admiration of Angels the joy and delight of the eternal God he taketh pleasure in his Saints and therefore must needs be a taking object 't is very true 't is a great Paradox and Riddle to the men of the world For it is simplicity without foolery 't is gravity without moroseness 't is humility without will-worship 't is singularity without affectation 't is reservedness without narrowness and streightness of spirit 't is an holy freedom and liberty without licenciousness meekness without cowardize stoutness and valour of Spirit without pride and cruelty patient for God but impatient against sin a sufferer in its own cause but a warriour in Christs a death unto sin and the world but a new life unto righteousness and unto God The man dies to all things here below that are sinful vain and transitory and lives unto things above Nay which is the most to be admired in him is this that a Saints life is not only cross and contrary to the life and conversation of wicked and ungodly men but ever when others are worst then he labours to be best Thee have I seen righteous saith God to Noah I the worse they grow the better he labours to be like the glow-worm that shines brightest in a dark night Then Daniel opened his window when Prayer to the true God was decried and by the most restrained Then did Elijah plead for God when almost the whole Nation were for Baal and Baals Prophets were 450 here was great odds between them and yet the Prophets holy zeal carried him through his undertaking until he saw a good success thereof Holiness of heart and life hath ever carried away the Bell and Crown at last And therefore well might the Psalmist say in our Text Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace The end of his actings and the end of his life is peace And that leads me to a 5. Demonstration of the excellency and admirableness of a godly man and is the second part of the Text viz. The motive or argument wherewith the Psalmist presseth and urgeth his exhortation and holy injunction Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace The finis cui the end for which he is set is for Peace And the finis cujus his end and winding up is Peace Arias Montanus renders it The last to the man is peace 'T is true he meets with many a brush by the way in the world Saints shall have trouble on every side none meets with so many all winds blow cross to him at one time or another Sin Satan and the World he is their But and Mark at which they level all their poisonous and deadly Arrows If an Heathen could say Nos fuimus Troes agitamur ventis What may not a Saint say in this respect Surely as the Prophet Esay 54.12 I am afflicted tossed with a tempest and not comforted Or as the Apostle St. Paul Without were fightings within were fears Or as the Church Psal 128.3 The plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows I but still mark and behold him in all this look not only to his setting out but to his Journeys end for though he sails through rough and rugged waves and is oft in danger of splitting upon Soul-ruining Rocks or sticking in the Sands yet at last he arrives at the Haven of Rest The end of that man is peace And it must needs be so for as Christ hath forewarn'd him of the one so he hath assured him of the other John 16.33 In the world you shall have trouble but in me ye shall have peace If they han't it in this life yet they shall not miss of it in the life to come The end of those men is peace The best Wine is reserved for the last and the Crown for the Conquest 'T is very true that Grace is given to men here in this life or else 't is never given I but 't is as true that if Peace be denied to a gracious Soul in this life yet it shall not be denied to her in the life to come Esay 32.17 Though the Soul sows in tears all the time of her abode in the body yet she shall reap in joy when she hath got her freedom from that prison Below she may haply spend her daies in mourning but above she shall spend an eternity in singing and rejoycing Here she mourns and sighs and cries because she is no better but there she shall rejoyce and sing because she is so well And indeed the word Peace is of large extent it comprehends all the desires of the Soul of man even felicity and happiness to the utmost And therefore the ancient Salutation of the Jews was Peace for that is the most desirable thing Heaven would be no Heaven if there were no Peace enjoyable there And Hell would be no Hell if Peace were enjoyable there Give a man true and solid Peace and you give him Heaven take Peace from him and he is in Hell Holiness and Wickedness divides the World and Peace and Trouble divides the states of men in the world To the wicked God saith There is no Peace to the godly he saith The end is Peace For 1. Then he is above all danger above the power of Sin the malice of Men and the rage of Hell He hath nothing to trouble or disquiet him no temptations from without nor from within he is now sinless and therefore sorrowless A godly man goes free into Heaven and there enjoyes the utmost freedom 2. Then he is at his Center and there enjoyes Rest and therefore Peace God is the proper Center of the Soul And therefore as the ancient Father hath it we are not at rest until we come to God I but when we come to God then we are at rest for then we are in our proper Sphear In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore I joy without sorrow and pleasure without pain I and such a fulness as puts an end to all anxious and painful desires for in God the Soul enjoyes full and perfect satisfaction without any glut When I awake saith the Psalmist I shall be satisfied with thy likeness And when the Appetite is satisfied and the Belly filled we say the Bones are at rest Sure I am when the Soul is full she is at rest here she is in motion travelling from Duty to Duty and from Ordinance to Ordinance and from Scripture to Scripture and all to get something of God whom she loves and after whom she breaths but in Heaven she is at rest for there she is filled with all the fulness of God God is the All of a gracious Soul here and there he will be all in all to her and all in her The lines of his glory will be compleatly drawn upon her then and she swallowed up in divine embraces without the least
will suffer me to do is to hand out a coal from the Text and to convey a quickning beam from the Sun of truth that shines therein 'T is this Be righteous in your Sphear and temperate in your Spirits and actings for there is a future Judgement wherein God will call you to an account 'T is reported of Augustus that he enforced all the Roman Knights to give an account of their lives sure I am God will We must all saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 appear before the judgement-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the body Mark this we must all appear for no man is either above or past Judgement No! They that sit in Judgement upon others must come to Judgement And they that take an account must give an account and they that pass the sentence of Judgement upon others here must receive a Sentence themselves above for with God there is no respect of persons in Judgement All men of what degree and rank soever will be divided into two sorts Sheep and Goats with a venite benedicti to the one and an ite maledicti to the other If the former be your Sentence then you shall enter into your Masters joy but if the latter then nothing but horrour and trembling weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in that lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever And therefore I shall say to all here present as the Apostle doth 2 Corinths 5.11 Knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men to flee from the wrath to come For neither Riches nor Honours nor Garments No! nor Mountains can shelter or profit you in that day Nothing but righteousness will deliver from death and without question it was the apprehension and belief of this that made guilty Felix tremble or as the Syrian hath it fill'd him with fear As the earth fill'd with vapours trembles and quakes so this made an earth quake in his conscience as the Hand-writing upon the wall did in carousing Belshazzars a sign that Fear was in its height and reing The sinners in Sion are afraid saith the Prophet Esay 33.14 fearfulness hath surprized the hypocrite and why so Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings For I can assure you that Hell is no painted Fire nor like the crackling of thorns under a pot that make a blaze but is soon extinct No! the element of Fire is but a dark and shadowy resemblance of Hell-fire For as it is far more tormenting so it is everlasting and that adds to the misery of that Soul that must endure it Oh when the Soul must be alwayes suffering and yet never satisfie and alwayes dying and yet never die this must needs be intolerable And therefore I do most humbly beseech all guilty persons to consider this and seriously to lay it to heart that you may tremble so here as not to tremble hereafter and so to repent here as you may not repent when it is too late And in particular give me leave to make my address to all you that are concern'd in the work of the day And I do as earnestly beg it of you that no cause may be pleaded at either of the Bars here but that which may have an Advocate in the Judgement to come and that those things and nothing else may be Presented and Endicted but what will be presentable in the Judgement to come and that if possible no Bill may be found but that which will be found to be a Billa vera in the Judgement to come And that none of you do take an Oath but that which will appear to have been taken in Truth Judgement and Righteousness in the Judgement to come And last of all that no Evidence be given either in Civil or Criminal causes but such as will have the testimony of a good Conscience in the Judgement to come For else even in this life when a Lecture shall be read to you of Righteousness Temperance and Judgement to come you may be brought to tremble for so was Felix As you have it in the Text As S. Paul reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Judgement to come Felix trembled FINIS THE MOST Remarkable Man UPON EARTH Or the true Portraicture OF A SAINT As to his Birth Life and Death Delivered in a Sermon at the Celebration of the Funeral of Mr. Francis Bowtel of Parham in High Suffolk Jan. 14. 1668. By Samuel Blackerby Minister of the Gospel at Stow Market LONDON Printed for Nevil Simons at the Princes Arms in S. Paul's Church Yard 1674. To the truly Honoured Barnaby Bowtel Of Parham Hasta Esq With Madam MAGDALEN his Lady Grace and Peace THe preaching of the Sermon which I here present you with and the choice of the Text preached on at the Funeral of Mr. Francis Bowtel your deceased Father were as you inform me his dying Requests and conceived in his Breast some time before But had the choice of the Preacher and the Text been left to me I should have chosen a Newcomen or an Harris for the Preacher And know you not that a great man is fallen this day in Israel for the Text. The Task was so much the harder and more difficult for me to undertake because confined to so little time at so great a distance in the depth of Winter in a croud of Business and also having never preached on the Text before But verba morientis his Desires were as Commands to me and therefore since it was as it was I must humbly beg of you to receive the Sermon as it is without emendation or correction The Reason why I refused to print it when desired by one or both of you was because then I was utterly averse to that work but now being drawn thereunto I cannot but account my self obliged to conjoyn this with some others that I may lie no longer under the censure of Ingratitude and also that the memory of so worthy and remarkable a Person may be revived and perpetuated I know that Funeral Sermons are mostly made but matters of form and men come to them as to a great Feast The first course wherein God is most concern'd is lightly passed over The second wherein Man is represented is commonly most expected and stood upon but herein I was prevented and 't is like did frustrate the expectation of my Auditors partly by reason of my short acquaintance with him and partly that I might not give an alarm to my own people at home and provoke their Spirits to accuse me of partiality in serving them up with the first without the second even at the Funerals of some persons of great worth for true Piety and Godliness And yet I hope without offence I may take liberty to write that of him now which I did not then speak As to his natural Pedigree I shall not concern my self nor the Reader with it for his spiritual is chiefly in mine
eye as that which speaks him to be one of the remarkable men in the Text whilst living and dying for those that knew him better then my self cannot but say this of him that he was a Perfect and an Vpright man He had the external form of Godliness and a name to live for as he was a constant attendant upon publick Ordinances of Divine Worship where he could enjoy them and whilst in health and strength so his Gesture and Behaviour therein was reverent and decent suited to their nature and kind His Speech was seasoned with Salt that it might administer Grace to the Hearer Yea as I have been informed when he went forth to take an oversight of Servants and Day-Labourers or when he met with poor people in his way he would be speaking to them of the things of God and that which concerned their eternal peace A rare Practice in a Gentleman As to the Education of his Children and bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord I hope that the sobriety temperance and gracefulness of yours Dear Sir and your Sisters Lives are the genuine fruits thereof and yet this is not all For to the outward form without question there was the inward power He was nobly descended being born again not of Bloud nor of the will of the Flesh nor of the will of Man but of God Yea stampt with the Divine Image made partaker of the Divine Nature and richly adorned and beautified with the gifts and graces of Gods holy Spirit So that he did not act meerly from external motives but from internal principles that could not be hid and hence it was that he was filled with the fruits of Righteousness and like a Tree planted by the Rivers of water bringing forth his fruit in due season Or rather a Tree planted in the House of the Lord and flourishing in the Courts of our God still bringing forth fruit in old age so that his Gray Hairs were a Crown of Glory to him being found in the way of Righteousness He lived about ninety six years a natural life began the very day of his Death in Sabbath-work and finished the work of his Natural Life with the ending of the day and so went to his eternal rest in the bosom of his dear Jesus he lay down and slept in the Lord. But as he did not live though he lived long undesired so he did not dye unlamented witness the Throng and Concourse of serious Christians that accompanied his Corps to the Church where his Body was interr'd and laid to rest and that in sharp weather in a bitter Evening with a silent and grave deportment as true Spiritual Mournerrs are wont to do at the Funeral of some eminent and remarkable man Leves loquuntur ingentes stupent Honoured My design is not to renew your grief on the one hand nor to flatter you on the other but to be your Remembrancer and to put you in mind of those things which you know and are well assured of being Eye and Ear-witnesses thereof that you may be stirred up to make a right use of his holy Example and Copy which he left behind him and with you in particular to imitate and write after So shall you approve your selves to be of the number of the remarkable ones on the Earth and your End shall be in Peace I have nothing more to add but that I am Your very humble Servant Samuel Blackerby Stow-Market Decemb 2. 1673. Psal 37.37 Mark the Perfect man and behold the Vpright for the end of that man is peace COsmographers divide the inhabitable world into sundry and many parts and tell us that of those many the fewest are those that own the Christian Religion or the name of a Christ but alass how few of these are the men we find in my Text perfect and upright men the heap of chaff is far greater than the wheat and the number of Bristol or pebbles stones far greater then of Pearls and Diamonds Christs flock is a very little little flock as the Greek expresseth it Luk. 12.32 Many are called but few are chosen Matth. 20.16 Cast out the grosly ignorant the practical Atheist the debauched and prophane such as have made a covenant with death and are at an agreement with hell that can drink and whore swear and blaspheme the Sacred Name of God prophane his Sabbaths contemn his Ordinances cast his Law behind their backs and hate to be accounted serious in Religion least they should bear the odious title of Phanaticks I say cast out all these walking dunghils and monstrous miscreants what a small number will be left behind that have any colour or appearance of reason to account themselves of the number of those that are deciphered and characterized in my Text I but then cast out all hypocrites such as have a name to live and yet are dead such as have the form of godliness and yet deny the power thereof such as have their lamps of profession but are destitute of the oyl of saving grace Why then perhaps you will be at a stand and ready to say we scarce know where to find these heaven may be full of such but the earth bears but a few of them if any Herb-a-grace is very scarce and 't is very true such as these are very rare there are but a very very few of perfect and upright ones but where ever they are they ought to be marked and observed for so saith the Psalmist in my Text Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace In which words we have two considerables 1. A double duty enjoyned Mark the perfect man and behold the upright 2. A reason or motive to enforce the double duty For the end of that man is peace First Here is a double duty enjoyned Wherein you have 1. The Subject Matter or Act. 2. The Object 1. The Subject Matter or Act Mark and behold 2. The Object The perfect man and the upright First Here is the Subject Matter or Act. 1. To Mark. 2. To Behold 1. To Mark The Hebrew word Shamar in its Primitive signification signifies to keep or preserve one from danger And therefore a Noun coming from this Verb signifies a watch-tower a place to descry a danger for prevention of it Now because it is the duty of a watch-man that is set in a watch-tower to observe all commers and goers enemies as well as friends I and to be very diligent and accurate in his observation of them Therefore I conceive the Holy Ghost is pleased to make use of this word here in our Text For such a kind of observation we ought to make of the perfect and upright man that a watchman should of all commers and goers near the watch-tower We should be very accute herein as of a matter of great concern a slight thought of him is not sufficient No! we should take special notice of him as a person most remarkable
from his sense as well as from faith This you have in the Text My flesh and my heart faileth me but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever q. d. I now find it to be true by mine own experience I can give a particular demonstration thereof God was good to me I was in a languishing sinking condition my strength gone and my life almost gone the pains of death and the sorrows of hell took hold on me that I was giving up all my hopes for lost And then God appeared to me and revived and strengthened my heart My case was very sad and now 't is as comfortable My hell is turned into an heaven of joy and comfort So that in the words you have a two fold experiment brought in to demonstrate one precious truth That God is good to Israel that is the truth 1. The first experiment is the Prophets malady 2. The latter is the Prophets relief The first is brought in to grandize and heighten the other Had not the Prophets malady been so desperate his relief had not appeared so glorious The worse the Prophets state was the more was Gods goodness seen in his relief and help Let us therefore take a further Surveigh of both First of the malady and therein consider 1. The nature or kind of it failing 2. The Subject wherein it was seated both in the flesh and in the heart Failing of the flesh notes out a consumption of the outward man or a loss of external supports So we find flesh taken in Scripture both properly for the outward man or the body of man when the strength thereof abates and departs the bulk or quantity thereof lessens or the beauty and glory thereof fades and also Metaphorically for the loss of external priviledges So Phil. 3 4 Flesh is taken for all external advantages These may fail Failing of the Heart notes out a sinking or dying When 1. The faculties of the soul sink and cannot perform their due offices either by way of apprehension election or retention 2. When the infused or acquired habits of the heart are indisposed to act or are weakened not only our moral but our Spiritual habits much abate 3. When the Animal spirits are expiring and even breathing forth This seems to be the Prophets disease and malady he was brought very low even to the very pit ready to die soul and body failed all his powers weakened When the body is smitten it flies for succour to the heart the spirit of a man will sustein his infirmities but when the heart is smitten also and that fails him too the man is done then he can afford himself no relief Die he must and will if God comes not in When communicated strength fails 't is time for the man to look abroad and seek for strength in God or else he sinks and never riseth more Secondly This is the Prophets relief God comes in and fetcheth life again reinsouls him communicates a new supply of strength to him sets him upon his feet again this makes him to say as you have it in the Text But is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rock of my heart In which words we may take notice of five things 1. The order inverted When he mentions his malady he begins with the failing of the flesh and then of the heart but when he reports the relief he begins with that of the heart From hence Observe That when God works a cure in man out of love he begins with the heart he cures that first And there may be these reasons for it 1. Because the sin of the heart is often the procuring cause of the malady of body and soul 2. The body ever fares the better for the soul but not the soul for the body 3. The cure of the soul is the principal cure 2. The suitableness of the remedy to the malady Strength of heart for failing of heart and a blessed portion for the failing of the flesh Obs That there is a proportionate remedy and relief in God for all maladies and afflictions whatsoever both within and without If your hearts fail you God is strength if your flesh fails you or comforts fail you God is a portion 3. The Prophets interest he calls God his strength and his portion Obs That true Israelites have an undoubted interest in God He is theirs 4. The Prophet's experience in the worst time He finds this to be true that when communicated strength fails there is a never failing strength in God Obs That Christians experiences of Gods all-sufficiency are then fullest and highest when created comforts fail them 5. Here is the Prophet's emprovement of his experience for support and comfort against future trials and temptations Obs That a Saints consideration of his experience of Gods all sufficiency in times of Exigency is enough to bear up and to fortifie his spirit against all trials and temptations for the time to come Thus you may emprove the Text by way of Observation But there are two principal Doctrines to be insisted on First That God is the Rock of a Saints heart his strength and his portion for ever Secondly That Divine influence and relief passeth from God to his people when they stand in most need thereof First God is the rock of a Saints heart strength and portion for ever Here are two members or branches in this Doctrine 1. That God is the rock of a Saints heart strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. That God is the portion of a Saint Branch 1. God is the rock of a Saints heart strength He is not only strength and the strength of their hearts but the rock of their strength so Esay 17.10 Psal 62.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word that is used in the Text from hence comes our English word sure Explic. God is the rock of our strength both in respect of our naturals and also of spirituals he is the strength of nature and of grace Psal 27.1 the strength of my life natural and spiritual God is the strength of thy natural faculties of reason and understanding of wisdom and prudence of will and affections He is the strength of all thy graces faith patience meekness temperance hope and charity both as to their being and exercise He is the strength of all thy comfort and courage peace and happiness salvation and glory Psal 140.7 O God the rock of my Salvation In three respects First he is the Author and giver of all strength Psal 18.2 It is God that girdeth me with strength Psal 29.11 he will give strength to his people Psal 138.3 Psal 68.35 Secondly He is the increaser and perfecter of a Saints strength it is God that makes a Saint strong and mighty both to do and suffer to bear and forbear to believe and to hope to the end so Heb. 11.34 Out of weakness they were made strong so 1 Joh. 2.14 And
good man in a consumptive condition to consume waste and destroy that body of death that he carries about him Bodily weakness and sickness sanctified is purgative that as the body wasts and consumes so sin wasts and consumes for God will not suffer sin to outlive a Saint sin shall not enter into heaven with a Saint for that would marr his joy there as well as here And therefore God first purges that out before the soul can enter in corruption cannot inherit incorruption though God doth crown the grace of a Saint with glory yet he will not crown the sin and corruption of a Saint with glory Heaven is an holy and glorious place and will not hold any but holy and pure ones 't is the pure in heart that shall see God Heaven is a place for none but triumphants for such as have fought the good fight of faith and won the field and conquered Sin Satan and the World and put them to flight I but here a Christian is militant and must encounter these three potent Adversaries let him but worst these and then he will not fear Death though it be the King of terrors and rereserved for the last In this now the power of grace is clearly seen for that directs the Arrow that Death shoots at the outward man that it shall strike through the very heart of Sin Satan and the World that these shall be dead to him as well as he dead to them No sooner doth a good man feel a wound in his body but if sanctified if grace flows in sin is wounded also that lies a bleeding in him This is that which makes the children of God to rejoice in bodily weakness and insirmities because when sanctified through grace it is a means to weaken the power of sin in them For a true Christian bears an unfeigned and implacable hatred against Sin and therefore like to Sampson can be content that the house may be plucked upon his own head that his enemy Sin may die with him It is with the body spiritual as in the body natural there are some Diseases that must be starved out so long as the body is pampered the disease is nourished it must be brought very low or there will be no cure 'T is so with the body spiritual there are some sins in good men that must be starv'd out So long as there is strength in the outward man they will be stirring and active God therefore is pleased to bring the Body low that the Soul may get mastery and power over them Or like to some Rebels in a Castle that will never yield as long as any Provision is left 'T is so with Sin it will not yield as long as corrupted Nature yields any Provision to it And hence it is that sickly and weakly Christians are the most mortified Christians 4. When a good man is in a consumptive condition and begins to put one foot in the grave it pleaseth God to give in such clear evidence of his love to him and so full an assurance of his interest in eternal life that he even longs for a dissolution He was a child of Grace and an Heir before but now God makes him an Heir apparent Now so clear a light shines into his Soul as doth manifest his adoption and Sonship so that he can cry Abba Father which he could not do before I deny not but a true child of God may die in a cloud and not fee the light of life untill it comes in Heaven I but it is not alwaies thus but sometimes God is pleased to reveal his well pleased face to the Soul at the last and not before that she can say He is come he is come Some Christians are like to Swans that never sing but a little before their death their comforts and joyes come in at the last The Holy Ghost is the Guardian of a Christians comforts and sometimes he deals with them as a Guardian doth with an Heir who is committed to his trust When the Heir is come to age and is to enter upon his Estate then the Guardian gives him in his Evidences to preserve and keep himself Even so sometimes when a Christian is to enter upon the Inheritance of Eternal Life the Holy Ghost throws him in Evidences for it that he may carry them along with him thither 'T is true 't is the duty of all Christians to give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure but some are fain to wait a long time before they can attain to this comfort and then when they are leaving Earth they have a glimpse of Heaven When their earthly house of this tabernacle is crumbling down upon their heads then God shews them his Building An House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens and this is a gratious relief to a dying Christian for it is a beginning of Heaven to have a sight of Heaven it is comfort enough to have an assurance and evidence of these unspeakable joyes into which the Soul e're long shall enter The Soul may then say as he said when he lay upon his death-bed putting his hand to his heart Hic sat lucis Here is light enough This is that which makes sicknes and weakness so sweet to a Christian For though the Rod smarts yet he tastes Honey at the end of it that opens his eyes as it did the eyes of Jonathan to see the salvation of God It is a most soveraign antidote against the sting of death that it can't kill or destroy the Soul although it doth the Body No messenger is more welcome than this that comes to call him home 5. In all the weakness and consumptive condition of a good man God doth act the part of a tender-hearted Nurse to him and doth tend him even as a Nurse doth a bed-rid person who is committed to her care and is not this much Surely he shall be admirably well lookt to whom God tends Now that God doth thus is clear Ps 41.3 The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness The Hebrew signifies to turn and so Arias Montanus renders it As Bed-makers use to turn and toss the Bed to and fro that it it may be easie and soft to lie upon so doth God deal with a good man when he layes him upon the bed of languishing he mitigates and moderates the affliction that it may not be so painful and terrible to him as else it would be No Nurse can do that for a sick and weak person that God can and doth for a good man When a Nurse hath turn'd the Bed and made it as soft as she can that the sick man finds a little ease and refreshment yet the Bed will quickly grow hard again and the man as weary of it as before But when God comes to make the Bed in our sickness he moderates the pain and gives rest to the bones Many a time when those that
if I had not been undone The issue is good although the means seem never so cross This is excellently set forth under a type Ezek. 1.16 And their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel i. e. very cross and intangled one in another one goes one way and another goes another way and yet all perform one and the same work Thus is the providence of God it is often very cross and complexed it works by cross and intangled means yet carries on one glorious design All these cross ways and means work together as the Apostle saith for the good of them that love God Rom. 8.28 2. When a Christian is most in the dark yet he shall not want a secret though insensible conduct of Gods Holy Spirit that shall secure him from ruine in his way It is a notable relief to a blind man to have a sure guide God is a sure guide to a good man when he is unable to direct himself Alass no man is able to guide himself without the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit So Jer. 10.23 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Why how then shall he escape ruine and destruction when so many snares and rocks are in his way See that Psal 37.23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. God goeth along with a good man and orders him in every step he takes though we cannot see a step of our way yet if we take God with us he will direct us I will guide thee with mine eye Psal 32.8 His eye is open upon the righteous and he will guide them in the right way even then when they cannot see their way before them and therefore is that counsel of Solomon In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Prov. 3.5 6. As God orders the steps of a good man so he orders the ways of a good man It may be thou art apt to walk in one way and God will put thee into another where thou shalt find the greatest comfort and peace we never walk so safely as when God takes the sole care of us When Abraham followed God in the darkness of sense and reason not knowing whither he went his course was never better steered and oftentimes we do best when we know not what to do when we are at the greatest stand our reason darkned and our spirits perplexed and all the ways we can imagine of true peace and comfort block'd up and we know not where to set one foot forward then God comes and takes us by the hand and leads us into such a way as we dream't not of where our desired peace and comfort is prepared for us There is an excellent promise for this purpose Esay 35.8 And an high way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for those the way faring men though fools shall not erre therein Observe first God makes out a way for good men to walk in an high way Via Regia the Kings way the way of God an holy way or the way of holiness sin and wickedness is not Gods way Secondly fools shall not erre therein i. e. the people of God sometimes are much in the dark and know not what to do in a particular case I but yet they shall be guided that they shall not loose their way but how shall they be guided Why God will be with them and so that passage may be read for he shall be with them In our translation it is rendered but it shall be for those but it may be read thus but he i. e. God shall be to them or with them to conduct and guide them in their way How many Christians have cause to bless God and say I could never have found the way to peace and comfort had not God been my guide This very experience brought the Prophet to that confidence for the future As you may see in the second verses before my Text Psa 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory 3. When a Christian is in the dark God is so far the strength of his heart that he can wait for light When they know not what to do nor what to think yet they can wait for light they are expectants And now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee saith David Psal 39.7 My soul waiteth for the Lord more then they that watch for the morning Psal 130 7. As a man that hath a long journey to go upon very great and important business how doth he watch for the morning because the darkness of the night suspends his motion I but David waited more for the Lord then a traveller watcheth for the morning or as the words may be read as they that watch unto the morning and so he makes a comparison between himself and watchmen i. e. There is no watchman doth more observe and wait for the breaking forth of the light of the day then I do wait for the Lord. And this is a blessed relief to the soul to be put into a waiting posture When the soul knows not what to do yet it can wait for light Not like Saul And why should I wait for the Lord any longer But as David I waited patiently for the Lord Psal 40.1 Though a good heart will not let God wait long No nor at all willingly for obedience yet he is willing to wait as long as God seeth good for light to guide him in his obedience loath is a gratious heart to miscarry in his work or to tread awry or step out of Gods way and therefore he will wait for light glad would he be of one beam of light to clear up his spiritual state to him I but he knows that Gods time is the best It is sad to him to be in the dark yet he knows that none can scatter the cloud that overspreads him but God and therefore he concludes with the Prophet It is good both to wait and to hope in the Lord. 4. Though a good man may be in the dark yet God will not always leave him in the dark Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness Psal 112.4 Oftentimes when they least expect it then it ariseth as the night is darkest a little before the day breaks so when the thickest cloud hath overspread the soul then God causeth light to spring forth Even as it was with Saint Paul in another case 2 Corinth 1.8 10. We were pressed out of measure above strength insomuch that we despaired of life but we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in the living God who delivered us from so great a death When his condition was at the heighth when nothing could help or relieve
be able to withstand a temptation then he saw the uncleanness of his heart and therefore cried to God to wash him and cleanse him and it is as if he had said Lord I see now what a filthy and unclean Spirit dwelleth in me Lord do thou purge it out and cleanse me from it If any one had gone to David and told him that at such a time he should be overcome by such a temptation and commit two great sins he would hardly have believed that his heart had been so bad But after wards his expeperience taught him 2. Hereby God teacheth the Soul where its strength lieth and on whom its grace depends The decay of grace shews that the strength thereof is not in man nor in grace it self but like the Vine it must have a supporter Grace can't live nor thrive without constant influences I but good men are too apt to depend upon their grace and not to go to him for strength in whom it lies Now when a Christian feels the decay of his grace and his own insufficiency to relieve and strengthen it this drives him out of himself to Christ This is one main difference between the total want of grace and a sense of decay in grace The total want of grace drives men from Christ but a sense of the decay of grace drives men to Christ So it did David his weakness brought him upon his knees 3. The falls of Christians through the weakness of grace and the power of sin are made notable antidotes and preservatives against final Apostasie For as there is nothing that estrangeth the heart from God as spiritual pride and self-confidence so nothing keeps the heart so close to God as a filial fear of offending God So you may see Jer. 32.40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me This is that which hemms in the Soul that it cannot go astray Now the falls of Christians provoke and draw forth this filial fear into act The burnt child dreads the fire and he that hath been stung with a Serpent will shun his hole so it is here None so fearful of falling into sin as they that have fallen None so wary and watchful none so resolute and stout against temptations and occasions of sin as those who have been at a time overcome 4. These falls and decayes are like mighty winds to the Oak that settles him faster and make him root deeper in Christ As the more the Oak is shaken if it falls not the faster and deeper it is rooted in the earth So when a Christian hath been shaken with the winds of temptations and corruptions the faster hold he layeth upon Christ and the deeper he is rooted in him For 1. His experience of Christ's faithfulness in keeping him from falling finally and totally strengthens his faith in Christ 2. His experience of Christ's pardoning love knits and unites his heart close to Christ First His experience of Christ's faithfulness in keeping him from falling totally and finally strengthens his faith in Christ As 't is a notable trial of Christ's faithfulness to keep Saints from falling away finally when they fall souly so experience of Christ's faithfulness is a notable strengthener of a Christians faith in Christ They that know thy name will put their trust in thee saith David Psal 9.10 A friend that keeps close to a man in time of need may well be trusted Even so 't is here Christ keeps close to a Christian even at that time when he deserves to be cast off and is both a shame and a grief to Christ Surely the experience hereof must needs be a great incouragement to a Christian to trust him for ever He seeth that Christs strength never fails although his own strength fail He seeth that there is grace enough in Christ to support him in the weakest condition and to raise him up when he is at the lowest Nay further he finds this strength put forth upon him according to the word of promise and though he is unbelieving yet Christ abides faithful to him And therefore he cannot but conclude from hence that Christ will be his strength for ever and will never fail him Secondly A Christians experience of the fulness and continuance of Christs pardoning love knits and unites his soul faster to Christ then ever this doth endear Christ to the soul exceedingly tryed love is an endearing love and if any thing will draw out the souls affections unto Christ and confirm them against all future assaults it is the renewing of pardons upon the renewal of offences When the soul shall hear Christ say as he doth Esay 43.24 25. Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities I am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake and will remember thy sins no more I say when the soul shall hear this it must needs be deeply affected herewith What! Will the Lord be gratious to such a vile wretch as I am Will he pardon a backslider Will he forgive the sin of one that hath made him to serve with his sin and wearied him with iniquities O here is wonderful love this is transcendent love and shall not I love him that hath loved me thus Yet Lord thou knowest that I love thee 't is true I have backslidden and grievously offended but I will do so no more Thus God sometimes doth the soul much good by that which in it self doth him the greatest hurt as pain easeth a Christian death revives him dissolution unites him so corruption clarifies him and this is a most gratious relief But before I leave this particular I must enter four cautions 1. That no man take up the better opinion of sin hereby for as darkness is nevertheless an evil though God bring light out of darkness so sin is nevertheless an evil though God is pleased to bring good out of it Poison is destructive although a Physician can so correct it as to make it medicinal and so is sin and the better opinion thou hast of sin the more evil and mortal it will be to thee 2. Take heed of lying in sin with hopes of a relief from God watch against it pray against it that thou mayest not be overcome of it but however if thou art overcome by a temptation if Satan hath tript up thy heels get upon thy feet again assoon as possibly thou canst if thou fallest with Peter weep with Peter and labour to find as much bitterness in sin as thou hast found of a seeming pleasure in it Remember this that more have fallen into sin with hopes of rising again then have risen after they have fallen Many sin with Peter but few repent with him
3. Labour to prevent decays in grace It is easier to keep health then to recover it And it is easier to maintain grace in strength and vigour then to recover any degree of grace when 't is lost Though it be Gods goodness to restore grace yet it is your duty to prevent the loss thereof 4. Watch the first decay of grace least it grow to a total consumption of all observe the least flagging of faith and love when it comes to a trial a little grace may serve to repair a little decay but thou wilt stand in need of much to repair a great decay and therefore as soon as grace begins to fail do thou begin to repair O ply the throne of grace for strengthening influences least thy weakness prove dangerous and desperate however do not abuse relieving grace by a present security 3. The third particular failing of the heart is the failing of Animal spirits that the man is ready to fall into a swoon or the soul just taking its flight from the body and leaving its old habitation So the Church complains Cant. 5.6 My soul failed Arias Montanus renders it My soul went forth And this made David cry out Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit faileth I am like them that go down into the pit David was a man ful of spirit and yet he was at this time as if he had had no spirit As 't is said of Nabal his heart died within him and became as a stone 1 Sam. 25.87 And thus it may be with a good man at some time and that in these cases 1. When hope is deserr'd and expectation disappointed Hope deferr'd saith Solomon makes the bea rt sick Prov. 13.12 i. e. When the thing hoped for is deferr'd a mans heart is set upon a thing and he hopes for the obtaining it and he waits and waits and yet it comes not this makes the heart sick but if his expectation be disappointed then his spirit dies It often falls out that mans time and Gods time are not the same Man sets a time to himself and thinks thus at such a time such a mercy and such a good will come in I but Gods time may be long after Now when he seeth that still he must wait and yet the mercy comes not his heart fails his spirit sinks 2. When God hides his face from the soul and she can't see it This was Davids case Psal 143.7 My spirit faileth hide not thy face from me least I be like unto them that go down into the pit i. e. The hiding of thy face will quite kill my spirits As the light of Gods countenance is the life of the soul so the hiding of Gods countenance is its death No sooner doth God depart from a good man but his soul is ready to depart So it was with the Church Cant. 5.6 I opened to my beloved but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no answer 3. When the soul is wounded with the sense of sin and of Gods displeasure for sin the burden and pain is intolerable and then the spirit sinks As nothing sinks the spirit so much as sorrow and grief So no grief is so heavy upon the soul as grief for sin and the sense of Gods wrath You have a notable passage for this Job 6.4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drink up my spirits An arrow is a deadly Engine so called in Hebrew from its effect cutting or wounding and God sometimes shoots an arrow which pierceth into the soul cuts and wounds it yea sometimes he shoots a poisoned dart and that drinks up the spirit i. e. it kills the spirit Even as a great fire drinks up a little water that is thrown upon it So Gods wrath drinks up the spirit it leaves no spirit in the heart of a man 4. A sudden passion of fear makes the heart to fail So Luke 21.26 Mens hearts failing them for fear Fear when it is excessive dispirits a man When Josephs brethren found their money in their sacks it is said their hearts failed them and why for they were afraid Gen. 42.28 5. Some strong temptation of Satan may make the heart to fail especially if grace be weak Satans assaults sometimes are very violent they come upon the heart with great power like a mighty torrent that overwhelms and sinks the spirit Thus Luther was assaulted by him His temptation was so strong that it seemed to him as if the swelling surges of the Sea did sound aloud at his left ear and that so violently that die he must except they presently grew calm afterwards when the noise came within his head he fell down as one dead and was so cold in each part that he had remaining neither heat nor blood nor sense nor voice and thus it hath been with others The temptations of Satan are sometimes so strong and violent upon the soul as to cause the Animal Spirits to fail These are the particular cases wherein God reveals and makes known the greatness of his strength for the relief of his people 1. When a mans heart fails him through a disappointment then there is a relief for him 1. By exchanging a mercy the soul hopes for one and God gives in a better and more desireable God deals not with his people as Laban dealt with Jacob instead of a fair and beautiful Rachel he put him off with a blear eyed Leah No! God doth the contrary it may be thou art set upon a blear-eyed Leah and God gives thee a fair Rachel My meaning is when the heart of a Christian is set upon and strongly carried out after a low and inferiour mercy and the soul is sick for want of it even ready to die God gives him an higher and more glorious mercy As God is often better to us then our desires so he is better to us then our hopes and when he disappoints our hopes he gives us a mercy that is beyond our hopes For God is no way tyed to the hopes of his people but onely to his word of promise and that he will perform in his own way and time Now sometimes the hope of a Christian may be falsely bottom'd and not rightly fixt on Gods word and then it is no wonder if we meet with a disappointment I but though God doth frustrate our expectation he will not break his word The promise of God doth not fail although we are apt to think it doth when our hope and expectation is disappointed The word of the Lord standeth sure even then when we are not sure that the thing we desire and hope for shall be granted to us and hence it comes that instead of the mercy we desire God gives us in that which he hath promised although not desired nor hoped for 2. God relieves the hearts of his people by giving in the
desired mercy when they are past all hope of it When the soul is at the very brink of despair then the mercy is given in to revive it and that is implied in those words of Solomon Prov. 13.12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life i. e. God may defer the mercy so long as to make the heart sick even unto death and then bestow iâ— upon the soul now when it cometh it is a tree of life an allusion to that tree that God planted in Paradise Gen. 2.9 A tree that was a symbole or sign of life as the Sacraments are of grace Now as the faith hope and comfort of a true Christian is fed nourished and revived by these external symbols signs so it is revived by the income of a desired mercy When the soul hath been languishing at the door of hope until it grows out of hope and is ready to perish then God throws in the mercy to revive and comfort it Nay further 3. God sometimes gives in the mercy in a way that is beyond all hope in a way that seems the most cross to the hopes of a Christian Sometimes God shuts up all the doors of hope and makes that to be the way of conveying mercy to us So God promised to his people of old Hos 2.15 The valley of Achor for a door of hope i. e. when they should be destitute of those means as might encourage them to hope and meet with the greatest difficulties and troubles that they could meet with then the desired mercy should be given Great crosses oftentimes make way for and usher in great mercies Now when mercy comes in unexpectedly and in a cross way it comes with the greater force and power upon the Soul to revive and comfort it Mercies that are common to the Soul do not make such a strong impression upon it as those that are either more special or come to the Soul in a singular and unexpected way Such mercies are very sweet and precious to the Soul 2. As there is relief for a good man in this case so when the heart fails through the hiding of Gods face And that I shall shew you briefly in three things 1. When a good man cannot see Gods face God speaks to him and gives him strength to seek his face When the Soul can't hear God yet sometimes she hears the voice of God So it was with David Psal 27.8 6. When thou saidst Seek my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seeek Hide not thy face from me put not thy servant away in anger God hid his face from David I but he did not shut up his lips David had the happiness to hear his voice though it was but from behind a curtain And this encouraged and drew forth his Soul to seek Gods face So when Christ withdrew himself from his Spouse that she knew not what was become of him she sought him but could not find him I but she heard his voice Cant. 5.6 And it is a great comfort to a good man to hear the voice of God when he cannot see the face of God Sometimes God speaks to the Soul by his word and sometimes by his works and thereby draws it forth to seek his face This is a notable sign that God is not wholly and eternally departed from us When God leaves a wicked man he doth not so much as speak to him he shall not hear from God unless it be by way of denouncing judgement against him But when he withdraws and hides his face from a good man he shall hear the voice of God though he cannot see his well pleased face God is desirous to see their face although he hides his own and therefore calls to them to come and seek his face Thou saidst Seek my face and this voice of God caused an eccho in David's Soul And I said Thy face Lord will I seek And this is one end of God in hiding his face from the Soul that hereby he may draw forth the desires of it after him As a mother sometimes turns her back upon the child to see wehther it will cry after her Even thus doth God and it is wonderful delightful to him to hear a Soul cry after him when he hath withdrawn himself and his face from it 2. Sometimes when a good man can't see the well-pleased face of God he feels the hand of God not the weight thereof to crush him down but the power and strength thereof to sustain and uphold him That which the Church had experience of in another case when she was sick of love Cant. 2.6 she did promise to her self in this case Cant. 8.3 His left hand should be under her head and his right hand should embrace her Christ puts forth both hands one for the head and another for the heart to keep the soul from death in this case 1. The left hand of Christ is put under the head to keep up and maintain a good opinion of him When the soul is full of inward trouble it is full of thoughts So Psal 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me Nay it is apt to have hard thoughts of God such as are unbecoming the dear children of so gratious a father We are apt to think that when God hides his face from us he hath forgotten to be gratious and in anger shut up his tender mercies from us that his mercy is clean for ever and that his promise fails for evermore that the Lord hath cast us off for ever and will be favourable no more To these and the like thoughts is a troubled soul very prone when God withdraws Now Christ to prevent these or to moderate them puts his hand under our head As the putting of ones hand under the head of a sick person is a great stay to it and affords it some ease that he may compose to rest so doth Christ deal with a soul that is sick and ready to die in the sense of Gods hiding his face from it He puts under his hand to keep the judgement right that it may maintain a good opinion of God and keep up good thoughts of him and this is a great ease to a good man for there is nothing afflicts the soul more then such hard thoughts of God they are a great torture and perplexity to the soul and when they are removed the mind finds great refreshment thereby 2. The right hand of Christ is put forth to embrace the soul As his left hand is under the head so his right hand doth embrace a good man and with this he stays the heart and keeps it from dying when the soul is going forth he stays it and keeps it in So saith David Psal 18.18 But the Lord was my stay The right hand of Divine Grace and strength doth compass the soul about and thereby keeps it from going forth and that is promised Psal 32.10