A discourse concerning trouble of mind and the disease of melancholly in three parts : written for the use of such as are, or have been exercised by the same / by Timothy Rogers ... ; to which are annexed, some letters from several divines, relating to the same subject.

A DISCOURSE Concerning TROUBLE of MIND, AND THE DISEASE of MELANCHOLY. PART III.

PSAL. XXX. 5.

Weeping may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning.

CHAP. I.

Of the many miseries of this mortal Life, that are the usual occasions of sorrow to the Sons of Men; with respect both to their bodies and souls.

1. THE Life of Man is full of sorrow; which yet is not so to be under∣stood, as that it is in every part full of darkness and calamity: We have, indeed, stormy days, but then we have fair weather too; we have not only the sharpness of the Winter that pierces us with its

Cold, and Frosts, and Snow; but we have the mild and the favourable Summer afterwards, that causes all the whole frame of Nature to re∣joice, and brings to us many grateful pleasant things, that gives us occasion to praise the Wis∣dom of our Maker, that has made a World so beautiful wherein we are to dwell; That has pro∣vided for us all innumerable Comforts, not only such as are absolutely necessary to maintain our Life; but such as may give us delight, and re∣create our sense. We can no way turn our Eyes, but they behold wonders of his goodness, his Sun, his Moon, in his Stars, whose influ∣ences are for our benefit, as well as for his Glory; give us daily cause to say with David, Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him! He does not willingly grieve the Children of Men, he does not make us always to weep, but affords us frequent occasions of rejoicing; whereas all our time might be as one Rainy day, from the rising of our Sun to its going down; but his Providence does permit us however to be laden with ma∣ny Miseries before we come to another World: And let us take a view of them; for it will be useful to subdue our Pride, to keep us from Vain-glory, to make us to remember that we are not at Home, that here is not our Rest, and that we ought earnestly to desire a better State.

1. Let us consider Man in his first arrival in the World, or in his Infant-state: And there we discern this same Creature, that in his after years makes so great a noise and bustle in the

VVorld, to be a poor helpless thing, that is no way able to cherish the newly begun Life, nor to keep the Candle that is lighted, from ex∣piring the same minute wherein it began to shine. Man comes crying into the VVorld; an action very suitable to him, at the entrance into a VVorld whose pleasures are floating and tran∣scient, but whose griefs are very sure. Other Creatures are endued with instincts and inclina∣tions for their own preservation, and know in some measure, as soon as they begin to live, how to maintain their own Life; but Man of all others is most destitute and helpless in this respect, he is so tender and so frail, that the least cold or dangers do more easily affect him. Tho God has put that great love into Parents, that they do, as well as they can, support and comfort and help their Children, and with his blessing, and their own great care and labour, they make a shift to rear these little Plants. But then there are abundance of diseases that begin to set upon the new-born Creatures, Convulsions and other pains which greatly torment and vex them; but which they are not able to express, and which we do not know: But we are sure they begin betimes to weep and to be sorrowful, and their pains and sorrows make their Parents also to be afflicted and to weep with them, when they see their miseries, indeed, but can∣not help them. This soft and tender Age is easily troubled and disquieted, every little thing troubles and molests them; so that the first hour of the night, in which we travel when we begin to live, is an hour of sorrow.

2. When we are got over the weakness of our In∣fant-state, and begin to have more strength, and Reason dawns a little, and yields us a little light to guide our selves. That Light is mingled with darkness; our small skill hath abundance of imprudence, and we run into a thousand dan∣gers that we do not see, and those dangers make us to weep and to be sorrowful; our careless youth is full of miseries, and the blooming Rose has many Thorns about it. When our Reason begins to display it self with our increasing-years, then the several tasks that are set us, the several things we are obliged to learn in order to a good and well-improved Education, bring forth grief and pain; our unwillingness to Labour, and the Corrections that we meet with if we do it not, do both afflict us; our Ignorance is our misery, and the difficulties that are planted about the Tree of Knowledg, do fright and vex us. Many of our early days are spent in digging for this hid∣den treasure, and which we cannot find, but with a vast toil and sweating for it; and which when we have found, does not satisfy. It's true, indeed, our first youth has to sweeten it, many pleasures, many recreations and diversions, and we are then void of the many Cares of Life that afterwards do pierce our hearts; but even then we are so confident and so foolish, so apt to trust our own understandings, and so back∣ward to receive the advice of others who are more experienced, that we do often wound our selves, and sow those seeds of sorrow that yield us an uncomfortable Harvest many years

afterwards: And when in our freer time we come to reflect upon what we have done, that reflection makes us weep, to think that we have done so little for God, or for our own Souls; and that we lost so great a part of our Age in Trifles and Vanities: For we can then say, by sad experience, Childhood and youth are vanity, Eccles. 11.10. The Joys that we then were pleased with, are past and gone; but the Wounds that we then received, do many times smart and bleed afresh.

3. When we have got the yoak of out Masters and Instructors off our necks, and begin to manage and guide our selves and our Actions, then we have many sorrows still.

And that 1. With reference to the Common Af∣fairs of Life.

2. With respect to knowledg and understanding.

1. With reference to the Common Affairs of Life: They are usually very many; they bring along with them a huge Train of Cares, of grave anxieties and sollicitude; if Men have no im∣ployment or business, they grieve for the want of it; and if they be imployed, they are hur∣ried, and disturb'd, and grieved and vexed; they meet with many people that are false and treacherous, with many businesses that are in∣tricate and perplexed; and thus their plodding Heads are stung with Cares, and their Breasts with sorrow, all groaning under the Curse, and proving the punishment to be true, That in the sweat of his Brows Man must eat his Bread, Gen. 3. Eccles. 2.23. All his days are

sorrows, and his travel▪ grief: yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. All his drudgery and his toyl is to small purpose, it is, indeed, vanity, when a Man deprives himself of sleep, the sweet repose of Nature, and next to the Grace of God, the greatest blessing in the World. The Poor are almost every where shed∣ding Tears of Impatience and Discontent for the straitness of their Circumstances; they are mourning because they are like to want what would bear their Charges to the Grave; and the Rich are troubled how to secure the Riches they enjoy, and fear to lose them, as many have done before; for they cannot live long, but they shall see many whom a few days, and some unforeseen Accidents have brought from the greaest heights to the lowest poverty; whom the Rising-Sun found rejoicing, and whom he left, for their sudden miseries, plun∣ged in Tears. How many Foreheads do you see covered with a Cloud of grief, for their Losses and their Disappointments! Look into the Country-fields, there you see toyling at the Plow and Sythe;* 1.1 Look into the Waters, there you see tugging at Oars and Cables; Look into the City, there you see a throng of Cares, and hear sorrowful complaints of bad times, and the decay of Trade; Look into Stu∣dies, and there you see paleness and infirmities, and fixed Eyes; Look unto the Court, and there are defeated Hopes, Envyings, Underminings, and tedious attendance; all things are full of Labour, and Labour is full of Sorrow; and these two are inseparably joyned with the mise∣rable Life of Man.

3. In the next place, consider the miseries of the Body of Man, that make him to weep and mourn: Persons of weak constitutions are lia∣ble to tedious and languishing pains that afflict them for many months together; and those that are of a stronger temper, to such that are so sharp and so violent, that they dispatch them it may be in a week or two. Man is seldom without pain, and always near to sickness, to sickness that will make him groan and sigh whether he will or not; and some sickness which is all sorrow throughout, such as Melancholly, which is all sad, and has not one bright or clear side, all disconsolate and grievous, stag∣nating the Blood, changing the brisk and chear∣ful motion of the Spirits, and fixing the Mind unavoidably upon amazing and dreadful objects. So is that of Job verified, His flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn, Job 14. last. The several Seasons of the year have their inconveniencies, which annoy poor mortal men; not only the Winter-quarter (as one expresses it) is full of storms, and cold, and darkness; but the beauteous Spring hath Storms and sharp Frosts; the fruitful teeming Summer is melted with heat, and choaked with dust; and the Autumn is full of sickness. And how can the Eyes but shed innumerable Tears, when they consider the doleful pains to which they themselves, and all the other parts of the body are exposed! How can the Man but groan, to find himself present in such a Body, from which he cannot for many painful years be dislodged, and in which he has no delight

or ease! What grief is it to him to have no help or relief, when his spirits are broken, and his heart is overwhelmed? To have many cut∣ting afflictions upon him, and the fear of more to come! Eccles. 8.6, 7. To every purpose there is time and judgment: and therefore the misery of man is great upon him. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? To be daily dying in anguish and vexation, and not to be able to die! To be surrounded with Troops of Diseases, of Agues, Fevers, Con∣sumptions, Cholick, Gout, Stone, and not to be able to keep any of these off, nor to run away from them when they come!

4. Add to all these natural sorrows, such as are distributed by God in Judgment: Such are the Tyrants that God suffers long to Flourish and to Triumph in the World, that tread upon the necks of others to advance themselves; and glut themselves with the Blood of the In∣nocent; daring to do what is most unjust, to gra∣tify their Lawless Ambition, and their Lustful desire of Empire; and from them and their arbitrary designs, flow innumerable injuries, and wrongs, and robberies, and mischief, Eccl. 4.1. Then the other Judgments; Plagues and Famine, spreading Contagions, or Bloody Wars; Plagues that at the same time seize and kill; that Conquer whereever they come, and send Thousands of miserable mortals to the Grave on a sudden; that tear the Children from their Mothers Breasts; that separate one part of the Family from another, and make them afraid of each others Company; or else

send them together to the House prepared for all Living; that turn flourishing Cities into so∣litudes, and put a stop to all Commerce and Trade. Or Famine, that kills by as sure, but by flower methods; That makes them to know they are dying before they die; That causes them to walk to and fro with pale, and mea∣gre, and drooping looks, and turns a fruitful Land into barrenness, where the poor starving Children come begging to their Mothers for Bread, and they have none to give; but are forced to see them die before their Eyes, as Lam. 4. Or War, where many Children are deprived of their Fathers, many Wives of their Husbands, many that lived plentifully, bereaved of all their dear and pleasant things; War, which fills every place with Blood and Violence, with Noise and Clamour, and Oppression and Woe; That lays Countries waste and desolate; and sacri∣fices multitudes of harmless people to its cruel rage and fury: These are the terrible Voice of God, which will cause us to weep, and to be afraid.

5. Consider Men as associated together in their several Relations, and so their sorrows, and their cause of weeping is increased. The Courts of Princes have their occasions of grief and trou∣ble; they grieve, tho their grief be more pom∣pous, and clad in a more solemn dress. Those that that have a numerous and great Kindred and Alliance, are oftner in Mourning than others; for Death does oftner visit their great∣er Friends and Acquaintance. Few Families there are without sorrow; that House that now

rejoyces, is quickly turn'd into a House of mourning; and where this day there is nothing but the sound of the Timbrel, the Harp, and the Viol; it may be the next day there is the voice of Crying and Lamentation: How many Parents that have long prayed for Children, and have at length obtained them, see them snatcht away with an early stroke, and the flower wi∣ther in the blossom that they began to doat up∣on, and their eyes closed by death as soon as they had but peep'd into the World? and how many do we find in tears, because they do but bring forth Children to the Grave, and will not be comforted, because they are not, and find a greater sorrow in parting with them, than in bringing them forth? How many Parents are there, whose Children live several years, to whose Education they contribute all they can, and hope to have them to be the staff and com∣fort of their Old Age; and when they begin to flourish, a storm comes and blasts the fair and the goodly Fruit; and while they look for abiding-joys from their dutiful obedience, and holy con∣versation, they are forced to follow the promi∣sing and hopeful Youths to the Grave; and mourn as David, even for a bad Son; O Absa∣lom! my son! my son! would God I had died for thee! O Absalom! my son! my son! Nay again, How many Parents are there weeping for the disobe∣dience of their Children, that are like to be the Heirs of Wrath, and to fall into destruction? it costs them many a tear, and a sigh, to think that their Children are Children of the Devil, and Brands of Hell! How does it sink their

Souls, to see, that all their Prayers and Exhor∣tations, and all their cost and charge, is like to be in vain! What sorrow can be greater, than to think, that what they have done for them, will aggravate their condemnation; and that they must find their Children, their now dear and beloved Children, at the Left-hand of Christ in the great day; and the thoughts of this sends them mourning to the Grave! How many Congregations are there mourning for the death of their faithful Ministers, whom they shall never hear, nor with whom they shall never pray more? it grieves them to see those Stars set, that gave them light; and those Embassa∣dors called home, that entreated them to be reconciled! How many Soldiers are bewailing the death of their General, who in the midst of all his Victories; and their Applauses, was on a sudden snatcht away!

6. Death is another occasion of weeping to the sons of men as are also many of its violent and quick approaches; Eccl. 9.12. For man knoweth not his time; as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it cometh suddenly upon them. Hezekiah turn'd his face to the wall, and wept, when he had his summons to depart: and if so good a man was so much concern'd, how much more may the generality be supposed to be concern'd! It is a very me∣lancholly thought to one in flesh, to think, that he, and his dear Body, must shortly part; and that the Body, in which he has eat, and drank, and slept at ease; which has been treated so kindly,

and cloathed so neatly, shall be turned into the Grave, and there in a very hideous manner con∣sume away. As Children cry when they come into the World, so do they generally weep when they go out again. Must I, often says a dying man, leave you my dear Friends, my comforta∣ble Cildren, my pleasant Acquaintance, and ne∣ver see you any more! I must never eat, nor drink, nor talk with you any more! I must not walk in my pleasant Gardens, nor survey my Habitation, nor visit my Friends, nor they me, any more for ever! I am going into the cold, and the lonely Grave; and must by my self, without your company, travel that unknown and solitary path. The change of state, the greatness of the next World, and the different way of living out of the Body, and the many dreadful pains that are in their last concluding Agonies, make men to see the period of Life with weeping eyes; and when they are dying, it dissolves their Friends to tears to see their wan and pale looks, to hear their last and dreadful groans; and immediately after death, it melts them to see the person, with whom a few days before they comfortably discours'd, and lived, now changed into a mere lump of Earth; for that Soul that made it active and vigorous, is fled away, when they follow him to the Grave; it troubles them to part; it troubles them to think what their Friend is, and what they themselves are shortly like to be: and when they come home, the House is no more so plea∣sant as it was; they miss one that made it to be so; and one whom it must never know

again for ever. Thus mourners not only go about the street, but are almost every-where to be found in every Countrey, and in every Fa∣mily. Job 14.1. Man that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

7. As to his Soul, man is exposed to abundance of sorrows: He labours under a miserable darkness in his understanding, and his natural ignorance creates him abundance of trouble and vexation in his soul. He has foolish hopes, and extra∣vagant desires, and a vain curiosity of know∣ing many things which he shall never know, and then the light of his understanding is apt to be eclipsed and confounded with the irre∣sistible diseases of the body; so that it is impos∣sible for him to think in sickness after the same manner as he used to do in health: His Will also ministers to his sorrow; for he wills and affects abundance of things that are contrary to his real interest; and if he have the things that he is apt to will, they give him new tor∣ment and disquiet, and he suffers innumerable miseries, from his precepitant and eager incli∣nations. Knowledg is the greatest ornament of a rational soul; and yet that hath its trou∣bles, Eccles. 1.18. For in much wisdom there is much grief, and he that increaseth wisdom encreaseth sorrow. It is not to be attained without great pains and difficulties, without laborious and diligent search, and vast perplexities. Whe∣ther we consider the blindness of our under∣standings, or the intricacy of things themselves, the many dark recesses of Nature, the implica∣tion of Causes and Effects, besides those acci∣dental

difficulties which are occasioned by the subtilty and intanglement of Error. The va∣riety of intricate Opinions, the many involu∣tions of Controversies and Disputes, which are apt to whirl a Man about with a Vertigo of contradictory probabilities; and instead of set∣ling, to amuse and distract the mind; so that much study is a wearisomness to the flesh* 1.2; and besides, it makes a further trouble to the soul, in regard the more a Man knows, the more he sees there is yet to be known; as a Man, the higher he climbs, sees more and more of the journey that he is to go; and then he that is vers'd in the knowledg of the World, sees abundance of mistakes and disorders which he cannot remedy, and which to behold is very sad; and by knowing a great deal, is liable to abundance of contradiction and opposition from the more peevish, and self-willed, and ignorant part of mankind, that are vex'd because he will not think and say as they do; and they are very prone to censure and condemn the things they do not understand, for it is most easie so to do; whereas to pierce into the Reasons of things, requires a mighty labour, and a succession of deliberate and serious thoughts, to which the nature of Man is averse: And lazily and hastily to judge, requires no trouble; and were it not that it is a man's duty to know, and that his soul, if it have any thing of greatness and am∣plitude in its faculties, cannot be satisfied with∣out it, it were a much safer and quiet course to be ignorant. Study and painful enquiries after knowledg, do oftentimes exhaust and break our

spirits, and prejudice our health, and brings up∣on us those Diseases to which the careless and thinking seldom are obnoxious, Eccles. 1.13, 14, 15. I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit; that which is crooked, cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting, cannot be numbred.

CHAP. II.

Shewing, that the fall of Adam was the cause of all our miseries; and in how ex∣cellent a condition the blessed Angels are; and the folly of such as expect to meet with nothing in the world, but what is easie and pleasant.

Inf. 1. SEeing the life of man is a state of weeping, what sin there must needs be in the fall of Adam, that has provoked God so much as to send so many miseries upon his own Creatures! Had mot he fallen, we had always rejoyced, and never mourned; we had always sung the prai∣ses of God with delight, and never have hang'd our harps upon the willows. We should have always lived upon the food of Angels, pure and Coelestial joys, and not have had that bread of sorrows which we now have to feed upon. We may justly cry out, O Adam! what was it that you did when you rafted the forbidden fruit! Why did you ruin your self and us your help∣less

posterity in one day; and by one Act you turned the pleasant world into a place of wo, and made your self and us, of free men to be∣come prisoners of this Earth. It was a sad day indeed that opened a Sluce to that vast Inunda∣tion of miseries that have from that time over∣whelmed the lower world; thence came storms and tempests, wars and desolations, and all the burdens under which we groan, and which we cannot escape. 'Tis to this Spring that we may trace all our troubles. Oh how happily, how pleasantly might we have lived, had we not A∣postatiz'd! And now we can only say, Wo un∣to us, for we have sinned! and when any Plagues molest us, can only say, this is the fruit of our own choice; this is the product of our own Iniquity! Tho, thanks be to God, through the blood of Jesus Christ we have a way to escape at length from all those Plagues and Sins.

Inf. 2. Seeing this life is full of weeping, how much more happy are the blessed Angels than we! At the view of the Harmony and order of the Worlds Creation, those Sons of the morning sang together; it pleased them to see their Creator's glory so appear, and they still continue to sing and praise him; not a sad look has from that time to this, clouded their faces; not a trou∣bled thought has possest their minds; those holy Spirits are always joyful, serene, and undistutb'd; they are not linkt to such bodies as we are, and consequently not liable to so many thousand miseries. A soul in flesh is forced to sympathize with its neighbour and companion the body, and is altered or changed as to its joys and

griefs, according to the several objects that are suitable or disagreeable to that; and yet our imbodied condition gives us some privileges, of which the Angels being Spirits, are not ca∣pable; for by this means we can glorifie God by sufffering for him, and by our patience in our several trials, convert many to the faith of Christ, which their Spiritual nature gives them no opportunity to do. As long as we are uni∣ted to the body, so long must we expect to be afflicted; and when this union is happily dis∣solved, then does the time of our freedom and our pleasure come. In the Resurrection we shall be as the Angels of God, we shall not be busied in those perplexing and intricate affairs that now molest us. We shall be like to them in vi∣gor, and activity, and joy. We shall have bodies indeed even then, but such as will be spiritua∣lized, such as will not be capable of mourning and lamentation; nor by their heaviness, their pains, and indispositions, be any more an hin∣drance to the nimbler operations of our Souls; and it should comfort us to think, that one day we shall have such excellent Companions, so knowing and so kind and loving as Angels are, and that then we shall rejoice as well as they, and with our common praise, give our Great Creator an Eternal Hymn of Thanks.

Inf. 3. They have a wrong notion of the life of man, that expect to find nothing in it but what is pleasant! And who, because now their mountain stands strong, say with David, That they shall ne∣ver be moved! Psal. 30.6, 7. How clearly soe∣ver their Sun now shines, yet sooner or later

storms and darkness will overtake them. The day is coming, that will cast a vail upon all their smiling glory, and turn their laughter into mourning and lamentation. For man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards, Job 5.7. This world is as an Hospital, or Lazaretto, full of vari∣ous miseries and calamities; and therefore those that promise nothing to themselves but diver∣sion and mirth, and soft and easie pleasures, labour under manifold mistakes, which arise from these two Causes.

1. VVant of Experience and Consideration. Hence it is that young people, and such as have lived but a little while, are mightily taken with the sweetness and delight of life; whereas those that have tried it some years longer, find several crosses and disappointments and vexations in it; and tho the morning of their day was clear, yet they see many thick Clouds gather as the sha∣dows of the Evening are drawing on. It is no∣thing else, but gross ignorance that occasions the loud and mad Triumphs of so great a part of the world, for if they did but a little survey the condition of their suffering-neighbours, and the weakness of their own bodies, the uncer∣tainty of their hopes, and the vanity of their de∣sires, they would sit down and bewail their miseries, and they would find their biggest joys to be confin'd with grief. Or,

2. It arises from this, That they resolve not to di∣sturb their present ease and pleasure with any m••urn∣ful meditations. They'l shut their ears against all sad and doleful stories, hasten from the sight of all such dismal objects as would make them

grave and solid; they will not rustle their thoughts with anticipations of evil, and future trouble; they are now at ease, and they hope they shall be so very long; and this false expe∣ctation has no other cause than their unwilling∣ness and aversion to think of a coming change; and because they seel no pain, sickness, or inconve∣nience, they will not spoil their Musick with groans and sighs; they will eat, drink, and be merry, and hang sorrow and cast care away; but as all the mirth of Sailors cannot hinder the winds and the storms, so this insensibleness and jollity does not keep the evil day further off; but rather swells the Clouds, and lays in matter for a more durable and intollerable sor∣row; they may in their Jovial humours, and with their full Bowls drown their own under∣standings, but they cannot by this means over∣whelm their miseries, which after the fumes of the grateful Wine are past, will have a Resur∣rection; they may say indeed, as Isa. 57.11. Come, we will fill our selves, and to morrow shall he as this day, and much more abundant; but perhaps that morrow they may never see; or if they do, it may bring along with it some great or una∣voidable calamity. We know David said in his Prosperity, I shall never be moved; and yet as soon as God hid his face, he was troubled, Psal. 30.6, 7. so unreasonable is it to conclude from our pre∣sent delight, that we shall never grieve. We may as well argue, because we are now in health, we shall never be sick; or because we are now alive, we shall never die. Such false Conclusions, and such vain hopes, do but encrease our after∣troubles,

and make them more heavy; as it is said of Babylon the Great, Rev. 18.7. How much she hath glorified her self, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her; for she saith in her heart; I sit a Queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow; therefore shall her Plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine. Our miseries are sure, but our joys uncertain; our pleasures endure but a moment, but our sor∣rows last a long time; our pleasures no sooner begin to live, but they begin to die; and when we would with art prolong their date, their continuance occasions either torment or loath∣ing. Grief (as one says* 1.3) is more familiar to man, than pleasure; for one vain contentment, we meet with a thousand real sorrows; these come uncalled, and present themselves of their own proper motion; they are linkt one to ano∣ther; but pleasures are sought for with pain, and we are forced to pay more for them than they are worth. Sorrows are sometimes entirely pure, and touch us to the quick, as they make us in∣capable of Consolation; but pleasures are ne∣ver without some mixture of sorrow; they are always dipt in bitterness, and we are much more sensible of pain than of pleasure, for a flight disease troubleth all our most solid Content∣ments; a Fever is able to make Conquerors for∣get their Victories; and to blot out of their minds all the pomp of their Triumphs. Tho in some cases we may make our sorrows greater in our imagination than they are in reality; for we are more ingenious and more particular in the computation of our griefs, than of our mercies.

And many a thorn that annoys us, is of our own planting; and for one Cross that God sends, our uneasiness and impatience makes a thousand more. We apprehend some things to be evil, which are not truly so; and sometimes we aug∣ment our real evils beyond their natural pro∣portion, and so add new weight to that bur∣den which made us groan before; yet for all that, and abstracting from our Irregularities since the fall, man is a very dolorous and mournful Crea∣ture; and our being so, should excite us to take heed that we do not wound our selves afresh when we are already wounded; nor lay in mat∣ter of new griefs when our unavoidable ones may be great enough. There are two ways by which we aggravate our own miseries: 1. By putting an higher value upon things than they really deserve; by loving them more than we ought; and then the Separation that is made between them and us, gives us a more weighty sorrow. 2. By seeking out of our selves for many things to make us happy; whereas we should labour that our souls be duly order'd, and our desires kept within their just and law∣ful bounds.

Inf. IV. We have cause to admire the wis∣dom of the Divine Providence, that seeing the life of man is so very miserable, he has order∣ed it also to be very short. Tho our days are evil, yet they are but few. And that as the day is for hard labour, there is a succession of com∣fortable nights wherein we may go to rest. We find it a long tedious while to be in sorrows for fifty or sixty years; but how loud would

our groans be were we condemned to this toyl, and these weepings for many thousand years! The greater our misery is (as one says) the less while it is like to last; the sorrows of a man's spirit being like ponderous weights, which by the greatness of their burthen, make a swifter motion, and descend into the Grave to rest and ease our wearied Limbs, and to knock our fet∣ters off, that eat as to the very bones. Thus I have shewed what sorrows are common to the sons and daughters of men. I am in the next place to shew what peculiar occasions of weep∣ing Christians have above other men.

CHAP. III.

Of the peculiar Occasions of weeping that good Christians have more than other men.

1. THE Christian weeps for his own sins. He is convinced of his own folly, and be∣wails it; he has by the inlightning of the Spirit a more tender heart than others have; a more distinct view of the odiousness and malignity, of the poisonous nature, and dangerous qualities of Sin; and that which was pleasant in the com∣mission, he finds by dear experience to be bit∣as gall and Wormwood afterwards. This weeping is not the effect of mere softness, or weakness of temper; or from a want of cou∣rage: there is nothing more reasonable, more

just, or honourable, than to bewail our Of∣fences that we are guilty of, against the Law of God. And to what purpose hath he given us Innocent Passions, but that they should be mo∣ved when suitable Objects present themselves? He says with David, Psal. 51.3. I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me: and such a sight of an Object so disagrecable, pierces and wounds his very Soul, and makes it to dis∣solve in a genuine and kindly grief and trouble; saying, Oh! what have I done against my God, and my Saviour, and the Holy Spirit! Oh! how basely have I forgot a gracious, and a loving God; a God that has remembred me all my days for good! He has loved me, and I have hated him; He has called me, and I have diso∣beyed his Voice; He has provided for me, and I have rebelled: He has been a Father, but I have been undutiful, and prodigal, and disobe∣dient: and now his slighted, his forgotten Love and Kindness wounds me to the very Soul. Oh! what did I think of, when I did not think of him! What was it that my vain, foolish heart loved, when I loved, not him that is altogether amiable! What was it that I cared for, or in what did I spend my time, that I did not care for my Soul, and the pleasing of my God; who spared me, and bore with me with an admira∣ble patience! I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men! Job 7.20. I will put my mouth in the dust, I will loath and ab∣hor may self for mine Iniquities, if so be there may be hope. I have wandred, but my wan∣drings have cost me dear; I have been in a

strange Land, and with tears will I return home; saying, Bless me, even me also, O my Fa∣ther! And then the Love of Jesus constrains the poor Christian to be sorrowful; saying, Did he leave his Heaven for me, and for me that many times would not leave a sin for him; for me, that was a lost Sheep, a dying Malefactor, an Enemy by my Evil Works! Did he come to rescue me, when I was in the very jaws of the Roaring Lyon, and at the door of Hell; and shall I not be grieved to think, that I have re∣quited him so ill for all his Love! they were my sins that made him astonisht, and troubled, and exceeding sorrowful even unto death; and yet alas, I have done what I could to increase his Agonies by my new sins: It was my sin that filled the bitter Cup, that betrayed, that whipt, that exposed to so injurious usage the Son of God: my sin that wounded his Breast, and ra∣ked in his Sides, and nailed him to the Tree, and made him dye; and can I look upon what I have done, and not be troubled? Can my eyes behold him hanging on the Cross, and not affect my heart? Never was there any Sorrow like to his Sorrow, never was there any Love like to his Love: Never was there Disobedience more inexcusable, never was Sin more sinful, than mine has been? I have often made light of that that prest him down to the Grave. I have rejoyced at that which made him mourn and weep, but I will do so again no more for ever. And then it troubles the good Christian to think how often he has refused the motions of the blessed Spirit, and how when the Spirit

has moved upon his heart with a design to do him good, he hath sent him grieved and vexed away. All this is occasion of grief, tho it do not always express it self in tears; for there is a rational sorrow as well as a sensitive one; and tho this may be more passionate, yet the other is more lasting and durable. Those that are converted in their younger days, the warmth and heat of their glowing and beginning zeal, does more easily dissolve and melt them into tears, and then the rivers flow more than they do afterwards; but yet when the flood ceases, the fruitfulness appears, and when their tears are dried up, yet their hatred of sin remains; for these outward expressions of sorrow are ve∣ry much influenced by the temper and consti∣tution of the body, 2 Cor. 7.10, 11. As in the first, so 'tis in the second birth, as soon as they are born, they cry. No sooner are they brought from darkness into marvellous light, but they wonder at their folly, and at the grace of God that saved them from it, and that wonder does produce love and grief. First their hearts are softned with his love, and then they mourn for their Provocations; tho this wherewith good Christians bewail their sins, is not a lazy grief, but attended with serious endeavours of new obedience, as the Husbandman after the pro∣fitable showers of rain sets himself with a renewed industry to cultivate the Ground: and it is but reasonable that our eyes, that are too often the instruments of sin to us, should by tears help us to bewail that

sin, Isa. 38.15, I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my Soul.

2 Those that are good Christians, weep also for the sins of others. The love they have to the name of God, causes them to grieve for the re∣flections and dishonours that are thrown upon it by wicked men. They cannot without sor∣row, behold or hear of the sins of men in gene∣ral; the sins of Kingdoms, and Provinces, and Towns; the sins of Families; the sins of their Fellow-citizens, their Brethren, and their Neigh∣bours: the tears that they shed, are tears of compassion for the very sad and miserable con∣dition of the World. Whilst others make a mock at sin, and through the blindness of their folly, know not what they do, good men la∣ment their unconcernedness and insensibility, whilst they see them sporting on the hole of Aspes, and touching Firebrands, and Death. They cannot see men treat their heavenly Father with insolence and scorn, but their hearts, in a just zeal for his glory, rise against them, not with indecent passions for their ruine, but in an hearty longing for their reformation; Psal. 119.138.Rivers of water run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy Law. Thus saith the Prophet to his hearers, Jer. 13.17. My soul shall weep in se∣crew places for your pride; mine eyes shall weep sore, and run down with tears. Our love to our Neigh∣bour, and our zeal for God's glory, does oblige us to this; it must grieve us to think what men are doing when they sin, how great a God they provoke to punish them, how great a mi∣sery they are bringing on their own souls. It

must grieve us to think how unsafe a way they go, and what a dismal end will be to that way, Phil. 3.19. Jer. 9.1. The Prophet wishes, Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. And yet (as one ob∣serves) when he pronounced these sad words,* 1.4 the misery of the Jews was not arrived. Jeru∣salem did as yet subsist in its Magnificence and splendor, its Temple had not lost thatadmirable Beauty which made it the wonder of the world; its Palaces had lost nothing of their Pomp, its Walls and Fortresses were entire, and the Daughter of Sion was Princess among the Pro∣vinces; but he spoke thus, foreseeing that their abounding sins, and their hardness and obstinacy would certainly bring upon them the Judg∣ments of God. We must consider what we were our selves when in the house of bondage, and serving divers lusts, how enslaved and how mi∣serable, that so the remembrance we have of our former danger may quicken us to do others all the good we can, that they may not fall into hell whilest we are looking on, and do not all that is in our power to hinder their going thither. To this compassionate sorrow we may be ex∣cited by the kind example of our Lord, Lu∣ke 19.41. he wept for those that rejoyced, he pity∣ed them that had no pity for their own souls; because their hearts were hardned, his was ve∣ry soft and tender. It is matter of mourning and lamentation, to consider how few there are that profess Religion in its strictness; and among those few, how many that are scandalous or

backsliders, or hypocrites. It has been often ob∣served, that among the bitter Ingredients of our Lords passion, this was none of the least, to foresee that there would be so many, who by their final impenitence and persevering in wick∣edness, would receive no benefit by it* 1.5. And if we may judg by proportion, the Angels in Hea∣ven, who rejoice at the conversion of one sinner, do also mourn and lament for the Irreclaima∣ble wickedness of so many Millions in the world: To a zealous Magistrate, it is an occa∣sion of sorrow to see in his Dominions the great King and Ruler of the world so little valued; and his grief will stir him up to use all the wholsome methods he can, by good Laws, and a necessary severity, to keep the Divine Laws and Authority from being scorned and trampled on by profane and blasphemous sinners: To a good Parent, it is an occasion of grief to see the undu∣tifulness and miscarriages of his children; and very cutting to think that he has brought forth such as shall be his torment, and factors for the Devil. To a Minister, it is an occasion of grief, when he meets with a careless Auditory, or with an unfruitful people, that he is like to see them perish under the means of safety, and that he is like to be their accuser in the great day, and that they are like to be separated for ever when the judgment comes; it is with an heavy heart, and many a tear that he thinks of their forlorn state, Rom. 9.1, 2. Ye know after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations, Act. 20.19. For the space of three

years I ceased not to warn every me night and day with tears, ver. 31.

3. They weep for the manifold tribulations and persecutions they meet withal. When God is plea∣sed for their chastisement to let loose the pas∣sions and the fury of wicked men, whose ten∣der mercles are cruelty. Cant. 2.2. As the Lilly among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters. She is beautiful and glorious, but surrounded with difficulties and tribulations. Psal. 84.6. Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a well the rain also filleth the pools. They are satisfied, indeed, to endure in the hope of Heaven; but yet their sorrows and torments make them go weeping thither. They have sense as well as Religion; and their sensible nature, Whether they will or no, will be affected, they cannot be sick but they must groan and sigh as well as o∣thers; they cannot feel tortures, racks, tedious Imprisonments, and flames, without shrinking a little at them; even the Apostles, those great and couragious believers, were troubled, and perplex∣ed tho they were not overthrown, 2 Cor. 4.8. In times of Persecution there is a general license of doing mischief, a bold oppressing of the poor, a scornful despising of the affilicted and the desolate, as they complain, Psal. 123.4. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud; and the scorn of evil men is so base a thing, that the most patient cannot but be some∣what concerned at it, Psal. 42.11. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they conti∣nually say unto me, Where it thy God? when I remem∣ber

these things, I pour out my soul in me. 'Tis true, the servants of Christ esteem it abundant mat∣ter of joy when they fall into divers tribulations; their minds are quiet, and very well satisfied; they love their Master, and they will never leave him; they will follow him to the Cross, and die with him there; but inasmuch as they are composed of flesh and blood, and have a nature that is tender and soft, and averse to suffering, as well as that of others, and that has seve∣ral things that engage it to the world, several Relations and Friends to part withal, they can∣not with respect to these, leave this Earth with∣out some grief and sorrow; as the Hearers of Paul wept that they should see his face no more; and it was even like to break his heart that he was to leave friends so affectionate, so loving, and so kind. And we must think they did not part at last without flowing eyes on either side, Act. 21.13.

4. Christians, however easie in their own Circum∣stances, have still occasion of sorrow from that sympa∣thy that they have with their brethren that are in di∣stress. The spirit of our compassionate Lord dwells in their heart; and as he is afflicted with all the afflictions of his people, so are they; they are all the members of the same body, and one part of the body cannot rejoice whilest an∣other part thereof is in pain. Thus they weep with them that weep, Rom. 12.15. To hear of the desolations of others, is extremely grie∣vous to them; nor can they laugh and be mer∣ry whilest others sigh and groan, see Jer. 4.31. Ch. 8.21, 22. Jer. 14.17, to the 20. They can∣not

chear themselves with Musick, when the Harps of others are hanging on the Willows, Lam. 1.12, 16. Ch. 2.11, 12. And this Book of the Lamentations is so very lamentable, that it very well deserves to be read and considered by us; that so the miseries of our Neighbours may affect us as they ought to do, Job 30.35. Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? It must be a temper very Hellish, that has no relentings for the suf∣ferings of others, even such a Diabolical temper as reigneth in France at this day; where by the encouragement of a Cruel King, and as Cruel a Clergy, the poor Protestants have undergone barbarous and more than Heathen severities; if they had any thing humane left, they could not have used those poor Harmless and Innocent people as they have done. But they have long since degenerated into Wolves, and to this day retain their brutal and savage nature, tearing to pieces the sheep of Christ without any pro∣vocation; and tho some have had such a bra∣zen impudence as to say they have all along used with them nothing but sweet and gentle methods, yet there are Witnesses enough, and too many, (if it pleased God) in all parts of Europe, that tell us Melancholy stories of their Hillish Cruelties; had there been the lowest degrees of Christianity left in that Execrable Country, they could not, they durst not have proceeded to such barbarities as they have done, where neither the Gray hairs of the most aged and venerable, neither the Tears of Widows, nor the Sighs of Prisoners could ever yet pre∣vail

for the least mitigation. They have excee∣ded the worst of former Ages in the cruelty of their torments; any other eyes would weep but theirs, to see what they inflict on their fel∣low-creatures; any other hearts would soften at the groans and the crys of so many miserable people; but nothing can make an Impression up∣on them, their Dungeons, Gallies, and Racks, and Gibbets, are the only things they can think of wherewith to vex such as are better than them∣selves, such as have been guilty of no crime, un∣less it were an excess of Loyalty to a King, who is an enemy to mankind, as well as their enemy. By whose allowance the vilest of men are permitted to do all those villanous and wicked things which raise a just horror in all that have any zeal to the glory of God. To see such seeding their cruel eyes with woful spectacles of the distressed and sorrowful, whom they have made to be such. The most pathetick melting expressions have not been able to draw the least pity from the breasts of these inhumane Monsters. Will men never be ashamed of their Antichristian barbarity?* 1.6 will they never know that it is the Beast in the Revelations, who makes himself drunk with the blood of Saints, devours their flesh, makes war upon them, and overcomes them; and is therefore called Beast, Lion, Bear, Leopard; for he must have renounced Reason and Humanity, and be tranformed into a Sa∣vage Beast, that behaves himself towards Chri∣stians as the Church of Rome behaves it self to∣wards us. Those French Persecutors are so bad, that they cannot be reproached; we cannot if

we would, bespatter or throw dirt upon them, they are already so defiled; 'tis impossible to create in the minds of others, any Idea of them that shall be base enough; and it is our shame, the stain of our Country, and a dishonour to the Name of an English man, that in our Coun∣try, in ours that is naturally inclined to pity and compassion to the miserable, there should be found any that wish well to a Tyrant so ty∣rannical, and to a people so nourished, and so fed with blood, as his Soldiers and Creatures are; 'tis our judgment that we are so blinded, and so much stupified, and thrown into so deep a sleep that we do not perceive our own blind∣ness. But I should be very sorry if I spoke to any such; I hope, and I believe that there are none here so much under the Curse of God; a Curse the more terrible, as it is contrary to all that love of God, our Neighbour, and our Coun∣try, that we ought to have; and if we are any way curst, 'tis because we have had no more compassion for our Brethren that have suffered such grievous things; that we have wept no more at the sight of their sorrows, but that we have still too many among us of the Com∣plexion of those in Amos 6.6. Men are gene∣rally unaffected with the miseries of others; they are like the Priest and the Levite that left the poor wounded person without any help; they fix not their eyes or their minds on sad objects, for they find them to be very disagreeable.

V. Another occasion of weeping to good Christians, is both from the Duties of Religion, and the more than ordinary Providences and Dispensation of God,

that call them to it. There are several things, which though in the consequence they are very pleasant, yet are in themselves very sorrowful; as that which I have already mentioned, the bitterness of repentance; the trouble for the afflictions of others; and also the Duties of self-denyal and mortification; of crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof; of dying daily, and of keeping our hearts weaned from an inordinate affection to the Enjoyments and Comforts of the World. All good Christians are to be in heavi∣ness for a season, and to sow in tears: And to these may be added the Calls we have to more publick and solemn Humiliations, by the necessity of our own Affairs, the Judgments of God, and the Pride, and Rage, and Success of his and our Enemies; and this is the Duty to which we are now called; and let us take care that our days of Fasting and Prayers, may be mingled with the Tears of a true Repentance and Con∣trition, that so God who has been for us hither∣to, may not be against us; and that we may not smart under Spiritual Judgments, which of all others are most formidable and severe, ac∣cording to that in Isa. 22.12, 13. Thus good Christians have many just subjects of weeping; they weep to see themselves as in Exile, and at a distance from their beloved Countrey; They weep to sind themselves compassed about with many infirmities, and unbecoming passions, that cause them to be engaged in continual War; They weep that they are exposed to so many furious assaults of the Devil, and that they have so little strength wherewith to resist him; They

weep when they consider that their Good and Gracious God, is so much dishonoured and for∣got in his own World.

Inf. 1. What need all good Christians have of Faith and Patience; of Faith, to conclude that God does all very well in Holiness and Wisdom, tho he suffer the World and the Church to groan under so many miseries, and tribulations; and of patience, to submit to what he appoints for our Lot, and not in the least to repine or murmur at it. Without Faith we shall be apt to be stumbled at these seeming disorders, and the inequal distributions of his Providence; and without Patience, we shall be apt to strug∣gle under the necessary Cross, to be tired, and to say, It is in vain wait upon the Lord.

Inf. 2. Good Christians have great Reason quietly to leave the World, and to dye when God shall be pleased to call them: It is a World of misery, of sor∣rows and vexation. We should not be fond of our Chains, nor delight in Tears, nor embrace our Griefs; but remember we shall leave all these troublesome things behind us, when we come to lye down in the quiet Graved: For there the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest, Job 3.17. We do not sure esteem this strange Land to be better than our Father's House; we do not think that the Vale of Tears is better than the Joys of Heaven; to that Heaven then, let us often lift up our weep∣ing eyes; with the hope of that let us comfort our sad and mournful hearts; thither let us hasten,

there let us long to be; into that Haven let us steer our distressed and weary Souls; Let us breathe after that Paradise that shall not be mo∣lested with the Poysonous venom of the Ser∣pent, and where no Thorns or Bryars grow: Let us not be fond of a perpetual Storm, nor be so foolish, as to think our Sighs better than Praises and Hallelujahs. Let us hasten in our desires from this diseased World, which by its low scituation is apt to suffer an inundation of innumerable miseries; and prepare for that World, where there is an Eternal Health and Joy.

CHAP. IV.

Shewing what dreadful apprehensions a soul has, that is under desertion; and in several respects how very sad an dole∣ful its condition is, from the Author's own Experience.

THE next thing I design to insist upon is, To shew that the time of God's forsaking of a soul, is a very dark and mournful time; 'tis not only night, but a weeping, stormy night; and it may not be unuseful to you, who have, it may be, hitherto lived in the beams and chearful light of day, to know what passes in this forrowful and doleful night: And in this matter, I will not borrow Information from

others, but give you My own Experi∣ence.

1. In this night the deserted soul it overwhelmed with continual thoughts of the Holiness, and Majesty, and Glory of the Lord; nor does it think of him with any manner of delight, according to that of Asaph, Psal. 77.3. I remembred God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was over∣whelmed. And in how deplorable a Case is such a Soul, that cannot think of its God and its Creator, but with grief and sorrow! That fixes upon nothing in him, but his terrible and severe Attributes! In other Cases, when a Man is distressed on Earth, and beholds vexation and disquiet there, he can lift up his eyes to∣wards Heaven, and see joy and comfort for him there; but in this woful Case, there is neither the light of the Sun, the Moon, or the Stars, for many days; the face of God is hid and covered with a dreadful Cloud, Job 31.23. De∣struction from God was a terror to me; and because of his highness, I could not endure.

Secondly, The deserted soul in this mournful night does look upon God at its enemy; and as inten∣ding its hurt and ruin by the sharpness of his dispensations; and this makes it to be incapa∣ble of receiving any consolation from the Crea∣tures; for will it say to them, Alas, if God be mine enemy, as I apprehend him to be, which of you can be my friend? I have a dreadful sound of his displeasure in my ears, and which of you can bring me any glad tidings? If his power, his Irresistible power be against me, who can keep off the killing-blow! Job 19.6. Know

now that God hath overthrown we; and hath compas∣sed me with his net; he hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. And so v. 9, 10, 11. and Psal. 88.7. Thy wrath lyeth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. If in such desertion, God were ap∣prehended to be upon a design of the future happiness and welfare of the soul, it would bear up with courage, or with hope; but ha∣ving no such belief, it must needs sink and lan∣guish. The stroke that wounds us in such a case, is the more painful, as edged with a sense of wrath. Psal. 102.9, 10. I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, because of thine indignation and thy wrath, for thou hast lift∣ed me up, and cast me down▪ Thus does the weep∣ing person vent his sorrows. God never gives to his people such a bitter Cup, but he mingles love and mercy with it; but alas; I taste no∣thing but gall and wormwood, nothing but mi∣sery and vexation: He is with his people, but he has forsaken me, he has cast me into a fiery fur∣nace, where I am daily burnt and scorcht, and he is not with me there: He is unto me as a Roaring Lion, and who can turn away his pow∣erful wrath! Ruth 1.20. The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I have often heard, that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God, and I now find it to be so; all the wrath of men is nothing to his; one frown of his is more intolerable than all their rage and persecution. Job 16.12, 13, 14. I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder, he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me

up for his mark, his Archers compass me round a∣bout; he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground, Job 10.16, 17. Oh what anguish, what desolation is caused in the soul by such thoughts as these! I dare not, says the mourning person, look up to Heaven, for there I see how great a God I have against me; I dare not look into his word, for there I see all his threats as so many barbed arrows to strike me to the heart: I dare not look into the Grave, because thence I am like to have a doleful Resurrection: And what can a poor Creature do, that apprehends the Almigh∣ty to be his enemy? It is a common thing to say, why do you so lament and mourn? you have ma∣ny mercies left, many friends that pray for you, and that pity you; Alas! what help is there in all this, it God himself be gone! nothing is then lookt upon as a mercy. And as for the prayers of others, will the distressed person say, they can do me no good, unless I have faith, and I find I have none at all; for that would purifie and cleanse my heart, and I do nothing else but sin; and God, as he is holy, must set himself against me his Enemy.

3ly, In this doleful night, the soul hath no evi∣dence at all of its former grace; so that in this night, the Sun is not only set, but there is not one Star appears; such an one looks upon him∣self as altogether void of the Grace of God; he looks upon all his former duties to have been insincere or hypocritical; he feels his heart hard∣ned at present, and concludes that it was never tender; finds himself at present listless and in∣disposed,

and concludes that he never had any true life and motion, and expresses his sorrows after this, or the like manner: I thought I had belong'd to God, but now I find I am none of his: I thought I had been upright, but now I see I was mistaken; the storm is come, and that house that I built upon the sand, is now washt away; those that are Christ's, he will enable to persevere to the end; but I am fallen from grace; I am an Apostate; if I had any share in the Intercession of the Great Redeemer, he would not leave me thus sad and desolate. I thought that I had been planted in his Vine∣yard, and brought forth fruit, but now I am cut down as a barren tree: Oh, how greatly have I been deceived, that imagined my self to be an Heir of Heaven, and am now seizd with the pangs of Hell! I now see that I was never right, never born again, never renewed by the Spirit, never changed from death to life. And Oh what will become of me, that flattered my own soul to ruin! that thought my self safe when I was not; and well when I was diseased! To come to misery after I thought so long of hap∣piness is a double misery: I am like, after all my prayers, my endeavours, and my hopes, to be a Reprobate, and a cast-away. And such a soul concludes it self to be in a condition much more dangerous than they are, that never named the name of Christ, nor ever pretended to Religi∣on, because it reckons their misery will be much more tollerable than its own; it judges it self to be an Hypocrite, and then all the threats that are made against such, do every moment

overwhelm it with inexpressible confusion. Thus the Graces of the Spirit, and the former fruits of holiness, are not discerned in this sad and mournful night.

Fourthly, During this sadness, the soul cannot thinly of Christ himself with any comfort. For thus it argues; He will be a Saviour to none but those that believe; I have no faith, and therefore he will be no Saviour to me; he that is to his Ser∣vants as the Lamb of God, will be to me as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; he that deals gent∣ly with them, will tear me to pieces. I have heard of his sufferings and his death; but if his blood has not cleansed and purified me, I am like to perish for all that. I heard his voice, and I dis∣obeyed it; I heard his Gospel, and did not im∣prove it, and now even the glad tidings of Sal∣vation are not so to me: I did not know in the long day that I had, the things that belong'd unto my peace, and now they are hid from mine eyes. Now I have to deal with the great and the dreadful God himself, and I have none to plead my cause. Oh how can I resist his power, or bear his wrath! Christ indeed call∣ed me, but I did not open to him, and now he calls no more; he seems to be angry and en∣raged against me for my disobedience; and tho I have cried sometimes, Have mercy on me, thou Son of David! he passes away, and does not re∣gard my cryes. And, O what shall I do when he comes in the Clouds of Heaven, when I am to stand at his Bar, and to be punished as an un∣believer! To others, that will be a day of Re∣freshment; but what will it be to me! the

thoughts of it are now amazing! And thus by a sense of unbelief the deserted soul is plunged in the waves, and sees no way of escape; and by this Unbelief it thinks of God as absolutely considered, and the thoughts of him are as ter∣rible as if there were no Mediator; and it is continually saying, I have all my sins to answer for, and have none to undertake for me; I am condemned, and have none to procure a par∣don and salvation for me.

Fifthly, In this Night the soul is full of terror; and how can it be otherwise, when every thought of God, and of Christ, overwhelms it! Job 6.4. For the arrows of the Almighty are with∣in me, the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit; the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. Such arrows that are shot by an Almighty arm, with a great power and force, they must needs, being so directed, pierce very deep; deep and painful must the wounds be that a God makes; and then they are poysoned arrows too, that being dipt in his wrath, inflame the wounds they make, and put the distressed person into pain and anguish inexpressible. Night is a time of terror, especially in commo∣tions, uproars, and the like mischiefs, Psal. 91.5. and in this night it is much more so, when a mans own Conscience discharges a thousand accusations against him for his guilt; for then every sin gives a blow; and altogether being set in array, make a formidable force; and when God sets on peculiar impressions of his wrath, and it falls upon the naked soul with its scorch∣ing burning drops, there is not then one quiet

thought, nor one easie moment, all is amaze∣ment, confusion and wo. Lam. 3.3. Surely a∣gainst me is he turned, he turneth his hand against me all the day. A person that is thus distress'd, sits and muses on his misery, and would glad∣ly find something that might be comfortable, but he cannot; what he first thinks of, is tor∣menting; he changes that uneasie thought for another, and that is as tormenting as the first; there is a circulation of flaming disquiet thoughts, and such a person dwells as in a nery Furnace, or as in a thicket of briers, which way soever he turns himself, he is pained and woun∣ded; all the terrible places of Scripture that are made against the wicked, do continually present themselves to his consideration, and he thinks that he shall most certainly have their por∣tion; every thing in nature that is frightful, frights him, as still believing God to be against him; from all the terrible things imaginable he fetches something that does still more afflict him; and thus he will be imagining: Suppose I were to be sawn asunder, to be burnt, to be flea'd alive, or to be torn to pieces; Oh what a sad thing would that be! and yet I am in a case worse than all this, for I am now continu∣ally racked with guilt, and am like to be in Hell for ever. The terrors of the Lord we may seel indeed, but we cannot express them, they are so very terrible; they wound our most sen∣sible and tender part; they cause our very souls to pine and languish away; they fix our minds to the contemplation of every thing that is sad and doleful; they fill us with confusion; and

Heman says, Ps. 88.15. they are terrors that com∣pass us round about, they seize upon every facul∣ty, and distress us in every part; to have God against us, his holiness to dazle us, his Power to overthrow us, his Law to condemn us, our Consciences to accuse us, is the sum of terrors!

Sixthly, Fear is another occasion of sorrow, and the night is usually a time of horror; we are apt then to be imposed upon with false, as well as with real dangers. We can think of nothing but out misery; and the continual unavoidable thinking of it, makes us more miserable, Job 13.21. these fears are as so many Fetters from which we cannot fly; and when we think to shake them off, we put our selves to more pain. If I say I will forget my complaints, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort my self, I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent, Job 9.27, 28. we are frighted with the Greatness and Majesty of God, with the Glory of his Being, and the Thunder of his Power: We are frighted with the view of our innumerable sins, and with the dangers that at∣tend them; the thoughts of Heaven fright us, because we think we have lost that blessed place; and the thoughts of Hell are no less frightful, because we think we shall soon be there; the thoughts of life are frightful, because tis with anguish and horror that we live; nor can we bear the thoughts of death, because we dare not die.

Seventhly, 'Tis a night of weeping to deserted souls, because they find no heart to pray, and no life in prayer; they fall upon their knees, and cover

the Altar of the Lord with tears, but he seems not to regard them; they beg, and he gives them no relief; they cry and he does not answer; and this fills them with shame and grief, Lam. 3.7, 8. the thoughts of such poor people are in a continual hurry, and so are very full of wandrings in the performance of their duty: Grief, by saddening the spirits, destroys the free∣dom of our speech; for joy is the mother of E∣loquence and fluency; and when they would move up towards Heaven, this sorrow damps their vigor, and makes them that they cannot fly; and finding they are still perplex'd even after prayer, and still as uncomfortable as be∣fore, they are apt to throw it off, and say, It is vain to pray; as Saul, 1 Sam. 28.15. God is departed from me, and answers me no more. And sorrow is naturally a very dull and sluggish thing; a man has no heart to go about any work when he is very sad; and this faintness occasions a new trouble; we are vext when we do not pray; and when we would, we cannot. Sorrows damp our faith, our love, and our hope, and so spoil our duties; for without these, they are without life, and without acceptance; and sometimes our grief is so violent, that it finds no vent, it strangles us, and we are overcome. I am so troubled, that I cannot speak, Psal. 77.4. It is with us in our desertions as with a man that gets a slight hurt, at first he walks up and down, but not looking betimes to prevent a growing mischief, the neglected wound begins to fester, or to gangrene, and brings him to greater pain and loss; so it is with us many times in our

Spiritual sadness; when we are first troubled, we pray and pour out our souls before the Lord; but afterwards the waters of our grief drown our crys, and we are so overwhelmed, that if we might have all the world we cannot pray, or at least we can find no enlargement, no life, no pleasure in our prayers; and God himself seems to take no delight in them, and that makes us more sad. Psal. 22.1.

Eighthly, Such have no patience wherewith to bear their evils; Oh who is he that can bear the wrath of God! one thought of him as a recon∣ciled Father, would sweeten the most heavy Cross; but one view of him as an enemy, causes all our strength to depart, and melts our very souls. In bodily evils the mind lends its assistance, and furnishes the natural spirits with courage; but when its self is weakned and trou∣bled, what is it able to do? the wounded soul is most commonly fretful and impatient; the sight of Heaven inspires our breasts with vital heat, and makes us quiet and submissive under every dispensation; but the daily sight and fear of Hell, fills us with tumult and disorder; the language of deserted people for the most part is in groans, and in their prayers they chatter as a Crame, or a Swallow, or mourn as a Dove, Isa. 38.14. Job 13.20, 21.

Ninthly, They usually see no prospect of relief or deliverance, and that encreases the sorrows of their doleful Night; they are covered in the deep pit, and see no way to fly from it, Job 9.27, 28. they are wounded, and carry their wounds with them where they go; they are continually fixing

their mournful eyes upon destruction and the Grave, Job 7.7, 8. they have indeed, now and then, some intermissions, but they are like the small breathings and refreshments of a per∣son that is newly taken off the Rack, to be car∣ried to the Rack again. The Tears of these poor deserted people, are not like the Tears of Mary in the Garden; for as soon as she began to weep, she beheld the Lord; He quickly came to her help, and changed her Sorrows into Consolations; and his sweet Voice did in a moment run through all the powers of her soul, and made her heart to leap with Joy, and scattered light upon it: But in this case he suf∣fers his Servants to be tost for a long and dole∣ful night, ere he be pleased to speak, and to calm the storms; so that they are as persons straitly besieged, and have no relief at hand; as persons athirst, and have no Water; hun∣gry, and have no Bread. Psal. 113.4. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me, refuge failed me.

Tenthly, This Night of weeping is the more sor∣rowful, because it is the time of Satan's Cruelty. When our Spirits are broken with long and painful afflictions, then this Cowardly Spirit sets upon us; he knows that he can easily per∣plex us, when we are already thrown upon the Ground. When the Sun sets, then the Beasts of the Field creep abroad; When God is de∣parted, then the Devil comes. He comes and torments us with innumerable fears; comes and Triumphs over us, insults, and says, Where is now your God? What think you now of Sin?

What is now become of all your Hearing, your Reading, and your many Prayers? You thought to have escaped my Power, and now I have you within my reach; now remember that at such or such a time you sinned, and therefore God has forsaken you; you weep, and your Tears are just; for you are miserable, and are like to be with me for ever. He makes use of our sore Afflictions, to represent God to us as Tyrannical, and as one that will certainly de∣stroy us; and it is our grief, and our misery, that we have so little in our desertions to an∣swer to him. When we really believe that God is departed from us, What can we say? How does this Roaring Lion most cruelly molest us, when our Glory and our Strength is gone! though at other seasons we can oppose his ma∣lice, and confidently say, The Lord, that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee. He is, indeed, a knowing and a subtile Spirit; he knows our weakness, sees our trouble, and urges even the very Scriptures and Providences of God upon us to our disadvantage, and that with a marvel∣lous importunity and diligence: He shoots at us with fiery Darts, that are extreamly painful, and comes to shoot them when we are under a sense of God's displeasure; which is like thrust∣ing of a Red Iron into a Wound that is already very sore. It pleases the Devil to hear us groan, and to see us sad; and when we are al∣ready pressed down with our Evils, he will be sure to throw upon us more weight; our Groans are his Musick; and when we wallow in Ashes, drown our selves in Tears, and spread

our Hands for help, and roar till our Throat is dry, he gluts his cruel heart with looking on our woes; it is the pleasantest sight to him, to see God hiding himself from his Child, and that Child broken with fears, torn in pieces with Griefs, made a Brother to Dragons, a Companion to Owls, under restless Anxieties, perpetual Lamentations, feeble, and sore bro∣ken, their Tongue cleaving to their Jaws, their Bowels boyling, their Bones burnt with heat, and their flesh consumed* 1.7; He sets upon us after we have been long troubled, and weary with our March in the doleful Night: And which is the sorrow of our sorrows, God may for a long while leave us in his hands; and by his usage of Job, we know what his temper is. Luke 22.31. 'Tis the hour and the power of darkness.

Eleventhly, Sometimes this Sorrow is mixed with deep Despair: It is a Tempestuous and Stor∣my Night. And as Paul said in another case, All hope of their being saved is taken away. I shall surely perish, saith the mourning soul; I am damned, I am lost for ever; I am already as in Hell, under unexpressible, insupportable pains; and amazing fears; the Lord will be fa∣vourable no more, he hath shut up his Bowels, and his Tender Mercies; he is gone, he is gone from me, and he is for ever gone. No more shall I call him Father; no more shall I behold his shining face; no more shall I hear his kind and loving Voice, he is my Judge and my Enemy, and I am afraid he will be so for ever. He hath cast me off, he hath forsaken

me; he hath condemned me, and I am lost for ever: I am now like to have my poor Soul gathered with Sinners and with Bloody Men; I am now never like to see that Heaven where I once hoped to go; I see nothing but ruin, no∣thing but desolation, nothing but blackness of darkness; and these unbelieving, despairing Conclusions, produce hard and strange thoughts of God, and an enmity to him in our minds.

Twelsthly, Looking upon their present troubles as an Introduction to more, and that these are but the beginning of sorrows. Isa. 38.13. I reckoned till morning, that as a Lion so will he break all my bones; from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. How often do we hear such saying, Oh! what will become of me, should I dye in such a state as I now am in! in such horror and amazement! where will my guilty soul then go! Alas! I am no way prepared to give up my accounts, and yet am like every moment to be called away; If I cannot bear these Pains, and this Wrath, what shall I do to bear an Eternal Hell! If I tremble so now, what shall I do when the blow is given, and the final Sen∣tence past! I have but one change to make, and it is like to be a sad and woful change, God knows! I dare neither live nor dye! Oh! what, shall I do! whither shall I go? Stay I must not, and depart I dare not; I am now sorely tormented, and must I be for ever and for ever so, and worse too! I now see that the Gate is strait, and the way is narrow, and that there will be few indeed that will be saved.

The shadows of the Evening are stretched out upon me, and what shall I do if it prove an Eternal night? For as it is the glory of Faith, to shew us future things, as if actually present; and to give us joy from them so considered: So it is the torment of despair, to make poor di∣stressed Souls believe they are even as in Hell, whilest they are on Earth; and that they are actually scorched with that wrath that is to come in greater measures.

Thirteenthly, From all these follow strange dis∣courses and expressions of sorrow; they are forced to complain, to cry out, and to weep bitterly, Job 7.11. Therefore I will not refrain my mouth, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will com∣plain in the bitterness of my soul. They speak without any manner of concern or fear, things that both vex themselves, and make others tremble; they scarce care what they say of God or of themselves. My soul is weary of my life, I will leave my complaint upon my self; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul, Job 10.1, 3. Nay they frequently proceed to wish they had never been born, knowing it is better not to be, than to be miserable. Job 3. Job 10.16, 17, 18. Nay, they may proceed so far, as to wish even to be destroyed that they may know the worst: Such is the sorrow of their hearts, and so vio∣lent, Job 6.26. Do ye imagine to reprove words, and to reprove the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind! And there are two things that make their sorrows more sorrowful:

• 1. As comparing their state with that of others.

• 2. As with their own former state.

1. It makes them more sad when they consider the case of others; with what peace and joy they live, with what hope and comfort, whilest they are drowned in sorrows. Others, says the de∣serted Soul, can sing the Praises of God with de∣light, whilest I am overwhelmed, and my Harp is hung upon the Willows; others can go into the solemn Assemblies, and hear his Word, but I am confined in my thick darkness, and dare not go thither; others have the hope of Heaven, and I have the dayly fear of Hell; I am like to see others enter into Glory, and my self shut out; Oh! what have my sins done! If I had not greatly sinned, I might have had as much quietness, and comfort, and peace as they; and I that am now cut down for my unfruitfulness might have been serving God with as much chearfulness, and light, and hope as they do.

2. When the deserted soul compares its present with its former state. To a person in misery, it is a great increase of misery to have been once happy: It was to David an occasion of new Tears, when he remembred his former Joys, Psal. 42.3, 4. Time was, says the poor Soul, when I thought of God with comfort, and when I thought of him as my own God; and to lose a God that I once enjoyed, is the Loss of all my Losses; and of all my Terrors the most Terrible. Time was, when I could go and pray to him, and ease my self in Prayer; but now I have no boldness, no hope, no success in Prayer, I cannot call him my Father any more.

Time was, when I could read the Bible, and treasure up the Promises, and survey the Land of Canaan as my own inheritance; but now I dare not look into the Word, lest I read my own Condemnation there. The Sabbath was formerly to me as one of the days of Heaven; but now it is also, as well as the rest, a sad and a mournful day. I formerly rejoyced in the name of Christ, I sat under his shadow, Cant. 8.10. I was in his eyes as one that found favour; but now my soul is like the deserts of Arabia, I am scorched with burning heat. From how great an height have I fallen! How fair was I once for Heaven, and for Salvation, and now am like to come short of it! I was once flou∣rishing in the Courts of the Lord, and now all my Fruit is blasted and withered away; his dew laid all night upon my branches; but now I am like the Mountains of Gilboa, no Rain falls upon me. Had I never heard of Heaven, I could not have been so miserable as I now am; Had I never known God, the loss of him had not been so terrible as now it is like to be. Job 29.2, 3. Oh! that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; When his Candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness! These are some of the sor∣rows that deserted Souls often meet withal; and indeed, but a small part of what they feel in this dark and stormy night. Before I pro∣ceed any further, I will answer two Objecti∣ons, for I foresee, that against what I have said, some may object.

CHAP. V.

Answering some Objections; and of the further doleful state of a deserted Soul; and whence it is that God is pleased to suffer a very Tempestuous and Stormy Night to come upon his Servants in this World.

Obj. 1. YOƲ make a great deal of noise and pother about desertions, and God's for∣saking of the soul; and it is nothing in the world but Fancy or Imagination, and the whimsies and the fumes of Melancholly.

Answ. It is no new thing for us to hear such Language from Atheistical and Prophane People; from men that are covered with ignorance and sloth: With ignorance, because they know not the ways of God and his dispensations; and sloth, because they will not search into the Me∣thods of his Government. To grant them for once, that it is Imagination, it is not the less tormenting because it is so; for a Man that strongly imagines himself to be miscrable, is truly miserable; if a man think himself un∣happy, he is so, whilest that thought remains: But then they would do well, could they but once obtain of themselves leave to consider a little; they would find reason to suspect their own foolish Objections. Who was a Man, as ap∣pears by what we read of him, more distressed with the sense of God's Anger, than David? yet

he was of a Musical and a pleasant Temper, of a Ruddy and a Sanguine Constitution. Do they think that such a great Prince as Job was, was led meerly by humour and by fancy, when he complains so much of the Arrows of the Almighty? Or, that Heman, Asaph, and many others, were men of no clear understandings? It is their ignorant Pride that makes them to talk so boldly of the Judgments of God which they do not understand; but if ever their Con∣sciences be awakened with a sense of guilt, they'll find, in what I have now discoursed, something more terrible than Fancy or Imagi∣nation.

Obj. 2. You take a way to discourage men from all Religion. If it be such a mournful business, it is better to let it alone, and to rejoyce and to be merry, and to take our ease and our plea∣sure. Go by your selves to Heaven, if you will, we'll joyn our selves to more chearful Compani∣ons; we see those that are gay and brisk, that know no sorrow while they live, and that dye in peace: and to their Assembly we will unite our selves. In Answer to this, I desire such to consider, That it is not our Religion that is the Cause of our sorrows; but our wandrings and our deviation from it. If we were always obe∣dient, we should have an Eternal day; our hea∣venly Father chastises us because we are unduti∣ful; and he does not delight to grieve the Children of Men; and even in these necessary Corrections, he carries on a profitable design for our future and final good. 'Tis true, this 〈2 pages missing〉〈2 pages missing〉

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is nothing but anguish of Conscience that draws up a process against it self, that presents it self as before the Tribunal of God, without hope of pardon or escape; and the weight of Moun∣tains would not be a load so heavy as this; it is a night wherein we are kept waking with our danger, whether we will or not. Wicked men, tho they have as great a burden, yet are not sen∣sible, they feel not the bitterness of sin; they are like fishes bred in the Sea, that tast not the saltness of the water; they are like swine, that find something agreeable to their meaner appe∣tites, even in that which is most nauseous to other Creatures. When they sin, they feel not the weight of it, for it is their nature to do amiss; their iniquities are like waters, that are not hea∣vy in their own Element; as Intellectual joy is most refin'd, pure and durable; so is the trou∣ble of the mind of all others most troublesome. Job 6.2, 3. Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balance toge∣ther; for now it would be heavier than the sand of the Sea, therefore my words are swallowed up.

2. 'Tis attended usually with great pain of body too, and so a man is wounded and distrest in every part. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger, says David. The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit, Job 6.4. Sorrow of heart contracts the natural spirits, makes all their motions slow and feeble; and the poor afflicted body does usually decline and wast away; and therefore, saith Heman, My soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. In this inward

distress, we find our strength decay and melt, even as wax before the fire; for sorrow, that is an ingrateful languor of the soul* 1.8, darkneth the spirits, obscures the judgment, blinds the memory, as to all pleasant things, and beclouds the lucid part of the mind; causes the lamp of life to burn weakly: In this troubled conditi∣on the person cannot be without a countenance that is pale, and wan, and dejected, like one that is seized with strong fear and consternation; all his motions are sluggish, and no sprightliness nor activity remains. Prov. 17.22. A merry heart doth good, like a Medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Hence come those frequent complaints in Scripture: My moisture is turned into the drought of Summer: I am like a bottle in the smoke: wy soul cleaveth unto the dust: my face is foul with weeping, and on my eye-lids is the shadow of death, Job 16.16. Job 30.17, 18, 19. My bones are pierced in me, in the night season, and my sinews take no rest; by the great force of my disease is my garments chan∣ged. He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. Many times indeed the trouble of the soul does begin from the weakness and indisposition of the body. Long affliction, with∣out any prospect of remedy, does in process of time begin to distress the soul it self. David was a man often exercised with sickness, and the rage of enemies; and in all the instances almost that we meet with in the Psalms, we may ob∣observe* 1.9 that the outward occasions of trouble, brought him under an apprehension of the wrath of God for his sin, Psal. 6.1, 2. and the reason given, ver. 5, 6. all his griefs running in∣to

to this more terrble thought, That God was his enemy; as little Brooks lose themselves in a great River, and change their name and nature; it most frequently happens, that when our pain is long, and sharp, and helpless, and unavoida∣ble, we begin to question the sincerity of our estate towards God, tho at its first assault we had few doubts or fears about it. Long weak∣ne s of body makes the soul more susceptible of trouble, and uneasie thoughts.

I would have more largely insisted on the troubles of a deserted soul, but that I find them so excellently described by Dr. Gilpin in the second part of his Learned and Experimental Treatise of Sa∣tan's Temptations, and to that I must refer my Reader; as not knowing any other Book that does with so much exactness and truth set forth these inward and Spiritual afflictions. I now proceed to enquire why God suffers such a night, so tempestuous and so frightful, to come upon his servants?

1. That they may be conformable to Christ. As they are tempted and distress'd, so was he; as it is with their souls a season of darkness, so was it also with his holy soul, that was full of amaze∣ment under a sense of God's wrath; tho he ne∣ver despaired indeed, as many of his servants are apt to do under the violence of sorrow, Isa. 53.3. He was a man of sorrows, and acquain∣ted with grief: When he was so sadned for our sakes, 'tis reasonable to think that we should sometimes taste of the bitter cup, and not al∣ways rejoyce and be at ease. If God spared not his only Son, why should we expect to feel no∣thing

thing but what is very mild and gentle? And our Lord has told us, The world shall rejoyce, but you shall be sorrowful, Joh. 16. from v. 20. to v. 22. The sufferings of Christ were to give a satisfaction to the Divine Justice; ours are not to be lookt upon with such an eye; by these terrors and desertions we learn to value and esteem the love of Christ, who was pleased to redeem us when it cost him so very dear, and who was pleased not to decline the field of Battel, tho it was not to be managed without vast labour, and a mighty pain. And says the Apostle, Rejoyce, in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, 1 Pet. 4.13.

Secondly, Another reason may be, Because our fall and our ruin came by pleasure. A delight it was, tho a very short one, that made our forefather Adam Apostatize; and it is equitable that we should be cured by something contrary to that which occasioned our disease, seeing our joys are dangerous; he makes our grief and sor∣rows to be healthful and Medicinal.

Thirdly, 'Tis a very proper season wherein to be sorrowful. Among all the other excellent ap∣pointments of Providence, this is one, That there should be a time to weep, Eccles. 3.4. There is in this weeping-night nothing strange or un∣couth; all our fathers have in some respect passed under a Cloud, and a Cloud that has dis∣solved in rain, and which has given to the good Pilgrims much trouble as they went along. 1 Pet. 2.6. Now for a season ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. 'Tis no more strange to see mourning in the Church on Earth, than

to see storms or snow in Winter; every thing is beautiful in its season; and so this affliction is. The night is useful to the world, tho not so pleasant as the day; our sickly state will not admit us to have nothing but what is grateful to our pallats; the wise God therefore, many times, instead of very pleasant things, confers the best upon us; we must allow the Great Master of the Family to maintain its order, prosperity, and welfare by his own methods; to chastise us when, and how, and as long as he pleaseth; for his strokes, tho very smart, yet are still very just; and it is in order to some better thing that he designs for us, that at the present we are made to grieve; for grief, as one observes* 1.10 is an im∣perfect passion, not made for it self, but for some higher use; as also, all the rest of the declining affections are; as Hatred for Love, Fear for Con∣fidence. and the like; and so Sorrow for Joy, unto which it is subservient; as launcing and searing are not for themselves, but for ease and remedy; and a bitter potion is not for sickness, which it may cause for a time, but for health; so Sorrow is made for Joy, and Joy is the end of Sorrow; and God, we may be sure, will have his end.

IV. To shew his own Soveraignty both in affli∣cting and comforting. He causes such a Prince as Job to sit upon a Dunghill, in anguish and trou∣ble, whilest another sits in unclouded Glory on the Throne. He pulls down one, and sets up an∣other; and does whatsoever he will in Heaven or Earth; 'tis the withdrawing of his Spirit

that is an occasion of mourning to the soul; and he variously acts upon it; for tho he deny not what is absolutely necessary to the being of the Christian; yet he many times does not vouchsafe to give what would make it very comfortable; he upon wise Reasons does many times suffer the hearts of his people to be over∣whelmed with sorrow, when he could make them brim-full of joy; as in nature he lets the Earth gape for thirst, when he could immedi∣ately refresh it with seasonable showers. Who in all this mysterious variety of his Administra∣tions, can say unto him, What dost thou? Some Countries are desert, barren and forsaken, burnt up with scorching heat, and fill'd with Beasts of Prey; and others are inhabited and fruitful, and greatly blessed, and he sees fit to have the parts of his Dominions thus qualified. Some does he draw with the sweet savour of his Oint∣ments; they perceive nothing but what is grate∣ful and refreshing; but others he sorely terrifies with the greatness of his Power, his Holiness and Majesty; and they never eat, nor live with pleasure. The Captain of our Salvation causes some of his Soldiers to meet with much more formidable dangers than others do; they have more sweat, and fatigue, and toil, and painful duty, tho he will be sure himself to help them when they are ready to give way; the manner of his dispensations to his servants is various, both in life, and at death. Some are chastned all the day long, and with sore pain upon their beds too, whilest others have no pain at all; some go drooping to the Grave, bowed down with his

displeasure, whilest his favour and his gracious eye makes others to go smiling thither. Enoch and Elias had a pleasant Removal from the world; very short, and very glorious was their passage hence; but the most part of men groan a long while before they are called away; and then he does it to shew his own Power, that when the wound appears to be desperate, he can give a cure with a word. When the night is fullest of horror, he can bring the reviving day. When the storms are highest, he need but say to the waves, to our doubts, and our fears, Be still, and immediately there is a calm: What is not a God, and so great and so good a God able to do! He that produced from a meer Chaos, this beautiful and pleasant World, need only say to us in the middle of our doleful darkness, Let there be light, and it shall be so. Job 5.18. He maketh sore, and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole; in acknowledgment of this Sove∣raign Ability it is that David prays, Psal. 51.8. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Why so? had not Nathan told him, That his sin was pardon∣ed? Yes; but all the testimonies of men are no∣thing without the inward witness of the Holy Spirit. God has committed to men the admini∣stration of his Word, but reserves the Spirit to himself; that Spirit which gives consolation to our hearts, and peace to our Consciences. When Mary and Martha were in sorrow for their Bro∣ther's death, 'tis said, Joh. 11.19. Many of the Jews came from Jerusalem to comfort them; but they received no comfort till Christ himself came thi∣ther.

CHAP. VI.

Shewing whence it is, that Melancholly and Troubled People love Solitariness; and whence it is, that serious Persons are not so light and frothy in their Conver∣sations, as others are. With some other Inferences deducible from the forego∣ing Doctrine. With some Advices to those that have never been deserted, and to such as are complaining that they are so.

Inf. 1. HEnce you see the Reason why People in trouble love Solitariness. They are full of Sorrow; and Sorrow, if it have taken deep root, is naturally reserved, and flies all Conversation. Grief is a thing that is very si∣lent and private. Those People that are very Talkative and Clamorous in their Sorrows, are never very sorrowful. Some are apt to won∣der, why Melancholly People delight to be so much alone; and I'll tell them the reason of it: 1. Be∣cause the disorder'd Humours of their Bodies alter their Temper, their Humours, and their Inclinations, that they are no more the same that they use to be; their very Distemper is a∣verse to what is joyous and diverting; and they that wonder at them, may as wisely wonder why they will be diseased, which they would not be, if they knew how to help it; but the

Disease of Melancholly is so obstinate, and so un∣known to all but those that have it, that no∣thing but the Power of God can totally over∣throw it; and I know no other cure for it. 2. Another Reason why they chuse to be alone, is, Because People do not generally mind what they say, nor believe them, but rather deride them, which they do not use so cruelly to do with those that are in other Distempers; and no Man is to be blamed for avoiding Society, when they do not afford the common Credit to his Words that is due to the rest of Men. But 3. Another, and the principal Reason why Peo∣ple in Trouble and Sadness chuse to be alone, is, Because they generally apprehend themselves singled out to be the Marks of God's peculiar Displeasure; and they are often by their sharp Afflictions a terror to themselves, and a won∣der to others. It even breaks their hearts to see how low they are fallen, how oppressed, that were once as easy, as pleasant, as full of hope as others are. Job 6.21. Ye see my casting down, and are afraid. Psalm 71.7. I am as a wonder unto many. And it is usually unpleasant to others to be with them. Psalm 88.18. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me: and mine acquaintance in∣to darkness. And tho it was not so with the Friends of Job, to see a Man whom they had once known Happy, to be so Miserable; one whom they had seen so very Prosperous, to be so very Poor, in such sorry, forlorn Circum∣stances, did greatly affect them; he, poor Man, was changed, they knew him not, Job 2.12, 13. And when they lift up their eyes afar off, and

knew him not, they lift up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. As the Prophet re∣presents one under spiritual and great Afflicti∣ons, that he sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, Lam. 3.28.

Inf. 2. Hence we see the Reason why the Servants of God have not such light and frothy spirits as others. They do not indeed always mourn, but even when they rejoice, 'tis with a serious and solid Joy. Their own Sins, and the fear they have of sin∣ning, and the concern they have for the Sins of others, cause them to walk softly. The many Miseries to which they are obnoxious, and the many that they see the Church of God groan∣ing under, keep them from innumerable Follies, from many Lightnesses and Vanities in Conversation, which others do not scru∣ple; tho frequently when their Countenances are grave, their Hearts are full of the most lively joys.

Inf. 3. What a mean sorry thing a Christian is many times in this World, as to his outward appear∣ance. A Mourner never makes so great a shew as one in Triumph does. His Graces, and his Excel∣lencies are many times like the Ground in Win∣ter, covered with Rain and Storm, which make him not to be much regarded; because Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, there∣fore

the Jews saw no beauty or comeliness in him, that they should desire him; they hid their faces from him, because he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, Isaiah 53.3, 4. The life of all Believers is hid with God in Christ, Col. 3.3. 'Tis main∣tained with suitable nourishment, formed by the Gospel, and preserved by the Spirit; but be∣cause of innumerable Temptations and Weak∣nesses, the Glory of their Grace is very much eclipsed; 'tis hidden under a thousand Crosses and Infirmities, and does not yet appear in the clearest Light. A Christian in this World is like a King, that Travels Incognito in a strange Land; he is coursly treated by Men that do not know the greatness of his Birth and Quality; he Travels but in the habit of a Pilgrim, and cloathed with Heaviness, and hath Tears for his Meat and Drink. Or he is as the Sun ascend∣ing to his Meridian, but obscured from our sight with many thick and watry Clouds. Job 26.27, 28. When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the Sun: I stood up, and cried in the congregation. Now the Servants of God are going to the Port of Blessedness, as Jonas to the Shore cover∣ed with the Waters of Affliction. They seem now to a careless Eye, like the Seed that is buried in the Ground, to be quite cast away; but they shall arise with new Lustre.

Inf. 4. This assures us, that there is another, and a more happy Life after this. Blessed are they that

mourn, for they shall be comforted, Matth. 5.4. He that goeth forth weeping, &c. Psalm 126.6. John 16.16. This Sorrow is the forerunner of abiding Joy; these Tears of holy Persons are fruitful and profitable Tears; and those Souls that now are vext with the Sins of others, and their own, shall ere long be sweetly re∣fresht; the Night is long and doleful, but the Morning comes that will cause them to forget all their former trouble. God puts their Tears in∣to his Bottles, tho in appearance they fall upon the Earth unregarded, and seem to be lost, even then they fall into the Lap of his Provi∣dence, which will make them to fructify by his Blessing, and to their eternal Joy. This little Grain that is sown, will return back again into their bosoms with measure filled up, and running over; and their floods of Tears that now surrounded them, shall be turned into Rivers of Pleasure for evermore* 1.11If in this life only we had hope, we were of all men most miserable, 1 Cor. 15.19. Miserable indeed, if we were obliged to bear so many Crosses, to meet so many Dangers, and such various Calamities, and to have no reward; but thanks be to God, this is not our case. Whilest we look upon this World, upon the manifold Evils that are here, we weep; but when we lift up our Eyes to that pure, and calm, and blessed World that is above, we may be chearful and rejoyce; here we are tost among Rocks and Shelves, with threatning Waves, and high Winds; but there we behold our rest. In this Wilderness we are pursued

with the roaring Lyons, annoyed with Hunger, and with Thirst, and other Inconveniencies; but we are all the while in our Journey to the promised Land, and shortly shall be there, and then we shall receive a blessed period of all our Conflicts, and our Difficulties.

Inf. 5. Seeing there is such a weeping Night to the Servants of God, this verifies and confirms that Maxim of the Gospel, That strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life. Thither must we go through the very depths, and wade through many Seas of grief, though all others find it to be difficult, because of the frequent self-denials and mortifications to which they are obliged; because of the many sins that beset them, and the many sufferings they must under∣go; yet deserted Souls find it to be a strait way indeed, and to them it is covered with Thorns and Bryars; and though you, whose Mountain is yt strong, whose hopes are yet unshaken, think it easie; yet if ever you come to be sorely tempted, to be afflicted with long and sharp Tryals; if you come to be greatly pained in your Bodies, and greatly troubled in your Souls; if you be awakened with the sight of Hell, and the threatnings of the Law, and broken with the terrors of the Almighty; you will joyn your cry to ours, and say, That the way is very strait: Joh, and Hunan, and Asaph, and David, and all others have found it to be so. There is indeed a Lion in the way, but that must not be an excuse to sloth, but a motive to our Courage; we must take the more caution,

and be more watchful to avoid him. The sense so God's displeasure, is as an hot Furnace, in∣to which many of his Children are thrown, though they shall come out unhurt; and when they are come forth, they shall be like Gold: yet it is grievous to Sense, when they must be saved so as by Fire; when they must come to their Crown by Racks and Torments, by An∣guish and Tribulation; and to Heaven by the very Gates of Hell.

I shall close this Chapter with two Exhorta∣tions: 1. With respect to those with whom it is yet day, and who have never been forsaken of God. And 2. To such disconsolate souls, with whom it is as yet a weeping and a mourning Night.

1. If you have not been forsaken, and have ever had the light of God's Countenance shining on you, beware of the approach of Night: Prevent as much as you can the declining of the Day. I have shewed you into what a Pit I and some others have fallen; take warning by our danger, and take heed lest you also come into the like dole∣ful Case. You have the smiles of your Hea∣venly Father, you have been ever with him; Oh! do not provoke him to turn those revi∣ving smiles into killing frowns; be not secure, be not self-confident, be not faithless, but be∣lieve and guard your Faith, and be watchful; for your Enemy, the Devil, goes about seeking whom he may devour. Work while it is day, for when this night comes, I can assure you by sad experi∣ence, that you cannot work. Pray now with fervour, for then you cannot Pray; Now Read,

and Hear the Word of God, for then you will find no taste even in the Bread of Life. Be∣ware of Indifference and of Lukewarmness; beware of grieving the Spirit, and of slighting his motions; for all these are the shadows of this doleful night. Your day is comfortable, and your journey pleasant, while the Sun shines; Oh! make hast to your Eternal home, lest your feet stumble on the dark Mountains: If you linger, wrath will overtake you, terrible and amazing wrath, such as you cannot now be∣lieve, and such as you then cannot bear. Cre∣dit the Report that we bring you from the Land of darkness, and go not in the way that will lead you thither; We have fallen among Thieves and Robbers, among Temptations, and Dangers, and Tryals, that deprived us of all our Comforts; do not you tread a path where you will surely be set upon, and greatly wound∣ed, if you do escape; though it may be you say, as Job 29.18. I shall dye in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand.

2. Do not severely judge or censure persons under spiritual trouble; It is night with them indeed, but they may live to see the morning come. God has overthrown them, but he will build them up again; they are in darkness, but re∣joice not over them, for he will be a light unto them. Speak not to the hurt of those that he has wounded; look not on with unconcerned∣ness, or a secret pleasure, in the time of your Brother's trouble; Job 30.11. Because he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. Do not censure these

Mysterious Dispensations of God and of his Pro∣vidence; stay till you see the beautiful structure that he will cause to rise from these Ruins; When they are tempted by the Devil, do not you with Job's Friends play the Devils to, and insult over them, or encrease their misery: It was a very great sin in those good men, to ag∣gravate his trouble by their rash discourses, and their sinister interpretations of it. God him∣self decided the case for his Servant, and told them, that they had not spoken of him the things that were right. Be not hasty to judge of per∣sons who are weeping, nay, even despairing for their sins; They are in bitterness, but such as God may speedily remove; He may change their Wilderness into a Paradise; He will per∣fect his Power in their Weakness, turn their Evils into Good, and their Darkness into a marvellous Light; and stay till you see the end of the Lord. He has taken their Comforts from them to improve them, and to restore them to them upon better terms; He has removed their Pots of Water, but will, it may be, send them back full of Wine: For (as one observes) God is wont to bring most of his greatest ends about, by seeming to look quite another way from what he hath a special purpose to bring to pass; He seldom proceeds in a direct way to his Ends; or in such a way as the Creature would think stood most with Reason to take; but when his business lies in the East, he takes his Journey, as it were, full West; and when he has a mind to build, he batters down; when his design is for Light, his method and his way

is through the greatest darkness. Let the Great Instance of Job, for ever repress our bold Cen∣sures of afflicted and miserable people; Who would have thought that a Man so distressed, should ever have been delivered! That one that had so many pains, should be cured! one so poor, so derided, so scorned by Drunkards, and Boys, and the meanest of the people, should be ho∣noured and esteemed again! And yet all this happened to him, his latter end was better than his beginning; he lived to see the Funeral of his Griefs, and the Resurrection of his Comforts; the Lord that had afflicted him, took off his heavy hand, and turned again his Captivity; He re-established him in all his former splendor, and made him, for his short darkness, to shine with a double glory, and gave him twice as much as he had before; and for a year or two of trou∣ble, gave him many pleasant long years of Joy, till he was old and full of days; till he was satisfi∣ed with living, and calmly desired to dye. And the scope of the Book of Job is (as Dr. Patrick quotes it from Maimonides) to establish the great Article of Providence, and thereby to preserve us from Error, in thinking that God's Know∣ledg is like our Knowledg; or his Intention, Providence and Government, like our Inten∣tion, Providence and Government; which foundation being laid, nothing will seem hard to a Man, whatsoever happens; nor will he fall into dubious thoughts concerning God, whe∣ther he knows what is befallen us or no, and whether he takes any care of us; but rather he will be inflamed the more vehemently in the

Love of God, as is said in the end of this Pro∣phecy, Wherefore I abhor my self, and repent in dust and ashes. So say our Wise men, They that act out of Love, will rejoyce in Chastise∣ments; see James 5.11.

As to you with whom it is yet night, I shall only add this, Though I am my self come as to the quiet shore, yet I sympathize with you that are yet labouring in the deep: You are afflicted and tost with tempests; but as in Isa. 54. from 9. to 11. The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be romoved, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Oh thou afflicted, tossed with tempests and not comforted; behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with Saphirs. I know you think it is a long night, and so it is, but it is not Eter∣nal, the day will break, and the shadows flee away; your wise Physician is preparing Cor∣dials for your Hearts, and Balsom for your Wounds. Let him have your desires, to him address your Prayers, with your weaker Arms be still reaching after him; you are scorched with wrath, but he will be a refreshment to your heat; you are in darkness, but he is the Sun of Righteousness, that will chase all the Clouds away: Fly to this City of Refuge, part for this Fountain of Living Waters; and while you are condemned in your own thoughts, look to this Advocate and Mediator, and he will plead your Cause; the wrath that burns you, may be hot as Hell, but his Blood will extin∣guish the tormenting flame; the Devil may be

too strong for you, beg therefore help of this Jesus who has overcome him, and who will teach you to get the victory. He takes plea∣sure in helping such as have no helper; and when there is none to deliver you, his own Arm will bring Salvation: He hath horn our grief, and with his stripes we are healed. And trusting in his satisfaction, you may freely implore the Mercy of his Father, nay, even appeal to his Justice; for he will not have two payments for the same debt. You may say, Thou hast pro∣mised to pardon sin for the sake of thy well-beloved Son; Let it be unto me according to thy word. You may in vain complain of your troubles to those that have never felt the like; they may grieve you more by their harsh expres∣sions; but remember, that when you go to Christ for help, you go to one that is experi∣enced, to one that has tasted of the same bitter Cup; to one that was himself forsaken of God for a season, and knows how sad it is with you in the like Case: And those that come to him, he will in no wise cast out.

CHAP. VII.

Of the great joy that fills a Soul, when the favour of God returns to it, after ha∣ving been long in darkness; And the joy is great in several respects, As it was unexpected; As it discovers God to be re∣conciled, and gives the mourner a posses∣sion of Christ by faith, through the influ∣ence of the Holy Spirit; It revives his Graces, delivers him from the insulting of the Devil; shews the soul its interest in the Promises.

JOy cometh in the morning, Psal. 30.5. Having in several Chapters, shewed what a mourn∣ful night it is to a deserted soul, when God is withdrawn, and what passes then; it is now time to hasten to what is more pleasant and reviving, according to the order of Divine Providence, which appointeth that where there has been weeping in the night, in the morning there should be joy: Hence we may observe, The return of Gods favour to a soul is matter of great joy to it; or these words may denote the promp∣titude and readiness of Divine Consolations.

Three things are the usual occasions of joy, all which are in this case: 1. The remembrance of some danger that we have lately escaped. 2. The

possession of a present good. 3. The solid expectation of some future happiness.

First, The remembrance of a past danger, does oc∣casion a more lively sense of joy. As past joys renew our grief, and make our sorrows more sorrow∣ful; so the griefs that are part, give us a sweeter and a better tast of joy; after long sickness and acute pain, 'tis very pleasant to be at ease; 'tis pleasant to rest when we have been tired all the day with hard labour; the Laurels of a Soldier flourish with a purer Green when they have been obtained with a mighty difficulty; the danger of the Combat brightens the glory of the suc∣ceeding Triumph. 'Tis grateful to the Mari∣ner to stand upon the firm Land, and from thence to behold the waves in which he had like to have been thrown away; one that has been long in chains, rejoyces to find himself at liber∣ty; 'tis pleasant after a man has been long a∣thirst, to be refresht with the fountain of Living waters; it renders the joy more accomplished, and more satisfying, when refreshment comes after long and grievous miseries: After long despair, the least beam of hope is more reviving; a man that has lost his way all night, has cause to rejoice at the sight of day, As to persons newly converted, their faith is full of joy when they compare their former danger, and their present safety, their former darkness and the shining light that guides their paths; so to souls that have been in great anguish and tribulation for sin, that have ap∣prehended themselves to be cast out of the pre∣sence of the Lord, 'tis very pleasant to behold

his face again; 'tis pleasant to such as by reason of their sore affliction have been Companions to Owls and Dragons, to come into Religious As∣semblies, and instead of solitary groans and tears, to join with the multitudes of those that keep Holiday; the soul is then like that of the Returning Prodigal, finds it self in the Arms and Embraces of a Loving Father, and well treated, when it looked, as it might justly, for rebukes and wrath. Thunder and Lightning, and Storms, make the calm and pleasant weather more grateful to us; 'tis pleasant after long ab∣sence, to meet our friend again; we find a joy sparkling in our eyes and in our breasts, at the sight of them whom we have not seen for many sad and doleful years; whom yet we longed to see; and that which heightens our pleasure is, when a blessing arrives to us that was unexpected; that mercy docs fill us with the biggest joy which is extremely suitable to us, and which yet we hoped not to receive. The Crown sat the easier upon David's head, after he had so often thought that he should have fallen by the hands of Saul. As life tasts with a better relish when there has been but one step between us and death. With what Transports doth a kind mo∣ther see her Son coming home whom she gave for lost and dead! What a chearful Interview was that which Jacob had with his Son after he had so often thought that he had been torn to pieces! as soon as he came near, he fell upon his neck, and there the revived soul of the poor old man was ready even with excess of pleasure to melt away; he never thought to have seen

his Joseph, his dear Joseph any more; he was even with sorrow for his apprehended death, going down to the Grave; and the news of his Son's welfare made him to be young, and live again; for at the hearing of it, the spirit of Ja∣cob revived, and Israel said, It is enough, Joseph my Son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die, Gen. 45.28. And so the Jews having liber∣ty to return from Babylon, were so surprized with the favour of their sudden deliverance, and the greatness of the mercy, that they could hardly think it true, it seem'd to be the meer effect of Imagination, which during the Interruption of our usual thoughts, by sleep put several deceits upon us, Psal, 126.1, 2. When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Zion, we were like them that dreamed. They were delivered in a manner illu∣strious and surprizing, and it is thus exprest for three Reasons: 1. A man does not foresee what he dreams of; a man that is apt to be cherish∣ed with sound and refreshing sleep, does not know whether he shall dream or not. So this deliverance arrived to them when they thought not of it. 2. As it arrived without any pain to them that were delivered; as when we dream we are in repose, and are at no trouble; and this heightens the glory of a deliverance, and the love of the deliverer when the person delivered takes no care about it. 3. This deli∣verance was above all that they could hope for; as if a man dreamed of something like it, but which he saw not when he was awake, for such are the Chymera's which the Imagination then forms, and which fall not under the notice of

our senses; such a thing was never heard or seen before* 1.12.

The return of comfort to a Soul that was even expiring in grief and sadness, is like the raising of Lazarus to his mourning Sisters; they thought that if the Lord had been there, he had not died; but they did not in the least think that he should be raised again. The re∣view of our former miseries does encrease the sense of present happiness; the light which the Grace of the Gospel brought into the world, and that dissipated the obscurities that compassed it about, made the Apostles full of admiration, and of wonder; when they thought of their former ignorance and error, and the light and knowledg that God had given them, ever are they wondring at the Riches of his Grace, that instead of the corruption in which they were plunged, gave them Sanctification, Joy and Hope: What a surprize was it to the poor Shepherds that were in the field, watching their flock by night, Luk. 2.9. to see an Angel and the Glory of the Lord shining round about them! To see such a Glory when they thought of nothing less, nor did expect so great a Grace* 1.13 but 'tis usual with God to bestow the most eminent favours when men do not look for them; as Christ came to seek Sinners when they thought not of him, and when their minds were filled with other objects, they were afraid; for great objects, when they present themselves suddenly to us, usually give us much astonishment; for our spirit on these occasions has not the liberty to use its forces, and they

are most frequently dissipated, and that dissipa∣tion causes fear; when a soul has long had in it self the sentence of condemnation, a pardon from God is very comfortable; our former darkness does encrease our present comfort, as shadows set off the light.

2. Joy arises from the possession of a present good: Thus is the presence of God unspeakably sweet to a soul from which he was once departed: I. As it now thinks upon him as reconciled: 2. As it has by faith possession of Christ, by whom his fa∣vour is restored; as our sadness came by unbe∣lief, so does our joy by faith. When it was in anguish, every thought of God was terrible and amazing, but now nothing is so refreshing, so desirable, so satisfying, as to think of him. Psal. 94.19. In the multitude of my thoughts with∣in me, thy comforts delight my soul. Now the poor finner does not look upon him as an enemy, but as a Father; sees no more in his hand a flaming Sword, but a Scepter of Grace; hears no more his angry voice, but his gentle com∣fortable Calls and Invitations; according to that in Isa. 66.13. As one whom his mother com∣forteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comfor∣ted; and when ye see this, your heart shall rejoyce, and your bones shall flourish like an herb. Oh what a joy is it to the soul to find God with it! to behold the wonders of his pardoning mercy! to see that all its unbelief, all its impatience, all its murmurings in its wilderness-condition, shall not finally obstruct its Journey to the Land of Promise; to be pardoned, when they thought

themselves actually dying in their guilt, does aggravate the mercy of escape. 'Tis true, God loves his people even when he is angry with them; he designs their good by the sharpest and severest strokes; and when he withdraws, 'tis that they may give a better welcome to him at his return; when our lower Region is most cloudy, the Sun is still full of light; but it is pleasant to us to see the clouds vanish, and the sky clear, and to be refreshed with his inliven∣ing beams again. God indeed is the same for ever; our distresses, our fears, and our trou∣bles, do not alter his kindness; these several va∣riations in us, make no change in him; no more than the several alterations in the air, infer a diversity in the Sun, which is one and the same it self, tho the changes be multiplied here be∣low; but yet even Paternal wrath is wrath still, and his Love is what we ought earnestly to desire, and at the manifestation of which we should greatly rejoyce. It was once the say∣ing of Mr. Peacock under great distress of Con∣science, Oh God reconcile me to thee, that I may tast one dram of thy Grace, by which my miserable soul may receive comfort! Such was his longing after him; and afterwards when the storm be∣gan to cease, being put in mind of God's mercy to him, he said. Oh the Sea is not so full if water, nor the Sun of light, as God is of Goodness; his Mercy is ten thousand times more! The good man long'd but for a drop before, and he had given him full draughts of Consolation; so far are the ways of God above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts; in our sore trials

we think of God as a frowning Judge, but when we are deliver'd, we see him to be our best friend; that he is really kind to us, of whom we were so much afraid; who can express the joy of having him at peace with us! There is a Heaven in the smiles of a Reconciled God. Fi∣gure to your selves, as one expresses it* 1.14, a per∣son that is condemned to death for his Crimes, and who at the same time that he prepares to undergo it, sees an Herald from the King bring∣ing his pardon in his hand, and stops the Exe∣cution, by crying, Mercy, mercy, to the mi∣serable man! with what transports of joy does the poor Malefactor see this Messenger, and hear these tidings! such and so pleasant is the joy, that a deserted Christian finds after he heard the sentence of ruin, and saw it near, when the Law condemned him, and his Conscience ecchoed to the voice of the Law, to find that he is absolved, that the Sentence is reversed, and the sins that made him afraid, are blotted out, then it is that the mourning foul dares to look up to God, as being no more at war with him, nor afraid of the Thunder of his Power; then it is refresht with his sweet and amiable Attributes, and then the disorders and the pangs that it felt within, are vanisht, and all is quiet; then it dwells not as in the shadow of death, nor as on the borders of eternal grief.

Secondly, As the deserted soul does by faith ob∣tain a possession of Christ, so it is full of joy; and Christ is both the Object and the Author of it;

he has purchas'd it by his own blood, and has born our griefs, that we might not mourn for ever; the having of him is a constant inexhau∣stible source of joy to the believer, to be posses∣sed of this Saviour, who is the brightness of the glory, and the express Image of the Father. His Word, his Wisdom, his Love, and his Good∣will, the Treasury of his Graces, in whom his Fulness dwells; this Divine Saviour is our Light that chases away the darkness of our night, and who with his Gracious hand dries our eyes; this is that Glorious Sun that arises with healing on his wings; that not only chears our hearts, but cures our wounds, dispells the night, and makes the voice of sighing to ex∣pire at the first dawning of the day; this is the Tree of Life, the Coelestial Manna, that gives us Immortality* 1.15 This is our David that defeats our Enemies; our Solomon that establishes among us a sweet and inviolable peace; he ex∣piates our Crimes, and gives our minds rest; he saves us from the wrath to come; he deli∣vers us from our sins, from Hell, from our sla∣vish fears, and causes us at length in our dark∣est and most tempestuous nights to hear his Voice, saying, It is I, be not afraid. We are first sadned by unbelief, and faith doth first revive us; and this faith is attended with joy and peace; when the poor deserted soul begins to apprehend its Interest in Christ, how are all its apprehensions changed, saying, Heretofore in my terrible anguish I thought that he was my certain enemy, that I had no portion in his Blood, nor any share in his Intercession: That

as I was under unbelief, so I should be vastly more miserable than those that never heard of him, than Heathens and Pagans, and all the rest of men to whom the Gospel never came; I then thought and was fully perswaded, that I should not hear of him with comfort any more; I then thought that I should see him co∣ming in the Clouds to my terror; that I should be placed at his left hand; and from thence be com∣manded to depart, and now he is come in a way of mercy and of love: He has pleaded for me, when I had nothing to say for my self; and his Word has calmed the storms that made me so much afraid. He cast an eye of Love upon me, when I expected nothing but his frowns; now can I go and pray in his Encouraging Name; and now I have hope when I pray; his Satisfaction and his Intercession are both the constant fountains of my joy.

3. This joy that comes after a night of sad and mournful desertion, it the work of the blessed Spirit; who is stiled by way of Eminency, the Comforter: and Peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit; he causes us to close with Christ, and to embrace the Promises: He assists our weakness, and tea∣ches us to pray: He convinces us of sin, and lays us low, that he may raise us up again: He humbles, and purifies, and fits our hearts for lasting and abiding joys; this joy is not the pro∣duct of a natural temper, but a disposition that hath its Original from Heaven, and leads us thi∣ther; it is not the pleasant motion of our natu∣ral spirits, to which it owes its birth, but as our

grief was in our souls, so the joy is in the same: as our Consciences were disquieted, so it is in them that he works a stillness and repose.

4. This Joy revives our Graces: In this mourn∣ful Night we were quite blasted with the vio∣lence and fury of the storm: We were like the Ground in Winter, destitute and forlorn, and no fruit appeared: but the manifestation of God's favour is to us as the return of Spring, Cant. 2.11. For lo the Winter is past, the Rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the Earth, the time of the singing of Birds is come, and the voice of the Turtle is beard in our Land. The Fig-tree putteth forth her green Figs, and the Vines with the tender Grape give a good smell. That solitary season is now gone, wherein nothing but doubts and fears, and de∣spondence, and accusations, did overwhelm the soul; the floods that kept it under, are dried, and there is now a chearful and a pleasant alte∣ration: the Clouds are vanisht, and the Sky is bright: and a new World and face of things does now appear: His return to his Ancient Mercies is like Noah's entrance into the World after it had been cleansed and washed by the Deluge. God's Favour makes our Tears to be as the gentle dew of Night, which with the warin∣ing kindly beams of the Sun, makes the Plants and Herbs, the Gardens and the Flowers, to look more fresh and green. When God departs, our weakness to what is good encreases; we have no power left, but the joy of the Lord is our strength, Neh. 8.10. This is like the return of health, and good digestion, to one that has been

long sick; it causes a new ferment and motion in the blood, and makes all his actions to be accompanied with more life and vigor; men under strange fears and amazement are incapa∣ble of service; and when we are deserted, so are we. When we apprehend our selves to be cast∣aways, we offer the bread of mourners, if we offer at all; but none of our Sacrifices are with joy and gladness of heart. A man whose bones are broken, cannot go about his work; and when our spitits are wounded, if we work at all, we do but lamely set about it. We may halt a lit∣tle, but we cannot run the way of God's Com∣mands. Our sorrows make us serious, and thoughtful, but 'tis joy that makes us active; 'tis the oyl of gladness that causes our wheels to move, and us to advance forward, as in the Chariots of Aminadab. One that is hungry or a thirst, uses but feeble endeavours, to what he does that is newly refresht.

5. This joy that comes in the Mornings, after a Night of weeping, is very pleasant to the Soul, as it it then delivered from the insultings and triumphs of the Devil: In that doleful Night, that evil spi∣rit does continually terrifie and fright us; but when the morning comes, he that dreads the light flies away. Then it is in some measure with us, as it was with our Saviour in the Wil∣derness, When the Devil left him, Angels came and ministred unto him. Tho there is between him and us a vast disparity; he conquered and was no way worsted by it; but we come bleeding from the field of Battel; our souls are defiled

with his Temptations; and the hurts we receive in our Conflicts, do now and then pain us, and yield us remembrances of our sin by their pain and smart, it may be, to our dying day: But however, it is a joy to us, to think that tho we were beset on every side, yet we are es∣caped as a Bird out of the snare of the Fowler, The snare is broken, and we are escaped, Psal. 124.7. God has brought our souls out of the deep Dun∣geon, and he that was our Gaoler had not power enough to keep us there; tho the deli∣verance that we have had, is so strange, and so miraculous, that our going out is like that so Peter, Act. 12.9. He went out, and wist not that it was true which was done by the Angel, but thought he saw a Vision. It was wonderful to Peter that had looked for a sudden Execution on the next day, to come to his praying-friends in safety; and so it is to us, who thought our selves a while ago doom'd to die. The Devil hath win∣now'd us; and, Oh that we could say, That our chaff is gone! This Archer hath sorely shot at us, but thanks be to God, he hath not obtain∣ed his design, which was our total ruin. We have been in a very fiery furnace. Oh that it were with us as with the three Children that came out, and were not hurt at all. We have been in a den of Lions, in a howling Wilder∣ness, but we have not perisht there; it is a pleasure to us that we have now something to answer the great accuser of the Brethren; that now we can by faith in our great Captain, ward off his blows, and quench his fiery darts.

6. This joy that comes in the morning after deser∣tion, is from the propriety that we have in God, and in the Promises of the Gospel; as David says, Psal. 42. ult. He is the health of my countenance, and my God. 'Tis pleasant to know that God is good; but more pleasant to us when we taste his Good∣ness: When we can say with the Blessed Vir∣gin, Luk. 1.46, 47. My soul doth magnifie the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Savi∣our, for he hath regarded the low estate of his hand∣maiden. 'Tis pleasant to hear of Christ, but more pleasant by far, when we with old Simeon embrace him in our Arms; and say with the Church, I am my beloved's, and he is mine. Then the soul will be cheared with perpetual delight, saying, Having God, I have enough: Enter into thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. When it can reflect and think of him as its own portion, then the sor∣rows and darkness of the Night are gone; for it has God, that is all light, and with him is no darkness at all; and to see the light, and to pos∣sess it, is the same thing. There is, as one ob∣serves, a reflected and a direct Light, I see Palaces, and Mountains, and Towns, and Fields, and Trees, with a reflected Light; and hence it is, that I see them without possessing them; but I see the light of the Sun, and of the Stars, by direct rays, and in seeing them I pos∣sess; for to rejoice in the light of the Sun, and to possess it, is the same thing. We now see God indeed by a reflected light, which comes to us from the Creatures; and hence it is that all those that see him, do not possess him; but

in Heaven God will be seen without Vails and Reflexions. His light will be a direct light, which will fill us throughout; it was a com∣fort to the Patriarchs and holy men of old, to have the hope of Christ's appearance; they saw his day afar off, and they rejoyced; but how much more is it to that soul that has actually seen him come, and not only spreading his beams to remove the general darkness of the world, but shining with a peculiar light and heat into its self. It is peculiarity that endears the most of things to us; our own Friends, our own Relations, our own Joys, are the most pleasant. It is not from Christ's being singly considered as a Mediator, that we derive this comfort; but from the reflexion that we are able to make of our happiness in him; it is that which creates the sweetest motions in our hearts. Before this propriety, there may be a calmness of spirit, and lesser degrees of Complacency, expressing themselves in love, and hope, and de∣sire; but 'tis the actual possession of a good as our own, that is the Parent of a real joy; the Christian may find some comfort in beholding the Incarnation, the Sufferings, and the Pro∣mise of his second Coming; but when the soul can say, He died and rose again for me; this touches it with a very lively satisfaction, and makes it say as in Hab. 3.17.

CHAP. VIII.

Of the further Properties of the Joy that comes to a Soul after long desertion, 'Tis Irresistible, tho usually Gradual; it re∣vives the body and the natural spirits. It fills the late mourner with the hope of Glory, and causes him to express his delight to others. From all which we may justly admire the Wisdom of the Divine Providence.

7. THis Joy is Irresistible. As all the dark∣ness of the Night cannot hinder the approach of the welcome day; so neither can all our doubts, nor our fears, nor all the hor∣rors of the Night hinder the beams of God's favour, when he is pleased to shine upon us. Job 34.29. When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? Notwithstanding all the dire∣ctions and the helps that our Ministers, or our friends give us in our trouble, we refuse to be comforted; but when he speaks the word, we must obey. He creates the fruit of the lips, peace, peace; and we can no more resist his Almighty power, than the first Chaos could withstand his Command, when in the Language of a God he spoke, and said, Let there be Light. (Our escape from our Spiritual troubles bears some propor∣tion with the Resurrection of our Lord from the Dead; as that was owing not to a power or∣dinary, or created, so neither is ours; but to a

power that is Coelestial and Divine. It was not, as* 1.16 one observes, the effect of the Power of God in the ways of nature, such as is the Ri∣sing of the Sun, the Return of Seasons, the Fruitfulness of the Earth; but the effect of a power altogether Infinite and Supernatural; it is not according to the usual Laws of Nature, or the course of Ordinary Providence.

8. This Joy is usually Gradual, and not all at once: I say usually, for sometimes persons in great distress and agonies of soul, have been suddenly relieved in their darkest Night, and in the deepest Dungeon a great Light has shined upon them; so that those that have one hour cried out, they were damned, and lost; have the next triumphed in the hope of glory; and from the fear of Hell have come to a glorious view of Heaven to their own exceeding comfort, and the comfort of all that heard them. But tho God may do what he pleases, this is not his ordinary way; as the Night comes, and the Sun goes down by degrees, so does the morning come, and the Sun arise by the same degrees; as it rarely happens that any fall into great di∣stress of Conscience, on a sudden, some lesser af∣flictions make way for greater strokes; so seldom are any comforted immediately, but their comfort comes like the break of day; there are some faint streaks of light, some little supports, and quiet hopes before the Sun arise. And God in this accommodates himself to the weakness of our nature; for a sudden passage from a great Affliction to a great Joy, is a thing which our tender nature is hardly capable to bear; and usually the Consciences of those

that have been very long terrified and afflicted, begin to be calm; as the humours of the body, that have been disordered, return to their An∣cient course; for so long as the Spirits and the Blood are disordered, so long the Soul will unavoidably be in some unpleasant agitation.

9. This joy has a pleasant influence on the Body, and revives that, with the reviving mind; they fall sick and droop, and they recover and rejoyce together. When God is our God, it causes health in our Countenances, as well as pleasure in our Hearts; and though I know that abun∣dance of poor people, that have been long ama∣zed with the fear of God's Wrath, have very feeble, sickly Bodies to the day of death; yet this calmness and peace of mind does greatly mitigate their pains, and pour Honey and Sweet∣ness into the most bitter Cup: For what is it that makes affliction, in trouble of mind, to be so intollerable, but that the afflicted person looks upon it as the beginning of sorrows, as a few drops before a more dreadful storm, and as the introduction to hell and woe? But when the sting of guilt is removed, and sin is par∣doned, the yoak sits very easie on their shoul∣ders, that used to gall them before. Prov. 15.13. A merry beart maketh a chearful countenance. Joy as well as grief, cannot be dissembled, if it be real and very strong. Joy in the Heart, is like the Rain at the Root of the Grass, it will, after being moistned to the bottom, appear much more green and flourishing. Prov. 17.22. A merry heart doth good like a medicine. Even that chearfulness which arises from natural and ordinary Causes, is very healthful, and adds ve∣ry

much to the strength and vigour of the body; much more then will that joy promote it, which is founded on the Word of God, and on the hope of his Acceptance. And no que∣stion David had a respect to this, when he said, Psal. 51.8. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce. Ps. 35.10. All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like to thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him; and the needy from him that spoileth him! No troubles wast our natural spirits more than our inward griefs and fears; no joys re∣fresh and make them more sprightly than the joys of our Souls. See Job 33.19, to 26. God is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down into the pit. I have found a ransome, his flesh shall be fresher than a childs, he shall return to the days of his youth, he shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable to him, and he shall see his face with joy. Those that have writ of Long Life, and the means to obtain it, advise us to keep our minds always full of splendid and illustri∣ous objects, of Histories, and the contemplations of Nature, and the like; but the best Medicine is a quiet Conscience: And tho all our Religion will not, indeed, save us from sickness, yet it will enable us to bear it; not to be too much con∣cerned and overwhelmed with the manifold and unavoidable Calamities of this mortal Life. This is Joy, indeed, that will recreate our souls and our bodies too; that will prepare the one for its passage to Glory, and the other for its lying in the Grave. Thus our soul, which is our glory, shall rejoyce, and our flesh also shall rest in hope, Psal. 16.9. and both at length, as

they have mourn'd, so rejoyce together, and that for evermore: For when God is pleased to speak, and to help us both in our bodies and our souls, 'tis multiplied Salvation, and many thousand Cures in one.

The third General is, that Joy arises from the hope of some future Good; and this good must be both very agreeable to the soul, and very certain: For if it be not so, there cannot be any other than a weak and a trembling joy. There is a great pleasure in expectation of what is to come, if it be great, and lasting, and attaina∣ble; now to one that hath the returning-sense of God's favour, 'tis-very pleasant to look for that hour or day, or rather for that chearful Eternity, when he shall have the same reviving smiles of his heavenly Father in a more bright and conspicuous manner; when not only the night of weeping is gone, but that morning is come which shall shine more and more to a perfect day. And thus will the comfortable person say, If the tast that I have now of God be so sweet, Oh! what will the full enjoyment of him be! If in this strange Land, I am entertained, as with the Bread of Angels, What Feasts will re∣fresh me when I am at home! when I am past the Storms, and beyond the Grave, and Sin and Tears shall give me no further molestation! The first Fruits make them to long for the full Harvest; thus says the Apostle, We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God; and this made the Church to say, Make hast, O my beloved, and be thou like a Roe, or a young Hart upon the mountains of spices. Expectation of any main event (as one says) is a great advantage to a wise heart. If the fiery

Chariot had fetcht away Elias unlookt for, we should have doubted of the favour of his Tran∣sportation.

4. This Morning-Joy will express it self. As our griefs cause us to groan and sigh, so does this make us in an open pleasant way, to manifest our gladness. The reviving sense of God's favour, does so fill our hearts, that we cannot, without dishonour to him, and prejudice to our selves, conceal, or stifle it. When we apprehend our selves to be happy, we take a peculiar pleasure in commu∣nicating to others the notice of that happiness; and are much more pleased by such a commu∣nication. This Joy is always attended with an expression of the Mercies of our Deliverer, that we cannot but say to our Brethren, Come and behold what God has wrought for us! Behold what Salvation his own Arm and Power has accom∣plished! so Psal. 51.12. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit; then will I teach transgressors, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Then I shall be able to tell them, That thy ways, however rugged they seem to be for a while, yet are at length even and pleasant ways; That they lead to Life and Happiness and beholding the beams of thy Love, that make me so pleasant and so chearful, they shall by such a sight, be incouraged also to Religion. And to the same purpose, Psal. 16.9. My heart is glad, and my glory rejoyceth: His in∣ward Joy was not able to contain it self. We testify our pleasure on lower occasions, even at the gratification of our senses; when our Ear is filled with harmonious melody; when our Eye is fixed upon admirable and beauteous ob∣jects;

when our Smell is recreated with agree∣able odours; and our tast is so, by the delicacy and rareness of Provisions; and much more will our soul shew its delight, when its facul∣ties that are of a more exquisite constitution, meet with things that are in all respects agree∣able and pleasant to them; and in God they meet with all those: with his Light our Under∣standing is refresh'd, and so is our Will, with his Goodness and his Love. So in Psal. 126.1, 2. When the Lord turn'd again the captivity of Sion, then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. It was a sign their hearts were very sull of joy, seeing the mouth and the tongue poured it out in so great abundance; nay, their Neighbours could not but take no∣tice of it, They said among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them, far beyond the methods of an ordinary Providence. Their Liberty was strange and miraculous, that sur∣passed all Imaginable Reasons; and, behold, as people take delight to go over and over again with a pleasant thing, they Eccho to this say∣ing of the Heathens, saying, Verse 3. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Others knew it only by report, that God had been so good to them; but they by sweet ex∣perience. In the delivered people, it was, in∣deed, an inward Jubilation, with a loud Cry, and Song of Triumph; as when God is with∣drawn, we are forced to speak in the anguish and bitterness of our Souls; so when he returns, the return is so pleasant, that we cannot hold our tongues. In our troubles there is a latent grief, so sinking and so very sad, that no words

can express; so in the good hope of God's ac∣ceptance, there is a sweetness that cannot be de∣clared; Ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1 Pet. 1.8. We dare not give a particu∣lar relation of our grievous sufferings, lest we should discourage many poor people, that are apt enough of themselves to sink and be dis∣couraged: or if we would, we cannot, they are so very terrible. So the sight of God, af∣ter long darkness, fills us with wonder, and with pleasing astonishment; we feel we are de∣lighted, but we cannot fully tell what it is to be so ; and sometimes we are in such transport∣ing joys, that like the blessed Apostle, when he had the view of Paradise, whether we are in the Body or out of it, we scarcely know; The poor soul is so transported, that it is every way surrounded with delight. Will God dwell in such an heart as mine, that has been so full of murmurings, and so full of unbelief! Will he pardon and accept of me! Shall I that was doomed to dye, in my own sad thoughts, have the hope of glory! and instead of my slavish fears from the dread of Hell, have the sight of Heaven! Shall I be his Favourite, of whom I had such hard and unbecoming thoughts! Oh! what Grace is this! how unlook'd for! how undeserved! and yet how suitable? Is this the manner of men, O Lord God! Is this thy kind usage of a poor sinner, and of so great a sin∣ner as I have been! This is Grace indeed! this is all free Love and Mercy! How can this be past over in silence? Such a person escaped after such apprehensions of so near a danger, is like the Lame Man that was healed, He leaping up,

stood and walked, and entred into the Temple, walk∣ing, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, Acts 3.8, 9. and they were filled with wonder and amaze∣ment at that which happened unto him. As inward anguish causes the distressed many times to roar out vehemently; so heavy is the load that presses them, on the contrary, when the fear of Wrath is removed, they rejoyce with shouting, and with a loud voice, like those that Conquer, or reap the Harvest: For as when a Man is under inward anguish and tribulation, he looks upon himself as a Beacon fired on a Hill, to give warning to others, and to shew them the dan∣ger of Sin; so when he comes to peace and hope again, he wishes that he might be placed as on a Mountain, and enabled to trumpet out to all the World the Riches of the Grace of God; that as none may presume when they see his misery, so none may despair when they see his safety, and his escape from that misery.

Inf. 1. The Wisdom and the Beauty of the Di∣vine Providence. That as in the World there is a comfortable Succession of Night and Day, so in his Servants mourning, after the Sorrows of the Night, the Joy of the morning comes; this Night comes, and this morning dawns when it is most proper for it so to do. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time, Eccl. 3.11. The Storms, and Rain, and Cold of Winter, are as beneficial to the Universe, as the Sum∣mers heat. Tho we from our Self-love, judge of God, either with more admiring, or less be∣coming Thoughts, as he deals well or ill with us; but it is not particular Churches, nor particu∣lar

Persons that God only regards, but his whole Creation; his Providences to us contribute to the good of that. We know not to what uses God will put us; but it ought something to support us to think in what state soever we are, we are serving his Design; how pressing, and how violent soever our Dangers and Tribulati∣ons are, he can save us even by methods con∣trary to those which our Reason apprehends; by throwing us down, he can make us to be more established; and by seeming so destroy us, pro∣mote our welfare; he can make unlikely things to advance his purpose. 'Tis many times more dark just before the break of day; and the go∣ing back of the Sun on the Dial of Ahaz, was to be a sign of Hezekiah's longer Life, Isaiah 38.8. Therefore (if you will allow me a small digres∣sion) 'tis a very evil thing for men to censure the Providence of God, because of the present Miseries that he suffers his Servants to be afflict∣ed with; there are many that think it a piece of Zealous Loyalty not to blame their Superiors for the higher Matters of Government, which are above their reach, and yet dare to Arraign at their Bar the Supreme Ruler of the World; if what he does be not according to the Model of their Fancies, or suitable to their Imaginati∣ons; or because, whilest others are gratified, their Humours are crost and disappointed; not considering that the difference and variety of Circumstances amongst particular Men are ne∣cessary to the general and publick Good. To censure God, and to reflect upon his Conduct, is as if a Country Clown who never travelled beyond the Smoak of his own Cottage, should

condemn the Proclamation of a King, or the Votes of a Parliament, when he does not know the great Reasons of State that these Actions depend upon. But as St. Basil observes, When Men are first crossed in their Worldly Affairs, they begin for want of Patience to doubt, whe∣ther God in very deed regardeth the things of this World, whether he take notice of particular Men; when they see no end of their Miseries, but one evil continually is attended with another, they are blasphemously apt to think there is no God. God can bring Affliction to try and ma∣nifest the Graces of his People; as the Stars, that are a chief part of the Glory of the Worlds, are then most illustrious and visible when the day is gone; and then he makes the Sun to rise again, that displays new Objects to us. The Rods of God are many times very sharp, but at last we shall find that they were dipt in Honey, and managed with Love. The Con∣duct of Providence is always Wise and Good, but very often Mysterious and Unfathomable, and in nothing more so, then in his bringing abundance of his Servants to Heaven by the very Gates of Hell; and in suffering Satan to buffet and to vex them, that they may triumph over him in the latter end. He makes them to be in great perplexities, that the sweet won∣ders of his deliverance may the more appear. We went through fire and through water; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place, Psal. 66.12. Thus he preserved Moses in a Cradle of Bull∣rushes, and would not suffer the great Infant to perish, though he was in manifest danger, ei∣ther to be carried away by the force of the

Water, or to be devoured by Crocodiles, with which that River did abound. So was Noah preserved in the Ark, not by any Art in Navi∣gation, but by the Government and Conduct of God himself. He hastens deliverance many times, when it seems to be at the remotest di∣stance; In the Evening it shall be light, in a season when it was not to be expected. In all his works of Nature and of Grace, he makes things, that having a seeming contrariety to what he designs, to further his design. Thus (some observe) the Earth hangs upon nothing in the midst of the fluid Air, though it be the most heavy of all the Elements; he renders it fruitful for the Production of all necessary things, though it be of it self cold and dry; and so the Sea, which by its scituation is above the Earth, and does seem to threaten it with new deluges, yet is kept in its own Channels, for after it has been raised even to the Clouds in threatning Waves, its fury dies again into a Calm, and observes the bounds that God has set it: Thus our Lord Jesus also works; By being Tempted, he Conquer'd the Tempter; and by Dying, he subdued Death; and so at the sending of the Spirit, first the House shook and trembled, and then it was filled with the Glory of the Lord: First, deep Sorrows, and then as mighty Joys. First, John, Rev. 14.2. heard a voice as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, and then the voice of harpers harping with their harps, and that sang a new song before the throne. A due consideration of the Pro∣vidences of God will keep us from the absurd Opinion of the Heathens, That the Deity envied

the felicity of Men, and that he who was most prosperous, was near to a sudden overthrow: And even the Learned Men among them were so apprehensive of it, that they durst not ac∣knowledg their own, tho but ordinary welfare, without an excuse. See instances of this, in Dr. Casaubon's Original Cause of Temporal Evils. Upon this account Augustus, in whose days the Saviour of the World was born, once in the year turned Beggar, and received Alms of such of the Common people as would give him; He mistrust∣ed his own felicity, and dreaded that, so frightful in those days, Invidiam Numinis. The Heathens had but parcels of the Scripture, and those too by Tradition much adulterated; no wonder if they made a contrary use of it; and by sad ex∣perience, finding the effects of Adam's, Fall, and God's Curse, and not well informed of all parti∣culars, the Devil also being busie with them, as he was with Eve, to promote a misapprehension of God, as if he were envious* 1.17; whereas upon due consideration, what in the Judgment of blind and corrupt nature seemed envy and malignity, will appear Mercy, being used by God as a pro∣fitable Medicine, or Antidote against the greatest and most dangerous infection of the Soul; for crosses and afflictions in this World, are not ef∣fects of envy in the supreme dispenser of all things; but Arguments of his Goodness and Providence. All things shall work together for good to them that love God, Rom. 8.28. Sickness and Health, Poverty and Riches Anguish, and Fear, and Horror, shall contribute to their Salvation; and in the most fiery Furnaces, and the most painful Troubles, they shall find the refreshments

of his Grace. His Providences work together; they are in Concert, and are not to be taken apart, like Composition of divers Ingredients; for there are some that, if taken alone, might kill the patient; but when they are joyned with others, which by their contrary qualities temper their excess, they do marvellous things, being counterpoized† 1.18 God many times lets our darkness stay long, that we may know what a pleasant thing it is to see the light.

CHAP. IX.

Of the different ends that God hath in the Afflictions of the Good and the Wicked; and what Reason we have to be reconciled to his Providence: And that we must be satisfied that God carries us to Heaven in his own Way and Method.

Inf. 2. THis shews us the different ends that God has in the afflictions of the Good and of the Wicked: To the one they are Medicinal, to the other Penal; to the one in Love, to the other in Wrath; to the one, the shadows of an Eternal night; and to the other the forerunners of the morning. Often his people are thrown down by their Fears, by Satan, and the World; but as often may they say, Rejoyce not against me, O my enemy &c. They may be dejected, but they may say with David, O my soul, hope still on God, &c. Afflictions (as one says) are common to the good and bad, as the en∣trance into the bottom of the Sea was to the Is∣raelites and to the Egyptians; but the Israelites conducted by a Cloud and a Pillar of Fire, were

inlightned, and assured, and passed in safety, and came out praising God; but to the Egyptians, this Cloud that separated them was full of darkness, and they were drowned in the Waves, whilest the others stood upon the dry Land; so God comforts his people by the light of his Word, and the sup∣port of hope from his holy Promises; whereas the wicked are finally swallowed up of sadness and despair. The Righteous fall, and they rise again; but the feet of the Wicked stumble on the dark Mountains, and never rise again: Tho, indeed, as the same person observes* 1.19 Even as the Chaldeans formerly measured their natural day differently from the Israelites, they put the day first, and the night after; but the Israelites on the contrary, according to the order that was observed in the Creation; for in the beginning darkness was upon the face of the deep, and of every one of the six days it is said, The evening and the morning made the first day. So the times of the World, and of the Church, are differently disposed for the World begins hers by the day of temporal prosperity, and finishes it by a night of darkness and anguish that is Eternal; but the Church, on the contrary, begins hers by the night of Adversity, which she suffers for a while, and ends them by a day of Con∣solation which she shall have for ever. The Pro∣phet in this, Psalm, begins with the Anger of God, but ends with his Favour; as of old, when they entred into the Tabernacle, they did at first see unpleasant things, as the Knives of the Sacrificers, the Blood of Victims, the Fire that burn'd upon the Altar, which consumed the Offerings; but when they passed a little further, there was the Holy Place, the Candlestick of Gold, the Shew∣bread,

bread, and the Altar of Gold, on which they of∣fered Perfumes; and in fine, there was the Holy of Holies, and the Ark of the Covenant, and the Mercy-Seat, and the Cherubims, which was called the Face of God* 1.20.

Inf. 3. This may then reconcile you to his Providence. The night of trouble makes you not to see the Beau∣ty of the Church; but tho she is black, she is comely still; he that makes his Sun to shine upon the unthank∣ful and the Evil, will not always cover himself with Clouds from his own People: His common care has provided for the pleasure of his Creatures, fruit to delight their Tasts, and Flowers, and vari∣ous Colours, their Eyes, and their smell; Rivers, and Trees, and Meadows, and Groves, and all the variety of Nature, to recreate and entertain them, and if all this Accommodation be made for Re∣bels, he will not fail to entertain his Subjects with joys of a better kind. Joy is sown for the Righteous, and it will arise in the time of Harvest, and that time will shortly come. If God have done so much to gratify the senses of his Creatures with suitable satisfactions, the Souls of his People that are more Noble, shall not be disappointed of such as are Coelestial and Divine; for joy is that which with a sweet violence does attract the heart of Man; God regards the distressed, and has a pe∣culiar pity for those that are in the greatest trou∣ble* as Mothers tend, with a peculiar care, the weakest Child. The World, indeed, admires, flat∣ters, waits upon those on whom the Sun shines, and who are in a prosperous condition; as Rivers run into the Sea where there is no need of Water, so it heaps its friendships and kindnesses on those that least need them, and forsakes the disgraced,† 1.21

the poor, and those that are in want; but God, when his Servants are in the greatest troubles, encourag••s them by his Name which is The Fa∣ther of Mercies, and the God of all Consolations; he is most mindful of them, and visits them most, and gives them most of his comfortable pre∣sence▪ when they are most afflicted, 2 Cor. 1.4. He comforteth us in all our tribulations. He will not give them a constant ease, they shall not be excu∣sed from the common inconveniencies of the Fall from sickness, or from death, but himself is willing to be their own portion; he is, in all, their own God: They shall labour, but they shall have rest; they shall fight, but he will Crown their heads with Victory; they shall sow in tears, but reap in joy. The Waves and the Floods that now overwhelm them, shall be turned into Rivers of pleasure for evermore.

The Ʋse of Exhortation is in these following Particulars.

1. Be very well satisfied that God carry you to Heaven in the way that he thinks most pro∣per; It were indeed a thing very desirable to be at ease, to travel with his light about us; but if we must go through darkness, and danger, and calamity, to Heaven, let us be satisfied that his will is done, tho we go weeping and groaning thither, You'l think, perhaps, that he deserves not the name of a Christian, that will not suffer God to guide him any way, so it be to Salvation; but alas, how few are there, that are satisfied with his methods! when his Candle shines upon our Ta∣bernacle, we are well enough pleased; but when he begins to correct and chasten us for a long season, then we murmur and repine; and when

we meet with difficulties and tears, and trou∣bles one upon another, then we think he is an hard Master: this is our common case, and our common folly. We can all make the Prayer of Jabez, 1 Chron. 4.10. Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and inlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me: But how few can say heartily with our Blessed Lord, If the Cup must not pass, thy will be done? He could bring you to Heaven without a tear or a sigh; but if not, who can resist his order, or blame his Providence? He led the Children of Israel forty years wandring to and fro in a great and a terrible Wilderness, wherein were fiery Serpents, and Scorpions, and drought, and no water, Deut. 8.15. when he could have led them quickly to the Land of Canaan. You must not think to come to Heaven without many a sad heart, and many weeping eyes; through the vally of Bacha must you travel to the Mount of God. The Ark that had a Noah in it, did not immediately rest; it was not in one day that the great waters did abate, or fall into their old Channels; your passage to glory may be safe, tho it be very trou∣blesome; and the rods that seem to be the most painful, may be most necessary to you; for tho the Israelites met with various troubles, yet Psal. 107.7. He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a City of habitation. It may be you shall be shipwrackt into the Haven; and tho you be saved, yet it shall be so as by fire. Through many a sharp Cross, and many a bit∣ter Tribulation, and in the fire, your Comforts and your Ease may suffer loss for a time, but it

shall be made up again: Afflictions ruin none that belong to God; and many a Christian shall say at last, I had perished, if I had not perished. I had been undone for ever, if I had not been afflicted. Out of the ruins of the flesh, God raises the glorious stru∣cture of the new Creature; and from the destru∣ction of our Earthly comforts, he causes Heavenly joys to spring; let us not find fault with God's Providence, for it will turn our water into wine; our tears of grief, into the most pleasant joys: And as at the Marriage of Cana, we shall have the best at last. Our Afflictions will encrease our Grace, and we shall ere long mount up from the Wilder∣ness of this world, fraught with Myrrh and Fran∣kincense, and all the spices of the Merchants. Let us not find fault if we meet with the waters of Marah in our Journey to the Land of Promise* 1.22. Thirst and bitterness is the portion of Pilgrims, 'Tis enough for us that we shall have rest at last, tho we must not expect that the Providence of God should go out of its ordinary course for us. Let us confide in his Goodness, his Faithfulness, and Loving-kindness, his Word and Promise, this is the quiet harbour into which we must put our trembling souls; these are the Consolations that will make our bitter waters sweet. Submit there∣fore to God, to him pour out your hearts, tho you be long afflicted, and with one wave upon another.

CHAP. X.

The Conclusion of the whole Treatise. With directions to such who have been former∣ly in the darkness of a sorrowful Night, and now enjoy the light of day.

2. LEt us, with whom it was once Night, im∣prove that Morning-joy that now shines upon us, and that briefly in these particulars.

1. Let us be continual admirers of God's Grace and mercy to us: He has prevented us with his Good∣ness, when he saw nothing in us but impati∣ence and unbelief; when we were like Jonas in the belly of Hell, his Bowels earned over us, and his Power brought us safe to Land. What did we to hasten his deliverance, or to obtain his mercy? If he had never come to our relief, till he saw something in us to invite him, we had not yet been relieved. No more did we contribute to our Restoration, then we do to the rising of the Sun, or the approach of day: We were like those dry bones without motion, and without strength, Ezek 37.1. And we also said, That we were cut off for our parts, and our hope was gone, and he caused breath to enter into us, and we live. Who is a God like to our God, that pardoneth iniqui∣ty, transgression, and sin? that retains not his an∣ger for ever? that is slow to wrath, and delights in mercy? That has been displeased with us for a moment, but gives us hope of his Everlasting kindness? Oh! what love is due from us to Christ, that has pleaded for us when we our selves had nothing to say! that has brought us out of a den of Lions, and from the Iaws of the Roaring Lion!

To say as Mrs. Sarah Wight* 1.23, I have obtained mercy, that thought my time of mercy past for ever. I have hope of heaven, that thought I was already dam∣ned by unbelief. I said many a time, there is no hope in thine end, and I thought I saw it. I was so desperate, I cared not what became of me: Oft was I at the very brink of death and hell, even at the very Gates of both, and then Christ shut them. I was as Daniel in the Lions Den, and he stopt the mouth of those Lions, and deli∣vered me. The Goodness of God is unsearchable; how great is the excellency of his Majesty, that yet he would look upon such an one as I! that he has given me peace that was full of terror, and walked continually as amidst fire and brimstone!

2. Let us walk humbly, and be full of cautious fear, that we offend not a God that is so terrible, and that we grieve not a Benefactor that is so good. Let us walk softly all our days, remembring there was but a step between us and Hell. Oh! let us put our mouths in the dust, let us lothe and abhor our selves for the manifold iniquities that we were guilty of during the darkness of the Night; and now the Morning is come, and such a Morning as we never hoped to see, let us walk as children of the day; that so being come out of the Fur∣nace, we may be as Gold that is refined.

3. Tho we do rejoice, yet we must rejoice with trem∣bling; with trembling, lest another Night so black, so frightful, and so dismal come upon us. Let our obedience be more lively, and as the tender grass springing out of the Earth by clear shining after rain; but let us remember, that our joy is not yet per∣fect, tho it be as the light of the Morning when the Sun riseth; It is not a Morning without clouds, 2. Sam. 23.4. The Sun will be Clouded with ma∣ny

Fogs and Mists, for 'tis but yet a Morning-Sun, it will shine with greater glory in its height, when the Noon-day, and our compleat Salvati∣on comes. The Devil that has tempted us will assault us again; Let us watch, that his designs may not take effect; for it may be he has but left us for a season; alas! our unbelief and our other sins, are not yet wholly dead. Let us rejoice that the Face of God now shines on us; but let us tremble to think what would become of us, should it be hid again. Let us rejoice that we have good hope through grace; but let us tremble, lest despair, and the pains of Hell should again take hold upon us. The fear that we have of future suffering, does somewhat now diminish the brightness of our joy; tho we ought not to live under the perpetual bondage of such fears, but trust in God, and hope that he will be our guide even unto death. We are brought indeed out of the miry pit, and the deep clay; yet we cannot but trem∣ble at our foregoing misery. We are like a Per∣son, that after a Shipwreck, has with great diffi∣culty upon a Plank got safe to Land, he finds him∣self in a place assured, and rejoyces in it; neverthe∣less the noise of the Waves, and the great agita∣tion that he was so lately in, makes him tremble: He remains a good while astonished at his former danger, and his present safety. Let us not have a trembling of distrust, but of vigilance, and of holy care; not to doubt of the Promises of God, but to keep down our own pride, and carnal security. Let us pray, that as he has set our feet upon a rock, so he would establish our goings: remembring how low we have fallen, into what depths, and under what Calamities, we have constant cause to be a∣fraid

Ps. 149.6. Let the high praises of God be in our mouths, and a two-edged Sword in our hands; Let us be as those Soldiers, who tho they have newly gotten the victory over their Enemies, and rejoice for it; yet amidst all their Acclamations stand up∣on their guard, lest the remainder of those that are unsubdued, should rally their scattered Forces, and attacque them again to their disadvantage.

3. We must be very active in the service of our good God. We must begin to travel whilst the morning lasts, and whilst we have day before us.

4. Our mouths must be full of praise to him that has delivered us. Shall we not praise him, to whom we vowed praises when we were in trouble? Shall we not praise him, who alone has wrought salva∣tion for us? none but he could help us, and he has done it. Magnificently has he delivered us, far above all our hopes. Oh, how much more plea∣sant is it to you, and me, to call him Father, than to fear him as a Judge! How much more plea∣sant to celebrate his praises, than to mourn for his departure; to tune our Harps after our Cap∣tivity, than to have them hanging on the Wil∣lows! Oh, Let us praise him, for he deserves our praise; Let us praise him, for he hath remembred us in our low estate: Let us praise him, for his Terrors, his Rebukes, and his Frowns are gone; Psal. 116.1, 2.&c. Psal. 37.6. The Lightning and Thunder, the horror and the darkness of the tem∣pestuous night is over, and a chearful and a calm day now revives us. Let us praise him, for he is infinitely excellent; Let us praise him, for he ex∣pects our praise. So David, Psal. 116 1, 2, 3, 5. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice, and my supplications, because he hath inclined his ear to me,

therefore will I call upon him as long as I live; the sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me, I found trouble and sorrow. Gra∣cious is the Lord, and righteous, yea our God is merci∣ful. And Ps. 27.6. Now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemines round about me: Therefore will I offer in his Tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. Did we ever hope to see the Light of God again? Did we ever hope to think of Heaven as our own portion, and of Christ as our own Saviour? Did we ever hope that we should be thus at ease, and thus joyful as we now are? God is our helper, God is our refuge, and our strong hold; and blessed be the name of the Lord.

5. Let us call upon our Brethren, and our Friends, to help us to praise the Lord; Psal. 145.2, 3, 8, 9, 14. as to my self I make these requests; Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron and Levi: Bless him ye Ministers of the Gospel that prayed for me in my trouble, and have had your prayers granted: Bless the Lord, O House of Israel, and all ye peo∣ple every-where that sympathized, and also kind∣ly remembred me in my desolate condition: Bless him ye Old men, that you have got so far to∣wards the haven, without being thrown into the waves, and so much endangered by the Rocks as I have been. Bless him, that you have not met with such violent tentations, and great sorrows as I have met withal, though I set out long after you. Bless the Lord ye Young men, that you have not been weakned in the way with sore afflicti∣on, and with the terrors of the Lord, which I long groaned under. Bless him every one both small and great, against whom he does not proceed in such smart and severe Providences, and in such

long and sharp Afflictions. Bless him, that you see before your eyes, and to help your faith, a person lately brought from the borders of the Grave, and Hell; one for whom you were concerned, and for whom you prayed, and one that still needs, and beg your prayers, that he may never come to such a sad and doleful night again. It is a common Custom to congratulate our Friends reco∣very from sickness, or when they return from some Foreign Land; but nothing does more deserve our common thanks, than when a Person is come from under the sense of God's displea∣sure, to a sense of his favour and love again. Thus it was with Job, ch. 42.11. Then came there to him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house; and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: And with a design of exciting others to praise God with him, is that, Psal. 66.16. Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Or as the Fa∣ther of the Prodigal to his obedient Son, that re∣pined at the kind usage that he gave to him that was less dutiful, upon his returning home; Luke 15.32. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. It is the design of God that the great and eminent Deliverances which he gives to some of his Servants, should be taken notice of by all the rest; that as they usually bring along with them a common Benefit, so he should have a common return of praise; Ps. 66.8. O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard, which holdeth our soul in life, and

suffereth not our feet to be moved. And the joining with o∣thers that have been in great distress, and are escaped, is to answer the Obligation we are under to that Precept, To rejoice with them that do rejoice. And an encouragement to those who are yet in trouble, Ps. 130.7. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him there is plen∣teous redemption. And to those that yet are at ease, we may say as Paul to Foelix, that we wish they were such as we, in some respects, that is, excepting our bonds, our anguish and tribulation; that they also had such experiences of the goodness, and the mercy of God.

6. Let us always wait and hope for that eternal Felicity, which will at length dawn upon all his people, in the great morning of the Resurrection; and at their entrance into Heaven there will be joy indeed. There is no night there; 'tis a place that is continu∣ally blest with a bright and shining day. It is true (as one says) that as in nature the nights are not equal, those of the Winter are much longer than those of the Summer; but how long soever they be, they are always followed with the light of day; so whatsoever diversity there is a∣mong the Afflictions of the faithful, to one they are much longer than to another; yet they shall have an end; as Jacob wrastled all night, but in the morning got the victory. I confess that Sinners in this World have their pleasures, but so beset with thorns, so attended with fears and pains, so short, and so vanishing, that they deserve not the name. But in Heaven the Sun that rises in the morning of our new Glory, will never set again; those pleasures are not like those of Sin, for a season, but for evermore. There our now imper∣fect Joy will be compleat and full. It will be satisfying and eternal too. We shall feel the love of God in so sweet and transporting a manner, that we shall never doubt whether he loves us or not. We shall always behold our Father's face, he will look on us with delight, and we shall look on him with praise and joy. This world, because of its lowness, is

subject to Inundations and Miseries, and innumerable Vi∣cissitudes of Pain and Grief; but that high and glorious World is the place of Triumph, and of Victory; then we shall see our Sin that made us weep, to be it self totally de∣feated; then we shall see that Devil that tempted us, to be trod under our feet, and never to be able to tempt us any more. Let us often remember that saying of our Lord, John 16.21, 22. A woman, when she is in travel, hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the Child, she re∣membreth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoyce, and your joy shall no man take from you. Oh! what a glorious morning will that be, that shall have no cloud to obscure its light, and never be followed with a sad or gloomy night? As our sufferings here did a∣bound, our Consolations then will much more abound. We shall for∣get all our Labour, and all our trouble, when we see to what a glorious Kingdom we are born, tho it was by pangs and torment; our joy' will be like the joy of Harvest, of an Har∣vest that will requite us well for all our care and toil. Our hopes here are like the first streaks of light in the Sky, that shew the coming of the day; but our possession of blessedness will be as the Sun in the fulness of his Glory. That delight will indeed be the Sabbath of our thoughts, and the sweet, and perpetual calmness of our minds, that will never be in horror and anguish any more. Precious and admirable are those Tears that end so well, and which prepare us for so good a state; who would not chuse thus to weep, that he may rejoyce for ever? Lift up your eyes to the Jerusalem a∣bove, the City of the Living God, ye Mourners and Prisoners of hope, for it is the City of Peace, Rev. 21.3, 4. Behold the ta∣bernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his People, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Bp. Hall, Vol. 1. p. 451.
• * 1.2

  Bp. Wil∣kin's Ser∣mons. p. 174.
• * 1.3

  Senault use of the Passions, p. 475.
• * 1.4

  Dubose. Sermons, pag. 1.
• * 1.5

  Norris's Discourse on the Beatitudes pag. 44.
• * 1.6

  Pastoral Letter 2d.
• * 1.7

  Dr. Gil∣pin on Sa∣tans Tem∣ptations, Part 2. p. 281.
• * 1.8

  Natural History of the Passi∣ons, p. 152.
• * 1.9

  Dr. Gil∣pin's Trea∣tise of Temptat: Part 2. p. 296.
• * 1.10

  Dr. Har∣ris's Serm. p. 277.
• * 1.11

  Charles Recueil. de Sermons, p. 119.
• * 1.12

  Monsieu. Charles in loc.
• * 1.13

  Claude Traitte de la Composi∣tion d'un Sermon! p. 267.
• * 1.14

  De Lang-Treize Ser∣mons, pag. 850.
• * 1.15

  See Dail∣le on Phil. IV. v. IV.
• * 1.16

  Claude Traite de Jesus Christ Liv. v. 12.
• * 1.17

  See Dr. Casaubon, p. 27.
• † 1.18

  Frag∣mens de Morus, p. 62.
• * 1.19

  Fautheur Sermons, first part, p. 132.
• * 1.20

  Mussard. Sermons sur divers Texes, p. 30.
• † 1.21

  Manton Serm. on 2 Thes. 2.17. p. 432.
• * 1.22

  Hall on the Marri∣age in Ca∣na, p. 162.
• * 1.23

  See her Life writ∣ten by Mr. Jesse, pag 40.