him for the accomplishing whereof the performance of two Christian duties are most helpfull The first is prayer and supplication and this is a duty that must not onely respect our selves but the publick Psalm 122.6 even those Countries which now are as Aceldama's fields of blood Though God had decreed the restitution of Israel from captivity Ezek. 36.37 Ier. 29.11 yet for it he would be enquired of by the house of Israel Though God doth not conferre mercies on us because of our duties yet he will not conferre them without our duties O then if you would have the Sun arise on that land of darknesse in the West Cant. 2.8 Mal. 4.3 pray that Christ would come skipping over the mountains arising with healing under his wings and enlightning them that have a long time sate in darknesse Luke 1.79 Dan. 6.10 and the shadow of death Look towards them as Daniel did towards Jerusalem out of his chamber beseeching the Lord to perfect his own praise and their deliverance that the Lord would save his people from the West country Zach. 8.7 that so they might feare his name from the West Isai â—9 19 The time of the desolations of Israel was known to Daniel by his books Dan. 9.2 v. 3. then being informed of it he sets his face to seek the Lord by prayer and supplication Now though we cannot have such a distinct knowledge of the time of deliverance for a motive to our praiers as Daniel had yet it is an infallible signe that the Lord doth hasten to deliver when he enlargeth the hearts of his people with a mighty spirit of supplication As therefore we may be confident Psal 102.13 that there is a time appointed when the Lord will have mercy upon Sion so we may be assured that the Lord will observe his time and keep his day * See Exod 12.41 Hab. 2. Psal 5.8 In the mean time we must stand upon our watch by prayer and hearken when the Lord will speak peace to his people The second duty is more particular concerning our selves viz. Meditation Hereby a soule acquaint it selfe with God out of his word or works either of mercy or judgement A dejected mind is hereby set on wing and made to look above sufferings and danger Want of calling place and usuall accommodation doe sad the spirits of many and by Satans concurrence fill the hearts of many with discontent murmuring repining It is the Devils policie having impaired our outward estate to endevour to deprive the inner man of true comfort It should be our care therefore to cast out such fretting carefull vexing thoughts and put on heavenly meditations A true Christians glory is inward unseen to the world his happinesse is above which is * Psa 45.13 reserved for him and for which he is * 1 pet 1.4 1 pet 1.5 kept it being beyond the reach of the men of this a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epictet l. 3 cap. 22. Aliae divitiae nec verae nec vestrae Bern. de bono desert 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aeneas Gaza Epist 5. world so that all which his enemy can deprive him of is only accessory to his wel being not essentially required to his being Raise up therfore thy meditations to contemplate on thy high calling and the high price of that calling and then in these times of losing thou mayst say with that Philosopher who when the Citie was plundered and hee turned out naked being asked what hee had lost answered Nihil perdidi b Seneca de Sap. Const e. 6. What though the Lord takes all from thee and gives thee more of himselfe c Perdiderat omnia quae Deus dedit sed habuerit ipsum qui omnia dederat manet qui dedit abstulit quod dedit Deus substraxit data nen datorem Aug. in Psal 66. Omnia perdidit Iohus plenus erat Aug. de divers 12. That man growes rich to whom God draws nigh and from whom the world withdrawes Hee only hath lost all that hath lost his God Now if God bee thine thy country and dwelling is thine or else a better Psal 42.12 Psal 45.4 It was not the Sword or Bow of our Fathers that did plant them there at first but the right hand of God and the same right hand of God may teach him as terrible things by replanting us Till which time if this Manuell of Meditations may as a Flaggon taken from the Lords Cellar stay thy fainting soule Cant. 2.5 it shall be the happinesse of the Auther that he hath comforted others with the same consolations wherewith hee was comforted 1 Cor. 1.4 Yours and his Countries in the Lord John Warner Temporal Losses Spiritually improved I. SUch is the degenerate nature of some spirits that in meane losses they discover great impatience but if the losse of their estates befall 〈◊〉 they cannot but therewith â—â—â—e themselves also The love of the world doth herein strongly appeare when not onely the fruition of things present doe ravish mens hearts with joy but the imagination of them absent overwhelmes them with more sorrow The Mammon of this world is a God and is served by the men whose portion is only here in a most affectionate obedientiall manner for if the world and the things thereof keep neere them they serve and love it if it leave them they follow and pursue it with as much earnestnesse as Laban did his gods It should bee our care then that when wee lose our goods wee may not lose our wits and that when they leave us and take the wing to pursue them with a godly hope and moderate endevour not with an immoderate sorrow or desperate behaviour II. PHilosophers observe that the higher the Element is the purer it is Bac. nat hist water purer then earth aire then water fire purer then aire And it is the observation of a Naturalist that by Art water may be conveyed as high as the Fountain from whence it did arise O my soule remember from whence thou art inspired from how high and holy a place remember also of what a divine nature thou art made partaker dwell not therefore on these earthly objects but let the consideration of thy heavenly nature cause thee to contemplate on heavenly things or if thou busiest thy selfe about these things below let it bee to extract some divine quintessence from them God hath removed these perishing things from thee that thou mayst seek for and think of thy incorruptible inheritance The soul which is confined to earthly meditations forgets whence it came and whither it should goe A heavenly spirit hath its conversation in heaven III. VVE read of some of the wisest Heathens that cast away all and became voluntarily poor Some might impute this to pride others to madnesse others to wisdome and discretion as if two objects were too large to busie the minde on with profit Mat. 16 24. Our Saviour
Interna habeo Eterna habebo Externa habui reposita 1. Tim 4.8 THE GAYNE of LOSSE OR TEMPORALL LOSSES SPIRITVALLY IMPROVED In a Centurye one Decad of Meditations Resolves By John Warner M. A. sometimes of Magd Hall in Oxo one of the Ministers of the London Brigade in the late Western Expedition 1644. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch in Paedag Isai 42.24 Who gave Jacob for a spoyle and Israel to the robbers Did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned London Printed by M. S for H. Blunden at the CasÌ„tle in Corn-hill 1645. The Approbation I Have perused this Treatise intituled Temporall Losses spiritually improved In which finding nothing but what is pious sound and profitable I allow to be printed Novemb. 27. 1644. Iohn Downam TO HIS HONOURED FRIEND that pious Gentleman Mr. John Ash a worthy Member of the honourable House of Commons in this present Parliament Worthy Sir HAnnibal being to encounter with Minutius in the vale Liv. hist Polyb. was not so much daunted with the present enemy as with Fabius Maximus who faced him on a mountain in the Reare and therefore said hee feared that cloud hovering aloft would ere long poure down upon him It was not our enemies neer at hand I feared being over-powered by our Forces as that Western cloud which like Elijahs of a handfull increased so as to overspread the face of our countrey and against the expectation of the wisest poured downe our next * Munk. â—on Ferdy in Wilts adjacent hill and as a confluence of many waters drove all resistance before it Hereby it came to passe that the place where I lived became like that place to which Paul his companie were driven Acts 27.4 where two seas met so that by the stronger waters the Bark of my estate was with some of my best neighbours in a moment swallowed up and carried away Yet in this danger notwithstanding the earnest enquirie of the enemy after me and as earnest pursuit God gave me my life as a prey to my selfe Now after my escape having got into a private Sanctuary my sad spirit unfit for publick exercises studied this Text which the enemies had given me and from my losses by them gained this Manuell of Meditations usefull for my selfe and others in these times of losing which were composed by me in as much danger as Archimedes was in drawing his lines when the city was befieged * Made by me at the siege of Glocester Admire you may at first my boldness why considering my small acquaintance with you I should dedicate this poor peece unto you but if you consider all you might otherwise admire my unthankfulness For Sir you may remember unless the multitude of your liberality to others make you forgetfull how that some years since I did largely partake of your bounty wherein I know not whether your gift or the manner of giving exceeded which was so farre from ostentation that I dare say your left hand knew not what your right hand did seeing you had no distinct knowledg of the receiver nor would you be known to be the giver till some moneths after an earnest desire of shewing my selfe thankfull prevailed with the messenger to discover such a hidden friend unto me But besides private respects your activenesse for the publick good as well in the City as Countrey and your patience under great private losses doe challenge all respect from your Countreymen As you have done much for Christ so have you suffered much not only by the Prelates heretofore but by their supporters now In these evill times few great men are good and therefore good great men should be great in the esteem of others Sad experience demonstrates how too many of the nobler richer sort endevour to make themselves by undoing others and strive to erect a Babell of their own estates by the ruine of many families It was an observation of the Historian speaking of the Civill warres of Caesar and Pompey Cluver Oros ii 6. c. 4. c. 4. that Nemo sanctus injuriam privatam patriae subversione vindicandam duceret Yet how few such men or such behaviours are to be found among us our countries in the West doe lametably shew which by the continued * Cres cente per rapinas stud to voluprate rapiendi Cluveri Hist mund p 230. rapine and cruelty of those sons of Belial of a Garden of Eden are made like a desolate wildernesse The Lord of Hosts did lately raise an Army for the help of those parts but he denied his blessing on the designe not onely because the instruments were unworthy to deliver but because the country was unfit for deliverance especially that Heathenish country of Cornwal where God did break our arm of flesh who are a people that ever since the light of the Gospel did first break out among us under the reigne of * Camb den Britan. Lucius our first Christian King have hated to be reformed and therefore have openly opposed * They did ever give voyce for the Papall continuance Speed Histor p. 1090. col 2. line ult all publick Reformation of the Church as not long since that in Edward the sixth his dayes so this now as if that malignant spirit against the Gospel and their blind zeale for their Diana were traduced to them from their progenitors Our hope and comfort is that when the Ephah of the enemies sins is full the harvest ripe that then the Lord will put in his sickle and avenge himselfe of his adversaries that though an Eastern wind could not cleare the countrey of those Locusts yet a Northeast under God shall twice did Israel flie before Benjamin but the third time they prevailed Goe on therefore worthy Sir and doe worthily in Ephraim and be more famous in Bethlehem with draw not your shoulder from upholding the tottering frame of this Kingdome and you may assure your selfe of what that good Patriot Nehemiah desired viz. that the Lord would remember him for all the good be did to that people Encouragements hereto you have enough if you consider how God hath blessed you with blessings of heaven above with blessings of the earth beneath with blessings of the breast and womb Perhaps the Lord may borrow some of these blessings of you but doubt not of his repayment the promise whereof is a hundred fold with tribulation here and hereafter eternall life This I beleeve you will account as performed when the Lord shall turn our captivitie drive out those Canaanites and bring us to our countrey again till which time and for which mercy incessantly supplicates Your obliged servant in the Lord John Warner TO ALL CHRISTIAN READERS Especially the Plundred exiles of the West Countries BEing now in a strange place Heb. 13.14 and having no certain dwelling Cirie or Countrey but seeking and expecting one it should be the care of every beleeving soule to get this time of pilgrimage sanctified to
also himself bids them forsake all that would follow him and this his precept was seconded by the practice of many in those times However what they did doe in effect wee must doe in affection depart with all for Christ Hab. 2.6 That person who lades himselfe with thick clay makes himselfe too heavie to ascend up to Christ The Emblematist describes him fitly having one hand winged for heaven the other deprest w th agreat weight As then it is dangerous to possesse all and want Christ so it is most safe to lose all thereby to win Christ or keep him In this case then as I am not bound to cast away my estate yet I wil suffer it either to be taken away from me as a snare or offered up to Christ as a sacrifice for the further I am parted from earth the neerer I am to heaven The more empty I am the fitter I am for contemplation though unfit for action IV. THough poverty and want be the portion of some of the godly yet it is not the condition of all some are not onely heires of a crowne hereafter but have also large pledges of Gods love in the things of this life and that not onely to saciety but to superfluity This the abundant estates of Abraham Job Jacob Joseph David and Solomon doe abundantly testifie who were all good men in Gods eye and great men in the world The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof The Lord is their God and thus are they made heires of the promises and the promises are not onely of the life to come but of this present Yet seeing these things are subject to moth theef rust if this were all their portion they would esteeme themselves no wayes happier then others God then though he gives them this for their maintenance hee reserves the inheritance for them The Lord though he laies out much for his people here yet he lays up more for them hereafter Thus though they have much in possession they have more in reversion If then God be mine though I am not rich both wayes I am the latter What I have not in feeling I have in faith V. THe book of the creatures is a large volume such as very few do learne throughly Now as in some bookes there are many guilded and red Letters but more black so though in the creature there seem much beauty and glory yet the black dismall discontents sorrows and vanitie that ariseth are more The front of every leafe is not fuller of content then the backfide is of vexation Solomon though he were blessed with a confluence of all outward things yet his tongue nor penne could be bribed so as to speake nothing of the evill of them He wrote other bookes of the creatures vertue varietie glory yet the Lord would have those concealed and that onely reserved for us which speaks of its vanitie and vexation it being the fittest lesson for us to learne We should all desire to have some insight in the whole volume and the best School-master to teach us herein is affliction VI. AS the creatures glory declare much of God so its vanitie declareth much to us For when the creature becomes a vexing creature to us it is the rod of God and this rod is a speaking rod Mic. 6.9 He are yee the rod and he that appointed it It speakes to us of Gods justice in punishing of us of his mercy in moderating the punishment of his power and glory in bringing us out of tentation Every blow is a legible character of Gods hand where ever it falls in body estate good name and like Jonathans arrowes are sent to warne and direct us what to avoyd and what to doe Unprofitable and unfit Schollers they are for the School of Christ that can learne nothing out of his Crosse that are taken up with the joy of outward things as Peter James at the glory of Christs transfiguration saying Mat. 17.4 It is good to be here but when the Crosse doth come doe either deny Christ with Peter or forsake him with the other Apostles Happy therefore is the man whose eare is opened to both these kinds of Instructions As we ought to observe how the creatures declare the glory of God so also when the Lord by them declareth our sin and his wrath for sinne then let every one that hath eares heare VII THat God is the Author of every good and perfect gift is a Tenent that none but an Atheist in opinion can expresly deny yet which all that are Atheists in practise doe not truly know This appears when most sacrifice to their own nets others prophanely say with him in the Prophet By my own hand have I procured me this others more blinde ascribe all to the blinde goddesse Fortune crying her up as strongly as the Ephesians did their Diana Though this be the practise of the children of this world yet a childe of God knows that what he hath he hath received he seeeth God in every thing apprehendeth God above all receiveth all as proceeding from him saying still with Jacob Gen. 27.20 The Lord brought it unto me and with Job The Lord giveth Whatsoever I have then or shall receive I will labour to see God in it thus will the gift draw me neerer to the giver and the plentifull showres of his favours powred downe upon me shall make me more fruitfull and abundant in the work of the Lord. VIII GOd the giver hath gifts of a two-fold nature 1. Gifts of his right hand Prov. 3.16 as graces here and glory hereafter these are peculiar to his people onely the childrens meate 2. Gifts of his left hand as riches honours All sorts of men partake of this sort of gifts Esau Laban Nabal Belshazzar had as large a portion in them as any Thus all things fall alike to all neither can good or evill love or hatred be known by them For if there were no other disting uishing evidence of Gods love then these fading tokens then were the men of this world yea those Americans and Indians who abound in wealth of all men most happy They whose portion is onely in this life have it larger then others whereas the portion of Gods people is not like Benjamins messe larger then their brethren but lesser Yet here 's their qomfort that what they receive from God is extended to them by Gods right hand whereas others receive what they have from Gods left hand Laeva porrigere was among the Latines an unwelcome kinde of giving Whatsoever gift the Lord bestowes upon me if I might have my choice it should be that of his right hand Let his right hand fall on my head his left on others So though my portion be not the greater it will be the better IX GOD is my portion says David Psa 119.57 Deut. 32 9. Yee are my portion and inheritance says God How happie and rich doth the Lord think himself in us as
right to earthly things Iusad rem non in re Aquin though not in them but they have a right to and in heavenly things All things then are theirs as well what they want as what they enjoy Yet seeing in this life a Christian is in his nonage hee hath not actuall possession of all that he hath title unto However he shall not want what is required to maintain him hee shall have comforts yea and afflictions and wants so as to further him in the way For sanctified afflictions are not the least tokens of Gods love or of a godly mans possession here XLVIII THe summe of all promises is comprised in this Heb. 13. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Parents friends lands goods may leave and forsake us or we may leave and forsake them but God neither will nor can leave us How can I give thee up O Israel sayes God Now God is all in all Am not I better to thee then ten sonnes said Elkanah to Hannah So may God say Am not I better to thee then many goods many friends They may leave thee I will not God may for a while seeme to leave us but 't is onely as a parent doth the child to try it how 't will goe or stand by it self nay when his hand is off them hee guides them with his eye Gods children stand him in as much cost him as deare as any mothers child and yet a mother may forget her sucking child yet he Lord cannot forget his Therefore let the world and all in the world leave me forsake me yet I will not be cast down if God say but this to me I will never leave thee nor forsake thee XLIX GEt thee out of thy Countrey Gen. 12.1 and from thy fathers house unto a land that I shall shew thee sayes God to Abraham A strange command fit onely for him who was the father of the faithfull Against this command first naturall affection might plead not to relinquish his kindred and fathers house then common reason might plead for his right which he had in his native countrey and to part with a certainty for an uncertainty yet this and all that could bee said by Abraham was silenced by Abrahams faith hee makes no put-offs he reasons not with flesh and blood he craves not time he needs not an Angell to hasten him as Lot did out of Sodome but away he goes yet 't is a question what Abraham would have done if he had not had a promise given him as large as his command For the most part the obedience of the best is mercenary we have an eye to the recompence of reward What God did command and promise Abraham the same doth Christ command and promise to all that follow him viz. that they forsake all and then his promise is that whosoever forsaketh father mother sister brother lands goods for my Name sake bee shall receive an handred fold not eight or ten in the hundred but an hundred for one Lord how grievous soever thy command be to me how contrary to flesh and blood I will not dispute but obey and obey because thou commandest I will bleeve because thou promisest Thus if I have Abrahams faith I must have Abrahams obedience and shall have Abrahams reward thou wilt be unto me as thou wast unto Abraham an exceeding great reward L. AFfliction is Gods furnance whereby he doth as t were with fire purifie his people called therefore the fiery triall Now as the drosse and corruption is so doth God heat his furnace The Lord is willing to doe away these spots by more gentle means by water but they are so grounded in us that they cannot bee done out but by fire In the younger dayes of the world sin did abound and then the Lord took it away be water but as the world growes older it growes worser and is more abundant in sinne and therefore 't will want fire to doe it away Now though for the present this triall be grievous yet the issue is the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse Though we are put into the fire by the sonnes of men yet the Sonne of God abides with us in it as hee did with the three children God will either abate or suspend the power of the fire or else encrease our patience so shall wee come out with more glory and lesse corruption this being all the fruit to take away all the drosse Lord thou hast kindled a fire among us which among others hath consumed my estate my comfort is that though by reason thereof I am left the poorer yet I shall be found the purer LI. THe Apostle would not have us to think strange of the fiery triall 1 Pet. 4.12 i.e. as if it were a strange thing and unusuall seldome seen or heard of However the thoughts of most are otherwise of it when they murmure and say Never were the times so bad never such a time of losing Thus they who are afflicted of God become so many spectacles to others as if they were so many monsters But grant we all this that these trials are strange yet the Lord is just who therefore sends them because he findes in us as strange corruptions as strange fashions strange swearing haunting after the strange woman I will think it strange then if no strange judgment follow when sinne is more then ordinary LII IT is usuall with men to complain of the times badnesse whereas the times might as justly complain of their badnesse For as many are made worse by the times so the times are made worse by many If ever therefore we looke to see better times we must looke to be better persons God must first mend us and then the times will mend themselves LIII FEare not Isai 41.14 O worm Jacob sayes God though thou walkest through the fire it shall not burne thee and through the water it shall not overwhelme thee for I am with thee Gods presence sanctifies and sweetens any estate What makes heaven but the presence of God And what makes hell but the absence of God Let God be present in any condition and it shall be full of comfort though it bee full of trouble and usually God is more present with his in adversity then in prosperity It is not affliction but sinne that separates God from us It should be our care then to seek for his presence in troubles comfort our selves in it in troubles behave our selves so as he may not withdraw it for as David having Gods presence feared nothing though walking in the valley of the shadow of death yet when the Lord hid his face hee was troubled LIV. VVHen we see some escape scotfree from the overflowing scourge and suffer no losses through neutrality or malignancy some there be that envie their happinesse Hos 4.14 but when we read that the Lord chastiseth every sonne be receiveth and loveth and sayes being angry I will not punish your daughters they should
rather be the objects of our pity then of our envie It is the greatest signe of Gods anger not to seem angry and the greatest punishment to goe unpunished In affliction this is all the fruit to take away the drosse and where there is nothing but drosse who will be at the charge of refining Hee then that in publick sufferings undergoes nothing here is likely to suffer most hereafter being reserved to that great day Unhappy children though connived at for a while are paid for all at last It shall bee my happinesse to suffer affliction with them here with whom I shall reigne for ever hereafter Better it is to bee a child under wrath then a chhild of wrath LV. THe Lord doth commonly punish sinne in its owne kind so that in the judgment wee may read the fault Thus Adonizedechs cruelty was rewarded with the like cruelty The old Law was an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth and there was a thumb for a thoumb a toe for a toe Thus Pharaohs bloody intent turned the rivers into blood Davids adultery in his neighbours bed kindled the same fire in his own Dives his luxury brought on him penury Sometimes also abuse of good things is punished with the want of them abuse of liealth with sicknesse of peace with warre of riches with poverty Thou O Lord art just in depriving me of my goods surely I did affect them too much or not use them well or trust in them too much Deserved disappointment is usually the fruit of presumptuous confidence It is Gods will and our wisdome to learn to spell our sinnes out of his judgements LVI IT is usuall with men to complain of the suffering when they doe not of the sinne For when Nature openeth the mouth for the former Satan stoppes it for the latter Now as quicknesse of the flesh is the cause of the one so deadnesse of spirit is the cause of the other For when the eye is opened to see sinne the spirit prssed with the weight of it the mouth will open to complaine against it See it in a clock which if it have its just weight sets every wheele in its motion and makes it sound so let sinne have its just weight and pressure on the soule and it will set every faculty of the soule and part of the body on work and will make the tongue cry aloud against it though formerly silent 'T is true that extremity of pain makes wicked men cry out against sinne I and my people have done wickedly sayes Pharaoh The rack will open any mans mouth but in the godly this confession is not extorted but free I have sinned saith David done this wickednesse in thy sight I will therefore not so much exclaim against my suffering as against my sinne so when I have condemned my self for the fault I shall through mercie be acquitted from the punishment LVII VVHen we see men fare deliciously every day there 's no reason why we should repine at their fading happinesse having their portion onely in this life and being fatted against the day of slaughter Greene hearbs with contentment saith the wisest is better then a stalled oxe with debate Content is that which sweetneth and sawceth the plainest fare When I look upon my own deservings what sinne hath deprived me of and also looke to what I have through grace in the promise I need not murmure The place where I am is a strange countrey and strangers cannot chuse their diet As long as I am from my fathers house I may be glad with huskes but when I come unto him the fatted Calfe shall be provided for me there shall I be satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse LVIII THe tune of the world is What newes What newes whereas if we call to mind the dayes of old wee shall finde nothing new What befalls the Church now in generall or any one in particular the primitive times and our predecessors have partaken of As bad warres and rumors of warres as great spoyling as many losses and crosses as ever be now Thus no temptation befalls us but what is common to the Saints But as man expects newes so God also looks for newes even for new men and new minds hee would have old things past and all things become new And indeed wee are not fit for good newes till we our selves are made good new Old bottles are not fit for new wine Renue O Lord the spirit of my mind so shall I heare of joy and gladnesse and what I heare shall not only be new but good I will therefore be as inquisitive what is new within me as what is new without me LIX TO you it is given in the behalfe of Christ Phil. 1.29 not onely to beleeve on him but also to suffer for his sake saith the Apostle of his Philippians implying that beleeving in Christ and suffering for Christ are two different gifts of God yet such gifts they are as one doth in some measure accompany the other A weak faith may suffer something in losse of goods or good name for Christ though he cannot resist to blood and losse of life for when faith is weak feare is strong and doubts are many So farre as we incline to nature we decline from and avoid sufferings As our faith is in Christ so is our love to him either in the sparkle or in the flame such as many waters cannot quench There is such a faith as may make us not only active but passive for Christ It shall bee my desire and prayer not onely for the gift of beleeving but with it the gift of suffering How can I have a true faith in Christ and no power from Christ to suffer any thing for him who suffered all for me nay who suffers all in mee LX. VVEE see in these dayes what shifts the men of the world make to save themselves One to his Tower and Castle some put their trust in horses others in riches one hides another flyes As the man is carnall his confidence is carnall his weapons and helps of deliverance carnall From this carnall wisdome a spirituall man may learn spirituall wisdome viz. when he seeth the evill to hide himselfe and where can he with safetie hide himselfe but in the Lord who is the Rock Castle Tower and hiding place of his people For what safetie helpe succour confidence is in or can be expected from any of these earthly helps the same in a more abundant manner is in the Lord. The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous flie unto it and are safe Such a Tower he is if any comparison can illustrate it as the Tower of David which was for an Armory wherein there hung a thousand Bucklers all Shields of mightie men To this Tower I will resort from this Tower I will fetch Ammunition so shall I be safe from the enemy and strong against him Let some put their trust in Chariots others in horses I
will put my trust in the Lord for a horse is a vaine thing vaine is the helpe of man He is onely strong that is strong in the Lord. LXI VVEE alwayes reade that God provides a refuge and hiding place for his people in times of trouble and danger An Arke for Noah flaggs for Moses a little Zoar for Lot a Midian for Moses a Haran for Jacob Caves and rocks in the Citie Keilab for David the Temple his own house for Joash a cave for Obadiahs hundred Prophets an Aegypt for Paul a Pella for the Christians leaving Hierusalem The Lord hides them because they are dear to him they are his jewels his treasure now in times of danger men hide their treasures and jewells have their Cabinets I am thine O Lord and therefore be thou my hiding place cover mee with thy feathers hide me in thy Pavilion keep me secretly in thy Tabernacle from the pride of men strife of tongues Thus as the lame and blind having got into the Tower of Sion derided David so having gotten thee to be my Tower I will laugh at calamities warres dangers LXII The wicked are as a troubled Sea Psa 42.7 Rev. 12.15 Isa 59.19 Psa 32.6 The troubles which they bring on the godly are metaphorically called waters flouds of waters Now water is one of the most mercilesse creatures if it be not contained it will of it selfe keepe no bounds but overflow all carry away all before it The helpe which the godly may expect herein is from the Lord who hath promised that in flouds of great waters they shall not come nigh thee If they doe come nigh their soules yet will the Lord be with them so that they shall not drowne them In such inundations god doth either provide for his an Arke to carry them above as he did for Noah or one to draw us out as he did for Moses or else will cause the floud to be swallowed up and the place made dry ground as he did for the Church Rev. 12. This distracted Kingdome is as a troubled Sea the waters thereof come nigh our soules Our hope is that he who setteth bounds to the Sea that it shall goe no further will limit the rage of these waters and either carry us above them by his power or be with us in them by his presence and make a way for us through them by his providence as he did for Israel that so we may attain to his heavenly Canaan LXIII MAny are the troubles of the righteous Psal 34.15 but the Lord delivereth them out of all Iob 5.19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evill touch thee Where some of the learned say the Spirit of God alludeth unto the dayes of the Lords worke of Creation in the six dayes and cessation on the seventh implying that his servants must labour all the dayes of their lives with griefe and sorrow and shall not be refreshed till that everlasting Sabbath Others conceive that by six and seven are understood many evills Pro. 24.16 an indefinite number for a definite However if all my days must be spent in sorrow I will comfort my selfe with the assured hope of a time of refreshing and rest at last As my troubles are many my deliverances shall be as many though my labour be long and tedious my rest shall be joyous and eternall That Sabbaticall yeare will recompence me for the years wherein I have suffered adversitie LXIV OVr light affliction which is but for a moment 2 Cor. 4.17 worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory saith the Apostle most sweetly Where wee see a very elegant Antithesis or opposition betwixt present afflictions and future glory Wee shall have for affliction glory for light affliction massie substantial glory a weight of glory for momentary affliction eternall glory Yea he addeth degrees of comparison beyond all degrees calling it excellent more excellent farre more excellent an exceeding excessive weight of glory A full and pithy speech sufficient to make one swallow downe the most bitter affliction Eternall glory will answer temporall afflictions A weight of glory will weigh downe light afflictions I will therefore not murmure at my afflictions seeing glory succeeds them I will willingly goe through momentary afflictions when my glory shall be eternall My affliction shall seeme light when I think of that weight of glory LXV PErfection and perpetuitie are the two satisfactory conditions which an enlightened soule requires in any defired object neither is any thing by it esteemed truly perfect unlesse it be accompanied with perpetuitie Now if wee look for perpetuitie in the creature wee may heare every thing say as concerning wisdom The Depth saith Iob 28.14 it is not in me the Sea saith it is not in me To this demand things doe thus subscribe Riches say Yours till a time of warre Honours say Yours till an enemy eclipse your Princes favour Friends say yours as you use him Wives say yours till death God onely says I will never leave thee nor forsake thee In him onely is perfection who is the most perfect perpetuitie onely in him who is the same for ever LXVI IT was a grievous affliction for David to be dispossessed of his Kingdome by his own Son Yet he saith in that condition 2 Sam. 15.20 I the Lord say I have no delight in him loe here am I let him doe unto mee as it seemeth good in his eyes The losse would not be of a small thing but of a Kingdome and the person by whom he might have been dethroned was not a stranger or an enemy nor a familiar friend but a sonne Yet in all this he submits his will to God It is a hard thing to bring the will low when the estate is low stubbornnes and pride may rest there where is no outward thing to foment it In some passion directs their wills in most reason but grace only makes it stoop to gods will Lord though I am driven out of all with David and if my estate be not framed to my will frame my will to my estate as the one is low let the other be low also If I must have Davids sufferings I desire Davids patience and then I will say with David Loe here am I let him doe with me what seemeth good in his eyes or with the son of David Not my will but thy will be done LXVII I Have been young Psa 37.25 says David and now an old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor then seed begging bread How different then seems the condition of Gods people now in these dayes over it did in Davids Are the righteous more in number now then they were then and so is not their heavenly Father able to provide for all Or else doth he take lesse care of them now then he did then No God forbid The truth is that David in his own observation in his
time might not see this for he saith not the righteous is never forsaken but that he never saw it Or else he might never see the righteous and their see too forsaken for wee see godly parents want when afterward their children doe abound Or else Davids meaning might be this that he never saw the righteous forsaken in begging their bread i.e. no not forsaken when they are brought to beggery but even then the bowells of some might yearn upon them to refresh their bowells Lord though thou inflictest povertie on me yet remove it from my seed or if thou hast decreed both mee and mine to beggery yet let us not be forsaken in beggery LXVIII VVEE know not what to do 2 Chro. 20.12 onely our eyes are to thee says good Johosaphat Such may be the extremities of Gods people that they may be at their wits ends neither wisdome nor learning can teach them how to behave themselves in their evills much lesse how to come out of them The Lord doth often hide from us that helpe which wee look for in the creature that we may look for it in him the creator Our case is not behinde Jehosaphats for if we look about us wee see nothing but tumults fightings so that wee know not what to doe if within us there 's nothing but terrors sorrow and sadnesse of heart in this case then wee should look above us to God who will instruct us in the way wee should goe I will therefore in my extremitie shut the eye of sense in looking on my misery and weaknesse and open the eye of faith to look on Gods mercy and power Thus lifting up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my helpe I shall receive helpe from them God will be seene in the Mount my extremitie shall be his opportunitie LXIX MArk 10. we reade of Peters demand to Christ Loe we have left all and followed thee What shall wee have therefore If you did look for gaine Peter it had been your wisest course to have made your bargaine at your first entrance into your Masters service But what great matter was it that you did forsake Perhaps a torne net an old pieced boate a rotten oare methinks the livery of Christ and the bare title of being his servant should counterpoiz all that you forsook for him Hadst thou known what a faithfull servant thou didst prove to him in the high Priests hall shame would have stopped thy mouth from this demand yet to this sawcy demand our meek Saviour doth not give him a rough answer bidding him goe as hee came or tell him he should stand to his courtesie but tells him that for what he had lost hee should have an hundred fold here with persecution and eternall life hereafter O Lord my losses perhaps doe not come behinde Peters I will not demaud with Peter what I shall have but stand to thy courtesie if with him thou repaiest me here an hundred fold I will look for persecution with it but give me life eternall hereafter and then I shall say I am paid overpaid for all LXX THE shallownesse of our thoughts in comparison of Gods appeares in this that when we see the meanes wanting we thinke then God is hindred from working our selves deprived of all hope of good To help this we have the power of God set forth sometimes above all means and beyond expectation as when hee gave Israel Manna and Samson water Sometimes by making a little means suffice as hee did by feeding five thousand persons with five loaves and two fishes Sometimes without means as hee did by preserving Moses and Elias fourtie dayes fasting Sometimes against means thus when the Disciples did drinke poyson it did not hurt them I will never therefore despaire for want of meanes when I can trust upon a God that can preserve me not onely above means but without means yea and against means It is not for want of power in God but from abundance and multiplying of his goodnesse that hee useth any meanes at all LXXI COnsider the Ravens which neither sow nor reap Luk. 12.24 and yet the Lord feedeth them saith our Saviour Christ could have brought other examples of holy men and bid them consider Moses Samson Elijah John Baptist who were extraordinarily cared for and fed by the Lord but he would not because none should exclude themselves from Gods providence because they had not the holinesse of those persons as also because it should be an argument for their faith à majori that if the master of the house provide for the poultry hee will not neglect his children Thy providence O Lord extendeth to all the earth is full of thy goodnesse I will not then exclude my selfe from it seeing besides thy providence I have thy promise that I shal lack nothing Thy esteeme of me doth oblige thee to it as I am of more value then many Ravens I am a child and what child wil doubt of present maintenance from his Father here who is assured of a future inheritance from him hereafter LXXII FEed me with food convenient for me lest I bee full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord Prov. 30.8 was Agurs prayer wherein hee implies 1. That that food is convenient for some which is not for others the condition custome means education of some being different from others 2. That fulnesse is a mean or occasion of denying the Lord they that have and possesse all things in fulnesse and abundance are not so likely to come to the Lord for their daily food as they that have it for a day not for the morrow The larger the Cisterneis the seldomer we goe to the Well The staffe of bread if it be long and large is still leaned upon without looking to the Lord. Nature is content with little grace with lesse food brought in by Ravens was more convenient for Eliah then the dainties of Jazabe's Table and Daniels pulse then Nebuchadnezzars delicious fare A good conscience is a continuall feast it will make barly bread tast well digest well Let the Lord feed mee with any food it shall be covenient for me so he sawce it with his Hidden Manna LXXIII GOD doth not give all his children his blessings in the grosse but by little and little not for their lives nor from yeare to yeare but from day to day Should we have all at once we should be lesse thankfull and lesse fruitfull One excessive violent showre will not make the earth so fruitfull as often dewes and rain He that powres down one great favour and withholds his hand shall not so oblige the receiver as he that drops a token daily Besides the Lord takes this order in the dispensation of his mercies that we may by prayer seek to him for our daily bread therefore called daily because we must seek daily for it Should the Lord with the prodigall give us our portion at once wee should take our farewell and never return
till necessity drive us The better therefore to flie unto God on the wings of devotion we are kept low thus shall we know his love and return to him at a call whereas if we had all things at the full we should take the wing and follow after vanity When mercies thus come by degrees we are made to wait for them desire them sign for them I seek thee at the dawning of the day my soule thirsteth for thee in a barren wildernesse where is no water sayes David Renew thy goodnesse to me O Lord every morning so shall my devotion thankfulnesse obedience be daily renewed towards thee LXXIV TRust in the Lord and doe good so shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed Psa 37.3 Wee cannot doe good unlesse we have trust and faith in God neither have we faith in God unlesse we doe good These two must goe hand in hand and this twofold duty hath a twofold blessing here promised habitation and provision stability and satiety dwelling in the land and being fed in the land Now as we cannot doe good but by persisting in the worke of our calling so neither can wee bee assured of a blessing on that work unlesse we trust in God I will therefore be diligent in the calling whereto I am called and what good I can doe I will endevour to doe and what is wanting in my doing I will make up by beleeving For should I omit this doing my trusting in God would be a tempting of God Thus though I I have no certain dwelling place yet I have one in the promise as well for this life as that to come and though I see not how to bee fed yet seeing thou hast said Verily I shall bee fed Verily I will beleeve it LXXV IT is Gods usuall course to help his servants at a pinch When Isaaks neck is on the block at a halfe blow the Lord stayes the execution When Israel hath the sea on one side and the enraged enemy on the other when Jehosaphat knowes not what to doe when Peter is sinking the Lord puts forth his hand Not as if God were not alwayes the same or could not help for his arme is never shortned but because his wisdome directs his power both to time place manner and meanes Were the Lord seen in the beginning of troubles we should not reap so much comfort nor God so much glory God could have helped Lazarus in his bed as he did the Rulers sonne or in his coffin as he did the widow of Naims sonne but then his glory had not been so much as to doe it when hee had lain in the grave foure dayes 'T is said therefore of his sickness that it was to the glory of God The cure of some superficiall scar doth not honour the Chirurgion so much as an old festered foare In my extremities therefore I will take heed of impatience and importunity so as to say with the King of Israels messenger What shall I wait for the Lord any longer I will wait on the Lord and the shal strengthen my heart Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry 'T is good manners for me to stay his leasure and it is his great mercy if he help at last LXXVI CAst thy burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee Psa 55. There 's a gracious command and as gracious a promise who then will not be beholding for anothers shoulder when his burden is heavier then he can beare Now God bids us cast all on him as being able to beare all and willing to take all on him Most of our disquietnesse therefore in our conditions is from troubling our selves about that which is Gods work Hee that will not help for his burden must beare it or lie under it himselfe That onely which makes him refuse to take it off us is because wee retain sin within us Our sins oppresse God more then our wants can Wee read that God complains hee was laden and wearied with Israels sinnes but not with their afflictions This Jonah then must bee cast over-boord before the storme ceaseth Hee that knowes how to beare the burden of sinne must know how to beare his burdens for sinne and then it is a most heavie condition to bee under the burden of affliction and the pressures of a guilty conscience LXXVII NOtwithstanding Gods providence over us wee must not be carelesse or neglectfull in our own endeavours we must up and be doing and not cast all on God like the Clowne in the fable who when his Cart was overthrown stood still and prayed to Jupiter Jacob might have famished if he had not sent out horse man to Aegypt for corne and so might Ruth if shee had not gleaned Paul and his company might have been drowned if they had not swimmed All these had promises of preservation and yet they did what they could to preserve themselves Gods decree towards us includes the use of the means The motion and proceedings of the secondary causes proceed from the primary and are included in them and carried about by them as the inferior Orbes by the first Mover so that it would be in vaine to depend upon the one without the use of the other As I will not trust in the means so I will not neglect the use of them otherwise my neglect of them shall frustrate my hopes in them God hath put the end and the means together and what the most wise God hath joyned together none but a foole will put asunder LXXVIII UPon whomsoever God bestoweth faith he doth withall give tryalls of it more or lesse first or last For as all men have not faith so the seeming faith of many is no faith All is not gold that glisters the touch stone sheweth what it is The fight demonstrates the Souldiers valour a storme the Pilates skill A temporary faith may for a while flourish but one fiery tryall will make it vanish Corruption cannot or will not discover corruption but God will make it appeare when it will not endure the tryall As grace is desirable so its truth and sinceritie is more desirable Now among graces faith is the most usefull and therefore it concerns us to looke to the truth of it I will examine whether I be in the faith or no and if my touchstone erre Lord bring it to thine so shall the tryall of my faith being more precious then gold that perisheth be found unto praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ LXXIX COmmonly the Lord doth exercise our faith by tryalls in those things which wee most affect that it may appeare which hath most of our hearts either God or them Abraham had but one childe begotten of Sarah and the Lord will try whether he will returne that childe to God that gave it The circumstances of the tryall doe greatly aggravate it Take thy Sonne saith the Lord not thy beast take thy onely
Son Isaac not Ishmael take him thy selfe and seek no other executioner take him presently and delay not the time I le not allow thee a day or houre to conferre with or comfort thy distracted heart Get thee into the land of Moriah three dayes journey so long shall thy soule be in suspence When thou comest thither slay him having slaine him burne him to me in sacrifice so many wayes did the Lord exercise his faith Thus our most delectable things are those wherein the Lord tryeth us 'T is wisdome then not to be too much endeared to that in affection which wee would still keepe with us in possession I will therefore endeavour to take off my heart from those things which God may take from me LXXX SOme there are who in prayer for temporall things are importunate beggers as if such things were absolutely and in their owne nature good But I know not whether to admire in them their folly or their sawcinesse Had the Lord made an absolute promise of temporalls it would be a sufficient ground for such prayers But oftentimes those things which seeme good prove ill unto us so that by desiring them we wish evill to our selves So farre as temporall things may doe us good so farre God hath promised them and we may expect them The Lord knows what to give and what we want better then we our selves But as for spirituall things wee may be as bold beggers as we will either in manner or measure These are simply good and are simply desirable When ever therefore I pray for a temporall thing I will first say Thy will be done and then Give me my daily bread LXXXI I Have learned in whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content Phil. 41.11 saith the Apostle A lesson which though Paul the Master had learned his Schollers may be to learne Mens estates rise and fall ebbe and flow now the art is to make our spirits have the same cadence with our estates For herein a mans minde and estate resemble the scales of a Ballance which when one ascends the other descends Sometimes our minds are higher then our means otherwhiles our means are higher then our minds greater and requiring other behaviours Now nothing can exactly poize these but a contented minde If God set us low and give us povertie we must know how to be abased and to be hungry if he send us plentie and abundance then to know how to be full and to abound The difficultie lyes herein that when some are brought low they are overcome with impatience unbeliefe murmuring if they are set on high and have all things at full they prove either forgetfull of God or unthankfull to God or unkinde to others Now this knowledge and art of contentation orders our conversation a right in both God gives some plentie but withholds this knowledg from them thus their rising proves to be their fall God gives others povertie and teacheth them this art of contentment and then they have more comfort in a low estate then they had in a high O Lord I am brought very low make me know how to be abased and if ever thou settest mee on high teach me how to abound Let me not sinke being now poore nor swell if ever I be rich LXXXII GOdlinesse with contentment is great gaine 1 Tim. 6.6 No godlinesse without contentment and no true contentment without godlinesse He that hath enough may very well be content but a godly man hath enough he hath all he hath both things present and things to come he is an heir of the promises and he may bee sure of their performance because faithfull is he that promiseth A sufficiencie hee shall have here a satietie hereafter If any one say he is religious and is not content he hath but the form of godlinesse he denieth the power Godlinesse is of it selfe gain but with contentment it is great gain LXXXIII WHat way soever a Christian looketh hee may fide something to forward him in this art of contentation If hee look under him he sees what he is dust and ashes that from whence hee come and to which he must returne If within him he shall find nothing but unworthinesse whereby hee is lesse then the least of Gods favours If without him hee may see many better then him poorer and lower then himt If above him hee may see the place whither hee shall goe and where is fulnesse of joy Thus both heaven and earth our selves and others teach us the lesson of contentment If thou art therefore discontent with thy estate thou forgettest whence thou camest whither thou must goe what thou art what others are I will never murmure at my condition seeing others have lesse I am lesse then it seeing earth is my beginning and heaven my end LXXXIV GIve me neither poverty nor riches Pro. 30.8 was Agurs prayer A prayer which savours as much of modesty as wisdome of modesty seeing beggars ought not to be chusers of wisdome seeing a mean estate is the best estate he that knowes the inconveniences of a low or high estate will chuse a meane They that wil be rich fall into many temptations and they that are poore fall into them likewise Either of these extreames are fit baits for Satan and our corrup hearts but he that likes and keeps the mean is freed from both As I would not be a shrub of the vallies to be trampled on by all so I would not be a Cedar of the mountains to be envied at by most I have read a meane estate to be compared to the glasse of a window which keeps out a storme and admits the light such and estate is best as frees a man from the stormes of the world and admits the light of Gods countenance A great estate like a great wall may keep off the injuries of the world but not let in a beam of this light As I will not pray then for poverty so neither for riches but for a convenient estate LXXXV IT is written Psal 4.5 Man shall not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God The Word doth not only sanctifie our bread but satisfie us in stead of bread when the staffe of bread failes us the staffe of the Word upholdeth us They that think to live only by bread without the word may for the present abound but they that can live by the Word when they have no bread are sure never to want Carnall men may deride this kind of life but at destruction and famine they shall laugh the surest way to injoy our food is in the promise I will satisfie her poore with bread The heaven may with-hold its rain and the earth not yeeld her increase but before one word or tittle of Gods promise shall faile heaven and earth shall passe away Lord I should perish in my affliction but thy Word quickens mee Thy House is the house of bread the true
Christ with mee there can be no estate cumbersome to mee If I am weake in body Christ my head was wounded if dejected in minde Christ my head was heavy unto death if I suffer in my estate Christ my head was poore even as poore as a servant even as any servant of his Christs head hath sanctified any thornes his back any furrowes his hands any nayles his side any speare his heart any sorrowes that can come to mine Thus though I beare the yoake yet being it is Christs yoake I have Christs fellowship under it I have his Spirit to helpe beare it and Christs strength to draw it I have his graces to be glorified by it his compassion to moderate it his victories to overcome it his crowne to reward it XCIII THe blessed Apostle Paul reckoned all things losse for Christ not as if he did actually part with all things though if occasion had bin offer'd he might but as they were of no more esteeme with him nor did take more comfort from them then he could from that which was lost and taken from him Most heavenly Spirit would to God we were all like thee in this thou hadst many prerogatives in thy birth many priviledges in thy education many common gifts much outward righteousnesse and yet was all this but losse for Christ Surely in this many of us are but almost Christians when we preferre a trifle before Christ and reckon that lost which is taken from us for Christ or given to his members Lord if I have any thing worth losing let me gaine Christ and if I lose it not in possession I will in affection esteeme it as losse yea as dung for Christ XCIV VVEE know that all things worke together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. If all things then afflictions and losses Now we see that afflictions and worldly losses worke worldly sorrow and worldly sorrow worketh death how then doe they worke together for good The Apostle doth not say all things of themselves worke for good to such but worke together i. e. together with the sanctifying grace of God whereby that which is evill is turned into our good Of poysonous destructive Drugges the Apothecary can compose healthsome cordialls Those things which are in themselves evill God can so alter and qualifie by the ingredients of his grace that they shall be good for his As in prosperitie God mingleth some evill to humbleus so in adversitie he infuseth some good to comfort us So then though our losses doe in themselves worke much present sorrow and misery yet being thus sanctified they shall worke together for good even the good of grace here and that of glory hereafter I will not therefore looke so much to the present misery as to the promised issue How bitter soever the pill be for a time yet health will be sweet at last Crosses being thus mastered by grace prove serviceable to us XCV THough the fig-tree shall not blossome Habak 3.17 neither shall fruit be in the vine the labour of the olive shall faile the field shall yeeld no meate the flocke shall be out off from the folds and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation It is a good thing to put cases of presupposed dangers and wants to our soules Such cases may not onely be praemonitions of them but praemunitions against them we may come thereby not onely to attaine a knowledge of our present weaknesse but obtaine what strength was wanting Expected evills loose their venome and strength and when they doe come the patient may say in Agags words that surely the bitternesse of them is past Now in expectation of evills we must not only praeconceive what may come but what possibly can come See it in these gradations of the Prophets faith Who could not want figges one yeare if the vine prospered if there were wine enough to cheare the heart but though the vine were blasted yet the olive might helpe for a time but if these liquors failed yet if the fields give their returne of corne water with it might preserve life but if there were a dearth of corne yet if the pastures abounded with flockes meate without bread might serve a while and if the flockes were baned abroad yet the stalls at home might preserve the life of the owners Thus frarre the life of sense might goe but when all these faile and there 's no outward comfort to be seene yet then to rejoyce in the LORD there 's none but he that lives by faith can doe What was the Prophets resolution I will endeavour to make mine As long as God gives me the creature I will use it but not live onely by it I will live by all so as to trust in none I will take some comfort in what I have but no true joy but in my God and what I shall have from him I will behold things before me but so as to looke on things above me If all faile me my God is all in all He that lives by faith when things appeare shall not perish when those things appeare not XCVI I Seldome reade in the sacred Volume of any of Gods people suffering want though among strangers and enemies but have found favour in their sight and received kindnesse from them The Aegyptians were over and above courteous to the Israelites in that they would lend them their Jewells This also the kindnesse of Bozz to Ruth of Nebuzaradan to Jeremiah of Josephs Keeper to him of the chiefe Captaine to Paul yea of the Barbarians to Paul and his company doe plainly testifie This doth not arise so much out of any love which the one beareth to the other as from the over-ruling hand of God which can turne mens hearts to whatsoever object or act he pleaseth The Lord can make them instruments in such workes to which their natures are averse How great soever my wants are then and how few my friends yet as long as a stranger to mee is left I hope not to be denied courtesies perhaps more then ordinary When my friends and acquaintance to whom I am known cast me off they to whom I am not known shall receive me He that is in favour with God cannot but find favour with men happie is he whose God is the Lord. For the Lord will doe him good either by himself or by such instruments as are most unlikely XCVII IF Beleevers in former times did suffer the spoyling of their goods with joy why should not wee also in the same manner We have the same God the same promises the same hope faith and therefore why should not we expresse the same joy in such cases of suffering as they did Afflictions though they seeme grievous to the carnall part yet they are tolerable to that which is spirituall and as they afflict the one with sorow so they affect the other with joy and that at the