the inward teachings of God, doubtless thy afflictions are in love, Job

the inward teachings of God, doubtless thy afflictions are in love, Job

Christ, Isa. 26:8–10, Jer. 6:3, Amos 6:1. If by thy afflictions thou art

made more holy, humble, heavenly, &c., they are in love. Every

afflicted Christian should strive to be honoured with that eulogy of

Salvian, Singularis domini prœclarus imitator, an excellent disciple

of a singular master. But,

5. Fifthly, If by outward afflictions thy soul be brought more under

the inward teachings of God, doubtless thy afflictions are in love, Job

34:31, 32: Ps. 94:12, 'Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O

Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.' All the chastening in the

world, without divine teaching, will never make a man blessed; that

man that finds correction attended with instruction, and lashing with

lessoning, is a happy man. If God, by the affliction that is upon thee,

shall teach thee how to loathe sin more, how to trample upon the

world more, and how to walk with God more, thy afflictions are in

love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions how to die to sin more, and

how to die to thy relations more, and how to die to thy self-interest

more, thy afflictions are in love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions

how to live to Christ more, how to lift up Christ more, and how to

long for Christ more, thy afflictions are in love. If God shall teach

thee by afflictions to get assurance of a better life, and to be still in a

gracious readiness and preparedness for the day of thy death, thy

afflictions are in love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions how to

mind heaven more, how to live in heaven more, and how to fit for

heaven more, thy afflictions are in love. If God by afflictions shall

teach thy proud heart how to lie more low, and thy hard heart how to

grow more humble, and thy censorious heart how to grow more

charitable, and thy carnal heart how to grow more spiritual, and thy

froward heart how to grow more quiet, &c., thy afflictions are in love.

When God teaches thy reins as well as thy brains, thy heart as well as

thy head, these lessons, or any of these lessons, thy afflictions are in

love. Pambo, an illiterate dunce, as the historian terms him, was a-

learning that one lesson, 'I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin

not with my tongue,' nineteen years, and yet had not learned it. Ah! it

is to be feared that there are many who have been in the school of

affliction above this nineteen years, and yet have not learned any

saving lesson all this while. Surely their afflictions are not in love, but

in wrath. Where God loves, he afflicts in love, and wherever God

afflicts in love, there he will, first or last, teach such souls such

lessons as shall do them good to all eternity. But,

(6.) Sixthly, If God suit your burdens to your backs, your trials to

your strength, according to that golden promise, 1 Cor. 10:13, your

afflictions are in love. 'There hath no temptation taken you, but such

as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to

be tempted above what ye are able; but will with the temptation also

make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.' When God's

strokes and a Christian's strength are suited one to another, all is in

love, Isa. 27:8, Jer. 30:11, 46:28. Let the load be never so heavy that

God lays on, if he put under his everlasting arms, all is in love, Gen.

49:23, 24. As Egypt had many venomous creatures, so it had many

antidotes against them. When God shall lay antidotes into the soul

against all the afflictions that befall a Christian, then they are all in

love. It is no matter how heavy the burden is, if God gives a shoulder

to bear it: all is in love; it is no matter how bitter the cup is, if God

give courage to drink it off; it is no matter how hot the furnace is, if

God gives power to walk in the midst of it: all is in love.

(7.) Seventhly, If thou art willing to lie in the furnace till thy dross be

consumed; if thou art willing that the plaster should lie on, though it

smart, till the cure be wrought; if thou art willing that the physic

should work, though it makes thee sick, till the humours be expelled;

all is in love, Job 23:10, Micah 7:9. Cain, and Saul, and Pharaoh,

were all for the removing away of the stroke, the affliction; they cry

not out, 'Our sins are greater than we are able to bear,' but they cry

out, 'Our punishment is greater than we are able to bear;' they cry

not out, 'Lord, take away our sins,' but 'Lord, remove the stroke of

thy hand.' Oh! but when an affliction comes in love upon a soul, the

language of that soul is this: Lord, remove the cause rather than the

effect, the sin rather than the punishment, my corruption rather than

my affliction. Lord! what will it avail me to have the sore skinned

over, if the corrupt matter still remain in? there is no evil, Lord, to

the evil of sin; and therefore deliver me rather from the evil of sin

than the evil of suffering. I know, Lord, that affliction cannot be so

displeasing to me as sin is dishonourable and displeasing to thee;

and therefore, Lord, let me see an end of my sin, though in this world

I should never see an end of my sorrows; oh, let me see an end of my

corruptions, though I should never see an end of my corrections;

Lord, I had rather have a cure for my heart than a cure for my head, I

had rather be made whole and sound within than without, I had

rather have a healthy soul than a healthy body, a pure inside than a

beautiful outside. If this be the settled frame and temper of thy spirit,

certainly thy afflictions are in love.

There was one who, being under marvellous great pains and

torments in his body, occasioned by many sore diseases that were

upon him, cried out, Had I all the world I would give it for ease, and

yet for all the world I would not have ease till the cure be wrought.

Sure his afflictions were in love. The first request, the great request,

and the last request of a soul afflicted in love, is, A cure, Lord! a cure,

Lord! a cure, Lord! of this wretched heart, and this sinful life, and all

will be well, all will be well.

(8.) Eighthly and lastly, If you live a life of faith in your afflictions,

then your afflictions are in love. Now, what is it to live by faith in

affliction, but to live in the exercising of faith upon those precious

promises that are made over to an afflicted condition? God hath

promised to be with his people in their afflictions, Isa. 43:2, 3; he

hath promised to support them under their affliction, Isa. 41:10; he

hath promised to deliver his people out of their afflictions, Ps. 50:15;

he hath promised to purge away his people's sins by affliction, Isa.

1:25; he hath promised to make his people more partakers of his

holiness by affliction, Heb. 12:10; he hath promised to make

affliction an inlet to a more full and sweet enjoyment of himself, Hos.

2:14; he hath promised that he will never leave nor forsake his people

in their afflictions, Heb. 13:5, 6; he hath promised that all their

afflictions shall work for their good, Zech. 13:9, Rom. 8:28. Now if

thy faith be drawn forth to feed upon these promises, if these be

heavenly manna to thy faith, and thy soul lives upon them, and sucks

strength and sweetness from them, under all the trials and troubles

that are upon thee, thy afflictions are in love.

A bee can suck honey out of a flower, which a fly cannot. If thy faith

can extract comfort and sweetness in thy saddest distresses, out of

the breasts of precious promises, and gather one contrary out of

another, honey out of the rock, Deut. 32:13, thy afflictions are in love.

The promises are full breasts, and God delights that faith should

draw them; they are pabulum fidei, et anima fidei, the food of faith,

and the very soul of faith; they are an everlasting spring that can

never be drawn dry; they are an inexhaustible treasure that can never

be exhausted; they are the garden of paradise, and full of such choice

flowers that will never fade, but be always fresh, sweet, green, and

flourishing; and if, in the day of affliction, they prove thus to thy

soul, thy afflictions are in love. Sertorius paid what he promised with

fair words, but so doth not God. Men many times eat their words, but

God will never eat his; all his promises in Christ are yea and in him

amen, 1 Cor. 1:20. Hath he spoken it, and shall it not come to pass? If

in all thy troubles thy heart be drawn forth to act faith upon the

promises, thy troubles are from love. And thus much by way of

answer to the first objection.

Objection 2

Obj. 2. Oh, but, sir! the Lord hath smitten me in my nearest and

dearest comforts and contentments, and how then can I hold my

peace? God hath taken away a husband, a wife, a child, an only child,

a bosom-friend, and how then can I be silent? &c.

Ans. To this I answer,

(1.) First, If God did not strike thee in that mercy which was near and

dear unto thee, it would not amount to an affliction. That is not

worthy the name of an affliction that does not strike at some bosom

mercy; that trouble is no trouble that doth not touch some choice

contentment; that storm is no storm that only blows off the leaves,

but never hurts the fruit; that thrust is no thrust that only touches

the clothes, but never reaches the skin; that cut is no cut that only

cuts the hat, but never touches the head; neither is that affliction any

affliction that only reaches some remote enjoyment, but never

reaches a Joseph, a Benjamin, &c.

(2.) Secondly, The best mercy is not too good for the best God. The

best of the best is not good enough for him who is goodness itself;

the best child, the best yoke-fellow, the best friend, the best jewel in

all thy crown must be readily resigned to thy best God. There is no

mercy, no enjoyment, no contentment worthy of God, but the best.

The milk of mercy is for others, the cream of mercy is due to God.

The choicest, the fairest, and the sweetest flowers, are fittest for the

bosom of God; if he will take the best flower in all the garden, and

plant it in a better soil, hast thou any cause to murmur? Wilt thou

not hold thy peace? Mal. 1:13, 14.

(3.) Thirdly, Your near and dear mercies were first the Lord's before

they were yours, and always the Lord's more than they were yours.

When God gives a mercy, he doth not relinquish his own right in that

mercy: 1 Chron. 29:14, 'All things come of thee, and of thine own

have we given thee.' The sweet of mercy is yours, but the sovereign

right to dispose of your mercies is the Lord's. Quicquid es, debes

creanti; quicquid potes, debes redimenti [Bernard], whatsoever thou

art, thou owest to him that made thee; and whatsoever thou hast,

thou owest to him that redeemed thee. You say it is but just and

reasonable that men should do with their own as they please, and is

it not just and reasonable that God, who is Lord paramount, should

do with his own as he pleases? Dost thou believe that the great God

may do in heaven what he pleases? and on the seas what he pleases?

and in the nations and kingdoms of the world what he pleases? and

in thy heart what he pleases? And dost thou not believe that God may

do in thy house what he pleases, and do with thy mercies what he

pleases? Job 9:12, 'Behold, he taketh away,' or he snatcheth away, it

may be a husband, a wife, a child, an estate, 'who can hinder him?

Who will say unto him, what doest thou?' Who dares cavil against

God? Who dares question that God that is unquestionable, that chief

Lord that is uncontrollable, and who may do with his own what he

pleaseth? Dan. 4:35, 'And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed

as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven,

and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand,

or say unto him, What doest thou?' Where is the prince, the peasant,

the master, the servant, the husband, the wife, the father, the child,

that dares say to God, What doest thou? Isa. 45:9. In matters of

arithmetical accounts, set one against ten, ten against a hundred, a

hundred against a thousand, a thousand against ten thousand,

although there be great odds, yet there is some comparison; but if a

man could set down an infinite number, then there could be no

comparison at all, because the one is infinite, the other finite; so set

all the princes and powers of the earth in opposition to God, they

shall never be able to withstand him. It was once the saying of

Pompey, that with one stamp of his foot he could raise all Italy in

arms; but let the great God but stamp with his foot, and he can raise

all the world in arms, to own him, to contend for him, or to revenge

any affronts that by any are put upon him, and therefore who shall

say unto him, What doest thou? Water is stronger than earth, fire

stronger than water, angels stronger than men, and God stronger

than them all; and therefore who shall say unto God, What doest

thou; when he takes their nearest and their dearest mercies from

them? But,

(4.) Fourthly, It may be thou hast not made a happy improvement of

thy near and dear mercies whilst thou enjoyedst them. Thou hast

been taken with thy mercies, but thy heart hath not been taken up in

the improvement of them. There are many who are very much taken

with their mercies, who make no conscience of improving their

mercies. Have thy near and dear mercies been a star to lead thee to

Christ? Have they been a cloud by day, and a pillar of light by night,

to lead thee towards the heavenly Canaan? Have they been a Jacob's

ladder to thy soul? Hast thou by them been provoked to give up

thyself to God as a living sacrifice? Rom. 12:1. Hast thou improved

thy near and dear mercies to the inflaming of thy love to God, to the

strengthening of thy confidence in God, to the raising of thy

communion with God, and to the engaging of thy heart to a more

close and circumspect walking before God? &c. If thou hast not thus

improved them, thou hast more cause to be mute than to murmur, to

be silent than to be impatient, to fall out with thyself than to fall out

with thy God. Children and fools are taken with many things, but

improve nothing. Such children and fools are most men; they are

much taken with their mercies, but they make no improvement of

their mercies; and therefore no wonder if God strip them of their

mercies. The candle of mercy is set up not to play by, but to work by.

Pliny speaks of one Cressinus, who improved a little piece of ground

to a far greater advantage than his neighbours could a greater

quantity of land. Thereupon he was accused of witchcraft; but he, to

defend himself, brought into the court his servants and their working

tools, and said, Veneficia mea, Quirites, hœc sunt, these are my

witchcrafts, O ye Romans; these servants, and these working tools,

are all the witchcraft that I know of. When the people heard this plea,

with one consent they acquitted him, and declared him not guilty;

and so his little piece of ground was secured to him. There is no way

to secure your mercies but by improving of them; there is nothing

that provokes God to strip you of your mercies like the non-

improvement of them: Mat. 25:28–31, 'Take therefore the talent

from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.' By some

stroke or other God will take away the mercy that is not improved. If

thy slothfulness hath put God upon passing a sentence of death upon

the dearest mercy, thank thyself, and hold thy peace.

(5.) Fifthly, If in this case God had made thee a precedent to others,

thou must have held thy peace; how much more, then, shouldst thou

be mute when God hath made many others precedents to thee! Did

not God smite Aaron in his dear and near enjoyments, Lev. 10:1, 2,

and doth he not hold his peace? Did not God smite David in his

Absalom, and Abraham in his Sarah, and Job in his sons, daughters,

estate, and body, and Jonah in his gourd? Art thou more beloved

than these? No. Hast thou more grace than these? No. Hast thou

done more for divine glory than these? No. Art thou richer in

spiritual experiences than these? No. Hast thou attained to higher

enjoyments than these? No. Hast thou been more serviceable in thy

generation than these? No. Hast thou been more exemplary in thy

life and conversation than these? &c. No. Then why shouldst thou

murmur and fret at that which hath been the common lot of the

dearest saints?

Though God hath smitten thee in this or that near and dear

enjoyment, it is thy wisdom to hold thy peace, for that God that hath

taken away one, might have taken away all. Justice writes a sentence

of death upon all Job's mercies at once, and yet he holds his peace,

Job 1; and wilt not thou hold thine, though God hath cropped the

fairest flower in all thy garden?

Anytus, a young spark of Athens, came revelling into Alcibiades's

house; and as he sat at supper with some strangers, he arose on a

sudden, and took away one half of his place.2 Thereupon the guests

stormed, and took on at it. He bade them be quiet, and told them

that he had dealt kindly with him, since that he had left the one half,

whereas he might have taken all. So when our hearts begin to storm

and take on when God smites us in this near mercy and in that dear

enjoyment, oh let us lay the law of silence upon our hearts! let us

charge our souls to be quiet! for that God that hath taken away one

child, might have took away every child; and he that hath taken away

one friend, might have taken away every friend; and he that hath

taken away a part of thy estate, might have taken away thy whole

estate: therefore hold thy peace; let who will murmur, yet be thou

mute.

(6.) Sixthly, It may be thy sins have been much about thy near and

dear enjoyments. It may be thou hast over-loved them, and over-

prized them, and over-much delighted thyself in them; it may be they

have often had thy heart, when they should have had but thy hand; it

may be that care, that fear, that confidence, that joy that should have

been expended upon more noble objects, hath been expended upon

them. Thy heart, O Christian! is Christ's bed of spices, and it may be

thou hast bedded thy mercies with thee, when Christ hath been put

to lie in an outhouse, Luke 2:7; thou hast had room for them, when

thou hast had none for him; they have had the best, when the worst

have been counted good enough for Christ. It is said of Reuben, that

he went up to his father's bed, Gen. 49:4. Ah! how often hath one

creature comfort and sometimes another put in between Christ and

your souls! how often have your dear enjoyments gone up to Christ's

bed! It is said of the Babylonians, that they came in to Aholah and

Aholibah's bed of love, Ezek. 23:17; may it not be said of your near

and dear mercies, that they have come into Christ's bed of love, your

hearts; they being that bed wherein Christ delights to rest and repose

himself? Cant. 3:7. Now, if a husband, a child, a friend shall take up

that room in thy soul that is proper and peculiar to God, God will

either embitter it, remove it, or be the death of it. If once the love of a

wife runs out more to a servant than to her husband, the master will

turn him out of doors, though otherwise he were a servant worth

gold. The sweetest comforts of this life, they are but like treasures of

snow; now do but take a handful of snow, and crush it in your hands,

and it will melt away presently; but if you let it lie upon the ground, it

will continue for some time. And so it is with the contentments of

this world; if you grasp them in your hands and lay them too near

your hearts, they will quickly melt and vanish away; but if you will

not hold them too fast in your hands, nor lay them too close to your

hearts, they will abide the longer with you. There are those that love

their mercies into their graves, that hug their mercies to death, that

kiss them till they kill them. Many a man hath slain his mercies, by

setting too great a value upon them; many a man hath sunk his ship

of mercy, by taking up in it; over-loved mercies are seldom long

lived: Ezek. 24:21, 'When I take from them the joy of their glory, the

desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their

sons and their daughters.' The way to lose your mercies is to indulge

them; the way to destroy them is to fix your minds and hearts upon

them. Thou mayest write bitterness and death upon that mercy first

that hath first taken away thy heart from God. Now, if God hath

stripped thee of that very mercy with which thou hast often

committed spiritual adultery and idolatry, hast thou any cause to

murmur? Hast thou not rather cause to hold thy peace, and to be

mute before the Lord? Christians, your hearts are Christ's royal

throne, and in this throne Christ will be chief, as Pharaoh said to

Joseph, Gen. 41:40; he will endure no competitor. If you shall

attempt to throne the creature, be it never so near and dear unto you,

Christ will dethrone it, he will destroy it; he will quickly lay them in a

bed of dust who shall aspire to his royal throne. But,

(7.) Seventhly, Thou hast no cause to murmur because of the loss of

such near and dear enjoyments, considering those more noble and

spiritual mercies and favours that thou still enjoyest. Grant that

Joseph is not, and Benjamin is not, Gen. 42:36, yet Jesus is; he is

yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever, Heb. 13:8; thy union

and communion with Christ remains still; the immortal seed abides

in thee still, 1 John 3:9; the Sun of righteousness shines upon thee

still; thou art in favour with God still, and thou art under the

anointings of the Spirit still, and under the influences of heaven still,

&c.; and why then shouldst thou mutter, and not rather hold thy

peace? I have read of one Didymus, a godly preacher, who was blind;

Alexander, a godly man, once asked him, whether he was not sore

troubled and afflicted for want of his sight? Oh yes! said Didymus, it

is a great affliction and grief unto me. Then Alexander chid him,

saying, Hath God given you the excellency of an angel, of an apostle,

and are you troubled for that which rats and mice and brute beasts

have? So say I. Ah, Christians! hath God blessed you with all spiritual

blessings in heavenly places? Eph. 1:3, 4. Hath the Lord given you

himself for a portion? Hath he given you his Son for your

redemption, and his Spirit for your instruction; and will you

murmur? Hath he given his grace to adorn you, his promises to

comfort you, his ordinances to better you, and the hopes of heaven to

encourage you; and will you mutter? Paulinus Nolanus, when his city

was taken from him, prayed thus: Lord! said he, let me not be

troubled at the loss of my gold, silver, honour, &c., for thou art all,

and much more than all, these unto me. In the want of all your

sweetest enjoyments, Christ will be all in all unto you, Col. 3:11. My

jewels are my husband, said Phocion's wife; my ornaments are my

two sons, said the mother of the Gracchi; my treasures are my

friends, said Constantius; and so may a Christian under his greatest

losses say, Christ is my richest jewels, my chiefest treasures, my best

ornaments, my sweetest delights. Look what all these things are to a

carnal heart, a worldly heart, that and more is Christ to me.

(8.) Eighthly, If God, by smiting thee in thy nearest and dearest

enjoyments, shall put thee upon a more thorough smiting and

mortifying of thy dearest sins, thou hast no cause to murmur. God

cures David of adultery by killing his endeared child. There is some

Delilah, some darling, some beloved sin or other, that a Christian's

calling, condition, constitution, or temptations leads him to play

withal, and to hug in his own bosom, rather than some other, Ps.

18:23, Heb. 12:1. As in a ground that lieth untilled, amongst the great

variety of weeds there is usually some master-weed that is rifer and

ranker than all the rest; and as it is in the body of man, that although

in some degree or other, more or less, there be a mixture of all the

four elements, not any of them wholly, wanting, yet there is some

one of them predominant that gives the denomination, in which

regard some are said to be of a sanguine, some of a phlegmatic, some

of a choleric, and some of a melancholic constitution; so it is also in

the souls of men: though there be a general mixture and medley of all

evil and corrupt qualities, yet there is some one usually that is

paramount, which, like the prince of devils, is most powerful and

prevalent, that swayeth and sheweth forth itself more eminently and

evidently than any other of them do. And as in every man's body

there is a seed and principle of death, yet in some there is a

proneness to one kind of disease more than other that may hasten

death; so, though the root of sin and bitterness hath spread itself

over all, yet every man hath his inclination to one kind of sin rather

than another, and this may be called a man's proper sin, his bosom

sin, his darling sin. Now, it is one of the hardest works in this world

to subdue and bring under this bosom sin. Oh! the prayers, the tears,

the sighs, the sobs, the groans, the gripes that it will cost a Christian

before he brings under this darling sin!

Look upon a rabbit's skin, how well it comes off till it comes to the

head, but then what hauling and pulling is there before it stirs! So it

is in the mortifying, in the crucifying of sin; a man may easily subdue

and mortify such and such sins, but when it comes to the head-sin, to

the master-sin, to the bosom-sin, oh! what tugging and pulling is

there! what striving and struggling is there to get off that sin, to get

down that sin! Now, if the Lord, by smiting thee in some near and

dear enjoyment, shall draw out thy heart to fall upon smiting of thy

master-sin, and shall so sanctify the affliction, as to make it issue in

the mortification of thy bosom corruption, what eminent cause wilt

thou have rather to bless him, than to sit down and murmur against

him! And doubtless if thou art dear to God, God will, by striking thy

dearest mercy, put thee upon striking at thy darling sin; and

therefore hold thy peace, even then when God touches the apple of

thine eye.

(9.) Ninthly, consider That the Lord hath many ways to make up the

loss of a near and dear mercy to thee; he can make up thy loss in

something else that may be better for thee, and he will certainly

make up thy loss, either in kind or in worth, Mat. 19:27–30. He took

from David an Absalom, and he gave him a Solomon; he took from

him a Michal, and gave him a wise Abigail; he took from Job seven

sons and three daughters, and" afterwards he gives him seven sons

and three daughters; he took from Job a fair estate, and at last

doubled it to him; he removed the bodily presence of Christ from his

disciples, but gave them more abundantly of his spiritual presence,

which was far the greater and the sweeter mercy. If Moses be taken

away, Joshua shall be raised in his room; if David be gathered to his

fathers, a Solomon shall succeed him in his throne; if John be cast

into prison, rather than the pulpit shall stand empty, a greater than

John, even Christ himself, will begin to preach. He that lives upon

God in the loss of creature comforts, shall find all made up in the

God of comforts; he shall be able to say, Though my child is not, my

friend is not, my yoke-fellow is not, yet my God liveth, and 'blessed

be my rock,' Ps. 89:26. Though this mercy is not, and that mercy is

not, yet covenant-mercies, yet 'the sure mercies of David' continue, 2

Sam. 23:5; these bed and board with me, these will to the grave and

to glory with me. I have read of a godly man, who, living near a

philosopher, did often persuade him to become a Christian. Oh! but,

said the philosopher, I must, or may, lose all for Christ; to which the

good man replied, if you lose anything for Christ, he will be sure to

repay it a hundredfold. Ay, but, said the philosopher, will you be

bound for Christ, that if he doth not pay me, you will? Yes, that I will,

said the good man. So the philosopher became a Christian, and the

good man entered into bond for performance of covenants. Some

time after it happened that the philosopher fell sick on his deathbed,

and, holding the bond in his hand, sent for the party engaged, to

whom he gave up the bond, and said, Christ hath paid all, there is

nothing for you to pay, take your bond, and cancel it. Christ will

suffer none of his children to go by the loss; he hath all, and he will

make up all to them. In the close, Christ will pay the reckoning. No

man shall ever have cause to say that he hath been a loser by Christ.

And, therefore, thou hast much cause to be mute, thou hast no cause

to murmur, though God hath snatched the fairest and the sweetest

flower out of thy bosom.

(10.) Tenthly, How canst thou tell but that which thou callest a near

and dear mercy, if it had been continued longer to thee, might have

proved the greatest cross, the greatest calamity and misery that ever

thou didst meet with in this world? Our mercies, like choice wines,

many times turn into vinegar; our fairest hopes are often blasted;

and that very mercy which we sometimes have said should be a staff

to support us, hath proved a sword to pierce us. How often have our

most flourishing mercies withered in our hands, and our bosom

contentments been turned into gall and wormwood! If God had

continued the life of David's child to him, it would have been but a

living monument of his sin and shame; and all that knew the child

would have pointed at him, Yonder goes David's bastard; and so have

kept David's wound still a-bleeding, 2 Sam. 12:16, Many parents who

have sought the lives of their children with tears, have lived

afterwards to see them take such courses and come to such dismal

ends as have brought their grey head with sorrow to their graves. It

had been ten thousand times a greater mercy to many parents to

have buried their children so soon as ever they had been born, than

to see them come to such unhappy ends as they often do. Well!

Christian, it may be the Lord hath taken from thee such a hopeful

son, or such a dear daughter, and thou sayest, How can I hold my

peace? but hark, Christian, hark, canst thou tell me how long thou

must have travailed in birth with them again before they had been

twice born? Would not every sin that they had committed against thy

gracious God caused a new throe in thy soul? Would not every

temptation that they had fallen before been as a dagger at thy heart?

Would not every affliction that should have befallen them been as a

knife at thy throat? What are those pains, and pangs, and throes of

child-birth to those after pains, pangs, and throes that might have

been brought upon thee by the sins and sufferings of thy children?

Well! Christians, hold your peace, for you do not know what thorns

in your eyes, what goads in your sides, nor what spears in your

hearts, such near and dear mercies might have proved had they been

longer continued.

(11.) Eleventhly, Thou canst not tell how bad thy heart might have

proved under the enjoyment of those near and dear mercies that now

thou hast lost. Israel were very bad whilst they were in the

wilderness, but they were much worse when they came to possess

Canaan, that land of desires. Man's blood is apt to rise with the

outward good. In the winter, men gird their clothes close about

them, but in the summer they let them hang loose. In the winter of

adversity, many a Christian girds his heart close to God, to Christ, to

gospel, to godliness, to ordinances, to duties, &c., who in the summer

of mercy hangs loose from all.

I have read of the pine tree, that, if the bark be pulled off, it will last a

long time; but if it continue long on, it rots the tree. Ah! how bad,

how rotten, how base, would many have proved, had God not pulled

off their bark of health, wealth, friendship! &c. Near and dear

relations, they stick as close to us as the bark of a tree sticks to the

tree, and if God should not pull off this bark, how apt should we be to

rot and corrupt ourselves; therefore God is fain to bark us, and peel

us, and strip us naked and bare of our dearest enjoyments and

sweetest contentments, that so our souls, like the pine tree, may

prosper and thrive the better. Who can seriously consider of this, and

not hold his peace, even then when God takes a jewel out of his

bosom? Heap all the sweetest contentments and most desirable

enjoyments of this world upon a man, they will not make him a

Christian; heap them upon a Christian, they will not make him a

better Christian. Many a Christian hath been made worse by the

good things of this world; but where is the Christian that hath been

bettered by them? Therefore be quiet when God strips thee of them.

(12.) Twelfthly, and lastly, Get thy heart more affected with spiritual

losses, and then thy soul will be less afflicted with those temporal

losses that thou mournest under. Hast thou lost nothing of that

presence of God that once thou hadst with thy spirit? Hast thou lost

none of those warnings, meltings, quickenings, and cheerings that

once thou hadst? Hast thou lost nothing of thy communion with

God, nor of the joys of the Spirit, nor of that peace of conscience that

once thou enjoyedst? Hast thou lost none of that ground that once

thou hadst got upon sin, Satan, and the world? Hast thou lost

nothing of that holy vigour and heavenly heat that once thou hadst in

thy heart? If thou hast not, which would be a miracle, a wonder; why

dost thou complain of this or that temporal loss? For what is this but

to complain of the loss of thy purse, when thy God2 is safe? If thou

art a loser in spirituals, why dost thou not rather complain that thou

hast lost thy God than that thou hast lost thy gold; and that thou hast

lost thy Christ than that thou hast lost thy husband; and that thou

hast lost thy child, and that thou art damnified in spirituals than that

thou art damnified in temporals? Dost thou mourn over the body the

soul hath left? mourn rather over the soul that God hath forsaken, as

Samuel did for Saul, saith one. 1 Sam. 15:14, seq.

I have read of Honorius, a Roman emperor, who was simple and

childish enough; when one told him Rome was lost, he was

exceedingly grieved, and cried out, Alas! alas! for he supposed that it

was his hen that was called Rome, which hen he exceedingly loved;

but when it was told him it was his imperial city of Rome, that was

besieged by Alaricus, and taken, and all the citizens rifled, and made

a prey to the rude enraged soldiers, then his spirits were revived that

his loss was not so great as he imagined. Now, what is the loss of a

husband, a wife, a child, a friend, to the loss of God, Christ, the

Spirit, or the least measure of grace or communion with God? &c. I

say. What are all such losses, but the loss of a hen to the loss of

Rome? And yet so simple and childish are many Christians, that they

are more affected and afflicted with the loss of this and that poor

temporal enjoyment than they are with the loss of their most

spiritual attaiments. Ah, Christians! be but more affected with

spiritual losses, and you will be more quiet and silent under temporal

losses. Let the loss of Rome trouble you more, and then the loss of

your hen will not trouble you at all. Let these things suffice for

answer to the second objection.

Objection 3

Obj. 3. Oh, but my afflictions, my troubles have been long upon me!

and how then can I hold my peace? Were they but of yesterday, I

would be quiet; but they are of a long continuance; and therefore

how can I be silent, &c.?

To this I answer,

(1.) First, Thou canst not date thy affliction from the first day of thy

pollution. Thou hast been polluted from the womb, but thou hast not

been afflicted from the womb, Ps. 51:5; many have been the days, the

years, since thou wast born in sin; few have been the days, the years,

that thou hast experienced sorrow. Thou canst not easily number the

days of thy sinning, thou canst easily number the days of thy

sufferings; thou canst not number thy days of mercy, thou canst

easily number thy days of calamity; thou canst not number thy days

of health, but thou canst easily tell over thy days of sickness.

(2.) Secondly, Thy afflictions are not so long as the afflictions of other

saints. Compare thy winter nights and other saints' winter nights

together; thy storms and troubles and other saints' storms and

troubles together; thy losses and other saints' losses together; thy

miseries and other saints' miseries together; witness the proofs in the

margin. Thy afflictions are but as a moment, they are but as

yesterday compared with the afflictions of other saints, whose whole

lives have been made up of sorrows and sufferings, as the life of

Christ was. Many a man's life hath been nothing but a lingering

death: Job 21:25, 'And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and

never eateth with pleasure.' There are those that have never a good

day all their days, who have not a day of rest among all their days of

trouble, nor a day of health among all their days of sickness, nor a

day of gladness among all their days of sadness, nor a day of strength

among all their days of weakness, nor a day of honour among all

their days of reproach; whose whole life is one continued winter's

night, who every day drink gall and wormwood, who lie down

sighing, who rise groaning, and who spend their days in

complaining, 'No sorrow to our sorrows, no sufferings to our

sufferings!' Some there be who have always tears in their eyes,

sorrows in their hearts, rods on their backs, and crosses in their

hands: but it is not so with thee; therefore be silent.

(3.) Thirdly, The longer thy affliction hath been, the sweeter will

heaven be to thee at last; the longer the Israelites had been in the

wilderness, the sweeter was Canaan to them at last; the longer the

storm, the sweeter the calm; the longer the winter nights, the sweeter

the summer days. Long afflictions will much set off the glory of

heaven. The harbour is most sweet and desirable to them that have

been long tossed upon the seas; so will heaven be to those who have

been long in a sea of trouble. The new wine of Christ's kingdom is

most sweet to those that have been long a-drinking of gall and

vinegar, Luke 22:18; the crown of glory will be most delightful to

them who have been long in combating with the world, the flesh, and

the devil. The longer our journey is, the sweeter will be our end, and

the longer our passage is, the sweeter will our haven be. The higher

the mountain, the gladder we shall be when we are got to the top of

it; the longer the heir is kept from his inheritance, the more delight

he will have when he comes to possess it.

(4.) Fourthly, They are not long, but short, if compared to that

eternity of glory that is reserved for the saints, 2 Cor. 4:16–18. If you

turn to the words, you shall find for affliction, glory; for light

afflictions, a weight of glory; and for short momentany afflictions,

eternal glory. There will quickly be an end of thy sadness, but there

will never be an end of thy happiness; there will soon be an end of

thy calamity and misery, there will never be an end of thy felicity and

glory.3 The kingdoms of this world are not lasting, much less are

they everlasting; they have all their climacterical years, but the

kingdom of heaven is an everlasting kingdom; of that there is no end.

There are seven sorts of crowns that were in use among the Roman

victors, but they were all fading and perishing; but the crown of glory

that at last God will set upon the heads of his saints, shall continue as

long as God himself continues. Who can look upon those eternal

mansions that are above, and those everlasting pleasures that be at

God's right hand, and say, that his affliction is long? Well! Christian,

let thy affliction be never so long, yet one hour's being in the bosom

of Christ will make thee forget both the length and strength of all thy

afflictions.

(5.) Fifthly, The longer you have been afflicted, the more in spiritual

experiences you have been enriched: 2 Cor. 1:5, 'For as the sufferings

of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.'

The lower the ebb the higher the tide, the more pain the more gain,

the more afflicted the more comforted, the lower we are cast the

higher we shall be raised. Of all Christians, none so rich in spiritual

experiences, as those that have been long in the school of affliction.

Oh! the blessed stories that such can tell of the power of God

supporting them, of the wisdom of God directing them, of the favour

of God comforting them, of the presence of God assisting them. Oh!

the love-tokens, the love-letters, the bracelets, the jewels that they

are able to produce since they have been in the furnace of affliction.

Oh! the sin that long afflictions have discovered and mortified. Oh!

the temptations that long afflictions have prevented and vanquished.

You shall as soon number the stars of heaven and the sands of the

sea, as you shall number up the heavenly experiences of such

Christians that have been long under afflictions. The afflicted

Christian's heart is fullest of spiritual treasure. Though he may be

poor in the world, yet he is rich in faith and holy experiences, James

2:5; and what are all the riches of this world to spiritual experiences?

One spiritual experience is more worth than a world, and upon a

dying bed and before a judgment-seat, every man will be of this

opinion. The men of this world will with much quietness and

calmness of spirit bear much, and suffer much, and suffer long, when

they find their sufferings to add to their revenues; and shall nature

do more than grace? It is the common voice of nature, 'Who will

shew us any good?' Ps. 4:6; how shall we come to be great, and high,

and rich in the world? We care not what we suffer, nor how long we

suffer, so we may but add house to house, heap to heap, bag to bag,

and land to land, Isa. 5:8. Oh how much more then should Christians

be quiet and calm under all their afflictions, though they are never so

long, considering that they do but add jewels to a Christian's crown;

they do but add to his spiritual experiences. The long afflicted

Christian hath the fullest and the greatest trade; and in the day of

account, will be found the richest man.

(6.) Sixthly, Long afflictions sometimes are but preparatives to long-

lived mercies. Joseph's thirteen years' imprisonment was but a

preparative to fourscore years' reigning like a king; David's seven

years' banishment was but a preparative to forty years' reigning in

much honour and glory; Job's long afflictions were but preparatives

to more long-lived mercies, as you may see in that last of Job; and

those sad and sore trials that the Jews have been under for above

these sixteen hundred years, are to prepare them for those matchless

mercies, and those endless glories, in some sense, that God in the

latter days will crown them with: Isa. 54:11–14, 'O thou afflicted,

tossed with tempests, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones

with fair colours, and lay thy foundation with sapphires. And I will

make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy

borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the

Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness

shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou

shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.'

Though they have been long afflicted and tossed, yet they shall at last

upon glorious foundations be established; God will not only raise

them out of their distressed estate wherein now they are, but he will

advance them to a most eminent and glorious condition in this

world; they shall be very glorious, and outshine all the world in

spiritual excellencies and outward dignities: Isa. 60:14, 15, 'The sons

also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all

they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy

feet: and they shall call thee, the city; of the Lord, the Zion of the

Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so

that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal

excellency, a joy of many generations.' Ah, Christians! do not mutter

nor murmur under your long afflictions, for you do not know but that

by these long afflictions God may prepare and fit you for such

favours and blessings that may never have end. By long afflictions

God many times prepares his people for temporal, spiritual, and

eternal mercies. If God by long afflictions makes more room in thy

soul for himself, his Son, his Spirit, his word; if by long afflictions he

shall crucify thy heart more to the world and to thy relations, and

frame and fashion thy soul more for celestial enjoyments; hast thou

any cause to murmur? Surely no. But,

(7.) Seventhly, The longer a saint is afflicted on earth, the more

glorious he shall shine in heaven; the more affliction here, the more

glory hereafter. This truth may be thus made out:

[1.] First, The more gracious souls are afflicted, the more their graces

are exercised and increased, Heb. 12:10, Rom. 5:3–5. Now, the more

grace here, the more glory hereafter; the higher in grace, the higher

in glory. Grace differs nothing from glory but in name: grace is glory

in the bud, and glory is grace at the full. Glory is nothing but the

perfection of grace; happiness is nothing but the perfection of

holiness. Grace is glory in the seed, and glory is grace in the flower;

grace is glory militant, and glory is grace triumphant. Grace and

glory differ non specie sed gradu, in degree, not kind, as the learned

speak. Now, it is most certain that the more gracious souls are

afflicted, the more their graces are exercised; and the more grace is

exercised, the more it is increased, as I have sufficiently

demonstrated in this treatise already. But,

[2.] Secondly, The longer a gracious soul is afflicted, the more his

religious duties will be multiplied. Ps. 109:4, 'For my love they are

my adversaries; but I give myself unto prayer;' or as the Hebrew

reads it, 'But I am prayer,' or 'a man of prayer.' In times of afflictions

a Christian is all prayer; he is never so much a man of prayer, a man

given up to prayer, as in times of affliction. A Christian is never so

frequent, so fervent, so abundant in the work of the Lord, as when he

is afflicted: Isa. 26:16, 'Lord! in trouble have they visited thee, they

poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.' Now, they

do not only pray, but they pour out a prayer; they were freely, largely,

and abundantly in prayer when the rod was upon them. Look! as

men plentifully pour out water for the quenching of a fire, so did they

plentifully pour out their prayers before the Lord; and as affliction

puts a man upon being much in prayer, so it puts him upon other

duties of religion answerably. Now, this is most certain, that though

God will reward no man for his works, yet he will reward every man

according to his works: 1 Cor. 15:58, 'Therefore, my beloved

brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work

of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in

the Lord.' 2 Cor. 9:6, 'But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall

reap sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap

bountifully;' or he which soweth in benedictions or blessings shall

reap in benedictions, as it runs in the original.

It is an excellent observation of Calvin upon God's rewarding the

Rechabites' obedience, Jer. 35:19; God, saith he, oft recompenseth

the shadows and seeming-appearance of virtue, to shew what

complacency he takes in the ample rewards he hath reserved for true

and sincere piety. Now, if the longer a Christian is afflicted, the more

his religious services will be multiplied, and the more they are

multiplied, the more his glory at last will be increased, then the

longer a saint is afflicted on earth, the more glory he shall have when

he comes to heaven. But,

[3.] Thirdly, The longer any saint is afflicted, the more into the image

and likeness of Christ he will be transformed. It is one of God's great

designs and ends in afflicting of his people, to make them more

conformable to his Son; and God will not lose his end. Men often lose

theirs, but God never hath nor will lose his; and experience tells us

that' God doth every day, by afflictions, accomplish his end upon his

people. The longer they are afflicted, the more they are made

conformable to Christ in meekness, lowliness, spiritualness,

heavenliness, in faith, love, self-denial, pity, compassion, &c. Now

certainly, the more like to Christ, the more beloved of Christ. The

more a Christian is like to Christ, the more he is the delight of Christ;

and the more like to Christ on earth, the nearer the soul shall sit to

Christ in heaven. Nothing makes a man more conformable to Christ

than afflictions. Justin Martyr, in his second Apology for the

Christians, hath observed, that there is scarce any prediction or

prophecy concerning our Saviour, Christ the Son of God, to be made

man, but the heathen writers, who were all after Moses, did from

thence invent some fable, and feign it to have been acted by some

one or other of Jupiter's sons; only the prophecies about the cross of

Christ they have taken for the ground of no fable. They have not,

among all their fictions, told us of any one of Jupiter's sons that was

crucified, that acted his part upon the cross.2 Many would wear the

crown with Christ, that do not care for bearing the cross with Christ.

But,

(8.) Eighthly, The longer they have been, the greater cause thou hast

to be silent and, patient, for impatience will but lengthen out the day

of thy sorrows. Every impatient act adds one link more to the chain;

every act of frowardness adds one lash more to those that have

already been laid out; every act of muttering will but add stroke to

stroke, and sting to sting; every act of murmuring will but add

burden to burden, and storm to storm. The most compendious way

to lengthen out thy long afflictions is to fret, and vex, and murmur

under them. As thou wouldst see a speedy issue of thy long

afflictions, sit mute and silent under them.

(9.) Ninthly, God's time is the best time; mercy is never nearer

Salvation is at hand, deliverance is at the door, when a man's heart is

brought into such a frame as to be freely willing that God should time

his mercy and time his deliverance for him, Acts 27:13–44. The

physician's time is the best time for the patient to have ease. The

impatient patient cries out to his physician, Oh! sir, a little ease, a

little refreshment! Oh the pains, the tortures, that I am under! Oh,

sir, I think every hour two, and every two ten, till comfort comes, till

refreshment comes! But the prudent physician hath turned the hour-

glass, and is resolved that this physic shall work so long, though his

patient frets, flings, roars, tears. So, when we are under afflictions,

we are apt to cry out, How long, Lord, shall it be before ease comes,

before deliverance comes? Oh the tortures, oh the torments, that we

are under! Lord, a little refreshment! Oh how long are these nights!

oh how tedious are these days! But God hath turned our glass, and he

will not hearken to our cry till our glass be out. After all our fretting

and flinging, we must stay his time, who knows best when to deliver

us, and how to deliver us, out of all our troubles, and who will not

stay a moment when the glass is out that he hath turned. But,

(10.) Tenthly, and lastly, They shall last no longer than there is need,

and then they shall work for thy good. It is with souls as it is with

bodies; some bodies are more easily and more suddenly cured than

others are, and so are some souls. God will not suffer the plaster to

lie one day, no, not one hour, no, not a moment, longer than there is

need. Some flesh heals quickly; proud flesh is long a-healing. By

affliction God quickly heals some, but others are long a-healing: 1

Pet. 1:6, 'If need be, ye are in heaviness, through manifold

temptations,' or through various afflictions. The burden shall lie no

longer upon thee than needs must; thy pain shall endure no longer

than needs must; thy physic shall make thee no longer sick than

needs must, &c. Thy heavenly Father is a physician as wise as he is

loving. When thy heart begins to grow high, he sees there is need of

some heavy affliction to bring it low; when thy heart grows cold, he

sees there is need of some fiery affliction to heat it and warm it; when

thy heart grows dull and dead, he sees there is need of some smart

affliction to enliven and quicken it. And as thy afflictions shall

continue no longer than there is need, so they shall last no longer

than they shall work for thy good. If all along they shall work for thy

good, thou hast no cause to complain that thy afflictions are long.

That they shall thus work, I have fully proved in the former part of

this book. And thus much for answer to the third objection.

Objection 4

Obj. 4. I would be mute and silent under my afflictions, but my

afflictions daily multiply and increase upon me; like the waves of the

sea, they come rolling over the neck of one another, &c.; and how

then can I hold my peace? How can I lay my hand upon my mouth,

when the sorrows of my heart are daily increased?

To this I answer thus:

(1.) First, Thy afflictions are not so many as thy sins, Ps. 40:12. Thy

sins are as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the sea, that

cannot be numbered. There are three things that no Christian can

number: 1, his sins; 2, divine favours; 3, the joys and pleasures that

be at Christ's right hand; but there is no Christian so poor an

accountant, but that he may quickly sum up the number of his

troubles and afflictions in this world. Thy sins, O Christian, are like

the Syrians that filled the country, but thy afflictions are like the two

little flocks of kids that pitched before them, 1 Kings 20:27; therefore

hold thy peace.

(2.) Secondly, If such should not be mute and silent under their

afflictions, whose afflictions are increased and multiplied upon them,

then there are none in the world who will be found mute and silent

under their afflictions: for certainly there are none who do not find

the waters of affliction to grow daily upon them. If this be not so,

what means the bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen? 1

Sam. 15:14. What means the daily sighs, groans, and complaints of

Christians, if their troubles, like the waters in Ezekiel's sanctuary, be

not still increasing upon them? Ezek, 47:1, 20. Every day brings us

tidings of new straits, new troubles, new crosses, new losses, new

trials, &c.

(3.) Thirdly, They are not so many as God might have exercised thee

with. God could as easily exercise thee with ten as with two, and with

a hundred as with ten, and with a thousand as with a hundred. Let

thy afflictions be never so many, yet they are not so many as they

might-have been, had God either consulted with thy sins, with thy

deserts, or with his own justice. There is no comparison between

those afflictions that God hath inflicted upon thee, and those that he

might have inflicted. Thou hast not one burden of a thousand that

God could have laid on, but he would not; therefore hold thy peace.

(4.) Fourthly, Thy afflictions are not so many as thy mercies, nay,

they are not to be named in the day wherein thy mercies are spoken

of. What are thy crosses to thy comforts, thy miseries to thy mercies,

thy days of sickness to thy days of health, thy days of weakness to thy

days of strength, thy days of scarcity to thy days of plenty? And this is

that the wise man would have us seriously to consider: Eccles. 7:14,

'In the day of adversity consider,'—but what must we consider?

—'that God hath set the one over against the other.' As God hath set

winter and summer, night and day, fair weather and foul, one over

against another, so let us set our present mercies over against our

present troubles, and we shall presently find that our mercies exceed

our trouble, that they mightily over-balance our present afflictions;

therefore let us be silent, let us lay our hands upon our mouths.

(5.) Fifthly, If you cast up a just and righteous account, you will find

that they are not so many as the afflictions that have befallen other

saints. Have you reckoned up the affliction that befell Abraham,

Jacob, Joseph, Job, Asaph, Haman, the prophets and apostles? If

you have, you will say that your afflictions are no afflictions to those

that have befallen them; their lives were filled up with sorrows and

sufferings, but so are not yours; therefore kiss the rod and be silent.

It may be, if thou lookest upon thy relations, thy friends, thy

neighbours, thou mayest find many whose afflictions for number and

weight do much outweigh thine; therefore be silent, murmur not,

hold thy peace.

(6.) Sixthly, Not so many as attended our Lord Jesus; whose whole

life, from the cradle to the cross, was nothing but a life of sufferings.

Osorius, writing of the sufferings of Christ, saith, That the crown of

thorns bored his head with seventy-two wounds. Many seventy-two

afflictions did Christ meet with whilst he was in this world. None can

be ignorant of this who have but read the New Testament. He is

called 'a man of sorrows;' his whole life was filled up with sorrows.

When he was but a little past thirty years of age, sorrows, pains,

troubles, oppositions, persecutions, had so worn him, that the Jews

judged him towards fifty, John 8:57. A man were as good compare

the number of his bosom friends with the stars of heaven, as

compare his afflictions and the afflictions of Christ together.

(7.) Seventhly, Muttering and murmuring will but add to the

number. When the child is under the rod, his crying and fretting doth

but add lash to lash, blow to blow; but of this enough before.

(8.) Eighthly, and lastly, Though they are many, yet they are not so

many as the joys, the pleasures, the delights that be at Christ's right

hand. As the pleasures of heaven are matchless and endless, so they

are numberless. Augustine, speaking concerning what we can say of

heaven, saith,2 that it is but a little drop of the sea, and a little spark

of the great furnace; those good things of eternal life are so many,

that they exceed number; so great, that they exceed measure; so

precious, that they are above all estimation. Nec Christus, nec cœlum

patitur hyperbolem, neither Christ nor heaven can be hyperbolised;

for every affliction many thousand joys and delights will attend the

saints in a glorified estate. What will that life be, or rather what will

not that life be, saith one, speaking of heaven, since all good either is

not at all, or is in such a life; light which place cannot comprehend;

voices and music which time cannot ravish away; odours which are

never dissipated; a feast which is never consumed; a blessing which

eternity bestoweth, but eternity shall never see at an end. And let this

suffice for answer to this fourth objection.

Objection 5

Obj. 5. My afflictions are very great, how then can I hold my peace?

Though they were many, yet if they were not great, I would be mute,

but alas! they are very great. Oh! how can I be silent under them?

How can I now lay my hand upon my mouth?

Ans. (1.) To this I answer, Though they are great, yet they are not so

great as thy sins, thyself being judge; therefore hold thy peace: Ezra

9:13, 'And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for

our great trespasses, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less

than our iniquities deserve.' They that were under the sense and guilt

of great sins, have cause to be silent under their greatest sufferings.

Never complain that thy afflictions are great, till thou canst say that

thy sins are not great. It is but justice that great afflictions should

attend great sins; therefore be quiet. Thy sins are like great rocks and

mighty mountains, but so are not thy afflictions; therefore lay thy

hand upon thy mouth. The remembrance of great sins should cool

and calm a man's spirit under his greatest troubles; and if the sense

of thy great sins will not stop thy mouth and silence thy heart, I know

not what will.

(2.) Secondly, It may be they are not great, if you look upon them

with Scripture spectacles, 1 Peter 5:10. Flesh and blood many times

looks upon molehills as mountains, and scratches upon the hand as

stabs at the heart; we make elephants of flies, and of little pigmies we

frame giants. Carnal reason often looks upon troubles through false

glasses. As there are some glasses that will make great things seem

little, so there are others that will make little things seem great, and

it may be that thou lookest upon thy afflictions through one of them,

Isa 54:7, 8. Look upon thy afflictions in the glass of the word; look

upon them in a Scripture dress, and then they will be found to be but

little. He that shall look into a gospel glass, shall be able to say, heavy

afflictions are light, long afflictions are short, bitter afflictions are

sweet, and great afflictions are little, 2 Cor. 4:16–18. It is good to

make a judgment of your afflictions by a gospel light and by a gospel

rule.

Artemon, an engineer, was afraid of his own shadow. Men that look

not upon their afflictions in a Scripture dress, will be afraid even of

the shadow of trouble, they will cry out, No affliction to our affliction,

no burden to our burden, no cross to our cross, no loss to our loss;

but one look into a gospel glass would make them change their note.

The lion is not always so great nor so terrible as he is painted; neither

are our troubles always so great as we fancy them to be. When

Hagar's bottle of water was spent, she sat down and fell a-weeping,

as if she had been utterly undone, Gen. 21:17–19; her provision and

her patience, her bottle and her hope were both out together; but her

affliction was not so great as she imagined, for there was a well of

water near, though for a time she saw it not. So many Christians,

they eye the empty bottle, the cross, the burden that is at present

upon them, and then they fall a-weeping, a-whining, a-complaining,

a-repining, a-murmuring, as if they were utterly undone; and yet a

well of water, a well of comfort, a well of refreshment, a well of

deliverance is near, and their case is no way so sad, nor so bad as

they imagine it to be.

(3.) Thirdly, The greater thy afflictions are, the nearer is deliverance

to thee. When these waters rise high, then salvation comes upon the

wings; when thy troubles are very great, then mercy will ride post. to

deliver thee: Deut 32:36, 'For the Lord shall judge his people, and

repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power (or

hand) is gone, and there is none shut up, and left.' Israel of old, and

England of late years, hath often experienced this truth. Wine was

nearest, when the water-pots were filled with water up to the brim,

John 2:1–11; so oftentimes mercy is nearest, deliverance is nearest,

when our afflictions are at the highest. When a Christian is brim-full

of troubles, then the wine of consolation is at hand; therefore hold

thy peace, murmur not, but sit silent before the Lord.

(4.) Fourthly, They are not great, if compared to the glory that shall

be revealed, 2 Cor. 4:16–18: Rom. 8:18, 'For I reckon, that the

sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with

the glory that shall be revealed in us, or upon us.' The apostle, upon

casting up of his accounts, concludes that all the pains, chains,

troubles, trials, and torments that they meet with in this world, was

not to be put in the balance with the glory of heaven. As the globe of

the earth, which after the mathematicians' account is many

thousands of miles in compass, yet being compared unto the

greatness of the starry sky's circumference, is but a centre, or a little

prick; so the troubles, afflictions, and sorrows of this life, in respect

of eternal happiness and blessedness, are to be reputed as nothing;

they are but as the prick of a pin to the starry heavens. They that

have heard most of the glory of heaven, have not heard one quarter

of that which the saints shall find there; that glory is unconceivable

and unexpressible. Augustine in one of his epistles hath this relation:

that the very same day wherein Jerome died, he was in his study, and

had got pen, ink, and paper, to write something of the glory of

heaven to Jerome, and suddenly he saw a light breaking into his

study, and a sweet smell that came unto him, and this voice he

thought he heard: O Augustine! what doest thou? Dost thou think to

put the sea into a little vessel? When the heavens shall cease from

their continual motion, then shalt thou be able to understand what

the glory of heaven is, and not before, except you come to feel it as

now I do. Nicephorus speaks of one Agbarus, a great man, that

hearing so much of Christ's fame, by reason of the miracles he

wrought, sent a painter to take his picture, and that the painter when

he came was not able to do it, because of that radiancy and divine

splendour which sat on Christ's face.2 Such is the splendour, the

brightness, the glory, the happiness, and blessedness that is reserved

for the saints in heaven, that had I all the tongues of men on earth,

and all the excellencies of the angels in heaven, yet should I not be

able to conceive, nor to express that vision of glory to you. It is best

hastening thither, that we may feel and enjoy that which we shall

never be able to declare.

(5.) Fifthly, They are not great, if compared with the afflictions and

torments of such of the damned, who when they were in this world,

never sinned at so high a rate as thou hast done. Doubtless there are

many now in hell, who never sinned against such clear light as thou

hast done, nor against such special love as thou hast done, nor

against such choice means as thou hast done, nor against such

precious mercies as thou hast done, nor against such singular

remedies as thou hast done.4 Certainly there are many now a-roaring

in everlasting burnings, who never sinned against such deep

convictions of conscience as thou hast done, nor against such close

and strong reasonings of the Spirit as thou hast done, nor against

such free offers of mercy and rich tenders of grace as thou hast done,

nor against such sweet wooings and multiplied entreaties of a

bleeding dying Saviour as thou hast done; there fore hold thy peace.

What are thy afflictions, thy torments, to the torments of the

damned, whose torments are numberless, easeless, remediless, and

endless; whose pains are without intermission or mitigation; who

have weeping served in for the first course, and gnashing of teeth for

the second, and the gnawing worm for the third, and intolerable pain

for the fourth,—yet the pain of the body is but the body of pain, the

very soul of sorrow and pain is the soul's sorrow and pain,—and an

everlasting alienation and separation from God for the fifth? Ah,

Christian! how canst thou seriously think on these things, and not lay

thy hand upon thy mouth, when thou art under the greatest

sufferings? Thy sins have been far greater than many of theirs, and

thy great afflictions are but a flea-bite to theirs; therefore be silent

before the Lord.

(6.) Sixthly and lastly, If thy afflictions are so great; then what

madness and folly will it be for thee to make them greater by

murmuring! Every act of murmuring will but add load unto load, and

burden to burden. The Israelites under great afflictions fell a-

murmuring, and their murmuring proved their utter ruin, as you

may see in that Num. 14. Murmuring will but put God upon heating

the furnace seven times hotter; therefore hold thy peace, 1 Cor. 10:11.

But of this I have spoken sufficiently already.

Objection 6

Object. 6. Oh! but my afflictions are greater than other men's

afflictions are; and how then can I be silent? Oh! there is no affliction

to my affliction; how can I hold my peace? I answer,

(1.) First, It may be thy sins are greater than other men's sins, Jer.

3:6–12. If thou hast sinned against more light, more love, more

mercies, more experiences, more promises than others, no wonder if

thy afflictions are greater than others'. If this be thy case, thou hast

more cause to be mute than to murmur; and certainly, if thou dost

but seriously look into the black book of thy conscience, thou wilt

find greater sins there than any thou canst charge upon any person

or persons on earth. If thou shouldst not, I think thou wouldst justly

incur the censure which that sour philosopher passed upon

grammarians, viz., that they were better acquainted with the evils of

Ulysses than with their own. Never complain that thy afflictions are

greater than others', except thou canst evidence that thy sins are

lesser than others'.

(2.) Secondly, It may be thou art under some present distemper, that

disenables thee to make a right judgment of the different dealings of

God with thyself and others. When the mind is distempered, and the

brain troubled, many things seem to be that are not; and then little

things seem very great. Oh! the strange passions, the strange

imaginations, the strange conclusions, that attend a distempered

judgment.

I have read of a foolish emperor, who, to shew the greatness of his

city, made show of many spiders. When the mind is disturbed, men

many times say they know not what, and do they know not what. It

may be, when these clouds are blown over, and thy mind cleared, and

thy judgment settled, thou wilt be of another opinion. The supplicant

woman appealed from drunken king Philip to sober king Philip. It is

good to appeal from a distempered mind to a clear composed mind,

for that is the way to make a righteous judgment of all the righteous

dispensations of God, both towards ourselves and towards others.

(3.) Thirdly, It may be that the Lord sees that it is very needful that

thy afflictions should be greater than others'. It may be thy heart is

harder than other men's hearts, and prouder and stouter than other

men's hearts; it may be thy heart is more impure than others, and

more carnal than others, or else more passionate and more worldly

than others, or else more deceitful and more hypocritical than

others, or else more cold and careless than others, or else more

secure than others, or more formal and lukewarm than others. Now,

if this be thy case, certainly God sees it very necessary, for the

breaking of thy hard heart, and the humbling of thy proud heart, and

the cleansing of thy foul heart, and the spiritualising of thy carnal

heart, &c., that thy afflictions should be greater than others; and

therefore hold thy peace. Where the disease is strong, the physic

must be strong, else the cure will never be wrought. God is a wise

physician, and he would never give strong physic if weaker could

effect the cure, Jer. 30:11, and 46:28; Isa. 27:8. The more rusty the

iron is, the oftener we put it into the fire to purify it; and the more

crooked it is, the more blows and the harder blows we give to

straighten it. Thou hast been long a-gathering rust; and therefore, if

God deal thus with thee, thou hast no cause to complain.

(4.) Fourthly, Though thy afflictions are greater than this and that

particular man's afflictions, yet doubtless there are many thousands

in the world whose afflictions are greater than thine. Canst thou

seriously consider the sore calamities and miseries that the

devouring sword hath brought upon many thousand Christians in

foreign parts, and say that thy afflictions are greater than theirs?

Surely no. Pliny, in his Natural History, writeth that the nature of the

basilisk is to kill all trees and shrubs it breathes upon, and to scorch

and burn all herbs and grass it passeth over. Such are the dismal

effects of war.2 The sword knows no difference between Catholics

and Lutherans, as once the duke of Medina Sidonia said, betwixt the

innocent and the guilty, betwixt young and old, betwixt bond and

free, betwixt male and female, betwixt the precious and the vile, the

godly and the profane, betwixt the prince and the subject, betwixt the

nobleman and the beggar. The sword eats the flesh and drinks the

blood of all sorts and sexes, without putting any difference betwixt

one or the other. The poor protestants under the Duke of Savoy, and

those in Poland, Denmark, Germany, and several other parts, have

found it so; many of their wounds are not healed to this day. Who

can retain in his fresh and bleeding memory the dreadful work that

the sword of war hath made in this nation, and not say, Surely many

thousands have been greater sufferers than myself; they have

resisted unto blood, but so have not I, Heb. 12:4. But,

(5.) Fifthly, As thy afflictions are greater than other men's, so it may

be thy mercies are greater than other men's mercies; and if so, thou

hast no cause but to hold thy peace. As Job's afflictions were greater

than other men's, so his mercies were greater than other men's, and

Job wisely sets one against another, and then lays his hand upon his

mouth, Job 1:21, 22. It may be thou hast had more health than

others, and more strength than others, and more prosperity than

others, and more smiling providences than others, and more good

days than others, and more sweet and comfortable relations than

others; and if this be thy case, thou hast much cause to be mute, thou

hast no cause to murmur. If now thy winter nights be longer than

others, remember thy summer days have formerly been longer than

others; and therefore hold thy peace. But,

(6.) Sixthly and lastly, By great afflictions the Lord may greaten thy

graces, and greaten thy name and fame in the world, James 5:10, 11.

By Job's great afflictions, God did greaten his faith, and greaten his

patience, and greaten his integrity, and greaten his wisdom and

knowledge, and greaten his experience, and greaten his name and

fame in the world, as you all know that have but read his book.

Bonds and afflictions waited on Paul in every city, Acts 20:23, 2 Cor.

11; his afflictions and sufferings were very great, but by them the

Lord greatened his spirit, his zeal, his courage, his confidence, his

resolution, and his name and fame, both among sinners and saints.

Certainly, if thou art dear to Christ, he will greaten thee in spirituals,

by all the great afflictions that are upon thee; he will raise thy faith,

and inflame thy love, and quicken thy hope, and brighten thy zeal,

and perfect thy patience, and perfume thy name, and make it like a

precious ointment, 'like a precious ointment poured forth,' Prov.

22:1, Eccles. 7:1; so that good men shall say, and bad men shall say,

Lo, here is a Christian indeed, here is a man more worth than the

gold of Ophir; therefore, hold thy peace, though thy afflictions are

greater than others.

Objection 7

Object. 7. I would be silent, but my outward affliction is attended

with sore temptations; God hath not only outwardly afflicted me, but

Satan is let loose to buffet me; and therefore how can I be silent? how

can I hold my peace, now I am fallen under manifold temptations?

To this I answer:

(1.) First, No man is the less beloved because he is tempted; nay,

those that God loves best are usually tempted most, Eph. 6:12.

Witness David, Job, Joshua, Peter, Paul, yea, Christ himself, Mat. 4,

who, as he was beloved above all others, so he was tempted above all

others; he was tempted to question his Sonship; he was tempted to

the worst idolatry, even to worship the devil himself; to the greatest

infidelity, to distrust his Father's providence, and to use unlawful

means for necessary supplies; and to self-murder, 'Cast thyself

down,' &c. Those that were once glorious on earth, and are now

triumphing in heaven, have been sorely tempted and assaulted. It is

as natural and common for the choicest saints to be tempted, as it is

for the sun to shine, the bird to fly, the fire to burn. The eagle

complains not of her wings, nor the peacock of his train, nor the

nightingale of her voice, because these are natural to them; no more

should saints of their temptations, because they are natural to them.

Our whole life, saith Austin, is nothing but a tentation; the best men

have been worst tempted; therefore, hold thy peace.

(2.) Secondly, Temptation resisted and bewailed, will never hurt you,

nor harm you. Distasted temptations seldom or never prevail. So

long as the soul distastes them and the will remains firmly averse

against them, they can do no hurt; so long as the language of the soul

is, 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' Mat. 16:23, the soul is safe. It is not

Satan tempting but my assenting, it is not his enticing but my

yielding, that mischiefs me. Temptations may be troubles to my

mind, but they are not sins upon my soul whilst I am in arms against

them. If thy heart trembles and thy flesh quakes when Satan tempts,

thy condition is good enough; if Satan's temptations be thy greatest

afflictions, his temptations shall never worst thee nor harm thee; and

therefore, if this be thy case, hold thy peace.

(3.) Thirdly, Temptations are rather hopeful evidences that thy estate

is good, that thou art dear to God, and that it shall go well with thee

for ever, than otherwise. God had but one Son without corruption,

but he had none without temptation, Heb. 2:17, 18. Pirates make the

fiercest assaults upon those vessels that are most richly laden; so

doth Satan upon those souls that are most richly laden with the

treasures of grace, with the riches of glory. Pirates let empty vessels

pass and repass, without assaulting them; so doth Satan let souls that

are empty of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, of grace, pass and repass

without tempting or assaulting of them. When nothing will satisfy

the soul, but a full departure out of Egypt, from the bondage and

slavery of sin, and that the soul is firmly resolved upon a march for

Canaan, then Satan, Pharaoh-like, will furiously pursue after the soul

with horses and chariots, that is, with a whole army of temptations,

Exod. 14:9. Well! a tempted soul, when it is worst with him, may

safely argue thus: If God were not my friend, Satan would not be so

much my enemy; if there were not something of God within me,

Satan would never make such attempts to storm me; if the love of

God were not set upon me, Satan would never shoot so many fiery

darts to wound me; if the heart of God were not towards me, the

hand of Satan would not be so strong against me. When Beza was

tempted, he made this answer, Whatsoever I was, Satan, I am now 'in

Christ a new creature,' and that is it which troubles thee; I might

have so continued long enough ere thou wouldst have vexed at it, but

now I see thou dost envy me the grace of my Saviour. Satan's malice

to tempt is no sufficient ground for a Christian to dispute God's love

upon; if it were, there is no saint on earth that should quietly possess

divine favour a week, a day, an hour. The jailor is quiet, when his

prisoner is in bolts. but if he be escaped, then he pursues him with

hue and cry; you know how to apply it. Men hate not the picture of a

toad, the wolf flies not upon a painted sheep; no more doth Satan

upon those he hath in chains; therefore hold thy peace, though thou

art inwardly tempted, as well as outwardly afflicted.

(4.) Fourthly, Whilst Satan is tempting of thee, Christ in the court of

glory is interceding for thee: Luke 22:31, 32, 'And the Lord said,

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may

sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.'

Satan would fain have been shaking of him up and down, as wheat is

shaken in a fan; but Christ's intercession frustrates Satan's designed

temptations. Whenever Satan stands at our elbow to tempt us, Christ

stands at his Father's to intercede for us: Heb. 7:25, 'He ever lives to

make intercession.' some of the learned think, that Christ intercedes

only by virtue of his merits; others think that it is done only with his

mouth; probably it may be done both ways, the rather because he

hath a tongue, as also a whole glorified body in heaven; and is it

likely, that that mouth which pleaded so much for us on earth, John

17 should be altogether silent for us in heaven? Christ is a person of

highest honour; he is the greatest favourite in the court of heaven; he

always stands between us and danger. If there be any evil plotted or

designed against us by Satan, the great accuser of the brethren, he

foresees it, and by his intercession prevents it. When Satan puts in

his pleas and commences suit upon suit against us, Christ still

undertakes our cause; he answers all his pleas, and non-suits Satan

at every turn, and in despite of hell he keeps us up in divine favour.

When Satan pleads, Lord! here are such and such sins that thy

children have committed! and here are such and such duties that

they have comitted! and here are such and such mercies that they

have not improved! and here are such and such ordinances that they

have slighted! and here are such and such motions of the Spirit

which they have quenched! divine justice answers, All this is true,

but Christ hath appeared on their behalf; he hath pleaded their

cause; he hath fully and fairly answered whatever hath been objected

and given complete satisfaction to the utmost farthing; so that here is

no accusation nor condemnation that can stand in force against

them; upon which account the apostle triumphs in that Rom. 8:34,

'Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is

risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh

intercession for us.' Christ's intercession should be the soul's anchor-

hold in time of temptation. In the day of thy temptation thou needest

not be disturbed nor disquieted, but in peace and patience possess

thine own soul, considering what a friend thou hast in the court of

glory, and how he is most active for thee, when Satan is most busy in

tempting of thee.

(5.) Fifthly and lastly, All temptations that the saints meet with, shall

work much for their good; they shall be much for their gain. The

profit and advantage that will redound to tempted souls by all their

temptations is very great, Rom. 8:28, Lam. 1:12. Now this will appear

to be a most certain truth by an induction of particulars thus:

[1.] First, By temptations God multiplies and increases his children's

spiritual experiences, the increase of which is better than the

increase of gold. In the school of temptation, God gives his children

the greatest experience of his power supporting them, of his word

comforting of them, of his mercy warming of them, of his wisdom

counselling of them, of his faithfulness joying of them, and of his

grace strengthening of them: 2 Cor. 12:9, 'My grace shall be sufficient

for thee.' Paul never experienced so deeply what almighty power was,

what the everlasting arms of mercy were, and what infinite grace and

goodness was, as when he was under the buffetings of Satan.

[2.] Secondly, All their temptations shall be physical; their

temptations shall be happy preventions of great abominations: 2 Cor.

12:7, 'Lest I should be exalted, lest I should be exalted.' It is twice in

that one verse; he begins with it, and he ends with it. If he had not

been buffeted, he might have been more highly exalted in his own

conceit than he was before in his ecstasy. Ah, tempted souls! you say

you are naught, very naught, but had it not been for the school of

temptation, you might have been stark naught before this time. You

say you are sick, you are even sick to death. Why, your sickness had

before this time killed you, had not temptations been physical to you.

You are bad under temptations; but doubtless you would have been

much worse had not God made temptation a diet-drink to you.2

[3.] Thirdly, Temptation shall much promote the exercise of grace.

As the spring in the watch sets all the wheels agoing, and as

Solomon's virtuous woman set all her maidens to work, so

temptation sets faith on work, and love on work, and repentance on

work, and hope on work, and holy fear on work, and godly sorrow on

work, Prov. 30:10–33; 1 Peter 1:6. As the wind sets the mill at work,

so the wind of temptations sets the graces of the saints agoing. Now

faith runs to Christ, now it hugs a promise, now it pleads the blood of

Christ, now it looks to the recompence of reward, now it takes the

sword of the Spirit, &c.; now love cleaves to Christ, now love hangs

upon Christ, now love will fight it out to the death for Christ; now

hope flies to the horns of the sanctuary, now hope puts on her

helmet, now hope casts her anchor upon that within the veil, &c.

Grace is never more acted than when a Christian is most tempted.

Satan made a bow of Job's wife; of his rib, as Chrysostom speaks, and

shot a temptation by her at Job, thinking to have shot him to the

heart: 'Curse God, and die;' but the activity of Job's graces was a

breastplate that made him temptation-proof. The devil, tempting

Bonaventure, told him he was a reprobate, and therefore persuaded

him to drink in the present pleasures of this life; for, said he, thou art

excluded from the future joys with God in heaven. Bonaventure's

graces being active, he answered, No; not so, Satan: if I must not

enjoy God after this life, let me enjoy him as much as I can in this

life.

[4.] Fourthly, By temptations the Lord will make you the more

serviceable and useful to others. None so fit and able to relieve

tempted souls, to sympathise with tempted souls, to succour tempted

souls, to counsel tempted souls, to pity tempted souls, to support

tempted souls, to bear with tempted souls, and to comfort tempted

souls, as those who have been in the school of temptations: 2 Cor.

1:3, 4, 'Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the

Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in

all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in

any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of

God.' By temptations God trains up his servants, and fits and

capacitates them to succour and shelter their fellow-brethren. One

tempted Christian, saith Luther, is more profitable and useful to

other Christians than a hundred, I may add, than a thousand, that

have not known the depths of Satan, that have not been in the school

of temptation. He that is master of arts in the school of temptation

hath learned an art to comfort, to succour, and gently to handle

tempted and distressed souls, infinitely beyond what all human arts

can reach unto. No doctor to him that hath been a doctor in the

school of temptation; all other doctors are but illiterate dunces to

him.

[5.] Fifthly, It is an honour to the saints to be tempted, and in the

issue to have an honourable conquest over the tempter. It was a great

honour to David that he should be put to fight hand to hand with

Goliath, and in the issue to overcome him, 1 Sam. 17; but it was far

greater honour to Job and Paul, that they should be put to combat in

the open field with Satan himself, and in the close to gain a famous

conquest over him, as they did, Job 1; 2 Cor. 12:7–10. It was a very

great honour to David's three mighty men, that in jeopardy of their

lives they brake through the host of the Philistines, to bring water to

David out of the well of Bethlehem, and did effect it in spite of all the

strength and power of their enemies, though it were to the extremest

hazard of their blood and lives, 2 Sam. 23:13–18; but it is a far

greater honour to the saints to be furnished with a spirit of strength,

courage, and valour, to break through an army of temptations, and in

the close to triumph over them, Rom. 8:15–28; and yet this honour

have all the saints: 1 Cor. 10:13, 'But God is faithful, who will not

suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the

temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it;'

Rom. 16:20, 'And the God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet

shortly;' 1 John 2:13, 14, 'I write unto you, fathers, because ye have

known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men,

because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, children,

because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers,

because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have

written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of

God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.' 1 John

5:18, 'We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not,' that is,

'that sin that is unto death,' ver. 16; nor he sinneth not as other men

do, delightfully, greedily, customarily, resolvedly, impenitently, &c.

'But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one

toucheth him not.' The glorious victory that the people of God had

over Pharaoh and his great host, Exod. 14, was a figure of the

glorious victory that the saints shall obtain over Satan and his

instruments, which is clear from that Rev. 15:3, where we have the

song of Moses and of the Lamb. But why the song of Moses and of

the Lamb, but to hint this to us, that the overthrow of Pharaoh was a

figure of the overthrow of Satan? and the triumphal song of Moses

was a figure of that song which the saints shall sing for their

overthrow of Satan. As certainly as Israel overcame Pharaoh, so

certainly shall every true Israelite overcome Satan. The Romans were

worsted in many fights, but never were overcome in a set war; at the

long run they overcame all their enemies. Though a Christian may be

worsted by Satan in some particular skirmishes, yet at the long run

he is sure of an honourable conquest. God puts a great deal of

honour upon a poor soul when he brings him into the open field to

fight it out with Satan. By fighting he overcomes, he gains the victory,

he triumphs over Satan, and leads captivity captive. Augustine gives

this reason why God permitted Adam at first to be tempted, viz. That

he might have had the more glory in resisting and withstanding

Satan's temptation. It is the glory of a Christian to be made strong to

resist, and to have his resistance crowned with a happy conquest.

[6.] Sixthly, By temptations the Lord will make his people more

frequent and more abundant in the work of prayer. Every temptation

proves a strong alarm to prayer. When Paul was in the school of

temptation, he prayed thrice, that is, often, 1 Cor. 12:8, 9. Days of

temptation are days of great supplication; Christians usually pray

most when they are tempted most. They are most busy with God

when Satan is most busy with them. A Christian is most upon his

knees when Satan stands most at his elbow.

Augustine was a man much tempted, and a man much in prayer.

Holy prayer, saith he, is a shelter to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a

scourge to the devil.

Luther was a man under manifold temptations, and a man much in

prayer. He is said to have spent three hours every day in prayer. He

used to say that prayer was the best book in his study.

Chrysostom was much in the school of temptation, and delighted

much in prayer. Oh! saith he, it is more bitter than death to be

spoiled of prayer, and hereupon, as he observes, Daniel chose rather

to run the hazard of his life than to lose his prayer. But,

[7.] Seventhly, By temptations the Lord will make his people more

and more conformable to the image of his Son. Christ was much

tempted, he was often in the school of temptation; and the more a

Christian is tempted, the more into the likeness of Christ he will be

transformed. Of all men in the world, tempted souls do most

resemble Christ to the life, in meekness, lowliness, holiness,

heavenliness, &c. The image of Christ is most fairly stamped upon

tempted souls. Tempted souls are much in looking up to Jesus, and

every gracious look upon Christ changes the soul more and more into

the image of Christ. Tempted souls experience much of the

succourings of Christ, and the more they experience the sweet of the

succourings of Christ, the more they grow up into the likeness of

Christ. Temptations are the tools by which the Father of spirits doth

more and more carve, form, and fashion his precious saints into the

similitude and likeness of his dearest Son,

[8.] Eighthly and lastly, take many things in one; God by temptations

makes sin more hateful, and the world less delightful, and relations

less hurtful. By temptations God discovers to us our own weakness

and the creature's insufficiency in the hour of temptation to help us

or succour us. By temptations, God will brighten our Christian

armour, and make us stand more upon our Christian watch, and

keep us closer to a succouring Christ. By temptations, the Lord will

make his ordinances to be more highly prized, and heaven to be

more earnestly desired. Now seeing that temptations shall work so

eminently for the saints' good, why should not Christians be mute

and silent? why should they not hold their peace, and lay their hands

upon their mouths, though their afflictions are attended with great

temptations?

Objection 8

Obj. 8. Oh! but God hath deserted me! he hath forsaken me! and 'he

that should comfort my soul stands afar off!' how can I be silent? The

Lord hath hid his face from me; clouds are gathered about me; God

hath turned his back upon me; how can I hold my peace?

Supposing that the desertion is real, and not in appearance only, as

sometimes it falls out: I answer,

(1.) First, It hath been the common lot, portion, and condition of the

choicest saints in this world, to be deserted and forsaken of God, Ps.

30:6, 7; Ps. 77:6, and 88:6; Job 23:8, 9; Cant. 3:1–4, 5:6, 7; Isa. 8:17;

Micah 7:7–9. If God deals no worse with thee than he hath dealt with

his most bosom friends, with his choicest jewels, thou hast no reason

to complain. But,

(2.) Secondly, God's forsaking of thee is only partial, it is not total,

Psa. 9:4; Gen. 49:23, 24. God may forsake his people in part, but he

never wholly forsakes them; he may forsake them in respect of his

quickening presence, and in respect of his comforting presence, but

he never forsakes them in respect of his supporting presence; 2 Cor.

12:9, 'My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect

in weakness;' Ps. 37:23, 24, 'The steps of a good man are ordered by

the Lord; and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be

utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.' God's

supporting hand of grace is still under his people: Ps. 63:8, 'My soul

followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.' Christ hath

always one hand to uphold his people, and another hand to embrace

them, Cant. 2:16. The everlasting arms of God are always underneath

his people, Deut. 33:27. And this the saints have always found;

witness David, Heman, Asaph, Job, &c.

Geographers write that the city of Syracuse, in Sicily, is so curiously

situated that the sun is never out of sight. Though the children of

God sometimes are under some clouds of afflictions, yet the Sun of

mercy, the Sun of righteousness, is never quite out of sight. But,

(3.) Thirdly, Though God hath forsaken thee, yet his love abides and

continues constant to thee; he loves thee with an everlasting love:

Jer. 31:3, 'Where he loves, he loves to the end;' John 13:1; Isa. 49:14–

16, 'But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath

forgotten me.' But was not Zion mistaken? yes, 'Can a woman forget

her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of

her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I

have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are

continually before me.' Look! as persons engrave the mark, name, or

picture of those whom they dearly love and entirely affect, upon

some stone that they wear at their breasts, or upon some ring that

they wear on their finger. so hath God engraven Zion upon the palms

of his hands; she was still in his eye, and always dear to his heart,

though she thought not so. As Joseph's heart was full of love to his

brethren, Gen 42 and 43, even then when he spake roughly to them,

and withdrew himself from them, for he was fain to go aside and ease

his heart by weeping; so the heart of God is full of love to his people,

even then when he seems to be most displeased with them, and to

turn his back upon them. Though God's dispensations may be

changeable towards his people, yet his gracious disposition is

unchangeable towards them, Mal. 3:6. When God puts the blackest

veil of all upon his face, yet then his heart is full of love to his people,

then his bowels are yearning towards them: Jer. 31:18–20, 'Is

Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake

against him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore my bowels

are troubled for him: I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the

Lord.' The mother's bowels cannot more yearn after the tender babe

than God doth after his distressed ones. As Moses his mother, when

she had put him into the ark of bulrushes, Exod. 2, wept to see the

babe weep, and when she was turned from him, she could not but

cast a weeping eye of love towards him; so when God turns aside

from his people, yet he cannot but cast an eye of love towards them:

Hos. 11:1, 'How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim!' &c. Here are four

several 'hows' in the text, the like not to be found in the whole book

of God. I am even at a stand, justice calls for vengeance, but mercy

interposeth; my bowels yearn, my heart melts, oh, how shall I give

thee up! oh, I cannot give thee up! I will not give thee up! God's love

is always like himself, unchangeable; his love is everlasting; it is a

love that never decays nor waxes cold; it is like the stone albestos, of

which Solinus2 writes, that being once hot, it can never be cooled

again.

(4.) Fourthly, Though the Lord hath hid his face from thee, yet

certainly thou hast his secret presence with thee. God is present

when he is seemingly absent: 'The Lord was in this place, and I knew

it not,' saith Jacob, Gen. 28:16. The sun many times shines when we

do not see it, and the husband is many times in the house when the

wife doth not know it. God [is] in thy house, he is in thy heart,

though thou seest him not, thou feelest him not, though thou hearest

him not: Heb. 13:5, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;' or, as it

may be rendered according to the Greek, 'I will not leave thee,

neither will I not forsake thee.' Art thou not now drawn out to prize

God and Christ, and his love above all the world? Yes. Art thou not

now drawn out to give the Lord many a secret visit, in a corner,

behind the door, Cant. 2:14, in some dark hole where none can see

thee nor hear thee but the Lord? Ps. 42:1–3, 63:1–3. Yes. Are there

not strong breathings, pantings, and longings after a clearer vision of

God, and after a fuller fruition of God? Yes. Art thou not more

affected and afflicted with the withdrawings of Christ than thou art

with the greatest afflictions that ever befell thee? Cant. 5:6. Yes.

Austin, upon that answer of God to Moses, 'Thou canst not see my

face and live,' Exod. 33:20, makes this quick and sweet reply, 'Then,

Lord! let me die, that I may see thy face.' Dost thou not often tell God

that there is no punishment to the punishment of loss, and no hell to

that of being forsaken of God? Ps. 30:6, 7. Yes. Dost thou not find a

secret power in thy soul, drawing thee forth to struggle with God, to

lay hold on God, and patiently to wait on God, till he shall return

unto thee, and lift up the light of his countenance upon thee? Yes.

Well, then, thou mayest be confident that thou hast a secret and

blessed presence of God with thee, though God, in regard of his

comfortable presence, may be departed from thee. Nothing below a

secret presence of God with a man's spirit will keep him waiting and

working till the Sun of righteousness shines upon him, Mal. 4:2. If

any vain persons should put that deriding question to thee, Where is

thy God? thou mayest safely and boldly answer them, 'My God is

here; he is nigh me, he is round about me, yea, he is in the midst of

me: Zeph. 3:17, 'The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he

will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he

will joy over thee with singing.' The bush, which was a type of the

church, consumed not all the while it burned with fire, because God

was in the midst of it. It is no argument that Christ is not in the ship,

because tempests and storms arise.

(5.) Fifthly, Though God be gone, yet he will return again. Though

your sun be now set in a cloud, yet it will rise again; though sorrow

may abide for a night, yet joy comes in the morning. A Christian's

mourning shall last but till morning: Micah 7:19, 'He will turn again,

he will have compassion upon us;' Cant. 3:4, 'It was but a little that I

passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth; I held him,

and I would not let him go,' &c.; Ps. 94:19, 'In the multitude of my

thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul;' Isa. 54:7, 8, 10,

'For a moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I

gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment,

but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the

Lord thy Redeemer; for the mountains shall depart, and the hills be

removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee; neither shall

the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath

mercy on thee.' God will not suffer his whole displeasure to rise upon

his people, neither will he forsake them totally or finally. The saints

shall taste but some sips of the cup of God's wrath, sinners shall

drink the dregs; their storm shall end in a calm, and their winter

night shall be turned into a summer day. There was a woman who

was thirteen years under desertion, which was so vehement, that for

the most part of her time she was fain to keep her bed through

weakness. A godly minister, who was affected with her condition,

went to comfort her, and to pray with her; but when he came and

offered to do it, she shrieked out, utterly refusing and forbidding him

to pray with her, for, said she, I have too many abused mercies to

answer for already. Yet he would not be put off, but prayed by her,

and so prevailed with God on her behalf, that the next morning she

was delivered from all her fears, and had such exceeding joy, that the

like hath rarely been heard of. The Lord, that had been long

withdrawn from her, returned at length in a way-of singular mercy to

her. There was another precious woman who was several years

deserted, and hearing a precious godly minister preach, she of a

sudden fell down, overwhelmed with joy, crying out, Oh! he is come

whom my soul loveth! and for divers days after she was filled with

such exceeding joys, and had such gracious and singular ravishing

expressions so fluently coming from her, that many came to hear the

rare manifestations of God's grace in her. The lowest of her pious

expressions did exceed the highest that ever the minister had read in

the book of martyrs. But,

(6.) Sixthly and lastly, God's deserting, God's forsaking of his people,

shall many ways work for their good. As,

[1.] First, God by withdrawing from his people, will prepare and fit

them for greater refreshings, manifestations, and consolations: Ps.

71:11, 20, 21, 'Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take

him; for there is none to deliver him.' But shall this forlorn condition

work for his good? Yes, 'Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore

troubles, shall quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from

the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and

comfort me on every side.' When Joseph's brethren were in their

greatest distress, then Joseph makes known himself most fully to

them, Gen. 45:2–4; so doth Christ, our spiritual Joseph, to his

people. Hudson the martyr, deserted at the stake, went from under

his chain, and having prayed earnestly, was comforted immediately,

and suffered valiantly.

[2.] By God's withdrawing from his people, he prevents his people's

withdrawing from him; and so by an affliction he prevents sin. For

God to withdraw from me is but my affliction, but for me to

withdraw from God, that is my sin, Heb. 10:38, 39; and therefore it

were better for me that God should withdraw a thousand times from

me, than that I should once withdraw from God. God therefore

forsakes us, that we may not forsake our God. God sometimes hides

himself that we may cleave the closer to him, and hang the faster

upon him; as the mother hides herself from the child for a time, that

the child may cleave the closer and hang the faster upon her all the

day long. God sometimes hid himself from David: Ps. 30:7, 'Thou

didst hide thy face, and I was troubled,' I was all amort. Well! and is

that all? No; ver. 8, 'I cried to thee, O Lord, and unto the Lord I made

my supplication.' Now he cries louder, and cleaves closer to God than

ever; so in that Ps. 63:1, 2, 'O God, thou art my God; early will I seek

thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry

and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so

as I have seen thee in thy sanctuary.' Well! and how do those

withdrawings of God work? Why! this you may see in ver. 8, 'My soul

followeth hard after thee,' or as the Hebrew reads it, 'My soul

cleaveth after thee.' Look! as the husband cleaves to his wife, so doth

my soul cleave to the Lord. The psalmist now follows God even hard

at heels, as we say. But,

[3.] Thirdly, The Lord, by withdrawing from his people, will enhance

and raise the price, and commend the worth, excellency, sweetness,

and usefulness of several precious promises, which otherwise would

be but as dry breasts, and as useless weapons to the soul, 2 Peter 1:4.

As that Micah 7:18, 19, 'He will turn again, he will have compassion

upon us,' &c.; and that Isa. 54:7, 8, but now opened; and that Heb.

13:5, 6; and that Heb. 2:3; and that Ps. 5:12, 'For thou, Lord, wilt

bless the righteous; with favour thou wilt compass him,' or crown

him, 'as with a shield.' The Lord will compass the righteous about

with his favour, as the crown compasses about the head, as the

Hebrew imports; and that Ps. 112:4, 'Unto the upright there ariseth

light in darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and

righteous.' And that Jer. 31:37, 'Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above

can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out

beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have

done, saith the Lord.' As sure as heaven cannot be measured, nor the

foundations of the earth searched by the skill or power of any mortal

man, so sure and certain it is, that God will not utterly cast off his

people, no, not for all the evil that they have done. Now at what a rate

doth a deserted soul value these precious promises? Well! saith he,

these promises are sweeter than the honey or the honey-comb; they

are more precious than gold, than fine gold, than much gold, than all

the gold in the world; I prefer them before my food, before my

delightful food, yea, before my necessary food, before my appointed

portion.2 As Alexander laid up Homer's Iliad in a cabinet

embroidered with gold and pearls; so deserted souls will lay up these

precious promises in the cabinet of their hearts, as the choicest

treasure the world affords. Dolphins, they say, love music, so do

deserted souls the music of the promises. That promise, 1 Tim. 1:15,

was music to Bilney the martyr; and that promise, John 10:29, was

music to Ursinus; and that promise, Isa 57:15, was music to another;

and that promise, Isa. 26:3, was music to another; and that to

another, Mat. 11:28, &c. Promises that are suited to a deserted man's

condition, make the sweetest music in his ear, and are the most

sovereign cordials to bear up the spirits that God can give, or heaven

afford, or the soul desire: Deut. 32:13, 'He made him to ride on the

high places of the earth, that he might eat the fruits of the field; and

he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty

rock.' Ah! the honey, the oil that deserted souls suck of such

promises that speak home and close to their conditions!

[4.] Fourthly, By God's hiding his face and withdrawing himself from

thee, thou wilt be enabled more feelingly, and more experimentally

to sympathise with others, and to have compassion on others that are

or may be in the dark and forsaken of God, as now thou art, Heb. 5:2.

Heb. 13:2, 'Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them;

and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the

body.' It is observed of the bees, that when one is sick they all mourn;

and of the sheep, that if one of them be faint, the rest of the flock will

stand betwixt it and the sun until it be revived. In the natural body, if

one member grieve and is in pain, all suffer with it. When a thorn is

got into the foot, how doth the back bow, and the eyes pry, and the

hands go to pluck the thorn out! None so compassionate towards

deserted souls as those who have been deserted and forsaken of God

themselves. Oh! they know what an evil and a bitter thing it is to be

left and forsaken of God, and therefore their bowels, their

compassions run out much to such, yea, most to such. They know

that there is no affliction, no misery, no hell, to that of being forsaken

of God.

Anaxagoras, seeing himself old and forsaken of the world, laid

himself down, and covered his head close, determining to starve

himself to death with hunger [Plutarch]. But, alas! what is it to be

forsaken of the world, to a man's being forsaken of God? Were there

as many worlds as there be men in the world, a man were better be

forsaken by them all than to be forsaken of God. There is a great

truth in that saying of Chrysostom, viz., That the torments of a

thousand hells, if there were so many, come far short of this one, to

wit, to be turned out of God's presence with a Non novi vos, I know

you not, Mat. 7:23. The schools have long since concluded, that pœna

sensus, the pain of sense, is far greater than pœna damni, the pain of

loss. What a grief was it to Absalom to see the king's face clouded;

and how sadly was Eli and his daughter affected with the loss of the

ark, which was but a testimony of God's presence! but oh! how much

more is a Christian affected and afflicted with the loss of the face and

favour of God, the remembrance of which makes his heart to melt

and his bowels to yearn towards those whose sun is set in a cloud?

[5.] Fifthly, Hereby the Lord will teach his people to set a higher

price upon his face and favour when they come to enjoy it. Cant. 3:4,

'It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my

soul loveth; I held him, and I would not let him go,' &c. No man sets

so high a price upon Christ, as he that hath lost him and found him

again. Jesus in the China tongue signifies the rising sun, and so he is,

Mal. 4:2, especially to souls that have been long clouded. The poor

northern nations of Strabo, who want the light of the sun for some

months together, when the term of his return approaches, they climb

up into the highest mountains to spy it, and he that spies it first was

accounted the best and most beloved of God, and usually they did

choose him king; at such a rate did they prize the return of the sun.

Ah! so it is with a poor soul, that for some months, years, hath been

deserted; oh, how highly doth he prize and value the Sun of

righteousness his returning to him, and shining upon him! Ps. 63:3,

'Thy loving-kindness is better than life,' or, 'better than lives,' as the

Hebrew hath it [Chaiim]. Divine favour is better than life; it is better

than life with all its revenues, with all its appurtenances, as honours,

riches, pleasures, applause, &c., yea, it is better than many lives put

together. Now you know at what a high rate men value their lives;

they will bleed, sweat, vomit, purge, part with an estate, yea, with a

limb, yea, limbs, to preserve their lives. As he cried out. Give me any

deformity, any torment, any misery, so you spare my life. Now,

though life be so dear and precious to a man, yet a deserted soul

prizes the returnings of divine favour upon him above life, yea, above

many lives. Many men have been weary of their lives, as is evident in

Scripture and history; but no man was ever yet found that was weary

of the love and favour of God. No man sets so high a price upon the

sun as he that hath laid long in a dark dungeon, &c. But,

[6.] Sixthly, Hereby the Lord will train up his servants in that

precious life of faith, which is the most honourable and the most

happy life in all the world: 2 Cor. 5:7, 'For we walk by faith, and not

by sight.' The life of sense, the life of reason, is a low life, a mean life;

the life of faith is a noble life, a blessed life. When Elisha demanded

of the Shunamite what he should do for her, whether he should

speak for her to the king or the captain of the host, she answered, 'I

dwell among my people,' 2 Kings 4:13; that is, I dwell nobly and

happily among my people; I have no need to make any suit to king or

captain; and this she accounts her great happiness, and indeed it is

the greatest happiness in this world to live much in the exercise of

faith. No man lives so free a life, so holy a life, so heavenly a life, so

happy a life, as he that lives a life of faith. By divine withdrawings the

soul is put upon hanging upon a naked God, a naked Christ, a naked

promise, Isa. 50:10; 63:15, 16. Now the soul is put upon the highest

and the purest acts of faith, viz., to cleave to God, to hang upon God,

and to carry it sweetly and obediently towards God, though he

frowns, though he chides, though he strikes, yea, though he kills, Job

13:15. Those are the most excellent and heroic acts of faith that are

most abstracted from sense and reason; he that suffers his reason to

usurp upon his faith, will never be an excellent Christian. He that

goes to school to his own reason, hath a fool to his schoolmaster; and

he that suffers his faith to be overruled by his reason, shall never

want woe. Where reason is strongest, faith usually is weakest. But

now the Lord, by forsaking of his people for a time, he makes them

skilful in the life of faith, which is the choicest and the sweetest life in

this world. But,

[7.] Seventhly, By divine withdrawings, you are made more

conformable to Christ your head and husband, who was under

spiritual desertion as well as you: Mat. 27:46, 'My God, my God, why

hast thou forsaken me?' Ps. 22:1, 2. There is an hidden emphasis in

the Hebrew word: El signifies a strong God; Eli, Eli, My strong God,

my strong God. The unity of Christ's person was never dissolved, nor

his graces were never diminished. In the midst of this terrible storm,

his faith fortifieth and strengtheneth itself upon the strength of God,

My God, my God; yet in respect of divine protection and divine

solace, he was for some time forsaken of his Father. And if this be thy

case, thou art herein but made conformable to thy Lord and master;

nay, thou dost but sip of that bitter cup of which Christ drank deep;

thy cloud is no cloud to that which Christ was under. But,

[8.] Eighthly and lastly, By these transient and partial forsakings, the

Lord will exceedingly sweeten the clear, full, constant, and

uninterrupted enjoyments of himself in heaven to all his people, Ps.

71:10, 21. Ah! how sweet and precious was the face and favour of the

king to Absalom, after he had for a time been banished, and at length

restored to his royal favour again! Onesimus departed from

Philemon for a season, that he might receive him for ever. So the

Lord departs from his people for a time, that they may receive him

for ever; he hides himself for a season, that his constant presence

amongst his children in glory may be the more sweet and delightful

to them, &c.

Objection 9

Object. 9. Oh! but I am falsely accused and sadly, reproached, and

my good name, which should be as dear or dearer to me than my life,

is defamed and fly-blown, and things are laid to my charge that I

never did, that I never knew, &c.; and how then can I be silent? how

can I hold my peace? I cannot forget the proverb, Oculus et fama non

patiuntur jocos, a man's eye and his good name can bear no jests;

and how then can I be mute to see men make jests upon my good

name? and every day to see men lade it with all the scorn and

contempt imaginable, that they may utterly blast it? &c. To this I say.

(1.) First, That it must be granted that a good name is one of the

choicest jewels in a Christian's crown. Though a great name many

times is little worth, yet a good name is rather to be chosen than

great riches. It is better to have a good name abroad, than silver or

gold laid up in a chest at home. 'A good name is better than precious

ointment,' Eccles. 7:1. Precious ointments were greatly in use and

highly esteemed of amongst the Israelites in those eastern parts; they

were laid up amongst the most precious things even in the king's

treasury, Isa. 39:2. Sweet ointments can but affect the smell, and

comfort the brain, and delight the outward man; they reach not the

best part, the noble part, viz., the soul, the conscience of a Christian;

but a good name doth both. What is the perfume of the nostrils to the

perfume of the heart?

I have read that in some countries they have a certain art of drawing

of pigeons to their dove-houses in those countries, by anointing the

wings of one of them with sweet ointment, and that pigeon being

sent abroad, doth, by the fragrancy of that ointment, decoy, invite,

and allure others to that house, where itself is a domestic. Such is the

fragrancy of a good name, that it draws other men after the savour

thereof. Among all sorts and ranks of men in the world, a good name

hath an attractive faculty; it is a precious ointment that draws

hearers to attend good preachers, patients to attend physicians,

clients to attend lawyers, scholars to attend schoolmasters, and

customers to attend shopkeepers, who, with Demetrius, hath a good

report of all good men, 3d epistle of John 12. Let a man's good name

be but up, and he cannot easily want anything that men or money

can help him to. A good name will bring a man into favour, and keep

a man in favour with all that are good; therefore, say the moralists:

Omnia si perdas. famam servare memento,

Qua semel amissa, postea nullus eris.

Whatsoever commodity you lose, be sure yet to preserve that jewel of

a good name. A Christian should be most chary of his good name, for

a good name answers to all things, as Solomon spake of money. Ergo

si bonam famam servasso, sat dives ero, If I may but keep a good

name, I have wealth enough, said the heathen [Plautus]. A Christian

should rather forego gold than let go a good name; and he that robs a

Christian of his good name is a worse thief than he that robs him of

his purse, and better deserves a hanging than he, &c. But,

(2.) Secondly, It must be granted, that a good name once lost, is very

hardly recovered again. A man may more easily recover a lost friend,

a lost estate, than a lost name. A good name is like a princely

structure, quickly ruined, but long a-rearing. The father of the

prodigal could say of his lost son, 'This my son was lost, but is found;

he was dead, but is alive,' Luke 15:32; but how few Christians can

say, This my good name was lost, but is found; it was dead, but now

it lives. As when Orpah once left Naomi, she returned no more to

her, Ruth 1:14; so when once a good name leaves a man, it hardly

returns to him again. A cracked credit will hardly be sodered anew;

new wine is rarely put into old bottles. A man should stand upon

nothing more than the credit of his conscience and the credit of his

name.

In Japan, the very children are so zealous of their reputation, that in

case you lose a trifle, and say to one of them, Sirrah, I believe you

have stolen it, without any pause, the boy will immediately cut off a

joint from one of his fingers, and say, Sir, if you say true, I wish my

finger may never heal again. Three things a Christian should stiffly

labour to maintain: 1, the honour of God; 2, the honour of the gospel;

3, the honour of his own name. If once a Christian's good name sets

in a cloud, it will be long before it rises again.

(3.) Thirdly, Though all this be true, yet it hath been the portion of

God's dearest saints and servants to be slandered, reproached,

vilified, and falsely accused: Ps. 31:18, 'Let the lying lips be put to

silence, which speak grievous things, proudly, and contemptuously

against the righteous.' How sadly and falsely was Joseph accused by

his wanton mistress; David by Doeg and Shimei; Job of hypocrisy,

impiety, inhumanity, cruelty, partiality, pride, and irreligion! Was

not Naboth accused of speaking blasphemy against God and the

king? Did not Haman present the Jews to the king as refractories and

rebels? Esther 3. Was not Elias accused to be the troubler of Israel,

and Jeremiah the trumpet of rebellion; the Baptist a stirrer up of

sedition, and Paul a pestilent incendiary? Were not the apostles

generally accounted deceivers and deluders of the people, and the

offscouring of the world? &c. Athanasius and Eustathius were falsely

accused of adultery.5 Heresy and treason were charged upon

Cranmer, parricide upon Philpot, sedition upon Latimer. As the

primitive persecutors usually put Christians into bears' skins and

dogs' skins, and then baited them; so they usually loaded their names

and persons with all the reproach, scorn, contempt, and false reports

imaginable, and then baited them, and then acted all their malice

and cruelty upon them. I think there is no Christian, but sooner or

later, first or last, will have cause to say with David, Ps. 35:11, 'False

witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not;'

they charged me with such things whereof I was both innocent and

ignorant. It was the saying of one [Hippias], that there was nothing

so intolerable as accusation, because there was no punishment

ordained by law for accusers, as there was for thieves, although they

stole friendship from men, which is the goodliest riches men can

have. Well! Christians, seeing it hath been the lot of the dearest

saints to be falsely accused, and to have their names and reputes in

the world reproached and fly-blown, do you hold your peace, seeing

it is no worse with you than it was with them, 'of whom this world

was not worthy.' The Rabbins say [Kimchi], that the world cannot

subsist without patient bearing of reproaches. But,

(4.) Fourthly, Our Lord Jesus Christ was sadly reproached and

falsely accused. His precious name, that deserves to be always writ in

characters of gold, as the Persians usually writ their king's, was often

eclipsed before the sun was eclipsed at his death. His sweet name,

that was sweeter than all sweets, was often crucified before his body.

Oh, the stones of reproach that were frequently rolled upon that

name by which we must be saved, if ever we are saved! Oh, the jeers,

the scoffs, the scorns that were cast upon that name that can only

bless us! The name of Jesus, saith Chrysostom, hath a thousand

treasures of joy and comfort in it. The name of a Saviour, saith

Bernard, is honey in the mouth, and music in the ear, and a jubilee in

the heart; and yet where is the heart that can conceive, or the tongue

that can express, how much dung and filth hath been cast upon

Christ's name; and how many sharp arrows of reproach and scorn

hath been, and daily, yea, hourly, are, shot by the world at Christ's

name and honour? Such ignominious reproaches were cast upon

Christ and his name in the time of his life and at his death, that the

sun did blush, and masked himself with a cloud, that he might no

longer behold them. Mat. 11:19, 'The Son of man came eating and

drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a

friend of publicans and sinners.' But was he such an one? No:

'Wisdom is justified of her children.' Wisdom's children will stand up

and justify her before all the world. Mat. 27:63, 'Sir, we remember

that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days, I will

rise again.' But was he a deceiver of the people? No, he was the

faithful and true witness, Rev. 1:5, chap. 3:14. John 7:20, 'The people

answered and said, Thou hast a devil; who goeth about to kill thee?'

chap. 8:48, 'Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not

well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?' chap. 10:20, 'And

many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?' It

was a wonder of wonders that the earth did not open and swallow up

these monsters, and that God did not rain hell out of heaven upon

these horrid blasphemers; but their blasphemous assertions were

denied and disproved by some of wisdom's children: ver. 21, 'Others

said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil: can a devil

open the eyes of the blind?' The devil hath no such power, nor any

such goodness, as to create eyes to him that was born blind.

Will you yet see more scorn, dirt, and contempt cast upon the Lord of

glory? Why, then, cast your eyes upon that: Luke 16:14, 'And the

pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they

derided him;' or as the Greek reads it, 'They blew their noses at him

in scorn and derision.' The pharisees did not only laugh, fleer, and

jeer at Christ, but they have also external signs of scorn and derision

in their countenance and gestures; they blew their noses at him, they

contemned him as a thing of nought. And in chap. 24:35, both people

and rulers blew their noses at him; for the original word is the same

with that in the fore-mentioned chapter. John 19:12, he is accused

for being an enemy to Cæsar. Now, who can seriously consider of the

scorn, reproach, and contempt that hath been cast upon the name

and honour of our Lord Jesus, and not sit silent and mute under all

the scorn and contempt that hath been cast upon his name or person

in this world?

(5.) Fifthly, To be well spoken of by them that are ill spoken of by

God, to be in favour with them who are out of favour with God, is

rather a reproach than an honour to a man. Our Saviour himself

testifieth that in the church and nation of the Jews, they that had the

most general approbation and applause, they who were most

admired and cried up, were the worst, not the best, men; they were

the false, not the true, prophets: Luke 6:26, 'Woe unto you when all

men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false

prophets.' Austin feared the praises of good men, and detested the

praises of evil men. I would not, saith Luther, have the glory and

fame of Erasmus; my greatest fear is the praises of men. Phocion had

not suspected his speech had not the common people applauded it.

Antisthenes mistrusted some ill in himself for the vulgar

commendations. Socrates ever suspected that which passed with the

most general commendations. To be praised of evil men, said Bion, is

to be praised for evil doing; for the better they speak of a man the

worse, and the worse the better. The Lacedæmonians would not have

a good saying sullied with a wicked mouth. A wicked tongue soils all

the good that drops into it. It is a mercy to be delivered from the

praises of wicked men; wicked men's applauses oftentimes become

the saints' reproaches. The heathen [Socrates] could say, Quid mali

feci? what evil have I done, that this bad man commends me. There

is a truth in that saying of Seneca, Recti argumentum est, pessimis

displicere, the worst men are commonly most displeased with that

which is best. Who can seriously dwell on these things, and not be

mute and silent under all the reproaches and scorn that is cast upon

his name and credit in this world?

(6.) Sixthly, There will come a day when the Lord will wipe off all the

dust and filth that wicked men have cast upon the good names of his

people. There shall be a resurrection of names as well as of bodies;

their names that are now buried in the open sepulchres of evil

throats shall surely rise again. 'Their innocency shall shine forth as

the light, and their righteousness as the noon-day,' Ps. 37:6. Though

the clouds may for a time obscure the shining forth of the sun, yet

the sun will shine forth again as bright and glorious as ever: 'The

righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance,' Ps. 112:6.

Though the malicious slanders and false accusations of wicked men

may for a time cloud the names of the saints, yet those clouds shall

vanish, and their names shall appear transparent and glorious. God

will take that care of his people's good name, that the infamy,

calumnies, and contumelies that are cast upon it shall not long stick.

The Jews rolled a stone upon Christ to keep him down, that he might

not rise again, but an angel quickly rolls away the stone, and in

despite of his keepers, he rises in a glorious triumphant manner,

Mat. 28:2. So though the world may roll this stone and that of

reproach and contempt upon the saints' good names, yet God will

roll away all those stones; and their names shall have a glorious

resurrection in despite of men and devils. That God that hath always

one hand to wipe away his children's tears from their eyes, that God

hath always another hand to wipe off the dust that lies upon his

children's names. Wronged innocency shall not long lie under a

cloud. Dirt will not stick long upon marble nor statues of gold. Well!

Christians, remember this, the slanders and reproaches that are cast

upon you, they are but badges of your innocency and glory: Job

31:35, 36, 'If mine adversary should write a book against me: surely I

would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.' All

reproaches are pearls added to a Christian's crown. Hence Austin,

Quisquis volens detrahit famœ meœ, nolens addit mercedi meœ, he

that willingly takes from me my good name, unwillingly adds to my

reward; and this Moses knew well enough, which made him prefer

Christ's reproach before Pharaoh's crown, Heb. 11:25, 26. That God

that knows all his children by name will not suffer their names to be

long buried under the ashes of reproach and scorn; and therefore

hold thy peace. The more the foot of pride and scorn tramples upon

thy name for the present, the more splendent and radiant it will be,

as the more men trample upon a figure graven in gold, the more

lustrous they make it. Therefore lay thy hand upon thy mouth. But,

(7.) Seventhly, The Lord hath been a swift and a terrible witness

against such that have falsely accused his children, and that have

laded their names with scorn, reproach, and contempt, Isa. 41:2;

Jude 15. Ahab and Jezebel, that suborned false witness against

Naboth, had their bloods licked up by dogs, 1 Kings 22:21, 22; 2

Kings 9:30. Amaziah, who falsely accused the prophet Amos to the

king, met with this message from the Lord: 'Thy wife shall be an

harlot in the city, thy sons and daughters shall fall by the sword, and

thy land shall be divided by line; thou shalt die in a polluted land,'

Amos 7:17. Haman, who falsely accused the Jews, was one day

feasted with the king, and the next day made a feast for crows, Esth.

7:10, 9:10. The envious courtiers, who falsely accused Daniel, were

devoured of lions, Dan. 6:24. Let me give you a taste of the

judgments of God upon such persons out of histories.

Caiaphas the high-priest, who gathered the council and suborned

false witnesses against the Lord Jesus, was shortly after put out of

office, and one Jonathan substituted in his room, whereupon he

killed himself. John Cooper, a godly man, being falsely accused in

Queen Mary's days, by one Grimwood, shortly after the said

Grimwood, being in perfect health, his bowels suddenly fell out of his

body, and so he died miserably.

Narcissus, a godly bishop of Jerusalem, was falsely accused by three

men of many foul matters, who sealed up with oaths and

imprecations their false testimonies; but shortly after that, one of

them, with his whole family and substance, was burnt with fire;

another of them was stricken with a grievous disease, such as in his

imprecation he had wished to himself; the third, terrified with the

sight of God's judgment upon the former, became very penitent, and

poured out the grief of his heart in such abundance of tears, that

thereby he became blind.

A wicked wretch [Nicephorus], under Commodus the emperor,

accused Apollonius, a godly Christian, to the judges for certain

grievous, crimes, which, when he could not prove, he was adjudged

to have his legs broken, according to an ancient law of the Romans.

Gregory Bradway falsely accused one Brook; but shortly after,

through terrors of conscience, he sought to cut his own throat, but

being prevented, he fell mad.

I have read of Socrates's two false accusers, how that the one was

trodden to death by the multitude, and the other was forced to avoid

the like by a voluntary banishment. I might produce a multitude of

other instances, but let these suffice, to evidence how swift and

terrible a witness God hath been against those that have been false

accusers of his people, and that have laded their precious names with

scorn and reproach, the serious consideration of which should make

the accused and reproached Christian to sit dumb and silent before

the Lord.

(8.) Eighthly, and lastly, God himself is daily reproached. Men

tremble not to cast scorn and contempt upon God himself.

Sometimes they charge the Lord that his ways are not equal, that it is

a wrong way he goeth in, Ezek. 18:25, Jer. 2:5, 6; sometimes they

charge God with cruelty, 'My punishment is greater than I am able to

bear,' Gen. 4:13; sometimes they charge God with partiality and

respect of persons, because here he strokes, and there he strikes;

here he lifts up, and there he casts down; here he smiles, and there

he frowns; here he gives much, and there he gives nothing; here he

loves, and there he hates; here he prospers one, and there he blasts

another: Mal. 2:17, 'Where is the God of judgment?' i. e. nowhere;

either there is no God of judgment, or at least not a God of exact,

precise, and impartial judgment, &c. Sometimes they charge God

with unbountifulness; that he is a God that will set his people too

hard work, too much work, but will pay them no wages, nor give

them no reward: Mal. 3:14, 'Ye have said, it is in vain to serve God,

and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we

have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?' Sometimes they

charge God that he is a hard master, and that he reaps where he hath

not sown, and gathers where he hath not strewed, Mat. 25:24, &c.

Oh! the infinite reproach and scorn that is every day, that is every

hour in the day, cast upon the Lord, his name, his truth, his ways, his

ordinances, his glory! Alas! all the scorn and contempt that is cast

upon all the saints all the world over, is nothing to that which is cast

upon the great God every hour; and yet he is patient. Ah! how hardly

do most men think of God, and how hardly do they speak of God, and

how unhandsomely do they carry it towards God; and yet he bears.

They that will not spare God himself, his name, his truth, his honour;

shall we think it much that they spare not us or our names? &c.

Surely no. Why should we look that those should give us good words

that cannot afford God a good word from one week's end to another?

yea, from one year's end to another? Why should we look that they

should cry out 'Hosanna, hosanna!' to us, whenas every day they cry

out of Christ, 'Crucify him, crucify him!' Mat. 10:25, 'It is enough for

the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord; if

they have called the master of the house Beelzebub' (or a master-fly,

or a dunghill god, or the chief devil), 'how much more shall they call

them of his household!' It is preferment enough for the servant to be

as his Lord; and if they make no bones of staining and blaspheming

the name of the Lord, never wonder if they fly-blow thy name. And

let this suffice to quiet and silence your hearts, Christians, under all

that scorn and contempt that is cast upon your names and

reputations in this world.

Objection 10

Obj. 10. Sir, In this my affliction I have sought to the Lord for this

and that mercy, and still God delays me, and puts me off; I have

several times thought that mercy had been near, that deliverance had

been at the door, but now I see it is afar off; how can I then hold my

peace? How can I be silent under such delays and disappointments?

To this objection, I shall give you these answers.

(1.) First, The Lord doth not always time his answers to the swiftness

of his people's expectations. He that is the God of our mercies, is the

Lord of our times. God hath delayed long his dearest saints, times

belonging to him, as well as issue: Hab. 1:2, 'O Lord, how long shall I

cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee for violence, and

thou wilt not help!' Job 19:7, 'Behold, I cry out of violence, but I have

no answer; I cry, but there is no judgment.' Ps. 69:3, 'I am weary of

crying, my throat is dry, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.' Ps.

40:17, 'Make no tarrying, O my God.' Though God had promised him

a crown, a kingdom, yet he puts him off from day to day, and for all

his haste he must stay for it till the set time is come. Paul was

delayed so long, till he even despaired of life, and had the sentence of

death in himself, 2 Cor. 1:8, 9. And Joseph was delayed so long, till

the irons entered into his soul, Ps. 105:17–19. So he delayed long the

giving in of comfort to Mr Glover, though he had sought him

frequently, earnestly, and denied himself to the death for Christ.

Augustine being under convictions, a shower of tears came from him,

and casting himself on the ground under a fig tree, he cries out, 'O

Lord, how long?' How long shall I say, To-morrow, to-morrow? why

not to-day, Lord, why not to-day? Though Abigail made haste to

prevent David's fury, and Rahab made haste to hang out her scarlet

thread; yet God doth not always make haste to hear and save his

dearest children. And therefore hold thy peace. He deals no worse

with thee than he hath done by his dearest jewels.

(2.) Secondly, Though the Lord doth defer and delay you for a time,

yet he will come, and mercy and deliverance shall certainly come. He

will not always forget the cry of the poor: Heb. 10:37, 'For yet a little,

little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.'

Hab. 2:3, 'The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it

shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it.' God will come

and mercy will come; though for the present thy sun be set, and thy

God seems to neglect thee, yet thy sun will rise again, and thy God

will answer all thy prayers, and supply all thy necessities: Ps. 71:20,

21, 'Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt

quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of

the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on

every side.' Three martyrs being brought to the stake, and all bound,

one of them slips from under his chain, to admiration, and falls down

upon the ground, and wrestled earnestly with God for the sense of

his love, and God gave it in to him then, and so he came and

embraced the stake, and died cheerfully a glorious martyr. God

delays him till he was at the stake, and till he was bound, and then

sweetly lets out himself to him.

(3.) Thirdly, Though God do delay thee, yet he doth not forget thee.

He remembers thee still; thou art still in his eye, Isa. 49:14–16, and

always upon his heart, Jer. 31:20. He can as soon forget himself, as

forget his people, Ps. 77:9, 10. The bride shall sooner forget her

ornaments, and the mother shall sooner forget her sucking child, Isa.

54:7–10, and the wife shall sooner forget her husband, Isa. 62:3–5,

than the Lord shall forget his people. Though Sabinus in Seneca

could never in all his life-time remember those three names of

Homer, Ulysses, and Achilles, yet God always knows and remembers

his people by name, Gen. 8:1; 19:29–31; 1 Sam. 1:9; Jonah 4:9–11,

&c. Therefore be silent, hold thy peace; thy God hath not forgotten

thee, though for the present he hath delayed thee.

(4.) Fourthly, God's time is always the best time: God always takes

the best and fittest seasons to do us good. Isa. 49:8, 'Thus saith the

Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of

salvation have I helped thee.' I could have heard thee before, and

have helped thee before, but I have taken the most acceptable time to

do both. To set God his time is to limit him, Ps. 78:41; it is to exalt

ourselves above him, as if we were wiser than God. Though we are

not wise enough to improve the times and seasons which God hath

set us, to serve and honour him in, yet we are apt to think that we are

wise enough to set God his time, when to hear, and when to save, and

when to deliver. To circumscribe God to our time, and to make

ourselves lords of time; what is this but to divest God of his royalty

and sovereignty of appointing times? Acts 1:7, 17:26. It is but just and

equal, that that God that hath made time, and that hath the sole

power to appoint and dispose of time, that he should take his own

time to do his people good. We are many times humorous,

preposterous, and hasty, and now we must have mercy or we die,

deliverance or we are undone; but our impatience will never help us

to a mercy, one hour, one moment, before the time that God hath set.

The best God will always take the best time to hand out mercies to

his people. There is no mercy so fair, so ripe, so lovely, so beautiful,

as that which God gives out in his own time. Therefore hold thy

peace; though God delays thee, yet be silent, for there is no

possibility of wringing a mercy out of God's hand, till the mercy be

ripe for us, and we ripe for the mercy, Eccles. 3:11.

[5.] Fifthly, The Lord in this life will certainly recompense, and make

his children amends for all the delays and put-offs that he exercises

them with in this world, as he did Abraham in giving him such a son

as Isaac was, and Hannah in giving her a Samuel. He delayed Joseph

long, but at length he changes his iron fetters into chains of gold, his

rags into royal robes, his stocks into a chariot, his prison into a

palace, his bed of thorns into a bed of down, his reproach into

honour, and his thirty years of suffering into eighty years reigning in

much grandeur and glory. So God delayed David long, but when his

suffering hours were out, he is anointed, and the crown of Israel is

set upon his head, and he is made very victorious, very famous and

glorious for forty years together, 2 Sam. 1. Well! Christians, God will

certainly pay you interest upon interest for all the delays that you

meet with; and therefore hold your peace. But,

[6.] Sixthly and lastly, The Lord never delays the giving in of this

mercy, or that deliverance, or the other favour, but upon great and

weighty reason; and therefore hold thy peace.

Question 1

Quest. But what are the reasons that God doth so delay and put off

his people from time to time, as we see he doth?

Ans [1.] First, for the trial of his people, and for the differencing and

distinguishing of them from others. As the furnace tries gold, so

delays will try what metal a Christian is made of. Delays will try both

the truth and the strength of a Christian's graces. Delays are a

Christian touchstone, a lapis Lydius, that will try what metal men are

made of, whether they be gold or dross, silver or tin, whether they be

sincere or unsound, whether they be real or rotten Christians. As a

father, by crossing and delaying his children, tries their dispositions,

and makes a full discovery of them, so that he can say, that child is of

a muttering and grumbling disposition, and that it is of an humorous

and wayward disposition, but the rest are of a meek, sweet, humble,

and gentle disposition: so the Lord, by the delaying and crossing of

his children, discovers their different dispositions. The manner of the

Psylli, which are a kind of people of that temper and constitution that

no venom will hurt them, is, that if they suspect any child to be none

of their own, they set an adder upon it to sting it, and if it cry, and the

flesh swell, they cast it away as a spurious issue, but if it do not cry, if

it do not so much as quatch, nor do not grow the worse for it, then

they account it for their own, and make very much of it;2 so the Lord

by delays, which are as the stinging of the adder, tries his children; if

they patiently, quietly, and sweetly can bear them, then the Lord will

own them, and make much of them, as those that are near and dear

unto him; but if under delays they fall a-crying, roaring, storming,

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