AS touching the Author, and Pen-man of this Psalm, there is no question. But if I were asked, at what time, and upon what particular occasion, it was written, I could not so easily give an answer. Nor is it much material to our purpose. This is enough, and may certainly be gathered from the centext, that the Psalm relates to some very sore, and heart-piercing affliction under which the Prophet groan'd. It may be it was the rebellion of that ungracious Son of his, Absalom: some passages in the Psalm seem to look that way. Haply it might be some other cross: for he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs of all kinds, like as Esa. 53. 13. the Lord Jesus, of whom he was an eminent Type. What­ever it was ailed him, 'tis sure, it was such an affliction, as he thought would have killed him, such an one, that if God should not speedily put an end to his misery, he made no other account, but that his misery would quickly make an end of him. This may be collected from ver. 4. and 13. It was such an one, that the grief and sorrow it had caused, did eat, and consume him like a moth, ver. 13. There was [Page 2] such a tempest of passion raised in his soul, by reason of his present affliction, that his faith and patience were put to it to the uttermost, and all the grace he had was but little e­nough to keep him from dashing, and being split upon the rocks. In this sad case, what it was relieved, and eased his soul, what it was quieted, and stilled the tempest, is more worth our inquiry; and herein, the Holy Ghost was pleased not to leave us at a loss, but hath ordered that it should be recorded, for the good of all the sons and daughters of affli­ction, to the worlds end, that they may learn what they have to do when they are Esa. 54. 11. afflicted and tossed with tempests, when their hearts are upon any sad occasion, Psal. 42. 5. cast down and dis­quieted within them. And to that end God hath commanded this holy man, in the words of my Text, to tell you;

1. What a strange cure was wrought upon him.

2. What the remedy was he used for that purpose. The first in these words; I was dumb, I opened not my mouth: the Augustinus legit, [quia tu fecisti me] ac proinde erravit in hujus loci iaterpreta­tion [...]. second in these; because thou didst it. The tempest that was in his soul ceaseth, and there is a calm; and it was his faith presenting God unto his soul, from whose hand the afflicti­on came, that made all hush't and quiet.

I shall explain the Text, in the handling of the several Doctrines.

Time will not permit me to stand gathering all the pre­cious fruits (that otherwise I might) which grow upon this Tree of Paradise; all the Doctrines which this Text would afford; I shall therefore collect but three.

That nothing in the world is more sure, than that all the Doct. 1 evils of affliction which befall us, come from the hand of God.

That nothing doth better become us, when God lays Doct. 2 his hand upon us, than to be dumb, and not to open our mouths.

That nothing is more effectual to make us dumb under Gods correcting hand, than this very consideration, that it Doct. 3 is Gods hand from which our afflictions come.

For the first, This is a thing we may resolve upon, when [Page 3] any evil of affliction betides us, 'Tis Gods doing. Let the in­struments and second causes be who, and what they will, this is certain, Gods hand is in all.

I am not, at present, any whit concerned to meddle with the point of Gods providence, in or about the evil of sin, and therefore shall pass it by. Our business is about the hand that God hath in the evils of affliction and misery, (strictly so called) and those only which light upon the sons and daughters of men in this life: such as be pains, diseases, losses and crosses in estates, and children, death of friends, and dear relations, with all others of the like nature, which are many more than can easily be numbred. I deal not now with the meritorious cause of mens suffer­ings in these kinds, which cannot be denied to be sin. 'Tis the author from whence they come, and by whom they are inflicted, that I am to speak of; And we may be bold to say, 'Tis God. I know Physitians will tell us, that this, and that is the cause of such and such a disease: and there are few other disasters and calamities befall men, but haply causes (with ease) may be assigned of them, and we may say it was long of this thing; and that, else all had been well. But when all is said, God is the cause of causes, and there is none of these things happen to any, but there is an hand of Divine providence, which orders and disposeth them; God doth all, for;

• 1. He singleth out the
  Job 1. 8. Lam. 3. 12.
  person that is to suffer.
• 2. He appointeth what the
  Job 1. 12.
  affliction shall be.
• 3. He setteth down the
  Psa. 31. 15: Esa. 16. 14. Joh 7. 36.
  time when.
• 4. He determineth
  Gen. 15. 13 Rev. 2. 10.
  how long.
• 5. He assigneth the
  Mat. 26. 55.
  place where.
• 6. He prescribes
  Job 1 12. and 2. 6.
  the manner how.
• 7. He
  Psa. 78. 50. He weigheth a path to his an­ger [...]
  weighs the measure, how much.
• 8. He orders
  Joh. 19. 11
  all second causes and means.
• 9. He
  Esa. 9. 13.
  layes the affliction on.
• 10. He governs and guides every
  Mat. 10. 29.
  contingency.

None of these things come to pass at an adventure, or by chance; nor are second causes so left to themselves, but [Page 4] that God doth supervise, and act, and order all in all. To instance in the case of sickness; it is Gods doing that this disease, finds out this person, just at this time, in this very place, holds him so long, handles him thus and thus, that he is now better, and now worse, and that at last, he either re­covers, or dies. There is nothing of fortune or meet chance in any of these things. And it is so in all other af­flictions. Afflictions in Scripture are compared to Psal. 91. 5. Lam. 3. 12. ar­rows, but they are not like that, 1 King. 22. 24. which I know not who, shot at, he could not tell whom, and hit him he could not tell where, and hurt him he knew not how much, or how little, but did all at a venture. No! these arrows are shot by an Almighty hand, guided to their mark by an unerring wisdome, according to a will that is righteousness and holiness it self.

If you demand how this may be proved, I shall evidence it by two sorts of Testimonies.

1. The Testimony of the best, and most holy persons 1. The Testimony of the godly. that ye read of in Scripture. Let the Sabeans and Chalde­ans plunder Job of his estate, let the Devil himself raise a wind to blow down the house upon his childrens heads, and slay them all; Job will tell you, Job 1. 21. It was God from whom he had received so much good, that now sent upon him all this evil; It was God, who first gave him that estate, that now took it away again; It was God who had given him those children, that did now bereave him of them: God hath given, God hath taken, blessed be the Name of the Lord. Let Shimei come out, and throw stones at David as he passeth along, let him curse and spit venome at him, according to his pleasure; the holy man looks upward, and both sees, and owns Gods hand in this, 2 Sum. 16. 11 God hath bidden him curse David. Let wicked persons rage and persecute, as if they thought not only their Psal. 12. 4. tongues, but their hands were their own to do what they list, with­out any Lord over them; the Prophet (for all that) looks upon them, but as a Psal. 17. 13. sword in the hand of God; over-ruled and ordered by him. And as to the business of diseases, [Page 5] hear what he saith, Whom our blessed Saviour commends for a faith that was greater than any he found in Israel: They come and go, seize upon a person, and depart from him, just as God gives them Commission to go or come; Mat. 8. 9. When he saith Go, they go, when he saith Come, they come; what he commands, that they do.

2. But what need we any farther witnesses of this truth? Hear what God himself saith to this point; and that not 2. The Testimony of God himself. once or twice, but often; not obscurely, and in parables, but plainly and expresly. I shall quote you but two or three Texts, and your selves, if you mind them, may meet with many scores of them in your reading. Esa. 45. 7. I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace; and create evil, I the Lord do all these things. What can be more clear? Hearken again, Esa. 9. 13. This people turns not to him that smites them. Who is that? the next words tell you, Neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts. Hearken once more, Amos 3. 6. Shall there be e­vil in the City, and the Lord hath not done it? As if he should say, It is not possible there should. And there is the same reason for the Countrey too. There is no evil at all (that is of affliction) either in City or Countrey, but ye see God owneth it as his doing; and if he own it as his doing, we may boldly say it is so. And to speak to the point of dis­eases; Hence it is that God Deut. 28. 21, 22. & 7. 15. threatneth to send sicknesses, and promiseth to remove them, according as he shall be pleased or displeased with a people, to shew that his hand doth all these things: And the truth is, he that denieth him this providence, doth in effect, deny him to be God.

To clear this point a little (for I must not dwell upon it) and to prevent some objections which our carnal and foolish hearts will be making against it, take these three Rules.

1. That which is hard for us to do, yea more, that Rule 1 which is impossible for us to conceive how it should be done, is easie for God to effect. We are apt to think, how can this be? That so many thousand things, so various all the world over, should be governed and ordered by a [Page 6] providence? But alas! What is the World and all that is in it unto God? Esa. 40. 15. Behold the nations are as the drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the ballance; bo­hold he takes up the Isles as a very little thing. Ver. 17. All nati­ons before him are as nothing, and are counted to him less than nothing. Ver. 12. He measureth the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meteth heaven with a span. What toil, or la­bour, what difficulty then can there be to him, in the or­dering of all these things! Know, (O man!) it is infinit­ly easier for the great God to govern the World, and all things in it, (though there be so many Myriads of creatures) than it is for the wisest among men, to order and govern the several affairs of a smal family, that consists but of three or four persons.

2. That things fall out otherwise than we think they Rule 2 should, or good men could wish, is no argument to prove they are not ordered by God. That afflictions light upon such, as we conceive were fittest of all others to be spared, will not prove they come not from Gods hand. We think it pity, such a tender bud should so quickly be nipt by death, we think it might have been better, if he had been suffered to grow still. What a deal of service might he (in time) have done for God? What an instrument might he have been of Gods glory? But who made your thought the rules that God must go by in the ways of his providence? Must things either be ordered as we judge fit, or else will we de­ny or doubt of Gods having any hand in them? I confesse some of the Heathens have, upon this account, deified For­tune, and attributed the Government of things under the Victriae causa Deo placuit, sed victa Catoni. Carncades, said it was the mi­sery of Athens, that what wise men debated, fools judged of. Sun to that blinde Goddess of their own setting up. But this is to take too much upon us with a witness: this is no less than damnable presumption, for us to prescribe God those rules, which if he will not go by, and be tied to, we will not own and acknowledge his providence in the World any longer. Esa. 55. 8, 9 His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways his ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts.

[Page 7] 3. Though many things seem to come to pass by meer Rule 3 chance, it doth but seem so, for there is no such thing. There is a secret unseen hand of providence, that ordereth every motion and event, even those which are most Exo. 21. 13. compare Deut. 19. 5. ca­sual. That instance, which I hinted before, is very re­markable, among many. God had, by Micaiah, told A­hab, before he went to Ramoth Gilead, what he must trust to, 1 King. 22 28. If thou come again in safety (saith the man of God) I am no Prophet: But how was his death effected? Verse 34. A certain man drew a bow at a venture, and an invisible hand of providence guides the arrow to the right man, and di­rects it to hit the right place just between the joynts of his ar­mour, and there to give him his deaths wound. The Scrip­ture (I deny not) doth sometimes speak of chance. Eccl. 9. 11. Time and chance happeneth to all: and Luk. 10. 3 [...] By chance (saith our Saviour) there came down a certain Priest that way. But that is according to us, and so far as we are able to discern, while we look upon second causes: for when we are at a loss (as very oft we are) and know not whence such or such a thing is, we use to say, it happens by chance; and in a sense we may do so. But all this while, there is no such thing as meer chance. Meer chance, I call that, when things come to pass, not only in such a way, of which we are able to give no account, and by such means as we are not aware of, but in such a way also, that God hath nothing, by his pro­vidence to do in the ordering or disposing of them. This to think is blasphemous. For still in the most casual events, and greatest contingencies, there is an invisible hand of the infinitely-wise God, that linketh one thing to another, though in such a way, that we know not, nor that is fit we should know how.

A word only of application, and I pass to the next Ʋſe. Doctrine. Let no man then say, when any affliction lights upon either him, or his; This came by chance, it was my hard hap, or my bad fortune. The Apostle tells us, Jam. 1. 12, 13. When a man is tempted, he must not say, he is tempted of God: But when a man is afflicted, he may safely say, yea he ought to [Page 8] say, 'Tis God afflicts him. The blinde and Heathenish Philistims (indeed) when they smarted under Gods judge­ments, fansied it might be 1 Sam. 6. 9. only some chance had happened unto them, and there was an end: But as for us we have been taught to know God better than so, and therefore ought to entertain no such Paganish conceits. It is our duty to see and acknowledge Gods hand in all the blows that light upon us, and to turn Esa. 9. 13. to him that strikes us.

We proceed to the second Doctrine, viz.

That, nothing doth become us better, when God layes Doct. 2 his hand upon us, than to be dumb, and to take heed we open not our mouths. God (ye see,) hath here set before us, the Prophet for a pattern, that of him we may learn how to carry our selves under our sufferings.

We shall enquire what kind of dumbness and silence, this of the Psalmist was, which he is commended for, and which would so well beseem us when we smart under the Rod of God, and then the Doctrine will be, in a great measure, evident by its own light.

We sh [...]ll proceed in our enquiry: 1. Negatively to pre­vent mistakes: 2. Positively, and shew you what it doth import.

First, Negatively (to pass by this, that it is not to be supposed, that it was any dumbness in the proper and lite­ral sense.)

1. This dumbness doth not import any such thing, as 1. What is not meant by this dumbness. if the Prophet had been brought to that pass, that he had nothing to say to God, by way of prayer, and supplication. He was not so dumb, but that he could pray and cry too; Verse 8. Deliver me (saith he) from all my transgr [...]ssions, and make me not ther proach of the foolish. And again, Verse 10, 11. Remove thy stroke away from me. Hear my prayer, O Lora! give ear unto my cry, hold not thy peace at my tears. And so, Psal. 22. 1, 2. at an­other time, when he was as dumb, and opened his mouth as little as now, ye shall yet read of his crying in the day time, and in the night season also; yea, it is expresly said, he r [...]ared, and was not silent. Nay in this case we are com­manded [Page 9] to pray and cry (on this fashion) and not to spare. Jam. 5. 13. Is any man afflicted (saith the Apostle) let him pray. And O Israel (saith the Prophet) Hos. 4. 1, 2. return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity: Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord, and say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.

2. Nor was he so dumb, as that he could not frame to the confession and bewailing of his sins. 'Tis true the Pro­phet was once troubled with such a dumb spirit, that he could not (for a while) be brought ingenuously to acknow­ledge what he had done amiss: But this was a silence; that did neither tend to please God, nor conduce any whit to his own ease and comfort. Psal. 32. 3. When he kept silence, (thus) his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day long. So that he was forced to confess all, and to keep the Devils coun­sel no longer, he Verse 5. confessed his sin to God, and did not hide his iniquity, and then found ease. Yea, whereas the Ho­ly Ghost directs us, when God afflicts us, Lam. 3. 28, 29 to sit alone, and to keep silence, to put our mouths in the dust, that is, (in the Psalmists phrase) to be dumb (for all comes to one) he commands us also, Ver. 40, 41, 42 to search and try our wayes, to lift up hearts and hands to heaven and cry; We have transgressed, we have rebelled.

3. Nor was it a dumbness of stupidity and senslesness. It doth not imply any such thing, as if by degrees he grew to that pass, he cared not for, or made no matter of his af­fliction; but set (as the Proverb is) an hard heart, against his hard hap. No, he did (for all his silence) make his moan to God, and as he smarted, so he did lament under the sense of his afflicting hand: Hear how bitterly this dumb man complains in this very Psalm, Ver. 11, 12. Remove thy stroke away from me, I am consumed with the blow of thy hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume as a moth. Read the Psalm 38. also, and ye shall have him in the same tune again.

4. Neither was he so dumb, as not to answer Gods voice in the Rod that was upon him. God hath many wayes [Page 10] whereby he speaks to man, one of them is by his Rod: So the Prophet tells you Micah 6: 9. The Lords voice cryeth to the City-hear ye the rod, and who hath appointedit. 'Tis fullenness and stubbornness, 'tis sign a man is possessed with a Dumb De­vil indeed, that will not return an answer when God speaks to him, so far is it from being any commendable silence.

5. Much less (lastly) was he dumb and kept silence in a­ny such sort as they did of whom Amos speaks (according as some expound the place) that in their misery took up a re­solution to mention the name of God no more, in whom they Gualter in loc. ut & Mercerus had gloried formerly. Amos 6: 10. Hold thy peace, for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord; Talk no more of Re­ligion, and of Gods service. Some make these to be the words of forlorn and desperate wretches that regarded not God at all, nor would once make mention of his name, Large Annotat though at the last gasp, but rather shunned it as ominous. Job 21. 16. The counsel of such wicked wretches was far from our Prophet: he still professeth his hope in God, and re­solves he would not be driven away from God, for all this that had befallen him, for Vers. 7. Now Lord (saith he) what wait I for? my hope is even in thee.

Secondly, Affirmatively, How then is this dumbness to 2. What is meant by this dumb­ness. be understood? and what doth it import? That I shall shew you in the next place. But this I must first premise in the general, that the silence in my Text is not of the voice and tongue alone, but of the heart and soul also. For though men hear only those words which come out of our lips, yet with God, even the most retired thoughts and motions of our souls do go forwards, and he takes cogni­zance and knowledge of them. If Psal. 14. 1. the fool do but say any thing in his heart, God hears it, and can charge him with it. The Prophets heart and tongue were both dumb (and so must ours in the like case) and that in five respects.

1. He was dumb so as neither to complain of, nor quar­rel with Gods providence, nor to entertain any hard thoughts against him; complain to God he did, but against [Page 11] him he durst not. Mourn under Gods hand he did, and knew he might, but to murmure he knew was sinful and dangerous, and therefore as to that was dumb. No doubt he had sinful risings and motions in his heart (who doth not feel them?) but by prayer and meditation he did en­deavour to quell and stifle them, as fast as they bubled up. When the waves of the sea leave rolling, and the tempest ceaseth, the sea is said to be Mat. 4. 39. [...]. silent and dumb. Now our hearts are by nature like the Esa. 57. 20. raging sea when it can­not rest (Gods own people find it too much so with them, through the imperfection of their sanctification) casting up mire and dirt. Ah, what tempests and storms are often rai­sed in our spirits by that passion, and pride, and self-love, and impatience, and discontent, which the best are not per­fectly freed from? Now what doth the Psalmist do in this case? He saith to his heart (enabled by the grace that was in him) as Christ did unto the sea, Peace, be dumb, and thereupon a calm followed. Job is commended by the Holy Ghost for this dumbness, Job 1. 22. In all this he sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. We think we have a great deal to say against what God doth, and we could hold argu­ment, as we imagine, with God himself, if we might be suffered. But it is meet 2 Pet. 2. 15. the ignorance of our foolish hearts should be silenced. Rom. 9. 20. Nay, but O man, who art thou that re­pliest against God? See the carriage of the Psalmist at ano­ther time, in the like case (or rather of our blessed Saviour, of whom that Psalm was a Prophecie) I Psa. 22. 1, 2, 3. cry in the day time, and thou hearest not; and in the night season—But thou art holy. He Esa. 53. 7. was afflicted and oppressed, yet opened not he his mouth. As a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so o­pened not he his mouth, though none ever met with that in­jurious, base, and unworthy usage he did. —quid tot du­rasse per annos Profuit immu­nem corrupti moribus aevi? Hoc solum longae pretium virtutis habebis? Lut▪

2. He was dumb: that is, He neither did nor durst quar­rel or fall out with the wayes of holiness for all his suffer­ings. A thing we are naturally prone unto. 2 King. 6. 33. This evil is from the Lord, (saith that wicked King Jehoram) what should I wait for the Lord any longer? What he was, and did, we [Page 12] all are, and should do, if we were left unto our selves. Once the Psalmist tells us he was neer to have done so. He began to think he had Psa. 73. 13. washed his hands in vain, because all the day long he had been plagued, and chastned every mor­ning, but in the end he calls himself (k) fool and beast for so doing. Jobs wife was set on by the Devil to perswade her Verse 22. husband to this, (l) Curse God (saith she) and die: wilt thou Job 2. 9. still retain thy integrity? But he good man, was dumb, had nothing of that kind to say, yea, he abhorred the suggestion; Thou speakest (saith he) like a foolish woman. He liked Re­ligion and the wayes of godliness never a whit the worse for all the evils that had befallen him.

3. He was dumb, so as not to defend himself, or justifie his own wayes before God, as if they were righteous, and he had not deserved what he suffered. Yea, he Verse 8, 11. ac­knowledgeth his affliction was procured by his sins, and implores Gods mercy for the pardon of them. Sometimes indeed he stands upon his own defence, and pleads his in­nocency and Psa. 7. 3. righteousness, but that is in respect of men, from whom he had deserved no such ill measure, as he met with from their hands. But when he hath to do with God, and so far as his afflictions are Gods doing, he hath nothing to say for himself. It is enjoyned to servants as a duty, in respect of their earthly Masters, that they do not Tit. 2. 2. [...]. non responsatores. B. z. answer again, that is, that they be not such as will be alwayes justifying themselves, and stand it out, and ne­ver yield they be in any fault, but maunder as if they thought they were alwayes chidden and blamed undeser­vedly. Yea, they are commanded to 1 Pet. 2. 18. be subject with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. And if this be the duty of servants to their Masters who are but men, much more doth it become us, when God cor­rects us, to be dumb and silent, to take heed of any such an­swering again.

4. He was dumb, so as to hearken to the voice of the Mic. 6. 9. Rod. I Psa. 85. 8. will (saith he in another place) hearken what God saith. Now a man cannot listen to another while [Page 13] he will have all the talk and discourse to himself. Many there be, which abound in their own sense, that will not be perswaded to hold their peace, and hear others speak. While God is correcting us, he is Psa. 94. 12. Vexatio dat in­tellectum. teaching us in his Law, shewing us our sins, calling upon us for reformation, reading us a Lecture of Repentance, when he takes away any crea­ture-comfort that we promised our selves too much from, he doth as it were say, will ye be alwayes Jer. 2. 19. forsaking the fountain of living waters? Will ye never leave digging to your selves broken Cisterns? How often must I break your reeds ere you will learn to take heed of leaning over much upon them? When we begin to think of taking up on this side Jordan, and then find a thorn in our nest, what doth such a providence say, but Jer. 50. 6. You have forgot your resting place, Mic. 2. 10. Arise, depart, this is not it. Would you be in Canaan, before you be out of the Wilderness? Now when God is thus disciplining of us, it is meet we should say to him, Lord Job 6. 24. teach me, and I will hold my tongue, and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. Job 34. 32. That which I see not, teach thou me, and if I have done iniquity, I will do so no more. But this cannot be till we silence our own carnal reasonings, and make flesh and blood to hold its tongue.

5. Lastly, the Prophet was dumb: that is, he did ac­quiesce, and rest satisfied with Gods dispensation, and that not only as good, but as best. Job speaking how it was with him in his prosperity, tells us, that Job 29. 21. unto him men gave ear, and waited and kept silence at his counsel; the meaning is, by their silence, they gave consent to what he said; they shewed, by holding their peace, their approbation of what he spake, confest better counsel could not be given; and that therefore it was to no purpose to say any more, seeing his advice and counsel could not be mended. It is much more meet we should be thus silent before God, who work­eth by an infinite and unerring wisdome, and therefore Mar. 7. 37. doth all things well. Thus ye read of Hezekiah when sore ca­lamities had been threatned from God by the Prophet, he saith no more, but Esa. 39. 8. Good is the Word of the Lord, by his [Page 14] silence subscribing to Gods wisdome and goodness in all his providence.

By what hath been said; we may conceive, what this dumbness of the Prophet was, wherein he is by the Holy Ghost propounded to us, for an example to imitate, when ever we shall feel Gods hand lye heavy upon us in any affli­ction.

How fit and meet it is, that we should lay hands upon our mouth, and impose a Law of silence upon our selves, in the manner specified; what motives there be to perswade to it, and by what means such a frame of spirit may be at­tained, will appear farther in the next Doctrine, to which I hasten.

There is no such way to make us dumb, when God strikes Doct. 3 us, as this very consideration, that it is Gods hand that is upon us. Ye see this was it that turned the storm, in the Psalmists soul, into a calm, and made all the tumultu­ous risings in his heart to vanish. When he bethought him­self of this seriously, that it was Gods doing, the uproar among his affections ceased. Just as the appearing of some grave person, or man of Authority, is enough to scatter an Ac veluti mag­no in populo cum saepe coorta est Seditio—Tum pietate gravem—Virg. unruly rout, and to reduce them to some good behaviour, though they were all in a combustion before: such an effect will the presenting of God to our souls, by faith, work a­mong our discomposed affections. Mat. 14. 27. It is I (saith our Saviour) be not afraid. The same argument will serve to stifle any other sinful motions of the heart. It is God, be not impatient, do not fret; It is God, do not murmure, nor repine.

There are three great duties of a Christian (yea, all Christianity is comprized in these three) Faith in God, Obedience to him, and Patience under his hand. And by one and the same way the soul is framed, and bowed to the practice and performance of them all. Look as there is no way to work the soul to faith, but the consideration of this; That it is God that speaks; And no way to bow it to obedience, but this consideration; It is God that com­mands: [Page 15] So there is no way to frame the soul to a patient submission (the dumbness we speak of) under affliction, but this consideration, 'Tis God that doth it. The looking up­on a promise as made by God, will strengthen the soul to believe it, against all arguings and objections of flesh and blood: The looking upon a command as given by God, will frame the soul to the obedience of it, fall back, fall edge. The looking upon an affliction as coming from God, and laid on by his hand, will make a man dumb and silent, will make him patient and calm; able to give up himself to be done with, as God shall think fit. Though there were nothing but tumults in the soul before, though his heart were like a troubled sea, as soon as he comes to eye Gods hand, and to take due notice of it, all will be husht and quiet; there will be a calm, as there was in the Mat. 14. 32. ship, after our Saviours coming into it. When God but appears to the believing soul, and by the eye of Faith a discovery is made that it is he, darkness, and sadness, and discontent, and dismayedness, and drooping, and despondency do va­nish at his presence, and are no more.

Many of the sons of men, and they who have been the wisest of all others in their generation, have spent much Quemadmodum in domo Jairi tibicines carmi­na sunebria qui­dem canebant, Christus autem solus mortuum excitabat: sic scientiae humanae multa quidem utiliter monent, &c. at Theole­gia solus, &c. time, and made it their work to find out the right Cure of grief and discontent, and some of them have pitcht upon one way, and some upon another, but going to work with­out the light of Scripture to guide them, could never hit upon the true Remedy, but have all become Rom. 1. 21. vain in their imaginations, and shewed themselves to be Job. 13. 4. Physicians of no value. It is God only which Hos. 6. 1. woundeth, that can cure the wounds he makes, and that alone can teach us, what is the way to bear with patience and calmness of spi­rit those afflictions, which drive others to their wits end, and make them sick of sorrow, even to death. And here ye have, in my Text, a remedy against all kind of grief, of Gods own prescribing, and therefore an approved one it must needs be.

I shall only give you a few instances of the admirable [Page 16] Cures, that have been wrought by this Remedy alone, up­on some whose afflictions have been most heavy, and whose cases in appearance most desperate, and then come to a word of Exhortation.

Whose heart would not have been struck dead within 1. Eli. him, by those tidings wherewith Samuel 1 Sam 3. 11, 12, 13. acquainted Eli from God? How could Elie's heart chuse but break at the apprehension of those dreadful judgements denounced against his family, the very mention whereof was enough to make the ears of strangers to tingle at the hearing? And yet with what admirable patience doth he take it? How calm is he? How far from murmuring? And what wrought him to this pass? even this consideration, Verse 18. 2. Job. It is the Lord, let him do as seemeth him good.

You have heard of the sufferings of Job, yea, I am sure you never heard of any meer mans sufferings like his. He was so afflicted in his estate, in his servants, in his children, in his wife, in his friends, in his body from head to foot, in his soul, that there seemed to be no place left, wherein to inflict a new wound. How doth he take all this? Doth he not storm, and rage? doth he not despond, and despair? No, he kis­seth the rod, is dumb, and holds his peace, though provo­ked to impatience by the instigation of his wife, and upbraid­ed by her, for serving a God that used him no better. What was it, that could possibly make a man take all this so pati­ently? This very consideration in my Text wrought him to this composedness; Job 1. 21. God hath given, God hath taken. And when afterward he had a little forgotten himself, and spoken unadvisedly, God was pleased but to remember him, whose Job 38. hand his afflictions came from, and that presently reduced his soul to his first calmness. Job 40. 4, 5. I am vile, what shall I answer? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer, yea, twice, but I will pro­ceed no farther.

I might tell you how the Prophet David found the rare 3. David. effect of this Consideration, for the quieting of his heart, many a time and oft, and in many a sad case he was in, and not when he penned this Psalm only.

[Page 17] But I will give an instance in one greater by far than Eli, 4. Christ. or Job, or David, and one whose sufferings did far surpass all theirs put together, who, by this very consideration in the Text, comforted himself in the bearing of them. The person I mean was the Lord Jesus Christ; the sufferings I speak of was that wrath and curse of God, which he was to undergo for them whose Surety and Mediator he was, that Cup, which made him Luke 22. 44. sweat, as it were drops of blood falling down to the ground. This Cup (dreadful though it was) he took it into his hand, and drank it up, with this very Consideration in his mind: Joh. 18. 11. The Cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? And again, Not Mat. 26. 39. as I will, but as thou wilt. This may suffice to shew what an effectual Remedy this is to work us, in our afflictions, to such a dumbness and silence, as the Prophet in my Text is commended for.

We shall now make use of this, and the precedent point Use. both together, and that only by way of Exhortation. All ye sons and daughters of affliction (therefore) into whose hands God hath put any bitter Cup, drink it, and hold your peace, though the ingredients be Gall and Worm­wood; Be dumb, do not open your mouths. If you say, I may as well bid one in a cold fit of an Ague, that he should not be chill: How can I be patient under such sufferings as mine are? so great, so suddain, so unexpected, so irrepair­able? Know, you are allowed to mourn, so you do not murmure; you are not forbidden to grieve, so ye be not dejected. He is an unreasonable man that thinks one should feel no pain, when one limb is torn and pulled from ano­ther. All that I drive at is, that you would labour for such a dumbness under Gods afflicting hand, as was before described; that is, ‘Take heed of quarrelling with Gods providence, take heed of falling out with wayes of holi­ness; stand not justifying your selves and your own do­ings; by prayer and meditation do your endeavour to quell all tumultuous risings in your hearts: hold your peace, and hearken that you may take out these lessons, [Page 18] God is now reading to you in his School of affliction; acquiesce and rest satisfied with Gods dispensations: sub­scribe to his Wisdome, Justice, Holiness, Goodness, and Truth.’ This is, that you are to be exhorted to; This is the work that now lies before you. But you will say to me, Do you think you can perswade us to all this? I answer, The truth is, God must perswade; yea, and he must bless the Physick, else all is in vain. But this I am sure of, I can tell you, what it is that Gods people have found to be the most Soveraign Remedy, for the curing of the most heart-aking griefs; and that is this in my Text.

I remember Pliny writing to a friend of his, and acquaint­ing him how much he took to heart the death of Corellius, Lib. 1. Epist. 12 Proinde ad hibe solatia mihi: non haec, senex erat, infirmus erat (hoc enim novi) sed nova aliqua, sed magna quae audierim nun­quam, legerim nunquam. Nam quae audivi, quae legi, sponte suc­currunt, sed tanto dolore superan­tur. an aged person, one whom he exceedingly loved and va­lued; wisht his friend to suggest something, that might comfort him. But saith he, Do not think to do it by tel­ling me he was an old man, and infirm, and one that in the course of Nature could not live long. These things I know, tell me something that is new, something that is great, something I never read, something I never heard before; for those things which I have heard, I often think of, but my grief is too strong and vehement to be qualified, and allayed by them. Now if any of you should impose such a Law upon me, and bid me either tell you some new thing to comfort you, that you never heard of before, or else your sorrow is such, that it will scorn all that I can say, (as Job 41. 29. Leviathan doth the shaking of a spear) and the spirit of impatience, that is in you, will not be laid: Though the task be hard, yet thus much, by Gods grace, I shall un­dertake.

1. To suggest such Arguments to calm your spirits, as neither Pliny, nor any Heathen of them all ever heard, or dream't of.

2. To tell you some things, which (if you do know) it is to be feared you have forgot, or to be sure, do not mind Tantum quisque scit, quantum memoria tenet. and take sufficiently to heart. And it is no small mercy [Page 19] to have known truths brought unto our remembrance up­on occasion. It is a courtesie any of us would thank a man for, if he do but help us to our purse again, when we have lost it, though he give us nothing but what we had before. But peradventure some may hear that, of which till now, they were utterly ignorant: This I dare say con­cerning the Remedy I am now giving you the receipt of, it is the best in the world; it hath, by the blessing of God, done admirable Cures upon the most sad souls, un­der the most heavy afflictions. What David said of Goli­ah's Sword, may be affirmed of it; 1 Sam. 21. 9. There is none like it.

I shall reduce all that I have to say farther about this point to these two Heads.

• 1. How, and after what manner the consideration of Gods hand, works the heart to such a dumbness and silence, as hath been spoken of.
• 2. What there is contained in this consideration, for such a purpose; or what the Ingredients of this Medicine be.

Now for the way and manner, how this Consideration of Gods hand, worketh such an effect in the afflicted soul, as hath been spoken of: It is,

1. Partly by frighting us out of our impatience and dis­content. One passion is often cured, or (at least) repres­sed by another. The apprehension of Gods hand in our sufferings stirs up fear, and fear drives away sinful distem­pers. Sauls thirst after David's blood was frighted away, (at least for the present) by an apprehension of the danger he was in from the Philistims. If by the Eye of Faith, we do but once see God, it will so terrifie us, as to Job 42. 5, 6. make us abhor our selves, and repent in dust and ashes.

2. Partly by furnishing us with matter of Consolation, something to put into the other Scale, to weigh against our sorrow. Consolation is properly a kind of reasoning, whereby we lay one thing against, and compare it with another, that by the consideration of the one, we may be able to bear the other better. When you would make both [Page 20] ends of the ballance even, ye still put more and more into the one end, till ye get the other up. Now this Considera­tion of Gods hand, doth furnish us (as we shall hear anon) with sundry weighty Arguments of Consolation, enough to raise the soul that is sunk deepest in despondency, and so must needs be effectual to quiet and compose the heart.

3. Partly it turns one sorrow into another; a 2. Cor. 7. 10. sor­row that causeth death, into a sorrow that brings repentance never to be repented of: a sorrow for suffering, into a sor­row for sin: and so it worketh a tranquility in the soul by diverting our passions into another channel, where they may take their course without any danger. Thus Physicians to stop bleeding in one place, do use the way of Revulsion, and open a vein some other where. The consideration of Gods hand, will raise in our hearts a sorrow according to God, and that (as Moses his Serpent did with those of the Magicians) will eat up our sorrows of other kinds.

4. It works (lastly) a calmness in our spirits, by turning our sorrow at length into joy, converting our Wormwood and Gall into Wine, and inabling us by degrees to say, Psa. 119. 71. It is good for me. The due apprehension of Gods hand in all our losses and sufferings, will first strike us dumb, and make us silent; but those who are thus dumb (as hath been shewed) shall in due season find that promise verified to them, Esa. 35. 6. The lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. And thus it was with our Prophet at last. Psa. 94. 12. Blessed is the man (as he sings sweetly) whom thou chastnest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy Law. Psa. 119. 71. It is good for me, that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.

Only you must know; that these effects will not be pro­duced on a suddain; it is not to be expected, that in an hour, or a day, such an alteration should be made; There must be frequent application of the Remedy, and the soul must dwell in these meditations and thoughts; 1 Tim. 4. 15. [...] Be in them (as the Apostles phrase is) chase them therein by often and much musing upon them, and hearty prayer to God, withall, for the setting them home.

[Page 21] We proceed now to acquaint you, what there is in this Consideration of Gods hand in our afflictions, to produce such effects upon the soul, that is duly possessed with it.

This only I must premise, that though it be a Meditati­on very useful for all men, in all their miseries, yet, that one may receive the full benefit of this Truth, it is neces­sary he be a Child of God, one that hath an interest in him, as David had: For alas! otherwise a mans case is so forlorn, that nothing can be said to comfort him, and keep him from despair, farther than he is willing, and labours to be in such a condition as may make him a subject capable of the comfort.

Now there are 24 Arguments, comprized in these words [Thou didst it] the consideration of which, by the blessing of God, will be very effectual, to allay our sorrow, to quiet our spirits; in a word, to make us dumb under Gods correcting hand.

I shall divide them in three sorts.

1. Some of them concern all people in general, that be in any kind of misery.

2. Others of them belong in a peculiar manner to such as David was, [viz. the children of God] in all their af­flictions.

3. The third sort have a special reference to Gods peo­ple too, but such of them, as suffer under the loss of a dear and hopeful Child, such a loss as hath occasioned our sad meeting here to day.

First, For those Arguments that may be fetcht from this meditation ['Tis Gods doing] to induce all whosoever to lay 1. a Law of silence upon their hearts and mouths, when they are afflicted; They are nine.

It is He afflicts you, who is Omnipotent, and can easi­ly do whatsoever he will. Job 9. 4, 5. He is mighty in strength: he removeth the mountains, and they know it not; he over-turneth them in his anger. Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. Verse 12. Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? Power alone, and of it self, is very [Page 22] dreadful, and carries a great awe along with it. Eccl. 8. 4. Where the word of a King is (though he be but a mortal man) there is power, and who may say to him, what dost thou? Prov. 20. 2. The fear of a King (whose breath is in his nostrils) is as the roar­ing of a Lion; he that provokes him to anger sinneth against his own soul. If Power be so formidable in an earthly Poten­tate; how shall any of us dare to murmure against his pro­ceedings, in comparison of whom the most potent Mo­narchs of the earth are no better then so many impotent and silly worms?

2. Remember your sufferings come from the hand of him, who Psal. 66. 5. is terrible in his doings to the children of men; yea, to the greatest of them; who brings down Luke 1. 52. the mighti­est from their Thrones, and makes Lam. 4. 5. such as were bred up in scarlet, to imbrace dung-hills; ruines them and their fa­milies, when they seemed to be setled past danger of sha­king. The other Argument was taken from Gods Power to do what he pleaseth, this from those dreadful effects of his power which are to be seen. He not only can do, but a­ctually doth that which may well make us dumb, when he meddles with us, or any thing that is ours. How oft doth he destroy whole Kingdomes, and lay them wast, and not make breaches in private families only?

3. Think of this; your afflictions come from his hand, who is Lord of all; I told you what he can do; and what he doth: Now we speak of the right he hath to do what he pleaseth. Such is his Dominion and Soveraignty, that he may do by right, what ever he can do by might: He is not accountable to any for his proceedings, nor tyed to any Rule to go by, but his own will. The Potter hath not so much power and right, to do what he list with his clay, as God hath over us and ours. When men meddle with per­sons and businesses, that they have nothing to do with, it is unsufferable, and who can bear it? But when God med­dles with us and ours, even the dearest things we have, it is only in what he hath to do, and more to do than we, as being Lord of all. He is not therefore to ask our leave, or [Page 23] to stay for our good will, but may save us, or destroy us, build us, or pluck us down, settle us, or root us up, as he thinks good. He hath an absolute, unlimited and arbitrary Job 33. 13. power, and therefore uncontroulable. And if God do but what he may, what are we, that we should complain? It will not be amiss a little to consider, whence this Dominion of God comes, and what right he hath to it, the more to calm our hearts under his Dispensations.

Dominion among men is founded upon one or more of these six Titles.

1. Occupation; He that first finds or lights upon any Azor. Inst. Mor. pars. 3. p. 47. &c thing, of which none can give any tidings who is the owner, doth thereby become the Lord and Owner of it.

2. Donation; This and that men come to be possessed of as theirs, by gift from such, to whom those things once of right appertained.

3. Succession; So children come to inherit after their fa­thers death, that which was their fathers.

4. Purchase; If a man can say, This is mine, and I am Lord of it, I bought it with my money, or made a con­tract for it, 'tis accounted a good Title.

5. Usurpation; So some attain that Dominion they have, invading the right of others, and wresting it from them by force; by their might overcoming the others Right. This is as bad a Title as may be.

6. Prescription; That which a man hath so many years quietly enjoyed (no great matter how he came by it) he is judged among men to have a Title to.

But none of all these wayes comes God by his Dominion and Lordship over us; no, his Soveraignty is founded upon infinitely better Titles than any of these, viz.

1. His Creating of all things by his own power, out of Lessius de At­trib. p. 126. nothing, His making all, gives him the Kingdome over All.

2. His preserving and upholding all things in the being he gave them at first. For all creatures would return to no­thing (as ice doth to water, when the cold ceaseth) if [Page 24] they were not supported Heb. 1. 3. by the word of his power.

3. His being the last end of all, for whose sake all things were made. Joh. 11. 36. Of him, through him, and to him are all things. Rev. 4. 11. He [not only] hath created all things, [but] for his pleasure they are and were created. What exception then can any man make against his Dominion, and absolute So­veraignty? What shadow of an objection can there lye a­gainst his Title? And therefore what can be more reasona­ble and fitting than to acquiesce in his Dispensations, and by our dumbness to testifie our consent to what he doth? If God had nothing to do with us and ours, or if he were to ask our leave first, and yet should, without craving our good will, meddle and do with us as he pleaseth, there were some ground for murmuring. But whose mouth must not presently be stopt, if God should say to us in our impatiency, what? Shall not I (for all you) do what I think fit with mine own? Shall I make Creatures for mine own sake, and shall not I (without your leave) dispose of them as I please?

4. Take notice your afflictions come from his hand, who is infinitely wise, Mar. 17. 37. and doth all things well. Do we not all stand amazed at that Wisdome, by which the Heavens and Earth, and all Creatures in both were made? And can we think God doth not order his Creatures, and govern, and dispose of them, with as much wisdome as he made them? Doubtless, there is nothing amiss in his administra­tions. He cannot be subject to any errour. Deut. 32. 4. His work is perfect. If we could tell how to mend any thing that he doth, we might be born with in our complaining and find­ing fault. But dare any of you undertake that? Must you not confess your selves to be fools, and unfit to be of his Counsel? Why then do you not lay your hands upon your mouth, and acquiesce in what he doth as best of all? Who could chuse but be struck dumb, if God should say, Where's Job 38. 2. the man that darkneth counsel, by words without knowledge? Must I come and ask your advice, and take your direction for what I am to do? Must my Wisdome be taught by your [Page 25] folly? Must I do nothing before I have first called you to counsel? If God should challenge us thus, it would make us be in Jobs case; I Job 42. 6. abhor my self, Job 40. 5. I have spoken once, but I will not answer, yea twice, but I will proceed no farther, I repent in dust and ashes.

5. When you are afflicted (to keep you from impati­ence) do not forget your sufferings come from his hand, of whose meer indulgence it is, that you have the comfort you yet enjoy: yea by whose goodness you yet enjoy more mer­cies, than you have lost, as you might soon see, if you would set your selves to adjust the account. When people have lost so much, that they think they can lose no more, nor be any worse than they are, then they grow desperate, speak and do they care not what. But while men have something to lose, it keeps them in awe, specially, if they hold what they have, at the courtesie of him who hath taken away what they have lost. This is our case; all our losses and sufferings are inflicted by him, of whose meer grace we hold the rest of our Comforts, and therefore it is best for us to be dumb, Wherefore doth a living man complain? If our Lam. 3. 39. own lives be spared, it is an unreasonable thing to repine.

6. Bethink your selves; Is not he who now afflicts you, one whose will you have often crossed? One to whom you have walked contrary? will you not take the coyn you pay? Must you have a liberty to cross God, and God none to cross you? May you (think you) set light by his will, and must he, mean while, do nothing to displease, or thwart yours? Who made this Law? Or do you think it equal? Gal. 6. 7. Do ye reap any thing, but what ye have sown? Lev. 26. 23, 24. May not God walk contrary to you, as well as you walk contrary to him?

7. Consider, Doth not be afflict you, whom you have provoked to deal a great deal worse with you? Have not you deserved (let Conscience speak) to be punished, not only thus, but Lev. 26. 24. seven times more. You have lost one or two of your comforts, but you deserve to be stript of all. Now when Job 11. 6. God exacteth less of us than our iniquities deserve, what cause is there of complaining? shall he that [Page 26] should of right be whipt with Scorpions, grumble when he is but corrected with rods? There is so little reason for that, that he may rather bless God, if he scape so well.

8. But what speak I of our deserving more evils from God in this life: If we consider it seriously, we shall find our afflictions are laid on by his hand, of whose infinite mercy it is, we are yet on this side hell. Shall those repine against temporal chastisements, that might justly be sent to that place, Mar. 9. 48. Where the worm dieth not, and the fire goeth not out. Lam. 3. 22. It is of the Lords mercy that we are not [utter­ly] corsumed. If a man be but burnt in the hand, when he deserves to be executed, he doth not repine at the hard measure he meets with, but falls down upon his knees, and acknowledgeth the mercy of the Bench. This is our case, and therefore we may well go our way, and hold our tongue, and be glad if it fare no worse with us. Think therefore with your selves, let your condition be as bad as it will, it is better with you, than it would be in hell, whither you have deserved he should dispatch you, that hath laid this af­fliction on you.

9. It is he, by contending and murmuring against whom, nothing is to be gotten but the multiplications of our blows. Who Job. 9. 4, 5. ever hardned himself against him and pro­spered? He is one that will break those, (be they never so stout) that do refuse to bend; The great contest betwixt God and us, is only this; Whose Jer. 44. 28. will shall stand; Whether he or we shall have the disposing of our selves and ours. Now he will do with us and ours as he pleaseth, whether we will or no. Job 34. 33. Should it be according to thy mind? (saith Elihu) He will recompence, whether thou refuse, or whether thou chuse. What got Pharaoh by standing it out against God, and resusing to humble himself? Esa. 45. 9. Woe to him that striveth with his Maker: Let the pot-sheard strive with the pot-skeards of the earth. There is no good to be gotten by contending with one that is so infinitely above our match. Our wisest way is to be dumb, and to hold our peace when he pleads with us, by any of his judgements.

[Page 27] II. Secondly, There are (yet) other Arguments to in­duce us to this dumbness under Gods hand, couched in these words [Thou didst it] which do peculiarly concern Gods people, though those before-mentioned do concern them also.

1. Those that are the people of God, may well take pa­tiently any blows that are reached them by his hand, He being their God in Covenant, through Christ, One that hath made them his children by adoption. An ingenuous and du­tiful son will bear and put up a great deal at a Fathers hand, without sullenness and pouting, though he could not swal­low it from any other; Heb. 12. 8, 9. We have had (saith the Apo­stle) fathers of our flesh, who have corrected us after their own pleasure, and yet we have shewed them reverence; persever­ed in our duty and observance of them. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits? This was the Consideration with which our blessed Saviour drank up that dreadful Cup mentioned before, Joh. 18. 11. Shall not I drink the Cup, that my Father gives me to drink?

2. Such as are the Saints of God may be assured all their evils of sufferings are laid upon them, by one that intends them no hurt at all. Afflictions (indeed) look with a ter­rible aspect to flesh and blood, they have the appearance of Serpents and Scorpions, and the like baneful things, but they are sent by him that means them no ill: These Mar. 16. 18. sufferings of theirs, though they seem to be deadly (and so indeed they are to unbelievers) and to tend to their undo­ing, are but Serpents without stings, and shall not so much as Psa. 91. 10. touch them to do them any real prejudice; but are like unto the Viper on Pauls hand, which he shaked off, and received no harm, Act. 28. 13. This which I say, cannot seem strange to a child of God, when even the Hea­then man could tell his adversaries that threatned his Socrates, ut ha­bet Epictet. cap. 79. death; Ye may kill me, if you will, but you cannot hurt me.

3. Did I say, the afflictions of Gods Saints come from one that intends them no hurt? That is but a small matter [Page 28] in comparison. He that afflicts them intends their good, Mala paenalia non suat vere mala, quia flu­unt à summo bono, erant in summo bono, & ducunt ad sum­mum donum. and will work them much good by it. Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to those that love God. Do not ask me how? and which way? What thing is it that He cannot bring out of any thing, that 2 Cor. 4. 6. commanded the light to shine out of darkness? That spake the word, and caused all things to come out of nothing? Have patience a little (ye chil­dren of God, that are now under the Rod) and ye shall see it, and confess it your selves, that all Heb 12 10. is for your profit, that you may be made partakers of his holiness: That Joh. 13. 7. The Latines call prosperous things res se­cundas; be­cause they are not to be had till afterward. They that know no sor­row, usually know no God. Oratio sine ma­lis est sicut avis sine alis. which you see not now, you shall see and thank God for afterwards. It would be too long, at present, to tell you how many several wayes afflictions tend to the advantage of Gods peo­ple, by bringing them unto a more clear knowledge of God, and themselves, by weaning them from the World, and raising their hearts heaven-ward, by putting an edge upon their prayer, by discovering to them their defects, improving their faith and all other graces, by being like Mar. 9. 49. fire and salt to eat out those corruptions, which would otherwise breed worms in their Conscience, and hinder their inward peace, by keeping them from 1 Cor. 11. 32. being con­demned with the world. These and many other benefits, such as belong to God get by being afflicted. God making the Judg. 14. 14. eater to yield them meat (according to Sampsons riddle) and the strong to afford them sweetness. Their losses and crosses are such as they Heb. 12, 9, 10 live by, and do prove their greatest gain; and therefore (if they cannot do it yet) they shall ere long be able to say, as he did, I had been undone if I had not been undone. Themistocl.

4. But this is not all; Gods peoples sufferings are in­flicted by one, who hath already bestowed upon them, that which may counter-ballance and weigh against all their sorrows; God hath given them those things which are more than enough and enough again, to fetch up their hearts when they are sunk lowest in despondency because of any outward cross. To know God and Christ, what an in­finite mercy is it? John 17. 3. It is life eternal: He that hath attained [Page 29] this knowledge, God himself allows him to Jer. 9. 24. glory. To have pardon of sin, to be justified in Gods sight, see what some bid for such a mercy, Mic. 6. 6, 7. thousands of rams, ten thousands of rivers of oyl, the first born of their body; they would part with any of these things for it, and think they made a good purchase too: To be adopted the child of God, what would not a man give for such a priviledge, if it were to be bought? To have part in Christ, to have Union and Communion with him, is there any thing in the World worth the talking of the same day with it? All these things (and yet these are not all) God hath conferred upon those that are his. Now take your calamities, (you people of God) and Job 6. 2, 3. weigh them in a ballance, and admit them to be heavier than the sand; yet is not here enough to weigh against them? Will none of those things, will not all of them countervail those losses and afflictions you are un­der? Is the Cup God hath given you to drink so bitter, that all those things are as good as nothing to sweeten it? Can ye have more cause to be dejected either for one thing or another, than ye have to be cheered in the apprehension of your interest in such things as these? Suppose Christ should say to you, as to the man sick of the Palsie, Mat. 9. 2. Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven; would you take this comfort for a thing so trivial, that it would tend nothing to relieve you in your sadness? If these things work not with you, if these Job 15. 11. consolations of God be small in your eyes, assure your selves it is long of your unbelief, for which you have infinite cause to be humbled.

5. Yet farther: your afflictions come (I speak of the godly) from the hand of him, who hath (as if what he hath Sermo non valet [...] exprimere, Ex­perimento opus est. given you for present were little) spoken of what he will do for you hereafter, and given you lively hopes of such things, as 1 Cor. 2. 9. eye never saw, ear never heard, neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive. See how contemp­tibly the Apostle speaks of the sufferings of this life in com­parison of these things. Rom. 8. 18. Nec coelum, nec Christus patitr hyperbolem. I count not the sufferings of this present time, worthy to be compared with the glory that shall [Page 30] be revealed. One would think a lively hope of being ad­mitted to the Beatifical Ʋision, and eternal enjoyment of God, should be more than enough to dry up all our tears. And doubtless, if our hopes of heaven were more firm and stedfast, though they could not priviledge us from affliction, yet they would arm our hearts so, that it would not be possi­ble for any affliction to pierce them through.

6. Again, The godly may rest assured that their afflicti­ons are sent from no other but him, who hath (in the mean season, till they come to heaven) engaged Heb. 13. 6. he will never leave them, nor forsake them, Esa. 43. 2. but will be with them when they pass through the fire and water, will not leave them de­stitute of his grace and mercy, but will be present with them, by his Spirit, in all their sufferings. If God should cast us into the water, and there leave us to shift for our selves, and take no farther care of us, whether we sink or swim, our case would be sad: and it would be hard to find any thing that might yield us comfort. But that mans unbelief is his greatest misery, that thinks his misery to be greater, than to be allayed with a promise of Gods presence with him.

7. Consider, Is not this affliction of yours his doing, to whom ye have vowed and sworn Obedience; Obedience a­ctive, to do that which may please him; Obedience passive, to be pleased with what he doth? And is there not reason then for you to be dumb, and to hold your peace? Will you make vows to God, and break them when ye have done? Bind your selves to God by Covenant, as by bonds and cords, and will you, when you are put upon the try­al, how you will take any thing at Gods hand, carry your selves, as if you never meant (for all your vows) he should either meddle with you or yours, farther than you your selves should think fit? Is not this mocking of God? Nay, God will not be mocked, but this will prove bitterness in the latter end.

8. Is not this God who afflicts you, he whose will ye have prayed may be done on earth, as it is done in heaven? [Page 31] Have ye not often made this your petition unto his Maje­sty? Nos imperaro volumus, nobis imperari nolu­mus. Said Ana­stas. to Hormisd. And will ye now be angry, and impatient, that God should rather have his will done, than you yours? Will you take on, as if it were more meet God should submit to your will, than you to his?

9. Lastly, let not this be forgotten; you sons and daugh­ters of affliction are under his hand, who doth Lam. 3. 33. not wil­lingly correct; he would not do it, if you needed it not, and therefore Psa. 119 75. afflicts you in very faithfulness. God makes his people 1 Pet. 1. 6. heavy, but when need requires; as wise and loving parents correct their children, lest otherwise they should be spoiled. A child left to himself, brings his fa­ther to shame, and himself to ruine, and therefore a rod of correction is but requisite to drive Pro 22. 15. away the folly, that is bound up in his heart. Hence is that pathetical expression, Jer. 9. 7. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold I will melt them and try them, for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? As if he should say, There is no other remedy. If other warning would serve the turn, God would not teach us by bryers and thorns. But better weep here, than gnash our teeth here­after. And as God corrects, but only when need requires, so he corrects no more, nor no longer. There is not one ingredient, not one jot of gall put into our Cup, more than he judgeth necessary for us. All these things consi­dered, what cause have any of Gods people to be impati­ent? How fit and meet is it they should be dumb under his afflicting hand?

III. Thirdly, I now proceed to those arguments of pati­ence, which may be fetcht from these words [Thou didst it] that concern specially such servants of God, as suffer in the loss of a dear and hopeful Child, such a loss as hath, to day, occasioned our sad meeting here.

1. It is he afflicts you thus, to whose indulgence you are thankfully to ascribe it, that your 1 Cor. 10. 13. tentation is but com­mon and ordinary. It is a sad thing for one to be afflicted in an exemplary way, such an one, as either cannot at all, or not easily be parallelled. Some of Gods people have been [Page 32] so afflicted, that they might say, Lam. 1. 12. Is there any bodies sorrow like unto my sorrow? And God owes you no more than he did them: Yet even in such a case, though very sad, ye have seen how Job did bear up his spirit by this considera­tion, Job 1. 21. that all was Gods doing, when he could not find, or hear of any in the world, whose sufferings were compa­rable to his. Now to lose a Child that we dearly loved, one that was hopeful, and that we had ground to think God had made his by Adoption, what affliction is it more than thousands of Gods people have had tryal of?

2. But secondly, I pray consider, it is he hath taken him, who hath shewed you more favour, in taking one that came out of your loyns to wait upon himself, and see his face in glory, than he hath done you injury in remo­ving him from you. Was it not your ambition he might go to heaven, and will you be troubled overmuch now he is gone? Did 1 Sam. 16. 19 Saul do Jesse any wrong, or did he think it would be so interpreted, when he sent for his son David to come and wait upon him at Court? But you would not have had him gone so soon: you would still have enjoyed him a little, and a little longer, and have had him to have lingred here. It seems then all the difference betwixt God and you, is only in point of a little time more or less: That which God hath done now, you would have had him done hereafter. But can there be any good reason why you should be tormented, because God hath made one of yours happy so soon?

3. Tell me, Is not God who hath taken your Child, he whose your Child was, infinitely more than he was yours? Did you frame him, and fashion him? Did you either make his Soul, or so much as one part or member of his Body? Or if any one had been wanting, could you have made up that defect? Though you might challenge more interest in him, than any upon earth, yet what was your interest in him, if compared with Gods? Do not you know, that in respect of that interest God had in him, you (though his Parents) were no more than persons only intrusted to [Page 33] breed him, and bring him up for his heavenly Father? And must he not go, or will you be troubled if he go, when his Father and yours sends for him? Our blessed Saviour is propounded to us for a pattern of obedience, and Luke 2. 49. cum. 51. subje­ction to earthly parents: but he must go, and be, whither, and where his heavenly Father called him, and enjoyned him, for all them: and they must submit, and talk no more of their interest, when God challengeth his.

4. It is he hath taken him, who is wiser than you, and only knows from how many evils and miseries, he, by death, is freed, that we who are left behind may live to see and suffer; who can tell what sad times are coming? and is it not then a mercy to us, and ought we not, not only to be patient but thankful (though it is an hard lesson) when we have cause to hope that any of ours are got safe to heaven, where flesh, and devil, and world, shall not be able any more to annoy them, to all eternity?

5. When you think who it is hath taken him from you, remember it is he to whom when he was baptized you did voluntarily dedicate and devote him. We and all ours are at Gods disposal, whether we will or no (as we heard before) and there is no help for it; yet God loves that we [...]hould freely make a surrender to him of what is his own, (which else he will distrain for, and have at his pleasure, do we what we can to the contrary) and he accepts in gra­ciously when we do so, as an act of our service and homage to him. But shall we give and take? Surrender up ours to God, and pretend to do it cordially, and when it comes to the point, struggle, and hold back as far as we are able, and part with that, which we have by our own act given to God grudgingly, and with an ill will? If we do not mean to give up our selves, and ours to God, why do we play the hypocrites, and pretend it? If we do it really and in good earnest, why do we repine when God takes but that, which is not only his own, but which we have freely given him?

6. I shall adde but one Consideration more; which was [Page 34] suggested by a Reverend and worthy Man, 'Tis he hath ta­ken your Son, who did so freely give you his. God spa­red Mr. A. not his only Son for you, but was willing to give him up even to the death, and thought not much to part with him; and while you think of what God hath done in this kind, it cannot but seem a poor thing, (in your own eyes) for you to part with yours when he will have it to be so.

All these things said together, I suppose you will say, the consideration of Gods hand in all our afflictions hath enough in it to make us submiss and calm, to make us pa­tient, and contented, in a word, to make us dumb and silent under his sharpest Dispensations.

And now I shall adventure to open and search the wound of those our worthy friends who are most concerned (and with whom we sympathize) in this sad loss: and for whose sake (specially) I have provided the plaister, the ingre­dients of which I have been so long giving you the account of. And though I shall (I believe) make the wound bleed afresh, by telling you, in their hearing, what it is they mourn thus for; yet having a Remedy at hand so soveraign, and so approved, I hope by the application of it, their sorrow will, in some good sort, be allayed.

I had thought to have reduced what I have to say con­cerning this sweet Child that is gone (and so I easily might) to three heads; his parts, which appeared in him very ear­ly: his piety, of which he gave good evidence; and his du­tifulness to his Parents, which was as remarkable as the o­ther two. But I my self was so affected with sundry pas­sages concerning him (which I have to tell you) as they came suddenly to my mind, that I shall even represent them to you, in the same order, wherein mine own thoughts at first met with them, not standing upon any method.

This sweet Child was five years and an half old com­pleat, within two or three dayes, when God took him: But he had arrived to that in five years, and a little more, that some which are here (I am afraid) have not arrived to in ten times that space.

[Page 35] He had learn'd his The Assem­blies shorter Catechism. Catechism throughout, and began to learn it over again, with the proofs out of the Scripture at large, wherein he had made some progress. Yet did he not learn these things as a Parrot by rote, without under­standing what he said, but could give a good account (much beyond what might be expected in one of his years) of the sense and meaning of what he learn'd. Of this, both others, and I my self have made some experience.

Neither did he look upon his Catechism only as a task imposed upon him by his Parents, which he was to learn, for fear of the rod; but took a great deal of pleasure in it, and would often have it at night to bed with him. Some good acquaintance also he had gotten with the Scripture story. These things argue both parts, and something of a pious disposition likewise. How few such of his age are to be found?

He met one day (in a Gentlewomans Chamber, who lives in the house) with a book that treated of the passion of Christ, and reading a little in it, said he liked the Book well, and that he would read it over. So he began and read some few pages, then turned the leaf down, and the next day came again and began where he left, and so from day to day, till he had read a considerable part of it.

He was a very dutiful Child to his Parents, and would exceedingly rejoyce, when he had done any thing, or carri­ed himself so, as to please them.

He was taken with the Book called, The Practice of Piety, and delighted to be reading in it.

His Father speaking to him one day about the Devil and Hell, and things of that nature, asked him if he were not afraid to be alone? He answered no: for God would de­fend him. His Father asked him, why he thought so? He replyed, that he loved God, and that he hoped God loved him. But (saith his Father) you have been a sinner, and God loves not sinners. But I am sorry for my sins (saith he) and do repent. Repent (replyed his Father) do you know what repentance means, and what belongs unto it? [Page 36] And he gave him a good account of the apprehension he had of the nature of that Grace, according to what he had learn'd in his Catechism, but yet in his own words and ex­pressions.

He would oft ask his Sister (who was somewhat younger than himself) whether she trusted in God, and loved God? and would tell her, that if she sought God, God would be found of her, but if she forsook God, God would cast her off for ever.

He took that delight in his book, that his Father and Mo­ther have seen cause sometimes to hide away his book from him.

He was never observed to discover any pouting or dis­content, when upon any occasion he was corrected. And you must not think I am telling you the story of one, in whom Adam (as they feign of Bonaventure) never sinned. There is that foolishness bound up in all childrens hearts, that will sometimes need the rod of correction; though there be ve­ry Prov. 22. 15. few in whom there appeared less than in him.

The day before he died, he desired me to pray for him: I told him, if he would have me to pray for him, he must tell me, what I should pray for; and what he would have God to do for him! He answered, To pardon my sins.

Oft upon his sick-bed he would be repeating to himself the 55 Chapter of Esay, and other pieces of Scripture, which in the time of his health he had learn'd by heart.

But that passage in the forementioned Chapter was most frequently in his mouth, and uttered by him with much affection: My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my wayes your wayes, saith the Lord: For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my wayes higher than your wayes, and my thoughts than your thoughts: as if God (out of this sweet Babes mouth) had, in these words, read to his Parents a Lecture of silence and submission under his hand, and taught them that he must be dealt with and disposed of, not as they, but as his heavenly Father (whose thoughts were far different) should think fitting.

[Page 37] One time he brake out into this expression, My God, my God, deliver me out of this misery, and from the pains of hell for ever.

A little before his death he brake out into these words, My sins pardon, my soul save for Christ his sake.

I cannot blame those worthy persons so neerly related to him, though they mourn at parting with such a sweet and hopeful Child; any more than I could blame them for feeling pain, if one of their limbs were torn from another. Only they must not mourn to despondency; and I hope I gave them sufficient reason why, before.

What an instrument of Gods glory might he have pro­ved? What a deal of service might he have done to God (in all likelihood) had he lived to old age? But it was Gods doing.

I shall only make two or three Animadversions upon the whole, and conclude all with five words of application.

How many are there that live to fifty or threescore years, of whose life so good an account cannot be given as of this little one, of five years of age and an half?

How many Gentlemen be there, of whom when they die, all that can be said is this, They were born, they did eat, and drink, and play, and hunt, and hawk, and lived like so many wild Ass-colts, never minding any thing that con­cern'd Job 11. 12. Gods glory, or their own salvation, either when they were children, or after they came to mans estate, and so died, and dropt into hell?

How many others be there, of whom when they die, all that can be said is this; They were born, they did eat and drink, and moil and labour for the bread that perisheth with all their might, but neither knew, nor cared to know what they were born for, like bruit creatures, only minding pre­sent things, and thus spent fifty or threescore years, and so died, and went down to hell?

How much more comfortably might a Minister of the Gospel admit to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper such a Child as this, notwithstanding his years, than those of ten [Page 38] times his age that are children (would to God they were like some children) in understanding?

I shall make Application of what hath been said touching him, in five words.

1. To all in general, to admire and adore Gods Grace, which doth shew it self, and work thus in little ones. Do not say, All this was nothing but his education. Blessed —Laudes sive tuas in Christo, sive ma­gis in te laudes Christi. Aug. ad Valer. Com. be God for his education: and those children have cause to bless God, whose Parents have been careful to bring them up in his fear. But sure it was something else, for we see how different wayes those take, that have one and the same education. If education would have done the thing (without Gods blessing) doubtless Eli, and David, and ma­ny others of Gods Saints, had never had their hearts bro­ken by the ungraciousness of their children.

2. To Parents, to encourage them to be dropping prin­ciples of Religion into their little ones, and to be doing it betime; to season the Vessel first, if possible, with the fear of God. We know not how soon God may be pleased to work upon the hearts of our children, even the youngest of them.

3. To young ones, that they would learn to imitate and follow this example, that hath been set before them. Learn to know God, and remember your Creator betimes: Learn to pay the duty and observance you owe unto your Parents. This is a thing well-pleasing unto God.

4. To old ones, that come short of this sweet Child; Blush and be ashamed (man!) to be forty or fifty years of age (it may be more) and yet out-stripped by a Child of five years and an half, not to have attained so much knowledge of God, and the things that concern your souls, in all these years, as he had attained in so short a space. Learn to know God at last, get acquaintance with the principles of Religion, while you have yet a day, while ye have yet an hour left, before ye go hence, and be seen no more. You will say, would you have us old folks, (as this age) go learn Object. the Catechism like children?

[Page 39] If you do not know those things already, why not? I Answ. 2 Thes. 1. 8. am sure you were better do so, Than have Christ come in flaming fire to take vengeance on you because you know not God. It is better by far to set your selves to the learning of the points in the Catechism, than to go to hell for your igno­rance.

5. To those worthy persons, the neer Relations of this sweet Babe that is gone; God hath but taken up this lit­tle Lamb to heaven, to make you, in your hearts and affe­ctions to follow after. There is a part of you in heaven al­ready: He must not come again to you, make sure that you meet him there. And when you think how dearly you miss him, remember but who hath taken him. Submit to, and acquiesce in Gods Dispensation. Remember it is his hand. Some do think there is no such Remedy for the Disease called the Kings-Evil, as a touch with the Kings Hand: but this I am sure of, there is no such way to abate the anguish of our souls under any smarting blow from Gods Hand, as the serious consideration of Gods Hand, from whence the pain comes. Do not forget the Text, Be dumb, open not your mouths: not one word: It is Gods doing.