for by reformation of our hearts and lives Luke 3. 5. Let every valley be silled and every mountain be brought low and the crooked be made straight the rough ways be made smooth let the low groveling worldling and filthy sensual fill up the Valley setting his affections on things above and every Proud and Ambitious person bring his thoughts low minding Gods glory not his own and every crooked cunning deceiver get a strait Spirit in simplicity and godly sincerity and every angry and revengful person make the rough ways smooth by endeavoring to obtain a Spirit of meeltness and kindness and then both feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace and God will both receive and assist such in the conflict for his truth and glory And as Rom. 12. 1. They can confidently present their bodles a living holy Sacrifice acceptable to God which is their reasonable rational service whereas an unmortified person in whom brutish lusts do yet raign if he dyed in a good cause yet offered up a brutish unreasonable Sacrifice no way acceptable unto God Thirdly The Christian must take the sheild of Faith that is confidence in Gods promises of assistance and supports in the day of his Tryal Ephes 6. 16. He must be assured that Gods goodness and faithfulness will never suffer him to fail who flyes for refuge to his grace and mercy Thus saith David By this I know that thou favorest my righteous cause seeing mine enemy doth not Triumph over me and as for me thou preservest me in mine integrity Thus saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 1 8 9. Christ will confirm you unto the end and keep you blameless to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ or in the day of Christ that is emphatically the day of suffering for Christ and will confirm you unto the end The Christian Matron falling in Travel of Child-birth in the Prison cryed out in her strong pains and was thus assaulted by the Jaylor If saith he you cannot bear those pains without such outcrys how will you be able to bear the torments provided for you She answered These pains I suffer as the burden lay'd upon our Sex for the sin of our first Mother but in that conflict I shall have the assistance of his grace which is able to preserve me through faith against every evil work and his grace shall be sufficient for me Thus the Victory by which we overcome the world is our faith Fourthly Who ever will be a couragious Martyr must have full assurance of the goodness of his Cause that it is the truth and way of God and Christ for which he suffers and worthy of all his suffering for it This is that girdle of Truth Ephes 6. 14. As a girdle or belt not only strengthens the loins but by compacting and compressing the Muscles of the back gives an advantage and tightness to the cords or sinews of even the hands and feet also so the assurance that it is the cause of God for which we stand will make us confident that we shall not be confounded whereas but to doubt of our cause looseneth all our powers of spirit and courage Thus the Apostle prays for his Colossians Col. 2. 2 3 4. That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge The great cause maintained by the Apostolical Christians against the Jews was the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ that is that the infinite goodness and wisdom of God of old had carried on the Salvation of the Ancient Fathers of the world in the same way of Repentance and Faith in his mercy through the mediation of the promised Seed that ours is now carried on since Christs coming in the Flesh Now had any doubted whether this way of Salvation Preached by the Apostles and received by the Churches was the truth of God or questioned whether it was all of a piece with the old method of bringing Sinners to glory how could they have suffered confidently in the cause For staggering betwixt two opinions whether the Mosaical Law or Repentance towards God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ was the way to justification they would have been unstable in all their ways But being assured that there was but one name and way of life Jesus Christ the same to day yesterday and for ever they had a full assurance of understanding which is the Girdle of Truth necessary to gird up the loins of the Martyrs mind I do not say a Christian must be able to answer all the subtle Fallacies and Sophisms of the Adversaries of the Truth but he must be assured that notwithstanding all their Cavils it is the truth of God for which he appears And that he is assured of because he finds it works effectually in him believing it purifying his heart by the faith of it incouraging his hope and increasing his love to God and Christ and all good Men yea to all Men for Christs sake and what works so cannot he is assured be other than the Truth of God A mean-bred man who should hear a Sceptick dispute whether the snow was white arguing that the water from whence it comes is black and therefore the effect must be as is the cause yet would not however be brought to disbelieve his eyes but would continue confident the snow was white as his sight represented it for he found the effect of that whiteness in dispersing his visual Rayes and Spirits Such an assurance must every suffering Christian have of the Truth for which he suffers and that it is the true grace of God wherein he stands and for which he stands and therefore an ignorant unstudied Christian can hardly make a Martyr Fifthly Whoever will be a Martyr must have his heart ingaged in a sincere design to promote Gods glory both by doing and suffering This is that Breast-plate of Righteousness and Sincerity Ephes 6. 14. which gives courage to a suffering Saint For if there be any Hypocritical design of seeking Reputation to our selves or bringing credit to an espoused Faction or Party it flats our courage but the single eye makes the body full of light and heat also On this account it was that the Primitive Christians in times of Persecution received the Eucharist so frequently in St. Cyprians time in the Decian Perfecution they took it daily thereby renewing their Baptismal vow to live and die to Gods glory if called to it As when some great Battel was expected the Roman Generals used to renew the Sacramentum Militare the Souldiers Oath That they would not disobey nor forsake their General their Imperator So that who ever hath not frequently and seriously Consecrated himself to God to live and die to him will hardly make a Martyr that being an
Babylon Min. I shall readily as far as I am able comply to your Pious desire not because my fears keep equal pace with yours for to me still there is hope in Israel as to this thing but because the considerations which such a Subject will lead us to will be a great advantage to us Living and Dying The Method I will observe in my Discourse shall be this I. I will endeavour to shew you what sort of Cause it is that will make a Martyr namely To suffer for Christs Name and for Righteousness sake II. I will shew how a Martyr must be qualified as to his Temper and Practice III. What promises God hath made both of Consolations and Supports here and of rewards hereafter to his Suffering Saints Parish Sir I am glad we are come to this sweet Theme and shall attend diligently praying to God to guide your Tongue for my Direction and Consolation in the ways of the Gospel Min. Amen He therefore suffers for Christs Name and for Righteousnes sake I. Who suffers for refusing to strengthen the hands of Wicked Men in their Wickedness by his Consent or Example II. Who suffers for Promoting the Churches Peace III. Who suffers for the Exercise of warranted Religious Worship or refusal of Communion in Idolatrous and Sinful Worship IV. Who suffers for contending for the Faith and Truth once delivered to the Saints First He Suffers as a Martyr who Suffers because he will have no Fellowship in the unfruitful Works of Darkness nor run to the same excess of Riot with others who Suffers because he is ready when Sinners intice him to answer with David Depart from me ye Evil doers for I will keep the Commandements of my God is Gods Martyr For certainly if we Suffer on this account because we will by our professed obedience to God's Law give testimony to his Sovereignty and to the Equity and Excellency of that Rule he hath appointed to his Rational Creatures we may justly be stiled God's Martyrs And in particular if we Suffer for Fearing God and the King and not medling with those who are given to change but that in Conscience towards God we retain our Loyalty to our Sovereign it is a Suffering for Righteousness sake Parish But will the Suffering in the Cause of strict Moralities in title Christians to Martyrdom Min. Yes For Morality or Conformity to the Moral Law in our Duty to God and Men for God's sake is so great a part of the obedience of Faith given to the Rule or the New Creature that he who Suffers rather than he will offend against the Moral Law In Conscience that God who made him and Christ who Redeem'd him requires that he should live by that Rule in order to God's Glory his own and others good is God's and Christ's Martyr And be assured of it Good Men shall not want occasion of Suffering on that account especially in such days and places wherein almost every thing is countenanced but Piety and Virtue Next If you Suffer for promoting the Peace of the Church and opposing Schisms and Divisions amongst Brethren you Suffer for the Name of Christ and you cannot want occasion of Suffering if than be your design so long as the Zeal for or against our English Littleismes flames out at the top of every Chimney Parish Indeed it is easily observable that those good and moderate Men who have endeavoured to remove the Fewel of our present Contentions are as violently assaulted by the fierce Men the Bigotts on both sides as if they were the declared Enemies of both the Contending Parties however I resolve through the Grace of God to follow your Example and Doctrine herein both to pray and strive for the Peace of Jerusalem by all lawful means For I believe if I should dye at the Stake for the Profession of the most precious Truths of the Gospel and yet be a divider of Christ's Church I should be condemned to be a Firebrand in Hell by the Prince of Peace Min. But when I press you to contend for the Peace of the Church I mean not only the Peace of the particular Society of Christians amongst whom your Residence and Cohabitation calls you to communicate in Publick Worship But also to promote the Catholick Unity of the Catholick Church by vertue of which it is That every Baptized Christian Professing Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ and bringing sufficient Evidence or Credentials of his Christianity may as a Member of that one Body under Christ the Head Challenge the Priviledge of Communion in all the Ordinances of Christ with any Society of Christianst or partionlar Church where ever he happens to live or occasionally to come For if any Society of Christians shall impale themselves by mutual Compacts or by setting up other new and unnecessary Terms of Communion with them so as to exclude from their Communion other Christians cohabiting with them or coming to them they are therein Schismatical especially if those Terms be such as the Neighbor or Stranger-Christian cannot comply to without wrong to his own Conscience I do indeed judge that if the Terms of Communion required though new and narrower then Christ hath required to make us Members of his Catholick Church be such as I can comply to wihout Sin I ought not to disturb the Peace of the particular Church where I am by a stiff opposing of them especially if I have sufficiently protested my Right and Priviledge as a Member of the Catholick Church to have Communion allowed me without such Imposals For my Christian Liberty gives me a Latitude to become all things not sinful to all men And though a particular Church may be Schismatical in imposing such new and narrow Terms of Communion with her as Christ never imposed to make us Members of his Catholick Church yet if I separate causlesly that is where I can Communicate without Sin I am Schismatical also so that at the same time a Church may be Schismatical in imposing unecessary Terms of Communion and a particular Christian may be Schismatical in refusing Compliance to those Terms if he can comply to them without Sin Parish Sir I thank you for by this Information you have contributed not only to make easie to me my Compliance to just Ecclesiastical Laws which I did something scruple on conceit that my yielding betray'd my Christian Liberty but also to enlarge my special Brotherly Love to all Christians as Members of the same Body with me under Christ our Head and you have given my Conscience a latitude and my Heart a readiness to join in worship with any Christian where ever I come and may be admitted and to receive readily as much as in me lies any Christian to Communion with me and with that Society of Christians amongst whom I Cohabit and Communicate Min. Next if you suffer for not complying to sinful Worship such as is forbidden by God as unworthy to be offered up
and Holy and Learned Bishop Ridly is ingaged hotly to dispute the matter against Hooper and Hooper is imprisoned as a wilful and obstinate Person who would not receive Information But when Ridly and Hooper were both imprisoned for Religion in Queen Mary's days with what lowliness of Spirit did Holy Ridly confess his too zealous efforts in that Controversy The Letter is extant in Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments My dear Brother saith he I understand we throughly agree and wholly consent together in the substantial points of our Religion against which the World now so furiously rageth however in time past in certain circumstances of Religion your wisdom and my simplicity have a little jarred Now be assured that even with my whole heart God is my witness in the bowels of Christ I love you in the Truth c. O what a beauteous lustre and loveliness hath this profound humility and fervent Brotherly love above all the sharpness of wit and closeness of arguing that any can shew in these Petit Controversies If therefore you have harmed your Brother who holds the Foundation with your self for such mean superstructures kiss the wounds you have made own your Repentance to your injured Brother and to the Church of God as ever you expect support in the day of your sufferings Ninthly Therefore it is necessary that the Martyr be rooted and grounded in love and charity which implies love to God and to his Church and to the Martyrs very Enemies Observe that I do not make love and charity any part of the Spiritual Armor for it is indeed the very life and spirit of the new Man So that as the best Armor in the World put upon a Coward would not inable him to attempt a Combat or overcome therein so if it was possible that a man should be assured of the Truth and Goodness of his cause and thereby had his loins girt with Truth and was expert and nimble at the weilding the Sword of the Spirit the word of God yet if he had not love and charity to fill all the Nerves of the inward man and to give Spiritual strength and vigor he could never make a Martyr Therefore 1 Cor 13. it is made so necessary that giving our body to be burned without it is reckoned nothing First Therefore the Martyr must love God with all his Soul for this love only is stronger than Death and neither Persecution nor distress nor Sword can overcome it This I have spoken of before and unquestionably if Gods Spirit who alone knows Mens hearts should write the Universal History of all the Martyrs from the Righteous Abel to this present there would not one be mentioned as such but would have this Testimony that the Love of God and concernment for his glory was the ruling affection in his Soul The second branch of Charity is love to Gods Church or an affectionate concernment for the establishment of our Brethren in the Faith Thus Phil. 1. 14. St. Paul rejoyced that his bonds and imprisonment at Rome gave confidence to the Saints there so that they were much more bold to speak the word without fear On the same account he saith Col. 1. 24. I rejoyce in my sufferings for the Brethren and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodies sake which is the Church the Husteramata that which is behind signifies the empty spaces of a Seal which the wax filling up receiveth the impression so that the Praise of filling up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ is far from signifying any merits of the sufferings of the Martyrs added to the merits of Christs sufferings for his Church and imports no more then Paul's being conformed to the sufferings of Christ as a Copy is conformed to the Original or the impress of the Wax to the carving of the Seal A Martyr therefore goes forth as David against Goliah to strengthen the hands of the Armies of Israel the Armies of the living God And though a Christian be Murdered secretly in a Prison or a Dungeon as undoubtedly many are in the Covents of the Italian and Spanish Monks and other-where yet they designed the strengthening of others If God had permitted the Example of their Courage and Faith and Patience to have been shewed openly their death is Precious and their purpose acceptable in the sight of God The third branch of the Martyrs Charity extends to all men even their Persecutors whose Conversion they pray for and that their blood may be the seed of Gods Truth and therefore he is not a Disciple and Martyr of Christ who hinders the Conversion of his Adversaries by his Rayling and Reviling and rendring evil for evil so that to suffer in the best cause in the World and not to be Baptized into the Spirit of meekness and kindness so as to pray for Enemies and bless them that curse us and strive to overcome their evil with good is not to suffer as a Disciple and Martyr of Christ who reviled not again and was dumb as a Sheep before the Shearers save when he prayed for his Crucifiers Father forgive them and so also did Saint Steven saying Lord lay not this Sin to their Charge By this patience and meekness of the Saints Christianity prevailed to the ejection of Heathen Idolatry out of the Roman Empire and Popish Superstitions and Errors out of England and other reformed Churches 10. The next qualification of a Martyr is he must be one very conversant in the Scriptures nimble at weilding the Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God Ephes 6. 17. For thence is he to fetch his directions even from the Patterns and Precepts there and his supports from the Promises there recorded and thence must he be furnished with Arguments to put to silence his Adversaries Our Saviour himself by this foiled the Tempter thrice so that a stranger to the Scriptures to the reading and meditating of them is very unfit for a Martyr both because he knows not whence to fetch directions or supports for himself nor how to confute and silence gainsayers But he that is mighty in the Scriptures as 't is reported of Apollos Acts 18. verse 24. 28. will both mightily confute and confound his Adversaries and will through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures be strengthened in hope Rom. 15. 4. 11. Next The Martyr must put on the Helmet of Salvation Ephes 6. 17. or as Saint Paul Phraseth it 1 Thes 5. for an Helmet the hope of Salvation that is he must be begotten by the Gospel to a lively hope of an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in the Heavens For us 1 Pet. 1. 4. He that hath not his Treasure out of his Enemies reach will be afraid to provoke him and besides no enjoyment on Earth can compensate or equal the sufferings that the persecuted Saints may be subjected to they may endure cruel Mockings Scourgings Imprisonments in