that the Lord will look on my affliction and that the Lord will requite good for his cursing this day 1 David came to Bahurim in his flight from Absalom we may seriously observe to what afflictions and streights the Saints of God may be brought they may be brought to flee for their lives this was Davids case and this is the lot and portion of all the faithfull to endure affliction in one kinde or other Abraham the Father of the faithfull had his peculiar afflictions his great fears and his unparalel'd tryals Gen. 20.11 22. Isaac had his continual griefe of minde in the marriage of one of his Sons and of his being deprived of the other for 20. yeares together Gen. 26.35.36.27 See what afflictions Jacob had persecuted by his own Brother and driven from his Fathers house into a strange Land there he suffered many an injury and indignity from his Unkle with sorrowes he sustained from and in his children Surely if we would seriously read the whole story of his life we shall finde his troubles come tumbling one on the others back Like the waves of the Sea commonly the ending of one was but the beginning of another Moses whom God so dearly loved and entertain'd into the necrest familiarity talking with him face to face was notwithstanding exercised with grievous afflictions not to speak of his hardships and streights which he sustained before he could understand it being in danger of death every hour for 3. months space To omit many things what an affliction had he in carrying such an untoward people 40. yeares together in the wildernesse and what wordly comfort had he to cheer him in suffering all these afflictions but the remembrance of the Land of promise the fruition whereof he long expected But at last he is cut off from this hope and heareth Gods definitive sentence passe upon him that he must ascend Mount Nebo and dye there Deut. 32.50 And thus Job though he were the justest man that lived upon the Earth by the Lords own testimony yet did he endure manifold and grievous afflictions as we may read in the History of his life the spoyling of his goods the slaughter of his servants the untimely death of ten children all at once the outward torment of botches and boyles and the inward terrors of an afflicted minde the scornes of the wicked the strange behaviour of his Wife the unkinde usage and hard censures of his friends that in these respects he was thought to be the fittest man to be propounded by the holy Ghost as a pattern of patience James 5.11 And thus did all the Apostles suffer afflictions yea and cruel deaths except St. John Here with a Catalogue St. Paul makes of his sufferings 2 Cor. 11.44 unto which outward vexation of body and inward cares and distractions of minde we may add his spiritual afflictions as the fight between the flesh and spirit and the buffitings of Satan which were incomparably greater then all the rest for whereas out of the strength of his faith and patience he rejoyced yea even boasted himselfe in his other afflictions by these he is much humbled and cast down in the fight of his corruptions and forced to crye out in perplexity of spirit oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Now the causes which doth move the Lord to lay upon his children those great afflictions is because of sin Sin then is the meritorious cause why the Lord punisheth a place or Person Judgments never come down from God till provocations first go up from man and this the Church plainly affiâ—meth Lam. 3.39 man suffereth for his sin and this the Lord tels Israel Jer. 30.14 15. I have stricken thee with the wound of an enemy and with a sharp chastisement for the multitude of thine iniquities because thy Sons were increased why cryest thou for thine affliction thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquities I have done those things unto thee Object But doth God alwayes correct for sin are there not other ends which move the Lord to lay crosses upon his own children Ans It s very true God doth by afflictions as well make tryall of his graces in us as chastize us for our sins and that besides our transgressions there are in Gods secret counsels other causes of our crosses and calamities but seeing the Lord hath in his word denounced these miseries and afflictions against us as punishments and chastisements for our iniquities and doth not reveale unto us when he tryeth us and when he correcteth us Therefore leaving Gods secrets unto himselfe we are not to look unto his hidden counsels but to his revealed will and according thereunto we are alwayes to make this use of our afflictions that when we are judged we are chastned of the Lord and justly corrected and punished for our sins and thus the Saints in all ages have done still have they insisted on their sins which have primarily been the cause of their sorrowes So David complained Psal 38.3 there is no soundnesse in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there rest in my bones by reason of my sins And thus the Prophet Isaiah chap. 64.5 cryeth out in his prayer for the people behold thou art angry for we have sinned Yea Job himselfe who was chiefly afflicted for the try all of his graces though he desires to defend his innocency against his three friends to maintain the integrity of his heart from their false aspertions yet having to deal with God he acknowledgeth and sayes I have finned what shall I do unto thee oh thou preserver of men and why doest thou not parden and take away mine iniquity Job 7.20 Again 't is good to make a holy use of every affliction Is there an insufficiency and impotency in creatures that they cannot help us or infidelity and treachery whereby they will not afford unto us that help which we expect from them we may very well conclude we rested too much on those earthen propts and when contempt and scorn waite upon our heeles pride and loftinesse was our Gentleman Usher before and so of the rest God is one that will do nothing wherein his word shall not justifie his deed what befalls us from him must needes be just though we conceive not our desert because he smothers our offences his justice is in no way detected and surely if we would seriously take notice of it we may oft times read our fin in our punishment for God usually retaliates and dealeth with men according to the manner and way of their wickednesse the sin and suffering oft meet in some remarkable circumstance Now as afflictions are punishments for sins past so are they preventions against sin in time to come Phisitâ—ans when they purge their Patients aime most at the cause of the disease for when that is taken away the effects will follow thus doth God with his own dearest children he purges them so
he fell foulest because he was most prosperous And therefore an afflicted estate is most safest yea and often most sweetest There is a fruite in the least crosse we should therefore looke more at the fruite then deliverance from the crosse the longer it continues the more we may get by it 1 If we consider the good which comes to us through the Malice of man we reâ—d of Jacob when he sent Joseph to Dothan to visit his brethren they cast him into a pit Reuben more pittifull then the rest relieves him but sells him to the Midianites they sell him againe to Potiphar his Mistresse accuseth him his Master condemneth him imprisons him the Baker after long forgetfullnesse commends him to Pharaob on the occasion of his dreame and thus is he exalted How many instruments were here not one looking to God or to one another Onely the Lord of Ezechiels wheeles turnes all about for the good of his children So David goes on in Battell against Israell with Achish King of Gath with whom for a while he sojourned in the time of his banishment The Princes of the Philistimes command him to go back and this they did only to disgrace him because they did distrust him But 't was for his good for had he gone on he had been guilty of the bloud of Israel especially of Saul who was slaine in that Battell whereas now he is free both from the blood of Israel and from the censure of the Philistimes they cannot blame him for going back because it 't was in obedience to their command Thus we see the Church in Qâ—eene Hester's time what was plotted for their ruine turned for their farther deliverance and Hamans malice to Mordecay shall be the first step to his preferment Many a Saint whose names doe now breath forth a fresh perfume in the Church of God would have lived and died obscurely had not the malice of others pounded them in the morter of afflictions The wicked saith one are as it were Gods Phisitions by the poyson of their malice they purge out the poyson of sin from out of the soules of his servants They are the Lords scullions and their office is to make cleane the vessels of honour They serve as an antidote to keep us from the contagious infection of sin and truely this may be one reason why the Lord thinketh it fitter to serve his owne providence of wicked men that he may bring good out of evill then not permit any evill at all Thus were all the ends of the King of Affiria and the outrages of his army directed by God to that maine end inchastifeing his people I hough as the Lordplainly affirmeth he never so much as thought so or ever aimed at this end Isa 10.7 And this many times the cruelty and oppression of proude insolency that can not looke but with disdaine conttempt make the Lord to pitty the distressed the sooner and to arise and set hiâ— own in safety from them that poffâ—ah at them Psal 12. Another out of malice to our persons and a desire to revenge misconceived wrongs and supposed injuries seekes our utter ruine indeavouring to make our names odioâ—s to countenance their owne cause thinking they have laid a sound foundation of their own glory upon the ruines of our reputation and estates But this oft turns to our greater advantage when God shall at length mâ—nifest our innâ—câ—ncy mauger all their ploâ—s and projects so that whosoever blowes out the candle of our reputation with too strong a breath doth but make a stink to blowe it in againe and it were well thought oâ— it is their malicious breath that makes so iâ—a savour not our snuffe O hers cannot love us because they cannot or they will not because they will not and so force themselves to an Antipathy looking upon all our actions with the greene spectacles of prejudice câ—nstraing or rather misconstruing all actions or intensions according to their owne opinion putâ—ing false glosses on all plaine texâ—s these are very ready to fide with a depraving multitude whereby they become accessary of injury if the injury be great they will proceed to hate those whom they have mâ—l gned hatred in time will turne to implacable malice so that their houses are too hot for our neighbourhood nay may be a whole Towne will in time â—steeme us as Nauseous to their quaesy stâ—macks and therefore we must out as the frith of the streeâ—s These are like tâ—e mâ—n of Ephesus who cried and made a loâ—de noise some for one thing and some for another but the most part knew not wherefore they were come together Acts. 19.32 So these cry out that such are people want not any fault though they cannot make manifest any one thus may times one barking dog sets all the curs in a Towne a bauling at nothing sometimes or at the moone But this likewise workes for the best to a more circumspect walking among so many Criticall enemies and truly we never walk so warily as when we have many enemies to watch us But if their cruelty will not indure our company any longer but that we must be constrained to secke a new habitation which many of Gods deare children are forced in those saddest times having lost their old but this may by the blessing of God turn to a great advantage Their malice doth but transplant us into a better soil where we may thrive more bear our fruit with more safty comfort without such fear of being nipt in the bud Oâ— else they drive us to a more narrow search and greater longings for that City above whose foundations are so stable and sure that no enemy can deprive us off where is no plundering or oppressions when all the malice of man or devill shall never be able to drive us thence Another sort there are which sometimes were very hot and eager in the pursuite of their love professing their love shall hold out when others tire their 's shall live and flow when all others are dead and dry like Peters boasting which will sight valliantly for a spurt and doe it may be more then is required but when they see their friends over powered by insolent authority then they 'le deny their acquaintance and neither owne them nor their cause This have been the case of many and therefore the lesse to be wondred at David complaines pittifully thou hast put my lovers and friends far from me and my acquaintance into darknesse and this may comfort us the more when we consider God hath a hand in their estrangement and therefore cannot chuse but be for good we shall ever after be more wise then rest and lean upon such slender props that at the best will bend if not breake and looke upon the choicest friends to be subject to mutability as mortality and to be wary of that love which is ripe so suddainly those rath-ripes as we may call them will soone rot all violent things in nature cannot
to him no doubt to hear of the slaughter of 85. of the Lords Priests occasioned by his comming to Nob and all the Citty put to the edge of the sword 1 Sum. 22.17 18. Again into what distress was he and his company driven to when he was forst to become an eloquent begger and that to such a Churl as Nabal that in stead of an Almes or a good answer he term'd him no better then a Runnagate 1 Sam. 25.10 How many times was he in jeopardy of his life what hard shifts was he driven too he fained himselfe mad before Achish King of Gath. 1 Sam. 21.13 being in great feare there But never was he more neer it then when his own people and companions spake of stoning him his griefe was so great for the burning of his Citty Ziklag and the carrying away his Wives and Friends that he wept so much he could weep no more and yet in stead of comforting him they cause him to be deeply distressed when they spake of stoning him 1 Sam. 30.6 Now these were his sufferings before he was crowned King all which were but as a Praeludium to his after sorrowes his first may be termed as it were forraigne the latter domestical The first more on the body the latter more on the Spirit and both againe had a sufficient share What saddest disasters befell himselfe and family into what a notion of sorrows had he plung'd himselfe into by his committing adultery and hiding it with murder what a heavy doome did he bring upon his house what perplexity upon his Spirit and though God had pardoned him upon his true repentance yet the Sword did never depart from his house What a cutting Corasive was it to him when his beloved wife Michal shall scornfully jeere him and that in the service of God what griping griefes did even tare his tender heart in sunder to hear that his Daughter Tamar shall be abused and that by her own Brother 2 Sam. 13.14 and that afterward this incestious Son shall be slain by his Brother Absalom and at that time too when he was in his Cups that Absalom shall requite his Fathers pardon and indulgence with the worst ingratitude the greatest rebellion was ever heard off which we may read at large in 2 Sam. 15.16 17 18. That another of his darlings Adonijah will be so bould to step into his Fathers Throne and say hee 'l be King before his Father hath surrendred it up to nature And doubtlesse all those sorrowes were not to be compared to the sadnesse of his soule for sin which we may abundantly read in many of his mournfull Psalmes there he casts up the accounts of his sorrowes when and where and how they were inflicted his being slighted and forsaken by his friends abused and scorned by his enemies was not the least of his miseries yet for as much as sin became so heavy a burden to him he bore all the better for where sin is felt heavy there sorrowes will seem light he was conscious he had deserv'd that and worse and this made him in a sweet submission to kisse the rod which this Shimei whipt him withall suffer him God hath bidden him David being a man after Gods own heart knew the order of Gods proceedings so well that he must smart soundly for his sins of adultery and murder that God would be just in making good what he had threatned and not a sillable of it fall to the ground and therefore he meekneth his spirit to a quiet and humble submission to bear the anger of the Lord because he had finned against him and therefore he professeth Psal 39.9 that he was dumb and opened not his mouth because the Lord had done it In the 2 Sam. 12.10 Nathan from the Lord fearfully threatens a heavy judgement upon David for his sins Thus saith the Lord because thou hast despised me and done thus and thus the sword shall never depart from thy house but I will raise up evill against thee out of thine own house and I will take thy Wives and give them to thy neighbour and he shall lye with them for thou didst it secretly but I will do this thing before all Israel and this Sun Now God goes roundly to work with David himselfe now every word must be fulfilled David had dealt treacherously with Vriah David shall be dealt withall in as treacherous a manner by his subject his bosome friend yea by his beloved Son He abused his neighbours wife he shall have the same measure redoubled into his own bosome He had caused the enemies of God to blaspheame his name he shall have his own name so spit upon that he shall become a scorn and a by-word to his enemies a stranger to his friends and a song to the very drunkards In these nine verses we may observe these four particulars 1 David's coming to Bahurim 2 Shimei's meeting and abusing David aggravated by four remarkable circumstancies 1 By his railing at David saying come out come out thou bloody man and thou man of Beliall charging him with all the blood of the house of Saul vers 7. 2 His cursing him all along as he went v. 5. 13. 3 By his throwing stones and casting dust at him 4 He pretends a sufficient warrant for what he did and would make him believe God had now found him out and would reckon with him vers 8. The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned and the Lord hath delivered thy Kingdome into the hand of Absalom thy Son and behold thou art taken to thy mischiefe because thou art a bloody man 3 Here is Abishai's perswading David to avenge himselfe vers 9. Why should this dead Dog curse my Lord the King let me goe I pray thee and take off his head 4 We have David's humility under Shimei's inhumanity exprest in five circumstances 1 His indignation at the thoughts of revenge vers 10. what have I to do with you ye Sons of Zeruiah as if he should have said I will have nothing to do with those that cannot bear an injury 2 His looking off the stone to God that threw it vers 10 11. The Lord hath bidden him 3 His patient submitting under the hand of God vers 10. So let him curse because the Lord hath said curse David who shall then say wherefore hast thou done so 4 His justifying of God in his way of proceeding vers 11. Behold my Son which came forth of my bowels seeketh my life how much more may this Benjamite do it as if he should have said if it be good enough for me that my sin hath procured my Son to become a Rebell and Traytor to me his Father and lay my life in the dâ—st it is no wonder if a stranger take this advantage and trample upon me too seeing me so low 5 His comforting himselfe with hopes of being benefited by this affliction vers 12. It may be
upon us no more then is necssary Phisitians will not minister a strong potion where a lenitive is enough nor put one dram too much in his prescription much less will the Lord nay we our selves if one medicine do not cure us we seek another Thus dealeth God when afflictions are growne ordinary and usuall they move the lesse because they be familiar therefore God is pleased to alter and change his medicines that they might work the more kindely He proportions out the measure of afflictions according to the scantest measure of our necessity for the magnifying of his owne glory by our sanctification in this life and our salvation in the life to come Alas the Lord doth not take any delight in our smart or maketh any hast to inflict his chastisements but with patience and long-suffering he expecteth our repentance that he may have mercy upon us and doth not take his rod of correction into his hand till he be pressed with the weight of our sins He doth not punish us willingly as one that taketh delight in our smart and torment but performeth it as an action which is rather fit for us to suffer than for him to do Let us conclude therefore That if we have great or tedious afflictions lying upon us either we have great faults or great stomacks we many times deale with God as children do with their parents while they are under the rod promise amendement but no sooner released but presently we are as bad as ever And therefore though God may ease us to try us sometimes yet when he lengthens our afflictions he will take our word no more but will make a through work and till he see us throughly humbled and amended and know that our conversion and repentance be constant and without danger of fleeting he will not burn the rod. But as the Gold-Smith lets his Gold melt in the Furnace till it be throughly purified and purged from its drosse which when he perceives it according to his minde will by no meanes suffer it to stay there any longer because it would but wast and loose of his weight So doth the Lord suffer us to remaine in the Furnace of affliction till we be purged from our drosse of sin by renewing our faith and repentance but no sooner are we according to his purpose purified but he pulleth us out and will not suffer us to wast and consume our selves with sorrow and heavinesse and therefore let us patiently indure the triall seeing God who putteth us into the Furnace knoweth the best time when to take us out And by this we may conclude that our afflictions are limitted both in regard of their weight and measure God hath said to our sorrowes as to the proud waves of the Sea hither shall you come and no farther all the Angels in Heaven shall not be able to abate them nor all the men on earth or devils in hell to add one scruple to them And whiles God unto his children measureth judgement according to their strength he rendreth judgement to the wicked according to the measure of their sinnes 5 Another consideration is that our afflictions are not the punishments of a Righteous Judg but the chastisements of a Gracious Father And this the Apostle perswades Heb. 12.6 7 8. My Son despise not thou the chastning of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth c. God indeed is displeased not with the person for his hatred to the sin but with the sin for the love of the person he is not angry in justice because we have sinned so much as in mercy that we may sin no more and therefore we may sometimes lie under anger but never under wrath it was the Lord Jesus Christ that suffered the wrath of God and satisfied divine justice he bore the punishments which were due unto sins and discharged our debt by offering up himselfe unto his Father as a sufficient sacrifice and paying a price of infinite value and merit for our redemption 6 God hath preordained those to be like Christ in his sufferings who shall be like him in glory we must be content to drink with Christ in his bitter Cup before we shall be exalted to sit with him in his Kingdome and this the Apostle Peter affirmeth 1 Pet. 2.21 for Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps If we will feast with Christ in Heaven we must be content to fast with him on earth If there we would keep an everlasting Sabbath with him in his Kingdome we must labour and travell whilst those working dayes last That was a sweet speech of Bernard thou oh Lord Jesus saith he art to me both an example and reward of suffering and both do strongly provoke and vehemently inflame me thou teachest my hands to fight by the example of thy fortitude and after victory thou Crownest my head with the presence of thy Majesty Oh! if thou beest so good to those that seeke and run after thee what wilt thou be to those who finde and possesse thee If the Prince of our salvation was consecrated by afflictions why should we expect a priviledge above him It is not suitable and fit that an afflicted head should have a pampered body and members It becometh not the servant to live in idlenesse and pleasure when as the master wearieth himselfe with paines and labours how can we be called his disciples if we are not content to walke in his steps for as the Apostle saith Phil. 3.10 11. If we will know him and the virtue of his resurrection we must first have fellowship with him in his afflictions and be made conformable unto his death if by any means we may attaine unto the resurrection of the dead Ah! if we would often meditate of those afflictions the Lord Jesus Christ did suffer and that to bring us to heaven we would not pore upon our own so much as we doe would we but thinke when we suffer poverty and are pinched with worldly wants what the Lord of heaven and earth sustained he was destitute of earthly comforts and had not a house to lay his head When we are injuriously traduced and injustly slandered and abused let us call to minde the Lambe of God who was without spot or blemish most innocent and full of all goodnesse even he was called a wine-Bibber a friend to publicans and sinners an imposter and one that did all his miracles by the helpe of the devill When we are ill requited by those of whom we have better deserved forsaken by our friends in the time of our need and betraied by those who stand obliged unto us by many benefits and to whom we have committed the very secrets of our soules Oh let us thinke our deare Lord was worse used before us for those he came to save sought his destruction his disciples forsake him and flee away
hath wrought the worke of our redemption we may at the same time mourne in the fight of our sins because we have difhonoured by them a gracious father and yet rejoyce in that our sorrow assureth us that they are forgiven us and we received into Gods favour We may mourne in the sence of our pain and smart but rejoyce in it as it is a figne of our adoption when God correcteth us as his children that we might not be condemned with the world So that we may spend our dayes in a joyfull mourning or a mournfull joy And thus by sence of paine the Lord maketh the flesh to mourne that it may be mortified restrained from sin for feare of punishment and by this spirituall joy apprehended by faith our good God refresheth the spirituall parâ— that it may not faint and yield when the flesh tempteth it to murmuring and dispaire Ah! Iâ— is the sweâ—nâ— oâ— God's love that allayeth the sowâ—nesse of all our afflictions This made David to say Psal 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts which are within me thy comforts delight my soule Labour we then for patience under all our pressures it will lighten all our crosses and lesson our paines Patience in afflictions as a father saith will make us Martyrs without either fire or sword And therefore misery it selfe cannot make us miserable Let us then rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great will be our reward in heaven And let the consideration of this sweeten the bitternesse of our cup that according to the weight of our afflictions here shall be the weight of our glory hereafter Who would not then be content to drinke of Christs viniger and gall in this world so he migh drinke that new wine with him in his heavenly kingdome Oh. But how shall we obtaine this patience and a Cheerfull bearing up the head under all our pressures Answ We must know that patience is no naturall faculty or inherent quality which is borne and bred with us for naturally we are peevish and impatient if we are â—ever so 〈◊〉 crossed of our wills murmuâ— and repining against Divine providence and therefore this flower is not to be found in the barren desert of corrupted nature where it never grew neither is patience attained by the help of naturall reason and Philosophy whiâ— propoundeth unto us only shadowes of comforts that have a seeming shew a far off but vanish away when we seeke to catch them These props which uphold patience are guilded over but with humane Wit Art and Eloquence which seem to be of some strength so long as our patience is unburthened but when once patience is pressed with the least weight of afflictions then they faile and breake bewraying their weaknesse and insufficiency together with the folly of those who invented them and of us who trusted in them Alas The Philosophers for the most part were ignorant of the chiefe causes of all afflictions not ascribing them unto God and his most wise and just providence but unto fate and destany chance and fortune never looking unto the chiefe deserving cause which is sin but imagined that all crosses hapned by the guidance of blinde fortune which put no difference betweene the good and bad just and unjust and so accordingly did they apply false remedies which were as loathsome as the disease which they sought to cure Epictetus was one of the wisest of all the Philosophers and yet what cold counsell doth he give as namely that we must beare patiently that which we cannot avoid whereas that alone is enough to make a man break out into all impatiency when he shall consider that his miseries which are presently intollerable are also inevitable for the time to come that we doe beare those burthens which are common to many and that we have innumerable companions in our griefes that all mankind are subject to manifold miseries and afflictions and therefore we must not take it ill if we be not exempted from the common lot but in the mean time theyâ—make no mention of Gods providence disposing of all our afflictions and turning them to our good they do not shew that they are proportioned to the measure of our strength so as they shall never overwhelme us nor that they are the chastisements of a gracious Father and the fruits of his love again they put us in no hope and assurance that God is present with us in all our troubles and in his good time will deliver us out of all our afflictions and therefore we are not to trust to those who are but miserable comforters at the best Now if we will be sure to have true patience in our afflictions indeed we must seek for it where it is to be found and that is from the Father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift doth come now God hath promised that what ever we ask according to his will beleeving we shall obtain since therefore we have a promise let us go to God by prayer and in a humble boldnesse put him in mind of that word call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear thee and thou shalt glorifie me and truly we never glorifie God more then when we seek deliverance from God and patiently expect it from him alone God doth many times as tender Mothers doe with their children that stray away from them which cause them to be frightned that they may return and cast themselves into their armes for protection so doth our good God cause these bugbeares of afflictions to meet and terrifie us when we have run away from him and suffereth us to be deprived of all other helps and comforts that we may with fulnesse of affiance rest wholly on him Ah! if we would consider that so ready is the Lord to hearken unto the suites of those that pray unto him that when he seeth this disposition in them he promiseth that before they call he will answer and while they speak he will hear Isai 65.24 and again Psal 91.15 he shall call upon me and I will hear him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and glorifie him so in Psal 145.19 he vvill fulfill the desire of them that feare him he also vvill hear their cry and vvill save them And indeed there can never be a stronger prop to uphold our patience then fervency in prayer saith the Apostle James chap. 1.5 if any of you lack wisedome namely that wisedome specially which inableth us to beare the crosse with comfort and patience let him ask of God which giveth to all men liberally and reproacheth no man and it shall be given him Oh! how it easeth us of our griefer and lighteneth our hearts of the burden of our afflictions when as we lay open our grievances before God and pour out all our complaints into his bosome now if it be an ease to our afflicted minde if we may communicate our griefesto a deare friend that at least we may be
last long that love is never lasting which flames before it burns and very rarely is that friendship found with the durability of affection which is so suddainely kindled enduring love is ever built on vertue which no person can see in another at once and therefore by a soft ascension does degree it selfe in the soule If we should tell those our sometimes great friends that their hottest love was never but fained I believe they would not take it well but they must know that love was never sincere that will not hold out length with life and therefore if God have snapt our fingers from such false friends we have the greater cause to be thankfull There will a great deale of sweetnesse flowe from this sower better to be debarr'd of their society altogether then be any more greeved with their falsehood and unkindnesse And thus the malice of enemies and the false fained and sickle love of supposed friends shall all turne for our eternall advantage and therefore though we have poured out many teares over their living Sepulchers yet we may comfort our selves in their losse then injoy their love with a continuall feare of loosing or incurring their displeasure by a Captious exception many times for a meere over-sight or unwilling miscarriage and unpurposed enour though generally we did ever observe them with obsequious love Let us not then be so greevously troubled when we are any wayes wronged belyed railed upon spurned at or trampled upon by the feet of honoured insolency or dunghill Malice slighted contemned and utterly cast off by our bosome friends but in a meeke and patient behaviour let us sweetly seriously and feelingly in our own hearts say this is from God for my good or with Eli it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good There is a supreame providence wisedome and power which seeth and over-ruleth all their actions and ends that when they are most eager in pursuing their designes doth make them when they thinke least of it to serve him for the effecting of all his counsells and purposes and the furthering and advancing of those his maine ends even his owne glory and our greatest good both here and hereafter 2 not onely the Malice of man but the malice of Satan himselfe that sets them awork shall turn to our good He goes about like a roaring Lyon seeking what soule he may devoure 1 Pet. 5.8 He thrusteth fore at us and so worrieth us with unwearied temptations seeking nothing more then to dishonour God in our overthrow but this like a storme at sea drives us to our port even to the throne of grace by prayers and teares for help against hell 2 Chron. 20.13 When Satan hath fetcht us over to a sin by spells and Charmes of mercy he at length finding us bleeding and dying would make us beleeve there is no mercy for us when having made us sin against the Law he would make us sin against the Gospell also that so mercy her selfe might condemne us but after sin committed he steps in betweene us and God and begs out of our fathers hand therod to beat us for those sins we had never done but through his inticement Now say we we see the devills businesse added to his false-hood surely peace once made with our God we will never be thus cheated againe Ah! how wary shall we be ever after of Satans wiles surely the best of sin is shame and sorrow the forbidden tree will never yeild better fruit 3 Our fins worke our good while we carry this mortall body about us we doe and must carry sin within us Many unavoydable infirmities invincible necessities God in mercy and wisedome will have it to be thus 1 To subdue our pride and presumpion which else would advance it selfe against God 'T is said Deut. 7.22 That God did not drive out the Canaanites from among his people all at once least the wilde beasts should grow in upon them And saith David Psal 59.11 Lord slay not all the enemies of thy Church at once least thy people forget it So God that could at first have taken away all the corruption of our nature and the lusts of our hearts would not least the wilde beasts of pride and security growing in upon us we forget mercy Thus the Lord would not take away the thorne in the flesh of the Apostle Peul those buffettings of Satan but tells him his grace is sufficient for him 2 Cor. 12.8 Alas had we not these infirmities in us how soon like our first parents would we thinke our selves to be Gods Looke upon the Aposile Peter how consident of his owne strength how forward was he in his profession he would be first and singular if all should deny him yet would not he no he would dye first but God let loose but a small temptation the words of a poore filly maid shall so affright him with the seare of death that he will presently deny his Lord and Master nay forsweare him too but this fall did him much good Oâ— How warily did he walke ever after how cautious of his words And when Christ did ask him whether he loved him more then these he had done boasting now onely he pleades the sincerity of his heart Lord thou knowest all things and knowest that I love thee Job 21.17 Thus did Jobs impatiency bring him to the more humility to the more abasing of himselfe Yea to abhorring of himselfe in dust and ashes Job 42.6 So David after his falls he was the more Circumspect over himselfe the more eager against his sins and the more earnest with God by praver against them 2 As these infirmities serve us as to subdue pride and security so to a waken us from our spirituall sluggishnesse to carefull and constant prayer yea to watchfulnesse unto prayer with all perseverance Our infirmities are as it were the coales which Satan bloweth to consume us now when feeling the fire we labour to keep it out and by the contrary blasts of Gods Spirit to quench the flame we enter the combat which nothing else but death can put an end unto When there is no fear of the enemie our weapons rust and we remain unexperienced and what then shall we do in the day of tryal 3 By our falls we are made more pitifully tender towards our brethen whensoever overcome by a temptation because we our selves have been overcome and we cannot tell how soon again Thus when news was brought to a learned and experienced Divine that a professor was soully fallen Alas faith he he fell to day and I may fall to morrow And this the Apostle Paul exâ—orteth Gal. 6.1 It a brother be overtaken yea which are spirituall restore such a one in the spirit of meeknesse considering thy selfe least thou also beâ—empted Now many times we doe not know how fraile we are till we fall neither know what is our weaknesse nor what our strength is we see neither how poore we our selves are nor how
But we must lift up the eies of our minde above the earth unto heaven and consider that the Lord is the chiefe cause of all our afflictions and like a just judge useth wicked enemies false and fading friends Yea and also our owne improvidence and negligence as the executioners of his righteous judgements effecting by these meanes his owne purposes for the advancing of his glory and also for our eternall good And therefore let us patiently look up eye him which is invisible who hath power in his own hand to restraine their fury bridle their malice work their falsehood and treachery and make use of our own weaknesse and failings for our future advantage Waiting patiently for the Lords coming to help us or bearing patiently what the Lord imposeth on us are a like right pleasing and acceptable services unto our God which he is wont to crown with multiplyed and overflowing refreshings when he comes They that waite upon the Lord shall renue their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Isa 40.31 Ah! We have not patiently waited so many yeares in the meanes of grace for comfort as God hath waited for our conversion Let us resolve to doe as much as we can and suffer as much in obedience to God as we can suffer for necessity or passion feare or desire and surely if we can for one thing we can for another and there is nothing wanting but the minde and therefore let us not say we cannot indure this for God would never have sent it if he had not known us strong enough to abide it onely he that knowes us well already would also take this occasion to make us know our selves And truly there is an art or skill of bearing troubles if we could learne it without overmuch troubling of our selves as in bearing of a burden there is a way so to poize it that it weigheth not over-heavy if it hangs all on one side it poizeth the body down Thus is it when we lay all the weights in the scales of creatures and other crosse accidents occasioned by our selves We pull the greatest part of our troubles upon our selves by not imparting our care so as to take upon us the care of duty and leave the rest to God Ah! Let us not thinke the day of the Lord too little and the day of man too much but relye on the all-sufficient God accounting it nothing to be judged by man as knowing in whom we have believed and that it is enough that our judgement is with the most high and the uprightnesse of our hearts are known to him and that our praise is with him And at least wise shall we be accounted patient sufferers if finding impatiencie to arise in our affections we shall be displeased with our selves for it And to checke and chide our soules for our impatiency saying as David Psal 62. Yet my soule be silent to Jehovah Neither must we be patient for a fit or take patiently one crosse and fume and 〈◊〉 for another but we must with a Christian Magnanimity be able to beare all Thus we see did Job after one affliction he patiently indured another untill they were exceedingly multiplied in number and increased in weight And this was the practice of the Prophet Isa Chap. 26.9 In the way of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee So likewise the Church Lâ—m. 3.26 It is good saith she both to trust and to waite for the salvation of the Lord. And let us not in a blockish stupidity lye under the correcting hand of God as if we had no sence no no god will have his blowes felt and as Ambrose well observed they doe not deserve the praise of patience who indure without complaining the wounds of adversity when being benummed they have no sence of paine And therefore moderate griefe for offending such a gracious father may very well stand with true patience we ought to grieve saith a holy and experimentall divine one of a thousand when God rebukes yet as children to their fathers scourge with shame with feare and with submission and as children to their fathers love with hearts inlarged and love redundant weepâ— and love and as children to their saâ—ers â—me with holy change and â—est reformation And as children to their fathers bounds with eye to present time for present duty Ah! Leâ— uâ—study what is our present duty and God will study what shall be for our future comfort And then may we safely expect God in his wayes of mercy when we are in his wayes of obedience And let us likewise beare our afflictions freely and willingly sweetly and silently putting our necks under the yoake and willingly kissing the rod. For if we goâ— to the crosse as beares to the stake we suffer not in obedience remember what the Lord Jesus hath said he that taketh not up his crosse daily cannot be my disciple Forced suffering against our wills is not worth the name of patience over-powered strength may beare in policy when it must yeild of necessity but little thankes for such bearing in respect of God to choose to beare rather then not when God chastiseth and his will is so to take up the crosse when flesh might finde the way to shift it Christ calling thereunto this is action and truth of duty not dull passion or patience perforce And there 's a wide difference betweene taking up our crosse and having it laied on us many a one beares a forced burden whether they will or no grudgingly and with repining no reward for this but then is our fortitude worthy of praise when we can indure to be miserable willingly And willingnesse implieth cheerefulnesse and so we must be too But here then you may object Is it not required that we should be affected with sorrow in our sufferings and moderately mourne in our crosses and afflictions and how then can we at the same time rejoyce seeing joy and mourning are opposite one to another For answer hereunto we must know that Christian sorrow rejoycing may well stand together seeing the one maketh way for the other for therefore we be waile our sins that we may rejoice in the assurance of the pardon of them of our reconciliation with God and of our interest in all the gracious promises of the Gospell So that though we give the first part to be acted by sorrow yet let us not alwayes have it continue in a Christian heart for so it would grow immoderate but after this our unfained repentance for sin and our assurance of pardon with God let us have spirituall rejoycing not only when we have a confluence of those left-handed blessings but in tribulation and afflictions Againe opposites may agree in the same subject at the same time in a divers respect for so we mourne because by our sins we have crucified the Lord of life but rejoyce in that by his death he