[Or in a better Dialect] Where all Tears shall be wiped from their Eyes: But where? But when? Truly, this Bliss-land is not on this side the Water; it is a Land a far off, and we shall not see it, until we put a-shore on the Land flowing with Milk and Honey, beyond the Stars: We must Sail through a turbid Ocean full of horrible Tempest, here, and, —Ut Fluctus Fluctum sic Luctus Luctum— One Wave will follow upon another, the last Wave still seeming the tenth Wave, until we drop Anchor within the veil of Heaven it self. When the Ancient Martyr Ignatius was brought to have his Flesh torn from his Bones, and his Bones broken by the Teeth of Wild Beasts, he uttered such a speech as that, O now I begin to be a Christian! Thus our Lord hath laid down this as the A B C of Christianity, in Matth. 16. 24. If any man will come after me, he must take up his Cross, and follow me. This is the first Lesson for a Disciple in the School of the Lord Jesus, Look for Afflictions here! The Glorious God will ⟨p. 9⟩lay over our Shoulders that ragged piece of Wood, a Cross; when once we are associated with his people, who all Travel through the Valley of Baca, that is, of Weeping, unto their Everlasting Happiness. This was the condition of our Illustrious Fore-runner; he ran through a way all strewed with Briars and Thorns, as it is said in Luk. 24. 46. He must suffer, and enter into his glory; and all his followers are to drink of his Cup: We cannot escape treading in the Bloody Tracks which he hath left behind him; we have received this warning from our Lord himself, in Joh. 16. 33. In the World you shall have Tribulation: We have received this Witness from his Apostles also, in Act. 14. 22. Through much Tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God; and the experience of above Five thousand Years, hath now set a Seal to that Observation, in Psal. 31. 19. Many are the Troubles of the Righteous.
[Or in a better Dialect] Where all Tears shall be wiped from their Eyes: But where? But when? Truly, this Bliss-land is not on this side the Water; it is a Land a far off, and we shall not see it, until we put a-shore on the Land flowing with Milk and Honey, beyond the Stars: We must Sail through a turbid Ocean full of horrible Tempest, here, and, —Vt Fluctus Fluctum sic Luctus Luctum— One Wave will follow upon another, the last Wave still seeming the tenth Wave, untill we drop Anchor within the vail of Heaven it self. When the Ancient Martyr Ignatius was brought to have his Flesh torn from his Bones, and his Bones broken by the Teeth of Wild Beasts, he uttered such a speech as that, O now I begin to be a Christian! Thus our Lord hath laid down this as the A B C of Christianity, in Matth. 16. 24. If any man will come after me, he must take up his Cross, and follow me. This is the first Lesson for a Disciple in the School of the Lord Jesus, Look for Afflictions here! The Glorious God will ⟨p. 9⟩lay over our Shoulders that ragged piece of Wood, a Cross; when once we are associated with his people, who all Travel through the Valley of Baca, that is, of Weeping, unto their Everlasting Happiness. This was the condition of our Illustrious Fore-runner; he ran thrô a way all strow'd with Briars and Thorns, as it is said in Luk. 24. 46. He must suffer, and enter into his glory; and all his followers are to drink of his Cup: We cannot escape treading in the Bloody Tracks which he hath left behind him; we have received this warning from our Lord himself, in Ioh. 16. 33. In the World you shall have Tribulation: We have received this Witness from his Apostles also, in Act. 14. 22. Through much Tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God; and the experience of above Five thousand Years, hath now set a Seal to that Observation, in Psal. 31. 19. Many are the Troubles of the Righteous.
