3. By foreseeing the end and final removal of them, and that near at hand, 2 Cor. iv. 17. That which daunts and amazes men in times of trouble is, that they can see no end of them. Hence the heart faints, aifld hands hang down through discouragement : But now faith brings the joyful tidings of the end of troubles ; and saith to the soul, *' Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why so disquieted and " discouraged within me ? as if thy sufferings were like the sufFer- *' ings of the damned, endless and everlasting, whereas they are but " for a moment ; yet a little while, a very little while, and he that *' shall come, will come, and will not tarry,"' Heb. x. 37. Yet a little while, and then the days of thy mourning shall be over.
4. By comparing our sufferings with the sufferings of others, which exceedingly diminisheth and shrinks them up ; sometimes the believer compares his sufferings with Christ's, and then he is ashamed that ever he should complain and droop under them. Oh ! saith he, what is that to that which the Lord Jesus suffered for me ? He suf- fered in all his members, head, hands, side, feet, from all hands, friends and enemies, in ail his offices ; yea, in his soul, as well as in his body : And indeed the sufferings of his soul were the very soul of his sufferings : Sometimes he compares them with the sufferings of others of the saints in former ages : When he reads in faith the history of their persecutions, he is shamed out of his complaints, and saith, ' Am I better than my fathers ?' Sometimes he compares them with the sufferings of the damned : ' O what is this to ever- ' lasting burnings I What is a prison to hell ? How light and easy ' is it to suffer for Christ, in comparison of those sufferings which * are from Christ ?' And thus the soul is quieted, and the terror of sufferings abated.
5. Faith entitles Christ to the believer's sufferings, and puts them upon his score ; and so it exceedingly transforms and alters them : Ah ! it is no small rehef when a man' can hold up the Bible, as that martyr did at the stake, and say, ' This is that which hath brought ' me hither :' Or as the Psalmist ; " For thy sake we are killed all " the day long ;" Or as the apostle. Col. i. 24. " I fill up that which " is behind of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh."
6. Lastly, Faith engages the presence of God, to be and abide with the soul in all its solitudes and sufferings : It lays hold upon the promises made to that purpose, Psal. xxiii. 2. Isa. xliii. 2. Heb. xiii. 5. John xiv. 18. And whilst a poor soul enjoys this the verj sense of troubles is swallowed up.
And thus I have given some brief hints how faith relieves and strengthens the soul in a suffering hour : The next thing is to direjct
THE BEST WOllK IN THE WORST TIMES. 45
vou liov/ to improve this excellent grace, that it may do you such service as this in a time of need : And, in order thereunto, I shall give you these seven directions.
1. Attend diligently upon the ministration of the gospel, which is not only the procreant, but also the conserving cause of faith, 1 Pet. ii. S. The doctrine of faith is the food and nutriment of the grace of faith: There are its rules, its encouragements, its cordials: Thence faith takes and treasures up its michiams, to which it hath recourse in times of need : Every attribute, covimavd, or promise that shines forth there, is a dish for faith to feed on ; but all together are a royal feast, Psal. Ixiii. 5. Some say the land of Judea, is called ihe land of the living, in Psal. xxvii. 13. in respect of the ordinances of God which that people enjoyed. Certain it is, they are the great instruments of quickening souls at first, and preserving that life it so begat in them : But then be sure they have Chrisfs stamp upon them, and that they be ministered by his own officers, and in his own way : And so you may reasonably expect more fruits and influences from them than from all private gifts and helps in the world : '' For the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the " dwellings of Jacob," Psal. Ixxxvii. 2. And all private helps may say, in comparison of Christ's public ordinances, as Gideon said to the men of Ephraim, Judges viii. 2. " What have we done in com- " parison of you .?"
2. Improve well your sacrament seasons, those harvest days of faith : This ordinance hath a direct and peculiar tendency to the improvement and strengthening of faith. It is a pledge superadded to the promise for faith's sake : Heavenly and sublime mysteries do therein stoop down to your senses, that you may have the clearer apprehensions of them"^; and the clearer the apprehensions are, the stronger the assent of faith must needs be: By this seal also the promise comes to be more ratified to us ; and the firmer the promise appears to the soul, the more bold and adventurous faith is in castmg itself upon it; Oh ! hov/ many poor, doubting, trembling souls have, in such a season, gathered the full ripe fruitr, of assurance from the top-boughs of that ordinance !
3. Frequent actings of faith are rare and special means of im- proving it : To him that hath, i. e. that improves and uses what he hath, shall be given, Mat. xxv. 29. This was the way by which Paul thrived in faith and every other grace so exceedingly, that he outgrew them that were in Christ before him, 1 Cor. xv. 10. It is true, its beginning in the soul is not after the manner of other habits, either moral or natural : This is not of natural acquisition, but by divine infusion: But yet its improvement is in the same manner. Oh then ! if ever you would have a flourishing faith, rouse it up cut of the dull habit, and live in the daily exercise of it.
4. Go to Jesus Christ, who is the Author and finisher of faith, and cry to him, as Mark ix, 24, Lord, increase my faith : Yea, beg
46 PIIEPARATIOXS FOE. SUFFEiTvINGS ; OR,
the assistance of others pra)'ers in this behalf, as the apostle diJ^ 1 Thes. iii. 10. 2 Thes. i. 11. faith animates prayer, and prayer in- creaseth faith.
5. Improve times of affliction for the increase of faith : For cer- tainly, sanctified afflictions do notably exercise and increase this grace, 1 Pet. i. 7. In times of prosperity we know not what stock of faith we have: We hve so much upon things seen, that we can- not many times tell whether we have faith or no : But when dif- ficult days come, then we must get out our whole subsistence and livelihood by faith, Hab. ii. 4. Yea, then we have many proofs and experiments of God's fidelity in the promises, which is a choice help to faith, 2 Cor. i. 10.