Part 22
And yet how difficult soever it be to bring our hearts t< it is certainlv miinh movp diffit^iilf. to manao-p It suceessfiill v.
A SERIOUS EXHOBTATIOX TO SELF-EXAMINATIOX.
about it ; and yet still are in the dark, and their minds greatly plexed, and filled with fear about it ! What would they not
Wliat would they not suffer? What pleasant enjoyment wc they not gladly part with, to arrive at the desire of their souls, full assurance of their sincerity? It was the saying of a pious woi
I have born, said she, seven children, and they have cost me as i as ever children cost a mother, yet would I be content to en( all that sorrow over again, to be assured of the love of God to soul.
Motive 2. Secondly, And as the work is full of difficulty, so discovery of your sincerity will be full of sweetness and joy unsp able : It will never repent you that you have prayed and mour that you have trembled and feared, that you have searched and ed : Nay, it will never repent you, that God hath tried you by ti sands of sharp afflictions and deep sufferings, if, after all, your si rity may be fully cleared up to the satisfaction of your souls ; f( the same day your sincerity shall be cleared, your title to Christ be made as clear to your souls as your sincerity is ; you may the to the promises boldly, and take your own Christ into the am your faith, and say, " My beloved is mine, and I am his T Yea, may be confident, it shall be well with vou in the judgment of great day, for " God will not cast away the upright man," Job 20. If the word clear you now, it cannot condemn you then. O what an ease it is to the soul, when the fears and doubts hang about it are gone ! When a man sees what he is, and whs hath in Christ and the promises, and what he hath to do ; eve spend the time betwixt this and heaven, in admiring the grat God that hath delivered him from the ruining mistakes and mii riages by which so great a part of the professing world are lo all eternity.
Motive 3. Thirdly, The deep concernment of vour souls in the : ter to be tried, should awaken you to the utmost diligence aboi The trials of men for their life, at human bars, is but a trifle to 1
It is our eternal happiness that stands or falls with your sincer:
It is said in the trial of opinions, that if a man superstruct hi stubble upon the foundation, he shall suffer loss ; yet he himself be saved, 1 Cor. iii. 1^. But if hypocrisy be in the foundation, t is no such relief, there is no possibility of salvation in that case
Ah, reader, thou must be cast for ever according to the intej or hypocrisy of thy heart with God. Summon in them all the po of thy soul : bring thy thoughts as close asitis possible to bring the fill's >ll<ll-tor • Tf tK£>».Q l-wa or>Tr oiil^io/1*- .-.f /i,-.»->e.ir1«».<-.ti/-.»-« oKI/i t.-> rlr^nl o9i A SERIOUS EXHOIITATION TO SELF-EXAMINATIO consecrate them unto this solemn, awful, and most importai
Motive 4. Fourthly, How evidential will it be of you when you are willing to come to the trial of your own h
Suppose your doubts and fears should in some degree i you ; yet in this you may take some comfort, that if hyp your heart, it is not there by consent: You are not loth come to trial, because, like Rachel you sit upon your idoli ly it is a good sign thy heart is right when it is filled wi fear lest it should be false. You know all the disciples said
is it I ?'' before Judas, who was the traitor, spake a wo " of all (saith the text) Judas smd. Is it I ?" Our willir tried is a good sign that the desire of our soul is to be rigli
Motive 5. Fifthly, Conclude it to be your great adva thoroughly tried, whatever you be found to be in the tr be found sincere, you are richly rewarded for all youi labour : Never did that man repent of digging and t( after all, hit upon the rich vein that he digged for : Wli of gold to a vein of sincerity I
If upon search you find the contrary, a false, hypocritici heart, yet in that very sad discovery you meet with the [ vantage that ever you had in your lives for salvation. Th: is your great advantage : For now your vain confidence turned, and your ungrounded hopes destroyed ; you lie stroke of a deep and effectual conviction of your sin and mi is the introductive mercy to all other mercies to your souls ly till you come to that, to give up your false hopes, an< vain pretensions, there is no hope of you. Christ told th( Matth. xxi. 81. Publicans and harlots enter into the 1 heaven before you : Publicans were the worst sort of me lots the worst sort of Avomen, and yet they stood in a fai heaven than the hypocritical Pharisees, because convictioi access to their consciences : They had not those defence of duty and strictness to ward off the word that the S6 Pharisees had.
I may say of your vain and groundless hopes, as Christ sense, said to the officers that came to seize him in the gai seek me, let these go their way. So it is here, if you expect salvation by him, let your vain confidences go their way ; your masks and vizards, if ever you expect to see Chri your happiness to have all these things stript off, and you and poverty discovered, that you may be rich, as the te:
Motive 6. Sixtlilv. Consider how near the day of deat'
RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN THE TRIALS OF GRACE. i praver, to the great weakening of his body ; and being asked h relation why he did so, and prayed to favour himself, he retur this answer, O I must die, I must die; plainly intimating, that so gi is the concernment of dying in a clear assured condition, that i richly worth the expence of all our time and strength to secure
You know also that q/ier death the Judgment, Heb. ix. 27. ' are hastening to the judgment of the great and terrible God. De will put you into his balance to be weighed exactly ; and what gi the soul a louder call to search itself with all diligence, whih stands at the door of eternity, and its turn is not yet come to before that awful tribunal : O that these considerations might h place upon our hearts !
CHAP. XII.
Containing divers hel^sjhr the clearing of sincerity and discoi of hypocrisy.
SECT. I.
JL OU see of what importance the duty of self-examination is, how many things put a necessity and a solemnitv upon that w< Now, in the close of all, I would offer you some helps for the > management thereof, that is as far as I can carry it : the Lord ] suade your hearts to the diligent and faithful application and us them. The general rules to clear sincerity are these that follow
Rule 1. We may not presently conclude we are in the stat, hypocrisy, because we find some worhings of it, and tendencies t in our spirits : The best gold hath some dross and alloy in Hypocrisy is a weed naturally springing in all ground, the bes^t h< is not perfectly clear or free of it : It may "be we are stumb' when we feel some workings or grudgings of this disease in ourseh and looking into such scriptures as these, John i. 47. " Behold " Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile :" and Psal. xxxii, " Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniqu " and in whose spirit there is no guile."
This I say may stumble some upright soul, not understanding what an allayed and qualified sense those scriptures are to be unc stood : For by a spirit xcWiout guile, is not understood a person ah lutely free from all deceitfulness and falseness of heart ; this was till
596 KULES TO BE OBSERVED IN TRIALS OF GRACE
Rule 2. Every true ground of humiliation for sin is cient ground for doubting and questioning our estate an
There be many more things to humble us upon the our mfirmity, than there are to stumble us upon the ace mtegritv : It is the sin and affliction of some good souls condition in question upon every slip and failing in the co obedience. This is the way to debar ourselves from a and comfort of the Christian life : We find that Joser minded to put away Mary his espoused wife, not know holy thing which was conceived in her was by the Holy C the sin of hypocrites to take brass for gold, and the folh call their gold brass : Be as severe to yourselves as you ■ ed always you be just : " There is that maketh himself ri
hath nothing; and there is that maketh himself poor, a " great riches," Prov. xiii. 7. Hiram called the cities S( him, Cabul, Dirty, for they pleased him not, 1 Kings i: but an ill requital, an ungrateful return to God for the cies, to undervalue them in our hearts, and be ready up sions to put them away as worth nothing.
Rule fJ. A strotiger propension in our nature, and more cidence in our practice to one sin than another, do not pre our hypocrisy, and the unsoundness of our hearts in reli true, every hypocrite hath some way of wickedness : Soii indHiciis, iniquity that he delights in, and rolls as a s under his tongue; some lust that he is not willing to part v endure that the knife of mortification should touch it ; a doubtedly argues the insincerity and rottenness of his hei is true also that the nature and constitution of the most sai inclines him rather to one sin than to another, though he self in none; yea, though he set himself more Avatchfi that sin than another, yet he may still have more troubl tion, more temptation and defilement from it than any o
As every man hath his proper gift, one after this mann ther after that, as the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. vii. 7. so hath his proper sin also, one after this manner and anothc For it is with original sin as it is with the juice or sap o which though it be the common matter of all kinds of fri specificated according to the different sorts of plants and it nourishes ; in one it becomes an apple, in another a Just so it is in original corruption, which is turned into temptation or sin, according tothis or that constitution
RULES TO BE OBSERVED IX THE TRIALS OF GUACE.
than anotJter, doth not conchide the heart to he unsound and false
Godf provided we do not inzoardlf/ dislike and disapprove any du religion,or except against it inour agreement icith Christjtutthat i eih merely fi-om the present zceakness and distemper ice labour w
There are some duties in religion, as suffering for Christ, be. sharp reproofs for sin, tliat even an upright heart under a pn distemper, may find a great deal of backwardness and lothnes; yet still he consents to the law, that it is good, is troubled thi cannot complv more cheerfully with his duty, and desires to s complete in all the will of God : Perfection is his aim, and in fections are his sorrows.
Some Christians have much ado to bring their hearts to fixec lenm meditation ; their hearts flv off from it, but this is their bui that it should be so with them. True, it is a very dangerous si< hypocrisy, when a man's zeal runs out in one channel of obed only, and he hath not respect to all God's commandments ; as sicians observ-e, the sweating of one part of the body, when al rest is cold, is symptomatica!, and argues an ill habit : But whils soul heartily approves all the will of God, and sincerely desir come up to it, and mourns for its backwardness and deadness tc or that duty, and this is not fixed, but occasional, under soniepn indisposition out of which the soul riseth by the same degre sanctification riseth in him, and the Lord come* in w ith rent strength upon him ; this, I say, may consist, and is very ordin found to be the case of upright-hearted ones.
Rule 5. The glances of the eye at self-aids in duties^ whilst is not the iceight that moves the icheels^ the principal end and de we drive at, and zchilst those glances are corrected and mourned do not conclude the heart to he unsound and hypocriticcd in relig For even among the most deeply sanctified, few can keep their so steady and fixed with pure and unmixed respects to the gloi God, but that there will be (alas ! too frequently) some by-e insinuating and creeping into the he^t.
These like the fowls, seize upon the sacrifice, let the soul what pains it can to drive them away : It is well that our High-p bears the iniquities of our holy things for us. Peter had too n: regard to the pleasing of men, and did not walk with that upri ness towards the Gentile Christians and the believinor Jews, in matter of liberty as became him, Gal. ii. 13, 14. for which, as 1 saith, he ought "to be blamed, and he did blame him : But vet su failing as that in the end of his duty did not condemn him. In t lilt
598 HEART-SOUNDING QUESTIONS.
we fear ourselves to he. God will not condemn ev a hypocrite that suspects, yea, or charges himself wltli Holy David thought his heart was not right with God great slip of his in the matter of Uriah ; and therefore I to renew a right spirit in him, Psal. li. 10, 11, 12. his ir . indeed wounded, and he thought destroyed by that fall.
Holy Mr. Bradford so vehemently doubted the sine lieart, that he subscribed some of his letters, as Mr. Fox t( Bradford the hypocrite ; a very painted sepidchre : Ar saying, he utterly misjudged the state and tempor of his
SECT. II.
7 T ELL then, let not the upright be unjust to th censuring their own hearts ; they are bad enough, but make them worse than they are, but thankfully own ai ledge the least degrees of grace and integrity in 'them ; a our uprightness might be sooner discovered to us, if, in posure of spirit, we would sit down and attend the true our own hearts to such questions as these are.
Quest. 1. Do I make the approbation of God, or the men, the very end and main design of my religious pe: according to 1 Thess. ii. 4. Col. iii. 23. will the accepta duties with men satisfy me, whether God accept my person or not .?
Quest. 2. Is it the reproach and shame that attends sin and the danger and misery that will follow it hereafter, th me from the commission of it ? Or is it the fear of God and the hatred I bear to it as it is sin ? according to Ps; and Psal. cxix. 113.
Quest. 3. Can I truly and heartily rejoice to see God's w on in the world, and his glory promoted by other hands have no share in the credit and honour of it, as Paul did ?
Quest. 4. Is there no duty in religion so full of difficult denial, but I desire to comply Avith it ? And is all the hoi will of God acceptable to my soul, though I cannot rise i readiness to the performance of all duties; according to th Psal. cxix. 6.
Quest. 5. Am I sincerely resolved to follow Christ and all seasons, however the aspects of the times be upon relig I carry myself so warily and covertly as to shun all hazai
RCLF.S TO BE OBSERVED IX THE TRIALS OF GRACE.
A few sucli questions solemnly propounded to our own lieai a calm and serious hour, would sound them, and discover mt their sincerity towards the Lord.
A SECT. III.
ND as upright heai-ts are too apt to apply to themselve threats and miseries of hypocrites, so hypocrites, on the con are as apt to catch hold of the promises and privileges pertaini believers.
To detect therefore the soul-damning mistakes of such de< souls, O that these following rules might be studied, and faitl applied to their conviction and recovery.
Kule 1. It is not enough to clear amanjr&m hypocrisy, (hat he i not himself to be an hypocrite. All hypocrites are not designir pocrites ; they deceive themselves as well as others : " Many wi *' to me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy n &c. Matt vii. 22. Hell will be a mere surprisal to multituc professors : a man may live and die in a blind, ungrounded confi of his safe condition, and not fear his ruin till he begin to feel
Rule 2. Zeal andjbrzcardness in the cause of God, andjbr t formation of his "icorship, will not clear a man from thedaiiger pocrisy. Jehu wasa zealous reformer, and yet but a painted sepu
In the year 1549, reformation grew so much in reputation, even a the nobles and gentry in Germany, that many of them caused five letters, V. D. M. I. ^. being the initial letters of these w
Verbum Domini manet in cctcrnum : i. e. The zcord of the abideth for ever, to be wrought, or embroidered, or set in f some upon their cloaks, and others upon the sleeves of thenments ; to shew to all the world, saith my * author, that forsj all popish traditions, they would now cleave to the pure doctrin discipline of the eternal Word.
And no doubt they would have been as good as their word, if was embroidered on their cloaks, had been engraven on their h( but, Come, see my zeal, mars all.
Rule 3. It is no stifficient evidence of a man's own integrity he hates hypocrisy in another : for, as one proud man may hate ther, and he that is covetous himself, will be apt to censure an for being so ; lusts may be contrary to one another, as well of them contrary to grace ; so may an hypocrite loath that in ther, which yet he alloweth in himself: Nay, it is the policy of to declaim against the hypocrisy of others, thereby to hide own. Hvnocrites are none of the most modest censurers of o1
""^ ttEART-SOUNDlKG QITESTIOKS.
It ; and yet all this while his heart may not be carried th hungry and thirsty desires after God : it is not the matl duty that distniguishes the sound and unsound professor^ motives, designs, and ends of the soul in them.
llule 5. The vogue and opinions ijou have ^ot amonirC of your sincerity, zvill not be sufficient to clear you from t 9/ hypocrisy. Christ tells the angel of Sard is, Rev. iii. ] hast a name tJiat thou livest, and art dead." The fall of I and Philetus could never have shaken the faith of the s; did, had they not had great credit in the church, and be renown lor piety among them.
Rule 6. Your respects and love to them that are the si ypright servants of God, zvill not clear you from the dan^e hypocrites yourselves; for the bare loving of a Christi charactcnstical and evidential of a man^s own Christianit he ove him, qua talis, as he is a Christian, or as he belono-g i and so his sincerity becomes the attractive of thy affecttor are a thousand by-considerations and respects" that mav man s love to the saints, besides their integrity. SECT. IV.
ELL, then, if thou wouldst indeed see the unsoundr own heart, propound such heart-sounding questions as the self.
Quest. 1. Do I engage my lieart to approach unto G( course of my duties.? Or do I go in the round of duties, takin to my heart in them .? If so, compare this symptom of thy J with that m 2 Kings x. 3. and that in Ezek. xxx. 31, 32.
Quest. ^. Am I not swayed and moved by self-interest a respects in the ways of religion, the accommodation of som interest, or getting a name and reputation of godliness .? I apparently do the same symptoms of hypocrisy appear upor which did upon Judas, John xii. 6. and on Jehu, 2 Kings \
Quest. 3. Have I not some secret reserves in my heart, standing that face and appearance of zeal which I put on.?' if there be any sin that I cannot part with, any suffering 1 which I resolve against in my heart ; I am none of his disc heart is not right with God, the searcher of hearts hims Judge, Luke xiv. 26, 27.
Quest. 4. What conscience do I make of secret sins.? Do for a vam heart, wanderinsr thouohts.
NECESSARY GOUXSELS TO ALL PUOFESS0R9. --- SECT. V.
X WILL shut up all with five or six concluding counsels, (whic" Lord impress upon the heart of him that writes, and those that read them) to preserve and antidote the soul against the dangt insinuation and leaven of hypocrisy.
Counsel I. Intreat the I^rd night and day, Jbr a rcnerved right spirit. All the helps and directions in the world will not dote and preserve you from hypocrisy ; nothing will be found al keep you right, till sanctification hath first set you right. I xxxvi. 27. " I will put my Spirit within you ; and cause you to
" in my statutes."" A bowl may keep by a strait line, so long as the impressed for the hand that delivered it remains strong upon it ; but as that a off, so its motion fails, and its own basis sways and turns it. A f of conscience, a pang of warm affection, or the influence of great example or a good education, may influence an unrenewed and push it on the way of salvation for a season ; but the hea influenced, must, and will return to its own natural course a
And I think there wants nothing but time, or a suitable temptr to discover the true temper of many a professor's spirit : pray, t fore, as that holy man did, Psal. cxix. 80. "Let my heart be s
in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed."" Counsel 2. Always suspect and examine your ends in what yc Sincerity and hypocrisy lie much in your ends and designs ; as are, so are you. The intentions of the heart lie deep ; a man m; the same action to an holy end, and his person and service be acci with God ; which another doing for a corrupt end, it may be oned his sin, and both his person and service be abhorred b Lord. We find two men riding in one chariot, and both of concerned in the same expedition, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, and i dab, the son of Rechab, 2 Kings x. 15, 23. But though the they engaged in was one, and the same, yet the different ends aimed at, made the same action an excellent duty in Jonadab, ai act of vile hypocrisy in Jehu : Idem quod diu>Juciunt, non est i It was the saying of a good soul, commended for a good action work indeed is jjood, but I fear the ends of it. Self ends are cree and insiniiatinor things into the best actions.
Counsel 3. Scare yourselves zcith the daily Jears of the sin tl in, and the misery that zoilljbllozv hypocrisy. Look upon it a most odious sin in the eyes of God and men ; to want holing bad enough, but to dissimulate and pretend it, when we have it
602 NECESSARY COUNSELS TO ALL PROFESSOnS.
ward and punishment of it will be out of measure dreadf xxiv. 51. " He shall cut him asunder, and appoint him I
" with hypocrites ; there shall be weeping and gnashing (
Counsel 4. Be daily at worTc in the mortijication qfthost breed hypbcrisy. It is plain, without much sifting, that p glory, self-love, and a worldly heart, are the seeds out of cursed plant springs up in the souls of men. Dig but t( you shall certainly find these things there ; and till the Lon to kill and mortify these, hypocrisy will spring up in all yoi God, and in all your converses with men.
Counsel 5. Attend the native voice of your own conscie\ day of sichness^Jear or trouble^ and take special notice oj or upb7'aidings, which like a stitch in your side, will gi\ times : Commonly in that lies your greatest danger : Bew evil which conscience brands and marks at such times, wh your living in the practice of some secret sin, or in the negL known duty : These frights of conscience mark out the c wherein your danger mostly lies.
Counsel. 6. Let us all that profess religion be un'rfbrm an< the pr()fession and practice of ii, icitJiout politic reserves, ai
O take heed of this Laodicean neutrality and indiffere Christ hates : Be sure your ground be good, and then b stand your ground. The religion of time-servers is but ] They have sluices in their consciences which they can oper occasion requires ; Every fox will at least have two holes that if one be stopt, he may escape at the other. The poiseth himself so evenly in a mediocrity, that, asitis said c Let Anthony win, let Augustus win, all is one: So let ( or let Antichrist win, he hopes to make every wind thai serviceable to waft him to the port of his own interest.
The hypocrite hath always more of the moon than ol little hght, many spots, and frequent changes: It iseasiei bow to the cross, than to bear the cross ; to sin, than to i
Our own story tells us of a poor simple v/oman that li\ the reign of queen Mary and queen Elisabeth, and would say her pfayers both in Latin and English, that she mi^ to please one side or other ; and let God, said she, take ^ him best. What is noted as an act of ridiculous simplicity time-serving hypocrite accounts a point of deep policy in
The times under Dioclesian were Pagan ; under C Christian ; under Constantius, Arian ; under Julian, Ape
orroin . A r>/l oil tliic. xirifl-iin tllo CTAor't
^TECESS-VRY COUNSELS TO ALL PUOFESSORS.
be a man but of one design, and be sure that be an honest and ^ design, to secure heaven, whatever beeomes of earth : To hold integrity, whatever thou art forced to let go for its sake.
Take heed of pious frauds : Certainly it was the devil thaf married these tw^o words together, for they never did, nor can a. betwixt themselves, nor was ever such a marriage made in hea
Never study to model religion, and the exercises thereof, in a sistency with, or subserviency to your fleshly interests ; If your gion be but a mock religion, your reward shall be but a mock hea that is a real hell.
O the vanity and inutility of these projects and designs I Men si to cast themselves into such modes, and stint themselves to such i sures of religion, as they think will best promote, or secure their ear interests: but it often falls out, contrary to their expectation, that t deep policies are ridiculous follies ; they become the grief and sh of their friends, and the scorn and song of their enemies. And c it fares with them, as with him that placed himself in the mi of the table, where he could neither reach the dish above him, that below him, Esurumt medii, ^-c. and, w hich is the very be; it, if earthly interest be accommodated by sinful neutralitv, ar Laodicean indifferency in religion, yet no good man should ( feel a temptation to embrace it, except he think what is wantin the sweetness of his sleep, may be fully recompensed to him by stateliness of his bed, and I'icher furniture of his chamber ; I n that a fuller and higher condition in the world, can make him ami for the loss of his inward peace, and the quiet repose of a good science : These by-ends and self-interests are the little pass through which hypocrisy creeps in upon the professors of religi
O let this be your rejoicing, which was Paul's, " The testin " of your conscience, that in all sincerity and godly simplicit}-, " in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, you have had ^ " conversation in this world," 2 Cor. i. 12.
Let that be your daily prayer and cry to heaven, which
David's, Psal. xxv. 21. " Let integrity and uprightness pres " me, for I wait on thee."
Counsel 7. Keep your hearts day and night under the arce of C ail-seeing eye : Remember he beholds all your ways, and pon all your thoughts ; how covertly soever hypocrisy' may be cai for a time, all must and will out at last, Luke xii. 3. Secret the main inducement to hypocrisy, but it will fall out with hypocrite, as it did with Ottocar the king of Bohemia, who ref
604 A TOKEN rOR MOCUNEftS.
every secret thing into judgment. Thus did Job, and i him. Job xxxi. 1, 4. Thus did David, and it preserved xviii. 21, 22, 23. Thus do thou also, and it will preserve less and without guile to the day of Christ.
TOKEN FOR MOURNERS
OR THE
ADVICE OF CHRIST TO A DISTRESSED M
BEWAILING THE DEATH OF HER DEAR AND O^LY SO
Wherein the Boundaries of Sorrow are duly fixed, E strained, the common Pleas answered, and divers Ru support of God's afflicted Ones prescribed.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
To his dearly beloved brother and sister, Mr. J. C. and .
the Author Toisheth grace, mercy, and peace
DEAR FRIENDS,
X HE double tye of nature and grace, beside the many passages that for so many years have linked and glewed tions so intimately, cannot but beget a tender sympathy i you under all your troubles, and make me say of every affli* befals you. Half's mine. I find it is with our affections s strings of musical instruments exactly set at the same hei be touched, the other trembles, though it be at some dlsl
Our affections are one, and so in a great measure hav( afflictions also. You cannot forget that in the years latel Almighty visited my tabernacle with the rod, and in one \ rllE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
I Jure not say that ever I felt my heart discontentedly rising swelling against" God ; no, I could still justify him, when I n sensibly smarted by his hand : If he had plunged me into a se; sorraw^ yet I could say in all that sea of sorrow, there is not a d of injustice : But it was the over-heating and over-acting of my f and unmortified affections and passions that made so sad impress! upon my bodv, and cast me under those distempers which soon bittered all my remaining comforts to me.
It was my earnest desire, so soon as I had strength and oppo nity for so great a journey to visit you, that so, if the Lord pleased, I might both refresh and be refreshed by you, after all sad and disconsolate days. xVnd you cannot imagine what con and pleasure I projected in that visit ; but it proved to us, as all oi comforts of the same kind ordinarily do, more in expectation t ir fruition : For how soon after our joyful meeting and embraces the Lord overcast and darken our day, by sending death into y tabernacle, to take away the desire of your eyes with a stroke crop off that sweet and only bud from which we promised ourse so much comfort. But no more of that, I fear I am gone toe already. It is not my design to exasperate your troubles, but to them ; and for that purpose have I sent you these papers, whi« hope may be of use both to you and many others in your condit since they are the after-fruits of my own troubles ; things th; have not commeaded to you from another hand, but which I h in some measure, proved and tasted in my own trials.
But I will not hold you longer here; I have only a few thin^ desire for, and from you, and I have done.
The things I desire are,
First, That you will not be too hasty to get off the yoke which i hath put upon your neck. Remember when your child was in womb, neither of you desired it should be delivered thence till G appointed time was fully come ; and now that you travail again sorrow for its death : O desire not to be delivered from your son one moment before God's time for your deliverance be fully c also. Let patience have its perfect work ; that comfort which cc in God's way and season, will stick by you, and do you good ind Secondly, I desire, that though you and your afflictions had t meeting, yet you and they may have a comfortable parting. If i effect that upon your hearts which God sent them for, I doubt but you Avill give tliem a fair testimony when they go off.
If thev obLiin Gnd"'s blpssinor nnnn thorn in thpir oivratinn. sil
606 THE EPISTLE DEDICATOR \% evil of sin, the vanity of the creature, and the fulness of ( ever you yet saw. Afflictions are searchers, and put the searching and trying its ways, Lam. iii. 14. When our out by affliction, happy are we, if, by the light of afflict out sin. Blessed is tiie man whom God chasteneth, ai out of his law, Psal. xciv. 12. There are unseen causes, r of our troubles ; you have an advantage now to sift oui and principles from which they spring.
I wish that all the love and delight you b your little one, may now be placed, to your greater advai Jesus Christ ; and that the stream of your afifection to hii much the stronger, as there are now fewer channels for vided into. If God will not have any part of your happii children, then let it wholly lie in himself. If the jealousy hath removed that which drew away too much of your him, and hath spoken by this rod, saying. Stand aside, art in my way, and fillest more room in thy parenfs heai longs to thee : O then deliver up all to him, and say, Lo whole heart entirely, and undividedly to thyself. Hencefo be no parting, sharing, or dividing of the affections betwi the creature, let all the streams meet, and centre in thee
Fjftlily, That you may be strengthened with all might man to all patience, that the peace of God may keep and minds, labour to bring your hearts to a meek submi rod of your Father. We had fathers of the flesh wl us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much subjection to the Father of spirits, and live ? Is it comi dren to contest and strive with their father ? Or is it thi freed from the yoke by struggling under it ? O that ; might be in a like frame with his that said, Lord, thou shj
I will bear. It was a good observation that one made. An et qiciescendo Jit sapiens ; The soul grows wise by sitti quiet under the rod. And the apostle calls those exc
the saints gather from their sanctified afflictions, ahleJruUs of righteousness, Heb. xii. 11.
Lastly, My heart's desire and prayer to God for you, may die dally to all visible emjoyments, and by these fi verses with death in your family, you may be prepared f change and dissolution, when It shall come.
O friends ! how many graves have you and I seen op< dear relations .? How oft hath death come up into yoi
THE EPISTLE DEDICATOilY.
gone, our bosom relations, that were as our o^vn souls, are g and do not all these warning-knocks at our doors acquaint us, we must prepare to follow shortly after them ?
O that by these things our own death might be both more and familiar to us ; the oftener it \-isits us, the better we shoul acquainted with it ; and the more of our beloved relations it ren before us, the less of either snare or intangleraent remains fc when our turn comes.
iMy dear friends, my flesh and my blood, I beseech you, fc ligion's sake, for your own sake, and for my sake, whose comfc in great part bound up in your prosperity and welfare, that you frequently, ponder seriously, and apply believingly these scri] consolations and directions, which, in some haste, I have gatl
&r your use ; and the God of all consolation be with you.
/aw,
Your most endeared Brother,
JOHN FLAVE
TOKEN FOR MOURNERS.
Luke vii. 13.
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on Iter, and sa her, Weep not.
X O be above the stroke of passion, is a condition equal to an' to be in a state of sorrow without the sense of sorrow, is a dis tion beneath beasts : but duly to regulate our sorrows, and b< our passions under the rod, is the wisdom, duty, and excellency!
Christian. He that is without natural aifections, is deservedlyra anwngst the worst of heathens ; and he that is able rightly to ma them, deserves to be numbered with the best of Christians. Th( when we are sanctified we put on the Divine nature, yet, ti are elorified. we nut not off the infirmities of our human natui
If I
6^ A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS.
m this woman's example, to whose excessive sorrow C stop m the text: «He saw her, and had compassion , " said to her, « Weep not."
The lamentations and waihngs of this distressed mot the tender compassions of the Lord in beholding them up more pity in his heart for her, than could be in her \ dear and only son.
In the words we are to consider both the condition of and the counsel of Christ with respect unto it.
First, The condition of this woman, which appears dolorous and distressed ; her groans and tears moved , the very heart of Christ to hear and behold them : " W
her, he had compassion on her." How sad an hour it was with her, when Christ met her, what IS so distinctly remarked by the evangelist, ver. 12 said, « Now when they came nigh to the gate of the ci there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his n
" she was a widow, and much people of the city was wil In this one verse, divers heart-piercing circumstan amiction are noted.
First, It was the death of a smi * To bury a child, must needs rend the heart of a tender parent ; for what a but the parent multiplied .? A child is a part of the parei m another skin : But to lay a son in the grave, a son wh( the name, and supports the family; this was ever accour great affliction.
Secondly, This son was not carried from the cradle to nor stripped out of its swathing, to be wrapped in its win Plad he died in his infancy, before he had engaged afFecti( ed expectation, the affliction had not been so pungent, a; as now it was : death smote the son in the flower and pr time. He was a man, (saith the evangelist) ver. ] 2. a yo (as Christ calls him) ver. 14. he was now arrived at that made him capable of yielding his mother all that comfort been the expectation and hope of many years, and the r( fruit of many cares and labours : yet then, when the en were greatest, and her hopes highest, even in the flower he is cut off.
Thus Basil bewailed the death of his son : + < I once 1
A TOKEN rOti MOUS74ERS.
* who was a voung man, my only successor, the solace of my
the glorj' of his kind, the prop of my family, arrived to the en< ' ing age ; then was he snatched away from me by death, whose k ' \ oice but a little before I heard, who lately was a pleasent i
tacle to his parent' Reader, if this hath been thine own condition, as it hath bee that writes it, I need say no more to convince thee that it was i rowful state indeed, Christ met this tender mother in.
Thirdly, And which is yet more, he was not only a son, bi only son : so you find, in ver. 12. " He was the only son o
mother ;'^ * one in whom all her hopes and comforts, of that 1 were bound up. For, Omnls in Ascan io, stat chari aira parentis, gil. All her affections were contracted into this one object. 1 have never so many children, we know not which of them to sj if they stand like oUve plants about our tables, it would grieve see the least twig amongst them broken down. But surely the ( of one out of many is much more tolerable than all in one -f-.
Hence it is noted in scripture as the greatest of earthly son
Jer. vL 26. *• O daughter of mv people, gird thee with sackc " and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning as for an
son, most bitter lamentation.'' Yea, so deep and penetrating ii grief, that the Holv Ghost borrows it to express the deepest spii troubles by it, Zech. xii. 10. " They shall mourn for him, (na " Christ,) whom thev have pierced as one mourneth for an only
Fourthlij^ And yet, to heighten the afl3iction, it is superadded,
1 2. " And she was a widow.'' So that the staff of her age, on ^ she leaned, was broken : * she had now none left to comfort or i her, in her helpless, comfortless state of widowhood ; which condition not only void of comfort, but exposed to oppression, contempt.
Yea, and being a widow, the whole burthen lay upon her al she had not an husband to comfort her, as Elkanah did Hanna
1 Sam. i. 8. *' Why weepest thou, and why is thy heart grie ** Am not I better to thee than ten sons t"" This would have b great relief; but her husband was dead, as well as her son, gone, and she only surviving, to lament the loss of those conr that once she had. Her calamities came not single, but one another, and this revi^nng, and aggravating the former. Thi: her case, and condition, when the Lord met her.
Secondly, Let us consider the counsel which Christ gave her.
610 A TOlfEN FOK MOURNERS.
respect to this, her sad, and sorrowful case : " And when
saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto h " not." Relieving and supporting words ; wherein we «ider,
1. The occasion. 2. The motive. 3. The counsel itself.
1. The occasion of it, and that was his seeing of her. ' ing at the gate of the city, how accidental, and occasions seems, yet without doubt, it was providentially suited to tl tended to be wrought : The eye of his omniscience foresa this meeting was by him designed as an occasion of tl miracle which he wrought upon the young man. Christ hi eye to discern poor, mourning, and disconsolate creati though he be now in heaven, and stands out of our sig we see him not ; yet he sees us, and his eye (which is uj troubles) still affects his heart, and moves his bowels for
2. The motive stirring him up to give this relieving, an able counsel to her, was his own compassion : She neithei nor desired it from him ; but so full of tender pity was tl wards her, that he prevents her with unexpected consols heart was nothing so full of compassion for her son, as Ch her ; he bore our infirmities, even natural, as well as mo the days of his flesh ; and though he be now exalted to 1 glory, yet still he continues as merciful as ever, and a touched with the sense of our miseries, Heb. iv. 15.
Lastly, The counsel itself. Weep not ; herein fulfilling i a comforter to them that mourn, whereunto he was an( Ixi. 1, 2, 3. Yet the words are not an absolute prohibiti and sorrow ; he doth not condemn all mourning as sinful pressions of grief for dead relations as imcomely ; no, Chris have his people stupid, and insensate ; he only prohibits tl and extravagancies of our sorrows for the dead, that it sh such a mourning for the dead as is found among the Itei sorrow without measure, because without hope, being i that grand relief, which the gospel reveals.
The resurrection of her son from the dead, is the gi which Christ builds her consolation, and relief; well mi^
Weep noty when he intended quickly to remove the ct tears, by restoring him again to life.
Now, though there be somewhat in this case extraord
A TOKEN FOR MOUIIXERS.
vet those that now bury their relations, if they be guch as dit
Christ, have as good and sufficient reason to moderate their passic as this mourner had, and do as truly come within the reach and c( pass of this Christ's comfortable, and supporting counsel, Weep ' as she did : For do but consider, what of support or comfort ca particular and present resurrection from the dead give us, more t that it is, and as it is, a specimen, handsel, or pledge of the gem resurrection ? It is not the returning of the soul to its body, to an animal life again, in this world of sin and sorrow, and shortly a to undergo the agonies, and pains of death again, that is in it any such privilege as may afford much comfort to the person rai: or his relations: It is no privilege to the person raised, for it rett him from rest to trouble, from the harbour back again into the oce It is matter of trouble to many dying saints, to hear of the likelib of their returning again, when they are got so nigh to heaven.
It was once the case of a godly minister of this nation, who ' much troubled at his return, and said, I am like a sheep driven of the storm almost to the fold, and then driven back into the st( again; or a weary traveller that is come near his home, and then re go back to fetch somewhat he had forgotten; or an apprentice, wh time is almost expired, and then must begin a new terra.
But to die, and then return again from the dead, hath less privilege, than to return only from the brink of the grave ; for sick hath not yet felt the agonies and last struggles, or pangs of dea but such have felt them once, and must feel them again, they m die twice, before they can be happy once ; and, besides, during little time they spend on earth betwixt the first and second dissc tion, there is a perfect a/Mvr,?ia, forgetfulness, and insensibleness, all that which they saw, or enjoyed, in their estate of separatic It being necessary both for them and others, that it should be For themselves it is necessary, that they may be content to live, s endure the time of separation from that blessed and ineffable sU quietly and patiently ;* and for others, that they may live by fai and not by sense ; and build ujjon divine, and not human author and report.
So that here you see, their agonies and pangs are doubled, a yet their lives not sweetened by any sense of their happiness, wh returns and remains with them ; and therefore it can be no such | vilege to them.
And for their relations: Though it be some comfort to receive th again from the dead ; yet the consideration that they are return
612 A TOKEN FOR MUURNEItS.
part with them again, and feel the double sorrows of a j:
Avhich others feel but once ; surely such a particular i considered in itself, is no such ground of comfort a: might imagine it to be.
It remains, then, that the ground of all sohd comfor against the death of our relations, lies in the general an rection, and what is in a particular one, is but, as it were, and evidence of the general : and there the apostle place 1 Thes. iv. 17. that we shall see and enjoy them again, a coming. And surely this is more than if (with this m text) we should presently receive them from the dead, a son: And if we judge not so, it is because our hearts are measure things rather by time and sense, than by faith i
Thus you see the counsel, with its ground, which, 1 part, is common to other Christian mourners v.ith her ; tl being but inconsiderable, and of little advantage.
Here, then, you find many aggravations of sorrow n ther ; a son, an only son, is carrying to the grave ; yet mands the pensive mother not to mourn.
Hence we note,
Doct. That Christians ought to moderate their sorri dead relations, hoxo many ojjlicting circumstances. vations soever meet together in their death. It is as common with men, yea, with good men, to ex sorrows for dead relations j", as it is to exceed in their lights to living relations; and both of the one, and t may say, as they say of waters, It is hard to confine their bounds. It is therefore grave advice which the ap in this case, 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30. " But this I say, b
time is short ; it remaineth that both they that have " though they had none ; and they that weep, as thou< " not ; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced he had said, the floating world is near its port ; \ G< tracted the sails of man's life ; it is but a point of tvav live, and shortly it will not be a point to choose whether or not, children or not. All these are time-eaten thi fore the expected fruit of these comforts be ripe, we our rotten. It is therefore an high point of wisdom to look which shortly will not be, as if already they were not, a ourselves in the loss of these carnal enjoyments, as the behaves himself in the use of spiritual ordinances ; he lipard notand wp shnnld wppn as if wp wpnt not: tb
A TOKEX FOa MOCRNERS.
them so to hean, as to be broken-hearted for the sin they I of, or deeply affected with the glory revealed. We also ough be sensible ot" the stroke of God upon our dear relations ; but still we must weep, as if we wept not ; that is, we must keep bounds, and moderation in our sorrows, and not to be too de( concerned for these dying, short-lived things.
To this purpose the apostle exhorts, Heb. xii. 5. " !My son, ^
pise not thou the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when t' «' art rebuked of him." These are two extremes, despising fainting : when God is correcting, to say, I do not regard it, let < take all, if he will ; if my estate must go, let it go ; if my chile die, let them die : this is to despise the Lord's chastening ; and ( cannot bear it, that we should bear it thus hghtly.
There is also another extreme, and that is fainting : if, when gc are taken away tlie heart be taken away, and when children then the spirit'of the parent dies also; this is fainting under the i Thou lamentest, saith Senaca, thy deceased friend ; but I would have thee grieve beyond what is meet : that thou shouldest not gr at all, I dare not require thee ; tears may be excused, if they do exceed. Let thine eyes, therefore, be neither wholly dry, noi them overflow : weep thou mayest, but wail thou must not,
Happv man, that still keeps the golden bridle of moderation u his passions, and affections, and still keeps the possession of him: whatsoever he lose the possession of.
Now the method in which I propose to proceed, shall be,
1. To discover the signs, 2. To dissuade from the sin, 3. To remove the pleas, 4. To propose the cure of immoderate sorrow. First, I shall give you the signs of immoderate sorrow, and si you when it exceeds its bounds, and becomes sinful, even a sorrow be sorrowed for ; and, for clearness sake, I will first allow what e be allowed to the Christian mourner, and then you will the better* cern wherein the excess and sinfulness of your sorrow lies.
And, First, How much soever we censure, and condemn imi derate sorrow ; j/et tJie afflicted must be aUonced an aicakened, i tender seiise of the Lords ajfflicting hand upon tfiem. It is no vir to bear what we do not feel ; yea, it is a most unbecoming temj not to tremble when God is smiting.
The Lord saith to Closes, in the case of Miriam, Numb. xii.
If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed sc
614 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS.
filled her face with leprous spots, the signs of my displea her ? Surely God will be ashamed of those that are n when he rebukes them.
It is not magnanimity, but stupidity, to make light o rections ; and for this the afflicted are smartly taxed, Ji
have smitten them, but they have not grieved.'" smote Job in his person, children, and estate, he arose £ mantle, and put dust upon his head, to shew he was i and unaffected, and yet blessed the afflicting God ; whicl shewed he was not contumacious and unsubmissive.
Secondly, We must allow the monrnhig, afflicted son. comely expression of his grief and sorrow in his compli
God and men.
It is much more becoming a Christian, ingeniously troubles, than suddenly to smother them. There is nc plaining to God, but much wickedness in complaini Griefs are eased by groans and heart-pressures relieved 1]
This was David's course and constant way, who was a r tions. Psalm cxlii. 2, 8. " I poured out my complaint h
shewed before him my trouble ; when my spirit was o " within me, then thou knowest my path." To whom should children go, but to their father, tt moan ? Whence may they expect relief and comfort bu
The 102d Psalm is intituled, " A Psalm for the afflictec] " overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before 1
And happy were it if every afflicted soul would choose express his sorrows. Did we complain more to God, he plain less of us, and quickly abate the matters of our cc you cannot think how moving, how melting, how pr< with God, when his poor, burdened, and afflicted peopl distress and des|x>ndency, when deep calleth unto deep, a drives on another, then for the oppressed soul, with hi confidence, and faith, to turn itself to the Lord, and t him.
' Father, what shall I do ? My soul is greatly bow( * trouble ; 1 am full to the brim, my vain heart hatl
relief this way and that way, but none comes ; every < * fort is shut up against me : Thou hast multiplied my
' renewed my witnesses against me : Comfort is rcmov * outward, and peace from my inner man ; sharp afflicti * and bitter reflections within. O Lord, I am oppresse(
▲ TOKEN FOR MOURXEHS.
of God bath touched me.'' And it is a mercy if we have any fri( that are wise, faithful, and experienced ; tliey are bom for su time as this, Prov. xvii. 17. but be they what they will, they ca pity as God, relieve and succour as he ; and oftentimes we may with Job, chap. xxi. ver. 4. " As for me, is my complaint to ii
And if it were, why should not my spirit be troubled r" q. d. V great advantage can I get by these complaints ? I may burden heart of my friend, but how' little doth that ease my own ? Yel very opening of the heart to an experienced, tender Christian, is i relief, and the engaging his prayers is more. Thus far you n safely, in all this there is no danger.
Thirdly, Tlie ajfiicted person may (ordinarily) accusc^Judge^ condemn hlviseIf,for being the cause and procurer of his owntrou
He may lawfullv be discontented and vexed with himself for his folly, when the iniquity of his heels compasseth him about. . trulv it is but seldom tliat any great affliction befals a gracious son, but he saw the need of such a rod before he felt it.
Hath God smitten thy child, or friend, and didst thou not foi some sharp trial coming ? Did not thy fond, secure, carnal teni need such a scourge to awaken, quicken, and purge thee r Or, il did not foresee it, it is now your duty to search and examine y selves. So the church, in her affliction, resolved, J.am. iii. 40.. "
" us search and try our ways.'' When God is smiting, we sh be a searching: Surely our iniquities will enquire after us if we not enquire after them : Yea, in the day of affliction, a gracious is inquisitive about nothing more than the procuring and provo cause of his troubles. Job x. 2. " Shew me wherefore thou cont
" est with me;" q. d. Lord, what special corruption is it that rod is sent to rebuke ? What sinful neglect doth it come to hui me for i O discover it now to me, and recover me now from it.
And having found the root and cause of their troubles, ino^eni souls will shame themselves for it, and give glory to God by an 1; ble submission and vindication of the equity of his proceedings, xvi. 20. ** I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, thou pres€ " of men f He thmks it no shame freely to discover unto God, deeply to abase himself before him for his folly.
I remember a choice note that * Mr. Brightman hath in his ( mentary upon the Canticles.
Holy men, saith he, after their hearts are renewed by rej * ance, are not ashamed to remember and confess their slips, * shameful falls to the glory of God ; for they account that the g
616 A TOKEN FOft MOURNERS.
how willing should we be to take such shame to us ? Hoi} not ashamed to acknowledge, Psal. xxxviii. 5. " My wo
and are corrupted, because of my foolishness.'" He is man that thus befools himself before God.
It is true, God may afflict from prerogative, or for tr may always see cause enough in ourselves, and it is safei it upon our own folly.
Lastly, The afflicted Christian may, in an htimble, suhm ner, plead with God, and be earnest Jvr the removal of tit
When affliction prcsseth us above strength, when it dig duty, or when it gives advantage to temptation ; then \ with David, " Remove thy stroke from me, I am consu *' blow of thine hand," Psal. xxxix. 10. Even our Lord Ji in the day of his troubles, poured out his soul with stror many tears, saying, " Father, if thou be willing, let tli
from me," Luke xxii. 42. Oppressed nature desires even our renewed nature desires freedom from those clog tations, which hinder us in duty, or expose us to snares.
Thus far we may safely go. But sorrow then becomes sinful and excessive, when, First, It causeth us to slight and despise all our other rt enjoi/ments as small things, in comparison of what we Jn
It often falls out, that the setting of one comfort, clot nights all the rest. Our tears for our lost enjoyments s eyes, that we cannot see the many other mercies which y We take so much notice of what is gone, that we take J notice of what is left. But this is very sinful, for it in both ignorance, ingi'atitude, and great provocation.
It is a sin springing from ignorance. Did we know t] our sins, we should rather wonder to see one mercy lefl twenty are cut off. They that know they have forf mercy, should be thankful that they enjoy any, and pj they lose any of their comforts.
Did we know God, even that sovereign Lord at whose comforts come and go, who can the next moment blast main, and tvirn you into hell afterwards, you would prize he yet indulges to you, at an higher value. Did you the fickle, vanishing nature of the creature, what a fIo\ bubble it is ; O how thankful would you be to find so n in your possession !
JDid you know the case of thousands, as good, yea, bett( «.rV»*-\i-.r* ^itI"»,-»1<^ KovTTQct £^T r^r\YY^rr\^f in f V»TO itrz-^i'lrJ i^ r\iif o MO
A TOKEN FOR MOUnXEKS.
Well, but still you have a husband, a wife, other children ; or if you have comfortable accommodations for yourselves, with heal enjov them ; or if not, yet have you the ordinances of God, it be, an interest in Christ and in the covenant, pardon of sin, and h of glory. What, and yet sink at this rate, as if all your mei comforts, and hopes, even in both worlds, were buried in one gi
Must Ichabod be written upon your best mercies, because mort is written upon one ? Fy, fy, what shameful ingratitude is her
And reallv, friend, such a carriage as this under the rod small provocation to the Lord to go on in judgment, and makej end of all that remains, so that affliction shall not rise up the se time.
if God, taking notice how little thou regardest the man; deserved favours thou yet possesses!, should say, well, if thou thii them not worth the owning, neither do I think them worth the tinuing.? Go, death, there is a husband, a wife, other childrei left, smite them all. Go, sickness, and remove the health o; body yet left ; go losses, and impoverish his estate yet left ; gc proach, and blast his reputation, which is yet sweet; what would think of this ? And yet, if you be out of Christ, you are in dang a far sadder stroke than any, or all yet mentioned ? what if should say, Prizest thou not my mercy .'' Hast thou no value fo goodness and forbearance towards thee .'' Is it nothing that I spared thee tlius long in thy sins and rebellions? Well then, I stretch out my hand upon thy life, cut off that thread which kept thee so many years from dropping into hell.
O think then what you have done by provoking the Lord, thr< your vile ingratitude ! It is a dangerous thing to provoke God, ^ he is already in a way of judgment. And if you be his own pe< and so out of the danger of this last and worse stroke; yet ki you have better mercies to lose than any you have yet lost. Sh God cloud your souls with doubts, let loose Satan to buffet you move joy and peace from your inner man, how soon would yo convinced that the funeral of your dearest friend is but a trifle to 1
Well then, whatever God takes, be still thankful for what leaves. It was the great sin of Israel in the wilderness, that the God had delivered them from their cruel servitude in Egypt, n culously fed them in the desert, and was leading them on to a flowing with milk and honey ; yet as soon as any want did but b to pinch them, presently all these mercies were forgotten and sligh Num. xiv. 12. " Would to God (say they) we had died in Eg3
618 A TOKEN FOR MOtHNEllS-
Some Christians have such public spirits, that tlie church' swallow up their personal troubles. Melancthon seenn little notice of the death of his child which he dearly lov almost overwhelmed with the miseries lying on the churcl
And it was a good evidence of the graciousness and pul
Eli's spirit, who sitting in the gate anxiously waiting for tic the army, when the tidings came that Israel fled before 1 tines, that his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas were dead the ark of God was taken, just at the mention of that wo Arh of God, before he heard out the whole narration, quickly presaged the issue, he sunk down and died, 1 Sam. O that was the sinking, the killing word ; had the messe at the death of his two sons, like enough he had supportec den ; but the loss of the ark was more to him than sons or i
But how few such public spirits appear even among pr this selfish generation ? May we not with the apostle comp ii. 21. " All seek their own, and not the things that are c Few men have any great cares or designs lying beyond t of their own private interest. And what we say of cares of sorrows : If a child die, we are ready to die too, but p mities pierce us not.
How few suffer either their domestic comforts to be swj in the church's troubles, or their domestic troubles to be up by the church's mercies ! Now when it is thus with u regard what mercies or miseries lie upon others, but are tent upon our own afflictions, this is a sinful sorrow, ani be sorrowed for.
TJdrdly, Our sorrows then become sinful and exorbit? they divert us from, or distract us i7i our duties, so that course with heaven is stopt and interrupted by them.
How long can we sit alone musing upon a dead creature thoughts easily flow ; but how hard to fix them upon the li
our hearts should be in heaven Avith our Christ, the^; grave with our dead. May not many afflicted souls justly that their troubles had taken away their Christ from them, to sweet sensible communion) and laid the dead child in
Poor creature, cease to weep any longer for thy dead re weep rather for thy dead heart. Is this thy compliance design in afflicting thee ? What, to grow a greater stran, than before ! Or is this the way to thy cure and comfort i to refrain prayer, and turn thy back upon God.-* Or if thou darest not whollv nep-lect thv dutv. vet th
A TOKEX FOR MOURXEHS.
Rouse up thyself, Christian, and consider this is not right. S ly the rod works not kindly now. What, did thy love to Goc pire when thy friend expired.? Is thy heart as cold in duty, a bodv is in the grave.
Hath natural death seized him, and spiritual deadness seized t Sure then thou hast more reason to lament thy dead heart, thai dead friend. Divert the stream of thy troubles speedily, and la to recover thyself out of this temper quickly ; lest sad experi shortlv tell thee, that what thou now moumest for is but a trii what thou shalt mourn for hereafter. To lose the heavenly wa and spiritual liveliness of thy affections, is undoubtedly a far considerable loss, than to lose the vnfe of thy bosom, or the sw< child that ever a tender parent laid in the grave.
Reader, if this be thy case, thou hast reason to challenge tht place among the mourners. It is better for thee to bury ten than to remit one degree of love or delight in God. The e God in smiting was to win thy heart nearer to him by rem( that which estranged it ; how then dost thou cross the very d of God in this dispensation ? Must God then lose his delight i: fellowship, because thou hast lost thine in the creature.'* Si when thv troubles thus accompany thee to thy closet, they are !
and extravagant troubles.
Then you may also conclude your sorrows to be exc< and sinful, When they so ovei-load and opprsss yoxir bodies^ ' endanger your lives, or render thevi useless and xavfitfor serx
Worldly sorrorc works death, 2 Cor. vii. 10. that is, sorrow the manner of worldly men * ; sorrow in a mere carnal, natural which is not relieved by any spiritual reasonings and considers This falls so heavy sometimes upon the body, that it sinks und weight, and is cast into such diseases as are nevermore wrougl or healed in this world. " Heaviness in the heart of a man i
" it stoop,"^ saith Solomon, Prov. xii. 2o. The stoutest body stoop under heart-pressures.
It is with the mind of a man, saith one, as with the stone tyrh as long as it is whole it swimmeth ; but once broken, it sinks gently. Grief is a moth, which, getting into the mind, will, short time, make the body, be it never so strong and well-wr a ]jiece, like an old seary garment.
Philosophers and physicians generally reckon sorrow amon chief causes of shortening life. Christ was a man of sorrow; acquamted with grief, and this some think was the reason tl
620 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS.
Many a man's soul is to his body, as a sharp knife to a t\ which easily cuts it through ; and what do we by poring dering upon our troubles, but whet the knife that it ma deeper and quicker ? Of all the creatures that ever C (devils only excepted) man is the most able and apt to l: tormentor.