2. Consider, that the trials and troubles, the calamities and miseries, the crosses and losses that you meet with in this world, is all the hell that shall have : here you ever you have your hell, hereafter you shall have your heaven; this is the worst of your condition, the best is to come. Lazarus had his hell first, his heaven last; but Dives had his heaven first, and his hell at last: thou hast all thy pangs, and pains, and throes here that ever thou shalt have; thy ease, and rest, and pleasure is to come: here you have all your bitter, your sweet is to come: here you your sorrows, your joys are to come: here you have all your winter-nights, your summer-days are to come; here you have your passion-week, your ascension day is to come here you have your evil things, your good things are to come: death will put a period to all thy sins, and to all thy sufferings, and it will be an inlet to those joys, delights, and contents that shall never have an end; and therefore hold thy peace, and be silent before the Lord.

have

3. Get an assurance that Christ is yours, and pardon of sin yours, and divine favour yours, and heaven yours *, *, and the sense of this will exceedingly quiet and silence the soul under the sorest and the sharpest trials a Christian can meet with in this world. He that is assured that God is his portion, will never mutter nor murmur under his greatest burthens; he that can groundedly say, No

Seemy Treatise called Heaven on Earth.

thing shall separate me from the love of God in Christ, he will be able to triumph in the midst of the greatest tribulations; he that with the spouse can say, 66 My beloved is mine, and I am his, Cant ii. 16. will bear up quietly and sweetly under the heaviest afflictions. In the time of the Marian persecution, there was a gracious woman, who being convened before bloody Bonner, (then Bishop of London), upon the trial of religion, he threatened her that he would take away her husband from her; saith she, Christ is my husband: I will take away thy child; Christ, saith she, is better to me than ten sons: I will strip thee, saith he, of all thy outward comforts; yea, but Christ is mine, saith she, and you cannot strip me of him. Oh! the assurance that Christ was hers, bore up her heart, and quieted her spirit under all. "You may take away my life, (saith Basil) but you cannot take away my comfort; my head, but not my crown; yea, said he, had I a thousand lives, I would lay them all down for my Saviour's sake, who hath done abundantly more for me." John Ardley professed to Bonner, when he told him of burning, and how ill he could endure it, "That if he had as many lives, as he had hairs on his head, he would lose them all in the fire, before he would lose his Christ." Assurance will keep a man from muttering and murmuring under the sorest afflictions. Henry and John (two Augustine monks) being the first that were burnt in Germany, and Mr Rogers the first that was

burnt in Queen Mary's days, did all sing in the flames. A soul that lives under the assurance of divine favour, and in its title to glory, cannot but bear up patiently and quietly under the greatest sufferings that possibly can befal it in this world. That scripture is worth its weight in gold, Isa. xxxiii. 24. "The inhabitants of Zion shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." He doth not say, they were not sick; no, but though they were sick, yet they should not say, they were sick. But why should they forget their sorrows, and not remember their pains, nor be sensible of their sickness? Why, the reason is, because the Lord had forgiven them their iniquities; the sense of pardon took away the sense of pain, the sense of forgiveness took away the sense of sickness. Assurance of pardon will take away the pain, the sting, the trouble of every trouble and affliction that a Christian meets with; no affliction will daunt, startle, or stagger an assured Christian; assured Christians will be patient and silent under all, Psal. xxiii. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7. Melancthon makes mention of a godly woman, who having upon her death-bed been in much conflict, and afterwards much comforted, brake out in these words, Now, and not till now, I understand the meaning of these words, "Thy sins are forgiven;" the sense of which did mightily cheer and quiet her. He that hath got this jewel of assurance in his bosom, will be far enough off from vexing or fretting un

der the saddest dispensations that he meets with in this world.

4. If you would be quiet and silent under your present troubles and trials, then dwell much upon the benefit, the profit, the advantage that hath redounded to your souls by former troubles and afflictions that have been upon you. Eccl. vii. 14. "In the day of adversity consider." * Oh! now consider, how by former afflictions the Lord hath discovered sin, prevented sin, and mortified sin; consider how the Lord by former afflictions hath discovered to thee the impotency, the mutability, the insufficiency, and the vanity of the world, and all worldly concernments; consider how the Lord by former afflictions hath melted thy heart, and broken thy heart, and humbled thy heart, and prepared thy heart for clearer, fuller, and sweeter enjoyments of himself; consider what pity, what compassion, what bowels, what tenderness, and what sweetness, former afflictions have wrought in thee towards others in misery; consider what room former afflictions have made in thy soul for God, for his word, for good counsel, and for divine comfort; consider how by former afflictions the Lord hath made thee more partaker of his Christ, his Spirit, his holiness, his goodness, &c. consider how by former af

* There was a good man that had got so much good by his afflictions, that he counted it his greatest affliction to want an affliction; and therefore he would sometimes cry out, Oh, my friends! I have lost an affliction, I have lost an affliction.

flictions the Lord hath made thee to look towards heaven more, to mind heaven more, to prize heaven more, and to long for heaven more, &c. Now, who can seriously consider of all that good that he hath got by former afflictions, and not be silent under present afflictions? Who can remember those choice, those great, and those precious earnings that his soul had made of former afflictions, and not reason himself into a holy silence under present afflictions? Thus, Oh my soul! hath not God done thee much good, great good, special good, by former afflictions? Yes. Oh my soul! hath not God done that for thee by former afflictions, that thou wouldst not have to do for ten thousand worlds? Yes. And is not God, O my soul! as powerful as ever, as faithful as ever, as gracious as ever, and as ready and willing as ever to do thee good by present afflictions, as he hath been to do thee good by former afflictions? Yes, yes. Why, why then dost thou not sit silent and mute before him under thy present troubles, Oh my soul! It was the saying of one, That an excellent memory was needful for three sorts of men: First, for tradesmen, for they having many businesses to do, many reckonings to make up, many irons in the fire, had need of a good memory. Secondly, great talkers, for they being full of words, had need to have a good store-house in their heads to feed their tongues. Thirdly, for liars, for they telling many untruths, had need of a good memory, lest they should