can heal our malady Pray thus for all your friends who are or have been in the furnace of affliction pray that they may come forth as gold purified seven times in the fire that they may lose nothing there but their rust Pray Lord what they see not teach them and if they have done wickedly let them do so no more One great use which Christians should make of reading the Scripture is to learn from thence the language of prayer And oh that the professors of this age would in this particular learn what to pray and how to pray for their brethren in tribulation O that they would censure less and pray more and in stead of speaking one of another speak more one to another and one for another that was the good old way Mal. 3.16 THEN they that feared the Lord spake often one To another But oh the tender praying healing restoring SPIRIT is departed and if Christians stir not up themselves to call it back again it is a sad presage that God is departing too Hos 9.12 and wo unto us when God departeth from us We are like water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered up again We judg before we enquire and reject before we admonish Our Brethren upon vain surmises are to us as Heathens and Publicans before we have been to them as Christians and fellow-members And this we think becometh us and we take a kind of pride and contentment in it But oh to inform to convince Gal. 6.1 Mat. 18.15 16 17. to exhort to pray to put the bone if out in joynt again this were done like the Disciples of Christ Violentia Sancta obtabilis rapina to shew our selves Christians indeed Professors not of the letter but of the Spirit and would gain our Brethren in stead of blasting them Consider what I say and the Lord give you a right understanding in all things And thus much for such as are come out of affliction and find that it hath been through free grace a teaching affliction But now secondly Exhort to them that have been corrected but not instructed To such as cannot evidence to their own Souls that chastening hath been accompanied with divine teaching in any Gospel-proportion or at least are not deeply sensible of the want of it here is a word of Exhortation for them suffer it I beseech you Roul your selves in the dust before the Lord smite upon your thigh sigh with the breaking of your loyns and cry out with Ephraim Thou hast chastised me Reader excuse the frequent use of this Scripture Ier. 31.18 Nunquam satis dicitur quod nunquam satis discitur that cannot be too often spoken which cannot be sufficiently learned Sen. Epist Hosea 9.11 Psal 58.8 and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke I have felt the blows of God but that is all I have received no more instruction by all my correction then a brute beast or if I had I have quickly lost it it is fled like a bird from the birth and from the womb and from the conception It is like the untimely fruit of a woman that never saw the Sun Truly thou hast cause to sit down and even wish for thy affliction again God had put himself into thy hands as it were and thou hast let him go without THE Blessing the blessing of saving Instruction how mayst thou even wish I say O that I were in prison again in my sick bed again in banishment again et sic in caet However humble thy self greatly before the Lord and wrestle mightily for the AFTER TEACHINGS of God upon thy heart pray Turn me Lord and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God what affliction hath not done Lord do thou set Omnipotency on work and it shall be done turn me and I SHALL BE turned that so thy Soul may yet speak to the praise of free grace AFTER that I returned I repented Ier. 31.19 and AFTER that I was instructed I smote upon the thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Urge the Lord as Sampson did after his victory Judg. 15.18 Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant and shall I now dye for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised Say thou Lord thou hast given thy servant this great deliverance from danger and death and shall I now perish for want of teaching and go down to Hell among the uncircumcised TEACH me thy way Psal 86.11 O Lord I will walk in thy truth Vnite my heart to fear thy Name TEACH me to do thy will Psa 143 10 for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of uprightness In a word desire the Lord that He would do all the work and then take all the glory Say Lord teach me as well as deliver me and I shall be blessed The fourâ—h and last Branch of Exhortation is to Parents and Governors To exhort them in the Education of their Children to imitate God Exhortat to Parents and that in two things 1. In affording their children due correction 2. To Correction to add Instruction First 1. Exhort Withhold not due correction Prov. 19.18 Afford your Children due correction It is the counsel of the Holy Ghost CHASTEN thy son while there is hope and let not thy Soul spare for his crying Behold God counselleth you that are Parents or in stead of Parents to do with your children as He doth with his wisely to use the discipline of the rod before vicious dispositions grow into habits and folly be so deeply rooted Pro. 22 15 Mr Trapp in his Comment on Prov. in locum that the Rod of Correction will not drive it out Error and folly saith one very well be the knots of Satan wherewith he ties children to the stake to be burnt in Hell and these knots are easiliest cut betimes or if you should make the child bleed in cutting of them let it not cause you to withdraw your hand for so it followeth Chasten thy son c. and let not thy Soul spare for his crying It is not only foolish but cruel pity to forbear correction for a few childish tears to suffer the child to howl in Hell for sin father then to shâ—d a few tears for the preventing of it Foolish fathers and mothers call this love but the Father of spirits calls it hatred He that spareth the rod Hateth his son Prov. 13.24 Surely there is nothing so ill spared as that whereby the child is spoiled such sparing is hatred and because you hate your children in not correcting of them they come afterward to hate you by not correcting of them But that is not all * Valde inutiliâ—â—er valdc perniciose sentiet filius patris lenitatem ut postea juste sentiat Dei severitatem Aug. in Psa 50. Ad interficiendum Pagn deriving the
for that which is not bread Isa 55.2 nor their labour for that which satisfieth not Heb. 11.1 Faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but labor for Faith which might realize and substantiate unseen and spiritual things and give them a being unto the soul They that will not learn this lesson in the school of the Word shall learn it in the School of affliction if they belong to God and therefore set your heart to it In the eighteenth place 18 Lesson Time-redemption Time-redemption is another lesson which God teacheth whom he correcteth In our tranquility how many golden do we throw down the stream which we are like never to see again for one whereof the time may come when we would give Rivers of Oyl the wealth of both the Indies Mountains of precious stones if they were our own and yet neither would they be found a sufficient price for the redemption of any one lost moment It was the complaint of the very Heathen and may be much more our complaint Quis est qui diem estimat qui se Cum cogitat se quotidie mori Sen. Ep. who is there amongst us that knowes how to value time and prize a day at a due rate most men do rather passe away their time then redeem it prodigal of their precious hours as if they had more then they could tell what to do withall our season is short and we make it shorter How sad a thing is it to hear men complain O what shall we do to drive away the time Alas even Sabbath-time the purest the most refined part of time a Creation out of a Creation time consecrated by divine sanction how cheap common is it in most mens eyes while many do sin away and the most do idle away those hallowed houres Seneca was wont to jeer the Jews for their ill husbandry in that they lost one day in seven meaning their Sabbath truly it is too true of the most of Christians they lose one day in seven what ever else the Sabbath for the most part is but a lost day while some spend it totally upon their lust and the most I had almost said the best do fill up the voyd spaces and intervales of the Sabbath from publick worship with idleness and vanity But oh when trouble comes and danger comes and death comes when the Sword is at the Bowels the Pistol at the brest the knife at the throat Death at the door how precious would one of those despised houres be evil days cry with a loud voice in our eares Redeem the time That caution was written from the Tower in Rome Eph. 5.16 Redeem the time because the dayes are evil In life threatning dangers Rev. 10.6 when God threatens as it were that time shall be no more then we can think of redeeming time for prayer for reading for meditation for studying and clearing out our evidences for Heaven for doing receiving good according to opportunities presented yea then we can gather up the very broken fragments of time that nothing may be lost Then God teacheth the soul what a choice peece of wisdom it is for Christians if it were possible to be before hand with time for usually it comes to passe through our unskilfulness and improvidence In hoc n. fallimur quod mortem prospitimus Sen. in ep that we are surprized by Death and we that reckoned upon yeers many yeers yet to come have not possibly so many hours to make ready our accompts It may be this night is the Summons and then if our time be done and our work to be begun in what a case are we The soul must needs be in perplexity at the hour of death that seeth the day spent and its work yet to do A Traveller that seeth the Sun setting when he is but entring on his journey cannot but be agast the evening of our day and the morning of our task do not well agree together that time which remaineth is too short for lamenting the losse of by-past time By such hazards God doth come upon the soul as the Angel upon Peter in prison Act. 12 7 and smites upon our sides bids us rise up quickly and gird up our selves and binds on our Sandalls c. 1 Cor. 7.29 that we may reedeem lost opportunities and do much work in a little time It is pity to lose any thing of that which is so precious and so short 10 Lesson To value Christs sufferings Lam. 1.12 A ninteenth Lesson is how to estimate at least to make some remote and imperfect guess at the sufferings of Jesus Christ In our prosperity we passe by the Crosse i. e. carlesly and regardlesly at the best we do but shake our Heads a little the reading of the story of Christs passion stirrs up some compassion towards Him and passion against his persecutors but it is quickly gone we forget as soon as we get into the world again but now let God pinch our flesh with some sore affliction let him fill our bones with pain and set us on fire with a burning Fever let our feet be hurt in the stocks and the Irons enter into our soules let our soules be exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud let us be destitute afflicted tormented c. then happily we will sit down and look upon him whom we have peirced and begin to say within our selves And are the Chips of the Crosse so heavy what then was the Crosse it self which first my Redeemer did bear and then it did bear him Are a few bodily pains so bitter what then were those agonies which the Lord of glory suffered in his soul Is the wrath of man so piercing what was the wrath of God which scorcht his righteous soul and sweltred his very heart blood through his flesh in a cold winters day so that his sweat was as great drops of blood trickling down to the ground are the buffetings of men so grievous what were the buffetings of Satan which our Lord sustained when all the brood of the Serpent lay nibling at the heel of his passion Is a burning Fever so hot Christ felt paenas infernales though not inferni how then did the flames even of Hell scald my Saviours spirit Is it such an heart-piersing affliction to be deserted of friends what was it then for him that was the Son of Gods love the darling of his bosom to be deserted of his Father which made him cry out to the astonishment of Heaven and Earth my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Is a chain so heavy a prison so loathsom the sentence and execution of death so dreadful oh what was it for him that made Heaven and Earth to be bound with a chain hurried up and down from one unrighteous judg to another mockt abused spit upon buffeted reviled cast
17.3 This is life eternal to know thee our Saviour saith not it shal be life eternall but it is eternall life is begun already where these things be In the fiftteenth and sixteenth place to be taught the Duties and Priviledges of a suffering condition is a blessed Teaching for hereby the soul is enabled to taste and see what is good and sweet in every affliction and is set above all that which is grievous and intolerable to Nature for this cause we faint not c. 17ly The unum necessarium the one onely thing necessary must necessarily be a blessed thing It is saith our Saviour Luk. 10 42 the better part which shall not be taken away 18ly The Art of Time-Redemption is a blessing not less then an evidence of Soul-Redemption if ye compare the first Epistle of Peter Chap. 1. vers 17 and 18. together 19ly Ask S. Paul and he will tell you that the knowledg of the sufferings of Jesus Christ is an excellent knowledg in comparison of which all other things are loss and dung Phil. 3.8 9 10. And lastly To long for Heaven is the very first fruits of Heaven the evidence and seal of our conjugal CONTRACT with Jesus Christ The Spirit and the BRIDE say Rev. 22.17 Come Lord Jesus Eruditur ad bâ—atitudinem Greg. Moral Behold Christians to be taught of God when chastised by him is a Blessedness compounded of twenty several precious ingredients At least if ye will take in The Nature and Properties of divine Teaching 2 Demonst The Properties of Divine Teaching make up real blessedness which may make a second Demonstration that is to say to be taught all these 1. Inwardly 2. Clearly 3. Experimentally 4. Powerfully 5. Sweetly 6. Abidingly This must needs be a blessed teaching It being a Teaching which doth possess the Soul of the excellencies which it discovereth Doctrinal and notional knowledg is a blessing Blessed saith Christ to his Hearers are your eyes Mat. 13.16 for they see and your ears for they hear I but it is but an occasional preparatory blessedness blessedness in the offer and opportunity Oh but to be taught these Lessons with these qualifications to be taught as the truth is in Jesus 2 Cor 3. last to be taught into the nature and image of the truth to be taught into the possession of divine excellencies this is blessedness indeed blessedness in Being full perfect fruitional blessedness A third Demonstration 3 Demonst They are fruits of Gods distinguishing love A Teaching Chastisement is the fruit of Gods distinguishing Love Chastisements simply considered in themselves lie in common to all the sons and daughters of Adam since the Fall the fruit of that first apostacy as well as of actual and personal departures from God yea and deliverance also lieth in common Providence dispenseth Deliverance to the worst of men The 106 Psalm is a Psalm of Promises made to the Church but the next Psalm the 107 is a Psalm of Providential Dispensations to the World and there as you finde affliction so you may finde deliverance also out of those afflictions to be the portion of wicked men Rebels Vers 11. and Fools Vers 19 20. i. e. wicked fools Solomons fools all along the Proverbs Seamen Vers 23. for the most part not the most religious order in the world all these are delivered out of their troubles The worst of men I say share in this fruit of Gods Providential Goodness Deliverance but a teaching sanctified affliction is the privy seal of special love Psa 89.33 My LOVING KINDNES wil I not take from him whom the Lord LOVETH he chasteneth Heb. 12.6 that is to say with a teaching chastisement when Word and Rod meet together when Correction and Instruction kiss each other they are the fruit of paternal affection and therefore must needs have a blessing bound up in them Deut. 8.5 As a man chasteneth his son so the Lord chasteneth thee Fourthly 4 Demonst It is a branch of the Covenant of Grace Isai 54.13 Ier. 31.33 A Teaching-Correction is a branch of the Covenant of Grace which God hath made in Christ for the Children of Promise All thy children shall be taught of God They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest by vertue of Divine Teaching Affliction is adopted to be a clause in the Covenant of Grace That 89 Psalm is a Song of the New Covenant I will sing of the mercies of the Lord Vers 1. what mercies not providence mercies onely but promise mercies Covenant mercies vers 3. I have made a Covenant with my my chosen And amongst the rest of the branches of the Covenant you shall find the rod and the whip have their place Ver. 30 31 32. If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgments c. Then will I visit their Transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Behold rod and stripes standing here not upon Mount Ebal the Mount of curses as branches of a Covenant of Works but upon Mount Gerizâ—m the Mount of Blessings Deut. 11 as branches of the Covenant of Grace Affliction is not so much threatned as promisd to Christs seed My Covâ—nant will I not break ver 34. When God seems even to break the bones and hearts of his people by sore and heavy strokes of correction yet he doth not break his Covenant My Covenant will I not break it is in order to the Covenant when God chastiseth his children and instructs them by his chastisements Affliction separated from instruction is pure wrath a blast from Mount Ebal Deut. 28. but by a matrimonial Covenant those two Scriptures Psal 89.32 I will visit c. and Isai 54.13 I will teach are marryed together and made one spirit as in my Text and then they are pure grace The Covenant is the Magna Charta of Heaven and contains a list of what ever God the Father hath purposed God the Son hath purchased and God the Holy Ghost doth apply to the Heirs of promise The brests of the Covenant run nothing but the milk of spiritual blessing to the children of God Fifthly 5 Demonst The purchase of Christs Death A Teaching-affliction is the purchase of Christs death and bloodshed Christ dyed not to exempt his redeemed from suffering but to sanctifie their sufferings with his own blood I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world Ioh. 17.15 but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil whatsoever Christ purchas'd he pray'd for and this was one main priviledg not freedom from the evil of affliction but from the evil of sin Sanctifie them with thy Truth Vers 17. Gods Teachings are sanctifying Teachings Sanctifie them with thy Truth thy Word is Truth Christs blood purchas'd nothing but blessings Sixthly and lastly 6 Demonst It is the result of all Christs Offices A Teaching-affliction is the result of all the Offices of Jesus Christ As a
fall into divers temptations what a deal of self-love pride distrust in God Creature-confidence discontent murmur rising of heart against the holy and righ teous dispensations of God is there boyling and fretting within me Wo is me what an heart have I And besides all this in the hour of temptation God brings old sins to remembrance We are verily guilty concerning our brother could Iosephs brethren say Gen. 42.21 twenty yeers after they had sold him for a slave when they were in danger to be questioned for their lives as they feared and thus when the Israelites cry to God in their sore distress for rescue and deliverance God puts them in minde of their old Apostacies Ye have forsaken me and served other gods c. Judg. 10.13 14 go and cry to the gods whom ye have chosen Suffering times are times of bringing sin to minde i Kin. 8.47 If they bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives Heb. If they bring back to heart Captivity is a time of turning in upon our selves and bringing back to heart our doings which have not been good in Gods sight Thus David under the rod could call himself to account I thought on my ways Psa 119.19 and turned my feet c. This now is another lesson which God teacheth by affliction and it is of great use to humble us and to empty and out us of our selves to make us fly to Jesus Christ for righteousness and strength Isa 45.24 In a word God lets us see what is crooked that we may streighten it what is weak that we may strengthen it what is wanting that we may supply it what is lame that it may not be turned out of the way but that it may rather be healed Sixthly 6 Lesson Prayer In the School of affliction God doth teach us to pray They that never prayed before will pray in affliction Isa 26.16 Lord in trouble they have visited Thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening is upon them They that kept their distance with God before yea that said to the Almighty depart from us in their affliction can bestow a visit upon God in trouble they have visited thee and they that never prayed before or at least did but now and then drop out a sleepy sluggish wish can now pour iout a prayer when chastisement is upon their loins a Psa 107.11 Râ—bells b 17 Fools c 23 Mariners even the worst of men can cry to God in their trouble The very Heathen-mariners fall to their prayers in a storm and can awaken the sleepy Prophet to this duty Ionah 1.5 6 What meanest thou O sleeper arise and call upon thy God Hence we use to say He that cannot pray Qui nescit orare discat navigarâ— let him go to sea Thus I say affliction opens dumb lips and untyeth the strings of the tongue to call upon God But whom God teacheth in affliction they learn to pray in another manner more frequently more fervently First More frequently Gods people are vessels full of the spirit of prayer and affliction is a piercer whereby God draws it out For my love they are my adversaries but I give my self unto prayer Psal 109.4 David was always a praying man but now under persecution he did nothing else I give my self unto prayer as wicked men give themselves up to their wickedness so David gave himself up to prayer he made it his work Hence you may observe that most of all the Psalms are nothing else almost but the runnings out of Davids spirit in prayer under variety of afflictions and persecutions as his troubles were multiplied so his prayers did multiply The holy man was never in that condition wherein he could not pray c. Alas it is sad to consider that in our peace and tranquility we pray arbitrarily by fits and starts many times we suffer every trifle to come and justle out prayer but in affliction God keeps us upon our knees and as it were tyeth the sacrifice to the horns of the altar And as he teacheth us to pray more frequently so also to pray more fervently Even of Christ himself it is said Luk. 22.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intentius that being in an agony he prayed more earnestly more intensively he prayed till he sweat again yea till he sweat great drops of bloud he sweltred out his soul through his body in prayer the reason whereof was because he had not only the pangs of death but the sense of his fathers wrath to conflict withall and so it is with believers many times outward afflictions are accompanied with inward disertions So it was with David Psal 22. and Psal 116.3 4 c. And then he gathers up all his strength to prayer and like a true son of Iacob wrestleth with God and will not let him go till he gets the blessing Psalm 143. vers 6 7. c. Truly Christians those prayers wherewith you contented your selves in the day of your peace and prosperity will not serve your turn in the hour of temptation then you will call to mind your short slight cold dead sleepy formal devotions in your families and closets and be ashamed of them Then you will see need of praying over all your prayers again and stir up your selves to take hold upon God Isa 64.7 Indeed for this very end God sends his people into captivity that he may draw out the spirit of prayer which they have suffered to ly dead within them Oh my dove that are in the clefts of the rock in the secret places of the stairs Cant. 2. let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comly Christs dove never looks more beautiful in his eies then when her cheeks are bedewed with tears nor ever makes sweeter musick in his ears then when she mourns to him out of the rock and from under the stairs in a dark and desolate condition then saith Christ thy countenance is comly and sweet is thy voice Seventhly 7 Lesson Acquaintance with â—he word By correction God brings the Children of promise into more acquaintance with the Word He teacheth them out of his Law As here It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes God sent David into the School of affliction there to learn the Statutes of God By Correction the people of God learn 1. To converse with the Word of God more abundantly 2. To understand it more clearly 3. To relish it more sweetly First By affliction they come to converse with it more abundantly It is their duty a all time to study the Word Colos 3.16 To let it dwell richly in them in all wisdom Iob esteemed the words of Gods mouth more then his necessary food And it is their happiness as well as their duty Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night Psa 1â— 1 2 But what through distraction without and distemper within the children of God many times grow strangers to their Bibles they suffer diversions to interpose between the word and their hearts and as they pray arbitrarily so they read arbitrarily and suffer their Bibles to ly by the walls while they are taken up with other entertainments in the world and therefore God is forced to deal with them as we do with our children to whip them to their books by the rod of correction It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes When they are cast out by the world then they can run to the World Psal 119.23 Princes did sit and speak against me i. e. they sat in Councel to take away his life that they might condemn him as a traitor against Saul and what did he in the mean time it follows but thy servant did meditate in thy Statutes Ver. 161. And again Princes have persecuted me without a cause but my heart standeth in aw of thy word While the persecutors are consulting with the oracles of hell to sin against David David is consulting with the oracles of heaven that he might not sin against God My heart standeth in awe of thy Word while they sinned and feared not David fears and sins not 2. They learn by affliction to understand the Word more clearly As it was with the Disciples in reference to Christ his Resurrection the Resurrection of Christ was a lively Comment upon the Prophecies of Christ Ioh. 12.16 These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Jesus was glorified then remembred they these things i. e. they remembred them understandingly they remembred them beleevingly they knew what they meant So it is with the people of God many times in reference to affliction the Rod expounds the Word Providence sometimes interprets the Promise The children of God had never understood some Scriptures had not God sent them into the School of affliction then they can remember how it is written c. they can bring Gods Word and Gods Works together 3. Affliction makes them relish the Word more sweetly In prosperity many times we suffer the luscious contentments of the world so to distemper our palates that we cannot relish the Word taste no more sweetness in it then in the white of an egg as Job speaks in another case but when God hath kept them for weeks months and years it may be fasting from the worlds dainties when they are throughly hunger-bitten in the creature then How sweet are thy words to my taste Psalm 119 103 sweeter then honey to my mouth They are the words which David spake in his affliction witness Vers 23. cum 24. Princes did sit and speak against me but thy servant did meditate in thy Statutes and what follows thy Testimonies are my delight And vers 161. with 162. Princes have persecuted me without a cause c. I rejoyce at thy Word as one that findeth great spoyl The Rod did sweeten the Word It is my delight my joy a nest of sweetnesses Prov. 27.7 The full Soul loatheth the Honey-comb When we are fill'd with Creature-comforts we nauseate many times the very Word it self which is sweeter then the honey or honey-comb but to the hungry Soul every bitter thing is sweet Let God famish the world round about us then how cordial is Scripture-consolation How precious are the Promises Oh said a gracious woman reduced to great straits I have made many a meals meat upon the Promises when I have wanted bread The Word is never so sweet as when the world is most bitter and therefore doth God lay mustard upon the teats of the world that we might go to the brests of the Word and there suck and be satisfied with the milk of consolation Isai 66 11 This is my comfort in my affliction Ps 119.50 for thy Word hath quickened me Blessed be God for that Correction which sweetens the Word unto us 8 Lesson The need of sound Evidence for Heaven Eightly God by bringing his people into troubles especially if lifethreatening dangers doth shew them the necessity of sound evidence for Heaven and Happiness Alass with what easie and slight evidences do we often content our selves in the time of our prosperity when the Candle of the Almighty doth shine in our Tabernacles when all is peace and quiet round about us The heart being taken up with other fruitions we want either time or will to pursue the tryal of our own estates People minde onely what will serve their turn for the present and quiet their hearts that they may follow their pleasures and profits with the less regret and therefore to save themselves a labor they take that for evidence which the sluggish carnal heart wisheth were so But now in the hour of temptation fig-leaves will cover nakedness no longer nothing will serve the turn but what will be able to stand before God and endure the tryal of fire in the day of Christ Oh then one clear and unquestionable evidence of interest in Christ and the of love of God wil be worth ten thousand worlds Shadows and appearances of grace will vanish before the Searcher of hearts It must be perfect love that will cast out fear 1. Iohn 4 17 Truth and soundness of grace onely can give boldness in the day of Judgment Ah what idle and deceitful hearts have we in the midst of us that can take up with loose conjectures go to the Word and Sacrament with these evidences upon which we dare not venture to dye And yet good and upright is the Lord that will teach sinners his way Psal 25 8 that by the thunder-claps of his righteous judgments will awaken the vain creature out of these foolish dreams in which if they should dye they were undone for ever Well let us be still urging and pressing this question upon our own Souls Will this faith save me when I come to stand before the Throne of the Lamb Will this Love give me boldness in the Day of Judgment Will this Evidence serve my turn when I come to dye Oh Christians let us be afraid to lie down with that Evidence in our beds wherewith we dare not lie down in our graves 9 Lesson What an evil thing it is to grieve the Spirit A ninth is this In the time of our trouble God causeth us to see what an evil and a bitter thing it is to grieve the good Spirit of God When we are in the bitterness of our spirits and want the Comforter then we begin to call to minde how oft we have grieved the Spirit which would have been a Comforter to us and have sealed us up to the day of Redemption and say within our selves in reference to
the Spirit of God as sometime the sons of Jacob said one to another in reference to Joseph Gen. 42 21 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 upon us Res delicata est Spiritus sanctus In some such language I say will the Soul in the hour of temptation bespeak it self Ah I am verily guilty concerning that tender Spirit of Grace and Comfort which hath often besought me as it were in the anguish of his Soul saying Ier. 44 4 Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate but I would not hear Is not this He whose rebukes I have slighted whose counsels I have despised whose motions I have resisted whose warnings I have neglected whose warmings I have quenched yea whose comforts I have undervalued and counted them as a small thing Ah wretch how just is it now that the Spirit of God should withdraw that he should despise my sorrows and laugh at my tears shut out my prayers quench my smoking flax and break my bruised reed How just were it that He whom I would not suffer to be a Reprover in the day of my peace should now refuse to be a Repairer of my Soul in the hour of my temptation How righteous a thing were it that I who so often have carryed my self strangely to his Counsels should now in my sorrows be a stranger to his Comforts that I who have walk'd in the sparks of mine own kindling should now at length lie down in sorrow Well if the Lord shall please indeed to bring my Soul out of trouble and to revive my fainting spirit with his sweet Consolations I hope I shall carry my self for the future more obedientially to the counsels and rebukes of Jesus Christ in my Soul and harken to the least whisperings of the Spirit of Grace A tenth Lesson 10 Lesson Communion with God by Chastisements God draws the Soul into sweet and near communion with himself Outward prosperity is a great snare to our communion with God Partly because by letting out our affections inordinately to the creature we suffer the world to come in between God and our hearts and so intercept that sweet and constant traffique and intercourse which should be between God and our Souls Gods people offend most in their lawful comforts because there the snare being not so visible as in grosser sins they are the easilier taken we are soonest surprized where we are least jealous Partly also for want of keeping up our watch against lesser sins While our hearts are warmed with prosperity we think many times small sins can do no great harm but herein we do wofully deceive our selves for besides that the least sin hath the nature of sin in it as the least drop of poyson is poyson and that in smaller sins there is the greater contempt of God in as much as we stand out with God for a trifle as we count it and venture his displeasure for a little sensual satisfaction I say besides these and many other considerations which may render our small sins great provocations this is one unspeakable mischief that small sins intercept our communion with God as much as great sins and sometimes more For whereas great sins by making deep wounds upon Conscience make the Soul go bleeding to the Throne of Grace and there to mourn and lament and never to give God rest till he gives rest to the Soul and by a fresh sprinkling of the Blood of Christ to recover peace and communion with God Smaller sins not impressing such horror upon the Conscience are swallowed in silence with less regret and so do ininsensibly alienate and estrange the heart from Jesus Christ The least hair casts its shadow a Barly corn layd upon the sight of the eye will keep out the light of the Sun as well as a Mountain The eye of the Soul must be kept very clear that will see God Matth. 5 8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Little sins though they do not disturb Reason so much as great sins yet they defile Conscience and the Conscience under defilement unlamented is shy of God and God of it But now affliction fanctified as it doth deaden the heart to the world so it doth awaken and intender Conscience towards sin Fecisti nos Domine ad te in quietum est cor nostrum donec requiescet in te Aug. Med. the Soul is made sensible of her departures from God and of the bitter fruits of that departure and now begins to lament after God in Augustin's language Lord thou hast made my heart for thy self and it is restless and unquiet till it can rest in thee Return unto thy rest O my Soul The Soul hath many turnings and windings but with Noah's Dove it can find no place for the sole of its foot to rest on till it return into the Ark from whence it came And now when the Soul hath been weather-beaten abroad if God will please to put forth his hand and take it into himself Psal 88. â— 18 when dearest relations are become strangers as David complains if God come and give the Soul a visit when the poor creature is in darkness and can see no light then for God to lift up the light of his countenance and shine in a gracious smile upon the Soul and say unto it I am thy Salvation of what sweet and unspeakable refreshment and consolation is this to the afflicted spirit And what a gracious condescention is this in God that when the Soul by prosperity hath waxed wanton against Christ and sported it self in unspouse-like familiarities with strangers Jesus Christ should send it into the house of Correction and there by the discipline of the Rod correct and work out the wantonness of the flesh and when he hath made it meet for his presence take it into sweet and social communion with himself This is stupendious Mercy Goodness that cannot be parallel'd in the whole Creation Ier. 3.1 In the eleventh place 11 Lesson The Exercise of Grace God maketh affliction the exercise and improvement of grace In prosperity grace many times lieth dead and useless in the Soul which affliction awakens and draweth forth into exercise the winter of our outward comforts proves not seldom the spring of our graces Frosts and Snow do starve the weeds and nourish the good corn Though faith and patience be of an universal influence into the holy life Gal. 2.20 The life I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God yet affliction giveth them their perfect work Of the times of persecution it is said Rev. 13 10 Here is the patience and faith of the Saints that is now is the time for the Saints of God to exert their faith and patience and to let them have their perfect work
dictate of their own lusts then of Gods Laws till at length God grew as weary if I may so say of counselling as they were of being counselled and gave them up to their own hearts lusts Psa 81.12 to walk in their own counsels That they that would not live by Gods counsels should perish by their own And therefore you that are come out of the house of bondage remember the sorrows of a suffering condition set not your heart so much upon the pleasure of your present enlargement as upon the bitterness of your former captivity The Church found great advantage in it when returned from Babylon Remembering mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall Lam. 3.19 my Soul hath them CONTINUALLY in remembrance and what was the fruit of it it follows And is humbled in me The meaning is this The people of God among the Jews that desired to keep close to God after their great deliverance experienc'd a serious and constant remembrance of those seventy years sufferings to be an excellent preservative to that humble and gracious frame of heart which God wrought them into in their captivity And yet that is not all As remembrance of affliction preserved Humility so Humility strengthened Faith This I recall to minde therefore have I HOPE Tribulation wrought patience and patience experience Rom. 5.3 and experience HOPE c. By the kindly operation of the remembrance of former Dispensations she began to conceive good HOPE through grace that God had not chastened Her in wrath but in love and that all her Tribulations were the fruit of the Promise not of the Threatening a Blessing not a Curse Go you and do likewise Thirdly 3 Help Remember all your uncomely carriage in affliction Call often to minde the sad discourses and reasonings the fears and tremblings which you have had in your bosoms in the times of trouble and distress Thus the Church Lam. 3.17 I forgat prosperity She had been so long in a suffering condition that now she can scarce remember that ever she saw a good day in all her life and at length she sits down and giveth her self up to despair And I SAID my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord She remembreth what unbelieving conclusions she made in her affliction I SAID c. And so the Prophet Jeremiah Vers 54. Waters flowed over mine head then I SAID I am cut off when he began to sink in the mire he remembreth how his heart began to sink with fear he calleth to minde what faithless language his heart spake I SAID I am cut off Thus David I SAID in my passion c. Psal 31.22 and 116.11 and Jonah 2.4 THEN I SAID I am cast out of thy sight Hezekiah makes a large narrative of what discourses he had in his own Soul what time he had received the sentence of death and leaveth it in writing to all posterity Isai 38.9 THE WRITING of Hezekiah King of Judah Isai 38.9 10 when he had been sick I SAID in the cutting off of my days what did he say truly he uttered very strange complaints for such an eminent Saint as he was I shall go to the gates of the grave I am deprived of the residue of my years I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world mine age is departed and a great deal to that purpose The sum whereof is this I shall dye I shall dye I must take my leave of this world and worms must eat my flesh in the grave c. Such uncomely words he uttered but he remembereth them afterward and is contented to shame himself for them to all the world he puts his fleshly complaints in print that he may humble himself and caution yea and comfort others And thus Christians should we do we should call to minde our SAIDS i. e. we should sit down and recount the impatiencies and short-spiritednesses the murmur and unbelief the love of a present world the fear of death the hard thoughts of God all the irregularities and distempers of our own spirits in the time of Tribulation I said I said c. Doubtless it would be of singular use as to humble our Souls and to check corruption so to endear and proserve the Teachings of God upon your Souls while you might tune Davids Thanksgiving conceived upon some such like occasion Psal 25.8 Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he TEACH SINNERS in the way q. d. I sinned against the Lord in my affliction by my impatience unbelief unhumbledness c. yet He was pleased not altogether to leave me without the Teachings of his Spirit not because I was good but because He was good not because I pleased HIM but because Mercy pleased HIM not because I was upright before Him but because He was UPRIGHT true and faithful to his own Promise hath he done it Good and upright is the Lord and therefore HE hath TAUGHT me though I was a sinner in the way Fourthly Remember your Vows 4 Means Remember your Vows When God by the fire of affliction shew'd you your folly discovered to you the hidden corruption of your hearts and brought your ways and doings to remembrance which were not good you were ashamed yea even confounded and said as it is in Job Lord wherein I have done wickedly I will do so no more But take heed it be not so with you as it was with backsliding Israel of whom God thus complaineth Of old time I have broken thy yoke Ier. 2.20 and burst thy bands and thou saidst I WILL NOT TRANSGRESS q. d. I brought thee hundreds of years since out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage and then thou madest me fair promises I remember the kindness of thy youth the love of thine espousals vers 2. Thou saidst I will do so no more Lord I 'l be covetous no more and idolatrous no more adulterous no more I will murmur no more I will no more depart from thee Thou art the Guide of my youth Good words had she been as good as her word but Oh read what followeth and tremble when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wandrest playing the harlot i. e. no sooner her old heart and her old temptations met but presently they fell into mutual embraces And this is the temper of out hearts for all the world * Nuper me cujusdam amici lanquor aâ—monuit â—pâ—imos esse nos dum infirmi sumus Plin. ep 26. l. 7 ad Max. we are very good while we are in affliction and promise fair but no sooner the tryal over but we forget Gods Teachings and our own Vows and return into the same course and fashion of conversation as before Now therefore if you would preserve the Teachings of God upon your spirits sit down remember your vows and spreading them before the Lord say with David Psal 66 13 14 I will pay thee