Comforts for the sick Bed.
The Pre
face.
WHat should we do
in this vale of
teares, but bemoan
each others
miseries? Every
man hath his load, and well
is he whose burthen is so easie
that he may help his neighbours.
Hear me, my son;
my age hath waded through
a world of sorrowes; The
Angel that hath hitherto redeemed
my soul from allGen. 48. 16.
evill, and hath led me within
few paces of the shore, offers
to lend thee his hand, to guide
thee in this dangerous foard;
wherein every error is death;
Let us follow him with an
humble confidence, and bee
safe in the view and pity of
the wofull miscarriages of others.
§ 1. Aggrava
tion of the misery of sicknesse.
Thou art now cast upon
the bed of sicknesse;Ps. 32▪ 3 roaring
out all the day long for the
extreamity of thy pain, measuring
the slow houres, not
by minutes,Job 10▪ 1. but by groanes;
Thy soule is weary of thy
life, through the intolerable
anguish of thy spirit;Job 7. 11 Of all
earthly afflictions this is the
soarest. Job himself, after the
sudden and astonishing new
••
of the losse of his goods,Job 1. 21 and
children, could yet beare up,
and blesse the God that gives
and takes; but when his body
was tormented, and was
made one boyle,Job 3. 3. now his patience
is retched so farre as to
curse (not his God, but) his
Nativity. The great King
questioning with his Cupbearer
NEHEMIAH,Neh. 2. 2 can say,
Why is thy countenance sad,
seeing thou art not sick? as
implying, that the sick man
of all other hath just cause to
be dejected; worldly crosses
are aloofe off from us; sicknesse
is in our bosome; those
touch ours onely, these our
selves; here, the whole man
suffers; what could the body
feele without the Soule, that
animates it? how can the
soule (which makes the body
sensible) choose, but be most
affected with that pain,
whereof it gives sense to the
body? Both partners have
enough to doe to encounter
so fierce an enemy: The sharper
assault requires the more
powerfull resistance; Recollect
thy self, my son, and call
up all the powers of thy soul,
to grapple with so violent an
enemy.
§ 2. 1 Com
fort, from the free
dom of the soul.
Thy body is by a sore disease
consined to thy bed. I
should be sorry to say, thou
thy self wert so: Thy soul
(which is thy self) is, I hope,
elsewhere; That, however it
is content to take a share in
thy sufferings, soares above to
the heaven of heavens; and
is prostrate before the throne
of grace, suing for mercy and
forgivenesse; beholding the
face of thy glorious Mediator,
interceding for thee: wo
were to us if our souls were
coffin'd up in our bosomes,
so as they could not stirre
abroad, nor goe any further
then they are carried; like
some snail, or tortoise, that
cannot move out of the shell;
Blessed be God, he hath given
us active spirits, that can bestirre
themselves, whiles our
bodies lie still; that can be so
quicke and nimble in their
motions, as that they can
passe from earth to heaven,
ere our bodies can turn to
the other side▪ and how much
shall we be wanting to our
selves, if we doe not make use
of this spirituall agilitie;
sending up these spirits of
ours, from this dull clay of
our bodies, to those regions
of blessednesse; that they
may thence fetch comfort, to
alleviate the sorrows of their
heavie partners? Thus doe
thou, my sonne, imploy thy
better part; no paines of the
worse can make thee miserable;
That spirituall part of thine
shall ere long be in blisse,
whiles this earthen peece shall
lye rotting in the grave: Why
shouldst thou not, even now
before thy separation, improve
all the powers of it,
to thy present advantage?
Let that still behold the face
of thy God in glory▪ whiles
thy bodily eyes look upon
those friends at thy bed side,
which may pity, but cannot
help thee.
§ 3. 2 Comfort from the author of sicknesse, and the benefit of it.
Thou art pained with sicknesse:
Consider seriously
whence it is that thou thus
smartest; Affliction commeth
not out of the dust; couldst thou
but heare the voyce of thy
disease,Job 5. 6. as well as thou feelest
the stroke of it; it saith loud
enough, Am I come up hither
without the Lord to torment
thee?
2 Kings 18. 25.
The Lord hath said to
me, Goe up against this man,
and afflict him. Couldst thou
see the hand that smites thee,
thou couldst not but kisse it;
Why man, it is thy good
God, the Father of all mercies,
that layes these stripes
upon thee; Hee that made
thee, he that bought thee at
so deare a rate as his owne
blood, it is he that chastiseth
thee; and canst thou think he
would whip thee but for thy
good? Thou art a Father of
children, and art acquainted
with thine owne bowels;
Didst thou ever take the
•
od
into thy hand, out of a pleasure
that thou tookest in
smiting that flesh which is
derived from thine owne
loines? Was it any ease to
thee to make thy child smart,
and bleed? Didst thou not
suffer more then thou inflictedst?
Couldst thou not rather
have been content to
have redeemed those his
stripes with thine own? Yet
thou sawest good reason to
lay on,Prov. 19. 18. and not to spare for
his loud crying, and many
teares; and canst say, thou
hadst not loved him, if thou
hadst not been so kindly severe:
And if we that are evill,
know how to give loving and
beneficiall correction unto
our children, how much more
shall our Father which is in
heaven know how to beat us
to our advantage? so as wee
may sing under the rod, with
the blessed Psalmist;Ps. 119. 75.
I know
O Lord that thy judgements are
right, and that of very faith
fulnesse thou hast afflicted me.
Might the child be made arbiter
of his own chastisement,
do we think he would
award himself so much as one
lash? yet the wiser parent
knowes he shall wrong him,
if he doe not inflict more; as
having learned of wise Solomon;
Prov. 23 14.
Thou shalt beat him with
the rod, and shalt deliver his soul
from hell; Love hath his
stroaks, saith Ambrose, which
are so much the sweeter, by
how much they are the harder
set on: Dost thou not remember
the message that the
two sisters sent to our Saviour;Joh. 11. 3
Lord, behold, hee whom
thou lovest is sick: Were it so
that pain, or sicknesse, or any
other the executioners of Divine
justice should be let loose
upon thee, to tyrannize over
thee at pleasure, on purpose
to render thee perfectly miserable;
there were just reason
for thy utter disheartening;
now they are stinted, and goe
under commission; neither
can they bee allowed to have
any other limits then thy
own advantage: Tell me whether
hadst thou rather be good,
or be healthfull: I know thou
wouldst bee both, and thinkst
thou mayst well be so. Who
is so little in his owne favour
as to imagine hee can be the
worse for faring well? But
he that made thee lookes farther
into thee then thine owne
eyes can doe; he sees thy vigour
is turning wanton; and
that if thy body be not sick,
thy soul will: if he therefore
finde it sit to take downe thy
worse part a little, for the preventing
of a mortall danger
to the better, what cause hast
thou to complain, yea, rather
not to be thankfull? When
thou hast felt thy body in a
distemper of fulnesse, thou
hast gone to sea on purpose to
make thy self sick; yet thou
knewest that turning of thy
head and stomach would bee
more painful to thee then thy
former indisposition; why
should not thine al
•
wise Creator
take liberty to cure thee
with an afflictious remedy?
§ 4, 3 Com
fort, from the vicis
situdes of health.
Thou art now sick: Wert
thou not before a long time
healthfull? Canst thou not
be content to take thy turns?
If thou hadst had more daies
of health then houres of sicknesse,Job 2. 10
how canst thou think
thou hadst cause to repine?
Had the divine Wisedome
thought sit to mitigate thy
many daies pain, with the
ease of one hour, it had been
well worthy of thy thanks;
but now that it hath beforehand
requited thy few painfull
houres, with yeares of
perfect health, how unthankfully
dost thou grudge at the
condition? It was a foule
mistake, if thou didst not
from all earthly things expect
a vicissitude; they cannot
have their being without a
change; As well may day be
without a succession of night▪
and life without death, as a
mortall body without sits of
distemper; and how much
better are these momentany
changes, then that last change
of a misery unchangeable? It
was a wofull word that Father
Abraham said to the damned
glutron; Son, remember
that thou in thy life time receivedst
thy good things,
Luk 16▪ 25.
and
Lazarus evill things; but
now he is comforted, and thou
art tormented: Oh happy
stripes wherewith we are
here chastened of the Lord,
that we may not bee condemned
with the world!
1 Cor. 11. 32. Oh welcome
feavers that may quit my
soule from everlasting burnings!
§ 5, 4 Comfort Sicknesse better then sinfull health.
Thou complainest of sicknesse;
I have known those
that have bestowed teares
upon their too much health,
sadly bemoaning the feare and
danger of Gods disfavour for
that they ayled nothing; and
our Bromiard tels us of a devout
man in his time,Bro. Sum. V. Infirmitas that
bewailed his continued welfare
as no small affliction;
whom soon after God fitted
with pain enough: The poore
man joyed in the change, and
held his sicknesse a mercy;
neither indeed was it otherwise
intended by him that
sent it. Why are we too much
dejected with that, which
others complain to want?
why should we finde that so
tedious to us, which others
have wished? There have
been Medicinal Agues, which
the wise Physitian hath cast
his Patient into, for the cure
of a worse distemper. A secure
and lawless health, how
ever Nature takes it, is the
most dangerous indisposition
of the soul: if that may be
healed by some few bodily
pangs, the advantage is unspeakable.
Look upon some
vigorous Gallant, that in the
height of his spirit, and the
heat of his blood, eagerly
pursues his carnal delights, as
thinking of no heaven, but
the free delectation of his
sense; and compare thy present
estate with his: Here
thou liest groaning, and sighing,
and panting, and shifting
thy weary sides, complaining
of the heavie pace of the tedious
hours; whiles he is fro
licking with his jocund companions,
carousing his large
healths, sporting himself with
his wanton mistress, and
bathing himself in all sensuall
pleasures; and tell me
whether of the two thou
thinkest in the happier condition:
Surely, if thou be not
shrunk into nothing but mee
•
Sense, if thou hast not cast
off all thoughts of another
world, thou shalt pity the
misery of that godless jollity;
and gratulate to thy self
the advantage of thine, humble
and faithful suffering; as
that which shall at last make
thee an abundant amends, by
yeelding thee the peaceable fruit
of righteousness.
Heb. 12. 11.
§ 6. 5 Comfort: The greater sufferings of hol
•
er men; and the reso
lutions of heathens.
Thy pain is grievous; I
apprehend it such, and pity
thee with all my soul. But
let me tell thee, It is not such,
but that holier men have susfered
more. Dost thou not
hear the great precedent of
patience crying out from his
dung
•
hill;Job 6. 2, 3, 4.
Oh that my grief
were thorowly weighed, and
my calamities laid in the balance
together! For now it
would be heavier then the sand
of the sea: therefore my words
are swallowed up. For the arrows
of the Almighty are
within me, the poison whereof
drinketh up my spirits: The
terrours of God do set themselves
in array against me?
Psal. 22. 1. Dost thou
not hear the man after Gods
own heart speak of the voice
of his roaring?Psal. 6. 6 Dost thou
not see him that shrunk not
from the Bear, the Lion, the
Giant, drenching his bed
with his tears? Dost thou
not hear the Faithful crying
out,Lam. 3. 1, 3, 4.
I am the man that hath
suffered affliction by the rod of
his wrath, &c. Surely, against
me is he turned; he turneth his
hand against me all the day:
My flesh and my skin hath he
made old; he hath broken my
bones. Might I not easily shew
thee the Prophets, Apostles,
Martyrs, (the great favourites
of heaven) some on the Gridirons,
others in boiling Cal
drons, some on the Spits,
others under the Sawes, some
in the Flames, others crashed
with the teeth of Wilde
beasts: some on the Racks,
others in fiery furnaces: most
of them in such torments, as
in comparison whereof thy
pains are but sport? Yea,
what speak I of these mortal,
and (at the best) sinful men;
when thou maist see the Son
of God, the Lord of life, the
King of glory, God blessed
for ever, sweating drops of
blood in his dreadful agony;
and maist hear him cry upon
the tree of shame and curse,
My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Alas, what are
we capable to suffer in proportion
of these tortures?
Who are we, that we should
think much to share with the
best of Gods Saints, yea with
the dear and eternal Son of
his love, our ever blessed Redeemer?
Had not God found
this the way to their heaven,
they had not trod so deep in
blood: Why do we grudge
to wet our feet where they
waded? Yea, if from these
holy ones, thou shalt turn
thine eyes to some meer Pagans,
let me shew thee the
man whom we are wont to
account infamous for voluptuousness;
Epicurus, the Philosopher;
who on his dying
day, when he lay extremely
tormented with the stone in
the bladder, and a tearing
Collick in his bowels, as it
were gasping for life; yet even
then writing to his Idomeneus,
can out of the strength
of his resolutions profess his
chearfulness; and can style
even that day blessed. It was
the same mouth that could
boast,
•
hat if he were frying
in the brazen Bull of Phalaris,
he could there finde contentment.
What should I
tell thee of a Mutius Scaevola,
who in a glorious revenge
voluntarily burns off his own
right hand, not without the
envie and pity of his enemies:
or of a Regulus, that after so
high a provocation, offers
himself to the worst of the
merciless fury of his tormentors?
Why shouldst thou
think it strange (saith wise
Seneca) that some men should
be well pleased to be scorcht,
to be wounded, to be rackt,
to be kill'd? Frugality is a pain
to the riotous; labour is a punishment
to the lazie; continence
is a misery to the wanton;
studie is a torture to the
slothful: All these things
are not in their own nature
difficult; but we are feeble,
and false-hearted. Shall these
Pagans attain to this height
of magnanimity, out of the
bravery of their manly resolutions;
and shall we Christians
droop, and pule under
gentler sufferings? whiles
we profess to have moreover
the advantage of Faith to
uphold and chear us? Poor
Heathen souls! they never
heard of any gracious Engagements
of a merciful God
to stand by them, and to
comfort them: they never
had met with those sweet
messages from heaven; Call
upon me in the day of thy trouble,
Psal. 50. 15.
and thou shalt glorifie me: Come
unto me,
Mat. 11. 28.
all ye that labour and
are heavie laden, and I will give
you rest: Strengthen ye the weak
hands,
Isai. 35. 3, 4.
and confirm the feeble
knees: Say to them that are of a
fearful heart, Be strong, fear
not; behold, your God will come
with vengeance, even God with
a recompence; he will come and
save you. They had not the
heart of a Job, to say, I know
that my Redeemer liv
•
th; nor
the eyes of a Steven, to pierce
the heaven, and to see their
Saviour standing at the right
hand of God: but meerly
tugg'd it out in the strength
of their natural courage,
heightened with a vain-glorious
ambition of that fame
which they did believe
would survive them; whereas
we Christians know that
we have a God, the Father of
all mercie
•
▪ to stand by us; a
Redeemer, to deliver us; a
Comforter, to strengthen and
refresh us; sweet and unfail
able promises, to sustain us;
and at last, a crown of eternal
glory, to recompense us.
§ 7. 6 Comfort: Our sufferings far below our deser
vings.
Thou art pained with Sickness:
Look not at what thou
feelest, but at what thou hast
deserved to feel. Why doth
the living man complain? Man
suffereth for his sin.
Lam. 3. 39. Alas, the
wages of every sin is death; a
double death; of body, of
soul
•
; temporal, eternal: Any
thing belowe this, is mercy.
There is not the least of thy
many thousand transgressions
but hath merited the infinite
wrath of a just God; and
thereby, more torments then
thou art capable to undergo.
What dost thou complain of
ease?Luke 1
•
▪
Where thou owedst
a thousand talents, thou art
bidden to take thy bill, and
sit down and write fifty: wil
•
thou not magnifie the clemency
of so favourable a creditor?
Surely, were every
twig wherewith thou smartest,
a scorpion, and every
breath that thon sendest
forth, a flame; this were yet
less then thy due. Oh the
infinite goodness of our indulgent
Father, that takes up
with so gentle a correction!
Tell me, thou nice & delicate
patient, if thou canst not bear
these stripes, how wilt thou
be able to endure those that
are infinitely sorer? Alas,
what are these to that hell
which abides for the impatient?
There are exquisite
pains, without mitigation;
eternal pains, without intermission;
which thou canst
neither suffer nor avoid; fear
them, whiles thou grudgest
at these; lay thy self lowe
under the hand of thy good
God, and be thankful for a
tolerable misery. How graciously
hath the wisdom of
our God thought fit to temper
our afflictions; so contriving
them, that if they be
sharp, they are not long; and
if they be long, they are not
over-sharp; that our strength
might not be over-laid by
our trials, either way! Be
content man; either thy languishment
shall be easie, or
thy pain soon over. Extreme
and everlasting, are terms reserved
for Gods enemies in
the other world: That is truly
long, which hath no end;
that is truly painful, which
is not capable of any relaxation.
What a short moment
is it that thou canst suffer?
short, yea nothing, in respect
of that eternity which thou
must either hope for, or fear.
Smart a while patiently, that
thou maist not be infinitely
miserable.
§ 8. 7 Comfort: T
••
benefit
〈◊〉
the exer
cise of our pat
••
ence.
Thou complainest of pain:
What use were there of thy
Patience, if thou a
•
ledst nothing?
God never gives vertues
without an intent of
their exercise. To what purpose
were our Christian valour,
if we had no enemy to
encounter? Thus long thou
hast lien quiet in a secure Garison,
where thou hast heard
no trumpet but thine own,
and hast turned thy drumshead
into a Dicing table,
lavishing out thy days in varieties
of idle Recreations:
now God draws thee forth
into the field, and shews thee
an enemy; where is thy Christian
fortitude, if thou shrink
back, and cowardly wheeling
about, chusest rather to
make use of thy heels, then
of thy hands? Doth this beseem
thee, who professest to
fight under his colours, who
is the Great Conquerour of
Death and Hell? Is this the
way to that happie Victory,
which shal carry away a crown
of glory? My son, if thou
faint in the day of thine adversity,
thy strength is but
small: Stir up thine holy
courage;Eph. 6. 10.
Be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might:
Buckle close with that fierce
enemy wherewith thy God
would have thee assaulted;
looking up to him who hath
said, and cannot fail to perform
it; Be faithful to the death,
and I will give thee a crown of
life.
§ 9. 8 Comfort: The necessity of expecting sickness.
Thou art surprized with
Sickness; whose fault is this
but thine own? Who bade
thee not to look for so sure a
guest? The very frame of thy
body should have put thee into
other thoughts: Dost thou
see this living fabrick made
up as a clock consisting of so
many wheels, and gimmers?
and couldst thou imagine that
some of them should not be
ever out of order? Couldst
thou think that a Cottage,
not too strongly built,
and standing so bleak in
the very mouth of the
Windes, could for any
long time hold tight, and
unreaved? Yea, dost thou not
rather wonder that it hath
out-stood so many blustring
blasts, thus long, utterly unruined?
or that the wires of
that engine should so long
have held pace with time?
It was scarce
〈◊〉
patient question
which Job
Job 6. 12 asked: Is my
strength the strength of stones?
or is my fl
•
sh as brass? No,
alas, Job, thy best metal is
but
•
lay; and thine, as all flesh,
is grasse; the clay mouldereth,
and the grasse withereth;
what doe we make account
of any thing but misery
and ficklenesse in this
wofull region of change? If
we will needs over-reckon
our condition, we doe but
help to aggravate our owne
wretchednesse.
§. 10. 9. Com
fort.
Thou art retired to thy sick
bed;
Be of good comfort;
God was never so neer thee,Gods most tender regard to us in sickness
never so tenderly indulgent
to thee as now: The whole,
saith our Saviour, need no
•
the
Physitian, but the sick: Lo, the
Physitian, as being made for
the time of necessity,Ecclus. 38. 1. commeth
not but where there is
need; and where need is, he
will not fail to come. Our
need is motive enough to
him,Mat. 8. 17. who himself tooke our
infirmities and bare our sicknesses;
our health estranges him
from us: Whiles thou art
his patient, he cannot be kept
off from thee; The Lord, saith
the Psalmist,Psal. 41. 3
will strengthen
thee upon the bed of languishing.
Thou wilt make all his bed
in his sicknesse: Loe, the
heavenly comforter doth not
onely visit, but attend thee;
and if thou finde thy pallet
uneasie, he shall turn, and soften
it for thy repose. Canst
thou not read Gods gracious
indulgence in thine own disposition?
Thou art a Parent
of children; perhaps thou
findest cause to affect one
more then another, though
all be deare enough; but if
any one of them be cast down
with a feverous distemper,
now thou art more carefully
busie about him then all the
rest; how thou pitiest him,
how thou pliest him with
offers and receits? with
what silent anxiety dost thou
watch by his couch? listening
for every of his breathings;
jealous of every whispering
that might break off his
slumber; answering every of
his groanes with so many
sighes; and in short, so making
of him for the time, that
thy greatest darling seems the
while neglected in comparison
of this more needfull
charge: How much more
shall the Father of mercies
be compassionately intent upon
the sufferings of his deare
children, according to the
proportion of their afflictions?
§ 11. 10 Comfort. The comforta
ble end of our su
•
ferings
▪
Thou art wholly taken up
with the extremity of thy
paines; Alas poor soule, thy
purblinde eies see nothing
but what is laid close to thee:
It is thy sense which thou followest,
but where is thy
faith? Couldst thou look to
the end of thy sufferings, thou
couldst not but rejoyce in
tribulation▪ Let Patience
have her perfect work, and
thou shalt once say, It is well
for me that I was afflicted;
Thou mights
•
be jo
•
ond long
enough ere thy jollity coul
•
make thee happy; Yea, wo
•
be to them that laugh here:
Luk. 6. 25. But
on the contrary, our light
affliction,
2 Cor. 4. 17.
which is but for a
mome
•
t, worketh for us a farre
more exceeding, and eternall
weight of glory. Oh blessed
improvement of a few
groanes
••
Oh glorious issue
of a short brunt of sorrow!
What do we going for Christians,
if we be nothing but
meer flesh and blood? And
if we be more, we have more
cause of joy then complaint;
For whiles our outward man
perisheth,
2 Cor. 4. 16.
our inward man is
renewed daily: Our outward
man is but flesh, our inward
is spirit; infinitely more noble
then this living clay that
wee carry about us; whiles
our spirit therefore gaines
more then our flesh is capable
to lose, what reason have we
not to boast of the bargain?
Let not therefore these close
curtaines confine thy sight,
but cast up thine eies to that
heaven whence thy soule
came, and see there that
crowne of glory which thy
God holds forth for all that
overcome; and run with patience
the race that is set before
thee, looking unto Iesus the
Author and Finisher of our
faith,Heb. 12. 2. who is set down at the
right hand of the throne of
God; And solace thy selfe
with the expectation of that
blessednesse, which if thy
torments were no lesse then
those of hell, would make
more then abundant amends
for all thy sufferings.
§. 12. 11. Comfort. The favour of a peace
able pas
sage out of the world.
Thou art sick to die; having
received the sentence of
death in thy selfe; thy Physitian
hath given thee up to
act this last part alone; neither
art thou like to rise any
more till the generall resurrection;
How many thousands
have died lately, that
would have thought it a great
happinesse to die thus quietly
in their beds? whom the
storme of warre hath hurried
away furiously into another
world, snatching them suddenly
out of this; not suffering
them to take leave of
that life which they are forced
to abandon; whereas thou
hast a fair leasure to prepare
thy self for the entertainment
of thy last guest; to set both
thine house in order, and thy
soule: It is no small advantage,
my son, thus to see death
at a distance, and to observe
every of his paces towards
thee; that thou maist put thy
selfe into a fit posture to meet
this grim messenger of heaven,
who comes to fetch thee
to immortality; That dying
thus by gentle degrees, thou
hast the leasure with the holy
Patriarch Iacob, to call thy
children about thee, to bequeath
to each of them the
dear legacy of thy last benediction;
and that being incompassed
with thy sad
friends, now in thy long journey
to a far country (though
thine, and their home) thou
maist take a solemn farewell
of them, as going somewhat
before them to the appointed
happy meeting place of glory
and blessednesse: That one of
thine own may close up those
eyes, which shall in their next
opening, see the face of thy
most glorious Saviour, and
see this flesh (now ready to
lie down in corruption) made
like to his, in unspeakable
glory.
Comforts for the sick Soul.
§ 1. The hap
piness of a deep sor
row for sin.
THy sin lies heavie upon
thy soul: Blessed be God
that thou feel'st it so; many a
one hath more weight upon
him, and boasteth of ease.
There is musick in this complaint;
the Father of mercies
delights to hear it, as next to
the melody of Saints and Angels.
Go on still, and continue
these sorrowful notes, if
ever thou look for sound
comfort:2 Cor. 7. 10. It is this godly sorrow
that worketh repentance to salvation,
not to be repented of.
Weep still, and make not too
much haste to dry up these
tears; for they are precious,
and held fit to be reserved in
the bottle of the Almighty:
Psal. 56. 8.
Over-speedy remedies may
prove injurious to the Patient:
and as in the body, so in
the soul, diseases and tumors
must have their due maturation,
ere there can be a perfect
cure:Lev. 1. 9.
The inwards of the
Sacrifice must be three times rinsed
with water;
Hebr. doct. in locum. One ablution
will not serve the turn: but
when thou hast emptied
thine eyes of tears, and unloaded
thy brest of leasurely
sighs, I shall then, by full
commission from him that
hath the power of remission,
say to thee, Son, be of good
comfort, thy sins are forgiven
thee.
§ 2. Comfort from the welgroun
ded
▪ decla
ration of pardon.
Think not this word meerly
formal, and forceless:Rev. 1. 18. He
that hath the keys of hell, and of
death, hath not said in vain,
Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted.
The words of his
faithful Ministers on earth,
are ratified in heaven: Onely
the Priest under the Law had
power to pronounce the Leper
clean:Lev. 13. 3. had any other Israelite
done it, it had been as
unprofitable, as presumptuous.
It is a precious word
that fell from Elihu;
Job 33. 22, 23, 24. When a
mans soul draweth nigh to
the grave, and his life to the
destroyer, if there be a messenger
(of God) with him, an
interpreter, one among a
thousand, to shew unto that
man his uprightness; then
he (i. e. God) is gracious unto
him, and saith, Deliver him
from going down into the
pit; I have found a ransom.
Behold, this is thy case, my
son; the life of thy soul is in
danger of the Destroyer,
through his powerful temptations:
I am (howsoever
unworthy) a messenger sent
to thee from heaven; and in
the Name of that great God
that sent me, I do here, upon
the sight of thy serious repentance,
before Angels and
men, declare thy soul to stand
right in the Court of heaven:
the invaluable ransom of thy
dear Saviour is laid down
and accepted for thee; thou
art delivered from going
down into the pit of horrour
and perdition.
§ 3. Aggrava
tion of the grievous condition of the Pa
tient, and remedies from mer
cy applied.
Oh happie message, thou
saist, were it as sure as it is
comfortable! But, alas, my
heart findes many and deep
grounds of fear and diffidence,
which will not easily
be removed: That smites me,
whiles you offer to acquit
me; and tells me, I am in a
worse condition then a looker
on can imagine; my sins
are beyond measure hainous,
such as my thoughts tremble
at, such as I dare not utter to
the God that knows them,
and against whom onely they
are committed: there is horrour
in their very remembrance;
what will there then
be in their retribution? They
are bitter things that thou
urgest against thy self, my
son; no adversary could plead
worse: But I admit thy vileness;
be thou as bad as Satan
can make thee: It is not either
his malice, or thy wickedness
that can shut thee out
from mercy. Be thou as foul
as sin can make thee, yet there
is a fountain opened to the
house of David (a bloody
fountain in the side of thy
Saviour) for sin,Zech. 13 1. and for uncleanness.
Be thou as leprous
as that Syrian was of old, if
thou canst but wash seven
times in the waters of this
Jordan,2 Kings 5. 18. thou canst not but be
clean; thy flesh shall come
again to thee, like to the flesh
of a little childe; thou shalt be
at once sound and innocent.
Be thou stung unto death
with the fiery serpents of this
wilderness, yet if thou canst
but cast thine eyes to that
Brazen Serpent which is erected
there, thou canst not fail
of cure. Wherefore came the
Son of God into the world,1 Tim. 1. 15.
but to save sinners? Adde,
if thou wilt, whereof I am
chief; thou canst say no
worse by thy self then a better
man did before thee; who
in the right of a sinner, claimeth
the benefit of a Saviour.
Were it not for our sin,
what use were there of a Redeemer?
Were not our sin
hainous, how should it have
required such an expiation as
the blood of the eternal Son
of God? Take comfort to
thy self, my son; the greatness
of thy sin serves but to
magnifie the mercy of the
Forgiver: to remit the debt
of some few farthings, it were
small thank; but to strike off
the scores of thousands of talents,
it is the height of boun
•
y:
Thus doth thy God to
thee; he hath suffered thee to
run on in his books to so deep
a sum, that when thy conscious
heart hath proclaimed
thee bankrupt, he may infinitly
oblige thee, and glorifie his
own mercy in crossing the
reckoning, and acquitting thy
soul. All sums are equally
dischargeable to the munificence
of our great Creditor
in heaven: as it is the act of
his Justice, to call for the
least; so of his Mercy, to forgive
the greatest. Had we to
do with a finite power, we
had reason to sink under the
burden of our sins: Now
there is neither more nor less
to that which is infinite:
Onely let thy care be, to lay
hold on that infinite mercy
which lies open to thee: And
as thou art an object fit for
mercy, in that thou art in thy
self sinful, and miserable
enough; so finde thy self (as
thou art) a subject meet to receive
this mercy, as a penitent
believer. Open and enlarge
thy bosom, to take in this free
grace, and close with thy blessed
Saviour; and with, and in
him, possess thy self of remission,
peace, salvation.
§ 4. Com
plaints o
•
unrepen
tance an
•
unbelief.
Sweet words (thou sayest)
to those that are capable of
them: But what is all this to
me, that am neither penitent
nor believer? Alas, that
which is honey to others, is
no better then gall & wormwood
to me, who have not
the grace to repent, and believe
as I ought. Why wilt
thou, my son, be so unwise,
and unjust, as to take part
with Satan against thine own
soul? Why wilt thou be
so unthankfully injurious to
the Father of mercies, as to
deny those graces which his
good Spirit hath so freely
bestowed upon thee? If
thou wert not penitent for
thy sins, wherefore are these
tears? What mean these
sighs, and sobs, and passionate
expressions of sorrow
which I hear from thee? It
is no worldly loss that thus
afflicts thee; it is no bodily
distemper that thus disquiets
thee: Doubtless, thou art
soul-sick, my son, thy spirit
is deeply wounded within
thee; and what can thus affect
thy soul, but sin? and
what can this affection of thy
soul be for sin, but true penitence?
§ 5. Com
plaints of a mis
grounded sorrow, sa
tisfied.
Alas, thou sayest, I am indeed
sorrowful for my sin,
but not upon the right
grounds; I grieve for the misery
that my sin hath brought
upon me, not for the evil of
my sin
•
; for the punishment,
not the offence; for my own
danger, not for the displeasure
of my good God. Beware,
my son, lest an undue humility
cause thee to belye the
graces of Gods Spirit: thou
art no meet judge of thy self,
whiles thou art under temptations:
Had not thy sorrow
a relation to thy God, why
wouldst thou thus sigh
•
towards
heaven? why would
thy heart challenge thee for
unkindness in offending?
why dost thou cry out of the
foulness, not onely of the
peril, of thy sin? What is it
that makes the act of thy sin
to be sinful, but the offence
of the Divine Majestie? how
canst thou then be sorry that
thou hast sinned, and not
be sorry that thou hast
offended? Tell me, What
is it that thy conscience
primarily suggests to thee in
this deep impression of thy
sorrow? Is it, Thou shalt be
punished? or i
•
it not rather,
Thou hast sinned? And were
it put to thy choice, whether
thou hadst rather enjoy the
favour of God, with the extremest
smart, or be in his
displeasure with ease; whether
wouldst thou pitch upon?
Or if liberty were tendred
unto thee, that thou
mightst freely sin without
the danger of punishment;
whether doth not thy heart
rise at the condition, as ready
to flee in the face of the offerer?
Besides fear and horrour,
dost thou not finde an
inward kinde of indignation
at thy miscarriage, and such
an hatred of thy sin, that were
it to be done again, if it were
possible to be hid from God,
and men; and if there were
not an hell to avenge it, thou
wouldst abho
•
to commit
it? All these are strong convictions
of the right grounds
of thy repentance, and of the
wrong which thou dost to
thine own soul, in the unjust
scruples which thou raisest
against it.
§ 6. Complaint of the in
sufficient measure of sorrow, satisfied.
If the grounds (thou saist)
of my repentance be right,
yet the measure is insufficient:
I am sorrowful for my
sins, but not enough: An effectual
grief for sin should be
serious, deep, hearty, intensive;
mine is slight, and superficial
•
:
I sigh, but my sighs
come not from the bottom
of an humbled heart: I can
sometimes weep, but I cannot
pour out my self into tears:
I mourn, but I do not dwell
upon my sorrow. My son,
thou hast to do with a God,
which in all the dispositions
of our soul regards truth, and
not quantity: If he find thy
remorse sound, he stands not
upon measure: He doth not
mete out our repentance by
inches, or by houres; but
where he findes sincerity of
penitence, he is graciously
indulgent: Look upon David,
and acknowledge his sin
formidably hainous; no lesse
then adultery seconded with
inebriation and murder; yet
no sooner did he in a true
compunction of heart cry
Peccavi,
2 Sam 12▪ 13. I have sinned against
the Lord; then he heares from
the same mouth that accused
him, The Lord also hath put
away thy sin, thou shalt not die;
you doe not hear of any tearing
of hair, or rending of
garments, or knockings of
brest, or lying in sackcloth
and ashes; but onely a penitent
confession availing for
the expiation of so grievous
crimes. Thou art deceived, if
thou thinkst God delights in
the misery and afflictedness
of his creature: So far onely
is the grief his dear ones
pleasing unto him, as it may
make for the health of their
souls, in the
•
due sensibleness
of their sin, in their meet
capacity of mercy. I do not,
with some Casuists, flatter
thee with an opinion of the
sufficiency of any slight attrition,
and empty wishes
that thou hadst not sinned;
doubtless, a true contrition
of spirit, and compunction of
heart, are necessarily required
to a saving repentance; and
these, wert thou but an indifferent
censurer of thine own
waies, thou couldst not
choose but finde within thy
selfe; why else is thy countenance
so dejected, thy cheeks
pale, and watered so oft with
thy teares, thy sleeps broken,
thy meales stomacklesse?
wherefore are thy so sad bemoanings,
and vehement deprecations?
But after all
this, be thou such
〈◊〉
thou accusest
thy selfe, defective in
the measure of thy repentance;
d
•
st thou rest contented
in this con
•
ition? dost
thou not complain of it as
thy greatest misery? Art thou
not heartily sorry that thou
canst be no more sorry for
thy sin? Comfort thy selfe,
my son▪ even this, this alone
is an acceptable degree of repentance:
Our God, whose
will is his deed, accounts
ours so; What is repentance
but a change of minde from
evil to good? and how sensible
is this change, that thou
who formerly delightedst in
thy sinne, now abhorrest it,
and thy selfe for it, and art
yet ambitious of more grief
for being transported into it?
Let not the enemy of thy
soule, who desires nothing
more then to make thee perfectly
miserable, win so much
of thee, as to render thee unsatisfied
with the measure of
that penitence which is accepted
of thy God; rather
turn thine eies from thy sins,
and look up to heaven, and
fasten them there upon thine
all-sufficient Mediator at the
right hand of Majesty; and
see his face smiling upon
thine humbled soul, and perfectly
reconciling thee to his
eternall Father; as being
fully assured,Rom. 5. 1, 2.
That being justified
by faith, we have peace
with God, through our Lord Jesus
Christ; By whom also wee
have accesse by faith into this
grace wherein we stand, and rejoyce
in the hope of the glory of
God.
§. 7. Complaint of the want of faith, sa
tisfied.
Yea, there, there, thou sayest,
is the very core of all my
complaint; I want that faith
that should give me an interest
in my Saviour, and afford
true comfort to my
soule,Ephes. 3. 12. and boldnesse, and accesse
with confidence to the
throne of grace; I can sorrow,
but I cannot beleeve:
My griefe is not so great as
my infidelity: I see others
full of joy and peace in beleeving;Rom. 15. 3.
but my earthen heart
cannot raise it selfe up to a
comfortable apprehension of
my Saviour; so as, me thinks,
I dwell in a kinde of disconsolate
darknesse, and a sad
lumpishnesse of unbeleef;
wanting that lightsome assurance
which others professe
to finde in themselves. Take
heed, my son, lest whiles thou
art too querulous, thou prove
unthankfull; and lest whiles
thine humblenesse disparages
thy self, thou make God a
loser: Many a man may have
a rich mine lying deep in his
ground which he knowes not
of; There are shels that are
inwardly furnished with
pearles of great price, and are
not sensible of their worth:
This is thy condition; thou
hast that grace▪ which thou
complainest to want: It is no
measuring of thy selfe by
sense, especially in the time
of temptation; Thou couldst
not so feelingly bemoan the
want of faith if thou hadst
it not; Deny it if thou
canst, thou assentest to the
truth of all the gracious promises
of God; thou acknowledgest
he could not be himselfe
if he were not a true
God; yea truth it self; Thou
canst not doubt but that he
hath made sweet promises of
free grace and mercy to all
penitent sinners; thou canst
not but grant that thou art
sinfull enough to need mercy,
and sorrowfull enough to desire
and receive mercy: Canst
thou but love thy selfe so
well, as that when thou seest
a pardon reached forth to
thee to save thy soule from
death, thou shouldst doe any
other then stretch forth thy
hand to take it? Lo, this hand
stretched forth is thy faith,
which so takes spirituall hold
of thy Saviour, that it cals not
thy sense to witnesse. As for
that assurance thou speakest
of, they are happy that can
truly feel, & maintain it; and
it must be our holy ambition
(what we may) to aspire unto
it; but that is such an height
of perfection, as every traveller
in this wretched pilgrimage,
cannot, whiles he is in
this perplexed, and heavy
way, hope to attain unto: It
is an unsafe and perillous
path, which those men have
walked in, who have been
wont to define all faith by assurance;
Should I lead thee
that way, it might cost thee a
fall; so sure a certainty of our
constant and reflected apprehension
of eternall life, is both
hard to get, and not easie to
hold unmovably; considering
the many and strong
temptations that we are subject
unto in this vale of misery
and death: Should faith be
reduced to this triall, it would
be yet more rare then our
Saviour hath foretold it: For,
as many a one boasts of such
an assurance, who is yet failing
of a true faith, (hugging
a vain presumption in stead of
it) so many a one, also, hath
true faith in the Lord Iesus,
who yet complaines to want
this assurance. Canst thou
in a sense of thine owne misery,
close with thy Saviour?
canst thou throw thy self into
the arms of his mercy? canst
thou trust him with thy soul,
and repose thy self upon him
for forgivenesse and salvation?
canst thou lay thy self
before him as a miserable object
of his grace and mercy?
and when it is held forth to
thee, canst thou lay some
(though weak) hold upon it?
Labour what thou mayst for
further degrees of strength
daily; set not up thy rest in
this pitch of grace; but, chear
up thy self, my son, even thus
much faith shall save thy soul:
Thou believest; and he hath
said it,Joh. 3. 36. that is Truth it self; He
that believeth on the Son, hath
everlasting life.
§ 8. Complaint of the weakness of faith, satisfied.
I know, thou sayest, that
Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners; And
that whosoever believeth in
him, shall not perish, but have
eternal life:
Joh. 3. 15. Neither can I
deny, but that in a sense of
my own sinful condition, I do
cast my self in some measure
upon my Saviour, and lay
some hold upon his All-sufficient
Redemption: But alas,
my apprehensions of him are
so feeble, as that they can
afford no sound comfort to
my soul. Courage, my son;
were it that thou lookedst to
be justified, and saved by the
power of the very act of thy
faith, thou hadst reason to be
disheartened with the conscience
of the weakness thereof:
but now that the vertue
and efficacie of this happie
work is in the object apprehended
by thee, which is the
infinite merits and mercy of
thy God and Saviour, (which
cannot be abated by thine infirmities)
thou hast cause to
take heart to thy self, and
chearfully to expect his salvation.
Understand thy case
aright: Here is a double
hand that helps us up towards
heaven: our hand of
Faith lays hold upon our Saviour;
our Saviours hand of
mercy and plenteous redemption
lays hold on us: our
hold of him is feeble, and easily
loosed; his hold of us is
strong, and irresistible. Comfort
thy self therefore, in this,
with the blessed Apostle;
When thou art weak, then
thou art strong; when weak in
thy self, strong in thy Redeemer.
Shouldst thou boast
of thy strength, and say, Tush,
I shall never be moved; I
should suspect the truth and
safety of thy condition: now
thou bewailest thy weakness,
I cannot but encourage
and congratulate the happie
estate of thy soul. If work
were stood upon, a strength
of hand were necessary; but
now, that onely taking and
receiving of a precious gift
is required, why may not a
weak hand do that as well as
a strong? as well, though
not as forcibly. Be not therefore
dejected with the want
of thine own power, but
comfort thy self in the rich
mercies of thy blessed Redeemer.
§ 9. Complaint of incon
•
tancy, and desertion, answered.
Now thou saist; Sometimes,
I confess, I finde my heart at
ease, in a comfortable reliance
on my Saviour; and being
well resolved of the safety
of my estate, promise good
days to my self; and after
the banishment of my former
fears, dare bid defiance to
temptations: But alas, how
soon is this fair weather
over? how suddenly is this
clear skie over-clouded, and
spread over with a sad darkness,
and I return to my former
heartlesness? Didst
thou conceive, my son, that
grace would put thee into a
constant, and pepetually-invariable
condition of soul,
whiles thou art in this earthly
warfare? Didst thou ever
hear or read of any of Gods
prime Saints upon earth, that
were unchangeable in their
holy dispositions, whiles they
continued in this region of
mutability? Look upon the
man after Gods own heart,
thou shalt finde him sometimes
so courageous, as if the
spirits of all his Worthies
were met in his one bosom.
How resolutely doth he blow
off all dangers, trample
on all enemies, triumph over
all cross events? Another
while thou shalt finde him so
dejected, as if he were not
the man. One while, The
Lord is my Shepherd,
Psa. 23. 1
I shall
lack nothing: Another while,
Why art th
••
so sad,
42. 14.
my soul,
and why art thou so disquieted
within me?
Psal. 3 6. One while, I will
not be afraid for ten thousands
of the people, that have set themselves
against me round about:
Another while,Psal. 17. 8, 9.
Hide me under
the shadow of thy wings, from
the wicked that oppress me,
from my deadly enemies who
compass me about. One while,
Thy loving kindness is before
mine eyes,
Psa. 26. 3
and I have walked in
thy truth: Another while,
Lord,
Psal. 89. 49.
where are thy loving
kindnesses? Yea, dost thou
not hear him with one breath
professing his confidence,
and lamenting his desertion?
Lord,
Psa. 30 7
by thy favour thou hast
made my mountain to stand
strong: Thou didst hide thy
face, and I was troubled. Look
upon the chosen vessel, the
great Apostle of the Gentiles,
one while thou shalt see him
erecting trophies in himself
of victory to his God: In
all these things we are more then
conquerours,
Rom. 8 37
through him that
loved us: Another while thou
shalt finde him bewailing
his own sinful condition; Oh
wretched man that I am,
Rom. 7▪ 2
•
who
shall deliver me from the body of
this death! One while thou
shalt finde him caught up into
the third heaven, and there
in the Paradise of God: another
while thou shalt finde
him buffeted by the messenger
of Satan, and sadly complaining
to God of the violence
of that assault. Hear
the Spouse of Christ, (whether
the Church in common,
or the faithful soul) bemoaning
her self, I opened to
my Beloved,
Cant. 5. 6.
but my Beloved had
withdrawn himself, and was
gone: my soul failed when he
spake. I sought him, but I could
not finde him; I called him, but
he gave me no answer. Thus it
will be with thee, my Son,
whiles thou art in this frail
flesh; the temper of thy soul
will be, like her partner, subject
to vicissitudes. Shouldst
thou continue always in the
same state, I should more then
suspect thee. This is the difference
betwixt Nature and
Grace, That Nature is still
uniform, and like it self; Grace
varies according to the pleasure
of the giver: The Spirit
breathes when and where it listeth.
•
oh. 3. 8.
When therefore thou
findest the gracious spirations
of the holy Ghost within
thee, be thankful to the infinite
munificence of that blessed
Spirit; and still pray,
Arise,
Cant. 4. 1
•
.
O North, and come thou
South winde,
•
blowe upon my
garden, that the spices thereof
may slow out. But when thou
shalt finde thy soul becalmed,
and not a leaf stirring
in this garden of thine; be
not too much dejected with
an ungrounded opinion of
being destituted of thy God;
neither do thou repine at the
seasons, or measures of his
bounty: that most free and
infinitely-beneficent agent,
will not be tied to our terms,
but will give what, and how,
and when he pleaseth: Onely
do thou humbly wait upon
his goodness;Phil. 1. 6. and be confident,
that he who hath begun
his good work in thee, will perform
it until the day of Jesus
Christ.
§ 10. Complaint of unrege
neration, and dead
ness in sin, answered.
It is true (thou saist) if God
had begun his good work in
me, he would at the last, for
his own glories sake, make it
up: But for me, I am a man
dead in sins and trespasses;
neither ever had I any true
life of grace in me: some
shew, indeed, I have made of
a Christian profession; but I
have onely beguiled the eyes
of the world with a meer
pretence; and have not found
in my self the truth, and solidity
of those heavenly vertues
whereof I have made a
formal ostentation. It were
pity, my son, thou shouldst
be so bad as thou makest thy
self: I have no comfort in
store for hypocrisie; no disposition
can be more odious
to the God of truth; in so
much as when he would express
his utmost vengeance
against sinners, he hath no
more fearful terms to set it
forth, then I will appoint him
his portion with the hypocrites.
Mat. 24. 51.
Were it thus with thee, it
were more then high time for
thee to resolve thy self into
dust and ashes, and to put thy
self into the hands of thine
Almighty Creatour, to be
moulded anew by his powerful
Spirit; and never to give
thy self peace,Eph. 4. 23. till thou findest
thy self
•
renewed in the
spirit of thy minde: But in
the mean while, take heed
lest thou be found guilty of
mis-judging thine own soul;
and mis-prising the work of
Gods Spirit in thee: God
hath been better to thee, then
thou wilt be acknown of;
Thou hast true life of grace
in thee, and for the time perceivest
it not: It is no heed
to take of the doom thou
passest upon thy self in the
hour of temptation: When
thy heart was free, thou wert
in another minde, and shalt
upon better advice return to
thy former thoughts. It is
with thee, as it was with Eu
•
ychus,
that fell down from
the third loft, and was taken
up for dead; yet for all that,
his life was in him. We have
known those who have lien
long in trances, withovt any
perception of life; yea, some
(as that subtil Joannes Duns
Scotus) have been put into
their graves for fully dead,
when as yet their soul hath
been in them, though unable
to exert those faculties which
might evince her hidden presence.
Such thou mayest be,
at the worst: yea, wert thou
but in charity with thy self,
thou wouldst be found in a
much better condition. There
is the same reason of the natural
life, and the spiritual:
Life, where it is, is discerned
by breathing, sense, motion:
Where there is the breath of
life, there must be a life that
sends it forth: If then the
soul breathes forth holy desires,
doubtless there is a life
whence they proceed. Now
deny, if thou canst, that thou
hast these spiritual breathings
of holy desires within
thee? Dost thou not many
a time sigh for thine own
insensateness? Is not thine
heart troubled with the
thoughts of thy want of
grace? Dost thou not truly
desire that God would renew
a right spirit within thee?
Take comfort to thy self; this
is the work of the inward
principle of Gods Spirit
within thee: as well may a
man breathe without life, as
thou couldst be thus affected
without grace: Sense is a
quick discrier of life: pinch
or wound a dead man, he feels
nothing; but the living perceiveth
the easiest touch.
When thou hast heard the
fearful judgements of God
denounced against sinners,
and laid home to the conscience,
hast thou not found thy
heart pierced with them?
hast thou not shrunk inward,
and secretly thought, How
shall I decline this dreadful
damnation? When thou hast
heard the sweet mercies of
God laid forth to penitent
sinners, hath not thy heart
silently said, Oh that I had
my share in them! When
thou hast heard the Name of
Christ blasphemed, hast thou
not felt a secret horrour in
thy bosom? All these argue
a true spiritual life within
thee. Motion is the most
perfect discoverer of life:
He that can stir his limbs, is
surely not dead: The feet of
the soul are the Affections:
Hast thou not found in thy
self an hate and detestation
of that sin whereinto thou
hast been miscarried? Hast
thou not found in thy self a
true grief of heart for thy
wretched indisposition to all
good things? Hast thou not
found a secret love to, and
complacency in those whom
thou hast thought truly godly
and conscionable? Without
a true life of grace, these
things could never have been:
Are not thine eyes and hands
many times lifted up in an
imploration of mercy? Canst
thou deny that thou hast a
true, though but weak appetite
to the means, and further
degrees of grace? What can
this be but that hunger and
thirst after righteousnesse, to
which our Saviour hath pronounced
blessednesse? Discomfort
not thy selfe too
much, son, with the present
disappearance of grace,
during the hour of thy temptation;
it is no otherwise with
thee, then with a
•
ree in winter-season,
whose sap is run
down to the root; wherein
there is no more shew of the
life of vegetation by any buds
or blossomes that it might
put forth, then if it were stark
dead; yet when the Sun returnes,
and sends forth his
comfortable beames in the
spring, it burgens out afresh,
and bewraies that vitall juyce
which lay long hidden in the
earth: No otherwise then
with the hearth of some good
huswife, which is towards
night swept up, and hideth
the fire under the heap of her
ashes, a stranger would think
it were quite out; here is no
appearance of light, or heat,
or smoak, but by that time she
hath stirred it up a little, the
bright gleeds shew themselves,
and are soon raised to
a flame: Stay but till the
spring, when the Sun of righteousnesse
shall call up thy
moisture into thy branches;
stay but till the morning,
when the fire of grace, which
was raked up in the ashes,
shall bee drawne forth and
quickned, and thou shalt find
cause to say of thy heart, as
Iacob said of his hard lodging,
Surely the Lord is in this place
and I knew it not;
Gen. 28. 16. Onely doe
thou, not neglecting the
meanes, wait patiently upon
Gods leasure; stay quietly
upon the bank of this Bethesda,
till the Angel descend
and move the water.
§. 11. Complaint of the in
sensible
ness of the time and meanes of conversion.
I could gladly, thou saist,
attend with patience upon
God in this great and happy
work of the excitation of
grace, were I but sure I had it;
could I be but perswaded of
the truth of my conversion;
but it is my great misery that
here I am at a sad and uncomfortable
losse; for I have been
taught that every true convert
can designe the time, the
place, the meanes, the manner
of his conversion; and can
shew how neare hee was
brought to the gates of death,
how close to the very verge
of hell, when God by a mighty
and out-stretched arme
snacht him away, in his own
sensible apprehension, from
the pit, and suddenly rescued
him from that damnation;
and put him into a new state
of spirituall life, and undefaisible
salvation: All which I
cannot do; not finding in my
selfe any such sudden and vehement
concussion, and heart-breaking;
any such forcible,
and irresistible operation of
Gods Spirit within me, not
being able to design the Sermon
that converted me, or
those particular approaches
that my soule made towards
an hardly-recovered desperation.
My son, it is not safe
for any man to take upon him
to set limits to the wayes of
the Almighty; or to prescribe
certain rules to the proceedings
of that infinite Wisedome;
That most free, and
all-wise agent will not be tyed
to walk alwaies in one
path; but varies his courses
according to the pleasure of
his own will: One man hee
cals suddenly, another by
leasure; one by a kinde of
holy violence, as hee did
S. Paul, another by sweet solicitations,
as Philip, Nathaniel,
Andrew, Peter, Matthew,
and the rest of the Apostles;
One man he drawes to heaven
with gracious invitations,
another he drives thither
by a strong hand; we have
known those who having
mispent their yonger times
in notoriously lewd and debauched
courses, living as
without God, yea, against
him, have been suddenly
heart-stricken with some
powerfull denunciation of
judgement, which hath so
wrought upon them that it
hath brought them within
sight of hell; who after long
and deep humiliation, have
been raised up through Gods
mercy, to a comfortable sense
of the divine favour, and
have proceeded to a very high
degree of regeneration, and
lived, and died Saints: But
this is not every mans case;
Those who having from their
infancy been brought up in
the nurture and feare of the
Lord;Eph. 6. 4. and from their youth
have been trained up under a
godly and conscionable Ministery;
where they have
been continually plyed with
the essectuall means of grace;
Precept upon precept,
Isai. 28. 10.
line upon
line, here a little, and there a
little; and have by an insensible
conveyance received the
gracious inoperations of the
Spirit of God, (though not
without many inward strifes
with temptations, and sad fits
of humiliation for their particular
failings) framing them
to all holy obedience, these
cannot expect to finde so sensible
alterations in themselves;
As well may the child
know when he was naturally
born, as these may know the
instant of their spirituall regeneration;
and as well may
they see the grasse to grow, as
they can perceive their insensible
increase of grace; It is
enough that the child attaining
to the use of reason, now
knowes that he was born:
and that when wee see the
grasse higher then we left it,
we know that it is growne.
Let it then suffice thee, my
son, to know, that the thing
is done, though thou canst
not define the time, and manner
of doing it: Be not curious
in matter of particular
perceptions, whiles thou
mayst be assured of the reality
& truth of the grace wrought
in thee: Thou seest the skilfull
Chirurgion, when hee
will make a fontinell in the
body of his patient, he can do
it either by a sudden incision,
or by a leasurely corrasive;
both sort to one end, and
equally tend towards health:
trust God with thy self, and
let him alone with his own
work: what is it to thee
which way he thinks best
to bring about thy salvation?
§ 12. Complaint of irreso
lution, and uncertain
•
y in mat
ter of our election, answered.
All were safe, thou saist, if
onely I could be ascertained
of mine election to life: I
could be patient, so I might
be sure: But, wretched man
that I am, here, here I stick
•
:
I see others walk confidently,
and comfortably, as if they
were in heaven already;
whereas I droop under a continual
diffidence; raising unto
my self daily new arguments
of my distrust: could my heart
be setled in this assurance,
nothing could ever make me
other then happie. It is true,
my son, that as all other mercies
flow from this of our election,
so the securing of this
one, involves all other favours
that concern the well-being
of our souls. It is no
less true, that our election
may be assured; else the holy
Ghost had never laid so deep
a charge upon us, to do our
utmost endeavour to ascertain
it: and we shall be much
wanting to our selves, if hearing
so excellent a blessing may
be attained by our diligence,
we shall slacken our hand, and
not stretch it forth to the
height, to reach that crown
which is held out to us: But
withal, it is true, that if there
were not difficulty more then
ordinary in this work, the
Apostle had not so earnestly
called for the utmost of our
endeavour to effect it.2 Pet. 1. 10. Shortly,
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
.
the truth is, in all Christianity
there is no path, wherein
there is more need of treading
warily, then in this: on
each side is danger and death;
Security lies on the one hand,
Presumption on the other:
the miscarriage either way,
is deadly. Look about thee,
and see the miserable examples
on both kindes: some
walk carelesly, as if there
were no heaven; or if there
were such a place, yet, as if
it nothing concerned them:
their hearts are taken up with
earth; neither care nor wish
to be other then this world
can make them: The god of
this world hath blinded their
mindes that believe not:
2 Cor. 4. 4.
Some others walk proudly,
being vainly puft up with
their own ungrounded imaginations,
as if they were already
invested with their
glory; as if, being rapt up
with the chosen vessel into
the third heaven, they had
there seen their names reco
••
ded
in the book of life; where
as this is nothing but an illusion
of that lying spirit, who
knows the way to keep them
for ever out of heaven, is, to
make them believe they are
there. It must be thy main
care to walk even, in a jus
•
equidistance from both these
extremes, and so to compose
thy self, that thon maist be
resolute without presumption,
and careful without diffidence.
And first, I advise
thee to abandon those false
Teachers, whose trade is to
improve their wits for the
discomfort of souls, in broaching
the sad doctrines of
uncertainty and distrust: Be
sure, our Saviour had never
bidden his disciples to re
•
joyce
that their names are
written in heaven,
Luk. 10▪ 20. if there had
not been a particular enrolment
of them▪ or if that Record
had been alterable; or if
the same Disciples could never
have attained to the notice
of such inscription. Neither
is this a mercy peculiar
to his domestick followers
alone, but universal to all that
shall believe through their
word; even thou and I are
spoken to in them, so sure as
we have names, we may know
them registred in those eternal
Records above. Not that
we should take an Acesius his
Ladder, and climb up into
heaven, and turn over the
book of Gods secret counsels,
and read our selves designed
to glory: but that as
we by experience see that we
can by reflections see and
read those Letters, which
directly we cannot: So we
may do here, in this highest
of spiritual objects. The
same Apostle that gives us
our charge, gives us withal
our direction:2 Pet. 1. 10, 11.
Wherefore (saith
he) brethren, give all diligence
to make your calling and election
sure; (
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
, as divers
copies read it; by good works:)
For if ye do these things, ye shall
never fall: For so an entrance
shall be ministred to you abundantly
into the everlasting Kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Lo, first our
Calling, then our Election:
not that we should begin
with heaven, and thence descend
to the earth; (it is
enough for the Angels on
that celestial Ladder of Jacob,
to both descend, and
ascend:) but that we should
from earth ascend to heaven;
from our Calling to our Election:
as knowing that God
shews what he hath done for
us above, by that which he
hath wrought in us here belowe.
Our Calling therefore
first; not outward, and formal,
but inward, and effectual.
The Spirit of God
hath a voice, and our soul
hath an ear: that voice of
the Spirit speaks inwardly,
and effectually to the ear of
the soul, calling us out of
the state of corrupt Nature,
into the state of Grace; out
of darkness into his marvellous
light. By thy calling
therefore maist thou judge of
thine election: God never
works in vain, neither doth
he
•
ver cast away his saving
graces, (what ever become of
the common;) But whom he
did predestinate,
Rom. 8. 30.
them also he
called; and whom he called, them
he justified; and whom he justified,
them also he glorified.
This doubtless, thou saist, is
sure in it self; but how is it
assured to me? Resp. That
which the Apostle addes, (as
it is read in some copies) By
good works, (if therein we also
comprehend the acts of believing,
and repenting) is a
notable evidence of our election:
But not to urge that
clause, which (though read
in the vulgar) is found wanting
in our editions; the clear
words of the Text evince
no less; For, if ye do these
things, ye shall never fall:
here is our negative certainty:
And for onr positive;
So, an entrance shall be ministred
unto you abundantly
into the everlasting Kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ: Lo, if we shall
never fall, if we shall undoubtedly
enter into the Kingdom
of Christ; what possible
scruple can be made of the
blessed accomplishment of
our election? What then are
these things, which must be
done by us? Cast your eyes
upon that precious chain of
graces which you shall finde
stringed up in the fore going
words;2 Pet. 1. 5, 6. If you adde to your
faith, vertue; and to vertue,
knowledge; and to knowledge,
temperance; and to temperance,
patience; and to patience godliness;
and to godliness, brotherly
kindness, and to brotherly
kindness, charitie. If you
would know what God hath
written concerning you in
heaven, look into your own
bosom, see what graces he
hath there wrought in you:
Truth of grace (saith the divine
Apostle) will make good
the certainty of your election.
Not to instance in the
rest of that heavenly combination;
do but single out
the first and the last, Faith
and Charity: For Faith, how
clear is that of our Saviour,
He that believeth in him that
sent me,
Joh. 5. 24.
hath everlasting-life,
and shall not come into condemnation,
but hath passed from
death to life? Lo, what access
can danger have into
heaven? All the peril is in
the way: now the believer is
already passed into life: This
is the grace, by which
Christ dwells in our hearts;
Eph. 3. 17▪
and
whereby we have communion
with Christ, and an assured
testimony of, and from
him:1 Joh.
•
▪ 10▪
For, he that believeth in
the Son of God, hath the witness
in himself: And what witness
is that?1 Joh. 5. 11, 12.
This is the record,
that God hath given us
eternal life; and this life is in
his Son. He that hath the Son,
hath life. O happie and sure
connexion! Eternal life first;
This life eternal is in and by
Christ Jesus; This Jesus is
ours by faith; This faith witnesseth
to our souls our assurance
of life eternal. Chari
•
y
is the last; which comprehends
our love both to
God and man: for from the
reflection of Gods love to us,
there ariseth a love from us
to God again: The beloved
Disciple can say.1 Joh. 4. 19▪
We love him,
because he loved us first: and
from both these, resulteth our
love to our brethren: Behold,
so full an evidence, that the
Apostle tells us expresly,
That we know we are passed
from death to life,
1 Joh. 3. 14.
because we love
the brethren: For the love of
the Father is inseparable
from the love of the Son:
He that loveth him that begets,
1 Joh. 5. 1▪
loves him that is begotten of him.
Now then, my son, deal unpartially
with thine own
heart; ask of it seriously, as
in the presence of the searcher
of all hearts, Whether
thou dost not finde in thy self
these unfailing evidences of
thine election: Art thou not
effectually (though not perfectly)
called out of the
world, and corrupt nature?
Dost thou not inwardly abhor
thy former sinfull
ways? Dost thou not think
o
•
what thou wert with detestation?
Dost thou not heartily
desire and endeavour to
be in all things approved to
God, and conformed to thy
Saviour? Dost thou not gladly
cast thy self upon the Lord
Jesus, and depend upon his
free all-sufficiency for pardon
and salvation? Dost thou
not love that infinite good
•
ness,
who hath been so rich
in mercies to thee? Dost
thou not love and bless those
gleams of goodness which
he hath cast upon his Saints
on earth? In plain terms,
Dost thou no
•
love a good
man because he is good?
Comfort thy self in the Lord,
my son; let no fainting
qualms of fear and distrust
possess thy soul:1 Thes. 5 24.
Faithful
is he that hath called thee, who
will also preserve thy whole spirit,
1 Thes. 5 23.
and soul, and body blameless
unto the coming of oer Lord Jesus
Christ.
Comfort against Tem
ptations.
§ 1. Christ himself assaulted: our trial is for our good.
THou art haunted with
Temptations: that which
the Enemy sees he cannot do
by force or fraud, he seeks to
effect by importunity. Can
this seem strange to thee,
when thou seest the Son of
God in the Wilderness fourty
days and fourty nights under
the hand of the Tempter?
He that durst thus set upon
the Captain of our salvation,
Heb. 2. 10.
God blessed for ever; how
shall he spare frail flesh and
blood? Why should that Saviour
of thine (thinkst thou)
suffer himself to be tempted,
if not to bear thee out in all
thy temptations? The keys
of the bottomless pit are in
his hands; he could have shut
up that presumptuous spirit
under chains of darkness, so
as he could have come no
nearer to him then hell; but
he would let him loose, and
permit him to do his worst,
purposely, that we might not
think much to be tempted,
and that he might foyl that
great enemy for us. Canst
thou think that he, who now
sits at the right hand of Majestie,
commanding all the
powers of heaven, earth, hell,
could not easily keep off that
malignant spirit from assailing
thee? Canst thou think
him lesse merciful then mighty?
Would he die to save
thee? and will he turn that
bandog of hell loose upon
thee to worry thee? Dost
thou not pray daily to thy
Father in heaven, that hee
would not lead thee into
temptation? If thou knowest
thou hast to doe with a
God that heareth prayers, oh
thou of little faith, why fearest
thou? Loe, he that was
led by his own divine Spirit
into the Wildernesse to bee
tempted of that evill Spirit,
bids thee pray to the Father
that he would not lead thee
into temptation; as implying
that thou couldst not goe
into temptation, unlesse he
led thee; and whiles he that
is thy Father leads thee, how
canst thou miscarry? Let no
man when he is tempted,
Iames 1. 13.
say, I
am tempted of God, for God cannot
be tempted with evill, neither
tempteth hee any man: God
tempteth thee not, my sonne;
yet know, that being his,
thou couldst not be tempted
without him; both permitting,
and ordering that temptation
to his owne glory, and
thy good. That grace which
thy God hath given thee, he
will have thus exercised, thus
manifested; So wee have
known some indulgent Father,
who being assured of the
skill and valour of his deare
son, puts him upon Tiltings,
and Barriers, and publique
Duels, and lookes on with
contentment, as well knowing
that hee will come off
with honour: How had
wee known the admirable
continency of good Joseph,
if hee had not been strongly
solicited by a wanton
Mistresse? How had wee
known Davids valour, if
the Philistims had not had
a Giantly Challenger to encounter
him▪ How had
wee knowne the invincible
piety of the three Children,
if there had not beene
a Furnace to try them? or
of Daniel, if there had
been no Lions to accompany
him? Be confident, thy
glory shall be according to
the proportion of thy triall;
neither couldst thou ever
bee so happy, if thou hadst
not been beholden to temptations.
§. 2. The pow
erfull as
sistance of Gods Spi
rit, and the example of
S. Paul.
How often (thou saist) have
I beaten off these wicked
suggestions, yet still they turn
upon me again, as if denials
invited them, as if they meant
to tire me with their continuall
solicitations; as if I must
yeeld, & be over-laid, though
not with their force, yet with
their frequence? Know, my
sonne, that thou hast to doe
with spirituall wickednesses;
Eph. 6. 12.
whose nature is therefore as
unweariable, as their malice
unsatisfiable: Thou hast a
spirit of thine owne, and besides,
God hath given thee of
his; so as hee lookes thou
shouldst, through the power
of his gracious assistance,
match the importunity of
that evill spirit, with an indefatigable
resistance: Be strong
therefore in the Lord,
Eph. 6. 10, 11, 13.
and in
the power of his might; and put
in the whole armour of God, that
thou maist be able to withstand
•
n the evill day, and having
done all to stand: Look upon
a stronger Champion then
thy selfe, the blessed Apostle;
thou shalt finde him in thine
owne condition;2 Cor. 12. 7. see the missenger
of Satan sent to buffet
him; and he did it to purpose;
how soundly was that chosen
vessell buffeted on both sides,
and how often? Thrice hee
besought the Lord that it
might depart from him; but
even yet it would not be; the
temptation holds, onely a
comfort shall countervaile it,
My grace is sufficient for thee,
Verse 8, 9.
for my strength is made perfect
in weaknesse▪
It is not so much
to be considered how hard
thou art laid at, as how
strongly thou art upheld:
How many with the blessed
Martyr Theodorus, have upon
racks and gibbets found their
consolations stronger then
their pains? Whiles therefore
the goodnesse of thy God
sustaines, and supplies thee
with abundance of spirituall
vigour and refreshment answerable
to the worst of thine
assaults, what cause hast thou
to complain of suffering?
The advice is high and heroicall,
which the Apostle James,
gives to his Compatriots;
My brethren,
Iames 1. 2.
count it all joy,
when ye f
•
ll into divers temptations;
Let those temptations
be rather trials by afflictions,
then suggestions of sin; yet
even those overcome yeeld
no small cause of triumph;
for by them is our faith no
lesse tried, and the trying of
our saith worketh patience;
and the perfect work of patience
is a blessed entirenesse of
grace; The number of enemies
addes to the praise of
the victory; To overcome
single temptations is commendable,
but to subdue
Troopes of temptations is
glorious.
§ 3. The re
straint of our spiri
tuall ene
mies, and their over
matching by the power of God.
Alas, thou saist, I am overlaid
not with multitudes onely,
but with power: In all
challenges of Duels, there is
wont to be respect had to the
equality both of the Combatants
and weapons; But
woe is me, how am I overmatched!
For me, I am a
weak wretch; and we wrestle
not against flesh and blood,
Eph. 6. 12.
but
against Principalities and powers;
against the rulers of the
darknesse of this world, against
spirituall wickednesse in heavenly
places:
Amos 2. 9. Behold, the Amorite,
whose height is like the height
of the Cedars, and their strength
as the strength of oaks: What
are we but poor pismires in
the valley, to these men of
measures? Who can stand
before these sonnes of Anak?
I did not advise thee, my son,
to be strong in thy self; alas,
we are all made up of weaknesse:
One of those powers
of darknesse were able to subdue
a whole world of men;
but to bee strong in the Lord,
whose lowest Angel is able
to vanquish a whole hell of
Devils; and in the power of
his might, who commandeth
the most furious of those infernal
spirits to their chains:
Wo were us, if we were left
in our own hands; there
were no way with us but
foiling, and death: But, our
help is in the Name of the Lord,
Psa. 124. 8.
who hath made heaven and
earth.
Psa. 28. 7
The Lord is our strength
and our shield; he is our rock
and our salvation;
Psal. 62. 2, 6.
he is our
defence, so as we shall not be moved.
Psal. 18. 29, 40.
It is he that hath girded
us with strength unto battel,
and that subdueth those that rise
up against us. Take courage
therefore to thy self, man;
there cannot be so much difference
betwixt thee, and
those hellish powers, as there
is betwixt them, and the Almighty:
their force is finite,
and limited by his omnipotence.
How fain dost thou
think Jannes and Jambres, the
great Magicians of Egypt, by
the conjoyned powers of
hell, would have made but a
Louse, in an affront to Moses?
yet they could not. How earnestly
was that legion of
Devils fain to beg but for
leave to prevail over a few
Gaderene-swine? How strong
therefore soever they
〈◊〉
to thee, yet to him they are
so meer weakness, that they
cannot so much as move
without him. Who can fear
a Bear or a Lion, when he
sees them chained to their
stake? Even children can behold
them baited, when they
see their restraint. Look not
upon thy self therefore; look
not upon them; but look up
to that over-ruling hand of
the Almighty, who ordinates
all their motions to his own
holy purposes, and even out
of their malice, raises glory to
himself, and advantage to his
servants.
§. 4. The ad
vantage that is made to
〈◊〉
by our tem
ptations and foils.
It is a woful advantage,
thou sayst, that I have made
of temptations: for, alas, I
have been shamefully foiled
by them; and what by their
subtilty, and what by their
violence, have been miscarried
into a grievous sin against
my God, and lie down in a
just confusion of face to have
been so miserably vanquished.
Hadst thou wanted
tears, my son, for thine
offence, I should willingly
have lent thee some: It is indeed
a heavie case, that thou
hast given thy deadly enemy
this cause to triumph over
thee, and hast thus provoked
thy God: Be thou thorowly
humbled under the consci
•
ence
of thy sin, and be not too
sudden in snatching a pardon
out of the hand which thou
hast offended: be humbled;
but after thou hast made thy
peace with God, by a serious
repentance, be not disheartned
with thy fa
•
lings; neither
do I fear to tell thee of an advantage
to be made, not of
thy temptations onely, but
even of thy sin: What art
thou other then a gainer, if
having been beaten down to
thy knees, thou hast in an
holy indignation risen up, and
fought so much the more
valiantly? A wound received,
doth but whet the edge of
true fortitude: Many a one
had never been victorious, if
he had not seen himself
bleed first. Look where thou
wilt, upon all the Saints of
God; mark if thou canst see
any one of them without his
scars: Oh the fearful gashes
that we have seen in the noblest
of Gods Champions upon
earth, whose courage had
never been raised so high,
if it had not been out of the
sense of some former discomfitures!
As some well-spirited
wrestler, therefore, be not
so much troubled with thy
fall, as zealous to repay it
with a more successful grapling.
We know (saith the blessed
Apostle) that all things
work together for good to them
that love God:
•
om. 8. 28. All things;
yea, even those that are
worse then nothing, their very
sins. The Corinthians offended
in their silent connivence
at the incestuous person:
the Apostles reproof
produceth their sorrow: what
was the issue?Cor. 7. 11.
For behold, this
self-same thing that ye sorrowed
after a godly sort, what carefulness
it wrought in you? yea, what
clearing of your selves; yea, what
indignation, yea, what fear, yea,
what vehement desire, yea, what
zeal, yea, what revenge? Lo,
what a marvellous advantage
is here made of one offence?
What hath Satan now gotten
by this match? One poor
Corinthian is mis-led to an
incestuous copulation: The
evil spirit rejoyceth to have
got such a prey; but how long
shall he enjoy it? Soon after
the offending soul, upon the
Apostles holy censure is reclaimed;
he is delivered over
to Satan, that Satan should
never possess him. The Corinthians
are raised to a greater
height of godly zeal then
ever. Corinth had never been
so rich in grace, if it had not
been defiled with so foul a
crime. Say now, whether this
be not, in effect, thy case?
Shouldst thou ever have so
much hated thy sin, if thou
hadst not been drawn in to
commit it? Shouldst thou
have found in thy self so fervent
love to thy God, if it had
not been out of the sense of
his great mercy in remitting
it? Wouldst thou have been
so wary of thy steps as now
thou art, if thou hadst never
slipped? Give glory to God,
my son, whiles thou givest
shame to thy self; and bless
him for the benefit that he
hath been pleased to make of
thine offending him.
§ 5.
•
omplaint
〈◊〉
relapses
〈◊〉
to sin;
•
ith the
••
medy
•
ereof.
But, alas, thou sayst, my
case is far worse then it is
conceived; I have been more
then once miscarried into the
same sin: Even after I have
made profession of my repentance,
I have been transported
into my former wickedness:
Having washed off my
sin (as I thought) with my many
tears, yet I have suffered
my soul to be defiled with it
again. I may not flatter thee,
my son; this condition is
dangerous. Those diseases,
which upon their first seizure
have without any great peril
of the Patient received cure,
after a recidivation have
threatned death. Look upon
the Saints of God, thou shalt
finde they have kept aloof
from that fire wherewith
they have been formerly
burnt: Thou shalt not finde
Noah again uncovered through
drunkenness in his tent; thou
shalt not finde Judah climbing
up again to Tamars bed;
Thou shalt not take Peter
again in the High-Priests hall
denying his Master; or (after
Pauls reproof) halting in his
dissimulation.
Gal. 2. 11, 12, 13. But, tell me,
notwithstanding, art thou
truly serious with thy God?
hast thou doubled thine humiliation
for the reduplication
of thine offence? hast
thou sought God so much the
more instantly with an unfained
contrition of heart? hast
thou found thy soul wrought
to so much greater detestation
of thy sin, as thine acquain
•
tance
with it hath been more?
hast thou taken this occasion
to lay better hold on thy Saviour,
and to reinforce the
vows of thy more careful
and strict obedience? Be of
good chear; this unpurposed
reiteration of thy sin, shall
be no prejudice to thy salvation.
It is one thing for a
man to walk on willingly in
a beaten path of sin; another
thing for a man to be justled
out of the way of righteousness
by the violence of
a temptation, which he soon
recovers again by a sound
repentance. The best cannot
but be overtaken with sin:
but,1 Joh. 3. 9.
he that is born of God, doth
not commit sin: he may be
transported whither he meant
not, but he makes not a trade
of doing ill: his heart is against
that which his hand is
drawn unto: and if in this
inward strife he be overpowered,
he lies not down in
a willing yeeldance, but struggles
up again, and in a resumed
courage and indignation
tramples on that which formerly
supplanted him. Didst
thou give thy self over to a
resolved course of sinning,
and betwixt whiles shouldst
knock thy brest with a formal
God forgive me, I should
have no comfort in store for
thee, but send thee rather to
the Whipping-stock of the
Almighty for due correction,
if possibly those seasonable
stripes may prevent thine
everlasting torments: But
now,Rom. 7. 15, 16, 17. since what thou hatest,
that thou doest; and thou doest
that which thou wouldst not; and
it is no more th
•
u that doest it,
but sin that dwells in thee; cry
out as much as thou wilt on
the sinfulness of thy sin;Rom. 7. 13. bewail
thy weakness with a
better man then thy self; O
wretched man that I am,
Rom. 7. 24.
who
shall deliver me from the body
of this death! But know, that
thou hast found mercy with
thy God: thy repeated sin
may grieve, but cannot hurt
thy soul. Had we to do with
a finite compassion, it might
be abated by spending it
self upon a frequent remission;
like as some great river
may be drawn dry by many
small out-lets: But now that
we deal with a God whose
mercy is as himself, infinite;
it is not the greatness or the
number of our offences that
can make a difference in his
free remissions: That God
who hath charged our weak
charity not to be overcome with
evil,
Rom. 12▪ ult▪
but to overcome evil with
good, justly scorneth that we
should think his infinite and
incomprehensible goodness
can be checked with our
evil. It was not without a
singular providence, that Peter
came to our Saviour with
that question in his mouth,
Lord,
Mat. 18. 21.
how often shall my brother
sin against me, and I forgive
him? till seven times? that it
might fetch from that blessed
Son of God that gracious
answer, for our perpetual direction
and comfort;Mat. 18. 22.
I say not
unto thee, Until seven times, but
until seventy times seven. Lord,
if thou wouldst have us sinful
men thus indulgent to one
another, in the case of our
mutual offences; what limits
can be set to thy mercies in
our sins against thee? Be we
penitent, thou canst not but
be gracious.
Comforts against weakness
of grace.
§. 1. Comfort from the common condition of all Saints.
THou complainest of the
weakness of grace; some
little stirrings thou feelest of
Gods Spirit within thee; but
so feeble, that thou canst not
finde any solid comfort in
them: Thou seest others
(thou sayst) whose brests are
full of milk,
Job 21. 24.
and their bones moistned
with marrow, whiles thou
languishest under a spiritual
leanness and imbecillity:
Thou wantest that vigorous
heat of holy affections, and
that alacrity in the performance
of holy duties, which
thou observest in other Christians.
I love this complaint
of thine, my son; and tell
thee, that without this thou
couldst not be in the way of
being happie. Thinkst thou
that those whom thou esteemest
more eminent in grace,
make not the same moan that
thou dost? Certainly, they
never had any grace, if they
did not complain to have too
little: Every man best feels
his own wants, and is ready
to pass secret censures upon
himself for that, wherein he
is applauded by others: Even
the man after Gods own
heart can say,Psal. 69. 29.
But I am poor
and sorrowful: He was a great
King when he said so; it was
not meanness in outward
estate that troubled him, but
a spiritual neediness: for
he had before, in the same
heavenly Ditty, professed,
O God,
Psal. 69. 5.
thou knowest my foolishnesse,
and my guiltinesse is not
hid from thee: It was an old
observation of wise Solomon;
Prov. 13. 7.
There is that maketh himselfe
rich, and hath nothing; there
is that maketh himselfe poore, yet
hath great riches; In this latter
rank are many gracious
soules, and thine (I hope) for
one; who certainly, had never
been so wealthy in grace,
if they had been conceited
of greater store: Even in this
sense many a Saint may say
with Saint Paul, When I am
weak, then I am strong:
Since the very complaint of
weaknesse, argues strength;
and on the contrary, an opinion
of sufficient grace, is an
evident conviction of meere
emptinesse.
§. 2. Comfort from the improve
ment of weak gra
ces; and Gods free distributi
on.
But suppose thy selfe, so
poor as thou pretendest; It
is not so much what we have,
as how we improve it. How
many have we known that
have grown rich out of a
little, whereas others out of
a great stock have run into
debt and beggery? Had that
servant in the Gospel, who
received but one talent, imployed
it to the gain of a second,
he had been proportionably
as well rewarded as he
that with five gained ten.
In our temporall estate we
are warned by the wisest man
to take heed of making haste to
be rich;
Pro. 28. 20. and the great Apostle
tels us,1 Tim. 6. 9.
That he that would bee
rich fals into many temptations;
Surely, there is no small danger
also in affecting to be too
suddenly rich in the endowments
of the soule; this cannot
but be accompanied with
the temptation of an unthankfull
distrust; for on the
one side, he that beleeves
makes not haste; and on the
other, we cannot bee sufficiently
thankfull for what we
have, whiles we doe overeagerly
reach after what wee
have not. Tell me, thou querulous
Soul, dost thou not
ackowledge what thou hast
to be the gift of God? And
wilt thou not allow the
great Benefactor of heaven to
dispense his own favours as
he pleaseth? If he think fit
rather to fill thy vessell with
drops of grace, art thou discontented
because hee doth
not pour out his Spirit upon
thee in full v
•
als? If thou have
have any at all, it is more
then he owes thee, more then
thou canst repay him; Take
what thou hast as an earnest
of more; and wait thankfully
upon his bounty for the rest:
Is it not mee
•
in a free gift to
attend the leasure of the donor?
What sturdy, and ill
mannerd beggers are we, if
we will not
••
ay at the doore
till we be served; and grudge
at our almes when it comes?
Look upon the Father of the
faithfull, thou shalt finde him
fourscore and sixe yeares
childlesse; and at last after he
had got an Ismael, hee must
wait fourteen yeers more for
the promised seed; and when
hee had enjoyed him not
much longer then he expected
him, he must then sacrifice
him to the giver: Thus,
thus my son must our faith
bee exercised in attendance
both for time, and measure of
mercy.
§. 3. Comfort from Gods acceptati
on of truth, not quantity.
Thy graces are weak; yet,
if true, discomfort not thy
selfe; how many weak bodies
have we knowne which with
careful tendance, have enjoyed
better and longer health,
then those that have had
bigger limbs, and more
brawny armes? neither is it
otherwise in the soul; Soundnesse
of grace is health; increased
degrees of grace make
up the strength of that spirituall
part; if thou have but
this health tenderly observed,
thou maist be happy in
the enjoying of thy God,
although more happy in a
comfortable sense of a stronger
fruition. We have to do
with a God that stands not so
much upon quantity, as truth
of grace; he knowes we can
have nothing but what hee
gives us, and inables us to
improve; and where he sees
our wils and endeavours not
wanting, he is ready to accept
and crown his owne gifts in
us:Mat. 12. 20.
He will not break the bruised
reed, nor quench the smoaking
flax.
§. 4. Comfort from the variety of Gods gifts, and the ages and sta
tures of grace.
Thou art weak in grace:
Be not discouraged, my son,
there are all ages, all statures
in Christ: Shall the child
repine that he is not suddenly
grown a man? Shall the
Dwarf quarrell that he is not
a Giant? Were there a standerd
of graces, lesse then
which would not be accepted,
thou hadst reason to bee
troubled; but it is so far from
that, as that our Saviour hath
encharged,Mat. 19. 14.
Suffer little children
to come to me, and forbid
them not, for of such is the kingdome
of heaven. In some legall
oblations it pleased God
to regard time and age;Lev. 3 7. The
Lamb for the Passeover, and
for the peace-offering;Lev. 4. 14 the
Bullock for the sin offering
of Israel, have their date assigned;Lev 1. 14
And in divers cases
he hath called for two Turtle
Doves,Lev. 5. 7, 11. or two young Pigeons:
Young Turtles,Lev. 12. 8 and old
Doves, in the mean while,
(according to our Jewish Doctors)
were unlawfull to bee
offered;Lev. 15. 14. but in our spirituall
sacrifices all ages are equally
accepted; He that is eternall
regards not time; he that is
infinite and almighty regards
not statures; Even the eleventh
houre carried the peny
as well as the first: and, Let
the weak say,
Ioel 3. 10.
I am strong.
§. 5. Comfort from the safety of our lea
surely progresse in grace.
It troubles thee that thou
hast made so slow progresse
in graces; thy desire is to
heaven-ward, & thou checkest
thy self for no more speed:
It is an happy ambition that
carries thee on in that way to
blessednesse. Quicken thy
selfe what thou mayst, with
all gracious incitations in
that holy course: But know,
my son, that we may not alwaies
hope to goe thitherward
on the spurre; in that
passage there are waies that
will not admit of h
•
ste; how
many have we known that
by too much forwardness
have been cast back in their
journey, whether through
want of breath, or mistaking
their way, or mis-placing
their steps? I praise thee, that
it is the desire of thy soul to
run the way of Gods Commandments;
Psal. 119▪ 32.
and do encourage
thine holy zeal in speeding
that holy race; ever praying
thou mayst so run,
1 Cor. 9: 24.
as that thou
mayst obtain. But withal, I
must tell thee,Psal. 119▪ 1
•
that, Blessed is
the man that doth but walk in the
Law of the Lord: Whiles thou
passest on, though but a foot-pace,
thou art every step neerer
to thy glory: so long as
thou riddest way, thou art
safe: Blessed is the man whose
strength is in thee,
Psal. 84. 5, 6, 7.
O God; in
whose heart are thy wayes; who
passing through the vale of misery,
goes on from strength to
strength, till he appear before thee
his God in Sion.
§. 6. Comfort from our good de
sires and endevours.
Thy grace is little; but
thou wishest and labourest
for more; this is a good beginning
of heavenly wealth:
Hee is in a good way to riches,
that desires to thrive: Never
any holy Soule lost her longing:
If thy wishes be hearty
and serious, thou hast that
which thou cravest, or at
least bee sure thou shalt have:
If any man
•
ick wisdome,
Jam. 1. 5.
let
him aske of God, who giveth to
all men liberally, and upbraideth
no man, and it shall bee given
him: Were this condition
offered us for Worldly
riches, who would be poore?
If we imbrace it not in spirituall,
either wee distrust the
promises, or neglect our own
mercies: In these temporall
things how many have so eagerly
followed the chase of
the world, that they have
over-runne it, and whiles they
have greedily swallowed
gain, have been choaked with
it? but in those better blessings,
earnestness
•
of desi
••
,
•
nd fervour of prosecution,
was never but answered with
a gracious impetration.
§. 7. Comfort from the happiness of an humble poverty.
Thou art poore in grace,
but in an humble self-dejection
longest for more; know,
that an humble poverty, is
better then a proud fulnesse;
Wert thou poore and proud,
there were no hope of thy
proficiency: thy false conceit
lies in the way of thy thrift;
and many a one had been
gracious, if they had not so
thought themselves: but now,
that thou art meaner in thine
opinion, then in thine estate,
who can more justly challenge
our Saviours blessing,
Blessed are the poor in spirit;
Mat. 5. 3.
for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven?
Thou art weak in grace; It
is thine own fault if thou
gettest not more strength:
Wherefore serves that heavenly
food of the Word and
Sacraments, but to nourish
thy soul to eternal life? Do
but eat and digest, and thou
canst not but grow stronger:
God will not be wanting to
thee in an increase of grace,
if thou be not wanting to
thy self: He offers his Spirit
to thee with the means; it
is thy sinful neglect, if thou
separate them: Thou knowest
in whose hands is the staff
of bread; pray that he who
gives thee the food and the
mouth, would also give thee
appetite, digestion, nourishment.
§ 8. An incite
ment to more cau
tion, an
•
faster ad
herence t
•
God.
Thy grace is weak: It concerns
thee so much the more
to be cautious in avoiding
occasions of temptation. He
that carries brittle glasses, is
chary of them, that they take
not a knock; whereas strong
metal fears no danger. He
that hath but a small Rushcandle,
walks softly, and keeps
off every air: Thou art
weak, thy God is strong:
Dost thou not see the feeble
childe that findes hee cannot
goe alone, how fast he clings
to the hand of his mother;
more trusting to her helpe,
then his owne strength; Doe
thou so to thy God; and say
with the blessed Psalmist;
Hold up my goings in thy pathes,
Psal. 17. 5.
that my footsteps slip not;
Psal. 119. 117, 116.
Hold
thou mee up, and I shall bee safe;
Vphold me according to thy Word,
that I may live, and let me not bee
ashamed of my hop
••
Peter was a
bold man, that durst step forth
and set his foot upon the liquid
face of the waters;Mat: 14:
•
9, 30, 31 but
he that ventured to walk there,
upon the strength of his faith,
when hee felt the stiffe winde,
and saw the great billow, began
to sinke in his weaknesse;
but no sooner had Jesus
stretched forth his hand, and
caught him, then he takes courage,
and walks now with the
same confidence upon the Sea,
that hee wont to walk on the
L
•
nd: Together with a
check, hee receives more supportation
from Christ, then
his owne legges could afford
him: Feare no miscarriage
through thine own weaknesse,
whiles thou art held up by that
•
strong helper.
Comforts against Infamy
and Disgrace.
§ 1. Comforts from like sufferings
•
of the ho
liest, yea, of Christ himself.
NExt to our body and
soul, is the care of our
reputation; which whoso
hath lost, is no better then
civilly dead. Thou sufferest
under a publike infamy, I
do not ask how justly: He
was a wise man that said, It
was fit for every good man
to fear even a false reproach:
A good name is no less
wounded for the time with
that, then with a just crimination.
This is a sore evil,
my son, and such, as against
which there is no preservative,
and for which there is
hardly any remedy: Innocence
it self is no antidote
against evil tongues: Neither
greatness nor sanctity can secure
any man from unjust calumny.
Might that be any
ease to thy heart, I could tell
thee of the greatest of Kings,
and holiest of Saints, that
have grievously complained
of this mischief, and yet
were not able to help them
•
selves: Thou hast the company
of the best that ever the
earth bore, if that may be any
mitigation of thy misery:
Yea, what do I speak of sinful
men, whose greatest purity
might be blurred with
some imperfections? Look
upon the Lord of life, the
eternal Son of the ever-living
God, God cloathed in
flesh; and see whether any
other were his lot, whiles he
sojourned in this Region of
mortality; Dost thou not
heare him for his gracious
sociablenesse, branded as a
man gluttonous, a Wine-bibber,
a friend of Publicanes and
Sinners?
Mat: 11: 19: Dost thou not heare
him for his powerfull and
mercifull cure of Demoniacks,
blazoned for a fellow
that casts out Devils through
Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils?
Mat: 12: 24:
Dost thou not heare
him sclandred to death for
treason against Caesar,
Io. 19. 12
and blasphemy
against God? Dost
thou not heare the multitude
say,Mat: 26: 65:
Hee is madd, and hath a
Devil?
Joh: 10: 20: Dost thou not heare
him after his death charged
with Imposture?Mat: 27: 63: And can
there bee any worse names
then Glutton, Dtunkard,
Conjurer, Traytor, Blasphemer,
Mad man, Demoniack,
Impostor? Who now can
henceforth thinke much to
bee sclandered with meaner
crimes, when hee heares the
most holy Sonne of God,Joh: 14: 30: in
whose mouth was no guile, &
in whom the Prince of this
world could finde nothing,
laden with so hainous calumniations?
§ 1. Comfort of our re
course to God.
Thou art smitten with a
foule tongue; I marvell not
if it goe deep into thy soule;
That man gave an high praise
to his sword, that said it was
sharper then sclander; And
if a rasour bee yet sharper, such
did David finde the Edomites
tongue:Ps. 52: 2: And if these wea
•
pons,
reach not yet farre
enough,Ps: 57: 4: he found both spears
and arrows in the mouthes
of his traducers. Lo, thou
art but in the same case with
the man after Gods own
heart: What shouldst thou
do, but for Davids complaint,
make use of Davids remedy?
I will cry unto God most high;
Psal. 57. 2, 3.
unto God that performeth all
things for me: He shall send
from heaven, and save me from
the reproach of him that would
swallow me up: God shall send
forth his mercy and his truth.
Do by thy slander, as Hezekiah
did by the railing lines
of Rabshak
•
h, spread them before
the Lord, and leave thy
quarrel in the just hands of
that great arbiter of heaven
and earth, who will be sure
in his good time to revenge
thy wrong, and to clear thine
innocence,2 Sam. 16 12. and will requite
thee good for these causless
curses.
§ 3. Comfort from the clearness of our con
science.
In the mean while, thou
sayst, I stand blemished with
an odious aspersion; my
name passes thorow many a
foul mouth. Thou hearest,
my son, what some others
say; but what dost thou hear
from the bird in thy bosom?
If thy conscience acquit thee,
and pronounce thee guiltless,
obdure thy fore-head
against all the spight of malice:
What is ill fame, but
a little corrupted, unsavoury
breath? Do but turn away
thine ear, that thou receive it
not, and what art thou the
worse? Oh thy weakness, if
thou suffer thy self to be
blown over by the meer air
of some putrified lungs, which
if thou doe but a little decline
by shifting thy foot, will soon
vanish.
§ 4. Comfort from the improve
ment of our reason.
Thou art under ill tongues;
This is an evill proper onely
to man; Other creatures are
no lesse subject to disease, to
death, to outward violence
then hee; but none else can bee
obnoxious to a detraction;
sith none other is capable of
speech, whereout a sclander
can bee formed; they have
their severall sounds and
notes of expression, whereby
they can signifie their dislike
and anger; but onely
man can cloathe his angry
thoughts with words of offence;
so as that faculty which
was given him for an advan
•
tage,
is depraved to a further
mischiefe; But the same liberall
hand of his Creatour
hath also indued him with a
property of reason, which as
it ought to direct his language
to others, so also to
teach him how to make use
of others language to him;
and where he findes it wrongfull,
either to convince it by
a just apology, or to contemn
it; If therefore thou understandest
thy self to lye under
an unjust obloquie, have so
much of the man in thee, as
either to confute or despise
it.
§ 5. Comfort from the cause of our suffe
ring.
Thou art shamefully traduced;
I could pity thy suffering,
but withall give mee
leave to enquire not so much
what thou sufferest, as for
what; If for a good cause, I
shall turn my pity into envie:
Truth it self hath told thee,
thou art in the way to blessedness:
Who can pity thee
for that wherein thou hast
cause to rejoyce?Mat. 5. 11.
Blessed are
ye when men revile you, and persecute
you, and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsly, for
my sake: Rejoyce, and be exceeding
glad; for great is your reward
in heaven. Yea, rather pluck
up thy spirits, and take up
the resolution of holy Job;
Job 31. 35, 36.
If
mine adversary had written a book
against me, surely I would take
it upon my shoulders, and binde it
as a crown to me: And say with
that gracious King of Israel,
2 Sam. 6. 22.
I will be yet more vile for the
Lord.
§ 6. Comforts from our env
•
ed vertue.
Thou art reproached by
lewd men: Thank thine own
vertue that thou art envied;
wert thou so bad as thy detractors,
thou shouldst sit
quiet enough; If yee were of
the world,
John 15. 19 saith our Saviour,
the world would love his owne;
but because yee are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world
hateth you. Whiles the Moon
sits, no dogs bark at her; it
is her shining that opens their
mouth: Wert thou either
obscure or wicked, thou
mightst be safe; but if thou
wilt needs bee eminently
good, look for the lashes of
ill tongues:1 Pet. 4. 4
They think it
strange that yee run not with
them into the same excesse of
riot, speaking evill of you, saith
the prime Apostle. It was not
without reason that the great
Musitian in the story struck
his scholar, because he saw
the multitude applaud his
skill; as well knowing that
had he been true to his art,
those mis-judging eares could
not have approved him:
What more excellent instruments
had God ever in his
Church then the blessed
Apostles, and what acceptation
found they on the earth?
Being defamed,
1 Cor. 4. 13.
we intreat; wee
are made as the filth of the
world, and are the off-scouring of
all things unto this day: Wee
are made a Spectacle to the
World, to Angels, and to men.
Complain if thou canst of a
worse condition then these
great Ambassadors of the
high God;1 Cor. 4. 9. otherwise, resolve
with the chosen vessell, to
passe cheerfully through honour,
and dishonour, through
evill report and good report,
towards the goale of immortality.
§ 7. Comfort from o
thers s
•
eighting of re
proaches.
Thou art disgraced through
sclanderons reports. It is not
meer air that we live by;
How many hast thou known
that have blown over a just
infamy with a carelesse neglect?
pleasing themselves to
think that they have thriven
even under curses; and shall
their guiltinesse be entertained
with more courage then
thine innocence? Let those
whose heart is as foule as
their name, be troubled with
deserved censures; doe not
thou give so much way to
malice, as to yeeld any regard
to her misraised suggestions;
thou canst not devise how
more to vexe a detractor, then
by contempt; thus thou shalt
force spight, as that wise heathen
truly said, to drink off
the greatest part of her own
poyson.
§. 8. Comfort from the narrow bounds of infamy.
Thou art disgraced with
an ill fame: What a poore
matter is this? How farre
dost thou think that sound
reacheth? perhaps to the next
village, perhaps further to
the whole Shire wherein
thou dwellest; it is like the
next County never heard
of thy name; and if thou look
yet further off; assoon moist
thou be talkt of amongst the
Antipodes, as in the neighbouring
region: and what a
small spot of earth is this to
which thy shame is confined?
Didst thou know the
vast extent of this great
world, thou wouldst easily
see into how narrow a corner
our either glory, or dishonour
can be pent up: and shouldst
confesse how little reason we
can have to affect the one, or
be disheartned with the other.
§. 9. Comfort from the short life of slander.
Thou art wronged with an
unjust disgrace; Have patience
a while; sclanders are not
long liv'd: Truth is the child
of time; ere long she shall appeare
and vindicate thee.
Wait upon the God of truth,
who shall cause thy light to
break forth as the morning;
Isai. 58. 8
and
thine health to spring forth speedily:
But if otherwise, what
speakest thou of his name,
which as it is locall, so it is
momentany, soo
•
passed over
in silence, and oblivion; There
is a shame, my son, which is
worthy of thy fear; which is
both Universall, before the
face of all the world of Angels,
and men, and beyond
the reach of time, eternall;
fear this, and contemn the
other; On the contrary, if
fame should befriend thee so
much, as to strain her cheeks
in sounding thy praises; and
should cry thee up for vertuous,
and eminent every way;
Alas, how few shall hear her, and
how soon is that noyse stilled,
Eccles. 9. 1.
and forgotten? Shortly then,
let it be thy main care to d
•
|
mean thy selfe holily and
conscionably before God and
men; leave the rest upon
God, who shall be sure to
make his word good in spight
of men and devils; The memory
of the just shall be blessed,
Prov. 10. 7.
but
the name of the wicked shall
rot.
Comforts against publique
Calamities.
§. 1. Comfort from the inevitable necessity of changes, and Gods over-ru
ling them.
THOU art afflicted with
the publique calamities;
so it becomes thee as a good
man, a good Christian, a good
Patriot. Wee are not entire
peeces, but are all limbs of a
community both of Church
and Kingdome; whiles the
whole body suffers, how can
we be free? This should be
no news to us; what earthly
Kingdome or Sate hath ever
enjoyed a constant felicity?
These publique bodies, like
as single persons, have their
birth, their infancy, their
youth, their vigour, their declinations:
Even the white
marble of that famous Embleme,
and type of Gods
Church, after not many centuries
of yeares felt the dint
of time, and mouldred to nothing;
It is as much as those
heavenly bodies above can
doe, to avoid change: well
might we be distracted with
these troubles, my son, if we
did not well know whence
they come, even from a most
wise, holy, powerfull, just
providence: Hee that sits in
heaven orders these earthly
affaires according to the eternall
counsell of his will; It is
that Almighty hand that
holds the stern of this tossed
vessel, and steers it in that
course which he knows best:
it is not for us that are passengers
to meddle with the
•
ard
or Compass: Let that all-skilful
Pilot alone with his
own work; he knows every
rock and shelf that may endanger it, and can cut the
proudest billow that threatens
it,1 Sam. 3. 18. with ease: It is the
Lord, let him do what seemeth him
good.
§ 2. The sense and sym
pathy of common evils.
Were there no other respects
then personal, I cannot
blame thee if thy fears
strive with thy grief for the
publike evils: every mans
interest is involved in the
common: And if the Ship
sink, what will become of the
passengers? But withal, there
is a kinde of inbred sympathy
in every good heart,
which gives us a share in all
others miseries, and affects us
more deeply for them, then
for our own. Old indulgent
Eli loved his sons too well,
and was therefore no doubt
very sensible of their death;
yet that part of the news passed
over with some, not mortal,
passion: But when he
heard of the Ark of God
taken,1 Sam. 4. 17, 18. now his neck and his
heart were broken together:
and his religious daughter
in law, though she were delivered
upon this report, of
a son, yet she died in travel
of that heavie news, and
could live onely to say,1 Sam 4. 21, 22.
I
•
habod,
The glory is departed from
Israel, for the Ark of God is taken:
disregarding her new son,
when she heard of the loss of
her people, and of her God.
How many Pagans have we
read of, that have died resolutely
for their Country,
chearfully sacrificing themselves
to the Publike? How
many that would die with
their Country, hating to think
of over-living the common
ruine? How many that have
professed a scorn to be beholden
for their lives to their
peoples murtherer? We shall
as soon extinguish both grace
and nature, as quit this compassionate
sense of the common
calamities.
§ 3. Comfort from the sure pro
tection of the Al
mighty.
Thou grievest for the publike
distempers: Mourn not
as one without faith: Be sure,
He that keepeth Israel, will neither
slumber nor sleep. Wherefore
was the holy Tabernacle
over-spred with a strong tent
of skins,Exod. 26 7. but to figure out unto
us Gods Church sheltred
under a sure protection? He
that was so curious of the
custody of his material Temple,
by night as well as by
day, that a sleeping Levite
might not escape beating, and
burning of garments; how
careful do we think he will ever
be of his spiritual & living
house? How unmeet Judges
are we of his holy proceedings?
We are ready to measure
his love still by an outward
prosperity, then which
nothing can be more uncertain:
The Almighty goes by
other rules, such as are most
consonant to his infinite justice
and mercy. I am abashed
to hear a Pagan, though
no vulgar one,Senec. Epist. 107 say, Whatsoever
is brought to pass, a
wise man thinks ought to be
so done; neither goes about
to rebuke nature, but findes it
best to suffer what he cannot
alter. And shall we Christians
repine at those seemingly
harsh events, which we see
fall out in Gods Church,
whiles we are ignorant of his
designes? and be ready to
bless a thriving prophaneness?
Look abroad upon
the ancient lot of Gods inheritance,
and their corrivals in
glory; thou shalt see the Family
of Esau flourishing and
renowned, yeelding besides
Dukes, eight Kings of his line,
whiles poor Israel was toyling
and sweating in the
Egyptian furnaces; yet we
know the word to stand inviolable,
The elder shall serve
the younger; and, Jacob have I
loved, Esau I have hated: What
if that great and wise God
(who works oft-times by
contraries, and brings light
out of darkness) have purposed
to fetch honour and happiness
to his Church out of
this sad affliction? Metals are
never so bright as when they
are scoured: Perfumes and
spices never so redolent, as
when they have felt the fire,
and the p
•
stle. Wilt thou not
give the Physitian leave to
make use of his Mithridate,
because there are vipers in
the composition? how unworthy
art thou of health, if thou
wilt no trust the fidelity
and skill of the Artist in
mixing so wholsome a Cordial?
§ 4. Conside
ration of the justice of Gods proceed
ings.
Thou art troubled with
the publike miseries: Take
heed that thy grief be clear
of all impiety. Wouldst thou
not have God to be just, that
is, himself? Wouldst thou
not allow it an act of his justice
to punish sins? Canst
thou deny that our sins have
reacht up to heaven, and called
for judgement?Lam. 3. 39.
Why is
the living man sorrowful? man
suffereth for his sins. I read of
a devout man that was instant
with God in his prayers
for a Nation not far off, and
was answered, Suffer the
proud to be humbled: Whether
we will suffer it or no,
the just God will humble the
proud, and punish the sinful.
The wonderful patience, and
infinite justice of the Almighty,
hath set a stint to the
wickedness of every people:
The iniquity of the Amorites is
not yet full,
Gen. 15. 16. saith God to Abraham;
when the measure is
once made up▪ it is time for
God to strike; we shall then
complain in vain, and too
late. Wouldst thou know
then what is to be done for
the preventing of a destructive
vengeance? there is no
way under heaven, but this,
To break off our sins by a
seasonable and serious repentance:
by the united forces
of our holy resolutions, and
endeavours, to make an head
against the over-bearing
wickedness of the time; and
not to suffer it to fill up towards
the brim of that fatal
Ephah; till which time
the long-suffering God onely
threatens and corrects a people;
but then he plagues them;
and stands upon the necessity
of his inviolable justice: Shall
I not visit for these things,
Jer. 5▪ 9.
saith
the Lord? and shall not my soul
be avenged on such a Nation as
this?
§ 5. The reme
dy; our particular repentance
Thou mournest for the
common sufferings: thou
dost well; our tears can never
be better bestowed. But the
while, is not thine hand in
them? have not thy sins helped
to make up this irritating
heap? hast no▪ thou cast in
thy symbole into the common
shot? May not the times
justly challenge thee in part,
as accessary to their misery?
Begin at home, my son, if
thou wish well to the Publike;
and make thine own
peace with thy God for thy
particular offences. Renew
thy Covenant with God of a
more holy and strict obedience;
and then pour out thy
prayers and tears for an universal
mercy: so shalt thou
not onely pull away one
brand from this consuming
fire, but help effectually to
quench the common conflagration.
§ 6. The un
speakable miseries of a Civil War.
Thy heart bleeds to see
the woful vastation of Civil
discord, and the deadly fury
of home-bread enemies: Certainly
there is nothing under
heaven more gastly and
dreadful then the face of an
intestine War; nothing that
doth so neerly resemble hell:
Wo is me; here is altogether
killing, and dying, and torturing,
and burning, and
shrieks, and cries, and ejulations,
and fearful sounds, and
furious violences, and whatsoever
may either cause or increase
horrour: the present
calamity oppresses one, another
fear: one is quivering
in death, another trembles to
expect it: one beggs for life,
another will sell it dearer:
here one would rescue one
life, and loseth two; there another
would hide himself
where he findes a merciless
death: here lies one bleeding,
and groaning▪ and gasping,
parting with his soul in extremity
of anguish; there another
of stronger spirits, kills,
and dies at once: here one
wrings her hands, and tears
her hair, and seeks for some
instrument of a self-inflicted
death, rather then yeeld her
chaste body to the lust of a
bloody ravisher; there another
clings inseparably to a
dear husband, and will rather
take part of the murtherers
sword, then let go her
last embraces: here one tortured
for the discovery of hid
treasure, there another dying
upon the rack out of jealousie.
Oh that one man, one
Christian, should be so bloodily
cruel to another! Oh
that he who bears the image
of the merciful God, should
thus turn fiend to his own
flesh and blood! These are
terrible things, my son; and
worthy of our bitterest lamentations,
and just fears.
I love the speculation of Seneca's
resolutely-wise man,Sen. Ep▪ 76.
that could look upon the glittering
sword of an executioner
with erected and undazeled
eyes, and that makes it no
matter of difference whether
his soul pass out at his
mouth, or at his throat; but
I should more admire the
practice; whiles we carry this
clay about us, nature cannot
but in the holiest men shrink
in at the sight and sense of
these tyrannous and tragical
acts of death: Yet even these
are the due revenges of the
Almighties punitive justice,
so provoked by our sins as
that it may not take up with
an easier judgement: Dost
thou not see it ordinary with
our Physitians, when they
finde the body highly distempered,
and the blood foul, and
inflamed, to order the opening
of a vein, and the drawing
out of so many ounces, as
may leave the rest meet for
correction? Why art thou
over-troubled to see the
great Physitian of the world
take this course with sinful
mankinde? Certainly, had not
this great Body, by mis dieting
and wilful disorder, contracted
these spiritual diseases
under which we languish; had
it not impured the blood that
runs in these common veins,
with riot, and surfets, we
had never been so miserable,
as to see these torrents of
Christian blood running
down our chanels. Now yet
as it is, could we bewail and
abandon our former wickedness,
we might live in hope,
that at the last this deadly
issue might stop, and dry up;
and that there might be yet
left a possibility of a blessed
recovery.
§ 7. The woful miseries of Pesti
lence, al
laid by considera
tion of the hand that smites us.
Thou art confounded with
grief, to see the pestilence
raging in our streets; in so frequent
a mortality as breeds
a question concerning the
number of the living, and
the dead: That which is
wont to abate other miseries,
heightens this, The company
of participants. It was certainly
a very hard, and sad
option that God gave to King
David, after his sin of numbring
bring the people; Chuse thee
whether seven yeers famine shall
come unto thee in thy Land,
2 Sam. 24▪ 13.
or
three moneths flight before thine
enemies, or three days pestilence:
We may believe the
good King, when we hear
him say, I am in a great strait:
Doubtless so he was: but
his wise resolutions have soon
brought him out: Let us fall
now into the hand of the
Lord, (for his mercies are
great;) and let me not fall into
the hand of man. He that
was to send these evils, knew
their value, and the difference
of their malignity: yet he
opposes three days pestilence,
to seven yeers famine,
and three months vanquishment:
so much oddes he
knew there was betwixt the
dull activity of man, and the
quick dispatch of an Angel!
It was a favour that the Angel
of death, who in one night
destroyed an hundred fourscore
and five thousand Assyrians,
2 Kings 19. 35.
should in three daies cut off
but seventy thousand Israelites;
It was a great mercy that it
was no worse: We read of
one (City shall I call it, or
Region, of Cayro) wherein
eighteen hundred thousand
were swept away in one years
pestilence; enow, one would
think to have peopled the
whole earth: and in our own
Chronicles of so generall a
mortality, that the living
were hardly sufficient to bury
the dead. These are dreadfull
demonstrations of Gods
heavy displeasure; but yet
there is this alleviation of our
misery, that we suffer more
immediatly from an holy,
just, mercifull God; The
Kingly Prophet had never
made that distinction in his
wofull choyce, if he had not
known a notable difference
betwixt the sword of an Angell,
and an enemy, betwixt
Gods more direct and immediate
infliction, and that
which is derived to us
through the malice of men;
It was but a poor consolation
that is given by a victorious
enemy, to dying Lausus,
in the Poet; Comfort thy selfe
in thy death with this, that thou
fallest by the hand of great
Aeneas: but surely, we have
just reason to
•
aise comfort
to our souls, when the pains
of a pestilentiall death compasse
us about, from the
thought and intuition of that
holy and gracious hand, under
which we suffer; so as we
can say with good Eli, It is
the Lord. It is not amisse that
we call those marks of deadly
infection, Gods Tokens, such
sure they are: and ought
therefore to call up our eyes
and hearts to that Almighty
power that sends them, with
the faithfull resolution of holy
Iob, Though thou kill me, yet
will I trust in thee: It is none
of the least miseries of contagious
sicknesse, that it bars
us from the comfortable society
and attendance of
friends, or, if otherwise, repaies
their love and kinde visitation
with death: Be not
dismaid, my son, with this sad
solitude; thou hast company
with thee whom no infection
can indanger, or exclude, there
is an invisible friend that
will be sure to stick by thee
so much more closely, by
how much thou art more
avoided by neighbours, and
will make all thy bed in thy
sickness, and supply thee with
those cordialls which thou
shouldst in vain expect from
earthly visitants: Indeed,
justly doe we style this, The
sicknesse, eminently grievous
both for the deadlinesse, and
generality of the dispersion;
yet there is a remedy that can
both cure and con
•
ine it; Let
but every man look well to
the plague of his own heart,
and the Land is healed. Can
we with David, but see the
Angell that smites us, and
erect an Altar; and offer to
God the sacrifices of our
praiers, penitence, obedience;
we shall hear him say,2 Sam. 24▪ 16.
It is
enough: The time was, (and
that time may not be forgotten)
when in the dayes of our
late Soveraigne, our Mother
City was almost desolated
with this mortall infection,
When thousands fell at our side,
Psal. 91. 7.
and ten thousands at our right
hand▪
upon the publique humiliation
of our soules, the
mercy of the Almighty was
pleased to command that raging
disease in the height of
its fury (like somehead-strong
horse in the midst of his career)
to stop on the sudden,
and to leave us at once (ere
wee could think of it) both
safe and healthfull: This was
the Lords doing,
Isai. 59. 1
and it was
marvellous in our eyes: Behold,
the Lords hand is not shortned
that it cannot save, neither his
ear heavy that it cannot hear;
The same mercy is everlasting,
the same remedy certain;
Be wee but penitent,
and wee cannot be miserable.
Comforts against losse of
Friends.
§ 1. The true value of a friend, and the fault of over-pri
zing him.
THou hast lost thy friend;
Thy sorrow is just; the
earth hath nothing more precious
then that which thou
hast parted with: For what
is a friend, but a mans selfe
in another skin, a soul divided
into two bodies, both
which are animated by the
same spirit: It is somewhat
worse with thee therefore,
then with a palsied man,
whose one halfe is stricken
with a dead kinde of numnesse,
he hath lost but the use
of one side of his body, thou
the one halfe of thy soul. Or
may I not with better warrant
say that a true friend
hath as it were, two soules in
one body, his own, and his
friends? Sure I am, so it was
with Jonathan and David;
The soule of Jonathan was knit
with the soule of David,
1 Sam. 18 1.
and Ionathan
loved him as his owne
soul: Still the more goodnesse,
the stronger union; Meer nature
can never be so fast a cement
of soules, as grace; for
here the union is wrought by
a better spirit then our owne,
even that blessed spirit who
styles himselfe by the name
of Love;
1 Ioh. 4. 16. By how much greater
thine affection was, so
much heavie
•
is thy losse.
But let mee tell thee, I feare
thou art too much accessary
to thine owne affliction:
Didst thou look for this losse?
Did thy heart say, What if
we should part? Didst thou
not over-enjoy this blessing
whilest thou hadst it? Surely,
these are no small disadvantages;
As every other
evill, so this especially is aggravated
by our unexpectation;
neither hadst thou been
so oppressed with this sorrow,
if thou hadst fore-seene
it, and met it on the way: It
is our weak inconsideration,
if we do so welcome these
earthly comforts, not as
guests, but as in-mates; and
as some that are importuntely
hospitable, so entertain our
friends, that we cannot abide
to give them leave to depart:
Whereas we ought, according
to the wise advice of our Seneca,
Sen. Ep. 63.
(not much abluding from
the counsel of that blessed
Apostle with whom he is said
to have interchanged Letters)
so to possess them,1 Cor. 7. 30, 31. as
those that make account to
forgo them; and so forgo
them, as if we possessed them
still.
§ 2. The tru
•
ground of a
•
unde
feisible enjoying of our friends.
Thou art grieved for the
loss of a dear friend: Take
heed lest thy love had too
much of the man, and too little
of God: All blessings, as
they come down from the
Father of mercies, so should
be enjoyed in him: and if we
enjoy them as in themselves,
our love begins to degenerate
into carnal. It is a sure rule,
that all love that depends upon
a thing affected, when that
thing ceaseth, then the love
ceaseth: as he that loves a
face onely for beauty, when
that beauty is defaced by deformity,
presently cools in
his affection: he that respects
a man for his bounty onely,
disregards him when he sees
him impoverished. Didst
thou value thy friend onely
for his wit, for his ready
compliances, for his kinde
offices; all these are now lost,
and thy love with them: but
if thou didst affect him for
eminence of grace, for the
sake of that God that dwelt
in him; now thy love is not,
cannot be lost, because thou
still enjoyest that God in
whom thou lovedst him.
Comfort thy self therefore in
that God, in whom he was
thine, and yeeld him chearfully
into those hands that
lent him thee.
§. 3. The rarity and trial of true friends.
Thou hast lost a true friend:
That Jewel was worthy to
be so much more precious,
by how much more rare it is.
The world affords friends
enow, such as they are;
Friends of the purple, as Tertullian
calls them; friends of
the basket, as the Poet: such
as love thy loaves and fishes,
and thee for them:Prov. 14 20.
Wealth
makes many friends,
Prov. 19 4. saith the
Wise man; but where is the
man that loves thee for thy
self? that loves thy Vertue,
and thee for it, devested of
all by-respects? Whiles there
is honey in thy gally-pot,
the wasps and flyes will be
buzzing about it; but which
of them cares to light upon
an empty vessel? Was he so
much thine, that he would
not be set off by thine adversity?
Did he honour thee
when thou wert despised of
the world? Did he follow
thee with applause whiles
thou wert hooted at by the
multitude? Would he have
owned thee if he had found
thee stripped and wounded
in the Wilderness? Such a
friend is worthy of thy tears:
But take heed thy love prove
not envious: If thy God hath
thought him fitter for the society
of Saints and Angels,
dost thou repine at his happiness?
Thou hast lost his
presence; he is advanced to
the beatifical presence of the
King of glory: Whether is
thy loss, or his gain the
greater?
§ 4. It is but parting, not a
〈◊〉
Thou hast lost thy friend:
say rather, thou hast parted
with him. That is properly
lost, which is past all recovery,
which we are out of hope
to see any more: It is not so
with this friend thou mournest
for; He is but gone
home a little before thee;
thou art following him;
you two shall meet in your
Fathers house, and enjoy
each other more happily then
you could have done here belowe.
How just is that charge
of the blessed Apostle, that
We should not mourn as men
without hope,
1 Thes. 4. 13, 14.
for those that
do but sleep in Jesus? Did
we think their souls vanisht
into air, (as that
Heathen Poet profanely expresseth
it) and their bodies
resolved into dust, without all
possibility of reparation, we
might well cry out our eyes
for the utter extinction of
those we loved: but if they
do but sleep,
Joh. 11. 12.
they shall do well.
Why are we impatient for
their silent reposal in the bed
of their grave, when we are
assured of their awaking to
glory?
§. 5. The loss of a vertuous wife, mi
tigated.
Thou hast lost a dear wife,
the wife of thy youth, the desire
of thine eyes: Did ye not take
one another upon the terms
of redelivery when ye should
be called for?Prov. 5. 18. Were you not
in your very knitting put in
minde of your dissolution?Isai. 54. 6.
Till death us depart.
Ezek. 24 16. Was she
vertuous? knowest thou not
that there was a Pre-contract
betwixt thy Saviour, and her
soul, ere thou couldst lay
any claim to her body? And
canst thou now grudge his
just challenge of his own?
Wilt thou not allow him to
call for a consummation of
that happie match? Didst
thou so over-love her outside,
that thou wouldst not
have her soul glorious: If
thou lovedst her not as a
man, but as a Christian, envie
her not to that better Husband
above, who gives her
no less dowry then immortality.
§ 6. The miti
gation of the loss of a dear and hopeful son.
Thy son is dead: What
marvel is it, that a mortal
Father hath begot a mortal
Son? Marvel rather, that thy
self hath lived to have or to
lose a son: We lie open to so
many deaths, that our very
subsistence is almost miraculous.
Thou hast lost a piece
of thy self: for what are our
children, but as colonies deduced
from our own flesh?
yea rather, our selves made up
in other models. This loss
cannot but go neer thee:
But tell me, What was the
disposition of the son thou
mournest for? If he were
graceless and debauched, as
thy shame, so thy sorrow
should die with him: set the
hopes thou mightst have had
of his reclaiming, against the
fears of his continuing, and
increasing wickedness, and
thou couldst have made no
other present account but of
dishonour, and discomfort:
If it be sad that he is taken
away in his wildness; it had
been more heavie, that he
would have added to the
heap of his sin, and therein to
his torments. If he were gracious,
he had a better Father
then thy self, whose interest
was more in him then thine:
and if that heavenly Father
have thought good to prefer
him to a crown of immortal
glory, why shouldst
thou be afflicted with his advancement?
Why shouldst
thou not rather rejoyce that
thy loyns have helped to furnish
heaven with a Saint?
Were it put to thy choice
that thy son might be called
off from his blessed rest, and
returned to his former earthly
relations; couldst thou be
so injurious in thy self-love,
as to wish the misery of so disadvantageous
a change to
that soul, which, as it was never
of thy production, so it
were pity it should be at thy
disposing? Rather, labour to
have thine own soul so disposed,
that it may be ready
to follow him into those
blessed mansions, and that
it may love and long for heaven
so much more for that
one piece of thee is there before-hand.
Comforts against Poverty,
and loss of our estate.
§ 1. The fickle nature of these earthly goods.
THou art driven into
want, and that which is
worse, out of abundance.
Those evils that we have
been inured to, as being bred
up with us from our cradle, are
grown so familiar, that we are
little moved with their presence:
but those into which we
fall suddenly, out of an outward
felicity of estate, are ready
to overwhelm us. Let thy
care be, not to want those better
riches, which shall make
thy soul happie, and thou shalt
not be too much troubled
with the loss of this trivial,
and perishing stuff: Had
these been true goods, they
could not have been lost: for
that good that is least capable
of loss, as it is unsatisfying
in the time of an imperfect
and unsure fruition, so in the
losing it turns evil. Didst
thou not know that riches
have wings?
Prov. 23 5. and what use
is there of wings, if not to flie?
If another mans violence shall
clip those wings, even this
very clipping is their flight.
Set thy heart upon that excellent
and precious wealth
which can never be taken
from thee, which shall never
leave thee, nor thou it, thou
shalt easily slight these poor
losses. As these were not
goods, so they were not
thine: Here thou foundst
them,1 Tim. 6. 7. and here thou leavest
them: What hadst thou but
their use? Neither can they
be otherwise thine heirs
whom thou leavest behinde
thee. I am ashamed to hear
the Heathen Philosopher say,
All that is mine I carry about
me; when many of us Christians
are ready to bug those
things as most ours, which
are without our selves. It
was an unanswerable question
which God moves to
the rich man in the Parable,
upon the parting with his
soul:Luk. 12. 20.
Then, whose shall those
things be which thou hast provided?
perhaps a strangers,
perhaps (as in case of undisposed
Lands) the occupants,
perhaps a false Executors,
perhaps an enemies Call that
thine, that thou shalt be sure
to carry away with thee; that
shall either accompany thy
soul in its last passage, or follow
it: such shall be thy holy
graces, thy charitable works,
thy vertuous actions, thine
heavenly dispositions: Lo,
these are the Treasures which
thou shalt lay up for thy self in
heaven,
Matth. 6. 20.
where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt; where
theeves do not break thorow nor
steal.
§ 2. Considera
tion that they are not ours, but lent us
Thou hast lost thy goods:
May I not rather say, Thou
hast restored them? He parted
with more then thou,
that said, The Lord hath given,
and the Lord hath taken:
Job 1. Lo,
whether it were by way of
patrimony, or by way of
providence and industry, the
Lord gave it; and whether it
were by the hands of Chaldeans,
or Sabeans, the Lord
hath taken it: the Lord is in
both; he did but give and
take his own. Is it not just
so with thee? What reason
hast thou then to complain?
Or may I not yet rather say, It
was not given, but lent thee,
for a while, till it were called
for? and dost thou grudge to
restore what thou borrowedst?
Nay, (that thou mayst
have yet less claim to this
pelf) was it not onely left in
thy hand by the owner, to
employ for his use, till he
should re-demand it with
the increase? What is it to
thee, but to improve, and to
account for? If others have
taken off thy charge: whiles
they have spoiled, they have
eased thee.
§ 3. That the right va
luation of riches is in the minde.
Thy wealth is gone: Hast
thou necessaries left? Be
thankful for what thou hast,
forget what thou hadst:
Hadst thou had more, thou
couldst have made use of no
more then Nature calls for;
the rest could but have lien
by thee, for sight, for readiness
of employment: Do
but forbear the thought of
superfluities, and what art
thou the worse? Perhaps,
thy fare is coarser, thy dishes
fewer, thy utensils meaner,
thy clothes homelier, thy
train shorter; what of this?
how is thy minde affected?
Cuntentment stands not in
quantities, nor in qualities,
but in the inward disposition
of the heart; that alone can
multiply numbers, and raise
prices; that alone can turn
honest freezes into rich velvets,
pulse into delicates, and
can make one attendant many
Officers:Senec. Ep. 107. Wise Seneca tels
thee truly, that the true mold
of wealth is our body, as the
Last is of the shooe; if the
shooe be too bigge for the
foot, it is but troublesome,
and uselesse; and how poor
an answer would it be of the
Cordwainer to say, that hee
had Leather good store; it is
fitnesse which is to be regarded
here, not largenesse; neither
is this any other then the
charge of the blessed Apostle,
Having food and raiment,
1 Tim. 6. 8.
let
us bee therewith content; And
if we have no more, we shall
be but as we were, as we shall
bee,1 Tim 6. 7.
For wee brought nothing
into the world, neither shall wee
carry any thing out.
§. 4. It may be good for us to be held short.
Thou hast parted with thy
wealth; perhaps for thine
own good; how many have
wee known that have been
cumbred with plenty, like as
the ostrich, or bustard with
bulk of body, so as they could
not raise their thoughts to
spirituall things; who when
their weight hath been taken
off, have mounted nimbly
towards their heaven? How
many have wee known that
had lost their lives, if (with
the Philosopher) they had
not forgone their gold? Yea,
how many that had lost their
precious soules? The whole
vessell had sunk in this boistrous
sea, if the luggage of
this earthly fraight had not
been cast over-boord; And
why art thou so troubled to
lose that which might have
undone thee in the keeping?
§. 5. The dan
ger of a
bundance.
Thou hadst wealth; Hast
thou not parted with that for
which many a man hath been
the worse? worse both in
body and soule: and by
which never any soul was
better: Have wee not seen
many good corn fields marred
with ranknesse? have we
not seen many a good bough
split with the weight of too
much fruit? whereas those
fields, had they been either
thinner sown, or seasonably
eaten down, had yeelded a
fair crop; and those boughs
had they been but moderately
laden, had out-lived many
Autumns: Dost thou not
hear thy Saviour say, How
hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdome of
God?
Mark 10 23. Art thou troubled that
there is a rub removed out of
thy way to happinesse? That
the bunch of the Camell is
taken off, if yet thou maist
passe through the eye of the
needle?
§. 6. The cares that at
tend wealth.
Thou hadst riches? But
hast thou not cares to boot?
Surely, else thou hast fared
better then all thy neighbors?
No body but thy selfe could
ever handle these roses without
pricking his fingers:Rab. Gamaliel. Hee
was famous amongst the
Jewish Doctors, whose rule
it was, Hee that multiplies riches,
multiplies cares: and our
blessed Saviour hath coupled
these two together, The cares
of the world,
Mar. 4 19.
and the deceitfuln
•
sse
of riches; Wee have
heard of one who was glad
to be rid of his lately found
bagge, that he might sleep,
and sing again: He was noted
and envied at Rome for his
wealth,Sen. Ep. 80. which could experimentally
say, The poor man
laughs more often, and more
heartily then the rich;Epist. 36. and
tells us, That outward felicity
is an unquiet thing, never
ceasing to vexe it self: Thy
sides are now rid of these
thorns, why dost thou grumble
at thine own ease?
§. 7. The impe
riousnesse of ill used wealth.
Thou lately possessedst
great riches; yea, maist thou
not rather say, thou wert possessed
of them? That wise
Romane truly observed that
many a one hath wealth,Ep. 109. as
we are wont to say, a man
hath taken an ague, when indeed
the ague hath taken him,
and holds him in a painfull
manner: The truth is, many
a mans wealth is his Master,
and keeps him under hard
conditions, not allowing
him sufficient diet, not competent
rest, not any recreation;
If thou wert thus a drudge
to thine estate, thou art now
thine own man; enjoy thy
liberty, and together with
thy patience, be thankfull.
§. 8. Considera
tion of the causes and means of impove
•
ishing us.
Thou art very poore; who
made thee so? If thine own
negligence, lazinesse, improvidence,
unthriftinesse, rash
ingagements; thou hadst reason
to bear that burthen
which thou hast pull'd upon
thine owne shoulders: and if
thou be forced to make many
hard faces under the load, yet
since thy owne will hath,
brought upon thee this necessity,
even the necessity
should move thy will to
trudge away as lightly, and
as fast as thou maist with that
pressing weight: If the meer
oppression and injurie of
others, thou shalt the more
comfortably run away with
this crosse, because thy owne
hand hath not been guiltie
of imposing it; how easie is
it for thee here, to see Gods
hand chastising thee by another
mans sin? and more to
be grieved at the sin of that
others wrong, then at thine
own smart; How sad a thing
is it for any good soul to see
brethren a prey to each
other? that neighbours
should be like the reed and
the brake set neare together,
whereof the one starves the
other? that we should have
daily occasion to renue that
wofull comparison of our
Bromiard,
Brom. v. Elcemosyna. betwixt the friends
and enemies of Christ; That
Jews doe not suffer beggers,
that Christians make beggers?
In the mean time, if
God think fit to send poverty
to thy door upon the message
of men, bid it welcome for
the sake of him that sent it,
and entertaine it not grudgingly
for its own sake; as
that, which if it be well used,
will repay thee with many
blessings; the blessings of
quiet rest, safe security, humble
patience contented humility,
contemptuous valuation
of these earthly things; all
which had balked thy house in
a prosperous condition.
§ 9. The ex
amples of those who have affe
cted po
verty.
Thou art stripped of thy
former conveniences for diet,
for lodging, for attendance.
How many have purposely
affected to doe that out of
choyce, which is befaln theee
upon need; some out of the
grounds of Philosophy
•
,
others of Religion?Senec. Ep: 108.
Attalus
the Philosopher might have
lien soft, yet hee calls for, and
praises the Bed and pillow
that will not yeeld to his body:Epist: 83
And Neroe
•
great and
rich Master bragges of his
usuall dining without a Table;
what should I tell then
of the Pharisees uneasie couches,
and p
•
nall garments;
of the Mats of the elect Manichees;
of the austere usages
of the ancient Eremiticall
Christians; their rigorous
abstinences, their affamishing
meales, their nightly watchings,
their cold groundlyings,
their sharpe disciplines?
Thou art in ease,
and delicacy, in comparison
of these men, who voluntarily
imposed upon themselves
these hardnesses, which thou
wouldst bee loth to undergoe
from others cruelty: It was a
strange word of Epicurus the
Philosopher,Epic. in Ep. Sen. 110 not savouring
of more contentment, then
presumption; Give us but
water, give us but barly meale,
and wee shall vie with Jupiter
himselfe for happinesse; and
if this Ethnick, who was in
an ill name for affectation of
pleasure, could rest so well
pleased with a poore messe of
water-gruell; what a shame
were it for us Christians not
to bee well apaid with a much
larger (though▪ but homely)
provision?
Comforts against Impri
sonment.
§ 1. Considera
tion of the nature and power of true li
berty.
THOU art restrained of
thy Liberty. I cannot
blame thee to be sensible of
the affliction. Liberty is
wont to hold competition
for dearnesse, with life it
selfe; yea, how many have
lost their life to purchase
their liberty? But take heed
lest thou bee either mistaken,
or guilty of thine owne complaint;
for certainly, thou
canst not bee bereaved of thy
liberty, except thou wilt:
Liberty is a priviledge of the
will; will is a soveraigne
power that is not subject to
either restraint, or constraint:
Hast thou therefore a freedome
within, a full scope to
thine owne thoughts? It is
not the cooping up of these
outward parts, that can make
thee a Prisoner: Thou art
not worthy of the name of
a man, if thou thinkest this
body to bee thy selfe: and
that is onely it which humane
power can reach unto.
Besides, art thou a Christian?
then thou hast learned to
submit thy will to Gods;
Gods will is declared in his
actions; for sure what hee
doth, that hee wills to doe.
If his will bee then to have
thee restrained, why should
it not bee thine? and if it be
thy will to keepe in, what
dost thou complaine of restraint?
§ 2. The sad obj
•
cts of a free be
holder.
Thou art restrained; Is it
such a matter that thou art
not suffered to rome abroad?
How ill hast thou spent thy
time, if thou hast not laid up
matter both of employment
and contentment in thine
owne bosome? And what
such goodly pleasure were it
for thee to looke over the
world, and to behold those
objects which thine eye shall
there meet withall; here men
fighting, there women and
children wayling; here plunders,
there riots, here fields
of blood, there Townes and
Cities flaming; here some
scuffling for Patrimonies,
there others wrangling for
Religion; here some famishing
for want, there others
abusing their fulnesse; here
schismes and heresies, there
rapines and sacriledges:
What comfortable spectacles
these are to attract, or please
our eyes! thy closenesse frees
thee from these sights; the
very thought whereof is
enough to make a man miserable;
and in stead of them
presents thee onely with the
face of thy Keeper, which
custome and necessity hath
acquitted from thy first horrour.
§. 3. Comfort from the invisible company that can
not bee kept from us.
Thou art shut up close
within four walls, and all
company is secluded from
thee; Content thy self, my
son, God and his holy Angels
cannot bee kept out; thou
hast better company in thy
solitude, then thy liberty afforded
thee; the jollity of
thy freedom robb'd thee of
the conversation of these spiritual
companions, which
onely can render thee happy:
they which before were
strangers to thee, are now
thy guests, yea, thy inmates,
(if the fault bee not thine) to
dwell with thee in that forced
retirednesse. What if the
light be shut out from thee?
this cannot hinder thee from
seeing the invisible; The darknesse
hideth not from thee,
Ps. 139. 12. (saith
the Psalmist) but the night
shineth as the day; the darknesse
and the light are both alike to
thee. Yea, I doubt not to say,
God hath never beene so
clearly seene as in the darkest
Dungeons; for the outward
light of prosperity distracts
our visive beames, which are
strongly contracted in a deep
obscurity: Hee must descend
low, and bee compassed
with darknesse, that would see
the glorious lights of heaven
by day: They ever shine, but
are not seen save in the night:
May thine eyes bee blessed
with this invisible sight, thou
shalt not envie those that glitter
in Courte, and that look
daily upon the faces of Kings
and Princes; yea, though they
could see all that the Tempter
represented to the view of our
Saviour upon the highest
Mountaine, all the Kingdomes
of the world, and the glory of
them.
§ 4. Comfort from the inward disposition of the Prisoner.
Thou art forced to keepe
close; but with what disposition
both of minde and body?
If thou hadst an unquiet
and burdened Soule, it were
not the open and free aire
that could refresh thee; and
if thou have a cleare and light
heart, it is not a strict closenesse
that can dismay thee;
thy thoughts can keepe thee
company, and cheare up thy
solitarinesse: If thou hadst
an unsound and painefull body;
as, if thou wert laid up
of the gout, or some rupture,
or luxation of some limb, thou
wouldst not complain to keep
in; thy pain would make thee
insensible of the trouble of
thy confinement: but if God
have favoured thee with
health of body, how easily
mayst thou digest an harmless
limitation of thy person? A
wise man (as Laurentius the
Presbyter observed well)
doth much while he rests; his
motions are not so beneficial
as his sitting still: So mayst
thou bestow the hours of thy
close retiredness, that thou
mayst have cause to bless God
for so happie an opportunity.
How memorable an instance
hath our age yeelded us, of an
eminent Person,
Sir Walter Raleigh. to whose encagement
we are beholden,
(besides many Philosophical
experiments) for that noble
history of the World, which is
now in our hands? The Court
had his youthful and freer
times, the Tower his later
age; the Tower reformed the
Court in him, and produced
those worthy monuments of
art and industry, which we
should have in vain expected
from his freedom and jollity.
It is observed, that shining
wood, when it is kept within
doors, loseth its light. It is
otherwise with this and many
other active wits, which had
never shined so much, if not
for their closeness.
§ 5. Comfort from the will
•
ng aboue of
•••
rednes in some persons.
Thou art close shut up:
I have seen Anachorites that
have sued for this as a favour
which thou esteemest a punishment,
and having obtained
it, have placed merit in
that wherein thou apprehendest
misery; Yea, our History
tells us of one, who when
the Church, whereto his cell
was annexed, was on fire,
would not come out, to live,
but would die, and lye buried
under the ashes of that
roofe where his vow had fixed
him. Suppose thou dost
that out of the resolution of
thine owne will, which thou
dost out of anothers necessitating,
and thou shalt sit
downe contented with thy
Lot.
§ 6. Comfort from the causes of imprison
ment.
Thou art imprisoned;
Wise men are wont in all
actions and events to enquire
still into the causes: Wherefore
dost thou suffer? Is it for
thy fault? Make thou thy
Gaole Gods correction house
for reforming of thy misdeeds:
Remember and imitate
Manasses, the evill sonne
of a good Father, who upon
true humiliation, by his just
imprisonment, found an happy
expiation of his horrible
Idolatries, Murders, Witchcrafts,
whose bonds brought
him home to God, and himselfe.
Is it for Debt? Thinke
not to pay those who have intrusted
thee with a lingring
durance, if there bee power in
thine hand for a discharge;
there is fraud and injustice in
this closenesse; Feare thou a
worse prison if thou wilt
needs wilfully live and die in
a just indebtment, when thou
maist bee at once free, and honest:
Stretch thine ability to
the utmost, to satisfie others
with thine own impoverishing:
But if the hand of God
have humbled and disabled
thee, labour what thou canst
to make thy peace with thy
Creditors: If they will
needs be cruel, look up with
patience to the hand of that
God who thinks fit to afflict
thee with their unreasonableness;
and make the same
good use of thy sufferings,
which thou wouldst do from
the immediate hand of thy
Creator. If it be for a good
cause, rejoyce in this tribulation,
and be holily proud
and glad, with the blessed
Apostles,Acts 5. 41. that thou art counted
worthy to suffer shame and
bonds for the Name of the Lord
Jesus: for every just Cause
is his; neither is he less a Martyr
that suffers for his conscience
in any of Gods Commandments,
then he who
suffers for matter of Faith and
Religion. Remember that
cordial word of thy Saviour,
Blessed are they that are persecuted
for righteousness sake; for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
In such a prison thou
shalt be sure to finde good
company: there thou shalt
finde Joseph, Micaiah, Jeremiah,
John Baptist, Peter, Paul
and Silas, and (what should
I think of the poll?) all the
holy Martyrs, and Confessors
of Jesus Christ from the first
plantation of the Gospel to
this present day: repent thee
if thou canst to be thus matched,
and choose rather to
violate a good conscience,
and bee free, then to keep it
under a momentary restraint.
§. 7. The good
〈◊〉
of re
tirednesse; and the partner
ship of the souls im
prisonment
Thou art a Prisoner; make
the best of thy condition;
close aire is warmer then
open; and how ordinarily doe
wee heare Birds sing sweeter
notes in their cages, then they
could doe in the wood? It
shall bee thine owne fault if
thou bee not bettered by thy
retirednesse. Thou art a
Prisoner; so is thy soule in
thy body; there, not restrained
onely, but fettered, yet
complaines not of the straitnesse
of these clay walls, or
the weight of these bonds,
but patiently waites for an
happy Gaole-delivery: so doe
thou, attend with all long-suffering
the good houre of
the pleasure of thy God; thy
period is set, not without a
regard to thy good, yea, to
thy best; hee in whose hand
are all times, shall finde, and
hath determined, a fit time to
free both thy body from
these outward prison-walls,
and thy soule from this prison
of thy body; and to restore
both body and soule from
the bondage of corruption to the
glorious liberty of the sonnes of
God.
Rom: 8: 21:
Comforts against Ba
nishment.
§ 1. Comfort from the universa
lity of a wise mans Country.
THOU art banished from
thy Countrey: Beware
lest in thy complaining thou
censure thy selfe; A wise
mans Countrey is every
where; what such relation
hath the place wherein thou
wert born, to thy present being?
What more then the
time wherein thou wert born?
what reason hast thou to bee
more addicted to the Region
wherein thou fell'st, then to
the day of the week, or houre
of the day in which thou salutedst
the light? What are
times and places of our birth
but unconcerning circumstances?
Wherever thou farest
well, thou maist either
finde or make thy Countrey;
But thou sayest, there is a certain
secret property in our
native soyle, that drawes our
affection to it, and tyes our
hearts to it, not without a
pleasing kinde of delight,
whereof no reason can bee
yeelded; so as we affect the
place, not because it is better
then others,Senec: Ep. 66. but because it is
our owne; Vlysses doth no
lesse value the rockie soyle
of his hard and barren Ithaca,
then Agamemnon doth the
noble walls of his rich and
pleasant Mycenae: I grant this
relation hath so powerfull an
influence upon our hearts naturally,
as is pretended; yet
such a one as is easily checked
with a small unkindnesse;
How many have wee knowne,
who upon an actuall affront
(not of the greatest) have diverted
their respects from
their native Country, and
out of a strong alienation of
minde have turned their love
into hostility: We shall not
need to seek farre for Histories,
our times and memories
will furnish us too well: Doe
we not see those, who have
sucked the brests of our common
Mother, upon a little
dislike, to have spit in her
face? Can we not name our
late home-bred compatriots,
who upon the disrelish of
some displeasing Laws have
flown off from their Country,
and suborned Treasons,
and incited forrain Princes
to our invasion? So as thou
seest this naturall affection
is not so ardent in many, but
that it may be quenched with
a mean discontentment. If
therefore there were no other
ground of thine affliction, thy
sorrow is not so deep-rooted,
but that it may be easily pulled
up.
§ 2. Comfort from the benefit of self-con
versation.
It is not the aire or earth
that thou standest upon; it is
the company, thou saist, from
which it is a kinde of death
to part; I shall leave all acquaintance,
and conversation,
and be cast upon strange
faces, and languages that I
understand not; my best entertainment
will be solitude,
my ordinary, inhospitality;
What dost thou affright thy
self, my sonne, with these
bugges of needlesse terrour?
He is not worthy of the name
of a Philosopher, much lesse
of a Christian Divine, that
hath not attained to bee absolute
in himselfe; and which
way soever hee is cast, to stand
upon his owne bottome; and
that, if there were no other
men left in the world, could
not tell how to enjoy himselfe:
It is that within us,
whereby wee must live, and be
happy: some additions of
complacency may come from
without: sociable natures,
(such is mans) seek and finde
pleasure in conversation, but
if that bee denyed, sanctified
spirits know how to converse
comfortably with their God,
and themselves.
§ 3. Examples of those holy ones that have abandoned society.
How many holy ones of
old have purposely withdrawne
themselves from the
company of men, that they
might bee blessed with an invisible
society; that have exchanged
Cities for Deserts,
houses for caves, the sight of
men for beasts, that their spirituall
eyes might be fixed upon
those better objects,
which the frequence of the
world held from them? Necessity
doth but put thee into
that estate, which their piety
affected. Oh! but to bee driven
to forsake Parents, kinsfolke,
friends, how sad a case
must it needs bee? What is
this other then a perfect distraction?
What are wee but
pieces of our Parents? and
what are friends but parts of
us? what is all the world to
us without these comforts?
When thou hast said all, my
son, what is befalne thee
other, then it pleased God to
enjoyn the Father of the
faithfull? Get thee out of thy
Country,
Gen: 13: 1:
and from thy kindred,
and from thy Fathers house
into a Land that I will shew thee;
Loe, the same God by the
command of authority calls
thee to this secession; If thou
wilt shew thy self worthy to
be the sonne of such a Father,
doe that in an humble obedience
to God, which thou art
urged to doe by the compulsion
of men; But what so grievous
a thing is this? Dost
thou think to find God where
thou goest? Dost thou make
full account of his company
both all along the way, and
in the end of thy journey?
Hath not he said (who cannot
sail) I will not leave thee nor
forsake thee? Certainly, he is
not worthy to lay any claim
to a God, that cannot finde
parents, kindred, friends in
him alone: Besides, he that
of very stones could raise up
children unto Abraham, how
easily can he, of inhospital
men, raise up friends to the
sons of Abraham? Onely labour
thou to inherit that faith
wherein he walked; that alone
shall free-denizen thee in the
best of forain States, and shall
entertain thee in the wildest
desarts.
§ 4. The ad
vantage that hath been made of remo
ving.
Thou art cast upon a forraign
Nation: Be of good
chear; we know that flowers
removed, grow greater; and
some plants which were but
unthriving, and unwholsome
in their own soyl, have
grown both safe and flou|
rishing in other Climates.
Had Joseph been ever so
great, if he had not been
transplanted into Egypt? Had
Daniel and his three companions
of the Captivity eve
•
attained to that Honour in
their native Land? How
many have we known, that
have found that health in a
change of air, which they
could not meet with at
home? In Africk the Southwinde
clears up; and the
North is rainy. Look thou
up still to that hand which
hath translated thee; await
his good pleasure: Be thou no
stranger to thy God, it matters
not who are strangers unto
thee.
§ 5. The rig
••
that we have in any coun
try, and i
•
God.
Thou art a banished man:
How canst thou be so, when
thou treadest upon thy Fathers
ground? The earth is the
Lords, and the fulness of it: In
his right, where ever thou art,
thou mayst challenge a spiritual
interest:1 Cor. 3▪ 21, 22, 23▪
All things, saith
the Apostle, are yours, and you
are Christs, and Christ is Gods.
No man can challenge thee
for a stranger, that is not thy
Fathers childe.
Thine exile separates thee
from thy friends: This were
no small affliction, if it might
not be abundantly remedied.
That was a true word of
Laurentius, That where two
faithful friends are met, God
makes up a third: But it is
no less true, That where one
faithful spirit is, there God
makes up a second: One God
can more then supply a thou
sand friends.
§ 6.
•
he pra
•
tice of voluntary travel.
Thy banishment bereaves
thee of the comfort of thy
wonted companions: Would
not a voluntary travel do as
much? Dost thou not see
thousands tha
•
do willingly
for many yeers change their
Country for forraign Regions;
taking long farewells of
their dear friends and comerades;
some out of curiosity,
some out of a thirst after
knowledge, some out of covetous
desire of gain? What
difference is there betwixt
thee and them, but that their
exile is voluntary, thy travel
constrained? And who are
these whom thou art so sorry
to forgo? Dost thou not
remember what Crates the
Philosopher said to a young
man, that was beset with parasitical
friends; Young man,
said he, I pity thy solitude:
Perhaps thou mayst be more
alone in such society, then in
the Wilderness: such conversation
is better lost then continued:
if thou canst but get
to be well acquainted with
thy self, thou shalt be sorry
that thou wert no sooner solitary.
§ 7. All ar
•
pilgrims
Thou art out of thy Country:
Who is not so? We are
all pilgrims together with
thee:1 Pet. 1
•
Whiles we are at home in
the body,
Heb. 1▪ 1
•
we are absent from the
Lord:
2 Cor.
•
Miserable are we, if
our true home be not above;Heb. 1▪ 1
•
that is the better Country
which we seek, even an heavenly:
And thither thou
mayst equally direct thy
course in whatsoever Region.
This center of earth is
equidistant from the glorious
circumference of heaven: if
we may once meet there,
what need we make such difference
in the way?
Comforts against the loss of
the Senses; of Sight,
and Hearing.
§ 1. Comfort from the
••
o in
•
ard
•
ghts of
•
ason
•
nd faith.
THou hast lost thine eyes:
A loss, which all the
world is uncapable to repair:
Thou art hereby condemned
to a perpetual darkness;
For, the light of the body
is the eye:
Matth. 6. 22, 23.
and if the light
that is in thee be darkness, how
great is that darkness? Couldst
thou have foreseen this evil,
thou hadst anticipated this
loss, by weeping out those
eyes for grief, which thou
must forgo. There are but
two ways, by which any outward
comfort can have access
to thy soul; The Eye, and
the Ear: one of them is
now fore-closed for ever. Yet
know, my son, thou hast
two other inward eyes, that
can abundantly supply the
want of these of thy body;
The eye of Reason, and the
eye of Faith: the one, as a
Man; the other, as a Christian:
Answerable whereunto,
there is a double light apprehended
by them; Rational,
and Divine: Solomon tells thee
of the one;Prov. 20. 27.
The spirit of man
is the Candle of the Lord, searching
all the inward parts of the
belly: The beloved Disciple
tells thee of the other; God
is light;
Joh. 1. 9, 7.
and we walk in the
light, as he is in the light: Now
these two lights are no less
above that outward and
visible light, whereof thou
art bereaved, then that
light is above darkness:
If therefore by the eye
of Reason thou shalt attain
to the clear sight of intelligible
things; and by
the eye of Faith, to the
sight of things supernatural
and Divine; the improvement
of these better eyes,
shall make a large amends
for the lack of thy bodily
sight.
§ 2. The supply of better eyes.
Thy sight is lost: Let me
tell thee what Antony the Hermite
(whom Ruffinus doubts
not to style blessed) said to
learned (though blinde) Didymus
of Alexandria;
Ruffinus Hist. l. 2. c. 7. Let it
not trouble thee, O Didymus,
that thou art bereft of carnal
eyes; for thou lackest onely
those eyes which Mice, and
Flyes, and Lyzards have: but
rejoyce that thou hast those
eyes which the Angels have,
whereby they see God, and
by which thou art enlightned
with a great measure of
knowledge. Make this good
of thy self, and thou shalt
not be too much discomforted
with the absence of thy
bodily eyes.
§ 3. The better object of our inward sight.
Thine eyes are lost: The
chief comfort of thy life is
gone with them:Eccl. 11. 7.
The light is
sweet, saith Solomon; and a pleasant
thing it is for the eyes to behold
the sun. Hath not God done
this purposely, that he might
set thee off from all earthly
objects, that thou mightst so
much the more intentively fix
thy self upon him, and seek
after those spiritual comforts,
which are to be found in a
better light? Behold, the Sun
is the most glorious thing that
thy bodily eyes can possibly
see: thy spiritual eyes may
see him that made that goodly
and glorious creature, and
therefore must needs be infinitely
more glorious then
what he made. If thou canst
now see him the more, how
hast thou but gained by thy
loss?
§ 4. The ill of
ficer done by the eyes.
Thou art become blinde:
Certainly, it is a sore affliction.
The men of Jabesh-gilead
offered to comply with the
Tyran of the Ammonites,
1 Sam. 11. 1. so
far as to serve him: but
when he required the loss of
their right eyes, as a condition
of their peace, they will
rather hazard their lives in
an unequal War; as if servitude
and death were a less
mischief then one eyes loss;
how much more of both?
For though one eye be but
testis singularis, yet the evidence
of that is as true, as
that of both; yea, in some cases
more: for when we would
take a perfect aim, we shut one
eye, as rather an hinderance
to an accurate information:
yet for ordinary use, so do
we esteem each of these
lights, that there is no wise
man but would rather lose a
limb then an eye: Although
I could tell thee of a certain
man not less religious then
witty,Bromiard v. Sensus. who when his friends
bewailed the loss of one of
his eyes, askt them, Whether
they wept for the eye which
he had lost, or the eye which
remained? Weep rather, said
he, for the enemy that stays
behinde, then for the enemy
that is gone. Lo, this man
lookt upon his eyes, with eyes
different from other mens;
he saw them as enemies, which
others see as officious servants,
as good friends, as dear
favourites: Indeed, they are
any or all of these, according
as they are used: good servants,
if they go faithfully on
the errands we send them,
and return us true intelligence:
Good friends, if they
advise and invite us to holy
thoughts; enemies, if they
suggest and allure us to evil:
If thine eyes have been employed
in these evil offices to
thy soul, God hath done that
for thee, which he hath in a
figurative sense enjoyned
thee to do to thy self;Matth. 5. 29.
If thy
right eye offend thee, pluck it
out, and cast it from thee; for it
is better for thee that one of thy
members should perish, and not
that thy whole body should be cast
into hell.
§ 5. Freedom from tem
ptations by the eyes, and from sorrows.
Thou hast lost thine eyes,
and together with them much
earthly contentment: But
withal, thou art hereby freed
of many temptations: those
eyes were the in-lets of sin;
yea, not onely the meer passages
by which it entred;
but busie agents in the admission
of it; the very Pandars
of lust, for the debauching
of the soul. How many
thousands are there, who
on their death-beds, upon the
sad recalling of their guilty
thoughts, have wished they
had been born blinde? So
as if now thou have less
joy, thou shalt sin less; neither
shall any vain objects
call away thy thoughts from
the serious and sad meditation
of spiritual things. Before,
it was no otherwise
with thee, then the Prophet
Jeremich reports it to have
been with the Jews, That
death is come up by the windows.
Jer. 9. 21
So it was with our great
Grand-mother Eve; she saw
the tree was pleasant to the eyes,
Gen. 3. 6
and thereupon took of the fruit.
So it hath been ever since
with all the fruit of her
womb, both in the old, and
later world:Gen. 6. 2
The sons of God
saw the daughters of men that
they were fair, and they took them
wives of all which they chose:
In so much as not filthy lusts
onely, but even adulteries
take up their lodgings in the
eye: there the blessed Apostle
findes them; Having eyes (saith
he) full of adultery,
2 Pet. 2. 14.
and that can
not cease from sin. Whiles therefore,Job 31. 7
thine heart walked after
thine eyes, as Job speaks, it could
do no other but carry thee down
to the chambers of death:
Prov. 7. 27. thou
art now delivered from that
danger of so deadly a misguidance.
Hath not the loss of thine
eyes, withal, freed thee of a
world of sorrows? The old
word is, What the eye views
not, the heart
•
ues not: Hadst
thou but seen what others
were forced to behold, those
fearful conflagrations, those
piles of murdered carcases,
those streams of Christian
blood, those savage violences,
those merciless rapines, those
sacrilegious outrages, thine
heart could not chuse but
bleed within thee: Now thou
art affected with them onely
aloof off, as receiving them by
the imperfect intelligence of
thine ear from the unfeeling
relation of others.
§. 6. The cheer
fulness of some blind men.
Thine eies are lost, what
need thy heart to goe with
them? I have known a
blinde man more chearfull,
then I could be with both
mine eies: Old Isaac was
dark-sighted when he gave
the blessing (contrary to his
own intentions) to his sonne
Jacob, yet it seems he lived
fourty yeers after, and could
be pleased then to have good
chear made him with wine
and v
•
nison;
Gen. 27. 25. our life doth
not lye in our eyes;Pro. 18. 14.
The
Spirit of man is that which upholds
his infirmities; Labour
to raise that to a chearfull
disposition; even in thy
bodily darknesse, there shall
bee light and joy to thy
soul.Esth. 8. 16.
§. 7. The supply which God gives in other fa
culties.
Hath God taken away
thine eyes? But hath he not
given thee an abundant supply
in other faculties? Are
not thine inward senses the
more quick? thy memory
stronger, thy phantasie more
active, thy understanding
more apprehensive? The
wonders that we have heard,
and read of blinde mens memories,
were not easie to beleeve,
if it were not obvious
to conceive that the removall
of all distractions gives them
an opportunity both of a
carefull reposition of all desired
objects, and of a sure
fixednesse of them where
they are laid: Hence have we
seen it come to passe that
some blinde men have attained
to those perfections
which their eies could never
have feoffed them in: It is
very memorable that our
Ecclesiasticall Story reports
of Didymus of Alexandria,
who being blinde from his
infancy,Ruffin. Eccl. hist l. 2. c. 7. through his prayers,
& diligent indeavours reacht
unto such an high pitch of
knowledge in Logick, Geometry,
Arithmetick, Astronomy,
as was admired by the
learned Masters of those Arts;
and for his rare insight into
Divinity, was by great Athanasius
approved to be the Doctor
of the Chaire in that famous
Church. What need
we doubt of this truth, when
our own times have so cleerly
seconded it? having yeelded
divers worthy Divines,
Gods Seers, bereaved of bodily
eyes; amongst the rest,
there was one in my time,Mr. Fisher of Trinity Colledge in Cambr.
very
eminent in the University
of Cambridge, (whom I had
occasion to dispute with for
his degree) of great skill both
in Tongues and Arts, and of
singular acutenesse of judgement.Suidas ex Aristophane.
It is somewhat strange
that Suidas reports of Neoclldes,
that being a blinde man
he could steal more cunningly
then any that had use of
eyes; Sure, I may say boldly
of our Fisher, that hee was
more dextrous in picking the
locks of difficult Authors,
and fetching forth the reasures
of their hidden senses,
then those that had the sharpest
eyes about him; in so
much as it was noted those
were singular Proficients
which imployed themselves
in reading to him; If they
read Books to him, he read
Lectures the while to them;
and still taught more then he
learned. As for the other
outward senses, they are commonly
more exquisite in the
blinde; We read of some who
have been of so accurate a
touch, that by their very
feeling they could distinguish
betwixt black and white;
And for the eare, asThe Lord Verul. Fr. Bacon in his Naturall Historie. our
Philosophers observe, that
sounds are sweeter to the
blind, then to the sighted;
so also that they are more curiously
judged of by them;
the vertue of both those senses
being now contracted into
one. But the most perfect
recompence of these bodily
eyes, is in the exaltation of
our spirituall, so much more
enlightned towards the beatisicall
vision of God, as they
apprehend more darknesse in
all earthly objects; certainly,
thou shalt not misse these materiall
eyes, if thou maist finde
thy soul thus happily enlightned.
§. 8. The bene
fit of the eies which once we had.
Thine eyes are lost; It is a
blessing that once thou hadst
them; hadst thou been born
blinde, what a stranger hadst
thou (in all likelihood) been
to God and the world? hadst
thou not once seen the face of
this heaven, and this earth,
and this Sea, what expressions
could have made thee sufficiently
apprehensive of the
wonderfull works of thy Creator?
What discourse could
have made thee to understand
what light is? what the Sun
the fountain of it, what the
heavens, the glorious region
of it, and what the Moon and
Starres illuminated by it?
How couldst thou have had
thy thoughts raised so high,
as to give glory to that great
God, whose infinite power
hath wrought all these marvellous
things? No doubt,
God hath his own waies of
mercy, even for those that are
born dark; not requiring
what he hath not given; graciously
supplying by his spirit
in the vessels of his election,
what is wanting in the
outer-man; so as even those
that could never see the face
of the world, shall see the
face of the God that made it;
But in an ordinary course of
proceeding, those which have
been blinde from their birth,
must needs want those helps
of knowing and glorifying
God in his mighty works,
which lie open to the seeing:
These once filled thine eies,
and stay with thee still after
thine eies have forsaken thee;
What shouldst thou doe but
walk on in the strength of
those fixed thoughts, and be
alwaies adoring the Majesty
of that God whom that sight
hath represented unto thee so
glorious, and in an humble
submission to his good pleasure
strive against all the discomforts
of thy sufferings.
Our Story tels us of a valiant
Souldier (answerable to the
name he bore) Polyzelus,
Suidas v. Hippias. who
after his eyes were struck out
in the Battel, covering his
face with his Target, fought
still, laying about him as vehemently,
as if he had seen
whom to smite. So do thou,
my son, with no less courage;
let not the loss of thine eyes
hinder thee from a chearful
resistance of those spiritual
enemies, which labor to draw
thee into an impatient murmuring
against the hand of
thy God: wait humbly upon
that God who hath better
eyes in store for thee, then
those thou hast lost.
§ 9. The supply of one sense by another
Thou hast lost thy hearing:
It is not easie to determine
whether loss is the greater, of
the Eye, or of the Ear: both
are grievous. Now all the
world is to thee as dumb,
since thou art deaf to it:
How small a matter hath
made thee a meer cypher
amongst men! These two
are the senses of instruction:
there is no other way for intelligence
to be conveyed to
the soul, whether in secular
or in spiritual affairs. The
eye is the window, the ear is
the door by which all knowledge
enters: In matter of
observation, by the eye; in
matter of faith,
Rom. 10. 17. by the ear.
Had it pleased God to shut up
both these senses from thy
birth, thy estate had been
utterly disconsolate: neither
had there been any possible
access for comfort to thy
soul: and if he had so done to
thee in thy riper age, there
Had been no way for thee but
1
to live on thy former store:
But now that he hath vouchsafed
to leave thee one passage
open, it beh
•
ves thee to
supply the one sense by the
other, & to let in those helps
by the window, which are denied
entrance at the door. And
since that infinite goodness
hath been pleased to lend
thee thine ear so long, as till
thou hast laid the sure grounds
of faith in thy heart; now
thou mayst work upon them,
in this silent opportunity,
with heavenly meditations,
and raise them up to no less
height, then thou mightst
have done by the help of the
quickest ear.
It is well for thee, that in
the fulness of thy senses thou
wert careful to improve thy
bosome as a Magazine of
heavenly thoughts, providing
with the wise Patriarch for
the seven yeers of dearth:
otherwise, now that the passages
are thus blocked up,
thou couldst not but have
been in danger of affamishing.
Thou hast now abundant leasure
to recal and ruminate
upon those holy counsels,
which thy better times laid
up in thy heart, and to thy
happie advantage findest the
difference betwixt a wise
providence, and a careless
neglect.
§ 10. The better condition of the in
ward ear.
Thine outward hearing is
gone: But thou hast an inward
and better ear, whereby
thou hearest the secret
motions of Gods Spirit,
which shall never be lost:
How many thousands whom
thou enviest, are in a worse
condition? they have an outward
and bodily ear, whereby
they hear the voice of
men; but they want that spiritual
ear, which perceives the
least whisperings of the holy
Ghost: Ears they have, but
not hearing ears; for fashion,
more then use: Wise Solomon
makes and observes the distinction;Prov. 20. 12.
The hearing ear, and
the seeing eye, the Lord hath
made even both of them: And a
greater then Solomon can say
of his formal auditors, Hearing
they hear not.
Mat. 13. 13. If thou have
an ear for God, though deaf
to men; how much happier
art thou then those millions
of men, that have au ear for
men, and are deaf to God?
§ 11. The grief that arises from lear
•
ing evil.
Thou hast lost thy hearing;
and therewith no small deal
of sorrow: How would it
grieve thy soul to hear those
woful ejulations, those pitiful
complaints, those hideous
blasphemies, those mad paradoxes,
those hellish heresies,
wherewith thine ear would
have been wounded, if it had
not been barred against their
entrance? It is thy just grief
that thou missest the hearing
of many good words; it is
thy happiness that thou art
freed from the hearing of
many evil. It is an even lay
betwixt the benefit of hearing
good, and the torment of
hearing evil.
Comforts against Bar
renness.
§. 1. The bles
sing of fruitful
ness seaso
ned with sorrows.
THou complainest of dry
loins, & a barren womb:
so did a better man before
thee, even the Father of
the faithful: What wilt thou
give me,
Gen. 25. 2.
seeing I go childless?
So did the wife of faithful
Israel,
Gen. 30. 1.
Give me children,
or else I die. So desirous hath
Nature been, even in the holiest,
to propagate it self, and
so impatient of a denial:
Lo,
Psa. 127. 4.
children and the fruit of
the womb are an heritage and
gift that cometh from the Lord.
Happie is he that hath his quiver
full of such shafts.
Vers. 6. It is
the blessing that David grudged
to wicked ones,Psal. 17. 14.
They have
children at their desire. It
was the curse which God inflicted
upon the family of Abimelech
King of Gerar,
Gen. 20. 17, 18. that he
closed up all the wombs in his house
for Sarahs sake: And the
judgement threatned to Ephraim,
Hos 9. 14
is a miscarrying womb,
and dry brests: And Jechoniah's
sad doom is,Jer. 22. 30.
Write this man
childless: As on the contrary,
it is a special favour of God,
that the barren hath born seven:
1 Sam. 2. 5.
And it is noted by the Psalmist,
as a wonder of Gods mercy,Psa. 113. 8.
That he maketh the barren
woman to keep house, and to be a
joyful mother of children. It is
pity he was ever born, that
holds not children a blessing;
yet not simple and absolute,
but according as it may prove:
She hath a double favour
from God, that is a joyful
mother of children: many a
one breeds her sorrow, breeds
her death. There is scarce
any other blessing from God
seasoned with so much acrimony
both of misery and danger.
Do but lay together the
sick fits of breeding, the painful
throws of travel, the weary
attendances of nursing,
the anxious cares of education,
the fears and doubts of
mis-guidance, the perpetual
solicitude for their provision,
the heart-breaking grief for
their miscarriage; and tell
me whether thy bemoaned
sterility have not more ease,
less sorrow.
§. 2. The pains of child-bearing.
It is thy sorrow then that
thou art not fruitful: Consider
that thou art herein freed
from a greater sorrow: In
sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.
Gen. 3. 16.
Do but think upon the
shrieks and torments that
thou hast seen and heard in
the painful travels of thy
neighbours: One thou hast
seen wearying the days and
nights in restless pangs, and
calling for death in a despair
of delivery: Another after
the unprofitable labours of
Midwives, forced to have
her bowels ransackt by the
hand of another sex. One
hath her dead burden torn
from her by piece-meal;
another is delivered of her
life and birth together: One
languisheth to death after the
hand of an unskilful Midwife;
another is weary of
her life through the soreness
of her brests: All these sorrows
thou hast escaped by this
one: In these regards, how
many whom thou enviest,
have thought thee happier
then themselves?
§. 3. The mise
ry of ill-disposed and undu
tiful chil
dren.
Thou art afflicted that thou
art not a mother: Many a one
is so, that wishes she had
been barren: If either the
childe prove deformed and
mis-shapen; or, upon further
growth, unnatural and wicked;
what a Corrosive is this
to her that bore him? Rebecca
thought it long to be
(after her marriage) twenty
yeers childless;Gen. 25. 20, 21. her holy
husband (at sixty yeers age)
prays to God for issue by
her: his devotion (as the
Jewish Doctors say) carried
him to Mount Moriah for
this purpose, that in the same
place where his life was miraculously
preserved from the
knife of his Father, it might
by the like miracle be renewed
in his posterity: God hears
him;Gen. 25. 22.
Rebecca conceives: but
when she felt that early combat
of her strugling twins in
her womb, she can say, If it
be so,
Gen. 25. 25.
why am I thus? And
when she saw a childe come
forth all clad in hair, and
after saw his conditions no
less rough then his hide,Gen. 27. 41. do
we not think she wished that
part of her burden unborn?
Certainly, children are according
to their proof, either
blessings, or crosses. Hast
thou a childe well disposed,
well governed?Prov. 10. 1.
A wise Son
maketh a glad Father.
Prov. 15. 20. Hast
thou a childe disorderly and
debauched?Prov. 10. 1.
A foolish son is
the heaviness of his Mother;
Prov. 19. 13.
and
the calamity of his Father. Hast
thou a son that is unruly,
stubborn, unnatural? (as
commonly the cions overrule
the stock:) He that wasteth
his Father,
Prov. 19. 26.
and chaseth away his
Mother, is a son that causeth
shame, and bringeth reproach.
And if such a son should live
and die impenitent, what can
be answerable to the discomfort
of that Parent who shall
think that a piece of himself
is in hell?
§ 4. The cares of parents for their children.
Thou hast no children: As
thou hast less joy, so thou
hast loss trouble: It is a
world of work and thoughts
that belongs to these living
possessions.Artemidor. de Insomniis, l. 1. c. 16.
Artemidorus▪
observes,
that to dream of children,
imports cares to follow.
Surely, as they are our greatest
cares, so they bring many
lesser cares with them: Before
thou hadst but one mouth
to feed, now many. And upon
whom doth this charge
lie, but upon the Parent? not
Nature onely, but Religion
casts it upon him:1 Tim. 5. 8. For, if any
provide not for his own, especially
for those of his own house, he
hath denied the Faith, and is
worse then an infidel. Dost thou
not see that many suckers
growing up from the root
of the tree, draw away the
sap from the stock? and many
rivulets let out from the
main Chanel, leave the
stream shallow? So it must
be with thee, and thine: But
this expence is not more necessary
then comfortable. I
remember a great man coming
to my house at Waltham,
and seeing all my children
standing in the order of
their age, and stature, said,
These are they that make
rich men poor: But he straight
received this answer; Nay,
my Lord, these are they that
make a poor man rich; for
there is not one of these
whom we would part with,
for all your wealth. Indeed,
wherefore do we receive, but
to distribute? and what are
we but the Farmers of those
we leave behinde us? And if
we do freely lay out of our
substance before-hand for
their good, so much of our
rent is happily cleared. It is
easie to observe that none are
so gripple and hard-fisted, as
the childless: whereas those
who for the maintenance of
large Families are inured to
frequent disbursements, finde
such experience of Divine
providence in the faithful
managing of their affairs, as
that they lay out with more
chearfulness then they receive:
Wherein their care
must needs be abated, when
God takes it off from them to
himself; and if they be not
wanting to themselves, their
faith gives them ease, in casting
their burden upon him
who hath both more power,
and more right to it, since our
children are more his then
our own: He that feedeth the
young ravens,
Psa. 147. 9. can he fail the
best of his creatures? Worthy
Mr Greenham tels us of a
Gentlewoman, who comming
into the cottage of a
poor neighbour, and seeing
it furnished with store of
children, could say, Here are
the mouthes, but where is the
meat? but not long after she
was paid in her own coyne,
for the poor woman coming
to her after the buriall
of her last, and now onely
childe, inverted the question
upon her, Here is the meat,
but where are the mouthes?
Surely, the great House-keeper
of the world, whose
charge we are, will never
leave any of his menialls
without the bread of sufficiency;
and who are so fit to
be his Purveyors as the Parents
for their own brood?
Nature hath taught the very
Birds to pick out the best of
the graines for their young;
Nature sends that moisture
out of the root which gives
life to the branches, and blossomes.
Sometimes indeed it
meets with a kinde retaliation;
some Stork-like disposition
repaies the loving offices
done by the Parents in a dutifull
retribution to their age
or necessity: But how often
have we seen the contrary?
Here, an unsatisfiable importunity
of drawing from the
Parent that maintenance
which is but necessary for his
own subsistence: So we have
seen a young Bat hanging on
the teat of her Damme for
milk, even when she is dying:
So we have seen some insatiable
Lambs forcing the udder
of their dammes, when they
have been as bigge as the
Ewe that yeaned them:
There, an undutifull and unnaturall
neglect, whether in
not owning the meannesse
of those that begot them; or
in not supporting the weaknesse
of their decayed estate
by due maintenance. Ingratitude
is odious in any man,
but in a childe, monstrous.
§. 5. The great grief in the losse of children.
It is thy grief that thou
never hadst a childe; Beleeve
him that hath tried it,
there is not so much comfort
in the having of children, as
there is sorrow in parting
with them, especially, when
they are come to their proof;
when their parts, and disposition
have raised our hopes of
them, and doubled our affection
towards them; And as
(according to the French
Proverb) hee that hath not
cannot lose; so contrarily,
he that hath must lose; our
meeting is not more certain
then our parting; either wee
must leave them, and so their
grief for us must double
ours; or they must leave us,
and so our grief for them
must be no lesse then our
love was of them. If then
thou wilt be truly wise, set
thy heart upon that onely
absolute good, which is not
capable of losing: Divided
affections must needs abate of
their force; now since there
are no objects of dearnesse
which might distract thy love,
bee sure to place it wholly
upon that infinite goodnesse
which shall entertain it with
mercy, and reward it with
blessednesse. If Elkanah therefore
could say to his barren
Wife Hannah,
1 Sam. 1. 8.
Why weepest thou?
and why is thy heart heavy? am not
I better to thee then ten sons?
How much more comfortably
maist thou hear the Father
of mercies say to thy soul,
Why is thy heart heavy? am
not I better to thee then ten
thousand sons?
Comforts against the incon
veniences
of Old age.
§ 1. The illi
mitation of age; and the miseries that at
tend it.
OLd age is that which we
all desire to aspire unto;
and when we have attained,
are as ready to complain
of, as our greatest misery:
verifying in part that old observation,
That Wedlock and
Age are things which we desire,
and repent of. Is this
our Ingratitude, or Inconstancie,
that we are weary of
what we wished? Perhaps
this accusation may not be
universal: There is much
difference in constitutions,
and much latitude in old-age:
Infancy and youth have their
limits, age admits of no certain
determination: At seventy
yeers David was old,
and stricken in yeers; and
they covered him with clothes,
1 King 1. 1.
but he gat no heat: Whereas
Caleb can profess,Josh. 14. 10, 11.
Now lo, I
am fourscore and five yeers
old: as yet, I am as strong this
day, as I was in the day that
Moses sent me to spie out the
Land: as my strength was then,
even so is my strength now, for
war, both to go out, and come
in. And beyond him, Moses
was an hundred and twenty
yeers old,
Deut. 34 7. when his eye was
not dim, nor his natural
strength abated.Gen. 5. 27.
Methuselah
was but old, when he was
nine hundred sixty five. But
as for the generality of mankinde,
the same Moses, who
lived to see an hundred and
twenty yeers▪ hath set mans
ordinary period at half his
own term:Psal. 90. 10.
The days of our
yeers are threescore yeers and ten:
and if by reason of strength they
be fourscore yeers, yet is their
strength labour and sorrow:
Lo, fourscore yeers alone,
are load enough for the
strength (much more for the
weakness) of age: but when
labour and sorrow are added
to the weight, how can we
but double under the burden?Sen. Ep. 58▪
He was both old and
wise, that said out of experience,
that our last days are
the dregs of our life: the
clearer part is gone, and all
drawn out, the lees sink down
to the bottom. Who can
express the miserable inconveniences
that attend Old-age!
wherein our cares must
needs be multiplied according
to the manifold occasions
of our affairs: For the
world is a Net, wherein the
more we stir, the more we
are intangled. And for our
bodily grievances, what varieties
do we here meet withal?
what aches of the bones,
what belking of the Joynts,
what Convulsions of Sinews,
what torments of the
Bowels, Stone, Collick,
Strangury? what distillations
of Rheums, what hollow
Coughs, what weaknesses of
retention, expulsion, digestion,
what decay of Senses?
So as Age is no other then
the common sewer into
which all diseases of our life
are wont to empty themselves:
Well therefore
might Sarah say,Gen. 18. 12.
After I am
waxed old shall I have pleasure?
And good Barzillai justly excuses
himself for not accepting
the gracious invitation
of David:
2 Sam. 19. 35.
I am this day fourscore
yeers old, and can I discern
between good and evil? Can thy
servant taste what I eat, or what
I drink? Can I hear any more
the voice of singing men, and
singing women? Wherefore
then should thy servant be yet
a burden unto my lord the King?
Lo,Eccl. 12. 1, 2, 3. these are they which
the Preacher calls the evil
days, and the yeers wherein
a man shall say, I have
no pleasure: wherein the
Sun, or the Light, or the
Moon, or the Stars are darkned,
and the clouds return after
the rain: when the keepers of
the house shall tremble, and the
strong men shall bow themselves,
and the grinders cease, because
they are few, and those that look
out of the windows be darkened.
Shortly, what is our old-age,
but the Winter of our life?
How can we then expect any
other then gloomy weather,
chilling frosts, storms and tempests?
§ 2. Old-age a blessing.
But whiles we do thus querulously
aggravate the incommodities
of age, we must
beware lest we derogate from
the bounty of our Maker,
and disparage those blessings
which he accounts precious;
amongst which, Old-age
is none of the meanest:
Had he not put that value
upon it, would he have honoured
it with his own style,
calling himself,Dan. 7. 9 13. 22.
The Ancient
of days? Would he else have
set out this mercy as a reward
of obedience to himself, (I
will fulfil the number of thy days)
and of obedience to our Parents,Exod. 23 26.
To live long in the Land?
Exod. 20 12.
Would he have promised it
as a marvellous favour to restored
Jerusalem (now become
a City of Truth,) That there
shall yet old men,
Zech. 8. 4.
and old women
dwell in the streets of Jerusalem,
and every man with his staff
in his hand for very age?
Would he else have denounced
it as a judgement to over-indulgent
Eli,
1 Sam. 2. 32.
There shall not
be an old man in thine house for
ever? Far be it from us to
despise that which God doth
honour, and to turn his blessing
into a curse. Yea, the
same God, who best knows
the price of his own favours,
as he makes no small estimation
of age himself, so he
hath thought fit to call for
an high respect to be given
to it by men, out of an holy
awe to himself:Lev. 19. 32.
Thou shalt
rise up before the hoary head,
and honour the face of the old
man, and fear thy God. I am
the Lord. Hence it is, that he
hath pleased to put together
the Ancient and the Honourable;
Isai. 9. 15.
and hath told us, that
an hoary head is a crown of glory,
Prov. 16 31.
if it be found in a way of righteousness:
Prov. 20. 29.
And lastly, makes
it an argument of the deplored
estate of Jerusalem, that
they favoured not the Elders.Lam. 4. 15.
As therefore, we too sensibly
feel what to complain of, so
we well know what priviledges
we may challenge as due
to our age; even such as nature
it self hath taught those
heathens which have been in
the next degree to savage: If
pride and skill have made the
Athenians uncivill, yet a yong
Lacedemonian will rise up, and
yeeld his place in the Theatre
to neglected age.
§. 3. The ad
vantages of old age: 1. Fear
lesnesse.
It is not a little injurious
so to fasten our eyes upon the
discommodities of any condition,
as not to take in the
advantages that belong to it;
which carefully laid together,
may perhaps sway the balance
to an equall poise: Let
it be true that old age is oppressed
with many bodily
griefes; but what if it yeeld
other immunities which
may keep the scales even?
whereof it is not the least,
that it gives us firm resolution,
and bold security against
dangers and death it selfe;
For the old man knowes how
little of his clew is left in the
winding, and therefore, when
just occasion is offered, sticks
not much upon so inconsiderable
a remainder. Old age
and orbity, as Cesellius professed,
were those two things
that emboldened him. And
when Castritius refused to deliver
the hostages of Placentia
to Carbo the Consul, and was
threatned with many swords,
hee answered those menaces
with his many yeares. And
that wee may not disdain
home-bred instances, and
may see that brave spirits may
lodge in cottages; In my time
a plain Villager in the Rude
Peake, when theeves taking
advantage of the absence of
his family, breaking into his
solitary dwelling, and finding
him sitting alone by his fire
side, fell violently upon him;
and one of them setting his
dagger to his heart, swore
that he would presently kill
him, if he did not instantly
deliver to them that money
which they knew he had lately
received; the old man
looks boldly in the face of
that stout Villain, and with an
undaunted courage returnes
him this answer in his Peakish
Dialect, Nay, even put fro
thee, sonne, I have lived
long enough, but I tell thee,
unlesse thou mend thy manners,
thou wilt never live to
see halfe my daies; put fro
thee if thou wilt. What
young man would have been
so easily induced to part with
his life, and have been so ready
to give entertainment to
an unexpected death? Surely,
the hope and love of life
commonly softens the spirits
of vigorous youth, and disswades
it from those enterprises
which are attended
with manifest perill; whereas
extream age teacheth us
to contemn dangers.
§. 4. The second advantage of old age, Freedome from pas
sions.
Yet a greater priviledge of
age is a freedome from those
impetuous passions wherewith
youth is commonly
over-swayed; for together
with our naturall heat is also
abated the heat of our inordinate
lusts, so as now our weaker
appetite may easily be
subdued to reason: The temperate
old man in the Story,
when one shewed him a beautifull
face, could answer, I
have long since left to be eyesick:
And that other could
say of pleasure, I have gladly
with drawn my self from the
service of that imperious mistresse.
What an unreasonable
vassalage our youthfull
lusts subject us unto, we need
no other instance then in the
strongest, and wisest man;
How was the strongest man
Sampson effeminated by his
impotent passion, and weakned
in his intellectuals so far,
as wilfully to betray his own
life to a mercenary Harlot,
and to endure to hear her say,
Tell mee wherewith thou mayest
be bouud to doe thee hurt:
Judg. 16. 6. How
easily might he have answered
thee, O Delila, Even with
these cords of brutish sensuality,
wherewith thou hast
already bound me to the losse
of my liberty, mine eyes,
my life? How was the wisest
man, Solomon, besotted with
his strange Wives, so as to be
drawn away to the worship
of strange gods! And how
may the firre trees howle,
when the Cedars fall! who
can hope to be free from being
transported with irregular
affections, when wee see
such great precedents of frailty
before our eyes? From the
danger of these miserable
miscarriages our age happily
secures us, putting us into
that quiet harbour, whence
we may see young men perillously
tossed with those tempests
of unruly passions, from
which our cooler age hath
freed us.
§. 5. The third advantage of age, experi
mentall know
ledge.
Adde hereunto the benefit
of experimentall knowledge,
wherewith age is wont to enrich
us, every dram whereof
is worth many pounds of the
best youthly contentments;
in comparison whereof, the
speculative knowledge is
weak and imperfect; this, may
come good cheap, perhaps
costs us nothing; that, commonly
we pay deare for, and
therefore is justly esteemed
the more precious: If experience
be the mistresse of fools,
I am sure it is the mother of
wisedome; neither can it be
(except we be too much wanting
to our selves) but the long
observation of such variety
of actions and events as meet
with us in the whole course
of our life, must needs leave
with us such sure rules of
judgement, as may be unfailing
directions for our selves,
and others: In vain shall this
be expected from our younger
yeares, which the wise
Philosopher excludes from
being meet Auditors, much
lesse Judges of true morality:
In regard whereof, well
might the old man say, Yee
young men think us old men
fooles, but we old men know
you young men to be fooles:
Certainly, what value soever
ignorance may put upon it,
this fruit of age is such, as
that the earth hath nothing
equally precious. It was a
profane word, and fit for the
mouth of an Heathen Poet,
That Prudence is above Destiny:
But surely, a Christian
may modestly and justly
say, That, next to Divine
Providence, Humane Prudence
may challenge the supreme
place in the administration
of these earthly affairs;
and that Age may claim
the greatest interest in that
Prudence: Young Elihu could
say,Job 32 7
Multitude of yeers should
teach wisdom: And the wise
man,Ecclus 25. 4, 5.
Oh how comely a thing
is judgement for gray hairs, and
for ancient men to know counsel!
Oh how comely is the wisdom
of old men, and understanding
and counsel to men of honour!
In regard whereof, the
Grecians had wont to say,
that young men are for Action,
old men for Advice: And
among the Romans we know
that Senators take their name
from age. That therefore
which is the weakness of old
mens eyes, that (their visual
spirits not uniting till some
distance) they better discern
things further off, is the
praise and strength of their
mental eyes; they see either
judgements or advantages
afar off, and accordingly
frame their determinations.
It is observed that old Lutes
sound better then new: and
it was Rehoboam's folly and undoing,1 Kings 12. 6, 7, 8▪ 9, 10, &c.
that he would rather
follow the counsel of his
green heads that stood before
him, then of those grave Senators
that had stood before
his wiser father. Not that
meer Age is of it self thus
rich in wisdom and knowledge;
but Age well cultured,
well improved: There are
old men that do but live, or
rather have a being upon
earth, (so have stocks and
stones as well as they) who
can give no proof of their
many yeers, but their gray
hairs, and infirmities. There
are those, who, like to Hermogenes,
are old men, whiles they
are boys; and children, when
they are old men: These, the
elder they grow, are so much
more stupid. Time is an ill
measure of age, which should
rather be meted by proficiency,
by ripeness of judgement,
by the monuments of our
commendable and useful labours.
If we have thus bestowed
our selves, our Autumn
will shew what our
Spring was; and the colour of
our hair will yeeld us more
cause to fear our pride then
our dejection.
§. 6. Age in some is vigorous and well affected.
We accuse our Age of many
weaknesses and indispositions:
But these imputations
must not be universal: Many
of these are the faults of the
person, not of the age. He
said well, As all Wine doth
not turn sowre with age, no
more doth every Nature. Old
Oil is noted to be clearer,
and hotter in Medicinal use
then new. There are those
who are pettish and crabbed
in youth; there are contrarily
those who are milde, gentle,
sociable in their decayed
yeers: There are those who
are crazie in their prime; and
there are those who in their
wane are vigorous: There
are those who ere the fulness
of their age have lost their
memory; as Hermogenes, Cornivus,
Antonius Caracalla,
Georgius Trapezunti
•
s, and
Nizolius. There are those,
whose intellectuals have so
happily held out, that they
have been best at the last:
Plato in his last yeer (which
was fourscore and one) died,
as it were, with his Pen in his
hand: Isocrates wrote his best
Piece at ninety four yeers:
And it is said of Demosthenes,
that when death summoned
him at an hundred yeers, and
somewhat more, he bemoaned
himself, that he must now
die, when he began to get
some knowledge. And as for
spiritual graces and improvements;Psal. 92. 12, 13.
Such as be planted in the
house of the Lord, shall flourish in
the courts of our God: They also
shall bring forth more fruit in
their age; and shall be fat and well
liking.
§ 7. The fourth advantage of Age, Neer ap
proach to our end.
But the chief benefit of our
Age is, our neer approach
to our journeys end: for
the end of all motion is rest;
which when we have once attained,
there remains nothing
but fruition: Now our Age
brings us (after a weary race)
within some breathings of
our goal: for if young men
may die, old men must. A
condition which a meer carnal
heart bewails and abhors,
complaining of Nature
as niggardly in her dispensations
of the shortest time to
her noblest creature; and envying
the Oaks, which many
generations of men must
leave standing and growing.
No marvel; for the worldling
thinks himself here at
home, and looks upon death
as a banishment: he hath
placed his heaven here belowe,
and can see nothing in
his remove, but either annihilation,
or torment. But for
us Christians, who know, that
whiles we are present in the body,
2 Cor. 5. 6.
we are absent from the Lord; and
do justly account our selves
forraigners, our life a pilgrimage,
heaven our home;
how can we but rejoyce, that
after a tedious and painful travel,
we do now draw neer to
the threshold of our Fathers
house; wherein we know
there are many mansions,
and all glorious. I could blush
to hear an heathen say,Cicero de Senect. If God
would offer me the choice of
renewing my age, and returning
to my first childhood, I
should heartily refuse it; for
I should be loth, after I have
passed so much of my race, to
be called back from the goal,
to the bars of my first setting
out; and to hear a Christian
whining and puling at the
thought of his dissolution.
Where is our faith of an heaven,
if having been so long
sea-beaten, we be loth to
think of putting into the safe
and blessed harbour of immortality?
Comforts against the fears
and pains of death.
§. 1. The fear of Death natural.
THou fearest death: Thou
wert not a man if thou
didst not so▪ The holiest, the
wisest, the strongest that ever
were, have done no less. He
is the King of fear, and therefore
may and must command
it. Thou mayst hear the man
after Gods own heart say,
The sorrows of death compassed
me:
Psa. 116. 3. And again, My soul is
full of troubles,
Psal. 88. 3, 4, 5.
my life draweth
nigh to the grave: I am counted
with them that go down to the pit,
as a man that hath no strength;
free among the dead. Thou mayst
hear good and great Hezekiah,
upon the message of his
death,Isai. 38. 14.
chattering like a Crane
or a Swallow, and mourning as a
Dove. Thou fearest as a
man; I cannot blame thee:
But thou must overcome thy
fear, as a Christian: which
thou shalt do, if from the terrible
aspect of the messenger,
thou shalt cast thine eyes upon
the gracious and amiable
face of the God that sends
him:Psal. 18. 5, 6. Holy David shews the
way; The snares of death prevented
me: In my distress I called
upon the Lord, and cried unto my
God; he heard my voice out of his
Temple, and my cry came before
him, even into his ears: Lo,
he that is our God,
Psal. 68. 20.
is the God of
salvation; and unto God the Lord
belong the issues of death: Make
him thy friend, and Death
shall be no other then advantage.
Phil. 1. 21.
It is true, as the Wise
man saith,Wisd. 1▪ 13. 2. 24. that God made not
Death; but that through envie of
the devil Death came into the
world: But it is as true, that
though God made him not,
yet he is pleased to employ
him as his messenger to summon
some souls to judgment,
to invite others to glory:
and for these later, Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death
of his Saints:
Psa. 116. 15. And what reason
hast thou to abominate that
which God accounts precious?
§. 2. Remedy o
•
fear, Ac
quain
tance with death.
Thou art afraid of death:
Acquaint thy self with him
more, and thou shalt fear
him less: Even Bears and Lions,
which at the first sight
afrighted us, upon frequent
viewing lose their terrour:
snure thine eyes to the sight
of death, and that face shall
begin not to displease thee.
Thou must shortly dwell
with him for a long time, (for
the days of darkness are many)
do thou in the mean
time entertain him;Ecel. 11. ult. let him
be sure to be thy daily guest:
Thus the blessed Apostle; I
protest by our rejoycing which I
have in Christ Jesus,
•
Cor. 15▪ 31.
I die daily.
Bid him to thy board, lodge
him in thy bed, talk with him
in thy closet, walk with him
in thy garden, as Joseph of
Arimathea did; and by no
means suffer him to be a
stranger to thy thoughts:
This familiarity shall bring
thee to a delight in the company
of him whom thou didst
at first abhor; so as thou
shalt with the chosen vessel
say,Phil. 1. 23.
I have a desire to depart,
and to be with Christ, which is best
of all.
§ 3. The mis
apprehen
sion of death in
jurious.
Thou art grievously afraid
of death: Is it not upon a
mistaking? Our fears are apt
to imagine and to aggravate
evils: Even Christ himself,
walking upon the waters, was
by the Disciples trembled at,
as some dreadful apparition.
Perhaps, my son, thou lookest
at death as some utter abolition,
or extinction of thy
being; and Nature must needs
shrink back at the thought
of not being at all: This
is a foul and dangerous misprision:
It is but a departing,
which thou callest a
death. See how God himself
stiles it to the father of the
faithful;Gen. 15. 15.
Thou shalt go to thy
Fathers in peace, thou shalt be
buried in a good old-age: And
of his holy grand-childe Israel,
the Spirit of God says,
When Jacob had made an end
of commanding his sons,
Gen. 49. 33.
he gathered
up his feet into the bed,
and yeelded up the ghost, and was
gathered unto his people. Lo,
dying is no other, then going
to our Fathers, and gathering
to our people, with whom
we do and shall live in that
other and better world, and
with whom we shall re-appear
glorious. Let but thy faith
represent death to thee in this
shape, and he shall not appear
so formidable. Do but mark
in what familiar terms it pleased
God to confer with his
servant Moses concerning his
death;Deut. 32 49.
Get thee up into this
mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo,
which is in the land of Moab,
and behold the land of Canaan
which I give unto the children
of Israel for a possession; And
die in the mount whither thou go
est up, and be gathered to thy people,
as Aaron thy brother died in
mount Hor, and was gathered to
his people: Lo, it is no more,
then Go up and die: Should it
have been but to go a days
journey in the Wilderness to
sacrifice, it could have been
no otherwise expressed; o
••
s
if it were all one to go up to
Sinai, to meet with God, and
to go up to Nebo and die. Neither
is it otherwise with us;
onely the difference is, that
Moses must first see the land
of Promise, and then die;
whereas we must first die,
and then see the promised
Land.
§ 4. Comfort from the common condition of men.
Thou art troubled with the
fear of death: What reason
hast thou to be afflicted with
that which is the common
condition of mankinde? Remember,
my son, the words
of Joshua, the victorious Leader
of Gods people;Josh. 23. 14.
Behold,
this day (saith he) I am going
the way of all the earth. If all
the earth go this way, couldst
thou be so fond as to think
there should be a by-path left
for thee, wherein thou mayst
tread alone? Were it so that
Monarchs and Princes, that
Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles
were allowed any easier passage
out of the world, thou
mightst perhaps finde some
pretence of reason to repine at
a painfull dissolution, but now
since all goe one way, and (as
the wise Philosopher saies)
those which are unequall in
their birth,Sen. Ep. 91. are in their deaths
equal, there can be no ground
for a discontented murmure:
Grudge if thou wilt,Psal. 89. 49. that thou
art a man,Psal. 90. 3, 5, 7. grudge not that being
a man thou must die: It
is true that those whom the
last day shall finde alive, shall
not die, but they shall bee
changed; but this change of
theirs shall be no other then
an analogicall death, wherein
there shall be a speedy consumption
of all our corrupt
and drossie parts▪ so as the
pain must be so much the
more intense, by how much
it is more short then in
the ordinary course of death:
Briefly, that change is a
Death, and our Death is a
change,Job 14. 14. as Job stiles it; the
difference is not in the pain,
but in the speed of the transaction:Ecclus. 41. 3.
Fear not then the
sentence of death; remember
them that have been before
thee, and that come after, for
this is the sentence of the
Lord over all flesh.
§. 6. Death not feared by some.
Thou fearest death: So
doe not infants, children,
distracted persons, as the Philosopher
observes:Sen. Ep. 36. Why
should use of reason render
us more cowardly, then defect
of reason doth them?
Thou fearest that which some
others wish:Ecclus. 41. 2▪
O death, how
acceptable is thy sentence to
the needy, and to him whose
strength faileth, that is now
in the last age, and is vexed
with all things, and to him
that despaireth, and hath lost
patience: Wherefore is light
given (saith Iob) to him that
is in misery,
Iob 3. 21,
and life unto the
bitter in soul? which long for
death, but it commeth not, and dig
for it more then for hid treasures;
which rejoyce exceedingly,
22, 23.
and
are glad when they can finde the
grave?
How many are there that
invite the violence of death,
and if hee refuse it, doe, as
Ignatius threatned he would
doe to the Lions, force his
assault? Death is the same
to all: the difference is in
the disposition of the entertainers;
Couldst thou look
upon death with their eyes,
he should be as welcome to
thee, as he is unto them: At
the least, why shouldst thou
not labour to have thy heart
so wrought upon that this
face of death, which seems
lovely, and desirable to some,
may not appear over-terrible
to thee?
§. 6. Our death day, better then our birth day.
Thou art afraid to die;
Couldst thou then have been
capable of the use of reason,
thou wouldst have been more
afraid of comming into the
world, then thou art now of
going out: for why should
we be more afraid of the better,
then of the worse? Better
is the day of death, then the day
of ones birth, saith the Preacher:
Eccles. 7. 2. Better every
way; Our birth begins
our miseries, our death ends
them: Our birth enters the
best of men into a wretched
world, our death enters
the good into a world
of glory: Certainly, were
it not for our infidelity, as
wee came crying into the
world, so wee should goe
singing out of
〈◊〉
And if
some have solemnized their
birth-day with feasting and
Triumph, the Church of
Old hath bestowed that
name and cost upon the
deaths-day of her Martyrs,
and Saints.
§. 7. The sting of death pulled out.
Thou abhorrest death, and
fleest from it as from a Serpent:
But doest thou know
that his Sting is gone?
What harme can there be in
a Sting-lesse Snake?i Cor. 15. 35. Hast
thou not seen or heard of
some delicate Dames that
have carried them (thus corrected)
in their bosome for
coolnesse, and for the pleasure
of their smoothnesse?
The sting of death is sinne;
Hee may hisse, and winde
about us, but he cannot hurt
us when that sting is pulled
out: Look up, O thou beleeving
soul, to thy blessed
Saviour▪ who hath pluckt
out this sting of death, and happily
triumphs over it,
both for himself and thee;
O death where is thy sting?
O grave where is thy victory?
§. 8. Death is but apart
ing to meet again.
Thy soul and body (old
companions) are loth to
part: Why man, it is but
the forbearing their wonted
society, for a while; they
doe but take leave of each
other till they meet againe
in the day of Resurrection,
and in the mean time they
are both safe, and the better
part happy: It is commendable
in the Jews (otherwise
the worst of men) that
they call their grave (Beth
Chajim) the house of the
living; and when they return
from the buriall of their
neighbours, they pluck up
the grasse, and cast it into
the aire, with those words of
the Psalmist,Ps. 72. 16
They shall flourish
and put forth as the grasse
upon, the earth: Did wee not
beleeve a Resurrection of
the one part, and a re-uniting
of the other, wee had
reason to be utterly daunted
with the thought of a dissolution;
now wee have no
cause to bee dismayed with
a little intermission. Is it an
Heathen man,Sen. Ep. 36. or a Christian
(such I wish he had been)
whom I hear say, The death
which wee so fear, and flee
from, doth but respite life
for a while, doth not take
it away, the day will come
which shall restore us to the
light again. Settle thy soul,
my sonne, in this assurance,
and thou canst not bee discomforted
with a necessary
parting.
§ 9. Death is but a sleep.
Thou art afraid of death:
When thou art weary of thy
dayes labour, art thou afraid
of rest? Hear what thy
Saviour, who is the Lord of
life, esteems of death, Iohn
11. 11. Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth. And of Jairus his
daughter,Matth. 9. 24.
The maid is not
dead,
Luke 8. 52.
but sleepeth: Neither
useth the Spirit of God any
other language, concerning
his servants under the Old
Testament:Job 7. 21.
Now shall I sleep
in the dust, saith holy Job:
And of David,
2 Sam. 7. 12.
When thy days
be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep
with thy fathers. Nor yet
under the New:1 Cor. 11▪ 30.
For this
cause many are weak and sickly
among you, and many sleep,
saith the Apostle. Lo, the
Philosophers of old were
wont to call sleep the brother
of death; but God says
death is no other then sleep
it self; A sleep both sure
and sweet: When thou liest
down at night to thy repose,
thou canst not be so
certain to awake again in
the morning, as when thou
layest thy self down in
death, thou art sure to wake
in the morning of the Resurrection.
Out of this bodily
sleep thou mayst be affrightedly
startled with some
noises of sudden horrour,
with some fearful dreams,
with tumults, or alarms of
War;Psal. 94. 17. but here thou shalt
rest quietly in the place of
silence, free from all inward
and outward disturbances,
whiles in the mean time
thy soul shall see none but
visions of joy, and blessedness.
But, Oh the sweet and
heavenly expression of our
last rest, and the issue of our
happie resuscitation, which
our gracious Apostle hath
laid forth, for the consolation
of his mournful Thessalonions:
For, if we believe
(saith he) that Jesus died and
rose again; even so them also
which sleep in Jesus, will God
bring with him. Lo, our belief
is antidote enough against
the worst of death: And
why are we troubled with
death, when we believe
that Jesus died? And what
a triumph is this over death,
that the same Jesus who
died, rose again? And what
a comfort it is, that the same
Jesus who arose, shall both
come again, and bring all
his with him in glory? And
lastly, what a strong Cordial
is this to all good hearts,
that all those which die well,
do sleep in Jesus? Thou
thoughtst, perhaps, of sleeping
in the bed of the grave;
and there indeed is rest: but
he tells thee of sleeping in
the bosome of Jesus; and
there is immortality and
blessedness. Oh blessed Jesu,
in thy presence is the
fulness of joy, and at thy
right hand are pleasures for
evermore. Who would desire
to walk in the world,
when he may sleep with Jesus?
§ 10. Death sweetned to us by Christ.
Thou fearest death: It is
much on what terms, and
in what form death presents
himself to thee: If as an
enemy, (as that is somewhere
his style, the last enemy
death) thy unpreparation
shall make him dreadful;
thy readiness and fortitude
shall take off his terrour:
If as a messenger of
God to fetch thee to happiness,
what reason hast thou
to be afraid of thine own
bliss? It is one thing what
death is in himself, a privation
of life; as such, Nature
cannot chuse but abhor
him: Another thing
what he is by Christ made
unto us; an introduction to
life, an harbinger to glory.
Why would the Lord of
Life have yeelded unto
death, and by yeelding vanquisht
him; but that he
might alter and sweeten
Death to us; and of a fierce
Tyrant, make him a Friend
and Benefactor? And if we
look upon him thus changed,
thus reconciled, how can we
chuse but bid him welcome?
§ 11. The pain
fulness of Christs
•
eath.
Thou art afraid of the
pangs of death: There are
those that have died without
any great sense of pain:
some we have known to
have yeelded up their souls
without so much as a groan:
And how knowest thou,
my son, what measure God
hath allotted to thee? Our
death is a Sea-voyage, (so
the Apostle,Phil. 1.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
I desire to lanch
forth) wherein some finde
a rough and tempestuous
passage; others, calm and
smoothe: such thine may
prove; so as thy dissolution
may be more easie then
a fit of thy sickness. But
if thy God have determined
otherwise. Look unto Jesus
the Authour and Finisher of
our faith,
•
eb. 12. 2 the Son of God,
the Lord of glory; see with
what agonies he conflicted,
what torments he endured
in his death for thee: Look
upon his bloody sweat, his
bleeding temples, his furrowed
back, his nailed hands
and feet, his racked joynts,
his pierced side: Hear his
strong cries, consider the
shame, the pain, the c
•
rse
of the Cross which he underwent
for thy sake: Say,
whether thy sufferings can
be comparable to his. He
is a cowardly and unworthy
Souldier, that follows
his General sighing. Lo,
these are the steps wherein
thy God and Saviour hath
trod before thee: Walk on
courageously, in this deep
and bloody way; after a
few paces thou shalt overtake
him in glory: For if we suffer
with him,
2 Tim. 2. 12.
we shall also reign together
with him.
§. 12. The vani
ty and mi
series of life.
Thou shrinkest at the
thought of death: Is it not
for that thou hast, over-valued
life, and made thy home
on earth? Delicate persons
that have pampered themselves
at home, are loth to
stir ab
••
ad, especially upon
hard and un
••
uth voyages:
Perhaps it is so with thee;
wherein I cannot but much
pity thy mistaking, in placing
thy contentment there, where
a greater and wiser man
could finde nothing but vanity,
and vexation. Alas,
what can be our exile, if
this be our home? What
woful entertainment is this
to be enamoured on? What
canst thou meet with here,
but distempered humours,
hard usages, violent passions,
bodily sicknesses, sad complaints,
hopes disappointed,
frequent miscarriages, wicked
plots, cruel menaces, deadly
executions, momentany
pleasures sauced with lasting
sorrows; lastly, shadows
of joy, and real miseries:
Are these the things that
so bewitch thee, that when
death calls at thy door, thou
art ready to say to it, as
the Devil said to our Saviour,
Art thou come to torment
me before the time?
Matth. 8. 29.
Are these those winning
contentments, that cause
thee to say of the world, as
Peter said of Mount Tabor,
Master,
Mat. 17. 4.
It is good for us to be
here. If thou have any faith
in thee, (and what dost thou
profess to be a Christian
without it?) look up to the
things of that other world,
whither thou art going; and
see whether that true life,
pure joy, perfect felicity, and
th
•
eternity of all these, may
not be worthy to draw up thy
heart to a lo
•
ging desire of
the fruition of them, and a
contemptuous disvaluation of
all that earth can promise, in
comparison of this infinite
blessedness.
It was one of the defects
which our late Noble and
learned Philosopher the Lord
Virulam
Lo. Ba
•••
his Advancement of learning. found in our Physitians,
that they do not studie
those remedies that might
procure
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
, the easie
passage of their Patients (since
they must needs die) thorow
the gates of death: Such
helps I must leave to the care
of the skilful Sages of Nature;
the use whereof I suppose
must be with much caution,
lest whiles they endeavour
to sweeten death, they
shorten life. But
〈◊〉
me
prescribe, and commend to
thee, my son, this true spiritual
means of thine happie
Euthanasia; which can be no
other then this faithful disposition
of the labouring
soul, that can truely say, I
know whom I have believed:
1 Tim. 1. 12.
I have fought a good fight;
2 Tim. 4. 7, 8.
I
have finished my course; I have
k
•
pt the faith: Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord
the righteous Judge shall give me
at that day.
§ 13. Examples of coura
geous re
solutions in others.
Thou startest back at the
mention of death: How canst
thou but blush to read of that
Heathen Martyr, Socrates,
who when the message as
death was brought to him,Plato Phaedone.
could applaud the news of
most joyful: Or of a Cardinal
of Rome,
F▪ Cosfin. de morte Bella
•
mini, p. 28. (who yet expected
a tormenting Purgatory)
that received the intimation
of his approaching
death, with Bu
•
na nuova, buona
nuova, O che buona nuova è questa!
Is not their confidence
thy shame; who believing
that when our earthly house
of this Tabernacle is dissolved,2 Cor. 5. 1.
we have a building of
God, an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens,
yet shrinkest at the motion of
taking the possession of it?
Canst thou with dying Mithridates
(when he took his
unwilling farewel of the
world) cry out, oh light!
when thou art going to a light
more glorious then this thou
leavest, then the Sun is more
weak then a Rush-Candle?
It is our infidelity, my son,
it is our meer in
•
idelity that
makes us unwilling to die:
Did we think (according to
the cursed opinion of some
fanatick persons) that the
soul sleeps as well as the
body, from the moment of
the dissolution, till the day
of Resurrection: Or did we
doubt lest we should wander
to unknown places where we
cannot be certain of the entertainment;
or did we fear
a scorching trial (upon the
emigration) in flames little
inferiour, for the time) to
those of hell, there were
some cause for us to tremble
at the approach of death:
But now that we can boldly
say, with the Wise man, `The
souls of the righteous are in
the hand of God,
Wisd. 3. 1, 2, 3.
and there
shall no torment touch them:
In the sight of the unwise they
seemed to die, and their departure
is taken for misery, and
their going from us to be utter
destruction; but they are in
peace. Oh thou of little faith,
why fearest thou? Why dost
thou not chide thy self, as
that dying Saint did of old,
Go forth, my soul, go boldly
forth; what art thou afraid
of? Lo, the Angels of God
are ready to receive thee,
and to carry thee up to thy
glory; neither shalt thou
sooner have left this wretched
body, then thou shalt be
possessed of thy God: after
a momentany darkness cast
upon nature, thou shalt enjoy
the beatifical vision of the
glorious God: Be not afraid
to be happie; but say, out of
faith, that which Jonah said in
anger;Jona. 4. 3
It is better for me to die
then to live.
§ 14. The hap
py advan
tages of death.
I am afraid to die: This
is the voice of Nature: but
wilt thou hear what Grace
saith? To me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. If therefore
meer Nature raign in
thee, thou canst not but be
affrighted with death: But
if true grace be prevalent
in thy soul, that guest shall
not be unwelcome: Was
ever any man afraid of profit
and advantage? Such is
death to the faithful: Whosoever
he be that findes
Christ to be his life, shall
be sure to finde Death his
gain, for that he is thereby
brought to a more full
and neer communion with
Christ: whereas before he
enjoyed his Saviour onely
by the dim apprehension of
his Faith, now he doth clearly
and immediately enjoy
that glorious presence, which
onely makes blessedness:
This is it which causeth death
to change his Copie; and
renders him who is of himselfe
formidable, pleasing and
beneficiall; I desire to depart
and to be with Christ, saith
the man who was rapt up to
the third heaven; Had it
been onely departing, surely
he had had no such great edge
to it;Phil. 1. 23. but to depart, and be with
Christ, is that which ravisheth
his soule. When the Heathen
Socrates was to die for
his Religion, he comforted
himselfe with this, That hee
should goe to the place where
he should see Orphaeus, Homer,
Musaeus, and the other Worthies
of the former ages;
Poor man! could he have
come to have knowne God
manifested in the flesh,
1 Tim. 3▪ 16.
and received
up into glory, and therein
that glorified flesh sitting
at the right hand of Majesty;
could he have attained to
know the blessed order of the
Cherubim, and Seraphim,
Angels, Archangels, Principalities,
and Powers, and the
rest of the most glorious Hierarchy
of heaven; could he
have been acquainted with
that celestiall Chore of the
Spirits of just men made perfect:
Heb. 12. 23.
could he have reached
to know the God and
Father of Spirits, the infinitely,
and incomprehensibly
glorious Deity, whose presence
transfuses everlasting
blessednesse into all those Citizens
of glory: and could
he have known that he should
have an undoubted Interest
(instantly upon his dissolution)
in that infinite blisse;
how much more gladly
would he have taken off his
Hemlock; and how much
more merrily would he have
passed into that happier
world? All this wee know,
and are no lesse assured of it,
then of our present beeing;
with what comfort therefore
should we think of changing
our present condition with a
blessed immortality? How
sweet a song was that of old
Simeon?
Luke 2. 29.
Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word, for mineties
have seen thy salvation:
Loe, that which hee saw by
the eye of his sense, thou
seest by the eye of thy faith;
even the Lords Christ;
Vers. 26. he saw
him in weaknesse, thou seest
him in glory; why shouldst
thou not depart, not in peace
onely, but in joy and comfort?
How did the holy Protomartyr
Stephen triumph over
all the rage of his enemies,
and the violent fury of death,
when he had once seen the
heavens opened,
Acts 7. 56.
and the Son of
man standing on the right hand
of God? Loe, God offers the
same blessed prospect to the
〈◊〉
of thy soul; Faith is the
key that can open the heaven
of heavens; Fixe thy eies
upon that glorious and saving
object; thou canst not but lay
down thy body in peace, and
send up thy soul into the
hands of him that bought it,
with the sweet and cheerfull
recommendation, of Lord Jesus
receive my spirit.
Comforts against the ter
rours
of Judgement.
§. 1. Aggrava
tion of the fearful
ness of the last judge
ment.
THOU apprehendest it
aright; Death is terrible,
but Judgement more; Both
these succeed upon the same
decree, It is appointed unto man
once to die,Heb. 9. 27. but after this the
judgement: Neither is it mo
•
e
terrible, then lesse thought
on; Death, because he strikes
on all hands, and laies before
us so many sad examples of
mortality, cannot but sometimes
take up our hearts; but
the last judgement, having no
visible proofs to force it self
upon our thoughts, too seldome
affrights us: Yet who
can conceive the terrour of
that day? before which the
Sun stall bee turned into darknesse,Acts 2. 20.
and the Moon into blood;
That day, which shall burne as
an Oven,Mal. 4▪ 1. when all the proud,
and all that doe wickedly shall
bee as the stubble;2 Pet. 3. 10.
That day,
in which the heavens shall passe
away with a great noise, and
the Elements shall melt with
fervent heat; the Earth also,
••
d the works that are therein
shall be burnt
•
p:2 Thes. 1▪ 7, 8.
That day,
wherein the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with
his mighty Angels; In flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that
obey not the Gospel of our Lord
Iesus Christ;Isai. 66. 15, 16.
That day, wherein
the Lord will come with fire,
and with his Chariots like a
Whirlewinde, to render his anger
with fury, and his rebuke
with flames of fire; For by
Fire, and by his Sword will the
Lord plead with all flesh:Mat. 25. 31, 32.
That day, wherein the Son of
man shall come in his glory,
and all the holy Angels with
him; and shall sit upon the
Throne of his glory; and all Nations
shall bee gathered before
him;Rev. 1. 7.
That day, wherein all
the kindreds of the earth shall
wail because of him: S
•
ortly,
Joel 2. 31.
that great and terrible day of
the Lord, wherein if the
Powers of Heaven shall
bee shaken, how can the
heart of man remain unmoved?
wherein, if the world
be dissolved, who can bear
up? Alas, we are ready to
tremble at but a Thundercrack
in a poor cloud; and
at a small flash of lightning
that glances through our
eyes; what shall wee doe
when the whole frame of the
heavens shall break in peeces,
and when all shall be on a
flame about our eares? Oh, who
may abide the day of his comming;
and who shall stand when hee appeareth?
§. 2. Comfort from the condition of the e
lect.
Yet bee of good chear,Mal. 3. 2.
m
•
sonne; Amids all this
horrour there is comfort▪
Whether thoube one of those
whom it shall please God to
reserve alive upon earth to
the sight of this dreadfull
day, he only knowes in whose
hands our times are; This we
are sure of, that we are upon
the last houres, of the last
daies: Justly doe we spit in
the faces of S. Peters scoffers,
that say,2 Pet. 3. 4▪
Where is the promise
of his coming?
2 Pet. 3. 9.
Well knowing,
that the Lord is not slack, as
some account slackness; but that
he that shall come,
Heb. 10. 37.
will come,
and not tarry. Well mayst
thou live to see the Son of
man come in the clouds of
heaven, and to be an Actor
in this last Scene of the
world: If so, let not thy heart
be dismayed with the expectation
of these fearful
things: Thy change shall be
sudden and quick; one moment
shall put off thy mortality,
and clothe thee with
that incorruption, which shall
not be capable of fear and
pain: The majestie of this
appearance shall adde to thy
joy and glory:1 Thes. 4. 16.
Thou shalt then
see the Lord himself descend
from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the Archangel, and
with the Trump of God: Thou
shalt see thy self, and those other
which are alive and remain,
Verse 17
to be caught up in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air; and
so shalt thou be ever with the
Lord. Upon this assurance,
how justly may the Apostle
subjoyn,Verse 18
Wherefore comfort
one another with these words.
Certainly, if ever there were
comfort to be had in any
words, not of men or Angels
onely, but of the ever-living
God, the God of Truth,
these are they that can and
will afford it to our trembling
souls.
But if thou be one of the
number of those whom God
hath determined to call off
before-hand, and by a faithful
death to prevent the great
day of his appearance; here
is nothing for thee, but matter
of a joy unspeakable and
full of glory:1 Thes. 4. 15.
For those that
sleep in Jesus, shall God bring
with him; they shall be part
of that glorious train which
shall attend the Majestie of
the great Judge of the world:
yea,1 Cor. 6. 1. they shall be co
••
se
••
ors
to the Lord of heaven and
earth, in this awful Judica
ture; as sitting upon the
Bench, when guilty men and
Angels shall be at the Bar:Verse 3.
To him that overcometh,
Rev. 3. 21. saith
the Lord Christ, will I grant
to sit with me in my throne, even
as I also overcame, and am set
down with my Father in his
throne. What place▪ then is
here for any terrour, since the
more state and heavenly magnificence,
the more joy and
glory?
§ 3. Awe more fit for thoughts of judge
ment, then Fear.
Thou art afraid to think
of Judgement: I had rather
thou shouldst be awful, then
timorous. When Saint Paul
discoursed of the judgement
to come,Acts 24. 25. it is no marvel that
F
••
ix trembled: But the same
Apostle, when he had pressed
to his Corinthians,
2 Cor. 5. 11. the certainty
and generality of our
appearance before the Judgement-seat
of Christ, that every
one may receive the things
done in his body, whether good
or evil; addeth, Knowing therefore
the terrour of the Lord, we
perswade men▪ but we are made
manifest to God, &c. Lo, the
holiest man may not be exempted
from the dread, but
from the slavish fear of the
great Judge: We know his
infinite justice; we are conscious
to our selves of our
manifold failings: how can
we lay these two together,
and not fear? But this fear
works not in us a malignant
kinde of repining at the severe
Tribunal of the Almighty,
(as commonly whom
we fear we hate) but rather
a careful endeavour so to approve
our selves, that we may
be acquitted by him, and appear
blameless in his presence.
How justly may we
tremble, when we look upon
our own actions, our own deserts?
but how confidently
may we appear at that Bar,
where we are beforehand assured
of a discharge? Being
justified by faith,
Rom. 5. 1.
•
we have peace
with God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. When we think of
an
•
universal conflagration
of the world, how can we
but fear? but when we think
of an happie restitution of
all things in this day;Act. 3▪ 21 how
can we but rejoyce in trembling?
§ 4. In that great and terrible Day, our Advocate is our Judge.
Thou quakest at the expectation
of the last Judgement:
Surely, the very Majestie
of that great Assize
must needs be formidable:
And if the very delivery of
the Law on Mount Sinai
were with so dreadful a
pomp of Thunder and Lightning,
of Fire, Smoke, Earthquakes,
that the Israelites
were half dead with fear in
receiving it; with what terrible
magnificence shall God
come to require an account
of that Law at the hands of
the whole sinful generation
of mankinde? Represent
unto thy thoughts, that which
was shewed of old to the
Prophet Daniel in Vision:
Imagine that thou sawest the
Ancient of days sitting upon a
Throne like the fiery flame
〈◊〉
,
Dan. 7. 8, 9, 10.
a
fiery stream issuing and coming
forth from before him;
thousand thousands ministring
unto him, and ten thousand
times ten thousand standing before
him; the judgement set,
and the Books opened. Or as
John, the Daniel of the New
Testament saw, a great white
Throne, and him that sate on it,
from whose face the earth and
the heavens fled away, and the
dead both small and great standing
before God; and the Books
opened, and the dead judged out
of those things which were written
in those Books, according to
their works. Let the eyes of
thy minde see before-hand
that which these bodily eyes
shall once see; and tell me
how thou feelest thy self affected
with the sight of such
a Judge, such an appearance,
such a process: And if thou
findest thy self in a trembling
condition, cheer up thy self
with this, That thy Judge
is thine Advocate; That upon
that Throne there sits not
greater Majestie then Mercie:
It is thy Saviour that
shall sentence thee. How
safe art thou then under such
hands? Canst thou fear that
he will doom thee to death,
who died to give thee life?
Canst thou fear he will condemn
thee for those sins
which he hath given his
blood to expiate? Canst
thou fear the rigour of that
Justice which he hath so
fully satisfied? Canst thou
misdoubt the miscarriage of
that soul which he hath so
dearly bought? No, my
son, all this divine state and
magnificence makes for thee:
Let those guilty and impenitent
souls, who have heaped
unto themselves wrath against
the day of wrath,
Rom. 2. quake at the
glorious Majestie of the Son
of God;Heb. 10. 27
for whom nothing
remains, but a fearful expectation
of judgement, and fiery indignation,
which shall devour
the adversaries: But for thee,
who art not onely reconciled
unto God by the mediation
of the Son of his love, but
art also incorporated into
Christ, and made a true limb
of his mystical Body; thou
art bidden (together with all
the faithful) to look up,
Luke 21. 28.
and
lift up thy head;
Eph. 4. 30.
for now the day
of thy re
•
emption is come. And
indeed, how canst thou do other,
since by vertue of this
blessed union with thy Saviour,
this glory is thine; every
member hath an interest in
the honour of the Head. Rejoyce
therefore in the day of
the Lord Jesus;Phil. 2.
•
and when
all the Tribes of the earth
shall wail,Rev. 1▪ 7. do thou sing and
rejoyce; and call to the heavens
and the earth to bear
thee company:Psal. 96▪ 11.
Let the heavens
rejoyce, and let the earth be glad:
let the sea make a noise, aud all
that is therein: let the field be joyful,
Verse 12
and all that is in it. Then shall
all the trees of the wood rejoyce
before the Lord:
Verse 13
for he cometh,
for he cometh to judge the earth,
and with righteousness to judge
the world, and the people with his
truth.
§. 5. Frequent meditation and due prepa
•
ati
on, the re
medies of our
•
ear.
Thou art affrighted with
the thought of that Great
Day: Think of it oftner,
and thou shalt less fear it.
It will come both surely, and
suddenly; let thy frequent
thoughts prevent it. It will
come as a thief in the night,
without warning, without
noise: let thy careful vigilance
always expect it; and
thy soul shall be sure not to
be surprised, not to be confounded.
Thine Audit is both
sure, and uncertain: sure that
it will be, uncertain when it
will be. If thou wilt approve
thy self a good Steward, have
thine account always ready;
set thy reckoning still even
betwixt God and thy soul:
Blessed is the servant whom his
Master shall finde so doing:
Mat. 24. 46.
Look upon these heavens, and
this earth as dissolving; and
think, with Jerome, that thou
hearest the last Trump, and
the voice of the Archangel
shrilling in thine ears, (as
once thou shalt) Arise, ye dead,
and come to judgement. Shortly,
let it be thy main care, to
live soberly, righteously, and
godly in this present world;
looking for that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearing of
the great God, and our Saviour
Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for us, that he might
redeem us from all iniquity;
Who shall change our vile body,
Phil. 3. 21.
that it may be fashioned like to his
glorious body; according to the
working whereby he is able to subdue
all things to himself.
Comforts against the fears
of our spiritual enemies.
§ 1. The great power of evil spi
rits, and their re
straint.
THou art affrighted at the
thought of thy spiritual
enemies: No marvel; Neither
earth nor hell hath any
thing equally formidable:
Those three things which
are wont to make enmity
dreadful and dangerous▪
(Power, Malice, Subtilty)
are met in them: neither
is it easie to say in which of
these they are most eminent.
Certainly, were we to be
matcht with them on even
hand, there were just cause,
not of Fear onely, but Despair.
I could tremble, thou
sayst, to think what Satan
hath done, what he can do▪
what contestation he enabled
the Egyptian Sorcerers to
hold with Moses;
Exod. 7▪ 12. how they
turned every man his rod into
a Serpent; so as they seemed
to have the advantage,
for the time, of many Serpents
crawling and hissing in
Phoraoh's pavement, for one:
How they turned the waters
into blood:Vers. 22. How they
brought Froggs upon the
Land of Egypt
〈◊〉
as if thus
far the power of hell would
presume to hold competition
with heaven:Exod. 8. 7. What furious
tempests he raises in the air,
as that which from the Wilderness▪
beat upon the four
corners of the house of Job's
eldest son,Job 1. 19 and overthrew it:
Lo,Job 1. 3.
Job was the greatest man
in the East; his heir did not
dwell in a cottage; that strong
Fabrick could not stand against
this Hurricane of Satan.
What fearful apparitions
he makes in the upper regions:
what great wonders
he doth,Rev. 13. 13. causing fire to come
down from heaven on the
earth, in the sight of men:
Lastly, what grievous tyranny
he exerciseth upon all the
children of disobedience.Eph. 5. 6.
Couldst thou look for any
less, my son, from those,
whom the Spirit of God
himself,Eph. 6. 12. styles Principalities,
and Powers, and rulers
of the darkness of this
world, and spiritual wickednesses
in high places, and the
Prince of the power of the
air.Eph. 2. 2. Surely, it were no Mastery
to be a Christian, if we had
not powerfull opposites: But
dost thou not withall consider
that all this power is by
concession, and the exercise
of it but with permission,
with limitation? What power
can there be in any oreature,
which is not derived
from the Almighty? This
measure the infinite Creator
was pleased to communicate
to them, as Angels, which
they retain, and exercise still
as Devils; their damnation
hath stripped them of their
glory; but we know not of
how much of their strength:
And seest thou not how their
power is bounded? Those
that could in appearance turn
their rods into Serpents, could
not keep all their Serpents
from being devoured of that
one Serpent of Moses: Those
that could b
•
ing Frogs upon
Egypt,
Exod. 8. 8, 9, 10, 11 cannot bring a baser
creature, Lice: Those that
were suffered to bring Frogs,
shall not have power to take
them away: Restrained powers
must know their limits;
and we knowing them, must
set limits to our feares; A
Lion chained up can do lesse
harme then a curre let loose:
What is it to thee how powerfull
the evill Spirits are,
whiles they are by an overruling
power tied up to their
stake, that they cannot hurt
thee?
§. 2. The fear of the num
ber of e
vil spi
rits, and the reme
dy of it.
Thy feares are increased
with their number; they are
as many as powerfull: One,
Demoniack was possessed
with a Legion; How many
Legions then shall we think
there are to tempt those millions
of men, which live upon
the face of the earth,
whereof no one is free from
their continuall solicitations
to evill? That holy man,
whom our counterfeit Hermites
would pretend to imitate
in the vision of his retirednesse,
saw the air full of
them, and of their s
•
ares for
mankinde; and were our eyes
as clear as his, we might perhaps
meet with the same prospect:
But bee not dismaid
my son: Couldst thou borrow
the eyes of the servant of
an holier Master,2 Kings 6. 16. thou
shouldst see that there are
moe with us, then they that
are against us; thou shouldst
see the blessed Angels of
God, pitching their Tents
about thee, as the more powerfull,
vigilant, constant guardians
of thy soule: Loe, these
are those valiant ones, which
stand about thy Bed;
Cantic. 3▪ 7, 8.
They all
hold swords, being expert in
Warre; every one hath his
Sword upon his thigh, because of
fear in the night: Feare not
therefore, but make the Lord,
even the most High, thy Habitation:Ps. 91. 9.
Then there shall no
evill befall thee,
Vers. 10,
neither shall
any Plague come nigh thy dwelling:
Vers. 11.
For he shall give his Angels
charge ever thee to keepe
thee in all thy waies.
Vers. 12.
They shall
bear thee up in their hands, lest
thou dash thy foot against a
stone; yea, (and besides this
safe indempnity) Thou shalt
tread upon the Lyon,
Vers. 13.
and Adder;
the young Lion, and the Dragon
shalt thou trample under feet.
In secular enmity, true valour
may be oppressed, will
not easily bee d
•
unted with
multitude;Psal. 3. 6▪
I will not be afraid
of ten thousand, (saith David)
They came about me like Bees,
Ps. 118. 12▪
but in the name of the Lord will
I destroy them: It was a brave
resolution in that Generall,
who when one of his Souldiers
could tell him, that the
cloud of Persian arrows (shot
at them) darkned the Sun;
Bee of good chear, (said he)
wee shall sight in the shade:
Answerable whereunto, was
that Heroicall determination
of Luther, who (after his engagements)
against all threats,
and disswasions. would goe
•
nto the City of Wormes,
though there were as many
Devils in it, as Tiles upon
their houses; and why should
not we imitate this confidence?
What if there were
as many Devils in the air, as
there are spires of grasse on
the earth? God is our refuge
and strength,
Ps. 46. 1, 2.
a very present help
in trouble; therefore will we not
fear, though the earth be removed;
though the mountains be
carried into the midst of the
Sea.
Isai. 12. 2
Behold, God is our salvation,
we will trust, and not bee
afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is
our strength and our song, he
also is become our salvation. Let
God arise,
Psal. 68. 1▪ 2.
and let his enemies be
scattered; let them also that hate
him flee before him; like as the
smoak vanisheth, so shalt thou drive
them away.
§. 3. The ma
lice of the evill spi
rits, and our fears thereof re
medied.
But oh the malice of those
infernall spirits, implacable,
and deadly; whose trade is
temptation, and accusation;
whose delight is torment;
whose musick is shrieks, and
howlings, and groanes, and
gnashing; and whose main
drift is no lesse then the eternall
death, and damnation of
miserable mankind! Why
should we, my son, expect
other from him, who is professedly
the manslayer from
the beginning? that carries
nothing but destruction both
in his name and nature? that
goes about continually like
a roaring Lion, seeking
whom hee may devoure?
Surely, this malignity is restlesse;
neither wil take up with
any thing on this side hell.
But comfort thy selfe in this,
that in spight of all the malice
of Hell, thou art safe▪
Doest thou not know that
there stands by thee the victorious
Lion of the Tribe of
Iudah, whom that Infernall
Ravener dare not look in the
face? Dost thou not remember,
that when the Sentence
was pronounced of eternall
enmity, between the seed of
the Woman, and the seed of
the Serpent, it was with this
Doome, It shall bruise thy
Head,
Gen. 3. 15.
and thou shalt bruise his
Heel: Loe, a bruise of a mans
heel is farre from the heart;
but a bruise of the Serpents
head is mortall; there his
sting, there his life lies: Neither
did the seed of the woman
(Christ Jesus) this for
himself, (who was infinitely
above all the power and malice
of the Devil) but for us
the impotent and sinful seed
of man:Rom. 16▪ 20.
The God of peace shall
bruise Satan under your feet, saith
the blessed Apostle: Under your
feet; not under his own onely:
of whom God the Father
had long before said,Ps. 11
•
▪
•
▪
Sit thou
on my right hand, till I make thine
enemies thy footstool. Yea, what
do I speak of the future? Already
is this great work done;
already is this great work atchieved:Col. 2. 15.
For the Lord of life,
having spoiled principalities and
powers, hath made a shew of them
openly, triumphing over them on
his Cr
•
ss. Lo, all the powers
of hell were dragg'd after
this glorious Conquerour,
when he was advanced upon
that Triumphant Chariot.
Look therefore, my son, upon
these hellish forces, as already
vanquished; and know, that
in all things we are more then
Conquerours through him that loved
us.
Rom. 8. 37. Onely do thou by the
power of thy faith, apply unto
thy self this great work,
that thy victorious Saviour
hath done for the salvation of
all the world of believers.
§ 4. The great subtilfy of evil spi
rits, and the remedy of the fear of it.
Power without malice
were harmless; and malice
without power were impotent:
but when both are
combined together, they
are dreadful. But, whereas
Malice hath two ways to
execute mischief, either
Force, or Fraud; the malice
of Satan prevails more by
this latter; so as the subtilty
of these malignant spirits is
more pernicious then their
power:Gen. 3.
•
▪
In regard of his power,Rev. 12▪ 9.
he is a Lion; in regard of
his subtilty,Rev. 20▪ 2. he is a Serpent,
yea, that old Serpent, whose
craft must needs be marvellously
increased by the age
and experience of so many
thousand yeers. So much the
more careful ought we to be,
my son,2 Cor. 2. 11.
Lest Satan should get an
advantage of us: This is that he
seeks; and if our spiritual wisdom
& circumspection be not
the more, will be sure to find.
It is a great word, and too
high for us, which the Apostle
speaks;2 Cor. 2. 11.
For we are not ignorant
of Satans devices. Alas, he
hath a thousand stratagems,
that our weak simplicity is
never able to reach unto:
The wisest of us knows not
the deceitfulness of his own
heart, much less can he dive
into the plots of hell that are
against us. We hear, and are
fore-warned of the wiles of
the Devil:Ephes 6. 11. but what his special
machinations are, how
can we know, much less prevent?Luke 16▪ 8.
Even the children of this
world (saith our Saviour) are
in their generation wiser then the
children of light: how much
more crafty is their Father,
from whom their cunning is
derived? Be as mean as thou
wilt, my son, in thine own
eyes; say with Agur the son of
Jakeh,
Prov. 30▪ 2.
Surely, I am more brutish
then any man, and have not the
understanding of a man: I neither
learned wisdom,
Verse 3.
nor have
the knowledge of the holy. But
what ever thou art in thy self,
know what thou art, or mayst
be in thy God: Consider
what the man after Gods
own heart sticks not to profess;Psal. 119▪ 98.
Thou, through thy Commandments,
hast made me wiser
then mine enemies; for they are
ever with me: Lo, the spirit
of wisdom is ours;Deu
•
▪ 3▪ 9▪
and he
who is the eternal Wisdom
of the Father,Ephes. 1▪ 17▪
is made unto
us wisdom,1 Cor. 1▪ 30▪
as well as righteousness:
And he who overrules
hell, hath said, The gates
of hell shall not prevail against
his Church: What are the
gates of hell, but the deep
plots and consul
•
tations of
those infernal powers? The
Serpent is the known embleme
of subtilty: The Serpents
of the Egyptian Sorcerers,
were all devoured by
Moses his Serpent: wherefore?
but to shew us, that all the
crafty counsels and machinations
of hellish projectors,
are easily destroyed by the
power and wisdom of the
Almighty: when all was done,
it was the Rod of God that
swallowed them all, and was
yet still it self, when they
were vanquished: So as that
whereby Satan thought to
have won most honour to
himself, ended in his shame
and loss. What an infinite
advantage did the powers of
darkness think to have made,
in drawing our first Parents
(by their subtil suggestions)
into sin, and thereby into
perdition; as imagining either
mankinde shall not be,
or shall be ours? the incomprehensible
wisdom and mercy
of our God disappointed
their hopes; and took occasion
by mans fall, to raise him
up to a greater glory; and so
ordered it, that the Serpents
nibbling at the heel cost him
the breaking of his head.
What Trophees did that
wicked spirit think to erect
upon the ruines of miserable
Job? and how was he baffled
by the patience of that Saint?
and how was that Saint doubled
both in his estate and
honour, by his conquering
patience? How confidently
did the subtilty of hell say,
concerning the Son of God
exhibited in the flesh;Mat.
•
▪
This is
the heir,
Mark▪
•
▪
come, let us kill him, and
the inheritance shall be ours?
Luke▪
•
▪
How sure work did they think
they had made, when they
saw him, through their subtil
procurement, nailed to the
Cross, and dying upon that
tree of shame and curse;
when they saw him laid dead
under a sealed and guarded
Grave-stone? And now, behold,
even now begins their
Confusion, and his Triumph;
now doth the Lord of Life
begin to trample upon Death
and hell; and to perfect his
own glory, and mans redemption,
by his most glorious resurrection.
And as it was
with the Head, so it is with
the members: when Satan
hath done his worst, they are
holier upon their sins, and
happier by their miscarriages;
God findes out a way to improve
their evils to advantage,
and teaches them of
these Vipers to make soverain
Treacles, and safe and powerful
Trochisces. Shortly, the
temptations of Satan sent out
from his power, malice, subtilty,
are no other then fiery
darts, for their suddenness,
impetuosity, penetration: If
we can but hold out the shield
of faith before us, they shall
not be quenched onely,Eph▪ 6. 16. but
retorted into the face of him
that sends them; and we shall,
with the chosen vessel, finde
and profess,Rom. 8. 37. that in all things
we are more then conquerours,
through him that loved us; and
in a bold defiance of all the
powers of darkness, shall say,
I am perswaded,
Rom. 8. 38.
that neither
death, nor life, nor Angels, nor
Principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come;
nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord;
To whom be all honour,
glory, praise, power
and dominion,
now and
for evermore.
The Vniversal Receit
for all Maladies.
THese are, my son, special
compositions▪ of
wholsome Receits for
the several Maladies of thy
soul: wherein it shall be my
happiness to have suggested
unto thee such thoughts as
may any whit avail to the
alleviation of thy sorrows.
But, there is an universal Remedy,
which a skilfuller
Physitian hath ordained for
all thy grievances; and I from
his hand earnestly recommend
to thee: Is any among
you afflicted?
James 5. 13.
let him pray. Lo
here the great and soverain
Panpharmacum of the distressed
soul, which is able to give
ease to all the fore-mentioned
complaints.
Art thou cast
•
down upon
thy sick bed? Call for the
Elders of the Church,James 5. 14. and let
them pray. This was Hezekiah's
receit, when he was sick
unto death; He turned his face
to the wall,
•
Kings
•
0. 1, 2.
and prayed. This
was David's receit; Have mercy
on me,
Psal. 6. 2.
O Lord, for I am weak; O
Lord heal me, for my bones are
vexed. Take therefore the
counsel of the Wise man; My
son,
•
cclus
•
8▪ 9.
in thy sickness be not negligent,
but pray unto the Lord, and
he will make thee whole.
Art thou soul-sick?
Psal. 18. 5, 6.
pray:
So did holy David; The sorrows
of hell compassed me about,
and the snares of death prevented
me:Psal. 116▪ 3, 4. In my distress I called upon
the Lord, and cried unto my
God.
Art thou infested with importunate
temptations? Pray:
So did S. Paul, when the messenger
of Satan was sent to
buffet him:
•
Cor. 1
•
▪ 8. Thrice I besought
the Lord that it might depart from
me.Psal. 88, 15, 16.
So did David; Whiles I
suffer thy terrours, I am distracted;
thy fierce wrath goeth over me:
But unto thee have I cried,Verse 13 O Lord,
and in the morning shall my prayer
prevent thee.
Art thou disheartned with
the weakness of grace? Pray:
so did David:Psal. 38. 8, 9. I am feeble, and
sore broken, I have roared by reason
of the disquietness of my heart:
Lord, all my desire is before thee.
Art thou afflicted with
the slanders of evil tongues?
Pray:
Psa. 109. 2.
So did David; The
mouth of the wicked, and the
mouth of the deceitful are opened
against me: they have spoken
against me with a lying tongue:
Hold not thy peace,Verse 1. O God of my
praise.
Art thou grieved or affrighted
with the Publike
Calamities of War, Famine,
Pestilence? Pray: So good
Jehosaphat presseth God with
his gracious promise made to
Solomen:
2 Chro. 7. 13, 14, 15.
If when evil cometh
upon us,
2 Chron. 20. 19, 12.
as the sword, judgement,
or pestilence, or famine, we stand
before this house, and in thy presence,
and cry unto thee in our affliction,
then thou wilt hear and
help: and shuts up his zealous
supplication with, Neither know
we what to do, but our eyes are upon
thee.
Art thou afflicted with the
loss of friends? Pray, and
have rec
•
urse to thy God, as
Ezekiel,Ezek. 11▪ 13.
when Peletiah, the
son of Benaiah died: Then fell
I down upon my face, and cried
with a loud voice, and said, Ah
Lord God! wilt thou make a full
end of the remnant of Israel?
Art thou distressed with
Poverty? Pray: So did David:Psa. 109▪ 22, 25, 26.
I am poor and needy, and my
heart is wounded within me: I became
also a reproach to them, when
they that looked upon me, shaked
their heads: Help me, O Lord my
God; Oh save me according to thy
mercy.
Art thou imprisoned?
Pray: So did Jonah, when he
was shut up within the living
wals of the Whale;Jonah 2. 1, 2.
I cried by
reason of my affliction unto the
Lord;
Ps. 79. 11. so did Asaph: Let the
sighing of the Prisoner come before
thee; according to the greatnesse
of thy power preserve thou
them that are appointed to die.
Art thou driven from thy
Country? pray; This is the
remedy prescribed by Solomon,
in his supplication to
God;
2 Chron. 6. If thy people be carried away
into a Land far off, or near:
yet if they bethink themselves in
the Land whither they are carried
and turn,36, 37. and pray to thee, in the
Land of their Captivity.38, 39. If they
return to thee with all their hearts,
and pray towards the Land which
thou gavest to their Fore-fathers,
&c. then hear thou from heaven
their prayer, and their supplication.
Art thou bereaved of thy
bodily senses? Make thy addresse
to him that said,Exod. 4. 11.
Who
hath made mans mouth, or who
maketh the dumb, and the deaf, or
the seeing, or the blind? have
not I the Lord? Cry aloud to
him with Bartimeus,
Mark 10. 47, 51.
Lord, that
I may receive my sight: And if
thou be hopelesse of thine
outward sight, yet pray with
the Psalmist,Psal. 119. 18.
O Lord open thou
mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous
things of thy Law.
Art thou afflicted with sterility?Gen. 25. 21.
pray; so did Isaac, so
did Hannah;
1 Sam. 1. 10. she was in bitternesse
of soul,1 Sam. 2. 21. and prayed unto
the Lord, and wept sore
and received a gracious answer.
Art thou troubled and
weakned with want of rest?
pray;Ps. 77. 3. so did Asaph, I complained,
and my spirit was overwhelmed.Verse 4.
Thou holdest mine eyes waking,
I am so troubled that I cannot
speak:Verse 1. I cryed to God with my
voice, unto God with my voice, and
he gave ear unto me.
Dost thou droop under the
grievances of old age? pray;
so did David;Ps. 71. 9. Oh cast me not
off in the time of old age, forsake
me not when my strength faileth.
O God thou hast taught me from
my youth:Vers. 17, 18. Now also when I am
old, and gray-headed, O God forsake
me not.
Art thou troubled and dismayed
with the feares of
death?
Ps. 88. 3
pray; so did David, My
soul is full of troubles, and my life
draweth nigh unto the grave;Verse 4. I
am counted with them that goe
down into the pit,Verse 5. I am as a man
that hath no strength. Free among
the dead,Vers. 6. thou hast laid me in the
lowest pit, in darknese, in the deeps:
But unto thee have I cried,Vers. 13. O Lord,
and in the morning shall my prayer
prevent thee.
Dost thou tremble at the
thought of judgement? So
did the man after Gods own
heart;
Psal. 119▪ 120. My flesh trembleth for
fear of thee, and I am afraid of
thy judgements; Look up with
Jeremiah, and say to thy Saviour,
Lament. 3. 58, 59.
O Lord, thou hast pleaded
the causes of my soul, thou hast redeemed
my life: O Lord, judge
thou my cause.
Lastly, art thou afraid of
the power, malice, subtilty of
thy spirituall enemies? pray:
so did David; Deliver me from
mine enemies,Ps. 59. 1. O my God, defend
me from them that rise up against
me; Oh hide me from the
secret counsell of the wicked;
Consider mine enemies,Psal. 25. 19, 20. for they
are many, and they hate me with
cruell hatred; O keep my soul,
and deliver me: So did S. Paul
pray,
2 Cor. 12▪
that he might be freed
from the messenger of Satan
whose buffets he felt, and was
answered with, My Grace is
sufficient for thee; so he sues
for all Gods Saints, May the
God of peace tread down Satan under
your feet shortly.Rom. 16▪ 19.
Shortly, what ever evill it
be that presseth thy soul, have
speedy recourse to the throne
of Grace; pour out thy heart
into the eares of the Father of
all mercies,2 Cor. 1. 3. and God of all
comfort, and be sure, if not
of redresse, yet of ease: We
have his word for it that cannot
not fail us; Call upon me in the
day of trouble,
Psal. 50. 15.
I will deliver
thee, and thou shalt glorifie mee:
Fashionable suppliants may
talk to God; but be confident,
he that can truly pray,
can never be truly miserable:
Of our selves we lie open to
all evils; our rescue is from
above; aud what entercourse
have we with heaven but by
our prayers? Our prayers are
they that can deliver us from
dangers, avert judgements,
prevent mischiefs, procure
blessings; that can obtain pardon
for our sins, furnish us
with strength against temptations,
mitigate the extremity
of our sufferings, sustain our
infirmities, raise up our dejectednesse,
increase our
graces, abate our corruptions,
sanctifie all good things to
us, sweeten the bitternesse of
our afflictions, open the windows
of heaven, shut up the
bars of death, vanquish
the powers of hell:
Pray, and be both
safe, and
happy.
FINIS.