Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	affliction_n	great_a	zion_n	25	3	8.9393	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86450	The valley of vision, or A clear sight of sundry sacred truths. Delivered in twenty-one sermons; by that learned and reverend divine, Richard Holsvvorth, Dr. in Divinity, sometimes Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, Master of Emanuel Colledge, and late preacher at Peters Poore in London. The particular titles and texts are set downe in the next leafe.	Holdsworth, Richard, 1590-1649.; Holdsworth, Richard, 1590-1649. Peoples happinesse.	1651 (1651)	Wing H2404; Thomason E631_1; ESTC R202438	355,440	597

suffer patiently and for righteousnesse sake Put these together and you have the meaning of the words To shut up all what is the use we may make briefly thus much To lead us to the right understanding of the nature of Temptations and Tribulations that you may see there is a great deale of comfort and a great deale of honour and contentment in the right enduring of them and that it is a grace to be laboured for that we may attain And that we may attaine the right enduring of tentation One grace above all is to be learned Labour for patience under the Crosse for patience in affliction and Tribulation labour for that grace it is that excellent grace that hath a mixture in every grace It is Custos the keeper of all other vertues of faith hope and Charity and every other grace they all come to their end by the preservation of patience they would faint all were it not for patience Patience lends support to every grace as Gregory speakes well It is the roote of all those flowers in the wreath of Christian vertues the roote of all those graces Patience who can tell the usefullnesse of it it is usefull to a man in all conditions if his li●e be prosperous he hath need to stir up patience against the day of distresse If his life be afflicted he needs a treasure of patience because he hath present use of it Besides it is the grace that God honours in many places with his approbation he promiseth a reward to no grace more frequently then to this Nay it is the grace that God honours with the name he takes to himselfe and set us an example even from himselfe he condiscends to set us an Example of longanimity Mercy it selfe doth not more extoll Gods goodnesse then his patience doth for patience is more then mercy for patience is multiplied renewed mercy he could shew no mercy but for patience Therefore he takes the name as the God of judgement so of patience he sets us the example of himselfe that we might learne to get this grace Besides patience is the proper mark of a Christian if the Crosse of Christ be the badge the bearing of the the Crosse the cognizance of a Christian a Christian is not knowne by any thing more then by suffering and therefore is to be defined by no grace more then patience the grace of suffering In one of the first words Christ spake in the Gospell he calls to the Crosse Whosoever will come after me let him take up his Crosse by the same word he called us to patience therefore it is one of the first graces that Christ forceth it is the very mark of a Christian And it is that grace that carries a man through all encounters that sweetens all afflictions whatsoever admit a man endure poverty if he have contentation he doth not feele it it is all one not to have the world and not to want it he that wants not hath abundance contentation is abundance in the middest of want And so for afflictions it is all one not to have affliction and to bear it if there be patience patience never feeles it no affliction can be weighty if Patience bee there it beares all Impatience turnes every thing contrary If a man have fulnesse yet if a man have an impatient spirit he is in affliction in happinesse and aboundance as covetousnesse makes a man alwayes want so impatience make a man alwayes afflicted Take it by a familiar instance if a bird taken in a lime-twig sit still if she have a little patience there may be hopes of recovery but while she flutters her wings she is more fast taken by stirring she brings her selfe into greater afflictions So a man if he be wounded if hee be of a fiery nature and fret within if he be of a fretting spirit it makes the wound worse and not better So if a man be in bonds and in fetters and he begin to be impatient and to stirre much and to strive with the bonds the bonds will make him lame but if he would endure them with quietnesse the bonds are no bonds he feeles them not after they are once setled So in a feaver if a man keepe himselfe in a calme temper and do not stirre and tosse up and downe by toleration the fervor of the feaver diminisheth if he be unquiet it encreaseth the feaver So it is with all afflictions that God layes upon us if we have impatient spirits the more we stirre and fret and vexe our selves the more we encrease our owne tribulation patience is only that that sweetens and seasons all Therefore if wee will rightly come to suffer and endure tribulation get the grace of Patience it is worth our labour by prayer and meditation and by whatsoever good meanes wee may have a happy supply of it Yet that is not all for there must be the other graces joyned to patience Constancy for patience will not come to victory except constancy carry it to the end of the race therefore the blessing is not joyned to patience but it is joyned to constancy Be thou faithfull to death and I will give thee the crowne of life And henceforth is laid up a caowne of righteousnesse but I must finish my cou●se A man may expect the crowne when he hath runne his race not before there is immortall glory but to those that continue in well-doing so that it is not to those that are patient but that continue to endure as long as God continues to try he that is carryed to the end with constancy hath a title to the blessing otherwise as St. Ambrose saith of faith it is not faith that is received but faith that is kept that preserves a man to Gods Kingdome so it is not patience that is not gotten but patience that is preserved and kept by constancy it is not patience that is fading but that is lasting A man may goe on farre by the help of patience but if constancy be wanting that he goe not out to the very end if hee leave before hee come to the very last step he may chance come neere heaven but constancy brings a man to it So it was that grace that carryed all the Martyrs and Saints through their pilgrimage and suffering they had no other scaling-ladder to clim● to heaven by but constancy every step till they came to the top of that ladder It is the ladder that caryed our Saviour through his course pilgrimag As he was man upon earth he was to us both an example as S. Bernard saith he was obedient to death he left not off the obedience to death he walk'd along to the last to the end We must follow our blessed Lord if we wil shew our selves his true Disciples Saith St. Bernard thou whosoever thou art O Christian set not up thy staffe any where else but where Christ hath set up his Christ sets not up his staffe his rest untill hee come

that it assures it to us These two are still joyned in Scripture the cross and the blessing Tribulation and happiness Seeing the Scripture joynes them take heed that we doe not sever them There are two onely wayes whereby we may sever them First doe not sever Tribulation from blessednesse that is one take heed that we doe not that How is that A man then severs Tribulation from the blessing when he would faine be partaker of the beatitude but not indure the Tribulation As there be many men that are very good in their judgement of blessednesse and think beatitude is the best estate yet they are loath to have the Crosse along halfe their judgement is good and halfe naught Remember God hath joyned them he hath made Tribulation walke before If we will reigne with Christ we must suffer with him If we looke to live with Christ we must also endure with him if we will have the reward we must look to the condition Look over all the Scripture and you shall find that no Saint of God was ever exempted from Tribulation Et labor dolor c. as one sayth from the very first man that came into the World to the end godly men have still thornes in their way persecution and trouble and suffering The whole World is as a great Furnace or as a great Ship that carries a great many souls that are in jeopardie of the floud still So the World is to men it is more then so to a Christian the Marks at which the Arrows of Tribulation are shot are especially the whitest marks the fairest marks those that are pure and undefiled in the way The Scriptures doe no where promise the blessing without the Tribulation Nemo c. sayth a Father let no man flatter himselfe and promise himselfe that that the Scripture doth not promise The Scripture no where promiseth blessing to the course of the impenitent no where to them that decline the Crosse but to them that take it up If the blessing be joyned to Tribulation let us joine them and not sever them that is the first Secondly as we must not sever tribulation from blessednesse so we must not sever blessedness from Tribulation How is that done Men sever blessedness from Tribulation when they pronounce godly men miserable because they indure tribulation in the World The World accounts them miserable that God accounts happy those whom God hath made happy it is very vaine and rash judgement for men to pronounce them miserable Generally we think so we think them miserable men though they be holy and righteous if they be oppressed with Tribulation we measure all for the present We must not sever blessedness from tribulation It is just as people that are ignorant when they see the Sun Eclipsed they think the Sun hath no light because for the time it is darkened they think there is no Sun because it is cloudy or that the Sun is lost because he is so to sence Worldly men are Creatures of sence they cannot judge of spirituall things they see the discomforts of godly men they cannot see their comforts The discomforts are without the comforts are within the one is discerned by the carnall the other by the spirituall eye Therefore they conclude they are miserable because they see not their happinesse just as St. Austin sayth as if a man should conclude that the Sea were not deepe because there are shallows towards the shore or that the whole Earth were not fruitfull because there are some Desarts barren or that the frame of it were not round because there are Mountainous places so it is with these temporall afflictions The Mountaines and Hills carry no proportion to so great a body to hinder the perfect roundnesse of the Earth Blessednesse is that that belongs to godly men afflictions and Tribulations as mole●hills and un-even places cannot hinder their happinesse In their owne sight it may sometimes it may be there are shallows in Tribulation but glory the Sea is deepe for all that there is deepe glory and comfort reserved for them Heare the pronunciation of the Spirit of God ofter then once Behold we account them happy that suffer saith the Apostle you account them miserable but we account them happy and I think we have the spirit of God he might have said so the spirit of God taught them all these truths we account them happy blessed is the man that endureth temptation Well what is the summ and the use Seing that it is thus pronounced to those that endure Tribulation we all are in love with blessednesse we all desire that if we be desirers of happinesse let us doe wisely take that course that may bring us thither labour to be found in that number that it is promised to if we be found out of that number we must not looke for blessednesse Every man that shall inherit blessednesse must be in the compasse of those quallified persons that it is promised to labour to be of that number I tell you blessednesse is promised to holiness Blessed are the pure in heart He that gets purity of heart hath assurance of blessednesse blessedness is promised to the meek to the poor in spirit to those that feare God and trust in him let us be qualified according to the condition of these persons and we have assurance of blessedness Come to the Text here is a promise To whom is it To those that are at ease in Zion Or to those that Crowne themselves with Rose-buds That let no pleasures passe those that stretch themselves upon beds of Ivory that chant to the sound of the Organ Those that make their Heaven Earth and make their happiness pleasures is the promise to them No it is woe that is threatened to them those that eat Gods people as bread it is not blessing but a woe to them and the woe sleeps not To whom is the promise here Breifly besides all the other promises in Scripture here is one of the principall Blessed is the man that endureth temptation If we be of that number here is blessedness That is the first part the reward promised it is a great and full reward blessedness Now I come from the generall proposition of the reward to the particular That is to goe from good to better though there be nothing better then blessedness yet in our apprehension something may make it more lively in our apprehension to our capacity That is in the otherword the man that endures Tribulation shall receive the Crowne of life that is the particular reward Blessedness is the generall the Crowne of life is the particular And in these words as St. Crysostome sayth well there is great Emphasis they are both emphaticall for life is the best of all naturall things and a Crowne is the best of all things civill Here is the best and the best O then what a blessing and a good is a Crowne and life both joyned together and these in a spirituall

growth nor that without life nor that without being in Christ So being is the first step and strength is the pitch because it is either perfection it selfe or the next step to perfection So here is the Use that we are to make of this point to labour to understand our need of strength we are those that must set this aime of getting spirituall strength and so we would if we understood our selves for we are most of us in a condition of weaknesse and those that are of a stronger growth yet they are as a man of a good constitution subject many times to infirmities stronger Christians have many weaknesses and infirmities There is no weaknesse or infirmity that is pleasing to a Christian or that can be pleasing to God Paul tells us of infirmities and he gloried in them but they tended not to sin but were those that the World accounted infirmities tribulations whereby he brought glory to God but if they be infirmities of sin if we did know the danger of making ship-wrack it would make us love strength to overcome these infirmities As Maximus Terens sayth every thing would have commendations if the use of it were knowne if we did know the use and benefit by spirituall strength how neare it brings us to God and stablisheth our hearts in his feare it would make us endeavour and groane after it to attaine it To sum up those Uses they are briefly these two they are accomodate to two sorts of Christians The first state is Travellers we are Viatores we have a journey to take and as the Angell said to Elias it is a long Journey that brings to Everlasting life it is a long Journey from Earth to Heaven but that God hath shortened the way to grace though it seem long to sence and be extreame long to nature and for ought we know we have but a little time to dispatch that long Journey in we know not how short our life is It is not onely a long Journey but full of difficulties It is not onely a long journey but the way lies upward it is hard to get forward there must not onely be moving but climbing It is Jerusalem that is above there is our Countrey A man that goes to an upper Roome he goes by steps and stairs There are these spirituall staires that are the ascensions of God In whose heart are thy wayes or thy ascensions There must be breathing of our selves by ascending and climbing up It being so long a Journey and lying upward and so many difficulties we have need of strength Strength is needfull to Travellers or else they will faint by the way David understood it well therefore as in one Psalme he b●moanes himselfe for the want of strength in his Journey He hath brought downe my strength in my Journey So in another he Prayes for strength in his Journey Spare a little that I may recover my strength for the going on in my Journey What are the encumbrances of those that are much in Travells Many feares and dangers meet us oft in the way hunger and thirst and heat and cold many encumbrances Paul sets them downe when he speaks of his spirituall journey 2 Cor. 11. he was In hunger and thirst and cold and nakednesse in perill of Robbers in perills every where A man that would encounter all these had need have strength as Plutarch sayth of the Scythians they boasted that they did fight against men Good Souldiers are so well disciplined that they can fight not onely against men but against hunger and cold and thirst against all Enemies So a Christian that he may be enabled so to doe he must get spirituall strength that he may fight not onely with Beasts after the manner of men at Ephesus but with hunger and thirst and cold and impediments in his Journey because we are Viatores we must have strength to accommodate us to that journey Then another estate we are in here we are not onely as Travellers but Souldiers and our Enemies are many not onely Companies but Armies as many as there are Tribulations and Afflictions to be endured in the World as many as there are Temptations to seduce us to sin as many as there are severall sins to be committed for these are the great Enemies as many as there are Spirits in the Aire and Devills in Hell and these are great and many Enemies To let us see that they are strong Enemies they are called Principallities and Powers and to shew that they are many they are called Legions Besides these the multitude of sins that a man must take heed of that are like the Hydra's heads cut off one and another starts up Cyprian well describes it saith he if a man be so happy as to cut off one Hidra's head Coveteousnesse another will come in the roome of it if he take not heede there will come Lust and Wantonnesse and if he cut off that if he take not heed there will come malice and pride and ambition and if he cut off these if he take not heed there wil come up more all these are to be encountered with spirituall strength Besides these there are many Tribulations in the World and which is the worst affliction in the World the many delights and pleasures and vanities of the World which we account not Enemies but friends yet these are to be overcome There is more danger in these then in the hardnesse and Tribulations of the World We have more cause to feare the baits of the World then the threatnings the allurements then the discouragements of the World It deales with us both wayes If the World plant Thornes in our way the danger is not great because it is seene but if it strew flowers it is not observed it is more dangerous It takes hold of both the Devill layes both to keep us from piety Sometimes the World le ts fall a golden Apple Sometimes it layes Snares and sets pits in the way Sometimes it persues a man with clamours Sometimes it sings a Syrenean Song that lulls him a sleep in security here is the greatest danger but there is danger in both and we have need of strength to overcome both as Cyrill sayth well he had need be a strong Christian that must overcome the rough hewne way but I tell you he had need be a stronger Christian that will overcome the pleasures and delights and enticements of the World strength is specially required for that Put it together having so many Enemies so strong and so busie we have need not onely of store of spirituall wisdome but of strength and that strengh comes by growth Having now put all these together I hope I need not use any Exhortation to make you in love with that which is the improvement of all other graces Perseverance I told you before strength enableth to persevere and that we may persevere we must get strength the one enableth to the other by perseverance we get strength and

In the last place because in both these kinds we are too forward to excuse our selves and to put off all the blame from our selves with a Non feci or Non taliter feci or Invitus feci either with Sarah to deny and say I did it not or with Eve to excuse it and say the Serpent gave me and beguiled me and I was foreed to it therefore there is for this a word of information to teach us to resolve all to the right principle and to lay the blame as we doe deserve upon our selves Every man is tempted when he is drawne away of his owne lust and enticed Here are now the parts The thing I am now to speake of and begin first with is this word of support and incouragement and it may well be called a Support because nothing can more uphold a man either in the one kind of temptation or in the other then to remember the Heavenly reward the Crowne of glory that is stated and assured to the induring of tribulation therefore with this now I begin with the word of Support in these words Blessed is the man that indureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crowne of life And to bring it to a briefe there are foure descriptions here laid downe all which concerne Tribulation First a description of the person to whom the promise is made The man that indureth temptation And then a description of the Reward the excellency of the retribution it is blessednesse and the Crowne of life Then the description of the assurance of this Crowne or blessednesse thus promised it is the Crowne of life that the Lord hath promised or assured to them that love him Then the description of the manner of the retribution the time when it shall be when he is tryed when he is fully tryed then he shall receive the Crowne of life The first is the description of the Person that is the Mark at whom the Arrowes of Temptations and Tribulation are shot in whom these Darts are fastened the description of the Person to whom the promise is made the man that indureth Temptation There are two words it consists of There is a personall word Beatus vir blessed is the man And then there is a passive qualification it is such a man as indureth Temptation The personall word that is the Substratum upon which all the rest depends and it is very remarkable here because it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not Beatus homo but Beatus vir there is a great deale of difference betweene these Homo is a word of nature Vir is a word that betokeneth vertue Homo signifies a man of Mortality Vir a man of Spirit The difference is very obvious and that you may see it distinctly it is received and observed in all sorts of Authors In prophane Authors that of Plato will serve very well to this purpose Whatsoever comes neere and toucheth upon vertue is Masculine and Xenophon gives the reason of it because sayth he by nature both the body and the mind of man are so framed as to be better enabled to indure labour and paine and travell and torment then the weaker Sex Then if we look to Ecclesiasticall Writers it is frequent in the Fathers Take that of Lactantius for all he observes that Vir and Virtus come both from the same Therefore it is observed in the three Learned Languages that the same word signifieth Valour and Manhood and Fontitude the same word signifies to be a Man and to be Valiant Then if we come to the witnesse of the Scripture there is frequent use of the word to call a valiant stout godly zealous man indefinitely by the name of a man Jer. 5.1 when God bids them run up and downe the Streets of Jerusalem See if you can find a man It is not meant simply if you can find Hominem but Virum a man a godly man one that executeth judgement and righteousnesse there was a multitude of hominum abundance of men but there was a great paucity virorum of vertuous men It was so in the New Testament St. Paul in 1. Cor. 16. joynes them sweetly Quit yourselves like men be strong to shew that the Strength especially Strength of the Spirit and Fortitude is a Masculine and manly vertue especially if we bring it to the Touch-stone of Tribulation and Temptation The Spirit of a man that is of a righteous and religious man is seene in nothing more then in enduring Tribulation Therefore that that the Comedian sayd in another case Homo homini c. If you alter it it will serve here Vir homini What is the difference betweene a Man and a Man much every way there is a Man by nature Vir saeculi there is a man by Grace Vir dei a man of God St. Paul hath it often Thou O man of God flee these things And that the man of God may be perfect 2. Tim. 3. The same that is here indefinitly by St. James called a Man is by St. Paul called a man of God Reason defines a man of nature but grace and vertue defines a man in Christianity he is the most man that is the most Christian St. Jerome therefore in Tribulation and Temptation observing the difference very well in his Epistle to Polybius hath this passage for a man not to be sensible of affliction and Tribulation it is above the reach above the nature of man above a man of mortality but for a man not to beare his affliction it is beneath the Spirit of a man beneath a man that should have courage and fortitude for this present Argument we may so apply it there is Proprium hominis proprium viri to have Tribulation is Proprium hominis to beare Tribulation with a stout courage that is Proprium viri proper both wayes It is the property of a man of mortality to be subject to Tribulation because our life is a warfare full of feares and sorrowes and outcries and Tribulations Man is borne to trouble as Eliphaz in Job Chap. 5.7 speakes as the sparks fly upward It is naturall to a man of mortality to be in Tribulation Then there is another property withall Proprium viri the property of a man that is such by vertue and grace to indure Tribulation to indure as a Man that is as a Christian Blessed is the man that is blessed is the Christian This word hath three significations in Scripture you may please to take notice of them for it is A word of Sex A word of Age A word of Dignity A word of Sex 1. Cor. 11.4 Every MAN praying or Prophecying with his head covered dishonoureth his head It is a word of Age 1. Cor. 13. When I was a Child I spake as a Child but when I was a MAN I put away Childish things It is a word of Dignity So in Jam. 3. He that offends not in word is a perfect

learne to indure with an equall mind as a man these changes up and downe Much is it with grace and the Spirit of God Grace it is infinitly better then Platoes Philosophy besides all other benefits from grace the word of Gods grace it both shews what we are Homines men of mortality and inableth us to be what we should be Vir men of vertue strong and stout prepared for the enduring of Tribulation Here now is this word of the Apostle with an Emphasis set upon it he sets it downe vir not homo Blessed is the man that indureth tentation Here is the first thing The next we are to look on is the passive qualification the man that endureth temptation or Tribulation Temptation is the word but tribulation is the meaning it is not here to be understood of spirituall temptations but of corporall temptations Of the spirituall temptations he speakes afterwards in the words that follow but here of the temptations of tryall not of seduction yet the Apostle would rather expresse it thus he would use this word he calls Tribulation temptation as shewing a holy Conquest he had gotten of it already he expresseth it by an easy word as St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. he hath one word peculiar to him that he calls tribulations weaknesses infirmities St. Paul fillips them off with an easie slight word though he suffered so much they were but infirmities as St. Paul hath that word proper to himselfe of infirmities and weaknesses so St. James hath this word almost peculiar to him to call Tribulations temptations and tryalls Of the temptations of ●seduction it is not generally true that there is blessednesse and happinesse for the man that endures them a man is not to endure them but to repel them If they be suggestions that arise either as it is a mans first happinesse not to have them and his 2. to overcome them so it is a mans first misery to have them and his 2. misery to yeild unto them Those Temptations are not to be indured but disdained and abhorred and cast out of our hearts it is not blessed is the man that endures these but blessed is the man that Suppresseth them And if we speake of injected temptations from Satan it doth not hold in the universall blessednesse doth not alway belong to the enduring of them it is true if God send a Messenger of Satan to buffet us and we doe not yeild he that endures patiently shall not want the Crowne promised but the first care a Christian must take it to resist these resist the Devill and he will flee if a man out of faintnesse of Spirit yeild to these temptations he brings not a blessing but a curse So it is not to be understood of those temptations there is not blessednesse to the enduring of them but to the repelling of them But let them goe because it is understood here of the temptations of troubles and afflictions and chastisements It is well they are called temptations In two regards they are called Temptations One is in regard of the good effect they should produce The good effect is this to be tryalls of that grace and vertue that God hath bestowed upon us for all Tribulation is Gods sacred Furnace his holy celestiall touchstone whereby God takes a tryall of those vertues that are in us they are sent for the proofe and tryall of vertue therefore they are called Temptations because as temptations try of what spirit a man is whither he be able to resist the suggestion so affliction makes tryall of a man nothing more proves a mans Spirit of what mettle he is made then Tribulation when the Sun shines faire all is well with us a little vertue will goe farr but in the houre of Temptation the day of affliction and chastisement and tribulation then it is seene what is in man there needs a greater measure of grace and if it be there it will shew it selfe It is called Temptation because of the good effect it should produce And then because of the evill effect it may produce there are none of all these Chastisements that God sends but if they be not sanctified they prove Temptations poverty paine of body disgrace in the World whatsoever ordinary way men take to ease themselves ordinarily the effect is they drive them to repine and murmur to ill meanes of supply a Worldly man is no sooner afflicted but presently he bethinks himselfe what way soever he may get out of Tribulation thus they may prove Temptations because they may sometimes occasion Temptations to make men prophane the name of God to make men deny God and disobey his will and lead them out of the way of piety thus they prove Temptations if they be not sanctified if grace comes not between grace comes between and keeps them from proving Temptations when they be sanctified that we be not seduced therefore they are called Temptations and the words are used equivalently in diverse places that that St. Paul calls rejoycing in Tribulations St. James calls rejoycing in temptations My Brethren account it exceeding great joy when you fall into diverse Temptations And that that our Saviour calls suffering of persecution Blessed are they that suffer persecution St. James calls here suffering of tentation Blessed is the man that endureth Tentation This is the passive quality that is the Arrow that is here shot against this man of vertue the subject of this Crowne to whom this promise is made But then there is the other the entertainment that is to be given in that word Endure tentations it is not the having of Temptations that brings blessednesse but the right bearing of it the word is short but it is significant In the Negative Sence In the Affirmative Sence First blessednesse is not pronounced to him that anoyds Temptation it is true no man is to draw it necessarily upon himselfe but there are men that think themselves happy if they can withdraw their heads and shift away out of Tribulation though with the shipwrack of faith and conscience and the prejudice of piety that shall never have blessednesse Then secondly it is not pronounced to the despising of temptation there are too many of that spirit that slight the Messenger of chastisement and correction that God sends their hearts are hardened as Pharoahs and Ahabs they are smitten and doe not greive as God complaines in Scripture this is one of the worse tempers of all It is not patience but stupidity as St. Bernard speaks here is a patience would make a man impatient worthy of impatience a State worthy of reproofe no it is the enduring of Temptation and Tribulation that hath the blessing What Enduring Not all kind of enduring there may be a bearing of Temptation when there is murmuring repineing and discontent that is not patience that is not to beare and indure but take it then First speaking in generall the enduring of tentation here mentioned is patience and patience is a vertue of

us nearer to Heaven to indeare us more to God to weane us more from the World to make us better to understand God and our selves fort he pollishment of those graces that God hath given us for the attaining of those graces that yet we want and for the perfecting of all For the pollishing of grace and refining it that is one end Were it so that we were all grace and all spirit there would be no triall then There are two conditions of mettalls in which there needs not any triall of the fire One is if it be all gold another is if it be all drosse If it be all gold it needs no purifying if it be all drosse it will not endure it it is not worthy the fire So it is with Christians were we in the World all gold or all drosse there would be no triall if we were all pure mettall all Gold Tribulation and trialls are superfluous in Heaven where the Saints enjoy happinesse and are all pure Gold there is no triall there there is no suffering all is Gold in Heaven On the other side were we all drosse that there were no spirit at all nothing of grace then there would not be the refining triall for chaffe and stubble and drosse are not purified by the fire but consumed annihillate and brought to nothing But since our estate is so as we are all in this condition of mortality that we are part Gold and part Clay Flesh as well as Spirit and there is a mixture of both thereupon for the purging away of the flesh and for the strengthening of the spirit that must be brought to the Touch-stone by the fierie triall of tribulation that the graces may be tryed and the drosse consumed and burnt up Therefore let this be the conclusion You that so much love the pleasures of the World that are so afraid to heare of any day of tribulation remember that he that hath called us to the Crowne hath called us to the Crosse and the first lesson that he reads to us is to take grace with all disadvantages Never look that God will give us grace but make sure of affliction He gives not grace for nothing would you have him give grace and not get the glory of it How should he get the glory of it but by tryall How should he have the glory of patience but for affliction Or the glory of thankfullnesse or of pure love but when his Servants love him most when his countenance is most clouded towards them Their love and thankfullnesse and obedience and patience when is it seene In tribulation Therefore as our blessed Saviour said concerning the Crosse that Christians when they are called must looke for They shall receive in this life an hundred fold with tribulation Be pleased to mark the place He that forsakes Father or Mother or House or Land shall receive an hundred fold in this life How That cannot be in temporalls it must be in spiritualls because one dram of grace is a hundred fold to the World and temporalls Shall we receive an hundred fold that is spirituall abundance What followes With tribulation with afflictions and tryalls If God give a hundred fold in spiritualls it is with tryalls No man puts Armour upon another but for fight the graces of the spirit are the Armour of Christians Take unto you the Armour of God VVhat The sheild of faith the Helmet of Salvation the Brest-plate of righteousnesse the Sword of the Spirit All grace is Armour if God put spirituall Armour on Christians they must looke for a combate when their Armour is on Grace is Armour we must look for the triall of it for the end of all tribulation is triall and the end of all grace that God gives Be content with grace upon any seeming disadvantage it will bring abundance of advantage after That is the first the thing supposed here When he is tried he must look to be tryed The end why God sends tribulations and temptations is for tryall that is the first The next is the thing here expounded or exprest and plainly set downe that is the time when he is tried then he shall receive The Apostle adds this to prevent a Question having made mention of that that makes all hearts leap after the fruition of it the Crowne of life If any man should ask as the Disciples did of Christ O Lord when shall these things be Blessed Apostle when shall this Crowne of life be For this Question it had beene a sufficient answer In due season you shall reape if you faint not In due season you shall have it the time shall come think it not long but that is too generall Then he drawes it downe more perticularly a little Would you know when I will tell you when tribulation is ended when the triall is fully taken when God hath sufficiently refined you and fitted you for Heaven and made you as he would have you to be when you are tried But tell us more perticularly when shall this be After one tribulation It may be not It is with many of us as Florus sayth of the Gaules at the first brunt they would be stout and play the men more then men at the second they would grow feeble So many Christians it may be will endure one course of tribulation and temptation and endure stou●ly but when they meet with another course that shakes them and makes them hang downe the head then they deject themselves Therefore we must not think to have it alway after one tribulation one tribulation is but a degree or preparative to another when God hath fitted us for one we must look for more When then at the second or third or fourth or more No the Apostle sets it indefinitly because he would not goe about to limit God the holy one of Israell you cannot tell whither at two or three or foure but in Gods best time when he thinks fittest when the triall is done when the triall is fully made So this word now it is a word simple here set downe but it stands for a defective word as the Scripture useth such words oft times When he is tried that is thus much when he is throughly tried when he is approvably tried The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he hath endured tribulation so as to get Gods testimony and approbation When with Gods approbation he hath endured tribulation and is thus throughly tried then he shall receive the Crowne That is in briefe thus much then he shall receive the Crowne when he can say with our blessed Saviour I have done the work that thou gavest me to doe Father glorifie me with thine owne selfe then when he can say with St. Paul I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me the Crowne of righteousnesse When a man is once come to this ●pshot he may look for the Crowne not till he have done his