peareth no glimpse of comfort, but so absolute vexation, as if heaven and earth had plotted their full affliction. Yea, O Saviour, what a dread night, what a fearful tempest, what an astonishing dereliction was that, wherein thou thyself criedst out in the bitterness of thine anguished soul, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" Yet, in all these extremities of misery, our gracious God intends nothing but his greater glory and ours; the triumph of our faith, the crown of our victory. All that longsome and tempestuous night must the disciples wear out in danger and horror, as given over to the winds and waves; but in the fourth watch of the night, when they were wearied out with toils and fears, comes deliverance. leave to wonder more at thy passage than at thy coming. Wherefore camest thou but to comfort them? and wherefore, then, wouldst thou pass by them as if thou hadst intended nothing but their dismay? Thine absence could not be so grievous as thy preterition: that might seem justly occasioned; this could not but seem willingly neglective. Our last conflicts have wont ever to be the sorest; as when after some dripping rain it pours down most vehemently, we think the weather is changing to serenity. O Saviour, we may not always measure thy meaning by thy semblance: sometimes what thou most intendest, thou showest least. In our afflictions thou turnest thy back upon us, and hidest thy face from us, when thou most mindest our distresses. So Jonathan shot the arrows beyond David, when he meant them to him: so Joseph calls for Benjamin into bonds, when his heart was bound to him in the strongest affection: so the tender mother makes as if she would give away her crying child, whom she hugs so much closer in her bosom. If thou pass by us while we are struggling with the tempest, we know it is not for want of mercy. Thou canst not neglect us: O let us not distrust thee! At their entrance into the ship, at the rising of the tempest, at the shutting in of the evening, there was no news of Christ: but when they have been all the night long beaten, not so much with storms and waves, as with their own thoughts, now in the fourth watch, which was near to the morning, Jesus came unto them, and purposely not till then, that he might exercise their patience, that he might inure them to wait upon divine Providence in cases of extremity, that their devotions might be more whetted by delay, that they might give gladder welcome to their deliverance. O God, thus thou thinkest fit to do still. We are by turns in our sea; the winds bluster, the billows swell, the night and thy absence heighten our discomfort; thy time and ours is set as yet it is but midnight with us; can we but hold out patiently till the fourth watch, thou wilt surely come and rescue us. O let us not faint under our sorrows, but wear out our three watches of tribulation, with undaunted patience and holy resolu-pect tion! O Saviour, our extremities are the seasons of thine aid. Thou camest at last, but yet so as that there was more dread than joy in thy presence: thy coming was both miraculous and frightful. Thou, God of elements, passedst through the air, walkedst upon the waters. Whether thou meantest to terminate this miracle in thy body, or in the waves which thou troddest upon, whether so lightening the one, that it should make no impression in the liquid waters, or whether so consolidating the other, that the pavemented waves yielded a firm causeway to thy sacred feet to walk on, I neither determine nor inquire: thy silence ruleth mine: thy power was in either miraculous, neither know I in whether to adore it more. But withal, give me What object should have been so pleasing to the eyes of the disciples as their Mas ter, and so much the more as he showed his divine power in this miraculous walk? But lo, contrarily, "they are troubled ;" not with his presence, but with this form of presence. The supernatural works of God, when we look upon them with our own eyes, are subject to a dangerous misprision. The very sunbeams, to which we are beholden for our sight, if we eye them directly, blind us. Miserable men! we are ready to sustruths, to run away from our safety, to be afraid of our comforts, to misknow our best friends. And why are they thus troubled? "They had thought they had seen a spirit." That there have been such apparitions of spirits, both good and evil, hath ever been a truth undoubtedly received of Pagans, Jews, and Christians; although in the blind times of superstition, there was much collusion mixed with some verities: crafty men, and lying spirits, agreed to abuse the credulous world; but even where there was not truth, yet there was horror. The very good angels were not seen without much fear; their sight was construed to bode death: how much more the evil, which in their very nature are harmful and pernicious! We see not a snake or a toad, without some recoiling of blood, and some sensible reluctation, although those creatures run away from us: | how much more must our hairs stand upright, and our senses boggle, at the sight of a spirit, whose nature and will both are contrary to ours, and professedly bent to our hurt! 66 But say it had been what they mistook it for, a spirit: why should they fear? Had they well considered, they had soon found, that evil spirits are nevertheless present when they are not seen, and nevertheless harmful or malicious when they are present unseen. Visibility adds nothing to their spite or mischief: and could their eyes have been opened, they had, with Elisha's servant, seen more with them than agains. them;" a sure, though invisible guard of more powerful spirits, and themselves under the protection of the God of spirits: so as they might have bidden a bold defiance | to all the powers of darkness. But, partly their faith was yet but in the bud, and partly the presentation of this dreadful object was sudden, and without the respite of a recollection and settlement of their thoughts. O the weakness of our frail nature, who, in the want of faith, are affrighted with the visible appearance of those adversaries whom we profess daily to resist and vanquish, and with whom we know the decree of God hath matched us in an everlasting conflict! Are not these they that ejected devils by their command? are not these of them that could say, “Master, the evil spirits are subject to us?" Yet now, when they see but an imagined spirit, they fear. What power there is in the eye to betray the heart! While Goliah was mingled with the rest of the Philistine host, Israel camped boldly against them; but when that giant stalks out single between the two armies, and fills and amazes their eyes with his hideous stature, now they run away for fear. Behold, we are committed with legions of evil spirits, and complain not let but one of them give us some visible token of his presence, we shriek and tremble, and are not ourselves. Neither is our weakness more conspicuous than thy mercy, O God, in restraining these spiritual enemies from these dreadful and ghastly representations of themselves to our eyes. Might those infernal spirits have liberty to appear, how and when, and to whom they would, certainly not many would be left in their wits, or in their lives. It is thy power and goodness to frail mankind, that they are kept in their chains, and reserved in the darkness of their own spiritual being, that we may both oppugn and subdue them unseen. But, O the deplorable condition of reprobate souls! If but the imagined sight of one of these spirits of darkness can so daunt the heart of those which are free from their power, what a terror shall it be to live perpetually in the sight, yea, under the torture, of thousands, of legions, of millions of devils! O the madness of wilful sinners, that will needs run themselves headily into so dreadful a damnation! It was high time for our Saviour to speak: what with the tempest, what with the apparition, the disciples were almost lost with fear. How seasonable are his gracious redresses' Till they were thus affrighted, he would not speak; when they were thus affrighted, he would not hold his peace. If his presence were fearful, yet his word was comfortable: "Be of good cheer, it is I:" Yea, it is his word only which must make his presence both known and comfortable. He was present before: they mistook him and feared: there needs no other erection of their drooping hearts, but " It is I." It is cordial enough to us, in the worst of our afflictions, to be assured of Christ's presence with us. Say but It is I," O Saviour, and let evils do their worst; thou needest not say more. Thy voice was evidence enough; so well were thy disciples acquainted with the tongue of thee their Master, that "It is I," was as much as a hundred names. Thou art the good Shepherd: we are not of thy flock, if we know thee not by thy voice from a thousand. Even this one is a great word, yea, an ample style: "It is 1." The same tongue that said to Moses, "I am hath sent thee," saith now to the disciples, "It is I;" I your Lord and Master, I the Commander of winds and waters, 1 the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, I the God of spirits. Let heaven be but as one scroll, and let it be written all over with titles, they cannot express more than "It is I." O sweet and seasonable word of a gracious Saviour! able to calm all tempests, able to revive all hearts! Say but so to my soul, and in spite of hell, I am safe. No sooner hath Jesus said "I," than Peter answers, " Master." He can instantly name him that did not name himself. Every little hint is enough to faith. The church sees her beloved as well through the lattice, as through the open window. Which of all the followers of Christ gave such pregnant testimonies, upon all occasions, of his faith, of his love to his Master, as Peter? The rest were silent, while he both owned his Master, and craved access to him in that | thee." I know thou canst command both liquid way. Yet what a sensible mixture is the waves and me: me to be so light, that here of faith and distrust! It was faith that I shall not bruise the moist surface of the said, "Master;" it was distrust, as some have waves; the waves to be so solid, that they construed it, that said, "If it be thou." It shall not yield to my weight: "All things was faith that said, " Bid me come to thee;" obey thee: Bid me come to thee upon the implying that his word could as well enable waters." as command; it was faith that durst step down upon that watery pavement; it was distrust, that upon the sight of a mighty wind feared; it was faith, that he walked; it was distrust that he sunk; it was faith that said, "Lord, save me!" O the imperfect composition of the best saint upon earth, as far from pure faith as from mere infidelity! If there be pure earth in the centre, all upward is mixed with the other elements contrarily, pure grace is above in the glorified spirits; all below is mixed with infirmity, with corruption. Our best is but as the air, which never was, never can be at once fully enlightened; neither is there in the same region one constant state of light. It shall once be noon with us, when we shall have nothing but bright beams of glory now it is but the dawning, wherein it is hard to say whether there be more light than darkness. We are now fair as the moon, which hath some spots in her greatest beauty; we shall be pure as the sun, whose face is all bright and glorious. Ever since the time that Adam set his tooth in the apple, till our mouth be full of mould, it never was, it never can be other with us. Far be it from us to settle willingly upon the dregs of our infidelity! far be it from us to be disheartened with the sense of our defects and imperfections! "We believe, Lord, help our unbelief." It was a bold spirit that could wish it, more bold that could act it. No sooner hath our Saviour said, "Come," than he sets his foot upon the unquiet sea, not fearing either the softness or the roughness of that uncouth passage. We are wont to wonder at the courage of that daring man who first committed himself to the sea in a frail bark, though he had the strength of an oaken plank to secure him: how valiant must we needs grant him to be, that durst set his foot upon the bare sea, and shift his paces! Well did Peter know, that he who bade him, could uphold him; and therefore he both sues to be bidden, and ventures to be upholden. True faith tasks itself with difficulties, neither can be dismayed with the conceits of ordinary impossibilities: it is not the scattering of straws, or casting of mole-hills, whereby the virtue of it is described, but removing of mountains: like some courageous leader, it desires the honour of a danger, and sues for the first onset: whereas, the worldly heart freezes in a lazy or cowardly fear, and only casts for safety and ease. Peter sues, Jesus bids. Rather will he work miracles, than disappoint the suit of a faithful man. How easily might our Saviour have turned over this strange request of his bold disciple, and have said, What my omnipotence can do is no rule for thy While I find some disputing the lawful-weakness: it is no less than presumption ness of Peter's suit, others quarrelling his "If it be thou," let me be taken up with wonder at the faith, the fervour, the heroical valour of this prime apostle, that durst say, "Bid me come to thee upon the waters." He might have suspected that the voice of his Master might have been as easily imitated by that imagined spirit as his person; he might have feared the blustering tempest, the threatening billows, the yielding nature of that devouring element: but, as despising all these thoughts of misdoubt, such is his desire to be near his Master, that he says, "Bid me come to thee upon the waters." He says not, Come thou to me this had been Christ's act, and not his. Neither doth he say, Let me come to thee: this had been his act, and not Christ's. Neither doth he say, Pray that I may come to thee, as if this act had been out of the power of either but, "Bid me come to in a mere man, to hope to imitate the miraculous works of God and man. Stay thou in the ship, and wonder, contenting thyself in this, that thou hast a Master to whom the land and water is alike. Yet I hear not a check, but a call," Come." The suit of ambition is suddenly quashed in the mother of the Zebedees. The suits of revenge prove no better in the mouth of the two fiery disciples. But a suit of faith, though high, and seemingly unfit for us, he hath no power to deny. How much less, O Saviour, wilt thou stick at those things which lie in the very road of our Christianity! Never man said, Bid me come to thee in the way of thy commandments, whom thou didst not both bid and enable to come. True faith rests not in great and good desires, but acts and executes accordingly. Peter doth not wish to go, and vet stand still; but his foot answers his tongue, and instantly chops down upon the waters. To sit still, and wish, is for sluggish and cowardly spirits. It was Peter's improvidence not to foresee; it was his weakness to fear, it was the effect of his fear to sink; it was his faith that recollects itself, and breaks through Formal volitions, yea, velleities of good, his infidelity, and, in sinking, could say, while we will not so much as step out of "Lord, save me.' His foot could not be the ship of our nature to walk unto Christ, so swift in sinking, as his heart in implorare but the faint motions of vain hypocrisy.ing: he knew who could uphold him from It will be long enough ere the gale of good wishes can carry us to our haven. "Ease slayeth the foolish." O Saviour, we have thy command to come to thee out of the ship of our natural corruption: let no sea affright us, let no tempest of temptation withhold us. No way can be but safe, when thou art the end. Lo! Peter is walking upon the waves! Two hands uphold him, the hand of Christ's power, the hand of his own faith: neither of them would do it alone. The hand of Christ's power laid hold on him; the hand of his faith laid hold on the power of Christ commanding. Had not Christ's hand been powerful, that faith had been in vain: had not that faith of his strongly fixed upon Christ, that power had not been effectual to his preservation. While we are here in the world, we walk upon the waters; still the same hands bear us up. If he let go his hold of us, we drown; if we let go our hold of him, we sink and shriek as Peter did here, who, when he saw the wind boisterous, was afraid, and, "beginning to sink, cried, saying, Lord, save me." When he wished to be bidden to walk unto Christ, he thought of the waters; "Bid me come to thee on the waters :" he thought not on the winds which raged on those waters; or if he thought of a stiff gale, yet that tempestuous and sudden gust was out of his account and expectation. Those evils that we are prepared for have not such power over us as those that surprise us. A good waterman sees a dangerous billow coming towards him, and cuts it, and mounts over it with ease; the unheedy is overwhelmed. O Saviour, let my haste to thee be zealous, but not improvident; ere I set my foot out of the ship, let me foresee the tempest; when I have cast the worst, I cannot either miscarry or complain. sinking, and, being sunk, deliver him; and therefore he says, "Lord, save me." It is both a notable sign and effect of true faith, in sudden extremities, to ejaculate holy desires, and, with the wings of our first thoughts, to fly up instantly to the throne of grace for present succour. Upon deliberation, it is possible for a man, that hath been careless and profane, by good means to be drawn to holy dispositions : but on the sudden, a man will appear as he is; whatever is most rife in the heart, will come forth at the mouth. It is good to observe how our surprisals find us: the rest is but forced, this is natural: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." O Saviour, no evil can be swifter than my thought; my thought shall be upon thee ere I can be seized upon by the speediest mischief: at least, if I overrun not evils, I shall overtake them. It was Christ his Lord whom Peter had offended in distrusting; it is Christ his Lord to whom he sues for deliverance. His weakness doth not discourage him from his refuge. O God, when we have displeased thee, when we have sunk in thy displeasure, whither should we fly for aid, but to thee whom we have provoked? Against thee only is our sin, in thee only is our help. In vain shall all the powers of heaven and earth conspire to relieve us, if thou withhold from our succour. As we offend thy justice daily by our sins, so let us continually rely upon thy mercy by the strength of our faith: "Lord, save us!" The mercy of Christ is at once sought and found: Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him." He doth not say, hadst thou trusted me, I would have safely preserved thee, but, since thou wilt needs wrong my power and care with a cowardly diffidence, sink and drown: but rather, as pitying the infirmity of his fearful So soon as he began to fear, he began to disciple, he puts out the hand for his relief. sink while he believed, the sea was brass; That hand hath been stretched forth for when once he began to distrust, those the aid of many a one that never asked it: waves were water. He cannot sink, while never any asked it to whose succour it hath he trusts the power of his Master; he can- not been stretched. With what speed, with not but sink when he misdoubts it. Our what confidence, should we fly to that sofaith gives us, as courage and boldness, sovereign bounty, from which never any suitor success too; our infidelity lays us open to was sent away empty! all dangers, to all mischiefs. Jesus gave Peter his hand, but withal he gave him a check: "O thou of little faith, why doubtest thou?" As Peter's faith was not pure, but mixed with some distrust, so our Saviour's help was not clear and absolute, but mixed with some reproof; a reproof, wherein there was both a censure and an expostulation; a censure of his faith, an expostulation for his doubt; both of them sore and heavy. By how much more excellent and useful a grace faith is, by so much more shameful is the defect of it; and by how much more reason here was of confidence, by so much more blameworthy was the doubt. Now Peter had a double reason of his confidence: the command of Christ, the power of Christ; the one in bidding him to come, the other in sustaining him while he came. To misdoubt him whose will he knew, whose power he felt, was well worth a reprehension. When I saw Peter stepping forth upon the waters, I could not but wonder at his great faith; yet behold, ere he can have measured many paces, the Judge of hearts | taxes him for little faith. Our mountains are but motes to God. Would my heart have served me to dare the doing of this that Peter did? durst I have set my foot where he did? O Saviour, if thou foundest cause to censure the weakness and poverty of his faith, what mayest thou well say to mine! They mistake that think thou wilt take up with anything. Thou lookest for firmness and vigour in those graces, which thou wilt allow in thy best disciples, no less than truth. 1 The first steps were confident, there was fear in the next. O the sudden alteration of our affections, of our dispositions one pace varies our spiritual condition. What hold is there of so fickle creatures, if we be left never so little to ourselves? As this lower world, wherein we are, is the region of mutability, so are we, the living pieces of it, subject to a perpetual change. It is for the blessed saints and angels above to be fixed in good: while we are here, there can be no constancy expected from us, but in variableness. As well as our Saviour loves Peter, yet he chides him. It is the fruit of his favour and mercy that we escape judgment, not that we escape reproof. Had not Peter found grace with his Master, he had been suffered to sink in silence; now he is saved with a check. There may be more love in frowns than in smiles: Whom he loves he chastises." What is chiding but a verbal | castigation? and what is chastisement but a real chiding? "Correct me, O Lord, yet in thy judgment, not in thy fury." "Olet the righteous God smite me, when I offend, with his gracious reproofs; these shall be a precious oil that shall not break my head." CONTEMPLATION VII.—THE BLOODY ISSUE HEALED. THE time was, O Saviour, when a worthy woman offered to touch thee, and was forbidden: now a meaner touches thee with approbation and encouragement. Yet as there was much difference in that body of thine which was the object of that touch, being now mortal and passible, then impassible and immortal, so there was in the agents: this a stranger, that a familiar; this obscure, that famous. The same actions vary with time and other circumstances; and accordingly receive their dislike or allowance. Doubtless thou hadst herein no small respect to the faith of Jairus, unto whose house thou wert going. That good man had but one only daughter, which lay sick in the beginning of his suit; ere the end, lay dead; while she lived, his hope lived; her death disheartened it. It was a great work that thou meantest to do for him; it was a great word that thou saidst to him: "Fear not, believe, and she shall be made whole." To make this good, by the touch of the verge of thy garment, thou revivedst one from the verge of death. How must Jairus needs now think, He who, by the virtue of his garment, can pull this woman out of the paws of death, which hath been twelve years dying, can as well, by the power of his word, pull my daughter, who hath been twelve years living, out of the jaws of death, which hath newly seized on her. It was fit the good ruler should be raised up with this handsel of thy divine power, whom he came to solicit. That thou mightest lose no time, thou curedst in thy passage. The sun stands not still to give his influences, but diffuses them in his ordinary motion. How shall we imitate thee, if we suffer our hands to be out of use with good? Our life goes away with our time: we lose that which we improve not. The patient laboured of an issue of blood; a disease that had not more pain than shame, nor more natural infirmity than legal impurity. Time added to her grief; twelve long years had she languished under this woful complaint. Besides the tediousness, diseases must needs get head by continuance, and so much more both weaken nature and strengthen themselves, by how mucn |