expectations And then we fix this sure anchor upon Gods never decaying truth now hope lookes for comfort in him alone when all things appeares false and deceivable And now when God shall answer hopes expectation in help and deliverance then doth this experience cause hope not to be ashamed Ah! the sweet refreshments and comforts of hope She supports us and makes us merry in all estates and conditions 'T is the best companion that ever bore a distressed soule company It will never leave us till it hath brought us to heaven gates When afflictions like the lead in the net would finke us downe and that sin and sorrowes labour to drowne us hope like the Corke upholds us and sustaines us So that according to the Proverbe Were it not for hope the heart would breake And this the Apostle faith 1 Cor. 15. If in this life only we have hope we are of all men most miserable And thus hope makes us to doe to suffer and to die Oh! therefore let not those deliverances which are delaied be the fainting of our hearts but let hope beare then up cheerfully in a constant expectation of that mercy which in due time shall be made good unto us Let us take what he gives and wait for what he promiseth as well knowing that he cannot slack as the world accounts slacknesse but will surely keep his owne time though not ours 10 Afflictions manifest the truth of our love Alas Many in the time of prosperity love God for his left-handed blessings as Satan objected to Job And if God deny them but a fond desire they are ready to overlooke all the mercyes they enjoy and fling them as it were in the face of God But now to love God when he takes away all To read love in an angry looke This is love in deed Love is that lovely motive which makes our obedience full T is that virtue which comprehends all other virtues for if we do and suffer out of love we are at the highest pitch possible attainable Love saith the Apostle fullfills the Law nor can any virtue hold out so long faith and hope bring us to Heaven Gates but love enters with us and abides for ever Here what the Mayden Martyr said at the Stake Farewell Faith and welcome Love See what a sweet interpretation love puts on all Gods dealings when the flesh objects and sayes like Jobs wife What blesse God and dye serve him and be thus rewarded but love answers What and shall we not receive evill at the hand of God as well as good do they not both proceed from the same fountaine yea from that Ocean of Love from whence Christ came Againe in streights and wantâ— flesh will object Can the servants and the dogs be served and shall a Child of God want necessaries want bread but saith Love The Love of God as God and the Love of a Father in Christ do much differ as God he is good to all makes his Sun to shine and his Raine to fall on the just and unjust as a Father he is especially good to his Children to whom if he gives not much in this world yet gives he so much as he seeth best for them with a comfortable use thereof this however to be his Child is more then if he gave us all the World to enjoy When we are at any time scorned reproached reviled scandalized Love goes away silently with this heavy burden reasoning with her selfe behold the love of my God! do they fling borrowed dirt in my face what a mercy is it that God doth not discover to them the filth of my heart my secret sinnes how would they blaze them And so for losses of friends husband children goods Love lookes upon nothing as lost but restor'd or laid up thinking alwayes upon what she doth enjoy that in her greatest wants she enjoyes innumerable blessings from God whereas our sins have deserved that all should be taken from us and his judgements and punishments inflicted as a fit wages for all our sinfull services Love makes us rest sweetly contented with what we have and not repining for wanting something but rejoycing that the Lord affordeth us any thing Ah! saith Love if I am not so happy as others for what I do enjoy yet in this I am happy for the evils I might have had and have escaped surely if we have a little and cannot be contented we have even too much And this is the nature of Love the more the world magligneth and persecuteth us the more our love is weaned from the world and the lesse we love the world the more is our affections inflamed towards God Ah! we shall in our outward crosses feel the inward comforts of Gods Spirit so pleasant and delightfull that they are sufficient to sweeten a world of miseries and this made David to sing Psal 116.1 Oh how I love the Lord And surely many of the Saints of God do never love him so solidly as when they have beene soundly whipt And as by afflictions we come to love God more so are we made to compassinate and pitty our brethren we can never give comforts rightly till we have gotten experience of what we say there cannot be any place in our hearts for compassion of others griefs till passion and suffering of the same evills have been there before no Phifitian is more able to cure a nother man than he who hath first cured himselfe of the same disease because unto his art is injoyned experience whereby it is made perfect and therefore when we go to comfort others we can from our own knowledge say I have been thus afflicted and thus and thus did I receive consolation and was strengthened in patience to bear my crosses here God did support me with his might when being feeble in my self I was ready to faint and fall thus was I refreshed with spirituall consolations and the inward feelings of Gods love and mercy thus did he powerfully deliver me when in respect of all outward meanes my case was desperate And thus doth David take upon him to comfort others upon his own experience Psal 34. O tast and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him I was brought low and he helped me I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me out of all my feares And this as a Caveat by the by when ever you are afflicted either in body spirit goods or good name do not vent your griefs to them that have never been afflicted for as they cannot give you any experimental comfort so your griefs cannot make any great impression in their hearts they can be no more affected with your complaints than if you discoursed of the causes symptomes and malignity of that disease they never felt they may sigh and say its very sad but it cannot long sink into their mindes it s commonly but tedious discourse at the best some can speak it by wofull experience that the
sore and brings them so low that they are almost pined with want before a spring of better blood can be procured If we have ventured on noysome meates and hurtfull poysons If we will feed on grosse sins and drink in the very pudle of iniquity what shall our Father do with us but give us such Phisick as will thorowly work If David will lie and commit adultery and fall to murder Innocents what can God do lesse for David unlesse he would have him lost but lash him soundly make the rod cling to his skin yea to his conscience make his very bones to ake and shake too and when he will be walking so neer Hells mouth 't is just for God to take him by the heeles and make him believe he will throw him in vvhat if he be crost of his vvill and crie it s better he should crie here then in Hell and receive his payment here then his judgment there and truly many times the whip prevents the halter and thus if we will venture after David in those dangerous pathes we shall be sure to passe under the red as he did if we be Gods children as he was Oh how should David's practise and case affright us alas how did he gather mud when he did but stand still a while and how would his corruptions again have grown to some head had not Absalom been raised up to breath him to disperse them If David were so foggie after so many breathings a man of so good a diet how resty should we be if never walkt how grounded on our lees with Moab if never turned forth from Vessell to Vessell It stands the Lord therefore upon if he will provide for his harvest and our good to take some paines with us least otherwise he faile of his vintage while we want dressing Now God is gratiously pleased to give us a reason for what he doth I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away thy drosse and take away all thy time Isai 1.25 and again by this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Isai 27.9 So likewise Dan. 11.35 Zach. 13.9.1 Pet. 1.6 7. Job 33.16 17. Hos 2.6 7. And this was it that made St. Augustine to comfort himselfe in the middest of his tribulation for saith he it is but my purge to free me from the drosse of sin We seldome know strong diseases cured with gentle meanes for 't is a rule in Phisick the medicine must exceed the maladie and therefore we can take nothing that commonly workes so kindly as afflictions when we are in prosperity how apt are we to fall into a dropsie pride makes us to magnifie our selves and to have a great opinion of our own worth and being joyned with the applause of others we are so pust up we hardly see our selves but when our purge workes to purpose we grow as little in our own conceite as in the opinion of others what are all earthly endowments severed from grace alas they are but the deceiving shaddow of a lying complexion there is nothing that will last nothing but will change and when we come to look in the glass of the Law those outward helps will flee and faile us and we shall be left in our own foulnesse and deformity Hear what Job says when throughly humbled I abhor my selfe and repent in dust and ashes Job 42.6 Again afflictions purge out the love of the World now this Worldly love is such a dangerous disease that if we are not cured of it it would bring us at last to a desperate consumption in all grace and goodnesse and to everlasting death both of body and soul for faith in God and confidence in earthly things will not stand together we cannot serve God and mammon we cannot love the Lord and love the World and this the Apostle St. John saith 2 Epistle chap. 2.15 If any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him And therefore God in mercy weanes us from those breasts we have so long laine at he is faine to put bitternesse on it that we may loath it and yet such as it is we exceedingly affect it ah what would we do if it were sweet If we defire to dwell in earthen tottering ruinous habitations how loath would we be to leave them if they were strong Stately and permanent If we take content in our pilgrimage and make no hast unto our Heavenly Country when as our way is so foule and full of thornes our journey so painfull and dangerous and our entertainment among those worldly Cannibals so bad and barbarous what a Paradice would we esteem it and what little account would we make of our everlasting Mansions if we had a pleasant passage an easie journey and kind usage in this strange Country ah how full is this World of troubles wars contentions secret Traytors open enemies and false friends and yet we greeve when we think of leaving it how would we even surfeit of sorrow if injoying perfect peace sweet concord and faithfull friendship we should be forced to foregoe it most graciously therefore doth our good God deale with us when seeing us so besotted with this pernicious love he cause the World to deal roughly with us and even to thrust us away from her and when we hardly will let goe our hold God will make our riches to take unto them as it were the wings of an Eagle and flee away our credit shall be crakt and our honour laid in the dust yea our neerest and dearest friends shall deceive us as a brook and many times God is fain to make all helps and hopes to faile us and we to be left destitute and desolate stark naked and bestript of all then this will make us if any thing to deny all other things by faith to catch hold on God hovering and covering our selves under his wing only Now as God doth this in much love and mercy to beat us for and from our fins and to weane us from the World so doth he it in measure and moderation and this he professeth Jer. 46.28 Feare not oh Jacob my Servant for I am with thee I will make a full end of all Nations whither I have driven thee but I will not make a full end of thee but correct thee in measure yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished 1 For the measure of our afflictions and there moderation we may plainly see both in respect of their quantity which is but small and in their time which is but short for either they are light or they are long and if they be great in quantity they are but momentany in their continuance or if they be tedious in time they are easie in weight It is but a little Cup in comparison of what the Lord Jesus drank for us so that our afflictions and griefes are but shaddowes and resemblances rather then substanciall evils Hear
what the Apostle Paul saith 2 Cor. 6.9 As dying and behold we live as chastned and yet not killed as sorrowing and yet alwayes rejoyceing Whence one observeth that our sorrow hath a quasi as though but so hath not our rejoyceing our afflictions are seeming but our joyes are certain 2 And as they are light so they are not long lasting this God hath promised his Church Isai 57.16 I will not contend for ever nor be alwayes wroth for the spirits would faile before me and the soules which I have made Alas were they as long as our whole Life yet what is that to Eternity David compares the length of his life but to a span and the Lord the time of affliction only to a moment Isai 54.8 Nay to a small moment for a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Indeed it may seem long to us when we are in trouble sad houres we say are long houres but we mistake the day God hath promised to deliver us but we antedate the promises as we post-date duties but saith Habakkuk 2.3 though it tarry waite for it because it will surely come It is as well Gods desire to come in with mercy as we to expect it Isai 30.18 The Lord waites that he may be gracious we waite when God will and God waites when he may when mercy may be most welcome and deliverance most glorious 3 Again God doth not afflict us above our strength and this the Apostle verifies 1 Cor. 10.13 he will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able but will give the issue with the temptation that we may be able to bear it In the greatest pressures of the Saints as God tempers the rod and sweetens it with his presence so perpetually doth he make it easie to them by his assistance he metes out afflictions to the strength of our poor soules and supplies strength to the measure of our affliction the best earthly Phisitians may be deceived in the disease and constitution of his Patient he may mistake in the quality or strength of his Phisick and so misse of his intended cure but the Physitians of our souls doth so exactly know our temper and disease doth so intirely affect our health and so accurately mingle the maligne and poysonfull ingredients in our Phisick with corrections and allayes that the confection shall be good and altogether shall and must work for the best And therefore we need not to feare either to be oppressed with an over heavy weight of troubles and afflictions or that we shall be tempted above our power in regard of our frailty and infirmity seeing he who maketh the wounds hath also power to cure them and he that mixeth our Cup can also give us strength to drink it according to the saying of Eliphaz unto Job chap. 5.18 19. He maketh the wound and bindeth it up he smiteth and his hands make whole The Lord Jesus hath bound himselfe by his most gracious promise Math. 12.20 That he will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax till he bring forth judgment unto victory Indeed we have no strength in our own selves to incounter the least affliction much lesse to indure the fiery tryall or be able to wrestle with Principalities and Powers but we are supported with the mighty power of God in our greatest weaknesse and held so fast by the hand of Christ that the strongest afflictions inforced with all the violence of man or Divell are not able to pull us from him It is the blessed spirit of God dwelling in us doth assist us in all our sufferings and according to the greatnesse of our crosses are the greatnesse of our comforts and this the Apostle Paul saith 2 Cor. 1.5 That as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation aboundeth through Christ It is this blessed Inmate which doth apply unto us the mercies of God and merits of Christ and so assuring us that we have our part and interest in all the gracious promises of the Gospell our consciences are so replenished with such peace which passeth all understanding and with such unspeakable joy and gladnesse as none can conceive but they who feel it ah this is that living Fountain which springeth up to eternall life and like a cleer river floweth with heavenly streames of sweetest consolation wherein being bathed in the scortching heat of afflictions we are cooled and refreshed and filled with joy and delight the thoughts of this made David to sing Psal 46.4 We have a river whose streames makes glad the Cittie of our God the holy place of the Tabernacles of the most High this is that spirituall anoynting which preserveth us from being consumed in the fiery Furnace of our affliction which so supples our sores and extracts the Fiery heat of the burning that we receive no hurt thereby Look upon the three Children in the Furnace at Babilon there was not so much as a haire of their heads singed neither did their cloathes but smell of the fire Dan. 3.27 We say its a comfort to have a companion in misery to have one that will simpathize and condole us what greater friend can we have then he which by the Lord Jesus his own mouth is called the Comforter John 14.26 How then can we be dismayed when we have within us such a Fountain of refreshments Oh let us check our fainting hearts when they begin to droop with the words of Eliphaz Job 15.12 Doth the consolations of God seem small unto us what if we want an earthly shaddow we are sure we have a Heavenly substance Oh let us still meditate upon the gracious promises of God and let them be our certain stay in our uncertain condition Hear what the Prophet Isaiah saith chap. 40.29 Hast thou not heard or known that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but they that waite upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint Again Isaiah 41.10 Feare thou not saith God for I am with thee be not afraid for I am thy God I will strengthen and help thee I will sustain thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse And this was it which made David so bold and confident that if he should passe through the valley of the shaddow of death he would feare no evill because God was with him his rod and his staffe they did comfort him Psalm 23.4 4 God lays
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
his power providence and promised assistance either for our delivery or for strength and patience to indure these wilfull trials We see what the practise of the Saints have been to avoid troubles if they could and with their prayers they have joyned their own lawfull indeavours Thus Moses fled from Pharaoh David from Saul and Absalom Joseph and Mary from Herods cruell persecution Paul from the Jewes at Damascus And as we may pray that our bitter Cups should be removed from us so may we advise with our selves and take counsell of others and labour and indeavour in the use of all lawfull meanes to escape afflictions or to overcome them if we cannot avoid them and this all with a sweet submission to the good pleasure of God desiring that our wills may be even melted into the will of God not mine but thy will be done Obj. But here our soules may object and say that we have known many who have trusted in God and have waited for his help and have fervently called upon him for deliverance have notwithstanding at last died in their afflictions yea and we our selves still remaine under great and grievous miseries and crosses though we have often earnestly sought the face of God and with strong cries and teares have poured out our complaints and depended upon no other for succour and freedome and yet we are not delivered no nor can see no outgate or meanes when we shall escape Ans For answer to our own hearts 't is certain that all Gods children have deliverance out of their afflictions in due time whether it be by life or death that matters not one way or other we shall be delivered now seeing our longest lives are short and momentany being compared to eternity and that happiness which we shall then injoy with God the time of our afflictions cannot be long nor our deliverance farre off although it should be deferred to the day of our dissolution Ah! the comforts of God are well worth the waiting for all our days 2 Gods promises of deliverance from remporall afflictions are not absolute but alwayes to be understood with this condition if it stand with his own glory and our spirituall good for otherwise our freedome from afflictions would be no benefit but the greatest hurt now Gods glory and our salvation often times are more advanced by the continuance then by the removall of our crosses as when God tryeth by them his graces in us that he may afterward crown them and causeth our fight to be so much the more long and dangerous that accordingly our insuing victory may be the more glorious or when God doth use afflictions either for an hedge to keep us from leaping into the forbidden pastures of carnall pleasures or for a fiery Furnace to purge and purifie us from the drosse of corruptions now in these cases it is the greatest freedome not to be freed and Gods greatest mercy towards us when as he continueth us in our temporall misery 3 Let us comfort our selves when God deferreth his promises and continueth our conflict of afflictions after we have long vvaited for help and deliverance by considering that in his good time they shall most certainly be accomplished Gods promises are certain performances his truth is of his essence and it is no more possible that he should faile of his word then that he should deny himselfe and therefore since he hath promised that we shall overcome the World that we shall have strength to endure temptations and have a happy issue out of them that if we suffer with Christ we shall reign with him we may be assured though our way be long and foule yet at last we shall safely come to our journeys end that after our painfull sufferings shall come our glorious raigning and that after our dangerous fight we shall obtain a happy victory and be crowned with eternall glory Saith Bernard we may be secure in fighting seeing we are sure of over coming by flying we may loâ—e the victory but by dying we cannot ah blessed shall we be if we dye fighting because we shall be crowned dying Let the consideration of this comâ—ort us that God no lesse waiteth upon us to doe us good then we to receive it expecting a convenient time when as â—e may most fitly and seasonable extend his mercy in our deliverance and therefore â—aith the Prophet Isaiab 30.18 therefore will the Lord wait that he may have mercy upon us and therefore he will be exalted that he may have compassion upon us we waite when God will and God waites when he may when mercy may be most welcome and deliverance most glorious The fourth circumstance is Davids justifying of God in his way of proceeding behold my Son which came forth out of my bowels seâ—keth my life how much more this Benjamite c. here see that God will never leave correcting that soul whom he meanes to save till he hath brought it downe on its knees and to acknowledg he is justly dealt withall and this David confesseth Psal 119.75 I know oh Lord that thy judgments are just and that thou in very faithfulnesse hast caused me to be afflicted See the change in his dispoâ—ion when Nabal would not answer his expectation when he so excellently acted the part of an eloquent begger he presently was all on a fire vowing revenge not only to him but to all his Family now the case is altered he can indure to be railed on by one that was his subject yea and cursed too and stones and durt flung at him and not so much as a rising thought of revenge and thus we see how fierce David was with the Ammonitish Prisoners he put them to death in cold bloud nay he used great cruelty in their deaths by putting them under Saws and Harrows and Axes of Iron and burnt them alive in fiery brick-kils but afflictions at last made him so tame that not only the rightâ—ous might reprove him but the wicked might reproach him and he is silent or if he speak they be words of patience and submission So let him curse because the Lord hath â—aid curse David he that could not before endure Hanuns affront can now quietly and meekly without defire of revenge indure many opprobrious indignities and be contented that Shimei shall bemire him with the durt of his filthy tongue without the least shew of passion So Ephraim by this meanes is made to confesse his owne untamednesse with teares Jer. 31.18 and Lam. 3. makes a man to put his mouth in the dust and to be of an humble and lowly carriage towards all men doing nothing that may savour of pride contempt or disdaine but rather abasing our selves to our inferiors and even to give our cheeks to the smiters The Lord beareth and forbeareth a long time expecting our amendment and when there is no other remedy then he taketh the rod in hand when gentle meanes would not serve rougher means shall if the shaking of the
rod will not humble us we shall surely feel the smart God will first or last take us in hand and master our proudest hearts and stoutest stomacks and if fewer and lighter stripes will not serve the turn he will inflict more and harder till he hath brought us as he would have us And therefore 't is better to be taken downe in youth than to be broken in pieces by great crosses in age we shall be sure of a time of reckoning the best of us God will punish sinne where ever be find iâ— and in this world most severely to his owne they that have most of Gods heart do oftentimes feel his hand most heavy When the â—ins of Saints shall become a scandall to Religion no wonder if God will vindicate his honor and be severest against those that wear his livery yet inwardly side with Satan and their own lofts other offences God may punish this he must least the enemies of the truth triumph against him David had such a whip for this as never man had greater because he had by his fin caused the enemies of God to blaspheme his child must dye when he that had sung the purenesse of the God of Israel and proclaimed the noble acts he did of old and seem'd as one indeared to the Almighties love how would the Philistims rejoyce when he should thus become Apostate and with a milde licentiousnesse mix his lust with murder and ingratitude surely his sin and punishment God will have to stand upon record to the worlds end to be a warning to all that if God was so severe against one who lay so near his heart then let us with fear and trembling look to our wayes making streight steps to our feet least that which is lame be turned out of the way ever remembring that after the remission of a â—in the very chastisements of the Almighty may be deadly And this was it which made David so meek without murmuring seeing God as his justice required did justly execute his righteous judgements upon him for his sin and according to his revealed truth inflicted those afflictions which he had formerly threatned God is immutable as his course hath been towards his children in times past so will he deal with us and our posterity in time to come he will ever proceed by the same rules of justice and mercy punishing like finnes with like judgements And therefore let us justifie Gods wifedome in all his proceedings of providence concerning our selves and others his justice in punishing as well as his love in correcting his grace in giving and his mercy in taking away and in all things from the heart blesse the name of the Lord. Blesse his name and exalt his free grace that our punishment is no more nor no worâ—e What if we have many crosses heavily lying upon us truly if we had our due desert we should have more and greater the terrors of conscience here and torments of hell hereafter what if death have deprived us for a time of our children deerest necrest relations alas our fins have deserved to be deprived of the presence of God and all his holy glorious Saints Angells that to all eternity what if we have loâ—t our honor riches reputation and estimation with the world perhaps they were our Gods no wonder they were daâ—ht to pieces and we made to drinke of their dust what if our friends have lest us and have forgotten all their promises and purposes of friendly intimacy and have taken away all their love and have in stead repaid us with scorne and disdain what then they could not take away our God nor our Christ nor his spirit nor our interest in the promises nor our hope of Heaven why what have we lost then truly matters of no great moment the presence of our God without any of these is perfect peace but all these without God is but a little more cheerfull hell And therefore none could justifie God in his way of proceeding better then David so he says nay sings it too Psal 103 he hath not dealt with us after our fins nor rewarded us after our iniquities and this he intimateth Psal 51.4 by that ingeminating confession of his against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evill in thy fight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou art judged 5 David comforting himselfe with hopes of being benefited by this affliction it may be that the Lord will look on my affliction and that the Lord will requâ— good for his cursing this day And this should comfort us in our deepeft diftresse because Gods round reprehensions are ever gracious forerunners of his mercy Faith will teach us to say God hath chastised me according as he hath threatned therefore he will comfort me according as he hath promised now hath not God promised and assured us to uphold us in our afflictions and bring us through it and comfort us by it and gloriâ—ie us after it let us therefore with Abraham hope against hope and apprehend the certain accomplishment of these promises by faith whence fence and carnall reason see nothing but the contrary Ah! if we would seriously consider that as God is the supreame cause of all our afflictions so doth he govern and over-rule all secondary and inseriour causes and meanes by his most wise and powerfull providence that when they seeme most to oppose against him they do but effect that which he willeth and hath purposed to be done they serve to the furthering of his ends his glory and our salvation how opposite and contrary they are one to the other Now if God hath joyned his glory and our happinesse together it is â—it that we should refer our selves to his good pleasure that hath joyned his glory to our best good which is our salvation This was it which upheld the head of David the good which would follow he was sure that this wet seed-time would bring forth a plentifull harvest this he â—ings Psal 126.6 He that goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubâ—lesse come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him And again Psal 126.5 They that sow in teares shall reap in joy And thus many times God in mercy puts us to a lesser trouble for our greater good Thus did the Lord with the Israelites when he brought them into the wildernesse where they indured much affliction he did humble them and prove them that he might do them good at their latter end Deut. 8.16 Now God doth not only advance by afflictions the spirituall and everlasting good of his own children but many times turneth them to their greater benefit in the things of this life as we may see in the example of Joseph he was sould as a slave that he might be a great Commander he lost his patrimony at home that he might receive a much more large inheritance in a strange Countrey and therefore he professeth that when his brethren
intended evill against him God disposed it to the good not only of himselfe but of many others And thus was Johs afflictions turned to his advantage here in this life what a name hath he gotten to be a pattern of patience which shall never die so long as the world lasts for all his temporall things which he lost he shall have it doubled and those that charged him for an Hipocrite shall be the first shall contribute to his reliefe and comfort and this was it which comforted him when he looked to the end God faith he knoweth my way and triâ—th me and I shall come forth like gold Joh. 23.10 Ah! if we would consider Gods manner of dealing many times he is faine to pull us down to the ground before he build us up anew empty us quite of all Creature comforts before he fils us with himselfe so never should our names have had so sweet a savour with God if they had not been by man pounded in the morter of afflictions so that many may say they had been undone if they had not been undone Thus I have heard of â—godly manâ—hat was going for France and he was going a Ship-board he broak his leg and it pleased God so to order it that the Ship in which he should have gone in at that time was cast away and not a man saved so that by breaking a bone he saved his life The like did that blessed Martyr in Queen Mary's dayes who would alwayes conclude of all Gods dealings to be very good and so he said when word was brought him that the next day he must be burned but as he was going to the stake he fell and brake his leg which when some asked him whether this were good too he replyed oh yes very good and so it fell out indeed for before his lame leg would bring him to the stake a post from Queen Elizabeth came to save him and to tell Queen Mary was dead Oh! how doth afflictions occasion more comfort and further experience of grace God seldome afflicts in vain such solemn providences and dispansations leave men better or worse but the children of God gain profit still by them for 'c is Gods course to recompence outward losses with inward injoyments for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so also consolations abound by Christ that is inward comfort and experiences according to the rate of outward sâ—fferings Ah! a wildernesse that giveth us more of God is to be preferred above all the pleasures and treasures of Egypt Novv as afflictions occasion comfort so it tries it whether it be sound and solid for in the time of prosperity that comfort which vâ—e have is so mixed according to the mixt causes of it that vve can very hardly diâ—cern what of it is carnall and what is spirituall but vvhen all other comforts and hopes are gone then that vvhich is left is most likely to be spirituall and the spirit never vvorketh more sensibly and svveetly then when it worketh alone So likewise how can we tell whether we be able to incounter with an adversary when there appeareth 〈◊〉 to contend against us Hovv can vve tell vvith what patience vve can bear poverty vvhen vve alwayes abound in riches hovv can vve discern vvhat heart and coâ—rage vve â—ave to indâ—re shaâ—e disgâ—ace reproaches vvhen vve shall grovv old in popular applause and the sâ—reame of their favours shall flovv unto our graves hovv shall vve knovv vvith vvhat constancy and contentednesse vve can sustain the lâ—ss of children friends of the nearest and dearest relations when we never heard of the death of any of them truly we may comfort others but then it comes more kindly when we have first comforted our selves and have commanded our griefes to avoid our presence And this is she goodnesse and sweetnesse of our afflictions when being cast into this fiery Furnace we are purified from our drosse we may be approved in the touch and be esteemed and prized as well befitteth our worth and value according to that of Solomon Prov. 17.3 as the fining-pot for silver and the Furnace for gold so h Lord trieth the heart Object But some may say my afflictions are greaâ— and my strength small so that in my trials I shew so many infiâ—mities and corruptions I fear I shall never be approved how then shall I grow better by them Ans Alas poor soul dost thou think that the Goldsmâ—th hath skill enough so to proportion the heat of the fire to the mettall that it may be purified and not consumed and canst thou imagine that the Lord knoweth not how to fit his trials to thy stâ—ength or if he have knowledg and wisedome enough canst thou doubt of his will seeing he hath bound himselfe by a most gracious promise that he will not suffer us to be tempted or tried above our strength but will give a good issue with the temptations yea but in the meane time thou art pressed with such an heavy weight that thou bewraiest thine infirmities and corruptions And truely it may be necessary and profitable for thee so to doe that by this tryall thou mightest come to the sight and sense of these imperfections which before were in thee though hidden and unknowne to the end that now beholding them thou mayest be truly humbled brought to unfained repentance and to an hearty indeavour in using all good meanes to be cleansed and freed from them God many times in wonderfull mercy and love causeth us to bewray our smaller infirmities that he might free us from grosser sins and taking away all selfe confidence in our one strength he causeeth us with full affiance to rest upon him who never faileth those that trust in him Ah! We shall have treble honour for all our sufferings we are honoured by the Lord when he inricheth us with his graces and then by trying of them whereby their worth and excellency is manifested unto all that behold us And at last he will honour us by crowning his own graces in us when as by tryall they are approved Did we but serioâ—fly confider that promise Rom. 8.28 All things shall worke together not on y for good but for the best to them that love God we would think our present condition to be best what ever it be because of the wise providence of God Not to speake how prosperity workes for our good because though we are like a ship under saile with afore-winde carried sweetly and swiftly towards heaven being fully laden with the blessings of Gods left hand yet for as much as we saile in a tumultuous sea we are in great danger alwayes to be over set and many a one have been driven to that extremitie to cut downe their maine Mast and â—achling thrâ—w over-board all their goods before they could seâ—ure their lives My army said a Roman Captaine never stood in worse termes then when it had peace And 'c is noted of Solomon that of all the Kings of Juda
strong our God is and therefore will the Lord suffer us to fall that seeing how filthy we haue made our selves by our owne pollutions we may be the more wary and circumspect for the time to come The burnt childe dreads the fire and those that have layen once at hell gates will for ever be carefull how they come there again Thus are Gods children by the renewing of their sins made to renue their sorrowes and more strictly to examine their repentance past and present and if there be any dust or dirt of pride or impatiency in us this shaking of us will make it appeare and discover it selfe so that sometimes one sin shall be made as a meanes to purge out another not by any virtue it hath in it selfe but as God makes use of it as an instrument to drive us home to him as Mariners in storme to their port 4 Our wants they worke for our good likewise Alas such is our nature we love no longer to waite in humility then we have hope of benefit the young prodigall no sooner receives his portion but he departs to rassle it in another Country willingly we would attend no longer then God is giving having received we would be out of his fight to spend and this makes the Lord so scant in his blessings God will have us many times to know the worth but of his left handed blessings in their want that we might know what value to put on the next we shall receive and how to be thankfull for them Now we come to rellish every mercy indeed now a bit of browne bread is sweet which in our fullnesse would not down And now are we kept by this our meanenesse in a continuall dependance on Gods al-sufficiency for mercies and blessings till we have them that on our spirituall trassique for his glory he may furnish us with greater store O how doth this make us pitty poore hunger-starved soules now our bowels which before were hardned are melted towards them in pitty and compassion our hearts are made more tender which may be would have never beene if we had not wanted our selves Let us not therefore measure things by the present sweetnesse but by the future profit Wants will worke for good in the end and truly those mercies that come to us out of great difficulties and seeme to be raised out of contraries are the sweetest mercies indeed Let us never say at any time we are in a hard condition unlesse we have a hard heart and cannot pray What though we are at a very low ebb in regard of outward comfort yet the high springs of our joy and consolations are not lost but swallowed up in the Ocean of Gods love where they are reserved for us to an appointed time And though we be not the subject of comfort yet our comfort is alwayes sure in the object of faith and 't is hid for us even then when 't is hid from us Indeed they are the best natures whom mercies and blessings winn but they are more which this rod of wants sends home Sometimes a Phisitian lets blood not that the man is sicke but that he may not be so God takes from us sometimes our wealth least we should grow proud sometimes our dearest relations and children least we should idolize them Sometimes our good name least we should grow insolent sometimes our health liberty c. Least we turn the grace of our God into wantonnesse so that what ever befalls us is from our God and for our good There is nothing so high that is above Gods providence nothing so low that is beneath it nothing so large but is bounded by it nothing so confused but God can order it nothing so bad but he can draw good out of it nothing so wisely plotted but God can disappoint it Nothing so simple and unpolitiquely carried but he can give a prevailing issue unto it and make it necessary in regard of the event And therefore this cannot but bring strong security to our poore distressed soules to know that in all variety of changes and crosse providences God and our God hath such a disposing hand whatsoever befalls us all shall serve to bring Gods electing love and our glorification together let us check our drooping soules in the words of David Psal 42. why art thou so sad O my soule and why art thou so disquieted within me trust in God for I shall yet praise him he is the health of my countenance and my God And then let us sweetly conclude that God will very shortly turne our depths of sorrow into seas of comfort our bitter â—eares into spirituall triumphs our former heaviness into heavenly joy our oppression and wrongs into a Crowne of glory our innocency which now is obscured by the rotten rags of prejudice which fame that common liar cast upon her shall then appeare beautifull and shine as cleere as the light Our sadned hearts shall be filled with those unmixed pleasures which no man shall take from us our troubled consciences shall have that perfect peace which passeth all understanding and which our utmost conceite cannot possibly comprehend We have seene how David comforted himselfe with hopes of being benefitted by this his affliction and we have seen the end of the Lord 't is true he was now in one of the greatest afflictions that ever befell a man a father or a King persecuted by his owne bosome friends by his beloved son more then 20000 of his own subjects up in armes against him outward troubles inward conflicts incompassed him on every side so that there was but a step between him and death yet by theey of faith and strength of God looks beyond all eyed him which is invisible It was a thick cloud God had wrapt himselfe in at that time none but a Saint could have concluded a faire end from such a lou'e beginning yet Davids hope shall not shame him his confidence will not leave him till the full accomplishment of his faith the scaene shall be changed his rebellious Son shall have his desert his trustless counsellor Achitophel shall pay himselfe for his treachery and shall save the hangman a labour he 'l supply the place of an executioner his guilty conscience shall be his witnesse and God will be his judge Now shall David be brought home againe with greater honour then ever all the tribes of Israel shall sharply contend who shall be the first that shall come and conduct him Shimei that a little before had so abused him shall be as forward as any nay to be formost of many to wellcome the King backe againe He needs no accusers or judge his owne mouth shall condemne him and his heart shall bid his tongue beg pardon for his desperate presumption Take notice of his humble carriage now 2 Sam. 19.16 17 c. first he hasted to come downe with the men of Juda to meet the King and he brings a thousand men with him of his owne tribe