Correction Instruction or a Treatise of Afflictions, Title page – To the reader
Correction, Inſtruction: OR, A TREATISE OF Afflictions: Firſt conceived by way of Private Meditations: Afterward Digeſted into certain Sermons, preach'd at Aldermanbury.
And now publiſhed for the Help and Comfort of humble ſuffering CHRISTIANS.
By THO. CASE, M.A. ſometimes Student of Ch. Ch. Oxon. now Preacher of the Goſpel in London.
JOB 13.15. Though he ſlay me, yet will I truſt in him.
Nihil eo inſoelicius, cui nihil infoelix con…git. Demet. apud Sen.
LONDON, Printed by J. M. for LUKE FAVVN, and are to be ſold at his ſhop at the ſign o… the P…r…at in Pauls Church-yard. 1652.
To my Reverend Friend, Mr Thomas Caſe, Miniſter of the Goſpel, &c.
Sir,
I Thank you for the favor you did me in affording me a ſight of your Papers; I had heard much of your notions concerning afflictions, and therefore was very thirſty till you were pleaſed to give me to drink of the fountain: I can now ſay as that Queen, *1 Kin. 10.7The one half was not told me; fame came much ſhort of taſte: We are perfect in no Leſſons ſo much as thoſe into which God whippeth us; and cannot ſpeak of any argument ſo warmly and feelingly, as when we ſpeak out of preſent experience: To treat of afflictions when we our ſelves flouriſh and abound in eaſe and plenty, ſavoreth more of the Orator then the Preacher, the brain then the heart: Certainly gueſs and imagination cannot be ſo good a midwife to ſuch conceptions as ſenſe and feeling.
It ſeemeth when you went into priſon, the Spirit of God went into priſon with you; and when you were ſhut up to others, you ſtill lay open to the viſits and free breathings of his grace; the reſtraints and encloſures of a priſon cannot prejudice the freedom of his operations: He is a cloſe priſoner indeed that is ſhut up not only from the ſociety of men, but converſe with the Holy Ghoſt. I begin to ſee there is ſomewhat more then a ſtrain and reach of wit in Tertullians conſolatory diſcourſe to the Martyrs: *Caetera animi impedimenta uſque ad limen carceris deduxerint vos, quouſque & parentes veſtri, exinde ſegregati eſtis a mundo nec hoc vos conſternet quod ſegregati eſt is a mundo, ſi enim recogitemus ipſum magis mundum carcerem eſſe; exiſſe vos e carcere quam in carcerem introiſſe intelligemus majores tenebras habet mundus graviores catenas induit mundus, &c. Tertul. ac Martyr.You went out of priſon (ſaith he) when you went into it, and were but ſequeſtred from the world, that you might converſe with God; the greateſt priſoners and the moſt guilty are thoſe that are at large, darkened with ignorance, chained with lusts, committed not by the Proconſul, but God, &c. The Lord often manifeſted himſelf to his Prophets in a Wilderneſs, and to you in your ſeceſsion and retirement.
Sir, I could even envy your Priſon-comforts, and the ſweet opportunities of a religious privacy: We that are abroad are harraſſed and worn out with conſtant publike labors, and can ſeldom retire from the diſtraction of buſineſs for ſuch free converſe with God and our own Souls: But we are not to chooſe our own portion; croſſes will come ſoon enough without wiſhing for them; and if we were wiſe we might make an advantage of every condition.
Good Sir, be perſwaded to publiſh thoſe Diſcourſes; the Subject is uſeful, and your manner of handling it warm and affectionate; do not deprive the world of the comfort of your Experiences: Certainly my heart is none of the tendereſt; yet if heart anſwereth heart, I can eaſily foreſee much ſucceſs, and that you will not repent of the publication: The Lord bleſs your endeavors in the Goſpel of his dear Son: I am, Sir,
Yours in all Chriſtian Obſervance, Tho: Manton.
TO THE READER.
Reader,
THou haſt here in theſe following Leaves ſome PRISONTHOUGHTS, I wiſh I could ſay, EXPERIENCES. If I have not written herein what I have FOUND, I bleſs God, I have written what I have SOUGHT. I muſt humbly confeſs with holy Paul, foreign, Phil. 3.13.14I count not my ſelf to have apprehended; yet through Grace I can add with that bleſſed Saint, But this one thing I do, Forgetting thoſe things which are behinde, and reaching forth unto thoſe things which are before, I PRESS TOVVARDS THE MARK. God hath taught me ſomewhat of the Doctrine, if he would pleaſe to teach me the Uſe; God hath in ſome meaſure ſhewed me WHAT is to be gained by Affliction, if He would alſo teach me HOVV to gain it, I ſhould with Moſes, account my ſufferings greater riches then the treaſures of Egypt. Heb. 11.26The diſcovery is ſweet; if my heart deceive me not, I would not exchange it for the wealth of both the Indies; the poſſeſſion infinitely precious. For thy advantage I have been perſwaded to print; my prayer ſhall accompany my papers, That that GOD, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth things that are not as though they were, would pleaſe to make theſe broken Expreſsions anſwer the aym: Hoc tantum o…o, ut cum petitis etiam Tertulliani peceatoris memineritis. Tert: Apol.and for the ayms-ſake deſpiſe them not, but pray thou alſo; and when thou prayeſt, remember the chiefeſt of ſinners, the poor and unworthy Author, who, whileſt yet in the Land of the Living, will be
Thine, to ſerve thee, in the Goſpel of CHRIST, Tho. Caſe.