506 BARTER'S FAREWELL SERDMOIQ: by your present sense, than by their use and tendency ? Youwill notdo so by the bitterness ofa medicine, or the workingof a purge or vomit. You will like it best when it worketh in that way as usually it doth with them that it curet#,. And should you not be glad to find that God taketh that way with you, which he most usually takes with those that he saveth. Sure you do not set light by the love of God. Why then.do,you complain so much against the signs and products of it ? Is it not because you haveyet much unbelief, and judge of God's love as the flesh directeth you, instead of judging by the effects and prognostics which he himself bath bid you judge by? We will grant to the flesh, that no chastise- ment for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous ; if you will be- lieve the Spirit that, nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth thepeace- able fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby; and that " whom the Lord loveth he dhasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth ;" Heb. xii. 6, 11: Misunderstand not, then, the prognostics of your present sorrows. Think how they will work as well as how they taste. They bode good, though they are unpleasant. If you were bastards and reprobates, you might feel less of the rod. When the ploughers make furrows on you, it prepareth you for the seed ; and the showers that water it prognosticate a plenteous harvgst. Think it not strange ifhe thresh and grind you, if you would be. bread for your Master's use. He is not drowning' his sheep when he washeth them, nor killing them when he is shearing them.. But by this he showeth that they are his own: and the new-shorn sheep do most visibly bear his name or mark, when it is almost worn out, and scarce discernible, on them that have the longest fleece. If you love the world and prosperity best, rejoice most in it, and. grieve most for the want of tt. But if you love God best, and, take him for your part and treasure, rejoice in him, and in that condition which bath the full- est significations of his love, and grieve mòst for his displeasure, and for that condition which either signifieth it, or most enticeth you to displease him ; 2 Cor. iv. 18. Matt. vi. 20,.21. If things present be your portion, then seek them first, and rejoice in them, and mourn when they are taken from you ; Col. iii. l-4. But if really your portionbe above with Christ, let your hearts be there ; and let your joys, and sorrows, and endeavors signify it. The sense of brutes doth judge of pain and pleasure only by their pres- ent feeling ; but the reason of a man, and the faith of a Christian, do estimate them according to their signification and importance. I know that it is in vain to think by reason to reconcile the flesh and sense unto its sufferings ; but if I may speak toyou as to men, much more if as to Christians, and reason with your reasonable part, I'shall not at all despair,of the success.
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