A Tryed FAITH, Offering an ONLY SON.
Preached, 2d. 2m. 1693. A. M. My (then) only Son having died in the Night before.

SOme of the Ancients Report unto us, That beholding sometimes the Picture of Abraham, going to stab and burn his only Son as a Sacri­fice, they never could behold it without [Page 2] falling into Tears. I was now going to say. Tears, where are you? But something better I am to call for. There is no concern of our Inward or Outward man, wherein our Faith is not necessary, ser­viceable, advantageous. A good mans Faith, is a good mans Life. It is a Sen­tence of the Old, often repeated in the New- Testament: The Just by Faith shall live. How? But by his Faith. Behold our Inward man: By Faith 'tis that we are to receive the gift of Righteousness through Jesus Christ: By Faith it is that we get power to become the Children of God: By Faith it is that our hearts are purified: By Faith it is that we have a Victory over the World: And by Faith it is that we come to the End of our Faith, the Salvation of our Souls. Behold our Outward man! By Faith it is that we are to bear all that God layes upon us; and by Faith it is that we are to gain by what we bear. Nothing is to be done without Faith; No Living without it, nor any Dying without it. Admire not that it is in this Chapter so very admirably recommended unto us. It was a very true assertion of a Great Re­former, that the meanest action done in [Page 3] Faith upon the Command, and in Faith up on the Promise of God, is a more noble thing, than the most celebrated Victories of an Alexander, or a Caesar. But I am sure then, the Chapter before us is a nar­rative of the most noble things in the world; they are the most Renowned Actions that ever were, and performed by the most Renowned Persons; In short, what Faith can do is here set before us. What it can do, is demonstrated, from what it hath done already. The Chapter is a Chronicle of Christian Faith; and an History of the Heroical Acts produced & performed by such a Faith. After the Apostle had mentioned the Patriarchs in Common, as famous for their Faith, he comes to instance Abraham in particular. There were many tryals given to the Faith of Abraham; The Tenth (as they use to fancy of the Waves) was the biggest and hardest of them all; a tryal in Isaac his only Son. There are three things in the Text before us.

1. The Occasion of the Tryal. We read Gen. 22. 1. God did tempt Abraham. How can Temptation be ascribed unto God [...] There are two sorts of sit. There is; [Page 4] Tentatio probationis, and there is, Tentatio perditionis. Indeed it is also where said, No man is tempted of God, that is as to a Temptation of perdition God never does dispose or incline or seduce, any man to Sin against his Maker, or to wound his own Soul. But then there is a Temptation of Probation; a Temptation wherein God proves what men are, proves whether they are the metal they seem to be, proves whether they can do what they pretend unto. This is from God.

The Tryal of Abraham was by an Ex­traordinary Command. There is no Injust­ice in it, that the Supream Law giver of the World, whose Will is the highest Rule o [...] what is Right, should give new Laws to m [...]n as he pleases; and that he should alter and repeal any former Laws that he hath given to them. Abraham understood well, That the Law giver who does re­quire that we do no Murder, has the prero­gative to Declare also What is Murder. He understood, That the Soveraign Arbited of Life and Death, may order who a­mong the Children of men shall Dy, and when and how, as it pleases Him. [...] man ask, How Abraham [...] [Page 5] know, there was no Delusion in this Injun­ction. I answer, he infallibly knew it; and suppose I should say, there is a way infallibly to know it, but that no tongue is able to express it! Until I can hear a man so describe what Light is & what Fire it, as to make a Blind man apprehend it, I can't imagine that a man should in significant and sufficient words distinguish Communion with the Invisible World: And there is a way plain to the Sense of those that have it. But, I think, I may give yet a little clearer Account of it, than so. There is a certain Bright Cloud of Heaven, of quite another consistence than that which drops our ordinary Rain upon us. That Cloud was filled with the Light and Fire, where in the Son of God, chose to Lodge as His Covering from the Beginning, that so He might therein Exhibit Himself with an a­greeable Majesty unto His People. 'Tis the same that was called, the SHECHI­NAH; those flaming Angels of the Lord, which are called, The Angels of His Presence, attended it; and it was of old seen by the People of God, on [...] great Occa­sions. That Shechinah now [...] unto Abraham, as it had formerly [...] [Page 6] And such was the Glory of the Lord in the Appearance, that it was impossible to be counterfeited. But why must Abraham thus be tryed? One well expresses it. Non ut ipse Hominem invent [...]at, sed ut Homo se inve­niat; It was not that God might know what was in Abraham, No, but that Abraham should know what was in himself; and that all the Children of Abraham also might know, for their future Instruction.

2. We have the Difficulty of the Tryal. It was, I suppose, the most Exquisite one that ever befell a mortal man: will you hear it, Gen. 22 2. Take now thy Son, thy only Son, Isaac, whom thon lovest, and get thee into the Land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering, upon one of the Mountains, which I will tell thee of. To part with our Children is oftentimes a hard thing. We read of a Mother when she saw her Son a dying, A Sword passed through her Soul. Be­hold here a Thousand Swords making their passes all at once. Every syllable strikes like a Dagger into the Heart of as Tender a Father as any under Heaven Take now thy Son! What? will Nothing but a Son do! Well, but a great while hence? No, Take now thy Son, But, Lord He is All have! [Page 7] Thy only Son shall go. But, Lord, Thou seest how fond I am of him; and that I have abundance of Reason for my Fondness. Its all one for that, Go take the Son whom thou Lovest. Well, but if he must be dis­patched, let it be quickly: No; Thou shalt have the time to feel thy Distress, it shall be two or three Days Time ere it be done; wherefore get thee into the Land of Moriah. Well! If he must then Dy, Lord, take him in the usual way. No, offer him there thy self, with thine own hand. Nature and Grace would both concur to put in Ob­jections against this. Nature would plead; What? a Son? and for a Father thus to Ex­terminate his own Son; how unnatural is this, how unparallel'd is this, how Barba­rous will all mankind account me for it? Come to Grace; What? a Son for which I have Believed so long! if he be lost, there comes no Christ into the World! a Son on whom so many Families of the Earth de­pend for a Blessing; must he go down to the pit. Astonishments, where are you, to see a Friend of God thus call'd upon! But after all,

3. We have his Behaviour under it. God speaks, and he does it without more [...] [Page 8] We read, Gen. 22. 3. Abraham rose early, and went about it. There is many a man, the God of Heaven says to him, Come, and take my Son, that HE may save thy Soul! but the man puts it off till another Day or Week: whenas Abraham when God sayes, Go, let thy Son dye, and suffer thou an horrible wound in thy Soul! He goes away immedi­ately about it. Abraham offers his Son. The will for the Deed, was Gods way of trying his People from the beginning. The Thing was accepted, though prevented. Mark, by the way, that some Hearty and Serious purposes are performances in the sight of God. On the one side, you that have a purpose of Sin against God, may to your cost find that very purpose to be the Sin. Adultery some commit with a thought! there is Murder with a Thought, and Stealing with a Thought, and Lying with a Thought. The Thought of the Foolishness may be so managed, as to be the [...]illy it self. Thus on the other side; you that have a purpose to serve the God of Heaven, God may ac­count it as a performance. When David sat in his house and Thought, What shalt I do for the House of God? God sent that message to him, Well, David, I take it as if really [Page 9] done; I will build thee an House. Indeed if men only Purpose to Believe and Repent hereafter, God will never take that for done, for that must be actually and presently done. But if a man has his Heart sincere­ly set for God and Christ, and thereupon he has many a purpose for God working & formed in his Heart, suppose the Lord may deny that man an Opportunity to do what he purposed, yet he will reward that Pur­pose gloriously. If a man sincerely intend such or such a Service for God, he shall not wholly lose the Reward of that Service, meerly because God has denied him an Op­portunity for the prosecution of it. God Rewards us according to our Inclinations, & Resolutions, and not according to our Op­portunities.

The poor Servant of God, who now ad­dresses you, has this last Night offered his Isaac unto the Lord, and seen the Death of his only Son. What he has to offer unto the People of God this Morning, is this,

An Abraham under a Tryal is not like other men; no, an Abraham will be more Easy, more Cheerful, and more fill'd with a sweet serenity and Satisfaction of Soul; ond more Victorious over the Rebellions of Carnality. Why so? This is our Victory, our Faith. I foresee, There will be Five Propositions, to be now insisted on.

The Fear of God, Under TRYALS from The Hand of GOD.
Preached 8 d 8 m. 1693. The day after the Funeral of my Daughter Mary, and the Day of my Administring the Eucharist.

A Serious and a thorow Tryal of our selves, is a duty at all Times necessary for us. It is required with a repeated Admonition, 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your own selves, prove your own selves. We are to Try our selves; But Why so? That so we may to [...] our [Page 33] selves. We are to Try our selves, least we perish going astray in the greatness of our Fol­ly; least a deceived Heart may turn us aside, while we are unable to say, Is there not a lye in my right hand? But the Tryal of our selves is of a special importance in our Prepara­tion for the Table of the Lord. Thus it is inculcated, I Cor. 11. 28. Let a man Exa­mine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. We are then to Try our selves with a more peculiar Exactness in our scrutiny. But why so? Lest we be the Unworthy receivers of the Mysteries; lest we be found without a Wedding Garment at the Feast of the Immoral King; lest we do but Eat Judgment to our selves by Sacramen­tal Prophanations. Having thus advanced this point, that Self Tryal is always a need­ful, and n [...]w a most needful thing, I am to tell you that among all the Marks for our Tryal of our selves, none are more sensible than those that are drawn from our beha­viour under our Tryals from the Hand of God. We are to Try our selves, whether we Fear God, or no; and that will be best known by our carriage when God is by Afflictions Trying of us. An instance thereof we have in the words newly read [Page 34] unto us. In the Context, we have the Story of Abraham offering up his Isaac unto God, at the Call of the Lord. Our Father Abraham underwent Nine very Famous Tryals from the alwise God; But he was now brought unto a Tenth. We have our Father Abraham here Tryed, every vein of his heart; and it was under the considera­tion of a Father, that he underwent the Tryal. The Tryal ordered for that great man of God, was a most afflictive Tryal. It was that of parting with a Child singularly dear unto him. You shall hear the demand of God, are hear so many claps of Thun­der in every article of that Command; seven or eight very penetrating stings me­thinks aculeate it. Cen. 22. 2 Take now thy Son, thine only Son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, & get thee into the Land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the Mountains which I will tell thee of. Here was the demand. There follow in the Story especially two things.

1. We have the good mans Obedience. This is more largely repeated in this Chap­ter; but more briefly in that Chapter on a passage whereof some of you may remem­ber we discoursed a few Mon his ago. Heb. 11.17 [Page 35] By Faith Abraham when he was try­ed offered up Isaac. The Obedience of the Good man was Intended; Inasmuch as it was intended, therefore though it was pre­vented, yet it was accepted, rewarded, cele­brated. And therefore let us learn to be full of holy designs for the Glory and the Service of God. Let us design for the Name of God, as much as ever we can. It may be God will permit us to accom­plish our designs; yet if he do not, they shan't be lost.

2. We have the Good mans Commen­dation. And that was from the mouth of an Angel of God, attending of the Shechinah. The very Angels of God, they take notice how we do acquit our selves under any of our Tryals. It is no matter whether our Neighbours do see our vertuous Carriage or no; Gods An­gels, they see it. When it is what it should be, they prize it, they praise it, they give Honour to God for it; and it is an unspeakable satisfaction to those illustrious Nobles of Heaven But what is the Commendation? It is this; now I know thou fearest God. The An­gel brings to Abraham, an assurance of [Page 36] Gods approbation of him, and of his Ac­ceptation with God. And this is ano­ther thing to be remarked, That God uses to recompence exemplary Patience, with comfortable Assurance. When we Bury our Children, let us patiently bear those Bereavements, and God will give us this assurance, Thou hast my Son, which is better than Ten Sons: I have given thee a Name better than of Sons and Daughters: Thou shalt go to them, not they return to thee? Let us be patient under Slanders, & God will give us that assurance. Thou hast a Name written in the Book of Life! Let us be patient under Losses, and God will give us that assurance, Thou hast in Heaven a bet­ter and a lasting Substance! Such assurance is given to a [...] and resigning Abra­ham. The Spirit of God does by the Spi­rits of God oftentimes or perhaps immedi­ately by himself, take such a time to witness it to the Souls of [...] People, That God hath Loved them with an Everlasting Love, and they shall be gathered to him with Ever lasting Loving kindness. Let men have their hearts mightily set upon the Glorify­ing of God under their Afflictions, which nothing but the Fear of God will dispose [Page 37] a man to do, and that glorious Advice will soon come from haven unto them: Now I know thou Fearest God! When it is said, Now I know thou Fearest God; the meaning is, Now thou mayst know it thy­self, and thou hast made it known to all that will observe it. And there is an Empha­sis in this, Now: Abraham had chose and shown the F ear of God before; ay, but when he came to part with a Child that was very dear to him, with such a Resig­nation, as nothing but the Grace of God could inspire a man withal, Now I know it, sayes the Lord. It is said, Psal. 25. 12, 13. What man is he that fears the Lord! his Soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth. Well, if God will not let our Children inherit the earth, yet can our Souls dwell at [...] because they are gone top Jesus Christ in Heaven, where to be is by far the best of all? Then it may be said, This man fears the Lord: [...]ea, such a [...] man fears the Lord exceedingly

The Funeral which I attended Yesterday, leads me this day to Entertain you, with such Thoughts as appeared peculiarly Mo­nitory to my self, in my own present be­reaved & sorrowful Condition. My Hear­ers [Page 38] will give me leave to Preach unto my self, as well as unto them, the Lessons of God, in this

Two Propositions are contained in the Doctrine.

The First Proposition.

That the Afflictions which the Good God sends upon good men are for the Tryal of those men

In this one, we may behold Three As­sertions.

1. God men must see much Evil of Af­flictions in this present evil World. Tis said, Psal 31. 19. Many are the Afflictions of the Righteous: and God is not unrighteous in or­daining and effecting that it shall be so. Although Righteousness does deliver from Death, namely from that which alone is [Page 39] worthy to be called by the name of Death. Yet the Righteous are to dye, and to under­go the Advancements of Death in the Af­flictions of Life. The Children of Abraham are also the Children of Israel; even of that Israel who says, Gen. 47. 9. Few and Evil have been the dayes of the years of my Pilgri­mage. Good men are afflicted every way. Sometimes they are afflicted in Relations. Thus a Jacob has his Children, some Dead, and some almost worse than Dead, while they Live. Sometimes they are afflicted, in their Spirits. Thus an Heman crys out. While I suffer the terrors of God I am distracted, Sometimes they are afflicted in their Bodies. Thus a Timothy has his often infirmities to be complained of. Sometimes they are af­flicted in their Estates. Thus a Naomi must say, I was full, but am become empty. Sometimes they are afflicted in their Names. Thus an Elijah must be called, A Troubler of Israel. Yea, sometimes one good man is afflicted in all these Instances! a David af­flicted in all a Job in all, a Paul in all; yet they not the worse men for that. It is a­mong the names put upon the People of God, Isa. 54. 11. O thou afflicted and tossed with Tempests When are we like to see [Page 40] Rest? Never till we come to the Haven of Heaven: there is the only Rest that is to be looked for. As for this World, it will prove an Evil, troublesome, uneasy, World unto us. God will every day mind us, that [...] is not our Rest We no sooner enter into Christianity, but we enter into Affliction. When the great Martyr Ignatius was Tor­mented he said, Now I begin to be a Dis­ciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the A. B. C. of Christianity; Matth. 16 24. If any man will be my Disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me. We are no sooner put to School unto the Lord Jesus Christ but here is the first Lesson; Look for Afflicti­ons every way and every day. As our fore­runner, the Lord Jesus Christ: Which way did He get into his Rest? We read, Luk. 24. 45. He must suffer and so enter into his Glory What then? shall not the Disciple be a [...] [...] Lord? We that run after that forerunner into the Rest of God must run in the [...] bloody Track of Afflictions that he run be­fore us in. We are warned Joh. 16. 33 In the World ye shall have Tribulation. We are warned Act. 14. 22 Through much Tribula­tion we must enter into the Kingdom of God Foolish are we if we take not so fair Warning.

[Page 41] 2. Every Affliction that comes on good men has in it a Tryal of those men. Our Afflictions are our Probations, Indeed all the Providence of God unto the Children of men are Probations. Our Enjoyments are our Tryals. 'Tis said, Prov. 27. 21. As the fining pet for silver, and the furnace for Gold so is a man to his praise. I choose to read it this, So the mouth that praises a­ny one is to try him. When we are praised by our Neighbours, we are Tryed in those praises. And thus, when we are Blessed by our Maker we are tryed in those blessings. Honours from below, they do, Indicare virum, or Try what mettal the man is made of; they Try whether the man can bear Sail without Over set­ing, and have power to oppress without growing absolutely mad: So Mercies from above, do the like. In our Mercies, God deals with us as with the Soldiers of Gideon at the Waters; as God carried the Souldiers to the Waters, and said, Now I will try them there; so does our God bring us to the Rivers of plenty, and says, I will Try them there. By Prosperity our God is trying of us whether we will hear him speaking to us in our Prosperity: and, [Page 42] whether when we wa [...] fat we will grow wanton and kick against him, or no. Our Afflictions too are our Tryals. 'Tis said Jer 7 9. Behold, I will melt them, and I will try them. How does he do that [...] By putting us into melting Afflictions When one Affliction after another shall melt away those things we have a kind­ness for, then we are Tryed unto the ut­termost. Here is the Tryal of our Faith and Patience. Thus we read, I Pet. 1 6, 7, Ye are in heaviness if need be through manifold Temptations, that the Tryal of your Faith which is much more precious than Gold might be found unto praise at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Our Afflictions are our Tryals we are thrown into a fiery Furnace when Tryed by God with Afflictions. A Sick bed, a Reproach, a Loss, is a F urnace. In that F urnace 'tis tryed how much [...] is in us, and how much gold The Afflicted may say, as Psal. 66. 10. 11 Thou O God, hast purged us, Tryed us as silver, thou [...] afflictions on our [...] God is now Trying us whether we will despise the Chastening of the Lord, or faint when rebuked of him. God is now Trying us whether we will Glorifie him in the Fire, or no.

[Page 43] 3. Any man and particularly any Af­flicted man, that has the Fear of God, may upon Tryal know that he has that Fear. He that has in him the Grace of God may come to know that he has it. The Grace of God is a discernible thing. Tis resembled unto Light: a man may see that Light: unto Fire, a man may feel that Fire. It is the Precept of our God unto us, 2 Pet. I. 10. Make your Calling and Election sure. That argues that it may be perceived. A man may come to be sure, that God has called him to Himself, and that therefore he may call God his own God. A man may know his Love to God and Christ. Peter did so, when he said, Joh. 21. 17. Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I Love thee. Surely then he may know his Fear of God, and Fear of Christ. A man may know the Love of God and Christ unto him. So Paul did, when he said, Gal 2 20. He hath Loved me and given himself for me. Now we know, that this peculiar Love of the Lord, is towards one but such as Fear [...] that Lord. A man may come to know [...] In­terest in the New-Covenant; and one thing in that Covenant, is, I will put my Fear in their Hearts, Thus Job could say, I know [Page 44] my Redeemer Lives. But how shall a man come to know it? Take by the way, this General Direction! Beware of proceeding by Wrong Rules, in our Self-Examination; else we shall Wrong our selves. When we Ex­amine, Whether we have the Fear of God or no? We should not make the meer Opini­ons or Experience of Other men, the Rules by which we shall pass an Judgment on our selves. As the Fear of God is not to be Taught, So neither is it to be Tryed by the Precepts of men. The Rules, the Marks, the Signs, by which we are to Examine our Fear of God, must be Scriptural Ones. And the whole Scripture is profitable, for our Instructi­on in this Devotion; to Instruct us for Self-Examination. And especially the First E­pistle of John, seems to be special portion of Scripture, for Self Examination; That Epistle may well be our Vade Mecum, when we go to Examine our selves.

Or, that I may approach a Little closer to the point that lies before us. Would we know, Whether we have the Fear of God, or no? There are many Tokens to help us in our Tryal▪ but that which is mostly to be pressed on us is, What is our behaviour under Afflictive Tryals? There we come to the [Page 45] Case that lyes before us. In all our Af­flictions our Flesh is [...] yea but when we encounter the Cross handsomely, and Christianly, and Piously, that shews that we have more than Flesh in us. They that are all Flesh can't bear what contradicts the Flesh. But when we can patiently have our Flesh crossed by the Hand of God, and the Love and Sight of God enable us to bear it, there is more than Flesh in such a man.

The Case is This.

What is that behaviour under Afflictive Tryals, which may be a comfortable Argument and Evidence of our having the Fear of God?

For answer, in General,

To shew the Fear of God, we must have another sort of Behaviour, than what is in the most of man, when under their Af­flictions. Nehemiah spoke at this rate, Others did so and so, Neh. 5. 15. But so did not I because of the Fear of God Others in their Afflictions are froward; but, so must not we be because of the Fear of God. Others under their Afflictions are hopeless; but, so must not we be because of the Fear of God. Others under their Afflictions got nothing by them; they that were Ungodly are so still, they that were Carnal, and Worldly, and Profane [Page 46] do still continue so; but, so must not we be­cause of the Fear of God. Yea, the Fear of God, under our Afflictions, is to make us do more than others. Our Lord sayes to us in our Afflictions, What do you more than others? Except we do more, we can't prove that we have the Fear of God. I shall offer a few Questions in Answer to this Case: Try your selves by those Questi­ons, in the Fear of God, I beseech you, I entreat you.

Quest. 1. Under our Tryals, is the Hand of God very sensible unto us in the ordering of our Tryals? Tis said of the Impious, Isa. 26. 11. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up they will not see: They charge all on the neglect of men, or the malice of men, or on the concurrence of second Causes▪ But what a thing is this? He that sees nothing of God in his Tryals, has nothing of God in his Heart▪ [...]ow is it with us? Do we not [...] the Creature our Horizon, that our [...] shall terminate there, for the Original of our Afflictions? When our possessions are laid in the Dust, or in the Ground, do we think that the Afflictions came only out of the dust, or out of the ground? Under Be­reavements, Do we say like Job, Job 1. 21. [Page 47] It is the Lord that hath taken away, blessed be his name. Under our Calamities, do we say with David, 2 Sam 16. 10. It is the Lord that hath bidden it Does the First Cause of all take up all our Thoughts? Do all our Thoughts run in such a strain as that, I have to do with God in this Thing, I am concerned with God chiefly, yea with God only, in what is come to pass? now I know that thou fearest God.

Quest II. Do our Tryals drive us more Heartily, Fervently, Constantly, to seek the Face of God who sends the Tryals? The wicked, they are to Prayer, like the Chil­drens Tops, no longer stirring than the [...]ash­es are upon them. Indeed they will Pray in their Afflictions many times. We read, Isa 26 16. in Trouble they will visit God, and pour out a Prayer. So did Ahab, and so did Magus, of old! But how? Not from an internal Principle: They have not an af­fection for Prayer: They go to it but as driven; and their Prayer is no Prayer. Tis said Job 27. 9, 10 Will God b [...]r his cry, when Trouble cometh on him? W [...] he delight himself in the Almighty? Will be alwayes call upon God? If he call upon God; tis not with any Delight. How is it with us? [Page 48] The Children of God have a Principle in them, called A Spirit of Prayer. Is that Spi­rit now awakened, and move more Vigorous than ever before? When any thing ails us, do we naturally go to God about it, as Children to a Father? It may be the Spirit, of God and of Prayer, was flatted in us be­fore such Afflictions came upon us; but upon the first assault of our Afflictions, do we fall to Prayer immediately at the old rate and more than so? Are we like Da­vid, who said, Psal 116 3, 4 I found Trou­ble and Sorrow, the sorrows of Death compas­sed me; Then I called on the Name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my Soul. Are we like Paul who said, 2 Cor. 28 9 I had a Messenger of Satan to buffet m [...], but I be [...] Lord thrice. The more Sorrowful thee more Prayerful? Now I know that thou fearest God!

Quest. III. Do we in all our Tryals hum­bly acknowledge and reverence the Righ­teousness of God, whereby the Tryals are inflicted? Whatever Affliction come upon us, do we never say, We have an hard Por­tion? Is it with us as with them, Lam. 3. 39. Why should a living man complain; a man for the Punishment of his Sin. In the [Page 49] midst of all our Lamentations, do we think, This is the punishment of my sin! and then do we say, I will never complain of this! Do we say as Nehemiah, Ch. 9. 33. Thou art Just in all that is brought on us! Yea, as Ezra, Ch. 9 13. Thou hast punished us far less than our Iniquities have deserved! Tho' there come a Sea of Trouble, on us, do we see and say, There's not one drop of In­justice in all that Sea? Whatever Affliction we meet withal, is that still the language of our Souls, This is not Hell! Hell I de­serve. If so, now I know that thou fearest God.

Quest. IV. Are we in all our Tryals ve­ry studious to learn, to mind, to mend, whatever may be the procuring cause of our Tryals? Probably, when afflictions come, there is a Controversy which the God, who afflicts us, is therein managing with us. God may say to us, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? Well then, In Afflictions are we duly inquisitive after the Cause of all? When a Child was taken away from an Excellent person, she said, O man of God, sin is now brought unto Re­membrance! Accordingly when any Afflict­ion comes on us, do we set our selves to [Page 50] consider what Sin we can Remember as the Cause of this? Do we resolve in our Af­flictions, Lam. 3 40. Let us search and try our ways, and turn unto the Lord? In Af­flictions do we go to God, Job 10. 22. Oh shew me wherefore thou contendest with me? And, Job 34. 21. I have born Chastise­ment, I will not offend any more! Do our Afflictions cause us to set before our selves all the Commandments of God, and out of these Commandments do we search and judge, and loath our selves, according to the Cause which we may there find for our Afflictions! Are we Impartial in our finding wherein we are guilty, and then studious in our purposes, to Repent & Re­form? 'Tis said of some, Their Scum re­mains: When God sets us over that Fire of Affliction, does our Scum come away or does it remain in us! Are we like the Fool in the mortar? Or are we more careful to make our Peace with God? to quicken our pace in the Race set before us? to grow more diligent in working out our own Salvation? now I know that thou fearest God.

Quest. V. When perhaps Unaccountable Tryals do overtake us, do we cheerfully [Page 51] submit unto the Will of the Soveraign God appearing in the Tryals [...] Our Gods will have his own Soveraignty stooped un­to: when we are in Afflictions, 'tis that we may own that Soveraignty. When Affliction layes us in the Dust, then do we lay our selves there, and say, We are as Dust, as Clay before the Potter? That God who may do what he will with his own? One said, I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it. Is this enough to stop our mouths in every affliction, It' is the doing of God, that God who does all things well, though we don't know what He does, nor why He does it? Our Lord used that Prayer, Not my will, but thy will be done! A Pattern for us. And He taught that Prayer; Let thy Will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven. Do we say Amen unto it! Whenever any Affliction presses hard upon us, do we say with our selves, This is the will of God that it should be so; and that will is infinitely wise, and just, & good, and uncontroulable, and there's infinite reasons that I should never contradict that withal! Well, what think we? do we thinks our vile will should give Law to the [...] Will of God, that Will tha [...] is it self th [...] [Page 52] Supream Law of all, the only measure of Right and Wrong. They said, Act. 21. 14. The will of the Lord be done! He sayes I Sam 3 19. It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good So, whatever comes on us, do we think thus with our selves; It is the Lord that will have it so, all is well that He will? If it be thus, now I know that thou fear­est God.

Quest. VI. Do none of our Tryals hin­der us from adoring the Goodness where with we are very much attended, not­withstanding our Tryals? It is a strange Folly in us, that in one Grave we com­monly bury all our Comforts. Though God has given us thousands of Comforts, yet, it we open one Grave to lay one of them there, we foolishly throw in all the rest. Oh foolish people and unwise! But instead of that, say we like the La­menting Church, Lam. 3. 27. It is of the Lords Mercies, that we are not consumed! We have many Mercies round about us, under our Afflictions? Do we see them, and own them? or, Do we make fit Comparisons of our Condition? Do we say, Though it be bad with me, it may be [Page 53] 'tis worse with them that are better than I? Though things go bad with me, yet there are those that never Sinned as I have done, I should be loth to change with them Says Job, Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil? In our Afflictions do we think, that we re­ceive more good than evil, and we have more Delights about us than we, have Sorrows? And do we think, That we don't know when we receive Good and when Evil? Our Lord said to him of old, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter, So, It may be hereafter I may know that this is best. Jacob egregiously mistook when he said, Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, all those things are against me. Instead of saying, all these things are against me, we should say, It may be God intends them all for my good. If it be thus, now I know that thou fearest God.

Quest. VII. In our Tryals what are our Supports, and where do we go to make up that we have lost in our Tryals? The most of men in Afflictions are like Ahaze Chr. 28, 21, 23. Ahaz goes first to the Kings of Assyria, but they help, him not, the [...] he [...] [Page 54] Sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus and Syria, and they were the ruine of him. So many a man when afflicted will say, I have something left still! And there is all the Refreshment he has If we are visited with Death after Death, how do we Sup­port our selves? Is it by thinking, The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock! Like David, 2 Sam. 23. 5. Though God break my House, yet he has made with me an Everlast­ing Covenant, ordered in all thing, and sure, This is all my Salvation and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. Suppose God will not let our Houses grow, Is this the Consolation of our Soul, that God hath made a New Covenant with us? Do we comfort our selves with this, We have Christ in the New Covenant, where there is Grace and Glory, and every good Thing? Are the Promises of God our Consolation at our Funerals? can we say, I had perished in mine affliction, unless I had had the Word of God now I know that thou fearest God.

Qu VIII. Under our Tryals, What value have we for the Spiritual & Eternal Benefits that are to be gained by our Tryals? Do we say, Psal. 119 71. It is good for me that I have [Page 55] been afflicted, that I might learn thy Statutes. This is Good, even to do justice, to love mer­cy to walk humbly with our God. 'Tis Good for us to Draw near to God. 'Tis Good for Sin to be odious, and Christ precious, and God glorious to us, and Heaven better af­fected by us than ever, and to be weaned from the world and all things below, and our Affections more set on things above: To bring forth much of that fruit whereby our Heavenly Father may be glorified. Does the Thought of getting this good by our Afflictions make them all easy to us? Do we say, It is better for me that I should be partaker of this Good, than to have my Riches and Children all about me! and a Soul pining away in Iniquity, or leanness in my Soul? It is better for me to have the Grace of God, then all the good things of this world about me. If it be thus, now I know that thou fearest God.

Well then, For the Conclusion of all; Oh Let not the Consolation of God be small unto you that have attained and practised this right behaviour. If under your afflictive Tryals you behave your selves agreeably to the Expectation of God, what follows but this, I know [Page 56] that thou fearest God? Suppose God should Commission one of His Angels to Speak that unto us, as to Abraham, Now I know thou Fearest God; would not that abun­dantly make amends for all that we have undergone, under our Tryals?

Oh! Should the blessed God Say to us, Now I know, that thou fearest me, what could we feel after this, either of the In­chantments or the Distresses of this World? Let me speak the word of the Angel to those that sincerely thus endeavour; Now I know that thou fearest God; and tell you up­on it, Now I know that there is a great Good­ness laid up for thee. Tis said, Psal 31. 19. Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. Yea, shall we take it home to our selves; Now we know that we fear God: but what [...] do we know? Now we know, we should be of Good cheer, because our Sins are forgiven us, as to them that fear Him. Now we know, that God is our Portion, Christ our Saviour, Heaven our inheritance; Death is ours; it shall do us no harm [...]t. Now we know, that all things shall work together for good unto us. God will give us Grace and Glory, and all the sure Mercies of his Covenant; God will [Page 57] keep us in Integrity, and Set us before his face for ever; Now we know, that the Lines are fallen to us in pleasant places, that God will shew us the p [...]th of Life, and bring us to the fullness of joy and pleasures at his Right hand forever more And knowing this, we may know, that we are Welcome to the Table of the Lord. If you have these Marks, they are the Marks of the Lamb; I may Invite you to the Supper of the Lamb. Oh, come to this Lamb of God at His Table; That Lamb which takes away the Sin of the World. There all that Goodness that is laid up for them that Fear God, shall be Sealed unto you, inasmuch as now you know that you fear God.

But how can I dismiss you, O my Hear­ers, without an Exhortation, To make tho­row work in a Self Examination upon that Important point, Whether we have the Fear of God, or no? Christians, That famous Exercise of Christianity, even, Self Exa­mination, is to be now press'd upon you, in the fear of God; and, a Self Exami­nation, whether you have it? It my Hearers will be prevailed upon, to do something to purpose, at this most Holy, most Useful, most Needful piece of Devo­tion, [Page 58] even, Self Examination, our Com­ing together will be to good purpose. Alas my Hearers; The Stupidity of the World, so generally neglecting all Self Examination is as just a ground of Horror, and of Won­der, as any in the World. It was Com­plained, Jer. 8 6. I hearkened and heard, and no man Repented saying, What have I done? May not the Complaint be now made, Ah, Lord, Thou hast Hearkened, and Heard; but how few are there any where Examining themselves, and saying, What have I been? Oh, how Rare a thing is it, for the Chil­dren of men to call themselves unto a Strict Account, O my Soul, Dost thou really fear God? What is thy State? What is thy Frame? Whither art thou going? And where art thou like to be lodg'd throughout Eternal Ages? Mens being so indisposed unto this Action, I tell you truely, tis an horrible and a wonderful thing!

Sirs, Deny not unto your own Souls, this piece of Duty, of Prudence, and of Justice. But shall I know describe to you, the Process of the Work, whereto I Exhort you? Give your Attention, and Hear, how you should proceed, in your Self Exa­mination First, When you set about it, [Page 59] Oh, Let it be, with very great Solemnity, with very great Sollicitude. It was pre­scribed, Psal. 4 4 Commune with your own Hearts, and stand in Awe. Self Examination is a very Awful Service of Religion. When you go to Commune with your selves, Whe­ther you have the Fear of God, you must Con­sider with your selves, How Easy a thing, and how fearful a thing tis for you, to De­ceive your selves. Oh, Consider this, and Stand in Awe! When you are Examining your selves, you are about the most Weighty Undertaking that ever you took in hand. Affect your own Hearts, with the Weight of the undertaking. The case to be con­sidered is no less than this; What is like to become of me throughout Eternal Ages? You never had a case of such moment under Consideration! Consider with your selves, the infinite concernment of your coming to a True Knowledge of your selves, and of your coming Truely to know, Whether you have the Fear of God, or no? Consider This; That I [...] you mistake, and conclude your selves in a Bad condition, when you are in a Good, or conclude, that you do not Fear God when indeed you do; This will be to Deny the Kindness of God unto you; [Page 60] This will be to deprive your selves of the Com [...]ort you are to take in the Kindness of God▪ This will be to [...] it the Devil who would [...]ob you o [...] all your Comfort and Grieve the Holy spirit of God by which you are sealed unto the Day of Redemption Consider This, That if you mistake, and conclude your selves in a Good [...] when you are in a Bad, or conclude, that you do Fear God, when indeed, you do not This will be a Benumming sort of a Poison upon your Souls. This will be to lay your selves [...]leep upon the Top of a Most; This will be to [...] the [...] of Darkness but the faster upon you: and this will be to rocque your selves [...] a [...]lumber, wherein you will be Seized [...] Damnation that [...] not [...] to Examine you have [...] above all [...] do wickedly [...] [Page 61] upon you. Be in good Earnest, place your selves as before the Face of God; and therewithal call in the Help of God. Sup­plication should be the first motion of your Self Examination Look upward before you Look inward. Our own Spirit is that Candle of the Lord, that is to search us; but we must ask, that our Candle may be Lighted well by the Spirit of God. As the Psalmist cryed out, Psal. 139 23. Lord Search me & Try me! Do you with Exceeding Agony of Soul send up such a Cry, Lord, Help me to search my self and to try my self; and give me not up unto Delusions.

Take then the Notes, by which the Fear of God, is to be distinguished, and discovered; and press them ha [...]d upon your selves. Let not your treacherous & slippery hears. E [...]ade the Examination: Renew the Examination frequently, ser­vently, [...] Repeat it with Importunity. Be not content without a satisfactory Answer. Stick to the point. Allow no shutsting. A glance or two up­on the state of your Souls, is not enough. Multiply Dem [...]ods. Be not flighty. Make a thorough Inquisition. Be able to say, Psal. 77, 6. I commune with my own Heart, [Page 62] and my Spirit made diligent search. Yea, Be not satisfied, until you are come to some clear and plain conclusion. Be not satisfied, until you see plainly where about you are. Be restless, till you see a Sentences plainly passed upon you, one way or t'o [...] ­ther, and Entred as it were upon Record, And, O man, having beheld thy self, be not like a man who beholds his Natural Face in a glass, and goes his way, and forgets what manner of man he was.

But then, after your Self-Examination, you are to do according to what you find in your Self Examination.

The fear of God, contains in it,

An Hearty Sense of the Great God, and His Infinite Perfections.

An Hearty Dread of Sin, and of the Divine Displeasure for Sin.

An Hearty Care to please God, in Do­ing and B [...]aring of His Will

And an Hearty Flight unto the Lord JESUS CHRIST by Faith, for both Righteousness and Salvation; and as unto the only Mediator, by whom we may come to know God, & serve God, and be Restored unto His Favour.

If upon Self Examination, you find, That [Page 63] things are well between God and you, and that you have the Fear of God; What can you do, but the Thankful and Watchful? Call upon thy own Soul, O thou most obliged Believer; Bless the Lord, O my Soul, Bless the Lord, who has brought me out of Darkness into His marvellous Light! Bless the Lord, who has Espoused me to His Christ! Bless the Lord, who has pardoned all my Sins! Bless the Lord, who has Established my goings in His paths, and will guide me by Counsel, till He bring me to Glory! Oh, Fall down before God; Cast thy Crown at the Foot of Soveraign Grace; Begin thy Everlasting Hallelujahs to Him; Offer up thy self to Him, in Flames of Raptu­rous Love; Let His High praises be in thy mouth continually. But then, be ve­ry circumspect; Walk circumspectly. Keep thy foot from all that may eclipse­or weaken thy Assurance. 'Tis thy Crown, Hold it fast, Let no Sin take it away; For if thou indulge thy self in any grosser sin, which is a work of Darkness The Ho­ly Spirit of God, thereby grieved, will Chastise thee for it, by leaving thy Soul under Darkness. None O None, are un­der such Bonds, to walk holily, exactly, [Page 64] fruitfully, and with an Heavenly Frame as they that are sure of going to Heaven In the Fear of God, which is the Way to Heaven, art thou going to Heaven? Oh [...] Take not one Your out of the way.

If upon Self Examination you find, Tha [...] things are ill between God and you, and that you have not the Fear of God, O self condemned Sinners, What can you do but cry to God, that He would Convert you and put His Fear into your Hearts, that you may no more Depart from [...] Give Thanks to God, [...] convinced man for His Lise [...]v [...]ring of thy [...] unto thy self: 'Tis a Discovery that may prove thy Delivery: He has Discovered His marvel­lous Compassion in it [...] at [...] and times better [...] for thee to be told that thou art in the [...] circumstances. [...] Oh, Don't stifle th [...] convictions No, but Cherish them, I Now them, [Page 65] Hearken to them. The Light that God [...] into thy Soul, be it never so Dim and [...]eak, yet shut not thy Heart against it. Be not senseless under the Thunders of God. Thunder struck by the voice of God unto Unregenerates, beg of Him to draw thee unto the Lord Jesus Christ, thy only Saviour. Despair not of thy Ac­ceptance with the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear His gracious Invitations, Look unto me, and be Saved; and, Come unto me, and have Rest; and, Him that comes unto me, I will in no wise [...]ast out. Reply, Lord, I would Look, Lord I would come, unto thee, Oh, help me to do it! Behold, all the sure Mercies of the Covenant, Laid up for thee in the Everlasting Cove­nant. Behold, all Tendred unto thee, they shall yet all be [...] if thou take them upon the Tender. Strive, Oh Strive [...] mighty [...] unto God, that He would being thee Home unto the Lord Jesus Christ, which will be to bring thee into the Fear of God.

But what shall be done, if upon our Self Examination, things remain Doubtful; and we can come to no certain conclusi­on, whether we have the Fear of God; We are uncertain what we shall conclude [Page 66] about our selves one way or other.

Truly, You must conclude, That [...] thing further is to be done▪ You [...] not let things continue at this pass. Now the best Thing to be done, that I know o [...], is, To make Fresh Essayes at the Fear of God. If you Fear God, you do Repent of Sin. If you doubt whether you have done so, put it out of Doubt, by doing [...] over again. Again Bewayl your Sin; A­gain Confess your Sin; Again make you most zealous Petitions to God for the Death of your Sin. If you Fear God you do Believe on Christ. If you doubt whether you have done so, put it out of Doubt, by doing it over again. Again commit your perishing Souls into the Hands of Christ [...]; Again Consent unto all [...] Offices of [...]; Again Receive all the Kindnesses, [...] Christ offers to do or you [...] Fear God you do then love God [...] of Doubt, that you [...] be doing it over Again. Again give your selves up to God, with [...] Desires to be for Him and not for another Again Consecrate your selves, and all that you are, and all that you have, unto the Service of Glorifying the Glori­ous [Page 67] God; Oh, bring your All, under a Dedication unto the Lord!

And now, my Hearers, how do you stand affected, unto the Self Exami­nation, which you have heard thus de­scribed? It is a Remarkable passage, 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves? that Jesus Christ in you, except ye be blame wor [...] thy? If you do not so Know your selves, as to Know that Jesus Christ is in you, there is in you something that is very much to Blame; an Ignorance, and a Slothfulness, that is very Blameable. Truly, 'Tis a very Blameable Thing, if any of you do not know, that you Fear God. But Oh, how Blameble then are they who never do so much as Ask themselves, whether they do Fear God or no? It shows, that the Fear of God is much wanting in them. God save my Hearers from such a fatal and fearful Inadvertency!

Good news FROM A Far Country: For the Solace of them, whose Friends are gone thither.
Preached, 29 d 12. m. 1695. the Day after the Funeral of my Daughter Mehetabel. The Text occurring for that Day in a course of Sermons, on the Angelical Descent, in the Second Chapter of Luke.

HEAVEN! what a grateful Sub­ject for our Meditations are we now fallen upon? Heaven! Tis the Seat and Sum of our perfect [Page 70] Blessedness; and the only Home of every Godly man on Earth. Heaven! Tis the Strong Tower, whereto our Devout Friends do retire, for the Eternal Harvest and Re­ward of all their Devotions, when Morta­lity takes them off. Heaven! Tis the Ren­dezvous of the Bright Angels, Attending on the Throne of God, and Beholding of His Face, continually. Yea, A Better and a Brighter Thing than all of this; Heaven! Tis the place where our most Glorious Lord JESUS CHRIST, is to be seen in all His Glory. That we may Hear and Know any thing about Heaven, tis the Wonderful Mercy of our God unto us. But then, What a Wonder of Mercy is it, that an Offer of this Heaven may be made unto us, who are as miserable Sinners as any that are out of Hell, and as Unworthy ones as any that are in it!

In the Paragraph of Sacred Scripture now before us, we may see Heaven opened, with some remarkable Intimation and In­vitation unto us, to hope, that we may be admitted into it. Our Lord JESUS CHRIST, the Great King of the World, was no sooner Born, but presently that King must be Proclamed; and those Nobles [Page 71] of Heaven, the Angels of God, must be the Heralds of the Proclamation. Such a Fa­vour of Heaven, as a visible Descent of An­gels from thence, was granted unto the Children of men, on this matchless occasi­on; and indeed, if the Almighty God would send His own Son to be manifest in Flesh a­mong the Children of men, it was but a Lesser, though a wondrous Condescension, to send His Angels; of none among whom, He had ever said, Thou art my Son! I make no doubt, That the Glory of the Lord now Shining with its Angelical Attendants over Bethlehem, was that which the Magicians then in the East, observed as a New Star over Judea, and repaired thither according­ly, with their Enquiries. But thus was the Birth of our Great and Good Shepherd, re­vealed unto the Shepherds of that Country. First, One Angel declares unto them, who and where, the Saviour was, that was this Night born into the World. And then a Multitude of the Heavenly Host accompanied that One Angel, in singing the Praises due to the most High God, for such a Saviour, The Angels had once with Grief driven man out of Paradise. But they now come with Songs, to tell him Tidings of a way [Page 72] made for more than a Restoration, and Good will towards men. But I have now read unto you, some Account of what be­came of these Blessed Spirits, when they had performed the Errand, which they came down upon. Withdrawing from Humane Sight, They went away into Hea­ven. But methinks, I overhear them leaving this Instruction for us, behind them.

There are Two Enquiries, that now ly before us.

The First Enquiry's;

What is that Glorious HEAVEN, where to Heavenly Spirits, do go away?

Now the First Answer which I have to give you, and the Fit Answer, is, That on this side of Heaven you must not Expect a Full Answer. The Things of Heaven are such as are pronounced by one that had been there; a Cor 12.4 Unutterable Things. Our Notions of Things, while we are on [Page 73] Earth, are marvellously limited by our Con­versation with Earthly Objects. The Na­ture of Heaven, alas, we cannot see it, but with Colours and with Glosses fetched from Earth; and you may be sure, They are gross enough! We must confess, 1 Cor. 2 9 Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entred into the Heart of man, the Things which God hath prepared for them that Love Him. They are, as one well sayes, Far more above the highest Ascent of our Thoughts than the Marriage Feast of a King, exceeds in magnificence, the Imagination of one that has alwayes lived in an obscure Village, that never saw any ornaments of State, nor tasted wine in his life. The most Effectual, and the most compendious way, to learn what Heaven is, will be, by Religion to walk in the way to Heaven. Scies cum Fies. Let us make sure of Heaven, by the methods plainly enough described in the Word of God, & it will not be long before we shall have a very comfortable Description of Heaven made unto us; even in our own Admissi­on to the Comforts of it.

Nevertheless, we do know something a­bout Heaven; and the Sum of what we know, is thus much.

[Page 74] In general: The principal Character of Heaven to be considered with us, is, The most intimate and eternal Consummation of that Union, with God, into which He has pu [...]p sed from all Eternity, to b [...]ing all His Chosen There is an inconceiva­ble Union, and Communion, between the Three Persons in God Blessed for ever. And such is the inconceivable Grace of God, that He will bring certain Creatures into the Heavenly Delights of that Union and Communion, as far as 'tis possible for Crea­tures to be made partakers thereof. We have this astonishing Purpose of God, Re­vealed unto us, in the words of our Dying Lord, Job. 17. 20, 21. I pray for all them, who shall Believe on me, that they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. Here, her [...] is the utmost End of that Election, wherein God hath set apart certain persons, both men and Angels, for everlasting Happiness. Here is the Original, Here is the Founda­tion, Here is the Intention, of all Electing Love; and in Heaven is its Accomplish­ment. We magnify the Grace of God in Adopting us for His Children, in pardoning our Sins, in Rescuing us from the Flesh, [Page 75] the World, and the Devil; and we desire these Favours of the Lord. We do well. Oh! but there is an Higher Stroke than all of this, wherein we shall be highly Favoured of the Lord: And that is, A most marvellous UNION with God Himself. Indeed, the Elect of God shall continue Distinct Beings for ever; They shall never put off their Individuation. And when they become One with God, it must not be blasphemously imagined, that they shall become the same with God. But yet the Elect of God, shall be brought so near to God, that GOD will become All in All unto them; and they shall be filled with all the Fulness of God, even so Filled, as a piece of Gold thrown into the glowing Fur­nace, is Filled with the Fire; God will pe­netrate them, God will replenish them, God will wondrously possess them, and Swallow them up in Thoughts of Him and for Him, and communicate a Fullness of Joy unto them, and Pleasure for ever­more. Oh! that I could utter unto you, something of the vast Blessedness, that we shall receive in our Union with God [...] was with some Ex [...]a [...]y of Admiration once cryed out, I King 8. 27. Will God [...] [Page 76] dwell on Earth? Behold, the Heaven, and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee! This may we say, Will God indeed fetch of His Creatures, yea, and from Earth will He fetch many of them, to dwell in Heaven, yea to dwell in Himself! He will do so. In Hea­ven it shall be accomplished.

More particularly;

First; We know, that there is an Hea­venly State, whereof some are made parta­kers. A State so Desirable it is, that it is called Life; because there is nothing more Desirable than Life; but yet that State is as the Oracles of God have told us, Better than Life. Now of that Heavenly State we find some Description in this Heavenly Book; by which we may apprehend a lit­tle of it.

First; There is a State of Rest Enjoy'd in Heaven; a Rest, or Freedom and Safe­ty, from all sorts of Inconveniencies A­bout the Inhabitants of Heaven, 'tis said, Rev. 14 13 They Rest. Whatever may be Tedious or Irksome to a Rational Crea­ture, we may be sure, that in Heaven there is nothing of it. There are no Briars and Thorns growing in the Soyl of Hea­ven. Of Heaven there is one most signi­ficant [Page 77] and comprehensive thing to be spo­ken; and that is, There us no Sin there; Sin the most hateful and horrid Evil that can be, Oh, there is none of That among those who are ascended into that Hill of the Lord, and who Stand in that Holy place It is therefore said, 1 Pet 1. 4. There is an inheritance undefiled, reserved in Heaven for you. There is no perpetration of Sin, yea, there is no Inclination to Sin, among the Freeman of Heaven. There is not so much as one vain Word ever heard, or one Vain Thought ever form'd, in Heaven; or so much as one Deceitful Heart found there, or one Heart that has any manner of Dis­position, to thwart the will of God. All the Citizens of the Heavenly Zion, do Walk uprightly, and Work Righteousness, and have nothing but the Truth in their Hearts. Nor indeed is there any Tempter to Sin, vexing those that are in Heaven. The Tempter that insinuated himself into the Earthly Paradise, is for ever shut [...]ut of the Heavenly. None of Satans poisoned Arrows can be Shot into that City of God. In Heaven there is no molestation from the Wiles of the Devil; no Devil, nor In­strument of the Devil is there, to seduce us [Page 78] from our Allegiance unto God. There the Wicked one Ceases from Troubling, and they that were Weary or Afraid of him, are at Rest. They that go thither, may say to all their Interiour Adversaries, Where I go you cannot come Now if there be no sin in Heaven, if no Commission of Sin, or Temptation to Sin, 'tis easy to make a most gladsome Inference We may easily infer, There is not in Heaven any of that Affliction, which is the Consequence and Recompence of Sin. 'Tis said of them that are got safe to Heaven, Rev.7. 16, 17. They shall Hunger no more, neither Thirst any more; and God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes; All their Tears were dropt into Gods Bottel before they came to Gods Heaven! They suffer no Wants, in that Garden of God; They suffer no Griefs, in that Pleasant Land; They suf­fer no Fears in those Regions of Light. In Heaven, you shall not find a Timothy complaining of Often Infirmities In Hea­ven, you shall not find a David com­plaining of Dying, or Wicked Children. In Heaven, you shall not find a Job complaining of Enemies Robbing him. You shall not in Heaven, hear an He­man [Page 79] complaining of Lovers and Friends removed far from him: Nor hear an Eli­jah complaining of Impious people seek­ing to Ruine him. These things are not in Heaven But, Syrs, We must have more than all of this: We must not be content with an Heaven made up of Negatives Wherefore,

Secondly; There is Enjoy'd in Hea­ven, a State of Uninterrupted but Inex­pressible Fellowship with God, thro' our Lord Jesus Christ. Would we be told, how 'tis in Heaven? The Old Testament has told us, (Psal. 17. 15.) We shall there Behold the Face of God in Righte­ousness, and be Satisfied with His Likeness. The New Testament has told us. (1 Joh. 3. 2) We shall there Be like the Lord Jesus Christ▪ for we shall see Him as He is. This, This is Heaven! The Scripture that leads us thither, has given us this Account of it. Let is gaze a little up­on the several Stars that Glitter in this our Scriptural Account of it.

First, In Heaven there is granted a very Immediate Sight of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. God in His Everlasting De­cree, that a Man should be personally, Uni­ted [Page 80] unto His own Second Person forever, did also Decree, that certain other men should be given unto this most Glorious Man, to be with Hi Angels, the Spectators and partakers of His Glory. Our Lord JESUS CHRIST now mentions [...], as the main point of Heaven; Joh.17. 24. Father, I will, that they whom thou hast gi­ven me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my Glory, which thou hast given me.

In Heaven then, they see that Man, who is God as well as man, and in whom there dwells the Fulness of the Godhead Bodily a They see that Man, who once appeared in the Form of a Servant, but now is Highly Exalted with a Name about every Name: They see that Man, who Sits down at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High, Sway­ing the Scepter of the Universe. They see Him, with Eternal Transport! And as it is in the Enjoying of the Light, the Enjoyment that one man has of it, hin­ders not, abates not the Enjoyment of a­nother; So in this Inheritance of the Saints in Light, the Sight of the altogether Lovely Lord JESUS CHRIST Enjoy'd by one Saint, is no Hindrance to the Sight which [Page 81] another Saint has of Him, or to his Joy in the Sight.

Secondly, In and by the Sight of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, in Heaven, the Al­mighty GOD communicates of HIM­SELF unto His Chosen, with never-ending Satisfaction.

The Lord JESUS CHRIST is the Sun of that Heaven, which we are hoping for; It is said of Him, Mal.4 2. He is the Sun of Righteousness, that has Healing in His Wings. Now all Heaven is Irradiated with that Sun of Righteousness. The Rayes of that Sun are darted all over the Vast Hea­venly Realms of Bliss, and all the Saints of Heaven, do greedily take in those Rayes, with Joy unspeakable and full of glory. The Name of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, in the Oracles of the Sacred Scripture, is, [...] Face of God: and in that one Hint, you have a Golden key, to open a thousand passage, in these Oracles. When we come near to our Lord JESUS CHRIST in Heaven, we shall in Him see the Face of God; and see the Face of God shining with a Lustre infinitely beyond that on the Face of Moses: the Face of Moses coming down from the Mount, was a dark Thing in com­parison [Page 82] of it. Hence we read, 2 Cor. 4 6 There is Glory of God, in the Face of Jesus Christ. No mortal Eye were able to behold a Sight so full of Majesty: The Disciple who lay next Him at His Table while He was on Earth, after He was gone to Heaven Swoon'd away at the sight of Him: His Countenance was as the Sum shining is his meridian. But is this all? N [...] ▪ In Heaven, they also Hear the Voice of the Lord JESUS CHRIST; and no Thunder so great, no Musick so sweet, as that Voice: it is the Voice of the Lord God Almighty: When that Voice is uttered, all Heaven shakes with Glad Astonishments! It carries Life with it, wherever it reaches. It follows, that in Heaven, they are all filled with the Grace of the Lord JESUS CHRIT, and He there withal Showes them all things: He leads them Successively from one Fountain of Life unto another. All that a Reasona­ble Soul, can Reasonably wish to know of the Ever blessed God, the Lord JESUS CHRIST blesses them in Heaven, with the knowledge of it. The Perfections of GOD, are more Exemplified, and more Illustrated in the Lord JESUS CHRIST, than in all His Works of the whole Creation beside, [Page 83] which has all received its Beginning from Him. He is the Express Image thereof; & all the works of God, meet in Him, with a most Exquisite and Curious Recapitulation of them. Now in Heaven, they take a view of this Image, with Everlasting De­light: and, Lord In thy Light, thy CHRIST, we shall see Light! But while they do thus, their Happiness may be Express'd in those Terms; 2 Cor. 3 18 Beholding, the Glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same I­mage from Glory to Glory, as by the spirit of the Lord. The Understandings of the Glo­rified, will be mightily Enlarged and En­lightned. Their Affections will be thorowly rectified and purified. The Image of God will be gloriously imprinted on them. The Spirit of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, hath a marvellous possession of them that are in Heaven. He makes them as like unto the Lord JESUS CHRIST, as it is possible. He Inspires them with an Holy Resoluti­on, to be for Him and [...] for another; He Quickens them to Love Him, with all their Heart, and Soul and Mind. He Raises them here withal unto those Privi [...]edges of Splendor and Vigour, and Spiritually, and Immortality, and Incorruptibality, which will [Page 84] make them Resemble Him, Exceedingly, O all that are in Heaven, it may be said, Lord, As thou art, so are they, each one Re­sembling the Children of the Eternal King! It is said, Rom 8. 29. God hath predistinat­ed us, to be conformed unto the Image of His Son. In Heaven [...] brought about! And there, He is perpetually, with an Eternal Variety▪ giving them admirable Testimo­nies of His Good Will to them; and they, both Receive these Testimonies with Rap­tures of Joy, and Return Testimonies of their own Holy Dedication to Him. Thu [...] are they in Heaven Eternally Entertained, with Fullness of Joy in the presence of God, and pleasures at His Right hand for ever more. This is the Heavenly State▪

Secondly; But is there not an Heavenly Place, wherein they are to be made parta­kers of this Heavenly State? Yea, such a Place there is. We read, 2 Cor 5. 1. We have an House not made with Hands, Eternal in the Heavens. If there be an House for us in Heaven, there must needs be a Place for us. There are to be Bodies in Heaven; Yea, many Bodies are already there. But Bodies require Place. It is non-sense to say, That Heaven is a State, without a Place. [Page 85] But then, Where is the Place? I shall at present, say only two or three things con­cerning it.

First; The Place of Heaven, is, where our Lord JESUS CHRIST resides, in His Glorious Manhood, Ah, Lord, Thou wilt make Heaven, wherever thou comest! It is the periphrasis of Heaven, Joh 12. 26 Where I am▪ there shall my Servant be; That is to say, He shall be in Heaven. Our Lord JESUS CHRIST is the very Heaven of Hea­ven it self. Let the Sun be on what side of the Globe it will, it will be Day there. And it will be Heaven, Wherever our Exal­ted JESUS comes. It is the Lord JESUS CHRIST, that is the Tree of Life, in the midst of that paradise; as the famous Tree so called at the Beginning, was, in the midst of the Innocent stand of Eden: And indeed, wherever He is, His being there, is enough to make Paradise.

Secondly; Those bright Regions, that are the Place of Heaven, are the very best Rooms of the whose Creation, though the Upper Stories of is. Heaven for this cause is called, The Throne of God. We read, Psal. 11 4. The Lords Throne is in Heaven. Certainly, The Throne of God must be the [Page 86] most Glorious Place that can be! Of Ca­naan it is said, It was the Glory of all Lands, Much more, may it be said of Heaven. Yea, Tis the Heaven of Heavens, where our Lord JESUS CHRIST fits upon His Throne that is. The most Excellent Heaven of all Indeed, the Heaven of the Blessed, contains vast Regions in it: There are many Mansions, yea, there are many Regions, in the Heavenly Country. The Earth, although it be above one and twenty Thousand Miles in Cir­cumference, is but a small Point, if com­pared unto Heaven; perhaps t'would be In­visible to one Station'd there.

Thirdly; The Chosen of God shall en­joy their Heaven, in more than One Indivi­dual Place. For, there will a Time come, when our Heaven shall be within our At­mosphere, in the Higher parts of this Air, and nor many miles from this Earth, for at least, a Thousand years together. It will be thus, during the Day of Judgment; yea, if that Thousand years, (which according to the promise, we look for!) make but the Morning to the Day of Judgment, we can­not say, How long we may see Heaven con­tinue within this our Atmosphere. Tis said, 2 Pet. 3. 13. We look for New Heavens. [Page 87] as well as New Earth; which will evi­dently be after the Descent of our Lord. Our Lord JESUS CHRIST, will then with His Holy Myriads, dispossess the Devils of the high places, which are at present occu­pied by the power of the Air. These high places will then be possessed by our Lord Jesus Christ, having the City of God come down thither with Him, where the Saints then Living will all be caught up to meet Him Heaven will then be there, dispensing of Heavenly Influences, to the New World, until the Lord JESUS CHRIST shall carry His Armies away from thence, Him­self marching in the Head of them▪ unto His other Heavens.

The Second Enquiry is;

Who are the HEAVENLY SPIRITS, that go away to this Heaven?

Tis to be thus Answered

First, The ANGELS of the Lord Jesus Christ, Revisit Heaven. when they have dispatched the particular Services which they have to do for Him on Earth. The Angels are the Natives of Heaven; those Morning Stars have their own Habitation there; those Sons of God are Lodg'd in that their Fathers House. Where the [...] [Page 88] of our Lord JESUS CHRIST is, there His Angels are; Thousands of Thousands do Minister unto Him, Ten Thousand times Ten Thousand stand before Him. Those Angels are the Princes of the Caelestial Court; who in all their bright Order Encompass the Throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, and pay their humblest▪ Homage unto Him. We read, Psal 103 19. 20. The Lord hath, prepared His Th [...]one in the Heavens; And it follows, O ye Angles, mighty in Strength, you do His Commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word. Those Heavenly Spi­rits do come down from Heaven; even from our Lord JESUS CHRIST in Hea­ven; when H [...] [...] Affairs upon Earth to Employ them in As, when a Message was to be dispatch'd from Heaven, unto Daniel, that Lovely man of God: We read, Dan 9 21 The Angel Gabriel must fly Swift's down unto him▪ And when those Attain and Errands are done, these Heavenly Spirits return to their former Stations, where they alwayes b [...] h [...]ll the Face of God in Heaven. Thus, we read, Z [...]ch, 1 11 The Angels appear before God, with this Account, We have walked to and fro thro' the Earth, and behold Things are [Page 89] so and so: They make Report, how they have discharged the Duty, they were sent upon

Secondly; The SOULS of the Faith­ful among the Children of men, having Finished the Work, which the Lord Jesus Christ has ordered them to do on Earth, do then also Ascend into Heaven. There are some among the Children of men, whom the powerful Spirit of God hath overcome, to Believe on the Influences of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, for their safe Arrival to Heaven at the last. Those that have thus given themselves unto the Lord JESUS CHRIST, in Believing on Him, have a Work to do, in gratitude unto their Lord Redeemer, before they come to Heaven. Such Believers are by the Sanctifying Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, male meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. And when these Holy Believers Dy, the Angels of the Lord carry and convoy a­way their Spirits to be with Him in Hea­ven: They are no sooner Departed but, Phil. 1 23 They are with Christ, where to be is by far the best of all There were mil­lions of Angels, that upon a Rebellion a­gainst God, were Banished from Heaven.

[Page 90] But when such as are Believers on the Lord Jesus Christ among the Children among the Children [...] men Expire, their Souls fill up the Room of those Apostate Angels. And Oh! how gladly do the Angels of God welcome those Regenerate Souls, with Invitation to joyn with them in the praises of the Lord Jesus Christ▪ The Saints of all Ages, are as one gives us the Resemblance, like a Fleet of Merchant men, bound for the same Port; some arrive sooner; some later, but how welcome are they to their Friends at their Arrival! Oh! methinks, I see the Angels of Heaven, waiting for the Saints that are coming in; When the Soul of any one gets in, all Heaven is in Musick, and there is Joy among the Angels of God There is a shout for Joy among them, Welcome, O Soul Victorious over all the Enemies that would have kept thee cut of Heaven! Welcome O Soul that hast escaped Shipwreck in the Waves Where so many have perished. The Spirits of the Faithful, Dy not, and sleep not, at the Death of their Bodies. They Fly away to Heaven; and certainly they don't Sleep in that Marvel­lous Light! The Original, and the Consti­tution of the Soul, proclaim the Immortality [Page 91] of it. And the Express word of the Lord JESUS CHRIST assures us, There is no Killing of the Soul. [See also, Luk. 16. 9. & Rom 8 10. The Consent of Souls in all sensible Nations, unto the Immortality of the Soul, is nothing else, but an Impression which the Maker of the Soul has made upon it; and it is infallible. And the presage which the Spirits of men often have of their lea­ving their Bodies, at such or such a Time, very punctually & marvellously accomplished, plainly argues, that they out live the Bodies. Now, the Work of Grace upon a Godly Soul, bespeaks an Heavenly World for such a Soul, at its Departure. The Grace wrought in a Godly Soul, shall never Dy; No, It abides for ever. But if the Soul Dy, the Work of Grace upon it, would also Dy. It is a great principle of Christianity, That when we are Absent from the Body, we shall be Present with the Lord. Now, to demonstrate this prin­ciple, what a proof does the Apostle bring? 2 Cor. 5. 5. He that hath wrought us for this self same thing, is God. A Soul, that has a Work of Grace upon it, is, A Vessel prepared for Glory And shall not this Vessel now be received up to Glory? A Soul having been by the rare Workmanship of God Created unto [Page 92] good Works, He will not throw by this Workmanship, into the useless Rubbish of Non Entity, we may be sure of it. And there is a Conveniency in it, that a Godly Soul, should at its Departure, be taken into an Heavenly World. The Soul; may say to its Clay Tabernacle, at its going away, as our Lord said unto His Disciples; Joh. 16. 7. It is Expedient for you, that I go away. Tis convenient, That the Body should be Dis­solved, consumed, utterly taken asunder, & broken to pieces. Why? That so it may be New moulded into such a Frame, as to be fit for the Company and Employment of Angels. Yea, It may be also convenient. That the Soul should in the mean Time, take some Turns in the Heavenly World. Our Soul, while tis here, tis not fit for to be Entrusted, with such a Body, as that of the Resurrection: Such a Body would be two Heavenly a Thing, for a Soul under such a Feebleness as ours. But a Soul taken for a while into the Heavenly World, and there used unto the Se [...]ing and Serving of God, will be fit for such a Every Charit as the Body will be at the Resurrection; a Body that shall fly like the Angels, and shine like the stars for ever and ever. The Spirits of the [Page 93] Faithfull do then, at their Expiration, enter into a Paradise; and an Heavenly Blessedness, though not into all the Blessedness intended for us. But let us proceed unto our

Light arising in DARKNESS.
Preached, 9 d. 12 m. 1700. My Son Sa­muel then Lying Dead in my House, and carried the Day following to the House appointed for all the Living.

I find a Minister of God long since thus called upon; [Isa. 21 11] Watchman, What of the Night? Watch­man what of the Night? q. d. What Advice hast thou to give us, concerning the Night that is now come upon us? What is our Condition in this Night of our Calamity? The People of God, tho' [Page 110] they be the Children of Light, yet see ma­ny a Dark and Sad Night of Affliction. But if any of them now call upon me, Watchman, What of the Night? Watchman, What of the Night? What have you to tell us, about the Night which we so often fall into? Truly, Syrs, I am to tell you, That our Night is not so Dark and Sad, as it seems to be. There are sweet Songs of Satisfaction and Consolations, which God our Maker has provided for us. Be the Night never so Black, we are not un­furnished with Songs of Satisfaction and Consolation, for to sweeten it.

We are advised of them, in the words of Elihu. That Holy Young man takes Notice, of people Crying in Affliction, and yet not Saved from Affliction. And he gives the Reason, Why the Great God, will not Remove Affliction, from some that are mourning and groaning under it. The Reason is, Because their Affliction do's not bring them to Repentance; And that Repentance is thus described, None saith, Where is God my Maker? q. d. They don't Remember, Who made them, and why He made them, nor consider the Errand which He that made them, sent them into the [Page 111] World upon; and they don't Return to their Maker from those wayes of Sin, for which they feel Him chastising of them.

There now follows a Clause, that con­tains in it, a mighty Encouragement unto Repentance under Affliction; He giveth Songs in the Night. By the Night seems to be meant, A Time of Affliction: And by, the Songs given in this Night, seem to be meant, Matters of Satisfaction and Consola­tion, which God has provided. But for whom are they provided? Even for those that under Affliction, say, Where is God my Maker? i. e. That Seek Him, and Serve Him, as their Maker, and seriously Repent of all their Wandrings from Him, where­in men forget the Law of their Creation. In the Original 'tis, My Makers; A Nota­ble Intimation of the Trinity in God E­ very Person in the Ever Adorable Trinity, concurr'd in the Making of man; and man owes Acknowledgments unto Every Person in the Trinity; yea, we do not Ac­knowledge our Maker, if the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, receives not an Homage from us.

The Doctrine which now lies before us, is this.

Of these things let us now take our Observation.

1. The Holy GOD, the Father of Lights, may bring upon His Children, even upon His dearest Children, a Night of much Af­fliction Several points of useful Medita­tion, occur in this Proposition.

As now;

First; A Time of Affliction, is very suita­bly called, A night of Affliction. The Trouble and the Terror, which the Night brings with it, is but a Shadow of That which by Affliction comes upon us. When God brings a Time of Affliction upon men, it is thus Expressed, Job 34. 25. He over­turns them in the Night. When God is ad­dress'd with our Devotion in a Time of Affliction, it is thus Expressed, Isa. 26. 9. [Page 113] With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night. Yea, All the Bible over, we have the Name of Darkness put upon Affliction; As on the other side, The Day, and, The Light, are the Metaphors of Prosperity. Christian, when the Night arrives, as it will still once is Four and Twenty Hours, t'wil do thee to Harm to think, It won't be long before a succession of some dark Affliction arrives unto me. Again; When a Night of Affliction overtakes us, it is by the Providence of the Holy GOD. It was of old said, if He give Quietness, who can make Trouble? If there be any Trouble upon us, it could not have come without His Direction. Take it for a Time of Affliction, as well as more Lite­rally, and still we must say, Psal. 74 16. Lord, The Day is thine, the Night also is thine. Relating to a Time of Affliction, tis chal­lenged by the Great God, Isa. 45. 7. I cre­ate Darkness, I create Evil. It is impossible, that any Affliction should befall us, without the ordering of that GOD, who made the Son, and orders the Setting as well as the Rising of it. Christian, Does any Affliction [...] thee? Think Seriously, 'Tis God that has brought this Darkness upon me?

Add; But the Holy God may, yea, does [Page 114] bring many a Night of Affliction upon His Own Children, even upon His Dearest Children. There is a Vicissitude of Day and Night Experienced by the People of God; and God; in His Dispensations towards His people, hath Set the one over against the [...]. The Experience of all the Faithful, will be a full Evidence to This; That we must have many a Night of Affliction rol­ling over us. Yea, Heb. 12 7, 8 If ye Endure Chastening, God dealeth with you as with Sons; But if ye be without Chastise­ment, then are ye Bastards and not Sons. Tribulation is more than once foretold, unto the Followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself Ex­emplified it unto all [...] that Follow Him. None among all the Children of God, can be so dear unto Him, as His Only Be­gotten Son. 'Tis indeed upon His Ac­count, that the Adopted Children of God, are at all dear unto Him. And yet the most Beloved Son of God, (even Col. 1 13. His Dear Son,) was the most Afflicted One, that ever was in the World; A man of Sorrows and Acquainted with Griess. Of Him we read, Psal. 34. 19. Many are the Afflictions of that Righteous One. An [Page 115] amazing Thing! The Sun of Righteousness. Himself was covered with Darkness! An horrid Night came upon Him, who is Him­self, The Light. He that is the Day star, and who makes Day wherever He comes, yet [...]elt, Luk. 22. 53. The Power of Darkness.

We may now Enquire.

First, What Affliction it is, that may make a Night unto the Children of God?

Now, tis plain; That the Withdraw of our Comfortable Enjoyments, is Enough to make a Night for us. When God brings upon us any Lamentable Bereavements of our Comfortable Enjoyments, we may say; Lam 3 6 He hath set me in dark places. It was a Night with Jacob, it was a Night with Ephraim, it was a Night with David, when his Children were taken from him, and it was a Night with Job, when his Riches as well as his Children were taken from him, and Sickness within, and Censure abroad, was also hard upon him.

Yea, but it adds unto the Circumstances of the Night with us, when we are utterly at a Loss, which way to take, what course to steer; when we Grope as in the Dark, to find the methods of our Safety. Tis a Night with us, when we are in the Dark, [Page 116] and at a Loss, what we shall do, that we may not Stumble into Mischief. How full of Night, is that Affliction, wherein a man must say, Job 19. 8. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and He hath set Dark­ness in my pathes!

And the Night is yet more Night some unto us, when we are Surrounded and As­saulted with cruel Enemies, on every side of us. We read, Psal. 104 20, 21. Thou mak­est Darkness, and it is Night, wherein all the Beasts of the Forest do creep forth; The young Lions roar after their Prey. It is a Night In­deed, when God lets loose Wild Beasts upon us, to Worry us, with fur [...]ous and raging Persecutions. It was a Night of Egyptian Darkness, when Evil Spirits were let loose, to molest and affright the Objects of their Indignation. What is it, when men mani­festly filled with, and acted by Evil Spirits, are let loose to buffet us, with all the Effects of a most Venemous Malice against us?

But, finally, That which will make our Night, as Dark as the Shadow of Death it self, will be, If God withdraw the Light of His Countenance from us, and withold from us the Influences of His Grace, which are need­ful to Support and Quicken us. God is [Page 117] Light; and the Gracious Presence of God, would make Day for His People at Mid­night. But if God hide his Face, then, then Indeed we have a dismal Night of it. We then truly, Walk in Darkness, and see no Light. Our Groans may then, if ever, be those; Psal. 88. 6. 7. Lord, Thou hast laid me in Darkness; Thy wrath lieth hard upon me.

We may Enquire,

Next; Why the Holy God, will bring Night of Affliction upon any of His Chil­dren?

In one Word; It is to give us Oppor­tunity for our Songs in the Night. God will Glorify Himself, in and by, every Night of Affliction that He sends upon us. And God is never more Glorified, than by have­ing the Graces of His Children Exercised in their Affliction. But the Graces of good men are Exercised, in their Singing the Songs that God has given them. This therefore brings us to a further Entertainment.

II There are glorious Matters of Satis­faction and Consolation, which the Children of God are to make their Songs in the Night of their Affliction. There are the Songs of Zion, which are prepared by God [Page 118] for the Sons of Zion; and some of them are peculiarly calculated for the Night. As it was said, Psal. 119. 54. Thy Statutes have been my Songs, in the House of my Pil­grimage: Thus, the Statutes of God in­form us, of matters for our Songs, in the Night of our Affliction. Davids Harp never founded better than in the Night and upon the Water. More particularly.

First, It is a Song to be Sung in the Night of our Affliction, That the Great God is the First Cause of our Affliction. This was the Song of that Excellent man, Job 5. 6. 8. Affliction cometh not forth of the Dust, neither doth Trouble spring out of the Ground: I would seek unto God, when it comes. Who is it that sends upon us all our Darkness? Tis that God, of whom we have that Song, Amos 4. 13. Lo, Tis He that makes the morning Darkness, the LORD, the God of Hosts is His Name. We are too prone, in the Night of our Affliction, to look upon Second Causes; and especially if Rational and In­jurious Instruments have been concerned in our Affliction. But it will be a very dark Night indeed with us, if we can't see be­yond Second Causes. Oh, Let us look thro' all the Darkness, unto the Great GOD, as [Page 119] the First Cause of all; And let this be our Song in the Night: Though Clouds and Dark­ness be round about Him, yet Righteousness & Judgment are the Habitation of His Throne. Though Instruments be very deeply con­cerned in our Affliction, yet the Song of a Job will be, The Lord has taken away! the Song of a David will be, The Lord has bid­den them! It is an admirably well tuned Song, that we find with the Sweet singer of Israel: Psal. 39. 9. Lord, I was Dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.

But now, this is a Song, which has con­siderable matters of Satisfaction in it. There are many parts of the Song. We are with particular Descants to Sing upon the several Glories of our Maker; the maker who has given us our Songs!

The Sovereignty of God, must be our Song in the Night. This was the Song, of one who had his lovely Children taken away from him; Job 9. 12. Behold, He taketh away; who can hinder Him? Who will say unto Him, what doest thou? We strangely Multiply and Aggravate our Griefs, while we resolve to call Things, Our own. Tis to make them our Idols; & Idols will be Griefs. In the Night, let us [Page 120] come to See and Sing, Who is the Abso­lute, Unlimited, Uncontrourable Owner of us, and all that we have. Our Song most be This: ‘I am absolutely at the Dispose of the Soveraign God! I and mine are in His Hands, as Clay before the Porter: Oh! Let not me, a sorry Potsherd of the Earth, strive with my Maker, the God of Heaven. Let my Will submit, and be for ever melted and moulded into the Will of God: O my Soul, Be thou in Subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and Live!’

Again; The Righteousness of God, must be our Song in the Night. This was the Song of an afflicted Prophet, Dan. 9. 14. The Lord hath brought the Evil upon us; the Lord our God is Righteous in all the works which He doeth; for we have not obey'd His voice. If a Pharaoh in his Night, could say, The Lord is Righteous, and I am Wicked; much more will a Christian, who is less Wicked, say so. We should come to be of a Thoughtful Temper, when God is Cha­stising of us, and think, He does it not for nothing! Our Song should now be of this Tenour; Since the most Righteous One is Laying His Hand upon me, Oh, Let me Search [Page 121] and Try my wayes and Humble my self be­fore Him and obtain the pardon of my Sins, and Reform all that is amiss! And why should I now complain for the punishment of my Sins? Lord, my wayes are not equal, but thy wayes are always equal.

Once more; The Power of God, must be our Song in the Night. This was the Song of that Great Saint in his Affliction; Job 42. 2. I know, that thou canst do every thing. What can better be Realized in the Night, than the Power of that Almighty Creator, who first of all divided the Light from the Darkness, and called the Darkness Night. He that could Raise a Job from a Dunghil; He that could Raise an Hezekiah from a Sick-bed; He that could give unto an Amaziah, much more than all that he Lost; What can't He do for us, in the Night that is come upon us? Our Song should now be of this Purport, ‘That Powerful God, who hath caused my Sun to go down at Noon, can cause it also to Rise at midnight with me. My God can make me glad, accord­ing to the Dayes wherein He hath afflicted me, and the Years wherein [Page 122] I have seen Evil. Be my Case never so Dark, the Lord my God can En­lighten my Darkness. Be my Case ne­ver so Hard, there is nothing too Hard for the Lord. Be I brought never so Low, the Lord that Raises the Dead, can Raise me up.’

Once more; the wisdom of God, must be our Song in the Night. You may hear that Song in the mouth of the affli­cted Saint; Psal. 119 75. I know, O Lord, that thy Judgments are Right, and that thou in Faithfulness hast afflicted me. In the Night, we are in the Dark, about the Na­ture, and the Design, and the Issue of our Troubles. But the Wisdom of God sees all things in a True Light. It is Wisely con­trived, that in the Division of Time, there should be Night as well as Day. How cheerfully may we refer and resign every thing, to that God, whose Understanding is Infinite! Our Song then should run much upon such Notes as these; ‘The All wise God sees, that some Night, and not all Day, is best for me. O Lord, how manifold are thy works, in thy Dealings with me? In wisdom hast thou done them all. Thou knowest, [Page 123] when I want Affliction, and what Af­fliction is fittest for me. Thou know­est, When, and How to deliver me out of my Affliction. And thou knowest, How and Where to make my Afflicti­on profitable.’

Furthermore; The Merry of God should be our Song in the Night. You may hear that Song, in the mouth of the Afflicted Church; Lam 3. 22. It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed; be­cause His Compassions fail not. In the Night we are easily Terrified. How apt are we to take up Terrible Apprehensions, when the Night comes upon us: Has the Lord forgotten to be gracious? Is His Mercy clean gone? Hath He shut up His Tender Mercies in Anger? But let us not make rash conclu­sions from our Sharp Corrections. Our Song should be of such a strain as this; ‘The merciful God punishes me far less than my Iniquities have deserved; and tho' He bereave me of some Comforts, yet He leaves me still a thousand more Comforts than Sorrows. Nor does my Affliction by God, argue my Rejection from God: No, my Affliction ma [...] be rather an Argument for my Adoptione: [Page 124] For whom the Lord Loveth, He Chasten­eth, and Scou [...]geth every Son Whom He receiveth. At the last, I shall find, That God is Good in Afflicting of me, and that it is Good for me to be Af­flicted.’

Finally; The fullness of God should be our Song in the Night. It was the Song of the Prophet; Hab. 3. 18. Though the Fields shall yield no meat, yet I will Rejoyce in the Lord, I will Joy in the God of my Sal­vation. When every thing else has left us, and by leaving us, hath made a Night un­to us, Now 'tis a Time for us to Sing, The Lord is my Light, The Alsufficiency of God, should be the Retreat, and the Re­lief of our Souls, in the Night; when we Lose the Sight of all Creatures & can see nothing of them except their Insufficiency. Now strike up for such a Song as this; ‘I know, that my Redeemer Lives; What tho' I see a Death upon all Sub­lunary Enjoyments? The Lord is my Portion, saith my Soul, and I will hope in Him, when all other things do fail me. While I have God and Christ for my Portion, I have a Goodly Heritage. Whatever be taken away from me. Here, [Page 125] Here I have a Good part that cannot be taken away! Why should I be so troubled for the breaking and spilling of my little Earthen Cups! I have a Living Fountain still to repair unto.’

But then, Secondly; It is a Song to be Sung in the Night of our Affliction; That no little Good will be the Effect of our Affliction. This was the Song of that Ex­cellent man; Psal. 119 71. Tis Good for me that I should be Afflicted. When we are in the Night of our Affliction, we are much in the Dark oftentimes about the meaning of it. But let no Darkness hin­der us from that Construction of all Affli­ction; Gen 50. 20. God has meant it unto Good.

Our Lord JESUS CHRIST has brought us into a New Covenant: The New Cove­nant hath in it very great and precious Pro­mises. These Promises are to be our Songs in the Night. Is it not promised? The Lord will not suffer us to be Tempted above what we are Able. Is it not promised? All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth; unto such as keep His Covenant, and His Testimo­nies. Is it not promised? They that Sow in Tears, shall Reap in Joy; And, Light is [Page 126] sown for the Righteous, and Joy for the Up­righ in Heart. These, even such as These, are to be our Songs, all the Night long.

The Good and Gain of our Affliction, is a Song that hath considerable matters of Consolation in it. Let us make a brief Descant upon some of them.

First, We may make it our Song in the Night; That our God Loves us too well, to burt us in the worst that He shall do unto us. We have such a Song prepared for us; Heb 12 6. Whom the Lord Loveth, He Chasteneth. What are the most afflict­ing Dispensations, but Fatherly, but Medi­cinal? When we can sigh perhaps with the Psalmist, I am afflicted very much: Yet let us also Sing, In whose Hands am I all this while? In the Hands of the best Friend that ever I had! In the Hands of a God, that hath Loved me very much; a God that hath for me, an Everlasting Love, and is now but Ex­ecuting for me the purposes of His Love. Our Afflictions may be with a Song; Why, Because they are without a Sting. The Curse and the Sting of all our Afflictions, hath fallen upon our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Day when God laid upon Him the Iniquity of us all, and when He cried out, [Page 127] I am the man that hath seen Affliction by the Rod of His wrath. We may Sing under [...] our Disgrace; My Lord Jesus Christ we despised and rejected of men We may Sing under all our Straits; My Lord Jesus Christ had not an House where to lay His Head. We may Sing under all our Pains; My Lord Jesus Christ was feeble and sorely broken. Under all our Temptations, We may Sing, My Lord Jesus Christ was in all points Tempted like unto us; except only in sin. We may behold our Lord Jesus Christ, as by all these His Expiatory Suffer­ings, taking upon Himself the Vengeance of God, which was due to us for our Sins; & hence it comes to pass that there is not that vengeance now to Embitter our Sufferings. Our Lord Jesus Christ hath Reconciled God unto us; and so none of His Dispensations are now the Blows of an Enemy and a Revenger. It may then be our Song; ‘Lord, I will praise thee; for though thou wast Angry with me, thine Anger is turned away; and this doth comfort me, even when thou dost Afflict me. My Lord JESUS CHRIST hath given me to stand before God, in His perfect and spotless Righteousness, [Page 128] and no Evil shall happen to the Righ­teous.’

Again; We may make it our Song in the Night, That the worst that ever happens unto us, will be for our Good. We have such a Song prepared for us; Rom 8. 28. All things shall work together for Good, unto them that Love God. See and Sing the Mystery of Providence!

Most certainly, 'Tis Good for us to be made Acquainted with the Concerns of Experimental Religion. Well; Our Night comes, that we may see the bright Stars of Christianity. Our God will shut us up in the Dark, that He may cure our Madness. It was the Song; Psal 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy Law. Ac­cordingly. Let it be Our Song in the Night; ‘God is now making me a better infor­med Christian than ever I was in my Life; God is making me more thorow­ly to understand, that Christ is precious, and Sin is odious, and my Heart is De­ceitful, and all things here below are but Vanities and Vexations.’

Most certainly, Tis Good for us to be Restrained from Sin, and have Sin Destroy­ed [Page 129] in us. Well; our Night comes upon us, to keep us from the Works of Darkness. God sends our Night upon us, to make us Children of the Day. It was the Song; Isa. 27. 9. By this will Iniquity be purged, and all the Fruit is to take away sin. Accordingly, let it be our Song in the Night; ‘God is now making my Sin bitter to me; All this Bitterness comes upon me, that so my Sin may be the more Embittered. God Kills my little Delights; Tis that my Sin may dye, and that my soul may live.’

Most certainly, Tis Good for us to be made more Gracious, and in the acting of Grace to be made more Fruitful. Well, our Night comes upon us, that so, the Dowes of Heaven may more fall upon our Souls. God visits us with a Night; but it is that so He may Awake us out of our Sleep. It was the Song; Heb. 12 10. He chastens us for our profit, that we might be partakers of His Holiness. Accordingly, Let it be our Song in the Night; ‘What is my God now a doing? He is now making my Faith more Assur'd, my Hope more Lively my Love more Ardent, my Prayer more Fer­vent, my Patience more Confirm'd, and [Page 130] my whole Obedience more Exact. God is hewing and squaring of me, to render me a more Serviceable Stone in His Temple, and throwing me into a Fur­nace, that I may come out a vessel of more Honour to Himself.’

Finally; The Songs of Deliverance; why should not they be heard with us? We may make it our Song in the Night, That it will not always be Night; the Night will not always last. We have such a Song prepared for us; Psal. 30. 5. Weeping may Endure for a Night, but Joy cometh in the Morning. Be the Night never so tempestu­ous, it won't be long before the Day break, and the Dark shadows flee away. Of Heaven we read, There is no Night in that City of God. In all our Nights on Earth, we should Solace our selves with the Songs of Heaven. Yea, we should count it alwayes Night with us, till we come to Heaven. In this passage, Where is God my Maker, who giveth Songs in the Night? some have thought a special Reference to the Resurrection, which the Dead Saints are with Songs waiting for. In the Night of our Afflictions, what fitter Songs can we have, than the Blessedness re­served for us in the Resurrection World! Be [Page 131] our Afflictions never so long, they are but for a Moment; The Thought of this may procure it, That be they never so heavy, they shall be but Light Afflictions. It may then be our Song; ‘O Lord. How long! Yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come. It won't be long! My God is by my Troubles now fitting me for the Rest which remains for His People. All the Discipline that my God uses upon me, is only to ripen me for my Transla­tion to the Heavenly State. In a little while, I shall pass from the Bread of Ad­versity, to the Feast in the Holy Moun­tain of God; I shall pass from the Wa­ter of Adversity, to the River of Gods pleasure; I shall pass from the Annoyan­ces of Devils, to the Entertainments of Angels; and from the Shadow of Death, to that Favour of God which is better than Life.’

We will proceed no farther; who can proceed any farther? Let these things Expire in this

Appendix. THE Living Redeemer,In the Ballance against a Dying Relation.
Preached, when my SON Lay a Dying, and within a few Hours did actually Dy.

WHen the famous Luther, was under great Sor­rows, he wrote once up­on his Table in Great Letters, that word, VIVIT, or, HE LI­VETH. [Page 144] A Friend, that saw the word, Enquired, Who? and he so answered the Enquiry, CHRIST LIVETH! And if He did not, I should not my self one minute longer desire to Live. Well thought, and like a Christian! It is a Thought which I am this Day to manage among you; and if some Dying Circumstances in my own Family do Quicken me to manage it, with a more Lively Inculcation, 'twill be some Ease to me, that my Sorrow proves in any measure a Service unto others, and that my Ministry receives any Advantage by my Affliction.

An unknown Penman hath in a curious Poem, drawn up for us, a Real and Fa­mous History, of the unusual Calamities, and amazing Deliverances, that befel an Excellent Person in Arabia, some Thou­sands of years ago. Some Conferences between this Renowned person, and some of his Friends that gave him a Friendly Visit, in his Calamities, are in this Book related. Their unkind Censures of him, and bitter Speeches to him, were not the least part of his Calamities; but in this Chapter we have something of his Vindi­cation. [Page 145] One thing in their Charge upon him, was, That he knew not God: & now, to vindicate himself against so unjust a Charge, he declares his Belief, not only in GOD, but also in His promised Messi­ah, by whom he Expected a Resurrection from the Dead.

The Words now before us, are accor­dingly a short and sweet Confession of Faith, whereto I am sure, you will all Subscribe, O Faithful people of God! It was wished concerning them, O that they were Printed in a Book! They are so, and blessed be our Great Lord Redeemer, that they are so!

Indeed, there are some Interpreters, not only Jewish, but also Christian, who, to their shame we may speak it, are some­times as bad as the Jewish, that go to fix a Signification of meer Temporal Benefits, on that Expectation of Job, which we are here Entertained withal. But it is from Ignorance of Antiquity, to say no worse of it, that such Interpreters, go to rob us, of the Evangelical Mysteries, in these ancient Oracles of God. And we know they do directly contradict the plain Expressions of Job. whom we find every where utter­ly Despairing of ever being Restored un­to [Page 146] to the Temporal Benefits of his Family in this world any more. They would Rob our Job, it seems, of his Faith too; worse Robbers then the Sabaeans and Chaldaeans, who only plundered him of his Cattel. No, It was long ago, the just Admiration of Jerom, That Job long before the coming of the Messiah, spoke as clearly of Him, as they that Liv'd after His Coming. Holy Job was no Stranger to that Illustrious pro­mise, Gen. 3. 15. The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents Head. And he un­derstood, That God would one Day be Manifest in Flesh, for the Redemption, of Sinful man, from the wretchedness that Sin had brought upon him. Of this Re­deemer, well might he say, He Lives! Our Lord-Messiah, as He was God, was Then Li­ving, and is the Ever-living; The Eternal God head of our Lord-Redeemer is asserted in saying, He Lives! and when in the Fulness of Time, He should become In­carnate, the Life He was then to have, might on many accounts be long before mentioned in the present Tense. Yea, it may be rendred, He is Life. An Intima­tion, He bestows Life upon us, and a Re­surrection from the Dead unto Everlasting [Page 147] Life, in His Redeeming of us. A Sense of this, is here proclaimed by our Job, not only to clear himself under Aspersion, but also to cheer himself under Affliction. And now Let us have it, while we hear this.

There are Two Wells of Salvation, to be now Set open before you, from whence, O ye Faithful, you may now Draw with Joy; yea, With joy unspeakable, and full of Glory!

1. We may undoubtedly Know, That our Lord JESUS CHRIST is the Redeem­er of His people. At the Nativity of our Lord, these were the Good Tidings of Great Joy, which the Angels of the Heavenly Host, brought unto us, Luk 2. 10. [...] you there is born a Saviour. So [...] is [...] Greek word used there; that [...] [Page 148] Ancient Romans, thought it could not be suf­ficiently translated into another Language. It a magnum ut Latino uno verbo Exprimi non­possit, saith Tully himself. Perhaps the word, Sospitator, may do. But no Hu­mane Language, nor indeed the Tongue of Angels can fully Express, what a Savi­our we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Title, and Office, which is in the Sa­cred Oracles assign'd unto our Lord Jesus Christ, is as that of The Saviour, so that of a like Importance, The Redeemer; Isa. 59. 20. The Redeemer shall come to Zion.

But the Notions of, A Redeemer, implied in the Hebrew Name here used by the Holy Spirit, have a peculiar Elegancy in them. The Name of Goel, is here assign­ed unto our Lord, and that Name signi­fies a Kinsman as well as a Redeemer; and one who Redeems both an Estate from Forfeiture, and a Person from Destructi­on, being obliged as a Kinsman to that act of Redemption; and One, that as a Kins­man pleads the Cause of another against his Enemies. We read, Lev. 25. 26. One of a poor mans Kindred▪ shall Redeem the Possession which he hath Sold And we read, Numb. 35. 19. The Revenger of Blood shall [Page 149] slay the Murderer of his Kinsman. Behold, the Intention of a Goel. Illustrious Myste­ries of the Gospel are propounded unto us, when this Name is put upon our Lord­Redeemer.

Know it, O ye Redeemed of the Lord; Know, first: That our Lord JESUS CHRIST is our near Kinsman: And in that Capacity indeed, it belongs unto Him, to recover our forfeited Inheritance. It was the Rule of old, Lev. 8. 7. Thou shalt not hide thy self from thy own Flesh. Truly, our Lord Jesus Christ, in being Born of a Woman, is become one of our own Flesh; and upon this Account, He showes pecu­liar Kindness unto us. In our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God is become the Son of Man; It now belongs unto Him, to be a Redeemer for us; It belongs unto Him, not only, Jure proprietatis, but also, Jure propinquitatis; Not only by vertue of the Interest He hath in us, but also by vertue of the Relation We hear to Him. No Stranger, no Angel could [...] us as our Lord JESUS CHRIST. [...] one of our own Family, does [...] said, Heb. 2. 11. [...] they that are Sanctified, are [...] [Page 150] it may be said, He that Redeemeth, and they that are Redeemed, are all of one. The Lord JESUS CHRIST looks upon every Believer, even the poorest and meanest Believer in the world; and says, as Laban to his Nephew Jacob, Gen. 29. 14 Surely, Thou art my Bone, and my Flesh. Yea, as Joseph said once unto his Brethren, I am Joseph your Brother, God hath Employed me to preserve you: thus does our Lord say unto us, I am Jesus, your Elder Brother, and God has appointed me to Redeem you. O Nature of man! How highly art thou dig­nified, in that the Son of the most High God has in thee become our Kinsman! Christians, What a marvellous Encourage­ment have we in this Thing, That we have a Kinsman who is the Son of God! A man who Lies in the bosome of God! A man who is dearer to God than all the works of His Hands! A man who is one person with the Eternal Son of God! And this Man, a Kinsman to us Worms of the Dust! O our Glorious Kinsman, canst thou find in thy heart to see us wretched, and not look down for our Succou [...]! Certainly, Our Kinsman cannot see us Miserable, but He will do what He can, & what can He [Page 151] not do? to rescue us from our Miseries!

Know, Next; That our Lord JESUS CHRIST hath paid the price of our Re­demption, from the Enemies of our Souls. We had all of us made our selves Prisoners; Prisoners we were too in an horrible Gaol that was on a light Fire over us. The Doom which we were continually wait­ing for, was that, Ezek. 18. 4. The Soul that Sins, it shall Dy. The dreadful Ju­stice of God, had put us over into the Hands of terrible Destroyers; a Destructi­on from God, which might justly be a Terrour unto unto us, was going to be inflicted on us, by their Hands. There was no way for us to escape it, but by Laying down a price, which might make a Compensation for the wrong done by our Sin unto the Infinite GOD There needed a price, to buy off our Obligati­ons, to suffer the vengeance of Heaven, and to repair those Apprehensions of a Righteous and Holy God Engraved on the minds of men, which we had gone to deface. Now we are informed, I Cor. 6. 20. We are bought with a price. But, what and whose was the price of Re­demption thus paid for us? We are in­formed, I Pet. 1. 18. Ye are Redeemed with [Page 152] the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are informed, Tit. 2. 14. Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, that He might Redeem us.

Know Thirdly; That our Lord JESUS CHRIST, by His Mighty Power does pro­secute, and accomplish our Redemption from the reach of those Enemies. Not only the Merit, of our Lord, is tendered for our Redemption, but the Spirit, the Vertue, the Power of our Lord, is used, for the Application of the Redemption. We read, Col. 2. 15. He hath spoiled Powers. Our Lord Redeemer, hath, like an Illustrious Conqueror, come into the black Territo­ries, where the Powers of Darkness held us in Chains of Darkness; Whereupon there follows, A Liberty, a Liberty for the Cap­tives, an Opening of the Prison doors for them that were bound. By the powerful Influ­ences of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Fet­ters of Sin, upon the Wills of the Elect are taken off; they are brought out of the Unbelief, wherein they were Shut up: there [...] Faith wrought in their Hearts, by which they are made the actual partakers of Re­demption; & so they are turned from Dark­ness to Light, and from Satan to God, By [Page 153] the Conversion of Sinners, in the Day of our Lords Power Exerted for them, there comes to pass that astonishing Things Isa 49. 24 The prey is taken from the mighty, and the lawful Captive is delivered. The Power of our Lord Jesus Christ, is put forth, to bring the Redeemed, out of their forlorn Estate, their thraldome in Sin, their Bon­dage to Satan, their Lying under the Curse; tis done. in Converting them to God.

Know, Fourthly, That our Lord JESUS CHRIST, accomplishing of our Redempti­on, does also Revenge our Cause upon our Enemies. Our Lord most Emphatically does the part of a Redeemer for us, in Re­venging the mischiefs, which have been done to our Souls, by our mischievous Ad­versaries. Have our Souls been murdered by Sin? O Sin, our Lord Jesus Christ will take a thorough Revenge upon thee. Sin that has been our Death, does it self undergo Death, by the Blood and Grace of our Lord Redeemer. We read this; Rom 6. 6. Knowing this, that the Old man is Crucifyed with Him, that the Body of Sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve Sin. And shall Satan escape? Satan, who hath deceived us, enslaved us, [Page 154] ruined us! No. Satan, thou shalt not e­scape the Revenge of our Great Lord Re­deemer. We read this: Heb 2. 14. He hath destroyed him that had the power of Death, that is the Devil; and delivered us. O [...] Faithful, who graciously and gene­rously Forgive all your other Enemies, why do we hear you crying with no more Fervency unto your Glorious Kins­man, Revenge. Revenge! O my Redeemer! Take a Revenge on the Enemies that have shed the Blood of my Soul!

Know Fifthly; That at and by a Bles­sed Resurrection from the Dead, our Lord JESUS CHRIST will bestow upon us a full Redemption from all Evils and Enemies. What means our Job, when he says, I know my Redeemer? He means, I know, that the Messiah will Raise me from the Dead at the latter Day, tho' my Reins be consumed within me, and I know, that at the Resurrection. I shall be fully Redeemed from all that may be grievous to me Indeed, a considerable Degree of Redemption is gain'd by the Saint at his Death. A Redemption from a world of Evil, is received by the immor­tal Soul of the Saint, at its leaving of the world. Hence we read concerning the [Page 155] Separate Soul of the Saint, at the Time when his Heirs are dividing his Earthly Possessions among them; Psal. 25. 13 His Soul shall lodge with the Good One [even with the Living Redeemer,] while his Seed shall inherit the Earth. But yet we come not unto our Full Redemption, until Soul and Body be Re-united at the Resurrection from the Dead. This we know, That the Resurrection is peculiarly called, [Eph. 4. 30. and Rom. 8. 23. and Luk. 21. 28.] The Redemption. Accordingly,

At the Resurrection from the Dead, our Lord Jesus Christ will Redeem us, from all Sin for ever. Sin, Ah, Sin, Tis the worst Pit that ever we fell into. We are now Redeemed from the Guilt of Sin. 'Tis said, Eph. 1. 7. We have Redemption through His Blood, the Forgiveness of Sins. We no soo­ner Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but we are compleatly Redeemed from the Sentence of Death, which had been pass'd upon us; and there [...] no Condemnation unto us. But alas, [...] are still Remain­ders of Sin cleaving unto us: After our Sin is pardoned, we are yet still so attend­ed with Sin, as to distress us, and abase us, and the Body of Death, makes us even [Page 156] weary of our Life. No men are so Full of Sin, as they that boast themselves to be Free from Sin. At the Resurrection of the Body, we shall receive a perfect Redempti­on, from all Corruption. There will be no Sin to Reign in our mortal Body, when our Body shall be, as then it shall, Immortalized. We shall then stand, not only without Guilt, but also without Fault, before the Throne of God; and we shall be presented Faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding Joy. All our Lusts which now war against our Souls; all the Seeds of Sin in us; All our sinful Dispositions and In­clinations, will then be utterly extirpated out of our Souls.

And at the Resurrection from the Dead, our Lord Jesus Christ will Redeem us from all Temptations, from all Afflictions, from all that may be Uneasy to us. We are now, drowned in Tears, on many. Mournful Oc­casions; but we shall then Enjoy a Re­demption, wherein, Rev. 7. 16. God shall wipe away all Tears from our Eyes. The Devils are now Annoying and Buffeting of us, with all sorts of Temptations: but Satan will be bound, when our Lord Redeemer shall Descend and Return unto us. The [Page 157] Devils of Hell will never be found in that City of God, that shall then come down from Heaven. And we shall then be out of reach unto all their Instruments. Nor will any Afflictions then betide us; there will be no Briars and Thorns in the World of our Lord Redeemer, the Second Adam. We shall suffer no Poverty, but we shall Inhabit a City, whereof the Streets are pure Gold. We shall suffer no Malady, but we shall have the Sun of Righteousness full shining upon us, with Healing in His Wings. We shall not walk in any Darkness, but we shall be lodg'd where there shall be no Night, nor shall they need the Light of the Sun, for the Lord God gives them light. In­deed, in this World, we meet with Num­berless and continual Troubles; and the nearer our life i [...] to the Grave, the fuller our Souls are of Troubles. Even, Man that is born of a Woman, or the better sort of men, who are the Seed of the Woman, opposed un­to the Seed of the Serpent; They that lay hold on the great Promise unto the First Woman, about Him, who is most eminent­ly, The Seed of the Woman, and that imitate the Faith of that famous and holy Woman: These are full of Trouble, in their few dayes. [Page 158] But then, we shall never have any thing to Trouble us, World without end.

Finally; At the Resurrection from the Dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, will fully Re­deem us from the Grave, and from the Do­minion of Death over us in the Grave. Our Song may be that; Psal. 49. 15. God will Redeem my Soul, from the power of the Grave. Death is an horrible Devourer. Sin has betray'd all mankind into the Hands of that horrible Devourer. The Grave is the Den, where the Devourer layes up his prey. This Devourer is our Last Enemy. But we have a Redeemer, who will rescue us from the Hands of the Devouring Enemy. He will do it, at the Resurrection from the Dead. In that notable Day of God, we shall be fetched out of the Chambers of Death, and no longer ly in the Jaws of the Dragon, which keeps men all their Life time in Bon­dage, for fear of him. We shall shake off all the Fetters of Death and mount up with Eagles Wings; and no longer ly Captives in the Country of Moles, and Worms, and Pismires: and where the Sun shines not. We shall be Redeemed from the Hand of the Ene­my, and gathered out of the Lands on all points of the Compass, and carried into a [Page 159] City of Habitation. Oh, Let men praise the Lord for that Goodness, and for such wonderful works to the Children of men. We will do it; Joyn with me, my Brethren. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, who Redeems thy Life thus from Destruction, in the Day when thy Youth shall be Renewed, and thou shalt become like unto the Eagles.

Christians, We are to Know all this when we say, I know that there is a Redeemer.

II. We may infallibly Know, That this our Lord Redeemer Lives

There are Two Natures in the Person of our Lord Redeemer; and with Respect unto both of them, we may say, He Lives.

First; Our Lord Jesus Christ is GOD; and thus, tis one of His Attributes, He Lives for ever and ever. Immortality is one of His Perfections: He is from Everlasting to Everlasting. The Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Belief of every True Believer. That man is at best but a Bastard Christian, who denies the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord were no Sufficient Re­deemer for us, i [...] He were not very GOD. None but a GOD, can Redeem a Soul, or Give to God a Ransom for it. The Name [Page 160] of JEHOVAH is given to our Lord JE­SUS CHRIST, all the Bible over; A Name Incommunicable to any but GOD▪ and a Name which implies, That He is the Everliving God, the Ever Being one. The Doxology of Him, was that, Rom. 9. 5. He is over all, God Blessed for ever. We may so carry it on; We have a Redeemer, who is over all, God Living for ever.

Secondly; Our Lord Jesus Christ is MAN. Indeed this man was Crucified and Murdered; and He was in Hades or the State of the Dead, for part of Three Dayes and Nights. But what is He, and where is He now? He Lives. If we now look for our great Redeemer in His Grave, we shall soon be advised, as they were, Luk 24. 6. He is not here, He is Rison Yea, our Lord, being Received up into Glory, Writes a Letter from Heaven to His Church on Earth, with this Advice; Rev. 1. 18 I am He that Lives; tho' I was Dead, behold, I am Alive now for ever more. Tis a remarkable passage, that fellows upon our Text: He [...] stand at the last upon the Earth An horrible Ba [...]el between the Messiah, and the Serpent, is foretold in the Third Chapter of Genesis. The Earth was to be the Field [Page 161] of this Battel. In the Battel, the Messiah has His Heel bruised, or His Humanity, that of Him which was next unto the Earth, became ob­noxious to the stroke of Mortality. But the Serpent is over-come; the Messiah over-comes him, and stands at the last upon the Earth, with Satan bruised under His Feet. That standing of our Lord-Redeemer at the last upon the Earth, is fulfilled in H is Rising from the Dead. Holy Job, Didst thou then Expect, like thy Messiah to be at the last victorious? The Hint is very curious. But,

The Resurrection of our L ord Redeemer is a [...]hing acknowledged by us, when we say, My Redeemer Lives. And the Life of Christianity it self mightily turns upon this Acknowledgment. There can be nothing more Serviceable to Christianity, than to see, The Resurrection (and so, the Life,) of Jesus Christ, on whom we rely to be un­to us, The Resurrection & Life, thoroughly demonstrated Shall we then endeavour the Demonstration of it? The Case before us is, How do we know that our Redeemer Lives? That man is no Christian, who can't prove it unto his own Satisfaction, and therein Give a Reason of the Hope that i [...] in him. Give Attention, O ye Profes­sors [Page 162] of the Christian Religion, Give At­tention to the chief, but brief, Heads of the proof, That our Redeemer Lives.

First, The Disciples of our L ord Redeem­er were Witnesses, and they are very credi­ble and sufficient Witnesses, of His Resurre­ction to Life. Our Lord having foretold. That in Three Dayes after His Death, He would Rise from the Dead, this was a thing that stuck in the Stomachs of His Murde­rers. For this cause we find, Mat. 27 65, 66. Pilate said unto them, ye have a Watch, go your way, make the Sepulchre as sure as you can. So they went, and made the Sepulchre sure, [...]aling the Stone, and setting a Watch, Now, we are very certain, That the Disci­ples of our Lord came, and found the Stone rolled away from His Grave, & His Grave without any thing but His Linnen remaining in it This was a Matter of [...]ct, so notorious, th [...] the Evangelists would never have written it if it could have been capable of meeting with any contradiction. In­deed, the Rulers of the Jews hired the Watch to say, His Disciples came by Night, and Stole Him away while we Slept. But is that Story credible? Is it credible, that the men who had been such Cowards as to [Page 163] Desert their Dying Master, would have the Courage to attempt an armed and zealous Watch placed upon Him, when He was Dead? Is it credible, That a Great Sons could be rolled away, and the Watch about it not be waked? Why was not the Watch punished for their Negligence in a business of this vast Importance, if their Superiours were not now conscious of a Forgery with them? It is credible, That if the Disciples had Stole away the Body of our Lord, they would have staid carefully and handsomely to leave His Linnen behind them? Finally, Let this Idle Tale of the Watch be defend­ed, if it can, from the Dilemma, that Austin put upon it; Either they said False, when they said, They Slept; and then, who would believe such Lyars in the rest of what they said? Or else t'was True, that they Slept; and then, how could they tell the rest of what they said? Stulta Insania! Si vigilabas, quare permisisti? Si dormiebas, unde Scisti? No, No; Our Lord being Risen out of His Grave, He appeared unto His disciples, Who were witnesses chosen be­fore of God, and did Eat and Drink with Him, after He Rose from the Dead. An un­holy World was now altogether unfit for [Page 164] the Sight of Him! In these Apparitions, our Lord Exhibited Himself unto His Dis­ciples, no less than Ten several Times, and unto no less than Five Hundred at one Time. In these Apparitions, they Saw Him, they Heard Him, they Felt Him; and they convinced all their Senses, that it was not a Spectre which now imposed on them. They had, Acts 1. 3. Many infallible proofs! This Thing, these Disciples testified unto all the World; and the World had Argu­ments enough to make their Testimony cre­dible. The Disciples could not be Deceiv­ed; for God had endued them with so much Capacity, that it puzzled and Non­plust the greatest Wit [...]s in their Nation to Encounter them. And the Disciples would not be Deceivers. If they had found them­selves cheated by the Promises which our Lord had given them of His Rising again, would they have Preached Him any more? No, they would have Hated Him, as an Imposter, with a most inexpressible Indigna­tion. Had they been Deceivers, they had been the worst men that ever brea [...]hed; yea, rather Devils than Men. But you will find, that they were Eminent Saints of God. They could not be the Servants of [Page 165] the Devil: for the Devils Kingdom suffered more from these men, than ever from any men under Heaven. The Devil could ne­ver have put it into the Hearts of those men, to oppose and confound and ruine all his Interests among the Children of men. Had the Disciples been Deceivers, they must have propounded some likely Benefit unto themselves; A Sum of Money was given to Numerius Atticus, for Swearing that he saw the Deceased Augustus fly up into Heaven. But what Benefit could these men propound, Except Reproach, Wants, Fears, and horrible Torments, and all the Horrors of a bloody Death, be a Benefit! It was impossible for the Disciples to go forth publishing the Resurrection of our Lord▪ Redeemer, without a great Faith in God, for the Success of their Ministry. But the Hearts of Deceivers could never have had such a Faith!

Secondly; And yet we have a far greater Witness than any of the Disciples▪ unto our Lords Resurrection to Life; The Spirit of the most High God, has most in­contestably Witnessed it.

The Disciples that were the Witnesses of our Lords Resurrection, had those wonderful [Page 166] Favours of Heaven vouchsafed unto them in and for their being so, which could pro­ceed from none but the Holy Spirit of God. Extraordinary Gifts were bestow'd on the Witnesses of our Lords Resurrecti­on. They were mostly Illiterate men; but they were suddenly Endued with such Qualifications, as could be had from none but that God, who is the Father of Lights. They could speak Languages which they had never Learnt before. And they were able to manage their Sacred Cause of a Risen and Living Re­deemer, with such wisdom, that the most Rational men Living were amazed at it. Extraordinary Works were performed by them. They did most Surprizing Miracles, even to the Raising of the Dead; and they did them all in the Name of a Risen and Living Redeemer. Their Success could be from none but God. The World was debauched with all pos­sible Enmity against their Doctrine. They were contemned Jews, and contemned and maligned by none more than the Jews. They used no Artifice, but the plain Preaching of a Risen, and Living Redeemer. Yet they carried the World [Page 167] before them. Chr [...]ostom says well; It was as if Twelve Naked, Feeble, Un­skilful Men, should set upon an huge Army of Tall and Strong Men, with all the accoutrements of War upon them, and in the midst of this Army, deal their blows about them, till they had vanquish­ed it. This was the Finger of God! But most of all; The Sanctifying Effect, with the Faith of our Living Redeemer has upon the Hearts and Lives of all that heartily believe it; this can proceed from none but the Holy Spirit of God; and therefore we know it can be no Error to believe it. A True Faith in our Living Redeemer; Oh, it marvellously raises men from their Satanick Darkness and Madness; it gives a new Nature, a right biass to their Wills; it makes the Sin which was once their Delight, become their heaviest burthen, and it makes their chief Delight now to Glorify God with all Obedience: it reco­vers their Souls to an excellent order; it makes them Good, it makes them Love to Do Good; it inclines them to all the things that are Holy, and Just, and Good. None but the Spirit of God could be the Author of such a Change on the vitiated minds of [Page 168] men. Tis by the Faith of our Living Re­deemer, that He thus Changes us from Glory to Glory Hence, 'tis no Lye, to say, My Redeemer Lives.

But it is time for us, to make a practi­cal Improvement of these Things. A Double Exhortation, that it now to speak unto us, may teach us to Improve them.

The Loss of a Desirable Relative, Lamented and Improved.
Preached 6 d. 10. m. 1702 the Lords-Day after the Death of my Lovely Consort.

I Am this Day my self a sad Commen­tary upon my Text. The Holy God hath, in my Deadly Calamity, given you its Lively Commentary. Your Eyes do behold, What it is for the God of Heaven, to take away from a Son of Man the Desire of his Eyes with a Stroks.

That one of so little Use or Worth as I am, and one who-hath so much deserv­ed the Displeasure of Heaven, should feel such a Stroke from God, no body may wonder at it. But why must such an E­minent Man of God, as the Prophet Ezeki­el, be thus dealt withal? The Blessed God [Page 192] would not only Try the vertue of His Holy Servant, but also make the Trial of the Prophet, a thing Prophetical of what was to come upon all the People. It is often so, that the things befalling of one Considerable person, who hath been much concerned for the Welfare of a people, are Ominous of what is to befal all the people for whom he hath been concern­ed. The Case of David, in the Fifty first Psalm; the Fate of Miriam, in her Le­prosy and Exclusion; & many more such Things, were Types of what was to befal the Israelitish Nation. The Angels of the Seven Churches, had in their Condition, that of their Churches. Tho' this Mini­ster of God, our Ezekiel, was a most un­sported Liver, and a most excellent Preach­er, and his Hearers would also confess him to be so, yet he had Enemies among them: Heaven took Notice of it, with much of­fence at it. Son of Man, The Children of thy people are still talking against thee. It may be, some of these would be so malignant, as to Rejoice in the Affliction that now be­fel him. Rejoyce not against me, O mine Enemies, (might our Prophet now say;) for the Affliction upon my Family, is but a sign [Page 193] of a greater Confusion to come upon the Pub­lick When God was going to cast off a people, whom He had once Espoused and Married unto Himself, He does by Death cut off the happy Marriage, which there had been between His Prophet & a Daugh­ter of Israel. When God was going to deprive the people of the Dear Enjoyments, which their Hearts were most of all set up­on. He takes away from His Prophet the Dearest Thing he had in the world. And, because the Judgments coming upon that people, would be such, that they should not have liberty to Mourn with due Com­passion and Solemnity for one another, therefore the Lord forbids now unto His Prophet, the solemn Rites of Mourning, which else on this mournful Occasion had been proper for him. Thus Ezekiel, is un­to you a Sign, saith the Lord.

We have in the words before us, the preparation for this grievous [...]

There is, First, A Commination to the Prophet. The Thing threatned unto him is, A Death; and as distressing a Death as could have come upon him; his own Death would not have been more uneasy.

The Subject of the Death here threatned, [Page 194] is, The Desire of his Eyes; That is to say, His Wife; who it seems, was a very Love­ly person, and a person whom he Loved very much to Look upon: His Eyes, He thought, could not be charm'd with a more Desirable Creature.

The manner of the Death here threatned is, With a Stroke; That is to say, very sud­denly. She did not Ly Languishing for many months; he had not opportunity by long Languishments upon her, to fortify his mind against the Loss that was now to be­fal him Some quick Disaster snatch'd away from him, the brightest Jewel he had in his House; [...] had but Short warning of the sore Trouble that was now coming upon him: She Died that very Night. A [...] indeed! But unto him, rather than her.

But, then, there is a Compellation of the Prophet. Son of M [...]n A Title rear one hundred times over address'd unto him. For a, Son of Man, to have the amiable Companion of his Life torn from him, Oh! Tis a Sorrowful Thing! He must be more than a man, (or, worse than a Bruit!) who feels not more than ordinary Sorrows upon it. He, and his rare contemporary Daniel, were admitted unto an astonishing [Page 195] Familiarity with the Angels of God: The Angels of Heaven flew down to them in their Studies, and ravished them with Sen­sible and most Heavenly Communications. Now, Lest they should forget themselves to be Feeble men, and that they might not for­get to be Humble Men, the Angels that fa­voured them with their Visits, would still use that Style, Son of Man! Son of Man! Accordingly, we find them at the very mention of that word, sometimes fal­ling down into the Dust, before the glorious Angels of the Lord. The Angels of God would have this brave man feel, That he was but a Son of Man; And surely, there would soon arrive Mortifications enough in that one point, I take away the Desire of thine Eyes with a Stroke, to convince him of his being so.

But Heaven does now call me to Treat upon this uneasy.

These things are now to be observed

[Page 196] I. The Children of men are sometimes Blessed with such Desirable Relatives, as may be very justly called, The Desire of their Eyes. The Blessed God makes a various Distribution of His Blessings among the Children of men. But not the least of those Blessings are Enwrapped in the Rela­tions which the Children of men bear to one another. Inasmuch as we are the Children of men, we are in divers respects Related unto one another; & the All wise Maker and Ruler of the World has made a manifold provision for our mutual Com­fort, in those Relations.

Now, 'tis a Special Favour of God, gran­ted unto some, among the Children of men, that Relatives can take much Delight in one another. Indeed sometimes 'tis other wise; and it is a fearful Curse upon the Children of men when 'tis otherwise. Re­latives there are, who have no Desire, but rather a Distaste of one another; so little do they Desire, that they can't Endure one another. Their Persons their Tempers, their Manners make them so Disagreeable to one another, that they do not Love, but Loath each other. It is not altogether unusual in this [...] world, that Relatives are not [Page 197] only Weary of each other, but also make each other weary of the World Thus the Lady of old, made that complaint about her Daughters in Law; Gen 27 46. I am weary of my Life because of them. Never­theless, there are many Instances of that Compassion in our Good God upon the un worthy Children of men; That Relatives are made highly Desirable and Agreeable to one another.

And it is especially thus in the Conju­gal Relation. The God of Love some­times Disposes them, whom He has made Consorts in the Conjugal Relation, greatly to love and prize one another. The Consorts are to each other, the Desire of their Eyes; & they so Love each other, that they Love to be as much as may be in the Sight of each other. About the one of these Relatives, tis said, Prov. 18. 22. He that findeth it, find­eth a Good Thing, and obtaineth Favour of the Lord. And that is the opinion which both of them have of each other: This is a Good and a Great Gift of God unto me! Highly fa­voured of God was I, in His Giving of it. It may be, before they were first Acquain­ted, they humbly Cried unto God, that He would Choose for them, what [...] [Page 198] they should Live withal; and God so an­swers those prayers and cries, that every Day afterwards, as long as they Live to­gether, they give Thanks unto God for gi­ving them to Live together. They Live together, like Abraham and Sarah; Like Isa­ac and Rebeckah; like Jacob and [...] They Live together in [...] Happiness, that they could freely Dy for one another; and when either of them does Dy, it gives a thousand Deaths to the Surviver. They set a mighty value upon one another; the Satisfaction which they take in one another is inexpressible. The Husband is of great Esteem in the Eyes of his Wife. She loves to See him, and much more, loves to please him. Such a Cover­ing of the Eyes he is unto her, that all the men upon Earth, are nothing in her Eyes, in comparison of him. And she will no more look upon another, than the Wise of Tigranes, who after the Wedding of Cyrus, whom every one did commer [...]d as the ra­rest person in the Company, being asked by her Husband, What she thought of him! answered, In truth, I look'd at no body there, but you, my Husband. But her Esteem for him, is like that in the Wife of Phocion. [Page 199] who, when a Lady had shown her Trea­sures and Jewels unto her, by way of Re­quital only show'd her Phocion, saying, All my Treasures and Jewels are in him! The Wife is of as great Esteem in the Eyes of her Husband. He Loves her, & her Love; and rejoyces in his Loving Hind and his plea­sant Roe He had rather lose all his Posses­sions, than suffer the loss of One whom God had thus Enriched him withal. He can scarce relish any thing, if his Eyes have not her also before him. If by Death she Leave him, he can it may be say, as one once of his Lady Crescentia, She never grie­ved me but once, and that was by her Death! And he is ready to write upon all his o­ther Entertainments, the Motto writt'n up­on one of his, by a Worthy man among our selves, when he became a Widower; In Lugenda Compare, vitoe spacium compleat Orbus.

And the Affection which these Relatives have to each other, Sometimes is Raised unto the more of Rapture, upon the most Religious and Honourable Principles. When tis thus, I may use the Exclamation, which Tertullian of old, writing to his Consort, used about a Christian Marriage; Unde [Page 200] Suffician [...] ad Enarrandam foelicitatem Ejas Matri [...]onij! who can declare the Happiness of such a Marriage! Our Ezekiel was a Prophet as well as a Priest, and a man full of God and Christ and Heaven; a man of a most Holy and Heavenly Character. He had the Glory of the Lord, and the Presence of His Angels, in his Eyes; And yet his Consort was, The Desire of his Eyes. And yet! Said I? Nay, rather let me say, There­fore she was so. Breeding will do very much to. Endear Consorts unto one another; But Vertue will do more. The Filthy Papists decry the Married State, as if it were a very Polluted State, and inconsistent with the most Consummate Sanctity. But the Bible calls them, Dogs for it; and it is well known that Insandous Abominations at the same time are continually perpetrated by those Impious Dogs. The Nazarites that were, Purer than Snow, whiter than Milk, & brighter than Pearl, by their Vow of Holiness did not become Defiled by being Married. The Married Society was well called by Paph [...] ­tius of old, An Holy Chastity. The Holy Martyr Bradford, whom they have some­times well styled, An Angel of God, when there was talk of hope that he might be [Page 201] delivered out of Prison, being asked, what he would do upon his Deliverance, answer­ed, He would Marry. What an Heavenly man was Enoch the Seventh from Adam? A man so full of Heaven, that God would never let him Dy, but would fetch him a­way to Heaven both Body and Spirit, with­out putting him to the Trouble of under­going a Separation of Body & Spirit. And yet this Walker of God was a Married man, and had both Sons and Daughters. It may be, there never were two men, more full of Grace and Heaven, than Moses & Isaiah: They both of them were taken into Hea­ven before they dyed; and Saw the Son of God with His Angels about Him, in His Glory there. And yet these were Married men. The Solace of the Married State, is mightily advanced by the Christian Religion. The more of Christianity there is in any man, the more of Honour and Value he is ready to put upon the Desire of his Eyes, and the more will he Desire to render him­self on all accounts a Blessing unto her. So far is the Married State from hurting of an Heavenly Mind, that the more Heavenly Mind there is in any a man, the more Ten­derness he has for her that is the Disire of [Page 202] his Eyes. The Thoughts of such a man are, My Lord JESUS CHRIST has hidden me to Love this dear Creature with all possible Tenderness; and the more I Love her, the more shall I exhibit the Kindness which the Lord Jesus Christ has for his Church. By well treating her, who is to be the Desire of my Eyes, I shall adorn the Doctrine of God my Sa­viour, and make His Religion appear the more. Lovely in the Eyes of my Neighbours. Such Thoughts do Ennoble the Married Conver­sation of them that would Eminently ap­prove themselves the Children of God, as well as the Children of men. And the Beastly Satyrs against Marriage which affront the Sober part of mankind, in many Printed Pamphlets, have a most noble Confutation in that Conversation.

But I am now call'd off, to a more Me­lancholy Proposition.

II. Very Desireable Relatives may be, yea, shall be, taken away from one another; And the more they have been the Desire of our Eyes, perhaps the sooner they must be taken from us. What are Earthly Com­forts? Truely, very Short Lived Comforts. We read, 1 Chron. 29. 15. Our Dayes on the Earth are as a Shadow, and there is none abid­ing. [Page 203] Relatives that would gladly Live to­gether, and unto whom it is a Death to think of Parting must in a Little while be p [...]rted by Death Let Relatives be never so strongly Engaged unto one another, it won't be long before Death brings a terrible Dissolution upon all their Engagements. Their Love may be Strong as Death; yet Strong Death will Dissolve all the Ties of it. Are there any Relatives, which are unto us, The Desire of our Eyes? It won't be long before they take that long Farewel of us; Job 7. 8 The Eye of him that hath seen me, shall see me no more. A Time will come, when one shall say with her, 2 King. 4 1. My Husband is Dead. A Time will come, when another shall say with him, Gen. 23. 4. I must bury my Dead, out of my Sight.

Our Ezekiel was doubtless, very much a Favourite of God; and, no doubt, he made the most fervent Intercessions to God, for the Sparing of the Dearly Beloved of his Soul: But it might not he granted. That Servant of God, had his Heart exceeding­ly set upon the Glorifying of the Lord. He had already Glorified God, first in a Single State, and then in a Married [...] and now the Lord must be Glorified by him, in an holy Widowhood.

[Page 204] Sometimes when a Sentence of Death is passed upon our Desireable Relatives, we may by Prayer and Faith obtain a short Re­prieve. The Relatives may be Prayer and Faith, be rescued from the Jaws of Death, one time after another; until the Lord shall say unto us; Now be content; I have granted as long as I see convenient: Say no more: Be willing to take up with Spiritual and Eternal Blessings, and with what I shall order for thee: what I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. And when our Hearts are perhaps thus fitted for it, Son of man, Behold, the Lord now takes away the Desire of thine Eyes with a Stroke. Though we bring the Desire of our Eyes unto the Lord, with never such a Fountain of Tears in our Eyes, and spread the Desire of our Souls with never such Importunity before Him, for the continuance of it; yet it must, when God sees meet, be taken away, Death will first or last, accomplish that Lamentable Thing; [...] 2 4. He slow all the Desirea­ble of the Eye, in the Tabernacle of the Daugh­ter of Zion.

Yea, Sometimes Desireable Relatives must be taken from us, for this very reason; Because we too much make them, The Desire [Page 205] of our Eyes. When our Hearts are inordi­nately set upon any thing, we pay for our Inordinateness, by our having that Thing Taken from us. It is many wayes necessary and profitable, for the Disciples of Him who dyed upon the Cross, to be often under the Cross. And a man may make a shrowd Guess, What Cross he is most likely to meet withal, from this Token; What is the point which is most of all Desireable in the Eyes of the man, and which be is most lot be to be crossed in? There There, most probably, must the man be most severely Afflicted. Thus, when a man loses the Desire of His Eyes, or any very Desireable Relative, he may often say with him: Job 3. 25. The Thing which I greatly feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of, is come unto me.

But whence comes it? Let a Third Pro­position answer That.

III. When Desireable Relatives are taken away from us, tis God that has taken them. We must have the Providence of God in our Eyes, when the Desire of our Eyes is taken away from us. Our Eyes must not be so put out, by our having the Desire of our Eyes taken away, that we shall not see the Hand of God in all that befalls us. There is the [Page 206] Providence of God, ordering and inflicting all the Afflictions, that befall the Children of men. As it was said, Amos 3. 6 Shall there be Evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? So we may say, Shall there be Evil in a Family, and it not be the Lords doing? To have Desireable Relatives taken away, is an Affliction of so much Consequence, that we had need think seriously, What Hand is it that Layes this Affliction upon us? Oh, Let us awfully think with our selves, I have to do with God, in this Dispensation. There is nothing to be ascribed unto Hap, & Chance, and Fortune; Tis blind Paganism, to see no further than such a blind Original, for the loss of Desireable Relatives. Nor must we consider Diseases, or Accidents, as being in any higher Form, than that of Second Cau­ses. God the Great GOD, is to be consi­dered, as the First Cause of all. When any of our Desireable Relatives are taken away, we must say with him, Job 1. 21. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. It is a vile Stupidity and Profanity, to be insensi­ble of a Divine Hand, Ordering, Disposing, Directing our loss of Desireable Relatives, when it comes upon us. When our Fami­lies are wounded, by having Desireable Re­latives taken out of them, if we Regard not [Page 207] the works of the Lord, not the Operation of His Hands, we may fear, that He will go on in wounding of us; yea, that He will destroy us, and not build us up.

IV. And now, a Fourth Proposition comes to challenge a Share in my Discourse; which would have been, That when Desi­reable Relatives are taken away, there is a dreadful Stroke of God upon us, in the Taking of them. But my best way of Speaking to this Proposition, will be only to lay, That I am not at present well able to Speak to it; I do not yet know, all the Evil that is to be spoken to it. [Only I know what Pread in the Twelfth of Job, and the Fourteenth!] We will proceed therefore unto the

APPLICATION.

I. Are the Children of men sometimes bles­sed with Desireable Relatives? Tis then a Lamentable Thing, when Relatives do not Study to render themselves Desireable. When Relatives have no Desire, no Respect, no Honour for one another, they are very unhappy in one another. The Yoking of such Relatives, is almost as great an unhap­piness, as [...]he Torment invented by the Ty­ran, who fastned a Dead Body to a Living One, Relatives there are, who are not the [Page 208] Desire of the Eyes to those, unto whom they stand Related; But, the Terror of their Eyes, or, The contempt of their Eyes; a very Smoke in their Eyes, and an abominable Eye sore; or, as [...]is Expressed, 1 Sam. 2 33. To consume their Eyes, and Grieve their Hearts. A most Lamentable Thing! When Relatives are so Little Desired, that they are taken away from each other, without being much La­mented. We read of such an one; 2 Chro. 21. 20. He departed, without being Desired.

It is a Lamentable Thing, When Parents are so fierce, and harsh, or foolish, that the Children can have no Desire to appear in their presence. And it is a Lamentable Thing, when Children are so graceless and wicked, that the Parents have no Desire to have them appear before them.

It is a Lamentable Thing, when Brethren and Sisters, are of such Ill Qualities, that they don't care to see one another.

It is a Lamentable Thing, when Rulers are not such as People can Desire; but such Roaring Lions and Ranging Bears, that they would rejoyce to be [...] of them. And it is a Lamentable Thing, when People are so unreasonably hard to please, that the Ru­lers, or any man of sense, would say, They [Page 209] had rathar have the Government of Wild Creatures committed unto them.

We read concerning a Renowned Mi­nister of God; Dan. 9. 23. He was a man of Desires; a very Desirable man. It is a La­mentable Thing, when Ministers are so Ig­norant, or so Negligent, or so Criminal, that their Hearers have no Cause to Desire their Ministry; but wish, they would Lay down. And it is a Lamentable Thing, when Hearers are so Captious, or so ungrateful that the Ministers have no cause to Desire to have any thing to do with them.

It is most of all to be Lamented, when Consorts cannot make a Consort, but cease to be Desirable unto one another. Let all such Relatives, the most nearly Related of any under Heaven, beware of every thing that may reader them unacceptable unto one a­nother; and beware of all Tendencies or Temptations to weariness of one another. It is required. Eph. 5. 23 Let every one of you in particular, so Love his Wife even at himself, and the Wife see that she Reverence her Hus­band. Let the Fear of God cause you, to oblige one another, with all suitable Expres­sions of Goodness and Kindness; and set the Fear of God fill you with Love to one ano­ther. [Page 210] Oh, let there be nothing in your Conduct, but what shall be an Emblem of the Goodness and Kindness, that passes be­tween the Lord Jesus Christ & His Church.

II. Must very Desirable Relatives be Ta­ken from one another? It becomes Rela­tives then, to Live together, as not being Al­ways to Live together. When we have any Desire of our Eyes before us, Let us hear that Admonition from Heaven unto us; Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou set thine Eyes upon that which is not! For these things certainly make them­selves wings they fly away as an Eagle towards Heaven. The Desirable Relatives, whose Conversation with us, is the very Salt of our Lives, and without whom Life it self is hardly to be Desired. Let us Remember, That e're Long, either we shall be Taken from them, or They be Taken from us. In the midst of all our Entertainments, with our Desirable Relatives, Oh, Remember the Dayes of Darkness, and think, Shortly we must part. It would not have been the Ancient Custome, to introduce a Deaths Head at a Wedding Feast, if such Thoughts were at all Impertinent or unprofitable, Oh, Let us Take heed of too violent Affections towards each other, lest we Hasten the par­ting [Page 211] Time upon us, and lest when the part­ing Time comes, we make it a Bitter one. Christians, Fortify your selves with a Spirit of Self Denial and Resignation, Mortify your Passions, that you may be ready for that which Mortality has to do upon you. Whole­some is that Advice; 1 Cor. 7. 29. This I say, Brethren, The Time is Short; It remains, that both they that have Wives, be as tho' they had none; and they that weep (suppose, at the Death of their Wives,) as tho' they wept not.

And, O my Hearers, Let this Meditation awaken you, so faithfully to discharge your Duty to each other, that at the Parting Time you may with Joy Reflect upon your Faith­fulness. Parents and Children, Masters and Servants, and all others, howsoever you be Related; call to mind, I beseech you, Tis but a Little Time that you have to be toge­ther; Oh, Improve this Little Time, to the best Advantage for Eternity, It is urged, Eccl. 9. 10. Whatsoever thy Hand finds to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work … in the Grave, whither thou goest. Have you nothing to do for the Souls of each other? Oh, Do it as well as you can, and as fast as you can; that so, a Little while hence, when you can do no more, you may make [Page 212] this Joyful Reflection, I have left nothing un­done, that was to be done, for the Good of the Friend, that is now to be taken away.

But most of all, may all Consorts attend this Lesson of Wisdom. Take heed of Griev­ing one another. A Sad Parting Time is at hand: but, I do assure you, it will very much abate the Sadness of it, if you may then say, I have Lovingly, Honestly, and un­faintingly done all the Service that I could, for the Relative that is now taken away. In a peculiar manner, we owe very much of Ser­vice, to the Souls of each other. It was said, 1 Cor. 7. 16 What knowest thou, O Wife, whether thou shalt save thy Husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy Wife? Thus, O Wife, hast thou nothing to do for the Salvation of thy Husband? or, O Man, for the Salvation of thy Wife? Oh, Do it out of Hand. Pray with one ano­ther, as well as for one another. Propound unto each other the Articles of the Covenant of Grace, and Assist each other in a Consent unto those Articles Forward each other in the Exercises or Piety, and Assist each other in your Endeavours at those Exercises. As it is in general, a true and a good observa­tion. They that would have the comfort of Re­lations, [Page 213] must be careful to do the Duty of them So, more particularly, I will freely say This unto my Hearers; It will be an unspeaka­ble Consolation unto a man, who has the Desire of his Eyes going from him, to hear his Desireable Relative saying unto him; I Bless God, that ever He gave me to you: Tis my acquaintance with you, and with your Pray­erful and Watchful and Holy Example, that has been the Salvation of my Soul. Oh! Live to­gether here, as the Heirs of Everlasting Life; and Resolving, if you can, to help each o­ther unto that Inheritance. Live together, as those that would meet each other short­ly in Heaven, and there be able to say unto each other, It was You that helped me hither!

III. Is it God, who takes away from us out Desireable Relatives? O Realize and Reverence the Hand of God, in such Be­reavements.

Tis a Season, wherein Desireable Relatives are taken away, from very many of our Neighbours. Many Eyes are Weeping, be­cause the Desire of those Eyes is taken away. But he that is tasting of the Cup given to the Prophet Ezekiel, has peculiar cause and call to attend unto the Admonitions of God.

[Page 214] First; It is the Hand of God, which takes away our Desireable Relatives; Oh, Patient­ly Resign them into that Hand. When the Prophet had the Desire of his Eyes Extin­guished, he received this order to Signalize his Patience; Thou shalt neither Mourn, nor Weep neither shall thy Tears run down. And that Holy & Patient Servant of God could say, My Wife dyed, and I did [...] I was com­manded. Whatever Evil we sustain in losing the Desire of our Eyes, yet considering what Hand it is, that sends that Evil upon us, it becomes us say, Job 2. 10. Shall we receive Good at the Hand of God (such a Good as we had in the Desire of our Eyes:) And shall we not Receive Evil? (such an E­vil, as the loss of that Good.) Those that were the Desire of our Eyes, and as the very Apple of our Eyes. Tis God that has taken then. [...] Say then with him, Psal. 39. 9. I was Dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst. [...] We never do more Honour the Blessed God, than by a Patient and Pro­found Submission unto His Will, in our Ad­versity. Behold, a Stroke of Adversity, wherein to be Submissive unto the will of God, Honours Him it may be more than all our Active Obedience! When a Servant [Page 215] of God sees the Desire of his Eyes taking Wing; for him then to kneel down by her, and take into his Hands that Hand which hath been dearer to him than all the World beside, and there with all possible Solemnity Resign unto the Lord, the Friend, for whole Life he would freely have given all he had in the World as a Ransome; and to hear her thereupon Saying to him, whom she preferr'd above the whole world, Sir, I Sign and Seal your Act of Resignation! Methinks, I see my Ezekiel doing so, in the black Day, when the great God said unto him, Son of man, Behold, I take away the De­sire of thine Eyes with a Stroke. Certainly, Tis no Dishonourable Testimony to the Glories of Christianity!

Remember, O Christians; our God is a Sovereign God. Were the Desire of our Eyes never so bright a Thing, t'was but a bright piece of Clay, and absolutely at the Dispose of the Eternal Potter. Our God is a Righ­teous God. When the Desire of our Eyes is ravished from us, Rivers of Tears may [...] down our Eyes for the Sins by which we forfeited it. Our God is an [...] God. Our Creator, our Saviour, Your com­forter is Infinite, and [...] [Page 216] Enjoy Him, when the finest Creature dyes. Tho' a Lovely Creature be Snatch'd from us, have we not a Lovely Jesus lest us for our Consolation? When the Desire of our Eyes is gone, we may still converse with Him, who should be the Desire of all Nati­ons. Why say we not now with him, Psal. 73 25. Lord, There is none upon Earth, that I desire besides thee? When David had lost the Desire of his Eyes, we read, He Encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Oh, Let this Encouragement make us very Patient; we still have the Lord for our God! In the Ma­rian Persecution, there was a Woman brought before the bloody Bishop of London, on the Score of the Gospel. He threatened her to take away her Husband from her; said the, Christ is my Husband. He threatned her to take away her Child from her; said she, Christ is better to me than ten Sons. He said, He would Strip her, of all her outward Comforts; Her answer was, But Christ is mine, and you cannot Strip me of Him. Ad­mirably Spoken! Let my Sex too, learn of that admirable Woman, how to Encourage our selves under the worst of our Bereave­ments.

Secondly; It is the Hand of God which [Page 217] takes away our Desireable Relatives: But let us Hear the Voice of God, in that work of His Hand. Oh, Hear the Rod; for there is a Voice in it.

The Voice of God unto us, in taking away the Desire of our Eyes is, Humble thy self under the mighty Hand of God. It is now, if ever, a Seaton for that Practice; Lam 3 40. Let us Search and Try our wayes, and Turn again un­to the Lord. Let us now, Search and Try, whe­ther the Just God have [...] Controversy with us. Now Search and Try, what may be the Sins, by which the Desire of our Eyes has been Confiscated. Search and Try, whether we did carry towards the Desire of our Eyes as we ought to do. Let this our Self Exa­mination issue in a deep Abhorrence of our selves, and a True Repentance of our Sins That, That is the Right Mourning, which is a Sorrowing to Repentance, and a being Sorry after a Godly manner. But now, by fresh Applications with Faith, to the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which cleanses from all Sin obtain the Pardon of all the Sins, whereof we do thus Repent. And, Oh, be very cautious of again calling into the Sins, or being like that man, of whom it is said, In the Time of His Distress, He Trespassed yet more against the Lord.

[Page 218] Another Voice of God unto us, is, Be­strongly convinced of Humane Weakness and Frailty We read it in the Divine Oracle, Psal. 103 15, 16. As for man, his Days are as Grass, as a Flower of the Field, so he flou­risheth: For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. Do we not now read it in our own Experience? When we see Beauty turn'd in­to Ashes, Loveliness become Loathsomeness, the Greatest Charms become a prey to Worms, and the Desire of our Eyes become the Horror of our Eyes, how can we forbear crying out Lord, What Fading Flowers are these that we most of all dote upon! Lord When thou dost correct us with thy Rebukes, thou dost make our Beauty consume away like a moth, surely we are vanity.

A Third Voice of God unto us, is, Pre­pare to Follow. When the Desire of our Eyes is taken away, the Language of it is, that; Mat. 24 44 Be ye also Ready. They that are gone from us, were a part of our selves, & it may be not so Old as our selves. How inexcusable are we, if we do not say with our selves, I shall not be long after them? 'Twas the manner of old, for 'em to Lay and Leave their Friends in their [Page 219] Graves, with these words, Vale, Vale, nos te sequemur: farewell, farewell, we shall quickly follow! What? Is one Half of us already in a C [...]ssin? Surely it becomes us to expect that the Rest of us will soon be there. They that are gone from us, are gone but a very little before us.

Oh! That we might now to Day hear the voice of God, and not harden our Hearts.

Thirdly; It is the Hand of God, which takes away our Desirable Relatives: Well then, watch very much against all the Tem­ptations of Satan, which may be likely to assault us under this Hand of God. Is the Desire of our Eyes taken away? It may now be said unto us; Luk. 22 31. Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may Sift you as Wheat. All New Conditions have some New Temptations. When any Irksome Thing befals us, and especially when we are deprived of the Desire of our Eyes, than which, what can be more I [...] is some? We may be sure, Satan will take advantage from it. For to have the Desire of our Eyes taken away, brings a Dark Time upon us. The Powers of Darkness may e're we are aware, hurry us on to unaccountable In­conveniencies. Now more than ever is [Page 220] that Counsel seasonable; Mat. 26. 41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into Temptation. If God by taking away the Desire of our Eyes, being us particularly into a State of Widow­hood, Oh! how sollicitous ought we to be, of an Holy Widowhood! But that, it may be so, it should be a very Prayerful one. The very First Thing we are to do, as soon as we can Look about us, methinks it should be to Pray, and Fast, and Weep in secret places before the Lord, and beg of God, that He would pardon all our miscarriages in our Former Condition, and preserve us from all further miscarriages in the New, and Sad Condition that is now come upon us. Alas, what wrong steps, what foolish ones, and what satal ones, are commonly taken in that State; by them who being Desolate, Continue not in Supplications & Pray­ers night and day! And they are never more unhappily taken, man in precipitated pro­ceedings, unto Second Marriages. For tho' it were an indefensible Severity in many of the Ancients, absolutely to forbid them, nevertheless, tis a Dishonourable Levity to make too much Haste unto them, and espe­cially for those Aged men, to whom a Je­rom would say, Cogita te quotidie moriturum, [Page 221] et de Secundie Nuptiis nunquam Cogitabis: It were fitter for thee to think of Dying than of Wedding. The Dutchess of Millain, be­ing made a Widow, Stamp'd that Motto on her Coin, Sola facta, Solum Deum Sequor; Being Left alone, I Converse with God alone. It becomes both Sexes, when the State of Widowhood is come upon them, to Converse with God, more than ever they did in their Lives before.

Lastly. It is the Hand of God, which takes away our Desirable Relatives: But let it be a very rich Anodyne and Cordial unto us, to think unto whom and what He has taken them. Were the Relatives rendred prin­cipally by the Fear and Grace of God, the Desire of our Eyes? The God, who has ta­ken them away, has then Taken them to Him­self. Were they In Christ? They are now With Christ where to be is by far the best of all: And as well as they Loved us, they would be loth to return from Him unto us. They were the Desire of our Eyes; but will it have no pacifying Influence upon us to think. They are gone, Where all Tears are wiped from their Eyes? The Relation between them and us is Lost, but the Remembrance of the Relation may con­tinue [Page 222] more with them than with us. And when we meet them again in the Heaven­ly World, there will doubtless be some Rapturous Expressions of Gladness agree­able to the Heavenly State, upon the meet­ing of such as have been Instrumental to being each other unto it.

In fine; We Encounter many Grievan­ces in this present Evil World. Our Desirea­ble Relatives have got the Start of us, to the Blessedness of a Better World! We shall short­ly see the Period of all our Grievances, as well as they, and in the Society of them, that are got before us. And give me leave, to Conclude my Sermon, with the Words, wherewith the Desire of my Eyes, has newly Concluded her Life; Words, which I Pray God, help me to make the Solace of Mine: Heaven, Heaven will make Amends for all.