The Church's Triumph over Death.
A Funeral-Sermon PREACHED Upon the Decease of Blessed Mr. Robert Fleming, Late Pastor of a Church in Rotterdam.
By DANIEL BƲRGESS.
London, Printed by J. D. for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside, and Andr. Bell and J. Luntley at the Pestle and Mortar in Chancery-lane. 1694.
To the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Ashhurst, Baronet.
THERE is a Frenzy abroad, of which Men do together Adore the Pipes, and Neglect the Fountain. Make great court to his Ministers, and slight the King; the King eternal. Worshipping the [Page iv] Stars that do lead to Christ, and crucifying to themselves afresh, the Christ that they lead unto; yea, by Unbelief and Disobedience, putting him to open Shame. But, I must Hope better things of You. And believe it to be your Love of Christ, that constrains you to receive a Paul, and an Apollos, as an Angel of God, yea as Christ himself.
Wherefore, as your extraordinary Kindness to another renowned Saint hath been told to the World by incomparable Pens; By Mr. Baxter [...], and by Dr. Bates in Dedicat. Epistles. I do resolve, that wheresoever this Sermon shall be read, your like Affection to our heavenly FLEMING shall have its Memorial.
Very deeply I am impressed with your Favours done unto both: For their Love was eminent, and much exceeded the Fame of it, to a Man Born to Reproach. And not pretending to be Richer than his Brethren, in any other Treasure.
A Love to be wondered at; had it not been so known, that God is Love. And that, therefore, Love is Godliness. And, where Godliness abounds, Loving-kindness overflows. As we see in Angels, that do flagrantly Love the least of Abraham's Children. And highly honour the meanest of sanctified Worms.
As for the Former, Jonathan must needs have known his David; and the World will by and by have his Life in Folio to read. And, [Page vi]as concerning the Latter, as little as any Man do you need to be told, with what a Fulness of God he was filled. Sir, Your wondring Eyes were your Witnesses. The great Love he bare you, gave you more than common Knowledg of him; whose Humility and Modesty hid him so, that he was not much known, unto those who knew him most. As Ezekiel speaks of other Angels, his Wings so covered his Feet. However, so much you saw, that, as very well you might, you singularly loved him. And esteemed his Love unto you, to be of that Kind which is most valuable next unto God's own Love.
For the Information of others, somewhat is said of this Man of [Page vii]God, in the following Pages. Whereto I can add this, which was said of the famous Antonine; He hath this Praise crowning all the rest, that he hath no Gain-sayer of his Praises. I hear not of any Dust to be blown off from this Diamond.
Two or three of your Letters to me, bewailed the World's Loss, the Church's, and Your own, in the Departure of holy FLEMING. Nor do I doubt, but the best of the Church, and World do lay it to heart. Even, generally, all that hear, how much Light, and Salt, and Balm, is taken from a needy Age.
For your Relief, and others, this is all in this Place to be said. It is elsewhere shewn, how we may hold Departed Saints in our Sight and in our Service. Commemoration of Saints departed, on Heb. 13.7. If the Course there prescribed be duly followed, I am certain that this Saint's Death shall not be only his own Gain: But his Ascension to Heaven, shall be made to further our Conversation therein. And notably contribute unto the Victory, Joy, and Triumph of Faith, which this Sermon describes.
Thereto I dismiss you, without any Sallies of Flattery; the common Sin and Scandal of Dedications. It must be confessed, that if all Praise of Sir Henry Ashhurst be Flattery, Old England and New [Page ix]are overrun with that Leprosy. And, the Israelites are much more sick of its Plague, than the Egyptians be. The Name of ASHHURST was left richly perfumed by your excellent Father. And, I hear not but it is so kept by your Self and your Right Honourable Brother. Sir William A. Lord-Mayor. Otherwise, you had before this time loudly heard of it. For they do sink deepest, who fall from Pinacles highest; they who were at first the best Angels, are now the worst Devils, saith Du Moulin. And by the Old Law, you had been condemned to be burnt for the Profanation of such a Father's Name. Comprehenditur cum filiâ filius, &c. Calv. Lev. 21.9.
Surely the Sun must have looked Pale, and the Spheres have cast out their Stars, if such as You and my Lord had forsaken your God, and the God of your Fathers! And had left no better to be said of you, than Philostratus says of Perinthius; Barely, that he was the Son of Rufus.
But, Sir, as you very well know; my Office is to bring low all Mountains and Hills; not, the contrary. And, as my own Heart sweetly knows, my Ambition is to Edify, not Magnify you; to serve your Faith, not your Fame; which, as it less needs it, doth less deserve it. Much rather would I provoke you to one good Work, than make known all that ever you did. And be the meanest Instrument [Page xi]to make you a better Man, than a Trumpet to proclaim you a good one.
Plain dealing is a Jewel; and will appear so one day, though now there be much more of it at the Mill than about the Throne. And, I do account that Earthly-Gods themselves are seldom so richly treated, as my Friends that be entertained with these Complements. Sc. That, BARONETS must perish without the New-Birth. That, A Repenting Lazarus is of better Estate than a Jovial Dives. That, A Grain of holy Faith is worth more than a Mountain of pure Gold. That, In the Day of Judgment, Christ will be Ashamed of the Greatest, that are now Ashamed of Christianity. [Page xii]That, Royal Heads, Honourable, and Worshipful Ones, must worship God's Majesty, or bear his Fury! That, There is no Safety for the Highest on Earth, without Trust in the most High in Heaven. That, They shall suffer eternal Death, who Love not Christ Jesus above the richest Life. That, No Greatness can save them from Vengeance, who deny Christ Reverence. That, Whatever their Rank is in this World, their Portion shall be everlasting Shame, who do not all that they do to God's Glory. That, The most Prosperous who will not submit to God's Afflicting-hand, shall not escape his Revenging-hand! That, If they Love not their Enemies, [Page xiii]and Bless them that Curse them, and Do good to them that Hate them, and Pray for them that Despitefully use them, and Persecute them; they shall not be the Children of God. Finally, that, Whosoever of them shall Live without Dying Thoughts, he shall Die without Living Comforts!
My Prayers cease not to Ascend for You, your Pious Consort, and eminently Hopeful Branches: May You ever be more and more Honours to them; and They be more and more Joys unto You. May neither of You, now sleep in the Afternoon; for to that Time of Day it is come in your Lives! And may [Page xiv]both of Them, have their Noon and Evening answerable to their fair Morning. May Self-denial be Your and their Business; without which, all Religion is but your Play: May your Prosperity neither slay, or so much as wound you; in your Eye may the Paradises which have no Tree of Life in them be contemned, though they are possessed. May great Roots under Ground make you great Trees above it; rich Truth in the inner-parts make you rich in good Works. May you prefer Heaven above Earth, as manifestly as others prefer it above Hell! Not accounting your selves to have much profited in Christianity, till you count that you have nothing else to profit much in. And always remembring, that if you take not the [Page xv]Kingdom of Heaven by force, the Kingdom of Hell will take you by it. May the Mercy of the Lord rest upon the Family of the Ashhursts, and his Righteousness be to their Childrens Children.
Under many Obligations, and in sweet Hopes, thus prayeth,
BOOKS published by Mr. Robert Fleming.
- 1. THe Fulfilling of the Scripture: In three Parts.
- 2. The Confirming Work of Religion.
- 3. The Treatise of Earthquakes.
- 4. The Epistolary Discourse; Dedicated to the Queen's Majesty.
- 5. The One thing Necessary.
- 6. The Survey of Quakerism.
- 7. The Present Aspect of the Times.
- 8. The Healing Work; written twelve Years ago upon the account of Divisions among Professors in Scotland.
A SERMON on the Death of Mr. Robert Fleming.
O Death, where is thy Sting? O Grave, where is thy Victory?
The Sting of Death is Sin, and the Strength of Sin is the Law.
But Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[...].
[...].
[...].
UPON this mournful Occasion I present this Text as a Pearl-Cordial, and the most Restorative that I could find in the Divine Dispensatory.
Wonderful Words it consists of, such as seem too high to be uttered below Heaven, and too soon-spoken before the Resurrection.
But what Heavenly Scribe wrote them, you do all know; and with how like a Boldness and Bravery of Faith our holy FLEMING did use to sing them, all of you are not ignorant.
They are made the Theme of this Discourse for this end, that they may also become our Song in the House of our Pilgrimage.
There are obvious in them;
- A triumphant Song, v. 55.
- A justifying Reason, v. 56.
- A holy Gratulation, v. 57.
A triumphant Song, wherein Rhetorick hath even exhausted it self; such is the Melody of its Prosopopaeia, speaking to Death and the Grave as Persons [Page 3]and not Things: Such is the Pungency of its Interrogation, which doth not here doubt, but upbraid and insult: Such the Elegancy of the Meiosis, covering the biggest part of its meaning, asking no more than what is become of their Power to hurt, though meaning, that both are made to work for Good: Such is the Glory of the Celeusma and Shout, wherein Victory, Faith and Joy, as above Expression, are published in Form of Admiration.
O Death, where is thy Sting? O Grave, where is thy Victory? O Death! O Grave! our one Enemy bearing these two Names, once so strong as to conquer all, and so cruel as to spare none; once a Dragon that swallowed up the World! an Abaddon and Apolluon of Jewish World and Gentile! Christian Faith now dares look thee in the Face, and ask, in Zebul's Words to Gaal, Where is now thy Mouth? It proclaims thee to be as the Beast in the Revelation, which was and is not; yea as a corrected Viper, of an horrid Poison to be made a sovereign Medicine! [Page 4]of a King of Terrors to be made a gracious Prince of Peace; the loathsom Prison of thy Grave to be turned to a quiet Bed-chamber; and thy Sepulchers to be no more Hell's Gates, Camero in Myrothec. in Mat. 16.18. but Heaven's Porches.
It is true, thou retainest Power to kill the Bodies of Saints; but having so done, thou canst do no more: and what is it that thou dost therein? Thou killest, but makest not an end of them: Thou curest them of Sin, their loathsom Disease; and art a real Saviour, and but a seeming Destroyer.
Power indeed thou hast, sometimes to affrighten Souls. Abraham our Father was affrighted by thee, Gen. 12. David the valiant was also scared, 1 Sam. 21. Miserably thou didst terrify upright Hezekiah, Isa. 38. And Peter's Magnanimity vanished at a Shadow of thee, Mat. 26. But egregiam laudem, spolia ampla! Is this thy Praise? To affrighten is no more than every Shadow can do; and what is more inglorious than a Bugbear that is harmless? [Page 5]Thy affrightning Believers speaks much Weakness in them, but not any Strength in thee.
It is confessed, as for thy Appearance, it is as of a Curse and not a Blessing. Thou comest with a Warrant in thy Hand from the supreme King, and irresistably turnest all Flesh into Destruction. Upon thy devouring Sword Christians do read Sin's terrible Mark, though Socinian Eyes see nothing but mere Nature's. Puncturâ peccati morimur, is the Saints Motto: They believe thee sent from their God to execute Wrath on their Sins; and full often do fear thee sent to inflict it on their Souls; so much do thy cruel Hands look like God's vindictive ones: but simillimum non est idem. And what art thou, O Death, but as the End of Plants and Brutes, and the Ruine of Sinners, so the Gain of Believers? such a Gain as passeth Understanding, and maketh their holy Faith to proclaim thee more than a spoiled Spoiler, even a good and faithful Servant become unto them; a Servant unto thy old Servants, [Page 6]who were all their days subject to Bondage through fear of thee; all the days of their Christless Estate subject to Bondage: But now that they are Christ's, thou, O Death, art theirs! Thy Name hath a Place in the Inventory of their Goods; 1 Cor. 3. Feed on then upon thy Egyptians; Psal. 49.14. But know, O Pharaoh and thy Princes! O Death and thy Harbingers! the Heads of Leviathan are broken in pieces, they are given to be Meat to Israelites inhabiting the Wilderness, Psal. 74.14.
If it be insolently said, that this Triumph is too loud; that Death is the great Fear of none but little Souls, and deserves not so lofty a Song; or that it is not yet so dead but that it has Sting enough left to pinch and pain, and poison its most exulting Victors; and Strength enough to hold them in its Dungeon till the Resurrection. This Mouth of Infidelity is presently stopped. Here follows,
A justifying Reason, such as clears the Triumph from the Charge of Absurdity. It is confessed, if Death were [Page 7]but it self, and not Pars minima sui, it would be unworthy of the Honour of being insulted over; it would be an Insect of an inconsiderable Sting, if not a perfect Drone. An Enemy too despicable to be triumphed over with Harp and Psaltery; nor would Christians blow a Trumpet for the Overthrow of a Wasp. But Death's Name is Legion, and as it's an Host of Enemies in one, it is a formidable one.
The Sting of Death is Sin, q. d. Sin is the whole Element of Evil, it is all the Evil of Doing: Nothing beside is Evil essentially, or meritoriously. This Hell of Sin being infused into Death, makes it like it self; even the whole Element of Misery, and all the Evil of Suffering; where then, if not here, shall be found a Trophy for Faith? Here, in Death envenomed by Sin: By Sin, whereof a Spark made Devils of the most blessed Creatures. And no more than the imputed Guilt made the ever-living God to sweat Blood! Seems this to be a Paradox? Hear then;
The Strength of Sin is the Law, q. d. No wonder that Sin is so pernicious a thing; for the Curse of the Divine Law is on it: And who can think what is God's Power, or his Law's Terror? His Law must be like himself, as in its Precepts and Promises, so in its Threats. The Punishments of so great a King must necessarily be great: The Breach of his Law's Duty can deserve no less than Extremity and Eternity of Misery; and the Curse laid upon it is no less. No marvel then that Sin's Guilt maketh a Hell of Death, being the Law's Curse maketh Sin a worse thing than Death or Hell; an Evil that Hell it self must have all Eternity to punish.
But over both Law and Sin God giveth us the Victory. As fiery as this Law is, Christ's Blood quencheth it: As boiling a Furnace as it makes of Sin, it cannot make Sin to be the Death of a Believer's Soul. These, the worst of Enemies, are first slain: For upon our first believing Christ's Righteousness is imputed; and by that Imputation the [Page 9]Law's Curse and Sin's Condemnation are removed. Over them we have Triumph sounded; Rom. 7.4. Ye are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ. And ver. 24, 25. Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death's Dominion is therefore at an end, though its Power to kill the most holy Body, and to detain the most sacred Dust for a time, be not taken from it. In short, the Grace of Christ hath made Sin a broken Enemy, the Law a kind Friend, and Death a useful Servant. Doth the Saints Triumph therefore precede or exceed Victory? let the Wise judg.
When Israel was brought through the Red Sea, what Songs of Praise were straitway sung? though they had a howling Desart to be passed through, and were not presently in Canaan. Their Songs injected Terror to the Dukes of Edom, and the mighty Men of Moab. Yea, the Greeks no sooner heard the Articles of Peace purchased for them by Titus Flaminius, but they [Page 10]cried [...], a Saviour, a Saviour. Plutarch in vit. T. Flam. And with such Shouts of Joy, as made the Air to ring, and the Birds to drop down astonished! A deep Lethargy it is that maketh Christians Joy to be less, while their Reason for it is infinitely more: That restrains them from such Triumph, as would make the Infidel World to tremble.
But O where shall Offerings, and whole Burnt-offerings be found? For this Victory, this Inchoate one, Lebanon is not sufficient, or the Cattel upon a thousand Hills. But, as Jehoshaphat in Berachah, the Saints throughout the Earth do bless the Captain of their Salvation and Conquest. The next Verse and Breath, is
An holy Gratulation. A lovely Heaven of it, in a little Globe of Words.
Thanks be to God! To the Father, Son, and Spirit, our One God, be all holy Obedience! Whereof, Gratitude is the principal Part; that which contains and animates all. Laws bind to Obedience, and Benefits unto Thankfulness. [Page 11]But God our Law-giver is in all things our Benefactor. His very Laws, all, are Benefits. To him be therefore all Obedient Thankfulness, and all Thankful Obedience! To him,
Who giveth us the Victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Of his Saints Victory, we publish the Truth. We declare his Gift of Grace, to be the Original. We testify the Limitation of this Gift, unto Believers only; and the Extent of it, unto all Believers. As well to Babes in the Cradle of Christianity, as the oldest Mnason's in God's Kingdom. We proclaim the never to be forgotten Purchaser of it, the Lord Jesus Christ. Whose Death gave the Angel of Death his mortal Wound. Whose Resurrection certified and exemplified Believers. Whose Righteousness, by Faith received, instateth them in the Power of an endless Life. Whose Sanctifying Spirit mortifieth sinful Lusts, which be not the least Stings of Death. Whose Comforting Spirit takes out the Pain and Anguish that Sin sticketh into our [Page 12]Souls. And whose Glorious Appearing one day, will fulfil his old Word to a tittle; O Death I will be thy Plague, O Grave I will be thy Destruction!
Waving all others, the Argument I take hence, is this.
The Plural Number in which he speaks, may assure us that the Apostle sung in Consort: Thanks be to God, who giveth us the Victory. And it shall be shown, that this Text is all the Holy Catholick Church's Song. Which, while Militant, is so far triumphant. We may say of Death, and of all Enemies in Combination with it, as St. John saith of the World, Whosoever is born of God, overcometh them. And this is the Victory that overcomes [Page 13]them, even our Faith. Consequently, he that overcometh, and shall not be hurt of the second Death, must take it for his Duty, and make it his Practice, to joy in the Lord, and rejoice in the God of his Salvation.
But lest, with the Dogs, I should shut Children out of the Church-Doors, and wound any that have already the Arrows of the Almighty sticking in them, I must premise two things.
Obstructions are allowed for. It is not affirmed, that all, or any Believers, do always rejoice. Full oft they are hindred, by Bodily Maladies, by Mental Mistakes, by Satan's Buffetings, and by Divine Desertions. Under which, their Harp is turned to Mourning, and their Organ into the Voice of them that weep. And Secondly,
Degrees be wondrously different. Of them that sing Triumph; the Voice of some is as Thunder, which all hear; the Voice of others is a scarcely audible Whisper. Some have but a Drop of the Oil of Joy; others, in comparison, a very Sea of it.
However, this is asserted of all Believers. The Joy of Faith is the chief Joy of every sort of them. Of them that want it none dare to slight it. None can rest, or be very easy, till they have it. The New Nature in them panteth for it, as the Hart panteth after the Waterbrooks. And as oft as they get from under the foresaid Obstructions,
§. 1. Believers do truly rejoice in their Victory over Death.
Here Examples shall show THAT they do so, and Reasons shall satisfy WHY they must so do.
The Time would fail to tell of Abraham, foreseeing the Day and Work of his victorious Lord, and rejoicing in it. Of Jacob, cheering himself under heaviest Pressures, with the same comforting Prospect. Of Job, insulting over Death, and glorying in his Assurance of a blessed Resurrection. Of David, proclaiming that his God would not leave him in Death: And that he would fear no Evil, when he walk'd [Page 15]through the Valley of its Shadow.
The Heart of the Saints of the Old Testament, is to be seen in the Song of Solomon. Hear it uttering it self to the Lord Jesus Christ; We will be glad, and rejoice in thee: In thee, that is, by whose Stripes we are healed. In thee, on whom the Lord hath laid the Iniquities of us all, and by the Faith of whom he justifieth us. In thee, to whom a Portion is divided with the Great, and who dost divide the Spoil with the Strong, as the Evangelical Prophet speaks. We will remember thy redeeming Love more than Wine: I sat down under his Shadow with great Delight, and his Fruit was sweet to my Taste. Consult, with these Manifesto's, the Psalms and Songs of his Father David. It shall appear, that the Church was dancing for Joy, before the Day brake, and the Shadows flew away, and the Sun of Righteousness arose with the Light and Glory of the New Testament.
Under which, who needs to be told, what a Spirit of Joy was presently poured out? Glad Tidings of [Page 16]great Joy, the heavenly Heralds call'd the Gospel. Where-ever it comes, a Torrent of Joy follows it. Gladly it is received, at its first Publication, though with the loss of all things adventured. Philip preaches it at Samaria, and there is great Joy in all the City. We glory in Tribulations: We rejoice with Joy unspeakable, and full of Glory: We are more than Conquerours. We are always confident, and willing rather to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord. We are — always rejoycing. We rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of God. Thus speak the Apostles, as well of their Converts as of Themselves.
And what saith Ecclesiastical History, of the Ages ever since? The same Spirit of Joy and Gladness hath been in all times of the Church: They that have loved the Lord Jesus, have rejoiced in him. And in his Name have wished for Death, have welcomed it, and have been unterrified with its most ghastly Shapes and Pomps. Polycarp desires his Executioners [Page 17]to let him shew them, that he could burn at a Stake without being tied to it. Lucius, thanketh a barbarous Judg for the Favour of sending him to his God, and Father. Cyprian, thanks God for his Goal-delivery by Death. Hilarion cries, Out of this Body O my Soul! What, is there any thing for thee to fear? For thee, an old Servant of Christ! But to come nigher our own days. Cranmer thrusts his Right-hand into the Fire, to be revenged on it for subscribing a Damned Scroll, as he called it, for fear of Death. Think you that I have not learned to die? said Adam Damlip. Be at my burning, you shall see and say, There's a Souldier of Christ, said Kirby. Ridley called his Death his Wedding. And Latimer told the Bishop going before him to the Stake, he would have after him as fast as he could: And when Fire was put to him, with a smiling Face, he uttered these Words, God is faithful, who doth not suffer us to be tempted above our Strength. Bainam, in the Fire professed he felt no [Page 18]more Pain than on a Bed of Down. Death in the most hideous Shapes, hath been thus triumphed over. Clouds of Instances are to be read, even in English Books.
And do we not know Multitudes of surviving Friends and Neighbours, whom we discern to be of the Mind of the Martyr, Adam Wallack? If Death be ready, we are ready. Blessed be God this Age is not so forsaken by him, but that there are Multitudes to whom Christ's Word is verified; Your Heart shall rejoice, and your Joy shall no Man take from you.
Is it yet, with any of you, a hard Saying, which holy Hildersam hath written? He that doth not desire, and strive to be willing to die, he hath cause to suspect that there is no true saving Grace in him. Or that harmonious Passage of great Calvin on Hebrews 2.14. He that is not able to quiet his Heart in holy Contempt of Death, let him know that he hath made but little progress in the Faith of Christ. For as excessive Fear of Death ariseth from [Page 19]Ignorance of the Grace of Christ, so it is a sure Sign of Ʋnbelief. Or, that of Dr. Hammond on 1 Tim. 1.15. If the Conversion of a Sinner be not accompanied with unwonted Joy and Sorrow, a Godly Sense of past Distress, and a Godly Triumph for his Delivery, I counsel not to Distrust but to Fear; to a solicitous, though not a suspicious Trembling. Let me add one more of Mr. Ward of Ipswich; If we had but half the Strength of St. Paul 's Faith, or Life of his Hope, or Fore-imaginations which he had of his future Felicity, we could not but have the same Desires and Longings for our Fruition of them. I think few Truths to be more evident. But it's possible that these following Reasons may add to its Evidence.
These Reasons I give, why Believers must needs rejoice in their Victory over Death.
First; Believers are Men: And it is the Nature of Man to rejoice in his most desired Good, when he knows it to be obtained.
Victory over Death is certainly the most desired, and the obtained Good of Believers. And, ordinarily, they do know themselves to have obtained it, through Christ their Lord. For, the Law of Grace, through Faith they do understand. Their own Acts of Grace, by Sense they do perceive. And, their State of Grace, by Reason they do infer. And the Spirit which is of God they do receive, whereby they know the things which are freely given them of God, 1 Cor. 2.12. What our Saviour, in his days on Earth, said to the Ears of some, the Holy Ghost saith now to Believers Hearts, Be of good chear, your Sins are forgiven: Witnessing with their Spirits, that they are the Children of God, Rom. 8.16. Not only enlightning their Minds to see the Truth of their Graces, and thence to conclude themselves in a State of Grace; but, verbis mentalibus, by secret spiritual Words, by internal mysterious Whispers, testifying unto them that they are in that blessed State. For, the Matter of Witnessing is more than [Page 21]Enabling a Person to read his Evidence. In Westminster-hall he would not be taken for a Witness, who should do no more than hold a Candle to one reading his Evidence. But the Holy Ghost the Comforter is expresly named a Witness to Believers, of their being taken into the Number, and being bless'd with all the Privileges of the Sons of God.
Ordinarily, therefore, I say, that Believers do know the Cause of Joy that they have. Though, as hath been foresaid, Times of Desertion there are, in which they know it not. And it is most certain, the heavenly Comforter, doth not at all times comfort. Nor is joyful Assurance, of the very Essence of justifying saving Faith. But, by reason of fore-named Obstructions, Children of Light may sit all their days in the Dark and in the Deeps: And ascend to Heaven at last, in a thick Cloud. Otherwise, we do all generally believe and teach, that the Spirit of Adoption being given unto Sons, as Sons of God, he is given unto every [Page 22]Child of God: And, commonly, they do know themselves Conquerors, who are in Christ, and are not reprobate, unsound Christians.
This being admitted, they must be dead, and not lively Stones, as St. Peter calls them, if they Rejoice not. They must cease to be Men, if they become not joyful Ones. They must be stupified, as soon as Justified and Adopted. For, the Humane Nature hath an inseparable Instinct and Power; which, on good Tidings heard, doth transport Minds and Bodies into Expressions of Gladness. Diffusing Spirits, and by them sending forth the News; trying, as it were, by communicating, to multiply it. Gaudio, cogendi vis inest; The Roman Orator says, and all Men feel it: Joy enters with a Violence, and with a grateful Violence, that we are not able to resist, breaks forth from us. Who thinks that David was able to forbear his Dance before the Ark? Or, that the healed Cripple could contain himself from Running, Leaping, and Praising God? We have read of [Page 23]them who have died of Joy: and it is true which one saith; Should Believers have the Degrees of Assurance, which imprudently they do sometimes desire, they must presently Die for Joy, or be kept Alive by Miracle. In short then;
Believers must put off Nature if they rejoice not in Christ's Grace: They must be without natural Affection if they be without any spiritual Consolation, if ordinarily they be so.
Secondly; Believers are wise Men: And it is Wisdom to rejoice in such Felicity as Victory over Death.
In the Day of Prosperity Nature necessitates Joy, and Reason enforces it: For Happiness is a Feast made for Mirth; and how monstrous a Folly must it be to frustrate so kind a Design upon us? Wisdom is a true Gust and right Relish of things; Sapit cui res sapiunt ita ut sunt: But how far be they from it who taste no Sweetness in the Milk and Honey that flow in this Victory? Hearts delighting not themselves in Substances, do most certainly [Page 24]delight themselves in Shadows: And what a Delusion is that? what a gathering together of all Folly, and a very Sea of it?
The Laughter of Wretches laden with Irons, or standing on the Ladder ready for Execution, seems not greater Madness than the Disconsolateness of them when they are both pardoned and advanced. Should the Saints and Angels in Heaven cease rejoicing, it were to be asked, What Wisdom is in them? They would be to be charged with extreme Folly. Unreasonable it would be for them to give over Rejoicing, as it would be for Devils and damned Ghosts to begin: And yet it is most certain, that Justified and Adopted Believers have as true Cause of Joy as Angels and glorified Spirits; are in a State, only in Degree, less blessed; consequently have as true Reason to sing Hosannah's here below, as they to sing Hallelujah's above; and cannot but hold on Songs of Joy in the House of their Pilgrimage, without first becoming sensless of their Conquest: [Page 25]Joyful Praise is comely for them. Nor is Triumph on the way to Hell more unreasonable, than on the way to Heaven it is discreet. In a word;
To think that Saints did ordinarily incur and indulge the Guilt of its Neglect, would be to think them what the World stiles them, Men besides themselves. This Guilt would be a dead Fly in their Ointment, and make it to send forth so stinking a Savour of the most loathsom Folly.
Thirdly; Believers are Righteous Men; and it is their Justice to be glad, and triumph in their Victory over Death.
Justice witholds not what is due, when it is in the Power of its Hand to repay: To repay Vengeance to Evildoers, and Praise to them that do well. Death and its Complices, the Law, Sin, Satan and Hell, are Enemies that have tragically used Believers; made them to bear God knows what, shamed them, and tempted them to curse the Day of their Birth; held them subject to Bondage, through Fear, all the time that [Page 26]they laid under their Power. A holy Revenge is now owing to Sin and to Satan; and now that through Christ they are taken out of those cruel Hands, they are able to pay it; able to expose them, and put them to open Shame; to shew abroad how they themselves have been used by one mightier than they; how the Law, as damning, is abolished; Sin is condemned; Satan's Head is bruised; Death is plagued; the Grave is destroyed; and Hell hath its Mouth stopp'd.
On the contrary, there is no finding out to Perfection, the Breadth and Length, the Depth and Height of God's Grace. The Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord passeth all Ʋnderstanding: His Grace, and his Gift by Grace unto Believers, are ineffable; infinitely free, without Merit in us or any Motive. Astonishingly rich, while we were Enemies, most defiled and deformed ones; and equally without Power to resist damning Justice, and without the Prudence to ask Saving-Mercy: [Page 27]Angels, our Elders and Betters, were not pitied, but irreversably doomed to Destruction. More than Angels and all the Creation was worth, was given to redeem us; even as much more than they are worth, as God by Essence exceedeth the mere Creature. Christ is God by eternal Essence; and yet God spared not that his Son, but gave him up to redeem Rebels: whereat Hell envies, and Heaven wonders. A vast Tribute of Praise must hence rise due; so due, that if Believers be silent, the Stones must needs cry out. Believers, that now are no longer Mutes, have the dumb Devil expell'd, and their Mouths opened for Praise; their Tongues touched with a Coal from the holy Altar, and qualified to lift up the Name of their Redeemer.
But what save Triumph in their Victory, through him, can render to Death the things that are Death's, or to Christ the things that are Christ's? If Faith doth not now play on the Hole of that Asp, and boldly put its Hand on [Page 28]that Cockatrice's Den, what Shame does it thereto? If it doth not joy in the Lord, and rejoice in the God of its Salvation, what Honour doth it pay him? How makes it to be seen, either that Death is disarmed, or that it was Christ who did take away its two-edged Sword? That, of worst Loss it is made our great Gain; or that Christ was he who so blessedly converted it? Wherefore,
Believers must not be thought to put on Righteousness, or to deserve the Name of just Men, but to be most unlike to their righteous Lord, who loveth Righteousness, if they are taken for Men void of David's Resolution; I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing Praise to my God while I have my Being.
Fourthly; Believers are crowned Heads, Men of Honour, Kings and Priests to God; and it is their Honour to rejoice and triumph over Death.
Fight is not honourable without Victory, nor Victory without Triumph. Believers fight the good Fight [Page 29]of Faith, and overcome by the Blood of the Lamb; but without the Joy and Triumph of Faith they appear but as Sampson when shaven, like any other Man. Joy is their sensible and visible Principality, the conspicuous Crown of their Glory: take away that, and they are Kings deprived of their Crowns; Priests unadorned with their holy Garments for Beauty and for Glory, inglorious and unlike themselves; Eye-sores, and offensive to him that made them Kings and Priests; and, in the World's Eyes, the vilest Abjects; yea, many an one becomes a Magor-missabib, a Terror to himself and all about him. The Israelites, when their Ornaments were off, were naked, to their shame: Believers are so when their Joy ceaseth. If there come in among them those that are Unlearned or Unbelievers, they cannot think God to be in them of a Truth, or see what they are, or do more than others.
Certain it is, that God doth not willingly grieve them; and the World and Devil cannot take away their Joy [Page 30]from them, till they themselves do cast it away. Divine Grace fails not to minister Comfort to them, while they keep in the way of Comfort: So that their Joy never dies but when they kill it; their Honour is not laid in the Dust but by their own Hands. Wherefore,
How unworthy a Judgment must we make of Believers, if we take them for a Generation so careless of their Honour? yea such Murderers of it? for they are no less who cast away the joyful Confidence and Hope which keeps them from appearing of all Men the most miserable. The Garment of Praise that can very much distinguish between God's Heirs, and Satan's Slaves.
Fifthly; Believers are Lovers of true Pleasures; and it is their only Pleasure to joy and triumph in Christ Jesus, and in God through him.
Pleasure is the Life of Life; the End of Action, and the Strength of Agents unto it. Carnal Men do in all things pursue carnal Pleasures; and spiritual Men spiritual ones. Pleasure is the [Page 31]Spring of Action in both: and in both, Joy is Strength, and Sorrow lays amort.
Heaviness in the Heart of a Man boweth it down: Like a Moth in a Garment it bites asunder its Strings and its Strength; insomuch that the Counsels and Determinations of disconsolate Souls are faint and tottering, like the Motions of wounded Bodies. But merry Hearts do good like Medicines; they prevent and remove Indispositions: they are also continual Feasts, and preserve Spirits: Salt and Sawce they are, to sweeten all things in Peace; and as Drums and Trumpets they inspire Courage in War. Wherefore the Love of Action draws with it the Love of Joy: And inseparable are the Desires of holy Life and holy Mirth; Mirth and Joy (as the Water of Aesculapius his Well was feigned to be) uncapable of Putrefaction.
But what Joy is so, save Joy in the Salvation of the Lord? All others, corporal and intellectual, are vanishing in themselves; and without this are delusive and corruptive. A Nature [Page 32]they have that is clogging, and such as makes Variety needful to keep out Loathing. Believers do see this, and therefore despise the Cucumbers and Melons, which they did eat freely in their dark Egyptian State. Manna they must have now, or they die: a Bread and a Joy that the World knows not of; one in a higher Object, and perfect without defect, perpetual without Decay; wherein all Desires may be satisfied, and all Wants be supplied. Now,
What Charity, which thinketh no Evil, can think Believers to be a Number of bewitched Creatures? which they must be above any heard of upon this Earth, if having a Desire of Joy as of Life, and having no other Joy, or at least none that they can exercise without this of their Victory by Christ, they do not constantly rejoice herein. Is it credible that the New Creature is one that is averse from his sole Pleasure? negligent of what is dear to it as its Life?
Sixthly; Believers are the Lights of the World, and Salt of the Earth: and [Page 33]it is their capital Service to the Church and World to triumph over Death.
The Work of converting, confirming, and comforting Souls, is the whole Business of a Minister; but it is the true Business of every Believer. Doing Good unto all Men is the Duty of all, and the Practice of all that be truly good: It is sure that all such do desire and endeavour, in their places, to make others good; and accordingly have the honourable Names given them in the Word, which speak them to be very useful in the World.
Touching the Means of their Usefulness, it is known, even to a Proverb, that Precepts do far less avail than Examples: and of Examples of holy Life, it needs not to be said how incomparably most beneficial those are which are most resplendent with Divine Consolation! How much more than others these do attract and win the Tractable, shame and silence the Incorrigible, quicken the supine and slothful Christian, strengthen the weak and wavering, and solace all! These, it is confessed, [Page 34]do singularly lift up the Hands that hang down, and the feeble Knees; and keep what is lame from being turned out of the way, and heal it. But it is to be awfully thought on, what I add.
Unspeakable are the sad Effects and Consequences of holy Mens sad and utterly comfortless Walk. Weak Christians see it, and call in question the Truth of Christianity: Scorners do open wide their Mouth: Ignorant Wanderers from the way of Truth are hardened against it: The Lovers of God are grieved. And till such time as good Mens Sackcloth is put off, and they become girded with Gladness, their Light hardly sends forth any convincing or converting Beams: Their Salt emits little piercing and purifying Savour.
If therefore the Love of God, or Love of Men moveth them, Believers must watch and pray for the Voice of Joy and Gladness: without which, as their own Souls be disquieted, others are dismayed; and the Ways of their God are by them exposed to the Jealousies [Page 35]of his Children, and to the Prejudices of his Enemies. Their Character is blotted, and they must be taken rather for the defiling Pitch than the cleansing Salt of the Earth.
Lastly; Believers are obedient Children of God; and it is their required Obedience to triumph in their Victory through Christ.
It is not only a Licence for it that the Gospel giveth them, but it is a Precept. The old Primitive Law bound Man innocent to Joy and Glory in his blessed Life: The Redeemer's Law doth not less oblige Man renewed, to Joy and Glory in his more wonderful Salvation; in his more blessed Life brought out of Death.
Who knows not how expresly and repeatedly this Precept is proclaimed? Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice ye Righteous! Shout for Joy all ye that are upright! Let the Saints be joyful in Glory, let them sing aloud. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: Rejoice in the Lord; and again I say, Rejoice: Rejoice evermore. Because thou servedst not the Lord thy [Page 36]God with Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart, thou shalt serve thine Enemies, &c. Texts are numberless. Under the Law it self many were the Feasts instituted for one Fast. In the Gospel-day the Holy Ghost is sent to be a Comforter extraordinary. It were endless to enumerate the Ways in which God expresseth his Zeal for his Saints Joy. The Reasons of which Zeal are both great and evident. For,
Joy is the commanding Affection, the End of all others, that which all do subserve and seek: And if this Ruler be corrupted, all its Servants are necessarily wicked. If this Potentate be not obedient to God, it draws the whole Man into Rebellion. He that rejoiceth not in Christ Jesus, feels a thousand Temptations to forsake him; yea, in a fearful Degree he doth forsake him: for not to delight and rejoice in him is to vilify and dishonour him; and that is to forsake him, with whatever unpleasant Services you shall all the while follow him. All is Carrion that is not chearfully given; it is [Page 37]not pure Sacrifice that is not offered with Joy and Gladness. In short, Thoughts of a Christ not delighted in will come but seldom, and stay but little in any Mind: and a Heart not delighted in him, will soon believe a little Meditation of him to be enough; and all the Duties which are laborious to be an Excess. Why are secret ones, and publick, so generally neglected? What maketh Backwardness to them, and Weariness in them? Whence rise Christians Inclinations to foolish forbidden Chats and Games? Whence cometh their Quarrelsomness with each other, and with their spiritual Fathers and Nurses? To these and many like Questions it must be answered, They rejoice not in Christ Jesus. It needs not be said how impossible it is, without Joy in him, to rejoice in Tribulations, to take joyfully the spoiling of outward Goods, and to lay down our Lives for him! Sense doth sufficiently certify it.
What shall we then judg of Believers, if we take them for Men that [Page 38]make no Conscience of rejoicing in Christ? We must judg them in the worst sense to be Solifidians; very Demoniacks that break all Bonds, and cast the strongest Cords of God behind their Backs; which is as truly impossible as it would be unrighteous for a sound Believer ordinarily to do.
Extraordinary is the Case of Persons obstructed by a melancholy Habit of Body and temporary Temptations: To will is present with them, though how to do they find not: They are not Fugitives, but Captives, and sold under Sorrow: So that it is a Duty they would do, which they do not do: while remembring Death, they are troubled, they complain, and their Spirit is overwhelmed. Of other Christians I stick not to say, They do not rightly seek the Lord who rejoice not, and are not glad in him through whom they are Conquerors of Death; who are Strangers to the Peace, the Joy, and the Glory of Faith; Rom. 5.1, 2, 3.
I am next to show, that
§. 2. Saints do Righteously triumph aloud over Death.
To shout for Joy as soon as they are in Christ, is their reasonable Service: The Equity of the Command is apparent as the Authority of the Law-giver; and the Objections against it are Chaff easily blown away.
The Sum of them all is this: Heaven only is the Seat of high Joy. On Earth 'tis [...], absurd, and out of Place. It is a Business proper for none but Spirits made perfect; unspotted with Sin, unclouded with Sorrow, unalarmed with Fear: but most unfit for Souls that are bemired with Corruption, laden with Guilt, clothed with Infirmities, surrounded with Temptations, and in Jeopardy every Hour.
The Answer is of no Difficulty: Though the King's Presence makes the Fulness of Joy above, it gives abundance below. The Victory given to [Page 40]Believers in Vocation and Adoption, possesses them of an Heaven on Earth. We which have believed do enter into Rest, Heb. 4.3. Ye that believe on the Name of the Son of God, may know that ye have eternal Life, 1 Joh. 5.13. This but-inchoate Victory, makes all old things pass away, and all things become new. The Believer's Corruption is mortified, Guilt's pardoned, Infirmities gradually healed, Temptations rebuked, Persecutions sweetned, Death disarmed; and all things are made to serve his Interests: All things are yours, 1 Cor. 3. What is there to hurt, after removal of Sin's Guilt, and the Law's Curse, which is the Divine Hatred and Wrath? What is lacking to his Comfort, whose Transgression is forgiven and Sin covered? In short;
There do meet in this inchoate Victory of Believers, all things requisite to make an Object of Joy unspeakable; and, thereby, to justify the most lofty Triumph. For, what should put a Soul into Exultation, if not,
First, So Great a Blessing? One if it must be called, it is One and All. And of a Greatness shining forth in the extreme and eternal Evil, from which it exempts; and Good, wherewith it endows. If the Pitch of Joy should be proportionable to the Good of its Object, here can be no Excess.
Secondly, So Everlasting an One? The greatest things, if like Jordan's Streams, they hasten to a sulphurous Lake, are unworthy of Delight. It is a sorry Feast, on which Death it self must one day feed. But, Duration makes things of value to be invaluable. And nothing is more durable than a Believer's Victory. His Crown is immortal: And Heaven shall no longer be a Kingdom, than he reigns in it with Christ. Peccata non redeunt; his Pardon is irrevocable; the Love of God to him is unchangeable; the Seed of God in him is incorruptible. If then Immortality it self doth appretiate; all Joy is not too much for him, whose Object is for all Eternity. [...].
Thirdly, So Sutable an One? The most durable Goodness gives little Joy without Sutableness. Pleasure, is applicatio convenientis convenienti. All the Mines of India would less transport a famishing Man, than a Morsel of Bread. But never was Gift so suted to a Creature's Need, as Believer's Victory is. Herein, being in themselves dead, in Christ they are made alive. Being blind, they receive their sight. Being weak, they are made strong. Being miserable, they are made blessed. Being mutable, they are eternally established; Joh. 6.57. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me shall live by me. They must, therefore, die for Joy, who joy too much for their Victory: And scarcely could that it self, be called too much.
Fourthly, So Sumptuous an One? All the World rates high what is bought dear. But, was there ever such a Purchase as the Believer's Conquest? It astonished the Angels. Our Saviour mentions it, not without Wonder, [Page 43] Joh. 3.16. The Price, was the very Blood of God. And only the Mind of God, can comprehend the Worth of the Blood of God. Wherefore, of the most triumphant Joy herein, it is boldly to be asked, Is there not a Cause?
Fifthly, So Rare a Blessing? Rarity doth extremely enhanse Value. Diamonds would be no Idols, if they were no Rarities. Yea, what would Crowns be, if every Head wore one? It is what few attain, that all do admire. Now of Believers Victory, who knows not how little there is of Commonness, to take away from the Comfort? Alas, of the Many called to it, how Few are chosen, how Few will come to Christ for it? And of the lapsed Angels, not so much as One recovered his Fall. Believers highest Joy is then surely unblamable, if Rarity makes good things delectable; and adds Sweetness to Hony it self.
Sixthly, So Present an One? It is most true, absent Good is the Object but of Desire; it must be present, before [Page 44]it can be embraced with Delight. Infidels ask, therefore, of Believers, Are they not mad? Mad, to pretend their Souls filled with the Marrow and Fatness of things far from them. But, they are to be told, Believers are not drunken as they suppose! It is in things present, that they exult. Present, though to the World invisible. And real, though every where spoken against, as very Chimera's. The Glories of their Victory are present, in the Eye of Faith seeing them, in the Hand of Faith receiving them, in the Mouth of Faith tasting them. Or, (to speak more to the Capacities of Infidel Objectors) it must be said that the Blessing wherein they rejoice, is in their Minds in daily Contemplation; is in their Hearts in constant Expectation, is in their whole-Man in sweet Fruition. And how are the things in which they themselves do triumph, any more, or otherways present to them? Do natural things incur their natural Senses? As truly do spiritual Ones incur the spiritual Senses of Believers. [Page 45]Whose spiritual Sight and Taste, do therefore make their Exultations as just.
No more Candles shall be lighted in this Sun. I proceed to evince that the Souls so joyful and thankful, are holy; that,
§. 3. Believers do triumph Holily over Death.
Their Laughter is not Madness. If it be asked of their Mirth, what doth it? it must be answered, It doth on Earth, what Saints and Angels Mirth doth in Heaven. It gives Praise and Thanks to God, and to the Lamb: For,
O Death, where is thy Sting? never goes before, but Thanks be to God follows fast after. Thankful Repentance, thankful Faith, Hope, and Love, thankful New-Obedience.
Blind Seers are the Romanists, and others, who teach otherwise: And would bear us in hand, that Assurance of Victory over Death, is a Wine too [Page 46]strong for the Head of any Viator; any living Believer. Such, whose Mirth would be Madness; and the Joy of it, turn the Grace of God into Wantonness: Dispose us to nothing but Sloth and Security, Pride and Presumption. But, what do the Arguings of Men so sensual, and void of the Spirit of Faith, avail?
It is true, there are Wretches of slight and frothy Spirits, who will be boasting of a false Gift, a Cloud without Water. Proclaim their wondrous Joy, and speak swelling words; though their Cloven-feet do manifestly confute their flaming Tongues. And, not walking in the Fear of the Lord, it is sure they do not walk in the Joy of the Holy Ghost. No small stumbling Block this hath been to Men of Senses, not exercised to discern. But these following Particulars, will convince or confound all Gain-sayers.
First; The Efficient Worker of the Joy and Triumph we speak of, is the Holy Ghost. Expresly it is named his: Whose Operations, no doubt, are [Page 47]holy, and make for Holiness. His comforting Work tending as much to sanctify, as his sanctifying Work tendeth to comfort us. A contrary Thought would be Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and plainly make him a Minister of Sin.
Secondly; The Law of this Joy, is the Holy Gospel. Believers Joy is as surely by the Gospel's Warrant, as by the Spirit's Work. For, he never speaketh of his own; never, as a Judg, speaks Life and Joy to any; but those to whom the Gospel, as the Law of Grace and Peace, doth assign it. There is a perfect Consent between Christ's Spirit, and his Word. The Joy given by one, is given by both. And, to think that the Joy by them given is a Servant of Sin, were fearfully to blaspheme both; belying them with a Brow of Brass.
Thirdly; The End of this Joy, is holy Conversation. Whereby is our heavenly Father glorified, but by our bringing forth much Good Fruit? Or, what doth he either constitute in his [Page 48]Word, or dispense by his Spirit, but for the End that he may thereby be glorified? If we imagine that this Joy of Believers, so constituted and so dispensed for this End, is no apt Means for it, but for the contrary; how foolishly must we charge him, who is only wise?
Fourthly; The Means whereby this Joy is wrought, are holy Ordinances, and vigorous Exercise of Grace therein. The holy Spirit useth not to lift Souls out of the Hell of their Fears; much less to lift them up to the Heaven of triumphant Joys, but in this Way. And, is it likely that the Effect. should be an Enemy to its Causes? That the Believer's Joy, like a Viper, should be Death to its Parents? That Communion with God, should beget such a Delight in him, as should make us by and by weary of him.
Fifthly; The Subjects of this Joy are holy Souls; others are uncapable of it: nor need we say what Use they would make of it, who make the worst use of all the Grace (objective and subjective) [Page 49]that they do receive. Most sure it is, the holy Spirit first worketh Grace, then witnesseth it to be in a Man; and so comforteth him, and causeth him to triumph in his State of Grace. Christ is formed in the Soul before the Soul rejoiceth in Christ: and it is then a prepared Subject for Joy; is it not? And who can believe that then, like a Dunghil, it will be made the fuller of Stench and noisom Fumes by the Shines of Heaven on it? and not, like a Garden, have its Spices flow forth the more abundantly. Bees do suck Honey out of sweet Flowers, whatever it be that Spiders do extract.
Sixthly; The very Essence of this Joy is holy Obedience: And is not Obedience the Womb of Obedience, as Sin is the Womb of Sin? What carries to obey God more than obeying him doth? Naturally Acts do strengthen Habits; and institutively also. God of admirable Love rewards Grace with Grace. The Believer's Joy answering a known Precept, prepares his Ear and Heart to answer all the Divine ones. [Page 50]In a word, how fruitful of Holiness is the Joy of Saints in Heaven? Believers Joy is of the very same Nature; and why should it not be their holy Strength also?
Seventhly; The constant visible Concomitants of this Joy are extraordinarily holy. Satan's Delusion it is, and not divine Consolation, which sheweth not, out of an excelling Conversation, its Works with Meekness of Wisdom. Holy Joy hath these Jewels shining in the Crown of it. High Esteem of Christ Jesus. No Star leads to Christ more than Joy in him doth. Profound Humility: The most joyful Apostle stiled himself least of Saints, chief of Sinners. Spiritual Flame is herein like natural; the higher it rises the more it trembles. Sorrow for Sin after the most godly manner. No where are so bitter Herbs eaten, and so sweetly, as in this joyful Feast of Passover. Strictest Watchfulness against Sin. The more Joy in a Treasure, the stronger Guard is set upon it against the Robber: Because Joy breeds Jealousies, [Page 51] omnia tuta timet, (the Disciples for very Joy believed not, Luke 24.41.) and Jealousy suffers not to sleep or to slumber. Thoughtfulness of Heaven. The joyful Israelite had Canaan in his Mind all the while he was in the Desart. True Contempt of this World's Gaudies. What are Candles or Stars when the Sun appears? When the Good of all the Land of Egypt was before Jacob and his Sons, they regarded not their Stuff, Exod. 45.20. The Joy of Paradise stains the Glory of a Paris. Sweet Content in the most bitter worldly State. The Joy of Faith finds Meat in the Eater, and Sweetness in the Strong. The God whom we serve is able, and he will deliver us, say the Hebrew Heroes. And what follows? Ʋpon their Bodies the Fire had no Power; not a Hair of their Heads is singed; they walk in the midst of the Fire, and have no Hurt. Lions Dens are quiet Rooms to Daniels. Prisons are Musick-houses to such as Paul and Silas. Exquisite Pleasure in all holy Services. Being full of holy Joy, St. Paul was [Page 52]well pleased to be kept out of Heaven for a time, to serve Christ's Interest on Earth. And joyful Luther professed, he had rather honour God with his Service, than be honoured by God with any Gifts which made great and noted in the World: Mallem obedire quam miracula facere. Lastly, A real Indifferency towards this present Life. It is only the joyful Christian that can possess this; but the Heart of every one that is such doth say as his Lord, Father, not my Will but thy Will be done. Concerning his stay in the Body, it thus saith most sincerely.
To conclude; Is God to be thought now a Loser, and not a Gainer in his Glory by Believers Joy? Or is it possible that Holiness should languish, in a Joy wherein these Fruits do flourish? In a Joy that so evidently maketh God to be the Centre of the rejoicing Heart? the Centre toward which it moves, and in which it rests.
There are many Inferences of most humbling, instructing, and comforting Truth, which do here offer themselves; [Page 53]and, I presume, will be darting in their Beams upon Minds not shut up against them: Their Light is such as is ready for every prepared Eye.
It is therefore a tripartite Exhortation, wherewith I conclude;
- 1. To those who have not ever sang Triumph over Death.
- 2. To those who have sung it, but have lost that Voice of Joy and Gladness.
- 3. To those that have for any time sung it, and are still singing it.
I must have leave to think that all three Sorts are present among us. Unto the first, I first address my self.
§. 1. To such of you as have not yet sung Triumph over Death.
If now you believe the Truth which hath been irrefragably proved, I exhort as follows:
First; Acknowledg your selves to have no Saving-Faith, if you have no stirring [Page 54]Desires to attain a joying Faith. It hath been said by what Means a Child of God may be kept, it may be all his Days, from the Joy of Faith; but it cannot be said, whereby he should be so kept from desiring it and from pursuing it. Nothing but a reigning and damning Presumption, or Despair, is able to keep a Soul from these. Review my seven Arguments, which I may not repeat; and assure you, it is no Child of Light that sits unconcernedly in the dark, as if nothing ailed him; and unto whom it is not as Death it self, that he cannot triumph over Death: who travels not from Ordinance to Ordinance for the Power and the Act; and follows not Heaven with unutterable Sighs and Groans until he gains them. Comfortless Believers are represented so doing; Cant. 3.1, 2, 3. and Cant. 5.6, 7.
Secondly; When you bestir your selves for the Joy of Faith, be not impatient if it doth not presently become triumphant. To be using the Means appointed for getting it, is your unquestionable Duty; [Page 55]but to fret against God, as though he wronged you if he made you wait long for it, is your certain Sin and Folly. Doubt not but God will give it as soon as he sees you fit for it: And nothing save Ignorance and Pride can make that wild Question, Why should I wait on the Lord any longer? In a word; Let him not go till he bless you with it; but let him take his own time to bless you with his richest Gift. It is Unbelief that makes Haste, and that Haste makes Woe.
Thirdly; When you are waiting for the Joy of Faith, be praising and blessing God for putting you upon the Pursuit of it, and enabling of you to wait therein. This Grace well deserveth your best Thanks. Had you ever ran after it, if Grace had not drawn you? or had not you laid violent Hands on your selves, as others have done under their Terrors, if Grace had not restrained you? Thanks are Sacrifices with which God is well pleased. And who was ever known to be thankful for Twilight, but he had e're long a shining [Page 56]Noon-day? On the contrary; from him who is unthankful, Sun, Moon, and Star-light is full often removed, and he is left as without Hope.
Fourthly; When you are blessing God for drawing you to seek the Joy of Faith, fail not to multiply the two first Acts of Faith. That which prepareth for Union to Christ, and that which uniteth unto him. Plainly thus; Night and Day tell your Souls, that God, propitiated by Christ, will surely save them if they truly repent, and believe on him. Proceed also, and perpetually be saying to your God, that, as far as the Holy Spirit doth and shall assist, you do, and you ever will commit you to his Saving-Mercy, and submit you to his ruling Authority in Christ. Multiply Direct Acts if you would have the Comfort of Reflex, say all our Divines. This is the only way wherein a trembling Faith may be expected to be made a triumphing one.
Fifthly; When you act holy Faith attend upon God in all holy Ordinances. It is at Wisdom's Gates that the Hearts [Page 57]of the Poor and Sorrowful are made to sing for Joy. Be you constantly found at every one of them; for you know not whether your waiting at this or that shall best prosper: But you may be certain your Neglect of any one will provoke God to send you away empty from all the other. Sometimes it is in Reading and Hearing that Joy is infused: Sometimes it is in Prayer, that, as Peter's Bonds, ours be loosed: Sometimes it is with Sacramental Wine that Hearts are cheered: Sometimes it is the Conference of holy Friends that sharpneth a Man, as Iron sharpneth Iron: Many times singing of Psalms, and Hymns, and spiritual Songs, doth together make glad the Heart of God and Man. Try all, and continue in them, and fear not but you shall have Beauty given you for Ashes, and the Oil of Joy for Mourning.
Sixthly; When you attend on holy Ordinances, cast away all your Transgressions. As soon shall heavenly Joy enter Hell, as a presumptuous Sinner's Heart. It is only the Conqueror that [Page 58]is capable of Triumph; the Conqueror of all wilful Sin: he that being made free from all such, hath now his Fruit unto Holiness. We lie, saith St. John, if we say we have Fellowship with him, and do not the Truth. They who, like Devils, are ever in the Fire, and be never refined; be ever using holy things, but are not made holy by them; they are, as certainly as Devils, held in Chains of Darkness. Old and New Testament say, There is no Peace to the Wicked. Allow then no Sin, if you would attain any Peace.
Seventhly; When you cast away all your Sins, be ye Doers of all Christ's Word. Negative Goodness is a very Chimera. Christ loves and manifests himself to them only who have his Commands, and keep them. Though Duties be not the Merits, they are the Means, and commonly the Measures of Peace and Joy; and of all Duties, those arduous ones that do most cross the Grain of corrupt Nature, and most thwart our secular Interest. Would you have your Light to rise in Obscurity, [Page 59]and your Darkness be made as Noon-day? Draw out your Soul to the Hungry, satisfy the Afflicted. Would you be made appear to be the Children of God and Coheirs of Christ? Love your Enemies, bless them that curse you. Would you have your Consciences, and all the World, be made to know that God is not ashamed to be called your God? Be not you ashamed then of the Gospel of Christ at any time, but couragiously own and confess Him and It, in the midst of Gainsayers. Would you be most certain you are not Reprobates? Keep under your Bodies, and bring them into Subjection. By rare Duties you may rise up to as rare Joys.
Eightly; When you are Doers of the Word, give not way to such Scruples as have no bottom on the Word. Unreasonable Fears are the Sins of our Hearts as truly as they be Thorns in our Sides: they grieve the Holy Spirit; and they together deny and impair, and tend to destroy his Work in us. Thieves they are that do waste the Candle of the Lord; and Worms [Page 60]that eat up the hidden Manna.
As many as are liable to these Distempers would do well to take to heart these and like Antidotes.
God accepteth Mites, though his Due be ten thousand Talents: Else what would become of the richest in Faith and Works?
Holiness is less than Sinlesness. The Field which hath Millions of Weeds in it is a Corn-field for all that: There were none upon this Earth else.
Damning Sins be somewhat more than terrifying Falls: Yea, we receive the least Hurt by the Sins that put us into the greatest Fright. He that exclaims, I am dead, expresseth a Conceit which he confuteth. David's Fall, and Peter's were terrible, but were not, mortal. It is keeping under Water drowns a Man; it is not his falling into it that kills him.
Smoaking Flax hath more Fire in it than is thought of. No doubt but Heman was stored with God's Graces while he was distracted with his Terrors.
Travellers be not out of their way as oft as they be out of sight of the City they would be at: No, but they are as truly moving towards it when they are in the Vale, and do but think of it, as when they are on the top of a Hill, and do pleasantly behold it. The Way to Heaven is through great Changes and many Vicissitudes, up-hill and down-hill: But in the Deep as truly as on the Mount, in Temptation as truly as out of it, a Saint makes way toward Heaven. The Will and Work of his God he very profitably suffers, when he knows not what he does. And on he goes toward Heaven, as Sinners do toward Hell, not knowing whither they go.
Trees do grow downward when they have scarce Sap enough to show that they be alive upward. Wondrously gainful are many spiritual Losses themselves: Good Words and Works are a Christian's Leaves and Fruits. Self-denial and Faith in Christ are his Root. By the Winter-Season, which doth deaden him to those former, he is enlivened [Page 62]and strengthned in these lattter. And the Temptations and temporary Desertions, which take from him his Activity, do make him amends by notable Additions unto his Humility, even all Days of his Life. Most true are judicious Hooker's Words; Happier a great deal is he whose Soul by inward Desolation is humbled, than he whose Heart, through abundance of spiritual Delight, is lifted up above-measure. Remember, troubled Soul, remember it well, bitterly humbling Winters do make sweet and fruitful Summers. And know thou,
If the Corn upon the Ground be good, it matters not how little deep the Plough went. Do not torment thy self, as the manner of some is, with Fears that thou art not of the good Ground, upon a Surmise that God hath not broken thee up with Convictions and Humiliations sufficiently deep. Examine more thy Corn, and be less concerned about the Plough. If thy Reliance on Christ's Righteousness be entire, and thy Imitation of his Holiness be constant [Page 63]and cordial, the Plough hath done its Part upon thee. Consider on the other Hand too, that
There are valuable things kept in Brine as well as in Sugar. Dream not, that because thy Life is made sorrowful, God intends not ever to advance thee to his Fulness of Joy. The Fruits which are preserved in Sweetness that exceedeth Honey, be not more intended for the Table of the Lord, than the Meats that are buried in Salt and Bitterness.
All the Fruits of Christ's Garden be not of a size, not equally Ratheripe. Conclude not, that thou art none of his Plants, because others do vastly excel thee in all Christian Vertues, and outdo thee in all the Works of Righteousness. One Rose upon a Bush, though but a little one, and though not yet blown, proveth that which bears it to be a true Rose-tree. Look well to thy Sincerity, and to thy sincere Labour for Proficiency: Then know, that neither God or Men do cut down good Trees, because small; or despise [Page 64]unripe Flowers and Fruits, if they be ripening.
A sorry Speaker may be a most excellent Wrestler. Milo had not the Tongue of Cicero. Moses, that greater Prevailer with God, was a Man of a very slow Utterance. Do not say, you cannot pray because you cannot speak much, or well, or long. Praying is Wrestling with God. The Heart is the Wrestler: Holy Faith is the Strength of it. If by Means of this Strength thy Heart be a good Wrestler, though thou art ever so Tongue-tied, thou wilt be a Prevailer. Rhetorick goes for little in the heavenly Court; but sincere Groans have a kind of Omnipotence.
A Mine of Gold may be a long time unknown. The Heat of the Sun may make it many a Year before the Light of the Sun doth discover it. It is long before the Spirit doth witness to some what he works in them.
A King is not the less a King for dreaming himself a Beggar. Suppositio nil ponit in esse. Victorious Believers [Page 65]are most truly so, when they are not sensibly so.
The most bruised Reed maketh no little Melody to the Lord. Our compassionate Saviour tells his affrighted Dove, when driven into the Clefts of the Rock, that her Voice was sweet; Cant. 2.14.
The little Specks in the milky way be as real Stars as the Sun. We must not argue that we are Darkness it self, because we are not the most burning and shining Lights.
The crying Child is alive as sure as the laughing one. If whatever stole away our Joy, did steal away our Faith also, where would Faith be found upon Earth? The World and Church will be soon at an end, when all shall kill that maketh to cry.
It doth often rain and shine together in the Heart of a Believer. His Soul hath the Joy that is his Duty, and shines with Grace acted in Desires and Endeavours to triumph: When as yet it hath not the Joy that is the Largess of God's Bounty, by which its Clouds must be chased away; no, but is lamenting [Page 66]after the Lord for it: Dolet, & de dolore gaudet. Joyfully it laments after him for it, singing our renowned Gataker's most delectable Lamentations.
And as for sinful Sorrow it self, be it observed, A Believer may gloriously conquer, even when he is miserably conquered. And he doth so, when, tho Sin strikes him down, it cannot make him yield. Positive Nolition is Conquest of Sin. Of the unconsenting and outcrying Virgin, over-powred by the Strength of a Ruffian, God did pronounce that there was no Sin in her worthy [Page 67]of Death. By resisting she made the Destroyer flee, even then when she could not make the Defiler flee. The Believer that resists, is not struck down under the Wrath of God, when he is struck down into the Mire of Sin. Glory be to God in the highest. Fight against Sin, though it be upon our Knees, is Conquest.
And therefore, Lastly, Rahab is in Heaven as sure as Abraham. St. James saith, that Dwarf in Faith was justified by it as well as this Giant. And it's sure, if justified, is glorified. Now,
Whoso is wise and will observe these things, they shall to their Joy understand the Loving Kindness of the Lord.
My next Exhortation is;
§. 2. To those that have formerly sung Triumph over Death, but have lost that Voice of Joy and Gladness.
All such, are to be thus exhorted. First; Despise not your Loss. For [Page 68]it's a Loss of more than all the World is worth. It's a Loss of Heaven upon Earth. A Loss, that was to David as a Sword in his Bones: And cannot but be grievous, to a Heart that is not perfectly senseless. Unto any other, to joy in Christ's Love is sweeter than Life; and to have that Joy taken away, must be more bitter than Death. Yet,
Secondly; Despair not under this Loss. You are not the first that have faln under it. David lost his Joy, and cried, O spare me! Jeremy was afraid to die, Jer. 37.20. Hezekiah turned to the Wall, and wept at the Tidings of Death. Holy Latimer told his Ridley, that sometimes he could run into a Hole for Fear. A Balm in Gilead there was for them, and a Physician that restored them. Nor is there any reason, why your Wound should be presumed to be incurable. It is surely your Duty to pray for the Cure. And it were a fond Conceit that you might not look for, the things you are bound to pray for.
Thirdly; Enquire how you came by your Loss. Whether Pride were not swelling in you; and made needful this Loss, to keep you from being exalted above measure. Or, whether Earthly-Mindedness got not into you: for, as in Nature, it cannot be Night till the Earth interpose between the Sun and us; so I question whether ever a very dark Night fall on the Face of a Soul, but by some earthly things interposing between Christ and it. The Achan that is the Troubler, must be stoned e're you are like to be quiet. To which purpose, you are to make diligent search after it.
Fourthly; Blame not God for your Loss. Justify God, as David did; and to your selves take all the Blame and Shame. To be sure, your own Sin was all the culpable Cause. And this know; till a Job let's go his hard Thoughts of God, and abhors himself in Dust and Ashes, his Captivity is not to be turned. But, then it is presently turned, and his Comforts be forthwith multiplied.
Fifthly; Conceal not your Loss. Hide it not from those to whom God saith, Comfort ye, comfort ye my People. Peace and Joy are created by God, but they are ministred by his Servants. Whom, not to consult in your Troubles, is to despise. And whom to despise, is to despise Christ and him that sent him.
Sixthly; Consent to God's Terms for the Repair of your Loss. With a thousand Thanks, go and enter a-new the Covenant of his Grace. He cannot in honour make the Terms thereof any lower. But if you humble you as low as the Gospel demands, you will be seasonably exalted to the glorious Joy that it promises. Lazy Desires of Comfort on other Conditions, will shame you much, and profit you nothing.
Seventhly; Ply all appointed Means for recovering your Loss. Be much in the Ordinances wherein you first found Comfort. Read much the Gospel, which was written that Saints Joy might be full. Hear it much, as preached by Christ's Ministers; who are given [Page 71]to be Helpers of your Joy. Pray much; our Saviour having said, Ask and ye shall receive, that your Joy may be full. Look much to Christ in the Seals of the Covenant also, until you are lightned. Of all Ordinances, they are the highest Restoratives.
Lastly; Resolve to follow God, though he never in this Life repair your Loss. To follow him, and persevere in his Service mournfully, if you cannot comfortably. Yea, and labour to show all about you, that you are so sensible of your Transgressions, and of his punishing you less than they deserve; that your Soul loves him and blesses him for his Essential Goodness and his Benignity, even whilst he giveth you no Kid to make merry.
Thus, Wait on the Lord, and he shall renew your Strength: He giveth Power to the Faint, and to them that have no Might he increaseth Strength.
A few Words remain to be spoken,
§. 3. To those of you that are Singing, O Death, where is thy Sting? &c.
First; Forget not your envious Enemy. Satan envies none so much as you, who are mounted on the highest Pinacle of the Temple. If he casts you down, the Greatness of your Fall gives an Eminence to his Conquest. And he will spare no Pains for his Glory in your Shame.
Secondly; Remember your undoubted Duty, i. e. Of doing more than others. Walking more Holily, Righteously, and Soberly than other Saints; even Saints more aged, and more richly gifted. For it is to you, of all Saints on the Earth, that much is given; and from whom much is required. Much more than was required from you, before you were taken up into this third Heaven.
Thirdly; Consider the Difficulty of kindling again the Fire, that is easily quenched. Your Joy is a holy Flame; but it is extinguishable by one Sin of Presumption. And then where are you? That Measure of Repentance that fitted you for your first Consolation, will not fit you for its Renovation.
Fourthly; Bind the Gospel-Covenant about your Neck: Write it on the Table of your Heart. It hath been said, He who understands this, is a good Divine. Sure I am, he that shall not keep it as the Apple of his Eye, is not like to be a joyful Christian very long. Let the Terms hereof slip out of our Minds, we are strait-way, like the Waves of the Sea, at the Mercy of the next Wind that blows.
Fifthly; Fear Motes as truly as Beams, Gnats as Camels. Your greatest Danger is of incurring the Guilt of Sins, comparatively, least. And Fear of falling into them, is a Means of keeping free from them. Bear it ever in your Minds then; though Rapes do not violate Wedlock, yet a wanton Glance, which is a wilful Wickedness, strikes at the heart of it. And Bodkins do stab as mortally as broad Swords.
Sixthly; Defer not to pay your Vows. Few, I suppose, do come to the Joy of Faith without this natural Worship of Vowing to God. But, surely, none that perfidiously break their Vows do [Page 74]long hold their Joys. Jacob, stiled usually the Father of Vows, paid dear for his Unmindfulness of them.
Seventhly; Be Eyes to the Blind, Feet to the Lame, and make the Hearts of your disconsolate Brethren to sing for Joy. As much as in you lies, this do. For this End, among others, are you comforted, that you might comfort others by the Comfort wherewith you are comforted of God. If you neglect this Duty, no wonder if your Sun be turned into Darkness, and your Joy into Mourning. No wonder if God withdraw from you, and Sin and Satan getting advantage against you, do again plunge you into the Pit where there is no Water. He that withholdeth Corn, the People shall curse him: He that withholdeth spiritual Bread from the Poor and Needy, his God will chastise him. But, the liberal Soul shall be made (and kept) fat; he that watereth, shall be watered also himself. His Heart shall rejoice, and his Joy no Man shall take from him. To conclude;
Would you not lose the Sense of [Page 75]God's Love? Would you not bear anew his hot Displeasure? Would you not be loaded with oppressing Appresions of his temporal Judgments? Would you not be scorched with Fears of being eternally rejected by him? Would you not be perfectly dispirited unto Duty, and be made to cry as David, I am not able to look up? These things, then do; and the God of Peace shall be with you. God your Maker, shall give you Songs in every Night. Your Redeemer shall be a Prince of Peace, as well as of Righteousness to you. The Holy Ghost your Sanctifier, shall make you to know him by his glorious Attribute, the Comforter. Wherefore, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the Work of the Lord; for as much as ye know your Labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Piety and Charity do require, that somewhat be now said of the rare Servant of Christ, whose Decease hath occasioned this Discourse. Mr. ROBERT FLEMING; [Page 76]a Name most worthy of precious and everlasting Memory. A Saint, in whose Life and Death the holy Triumph of my Text hath been admirably exemplified.
Piety, I say, requires it; for Saints Characters, are God's Praises more than theirs. And Charity requires it; for the Example of their Graces and Comforts, more edifieth the Church than Doctrinal Arguments and Motives. Very Sacrilege therefore it would be; a Robbery of God and his Church, to be silent of this Saint; this One of a Thousand. To cover his unexpressable Grace, as Painters used to do Agamemnon's Grief, with a Vail; and to say nothing, because the one half cannot be told, would be but a proud Humility.
Panegyrick and Encomium, indeed, here needs not be any. The Jews say true in this, Just Men do find sufficient Stones for their Monuments. All that is needed or intended, is a plain Narrative what our FLEMING was, and what he did. What he was, [Page 77]through the Grace of God; and what he did, or rather, what the Grace of God did in him.
A copious Subject this is; and lest the Multitude of things memorable overwhelm us, in this Order they are presented.
His COUNTREY, was Scotland. Honoured by God, the Fountain of Honour. Honourable with Saints, the next-best Judges of Honour. And the more honourable for the Birth of this renowned Saint therein. Which was An. 1630, at Bathens, alias Easter; the Seat of the Earls of Tweddale; where his Reverend Father Mr. James Fleming, was long a Minister of the Gospel. Serpent's Hissings are despised; if any thing less earthly stirs its Tongue against the Church of Scotland, as sufficient to their Shame, it is here told what is well known. The most Learned Prince that ever swayed the Scepter of these Kingdoms, affirmed it to be the purest of all the Reformed Churches. And, the Divine to whom the Prelacy, the Dissenters, and the [Page 78] Foreign Churches, do rise up with greatest Veneration, as to a Theological Prince, doth now name that Church the Morning-Star of the Reformation.
Of his PARENTAGE, suffice it to be said, He was the Seed of God's Friends. His Family was Honourable in its Relations, and most eminent for Religion.
His EDUCATION, was first in the College of Edinburgh: Wherein he ran through the Course of Philosophy with great Applause. And made laudable progress in the Learned Languages. Then, translated to the University of St. Andrew's; he travelled through Theology under the Conduct of the Learned and Holy Mr. Rutherford.
His NATURAL PARTS were excellent: His Ʋnderstanding quick and penetrative. His Judgment clear and profound. His Fancy rich and fluent. His Memory strong. His Expression masculine, and of a Grace that did take with those who were not unacquainted with his Idiotisms and Accents. By which it was indeed clouded to us of England.
His ACQUIRED LEARNING was great. Answerable to his happy Parts, and their Culture. Through the Divine Blessing on his pious Diligence, it was Rathe-Ripe. History, the Eye of Learning, he singularly affected. Especially, Sacred History, the Right Eye. But unto him, all History was sacred; for he considered God's Actions more than Man's in all of it. Nor valued he Man's, but for the Knowledg of God's. With whose holy Counsels and Ways he was so well acquainted, that, before he was 23 Years old, he was called to a Pastoral Charge. And was settled therein at Campuslang in the Shire of Cliddsdale. Where he served his God till the Year 1661. In which the Storm rose that drave out thousands, whereof the Age was not worthy. He had taken in Marriage Christina Hamilton, justly famed for her Person, Gifts, and Graces, which were all eximious. By her he had seven Children; and with them and himself sweetly committed unto his God's Provision, he humbly received the [Page 80]Honour of his Ejection. Of the Children, the Lord received to himself three of them before their Mother, and two of them since. Blessed be his Name, two do still survive!
As for WORLDLY SUBSTANCE, his Share seems according to Agur's Desire. He hath told me, that, as Luther, he never, to his knowledg, desired much of it, or was very careful about it. During the most tragical days, his Table was spread, and Cup filled, and Head anointed with fresh Oil. Liberally his Children were educated; and in good Works he was profusely rich. Of his own Laying up, I have good warrant to say, he had no Treasure but in Heaven. His own Testimony of his Life was this; It was one made up of seeming Contraries: Great outward Trouble, and great inward Comfort. And I never found (said he) more Comfort, than when I was under most Affliction.
Touching his NAME and NOTE in the World, this only shall be said; Against all his Projects and Pains to restrain it, his Fame hath flown thrô [Page 81]the Christian World. His Conferences, Sermons, and Writings, made it too big and too bright to be covered. A Name more sweet and precious, and more generally so, to Christians of all Minds and Gusts, I Hear not of, nor Read I any one!
To the Praise of our English Court I write it; the Sun and Moon, as well as other rare Stars thereof, admired holy Fleming, and shone propitiously on him. May the everlasting Love of his God, be the Reward of their Love unto his faithful Servant.
But I am yet in the lower Hemisphere. More high and honourable things remain to be said of this Man of God!
His CONVERSION to his God was early and illustrious. It was but a little while that he had dwelt in this World, before God dwelt in him, and he in God. And that, so evidently, by the Exilience of all Christian Vertues, that little more doubt was made of his being Born of God, than of his being Born of a Woman.
His WALK with God was admirable: And to the many of this Age will seem incredible. It is certain, not one Enoch of many doth walk so exactly. So universally in all holy Ways; and so humbly, with Self-denial to Extremity. It was extraordinarily that his Spirit was composed for Adoration; and accordingly his Life was a Life of Worship extraordinary. His Solemn Dedications of himself to his God were frequent. His Soliloquies with him, almost perpetual. He was ever with Him! And his always-serene Countenance spake it enlightned always by the Divine One. His always-gracious Speech shewed from what Altar the Coal touched his Tongue. Not without cause it hath been a Fear, that, should his Diary come abroad, most Readers would be too weak Vessels for his strong Wine.
His ACTIVITY for God in his Ministry, was such as was to be expected from a Mr. Fleming. From a large Soul, comprehensive of the Interests of God and his Church and [Page 83]the World, the present Age and future. And from a Soul most enflamed with Love; and thereby constrained to spend it self, and be spent, for no petty Faction or Party, but for Certain and Catholick Christianity. What a Writer he was, needeth not here to be written. In Preaching he was Boanerges, and Barnabas also. Nor knew any Man better, how to use Law and Gospel; without either opposing or confounding them. For Converse, and for all things useful, what might Campuslang testify of him? What might Edinburgh, and adjacent Places, wherein, after his Ejection, he lived and laboured? What might Rotterdam say, where, from the Year 1678 to this present Year, he burned and shined? The Sun I think stood still all the time wherein he had no Design for God going on. It is well known, the Sun of his Life did set upon an excellent Design. Which was of sending forth a Treatise concerning the Way of the Holy Ghost's working on the Souls of Men; especially, after Conversion, in [Page 84]Communion between God and them.
His SUCCESS from God given in his Work, was not ordinary. He had a numerous spiritual Progeny. And they are very many who have thankfully commemorated in my hearing, their Benefit from his Writings. The Holy Spirit that bloweth in whose Books he listeth, hath singularly honoured his. And, I well know, doth still continue to honour them. Of both his surviving Sons, it must be said, though it be here a very high word, they do Patrizare: And do make it manifest that the holy Saint's Prayers were heard, and his Pains richly prospered unto them.
His PEACEFULNESS in God's House is by no means to be omitted. Controversies he declined, not because of Insufficiency, but of Dislike. Seeing, better than others do, or will see, that many Errors will be sooner struck to death by a Just Contempt, than by a Full Confutation. And will be less apt to revive, after they have been generously disdained, than after that they [Page 85]have been operously exploded. Well he knew, and oft he would say, what a Servant the Bond of Love is to the Ʋnity and Purity of Faith.
Speaking of the Differences of Brethren in this City, he thus expressed himself; I am amaz'd to see good Men thus tear one another in the dark. Nor can I understand how they should have Grace in due Exercise who value their particular Designs above the Interest of the Catholick Church: and who confine Religion to their own Notions and Models.
To another complaining of Reproaches from pretended Friends, his Answer was; To me to be judged of Man and of Man's Judgment is a small thing. I bless God I value not my own Name, but God's only. I do confess, when Men wound the Credit of the Gospel through me, it is hard then to bear up.
Nor may it be forgotten what he hath said to his dear and excellent Friend, and spiritual Son of this City, (Dr. D. H.) I bless God in fifteen Years time I have not ever given any Man's [Page 86]Credit a Thrust behind his Back: But when I had ground to speak well of any Man, I did so with Faithfulness; and when I wanted a Subject that way, I kept Silence. O in what Concord might Prelatists and Dissenters walk, much more the Dissenters themselves, had they more of this Balsamick Spirit? What? agree in Principles of Faith, in all substantial Parts of Worship, and assert, all of us, the same Necessity of Holiness, and yet bite and devour one another? Blessed Saviour! send down thy Spirit to us with the Wisdom that is pure and peaceable. But to return: Of the Man so pure and peaceable it must be added;
His TRIUMPHS in the Favour of God were transcendent; Triumphs over Law, Sin, Death, Grave and Hell: Too few do I discern to aspire to such as he had long attained. O how dwelt he on the Mount? How oft was he as in the third Heaven? What a Jacob, what an Israel, was holy Fleming? Such a Wrestler and Prevailer with God; such a Moses, to whom God spake as it [Page 87]were Face to Face; such a Nazarite, with a Soul, with a Life, and with a Name, darkned with no Cloud; except but that of his own Humility, which doth together darken a Man to himself, and beautify him in the Eyes of God and Saints. A Man so highly favoured of God, and blessed with so much of Heaven upon this Earth, is not oft found, I suppose, in any one Age. There is no end of Instances, every Day seeming to have been a holy Sabbath and Communion-day, and Day of spiritual Jubilee unto him. In his last Sickness he had more than one wondrous Manifestation of God's Love to his Soul: and one which he declared he had not Strength enough to have born much longer. But now,
Of his DEATH in the Lord what shall my trembling Heart utter? It was but July the 17th that his Sickness seized him; and the 25th, he who had so much seen the Salvation of God, departed in Peace. On his first Arrest, O Friends, said he to such as were about him, Sickness and Death are serious [Page 88]things. But till the Sparks of his Fever had risen to a Flame, he was not aware that that Sickness was to be unto Death; for he told a Relation of his, that if it should so be, it was strange, being the Lord did not use to hide from him the things that he did with him and his.
His heavenly Father knew his thorow Preparedness for Glory, and pleased not to give the Premonition which he saw him not to want. Sudden Death is sudden Glory to such Saints. Yet before his Expiration he was apprehensive of its Approach. Calling to him a Friend, he asked, What Freedom do you find in Prayer for me? Seems God to becken to your Petitions? or does he bind you up, and leave dark Impressions on your Mind? This way, said he, I have often known the Mind of the Lord. His Friend telling him he was under Darkness, in the case, he said, Well, I know your Mind: Trouble not your self for me. I think I may say, that I have been long above the Fear of Death.
His Groans and Struglings argued his Flesh to be under no small Pains: But his Answers to enquiring Friends certified that the Irons did not enter his Soul. Always he would say, I am very Well; or, I was never Better; or, I feel no Sickness. Thus would he say, while he was seen to be very sensible of every thing beside Pain.
The malignant Distemper wasting his Natural Spirits, he could speak but little. But what he spake, was all of it like himself. Having felt himself indisposed for his wonted Meditation and Prayer, he thus said to some near him; I have not been able in a manner to form one serious Thought since I was sick: Or, to apply my self unto God as I ought. But, though I have not been able to apply my self unto God, he has applied himself unto me. And one of his Manifestations was such as I could have born no more.
Opening his Eyes after a long Sleep, one of his Sons asked him how he did? he replied, Never better: Do you know me? said the Son; unto which, [Page 90]with a sweet Smile, he answered, Yes, yes, dear Son, I know you! This was about two Hours before his Ascension. About an Hour after it, he cried earnestly, Help, help, for the Lord's Sake! And then breathing weaker and weaker, he soon gave up his precious Ghost. The renewed Eagle took flight to the Mountain of Spices.
As his Life, his Death also speaketh. And whosoever hath Ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit speaketh by both of them, unto the Churches.
His Diary, the rich Treasure of his Experiences, is not at hand: And therefore cannot, as yet, be brought into publick Light. But from the few Manuscripts which are here found, I shall add some Hints that I judg to be very directive and incentive. I mean, unto the Faith of Reliance and of Assurance, in which he was so eminent; Unto the Love of God and Men, wherein he was so vigorous; Unto Meditation and Prayer, and Heavenly Mindedness, wherein he was so grand an Exemplar.
They are indeed but Hints: And, if any Difference be, they are the most ordinary of his Memorials. The more sublime and extraordinary ones are kept back, of a Suspicion that the Generality of good and honest Readers might be more amused than edified by things so stupendious. And so very much out of the common Road of Christian Experience. But to proceed:
Aug. 16, 1685. Thus he wrote; I found some sweet Access to the Lord in the Morning, in the lively Actings of Grace; and after I had this Day set down some Remarks of the Day before, I had some clear Impress of this. Since thou art careful to improve thy Talent of Observation, more shall be given, and the Oil shall not fail, whilst there are Vessels to receive.
And now, O the sweet Evening of this same Day, when in the outer-Walk, (where I had found a sore Damp for some time) the Door was as it were cast open, with such a clear imparting of these great Confirmations, that I hope with assured Confidence, was the Voice of my beloved [Page 92]God and Master; yea, as indeed it had been, with an audible Voice said: I will do for thee even exceeding abundantly, &c. I will surely give thee a Deliverance, that shall make thee glad above all thy Sorrows past. I do remember thy Prayers and Groans oft in this Walk; and though I was only a Witness of them then, yet now as I have seen in secret, so will I reward thee openly. The time is now come, and it shall linger no more; rejoice and be glad, O my Prisoner of Hope, for the Time of thy Release is come! I remember thy Kindness, and know thy Love; be still and know that I am God. I know thy Distress, and that thy Straits now draw near: but fear not, I will take care of thee; and the greater the Extremity be, the greater Testimony thou givest to me, &c.
This Thursday Evening, the 17th of Aug. when I came in, with some Challenges, I got first great Access to my dear God in Confession, and the sense of his Peace; which was so lively and sweet, as is unexpressible. After, I found some sweet renewing of former Confirmations, [Page 93]with Power impressed on me, thus; 1. As your latter Works have exceeded your former, so shall your latter Days also. 2. As you have not made haste, until my time; so this is the time I have watched for; when you are now so low, to make my Power known. 3. And do you fear to trust me? Are the Consolations of God small, or have they ever failed you? 4. You know not, my Child, what I am to do for you, and how near it is, &c.
After I went down this last Night, what Confirmation had I from God further? And now this Morning, Aug. 18. I had some lively Exercise of the same nature as before, &c.
And now this Saturday, Aug. 19. how clear an Evidence did God himself give me of the Evidence of the Work of Grace in my Soul, in some most lively Actings thereof, so as to rejoice in him as my alone Portion, so as to say, He only is my Salvation and my Defence, my All, in whom I desire to triumph and boast? And therewith what a sweet Inbreaking followed from himself, when he said thus to [Page 94]my Soul: I will deliver you, in a Way you know not; and when all Means fail, then is the Time I chuse. I know thou hast none to look to but me. It is not yours to see now. But blessed are they that believe; for there shall be a Performance of things promised. Dost thou see the Pledges I have given you; and the Conveyance of them with such Sealings and Embracements of my Love? Remember the Text, that Hope makes not ashamed, because the Love of God is shed abroad in thy Heart. Thou hast been long trading with the Talent of the Cross, for some Fruit unto me. But now I will also give thee a Talent of Comfort, and put it in trust under thy Hand, &c.
And O how remarkable hath this Evening been, and Close of this Week, which I may call a most solemn Confirming Week! And now in its close had I most near and sweet Access to my dear God in Prayer. And I hope I may own these immediate Confirmations from himself. As, 1. What shall be done to the Man whom the King delighteth to honour, to whom [Page 95]my Honour and Service hath been dear? 2. Have I said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; and can I leave thee now, when thou hast most need of me, and when all Refuge faileth? 3. I know thou art at the hardest Part of that Lesson, to believe in Hope against Hope: but fear not, I am with thee, (which in an extraordinary Way was then spoken) and though thou see not what thy Outgate shall be, leave that to me. 4. And what a marvellous and sweet Confirmation did the Lord give to his poor Servant, as I came down? Return unto thy Rest, and be still! Which did so deeply surprise and astonish, as answering so directly to what that Day had been my Exercise; what he would do with my Hope, which seemed to be against Hope: This was the giving me a new Text to answer what I had long been upon, &c.
He spent his Days and Years after this Manner. And in order to have the Year rightly carried on, it was (we find) his Custom, from the 15th or 16th Year of his Age, to his last, to set a-part the first Day of every Year, [Page 96]in renewing his Covenant with God, in a new Self-surrender and Dedication of himself to him; or, if interrupted the first Day, then to take the first convenient Day following. We cannot give any Account of the Manner of his doing this, for the first Years of his Life; but we may guess what they have been, by the few Instances following.
1691. It is in the Entry of this new Year, (as I have done now for many Years past most solemnly) that I desire to renew again my personal Engaging of my self to the Lord my God, and for him; and with my whole Heart and Desire to enter my self into his Service, and take on his blessed Yoke, and humbly to lay claim, embrace and take him, (O Him!) to be my God alone, my All, my Light and my Salvation, my Shield and exceeding great Reward. Whom have I in Heaven but thee, O Lord, or in the Earth whom do I desire besides thee?
And now, under thy blessed Hand, my Soul desires, and does here testify my Trusting my self, and securing my whole [Page 97]Interest, my Credit, my Conduct, my Comfort, my Assistance, my Thorowbearing, and my poor Children; and to leave my self herein, on the gracious Hand of my dearest Lord, whilst I am within time. As I write this the 2d Day of Jan. 1691.
1692. It is in the Entry and first Day of this new Year, that I desire here as formerly, to enter (in this hidden Record) a new Surrender and Offering of my self to my dearest Lord and Master, who hath been wonderfully tender and gracious to me; and hath brought me by his immediate Conduct through the Days and Years of my Pilgrimage past; hath still cared for his poor Thing, and given more singular Mercies and Evidences of Respect than to many else; and now (as still formerly) hath taken me through this last Year with singular Evidences of his Presence and Assistance. And as I trusted my self to my Lord, so hath he graciously answered: for which, and his special Grace hitherto, I desire to insert this Witness [Page]of my Soul's blessing the Lord my God.
And now I do here, with my full and joyful Consent, testify my giving up my self again to the Lord, and to his Work and Service here, and where-ever he shall call me, with desire to consecrate my old Age to my God, and the Guide of my Youth. I love my Master and his Service; and let my Ears be nailed to the Posts of his Door, as one that would not go free from that blessed Yoke and Service; and lays, in Hope, the whole Assistance hereof on his Grace and Help. And how, in so extraordinary a Case, as is alone to my Lord, I desire to witness and renew the same here, with my humble and intire Reliance on him, who is my Trust from my Youth to this day, my Shield and exceeding great Reward. To him I commit my Self, my Ways, my Work and Service, which with my Soul's Desire, I offer to my Lord: In whose Hand I desire to secure my Credit for the Gospel's sake, my Comfort and Enlargement in this Day of deep Trouble and Anguish; together with my poor Children, and the whole Interest [Page 99]of my Family and Concerns; desiring to put my self, with humble Confidence, and all that is dear to me, under his Care and Conduct. O my Soul bless thou the Lord! This I write the 1st of Jan. 1692.
1694. It is in the first Day, and Monday, of this new Year 1694. that as I have formerly through most of my Life past, so now do desire to renew my Dedication and Engagements to the Lord my God, and to join in the same Witness with what herein hath been formerly, with my whole Heart and Desire; and to offer unto my dearest Lord Praise, in remembrance of what he hath been through the Year past, and in the whole of my Life; whose gracious tender Conduct hath been so wonderful (and well hast thou my Lord dealt with thy Servant according to thy Word) in all hath befallen me. And, as my Soul does now move, and betake my self alone to him, as my own God, my Father, my Redeemer and blessed Comforter, [Page 100]and my only All; so do I hereby witness the settling of my Trust, my Hope, and Reliances alone upon him, for this new Year, or what Time of my Life may yet remain, with earnest Desire to enter yet again and continue in his Service, even in that delightful Service of my dearest Lord and Master.
And now I do again, by a new Surrender, witness my entire Commitment of my self, my poor Children, my Credit for the Gospel, my Conduct and Comfort, in so extraordinary a Juncture, to my dearest Lord, to his gracious and compassionate Care and Providence; together with my Works, and any small Design to serve him and my Generation. And I do intreat new Supplies of his Grace and Strength, to secure and make his poor Servant, (if it were his blessed Will) yet more abundantly forth-coming to him. And with hope of Acceptance, I write this, Jan. 1, 1694.
At another time, thus floweth his sacred Pen: O my Soul, never forget this solemn Wednesday Night, nor the last Monday Night; what solemn Visits I had from my Lord, after so serious a Work of Trial about the Warrant of my Hope, and Petition for the heightning of my Faith, and sealing Testimony of his Spirit: In how marvellous a Way did my dearest Lord, I hope, bear Evidence to the great Assurance he had formerly given me! &c.
O let my Soul bless and adore the Lord for this sweet and marvellous Visit this Monday Night, which my dearest Lord, I hope, hath given his poor Servant, when so near sinking; and I hope said to my Soul: Fear not, I forget you not, for I have graven you on the Palms of my Hands, &c. I look on thee with Delight, and the Time is come when I will give thee an Account of thy Prayers and Tears, of thy many Groans and long On-waiting. Have I spoken, and will I not do it? &c. O thou afflicted, tossed with Tempests, — in an acceptable Time have I heard thee! Trust [Page 102]thou in the Lord, for I will make thee a Sign to this Generation, &c. I am leading thee right, and thy Strength is to sit still. Is the Lord's Hand shortned, that it cannot save? &c.
O how shall I entertain this marvellous Day, and Appearance of my dearest Lord to his poor Servant! O wonderful Condescension this Morning, after so sweet an Evening before, that he should please to give so near an Approach of himself! O, I hope, it was his Voice! I am come, I am surely come, my Servant, in the fourth Watch of the Night, to bring forth my Prisoner and set him at liberty, who hath stay'd so long for me, &c. — I embrace you as an Over-comer; rejoice, for great is your Reward in Heaven. I am now entering thee on a Day of rejoycing: Be not doubtful, it is I who comforts thee, &c. And when I said, O how shall I manage such a wonderful Enlargement? how discernably was it returned, I hope from himself! I will manage it for thee: Thou hast stayed for me; but thou hast got the Victory, and the Day shall be [Page 103]thine, and thou shalt know what I have been doing with thee and for thee.
O let me never forget the 25th of Decemb. at Night; when after 60 Years under the Lord's special Conduct, he gave me so sweet and remarkable a Visit, never to be forgotten! O what a Night was it, when I went home, pressed to sing the 103d Psalm! &c.
But it were endless to name Passages of this nature; since almost every Day was a Communion-day between God and him. And how remarkably God hath answered his Prayers, may easily be inferred from hence. One Instance to this Purpose we may see, in his Epistolary Discourse, Page 68. of a Minister, who had a violent Collick immediately taken off, upon his praying to God for that End. It is known to be himself he speaks of there; though he expresses it Modestly, in the Third Person.
I shall now present a few Things, which he sets down in Writing by themselves, under this Title; A short Index of some of the great Appearances [Page 104]of the Lord, in the Dispensations of his Providence to his poor Servant, &c. And, although the Brevity and Obscurity of the Hints, must needs leave us in the dark as to the full Meaning of most of them, (as being written only for his own Memory, as the Title shews;) yet they will serve to shew us, the particular Care of his Great Master, over this his faithful and eminent Servant. They are the Remarks, which he calls the Appearances of the Lord towards him; in his own Words.
1. How near I was brought to Death in my Infancy; given over, yea and esteem'd a Burden to my Friends, so as my Death was made desirable to them, I being as the Refuse of my Father's Children: yet even then I was God's Choice, and in a most singular way restored.
2. That remarkable Deliverance on receiving a Blow by a Club, when a Child, which was so near my Eye, as endangered both my Sight and Life.
[Page 105]3. That strange and extraordinary Impression I had of an audible Voice, in the Church, at Night; when, being a Child, I had got up to the Pulpit; calling to me, to make haste, &c.
4. That I, of all my Father's Sons, being four, should be spared, when the other three were so promising and desireable above me; and should thus come to be the only Male-heir surviving of such a Stock.
5. That solemn and memorable Day of the Communion at the Gray-Friars, in the Entry of the Year 1648. where I had so extraordinary a Sense of the Lord's Presence; yea, whence I can date the first sealing Evidence of my Conversion, now 40 Years past.
6. The Lord's gracious and signal Preservation and Deliverance given me at Dunbar-Fight.
7. Those solemn Times and near Approaches of the Lord to my Soul: the first at the Elve, when I went there; and the other a little after my Eather's Death in the High-study.
[Page 106]8. That Scripture Acts 12. was by an observable Providence given to be my first Text; and how I was unexpectedly, and by a surprizal, engaged therein.
9. Those two great Deliverances at Sea, in going to Dundee: the first time in Company with the Duke of Lauderdale; the other time in Company with Mr. Andrew Grey of Glasgow.
10. That extraordinary Dream, and marvellous Vision I had twice repeated, with the unexpressible Joy after the same.
11. Those memorable Impressions and Presages about my Health, when it seemed hopeless, at my first Entry upon the Ministry; and the strange Expression of Mr. Simpson to that purpose at New-mills.
12. The Lord's immediate and wonderful Appearance for me, in my first Entry upon the Ministry; with that extraordinary Storm on the Day of my Ordination; and the amazing Assault which followed the same, in what befel; — wherein Satan's immediate [Page 107]Appearance against me was so visible.
13. The great and conspicuous Seal given to my Ministry from the Lord, in the Conversion of several Persons; with that marvellous Power which then accompanied the Word on the Hearts of the People.
14. That signal Appearance of the Lord, and his marvellous Condescendence, in my Marriage-lot, and in the whole Conduct of the same.
15. My Deliverance from so eminent Hazard of my Life, in my Fall from my Horse at Kilmarnock.
16. The Lord's marvellous Assistance and Countenance at the two Communions of Cathcart and Dillop; with that great Enlargement I had at the last of these Places, at the last Table.
17. That as my Entry to my Charge was with so bright a Sun-shine, so no less did the Lord appear at my parting from that Place; wherein all things did meet, in a remarkable Juncture, to make the same both honourable and comforting.
[Page 108]18. The Lord's special Providence; as to my outward Lot, after my Removal thence, in many Instances that way.
19. His gracious sparing my dear Wife so long, when her Life was in such Hazard in the Years 65 and 72.
20. The Preservation I had in going over to Fife, in the Year 72, with the solemn Times I got there.
21. That Dream at Bonssy; wherein I got such express Warning as to my Wife's Removal; with the Lord's marvellous Appearance and Presence with me the Thursday after at St. Johnstown.
22. That extraordinary Warning I got again of my dear Wife's Death, and of the Manner of it, at London, in the Year 1674.
23. Those two remarkable Scriptureplaces given me at Westnisbet, in my return from London, 1674; viz. that in Rom. 4. in the Forenoon, and that in 115 Psalm in the Afternoon.
24. Those great and signal Confirmations given me, at my Wife's Death: [Page 109]And that extraordinary Voice so distinct and clear, which I had a few Nights after her Death.
25. Those special Confirmations given me, at my first leaving my Country, at Westnisbet, Ridsdale, Stanton, and the first at Sea from the Sheils.
26. Those solemn Passages to confirm my Faith, from Heb. 11. and Exod. 33. and at other times at London; and the last Night there, before I went away.
27. Those extraordinary and signal Times I had, at my first entry at Rotterdam.
28. Those two observeable Providences which did occur to me at Woerden, and about the Business of William Mader.
29. The marvellous Sign given me of the State of my Family, in what happened as to sudden withering of the Tree, and its extraordinary reviving again, at my first entry into my first House in Rotterdam.
30. The great Deliverance from Fire in the High-street.
[Page 110]31. The special Providence in preserving my Son from perishing in the Water.
32. The good Providence in returning my Diary, after it had been long lost.
33. That surprising Relief, when cited by the Council of Scotland to appear; with that sweet Resignation to the Lord, which I had then, under so pungent a Trial.
34. The remarkable Event of a Warning I was forced to give, that some present should be called away by Death before the next Lord's-day.
35. The Lord's immediate supporting under a long Series of pungent Trials in this Place, by a Series of Wonders (I may truly say;) for which I am obliged in a singular Way to set up my Ebenezer, that hitherto hath the Lord helped.
36. The remarkable Appearance of the Lord with me (which I omitted in its place) in that strange Providence relating to Mr. Moneyenny's Death at Preston-pans.
[Page]37. That most solemn Providence and Wonder of my Life, my Fall under the York Coach in Aug. 1674. when the great Wheel went over my Leg, so as I could feel it pressing me, without hurting, far less breaking my Leg; as if it had been carried thus over in a just Poize, to let me see how Providence watched over me, &c.
38. The Comfort God gave me in my Children, and those extraordinary Confirmations I got from God, upon the Death of those sweet Children whom God removed from me to himself.
Now, go, Reader, go and do thou likewise: For