A77618:234
The silent soul, with sovereign antidotes against the most miserable exigentsThe silent soul, with soveraign antidotes against the most miserable exigents
The silent soul, with sovereign antidotes against the most miserable exigents: or, A Christian with an olive-leaf in his mouth, when he is under the greatest afflictions, the sharpest and sorest trials and troubles, the saddest and darkest providences and changes, with answers to divers questions and objections that are of greatest importance, all tending to win and work souls to be still, quiet, calm and silent under all changes that have, or may pass upon them in this world, &c. / By Thomas Brooks preacher of the Word at Margarets New Fish-street London, and pastor of the Church of Christ meeting there.The silent soul, with soveraign antidotes against the most miserable exigents: or, A Christian with an olive-leaf in his mouth, when he is under the greatest afflictions, the sharpest and sorest trials and troubles, the saddest and darkest providences and changes, with answers to divers questions and objections that are of greatest importance, all tending to win and work souls to bee still, quiet, calm and silent under all changes that have, or may pass upon them in this world, &c. / By Thomas Brooks preacher of the Word at Margarets New Fish-street London, and pastor of the Church of Christ meeting there.
London: printed by R.I. for John Hancock, 1660
THE MUTE CHRISTIAN Under the SMARTING ROD. › Objections › Objection 2
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Tenthly, How canst thou tell, but that that which thou callest a near and dear mercy, if it had been1 continued longer to thee, might have proved the greatest cross, the greatest calamity and misery that ever thou didst meet with in this world? Our mercies like choice Wines, many times turn into Vinegar; ⟨p. 210⟩our fairest hopes are often blasted, and that very mercy which we sometimes have said should be a staff to support us, hath proved a sword to pierce us; how often have our most flourishing mercies withered in our hands? and our bosom-contentments been turned into gall and wormwood? If God had2 continued the life of Davids child to him, it would have been but a living Monument of his sin and shame, and all that knew the child would have pointed at him, yonder goes Davids bastard, and so3 have kept Davids wound still a bleeding; many Parents who have sought the lives of their children with tears, have lived afterwards to see them take such courses, and come to such dismal ends, as have brought their grey-hairs with sorrow to their graves. It had been ten thousand 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 ⟨p. 211⟩often do. Well Christian! it may be the Lord hath taken from thee such a hopeful son, or such a dear daughter, and thou sayest how can I hold my peace, but hark Christian, hark, canst thou tell me how long thou must have travelled in birth again with them before they had been born again, before they had been twice born? would not every sin that they had committed against thy gracious God, cause a new throw 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 throws of child-birth, to those after pains, pangs and throws 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