may not be neglected carnal and sinful means may not be used Better use none but prayer then use all without prayer As carnal and evil helps are to be avoided so let this give an exhortation for direction to the Sovereign means of help in all our necessities and exigencies to betake us unto prayer that even for the time we pray will mitigate and alleviate the evil and in Heavens appointed time will obtain a removal of it The voice of a good heart is that of the Prophets Hos 6 1â— Come let us return to the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us c. Tender before God your troubled spirits lay before him all your sorrows he will be overcome by fervent prayer to lay unto them an equal yea a far more surpassing weight of mercies in giving a gracious deliverance The Prophet knew the vertue of prayer to be so powerful that he falls a wondring why God can be angry with his people that prays Psal 80.4 For how can God be angry with a â—ruly praying heart unless he will be angry with his own Spirit which teaches to pray yea which frames the Petitions his Children put up unto him God cannot be displeased and continue his wrath if there continue in me his Spirit of prayer for then there should be discord 'twixt God the Father and the Holy Spirit when yet they are but one God If we pleaded with the bare spirit of man our Weapons were but Vitrea tela Weapons of Glass Austin as the Father calls Hereticks Arguments quickly broken of no force but being assisted by the Spirit of Grace what shall stand in our way not tribulation not anguish not sorrow of minde not temptations of Devil not malice of men not the failings of our own hearts for he that hath given us his Son to intercede above and his Spirit to intercede below for us and in us how shall he not wtth them give us all things else especially things concerning his Service If God have any marks for his sheep sure this is one that they call upon God and are accustomed in all their needs to shew their rent fleeces their weakness their evils to the eye and ear of the great Shepherd of their Souls by prayer If there be and so carnally foolish as will cavil at and seâ—m this Heavenly habit of prayer saying Who can shew us any good that comes from it many pray but where is their Cross removed and blessings conferred by it Zcch 12.10 to such this good we can shew that though their deliverance do not appear yet this appears a signe of their adoption and which shall certainly bring them peace at the last when all carnal men shall be accursed Psal 14.4 who have carried this mark of Goats that they loved not to call upon God Besides this good shall certainly come their afflictions are sanctified to them by prayer and a sweet communion and fellowship is maintained 'twixt God and the Soul which is the only Heaven to be had upon earth Verse Here are two errors about prayer would be avoided The first of wicked men who despise small evils and use not to fly to the remedy of prayer but at some sore plunge and last pinch when the Boat has tried all other Oars and cannot be brought safe into the Haven It is not the custom of them that are unaccostomed to Godliness not to betake themselves to prayer till worldly helps are out of joynt and cannot help them Then when worldly means will not delp our decayed estate the last refuge is to call on God When the Apothecaries pots cannot draw them out of the bed of sickness after all prayer chuses God for the Physition Mark 5. When 12 years Physick will do no good then the diseased woman cares not to ask Christ his counsel When death or the utmost end of any evil approaches then doth the worldly spirit turn to God because he cannot work it out himself an evil ordering when God must be put in the second and last place Thus justly doth God suffer men to despise small Crosses till they by neglect of prayer grow vehement and immense like waters from the ankle to the chin Well worth St. Austine who In Confess lib. 9. when his teeth did but ake did flie unto prayer and desired them that were present with him to pray for him and with him whereas we only foolishly ungodlily do desire the prayers of others and fly to our own prayers only when evils are grown great and ripe Be our evils never so small yet they may grow greater unless we take prayer the remedy for prevention Second error is of Godly men who by the greatness of their sins or afflictions are kept and affrighted from prayer as if it were only able to remove lighter burdens nay rather they should be more diligent in prayer by how much more vehement their anguish is If your evil be so great why do you encrease it Expectation of deliverance from the most leaden and heaviest weights is not hopeless unless we be prayerless This is as if some silly one should argue Strong ropes and good tacklings firm Masts and whole Sails are profitable in a calm Sea but in a storm and violent tempest nothing will hold all will be broken with the Winâ—s yea â—â—â—â—â—â—less if in our calm or evilâ—â—â—â—â—eâ— be profitable much more is it necessary when the winds blow the rain fall and the storms beat for this will underprop and stablish a Christian to keep him from falling But against prayer in those cases the Godly deeply afflicted have to shifts Fain would we pray 1 Shift but in our prayers we finde no delight no spiritual rellish in this duty and what shall we get in that if we go about it for which we are so unfit and indisposed so shall we rather provoke God than any way please him This is called driness and barrenness in spiritual exercises yet why should this hinder us be our hearts never so dry and barren this is the way to moisten them It may be through the trouble of our hearts we finde no delight in our devotions John 5. we know the Angel was in the Pool when the waters were stirred and troubled so though we think our troubled tumultuous thoughts unfit to meet and commune with God in prayer yet even then Gods Spirit can move in those troubled waters our unfitness cannot hinder the fitness of Gods Spirit whose best and most prevailing language is troublesome groans and sighs that cannot be exprest Rhm. 8. We may go to God unfit for prayer and yet be marvellously fitted by him that works upon hearts in the very act of prayer Yea surely a prayer which is put to God constrainedly not to please our selves for we find no tast pleasant in it but reemly to obey God because it is his will is very acceptable to him The more humble we are in
hurries the Soul to Heaven first giving it clusters of Canaans Grapes and then making it walk through Jordan to come into the promised Land and eat of all the fruits of blessedness to the full The second Tractate was after the cure of the Heel at the celebration of the triumph in the Head Jesus Christ Titulum frontis erade ut mutasit pagina quod sufficit loquatur materiam non loquatur autorem Sever. Sulpit. in Epist ad Histor D. Mart. We say no more of the discourses and treatises but that they may still be profitable even after the hours of their first hirth they are of age whether they can speak much for themselves or no I know not you may see no great desire there was in the Author to send them abroad though they have been desired They were conceived and born in the year 1632. when the Womb they came from could plead nothing but unripeness and youth and therefore hopes his pardon may be the sooner sued out it is now fifteeen years since almost Horoces noâ—um prematur in annum It hath the same matter and form it had unaltered only that â—f Esay has the Conclusions all â—andled and so suffâ—rs a little â—ddition of what was not spoâ—en to fill up the Text. I have â—â—me reasons why I make this walk in publick for first I owe so much to her memory my self 2. There is some need of â—eviving her graces for others that knew her among whom â—uch examples are rare living â—nd are rarely thought of when the parties are dead for we are very prone to bury good examples but evil examples have a dayly Resurrection 3. No great reason appâ—ars but that now when so many Wild Goose Quills are writing and so many Soul poysoning and Faith blasting Themes are dayly printed and published to the detriment of many Souls set out with the plausible and gay flourishes of new Truth and new Revelations but it will stand the servants of God in hand to put out something practical and sound to fill the hands of their â—riends with that which is wholesome though it be not so gloriâ—as to the eye and fancy We run like the Dromedary in the wilderness after Doctrines of new Theories and we forget the old rules of holy practical Theologie O that in Science we were more sober and in Conscience more sound It was a true censure of our and former times that the Primitive and foregoing servants of God had less Science Beza in Epist lib. Epist 1. Andreae Duditio and more Conscience and our men and age have more Science but less Conscience that is less integrity and simplicity of Consciscience the former times were full of Fire and ours full of Glow-worms That good Soul about whom these ensuing lines were might for a wakened and right Conscience challenge some praise to set her forth as exemplary specially to her rank that they might not strive to be called fine Ladies Ladies always in the fashion but what is better Ladies in the faith and as St. John's Elect Ladies But living she desired it not and dead she needs not any such thing Flatterly commonly and Wit sometimes has gone very far in the praise of things Pirkhaimerus laudavit podagram Janus Dâ—uza umbram Joannes Bruno Italus etiam Diabâ—lum Frid. Taubman in Virgil. Culic where all was an occult quality so hidden as could not be found Augustine saith of Julian the Pelagian that he was idoneus dicere panegyricum Satanae He was fit to make an Oration in praise of the Devil And one Bruno an Italian did expresly do it But away with such fancies it will be better for us to enquire after the great Rabbies and Mastors under which she tutor'd did and we also may profit and attain to exact holiness and they were three great Tutors Melch. Adam in vit Luth. that Luther writes make a compleat Divine Meditation Prayer Temptation Reader peruse ponder practise thou mayst find what rightly considered may teach thee to be a Christian Centinell to watch thy Soul and keep thy spiritual peace carefully lest thou come to the mournning and great cries of Ramath with Rachel to weep if not for the Children of thy womb yet for thy peace and assurance the Children of the Lords womb and be much troubled because they are not A right use of the departure of good Souls may be learnt so much the rather because it is so neglected as if there were no more thoughts of heart to be had about the withering of Roses then the cutting up of Nettles the departure of a Stephen and the death of a Cain Thou mayst if thou wilt receive some benefit if not this is one witness more against thee then thou knewest of before good things if they profit not they hurt I will not abuse my small leisure to a larger prodrom or extended Epistle lest as the lips of a fool swallow up himself Cicero de Accio In orationibus multus ineptus De legibus lib. 1. so my lines might be censured If this and such like Treatises may keep any from conversing in the frothy todder of Pamphlets idle and vain or if any Soul may hereby learn better to mind duty and either keep or recover sense of sweet mercy he shall rejoyce Who is The Churches servant in the Gospel T. C. HEART-SALVE FOR A WOUNDED SOUL PSAL. 143.7 Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit faileth hide not thy face from me lest I be like to them that go down into the Pit IN this Psalm we have the Picture of David without his Harp having laid aside all his pleasant Tools he is now in his poenitential plight sadness sorts not with Musick If we ask the reason of the metamorphosis of this holy man from his heights of joy to such depths of sorrow he may answer with him who was a Patriarch of the same Tribe of affliction Job 30.30 31. My skin is black upon me and my bones are burnt with heat my Harp also turned into mourning and my Organ into the voice of them that weep Or with the words of this Verse My Musick fails for my spirit fails Let the living rejoyce but I am as one dead and ready to be laid in the pit The Septuagint intitle the Psalm In Hieronym quadrupl Psalterio Quum furgeret Saulem Piscator A Psalm of David when he was persecuted by his son Absalom the Original has no such matter The ground of the former is fetcht from the 3 and 9 and last Verses of the Psalm True it is this wicked Son often made his Father sing with a heavy voice where David was deceived in imposing on him the name of Absalom his Fathers Peace his life signified no such thing he being Benoni a Son of sorrow and mischief to his Father whatsoever were the occasion the matter of the Psalm is evident the light of Gods countenance Gods audience of his Prayers the comforts of his
Spirit his power to sustain him his Grace to quicken him all earnestly desired these are the substance of this holy Psalm what the Father saith of that Verse Monachus qui non vigilat hunc versum non potest dicere Hieron in Psal 77. Psal 77 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking c. a sleepy Monk cannot say that Verse the same may I say in another kinde a sleepy secure Christian that mourns not for his sins and by faith and patience not earnestly trusting and waiting upon God cannot truly say this The Psalm is a congress for a Combat or a pitched field 'twixt faith and distrust the old and new man in the Soul of a sanctified man distrust of the flesh arms it self with a multitude of sorrows and fainting with waiting for Gods delayed help Faith in the new man comes strengthened with a multitude of Gods mercies against the multitudes of miseries waiting to spie Gods face though he do for a while hide it yea as winning the Battel Ver. 9 10 stedfastly concluding Though thou hide thy face yet art thou my God and my hiding place Here about Gods help we have David requesting and reasoning with God The request are two the reasons two to move the Lord to grant his re-requests 1. Request is for audience and that speedily Hear me speedily O Lord. And that is backt with reason why What haste why begest thou for so speedy hearing He gives the reason My spirit fails I can hold out no longer 2. Request is for light of Gods countenance Hide not thy face from me 2. Reason for that is the present peril he is in even ready to die If thou hide thy face Lord I shall perish and accompany them that lie in the pit We may frame him to our understanding as if he thus pleaded with the Lord Sum and Sense How long O Lord wilt thou shut out my prayers look upon me and behold how low I am brought O hear me quickly lest my tired spirit give over lest my faint heart which has now no more strength to subsist without thy help do quite break off as drowned in the whirl pit of my deep sorrows Now at length O Lord after my long waiting send and let shine the light of thy countenance upon me which may glad my Soul shew me thy face which may raise me up again else if thou still delay what is there can keep me alive any longer from the company of them that are laid in the grave and sleep under the câ—oâ—s of death my life without sense of thy love being worse than death .. Doctr. First request Hear me speedily David he is in trouble and he betakes him to prayer Prayer is the sovereign Remedy the Godly flie to in all their extremities The Saints in sorrows have fled for comfort and healing unto Prayers and Supplications Heaven is a shop full of all good things there are stored up blessings and mercies this the Children of God know who flie to this shop in their troubles begging for help from this holy Sanctuary Psal 77.2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. When any vexation makes our life grievous unto us what should we seek but help of whom should we seek but of the Lord how should we seek Psal 116.3 4. but by prayer My sore saith he ran and ceased not so his Soul ran and ceased not to pray to the Lord. When the sorrows of death compassed him and the pains of hell got hold upon him what was his course then he got hold of the Lord and prayed unto him right humbly Then called I upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my Soul We have to confirm this for a sure and saving way Precept Practice Promise Performance 1. Precept God commands us to pray at all times especially in sad times Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me He commands us to depend on him for deliverance and calling upon him is the best dependance 2. Practise the Godly have walked in this way which God has prescribed All Davids Psalms will witness that he coupled his troubles and prayers together Psa 6. Psal 38. So Hezekiah Esa 38.2 at hearing the message of death sent to the Lord a message of Prayers So Nehemiah in Jerusalems destruction Nehem. 1.4 5. sought succour to her distress by prayer 3. Promise the Lord hath armed us in our Petitions with hope Esa 65.24 John 16.23 which is made up of sure Promises we shall not pray to one that is deaf assoon as we can finde our tongue we shall finde his ear Every humble praying sinner shall have a hearing and helping Saviour 4. Performance all Saints are ready to subscribe We prayed the Lord has performed and delivered This poor man cried Psal 34.6 and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles This poor woman even Hannah prayed 1â— aâ— â— 19 2â— and the Lord heard her he gaver her Samuel the thing she asked of God as the name signifies All the Saints cry and by experience witness the Lords performance upon their prayers we have swimmed say they in all Seas of sorrows ready to sink but prayer hath held up our heads I was in the stocks I prayed and am delivered saith Joseph in the Lyons den by prayer I muzzeled those cruel Beasts that they did not bite saith Daniel our bed was made in the fire our coverings violent flames prayer prevailed with the Lord to cool all this heat say the three Children God has thus performed he will still perform our evils are no greater God is not deafer he can still deliver for he is as strong he will still deliver for he is as loving and gracious he must hear and deliver us for he is faithful and will not deny his Seal and Promise which he hath given us Use Away then with all broken reeds learn we not to lean on or to trust to vain confidences flying to carnal remedies in our evils Is there any evil which the Lord hath not wrought Are we in some trouble the arm of Heaven sent it the arm of flesh cannot remove it Has God wounded thee seek not then to the Devil or the Witch his Agent for a Plaister Art thou in poverty trust not to unlawful shifts they may raise thee up again in the world they cast thee twice as low in the world to come O the folly of worldly men who think with pleasures to drown their sorrows with mirth to stop the mouth of Conscience and to laugh away the burden of their evils Jer. 3.23 In vain is salvation hoped for from the mountains if God wound worldly comforts are but foolish Physick There is no way like this to fly to him by Prayer when we trust to earthly helps we take no notice of Gods hand Secondly 2 Use Lawful means
misliking our prayers the more commonly doth the Lord like them This hindred not the Prophet in his distress Psal 77.34 I am so troubled saith he that I cannot speak yet for all this he prays Esa 38.14 And Hezekiah when his great sorrow so disturbed his prayers that he seemed rather to chatter like a reasonless Crane than to speak like a man or pray like a Servant of God yet this cackling chattering troubled prayer brought to him the sealed Patents of Gods Promise for spinning out the thred of his life to fifteen years length what better prayer could the freest prayer have brought God knows our broken fighs and loves our undigested troubled groans for he commonly dwells most pleasingly in troubled hearts he takes our prayers not as they are heavy and distracted dead and dull but such as we would have them quick and fervent lively and earnest Yea 2 Shift but God seems to be our enemy he hides away his face and if the face be turned away the ear goes with it Here the Serpent shews his tail this is one of Hells Arguments to withhold the humbled heart from approaching the welspring of comfort Suppose God seem to be thy enemy is not Christs counsel good Matth. 5. to agree with thine adversary quickly to appease him and make him thy friend by supplication unto him When two are at odds the best way is to bring a third person to mediate betwixt them Dost thou feel a seeming sense of Gods displeasure then say I in like advise to that given to Abraham Go take his son his only Son Jesus offer him up to his Father upon the Altar of thy contrite heart pray him to be the third Person to mediate betwixt God and thee beseech this Heavenly Proctor and Advocate to plead the causes of thy Soul unto his Father say unto Chrip I dare not speak to God he seems to be my enemy let thy blood speak for me stand thou betwixt him me be my reconciler for in thee he is well pleased The Prophet was in this case he would gladly pray to God Mat. 3. Tantum aberat ut cogitatio de Deo mentem inquietam micaret ut contra nil aeque me perturbaret Beza in Psal 77.3 in Paraphrasi but the remembrance of God troubled him when he saw to his judgment that the tokens of Gods displeasure were upon him But against this fear we may be bold and confident in it that if God be displeased he cannot refuse the sighs of a contrite heart let this sacrifice smoke before him and Gods displeasure cannot long smoke against thee Satan may be displeased at it but believe him not when he tells thee that for all this God is displeased Speedily his request is not only for hearing but for speedy hearing Hear me and hear me speedily answer and answer quickly this is the tone and tune of men in distress Man in misery earnestly sues for speedy delivery In our afflictions and troubles deliverance though it should come with wings we never think it comes soon enough Weak man cannot content himself to know he shall have help unless it be present help Accelera quia magna esset poena mea tarditas tua Card. de Aliaco in Psal 31. Qui nunquam Solem nec orientem nec occidentem viderunt Cicero de finib lib. 2. Smyndirides the Sybarite bragged of his blessed voluptuous life that for 20 years he never saw the Sun either rising or setting Athen. Dipuos li. 6. c. 8. If evil fall upon us in the night we would have it removed ere the morning if in the morning we would not have it our bed fellow in the evening We would have the Lords Promise run thus Your sorrows shall not endure the whole night your joy shall come long before the morning The luxurious Emperour and his drunken mates eat and drank all the night and slept all the day in so much as it was said of them they never saw Sun-set nor Sun-rise Such would we have our evils we suffer of so short continuance as might neither have Sun-set nor Sun-rise to see us in our misery Which makes me marvel at that strange Aegyptian Beast called Pharaoh who being demanded by Moses when he would have Gods Plague of the Frogs removed answered Exo. 8 1â— To morrow Surely here he spake not as a man to whom an hours trouble is accounted a day a day a month a month seems a year For in leaving of two things we change our desires and are much different 1. In leaving of sin there we procrastinate and put off and when God says to day hear my voice we answer to morrow and are like the Levites Father too kind hosts to such bad Guests Judg. 19.6 O my sins you shall not be left to day tarry till the morning our pace to repentance is slow far from haste 2. But for afflictions to leave us Psal 55.6 there we wish they had feet like hindes feet to run away from us or we the wings of a dove to fly away from them and be at rest The Prophet who had good shoulders to bear much yet cares not how soon the weight were off them Psal 40.13 Be pleased O Lord to deliver me How long time would he willingly lie under his troubles doth he desire God to help him after some months and years alas no within some few hours Make haste saith he to help me Yea because God seems to come slowly he intreats him to amend his pace Make no long tarrying O my God Ver. 17. in the day when I call answer me speedily He would be helpt the first day of his trouble nay Psa 102.2 and he would not have the day spent neither speedily let it be betimes even in that day What Prisoner desires not to be presently set free and that liberties soft hand may loose his Iron knots what Mariner wishes a long storm what Servant sighs not for his hard Apprentiship yea who is he thâ—â— if there were an appearâ—â—â—â— of 〈◊〉 offering to take the Câ—p oâ— calamâ—ty â—â—om his mouth saying Thou shalâ—â—riâ—k no more would answer This Cup shalâ— not yet pass â—â—om me I deligâ—â— to carouse and drink deeply of these bitter waters yea this desire extends so far as it comes to the Son of Man the blessed Seed of the Woman who was so clad with our humane weakness as that he earnestly prays for speedy help from his heavy anguish and that not once but often O my Father if it be possible c. and when his Father answers not he cries like one ready to fall under the burden Reas 1 My God my God c. The reason in Christ thus complaining is to be fetcht from thence whence his flesh came even from us it was our humane flesh not his divine Spirit which was so weary of suffering his Spirit was willing it was our flesh that was so weak And
fain to pray again again it teaches us to seek out several Arguments and motives to move God some from his power he is able to help us some from his truth Psal 77.8 9 Lord what is become of thy true promise is thy Covenant come to an end for evermore some from his love and mercy Hast thou forgotten to be gracious Art thou that God of whom they sing His mercy endureth for ever and hast thou no mercy to hear and help me Thus like a scruple in our estates which makes us seek all the Court Rolls do our longing affections lead us to God with earnest and urgent prayers and seek out the wisest and movingst Arguments to put life into our Prayers O the excellent learning of afflictions which teach us to search out all Gods Promises to lay to our own hearts and before his eyes by faithful prayer There is a great deal of difference betwixt a prayer in ease Coloss 4.12 Agonizein en tais proseuchais and that in adversity especially spiritual troubles there is more Art and Arms more wisdom more life and feeling in the one than in the other it is one thing to pray another thing to strive in prayer III. Consider that the longest trouble is but short in several respects 1. In respect of the time of our sinning Thou sufferest but a week thou hast lived in sin many weeks and months or thy grief lasts a year hast thou not provoked God many a year Job 11.6 We love indeed long faults and short rods we should never be free from scourges if the Lord continued striking so long as we continue sinning God exacts less than our iniquities deserve 2. In respect of God it is long to us it is short to him with him a thousand years are but as one day we seem to suffer a thousand hours this unto him is but as one minute 2 Pet. 3.8 It is not our sentence but Gods Judgment that must stand for giving estimation to any thing He calls our sufferâ—â—gs but a To ' nun sufferings of this present time 3. In respect of tha◠〈◊〉 aâ—d enâ—less eas◠〈…〉 boâ—â— sucâ—â—eds 〈…〉 â—â—ese sorrow â—â—d sufferings 〈◊〉 now criest make haste to help me hear me speedily how long shall I be vexed in my Soul thou wilt one day say O happy heavy afflictions for a night which have brought such joy in the morning Blessed temptations which though grievous and tedious in the end have brought me to glory and peace without end Who will be afraid of suffering a little while with Christ here that he may be a partner of everlasting glory with him hereafter Jacobs hard seven years service he counted but short compared with that sweet society he should have with his wife at the end We suffer an hour we shall reign for ever Compare a moment and eternity together we shall weep but a short time we shall have a long time of joy for it The Lord would have us consider how he will make amends for our sufferings Esa 54.7 It is but for a small moment that I have forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In 〈◊〉 little wrath I hid my self from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer It is good being scourged an hour to have the Rod cast away for ever O how well should we endure the sorest afflictions if we did but consider that they are light and momentany yet work unto us an exceeding surpassing weight of glory 4. Consider 1 Cor. 4. thou hast a safe way by resignation of thy self in to the Lords hands Non corrigat aeger Medica menta sua Austin Psal 146. Cast thy self upon him he brought thee in trust him with it he will in good time bring thee out Conclude with thy self if release do not yet come it must and will chme for God is faithful who hath promised Submit to his hands and handling being sick do not correct and find fault with thy Physick the Physitian knows best what and when any thing is fittest for us when these corrasives have eaten out sins foul matter then the Cordials of Gods Spirit of Peace shall refresh thy Soul Paterete curari ita sananduses Aug. We would have no tart nor bitter Medicine when God knows it may be Sugar would mar our Physick Impatient man would have the Plaister pulled off the sore too soon before the wound be either drawn or closed Give the Lord leave to do his pleasure he continues thy grief because hasty Physick might do thee hurt If the Lord heals us slowly say to thy self Be contented O my Soul it is for thy good that he may do it soundly 5. Consider that when one eye sails thou must get another when the eye of sense is shut up open the eye of faith and thou shall see wonders Look up and wait upon God with that eye and then thou shalt sweeten darkness with the hope of light peep under the black leaves of sorrow and see a goodly fruit of joy budding forth which shall appear in time Exercise faith to see him that is invisible and that secret arm which all this while supports thee O! if thou couldest well look upon that eye thou shouldest see there is one at Gods right hand who cannot forget thee yea in thy troubles he is at thy right hand Psal 16. stopping and breaking the strength of temptations blowes so as thou shalt not greatly be moved yea he carries thee in his arms Psal 22.14 Psa 34.20 so that not one of thy bones shall be broken though they may be astonisht a while ond out of joynt And if the Lord take care and count of thy bones and hairs surely his care is more for thy Soul it shall never miscarry only learn thou a Lesson over and beyond the leaf of sense and present feeling to see something in nothing to believe that the Bush shall not be hurt though the fire be in it to hope for a sweet kernel within the hardest shell and to see the Son of Man walking with thee in the midst of thy furnace Look as well upward to the Crown Revel 2.17 on which is writ Vincenti dabitur To him that overcomes as to the bottom of thy deep Cross with an holy indifferencie resolve to indure the Lords good pleasure Say unto him this trouble O Lord is grievous O haste to deliver me yet O Lord my will shall wait as a servant upon thine I will suffer any thing only sanctifie thou my sufferings and strengthen me to bear them 6. Lastly consider and often ruminate upon the Saints carriage and words in the like extremities if thou be wearied running with footmen how wouldst thou ever have kept with the Horses if thou be so discouraged in shallow foords what wouldst thou have done if thou hadst swimmed with them in the swellings of Jordan
make a Christian a Dorcas to clothe and relieve to visit and refresh 2. To the Souls misery as ignorance of God impenitencie living in sin c. there mercy will be a counsellor to counsel them for God an instructor a reprover a builder pitying those blind Souls Briefly all misery is the object of mercy upon every occasion it has like Christ an open side to shew the bowels of compassion Use This will be of Use as if it were a Book with two leaves to let two several sorts of men read legibly in it their condition and estate thereby to learn what it is 1. If Righteous men be merciful men then here is a note to try our Righteousness by here in this Leaf mayest thou read thine estate towards God in thy piteous compassion towards man Art thou pitiful-hearted to any in necessity dost thou love to stretch forth thy hand reach out bounty to the poor Members of Christ Heb. 13.2 canst thou fee Christ in a stranger then art thou no stranger to Christ There are many notes of Righteousness the Lady and Queen of all is Faith yet Faith is dead if she want breath the breath of Faith is Love and Love is dead if it shew not Mercy How can any have a surer characteristick signe of his sins pardon than this that in injuries he can feelingly say I will pardon for Christ has pardoned me in poverty he can say I will help this miserable wretch for the Lord might have made me far more miserable Yea when he meets with these objects of pity The oppressor the only Cannibal by whom the poor and needy are crushed Amos 4.12 their skin pull'd from flesh and flesh from bones Mic. 3.22 chopt in pieces as flesh for the pot Mic. 3.3 eaten like a loaf of bread Psal 14.4 they are swallowed down like meat Amos 8.4 and quite devoured Hab. 1.13 he can say in himself Lo Christ has cast this man in my way to try my bounty and compassion I will not lose this opportunity If upon all occasions thou art ready to distribute to the necessity of Gods poor Children doubtless thou art one of Gods Children for he begets Sons like himself piteous and compassionate 2. If the Righteous be merciful then let us turn to the other leaf Look here churlish Nabal unmerciful Christian covetous Iron-bowel'd oppressor let me say as Christ What is writ in the Law how readest thou What is writ in this leaf this mayest thou read to the shame of thy face and terror of thine heart that such unmerciful men are unrighteous yea godless wretches Are there not some whom the Lord has filled with earths good things and yet the Box of Spikenard that those in necessity might smell the odour of Mercies Oyntment The Godly man puts his earthly trust in his hand Esa 3.15 it never comes in his heart the ungodly covetous put it in their hearts it never comes in their hands to distribute and can there be any room for Christ or his Grace in such earthly hearts where earthly metal takes up all the place Be not deceived you that have abundance and riot in that abundance never pitying nor rembring the afflictions of Joseph you that by oppression and hard dealing as Satans grindstones Oppessores Molaras Satanae do grind the faces of the poor shut your ears and hands at the cry of the needy and worse than Bethlemites will not help Christ in his Members to Stable-room you running in this course are strangers to righteousness Pro. 12.10 and enemies to mercy Doubtless such never tasted of Christ nor love Christ for who loves the Head which hates the Members If the righteous man be merciful to his beast then surely such are unrighteous and very beasts who will not shew mercy to man Learn of me saith Christ what will he teach pity compassion meekness love If we will not learn this of Jesus we may seek out another Master unmerciful men may go to School to Judas and profit under him he will of all men most unmerciful yet read unto them a Lecture of mercy might not this have been sold and given to the poor Joh. 12.5 sorry that the Oyntment was not better spent the lesson was good though his meaning was naught Little and slender are the hopes for Heaven who go on in the path of covetous mercilesness If unmerciful men ever come in Heaven then unrighteous men may come there also and then where will the truth of Gods Word appear Rom. 1. â—â— which threatens those who cast away all piteous affection anâ— consider not the cause of the pooâ— and needy Such may perswadâ— themselves with presumptuouâ— hopes that for all this they havâ— claim but sure they build 〈◊〉 goodly house which forget to laâ— the foundation Saint Paul hath herein given us the way to make sure hold and hopes of eternaâ— life 2 Tâ—m 6.18 19. by being rich in good works and ready to distribute this lays a sure foundation for time to come Mercy in one word marks us for God unmercifulness for Satan and is the cognizance of an unrighteous man Mic. 6.8 to do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with God must be found in him that belongs to God 2. Use Where might exhortation be better bestowed and largelier urged then in stirring up all men to let their light shine before men in works of mercy Col. 3.12 O that we would all put on these bowels of mercy â—and tender-heartedness clothes that wax not old which will keep us warm with a comfortable heat in the coldest day 〈◊〉 distress in life death and judgâ—ent The only way to be rich 〈◊〉 to be trading with the poor in â—cts of mercy and pity We take â—reat care to lay up our wealth â—ase it is never so safely laid up â—s when it is thus laid out in cloâ—hing the naked back and filling â—he empty belly and mainâ—aining the right cause of the Faâ—herless and Orphans So many â—s have been refreshed by our â—ounty are made our Intercessors â—n earth and are bountiful in â—heir prayers to us and for us that when we pray we have all their prayers joyned with an holy importunity overcoming God to grant our requests 2 Tim. 1.16 Happy was O ever nesiphorus that he lookt mercifully upon Paul in his Chain for he got Pauls prevailing prayer that for mercy to him the Lord would have mercy likewise on him at the last day Especially Learn we to pity sinners blind naked and beggarly Souls Save such ungodly wretches with fear Dubio procul flamma ignis five Gehennae intelligitur Phil. Pareus in Epist Jud. tom Jude vers 22 â—3 whâ— fear with fear lest thou suffâ— them to perish in their sins aâ— pull them out of the fire evâ— out of the fire of Hell towarâ— which every sin unrepented oâ— carries a man of such have coâ—passion by correcting them fâ— their evil course and