blasphemed it is no time to fear but to cry out yea he professes that he had rather be accounted any thing then to be accused of wicked silence in Gods cause Let me be reputed proud covetous an adulterer a murtherer an enemy to the Pope guilty of all kinde of vices so I be not found guilty of wicked silence when the Lord Christ suffers In Eusebius his History l. 5. c. 3. we finde a Letter that the Christians of Vienna and Lyons in France sent to their brethren in Asia and Phrygia in which they tell of a notable example of a brave Noble man Vetius Epagathus appearing in the cause of the Christians not being able to bear their unjust dealings against them when he heard those vile accusations against them and condemnations of them he desired that he might be heard to plead for the brethren but those at the Tribunal being utterly against it because he was a Noble man the President would not admit of his petition but onely asked him if he were a Christian he professed aloud that he was and so was taken amongst the number of Martyrs and called the Advocate of Christians Secondly appear for them by visiting them in their troubles that is a special duty that Christ looks for and will examine at the great Day whether it hath been performed be not shy of this lest you should be suspected to be one of them Chrysostom in an Oration upon the praise of two Martyrs says of Christians that they would not be kept from visiting the Confessors in Prison although it was forbidden with many threatnings terrors and it was great danger to them Thirdly we must be ready and willing to entertain such as suffer Fourthly we must use all the interest we have in any friends improve all opportunities for the relief of such as suffer Theodoret tells a famous story of one Terentius a Captain in the Emperor Valens his Army who returning from Armenia with a great Victory the Emperor bade him ask what reward he would he onely asked as a recompence of all his Service that there might be granted a Church to the Orthodox in Antioch that they might freely meet in publique this he knew could not but be exceeding displeasing to Valens the Emperor because he was an Arrian and so it proved for the Emperor tore his Petition and bade him ask something else but Terentius gathered up the torn pieces of the Paper and said This I ask as a reward of my Service and I will ask nothing else How few wil now improve such interest in great ones such opportunities for the relieving the persecuted Servants of God Fifthly we must improve all our gifts parts abilities for them in pleading for them Thus in the Primitive times God stirred up many of great learning of excellent parts to plead for the persecuted Christians who did much service this way as Justin Martyr in his Apologies and Tertullian and one Aristides an Athenian Phylosopher a man admirably learned and eloquent because the Emperor then was much delighted in learning he made use of his eloquence and learning for Christ and his Saints making eloquent Orations before the Emperor for them and another Quadratus Atheniensis when Adrian came to Athens he presented a Book to him pleading for Christian Religion God blessed the endeavors of these much for the mollifying the Emperors heart towards the Christians Sixthly we must be willing to suffer with them we must be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren much more suffer with the brethren we must be willing to have fellowship with them not onely in their priviledges but in their sufferings Rev. 1. 9. I John who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ many are willing to be brethren and companions in the kingdom but not in tribulation and in the patience of Jesus Christ Heb. 10. 33. it was the commendations of those Christians mentioned there that they were companions of those that were ill used for the cause of Christ Wherefore for application let us know our duty and shew our selves more ready and forward to joyn with and shew our selves to the servants of God in their persecuted estate in the times of their prosperity there is not so much need we should manifest our selves to be for them this is the time wherein we are called especially to manifest our love to them our siding with them The greater their affliction is the more we must appear for them When the people of God were in a comfortable estate in Egypt as they were in Josephs time Joseph did not leave the Court to joyn with them but when they were in an afflicted estate as in Moses his time Moses left all to joyn with them here you have a tryal upon what side you will be now you have an opportunity to witness for God Those words Hosea 11. 12. Judah ruleth with God the old Latine hath it Testis descendit cum Deo He descends a witness with God and so the words will bear if the pricks be altered which may be being according to the opinion of many put in in latter times Ribera maintains this reading and hath two good notes upon it First Others leave the true worship of God but Iudah continues and so witnesses to his truth Secondly He descends he is content to be in a lower condition though he be fewer and not so flourishing as Israel yet if he may be Gods witness he is content Thus should we be willing to descend to witness for the truth to leave the flourishing people of the world and to joyn with the lowest and meanest Ordinarily men deal with the suffering servants of God as Demas dealt with St. Paul they forsake him embracing this present world but if you finde any inclination of heart that way conceive as if Christ were now speaking to you Will you also forsake me Take heed of flattering your selves of putting off this duty with any vain pleas or pretences or excuses God sees what lies at the bottom We read Iudg. 5. divers of the Tribes are blamed for not coming in to help to joyn with Barak and Deborah and in their rebuke their excuses are mentioned as some were to follow their business at sea they could not come and especially Asher he was to stand in his own breaches to defend himself ver 17. Reuben must follow his business and look to his sheep he could not come ver 16. yet these are rebuked but Zebulon and Nepthali are commended for a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death they are honored for this The people of God were now in a low condition in great affliction and no excuse could serve turn for their not joyning with their brethren whatsoever necessities inabilities we may pretend that keep us from appearing in the behalf of and joyning with Gods people in their afflicted estate
no partner But that this might not be an offence so as to keep us from joyning in Communion with the people of God let us know if this might have been offence enough to keep men from joyning with them it would have kept men in all times from joyning with the Churches since Christs time You know what difference was between Paul and Barnabas two Apostles And so the Apostles do complain of the dissentions and divisions in the Church of Corinth in the Primitive times and if that had been enough to keep out men from joyning with them then there had been no joyning with the Church of Corinth and other Churches Basil complains I have lived now to the age of a man and I see more union in Arts and Sciences then in Divinity for in the Church I see such dissentions as do dissipate it and rend it asunder And so between Chrysostom and Epiphanius the one wished the other might never dye a Bishop and the other wished that he might never go home alive And between Jerome and Ruffinus and Luther and Oecolampadius There is a most sad story we have of those that fled to Frankford from England in Queen Maries time and when they came there though they fled for Religion and for their lives yet there were such grievous breaches as they sought the lives of one another picking out some words against the Emperor in a Sermon that Master Knox had preached in England long before and now accusing him for them to the Magistrates of Frankford upon which divers of them were fain to flee This is through the malice of the Devil in sowing tares and therefore if you will be offended in this way of scandal you must be offended Yet we must all take heed of giving offence for though offences will come yet wo to them by whom they come Howsoever there fall out offences through the sinful distempers of mens hearts let not the Ordinance of God be challenged as the cause of these offences Joyning in Church-fellowship is a special Ordinance of God to maintain love and peace amongst his people yet by the abuse of it many times divisions and dissentions are stronger and more bitter in the Church then elsewhere let not Gods Ordinance be accused as the cause of it nor declined for this but let the wickedness of mens hearts be accused let us seek to have it purged Christ came into the world to dissolve the works of the Devil and yet the Devil never more raged then in Christs time and a while after We never read of men so possessed of the Devil before Christ came as they were then Shall we therefore accuse Christ for bringing the Devil into the world for being the cause of mens being possessed of the Devil Those who thus reason against the Ordinance of Christ because of this evil that falls out by accident upon it may as well yea and certainly would as readily reason against Christ if they lived in his time because of such possession of Devils which never was so before he came as it was then but as the true reason why the Devil thus prevailed upon Christs coming was the just judgement of God against men for contemning and rejecting Christ who came amongst them so it is here the judgement of God for the evil of mens hearts in abusing such a blessed Ordinance of love and peace So likewise the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a Sacrament appointed by God to maintain love and peace in the Church it is an Ordinance for communion it hath the denomination from thence it is called communion Yet what hath occasioned such dissentions in the Christian world as the controversies about the Sacrament Shall therefore this Ordinance be accused as the cause of dissention O let us for ever learn this truth that whatsoever evil falls out Gods Ordinances be not blamed but mans corruption let that be condemned and purged Origen writing to Celsus says If you will take offence at the dissentions in Christian Religion then you may take offence at dissentions in other things Valens the Emperor objected the same against Christians Nicephorus 11. 45. brings in one Themistius answering that those of the Graecian superstition had as great dissentions amongst them There is dissention amongst Merchants and other Trades you do not say therefore I will not binde my childe to that Trade they dissent amongst themselves If there be profit and accommodations in the Trade men will not be hindred by this plea but joyn with them notwithstanding And so come you and joyn with the Saints though there be some dissentions though there may be some rigid distemper'd hot spirited men that may cause some trouble yet there is not so much union and love in all the world as with them set but aside some and there are a company if you be gracious your soul may take pleasure in and bless God for and therefore away with all such stumbling blocks and reasonings against the Ordinances of God come you thirsting after the Ordinances of God and my soul for yours if you do not finde that sweetness in communion with them as never was found before There are many objections against this way and many are a long time ensnared in them but Isa 57. 13. where God promises the inheritance of his holy Mountain ver 14. he promises to make the way plain to it And Exod. 15. 13. God guides his people in his strength to his holy habitation it must be the strength of God that must carry through all objections all difficulties over all stumbling blocks to Gods habitation Thus much to those that yet are not joyned in that nearness of communion with Gods people which they may be CHAP. XXII Instructions to those who are joyned in communion with Gods people SEcondly if it be such a blessed thing to enjoy communion with Gods people then there are many things that are to be said to those that are joyned in communion First labor to approve to God and your own souls that you are indeed Gods people particularly you are his people in a way of outward profession and to men you do approve your selves so far as we hope you are Gods people but you must approve your selves to God and to your consciences If you be conscious to your selves of any secret filth and yet dare come and deceive the people of God in joyning with them you bring your selves in more danger then you are aware We read Deut. 22. ver 21. that if a damsel having defiled her self before marriage and so deceiving a man he marries with her when this is discovered she is to be stoned to death Uncleanness in such as were single was not by the Law to be punished with death but she must dye although her uncleanness was while she was single because she deceived the man in marrying to him in her defilement So know your filth in not joyning to Gods people is not so evil and
your peace with God and your own conscience If vapours be not got into the earth and stir not there they are not all the storms and tempests abroad that can make an earthquake but if vapours be within and work there an earthquake is caused so where there is peace within all troubles and oppositions without cannot shake the heart but if there be no peace within every little thing troubles the spirit terrours without and terrours within both are very hard Be not thou a terrour to me O Lord says Jeremy chap. 17. 17. for thou art my hope in the day of evil I care not though all the world be a terrour to me so be it thou beest not a terrour if I have peace with thee it is enough what ever evil befal me Oh therefore maintain and keep this peace above all it is no matter whether you have peace or no with the world so be it you have the peace of the Gospel in your hearts it is one special part of that spiritual armory we read of Ephes 6. to be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace that is that blessed peace of the Gospel which is a strong preparation to endure any troubles or afflictions that Christians meet withal the reason of that phrase to be shod is this because we are to go amongst briars and thorns in our way to Heaven we are to meet with many hard things we are to pass through therefore we had need be well shod if a man be not so he will be as one that goes upon sharp flints bare-foot or a mongst thorns or bushes so that the blood tricles down his feet every step he takes surely such a man cannot hold out long thus it is with the soul that is not fenced with the Gospel of peace Be careful in nothing let not your spirits be divided for so is the word Phil. 4. 6 7. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and mindes the word is shall guard your hearts afflictions and troubles are as enemies compassing us about but the peace of God guards our hearts from the evil of them this enables Gods children though not in the letter yet in some sort to tread upon the Adder and Asp to shake off Vipers and receive no hurt Having peace with God we glory in tribulations we are not onely patient under them but we glory in them How were the spirits of those blessed Martyrs we read and hear so much of strengthened with this blessed peace of the Gospel Take heed therefore that you never maintain peace with any sin Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Psal 119. 165. Oh how many of you have broke your peace with God! at least the comfort of it is exceedingly darkned you would fain have outward ease and peace but you have neglected the comforts of this peace and that is the reason you have no strength to suffer any thing for the truth Nehem. 8. 10. The joy of the Lord is your strength that joy that comes from this inward peace but where this is not there is nothing to sweeten sorrows and therefore they must needs be very bitter That time therefore that God gives you yet respite from afflictions let it be spent in making up your peace more with God then ever and getting clearer evidence and sense of his love If ever you knew what peace with God meant I appeal unto you when at any time the sense of it hath enlarged your hearts with joy whether then have you not found your selves willing to suffer any thing for God you could then go through fire and water your spirits could triumph with the Apostle I am per swaded that neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come shal ever be able to seperate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus Fifthly labour to see more into the fulness of all good in God the Lord told Abraham that he was God all-sufficient as the onely means to strengthen him against whatsoever evils he was like to meet withal Labour to have the insight into Gods fulness in these three particulars First look at all the excellency beauty comfort and good in the creature and know that it is all in him in a most eminent and glorious maner There is no good in the effect but the causes together have it in them now God is the first cause and so all causes have their principle in him and therefore all good must needs be in him Secondly all possible good is in the Lord that is as there is no actual good but is for the present in him so there can be none but it is in him already there is such fulness of good in him that it is impossible that there should be any good added to him in the least degree Thirdly look at God as taking infinite delight in communicating himself in letting out his goodness to his creature let God be seen thus and let these three meditations of the fulness of good in God be wrought upon the heart and they will mightily support the spirit in all afflictions for what is the loss of any thing to me when I see where I can have it made up what is any bitterness when I see such infinite sweetness to sweeten all When tempests come upon Mariners and they be in narrow seas where they want sea-room there is danger but if they have sea-room enough there is no fear Thus if we are acquainted with the infinite fulness of good in God we should see our selves safe in the midst of all tempests we should feel our spirits quiet under the sorest afflictions Sixthly A sixt preparation for the bearing further crosses is an humble cheerful bearing of present afflictions and an humble submitting to the present condition That soul that is willing to yield to God in the present condition God will fit it for the future many cast about in their thoughts what they shall do hereafter if troubles should befal them and yet in the mean time they neglect the duties of their present condition Go on therefore humbly and patiently in the performance of the duties that God calls now for and they will prepare you for whatsoever duties shall be required of you hereafter there is no good to be expected from any in a new condition who are not careful to perform the duties of the present many are ready to promise When we shall be in such a condition then we will do thus or thus but what do you in your present never think to be able to suffer if God call you to a new condition if you cannot be patient under the troubles you meet with now especially when these troubles are small and petty in comparison of those you are like to meet withal Mr Bilney the Martyr used to put his finger into the candle to
rule for your help herein After much humiliation and seeking of God then listen to the voice of conscience for as it is with an Officer whom you would have search the Records if you would have him diligent indeed in the search you must give him his fee else he will do the work but slightly so you must give conscience Gods Register his fee that is let conscience have much prayer and humiliation which it calls for and then it will tell you Gods minde more fully Fifthly consider what truths have been most pressed upon your hearts before the affliction for afflictions do use to come as seals to instructions as Iob 33. 16. A writing hath not that authority with it before it be sealed as it hath after but when the seal is set on then it comes with authority so it is in regard of Gods instructions before they did not come with power to your hearts now God seals them that they may prevail and by considering what those instructions were you may be helped to finde out what God aims at in your afflictions A third Rule is when you have found out your sin stir up your heart against it with indignation This is that which hath caused me all this wo that hath brought all this trouble and smart As Acts 21. 28. the Jews took hold on Paul crying Men of Israel help This is the man that teacheth every where against the people So should we take hold on our sin that we have found out and cry to the Lord Help O Lord this is that sin that hath made the breach this is that sin that hath been the cause of so much evil unto me As we read of Antonius after Julius Caesar was murthered he brought forth his coat all bloody and cut and laid it before the people Look here says he you have your Emperors coat thus bloody and torn whereupon the people were presently in an uproar and cryed out to slay those murtherers and they took their tables and stools that were in the place and set them on fire and ran to the houses of those who had slain Caesar and burnt them Thus the looking upon our afflictions and considering what mischief sin hath done us our hearts should be raised to flye upon our sin with indignation and not to be satisfied without the destruction of that which would have destroyed us A fourth rule is when God stirs your heart in affliction to promise and covenant reformation begin the work while the affliction is upon you do something now presently do not put off all till you be well till you be recovered and think then I will do it there is much deceit of the heart this way many miscarry in their vows to God upon this ground because they put off all till they be out of their affliction and by that time the impression that was upon their spirits is abated their hearts are cooled and so the duty is neglected wherefore do something presently and be always in doing till that which is vowed be fully performed Fifthly let every affliction drive you much to God in prayer Is any man afflicted let him pray says S. James It is a similitude of Chrysostom As clouds darken the heavens cause lowring weather but being distilled into drops then sweet Sun-shine and fair weather follows so sorrows and cares in the soul cloud the soul till they be distilled in prayer into tears and poured forth before the Lord then the sweet beams of Gods grace come in and much blessing follows Sixthly treasure up all the experiences you have had of God and your own heart in the time of your affliction keep them fresh in your heart and work them upon your spirit and make use of them as God offers occasion Seventhly what you wished you had done then be sure now to set about and never rest till it be done that when affliction comes again it may not finde it undone if it does it will make the affliction very bitter unto you It was the advice of one Theodoricus to Segismund the Emperor who asked him how he should be happy Do says he that now which when you have been tormented with a fit of the stone or the gout you would wish you had done that which he said of that particular afflictions is true of others We should have glorious reformations if this rule were well observed surely that which is true in times of affliction is true out of it and that which conscience upon ground judges to be right and good then is right and good now Eighthly take heed of trusting to your own promises that you have made to God for obedience rather then to his promises that he hath made to you for assistance Ninthly often call your self to account after the affliction is over What is become of it how was it with me then and how is it now have I more peace now then I had then and how comes it about Hath my peace grown upon good grounds so as it may-hold I had workings of Spirit then what are become of them have I been faithful to God and to mine own soul And thus we have finished this doctrine of affliction which by Gods ordinance is the portion of his people in this world They have been are and shall be an afflicted people CHAP. X. Wicked men have pleasures in ways of sin while Gods people endure much hardship in ways of holiness THe second point is that God sometimes gives wicked men pleasure in the ways of sin whilest he suffers his own people to endure much affliction The Israelites make the brick and are under sore bondage and the Egyptians dwell in houses living in jollity and mirth Thus it was with Elijah he must flye for his life and live in caves and be fed by ravens whilest four hundred false prophets are fed deliciously at Jezabels table While the King and Haman sits drinking in the city Shushan is in perplexity Esther 3. 15. Job says of the wicked That they take the timbrel and harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ they spend their time in wealth but of himself he saith that his calamity was heavier then the sand of the sea that the arrows of the Almighty were within him that the poyson of them drank up his spirit that the terrors of God did set themselves in battle array against him Chap. 6. 1 2 3. And David says of the wicked that they are not in trouble as other men their eyes stands out with fatness they have more then their heart could wish but for himself all the day long he was plagued and chastened every morning Psal 73. Christ tells his Disciples the world shall rejoyce but they shall have trouble But why does God thus suffer wicked men to enjoy their pleasure thus in the ways of sin First here is their portion they are never like to have any other consolation but
ways in affliction if there were always prosperity in the ways of God it were nothing but when it is with affliction it is so much the more an argument of thy love to God and thy sincerity and therefore he takes it so kindely Bless God for it and bless him the rather because he hath begun with you betimes If the Lord hath given you a heart when you are yong to make this choice what a great mercy is this what abundance of sin does such a one prevent If one that is yong goes on in the ways of Religion though he suffers much in the family wherein he lives his brethren scorn at him and his Parents hate him yet he hath cause to rejoyce and bless himself in the goodness of the Lord. 4. Again thou hast further cause to bless God because he hath given thee such encouragements since thou hast made thy choice thou madest thy choice many years ago I ask thee Hast thou not had encouragement in thy choice Hast any cause to repent thee O no! blessed be God I have found more good then I looked for 5. And know within a while the end of thy choice will be attained and then it shall appear before men and Angels thou madest a good choice and all the world shall bless thee for thy choice Blessed be that man or woman that ever they were born to make such a choice and thou shalt be honored of all those that do despise thee now and they shall wish they had made thy choice It is reported of a yong man who loved his pleasures standing by St. Ambrose and seeing his excellent death he turned to other yong men by him and said O that I might live with you and dye with him Thou hast little cause to envy them that will choose vanities for their portion let them have them though thou hast lost something of thy bravery of thy carnal delight for this choice be content it is made up infinitely here and shall be made up more hereafter And seeing God hath thus enclined your heart to himself be for ever established in your choice seeing God hath shewn to you his ways say as Pilate in another case That I have written I have written so That I have chosen I have chosen If any temptation come to tempt you from your choice as flesh and blood would be ready to mutter and think I might have lived as brave a life as such a one might have had as much pleasure as such a one I have lost so many friends and so much means and brought my self into a great many straights indeed they spake much of Gods Ordinances and I was taken with it and I ventured and I have brought my self into troubles and upon the mutterings of flesh and blood you are beginning to bethink your selves again and examine things again and think whether you did wisely or no O take heed of that first degree of Apostacy namely that suspition of your choice Many in their yong time are very zealous in the ways of Religion while all is well with them and now they meet with other things then they looked for and they begin to think they were too forward and wish they were not so far engaged as they are they begin to repent as chapmen who have out-bid themselves Many go on in a profession and suffer much because they are engaged in that way and they know not how to get off if they could get off they would take heed of repentings of your choice lest God lead you out with the workers of iniquity do not listen to the reasonings of flesh and blood Cassianus reports of a yong man that had given himself up to a Christian life and his Parents misliked that way and they wrote Letters to him to perswade him from it and when he knew they were Letters come from them he would not open them but threw them into the fire and so flesh and blood will come and say Do thus and thus you may do well enough at last throw away these letters these suggestions of flesh and blood and do not answer them but be resolved in thine own heart I know in whom I have believed I know whom I have chosen I did not choose rashly but I felt the power of God upon my heart before I made my choice and I had grounds and arguments of my choice and what shall I by such an argument as this be perswaded to the contrary Therefore go on and be established in your choice and the Lord confirm you in it and give my soul part with you in that choice you have made let flesh and the world and temptations say what they will peace will be in the end You have found some good already that might make you say with David Surely it is good for me to draw near to God and though I do meet with some troubles and temptations that do cry down this way yet let my soul say It is good for me to draw near to God it is good for me that I left such and such things it is good for me that I have these Ordinances though it be with the loss of some outward comforts and my estate be abated and my trading less say as David in the 73. Psalm Truly God is good to Israel however it be yet God is good to Israel though many things seem to the contrary and therefore conclude with thine own heart Though I should never see good day in the world yet that comfort I have received in the ways of God it is enough to make me prize them for ever if now I should dye and be annihilated if God should deprive me of the joys of Heaven and turn me into nothing yet that good that I have had already in Gods ways should be enough to countervail all the troubles that I have met withal in the world or ever shall meet withal though God should withdraw himself in all the course of my life and I should be in darkness and have nothing but trouble yet I have had enough in God already to countervail all Hath God thus spoken peace to thy soul remember that text in Psal 85. 8. Return not again to folly the Lord hath spoken peace already to thy soul in afflictions and therefore God forbid that thou shouldst return to folly but continue in thy way and go on constantly in thy way to the end and the Lord bless thee in thy way And this is for the encouragement of the hearts of Gods people that have with Moses made this choice Rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season CHAP. XIII The evil of an ill choice discovered IN the third place hence those are justly rebuked who have made an ill choice this was a blessed choice of Moses and whosoever makes this choice are blessed of the Lord but how few have we of Moses his minde it
and rules and have the same ends and affections hopes and desires and joys and where there is such a suitableness surely there must needs be a great deal of comfort for all comforts come from a suitableness between the heart and the object if the thing be never so good if there be not a suitableness between the heart and it there is no comfort but no such suitableness as between Gods people and therefore no such comfort Fifthly no such joy as is to be had in communion with them because of their entireness of love entireness of love is a lovely sight Dionisius seeing two entire friends together wished himself the third Cant. 6. 9. My Dove is but one and it follows the daughters saw her and blessed her an oneness of heart is a blessed thing no such entireness such oneness any where as amongst the Saints their love is spiritual and not upon base grounds as the love of others is there is not that base aiming at self as in others a carnal heart cannot love another but in some base respect to himself but now it is not self self that is the the ground of the love between those that are truly gracious and godly but God that is between them and with them the ground of their love is more spiritual and therefore it is a kinde of divine love and not so drossie as others Sixthly no communion so comfortable in regard of their faithfulness they dare trust one another They call themselves brethren and they will dye for another says Tertullian the men of the world cry out Of all men I would not trust those that are so precise Indeed if you do take all refuse that make profession you may say so but a gracious heart can savor who is godly and will not trust every one that talks of Religion but such as are truly godly they dare trust them and venture their lives with them no communion in which we can ease our selves of our burthens as where there are a company of true gracious humble Saints in communion one with another So that put these together and you see the second reason why it is worth the enduring so much affliction to have communion with the people of God Thirdly it is worth the enduring a great deal of affliction to have communion with them because it is in their communion in which the solemn worship of God is set up now it is worth the enduring of a great deal to be where that is In Judah is God known and his name is great in Israel he hath honor by others but his name is great in Israel in his Church What a comfortable thing is it and blessed and worth the enduring of much to have multitudes of Gods people joyn with one heart in setting out the praises of God sitting at his Table sitting before him lifting up the name of the great God making his praise glorious When the Saints are gathered together for this end in this work Christ is there present with them praising God he joyns with them in this work Heb. 2. 12. In the midst of the Church will I praise thee this is spoken of Christ it is quoted out of Psal 22. 22. which is prophetical of Christ who would not be in such acts of worship to joyn with such as Christ joyns with If God be our God and dear to our souls his worship is dear to us and if there be any people in the world among whom God is truly worshipped it is a great affliction not to be with them It is the observation of one Interpreter upon that place in Isa 6. where the Cherubims cryed Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts the earth is full of thy glory the Prophet cryes out Wo unto me I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips unfit to joyn with those that are praising of God howsoever the meaning of that place be yet thus we may make use of it to be a great affliction and cause there is to cry out Wo to our selves when we hear of Gods people crying out Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts if we be not amongst them though it be in the wilderness yet if Gods worship be set up the people of God have a feast When the Israelites were to go from Egypt into the wilderness Moses says they must go thither to keep a feast unto the Lord What was that feast in the wilderness but the setting up the worship of God Fourthly no communion no society in which there is so much profit and benefit as to be amongst these As Abigail said to David The Lord shall binde up the soul of my Lord in the bundle of life to be amongst Gods people is to be bound up in the bundle of life much good we enjoy in them and the more communion we have the more interest we have in all their gifts and graces and prayers and therefore we read of Daniel when he had a great work to do how he makes use of that interest he had in the prayers of the godly Daniel 2. 17 18. It is a great blessing to have an interest in the prayers of the Saints and so in all their gifts 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas c. all are yours and you are Christs as if he should say there need no such envying one at another to say I am of Paul and another of Apollos and another of Cephas for all are yours all the gifts and graces of all the worthies of the Lord are all yours they are all for your good and you have interest in them all in communion with the Saints there is watching over one another and quickning one another and admonishings and wholesome counsels and stirring up the graces of God that are in one another Have you not felt your selves when you have come away from a spiritual communion to come away with hearts raised and spirits inflamed for God and so strengthened that your resolutions have been up to do or suffer any thing for the Lord as in Mal. 3. 16. Those that feared the Lord spake often to one another quickned the hearts of one another and so in Acts 18. 5. And when Silus and Timotheus was come from Macedonia Paul was pressed in spirit and testified to the Iews that Iesus was Christ Certainly in their converse together S. Paul found his spirit wrought upon and refreshed so that the Text says when Timotheus was come Paul was pressed in spirit Fifthly it is good being with Gods servants though it be in suffering affliction because God takes so much delight in them if God takes delight in being with them certainly there is great cause we should take delight in them there are admirable expressions of Gods taking delight in them Zeph. 3. 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save thee he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love
you no good and if this argument prevail to get off your hearts beyond things that are for a season there will arise these two questions O that I did but know how it should go with me eternally O how shall I get eternal things to be my portion CHAP. XXVIII How we should know how it will be with us for eternity and what we should do that it may be well with us eternally IF you say How shall I know how it shall be with me for eternity shall it be well or not well with my soul when I am beyond things that are for a season You may have some guess by those thoughts you have had upon things for eternity you that have given liberty to your selves to satisfie your selves in the things of the flesh and your hearts have been fully satisfied in the things of the world and this point is a strange point to you you have cause to conclude with your selves that you are in a miserable condition for eternity but if your consciences can testifie that this point the getting of your hearts from things that are but for a season and setting them upon the things that are eternal is that which the Lord hath setled upon your hearts for many years when you wake in the night or in the morning the same thoughts that are presented to me by the Word the Lord hath presented to me by his Spirit the strength and chief of my thoughts have been busied about this argument It is a good sign that God does intend good for that soul to eternity whom he is pleased to possess with the thoughts of it so deeply for the present Again consider could you not wish in your hearts that you might live always and that the content and delight in this world in meat and drink and sports do satisfie you and you think your selves happy in the enjoyment of them certainly God hath not yet savingly made known the things of eternity to you Those that God does prepare for his eternal mercies in Heaven God does take off their hearts from all things in the world that if it were put to your choice though you might have a thousand worlds you would not have them for your portion no there are more glorious more excellent things for my soul to have and therefore God forbid I should have my portion in these things though they were to endure Augustine brings in Plotinus acknowledging it the mercy of God to man that his soul is in a mortal body that the body is not immortal but that after a little time the bodies of men may be dissolved and so their souls be there for ever where the soul of the world is that is his expression 3. A third Argument that it shall be well with you for eternity is this To know what seeds of eternity God hath begun to plant in your hearts This is a certain truth There is no soul that God intends eternal life unto but God begins eternal life in this world You know what St. John says He that hates his brother hath not eternal life abiding in him Eternal life is begun in this world in all that shall be saved therefore think with your selves What seeds of eternity have I put into my soul All common graces and moral vertues are not a seed that will grow up to eternal life but saving grace will though it be under the clods for the present it will grow up eternity Fourthly Examine the Scriptures look into the book of God and see whether the Scripture speaks well on your side because that in this Book in this Scripture there God hath revealed the eternal counsels of his will and the great things about mans eternal estate there is little in all the Book of the Creature the Book of Creation revealed of the counsels of Gods will about bringing man to his eternal estate but in this Book of the Scripture he hath revealed his will concerning this and therefore confider does this speak well of your side Thus by these arguments you may know how it shall be with you for eternity But what shall we do to get a portion in those things that shall be eternal First labor to bring all things in subordination to eternity do not make other things your scope make them an underling and take no further content in them then that they may further your souls to eternity Suppose you have an estate encreasing more then another what will you do with it how will you use it wherein do you count the good of it to consist that by these things I have coming from God I hope to make use of them to fit me for eternal mercies and to treasure up eternal mercies by a sanctified holy use of these things but when temporal things come in and your hearts rest upon them without subordination to eternal things this is infinitely dangerous Secondly make conscience of the little time you have O it is but a little time you have let that be consecrated and devoted to God it is eternal happiness that you look for hereafter why should you not be willing to spend as much of this little time for it as can be Thirdly labor to be exact in all that you do for you are working for eternity As Zeuxis the Painter when he was askt why he was so accurate in his Painting says he I Paint for eternity Let us in our Christian profession be exact in our way because we live for eternity There is nothing that does make men so accurate in their way as this and let the men of the world know that this is the reason of the exactness of the ways of Gods people because they know they live to eternity Hypocrites who in Religious duties aim onely at some present some temporal good they are not exact they rest in outsides but the Saints who make eternity their aym are exact in all things especially those things that have a more immediate influence into eternity Fourthly be sure all you do you do upon divine and eternal grounds take heed of being carnal and earthly in your spiritual services but in all duties in Gods worship look to an eternal God and let your principles aims grounds and intentions be eternal The Temple was called Bethgnolam the house of Eternity do all you do in the house of God in his Ordinances in order to eternity that it may indeed be an house of eternity unto you Lastly be sure you be constant abide constantly to the end do not onely begin and now and then in a good mood have some thoughts of a good life and providing for your souls but abide be constant And if you take these ways by this you shall come to choose Moses Choice O that now in my winding up of all by all that hath been said some soul or other may have cause to bless God in being inclined to choose the same
you must not revile again when you are reviled And so the spirits of Gods servants as St. Paul and the Martyrs when they were reviled they would not give ill language again Again by reviling you come to harden those that reproach you in their sin when they sin and see the same sin in you they think they do not worse then you so they come to be hardned in their sin and you come to be guilty of their sin you turn their sin to be yours because you harden them in theirs Thirdly you by this means stir up more corruption and more sin whereas those that know what sin means and are tender of it they should by all means labor to suppress it and beat it down as when a neighbors house is on fire we will labor what we can to quench it and not to put more fire to it shall we have more care of our neighbors house then of our neighbors soul his heart is on fire and his tongue is on fire and will you bring more fire this is abominable Fourthly you come by this means to adde your sin to his sin What is not God dishonored enough by his reviling but must you adde to Gods dishonor Again fithly here you shew your exceeding folly that you do not apprehend a greater evil in the evil of sin then in the evil of suffering for if we did apprehend the evil of suffering to be less then the evil of sin we would never labor to deliver our selves from the evil of suffering by the evil of sin let a man come and cast dirt in your face the worst that can be in this is an evil of suffering at first till you make your selves guilty but how will you deliver your selves by the evil of sin what ignorance is this Are you acquainted with the ways of God Is this the way to clear your selves by defiling your selves more That filth that comes out of you defiles you more then that which is cast upon you from without Again further another evil that comes from this reviling is this you shew a vile base spirit as if you had no other means to deliver you from an ill name but an ill tongue those that know any excellency that they have in themselves will know that there are a great many other ways to deliver themselves from an ill name rather then an evil tongue But you are put to your shifts you have evil cast upon you and you have no way to deliver your selves from this evil but by your reviling tongue It is a sign there is no excellency in you nothing but baseness in you Seneca says of those that are disorderly affected with reproaches that are cast upon them They shew that there is no wisdom nor no confidence of any excellency in themselves to oppose that evil Again hereby you come to be injurious to your selves you deprive your selves from any help of God to clear your names If you had hearts to commit your selves to God he would provide for you but when you seek to clear your selves this way you put your selves from any care that God should have to provide for you That we read of David Psal 38. 12 13 14 15. is very observable They which seek my hurt saith he speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all the day long but I as a deaf man heard not and again verse 14. I was as a man that heareth not but mark verse 15. In thee O Lord do I hope thou wilt hear The less he heard the more confidence he had in God that he would hear and could the more comfortably commit his cause to him but if he had been too quick to hear himself God would not readily have heard for him and what had he got by that Now by all this you cannot but be convinced in your thoughts that it is a great evil to revile again and you that have been guilty of this let your hearts smite you and know what cause you have to be humbled before the Lord. But is it possible not to revile again Who can but do so when they come and give such ill language so injurious so false Those that have the Spirit of Christ can do otherwise Those that know the evil of sin to be a greater evil then the evil of suffering can do this And those that are wise and will not mischief themselves can do this Can any by reproaches force you to take a knife and cut your selves If they force you to commit sin they force you to worse Certainly you think every man is in bondage consider what miserable bondage men should be in for to be in the power of their enemies when they list to make them to mischief themselves can there be any worse bondage for an enemy to draw any body where he will is not so much but to make me to hurt my self this is a great and a sore bondage indeed Wherefore there is no contending with reproaches this way by reproaching again here the overcomer is the loser When Demosthenes was reproached by one I will not saith he strive with thee in this kinde of fight in which he that is overcome is the better man Fiftly take heed you be not hindred in your way or break off your course when you are reproached what though there be filth cast in the way shall we decline our way though the clouds do arise and darken the light of the Sun does the Sun cease in its course and cease shining because it is darkned no it goes on its course and shines till it breaks forth so you are going on shining in a good conversation some come and cast reproach upon your way and darkens your course What shall you cease No go on and in time you will break through the clouds Was there ever such a fool as to be jeered out of his inheritance A man hath an inheritance worth a thousand pounds a year and a company shall go and scorn him and contemn him and reproach him and he shall be rather willing to part with his inheritance then to be thus jeered Was there ever any such a fool Is not our way of Religion a greater inheritance to us then an inheritance of a thousand pounds a year If you should be moved to go out of your way upon reproaches know that this will be infinite more reproach to you then if all the men of the world did cast reproach upon you this will reproach you to your conscience and that before God and all the Angels and Saints before all Gods people And then besides this will further reproach you before wicked men too you will be the more scorned and vilified I remember a speech of a Heathen Philosopher If any man begin to embrace Philosophy he must be reproached They will say What we shall have a Philosopher of you by and by what pride and conceitedness is this But do
of the glorious reward fills the heart with precious liquor that you may set it by the fire and put it into troubles it will not break As a Gyant refreshed with wine hath great strength to undertake any thing so the soul that is filled with this comfort of the hope of Heaven and glory can go forth as a Gyant refreshed with wine and make nothing of those things that others make great matters of When the heart is filled with joy hope of believing and so filled with light within whatsoever darkness is abroad it cares not As Oecolampadius when he was to dye and they spoke of the light without says he What is the light without I have light enough within And so a gracious heart says there is enough within to strengthen me let there be without what there will When Alexander gave away great things almost all he had one of his Officers aked him what he would have left for himself says he Hope so says a gracious heart though all things be gone yet it is enough to fill my heart with joy that I have hope of the glory that is to be reveald A natural chearful spirit can be able to undergo great things that one that is naturally timorous cannot the Wise man saith The Spirit of a man shall sustain his infirmities A man that hath a natural chearful spirit is able to sustain many infirmities that others cannot As for melancholy spirits every thing that comes cross to them is ready to sink them and they cannot undergo those troubles which a chearful spirit can because they want the sweetness within What strength is there then in the filling the heart with joy in believing of these things As a man that hath his bones filled with marrow and hath abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body he can endure to go with less cloathes then another because he is well lined within so it is with a heart that hath a great deal of fat and marrow joy and peace within though such a one hath not many cloathes and outward comforts to strengthen him he will go through troubles well enough Proverbs 14. 14. A good man is satisfied from himself And it is enough for good men to know within themselves that they have an enduring substance Heb. 10. 34. A tree that hath a great deal of sap within can bear great weights and burthens that others cannot and that is the fifth ground because the hope of these things does fill the heart with joy and so strengthens the heart A sixth thing wherein the power of having respect to the recompence of reward appears is in that it hath a great deal of power to resist any temptation of Satan and to quench the fiery darts of Satan In Ephes 6. where the spiritual armor is spoken of the helmet the armor that is for the head and keeps that from being hurt with any stroke is the hope of salvation and the hope of glory so that whatsoever temptations of the Devil comes by this helmet they are kept off that they do not so much as take the judgement As we might instance in the several temptations that the Devil hath to keep one from sufferings as when he comes and says Why will you undo your selves in such a way as this Presently the hope of salvation is held up and the soul answers It is so far from undoing of me that it is the onely way to provide for my self He that will save his life shall lose it and he that will lose his life for my sake shall save it If the Devil comes with this temptation Surely God does not require such things of his people to be brought into such straits and suffer such hard things The soul that hath the hope of his glory holds it up and makes this answer Why seeing the Lord hath laid up such glorious things hereafter why should I not think that God may require hard things for the present If he comes with this temptation Why will you go on in a singular way from others A gracious heart upon this argument answers I expect choice and singular mercies from God and why should I think much to go on in a way that is singular though others do otherwise it may be they shal never be partakers of such singular things If the Devil comes and say Surely God does not love you if he did he would not suffer such great calamities and sore troubles to befal you and if it were his cause he would assist you in it the soul answers Hath the Lord laid up such glorious things for me hereafter and shall I call Gods love in question because I am deprived of these mean things and undergo such afflictions as these certainly those things that God hath laid up for me shall so uphold my heart as that I shall never call in question Gods love though I suffer never so much here and that is the sixth particular Seventhly there is a great deal of power in this argument to help on the soul in a way of suffering because by looking at this recompence of reward the soul comes to see what glorious things sufferings do prepare for hasten unto and work to the encrease of First what glorious things sufferings prepare for As it is a notable expression Mr. Hawks hath in a Letter he writ to encourage Mr. Philpot being cast into the Bishops Cole-house says he This Bishops Cole-house is but to scour you and make you bright and to fit you to be set up upon the high shelf meaning Heaven as when you would set up vessels of brass or iron you first take cinders or ashes and scour them and by rubbing them with such things they are fit to be set up so all sufferings are but the means that God uses to scour his people to make them bright to set them up on high God will not set up his servants on the high shelf till first he hath made them bright and he uses this way to do it and then they hasten to great things the more one suffers the nearer he comes to glory and to Heaven Let the world do the worst it can it can but take away your estates and meat and drink and put you in the cold and hasten death and the hastening of death is the hastening of glory The greatest sufferings of Gods people are but as the fiery Chariots to carry Gods people home in This was the answer of Basil to the Emperors Lieutenant when he threatned death to him Death is a benefit to me it will send me sooner to God to whom I live to whom I desire to hasten And then they do encrease glory it is but a trade of less things to encrease greater all sufferings are the seeds of glory Eighthly there is a great deal of power in this to carry on the soul in a way of suffering because it does mightily enflame the soul with love to God
are glorious indeed and therefore high and honorable thoughts you ought to have of the Saints It is a great argument to shew Gods greatness that all the creatures in the world are his and for him What an argument then is it to set forth the greatness of a Christian that Heaven and God and Christ and all are his and for him and this hath been shewn in this glorious recompence of reward How great and honorable then should they be in our eyes Eighthly if there be such a glorious reward and great things prepared for Gods people then what love is due to Christ and to the Gospel and to the ways of godliness First love to the Lord Christ who is the cause of all this Secondly to the Gospel that reveals these things to us Thirdly to the ways of godliness that leads to all this great and blessed are the things of the Kingdom of Heaven from whence is all this It is the Lord Jesus Christ from whom all this comes another reward was due to us we were wretched guilty creatures fire-brands of hell children of perdition cast out unto an eternal curse but the Lord Christ who was the wisdom of the Father set his heart upon us and spake for us from all eternity and would not satisfie himself in delivering of mankinde from that miserable and lost condition in which they were but so set his heart upon them as he intended to make it his great work for the manifestation of the riches of his grace to raise this poor wretched creature to a height of happiness and glory that it might appear to Angels to the world yea to the blessed Trinity it self what the Son of God is able to do to raise a creature from misery unto glory and so his heart was set upon mankinde that though it must cost him the eclipsing of his own glory though he must come to be made a prey to the world and if a man a man of sorrows yea made a curse it self in the abstract that man might have this glory and happiness and yet he was content with all and at last this is all he prays for as a fruit of his sufferings and merits Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me as if he should say If I can but have this I am well I have enough for all the sufferings that I did endure This indeed is called a reward but it is the reward of another maner of righteousness then our own were it that there were no other righteousness but our own though our own should be true righteousness the reward would never come to this height but this is first the reward of the merit of the death of the blood and of the perfect righteousness of the Son of God and so in him it comes to be our reward therefore it is Christ that is our life and happiness and glory O let us joyn with those blessed Elders in Rev. 5. 8 9. that fell down before the Lamb having all harps in their hands and golden vials full of odours and sung Worthy art thou who wast slain and hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood to receive honor and blessing and glory and that we might joyn in that blessed melody that St. John heard in that Chapter in Verse 13. He heard all creatures in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the Sea saying Blessing honor glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever that we might say Amen to this If any man wish good to us we count it worthy of love but the Lord Christ having wrought such infinite good for us as this how should our hearts be enflamed to him and that none should be dear to us and prized of us in comparison of Christ Let us cry out with that blessed Martyr None but Christ none but Christ Again how should our souls love the Gospel and prize the Gospel that hath revealed all this to us In 2 Tim. 1. 10. it is said Life and immortality is brought to light by the Gospel These are the things that in comparison were kept hid from the beginning of the world before the manifestation of the Gospel but now they are revealed O blessed be God that we had the preaching of the Gospel amongst us to open the treasures of grace to us in this maner What poor low thoughts should we have had of the happiness of mankinde had not God made known these glorious things in the Ministery of the Gospel Many wise men by the light of nature have risen high in the contemplations of happiness that mans nature is capable of but how far beneath these things have their highest thoughts been It is a great part of the glory of the Gospel that it sets out unto us these high and glorious things And then the ways of godliness those we should love because those are the ways that lead and tend to all this godliness hath the promise of the life to come as well as the promise of this life annexed to it Were the ways of godliness never so hard and rough never so difficult yet they are glorious ways and to be loved because of the glorious end they tend unto Great is the gain of godliness if these things be believed You that are Merchants love and prize trading and merchandizing that brings in great gain as some in a way of trading and merchandizing by a bargain in a morning will bring in a hundred pounds when as many other poor people are fain to work hard to get a shilling or eighteen pence a day now you prize that trade that with a few words can get in so much O prize the trade of godliness then there is gain to be had I may compare all the works of morality and common grace to the poor mean trade of the laboring man that is fain to work hard for a shilling or eight pence a day they work and get but some few outward blessings from God but godliness is the trade of merchandising that brings in hundreds together and that our hearts should be upon God would have our hearts to be after great and glorious things It is an expression of Cleopatra to Marcus Antonius It is not for you to be fishing for Gudgeons but for Towns and Forts and Castles And so those that are acquainted with the ways of godliness it is not for them to be trading for poor things but for eternal life glory and immortality The ninth Use is an Use of Examination to know who those are that have interest in these glorious things to the answering of that question in Psalm 15. Who shall abide in thy Tabernable who shall dwell in thy holy hill I confess that Psalm does principally aim at communion with the Church of God such as are fit