whom the Prophets and Apostles and Martyrs and all your Ministers and your Christian Friends have spoke so much to be at length your own Saviour how will you be at ease when you see his Excellencies to be yours and that you are among the joyful and adoring-throng that wait upon him To love him and to have his love shewed to you and to have these mutual Delights to increase but never to decay to possess one another for ever with renewed and repeated Extasies this is an Heaven begun that no thoughts can fully apprehend nor words declare in order to this you must give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Often you must try your hearts and your Actions by the Word of God and beg his Spirit and obey his motions and excite your Graces and watch against Sin and deny your selves The Trader endeavours all he can to get a plentiful Trade and would have a great deal of business and money flowing in upon him The Merchant strives to have all the plentiful Returns imaginable Oh! Let us strive that our Souls may not only be safe but that they may prosper too not only that we may pray but pray with boldness to God as Children to a Father and when we are able to look upon him as so related and as our Friend our Service will be more fervent and all our work done with greater life and heart our slavish fears and despondence will give way to Love and Hope and then every thing that concerns us will undergo a most comfortable change we shall be able to hear the Thunders and the Curses and the Threatnings of the Law without astonishment and terror because we shall dwell as in God's Pavilion We shall be able to think of Hell and not be overwhelmed because we shall look upon it as a Dungeon from which we are saved by the Grace of God We shall attend to the Messages of the Gospel for it will bring us glad tidings the blessed Angels will be your Guardians the Ministers of the Church your Directors and your Helpers the Malice of the Wicked and the Rage of Devils will fall below us and not reach our happiness 8. Take heed of concluding the special favour of God from the Common Mercies you enjoy 1. You must not conclude you have this Favour from any of your outward Privileges God may long dwell among a People by the outward Testimonies of his Presence by his Word and the means of Grace and yet leave them at last Who were once more happy than the Jews in his Protection and yet none are more miserable than they are by his departure Jerusalem where he had placed his Name and that was once the glory of all Cities is now no more remarkable for its glorious Temple and its stately Towers for its Riches Grandeur and Splendor wherewith it shined heretofore The Holy Land the Countrey of Judea which our Saviour blest with his presence which he instructed with his heavenly Sermons and honoured with his Miracles is now no more the same Judea that it once was it is now groaning under the cruel Dominion of the Turks and the Seven Churches have lost their Golden Candlesticks and the blessed Guest that one walkt in the midst of them The Stars that shone there are now eclips'd and their glory gone It is a great mercy indeed so have the Gospel but it will not in the issue be so to you unless it shine into your hearts If it do not prevail to the conversion of your Souls it will aggravate your ruine inasmuch as you will go from the clearest Light to the thickest Darkness from the brightest Day to the most dismal Night You cannot conclude that you have this Favour from any common gifts of knowledge or of understanding unless you be sanctified throughout When our Lord ascended he gave gifts to men * Du Monlin's Sermons XI Decade Serm. 2. Like those Liberalities which Kings scatter indifferently among their Subjects in the day of their Coronation without making a distinction between the good and bad and of those pieces of Gold and Silver several partake that least deserve them but their great Honours and the Principal Offices of the Crown they reserve for their peculiar Favourites and for those that belong to the Houshold and wait upon their Persons so Christ distributes many Favours to all that enjoy his Gospel but there are some that are peculiar to his own Family as distinguished from the rest of men such are the gifts of Faith of Regeneration and Adoption Happy was the Womb that bare him and happy were the Paps that gave him suck and yet more happy are those that keep his Words Luke 11.27 28. Neither circumcisim nor uncircimcision availeth any thing but a new creature Gal. 6.15 2. You cannot conclude from your outward Prosperity your Richer or abundance in the World that you have this Favour of God in which is Life Our Lord that by his own Example did intend to shew to men better things than the Goods of this World did first cause his Angels to appear to the poor Shepherds not to the Courts of Princes and the Schools of Philosophers He could have had Kings if he had pleased to wait upon him and to lay their Crowns and Scepters at his feet but he chose a Train of poor Followers whom he did enrich with Heavenly Treasures and not with those of this Earth though the whole Creation and all its glories were at his Command The Poor were they that received the Gospel and not many Noble are called c. 1 Cor. 1.27 The poor of the world are rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom Jam. 2.5 Tho as Riches are no sign of God's Election neither is Poverty a mark of Grace but yet with the Lower sort of People and those that are not many times very wise for this World God does often build his Church Afflictions and Crosses are no mark of his displeasure nor is a continued Prosperity the character of his Love for many times God lets his Sun shine upon the Wicked to their dying day their strength is firm the Rod is not upon them they fear no evil they know no sorrow there are no tears in their eyes no sadness in their hearts no complaining in their Families See Job 21. from the 7th to the 13th verse Riches are indeed of themselves great blessings with them a man may do abundance of good works which the poorer sort of People cannot by reason of those straits and difficulties that they are to wrastle with they are great Talents and serviceable to great purposes they do afford men great leisure for the affairs of their Souls and not being perplexed with anxious cares how to get a livelihood they may read and meditate and pray with more devotion but then these soft and easie Blessings meeting with the Corruptions that is in Humane Nature they prove frequently to be a
Divine Goodness on your behalf that he hath visited you with his own Presence tho he had his way in the whirlwind and in the storm when he came unto you I bless the unsearchable Riches of his Grace in our Lord Jesus Christ that he hath shed abroad any sense of his Love upon your Soul who had poured so much of his displeasure forth that you complain of his Anger in every stroke of the Rod of God upon you I rejoyce abundantly that he hath bowed his ear unto Prayer for you when you thought he had bent his Bow like an Enemy that he hath botled up your Tears when your Roarings were poured forth like the Waters that God hath form'd you into a Vessel of Mercy when you thought he had slung you away as a Vessel wherein is no Pleasure In a word I rejoyce with comfort and enlargements that the Lord hath given us so good hopes through Grace that you are Sealed up unto the Day of Redemption who did once mournfully express it in my own Hearing That you were Sealed up unto the Black Day of Wrath and should not see me until the Heavens were no more No more at present but my Hearty Requests at the Throne of Grace That He who hath been the Author of your Faith may become the finisher of the same and confirm you unto the End till an Abundant Entrance through the Broad Gate of Assurance be administred unto you into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I am SIR Your Affectionate Friend Servant and Brother in the Lord J. HUSSEY LETTER III. Dear Brother AS the tidings of your Distemper affected my Soul and drew out my heart to make request unto God for you so the tidings of your deliverance from trouble confirmed by so evident a demonstration of it as your appearance both in the Pulpit and Press hath much affected me with joy and thankfulness to the Lord. In your Book I read the Wisdom and Goodness of God in his severest dealings with his afflicted Servants and the accomplishing of what Job speaks That when he hath tried them he brings them forth at gold you have not been in the Furnace in vain but to humble and prove you and do you good in the end O how good is God! good in himself good and kind to all his Creatures but especially good to Israel You have had abundant experience of it he hath upheld you when falling and raised you up when you was bowed down and hath turned for you your mourning into dancing hath put off your sackcloth and girded you with gladness that your soul may sing praise unto him and not be silent and you have well done in making so publick an acknowledgement of your thankfulness to God that as deliverance hath been granted at the request of many so by the many who have been concerned for you thanks may be given unto the Lord on your behalf I am persuaded the Lord hath taught you the truth of that viz. That the School of the Cross is the School of Light You had not known so well either your own vanity or the Vanity of the Creature and of all humane help nor the marvellous loving-kindness of the Lord in stepping in betwixt the Bridge and the Water many times for your help had you not learned these things by being in the School of Affliction and I am encouraged to believe that the Lord hath reserved you and restored you that you may be through his Grace greatly instrumental for the glory of his Name in turning many to righteousness the most eminent Servants in the Lord's work have been prepared for it by manifold temptations our Blessed Redeemer himself was tempted that he might be able to succour those who are tempted and the Lord comforts his Servants in all their tribulations that they might comfort others with the same comfort wherewith they have been comforted of God the Lord hath brought you out of the depths of distress that you may be the more skilful Pilot to lead others through the Waves and Billows which they are afraid will swallow them up Now Dear Brother What doth the Lord require of you but what Paul sets before young Timothy 1 Tim. 4.12 Be you an example to Believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity your sound speech holy converse servent love and spiritual mindedness rightly improving spiritual Gifts both in sincere professing and publishing of the truth and unspotted purity of life will be a speaking Rule to others and so adorn both your Person and Profession that it will appear you have been with Jesus and that the Life of Christ doth shine forth in you And that you may be long a shining and burning Light in this World and at last be abundantly recompenced with the Reward promised to the Wise and Faithful is the fervent desire and prayer of Your Vnworthy but Affectionate Brother in the service of the Gospel RALPH WARD York Nov. 6. 1690. LETTER IV. From Steeple in Dorsetshire May 1. 1691. My Dear Friend I Did hope when I was last in London to have had the satisfaction of a free and large Conversation with your self and to have discours'd some particular matters with you but I was unhappily defeated I am now at too great a distance to use so much freedom with you as some of my Circumstances would prompt me to if I were placed so near you as would admit of my waiting on you personally But tho I do not think it proper to desire satisfaction from you by Letter about some things which would be of great use to my self and about which I believe you can better resolve me than other of my Acquaintance yet if it be consistent with your conveniences I would be glad that you and I might maintain a correspondence sometimes by writing I heartily bless God for his gracious dealings with you and for the good I hope he hath done me by what you have published to the World I have found my self obliged frequently to peruse your Book and the oftner I do read it the more I am affected with it I heartily wish English People might become so sensible of their great concernment that you might have encouragement to publish what you intimate in your Preface you did design It is what I earnestly long to see and what I am persuaded would be of singular use if people were a little awakened out of their Lethargick Distemper Peradventure God will use it to rouze and awaken many who otherwise will sleep on and continue in their doleful regardlesness and formality It would greatly rejoice me to understand by a line or two from you that I have some ground to hope to see that Tract in Print The Lord preserve his faithful Messengers and arm them against Discouragements Remember Eccles 11.1 6. I am Your Affectionate Friend SA BOLD LETTER V. Dear Mr. Rogers SIR I thank you for your Discourses on
Sickness and Recovery I trust that God that hath given you as it were a resurrection from the dead hath designed you for more than ordinary work in your Generation Your Deliverance and Salvation has been extraordinary and t is more than probable that so must your After-work be God who gives to his Servants the Talents of Gifts or Graces will find imployment for them answerable unto the same I long to see something you hint in your Epistle before your Book about your spiritual Conflict under your bodily Affliction It will be I hope of use to all tender afflicted Consciences I have blessed the Lord on your behalf for his signal favour shown you in your wonderful recovery And shall pray to God for you That he will please to continue your life health and opportunities to you that you may be eminently useful in your Ministerial Capacity for his Name Your dear Parents would have rejoyced if they had been alive to have heard and seen the fruits of your Labours Dear Sir though I am a little straitned for time at present yet my heart is inlarged towards you wishing you all health and happiness in this World and in the next Eternal Felicity I am Dear Sir Your unfeigned Well-wisher and Servant GEO. NICHOLSON From Hudleskeugh in Cumberland Apr. 17. 1691. LETTER VI. Dear Sir IT was your signal happiness to be deeply writ upon the hearts of many of God's praying Servants when in your own apprehension you seemed as if you had been cast out of God's heart And I heard some when you were at your lowest ebb express their saith and hope That God was but preparing you by those afflictive Methods for more eminent Service And now it cannot but greatly rejoice me to see such blooming appearances of the Issue answering both their Prayers and Hopes Ministers of all Persons had need to set up upon a good stock of Experience spiritual and useful Experience And no School more proper to improve us in that kind than the School of Affliction which made Luther sometimes say That Affliction Temptation and Prayer were the three Things that made a Minister And hence it is that God in his wise and holy Providence many times puts his Servants to School under the preparatory Pedagogy of Affliction whom he designs for more than ordinary usefulness When we enter upon the service of Souls we know not what Cases may occur to require our wise and tender management And a Scribe cannot be better instructed for the Kingdom of God than when he has felt in himself what he meets with in others When we have been brought to the mouth of the Pit our selves and there have been conscious to the thoughts and fears and workings of our own hearts we can better tell how to minister proper applications to others in the like condition When we have our selves been toss'd upon the tumultuous waves of temptation and one deep has call'd to another to put the greatest discouragement upon our condition we are the better furnish'd to speak a word in season to others under the like circumstances Every Storm weathered furnishes the Pilot with more dextrous skill not only to work his own Vessel in succeeding Tempests but to be singularly helpful to others when they fall into the like depths and Straits Our Blessed Lord himself learned experience by the things which he suffered And if he must be put to School to lead him into a practical experience of what he was to pity and help in others How much more is it requisite in such poor unskilful Creatures as we A Wise and Holy God has been hewing you upon the dark Mountains and I hope it has been to make you a more expert and polite Pillar in his Sanctuary And the more workmanship he has bestowed upon you the more eminent Station probably he designs for you God works his greatest works many times in the dark and forms his most curious Pieces in the gloomy shades of Adversity so that neither our selves nor others can tell what he is a-doing till he hath accomplish'd his Work He throws us into the Furnace Lead or Iron and for a long time no body can tell what he will make of us Sometimes he looks as if he would consume and make an utter end of us And yet at last he brings us forth as Gold We go into the Fire light and foolish and frothy and when he has melted and tried us what time he sees meet he brings us forth serious holy and gracious Souls When we thought we should have lost Life and Soul and All we have lost nothing but our dross and feculency to make us more refined for Temple-service When you seriously reflect upon your by-past days of trouble whatever thoughts you had then yet I hope now you can say through grace that God has made you no loser but a blessed gainer by that gloomy dispensation And what wisdom and grace and experience you have obtained I pray God you may be helped humbly to imploy in his Holy Sanctuary We should labour to diffuse a more shining and burning Light when God has been trimming us from our dross and filth and has set us up again in his Temple-Candlestick God has been dressing and trimming you a long time and after a long and dismal time of complicated afflicton he has restored you to your station in the Assemblies of his People Now the good Lord make both your gifts and graces so much the more resplendent not only for your own sake but also that you may minister the more light and warmth to others in their way to glory You promise a Second Volume of Discourses giving account of the spiritual part of your Affliction which I shall be very glad to see as soon as your leisure will permit you to make it publick In the mean time I commend you to God and to the riches of his Grace in hopes that what God has done for you is but a pledge of what he designs to do by you To which I shall only add my earnest Prayers and tell you That it is in all sincerity SIR Your affectionate Fellow-labourer in the Work of the Gospel THO. WHITAKER Leeds Nov. 25. 1690. LETTER VII SIR I Do now at last return you my hearty thanks for your Book ........................ I should not have been thus far behind in expressing my gratitude but that I have been hindred by weakness ........................ It was a Book to me both seasonable and suitable I pray God it may be as well improv'd as 't is generally liked by Christians If I were to give an account of my Visitation it would in very many things correspond with yours I have been for some years past under an Hypochondraical evil habit of body which has had many grievous Symptons attending it viz. Vertigo's Convulsions Paralytick Effects with a Fever thought to be Hectical and with it I have had an universal languor and decay of Spirits together with
dreadful Temptations Clouds Confusions and Terrors of Soul c. so that there was no hope or help to be expected but from Heaven in answer to many Prayers which through mercy were succesful .............................. though still I am under weakness though I hope rather going forward than contrary As to my Soul I have not been without good experiences blessed be the free Grace of God! I cannot neither may I trouble you to enlarge upon any of these things My old Enemy will not lay down but by force strong Temptations and Corruptions c. are my daily Exercise Good Sir help me by your Prayers over to the Lord Jesus there 's as much in that as if I had made more words Pray Sir forget me not and please to put others in remembrance of me you know what Graces are necessary to such a Condition 'T is a true saying Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia the Lord teach me to be as humble as he would have me be and in every thing give thanks I desire to rejoice with you and them that rejoice concerning you for your restauration Good Sir again remember them that are still out in the storm such have need of patience c. I know not how to break off But time and strength failing me I remain Daventry March 10. 1690 1. SIR Your Friend and Servant Joh. Worth Jun. LETTER VIII From a Young Student in Divinity Dear and much respected Cousin LOng Experience proves it beyond a thousand Arguments that they who have made choice of God for their happiness must expect none here 't is a contradiction to expect Heaven on Earth or to look for a setled duration where all things rush round in vicissitude I cannot tell what they may find who have the world at will but I am sure Believers upon a reflection and consideration of the hard usage and unquieting perplexities which they are still meeting with cannot but long to be where the weary are at rest The Saints who have now got to the end of their way may well rejoyce for they have good reason for it happy are they who have got safely to their Father's House through so many threatning Difficulties When others are lawless as to their practices we are limited to the holy Rule of the Word our life must be a life of Self-denial mortification and contempt of the World I know not what thoughts many Professors may have of Religion but for my self when I seriously think what a life a true Christian's is I am ready to cry out True Religion is a rare thing Dear Cousin What manner of men should you and I be who are designed for such special work I desire to bear part in the praises for your wonderful Deliverance the Lord teach us the true nature of Thankfulness that we may live more to and for God ............................ I desire an interest in your Prayers that God would keep me from Melancholly which I am inclined to and that God would bless my study to me and make it successful and in so doing you will add one more to the Favours you have bestow'd on Rauthmell in Yorkshire Novemb 17. l690 Your very Loving Cousin THO. BARNS LETTER IX To a Relation of the Author's who was long under Melancholly from a Minister who several years was under that Disease My dear Christian Friend AS Christ has given me any bowels of mercy I cannot but pity you under your Soul-affliction and disquietment of spirit being greatly oppressed by Satan that malicious and active Spirit who hates you for the Truth 's sake and no doubt therefore hates you because he finds in you the love of the truth by the proper and convincing evidences of it And that you might not have any comfort by it as the work of the Spirit of Grace in your heart as also that God might not have from you the praise and glory due unto his Grace for it for he envies him all the worship and glory that 's given him by his Saints in Heaven and Earth Therefore he does all he can to hide the knowledge of it from you by clouding your mind by darkning your evidences by his own malicious suggestions against you as also by stirring up all sorts of sin in you but more especially Unbelief the sin of sins his First-born the Mother of all Abominations in the Soul and so the Provocative whereby he well knows if he can work it up to its perfect and full dominion he shall effectually hinder the income of all peace and joy and so fill the poor despairing Soul with all heaviness and horror never to be removed but by faith and its actings on Jesus Christ the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace I beseech you therefore Dear Sister and the Lord himself work it in you turn away your mind from all the malicious deceitful lying Suggestions of the Adversary whom you know by the Scripture of Truth to be a Lyar and a Murtherer from the beginning and will do all that he can to beguile you of the Grace of God in you as also of all that mercy pardon and peace which God has provided in his Son for all believing broken-hearted Sinners such as I doubt not you are whatever you may seem to your self in your present darkness and hour of temptation Turn your self yea the Lord do it for you and in you from him to your Saviour who will not accuse you with the Father as he does but is pleading his Sufferings and presenting his Blood and Atonement made thereby for you Look to him dear Sister look to him whom you shall find to be as the true Brazen Serpent to your love-sick Soul which has been sore wounded by that fiery-flying Serpent and old Dragon but your Lord has overcome him by death and you also I doubt not have overcome him in divers Combats and Temptations already and shall overcome him fully and finally by the Faith of your mighty Redeemer and the Captain of your Salvation who as he is able to save you to the utmost so I doubt not he will do it whatever your Doubts and Fears may be at present He is with you taking care of your Soul and all its Concerns though your eyes are withheld that you cannot discern him as it was sometimes with the Apostles themselves but he will ere long manifest himself to you and then you shall know and acknowledge also That he has born with you and will be with you for ever even as I now do though I were as much to seek for his gracious presence with me as you are or can well be The Lord himself even our Lord Jesus Christ work this very thing in you and cause you to hold fast your confidence firm unto the end and you shall find that it has great recompence of reward as the Apostles has testified to the Hebrews For he that shall come will come and will not tarry He will not only come to Judgment at
than he did as you may see 2 Cor. 11.25 26. What is a moment to a day and a day to a year And yet such and infinitely less are our longest afflictions here to that Eternity What is one grain of sand as one says Jurieu Balance du Sanctuaire p. 72. to all those vast heaps of sand that are in all the Sea What is one drop of Water to the vast Collections of it that are in the large Ocean What is a little gnat to the whole Universe So is all the affliction of this life which passes away when compared with the glory which is to come And yet a grain of sand is something in respect of the whole earth and a drop is not altogether nothing tho compared with the Ocean for by a continual heaping of grain upon grain it were possible to make a Globe as great as the Earth and the Ocean might be emptied of its Water but Eternity cannot be diminished it suffers no changes after Millions of Years in Happiness it will be as sweet arid as comfortable as it was the first moment It is the Length of our Troubles and our Pain that makes them more grievous And as when we do not sleep the night seems very long and the doleful hours of our sickness seem to move with a much slower pace than those of our pleasant health Thus Job discourses as if his time being clogg'd with miseries seem'd an Eternity Job 7 15 16. My soul chuseth strangling and death rather than life I loath it I would not live always let me alone for my days are vanity He was weary of being in so long pain and thought that his afflicted life would never have an end But yet all the afflictions of the present time are not worthy to be compared with that glory which shall be revealed Rom. 8.18 We are near to a Blessed Change and who would not undergo the dangers of a troublesome Voyage for a month if he knew that ho should return laden with great Treasures to his home and live in Splendor ever after What a pleasure is it to such as are besieged to know that they shall certainly be relieved in a little time It causes them tho press'd very close by their Enemies to resume a new Courage and to hearten one another So should it be with all Believers the day of their Lord's coming draws near and then he will put all their Enemies to the flight and reward their Diligence and Perseverance The Enemy of our Souls is full of Rage but that which fills him with fury may yield us comfort even because we know that his time is short The God of peace will bruise Satan under your feet shortly Rom. 16.20 Oh what comfortable words are these that enemy that fills us with vexation and whose malice is both great and constant shall in a little time not molest nor interrupt our satisfactions any more Your tears that you shed for your offences now are very just 't is what we owe to God for having sinned so much against him but shortly we shall be with him and never complain of his absence from us any more When a man is tost with storms and sees no prospect of the shore 't is very dismal but it is not so with us who have our Haven in our view What if our troubles should continue for Twenty or Thirty Years this would be very overwhelming to our sense and yet it is nothing when compared with an Eternity of Joys above How soon will this be over but how long will that remain It casts a great damp upon all things under the Sun that they are unsatisfying and that they are very short how pleasant soever they are to us they will depart Our Friends and all the Delight of their Conversation our Riches and all the Respect and Service they procure us will fade away Our beloved Bodies which we maintain with great Expence and Care will leave us and must go into the Grave but our Happiness will be for ever it is Eternal Happiness and what that is our thoughts cannot comprehend nor our words express we shall then know what it is when we are in actual Possession of it To be for ever with the Lord what an encouragement does this afford to Patience and Resignation To be with him who is our Portion and our all to be with him and to be without our sin that provoked him to wrath and made our spirits sad what an Heaven will this be As this life by its tedious afflictions seems to those that are in distress to be as an Eternity so the pleasures of that undecaying life will seem but a moment to us it will be so very pleasant and we are near to it Tho the pains that forerun our departure prove to be very sharp yet in a moment death whenever it comes will be past in a moment we shall see the face of God that was hid from us here we shall be changed as in the twinkling of an eye and when we are in that Eternity shall we then say that we cleansed our hearts in vain Shall we not then see that we had no cause to murmur or repine All our Faculties will be gratified with proper Objects and with suitable Employment and all overspread and swallowed up with a quick and a lively Joy Oh how blessed are the Tears that will lead us to such a Joy Blessed is the Cross that will yield us such fruit as this and blessed be that God who will bestow such a reward upon us When we come there we shall sing in the consideration of those very afflictions that while we were on earth made us sigh and groan It is good to be there and how freely should we suffer our thoughts always to dwell upon the pleasant Subject but that our worldly business and the necessary affairs of Life call us away from the Mountain of our Transfiguration However let us not forget that these things are the Truths of God which he hath shewed to his servants and which shall shortly come to pass and they are very near too and should have a suitable influence upon us How did the Martyrs of old rejoice when they saw the day wherein they were to suffer How did they embrace and encourage one another saying We want but an hour or two of Heaven We have but one combat more to finish and we shall be with Christ We dine upon bitter Herbs but we shall sup with him Ere the Crowd that came to see us dye be disperst we shall be with God and with innumerable Angels and the spirits of the Just With what calmness have the blessed Sufferers bid this world adieu saying Farewel Sun Moon and Stars and welcome better Lights Farewel Wives and Children Friends and Acquaintance Farewel ye deceiving Pleasures of the World and now welcome ye joys of Paradise welcome thou sweet Cross of Christ and welcome death that will convey us thither And thus their
so he hath Bowels of Compassion What Mercy may we not expect from so gracious a Mediator that took our Nature on him that he might be Gracious Let us therefore go to God by Christ who has satisfied his Justice by his Death and who without him is to us Sinners as a consuming fire Let us go boldly to his Throne in the name of Jesus and we shall find that the God of whom we were afraid will become our Friend and we shall experience him to be better to us than we ever thought he would have been Our unbelieving hearts whilst they are such will be full of darkness and of trouble but upon our Faith the Storm will cease and the Morning will begin to dawn upon us and instead of that wrath which we feared and had deserved we shall find there is Mercy with the Lord and plenteous Redemption Psal 130. The first thing that a convinced awakened sinner thinks of is his own danger and how he may avoid the Wrath of God and what it is that he must do in order to it now it is not to be accomplished by pompous ceremonious Services not by external mortifications nor by offering the fruity of his Body for the sin of his own Soul but by Faith in Jesus Christ and his Death by the means of which God is become propitious and favourable to us And the first view that as one says an humble Soul is to take of Christ is of his being a Saviour as made a Sin and a Curse and obeying to the death And Christ must be considered not only with respect to the Excellencies of his person but as cloathed with his Garments of Blood and the Qualifications of a Mediator and a Reconciler and this renders him the fit object of a Sinners Faith If we think of God without thinking of Christ he is vastly terrible and amazing to us but in and through him those otherwise-overwhelming apprehensions become very pleasant and comfortable to us Let us honour the Love that he hath shewed in him with admiring thoughts and never have low nor mean apprehensions of his Grace Christ is near unto God and pitiful to us able to help us and most willing to do so for those that come unto him he will in no wise cast out He will not upbraid us for our former follies he will not encrease our grief but when he sees us once lying at his feet and washing them with the tears of an unfeigned humiliation he will raise us up and bid us be of good cheer V. Faith will remove the troubles that we have from the sense of God's displeasure by conveying to us that life and strength from Christ which will enable us to subdue all our spiritual Enemies Phil. 4.13 It will bring him to us and when he is in our Vessel let the Waves threaten us with never so formidable a noise we are sure not to be cast away And all the Spectres that afright us will vanish if we do but hear him once say as to his Disciples It is I be not afraid This Grace will unite us to Christ and communicate to us of his Power in the several measures that we need and without his assistance long and sore afflictions will tire our Spirits and destroy our Hope He is necessary for us for he has a perfect knowledg of our Enemies of their Force their Policies and their Designs He has by his own Combat learn'd to Fight and by his Experience can teach us to get the Victory neither the multitude nor violence nor obstinacy of our Enemies can hinder the Success and the glory of his Triumph Col. 1.11 He prayeth that they might be strengthned with all might because as we have to do with divers Enemies and are sick of divers Infirmities we have need to receive not one or two kinds of strength but many different ones * Vide Daille in loc For as in nature you see the strength of Bodies is different one resisting one thing and yielding to another one has the virtue to repulse the force of one Element but not to guard it self from another So in a manner is it in the Souls of Men such a Man will free himself from the temptation of one sin that will not be able to defend himself from another such a Man will resist the temptations of prosperity whom adversity will overthrow such an one will bear troubles for a while whom the length or tediousness of them will overcome and if one of our Spiritual Enemies succeed against us we are undone for ever Therefore as the Apostle says we have need to have recourse to Christ who can furnish us with skill and strength to defeat whatsoever stands in the way of our Peace or our Salvation To have one on our side that has returned from the Field of Battel as a Conqueror is a mighty encouragement and privilege Such is our Lord he is a Victorious and a Triumphant Saviour he will not leave his Conquests incompleat for he goes on Conquering and to Conquer and the glory of his enterprizes has not fill'd him with disdain or contempt of the poor and needy for he that is the King of Zion is as I said before a meek and lowly King By Faith in Christ we obtain his Spirit which by opening our eyes will shew us that Fountain of Living-waters where we may both quench our thirst and wash away our filth This Spirit will take away the sting of guilt and sweeten the Cross that was very bitter to us and when our Lord is come to help us when we know that he is afflicted in our affliction that yoak which gall'd us before will become as an Ornament about our Necks and when we have the pardon of our sins and the hope of God's acceptance that affliction that we thought a burthen too heavy for us to bear will become light and easie to us Out of the devourer shall come forth sweetness From those very fears that overwhelmed us shall spring glorious hopes and those hearts which a slavish fear of the Wrath had contracted shall be enlarged with a sense of his Goodness and his Love and we shall not look upon him as an Enemy but as a Friend not as a Judge but as a Father Isa 33.14 The inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities Alas when God leaves us the smallest danger terrifies us the least Dart of Satan makes an impression on our spirits the least trouble sinks such low such inconsiderable creatures are we But if the Lord be with us if Christ be on our side neither the Law nor Sin nor Death can hinder us from bidding a defiance to all that is against us 2 Cor. 15. 56 57. VI. Faith will give us relief under the apprehensions of God's displeasure or our Sin as it will shew us the period and conclusion of those miseries which we now are groaning under our
Condescention and his cure of us that when our wounds were very deep he poured in Wine and Oyl when we were inwardly bleeding and no Creature no Friend on Earth could help us he did not suffer us to bleed to death Whatever gifts we have whatsoever advantage above some others in knowledg and in understanding whatsoever Opportunities we have of doing good and whatever Zeal we use in doing what that opportunity offers to us we ought to say with Paul 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me The Hand of God is so strong his Wisdom is so admirable that he turns to our profit and advantage not only the Evils which are caused by cross Events or by the World but those which we commit our selves that seem to be contrary to our Salvation even those sins which we are guilty of He changes these Poisons into Physick these Scandals into Edification and from the thickest darkness he does bring our light As by the Adultery Dailleé Melauge part 2. p. 415. and the Murther of David he opened the eyes of his Servant to consider the horror of his fault and that which was like to have thrust him into perdition by the Divine Providence confirmed him in the way of Salvation By his Fall he was made to know how feeble his nature was and on the other side how admirable was the Grace of God this obliged him to quit all high opinion of himself and not to seek his happiness any-where else than in the mercy and grace of God And as to other faithful Persons this sorrowful example of his was beneficial to mortify their Vanity and their Pride and to teach them to put all their trust in God With what wonder should we daily cry out Will God indeed dwell familiarly with men Will he pity will he pardon such impatient such murmuring such unbelieving Sinners as we have been Will he cause us to hear the joyful Voice again who have so long had the Voice of Ruine and Destruction in our Ears Will he return and be my God again when I have so often thought that he was my Enemy Will he give me the hope of Heaven when I have been so long at the very door of Hell Will he put out his hand and take me into his Ark when my poor uneasie Soul hath been wandring to and fro seeking for rest and found none His end in these Afflictions and sore Tryals is That the delivered Christian may be always employed in wondring at his Love and when he has lost himself in wondring transporting Joy may say Oh the heighth and breadth and depth c. Rom. 11.33 What will he be so gracious to me who have had such hard thoughts of him Will he embrace me such a Prodigal as I am in his Arms Oh why should he let me live when others that have been less Sinners than I are dead and perished Why should he be kind to me when I was so undutiful to him What will he give me leave to pray yet again to him when I in my unbelief so often said it was in vain to pray Will he suffer me that have spoken so unadvisedly with my lips that have darkened Counsel by words without knowledge Job 38.2 to take his name in my mouth Will he suffer a mortal Man and a vile Sinner to say My Lord and my God Yes he will I see I feel that there is with him plenteous Redemption and must for ever admire the riches and the freeness of his Grace Let others talk of merit of the power of their own Will of the light of their own Understandings of the force and strength of their Reason for me I know that I have none of these things whereof to boast I was laid low in the very depths of misery and desolation and there had I lain still for all that I was able to do I was hopeless and he filled my despairing Soul with hope I was very guilty and he forgave me I was near to Hell I saw the flames and smoak of that Infernal pit I smelled the Fire and Brimstone and he that alone could help me brought me back again I was fainting and he revived me dying and he made me live How many hath he passed by and suffered them to pine away in their Iniquities and he has said unto me Live If he will accept of my poor prayers my weak endeavours of my heart and of my Soul my thoughts my affections shall be all employed for him and for his glory when I have so long heard the rumour and the noise of war he hath sent me the tidings of peace and joy Oh whence is it but from his own Grace that I who was so far from him should be brought nigh that I who hated him so much should be so greatly beloved Enter into thy Rest O my Soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee VIII Another end why God suffers his Servants so long to remain under the impressions of his Wrath is That they may learn to be merciful and helpful to others 1. To such as are in the like case 2. To such as are sinning and have not yet felt the displeasure of God for their Sins First To such as are under trouble of Conscience and the apprehensions of God's Wrath 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Luke 22.32 As our heavenly Father has been merciful to us so we must be merciful to them and having met with a Fountain that has quencht our thirst lead them also to the Spring of Living Waters Dr. Fuller 's Cause and Cure of a Wounded Conscience pag. 144. Conceive thy self like Joseph therefore sent before and sold into the Egypt of a wounded Conscience where thy feet were hurt in the Stocks and the Irons entred into thy Soul that thou mightest provide food for the famine of others and especially be a Purveyor of Comfort to those thy Brethren that shall follow thee down into the same doleful Condition We must not grieve them by sharp or unseasonable discourse when they are in the Furnace we must not by imprudent bitterness make it to be more hot they are wounded in their Souls and those wounds require a gentle a skilful and a tender hand every one of us should say they are troubled on every side and so was I they are afraid that God is departed and so was I those Arrows of the Almighty that stick in them but a little while ago stuck in me that Cup that is now in their hand was but a little while ago in mine as they sigh and complain and groan and fear even so did I therefore let me visit these Sick direct these Wanderers that have lost their way and see if these Prisoners by the sight of my Liberty will become Prisoners of hope I
humble saying 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God that was with me He calls himself the chief of Sinners and admires the grace of our Lord that towards him was exceeding abundant 1 Tim. 1.14 And elsewhere he styles the mercies of the Gospel the exceeding riches of the grace of Christ Eph. 2.7 As ever you would have the favour of God continued strive against all pride A man is then proud 1. When he attributes that to himself to his own Industry Wisdom or Prudence which he hath received from God 2. When he attributes to or expects that by merit which is a free gift Or 3. When he thinks he hath that which he hath not Or 4. When he despises others and affects preheminence It is usual with us to take the measures of Pride from the garb or attire from the outward behaviour gesture or the use of some less grave or decent Fashions and indeed there may be an excess in these things that may be very justly blameable But my Friends there is a Pride worse than all this even spiritual Pride that hath in it the very Image of the Apostate Spirit and is truly Diabolical when a man is proud of the Graces or the Gifts of God it alienates from him the Divine Favour for which we are more prepared when we are covered with shame and sorrow And when we are poor in spirit then we may hope that he will enrich us with his Love When we are emptied of all Self-conceit or a flattering opinion of our own Actions then we may hope that he will fill us both with grace and glory VVhat a sorry unbecoming thing is it for a man even the best of men to be proud Alas How soon can the Great God cause all his glory to wither and to fade away What a vain thing is it for a man to pride himself in things that relate to the Body when it is liable to Agues Fevers Consumptions Convulsions and many tedious days and years of pining sickness and must at last be the prey of death and moulder in the Grave And it is no less evil and foolish for a man to pride himself in any thing that relates to his Soul in his knowledge in his faith in his serviceableness for upon his sin an hour of temptation may come upon him that will be an hour of darkness that will cause the light of all these to vanish and what is man when his Conscience is awakened with a sense of guilt when his Sins are set in order before him when the Devil is permitted to sift and vex him to ruffle him with amazing Terrors and the constant view of Hell If God depart from us that Envious raging Spirit who is of great power and malice does with ease insult over us and tread us under his feet Oh! how vain is it for us to be proud that live a miserable life and may dye a very painful death All the Designs of God are to exalt himself and abase the Creature The Consciousness that the Saints have of their own Unworthiness will produce an eternal admiration of his Love and they will all cast down their Crowns before the Throne 1 Cor. 4.7 Who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou didst not receive 1 Pet. 5.5 6. 3. That you may not lose the Favour of God you must beware of formality and all slightness of spirit in the performance of holy duties It will be also very prejudicial to us when we can omit them and have no great trouble or regret for so great a Sin Whereas if we were duly tender of the welfare of our Souls we should refresh them with frequent thoughts and meditations as we do our Bodies with two or three meals a day When we bring dead Sacrifices to the Altar of God we need not wonder that we have so little spiritual and heavenly life we need not wonder that we have no more sense of his Favour when we often pray for it as if we prayed not the coldness and indifference of our Petitions shews that we do not much care whether they be granted or denyed and God will not thrust his Mercies upon us whether we will or not none shall enjoy his gracious comfortable Presence but those that strive and wrestle and such as have the zeal of Jacob that will not let him go till he bless them Heaven and Salvation we would all have but God knows we beg it after a very poor fashion and he may justly expel us from the sight of himself because we draw near to him with so little fervour and give him cause to complain of us as of those in Isa 29.13 We are guilty of slightness and formality in duty in these following Instances 1. When we perform them as a task and not with delight and love 2. When we do not excite and stir up our selves to call upon the Lord. 3. When we are satisfied in the bare outward performance and have not those inward exercises of contrition faith and holy sorrow and vigorous desires which are as the life and the soul of Prayer 4. When we suffer our Thoughts to wander or when we run to such Duties from a hurry and a croud of worldly business not considering the greatness of our wants and of that Majesty that fills the Throne before which we pray and how he will be sanctified of all that draw nigh to him 5. When we look not for the answer of our Prayers and when having done our duty we are unsollicitous whether it produce any good effect or no. 6. When we are more studious to approve our selves to the eyes of Men than to the eye of God I might add That if we would not lose the Favour of God we must duly improve all his other Ordinances we must hear as for our lives and take heed that his word do not at any time slip out of our minds We must receive the glad tidings of Salvation with obedient and joyful hearts and upon all fit occasions in the Celebration of the Lord's Supper with holy Affections and a melting zeal keep up the remembrance of the Love of Christ till he come again and with great constancy and seriousness read the Scriptures that direct us how to obtain this Favour of God that is our life but if any person has so little value for the Favour of God that he will not earnestly pray for it he must go without it and smart for his refusal of so excellent a Blessing when it shall be too late to repent 4. That you may not lose the Favour of God that is your life you must avoid all sloth What pains hath God taken what Exhortations what Promises has he used to bring you near to himself what hardships and sufferings did Christ undergo to gain your love and will you do nothing in answer to
from natural and ordinary Causes is very healthful and adds very much to the strength and vigour of the body much more then will that joy promote it which is founded on the Word of God and on the hope of his Acceptance And no question David had a respect to this when he said Psal 51.8 Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Ps 35.10 All my bones shall say Lord who is like to thee which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him and the needy from him that spoileth him No troubles wast our natural spirits more than our inward griefs and fears no joys refresh and make them more sprightly than the joys of our Souls See Job 33.19 to 26. God is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down into the pit I have found a ransome his flesh shall be fresher than a childs he shall return to the days of his youth he shall pray unto God and he will be favourable to him and he shall see his face with joy Those that have writ of Long Life and the means to obtain it advise us to keep our minds always full of splendid and illustrious objects of Histories and the contemplations of Nature and the like but the best Medicine is a quiet Conscience And tho all our Religion will not indeed save us from sickness yet it will enable us to bear it not to be too much concerned and overwhelmed with the manifold and unavoidable Calamities of this mortal Life This is Joy indeed that will recreate our souls and our bodies too that will prepare the one for its passage to Glory and the other for its lying in the Grave Thus our soul which is our glory shall rejoyce and our flesh also shall rest in hope Psal 16.9 and both at length as they have mourn'd so rejoyce together and that for evermore For when God is pleased to speak and to help us both in our bodies and our souls 't is multiplied Salvation and many thousand Cures in one The third General is that Joy arises from the hope of some future Good and this good must be both very agreeable to the soul and very certain For if it be not so there cannot be any other than a weak and a trembling joy There is a great pleasure in expectation of what is to come if it be great and lasting and attainable now to one that hath the returning-sense of God's favour ' tis-very pleasant to look for that hour or day or rather for that chearful Eternity when he shall have the same reviving smiles of his heavenly Father in a more bright and conspicuous manner when not only the night of weeping is gone but that morning is come which shall shine more and more to a perfect day And thus will the comfortable person say If the tast that I have now of God be so sweet Oh! what will the full enjoyment of him be If in this strange Land I am entertained as with the Bread of Angels What Feasts will refresh me when I am at home when I am past the Storms and beyond the Grave and Sin and Tears shall give me no further molestation The first Fruits make them to long for the full Harvest thus says the Apostle We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and this made the Church to say Make hast O my beloved and be thou like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of spices Expectation of any main event as one says is a great advantage to a wise heart If the fiery Chariot had fetcht away Elias unlookt for we should have doubted of the favour of his Transportation 4. This Morning-Joy will express it self As our griefs cause us to groan and sigh so does this make us in an open pleasant way to manifest our gladness The reviving sense of God's favour does so fill our hearts that we cannot without dishonour to him and prejudice to our selves conceal or stifle it When we apprehend our selves to be happy we take a peculiar pleasure in communicating to others the notice of that happiness and are much more pleased by such a communication This Joy is always attended with an expression of the Mercies of our Deliverer that we cannot but say to our Brethren Come and behold what God has wrought for us Behold what Salvation his own Arm and Power has accomplished so Psal 51.12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit then will I teach transgressors and sinners shall be converted unto thee Then I shall be able to tell them That thy ways however rugged they seem to be for a while yet are at length even and pleasant ways That they lead to Life and Happiness and beholding the beams of thy Love that make me so pleasant and so chearful they shall by such a sight be incouraged also to Religion And to the same purpose Psal 16.9 My heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth His inward Joy was not able to contain it self We testify our pleasure on lower occasions even at the gratification of our senses when our Ear is filled with harmonious melody when our Eye is fixed upon admirable and beauteous objects when our Smell is recreated with agreeable odours and our tast is so by the delicacy and rareness of Provisions and much more will our soul shew its delight when its faculties that are of a more exquisite constitution meet with things that are in all respects agreeable and pleasant to them and in God they meet with all those with his Light our Understanding is refresh'd and so is our Will with his Goodness and his Love So in Psal 126.1 2. When the Lord turn'd again the captivity of Sion then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing It was a sign their hearts were very sull of joy seeing the mouth and the tongue poured it out in so great abundance nay their Neighbours could not but take notice of it They said among the heathen the Lord hath done great things for them far beyond the methods of an ordinary Providence Their Liberty was strange and miraculous that surpassed all Imaginable Reasons and behold as people take delight to go over and over again with a pleasant thing they Eccho to this saying of the Heathens saying Verse 3. The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad Others knew it only by report that God had been so good to them but they by sweet experience In the delivered people it was indeed an inward Jubilation with a loud Cry and Song of Triumph as when God is withdrawn we are forced to speak in the anguish and bitterness of our Souls so when he returns the return is so pleasant that we cannot hold our tongues In our troubles there is a latent grief so sinking and so very sad that no words can express so in the good hope of God's acceptance