his Father or should a Servant be ashamed to attest the truth for his Master or should a Member be ashamed to attest the truth for its Head should the Tongue be ashamed to speak for the Head Which of you that are Parents if you had a Child that should be ashamed if called to speak the truth for you would not disown such a Child There is never a Christian but is the Son or the Daughter of God the Child of God and his relation to God doth oblige him not to be ashamed of this Testimony 2. We stand in the Relation of Witnesses 1 Pet. 5. Ch. v. 1. Paul calleth himself a Witness of the sufferings of Christ Acts 1.8 Christ when he left the Earth told his Disciples You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost be come upon you and you shall be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth Indeed good Christians ought some to be special Witnesses Acts 10.41 Not to all the People but unto Witnesses chosen before of God But every Child of God is the Lord's Witness though there lieth an eminent Obligation upon some especially the Ministers of the Gospel yet every Child of God is to be the Lord's Witness and to give his Testimony for God 3. Every Christian standeth in the Notion of a Soldier hence the Apostle speaketh to Timothy to endure hardship as a good Soldier of Christ all Christians are required to fight the good Fight and our Life upon Earth is but a Warfare wherein we are to fight the good Fight and shall a Soldier decline the Fight and refuse to be partaker of the Battel How shall we discharge either the relation of Children to our Father or Servants to our Lord or Members to our Head or Witnesses or Soldiers if we shall either be ashamed of the Testimony of Christ or afraid to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel 7. Another Obligation that is upon us is from those private Laws that we have laid upon our selves and that two ways 1. By our Baptism 2. By our Profession We are all Baptized and the Apostle saith we are Baptized into Christ one part of the sense of which is that we are Baptized into the profession of Christ no person is Baptized but he taketh a Vow upon him to be the Lord's Servant besides our profession is another private Law that we have laid upon our selves the name of a Christian is an Obligation upon us to act for Christ and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ the Press-mony you know obligeth the Subject to fight for his Prince there is no Christian but besides the general Laws that are laid upon him hath layed a private Law upon himself both by his Vow and Promise in Baptism and by his taking upon him the name of a Christian how doth he deserve the name of a Christian that is ashamed of the Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ how doth he answer his Vow in Baptism that refuseth to fight under the Lords Banner and to give a Testimony unto Christ when he is called thereunto 8. There lyeth a great Obligation upon us from our duty of conformity to our Fellow-members we are not only the Members of Christ but are also Members one of another Ephes 4.25 For we are Members one of another The Church of Christ from the beginning of the World unto the end of it will be but one and we ought to be as Members like one another so that the example of the Saints and Servants of God in all Ages who have stood up in testimony of the Gospel or who have been partakers of the Afflictions of the Gospel layeth an Obligation upon us to go and do likewise that as we might have a fellowship with Christ in his Death and in his Testimony and his Afflictions so that we might be conformable unto those Saints and Servants of God which have been before us and to their Testimony John glorieth in this and putteth into his Titles Rev. 1.2 Who bare record of the word of God and of the Testimony of Jesus Christ He calleth himself v. 9. Their Brother and Companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ For the word of God and for the Testimony of Christ Rev. 6.9 The Angel saw under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the Testimony which they held And the seed of the Woman with whom the Dragon was wroth are described to be such as keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 19.10 The Angel telleth John I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Jesus 9. A Ninth Obligation that is upon us not to be ashamed of this Testimony of our Lord is the reward that such shall have who shall not be ashamed and the danger they run that are ashamed I will put both these together because the proof of them lieth in the same Texts Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels Matth. 10.33 But whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven Luke 12.8 Whosoever shall confess me before Men him shall the Son of Man also confess before the Angels of God The danger lieth here that if we be ashamed of Christ he will be ashamed of us if we deny him he will deny us 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he will also deny us The reward you see is if we suffer with him we shall reign with him Rom. 8.17 If so be we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together If we confess him he will also own confess and acknowledge us before his Father which is in Heaven this I take to be what every one will grant that by the very Law of Nature every one is bound to decline that which will bring evil upon him and to do that which will bring him any valuable and considerable good so that let us but consider the danger of Christ's disowning us and the good of Christs owning us at the day of Judgment and we shall easily understand what Obligation lieth upon us not to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord and to be ready to give our Testimony to him and to the Gospel but may some say who are those whom Christ will own or disown at the last day and how will Christ disown Men in the day of Judgment I suppose you may understand it from some Texts Math. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven
Matth. 25.31 32 33 34. Our Saviour telleth us Math. 7.22 23. Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name And in thy Name have cast out Devils And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me you workers of Iniquity And in that Text Luke 13. v. 15.27 Ye begin to stand without and to knock at the Door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence you are v. 27. Depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity then shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth Consider this we all must once dye and after Death come to Judgment if Men have here disowned Christ and his Gospel and shall then cry Lord Lord open to us open the Kingdom of Heaven do not cast us out of thy sight for ever Christ will then say to that Man who hath been ashamed of his Testimony No Thou wert ashamed to own me and my despised Persecuted Truths and Servants now I will not own thee Christ will say to him depart from me I know you not but what is it for Christ to own a Man You may learn that from that Text Matth. 25.34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand come you Blessed of my Father Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the World Now consider with your selves doth not there lye upon a Man an Obligation to save his own Soul and to keep himself out of everlasting burning the same Obligation lyeth upon all Men not to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord but to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel the same Obligation that the Law of nature layeth upon every Man to look to his highest concern the saving his Soul the keeping himself in favour with God I shall add but one thing more 10. The last thing from whence this Obligation doth arise is from the oneness of the Body of Christ This should engage us to suffer evil together with the faithful Ministers and the faithful Professors of the Gospel that we may shew our selves to be true Members of Christs mystical Body We see in a natural Body it is impossible that one Member should suffer and not another the rest will feel it though they may not feel that particular pain which it may be doth fix only in this or that Member yet there is affliction in the whole Body the whole Body is disquieted and troubled though only the Head aketh or the Tooth or the like so will it be in the mystical Body of Christ though it may be there are but some particular Members of the Body that do suffer yet there will be never a Member of that Body but will suffer a Sympathy every Christian will not be slain will not be imprisoned or plundered but if any of them be so evil intreated all the rest that are true Members of this Body will feel something of the suffering of those Members that do suffer saith the Apostle is any Man afflicted and I burn not St. Paul commendeth the Philippians Philip 4.14 15. Notwithstanding you have well done that you did communicate with my affliction v. 15. No Church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but you only The Apostle speaketh thereas you may judge by the 15th Verse of a Communicating by giving and receiving but this was the fruit of the other the Philippians Sympathized with St. Paul in his afflictions and felt his misery and this made them to communicate with him in that state by relieving of him and indeed those Professors that do not so communicate with the afflicted Children of God give a very ill proof that they are the true Members of the mystical Body of Christ I have opened the Doctrine to you Let us now consider what improvement may be made of it Use 1. What you have heard reflecteth sadly upon them who refuse to give a Testimony of their Lord Or 2. Are ashamed of those who do give this Testimony You have heard how many Obligations there are upon us to it but how few are there who are sensible of these Obligations 1. How many are ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord ashamed to own those truths which their Lord owned those truths for the Testimony of which their Lord died St. Paul glorieth of himself that he was not ashamed of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for saith he It is the power of God to Salvation Heb. 11.16 God is not ashamed to be called their God Heb. 2.11 Christ is not ashamed to call them Brethren Shall a poor Worm be ashamed to be called the Child of God or the Servant of God to be called a Godly Man or Woman how many Professors had we some years since that are turned back and gone a little tribulation and persecution is arisen because of the truths of Christ and they are offended We may say of our times as the Apostle said to the Hebrews None hath yet resisted unto Blood and yet how few have we that do resist striving against Sin I tremble to think of that Text Whosoever is ashamed of me before Men of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed We have too many that think it enough to pray to hear to read but forget this piece of their duty to bear a Testimony to our Lord nay how many are there who are ashamed of those who do give their Testimony ashamed of the Chains and Bonds and Imprisonments and reproaches of the Ministers and People of God they are not only ashamed to own the Testimony of the Gospel themselves and to come in as Witnesses for Christ but they are ashamed of them who do but I hope I speak to none here who are of that Complexion Use 2. It may be some will say how shall I know if I walk up to my duty in this particular if I be not ashamed of the Testimony of my Lord and be a partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel I shall give you two or three notes which are sufficient for this discovery 1. When the discredit of the Gospel maketh us neither to think it beneath us to own the truth of the Gospel nor those who own and profess it There is a time when the Gospel hath a credit in the World the Prophet Zechariah Prophesied of a time Zech. 8.23 When ten men shall take hold out of all Languages of the Nations even shall take hold of the Skirt of him that is a Jew saying we will go with you â—or we have heard that God is with you That Prophesie is fulfilled under the Gospel God sometimes giveth the Gospel such a credit in the World that every one thinketh it an honour to him to be accounted a Christian this is a time when it is hard to discern whether a Man will be ashamed of the Gospel but there is another time when the Gospel hath
having in the First Chapter given us our Saviours Pedigree brought down to his supposed Father Joseph and an account of his Birth And in the Second Chapter of his Motion into Egypt and return from it And in the Third Chapter of his Baptism And in the Fourth Chapter of his Temptations In the latter part of that Chapter he records his entrance into the publick Ministry dwelling at that time with his Parents in Nazareth which was a City of Galilee thereabout he first exercised his Ministry and the Evangelist tells us that great multitudes followed him as you find in the last Verse of the Chapter In this and the Sixth and Seventh Chapters he giveth us an account of the Sermon he made to this multitude at the foot of the Mountain a Sermon which containeth many excellent Doctrines He beginneth it with pronouncing of several persons Blessed concerning which blessednesses these two things are to be observed 1. That he pronounceth them quite contrary to the common vogue and opinion of the world especially at that time 2. As to the performance of those duties wherein most of Christians self-denyal is to be shewn the world blesseth the rich he blesseth the poor as v. 3. Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven The world blesseth the haughty he blesseth the meek as v. 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth The World blesseth those that laugh and rejoice he blesseth those that mourn as v. 4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted The World blesseth them that are full he blesseth those that hunger and thirst as v. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven The World blesseth those that are in Power to oppress others he blesseth those that are persecuted provided it be for righteousness sake as in v. 10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Three Propositions will exhaust the sum of these Verses Prop. 1. Revilings of men persecution and speaking all manner of evil of them falsly for righteousness sake and for Christs name sake hath always been the portion of the Servants and Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ Our Saviour here doth Prophesie it unto his Disciples and he speaketh it of his Servants under the Law for saith he They did so persecute the Prophets Prop. 2. Those whose lot this falls to are blessed and theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Prop. 3. It is their duty to rejoyce and be exceeding glad under their persecution upon these considerations I shall speak to the First and Second the two latter will fall in with the Application 1. Revilings and speaking all manner of evil and persecution was always the lot of the Servants of God and of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ All that I have here to open is 1. The true notion of persecution 2. Then I shall shew you this hath always been the lot of the Servants of God and of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ 3. I will endeavour to shew you the ground of it As to the First I shall endeavour to give you the true notion of persecution in five or six particulars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence this Participle comes is a word that is very frequently used in the New Testament sometimes it is applied unto things sometimes unto persons when it is applied unto things it signifieth an earnest desire of obtaining the thing which is set out as the object of it implying a singular love to it and desire of it and it signifieth a good or an evil act as the thing is good or evil which we do pursue 1 Thes 5.15 follow that which is good Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men 1 Tim. 6.11 Follow after righteousness 1 Cor. 14.1 Follow after Charity Rom. 9.31 But Israel which followed after the law of righteousness Is 5.11 Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink Hos 2.7 And she shall follow after her Lovers When it is applied to persons for the most part in the New Testament it signifieth a pursuit after them to do them evil Rom. 12.14 Bless them which persecute you bless and curse not 1 Cor 15.9 I persecuted the Church of God Acts 9.5 I am Jesus whom thou persecutest John 5.16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him And so in many other Texts it signifieth the following of another with an earnest desire to do him some harm and this may be a good and lawful action or a wicked and sinful action according to the cause for it is an usual saying Causa non poena facit martyrem 2. Therefore the next words must expound this act for righteousness sake and again for my names sake righteousness here doth unquestionably signify the same thing with goodness and with holiness as it is often taken in Scripture for Christs names sake which is the same with for Christs sake 1 John 2.12 Your sins are forgiven you for his names sake It is the same thing which is expressed under several other terms in Scripture Math. 10.18 for my sake Math. 16.25 for my sake Math. 19.12 for the Kingdom of Heavens sake Mark 4.17 for the words sake Luke 6.22 for the Son of mans sake In short it signifieth that suffering which cometh upon us to avoid sinning against the command of God and the Lord Jesus Christ all such suffering is a suffering for Jesus sake for the Kingdom of Heavens sake for Christs sake for the Lords name sake for righteousness sake 3. The Person inflicting the punishment and the law of man obliging to the punishment doth by no means alter the nature of such a suffering If lawful Magistrates and such as are clothed with just authority could not be guilty of this sin of persecution then only Tyrants and Robbers and Murderers could be called persecutors but Paul was clothed with a lawful authority Acts 9. Yet he himself saith that he persecuted the Church of God the Jews for ought I know had a lawful authority yet John 5.16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him And if indeed the pursuing of one to do him mischief because he dares not sin against God be that which is in holy Writ stiled persecution this must follow nor can the humane Law excuse it you know the Jews said John 19.7 we have a Law and that they did not pretend a Law when they had none is plain for v. 8. it is said When Pilate heard that saying he was the more afraid The reason of this is because all the ways of men are regulae regulaâ—â—â— They are under a higher authority and must be subjected unto the Law of God and judged by it and it is possible that unrighteous judgments may be decreed Is 10.1 Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees
4. The command of the Superiour doth not excuse the inferiour agent from the guilt of persecution nor yet deprive the sufferer from the blessing of him that is persecuted If a person be pursued for righteousness sake for the Kingdom of Heavens sake for doing that which God obligeth him to do the persecution is as well persecution in the inferiour agents as in the first causes and the more superiour agents the Jews accused the Lord Jesus Christ they brought him before Pilate Pilate condemned him the Jews nailed him to the Cross did not they who nailed him to the Cross persecute him Paul was but an inferiour agent against the Church of God Act. 9. the Letters were from the Magistrate and the Chief Priests of Damascus the guilt lieth in the act in the inflicting of punishment upon such as ought to be really freed from punishment it is true he that commandeth he that counselleth and adviseth is not excused but much less the next immediate actor and this is the most reasonable thing in the World doth not the Law of man thus deal with offenders Nay when it excuseth the principal agent it thinketh it justice to punish severely the inferiour Minister for were there no Minister in wickedness Superiours could do no hurt and therefore if any be so vain as to think they are excused because they are but Ministers and do but execute the Will or Sentence of others they are mistaken Pauls holding the clothes when Stephen was stoned brought him into the guilt of his death 5. They are not only persecuted who resist sin unto Blood and choose Death rather than sin but they who are reviled and reproached our Saviour you see putteth all together blessed are you when you are reviled and persecuted and when they shall speak all manner of evil of you for my names sake Gal. 4.29 He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit If you look into the story of Isaac and Ishmael it is said Ishmael mocked him thus Paul complaineth Rom. 8.39 for thy sake we are killed all the day long all kind of suffering to avoid sin is persecution and those that make them to suffer are persecutors those that are sufferers are so persecuted it is true there are degrees both of this and of other sins but he that smiteth with the Sword of the Tongue persecuteth as well as he that smiteth with a Sword that is made of Iron and he who is so smitten is in the Eye of God persecuted as well as he whose Life is taken from him Now I say this hath been the lot of the people of God of the Disciples of Christ in all Ages to suffer persecution to be pursued by wicked and malicious men both with their Tongues reviling them and with their hands endeavouring to do them mischief either spoiling them of their goods or depriving them of their lives and that because they will not sin against God 2. I come now to the second thing How this doth appear to have been the portion of the people of God It appears by the whole story of the Scripture and also all Ecclesiastical story Take Adam's Family immediately after the fall Abel was persecuted by Cain indeed he did not suffer because he would not sin but because he was more righteous and had offered up a better Sacrifice consider Abrahams Family of that the Apostle speaketh Gal. 4.29 He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit Acts 7.52 Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted But if you come unto the New Testament and consider the Church of God in that state you shall find it was persecuted at all hands First by the Jews then by the Heathens then by false and pretended Christians as is evident in the example of Christ in the example of Stephen the Proto-Martyr and of Christians ever since First by the Jews of which you read in the Acts of the Apostles then by the Heathens which persecution lasted 300 hundred years till Constantine the Great then by false Christians the Papists and others those that were born after the flesh always persecuted them who were born after the spirit It may therefore be worth the while rather to fathom the bottom of this to understand the reason why the people of God in all Ages have been the Mark and But of the Worlds envy Reas 1. The original cause must be fetched from that Text Gen. 3.15 where God saith I will put enmity betwixt thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed that Text giveth you an account of the reason of a three-fold antipathy or enmity which you find in the World 1. You see there is a natural antipathy between the nature of Man and a Serpent though we have little experience of it in England In Egypt and Africa they are mortal enemies unto Men and though we have no such exceedingly mischievous Serpents yet we see men generally averse to them and shunning them and seeking to destroy them 2. There is an antipathy betwixt the Devil and us you see by daily experience that the Devil is the destroyer though men serve him yet he destroyeth them Witches are the worst of people they are his slaves he is their ruine and destroyer at last and for the people of God he is continually molesting them Here is the reason 3. There is an antipathy betwixt the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent who was the Womans seed but Jesus Christ Who are the seed of the Devil but wicked men You are of your Father the Devil saith Christ John 8.44 for his works you do But although this be the first and more remote cause yet there are other proximate and immediate causes and some of them I shall endeavour to give you an account of 2. The next cause is that Innate hatred of God and the Image of God which is in every man since the fall Rom. 1.30 The Apostle telleth us of the Heathen that they were backbiters haters of God This is a fruit of the fall when Man lost the Image of God in which he was created No Man hath a natural love for God or for the Image of God as they say of the Basilisk that it hath such a hatred to a man that it will fly upon the Picture of a man so it is true that every Man and Woman by nature are Basilisks they fly upon God and the Image of God where ever they see it Now persecution is but the daughter of hatred and though every one hath not the like rough and harsh nature so that he is not so furious as some men are yet it is most certain that no man naturally loveth yea every man naturally hateth God and the Image of God hence the more any one hath of the Image of God upon his Soul the more he is the object of hatred and the reason of this hatred lieth in
Children or Lands for my Name sake shall receive an hundred fold and inherit everlasting Life Mark repeateth the same passage but with some Variation he saith he shall Receive an hundred fold now in this time Houses and Brethren and Sisters and Mothers and Children and Lands with Persecutions and in the World to come Eternal Life Luke ch 18.30 repeating it saith He shall receive manifold more in this present time and in the World to come life everlasting As to the reward of another life they all agree that is out of doubt If so be we suffer with him we shall be glorified together 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him The sufferings of the people of God are a manifest token of the righteous Judgment of God that we may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which we suffer 2 Thes 1.5 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense To those that are troubled rest When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels Sufferings for Christs sake are tokens of Salvation and that of God Phil. 1.28 Suitable to this was the vision which St. John had Rev. 20. v. 4. Where he saw thrones and they sat upon them and Judgment was given unto them and he saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshiped the beast nor his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads Or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years It hath been questioned by some whether any but Martyrs shall be saved And answered That none shall be saved but either such as have been Martyrs actu or Voluntate either actually or who have been willing and ready to be so if God had called them to it But of this there is no question as to the promise The only question is how they receive an hundred fold in this time or as Luke saith manifold more at this time Mark saith with persecutions this is generally interpreted concerning the internal influences of the Spirit of God upon the Souls of his people Solatia promittuntur non deliciae saith an eminent Interpreter God promiseth inward comforts not sensible or sensual delights But God often maketh it good of sensible things in this life As it is said of Job after his long trial of Affliction Job 42.12 That God blessed his latter end more then his beginning In his beginning we read his Inventory thus he had 7000 Sheep and 3000 Camels 500 yoke of Oxen 500 she asses ch 1. 3. In his latter end all was doubled ch 42. 12. He had 14000 sheep 6000 Camels 1000 yoke of Oxen and 1000 she Asses So it hath been observed that God hath strangely blessed those families whose heads have been sufferers for him I have particularly heard it observed of those Walloons who left their country and fled hither in the time of D' Alva's rage in Flanders So that often times God giveth manifold more in this life then they lose for his sake much more sensible comforts But oftner he gives them an hundred fold with persecutions that is if together with their persecutions they weigh the consolations they have from the Spirit of God if they set the one against the other or weigh the one with the other they are manifold more And this is that which the Apostle experienced 2 Cor. 1.5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ The sum is sufferings for the name of Christ are a Testimony or a Token to those that suffer of great rewards which God hath designed them and prepared for them either in this life or in that life which is to come In this life either with persecutions mixing their bitter cups with the Sweet consolations of his holy and blessed Spirit to that degree that the sweet tast shall drown the bitter tast and they shall have no tast of the wormwood and the gall Or when the persecutions are over for Nubeculae sunt transibunt they are but storms and will go over repairing their losses building them up fairer houses then the fire hath burnt and giving them better estates then they have lost Or in the life to come giving them as the Apostle calleth it 2 Cor. 4.17 a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory for I reckon saith the Apostle Rom. 8.18 That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Fourthly They are a Testimony on Gods part to those that suffer That the Lord will destroy their enemies Thus Stella expoundeth this Text. Quod illi impiè contra vos egerunt juste damnentur That they have dealt unjustly and wickedly with you and shall justly be condemned This is that which the Apostle saith 2 Thes 1.4 So that we our selves glory in you in the Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you indure which is a manifest taken of the righteous judgment of God that ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which ye suffer Mark ye There is one thing of which it is a manifest token but then it followeth v. 6. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you It is a manifest token of that also Now the reason of this lyeth in the heinous nature of this sin which ordinarily goeth before unto Judgment And is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a mortal sign in every Soul where it is found A Soul may be sick of lusts of the flesh sick of intemperance in eating and drinking sick of incontinence filthy lusts and uncleanness sick of other lusts and yet through grace may recover such were some of you saith the Apostle to the Corinthians but now you are washed But it is very rare that a Soul is sick of rage and malice against Christ and his name and gospel so as it breaks out in overt acts I say it is very rarely that it recovers This disease of rage and malice against Christ and his Gospel which is seen in mens dealings with the publishers and professors of it is much like that disease in the body which they call a Cancer which may lurk a great while and the person may live so long as he can keep it from breaking but if it once breaketh there is very little hope of long life God according to his infinite patience beareth a long time with these vessels of wrath fitted for destruction there are thousands in the World who have this cancerous humour within them who are full of wrath malice and rage and hatred of Christ and his Gospel but they keep it from breaking out into overt-acts they will think ill enough of God and Christ and his ways and sometimes they will also talk hardly enough these may live
Archangel and with the trump of God 1 Thessal 4.26 with ten thousands of his Saints Jud. 14. This is by the Apostle called a glorious appearance as 1 Pet. 1.7 Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Whether his first or second appearing be here meant I doubt If it be understood of the first the sense is much the same with that Rejoicing in Christ Jesus in opposition to an having a confidence in the flesh mentioned 3 Philip. 3. In this sense the loving his appearing is the loving of him as God manifested in the flesh the accepting and receiving of him as our Saviour and the Mediator betwixt God and man a breathing after him and delighting in him if we understand it of the latter that appearing of Christ which is yet to come we shall further open the duty by opening the 2d thing 2. What this is to love his appearing Love is nothing else but a pleasant motion of the Soul of man towards an Object by which discerning some goodness and excellency in it it takes a secret complacency in the meditations and speculations of it By desire moves toward it if it hath not obtained a full fruition and enjoyment of it and rejoyceth and delighteth in it if it have A love towards the second appearing of Jesus Christ cannot at present discover it self in the imbraces of joy and delight by which love in a Soul discovers it self to an object to which it is united but only 1. In desires after it while the Soul crieth out I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ or rather come Lord Jesus come quickly 2. In a joy and delight arising from the certain belief speculation and contemplation of a thing yet future There is a rejoycing of hope as well as of fruition for hope especially that hope which is the daughter of that faith which is the evidence of things not seen giveth the Soul an union though of the lowest degree with its object and so is productive of a proportionable joy Now my text saith that for all those who thus fight the good fight finish their course keep the faith and love the appearance of Christ there is laid up a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will in that day give out In that day there is another little question what that day is 1. In the day of death Paul indeed had been speaking in the verse before of the time of his departure which he had told us was at hand and it is certain that at the day of death the Souls of believers do immediately pass into glory but yet this seemeth not to be the day here mentioned 2. Rather the day of Christs second appearing Emphatically called that day because there never was nor ever will be any day like unto that day the People of God shall in the day of their departure be taken into glory that is their Souls shall but their bodies rest in their graves until that day so as the glory of the Saints before that day the day of Christs coming to Judgment shall be imperfect but in that day they shall be Crowned If any man asketh from whence this shall be the text gives us a double account of it 1. In saying it shall be given it is not the price of our combate but it is the consequent of it from the free grace and gift of God The gift of God is eternal life Rom. 6. Fear not little flock saith our Saviour it is your Fathers will to give you a kingdom My sheep faith he hear my voice and follow me and I give unto them eternal life The Lord hath given Christ power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to whomsoever he pleased Joh. 17.2 2. The text calls it a Crown of Righteousness and saith the righteous judge will give it God in all his acts of grace hath a care to declare his righteousness In the justification of a sinner he so declareth his grace that he also declares his righteousness Rom. 3.25.26 speaking of Christ whom saith he God hath set forth to be a propitiation through his blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his Righteousness that he might be just and the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus So in the glorifying of Souls God will not act only as a gracious God rich in mercy communicating his goodness to his creatures but he will also act as a righteous judge in his giving out of the Crowns of glory he hath so ordered things that they are also crowns as of glory and favour so of Righteousness 1. Of Christs Righteousness being the price and purchase and of the Fathers Righteousness as it is but a just and righteous thing that he should satisfy the Covenant of Redemption and fulfil the eternal contract made with the Son of his love and it is also a righteous thing that God should fulfil his promises of life made to them who believe in him whom God hath sent and be obedient to his Commandments 1. The reasonableness and Righteousness of God in giving out of this crown then appears from Gods designation Covenant and promise The Crown of Righteousness is Christs to give he hath purchased it the Father hath given it to his disposal and he hath so willed that those who have it should first fight for it first run the race and course which he hath in his word lined out for them The promises of the new name the white stone the hidden manna are all made unto those who overcome those who will obtain must run 1 Cor. 9.24 2. There is a great relation between a fight a conquest and a crown I observed to you before that the promises of Heaven are made to such as overcome Rev. 2.17 ch 3.12 ch 3.21 Rev. 21.7 There is a relation also betwixt running in a race and getting of the prize Gal. 2.2 Gal. 5.7 1 Cor. 9.24 Again there is always a relation betwixt the means and the end The means in this case must not be natural but instituted now these are the means which as I have shewed you God hath appointed in order to the obtaining of this blessed end But I have spoken enough Doctrinally and shall now come to the application of this discourse This as indeed all other Gospel Propositions Use 1 leads us to the consideration of the transcendent Love of God to poor Creatures 1. In providing for us a Crown 2. Making it a Crown of Righteousness 3. Laying it up for us 4. Giving it to us 1. In his providing for us a Crown God in Scripture is said to have prepared for us Mansions Rest a better Country a more induring Substance but this is not all he hath also prepared for us a Crown If those who are tickled with honour and so inamoured with dignity
out of the world all the reproaches of Ministers and Godly Christians all their bonds and imprisonments which they suffer for the Gospel they are but the fruits and product of this enmity this hatred and antipathy which is betwixt Christ and the Devil and the seed of Christ and the seed of the Devil 2. Another reason of it lieth in the nature of the Propositions of the Gospel as to the Doctrine of faith and as to the precepts of the Gospel so far as it concerneth holiness the sublimity of the first and the purity of the latter and its exceeding strictness The sublimeness of the Doctrine of faith raiseth it two sorts of enemies 1. The ignorant persons of the world 2. Those men who have idolized their own reason and are determined to believe nothing but what they can fathom by their own reason 1. For the first ignorant Persons the Apostle telleth us of some who speak evil of what they know not there is nothing more unworthy of a man then this yet there is nothing more ordinary especially when men apprehend the ways and persons that they speak evil of are enemies to their lusts and corruptions the Apostle telleth us 1 Cor. 2.7 8. we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory Which none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory The wisdom of God signifieth the Gospel of Christ and the Apostle saith the Princes of this world did not know it for if they had they would not have crucified the Lord of glory The most ignorant persons if they be also loose in their lives are enemies to the Gospel of Christ 2. Men that have idolized their own reason and entertained a fancy that they should comprehend the highest mysteries of the Kingdom of God that which maketh them enemies to the Gospel of Christ is their zeal they are puff'd up in their own opinion of their own reason and are certain enemies to whatever they cannot comprehend with it now the Doctrines of the Gospel being of that nature that sublime nature that ignorant persons cannot comprehend them and men of reason cannot fathom them with their own reason they become enemies unto them and to the true Professors of them hence it was that the Philosophers of old were such enemies to the Gospel of Christ 2. As the sublimity of the Propositions of the Gospel is one great reason of the opposition which it meeteth with in the world so the exceeding purity and holiness of the precepts of the Gospel is another reason take the Gospel as it bringeth news of a Saviour who died for sinners it pleaseth them well enough but look upon it as it containeth a systeme of precepts an obedience to which must be given in order to the obtaining of that salvation so it quite crosseth the grain of flesh and blood as it teacheth us that no Drunkard no Fornicator no Swearer shall come into the Kingdom of God thus they cannot approve of it and this maketh them enemies as to the Doctrine of the Gospel so to the Ministers and Professors of it for though they have so much lust as will not suffer them to comply with the Doctrine of the Gospel yet they have also so much pride that they cannot endure themselves to be contradicted and out-done by the Professors of it but this is enough to shew you what the afflictions of the Gospel are of which the Apostle would have Timothy content to be a partaker and what that testimony of Christ is of which he would not have him to be ashamed I come now to the next Question Qu. 3. When men may be said to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord and what the meaning is to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel To be ashamed of the testimony of Christ I conceive signifieth two things 1. To be ashamed or afraid to give a testimony unto Christ and to the truth of the Gospel to be afraid to give a testimony of Christ because of the opposition of men is a great sin it is contrary to the precept Fear not them who can kill the body and can do no more but fear him that is able to cast Body and Soul into Hell-fire but to be ashamed of this testimony is a greater sin because the temptation is higher under the former then under the latter to be ashamed of the testimony of Christ is to decline to own and profess Jesus Christ when there is no great danger that threatneth us in such a Profession we have an High-Priest that can have compassion upon our infirmities but when no such danger threatneth a man only he may suffer a little in his honour and repute amongst men and they may not have so good an opinion of him for this to decline the publick owning and professing of Christ it must needs be a very great sin it is a dreadful Text Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels For a man to be afraid to own Christ and his Gospel and the profession of it when utmost danger threatneth him is sin enough it arguing that the fear of man prevaileth in him above the fear of God but for a man when no such danger threatneth him to be ashamed and to think it beneath him to own the Gospel and to love the honour that is from men before the honour that cometh from God is a very dreadful transgression 2. That man is ashamed of the testimony of Christ That is ashamed of others for the testimony which they bear to Jesus Christ I must confess I think this is that which the Apostle here chiefly intendeth Paul was now a Prisoner and at Rome the condition of Prisoners you know is a low and contemptible condition now for a person to be ashamed to be a friend or companion or to own the relation to and acquaintance with any because they are giving a testimony to Christ and for that testimony are hated maligned and persecuted is to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord It is reported of that famous Emperor Constantine the Great that he would often kiss the hole of Paphnutius's eye that was bored out for the profession of the Gospel What is the meaning of the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel 1. Negatively it doth not imply that it is the will of God that any man should throw himself into the afflictions of the Gospel the best of afflictions are trials and temptations no man ought to pull trials upon himself we read indeed of some in the Primitive times that offered themselves to the stake and owned themselves to be Christians