Ah, friends ! shall a heathen bear it out thus bravely, and shall not you much more ? Pulvillus, another heathen [Pet. Mart.], when he was about to consecrate a temple to Jupiter, and news was brought to him of the death of his son, desisted not from his enterprise ; but with a com- posed mind gave order for decent burial. Shall nature do this, and shall not grace do as much, nay, more ? What a shame is it, saith Jerome, that faith should not be able to do that which infidelity hath done ! What ! not better fruit in the vineyard, in the garden of the Lord, than in the wilderness ? What ! not better fruit grown upon the tree of life than upon the root of nature ?
Dear friends ! since I yielded to your desires, and set about this work, I begun to consider that I had never heard nor read of any that had treated on this subject ; also I seriously considered of the usefulness of it, especially in these times, wherein so many young persons have their faces towards Sion; which considerations, with the breaking in of God upon me beyond my expectation, has occasioned that sermon you heard to swell into a little treatise, which in all love I present unto you. The very same things that sounded in your ears I here present to your eyes, with enlargements and additions to what I first intended. The pains hath been mine ; the profit that will redound to you and others, into whose hands it may fall, I hope will be such as will turn to all our accounts in the day of Christ.
I have read of an emperor's son who used to say, The longer the cooks are preparing the meat, the better will be the cheer ; his meaning was, the longer he stayed for the empire, the greater it would be. The longer you have waited for this discourse, the better I desire it may prove. It had been in your hands long before this, if others that should have made more haste had not been more to blame than myself ; yet I know it is ' not a child so late born that I need question your fathering of it. And
1 Lev. x. 1-3 ; 1 Sata, iii, 11-19 ; 2 Sam. xii. 18-25 ; Job i., the whole chapter.
284- APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KlNGS XIV. 13
now I commend you all to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified, Acts xx. 32.
Your servant in the work of Christ,
The 'Muto Christian' was originally published in 1659. A '2d ' edition — though not so designated — was immediately called for, and appeared in 1660. Thereafter few books were more in demand, being next to the • Precious Remedies.' The earlier portion of the title (as in above two editions) was ' The Silent Soul with Sovereign Antidotes,' &c. Our text is taken from ' the eighth edition, corrected,' collated with the original and sub- sequent intervening editions. Its title-page is given below.* G.
fWost {Miserable ©xtgents:1
A Christian with an ®Hb e = leaf in his mouth, when he is under the greatest af- flictions, the sharpest and sorest tryals and troubles, the saddest and darkest Providen- ces and Changes, with Answers to divers Questions and Objections that are of great- est importance ; all tending to win and work Souls to be still, quiet, calm and silent un- der all changes that have, or may pass up- on them in this World, <J-c.
The Eighth Edition, Corrected.
By THOMAS BROOKS, late Preacher of the Word at St. Margaret New-Fish-Street, London.
The Lord is in his Holy Temple: Let all the Earth keep silence before him, Hab. 2. 20.
LONDON, Printed for John Hancock, and are
to be sold at the Three Bibles, over against the
Royal Exchange in Cornhill. 1684.
1 This is one of the many Shakespearian words, referred to in our Preface, found in Brooks : ' Why do you cross me in this exigent V — Juliu3 Cassar, v. 1. ' When the exigent should come.' — Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 12. Cf. also Sibbes's Works, vol. i. page 412.— G.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
To all afflicted and distressed, dissatisfied, disquieted, and discomposed Christians throughout the world.
Dear Hearts, — The choicest saints are ' born to troubles as the sparks fly upwards/ Job v. 7. 1 * Many are the troubles of the righteous ;' if they were many, and not troubles, then, as it is in the proverb, the more the merrier ; or if they were troubles and not many, then the fewer the better cheer. But God, who is infinite in wisdom and match- less in goodness, hath ordered troubles, yea, many troubles to come trooping in upon us on every side. As our mercies, so our crosses seldom come single ; they usually come treading one upon the heels of another ; they are like April showers, no sooner is one over but another comes. And yet, Christians, it is mercy, it is rich mercy, that every affliction is not an execution, that every correction is not a damnation. The higher the waters rise, the nearer Noah's ark was lifted up to heaven ; the more thy afflictions are increased, the more thy heart shall be raised heavenward.
Because I would not hold you too long in the porch, I shall only en- deavour two things : first, to give you the reasons of my appearing once more in print ; and secondly, a little counsel and direction that the following tract may turn to your soul's advantage, which is the white 2- that I have in my eye. The true reasons of my sending this piece into the world, such as it is, are these :
I. First, The afflicting hand of God hath been hard upon myself, and upon my dearest relations in this world, and upon many of my precious Christian friends, whom I much love and honour in the Lord, which put me upon studying of the mind of God in that scripture that I have made the subject-matter of this following discourse. Luther could not understand some Psalms till he was afflicted ; the Christ-cross is no letter in the book, and yet, saith he, it hath taught me more than all the letters in the book. Afflictions are a golden key by which the Lord opens the rich treasure of his word to his people's souls ; and this in some measure, through grace, my soul hath experienced. When Samson had found honey, he gave some to his father and mother to eat, Judges xiv, 9, 10 ; some honey I have found in my following text ;
1 Ps. xxxiv. 19 and lxxxviii. 3, 4. Qui nan est Crucianus non est Christianus. — Luther. * The ' mark. '— G.
288 EPISTLE DEDICATORY.