B36604:83
Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity,…
Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity, excellency, and means of our readiness for sufferings are evinced and prescribed; our call to suffering cleared, and the great unreadiness of many professors bewailed. By John Flavel minister of Christ in Devon.Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity, excellency, and means of our readiness for sufferings are evinced and prescribed; our call to suffering cleared, and the great unreadiness of many profesours bewailed. By John Flavel minister of Christ in Devon.
London: printed for Robert Boulter, 1681
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.
1. A Rest of Deliverance. 2. A Rest of Contentation.
It is a singular mercy to find rest in a mans own spirit, to enjoy inward peace and tranquillity of mind, when there is no rest without; and the way to obtain this, is to foresee, count upon, and make due preparation for troublous times before-hand: evils that come by way of surprisal are not only amazing, but very frequently destructive evils; 'tis a sad aggravation to feel a misery before we fear it; those calamities that find men secure, do usually leave them desperate; the Enemy that comes upon our backs hath a great advantage to ruin us, yet this is the common case of the world, For man knoweth not his time, but as the Fishes are taken in an evil Net, and as the Birds that are caught in the snare; so are the Sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth on them suddenly, Eccles. 8.12. Thus perished the old World: There was but one Noah provided for the Flood, and he only with his Family were preserved in it; all the rest were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the Flood came and swept them all away, Mat. 24.38. Men will not use their foreseeing faculties, but because it is all quiet to day, they conclude it shall be so to morrow. Those that are at rest in their habitations, and have got a soft Pillow under their heads, are apt to fall asleep in security, and ⟨p. 25⟩dream pleasantly of continued rest and peace, and loath they are to interrupt their sensual pleasure with melancholy thoughts of changes and sufferings.
It is a singular mercy to find rest in a mans own spirit, to enjoy inward peace and tranquillity of mind, when there is no rest without; and the way to obtain this, is to foresee, count upon, and make due preparation for troublous times before-hand: evils that come by way of surprizal are not only amazing, but very frequently destructive evils; 'tis a sad aggravation to feel a misery before we fear it; those calamities that find men secure, do usually leave them desperate; the Enemy that comes upon our backs hath a great advantage to ruine us, yet this is the common case of the world, For man knoweth not his time, but as the Fishes are taken in an evil Net, and as the Birds that are caught in the snare; so are the Sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth on them suddenly,