and art too much complaining of thy Infelicity be but perswaded to leave off poring only on thy self and look abroad a little and thou shalt find Thou hast the light side of the Cloud when many others must be contented with the dark Remember that most excellent Person who standeth upon Scripture-Record with this most sad Complaint of his to God Lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness Similes aliorum respice Casus Mitius ista feres Ovid. Met 15.8 Psal 88.18 and surely then upon the whole thou must acknowledge that thou oughtest to say I will say nothing because thou Lord didst it 5. Thou Lord didst it Thou who art abundantly able to supply my greatest Wants support me under my heaviest Loads repair me for my greatest Losses Is any thing too hard for God with whom all things are possible Gen. 18.14 Matth. 19.26 I grant were any one's Necessities unrelievable his Burdens insupportable or his Damages irrepairable the Case of such a Person were very lamentable But good and wise Christians do All know better things And to the Upright Man that God who is his Constant Hope both Can and Will most certaily prove his Effectual Help Is it not promised My God shall supply all your Need according to his Riches Phil. 4.19 And we are assured of his Sufficiency in the last words as of his Good-will in those foregoing And how punctually was it made good to holy Job after all his long and dismal Sufferings when his latter end was better than his beginning Job 42.12 All was made good in kind to him that had before been taken from him And the Lord's Hand is not shortned now nor his Heart hardned neither but if that be best he can and will do so again to suffering Saints of the present Age also Had Job's Condition never to have been match'd in future Times wherefore should the holy Apostle James Jam. 5.11 direct our eyes point blank on this Example for our encouragement in Afflictions But so you know he doth However God will never fail to make up every Loss unto his faithful Servants Psalm 73.26 Lamen 3.24 2 Cor. 12.9 in value where 't is not sit it should be done in kind Himself if all be gone besides will be and is his People's Portion And is not this enough and infinitely the better Share Who that 's afflicted but must say I am dumb because thou Lord didst it 6. Thou Lord didst it Thou took'st away my dearest Relations whether Husband Wife Father Mother Child or Friend whom blessed be thy Name thou tookest into Covenant with thyself before And for this once I will be limitted thus I am bereaved Lord and 't is thy righteous doing too But oh what better provision hast thou made for him or them than I could ever possibly do had they staid with me Mine is the loss 't is true but their 's the infinite gain For what is Earth to Heaven What is a Husband Wife a Father Mother a Child or Friend to God Cum chariquos diligimus de seculo exeunt gandendum Now we are sure that those who live a while to Him below shall live with Him above for potius quam dolendwn S. Cyprian de Mort. ever And are we so much Afflicted for parting with them Where is the love then that we think we bear them Are not ourselves the proper Object of it and its utmost Term No doubt it is Nicknam'd-kindness that would have them leave the Church Triumphant for the Militant What would you have them pay back their Wages come down and do their Work once over more Now they have won the Field and are dividing the Spoil to have them run the hazard of another Battle is certainly very far from real Friendship is great Unkindness It can't be Love to desire Men gotten safe into their Port and with so rich a Cargo should be thrust out afresh into a Sea most dangerous and tempestuous Is this our Kindness to our Friends In short for them to be with us again were to exchange their ravishing unspeakable and eternal Joys and Bliss for Cares and Fears and Pains and Sorrows and Sins once more These now the Almighty Mercy hath freed them from for ever Those it hath sixed them in eternally Canst find in thy heart to grudge that admirable Kindness God hath shewed them Must thou not readily speak it I am dumb because thou Lord didst it 7. Thou c. Thou at whose hands we have deserved abundantly worse than ever yet we have received Well may we say with the holy Prophet how bad soever it fareth with us He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Psal 103.10 Nay the good Man Ezra's acknowledgment would be ours also Our God hath punished us less than our iniquities deserve Chap. 9.13 He that complains for wanting of the staff of Bread may give God thanks that the Bread of Life is not taken from him for long ago and too too often he made a forfeiture of his Right unto that greatest Mercy He that bemoans his Lameness Pains and bodily Sickness is Debtor to meer Grace that he is not under the tormenting Terrors of Soul and the Rack of a wounded Spirit his Sins having amply merited that and a great while since He that lamenteth a dear Friend's being gone to Heaven and leaving him behind on Earth most justly may admire the Divine Goodness that his own Transgressions had not a great while since tumbled his own Body into the Grave and his Soul to Hell It is a stinging Question and smartly rebukes the querulous Christian which is put by the Prophet Jeremiah he asks Wherefore doth a living man complain A man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3.39 We are the Fools that make the Rod for our own back and may well enough be said to lay it on too for we procure the doing of it But why do we complain and yet the Grave hath not swallowed us up Whilst there is life we say there 's hope And so there is Hope of a Peace with God hope of Judgment 's being removed hope of a latter End proving better than the Beginning Why then doth a living man complain But for a Saint that is yet alive and shall live with God for ever Content must conquer his Complaint and Triumph over it Thanks be to God that pays us not in our own Coin We rob him often of that Faith and Hope and Love that Praise Obedience and Submission due to him upon infinite Obligations And shall we murmur when he takes but a little from us and nothing but his own and lent us meerly and only till he calls for it again as all our Comforts are Surely for very shame in every trouble that happens to us we humbly should confess to God that as our Duty is We will be dumb because thou Lord didst it 8. Thou c. Thou
Tydings whoever they were would be beautiful in our Eyes Were we so sensibly affected as we should be with our weak Faith chill Love faint Hope earthly Mind and strong Corruptions the Opportunities for quickning Graces and killing Lusts now neglected if not despised would be more welcome to us and be with greater Diligence improved by us But if a Form of Godliness without the Power be all we mind so 't is with thousands as that will easily serve with Men tho' not with God so 't is no marvel that our sorry Humours and not serious Conscience steer our Course for us Well Manna lies abundantly about our Tents at present but it may so happen I 'm sure our Sins deserve it that such Scraps as these now reckon'd only worthy to be thrown under Table may e're long be accounted Dainties Black Clouds are over us Distresses near us Grim Death most certainly is not far from us O that we may be Wise and husband so that little inch of Time yet left in true Christian Praying Hearing Reading Meditation and holy Walking that we may be prepared for a Blessed Eternity This is the hearty Desire of Your Souls Faithful and Truth-telling Friend W. H. ERRATA PAge 4. l. 9. for 3dly r. 2dly p. 10. l. 29. after thought a Period p. 15. l. 23. r. Impatience p. 18. l. 10. r. afflicted for affected p. 20. l. 23. after them Coma. p. 33. l. 5. r. Blood p. 39. l. 19. after it r. self p. 41. l. 5. after Bar r. thereto A Practical Discourse ON The Severest Providences c. PSALM XXXIX ix I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou Lord didst it MAn is born unto trouble saith holy Job as the sparks fly upwards which constantly is the nature of them And to the certain truth of that Assertion Towas Cities and Courts in Pagan Tunkish and Christian Countries do ever and anon bear ample Testimony For there is neither Quality Age nor Sex of Mortals can plead a Priviledge to be exempted thence But of all other Men the truly Pions have the most cause to expect their share therein and least reason truly to complain thereof That blessed Book whereto they are not strangers as others are informs them that it is their Lot to have their Evil things here and their Good hereafter But the mean while 't is far from justifing their raising Mole-hills into Mountains and making of their Troubles a great deal worser than indeed they are Nay it condemneth justly and severely Laying the Products of their own Follies to the Fault of God as if he dealt not fairly by them when in truth 't is they fall soul upon themselves both in the bringing and the bearing all they suffer Now having often seen this guilt too much abroad and being myself more than once so it hath seemed meet to the Righteous Providence in danger of plunging into the same Gulf I held it necessary for the Common Interest of Christianity as well as my own to make Enquiry after and to sind out the means whereby good People may recover from and not relapse into a case so dangerous My thoughts then being once upon Enquiry soon lighted on this welcome Text. And truly 't is an excellent Remedy which also I nothing doubt will prove successful where 't is duly used The Use whereof I think should be according to the Method my following Discourse prescribeth Context The Psalm doth plainly manifest that its Author David was labouring under a very sore Distress Vid. Chrys Calv. Pâ—â—c Mâ—nis c. Whether it arose from bodily Sickness as some have thought or the Rebellion of his Darling Absalon as others are of Opinion or from any other Cause as many might be gues'd at since none 's expres'd to make strict Search about it would savour more of fruitless Curiosity than of useful Industry and in the Issue leave us at Uncertainty too This he that runneth through the whole may quickly read as written there in Capital Letters That there was such a Storm from whencesoever it rose that had like to have shipwrack'd all It seems as if the Rigging were torn in peices the Hull shrewdly shatter'd and the Fraight likewise in manifest jeopardy to perish in the Deep The Afflicted in Spirit Soul and Body to all appearance receiv'd no little Dammage by the same For Proof whereof 't were very easy to offer several Instances from the Psalm would it not be too tedious particularly to insist upon them However something must appear in viewing of the Parts thereof which are these two in general 1. The Psalmist's Procedure with himself under his great Affliction and that in the two first Verses resumed also in my Text. 2. The Effects of that Procedure with himself upon him in the following Verses even to the end 1. As to the former The course he takes as you may read is to seal his Lips and silence his Heart too That not a Word might slip from thence to shew one discontented Thought towards God there Thus he stops his Mouth and stills his Mind at once that no Complaint or any Murmure might be with him against the Divine Providence for the severer Methods used towards him But yet Good Man herein it hapned unto him as it sometimes may to the best Archer in the World who to prevent his Arrow's falling short levels so high that he over-shoots his Mark. For the Holy Psalmist also though to his Grief doth over-do his Work for a little while He held his peace from good but thence his sorrow was stirred Verse 2. latter end But the sault is soon amended by the new Aim he takes As will be seen by 3. The Fruit of his thus dealing with himself which truly was not to be repented of And 't was two fold 1. Internal All Complaints and Repinings too against God's Justice being stifled his Meditations are set warm at work upon his Mercy Those raise his passionate Desires after him and they force their passage through his Lips unto him His heart was hot the fire burnt and then his Tongue stood still no longer Verse 3. Then spake I with my tongue saith he Thus comes the other Effect 2. External viz. Hearty Prayer unto the just and gracious God made up of three particlar Petitions first and then a general one as the Conclusion 1. He begs particularly 1. For an affecting Sence of his Frailty and Vanity Make me to know mine end c. Verse 4. And pleadeth humbly for Success herein to Ver. 8.2 Then for pardon of his sin Ver. 8. Deliver me from all my transgressions c. Using my Text for furtherance of his Suit And lastly He prays Deliverance from his Afflictions also Remove thy stroke c. Ver. 10 11. urging for pity both the Load that lay upon him and his and all others Inability to stand up under Divine Displeasure 2. He concludeth with a general Supplication for a gracious Answer to his former Petitions and
Lord and a more strange fire from the Lord falls down upon them and devoured them Levit. 10.1 2 3. Fire in it self is a very furious and frightful Element but this being not the fire that burned in the bush and burnt it not Exod. 3.2 3. nor that which carried up Elijah into Heaven so far from hurting him as making of him happy and putting him out of the reach of Hurt for ever No but a fire from the Lord saith the Text who is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 especially to bold Offenders that are as dried Stubble before him This offers one terrible Circumstance to our thoughts Moreover this Fire falls down not upon the good Man Aaron's House or Goods or Cattel any of which might have had dread enough therein but on his Children on his Sons his Sons that were God's Ministers nor upon one alone but two at once not in the Fields or in a private House where possibly it might have been concealed at least but little notice taken of it but in the Tabernacle and at God's Publick Worship and in their Ministration there and before the face of all the Congregation Here is an heap of Circumstances not one of which but carrieth horrour and astonishment with it but all together are utterly confounding Well but hereupon how doth the good but sad Father behave himself What Doth he fret and fume and vex his Soul to death again No no. Doth he rage and rave and flie in the face of God upon it 'T was further from him Jehoram's great but wicked Messenger in a time of Distress would say This evil is of the Lord why should we wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6.33 He bids adieu to God and let him find some other Attendants if he please Job's naughty Wife would have prompted him to relieve himself by cursing God and dying together with his sons Job 2.9 But this pious Person was of another spirit sor saith the Text Aaron held his peace His silent Soul seal'd up his lips and the submission of his heart kept his mouth close shut He knew who did it and to undo God's Work so much as by a word or thought no Creature ought to make one attempt The least dislike abetted bids all in Humane reach unto it No when God hath done he will not begin but end together with him and be most humbly 〈…〉 to him He held his peace A 〈…〉 and well worth the writing after 3. 〈…〉 next and against this good old Man though under much Infirmity the Almighty dips his Pen in Gaul and Vinegar 1 Sam. 3.11 c. And truly they are sharp and bitter things that are written in the sacred Book against him and his Family with him 'T is not the pruning Branches or lopping off some greater Boughs but 't is the digging up by the very Roots that is insisted on And for his full assurance he must be certified once and again thereof Chap. 2 3. First by a nameless Prophet and then by his Darling-pupil Samuel The former tells him from the mouth of God that The days come that I will cut off thine arm and the arm of thy father's house and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever Chap. 2.31 32. with much more terrible Tydings besides this And the latter That God would perform against Eli all things which he had spoken concerning his house and that he would judge it for ever Chap. 3.13 c. with other Threats like those Well now how doth this aged Father entertain the doleful News Doth he dispatch the Messenger that brought such unwelcome Tydings Or so much as wish unto him Micaiah's Doom from wicked Ahab To be clapt in goal and be fed with bread and water of affliction Doth he curse his harder Fates whereby he was chained unto such unavoidable Misery and like the Desperate * Qui manu sanguine suo repleta in aeâ—a 〈◊〉 dixit Vicisti Galilaee Theed Hist 4.25 Julian go off the Earth with bidding a Defiance to the God of Heaven As much unlike those Tempers as Heaven is unto Hell 'T is taken by him without the least Complaint and without so much as any Token of Regret If you feel his Pulse there 's nothing of a Feavour on him The very Attendants of Impatience are driven into Exile by him Hear his own words It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Verse 18. As who should say All are his own and he may therewithal and ought to do what is best pleasing to himself Who are we entire Dependants on him to call him to account about his matters God past a Sentence that seem'd hard indeed but this good Man approves it Here was Contentment unto admiration Perhaps you 'll say But Judgment was not executed yet onely threatned Right else 't would have been too late to have enquired how he took the Tydings when he was not But the double Assurance that a Besom of Destruction was ready to sweep him and by no means to be prevented by him was enough to speak as Men to strike a terrour of Distraction on him But yet when others who are meer Mortals might have proved like a tempestuous Sea we find with him the profoundest Calm Oh! what a Pattern for our Imitation 4. David is Fourth And how doth he acquit himself when the provoked Majesty of Heaven strikes even to death that Child he so much laboured to preserve in life While it was yet alive saith he I fasted and wept for I said Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live But now he is dead wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12.22 23. If you reflect upon the beginning of this Chapter and bring down your eyes unto these Verses read you will find this Judgment on his Child was but on link of that long Chain prepared for him by the Prophet Nathan from the mouth of God and when a single link of any Chain is touching of us it shews the rest are drawing after and that the whole will quickly reach us Besides this Punishment also had those Sins that were the Parents of it engraven in such Capital Letters upon its Forehead that though the Prophet brought him a Pardon sealed for his own Life the way of bringing him foul Transgressions into fresh remembrance could not but create as fresh both blushings startlings and convulsions in his Conscience for such great Miscarriages Moreover the Child we speak of was very dear unto him witness his deep Humiliation on behalf thereof in Fasting Prayer and lying on the Earth all night Verse 16 17. in spite of the Importunity of his Counsellors unto the contrary if possible to have gotten a Reprieve at least from Heaven for it And lastly his Servants were afraid to impart the Tydings of the Child's Death to him for
Caution to the Corinthians Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer 1 Cor. 10.10 We may conclude of this wherewith I close the Argument If we belong to God and are dissatisfied at his Dealings with us we lay a kind of force upon him Either to keep us longer in his Furnace or to remove us thence with our Dross upon us And surely the Choice is not the best on either side Wherefore we must rebuke Impatience and the rather for that Arg. 4. There is undoubted Good at the bottom of all Afflictions to the truly Godly Then what pretence for Discontentment under them Had they their rise from an Heart replete with Vengeance Rage and Fury towards us and were they the Blows of a bloody Enemy that aim'd at nothing less than our utter ruine our Case were then so sad that 't would be hard to find out Comfort for us and seem unequal to condemn a turbulent Carriage in Distresses But blessed be GOD things go at quite another rate The Cloud that is Darkness unto Egypt is Light to Israel Exod. 14.20 The Devil and his Angels who may be Executioners to the righteous and good Providence in our Sufferings are none otherwise than most malignantly disaffected to God's People Yet how bloodily soever they are bent and whatsoever Mischief they are permitted to effect that which happens is not what their Malice doth design but what God's Mercy doth direct The Axe never heweth but when and as the Carpenter strikes therewith And the sharpest Sword will fetch no Blood but from the Hand that wields and smiteth with it But Men and evil Spirits too are Tools which God as far as it is pleasing to him maketh use of And he lays them by again as he thinks good and then they must be quiet in spite of all their Cruelty The Condition of holy * Chap. 1 2. Ps 17.13 14. Es 10.5 6 7 15. Job doth make this evident And both the Psalmist and the Prophet Esay plainly declare as much So that who or whatever brings a Calamity to us we must conclude 't is sent of God for good And if we wisely attend our Duty 't will be with us as with ‖ He in his Excile living in greater state than his own Country could afford said to his Servants Sirs We had been Vndone if we had not been Vndone Plut. Them Themistocles Better in our trouble than without it This is not peradventure presently perceived by us in every Tryal Nor do the Sick or Wounded at the first or second or may be many applications of the most proper and soveraign Medecines to them forthwith receive a Cure or find Ease thereon However 't is better with them because they are in the ready way thereto And is it not egregious Folly to exclaim against or have hard thoughts of either Doctor or Surgeon for a griping Belly or a smarting Leg when 't is to save the Life and to recover Health Should Sufferers be so far from benefit in their Troubles that they do not yet so much as understand the meaning of them why they should know that the Golden Oar is cover'd with coarser Earth and it will ask both pains and patience to dig deep enough to reach it And our blessed Saviour's words to his Servant Peter are very applicable here What I do thou knowest not yet but shalt know hereafter Joh. 13.7 Wait then with quietness and thou wilt sooner find the Treasure But if thou quarrel with thy Medicines and storm at him that doth apply them it must be longer if e'er thou get a Cure when a submissive Spirit will soon be healed God must be met in his own way As he ‖ 1 Kings 19.11 comes not in a great strong Wind nor in the frightful Earthquake nor in the furious Fire but in the still small Voice we must attend him also with a still and quiet Spirit Turbulent Passions in the Soul are like loud Noises and deafning Clamours at the Ears These marr the Hearing and so the Understanding Hence 't is that in such a Lurry we cannot hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 so as to understand and receive the good God means us by it Yet good is surely meant thereby What prudent Father ever did correct his Child but for his benefit And how should Infinite Wisdom with equal Love have any other Aim Afflictions are God's File to rub off the rust of Sin that it may not rot our Souls His Fan to scatter far away the Dust and Chaff which are apt to bury our Grain in Uselesness Yea and his Furnace too where the Dross and Tin is sever'd that the Mettal may be pure and bright Are not all these for greatest good But the Apostle is express in saying That tho' some men correct for pleasure God chastens us for our profit Heb. 12.10 And the Psalmist had the proof upon himself for he professeth Psal 119.71 'T was good for him that he was afflicted For he was gone astray before that met him and brought him back to God And how far he might have wander'd to the utter losing of his Way had not his wild Carreer been stopt by the Rod of God who can tell Certain 't is that long Prosperity is a Bait to all Impiety and no Affliction oft-times proves the very worst Affliction Yea and Impunity the greatest Punishment Therefore God threatned in his high Displeasure Hosea 4.14 Esay 1.5 Hosea 4.17 Not to punish the daughters nor the wives in Israel for their whoredoms to strike Judah no more and let Ephraim alone in his idolatry When Providence smiting of a Pious Man with Lameness onely preventing his running away from God or with Bodily Sickness 't is for preserving his Soul in or recovering it to Health Such Mens Losses of Temporal Riches are for securing Eternal to them and Death's removal of their Earthly Friends is for renewing and faster setling their Friendship with the Heavenly Majesty Nay and their own approaching End serves for preparing them unto an Endless Bliss And where 's the Cause now of Complaining How great 's the reason rather of Rejoycing at least of Silence and Submission Especially when the 5th and last Argument shall be considered Arg. 5. Thou Lord didst it And this is what the Royal Psalmist urgeth in my Text. Which only tho our Proverb aptly saith Store's no Sore in mine opinion might be sufficient to give repose and quiet to a sincere Christian in his greatest troubles suppose it be considered in its just extent Should I pronounce it like the Tower of David builded for an Armory wherein there hung a thousand Bucklers all Shields of mighty Men it were not spoken much amiss I 'm sure 't is no Hyperbole instead of calling it a single Argument to say an Heap of those are lodg'd therein For with a little Patience you shall see it bringing forth at least One Decade of
and if we will be good Souldiers must we not follow and be like unto our Leader O how unlikre him do we acquit our selves who court this World which he so scorn'd and trampled on and pamper the Body which he made drudge of to the Soul and in God's service Is' t probable at this rate when Poverty Sickness Persecution or Death assault and how near any of them may be to us who can tell we should be dumb and open not our mouth submitting quietly to his Father's Hand as he did constantly At least let 's labour to tread in his Apostle's steps keep under our body as it were by Club-law and bring it into subjection 1 Cor. 9.27 that the vain Fancies and sond Appetites there may be restrain'd and curb'd and our Souls may fasten and abide on what will fully satisfie them and never can be rifled from them Direct 3. Lay not thy treasure up on earth but in the heavens Matth. 6.19 Excellent Counsel of our blessed Lord For where the Treasure is there will the Heart i. the Man himself be also And if a Man hath once his Heart viz. his Love Delight Desire and Hopes as high as Heaven with God and Jesus Christ above he can't be so concern'd with any Disaster here below as to be disorder'd greatly by the same As he that looketh down from some high Steeple sees every thing beneath him but as a small and little matter so Earthly Good and Bad must necessarily seem to one whose Conversation is in Heaven 'T is certain that there are those Mountains in the World whose tops will be serene and clear and calm when Thunder Storms and Lightning threaten to mix Heaven and Earth together at the lower parts thereof Could we take off our Affection from things Below to set and always keep them upon what 's Above how should we live as in a constant Sun-shine Nihil erus sentit in nervo cum animus in caelo est Tert. ad Mart. cap. 2. When Pestilence Famine Sword should range the Earth when Poverty Sickness Death should knock at our own Doors how little would the Disturbance be unto us Poor Archimedes was so intent upon his Mathematical Studies that he knew not when his City was storm'd and taken And verily as Christian that gets his Heart full bent towards Heaven will find the distracting Hurries of the Earth slip over him with but little observation by him The holy Apostle Paul was certified by the Holy Ghost in every City he pass'd through that bonds and afflictions waited for him at Jerusakm and yet he faith none of those things so much as moved him Acts 20.24 The Joy in finishing his Course and the Reward after it made even his life it self tho likely to be lost but a little matter with him We are very sure that Moses refused being a King's Grandson and chose rather an afflicted state with the People of God than sinful Pleasures in a Prince's Court valuing the Reproach for Christ as a Better Estate than the Exchequer of Egypt Heb 11.24 25 26. But what was that which betrayed so wise and good a Man into such a Paradox in the World's Opinion Why let them think so still but his Judgment was truly Orthodox notwithstanding For he had respect unto the recompence of reward Verse 26 fin And sure to be Heir apparent unto the Crown of Egypt deserves not to be compared with an undoubted Title to God's Kingdom And the Delights in Heaven are so surpassing that all Earthly Joys are not insipid only but nauseous fulsome Carrion and Poison to them Which having his Heart affected with by a Believing Prospect thereof what was 't to him to throw off the Courtier and take up the Clown Nay worse To skulk and hide a while for scaping of those Blood-hounds that were hunting after him And at the last to flee his Country and abide those many dangers and distresses that attend a Banish'd Outlaw Seculi hujus quem non decipit prosperit as non frangit adversit as S. Aug. de verb. Dom. Serm. 42. All that the Earth could do against him you see how little 't was unto him because his Treasure was in Heaven he had respect to the recompence of reward Were Christians heartily making after him although they should not fully overtake him how light and easie would their many great and heavy Burdens lye upon them To conclude The Author and Finisher of our Faith for the Joy above that was set before him endured the pain and despised the shame of the Bloody Cross whereon he suffer'd Heb. 12.2 And would the Christian duly look to Christ he surely would be like him much more than he is Direct 4. Lastly Let Sin be more uneasie and be sure thy Sufferings then will be easier far Wert thou worse able to endure Corruptions thou would'st be better to abide Afflictions When once Iniquity is our greatest Burden all others will be little felt The very reason why Distresses sometimes triumph is because we have not made a Conquest over our Transgressions They are these that bring Tribulations to us and make them sit more heavy on us when they are come Guilt is a most heavy Load to an Awarkened Mind although Another's Eye should not be able to espy so much as a light Feather on its back But the weight must needs be much increased when Actual Punishment cleaveth unto Guilt Whether the good Woman of Zarephath's words spoken to the Prophet Art thou come to call may Sins to remembrance and to slay my Son 1 King 17.18 do not imply that a fresh cognizance took by Conscience of her faultiness towards God had imbittered the Affliction to her tho it seem probable I will not determine But it is very plain that This added Chains as I may call them to the Confinement of Joseph's Brethren For their open Confession is We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear THEREFORE IS THIS DISTRESS COME VPON VS Gen. 42.21 Whence it must follow would we be more Innocent we should be less Unhappy most certainly our Misery would pinch and gall us less What made our blessed Lord so Easy Patient and Submissive in those worst of Evils upon him Verily because He had the best of Souls within Him No Sin had ever thouched it and how should Sorrow fetch Blood from it O let us grow in Grace and then our bitter Cup shall have no Dregs to touch our Lips Those are reserved for the Graceless Ones to wring them out and drink them up Ps 75.8 But thriving Christians tho' they must have Burthens shall not sink under them Such wait upon the Lord to purpose and so renew their strength They are enabled to walk without fainting and run and not be weary Isa 40.31 Wherefore abound ye in the work of God and your labour will not be in vain 1 Cor. 15.58 Not only by a more diligent Attendance on all Ordinances but especially about increasing Faith inslaming Love confirming Hope perfecting Patience and setting and keeping the whole Heart on Heaven This would advance the Spirit to its due Soveraignty and reduce the Flesh to just Subjection And what can bring Disorders then This will draw back Sin 's Fuel and then its Fire goeth out of itself But the neglect hereof is throwing off our Armour instead of girding it close about us and then we are easily Shot ands fall Meer Nature with all the strength that Reason brings it proves a weak Creature at the last however But Grace and when like David waxing stronger and stronger overcomes all Difficulties in the way to Glory And tho' a Pharoah be behind a Sea before and a Wilderness on both sides it will bear up the Soul until it see the Salvation of its God The Sum of all my Advice is this 1. Make sure of Saving Grace and being Right at Heart 2. Be not indulgent to the Flesh nor fond upon thy Earthly Tabernacle 3. Lay not thy Treasure up on Earth but in the Heavens and let thy Heart be with it there 4. Lastly Let Sin be more Uneasie to thee and thy Sufferings will be easier far Grow but in Grace and thou shalt Out-grow all Grief that can possibly seize thee here For Then thou wilt be the fullest Eccho to the Psalmist I was dumb I opened not my mouth because c. FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by J. Salusbury at the Rising-Sun over-against the Royal-Exchange in Coruhill THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ by William Bates D. D. The Changeableness of this World with reflect to Nations Families and particular Persons with a Practieal Application thereâ—f to the various Conditions of this Mortal Life by Timothy Rogers M. A. A Mirror for Athiests being some Passages of the Life and Death of the Right Honourable John Earl of Rochester written by his own Direction on his Death-bed by Gilbert Burnet Lord Ep. of Sarum An end of Doctrinal Controversies which have lately troubled the Churches by Richard Baxter The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits fully evinced by unquestionable Histories of Apparitions and Witchcrafts Voices proving the Immortality of Souls by Richard Baxter The Protestant Religion truly Stated and Justified by the late reverend Mr. Richard Baxter prepared for the Press sometime before his Death Whereunto is added some account of the learned Author by Mr. Daniel Willams and Mr. Matthew Sylvester The Christian's Coverse with God or the Insufficiency of Haman-friendship and the Improvements of Solitude in Converse with God with some of the Author's breathings after him by Richard Baxter Recemmended to the Readers serious Thoughts when at the House of Mourning and in Retirement by Mr. Matthew Sylvester The Mourners Memorial in two Sermons on the Death of the truly Pious Mrs. Susannah Soame with some account of her Life and Death by Timothy Wright and Robert Fleming