Part 10
' content to lose a son everyday.' Owhat a sweet exchange had he made! Surely he had gold for brass, a pearl for a pebble, a treasure for a trifle ; for fo great, yea, and far greater is the disproportion betwixt the sweet light of God's countenance, and the faint, dim light of the best creature-enjoyment.
Would it please the Lord to make this fun arise and shine upon you, now when the stars that shined with a dim and bor. - rowed light are gone down, you would fee such gain by the exchange, as would quickly make you cast in your votes with himwenowmentioned, and say, Lord, let everyday be such as this funeral day; let all my hours be as this, so that I may fee and taste what I now do. How gladly would I part with the dearest, and nearest creature-comfort I own in this world. The gracious and tender Lord hath his divine cordials refervedon purpose for such fad hours ; these are sometimes given before some sharp trial, to prepare for it, and sometimes after, tosupportunder it.
I have often heard it from the mouth, and found it in the diaryofafweet Christian now with God, that a little before the Lord removedherdearhusbandbydeath,there was such ana-
272 A Token for Mournets.. bundant outlet of the love of Goduntoherfoul, forseveraldays and nights following, that when the Lord took away ayherhus bandbydeath, though he was a gracious and sweet tempered (and by her most tenderly beloved) husband ; she was scarce
of the stroke,but carried quite above all earthly things, their comforts, and their troubles: fo that she had almost loft the thoughts of her dear husband in God. And had not the Lord taken this course with her, the concluded that blow had not been poffibleto be borne by her, she must have sunk without such apreparative. A husband, a wife, a child, are great, very great things, as they standby other creatures; but furelythey willfeem little things, and next to nothing, when the Lord shall set himself by them beforethefoul.
Andhowknowyou,but Godhathbidden these earthly comforts stand aside this day, to make way for heavenly ones ? It may be,God is coming tocommunicatehimselfmore sweetly, moresensiblythan ever to your souls; and these are theprovidenceswhich mustcastup, and prepare the way of the Lord. Possibly God's meaning in their death is but this ; child, stand aside, thou art in my way,and filleftmyplace in thy parent's heart.
Consideration 14. Becarefulyou exceed not in your grief for the loss of earthly things, considering that Satan takes the advantage of all extremes.
You cannot touch any extreme, but you will be touched by that enemy, whose greatest advantages lie in assaulting you here.
Satan is called, The ruler of the darkness of this world, Eph . vi. 12. (i e.) his kingdom is supported by darkness. Now, there is a twofold darkness, which gives Satan great advantage; the darkness of the mind, viz. ignorance ; and the darkness of the condition, viz. trouble and affliction. Of the former the apostle speaks chiefly in that text; but the latter also is by him often improved, to carry on his designs upon us. When it is a dark hour of trouble with us, then is his fittest season to tempt.
That cowardly spirit falls uponthepeopleof God,when they are down and low in spirit, as well as state. Satan would never have desired that the hand of God should have been stretched out upon Job's person, estate, and children, but that he promised himself a notable advantage therein, to poison his spirit with vile thoughts of God. " Do this (faith he) and "hewillcursethee to thy face."
A Token for Mourners. 273 What the Pfalmist observes of natural, is as true ofmetaphoricaldarkness, Psal. civ. 20. " Thou makest darkness, and " it is night, wherein all the beasts of the foreftdo creep forth, " the young lions roar after their prey." When it is darknightwith men, it is noon-day with Satan ; i. e. our suffering time is his busiest working-time; manyadifmal suggestion he then plants, and grafts upon your affliction, which are much more dangerous to us than the affliction itself.
Sometimes he injects desponding thoughts into the afflicted foul; "Then said I, I am cut offfrombefore thine eyes," Psal. xxxi. 22. and Lam. iii. 18, 19. " My hope is perished from " the Lord, remembring my affliction, and my misery, the "wormwood and the gall."
Sometimes he suggests bardthoughts of God. Ruth i. 20. " The Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me." Yea, that he hath dealt more severely with us, than any other, Lam. i. 12.
"Seeandbehold, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, "which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted "me in thedayofhis fierce anger."
And sometimes murmuring and repining thoughts against the Lord; the soul is displeased at the hand of God upon it. Jonahwas angry at the hand of God, and said, " Ido well to " be angry, even unto death," Jonah iv. 9. What dismal thoughts are these ? and how much more afflictive to a gracious foul, than the loss of any outward enjoyment in this world.
And sometimes very irreligious, and atheistical thoughts, as if there were no privilege to be had by religion, and all our pains, zeal, and care about duty, were little better than loft labour, Psal. lxxiii. 13, 14. " Verily I have cleansed my heart "in vain, and washed my hands in innocency ; for all the day "long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning."
things Satan gets no small advantage upon the afflicted Christian; for albeit these thoughts are his burden, and God will not imputethemtothe condemnation of his people ; yet they rob the soul of peace, and hinder it from duty, and make it act uncomely under affliction, to the stumbling and hardening of others in their fin : beware therefore, left by your excesses of sorrow ye give place to the devil ; we are not ignorant of his devices.
Consideration 15. Give no way to excessive sorrows upon the account of affliction, if ye have any regard tothehonour of God, and religion, which will hereby be exposed to reproach.
If you flight yourownhonour, do not flight the honourof
VOL. VIL Mm
274 A Token for Mourners. God, and religion too; takeheedhowyou carry it in a day of trouble; many eyes areuponyou. It is a true observation that alateworthy * author hathmadeupon this case : What will the Atheist, and what will the profane scoffer say, when • they shall see this ? So fottish and malicious they are, that if ⚫they do but see you in affliction, they are straightway scorn- • fully demanding, Where is your God ? •Butwhatwouldthey say, if they shouldhearyouyourselves • unbelievingly cry out, Where is our God ? Will they not • be ready to cry, this is the religiontheymake such boast of, • which you see how little it does for them in adayofextremity : they talk of promises, rich and precious promises ; but ' where are they now ? Or to what purpose do they serve! • They said they had a treasure in heaven; what ails them to mourn so, then, if their riches are there ?" Obeware what you do before the world ; they have eyes to see what you can do, as well as ears to hear what you can fay : and as long as your carriage under trouble is so much like their own, they will never think your principles are better than theirs. Carnal worldlings will be drawn to think, that whatever fine talk you might have about God, and heaven, your hearts were most upon the fame things that theirs were, finceyour grief for their removal is as great as theirs.
They know by experience what a stay it is to the heart, to have an able, faithful friend to depend upon,or tohavehopesof a great estate shortlytofall to them; and they willneverbeperfuaded you have anyfuch ground of comfort, if they fee you as much cast down as they that pretend to no such matter.
By this means the precepts of Christ to constancy and con. tentment in all estates, will come to be looked upon (like those ofthestoics) only as magnifica verba, brave words ; but such as are impossible to be practised ; and the whole of the gospel will be taken for an airy notion, since they that profess greatest regard to it, are no morehelpedthereby. O what a shame is it that religion should, in this case,make no more difference betwixt man and man ! wherefore shew to the world (whatever their common censuresare) that it is not so much your care to differ from them in some opinions, and a little strictness, as in humility, meekness, contempt of the world, and heavenly-mindedness ; and now let these gracesdifplaythemselves by your chearful, patientdeportmentunderall your grievances .
* M. M. his appendix to Solomon'sprescription,p. 122.
A Token for Mourners. 275 * Wherefore hath God planted those excellent graces in your souls ? but that he might be glorified, andyoubenefitedby the exercises of them in tribulation : shouldthesebe suppressed and hid, and nothingbutthepride, passion, andumortified earthliness of your hearts set on work, and discovered in time of trouble, what a slur, what a wound will you give to the glorious name which is called upon by you? And then if your hearts be truly gracious, that will pierce you deeper than ever your affliction, which occasioned it, did.
you, therefore, be tender of the name of God, if youwillnotbe so of your own peace and comfort.
Confid. 16. Be quiet, and hold your peace, you little know how many mercies lie in the womb of this affliction.
Great are the benefits of a sharp, rouzing affliction to the people of God at sometimes, and all might have them at all times, were they more careful to improve them. Holy David thankfullyacknowledgeth, Psal. cxix. 71. " It is good for me " that I have been afflicted."
And surely there is as much good in them for you, as for him; if the Lordsanctifythem to such ends, and uses, as his were sanctified unto.
Such a smarting rod as this,came not before there was need enough of it, and possibly you saw the need of some awakening providence yourselves ; but if not, the Lord did : he took not up the rod to smite you, till his faithfulness, and tender love to your souls, called upon him to correct you.
You now fit pensive under the rod,sadly lamenting anddeploring the loss of some earthly comfort ; your heart is furchargedwith sorrow, your eyes rundown upon every menti- - on, and remembrance of your dear friend : why, if there were no more, this alone maydiscoverthe need you had of this rod ; for doth not all this sorrow at parting plainlyspeakhow much your heart was set upon,how fast your heart was glewed to this earthly comfort ?
Now you fee that your affections were funk many degrees deeper into the creature, than you are aware of : and what should God do in this cafeby you ? Should he suffer you to cleave to the creature, more and more ? Should he permit it topurloin, and exhaust your love and delight, and steal away your heart from himself? This he could not do, and love you. The more impatient you are, under this affliction, the more need you had of it.
Andwhatifbythis stroke the Lordwillawaken your drowzy Mm2
276 A Token for Mourners. foul, andrecoveryou out of that pleasant,but dangerous spi ritual slumber you were fallen into, whilst you had pillowed your head upon this pleasant, sensible creature-enjoyment ? Is not this really better for you, than if he should fay, Sleep on: he is joined to idols,lethimalone; he is departing from me, the fountain, to a broken cistern ; let him go.
Yea, what if by this stroke upon oneofthepleasantestthings you had in this world, God will discover to you, more sensibly and effectuallythan ever,the vanity both of that and all earthly comforts, so as that you shall from henceforth never let forth your heart, your hope, your love, and delight to any of them, as you did before ? You couldtalkbefore of the creatures va. nity, but I question whether ever you had to clear, and convin cing a fight of its vanity, as you have this day: and is not this aconfiderable mercy in your eyes ?
Now, if ever God is weaning you from all fond opinions, and vain expectations from this world; by this your judgment of the creatures is rectified, and your affections to all other enjoyments on earth moderated: and is this nothing ? O doubt less it is a greater mercy to you, than to have your friend alive again. And what if by this rodyourwandering, gadding heart shall be whipped home to God? your neglected duties revived ? your decayed communion with God restored ? a spiritual, heavenly frame of heart recovered ? What will you say then? •Surely you will bless that mercifulhandwhich removed the obstructions, and adore the Divine wisdom, and goodness,that by such a device as this recovered you to himself. Now you can pray more constantly, more spiritually, more affectionately than before, O blessed rod, which buds and blossoms with such fruits as these ! Let this be written among your best mercies, for you shall have cause to adore and bless God eternally for this beneficial affliction.
Consideration 17. Suffer not yourselves to be transported by impatience, and swallowed up of grief, because God bath exercised you under a smart rod; for, as fmartingas it is, it is comparatively a gentle stroke to what others, as good as yourselves, have felt.
Your dear relation is dead ; be it fo, here is but a single death before you, but others have seenmanydeaths contrived intooneupontheir relations, to which yours is nothing.
Zedekiah saw his children murdered before his eyes, and thenhadthose eyes (alas ! too late) put out. The fulfilling Theworthyauthor of that excellent book be
A Token for Mourners. 277 fore-mentioned, tells us ofa choice, and godly of the Scripgentlewoman in the north of Ireland, who, tures. when the rebellion broke out there, fled with three children, one of them upon the breast; they had not gone far beforetheywere stripped naked by the Irish, who, to their admiration, sparedtheirlives, (it is like,concluding that coldandhunger would kill them) afterwards going on at the foot of a river which runs to Locheach, others met them, and would have caftthem into the river; but this godly woman, not dismayed, asked a little liberty to pray, and as the laynakedon the frozen ground,got resolution nottogoonher own feet, to so unjust a death, upon which having called her, and the refusing, was dragged by the heels along that rugged way, to be cast in with her little ones, and company.
But she then turned, and on her knees says, You should, I am sure, be Christians, and men I fee you are, in taking away our miserable lives, you do us a pleasure ; but know, that as we never wronged you nor yours, you must remember to die also yourselves, and one day give an account of this cruelty, to the Judgeofheaven and earth. Hereupon they resolved not to murder them with their own hands, but turned them all naked upon a smallislandinthe river, without anyprovifion, thereto perish.
The next day, the two boys having crept aside, found the hide of a beast which had been killed, at the root of a tree, which the mother cast over them lying upon the snow. The next dayalittle boat goes by, unto whom the calls for God's faketotake them in, but they being Irish,refused ; the desired a little bread, but they said they had none; then the begs a coal of fire, which she obtained ; and thus, with some fallen chips, made a little fire, and the children taking a piece of the hide laid it on the coals, and began to gnaw the leather ; butwithoutanextraordinary Divine support,what could this do?
Thus they livedtendays,without any visible meansofhelp, having no bread, but ice and snow, nor drink, except water.
The two boys being near starved, she pressed them to go out of her fight, not being able to fee their death ; yet God delivered them as miraculously at last, ashe had fupportedthem all that while.
But judge whether anaturaldeath, in an ordinary way be comparable to such a trial as this ; and yet thus the Lord did by this choice and eminently gracious woman. AndMr. Wall, in his None-but-Christ, relates as fad a pas-
-278 A Token for Mourners. sage of a poor family in Germany, who were driven unto that extremity in the famine,that at last the parents made a motion one to the other to fell one of the children for bread to sustain themselves, and the reft; but when they came to confider which child it should be, their hearts so relented, and yerned upon every one, that they resolved rather all to die together. Yea, we read in Lam. iv. 10. " The hands of the pitiful wo- " men have sodden their own children."
But why speak I of these extremities ? How many parents, yea,somegodlyones too,have lived to see their children dying inprophaneness, and some by the hand of justice, lamenting their rebellions with a rope about their necks. Ah! reader, little dost thou know what stings there are in the afflictions of others ! surely you have no reason to think the Lord hath dealt more bitterly with you than any. It is a gentle stroke, a merciful dispensation,if you compare it with what others have felt.
Consideration 18. If God be your God, you have really left nothing by the removal of any creature-comfort.
God is the fountain of all true comfort ; creatures, the very best and sweetest, are but cisterns to receive, and convey to us what comfort God is pleased to communicate to them ; and if the cistern be broken, or the pipe cut off,so that no morecomførtcanbe conveyed to us that way, he hath other ways and mediums to do it by, which we think not of; and if he please hecanconveyhis comforts to his people without anyofthem: And it he do it more immediately, we shall be no losers by that; for no comforts in the world are so delectable, and ravishingly sweet, as those that flow immediately from the fountain.
And it is the sensuality of our hearts that causes us to affect them so inordinately, and grieve for the loss of them so immoderately, as if we had not enough in God,without these creature-supplements.
Is the fulness of the fountain yours ? And yet do you cast downyourselves, because the broken cistern is removed ? The best creatures are no better,Jer. ii. 13. Cisterns have nothing but what they receive, and broken ones cannot hold what is put into them. Why thendoyou mourn, as if your life were bound up in the creature ? You have as free an access to the fountain as you had before. It is the advice of an Heathen, (and letthemtakethecomfort of it) to repair, by a new earthly comfort, what we have lost in the former.
A Token for Mourners
"Thou hast carried forth him whom thou lovedst, (faith * " Seneca) seek one whom thou mayest love in his stead: It is better to repair, than to bemoan thy loss." But if God never repair your loss,in things of the same kind, you know he can abundantly repair it in himself. Ah ! Christian, is not one kiss of his month, one glimpse of his countenance, one seal of his Spirit, a more sweet and sub-
comfort, than the sweetest relation in this world can afford you ? If the stream fail, repair to the fountain, there is enough still ; God is where he was, and what he was, though the creature be not.
Consideration 19. Though you may want a little comfort in your life, yet surely it may be recompensed to you by a more easy death.
The removal of your friends before you, may turn to your great advantage, when your hour iscomethatyou must follow them. O how have many good fouls been clogged, and ensnared, in their dying hour,by the loves, cares, and fears they have had about those they must leave behind them in a sinful, evil world!
Your love to them might have proved a snare to you, and caused you to hang back, as loath to go hence ; for these are the things that make men loath to die. And thus it might have been with you, except God had removed them beforehand, or should give you in that day such fights of heaven, and tastes of divine love, as should master, and mortify all your earthly affections to these things.
I knew a gracious person, now in heaven, who for many weeks in her last sickness, complained that she found it hard to part with a dear relation, and that there was nothing proved a greater clog to her soul, than this : It is much more easy to think of going to our friends, who are in heaven before us, thanofparting with them, and leaving our desirable and dear ones behind us.
And who knows what cares, and distracting thoughts you may then be pestered and distracted with, upon their account ? Whatshallbecome of these, when I am gone ? I am now to leave them, God knows to what wants, miseries, temptations, and afflictions in the midst of a deceitful, defiling, dangerous world.
I know it is our duty to leave our fatherless children, and * Quem amabas extulifti, quære quem ames : Sat i us eftamicum repararequamfere. Senec, Epift. p. 637 .
280 Token for Mourners. friendless relations, with God; to trust them with him that gave them to us: And some have been enabled chearfully to do so when they were partingfromthem. * Luther could fay, • Lord, thou haftgivenme a wife and children, I have little to ◄leave them ; nourish, teach,and keep them ; O thou Father
of the fatherless, and Judge of the widow.' But every Christian hath not a Luther's faith ; some find it a hard thing to disentangle their affections at such a time: But now, if God has sent all yours before you, you have so much the less to do; death maybe easier to you than others.
Consideration 20. But if nothing that hathbeenyetfaid will Stick with you, then, lastly, remember that you are near that state, and place, which admits no sorrows, norfad reflections, upon any such accounts as these.
Yet a little while, and you shall not miss them, you shall not need them, but you shall live as the angels of God: We now live partly by faith, partly by sense, partly upon God, and partlyuponthe creature ; our state is mixed,therefore our comforts are so too. But when God shall be all in all, and we shall be as the angels of God in the way and manner of our living; how much will the case be altered with us then, from what it is now ?
Angels neither marry, nor are given in marriage, neither shall the children of the resurrection ; when the days of our sinning are ended, the days of our mourning shall be fo too. No graves were opened till fin entered, and no more shall be opened when fin is excluded.
Our glorified relations shall live with us for ever ; they shal complainnomore, die no more; yea, this is the happiness of that state to which you are passing on, that your souls being in thenearestconjunction with God,the fountainofjoy, you shall have no concernment out of him. You shall not be put upon these exercises of patience, nor subjected to such sorrows as you now feel, any more. It is but a little while, and the end of all these things will come. O therefore bear up, as persons that expect such a day of jubilee at hand.
And thus I have finished the second general head of this discourse,which is a dissuasive from the finofimmoderate sorrow.
3. I now proceed to the third thing proposed, namely, to remove the pleas and excuses for this immoderate grief. It is natural to men, yea, to good men, to justify their excesses, or at least to extenuate them, by pleading for their passions, *MelchiorAdam, in the life of Luther.
A Token for Mourners. 281 as iftheywantednotcaute, and reason enough to excuse them. If these be fully answered, and the soul once convinced, and left without apology for its fin, it is then inafairway for its cure, which is the last thing designed in this treatise.
therefore, is, to satisfy those objections, and answer those reasons which are commonly pleaded in this case, to justify our excessive grief for lost relations. And thơ 1Chall carry it in that line of relation to which the text directs, yet it is equally applicable to all others.
Plea 1. You press me, bymanygreat considerations tomeekness, and quiet submission under this heavy stroke of God ; but you little know what stings my soul feels now in it.
This child was a child of many prayers, it was a Samuel begged of the Lord, and I concluded, when I had it, that it brought with it the returns, and answers of many prayers. But now I fee it was nothing less; God had no regard to my prayer about it, nor was it given me inthatspecialwayof mercy, as I - imagined it to be : My child is not only dead, but my prayers - in the fame day shut out, and denied.
Answer 1. That you prayed for your children before you had them, was your duty ; and if you prayed not for them fubmissively, referring it to the pleasure of God to give, or deny them, to continue, or remove them, as should seem good to him, that was your fin : You ought not to limit the HolyOne of Israel, not prescribe to him, or capitulate with him, for what term you shall enjoy your outward comforts : If you did so, it was your evil, and God hath justly rebuked it by this stroke.
If you did prayconditionally, and fubmiffively referring both the mercy asked, and continuance of it to the will of God, as you ought to do; then there is nothing in the death of your child, that crosses the true scope andintentinyour prayer. Answer 2 Your prayers may be answered, though the thing prayed for be with-held, yea, or though it should be given for a little while, and snatched away from you again. There are four ways of God's answering prayers ; by giving the thing prayed for presently, Dan ix 23. or by suspending the answer / for a time, and giving it afterwards, Luke xviii. 7 or by withholding from you that mercy which you ask. and giving you amuchbetter mercy in the room of it, Deut. iii. 24. compared with Deut. xxxiv. 4, 5. Or, lastly, by giving you patience to bear the loss, or want of it, 2 Cor xii. 9.
Now, if the Lord have takenawayyour child, or friend, and VOL. VII. Nn
282 A Token for Mourners. in lieu thereof givenyoua meek, quiet, submissive heart to his will, you need not say he hath shut out your cry.
Plea 2. But I have lost a lovely, obliging, and most endearing child, one that was beautiful, and sweet; it is a stony heart that would not dissolve into tears for the loss of one sodefireable, so engaging as this was : Ah ! itisnocommon loss.
Answer 1. The more lovely, and engaging, your relation was, the more excellent will your patience, and contentment with the will of God, in its death, be; the more loveliness, the more self-denial, the more grace. Had it been a thousand times more endearingly sweet than it was, it was not too good to deny for God. If therefore obedience to the will of God do indeed master natural affections, and that you look upon pa tience and contentment as much more beautiful than the sweetest, and most desire able enjoyment on earth, it may turn to you for a testimony of the truth and strength of grace : that you can, like Abraham, part with a child whom you so dearly love, in obedience to the will of your God, whom you love infinitely more .
Answer 2. The loveliness and beauty of our children, and relations, though it must be acknowledged a good gift from the hand of God ; yet it is but a common gift, and oftentimes becomes a snare, and is, in its own nature, but a transitory, vanishing thing, and therefore no such great aggravation of the loss as is pretended.
it is but a common gift ; Eliab, Adonijah, andAbsalom, had as lovelypresences as any in their generation. Yea, it is not only common to the wicked, with the godly, but to brute animals, as well as men, and to most that excel in it, it becomes a temptation; the souls of somehadbeen more beautiful and lovely, if their bodies had been less so. Besides, it is but a flower which nourishes in its month, and then fades. This therefore should not be reflected on as so great a circum-
stance to aggravate your trouble .
Answer 3. But if your relation sleep in Jesus, he will appear ten thousand times more lovely in the morning of the resurrection, than ever he was in the world. What is the exactest, purest beauty of mortals, to the incomparable beauty of the faints in the resurrection ? "Then shall the righteous shine forth " as the fun, in the kingdom of their Father," Matth xiii. 43. 'In this hope you part with them, therefore act suitably to your hopes.
Plea 3.Oh! but my child was nipped offbydeath in the verybud ; I did but fee, and love, and part: Had I enjoyed it
A Token for Mourners. 283 longer, and had time to fuck out the sweetness of such an enjoyment, I could have borne it easier ; but its months or years with me were so few, that they only served to raise an expectation which was quickly, and therefore the more sadly disappointed.
Answer 1. Did your friend die young, or was the bond of _ any other relation dissolved almost as soon as made ? Let not this seem so intolerable a Vide Mr. Baxter's Epistle to the Life of Mr. load to you ; for if you have ground to hope they died in Christ, then they lived
John Faneway. long enough in this world. It is truly said, he hath failed long enough, that hath won the harbour ; he hath fought long enough that hath obtained the victory ; he hath run long enough that hath touched the goal; and he hath lived long enough upon earth, thathathwon heaven, be his days here never so few.
Answer 2. The sooner your relation died, the less sin hath been committed, and the less sorrow felt : What can you fee in this world but fin, or sorrow ? A quick passage through it to glory, is a special privilege. Surely the world is not so defireable a place, that Christians should desire an hour's time longer in it for themselves, or theirs, than serves to fit them for a better.
: Answer 3. And whereas you imagine thepartingwould have been easier, iftheenjoymenthadbeen longer, it is a fond, and groundless suspicion: The longer you had enjoyed them, the stronger would the endearments have been. A young, and tender plant, maybe easily drawn up by a single hand; but when it hath spread, and fixed its root many years in the earth, it will require many a strong blow, and hard tug to root it up. Affections, like those under-ground roots, are fixed and strengthenedbynothing more than confuetude, and long possession; it is much easier parting now, than it would be hereafter, whatever you think. However, this should satisfy you, that God's time is the best time.
Plea 4. O but I have lost all in one, it ismyonlyone, I have none left in its room to repair the breach, and make up the loss: If God had given me other children to take comfort in, the loss had not been so great; but to lose all at one stroke, is insupportable.
Answer 1. Religion allows not unto Christians a liberty of expressing the death of their dear relations by so hard a word as Nn2
284 A Token for Mourners. the loss of them is; they are not loft, but sent before you : And it is a shameful thing for a Christian to be reproved for such an uncomely expression by a heathen ; it is enough to make us blush to read what an heathen said in this case †, ' Never • say thou hast lost any thing (faith Epictetus) but that it isre *turned Is thy son dead ? He is only restored. Is thy inheritance taken from thee ? It is also returned ' And a while after he adds, Ει τέτο θεοις Φιλον τέτο γενέσθω, i. e. Let every ⚫thing be as the gods would have it.'
Answer 2. It is no fit expression to say you have lost all in one, except that one be Christ; and he being once yours, can never be loft. Doubtless, your meaning is, you have lost all your comfort of that kind ; and what though you have ? Are there not multitudes of comforts yet remaining, of a higher kind, and more precious and durable nature? If you have no more of that fort, yet so long as you have better, what cause have you to rejoice !
Answer 3. You too much imitate the way of the world in this complaint ; they know not how to repair the loss of one comfort, but by another of the same nature, which must be putin its room to fill up the vacancy : But have you no other way to supply your loss ? Have you not a God to fill the place of any creature that leaves you ? Surely thiswouldbetter become a man whose portion is in this life, than one that pro fesses God is his all in all.
Plea 5. Obutmy only one is not only taken away, but there remains no expectation, or probability of any more : I must now look upon myself as a dry tree, never to take comfort in children any more, which is a cutting thought.
Answer : Suppose what you say, that you have no hope, nor expectation of another child remaining to you ; yet if you have a hope of better things than children, you have no reason to be cast down: Bless God for higher and better hopes than these. In Ifa. Ivi. 4, 5. the Lord comforts themthathaveno expectations of sons or daughters, with this ; " That he will " give unto them in his house, and within his walls, a place, "andanamebetter than of sons and daughters; evenanever- " lasting name that shall not be cut off" There are better mercies, and higher hopes than these ; though your hopes of children, or from children, should be cutoff, yet if your eter pal hopes are secure, and such as shall not make you ashamed, you should not be so cast down.
Answer2. If God will not have your comforts to lie any more in children then resolve to place them in himself, and you thall never find cause to complain of loss by such an exchange: You will find that in God which is not to be had in the creature ; one hour's communion with him, shall give you that which the happiest parent never yet had from his children ; you will exchange brass for gold, perishing vanity, for solid and * abiding excellency.
Plea6. But the suddenness of the stroke is amazing, God gave little or no warning to prepare for this trial : Death executed its commiffionas soon as it opened it. Mydearhusband, wife, or child, was snatched unexpectedly out of my arms, by a furprizing stroke; and this makes my stroke heavierthanmy complaint. : Answer 1. That the death of your relation was so sudden andsurprizing, was much your own fault, who ought to have lived in the daily sense of its vanity, and expectation of your separation from it ; you knew it to be a dying comfort in its best estate, and it is no such wonderful thing to see that dead, which you knew before to be dying: Besides, you heard the changes ringing about you in other families ; you frequently
parents, husbands, and wives, carrying forth their dead; and what were all these but warnings given you to prepare for the like trials ?
Surely, then, it was your own security and regardlessness that made this affliction so surprizing to you ; and who is to be blamed for that, you know.
Answer 2. There is muchdifferencebetwixtthe sudden death of infants, and that of grown persons ; the latter may have much work to do; many fins actually to repent of, and many evidences of their interest in Christ to examine and clear, in order to their more comfortable death; and sosuddendeath may be deprecatedby them.
But the case of infants, who exercise not their reason, is far different ; they have no such work to do, but are purely passive : All that is done in order to their salvation, is done by God immediately upon them, so it comes all to one, whether their deathbemore quick, or more flow.
Answer 3 You complain of the suddenness of the stroke: but another will be ready to say, had my friend died in that manner, my affliction hadbeennothing to what now it is ; I haveseenmany deaths contrived into one; I saw the gradual approaches of it upon my dear relation, who felt every thread of death as it came on toward him,whooftencriedwith Job, chap.
286 A Token for Mourners. iii . ver. 21, 22. " Wherefore is light giventohim that is inmi-
and life to the bitter in soul ? Which long for death, but " it cometh not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures : " Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find " the grave."
That which you reckon the sting of your affliction, others would have reckoned a favour and privilege. How many tender parents, and other relations, who loved their friends as dearly as yourselves, have been forced to their knees, upon no other errand but this, to beg the Lord to hasten the separation, and put an end to that sorrow, which to them was much greater than the sorrow for the dead.
Plea 7. You press me to moderation of sorrows, and I know I ought to shew it; but you do not know how the case stands with me, there is a sting in this affliction, that none feels but myself; and, O ! how intolerable is it now ! I neglected proper means in season to preserve life, or miscarried in the use of means. I now fee such a neglect, or such a mistake about the means, as I cannot but judge greatly to contribute to that sad loss which I now, too late, lament.
Omy negligence, O my rashness, and inconfiderateness ! how doth myconfcience now smite me for my folly ! and by this aggravatemyburden beyond what is usually felt by others. Had I seasonably applied myself to the use of proper means, and kept strictly to such courses and counsels as those that are able and skilful might have prescribed, I might now have had a liv ing husband, wife, or child : whereas I am now not only be reaved, but am apt to think I have bereaved myself of them. Surely there is no sorrow like unto my sorrow.
Answer 1. Though it be an evil to neglect, and flight the means ordained by God for recovery of health, yet it is noless evil to ascribe too much to them, or rely too much on them : the best means in the world are weak and ineffectual, without God's assistance and concurrence, and they never have that his affiftanceor concurrence, when his time is come; and that it was fully come in your friend's case, is manifested now by the event. So that if your friend had had the most excellent helps the world affords, they would have availed nothing. This consideration takes place only in your case, who fee what the will of God is by the issue, and may not be pleaded by any whilst it remains dubiousanduncertain, as it generally doth in time of sickness.
Answer 2. Do you not unjustly charge, and blame yourselves for that which is not really your fault, or neglect ! How far you are chargeable in this case, will best appear by comparing
A Token for Mourners. 287 the circumstances you are now in, with those you were in when your relation was only arrested by sickness ; and it was dubious to you what was your duty, and best course to take.
you had observed so many to perish in physicians hands, and so many to recover without them, that you judged it safer for your friend to be without those means, than to be hazarded by them.
Or, if divers methods and courses were prescribed, and persuaded to, and you now see your error, in preferring that which was most improper, and neglecting what was more safe, and probable: yet as long as it did not soappeartoyour understanding at that time, but you followed the best light you had to guide you at that time, it were most unjust to charge the fault upon yourselves, for chusing that course that then seemed best to you, whether it were so in itself, or not.
To be angry with yourselves for doing, oromitting what was then done, or ommitted, according to your best discretion, and judgment, because you now fee it by the light of the event, far otherwise than you did before ; it is to be troubled that you are but men, or that you are not as God,who only can for see issues, and events ; and that you acted as all rational creatures are bound to do, according to the light they have, at the time and season of action .
Answer 3. To conclude, Times of great affliction are ordinarily times of great temptation, and it is usual with Satan then to charge us with more fins than we are guilty of, and also make those things to be sins, which, upon impartial examination, will not be found to be fo.
Indeed, had your neglect or miscarriage beenknownorvoluntary, or had you really preferred a little money (being able to give it) before the life of your relation, anddiddeliberately chuse to hazard this, rather than part with that ; no doubt, then, but there had been much evil of fin mixed with your affliction ; and your confciencemayjustlysmiteyou for it, as your fin; but in the other case, which is more common, and I presume yours; it is a false charge, and you ought not to a bet the design of Satan in it.
Judge by the forrowyou now feel by your friend, in what degree he was dear to you, and what you could now willingly give to ransom his life if it could be done with money. Judge, I fay, by this. how groundless the charge is that Satan now draws up against you, and you are but too ready to yield to the truth of it.
Plea 8. But my troubles are uponahigherscore, and account;
288 A Token for Mourners. my child or friend is passed into eternity, and I know not how it is with his soul : were I sure my relation were with Christ, I should be quiet; but my fears of the contrary are overwhelming; O it is terrible to think of the damnation of one to dear tome.
Answer 1. Admit what the objection supposes, that you have real grounds to fear the eternal condition of your dear relation; yet it is utterly unbeseeming you, even in such a case as this, to dispute with, orrepineagainst the Lord
Ido confess it isafore andheavytrial, and that there is no cause more sad, and sinking to the spirit of a gracious person: their death is but a trifle to this; but yet if you be fuchas feat the Lord, methinks his indisputable sovereignty over them, and his distinguishing love and mercy to you, should at least silence you in this matter.
First, His indisputable sovereignty over them, Rom. ix. 20. " Who art thou,Oman, who disputest with God ?" He speaks in the mattersofeternalelection, andreprobation. What if the Lord will not be gracious to those that are so dear to us ? Is there any wrong done to them or us thereby ? Aaron's two fonswere cut off in the act of fin, by the Lord's immediate hand, and yet he held his peace, Lev. x. 3. God told A bra ham plainly, that the covenant should not be established with Ishmael, for whom he so earnestly prayed, O let Ishmael live before thee! and he knew that there was no salvation out of the covenant, and yet he sits down filentunder the word of the Lord.
Secondly, But if this do not quiet you, yet methinks his distinguishing love and mercy to you should do it. Owhatdo you owe to God, that root and branch hath not been cast toge ther into the fire ! that the Lord had given you good hope, through grace that it shall be wellwithyou for ever. Let this stop your mouth, and quiet your spirit, though you would have grounds for this fear.
Answer 2. But pray examine the grounds of your fear, whe ther it may not proceed from the strength of your affections to the eternal welfare of your friend, or from the fubtilty of Satan, designing hereby to overwhelm and swallow you up in supposed, as well as from just grounds and causes ? In two cases it is very probable your fearmayproceedonly from your own affection, or Satan's temptation.
First, If your relationdiedyoung, before itdidanything to destroy your hopes . Or, Secondly, If grown, and in fomegooddegreehopeful; only
A Token for Mourners. 289 hedidnotinlife, or at death, manifest, and give evidence of grace, with that clearness as you desired. As to the care of infants in general, it is none of our concern to judge their condition ; and as for those that sprang from covenanted parents, it becomes us to exercise charity towards them; the scripture speaks very favourably of them.
And as for the more adult, who have escaped the pollutions of the world, and made conscience of fin and duty, albeit they never manifested what you coulddefire they had; yet in them, as in young Abijah, " may be foundfome good things towards ** the Lord," which you never took notice of. Reverence of your authority, bashfulness, and thame-facedness, reservedness of disposition, and many other things, may hide those small and weak beginnings of grace that are in children, fromtheobfervations of the parents God might fee that in them that you never saw; he despiseth not the day of small things .
However it be, it is now out of your reach ; your concernmentrather is to improve the affliction to your own good, than judge and determine their condition, which belongs not to you but to God.
Plea 9. O but I have finned in this relation, and God hathpunishedmy fin in dissolving it. O, faith one, my heart was let too much upon it, I even idolized it, that was my fin : and, faith another, I wanted due affections, and did not love my relation, at least not so spiritually as I ought; that was my fin. Now God is visiting me for all the neglects and defects that hath been in me towards iny relation.
Answer 1. There is noman so thoroughly sanctified, as not to fail, and come short in many things pertaining to his relative duties and to speak, as the thing is, the corruptions of the holiest persons are as muchdiscoveredinthis, asanyotherthing whatsoever; and it is a very common thing for conscience, not only to charge these failures upon us, but to aggravate them to the utmost when God hath made the separation. So that this is no more than what is usual, and very common, with persons in your case.
Answer 2. Admit that which the objection supposes, that God had afflicted you for your fin, and removed that comfort from you, which you idolized, and too much doted on; vet there is no reason you should be fo cast down under your affiction: For all this may be, and probably is the fruit of his love to, and care of your soul, Rev. iii. 19. He tells the afflicted, for their comfort, "Whom I love, I rebuke and chaften." How
VOL. VII.
290 A Token for Mourners. much better is it to have an idolized enjoyment taken from you, in mercy, than if God should fayconcerning you, as he did of Ephraim, Hofea iv. 17. " He is joined to idols, let him alone." O it is better for you that your Father now reckons with you for your follies with the rod in his hand, than to say ashe doth to some, let them goon, I will not hinder them in, or rebuke them for their sinful courses ; but will reckon with them for all together in hell at last .
Answer 3. And as to what you now charge upon yourself, that the neglect of duty did spring from the want of love to your relation ; your sorrow at parting may evidence that your relation was rooted deep in your affection ; but if your love was not so spiritual and pure, to love and enjoy them in God; that was undoubtedly your fin, and is the fin ofmostChristians, for which both you, and all others, ought to be humbled.
Plea 10. God hath blessed me with an estate, and outward comforts in the world, which I reckoned to have left to my po sterity; and now I have none to leave it with, nor have I any comfort to think of it; the purposes of my heart are broken off, and the comfort of all my other enjoyments blasted by this stroke in an hour. How are the pains and cares of many years perished.
Answer 1. How many are there in the world, yea, of our own acquaintance, whom God hath either denied, or deprived both of the comforts of children and estates too ? If he have left you those outward comforts, you ought to acknowledge his goodness therein, and not to flight these because he hath de prived you of the other.
Answer 2. Though your children are gone, yet God hath many children left in the world, whose bowels you may refresh with what he hath bestowed upon you ; and your charity to them will doubtless turn toa more considerable account, than if you had left a large estate to your own posterity.
Surely we are not sent into this world to heap up great estates for our children : and if you have beentooeager in this design, you may now read God's just rebuke of your folly. Bless God you have yet an opportunity to serve him eminently by your charity, and God deny you other executors, let your own hands be your executors, to distribute to the necessity of the saints, that the blessings of them that are ready to perish may come upon you .
Plea 11. O but the remembrance of its wittywords, and pretty actions, is wounding.
Answer 1. Let it rather lift up your hearts to God in praise,
A Token for Mourners
that gave you so desirable a child, than fill your heart with discontent at his hand in removing it. How many parents are there in the world, whose children God hath deprived of reason and understanding, so that they only differ from the beasts in external shape and figure ? And how many thew betimes fo perverse a temper, that little comfort can be expected from them.
Answer 2. These are but small circumstances, and trivial things in themselves ; but by these little things Satan manages a great design against your soul, to deject or exasperate it : And surely this is not your business at this time; you have greater things than the words and actions of children to mind; to search out God's ends in the affliction, to mortify the corruption it is senttorebuke, to quiet your hearts inthewillof God; this is your work.
Plea 12. Lastly, It is objected, ObutGod hides his face from me in my affliction ; it is dark within, as well as without, and this makes mycafe more deplorable, greatly afflicted, and EX sadlydeferted.
Answer 1. Though you want at present sensible comfort, yet you have reason to be thankful for gracious supports. Though the light of God's countenance shine not upon you, yet you find the everlasting arms are underneath you ; the care of God worketh for you, when the confolations of God are withdrawn from you.
Answer 2. TohaveGodhidehisfaceinthe time of trouble, is no new or unusual thing ; God's dearest saints, yea, his own Son, hath experienced it, who in the deeps of inward and outward trouble, when wave called unto wave, felt not those sweet, * sensible influences of comfort from God, which had always filled his foul formerly. If Christ cry in extremity, " My God, " my God, why hast thou forsaken me !" Then sure we need not wonder, as if some strange thing had happened to us.
Answer 3. May not your submissive carriage under the rod provoke God to hide his face from you. Pray consider it well, nothing is more probable than for this to be the cause of God's withdrawment from you. Could you, in meekness and quietness, receive that cup your Father hath given you to drink : accept the punishment of your iniquities ; say, Good is the word of the Lord, It is the Lord, let him do what he will : You would soon find the case altered with you ; but the comforting spirit finds no delight, or rest, ina turbulent and tumultuous breast.
292 A Token for Mourners. And thus I have satisfied the most considerable plea surged, in justification of our excesses
4. I come now to the last thing proposed namely the means of curing and preventing these sinful excesses of sorrow for the death of our dear relations .
And although much hath been said already to dissuade from this evil, and I have enlarged already much beyond my first in tent i on ; yet I shall cast in some farther heip and assistance towards the healing of this distemper, by prescribing the following rules : Rule 1. If you would not mourn excessively for the loss of creature-comforts, then beware that you let not your delight and love excessively, or inordinately, upon them, whilst you do enjoy them.
Strong affections make strong afflictions ; the higher the tide, the lower theebb. According to the measure of our delight in the enjoyment, is our grief in the loss of these things. The apostleknits these two graces, temperance and patience, toge ther, in the precept, 2 Pet. i. 16. and it is veryobfervable how intemperance and impatience are inseparably linked in experi ence, yea, the experience of the best men You read, Gen. xxxvii. 3. " Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, " because he was the son of his old age; and made him a coat " of many colours ."
This was the darling; Jacob's heart was so exceedingly set upon him, his very life was bound up in the life of the lad. Now when the supposed death of his child was brought to him, how did he carry it ? See ver. 34, 35. " And Jacob rent his " clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins ; and mourned for " his son many days : And all his sons, and all his daughters, "rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And " he said, for I will go down into the grave to myfon mourn *" ing. Thus his father wept for him." Here, as in a glass, are the effects of excessive love toa child represented : Here you may fee what work immoderate love will make, even in a sanctified heart. O therefore let your moderation be known to all men, in your delights and sorrows about earthly things ; for ordinarily the proportion of the one is answerable to the other.
Rule 2. If you would not be overwhelmed with grief for the loss of your relations, be exact and careful in discharging your duties to them while you have them
The testimony of your conscience, that you have laboured in all things to discharge the duties you owed to your relations,
whilfttheywerewithyou, will prove an excellentallay to your sorrows for them when they are no longer yours. It is not fo much the single affliction, as the guilt charged upon us in times of affliction, that makes our load to heavy. Owhata terrible thing is it to look uponourdead friends, whilst conscience isaccusingandupbraidingus for our duties neglected, and such or such fins committed ? O you little think how dreadful a spectacle this will make the dead body of thy friend to thee !
if not quite stupid or dead, will speak at such a time. O therefore, as ever you would provide for a comfortable parting at death, or meet again at judgment ; be exact, punctual, and circumspect, in all your relative duties.
Rule 3. If you would not be overwhelmed by trouble for the loss of dear relations, then turn to God under your trouble, and pour out your sorrows, by prayer, into his bosom.
This will ease and allay your troubles. Blessed be God for the ordinance of prayer ; how much are all the saints beholden to it, at all times, but especially in heart-sinking and distressful times It is some relief, when in distress, wecanpour out our trouble into the bosom of a wife, or faithful friend; how much more when we leave our complaint before the gracious, wife, and faithful God ? I told you before of that holy man, who having loft bis dear and only son, got to his closet, there poured out his soul freely to the Lord, and when he came down to his friends, that were waiting below to comfort him, and fearing how he would bear that stroke, he came from his duty with a chearful countenance, telling them he would be content. to bury a son, if it were possible, every day, provided he might enjoy such comfort as his soul hadfoundinthat private hour.
Gothy way, Christian, to thy God, get thee tothyknees in the cloudy and dark day ; retire from all creatures, that thou mayest have thy fall liberty with thy God, and there pour out thy heart before him, in free, full, and broken-hearted confessions of fin: Judge thyself worthy of hell, as well as of this trouble: justify God in all his finartest strokes ; beg him, in this distress , to put under thee everlasting arms; intreat one
one gracious look, to enlighten thy darkness, and chear thy drooping spirit. Say, with the prophet, Jer. xvii. 17. " Be thou not a terror to me, thou art my hope in the day of " evil." And try what relief such a courte will afford thee. Surely, if thy heart be sincere in this course, thou shalt be able to say with that holy man, Piaim xciv. 29. " In the multitude
294 A Token for Mourners. " of my thoughts which I had within me, thy comforts have "delighted my soul."
Rule 4. If you would bear the loss of your dear relations with moderation, eye God in the whole process of the affliction more, and secondary causes and circumstances of the matter less- " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst " it," Psal. xxxix. 9. Confider the hand of the Lord in the whole matter : And that, First, As a sovereign hand, which hath right to dispose of thee, and all thy comforts, without thy leave or consent, Job xxxiii. 13.
Secondly, As a father's hand correcting thee in love and faithfulness. Prov. iii. 11. " Whom the Lord loveth he cor- " recteth, as a father the son in whom he delighteth." O if once you could but see affliction as a rod in a father's hand, proceeding from his love, and intended for your eternal good ; how quiet would you then be ?
And surely if it draws your heart nearer to God, and mortifies it more to this vain world, it is a rod in the hand of special love: If it end in your love to God, doubt not but it comes from God's love to you.
Thirdly, As a just and righteous hand. Hast not thou procured this to thyself by thy own folly ? Yea, the Lord is just in all that iscomeupon thee; whatever he hath done, yet he hath done thee no wrong.
Fourthly, Lastly, As a moderate and merciful hand that hath punished thee less than thine iniquities deserve: He that hath cast thee into affliction, might justly have cast thee into hell. It is of the Lord's mercy that thouartnotconfumed. Why doth the livingman complain ?
J Rule 5. If you would bear your affliction with moderation, compare it with the afflictions of other men, and that will great. lyquiet your spirits.
You have no cause to say God hath dealt bitterly with you, and that there is no sorrow like your sorrow : Look round about you, and impartially confiderthe condition that others are in; and they nothing inferior to you in any respect. You had one dead child, Aarenhadtwo ata stroke,Job all a tone stroke ; and both these by an immediate stroke from the hand of God. Some godly parents have lived to fee their children die in their finby the hand of justice; others have seen them live to the dish on our of God, and breaking of their own spirits, and would have esteemed it a mercy if they had died from the womb, and
A Token for Mourners. 295 given up the ghofst when they came out of the belly, as Job
speaks,
In what misery have some parents seen their children die ! God holding them as so many terrible spectacles of misery before their eyes ; so that they have begged the Lord, with importunity, to let loose his hands, and cut them off; death being, in their esteem, nothing to those continual agonies in which they have seen them lie weltering from day today. O you little know what a bitter cup others have had given them to drink ? Surely, if you compare, you must say, the Lord hath dealt gently and graciously with me.
Rule 6. Carefully shun, andavoidwhatsoevermay renewyour sorrow, arprovoke you to impatience.
not your for row by the sight of, or difcourses about sad objects ; and labour to avoid them, as occasions presented by the enemy of your souls, to draw forth the corruptions of your heart.
I told you before, why Jacob would not have the child of which Rachel died, called after the name his wife had given, Benoni, the son of my sorrow; lest it should prove a daily oс- ✔casion of renewing his trouble for the loss of his dear wife ; but he called his name Benjamin.
Your impatience is like tinder,or gun powder, so long as you can prevent the sparks from falling on it, there is no great danger; but you that carry fuchdangerous prepared matter in your own hearts, cannot be too careful to prevent them. Do by murmuring, as you do by blasphemous thoughts ; think quite another way, and give no occasion.
Rule7. In the day of your mourning for the death of your friends,seriously confider your own death as approaching, and that you, andyourdeadfriendare distinguisbed by a small intervalandpoint of time. 2 Sam. xi . 13. Ishallgo to him. Surely the thoughts of your own death, as approaching also, will greatly allay your sorrows for the dead that are gone before you.We are apt to fancy a long life in the world, and then the loss of those comforts which we promised ourselves so much of the sweetness and comforts of our lives from, seems an intolerable thing.
But would you realize your own deaths more, you would Could not be sodeeplyconcerned for their deaths as you are. you but look into your own graves more seriously, you would be able to look into your friend's grave more composedly.
296 Preparations for Sufferings. And thus I have finished what I designed from this scripture. The Father of mercies, and God of all comforts, whose sole prerogative it is to comfort them that are cast down, write all his truths upon your hearts, that they may abide there, and reduce your disordered affections to that frame which best suits the will of God, and the profeffionyou make ofsubjectionand resignation thereunto.
PREPARATIONS
FOR SUFFERINGS
OR, The best WORK in the worst TIMES .
Wherein the Necessity, Excellency, and Means of our read i ness for Sufferings are evinced and prescribed ; our Call to Suffering cleared, and the great unreadiness of many Professors bewailed.
THE EPISTLE TO THE READER. Twas the observation of the learned Gerfon(whentheworld was not fo old, by many years, as now it is) that mundus Jenescens patitur phantafias : The aged world, like aged per sous, dotes, and grows whimsical, in its old age; the truth of which observation isconfirmedbynoone thing more, than the fond and groundless dreams, andphantasms of tranquillity, and continuing prosperity, wherewith the multitude please them.
evenwhilit the sins of the times are so great, and the signs of the times so sad andlowringas they are.
It is not the design of this Manual to scare, and affrightany man, with imaginary dangers, much less to sow jealoufies, and foment thediscontents of the times; it being a just matter of lamentation, that all the tokens of God's anger produce with many of us no better fruit but bold censures, and loud cla mours, instead of humiliation for our own fins, and due pre
The Epiffle to the Reader. 297 parationtotakeupourown cross, and follow Christ in a suffering path, which is the only mark and aim of this tract. We read the histories of the primitive sufferers,but not with a spirit prepared to follow them. Some censure them as too prodigal of their blood, and others commend their courage, and constancy ; but where are they that sincerely resolve, and prepare to be followers of them, who through faith and pa. tience inherit the promises ? Heb. vi. 12. or take them for an - " example of suffering, affliction, and of patience," Jam. v. 10. It is as much our interest, as it is our duty, to be seasonably awakened out of our pleasant, but most pernicious drowziness. Troubles will be so much the more sinking, and intolerable, by how much they steal upon us by way of surprizal. For look, as expectation deflowers any temporal comfort, by fucking -out much of the sweetness thereof before-hand, and so we find the less in it when we come to the actual enjoyment : So the expectation of evils abates much of the dread and terror, by accustoming our thoughts before-hand to them, and making preparation for them: So that we find them not so grievous, amazing, and intolerable, when they are come indeed.
This was exemplified to us very lively by holy Mr. Bradford the martyr, when the keeper's wife came running into his chamber, saying, 'O, Mr Bradford, I bring you heavy tidings, ' for to-morrow you must be burned, your chain isnowbuying, *and presently you mustgo to New gate.' He put off his hat, and looking up to heaven, said, O Lord, I thank thee for it; I have looked for this a long time: It comes not suddenly to me, the Lord make me worthy of it. See in this example the singular advantage of a prepared and ready foul. Reader, The cup of sufferings is a very bitter cup, and it is but needful that we provide somewhat to sweeten it, that we maybe able to receive it with thanksgiving ; and what those fweetening ingredients are, and how to prepare them, you will have some direction and help in the following discourse; which hath once already been presented to the public view; and that it may at this time also(wherein nothingcanbemoreseasonable) become farther useful, and assisting, to the people of God in their present duties, is the hearty desire of
Thine,
and the church's servant in Christ,
JOHN FLAVEL
VOL. VII.
298 Preparations for Sufferings : Or, Acts xxi . 13 . Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep, and to break my heart ? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jejus.
CHAP. I.
Wherein the text is opened, and the doctrinepropounded. THE Divine providence is not more signally discovered in governing the motions of the clouds, than it is in dil poing and ordering the spirits and motions of the ministers of the gospel, who, in a mystical sense, are fruitful clouds, todif penfe the showers of gospel-blessings to the world. The mo tion of the clouds is not spontaneous, but they move as they are moved by the winds; neither can gospel-ministers chufe their own stations, and govern their own motions, but mustgo when and where the Spirit and providence of God directs and guides them ; as will evidently appear in that dangerous voyage to Jerusalem in which the apostle was at this time engaged. Acts xx. 22. " And now, behold, Igobound in the Spirit to " Jerusalem," [bound in the Spirit :) Alluding tothewateryva pours which are bound up in clouds, and conveyed according to the motions of the winds. This journey was full of danger; Paul foresaw his business was not only to plant the gospel al Jerusalem with his doctrine, but to water it also with his blood; but so effectually was his will determined by the will of God, that he chearfully complies with his duty therein, whatsoever difficulties and dangers did attend it.
And indeed it was his great advantage, that the will of God was so plainly, and convincingly revealed to him touching this matter ; for no sooner did he employ himself to obey this call of God, but he is presently assaulted by many strong temptations to decline it .
The first rub he met in his way, was from the disciples of Tyre, who pretending to speak by the Spirit, said unto Paul, that he should not go up to Jerusalem, Acts xxi. 4. The Lord by this trying the spirit of his apostle much, as he did the youngprophetcoming from Judea to Bethel, 1 Kings xiii. 18. but not with like success.
His next discouragement was at Caesarea, where Agabus (whom Dorotheus affirms to be of the seventy-two disciples, and had before prophefiedof the famine in the reign of Claudius,
The best Work in the worst Times. 299 which accordingly came to pass) takes Paul's girdle, and binding his own hands and feet with it, said, " Thus faith the Holy " Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that own- " eth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the " Gentiles," Acts xxi. 11. And surely he was not ignorant what he must expect whenever he should fall into their hands ; yet neither could this affright him from his duty.
But then, last of all, he meeteth with the forest trial from his dearest friends, who fell upon him with passionate in treaties, and many tears, beseeching him to decline that journey : O they could not give up such a minister as Paul was ! this even melted him down, and almost broke his heart, which yet was easier to do, than to turn him out of the path of obedience : Where, by the way, we may note two things : First, That divine precept, not providence, is to rule out our way of duty.
Secondly, That no hindrances, or discouragements, whatsoever, will justify our neglect of a known duty.
All these rubs he passes over ; all these discouragements he overcame, with this heroic and truly Christian resolution in the text; " What meanye to weep, and to break my heart ? For " I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, " for the name of the Lord Jesus."
In which words we have,
1. A loving and gentle rebuke. 2. Aquieting and calming argument. First, He lovingly and gently rebukes their fond and inordinate sorrow for his departure, in these words, What mean ye to weep, and to break my heart ? As if he should say, What mean these passionate in treaties, and tempting tears ? To what purpose is all this a-do ? They are but fomany snares of Satan, to turn my heart out of the way of obedience : You do as much as in you lies to break my heart; let there be no more of this, I beseech you.
Secondly, He labours to charm their unruly passions with a veryquieting and calming argument ; For I am ready, &c. ετοίμως εχω, parate habeo. I am prepared, and fitted for the greatest sufferings which shall befal me in the pursuit of my duty; be it a prison, or be it death, I am provided for either : Liberty is dear, and life much dearer, but Christ is dearer than either.
But what was there in all this, to satisfy them whose trouble it was to fee him so forward ? Let the words be considered, Pp2
1 300 Preparations for Sufferings : Or, and we shall find divers things in them tofatisfyand quiet their hearts, and make them willing to give him up.
First, I am ready; that is, God hath fittedandpreparedmy heart for the greatest sufferings; this is the work of God: flefn and blood would never be brought to this, were not all its interests and inclinations subdued, and over-ruled by the Spirit of God. Whatdoye therefore in all this, but work against the design of God, who hath fitted and prepared my heart for this service ?
Secondly, I am ready; that is, my will and resolution stands ina full bent, my heart is fixed, you cannot therefore study to domeagreater injury, than to discompose and disorder my heart again, by casting such temptationsasthese in my way, to cause the flesh to rebel, and the enemy that is within to renew his opposition.
Thirdly, I am ready ; that is, my heart is so fixed to follow the call of God, whatever shall befal me, that all your tears and in treaties to the contrary are but cast away; they cannot alter my fixed purpose ; you had as good be quiet, andchearfullyre-
sign me to the will of God.
Thus you seethe equipage and preparation of Paul's spirit to receivebothbonds and death for Christ at Jerusalem; this made him victorious over the temptations of friends, and the malice and cruelty of his enemies : By this readiness , and preparation of his mind, he was carried through all, and enabled to finish his course with joy. From hence the observation is, Doct. That it isa blessed and excellent thing, for the people of God to be prepared, and ready for the hardest services, and worst of sufferings, to which the Lord may call them. This is that which every gracious heart is reaching after, praying, and triving to obtain; butah ! how few will attain it!
Certainly there are not many among the multitudes of the professors of this generation, that can fay as Paul here did, " I am " readytobebound, or to die for Christ ."
CHAP. II. Shews, that although God takes no delight in afflicting his people, yet hefometimes exposeth them to great and grievous sufferings; with a brief account why, and how he calls them thereunto. T
1 HE mercies and compassions of God over his people, are exceeding great and tender, Psal, ciii. 13. "Like as " a father pitieth his children, to the Lord pitieth them that
The best Work in the worst Times. 301 " fear him." He delights not in afflicting and grieving them, Lam. iii. 33. " He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the " children of men." The scripture intimates to us a seeming conflict betwixt the justice and mercy of God, when he is about to deliver up his people into their enemies hands, Hofea xi. 8, 9. " How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? How shall I deliver " thee, Israel ? How shall I make thee as Adma ? How shall " I set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me, my " repentingsare kindled together." Which thews us with what