plunged into that Gulf or great presumption of speedy getting out again But otherwise there are no hopes of special Help from Heaven I grant indeed if any People have attain'd to Stoical Apathy or are the Masters of the ancient Roman Gallantry as 't is called they then may seem to out-brave the worst of Evils on them with a quiet and Christian Resolution But alas 't is nothing so at all The Principle whereby the former is acted puts of true Man and what moves the latter is an utter stranger to the true God And neither of them deserve the Name of true constant Fortitude but indeed of a fool-hardy desperate Stupidity The Christian Valour neither rashly courts a Misery nor declines it basely but being come as it feels the smart so it knows who sent it and that much worse was well deserved but yet this coming on a gracious Errand it bears up under it with out Repining at it and waiteth quietly a seasonable Deliverance from it and great Advantage by it But now this Herb grows not in the Common-fields of Christianity 'T is not the High-way Matth. 13. Luke 8. nor the Thorny nor the Stony Ground will bring it kindly forth No it must be a good and honest Heart made so by special Grace where it arriveth to persection If thou hast now a bare Name to live when thou art dead and takest up with a form of Godliness but without the power thereof there are no hopes thou shouldst have help and be kept steddy when violent Winds and Waves assault thee But if Religion be thy Business the biass of thy Heart be Heaven-ward and Jesus Christ be the Loadstone that thy Soul stands to and only sixeth at why then as thou art Upright with thy God thou also art become even God's Delight Prov. 11.20 Now unto the Vpright there ariseth light in darkness Ps 112.4 The reason is Light is sown by the sure Husbandman for him and gladness for the upright in heart Psalm 97.11 And what God sows must sure grow up and soon be ripe too Wherefore we are called on to look upon it as that which never faileth to our Observation Mark the perfect Man and behold the Vpright for the end however his beginning or middle time shall prove of that Man shall be peace Psal 37.37 And all know 't is the End crowns all O that we every one would rouze up our Souls from a luke-warm Temper and by no means settle under the leaves of a bare Profession without the power of a living Principle of Holiness in our Hearts always making Heaven-ward whence it came This would so six us on the Rock that tho' the Tempests shake they should never overturn us We are certainly else upon a sandy bottom and that hath no security How can we stand in an evil Day of Life or Death or Judgement except we are thus provided Think sadly of the woful Disappointment to the foolish Virgins that had their lamps indeed but had no oil and were shut out when they thought sure of entring in Mat 25.10 And that thou maist fare better trust not in outward Form but get the Truth and Life of Grace which God alone approveth and thou art safe Direct 2. Be not indulgent to thy flesh let not thine earthly Tabernacle be too much cocker'd and fondled by thee 'T is not intended here to prohibit Men from running out into excess of Riot and following of the dissolute Courses of the Debauchees of the Evil Age we live in No those Spots are not the Spots of the Children of God to whom I now am speaking They are the manifest Brand-mark set upon the Herd belonging to the Bottomless Pit Who think it strange and speak evil of the others because they will not be as vile that way as themselves are 1 Pet. 4.4 But what I plainly mean is that Christians who will bear Distresses to the best advantage should not allow themselves unto the utmost Bounds of Christian-liberty in things that are so far from being simply evil that they are indifferent yea good and necessary in the due use thereof Such are both Rest and Labour Meats and Drinks Habits and lawful Recreations with other things like these He that treads upon the very Line of some large Circle may soon step over 'T is very dangerous to run upon the Edge of the Bank least ye fall into the Brook All that is lawful is not expedient 1 Cor. 6.12 the Apostle teacheth Moderate Sleep and Exercise refresh Nature and preserve Health but excess in that brings fuel to Corruption and in this consumes the Spirit The sober use of wholesom and meet Food and Liquors is necessary to our subsisting but Intemperance in Delicacies and Varieties specially brings Sickness and Death So Cloathing hides our Nakedness and defendeth from the God but Garrish and Antick Fashions are a Vanity full of Michief to ourselves and others Nay Recreation that should be only used to sit for Business how often being excessive doth it untune for that and rob us too of our choicest Jewel Precious Time And yet amongst good People some may be found I wish the Number were much smaller that are so coy and delicate that nothing but the best and most of every thing will content them Nay and 't is so that the Sun must not shine nor the Wind blow nor the Rain drop on some of Them These are the ways so to Emasculate poor Peoples Souls that the lightest load is able to sink them to the ground And how should great Distresses then be born and stood up under with such an even and fixed Resolution as they ought The holy Apostle doth indeed allow a little Wine for the stomack 's sake and for those infirmities of that good Man whose drink was nothing else but Water 1 Tim. 5.23 But otherwise the self-same Person he calls upon to endure hardness and as a good soldier 2 Tim. 2.3 Are we not all Christ's Souldiers