We are apt to be discouraged at the Difficulties of this Evil World: But the Voice of our God unto us, is that, in Luke 21. 28. Lift up your Heads, for your Redemption draweth nigh. Ere long you shall not be; and then your Afflictions too, they shall not be: God will take you from them all. And what says Paul's Calculation, in Rom. 8. 18. For I reckon (he speaks like an Arithmetician, or an Accountant) that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be Revealed. When two English Protestants, one that was Blind, another that was Lame, were leading to be Burned, they so cheered one another, Well fare we, we shall need our Crutches and our Guides no ⟨p. 43⟩more after this. Thus let us in all our Trials think, When I am beyond the Stars, I never shall be under the Clouds any more. Have you any Sorrows hard to bear? Are you afflicted in your Friends? Hast thou like David, a Son that makes thee say, My life is spent with Grief? Hast thou like Jephthah, a Daughter that makes thee say, Alas! thou hast brought me very low, thou art one of them that trouble me? Hast thou Job's or Abigail's Yoke upon thee? O think, I shall shortly be gone from the Light and Sense of such things as these. Are you afflicted in your Names? Are you like Elijah, counted a Troubler of Israel? or like Jeremiah, a Man of Contention; or like Paul, a Pestilent Fellow, and a mover of Sedition? O think, I shall meet with none of these Reproaches where I am going? Are you afflicted in your Bodies, or your Estates? Are you like Timothy, cruciated with often Infirmities? Or like Naomi, going out full, and coming home empty of Temporal Goods? O think, I shall quickly be where a Spital or an Alms-house, there never was any occasion for. Are there any snares that you are too often trepanned into? O think of the Time when all this Earth shall be to you as an Invisible point; think, The […] ⟨p. 46⟩Died; and see how they Covenanted, and Walked and Lived with the Lord. Methinks these do now call unto us, as in Luk. 23. 28. Weep not for me, but weep for your selves: Does Jacob say, Joseph is not? Does Rachel say, My Children are not? Why, has God taken them? they belo•• ed unto Him. 'Tis said, in Joh. 11. […]. Jesus wept over Lazarus: One of the Ancients affirms, it was not because he was Dead, but because he was about to be made Alive again. I do not justify the Gloss;
We are apt to be discouraged at the Difficulties of this Evil World: But the Voice of our God unto us, is that, in Luke 21. 28. Lift up your Heads, for your Redemption draweth nigh. E're long you shall not be; and then your Afflictions too, they shall not be: God will take you from them all. And what says Paul's Calculation, in Rom. 8. 18. For I reckon (he speaks like an Arithmetician, or an Accomptant) that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be Revealed. When two English Protestants, one that was Blind, another that was Lame, were leading to be Burned, they so cheared one another, Well fare we, we shall need our Crutches and our Guides no ⟨p. 43⟩more after this. Thus let us in all our Trials think, When I am beyond the Stars, I never shall be under the Clouds any more. Have you any Sorrows hard to bear? Are you afflicted in your Friends? Hast thou like David, a Son that makes thee say, My life is spent with Grief? Hast thou like Jephtah, a Daughter that makes thee say, Alas! thou hast brought me very low, thou art one of them that trouble me? Hast thou Job's or Abigail's Yoke upon thee? O think, I shall shortly be gone from the Light and Sense of such things as these. Are you afflicted in your Names? Are you like Elijah, counted a Troubler of Israel? or like Jeremiah, a Man of Contention; or like Paul, a Pestilent Fellow, and a mover of Sedition? O think, I shall meet with none of these Reproaches where I am going? Are you afflicted in your Bodies, or your Estates? Are you like Timothy, cruciated with often Infirmities? Or like Naomi, going out full, and coming home empty of Temporal Goods? O think, I shall quickly be where a Spital or an Alms-house, tbere never was any occasion for. Are there any snares that you are too often trepan'd into? O think of the Time when all this Earth shall be to you as an Invisible point; think, The 〈…〉 ⟨p. 46⟩Dy'd; and see how they Covenanted, and Walked and Lived with the Lord. Methinks these do now call unto us, as in Luk. 23. 28. Weep not for me, but weep for your selves: Does Jacob say, Joseph is not? Does Rachel say, My Children are not? Why, has God taken them? they belo•• ed unto Him. 'Tis said, in Joh. 11. 〈…〉. Jesus wept over Lazarus: One of the Ancients affirms, it was not because he was Dead, but because he was about to be made Alive again. I do not justifie the Gloss;
