both keep you faultless and save you harmless and thereby secure you from sinking and fainting in your minds If this be not enough let me add That Faith will yet farther scatter all your fears by this double Act 1. It will put your reward into your hâ—nds 2. It will put all your troubles to a present end 1. It will put your reward into your hand it will set the Crown on your head even whil'st the Cross is on your back Faith makes things to come present Heb. 11. 1. It is the subsistence or being of things hoped for it gives being to the good things promised before they are Hope carries the eye to the object looks on things to come as to come Faith brings the object to the eye looks on things to come as come it looks on distance of time as God looks on it on a thousand years but as one day It looks on God's saying and doing on God's promising and performing as all one It aâ—â—â—dates Glory and gives a kind of present possession of it in hand Rom. 8. In all these things we are more than Conquerours In Tribulation in Persecution in Famine in Nakedness In all these things we are more than Conquerours Not onely afterwards we shall be but in all these things even whil'st we are under them we are more than Conquerours The Conquest is obtained in the very entrance of the Combat This is the Victory that over cometh the World even our Faith Believe Christian and thy Faith will be thy Victory thy Shield will be thy Palm 2. It will put all our Troubles to a present end Faith looks on things to come as present and thereby on things present as past It looks on all things according as they will be in their issue and end It looks on things to come according to what they will be when they are come It looks on things present according to what they will be when they are past It sees all passing and considers it as past already It sees all passing the World upon its Wing the Fashion of it passeth away It sees the Riches of the World upon their Wings the Pride and the Pomp and the Gallantry and the Glory of the World upon their Wings And it sees the Poverty of the World the Troubles of the World all upon the Wing It look on the blackest Clouds as flying Clouds and it considers all as gone already It looks on the clear that is beyond the Clouds it says as God says Babylon is fallen is fallen Not onely it shall fall but it is fallen and shall not be able to rise And what place can there then be left for fear or fainting Was the Red Sea a Terrour to Israel when they saw themselves gotten to the other side Did Sampson's dead Lion fright him Will the Remembrance of what you have suffer'd be a Terrour to you when you have gotten through and are come out of Tribulation Why open the Eye of your Faith and see the Coast already clear You will see the Red Sea behind you the Wilderness behind you Jordan behind you and your selves gotten safe on the Banks of Canaan Come on Soul what should hinder thee May be thou supposest thou hast a great Fight of Affliction to indure grant thou hast yet fear none of those things thou shalt suffer till thou canst fear those things thou hast suffer'd Though thou be now putting on thy Armour believe and thou may'st boast as if thou hadst put it off Death where is thy sting Grave where is thy victory Where is the Fury of the Oppressour Thine Enemies are already under thy feet man Death it self is swallow'd up in Victory Christians Cherish improve increase your Faith and this will clear your way of all your fears Wherfore didst thou doubt oh thou of little Faith Oh 't is a sign our Faith is but low when our fears are so high The day the Lord hears you in this Prayer Lord increase our Faith He delivers you from your fears Wax stâ—ong in Faith and you will wax bold in your God 3. Be humble 't will be your advantage that you stand on the lower Ground He whose Heart hath already laid him in the Dust will not fear how low his Enemies can lay him 4. Be peaceable your Preces lachrymae will be your best Weapons The guilt of your unquiet and unwarrantable Resistance will weaken your hearts more than all your partakers will strengthen your hands Prov. 20. 22. Say not I will recompence evil wait on the Lord and he will save thee Patient and peaceable suffering will be the best way to abash your Persecutors and embolden your Souls Now gather up all these Particulars and you have the Conversation that becometh the Gospel wherein that I may perswade as well as direct you consider these following Arguments 1. This is to them to your Adversaries an evident token of Perdition This united humble peaceable unanimous boldness in your holy course whereby you walk in the Spirit and power of the Gospel and are â—ot frighted or terrified out of it this is and will be to your Persecutors an evident token of Perdition The falls and slaws in the Lives of Saints and their Quarrellings and Divisions amongst themselvs do strengthen the hands and the confidence of sinners against â—hem The Fears and Faintings of Saints are the flushings of sinners when Saints hang the Wing sinners lift up the Head The Majesty and Beauty of an Holy Life joyned with an humble and patient Magnanimity and undantedness will be a Dart in the Liver of the Enemies of it It is an evident tokâ—n to them of Perdition It is not onely a Death-Token upon them Persecution is a black Mark of a Son of Perdition but it is an evident Token unto them It will read them their Doom it will make their own hearts to fall upon themselves and their own Consciences to give them their Sentence 2. This is to you an evident Token of Salvation but to you of Salvation The Word is sure To him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God If we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him if we suffer with him we shall also be glorified together with him To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me on my Throne even as I have overcome and am set down with my Father on his Throne Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer Be thou faithful unto the Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Salvation and that of God There 's much in that Addition and that of God it notes that the Salvation of the suffering Saints shall be Sure Great 1. It notes That their Salvation shall be sure You shall certainly be saved for God hath undertaken for it that 's the import of the Expression If it be God that justifies who shall condemn If it be God that will save who shall destroy The matter is sure
means often prove better than means when I say no means I do not understand simply none means they shall have of one kind or other their understandings their memories their secret duties Prayer Meditation c. but by no means I understand nothing from without no Ordinances Friends Societies Books c. Gods feeding of a Soul more immediately is much sweeter then when he sends Provision by the hand of another the Samaritans hearing Christâ— Words from his own mouth was much more to them than the same words reported by the Woman Dulcius ex ipso fonte Water is the purer the nearer the Fountain the Bread that comes down from Heaven is better Bread than that which grows up out of the Earth though that be originally from Heaven also By how much the more immediately our comforts come from Heâ—ven by so much the more they have of Heaven in them If upon the failing of publick Communion it be made up so much the more in secret sure the Saints have no reason to complain And whether this be not so let the Prisons into which the Saints have been sometimes cast the Wilderness into which they have been sometimes banished let Elihu's Songs in the night Peters Pauls Silaghs Songs in the Prison in the Stocks stand forth and testifie If Prison joyes and exile comforts have not been often both fuller and sweeter to them than when they have rolled in Manna and lived in the fulness and freedom of all helps and means then not a few Christians have either mistaken or mis-reported their experiences To pretend to live above Ordinances whilest God affords them is a wickedness that some men have to repent of but where God denies them he doth he will provide a better subsistence without them Now lay all this together and then you will see that even this also this most grievous of Judgments the famine of the Word when ever it befalls shall work for good to those that love God Christians chear up your hearts whatever drought or dearth may fall upon the World you are provided for you shall have enough If the shoures fail without you have within you that which shall spring up to eternall life If your streams should be dryed up if your Pastures should be trodden down you have a God that will be both your Pastor and Pasture If the Riveâ— fail you the Rock shall supply you what you want in ordinary you may look to be made up in extraordinary means The drying up of the waters shall but drive you up to the Spring-head If ever the Stars fail you God shall but exchange Star-light for Sun-light while there 's light in the Sun you shall not walk in darkness See but to this make sure that this God is yours and he must find out a comfortable feeding for you if you can but say Davids first words after him the Lord is my Shepherd you may then with confidence say the whole Psalm after him I shall not want he will make me to lie down in green Pastures he will lead me by the still Waters though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill thy Rod and thy Staff shall comfort me Thou shalt prepare me a Table in the presence of mine Enemies Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever 2. There is another Objection that seems to have â—ore difficulty in it Suppose a Saint to fall into Distraction and thereby to be deprived utterly of the use of his Reason and so to live and die How can it be imagined that this can work for his good either in this World or the World to come Can any good arise out of an incapacity of any longer doing or receiving good or patiently suffering Evil Can either his Grace here or his Glory hereafter be increased or advanced by a man's being converted into a mere Bruit 1. There 's no doubt at all but this may make for the Churches good Is there nothing that others may learn out of such a sad Providence If others may reap good by my evil is it nothing to me May it not be said to be good for any particular Saint to bear the sorest Affliction by which the Church may have benefit He hath not much of a Saint to whom if it were afore-hand proposed whether for the benefit of the Church he would be content if God see it good to fall into such a calamity He hath little of a Saint that would deliberately refuse it Doubtless a sincere Christian who would count his usefulness to the good of the whole Body to be his good would say even concerning such a Message were it brought to him Good is the Word of the Lord And that which afore-hand he would judge to be good for him to submit to may it not be good for him to be under 2. It may also be more directly for his particular personal good For 1. It may do him the same good which Death will do for him Concerning which the Apostle says it is yours 1 Cor. 3. that is it is for your advantage It may take him from the evil to come from those Sorrows and that Trouble of Heart which God might fore-see falling upon him by any calamities coming either on the Church in general or himself or Family in particular which being deprived of his Reason and power to reflect on he cannot feel or in the least be afflicted by If you Reply But the Remedy is worse than the Disease To be useless and unserviceable is less eligible than to be sorrowful and afflicted Will any man chuse to fall into a Lethargie or Apoplexie because 't will secure him from the Torment of a Feaver If there be any weight in this Reply I shall adde a farther Answer which if I misjudge not will cut off all Râ—plyes 2. Who knows what Sins and Temptations he might have fallen into and fallen by had not the Lord by this means prevented it he might possibly have been a Back-slider have fallen into gross sin by which he might have been a Terrour to himself and a Scandal to the Gospel and is it not good for him that this is prevented Is not that Affliction 〈◊〉 Mercy which secures from such Iniquity Who can say it is not thus that the Lord foresaw he would have fallen into sin and for prevention brought him into this Affliction Who can say it is not thus If none can then this is no Objection If you Reply you say it may be this is the case and I may as well say it may be not there might be no such thing that God fore-saw as the Reason of this Providence 'T is but a Conjecture and an Uncertainty when you have made the most of it Be it so yet it will fully answer my end I am not now proving that all things work for good to the Saints that 's
upon thee whereby he marks thee out for one of his own Men had need of other marks to prove them Christians than what the Rod hath made on their backs 't is our quiet submitting to it and that upon Gospel grounds as hath been before shewed that must do it and this will be evidence enough None but a Son will thus submit 2. The suffering state of Christians is ordinarily attended with other evidences Sufferings will set patience on work and patience will set every other grace on work Whatsoever it be that findes work for patience will therein find work for faith and love and hope and self-denyal Christians never appear so much believers so humble so mortified as under the Cross If there be any faith or love or hope in the heart 't will appear in the day of adversity If there be any fire under the ashes throw on water and then you shall hear it when it may be before you could see none there As Solomon sayes folly so we may say wisdom grace is bound up in the heart of a child but the rod of correction will fetch it out We seldom know either how bad or how good our hearts are till they are thus proved This I did to prove thee and to know what was in thine heart Besides this is the season when ordinarily there are most plentiful illapses and incoms from above God seldom sends such Tokens of his love as to his Children in prison The light of his Countenance he often reserves for their darkest estate he sets to his Seal when the Wax is on fire There have been Christians that would never believe that they were such till God hath told it them at the stake the highest joyes the fullest sence of everlasting kindness have been most ordinarily the portion of Gods Martyrs When Hell is let loose upon them then Heaven is most open Many Christians have met with such refreshings in their bonds that their enlargement hath been their Prison If this be so Christians who would fear sufferings who would not be patient would it comfort you to know that God is your Father Be patient and you shall know it What would you not bear so you might be sure you are the Lords It may be you have been held under doubt and fears and sad uncertainties hitherto all your dayes you have gone about from duty to duty from Ordinance to Ordinance from Christian to Christian enquiring and mourning and complaining and crying out Oh if I were sure that Christ were mine that my faith and my love and my hope and my obedience were sound and sincere such as would prove my adoption then I could be quiet Why if ever GOD calls thee to Sufferings follow him chearfully He calls thee out to prove to thee that thou lov'st him Fear not to go up with him on the Cross Assuâ—ance is a Fruit that most ordinarily grows on that Tree Let hypocrites only fear sufferings 't will be sad indeed to them there 's many a self-deceiving Professor that never suspected himself to be an hypocrite till persecution made him an Apostate that 's a woful case to have Sufferings come upon him for the Gospel's sake only to tell him That he hath no part in Christ nor his Gospel Let hypocrites be afraid and unquiet but let Saints be patient The same trialls which will prove them bastards will prove you sons 3. Your patient suffering is the cure of your Corruption Sufferings are our medicine for corruption and patience our cure To what degree of patience a Christian hath attain'd that degree of power hath he gotten over iniquity Till lust be conquered there 's no patience If there be but one unmortified corruption remaining and an affliction comes and grates upon that this will provoke there 's no bearing it Whence is impatience but from this for the most part that we cannot bear any violence that 's offered to lust What is Patience but this that we can bear that pain that Lust when pinch'd will put us to quietly to suffer our pride our envy our passion our sensual appetities to be cut short of what would gratifie them and freely to leave them under that which comes to kill and crucifie them to be able to want that fuell that feeds and endure that water that doth quench these fires This is Patience When our Pride is strip'd of its ornaments our appetites depriv'd of their delicates our covetousness of its substance our flesh of its â—ase and we either feel no smart or can bear the smart of it then we are Patient And when we can thus leave our Corruptions to whatever sufferings come upon them without taking part with them in their sufferings then lust is conquered Lust no longer lives nor maintains its power and interest in us than whilest in all its afflictions we are afflicted when we feel its sufferings as our sufferings its disappointments and dissatisfactions as our own and fly out against whatsoever falls upon it as if it fell upon our Souls When we can say 't is my passion that suffers but not I 't is my Covetousness that suffers my Pride that suffers but not I and let them suffer for me let them be pinch'd and pain'd and starved and die none of all this shall move me nay herein I do and I will rejoyce There 's patience Patience is Lust conquered Christians you complain of Corruption you tell one another sad stories what a Burden what a bondage 't is you are under whilest Lust hath such power in you what Briars and Thornes what plagues and stings they are in your hearts You pray and you mourn and groan and sigh in your selves waiting for your redemption from this bondage and misery Oh for an humble heart oh for a broken mortified spirit oh this earthliness this envy this peevishness this slothfulnessâ— I am weary of my life because of these daughters of Heth. Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Why would you be delivered Be patient under Afflictions they are the Executioners sent from God to slay your Enemies the Mâ—dicines sent from youâ— Physician to cure your Diseases Never quarrel with Affliction unless you Resolve to be friend Corruption Wâ—at will you be so foolish as not to be patient of your Disease nor your Remedy either bear the Cross or else never make your selves believe but you can bear your sins well enough Whatever your Complaints are 't is a sign they come not very deep 'T is an Argument that sinne sits light where the cross lies so unsupportably heavy 4. Your patient suffering will be your Triumph over Temptation A patient Christian is a Conquerour over all the World By this alone naked Job overcame the Devil When Sathan and his Instruments have persecuted you into patience they have therein brought their Neckâ— under youâ— Feet This Brazen Wall will make their short recoil on their own heads and hearts Your Patience will be