Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 1
 
 ; c.
 
 BROOKS' 
 
 MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 UNDER THE 
 
 SMARTING ROD. 
 
 5\st EDlTlOlf.
 
 i2 E CO 31 31 END A TION 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY PECKWELL, D.D. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR. 
 SIR, 
 
 THE bookf which you desire me to give my 
 opinion of ., I can prescribe to the distressed with the 
 confidence of a person who, having experienced the effi- 
 cacy of a remedy himself^ can speak of it to others, 
 TAe Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod 
 fell in my way when my soul was under great trials, and 
 unwilfing to submit to the humbling lesson^ *' Be still, 
 and know that I am GodJ''' I did not look at it with 
 the eye of the curious, nor measure it by the standard 
 of the critic. I read it with the avidity of the hungry ; 
 andy through grace, was enabled to feed upon the pr»- 
 cious truths so strikingly thrown together. 
 
 To the tempted and a^fflicted I recommend the book, 
 and commend them, as '' 3Iy brethren and companions 
 in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Je» 
 sus Christ,'* to God and the word of his grace. 
 
 HENRY PECKWELL. 
 
 Duke Street, Portland Chapel, 
 February 21, 1775.
 
 THE 
 
 MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 UNDER THE 
 
 SMARTING ROD; 
 
 WITH SOVEREIGN ANTIDOTES 
 
 FOR EVERY CASE: 
 
 A Christian with an Olive Leaf in his Mouth, when 
 under the greatest Afflictions, Trials, Troubles, and 
 darkest Providences ; with Answers to Questions 
 and Objections, calculated to promote submission 
 and silence under all the changes that may be ex- 
 perienced in this World. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. THOMAS BROOKS, 
 
 Author of Precious Remedies, Apples of Goldy ^c, $^c» 
 
 THE 5 1st edition CORRECTED, 
 
 TVith Recommendatory Prefaces by 
 
 Rev. H. PECKWELL,D.D.; and Rev. J. BALL, 
 
 Of Jewry Street Chapel. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED roil WILLIAM BAYNES AND SON, 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1820.
 
 Jacksons, Printers, Louth.
 
 stack 
 HECOMMENDATORY^""^ 
 
 PREFACE. 409 
 
 X HAT the Righteous are peculiarly sub- 
 ject to affliction ia the present world, is a 
 sentiment no less just than it is general ; the 
 way to Heaven has always been a thorny 
 road, and it is still through much tribulation 
 that we must enter into the Kingdom. Our 
 troubles, indeed, are not all of the same kind ; 
 neither is the same proportion measured out 
 to every Saint, but each heart knows its owa 
 bitterness, and all believers, more or less, are 
 made to feel the chastening Rod of their Hea- 
 venly Parent ; the lot is cast into the lap, 
 and the disposal is of God ; but whate?er be 
 the nature, the magnitude, and the number 
 of personal trials, the best remedy we can 
 apply to them is, to let patience have her per- 
 fect work, cheerfully to submit to the Hand 
 of God, and to say, " The Cup which my 
 Heavenly Father giveth me, shall I not drink 
 it ?" When thus resigned, affliction will 
 cease to be affliction, because it has produced 
 the end designed by it. Then we shall learn 
 with the Apostle, in whatever state we are 
 placed, therewith to be content, in the com- 
 fortable persuasion, that all things shall work 
 together for our good. The eflforts of the 
 
 (OS'lGl'S
 
 VI niEFACE, 
 
 pious Author of this popular little Volume 
 are eminently calculated to accomplish this 
 desirable object; and it may truly be said, 
 that in very many instances his labour has 
 not been in vain in the Lord. 
 
 Purity of style will not be expected in 
 a Book written so many years ago ; but to 
 adopt the language of Dr. Doddridge, 
 ^'IVhere the matter is so remarkably excel- 
 lent^ a idse and pious reader will not be over 
 solicitous about the Style ;" and for the few 
 antiquated expressions which occur, the can- 
 did reader is intreated to make due allowance, 
 by considering the time in which the Author 
 lived. 
 
 The Work having met with so large a 
 share of the Public approbation as to have 
 passed through nearly Fifty Editions since its 
 first publication, and the last impression of 
 it having been entirely sold off some time, 
 and lately very much sought after ; a New 
 Edition, it is humbly hoped, may still be of 
 service to the Church of Christ, especially at 
 a time when we are threatened with national 
 calamities, in addition to those of a private 
 nature. 
 
 J. BALL, 
 
 Januarjf ^ithy 1804, 
 
 No. 16, Gloster Terraa, 
 
 George^s in the East.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 T, 
 
 HE words opened, and the doctrine raised, viz. 
 That it is the great duty and concernment of gracious 
 souls to be mule and silent under the greatest afflic- 
 tions, the saddest providences, and sharpest trials they 
 meet with in this world - i?. 16. 17. 
 
 For the opening of the point, 
 
 1. There is a sevenfold silence - 17—24. 
 
 2. What doth a prudent, a gracious, a holy silence in- 
 clude ? shewed in eight things - 24 — 41 ^ 
 
 3. What a prudent, a holy silence under affliction^ 
 doth not exclude, shewed in eight things 42—56. 
 
 4. Eight reasons why Christians must be mute and 
 silent under their greatest afflictions, &c. 56 — 7 1. 
 
 Use. This truth looks sourly upon five sorts of per- 
 sons - - - 72—78. 
 
 Six considerations to prevent men from using sinful 
 shifts and courses to deliver themselves out of their 
 afflictions , , - - 78—86, 
 
 Twelve considerations to prevail with Christians to 
 
 - be mute and silent under the sharpest afflictions, Sec. 
 
 that they may meet with in this world 86 — 103. 
 
 The heinous and dangerous nature of murmuring, dis- 
 covered in twelve particulars - 103 — 118. 
 
 Object. 1. Did I but know that my afflictions were in 
 love, I would be quiet, I would hold my peace, &c. 
 answered eight ways - 118-129. 
 
 Object. 2. The Lord hath smitten me in my nearest and 
 dearest comforts and contentments, and how can I 
 then hold my peace ? answered twelve ways 
 
 129— J46. 
 
 Object. 3. Oh! but my afflictions, ray troubles, have 
 been long upon me, and how then can I hold my 
 peace ? answered ten ways - 146—158. 
 
 Object. 4. I would be mute and silent under my afflic. 
 tions, but they daily multiply and increase upon 
 me, &c. how then can I be silent? answered eight 
 ways - - . 15S_!G2.
 
 ■Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Ohject. 5. My afflictions are very great, how then can 
 J hold my peace ? answered six ways p. 163 — 168. 
 Object. 6. Oh ! but my afflictions are greater than 
 other men's, &c. how then can 1 be silent ? answered 
 six ways - - - 168—173. 
 
 Object. 7. I would hold my peace, but ray outward 
 afflictions are atteaded with iore temptations, &c, 
 how then can I be silent ? answered five ways, 
 wherein eight advantages are discovered, that saints 
 gain by their temptations - 173 — 185. 
 
 Object 8. Oh! buttiod bath deserted me, he hath for. 
 saken me, and hid his face from me, &c. how then 
 can I be silent ? answered six ways; also eight ad- 
 vantages the saints gain by their being clouded 
 
 185—201. 
 Objfct. 9 Oh ! but I am falsely accused, and sadly 
 charged and reproached in my good name, &c.how 
 then can 1 be silent ? answered eight ways 
 
 201—215. 
 
 Object. 10. I have sought the Lord in this my affliction 
 
 for this and that mercy, and still the Lord delays me, 
 
 and puts me off, &c. how then can I bold my peace? 
 
 how then can 1 be silent ? &c.; answered six ways 
 
 215-220. 
 Quest. But what are the reasons that God doth so de» 
 lay and put off his people? answered seven ways 
 
 220-226. 
 
 Quest. What are the means that may help persons to 
 
 be silent and quiet under their greatest afflictions, 
 
 their sharpest trials ? &c. answered from jp« 226* to 
 
 the end of the book.
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 To all afflicted and distressed Christians 
 throughout the world. 
 
 Dear Brethren^ 
 
 npHE choicest saints are born to troubles, 
 as the sparks fly upwards, Psal. xxxiv; 
 19. Job V. 1. Psal. Ixxxviii. 3, 4. Many 
 are the troubles of the righteous. If they were 
 many, and not troubles, then, as it is in the 
 proverb, the more the happier; or if they were 
 troubles, and not many, then the fewer the 
 better. But God, who is infinite in wisdom, 
 and matchless in goodness, hath ordered trou- 
 bles, yea, many troubles to come crowding in 
 upon us on every side. As our mercies, so 
 our crosses seldom come single; they usually 
 come treading one upon the heels of another; 
 they are like April showers, no sooner is one 
 over, but another comes. And yet^ Chris- 
 tians, it is mercy, it is rich mercy, that every 
 atflictiou is not an execution, that every cor- 
 rection is not a damnation. The higher the 
 waters rose, the nearer Noah's ark was lifted 
 up to heaven ; the more thy afflictions are in- 
 creased, the more thy heart shall be raised 
 heaven-wards. 
 
 Because I would not hold you too long in 
 the porch, I shall only endeavour two things : 
 1. To give you the reasons of my appearing
 
 2 PREFACE. 
 
 once more in print; and, 2. A little counsel, 
 and direction that the following tract may 
 turn to your souls' advantage, which is the 
 object that 1 have in my eye. The true rea- 
 sons of my sending this piece into tlie world 
 (such as it is) are these. 
 
 1. The afflicting hand of God hath been 
 hard upon myself, and upon my dearest re- 
 lations in this world, and upon many of my 
 precious Christian friends, whom I much love 
 and honour in the Lord ; which put me upon 
 studying of the mind of God in that scripture, 
 ■which 1 have made the subject-matter of the 
 following discourse. Luther could not un- 
 derstand some psalms, till he was afllicted ; 
 the Christ-cross is no letter in the book, and 
 yet, says he, it hath taught me more than all 
 the letters in the book. Afflictions are a gol- 
 den key, by which the Lord opens the rich 
 treasures of his word to his people's souls ; 
 and this in some measure through grace my 
 soul hath experienced. When Samson had 
 found honey, he gave some to his father and 
 mother to eat, Judg. xiv. 9, 10. Some honey 
 I have found in my following text, and there- 
 fore 1 may not, 1 cannot be, such a churl as 
 not to give them some of my honey to taste, 
 who have drank deep of my gall and worm- 
 wood*. Austin observes on that, Psal. Ixvi, 
 16. Come and hear, all ye that fear Gody and 
 1 zzill declare zchat he hath donejor my soul. 
 
 * Some have accounted nothing their own that they 
 have not commuaicated to others.
 
 PREFACE. 3 
 
 He doth not call them (saith he) to acquaint 
 them with speculations, how wide the earth is, 
 how f;jr the heavens are stretched out, what 
 the number of the stars is, or what is the 
 course of the sun ; but come, and I will tell 
 you the wonders of his grace, the faithfulness 
 of his promises, the riches of his mercy to 
 my soul. Gracious experiences are to be 
 communicated. We learn, that we may teach, 
 is a proverb among the Rabbins : and I do, 
 therefore, lay in and lay up, saith the Hea- 
 then, that I may draw forth again, and lay 
 out for the good of many. When God hath 
 dealt bountifully with us. others should reap 
 some noble good by us ; the family, the town, 
 the city, the country, where a man lives, 
 should fare the better for his faring well. 
 Our mercies and experiences should be as a 
 running sjiring at our doors, which is not 
 only for our own use, but also for our neigh- 
 bours, yea, and for strangers too. 
 
 2. What is written is permanent, and 
 spreads itself further by far, for time, place, 
 and persons, than the voice can reach. The 
 pen is an artiiicial tongue; it speaks as well 
 to absent, as to present friends ; it speaks to 
 them that are afar off, as well as those that 
 are near; it speaks to many thousands at 
 once; it speaks not only to the present age, 
 but also to succeeding ages, Heb. xi. 4. The 
 pen is a kind of image of eternity, it will 
 make a man live when he is dead. Though 
 the prophets do not live for ever, Zech. i. 5. 
 yet their labours may. A man's writings may
 
 4 PKEFACE, 
 
 preach, when he cannot, vhen he may not, 
 and when, by reasoi) of bodily distempers, he 
 dares not ; yea, and that u inch is more, when 
 he is not. 
 
 3. Few men, if any, haye iron memories. 
 How soon is a sermon preached forgotten, 
 when a sermon written remains! Augustine 
 writing to Volusian, saith, "That which is 
 written, is always at hand to be read, when 
 the reader is at leisure." Men do not easily 
 forget their own names, nor their father's 
 house, nor the wives of their bosoms, nor the 
 fruit of their loins, nor to eat their daily bread ; 
 and yet, ah ! how easily do tliey forget that 
 word of grace, that should be dearer to them 
 than all! Most men's memories, especially in 
 the great concernments of their sou's, are like -i 
 sieve or boulter, whore tiiegood corn and fine 
 flour goes through, b'lt the light chalf and 
 coarse bran remains behind ; or like a strainer, 
 where the sweci liquor Is strained out, but 
 the dregs are left behind ; or like a-gra(e, that 
 lets the pure water run away, but if there be 
 any straws, sticks, mud, or filth, that it holds, 
 as it were, with iron hands. Most men's 
 memories are very treacherous, especially in, 
 good things. Few men's memories arc a holy 
 ark, a heavenly store-house, or magazine for 
 their souls; and therefore they stand in the 
 more need of a written word. But, 
 
 4. Its marvellous suitableness and useful- 
 ness under those great turns and changes that 
 have passed upon us. As every wise hus- 
 bandmivn observes the fittest seasons to sow
 
 PREFACE, 5 
 
 his seed; some he sows in the autumn and 
 fall of the leaf, some in the spring of the year, 
 Isa. xxviii. 25. some in a dry season, and 
 some in a wet, some in a moist clay, and some 
 in a sandy dry ground : so every spiritual 
 husbandman must observe the fittest times to 
 sow his spiritual seed in. He hath heavenly 
 seed by him for all occasions and seasons, 
 for spring and fall, for all grounds, heads and 
 hearts. Now, whether the seed sown in the 
 following treatise be not suitable to the times 
 and seasons wherein we are cast, is left to the 
 judgment of the prudent reader to determine. 
 If the author had thought otherwise, this babe 
 had been stifled in the womb, 
 
 5. The good acceptance that my other weak 
 labours have found. God hath blessed them, 
 not only to the conviction, the edification, 
 conlirmation, and consolation of many, Rom. 
 XV. 21. but also to the conversion of many, 
 Phil. i. 9, 10, 11. God is a free agent to 
 w ork by what hand he pleases, and sometimes 
 he takes pleasure to do great things by weak 
 things, 1 Cor. i. 17 — 29. Thatnojleshmay 
 glory in his presence. God will not despise 
 the day of small things ; and who or what 
 art thou that darest despise that day ? The 
 Spirit breathes upon whose preaching and 
 writing he pleases, John iii. 8. and all pros- 
 pers according as that wind blows. 
 
 6. That all afflicted and distressed Christi- 
 ans may have a proper salve for every sore, 
 a proper remedy against every disease at 
 
 A3
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 hand*, Prov. xxv. 11. As every good man, 
 so every good book is not fit to be the afflicted 
 man's companion, but this is. Here he may 
 see his face, his head, his hand, his heart, his 
 way, his works. Here he may see all his dis- 
 eases discovered, and proper remedies propo- 
 sed and applied. Here he may hnd arguments 
 to silence him, and means to quiet him, when it 
 is at the worst with him. In every storm, 
 here he may find a tree to shelter him ; and in 
 every danger, here he may find a city of refuge 
 to secure him; and in every difficulty, here 
 he may have a light to guide him ; and in eve- 
 ry peril, here he may find a buckler to defend 
 him ; and in every distress, here he may find a 
 cordial to strengthen him ; and in every trou- 
 ble, here he may find a staff to support him. 
 
 7. To satisfy some bosom-friends, sonie 
 faithful friends. Man is made to be a friend, 
 and apt for friendly offices. He that is not 
 friendly, is not worthy to have a friend ; and 
 he that hath a friend, and doth not shew him- 
 self friendly, is not worthy to be accounted 
 a roan. Friendship is a kind of life, without 
 which there is no comfort of a man's life. 
 Christian friendship ties such a knot, I Sam. 
 xxii. 1, 2, 3. that great Alexander cannot 
 cut. Summer-friends I value not, but win- 
 ter friends are worth their weight in gold ; 
 and who can deny such any thing, especially 
 in these days, wherein real, faithful, constant 
 
 * That remedy is no remedy, that is not proper to 
 the disease.
 
 PREFACE. 7 
 
 friends are so rare to be found*? The friend- 
 ihip of most men in these days, is like Jonah's 
 gourd ; now very promising and flourishing, 
 and arton fading and withering. It is like 
 some plants in the water, which have broad 
 leaves on the surface of the water, but scarce 
 any root at all; their friendship is like lemons, 
 cold within, hot without ; their expressions 
 are high, but their affections are low; they 
 speak much, but do little : as drums and trum- 
 pets, and ensigns in a battle, make a great 
 noise, and a fine shew, but act nothing ; so 
 these counterfeit fiiends will compliment 
 liighly, bow hatidsoraely, speak plausibly, 
 and promise lustily, and yet have neither a 
 band nor heart to act any thing cordially or 
 faithfully. From such friends it is a mercy 
 to be delivered : and therefore King Antigo- 
 nus was wont to pray to God, that he would 
 protect him from his friends ; and when one 
 of his counsel asked him why he prayed so, 
 he returtfed this answer, " Every man Avill 
 shun and defend himself against his professed 
 enemies : but from our professed, or pre- 
 tended friends, of whom few arc faithful, 
 none can safeguard himself, but hath need of 
 protection from heaven." But for all this 
 there are some that are real friends, faithful 
 friends, active friends, winter.friends, bosom- 
 friends, fast friends ; and for their sakes 
 (especially those among them that have been 
 long, very long under the smarting rod, and 
 
 * Oh my friends ! I have never a friend, said Socra- 
 tes, — A friend is a very mutable creature, said i*lato.
 
 8 PREFACE. 
 
 in the fiery furnace, and that have been often 
 poured from lessel to vessel) have I once 
 more appeared in print to the world. 
 
 8. and Lastly^ There hath not any authors 
 or author come to my hand, that hath handled 
 this subject as I have done, and therefore \ 
 do not knovr but it may be the more grateful 
 and acceptable to the world ; and if by this 
 essay others that are more able shall be pro- 
 voked to do more worthily upon this subject, 
 
 1 'shall therefore rejoice, 1 Thess. i. 7, 8. 
 
 2 Cor. viii. 10. and ix. 1. 2. I shall only add, 
 that though much of the following matter was 
 preached upon the Lord's visitation of my dear 
 yoke-fellow, myself, and some other friends; 
 yet thero arc many things of special concern- 
 ment in the following tract, that yet I have 
 not upon any accounts communicated to the 
 world. And thus 1 have given you a true 
 and faithful account of the reasons that have 
 prevailed with mc to publish this treatise to 
 the world, and to dedicate it to yourselves. 
 
 The ^econf/ thing promised, was the giving 
 of you a little good counsel, that you may 
 so read the following discourse, as that it may 
 turn much to your souls' advantage, Luke v. b, 
 Ma!»y read good books, and yet get nothing, 
 because they read them over cursorily, slight- 
 ly, superficially ; but he that would re-xd io 
 profit, must then, 
 
 \. Read, and look up for a blessing, 1 Cor. 
 iii. 6, 7. Paul may plant, and Apollos may 
 water; but all will be to no purpose, except 
 the Lord give the increase. Cod must do the
 
 PREFACE. 9 
 
 deed when all is done, or else all that is done 
 will do you no cood. If you would have this 
 weik succfssful and effectual, you must look 
 off from man, and look up to God, who alone 
 can make it a blessing to you. As, without 
 a blessing from heaven, thy clothes cannot 
 warm thee, nor thy food nourish thee, nor 
 physic cure thee, nor friends comfort thee; 
 so, without a blessing from heaven, without 
 the precious breathings and influences of the 
 Spirit, what here is done, will do you no good, 
 it wiU not turn to your account in the day of 
 Christ; and therefore cast an eye heaven- 
 wards. It is Seneca's observation, that the 
 husbandmen of Egypt never look up to hea- 
 ven for rain in the time of drought ; but look 
 after the overflowing of the banks of the Nile, 
 as the only cause of their plenty. Ah ! how 
 many are there in these days, who, when they 
 go to read a book, never look up, never look 
 after the rain of God's blessing, but only look 
 to the river Nile! they only look to the wit, 
 the learning, the arts, the parts, theeloquenc-e, 
 &c. of the author ; they never look so high as 
 heaven ; and hence it comes to pass, that 
 though they read much, yet they profit little. 
 2. He that would read to profit, must read 
 and medilate. Meditation is the food of your 
 souls ; it is the very stomach and natural heat 
 whereby spiritual truths are digested. A man 
 shall as soon live without his heart, as ho 
 shall be able to get good by what he reads, 
 without meditation. Prayer (saith Augus- 
 tine) H ithout meditation is dry and formal ;
 
 10 PREFACE. 
 
 and reading without meditation is useless and 
 unprofitable. Ue that would be a wise, a pru- 
 dent, and an able experienced state^sman. must 
 not hastily ramble and run over many cities, 
 countries, customs, laws, and manners of peo- 
 ple, without serious musing and pondering 
 upon such things as may make him an expert 
 statesman : so he that would get good by 
 reading, that would complete his knowledge, 
 and perfect ids experience in spiritual things, 
 must not slightly and hastily ramble and run 
 over this book or that, but ponder upon what 
 he reads ; as Mary pondered the saying of 
 the angel in her heart. Lordy (saith Augus- 
 tine), the more I meditate on thee^ the sweet- 
 er thou art to rue ; so the more you shall me- 
 ditate on the following matter, the sweeter it 
 will be to you. Thoy usually thrive best, 
 who meditate most. Meditation is a soul-fat- 
 tening duty, it is a grace-strengthening duty, 
 it is a duty-crowning-duty. Gerson calls 
 meditation the nurse of prayer ; liierom calls 
 it his i)aradise ; Basil calls it tlie treasury 
 where all the graces are locked up ; Theophy- 
 lact calls it the very gate and portal by wi)i«h 
 we enter into glory : and Aristotle, though a 
 Heathen, placeth felicity in the contemplation 
 of the mind. You may read much, and hear 
 much ; yet without nuditation you will never 
 be excellent, you will never be eminent Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 3. Read, and try what thou readest; take 
 nothing upon trust, but all upon trial, 1 John 
 iv. 1. as those noble Bereans did, Acts xvii.
 
 PREFACE. 11 -. 
 
 10, 11. You uill try and tell, and weigh 
 gold, though it be handed to you by your fa- 
 thers; and so slsould you all those heavenly 
 truths (hat are handed to you by your spiri- 
 tual fathers. I hope upon trial you Mill find 
 nothing, but what will hold weight in the ba- 
 lance of the sanctuary ; and though all be not 
 gold that glitters, yet 1 judge that you will 
 find nothing here to glitter, that will not be 
 found upon trial to be true gold. 
 
 4. Read and do, read and practice what 
 you read, or else all your reading will do you 
 no good. He that hath a good book in his 
 hand, but not a lesson of it in his heart, or 
 life, is like that ass that carries rich burdens, 
 and feeds upon thistles. li\ divine account 
 a man knows no more than he doth. Pro- 
 fession without practice, will but make a man 
 twice told a child of darkness. To speak well, 
 is to sound like a cymbal ; but to do well, is 
 to act like an angel, lie that practiseth what 
 he reads and understands, God will help hira 
 to understand what he understands not, John 
 vii. 16, 17. Psal. cxix. 98, 99, 100. There is 
 no fear of knowing too much, though there is 
 much fear in practising too little. The most 
 doing man shall be the most knowing man ; 
 the mightiest man in practice will in the end 
 prove the mightiest man in scripture. The- 
 ory is the guide of practice, and practice is 
 the life of theory. Salvian relates how the 
 Heathen did reproach some Christians, who 
 by their lewd lives made the gospel of Christ 
 to be a reproach. Where (said they) is that
 
 12 PREFACE. 
 
 good law which they do believe? where are 
 those rules of godliness which they do learn ? 
 They read the holy gospel, and yet are un- 
 clean ; they hear the apostle's writings, and 
 yet live in drunkenness; they follow Christ, 
 and yet disobey Christ ; they profess a holy 
 law, and yet do lead impure lives. Ah ! how 
 may many preachers take up sad complaints 
 against many readers in these days ! They 
 read our works, and yet in their lives they de- 
 ny our works* ; they praise our works, and 
 yet in their conversations they reproach our 
 works ; they cry up our labours in their dis- 
 courses, and yet tliey cry them down in their 
 practices. Yet I hope better things of you, 
 into whose hands this treatise shall fall. The 
 Samaritan woman, John iv. 7. did not fill her 
 pitcher with water, that she might talk of it, 
 but that she might use it ; and Rachel did 
 not desire the mandrakes to hold in her hand, 
 Gen. XXX. 15. but that she might thereby be 
 the more apt to bring forth. The application 
 is easy. But, 
 
 5, Read and apply. Reading is but the 
 drawing of the bow, application is the hitting 
 of the mark. 'Ihe choicest truths will no far. 
 ther profit you, than they are applied by 
 you ; you had as good not read, as not apply 
 what you readf . No man attains to health 
 by reading of Galen, or by knowing Hippo- 
 cratcs's aphorisms, but by the practical appli^ 
 cation of them. All the reading in the world 
 
 * Seneca had rather be sick, than idle and do nothing. 
 t The plaisier will not heal, if it be not applied.
 
 PREFACE. 13^ 
 
 Tvil] never make for the health of your souls, 
 except you apply what you read. The true 
 reason why many read so much, and profit sa 
 little, is, because they do not apply and bring 
 home what they read to th«ir own souls. But, 
 6. and lastly, Read and pray. He that 
 makes not conscience of praying over what ho 
 reads, will find little sweetness or profit in his 
 reading. No man makes such earnings of his 
 reading, as he that prays over what he reads. 
 Luther professeth, that he profited more in 
 the knowledge of the scriptures, by prayer in 
 a short space, than by study in a longer. As- 
 John, by weeping, got the sealed book open j 
 so certainly men would gain much more than 
 they do, by reading good men's works, if they 
 would but pray more over what they read. 
 Ah, Christians ! pray before you read, an(J 
 pray after you read, that all may be blessed 
 and sanctified to you. When you have done 
 reading, usually close up thus ; 
 
 So lei me Uve^ so let me die. 
 Thai I majf live eternally^ 
 
 And when you are in the mount for your» 
 selves, bear him upon your hearts, who is wil- 
 ling to spend and be spent for your sakes, for 
 your souls, 2 Cor. xii. 15. O pray for me, 
 that I may more and more be under the rich 
 influences and glorious pourings out af the 
 Spirit ; that I may be an able minister of the 
 New Testament, not of the letter, but of the 
 spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 6. ; that I may always find 
 
 B
 
 14 PREFACE. 
 
 an everlasting spring, and an overflowing foun- 
 fain within me, which may always make me 
 faithful, constant, and abundant in the work 
 of the Lord ; and that 1 may live daily under 
 those inward teachings of the Spirit, that may 
 enable me to speak from the heart to the 
 heart, from the conscience to the conscience, 
 and from experience to experience ; that 1 
 may be a burning and a shining light ; that 
 everlasting arms may be still under me; that 
 whilst 1 live, I may be serviceable to his glo- 
 ry, and his people's good ; that no discourage- 
 ments may discourage me in my work ; and 
 that when my work is done, 1 may give up 
 my account with joy, and not with grief. 1 
 shall follow these poor labours with my weak 
 prayers, that they may contribute much to 
 your internal ahd eternal welfare ; and so rest, 
 
 Your souls^ servant) 
 
 in our dearest Lord^ 
 
 THOMAS BROOKS.
 
 THE 
 
 MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 UNDER THE 
 
 SMARTING ROD. 
 
 PSAL, XXXIX. 9. 
 
 / was dumby 1 opened not my mouthy because 
 thou didit it, 
 
 l^OT to trouble yoa with a tedious preface, 
 wherein usually is a flooti of words, and 
 but a drop of matter : 
 
 This psalm consists of two parts; a narra- 
 tion and prayer take up the whole. In the 
 former you ha?e the prophet's disease diseo- 
 Tored, and in the latter the remedy applied. 
 My text falls in the latter part, where you 
 have the way of David's cure, or the means 
 by which his soul was reduced to a still and 
 quiet temper. I shall give a little light into 
 the words, and then come to the point that I 
 intend to stand upon. 
 
 / was dumb : the Hebrew word signifies to 
 be mute, tongue-tied, or dumb* ; the Hebrew 
 'word signifies also to bind, as well as to be 
 
 * Some read it thus, I should have been dumb, and 
 not have opened my mouth f according to my first reso" 
 luiion, ver, 1, 2.
 
 16 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 mute and dumb, because they (hat are dumb 
 are, as it were, tongue-tied, and bound up. 
 Ah ! the sight of Ood's hand in the affliction 
 that was upon him, makes him lay a law of 
 silence upon his heart and tongue. 
 
 / opened not mi/mouih, b€C(m»e thou didst if. 
 He looks through all secondary causes, to the 
 first cause, and is silent ; he sees a hand of 
 God in all, and so sits mute and quiet. The 
 sight of God in an affliction, is of an irresis- 
 tible efficacy, to silence the heart, and to stop 
 the mouth of a gracious man. In the words 
 you may observe three things. 
 
 1. The person speaking, and that is David, 
 David a king, David a saint, David a man af- 
 ter God's own heart, David a Christian. And 
 here we are to look upon David, not as a 
 king, but as a Christian, as a man whose heart 
 was rigiit with God. 
 
 2. The action and carriage of David under 
 the hand of God, in these words, I was dumb^ 
 and opened not my mouth. 
 
 3. The reason of this humble and sweet 
 carriage of his, in these words, because thou 
 didst it. The proposition is this : 
 
 DocT. '' That it is the great duty and can- 
 cernment of gracious souls to be mute and si- 
 lent under the greatest afllictions, the saddest 
 providences, and sharpest trials that they meet 
 with ill (ids world." 
 
 For the opening and clearing up of this 
 great and uset^ul truth, 1 shall inquire, 
 
 1. What this silence is that is here pointed 
 at in the proposition.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 17 
 
 II. What a gracious, a holy silence, doth 
 include. 
 
 III. What this holy silence doth not ex- 
 clude. 
 
 IV. The reasons of the point ; and then 
 bring home all by way of application to our 
 own souls. 
 
 I. For the first, What is the silence here 
 meant ^ I answer, there is a seven-fold silence, 
 
 1. There is a Stoical silence. The Stoics 
 of old thought it altogether below a man that 
 hath reason and understanding, either to re- 
 joice in any good, or to mourn for any evil. 
 
 But the Stoical silence is such a sinful in- 
 sensibleness, as is very provoking to a holy 
 God, Isa. xxvi. 10, 11. God will make the 
 most insensible sinner sensible either of his 
 hand here, or of his wrath in hell. It is a 
 Heathenish and a horrid sin to be without na- 
 tural affections, Rom. i. 31. And of this sin 
 Quintius Fabius Maximus seems to be foully 
 guilty, who, when he heard that his mother 
 and wife, whom he dearly loved, were slain 
 by the fall of an house, and that his younger 
 son, a brave hopeful young man, died at the 
 same time in Umbria, never changed his coun- 
 tenance, but went on with allairs of the com- 
 monwealth, as if no such calamity had befallen 
 him. This carriage of his spoke out more 
 stupidity than patience. 
 
 And so Harpalus was not at all appalled, 
 
 when he saw two of his sons laid ready dressed 
 
 in a charger, when Astyages had bid him to 
 
 supper. This was a sottish insensibleucss, 
 
 b3
 
 i« THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Job xxxvi. 13. Tsa. Ivii. 1, Certainly, if the 
 loss of a child in the house be no more to thee 
 than the loss of a chick in the yard, Hosea vii, 
 9. thy heart is base and sordid, and thou may- 
 est well expect some sore awakening judgment. 
 This age is full of such monsters, who think 
 it below (he greatness and magnanimity of 
 their spirifs to be moved, affected, or afilicted 
 with any afflictions that befal them. I know 
 none so ripe and ready for hell as these. 
 
 Aristotle speaks of tishes, that though they 
 have spears thrust into their sides, yet they 
 awake not. God thrusts many a sharj) spear 
 through many a sinner's heart, and yet he feels 
 nothing, he complains of nothing : these men's 
 souls will bleed to death. Seneca reports of 
 Senecio Cornelius, who minded his body more 
 than his soul, and his money more than hea. 
 ▼en ; when he had all the day long waited on 
 his dying friend, and his friend was dead, he 
 returns to his house, sups merrily, comforts 
 bimsclf quickly, goes to bed cheerfully, liis 
 sorrows were ended, and the time of his 
 mourning expired, before his deceased friend 
 was interred. Such stupidity is a curse that 
 many a man lies under. But this Stoical si~ 
 leruo, which is but a sinful sullenncss, is not 
 the silence here meant. 
 
 2. There is a politic silence; many are si- 
 Jent out of policy. Should they not be silent, 
 they would lay themselves more open, either 
 to the rage and fury of men, or else to the 
 plots and designs of men ; to prevent which, 
 they are silent, and will lay their hands upon
 
 WNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 10 
 
 4heir mouths, that otiicrs may not lay iheh 
 hands upon their estates, lives, or liberties. 
 *' And Saul also went home to Gibeah, and 
 there went with him a band of men, whose 
 hearts God had touched. But the children of 
 Belial said. How shall this man save us? and 
 <hey despised him, and brought him no pre- 
 sents ; but he held his peace, or was as though 
 he had been deaf," 1 Sara. x. 26, 27. This 
 new king, being but newly entered upon his 
 kingly government, and observing his condi- 
 tion to be but mean and low, his friends but 
 few, and his enemies many and potent, sons of 
 Belial, i. e. men without yoke, (as the word 
 signifies), men that were desperately wicked, 
 that were marked out for hell, that were even 
 incarnate devils, who would neither submit to 
 reason nor religion, nor be governed by the 
 laws of nature, nor of nations, nor yet by the 
 laws of God : now this young prince, in order 
 to prevent sedition and rebellion, blood and 
 destruction, prudently and politically chuses 
 rather to lay his hand upon his mouth, than 
 to take a wolf by the ear, or a lion by the 
 beard*. He wanted neither wit nor will to 
 be mute; he turns a deaf ear to all they say ; 
 his unsettled condition requiring silence. 
 
 Henry VI. Emperor of Germany, used to 
 say. He that knows not how to be silent, 
 knows not how to speak. Saul knew this was 
 
 * Hear, see, and be silent, if thou wilt live in peace, 
 is a French proverb.
 
 20 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ther to be an auditor than an orator. But this 
 is not the silence the proposition speaks of. 
 
 3. There is a foolish silence. Some fools 
 there be, that can neither do well, nor speak 
 well; and because they cannot word it, nei- 
 ther as they would nor as they should, they 
 are so wise as to be mute, Prov. xvii. 28. 
 " Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is 
 counted wise; and he th;U shutteth his lips, is 
 esteemed a man of understanding." As he 
 cannot be wise that speaks much, so he cannot 
 be known for a fool that s:iys nothing. There 
 are many wise fools in the world. There are 
 many silly souls, who, by holding their 
 tongues, gain the credit and honour of being 
 discreet men. He that doth not discover his 
 want of wisdom, by foolish babbling, is ac- 
 counted wise, though he may be otherwise. 
 Silence is so rare a virtue, where wisdom doth 
 regulate it, that it is accounted a virtue where 
 folly doth impose it. Silence was so highly 
 honoured among the old Romans, that they 
 erected altars to it. That man shall pass for 
 a man of understanding, who so far under- 
 stands himself, as to hold his tongue ; for 
 though it be a great misery to be a fool, yet 
 it is a greater that a man cannot be a fool, but 
 he must needs show it. But this foolish si- 
 lence is not the silence here meant. 
 
 4. There is a sullen silence. Many, to gra- 
 tify an humour, a lust, arc sullenly silent. 
 These are troubled with a dumb devil, 
 which was the worst devil of all thedevilsyou 
 read of in the iicripture, Mark ix. 17 — 28.
 
 UNDER THL SMARTiNG ROD. *2 I 
 
 Pliny, in his natural history, lib. 7. cap. 2. 
 maketh mention of a certain people in the In- 
 dies, upon the river Ganges, called Astvinl^ 
 that have no mouth, but do only feed upon 
 tbesmellof herbs and flowers. Certainly there 
 is a generation amongst us, who, when they 
 are under the afflicting hand of God, have no 
 mouths to plead with God, no lips to praise 
 God, nor no tongues to justify God : these 
 are possessed with a dumb devil ; and this 
 dumb devil had possessed Ahab for a time, I 
 jKings x*.i. 4. "And Ahab came into 'vis 
 house, heavy and dibpieased, a ul laid him 
 donn upon his bed, and turned away his face, 
 and would eat no bread." Ahab's ambitious 
 Jiumour, his covetous humour, being crossed, 
 he is resolved to starve himself, and to die of 
 thesullens. A sullen silence is both a sin and 
 a punishment; no devil frets and vexes, wears 
 and wastes the spirits of a man, like this dumb 
 devil, like this sullen silence. 
 
 Some write of a certain devil, whom they 
 call IJudgin, who will not (they say) hurt any 
 body, except he be wronged. 1 cannotspeakso 
 favourably of a sullen silence, for that wrongs 
 many at once; God and Christ, bodies and 
 souls. But this is not the silence here meant. 
 
 5. There is a forced silence. Many are 
 silent per force. He that is under the power 
 of his enemy, though he sufter many hard 
 things, yet he is silent uiider his sufiferings, be- 
 rnuse he knows he is liable to worse. He that 
 hath taken away his liberty, may take away 
 Jiis life ; he that hath taken away his money.
 
 22 THE MUTE CH R I STI A N" 
 
 may take oft' his head ; he that hath let him 
 blood in the foot, may let him biood in the 
 throat, if he will not be still and quiet: and 
 this works silence per force. So when many 
 are under theafiiicling handof God,conscienre 
 tells them, that now they are ur.der the hand 
 of an enemy, and the power of that God whom 
 they have dishonoured, whose Son they have 
 crucified, whose spirit they have grieved, 
 ■whose righteous laws they have transgressed, 
 Avhose ordinances they have despised, and 
 whose people they have abused and opposed ; 
 and that he that hath taken away one child, 
 may take away every child ; and he that hath 
 taken away the wife might hfive taken away 
 the husband ; and he that hath taken away 
 some part of the estate, might have taken a- 
 way all the estate ; and that he who hath inflict- 
 ed some distempers upon the body, might have 
 cast both body and soul into hell-fire for ever ; 
 and he that hath shut him up in his chamber, 
 may shut him out of heaven at pleasure. The 
 thoughts and sense of these things, make many 
 a sinner silent tnidcr the hiuid of God. But 
 this is but a forced silence. And such was 
 the silence of Philip U. King of Spain, who, 
 when his invincible armada, that had been 
 tlirce years a-fitting, was lost, gave command, 
 that ail over Sj)nin they should give thanks to 
 God and the saints that it was no more griev- 
 ous. As the cudgel forces the dog to be qui- 
 et and still, and the rod forces the child to bo 
 silent and mute; so the apprehensions of what 
 God hath done, and of what God m:»y doy
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 23 
 
 force many a soul to be silent, Jer. iii. 10. 
 1 Kings xiv. 5 — 18. But this is not the si- 
 lence here meant. A forced silence is no si- 
 lence in the eye of God. 
 
 6. There is a despairing silence. A despair- 
 ing soul is a terror to himself; he hath a hell 
 in his heart, and horror in his conscience. He 
 looks up\vards, and there he beholds God 
 frowning, and Christ bleeding ; he looks in- 
 wards, and there he finds conscience accusing 
 and condemning him, Fsal. xciv. 7. Psal. 
 xxTiii. 1. He looks on the one side of him, 
 and there he hears all his sins crying out, We 
 are thine, and we will follow thee, we will to 
 the grave with thee, we will to judgment with 
 thee, and from judgment we will to hell with 
 thee. He looks on the other side of him, and 
 there he sees infernal fiends, in fearful shapes, 
 amazing and terrifying him, and waiting to 
 receive his despairing soul, as soon as she shall 
 takelier leave of his wretched body. He looks 
 above him, and there he sees the gates of hea- 
 ven shut against him : he looks beneath him, 
 and there he sees hell gaping for him ; and, 
 under these sad sights, he is full of secret con- 
 clusions against his own soul, 'i'here is mer- 
 cy for others, saith the despairing sou!, but 
 none for me; grace and favour for others, but 
 none for me; pardon and peace for others, 
 but none for me; blessedness and happiness 
 for others, but none for me. There is no help, 
 there is no hope, no, Jer. ii. 25. and xviii. 12.* 
 
 * As that despairinc: Pope said, the cross could do 
 biin iio good, because lie had so often spld it.
 
 24 THE MUTE CIIUlSTIA^f 
 
 Now, under these dismal apprehensions an<f 
 sad coijcltisions about its present an<l future con- 
 dition, the despairing soul sits silent, being fil- 
 led with amazement and astonishment, Psal. 
 Ixx vii. 4. / aui so troubled that I cannot speak. 
 But this is not the silence here meant. But, 
 
 7. and lastly, There is a prudent silence, a 
 holy, a gracious silence, a silence that springs 
 from prudent principles, from holy principles, 
 and from gracious casisesand considerations; 
 and this is the silence here meant. And this 
 I shall fully discover in my answers to the se- 
 cond question, which is this, 
 
 II. Quest. 2. f^Vhat doth a prudent, a gra- 
 cious, a holjj silence ifvJude ? 
 
 Ans* It includes and takes in these eight 
 things. 
 
 1.' It includes a sight of God, and an ac- 
 knowledgement of God as the author of all 
 the afilictions that come upon us : and this 
 you have jjlain in the text, '' f was dumb, I 
 opened not niy moutli, because thou didst it."* 
 The psalmist looks through secondary causes, 
 to the first cause, .Hid so sits mute before the 
 Lord. There is no sickness so little but God 
 hath a finger in it, though it be but the aching 
 of the little finger. As the scribe is more eyed 
 and properly said (o write, than the pen ; and 
 he that maketh and keepeth the clock, is more 
 properly said to make it go and strike, thari 
 
 * In second causes, many times a Christian may see 
 much envy, hatred, malice, pride, &c., but in the first 
 cause he can see nothing but grace and mercy, sweet- 
 ness and goodness.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTFNG ROD. 25 
 
 the wheels and weights that hang uporrit ; and 
 as every workman is more eyed, and properly 
 said to effect his works, rather than the tools 
 which he useth as his instruments : so the Lord, 
 who is the chief agent and mover in all actions, 
 and who hath the greatest han.d in all our af- 
 llictions, is more to be eye6 and owned, than 
 any inferior or subordinate causes whatsoever. 
 So Job, he beheld God in all, Job i. 21. I'/iu 
 Lord gave^ and the Lord hath taken aKay, 
 Had he not seen God in the affliction, he would 
 have cried out, O these wretched Chaldeans, 
 they have plundered and spoiled me ! these 
 wicked Sabeaiis, they have robbed and wrong- 
 ed me! Job discerns God's commission in the 
 Chaldeans and the Sabcans' hands, and thea 
 lays his own hand upon his mouth. So Aaron, 
 beholdin.«T the hand of God in the untimely 
 death of his two sons, held his peace. Lev. x. 
 3. The sight of Go<l in this sad stroke is a 
 bridle both to his mind and mouth, he neither 
 mutters nor murmurs. So Joseph saw the 
 hand of God in his brethren's selling of him 
 into Egypt, Gen. xlv. 8. and that silences him. 
 Men that see not God in an affliction, are 
 easily cast into a feverish iit ; they will quick- 
 ly be in a flame ; and when their passions are 
 up, and their hearts on fire, they will begin 
 to be saucy, and make no bones of telling 
 God to his teeth, that they do well io be an- 
 gry, Jonah iv. 8, 9. Such as will not ac- 
 knowledge God to be the author of all their 
 afflictions, will be ready enough to fall in 
 with that mad principle of the Manichees, 
 
 C v>
 
 2€ THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 who maintained the d-eTi! to be the author of 
 all calamities : as if there could be any evil (of 
 affliction) in the city, and the Lord have no 
 hand in it, Amos iii. 6. Such as can see the 
 ordering hand of God in all their afilictions, 
 will with David lay their hands upon their 
 mouths, when the rod of God is upon their 
 backs, 2 Sam. xvi. II, 12. If God's hand be 
 not seen in the affliction, the heart will do no- 
 thing but fret and rage under affliction. 
 
 2. It includes and takes in some holy, gra- 
 cious apprehensions of the majesty, sovereign- 
 ty, dignity, authority, and presence of that 
 God, under whose afflicting hand we are, 
 Hab. ii, 20. '' But the Lord is in his holy 
 temple; let all the earth be silent, or, as the 
 Hebrew reads it, ber-iient all the earth before 
 his face." When (iod would have all (he peo- 
 ple of the earth to he hushed, quiet, and silent 
 before him, he would have them to behold 
 him in his temple, \vl]ere he sits in state, in 
 majesty, and glory, Zeph. i. 7. " Hold thy 
 peace at the presence of the Lord God." Chat 
 not, murmur not, repine not, quarrel not : 
 whist, stand mute, be silent, lay thy hand on 
 thy mouth, when his hand is upon thy back, 
 who is all eye to see, as well as all hand to pu- 
 rush. As the eyes of a well-drawn picture 
 are fastened on thee which way soever thou 
 turnest ; so arc the eyes of the Lord, and there- 
 fore thou hast cause to sland mute before him. 
 
 'i'hus Aaron had an eye to tlie sovereignty 
 of God, Lev. x. 3. iuul that silences him. 
 And Job had an eye upon tiic niijjesty of God,
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 27 
 
 Job xxxvii. 23, 24., and that stills him. And 
 Eli had an eye upon the authority and pre- 
 sence of God, 1 Sam. iii. 11 — 19. and that 
 quiets him. A man never comes to humble 
 himself, nor to be silent under the hand of 
 God, till he comes to see the hand of God to 
 be a mighty hand, 1 Pet. y. 6. " Humble 
 yourselves therefore under the mighty hand 
 of God." When men look upon the hand 
 of God as a weak hand, a feeble hand, a low 
 hand, a mean hand, their hearts rise against 
 his hand : " Who is the Lord, said Pharaoh, 
 that 1 should obey his voice?" Exod. v. 2. And 
 till Pharaoh came to see the hand of God as a 
 mighty hand, and to feel it as a mighty hand, 
 he would not let Israel go. When Tiribazus, 
 a noble Persian, was arrested, at tirst he drew 
 out his sword, and defended himself; but 
 when they charged him in the king's name, 
 and informed him that they came from the 
 king, and were commanded to bring him to 
 ihc king, he yielded willingly. So when af- 
 flictions arrest us, we shall murmur, and 
 grumble, and struggle, and strive even to the 
 death, before we shall yield to that God that 
 strikes, till we come to see his majesty and au- 
 thority, Isa. xxvi. 11, 12. till we come to see 
 him as the King of kings, and Lord of lords, 
 Rev. i. 5. It is such a sight of God as this, 
 that makes the heart to stoop under his al- 
 mighty hand. The Thracians being ignorant 
 of the dignity and majesty of God, when it 
 thundered and lightened*, used to express their 
 * Herod.
 
 '^ T«E MUTE CHRISTIAW 
 
 jnadncss and folly in shooting their arrows 
 against heaven, threatening-wise. As a sight 
 of his grace cheers the son), so a sight of his 
 greatness and glory silences the soul. But, 
 
 3. A gracious, a prudent silence, take-in a 
 holy quietnessand calninessofniind and spirit, 
 under the atliicting hand of God. A graci- 
 ous silence shuts out all inward heats, murl 
 murings, frettings, quarrellings, wranglings, 
 and boilings of heart, Psal Ixii. 1. Truly my 
 soyl keej>€ih silence unto God^ or is silent or 
 «till ; tliat is, my soul is quiet and submissive 
 to God ; all murmu rings and repinings, pas- 
 sions and turbulent affections, being allayed, 
 famed, and subdued. This also is clear in the 
 text, and in (he former instance of Aaron, Eli, 
 and Job ; they saw that it was a Father that 
 put those bitter cups into their hands, and love 
 that laid those heavy crosses upon their shoul- 
 ders, and grace that put those yokes about 
 their necks, and this caused much quietness 
 and calmness in iheir spiri(s. Marius bit in 
 his pain when the chirurgeon cut off his leg. 
 Some men, when God cuts off this mercy and 
 that mercy from them, they bite in their pain, 
 they hide md conceal their grief and trouble ; 
 hut could you but look into their hearts, you 
 would find all in an uproar^ all out of order, 
 4ill in a fhtnie ; and however they may seem to 
 !)e cold without, yet they are all in a hot burn- 
 ing f»;vor within. Such a feveribli fit David 
 was once in, Psal. xxxix. 3. Hut certainly a 
 holy silence allays all tumults in the mind, and 
 inakcs a man in patic iice to possess his own
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. ^9 
 
 soul, Luke xxi. 19. which, next to his posses- 
 sion of God, is the choicest aud sweetest pos- 
 session in all the world. The law of silence 
 is<is well upon that man's heart and mind as it 
 is upon his tongue, who is truly and divinely 
 silent under the rebuking hand of God. As 
 tongye-service abstracted from heart-service, 
 is no service in the account of God, Isa. xxix. 
 13. Matth. XV. 8, 9. so tongue-silence ab- 
 stracted from heart-silence, is no silence in 
 the esteem of God. A man Is then graciously 
 silent, when all is quiet within and without. 
 
 Terpander, a harper and a poet, was one 
 that, by the sweetness of his verse and music, 
 could allay the tumultuous motions of men's 
 minds ; as David by his harp did Saul's. 
 When God's people are under the rod, he 
 makes by his spirit and word such sweet mu- 
 sic in their souls, as allays all tumultuous mo- 
 tions, passions, and perturbations, Psal. xciv. 
 17, 18, 19. Psal. cxix. 49, 50. so that they 
 sit, Noah-like, quiet and still, and in peace 
 possess their own souls. 
 
 4. A prudent, a holy silence, takes in an 
 humble justifying, clearing, and acquitting of 
 God of all blame, rigour, and injustice, in all 
 the afflictions he brings upon us, Psal. li. 4. 
 " That thou mayest be justified when thou 
 speakest, and be clear when thou judgest ;" 
 that is, when thou correctest*. God's judging 
 his people, is God's correcting or chastening 
 of his people, i Cor. xi. 32. '' When we arc 
 
 * Plato calls God the horn of plenty, the ocean of 
 beauty, without the least spot of injustice, 
 c3
 
 BO THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 judged, we are chastened of the Lord." Da- 
 vid's great care, when he was under the afflict- 
 ing hand of God, was to clear (he Lord of in- 
 justice. *' Ah, Lord," saith he ^' there is not 
 the least shew, spot, stain, blemish, or mixture 
 of injustice, in all the ofdictions thou hast 
 brought upon nie ; I desire to tjke shame i<^ 
 myself, and to set to my seal, that the Lord is 
 righteous, and that there is no injustice, no 
 cruelty, nor no extremity in all that the Lord 
 hath brouglit upon me." And so in Psal. cxix. 
 75, 137. he sweetly and readily subscribes un- 
 to the righteousness of God in tliope sharp and 
 smart afflictions that God exercised him with : 
 " 1 know, O Lord, that thy judgments are 
 right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflict, 
 ed me. Righteous art (hou. O Lord, and up- 
 right are thy judgments." God's judgments 
 are always just ; he never afflicts but in faith- 
 fulness. His will is (he rule of justice ; and 
 therefore a gracious soul dares not cavil nor 
 question his proceedings. The afflicted soul 
 knows, that a righteous God can do nothing 
 but that which is righteous ; it knows that 
 God is uncontroliahlo, and therefore the af- 
 flicted man puts his mt)u(h in the dust, and 
 keeps silence before him, 2 Sam. xvi. 10. 
 Who dare say, IVhcrcfore hast ihou done so? 
 The Turks, wlien (hey arc cruelly lashed, 
 are compelled to return to the jtidge that com- 
 manded it, to kiss his hand, give him thanks, 
 and pay the offlccr that whipt them, and so 
 clear (he judge and otlicer of justice. Silent- 
 ly to kiss the rod, and the hand that whips
 
 irxnER THE SMARTING ROD. 31 
 
 svith it, is the noblest way of clearing the 
 Lord of nil injustice. 
 
 The Babylonish captivity was the sorest, 
 the heaviest affliction (hat ever God inllicted 
 upon any people under heaven ; witness that. 
 Lam. i. 12. and Dan. ix. 12. &c. Yet un- 
 der those smart affliciions, wisdom is justified 
 of her children, Neh. ix. 33. '' Thou art 
 just in all that is !)rought upon us ; for thou 
 hast done right, but we have done wickedly. 
 Lam. i. 18. The Lord is righteous, for I have 
 rebelled against him." A hoiy silence shines 
 in nothing more, than in an humble justifying 
 nnd clearing of God from all that which a 
 corrupt heart is apt enough to cljarge God 
 with in the day of affliction. God, in that he 
 is good, can give nothing, nor do nothing, 
 but that which is good : others do frequently. ; 
 he cannot possibly, saith Luther, in Psal.cxx. 
 
 5. A holy silence takes in gracious, blessed, 
 soul.quiedng conclusions about the issue and 
 event of those afflictions that are upon us, Lam. 
 Hi. 27 — 34. In ihis choice scripture you may 
 observe these five soul-stilling conclusions. 
 
 (1). (And that more generally), That they 
 *ihall work for their good, ver. 27. ''It is good 
 for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." 
 A gracious soul secretly concludes, as stars 
 shir.e brightest in the night, so God will make 
 my soul shine and glitter like gold, whilst I 
 am in this furnace, and when I come out of 
 this furnace of affliction. Job xxiii. 10. '^ He 
 knoweth the way th^it I take ; and when he 
 hath tried me, 1 shall come forth as gold."
 
 32 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Surely, as the tasting of honey did open 
 Jonathan's eyes, so this cross, this aftlictiorj, 
 shall open mine eyes ; by this stroke I shall 
 come to have a clearer sight of my sins, and 
 of myself, and a fuller sight of my God, Job 
 xxxiii. 27, 28. Job xl. 4, 5. chap. xlii. 1 — 7. 
 
 Surely this affliction shall issue in the purg- 
 ing away of my dross, Isa. i. 25. 
 
 Surely, as ploughing of the ground killeth 
 the weeds, and harrowing breaketh hard clods, 
 so these afflictions shall kill my sins, and sof- 
 ten "my heart, Hos. v. ult. chap. vi. 1, 2, 3. 
 
 Surely, as the plaister draws out the core, so 
 the afflictions that are upon me shall draw out 
 the core of pride, the core of self-love, the core 
 of envy, the core of earthliness, the core of 
 formality, the core of hypocrisy, Psal. cxix. 
 67,71. 
 
 Surely by these the Lord will crucify my 
 lieart more and more to the world, and the 
 world to my heart, Gal. vi. 14. Psal. cxxxi. 
 1,2,3. 
 
 Surely by these afflictions the Lord will 
 hide pride from my soul. Job xxxiii. 14 — 21. 
 
 Surely these afflictions arc but the Lord's 
 pruning-knives, by which he will bleed my sins, 
 and prune my heart, and make it more fertile 
 and fruitful ; they are but the Lord's por- 
 tion, by which he will clear me, and rid me of 
 those spiritual diseases and maladies, which 
 arc most deadly and dangerous to my soul. 
 
 Affliction is such a portion, as will carry 
 away all ill humours, better than all the benc^
 
 XTNDER THE SMARTING ROD, 33 
 
 dicio me die amenta, as physicians call them, 
 Zech. xiii. 8, 9. 
 
 Surely these shall increase my spiritual ex- 
 periences, Rom. V. 3, 4. 
 
 Surely by these I shall be made more par- 
 taker of God's holiness, Heb. xii. 10. As 
 black soap makes white cloaths, so do sharp 
 afflictions make holy hearts. 
 
 Surely by these God will communicate 
 more of himself unto me, Hos. ii. 14. 
 
 Surely by these afflictions the Lord will 
 draw out my heart more and more to seek 
 him, Isa. xxvi. 16. Tatiaous told the Heathen 
 Oreeks, that when they were sick, then they 
 would send for their gods to be with them ; 
 as Agamemnon did, at the siege of Troy, send 
 for his ten counsellors. Hos. v. 15. "la 
 their afflictions they will seek me early," or, 
 as the Hebrew hath it, they will morning me: 
 in times of afflictian, Christians will industri- 
 ously, speedily, early, seek unto the Lord. 
 
 Surely by these trials and troubles the Lord 
 will fix my soul more than ever upon the great 
 coQcernraents of another world, John iv. 1, 2, 
 3. Rom. viii 17, 18. 2 Cor. iv. 16, 1 7, 18. 
 
 Surely by these afflictions the Lord will 
 ^vork in me more tenderness and compassion 
 towards those that are alHicted, II cb. x. 34. 
 iChap. xiii. 3. As the Tyrian queen said, 
 
 EvUs have taught me to bemoan 
 Ail that afflictions make to groan. 
 
 The Humans punislied one that was seen
 
 34 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 looking Gilt al: his window with a crown of 
 rosps on his heail, in a time of public calamity. 
 
 Surely these are but God's love-tokens, 
 Rev. iii. 1 9. ^Is jnatiy as I love^ I rebuke and 
 chasten*. Seneca persuaded his friend ?oly- 
 bius to boar his affliction quietly, because he 
 ^vas the emperor's favourite, telling him, that 
 it was not lawful for him to complain whilst 
 Caesar was his friend. So saith the holy 
 Christian, O my soul ! be quiet, be still ; all 
 is in love, all is a fruit of divine favour ; 1 see 
 honey upon the top of every twig; I see the 
 rod is but a rosemary branch ; I have sugar 
 with my gall, and wine with my wormwood ; 
 therefore be silent, O my soul ! And this ge- 
 neral conclusion, (hat all shall be for gooil^ 
 had this blessed elfect upon the church, ver. 
 28. " He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, 
 because he hath borne it upon him." 
 
 Afflictions abase the loveliness of the world 
 without, that might entice us ; it abates the 
 lustiness of the liesh within, which might else 
 ensnare us; and it abates the Spirit in his 
 quarrel against the llesh and the world ; by all 
 which it proves a mighty advantage unto us. 
 
 (2.) They shall keep them humble and low, 
 ver. 29. ''He putteth his mouth in the dust, 
 if so be there may be hope." Some say, that 
 these words are an allusion to the manner of 
 those that, having been conquered and subdu- 
 
 * Some say, if a knife or needle be touched with a 
 loudsione of an iron colour, it will cut or enter into a 
 man's hody without any sense of pain at all ; so will af- 
 flictions^ when touched with the loadstone of dlviue 
 love.
 
 UNDKR THE SMARTING ROD. 35 
 
 ^, lay their necks down at the conquerors' 
 feet to be trampled upon, and to lick up t}\e 
 dust that is under the conquerors' feet. O- 
 thers of the learned look upon the words as aa 
 allusion to poor petitioners, who cast them- 
 selves down at princes' feet^ that they may 
 <lraw forth their pwty and compa.s«ion towards 
 them. As I have read of Aristippns, who fell 
 on the ground before Dionysius, and kissed 
 his feet, when he presented a petition to him ; 
 and being asked the reason, answered, He hath 
 his ears in his feet. Take it which way you 
 will, it holds forth this to us, '' that holy 
 hearts will be humble under the afflicting hand 
 of God " When God's rod is upon their 
 backs, their mouths shall be in the dust. A 
 good heart will lie lowest, when the hand of 
 God is lifted highest, Job xli. 1—7. Acts ix. 
 1—8. 
 
 (3.) The third soul-quieting conclusion 
 you have in ver. 3 1 . F&r the Lot d Kill not cast 
 off for ever i the rod shall not always lie upon 
 the back of the righteous. " At even-tide, lo 
 there is trouble ; but before morning it is 
 gone," Isa. xvii. 14. As Athanasius said to 
 his friends, when they came to bewail his mi- 
 sery and banishment, It is but a little cloud, 
 (said he), and will quickly be gone. There 
 are none of God's afflicted ones, that have not 
 theirintermissions, respites, breathing-whiles ; 
 yea, so small a while doth the hand of the 
 Lord rest upon his people, that Luther can- 
 not get diminutives enough to extenuate it; 
 for he calls it "a Tcry little cross that we
 
 36 THE MUTE eHIlISTlAKT 
 
 bear*, Isa. xxvi. 20. Come, my people, enter 
 thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors 
 about thee : hide thyself as it were for a little 
 moment" (or for a little space, a little while), 
 until the indignation be overpast. The indig- 
 nation doth not pass, but overpass. The 
 sharpness, shortness, and suddenness of the 
 saints' afflictions, is set forth by the travail of 
 a woman, Joha xvi* 21. which is sharp, short, 
 and sudden. 
 
 (4.) The fourth soul-sileneing conclusion 
 you have in ver. 32. " But though he cause 
 grief, yet will he have compassion, a<;cording 
 to the multitude of his mercies." Jn wrath 
 God remembers mercy, Hab. iii. 2. " Weep- 
 ing may endure for a night, but joy cometh 
 in the morning," Psal. XXX. 5. Their mourn- 
 ing shall last but till njorning. God will turn 
 their winter's night into a summer's day, their 
 sighing into singing, their grief into gladness, 
 their mourning into music, their bitter into 
 sweet, their wilderness into a paradise. The 
 life of a Christian is filled up with interchan- 
 ges of sickness and health, weakness and 
 slreiigih, want and wealth, disgrace and ho- 
 nour, crosses and comforts, miseries and mer- 
 cies, joys and sorrows, mirth and mourning. 
 All honey would harm us, all wormwood 
 would undo us ; a composition of both is the 
 best way in the world to keep our souls in a 
 healthy constitution. It is best and most for 
 the health of the soul, that the south-wind of 
 
 * A little storm, as one said of Julian's persecution ^ 
 and an eternal calm follows.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 27 
 
 mercy, and the north-wind of adversity, do 
 both blow upon it : and though every wind 
 that blows, shall blow good to the saints, yet 
 certainly their sins die most, and their graces 
 thrive best, when they are under the drying, 
 nipping north-wind of calamity, as well as un- 
 der the warm, cherishing south-wind of mer- 
 cy and prosperity. 
 
 (5.) The fifth soul. quieting conclusion you 
 have in ver. 33. " For he doth not afflict 
 willingly, (or, as the Hebrew hath it, from his 
 heart), nor grieve the children of men.'* The 
 church concludes, that God's heart was not 
 in their atilictions, though his hand was; he 
 takes no delight to afflict his children, it goes 
 against the heart; it is a grief to him to be 
 grievous to them, a pain to him to be punish- 
 ing of them, a death to him to be striking of 
 them ; he hath no will, no motion, no incli- 
 nation, no disposition to that work of afflict- 
 ing his people; and therefore he calls it his 
 strange work, his strange act, Isa. xxviii. 21. 
 Mexcy and punishment flow from God, as the 
 honey and the sting from the bee ; the bee 
 yieldeth honey of her own nature, but she 
 doth not sting but when she is provoked ; he 
 takes delight in showing of mercy, Micah vii, 
 18. He takes no pleasure in giving his people 
 up to adversity, Hos. xi. 8. Mercy and kind- 
 ness floweth from him freely, naturally ; he is 
 never severe, never harsh, he never stings, he 
 never terrifies us, but when he is sadly pro- 
 voked by us. God's hand sometimes may lie 
 Tery hard upon his people, when his heart, his
 
 38 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 bowels, (at those very times), may be yearn- 
 ing towards his people, Jer. xxxi. 18, 19, 20. 
 No man can tell how the heart of God stands, 
 by his hand : his hand of mercy may be open 
 to those against whom his heart is set ; as you 
 see in the rich (poor) fool, and Dives, in the 
 gospel : and his hand of severity may lie hard 
 upon those, on whom he hath set his heart, as 
 you may see in Job and Lazarus. And thus 
 you see those gracious, blessed, soul-quieting 
 conclusions about the issue and event of afflic- 
 tions, that a holy, a prudent silence doth in- 
 clude. 
 
 6. A holy, a prudent silence includes and 
 takes in a strict charge; a solemn command 
 that conscience lays upon the soul to be quiet 
 and still, Psal. xxxvii. 7. " Rest in the Lord, 
 (or, as the Hebrew hath it, be silent to the 
 Lord), and wait patiently for him." 1 charge 
 thee, O my soul ! not to mutter, nor to mur- 
 mur, Matth. xxviii. 5, 26. 1 command thee, 
 O my soul ! to be dumb and silent under the 
 afflicting hand of God. As Christ laid a 
 charge, a command upon the boisterous winds, 
 and the roaring raging seas. Be still, and there 
 uas a great culm; so conscience la) s a charge 
 upon the soul to be quiet and still, Psal. xxvii. 
 ult. '' Wait on the Lord : be of jjood courage, 
 and he shall strengthen thy heart : wait, J say, 
 on the Lord*." Peace, O my soul ! be still, 
 leave your muttering, leave your murmuring, 
 
 » The Heathen could say, Man may not depart an 
 hairs breadth all his life long from the dictates of a 
 srood conscience.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 39 
 
 jeave your complaining, leave your chafing 
 and vexing, anil lay your hand upon your 
 mouth, and b6 silent. Conscience allays and 
 stills all the tumults and uproars that be in the 
 soul, by such like reasonings as the clerk of 
 Ephesus stilled that uproar. Acts xix. 40. 
 *'For we are in danger to be called in ques- 
 tion for this day's uproar, there bein-2j no cause 
 •whereby we may give an account of this con- 
 course." O my soul! be quiet, be silent, else 
 thou wilt one day be called in question for all 
 those inward mutterings, uproars, and passions 
 thatarein thee, seeing no sufficient cause can be 
 produced wliy you should murmur, quarrel, or 
 w Tangle under the righteous hand of God. 
 
 7. A holy, a prudent silence, includes a 
 surrendering, a resigning up of ourselves to 
 God, whilst we are under his afflicting hand, 
 Psal. xxviii. 8. James iv. 7. The silent soul 
 gives himself up to God, 1 Sam. iii. 18 The 
 secret language of the soul is this, Lord, here 
 am /, do with me zchal thou pleasesl, 1 Nam. 
 XV. 25, '16, Acts xxi. 13, 14, ^'c. "• Write 
 upon me as thou pleasest, 1 give up myself to 
 be at thy disposal." 
 
 There was a good woman, who, when she 
 was sick, being asked, whether she were wil- 
 ling to live or die? answered, '' Which God 
 pleaseth." '« i^ut,'' said one that stood by, "• if 
 God should refer it to you, which v\ould you 
 chuse?" "Truly," said she, "if God should 
 refer it to me, 1 would even refer it to him 
 again." This was a soul worth gold. Well, 
 saith a gracious soul, the ambitious man givelh
 
 40 THE MUTE CHIIISTIAM 
 
 liimsclf up fo his honours, but I give up my- 
 self unto thee; the vohipluous man gives him- 
 self up to his pleasures, but I give up myself 
 to tiiee; the covetous man gives himself up to 
 his bags, but 1 give up myself to thee; the 
 wanton gives himself up to his minion, but I 
 give up myself to thee; the drunkard gives 
 himself up to his cups, but 1 give up myself to 
 thee; the Papist gives up himself to his idols, 
 but I give up myself to thee ; the Turk gives 
 lip himself to his Mahomet, but 1 give up my- 
 self to thee; the heretic gives up himself to 
 his heretical opinions, but 1 give up myself to 
 thee. Lord, lay what burden thou wilt upoQ 
 me, only let thine everlasting arms be under 
 me: strike. Lord, strike and spare not*, for 
 I am lien down in thy will, I have learned to 
 say /J?nen to thy Amen; thou hast a greater 
 interest in me than I have in myself, and there- 
 fore I give up myself unto thee, and am w illing 
 to be at thy disposal, and am ready to receive 
 ■what impression thou shalt stamp upon me. 
 O blessed Lord ! hast thou not again and again 
 said unto me as once the king of Israel said to 
 ihci king of Syria, I Kings xx. 14. I am thine, 
 and alt that I have? 1 am thine, O soul, to 
 save thee ; my mercy is thine to pardon thee ; 
 my blood is thine to cleanse thee; my merits 
 arc thine to justify thee ; my righteousness is 
 thine to clothe thee ; my si)irit is thine to lead 
 thee; my grace is thine to enrich thee; and 
 my glory is thine to reward thee : and there- 
 ^ ore, saith a gracious soul, 1 cannot but make 
 * Luther.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 41 
 
 a rcsisjnation of myself unto thee. *' Lord, 
 here 1 am, do with me asseemeth good in thine 
 own eyes." 1 know the best way to have my 
 own will, 'is to resign up myself to thy will, 
 and to say Amen to thy Amen, 
 
 I have read of a gentleman, who, meeting 
 with a shepherd in a misty morning, asked 
 him what weather it would be? It will be 
 (saith the shepherd) what weather pleaseth 
 me: and being courteously requested to ex- 
 press his meaning ; Sir (sdith he), it shall be 
 what weather pleaseth God, and what wea- 
 ther pleaseih God pleaseth me. When a 
 Christian's will is moulded into the will of 
 God, he is sure to have his will. But, 
 
 8. Lastly, A holy, a prudent silence, takes 
 in a patient vvaittng upon the Lord under our 
 afflictions, till deliverance comes, Psal x'. 1, 
 2, 3. Psal. Ixii. 5. "'• My soul, wait thou 
 only upon God, for my expectation is from 
 him. Lam. iii. 26. It is good that a man should 
 both hope, and quietly (or, as the Hebrew halh 
 it, silentl} ) wait tor the salvation of the Lord." 
 The husbandman patiently walteth for the 
 precious fruits of the earth, James v. 7, 8. The 
 mariner patiently waiteth for wind and tide ; 
 and so doth the watchman for the dawning of 
 the day; and so doth the silent soul, in the 
 night of adversity, patiently wait for the dawn- 
 ing of the day of mercy. The mercies of God 
 are not styled the swift, but the sure mercies 
 of David, and therefore a gracious soul waits 
 patiently for them. And thus you see what 
 a gracious, a prudent silence doth include, 
 D 3
 
 42 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 in. The third thing is to discover what a 
 holy, a prudent silence under affliction doth 
 not exclude. JN ow there are eight things that 
 a holy patience doth not exclude. 
 
 1. A holy, a prudent silence under afflic- 
 tion, doth not exclude and shut out a sense 
 and feeling of our afflictions, Psal. xxxix. 
 though he was dumb, and laid his hand upon 
 his mouth, \ev. 9. yet he was very sensible of 
 his affliction, Ter. 10, 11. *' Remove thy 
 stroke away from me; I am consumed by the 
 blow of thine hand. When thou with rebukes 
 dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his 
 beauty to consume away like a moth : surely 
 every man is vanity." He is sensible of his 
 pain, as well as of his sin ; and having pray- 
 ed off his sin in the former verses, he labours 
 here to pray off his pain : diseases, aches, sick- 
 nesses, pains, they are all the daughters of sin ; 
 and he that is not sensible of them as the births 
 and produCiS of sin, doth but add to his sin, 
 and provoke the Lord to add to his sufferings, 
 Isa. xxvi. 9, 10, 11. No man shall ever be 
 charged by God for feeling his burthen, if he 
 neither fret nor faint under it ; grace doth not 
 destroy nature, but rather perfect it ; grace is 
 of a noble offspring, it neither turneth men 
 into stocks nor to Stoics ; the more grace, the 
 more sensible of the tokens, frowns, blows, 
 and lashes of a displeased father. Though Cal- 
 Tin, under his greatest pains, was never heard 
 to mutter, nor murmur, yet he was heard often 
 to say, Hoz!) long^ Lord, huzo long? A reli- 
 gious commander being shot in battle, when
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 43 
 
 the wound was searched, and the bullet cut 
 cot, some standing by, pitying his pains, he 
 replied, Though 1 groan, yet 1 bless God I do 
 not grumble : God allows his people to groan, 
 though not to grumble. It is a God-provok- 
 ing sin, to be stupid and senseless under the 
 afflicting hand of God*. God will heat that 
 man's furnace of afiliction sevenfold hotter, 
 who is in the furnace, but feels it not, Isa. xlii. 
 24, 25. " Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and 
 Israel to the robbers ? did not the i>ord, he 
 against whom we have slnnned? for they would 
 not walk in his ways, neither were they obedi- 
 ent unto his law ; therefore he hath poured 
 upon himthefury of his anger, and the strength 
 of battle ; and he hath set him on tire round 
 about, yet he knew it not; and it burned him, 
 yet he laid it not to heart." Stupidity lays a 
 man open to the greatest fury and severity. 
 
 The physician, when he findeth that the 
 potion which he had given his patient will not 
 work, seconds it with one more violent ; and 
 if that will not work, he gives another yet 
 more violent. If a gentle plalster will not 
 serve, then the chirurgeon applies that which 
 is more corroding ; and if that will not do, 
 then he makes use of his cauterizing knife. 
 So when the Lord afflicts, and men feel it 
 not; when he strikes, and they grieve not ; 
 when he wounds them, and they awake not; 
 then the furnace is made hotter than ever ; 
 then his fury burns, then he lays on irons 
 
 * No judgment to a stupid spirit, a hardened heart, 
 and a brazen brow.
 
 44 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 upon irons, bolt upon bolt, and chain upon 
 chain, until he hath made their lives a holl. 
 Afflictions are the saints' diet-drink ; and 
 •where do you read in all the scripture, that 
 ever any of the saints drank of this diet.drink, 
 and were not sensible of it ? 
 
 2. A holy, a prudent silence, doth not shut 
 out prayerfor deliTcrance out of our affliction. 
 Though the psalmist lays his hand upon his 
 mouth, in the text^ yet he prays for deliver- 
 ance, ver. 13. " Remove thy stroke away 
 from me; and ver. 11, 12. Hear my prayer, 
 O Lord, and give ear unto my cry ; hold not 
 thy peace at my tears ; for 1 am a stranger 
 with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers 
 ■were. O spare me, that I may recover 
 strength, before 1 go hence and be no more." 
 Jam. V. 13. Js any among you afflicted ? let 
 him pray, Ps. 1. 15. Call upon me in the day 
 of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt 
 glorify me. Times of affliction, by God's own 
 injunction, are special times of supplication. 
 David's heart was more of;en out of tune than 
 his harp ; but then he prays, and presently 
 cries. Return to thy rest^ O wy soul! Jonah 
 prays in the whale's belly, and Daniel prays 
 when among the lions, and Job prays when on 
 the dunghill, and Jeremiah prays when in the 
 dungeon, &c., yea, the Heathen mariners, as 
 stout as they were, when in a storm, they 
 cry every man to his God, Jonah, i. 5, 6. To 
 call upon God, especially in times of distress 
 and trouble, is a lesson that the very light and 
 law of nature teaches. The Persian messcn-
 
 UNDEK THE SMARTING ROD. 45 
 
 scngcr((hou^h an Heathen), as /Eschylus ob- 
 serveth, saith thus, When the Grecian forces 
 hotly pursued oisr host, and we must needs 
 ■venture over the great water Strymon, frozen 
 then, but beginning to thaw, when a hundred 
 to one we had all died for it; with mine eyes, 
 saith he, I saw many of those galiants, whom 
 I had heard before so boldly maintain there 
 was no God, eyery one upon his knees, and 
 devoutly praying that the ice might hold till 
 they got over. And shall blind natuiedo more 
 than grace? if the time of affliction be not a 
 time of supplication, 1 know not what is. 
 
 As there are two kinds of antidotes against 
 poison, Tiz. hot and cold; so there are two 
 kinds of antidotes against all the troubles and 
 afflictions of this life, viz. prayer and patience; 
 the one hot, the other cold ; the one quench- 
 ing, the other quickening. Chrysostom under- 
 stood this well enough, when he cried out, 
 Oh (said he) it is more bitter than death to 
 be spoiled of prayer ; and thereupon ob^ 
 serves, that Daniel chose rather to run the 
 hazard of his life, than to lose his prayer, 
 Well, this is the second thing ; a holy silence 
 doth not exclude prayer. But, 
 
 3. A holy, a prudent silence, doth not ex- 
 clude men's being kindly affected and afflict- 
 ed Avith their sins, as the meritorious cause 
 of all their sorrows and suiierings. Lam. iii. 
 39, 40. " Wherefore doth a living man com- 
 plain, a man for the punishment of his sin ? 
 Let us search and try our ways, and turn 
 ^gain to the Lord, Job. xl. 4y 3. Behold I an\
 
 46 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my 
 hand upon my mouth. Once have 1 spoken, 
 but I will not answer ; yea, twice, but 1 will 
 proceed no further, Micah \ii. 9. I will bear 
 the indignation of the Lord, because 1 have 
 sinned." In all our sorrows, we should read 
 our sins ; and when God's hand is upon our 
 backs, our hands should be upon our sins. 
 
 It was a good saying; of one, I hide not my 
 sins, but 1 shew them ; I wipe them not 
 away, but I sprinkle them ; 1 do not excuse 
 them, but accuse them : The beginning of 
 my salvation, is the knowledge of my trans- 
 gression. When some told Prince iJenry, 
 that darling of mankind, that the sins of the 
 people brought that affliction on him ; O no, 
 said he, 1 have sins enough of mine own, to 
 cause that. I hiwc sinned, said David, but 
 ■what have these poor sht-ep done? When a 
 Christian is under the afiiicting hand of God, 
 he may well say, 1 may thank thjs proud 
 heart of mine, this worldly heart, this froward 
 heart, this formal heart, this dull heart, this 
 backsliding heart, this self-seeking heart of 
 mine ; for that this cup is so bitter, this pain 
 so grievous, this loss so great, this disease so 
 desperate, this wound so incurable, it is mine 
 own self, mine own sin, that hath caused these 
 floods of sorrows to break in upon me. But, 
 
 4. A holy, a prudent silence, dofh not ex- 
 clude the teaching and instructing of others, 
 Avhen we are afflicted; the words of the af- 
 flicted stick close ; they many times work 
 strongly, powerfully, strangely, savingly, up-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 47 
 
 on the souls and consciences of others. Many 
 of Paul's epistles were written to the churches, 
 "when he was in bonds, viz. Galdtians, Ephe- 
 sians, Philipp'ans, Colossians, Philemon. He 
 bpgot Onesimus in his bonds, Philemon ver, 
 10. And many of the brethren in the Lord 
 ■waxed bold and confident by his bonds, and 
 were confirmed, and made partakers of grace, 
 by his ministry, when he was in bonds, Phil, 
 i. 7, 13, 14. As the words of dying persons 
 do many times stick and work gloriously, so 
 many times do the words of afflicted persons 
 work very nobly and efficaciously. I have 
 read of one Adrianus, who, seeing the martyrs 
 suffer such grievous things in the cause of 
 Christ, asked, What was that which enabled 
 them to suffer such things ? add one of them 
 named that, 1 Cor. ii; 9. ''Eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered in- 
 to the heart of man, thethings which God hath 
 prepared for them that love him :" this word 
 was like apples of gold in pictures of silver; 
 for it made him not only a convert, but a mar- 
 tyr too, Prov. XXV. 11. And this was the 
 means of Justin Martyr's conversion, as him- 
 self confesseth. Doubtless many have been 
 made happy by the words of the afflicted ; the 
 tongue of the afflicted hath been to many as 
 choice silver ; the words of the afflicted many 
 times are both pleasing and profitable ; they 
 tickle the ear, and they win upon the heart; 
 they slide insensibly into the hearers' souls, 
 and work efficaciously upon the hearers' 
 hearts, Eccles. x. 12. The words of a wise
 
 4S THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 man*s mouth are gracious, (or grace, as thp 
 Hebrew hath it;) and so Ilierom reads it. 
 The words of tlie mouth of a wise man are 
 grace. They minister grace to others, and 
 they win grace and favour from others ; gra- 
 cious lips make gracious hearts ; gracious 
 ■words are a grace, an ornament to the speak- 
 er ; and they are a comfort, a delight, and an 
 advantage to the hearer. 
 
 Now the words of a wise man's mouth are 
 never more gracious, than when he is most af- 
 Jlicted and distressed. Now you shall find 
 most worth and weight in his words ; now 
 liis lips, like the spouse's, are like a thread of 
 scarlet, they are red with talking much of a 
 crucified Christ, and they are thin like a 
 thread, not swelled with vain and unprofit- 
 able discourses. Now his mouth speaketh 
 wisdom, and his tongue talketh judgment, for 
 the law of the Lord is in his heart, Psal. xxxvii. 
 30. Now his lips drop honey. combs, Cant, 
 iv. 10. Now his tongue is as a tree of life 
 whose leaves are medicinal, Prov. xii. 18. As 
 the silver-trumpets sounded most joy to the 
 Jews in the day of their gladness, Num. x. 
 10. so the mouth of a wise man, like a silver- 
 trumpet, sounds most joy and advantage to 
 others in the days of his sadness. 
 
 The Heathen man could say, When a wise 
 man speaketh, he openeth the rich treasures 
 and wardrobe of his mind ; so may 1 say, when 
 an afilicted saint speaks. Oh the pearls, the 
 treasures that he scatters ! But,
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING IIOD. 49 
 
 5. A holy, a prudent silence, doth not ex- 
 clude moderate mourning and weeping under 
 the afflicting hand of God, Isa. xxxviii. 3. 
 ^nd Ilezekiah wept sore^ or, as the Hebrew 
 hath it, zcept Tcith great neeping. But was 
 not the Lord displeased with him for his great 
 weeping? No. ner. 5. " 1 have heard thy 
 prayer, I have seen thy tears : behold, I will 
 add unto thy days fifteen years." God had 
 as well a bottle for his tears, as a bag for his 
 sins. There is no water so sweet as the saints' 
 tears, when they do not overflow the banks 
 of moderation. Tears are not mutes; they 
 have a voice, and their oratory is of great pre- 
 Taiency with the almighty God. And there- 
 fore the weeping prophet calleth out for 
 tears. Lam. ii. 18. ''Their heart crieth 
 unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of 
 Zion, let tears run down like a river day and 
 night; give thyself no rest, let not the apple 
 of thine eye cease;" or has the Hebrew hath 
 it, " Let not the daughters of thine eye be 
 silent ;" (that which we call the ball or apple 
 of the eye, the Hebrew calls the daughter 
 of the eye, because it is as dear and tender 
 to a man as an only daughter, and because 
 tliercin appears the likeness of a little daugh- 
 ter). Upon which words, saith Beliarmine, 
 Cry aloud, not with thy tongue, but with 
 thine eyes ; not with thy words, but with 
 thy tears; for that is the prayer that maketh 
 the most forcible entry into the ears of the 
 great God of heaven. When God strikes, he 
 looks that we should tremble ; when his 
 
 F
 
 50 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 hand is lifted high, he looks that our hearts 
 should stoop low ; when he hath the rod in 
 his hand, he looks that we should have tears 
 in our eyes ; as you may see by comparing of 
 these Scriptures together, Psal. Iv. 2. Psal. 
 xxxviii. 6. Job xxx. 26 — 32. Good men 
 -weep easily, saith the Greek poet ; and the 
 better any are, the more inclining to weeping, 
 especially under affliction. As you may see 
 in David, (whose tears, instead of gems, were 
 the common ornaments of his bed), Jonathan, 
 Job, Ezra, Daniel, &c. How (saith one) 
 shall God wipe away n»y tears in heaven, if I 
 shed none on earth? and how shalli reapinjoy, 
 if 1 sow not in tears? I was born with tears, and 
 I shall die with tears; and why then should 
 1 live without them in this valley of tears ? 
 
 There is as well a time to weep, as there is 
 a time to laugh ; and a time to mourn as well 
 as a time to dance, Eccl. iii- 4. The mourn- 
 ing garment among the Jews was the black 
 garment, and the black garment was the 
 mourning garment, Psal. xliii. 2. '•' Why go 
 ye mourning?" The Hebrew word signifies 
 black, " Why go ye in black ?" Sometimes 
 Christians must put olF their gay ornaments, 
 and put on their black, their mourning gar- 
 ments, Exod. xxxiii. cJ, 4, 5, 6. But, 
 
 6. A gracious, a prudent silence, doth not 
 exclude sighing, groaning, or roarings under 
 afliiction. A man may sigh, and groan, and 
 roar under the hand of God, and yet be si- 
 lent* : it is not sighing, but muttering; it 
 
 * You may see much of this by comparing the fol-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 51 
 
 is not groaning, but grumbling ; it is not 
 roaring, but murmuring, that is opposite to 
 a holy silence, Exod. ii. 23. " And the chil- 
 dren of Israel sighed by reason of the bon- 
 dage, Job iii. 24. For my sighing cometh be- 
 fore I eat," (or, as tiie Hebrew hath it, before 
 my meat); his sighing, like bad weather, 
 came unsent for, and unsought for ; so Psal, 
 xxxviii. 9. ''Lord, all ray desire is before thee; 
 and ray groaning is not hid from thee, Psal, 
 cii. 5. By reason of the voice of my groaning, 
 my bones cleaye to my skin, Job iii. 24. And 
 my roarings are poured out like the water, 
 Psal. xxxviii. 8. 1 am feeble and sore broken ; 
 I have roared by reason of the disquietness of 
 my heart, Psal. xxii. 1. My God, my God, 
 why hast thou forsaken me ? why art thou so 
 far from helping me, and from the words of 
 my roaring ? Psal. xxxii. 3. When I kept si- 
 lence, my bones waxed old, through ray roar- 
 ings all the day long." He roars, but doth not 
 rage ; he roars, but doth not repine ; when a 
 man is in extremity, nature prompts him to 
 roar, and the law of grace is not against it; 
 and though sighing, groaning, roaring, cannot 
 deliver a man out of his misery, yet they do 
 give some ease to a man under his misery. 
 When Solon wept for his Son's death, one said 
 to him, Weeping will not help ; he answered, 
 Alas ! therefore do I weep, because weeping 
 
 lowing scriptures; Lam. i. 4, 1 1,51, 22. P?al. xxxi> 
 10. Jer. xlv, 3. Exo.i.ii. 24. Jobixiii.S. Psai.vi. 6.
 
 52 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 will not help. So a Christian many times 
 sighs, because sighing will not help; and he 
 groans because groaning will not help : and he 
 roars, because roaring will not help. Some- 
 times the sorrows of the saints are so great, 
 that all tears are dried np, and they can get no 
 ease by weeping ; and therefore for a little 
 ease they fall a sighing and groaning: and this 
 may be done, and yet the heart may be quiet 
 and silent before the Lord, Peter wept and 
 sobbed, and yet was silent. Sometimes the 
 sighs and groans of a saint, do in some sort tell 
 that vv hich his tongue can in no sort utter. But, 
 7. A holy, a prudent silence*, doth not 
 exclude nor shut out the use of any just or 
 lawful means, whereby persons may be deli- 
 vered out of their afflictions, God would not 
 have his people so in love with their afflictions, 
 as not to use such righteous means as may 
 deliver them out of their afflictions, Matth. x, 
 '2,3. " But uhen they persecute you in this 
 city, flee ye into another." Acts xii. when 
 Peter was in prison, the saints thronged toge- 
 ther to pray, (as the original hath it), ver. 12. 
 and they were so instant and earnest with 
 God in prayer; they did so beseech and be- 
 siege the Lord, they did so beg at heaven's 
 gate, ver. 5. that God could have no rest, 
 till, by many miracles of power and mercy, 
 he had returned I'eter as a bosom-favour to 
 them : Acts ix. 23, 24, 25. *' And after that 
 many days were fulfilled, the Jews took coun. 
 
 *2 Kinjcsv. 10— 14, Matth. iv. 6,7. and chap. xxii. 
 1,5. 8. l.dkc xiv. 16— 2i. Acts xxvii. '^4,25,31.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTIxNG ROD. 53 
 
 ^el to kill him ; But their lyiog in wait was 
 known of >aul ; and they watched the gates 
 dny and night to kdl him. Then the disciples 
 took him by night, and let him down by the 
 wall in a basket " The blood of the saints is 
 precious in God's eye, and it should not be 
 Tile in their own eyes. When providence 
 opens a door o( escape, there is no reason why 
 the saints should set themselves as marks and 
 butts for their enemies to shoot at, 2 Thess. 
 ill. 1, 2. The apostles desire the brethren 
 " to pray for them, that they may be deliver- 
 ed from unreasonable men ; for all men have 
 not faith." It is a mercy worth the seeking, 
 to be delivered out of the hands of absurd, 
 Tillainous, and troublesome men. 
 
 Afflictions are evil in themselves, and we 
 may desire and endeavour to be delivered from 
 them, Jam, V. 14, 15. Isa xxxviii. 18, 19,20, 
 21. Both inward and outward means are to 
 be used for our own preservation. Had not 
 Noah built an ark, he had been swept away 
 with the flood; though he had been with Nimf 
 rod arid his crew on the !ovver of Babel, which 
 was raised to the height of one thousand five 
 hundred forty-six paces, as lle^lm reports. 
 Though we may not trust in means, yet we 
 may and ought to use the means : in the use 
 of them, e)e that God that can only bless 
 them, and you do your work. As a pilot that 
 guides the ship, hath his hand upon the rudder, 
 and his ej e on the star, that directs him at the 
 same tinie; so, when your hnnd is upon the 
 means, let your eye be upon your God, and 
 e3
 
 54 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 deliverance will come. We may tempt God 
 as well by neglecting of means, as by trusting 
 in means. It is best to use them, and in the 
 use of them, to live above them. Augustine 
 tells of a man, that being fallen into a pit, 
 one passing by, falls a-questioning of him, 
 ■what he made there, and how he came in ? 
 Oh ! saith the poor man, ask me not how I 
 came in, but help me, and tell me how I may 
 come out. The application is easy. But, 
 
 8. Lastly, a holy, a prudent silence, doth 
 not exclude a just and sober complaining 
 against the authors, contrivers, abettors, or 
 instruments of our afflictions, 2 Tim. iv. 14. 
 *' Alexander the coppersmith did me much 
 evil ; the Lord reward him according to his 
 works." This Alexander is conceived, by 
 some, to be that Alexander that is mentioned, 
 Acts xix. 32. who stood so close to Paul at 
 Ephesus, that he run the hazard of losing his 
 life, by appearing on his side: yet if glorious 
 professors come to be furious persecutors. 
 Christians may complain, 2 Cor. xi. 24. *' Of 
 the Jews five times received I forty stripes, 
 save one." i hey inflict, saith Maimonides, no 
 more than forty stripes, though he be as strong 
 as Samson ; but if he be weak, they abate of 
 that number. '1 hey scourged Paul with the 
 greatest severity, in making him suffer so oft 
 the utmost extremity of the Jewish law, when 
 as they that were weuk had their punishment 
 mitigated, ver 25. Thruc zcas I beaten with 
 rods f that is, by the Romans, wliose custom 
 it was to beat the guilty with rods.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 55 
 
 If Pharaoh make Israel groan, Israel raay 
 make his complaint against Pharaoh, to the 
 Keeper of Israel, Exod. ii. If the proud and 
 blasphemous king of Assyria shall come with 
 his mighty army to destroy the people of the 
 Lord, Is. xxxvii 14 — 21. Hezekiah may spread 
 his letter of blasphemy before the Lord. 
 
 It was the saying of Socrates, that every 
 man in his life had need of a faithful friend, 
 and a bitter enemy; the one to advise hira, 
 and the other to make him look about him ; 
 and this Ifezekiali found by experience. 
 Though Joseph's bow abode in strength^ and 
 the arms of his hands were made strong by 
 the hands of the mighty God of Jacob ; yet 
 Joseph may say, that the archers, (or the ar- 
 row. masters, as the Hebrew hath it) have 
 sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and ha- 
 ted him. Gen. xlix. 23, 24. And so David 
 sadly complained of Doeg, Psal. cix. 1 — 21. 
 Yea, Christ hinfiself (who was the most per- 
 fect pattern for dumbness and silence under 
 the sorest triajs) complains against Judas, Pi- 
 late, and the rest of his persecutors, Psalm 
 Ixix. 20—30, &c. Yea, though God will 
 make his people's enemies to be the workmen 
 that shall ht them and square them for his 
 building, to be goldsmiths, to add pearls to 
 their crown, to be rods to beat off their dust, 
 scullions to scour off their rust, lire to purge 
 away their dross, and water to cleanse away 
 their 'filthiness, fleshliness, and earthliness ; 
 yet may they point at them, and pour out their 
 complaints to God against them, Psal. cxlii.
 
 66 THE MUTE CHKISTIAN 
 
 2 — uU. Tliis trutli I might make good by 
 above a hundred texts of scripture ; but it is 
 lime to come to the reasons of the point. 
 
 IV. IVhjj must Christians be mute and st^ 
 lent under the greatest aj^ictions^ the saddest 
 providences^ atid sharpest trials that they meet 
 with in this zoorld? I ans\ver, 
 
 Reas, 1. That they may the better hear aiisl 
 understand the voice of the rod. As the word 
 hath a voice, the S|)irit a voice, and con- 
 science a voice, so the rod hath a voire. Af- 
 flictions arc the rod of God's anger, the rod 
 of his displeasure, and his rod of revenge ; he 
 gives a commission to this rod, to awaken his 
 people, to reform his people, or else to re- 
 venge the quarrel of his covenant upon them, 
 if they will not hear the rod, and kiss the rod, 
 and sit mute and silent under the rod, IMieah 
 vi. 9. " The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, 
 and the man of wisdom shall see thy name : 
 hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." 
 God's rods are not mutes, they are all vocal, 
 they are speaking, as well as smiting ; every' 
 twig hath a voice. Ah, soul ! saith one twig, 
 thou sayest it smarts ; well, tell me, is it good 
 provoking of a jealous God ? Jer iv. 18. Ah, 
 soul! saith another twig, tijou sayest it is bit- 
 ter, it rcacheth to thy heart; but hath not 
 thine own doings procured these tliir.gr, ? 
 Kom. vi. 20,21. Ah, soul! st^ith anoiher 
 twig, where is (he |)ro(it, the pleasure, the 
 sweet that you have found in wandering from 
 God? Hos. ii. 7. Ali, soul! suith another 
 twig, was it not best with you, when you
 
 UNDER TIIK SMARTING ROD. Hi 
 
 Hvere high in your communion with God, and 
 when you were humble and close in your 
 walking with God ? Micah vi. 8. Ah, Chris- 
 tian ! saith another twig, wilt thou search thy 
 heart, and try thy ways, and turn to the Lord 
 thy God? Lam. iii. 40. Ah, soul! saith 
 another twig, wilt thou die to sin raore than 
 ever ? Rom. xiv. 6, 7, 8. and to the world more 
 than ever ? Gal. vi. 14. and to relations more 
 than ever, and to thj self more than ever i Ah, 
 soul ! saith another twig, wilt thou live more 
 to Christ than ever, an.d cieave closer to Chrisfc 
 than ever, and prize Christ more than ever, 
 and venture further for Christ than ever ? 
 Ah, soul ! saith another twig, wilt thou love 
 Christ with a more inflamed love, and hope in 
 Christ with a more raised hope, and depend 
 upon Christ with a greater confidence, and 
 wait upon Christ with more invincible pa- 
 tience, &c. Now if the soul be not mute 
 and silent under the rod, how is it possible 
 that it should ever hear the voice of the rod, 
 or that it should ever hearken to the voice of 
 every twig of the rod ? The rod hath a voice 
 that is in the hands of earthly fathers ; but 
 children hear it not, they understand it not, 
 till they are hushed and quiet, and brought to 
 kiss it, and sit silently under it ; no more shall 
 we hear or understand the voice of the rod 
 that is in our heavenly Father's hand, till wa 
 come to kiss it, and sit silently under it. But, 
 Reus. 2. Gracious souls should be mute 
 and silent under their greatest afflictions and 
 sharpest trials, that they may difference and
 
 58 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 distinguish themselves from the men of the 
 world, who usually fret and flins^, mutter or 
 murmur, curse and swagger, when they are 
 under the afilicting hand of God, Is. viii. 21. 
 22. " And they shall pass through it hardly- 
 bestead and hungry ; and it shall come to pass 
 that when they shall be hun<Try, they shall fret 
 themselves, and curse their king and their 
 God, and look upward. And they shall look, 
 unto the earth, and behold trouble and dark- 
 ness, dimness and anguish ; and they sjjall be 
 driven io darkness " Ah, how fretful and fro- 
 ward, how disturbed and distracted, how mad 
 and forlorn are these poor wretches under the 
 rebukes of God ! They look upward and 
 downward, this way and that way, on this 
 side and on that, and finding no help, no suc- 
 cour, no support, no deliverance, like bed- 
 lams, 5'ea, like incarnate devils, they fall up- 
 on cursing of God, and their king. Is. lix. 1 I, 
 *' We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like 
 doves: we look for judgment, but (here is 
 none; for salvation, but it is far from i»s.'* 
 They express their inward vexation and in- 
 dignation, by roaring like boars. Wh<n bears 
 are robbed of their whelps, or taken in a pit, 
 O how dreadfully will they rour, rage, and 
 tear, and tumble*! So uhcn wicked persons 
 are fallen into the pit of aflliction, O how- 
 will they roar, rage, tear, and cry out^ not of 
 
 * The hear, as Arislotlo observofh, licketh her 
 whelps info form, a:ul lovelh tlioin Ucyond ineasiire ; 
 and is most fierce, roaring, and raging, wJien she i» 
 robbed of them.
 
 UNDER THE SMAIITING ROD, 59 
 
 their sins, but of their punishments ; as Cain, 
 *' My punishment is greater than J am able to 
 bear, Is. li 20. Thy sons have fainted, they 
 lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull 
 in a net ; they are full of the fury of the Lord, 
 the rebuke of thy God." When the hunts- 
 man hath taken the wild bull in his toil, and 
 so entangled him that he is not able to wind 
 himself out ; Oh, how fierce and furious will 
 he be! how will he spend himself in strug- 
 gling and striving to get out ! Such wild bulls 
 are wicked men, when they arc taken in the 
 net of affliction. 
 
 Jt is said of Marcellus the Roman general, 
 tliat he could not be quiet neither conquered 
 nor conqueror. It is so vyith wicked men, 
 they cannot be quiet, neither full nor fasting, 
 neither sick nor well, neither in wealth nor 
 want, neither in bands nor at liberty, neither 
 in prosperity nor in adversity : Jer. li. 37, 38. 
 " And Babylon shall becouje heaps, a dwel- 
 ling-place for dragons, an astonishment and 
 an hissing, without an inhabitant. '1 hey shall 
 roar together like lions, they shall yell as lions' 
 whelps," Amos iii. 8. When the lion roars, 
 all the beasts of the field tremble ; when the 
 lion roars, many creitures that could out-run 
 him, are so amazed and astonished at the 
 terror of his roar, that they are not able to 
 stir from the place. Such roaring lions are 
 w icked men, when they are under the smart- 
 ing rod. Rev. xvi. 8 — 12. '-They gnaw their 
 tongues forj^ain, and they blaspheme the God 
 cf heaven, because of those sores, pains, and
 
 60 THE MUTE CIIRISTlAiV 
 
 plagues that arc poured upon tliem, and they 
 repented not of their deeds, to give him glo- 
 ry." And therefore graeious souls have cause 
 to be silent under their sorest trials, that they 
 may difference and distinijuish theinselTes 
 from wicked men, who are like (he troubled 
 sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast 
 up mire and dirt, Isa. lvii.^0. Ah ! what a 
 stir do wicked men make, when they are un- 
 der the afflicting; hand of God ! As the sea is 
 restless and unquiet, when there is no storm ; 
 it cannot stand still, but hath its flux and re- 
 flux ; so it is much more restless, when by 
 tempest upon tempest it is made to roar and 
 rage, to foam, and cast up mire and dirt. The 
 raging sea is a fit emblem of a wicked man, 
 that is under God's afflicting hand. 
 
 Reas. 3. A third reason why gracious souls 
 should be silent and mute under their sharp- 
 est trials, is, that they may be conformable 
 to Christ their head, who was dumb and silent 
 under liis sorest trials, Isa." liii. " He was 
 oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he open- 
 ed not his mouth ; he is brought as a lamb to 
 the slaughter ; and as a sheep before her 
 shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." 
 Christ was tongue-tied under all his sorrows 
 and sufi'erings, 1 Pet. ii. 21, '22, 23. ''Christ 
 also suffered for us, leaving us an exam[)lo, 
 (hat ye should follow his steps; Who did no 
 sin, neither was guiie found in his mouth: 
 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again ; 
 when he suffered, he threatened not, but com- 
 mitted himself to him that judgcth righteous-
 
 UNDER THE SMAIITING ROD. 61 
 
 ly.'* Christ upon the cross did not only read 
 us a lecture of paticnceand silence, bvit hehatls 
 also set us a copy or pattern of both, to be 
 transcribed and imitated by us, when we are 
 nnder the smarting rod. It will be our sin 
 and shame if we do not bear up with patience 
 and silence under all our sufferings, coi^sider- 
 ing what an admirable copy Christ hath set 
 before us. It is said of Antiochus, 1 Mac. vi. 
 34. that being to fight with Judas, captain of 
 the host of the Jews, he showed unto his ele- 
 phants the blood of the grapes and mulberries, 
 to provoke them the better to fight. So the 
 Holy Ghost hath set before us the injuries 
 and t:ontumelies, the sorrows and sufferings, 
 the pains and torments, the sweat and blood 
 of our dearest Lord, and his invincible pa- 
 tience, and admirable silence under all, to 
 provoke us and encourage us to imitate the 
 Captain of our salvation in patience and si- 
 lence under all her sufferings. 
 
 Hierom having read the life and death of 
 JHilarion, (one that lived graciously, and died 
 comfortably), folded up the book, saying. 
 Well, Hilarion shall be tho champion that J 
 ■will follow, liis good life shall be my example, 
 and his good death my precedent. Oh ! how 
 much more should wc all say, We have read 
 how Christ hath been afflicted, oppressed, 
 distressed, despised, persecuted, &c. and we 
 have read how dumb, how tongue. tied, how 
 patient, and how silent he hath been under all. 
 Oh ! he shall be the copy which we will write 
 after, the pattern which we will walk by, 
 
 F
 
 62 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 the champion which we will foUovr ! But 
 alas ! how rare is it to find a man that may be 
 applauded with that eulogy of Salvian, an ex- 
 cellent disciple of a singular master. The 
 Heathens had this notion amongst them, (as 
 Lactantius reports), that the way to honour 
 their gods, was to be like them ; and therefore 
 some would be wicked, counting it a dishonour 
 to their gods to be unlike to them. 1 am sure 
 the way to honour our Christ, is, in patience 
 and silence to be like to Christ, especially 
 when a smarting rod is upon our backs, and 
 bitfcr cup put into our hands. 
 
 Reas. 4- A fourth reason why the people 
 of God should be mute and silent under their 
 afflictions, is this, because it is ten thousand 
 times a greater judgment and affliction to be 
 given up to a fretful si)irit, a fro ward spirit, 
 a muttering or murmuring spirit under an af- 
 fliction, than it is to be affl cted. This is both 
 the devil's sin, and the devil's punishment. 
 God is still afflicting, crossing, and vexing 
 him, and he is still a fretting, repining, vexing 
 and rising up against God. No sin to the 
 devil's sin; no punishment to the devil's pun- 
 ishment. A man had better have all the 
 afflictions of all the afflicted throughout the 
 world, at once upon him, than to be given up 
 to a froward spirit, to a muttering, murmuring 
 heart under the least affliction. When thou 
 seest a soul fretting, vexing, and stamping 
 under the mighty hand of God, thou seest 
 one of Satan's first-born, one that resembles 
 him to the life. No child can be so much
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 03 
 
 like <he father, as this froward soul is like to 
 the father of lies ; though he hath been in 
 chains almo'^t six thousand jears, yet he hath 
 never lien stdl one day, nor one night, no not 
 one hour in ail this time ; but is still a fret- 
 ting, vexing, tossing, and tumbling in his 
 chains, like a princely bedlam ; he is a lion, 
 not a lamb ; a roaring lion, not a sleepy lion ; 
 not a lion standing sfill, but a lion going up 
 and down ; he is not satisfied with the prey he 
 hath got, but is restless in his designs to till 
 hell w ith souls. He never wants an apple for 
 an Eve, nor a grape for a Noah, nor a change 
 of raiment for a Gehazi, nor a wtdge of gold 
 for an Achan, nor a crown for an Ab^^alom, 
 nor a bag for a Judas, nor a world for a De- 
 mas. If you look into one company, there 
 you shall find Satan a-dishing out his meat to 
 every palate; if you look into another com- 
 pany, there you shall find him a- fitting a last 
 to every shoe ; if you look into a third com- 
 pany, there you shall find him a-suiting a gar- 
 ment to every back. He is under wrath, and 
 cannot but be restless. Here, with Jael, 
 he allures poor souls in with milk, and mur- 
 ders them with a nail ; there, with Joab, he 
 embraces with one hand, and stabs with ano- 
 ther ; here, with Judas, he kisses and betrays ; 
 and there, with the whore of Babylon, he pre- 
 sents a golden cup with poison in it ; he can- 
 not be quiet, though his bolts be always on ; 
 and the more unquiet any are under (he re- 
 bukes of God, themore such resembleSatan to 
 the life, whose whole life is filled up with vex-
 
 64 THE MLTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ing and fretting against the Lord. Let not any 
 think, saith Luther, that the devil is now dead, 
 110 nor yet asleep ; for as he that keepeth Is- 
 rael, so he that hateth Israel, neither slum- 
 bereth nor sleepeth. But, iu the next place, 
 Reas. 5. A fifth reason why gracious souls 
 should be mute and silent under the greatest 
 afflictions, and sharpest trials that do befal 
 them, is this, because a holy, a prudent silence 
 under aflilctions, under miseries, doth best ca- 
 pacitate and fit the afflicted for the receipt of 
 mercies. When the rolling bottle lies still, 
 ye may pour into it your sweetest, or your 
 strongest waters ; when the rolling, tumbling 
 soul lies still, then God can best pour into it 
 the sweet w aters of mercy, and the strong wa- 
 ters of divine consolation. You read of the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness, Hcb. xii. 1 1. 
 *' Now no chastening for the present scenieth 
 to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless af- 
 terwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of 
 righteousness unto them which arc exercised 
 thereby," James iii. 18. "And the fruit of 
 righteousness is sown in peace, of them that 
 make peace." The still and quiet soul is like 
 a ship that lies still and qtiiet in the harbour; 
 you may take in what goods, what commodities 
 you please, whilst the ship lies quiet and still : 
 so when the soul is quiet and still under the 
 hand of God, it is most fitted and advantaged 
 to take in much of God, of Christ, of heaven*, 
 of the promises, of ordinances, and of the love 
 
 * The anpels arc most quiet and still, and they take 
 in most of God, of Ciirist, of heavt-n.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. C/) 
 
 of God, the smiles of God, the communica- 
 tions of God, and the counsel of God; but 
 when souls are unquiet, they are like a ship 
 in a storm, they can take in nothing. 
 
 Luther, speaking of God, saith, God doth 
 not dwell in Babylon, but in Salem : Babylon 
 signifies confusion, and Salem signifies peace. 
 Now, Ciod dwells not in spirits that are un- 
 quiet, and in confusion ; but he dwells in 
 peaceable and quiet spirits. Unquiet spirits 
 can take in neither counsel nor comfort, grace 
 nor peace, &c. Psal. Ixxvii.2. M?/ soul refused 
 to he comjorted. The impatient patient will 
 lake down no cordials, he hath no eye to see, 
 nor hand to take, nor palate to relish, nor sto- 
 mach to digest any thing that makes for his 
 health and welfare ; when the man is sick and 
 froward, nothing will down, the sweetest mu- 
 sic can make no melody in his ears, Exod. vi. 
 6, 7, 8, 9. " Wherefore say unto the children 
 of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you 
 out from under the burthens of the Egyptians, 
 and I will rid you out of their bondage : and 
 I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, 
 and with great judgments, and I will take 
 you to me for a people, and I will be to you 
 a God ; and ye shall know that 1 am the Lord 
 your God, which bringeth you out from un- 
 der the burthens of the Egyptians. And I 
 will bring you into the land concerning the 
 which I did swear to give it to Abraham, io 
 Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it you for 
 an heritage : 1 am the Lord." The choicest 
 cordials and comforts that heaven or earth 
 f3
 
 €6 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 eould afford, are here held forth to them, but 
 Ihey have no hand to receive them. Here 
 Moses's lips drop honey-combs, but they can 
 taste no sweetness in them : here the best of 
 earth and the best of heaven is set before them, 
 but their souls are shut up, and notliing will 
 <3own : here is such ravishing music of para- 
 dise, as might abundantly delight their hearts, 
 and please their ears, but they cannot hear ; 
 here are soul enlivening, soul. supporting, soul- 
 strengthening, soul-comforling, soul-raising, 
 and soul-refreshing words, but they cannot 
 hearken to them, ver. 9. "And Moses spake 
 so unto the children of Israel, but they hear- 
 kened not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit, 
 and for cruel bondage." They were under 
 their anguish, feverish fits, and so could nei- 
 ther hear nor see, taste nor take in any thing 
 that might be a mercy or a comfort to them ; 
 they were sick of impatience, and discontent*. 
 And these humours being grown strong, no- 
 thing would take with them, nothing would 
 agree with them. When persons are under 
 strong pangs of passion, they have no ears 
 either for reason or religion. 
 
 Reas. 6. A sixth reason why gracious souls 
 should be silent under the smarting rod, is 
 this, viz. because it is fruitless, it is bootless, 
 to strive to contest, or contend with (»od. No 
 man hath ever got any thing by muttering or 
 murmuring under the hand of God, except 
 it hath been more frowns, blows, and wounds. 
 
 * No air agrees well witli weak, peevish, sickly bo- 
 dies.
 
 UNDtR THE SMARTING ROD. 67 
 
 Such as will not lie quiet and still, when mer- 
 cy hath tied them with silken cords, justice 
 will put them in iron chains : if 2;oldpn fetters 
 will not hold you, iron shall*. If Jonah 
 will vex, and fret, and fling, justice will fling 
 him overboard to cool him, and quell him ; 
 and keep him prisoner in the whale's belly, 
 i\\\ his stomach be brought down, and his spi- 
 rit be made quiet before the Lord, Jer. vii. 
 19. *' Do they provoke me to anger ? saith 
 the Lord : do they not provoke themselves to 
 the confusion of their own faces ?" By pro- 
 voking of me, they do but provoke themselves; 
 by angering of me, they do but anger them- 
 selves ; by vexing of me, they do but fret and 
 vex themselves, 1 Cor. x. 22. Do we provoke 
 the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he ? 
 
 Zanchy observes these two things from 
 these words. 
 
 (I.) That it is ill provoking God to wrath, 
 because he is stronger than we. 
 
 (2.) That though God be stronger than we, 
 yet there are those who provoke him to wrath ; 
 and certainly there are none that do more to 
 provoke him, than those who fume and fret 
 when his hand is upon them. Though the 
 cup be bitter, yet it is put into your hand by 
 your Father; though the cross be heavy, yet 
 lie that hath laid it on your shoulders will bear 
 the heaviest end of it himself, and why then 
 should you mutter ? Shall bears and lions take 
 blows and knocks from their keepers, and 
 
 * If bedlams will not lie quiet, they are put iiit.^ 
 dark rooms, and heavier chaiio are put upon them.
 
 68 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 vilt fhoii not take a few blows and knocks 
 from the Keeper of Israel ? Why should the 
 clay contend with the potter, or the creature 
 with his ('reator, or the servant with his lord, 
 or weakness with strength, or a poor nothing 
 creature with an omnipotent God ? Can stub» 
 ble stand before the fire ? can chaff abide the 
 whirlwind ? or can a worm ward off the blow 
 of the Almighty? A froward and impatient 
 spirit under the hand of God, will but add 
 chain to chain, cross to cross, yoke to yoke, 
 and burden to burden. The more men tum- 
 ble and toss in their feverish fits, the more they 
 strengthen their distemper, and the longer it 
 will be before the cure be effected. The ea- 
 siest and the surest way of cure, is to lie still 
 jind quiet. Where patience hath its perfect 
 work, there the cure will be certain and easy; 
 when a man hath his broken leg set, he lies 
 still and quiet, and so his cure is easily and 
 speedily wrought ; but when a horse's leg is 
 set, he frets and flings, he flounces and flies out, 
 unjointing it agnin and again, and so his cure 
 is the more difficult and tedious. Such Chris- 
 tians that under the hand of God arc like the 
 horse or mule, fretting and flinging, will but 
 add to their own sorrows and sufferings, and 
 put the day of their deliverance further off. 
 
 Beas 7. A seventh reason why Christians 
 should be mute and silent under (heir afflic- 
 tions, is, because heieby they shall cross and 
 frustrate Satan's great design and expectation. 
 In all the afflictions he brought upon Job, his 
 design was not so much to make Job a beg-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 69 
 
 gar, as it was to make him a blasphemer : it 
 was not so much to make Job outvvardly mi- 
 serable, as it was to make Job inwardly mi- 
 serable, by occasioning him to mutter and 
 murmur against the rigliteous hand of God, 
 that so he might haYC had some matter of ac- 
 cusation against him to tiie Lord. He is the 
 unwearied accuser of the brethren, Rev. xii. 
 10. " The accuser of the brethren is cast 
 down, which accuseth them before our God 
 day and night." Satan, the great make-bate 
 between God and his children, hath a mint 
 constantly going in hell, where, as an untired 
 mint-master, he is still a coining and hammer- 
 ing out accusations against the saints. First, 
 he tempts and allures souls to sin, and then 
 accuses them of those very sins he hath tempt- 
 ed them to, that so he may disgrace them be- 
 fore God, and bring them, if it were possible, 
 out of favour with God ; and though he knows 
 beforehand that God and his people are, by 
 the bond of the covenant and by the blood of 
 the Redeemer, so closely united that they can 
 never be severed, yet such is his rage and 
 wrath, envy and malice, that which he knows 
 he shall never eifcct. Could he but have 
 made Job froward or fretful under the rod, 
 he would have quickly carried the tidings to 
 heaven, and have been so bold to have asked 
 God, whether this was a carriage becoming 
 such a person of whom himself had given so 
 glorious a character? Satan knows that there 
 is more evil in the least sin, than there is in 
 all the afilictions that can be inflicted upon a
 
 70 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 person ; and if he could have but made a 
 breach upon Job's patience, ah, how Jie would 
 have insulted over God himself! Could he 
 but have made Job a mutineer, he would 
 quickly have pleaded for martial law to have 
 been executed upon him*; but Job, by re- 
 maininii mute and silent under all his trials, 
 pur Satan to a blush, and spoils all his pro- 
 jects at once. The best way to outwit the 
 devil is to be silent under the hand of God ; 
 he that mutters is foiled by him ; but he that 
 is mute overcomes him ; an^d to conquer a de- 
 Til, is more than to conquer a world. 
 
 Heas. S. The eighth and laat reason why 
 Christians should be silent and mute under 
 their sorest trials, is this, that they ma}- be 
 conformable to those noble patterns that are 
 set before them b) other saints, who have been 
 patient and silent under the smarting rod ; as 
 Aaron. Exod. X. 3. Eli. 1 Sam. iii. 18. Da- 
 vid, It Sam. xvi. 7—1 3. Job, chap. i. 2 1 , 22. 
 Eiiakim, Shebna, and Joab, Isa. xxxvi. 11, 12. 
 So those saints in Acts xxi. 12 — 15. and that 
 cl(»U(l of witnesses, pointed at in Heb. xi. 1. 
 Gracious examples are more awakening, more 
 convincing, more |)rovoking, and more encou- 
 raging than precepts, because in them we see 
 that the exercise of grace and godliness is pos- 
 sible, though it be difficult. When we see 
 ( hristians (that are subject to like infirmities 
 with ourselves), mute and silent under the af- 
 
 * That devil that accuseth God to itian, Gen. iii. and 
 Christ to be an impostor, Mill make no bones to ac- 
 cuse the Saints, nhen they mibcarry under the rod.
 
 UNDER TUE SMARTING ROD, 71 
 
 ilictlng hand of God, we see that it is possible 
 that we may attain to the same noble tt-mper 
 of being tongue-tied under a smarting rod. 
 Certainly it is our greatest honour and glory 
 in this world, to be eyeing and imitating the 
 highest and worthiest examples. What Plu- 
 tarch said of Demosthenes, that he v^as excel- 
 lent at praisingthe worthy acts of his ancestors, 
 but not so at imitati[ig them, may be said of 
 many in these days. Oh I they are very for- 
 ward and excellent at praising the patience of 
 Job, but not at imitating it; at praising the 
 silence of Aaron, but not at imitating it; at 
 praising David'sdumbness, but not at imitating 
 it; at praising Eli's muteness, but not at imi- 
 tating it. It was the height of Csesar's glory 
 to walk in the steps of Alexander, and of Sely- 
 mus, a Turkish emperor, to walk in Caesar's 
 steps,andof rhemistoclesto walk in Miltiades' 
 steps. Oh! how much more should we ac- 
 count it our highest glory to imitate the wor- 
 thy examples of those worthies, of whom this 
 world is not worthy I It speaks out much of 
 God within, when men are striving to write 
 after the fairest copies. And thus much for 
 the reasons of the point. 1 come now to thp 
 application. 
 
 i ou see, beloved, by what has been said, 
 That it is the great duljj and cuncernmtnt of 
 Christians to be mute and silent under the great- 
 est ojgiictions^ the saddest providences^ ami the 
 shajpesi trials that ihej/ juaij meet with in this 
 uorld. If tliat be so, then this truth looks
 
 72 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 sourlj and ^vis(ly upon several sorts of per- 
 sons. As, 
 
 1. This looks sourly and sadly upon murmur- 
 ers, upon such as do nothing but mutter and 
 murmur under the afilictinoj hand of God. This 
 was Israel's sin of old, Exod. xvi. 7, 8, 9. 
 JVum. xii. 14, 27, 29. chap. xvii. 5, ]0. 
 Exod. XV. 24. Deut. i. 27. Psal. evi. 25. 
 and this is England's sin at this day. Ah, what 
 murmuring is there against God I what mur- 
 muring againstinstruments, and what murmur- 
 ing against providences, is to be found amongst 
 us! Some murmur at what they have lost, 
 others murmur at what they fear they shall 
 lose; some murmur that they are no higher, 
 others murmur because they are so low ; some 
 murmur because such a party rules, and others 
 mutter because they themselves are not in the 
 saddle; some murmur because their mercies^ 
 are not so many as others, and others murmur 
 because their mercies are not so as others are ; 
 some murmur because they are alHicted, and 
 others murmur because such and such are not 
 afflicted as well as they. Ah, England ! 
 England ! hadst thou no more sins upon thee, 
 Ihy murmuring were enough to undo thee, did 
 not God exercise much pity and compassion 
 towards thee. But more of this hereafter. And 
 therefore let this touch for the present suffice. 
 
 2. This truth looks sourly upon those that 
 fret, chafe, and vex, when they are under the 
 afflicting hand of God. Many when they feel 
 the rod to smart, ah, how do they fret and 
 fume! Isa. viii. 21. '' When they are hardly
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 73 
 
 bestead and hungry, they fret themselves, 
 and curse their king and their God," Prov. 
 xix, 3. " The foolishness of man pervertcth 
 his way ; and his heart fretteth against the 
 Lord." The heart may be frelful and for- 
 ward, when the tongue doth not blaspheme. 
 Folly brings man into misery, and misery 
 makes man to fret, 2 Kings Ti. 33. Ps. xxxvii. 
 1, 7, 8. Man in misery is more apt to fret 
 and chafe against the Lord, than to fret and 
 chafe against his sin that hath brought him 
 into sufferings. A fretful soul dares attack 
 God himself. When Pharaoh is troubled with 
 the frets, he dare fly in the very face of God 
 himself: IVhois the Lord^ that I should obey 
 him? And when Jonah is in a fretting humour, 
 he dares tell God to his fdce^^that he doth well to 
 be angry ^ Jonah ir. 8. Jonah had done well, 
 if he had been angry with his sin ; but he did 
 very ill to be angry with his God. God will 
 TBx every vein in that man's heart, before he 
 hath done with him, who fumes and frets, be- 
 cause he cannot snap asunder the cords with 
 which he is bound, Ezek. xvi. 43. Sometimes 
 good men are sick of the frets ; but when they 
 are, it costs them dear, as Job and Jonah 
 found by experience. No man hath ever got 
 any thing by his fretting and flinging, except 
 it hath been harder blows, or heavier chains : 
 therefore fret not when God strikes, 
 
 3. This truth looks sourly upon those who 
 charge God foolishly in the day of their ad- 
 Tcrsity, Laii\. iii. 39. Why doth a living man 
 complain f He that hath deserved a hanging.
 
 74 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN' 
 
 hath no reason to charge the judge witli cru- 
 elty, if he escape with a whipping ; and we 
 that have deserved a damning, have no reason 
 to charge God for being too severe, if we 
 escape with a fatherly lashing*. Ratlier than 
 a man will take the blame and quietly bear 
 the shame of his own folly, he will put it oft' 
 upon God himself. Gen. iii. 12. It is a very 
 evil thing, when we shall go to accuse God, 
 that we may excuse ourselves ; and unblame 
 ourselves, that we may blame our God, and 
 Jay the fault any where rather than upon our 
 own hearts and ways. Job was a man of a 
 more noble spirit, Job i. 22. In all this Job 
 nnned nut^ nor charged Godjoolhhly. When 
 God charges many men home, then they pre- 
 sently charge God foolishly, they put him to 
 bear the brunt and blame of all ; but this will 
 be bitterness in the end : when thou art un- 
 der affliction thou mayest humbly tell God, 
 that thou feelest his hand heavy; but thou 
 must not blame him because his hand is heavy. 
 IVo man hath ever been able to make good a 
 charge against God ; and wilt thou be able? 
 Surely not. By charging God foolishly in 
 the day of thy calamity, thou dost but pro- 
 voke the Lord to charge thee through and 
 through, more fiercely and furiously, with his 
 most deadly darts of renewed misery. It is 
 thy greatest wisdom to blame thy sins, and 
 lay thy hand upon thy mouth : for why should 
 
 •» Some of the Heathens, as Homer observes, would 
 lay the evils that they did incur by their own folly 
 Mpon their gods ; so do many upon the true God. >
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 75 
 
 folly charge innocence ? That man is far 
 enough off from being mute and silent under 
 the hand of God, who dares charge God him- 
 self for laying his hand upon him. But, 
 
 4. This truth looks sourly and sadly upon 
 such as will not be silent nor satisfied under 
 the afflicting hand of God, except the Lord 
 will give them the particular reasons vvhy he 
 lays his hand upon them. Good men some- 
 times dash their feet against this stumbling 
 stone, Jer. xv. 18. '* Why is my pain perpe- 
 tual, and my wound incurable ?"&c. Though 
 God hath always reason for what he doth, 
 yet he is not bound to shew us the reasons of 
 his doings. Jeremiah's passion was up, his 
 blood was hot, and now nothing will silence 
 or satisfy him, but the reasons why his pain 
 was perpetual, and his wound incurable. S«> 
 Job, chap. vii. 20. " Why hast thou set me 
 as a mark against thee, so that 1 am a burthen 
 to myself." It is an e?ll and a dans:erous thing 
 to oavd at, or to question, his proceedings, 
 Rom. ix. 20. Dan. iv. 34, 35. who is the 
 chief Lord of all, and who may do with his 
 own what he pleaseth. He is unaccountable, 
 and uncontrollable; and therefore who shall 
 say. What dost thou ? As no man may ques- 
 tion his right to afflict him, nor his righteous- 
 ness in afflicting of him ; so no man may 
 question the reasons vUiy he afflicts him.. As 
 no man can compel him to give a reason of 
 his doings, so no man may dare to ask him 
 the particular reasons of his doings. Kings 
 think themsehes not bound to give their sub-
 
 76 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 jects a reason for their doings, Eccl. viii. 4. 
 And shall we bind God to give us a reason of 
 liis doings, who is King of kings and I^ord 
 of lords, and whose will is the true reason and 
 only rule ot'justice ? The general grounds and 
 reasons that God hath laid down in his word, 
 why he afflicts his people, as, viz for their 
 profit, Heb xii. 10. for the purging away of 
 their sins. Is. i. 25. for the reforming of their 
 lives, Psal. cxix. 07, 71. and for the saving of 
 tiieir souls, 1 Cor. xi. 3^. should work theui 
 to be silent, and satisfied under all their af- 
 flictions; though God should never satisfy 
 their curiosity in giving them an account of 
 some more hidden causes, which may lie se- 
 cret in the abyss of his eternal knowledge, 
 and infallible will. Curiosity is the spiritual 
 drunkenness of the soul; and look, as the 
 drunkard will never be satisfied, be the cup 
 never so deep, unless he sees the bottom of it ; 
 so some curious Christians, whose souls are 
 overspread with the leprosy of curiosity, will 
 never be satisfied till they come to see the 
 bottom, and the most secret reasons of all 
 God's dealings towards them ; but they are 
 fools in /o/«o, who affect io know more than 
 God would have them. Did not Adam's cu- 
 riosity render him and his posterity fools in 
 JoUo? and what pleasure can we take to see 
 ourselves every day fools in print ? As a man, 
 by gazing and prying inio the body of the 
 sun, may grow dark and dim, and see less 
 than otherwise he might; so many, by a cu- 
 rious prying into the secret reasons of God's
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 77 
 
 dealings with them, come to sjrow so dark and 
 dim, that they cannot see those plain reasons 
 that God hath laid down in his word, why he 
 afflicts and tries the children of men. 
 
 1 have read of one Sir William Champ- 
 ney, (in the reign of king Henry 111.) once 
 living in Tower-street, London ; who was 
 the first man that ever built a turret on the 
 top of his house, that he might the better 
 overlook all his neighbours ; but so it fell out, 
 that not long after he was struck blind: so 
 that he who could not be satisfied to see as 
 others did see, but would needs sec more than 
 others, saw just nothing at aU, through the just 
 judgment of God upon him. And so it is a 
 just and righteous thing with God to strike 
 such with spiritual blindness, who vvill not be 
 satisfied with seeing the reasons laid down 
 ill the word, why he afflicts them, but tliey 
 must be curiously prying and searching into 
 the hidden and more secret reasons of his se- 
 •verity towards them. Ah ! Christians, it is 
 your wisdom and duty to sit silent and mute 
 under the afflicting hand of God, upon the 
 account of revealed reasons, without making 
 any curious enquiry into those more secret 
 reasons that are locked up in the golden cabi- 
 net of God's own breast, Dcut. xxix. 29. 
 
 5. This truth looks sourly and sadly upon 
 those, who, instead of being silent and mute 
 under their afflictions, use all sinful shifts and 
 ways to shift themselves out of their troubles : 
 who care not though they bieak with God, 
 and break witn men, and break with thsir own 
 G 3
 
 78 THE MUTE CHRISTIA^f 
 
 consciences, so they may but break off the 
 chains that are upon them ; who care not by 
 what means the prison poor is opened, so they 
 may but escape; nor by what hands their 
 bolts are knocked oft', so they may be at liber- 
 ty. Job xxxvi. 21. ''Take heed, regard not 
 iniquity ; for this hast thou chosen rather thaa 
 affliction.'* He makes but an ill choice, who 
 chooses sin rather than suffering ; and yet 
 such an ill choice good men have sometimes 
 made when troubles have compassed them 
 round about. '1 hough no lion roars like that 
 in a man's own bosom, conscience ; yet some, 
 to deliver themselves from troubles without, 
 have set that lion roaring within ; some, to de» 
 liver themselves from outward tortures, have 
 put themselves under inward torments. He 
 purchases his freedom from affliction at too 
 dear a rate, who buys it with the loss of a 
 good name, or a good conscience. 
 
 Now, because there is even in good men 
 sometimes too great an aptness and proneness 
 to sin, and shift themselves out of afflictions, 
 when they should rather be mute and silent 
 under them ; give me leave to lay down these 
 six considerations to prevent it. 
 
 (1.) Consider, that there is infinitely more 
 evil in the least sin, Jam. iii. 5 — 11. than 
 there is in the greatest miseries and afflictions 
 that can possibly come upon you ; yea there 
 is more evil in the least sin, than there is in all 
 the troubles that ever came upon the world, 
 Prov. viii. 36. 1 John iii. 4. chap. i. 7. Rev. 
 xxi. 8. yea, than there is in all the miseries
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 79 
 
 and torments of hell. The least sin is an of- 
 fence to the great God, it is a wrong to the 
 immortal soul*, it is a breach of a righteous 
 law ; it cannot be washed away, but by the 
 blood of Jesus ; it can shut the soul out of 
 hearen, and shut the soul up a close prisoner 
 in hell for ever and ever. The least sin is ra- 
 ther to be avoided and prevented, than the 
 greatest sufferings. If this cockatrice be not 
 crushed in the egg, it will soon become a ser- 
 pent: the very thought of sin, if but thought 
 on, will break forth into action, action into 
 custom, custom into habit, and then both body 
 and soul are lost irrecoverably, to all eternity. 
 The least sin is very dangerous. Caesar was 
 stabbed with bodkins. Herod was eaten up 
 of lice. Pope Adrian was choked with a gnat. 
 A mouse is but little, yet killeth an elephant, 
 if he gets up into his trunk. A scorpion is 
 little, yet is able to sting a lion to death. 
 Though the leopard be great, yet he is poison- 
 ed with a head of garlick. The least spark 
 may consume the greatest house ; and the 
 least leak sink the greatest ship. A whole ar- 
 my hath been imposthumated with the prick 
 of a little finger. A little postern opened, may 
 betray the greatest city. A dram of poison 
 diffuseth itself to all parts, till it strangle the 
 vital spirits, and turn out the soul from the 
 body. If the serpent can but wriggle in his 
 
 * If you consider sin strictly, there cannot be any 
 little sin, no more than there can be a little God, a 
 little hell, or a little damnation; yet, comparatively, 
 some sins may be said to be little.
 
 80 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 tail by an evil thought, he will soon make a 
 siirprisal of the soul ; as you see in that great 
 instance of Adara and Eve. The trees of the 
 forest (saith one in a parable) held a solemn 
 parliament, wherein they consulted of the in- 
 numerable wrongs which the axe had done 
 them ; therefore made an act, that no tree 
 should hereafter lend »he axe an helve, on pain 
 of being cut down. 'J'he axe travels up and 
 down the forest, hegs wood of the cedar, oak, 
 ash, elm, even of the poplar ; not one would 
 lend him a chip. At last he desired so much 
 as would serve him to cut down the briers 
 and bushes, alleging, that such shrubs as they 
 did but suck away the juice of the ground, 
 and hinder the growth, and obscure the glory 
 of the fair and goodly trees. Hereupon they 
 were ail content to afford him so much ; he 
 pretends a thorough reformation, but behold 
 a sad deformation ; for when he had got his 
 helve, down went both cedar, oak, ash, elm, 
 and all that stood in his way. Such are the 
 subtile reaches of sin, that it will promise to 
 remove the briers and bushes of afflictions 
 and troubles, that hinder the soul of that juice, 
 sweetness, comfort, delight, and content that 
 otherwise it might enjoy. Oh do but now 
 yield a little to it, and, instead of removing 
 your troubles, it will cut down your peace, 
 your hopes, your comforts, yea, it will cut 
 down your precious souls. What is the 
 breathing of a vein, to the being let blood ia 
 the throat ? Or a scratch in the hand, to a stab 
 at the heart ? No more are the greatest afflic-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTIXG ROD. 81 
 
 tions to the least sins ; and therefore, Chris- 
 tians, never use sinful shifts to shift yourselves 
 out of troubles, but rather be mute and si- 
 lent under them, till the Lord shall work out 
 your deliverance from them. But, 
 
 (2) Consider, it is an impossible thing for 
 any to sin themselves out of their troubles. 
 Abraham, Job, and Jonah, attempted it, but 
 could not effect it. The devils have experi- 
 enced this near six thousand years ; thej had 
 not been now in chains, could they but have 
 sinned themselves out of their chains ; could 
 the damned sin themselves out of everlasting 
 burnings, Isa. xxxiii. 14. there would have 
 been none now a-roaring in that devouring, 
 unquenchable fire ; hell would have no inha- 
 bitants, could they but sin themselves out of it. 
 Ah, Christians ! devils and damned spirits shall 
 as soon sin themselves out of hell, as you shall 
 be able to sin yourselves out of your afflic- 
 tions. Christians, you shall as soon stop the 
 sun from running her course, contract the sea 
 in a nut-shell, compass the earth with a span, 
 and raise the dead at your pleasure, as ever 
 you shall be able to sin yourselves out of your 
 sutTcrings ; and therefore it is better to be si- 
 lent and quiet under them, than to attempt 
 that which is impossible to accomplish. This 
 second consideration will receive further con- 
 firmation by the next particular. 
 
 (3.) As it is an impossible thing, so it is a 
 very prejudicial, a vary dangerous thing, to 
 attempt to sin yourselves out of your trou- 
 bles j for by attempting to sin yourselves out
 
 82 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 of one trouble, you will sin yourselves into 
 many troubles, as Jonah and Jacob did ; and 
 by labouring to sin yourselves out of less 
 troubles, you will sin yourselves into greater 
 troubles, as Saul did ; and by endeavouring 
 to sin yourselves from under outward trou- 
 bles, you will sin yourselves under inward 
 troubles and distresses, which are the sorest 
 and sadd* St of all troubles. Thus did Spira, 
 Jerome of Prague, Bilney, and others. Some 
 there have been, who, by labouring to sin 
 themselves out of their present sufferings, 
 have sinned themselves under such horrors 
 and terrors of conscience, that they could nei- 
 ther eat, nor drink, nor sleep, but have been 
 ready to lay violent hands upon themselves. 
 
 And Cyprian, in his sermon de tapsis^ speaks 
 of divers, who forsaking the faith to avoid suf- 
 ferings, were given over to be possessed of evil 
 spirits, and died fearfully. Oh, man ! thou 
 dost not know what deadly sin, what deadly 
 temptation, whatdeadly judgment, what dead- 
 ly stroke thou mayst fall under, who attempt- 
 est to sin thyself out of troubles. What is it 
 to take Venice, and to be hanged at the gates 
 thereof? It is better to be silent and mute 
 under thy afflictions, than, by using sinful 
 shifts, to sin thyself under greater afflictions. 
 
 (4 ) Consider, it is a very ignoble and un- 
 worthy thing, to go to sin yourselves out of 
 your troubles and straits ; it argues a poor, a 
 low, a weak, a dastardly, and an efleminate 
 spirit, to use base shifts, to shuffle yourselves 
 out of your troubles. Men of noble, coura-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 83 
 
 geous, and magnanimous spirits will disdain 
 and scorn it; as you may see in the three 
 children, Dan. iii. 8 — 30. Daniel, and those 
 worthies, in chap. 11th of the Hebrews, of 
 ■whom this world was not worthy. Jerome 
 writes of a brave woman, who, being upon 
 the rack, bade her persecutors do their worst ; 
 for she was resolved to die, rather than lie. 
 And the Prince of Conde being taken prison- 
 er by Charles IX. king of France, and put to 
 his choice, whether he would go to mass, or 
 be put to death, or suffer perpetual iraprison- 
 ment; his noble answer was, That by God's 
 help he would never chuse the first, and for 
 either of the latter, he left it to the king's 
 pleasure, and God's providence. 
 
 A soul truly noble will sooner part with 
 all, than the peace of a good conscience. 
 Thus blessed Hooper desired to be rather 
 discharged of his bishopric, than yield to cer- 
 tain ceremonies. 
 
 I have read of Marcus Arethusus, an emi- 
 nent servant of the Lord in gospel-work, who, 
 in the time of Constantine had been the cause 
 of overthrowing an idol-temple; but Julian 
 coming to be emperor, commanded the people 
 of that place to build it up again. All were 
 ready so to do, only he refused it ; whereup- 
 on his own people, to whom he had preached, 
 fell upon him, stript off all his clothes, then 
 abused his naked body, and gave it up to chil- 
 dren and school-boys to be lanced with their 
 pen-knives ; but when all this would not do, 
 they caused him to be set in the sun, his naked
 
 84 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 body anointed all over with honey, that so 
 he might be bitten and stung to death by flies 
 and wasps ; and all this cruelty they exerci- 
 sed on him, because he would not do any thing 
 towards the rebuilding of that idol-temple; 
 nay, they came so far, that if he would give, 
 but one halfpenny towards the charge, they 
 would release him ; but he refused it with a 
 noble christian disdain, though the advancing 
 of one halfpenny might have saved his life. 
 And, in so doing, he did but live up to that 
 noble principle that most commend, but few 
 practise, viz. That Christians must chuse ra- 
 ther to suffer the worst of torments, than to 
 commit the least of sins, whereby God should 
 be dishonoured, his name blasphemed, reli- 
 gion reproached, profession scorned, weak 
 saints discouraged, and men's consciences 
 wounded, and their souls endangered. Now, 
 tell me, Christians, is it not better to be silent 
 and mute under your sorest trials and trou- 
 bles, than to labour to sin and shift yourselves 
 out of them, and so proclaim to all the world, 
 that you are persons of very low, poor, and 
 ignoble spirits ? But, 
 
 (5.) Consider, sinful shifts and means God 
 hath always cursed and blasted. Achan's 
 golden wedge was but a wedge to cleave him, 
 and his garment a shroud to shroud him. A- 
 hab purchases a vineyard with the blood of 
 the owner ; but presently it was watered with 
 his own blood, according to the word of the 
 Lord. Gehazi must needs have a talent of 
 silver, and two changes of raiment^ and that
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. S5 
 
 i?kh a lie, T say, with a lie. Well, he hath 
 them, and he hath with them a leprosy that 
 cleaved to him and his seed for ever, 2 Kings 
 T. — 22 — uU. With those Tery hands that 
 Judas took money to betray his Master, with 
 those very hands he fitted a halter to hang 
 himself. T|ie rich and wretched glutton fared 
 delicately, and went bravely every day ; but 
 the next news you hear of him, is of his be- 
 ing in hell, crying out for a drop,, who, when 
 he was on earth, would not give a crumb. 
 The coal that the eagle carried from the altar 
 to her nest, set all on fire. 
 
 Crassus did not long enjoy the fruit of hi& 
 covetousness ; for the Parthians taking him^ 
 poured melted gold down his throat. 
 
 Dionysius did not long enjoy the fruit of 
 his sacrilege and tyranny ; for he was glad to 
 change his sceptre into a ferula, and turn 
 schoolmaster for his maintenance. Ah, Chris- 
 tians, Christians! is it not far better to sit 
 quiet and silent under your afilictions, than to 
 use such sinful shifts and means which God 
 will certainly blast and curse ? But, 
 
 (6.) Lastly, consider this, that your very 
 attempting to sin and shift yourselves out of 
 troubles and afflictions will cost you dear*; 
 it will cost you many prayers, many tears, 
 many sighs, many groans, many gripes, many 
 terrors, and many horrors. Peter, by attempt- 
 ing to sin himself out of trouble, sins himself 
 
 * A man may buy any thing too dear, but Christj 
 grace, his own soul, and the gospel.
 
 ^6 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 into a sea of sorrows, Matth. xxyi. ult. lie 
 rcent forth and zcept bitterly. ' 
 
 Clement observes, that every night when 
 lie heard the cock crow, he would fall upon 
 his knees, and weep bitterly ; others say, that 
 his face was furrowed with continual tears. 
 Were Abraham, David, Jacob, and Jonah, 
 now alive, they would tell you, that they 
 have found this to be a truth in their own ex- 
 perience. Gh, Christians ! it is far better io 
 be quiet and silent nnder your sufferings, than 
 to pay so dear for attempting to sin and shift 
 yourselves out of your sufferings. A man will 
 not buy gold too dear, and why then should he 
 buy himself out of troubles at too dear a rate? 
 
 But now I shall come to that use that I in- 
 tend to stand most upon, and that is an use 
 of exhortation. Seeing it is the great duty 
 and concernment of Christians to be mute 
 and silent under the greatest afflictions, the 
 saddest providences, and the sharpest trials 
 that they meet with in this world ; Oh ! that 
 I could prevail with you. Christians, to mind 
 this great duty, and to live up, and to live 
 out this necessary truth : which that 1 may, 
 give me leave to propound some considera- 
 tions to rn^nge your souls to be mute and si- 
 lent under your greatest troubles, and your 
 saddest trials. To that purpose, 
 
 1. Consider the greatness, sovereignty, ma- 
 jesty, and dignity of God, and let that move 
 thee to silence, Paal. xlvi. 8, 9, 10. " Come, 
 behold the works of the Lord, what desolations 
 he hatli made in the earth. He makcth wars
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 87 
 
 toceasc unto the ends of the earth : he break- 
 eth the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder, 
 he burneth the chariot in the tire : be still and 
 know that I am God. 1 will he exalted among 
 the Heathen, 1 will be exalted in the earth." 
 Who can cast his eye upon the greatness of 
 God, the majesty of God, and not sit still be~ 
 fore him ? Zeph. i. 7. Hold thy peace at ihs 
 presence of the Lord God. O chat not, mur- 
 mur not, fret not, but stand mute before him ! 
 Shall the child be hushed before his father, the 
 servant before his master, the subject before 
 his prince, and the guilty person before the 
 judge, when he majestically rises oft'his judg- 
 meut.seat, and composes his countenance into 
 an aspect of terror and severity, that his sen- 
 tence may fall upon the offender with the grea- 
 ter dread ? And shall not a Christian be quiet 
 before that God, that can bathe his sword iu 
 heaven, and burn the chariots on earth ? 
 Nay, shall the sheep be hushed before the 
 wolf, birds before the hawk, and all the beasts 
 of the field before the lion ; and shall not we 
 be hushed and quiet before him who is the 
 Lion of the tribe of Judah ? Rev. v, 3. God 
 is mighty in power, and mighty in counsel, 
 and mighty in working, and mighty in punish- 
 ing ; and therefore be silent before him. It 
 appears that God is a mighty God, by the 
 epithet that is added into El, which is Gibbor^ 
 importing, that he is a God of prevailing 
 might; in Daniel he is called El EUm, the 
 mighty of mighties. Moses magnifying of his 
 might saith, IVho is like unto thee among the
 
 88 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 gods^ Now certainly this epithet should be a 
 mighty motive to work souls to that which 
 llabakkuk persuades to, chap. ii. 20. The 
 JLord is in his holy temple., lei all the earth 
 keep silence before him. Upon this verj con- 
 sideration, Moses commands Israel to hold 
 their peace. 
 
 It is reported of Augustus the emperor, and 
 likewise of Tamerlane, (hat warlike Scythian, 
 that in their eyes sat such a rare majesty, that 
 many in talking with them, and often behold- 
 ing of them, have become dumb. O, my 
 brethren ! shall not the brightness and splen- 
 dour of the majesty of the great God, whose 
 sparkling glory and majesty dazzles the eyes 
 of angels, and makes those princes of glory 
 stand mute before him, move you much more 
 to silence, to hold your peace, and lay your 
 hands upon your mouths? Surely yes. But, 
 
 2. Consider that all your atHictions, trou- 
 bles, and trials, shall work for your good*, 
 Rom. \ii. 28. " And we know that all things 
 shall work together for good to them that love 
 God." Why then should you fret, fling, and 
 fume? seeing God designs your good in all. 
 The bee sucks sweet honey out of the bitter- 
 est herbs : so God will hy atHictions teach his 
 children to suck svteet knowledge, sweet obe- 
 dience, and sweet experience, &c. out of all 
 the bitter afllictions and trials he exercises 
 them with ; that scouring and rubbing which 
 
 * Afflictions are blessings. Doubtless Manassrh 
 would not exchange the ^ood he j!;ot bv his iron chains, 
 for all the gold chaius tliat be in the world.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING HOD. 8& 
 
 frets others, shall make them slsine the bright- 
 er ; and that weight which crushes and keeps 
 others under, shall but make them, like the 
 palm-tree, grow better and higher ; and that 
 hammer which knocks others all in pieces, 
 shall but knock them the nearer to Christ 
 the corner stone. Stars shine brightest in the 
 darkest night; torches give the best light, 
 when beaten ; grapes yield most wine, when 
 most pressed; spices smell sweetest, when 
 pounded ; vines are the better for bleeding ; 
 gold looks the brighter for scouring ; juniper 
 soiells sweetest in the fire ; camomile, the 
 more you tread it, the more you spread it ; 
 the salamander lives best in the fire ; the Jevs 
 were best, when most afflicted ; the Atheni- 
 ans would never mend, till they were in 
 mourning. The Christ's-cross(saith Luther) 
 is no letter in the book, and yet (saith he) it 
 hath taught me more than all the letters in the 
 book. Afflictions are the saint's best bene- 
 factors to heavenly affections; where afflic- 
 tions hang heaviest, corruptions hang loosest. 
 And grace that is hid in nature, as sweet wa- 
 ter in rose-leaves, is then most fragrant, when 
 the fire of affliction is put under to distil it 
 out. Grace shines the brighter for scouring, 
 and is most glorious when it is most clouded. 
 Pliny, in his natural history, writeth of 
 certain trees growing in the Red Sea, which, 
 being beat upon by the waves, stand like a 
 rock, immoveable, and that, they are bettered 
 by the roughness of the waters. In the sea, 
 of afflictions God will make his people stand 
 n 3
 
 so THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 like a rock ; they shall be imnioveablc, and 
 invincible ; and the more the waves of afilicf 
 tionsbeat upon them, the better they shall be, 
 the more they shall thrive in grace and god- 
 liness. Now, how should this engage Chris- 
 tians to be mute and silent under all their^ 
 troubles and trials in this world, considering 
 that they shall all work for their good ! God 
 chastises our carcases, to heal our consciences; 
 he afflicts our bodies, to save our souls ; he 
 gives us gall and wormwood hero, that the 
 pleasures that be at his right hand may be the 
 more sweet hereafter ; here he lays us upon a 
 bed of thorns, that we may look and long more 
 for that easy bed of down( his bosom)in heaven. 
 
 As there is a curse wrapt up in the best 
 things he gives the wicked, so there is a bless- 
 ing wrapt up in the worst things he brings up- 
 on his own. As there is a curse wrapt up in 
 a wicked man's health, so there is a blessing 
 wrapt up in a godly man's sickness. As there 
 is acursc wrapt up in a wicked man's strength, 
 so there is a blessing wrapt up in a godly man's 
 weakness. As there is a curse wrapt up in a 
 wicked man's wealth, so there is a blessing 
 wrapt up in a godly man's wants. As there 
 is a curse wrapt up in a wicked man's honor, 
 so there is a blessing wrapt up in a godly 
 man's reproach. As there is a curse wrapt 
 up in all a wicked man's mercies, so there is 
 a blessing wrapt up in all a godly man's crosses, 
 losses, and changes; and why then should he 
 not sit mute and silent before the I^ord ? But, 
 
 3. Consider, that a holy silence is that ex-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTI.VG ROD. 91 
 
 cellent, precious grace, that lends a hand of 
 support to every grace. Silence is the keeper 
 of all other virtues; it lends a hand to faith, 
 a hand to hope, a hand to love, a hand to hu- 
 mility, a hand to self-denial, &c. A holy si- 
 lence hath its influences upon all other graces 
 that be in the soul ; it causes the rose-buds 
 of grace to blossom and bud forth. Silence 
 is a grace that keeps a man gracious in all 
 conditions ; in every condition silence is a 
 Christian's right hand ; in prosperity, it bears 
 the soul up under all the envy, malice, hatred, 
 and censures of the world ; in adversity, it 
 bears the soul up under all the neglect, scorn, 
 and contempt that a Christian m.eets with in 
 the world ; it makes every bitter sweet, every 
 burden light, and every yoke easy. And this 
 the very Heathen seemed to intimate, in pla- 
 cing the image of Angeronia, with the mouth 
 bound, upon the altar of Volupia; to shew, 
 that silence under sufferings was the ready- 
 way to attain true comfort, and make every 
 bitter sweet. No man honours God, nor no 
 man justifies God at so high a rate, as he who 
 lays his hand upon his mouth, when the rod 
 of God is upon his back. But, 
 
 4. To move you to silence under your so- 
 rest and your sharpest trials, consider that you 
 have deserved greater and heavier afilictions 
 than those you are under. Ilath God taken 
 away one mercy ? Thou hast deserved to be 
 stript of all. Hath he taken away the delight 
 of thine eyes ? He might have taken away the 
 delight of thy soul. Art thou under outward
 
 92 THE MUTE CIIPcISTlAN 
 
 wants? Thnu hast deserved to be under out- 
 ward and inward together. Art thou cast upon 
 a sick-bed? Thou hist deserved a bed in hell. 
 Art thou under this ache and that pain ? Thou 
 hast deserved to be under all aches and pains 
 at once. Ilath God chastised thee with whips ? 
 Thou hast deserved to be chastised with scor- 
 pions. Art thou fallen from the highest pin- 
 nacle of honour, to be the scorn and contempt 
 of men ? Thou hast deserved to be scorned 
 and contemned by God and angels. Art thou 
 under a severe whipping ? Thou hast deserv- 
 ed an utter damning. ' Ah, Christians ! let 
 but your eyes be fixed upon your demerits, 
 and your hands will be quickly upon your 
 mouths. Whatever is less than a final sepa- 
 ration from God, whatever is less than hell, is 
 rnen y ; and therefore you have cause to be si- 
 lent under the smartest dealings of God with 
 you. But, 
 
 5. Consider, a quiet silent spirit is of great 
 esteem with God ; God sets the greatest value 
 upon persons of a quiet spirit, 1 Pet. iii. 4. 
 *' But let it be the hidden man of the hearty 
 in that which is not corruptible; even the or- 
 nament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in, 
 thesi<,iit of Godofgreat price." Aquietspirit is 
 a spark of the divine nature : it is a ray, abeam 
 of glory ; it is a heaven-born spirit. No man 
 is bor:» \^ith a holy silence in his heart, as he 
 is born with a tongue in his mouth. This is 
 a tlower of paradise, it is a precious gem that 
 God makes very great reckoning of. A quiet 
 spirit speaks a man most like to God, it capa-
 
 UNDT.U THE SMARTING ROD. 93 
 
 citates a man for communion with God, it 
 renders a man most serviceable to God, and it 
 obliges a man to most accurate walking with 
 God. A meek and quiet spirit is an incorrupt- 
 ible ornament, much more valuable than gold. 
 
 (1.) There is a natural quietness, which 
 proceeds from a good temper and constitution 
 of body. 
 
 (2.) There is a moral quietness, which pro- 
 ceeds from good education and breeding, 
 which flows from good injunctions, instruc- 
 tions, and examples. 
 
 (3.) Tnere is an arfificial quietness; some 
 have an art to imprison their passions, and to 
 lay a law of restraint upon their auger and 
 wrath, when they are all in a flame within : 
 as you may see in Cain, Esau, Absalom, and 
 Joab, who for a time cast a close cloak over 
 their malice, when their hearts were set on 
 fire of hell. So Domitian would seem to love 
 them best, whom he willed least should live. 
 
 (4 ) There is a gracious quietness, which 
 is of the spirit's infusion, Gal. v. 22 — 25. 
 Now this quietness of spirit, this spiritual 
 frame of heart, is of great price in the sight 
 of God. God values it above the world : and 
 therefore who would not covet it more than the 
 world, yea, more than life itself? Certainly, 
 the great God sets a great price upon nothing 
 but that which is of an invaluable price. What 
 stretching, struggling, and striving is there for 
 those things that the great ones of the earth 
 do highly prize ! Ah, what stretching of wits, 
 interests, and consciences is there this day, io
 
 94 THE MUTE CHIIISTIAN 
 
 gain and hold up that which justice will cast 
 down ! How much better would it be, if all 
 persons would in good earnest struggle and 
 strive, even as for life, after a quiet and silent 
 spirit, which the great and glorious God sets 
 so great a price upon ! This is a pearl of great- 
 <?st price ; and happy is he that purchases it, 
 though it were with the loss of all. But, 
 
 6. Consider that if you sit not silent and 
 quiet under your greatest troubles and your 
 sorest trials, you will be found lighters against 
 your own prayers. How often have you 
 prayed that the will of Gpd may be done ; yea, 
 that it may be done on the earth, as the angels 
 (those glittering coui tiers, those princes of 
 glory) do it now in heaven ? When troubles 
 and afflictions come upon you, the will of God 
 is done, his will is accomplished : why then 
 should you fret, fling, and ftimo, and not ra- 
 ther quietly lie down in his will, whose will is a 
 perfect will, a just and righteous will, a wise 
 will, an over. ruling will, an infinite will, a 
 sovereign will, a holy will, an immutable will, 
 an uncontrollable will, an ouinipotent will, 
 and an eternal will ? Certainly, yon will but 
 add affliction to affliction, by fighting against 
 your own prayers and by fretting and vexing 
 yourselves, when the will of God is done. It 
 is sad to sec a man fight against his friends; 
 it is sadder to see him light against his relations ; 
 it is saddest of all, to see him hght against his 
 prayers. And yet this every Christian doth, 
 who murmurs and mutters when the Rod of 
 God is upon him. Some there be that pray
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 95 
 
 against their prayers, as Augustine, who pray- 
 ed for continency, with a proviso. Lord, give 
 me continency, but not yet, A nd some there 
 be who fight against their prayers, as those 
 who pray that the will of God may be done; 
 and yet when his will is done upon them, they 
 are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, 
 they are still fretting against the Lord. Ah, 
 Christians ! have you not sins to fight against, 
 and temptations to light against, and a devil 
 to fight against ; yea, a whole world to fight 
 against ? why then should you be found fight- 
 ing against your own prayers ? But, 
 
 7. Consider, A holy silence, under the 
 heaviest burdens, the greatest aflflictions, the 
 saddest providences and changes, will make all 
 tolerable and easy to a Christian. The silent 
 soul can bear a burden without a burden. 
 Those burdens and troubles that will break a 
 froward man's back, will not so much as break 
 a silent man's sleep ; those afflictions that lie 
 as heavy weights upon a murmurer, will lie as 
 light as a feather upon a mute Christian ; that 
 bed of sorrow, which is as a bed of thorns to a 
 fretful soul, will be as a bed of down to a silent 
 soul. A holy silence unstings every affliction, 
 it takes off the weight of every burden, it adds 
 sweet to every bitter, it changes dark nights 
 into sun-shiny days, and terrible storms into 
 desirable calms. The smallest sufferings Mill 
 easily vanquish an unquiet spirit ; but a quiet 
 spirit will as easily triumph over the greatest 
 sufferings. As liftle mercies are great mercies ; 
 so great sufferings arc but little sufferings in
 
 96 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 the eye of a silent soul. The silent soul never 
 complains that his affliction is too great, his 
 burden too heavy, his cross too weighty, his 
 sufferings too many ; silence makes him vic- 
 torious over all. And therefore as even you 
 would have heavy afflictions light, and be able 
 to bear a burden without a burden, labour, 
 as for life, after this holy silence. But, 
 
 8. Consider, that a holy silence under af- 
 flictions, will be your best armour of proof 
 against those temptations that afflictions may 
 expose you to. Times of afflictions often 
 prove times of great temptation ; and there- 
 fore afflictions are called temptations, James i. 
 12. ''Blessed is the man which endurcth 
 temptation ; for when he is tried, he shall re- 
 ceive the crown of life, &c." The Greek 
 word is to be understood of temptations of 
 probation, of afflicting temptations, and not 
 of temptations of suggestion, of seduction; 
 for they are not to be endured, but resisted 
 and abhorred. JV ow, affliction is called temp- 
 tation, 
 
 (1.) Because as temptation tries what me- 
 tal a Christian is made of, so do afflictions. 
 
 (2.) Because as Satan usually hath a great 
 hand in all the temptations that come upon us, 
 so he hath a great hand in all the afflictions 
 that befal us ; as you see in that great instance 
 of Job. 
 
 (3.) Because as temptations drive to God^ 
 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8. so do afflictions, Isa. xxvi. 16. 
 Hos. V. ult. but mainly, because Satan chuses 
 times of affliction as the fittest seasons for his
 
 UNDER THE SMAllTING ROD. 97 
 
 cemptatioiis. When Job was sorely afflicted 
 in his estate, children, wife, life, then Satan 
 lets fly, and makes his fiercest assaults upon 
 him. Now Satan tempts him to entertain hard 
 thoughts of God, to distrust, to impatience, 
 to murmuring and muttering*. As when Is- 
 rael was feeble, faint, and weary, Ameiek as- 
 saulted them, and smote the hindmost of them, 
 Deut. XXV. 17, 18. so when Christians are 
 most afllicted, then usually they are the most 
 tempted, 
 
 Luther found this by experience, when he 
 said, I am without, set upon by all the world ; 
 and within, by the devil and all his angels. 
 Satan is a coward and loves to strike us, and 
 trample upon us, when afflictions have cast us 
 down. When besieged towns, cities, and cas- 
 tles are in greatest straits and troubles, the 
 besiegers make their fiercest assaults : so when 
 Christians are under the greatest straits and 
 trials, then Satan assaults them most, like a 
 roaring lion. Now silence under afflictions is 
 the best antidode and preservative against all 
 those temptations that afflictions lay us open 
 to. Silence in afflictions is a Christian's ar- 
 mour of proof; it is that shield, that no spear 
 or dart of temptation can pierce. Whilst a 
 Christian lies qu'.et under the rod, he is safe. 
 Satan may tempt him, but he will not conquer 
 him ; he may assault him, but he cannot van- 
 quish him. Satan may entice him to use sin- 
 ful shifts, to shift himself out of trouble; but 
 
 * Many saints have experienced this truth, when 
 they have been upon their sick and dying beds. 
 
 I
 
 98 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 he will chuse rather to lie, yea, die in trouble, 
 than to get out upon Satan's terms. But, 
 
 9. Consider, that holy silence under afflic- 
 tions and trials, will give a man a quiet and 
 peaceable possession of his own soul* ; In pa- 
 tience possess Tjour souls, hw^e XXI. 19. Now, 
 next to the possession of God, the possession 
 of a man's own soul is the greatest mercy in 
 this world. A man may possess honours and 
 riches, and dear relations, and the favour and 
 assistance of friends under his trials; but he 
 will never come to a possession of his own soul 
 under his troubles, till he comes to be mute, 
 and to lay his hand upon his mouth. Now, 
 what are all earthly possessions to the posses- 
 sion of a man's own soul ? He that possesses 
 himself, possesses all ; he that possesses not 
 liimself, possesses nothing at all ; he possesses 
 not the use, the sweet, the comfort, the good, 
 the blessing, of any thing he enjoys, who en- 
 joys not himself. That man that is not mas- 
 ter of himself, is master of nothing. Holy 
 silence gives a man the greatest mastery over 
 his own spirit ; and mastery over a man's own 
 spirit is the greatest mastery in the world, 
 Prov. XV i. 32. The Egyptian goddess they 
 pnint upon a rock standing in the sea, where 
 the waves come roaring and dashing upon her, 
 with this motto, Storms shall not move me. 
 A holy silence will give a man such a quiet 
 possession of his own soul, that all the storms 
 of afflictions shall not move him ; it will make 
 him stand like a rock in the sea of troubles, 
 * Vide Greg, in Evung. hom. 35.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 99 
 
 Let a man but quietly possess himself, and 
 troubles will never trouble him. But, 
 
 10. Consider the commands and injunctions 
 that God in his word hath laid upon you to 
 be silent, to be mute and quiet under all the 
 troubles, trials, and changes, that have or may 
 pass upon you*. Zech. ii. 13. *' Be silent, 
 O all flesh, before the Lord : for he is raised 
 up out of his holy habitation." Isa. xli. 1» 
 *' Keep silence before me, O islands " Ilab, 
 ii. 20. *' The Lord is in his holy temple; let 
 all the earth keep silence before him." Amos 
 V. 13. '* Therefore the prudent shall keep si- 
 lence in that time, for it is an evil time." Psal. 
 xlvi. 10. "Be still, and know that lam God." 
 Psal. iv. 4. " Commune with your heart, and 
 be still." Exod. xiv. 13. "Stand ye still, 
 and see the salvation of C4od." 2 Chron. xx. 
 17. " Stand ye still, and see the salvation of 
 the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem." 
 Job. xxxvii. 14. " Hearken unto this, O Job: 
 stand still, and consider the wondrous works 
 of God." It is a dangerous thino; for us to 
 neglect one of his commands, who by another 
 is able to command us into nothing, or into 
 hell, at pleasure ; to act or run cross to God's 
 express command, (though under pretence of 
 revelation from God,) is as much as a man's 
 life is worth ; as you may see in that sad sto- 
 ry, 1 Kings, xiii. 24. &c. Divine commards 
 must be put in speedy execution, without de- 
 nying or delaying, without debating or disput- 
 
 * God's commands are like those of the Mcdes, that 
 cannot be changed.
 
 100 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ing the difficulties that may attend oursubjection 
 to them. God's commands are spiritual, holy, 
 just, and good, Rom. \l\. 12, 13, 14. and there- 
 fore to be obeyed without muttering ormurmur- 
 ing. Divine commands are backed with the 
 strongest reason, and attended with the highest 
 encouragements. Shall theservantreadily obey 
 the commands of his master, ihe subject the 
 commands of his prince, the soldier the com- 
 mands of his general, the child the commands 
 of his father, the wife the commands of her 
 husband f and shall not a Christian as readi- 
 ly obey the commands of his Christ? Nay, 
 shall vain men readily and willingly obey the 
 sinful and senseless commands of men : and 
 shall not we be willing to obey the commands 
 of God ? 2 Sam. xiii. 28, 29. '* Now Absa- 
 lom had commanded his servants, saying, 
 Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry 
 with Wine, and when I say unto you, Smite 
 Amnon ; then kill him, fear not ; have not I 
 commanded you ? be courageous, and be va- 
 liant. And the servants of Absalom did unto 
 Amnon as Absalom had commanded." They 
 made no bones of obeying the bloody com- 
 niandsNof Absalom, against all law, reason, 
 and religion, 
 
 I have read of one Johannes Abbas, who 
 willingly fetched water near two miles every 
 day for a whole year together, to ponr upon 
 a dry stick, upon the bare command of his 
 confessor. 
 
 1 have also read of the old kings of Peru, 
 that they were wont to use a tassel or fringe,
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. ]0i 
 
 made of red wool, which they wore upon 
 their heads; and when they sent any gover- 
 nor to rule as viceroy in any part of their 
 country, they delivered unto him one of the 
 threads of the tassel ; and for one of those 
 simple threads, he was as much obeyed, as if 
 he had been the king himself. Now, shall one 
 single thread be more forcible to draw infidels 
 to obedience, than all those golden commands 
 last cited, shall be of force to draw you to be 
 quiet and silent under the troubles and changes 
 you meet with in this world ? The Lord for- 
 bid. 
 
 Shall carnal and wicked persons be so ready 
 and willing to comply with the bloody, and 
 senseless, and superstitious commands of their 
 superiors ? And shall not Christians be more 
 ready and willing to comply with the com- 
 mands of the great God, whose commands are 
 all just and equal, and whose will is the per- 
 fect rule of righteousness ? The chief -reason 
 of obedience, is the authority of the Lord, not 
 the utility of the servant. Ah, Christians ! 
 when your hearts begin to fret and fume un- 
 der the smarting rod, charge one of those 
 commands last cited upon your hearts; and 
 if they shall mutter, charge another of those 
 commands upon your hearts; and if ufter this 
 they shall vex and murmur, charge another of 
 those commands upon your hearts ; and never 
 leave charging and rubbing those commands 
 one after another upon your hearts, till you 
 are brought to lay your hands upon your 
 1 3
 
 102 THE MUTE CHUISTIAN 
 
 mouths, and to sit silent before the Lord un- 
 der you r greatest straits, and your sorest trials. 
 11. Consider, that mercy is nearest, delive- 
 rance and salvation is at hand, when a Chris- 
 tian stands still, when he sits quiet and silent 
 under his greatest troubles, and his sorest tri- 
 als, Exod. xiv. They were in very great 
 straits; Pharaoh with a mighty army was be- 
 hind them, the Red Sea before them, moun- 
 tains on each hand of them, and no visible 
 means to deliver them : but now they stand 
 still to see the salvation of the Lord, ver. 13. 
 and within a few hours their enemies are de- 
 stroyed, and they arc gloriously delivered, 
 ver. 24 — ult. Psal. xxxix. David is dumb, he 
 sits mute under his smart afflictions; but if 
 you look to the second and third verses of the 
 fortieth Psalm, you shall find mercy draws 
 near to him, and works salvation for him ; 
 *' He brought me up also out of an horrible 
 pit, out of the mire and clay, and set my feet 
 upon a rock, and established my goings. And 
 he hath put a new song into my mouth, even 
 praise unto our God ; many shall see it, and 
 fear, and shall trust in the Lord." And so 
 when Absalom had made a great conspiracy 
 against him, and his subjects fell off from him, 
 and he was forced to fly for his life, his spirit 
 was quiet and calm, 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26. ''And 
 the knig said unto Zaduk, Carry back the ark 
 of God into the city ; if I shall find favour in 
 the eyes of the J^ord, ho will bring me again, 
 and show me both it, and his habitalion. But 
 if he thus say, I have no delight in thee : be-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING HOD. 103 
 
 hold, here am T, let him do to me as s?emeth 
 good unto him." And the same calmness and 
 quietness of spirit was upon him, when Shimei 
 bitterly cursed him, and railed upon him, 
 chap. xvi. 5 — 14. And within a few days, as 
 you may see in the two following chapters, 
 the conspirators are destroyed, and David's 
 thronn more firmly esfablishfd. Mercy is al- 
 ways nearest, when a man can in quietness pos- 
 sess his own soul ; salvation is at hand, when 
 a Christian comes to lay his hand upon his 
 mouth. Mercy will be upon the wing, lov- 
 ing.kindness will ride post, to put a period to 
 that man's troubles, who sits silent in the day 
 of his sorrows and sufferings. Ah, Christians! 
 as you would have mercy n^ar, as you would 
 see to the end of your afflictions, as you would 
 have deliverance come flying upon the wings 
 of the wind, sit mute and silent under all your 
 troubles. As wine was then nearest, when 
 the water-pots were filled with water even to 
 the brim ; so when the heart is fullest of qui- 
 etness and calmness, then is the wine of mer- 
 cy, the wine of deliverance, nearest. 
 
 The 12th and last motive to work you to 
 silence under your greatest trials, is this; Se- 
 riously consider the heinous and dangerous 
 nature of murmuring. Now, that you may, 
 let me propose these following particulars to 
 your most sober consideration. 
 
 (I.) Consider, That murmuring speaks out 
 many a root of bitterness to be strong in thy 
 soul ; murmuring speaks out sin in its power, 
 corruption upon its throne. As holy silence
 
 i04 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN- 
 
 argues true grace, much grace, yea, grace it; 
 its strength, and in its Jively vigour; so mur- 
 muring, muttering under the hand of God, 
 argues much sin, yea, a heart full of sin ; it 
 speaks out a heart full of self-love, Exod. xv. 
 24. chap. xvi. 7, 8. and full of slavish fears, 
 jVumb. xiii. 32, S3, chap. xiv. 1, 2, 3. and 
 full of ignorance, John vi. 41, 42, 61. and 
 full of pride and unbelief, Psal. cvi. 24, 25. 
 yea, they despised the pleasant land, or the 
 Jand of desire, (there is their pride) ; they be- 
 lieved not in his vpord*, (there is their unbe- 
 lief); what follows? They murmured in their 
 tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of 
 God ; they preferred Egypt before Canaan, 
 a wilderness before a paradise. As in the first 
 chaos there were the seeds of all creatures ; 
 so in the murmurer's heart there are not only 
 the seeds of all sin, but a lively operation of 
 all sin. Sin is become mighty in the hearts of 
 murmurers, and none but an almighty God 
 can root it out ; those roots of bitterness have 
 so spread and strengthened themselves in the 
 hearts of murmurers, Isa. xxvi. 4. that ever- 
 lasting strength must put in, or they will be 
 undone for ever. But, 
 
 (2.) Consider, that the Holy Ghost hath 
 set a brand of infamy upon murmurers, he 
 hath stigmatized them for ungodly persons^ 
 Jude 15, 16. "To execute judgment upon 
 all, and to convince all that are ungodly among 
 them, of all their ungodly deeds which they 
 have ungodly committed, and of all their hard 
 * Psal. Ixxviii. 19, 20. Unbelief is virtually all ill.
 
 UNDER THE SxMARTlNC ROD. 105 
 
 speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken 
 against him. But who are these ungodly sin- 
 ners ? They are murmurers, complainers, 
 walking after their own lusts," &c. \erse IG. 
 When Christ comes to execute judgment upon 
 ungodly ones, murmurers shall be set in 
 the front; they shall experience the first of 
 his wrath, and the fierceness of his wrath, 
 and the greatness of his wrath. The 
 front, you know, is first assaulted, and most 
 strongly assaulted; Christ will bend all his 
 power and strength against murmurers; his 
 Jittle finger shall be heavier upon them than 
 his loias shall be upon others, \ Kings xii. 1 1, 
 14. other sinners shall be chastised with whips, 
 but ungodly niurmurerj. shall be chastised with 
 scorpions. If you can joy in that black cha- 
 racter of ungodly sinners, bo murmurers still ; 
 if not, cease from murmuring. Where mur- 
 muring is in its reign, in its dominion, there 
 you may speak and write that person ungodly. 
 Let murmurers make what profession ti.ey 
 will of godliness, yet if murmuring keeps the 
 throne in their tiearts, Christ will deal with 
 them at last as ungodly sinners. A man may 
 be denominated ungodly, as well from his mur- 
 muring, if he live under the dominion of it, as 
 from his drunkenness, swearing, whoring, ly- 
 ing, stealing, &c. A murmurer is an ungodly 
 man, he is an ungodlike man, no man on earth 
 more unlike to God than the murmurer ; and 
 therefore no wonder, if when Christ comes to 
 execute judgment, he deals so severely and 
 terribly with him, in the wars of Tamerlane,
 
 106 THE MUTE CHRlSflAiS- 
 
 one having found a ^reat pot of gold that wa5 
 hid in the earth, he brou£:ht it to Tamerlane, 
 who asked, Whether it had his father's stamp 
 upon it ? but when he saw it had not his fa- 
 ther's stamp, but the Roman stamp upon it, 
 he would not own it, but cast it away. The 
 Lord Jesus, when he shall come with all his 
 saiPfts to execute judgment. Oh ! he will not 
 own murmurers ; nay, he will cast them away 
 for ever, because they have not his Father's 
 stamp upon them. Ah, souls! souls! as you 
 would not go up and down this world with a 
 badge of ungodliness upon you, take heed of 
 murmuring. 
 
 (3.) Consider, that murmuring is a mother 
 sin ; it is the mother of harlots, the mother of 
 all abominations, a sin that breeds many other 
 sins. Numb. xvi. 41. chap. xvii. 10. viz. dis- 
 obedience, contempt, in^^ratitude, impatience, 
 distrust, rebellion, cursing, carnality ; yea, it 
 charges God with folly, yea, with blasphemy. 
 The language of a murmuring, a muttering 
 soul, is this. Surely God might have done this 
 sooner, and that wiser, and the other thing 
 better, &c. As the river Nile bringeth forth 
 many crocodiles, and the scorpion many ser- 
 pents at one birth ; so murmuring is a sin that 
 breeds and brings forth many sins at once. 
 Murmuring is like the monster Hydra, cut olF 
 one head, and many will rise up in its room- 
 Oh! therefore, bend all thy strength against 
 this mother-sin. As the king of Syria said to 
 his captains, 1 Kings xxii. 31. *' Fight nei- 
 ther with small uor great, but with the king
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 107 
 
 of Israel:" so say I, Fight not so mucli 
 against this sin or that, but fight against your 
 murmuring, which is a mother-sin : make use 
 of all your Christian armour, make use of all 
 the ammunition of heaven, Eph. vi. 10. 11. to 
 destroy the mother ; and in destroying of her, 
 you will destroy the daughters. When Go- 
 liath was slain, the Philistines fled; when a 
 general in an army is cut off, the common sol- 
 diers are easily and quickly routed and de- 
 stroyed : so destroy but murmuring, and you 
 will quickly destroy disobedience, ingratitude, 
 impatience, distrust, &c. Oh ! kill this mo- 
 ther sin, that this may never kill thy soul, 
 I have read of Sennacherib, that after his ar- 
 my was destroyed by an angel, Isa. xxxvii. 3G. 
 and he returned home into his own country, 
 he inquired of one about him, what he tliought 
 the reason might be, why God so favoured 
 the Jews ? He answered, that there was one 
 Abraham their father that was willing to sa- 
 crifice his son to death at the command of 
 God, and that ever since that time God favored 
 that people. Well, said Sennacherib, if that 
 be so, 1 have two sons, and 1 will sacrifice 
 them both to death, if that will procure their 
 God to favor me; which when his two sons 
 heard, they (as the story goeth) slew rheir 
 father, Is. xxvvii. 38. chusing ralher to kill, 
 than to bo killed ; so do thou chusc rather io 
 kill this mother-sin, than to be killed by it, 
 Psalm cxxxvii 8, 9. or by any of those vipers 
 that are brought forth by it. 
 
 (4.) Consider, that murmuring is a God*
 
 lOS THE MUTE GHRISTIAN 
 
 provoking sin ; it is a sin that provokes GodV 
 Numb. xxvi. ult. Numb. xii. 10. Rev. xvi. 
 9, 10, 11. not only to afflict, but also io de- 
 stroy a people, Nurab. xiv. 27, 28, 29. 
 " Plow long shall 1 bear with this evil congre- 
 gation which murmur against me? I have 
 heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, 
 -which they murmur against me. Say unto 
 them, As truly as 1 live, saith the Lord, as ye 
 have spoken in mine ears, so will 1 do to you: 
 your carcases shall fall in this wilderness ; and 
 all that were numbered of you, according to 
 your whole number, from twenty years old 
 and upward, which have murmured against 
 inc. 1 Cor. X. 10. Neifher murmur ye, as 
 some of them also murmured, and were de- 
 stroyed of the destroyer." All our murmur* 
 ings do but provoke the Lord to strike us, 
 and destroy us. 
 
 I have read of Caesar, that having prepared 
 a great feast for his nobles and friends, it so 
 fell out, that the day apppointed was so ex- 
 tremely foul, that nothing could be done to 
 the honor of the meeting; whereupon he was 
 so displeased and enraged, that he commanded 
 all them that had bows to shoot up their ar- 
 rows at Jupiter, their chief god, as in defiance 
 of him for ihat rainy weather; which when 
 they did, their arrows fell short of heaven, 
 and fell upon their own heads, so that many 
 of tltem were very sorely wounded. So all 
 our murmurings, which arc so many arrows 
 shot at God himself, they will return upon 
 our own hearts ; they reach not him, but they
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 109 
 
 will hit US : they hurt not him, but they will 
 wound us; therefore it is better to be mute, 
 than to murmur; it is dangerous to provoke 
 a consuming fire, Heb. xii. ult, 
 
 (5.) Consider, that murmuring is the de- 
 vil's image, sin, and punishment. Satan is 
 still a murmuring; he murmurs at every mer- 
 cy that God bestows. Job i. 8, 9. at every 
 grace he gives, Luke xxii. 31 — 34. he mur- 
 murs at every sin he pardons, and every soul 
 he saves, 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9, 10. A soul cannot 
 have a good look from heaven, nor hear a good 
 word from heaven, nor receive a love-letler 
 from heaven, but Satan murmurs at it : he 
 murmurs and mutters at every act of pitying- 
 grace ; and at every act of preventing-grace ; 
 and at every act of supporting-grace ; and at 
 every act of strengthening-grace ; and at every 
 act of comforting-grace, that God exercises 
 towards poor souls ; he murmurs at every sip, 
 at every drop, at every crumb of mercy that 
 God bestows, Cyprian, Aquinas, and others, 
 conceive, that the cause of Satan's banish- 
 ment from heaven, Gen. iii. was his grieving 
 and murmuring at the dignity of man, whom 
 he beheld made after God's own image, inso- 
 much that he would relinquish his own glory, 
 to divest so noble a creature of perfection, 
 and rather be in hell himself, than see Adam 
 placed in paradise. But certainly, after his 
 fall, murmuring and envy at man's innocency 
 and felicity, put him upon attempting to 
 plunge man into the bottomless gulf of sin 
 and misery ; he knowing himself to be damn-
 
 110 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ed, and lost for ever, would needs try all 
 ways how to make happy men eternally un- 
 happy. Mr. Howel tells it as a strange 
 thing, that a serpent was found in the heart 
 of an Englishman when he was dead. But 
 alas ! this old serpent was by sad experience 
 found to have too much power in the heart 
 of Adam whilst alive, and whilst in the height 
 of all his glory and excellency. Murmuring 
 is the first-born of the devil, and nothing ren- 
 ders a man more like to him than murmuring. 
 Constantine's sons did not more resemble 
 their father, nor Aristotle's scholars their 
 master, nor Alexander's soldiers their gene- 
 ral, than murmurers do resemble Satan. And 
 as murmuring is Satan's sin, so it is his pu- 
 nishment. God halh given him up to a mur- 
 muring spirit ; nothing pleases him, all things 
 go against him ; he is perpetually a-muttering 
 and murmuring at persons, or things. Now, 
 Oh what a dreadful thing it is to bear Satan's 
 image upon us ! and to be given up to the de- 
 vil's punishment ! It were better not to be, 
 than thus to be given up : and therefore cease 
 from murmuring, and sit mute under your 
 sorest trials. But, 
 
 (6.) Consider, that murmuring is a mercy- 
 embittering sin, a mercy-souring sin. As 
 put the sweetest things into a sour vessel, it 
 sours them ; or put them into a bitter vessel, 
 and it embitters them ; murmuring puts gall 
 and wormwood into every cup of mercy, that 
 (fod gives into our hands. As holy silence 
 gives a sweet taste, a delightful relish to all
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING HOD. Ill 
 
 i man's mercies ; so murmuring embitters all : 
 the murmurer can taste no sweetness in his 
 sweetest morsels; every mercy, every morsel, 
 tastes like the white of an egg to him, Job vi. 
 6. A murmurer can taste no sweet, he can 
 feel no comfort, he can take no delight in any 
 mercy he enjoys. The murmurer writes. Jia- 
 r«/z, that is, bitterness, upon all his mercies, 
 and he reads and tastes bitterness in all his 
 mercies. All the murmurer's grapes are 
 grapes of gall, and all their clusters are bitter, 
 Deut. xxxii. S2. As to the hungry soul, every 
 bitter thing is sweet; so to the murmuring 
 soul, every sweet thing is bitter. The mute 
 Christian can suck sweetness from every breast 
 of mercy, but the murmurer cries out, Oh, it 
 is bitter ! Oh, these breasts of mercy are dry 1 
 (7.) Consider, that murmuring is a mercy- 
 destroying sin, a mercy-murdering sin ; mur- 
 muring cuts the throat of mercy, it stabs all 
 our mercies at the heart. Numb. xiv. 30. 
 *' Doubtless ye shall not come into the land 
 concerning which I sware to make you dwell 
 therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and 
 Joshua the son of Nun," Psal. Ixxxix. 30, 31. 
 Deut. xxxi. 16, 17. God promises them that 
 they should possess the holy land, upon con- 
 dition of their obedience ; this condition they 
 brake, and therefore God was not forsworn, 
 though he cut them off in the wilderness, and 
 kept them out of Canaan. But what is the 
 sin that provokes the Lord to bar them out of 
 the land of promise, and to cut them off from 
 all those mercies that they enjoyed, which en-
 
 112 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 tered into the holy land ? Why, it was their 
 murmuring, as you may see in ver. 1, 2, 3, 
 26, 27, 28, 29. As you love your mercies, 
 and as you would have the sweet of your mer- 
 cies, take heed of murmuring. Murmuring 
 will bring a consumption upon your mercies; 
 it is a worm that will make all your mercies 
 to wither. As there be some that love their 
 mercies into the grave ; and others that plot 
 their mercies into the grave ; so there be some 
 that murmur their mercies into the grave. As 
 you would have your mercies always fresh and 
 green, smiling and thriving; as you would 
 have your mercies to bed and board with you, 
 to rise up and lie down with you, and in all 
 conditions to attend you ; murmur not, mur- 
 mur not. The mute Christian's mercies are 
 most sweet, and most long lived ; the raurmur- 
 er's mercies, like Jonah's gourd, will quickly 
 wither. Murmuring hath cut the throat of na- 
 tional mercies, of domestic mercies, and of per- 
 sonal mercies ; and therefore, Oh, how should 
 men fly from it as from a serpent ! as from the 
 avenger of blood ! yea, as from hell itself. 
 
 (8.) Consider, that murmuring unfits the 
 soul for duty, A murraurer can neither hear 
 to profit, nor pray to profit, nor read to profit, 
 nor meditate to profit; the murmurer is nei- 
 ther fit to do good, nor receive good ; mur- 
 muring unfits the soul for doing of duties, it 
 unfits the soul for delighting in duties, 1 Cor, 
 ■vii. 33, 34, 35. it unfits the soul for commu- 
 nion with God in duties. Murmuring fills 
 the soul with cares, fears, distractions, vexa-
 
 UVDER THE SMARTING ROD. 113 
 
 tions ; all which unfits a man for duty. Asa 
 holy quietness and calmness of spirit prompts 
 a man to duty, Piov. iii. 17. as it makes eve- 
 ry duty easy and pleasant to the soul ; so it 
 is murmuring that unhinges the soul, that in- 
 disposes the soul, that takes oft the chariot- 
 wheels of the soul, Psal. xl. 12. that the soul 
 cannot look, up to God, nor do for God, nor 
 receive from God, nor wait on God, nor walk 
 with God, nor act faith upon God, 2 Kings 
 Ti. 33, &c. Oh, therefore, as ever you would 
 be in a blessed preparedness, and a blessed 
 fittedness for duty, Isa. xxvi. 9, 10, 11. take 
 heed of murmuring, and sit muto and silent 
 under the atilicting hand of God. 
 
 (9.) Consider, that murmuring unmans a 
 man, Isa. v. 18, 19, 20. it strips him of his 
 reason and understanding; it makes him call 
 evil good, and good evil; it puts light for 
 darkness, and darkness for light ; bitter for 
 sweet, and sweet for bitter ; it calls Saviours 
 destroyers, and deliverers murderers; as you 
 see in the murmuring Israelites, Exod. xiv. xv. 
 xvi. chapters. Murmuring uncrowns a man ; 
 the murraurer may say, My crown is fallen 
 from my head, Lam. v, 16. JMurmuring 
 strips a man of all his glory, it spoils all his 
 excellency, it destroys the nobility of man, it 
 speaks him out to be a base ignoble creature. 
 Murmuring clouds a man's understanding, it 
 perverts his judgment, it puts out the eye of 
 reason, it stupities his conscience, it sours the 
 heart, disorders the will, and distempers the 
 affections ; it be-beasts a man, yea it sets him 
 K 3
 
 114 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 below the beasts that perish ; for a man had 
 better be a beast, than be like a beast. The 
 murmurer is the hieroglyphic of folly ; he is a 
 comprehensive vanity ; he is a man, and no 
 man: he is sottish and senseless; he neither 
 understands God, nor himself, nor any thing 
 as he should, Is. iii. 8. Jer. vii. 6. He is the 
 man that must be sent to school, to learn of 
 the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, 
 and the creeping things of the earth, Matt. vi. 
 Prov, vi. how to cease from murmuring, and 
 how to be mute. Ah, Sirs ! as you would 
 have the name, the honour, and the reputa- 
 tion of being men, I say men, take heed of 
 murmuring, and sit silent before the Lord, 
 
 (10.) Murmuring is a time-destroying sin. 
 Ah, the precious time that is buried in the 
 grave of murmuring! AVhen the murmurer 
 should be a praying, he is a murmuring 
 against the Lord ; when he should be a hear- 
 ing, he is a murmuring against divine provi. 
 dences ; when he should be a reading, he is a 
 murmuring against instruments. The mur- 
 murer spends much precious time in musing, 
 in musing how to get out of such a trouble, 
 how to get oflf such a yoke, how to be rid of 
 such a burden, how to revenge himself for 
 such a wrong, how to supplant such a person, 
 how to reproach those that arc above him, 
 and how to affront those that are below him ; 
 and a thousand other ways murmurers have to 
 expend that precious time that some would 
 redeem with a world. As Queen Elizabeth 
 on herdeath.bcd cried out, Tme^ time^ aworld
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 115 
 
 of tzealth for an inch of time. The murmurer 
 lavishly and profusely trifles away that pre- 
 cious time, that is his greatest interest in this 
 world io redeem, Eph. ?. 16. Rev. ii. 21. 
 Every day, every hour in the day, is a talent 
 of time, and God expects the improvement of 
 it, 1 Pet. iv. 2, 5. and will charge the non-im- 
 provement of it upon you at last. Caesar ob- 
 serving some ladies at Rome to spend much 
 of their time in making much of little dogs 
 and monkies, asked them whether the women 
 in that country had no children to make much 
 of? Ah, murmurers ! murmurers ! you who 
 by your murmuring trifle away so many gol- 
 den hours, and seasons of mercy, have you no 
 God to honour ? have you no Christ to be- 
 lieve in ? have you no hearts to change, no 
 sins to be pardoned, no souls to save, no hell 
 to escape, no heaven to seek after? Oh, if you 
 have, why do you spend so much of your pre- 
 cious time in murmuring against God, against 
 men, against this or that thing ? Eternity 
 rides upon the back of time, this is the mo- 
 ment ; if it be well improved you are made 
 up for ever ; if not, you are undone for ever. 
 I have read of Archias a Lacedajmonian, 
 that whilst he was rioting and quafling, in the 
 midst of his cups, one delivers hira a letter, 
 purposely to signify that there were some that 
 lay in wait to take away his life, and withal 
 desires him to read it presently, because it was 
 a serious business, and matter of high con- 
 cernment to him. Oh ! said he, I will think 
 of serious things to-morrow ; but that night
 
 116 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 lie was slain. Ah, murraurer ! cease from 
 murmuring to-day, or else thou mayest be 
 for ever undone by murmuring to-morro\r. 
 The old saying was, now or never ; so say I, 
 Now or never give over murmuring, and let 
 it swallow up no more of your precious time. 
 What would not many a murmurer give for 
 one of those days, yea, for one of those hours, 
 which he hath trifled away in murmuring, 
 when it is a day too late ? 
 
 The Rabbins glory in this conceit, That a 
 man hath so many bones as there be letters in 
 the decalogue, and just so many joints and 
 members as there be days in the year ; to shew 
 that all our strength and time should be ex- 
 pended in God's service. Ah, murmurers ! 
 you will gain more by one day's faithful serv- 
 ing of God, than ever you have gained by 
 murmuring against God. But, 
 
 (11.) Consider this. Christians, that of all 
 men in the world you have least cause, yea, 
 no cause to be murmuring and muttering un- 
 der any dispensations that you meet with in 
 this world, Lam. iii. 24. Eph. iii. 8. 1 Pet. 
 i. 3, 4. Is not God thy portion ? Chrysostom 
 propounds this question, " Was Job misera- 
 ble when he had lost all that God had given 
 him ? and gives this answer : No, he had still 
 that God who gave him all." Is not Christ 
 thy treasure? is not heaven thine inheritance? 
 and wilt thou murmur ? Hast thou not much 
 in hand, and more in hope ? hast thou not 
 much in possession, but much more in rever- 
 sion, and wilt thou murmur ? Ilath not God
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 117 
 
 given thee a changed heart, a renewed nature, 
 and a sanctified soul ? and wilt thou murmur ? 
 Hath not God given thee himself to satisfy 
 thee ? his Son to save thee ? his Spirit to lead 
 thee ? his grace to adorn thee ? his covenant 
 to assure thee? his mercy to pardon thee? his 
 righteousness to clothe thee? and wilt thou 
 murmur? Hath he not made thee a friend, a 
 son, a brother, a bride, an heir ? and wilt thou 
 murmur ? Hath not God often turned thy wa- 
 ter into wine, thy brass into silver, and thy 
 silver into gold ? and wilt thoti murmur ? 
 ^V'hen thou wast dead, did not he quicken 
 thee? and when thou wast lost, did not he 
 seek thee? and when thou wast wounded, did 
 not he heal thee ? and when thou wert falling 
 did not he support thee ? and when thou wert 
 down, did not he raise thee ? and when thou 
 wert staggering, did not he establish thee ? 
 and when thou wert erring, did not he reduce 
 thee? and when thou wert tempted, did not 
 he succour thee? and when thou wert in dan- 
 gers, did not he deliver thee ? and wilt thou 
 murmur ? What ! thou that art so highly ad- 
 vanced and exalted above many thousands in 
 the world ? Murmuring is a black garment, 
 and it becomes none so ill as saints. 
 
 (12.) Lastly y Consider, that murmuring 
 makes the life of man infisibly miserable. 
 Every murraurer is his own executioner. Mur- 
 muring vexes the heart, it wears and tears the 
 heart, it enrages and inflames the heart, it 
 wounds and stabs the heart. Every murmur, 
 er is his own martyr, every murmurer is a
 
 118 THE MUTE CHRISTlASr 
 
 murderer, he kills many at once, tiz. his joj, 
 his comfort, his peace, his rest, his soul. No 
 man is so inwardly miserable, as the murmur- 
 er ; no man hath such inward gripes and griefs 
 as he, such inward bitterness and heaviness as 
 he, such inward contentions and combustions 
 as he. Every murmurer is his own tormen- 
 tor ; murmuring is a fire within, that will burn 
 up all ; it is an earthquake within, that will 
 overturn all ; it is a disease within, that will 
 infect all; it is poison within, that will prey 
 upon all. And thus I have done with those 
 motives that may persuade us not to murmur 
 or mutter, but to be mute and silent under the 
 greatest afilictions, the saddest providences, 
 and sharpest trials that we meet with in this life. 
 
 I shall now address myself to answer those 
 objections, and to remove those impediments 
 which hinder poor souls from being silent and 
 mute under the afflicting hand of God, &c. 
 
 Object. 1. '' Sir, did I but know that I were 
 afflicted in love, I would hold my peace un- 
 der my affliction, 1 would sit mute before the 
 Lord. But oh 1 how shall 1 come to under- 
 stand that those strokes are the strokes of 
 love, that those wounds are the wounds of a 
 friend ?" 1 answer, 
 
 1. If thy heart be drawn more out to the 
 Lord by the affliction, then the affliction is in 
 love; if they are so sanctified, as that ihpy 
 draw out thy soul to love the Lord more, Ps. 
 xviii. 1—8. Psal. cxvi. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Vs. cxix. 
 61.71.Isa. xxxviii.and to fear the Lord more, 
 and to please the Lord more, and to cleave to
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 1 19 
 
 the Lord more, and to wait on the Lord more, 
 and to walk with the Lord more, then they 
 are in love. Oh ! then they are the wounds 
 of a friend indeed. It is reported of the lion- 
 ess, that she leaves her young whelps till they 
 have almost killed themselves with roaring 
 and yelling, and then at last gasp, when they 
 have almost spent themselves, she relieves 
 them, and by this means they become more 
 courageous. And so, if the afflictions which 
 are upon us do increase our courage, strength- 
 en our patience, raise our faith, inflame our 
 love, and enliven our hopes, certainly they 
 are in love, and all our wounds are the wounds 
 of a friend. But, 
 
 2. If you are more careful and studious how 
 to glorify God in the affliction, Dan. iii. & vi. 
 and how to be kept from sinning under the af- 
 fliction, than how to get out of the affliction ; 
 then certainly your affliction is in love. Where 
 God smites in love, there the soul makes it 
 his work how to glorify God, and how to lift 
 up God, and how to be a name and an honour 
 to God. The daily language of such a soul 
 under the rod is this, Lord, stand by me that 
 I sin not, uphold me that I sin not, Joshua 
 vii. 7, 8, 9, 10. strengthen me that I sin not. 
 He that will not sin to repair and make up 
 his losses, though he knew assuredly that the 
 committing of such a sin would make up all 
 again, he may conclude that his affliction is in 
 love. 
 
 I have read of a nobleman, whose son and 
 heir was supposed to be bewitched ; and be-
 
 120 THE MUTE CHIIISTIAN 
 
 ing advised to go to some wizard or cunning 
 man, (as they are called), to have some help 
 for his son, that he might be unwitched again : 
 he answered, O by no means ! I had rather 
 the witch should have my son, than the devil : 
 his son should suffer, rather than he would 
 sin him out of his sufferings. He that will 
 not break the hedge of a fair command, to 
 avoid the foul way of some heavy affliction, 
 may well conclude that his affliction is in love. 
 Christians ! what say you when you arc in 
 the mount, do you thus bespeak the Lord ; 
 Lord, take care of thy glory, and let me ra- 
 ther sink in my affliction, than sin under my 
 affliction ? If this be the bent and frame of 
 thy heart, it is certain the affliction that is up- 
 on thee, is in love. The primitive times af- 
 forded many such brave spirits, though this 
 age affords but few. 
 
 3. If you enjoy the special presence of God 
 with your spirits in your affliction, then your 
 affliction is in love, Psal. xxiii. 4, 5, 6. Isa. 
 xliii. 2. " When thou passest through the wa- 
 ters, I will be with thee ; and through the 
 rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou 
 walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be 
 burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon 
 thee*." Hast thou a special presence of God 
 with thy spirit, strengthening of that, quiet- 
 ing of that, steeling of that, satisfying of that, 
 chearing and comforting of that ? Psal. xciv, 
 
 * The bush, which was a type of the church, con- 
 sumed nut all the while it burned with fire, because 
 God was in the midst of it.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 121 
 
 16. In the multitude of my thoughts^ that is, 
 ©f my troubled, intricated, insnarled, inter- 
 twined, and perplexed thoughts, (as the bran- 
 ches of a tree by some strong wind are twisted 
 one within another, as the Hebrew word pro- 
 perly signifies), thy comforts delight my souL 
 Here's a presence of God with his soul ; here 
 are comforts and delights that reach the soul; 
 here's a cordial to strengthen his spirit. 
 When all things went cross with Andronicus, 
 the old emperor of Constantinople, he took a 
 psalter into his hand, and opening the same, 
 he lighted upon Psal. Ixviii, 14. " When 
 the Almighty scattered kings, they shall be 
 white as snow in Salmon ;" which scripture 
 "was a mighty comfort and refreshment to his 
 spirit. Now you are to remember, that Sal- 
 mon signifies shady and dark^ and so was this 
 mount, by the reason of many lofty fair spread 
 trees that were near it, but made lightsome 
 by snow that covered it : so that to be white 
 as snow in Salmon, is to have joy in affliction, 
 light in darkness, mercy in misery, &c. And 
 thus God was to the psalmist as snow in Sal- 
 mon, in the midst of his greatest afflictions. 
 When Paul would wish his dear son Timothy 
 the best mercy in all the world, the greatest 
 mercy in all the world, the most comprehen- 
 sive mercy in all the world, a mercy that carries 
 the virtue, Talue, and sweetness of all mercies 
 in it, he wishes the presence of God with his 
 spirit, 2 Tim. iv. 22. " The Lord Jesus Christ 
 be with thy spirit." In point of honour, in 
 point of profit and pleasure, in point of safe- 
 
 L
 
 1 22 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ty and security, and in point of comfort and 
 joy, it is the greatest blessing and happiness 
 in this world to have the presence of God 
 with our spirits, especially in times of trials, 
 2 Cor. iv, 16. "For which cause we faint 
 not; but though our outward man perish, 
 yet the inward man is renewed day by day," 
 By the outward man you are to understand, 
 not merely our bodies, but our persons, es- 
 tates, and outward condition in this world ; 
 and by the inward man you are to understand, 
 our souls, our persons, considered according 
 to our spiritual estate. Now, when the in- 
 ward man gains new strength by every new 
 trouble, when as troubles, pressures, aftlic- 
 tions, and tribulations are increased, a Chris- 
 tian's inward strength Is increased also, then 
 his afflictions are in love ; when the presence 
 of God is with our inward man, cheering, 
 comforting, encouraging, strengthening, and 
 renewing of that, we may safely conclude, 
 that all these trials, though they are never so 
 sharp and smart, yet they are in love. 
 
 I have read of a company of poor Christi- 
 ans that were banished into some remote parts ; 
 and one standing by, seeing them pass along, 
 said. That it was a very sad condition those 
 poor people were in, to be thus hurried from 
 the society of men, and to be made compani- 
 ons with the beasts of the field. True, said 
 another, it were a sad condition indeed, if 
 they were carried to a place where they should 
 not find their God ; but let them be of good 
 rliccr, God goes along with them, and will ex-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 123 
 
 hibit the comforts of his presence whitherso- 
 ever they go. The presence of God with the 
 spirits of his people, is a breast of comfort that 
 can never be drawn dry; it is an everlasting 
 spring that will never fail. Well, Christian, 
 thou art under many great troubles, Heb. xiii. 
 5, 6. many sore trials, Isa. xl. 29, 30, 31. 
 But tell me, doth not God give into thy soul 
 such cordials, such supports, such comforts, 
 and such refreshments, that the world knows 
 not of ? O then certainly thy affliction is in love, 
 4. If by your afflictions you are made more 
 conformable to Christ in his virtues, then cer- 
 tainly your afflictions are in love. Many are 
 conformable to Christ in their sufferings, that 
 are not made conformable to Christ in his 
 virtues by their sufferings. Many are in po- 
 verty, neglect, shame, contempt, reproach, 
 &c. like to Christ, who yet by these are not 
 made more like to Christ, in his meekness, 
 humbleness, heavenliness, holiness, righteous- 
 ness, faithfulness, fruitfulness, goodness, con- 
 tentedness, patienoe, submission, subjection. 
 Oh, but if in these things you are made more 
 like to Christ, without all peradventure your 
 afflictions are in love. If by afflictions the 
 soul be led to shew forth or to preach forth 
 the virtues of Christ, as that word imports, in 
 that 1 Pet. ii. 9. then certainly those afflic- 
 tions are in love ; for they never have such an 
 operation, but where they are set on by a hand 
 of love. When God strikes as an enemy, 
 there all those strokes do but make a man 
 more an enemy to God ; as you see in Pha-
 
 124 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 raoh, and others : but ^vhen the strokes of 
 God are the strokes of love, Oh ! then they do 
 but bring the soul nearer Christ, and trans- 
 form the soul more and more into the likeness 
 of Christ. If by thy afflictions thou art made 
 more holy, humble, heavenly, &c. they are in 
 love. Every afflicted Christian should strive 
 to be honoured with that elegy of Salvian — An 
 excellent disciple of a singular master. But, 
 5. If by outward afflictions thy soul be 
 brought more under the inward teachings of 
 God, Job. xxxiv. 31, 32. doubtless thy afflic- 
 tions are in love, Psal. xciv. 12. " Blessed 
 is the man whom thou ehastenest, O Lord, 
 and teachest him out of thy law." All the 
 chastening in the world, without divine teach- 
 ing, will never make a man blessed. That 
 man that finds correction attended with in- 
 struction, and lashing with lessoning, is a hap- 
 py man. If God, by the affliction that is 
 upon thee, shall teach thee how to loath sin 
 more, how to trample upon the world more, 
 and how to walk with God more, thy afflic- 
 tions are in love : if God shall teach thee, by 
 afflictions, how to die to sin more, and how 
 to die to thy relations more, and how to die 
 to self-interest more, thy afflictions are in love; 
 if God shall teach thee, by afflictions, how to 
 live to Christ more, how to lift up Christ 
 more, and how to long for Christ more, thy 
 aflilictions are in love ; if God shall teach thee, 
 by afflictions, to get assurance of a better life, 
 and to be still in a gracious readiness and pre- 
 paredness for the day of thy death, thy afflic-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 125 
 
 lions are in love ; if God shall teach thee, by 
 afflictions, how to mind heaven more, how to 
 live in heaven more, and how to be fit for hea- 
 ven more, thy afflictions are in love : if God, 
 by afilictions, shall teach thy proud heart how 
 to lie more low, and thy hard heart how to 
 grow more humble, and thy censorious heart 
 how to grow more charitable, and thy carnal 
 heart how to grow more spiritual, and thy fro- 
 ward heart how to grow more quiet, &c. thy 
 afflictions are in love. When God teaches thy 
 reins as well as thy brains, thy heart as well 
 as thy head, these lessons, or any of these les- 
 sons, thy afflictions are ia love. Pambo, an il- 
 literate dunce, as the historian terms him, was 
 a-learning that one lesson — " I said, I will 
 take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my 
 tongue" — nineteen years, and yet he had not 
 learned it. Ah ! it is to be feared, that there 
 are many who have been in the school of afflic- 
 tion above these nineteen years, and yet have 
 not learned any saving lesson all this while. 
 Surely their afflictions are not in love, but in 
 wrath ; where God loves, he afflicts in love ; 
 and wherever God afflicts in love, there he 
 will, first or last, teach such souls such lessons 
 as shall do them good to all eternity. But, 
 
 6. If God suit your burdens to your backs, 
 your trials to your strength, according to that 
 golden promise, 1 Cor. x. IS. your afflictions 
 are in love. There hath no temptation taken 
 you, but such as is common to man : '' but 
 God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be 
 tf^mptcd above that ye are able : but will with 
 l3
 
 126 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 the temptation also make a way to escape, 
 that ye may be able to bear it." When God's 
 strokes and a Christian's strength are suited 
 one to another, all is in love ; let the load be 
 never so heavy that God lays on, if he put 
 nnder his everlasting arms, all is in love. As 
 Egypt had many venomous creatures, so it 
 had many antidotes against them ; when God 
 shall lay antidotes into the soul against all the 
 afilictions that befal a Christian, then they arc 
 all in love. It is no matter how heavy the 
 burden is, if God gives a shoulder to bear it, 
 all is in love. It is no matter how bitter the 
 cup is, if God g4ves courage to drink it off; it 
 is no matter how hot the furnace is, if God gives 
 power to walk in the midst of it, all is in love. 
 7, If thou art willing to lie in the furnace 
 till thy dross be consumed, if thou art willing 
 that the plaster should lie on (though it smart) 
 till the cure be wrought; if thou art willing 
 that the physic should work, (though it make 
 thee sick) till the humours be expelled, all is 
 in love. Cain, Saul, and Pharaoh were all for 
 the removing away of the stroke, the affliction; 
 they cry not out. Our sins are greater than 
 we are able to bear ; but they cry out, Our 
 punishment is greater than we are able to 
 bear. They cry not out. Lord, take away our 
 sins; but, Lord, remove the stroke of thy 
 hand. Oh ! but when an affliction comes in 
 love upon a soul, the language of that soul i.s 
 this, Lord, remove the cause, rather than the 
 effect; the sin, rather than the punishment; 
 my corruption, rather than my affliction.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD, 127 
 
 Lord, what will it avail me, to have the sore 
 skinned over, if the corrupt matter still re- 
 Diains in ? There is no evil, Lord, to the evil 
 of sin ; and therefore deliver me rather from 
 the evil of sin, than the evil of sufferings. I 
 know, Lord, that affliction cannot be so dis- 
 pleasing to me, as sin is dishonourable and dis- 
 pleasing to thee; and therefore, Lord, let me 
 see an end of my sin, though in this world I 
 should never see an end of my sorrows ; O let 
 me see an end of my corruptions, though I 
 should never see an end of my corrections. 
 Lord, 1 had rather have a cure for my heart, 
 than a cure for my head ; I had rather be 
 made whole and sound within, than without; 
 1 had rather have a healthy soul, than a healthy 
 body ; a pure inside, than a beautiful outside. 
 If this be the settled frame and temper of thy 
 spirit, certainly thy afflictions are in iove. 
 
 There was one, who being under marvel- 
 lous great pains and torments in his body, 
 (occasioned by many sore diseases that were 
 upon him,) cried out. Had I all the world, I 
 V, ould give it for ease ; and yet, for all the 
 world, I would not have ease, till the cure be 
 wrought. Sure his afflictions were in iove. 
 The first request, the great request, and the 
 last request of a soul afflicted in love, is, A 
 cure, Lord, a cure. Lord, a cure, Lord, of 
 tills wretched heart, and this sinful life, and 
 all will be well, all will be well. 
 
 8. Lastly, U you live a life of faith in your 
 affl.ictions, then your aftlictions are in love. 
 Now, what is it to live by faith in affliction,
 
 128 THE MUTE CI1IIISTIA\- 
 
 but to live in the exercising of faitlj upon 
 those precious promises that are made over 
 to an afflicted condition ? These following 
 promises have been choice cordials to niany 
 Christians under sore distresses. God liath 
 promised to be with his people in their afllic- 
 tions, Tsa. xliii. 2, 3. He hath promised to 
 support them under their afflictions, Isa. xli, 
 10. and Ivii. 15. I Tim. i. 15, John x. 27, 
 28, 29. Isa. xxvi. 3. Matt. xi. 28. I John iii, 
 14. He hath promised to deliver his people 
 out of their afflictions, Psal. 1. 15. He hath 
 promised to purge away his people's sins by 
 afflictions, Isa. i. 25. He hath promised to 
 make his people more partakers of his holiness 
 by affliction, Heb. xii. 10. He hath promised 
 to make afflictions an inlet to a more full and 
 sweet enjoyment of himself, Ilosea ii. 14. He 
 hath promised that he will never leave nor for- 
 sake his people in their afflictions, Heb. xiii. 
 5, 6. He hath promised that all their afflic- 
 tions shall work for their good, Zech. xiii. 9. 
 Rom. viii. 28. Now if thy faith be drawn 
 forth to feed upon these promises ; if these be 
 heavenly manna to thy faith, and thy soul lives 
 upon them, and sucks strength and sweetness 
 from them, under all the trials and troubles 
 that are upon thee, thy afflictions are in love. 
 A bee can suck honey out of a flower, which 
 a fly cannot ; if thy faith can extract comfort 
 and sweetness in thy saddest distresses out of 
 the breasts of precious promises, and gather 
 one contrary out of another, honey out of the 
 rock, thy afflictions are in love. The promises
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING HOD. 129 
 
 are full breasts, and God delights that faith 
 should draw them, as the mother delights that 
 the child should draw her's. They are the food 
 of faith, and the very soul of faith. They are 
 an everlasting spring that can never be drawn 
 dry; they are an inexhaustible treasure that 
 can never be exhausted ; they are the garden 
 of paradise, and full of such choice flowers 
 that will never fade, but be always fresh, 
 sweet, green, and flourishing, and if in the 
 day of affliction they prove thus to thy soul, 
 thy afflictions are in love. Sertorius paid what 
 he promised with fair words ; but so doth not 
 God. Men many times eat their words, but 
 God will never eat his ; all his promises in 
 Christ are Vea^ and in him Arnen^ 2 Cor. 
 i. 20. Hath he spoken it, and shall it not 
 come io pass ? Jf in all thy troubles thy heart 
 be drawn forth to act faith upon the promises, 
 thy troubles are from love. And tlius much 
 by way of answer to the first objection. 
 
 Object. 2. Oh! but,, iSir, the Lord hath 
 smitten me in mij nearest and dearest comjurts 
 and contentments^ and hozv thefi can I hold mt/ 
 peace ? Godhalh taken aicai) a husband^ a ix)ije^ 
 a child, an only child, a bosom-friend, and 
 hoiz then can J be silent P &c. 
 
 Ans. To this I answer, 1. If God did not 
 strike thee in that mercy which was near and 
 dear unto thee, it would not amount to an af- 
 fliction. That is not worthy the name of an 
 affliction, that doth not strike at some bosom- 
 mercy ; that trouble is no trouble, that doth 
 not touch somechoice contentment j thatstorm
 
 130 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 is no storm, that only blows off the leaves, but 
 never hurts the fruit ; that thrust is no thrust, 
 that only touches the clothes, but never reach- 
 es the skin ; that cut is no cut, that only cuts 
 the hat, but never touches the head ; neither 
 is that affliction any affliction, that only 
 reaches some remote enjoyment, but never 
 reaches a Joseph, a Benjamin, &c. 
 
 2. The best mercy is not too good for the 
 best God : the best of the best is not good 
 enough for him who is goodness itself ; the best 
 child, the best yoke-fellow, the best friend, the 
 best jewel in all thy crown, must be readily 
 resigned to thy best God ; there is no mercy, 
 no enjoyment, no contentment worthyof God, 
 but the best ; the milk of mercy is for others, 
 the cream of mercy is due to God; the choicest, 
 the fairest, and the sweetest flowers are fittest 
 for the bosom of God ; if he will take the 
 best flower in all tliy garden, and plant it in a 
 better soil, hast thou any cause to murmur ? 
 wilt thou not hold thy peace ? 
 
 3. Your near and dear mercies were first the 
 Lord*s, before they were yourij, and ahvays 
 the Lord's more than they were yours. When 
 God gives a mercy, he doth not relinqulsli his 
 own right in that mercy, I Chron. xxix. 14. 
 All things come of thee^ and of thine oxen hard 
 zee given thee. The sweet of mercy is yours, 
 but the sovereign right to dispose of your 
 mercies is the Lord's. Whatsoever thou art, 
 thou owest to him that made thee ; and what- 
 soever thou bust, thou owest to him that re- 
 deemed thee. You say it is but just and reri-
 
 (LiNDEJl THE SMARTING UOD. 131 
 
 sonable that men should do with their own as 
 they please ; and is it not just and reasonable 
 that God, who is Lord paramount, should do 
 with his own as he pleases ? Dost thou believe 
 that the great God may do in heaven what he 
 pleases, and on the seas what he pleases, and 
 iu the nations and kingdoms of the world what 
 he pleases, and in thy heart what he pleases ? 
 and dost thou not believe that God may do in 
 thy house what he pleases, and do with thy 
 mercies what he pleases ? Job. ix. 12*. Be^ 
 hold he iaketh azcai/y or he snatcheth away, 
 (it may be a husband, a wife, a child, an es- 
 tate,) uho can hinder him ? zcho will say unto 
 him, What dost thou ? Who dares cavil 
 against God ? who dares question that God 
 that is unquestionable ? that chief Lord that 
 is uncontrollable, and who may do with his 
 own what he pleaseth ? Dan. iv. 35. " And 
 all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as 
 nothing : and he doth according to his will in 
 the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants 
 of the earth ; and none ca,ji stay his hand, or 
 say unto hira, What dost thou ?" W^here is 
 the prince, the peasant, the master, the ser- 
 vant, the husband, the wife, the father, the 
 child, that dares say to God, What dost thou ? 
 In matters of arithmetical accounts, set one 
 against ten, ten against a hundred, a hundred 
 against a thousand, a thousand against ten 
 thousand, although there be great odds, 
 yet there is some comparison ; but if a man 
 
 * Job plainly alludes to God's taking awaj' his chil- 
 dren, senants, and cattle.
 
 132 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 could set down an infinite number, then there 
 could be no comparison at all, because the 
 one is finite, the other infinite; so set all the 
 princes and powers of the earth in opposition 
 to God, they shall never be able to withstand 
 him. It was once the saying of Pompey, 
 that with one stamp of his foot he could raise 
 all Italy in arms ; but let the great God but 
 stamp with his foot, and he can raise all the 
 world in arms, to own him, to contend for 
 him, or to revenge any affronts that by any 
 are put upon him ; and therefore who shall 
 say unto him, What dost thou ? Water is 
 stronger than earth, fire stronger than water, 
 angels stronger than men, and God stronger 
 than them all ; and therefore who shall say 
 unto God, what dost thou, when he takes 
 their nearest and their dearest mercies from 
 them ? But, 
 
 4. It may be thou hast not made an happy 
 improvement of thy near and dear mercies, 
 whilst thou enjoy edst them ; thou hast been 
 talcen with thy mercies, but thy heart hath 
 not been taken up in the improvement of 
 them ; there are many who are very much ta- 
 ken with their mercies, who make no consci- 
 ence of improving their mercies* Have thy 
 near and dear mercies been a star to lead thee 
 lo Christ ? have they been a cloud by day, 
 and a pillar of light by night, to lead thee to- 
 wards the heavenly Canaan ? have th«y been 
 a Jacob's ladder to thy soul ? hast thou by 
 them been provoked to give up thyself to God 
 as a living sacr(/t<:e? Rom. xii. J. ha^t thott
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 133 
 
 improved thy near and dear mercies to the 
 inflaming of thy love to God ? to the strength- 
 ening of thy confidence in God? to the rais- 
 ing thy communion with God? and to the 
 engaging thy heart to a more close and cir- 
 cumspect walking before God ? &c. If thou 
 hast not thus improved them, thou hast more 
 cause to be mute, than to murmur ; to be si- 
 lent, than to be impatient; to fall out with 
 thyself, than to fall out with God. Children 
 and fools are taken with many things, but 
 improve nothing: such children and fools arc 
 most men; they are much taken with their 
 mercies, but they make no improvement of 
 their mercies ; and therefore no wonder if God 
 strip them of their mercies. The candle of 
 mercy is set u p, not to play by, but to work by, 
 PJiny speaks of one Cressinus, who impro- 
 ved a little piece of ground to a far greater 
 advantage than his neighbours could a greater 
 quantity of land ; thereupon he was accused 
 of witchcraft; but he, to defend himself, 
 brought into the court his servants and their 
 working- tools, and said, These are my witch- 
 crafts, O ye Romans; these servants, and 
 these working-tools, are all the witchcraft 
 that I know of. When the people heard this 
 plea, with one consent they acquitted him, 
 and declared him not guilty ; and so his little 
 piece of ground was secured to him. There 
 is no way to secure your mercies, but by im- 
 proving them ; there is nothing that provokes 
 God to strip you of your mercies, like the 
 nonvimprovement of them, Matth. xxv, 24 — 
 
 M
 
 134 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 31. " Take therefore the talent from him, 
 and give it unto him that hath ten talents." 
 By some stroke or other God will take away 
 the mercy that is not improved. If thy sloth- 
 fulness hath put God upon passing a sentence 
 of death upon thy dearest mercy, thank thy- 
 self, and hold thy peace. 
 
 5. If in this case God hath made thee a pre- 
 cedent to others, thou must have held thy 
 peace ; how much more then shouldst thou be 
 mute when God hath made many others pre- 
 cedents to thee? Did not God smite Aaron 
 in his dear and near enjoyments? Lev. x. 1, 
 2. and doth he not hold his peace ? Did not 
 God smite David in his Absalom, and Abra- 
 ham in his Sarah, and Job in his sons, daugh- 
 ters, estate, and body, and Jonah in his gourd? 
 Art thou more beloved than these ? No. Hast 
 thou more grace than these ? No. Hast thou 
 done more for divine glory than these? No. 
 Art thou richer in spiritual experiences than 
 these ? No. Hast thou attained to higher en- 
 joyments than these ? No. Hast thou been 
 more serviceable in thy generation than these? 
 No. Ilast thou been more exemplary in tijy 
 life and conversation than these ? No. &c. 
 Then why shouldst thou murn)ur and fret at 
 that which hath been the common lot of the 
 dearest saints ? 
 
 Though God hath smitten (hee in this or 
 that near and dear enjoyment, it is thy wisdom 
 to hold thy peace ; for that God that hath ta- 
 ken away one, might have taken away all. 
 Justice writes a sentence of death upon all
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 135 
 
 Job's mercies at once, and yet he holds his 
 peace ; and wilt not thou hold thine, though 
 God hath cropt the fairest flower in all thy 
 garden ? 
 
 Anytus, a young spark of Athens, came 
 revelling to Alcibiades's house ; and as he sat 
 at supper with some strangers, he rose on a 
 sudden, and took away one half of his plate ; 
 thereupon the guests stormed, and took on at 
 it ; he bade them be quiet, and told them, that 
 he had dealt kindly with him, since that he 
 had left the one half, whereas he might have 
 taken all. So when our hearts begin to storm 
 and take on, when God smites us in this near 
 mercy, and in that dear enjoyment ; Oh ! let 
 us lay the law of silence upon our hearts, let 
 us charge our souls to be quiet ; for that God 
 that hath taken away one child, might have 
 taken away every child ; and he that hath ta- 
 ken away one friend, might have taken away 
 every friend ; and he that hath taken away a 
 part of thy estate, might have taken away thy 
 whole estate : therefore hold thy peace ; let 
 who will murmur, yet be thou mute. 
 
 6. It may be thy sins have been much about 
 thy near and dear enjoyments; it may be 
 thou hast over-loved them, and over, prized 
 them, and over-much delighted thyself in them ; 
 it may be they have often had thy heart, when 
 they should have had but thy hand : it may 
 be that care, that fear, that confidence, that 
 joy that should have been expended upon more 
 noble objects, hath been expended upon them. 
 Ah! how oftea hath one creature-comfort^
 
 136 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 and sometimes another, put in between Christ 
 and your souls! How often have your dear 
 enjoyments stood in ChristJs place! Ezelj. 
 xxiii. 17. Now, if a husband, a child, a friend, 
 shall take up that room in thy soul that is 
 proper and peculiar to God, God will either 
 embitter it, remove it, or be the death of it. 
 If once the love of a wife runs out more to a 
 servant, than to her husband, the master will 
 turn him out of doors, though otherwise he 
 were a servant worth gold. The sweetest 
 comforts of this life, they are but like trea- 
 sures of snow ; now do but take a handful of 
 snow, and crush it in your hands, and it will 
 melt away presently; but if you let it lie upon 
 the ground, it will continue for some time : 
 and so it is with the contentments of this 
 world ; if you grasp them in your hands, and 
 lay them too nearyour hearts, they will quick- 
 ly melt and vanish away; but if you will not 
 hold them too fast in your hands, nor lay them 
 too close to your hearts, they will abide the 
 longer with you. There are those that love 
 their mercies into their graves, that hug their 
 mercies to death, that kiss them till they kill 
 them. Many a man liath slain his mercies, by 
 setting too great a value upon them : many a 
 man hath sunk his ship of mercy, by taking 
 up in it ; over-loved mercies arc seldom long 
 lived, Ezek. xxiv. 21. When I take from 
 them the joy of their glory, the desire of their 
 eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, 
 their sons and their daughters. The way to 
 lose your mercies, is to indulge them 5 the
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 137 
 
 way to destroy them, is to fix your minds and 
 hearts upon them ; thou mayest write bitter- 
 ness and death upon that mercy first, that 
 hath first taken away thy heart from God. 
 Now, if God hath stript thee of that very 
 mercy with which thou hast committed spi- 
 ritual adultery, and idolatry, hast thou any 
 cause to murmur ? hast thou not rather cause 
 to hold thy peace, and to be mute before the 
 Lord? Christians, your hearts are Christ's 
 royal throne, and in this throne Christ will be 
 chief, (as Pharaoh said to Joseph, Gen. xli. 
 40.), he will endure no competitor. If you 
 shall attempt to throne the creature, be it ne- 
 ver so near and dear unto you, Christ will 
 dethrone it, he will destroy it ; he will quick- 
 ly lay tham in a bed of dust, who shall aspire 
 to his royal throne. But, 
 
 7. Thou hast no cause to murmur, because 
 of the loss of such near and dear enjoyments, 
 considering those more noble and spiritual 
 mercies and favours that thou still enjoyest. 
 Grant that Joseph is not, Gen. xlii. 36. and 
 Benjamin is not; yet Jesus is; he is yester- 
 day, and to. day, and the same for ever, Heb. 
 xiii. 8. 1 John iii. 9. Thy union and com- 
 munion with Christ remains still, the immor- 
 tal seed abides in thee still, the Sun of righte- 
 ousness shines upon thee still, thou art in fa- 
 vour with God still, and thou art under the 
 anointings of the Spirit still, and under the 
 influences of heaven still, &c., and why then 
 shouidst thou mutter, and not rather hold thy 
 peace ? 1 have read of one Dydimus, a godly 
 - M 3
 
 138 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 preacher who was blind ; Alexander, a godly 
 man, once asked him, whether he was not 
 sore troubled and afflicted for want of his 
 sight ? Oh yes, said Dydimus, it is a great 
 affliction and grief unto me; then Alexander 
 chid him, saying, Hath God given you the ex- 
 cellency of an angel, of an apostle, and are 
 you troubled for that which rats, and mice, 
 and brute beasts have? So say 1; Ah, Chris- 
 tians ! hath God blessed you, Eph. i. 3, 4* 
 with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places? 
 hath the Lord given you himself for a portion ? 
 hath hegiven you his Son for your redemption, 
 and his Spirit for your instruction ; and will 
 you murmur? Ilath he given his grace to 
 adorn you, his promises to comfort you, his 
 ordinances to better you, and the hopes of 
 heaven to encourage you ; and will you mut- 
 ter ? Paulinus Nolanus, when his city was 
 taken from him, prayed thus ; Lord, (said he), 
 let me not be troubled at the loss of my gold, 
 silver, honour, &c. for thou art all, and much 
 more than all these unto me. In the want of 
 all your sweetest enjoyments, Christ will be 
 all in all unto you. Col. iii. 11. My jewels 
 are my husband, said Phocion's wife; My 
 ornaments are my two sons, said the mother 
 of the Gracchi ; My treasures are my friends, 
 said Constantiiis; and so may a Christian un- 
 der his greatest losses say, Christ is my richest 
 jewels, my chiefest treasures, my best orna- 
 ments, my sweetest delights; look what all 
 these things are to a carnal heart, a worldly 
 heart, that (and more) is Christ to me.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 139 
 
 8. If God, bj smiting thee ia thy nearest 
 and dearest enjoyments, shall put thee upon a 
 more thorough smiting and mortifying of thy 
 dearest sins, thou hast no cause to murmur. 
 God cures David of adultery, by killing his 
 endeared child. There is some Delilah, Psal. 
 xviii. 23. some darling, some beloved sin or 
 other, Heb. xii. 1. that a Christian's calling, 
 condition, constitution, or temptations lead 
 him to play withal, and to hug in his own bo- 
 som, rather than some other. As in a ground 
 that lieth untilled, amongst the great variety 
 of weeds there is usually some master-weed 
 that is rifer and ranker than all the rest : and 
 as it is in the body of man, that although in 
 some degree or other, more or less, there be 
 a mixture of all the four elements, not any of 
 them wholly wanting, yet there is some one 
 of them predominant, that gives the denomi- 
 nation ; in which regard, some are said to be 
 of a sanguine, some of a phlegmatic, some of 
 a choleric, and some of a melancholic consti- 
 tution : so it is also in the souls of men, 
 though there be a general mixture and medley 
 of all evil and corrupt qualities, yet there is 
 some one usually that is paramount, which, 
 like the prince of devils, is most powerful and 
 prevalent, that swayeth and showeth forth 
 itself more eminently and evidently than any 
 other of them do. And as in every man's 
 body there is a seed and principle of death, 
 yet in some there is a proneness to one kind 
 of disease more than another, that may hasten 
 death ; so, though the root of sin and bitter-
 
 140 THE MUTE CHRISTIAI? 
 
 ness hath spread itself over all. yet every man 
 hath his inclination to one kind of sin rather 
 than another, and this may be called a man's 
 proper sin, his bosom-sin, his darling sin. 
 Now, it is one of the hardest vj^orks in this 
 ■world, to subdue and bring under this bosom- 
 sin. Oh ! the prayers, the tears, the sighs, 
 the sobs, the groans, that it will cost a Chris- 
 tian, before he brings under this darling sin ! 
 
 Now, if the Lord, by smiting thee in some 
 near and dear enjoyment, shall draw out thy 
 heart, to oppose thy master-sin, and shall so 
 sanctify the affliction, as to make it issue in 
 the mortification of thy bosom-corruption ; 
 ■what eminent cause wilt thou have rather to 
 bless him, than to sit down and murmur against 
 him ! And doubtless if thou art dear to God, 
 God will, by striking thy dearest mercy, put 
 thee upon striking at thy darling sin ; and 
 therefore hold thy peace, even then when 
 God touches the apple of thine eye. 
 
 9. Consider, that the Lord hath many ways 
 to make up the loss of a near and dear mercy 
 to thee, Mat. xix. 27— w//. He can make up 
 thy loss in something else that may be better 
 for thee, and he will certainly make up thy 
 loss, either in kind or in worth. He took from 
 David an Absalom, and he gave him a Solo- 
 mon ; he took from him a Michael, and gave 
 him a wise Abigail ; He took from Job seven 
 sons and three daughters, and afterwards he 
 gives him seven sons and three daughters ; he 
 took from Job a fair estate, and at last doubled 
 it to him : he removed the bodily presence of
 
 UNDER THE SMARTIKG ROD. 141 
 
 Christ from his disciples, bat gave them more 
 abundantly of his spiritual presence, John xvi. 
 7, 8. &c. Acts ii. which was by far the great- 
 er and the sweeter mercy. If Moses be taken 
 away, Joshua shall be raised in his room ; if 
 David be gathered to his fathers, a Solomoa 
 shall succeed him in his throne ; if John be 
 cast into prison, rather than the pulpit shall 
 stand empty, a greater than John, even Christ 
 himself, will begin to preach. He that lives 
 upon God in the loss of creature-comforts, 
 shall find all made up in the God of comforts ; 
 he shall be able to say, Though my child is 
 not, my friend is not, my yoke-fellow is not, 
 yet my God liveth, and blessed be my rock, Ps. 
 Ixxxix. 46. Though this mercy is not, and 
 that mercy is not, yet covenant-mercies, yet 
 the sure mercies of David continue, 2 Sam. 
 xxiii. 5. these bed and board with me, these 
 will to the grave and to glory with me. 1 have 
 read of a godly man, who living near a philo- 
 sopher, did often persuade him to become a 
 Christian : Oh ! but, said the philosopher, I 
 must, or may, lose all for Christ : to which 
 the good man replied. If you lose any thing 
 for Christ, he will be sure to repay it a hun- 
 dred-fold : Ay, but, said the philosopher, will 
 you be bound for Christ, that if he doth not 
 pay me, you will ? Yes, that I will, said the 
 good man ! So the philosopher became a Chris- 
 tian, and the good man entered into bond for 
 performance of covenants. Some time after 
 it happened, that the philosopher fell sick on 
 his death-bed, and holding the bond in his
 
 142 THE MUTE CHUISTIAN 
 
 hand, sent for the party engaged ; to whorrr 
 he gave up the bond, and said, Christ hath 
 paid all, there is nothing for you to pay ; take 
 your bond, and cancel it. Christ will suffer 
 none of his children to go by the loss ; he hath 
 all, and he will make up all to them ; in the 
 close, Christ will pay the reckoning. No man 
 shall ever have cause to say, that he hath been 
 a loser by Christ ; and therefore thou hast 
 much cause to be mute, thou hast no cause to- 
 murmur, though God hath snatched the fair- 
 est and the sweetest flower out of thy bosom. 
 10. How canst thou tell, but that which 
 thou callest a near and dear mercy, if it had 
 been continued longer to thee, might have 
 proved the greatest cross, the greatest calam- 
 ity and misery that ever thou didst meet with 
 in this world ? Our mercies, like choice wines, 
 many times turn into vinegar; our fairest 
 hopes are often blasted ; and that very mer- 
 cy which we sometimes have said should be a 
 staff to support us, hath proved a sword to 
 pierce us. Jlow often have our most flou-^ 
 rishing mercies withered in our hands, and 
 our bosom-contentments been turned into gafl 
 and wormwood ! If God had continued the 
 life of David's child to him, 2 Sam. xii. 16. 
 it would have been but a living monument of 
 bis sin and shame ; and all that knew the 
 child would have pointed at him — Yonder 
 goes David's bastard, and so have kept Da- 
 vid's wound still a-blceding. Many parents 
 who have sought the lives of their children 
 with tears, have lived afterwards to see them
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 143 
 
 take such courses and come to such dismal 
 €nds, as have brought their gray heads with 
 sorrow to the grave*. It had been ten thou- 
 sand times a greater mercy to many parents, 
 to have buried their children as soon as ever 
 they had been born, than to see them come to 
 such unhappy ends as they often do. Well, 
 Christian, it may be the Lord hath taken from 
 thee such a hopeful son, or such a dear daugh- 
 ter, that thou sayest how can I hold my 
 peace ? But hark, Christian, hark, canst thou 
 tell me, how long thou must have travailed 
 in birth with them again, before they had 
 been born again, before they bad been twice 
 born ? Would not every sin that they had 
 committed against thy gracious God, caused 
 a new throe in thy soul ? would not every 
 temptation that they had fallen before, been 
 as a dagger at thy heart? would not every 
 affliction that should have befallen them, been 
 as a knife at thy throat ? What are those 
 pains, and pangs, and throes of child-birth, to 
 those after-pains, pangs, and throes that 
 might have been brought upon thee, by the 
 sins and sufferings of thy children ? Well, 
 Christians, hold your peace, for you do not 
 know what thorns in your eyes, what goads 
 in your sides, nor what spears in your hearts, 
 such near and dear mercies might have prov- 
 ed, had they been longer continued. 
 
 11. Thou canst not tell, how bad thy heart 
 
 * This asje affords many sad insiances of this nature. 
 Who can think of Tyburn,' and qucstiou it ? and of kill- 
 '»s; and drowning, and say, How can this be ?
 
 144 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 might have proved under the eDJoyment of 
 those near and dear mercies that now thou hast 
 lost. Israel were very bad whilst they were 
 in the wilderness, Deut. xxxii. 5. to the end ; 
 but they were much worse when they came to 
 possess Canaan, that land of desires, Jer. v. 
 7, 8, 9 chap. ii. 31. and chap. xxii. 21. Hos. 
 iv. 7. Man's blood is apt to rise with his out- 
 ward good. In the winter, men gird their 
 clothes close about them, but in the summer 
 they let them hang loose ; in the winter of ad- 
 versity, many a Christian girds his heart close 
 to God, to Christ, to gospel, to godliness, to 
 ordinances, to duties, &c. who, in the sum. 
 mer of mercy, hangs loose from all. 
 
 I have read of the pine-tree, that if th^ 
 bark be pulled off, it will last a long time ; 
 but if it continue long on, it rots the tree. 
 Ah ! how bad, how rotten, how base would 
 many have proved, had not God pulled off 
 their bark of health, wealth, friendship, &c. ! 
 Nea^ and dear relations, they stick as close to 
 lis, as the bark of a tree sticks to the tree ; and 
 if God should not pull off this bark, how apt 
 should we be to rot and corrupt ourselves ! 
 therefore God is fain to bark us, and peel us, 
 and strip us naked and bare of our dearest en- 
 joyments, and sweetest contentments, that so 
 our souls, like the pine-tree, may prosper and 
 thrive the better. Who can seriously consi- 
 der of this, and not hold his peace, even then 
 when God takes a jewel out of his bosom ? 
 Heap all the sweetest contentments, and most 
 desirable enjoyments of this world, upon a
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 145 
 
 man, they will not make him a Christian ; 
 heap them upon a Christian, they will not 
 make him a better Christian ; many a Chris- 
 tian hath been made worse by the good things 
 of this world, but where is the Christian that 
 hath been bettered by them ? Therefore be 
 quiet when God strips thee of them. 
 
 12. Lastly, Get thy heart more affected 
 with spiritual losses, and then Ihy soul will be 
 less afflicted with those temporal losses that 
 thou mournest under. Hast thou lost no- 
 thing of that presence of God, that once thou 
 hadst with thy spirit ? Hast thou lost none 
 of those warmings, meltings, quickenings, 
 and cheerings that once thou hadst ? Hast 
 thou lost nothing of thy communion with 
 God, nor of the joys of the spirit, nor of that 
 peace of conscience that once thou enjoy- 
 edst? Hast thou lost none of that ground 
 that once thou hadst got upon sin, Satan, and 
 the world ? Hast thou lost nothing of that 
 holy vigour, and heavenly heat, that once thou 
 hadst in thy heart ? If thou hast not, (which 
 would be a miracle, a wonder), why dost 
 thou complain of this or that temporal loss ? 
 For what is this, but to complain of the loss 
 of thy purse, when thy gold is safe ? If thou 
 art a loser in spirituals, why dost thou not 
 rather complain, that thou hast lost thy God, 
 than that thou hast lost thy gold ? and that 
 thou hast lost thy Christ, than that thou hast 
 lost thy husband ? and that thou hast lost thy 
 peace, than that thou hast lost thy child ? 
 and that thou art ^ loser in spirituals, than
 
 146 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 that thou art a loser in temporals? Dost 
 thou jnourn over the body the soul hath left? 
 Mourn rather over the soul that God hath 
 forsaken, (as Samuel did for Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 
 35.) saith one. 
 
 I have read of Honorius a Roman emperor, 
 who ^vas simple and childish enough, when 
 one told him Rome was lost, he was exceeding- 
 ly grieved, and cried out, Alas ! alas ! for he 
 supposed it was his hen that was called Rome, 
 which hen he exceedingly loved ; but when 
 it was told him, it was his imperial city of 
 Rome that was besieged by Alaricus, and 
 taken, and all the citizens rifled and made a 
 prey to the rude enraged soldiers, then his spi- 
 rits were revived, that his loss was not so 
 great as he imagined. Now what is the loss 
 of a husband, a wife, a child, a friend, to the 
 loss of God, Christ, the Spirit, or the least 
 measure of grace, or communion with God ? 
 ^c. I say what are all such losses, but the 
 loss of a hen, to the loss of Rome ? And yet 
 so simple and childish are many Christians, 
 that they are more affected and afflicted with 
 the loss of this and that poor temporal enjoy- 
 ment, than they are with the loss of their 
 most spiritual attainments. Ah, Christians ! 
 be but more aflfected with spiritual loss^, and 
 you will be more quiet and silent under tem- 
 poral losses. Let the loss of Rome trouble 
 you more, and then the loss of your hen will 
 not trouble you at all. Let these things suf- 
 fice for answer to the second objection. 
 
 Object. 3. " Oh I but my afflictions, my
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 147 
 
 troubles, have been long upon me, and how 
 then can I hold my peace ? Were they but 
 of yesterday, I would be quiet ; but they are 
 of a long continuance ; and therefore how can 
 I be silent ?" 
 
 To this I answer, 1, Thou canst not date 
 thy affliction from the first day of thy pollu- 
 tion. Thou hast been polluted from the 
 womb, but thou Hast not been afflicted from 
 the womb, Psal. li. 5. Many have been the 
 days, the years, since thou wast born in sin ; 
 few have been the days, the years, that thou 
 hast experienced sorrow : thou canst not ea- 
 sily number (he days of thy sinning; thou 
 canst easily number the days of thy suffering ; 
 thou canst not number thy days of mercy, thou 
 canst easily number thy days of calamity; 
 thou canst not number thy days of health, 
 but thou canst easily tell over thy days of 
 sickness. 
 
 2. Thy afflictions are not so long as the af- 
 flictions of other saints ; compare thy winter- 
 nights and other saints' winter-nights toge- 
 ther ; thy storms and troubles and other 
 saints* storms and troubles together ; thy losi 
 ses and other saints' losses together; thy mi- 
 series and other saints' miseries together ; 
 witness these following proofs, Psal. Ixxvii. 
 and Ixxxviii. Gen. xv. 12, 13. Exod. xii. 40, 
 41, 42. Jer. xxv. 11, 12. Thy afflictions are 
 but as a moment, they are but as yesterday, 
 if compared with the afflictions of other saints, 
 whose whole lives have been made up of sor- 
 rows and"* sufferings, as the life of Christ
 
 148 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 was ; many a roan's life hath been nothing 
 but a lingering death, Job xxi. 25. '' And 
 another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and 
 never eateth with pleasure.'* There are those 
 that have never a good day all their days, who 
 have not a day of rest among ail their days of 
 trouble, nor a day of health among all their 
 days of sickness, nor a day of gladness among 
 all their days of sadness, nor a day of strength 
 among all their days of weakness, nor a day 
 of honour among all their days oif reproach, 
 Avhose whole life is one continued winter's 
 night, who every day drink gall and worm- 
 wood, who lie down sighing, who rise groan- 
 ing, and who spend their days in complaining, 
 No sorrow to our sorrows, no sufferings to 
 our sufferings: some there be who have al- 
 ways tears in their eyes, sorrows in their 
 hearts, rods on their backs, and crosses in 
 their hands ; but it is not so with thee, 
 therefore be silent. 
 
 3. The longer thy affliction hath been, the 
 sweeter will heaven be to thee at last. The 
 longer the Israelites had been in the wilder- 
 ness, the sweeter was Canaan to them at last, 
 Psal. cxxvi. 1 , 2, 5, 6. The longer the storm, 
 the sweeter the calm ; the longer the winter- 
 nights, the sweeter the summer days; long af- 
 flict'ons will much set off the glory of heaven. 
 The harbour is most sweet and desirable to 
 them that have been long tossed upon the seas ; 
 so will heaven be to those who have been long 
 in a sea of troubles. The new wine of Christ*s 
 kingdom is most sweet to those that have 
 been long a-drinking of gall and vinegar,
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 149 
 
 Luke xxii. 18. The crown of glory will be 
 most delightful to them who have been long in 
 combating with the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil. The longer our journey is, the sweet- 
 er will be our end ; and the longer our pas- 
 sage is, the sweeter will our haven be. The 
 higher the mountain, the gladder we shall be 
 when we are got to the top of it. The longer 
 the heir is kept from his inheritance, the more 
 delight he will have when he comes to possess it. 
 4. They are not long, but short, if com- 
 pared to that eternity of glory that is reserved 
 for the saints, 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17, IS. If you 
 turn to the words, you shall find for affliction, 
 glory ; for light afflictions, a weight of glory ; 
 and for short momentary afflictions, eternal 
 glory: there will quickly be an end of thy 
 sadness, but there will never be an end of thy 
 happiness ; there will soon be an end of thy 
 calamity and misery, there will never be an 
 end of thy felicity and glory; the kingdoms 
 of this world are not lasting, much less are 
 they everlasting, they have all their climac- 
 terical years ; but the kingdom of heaven is 
 an everlasting kingdom, of that there is no 
 end. There were seven sorts of crowns that 
 were in use among the Roman victors, but 
 they were all fading and perishing ; but the 
 crown of glory that at last God will set upon 
 the heads of his saints shall continue as long 
 as God himself continues. Who can look 
 upon those eternal mansions that are above, 
 and those everlasting pleasures that be at 
 God's right hand^ and say, that his affliction 
 N 3
 
 1 50 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 is long ? Well, Christian, let thy affliction be 
 never so long, yet one hour's being in the 
 bosom of Christ, will make thee forget both 
 the length and strength of all thy afflictions. 
 
 5. The longer you haye been afflicted, the 
 more in spiritual experiences you have beea 
 enriched, 2 Cor. i. 5. " For as the sufferings 
 of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also 
 aboundeth by Christ." The lower the ebb, 
 the higher the tide ; the more pain, the more 
 gain ; the more afflicted, the more comforted ; 
 the lower we are cast, the higher we shall be 
 raised. Of all Christians, none so rich in 
 spiritual experiences, as those that have been 
 long in the school of affliction, Heb. xii. 11. 
 2 Cor. xii. 9. Job xxxiii. 17—22. Oh I the 
 blessed stories that such can tell, of the pow- 
 er of God supporting them, of the wisdom of 
 God directing them, of the favour of God 
 comforting them, of the presence of God as- 
 sisting them ! O I the love-tokens, the love- 
 letters, the bracelets, the jewels that they are 
 able to produce since they have been in the 
 furnace of affliction ! Oh! the sins that long 
 afflictions have discovered and mortified ! Oh ! 
 the temptations that long afflictions have pre- 
 vented and vanquished ! You shall as soon 
 number the stars of heaven, and the sands of 
 the sea, as you shall number up the heavenly 
 experiences of such Christians that have been 
 long under afflictions. The afflicted Christi- 
 an's heart is fullest of spiritual treasure; 
 though he may be poor in the world, yet he is 
 rich in faith, and holy experiences; and what
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 151 
 
 are all the riches of this world to spiritual ex- 
 periences ? One spiritual experience is more 
 •worth than a world ; and upon a dying bed, 
 and before a judgment- seat, eyery man will 
 be of this opinion. The men of this world 
 will, with much quietness and calmness of spi* 
 rit, bear much and suflfer much, aye, and suf- 
 fer long, when they find their suflferings to add 
 to their revenues : and shall nature do more 
 than grace? It is the common Toice of na- 
 ture, Who will shew us any good? How shall 
 we come to be great, and high, and rich in 
 the world ? We care not what we suflFer, nor 
 how long we suflfer, so we may but add house 
 to house, heap to heap, bag to bag, and land 
 to land. Oh ! how much more then should 
 Christians be quiet and calm under all their 
 afflictions, though they are never so long ! 
 considering, that they do but add jewels to a 
 Christian's crown : they do but add to his 
 spiritual experiences. The long-afflicted 
 Christian hath the fullest and the greatest 
 trade ; and, in the day of account, will be 
 found the richest man. 
 
 6. Long afflictions sometimes ar« but pre- 
 paratives to long-lived mercies. Joseph's 
 thirteen years' imprisonment was but a pre- 
 parative to fourscore years' reigning like a 
 king : David's seven years' banishment was 
 but a preparative to forty yeart' reigning in 
 much honour and glory : Job's long afflictions 
 were but preparatives to more long-lived mer- 
 cies ; as you may see in that last of Job : and 
 those sad and sore trials that the Jews have
 
 152 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 teen under for above sixteen hundred years, 
 are to prepare them for those matchless mer- 
 cies, Isa. Ixii. Ixiii. and chap. Ixvi. and those 
 endless glories (in some sense) that God in 
 the latter days will crown them with, Isa. liv. 
 11, 12, 13, 14. "Oh thou afflicted, tossed 
 with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I 
 will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay 
 thy foundations with sapphires. And I will 
 make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of 
 carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant 
 stones. All thy children shall be taught of 
 the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy 
 children. In righteousness shalt thou be esta. 
 blished : thou shalt be far from oppression, 
 for thou shalt not fear ; and from terror, for 
 it shall not come near thee." Though they 
 have been long afflicted and tossed, yet they 
 shall at last, upon glorious foundations, be 
 established ; God will not only raise them out 
 of their distressed estate, wherein now they 
 are, but he will advance them to a most emi- 
 nent and glorious condition in this world ; 
 they shall be very glorious, and outshine all 
 the world in spiritual excellencies, and out- 
 ward dignities : Isa. Ix. 14, 15. " The sons 
 also of them that afflicted thee, shall come 
 bending unto thee ; and all they that despised 
 thee, shall bow themselves down at the soles 
 of thy feet ; and they shall call thee, The city 
 of the Lord, the Zion of the holy one of Israel, 
 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so 
 that no man went through thee, I will make 
 thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many gene-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING HOD. 153 
 
 rations." Ah, Christians ! do not mutter nor 
 murmur under your long afflictions ; for you 
 do not know but that, by these long afflictions, 
 God may prepare and fit you for such favours 
 and blessings that may never have an end : 
 by long afflictions, God many times prepares 
 his people for temporal, spiritual, and eternal 
 mercies. If God, by long afflictions, makes 
 more room in thy soul for himself, his Son, his 
 Spirit, his word ; if by long afflictions he shall 
 crucify thy heart more to the world, and to 
 thy relations, and frame and fashion thy soul 
 more for celestial enjoyments, hast thou any 
 cause to murmur? Surely not. But, 
 
 7. The longer a saint is afflicted on earth, 
 the more glorious he shall shine in heaven ; 
 the more affliction here, the more glory here- 
 after, 2Cor. iv. 16, 17, 18. Matth. vi. 10, 
 11, 1^. This truth may be thus made out : 
 
 (I.) The more gracious souls are afflicted, 
 the more their graces are exercised and in- 
 creased, Heb. xii. 10. Rom. v. 3, 4, 5. Now, 
 the more grace here, the more glory hereaf- 
 ter; the higher in grace, the higher in glory. 
 Grace differs nothing from glory but in name : 
 grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace 
 at the full ; glory is nothing but the perfec- 
 tion of grace, happiness is nothing but the per- 
 fection of holiness ; grace is glory in the seed, 
 and glory is grace in the flower ; grace is glo- 
 ry militant, and glory is grace triumphant; 
 grace and glory differ in degree, not kind, as 
 the learned speak. Now, it is most certain, 
 that the more gracious souls are afflicted, the
 
 154 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 more their graces are exercised ; and the more 
 grace is exercised, the more it is increased ; 
 as 1 have sufficiently demonstrated in this 
 treatise already. But, 
 
 (2.) The longer a gracious sou! is afflicted^ 
 the more his religious duties will be multiplied 
 Psal. cix. 4. *' For my love they are my adver- 
 saries : but I give my soul unto prayer ;" or, 
 as the Hebrew reads it, But I am prayer^ or a 
 man of prayer. In times of affliction, a Chris- 
 tian is all prayer ; he is never so much a man 
 of prayer, a man given up to prayer, as in 
 times of affliction. A Christian is never so fre- 
 quent, so fervent, so abundant in the work 
 of the Lord, as when he is afflicted. Is. xxvi. 
 16. *' Lord, in trouble have they visited thee ; 
 they poured out a prayer, when thy chastening 
 was upon them.'* Now they do not only pray, 
 but they pour out a prayer ; they were freely, 
 largely, and abundantly in prayer, when the 
 rod was upon them. Look, as men plentifully 
 pour out water for the quenching of a fire, so 
 did they plentifully pour out their prayers be- 
 fore the Lord ; and as affliction puts a man 
 upon being much in prayer, so it puts him 
 upon other duties of religion answerably. 
 Now this is most certain, that though God will 
 reward no man for his works, yet he will re- 
 ward every man according to his works, Matt, 
 XXV. 46. 1 Cor, xv. 58. " Therefore, my be- 
 loved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, 
 always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
 forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not 
 in tain in the Lord." 2. Cor.ix.6. ButthisI
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 15^ 
 
 say, *' He which soweth sparingly, shall reap 
 also sparingly ; and he which soweth bounti- 
 fully, shall reap also bountifully ;" or he which 
 soweth in benedictions or blessings, shall reap 
 in benedictions, as it runs in the original. 
 
 It is an excellent observation of Calvin, up, 
 on God's rewarding the Rechabites' obedience, 
 Jer, XXXV. 19. God, saith he, oft recompen- 
 seth the shadows and seeming appearances of 
 Tirtue, to shew what complacency he takes in 
 the ample rewards he hath reserved for true 
 and sincere piety. Now, if the longer a Chris- 
 tian is afflicted, the more his religious services 
 will be multiplied ; and the more they are 
 multiplied, the more his glory at last will be 
 incBeased : then, the longer a saint is afflicted 
 on earth, the more glory he shall have whea 
 he comes to heaven. But, 
 
 (3.) The longer any saint is afflicted, the 
 more into the image and likeness of Christ he 
 will be transformed. It is one of God's great de- 
 signs and ends in afflicting his people, to make 
 them more conformable to his Son : and God 
 will not lose his end; men often lose their's, 
 but God never hath, nor will lose his ; and 
 experience tells us, that God doth every day 
 by afflictions accomplish his end upon his peo- 
 ple : the longer they are afflicted, the more 
 they are made conformable to Christ, in meek- 
 ness, lowliness, spiritualness, heavenliness, in 
 faith, love, self-denial, pity, compassion, &c. 
 Now certainly, the more like to Christ, the 
 more beloved of Christ ; the more a Christian 
 is like to Christ, the more he is the delight of
 
 156 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Christ ; and the more like to Christ on earthy 
 the nearer the soul shall sit to Christ in heaven. 
 Nothing makes a man more conformable to 
 Christ than afflictions. Justin Martyr (in his 
 second apology for the Christians) hath ob- 
 served, that there is scarce any prediction or 
 prophecy concerning our Saviour Christ, the 
 Son of God, to be made man, but the Heathen 
 writers (who were all after Moses) did front 
 thence invent some fable, and feign it to have 
 been acted by some one or other of Jupiter's 
 sons ; only the prophecies about the cross of 
 Christ they have taken from the ground of no 
 fable ; they have not, among all their fictions, 
 told us of any one of Jupiter's sons that was 
 crucified, that acted his part upon the cross. 
 ManywouldwearthecrownwithChrist,thatdo 
 not care for bearing the cross with Christ. But, 
 
 8. The longer they have been^ the greater 
 cause thou hast to be silent and patient ; for 
 impatience will but lengthen out the day of thy 
 sorrows; every impatient act adds one link 
 more to the chain ; every act of frowardness 
 adds one lash more to those that have already 
 been laid on ; every act of muttering will but 
 add stroke to stroke, and sting to sting; every 
 act of murmuring will but add burden to bur- 
 den, and storm to storm : the most compen- 
 dious way to lengthen out thy long afflictions, 
 is to fret, and vex, and murmur under them* 
 As thou wouldst see a speedy issue of thy long 
 afflictions, sit mute and silent under them. 
 
 9. God's time is the best time ; mercy is 
 never nearer : salvation is at hand, deliverance*
 
 UNI^ER THE SMA&T(NU ROD. 157 
 
 ii at the door, when a man's heart is brought 
 into such a frame, as to be freely willing that 
 God should time his mercy, and time his deli. 
 Tcrance for him. The physician's time is the 
 best time for the patient to haTC ease. The 
 impatient patient cries out to his physician, 
 Oh, Sir ! a little ease, a little refreshment ; 
 Oh, the pains, the torments that I am under I 
 Oh, Sir ! I think every hour two, and every 
 two ten, till comfort comes, till refreshment 
 comes: but the prudent physician hath turned 
 the hour-glass, and is resolved that his physic 
 shall work so long, though his patient frets, 
 flings, roars, tears. So when we are under 
 afflictions, we are apt to cry out. How long, 
 Xiord, shall it be before ease comes, before 
 deliverance comes ? Oh, the tortures ! Oh the 
 torments that we are under ! Lord, a little re. 
 freshment ; Oh, how long are these nights ! 
 Oh, how tedious are these days t But God 
 hath turned our glass, and he will not heark. 
 en to our cry, till our glass be out : after al! 
 our fretting and flinging, we must stay his 
 time, who knows best when to deliver us, and 
 bow to deliver us out of all our troubles ; 
 and who will not stay a moment when the 
 glass is out that he hath turned ? But, 
 
 10. Lastly, They shall last no longer than 
 there is need, and then they shall work for 
 thy good. It is with souls, a& it is with bodies ; 
 some bodies are more easily and more sudden. 
 ly cured than others are, and so are some 
 souls ; God will not sufi^er the plaister to lie 
 one day, no not one hour, no not a moment 
 o
 
 158 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 longer than there is need ; some flesh heals 
 quickly, proud flesh is long a-healing ; by af- 
 fliction God quickly heals some, but others 
 are long a-healing, 1 Pet. i. 6. If need be^ ye 
 are in heaviness^ through 7nanifold temptations^ 
 or through various afilictions : the burden shall 
 lie no longer upon thee than needs must, thy 
 pain shall endure no longer than needs must, 
 thy physic shall make thee no longer sick than 
 needs must, &c. Thy heavenly Father is a 
 physician, as wise as he is loving ; when thy 
 heart begins to grow high, he sees there is 
 need of some heavy affliction to bring it low ; 
 when thy heart grows cold, he sees there is 
 need of some fiery affliction to heat it, and 
 warm it : when thy heart grows dull and 
 dead, he sees there is need of some smart af- 
 fliction to enliven and quicken it. And as 
 thy afflictions shall continue no longer than 
 there is need, so they shall last no longer than 
 they shall work for thy good. If all along 
 they shall work for thy good, thou hast no 
 cause to complain that thy aflHictions arc long. 
 That they shall thus work, 1 have fully pro- 
 ved in the former part of this book. And 
 thus much for answer to the third objection. 
 Object. 4. " 1 would be mute and silent 
 under my afflictions, but my afflictions daily 
 multiply and increase upon me ; like the waves 
 of the sea, they come rolling one over another, 
 &c. and how then can 1 hold my peace? How 
 can I lay my hand upon my mouth, when the 
 .sorrows of my heart are daily increased ?'*
 
 UNDER THE SMARtlNG ROD, 159 
 
 To this I answer thus, 1 . Thy afflictions are 
 not so many as thy sins ; thy sins are as the 
 stars of heaven, and as the sands of the sea, 
 that cannot be numbered. There are three 
 things that no Christian can number. (I.) 
 His sins. (2.) Divine favours. (3.) The joys 
 and pleasures that be at Christ's right hand. 
 But there is no Christian so poor an account- 
 ant, but that he may quickly sura up the num- 
 ber of his troubles and afflictions in this world. 
 Thy sins, O Christian ! are like the Syrians 
 that filled the country ; but thy afflictions are 
 like the two little flocks of kids that pitched 
 before them, 1 Kings xx. 27. therefore hold 
 thy peace. 
 
 2. If such should not be mute and silent 
 under their afflictions, whose afflictions are in- 
 creased and multiplied upon them, then there 
 are none in the world who will be found mute 
 and silent under their afflictions : for certain. 
 \y there are none who do not find the waters 
 of affliction to grow daily upon them ; if this 
 be not so, what means the bleating of the 
 sheep, and the lowing of the oxen ? What 
 mean the daily sighs, groans, and complaints 
 of Christians amongst us, if their troubles, 
 like the waters in Ezekiel's sanctuary, be not 
 still increasing upon them ? Every day brings 
 us tidings of new straits, new troubles, new 
 
 .Crosses, new losses, new trials, &c. 
 
 3. They are not so many as God might 
 have exercised thee with ; God could as easi- 
 ly exercise thee with ten as with two, and 
 "with a hundred as with ten, and with a thou.
 
 160 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 sand as with a hundred. Let thy a^ictlons 
 be never so many, yet they are not so many 
 as they might have been, had God either 
 consulted with thy sins, with thy deserts, or 
 •with his own justice : there is no cottiparisbli 
 between those afflictions that God hath in- 
 flicted upon thee, and those that he might 
 have inflicted ; thou hast not one burden of a 
 thousand that God could have laid on, but he 
 would not; therefore hold thy peace. 
 
 4. Thy afflictions are not so many as ihf 
 mercies* ; nay, they are not to be named in 
 the day wherein thy mercies are spoken of. 
 What are thy crosses to thy cotaforts, ihf 
 miseries to thy mercies, thy days of sicknesS 
 to thy days of health, thy days of weakness 
 to thy days of strength, thy days of scarcity 
 to thy days of plenty ? And this is that the 
 wise man would have us seriously to consider, 
 Eccl. vii. 14. In the day oj adversity const' 
 der: but what must we consider? thai God 
 hath set thee one over-against the other, AS 
 God hath set winter and summcl*, night and 
 day, fair weather and foul, one over-against 
 another ; so let us set our present mercieS 
 over-against our present troubles ; and we shall 
 presently find, that our mercies exceed our 
 troubles, that they mightily overbalance our 
 present afflictions ; therefore let us be silent^ 
 let us lay our hands upon our modths. 
 
 * What are the number of princes, to the subject* 
 that are under them ? or what are the number of ge- 
 nerals, to the number of soldiers th it are commandei 
 by them ? No more are thy afflictions (o thy mierri^a.
 
 UNn£ll THE SMARTING ROD. IGl 
 
 5. If you cast up a just and righteous ac- 
 count, you will find that they are not so ma- 
 ny as the afflictions that have befallen other 
 saints*. Ha^e you reckoned up the afflictions 
 that befel Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Job, 
 Asaph, Heman, the prophets and apostles ? 
 If you have, you will say, that your afflic- 
 tions are no afflictions to those that have be- 
 fallen them ; their lives were filled up with 
 sorrows and sufferings, but so are not yours ; 
 therefore kiss the rod, and be silent. It may 
 be if thou lookest but upon thy relations, thy 
 friends, thy neighbours, thou raayst find ma- 
 ny whose afflictions for number and weight 
 do much outweigh thine ; therefore be silent, 
 murmur not, hold thy peace. 
 
 6. Not so many as attended our Lord Jesus, 
 whose whole life, from the cradle to the cross, 
 (Isa. liii. read the whole chapter), was no- 
 thing but a life of sufferings. Osorius, wri- 
 ting of the sufferings of Christ, saith, that the 
 crown of thorns bored his head wrth seventy- 
 two wounds. Many seventy-two afflictions 
 did Christ meet with whilst' he was in this 
 world ; none can be ignorant of this, who 
 have but read the New Testament ; he is call- 
 ed a man of sorrows ; his whole life was filled 
 up with sorrows ; when he was but a little 
 past thirty years of age, sorrows, pains, trou- 
 bles, oppositions, persecutions, had so worn 
 him, that the Jews judged him towards fifty, 
 
 * Read but the ten persecutions, and thou wilt be 
 fiiH of this opinion. 
 
 o3
 
 162 THE MtJTE C&felStlA* 
 
 John Tiii. 57, A man had as good compare 
 the number of his bosom-friends with the stars 
 of heaven, as Compare his afflictions and the 
 afflictions of Christ together. 
 
 7. Mutteridg and murmuring will but add 
 to the number. When the child is under the 
 rod, his crying and fretting do but add lash to 
 lash, blow to blow : But of this enough before. 
 
 8. Lastly, Though there are many, yet they 
 are not so many as the joys, the pleasures, 
 the delights that be at Christ's right hand; 
 as the pleasures of heaven are matchless and 
 endless, so they are numberless. Augustine 
 speaking concerning what we can say of hea- 
 vett, saith, that it is but a little drop of the 
 sea, and a little spark of the great furnace. 
 Those good things of eternal life are so many, 
 that they exceed number ; so great, that they 
 exceed measure ; so preciouis, that they are 
 above all estimation. Neither Christ nor hea- 
 ven can be hyperbolized ; for every affliction, 
 many thousand joys and delights will attend 
 the saints in a glorified state. What will 
 that life be, or rather, what will not that life 
 be, saith one, (speaking of heaven) since all 
 good cither is not at all, or in such a life? 
 light which plac6 cannot comprehend, voices 
 and music which time cannot ravish away, 
 odours which are never dissipated, a feast 
 which is never cdtisumed, a blessing which 
 eternity bestow^th, but eternity shall never 
 see at an end. And let this suffice for an. 
 swer to iWis fourth ohjectioit.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 163 
 
 Object. 5. My afflictions are very greaty 
 how then can I hold my peace? Though they 
 were many, yet if they were not great^ 1 would 
 be mute; but alas, they are very^ very great. 
 Oh ! how can I be silent under them ? how can 
 I now lay my hand upon my mouth ? 
 
 To this I answer, 1. Though they are great, 
 yet they are not so great as thy sins, thyself 
 being judge; therefore hold thy peace*. 
 Ezra, ix, 1 3. ''And after all that is come 
 upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great 
 trespasses, seeing that thou our God hast 
 punished us less than our iniquities deserve." 
 They that are under the sense and guilt of 
 great sins, have cause to be silent under their 
 greatest suflferings. Never complain that thy 
 afflictions are great, till thou canst say, that 
 thy sins are not great; it is but justice that 
 great afflictions should attend great sins, 
 therefore be quiet. Thy sins are like great 
 rocks, and mighty mountains; but so are not 
 thy afflictions, therefore lay thy hand upon 
 X\iy mouth. The remembrance of great sins 
 should cool and calm a man's spirit under 
 his greatest troubles; and if the sense of thy 
 great sins will not stop thy mouth, and silence 
 thy heart, I know not what will. 
 
 2. It may be they are not great, if you look 
 upon them with scripture-spectacles. Flesh 
 and blood many times look upon mole-hills 
 as mountains, and scratches upon the hand as 
 stabs at the heart ; we make elephants of flies, 
 and of little pigmies we frame giants. Car« 
 
 * Read Psalm cvi. Nehemiah ir.
 
 164 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 nal reason often looks upon troubles through 
 false glasses. As there are some glasses that 
 ■will make great things seem little, so there 
 are others that will make little things seem 
 great ; and it may be that thou lookest upon 
 thy afflictions through one of them. Look 
 upon thy afflictions in the glass of the word ; 
 look upon them in a scripture-dress, and then 
 they will be found to be but little ; he that 
 shall look into a gospel-glass, shall be able to 
 say, Heavy afflictions are light, long afflic- 
 tions are short, bitter afflictions are sweet, and 
 great afflictions are little, 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17, 
 18. It is good to make a judgment of your 
 afflictions by a gospel-light, and hy a gospel- 
 rule. 
 
 Artemon, an engineer, was afraid of his 
 own shadow. Men that look not upon their 
 afflictions in a scripture-dress, will be afraid 
 even of the shadow of trouble ; they will cry 
 out, No affliction to our affliction, no burden 
 to our burden, no cross to our cross, no loss 
 to our loss ; but one look into a gospel-glass 
 would make them change their note. The lion 
 is not always so great nor so terrible as he 
 is painted ; neither are our troubles always so 
 great as we fancy them to be. When Hagar's 
 bottle of water was spent, she sat down and 
 fell a weeping, as if she had been utterly un- 
 done ; her provision and her patience, her 
 bottle and her hope, were both out together, 
 Gen. xxi. 17, 18, 19. but her affliction was 
 not so great as she imagined ; for there was 
 a well of water near, though for a time she
 
 UNdER THE SMARTING Rod. 165 
 
 saw it not. So many Christians, they eye 
 the empty bottle, the cross, the burden that 
 IB at present upon them, and then they fall 
 a-weeping, a-whining, a.complaining, a-re- 
 pining, a-marmuring, as if they were utterly 
 undone ; and yet a well of water, a well of 
 domfort, a well of refreshment, a well of de- 
 liverance is near, dtid their case no way so 
 sad, nor so bad as th^y imagine it to be. 
 
 3. The greater thy afflictions ariB, the near- 
 er is deliverance to thee. When thfese wa- 
 ters rise high, then salvation comes ujjon the 
 i^ing ; when thy troubles are very great, then 
 liiercy will ride post to deliver thee, l3eut, 
 Xxxii. 36. " For this Lord shall judge his 
 people, arid repent himself for his servants, 
 when he seeth that their power (or hand) is 
 gone, and there is none shut up or left." Is- 
 rael of old, and England of late years, hath 
 often experienced this truth. Wine was near- 
 est, when the water-pots were filled with wa- 
 ter up to the brim : so oftentimes mercy is 
 nearest, deliverance is nearest, when our af- 
 flictions are at the highest; when a Christian 
 is brimfull of troubles, then the wine of con- 
 solation is at hand ; therefore hold thy peace, 
 murmur not, but sit silent before the Lord. 
 
 4. They are not great, if compared to the 
 glory that shall be revealed, Rom. viii. 18. 
 " For I reckon that the suff'erings of this pre- 
 sent time are not worthy to be compared with 
 the glory that shall be revealed in us." The 
 apostle, upon casting up of his accounts, con- 
 cludes, that all the pains, chains, troubles,
 
 166 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 trials, and torments, that they meet v'lth in 
 this world, were not to be put in the balance 
 with the glory of heaven. As the globe of 
 the earth, which after the mathematicians' ac- 
 count is many thousands of miles in compass, 
 yet being compared unto the greatness of the 
 starry skies' circumference, is but a centre or 
 a little prick : so the troubles, aillictions, and 
 sorrows of this life, in respect of eternal hap- 
 piness and blessedness, are to be reputed as 
 nothing, they are but as the prick of a pin to 
 the starry heavens. They that have heard 
 most of the glory of heaven, have not heard 
 one quarter of that which the saint shall find 
 there. That glory is inconceivable and inex» 
 pressible. Augustine, in one of his epistles, 
 hath this relation, that the very same day 
 wherein Jerome died, he was in his study, and 
 had got pen, ink, and paper, to write some- 
 thing of the glory of heaven to Jerome ; and 
 suddenly he saw a light breaking into his stu- 
 dy, and a sweet smell (hat came unto him, 
 and this voice he thought he heard, O Augus- 
 tine ! what dost thou ? dost thou think to put 
 the sea into a little vessel ? When the hea- 
 vens shall cease from their continual motion, 
 then shalt thou be able to understand what 
 the glory of heaven is, and not before, except 
 you come to feel it, as now 1 do. Nicepho- 
 rus speaks of one Agbarus, a great man, that, 
 hearing so much of Christ's fame, (by reason 
 of the miracles he wrought) sent a painter to 
 take his picture, and that the painter, when 
 he came, was not able to do it, because of
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 167 
 
 that radiance and divine splendour which sat 
 on Christ's face. Such is the splendour, the 
 brightness, the glory, the happiness, and bles- 
 sedness that is reserved for the saints in hea- 
 ven, that had I all the tongues of men on earthy 
 and all the excellencies of the angels in heaven, 
 yet should I not be able to conceive, nor to 
 express, that vision of glory to you ; it is best 
 hastening thither, that we may feel and enjoy 
 that which we shall never be able to declare. 
 
 5. They are not great, if compared with 
 the afflictions and torments of such of the 
 damned, who, when they were in this world, 
 never sinned at so high a rate as thou hast 
 done*. Doubtles, there are many now in hell, 
 who never sinned against such clear light as 
 thou hast done, nor against such special love as 
 thou hast done, nor against such choice means 
 as thou hast done, nor against such precious 
 mercies as thou hast done, nor against such 
 singular remedies as thou hast done. Cer- 
 tainly there are many now a-roaring in ever- 
 lasting burnings+, who never sinned against 
 such deep convictions of conscience as thou 
 hast done, nor against such close and strong 
 reasonings of the spirit as thou hast done, nor 
 against such free offers of mercy and rich ten- 
 ders of grace as thou hast done, nor against 
 such sweet wooings, and multiplied entreaties 
 
 * 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, 20. Jude 6, 7. Matt. x. 15. 
 chap. xi. 23, 24. 
 
 + Isa, xxxiii. 14. The fire in hell is like that stone 
 in Arcadia, >\hich, being once kindlei, could not be 
 quenched.
 
 168 THE MUTE CHEIST^AN 
 
 of a bleeding, dying Saviour, as thou has done : 
 therefore hold thy peace. What are thy afflic- 
 tions, thy torments, to the torn^ents of the 
 damned, whose torments are numberless, ease* 
 less, remediless, and endless ; whose pains are 
 without intermission or mitigation, \?ho have 
 weeping for the first woo, and gnashing ofteetJi 
 for the second, and the gnawing worm for the 
 third, and intolerable pain for the fourth, an4 
 an everlasting alienation and separation from 
 God for the fifth ? Ah, Christian ! how canst 
 thou seriously think on these things, and not 
 lay thy hand upon thy mouth, when thou art 
 under the greatest sufferings ? Thy sins have 
 been far greater than many of theirs, and thy 
 greatest afflictions are but a flea-bite to theirs ; 
 therefore be silent before the Lord. 
 
 6. Lastly, If thy afflictions are so great,^ 
 then what madness and folly will it be for 
 thee to make them greater by murmuring ! 
 every act of murmuring will but add load unto, 
 load, and burden to burden. The Israelites 
 i!(nder great afflictions fell a murmuripg, and 
 their murmuring proved their utter ruin, as yovi 
 may see in that Numb. xiv. Murmuring wilt 
 but put God upon heating the furnace sevea 
 times hotter ; therefore hold thy peace. But 
 of this I have spoken sufficiently already. 
 
 Object. 6. Oh ! but mi^ ajfflkiions are greats 
 er than other men^s afflictions are^ and how 
 the^ can I be silent * Oh / there is no affliction 
 to my afliction^ how can I hold my peace ? 
 
 I answer, I. It may be thy sins are greater 
 than other men's sins : if thou hast sinned
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 169 
 
 against more light, more love, more mercies, 
 more experiences, more promises than others, 
 no wonder thy afflictions are greater than o- 
 thers. If this be thy case, thou hast more 
 cause to be mute, than to murmur : and cer- 
 tainly, if thou dost but seriously look into the 
 black book of thy conscience, thou wilt find 
 greater sins^ there, than any thou canst charge 
 upon any person or persons on earth. If thou 
 shouldst not, I think thou wouldst justly incur 
 the censure which that sour philosopher pas- 
 sed upon grammarians, viz. That they were 
 better acquainted with the evils of Ulysses, 
 than with their own. Never complain that 
 thy afflictions are greater than others, except 
 thou canst evidence that thy sins are lesser 
 than others, 
 
 2. It may be thou art under some present 
 distemper, that disenables thee to make a 
 Tight judgment of the different dealings of 
 God with thyself and others. When the mind 
 is distempered, and the brain troubled, many 
 things seem to be that are not, and then little 
 things seem very great. O ! the strange pas» 
 sions,the strange imaginations, thestrange con- 
 clusions that attend a distempered judgment! 
 
 I have read of a foolish emperor, who, to 
 show the greatness of his city, made show of 
 many spiders. When the mind is disturbed, 
 men many times say they know not what, and 
 do they know not what. It may be when these 
 clouds are blown over, and thy mind cleared, 
 and thy judgment settled, thou wilt be of ano- 
 ther opinion. The supplicant woman appeal- 
 p
 
 170 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN- 
 
 ed from drunken King Philip, to sober King 
 Philip. It is good to appeal from a distemper- 
 ed mind, to a clear composed mind ; for that 
 is the way to make a rie^hteous judgment of 
 all the righteous dispensations of God, both 
 towards ourselves, and towards others. 
 
 3, It may be that the Lord sees that it is 
 very needful that thy afflictions should be 
 greater than others ; it may be thy heart is 
 harder than other men's hearts, and prouder 
 and stouter than other men's hearts ; it may 
 be thy heart is more impure than others, and 
 more carnal than others, or else more passion, 
 ate and more worldly than others, or else more 
 deceitful and more hypocritical than others, 
 or else more cold and careless than others, or 
 else more secure than others, or more formal 
 and lukewarm than others. Now, if this be 
 thy case, certainly God sees it very necessary 
 for the breaking of thy hard heart, and the 
 humbling of thy proud heart, and the clean- 
 sing of thy foul heart, and the spiritualizing 
 of thy carnal heart, &c. that thy afflictions 
 should be greater than others : and therefore 
 hold thy peace. Where the disease is strong, 
 the physic must be strong, or else the cure will 
 never be wrought. God is a wise physician, 
 and he would never give strong physic, if 
 weaker could effect the cure, Isa. xxvii. 8. 
 The more rusty the iron is, the oftener we 
 put it into the fire to purify it : and the more 
 crooked it is, the more blows, and the hardtr 
 blows, we give to straighten it : thou hast been
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 171 
 
 long a gathering rust, and therefore if God deal 
 thus with thee, thou hast no cause to complain, 
 4. Though thy afflictions are greater than 
 this and that particular man's afflictions, yet, 
 doubtless, there are many thousands in the 
 world, whose afflictions are greater than thine. 
 Canst thou seriously consider the sore calami- 
 ties and miseries that the devouring sword hath 
 brought upon many thousand Christians in 
 foreign parts, and say, that thy afflictions are 
 greater than theirs? Surely not. Pliny, in 
 his natural history, writeth, that the nature of 
 the basilisk is to kill all trees and shrubs it 
 breathes upon, and to scorch and burn all herbs 
 and grass it passeth over. Such are the dis- 
 mal effects of war*; the sword knows no dif- 
 ference betwixt Catholics and Lutherans, (as 
 once the duke of Medina Sidonia said), be- 
 twixt the innocent and guilty, betwixt young 
 and old, betwixt bond and free, betwixt male 
 and female, betwixt the precious and the vile, 
 the godly and the profane, betwixt the prince 
 and the subject, betwixt the nobleman and the 
 beggar; the sword eats the flesh and drinks 
 the blood of all sorts and sexes, without putting 
 any difference betwixt the one or the other. 
 The poor Protestants under the Duke of Sa- 
 Toy, and those in Poland and Denmark, Ger- 
 many, and several other parts, have found it 
 so : many of their wounds are not healed to 
 this day. Who can retain in his fresh and 
 bleeding memory the dreadful work that the 
 
 * Read Joscphus, and the history of the Bohemian 
 persecution.
 
 17^ THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 sword of war liath made in this nation, and not 
 say, Surely many thousands have been greater 
 sufferers than myself; they have resisted un- 
 to blood, but so have not 1 ? Heb. xii. 4. 
 
 5. As thy afflictions are greater than other 
 men's, so it may be thy mercies are greater 
 than other men's mercies ; and if so, thou hast 
 no cause but to hold thy peace. As Job's af- 
 flictions were greater than other men's, so his 
 mercies were greater than other men's ; and 
 Job wisely sets one against another, and then 
 lays his hand upon his mouth, Job i. It may 
 be thou hast had more health than others, and 
 more strength than others, and more prosper- 
 ity than others, and more smiling providences 
 than others, and more good days than others, 
 and more sweet and comfortable relations than 
 others ; and if this be thy case, thou hast much 
 cause to be mute, thou hast no cause to mur- 
 mur ; if now thy winter-nights be longer than 
 others, remember thy summer-days have for- 
 merly been longer than others ; and therefore 
 hold thy peace. But, 
 
 6. Lastly, By great afflictions the Lord 
 may increase thy graces, and thy name and 
 fame in the world. By Job's great afflictions, 
 God did greaten his faith, and greaten his pa- 
 tience, and greaten his integrity, and greaten 
 his wisdom and knowledge, and greaten his 
 experience, and greaten his name and fame in 
 the world, as you all know that have but read 
 his book. Bonds and afflictions waited on 
 Paul in every city. Acts xx. 23. 2 Cor. xi. 
 His afflictions and sufferings were very great.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 173 
 
 but by them the Lord greatened his spirit, his 
 zeal, his courage, his confidence, his resolu- 
 tion, and his name and fame, both among sin. 
 ners and saints. Certain! j, if thou art dear 
 to Christ, he will greaten thee in spirituals, by 
 all the great afflictions that are upon thee ; he 
 will raise thy faith, and inflame thy love, and 
 quicken thy hope, and brighten thy zeal, and 
 perfect thy patience, and perfume thy name, 
 and make it like a precious ointment, Prov. 
 xxii. 1. Eccl. Tii, 1, like a precious ointment 
 poured forth ; so that good men shall say, 
 and bad men shall say, Lo, here is a Christi- 
 an indeed, here is a man more worth than the 
 gold of Ophir; therefore hold thy peace, 
 though thy afflictions are greater than others. 
 
 Object. 7. '• I would be silent, but my out- 
 ward affliction is attended with sore tempta- 
 tions. God hath not only outwardly afflicted 
 me, but Satan is let loose to buffet me ; and 
 therefore how can I be silent ? How can I 
 hold my peace, now I am fallen under mani. 
 fold temptations?" To this I answer, 
 
 1. No man is the less beloved because he is 
 tempted, Eph. ti. 12. nay, those that God 
 loves best, are usually tempted most ; witness ' 
 David, Job, Joshua, Peter, Paul ; yea, and 
 Christ himself, Matth. iv. who, as he was be- 
 loved above all others, so he was tempted above 
 all others. He was tempted to question his 
 Sonship, he was tempted to the worst idolatry, 
 even to worship the devil himself; to the grea- 
 test infidelity, to distrust his Father's provi- 
 dence, and to use unlawful means for necessa- 
 p3
 
 174 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ry supplies ; and to self-murder, Cast (hi/self 
 dowriy Sfc, Those that were once glorious on 
 earth, and are now triumphing in heaven, have 
 been sorely tempted and assaulted ; it is as na- 
 tural and common for the choicest saints to be 
 tempted as it is for the sun to shine, the bird 
 to fly, the fire to burn.* The eagle complains 
 not of her wings, nor the peacock of his train, 
 nor the nightingale of her voice, because these 
 are natural to them ; no more should saints 
 of their temptations, because they are natural 
 to them. Our whole life, saith Austin, is no- 
 thing but a temptation ; the best men bave 
 been worst tempted ; therefore hold thy peace, 
 2. Temptation, resisted and bewailed, will 
 never hurt you, nor harm you ; distasted 
 temptations seldom or never prevail ; so long 
 as the soul distastes them, and the will remains 
 firmly averse against them, they can do no 
 hurt; so long as the language of the soul is, 
 Get thee behind me^ Satan, Matt, xvi. 23. the 
 soul is safe. It is not Satan's tempting, but 
 my assenting; it is not his enticing, but my 
 yielding that mischieves me ; temptations may 
 be troubles to my mind, but they are not sins 
 upon my soul, whilst I am in arms against 
 them. If thy heart trembles, and thy flesh 
 quakes when Satan tempts, thy condition is 
 good enough ; if Satan's temptations be thy 
 greatest afllictions, his temptations shall never 
 worst thee, nor harm thee ; and therefore, if 
 this be thy case, hold thy peace. 
 
 * I am without set upon by all the world ; and 
 within, by the devil, and all bis angelsi saitb Luther.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD, 175 
 
 3. Temptations are rather hopeful eviden- 
 ces that thy estate is good, that thou art dear 
 to God, and that it shall go well with thee for 
 €Ter, than otherwise. God had but one Son 
 without corruption, Heb. ii. 17, 18. but he 
 had none without temptation. Pirates make 
 the fiercest assaults upon those vessels that are 
 most richly laden : so doth Satan upon those 
 souls that are most richly laden with the trea- 
 sures of grace, with the riches of glory. Pi- 
 rates let empty vessels pass and repass without 
 assaulting them ; so doth Satan let souls that 
 are empty of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, of 
 grace, pass and repass without tempting or 
 assaulting of them. When nothing will satis- 
 fy the soul, but a full departure out of Egypt, 
 from the bondage and slavery of sin, Exod. 
 xiv. 6. and that the soul is firmly resolved up- 
 on a march for Canaan, then Satan, Pharaoh- 
 like, will furiously pursue after the soul with 
 horses and chariots, that is, with a whole ar- 
 my of temptations*. Well, a tempted soul, 
 when it is at worst with him, may safely argue 
 thus: If God were not my friend, Satan 
 would not be so much my enemy; if there 
 were not something of God within me, Satan 
 would never make such attempts to storm me ; 
 if the love of God were not set upon me, Sa- 
 tan would never shoot so many fiery darts to 
 wound me; if the heart of God were not to- 
 wards me, the hand of Satan would not be so 
 strong against me. When Beza was tempted, 
 
 * Israel, goina; into Egypt, had no opposition ; biif 
 travelling into Canaan, tlicy were never free.
 
 176 THE MUTE CUUISTIAN 
 
 he made this answer, Whatsoever I was, Sa- 
 tan, I am now in Christ, a new creature, and 
 that is it which troubles thee; I might have 
 so continued long enough, ere thou wouldst 
 have vexed at it ; but now I see thou dost en- 
 vy me the grace of my Saviour. Satan's ma. 
 lice to tempt, is not sufficient ground for a 
 Christian to dispute God's love upon ; if it 
 were, there is no saint on earth that should 
 quietly possess divine favour a week, a day, 
 an hour. The jailor is quiet, when his pri- 
 soner is in bolts ; but if he be escaped, then 
 he pursues him with hue and cry ; you know 
 how to apply it. Men hate not the picture of 
 a toad, the wolf flies not upon a painted sheep; 
 no more doth Satan upon those he hath ia 
 chains ; therefore hold thy peace, though thou 
 art inwardly tempted, as well as outwardly af- 
 flicted. 
 
 4. Whilst Satan is tempting of thee, Christ 
 in the court of glory is interceding for thee, 
 Luke xxii. 31, 32. *'And the Lord said, Si- 
 mon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to 
 have you, that he may sift you as wheat ; But 
 I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." 
 Satan would fain have been shaking of him up 
 and down, as wheat is shaken in a fan ; but 
 Christ's intercession frustrates Satan's design- 
 ed temptations. Whenever Satan stands at 
 our elbow to tempt us, Christ stands at his 
 Father's to intercede for us, Heb. vii. 25. lie 
 ever lives to make intercession. Some of the 
 learned think, that Christ intercedes only by 
 virtue of his merits ; others think, that it is
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 177 
 
 done only with his mouth ; probably it may 
 be done both ways, the rather because he hath 
 a tongue, as also a whole glorified body, in 
 heaven ; and is it likely that that mouth which 
 pleaded so much for us on earth, should be 
 altogether silent for us in heaven ? Christ is 
 a person of the highest honour, he is the great- 
 est favourite ia the court of heaven, he always 
 stands between us and danger ; if there be any 
 evil plotted or designed against us by Satan 
 (the great accuser of the brethren,) he fore- 
 sees it, and by his intercession prevents it. 
 When Satan puts in his pleas, and commences 
 suit upon suit against us, Christ still under- 
 takes our cause, he answers all his pleas, and 
 non-suits Satan at every turn, and in despite 
 of hell he keeps us up in divine favour. When 
 Satan pleads, Lord, here are such and such 
 sins that thy children have committed, and 
 here are such and such duties that they have 
 omitted, and here are such and such mercies 
 that they have not improved, and here are such 
 and such ordinances that they have slighted, 
 and here are such and such motions of the Spi- 
 rit which they have quenched ; divine justice 
 answers, All this is true ; but Christ hath ap. 
 peared on their behalf, he hath pleaded their 
 cause, he hath fully and fairly answered what- 
 ever hath been objected, and given complete 
 satisfaction to the utmost farthing*. So that 
 here is no accusation nor condemnation that 
 
 * SaJth Christ, Lord, Here is wisdom for their folly, 
 humility for their pride, heavcniiness for their earth- 
 'iness. holiness for their wickedness, &c.
 
 178 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 can stand in force against them ; upon which 
 account Iheapostletriumphsin that, Rom. viii, 
 34. " Who is he that condemncth .? it is Christ 
 that died, yea, rather that is risen again ; who 
 is even at the ri^ht hand of God, who also ma- 
 keth intercession for us." Christ's interces- 
 sion should be the soul's anchor-hold in time of 
 temptation ; in the day of thy temptation, thou 
 needest not be disturbed nor disquieted, but in 
 peaceand patience possessthine own soul, con- 
 sidering what a friend thou hast in the court 
 of glory, and how he is most active for thee, 
 when Satan is most busy in tempting of thee. 
 
 5. Lustly^ AH temptations that the saints 
 meet with, shall work much for their good ; 
 they shall be much for their gain ; the profit 
 and advantage that will redound to tempted 
 souls by all their temptations, is very great. 
 I^Jow, this will appear to be a most certain 
 truth, by an induction of particulars, thus : 
 
 (1.) By temptations God multiplies and in- 
 creases his children's spiritual experiences, the 
 increase of which is better than the increase 
 of gold* ; in the school of temptation, God 
 gives his children the greatest experience of his 
 power supporting them, of his word comfort- 
 ing them, of his mercy warning them, of his 
 wisdom counselling them, of his faithfulness 
 joying in them, and of his grace strengthening 
 them, 2 Cor. xii. 9. My grace shall be sufm 
 ficieni Jor thee. Paul never experienced so 
 deeply what almighty power was, what the 
 
 * Frequent engagements add to the soldier's skill, 
 and much increase his experiences.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 179 
 
 everlasting arms of mercy were, and what in- 
 finite grace and goodness was, as when he was 
 under the buffetings of Satan, 
 
 (2.) AH their temptations shall be physical, 
 their temptations shall be happy preventions 
 of great abominations, 2 Cor. xii. 7. Lest t 
 should be exalted^ lest 1 should be exalted'^: It 
 is twice, in that one verse ; he begins with it, 
 and he ends with it; if he had not been buf- 
 feted, he might have been more highly exalted 
 in his own conceit, than he was before in his 
 ecstacy. Ah, tempted souls! you say you 
 are naught, very naught ; but had it not been 
 for the school of temptation, you might have 
 been quite naught before this time; you say 
 you are sick, you are even sick to death ; v*hy, 
 your sickness had before this time killed you . 
 had not temptations been physical to you : 
 you are bad under temptations, but doubtless 
 you would have been much worse, had not 
 God made temptation a diet-drink for you. 
 
 (3.) Temptations shall much promote the 
 exercise of g;race, as the spring in the watch 
 sets all t'lC wheels a-going : and as Solomon's 
 virtuous woman set all her maidens Xo work: 
 SG temptation sets faith on work, and love on 
 ^vork, and repentance on work, and hope on 
 work, and holy fear on work, and godly sor- 
 row on workf. As the wind sets the mill at 
 work ; so the wind of temptation sets the 
 graces of the saints a-going. Now faith runs 
 
 ♦ Those soldiers that are most in fightiiig^ are least 
 in sinning, and most free from diseases, 
 
 t Tapers oiirn clearest in the dark.
 
 180 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 to Christ, now it hugs a promise, now it pleads 
 the blood of Christ, now it looks to the recom- 
 penee of reward, now it takes the sword of 
 the spirit, &c. now lore cleaves to Christ, now 
 love hangs upon Christ, now love will fight it 
 out to the d^eath of Christ ; now hope flies to 
 the horns of the sanctuary, now hope puts on 
 her helmet, now hope easts her anchor upon 
 that within the vail, &c. Grace is never more 
 acted, than when a Christian is most tempted* 
 Satan made a bow of Job's wife (of his rib, as 
 Ch ry sosi om speaks, ) and shot a tern ptation by 
 her at Job, thinking to have shot him to the 
 heart : Curse God and -die : but the activity 
 of Job's graces vias a breastplate that made 
 him temptation-proof. The devil tempting 
 Bonaventure, told him, he was a reprobate, 
 and therefore persuaded him to drink in the 
 present pleasures of this life : for (saith he) 
 thou art excluded from the future joys with 
 God in heaven. Bonaventure's graces being 
 active, he answered, No, not so, Satan ; if I 
 must not enjoy God after this life, let me en- 
 joy him as much as I can in this life. 
 
 (4.) By temptations the Lord wiH make you 
 the more serviceable and useful to others* ; 
 none so fit and able to relieve tempted souls, 
 to sympathize with tempted souls, to succour 
 tempted souls, to counsel tempted souls, to 
 pity tempted souls, to support tempted souls, 
 to bear with tempted souls, and to comfort 
 tempted souls, as those who have been in the 
 
 ♦ The most skilful commanders and leaders are of 
 greatest service and use to the soldiers.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 181 
 
 school of temptations, 2 Cor. i. 3, 4. " Bles- 
 sed be God, even the Father of our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God 
 of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our 
 tribulation, that we may be able to comfort 
 them which are in any trouble, by the comfort 
 wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.'* 
 By temptations God trains up his servants, and 
 fits and capacitates them to succour and shelter 
 their fellow-brethren. One tempted Christian, 
 saith Luther*, is more profitable and useful to 
 other Christians, than an hundred ( I may add, 
 than a thousand) that have not known the 
 depths of Satanf, that have not been in the 
 school of temptation. He that is master of 
 arts in the school of temptation, hath learned 
 an art to comfort, to succour, and gently to 
 handle tempted and distressed souls, infinitely 
 beyond what all human arts can reach unto ; 
 no doctor to him that hath been a doctor in 
 the school of temptation, all other dpctors are 
 but illiterate dunces to him, 
 
 (5.) It is an honour to the saints to be tempt- 
 ed, and in the issue to have an honourable con- 
 quest over the tempter. It was a great ho- 
 nour to David, that he should be put to fight 
 hand to hand with Goliath, 1 Sam. xvii. and 
 in the issue to overcome him ; but it was a 
 far greater honour to Job and Paul, that they 
 should be put to combat in the open field with 
 Satan himself. Job i. 2. 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8, 9, 
 10. and, in the close, to gain a famous con- 
 quest over him, as they did. It was a very 
 * In Gen. xxvii. f Rev. ii. 24.
 
 i&Z THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 great honour to David'sthreemightymen, that, 
 in jeopardy of their lives, they brake through 
 the host of the Philistines, 2 Sam. xxiii. 13 — 
 18. to bring water to DaTid out of the well of 
 Bethlehem, and did effect it in spite of all the 
 strength and power of their enemies, though 
 it were to the extremest hazard of their blood 
 and lives ; but it is a far greater honour to the 
 saints, to be furnished with a spirit of strength, 
 courage, and valour, to break through an army 
 of temptations, and in the close to triumph 
 ever them ; and yet this honour have all the 
 saints, 1 Cor. x. 13. '' But God is faithful, 
 who will not suffer you to be tempted above 
 that ye are able ; but will, with the temptation, 
 also make a way to escape, that ye may be 
 able to bear it," Horn. xvi. 20. " And the God 
 of peace shall tread Satan under your feet 
 shortly," 1 John ii. 13, 14. ''1 write unto 
 you, fathers, because ye have known him that 
 is from the [)cginning ; I write unto you, young 
 men, because ye have overcome the wicked 
 one: 1 write unto you, children, because ye 
 have known the father. I have written unto 
 you, fathers, because ye have known him that 
 is from the beginning ; 1 have written unto 
 you, young men, because ye are strong, and 
 the word of God abideth in you, and ye have 
 overcometlio wicked one," 1 John v. 18. "We 
 know that whosoever is born of God, sinneth 
 not, (that is) that sin that is unto death," ver. 
 1 6. or he sinneth not as other men do, delight- 
 fully, greedily, customarily, resolvedly, impe- 
 nitcntly, &c. "But he that is begotten of
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 183 
 
 God, keepeth himself, and that wicked one 
 toucheth him not." The glorious victory that 
 the people of God had over Pharaoh, Es-od. 
 xi?.- and his great host, was a figure of the vic- 
 tory that the saints shall obtain over Satan and 
 his instruments, which is clear from that, Rev. 
 xv. 3. where we have the song of Moses, and of 
 the Lamb : but why the song of Moses, and of 
 the Lamb? but to hint this to us, that the 
 overthrow of Pharaoh was a figure of the over- 
 throw of Satan, and the triumphal song of 
 Moses was a figure of that song, which the 
 saints shall sing for their overthrow of Satan. 
 As certainly as Israel overcame Pharaoh, so 
 certainly shall every true Israelite overcome 
 Satan. The Romans were worsted in many 
 fights, but were never overcome in a set war ; 
 at the long run, they overcame all their ene- 
 mies : though a Christian may be worsted by 
 Satan in some particular skirmishes, yet at the 
 long run he is sure of an honourable conquest. 
 God puts a great deal of honour upon a poor 
 soul, when he brings him into the open field 
 to fight it out with Satan ; by fighting he over- 
 comes, he gains the victory, he triumphs over 
 Satan, and leads captivity captive. Augustine 
 gives this reason why God permitted Adam 
 at first to be tempted, viz. That he might have 
 had the more glory in resisting and withstand- 
 ingSatan's temptation : it is thegloryofaChris- 
 tian to be made strong to resist, and to have 
 his resistance crowned with a hap[)y conquest. 
 (0. ) By tem[)tations the Lord will make his 
 people more frequent and more abundant in
 
 184 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 the work of prayer : every temptation proves 
 a strong alarm to prayer. When Paul was in 
 the school of templaJion, he prayed thrice, 
 that is, often : days of trmptalion are days of 
 great supplication. Christians usually praj 
 most when they are tempted most; they are 
 most busy with God, when Satan is most busy 
 with them ; a Christian is most upon his knees, 
 when Satan stands most at his elbow. 
 
 Augustine Mas a man much tempted, and 
 a man much in prayer. Holy prayer, saith 
 he, is a shelter to the soul, a sacrifice to God, 
 and a scourge to the devil. 
 
 Luther was a man under manifold tempta- 
 tions, and a man much in prayer ; he is said 
 to have spent three hours every day in prayer ; 
 he used to say, That prayer was the bdstbook 
 in his study. 
 
 Chrysostom was much in the school of 
 temptation, and delighted much in prayer. 
 Oh, saith he, it is more bitter than death to 
 be spoiled of prayer ; and hereupon (as he 
 observes) Daniel chose rather to run the ha- 
 zard of his life, than to lose his prayer. But, 
 
 (7.) By temptations, the Lord will make 
 his people more and more conformable to the 
 image of his son. Christ was much tempted, 
 he was often in the school of temptation; and 
 the more a Christian is tempted, the more into 
 the likeness of Christ he will be transformed. 
 Of all men in the world, tempted souls do 
 most resemble Christ to the life, in meekness, 
 lowliness, holiness, heavenliness, &c. The 
 image of Christ is most fairly stamped upon
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 185 
 
 tempted souls ; tempted souls are much ii\ 
 looking up to Jesus ; and every gracious look 
 upon Christ changes the soul more and more 
 into the image of Christ, Heb. xii. 1,2. 2 
 Cor. iii. 18. Heb. ii. 17, 18. Tempted souls 
 experience much of the succourings of Christ ; 
 and the more they experience the sweet of the 
 succourings of Christ, the more they grow up 
 into the likeness of Christ: temptations are 
 the tools by which the Father of spirits doth 
 more and more carve, form, and fashion his 
 precious saints into the similitude and like- 
 ness of his dearest Son. 
 
 (8.) Lastly, (take many things in one), 
 God by temptations makes sin more hateful, 
 and the world less delightful, and relations less 
 hurtful. By temptations God discovers to us 
 our own weakness, and the creature's insuf- 
 ficiency in the hour of temptation to help us, 
 or to succour us ; by temptations God w ill 
 brighten our Christian armour, and make us 
 stand more upon our Christian watch, and 
 keep us closer to a succouring Christ ; by 
 temptations the Lord will make his ordinan- 
 ces to be more highly prized, and heaven to 
 be more earnestly desired. Now, seeing that 
 temptations shall work so eminently for the 
 saints' good, why should not Christians be 
 mute and silent, why should they not hold 
 their peace, and lay their hands upon their 
 mouths, though their afflictions are attended 
 with great temptations ? 
 
 Object. 8. Oh I but God hath deserted me; 
 
 he huth forsaken me; and he that should com^ 
 
 <i3 /
 
 186 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 jort my soul stands afar off; how can I be si^ 
 lent? The Lord hath hid his J ace from me ; 
 clouds are gathered about me; God hath turn- 
 ed his back upon me; how can I hold my peace? 
 Supposing that the desertion is real, and 
 not in appearance only, as sometimes it falls 
 out, I answer, 
 
 1. It hath been the common lot, portion, 
 and condition of the choicest saints in this 
 world, to be deserted and forsaken of God, 
 Psal. XXX. 6, 7. Psal. Ixxvii. and Ixxxviii. 
 Job xxiii. 8, 9. Cant. iii. 1, 2, 3. chap. v. 6, 
 7. Isa.Tiii. 17. Micah Tii. 7, 8, 9. If God 
 deals no worse with thee, than he hath dealt 
 with his most bosom-friends, with his choicest 
 jewels; thou hast no reason to complain. 
 But, 
 
 2. God's forsaking of thee is only partial, 
 it is not total. God may forsake his people 
 in part, but he never wholly forsakes them; 
 he may forsake them in respect of his quick- 
 ening presence, and in respect of his comfort- 
 ing presence, but he never forsakes them in 
 respect of his supporting presence, 2 Cor. xii. 
 9. '^ My grace is sufficient for thee, for my 
 strength is made perfect in weakness." Psal. 
 xxxvii. 23, ^4. "The steps of a good man 
 are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth 
 in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be 
 utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth 
 him with his hand." God's supporting hand 
 of grace is still under his people*, Psal. Ixiii. 
 
 * As the nurse upholds the little child, &c.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 187 
 
 8. '* My soul followeth hard after thee: thy 
 right hand upholdeth me." Christ hath al- 
 ways one hand to uphold his people, and ano- 
 ther hand to embrace them, Cant. ii. 16. The 
 everlasting arms of God are always under- 
 neath his people, Deut. xxxiii. 27. And this 
 the saints have always found, witness David, 
 Heman, Asaph, Job, &c. 
 
 Geographers write, that the city of Syra- 
 cuse, in Sicily, is so curiously situated, that 
 the sun is never out of sight. Though the 
 children of God sometimes are under some 
 clouds of afflictions, yet the sun of mercy, 
 the sun of righteousness, is never quite out of 
 sight. But, 
 
 3. Though God hath forsaken thee, yet 
 his love abides and continues constant to thee. 
 He loves thee with an everlasting love, Jer. 
 xxxi. 3. " Where he loves, he loves to the 
 end," John xiii. 1. Isa. xlix. 14, 15, 16. '«But 
 Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and 
 my Lord hath forgotten me." But was not 
 Zion mistaken? Yes. "Can a woman for- 
 get her sucking child, that she should not 
 have compassion on the son of her womb ? 
 yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget 
 thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the 
 palms of my hands, thy Malls are continually 
 before me*." Look, as persons engrave the 
 mark, name, or picture of those whom they 
 dearly love, and entirely affect, upon some 
 
 ♦ The very Heathen hath obsened, that God doth 
 not love his children with a ^\eak affection, but with 
 a strong masculine love. — Sen.
 
 188 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 stone that they wear at their breasts, or upon 
 some ring that they wear on their finger; so 
 hath God engraved Zion upon the palms of 
 his hands ; she was still in his eye, and always 
 dear to his heart, though she thought not 
 so. As Joseph's heart was full of love to his 
 brethren, even then when he spake roughly to 
 them, and withdrew himself from them, (for 
 he was fain to go aside and ease his heart by 
 weeping ;) so the heart of God is full of love 
 io his people, even then when he seems to 
 be most displeased with them, and to turn his 
 back upon them. Though God's dispensa- 
 tions may be changeable towards his people, 
 yet his gracious disposition is unchangeable 
 towards them. When God puts the black- 
 est veil of all upon his face, yet then his heart 
 is full of love to his people, then his bowels 
 are yearning towards them, Jer. xxxi. 18, 19, 
 20. *' Is Ephraim my dear son ? Is he a 
 pleasant child ? for since I spake against him, 
 I do earnestly remember him still ; therefore 
 my bowels are troubled for him : I will sure- 
 ly have mercy upon him, saith the Lord." 
 The mother's bowels cannot more yearn after 
 the tender babe, than God's do after his dis- 
 tressed ones. As Moses's mother, when she 
 put him in the ark of bulrushes, Exod. ii. 
 wept to see the babe weepj and when she was 
 turned from him, she could not but cast a 
 weeping eye of love towards him ; so when 
 God turns aside from his people, yet he can- 
 not but cast an eye of love towards them, 
 Jfos. xi, 8. "How shall I <^'vp ♦^-"^ "^ O 
 
 1
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 189 
 
 Ephraim !" &c. Here are four several hows 
 in the text, the like not to be found in the 
 whole book of God. I am even at a stand ; 
 justice calls for vengeance, but mercy inter- 
 poseth ; my bowels yearn, my heart melts, 
 Oh ! how shall I give thee up ? Oh ! I can- 
 not give thee up, 1 will not give thee up. 
 God's love is always like himself, unchange- 
 able ; his love is everlasting ; it is a love that 
 never decays, nor waxes cold ; it is like the 
 stone asbestos, of which Solinus writes, that 
 being once hot, it can never be cooled again, 
 4. Though the Lord hath" hid his face from 
 thee, yet certainly thou hast his secret pre- 
 sence with thee, Psal. xxiii. 4. Psal. cxxxix, 
 God is present when he is seemingly absent; 
 " The Lord was in this place, and I knew it 
 not," saith Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 16. The sun 
 many times shines when we do not see it, and 
 the husband is many times in the house, when 
 the wife doth not know it, God is in thy 
 house, he is in thy heart, though thou seest 
 him not, though thou feelest him not, though 
 thou hearest him not ; Heb. xiii. 5. " I will 
 never leave thee, nor forsake thee :" or, as 
 it may be rendered according to the Greek, '* 1 
 will not not leave thee, neither will i not not for- 
 sake thee." Art thou not now drawn out to 
 prize God, and Christ, and his love, above all 
 the world ? Yes. Art thou not now drawn 
 out to give the Lord many a secret visit, in a 
 corner behind the door, in some dark hole, 
 where none can sec thee, nor hear thee, but 
 the Lord ? Yes. Are there not strong breathe
 
 190 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ings, pantings, and longings after a clearer vi- 
 sion of God, and after a fuller fruition of 
 God ? Yes. Art thou not more affected and 
 afflicted with the drawings of Christ, than 
 thou art with the greatest afflictions that ever 
 hefel thee? Yes. Austin, upon that answer 
 of God to Moses, '* Thou canst not see my 
 face and live," Exod. xxxiii. 20. makes this 
 quick and sweet reply, " Then, J^ord, let 
 me die, that I may see thy face," Psal. xxx. 
 6, 7. Dost thou not often tell God, that 
 there is no punishment to the punishment of 
 loss, and no hell to that of being forsaken of 
 God ? Yes. Dost thou not find a secret pow- 
 er in thy soul, drawing thee forth to struggle 
 with God, to lay hold on God, and patiently 
 to wait on God, till he shall return unto thee, 
 and lift up the light of his countenance upon 
 thee? Yes. Well, then, thou mayst be con- 
 fident, that thou hast a secret and blessed pre- 
 sence of God with thee, though God, in re- 
 gard of his comfortable presence, may be 
 departed from thee ; nothing below a secret 
 presence of God, with a man's spirit, will 
 keep him waiting and working till the sun of 
 righteousness shines upon him. If any vain 
 persons should put that deriding question to 
 thee. Where is thy God? thou mayst safely 
 and boldly answer them, My God is here, he 
 is nigh me, he is round about me, yea, he is 
 in the midst of me, Zeph. iii. 17. ""The 
 J^ord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; 
 he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy ; 
 he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 191 
 
 with singing." The bush, which was a type 
 of the church, consumed not all the while it 
 burned with fire, because God was in the 
 midst of it. It is no argument, that Christ is 
 not in the ship, because tempests and storms 
 arise. 
 
 5. Though God begone, yet he will return 
 again ; though your sun be now set in a 
 cloud, yet it will rise again ; though sorrow 
 may abide for a night, yet joy comes in the 
 morning. A Christian's mourning shall last 
 but till morning ; Micah vii. 19. " He will 
 turn again, he will have compassion upon us." 
 Cant. iii. 4. " It was but a little that 1 pas- 
 sed from them, but I found him whom ray 
 soul loveth : 1 held him, and I would not let 
 him go, &c." Psal. \c\v. 19. *' In the mul- 
 titude of my thoughts within me, thy com- 
 forts delight my soul." Isa. liv, 7, 8, 10. 
 '^ For a small moment have 1 forsaken thee, 
 but with great mercies will I gather thee. In 
 a kittle wrath I hid my face from thee for a 
 moment; but with everlasting kindness will 
 I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Re- 
 deemer. For the mountains shall depart, and 
 the hills be removed, but my kindness shall 
 not depart from thee ; neither shall the cove- 
 nant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, 
 that hath mercy on thee." God will not suf- 
 fer liis whole displeasure to rise upon his peo- 
 ple, neither will he forsake them totally or 
 finally : the saints shall taste but some si[)s of 
 the cup of God's wrath, sinners shall drink 
 the dregs; their storm shall end in a calm, and
 
 192 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN- 
 
 their winter-night shall be turned into a sum- 
 mer's day. There was a woman, who was 
 thirteen years under desertion, which was so 
 Tehement, that, for the most part of her time, 
 she was fain to keep her bed through weak- 
 ness : a godly minister, who was affected with 
 her condition, went to comfort her, and to 
 pray with her ; but when became and offered 
 to do it, she shrieked out, utterly refusing, and 
 forbidding him to pray with her ; for, said 
 she, I have too many abused mercies to an- 
 swer for already : yet he would not be put 
 off, but prayed by her, and so prevailed with 
 God on her behalf, that the next morning she 
 was delivered from all her fears, and had such 
 exceeding joy, that the like hath rarely been 
 heard of; the Lord, that had been long with- 
 drawn from her, returned at length in a way 
 of singular mercy to her. There was another 
 precious woman, who was several years de- 
 serted, and hearing a precious godly minister 
 preach, she of a sudden fell down, overwhelm- 
 ed with joy, crying out, O ! he is come whom 
 my soul loveth ! and for divers days after she 
 was filled with such exceeding joys, and had 
 such gracious and singular ravishing expres- 
 sions so fluently coming from her, that many 
 came to hear the rare manifestations of God's 
 grace in her ; the lowest of her pious expres- 
 sions, did exceed the highest that ever the mi- 
 nister had read in the book of martyrs. But, 
 6. Lastly, God's deserting, God's forsaking 
 of his people, shall many ways work for their 
 good. As,
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 193 
 
 (1.) God, by withdrawing from his people, 
 will prepare and fit them for greater refresh- 
 ings, manifestations, and consolations, Psal, 
 Ixxi. 11, 20, 21. " Saying, God hath forsa- 
 ken him, persecute and take him, for there is 
 none to deliver him.'* But shall this forlorn 
 condition work for his good ? Yes. " Thou 
 which hast showed me great and sore troubles, 
 shalt quicken roe again, and shalt bring me 
 up again from the depths of the earth. Thou 
 shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me 
 on every side.*' When Joseph's brethren 
 were in their greatest distress, then Joseph 
 makes known himself most fully to them ; so 
 doth Christ, our spiritual Joseph, to his peo- 
 ple. Hudson the martyr, deserted at the 
 stake, went from under his chain, and having 
 prayed earnestly, was comforted immediately^ 
 and suffered valiantly. 
 
 (2.) By God's withdrawing from his peo- 
 ple, he prevents his people's withdrawing 
 from him : and so by an aflBliction he prevents 
 sin : for God to withdraw from roe, is but 
 my affliction ; but for me to withdraw from 
 God, that is my sin ; and therefore it were 
 better for me that God should withdraw a 
 thousands times from me, than that I should 
 once withdraw from God*, Heb. x. 38, 39. 
 God therefore forsakes us, that we may not 
 forsake our God: God sometimes hides him- 
 self, that we may cleave the closer to him, 
 
 ♦ Christ, the Captain of our Salvation, will execute 
 martial law upon them that withdraw from their co- 
 lours, &c. 
 
 R
 
 194 THE MUTE CIIRISTlAIi 
 
 and hang the faster upon him. As the mo- 
 ther hides herstlf from the child for a time, 
 that the child may cleave the closer, and hang 
 the faster upon her all the day long. God 
 sometimes hid himself from David, Psal. xxx. 
 7. " Thou dist hide thy face, and 1 was 
 troubled, 1 was all dead : well, and is that 
 all ? No, (verse 8) I cried to thee, O Lord ; 
 and unto the J^ord I made my supplication." 
 Now he cries louder, and cleaves closer to 
 God than ever; so in that Psal. Ixiii. ], 2, 
 " O God, thou art my God, early will 1 seek 
 thee ; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh 
 longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, 
 where no water is ; to see thy power and thy 
 glory, so as 1 have seen thee in thy sanctuary.'* 
 Well, and how do these withdrawings of God 
 work ? Why this you may see in verse 8. 
 *' My soul followeth hard after thee; or, as 
 the Hebrew reads it. My soul cleavelh after 
 thee." Look, as the husband cleaves to his 
 wife, so doth my soul cleave to the Lord, 
 Gen. ii. '24. 
 
 (3.) The Lord, by withdrawing from his 
 j)eople, will enhance and raise the price, and 
 commend the worth, excellency, sweetness, 
 and usefulness of several precious promises, 
 which otherwise would be but as dry breasts, 
 and as useless weapons to the soul. As that 
 Micah vii. 18, \9, "IJc will turn again, he 
 will have compassion upon us, &c." and that, 
 Isa. liv. 7, 8. but now opened ; and that, Ileb. 
 xiii. 5, 6. and that, Hab. ii. 3. and that, Psal. 
 ?. 12. " For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righ-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 195 
 
 teous ; with favour thou wilt compass him 
 (or crown him) as with a shield :" The Lord 
 will compass the righteous about with his fa- 
 vour, as (he crown compasses about the head, 
 as the Hebrew imports; and that, Psa!. cxil. 
 4. *' Unto the upright there ariseth light in 
 darkness ; he is gracious, and full of compas- 
 sion, and righteous;" and that, Jev.-Kux'u 37, 
 *' Thus saith the Lord, if heaven above can 
 be measured, and the foundations of the earth 
 searched out beneath, I will also cast off all 
 the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, 
 saith the Lord." As sure as heaven cannot 
 be measured, nor the foundations of the earth 
 searched by the skill or power of any mortal 
 man ; so sure and certain it is that God will 
 not utterly cast off his people, no not for all 
 the evil that they have done. JVow, at what 
 a rate doth a deserted soul value these preci- 
 ous promises ? Well, saith he, these promises 
 are sweeter than the honey, or the honey- 
 comb ; they are more precious than gold, than 
 fine gold, than much gold, than all the gold 
 in the world. Job xxiii. 12. 1 prefer them 
 before my food, before my delightful food ; 
 yea. before my necessary food, before my ap- 
 pointed portion. As Alexander laid up Ho- 
 lder's Iliads in a cabinet embroidered with 
 gold and pearls ; so deserted souls will lay up 
 these preci<»us promises in the cabinet of their 
 hearts, as the choicest treasure the world af- 
 fords. Dolphins, they say, love music; so 
 <lo deserted souls the music of the promises : 
 that promise, 1 Tim. i. 15. was music to BiU
 
 196 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ney the martyr ; and that promise, John x« 
 29. was music to Urfine : and that promise, 
 Isa. Ivii. 15. was music to another ; and that 
 promise, Isa. xxvi. 3. was music to another; 
 and that to another, Matth. xi. 28, &c. Pro- 
 mises that are suited to a deserted man's con- 
 dition, make the sweetest music in his ear, and 
 are his most sovereign cordials to bear up the 
 spirits, that God can give, or heaven afford, 
 or the soul desire, Deut. xxxii. 13. '* He 
 made him to ride on the high places of the 
 earth, that he might eat the fruits of the field ; 
 and he made him to suck honey out of the 
 rock, and oil out of the flinty rock." Ah, the 
 honey, the oil that deserted souls suck out of 
 such promises that speak home and close to 
 their conditions ! 
 
 (4.) By God's hiding his face, and with- 
 drawing himself from thee, thou wilt be ena- 
 bled more feelingly and more experimentally 
 to sympathise with others, and to have com- 
 passion on others, that are, or may be, in the 
 dark, and forsaken of God, as now thou art, 
 Heb.xiii.2. "Remember them that arein bonds, 
 as bound with them ; and them which sufJ'er 
 adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." 
 It is observed of the bees, that when one is sick, 
 they all mourn ; and of the sheep, that if one 
 of them be faint, the rest of the flock will stand 
 betwixt it and the sun, until it be revived : in 
 the natural body, if one member grieve, and 
 is in pain, all sulFcr with it ; when a thorn is 
 got into the foot, how doth the back bow, and 
 the eyes pry, aud the hands go to pluck the
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 197 
 
 thorn out : none so compassionate towards 
 deserted souls, as those who have been desert- 
 ed and forsaken of God themselves. Oh ! 
 they know what an evil and a bitter thing it 
 is to be left and forsaken of God, and there- 
 fore their bowels, their compassions, run out 
 much to such, yea, most to such ; they know 
 that there is no affliction, no misery, no hell, 
 to that of being forsaken of God, 
 
 Anaxagoras seeing himself old, and forsa- 
 ken of the world, laid himself down, and co- 
 vered his head close, determining to starve 
 himself to death with hunger. But alas ! what 
 is it to be forsaken of the world, to a man's 
 being forsaken of God ? Were there as many 
 worlds, as there be men in the world, a man 
 had better be forsaken by them all, than to be 
 forsaken of God. There is a great truth in 
 that saying of Chrysostom, viz. That the tor- 
 ments of a thousand hells, if there were so 
 many, come far short of this one; to wit, to 
 be turned out of God's presence, with, I know 
 you not. Mat. vii. 33. The schools have long 
 since concluded, that the pain of sense is far 
 greater than the pain of loss. What a grief 
 ■was it to Absalom, to see the king's face cloud- 
 ed ! and how sadly was Eii and his daughter 
 affected with the loss of the ark, which was 
 but a testimony of God's presence ! But oh I 
 how much more is a Christian affected and 
 afflicted with the loss of the face and favour of 
 God ! The remembrance of which makes his 
 heart to melt, and his bowels to yearn towards 
 those whose suu is set in a cloud. 
 B 3
 
 198 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 (5.) Hereby the Lord will teach his peo- 
 ple to set a higher price upon his face and fa- 
 Tour when they come to enjoy it, Cant. iii. 
 4. "It was but a little that I passed from 
 them, but I found him whom my soul loveth : 
 I held him, and 1 would not let him go, &;c." 
 No man sets so high a price upon Christ, as 
 he that hath lost him, and found him again, 
 Jesus, in the Chinese tongue*, signifies the ri- 
 sing sun, and so he is, Mai. iv. 2. especially to 
 souls that have been long clouded. The poor 
 northern nations inStrabo,who want the light 
 of the sun for some months together, when the 
 term of his return approaches, they climb up 
 into the highest mountains to spy it : and he 
 that spies it first, was accounted the best and 
 most beloTed of God, and usually they did 
 chuse him king : at such a rate did they prize 
 the return of the sun. Ah ! so it is with a 
 poor soul, that for some months, years, hath 
 been deserted. O ! how highly doth he prize 
 and value the sun of righteousness returning 
 to him, and shining upon him ! Psal. Ixiii. 3, 
 *' Thy loving.kindness is better than life," or 
 better than lives, as the Hebrew hath it. Di- 
 vine favour is better than life ; it is better than 
 life with all its revenues, with all its appur- 
 tenances, as honours, riches, pleasures, ap- 
 plause, &c. Yea, it is better than many lives 
 put together. Now, you know at what high 
 a rate men value their lives; they will bleed, 
 
 * Austin saith, Lord, lam content to suffer any pains 
 and torments in this world, if I niip;ht see thy face one 
 day ; at s>uch a rate did he prize the face of God.
 
 .UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 199 
 
 part with an estate, yea,with a limb, yea, limbs, 
 to preserve their lives: as he cried out, Give 
 me any deformity, any torment, any misery, 
 so you spare my life. Now, though life be so 
 dear and precious to a man, yet a deserted 
 soul prizes the returnings of divine favour 
 upon him, above life, yea, above many lives. 
 Many men have been weary of their lives, a3 
 is evident in scripture and history ; but no 
 man was ever yet found, that was weary of 
 the love and favour of God ; no man sets so 
 high a price upon the sun, as he that hath lain 
 long in a dark dungeon, &c. But, 
 
 (6.) Hereby the Lord will train up his ser- 
 vants in that precious life of faith, which is the 
 most honourable, and the most happy life in 
 all the world, 2 Cor. v. 7. " For we walk by 
 faith, and not by sight." The life of sense, 
 the life of reason, is a low life, a mean life; 
 the life of faith is a noble life, a blessed life. 
 When Elisha demanded of the shunamite, 
 what he should do for her, 2 Kings iv. 15, 16. 
 whether he should speak for her to the king, 
 or the captain of the host ? she answered, / 
 dwell among my people ; that is, I dwell nobly 
 and happily among my people ; I have no need 
 to make any suit to king or captain ; and this 
 she accounts her great happiness. And in- 
 deed it is the greatest happiness in this world, 
 to live much in the exercise of faith ; no man 
 lives so free a life, so holy a life, so heavenly 
 a life, so happy a life, as he that lives a life of 
 faith. By divine withdrawings, the soul is 
 put upon hanging upon a naked God, a naked
 
 200 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Christ, a naked promise : now tlie soul is put 
 upon the highest and the purest acts of faith, 
 Isa. Ixiii. 15, 16. viz. to cleave to God, to han^ 
 upon God, and to carry it sweetly and obedi- 
 ently towards God, though he frowns, though 
 he chides, though he strikes, yea, though he 
 kills, Job xiii. 15. Those are the most excel- 
 lent and heroic acts of faith that are most ab- 
 stracted from sense and reason : he that suffers 
 his reason to usurp upon his faith, will never 
 be an excellent Christian ; he that goes to 
 school to his own reason, hath a fool to his 
 schoolmaster ; and he that suffers his faith to 
 he over-ruled by his reason, shall never want 
 woe ; where reason is strongest, faith usually 
 is weakest : but now the Lord, by forsaking 
 of his people for a time, makes them skilful in 
 the life of faith, which is the choicest and the 
 sweetest life in this world. But, 
 
 (7.) By divine withdrawings you are made 
 more conformable to Christ your head and 
 husband, who was under spiritual desertion 
 as well as you, Matth. xxvii. 46. " My God, 
 my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" There 
 is an hidden emphasis in tlse Hebrew word. 
 El signifies a strong God, Eli, Eli^ my strong 
 God, my strong God. The unity of Christ's 
 person was never dissohed, nor his graces 
 were never diminished, in the midst of this 
 terrible storm. Ilis faitii fortified and 
 strengthened itself upon the strength of God, 
 AJj/Gud, ISlij God; yet in respect of divine 
 jirotection, and divine solace, ho was U>r ai
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 201 
 
 time forsaken of his Father.* And if this be 
 thy case, thou art herein but made conform- 
 able to thy Lord and Master, nay thou dost 
 but sip of that bitter cup, of which Christ 
 drank deep : thy cloud is no cloud to that 
 which Christ was under. But, 
 
 (8.) Lastly, By these transient and partial 
 forsakings, Psal. Ixxi. Wy 11, the Lord will 
 exceedingly sweeten the clear, full, constant, 
 and uninterrupted enjoyments of himself in 
 heayen to all his people. Ah ! how sweet 
 and precious was the face and favour of the 
 king to Absalom, after he had for a time been 
 banished, and at length restored to his royal 
 favour again! Onesimus departed from Phi- 
 lemon for a season, that he might receive him 
 for ever, Phil. ver. 15. So the Lord departs 
 from his people for a time, that they may re- 
 ceive him for ever ; he hides himself for a sea- 
 son, that his constant presence amongst his 
 children in glory may be the more sweet and 
 delightful to them, &c. 
 
 Object. 9. Oh ! but I am falsely accused 
 and sadly reproached, and my good name, 
 -which should be as dear, or dearer to me than 
 my life, is defamed, and things are laid to my 
 charge, that 1 never did, that I never knew, 
 &c. and how then can I be silent ? how can 
 I hold my peace ? 1 cannot forget the pro- 
 Terb, A man's eye and his good name can bear 
 no jests ; and how then can I be mute to see 
 men make jests upon my good name ? and 
 
 ♦ Christ was only forsaken in regard of his human 
 nature, not in respect of his Godhead,
 
 '102 THE MUTE CHRISTIAI^ 
 
 every day to see men treat it with all the scorn 
 and contempt imaginable, that they may ut- 
 terly blast it ? &c. To this 1 fiay, 
 
 1. That it must be granted, that a ^ood 
 name is one of the choicest jewels in a Chris« 
 tian's crown ; though a great name many times 
 is little worth, jet a good name is r.Uher to be 
 chosen than great riches; it is better to have 
 a good name abroad, than silver or gold laid 
 up in a chest at home ; A good name is better 
 than precious ointment^ Eccl. vii. 1. Precious 
 ointments were greatly in use, and highly es- 
 teemed of among the Israelites in those east- 
 ern parts, Isa. xxxix. 2 they were laid up 
 amongst the most precious things even in the 
 King's treasury*. Sweet ointments ran but 
 affect the smell, and comfort the brain, and 
 delight the outward man ; they reach not the 
 best part, the noble part, viz. the soul, the 
 conscience of a Christian ; but a good name 
 doth both. 
 
 I have read, that in some countries they 
 have a certain art of drawing of pigeons to 
 their dove-houses in those countries by an(»int- 
 ing the wings of one of them with sweet oint- 
 ment; and that pigeon beins: sent abroad, 
 doth, by the fragrancy of that ointment, de- 
 coy, invite, and allure others to that house, 
 where itself is a domestic. Such is the fra- 
 grancy of a good name, that it draws other 
 men after the savour thereof. Among all sorts 
 and ranks of men in the world, a good nam© 
 
 * A good renown is better than a golden girdle, 
 saith the French proverb.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 203 
 
 hath an attractive faculty; it is a precious 
 ointment that draws hearers to attend good 
 preachers, patients to attend physicians, cli- 
 ents to attend lawyers, scholars to attend 
 schoolmasters, and customers to attend shop- 
 keepers, who, with Demetrius, hath a good 
 report of all good men. Let a man's good 
 name be but up, and he cannot easily want 
 any thing that men or money can help him to ; 
 a good name will bring a man into favour, 
 and keep a man in favour with all that are 
 good; therefore say the moralists, 
 
 Whatsoever commodity you lose^ be sure 
 yet to preserve that jewel of a good name. A 
 Christian should be most careful of his good 
 name, for a good name answers to all things, 
 as Solomon speaks of money; If I may but 
 keep a good name, I have wealth enough, said 
 the Heathen. A Christian should rather fore- 
 go gold, than let go a good name ; and he that 
 robs a Christian of his good name, is a worse 
 thief than he that robs him of his purse, and 
 better deserves a hanging than he, &c. But, 
 
 2. It must be granted, that a good name 
 once lost, is very hardly recovered again ; a 
 man may more easily recover a lost friend, a 
 lost estate, than a lost name ; a good name is 
 like a princely structure, quickly ruined, but 
 long a-rearing. The father of the prodigal 
 could say of his lost son, This my son rcas losty 
 but is found; he tras dead, but is alive : But 
 how few Christians can say, This my good 
 name was lost, but is found ; It was dead, but 
 now it lives. As when Orpa once left rs'aomi,
 
 204 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 she relumed no more to her : so when once a 
 good name leaves a man, it hardlj returns to 
 him again ; new wine is rarely put into old 
 bottles ; a man should stand upon nothing 
 more than the credit of his conscience, and the 
 credit of his name. 
 
 In Japan, the very children are so jealous 
 of their reputation, that in case you lose a 
 trifle, and say to one of them, Sirrah, I beliere 
 you have stolen it; without any pause, the 
 boy will immediately cut oiF a joint from one 
 of his fingers, and say, Sir, if you say true, I 
 wish my finger may never heal again. Three 
 things a Christian should stiffly labour to 
 maintain. 1. The honour of God. 2. The ho- 
 nour of the gospel. 3. The honour of his own 
 name. If once a Christian's good name sets 
 in a cloud, it will be long before it rises again. 
 
 3. Though all this be true, yet it hath been 
 the portion of God's dearest saints and ser- 
 vants to be slandered, reproached, villified, 
 and falsely accused, Matth. v. 10. 11, 12. 
 1 Pet. iii. 14. chap. iv. 14. Psal, Ixix. 7. 
 Gen. xxxix. Psal. Hi. 2 Sam. xvi. 11, 12. 
 Job chap. vi. xiii. & xv. Jer. li. 51. " Let 
 the lying lips be put to silence, which speak 
 grievous things, proudly and contemptuously, 
 a'gainst the righteous, Psal. xxxi. 18. How 
 sadly and falsely was Joseph accused by his 
 wanton mistress ; David by Doeg and Shimei ; 
 Job of hypocrisy, impiety, inhumanity, cru- 
 elty, partiality, pride, and irreligion ! Job 
 xxii. Was not Naboth accused of speaking 
 blasphemy against God and the king ? Did
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 205 
 
 not Haman represent the Jews to the king as 
 refractories and rebels ? Was not Elias accu- 
 sed to be the troubler of Israel, and Jeremiah 
 the trumpet of rebellion ? Jer. xx. 7, 8, 9. 
 Rora. iii. 8. 2 Cor. vi. 8. 1 Cor. iv. 12, 1 3. 
 the Baptist a stirrer up of sedition, and Paul 
 a pestilent incendiary ? Were not the apos- 
 tles generally accounted deceivers and deluders 
 of the people, and the off-scouring of the 
 world ? &c. Athanasiusand Eustathius were 
 falsely accused of adultery ; adultery, heresy, 
 and treason were charged upon Cranmer; par- 
 ricide upon Philpot; sedition upon Latimer. 
 As the primitive persecutors usually put Chris- 
 tians into bears' skins, and dogs' skins, and 
 then baited them ; so they usually loaded their 
 names and persons with all the reproach, scorn, 
 contempt, and false reports imaginable, and 
 then baited them, and then acted all their ma- 
 lice and cruelty upon them. I think there is 
 no Christian, but sooner or later, first or last, 
 shall have cause to say with David, Psal. xxxv. 
 11. "False witnesses did rise up; they laid 
 to my charge things that I knew not;" they 
 charged me with such things whereof I was 
 both innocent and ignorant. It was the say- 
 ing of one. That there was nothing so intole- 
 rable as accusation, because there was no pun- 
 ishment ordained by law for accusers, as there 
 was for thieves, although they stole friendship 
 from men, which is the goodliest riches men 
 can have. Well, Christians, seeing it hath 
 been the lot of the dearest saints to be falsely 
 accused, and to have their names and reputes 
 s
 
 206 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 in the world reproached, do you hold your 
 peace, seeing it is no worse with you than it 
 was with them, of whom this world was not 
 worthy. The Rabbins say, That the world 
 cannot subsist without patient bearing of re- 
 proaches. But, 
 
 4. Our Lord Jesus Christ was sadly re- 
 proached, and falsely accused ; his precious 
 name (that deserves to be always writ in cha- 
 racters of gold, as the Persians usually write 
 their kings',) was often eclipsed, before the sun 
 was eclipsed at his death ; his sweet name, 
 that was sweeter than all sweets, was often 
 crucified before his body. Oh the stones of 
 reproach that were frequently rolled upon that 
 name by which we must be saved, if ever we 
 are saved ! Oh the jeers, the scoffs, the scorns 
 that were cast upon that name that can only 
 bless us ! The name of Jesus (saith Chrysos- 
 tom) hath a thousand treasures of joy and 
 comfort in it. The name of a Saviour (saith 
 Bernard) is honey in the mouth, and music in 
 the ear, and a jubilee in the heart: and yet 
 where is the heart that can conceive, or the 
 tongue that can express, how much reproach 
 hath been cast upon Christ's names ? and how 
 many sharp arrows of reproach and scorn have 
 been, and daily, yea hourly, are shot by the 
 world at Clirist's name and honour ? Such ig- 
 nominious reproaches were cast upon Christ 
 and his name, in the time of his life, and at his 
 death, that the sun did blush, and mask him- 
 self with a cloud, that lie might no longer be-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 207 
 
 hold them*, Matt. xi. 19. " The Son of man 
 came eating and drinking, and they say, Be- 
 hold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a 
 friend of publicans and sinners." But was he 
 such a one ? No. Wisdom is justified of her 
 children. Wisdom's children will stand up, 
 andjustifyherbeforeallthe world. Mat. xxvii. 
 63. "We remember that that deceiver said, 
 while he was yet alive, after three days I will 
 rise again." But was he a deceiver of the 
 people ? No ; he was the faithful and true 
 witness, Rev. i. 5. chap. iii. 14. John vii. 20, 
 *' The people answered, and said. Thou hast a 
 devil ; who goeth about to kill thee ? chap, 
 viii. 48. Then answered the Jews, and said 
 unto him. Say we not well, that thou art a 
 Samaritan, and hast a devil ? chap. x. 20. And 
 many of them said, He hath a devil, and is 
 mad; why hear ye him ?" It was a wonder 
 of wonders, that the earth did not open and 
 swallow up these monsters, and that God did 
 not rain hell out of heaven upon these horrid 
 blasphemers ; but their blasphemous assertions 
 were denied and disproved by some of wis- 
 dom's children, ver. 21. "Others said, These 
 are not the words of him that hath a devil : 
 can a devil open the eyes of the blind ?" The 
 devil hath no such power, nor any such good- 
 ness, as to create eyes to him that was born 
 blind. 
 
 Will you yet see more scorn and contempt 
 
 • It is a foolish thing, saith Cato, to hope for life 
 by another's death. The world practically speaks a&- 
 inuch every day.
 
 208 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 cast upon the Lord of glory ? Why, then, 
 cast your eyes upon that, Luke xvi. 14. "And 
 the Pharisees also, who were coretous, heard 
 all these things, and they derided him ; or, as 
 the Greek reads it. They blow their noses at 
 him in scorn and derision." The Pharisees, 
 Mark XV. 19. Isa. Ivii. 4. Matt, xxyii. 28, 29. 
 did not only laugh, fleer, and jeer at Christ, 
 but they gave also external signs of scorn and 
 derision in their countenance and gestures; 
 they blew their noses at him, they contemned 
 him as a thing of nought. And in chap, xxiii. 
 35, both people and rulers blew their noses at 
 him ; for the original word is the same with 
 that in the forementioned chapter, John xix, 
 12. He is accused for being an enemy to Ca- 
 sar. . Now, who can seriously consider of the 
 scorn, reproach, and contempt that hath been 
 cast upon the name and honour of our Lord 
 Jesus, and not sit silent and mute under all 
 the scorn and contempt that hath been cast 
 upon his name or person in ihis world ? 
 
 6. To be well spoken of by them that are 
 ill spoken of by God, to be in favour with 
 them who are out of favour with God, is ra- 
 ther a reproach than an honour to a man*. 
 Our Saviour himself testifieth, that, in the 
 church and nation of the Jews, they that had 
 the most general approbation and applause, 
 
 ♦ The tongues of wicked men are like the Duke of 
 Medina Sidonia's sword, that knew no difference be- 
 tween a Catholic and an heretic. The lashes of lewd 
 tongues are as impossible to avoid as necessary t« 
 
 contemn.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 206 
 
 ihcy M^ho were most admired and cried up, 
 were the worst, not the best men ; they were 
 the false, not the true prophets, Luke vi. 26. 
 ^' Wo unto you when all men shall speak well 
 of you : for so did their fathers to the false 
 prophets." Austin feared the praises of good 
 men, and detested the praises of evil men. I 
 would not, saith Luther, have the glory and 
 fame of Erasmus; my greatest fear is the 
 praises of men. Phocion ha''s not suspected 
 his speech, had not the comna'on people ap- 
 plauded it. Antisthenes mistrusted some ill in 
 himself for the vulgar commendations. So- 
 crates ever suspected that which passed with 
 the most general commendations. To be prai- 
 sed of evil men (said Bion), is to be praised 
 for evil-doing; so the better they speak of a 
 man, the worse; and the worse, the better. 
 The Lacedaemonians would not have a good 
 saying sullied with a wicked mouth. A wick- 
 ed tongue soils all the good that drops from it : 
 it is a mercy to be delivered from the praises 
 of wicked men ; wicked men's applauses of- 
 tentimes become the saints' reproaches. The 
 Heathen could say, What evil have I done, 
 that this bad man commends me ? There is a 
 truth in that saying of Seneca, The worst men 
 are commonly most displeased with that which 
 is best. Who can seriously dwell on these 
 things, and not be mute and silent under all 
 the reproaches and scorn that are cast upon 
 his name and credit in this world ? 
 
 6. There will come a day when the Lord 
 will wipe off all the dust and reproach that 
 s 3
 
 210 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 wicked men haye cast upon the good names 
 of his people ; there shall be a resurrection of 
 names, as well as of bodies ; their names that 
 are now buried in the open sepulchres of evil 
 throats, shall surely rise again ; their innocerim 
 cy shall shine forth as the light, and their righm 
 teousness as the noon-dai/, Psal. xxxvii. 6. 
 Though the clouds may for a time obscure the 
 shining forth of the sun, yet the sun will shine 
 forth again as bright and glorious as ever. The 
 righteous shall be had in everlasting remem- 
 brance. Though the malicious slanders and 
 false accusations of wicked men may for a time 
 cloud the names of the saints, yet those clouds 
 shall vanish, and their names shall appear 
 trstnsparent and glorious. God will take that 
 care of his people's good name, that the infa- 
 my, calumnies, and contumelies, that are cast 
 upon it, shall not long remain. The Jews roll- 
 ed a stone upon Christ to keep him down, that 
 he might not rise again ; but an angel quickly 
 rolls away the stone, and, in despite of his 
 keepers, he rises in a glorious triumphant man- 
 ner : so though the world may roll this stone 
 and that of reproach and contempt upon the 
 saints' good names, yet God will roll away all 
 those stones, and their names shall have a glo- 
 rious resurrection, in despite of men and devils; 
 that God that hath always one hand to wipe 
 away his children's tears from their eyes, that 
 God hath always another hand to wipe off the 
 dust that lies upon his children's names : 
 wronged innocency shall not long lie under a 
 cloud ; dirt will not stick long upon marble^
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 211 
 
 nor statues of gold. Well, Christians, remem- 
 ber this, the slanders and reproaches that are 
 cast upon you, they are but badges of your 
 innocency and glory, Job xxxi. 35, 36. '' If 
 mine adversary should write a book against 
 me ; surely I would take it upon my shoulder, 
 and bind it as a crown to me." All reproach- 
 es are pearls added to a Christian's crown. 
 Hence Austin, He that willingly takes from 
 my good name, unwillingly adds to my re- 
 ward ; and this Moses knew well enough, 
 which made him prefer Christ's reproach before 
 Pharaoh's crown : that God that knows all 
 his children by name, will not suffer their 
 names to be long buried under the ashes of 
 reproach and scorn ; and 'therefore hold thy 
 peace: the more the foot of pride and scorn, 
 tramples upon thy name for the present, the 
 more splendent and radiant it will be. As 
 the more men trample upon a figure graven in 
 gold, the more lustrous they make it; there- 
 fore lay thy hand upon thy mouth. But, 
 
 7. The Lord hath been a swift and terrible 
 witness against such as have falsely accused 
 his children, Isa. xli. 11. and that have loaded 
 their names with scorn, reproach, and con- 
 tempt. Ahab and Jezebel, who suborned false 
 witnesses against Naboth, I Kingsxxii. 21, 22. 
 had their blood licked up by dogs, 2 Kings ix. 
 Amaziah, who falsely accused the prophet 
 Amos to the king, met with this msesage from 
 the Lord, Amos vii. 17. "Thy wife shall be 
 an harlot In the city, thy sons and daughters 
 shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall bi*
 
 212 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 divided by line ; thou shalt die in a polluted 
 land." Haman, who falsely accused the Jews, 
 Esther Tii. 10. and chap. ix. 10. was one day 
 feasted with the kin^, and the next day made 
 a feast for crows. The envious courtiers who 
 falsely accused Daniel, Dan. vi. 24. were de- 
 voured of lions. Let me give you a view of 
 the judgments of God upon such persons out 
 of histories. 
 
 Caiaphas the high priest, who gathered the 
 council, and suborned false witnesses against 
 the Lord Jesus, was shortly after put out of 
 office; and one Jonathan substituted in his 
 room, whereupon he killed himself. John 
 Ccoper, a godly man, being falsely accused in 
 Queen Mary's days> by one Grimwood, short- 
 ly after the said Grimwood being in perfect 
 health, his bowels suddenly fell out of his bo- 
 dy, and so he died miserably. 
 
 Narcissus, a godly bishop of Jerusalem, 
 ■was falsely accused by three men of many foul 
 matters, who sealed up with oaths and impre- 
 cations their false testimonies ; but shortly af- 
 ter that, one of them, with his whole family 
 and substance, was burnt with fire; another 
 of them was stricken with a grievous disease, 
 such as in his imprecation he had wished to 
 himself; the third, terrified with the sight of 
 God's judgments upon the former, became 
 very penitent, and poured out the grief of his 
 heart in such abundance of tears, that thereby 
 he became blind. 
 
 A wicked wretch, under Commodus the 
 Emperor, accused Apollonius, a godly Chris-
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 213 
 
 tian, to the judges, for certain grievous crimes; 
 which when he could not prove, he was ad- 
 judged to have his legs broken, according to 
 an ancient law of the Romans. 
 
 Gregory Bradway falsely accused one 
 Brook, but shortly after, through terrors of 
 conscience, he sought to cut his own throat, 
 but being prevented he fell mad. 
 
 I have read of Socrates' two false accusers, 
 how that the one was trodden to deatu by the 
 multitude, and the other was forced to avoid 
 the like by a voluntary banishment, f might 
 produce a multitude of other instances, but 
 let these suffice to evidence how swift and ter- 
 rible a witness God hath been against those 
 that have been false accusers of his people, 
 and that have loaded their precious names 
 with scorn and reproach : the serious consi- 
 deration of which should make the accused 
 and reproached Christian sit dumb and silent 
 before the Lord. 
 
 8. Lastly, God himself is daily reproached. 
 Men trouble not to cast scorn and contempt 
 upon God himself. Sometimes they charge 
 the Lord, that his ways are not equal, that it 
 is a wrong way he goeth in, Ezek. xviii. 25. 
 Sometimes they charge God with cruelty, M^ 
 punishment is greater than I am able to bear^ 
 Gen iv, 13. Sometimes they charge God with 
 partiality, and respect of persons, because 
 here he strokes, and there he strikes : here he 
 lifts up, and there he casts down; here he 
 smiles, and there he frowns ; here he gives 
 much, and there he gives nothing; here he
 
 214 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 loves, and there be hates ; here he prospers 
 one, and there he blasts another; Malachi ii. 
 17. li here is (he God of judgment? i. e. no 
 "where ; either there is no God of judgment, 
 or at least not a God of exact, precise, and 
 jaipartial judgment, &c*. Sometimes they 
 charge God with unbountifulness ; that he is 
 a God that will set his people to hard work, 
 to much work, but will pay them no wages, 
 nor give them any reward, Malachi iii. 14. 
 '' Ye have said, it is in vain to serve God : 
 and what profit is it, that we hare kept his or- 
 dinances, and that we have walked mournful- 
 ly before the Lord of hosts ?" Sometimes they 
 charge God, that he is a hard master, and that 
 he reaps where he hath not sown, and gathers 
 ^vhere he hath not strawed, Matth. xxv. 24, 
 &c. Oh the inflnite reproach and scorn that 
 is every day, that is every hour in the day cast 
 upon the Lord, his name, his truth, his ways, 
 his ordinances, his glory ! Alas, all the scorn 
 and contempt that is cast upon all the saints, 
 all the world over, is nothing to that which 
 is cast upon the great God every hour, and 
 yet he is patient. Ah ! how hardly do most 
 men think of God ! and how hardly do they 
 speak of God I and how unhandsomely do 
 they carry it towards God ! and yet he bears. 
 They that will not spare God himself, his 
 name, his truth, his honour, shall we think it 
 much that they spare not us, or our names ? 
 
 ♦ It were very strange that I should please a world 
 of men, when God himself doth not give every ma ^ 
 COQtent. — SaU
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD, 215 
 
 &c. Surely not. Why should uc look that 
 those should give us good words, that cannot 
 afford God a good word from one week's end 
 to another ? yea, from one year's end to ano- 
 ther ? Why should we look that they should 
 cry out, Hosanna^ llosanna^ to us, when as 
 every day they cry out of Christ, Crucify him, 
 crucify him, Matt. x. 23. " It is enough for 
 the disciple that he be as his master, and the 
 servant as his lord : if they have called the 
 master of the house Belzebub," (or a master- 
 fly, or a dunghill god, or the chief devil), /zort) 
 much more skuUtheij cult them oj hishousehold? 
 It is preferment enough for the servant to be 
 as his lord ; and if they make no hones of 
 staining and blaspheming tlie name of the 
 Lord, never wonder if they revile thy name. 
 And let this suffice to quiet and silence your 
 hearts, Chrit^tians, under all that scorn and 
 contempt that is cast upon your names and 
 reputations in this world. 
 
 The tenth and last objection is this, '* Sir, 
 in this my aflliction 1 have sought to the Lord 
 for this and that mercy ; and still God delays 
 me, and puts me oil: I have several times 
 thought that mercy had been near, that deli- 
 verance had been at the door, but now i see 
 it is afar otF, how then can 1 hold my peace ? 
 How can 1 be silent under such delays and 
 disappointments?" To this objection 1 shall 
 give^you these answers, 
 
 I, The i^ord doth not alw;jys time his an- 
 swers to the swiftness of his people's expecta- 
 tions : he that i.s (he God of our mercies, is
 
 216 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN- 
 
 the Lord of our times ; God hath delayed 
 long his dearest saints ; times belonging to him, 
 as well as issue, Hab. i. 2. " O Lord, how 
 lonfj shall I rry, and thou wilt not hear ? even 
 cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt 
 11 o? save ? Job xix. 7. Behold, I cry out of 
 TJolence, but I have no answer; I cry, but 
 there is no judorinent, Psal. Ixix. 3. I am 
 ^^ i'ary of crying, my throat is dry ; mine eyes 
 fs'l while I wait for my God, Psal. xl. 17. 
 Make no tarrying, O my God." Though God 
 h?(] promised him a crown, a kingdom, yet 
 1; i uts him off from day to day, and for all 
 hib laste he muf^t stay for it till the set time 
 is ccme, Paul was delayed so long, till he 
 even desp? ired of life, and had thesentence of 
 d'-fith in himself, 2 Cor. i. 8, 9. And Joseph 
 vus delayed so long, till the. irons entered into 
 his soitl, Psal. cv. 17, 18, 19. So he delayed 
 ]' ui' the giving in of comfort to Mr. Glover, 
 thdUffh he had sought him frequently, earnest- 
 ly, aid denied himself to the death for Christ. 
 Aiigi^stine being under convictions, a shower 
 ef tears came from him, and casting himself 
 on the ground under a fig-tree, he cries out, 
 O Lord! how long? how long shall I say, 
 7'c-morrow, to-morrow? why not to-day,- 
 l.ord, why not to-day ? Though Abigail made 
 hus'p to prrvent David's fury , and Rahab made 
 haste to hang out her scarlet thread, yet God 
 i\(,th not always make haste to hear and save 
 h '^ d'iirest ct.ildren ; and therefore hold thy 
 pcj'ce. he deals no worse with thee, than he 
 haih done by his dearest jewels.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 217 
 
 2. Though the Lord doth defer and delay 
 you for a time, yet he will come, and mercy 
 and deliverance shall certainly come ; he v,\\\ 
 not always forget the cry of the poor, Heb. x. 
 37. '' For yet a little while, and he that shall 
 come will come, and will not tarry, Hab. ii. 
 3. The Tision is yet for an appointed time, 
 but at the end it shall speak and not lie; 
 though it tarry, wait for it." God will come, 
 and mercy will come ; though for the present 
 thy sun be set, and thy God seems to neglect 
 thee, yet thy sun will rise again, and :hy God 
 "will answer ail thy prayers, and supply all thy 
 necessities, Psal. Ixxi. 20, 21. '* Thou which 
 hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt 
 quicken me a^ain, and shalt bring me up again 
 from the depths of the earth. '1 liou shalt in- 
 crease my greatness, and comfort me on eve; y 
 side;** Three martyrs being brought to the 
 stake, and all bound, one of them slips fioni 
 underhis chain (to admiration,) and falls do»TM 
 upon the ground, and wrestled earnestly with 
 God for the sense of his love, and God gave 
 it into him then ; and so he came and embra- 
 ced the stake, and died cheerfully a glorious 
 martyr : God delays him lili he was at the 
 stake, and till he was bound, and then sweetly 
 lets out himself to him. 
 
 3. Though God do delay thee, yet he doth 
 not forget thee, he remembers tl ee still, thou 
 art still in his eye, Isa. xlix. 14, 15, 16. and 
 always upon his heart, Jer. xxxi. 20. He can 
 as soon forget himself, as forget his people, 
 P«al. Ixxvii, 9, 10. The bride shall sooner 
 
 T
 
 218 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 forget her ornamcnff:, and the mother shall 
 sooner fors^t^t her sucking child, Isa. liv. 7, 
 8, 9, 10. a'»d the wife shall sooner forget her 
 hnsband, Isa. Ixii. 3, 4, 5. than the Lord shall 
 for£:et his people. Though Sabinus. in Seneca, 
 could never in all his iife.time remember those 
 three names of Homer, Ul>sses,,and Achilles, 
 yet God always knows and remembers his 
 people by name. Gen. viii. 1. Chap. xix. 29. 
 & XXX. 31. 1 Sam.i. 9. Jonah iv. 10, 11, &c. 
 Therefore be silent, hold thy peace ; thy God 
 liath not forgotten thee, though for the pre- 
 sent he hath itelayed thee. 
 
 4. God's time is always the best time; God 
 always takes the best and fittest seasons to do 
 us good, Isa. xlix. 8. "Thus saith the Lord, 
 ]n an acceptable time have 1 heard thee, and 
 in a day of salvation have I helped thee." I 
 could have heard thee before, and have helped 
 thee before, but I have taken the most accept- 
 able tinu to do both To set God his time, 
 is to limit him, Psal. Ixxviii. 41. It is to exalt 
 ourselves above him, as if we were wiser than 
 God ; though we are not wise enough to im- 
 prove the times and seasons which God hath 
 set us to serve and honour him in, yet we are 
 apt to think we are wise ent)Ugh to set God his 
 timcw hen to hear, and when to save, and when 
 to deliver. To circumscribe God to our time, 
 and to make ourselves lords of time, what is 
 this, but to divest God of his royalty and so- 
 vereignty of appointing times ? It is but just 
 and equal that that God that hath made time, 
 and that hath the sole power to appoint and
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 219 
 
 dispose of time, that he should take his own 
 time to do his people good. We are many 
 times humourous, preposterous, and hast) .and 
 row we must have mercy, or we die ; dehver- 
 ance, or we aie undone ; but our impatience 
 ■wdl never help us to a mercy, one hour, one 
 moment, before the time that God haih st-t ; 
 the best God will always take the best time to 
 hand out mercies to his people ; there is no 
 mercj so fair, so ripe, so lovely, so beautiful, 
 as that which God gives out in his own time; 
 therefore hold thy peace ; though God delays 
 thee, yet be silent ; for there is no possibility 
 of taking a mercy out of God's hand, till the 
 mercy be ripe for us, and we ripe for the mer- 
 cy, Eccl. iii. 1 1. 
 
 5. The Lord in this life will certainly re- 
 compence, and make his children amends for 
 all the delays and put-offs, that he exerciheth 
 them with m this world ; as he did Abraham 
 in giving him such a son as Isaac was, and 
 Hannah, in giving her a Samuel, lie delayed 
 Joseph lonjj, but at length he changed his non 
 fetters into chains of gold, his rags into ro^al 
 robes, his stocks into a chariot, his prison into 
 a palace, his bed of thorns into a bed of down, 
 his reproach into honour, and his thirty years 
 of suffering into eighty years ot reigning in 
 much grandeur and glory. 8o God deUi}ed 
 David long, 2 Sam. i. but when his suheiing 
 hours were out, he is anointed, atid the crow a 
 of Israel is set upon his head, and he is made 
 •very victorious, very famous and glorious for 
 forty years together. Weil, Christians, God
 
 220 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN' 
 
 \fill certainly pay you iaterest upon interest, 
 for all the delays that you meet with, and 
 therefore hold your [>eace. But, 
 
 6. Lastly,) The Lord never delays the giving 
 in of this mercy, or that deliverance, or the 
 other favour, but upon great and weighty 
 reasons, and therefore liold thy peace. 
 
 Quest. " But what are the reasons that 
 God doth so delay and put off his people 
 from time to time, as we see he doth ?" 
 
 Ans. 1. For the trial of his people, and for 
 distinguishing of them from others, Matt. xv. 
 21 — 29. As the furnace tries gold, so delays 
 will try what a Christian is made of; delays 
 wtl! try both the truth and the strength of a 
 Cliristian's graces ; dclajs are a Christian's 
 touch-stone, that will try what men are made 
 of, whether they be gold or dross, silver or 
 tin ; whether they be sincere or unsound, 
 M hether they be real Christians. As a father, 
 by crossing and delaying his children, tries 
 their dispositions, and makes a full discovery 
 of them, so that he can say, That child is of 
 a muttering and grumbling disposition, and 
 that is of an humorous and wayward disposi- 
 tion, but the rest are of a meek, sweet, hum- 
 ble, and gentle disposition : so the Lord, by 
 delaying and crossing of his children, disco- 
 Ters their different dispositions. The manner 
 of the Psylli (which are a kind of people of 
 that temper and constitution, that no venom 
 will hurt them) is, that if they suspect any 
 child to be none of their own, they set an ad- 
 der upon it to sting it, and if it cry, and Xht
 
 UNDER TUE SMARTING ROD. 221 
 
 flesh swell, they cast it away as a spurious is- 
 sue ; but if it do not cry, if it do not so much 
 as quake, nor do not grow the worse for it, 
 then they account it for their own, and make 
 Tery much of it.» So the Lord, by delays 
 which are as the stinging of the adder, tries 
 his children ; if they patiently, quietly, and 
 sweetly can bear them, then the Lord will 
 own them, and make much of them, as those 
 that are near and dear unto him ; but if under 
 delays they fall a crying, roaring, storming, 
 yexing, and fretting, the Lord will not own 
 them, but reckon them as bastards, and no 
 sons, Heb. xii. 8. 
 
 2. That they may have the greater expe- 
 rience of his power, grace, love, and mercy 
 in the close. Christ loved Martha, and her 
 sister, and Lazarus; yet he defers his coming 
 for several days, and Lazarus must die, be 
 put in the grave, and lie there till he stinks : 
 and why so, but that they might have the 
 greater experience of his power, grace, and 
 love towards them ? 
 
 3. To sharpen his children's appetite, and 
 to put a greater edge upon their desires ; to 
 make them cry out as a woman in travail, or 
 as a man that is in danger of drowning. God 
 delays, that his people may come to him with 
 greater strength and importunity ; he puts 
 them off, that they may put on with more life 
 and vigour. God seems to be cold, that he 
 may make us the more hot; he seems to be 
 slack, that he may make us the more earnest : 
 he seems to be backward, that he may make 
 
 t3
 
 222 THE MD'IE CHRISTIAN 
 
 US the more forward in pressing upon him. 
 The father delays the child, that he may 
 make him the more eager ; and so doth God 
 his, that he may make them the more divinely 
 Tiolent. When Balaam had once put off Ba- 
 lak, he sent again (saith the text) certain prin^ 
 ces more, and more honourable than they, 
 Balaam's put-off did but make Balak the more 
 importunate, it did but increase and whet his 
 desires. This is that that God aims at by all 
 his put-offs, to make his children more ear- 
 nest, to whet up their spirits, and that they 
 may send up more, and y^i more honourable 
 prayers after hira ; that they may cry more 
 earnestly, strive more mightily, and wrestle 
 more importunately with God, and that they 
 may take heaven with a more sacred violence. 
 Anglers draw back the hook, that the fish may 
 be more forward to bite ; and God sometimes 
 seems to draw back, but it is only that we may 
 press the more on : and therefore as anglers 
 when they have long waited, and perceive that 
 the fish do not so much as nibble at the bait, 
 yet do they not impatiently throw away the 
 rod, or break the hook and line, but pull up, 
 and look upon the bait, and mend it, and so 
 throw it in again, and then the fish bites ; so 
 Avhen a Christian prays and obtains nothing, 
 God seems to be silent, and heaven seems to 
 be shut against him ; yet let him not cast off 
 prayer, but renew his prayer, pray more be- 
 licvingly, pray more afi'ec'tionately, and pray 
 more fervently, and then mercy will come,
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 223 
 
 and comfort will come, and deliverance will 
 come. But, 
 
 4. God delays and puts off his people many 
 times, that he may make a fuller discovery of 
 themselves to themselves. Few Christians 
 see themselves, and onderstand themselves. 
 By delays, God discovers much of a man's sin- 
 ful self, to his religious self; much of his 
 worse part, to his better part ; of his ignoble 
 part, to his most noble part. When the fire 
 is put under the pot, then the scum appears ; 
 so when God delays a poor soul. Oh ! how 
 doth the scum of pride, the scum of murmur- 
 ing, the scum of quarrelling, the scum of dis- 
 trust, the scum of impatience, the scum of 
 despair, discover itself in the heart of a poor 
 creature! 1 have read of a fool, who being 
 left in a chamber, and the door locked when 
 lie was asleep, after he awakes, and finds the 
 door fast, and all the people gone, he cries out 
 at the window, O myself! O myself! O my- 
 self I So when God shuts the door upon his 
 people, when he delays them, and puts them 
 off, ah ! what cause have they to cry out of 
 themselves, to cry out of proud self, and world- 
 ly self, and carnal self, and foolish self, and 
 forward self, &c. We are very apt, saith Se- 
 neca, to use spectacles to behold other men's 
 faults, rather than lookinaj-glasses to behold 
 our own : but now God's delays are as a look- 
 ing-glass in which God gives his people to see 
 their own faults. Oh ! that baseness, that 
 vileness, that wrctchedne&s, that sink of iiUhi-
 
 224 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ness, thatgulph of wickedness, that God by de- 
 lays discovers to be in the hearts of men. But, 
 
 5. God delays and puts off his people, to 
 enhance, to raise the price of mercy, the price 
 of deliverance. We usually set the highest 
 price, the greatest esteem, upon such things as 
 ■we obtain Hi(h the greatest difficulty; what 
 we dearly buy, that we highly prize; the 
 more sighs, tears, weepings, waitings, watch- 
 ings, strivings, and earnest longings, this mcr-> 
 cy, and that deliverance, and the other favour 
 costs us, the more highly we shall value them : 
 when a delayed mercy comes, it tastes more 
 like a mercy, it sticks more like a mercy, it 
 warms more like a mercy, it works more like 
 a mercy, and it endears the heart to God like 
 a mercy, more than any other mercy that a 
 man enjoys. 
 
 " This is the child (sailh Hannah, after God 
 had long delayed her) for which I prayed, 
 and the Lord hath given me my petition which 
 J asked of him.'* Delayed mercy is the cream 
 of mercy ; no mercy so sweet, so dear, so 
 precious to a man, as that which a man hath 
 gained after many put-offs. Mr. Glover the 
 martyr sought (he Lord earnestly and fre- 
 quently for some special mercies, and the Lord 
 delayed him long; but when he was even at 
 the stake, then the Lord gave in the mercies 
 to him, and then, as a man overjoyed, he cries 
 out to his friend, He is come, he is come ! 
 But, 
 
 6. The Lord delays his people, that he may 
 pay them home in their own coin ; God some-
 
 UNDER THE SMAUTIXG ROD. 226 
 
 times loves to retaliate. The spouse puts off 
 Christ, Cant. v. 2. '• I have put off my coat, 
 how can I put it on ?" &c. and Christ puts 
 her oif, ver. 5, 6, 7, 8. Thou hast put off God 
 from day to day, or from month to month, 
 yea, from year to year; and therefore if God 
 puts thee oif from day to day, or from year to 
 year, hast thou any cause to complain ? Sure- 
 ly not. Thou hast often and long put off the 
 motions of his Spirit, the directions of his 
 word, the offers of his grace, the entreaties of 
 his Son ; and therefore what can be more just, 
 than that God should delay thee for a time, 
 and put thee off for a season, who hast delay- 
 ed him, and put him off days without number ? 
 If God serves thee, as thou hast often served 
 him, thou hast no reason to complain. But, 
 7. Lastly, The I^ord delays his people, that 
 heaven may be the more sweet to them at 
 last. Here they meet with many delays, and 
 with many put-offs; but in heaven they shall 
 never meet with one put-off, with one delay ; 
 here many times they call and cry, and can 
 get no answer, Lam. iii. 8 — 14. Here they 
 knock, and yet the door of grace and mercy 
 opens not to them ; but in heaven they shall 
 havemercy at the first word, at the first knock : 
 there, whatever heart can wish, shall without 
 delay be enjoyed. Here God seems to say 
 sometimes. Souls, you have mistaken the 
 door, or 1 am not at leisure, or others must 
 be served before you, or come some other 
 time, &c. But in heaven God is always at 
 leisure, aad all the sweetnessj and blessedness,
 
 226 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 and happiness of that state presenfsitself every 
 hour to the soul there. God hath never, God 
 will never say to any of his saints in heaven, 
 Come to-morrow; such Janguage the saints 
 sometimes hear here, but such language is no 
 wise suitable to a glorified condition ; and 
 therefore seeing that the J.ord never delays 
 his people, but upon great and weighty ac- 
 counts, let his people be silent before him, let 
 them not mutter nor murmur, but be mute; 
 and so I have done with the objections. 
 
 1 shall come now, in the la?.t placi , to pro- 
 pound some helps and directions, that may 
 contribute to the silenclig and stilling of your 
 souls under the greatest f^fiiictions, the sharp- 
 est trials, and the saddest prov denccs that 
 you meet with in this world ; ai-d so close up 
 this discourse. 
 
 1. All the afflictions that come upon the 
 saints, they are the fruits of divine love, Rev. 
 iii. 19. '^ As many as 1 love, 1 rebuke and 
 chasten ; be zealous, therefore, and repent," 
 Heb. xii. 6 '•'• For whom the Lord loveth he 
 chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he 
 receivelh," Job v. 17. '•'' Behold, liappy is the 
 man whom God correcteth ; therefore despise 
 not thou the chastening of the Almighty," 
 Chaj). vii. 17, 18. " What is man that thou 
 shouldbt magnify him ? and that thou shouldst 
 set thine heart upon him ? and that thou 
 shouldst visit him every niorning ; and try him 
 every moment ?" Isa. xlviii. 10. "Behold, 
 J have refined thee, but not with silver ; 1 have 
 chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.'*
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 227 
 
 When Munster lay sick, and his friends asked 
 him how he did, and how he felt himself? he 
 pointed to his sores and ulcers, (whereof he 
 ■was full), and said, These are God's gems 
 and jewels wherewith he decked his best 
 friends, and to me they are more precious 
 than all the gold and silver in the world. A 
 gentleman highly prizes his hawk, he feeds her 
 with his own hand, he carries her upon his 
 fist, he takes a great deal of delight and plea- 
 sure in her ; and therefore he puts vervels up- 
 on her legs, and a hood upon her head ; he 
 hoodwinks her, and fetters her, because he 
 loves her, and takes delight in her ; so the 
 Lord by afflictions hoodwinks and fetters his 
 children, but all is, because he loves them, 
 and takes delight and pleasure in them. There 
 cannot be a greater evidence of God's hatred 
 and wrath, than his refusing to correct men 
 for their sinful courses and vanities : Uos. iv. 
 3 4. 19. Ezek. xvi. 42. '' Why should you 
 be smitten any more? you will revolt more 
 and more," Isa. i. 5. Where God refuses to 
 correct, there God resolves to destroy ; there 
 is no man so near the axe, so near the flames, 
 so near hell, as he whom God will not so 
 much as spend a rod upon; God is most an- 
 gry where he shews no anger. Jerome, wri- 
 ting to a sick friend, hath this expression, I 
 acccount it a part of unhappiness not to know 
 adversity ; 1 judge you to be miserable, be- 
 cause you have not been miserable. iSothing 
 (saith another) seems more unhappy to me, 
 than he to whom uo adversity hath happened.
 
 228 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 God afflicts thee, O Christian, in love ; and 
 therefore Luther cries out, Strike, Lord, 
 Strike, Lord, and spare not. Who can se- 
 riously muse upon this, and not hold his 
 peace, and not be silent under the most smart- 
 ing rod ? 
 
 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 ever you shall have : here 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 case, and rest, and pleasure 
 is to coinc: here you ha^ve all your bitter, 
 your sweet is to come : here you have 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 in- 
 let to those joys, delights, and contents that 
 shall never have an end ; and therefore hold 
 thy peace, and be silent before the Lord. 
 
 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 
 
 * Sre my Treatise call<»d * Heave;! on Earth.'
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 229 
 
 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 miittor nor murmur under his greatest 
 burthens; he that can groundedly say, No- 
 thing shall separate me from the love of God 
 in Christ, he will be able to triumph in the 
 midst oJ the greatest tribulations ; he that with 
 the spouse can say, "My beloved is mine, and 
 I am is," 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), up- 
 on the trial of religion, he threatened her that 
 he would lake 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; 1 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 her's 
 bore up her heart, and quieted her spirit un- 
 der 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 1 a thousand lives, I would lay them all 
 down for my Saviour's sake, who hath done 
 abundantly more for me." John Ardley pro- 
 fessed to Bonner, when he told him of burn- 
 ing, and how ill he could endure it, '^That if 
 he had as many lives as he had hairs on his 
 bead, he would lose them all in the fire, be- 
 fore he would lose his Christ." Assurance 
 u
 
 230 THE MUTE CnillSTIAW 
 
 ■will keep a man from mnttering and murmur- 
 ing under the sorest afflictions. Henry and 
 John (two Augustine monks) beinif 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,lsa. 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 VI hy should they forget their sorrows, 
 and not remember their pains, nor be sensible 
 of their sickness ? ^Vhy, the reason is, be- 
 cause the Lord had forgiven them their iniqui- 
 ties ; the sense of pardon took away the sense 
 of pain, the sense of forgiveness took away the 
 sense of siikncss. Assurance of pardon will 
 take away the pain, the sting, the trouble of 
 every trouble and pfiiiction that a Christian 
 meets with ; no affliction will daunt, startle, 
 or stagger an assured Christian ; assured 
 Christians will be patient and silent under all, 
 Vsal. xxiii. 1,4, 5, 6, 7. Mclancthon makes 
 mention of a godly woman, who having upon 
 lier death-bed been in much conflict, and af. 
 terwards much comforted, brake out in these 
 words. Now, and not till now, \ understand 
 the meaning of these words, "• Thy sins arc
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 231 
 
 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 ofl" from vexing or fretting under 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 advan- 
 tage that hath redounded to your souls by for- 
 mer troubles and atihctions that have been up- 
 on you. Eccl. vii. 14. "in the day of ad- 
 versity 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 liath disco- 
 vered to thee the impotency, the mutability, 
 the insufficiency, and the v.mity of the world, 
 and all worldly concernments; consider liow 
 the Lord by former afflictions hath melted thy 
 heart, and broken thy heart, and humbled thy 
 heart, and prepared thy heart for clearer, ful- 
 ler, and sweeter enjoyments of himselt ; con- 
 sider what pity, what compassion, what bow- 
 els, what tenderness, and what sweetness, 
 former afflictions have wrought m ihee towards 
 others in niisery ; consider w hat room former 
 afflictions have made in thy soul for God, for 
 his word, for good counsel, and for divine 
 
 * There was a good man thatKad got so much good 
 by his atflictions, lliat he counted it his greatest afflic- 
 tion to want an affliction ; and therefore he would 
 sometimes cry out, Oh, my friends ! 1 have loit an af- 
 lliction, I have lost an affliction !
 
 232 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 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 atilictioiis the 
 Lord hath made thee to look towards heaven 
 more, to mind heaven more, to prize heaven 
 more, and to lotig 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 for- 
 mer afflictions ? Yes. Oh my soul ! hath 
 not God done that for thee by former afflic- 
 tions, that thou wouldst not have to do for tea 
 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 af- 
 flictions, 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 
 np, many irons in the (ire, have need of a 
 good memory. Secondly, great talkers, for 
 they being full of words, have need to have a
 
 Under the smarting rod. 233 
 
 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 be taken in their lying con- 
 tradictions. And I may add for a fourth, viz. 
 those that are afflicted, that they may remem- 
 ber the great good that they have gained by 
 former afflictions, that so they may be the 
 more silent and quiet under present troubles. 
 5. To quiet and silence your souls under 
 the sorest afflictions and sharpest trials ; con- 
 sider, that your choicest, your chiefest treasure 
 is safe, 1 Tim.i.5. your God is safe, your Christ 
 is safe, your portion is safe, 2 Tim, iv. 8. your 
 crown is safe, your inheritance is safe, your 
 royal palace is safe, and your jewels, your 
 graces, are safe; therefore hold your peace. 
 
 I have read a story of a man that had a 
 suit, and when his cause was to be heard, he 
 applied himself to three friends, to see what 
 they would do for him. One answered. He 
 would bring him as far on his journey as he 
 could ; the second promised him, That he 
 would go with him to his journey's end ; the 
 third engaged himself to go with him before 
 the judge, and to speak for him, and not to 
 leave him till his cause was heard and deter- 
 mined. These three are a man's riches, his 
 friends,and his graces; his riches will help him 
 to comfortable accommodations while they 
 stay with him, but they often take leave of a 
 man before his soul takes leave of his body : 
 his friends will go with him to the grave, and 
 then leave him ; but his graces will accompany 
 u 3
 
 234 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 him before God, 1 Tim, vi. 18, 19. they will 
 not leave him, nor forsake him, they will to 
 the grave, to glory with him. 
 
 In that very famous battle at Leuctrum, 
 where the Thebans got a signal victory, their 
 captain Epaminondas, a little before his death, 
 demanded whether his buckler Mere taken by 
 the enemy ; and when he understood that it 
 was safe, and that they had not so much as 
 laid their hands on it, he died most willingly, 
 cheerfully, and quietly. Well, Christians, 
 your shield of faith is safe, your portion is 
 safe, your royal robe is safe, your kingdom is 
 safe, your heaven is safe, your happiness and 
 blessedness is safe; and therefore under all 
 your afflictions and troubles, in patience pos- 
 sess your own souls. But, 
 
 6. If you would be silent and quiet under 
 your sorest troubles and trials, then set your- 
 selves in good earnest upon the mortification 
 of your lusts*. It is unmortified lust which 
 is the sting of every trouble, and which makes 
 every sweet bitter, and every bitter more 
 bitter; sin unmortified adds weight to every 
 burden, it ptits gall to our wormwood, it adds 
 chain to cliain ; it makes the bed uneasy, 
 the chamber a prison, relations troublesome, 
 and every thing vexatious to the soul. James 
 iv. I. *' From whence come wars and fight- 
 ings among y on ? come they not lience, even of 
 your lusts that uar in your members ?*' So 
 i^r\y 1, from whence comes all this muttering, 
 
 * Austin saidi, if thou kill not An till it die of itself, 
 bin hath killt J tlice, and not thou thy sin.
 
 UNDER THE SMARTI.VG ROD. 235 
 
 murmuring, fretting, and vexing? &:c. Come 
 they not hence, even from your unmortified 
 lusts; come they not from your unmortified 
 pride, and unmortified self-love, and unmor- 
 tified unbelief, and unmortified passions, &c. 
 Surely they do. Oh ! therefore, as ever you 
 would be silent under the afflicting hand of 
 God, labour for more and more of the grace of 
 the spirit, by which you may mortify the lusts 
 of the flesh, Rom, viii. 13. It is not your 
 strongest resolutions, or purposes, without the 
 grace of the spirit, that can overmaster a lust. 
 It was the blood of the sacrifice, and the oil 
 that cleansed the leper in the law ; and that 
 by them was meant the blood of Christ, and 
 the grace of his spirit, is agreed on all hands. 
 Lev. xiv. 14, 15, 16. It was a touch of Christ's 
 garment that cured the woman of her bloody 
 issue, Mark v. 25, 26, 27. Philosophy (saith 
 Lactantius) may hide a gin, but it cannot 
 quench it : it may cover a sin, but it cannot 
 cut olf a sin ; like a black patch instead of a 
 plaister, it may cover some deformities in na- 
 ture, but it cures them not; neither is it the 
 Papisis' purgatories, watchings, whippings, 
 &c. nor St. Francis kissing or licking of lepers' 
 sores, which will cleanse the fretting leprosy 
 of sin ; in the strength of Christ, and in the 
 power of the spirit, set roundly upon the mor- 
 tifying of every lust. Oh! hug none, indulge 
 none, but resolvedly set upon the ruin of all. 
 One leak in a ship will sink it; one wound 
 strikes Goliath dead, as well as three and 
 twenty did Cassar ; one Delilah may do Samp-
 
 236 THE MUtE CHRISTIAN 
 
 son as much spite and mischief as all the Phi- 
 listines ; one broken wheel spoils the vvhols 
 clock ; one vein's bleeding will let out all the 
 vitals, as well as more ; one fly will spoil a 
 whole box of ointment ; one bitter herb all tlie 
 pottage ; by eating one apple, Adam lost 
 Paradise ; one lick of honey endangered Jo- 
 nathan's life ; one Achan was a trouble to all 
 Israel ; one Jonah raises a storm, and becomes 
 lading too heavy for a whole ship. So one 
 nnmortified lust will be able to raise very 
 strange and strong storms and tempests in the 
 soul, in the days of affliction ; and therefore, 
 as you would hare a blessed calm and quiet- 
 ness in your own spirits under your sharpest 
 trials, set thoroughly upon the work of mor- 
 tification, Gideon had seventy sons. Judges 
 viii. 30, 31, chap. ix. 1 — 7. and but one 
 bastard, and yet, that bastard destroyed all 
 his seventy sons. Ah, Christian ! thou dost 
 notknow whata world of mischief one unmor- 
 tified lust may do ; and therefore let nothing 
 satisfy thee but the death of all thy lusts, 
 
 7. If you would be silent under your great- 
 est afflictions, your sharpest trials, then make 
 this consideration your daily companion, viz* 
 That all the afflictions that come upon you, 
 come upon you by and through that covenant 
 of grace that God hath made with you, Jcr. 
 xxxii. 36 — ult. God hath engaged himself to 
 keep you from the evils, snares, and tempta- 
 tions of the world ; in the covenaut of grace, 
 God hath engaged himself to purge a vvay your 
 sins, to brighten and increase your graces, to
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 237 
 
 crucify your hearts to the world, and to pre- 
 pare you, and preserre you to his heavenly 
 kingdom : and by afflictions he effects all this, 
 and that according to his covenaijt too, P-ial. 
 Ixxxix. 30, 31, 32, 32, 34. "If his chiidrea 
 forsake my law, and walk not in n»y judg- 
 ments ; if they break my statutes and keep 
 not my commandments " In these words you 
 have a supposition that the saints may fall 
 both into sins of commission and sins of omis- 
 sion ; in the fo lovmg words you have God's 
 gracious proniise, i 'hen zoiit I visit their transm 
 greaswns zctth the rod, and their iniquities with 
 stripes. God ens^ges himself by promise and 
 covenant, not only to chide and check, but 
 also to correct his people for their sins. Never- 
 theleis, my lovinj^-kindness mil I not utterly 
 take from tiim , nor sitfft r my faithfulness toJaiL 
 Afflictions are fruits of God's faithfulness, to 
 wjjich the covenant binds him ; God would be 
 unfaithful, if lirst or last, more or less, he did 
 not afflict his people; afflictions are part of 
 that gracious covenant which God hath made 
 with his people; afflictions arc mercies, yea 
 covenant-mercies, Psal. cxix. 75. Hence it is 
 that God is called the terrible God, keeping 
 covenant and mercy, Neh. i 5. because by his 
 covenant and inercy he is bound to afflict and 
 chastise his people. God by covenant is bound 
 to preserve his people, and not to sutfer them 
 to perish ; and happy are they that are pre- 
 served. All the afflictions that come upon a 
 wicked man, come upon him by virtue of a co- 
 tenant of worksj and so are cursed unto him ;
 
 238 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 l)ut all (he afflictions that come upon a gracious 
 man, they come upon him by virtue of "a cove- 
 nant of grace, and so they are blessed unto him, 
 and therefore he hath eminent cause to hold 
 his peace, to lay his hand upon his mouth. 
 
 8. if you would be silent and quiet under 
 afllictions, then dwell much upon this, viz. 
 That all your afflictions do but reach the worse, 
 the base, and the ignoble part of a Christian, 
 viz. his body, his outward man, 2 Cor. iv. 16. 
 Though our outward man decay^ yet our in^ 
 z:ard man is rencued day by day. As Aristar- 
 chus the Heathen said, when he was beaten 
 by the tyrants. Beat on ; it is not Aristarchus 
 you beat, it is only his shell. Timothy had a 
 Tery hcpithful soul in a crazy body, 1 Tim. v, 
 23. and Gains, 3 John 1. had a very prosper- 
 ous soul in a weak distempered body. Epicte- 
 lus, and many of the more refined Heathens, 
 have long since concluded. That the body was 
 the organ (or vessel), the soul was the man 
 and merchandize. Now, all the troubles and 
 afflictions that a Christian meets with, they do 
 not reach his soul, they touch not his consci- 
 ence, they make no breach upon his noble part, 
 and therefore he hath cause lo hold Iiis peace, 
 and to lay his hands upon his mouth ; the 
 soul is the breath of God, the beauty of man, 
 the wonder of angels, and the envy of devils, 
 Heb. xii. 9. It is a celestial plant, and of a 
 divine offspring, Zech. xii. 1. It is an immor- 
 tal spirit; souls are of an angelic nature, a 
 man is an angel clothed in clay ; the soul is a 
 greater miracle in a man, than all the mirach'S
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 239 
 
 wrought among men ; the soul is a demi'Semi 
 God, dwelling in a house of clay. Now, it 
 is not in the power of any outward troubles 
 and afflictions that a Christian meets with, to 
 reach his soul ; and therefore he may well sit 
 mute under the smarting rod, 
 
 9. If thou wouldst be silent and quiet under 
 the saddest providences and sorest trials, then 
 keep up faith in continual exercise. Now 
 faith, in the exercise of it, will quiet and si- 
 lence the soul; Tlius, 
 
 (1.) By bringijig the soul to sit down satis- 
 fied in the naked enjoyments of God, 
 
 (2.) By drying up the springs of pride, 
 self-love, impatience, murmuring, unbelief, 
 and the carnal delights of this world. 
 
 (3.) By presenting to the soul greater, 
 sweeter, and belter things in Christ, than any 
 this world doth atford, Phil. iii. 7, 8. 
 
 (4.) By lessening the soul's esteem of all 
 outward vanities ; do but,keep up the exercise 
 of faith, and thou wilt keep silent before the 
 Lord. No man so mute, as he whose faith is 
 still busy about invisible objects. 
 
 10. If you would keep silent, then keep 
 humble before the Lord. Oh ! labour every 
 day to be more humble, and more low, and 
 little in your own eyes. Who am I, saith the 
 humble soul, but that God should cross me in 
 this mercy, Jobvii. 1 — 18. and takeaway that 
 mercy, and pass a sentence of death upon eve- 
 ry mercy ? 1 am not worthy of the least mer- 
 cy, I deserve not a crumb of mercy, I have 
 forfeited every mercy, [ have improved never
 
 240 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 a mercy. Only by pride comes contention, 
 Prov. xiii. 16. It is on y pride that puts men 
 upon contending with God and men : an hum- 
 ble soul will lie quiet at the foot of God, it 
 ■will be contented with bare commons ; as you 
 see sht^ep can live upon the bare commons, 
 which a fat ox cannot. A dinner of green 
 herbs relisheth well with the humble man's pa- 
 late, whereas a stalled ox is but a coarse dish 
 to a proud man's stomrich ; an humble heart 
 thinks none less than himself, nor none worse 
 than himself, Gen. xxxii. 10, 11. An humble 
 heart looks upon small mercies as great mer- 
 cies, and great afflictions as small afflictions, 
 and small afflictions as no afflictions, and there- 
 fore sits mute and quiet under all. Do but 
 keep humble, and you will keep silent before 
 the Lord. Pride kicks, and flings, and frets, 
 but an humble man hath still his hand upon 
 his mouth. Every thing on this side hell is 
 mercy, much mercy, rich mercy, to an hum- 
 ble soul ; and therefore he holds his peace. 
 
 1 1. If you would keep silent uir»der the af- 
 flicting ban ? of God, then keep Pilose, hold 
 fast these soul-silencing and scul-quieting 
 maxims or rrinci})lcs. As, 
 
 (I.) Tli.a the ^orst that God doth to his 
 people in this world, is in order to ihe making 
 of them a heaven on earth ; he brtngs them 
 into a wil ;^ rness, J>ut it is, that he may speak 
 comfortabi/ to th" n, IJosea ii. 14. He casts 
 them into ibe fivry urnace, but it is, that they 
 may have more *)f his company. Do the 
 stones come thick about Stephen's ears ? it is
 
 UNDER THE SMARTING ROlJ. 241 
 
 but to beat him the nearer to Christ, the cor« 
 ner-stone, &c. Acts vii. 
 
 (2.) If you would be silent, then hold fast 
 this principle, viz.That what God wills is best ; 
 when he wills sickness, sickness is better than 
 health ; when he wills weakness, weakness is 
 better than strength; when he wills want, 
 want is better than wealth ; when he wills re- 
 proach, reproach is better than honour ; when 
 he wills death, death is better than life. As 
 God is wisdom itself, and so knows that which 
 is best; so he is goodness itself, and therefore 
 cannot do any thing but that which is best ; 
 therefore hold thy peace. 
 
 (3.) If thou wouldst be silent under thy 
 greatest afflictions, then hold fast to this prin- 
 ciple, viz. That the Lord will bear thee com- 
 pany in all thy afflictions, Isa. xli. 10. chap, 
 xliii. 2. Psal. xxiii. 4. Psal. xc. 15. Dan. iii, 
 25. Gen. xxxix. 20, 21. 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. 
 These scriptures are breasts full of divine 
 consolation : these wells of salvation are full ; 
 will you turn to them, and draw out, that 
 your souls may be satisfied and quieted ? 
 
 (4.) If you would be silent under your af- 
 flictions, then hold fast this principle. That 
 the Lord hath more high, more noble, and 
 more blessed ends in the afflicting of you, 
 than he hath in the afflicting of the men of the 
 •world. The stalk and the ear of corn fall up- 
 on the threshing floor, under one and the 
 same flail ; but the one is shattered in pieces, 
 the other is preserved : from one and the same 
 olive, and from under one and the same press, 
 
 X
 
 242 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN 
 
 is crushed out both oil and dregs ; but the one 
 is turned up for use, and the other thrown out 
 as unserviceable: and by one and the same 
 breath the fields are perfumed with sweetness, 
 and annoyed with unpleasant savours; so, 
 though afflictions do befal good and bad alike, 
 as the scripture speaks, yet the Lord will eflfect 
 more glorious en<ls by those afflictions that be- 
 fal his people, than he will effect by those 
 that befal wicked men ; and therefore the 
 Lord puts his people into the farnace for their 
 trial, but the wicked for their ruin ; the one 
 is bettered by affliction, the other is made 
 worse ; the one is made soft and tender by af- 
 flictions, the other is more hard and obdurate; 
 the one is drawn nearer to God by afflictions, 
 the other is driven farther from God. &c. 
 
 (5.) If you would be silent under your af- 
 flictions, then you must hold fast this princi- 
 ple, viz. That the best way in »his world to have 
 thine own will, is to lie down in the will of 
 God, and quietly to resigti up thyself to the 
 good-will and pleasure of God. Luther was a 
 man that could have any thing of God ; and 
 why ? why, because he submitted his will to the 
 will of God ; he lost his vviil in the will of God. 
 Oh, soul ! it shall be even as thou wilt, if thy 
 will be swallowed up in the will of God. 
 
 (6.) Lastly, if thou wonidst be silent un- 
 der the afilicdng hand of God, then thou must 
 hold fast to this principle, viz. That God will 
 make times of alllirtion to be times of special 
 manifcsUfions of divine love and favour to 
 thee. Tiburtius saw a paradise, when he
 
 tJNDEIl THE SMARTING ROD. 24^ 
 
 walked upon hot-burning coals. I could con- 
 firm this by a cloud of witnesses, but that I 
 am upon a close. Ah, Christians! as ever 
 you would be quiet and silent under the 
 smarting rod, hold fast to these principles, 
 and keep them as your lives. But, 
 
 12. Lastly, to silence and quiet your souls 
 under the afflicting hand of God, dwell much 
 upon the brevity or shortness of man's life. 
 This present life is not life, but a motion, a 
 journey towards life. Man's life, saith one, 
 is the shadow of smoke, yea, the dream of a 
 shadow. Saith another, Man's life is so short, 
 that Austin doubted whether to call it a dy- 
 ing life, or a living death. Thou hast but a 
 day to live, and perhaps thou mayest be now 
 in the twelfth hour of that day; therefore 
 hold out faith and patience, thy troubles and 
 thy life will shortly end together ; therefore 
 hold thy peace, thy grave is going to be made, 
 thy sun is near setting, death begins to call 
 thee off the stage of this world, death stands 
 at thy back, thou must shortly sail forth upon 
 the ocean of eternity ; though thou hast a 
 great deal of work to do, a God to honour, 
 a phrist to close with, a soul to save, a race 
 to( run, a crovvn to wirj, a hell to escape, a 
 pardon to beg, a heaven to make sure, ) et 
 thou hast but a little time to do it in ; thou 
 hast one foot in the strave, thou art even a- 
 going ashore on eternity, and wilt thou dow 
 cry out of thy afllctions? Wilt thou now 
 mutter and murmur when thou art entcri ig 
 upon au unchangeable conditiou ? What ex.
 
 244 MS ""■'^ CBBISTIAS. 
 
 treme folly and madness is U for a man - 
 
 4i,xr rn^P therefore hold tny peace , i.« jf 
 
 StlV a Uttle'longer Rom .Ui. 18. and h^ 
 ,en shall make amends for a«. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 J .nd J. J'^'^'"" 
 Prinitri, Vo"*'"-
 
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 Iliin 
 
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