The right way to shake off a viper. An essay, upon a case too…

THE Occasion of the Ensuing ESSAY.

IT has been Earnestly wished by some, yea, it has been the first-born of their Wishes, That whatever special Temptation and Affliction befalls them, the Glorious Lord may have some Revenues of Glory; yea, and his People also some Revenues of Service from it. There are those who have seen their Desire in this Thing remarkably Accomplished; and it has been Sweet unto them; it has remarkably Sweetened the Bitterness of all their Exercises. I would ye should understand, Brethren, that the Things which happened to me, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel. But then, if we are at any time Exercised with Injurious Defamations, why should not this Temptation and Affliction be improved as well as the Rest, and the Church of Christ, wherein the CASE occurs to all that will live Godlily, be Interested, ([…] we can attain to it) in the improvement of it?

IT has been Earnestly wish'd by some, yea, it has been the first-born of their Wishes, That whatever special Temptation and Affliction befalls them, the Glorious Lord may have some Revenues of Glory; yea, and his People also some Revenues of Service from it. There are those who have seen their Desire in this Thing remarkably Accomplished; and it has been Sweet unto them; it has remarkably Sweetned the Bitterness of all their Exercises. I would ye should understand, Brethren, that the Things which happen'd to me, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel. But then, if we are at any time Exercised with Injurious Defamations, why should not this Temptation and Affliction be improved as well as the Rest, and the Church of Christ, wherein the CASE occurs to all that will live Godlily, be Interested, (〈…〉 we can attain to it) in the improvement of it?

It is a Pleasant Criticism of Cocceius, that the Church is Compared unto a Garden of Nuts; partly because Good Men must, like Nuts, be well knocked and broken, before others can get that Good which is to be gotten out of them. If the Reader get any Good, by an ESSAY now put into his Hands, let him Adore the Faithfulness of the Glorious LORD, who Ordered a Servant of his, to be knocked with some Calumnies and Reproaches; which awakened him, (instead of Answering and Confuting them, as 'tis Easy for him to do.) to set himself upon Strengthening his Brethren with a Discourse on a CASE, wherein very many are concerned. It must be confessed that he had also in this ESSAY, a very particular Eye to Another Servant of God, whose Watchfulness and Faithfulness and Industry, had not Excused him from unkind usage (which every wise Man looks for) in an Evil World. Plutarch wrote a Treatise, De Capienda ab hostibus utilitate; how to Profit by ones Enemies. But Plutarch was a Stranger to such Maxims as this ESSAY is Composed of. And both the Author and his Friend, has great cause to take Satisfaction in the Divine Providence, that has brought them forth, for the Service of the People to whom we owe our All.