right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 And which is the summe of all wee shall have everlasting communion with the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost and with all the quyre of heaven all those blessed Saints and Angels singing and praising the name of the Lord for evermore Vse 8 Eightly and lastly Is it so that Gods dearest children go not without affliction then woe to those whom God afflicts not Which live at ease and in fulnesse Wallowing in their sports and pleasures And are not in trouble like other men neither plagued like other men Psal 73.5 These carry a black brand being marked for wicked ones Loe these are the wicked they alwayes prosper and increase in riches vers 12. The houses of the wicked saith Job are peaceable without feare and the rod of God is upon them Job 21.9 Which shewes that they are but as Oxen fatted against the day of slaughter For if judgement begin at the house of God what shall the end be of them which obey not the Gospel of God 1. Pet. 4.17 If Gods dear children if his faithfull servants who are zealous for the Lord whose soules do mourn in secret for their own sinnes and the abominations of the time and place where they live Who labor to walk before the Lord in truth and with a perfect heart who desire and indeavor to do the will of God in all things and to yeeld a cheerfull obedience unto his Commandments bee so often so many wayes so sharply many times corrected and afflicted what will become of profane foul-mouth'd blasphemers of scoffers and scorners of piety and godlinesse of proud and voluptuous persons of covetous earth-wormes of gluttons drunkards fornicators unclean persons such as take no other thought but to fulfill the lusts of the flesh certainly if the Scripture be true and God bee just these shall one day have the full viols of Gods heavie wrath and eternal vengeance powred out upon them If Gods own deare children must drink of that bitter cup of his displeasure Surely all the wicked of the earth shall wring out and drink the dregges thereof Psal 75.8 Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth how much more the wicked and the sinner Pro. 11.31 If it be true that God chastiseth every sonne whom he received What will become of those whose bones are full of the marrow of sinne who sing to the viol who drink wine in bowls unto whom wickednesse is as sugar in their mouthes and wantonnesse like oyle doth make them look with a merry countenance whose life is spun with such an even thred both warpe and woofe as scarce a knot to bee seen No breach in their estate No crosses no losses but all things go as they would have them surely these are in a pittiful in a fearfull condition For howsoever they put farre away the evill day and approach to the seat of iniquitie Amos 6.3 Howsoever they may vaunt it and flatter themselves as Babel doth Revel 18.7 saying I shall see no mourning yet when they say peace and safety that is think themselves to be most secure and farthest off from evil then shall come upon them sudden destruction as the travail upon a woman with childe and they shall not escape 1. Thessal 5.3 For God useth slow but sure punishment it is long in comming but when he strikes the wicked hee will pay them home for all their wickednesse and hee will make good the slownesse of his revenge by the greatnesse of their punishment when it lighteth upon them The higher the Lord lifteth up his hand to strike the longer it is ere it fals but when it fals it fals more heavily The longer it is that Gods justice is boiling upon the fire of his wrath the more scalding hot it shall be powred upon the pates of the wicked For though the Lord be slow to anger yet is he great in power and will not surely cleare the wicked Nahum 1.3 They have not vengeance presently executed but the Lord reserveth wrath for them as in the verse before If the Lord be pleased to continue his heavie hand and that a long time upon his deare children how heavie how long and continuall shall those tortures and torments be which are prepared for stubborn rebellious and impenitent sinners If humble meek-hearted dutifull and obedient children lie many times in lingring and languishing afflions how smarting I intolerable shall those judgements be which one day the wicked and ungodly shall endure If the Lord seems many times not to regard the teares nor cries of his children that they seem as it were to welter in their sorrowes how are impenitent stiffe-necked and hard-hearted sinners like to speed when they shall cry and roar againe Surely he will laugh at their destruction and mock them when feare and trouble comes upon them Prov. 1.26 Then shall that wrath which they have treasured up unto themselves come upon them to the uttermost Woe be unto thee whosoever thou art that fearest not the Lord. Woe bee to those that revell and Jove it as if they feared neither God nor Devill as if they regarded neither Heaven nor Hell The Lord is tempering of some bitter potion for them which one day they shall drink down to their eternall woe If God humble his dear ones under his hand he will trample his enemies underneath his feet If the Israelites must be baptized in the red sea the Egyptians shall bee overwhelmed and drowned in it If Lot must lose all his goods and substance in Sodome the Sodomites shall lose both goods and lives too If Gods finger lie heavie upon his children here on earth with the weight of his loines hee will presse downe the wicked into Hell hereafter Object But doe wee not see the wicked flourish and prosper in their wayes and enterprises Answ Yes for I have seen the wicked strong and spreading himselfe like a green bay-tree but his glory lasted not long hee passed away and loe hee was gone Psal 37.35 36. Object But are not the wicked honored and advanced Answer Yes but though his excellencie mount up unto the Heaven and his head reach up unto the cloudes yet shall hee perish for ever like his dung and they which have seen him shall say Where is hee Job 20.6.7 Object But are not the wicked mighty and of great riches Answ Yes yet neither their silver nor their gold shall bee able to deliver them in the day of the Lords wrath Zep. 1.18 Object But they are allied unto great personages and have great ones in league and confederacie with them Answ It may bee so yet though hand joyne in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished Pro. 11.21 Object But they have deepe reaches unfathomed plots and projects they combine themselves together and consult how to escape from the power of evill Answ And what of this though they take counsell together yet it shall be brought to nought though they pronounce
many of his deare children groane under many long and tedious sharp and biting afflictions Answ The Lord hath many ends in dealing thus with his children First because they have been a long time delighted with some sinne which through custome is become as it were naturall and being so will not easily will not quickly be purged out of them That which is gotten to the bone will not easily be had out of the flesh Hard knubbs and knurles must have great and long wedges driven in to them many hard and great stroaks given them before they will yeeld Many hard and stony hearts will not be broken with little and short afflictions some kinde of mettles must be kept a great while longer in the furnace then others or else they will never be dissolved even so it fareth with some natures little and short afflictions work not upon them no whit at all molifie nor soften their hard and stony hearts therfore the Lord is forced to keep them down the longer Many men when any trouble befals them think to out-growe it or to beare it off by head and shoulders and to make as good a shift as they can never looking up to God whom they have offended and provoked by their sinnes but let these know that God will bow them or else he will breake them The Lord is the Lord of hosts he can send crosses thick and three-fold upon us to abate our lofty and proud spirits to break our rocky and stony hearts Gods wrath is answerable to his power as this is infinite so he can make the other insupportable Many are stiffe and stubborn as the Lord complaines They obeyed not neither inclined their eares but made their necks stiffe and would not heare nor receive correction Ier. 17.23 Little and short afflictions will not serve to reclaime such as these are therefore the Lord keeps them longer under his hand Againe the Lord doth thus deale with many of his children to work their hearts to a greater dislike of their sinne as that which hath brought upon them all those troubles which now lye upon them therfore in the time of our affliction we should fall upon our sinne upbraiding it and charging it with all our crosses Ah thou vile and loathsom sinne I may thank thee for this expence for this reproach and shame Ah cursed sin how hast thou heretofore domaniered over me Thou hast hitherto been too strong for me but God by this affliction I trowe will tame and hamper thee Is this the fruit I reape by entertaining thee Oh cursed be the time that ever I knew thee that ever I was ruled by thee The more grievous our affliction is the greater hatred we should beare our sinnes the causes of them and the more fearfull should we be for time to come of medling any more with them We say The burnt child dreads the fire Ephraim had been a long time polluted with idolatry The Lord stops her way with thorns and makes a wall that she may not finde her pathes Hos 2.6 exerciseth her with long affliction untill shee come to say What have I any more to do with Idols Hos 14.9 If I must buy my sinne at so deare a rate if thus long I must be afflicted for my sinne away with all I will no more of it Theirdly the Lord doth oft-times keepe the rod long upon his children for their greater and deeper humiliation Great sinnes must bee greatly repented of Great transgressions require great and long humiliation Davids sinnes of adultry and murder killing the husband with the sword that he might injoy his wife were great sinnes and those which caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme therefore the Lord threatned him with long affliction The sword shall never depart from thine house 2. Sa. 12.10 Neither will the Lord give us over or cease to afflict us one way or other untill hee hath brought us upō our knees broken our hard hearts and sufficiently humbled us under his hand For if we walk stubbornly against him he will walke stubbornly against us then their uncircumcised heart shall be humbled and they shall willingly beare the punishment of their iniquity Lev. 26.41 Remembering mine affliction and my mourning the wormwood and the gall my soule hath them in remembrance and is humbled in mee Lament 3.19 20. Fourthly the Lord by continuing his hand of affliction long upon his children doth hereby make known the strength of his Grace which is sufficient to support his children under long and tedious afflictions A wise builder will lay the heaviest burden upon that peece of timber which is most heart and most able to beare it Greatest peeces are put to greatest stresse because little peeces would warpe and yeeld if not break asunder Even so where there is most strength of Grace there the Lord oft times laies on the greatest load of affliction which as it makes for the praise and glory of his Grace so doth it serve much for example unto all that are neer unto them that they may live by faith and hope that if ever they come into the like trial the Lord as he is able to support and strengthen them so he will doe it and graciously stand by them even in long and sharpe afflictions as he hath upheld others in the like case Fiftly and lastly the Lord doth this that so he may afterward replenish the hearts of his children with aboundance of inward and spiritual joy After they have tasted of more gall then others they shall eate of more hony then others Heavines hath some long time sojourned in their hearts but joy and gladnesse followeth after to inhabit in them for ever The spirit of the Lord is upon mee saith Esay to comfort all that mourne appoint unto them that mourne in Sion and to give unto them beauty for ashes the garment of gladnes for the spirit of heavinesse that they may bee called trees of righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Esay 61.2 3. Yee shall sorrow saith Christ but your sarrow shall be turned into joy Iohn 16.20 If thy sorrows and afflictions have been longer then ordinary they shal make way for more then ordinary joy and thankfulnes for issue and deliverance according to that which the Church uttered Lam. 3.21 22. I consider this in mine heart therefore have I hope It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not Have wee not then good cause to bee patient in afflictions although they bee sharp and tedious seeing they proceed from the hand of our pitifull and mercifull father To helpe forward and further your patience do but consider of these 4. things First how exceedingly we have a long time provoked the Lord by our sinnes amongst which our unbeliefe is that which hath most offended him If the Lord should deale unto us our weight and measure that is punish us according to our deserts what would become of
which thus rageth amongst us Surely our great unthankfulnesse and our horrible abuse of Gods good creatures Doth the Lord punish thee with losses or with povertie Consider whether these outward things did not make thee proud or else were occasions of imboldening thee to the committing of some sin or other Are thy children stubborne and disobedient Twenty to one but it is to punish thy disobedient and undutifull carriage formerly towards thy parents Thus might I instance in divers particulars by which it is evident that the Lord doth oft times proportionate punishments to our sins so as by our affliction wee may easily guesse at what sin the Lord aimeth and of which hee would have us most heartily repent us Secondly look into the book of God whither thou canst there find any that have formerly drunk of thy cup have been exercised and chastised with the same rod that thou art if thou dost not find any such example there aske and enquire of thy friends whether they have knowne any to be punished as thou art now if thou find any upon record in Gods booke or by report from others canst heare of any that have been in thy condition then seek and enquire what their sinnes have been what manner of persons they have been and think with thy selfe thus surely I am sick of their disease in that my Physitian takes the same course with me which he did with them I have committed their sins in that I partake of their punishment Thirdly if thou wouldest faine find out that sinne for which especially thou art afflicted consider when thou art under the rod what sinne lieth heaviest upon thy conscience very probable it is that that sinne which now cries loudest in thine eares from the voice of thy conscience cried loudest in the eares of God for punishment Too many commit sinne with delight thinking they shall never heare more or worse of it But when affliction commeth the consciencc begins to tell tales and lay open things done in secret Dost thou not remember how at such a time in such a place thou didst commit such a villany Dost thou not know how once in such a kind thou didst highly dishonor God Hast thou forgot how thou didst once wrong thy neighbor in such a thing Thus in affliction the conscience many times brings to mind that sinne of ours which wee had buried in forgetfulnesse as appeares by Joseph his brethren and so should never have repented of it if the Lord by affliction had not made our conscience to discover it unto us Fourthly if the Lord doth not meet with thy sinne in its kind or if thy conscience do not reveal unto thee all thy wickednesse or that sinne for which thou art punished then bee earnest with the Lord in prayer that hee would bee pleased to inlighten thine understanding and helpe thee to make a narrow search and tryall of thy wayes or else that hee would discover unto thee that or those sins for which his hand doth now lye so heavily upon thee Thus did Job I will say unto God condemne mee not shew me wherefore thou contendest with mee Iob 10.2 Before Ezekiel could behold the wicked abominations of Israel the Lord taught him to digge in the wall Ezek. 8.8 9. So before we shall be able to discerne that sinne or any other of our sinnes for which we are afflicted the Lord by his spirit must demolish that wall of hardnes of heart which hindereth us from seeing our sinnes or else he must give us of his eye-salve wherewith anointing our eyes those scales of ignorance and spirituall blindnes may fall from our eyes that so we may the better see our sinnes Intreat the Lord to shine into thy dark understanding by the light of his Word that it may enter thorow even to the dividing asunder of thy soul and spirit of thy joynts and marrow that it may be a discerner of thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart as the Apostle speakes Heb. 4.12 And be thou well assured of this for thy comfort that he that is truely desirous and withall scedulous and deligent to finde out his speciall sinnes hee shall have them in the end discovered and layed open unto him because as you have formerly heard this is one end why the Lord doth correct us that so we may search and trye our wayes and turne again unto the Lord. Lam. 3.40 That we may be brought to a true sight and sense of our sinnes and so be throughly humled for them Affliction serves to ransack the bottome of the heart to launch our festred consciences and o let out by confession the festred and corrupted matter there ingendred Iosephs bretheren never came to see the odiousnes of their sin untill affliction enlightned them and then they could say Wee have verily sinned against our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not heare him Gen. 41 21. Now if once we come to see sinne in its proper colours and to be perswaded of the nature and danger of it then we are in the broad way to repentance and this will worke our hearts not only to a loathing but to the leaving and forsaking of our former evils For what man but hee that is desperately carelesse of his own welfare and happines will dare to put on a garment infected with the Plague What man that is in his right minde will take a snake into his bosom Who is so foole-hardy as to pull a Lyon by the beard or take a mad Dog by the eare He that wilfully wittingly lives in sinne doth a great deale more endanger the safety and good of his soul then any man by the Plague or any other meanes doth the welfare of his body Lighten mine eyes saith David Psal 13.3 that I sleep not in death Prosperity thickens these eyes of ours or else doth cast such a mist before them that we cannot see sinne in its coulours yea the worse and more wicked any man is the lesse doth he see his evill the lesse is hee perswaded of the danger of sinne All the wayes of a man are clean in his own eyes Prov. 16.2 Through Satans subtilty and mans infidelity it comes to passe that those which commit the grossest sinnes and greatest offences imagine that their faults bee the smallest and those that are plunged into deepest dangers do dreame of greatest safety and security as many who have their hands deepest in the troubles and persecutions yea in the blood of Gods servants will thinke that they do God best service Ioh. 16.2 Of this minde was S. Paul all the the while hee breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord Acts 9 1. Therefore least such as belong to God should sleep in death by their blindnesse flying from repentance shunning reformation and running into destruction the Lord in great love opens their eyes by affliction as hee did the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar Dan.