single them out to encounter with unparalleld affliction so on the other side it is an incentive to compassion to them that are free to consider that they are liable to the same temptations therfore should measure out the same compassions to their suffering brethren that they would expect in the same tryals not knowing how soon the cup of trembling may be put into their own hand to be sure insensibleness of other mens miseries will hasten it They put far away the evil day Amos 6.3 4 5 6 they lie upon beds of Ivory c. eat Lambs out of he flock and Calves out of the stall c. drink wine in bowls c. i. e. they give themselves up to all maoner of sensuality and thereby drown the sense of their brethrens miseries they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph they lay not the affliction of the Church to heart it never cost them an hours sleep they abated nothing of all their sensual excesses they never turn aside to shed one tear over bleeding Sion in secret what follows why saith God therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive Verse 7. and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed as if God should have said As I live because you have not pityed your brethren in captivity you your selves shall be led away captive and the next turn shall be yours and there you shall learn by experience what it is to be plundred and what it is to lie in chains what it is to have cruel Taskmasters set over you what it is to want bread you shall banquet it no more you shall feel by sense what you would not feel by sympathy And therefore Christians set your hearts to the afflictions of the Church and people of God it is the great duty which the times call for and I am afraid God is now visiting England and London for the neglect of this duty We are verily guilty concerning our brethren in Germany in Ireland in England and Scotland c. in that we saw the anguish of their souls when they besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us We have not grieved their sorrows nor wept their tears nor sigh'd their groans nor bled their blood and therefore may fear lest God should say unto us also even unto us With the next that go into captivity they shall go into captivity with the next that are plundered and spoyled London shall be plunder'd and spoyl'd with the next that shall be imprison'd you shall be taken prisoners with the next that shall be slain with the sword you shall be slain with the sword you wives shall be made widows and your children shall be made fatherless and your dwellings shall cast you out and be left desolate And therefore let us look to it and know in this our day the things of our peace before they be hid from our eyes Shew compassion that you may not need compassion or if you need it you may finde it In like manner set your hearts to the other Lessons which God teacheth by his chastisements Prize Creature-comforts more and surfeit upon them less be more thankful and less sensual especially prize a Gospel while ye have a Gospel prize it by its worth Amos 8. ◠that you may not prize it by the want prize it that you may keep it lest you prize it one day when you cannot recover it that 's a dreadful word They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord Hosea 5.6 but they shall not FIND Him Amos 8.11 And I wil send a famine not of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the Word of the Lord c. and they shall run to and fro Verse 12 to seek the Word of the Lord and Shall not FIND IT Study self-denyal meekness of spirit labor to discover the hidden corruptions of your own hearts be still digging in that dunghill you will finde it a bottomless pit The heart is deceitful above all things Jer. 17.9 and desperately wicked who can know it I the Lord search the heart Oh entreat the Lord to discover your hearts to you Study Scripture-evidence for your interest in Christ rest not in any evidence which you will not venture your souls upon if you were to dye this moment Labor to maintain sweet communion with God to be able to say with the Apostle and to say truly Our communion is with the Father 1 Joh. 1.3 and with his Son Jesus Christ Make God your choyce and not your necessity and labor to maintain such constant converse with him that when you dye you may change your place onely but not your company Live up in the exercise of your grace add to your faith vertue to vertue knowledg and to knowledg temperance 2 Pet. 1.5 6 and to temperance godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity Be adding one grace to another and one degree of grace to another and one exercise of grace to another exercise of grace that you may not put God to add affliction to affliction and sorrow to sorrow while others are adding sin to sin drunkenness to thirst do you add grace to grace Be stedfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord c. Acquaint your selves with God Iob 22.21 and good shall come thereby Study to know God more and love him better This is Life eternal c. Joh. 17.3 Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. Hosea 6.3 Minde I beseech you while you are in your strength and peace that one thing necessary there is but one thing necessary Hoc age there be many may-be's but one must-be O take heed of industrious folly and dis-spirit not your selves in the pursuit of trifles minde your work Redeem the time the days are evil O that Christians would study the worth of time value a day say of every HOUR yea of every moment This is TIME Redeem time while you have it redeem time while time may do you good Evil days are coming wherein you will say I have no pleasure in them Yea the days are evil evil with sin evil with sorrow redeem the time to do good to receive good that neither you may be the worse for the times nor the times for you Happy shall that man be call'd who contributeth not to the heap of the God-provoking abominations nor receiveth impressions from the hypocrisie and prevarication of the present generation Study the sufferings of Jesus Christ Resolve with Paul to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified A due contemplation of the Cross wil heighten Christs Love and lessen your own suffrings And labor to get your conversation in Heaven Looking for and hastening to or as the word signifies * 2 Pet. 3 12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. hasting the
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
King he chastens as a Prophet he teacheth and as a Priest he hath purchas'd this grace of his Father that the Rod might blossom that Correction might be consecrated for Instruction unto the redeemed Behold a sanctified affliction is a cup whereinto Jesus Christ hath wrung and prest the juice and vertue of all his Mediatory Offices surely that must be a cup of generous and royal wine like that in the Supper a Cup of blessing to the people of God And thus I have finished the fourth particular propounded for the clearing and confirming of the Doctrine sc the Grounds and Demonstrations of the point and with it the whole Doctrinal part of this great and blessed Truth namely That it is a blessed thing when CORRECTION and INSTRUCTION WORD and ROD go together I come now to the Use for the improvement of the point And it may serve for Information Exhortation First For Information and that in these particulars First Affliction alone cannot evidence a man to be blessed If they only be blessed whom God chasteneth and teacheth then Affliction alone is not enough to evidence a man to be an happy man no man is therefore blessed because he is chastened blows alone are not enough Ier 31.18 either to evince or to effect a state of blessedness Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised cryeth repenting Ephraim q. d. I have had blows enough if blows would have done me good nay but under all the strokes and smitings of thy displeasure I have been as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke unteachable and untractable thou hast drawn one way and I have drawn another thou hast pull'd forward and I have pull'd backward all thy chastisements have left me as they found me brutish and rebellious Surely blows onely may break the neck sooner then the heart They are in themselves the fruit of divine wrath a branch of the curse and therefore cannot possibly of themselves make the least argument of Gods love to the Soul Bastards have blows as well as Children and Fools because of their transgression are afflicted Ps 107.17 And yet it is very sad to consider that this is the best evidence that the most of men have for Heaven because they suffer in this world they think they shall be freed from sufferings in the World to come and because they have an hell here they hope they shall escape Hell hereafter they hope they shal not have two hells yes poor deluded Soul thou mayst have two Hells and must have two Hells without better evidence for Heaven Cain had two Hells and Judas had two Hells and millions of reprobate men and women have two Hells one of this life in torments of body and horror of conscience and another of the life to come in unquenchable fire and so I say shalt thou unless thou get better evidence for Heaven then the present misery which is upon thee the plagues and evils which are upon thee may be but the beginnings of sorrows pain now in the body may be but a forerunner of torments hereafter in thy Soul thou mayst have a prison on Earth and a dungeon in Hell thou mayst now want a crum of bread and hereafter a drop of water thou mayst now be the reproach of men Isai 66.24 Prov. 1.24 and hereafter the scorn of men and Angels and of God himself And therefore be wise to Salvation by working it out with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 2 Pet. 1.10 and giving all diligence make your Calling and Election sure God forbid that a man should take that for his security from Hell which may be but the prelibations of Hell the pledg and aggravation of endless misery Why but doth not the Scripture say Object Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth And again Heb. 12.6 As many as I love I rebuke chasten Rev. 3.19 Yes but mark I beseech you though the Scripture saith Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth Answ it doth not say Whomsoever the Lord chasteneth he loveth Though it saith He scourgeth every son whom he receiveth it doth not say whomsoever he scourgeth he receiveth him as a son Christ saith As many as I love I rebuke and chasten but he saith not As many as I rebuke and chasten I love These Scriptures include children but they do not exclude bastards they tye chastening to sonship but not sonship to chastening the sons are chastened but all the chastened are not therefore sons the beloved are rebuked but all that are rebuked are not consequently beloved But that place in Job 5.17 seems to say as much Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth It is true but one Scripture must interpret another David must expound Eliphaz Happy is the man whom God correcteth i. e. when instruction goeth along with correction when chastisement and teaching accompany one another Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law The Scripture doth not usually give things their names but when they are made up of all their integrals Who so fendeth a wife findeth a good thing Pro. 18.22 and obtaineth favor of the Lord i. e. a wife made up of Scripture qualifications otherwise a man may and many men do finde a plague in a wife and hath her from the Lord in wrath and not in love Every married woman is not a wife a bad woman is but the shadow of a wife And so here in this case c. Indeed chastening and affliction is an opportunity of mercy a may-be to happiness but not singly an evidence of happiness lay no more upon it then it will bear it is an opportunity improve it it is no more do not trust it Secondly 2 Branch of Informat Afflictions conclude not a man miserable This Doctrine informs us thus much sc that as affliction simply considered is not enough to make or evidence a man to be happy so neither is it sufficient to conclude a man to be miserable No man is therefore miserable because afflicted It may prove a teaching affliction and then he is happy And yet this is another mistake among men And that 1. In reference to others 2. In reference to our selves 1. In reference to others People are very prone to judg them wretched whom they see afflicted it was the miserable mistake of Jobs friends to conclude HIM miserable because smitten cursed because chastened 2. In reference to our selves it is a merciless mistake sometimes even of Gods own children to sit down under affliction especially if sore and of long continuance and conclude God doth not love them because he doth correct them It seems to be the very case of the beleeving Hebrews they judged themselves out of Gods favor Heb. 12 because under Gods frowns not at all beloved because so greatly afflicted under many and sore persecutions as you may see Chap. 10.32 33 34. And therefore it is that upon