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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54840	An effectual prescription against the anguish of all diseases and against all other afflictions to which the nature of man is subject. Penn'd, and publish'd, and approv'd, from the author's experience of it: but more especially from the experience of very many much greater and better men, the latchet of whose shoes he is not worthy to untie.	Pierce, Thomas, 1622-1691.	1691 (1691)	Wing P2181A; ESTC R218982	12,546	28

with Good old Eli in all afflictions It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good and with King Hezekiah when Death it self is denounced to him Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken and with Iob embracing a Dunghil when reduced from all his Riches unto his Pot-sherd and his Boyles by God's Permission Tho' he kill me yet will I trust in him tho' he deprive me of all I have I will bless his Name Lastly he who can say with Christ Himself in sincerity when as brim-full of pain as his heart can hold Father not my Will but thy will be done he who thus is enabled not only to embrace but to choose the Will of God and even then whenit crosseth His he I may say in some sence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mortal God as the old Pythagoreans were wont to phrase it that is a meer Man with the Image and Superscription of God upon him a Man in God's Likeness wherein his first Parents were first created To sum up all in a word He who wills what God wills be it taken by the right handle and understood with a grain of Salt does make God's Will become his own He carves an happiness to himself by that conformity of his Will to the Will of God And his Conversation being incessantly in Heaven as St. Paul speaks to his Philippians he does in truth and without a figure enjoy an Heaven upon Earth too in antecessum And this I think in proper speaking is to Rejoyce evermore §. IX Thus I take my self to have proved St. Paul's Exhortative to be Rational which some sensual Apolausticks would gladly have to be Ridiculous 'T is an Exhortative to nothing but what is possible and lawful and highly laudable in its Attainment A Christian Duty recommended if not commanded to be done and in the Doing of which there is great Reward §. X. In the scope of this Text being thus explained our Apostle's three Generals may be particularly apply'd to our Rejoycing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always or evermore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every thing and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without cessation or intermission This is to Rejoyce with Ioy unspeakable 1 Pet. 1. 8. which is there also said to be full of glory because the Joy of a sedate and a quiet Conscience if it be in us is not only unexpressible by our selves but also unvaluable by others as the most Learned Dr. Hammond does well explain it So that here we may apply that Epiphonema of St. Paul Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable Gift However spoken by St. Paul in another Case namely that of Alms-giving which is indeed the Gift of God however express'd by and convey'd by the Hands of Men. And with a greater force of Reason may we apply it to our selves in case we are blessed with the Charisma of Rejoycing evermore in all conditions and events which either do or shall befall us whilst we are Sojourners here on Earth For an Ability to rejoyce evermore in this Sense must needs be one of those good and perfect Gifts which are said by St. Iames to be of a most Divine Extraction It is a Gift from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights And he may very well say who hath arrived at this Ability to Rejoyce evermore in all conditions and events 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every thing and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without cessation or interruption Thanks be to God for his unspeakable Gift §. XI Saint Iames in his first Chapter to the Iewish Christians of the Dispersion has several Instances of Inducement to our Rejoycing evermore and that especially in our afflictions My brethren count it all Ioy when ye fall into diverse temptations v. 2. of which the best of Annotators does make this Paraphrase Look upon it as the most blessed of all conditions that can befall you as the joyfullest thing imaginable that ye meet with afflictions and those of many sorts and kinds in your Christian course So the ninth and tenth Verses saith the most Learned Dr. Hammond cannot be better interpreted according to the sense than thus As glad as a poor man would be of being made rich so glad let the rich man be of his being brought low Let him be as well pleas'd and thank God as heartily for his being reduced to this low estate as any poor creature is apt to be of any great Dignity or Preferment Let the rich man look with joy on all the injuries and crosses that can befall him All which is imported by St. Iames in these words Let the rich man rejoyce in his being made low still 't is rejoycing in afflictions not at all in prosperity to which St. Iames does well excite us in all that passage of his first Chapter from the second to the tenth Verse See Dr. Hammond's Note on Matth. 9. d. §. XII But to anticipate and frustrate such Objections of the Flesh as will be naturally made by the Carnal-minded we must still carry in mind what I have already hinted in the beginning of my Discourse that the Joy we take in suffering for having done any thing well or in a chearful submission to God's Oeconomy in his Government of the World as he sees fit is not to be a meerly humane but Christian Joy It must be a Ioy in the holy Ghost as St. Paul fitly calls it or to express it with St. Peter a Ioy unspeakable and full of glory For 't is a poor Expression of Merriment which only flows from the Spleen and Midriff and only makes a Man look as if he were bitten with a Tarantula and many times is no more than Sardonick Laughter which being no deeper than the Face is consistent with a weeping or heavy Heart whereas the Rejoycing of a Christian which hath its warrant from Christ himself and its Festival from the Inside of Soul of Man is a solid and a severe and a serious thing a thing that is permanent and fixt It keeps a Man Company in his solitude and yields him Comfort in his Afflictions and reconciles his very pain with a secret Pleasure The Prophet Ieremie injoy'd it in Ionathan's Dungeon and Daniel in the Lions Den. It stuck to St. Peter upon his Cross and forsook not St. Paul in all his Sufferings whereof he gives a kind of Inventory in the Eleventh Chapter of his Second Epistle to the Corinthians In his labours more abundant in his stripes above measure in his very frequent Prisons in Deaths oft in perils of Waters in perils of Robbers in perils by his own Country-men in perils by the Heathen in perils in the City in perils in the Wilderness in perils by Sea in perils among false Brethren which were the worse perils of all in Weariness and painfulness in Watchings often in Hunger and Thirst in Fastings often in Cold and Nakedness In these and

all other distresses of every kind and in all degrees his Inward Joy did not forsake him his Peace of Conscience stuck closer to him than his Skin to his Flesh or his Flesh to his Bones for these his several Lictors had the power to take from him Five times was he scourged by the Lictors of the Iews and that without Mercy or Mitigation and with a Rod of three branches whereof each was of twisted whip-cord as Maimonides has informed us and so inflicted three stripes at every stroke He was thrice beaten with Rods that is with switches or wands by the Lictors of the Gentiles once he was stone without a Process by a tumultuous Rabble of Zealots and tho not unto Death yet which is worse he was left for dead Acts 14. 19. Three times at least he suffered Shipwrack A night and a day he was in the Deep that is in a Prison of the Propontis which was a most noisom and filthy pit which for its depth under ground was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the bottom of the Sea like that at Athens called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that at Syracuse called The Mineral In every one of these cases the Joy of St. Paul never forsook him but he pray'd without ceasing he rejoyced evermore and in every thing gave thanks Nor is it a wonder that he rejoyced in the things wherein he said he took pleasure For that he did so is plain 2 Cor. 12. 10. where when he said that he took pleasure in Infirmities he explain'd what he meant in the very next words by Reproches by Necessities by Persecutions by Distresses for Christ's sake These expresly were the things in which he said he took pleasure yea these were the things in which he boasted and in which he gloried v. 9. most gladly saith he will I glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me 'T was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and delight to bear about in his body the dying of the Lord Iesus In comparison with whom he reckoned all things but Dung and rejoyced to be reckoned himself as Dung as the Off-scowrings of the Earth for the sake of CHRIST He was glad to be thought worthy to suffer Shame for CHRIST'S sake §. XIII This is call'd with great Fitness The Rejoycing of a Man's hope Heb. 3. 6. because the Hope we have in God and our Relyance upon Him for the performance of his Promises in the most unlikely Times when all things round about us are most improsperous and adverse is the Ground and Foundation of all a Christian Man's Rejoycing and that as at all times so above all in Times of Tryal To which St. Paul does give witness in the fifth Chap. to the Romans from the second to the sixth Verse We rejoyce saith he in Hope of the Glory of God v. 2. and not only so But we glory in Tribulations v. 3. we are infinitely pleas'd with our present sufferings tho' not reduplicative for sufferings sake but as knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope v. 4. and Hope maketh not ashamed v. 5. But on the contrary thus hoping for the glory of God to be revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we boast we glory we rejoyce with exceeding Ioy and that because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the same Holy Ghost which is given unto us v. 5. Which is as if he should have said That however our afflictions are in their own nature tedious yet they exercise many Vertues as Faith and Patience and Perseverance which are all required of us and are deservedly to be shewn in the Cause of CHRIST Besides that Patience under Afflictions is absolutely necessary for the Tryal of our Sincerity of which we cannot well judge without a Tryal nor can we by Consequence without it have a safe Ground of Hope which being rightly grounded upon a Tryal and Proof of our Sincerity in our adherence to JESUS CHRIST and rightly objected on his Promises revealed to us in the Gospel can never prove a false or deceitful Hope nor can we possibly miscarry in our Dependance upon CHRIST for a full Performance For 't is not without sufficient Reason that God is called The God of Hope and that he is said to fill the Hearts of True Believers with all Ioy and peace in their Believing and that by the power of God the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. §. XIV This I take to be the meaning of that seeming Paradox as 't is a Paradox more than seeming to the Natural Man as Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we boast we glory we exceedingly rejoyce in our Tribulations and are wonderfully pleas'd with our present Sufferings as Dr. Hammond words it expresly and that for the Reason before recited in the Fifth to the Romans at the third fourth and fifth Verses §. XV. There is a parallel place in the 12 th Chapter to the Romans at the 12 th Verse both with That I now cited and with This of my Text to the Thessalonians where Rejoycing in hope is immediately followed with being Patient in Tribulation and continuing instant in Prayer Implying that That Religious Hope which makes us purifie our selves as St. Iohn describes it and is the Second of the Third Theological Graces which is inseparably connected with Faith and Charity is not only the Ground of Patience and Prayer to God with Perseverance but even of Ioy and Exultation in all the Crosses and Afflictions which can befall us and so is a Proof of our Ability whilst this Divine Hope is in us to obey the Exhortation and to perform the Christian Duty incumbent on us in my Text which is to Rejoyce evermore and in every thing to be thankfull §. XVI This is briefly That Ioy which takes up its Residence in a Man's Heart and there is established by his Conscience a Conscience as quiet as it is clean a Conscience void of Offence towards God and Man And this is that Peace of Conscience which Solomon calls A continual Feast Vicious Men may abound in a transient Iollity but are capable of no true Ioy their Laughing and Quaffing is in good earnest but their Disease which has a sting in the tail when there is Honey in the Mouth They may have Intervals and Truces but no true Peace They may indeed have a Callousness or a Searedness of Conscience but Peace of Conscience they have not they cannot have There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked Esaiah 57. 20. §. XVII He who is bless'd with this Ability to Rejoyce evermore will by consequence obey the two Exhortatives annext He will pray without ceasing and will in every thing give thanks He will not only give thanks for his State of Grace and his being Gods Servant or the Servant of Righteousness but also for his having been the Servant of Sin For so he is taught by St. Paul to say as he