Gods Children passed before feare wee not therefore to follow after them Christ himselfe is gone before by a farre harder passage then his meaning is to leade any of vs by Thinke it no strange thing for the perfect to suffer neither be you discomforted or dismayed at it knowing that afflictions happen by heapes to all Gods Children in this world Learne both you and I to suffer patiently with Christ then shall we be sure to be crowne gloriously with him When you are tempted most with fierce aduersaries mighty enemies the Deuill with his lost and forsaken traine The world is full of bayts and allurements vnto Euill the flesh euer ready and greedy to take them What though you be heauy laden for a while yet comfort your selfe knowing that your anguishes griefes and molestations shall haue an end your teares shall be wiped away and dryed vp but the ioyes that shall be giuen you are euerlasting Those seede-teares which you sowe now are nothing to that Haruest of ioy which hereafter shall be reaped Consider I beseech you well that nothing commeth vnto vs by happe or chance but all is disposed by the will prouidence of Almighty God It is the meere loue and absolute righteousnesse of God that we are corrected it is not for our harme but to our good either for the tryall of our faith or for the reformation of our life So that either man or woman fearing God walking vprightly in his sight hauing the testimony of a good conscience cannot want matter of consolation hauing still in the Lord whereof to be comforted make we not our hearts heauy and our liues most vncomfortable shake we off rather our causelesse teares and we shal finde matter enough for glorious and vnspeakeable ioyes Am I regenerate God is my father Christ resteth my elder brother Heauen my house and habitation and the Glory thereof mine inheritance none can be poore that haue Heauen for their portion neyther any deiected much that haue the comfortes thereof belonging to them Whilest God giueth vs assurance of a better Life what matter is it if hee shall depriue vs of this If Angels and Saints be with vs what care wee though sinners bee agaynst vs Doe people on earth seeke to make you ignominous we are not in their power but in Gods who will make vs glorious Your comfort may bee departed and yet not vtterly lost we may feare we are cut of and yet not perish for therein the power of God is seene in our weakenesse and imperfection Lord pitty our soares and sicknes rather then proceede in seuerity against vs. The assurance of the sufferings of Christ in his death for vs should take away the horrour of death from vs For he is that Lambe of GOD which taketh away the sinnes of the world Which now is our aduocate with his father to whom be all glory Amen Saterday Meditations IT beeing euident that the greatest part of good people are most of all and oftnest afflicted grieuously yea many times slayne by wicked and seditious Tyrants this dealing of God thus with his Children assureth vs that he reserueth vs some Port of safety for his children where after their troubles here they may arriue at some Hauen of perpetuall rest after their Death No happier then such Christians as will suffer no sinnes to wrestle in their soules nor Viper like vices to dwell or continue in their heartes Neyther doe I suppose the Lord to loue any better then those whom hee most scourgeth and correcteth making the end of our sorrow to be as the beginning of another like the droppes of Raine distilling from the top of the house as soone as one is gone another followeth or a ship at the Sea neuer safe till wee come into the Hauen and harbour of Heauen by the death and blood-shedding of Iesus Christ are wee sanctified and cleansed from our sins Our heauenly Father is both pacified and pleased with vs through the death of Christ who forgiuing and pardoning our sinnes imputeth vnto vs his owne righteousnesse so that through beleeuing in the Lord Iesus Christ we shal be saued and haue life euerlasting and shall neuer come into condemnation Through the name of our Redeemer are the inestimable benefits of Christ wrought in vs and brought vnto vs for by faith onely in Christ without any workes of our owne either concurring or furthering we are freely iustified No punishment discharged but by that perfect man Christ Iesus who hath vanquished death and swallowed vp the paires of Hell yea satisfied the seuerity of Gods euerlasting Iudgment Looke wee all vpon the Sun-set of our seuerall ages and wee may soone behold how the rotten house wherein our soule dwelleth rests euen ready to fall vpon our head We dwell as in a ship that most dangerously leaketh very like to drowne vs ere we get to the shoare which still causeth vs to long for the house and hauen of our euerlasting security Although death be a sting to the wicked piercing them to the heart yet to the Elect deaths sting is pulled out and they are freed from terror by the death of our Sauiour The death of a faithfull friend yeelds rather cause of comfort then of sorrow of mirth then of mourning of reioycing rather then of weeping and lamenting death is to the godly like sleepe whereby we are refreshed Vnfit is it therefore to celebrate the funerals of the faithfull with weeping wayling when we doe well know our friends haue liued religiously dyed vertuously Let your passed misery yeeld your selues some soulerellish to future ioy What is our Inheritance on Earth but monthes of vanity and paynefulnes as our allotted parts and portions here Who is he that knoweth not Iob. 17.13 That the graue shal be his house and how hee shall make his bed in the darke Our hearts must pitty those whom the hand of GOD toucheth Do not thinke but that God is able to defend and carry you free from danger yea to keepe you in the time of the greatest suffering It is none but God that keepeth the Keyes of the prison that open and shuts when hee pleaseth It is the LORD that maketh whole and maketh sicke the issues of Life and Death doe belong to him We rise daily agaynst sinne as did Ioshua against the Cananites not because wee are able to ouer-come sin of our selues but in assurance that our heauenly Father will not fayle vs but giue vs ability to vanquish it in our mortall bodies Forget not Iesus Christ to be your shield and buckler of defence whose promise is to free vs all from our streights and extreamities Lay wee hold by Faith on Gods promises and as a childe sucketh milke from his mothers breast So when wee are ready to faynt wee must sucke the milke of consolation out of the promises of God in his VVord that rest full of comfort Art thou euen at Deaths doore there rests milke of consolation enough if thou wilt
Christ Iesus For a time the Father hid his face from him but with euerlasting Compassion did hee most graciously looke vpon him at last God resteth our Father hauing a care ouer his Church and Children preseruing vs from fire and water and each other eminent danger God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted aboue that you are not able but will euen giue you the issue with the temptation that you may bee able to beare it You are the Lords workemanship and hee will vndoubtedly prouide for you both sheltering and comforting you and that euen then when you finde the heate of afflictions to shine most hottest vpon you Forget not to goe and come vnto the Lord in the time of your trouble and deepest distresses knowing Christ to be our Shepheard and preseruer in each danger Wee cannot honour God more then to depend on him in our dangers and fly vnto him in our extremities as our onely helper hope and fortresse This rests a matter of endlesse comfort that our Lord Iesus Christ will bee a place of comfort and refreshing vnto vs and as a shadow at noone-day in the greatest heate of bloody persecutions You are now cast downe as the Children of God to the disquieting of your soule within you yet for all that waite you still vpon God Let no feare or danger make you deny Christ and his Gospell who comforteth vs in his Church refresheth vs in our troubles and freeeth vs from the dread and dangers of Hells horrours if wee faithfully call vpon him for pardon of our sinnes as once did Manasses Bee you still thirsting for life and panting for Paradise powre out your hearts before him that keepeth Heauen for your house assure your selfe of Gods helpe bee you neuer so grieuously tormented the Saints of God haue still waited vpon him to teach vs all to be constant and to waite still for our seuerall deliuerances We knowing the Lord God to be the Author of each calamity may not murmure but seeke remedy at his hands who woundeth vs lift we vp our hands in hope not boasting of our vertues but declaring that wee still rest vpon God in the middest of all our afflictions It is a bad seruant that will not waite on his Master God doth not alwayes punish our sinnes but by hard afflictions calleth vs to the consideration of the heauenly Ioyes Wee doe not honour our God aright vntill wee trust in him alone taking his Maiesty to witnesse that wee hunger in heart to bee vpright towards God still crying when wee are grieued This God is my God for euer and euer and hee shal be my guide euen vnto death Psa 48.14 Psal 48.14 Life and death are in Gods hands and no man can liue for euer howsoeuer therefore you dreame of Immortality it is not to bee founded vpon earth although your disease is grieuous and dangerous yet know you this that God hath infinite wayes to deliuer you Did not God deliuer his people from Og King of Basan and other Tyrants and his owne people from the the Red sea when they were in great extremity and danger Let not your present crosses rest an occasion of your falling from God but rather a Cause of cleauing faster vnto him Howsoeuer you doe yet suffer troubles yet hath God his time wherein hee hath appointed your deliuerance A liuely faith assureth the soule that God is fauourable vnto him when hee seemeth to bee angry and then at hand when hee seemeth to be farre off Feare you not but God will heare you though Care make you thinke that the Lord long deferreth you What though to day you seeme as a Sheepe beset with many Wolues yet put your trust in God and depend still on his prouidence and you shall assuredly bee comforted at the last Vnder the temporall punishment of the Land of Canaan is comprehended the promise of life euerlasting to all the faithfull and their posterity In the time of our distresse wee must learne to pray earnestly and although God stay as if hee heard vs not yet is then our deliuerance neerest when wee seeme voide of reliefe and succour Are you in distresse God hath millions of meanes to free you from miseries and preserue you from troubles Acknowledge our heauenly Father to bee the onely Authour of all your deliuerances from dangers and death and that by his prouidence you are still enfranchised from troubles God will recompence his long tarrying with double and vndoubted comfort to your soules There rests no true praysing of God except it come from the heart Promise therefore to delight in nothing if henceforth God send you life and health but onely that wherein God may bee glorified Remember that sicknesse is Deaths messenger teaching vs to reioyce in nothing but in the Lord. The faithfull must learne to depend vpon Gods hand in the time of their miseries knowing that when things are euer at worst then will God come and set them in order and so bridle the rage of the enemy as hee shall become mightlesse were he neuer so strong before Wee may not looke to bee deliuered at our first cry our eyes may bee kept waiting for our comming with our deceitfull hearts and searching out of our owne spirits crying vnto GOD to know the Causes why wee are chastened and when our sorrowes shall haue an end Desire you to know the way from Earth to Heauen wee must ascend by Faith vp thither if wee will know the waies of the LORD or the secrets of his diuine Word and Will Then must wee learne what extremities God will suffer vs now and then to fall into and why to exercise our faith before hee set to his hands to deliuer vs. God for a time will exercise vs with his rods yet vnder the Kingdome of Christ shall wee rest assured both of our peace ioy and comfort I beseech you learne so to call and cry vpon God as you neuer become weary though GOD grant not forthwith your requests but learne rather to be more earnest with God and to call the more oâ—tâ—er vpon him Though your state rest not so glorious as you wish yet waite with patience and GOD will accomplish his most comfortable promises Acknowledge and confesse God himselfe to be the author of our saluation who very oft in loue calleth vs by his rods to consider the shortnesse of our liues and how that for our sinnes sake hee abridgeth our dayes lest that his wrathfull Iudgements should fall the more heauily vpon vs. Let this be the comfort of your heart that as God is all sufficient to defend you from dangers so resteth hee most willing to comfort you in your most perillous agonies Content your selfe with that life which God giueth you for by Death the shortnesse of this Life is recompenced with Immortality Know should wee all that God hath care ouer his and oft chastiseth them for their wealth that they should not perish for euer with the
disconsolate distresse Let your still armed confidence tyre out your tormented sorrowes or sickenesses whatsoeuer Let vs all rest vndaunted well knowing that God sustaynes vs who doubts of the Sunnes being although it doe not alwayes shine Or of the faith of Iob though it were ouer-whelmed for a while Know this we should all that the Elect themselues may fall though built vpon the Foundation of GOD yet the Lord keepes them from perishing though when they stand he keepes them not from falling That blessed Apostle Saint Paule tooke betweene Damascus and Ierusalem the happiest fall that euer the Earth was honoured withall In via Iudaeus cecidit vt resurgat Christianus sayth Chrisostome Hee fell in the way a Iew or rather from a Iew that he might arise a Christian It is our heauenly Fathers mercy that rayseth vs when wee are fallen but our faith must keepe vs from falling When wee are raysed wee stand by Faith and wee come through Faith into this Grace wherein we stand Shall we stand by the habits of Gods mercy and grace Rom. 5.2 and shall wee fall from the acte thereof by a wilfull Apostacy God forbid Let vs rather perseuer in Faith and that vnto the Death weighing what wauering Age we are fallen into and strange opinions euen of the pillars of these times Content wee our selues to passe from troubles and calamities into euerlasting ioyes for Death is but an entrance into blisse and as it were a casting Anchor into the Hauen of Heauen Crye to God with Dauid What profite is there in my Blood when I shall go downe into the graue of forgetfulnesse Likewise Hezekiah prayed against Death desiring to be reconciled vnto God to giue satisfaction to God and his children None so free from sinne but stand in great neede to bee purified from sinne and purged from the soares blaines and blemishes of iniquity Beware of grudging when the Lord striketh you because it is alwayes for our good and he resteth both able and willing to deliuer vs at his pleasure Psal 33.17 Behold the Eye of the Lord is vppon them that feare him Psal 33.17 and put their trust in his mercy to deliuer their soules from Death rest there neuer so many turbulent tryals Yea it is indeede our commodity that God doeth not accomplish his promises so soone as wee could wish that staying with patience his leasure wee may bee crowned with the more glory in the end As euery father nurtureth his sonne so doeth the Lord his children but it is to walke in his waies The Children of God shall knowe this that all sorrows and sicknesses crosses and troubles are to prooue vs whether wee will Loue the Lord God with all our hearts and Soules Deut. 13.3 in our greatest griefes and saddest sorrowes yea or no. Deut. 13.3.4 Gods seruants must bee no flinchers but both followers and fighters in the Lords quarrell preferring the Lords glory before their owne soules safety Do not thinke that each trouble commeth on you because the Lord is not with you For the most tender hearted mother will now and then hide her selfe from her Childe to trie the kinde and louing affection thereof towards her that afterwards finding the loue of her little one shee may as it were put it in her bosome So our heauenly father to finde out our corruptions whereof wee our selues are ignorant hee doth swinge vs for our follies that falling weeping at his feete he might louingly take vs vp and kisse vs with his mouth No euils come vpon vs but when we forsake God who rideth vppon the Heauens for our helpe and on the Clouds for his owne glory Deut. 33.16 When the hand of God is vpon you repent of your sins heartily rather then by your power and pollicy to resist the working thereof whatsoeuer your disease is fayle not for to consecrate your selfe both soule and body to the Lord of glory and you shall not doe amisse No remedy but we must needs enter into the way of all the World know we all therefore in our hearts and perswade our soules that all the good things which the Lord hath promised vs shall come to passe vnto vs and no euill can come vnto vs but by our Disobedience God that plagued Egypt brought Israel out of Egypt Hee that brought Israel into the Red Sea knew how to bring them out to their enemies confusion and the comfort of his children Do we according to the course of nature we may hope vndoubtedly to liue in the state of grace the Lord beeing farre more willing to blesse then to curse But alas it is the nature of our flesh no longer to obey God then when we are vnder the Whippe or scourge Therefore doeth the Lord make it oftentimes the end of his punishment to call vs to Repentance that wee may seeke both for health and helpe at his hands The Church of Christ now is and must be still subiect to manifold afflictions how be-be it God at length will giue ioyfull issue deliuering them from all troubles Desire rather the comfort of your poore soules then the ease of your bodies for the Almighty giueth much bitternesse to their soules that now and then had the fairest bodies to cause vs to haue more care and respect to the inward man then to the outward forme It is vsuall with God to plunge into aduersities not to hurt but to heale not to kill our bodies but to saue our soules from destruction It is GODS mercy towards his Children and his fauour vnto his Friends and followers to make them pertakers of piety and examples of Holinesse in their places I desire you call vnto minde this one thing which is that although Dauid were annoynted King and that by a Prophet yet God would trye him in sundry sorts before he had the vse of his Kingdome Art thou a Dauid thinke it not much to fall vpon thy face to the ground before Ionathan to crouch knees and kisse to saue thy life much more for a while to be sicke that in fine thou mayest become a Saint In man resteth no Iustice what 's good in vs rests all of Gods mercy from him we receiue it It is our infirmity that in time of our sorrows we do no more comfort our selues in the Lord our God then we doe In each trouble and aduersity wee are to consider the prouidence of God and not like raging Beasts to forget both our owne duty and contemne GODS appointment ouer vs. It is Gods pleasure to make as though he would leaue vs for a time yet if wee trust in him wee shall bee sure to finde comfort Our heauiest lamentations ought not to bee excessiue but moderate well considering this that wee are to praise and glorifie GOD in all his doings and remembring that many sobbes and feares both follow and befall the faithfull ones yet shews GOD himselfe most liberall to his seruants when they seeme to bee vtterly destitute of any comforts at
and to admiration of his healing medicines Pray wee and God will prosper physicke that he giueth for ease and the prolonging of our liues mourne wee for our friends as if wee suffered great harme our selues Couer we their bodies and lament we them as they are worthy powring out our teares ouer them as if wee had suffered much harme our selues in our bodies soules sences and substances When the dead is once at rest let his remembrance rest and comfort wee ourselues againe for him when his spirit is departed from him desire your most heauenly Father to make you ready for himselfe and fit to atchiue his Kingdome for the only sufferings of his Sonne There is not one of Gods Children but must prepare their soules vnto diuers temptations Resolue we our selues euer in this life to liue and remaine as in a continuall rough battell and fight where no truce is to bee looked for but perpetuall combats and raging assaults From our birth to our death it 's now no new thing to be tempted and troubled with diseases in body or discomforts of minde praise wee God for our lot be your molestations short or lingring welcome bee Gods wande be it for wealth crosse or comfort hee first hath suffered more for you then hee will inflict vpon you in your troubles still call on him and vnder his wings shall you be safely couered The Almighty so strengthen your faith as you may stand fast to the end still beleeuing the Lord our God in all his promises Learne we all to shew forth the fruites of our faith obedience loue charity and hearts purified from sinne and still more and more prepare we to Christ Iesus our heauenly Bridegrome at his comming with more alacrity and ioy triumphant then either mouth or man can conceiue or vtter Christ by the sacrifice of his death will take away all our sinnes where there is neither sighing nor sorrow but triumphant ioyes in the highest Heauens Though the Lord send afflictions yet will hee not forsake vs for euer what though hee afflict to day yet will he haue compassion vpon thee to morrow according to the multitude of his mercies God doth seldome punish willingly the Children of Men for his compassions are many and his fatherly louing kindnesses are so many and so multiplied that wee cannot number them Maintaine Lord the cause of my soule for thou hast redeemed my life from the euill imaginations of the wicked and vengeance of the vile If you were dead and buried yet can God reuiue you and by his great mercy free you from all iniquity and still keepe you in the number of the faithfull The Almighty so exercise your contrite heart as both it sole sences may be laudably imployed in the Lords seruice Sicknesse to the seruants of God doth bring infinite ioy and much goodnesse it 's a purgation and cleansing of our sins the mother of fortitude spirituall strength against our frailty and sure defence against all worldly troubles A purchasing of grace and pardon a medicine of life and a comfortable guide to reduce vs from hell and bring vs all to the Celestiall Paradise I beseech you to remember what troubles and calamities are a purchasing of grace and pardon a merry time of life and a continuall remembrance of Christs owne blessed life death and passion We are all duely to consider how that our humane bodies are as darke and filthy prisons of our soules liuing as in exile banishment and misery The Almighty deliuer you from hell sinne and eternall death for euer The Lord comfort you and are you from sin and strengthen your weake heart against Sathan who still standeth against you to seduce you but remember you Gods Angels that are ready prest for to aide you his grace for to guide you and his fauour for to feede you Arme Lord thy Seruants heart with perpetuall peace and patience giue thy weake Creature grace most ioyfully to beare the burden of the Crosse As Heauen is incomparably greater then the Earth so the Mercy of our heauenly Father rests incomparably greater then the seas of our sinnes Lord free you from bitter sorrows all sinnes and grieuances whatsoeuer they bee The Almighty of his mercy renue your Repentance and vnburden you of the weight of all your great bonds most grieuous sins lay we fast hold on Christ his mercy death and passion Ioh. 3.16 The life of each one of vs being but a vitall Laborinth and a confused Chaos affoording vs nought but fraude folly and fleshly sensuality and troubles to try vs and sundry aduersities to disquiet vs from the King in his throne to the Captiues in the chaines All must taste of miseries discontentments and sorrows before our soules by death be deliuered from their terrestriall burden Although it bee an happy thing to die in Iesus Christ yet such rests the foolishnesse of our corrupt flesh that wee are loath to remooue from bad to better from Sinners to Saints and heauenly Associats we lose nothing in our changing our bad place for a better But one thing we that are Gods Children must still bee most carefull of to dread furious foes dangers Comfort wee our hearts in our deepest distresses acknowledging God to be more able to defend vs then all foes to confound vs not any Gods Children but burdned with calamities Nebuchadnezar King of Babell was turned out a grazing seuen yeares Gods Children are more afflicted then others Luke 13.16 The daughter of Abraham was for 18 yeares bound of Sathan likewise the man whom our Sauiour cured had beene diseased 38. yeares Comfort your heart in your afflictions knowing God to bee the sender of afflictions by reason of our sins It 's the Lord who killeth and maketh aliue bringing to the graue and raising vp againe 1. Sam. 2.6 If Christ had not beene the Sonne of God Sathan would neuer haue so much assaulted him and his Members for his sanctifying and sauing of innumerable Saints and Soules Labour wee all for the Word and Gospell of Trueth whatsoeuer our temptations are let vs all and euery one weepe for our owne sinnes and not once stubbornely defend the perpitrating of the least of any vile and corrupt sinnes and offences Almighty God so moderate your greatest crosses and grieuances as your soule may euer sing with Saints Our most gracious father deferreth his helpe not that hee will not helpe vs but to exercise our Fayth and stirre vp in vs the calling vppon his name and still being acquainted with Gods mercies reioyce Night and day in his Euerlasting fauours would you haue peace none but Christ can giue it you and he will giue to none but to the penient to none but the Faithfull Set wee our Lord Iesus Christ betweene GOD and our sinnes let it rest our desire to spend our selues in sighes and teares of true Repentance and then rayse vp our humble Soules to a liuely Confidence in our onely Sauiour and All-sufficient Redeemer by whose
put into strange extremities yet looke they vp with comfort at the last The body of Anaxarchus might be brayed in a Morter but neuer his soule Ieremies body might bee sawed in pieces of Manasses his owne Cousin Germaine not his sanctified soule Amos was killed with a wooden beame St. Laurence broyled on a Grid-iron St. Iohn had like to haue beene boyled in an hot Chaldron of scalding oyle Doe not thinke but that your present Crosses may be seconded with manifold comforts and those cares on your Couch with Peter in Gods kingdome It may be the time is approaching of putting off your Mortality and passing through death as through a gate into euerlasting life to put you in minde to bewayle your misdeeds and to begge remission of your sinnes with powring out of your teares which are so gracious in Heauen that euery sinne is washed away with such a flood no weeds euer springing after such raine or sanctified shower Depend vpon Gods diuine prouidence haue patience with your Crosses attend mercy for your comfort beware of pride too often the ouerthrow of Honour be weary of this world make now your way towards the kingdome of God Who long hauing tryed you with Calamities may blesse you with eternall Comforts be you neuer comfortlesse for no doubt God which tryeth his seruants will likewise blesse and comfort them As now sicknesse makes you sigh and be sorrowfull so much more let the Cause thereof grieue your heart which is sinne And bee you comforted in this that Christ Iesus suffered for you lay away Melancholly plucke vp your spirits and put your selfe onely vpon God liue not like a woman but dye like a liuing Saint Let not Impatience preiudise your heart neither let thought pierce your heart but make patience and mirth the best phisicke to your minde and surest comfort in your liues Intreate the Lord to helpe you to beare your Crosses and so to strengthen you with his Spirit that you become not hopelesse of recouery and let no sorrowes so afflict you but as sacred Comforts may soone relieue you Consider your whole life to be nothing else but a continuall tryall of your Conscience in the spiritual Warfare Remember that such as depend vpon any thing but on God alone refuse their owne felicity and that goodnesse which they should else receiue of God Who knowes not this that there is no Saluation but by Christ There is no true rest till I first feele Gods Iudgements and the weight thereof which shall serue through Christ to my good God doth now and then vse to deferre his helpe for a time before hee will comfort his Church People or Children yet when it is most expedient for them his helpe is euer ready at hand Consider we all that the end of Gods chastisements to his Children is to saue them from Sathan and with-hold them from Hell As God hath strooken you so hath hee power to restore you as you are Gods seruant you haue an Angell to defend you from your enemies you are so deare vnto God that he can no more suffer your enemies to hurt you then a man can abide to be thrust in the eyes Psal 17.8 Psal 17.8 Sathan sought to Iehoshuah when he was doing his Office Zacha. 3.1 that is praying for the state of the Church where you must note that Sathan seekes to afflict and trouble the Children of God and hinder their saluation from doing their duties vnto God if hee could The Lord hath punished you for a time desire him now to be pacified and visite your sinnes no more but that you may liue in peace and quietnesse as in the Kingdome of Christ Esay 2.2 Micha 4.4 Haggia 2.10 Esay 2.2 Micah 4.4 The Lords hand of helpe neuer fayleth his faithfull seruants but resteth so powerfull in it selfe that it bringeth all his promises and purposes to passe although hee haue no helpe of mortall man Zachariah in the 14. Chapter of his Prophesie telleth that these should be the great troubles in the Church in the Euening whereof the Lord will send comfort by a plentifull supply of spirituall graces marry into the new Ierusalem to continue for euer where there shall be one God one Faith one Religion In any wise beware of prosperity premit praeterit it presseth and passeth staying by thee to thy hurt and flying from thee to thy griefe Prosperity is like the golden Bracelets that Turpeus had for betraying the Romane Castle to the Sabynes wherewith she was pressed to death Pharaoh was humbled being afflicted but enioying prosperity hee was hardened Noah was sober in the Arke but ouertaken with Drunkennesse in the Vineyard Gen. 9. Lot vexed in Sodome abhorred all vncleanenesse but once safe in the Mountaines Gen. 19. hee fell into grosse Impiety Dauid being persecuted gaue himselfe to Meditation and Prayer but once aduanced in the Kingdome committed bloody sinnes 2. Sam. 11. The best doe commonly fall when they are furnished with abundance as the Moone is not Eclipsed but when shee is in the full Learne therefore what to doe when God casteth you downe or depriueth you of any comforts you haue formerly enioyed vnder so gracious a Lord and louing Father as is our God Learne wee this Lesson that either God punisheth vs for our sins or for the probation of our faith when he either compasseth vs with his net or taketh from vs the ioy of our Honours the pleasure of our Eyes and the Crowne from our head with the desires of our hearts Now know this that our earthly house of this Tabernacle being destroyed we haue a building giuen vs of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the Heauens Striue we therefore to be cloathed with a House which is from Heauen because if wee bee cloathed wee shall not be found naked For indeed wee which are in this Tabernacle sigh and are burdened because wee would not bee vncloathed but would bee cloathed vppon that Mortality might bee swallowed vp of Life God that hath Created vs for this thing hath also giuen vnto vs the Earnest of the Spirit Therefore wee are alwayes bold though wee know that whiles we are at home in the body wee are absent from the Lord for wee walke by faith and not by sight neuerthelesse wee are bold and loue rather to remooue out of the body and to dwell with the Lord. Wherefore wee also couet that both dwelling at home and remoouing from our home wee may bee acceptable to him For wee must all appeare before the Iudgement seate of Christ 2. Cor. 5 1 that euery man may receiue the things which are done in the body according to that hee hath done whether it be good or euill 2. Cor. 5.1 c. to the end of the tenth Verse the eighth to the Romans all throughout it is comfortable It is the saying of St. Chrisostome Crucem tollere sequi Christum omnibus imperatur alligatus sum ego
sed Verbum Dei non alligatum Are you sicke it is not for your health not for your hurt Despaire not for our Saluation dependeth vpon the will of our most louing Brother Iesus Christ who will intreate the Father for the Children and the Father will heare the Sonne for his Brethren not refusing them but feasting them And though the best of vs haue no merits yet our Sauiour Christ hath so imparted to vs his Righteousnesse as if wee had effected it our selues By which his most gracious suffering he hath most surely signed and sealed his Diuine loue and heauenly fauour vnto vs which beleeue The Lord deliuereth his people by afflictions preserueth them vpon his borders Esdras 12.14 making them ioyfull vntill the comming of the day of Iudgement I see you rest weake and sicke I pray you bee as quiet as you can seeking no other remedy but content your selfe with Christ God oftentimes sendeth afflictions on vs to discouer our vaine Confidence which wee keepe secret to our selues Terrours and destructions make men now and then to learne that which exhortations and gentlenesse could not bring to passe As the Plow-man hath his appointed time and diuers Instruments for his labour so hath the Lord for his vengeance for hee punisheth some at one time some at another some after one sort and some after another So that his Chosen seed is beaten and tried but not broken in pieces as are the wicked The dearest of Gods Children may faint but not finally faile and vtterly fall away God will suffer his Church to bee afflicted and yet at length send it deliuerance God suffereth sometimes his dearest Children to want Consolation that his grace afterwards may the more appeare when they feele their owne weakenesse Doe wee not by our sins prouoke God to take our liues from vs euery night You are now afflicted in your bodies yet assure your selues in the Lord that you shall finde deliuerance at last both for body and soule a very translation into blisse Gods power is sufficient without the helpe of any other our Heauenly Father hath all meanes in himselfe to bring his will to passe Hee sheweth his care and fauour ouer them that are weake and tender as God hath all power in himselfe so doth hee vse the same for the defence and maintenance of his Members Church and Children See that you neither feare neither man nor put your trust in any saue onely in God you are worthy of rebuke which will not rest on the prouidence of the Almighty but thinke that hee hath forsaken you in your troubles All power rests in Gods hands to deliuer you when hee thinketh good Therefore learne to abide Gods hand with patience and not curiously to seeke out the Cause of Gods delay in your Afflictions Trust not in your owne Vertues but acknowledge all good things to come from the Lord you are in Christs protection and therefore safe against all dangers and free from the feare of our infernall foes As a woeman cannot forget her Child no more doe the Compassions of our heauenly Father faile vs at our needefull times of our seuerall distresses Seeke no Counsell in your owne deuices lest refusing the Light and Consolation which the Gospell offereth you remaine still in sorrow and neuer bee comforted Esay 51. God comforteth his Church that they should not bee discouraged for their small number but remember their Parents Abraham and Sarah of whom they are borne The punishment of the Elect is by measure according as God giueth grace to beare it But in the Reprobate it is the iust vengeance of God to driue them to an insensiblenesse and madnesse Ier. 15 16 The Church of God in time of her afflictions and Captiuity bringeth forth more Children then when she was at liberty Wherefore doth our God refuse vs and forsake for a while but that with greater Compassions and euerlasting Mercies hee may imbrace vs againe as our Redeemer for euer It is our fault that we are not soone reconciled one to another and iudge God by your selues But hee is most easie to bee reconciled offering dayly his mercies vnto vs deliuerance is from Heauen and God neuer forsaketh his Children There shall be great afflictions in the Church but God will euer deliuer his True deliuerance from sinne and Sathan belongeth to none but to the Children of God whom hee iustifieth and when Gods will and pleasure is hee will shew you fauour and feeling graces Our Heauenly Father hath no need of mans helpe for the deliuerance of his hee can easily deliuer his Children and punish his foes Consider not so much what griefes and afflictions you now beare in your Body as what Christ hath borne for you to purchase your saluation Remember why Israel was so sore afflicted that they might in their troubles call to remembrance the benefits which God had bestowed vpon them in times past Yeeld not to the Censure of thy flesh when God doth not for Causes best knowne to himselfe send succour vnto you presently You are in distresse and trouble dedicate your selfe vnto Gods Seruice and call vpon his Name let all your Ioy bee in Gods Seruice and Worship no mans helpe can saue you put your confidence in GOD looke for helpe at his hands who hath better Physicke for your soules then any that commeth from Gilead Pray with true Faith and Repentance not for the smart and griefe which you feele to be remooued but finally sanctified to your Honours saluation Remember that God is the Potter and wee the Clay hee hath power ouer vs Esay 45.9 Rom. 9.10 to doe with vs whatsoeuer seemeth good in his sight As no man that is a thirst refuseth fresh Conduit-water which hee hath at home to goe and seeke waters abroad to quench his thirst So wee ought not to seeke for helpe and succour as Strangers and leaue God which is present with vs. All which meane to enioy the Land of promise must walke in the way of truth which God there teacheth them Let your Faith still striue against each temptation and in your greatest weakenesse seeke to the Lord for strength Know this my beloued that the dearest Children of God may bee ouercome in the battell betweene the Flesh and the Spirit and great inconueniences may they fall into Iob 3.1 c. 15 10 till God rayse them vp againe The Scriptures telling vs that Iudgements begin at Gods owne house wee may not thinke it strange that we are now grieuously punished who haue now and then Ezech. 9.6 1. Pet. 4.14 17. played he part of Gods enemies Extreame are the afflictions that God appointeth for euery one as Psalme 15.8 Esay 51.17 But the Cup which the wicked drinke is more bitter then that which God giueth to his Children for hee measureth the one by Mercy and the other by Iustice If you see you rest weake commend your selues to Gods mercy who meaneth not to destroy you for your sinnes but
Thy Seruant Esdras hath told vs of an eternall Paradise whose fruit remaineth incorruptible wherein is safety and health if wee will enter into it verse 53. Draw wee neere therefore vnto the Lord for an Inheritance because wee walke in great pride in these latter dayes of this world therefore doe many miseries meete vs and sundry calamities ouertake vs But the wise must with-hold sorrowes in themselues to allow Gods purpose and receiue his Corrections in patience if they looke to bee commended of him and allowed by him Be of good comfort O Israel and bee thou not heauy-hearted O thou house of Iacob 2. Esdras 12.46 For the most High hath you in remembrance and the Almighty hath not forgotten you in temptation 1.12.47 Neither will hee leaue Syon desolate but still mercifully remembreth the low estate of his distressed Sanctuary The Lord giueth vs all good things so doth hee enable vs when hee will and as hee will Remember wee therefore his Commandements neither let wee them at any time bee put out of our mindes but feare wee the Lord as wee flee from each sinne still doing the things which are acceptable to the Lord our God As the Lord doth scourge so doth he pitty hee leadeth to Hell and bringeth vp neither is there any that can auoide his hand Our Heauenly father scourgeth vs for our iniquities but againe gathers vs out of all Nations amongst whom wee shall bee scattered Waite yee for Saluation from God call vpon him to helpe you and hee will heare your voice if it please him God hath not tryed you as hee did the Patriarkes to the examination of your very hearts neither doth hee take vengeance on you but punisheth you for Instruction to bring you nearer to himselfe God seeing vs to bee vnruly Children doth therefore swing vs that wee may bee come quiet and goe from vnder his fingers as tame Lambes seeking for no other rest or peace then is found in Iesus Christ Know you not this that hee which offereth the most blowes is Crowned Whither should we resort but vnto the Lord in the times of our dangers and there cry most earnestly death being still before vs in our owne sight humble wee our bodies with fasting and desire the Lord to helpe vs being desolate Praise God in your misery and magnifie him for his mercy the soules of the righteous are in the hands of God where no torment can touch them the departure from vs may seeme as it were destruction howbeit they were in peace What though you now suffer paines before men yet is your hope full of immortality although you bee preuented with Death yet shall you be in rest God taketh away his least wickednesse should beguile the minde It is a matter of endlesse comfort to the poore members of Christ to see how vppon earth none are more ful of wofull paines in body and soules then Gods children who so full of soares as Iob Lazarus euen from the top to the toe Some are maimed in their bodies Iob 5. The Poole called Bethesda with her fiue porches was filled with multitudes of sicke folke blind halte and withered wayting for the moouing of the Waters after the Angels stirring whereof whosoeuer first stepped in was made whole whatsoeuer disease hee did languish of It is a comfort very cordiall to all Gods children to remember their former miseries now turned into felicity ioy and happinesse what though you rest poore yet may you possesse a Kingdome Are you here hungry and thirsty you shall assuredly taste of the Tree of Life Are you now wretched and naked you shal bee cloathed with the Roabes of Christs Righteousnesse and in the stead of the rags of infamy and Reproach on earth you shall bee crowned with the Dyadem of immortall glory in the highest heauens Be not sad eyther for the sickenes of your selfe or your friends for you cannot perish neyther shal you be cast away for your soules shall be presently in ioy and your bodies buried in the Graue as in a Bed of Doune to take a sweete sleepe till the day of Iudgement and then you shall rise to glory And according to your Religion Faith and good deedes in feeding and cloathing Christ Iesus in his members he will pitty you in mercy and now prouide comfort for you in the time of your Troubles Assure your heart and perswade your owne soule that Christ Iesus resteth the most true and absolute Sheepheard who feedeth his sheepe with most wholesome pasture not suffering vs to Rot vpon earth but assuring our soules to sing with Angels in Heauen We must not forget in the middest of our miseries that Christ our Redeemer was wounded for our transgressions broken for our iniquities the chastisment of our peace was vpon him and with his stripes we are healed Esay 53.5 Wee are saued by comming vnto God by Christ Heb. 7. he euerliuing that maketh intercession for vs. Hebr. 7 And by none other name can wee be saued Acts 4. Acts 4. Remember and forget not how wee are made partakers of Christ and his benefits euen by beeing of an humble spirit by Faith apprehending and applying Iesus Christ with all his merits vnto our selues Thus are we iustified before God and sanctified for Christs sake and therefore wee must all be content to vndergoe shame disgrace trouble persecution and bonds yea death it selfe for Christ his sake The Remembrance of Christs comming to Iudgement must cheare vp your heauy soules So labour now your heart as you may crye with the Spouse of Christ Come Lord Iesus come quickely Hope wee to liue with Christ in the Church Tryumphant then must wee dye with him in the Church Militant None shall liue with Christ aboue vnlesse they suffer with him here below nor none shall haue their teares wiped from them in Heauen vnlesse they haue first shed them on Earth It is the Lords vsuall dealing after long time of peace to bring some tryals that the Elect and true Christians may be discerned It is knowne to vs all how a Christian mans life rests a war-fare so that there is no dreaming of a Victory before wee fight It is our lot to suffer and our comfort still to stay vpon Christ who will so dispose of vs and our seuerall troubles as they shall leaue a blessing behind them and we shall gayne more in the Spirit then we can loose in the flesh Which GOD grant we may Tuesday Meditations THis rests a Maxime in Religion that God wil haue his owne true Church and Children to be tryed and vndergoe the heate of persecution Wee must learne therefore to be wise and not to thinke our selues out of Gods fauour when wee are tryed nor deeme worse of the Gospell because the Crosse still goeth with it and wicked people still hate it But still let vs all learne to looke at Christ Iesus remembring that we Seruants may not looke for any larger priuiledge then had our Lord and Maister
all Holy Scriptures doe warne vs at large that there is neyther rest nor quietnesse to bee looked for in the world but variety change of things both in Church Common-wealth longer then God preserues them by his protection where his Word is truely set forth Vertue esteemed Vice punished and Concord mainetayned there all things flourish but abhominable vices must wither before commendable Vertue can grow wee must loath the way to the dungeon of Hell before that with courage wee can clime to the Kingdome of Glory The sufferings of the faithfull haue their priuiledges 1 Reg. 2.26 1. Reg. 2.26 King Salomon would not slay Abiather because hee had borne the Arke of the Lord God before his father Dauid and because hee had suffered in all wherein his father bad beene afflicted Eliah was a good man and both beloued of God and man yet wearied in the Wildernesse fate downe vnder a Tree willing to dye sayd It is enough O Lord take my soule for I am no better then my Fathers And why was this because hee was iealous for the Lords Glory which wee all should stand out for to the losse of our limbes and liues Gods punishments are not to destroy vs vtterly but to chasten vs and to bring vs to the knowledge of our selues and to know how much better it is to serue God then Tyrants God neuer seeketh the Death of a sinner but his Conuersion Ezec. 18.32 c. 33.11 The Lord is with vs while wee be with him and will be found of vs if wee forsake him not God doth reserue vnto himselfe a number whom hee will heare both for himselfe and others Pray faithfully and your confidence cannot bee frustrate Bee wiser then Asa who when hee was sicke in the extremity of his disease sought rather vnto the Phisitians 2 Chron. 16.12 then vnto God 2. Chron. 16.12 Where all Christians should know that first wee should seeke God to purge our sinnes which rest the chiefe causes of our Diseases and afterwards vse the helpe of the Physitian as a meanes by whom God waketh Remember I pray you that affliction giueth vnderstanding so that such as haue hated God in their prosperity must now in their miseries both sue and seeke to him The best of vs are no better then was King Manasseh who neuer regarded God till hee was put into fetters and bounden in Chaines and carried to Babell Where being in tribulation hee then prayed to the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the GOD of his Fathers and God was intreated of him and heard his prayer and brought him againe to Ierusalem into his Kingdome then knew Manasseh that the Lord was God See how God by our afflictions doth giue vs vnderstanding so that whereas wee hated God in our prosperity now in our misery wee seeke vnto him When God punisheth vs it is to make vs see our miseries he would not exercise vs vnder our Crosses but to make vs loath the Earth and loue the Heauens Why are we all exercised with woefull crosses and most bitter calamities not to hinder but further our passage to Paradise I hold it farre better in time of your sicknesses to commend and commit your selfe to God and his protection then by seeking ordinary meanes to giue an occasion to others to think you doubt of Gods power Are wee in misery let vs all fast and intreate God for mercy and hee will not finally forsake vs wee should consecrate our selues to him that made vs so shall wee be deliuered at the last from each malady hell death and dangers Our louing God and heauenly father would not afflict vs but to the enforcing of vs to the better keeping of his Commandments whereunto we could not be brought by Gods great benefits Ahashuerus and Haman sate merry and drinking Wine when Esther was fasting and Mordecai mourning yet went merry Haman to the Halter and Mordecai to preferment I intreate you that you neuer doe mistrust the rare prouidence of God who turneth the ioy of the wicked into sorrow but the teares of the godly into gladnesse It 's the lot of holy men not onely to bee afflicted outwardly in body but also inwardly in minde and conscience with temptations of seeming friends and diabolicall disputations vrging to despaire Sathan will tell thee that God is a seuere Iudge and thy mortall enemy and therefore it is but in vaine to sue to him for succour Such comforters as these bee not come to comfort you but torment you and to adde one affliction to another Bee you therefore constant to resist the Deuill and all his temptations and so at length you shall bee sure of good successe I know my Brethren that yee rest not like a blocke insensible but that in your patience you feele afflictions and griefe of minde yet keepe you a meane herein and rebell not against God as the wicked and vngodly doe But confesse you that God is wise and good although his hand be soare vpon you yet doth hee all things in Iustice and Equity Cease not therefore to feare God when his plagues are most vpon you for the more you suffer the more glorious shall bee your Crowne Sathan can goe no farther in punishing you then the Lord will permit him for your good Iob teacheth vs not to measure Gods fauour by the vehemency of the disease wherewith wee are perplexed for then might Iob and peraduenture your selfe suppose that God had cast you off because he vseth often to leaue his owne without helpe and most wonderfull afflicted with soares sorrowes and diseases As wee rest contented with prosperity so should wee be with aduersity acknowledging his mercy in the former and his Iustice in the latter still bridling our Impatiency or murmuring against God Iudge none the more sinfull because of their sorrowes neyther ought wee to bee weary of our liues because wee are subiect to infirmities But because wee are giuen to sinne and rebellion against God therefore should wee feare and tremble and the rather because murmuring against God in affliction doth but increase the paine and vttereth mans folly Iob 5.17 Behold blessed is the man whom God correcteth Therefore refuse not thou the chastisements of the Almighty vers 18. For hee maketh the wound and bindeth it vp hee smiteth and his hands make whole God sendeth trouble after trouble that his Childred may not for one time but continually trust in the Lord and how they shall haue a comfortable issue euen in their greatest and last temptation which promise though it bee not alwayes performed yet it doth the LORD recompence it otherwise to their aduantage My GOD might damne mee to Hell whilst hee whippeth me for Heauen the afflictions I sustaine came for my owne sinnes and promise to my soule through my Sauiour Christ Iesus a most happy conquest ouer them all By afflictions God keepeth vs as in prison and restraineth vs from doing euill neither can any set at liberty
but God our Lord who is not rigorous to any but righteous to all God sanctifie your afflictions and free you from misery comfort you in Paradise and establish you really with Glory Amen Wednesday Meditations WHen the LORD doth visite vs and not presently free vs out of trouble we must beware and take heed that wee murmure not against God to require or grudge at his chastisements God sometimes suffers his euen to wrestle against desperation and to see no glimering of his mercies sometimes againe hee causeth the hearts of his dearest Children to leape for ioy then making his Maiesty most knowne when it may tend most for the comfort of the Elect Learne wee all to waite the Lords leasure for our deliuerance not to prescribe his time but stay his leasure and willingly waite till he comfort vs againe God forgetteth not to bee gracious though sometimes hee seemeth as though hee would shut vp his louing kindnesse in displeasure Howsoeuer it pleaseth GOD now and then to humble his Children yet he forsaketh them not for euer What are many nights of afflictions in comparison of the ioyfull morning and sun-shine of the euerlasting mercies and fauours of God These these reioyce our soules and comfort our hearts which are oppressed with sorrow Deutro 8.16 The Lord humbleth his Chosen people and prooueth them that hee may doe them good at their latter end A man may gather more vndoubted assurance of GODS euerlasting fauours towards his soule by inward afflictions then by any outward prosperity in the world Let vs all consider the manner of Gods dealing with his people in the world hee will now and then spoile vs of all our Sences and feeling of his Mercies in Christ yea suffer vs to lie bleeding in our miseries yea scorhed and tormented with the heate of Gods anger for sinne But when our hope rests euen gone then doth our heauenly Father send a gracious raine and a blessed shower to quench the heate of our poore afflicted soules for sinne which shall be as mercy to men in smart and misery Obiect But tell mee this Obiect why seeketh God his seruants in so much misery Ans To make vs all to depend of him onely with faith and patience Answ Secondly to make vs to know and see that wee are nothing of our selues but that all the strength wee haue it is onely in Christ Thirdly to stirre vp our hearts to seeke and pray vnto the Lord more earnestly for helpe and succour Fourthly to make vs esteeme the mercy of God more highly because things easily come by are lightly esteemed but things long in getting costing much trouble and paines are most sett by often therefore doth the Lord deferre his mercy vnto the last gaspe that so it might be the more esteemed Oh waite wee GODS leasure though hee deferre long and seeme to forget vs wee hope Lord for life in the middest of death and say though thou kill vs yet will wee trust in thee although thou deferre thine helpe and comfort for many yeares yet will wee neuer let goe our hold but still hang on thy mercy with our hands of Faith saying thus Lord though thou hast already whipt mee diuers wayes yet will I neuer forget to meete thee with my repentant teares well knowing thou esteemest nothing when Reformation of heart and life is wanting Iudgements come eftsoones from God for our sinnes yet layeth hee no more crosses vpon vs then hee in mercy will make vs well able to beare granting such an issue as wee shall gaine more in the Spirit then wee shall loose in the flesh Content your selfe my Brethren the Crosse in GODS due time shall bee your aduantage and leaue a sure blessing behinde it GOD imposing no punishments vpon vs but for our sinnes the tryall of our Faith Patience c. For our Heauenly Father doth afflict vs with light affliction to make vs runne vnto him and kisse his rod he afflicting vs for our good the reformation of our liues and the saluation of our soules I deny not but the best of Gods children may be afflicted with sicknes and wounds with troubled Consciences Gods rod being good both to purge our corrupt and cankered hearts and for the humbling of them throughly to the exercise of faith patience and prayer Hee knowes little that knowes not this how the poore Members of CHRIST must bee afflicted and liue in sorrow sicknesse and griefe of minde yet granteth the Lord patience to endure all By teares sorrowes and grieuous sicknesse doth God fyle away the cankered rust of our Rebellions that wee might bee more feruent in Prayer hunger more after Heauen and the more eagerly depend of his fatherly goodnesse and diuine graces When wee doe aske one thing hee giueth vs another that 's better for vs that wee might learne wholy to depend of his goodnesse all the dayes of our liues Are you in distresse fling your selfe into the blessed Armes of the LORDS mercy so will hee vndoubtedly giue you euerlasting rest vnto your soules such is the loue of GOD that hee neuer failes nor forsakes his Children Neuer despaire for any troubles but perswade your soule this that the God of peace will shortly treade downe Sathan vnder your feete hee is faithfull that haue made vs this promise Rom. 16.20 Rom. 16.20 Affliction being our portion on earth wee must labour to get faith and patience in our soules that so wee may hold out vnto the end As wee are Gods Children we finde no promise in the Word of God to be freed from temptations and trials pouerty sicknesse c. Howbeit as wee are Gods Children wee haue this promise that these things shall neuer hurt vs because the Lord will so sanctifie them vnto vs as they will surely leaue a blessing behinde them In time of danger and death nought in the world should more comfort vs then this to remember that wee haue walked before GOD in truth and with an vpright heart Esay 28.3 This cheered Ezechiah when hee was going the way of all flesh that hee had vndertaken much paines to know the LORDS Will. The best Christian is the most couetous in all heauenly knowledge of God and our saluation by Iesus Christ the Childe of God is no sooner in perill but the Lord putteth vnder his owne hand to deliuer him from death and danger Forget not God who sayth Esay 54.17.8 For a little time haue I forsaken thee but with great compassion will I gather thee Psal 34.17 18. Psal 34.17.18 The Lord is neere vnto all those that are of a contrite heart and will saue such as are afflicted in spirit Doth not our Sauiour comfort his Disciples thus Iohn 14.18 I will not leaue you comfortlesse but I will come vnto you euen I and I am with you to the end of the world Doubt not but there is comming a time of refreshing that will breake out as the rising of the Sunne and the bright beames of the Morning
the Word of God standeth not in bare Knowledge but in the practise of life It 's not an halfe seruice but our full obedience that GOD looketh for hee often promiseth vs rewards not for our merrites but to incourage that our labour shal not be lost It is the Lords manner in our greatest weaknes to manifest his power and in deepest danger make knowne vnto vs our saluation Content thy selfe a while with the water of teares and thou shalt be refreshed with the Wine of comfort Acknowledge Christ Iesus to bee now thy Sauiour and thou shalt not once feare him to become thy Iudge After trouble God sendeth comfort to all them which patiently waite on him and constantly put their trust in his mercies The Almighty put Iobs soule in bitternesse but it was to teach him to keepe righteousnesse and not forsake it God dealeth with some as hee did with Iob hee turned his Harpe vnto mourning and his Organs into the Voyce of them that weepes As often as God striketh vs with any kinde of troubles or afflictions whether inward in outward in our goods It is to beate downe our pride and to free vs from afflictions that wee feele not the weight of them nor the heauinesse of his VVrathfull hand or iudgements when he rests angry Sickenesse is GODS Herald which he sendeth to thy house home and heart Our louing God will not afflict thee aboue measure that thou shouldest haue occasion to contend with him It belongeth vnto God to moderate your Corrections and not man Can you pray with vehemency feare not but that both your secret complaynts and sighings are seene of God and sealed vp with Christ in your deepest temptations God both can and will deliuer you Although your deedes haue deserued destruction yet doth God in mercy pitty your frailty The more your Conscience is touched with the feare of GODS iudgements the more hope may you haue to prayse God in the Congregation of the faithfull who sendeth comfort and boldnesse in time of our afflictions who else were ready to drop downe to destruction Howsoeuer eyther sorrowes or sicknesse may somewhat discourage vs yet rest our miseries good meanes to cause vs to feele Gods present care ouer vs. When the Lord afflicteth vs and we crye vnto him we thinke by and by that hee should helpe vs but that is not his due time he hath some worke to worke with vs wee must waite and stay the time before we be comforted and then Physicke and all humane meanes fayling God helpeth that we may learne euer after to looke still to Heauen knowing that not onely our sickly bodies but our sinfull soules and vnsanctified senses such as all ours be must hence be purified or else perplexed Say O my God let neither Man nor misery driue thy Seruant from his Hope of Gods promise and ioy in the highest Heauens and also Eternall felicity Lord be mooued with the complaint of thy poore Seruant and d liuer me in the end from all manner of fearefull dangers Remember that the Lords word and promise is true and vnchangeable hee preserueth the poore from the peeuish and maintayneth the pyous agaynst the proud Crye mightily to our God for this one thing that whilst your afflictions last your faith may not faint Desire the Lord to comfort you both in soule and in body without whose fauour there is no perfect felicity nor hope of blessed immortality What though Sathan hath many wayes to hurt you yet hath our heauenly Father many millions more to saue out of his meere mercy The great power of Christs Kingdome against all Aduersaries thereof teach vs all patiently to indure the Crosse till God destroy the Aduersaries The more your afflictions do increase the more neere shall you feele the helping hand of God assisting you with his spirit of comfort Be not perswaded but that God loueth you farre better then euer your Parents did which very thought should pacifie and bridle your rage Depending vpon the Lord who neuer brake promise with any of his seruants Content your selfe for the treasures of Gods mercies are alwaies layd vp in store for his Children albeit at all times they do not feelingly inioy them How many seeme to be swallowed vp of grieuous afflictions yet rests God at hand to deliuer you And it is our heauenly Fathers loue to cause vs all to feele that wee are mortall and that there is no estate wherein we can liue to haue perfect quietnesse in this world Christ Iesus is come to redeeme the soules of his seruants that put trust in him how then shall the darts of Death endanger vs when death hauing done his worst Christ himselfe then becomes our Redeemer giuing vs for a poore Cottage a rich Kingdome God knoweth what dangers hang ouer our heads and by what meanes to deliuer vs from them Stay his leasure and the LORD will content your minde with that which is most necessary remember how our Faith must bee exercised with diuers temptations Though the iust man dye yet Gods blessings are extended to his posterity and though God suffer some iust man to want temporall benefits yet hee recompenceth him with spirituall treasures such shal bee continually preserued vnder GODS VVings and haue at last inward peace and rest in their mindes The patient hope of the Godly is neuer in vayne but in the end hath good successe though for a time God prooue them with sundry temptations why doth God visite any one with sicknesse but to put both your selfe and others in mind of his chastisments for sinne desire not to be exempted from Gods rod but that he would so moderate his hand that you might be able to beare it let prayer therefore become your refuge yeeld vnto God and not to your own desire Let vs not dispayre be our torments neuer so great but crye we to God with sure trust for our deliuerance doth humane meanes faile waite we for the helpe of God the weaker in body striue we with crying sighes to bee stronger in soule by Faith to the conquering of diseases Death Diuels and danger crye still for Patience to indure the punishments and chastisements which the Almighty sendeth and intreate the Lord not to be seuere against his poore creature neither to wrappe him vp with the wicked to be put to shame This know that it is a very hard thing for the Saints themselues to keepe measure in Words thoughts and gesture when Death and Dispayre assayles them though God deferre helpe yet must we learne to abide with Patience till he heare and helpe vs still remembring that such soules as please him God hasteneth to take them from wickednesse Howsoeuer you feele Gods hand to lye heauy vpon you yet rest vpon his promise and comfort your selfe and soule therein Account it Gods mercy to bee touched with his fatherly hand for each one of vs all is like an vntamed Calfe till the vse of Gods rod call vs home to Heauen Wee are
away all things that are contrary vnto his Commaundements so where the wicked feele Gods power you and I being godly shall find his mercies Desire we God to be our sufficiency aboue physicke meate or drinke Are we in the depth of misery let vs contemplate his Power and glory as if we were in his Sanctuary assured of his Spirit Afflictions dwelleth with the best of Gods seruants who haue no leasure to swallow downe their spittle Such is the estate of the poore members of Christ Iesus that oftentimes they bee soare groaning vnder the Crosse of tribulation yet suffereth not our Sauiour any of his to passe from vnder his shaddow till our heauy and oppressed heartes comforted and fully refreshed Our heauenly Fathers scourge is vndoubtedly a fore-runner of Gods gracious fauour and blessing and the onely way to saluation Crye and call faithfully and God will still heare thee what time the storme falleth on thee It is our Heauenly Fathers fauour to open our eares by his correction thereby keeping backe our soules from the pit and our liues from passing by the Sword He striketh vs with sorrows vppon our beds making our soules to loath and abhorre euen the daintiest meates By carefull Crosses God openeth our eares so as neyther health may hurt vs nor Prosperity vndoe vs The cause why God sendeth vs sundry afflictions is to beate downe our pride and to turne vs from euill and impiety Our gracious GOD withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous neyther will hee still be fettering vs with the cordes of afflictions But he will be opening our eares to Discipline and commaunding vs to returne from iniquity My GOD and Heauenly Father so mooue your and euery one of our hearts to the feeling and seeing of all our sinnes and iniquities that we may all come to him by repentance as did Manasses at the last Assure we shall our soules of this that to the afflicted God sheweth Grace The scourge of the Lord is vppon vs wee ought the more humbly to pray vnto our God that he hide not his face from vs. But rather to indue vs with his Spirit as still resting in misery and afflictions wee might be driuen from man to God As was the Prophet Dauid When his Friends forsooke him and all his Acquaintance hid themselues from him Then gat Dauid vnto God most humbly with these words Oh Lord heare my Prayer O let my crye come vnto thee Hide not thy face from me in time of my trouble but incline thine Eares vnto me that do mingle my drinke euery morning with my Weeping Learne we each one neyther to haue fellowship with the deceitefull nor yet to stay with the vngodly but to wash our hands in innocency and so to go vnto the Lords Altar See you neuer forget the loue of our Sauiour Christ to mankinde who was content for to become a Redeemer to mankind and not for the Angels which fell as did both man and woman For the ground of our Redemption is the special loue of Christ not the fore-seene workes of our faith in the eternall Counsel of God But like as the Israelites got not Canaan by their owne sword and power No more can we gaine Heauen but by Gods fauouring vs in Christ Iesus his Sonne The faithfull are chastened ere they be Crowned yea checked and aduised for to leaue their bad manners and particuler vices and to follow and practise holy religious duties in faith feare and feeling with holy Obedience both to God and man Both Paule and Barnabas teach vs this Lesson that we must through many tribulation Enter into the kingdome of God Few things came into the Hoast of Israel but such as were purified eyther by fire or water How much more ought the sinfull soules of men to be purged ere they come to their Heauenly heritage Num 31.23 Num. 31.23.24 As Hester was first purified sixe moneths with Myrrhe after that with sweete Odours and then come vnto Ahashuerus So bitter tryals and trauailes must touch our heartes ere wee can lodge with the LORD of Life vnder whom King Ahashuerus liued but as a Lieutenant It is the Priuiledge of Christs members to be troubled and afflicted but not for euer to bee fined as siluer in the furnace of affliction and tribulation VVhat was once spoken vnto the olde Iewes I doe now vnderstand it as applyed to the Elect whose priuiledges in this life are pangs and pains troubles and tortures calamities and crosses so that it is now growne to a Prouerbe Athemata mathemata passionis documenta The Lords lashes are lessons to leade vs a long the right and streight way to Christ the true Sanctefier of our soules to all that beleeue in him Dauid penning his sweetest and harmonious Psalme in his bitterest afflictions teacheth vs euery one to profite by Gods Rod because that afflictions Bringeth home the Prodigall Sonne Luke 15. Luke 15. And maketh Nebuchadnezzer lift vp his eyes to Heauen honouring him that liueth for euer As many as rest sons must be scourged of their father wee iust ones knowing God but must looke for messengers to salute them with shriking sounds of sorrowful newes For our learning it pleaseth God oftentimes to conclude the best peoples liues with very fearefull euils As we see in the death of Iesus Christ his best Apostles Ionathan Lazarus and the LORDS two VVitnesses Reuel 11.7 Who hauing finished their Testimonies are killed for so doing and their Corpses throwne into the streetes of the great Citty the Gentiles in their courses three dayes and a halfe not suffering their Carkasses to bee put in their Graues See how the Lord scourgeth deepely where hee loueth most dearely stay but the LORDS leasure and hee will vndoubtedly comfort your distressed heart and minde if you will patiently abide seeke and waite for him in the Way of sincerity and trueth Remember wee should all that Israels portion is not passed into by following of vaine and vnlawful pleasures not by imbracing the Earth in our armes or sending out our Children by flockes to daunce after musicke Til the Lords Vae mane surgentibus Esay 5. seize vpon vs Israels portion is not so easily come vnto There is no other way to the Crowne but by the crosse we must suffer our afflictions as the good souldiers of Christ before the Lord will receiue vs into Eternall Glory Learne we all therefore that the Crosse of Christ is the best Schoole-maister to bring vs to Christ As Naaman did wash ere hee could be whole so must good Christians be content to suffer tryals VVhilst God threatneth afflictions to our flesh he would haue vs to prepare Faith and Patience in our hearts to entertayne the LORDS chastisements with teares The rod of God to man is as the presse to the Grape the fanne to the Corne and the fire to the Gold How was good Iacob troubled first to haue his onely brother as it were to sweare his death then to
perceiue his Election and Saluation The saying is as true as ancient We must goe by the gates of Hell to Heauen we must after a sort be in Hell before euer we can be capable of Heauen aboue That is in the Hell of an ashamed countenance and a confounded conscience before euer the Lord will say vnto our soules that he is our Saluation and Redemption Our humiliation by the Law must first preceed the saluation of the Gospell so then they are not conuerted that more or lesse are neuer humbled To be troubled and amazed for our sinnes is to be fitted for Heauen and first we must be lost ere we can be found and must be condemned before wee can be reprieued or saued We must be ashamed of our sinnes affrighted at our follies and confounded in our consciences before the Lord wil once say to our soules I am thy Redemption Are you amazed at your sins be not disparaged so farre you are in this your Hell from Hell as you are composed thereby and made fitter for Heauen which is the throne of the Euer-liuing Lord GOD. Againe we must labour to haue the spirit of Bondage become the Spirit of Adoption to our soules and we must acknowledge our seuerall diseases before Christ will heale vs. As euery one can rest content to haue Cstrist our Iesus so must we rest content to haue him our Lord and be conformable vnto him in bearing the Crosse if euer we meane or looke to be glorified with him in Heauen We must needs feele our sicknesse ere wee befit for Righteousnesse soule afflictions must not fright you from Almighty God but make you rather runne vnto him for defence as the Chickens do from the Kite to their Hen 2 Cor. 12.17 18. The more you trust in God the sooner will he support you and the more earnestly you cry and craue for iustice the sweeter will be your end and the more ioyfull your deliuerance Forget not to be thankfull for the least measure of Faith and Grace wel knowing that the want of these soone worketh mans ouer-throw Vnderstand I beseech you that though Death be the deliuerer of euery faithfull man and woman from the body and prison of sinne to Eternall Felicity Our Sauiour by his Death and Passion hauing killed the sting of death in vs and a though Paul once rauished with an high Contemplation Wished to be dissolued and to be with Christ. Philip. 1.23 Yet haue we no warrant euery man to pray for the hasting of his owne death being to euery Faithfull particular man the same thing that the generall transmutation wil be at the latter day to the whole body of the iust and Elect except that the Elect after the generall dissolution attayne to a greater degree of Glory Christ came not to Call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance To seeke the lost Sheepe to finde the lost Greate and reclayme the lost Sonne or meet with the lost treasure Submit your desires to GODS will and leaue your indeauours with patience to be ordered by the Lords prouidence earnestly desiring preseruation from Death you patiently submitting your selfe vnto GODS pleasure eyther for Life or Death For the best and surest way to finde Fauour in the Eyes of the LORD Almighty is to desire him to doe with vs what hee seemeth or thinketh good for referring our selues to his Diuine prouidence hee will euer deale most graciously and louingly with vs. God is our GOD willing to shew vs grace and mercy he will turne to vs and be fauourable 〈◊〉 he takes away our manifold iniquities and cast our sinnes in the depth of the Sea Agayne Psalme 103.8.9.10 The Lord is full of Compassion and mercy long suffering and of great goodnes He will not be alwayes chiding neyther keepeth he his anger for euer He hath not dealt with vs after our sins nor rewards according to our iniquities But looke how high the Heauen is in comparison of the Earth so great is his mercy towards them that feare him Looke how wide also the East is from the West so farre hath he set our sinnes from vs. Yea like as a Father pittieth his owne children euen so is the Lord pittifull to them that feare him For he knoweth whereof we be made hee remembreth that we are but dust Psal 145.8 Ioel. 2.13 Mat. 26.11 2. Cor. 1.3 Ephe 2.4 2 Tim. 1.13 Of the great mercies of God towards vs sinners read at your leasure Psalme 145.8.9.147.8.10 and in Ioel 2.13 Math. 26.11 2 Cor. 1.3 Ephes 2.4 1 Tim. 1.13 vnto 18. verse All these places yeelde words of rare comfort pronounced by the Eternall Verity it selfe and therefore not to be mistrusted or dispayred of Let vs not abuse GODS mercies making them a cloake to couer our sinnes presume we not saying Eccles 5.6 Eccle. 5.6 The mercie of our God is great he will forgiue my manifold sins for mercy and wrath come from him Forget not that golden saying of St. Paule Rom. 8.28 All things worke together for the best to them which feare God Rom. 5.4 Yea the afflictions and troubles of Gods children are so sanctified vnto them by Gods spirit that by the same they are made partakers of Gods holinesse Hebr. 1.12 Heb. 1.12 By the same they inioy the quiet Fruite of Righteousnesse by it likewise they attaine to a greater measure of ioy in the Holy Ghost Agayne Hereby is the world crucified vnto you and you vnto it Rom. 8.8 Hereby are we made conformable to the death of Christ by this are we kept from the condemnation of this World and by the same likewise learn we experience patience Hope c. I beseech you all to ponder weigh and consider how your crosses are mercy your losses gaines your afflictions schooling and each aduersity as a Lesson receiue your Crosses as comming from Christ written both for thy Learning and Comfort manifesting by these tokens that he loueth you meaning thereby to draw you euen into his Bosome hereby we are assured of our heauenly Fathers good will towards vs. We may not in our miseries still looke for Gods but likewise at his ineffable mercie our Parents disobedience in eating the forbidden Fruite did banish them out of the most pleasant place of the World yet shewed GOD his fatherly Kindnesse vnto them before he droue them out for he made them Coates to arme them against all weather More then that hee comforted them with the promise of the blessed Seed Iesus Christ which should restore that Saluation vnto mankinde which they had lost by yeelding to the Serpents intisements Loe here the most louing and Kind dealing of GOD with Man hee will make vs smart a little for our sinnes here is his Iustice but yet so that he will not vtterly forsake vs or giue vs ouer for euer here is louing mercy Auoyde therefore Sathan once I say agayne auoyde cease to suggest or ingest into any mans heart that he should thinke because that God
his scourges and plagues which he sendeth vppon the Earth and yet notwithstanding hee prouideth for it conueniently though he doth most commonly grant but a short time of Truce vnto his Church and children to be at rest and quiet in Learne we all to set the glory of Christ his Resurrection against the shame of the Crosse and graue seeing seeing it may aswell bee proued by witnesse which saw it as by testimony of the Prophets learne wee all therefore to goe forward in one way in our vocation through a thousand death Gods prouidence taketh not away the causes which God vseth as meanes but rather ordereth and disposeth them to their right vse euen then when he openeth an extraordinary issue for then and not till then came wee to the promised and sure saluation thorow the middest of tempest and death it selfe Then are perplexities most to be looked for when the Port and Hauen is nearest The godlier you bee the more sure shall you bee to haue danger vpon danger but alwaies most sure to haue a glorious issue What though aduersity bee the punishment of sinne yet God in punishing doth not alwaies respect sinne they iudge too rashly which eyther doe not waite for the Lord or doe iudge and esteeme all men according to prosperity or aduersity let this be still your comfort the Lord neuer afflicteth his aboue their strength what though now we behold miseries and calamities in a Church yet is the hope of felicity harboured in our hearts as if we presently enioyed it Know this that it is of the Lords mercy that you are eyther helped or healed Wis 18. It is the power of righteousnesse that Saints receiue good and euill in like manner singing prayses for the one aswell as for the other It is not wisedomes care to walke with ease by crooked paths and to bring vs into feare and dread and to torment vs with her discipline vntill she hath tryed our soules and prooued vs by her iudgements then will shee comfort vs and shew vs her secrets and heape vpon vs the vnderstanding of righteousnesse The Lord now and then sendeth vs away weeping and mourning but with ioy and perpetuall gladnesse will hee bring vs againe vnto himselfe Remember that Sion may bee in Captiuity and yet see her Saluation from God to come with great glory and euerlasting brightnesse suffer we therefore as Children the wrath of God patiently hoping at last to tread vpon the necks of our foes and euer hereafter to reioyce though now for a time wee mourne Who would not make haste to the Kingdome of GOD liuing vprightly and be of a good and honest conuersation as Christ once offered himselfe willingly to be taken that wee might be deliuered Remember in your present misery how Christ being innocent was condemned of the High-priest for that wickednesse whereof wee are guilty Christ our Sauiour found no comfort any where that in him wee might bee fulfilled with Celestiall ioyes and solace euery where hee was made a curse that in him wee might bee blessed hee was spoyled of his Garments that wee might bee enriched with his Righteousnesse Christ healing the manifold miseries of mankinde sheweth that he came to make cleane and wipe away the sins of the world with his touching hand from Heauen Feare wee not any accusers before God seeing that GOD himselfe absolueth vs as iust much lesse neede wee feare damnation seeing that wee rest vpon the death and resurrection yea the Almighty power and defence of Iesus Christ Therefore what can there be so waighty in this life or of so great force and power that might now feare vs although wee might fall from the feare of God wherewith he loueth vs in Christ Surely nothing it is in it lelfe most constant and sure and also in vs conformed by stedfast faith by Christ that loueth vs we are perfectly iust and through him are wee conquerours ouer miseries and calamities although we seeme as broken in pieces with the woeful weight of woefull dangers yet as good Christians let vs grow more and more couragious that the waies and wills of GOD may bee throughly knowne in this world Remember that the matter of our saluation is Christ in whom onely we are endued with spirituall blessings vnto saluation Oh perswade your owne soules that God hath chosen vs from the beginning in his Sonne the end of afflictions being true ioy and that through the vertue of the Spirit of Christ which hee giueth to them which aske it We ought not to be discouraged but rather to bee incouraged by the persecutions which the enemies of the Gospell imagine and practise against vs seeing that they are certaine witnesses from GOD himselfe both of our saluation and of the destruction of our enemies that hate vs. Persecution is a signe of our saluation because it 's a gift of God to suffer for Christ which gift hee rendreth to his owne as he doth the gift of faith Grieue not for your great afflictions no not although you should dye to make pefect your oblation with your blood as with a drinke-offering The way to eternall saluation is to follow Christ his steps by afflictions and persecutions vntill wee come to Christ himselfe who is our marke whereat wee shoote and receiue the reward whereunto God calleth vs to him Therefore bee not disquieted through impatiency seeing that God is at hand to giue you remedy against all your miseries neither bee you carefull for any thing but with sure confidence giue God thankes and craue of him whatsoeuer you haue neede of that with a quiet conscience you may wholy and withall your heart submit your selfe to him that you may with Dauid beginne with teares and end with thankes The afflictions of the Church may be said to be Christs afflictions by reason of that fellowship and knitting together that the body and the head haue one with the other not that there is any more neede to haue the Church redeemed but that Christ sheweth his power in the daily weaknesse of his members and that for the comfort of the whole and holding of his Childrens hearts together whose assured comfort is to enter by afflictions into the Kingdom of Glory Know this that our God being iust will punish the vniust and will do away the miseries of his owne people Remember alwayes to set the invisible power of Gods Spirit which God hath giuen you agaynst those stormes which may or will come vpon you I pray remember that the gift of Gods Spirit is as it were a certayne liue flame kindled in our hearts which the flesh and the Diuell seeke to put out And therefore you and I on the contrary side must labour as much as we can to foster and keepe it burning and not to be pierced thorough as people whom the Lord will destroy Doubt we not but that our Saluation doth hang vpon Christ who was exhibited in our dayes and suffered farre more grieuous things then wee can
Glory which wee looke for a thousand times sur-mounting the misery of our afflictions You Know well that this whole World looketh for a restoring groaning as it were for it and that not in vayne Let it not grieue vs therefore to sigh for our Sauiours comming being now certaynly perswaded of our Redemption at hand especially we hauing the first Fruites of the Spirit Call to minde how it was imputed vnto Abraham for Righteousnes in this that hee was found Faithfull in Temptation It is Iosephs commendation that in time of trouble he kept the Commandement and was made Lord of Aegypt Forget not that Elias for his zealous Feruency in the Law was taken vp into Heauen And the Children by Faith deliuered out of the flame Trust still in God and you cannot want strength as for the glory of man it is but dung and Wormes to day Dust to morrow nothing Shew your selfe willing to change your life manfully and such a one as your Education and your yeares now requireth The Lord God Almighty so moderate our troubles and torments that we may dye holily put our whole trust and affiance in him O remember how Christ was tempted all manner of wayes and did ouer-come that we through his Vertue might likewise be Conquerours Esteeme not the ioy and Felicity commodities and pleasures of this life to bee any wayes better then vexing perplexities the way to Heauen is straight and narrow we must passe through the rough way suffering to be thrust and thronged before we can enter into Life And although Christ seeme sometimes to neglect his in most extreame dangers yet in time conuenient hee asswageth all tempests and bringeth them to the hauen they hope for Who knoweth not our sinnes to be the causes of our afflictions and Christ onely to forgiue them then when wee beleeue the children of God are to sayle thorough many tempests but Christ will neuer forsake them so that they still ayme at the marke which God commaundeth them Striue wee all by Faith to tread vnder our feete all our troubles and afflictions by the vertue of Christs power Let all know this that it is Christ which healeth the sick and from him must we all seeke remedy for our spirituall diseases to whom we are all bound not only to turne and run our selues but to bring others to him also preparing our minds more and more agaynst the offences of the Crosse that with patience may indure for to gain Christ to whom be all glory Amen Friday Meditations GOD hauing giuen vs his only begotten Sonne how shal he not with him giue vs all things else We are taught in Holy Scriptures that the Church shall haue a continuall conflict with infinite miseries and offences and that more is with false Prophets vntill the day of victory and tryumph commeth Let not your soule be discouraged with any sorrow for Christ hath made full satisfaction for vs all First in suffering and then in ouercomming not onely the torments of the body but also the most horrible tortures of the minde Be not dismayed for any sorrowes that assayle you but remember that Heauen it selfe was darkened for very horrour when Iesus cryed in the bitternesse of his sufferings and in the meane time was mocked in the middest of his miseries Neglect not the Doctrine of the Gospell by the which Sathan is driuen out of the World neyther doe you forget that Christ by his healing of diuers Diseases sheweth that he hath brought true life into the world for all beleeuers The Faithfull seruants of GOD in their few labours on Earth must still be crying vnto Christ so to moderate their miseries as after all our Earthly tossing tempests bring vs to the happy Hauen of Heauen that wee so long sigh for The true Disciples of Christ must beare stoutly what burthen soeuer the Lord layeth vppon them still seeking to subdue the affections of the flesh The glory of Christ was abased vpon the Crosse yet auouched by Visible signes that hee was the God which vppon that Good Friday for vs dyed vniustly and being vpon the Crosse cryed out It is finished it is finished meaning the worke of our Redemption Labour therefore with Faith to become proficient Scholers in the Schoole of Christ we must be seasoned by Gods Word that wee may be acceptable sacrifices to God and also being knit together may comfort one another with the soueraigne and most wholesome medicines of Diuine Scripture Christ healing the Disease of Symons wiues mother with his Word onely prooueth that hee is God Almighty sent from Heauen for our saluation Do we not read Luke 5. how Christ healing a Leaper by his onely touch Luke 5. and sending him to the priests by faith he was cured yea was pure and cleane Verse 18. The true followers of Christ must at once both builde and fight And therefore bee ready and prepared to suffer all kinde of miseries Christs Disciples must bee wise both for themselues and for others otherwise they become the foolishest of al. Dispayre wee not of any which are gone out of the way but according to the example of Christ wee must take great paynes about them Well knowing this that GOD will neuer vtterly be lacking vnto the godly although he bee not so presently with them as they would and then in these difficulties which cannot bee ouercome by mans reason power or prouidence when dangers do most daunt vs then GOD beates downe the blowes so that we rest humble hearted and put no confidence in our owne Righteousnesse Be not discouraged with any sicknesse or sorrows for as sure and certayne as persecution is so sure is the glory which remayneth for the conquerors The more stops and lets Sathan layeth in your way so much more couragious ought you to bee and stoutly to go forward in the Way of Righteousnesse This shal bee then the ende of your troubles and afflictions they shal be as witnesses both before GOD and man aswell of the treacherous and cruell dealings of your enemies as also of your Constancy after diuers tempests the Lord will at length deliuer his Church day and night Let vs be sober and watch for the Lords comming that we be not taken vnawares but still remember that as many as are pertakers of the afflictions of Christ shall also be pertakers of his Kingdome whereinto Lord admit me in thy mercies If wee will continue still wise vnto saluation wee may none of vs forget how good Gold is purged in the fire and shines cleerely in the water Doe not thinke that any temptation hath taken you but such as appertaine to man and GOD is faithfull which will not suffer you to be tempted aboue that you be able but will euen giue issues with the tentation that you may bee able to beare it 1. Cor. 10.13 Forget not Dauid Ps 39 I sought the Lord and he heard me yea and deliuered me out of all my feares put your trust still in the Lord
GOD the Horne of our Saluation seeth and yet suffereth and he beares with vs repenting and pardoneth vs returning we deferring our Repentance he expects vs He giueth vs when wee aske openeth to vs when we knocke and eft-soones is then found when wee doe seeke It is the Nightingall delights herselfe with her quauering and trebling notes So should all we faythfull ones declare abroad Gods mercy The worke of our Saluation which we had no power to begin our Sauiour wrought it for vs yea finished the same on our behalfe So as now you may looke boldly to the Throne of Grace and vpon the trueth of our Repentance and Faith know onely Peace and Ioy Christi passio adiutore non leguit Saith Saint Ambrose Christs passion needes no helpe at all Christ was mocked and spitted on to wash vs from wickednesse His garments pulled off that our sinnes might be couered he whipped to deliuer our soules from perpetual scourges Christ thirsted that our Soules might be satiate and satisfied Christ bare his fathers wrath that we might beare none yeilded vnto death that we might neuer taste it In sence was Christ our Sauiour forsaken for a time when he cryed out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me this was that we might be receiued for euer into glory Let my soule dye if Christ cannot saue it Oh thou languishing soule of mine there is not one of thy sinnes but it is prayed for in the bitternesse of my Redeemers death Christ Iesus Not any one of thy debts in the scroule of God but it is crossed not any one farthing of that infinit ransome left vnpayd for vs. Doeth your soule crye in bitternesse I haue sinned Oh thou preseruer of men what shal I do vnto thee what shouldest thou do Turne and beleeue and thou hast done enough Christ side was opened euen vnto the heart to receiue vs in thither if wee will enter in at the open doore Christs feete were nayled to make vs know that hee departs not from vs till we depart from him O cast thy burden vpon the Lord and he shal nourish thee and not suffer thee to fall for euer The deadnesse of our hearts and dulnesse of our Spirits was it not enough for Christ to call vs gently to allure vs kindly to teach vs daily to heale vs louingly and to feed vs sweetly But he must be faine by a most dreadfull death to pull and hale vs to draw and drag vs to the true feeling of his deare loue towards vs to cause vs by strong hand and by force to become obedient to our heauenly Father and Master This are we all to know and still to keepe warme in our heartes and remembrance that there is no want of our Saluation in Iesus Christ but in our selues in that we beleeue not and that we repent not There is no want of finishing thy Saluation so that thou continue still to goe forward in Grace and still imply Goodnes But whilst people delight in sin God therefore strikes and will not heare which is contrary vnto Gods honour For â—ee desires not the death of a sinner but rather that he should be conuerted and liue amidst the Assembly of Saints Do not thinke such people to bee sure and safe as are neuer touched with sorrowes and sicknesse for such as the Lord best loueth hee chasteneth when we reioyce in sinne he scourgeth vs till we shrike sigh and crye as when Epaphroditus was sick and very neere vnto death and yet was Paules fellow-souldier in Christ Phil. 2.27 It is the Lord which setteth vp on high them that be low that the sorrowfull might be exalted to saluation remember that you haue heretofore seene the blossomes of Trees promise abundance of Fruite which notwithstanding haue neuer came to any growth by reason of the stormes So in health and prosperity many haue followed Christ which in aduersity haue beene blowne quite out of sight Remember we now that the Captains courage is not knowne till the warre begin no more is a Christians constancy till the persecutions rage A Bird in the Cage is surer from the Hawke and Fowler then abroad although they thinke not so and think your sicke bed to bee the best place to serue God on Our heauenly father would haue vs to serue him on our beds still chastning our bodies whilest we cheerish our soules Pining the one and pampering the other pulling you as through a prison to a place of happinesse and pleasure wherefore let no darknes daunt you but let your owne life bee as a Lampe to lighten your soule and delight others The best children march cheerefully towards Heauen as St. Paule did towards Ierusalem not well-knowing what should befall him before he returned backe from that famous Citty so God deales with vs in this world to cal vs out we know not whither nor to what end or purpose or what may befal vs in our way We may not be sloathful followers of Christ our Lord and Master but most couragious souldiers fighting to obtayne the Crowne of Glory and the inheritance of a celestial immortal life Feare not the iudgment of death but remember them that haue beene before and those that are to come after This is the ordinance of all flesh why should wee then be agaynst the Most High whether it bee ten or a hundred or a thousand yeares there is no defence of life against the graue Mathew 19. The womans bloody issue was not cured till she came to Christ Marke I beseech you where and of whom health doth come no absolute Physitian of Soules but Iesus Christ onely The Prophet Ioel may much comfort our hearts When he sayth My people shall neuer be ashamed Againe Abide still O my people and rest for your quietnesse shall come Be not you weary for when the day of trouble and heauinesse commeth others shall weep and bee sorrowfull but thou shalt bee merry and haue abundance GODS hand shall couer thee and all shall prosper which thou takest in hand Lord prepare and open my poore heart and strengthen my weake faith to prepare my soule for thy holy Sabboth which is the great day of thy rest and the day likewise that thou hast commaunded vs to heare and receiue thy Holy and Heauenly word which at the last must bee a cordiall to our dying hearts And that I may taste and draw of that water of Life while I liue that I may neuer thirst agaynes Lord also prepare mee to drinke my last draught of Christs cup with comfort euen for the Lord Iesus Christs sake the Son of thy loue and my only Sauiour Amen Sunday Meditations WHen wee are most tempted with grieuances whether outward or inward seeke succour from aboue neuer dispise Physicke nor yet the Physitian for they are needefull and necessary in fit time and season the Lord hath ordayned medicines for healing and giueth Knowledge to the Physitian to the lifting vpon his head amongst great men