cessity, not affection drives thee home; keep off, and starve :" but the good old man runs, and meets him; and falls on his neck, and kisses him; and calls for the best robe, and the fatted calf. Thus, thus deals our Heavenly Father with us, wretched simmers: if, after all refuges vainly sought, and all gracious opportunities carelessly neglected, we shall yet have sincere recourse to his infinite mercy, the best things in heaven shall not be too good for us.

IVTH. TEMPTATION:

"Tush! what dost thou please thyself with these vain thoughts? If God cared for thee, couldst thou be thus miserable?" Repelled.

AWAY, thou Lying Spirit: I am afflicted; but it is not in thy power to make me miserable.

And, did I yet smart much more, wouldst thou persuade me to measure the favour of my God by these outward events? Hath not the Spirit of Truth taught me, that, in these external matters, All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath? Eccl. ix. 2.

But, if there were any judgment to be passed upon these grounds, the advantage is mine: I smart, yea I bleed, under the hand of my Heavenly Father: Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth ; and scourgelh every son, whom he receiveth; Heb. xii. 6. Lo, there cannot be so much pain in the stripes, as there is comfort in the love of him, that lays them on. He were not my Father, if he whipt me not. Truth hath said it, If ye be without chastisements, ye are bastards, and not sons; Heb. xii. 8. He cannot but love me, while he is my Father; and let him fetch blood on me, so he love me. After all thy malice, let me be a bleeding son to such a Father, while thy base-born children enjoy their ease.

Impudent Tempter, how canst thou from my sufferings argue God's disfavour, when thou knowest that he, whom God loved best, suffered most? The Eternal Son of his Love, that could truly say, I and the Father are one, endured more from the hand of that his Heavenly Father, than all the whole world of mankind was capable to suffer: Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions: he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisements of our peace were upon him. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all, Is. liii. 4, 5, 6. What poor flea-bitings are these, that I am afflicted with; in respect of those torments, which the Son of God underwent for me! Thou, that sawest the bloody sweat of his agony, the cruel tortures of his crucifixion, the pangs of worse than death, the sense of his Father's wrath and our curse, dost thou move me, whom he hath

bought with so dear a price, to murmur, and recoil upon divine providence for a petty affliction?

Besides, this is the load, which my Blessed Saviour hath, with his own hand, laid upon my shoulders: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me ; Luke ix. 23. Matt. xvi. 24. Mark viii. 34. Lo, every cross is not Christ's each man hath a cross of his own; and this cross he may not think to tread upon, but he must take up; and not once perhaps in his life, but daily; and, with that weight on his neck, he must follow the Lord of Life, not to his Tabor only, but to his Gol gotha: and, thus following him on earth, he shall surely overtake him in heaven; for, if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him; 2 Tim. ii. 12.

It is still thy policy, O thou Envious Spirit, to fill mine eyes with the cross; and to represent nothing to my thoughts, but the horror and pain of suffering; that so thou mayest drive me to a languishing dejectedness of spirit, and despair of mercy: but my God hath raised and directed mine eyes to a better prospect, quite beyond thine; which is a crown of glory. I see that ready to be set upon my head, after my strife and victory, which were more than enough to make amends for a hell upon earth. In vain should I hope to obtain it, without a conflict: how should I overcome, if I strive not? These strugglings are the way to a conquest. After all these assaults, the foil shall be thine, and mine shall be the glory and triumph. The God of Truth hath said it, Be faithful to the death, and I will give thee a crown of life; Rev. ii. 10.

Thine advantage lies in the way; mine, in the end. The way of affliction is rugged, deep, stiff, dangerous: the end is fair and green, and strewed with flowers. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, unto them, which are exercised thereby; Heb. xii. 11.

What if I be in pain here, for a while? The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us; Rom. viii. 18. It is thy maliciousness, that would make the affliction of my body the bane of my soul; but, if the fault be not mine, that, which thou intendest for a poison, shall prove a cordial: Let patience have her perfect work; James i. 4: and I am happy in my sufferings: For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory; 2 Cor. iv. 17. Lo, it doth not only admit of glory, but works it for us: so as we are infinitely more beholden to our pain, than to our ease; and have reason, not only to be well apaid, but to rejoice in tribulations; knowing, that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; Rom. v. 3-5. Tell me, if thou canst, which of those Saints, that are now shining bright in their heaven, hath got thither unafflicted? How many of those blessed ones have endured more, than my God will allow thee to inflict upon my weakness! some more, and some less sorrows; all some, yea many: so true is that

word of the Chosen Vessel, that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God; Acts xiv. 22.

By this then I see, that I am in the right way to that blessedness I am travelling towards. Did I find myself in the smooth, pleasant, and flowery path of carnal ease and contentment: I should have just reason to think myself quite out of that happy road: now, I know I am going directly towards my home, the abiding city which is above. So far, therefore, are my sufferings from arguing me miserable, that I could not be happy if I suffered not.

VTH. TEMPTATION:

"Foolish man, how vainly dost thou flatter thyself, in calling that a chastisement, which God intends for a judgment; in mistaking that for a rod of fatherly correction, which God lays on as a Scourge of just anger and punishment:" Repelled.

IT is thy maliciousness, O thou Wicked Spirit, ever to misinterpret God's actions, and to slander the footsteps of the Almighty. But, notwithstanding all thy mischievous suggestions, I can read mercy and favour in my affliction: neither shall it be in the power of thy temptation, to put me out of this just construction of my sufferings.

For, what is it the measure of my smart, that should argue God's displeasure? How many of God's darlings on earth have endured more! What sayest thou to the man, with whom the Almighty did once challenge and foil thee, the great Pattern of Patience? was not his calamity as much beyond mine, as my graces are short of his? Dost thou not hear the man after God's own heart say, Lord, remember David, and all his troubles? Ps. cxxxii. 1. Dost thou not hear the Chosen Vessel, who was rapt up into the third heaven, complain, We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed? 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one: Thrice, was I beaten with rods: once, was I stoned: thrice, I suffered shipwreck: a night and a day, I have been in the deep. In journeying often; in perils of waters; in perils of robbers; in perils, by my own countrymen; in perils, by the heathen; &c. In weariness and painfulness; in watchings, often; in hunger and thirst; in fastings, often; in cold and nakedness? 2 Cor. xi. 24—27. Yea, which was worse than all these, dost thou not hear him say, There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me? 2 Cor. xii. 7. Dost thou not too well know, for thou wert the main actor in those woeful tragedies, what cruel torments the blessed martyrs of God, in all ages, have undergone for their holy profession? None upon earth ever found God's hand so heavy upon them: : none upon earth were so

dear to heaven.

The sharpness, therefore, of my pangs can be no proof of the

displeasure of my God. Yea, contrarily, this visitation of mine, whatever thou suggestest, is in much love and mercy. Had my God let me loose to my own ways, and suffered me to run on carelessly in a course of sinning without check or control, this had been a manifest argument of a high and heinous displeasure: God is grievously angry, when he punishes sinners with prosperity; for this shews them reserved to a fearful damnation: but whom he reclaims from evil by a severe correction, those he loves: there cannot be a greater favour, than those saving stripes: When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world; 1 Cor. xi. 32.

Besides, the manner of the infliction speaks nothing but mercy: for, what a gentle hand doth my God lay upon me! as if he said, "I must correct thee, but I will not hurt thee." What gracious respites are here! what favourable inter-spirations! as if God bade me to recollect myself; and invited me to meet him, by a seasonable humiliation. This is not the fashion of anger and enmity, which, aiming only at destruction, endeavours to surprise the adversary; and to hurry him to a sudden execution.

Neither is it a mere affliction, that can evince either love or hatred: all is in the attendants, and entertainment of afflictions.

Where God means favour, he gives, together with the cross, an humble heart, a meek spirit, a patient submission to his good pleasure, a willingness to kiss the rod and the hand that wields it, a faithful dependance upon that arm from which we smart, and, lastly, a happy use and improvement of the suffering to the bettering of the soul. Whoso finds these dispositions in himself may well take up that resolution of the Sweet Singer of Israel, It is good for me, that I have been afflicted. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right; and that thou, in very faithfulness, hast afflicted me; Ps. cxix. 71, 75.

Contrarily, where God smites in anger, those strokes are followed and accompanied with woeful symptoms of a spiritual malady : either a stupid senselessness and obduredness of heart; or an impatient murmuring at the stripes, saucy and presumptuous expostulations, fretting and repining at the smart, a perverse alienation of affection, and a rebellious swelling against God, an utter dejection of spirit, and, lastly, a heartless despair of mercy. Those, with whom thou hast prevailed so far as to draw them into this deadly condition of soul, have just cause to think themselves smitten in displeasure: but, as for me, blessed be the Name of my God, my stripes are medicinal and healing: Let the righteous God thus smite me; it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, that shall not break my head; Ps. cxli. 5.

VITH. TEMPTATION:

"Away with these superstitious fears and needless scruples, wherewith thou fondly troublest thyself: as if God, that sits above in the circle of heaven, regarded these poor businesses, that pass here below upon earth; or cared what this man doth, or that man suffereth. Dost thou not see, that none prosper so much in the world, as those, that are most noted for wickedness? and dost thou see any so miserable upon earth, as the holiest? Could it be thus, if there were a Providence, that overlooks and overrules these earthly af fairs?" Repelled.

THE Lord rebuke thee, Satan; even that great Lord of Heaven and Earth, whom thou so wickedly blasphemest.

Wouldst thou persuade me, that he, who is infinite in power, is not also infinite in providence? He, whose infinite power made all creatures, both in heaven above and in earth beneath, shall not his infinite providence govern and dispose of all that he hath made?

Lo, how justly the Spirit of Wisdom calls thee and thy clients, fools and brutish things: They say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard. Understand, ye brutish among the people; and, ye fools, when will ye be wise? He, that planteth the ear, shall he not hear? he, that formed the eye, shall not he see? He, that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? Ps. xciv. 7-10. It was no limited power, that could make this eye to see, this ear to hear, this heart to understand; and, if that eye, which he hath given us, can see all things that are within our prospect; and that ear, that he hath planted, can hear all sounds that are within our compass; and that heart, that he hath given us, can know all matters within the reach of our comprehension; how much more shall the sight, and hearing, and knowledge of that Infinite Spirit, which can admit of no bounds, extend to all the actions and events of all the creatures, that lie open before him that made them!

It is in him, that we live, and move, and have our being; Acts xvii. 28: and can we be so sottish, as to think we can steal a life from him, which he knows not of; or a motion, that he discerneth not?

That Word of his, by whom all creatures were made, hath told me, that not one sparrow, two whereof are sold for a farthing, can fall to the ground without my Heavenly Father; yea, that the very hairs of our heads, though a poor, neglected excrement, are all numbered; Matt. x. 29, 30: and can there be any thing more slight than they? How great care must we needs think is taken of the head, since not a hair can fall unregarded!

The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth down, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them; 1 Sam. ii. 7, 8.