those consuming Flames Bridges Remains being eight Sermons viz. Of Mans Blessedness 2. Affections Rightly placed 3. How to walk with God in our Calling 4. O Good and Bad Company 5. The Carnality of Professors 6. What our Work is and how to be done 7. Soul Resignation into the hands of God 8. Thâ— Dignity and Duty of Gods Called Ones Which was the last that ever waâ— preacht by that Learned and Judiciouâ— Divine Mr. William Bridge late Preacheâ— of the Word of God at Yarmouth A Discourse of Christs coming And the Influence which the Expectation there of hath on all manner of holy Conversation and Godliness By Theophilus Gale There are some other Pieces of the Reverend Author of these Sermons preparing for the Press 1 TIM 1. 5. Now the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned THE holy Apostle St. Paul as appears in the beginning of the Chapter and Epistle finds some at Ephesus who troubled the Church with needless and with fruitless Doctrine and therefore if you consult the third and fourth Verses of this Chapter you will find he besought Timothy to abide at Ephesus when he went into Macedonia that he might charge some that they teach no other Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Teach Doctrines contrary to what he had taught or Doctrines contrary to the General Tenour of the Gospel Such Teachers he calls accursed Gal. 1. 8. He would have him warn them at the fourth Verse Not to give heed to Fables and endless Genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in Faith Timothy was besought by St. Paul to give this charge to and concerning the Teachers at Ephesus And because those Fabulists and Genealogists were great pretenders to the Law therefore the Apostle tells them That the Law leads to the embracing of one another in love not to the imbroyling of one another in needless questions or in the venting of them and this he speaks in the Verse now Read The end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfained In which words we have two things First An Assertion laid down Secondly We have a limitation to the Assertion The Assertion is laid down in the beginning of the Verse The end of the Commandment is Charity The Assertion is limited in the close of the Verse 'T is Charity not Charity at large but Charity thus qualified or thus circumstantiated 'T is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned I shall first explicate the Assertion and then shew its Connexion with the limitation and give at the present one General Point of Doctrine from the whole Verse The end of the Commandment is Charity For the explication of this Assertion I must shew three things 1. What 's meant here by the Commandment 2. What 's meant by the end of the Commandment 3. What that Charity in special is which is the end of the Commandment And when I have briefly done these three things we shall come to a Point The end of the Commandment is Charity but what 's this Commandment The word which we here translate Commandment is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the ordinary word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Commandment but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the word properly signifies as Criticks tell us A charge given by Judges or Superiours concerning somewhat to be done or forborn and thus 't is used in Acts 5. 28. where the High Priests tell the Apostles Did not we straitly command you that you should not teach in thiâ— Name Did not we straitly Command you The Greek there is an Hebraism in which St. Luke doth there express the minds of the Scribes and Pharisees Did not we straitly command you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Did not we command you with a Command which we veâ—y well render according to the sense of the Idiom Did not we strictly command you Or as Mr. Beza renders it Did not we command you again and again And in the very same sense doth the Apostle use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the 18th Verse of the first of Timothy This charge I commit unto thee Why now if we should take the word Commandment in this strict sense it may have a special reference to the third and fourth Verses going before the Text whereas I toucht before St. Paul besought Timothy to charge some that they teach no other Doctrine To charge them or to Command them 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the root of the word which we render Commandment I charge thee to lay this Commandment upon them So we may well render it I command they teach no other Doctrine As if he had said the end why I besought thee to give that charge or Command was to promote charity whereas those other Doctrines did but breed questions and those questions breed Contentions among the Churches and among the Brethren the End of the Commandment the reason why I gave them that Commandment was to maintain love among Brethren Yea for as much as the Apostle at the 7. vers speaks of those who desire to be Teachers of the Law and in the 8. and 9. verses proceeds to speak of the nature and use of the Law I conceive the Word Commandment may be extended to the whole Law of God or to the whole Revelation or the mind of God concerning things to be done or forborn by us And so here is a figure here 's a change of number the singular is put for the plural Commandment for Commandments and indeed as the Doctrine of Grace is nothing else but a Collection of promises so the Law is nothing else but a Collection of precepts and in this sense saith Mr. Calvin here by the word Commandment we may take in all the Commandments of God Not only those that are exprest in the Decalogue but those which are scattered quite through the Holy Scriptures The end of the Commandment or of the Commandments the whole Revealed will of God concerning the Agenda or things to be done It is charity or it is Love and so much for the first thing what we are to understand by the Commandment Secondly what is the end of the Commandment the end of the Commandment is charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 end may be taken in a threefold notion First The end it notes the conclusion and Period of a thing the conclusion of all things so the Apostle Peter in his 1 Epist 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand and it 's well for us to Remember that If the end of all things were at hand in the Apostles time how near is the end now the end the Period of all this visible world it is at hand Be ye therefore watchful and sober Secondly End notes as much as the Aim design plot scope of any Action what
will make glad the City of God in all the Cities of men where ever it hath an open chanel and a free course By what hath been said beloved you may perceive what my work the Lord assisting is like to be in handling this Scripture namely to discover to you that Love or Charity which is the end of the Commandment and chiefly indeed to discover to you those blessed springs A pure heart a good conscience and faith unfeigned out of which that charity flows and by which it must be fed day by day And this will I do if God permit But at the present I shall wave all these particulars and speak to one General Point as I hinted before raised from the whole Context and of this Verse or from all the particulars of it laid together and the Point of Doctrine is this DOCT. Those works of Love of Love to man much more of Love to God which are the end of the Commandment must flow from a good spring from a gracious Principle or a Principle of Grace This Point is very plain in the Text plainly collected from it For saith the Apostle Love out of a pure heart and the like Now that pure heart I shall shew clearly afterwards if the Lord bring me to it that the pure heart is a gratious heart So that the Love must flow from a principle of Grace There are three things especially in which the Completion the full Constitution and making up of a good work whether towards God or man doth consist and they must all three concur in the business Evil arises out of any single defect in that which is required Bonum oritur ex iâ—te ra causa malum ex qâ—olibet defectu But a good action must have a concurrence of all things requisite thereunto I name only these three First That the work may be good we must What required to a good work be sure that the matter of it be good It must be good in it self as being according to Rule And It must be good in the mind and in understanding of him that doth it for to do that which is good we not knowing and understanding it to be good or not being perswaded that it is good that action is not good to us Yea the Apostle tells you It is sin whatsoever is not of faith and there he speaks not of justifying faith but of perswading faith what ever is not of faith is sin And 't is possible for one that is in a justified state or one that hath justifying faith yet not to do a thing with a perswading faith and so it may be sin to him That 's one thing Secondly The aim or the end of the work must be good and among all ends that are good the chief and that which can never be left out is the glory of God Matth. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they seeing your good works your works of Love may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Not glorifie your self not set up self 'T was the setting up of self or the making self the end which corrupted and poisoned all those materially good very good actions of the Pharisees even their alms giving their praying their fasting as you may read at large in Mat. 6. 1 5 16. and those that follow The End doth denominate the action It must have a good end else though the matter be never so good the work is not good Thirdly Which is the matter in hand The Principle or spring of the work must be good 'T is possible for one to do a work that 's good for the matter of it and to have some good ends in it and yet not to do it out of a right principle and this is it which the Text and Doctrine speaks unless the Principle be good the work 's not good As the Fountain is such are the streams that come from it As the Tree is such is the fruit that grows upon it Do men gather Grapes of Thorns or Eigs of Thistles Matth. 7. 16. Why the Thorn hath not a Principle in Nature to put forth a Grape the Thistle hath not a Principle in Nature to put forth a Figg and therefore saith Christ A corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit Which words of Christ as they are primarily to be understood concerning false Prophets and their Doctrine so they may be truly applyed to all false professors and their ends they being corrupt they cannot bring forth good fruit If you would draw out of a vessel which is unseasoned or ill scented the liquor will taste of the Cask Now we all by nature are unseasoned yea we are ill scented vessels therefore the liquor that which passes from us considered so must needs have an ill scent an ill taste And hence that cutting question of Christ to the Pharisees Matth. 12. 34. O Generation of Vipers how can ye being evil speak good things They might possibly speak good for the matter Bad men wil often tip their tongues with good words and appear Chrysostom's Golden mouth'd speakers when their hearts are nothing but brass and dross But usually evil men speak evil that which is evil for the matter Their throats are an open sepulchre the poyson of Asps is under their lips as the Apostle speaks quoting it from the Psalms in Rom. 3. 13. And as they usually and naturally for that 's their natural Language speak evil so they always mar the good they speak either by their ill manner of speaking it or by their ill meaning in speaking it As the Devil when he made a confession of Christ and said he was the Son of the most high God it was a confession like that of St. Peter which Christ calls the Rock upon which the Church is built the Devil spake it out of a base intent and therefore Christ threw it away and rebuked him for it So evil men they spoil good speaking with their ill manner of speaking or their ill meaning in speaking and therefore Solomon hath that expression in Prov. 26. 7. As the leggs of the lame are not equal so is a Parable in the mouth of fools A Parable there notes a Divine saying a ruling word a commanding word that 's a Parable a word that should reign over us so saith he a Parable a divine saying in the mouth of a fool are like the leggs of the lame Good words do as it were lisp in the mouth of a bad man and his heart never keeps pace with his Tongue Thus you see Christ saith evil men cannot speak that which is good they cannot speak to the purpose fully now as they that are evil cannot speak so neither can they do good things answerable to the rule or pleasing unto God I do not say they cannot do good things but they cannot do good things answerable to the rule or pleasing unto God And that 's the Apostles conclusion Rom. 8. 8. after a further discourse he comes
it is that we drive at and in that sense 't is well said That the desire of the end is endless that is men Appâ—titus fiâ—is est infinicus will never end their desirings till they have attained their desired end namely that which is the scope and Aim which they have set up to themselves in any undertaking the end of a thing is the Aim or the scope of it Thirdly End is taken in this notion It notes the accomplishment or the fulfilling and Compleating of a thing and in that sense it is used in Rom. 10. 4. Christ saith the Apostle is the end of the Law for Righteousness The end of the Law he hath brought the Law to its end what end why to its accomplishment to its fulfilling so that we are not to seek for righteousness by the Law for our Justification for Christ hath made an end of the Law or accomplished the Law as to that point for righteousness Christ hath fulfilled the Law both in doing the precepts of it and he hath fulfilled the Law by enduring the penalty of it and so he is the end of the Law the fulfilling end of the Law It hath no more to require than that we obey the precept or endure the penalty of it and both these Christ hath fully done and so he hath fulfilled the whole Law and Indeed Christ having done so in his own person having been the end of the Law in his obedience both active and passive I may say He is the Abolishing end of the Law he hath taken it away as to that use for Justification by our own works the Law is quite out of doors as to that point Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness and no more are we to seek for righteousness by the Law Why now in the text the word end when 't is said that the end of the Commandment is charity the word end is to be taken in the two latter senses First charity is that which the Law aims at 't is the scope of the Law to bring us into a Love one to another and that we may walk in Love that 's the business of the Commandments of God the Aim the Scope of them And then secondly charity is the end of the Law that is 't is the fulfilling of the Law 't is the accomplishing end of the Law the Law is fulfilled in Love take it in two Scriptures Rom. 13. 10. Love is the fulfilling of the Law Love it is the Accomplishing end of the Law as in Gal. 5. 14. The whole Law is fulfilled in one word that 's a good word Indeed what is that one word by which the whole Law is fulfilled 't is fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love they Neighbour as they self to them the end here is to be taken in that sense charity it is the accomplishing 't is the fulfilling of the Law Thirdly One step farther what is that charity which is the end of the Commandment both the Final end and the fulfilling end of it What is this charity Charity is taken two ways in Scripture 1. More strictly as it consists in the relieving of those that are poor and in the comforting of those that are sorrowful this is charity to relieve the poor to comfort the sorrowful But secondly charity is taken in a more large sense 't is taken for Love in General and so some translate this text the end of the Commandment is Love For charity is a word of a narrower sense than Love is The end of the Commandment is Love and the truth is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we rendeâ— in the text charity doth Indifferently signifie and is Indifferently translated Love or charity all the New Testament over I need not stay to quote places This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Love to God Love to Man Q well but what is Indeed the Charity or Love here Intended in the Scripture A. I answer first I conceive the Love here Intended Is not love to God though that is Love above all things and the most excellent end of the Commandment yet I conceive in this place 't is Charity or Love to Man which is here meant And my Reason is this why I restrain it here to the Love of Man because the Apostle speaks of charity in opposition to those Fables and questions which false teachers were like to raise up in the Church The end of the Commandment is charity that all may be peaceable and quiet among the Brethren and he saith at verse 7. From which some having swerved from charity shot quite beside it saith he they are turned aside unto vain Jangling so that if we consider either the Antecedents of the text or the consequents it seems he confines charity or Love here spoken of to that love or charity which is among men among Brethren that 's one thing Secondly Charity here with respect to Brethren is not that charity which doth consist in opening our hand to relieve the poor though that is a most excellent piece of charity and I pray Remember it to open your hand to the relieving of the poor yet I conceive that 's not the charity here meant but the charity here meant is charity in the uniting our hearts and in the closing of our affections one with another and then Thirdly The charity here intended or the Love is not a lazy habit for one to say I have a love for God I and there it lyes and doth nothing I say the charity here intended is not a lazy habit but 't is that which is put forth by vigorous and lively actings and so some expound this Text Charity is to be taken Metonymically Charity for all the offices and duties of charity which we owe one to another 4. Lastly As 't is an Acting and an active charity which is here spoken of so it is not every kind of charity how vigorously soever acted which is the end of the Commandment but 't is the charity that flows out from and is fed by those three springs spoken of in the close of the Verse Namely 't is a charity flowing out of a pure heart a good conscience and faith unfeigned I cannot stay now to discover those springs to you for that would take up too much of the time Indeed it may take up all the time to make a little discovery of those springs All that I shall say at present is only this That the charity which issues out of these springs that 's the charity in the Text and that 's the charity which is the fulfilling of the Commandment So that here we have the Genealogy as I may call it the Pedegree the Parentage of Gospel charity Or to keep to the former Metaphor here we have the spring of that blessed River called charity the streams whereof like the streams of the River spoken of in Psal 46. 4. which is the favour of God to his people
with his so theâ— here 's the conclusion so then they that are in the flesh they cannot please God every action which comes up to the fulfilling of the Commandment is pleasing to God but saith he they that are in the flesh they cannot please God they that are in the flesh what 's that surely not that which two Popes as Infallible as they Judge themselves to be thought to be the meaning they thought that by being in the flesh was meant being in a marriage State But by being in the flesh the Apostle means being in a natural that is being in an unregenerate State they cannot please God and such do not only not please God when they do that which is evil but they do not please God when they do that which is good for the very Sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to him Prov. 15. 8. and therefore the Apople says of all men in their natural capacity or State there is none that doth good no not one in Rom. 3. 12. Why none do good because none of them have a principle they have not a spring though the matter they do may be good and though possibly they have some good end in doing it yet they not having a principle there is none of them that doth good that is a compleat good no not one there 's no exceptions I need not labour further in the proof of the point but I would make some use of it and I would make a threefold use out Use The first may be for our Information If those good works both to God and Man which are the fulfilling of the Commandment must flow from a Gratious principle then we are Instructed by this truth how to Judge of their best works who still abide in the State of nature having neither a pure heart nor a good Conscience nor Faith unfeigned Why what Judgement are we to make of their works why surely they are not the end of the Commandment they are not the fulfilling of the Commandment the works of such even their works of charity of love of temperance Patience of Justice were call'd by some of the godly learned Antients shining sins and why we may not call them so now I know no reason That 's the Judgement they give of such mens good actions for as Christ tells the Pharisees Luke 16. 15. that which is highly esteemed among men is an Abomination unto God Why because it wants this principle And to be sure though their box of ointment I mean the good things done by Persons who have not these principles I say though their box of ointment may have a fragrant smell among many men yet there are many dead flies in it especially one great one call'd unbelief which makes their whole box of ointment very unsavory in the nostrils of God for so saith the Apostle Heb. 11. 6. without faith it is Impossible to please God And that 's one of the springs expresly spoken of in the text Gospel charity is of a nobler extract than to be found in the whole compass of nature and Godliness moves in a higher sphere than the best dress that the gayest Moralist ever reacht unto In Matth. 5. 20. Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God That 's a word for Information Use 2. Now upon that let me take up a second use by way of Lamentation If this be a truth then 't is to be Lamented that the Religious duties and charitable Acts of many who bear the name of Christ flow meerly from a natural principle and doing so they are not the fulfilling of the Commandment The most of men Love one another with affection no more spiritual than Damon and Pithius and Pilades and Orestes or any other who are most memorised or admired among the Heathens for Love Yea I may say they worship God and Jesus Christ with a devotion no more raised and spiritual than the old Romans did worship their Jupiter or the Ephesians their great Godess Diana And surely this is to be Lamented that Christian Acts should be done and not from a principle spiritual or not from a Christian principle It is very possible and very ordinary to follow Christ yea to call upon Christ meerly with human affections with Carnal affections Jesus Christ did find it so In John 6. 26. Ye seek me saith he not because ye saw the Miracles but because ye did eat of the loves and were filled To follow Christ was an excellent work but they did it meerly upon a humane principle Yea that prayer of theirs in Verse 34. may well be Judged to come meerly from a carnal spirit When Christ had discourse of the bread that came down from Heaven and giveth life into the World say they Lord evermore give us of this bread and yet this was but from a Carnal desire not knowing what that bread meant spiritually And it appears clearly to be so for in the close of the Chapter many of his Hearers went quite away they forsook him Now certainly to do these excellent things and to do them but with Carnal principles this is a thing to be Lamented Solomon doth report it as a thing to be lamented that often in this world it is done to good men according to the works of the wicked and it 's done to wicked men according to the works of the righteous Eccles 8. 14. This is a thing to be lamented but I now shall shew you two sights more much more to be lamented First 'T is a very lamentable thing to see good men do according to the works of the wicked Thus did David in the matter of Uriah 2 Sam. 11. Thus did Solomon when his heart went after strange Gods and he built High Places to their Abominations 1 Kings 11. 4 5. Thus did Asa a good King when he imprisoned the Prophet and in his disease sought to the Physitians and not to God 2 Chron. 16. 10 12. Yea thus did St. Peter that holy Apostle when he denyed yea forswore his Master in Matth. 26. 72 74. And thus have many other godly men done under the pressures of Temptation and Corruption And is not this a sad sight to see one professing Godliliness yea one that is really godly act thus like a wicked man This is to act as I have sometimes exprest it the old Creatures part in the new Creatures state This is a very sad thing I but now I have another sight to shew you according to the Tenure of this Text and Doctrine which is very sad also And what 's that Why to see bad men do according to the works of good men still continuing in their bad state They plod on and go on doing good things but never mind to become good themselves And so bad men do according to the works of the righteous I say This is a sad sight And thus did Saul when he was among
and Humility and Love to Jesus Christ if one increase in these things What is worthy the name of good in comparison of an increase of these things That 's one thing we may take notice of from it Secondly We should be hence raised up in our hearts to magnifie the power wisdom and goodness of God who doth thus over-rule these things for his people for certainly this doth declare the wonderful work of God In Isa 28. where he hath a notable Allegory and speaks of the troubles and sufferings of the faithful people of God For all that that is spoken of the Plowman and of the Thresher and of the bruising of the Corn with threshing Instruments they do respect affliction and troubles which come upon the people of God as is clear But now saith he in the close of that Chapter This also cometh from the Lord of Hosts which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working We may wonder at the counsel and wisdom of God who doth his people good by threshing them and bringing the wheel over them Here are several sorts of afflictions and sufferings some lesser and some greater Now all this is but to separate the good seed from the chaff and to make it more fit for use for while the Corn is in the ear it is not fit for use and we cannot make bread of it untill it be thresht Now the Lord hath several wayes to do it But saith he This cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working Truly we may say How wonderful is the counsel of the Lord How excellent is his working that he makes the Righteous to flourish like the Palm-tree to grow upwards by that which one would think should bring them down As when we fee the Corn laid at and thresht with a Flail one would think there were great hurt intended to the Corn but it is only to separate it from the chaff that it may appear in its own beauty and usefulness So the Lord hath a flail of tribulation to separate the Chaff from the Wheat Those acts of Providence towards Gods people which seem to be for their hurt and undoing when they are thresht as it were by the world it is only to make them appear what they are That which we find in Psal 69. 22. concerning the wicked by that we may observe the wonderful difference and dealings of God with the wicked who flourish as the Grass and the righteous David speaks there of such and saith he Let their table become a snare and that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap that is the Lord doth curse their Comforts By Table he means the good things upon their table when they have a full table a plentiful table And so all outward prosperity saith he it shall be a snare to them And that which should have been for their good that is that which in the nature of it is for their good It shall be an occasion for their falling they shall grow more hardned by it more proud by it and more impenitent by it and more strangers to God by it But now when the Lord speaks of a righteous man here the thing which was appointed for his snare as the troubles and persecutions which lye upon him in the world shall be a table to him his very snares shall be a table to his inner man where his Graces shall come and feed and grow fat and flourish and increase The things which the men of the world have devised for his falling they shall be to him an occasion of good This is wonderful and we are to bless the Lord for it when we find such effects of it when we see it so in others or have any experience of it in our selves that our afflictions do not snare us but are a table to our Graces That 's another thing to give God the glory of it for it is not in the nature of these things to do it No things would work quite otherwise but that God is wonderful in his Counsels and excellent in his workings towards his people they would rather drive us from God and destroy our graces Thirdly Seeing it is so that righteous ones do flourish as the Palm-tree then when any weights of affliction either personal or publick or persecution or whatsoever are upon any of us let us mind the purpose of God towards us Let us not think that he comes to hurt us but to make us grow and flourish like a Palm-tree Let us mind this and joyn with God in this Counsel in laying such things upon his people Let us joyn with God and promote the Counsel of God in our own hearts and lives and in the hearts and lives of others that they may be bettered by their sufferings and be encouraged by their sufferings to believe more in God and more for God than ever they were God doth not intend us hurt but good by it and so we should find it if we were wise to joyn with him in his Purposes Fourthly And then I would say yet further This may be matter of Tryal to us We may take a tryal of our selves both as to the state of our persons and as to the state of our graces First As to the state of our persons Why how is it with us under sufferings Do we improve by them Do we grow do we flourish though we have these weights upon us Why truly it is an argument and evidence that our state is good for a bad man is not made the better by the evils that are upon him I know God may use afflictions to change a man but unsound hearts they that have been unsound and false in the profession of the Gospel they do discover themselves in such a time shew their rottenness and their naughtiness And it is a very great question whether they that are not bettered by afflictions were ever good Though I would not speak it to lay a trouble upon any Our betterings sometimes under afflictions is not very discernable at least at present But I say it may put us much upon a doubt whether we or any were ever really good if we are not bettered by afflictions and by tryals and by the troubles that are upon us and by our fears and by our dangers And likewise we may hence have a great tryal as to the state of our graces whether our graces are in good plight yea or no. For indeed if faith be down and the like we shall make little improvement of all our afflictions and crosses If love to Christ be down we shall rather be upon the losing side But now if we find that we are increased and are growing and flourishing in spirituals when the weight and pressure is upon us it is an argument that our graces are in a good state and grace is in a good state when it thrives and thrives by such means as seem rather for the quenching of grace and the hinderance of grace and therefore truly we should consider our selves at this day for certainly the Palm-trees are now with their weights upon them and many have discovered themselves sadly as to their persons states and the state of their graces that they have very little love to and faith in Jesus Christ because they have not flourisht in such a day but rather have declined and withdrawn and been ashamed of what they have formerly been And therefore let us remember that which the Apostle speaks in Heb. 12. speaking of afflictions which are sufferings for Christ that 's taken in the Chapter not only those afflictions which are fatherly chastisements from the hand of God but those which are from men for righteousness sake Certainly that is the purpose of God it is all for our profit Therefore let us consider whether we profit yea or no. We have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live Submit to the will of God if he will lay any tribulation upon us for his Name sake for he hath done all for our profit What profit For the profit of our purses and estates in this world No for a better profit than all that for our profit that we might be made partakers of his holiness And truly that is another thing with which I shall conclude We say this That we have no reason to be impatient under afflictions and persecutions under the troubles we meet with in this world for the Name of Christ Why for they are for our profit for our growing and that we may be made more partakers of the holiness of God That we may be better while we live and fitter to dye and to glorifie him both living and dying And thus I have only toucht these things That the Righteous do flourish like the Palm-tree with their weights and pressures upon them FINIS