natural affections The Saints here that were the called and chosen people of God they had their sorrow and grief as well as their gladness the work of grace wherever it is in truth wrought in any soul doth much restrain mens violent passions yet when men begin to be good they do not cease to be men Religion doth not rob people of their senses The godly have their fears as well as their hopes as they have their joys so they are not without their sorrows you are in heaviness through manifold temptations Afflictions are afflictions to them that fear God as well as to others Heb. 12.11 no chashiment for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Let no Person think because the crosses and troubles he meets withal in the World do sadden and afflict him therefore he hath no grace that surely if they had grace they should have no such thing as grief and trouble of heart See the Holyest men we read of tell us the troubles of their hearts were often inlarged Though the power of godliness doth moderate our affections to things here below yet it doth not make us insensible of what we suffer here below Grace doth not rob men of Humanity as not upon a Civil account so neither doth it upon a Natural account people do not cease to be men and women when they come to be truly godly if Persons were not affected afflicted with their troubles afflictions were no afflictons to them c. Do not therefore pass sentence upon thy self as one that is an unconverted Person because the great troubles thou meetest withal in the world are laid to heart by thee though grace do diminish yet it doth not destroy mens passions James 5.17 the Apostles us Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are though he was a man of exceeding great faith yet you find him sometimes a man of great fear The Scripture records as his grace so his natural temper that eminency of grace that was in him did not destroy that that was natural in him Christianity doth not introduce a Stoical Stupidity that they do not at all regard how things go with them we may have grace in our hearts and yet lay to heart our sufferings we may be truly brought home to God and yet affected through sense of our afflictions in the World Only here let me put in a few cautions First Though God's people are in heaviness and sadness through the great troubles that they meet withal in the world yet you that fear God take heed you be not in such heaviness as those who have no hope do not sorrow as them that have no hope or no ground of hope for the blessing of God upon them here much less for happiness with God hereafter rejoyce in the Lord while you have sorrow in the world saith the Apostle rejoyce in the Lord always and he makes a repetition and againe I say rejoyce This is his councel to the suffering Saints even when most afflicted as David 1 Sam. 30.6 when he was in that great trouble when his Wives were taken Captive and his Children and the people speak of stoning David what did he do but David incouraged himself in the Lord his God so should we do when we are discouraged as to the world then we should incourage our selves in the Lord our God at what time I am afraid I will trust in thee let not our afflictions here make us think it will never be otherwise hereafter Secondly Let not your heaviness or trouble or sadness in the World be joyned with discontent do not murmur because we meet with troubles let us not think because we are afflicted that others are in a better condition then our selves because they thrive and and flourish in the world O let us not quarrel at any of God's providences let us say as that good Old man Eli It is the Lord let him do what seems him good the Lord is good and doth good and he doth nothing but what is good for us we have no cause to quarrel when God doth afflict us let us then take care that we do not fret our selves to do evil for there is no evil in the City but God doth it and good is that God that sends that evil and all evil shall be for good to them that fear God Thirdly Let your heaviness be greater for your transgressions then for any affliction or temptation let us more grieve for sin that is the cause of trouble then for all those troubles that are caused by sin let us more lay to heart our own corruptions then all the malice of wicked men and the afflictions we meet with in the world we had not known what sorrow meant had not sin been in our hearts and been in our lives let us mourn more for sin or however be sure that our natural sorrow be accompanyed with spiritual sorrow that we have that godly sorrow that workes repentance unto Salvation for worldly sorrow alone only causeth death O let sin be more laid to heart and the crosses in the World less laid to heart let us mourn more for our transgressions and we shall less mind our afflictions Fourthly Let not our heaviness or sadness or grief of spirit that is occasioned through troubles in the World cause us to neglect our duty let us take care that we do not so grieve for what we suffer as to forget what we have to do let us not so mind our misery as to forget our duty or omit our duty to God or Man in the places of our general and particular calling which God hath set us in the world When sorrow is so excessive that it drives us from God and from his wayes from delighting in him we have cause then to be in heaviness for it we are not so to mind what we suffer as to forget what we do That sorrow is never like to do us good nay that sorrow doth not make us at all to be good that keeps us from doing good if we once come to that pass to neglect our duty that heaviness is to be lamented Applicat Beloved we have heard Gods people are in heaviness through manifold temptations but let me tell you If Gods people be in heaviness here what heaviness shall Gods enemies be in hereafter If God chastise his faithful servants sure he will punish his enemies if this be done in a green Tree what shall be done in a dry if Gods people have their temptations surely wicked men shall have their tribulation tribulation and anguish upon every one that doth evil doubtless if manifold temptations be the lot of the righteous here dreadful tribulation will be the portion of the wicked hereafter doubtless the time is coming Prov. 11.8 vers The righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked cometh in his room the time is coming when sin and sorrow shall be gone from the people of God and then everlasting sorrow
by the hand of Saul and yet Saul died and he lived Gods people I say manytimes they are delivered in this World out of eminent dangers though great though long troubles though soar and though lasting yet they are not everlasting they do not continue as long as their days continue Many have been under great temptations soar persecution and yet have outlived their persecutors David did Saul and Paul did even when they were past hopes 2 Cor. 1.9 10. vers We were pressed out of measure above strength insomuch that we despaired even of life but we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us and he tells Timothy 2 Tim. 3.10 11. vers of the great troubles and persecutions that came to him but out of them all the Lord delivered him and so in the same Epistle 2 Tim. 4.16 17. ver when he was brought before Nero all men forsook me yet God did not forsake me the Lord stood with me and strengthened me and I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon though he was very near unto death yet his life was preserved God did make with that soar temptation a way to escape The troubles of Gods people shall be but for a season sometimes they are but for a season in this life Secondly At the most they shall be but for the season of this life they shall last no longer so one Paraphrases upon the words they are but for a season as long as this short life lasts so long you may be afflicted if there be occasion for it but then there is an end of all 2 Cor. 4.17 vers Our light affliction which is but for a season but for a moment it shall not be hereafter it shall be but here while the moment of this life lasts then it vanishes away when our lives go if we fear God all our troubles will go away with them there is a time for every thing this present time is the time of the Saints afflictions the time that Gods people suffer this is the time of temptation of all that fear God when this life is at an end afflictions will be out of season there will be none of them when this life ends the suffering of the godly will then be at an end death puts a period to all their troubles they continue but while they have their abode in this earthly tabernacle no longer shall any cross or affliction be their portion Revel 14.13 vers Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Blessed are they though they seem the most cursed of any people in some respects while they live yet blessed are they when they dye for they rest from their labours that is though not from their labour of service and love to God and his people yet from their labour of sorrow they shall then have no burden of persecution or affliction to bear as no evil shall be done by them so no evil then shall be suffered by them as they shall not know what sin means in another World so neither shall they understand what sorrow means weeping and wailing all tears then shall be wiped from their faces and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads no disturbance of Spirit shall be the Saints lot in another World no evil work nor work of iniquity shall ever follow them mens Pesecutors may follow them to the grave but then they must leave them then your bodies shall go into your graves in peace and your souls shall go to God that gave them to the Spirits of just men made perfect that are without sin and without suffering that are for ever serving God and continually injoying God In Gods presence where Gods people shall be after this World there is no part of their lives that is imbittered to them there is fulness of joy and their is pleasure for evermore at Gods right hand it is not only some little comfort is given them aâ—… this World to bear up their Spirits but there the joy shall be everlasting pleasure for evermore O well may believers say as God by the Prophet Say you to the righteous it shall be well with him though it be very ill with him whiles he lives yet it shall be well with him when he dyes his troubles he shall see they were but for a season though he may have many inconveniences in his earthly tabernacle yet he shall find nothing of dislike when he comes to Gods everlasting habitation Secondly Why is it so Why shall the temptations of the Godly be but for a season Why shall their affliction not last allways I will give you a two fold account of it I. Because of the mercifulness of God he is a God of tender mercy he compassionates all his creatures in all respects but much more them who are not only the work of his hands but the delight of his heart as all that fear and love him are he hath great kindness for them and this account is given why the Lord will not always chide his people he is a merciful God Psal 103.8 9. vers The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and then it follows he will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever angry he may be with his children when they are faulty and disobedient But he will not keep his anger forever Why the verses following declare Like as a Father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him for he knows our frame he remembers we are but dust God knows what frail creatures his people are and though some chiding they may bear yet his frowns they are not able to undergo that is the reason God gives why he would not shew himself always displeased with his people he should break their hearts with such thoughts Isa 57.16 17. vers I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth why for the Spirit should fail before me and the Soul which I have made the very heart of Gods people would be broken with a long continuance of their troubles and therefore he will in wrath remember mercy as it follows For the iniquity of his covetuousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners I know that he is not able always to bear my afflicting hand I will take it of it shall be but a little while the rod is upon his back but it shall not rest there I will manifest my love again to him Isa 54.7 8. vers For a
STRENGTH MADE PERFECT IN Weakness In Four Sermons Preached By William Hickocks M. A. Quandoquidem nobis denegatur diu vivere relinquamus aliquid quo nos vixisse testemur Sen. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Three Crowns and Bible at the Lower end of Cheap-side 1674. THE EPISTLE TO THE Reader READER THE worthy Author of these Sermons Mr. William Hickocks was Educated in the Schools of the Prophets and that in an happy time when the envious man was not permitted the Nurseries and Vine-yards to poyson and spoyle them with the Tares of unsound Doctrines and evil Examples and it pleased God to Sanctifie his Liberal and Pious Education that he became not onely a good Christian but also an able Minister not of the Letter but of the Spirit He made the work of his Ministry the work not only of his Head but Heart too shineing with the splendor of Knowledge and Holiness and burning with very Holy Well-grounded Affectionate Zeal giving himself to spend and be spent ready to impart his very soul and all in Delivering and Vrging his great Master's Errand Observing his Spirit as I had frequent opportunity of Converse with him I often thought he savoured too much of the other World to be far from it and so it was indeed His Light was too bright and hot to last his Race too swift and eager to hold he threw himself with strong girds before his feet and soon apprehending the prize left his Body behind Great Labours and Publick as well as Personal deep Resentments exhausted his Spirits and quickly reduced his Body to the dregs of Melancholy so that he was often as Epaphroditus once sick even to death for the work of the Ministry God also early called him forth as David when but a stripling to grapple with Goliah-like Temptations wherein indeed he was Conqueror but yet as Christ with great faintness of Spirit the Lord therefore seeing him weary took him up in his arms and carried him home excusing him his otherwise-remaining travel Oh! how precious had his experiences been had he had Life and Health to acquaint us with them Oh! the depth of the Wisdom and Counsel of God and his ways past finding out that so fruitful a Tree should not be spared that a Vessel of Mercy and Honor so purged and fitted for his Masters use should be dashed in pieces even as soon almost as it was seasoned and broached But yet blessed be God although the Earthen Vessel be broken we have not lost all the Treasure the less it is that is saved the more we should make of it as we carry it towards the Parents of many Children when they leave but one onely little one behind we account it very dear especially if it be like the Parent and truly so is this little Book in thy hand it being a representation of the Consistency of Faith and Doubting Fear and Hope Heaviness and Gladness in one and the same Godly Person whereof the Author was a famous Instance as if this had been his very Temper and Complexion Behold then here one onely little Birth * These Sermons being Published as they were taken in Short-hand something hurt indeed in the coming forth for want of better Midwifry but yet of many resembling the Parent and costing him his very Life Behold Reader I present thee with a taste of the Fruit under the waight whereof the Tree did Bend Break and Fall yet shall we answer at last if we Refuse or Receive so costly Grace in vain Oh! what a sad account shall we have to make if this man of God and the many others which are lately taken from amongst us should be gone to Heaven to complain of our Vnthankfulness Vntractableness Vnfruitfulness Vnsteadfastness c. whereby we have broken their Hearts Good Reader I warn in Paper and Inke and would more gladly do it in Tears if the Lord would please to hear Prayers that we may be Restored to the free Publick Exercise of our Ministry Amen The second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians the second Chapter the sixteenth and seventeenth Verses 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace 17. Comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work AS it is the duty of all when they have the Truth made known to them to receive it so much more is it the duty of believers that have received the Truth to hold it fast As we are to buy the Truth so having once bought it never to sell it as we are to lay hold on it so never to let it go as it is our duty to imbrace the Truth so it should be our care never to let it go never to leave it The Apostle having in this Chapter exhorted the Saints to steadfastness to watchfulness and carefulness he presseth his Exhortation from variety of Motives taken partly from the Apostasie of those that are seemingly friends to the Truth partly from the misery of the enemies of the Truth and then again in regard of the holyness they were adorned with and the happiness they should ere long injoy and therefore he repeats his exhortation to stedfastness in the Verse before the Text Therefore Brethren stand fast and hold the tradition not of men but of God which you have been taught that is those Doctrines you have received whether from our mouths or writings that is from the Apostles who were infallibly guided by the Holy Ghost And to this Exhortation he adds Supplication in the words now read wherein take notice of four things First The Persons praying Paul Silvanus and Timotheus Secondly The Persons prayed for The Saints of the Church of the Thessalonians Thirdly The Persons prayed too and they are two First God the Son Secondly God the Father The Apostle mentions the Son first no◠that he is so in order of Nature but he 〈◊〉 not curious in placing his words though 〈◊〉 very well knew that God the Father is the first Person in the Trinity God even our Father where we have first his Love asserted who hath loved us Secondly declared and illustrated first in the effects of it and hath given us everlasting consolation and then in the cause of it and good hope through grace Lastly The Petitions themselves or Blessings prayed for and they are two Consolation and Confirmation Consolation comfort your Hearts Confirmation stablish you in every good Word and Work My time is but short the Text is large and therefore I must but only in many things paraphrase upon the Words Now our Lord Jesus Christ Now or first the Apostle here adds this Supplication to his former Exhortation from whence I might note First Doct. I. That the Ministers of the Gospel are not only to Preach to but to pray for the People As they are to speak from God to them so they are to speak for them