Fifthly, Look backward, and see if there be nothing behind you that may hush and quiet your impatient spirits ; consult the multi- tude of experiences past and gone ; both your own and others. Is this the first strait that ever you were in ? If so, you have reason to be quiet, yet to bless God that hath spared you so long, when, others have had their days filled up with sorrow. But if you have been in troubles formerly, and the Lord hath helped you ; if you have past through the fire, and not been burnt ; through the wa- ters, and not drowned; if God hath stood by you, and hitherto helped you. O what cause have you to be quiet now, and pa- tiently wait for the salvation of God ! Did he help you then, and cannot he do so now ? Did he give waters, and cannot he give bread also ? Is he the God of the hills only, and not the God of the vallies also ? O call to mind the days of old, the years of the right-hand of the Most High. " These things I call to mind, " therefore I have hope,1' Lam. iii. 21. Have you kept no re- cords of past experiences ? How ungrateful then have you been to your God, and how injurious to yourselves, if you have not read them over in such a day as this ? for to that end were they given you.
O when you shall consider what a God he hath been to you, at a pinch ; how faithfully Jehovah-jireh hath stood by you ; that this is not the first time your hearts and hopes have been low ; as well as your condition, and yet God hath raised you again ; surely you will find your present troubles made light, by a glance back upon your past experiences.
Sixthly, Look forward, to the end of your troubles ; yea, look to a double end of them, the end of their duration, and the end of their operation. Look ye to the end of their duration, and that is just by you; they shall not be everlasting troubles, if you be such as fear the Lord. " The God of all grace, who hath called us " unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye have [suffer- " ed a while] make you perfect,'' 1 Pet. v. 10. " These light af- " flictions are but for a moment," 2 Cor. iv. 18. They are no more comparatively, with that vast eternity that is before you.
368 THE FOUNTAIN OF LTFF. SEItM. XXIX.
Alas ! what are a few days and nights of sorrows, when they are past ? Are they not swallowed up as a spoonful of water in the vast ocean ? But more especially look to the end of their operation. What do all these afflictions tend to and effect ? Do they not work out an exceeding weight of glory ? Are you not by them made " partakers of his holiness F" Heb. xii. Is not this all the fruit to take away your sins ? What, and be impatient at this ; fret and repine, because God is, this way, perfecting your happiness ? O ungrateful soul ! Is this a due requital of that love that disdains not to stoop to so low an employment, as to scour and cleanse your souls, that they might be shining vessels of honour to all eternity ?
O look forward to the end of your troubles : the end of their duration and operation.
Seventhly, Look to the right-hand, and see how you are shamed, convinced and silenced by other Christians ; and it may be such too, as never made that profession you have done ; and yet can not only patiently bear the afflicting hand of God, but are blessing, praising, and admiring God under their troubles ; whilst you are sinning against, and dishonouring him under smaller ones. It may be you will find some poor Christians that know not where to have their next bread, and yet are speaking of the bounty of their God ; while you are repining in the midst of plenty. Ah ! if there be any ingenuity in you, let this shame you. If this will not, then,
Eighthly, Look to your left-hand, and there you will see a sad sight, and what one would think should quiet you. There you may see a company of wicked, graceless wretches, carrying themselves under their troubles, but too much like yourselves. What do they more, than fret and murmur, despond and sink ; mix sin with their af- flictions, when the rod of God is upon them?
It is thne for thee to leave off, when thou seest how near thou art come to them, whom thou hopest thou shalt never be ranked and numbered with. Header, such considerations as these, I am persuaded, would be of singular use to thy soul at such a time, but above all, thine eyeing the great pattern of patience, Jesus Christ ; whose Lamb-like carriage, under a trial, with which thine is not to be named the same day, is here recommended to thee. O how should this transform thee into a lamb, for meekness also !
SEItM. XXX. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 369
Of the Instructivencss of the Death of Christ, in his seven last Words ; the first of which is here illustrated.
Luke xxiii. 34. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for the?/ know not what they do.
jL HE manner in which Christ died hath already been opened in the solitude and patience in which he died. The third, to wit, the instructivencss of his death, now follows, in these seven ex- cellent and weighty sayings, which dropped from his blessed lips upon the tree, whilst his sacred blood dropped on the earth from his wounded hands and feet ; so that on the cross he exercised both his priestly and prophetical office together, redeeming us by his blood, and instructing us by his words.
These seven words of Christ upon the cross are his last words, with which he breathed out his soul. The last words of a dying man are remarkable ; the scripture puts a remark upon them, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. " Now these be the last words of David." How remarkable are the last words of Christ.
These words are seven in number ; three directed to his Father, and four more to those about him. Of the former sort this is one, Father, forgive them, $c. In which we have, First, The mercy de- sired by Christ, and that is forgiveness. Secondly, The persons for whom it is desired, [Them,] that is, those cruel and wicked persons that were now imbruing their hands in his blood. And, Thirdly, The motive or argument urged to procure that mercy from his Fa- ther, for they lenow not what they do.
First, The mercy prayed for, that is, forgiveness ; Father, for- give. Forgiveness is not only a mercy, a spiritual mercy, but one of the greatest mercies a soul can obtain from God, without which, whatever else we have from God, is no mercy to us *. So great a mercy is forgiveness, that David calls him Blessed, or rather ad- mires the blessedness of him, "whose transgression is forgiven, u whose sin is covered." This mercy, this best of mercies, he re- quests for them, Father, forgive them.
Secondly, The persons for whom he requests forgiveness, are the same that with wicked hands crucified him. Their fact was the most horrid that ever was committed by men : they not only
*D1X nU'N Felicitates hominis, i. e. O the happiness of the man. Montanus.
370 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXX.