Sermon V (continued, part 8)
ness of their spirits are wanting in them.'' I will therefore re
*' silver is rciined, and try tJiem as gold is tried, and th
*' upon my name, and I will hear them, and I will say. It ii " and they shall say, The Lord is my God." Zech. xiiL the Lord chides himself friend again with his people.
Thus he recovers them to their true temper, and thi tions do preserve their spirits ; and when the Lord sees effects of his trial upon them, it greatly pleaseth him. ( God, I like it ; this providence hath done them good ; 1 well bestowed ; the letting loose of this temptation, or 1 tion upon them, hath made them find their knees again ; the voice of my child again.
Beloved, this is a blessed fruit and effect of our free and how ungrateful soever tliev are to flesh and blood,
ease, and is loth to be disturbed, yet it is neceesaiy to tl tion of our spirits.
5. F'lfihly, By the trial of our graces Satan is defeated cusations of the saints found to be mere slanders. It is mon thing with the devil and wicked men, to accuse tl
God of hypocrisy, and to tell the Morld they are not t' Avomeu they ai-e taken to be ; and that if their inside wen
out by some thorough trial, or deep search, it would ap] ligion did not indeed live in their souls, as they preter tliey only act a part, and personate heavenly and morti
THE DESIGN OF GOD IK THE TRIAL OF HIS PEOfLE.
but if thou stop the current of his prosperity, thou shall sec quickly he will stop the course of his duty ; A few lashes fror hand will make him curse thee to thy face. But O what slmnn disappointment was it to that envious spirit ? What a vindicat
Job's integrity, - when under the greatest trials of his faith patience, he still held fast his integrity, and shewed himself as a pattern of patience under the cross, as he had been of piety i days of liis greatest prosperity ! Satan gets nothing by bringing the saints upon the stage, to be made a spectacle to angels and as it is, 1 Cor. iv. 9-
6. Sixthly^ and lastly. The frequent trials of grace exhibit
and living testimony against the atheism of the world. These ■ beyond all words or arguments that religion is no fancy, bi greatest reality in the world : Men would make religion but a f and the zeal of its professors, but the intemperate heat of some brains, over-heated with a fond notion.
They that never felt the real influences of religion upon thei]
souls, W'ill not believe that others do feel them. Serious piety come the ludicrous subject with which the wanton wits of this a tical world s}X)rt themselves. But behold the wisdom and goo of God exhibiting to the world the undeniable testimonies of the
of religion, as often as the sincere professors thereof are brou| the test by afflictions from the hand of God, or persecution the hands of men : Lo ! here is tliejatth and patience of the sc here is their courage, meekness, and self-denial, shining as g( the fire ; they have the real proofs of it before their eyes ; in of casting them into hell, and convincing them by eternal fire, pleased to cast his own people into the fire of affliction, that who scoff at them may be convinced at an easier and cheaper It is no new thing to see the enemies of relicrion brought ov embrace it, by the constancy and faithfulness of the saints in trials and sufferings for it. God grant that the atheism of thi; sent generation do not occasion a more fiery trial to the ]ieo] God in it, than they have yet suffered I
CHAP. X.
Sli^mng that that grace only is to be reckoned sincere and
-ci}hich can endure those trials which God appointSy or permit the discovery of' it.
584 TRIED GRACE IS TRITE GRACK.
our sincerity impossible to be had in this Hfe, because as
live hero, we are in a state of trial ; and how many trials s been made upon us already, yet still there are more to < we know not what we shall prove in future trials, though kept us upright in former trials : No, this is none of mj/ nor doth such a conclusiori hecessarily follow this asse a Christian that hath rightly closed with Christ at first,
faithful in the duties of active and passive obedience hit!
be assured upon good grounds, of a victory before he comi of his remaining trials. So was the apostle, Rom. vii
" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ.? Shall t
" or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, o
" sword ? Nay, in all these we are more than conqueror
" him that hath loved us." Here is an assured triumph combat. So Job xxiii. 10. " But he knoweth the way tl
*' when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." 1 to God for the sincerity of his heart so far as he had hithe
the Avay of religion, and thence concludes, that whatever should bring him to in time to come, he should come for
i. e. he should not lose one grain by the fire. And this
of a gracious soul is built not only upon experience gaine
trials, but upon faith in the power, promises, and faithfuln
■which are engaged for him in the covenant of grace, to k the greatest dangers that befal him in this world.
He believes the power of God is able to make him stai he hath no power nor might in himself to overcome the le<
tion, 1 Pet. i. 5. " You are kept, ipenen/iivoi (kept as in a g
*' the power of God through faith unto salvation." W hath once taken possession of the soul by his spirit, he foi his power, as in a garrison : that using the means, it be s
betrayed no more into the enemy's hand, so as finally to He builds this confidence also upon the promises of God his security in future dangers: And how are all the p£ Bible bespangled with such promises, as the firmament is and glorious stars ? Such are these of the first magnitude,
9. " Christ shall confirm you to the end, that you may b *' in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, t *' are called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ And no less satisfying and sweet is that, Jer. xxxii. 4C
*' will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I wi " away from them to do them good ; but I will put my f
TRIED GllACE IS TUUE GRACE.
lot in this promise ; but it secures the whole flock of Christ, , and small, against all danger.
He also builds his assurance upon the faithfulness of God, v
stands engaged to make gootl every line, word, and syllable o
promises to his people, so we find in 1 Cor. x. 13. " There ha *' temptation taken you but such as is common to man ; but G " faithful, who will not suffer you to be temptetl above that y " able ; but w ill with every temptation make a way to escape,
" ye may be able to bear it." And, 2 Thes. iii. 3. " But the "is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil." Add to this the constant prevalent intercession of Christ in he for his people, in all their trials : and thus you will see a si Christian need not to deny himself the joy and comfort of his a ance, upon the account and supposition of his future trials.
SECT. II.
Caution 2. i^ OR do we here suppose, in this assertion, that i ent grace in the saints hath a sufficiency of ability in itself to er the greatest and severest trials that can befal it in this world, certain that it shall be carried safely through all, but not in its strength and ability.
This is a true observation of the learned Gerson, Perfectione relictw, sunt pondcra ad riiinam : The most perfect creature 1 itself, will fall into ruin. This was exemplified in the angels
fell ; and in Adam, though in a perfect state. Divine prcserv is the prop which supports the best creatures from ruin. Grace is but a creature, and therefore a dependent being: It is but a sti depending upon the supply of the fountain : If the fountain k forth itself, what becomes of the stream ? That is a true and judi observation of the learned^ Dr. Ames, Perseverantia Jideliun immutabilis eorum conditio secundum integrum ejus rationem pervenit a principiojntrinseco solo, nee a solo extrinseco ; scd
tim ab intrinseco, ex natura vitw spiritualis a Christ^ fluent partim ab extrinseco, ex custodia, protectione et directione
Amesii Coronis, Art. 5. The perseverance of beUevers, or th mutability of their condition, if we view the whole ground and r of it, is not wholly from within, or wholly from without itself: partly from the nature of the spiritual life which flows from C into them, and partly from the keeping, protection, and directi God : That protection is always afforded to this life of grace ; this life of grace always needs that protection. The best of me
586 TRIED GKACE IS TRUE GRACE.
tliis is that which I aim at, that such seeming grace as yet brought to the trial, nor will be able to bear the trial,
shall bring it thereto, must not pass for current (as toofr doth) among us : Such grace will neither comfort us noi us hereafter : For,
SECT. III.
1. Jt IRST, great numbers of persons in the professing deceived and destroyed by trusting to seeming and unt this was the miserable condition of those Laodicean profe text ; they reckoned themselves rich, but were really p( not gold that glitters ; their gold (as they accounted it)
tried in the fire. If a man's whole estate lay in some pro suppose a rich diamond, how is he concerned to have it tried, to see whether it will bear a smart stroke with a \
fly like a Bristol diamond under it ? All that you are w the truth and sincerity of your grace ; and till that b( know not whether you be worth any thing or nothing.
Reader^ There are two sad sights in the world which deeply affect every upright heart ; one is to see so man)? of rational and ingenuous men in the Romish church, by faith in their guides, venturing their souls upon their 1 never searching the scriptures with their own eyes, but who to the infallibility of a pope or a council ; when, in the they would fear to take their word for a sum of mone some further security. It is amazing to behold the souleasy credulity of those men ; but this is a stroke of madn ritual infatuation, judicially inflicted upon them, that th( which is written might be fulfilled in them, " God shall
*' strong delusions, that they should believe a lie," 2 Th( And yet more amazing is that stroke of God upon mi vain and formal professors even in the reformed Protestar where no man is restrained from searching the script where men are so frequently and earnestly pressed, from sabbath, to examine themselves, and prove their own wo 8o many are content to leave all at hazard, and withou ado, or farther search in the matter, credit the rcjwrt ol deceitful hearts, and take all for granted, without due 1 amination of the matter.
Surely, no one thing sends down more souls daily to the professing world than this doth. The five foolish v
TRIED GRACr: IS TRUE GRACE.
*•' the man that endureth temptation ; for when he is tried he i " receive the cro\vn of life which God hath promised to them " love him :" We must be first tried, and then crowned. "
*' man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he si
" lawfully," 2 Tim. ii. 5. He manifestly alludes to the Ro games, to which there were judges appointed to see that no play were offered contrary to the law for wrestling ; and whei was found the crown was denied them. Not to him that sets f
in the morning with resolution and gallantry, but to him that h out till the evening of his life, is the promise made ; Matth. x " He that endureth to the end shall be saved." So Rom. : " To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for ^
" and honour, and immortality, eternal life." And once n
Heb. iii. 14. " We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold th
" ginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end." So that if should endure some few slighter troubles, and faint at last, give when a closer trial befals you, all your labours and suffering; in vain. Sincerity and final perseverance are the conditions (
special promises.
3. Thirdly, Every man's graces and duties must be tried weighed by God in the great day ; and if they cannot endure 1 lesser trials to which God exposes them now, how will they en that severe and exact trial to which he will bring them then : man can search his own heart with that exactness in this worl< God will search it in the world to come.
I may say in this case to you as the Lord spake to Jeremiah, <
xii. 5. " If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have we '• thee, then how canst thou contend with horses ? and if ii " land of |)eace, wherein thou trustedst, they have weeried " then how wilt thou do in the swellinor of Jordan .f*" This spoken to encourage the prophet to constancy in his work : ar if the Lord had said, O Jeremy, do the strivings of the men of
thoth, thine own town, dishearten thee .? Pluck up thy spirits faint not ; there are harder trials than these that thou must unc
at Jerusalem ; these are no more to what is coming, than the ning with footmen is to the contending with horses, or the pass
small rivulet to the swellings of Jordan.
To allude to this ; if our graces and duties cannot bear the.ce 1 er trials ; if a little lift of prosperity, or lighter stroke of adversit cover so much falseness, rottenness, pride, and selfishness in the li if we cannot resist the motions of corruptions, but yield ourseh
588 PARTICULAR INFEUEXCES FIIOM THE THIAL OF GR.
1 2. who will try every man's work as by fire, 1 Cor. iii. the secrets of all hearts, Rom. ii. 16. weigh every man to and drachms ? Surely we can take little comfort in that \ unable to bear the severe tials of that day, that it canno fore the slighter trials of this day.
4. Fourthly^ True grace is willing to be tried, and noth desirable to an upright soul, than to know his own coi therefore we shun the trial, and are loth to search ourse searched by the Lord, our condition is suspicious, and w
little comfort in it. It was David's earnest desire, Psal. c that God would thoroughly search his heart and reins, there were any way of wickedness in him. False gract
God's eye, it cares not to be examined ; but this is the sincere ones : " Every one that doth evil hateth the ligli *' deeds should be reproved ; but he that doth truth, cor " light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they ai " in God," John iii. 20, 21.
The reason is plain why hypocrisy cannot endure to c touchstone and test ; for hypocrites, having a secret consc their own guilt and unsoundness, know, that by this mean confidence would quickly be confuted, and all their reputa ligion blasted. But oh ! if men dare not stand before the w now opened and applied by ministers, how will they star shall be opened and applied in another manner by Jesus
O professor, if thy condition be good, thy heart right, desire to know the very worst of thyself; and when thou the deepest search, thou canst, thou wilt still fear thoi been severe enough, and impartial enough to thyself; n( give thee more content than when thou feelest the wor( thy soul and spirit, thy joints and marrrow ; nothing so i forts thee under, or after an affliction, as the discovery it of my heart ; thou wilt seem to feel with what affection tl
came from the prophet's lips, Jer. xii. 2. " But thou, O L< " est me, thou hast seen me, and tried my heart towards what a refreshing sweetness will stream through thy hea the powers of thy soul, when thou canst make the like app with like sincerity ! And certainly, without such a disj spirit towards the trial of our graces, we can have little e the truth of them.
CHAP. XI.
rAIlTICULAR IXFEREKCES FROM THE TKIAL OF GRACE.
and to how little purpose do men endeavour to conceal and hide We say, Murder will out ; and we may as confidently affirm, Hyi crisy will out. When Rebecca had laid the plot to disguise her; Jacob, and by personating his brother, to get the blessing, Jacob tl
objects against it, " !My father peradventure will feel me, and I si *' seern to him as a deceiver ; and I shall bring a curse upon i
" and not a blessing,'' Gen. xxvii. 12. as if he should say, but w if my father detect the cheat, how then shall I look him in the fa( How shall I escape a curse .'* After the same manner every upri; soul scares itself from the way of hypocrisy. If I dissemble, i pretend to be what I am not, my Father will find me out. A there is no darkness nor shadow of death that can conceal the hy crite, but out will come at last, let him use all the art he can to h it. Oftentimes God discovers him by the trials he appoints in 1
•world ; and men in that day shall " return and discern betwixt " righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, j " him that serveth him not,'' Mai. iii. 18. But if he make an h shift to get bv a private wav to hell, carrying this comfort with 1 to the last step, that no body knows or thinks he is gone thith yet there will be a day when God will strip him naked before great assembly of angels and men, and all shall point at them, i
say, Lo ! this is the man that made not God his hope.
This is he that wore a garment of profession to deceive, but C hath now stript him out of it, and all men see what he is : I
*' There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid t " shall not be known," ]Matth. x. 26. And the apostle assures 1 Tim. V. 24, 25. " That they that are otherwise, cannot be h If men's works be not good, it is impossible they should be long : A gilded piece of brass may pass from hand to hand a li while, but the touchstone Avill discover the base metal : If that
not, the fire will.
O sinners ! away with your hypocrisy, be honest, sincere, pi and hearty in religion : If not, confusion of face shall be your compence from the Lord ; that is what you shall get by it.
Infer. 2. Secondlij, Are there such trials appointed and permit
by the Lord for the discovery of his people's sincerity in this wor Then let none of GofT s people expect a quiet station in this zcor Certainly you shall meet with no rest here, you must out of one into another : and it is a merciful condescension of the Lord to j creatures, thus to concern himself for their safety and bene
" AVhat is man that thou shouldst magnify him ? and that t
S90 PARTICULAR INFERENCES FROM THE TRIAL OF GR
and so curiously into the fining-pot, to see that none of 1 metal, upon which he sets his heart, be lost.
Think it not then debasing to you to be so often expos If God did not value you highly, he would not try you s ly : What would become of you if your condition here more settled and quiet than now it is? I believe you enough in your hearts after all the fires into which Go
you : Surely tliere is filth enough in the best of God's pe all this, it may be a great deal more trouble then they lu with. We fancy it a brave life to live at ease ; and if w( longer respites and intervals of trial than usual, we are
We shall never be moved, as David did, Psalm xxx. 6. die in our nest, as it is Job xxix. 18. Our hard and di
are over ; but woe to us if God should give us the de
hearts in this. See what the temper of those men's spii meet with no changes, Psal. Iv. 19. " Because they have i
" therefore they fear not God." O it is better to be pres< in brine, than to rot in honey !
Infer. 3. Thirdly, Let none boast in a carnal conjidence c strength and stabiUly. You are in a state of trial, Hii hath kept you upright in all your trials; bless God, but you are but feathers in the wind of temptation. If God k yourselves. Peter told Christ, (and doubtless he spoke nc
he honestly meant) " Though all men forsake thee, yet ^ And you know what he did when the hour of his trial cai xxvi. 85. Angels left to themselves have fallen : It is I an humble worm than a proud angel.
Ah ! how many Pendletons will this professing age sh God bring us to the fiery trial ? " Let him that thinks
*' take heed lest he fall." You have not yet resisted i striving against sin. None stand upon firmer ground thar see nothing in themselves to stand upon ; he that leans uj arm usually benumbs it, and makes it useless.
Infer. 4. Fourthly^ Doth God kindle so many fires in set his furnaces in Jerusalem, to discover and separate the
the gold .'* How contrary are those men to God that alio' prize the dross of hypocrisy which God hates, and stick r the holy God a patronizer and countenancer of it in the lives of men ?
It is amazing to read what popish pens have impuden about this matter : * Sylvester puts the question. Whet sin tn mnkp a fnlep show of sanrtitv ? And answers it tlui
A SERIOUS EXHORTATION TO SELF-EXAMIXATION.
entitles it, De sancta ejtis hypocrisi : i. e. Of the holy hypocris that saint ; reckoning it among his commendations, that he had art of dissembling. And yet, one peg higher, a religious pe
(saith * another) that feigns himself to have more holiness thai hath, that others may be edified, sins not, but rather merits.
Blush, O heavens ! that ever such factors for hell should < and vend such ware as this in the public market, and invite the v> to hypocrisy, as that which makes for the glory of God, the i cation of men, and a work meritorious in the hypocrite him
This is the doctrine of devils indeed !
Infer. 5. Fifthly^ If it be so that all grace must come to the and be tried as gold in the fire, even in this world ; how are all concerned to lay a solid foundation at first, and thoroughly delibi
the terms upon which they close with Christ, and engage in the
fession of his name .'* " Which of you, (saith Christ) intendin *' build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cc Luke xiv. 28. If some men had sat down at first, and ponderec conditions and terms of Christ, they had not sat down now dis raged, and tired in the way. The apostle Paul went to wor another rate ; he accounted all but dung and dross for Christ, J iii. 8. and was of the same mind when the actual trial came ; for
he tells us, " He counted not his life dear unto him," Acts xx And the apostle Peter admonishes believers " not to think it str " concerning the fiery trial which was to try them," 1 Pet. iv q. d. Let none of these things be surprisals to you ; you are toh fore-hand what ye must trust to ; every Christian must be a : tyr, at least in the disposition and resolution of his heart.
O that men would balance the advantages and disadvantag religion, and thoroughly ponder the matter in their deepest thoug To the test you must come ; the rain will fall, and the storm upon your buildings ; look carefully therefore to the foundati(
Infer. 6. Sixthly^ and lastly. Learn from this point the unavoid: ness of scandals and offences in the way of religion ; for if thei
a necessity of trial, there is also a necessity of scandal. " It must n
" be that offences come," Luke xvii. ]. Why must it needs The reason is evident ; all must come to the trial, and all an able to bear it. Our Lord tells us, Matth. xxiv. 8, 9, 10. of a
of great straits and perplexity coming : " And then (saith he)
" many be offended." The day of trial is the day of scandal : these offences some are put a searching themselves, and some 1 censuring all others ; but the holy God brings about his end
592 A SEUIOUS EXHORTATION TO SELF-EXAMINATIOl
search your hearts, commune with your reins, nothing moi you in all the world than this doth. O that you would your closets, and oftener upon your knees ! O that you a into the Bible, then into your hearts, and then to God, si
David, " Search me, O God, and know ray heart ; pro
*' try my reins, and see if there be any way of iniquity in ver did religion thrive in the world smce men's heads ha over-heated with notions and controversies, and their lies
sibly cooled in their closetwork. I have elsewhere * mc pressed this duty upon the professors of this generation, i shall refer the reader for the present, to see the necessity ; tance of this work.
Here I shall only urge the duty of self-trial by som motives and awakening considerations.
Motive 1. And the first shall be the exceeding difficu work : difficulty in some cases may be a discouragement ; the matter is of absolute necessity, as it is here, nothinc more to diligence ; " Strive (saith our Lord) to enter in a " gate, for many will seek to enter in, and shall not be al xiii. 24. A double difficulty is found attending this wc trial : Difficulty in bringing the heart to it ; and difliculty i and successful management of it. Who finds it not hard t his heart to such work as this ? Nature declines it, flesh
relish it not : It is one of the great severities in religioi easy thing to bring a man and his own heart together.
It is in this case as in the study of Geography ; we are r sitive to know, and delighted when we discover the raritiei countries, and strahge things in the remote parts of the \ those of our own native country. I fear there be many pi religion that can spend day after day in hearing, and lov( puting fruitless controversies, that never spend one day ir what influence all those sermons they have heard have their hearts, or in rightly stating and determining that gr very, in whose right and possession their souls are, and they shall go as soon as death hath divided them from th bodies ; yea, I doubt, many sinful hours are spent in pryi porting, and censuring the failings of others, and not one fully employed in judging their own hearts before the I men had rather be about any work than this ; there is i in it to the flesh.
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.
•wJutt 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. sniritn^l ^l^ar^««cc ?
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
■i-iTirlQl' T/->iTton r^VinofioJT 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.
Fourthly^ 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
•which 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
Chi\ift.r^ ii.t
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