there 's a viall reserved for him in the hands of God which he must drinke to the bottome O Lord I know that to flesh and blood this cup is bitter even as the waters of Marah cast in the sweet wood of thy grace or else let this cup passe from me XXXIV LIght is sown for the righteous Psal 97.11 and joy for the upright in heart saies David Now that which is sown doth not presently appeare but may lie covered with clods and a long time is required before harvest come in the mean-while the husband-man waiteth patiently O then though I see no light yet I may expect it for t is not cast away but sown and being sown is not buried but covered there 's hope it will sprout again What then though I have sown in tears I shall reap in joy and though I have gone out weeping I shall bring my sheaves with me though all I have be sown nay cast on the waters yet shall it return after many dayes I will be content with all sorts of weather so my harvest be seasonable and fruitfull let my heavinesse be all the night yet joy shall come in the morning and this I need not doubt of for though it be midnight now shall I therefore conclude the Sun will never rise or that it is not neerer its rising XXXV WHerefore doth a living man complain Lam. 3.39 40. a man for the punishment of his sin In which words the Spirit of God coucheth a three-fold argument against murmuring under our sufferings First we are men creatures and what impudence is it for such to complain against their Creator who may place us in what condition he pleases Secondly we are sinners so that what wee suffer is our demerit and wages and what madnesse is it to accuse the just Judge of Heaven and Earth with injustice Thirdly we are living men and therefore God hath punished us lesse then other sinners as wee are on this side the grave and hell and what unthankfulnesse is it to repine against that hand that hath punished us in mercy These reasons well applyed may stop the mouth of any murmurer for as thou art a man God hath power over thee as a Potter over his vessel to make thee for honour or dishonour As thou art a sinner t is Gods mercy thou art not consumed for sin being finished bringeth forth death As thou art yet alive so praise the Lord and murmure not against him who might as justly have turned thee into hell as he hath turned thee out of thy house and might have deprived thee of thy life as hee hath of thy livelihood XXXVI VVHy art thou cast downe O my soule and why art thou disquieted within mee Still trust in God Here David reproves and directs himselfe The spirit of a man is a tender part and yet a strong part As there is nothing more sensible and apt to be cast down so nothing is more strong being upheld by divine power For the spirit of a man will sustaine its infirmities but a wounded spirit who can beare Extremities and pressures may for a while deject disquiet it but falth will raise it up and quiet it So much unbeliefe as is in it so much weakness and so much faith as is in it so much boldnesse Why are yee fearfull Oyee of little faith says our Saviour there wee see the excesse of feare arose from the defect of faith So farre as my heart is evill it is unbelieving and as farre as 't is unbelieving it departs from God and as farre as it departs from God it departs from true peace and comfort To prevent this Davids own counsell must be mine Still trust in God Distrust in God is the cause of all disquietnesse in our selves XXXVII IN the world yee shall have tribulation Ioh. 16.33 but be of good comfort I have overcome the world saith Christ The world as it is a Christians prison and tormentor so it is also his captive Yet notwithstanding the world be overcome it opposeth though it be crucified it strugleth The world is the way and therefore may be foule as well as faire We are strangers here and therefore are spectacles to the men of this world the objects not onely of their admiration but indignation That dogge which fawnes on the inmate may not only bark at but bite a stranger Our happinesse is that as we suffer here we conquer here yea we conquer whiles we suffer and doe overcome whiles we are overcome Yea wee are more then conquerers through him that loved us and this is our victory that overcometh the world even our faith XXXVIII VVHen beleevers are pensive and sad by reason of outward crosses they must examine and try the object of their faith and the grounds of their beleeving For usually sorrow is there excessive where faith is little and too much sorrow for outward crosses doth commonly argue too much confidence in outward goods Above all persons a true beleever may alwayes rejoyce and then most when it goes worst with him For his God is the God of consolation the fruit of Gods Spirit is joy unspeakable and glorious it is one of Christs offices to comfort his people The Ordinances yeeld strong consolation by the communion of Saints their joy is made more full and the fulnesse of joy they are assured of hereafter T is Satan therefore onely that makes these consolations of the Almighty seeme light for the Devill in the overthrowing the outward estate aymes chiefly to impaire the inward In the spoyling of Jobs goods it was his endeavour to rob him of his comfort and make him curse God XXXIX IT is observable that Paul though he had as much as any to glory of yet he gloried in nothing so much 2 Cor. 12.5 as in his infirmities reproaches necessities distresses for Christs sake in his bonds and chaines for Jesus Surely there was something in those bonds that made them so precious it was the name of Jesus which like a precious Jewel fixed in these bonds that did so endeare them to him Yet wee see what was Pauls glory is others shame when some glory in their wealth others in their power others in their wisedome none glory in the Lord such glory in their shame But how much glory then have the persecutors conferred on Gods people Surely did they know that to be honour which they confer on them as shame they would dispose of it elswhere Why art thou then ashamed O my soule of that which others did glory Know that to these bonds is a crowne annexed and if with the Apostle thou art layd in them there is laid up a crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge hath not onely given Paul but will give to thee and to every one that loves his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 XL. A Sin poverty 't is hard to keep under our nature and bridle our mouths from expressions of discontent and murmuring so it is
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
a Sunne for consolation a Shield for protection Now from this fulnesse in God all comfort and safety is derived to man The Sunne enlighteneth others the Shield defendeth others If wee have a communion with God we shall have a communication of all from God Grace and glory will he give yea no good thing will he withhold Here then is our happinesse that though we are neere the jawes of death this Shield is neere us the Lord being a very present helpe that though the night of adversitie be long yet this Sunne will arise and although being risen clouds may be interposed yet the Sunne keeps his place and notwithstanding its light be eclipsed its influence is not hindered Though my sins and troubles may cause Gods face not to shine upon me yet will he then uphold me by the influence of his Spirit XXVIII ACquaint thy selfe with God and be at peace Iob 22.21 so good shall come unto thee All our good present or future consists in and is derived from our acquaintance and communion with GOD. Estrangednesse from God makes us acquainted with many evills for all our miseries that befall us arise from want of communion with God or want of renewing it and breaches of it That now which makes us renew our acquaintance with him is affliction for before David was afflicted he went astray The woman in the Gospel had spent all on the Physicians before shee came to Christ When wee know not what to do or whither to goe then wee goe to him our eyes are towards him In these times wee see many that stood at distance as not beholding to or depending on God draw neere unto him in his ordinances Afflictions of themselves drive us further form God and make us seek other hiding places but being sanctified they make us seek God early Thus then is it good to be afflicted when thereby wee are brought neer to God It shall be my endeavour to renew my acquaintance with God both morning and evening so good shall come unto me his mercies towards me shall be new every morning XXIX AS in these Divisions the thoughts of many hearts are discovered so also in the same heart manifold thoughts discover themselves Psal 94.19 In the multitude of the thoughts of my heart says David thy comforts refresh my soule His thoughts were somtimes vexing sometimes dejecting and despairing doubting impatient distracted carefull fearefull thoughts were often raised in him As manifold thoughts may and doe arise from us in these times of trouble Here onely is our misery that having Davids maladie wee cannot apply Davids remedy Depth of misery still calleth after depth yet wee cannot draw water out of the Wells of salvation Wee are more troubled with the dimensions of the enemies hatred then wee are comforted with the height depth length breadth of the love of God in Christ A sad thing it is that Christians who are called to rejoyce evermore should let loose the reines to worldly sorrow so farre till it work death Surely as excesse of sinne provoked the Lord to cast these burdens on us so excesse of sorrow may cause him to continue them As by over-sad thoughts wee injure our selves so we dishonour God disgrace our calling disparage his Word Let weeping wailing possesse them that have no God to rejoyce in Though in the world I shall have tribulations yet will I glory in them and triumph over them in Christ XXX WHen Hagars bottle of water was spent Gen. 21. shee fell a crying whereas there was a fountain close by her but those waters that appeared from within her hindered the appearance of any water without her her weeping hindered the sight of the fountain The condition of her is common to many puling Christians now whose spirits do fail being overcome with grief when their stocks are spent and their trades decayed In this affliction of the people of God they might see in God a fountain to make glad the city of God but only excesse of worldly sorrow causeth a defect of heavenly joy For when our eyes do thus run down with teares the eye of faith waxeth dim and so wee stand in our own light Why art thou then disuieted Oh my soul though the bottle of thy estate be empty yet the Lord will either fill it again or discover unto thee a fountain which will alwayes run afresh XXXI T Is an ordinary thing to see men under some temporall losse to hang down their heads like bulrushes and go mourning all the day long and yet cannot have their spirits brought one degree lower for the loss of Gods favour Foolish men that let loose their affections on the least evill and are not sensible of the greatest That indeed which we love most to injoy we grieve most for at the departure Now this error in affection ariseth from this error in judgement in supposing that temporall things are good without Gods favour or that Gods countenance and favour is not more then temporall things Surely that man knows not what God is or his favour that knows not how to sorrow for the lose of it If God inflict a temporall losse upon me it may produce a temporall moderate sorrow but if the Lord hide his face from me never was any sorrow like my sorrow Of all losses let me not lose the favour of my God Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me XXXII OUr Saviour forbids us to care for to morrow Mat. 6.34 and bids us cast our care upon him for he careth for us This prohibition as it should not make us carefull so it should not leave us carelesse The eye of the Lord runs to and fro the earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose hearts are upright yet is not his eye so upon us as if we should turn our own eyes off our selves and not look to the main chance Gods generall providence over us doth not take away our providence over our selves Hee that so casts his burthen on the Lord so as to ease his own shoulders altogether shall have more infirmities then his spirit will beare He that is altogether carelesse of himself because of Gods providence over him may be a begger at last The care then of my heavenly Father as it forbids the care of diffidence in him so it requires and implies a care of diligence towards my self XXXIII THere 's none in this world but more or lesse hath or shall taste of the cup of affliction Some have onely a sip at the brim others drink more deeply of it yet the Lord deales with his people as a wise Physitian administring not only according to his own pleasure but their strength God doth not force whole â—ups on them if it be not for their health not a dram or drop shall be more in the Dosis then his wisdome shall direct and their patience bear If any say hee never tasted hereof I tell him 't is a sign
same time See this in David who when Ziglag was burned 1 Sam. 30.6 himselfe plundered of his goods and wives did at first weep till he could weep no longer and he was greatly distressed thus farre he let loose the reignes to nature and passion yet see how his spirit upheld it selfe hwen he presently encouraged himselfe in the Lord his God Davids case is now common to the seed of David where fire and sword prevaile the present apprehension thereof may empty our heads of teares but not our hearts of courage When our adversaries are increased our strength failes us our burdens increase our estates decrease so that wee can take pleasure in no earthly thing yet then may wee encourage our selves in the Lord nad joy in the God of our salvation The seed of David as they are heirs of Davids sufferings so also of his consolations XCVIII VVEE are apt to observe and take notice of what the Lord takes away from us but not of what he gives us thus minding one crosse more then many favours Did wee thus diligently look to our Book of accounts with God we should finde that wee are indebted to him and not he to us For when the Lord takes away a blessing from his hee gives them as good or better here onely is the mistake that when the Lord doth not pay us in our own coyn and in the same kind of blessing we think he is behind hand with us as if he that borrowed so much in silver but returnes the summe in a few pieces of gold were still indebted God took away Elijah from Elisha but hee doubled his spirit upon Elisha Christ did withdraw his bodily presence from his Disciples but hee sent them the Comforter The Lord takes from us temporall goods but then hee gives us content in a lower estate and faith for a better I will not be troubled if God deprive me of outward gifts so hee restore them unto me in inward graces None that ever had trading in heaven can say he is a loser unlesse hee mistake his accounts XCIX IMpatient people think God hath forgotten to be gracious if hee deliver not in their time and by their meanes The Lord doth therefore hide the meanes and time from us that his wayes of deliverance may be the more mysterious God doth not alwayes deliver from the trouble but from the evill of it nay sometimes hee delivers by the trouble making that to bee the meanes which is our present misery Thus is there a deliverance when suffering the lesse wee are freed from the greater as many are delivered by death temporall from death eternall by losses of the death from the losse of heaven If therefore our condition in suffering be so strange that we know not what to doe yet the Lord knowes how to deliver The Lords thoughts are not as our thoughts but as farre surpassing as the heavens doe the earth That sea which Israel thought would have been their grave was their high way And if the suffering be long and tedious yet when the time of deliverance is come the Lord will not only answer us for our praiers but for our patience and time in waiting C. SKin for skin and all that a man hath wil he give for his life life being better then goods Now what bargain I should have made for my life the same hath God yeelded me my life upon as he hath given my goods as a prey to the enemies so he hath given my life a prey to my selfe Livelihood is good but life is better Laban did Jacob much hurt in his estate but God suffered him not to hurt his person And now O Lord as thou hast given me this life by thy own inspiration by thy Sonnes redemption by this last preservation so being not mine own but thine I desire to live not to my selfe but to thee Henceforth to mee to live is Christ he that hath his life preserved from an imminent danger should not live onely to live but to God and his glory CI. VVHen I heare the enemy with Saul breathe out threatnings and slaughter saying Kill slay hew them pistoll them quarter them I know not whether doth exceed their fury or their folly seeing that which is an act of enmity in the persecuter is an act of amity to the persecuted for hereby they are the sooner dispatched to heaven and wait the lesse time for their inheritance Could they destroy the soule with the body or separate the soule from God as easily as they can divide it from the body it were a high degree of revenge But this belongs to the Lord onely to whom vengeance belongs I will not therefore fear him that can kill the body onely but him that can destroy body and soule Thus though they destroy this earthly tabernacle my spirit shall return to God that gave it and thus to die would bee to mee gaine yea such gain that if the enemy knew it his envie would bee as great to my soule separated as his enmity was to it united CII ALL the comfort of a child of God is in this that God is his God for all good is in God in a more eminent manner and fuller measure then in any creature Now as God is his God so all in God is for his good If God be ours all things are ours but if he be not ours though we had all yet when losses come nothing would be ours Nothing is so much ours as God is ours for by his being ours all things else are ours Here also is the glory and crown of rejoycing in a Christian that when all things else leave him hee neither loseth his interest in God nor God his interest in him CIII VVE read of Jobs losses that they fell out not at the same time though one came in the neck of another Parallell in manner to Jobs were mine For when the Sabeans came they dealt fairly to see to taking the one halfe that lay open leaving me the other that lay hidden thankes rather to their blindnesse then their goodnesse Yet at last that which lay hid did appeare to them perhaps by Chaldean wisdome Thus that which the Locusts left the Caterpillers have eaten My comfort is that my best estate is so hidden and laid up where such Theeves cannot break through and steale such is that hidden meat and Manna they know not of or if they did know would not trouble themselves with it but let who will take it for them CIV VVHen the remembrance of my losses over-clouds my heart with a multitude of thoughts yet even then have I a multitude of comforts from God to refresh it Every depth of my misery is accompanied with a depth of mercy Amongst all my losses though not exceeding yet the most affecting was that of my Library which as for variety was good so for value was not small herein my comfort is that now the Lord may give me a double portion of his Spirit whereby
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
for good they would afflict mans heart w th as much sorrow in lofing as they doe affect it with joy in possessing But we see that sometimes God gives some their wealth as Ebud did the present to Eglm with a dagger to destroy them or as God gave Israel a King in his wrath or as Saul gave David his daughter to ensnare him This God doth out of justice to satiate their exorbitant desires till furfeit of the creature comming thereby causeth some greater evill He puts this knife in these mad mens hands whereby they will destroy themselves and others Of such David sayes Their table shall be made a snare So that if we are brought to low commons we are delivered from the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken and wee are escaped If thy wealth then proceed out of Gods love it shall be as durable as comfortable but if it be given thee out of wrath it will either be an occasion of misery and vexation for the present or of thy ruine at the last The wealth of the ungodly is either a snare to entangle their soules or else a thiese to steale them away XV. COuld the creatures vexation be separated from its substance it would bee a desirable object but experience shewes that to be impossible We see men vex and trouble themselves to procure wealth thinking then to be eased of trouble when they are laden with substance whereas in stead of their desired content they find abundance of unexpected cares Looke upon a worldling either sleeping or waking standing or going at home or abroad and you shall find that his distracted countenance his needlesse fears his jealous imaginations his corroding cares to get more and keep what he hath doe plainly demonstrate this Now God is pleased there should be this medley to embitter these dugges to cause these prickles about these Roses to intermingle our joyes with sorrowes and interlace our commodities with discommodities that we may bee weaned from them and seek for such treasures above which are not onely without mixture but without measure even at the right hand of God for evermore XVI MAn being a reasonable creature doth not in any thing shew himselfe more unreasonable then in this to thinke that any thing in the world hath that in it which is proportionable to the capacitie of his soule This appeares in those persons whose desires seeming for a while to be satiated with severall objects supposing that this or that thing being obtained will terminate their appetites and settle their roving soules with a sweet repose as if there could be a nil ultra to seek for whereas indeed in the prosecution of more the soule loseth what it hath and thinking to gain more abundance is deprived of the true use and comfort of what it enjoyes For the hope of what such a one may have swallowes up the comfort of what he hath So vast and capacious a thing is the soul the sooner shall the barren womo be satisfied yea sooner wil the mouth of hell be filled then it be satisfied with the greatest confluence of outward things and therefore sooner will the Sunne be weary and stand still in its course then it in the prosecution of earthly objects The reason hereof is because the world yeelds nothing proportionable to the soules nature its nature is divine infinite immortall but things of this life are earthly finite perishing Now that which is earthly savours earthly things and is satisfied with them but that which is spiritual savours spiritual things and can bee onely satisfied with them You may fill a Chest with money but not with wisdome knowledge grace And so may the soul be filled with knowledge and grace but not with money for the one hath dimensions the other none so that in one the thing contained may equalize the thing containing but not in the other That then which satisfies the soule is onely that which created it redeemed it So that after all the rovings and disquisitions of the mind it can finde no true rest till it pitch on God in Christ Like Noahs Dove it being sent about the earth finding no place to light on it must returne to the place from whence it came Thou O Lord who didst endue my soule with such capacious faculties fill them with they selfe for after its manifold wandring in the circle of this world it find no adequate satisfactory object but in thee its center in whom all fulnesse dwels and who art not onely above all and in all but All in All. XVII GEN. 33.19 wee read strange sentence dropping out of Esau's mouth I have enough Afterward vers 13. Jacob is in the same tune I have enough or as some translations have it I have all i.e. both temporall and spirituall Out of the fulnesse of the heart the mouth speaketh and out of the fulnesse of pride of heart might Esau say thus in that he scorned to be beholding to Jacob or else out of a fulnesse of modesty in that he would not seem to receive any of his Hee that could in an outward forme even with teares say Hast thou not a blessing for me might rest unsatisfied with temporall blessings His rough hands were not onely tenacious of what he had but as fit to receive more hold more Lautent Anat. The Anatomists observe one speciall Artery to passe from the heart to the tongue to shew that Nature would have the tongue to be the hearts Oratour to express the same thing moving in the same motion Yet we see where the heart is not right the tongue is not uniforme this Artery suffers a distortion Many men with Esau say I have enough but it is either because they know not how to get more or use more Give me O Lord the blessings of Jacob the blessings of thy right hand and then my voyce shall be the voyce of Jacob I have enough yea I have all XVIII FOolish men that spend their labour for that which satisfieth not and expend their money for that which is not bread that let loose their thoughts which like Noabs Raven returne not againe but rove about after the carrion of this world It was the complaint of Jeremiah that they who are cloathed with skarlet lie on the dunghill and and how may wee complain of them who are highly deseended yet doe seeke onely things below 'T is true that every man is placed here on the earth as a treasurer of his own soule the godly lay up a good foundation the wicked also even in treasuring up the world doe treasure up wrath and oppression How abundantly then soever my estate comes in I will never bid my soul be at rest till it finde it in Christ nor will I ever think I have much laid up for many dayes unlesse it be in heaven with the Ancient of dayes XIX LVke 10. wee read of the respect that two sisters bore to Christ the one to his person the other to his
word Martha's care was to entertain Christ delicately Mary's was to heare him diligently Such a guest as hee was was worthy to be entertained exquisitely and such an Orator as he was that spake as never man spake was worthy to be heard attentively Yet we see that our Saviour had rather bee entertained in us by his Word then by us through our service yet how many are there as farre behinde Martha in the duty of serving as she was behind Mary in the duty of hearing Make me O Lord to know the one thing which is needfull so shall I not be troubled about many things Thus shall Ibe a brother to Mary and a stranger to Martha XX. AMong the evils which Solomon saw under the Sun this was one Eccles 5.19 A man to whom God hath given riches wealth honour so that be wanteth nothing yet God giveth him not a heart and power to eate thereof but a stranger eateth it A disease it is indeed and almost Epidemicall For how many see we whose Barns are full Fat 's overflow yet fare coursly themselves have costly wardrobes yet not power to put it on have silver and gold in abundance yet die to save charges Thus the Lord makes them treasurers for other men hee gives them the creature but reserves the comfort and use of it for others So that such in a manner have no more benefit or comfort by their Corn and Wine then the Barnes and Cellars that hold it nor of their money then the Chests that contain it Thus though they have their goods yet in Jobs words Their good is not in their bands i. e. the use and comfort is not in their power When ever I begge for a temporall blessing I will adde this to my prayer that this blessing may goe along with it even a heart to use it Thus a stranger shall not intermeddle with my joy XXI BUt there is another evill which is this that as many have much but not hearts to use it so many have much yet have hearts to use more As evill a disease it is to have a mind exceeding ones means as means exceeding ones minde The power which many have to abuse the creature is as common as the want of power to use it The Moralists say that prodigalitie comes neerer the mean then covetousnesse how ever it cannot come to the nature of a vertue He then that hath this heart to carry him to a profuse spending of what he hath is as much to be pitied as hee that wants this heart to make use of what hee hath And if either of these drawneere the mean God must give the one a heart and renew it in the other It shall be my endevour so to use what I have as not to abuse it and so to apply to my selfe the comforts of my substance as not to deprive my selfe of the substance it selfe Otherwise I shall at last repent of having both a heart and riches for when all is thus spent the comfort vanisheth the guilt abideth XXII RIches have wings Pro. 23. now what is winged will keep no constant abode unlesse it bee straitned or its wings imped and in shortning the wings of riches wee set them flying neither can they so be caged up but at some time or other they will leave us or be taken from us Some birds being let loose may bee lured back again yet not all birds nor at all times If then my riches will once fly from mein possession my safest way is to flie above them in affection Thus shall I light upon a better object if they light upon another subject XXIII THis earthly globe is that dug and breast which the children of this world lie sucking at and which they will not leave so long as there is any sweetnesse in it God therefore to wean them from it doth with his Marah imbitter this dugge that so the present bitternesse may make them forget all former sweetnesse Lord though since I came into this world nothing could content me but this breast nourish me but its milk quiet me but its sweetnesse yet seeing now I see it imbittered by thee make me to behave my selfe as a weaned child cause me to suck at the breasts of consolation let those breasts satisfie me XXIV COmmonly one affliction to Gods people is the forerunner of another Job and no sooner heard of the losse of his Oxen and Asses but before that sound was out of his eares hee heares of the losse of his sheep and after that of his servants and sonnes The smaller losse doth usually usher in the greater Thus many are the troubles of the righteous many blowes must bee given before we are squared and made fit stones for the spirituall Temple In this troubled Sea wave will follow after wave one depth call for another till we are come to our haven I will then after one affliction look for another prepare for another thus shall I be not onely forewarned but forearmed if God reserve another tryall for me he will renew my strength to overcome or my patience to beare it My comfort is that as my tribulations doe abound my glory shall abound After all these sad messages God will send me some good Ahimaaz that will bring me good tidings of great joy XXV THe Prophet reproveth them that trusted in broken Cisterns Ier. 2.13 that would not hold water and forsooke the fountaine of living water All the comforts of this life are waters yea cistern waters and therefore not so fresh as others being standing neither so continuing as others being in broken cisterns Whatsoever I enjoy then shall be in God the fountaine and in his promises the streames so shall my comfort be ever savoury everlasting when that which others enjoy in cisterns shall be both unsavoury and unconstant Iob. 13 For a Summer will come when such waters shal make them ashamed When their bottles faile with Hagar they shall wish for death and then will the Lord discover unto me a fountaine of living water XXVI WEE see in Cities where space of ground is precious that the buildings are more high and lofty making more bold with the ayre and things above when they are scanted of earth and things beneath This may teach something and edifie us in our spirituall building When our lot falls out in a small portion of land here to seek for a larger inheritance above in heaven where is roome enough for us all and whither wee may boldly goe Lord seeing my portion is slender my estate narrow build me up some stories higher in grace and goodnesse that so the lesse I have in earth the more I may have in heaven thus shall I be brought the neerer to thee and receive more from thee Had I more scope here below I should not tend upwards or mind heavenly things XXVII THe onely Sanctuary in mans extremitie is Gods all-sufficiency Psal 84.11 The Lord is a Sunne and a Sbield
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
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
Bethlehem thy Word is the bread of life I will feed on it live by it so shall I never want when I am at thy finding LXXXVI I Will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted poore people Zeph. 3.1 that shall trust in the name of the Lord. Gods people though they are a poore people yet they are a trusting people And how can they be a poore people that are a trusting people Doth not the Apostle tell us that they are rich in faith And we read of the riches of full assurance 't is only in the worlds eye and in worldly things that they are poore none possesse more then they none can shew a title to more All they injoy is in God and they injoy all things in God When the plunderers have deprived them of all the hand of faith will receive more from God or lay hold on all in God It shall be my glory to be one of Gods poor afflicted people so I may have this grace to be one of his trusting people LXXXVII GReat is the use of faith glorious things are spoken of it It is called a shield and as heretofore many have done valiantly with this shield so also may we now By faith wee may be inabled with Abraham to leave our own countrey with Moses to forsake the pleasures and preferments of this life yea that which in these dayes is endeavoured to be done by strength of hand may be done assuredly by the strength of faith We may hereby subdue kingdomes and not only escape but learne how by faith to handle the sword faith making one of weak become strong and wax valiant in fight All our hope ariseth from and is stirred up by faith In trouble faith stirreth up prayer prayer stirreth up God God stirs up the means Faith will with Jacob make us continue wrastling with God till he blesse us Faith wil draw water from the wells of salvation it will not only support us in trouble but bring us out By faith I will be rich when I am poore strong when I am weak joyfull when I am sorrowfull By it I will conquer even when I am conquered Let the Lord give me this grace of faith and take away all that I have yet by it I shall have as much as I had more then I had all that a God can yeeld is then mine LXXXVIII IT is the nature of faith in its workings to suspend the soule from reflecting on its own weaknesse and other difficulties directing it to look up to the Lord in whom its hope is and from whom its help must come In affliction we should not onely consider how unable we are to beare them but how able God is to help our infirmities Afflictions and troubles are manifold but God is one and the same and a true faith can make use of one God to conquer twenty troubles one promise to support him in many dangers Sense presenteth many enemies but faith seeth more with it then are or can be against it What rule and course the Apostle Heb. 12.13 prescribeth to lay aside any weight of sinne viz. To look up to Jesus the same must we take to be eased of any weight of affliction LXXXIX IT is written The just shall live by faith Now faith lives on the promise and the promise lives and abides because God lives and abides the same for evermore The life of a beleever is not maintained by any mutable perishing thing and therefore it cannot suffer mutation When we have no other feeding then faith can be our bread when wee have no other stay faith can be our staffe and when temporall things are removed from us yet if faith apprehend a promise it hath plenty enough one promise supporteth faith more then many thousands per annum Hee then that hath a large faith hath a large living That onely which causeth discomfort in a Christian walke is the suspension and intermission of faiths actings For if wee would let faith have its perfect work it would support us in all wants Now faith doth its work best alone having a higher principle then the life of sense Faith acteth upon a faithfull promise and an Almighty God Now as faith will not leave God so God will not faile faith The dutie then of beleeving onely is ours the worke of helping is Gods XC THe sight is the quickest of all the senses for it can ken from earth to heaven in a moment and is also the largest for it can behold the whole Hemisphere by one act of viewing Most fitly therefore in the Scriptures doth the Spirit of God set forth the acts of faith by seeing beholding looking Hereby Abraham is said to see afarre off whereas unbeleevers are by S. Peter described to be such as cannot see afarre off O then let us labour for a large faith as we have a large object for wee can never be straltned in our God unlesse we be straitned in our faith If wee had a thousand times more faith we might receive a thousand times more blessings of God When the Prophet came to the widows house as many vessels as shee had were filled with oyle The reason why so many abide under wants is because they cannot see more in God nor receive more from him For to them all communicable good that they see in God belongs unto them XCI IN Christ dwelleth all fulnesse a fulnesse not onely of sufficiency for himselfe but of redundancy for us A fulnesse not of a vessell which will hold no more and of which a little being taken its fulnesse is diminished but a fulnesse of the Ocean which though it be still emptying it self is still full A fulnesse of the Sun which though it diffuseth daily light and heat hath never the lesse Though all the Saints in heaven partake of Christs glory and all the Saints on earth of his grace yet hath he never the lesse glory or grace There is in Christ a fulnesse of power to protect of wisdome to direct of truth to confirme us of love to comfort us of life to quicken us Of all yea and more then all wee can aske or thinke Now of this fulness I may receive grace for grace for if I am a member I must partake of the heads fulnesse If I am a Spouse I must partake of my husbands fulnesse to supply all my wants I will therefore never complaine of emptinesse and wants as long as there is in Christ not onely a fulnesse but a freenesse to communicate For as sure as Christ is mine his fulnesse is mine Iam. 1.5 He gives to all men and yet he gives liberally which no rich man in the world is able to doe because as he gives to others himselfe decreaseth XCII OUr communiion with Christ is that which may comfort us in the disunion of all outward comforts from us for our nearenesse with him assures us of his compassion under them and his helpe to beare them If then I have
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