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-furnace seven times hotter; therefore hold thy peace. But of this I have spoken sufficiently already. ༨༧ ༠ ༠

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10 Object. 6. Oh! but my afflictions are greater than other mens afflictions are, and how then can be silent? Oh! there is no affliction to my afflit tion, how can I held my peace?

banswer, I. It may be thy sins are greater than other men's sins: if thou hast sinned against more light, more love, more mercies, more experiences, more promises than others, no wonder thy afflictions are greater than

thers. If this be thy case, thou hast more -cause to be mute, than to murmur; and certainly, if thou dost but seriously look into the black book of thy conscience, thou wilt find greater sins there, than any thou canst charge upon any person or persons on earth. If thou shouldst not, I think thou wouldst justly incur the censure which that sour philosopher passed upon grammarians, viz. That they were better acquainted with the evils of Ulysses, than with their own. Never complain that thy afflictions are greater than others, except thou canst evidence that thy sins are lesser than others.

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2.It may be thou art under some present distemper, that disenables thee to make a right judgment of the different dealings of God with thyself and others. When the mind is distempered, and the brain troubled, many things seem to be that are not, and then little -things seem very great. O! the strange pas-sions, the strange imaginations, the strange

conclusions that attend a distempered judgment.

I have read of a foolish emperor, who to shew the greatness of his city, made shew of many spiders. When the mind is disturbed, .men many times say they know not what, and do they know not what. It may be when these clouds are blown over, and thy mind cleared, and thy judgment settled, thou wilt be of another opinion. The supplicant woman appealed from drunken King Philip, to sober King Philip. It is good to appeal from a distempered mind, to a clear composed mind; for that is the way to make a righteous judgment of all the righteous dispensations of God, both towards ourselves, and towards others. 27 hy but

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3. It may be that the Lord sees that it is very needful that thy afflictions should be greater than others; it may be thy heart is harder than other mens hearts, and prouder and stouter than other mens hearts; it may be thy heart is more impure than others, and more carnal than others, or else more passionate and more worldly than others, or else more deceitful and more hypocritical than 6thers, or else more cold and careless than others, or else more secure than others, or more formal and lukewarm than others. Now, if this be thy case, certainly God sees it very necessary for the breaking of thy hard heart, and the humbling of thy proud heart, and the cleansing of thy foul heart, and the spiritualizing of thy carnal heart, &c. that thy afflic

tions should be greater than others: and therefore hold thy peace. Where the disease is strong, the physic must be strong, or else the cure will never be wrought, God is a wise physician, and he would never give strong physic, if weaker could effect the cure, Is. xxvii. 8. The more rusty the iron is, the oftener we put it into the fire to purify it: and the more crooked it is, the more blows, and the harder blows we give to straighten it: thou hast been long a gathering rust, and therefore if God deal thus with thee, thou hast no cause to complain.

4. Though thy afflictions are greater than this and that particular man's afflictions, yet, doubtless, there are many thousands in the world, whose afflictions are greater than thine. Canst thou seriously consider the sore calamities and miseries that the devouring sword hath brought upon many thousand Christians in foreign parts, and say, that thy afflictions are greater than theirs? Surely no. Pliny, in his natural history, writeth, that the nature of the basilisk is to kill all trees and shrubs it breathes upon, and to scorch and burn all herbs and grass it passeth over. Such are the dismal effects of war*; the sword knows no difference betwixt Catholics and Lutherans, (as once the Duke of Medina Sidonia said,) betwixt the innocent and the guilty, betwixt young and old, betwixt bond and free, betwixt male and female, betwixt the precious * Read Josephus, and the history of the Bohemian persecutions

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and the vile, the godly and the profane, betwixt the prince and the subject, betwixt the nobleman and the beggar; the sword eats the flesh, and drinks the blood of all sorts and sexes, without putting any difference betwixt the one or the other. The poor Protestants under the Duke of Savoy, and those in Poland and Denmark, Germany, and several other parts, have found it so many of their wounds are not healed to this day. Who can retain in his fresh and bleeding memory, the dreadful work that the sword of war hath made in this nation, and not say, Surely many thousands have been greater sufferers than myself; they have resisted unto blood, but so have not I? Heb. xii. 4.

5. As thy afflictions are greater than other mens, so it may be thy mercies are greater than other mens mercies; and if so, thou hast no cause but to hold thy peace. As Job's afflictions were greater than other mens, so his mercies were greater than other mens; and Job wisely sets one against another, and then lays his hand upon his mouth, Jobi. It may be thou hast had more health than others, and more strength than others, and more prosperity than others, and more smiling providences than others, and more good days than others, and more sweet and comfortable relations than others; and if this be thy case, thou hast much cause to be mute, thou hast no cause to murmur; if now thy winter-nights be longer than others, remember thy summer

days have formerly been longer than others and therefore hold thy peace.

Buty 6. Lastly, By great afflictions the Lord may increase thy graces, and thy name and fame in the world. By Job's great afflictions, God did greaten his faith, and greaten his patience, and greaten his integrity, and greaten his wisdom and knowledge, and greaten his experience, and greaten his name and fame in the world, as you all know that have but read his book. Bonds and afflictions waited on Paul in every city, Acts xx. 23. 2 Cor. xi. His afflictions and sufferings were very great, but by them the Lord greatened his spirit, his zeal, his courage, his confidence, his resolution, and his name and fame, both among sinners and saints. Certainly, if thou art dear to Christ, he will greaten thee in spirituals, by all the great afflictions that are upon thee; he will raise thy faith, and inflame thy love, and quicken thy hope, and brighten thy zeal, and perfect thy patience, and perfume thy name, and make it like a precious bintment, Prov. xxii. 1. Eccl. vii. . like a precious ointment poured forth; so that good men shall say, and bad men shall say, Lo, here is a Christian indeed, here is a man more worth than the gold of Ophir; therefore hold thy peace, though thy afflictions are greater than others.

Object. 7. "I would be silent, but my outward affliction is attended with sore temptations. God hath not only outwardly afflic ted me, but Satan is. let loose to buffet me;

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