his memory; he does all things by his infinite wisdom, eternal foreknowledge, counsel, government, and judgment. But thus men cannot do; for whatsoever is done in their councils, cities, families, contracts, &c., for memory's sake, is set down in writing, that so, as there is occasion, they may look it over, and call to mind such things as they desire.1 Mark, not to have our names blotted out of the book of life is to have them always remain therein; that is, to enjoy eternal glory; and what can the soul desire more? The names of the elect are written in the book of life. They do not obtain salvation by chance, but were elected of God to life and happiness before the foundation of the world. Now their names being once written in the book of life, they shall never, never be blotted out of that book. In the book of predestination there is not one blot to be found-the salvation of the elect is most sure and certain: Rev. xiii. 8, ‘And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.' The names of the elect are said to be written in the book of life by a usual metaphor; for we commonly write down the names of such as are dear unto us, that we may continually remember them. So God having in his eternal counsel elected some to salvation, hath written their names in the book of life; as our Saviour tells us, 'Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven,' Luke x. 20. Some understand the metaphor of the sonship of the elect; so that to be written in the book of life shews that they are heirs of glory; for we know that such are to inherit whose names are written in the last will and testament of men. Of this book of life you may further read, Rev. xvii. 8, xx. 15, xxi. 27, and xxii. 19.

Now from this book of life, that shall be opened in the great day, when the other books shall be opened, as hath been shewed, every sincere Christian may form up this eleventh plea as to the ten scriptures that are in the margin,2 that refer to the great day of account, or to a man's particular account. Most holy and blessed Lord, cast thine eye upon the book of election, and there thou wilt find my name written. Now my name being written in that book, I am exempt. from all condemnation, and interested in the great salvation; my name. being written in the book of life, I am secured from coming into the judgment of reprobation or condemnation, John v. 14; Rev. xxi. 27. Jesus Christ, who hath written my name in the book of life, hath made up my accounts for me; he hath satisfied thy justice, and pacified thy wrath, and borne the curse, and purchased my pardon, and put upon me an everlasting righteousness, and given me my quietus est; he has crossed out the black lines of my sins with the red lines of his blood; he has cancelled all the bonds wherein I stood obliged to divine justice. I further plead, O blessed Lord, that there is an immutable connexion betwixt being written in this book of life and the obtaining of eternal life; and if the connexion betwixt being

1 The holy God, by an anthropopatheia, speaketh to our capacity; for he doth all things without the help of books.

2 Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23; Luke xvi. 2; Rom. xiv. 10 2 Cor. v. 10; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17; 1 Pet. iv. 5; Dan. ix. 24; Col. ii. 14.

written in this book of life and the obtaining of eternal life were not peremptory, what reason could there be of opening this book in the day of judgment? The book of life is a book of sovereign grace, upon which lies the weight of my salvation, my happiness, my all; and therefore by that book I desire to stand or fall. Well, saith the Lord, I cannot but accept of this plea as holy, honourable, just, and righteous; and therefore 'enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, inherit the kingdom prepared for thee,' Mat. xxv. 21, 34. Thus, by divine assistance, and by a special and a gracious hand of providence upon me, I have finished those select and important cases of conscience which I designed to speak to.

Soli Deo Gloria in Aeternum.

NOTE.

* By the general title page (See page 264, ante) it will be seen that the 'Word in Season' is included in the Golden Key;' but nevertheless it forms a separate treatise, of which the title-page will be found below.*-G.

* A WORD IN SEASON

To this Present
GENERATION.

OR

A SOBER AND SERIOUS
DISCOURSE

About the favorable, Signal and eminent Presence
of the LORD with his PEOPLE, in their greatest
Troubles, deepest Distresses, and most deadly Dangers.

WITH THE

Resolution of several Questions, concerning the DIVINE
PRESENCE, as also the Reasons and improvements of this
great and glorious Truth.

All tending to encourage Christians in the way of their Duty, in the
face of all Afflictions, Oppositions, and Sufferings that they
may meet with for Righteousness sake from the Serpents seed,
or from Wolves in Sheeps-cloathing.

By THOMAS BROOKS, the Author of the Golden Key
to open hidden Treasures.

But will God indeed dwell on the Earth? Behold the Heaven, and the
Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this House
that I have buildled. 1 Kings 8. 27.

Deus unus est, & ubique totus diffusus. Cyprian.

Maximilian the Emperour was so delighted with that Sentence of
PAUL, Si Deus nobiscum, If God be with us, who shall be against
us, that he caused it to be written upon the Walls in most rooms
of his Palace.

LONDON,

Printed for Dorman Newman, at the Sign of the Kings Arms

in the Poultrie. [1675. 4to.]

A GENERAL EPISTLE TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS.

To all afflicted and distressed Christians all the world over, especially to those that are in bonds for the testimony of Christ in Bristol; and to those that are sufferers there, or in any other city, town, country, or kingdom whatsoever; and to all that have been deep sufferers in their names, persons, estates, or liberties, upon the account of their faithfulness to God, to their light, to their consciences, to their principles, to their profession, and to Christ the king and head of his church; and to all that have been long prisoners to their beds or chambers by reason of age, and the common infirmities that do attend it, or that are under any other afflictive dispensation: and more particularly to my ancient dear and honoured friend, Mrs Elizabeth Drinkwater, who has been many years the Lord's prisoner, and upon the matter, kept wholly from public ordinances, by reason of her bodily weaknesses and infirmities; though in the want of a greater sanctuary, God has been a little sanctuary' to her soul, Ezek. xi. 16,—Grace, Mercy, and Peace be multiplied.

DEAR AND HONOURED FRIENDS,-The ensuing treatise about the signal presence of God with his people, in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses and most deadly dangers, I present to the service of all your souls. There has not been any treatise on this subject, that hath ever fallen under mine eye; which hath been one great reason to encourage me in this present undertaking. I know several holy and learned men have written singularly well upon the gracious presence of God with his people, in ordinances and in the worship of his house; but I know that none have made it their business, their work, to handle this subject that I have been discoursing on: though a more excellent, noble, spiritual, seasonable, and necessary subject can rarely be treated on.

There are ten things that I am very well satisfied in, and to me they are things of great importance in this present day. And the first is this-viz.,

1. That there is no engagement from God upon any of his people, to run themselves into sufferings wilfully, causelessly, groundlessly. Christians must not be prodigal of their blood, for their blood is Christ's. Their estates, their names, their liberties, their all, is his;

they are not their own, they are bought with a price, 1 Cor. vi. 20, and vii. 23; and therefore to him they must be accountable for their lives, liberties, &c., and therefore they had need be very wary how they part with them. We must not step out of our way to take up a cross. The three worthies were passive,1 Dan. iii. 20, 21, 28. They did not rush into the fiery furnace, but yielded themselves to be cast into the fiery furnace; they did not stubbornly oppose nor struggle against their enemies, but patiently and quietly yielded their bodies to the flames: neither did the prophets or apostles step over God's hedge, to make way to their own sufferings or martyrdom. No men may, with the Donatists, destroy themselves, rather than they would conform to this or that religion. No man may have a hand in his own destruction, no man may cut his throat with his own hands to avoid a prison, a dungeon, a den, a fiery furnace. Cyprian tells the Christians in his time, that were ambitious of martyrdom, Non est in tua potestate, sed in Dei dignatione, martyrium. We may not run ourselves into prison without a mittimus from heaven. If righteousness lead me into prison, a righteous God will stand by me in prison, and in the issue, give me a gracious or a glorious deliverance out of prison. But if I wilfully, causelessly run myself into prison, it will be a righteous thing with God, to leave me to shift for myself in prison. If God should meet a man in prison, and say to him-as he did once to Elijah, 'What dost thou here, Elijah ?'2 1 King xix. 9— What dost thou here, O man? is this a fit place for truth's champion? if a man cannot readily answer, Lord, I have not run myself into a prison-but it is thyself, it is thy truth, it is thy interest, it is thy honour, it is my conscience, it is duty that has brought me hitherwhat confusion would attend him! Philustrius (?) and Theodoret speak of some that would compel men to kill them out of an affectation of martyrdom; but this was a mad ambition, but no true zeal. It was an error in Tertullian, to say that afflictions, that sufferings were to be sought. No man is to make his own cross, nor scourges to whip himself; nor to cast himself into a suffering state, so long as God hath left him a plain open way to escape suffering without sinning: not but that most men are more apt and prone to sin themselves out of smart sufferings, than unwarrantably to run themselves into sufferings; but it is good for every Christian to be upon his guard, and not run till God sends him, Acts ix. 23-25; John xx. 19, 26. As a Christian must not shun sufferings, so he must not seek them.

(2.) Secondly, That afflictions, sufferings, persecutions, hath been the common lot and portion of the people of God in all the ages of the world.3 Witness the sufferings of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, the primitive Christians, and the martyrs of a later date. Abel was persecuted by Cain, 1 John iii. 12; and Isaac by Ishmael, Gal. iv. 29; and Jacob by Esau. That seems to be a standing law, All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution,' 2 Tim.

1 What sad sufferings do many blind papists run themselves into, out of a superstitious opinion of merit or satisfaction; but under all their penances they cannot say, 'We bear in our bodies the marks of our Lord Jesus Christ,' Gal. vi. 17.

* Here he is secretly taxed for leaving his station out of too much fear of Jezebel. 3 Mat. x. 22, and xvi. 24; Luke xxi. 12; John xv. 20; Heb. xi. The common cry of persecutors hath been Christianos ad Leones. 2 D

VOL. V.