lane and such a craggy mountain though he would be glad they were not yet when he comes at them he is glad because they are signs of the way he must go Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life Master Bradford made use of that place when he came to the Stake and looked upon his sufferings as an evidence to him that he was in the right way Secondly they are an evidence to him of that difference that God hath made between others and him there was a time when as other men could close with me and agree with me now see what a difference there is they nothing but contemn me and despiseme I might have gone on and have been a scorner and a mocker as they are O the difference that God hath made between me and them that God should call me from them who was as vile as they and suffer them to be reproachers of godliness and make me a sufferer for godliness Jerome writ to Augustine that it was a great sign of glory to him that all Hereticks did hate him Thirdly it is an evidence of the sincerity and the power of his grace and his love that he bears to Christ and this is great riches for a gracious heart says Lord try me Lord prove me he would fain have an opportunity to manifest the truth of his love to Christ all the while I go on in a way of prosperity and have the desire of my heart wherein appears my love to Christ but now when I am called to suffering and to part with much for Christ here is an opportunity to shew I love Christ for himself that my love to him does not depend upon any thing that I gain by him in the world The Apostle says The tryal of your grace he speaks of faith is more precious then silver and gold and not onely your grace is more precious but the tryal of grace is more precious then gold and silver A gracious heart does rejoyce much in evidencing love to Christ as any dear friend rejoyces much in any opportunity of manifesting his love to another friend and the greater the opportunity is the more does he rejoyce And likewise the power of grace is manifested as David said to the King Achish Thou shalt know what thy servant can do and so a gracious heart thinks here is an opportunity to manifest the strength and power that is in grace Fourthly they are an evidence that much good is done that Satans kingdom is shaken in sufferings we see the rage of the Devil and he rages then most when he sends most opposition to his kingdom wherefore those against whom he rages most may have hereby evidence that they were most instrumental against him I rejoyce says Luther That Satan does so rage and blaspheme as often as I do but touch him he took it as an argument that much good was done otherwise the Devil would not have been so vexed he would not have raged so much Fifthly a gracious heart hath an evidence to it self that God will spare him when others shall suffer from his wrath Certainly the more any one is called to suffer in the cause of God and when he findes his heart ready and willing to yield to God in suffering the more evidence may he have to his soul that when others shall be called to suffer from Gods wrath he shall be spared and this is the bottom of the prayer of the Psalmist Psal 89. 50. Remember Lord the reproach of thy servants how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of the mighty people I read of one Escelus being condemned to be stoned to death and all the people were ready to cast stones at him and his brother came and run in and shewed that he had but one hand and the other hand he had lost for the defence of his countrey and then none would stone him and so the marks of the Lord Jesus are notable marks to safeguard thee in the time of trouble when the Lord goes out in his wrath he will set his mark upon those that he will save and none more notable marks then the reproaches and sufferings they bear for Christ This was Jeremiahs plea before the Lord chap. 15. ver 5. O Lord thou knowest remember me and visit me know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke Lastly it is an evidence of salvation Phil. 1. 28. not that all that suffer shall be saved but a gracious heart that suffers in a gracious Christian maner hath God sealing to him by his spirit in his sufferings his salvation Put these together and we see one cause why we should count the reproaches of Christ great riches yea this is greater riches then the riches of Egypt Secondly the reproaches and sufferings which we endure for Christ are riches of preferment It was a speech of Ignatius when he was to suffer It is better for me to be a Martyr then a Monarch Epist 12. ad Romanos Euseb l. 8. c. 7. To be preferred to honor is counted great riches now there is a preferment of Gods people here these three or four ways Basil upon that famous Martyr Bar-aam says he rejoyced in stripes as in honors he exulted in the severest punishments as if praeclara bravia acceperet First the Saints look upon this as high preferment because it is a testimony that God hath a high esteem of them God does not use to call those that are weak and mean to great sufferings but his servants that are most eminent God will dispose of the conditions of his people suitable to their dispositions therefore he will not call those to the strongest work that are weakest A Captain does not call out his mean Soldiers to a notable enterprize but he calls out his most able couragious Soldiers and the more desperate the enterprize is the more honor the Soldier thinks it to be called out so the greater work God calls one to the more preferment is in it and we have cause to admire that God should deal so with us his poor creatures rather then others as if we were fitter then ' others though we cannot say we are fitter because we are conscious to our selves of so much weakness but God honors us as if it were so Secondly by this we come to be honorable in the eyes of the Churches and the Saints of God nothing makes Gods people more honorable in the eyes of the Saints then when they are called to suffer much for God And so in the Primitive times they esteemed much of the Martyrs even too much Chrysostom speaking of Babylas the Martyr calls him a great man a man to be admired and says if I may call him a man and Tertullian writing to some of the Martyrs says I am not worthy to speak to you he writes that it was a custom of some in those times to creep to the Chains
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
Christ Fifthly while I walk in these ways I shall be safe for eternity I shall not be in danger there and when the fear of eternity falls upon the heart it sees it is a most dreadful thing to miscarry to eternity the thoughts of eternity work mightily upon my spirit let me be safe for eternity whatsoever become of me in these ways It is reported of one Myrogenes when great gifts were sent unto him he sent them back I onely desire this one thing at your Masters hand to pray for me that I may be saved for eternity Now in these ways of godliness I shall walk with God I shall have peace of conscience I shall have that I have in love I shall enjoy communion with the Father with Christ and with the holy Ghost and I shall be safe for eternity surely there can be no evil that can countervail this good whatsoever I suffer whatsoever I endure in this world yet my soul shall say It is good for me to draw near to God sure I shall choose and like well of the ways of godliness whatsoever I endure But you look onely upon the best side of godliness but turn the other side you shall finde a great many afflictions that attend the ways of godliness and when you see them you will not be so in love with these ways A gracious heart is willing to examine both sides What are the afflictions you speak of that will discourage any from delighting in Gods ways First they are but such as are upon the body those things that do afflict the godly are bodily things they do therefore but bring pain and trouble to this carcase to this body of clay to this lump of earth to this body of sin to that body that is to be beaten down in this world to that body of vileness for so it is called Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile body in the Original it is this body of vileness It was the speech of a Heathen when as by the Tyrant he was commanded to be put into a morter and be beaten to pieces with an Iron pestel he cryes out to his persecutors You do but beat the vessel of Anaxarchus you do not beat me You do but beat the Case and Vessel that contains another thing yea the word in the Greek that Clemens Alex hath relating the Story signifies a husk his body was to him but as a husk A Heathen counted his body but the Case the husk he counted his soul himself If a man had a precious Jewel in a Case and the Case was torn in pieces and the Jewel be safe it is no matter and so by all these afflictions a gracious heart knows it is but the Case that is torn in pieces the Jewel is safe Fear not says Christ those that can kill the body and do no more Christ would have us know afflictions that do but reach the body are but slight things And for these troubles let them be the most terrible that can be they are such as may stand with Gods love the dearest of Gods love such as the dearest of Gods people have met withal says God in Ieremiah I gave the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies Indeed if they were such as could not fal but from Gods hatred it were another matter but they may stand with Gods love yea with the very same love wherewithal God the Father did love Jesus Christ and would you have better love then that you may be sure that all your afflictions that you do endure for godliness and the ways of godliness they are not such but you may have them in the same love that God loved Jesus Christ and one would think that were enough to satisfie any soul in the world John 17. ult there Christ prays that his Disciples might be loved with the same love wherewith he was loved now notwithstanding the love of the Father to the Son he was afflicted and suffered as much trouble as you are like to suffer and if you in suffering may be in no worse case then he was and may have the same love that he had notwithstanding your sufferings sure your sufferings are no great matter there is no more evil in your sufferings then may stand with the love of God to your souls the same love wherewith God loved Christ and if a soul knows this it will not be discouraged from the ways of godliness notwithstanding afflictions indeed if in affliction there were the venome of Gods wrath and the curse of the Law it were something but the sting and venome is taken out and there is no great evil Again these afflictions that the world so speak of they may not onely stand with Gods dearest love but are such as may proceed from Gods dearest love as thus they may come as fruits of the love of God and therefore sure they are no great discouragements from the ways of godliness you heard what abundance of good God brought out of the afflictions of his people and therefore there may be abundance of love from whence they come they may be onely but to fit and square and fashion the soul to be fit to be laid in the highest place of new Jerusalem The stones that are laid below in some mean place are not hewed and hacked as the stones that are in the highest part of the building or the forefront of the building to the view of all those that are most for the beauty of the building are most hacked and framed and so those that God does intend to be the most beautiful stones in that glorious Temple that is in Heaven God suffers them here to be fashioned and hacked most afflicted and therefore they may come from love Besides they are no great matter take them at the worst they are but little things these light afflictions there is no such grievous burthen in them as the world thinks there is for there is the hand of Christ to hold them up in all their afflictions they are but such things as rather seem grievous then are grievous indeed as Heb. 12. 11. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous they are things that are grievous in appearance and in shew onely rather then in truth as the prosperity of the wicked is but in shew so the affliction of Gods people are rather shews they do rather seem grievous then have any realty of grief in them and therefore they are not so much to be feared Again they are but for a little time but for a moment As it was the speech of Athanasius when he was banished and his friends came to bewail his misery says he It is but a little cloud and will quickly be gone All the time of the rage and malice of wicked men is but as an hour says Christ This is their hour and the power of darkness it is but an hour and is
into a net and cast unto the wilde Bulls to be gored and so slain We read of one Eulalila a yong Gentlewoman famous for her godliness and constancy who was pulled away from the seat of her Persecuters by the hair of her head then one joynt was pulled from another and the flesh from the bones by cushes and claws of wilde beasts then they harrowed her flesh with an iron hurdle they burnt her body on every side before and behinde with flaming torches and at last cast her into fire and consumed her body unto ashes How lamentable is the hearing of these things unto nice and curious women who now must not have the wind to blow on them who are ready to dye if they be but crossed a little of their wills It was an excellent speech of a woman Martyr Iulitta by name who being to be put into the fire spake unto other women thus Cease to acouse the fragility of the feminine sex What are not we made of the same matter that men are yea after Gods image are we made as well as they God did not use flesh to make women of in token of infirmity we are bone of his bone in token we must be strong in the living God These were the sufferings of those times we shrink at every thing at every scorn and frown As for after times it pleased God to stir Constantine a Christian Emperor and then the Church had some rest to which some apply that place Rev. 20. 2. Satan was bound a thousand years not to rage for a thousand years after so as he then did until Antichrist got strength but the Text will not bear this interpretation we read Rev. 8. 1. at the opening the first seal there was silence in Heaven half an hour that is a space of intermission wherein the Church had some little breathing for a while but yet continued not long for Licinius who first joyned in the maintenance of Christian Religion fell off and turned an outragious persecuter After that the Church endured infinite troubles by the heresie of Arrianism that spread it self mightily abroad so that the whole world almost was become an Arrian at this time says Hilary the Church was so obscured as it was not to be sought in any external pomp in publique places but in prisons and dens Non in tect is exteriori pompa sed potius in carceribus speluncis Arrius was a man of excellent parts and forward in good but through pride being disappointed of his expected preferment fell off Mr. Brightman upon Revelations 8. 11. thinks it was he that was meant by that Star which fell which was called wormwood by which the third part of the maters were made bitter and many dyed of the waters After that Antichrist began to rise more and more and to bring a fearful darkness over the face of the Church of which times the holy Ghost prophesies Rev. 8. 12. The moon sun and stars were smitten The first open and bloody persecution of Antichrist was that of the Waldenses in the year 1160. and 1260. and so on there is a whole volumn written of the lamentable extremities that these poor people endured the reading whereof might cause the hardest heart that lives to break A special agent in this persecution was one Dominick father of the Dominicans of whom his mother dreamed when she was with childe with him that she had a Wolf flaming with fire out of his mouth in her body In after times we read of the most famous instruments of Gods glory what hard things they endured as Wickliff Huss Ierame of Prague and others The first time that ever any Law was made for burning those that opposed the Pope in England was in Henry the Fourths time so it went on to those bloody Marian days What imprisonments what starvings stranglings gibbets fire banishments were there then What grievous miseries did Gods people endure in France especially in that bloody savage Massacre in the year 1572 the History of it tells us that near the Archbishops Prison in Lyons the blood ran warm reeking in the streets into the River in thirty days space there were an hundred thousand poor orphans widows and succorless creatures wandring about without relief Thus both Scripture and the Histories of all times hold forth unto us the truth of this point that the estate of Gods people is an afflicted estate they cry out aloud unto us that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God This hath been the way of God even towards those who have been dearest to him and it is so at this day but yet a great difference hath God made between us and those in former times in regard of the degree of afflictions yea between us and others of his Servants in other places now we feel but little of those hard things that many of Gods people have felt and still do feel we sit under our vines and fig-trees in peace and plenty not onely under the shadows of them but we taste and eat plentifully of the fruit of them they are not empty vines nor empty fig-trees unto us CHAP. IV. What use we should make of Gods sparing us from the woful afflictions which have befaln and do befal others NOw what use should we make of this difference First we had need examine whether our prosperity be in love or not whether it be sanctified unto us or not for we have a great deal more then Gods people use to have And we shall know it by this if the chief thing we rejoyce in in the enjoyment of our prosperity be the opportunity of service for God that we have by it Secondly let us admire Gods goodness to us and bless his name How favorable is the Lord to us who spares us that we suffer little or nothing in comparison of what others have done We are weak and if we should have felt such things as others have what should have become of us They endured spoiling of their goods imprisonment tortures but we may go to Heaven and have peace comfort the use of the creature houses lands friends had we onely the blessings of the upper springs although we wanted wholly the blessings of the nether we were happy but oh the goodness of our God unto us we do plentifully enjoy both Though a man do lose all the world and win his soul although he beg his bread from door to door if he be saved at last he is a happy man happy that ever he was born but we may save our souls and yet have the good things of the world too But it may be said A suffering condition is the joyful condition why then should we thus bless God that we are freed from it Answ 1. Sufferings in themselves have no good but as God uses them and turns them unto good now God can use and turn prosperity into good as well if he please and prosperity hath good in it self and in
the wood of Lebanon He made the Pillars thereof of silver the bottom thereof of gold the covering of it of purple the midst thereof being paved with love A strange expression that the midst of Chariot should be paved with love the chariot whereby Christ does carry his people up and down in the world and bring them to himself is such a Chariot as the midst thereof is paved with love At the 7. ver he speaks of the bed of Solomon and here of his Chariot Divines interpret these two places his bed to set out the rest and glory that the Saints shall have with Christ eternally and the Chariot of Solomon that is those ways wherein Christ carries his people up and down in the world to himself and the midst thereof is love there must needs then be delight in those ways Eighthly the ways of God are full of pleasantness because they are such as are delightful to God Now they must be pleasant when they are such as God takes delight in they are such as the Church knows Christ takes much delight in What admirable expressions hath that Book of the Canticles of Gods delight in the graces of his people and in the ways of godliness Now there is no man loves a friend but accounts every good thing that his friend loves to be a double good Now that which God himself accounts pleasantness and is his delight must needs be the delight and pleasure of a gracious heart because there is so much nearness between God and a gracious heart Ninthly Yet further there is abundance of pleasantness in the ways of God in regard of the many encouraging delights that God hath provided for his people while they do live here and walk with him in these ways to make their lives to be sweet unto them God provides his Paradise here for them to encourage them they walk in the garden of God God hath his Eden his garden The Covenant of Grace and the glorious things prepared are as the Eden and Paradise of God in which the souls of his people walk wherein they have delightful hills and dales In the Scripture there are the high mysteries of godliness and the plain and easie truths of Religion as valleys and hills to delight them in their way They have the sweet springs and rivers of Ordinances that are appointed as sweet streams to refresh them and the blessed promises delightful trees to behold The tree of life Christ himself and a feast of fat things in the Ordinances wine upon the lees making melody in their hearts they go no further for that and therefore sure their ways are ways of pleasantness there being so many encouraging delightful things that God hath provided for them in their way Tenthly Further ways of pleasantness they are because that Religion does enable them to draw out more delight and pleasure from the creature it self then any other possibly can do there is no principle that can enable to draw out delights from the creature as godliness does enable a man to do for take any other carnal natural man he can draw out nothing from the creature but that which is carnal and natural but Gods people have a principle to draw out more and we are to know this that every creature hath a natural delight in it and there is somewhat more in it to a gracious heart then a natural delight as it was with Manna when Manna fell there was a dew that fell together with it and so with our meat and drink and clothes and estate and delights in the world it is true they are Manna and we feed upon them as the carnal Israelites fed upon Manna but we do not see the dew a carnal heart is not acquainted with the dew that fals with the Manna but those that are godly and religious and walk in these ways of wisdom they have a principle to discern and relish the dew that falls with this Manna a secret blessing of God that their souls are enabled to close with in the enjoyment of the creature in meat and drink and clothes and recreations they finde a secret influence of GOD together with them Take a flower if a flie come to it it cannot get out that good which a Bee can do If we take a flower we can get out the smell but there is a honey dew and if we had that principle a Bee hath we might get out more then the smell So carnal people have many sweet flowers which are pleasant to the smell but there is a honey dew that onely the godly can get out So that he hath not onely the use of all lawful pleasure to the full that any other hath but he can go and take them as his own as those that are purchased by the blood of Christ as those his Father allows him If he see the glory of the creature and delights in it he looks upon it as Gods own delight that he gives him and looks upon all creatures as his Fathers he sees no ground but he says it is his Fathers ground and he sees springs and rivers and delights in the creatures as they are his Fathers A wicked man that takes delight in the creature he travels and walks up and down and sees other creatures but it is as if a man were walking in the Orchard and Garden of his deadly enemy Suppose a man have a deadly enemy and he hath a pleasant garden that hath many fair walks and trees in his garden and he walks in it as others do But where am I now I am walking here and compassed in the garden that is mine enemies and what if he meet me here it may cost me my life And so it is with all carnal men in the world but the people of God enjoy the outward delights of the world and see the sweet walks and delightful pleasures that are here and it is their Fathers garden the garden of him that is their God that they have an interest in so that they have more delight in the creatures then any else Yea not onely so godliness does not only enable to draw more delight from the creatures then others but raises all natural pleasures on high and makes them spiritual it puts a spiritual excellency upon that which is natural it does not rest in having content to the eye or ear or taste in any natural delight but spiritualizeth all there is that vertue in godliness to spiritualize all natural things to raise the excellency of them Yea not onely so but in the last place there is that vertue in godliness to turn all evil into good if it meet with any thing that hath bitterness godliness is like that wood that made the bitter waters sweet it hath that excellency to turn evil and make it not onely profitable but delightful So that all these being put together concerning the commendation of the ways of wisdom we must either put out our eyes or
and danger and hazard himself in joyning with your childe in his affliction and danger you would take it well at his hands Secondly they hold out the honor of God in the world in their sufferings they are Gods witnesses Isaiah 44. 8. They stand for God in appearing therefore for them and their cause ye appear for God himself the cause is yours as well as theirs if God be yours Thirdly they need encouragement especially in the time of their affliction the best have flesh and blood and if they be deserted in their cause much advantage is given to temptation Wo to him that is alone If any should fail if any should miscarry through your deserting or not coming in and joyning with them it will prove a sore and a fearful evil against you If any of Gods servants in affliction shall go to God and make their means to him and in the grief of their souls tell him how you have left them how they are alone in so great a cause whereas such and such might have afforded much help and encouragement surely this will witness fearfully against you and it will go ill with you Certainly you bring much guilt upon your souls in deserting the Saints in the time of their affliction Hence Paul prayed that God would not lay to the charge of those in Asia that left him in his first answer Fourthly not appearing is a betraying the truth It is a speech of Zuinglius in his third Epistle We may as well with Dioclesian worship at the Altar of Jupiter or Venus as hide our faith under Antichrist He that is not with me is against me says Christ Fifthly Christ appears most for his people in their afflictions when they are at the lowest Isaiah 63. 9. In their affliction he was afflicted the Angel of his presence was then with them his love and his pity was towards them he bare them and carried them Psal 69. 9. The Zeal of thine house hath eaten me up the reproaches of them that reproached thee are faln upon me You know the place is spoken of Christ and these words were spoken when the Church was in a very ill case as appears in the Psalm Sixthly times of affliction are the especial times to manifest our true love to the Saints which are near to us in many bonds It is an ill part of a wife or friend to forsake husband or friend when in affliction Josephus reports of Herodias wife to Herod the Tetrarch who when the Emperor had deprived her husband of his Tetrarchy and banished him annexing his Tetrarchy to Agrippa his kingdom understanding that Herodias was Agrippa's sister the Emperor gave her her husbands substance supposing that she would not accompany her husband but she answered the Emperor There is a cause that hinders me from partaking the benefit of your bounty the affection I bear to my husband whom if I should forsake in this his misery it would very ill beseem me in that I have been a partner with him in his felicity the Emperor displeased with her answer banished her likewise with her husband a brother a friend a wife is for the time of adversity Especially hence it is recorded of Davids brethren and fathers house 1 Sam. 22. 1. When David was persecuted and came to the Cave of Adullam when they heard it they went down thither to him they ventured the displeasure the rage of Saul the forfeiting all their estates to go down to David their brother both his father and mother was there though very old now as appears ver 3. Basils forwardness in appearing for his friend in danger mightily affected Chrysostom he tells of him that he hazarded himself much to deliver his friend in danger and being blamed by some for venturing so much he gave this answer I have not learned to love otherwise I know not how to manifest my love but thus Seventhly when Gods people suffer most in Gods cause it is then most honorable to be called forth to appear for it to assist in it Amongst the Persians the left hand is accounted the most honorable Xenophon reports of Cyrus that those whom he honored most he placed at his left hand upon this ground because that hand was weakest and most subject to danger the most honorable of the kingdom were set to defend where there was most weakness and most danger If the people of God be brought low if they be brought under by affliction if the cause of God in them seem to be in danger then to come in and appear to stand by them and for them this is honorable Eighthly this appearing for the Saints and joyning with them in their affliction shall be highly rewarded of God When David was in his affliction persecuted by Saul Abiathar fled to him with the Ephod and abode with him Although self-respects might move him Saul having slain his father and fourscore and four priests of the Lord and if he had not escaped he had gone to it too yet because he was with David in his affliction mark how Solomon respects him for it 1 Kings 2. 26. Thou art worthy of death but I will not put thee to death but go to Anathoth to thine own fields because thou barest the Ark of the Lord God before my father David and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted Josephus reports of Agrippa that being bound with chains and sent to prison by Tiberius for wishing Caius in the Empire one Thaumastus one of Caius his Servants carrying a pitcher of water met him and Agrippa being very thirsty desired him to give him drink which he willingly did upon which Agrippa said This service thou hast done in giving me drink shall do thee good another day afterwards when Caius was Emperor and Agrippa was made King he first begged Thaumastus his liberty of the Emperor and made him a free man then he made him his chief Officer over all his affairs and after his decease he took order he should continue in the same office with his son This Agrippa was a wicked man who thus rewarded him that relieved him in his affliction it was the same Agrippa whom the Angel smote and was eaten up of worms because he gave not glory unto God How much more then will Christ reward those who shall give him in his members cups of water in their affliction yea who shall so joyn with them as to hazard themselves for them surely they shall not go without their reward when Christ comes in his glory he will own them But how must we appear what doth this point require of us First when Gods servants and their cause are accused and condemned you must not be silent you must not let it pass as being afraid to be accounted one belonging to them Luther in an Epistle to Staupitius a German Divine says That when Jesus Christ is condemned and
were these Kenites How long since was his kindeness shewed What was this kindeness For the first The Kenites were the posterity of Jethro Moses his Father in Law this you may see Judges 1. 16. For the second This kindeness was four hundred and twenty years before this time at the least for so long it was from the Children of Israels being then in the wilderness and this time of Sauls reign For the third It is thought of some to be the kinde visit of Iethro visiting his son in law and Israel in the wilderness and besides directing him in a way of government of the people that he might not wear away himself which was a great blessing to Israel at that time And further whereas Moses desired him to go with him to direct him in the way of the wilderness where they should go it is like he did it in part but though he did not stay with him but returned to his Country yet it is probable that some of his children staid and went along with Israel and were helpful to them in their way for Iudges 1. 16. The children of the Kenite are said to go up out of the city of palm-trees with the children of Iudah now this is by Jericho the first City the Israelites took in Cannan as appears Deut. 34. 3. therefore it s like that they accompanied Israel along in the wilderness and so shewed kindeness unto them which the Lord here remembers Ye who are willing to shew kindeness to Gods people in their affliction know there is mercy laid up in store for you and your posterity that childe not yet born may many years hence have the blessing of this your love Let no vain objections therefore no carnal reasonings hinder you in this great and honorable service of Christ for appearing for for defending of rejoycing in the persecuted despised afflicted Saints of God be not ashamed of them look not shy upon them deal not ruggedly with them let your hearts and houses be open to them let their spirits be comforted their bowels be refreshed their names vindicated their cause maintained their persons honored their sorrows eased their burthens lightened by what you have or can do by your selves or others If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies if any hope any desire that Jesus Chirst should know your souls in the day of your adversity fulfil this truth now opened before you applyed unto you this duty urged upon you It may be some of you have been Moses's such as have been drawn out of the water out of great afflictions be you now Moses's to others seek to draw them out if it may be howsoever to relieve and help them while they are in the waters and the blessing not of Moses but of Jesus Christ the mighty Savior the great stander up for and comforter of his people in times of straights be upon you CHAP. XIX Enjoyment of communion with Gods people is worth the enduring much affliction WE are now come to the sixth doctrinal Point that we have here in this part of Moses choice That the enioyment of communion with Gods people is worth the enduring of a great deal of affliction Moses chooses to suffer affliction with the people of God he saw they were Gods people and that it was a good thing to be with them and therefore rather then he would not be with them he was content to lose all the honors of Pharaohs Court and put himself under the sorest affliction that he could meet withal nothing should hinder him from joyning with them In the worst times of the Church wherein the hardest things were to be suffered in joyning with Gods people yet even then would those who had gracious hearts choose to be with them upon the hardest terms rather then to be from them with all outward ease and carnal delight It was a very ill time when there was a separation between the ten Tribes and the rest when the ten Tribes left the Temple left the Ordinances of God and followed after Jeroboam this was a very hard time and the rather because Jeroboam set watchers to observe who would go from him unto Judah to joyn with Gods people there for there remained the true Church And this is the meaning of that place Hos 5. 1. Hear ye this O Priests and hearken ye house of Israel and give ye ear O house of the king for judgement is towards you because you have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor Now these two places were places that were between Samaria the ten Tribes and Jerusalem whosoever should go from them to Ierusalem to joyn with Gods people there in the true worship of God those that were set at Mizpah and Tabor would spy them and so they were ready to be taken This was the hard condition of Gods people then and they did mightily scorn at those that would go to Jerusalem to worship and to joyn with them in that way of worship And therefore Amaziah said to Amos Chap. 7. ver 12. O thou Seer go flee thee away into the land of Judah and there eat bread and prophesie there as if Amaziah should say Judah is a fitter place for you then this you are so precise and strict you had need be gone to Judah we are Idolaters here and no true Church but in Judah such as you are had better be gone to Judah And so it is usual for those that are carnal and prophane to scorn at those that are godly Yet though things were so hard in these times that there were watches and spies set to watch over them and they did contemn those that did look towards Judah yet those that were godly would not be discouraged but would go and joyn with Gods people notwithstanding all this and therefore you have it in 2 Chron. 11. 16. what was the way of Gods servants in that time when it was such a difficult thing to joyn with Gods people All such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel there were a company of them that would stay in Samaria that might have good wishes that times were better and things were better but would not suffer any thing to go and joyn with Gods people where they might have the Ordinances in a pure maner but all such as set their hearts to seek the Lord and resolved whatsoever came of it they would have God in the purity of his Ordinances they went up to Jerusalem And So it was in the Primitive times they were very hard times for Gods people and the people of God and Christians were discovered by their meetings together if so be all of them would have separated one from another and kept their Religion to themselves they might not have been discovered but though it were with hazard of their lives they would joyn together and meet together and
and so the melodious sound to the ear first we are ravished with it but when we are used to it it is nothing and so for the taste the taste of sweet things is mightily pleasant to us at first but afterward it is no more pleasing to us then the taste of ordinary mean fare is to poor people who have as much content in their mean fare as rich men in their delicious fare because rich men are used to such delicious things but this is the excellency of Gods maner of communication of himself to his people hereafter they shall be to all eternity as exactly and fully sensible of the glory of heaven as they were in the first moment they came into it The sixth difference between Gods communication of himself to us here and hereafter is here we have much good from God but much good is in the habits and is not always in action there are many habits of grace that are not always acting fully but sometime the act of one habit is called forth and sometime the act of another but here is the blessedness of Gods people there shall be no habits lying still no instant but every minute to all eternity they shall act to the utmost of them so far as may any way conduce to their happiness for the end of the habit it is action and in the enjoyment of our happiness we shall ever be enjoying to the full the highest and last ends and therefore there shall always be the utmost activity of the habits of grace There is a necessity here of cessation of actions because we grow weary quickly of any action though it be a gracious action we must unstring our bows and cease that some actions may give way to others for the heart to be always up it is not able to bear it but then there shall be no need of any cessation any moment Again here we are not able to exercise our selves in the works of God without some difficulty there is difficulty in raising our hearts unto any thing that is good and to keep our hearts up but hereafter there shall be that communication of God unto his people that they shall be exercised about the highest things in the highest maner without any difficulty but as freely and readily and fully as the Sun shines the Sun does shine without any difficulty and the fish draws in water without difficulty so there shall be that perfect working of the soul about the highest object without any difficulty or labor Again here in this world there cannot be an intention in one faculty but it does hinder the intention in another as if man speak to me and I be intent in looking upon an object I do not hear him that speaketh and so in all faculties the intention of one faculty does hinder the intention of another but in Heaven all the faculties of the soul shall be intens'd to the highest intention and the intention of the one shall not hinder the intention of the other Again the good we receive here is in the root in the promise in election in great part but that we shall have hereafter shall be in the fruit in the actual communication of God as before all our actings shall be acted upon God so all the good shall not be contained in the root of his electing love or in the promise but shall be in actual communication Again here we receive many mercies from God that we do not understand our selves that we know but little of we do not see into the large extent of the mercy that we have from God but there we shall have no mercy from God but we shall know it fully in all the circumstances of it in all the principles of it and in all the appertainances that do any way concern the mercy we have and we shall know the issue of it and the like Again here we receive great mercies from God and we know not how to manage them Gods mercies lie and sowre in us we turn our mercies many times into afflictions for want of skill but hereafter we shall have the full improvement of all mercy that we receive from God Again here we see and desire many good things that we do not enjoy and possess but hereafter we shall see no good nor desire any good nor will any good but we shall have it And as God said concerning the Land of Canaan unto the children of Israel in Deut. 11. 24. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours so in heaven whatsoever the Saints see they shall have Here we may will a thing and will it lawfully and yet it may be cross unto Gods secret will and it shall never come to pass the reason is because the rule of our wills is Gods Commandment and not his secret will as David did will to build God a house and God commends him for it and yet God did not will it And a childe may will the life of his parent and yet God may will his parent shall not live and yet he is not to be blamed because he wills according to the rule but hereafter God shall so far reveal his will to us and our wills shall be so fully united to God that there shall not be the least crossing between any thing that we will and that God wills Again here it is one especial excellency of the work of grace for us to keep in our hearts and affections to restrain them that they be not let out too far in that we do enjoy but hereafter when we come to the recompence of reward we shall not need keep in our hearts we shall have liberty to let them out Object But we may not let out our hearts too much upon the Saints to love them above God Ans Then we shall love nothing but in God all shall be swallowed up in God himself that we shal not need fear the letting out of our hearts to the utmost Though I may love the creature yet I may let out my heart fully upon it because I love it onely in God Here many times a thing is more prized before we have it and when we come to enjoy it we do not see so much excellency upon it and so do less prize it but though we may set a prize upon Heaven and say O the blessed time when we come there we shall infinitely more prize it and rejoyce in it then we can here Yet further here we can enjoy nothing that we can be so certain of but that we can lose it wholly or in some part but the Saints of God hereafter shall be so certain of that they have in enjoyment that they shall not lose any thing of it in the least degree Lastly that we have from God here is mediately conveyed through many Channels through the Pipes of Creatures and Ordinances but that we shall have hereafter shall be