to sufferings The greater the thing is the more requisite is the Preparation Suffering is a great thing hard to Sense harsh to Flesh and Blood It may be it takes away the worldly Goods which are dear to men it may be it comes neerer and touches the Bone and the Flesh which is dearer then outward things It may be it goes further and treads down the precious Life which is highly valuable Nature in the best shrinks and flies away from such things as these and supernatural Graces and Assistances lift up men above themselves they will never bear them In such a case as this we have need to put on all our Spiritual Armor not this or that piece only but all of it and not only to put it on but to gird it on too All will be little enough to make us stand in the evil day Again the more excellent a thing is the more requisite is the Preparation Suffering for Christ is the excellency of a Christian the top and Complement of all his Graces Faith cannot rise higher Love cannot shew it self better than in this No Profession of Christianity is so high nor Imitation of Christ so full as that which is made in blood Here is the Christians consummatum est his work is done and Heaven opens to receive him into glory And how should we prepare our Souls and gird up the Loins of our Minds that we may be capable of that which is the highest Stature of a Christian in this World and the neerest capacity to a better This Preparation is of very great moment to Christians Upon their having or not having of it depends their Happiness or Misery He that is prepared for Sufferings come what will come is a happy man if sufferings do not come he is yet a Martyr in mind and purpose God sees the suffering frame that is in him his willing mind is accepted as much as if his blood were actually Shed and being ready to dye for Christ he is ready to live with him in Heaven If Sufferings come he is provided for then St. Paul was ready to be bound and die for the name of Jesus Polycarpe when threatned with Various deaths made this reply Quid tardas Why dost thou delay Inflict what thou wilt The prepared Christian is ready for all the Will of God which is an happiness that no Suffering can interrupt He is in a posture to overcome all the World and he will do it The very Pagan Emperors did observe the primitive martyrs to be Victors in death It is said of the Martyr Vincentius Magd. hist cent 4. cap. 12. that according to his name he overcame in Words and overcame in Punishments overcame in Confession and overcame in Tribulation overcame in Fire and over came in Water overcame Living and overcame Dying The prepared Christian is a Vincent a Conquerer of the World his Love is above the smiles of it his Fear above the Terrors of it Nay he is more than a Conqueror he overcomes by suffering and lives by death nay being dead he yet speaks forth the truth he suffered for and propagates it to all posterity Neither need we wonder at this Conquest he is not alone but hath God with him And as the Emperor Antoninus Verus said of the Primitive Christians He carries God about with him in conscience and where God is there must be happiness in the most afflicted Condition the whole sacred Trinity are present with him the everlasting Father will strengthen him the Son will walk with him in the fiery Furnace the holy Spirit will come to him with all his cordials Stephen was never so full of it as when he was stoned Hist mag Cent. 2. The Martyr Felicitas professed to her Persecutor That she had the holy Spirit in her The prepared Christian hath a Spirit of Power in Infirmities a Spirit of Glory in Reproaches a Spirit of Comfort in Distresses There are no such rich Anointings as those that wait upon the Cross of Christ At other times a Christian hath some measures of the Spirit but then he hath such large effusions of it that no Sufferings can make him miserable The Clouds without cannot break the serenity in his Conscience the noise of a troublesome World cannot interrupt that Divine Peace which keeps his heart no malice of man can hinder the sheddings of Gods Love into him no wants or exigencies can deprive him of the hidden Manna promised to the Overcomer he is happy even in a Vale of Tears And what will he be in Heaven There his reward will be great nay greater than that of others On the other hand he that is not propared for Sufferings is a miserable man He hath a Name of Religion and that 's all a Notion of the Gospel but without a Root he hath a false Christ that is a Christ without a Cross but the right Christ he knowes not a pretence to Heaven he hath but he is not in a posture for it neither will he go thither in an hard way If Sufferings come he is snared as Fishes in an evil Net the surprize will rob him of that which he seems to have he will not have so much as the Name or notion of Religion left Christ will be an Offence or stumbling-Block to him Heaven it self will not be worth suffering for Thus those of the Stony ground received the word with joy but because their hearts were not ready for it as soon as Persecution arose they were offended Magd. hist Cent. 2. cap. 3. Thus it was observed among the Primitive Christians that the unready and unprepared did faint and fall in time of Persecution The Cup of Sufferings is bitter Nature starts at it The unprepared Christian rather than drink it will in all likelihood turn Apostate in the day of trial prosperous error will be embraced by him before persecuted Truth Idolatary with the World will goe down better than the pure Worship without it Christ coming in Poverty and Tribulation will be forsaken Antichrist appearing in the Pomp and outward greatness of the World will be followed Meer Vanity will outweigh all the great offers of the Gospel a Soul and a God will be laid at stake for a little outward prosperity And what a forlorn Condition is this And without Repentance how dismal must the end be The Good God whom he hath forsaken will depart from him Jesus Christ the Saviour will cast him out a curse a blast will be upon his Prosperity a sting and a wound in Conscience will make him weary of himself in a word he will become loathsome to God Men and himself Cypr. de Lapsis It is storied That in the third Century the tokens of Gods wrath came in an extraordinary way upon those Christians that fell off in time of Persecution some of them were struck dumb some vexed with Devils some tormented in their bowels unto Death and though not in these wayes yet in other
land of Promise Such speculative conceits of the Food of Life as we may find in the Schoolmen are of as little force to inflame our hearts with longing after that Heavenly Kingdom as Poetical Descriptions of far Countries are to make us undertake their Conquest We must have Knowledge and Sense Phil. 1.9 Theory and Experience too to make us stand in the evil day we must tast and see that the Lord is gracious that we may be able to suffer for him A spiritual relish of the sweet streams of Grace that flow from him is a choice preparative to make us take and drink of the bitter Cup. Gotteschalcus suffered a close imprisonment for twenty years together meerly for preaching up the Doctrine of Grace and it is without question that he had not a meer Notion but an experimental taste of it in his Suffering Many have the Knowledge of Christ in a way of Speculation but we must have the Savour of his Sweet Ointments upon our heart that we may follow him into Suffering We had need feel the sweetness of his blood in the calms of Conscience that we may Shed our own blood for him Let us not content our selves to have Christ only in our Bibles but endeavor to have a proof of him in our Hearts a proof of his sweet-smelling Sacrifice in our inward peace a proof of his rich Anointings in our supplies of Grace The experience of Christ in us is a strong encouragement to suffer for him He that hath a Christ only in Notion will fall off from him but he that hath a tried Christ will hardly leave him 4. It must be a Knowledge practical and operative in the life that will prepare us for suffering A meer notional Knowledge of Christ is not a right one He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him 1. Joh. 2.4 Such an one contradicts himself his Conversation gives the lie to his Profession the Truth is not in him in a practical way his Knowledge is but a Flash a vanishing Vapor that gives no vital influence to his life he will not do other Commands much less will he take up the Cross which is a Command more grievous to Sense then others are He that would be prepared for Sufferings must labor for such a knowledge as gives a proof of itself in holy Obedience Doing is a good preparative for suffering he that sincerely doth other Commands will take up his Cross too that being a Command as well as others He that indeed is subject to Gods commanding Will will be subject to his disposing one too which orders the coming of the cross to us It is the active Christian that will if occasion serve be passive Our Saviour Christ doth notably set forth what kind of Christians will stand in time of Persecution and what will fall He that heareth his sayings and doth them builds upon the rock and when the storm comes he stands fast because he is founded upon the Rock Math. 7.24.25 that is he is founded upon Christ by Faith and Ocedience and in the Storm he continues upon him by Patience the Rock bears him up as a part of itself But he that heareth Christs sayings and doth them not builds upon the sand and when the storm comes he fals Vers 26 27. Because he is upon the Sand he hath no true Foundation for his Religion he never did dig deep enough to come to Self-denial and therefore in the Storm his fall is very great he and his Religion utterly perish as when a house is broke up from the very Foundation or a Tree is blown up by the Roots Therefore if we would stand firm and unmovable in a Storm let us labor to have Such a lively and operative Knowledge of Christ as may diffuse itself into an universal Obedience to his precepts He that enures himself to do the Will of God will be ready when the Cross comes to take it up and say This is the Will of God too and must be done To conclude that we may have this excellent Knowledge we must not only read the holy Scriptures but with Zuinglius look up to Heaven for that holy Spirit that is able to lead us into all Truth and to seal it upon our hearts for ever CHAP. VII The fourth direction for Suffering is pretious Faith This hath a triple respect arespect to God his providence Power and Grace Arespect to Christ as a propitiation a Pattern an Head and Helper Arespect to the Promises the Promises of Gods Presence the Promises of Confirmation the Promises of a good Issue THe fourth Direction is this if we would be in a fit posture for Suffering we must labour after a pretious Faith A Dogmatical Faith will not do it the Devil himself who is the Chief Agent in Persecution hath such a Faith neither will a temporary Faith do it this is but a meer blossom that fals off in a storm of Persecution it must be a pretious Faith a Furnace Faith that will endure the fiery Trial This is the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shield like a door broad enough to cover the Soul and all its Graces Eph. 6.16 this is to be taken above all other pieces of Spiritual Armor it is eminent among the Graces as the Sun is among the Planets It is the great conquering Grace all other Graces act in conjunction with it In the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews stiled by some the little Book of Martyrs the Saints are brought in doing and suffering great things but all is ascribed to Faith as the captain-Captain-grace of all the rest the first mover to other Graces It works by Love and not only so but by Meekness Obedience Patience running like blood and Spirits in every part of the New-creature Faith hath a triple respect to God to Christ to the Promises and in each of these it is of singular use in order to sufferings 1. Faith hath a respect to God it makes its approaches to him nay it fixes the the Soul in him as in its Center Hence it is that the righteous fears no evil tidings because his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 112.7 The word rowles about but he by faith stands fast in the unmoveable God Hence it is that the Church becomes unmoveable too God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved Psal 46.5 There are three things in God which Faith fixes upon in order to pious Suffering 1. Faith fixes upon his Providence The Stoick could say That there was no living in a World empty of God and Providence Much more may the Christian that is tossed up and down in a persecuting World say so But his Faith tels him that persecution comes not by Chance Man rages but God reigns The World is as a tempestuous Sea but God sits at the Sterne and governs all He limits the fury of Persecutors the wrath of man shall praise him
him To adhere to his Atonement is peace and comfort to adhere to his Words is to keep the way of life to adhere to his Treasures of Grace is to have continual influences of grace from him And how can we chuse but adhere to him St. Paul counted all things dross and dung for him Phil. 3.8 St. Cyprian in his Exhortation to Martyrdome gives this as one rule that we should nihil Christo praeponere prefer nothing before Christ To esteem any thing better then him is the way to turn Apostate but to esteem him better then all is the way to stand in a day of Trial. 2. Love to Christ stands in holy desires after him it causes a man to long and faint for him and as one in extremity to cry out Give me Christ or else I dye Without the laver of his blood I dye in my sins without the supplies of his Grace I dye in my wants O! that I may have him the Spouse in the Canticles was sick of Love languishing and ready to fall into a Spiritual Swoon with her passionate desires after him and his gratious Presence nothing in all the World could cure or satisfie her but his all-desirable self That soul that truly desireth Christ doth not desire aliud praeter illum aliud tanquam illum aliud post illum any thing besides him any thing equally to him any thing after him Such an ardor and holy flame of Love as this is is an extatical thing it makes a man go out of himself to seek after him it will sell all for him and like those virgin souls Revel 14.4 follow him whithersoever he goeth not only into the Banqueting-house of Ordinances but into Sufferings and Afflictions for him The Martyr Gordius had such an ardent Love to Christ Magd. hist Cent. 4. cap. 12. that he was ready to suffer mille mortes a thousand deaths for the name of Jesus Christ O let us Labour to have our hearts kindled and inflamed with holy desires after him that we may be able to stand and endure the fiery trial 3. Love to Christ stands in an holy Complacence in him it makes the soul enjoy a kind of heaven in his Presence and delight itself in his satisfying Sweetness The Spouse in the Canticles was ravished and as it were swallowed up in him the savour of his sweet Ointments lay upon her heart his Love was better to her then all the Wine of the World she sat under the broad shadow of his Merits with great delight Pardons and Graces dropping down from the Tree of Life upon her he is in her eyes totus desideria all loves or desires every thing in him hath a divine sweetness in it This spiritual joy and delight in Christ our Saviour is an excellent preparative in order to suffering The Church will have him lie all night between her breasts Cant. 1.13 all night that is in times of fear and temptation that his presence may sweeten the bitterest condition to her The Cross of Jesus if we tast the sweetness of it will turn a Marah into joy and comfort Tua praesentia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit thy presence O Lord made the tormenting Gridiron sweet to St. Lawrence saith an Ancient Philip Lantgrave of Hesse being a long time Prisoner under Charles the fifth felt the divine consolations of Martyrs supporting of him O let us labor to tast more of the sweetness of Christ to find his blood in every Pardon his Spirit in every Grace his Wine-cellar in every Ordinance that the Divine Comforts that we experimentally feel in him may sweeten the Cross to us 4. Love to Christ stands in an holy Benevolence towards him it surrenders up the whole man to him it endeavours to serve and honour him to the utmost Thus those many thousands cry out worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Rev. 5.11 12. they give all to Christ This is an excellent Preparative for Suffering If we would serve him in other things we must serve him in suffering for him if we would honour him in obedience to other Commands we must honour him in taking up the Cross too St. Paul desired that Christ might be magnified in his body whether it were by life or by death Phil. 1.20 If he lived he would magnifie Christ by Active Obedience and if he died he would do it by Passive Either way he would have Christ glorified in him Tot laudant-ora quot sunt vulnera Magd. hist Cent. 4. cap. 12. The Martyr Romanus having a multitude of wounds in his body thanked the Persecutor for opening so many mouths to glorify Christ In nothing is Christ so much glorified as in his suffering Saints therein they demonstrate the highest Love Seal up the Evangelical Truths with their own blood practically prefer Christ before all the World and offer up themselves for him who gave himself a Sacrifice for them O let us labor to make a total resignation of our selves to him that if sufferings come we may be able to bear them for his sake CHAP. IX The sixth Direction for suffering is a lively hope of eternal Life Hope assures us that there is another World that the good things of it exceed those of this that we have an interest in them Hope disposes us for them Hope waits for them unto the end THe sixth Direction is this If we would be in a fit posture for suffering we must get a lively hope of eternal Life As our life is a Sea Hope is compared to an Anchor which makes us stand steady in a storm As our life is a warfare Hope is compared to an Helmet which covers the soul in times of danger As the body liveth Spirando by breathing so the Soul lives Sperando by hoping A man cannot drown so long as his head is above water Hope lifts up the head and looks up to the Redemption and Salvation that is to come in another World in its fulness and perfection Hope doth three things it assures good things to come it disposes us for them it waits for them unto the end Each of which will be of singular use to fit us for pious Sufferings 1. Hope assures good things to come It is called the Hope of Salvation Thessal 5.8 the hope of Glory Rom. 5.2 the hope of eternal Life Tit. 1.2 because it assures these things To this I shall speak in three Particulars 1. Hope assures us that there is another World called in Scripture the World to come without this there can be no foundation for pious Suffering no man can freely part with this World unless he be assured of another If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 Miserable indeed to be persecuted out of one World and to have never another to go to If Christians were in as dark a case
Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame Let us consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest we be weary and faint in our minds Hebr. 12.2 3. The noble Alzearius being asked Arr. Tact. 161. how he could so patiently bear injuries answered thus Converto me ad injurias Christi I turn me to the injuries done to my Saviour We must look to Christ's Cross that we may bear our own it being now no longer meer suffering but sanctified by the sufferings of our Saviour 3. Faith looks to Christ as an Head and Helper He is not a meer Pattern but an Head and Helper too Were there no other supporting Grace for the Saints but that little in their own bosome they might expect to fail in the Trial but there is an inexhaustible Fountain of Grace in their Head in Heaven and that will bear them up in all their Sufferings This made St. Paul glory in Persecutions because the Power of Christ would rest upon him and when he was weak in himself he was strong in that 2. Cor. 12.9 10. St. Cyprian speaking of Christ in the Martyrs saith Qui pro nobis mortem semel vicit Epist 9. ad Mort. semper vincit in nobis he that once overcame death for us alwais overcomes it in us This the Martyr Blandina though weak in body found by experience being bore up in the midst of Torments by the Power of Christ Euseb L. 5. cap. 1. and finding a fresh refreshment as often as she said Christiana sum I am a Christian The same was seen in the Martyr Sanctus who bore various Torments above all humane Strength because he was bedewed and confirmed out of the Celestial Fountain of living water flowing down from Christ Whatever thou doest O Christian be sure to apply thy self by Faith unto the neverfailing Fountain of Grace in him that thou mayst have such Supplies of Grace as may bear thee up in an evil day 3. Faith hath a respect to the Promises These are the Breasts of Consolation the Channels in which the Grace in Gods heart flows down to the Sons of men Here the Christian may provide himself with Cordials against the time of suffering I shall here only mention three kinds of Promises for Faith to live upon in a day of Trial. 1. Faith must live upon the Promises of Gods gratious Presence God tels his People that he will be with them in the fire and in the water Esay 43.2 that is in all danger and calamities whatsoever neither shall this Presence be for a little time only but constant and perpetual He will never leave them nor forsake them Hebr. 13.5 This is a choice comfort to good men that in Tribulations they are not left alone but God is with them St. Paul had experience of this all men forsook him but God stood with him and strengthned him 2. Tim. 4.16 17. The Presence of God was to him more then a World and able to support him against all his Adversaries St. Cyprian speaking of the Martyrs in his time Epist 9. saith That God was not a meer spectator in their sufferings but ipse luctatur in nobis ipse concongreditur ipse in certamine coronat pariter coronatur he strives in us he encounters our adversaries he crowns us in the Battel and is himself crowned therein Let us therefore by Faith rest upon the promise of Gods Presence and assure our hearts that he will be with us in our Suffering All the Promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ and his being Immanuel God with us in the humane Nature is a Pledge to the Saints that God will be with them in their Sufferings for him 2. Faith must live up on the promises of Confirmation The Apostle tels the Corinthians That God shall confirm them unto the end and adds this as a reason God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 1.89 God doth as it were pawn his faithfulness upon it that they being once brought into union with Christ shall never fall off but be confirmed unto the end The gates of hell shall never prevail against them they shall be kept through faith unto salvation nay and their Faith shall be kept too Christ did not only pray for Peter that his Faith fail not but he prays so for all the faithful Oh how comfortable are such promises to the Saints Let us by faith lay up these rich Cordials in our hearts to keep up from fainting in Persecution 3. Faith must live upon the Promises of a good Issue All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to his people Psal 23.10 All things shall work together for their good Rom. 8.28 Persecutions and all God alters the property of his Peoples Afflictions and by an Almighty Alchimy turns Dross into Gold he makes persecution turn to the refining of the Saints Graces and to the glorifying of his own great name O! what great good things doth he bring out of evil How much of his Love and faithfulness may be seen in the Cross Let us therefore fix our hearts upon such promises that passing through the fiery Trial we may see the good end the Lord makes of it CHAP. VIII The fift Direction for Suffering is Love to God and Christ Love to God such as value him desire him delight in him and will and endeavour to serve and honour him Love to Christ such as value him desire him delight in him and will and endeavour to serve and honour him THe fist Direction is this if we would be in a fit posture for suffering we must get a sincere Love to God and Christ St. De Civit. Lib. 14. cap. 28. Austin saith That two Loves made two Cities the Love of self made the Earthly City the Love of God makes the Heavenly one the persecutor dwels in the one and the Martyr in the other There is an assimilating efficacy in Love whereby it casts the mind into the Mould of the thing beloved Siterram amas terra es si Deum quidni dicerem Deus es Aug. If thou love Earth thou art Earth if thou Love God thou art partaker of the Divine Nature and dost resemble God himself The greatest impediment to pious suffering is the Love of the World and self and the greatest preparative to it is the Love of God and Christ I shall first speak of love to God as a preparative thereunto and then of Love to Christ as such 1. Love to God is a preparative to suffering If we love him above all things no outward Object will draw us from him if we love him with all the heart no inward Lust will make us fall from him Love to him stands in four things each of which will dispose us to suffer for him 1. Love to him stands in an high
him The more we act our Love Meekness Mercy Goodness or any Grace the more we are united to him and incorporated with him nay true Obedience makes us to be of neer alliance to him When our Saviour was told that his Mother and Brethren stood without to see him his answer was My Mother and my Brethren are those which hear the word of God and do it Luke 8.20 21. St. Ambrose upon these words tels us In Lucam cap. 8. Religiosiores copulae mentium quam corporum the conjunction of Minds is more sacred than that of Bodies The Obedient Christian is Brother to Christ being born of the same holy Spirit in Regeneration of which he was conceived in his Incarnation nay he is Mother to Christ bringing him forth in the exercise of holy Graces somewhat of the Love Mercy Piety Meekness of Christ is still a coming forth from him In both these respects doth obedience dispose us to suffering the more we grow up into Christ the Head the more Divine Power and Virtue we have from him our chief strength lies not in our selves but in our Head we may do nay and suffer any thing through him strengthning us And the more we are allied to him the more we are bound to adhere to him Our supernatural Birth obliges us to live to him nay and if need be to die for him and we are to bring him forth not only in other holy Virtue but in that of Patience St. Paul bore about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus 2 Cor. 4.10 and the Allies of Christ must be ready at Gods call to suffer with him 4. True Obedience produces an increase of Grace and spiritual Strength Obedience is a Christians daily walk the more he exercises himself to Godliness the more grace he hath in his Soul That Faith which was but as a little grain of Mustard-seed becomes a Tree spreading itself forth at last as high as assurance That love which was as a little spark raked up in the ashes comes to be a vehement Flame aspiring after the fruition of God in Heaven That Hope which was but a poor weak thing in the Soul comes to have more liveliness and supernatural stature The path of the just which is in obedience is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day in heaven Prov. 4.18 The more a Christian exercises himself in Obedience the stronger he grows in the Inner-man of a Plant he comes to be a Tree of Righteousness of a Babe he comes to be a Man in Christ His vital Principles become more strong his supernatural hear increased he holds on his way of Obedience and so grows stronger and stronger Job 17.9 Such an Obedience as this admirably Disposes a man for suffering The greater his stock of Grace is the better will he hold out in the straits of the World The more strength he hath in the inner-man the more able he will be to bear the burden of the Cross If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small Prov. 24.10 Great strength will keep a man from fainting When the Children of Israel were come to be above six hundred thousand Numb 1.46 it was a great encouragement to make them go on gallantly against their Enemies And when Christians have their Graces multiplied and among the rest Patience comes to be all Patience as the expression is Col. 1.11 it gives them spirit and life to bear sufferings 5. True obedience obtains the gracious Presence of God to help and comfort good men in the doing his Will The Rabbins say That if two sit together conferring about the Law the Shechinah is among them I may say if one single Christian be a doing of Gods will the Divine Presence is with him Thus our Saviour saith If any man love him and keep his words the Father and the Son will come and make their abode with such an one John 14.23 Such an one hath a Shechinah in his heart God will be there helping and comforting of him Whilst he is a doing of Gods will strength will come in as it did to the Levites 1. Chron. 15.26 and not only strength but comfort too In keeping his commands there is great reward some of the oyl of Joy which is upon Christ the great doer of Gods will drops down upon good men in their sincere obedience they have an inward peace and joy unspeakeable In this respect obedience prepares the heart of Christians to endure suffering An obedient Christian can argue thus with himself I have found Gods gracious Presence strengthning and comforting me in the doing of his will much more shall I have it when I come to suffer and part with all for his sake When all forsook St. Paul yet the Lord stood with him and strengthned him 2 Tim. 4.16.19 When Mr. Sanders was examined about his Religion he was wonderfully comforted and received a tast of the Communion of Saints a pleasant refreshing did issue from every part of his Body to his heart and from thence into all parts again Cicely Ormes was filled with such joy and comfort that at the kindling of the fire she said My soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour O let us firmly conclude this with our selves that God will not leave or forsake his people no not at other times much less will he do it in the time of Fiery Trials Then they shall have strength and comfort in a more than ordinary way enough to make them to triumph over their Sufferings or at leastwise to bear them with Patience 6. True Obedience is the way to Heaven Those blessed ones that do the commands of God have right to the Tree of Life and enter in through the gates into the City Rev. 22.14 The more obedient a man is to the Divine Will the richer entrance he hath into the blessed Kingdom After sowing to the Spirit comes the Crop of Eternal Glory after walking in holy Obedience comes the blessed end of Life and Immortality In this respect Obedience fits us for Sufferings A man that is in the way to Hell is not capable of suffering it is not imaginable that a man should bear Reproach for Christ who hath no hope of Glory or that he should part with his Treasure here who hath none in Heaven or that he should lay down his Life Temporal who hath no right to an Eternal one or that he should let go his Portion of good in this World who hath none in another But the Obedient Christian who is in the way to Heaven is in a capacity to suffer any thing that meets him in the passage thither Reproaches may come but he is going to shine in glory Worldly Goods may be spoiled but he hath an Inheritance incorruptible that fadeth not away Temporal Life may be lost but in the very instant there begins an Eternal one with the blessed God in Heaven he may by
may be considered in that which it doth with respect to God and here are three things to be taken notice of 1. Patience subjects the soul to the will of God when the Cross comes the patient Christians will with Aaron hold their peace or if they speak they will do it in some such language as that of Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Patience will instruct them to lye in the lowest posture of Humility and to argue the matter with themselves in this manner Is God the Rector of the World and shall we not subject to him His Presence is in all his Power is over all his Wisdom and Righteousness orders all who can stay his hand or say to him what dost thou or call him to give account of any of his matters To strive with him is folly to murmur at any piece of his Government is Rebellion to think that things might have been better is to blaspheme his wise and just Providence And is he the Father of Spirits and shall we not be under him We give reverence to the Fathers of our flesh and how much thers should we be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live Our Saviour Christ who suffered for us to sweeten sufferings to us argued thus with himself The Cup that my Father hath given me shall I not drink it John 18.11 After his pattern we should submit our selves to suffering remembring that though it come through bloody hands to us yet it is ordered by the Father of Spirits nay and by the Father of Mercies too who assures us That all things even Afflictions among the rest shall work together for good In those very sufferings in which man is cruel God will be merciful While the world hates and persecutes us God will embrace us in the Arms of his Love and carrie us through the Cross to the Crown of Glory Upon such accounts as these Patience doth subject the Soul unto the Cross Our Saviour the Mirror of Patience being to drink up the cup of Wrath expresses himself thus not my will but thine be done Luke 22.42 His will was swallowed up in his Fathers St. Ambrose in his Commentary on those words gives us this excellent note Disce Deo esse subjectus ut non quod ipse vis eligas sed quod Deo scias esse placiturum Learn to be subject to God that thou mayst not chuse what thou wouldest but what thou knowest to be pleasing to God Patience teaches us to be pleased with Gods pleasure and to will every thing not as it is in our own will but as it is in Gods 2. Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the Cross and for a good issue out of it We have both these promised in that of the Apostle God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape 1 Cor. 10.13 In the first Clause we have a Promise of strength proportionable to the Temptation in the last we have a Promise of a good issue out of it First Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the Cross this is the right Method of obtaining strength Wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen thy heart Psalm 27.14 Strength comes in a way of dependance upon God St. Austin speaks of a double patience De patientiâ cap. 15. there is patientia superborum the patience of the proud and patientia pauperum the patience of the poor humble Soul The one waits upon the will of man the other upon the Grace of God True Patience knows that it is God only that can strengthen the Inner man by his Spirit Eph. 3.16 No other but his glorious power can strengthen with all might unto all patience Col. 1.11 De Martyr form 5. Notable is that of St. Austin Haec est vox Martyrum omniatolerare de se nihil praesumere This is the voice of the Martyrs to bear every thing and to presume of themselves nothing Thus the noble Martyr Potamenia Spondan Annal. An. 310. being threatned to be cast into a Vessel of burning Pitch begged that she might not be cast in all at once but piece-meal that they might see how much Patience the unknown Christ had given to her True patience waits upon God for strength but this is not all it also waits upon God for a good issue out of the suffering Salvation belongs unto the Lord and he gives many good issues to his suffering people If they have an encrease of Graces and Comforts that 's one good issue If they hold out and persevere to the end that 's another good issue If by death they pass from the Cross to the Crown from a Temporal Life to an Eternal one that 's the best issue of all For such issues as these do patient Souls wait till the Lord put an end to all their troubles 3. Patience produces spiritual joy and praise This is the difference between Philosophical Patience and Christian Patience Philosophical may bear adversity but Christian hath joy in the bearing of it It was the ancient custome of the Primitive Christians to have often in their mouths Aust in P. l. 132. Deo gratias God be thanked for this mercy and for that mercy The patient Christian that looks upon the good issues of suffering may sit down and sing Deo gratias not to Blessings only but to Afflictions also Job being stript of all cried out The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1.21 St. Austin speaking of Job observes That when he had nothing of outward things yet there were Gemmae laudis Dei Aust de Temp. Ser. 105. the Jewels of the Praise of God found with him Suffering Saints have so much of the Love of God shed abroad in their hearts that they have praemium ante praemium a lesser Heaven before a greater St. Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I super abound or overflow in joy in all our Tribulations 2 Cor. 7.4 The gracious Presence of God did not only cause joy but the overflowing of it in his heart St. James saith to the seattered Christians Count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations Jam. 1 2. That is when ye fall into Afflictions for the Gospel All joy How can poor afflicted Souls reckon thus In the Trial their Graces appear in their pure beauty Strength is made perfect in Weakness Consolations abound as much nay more than Afflictions the beams of Divine Love irradiate the heart and fill it with a sweet serenity Hope enters Heaven and fixes upon the Crown of Life and Heaven comes down in a Spirit of Glory upon the heart Here is joy all joy indeed the total sum of it in this life is made up in these things It was the saying of the Martyr Mr. Philpot That to dye for Christ is the greatest Promotion that God can bring any
as suffering for God is He that hath sin reigning in his Heart will comply with it reigning in the World he that carrieth an Idol within will fall down to an outward one Such an one will do any thing rather than suffer The power of sin must be broken that a man may be ready to take up the Cross Further the Heart that it may be good must not only be purged from sin but furnished with Principles of Grace The old Heart will not Hear or Pray or give Almes or do any thing for God in a right manner much less will it suffer for him A man must have gracious Principles such as holy Knowledg Faith Fear Love Zeal Hope Humility Obedience and Patience are that he may be ready for suffering There is a double preparation for it Habitual and Actual Habitual stands in the having those principles and actual in the using of them He that hath them hath a Divine temper disposing him for every piece of the Divine Will he is in the frame of his Heart above Creatures and hath no Center but in his Creator he is higher than Time and this lower World and lies upon the Borders of Heaven and Eternity His great Concerns are not in the Smiles and Frowns of men but in the Will and Favour of God His fear is of greater evil than the World can inflict and his expectation is of greater good than the World can bestow His Principles make him habitually ready for Suffering and when occasion comes the use of them will make him actually so Such an one may say at the fiery Trial as the famous Jerom of Prage did when the Wood was laid to him Salve festa dies Welcome thou joyful day of suffering for Christ This is the second thing we must secure good Hearts 3. We must secure a good God to be with us in our Sufferings A good Cause will not bear us up without a good Heart nor will a good Heart stand without a good God to support it The prayer of David is very remarkable Let Integrity and Vprightness preserve me for I wait on thee Psal 25.21 Integrity is a Preservative but we must wait on God to have our very Integrity preserved and pray as the holy Psalmist doth in the precedent Verse O keep my soul the most upright soul needs it Graces keep the Heart but those very Graces must be kept by the Keeper of Israel The God of Grace is as necessary to the New-creature as the God of Nature is to the Old If he withdraw Faith will fail Love will cool Hope will wither Zeal will be extinct and all Graces will Vanish as the Beams do upon the absence of the Sun The gracious presence of God is necessary to us at all times especially in times of Suffering Joseph's Prison would have been very dismal if God had not been there When all men forsook Paul he had been very forlorn if God had forsook him too How hard is it to be in wants if the All-sufficient one be gone How intolerable are Distresses if the God of all Comfort be absent How shall we bear the Cruelties of men if the Father of Mercies do not assist us Or how shall we stand under own Creature-weakness if the never fainting Creator do not strengthen us What shall we do in doubts if the only Wise one do not guide us Or what shall we do in the Vally of the Shadow of death if the living God be not with us The Presence of God saith a worthy Divine will turn a Prison into a Pallace a Fiery Furnace into a Gallery of Pleasure and the Stocks into a Musick-School Acts 16.25 I may add it is in stead of all things to us With it no Suffering can be too heavy without it none can be tolerable Let us therefore labour to secure this Presence with us and for that end let us secure our being in Christ and our walking in him First let us secure our being in Christ God manifest in the Flesh is the foundation of God sin habiting in the Spirits of men If Christ had not come and mediated for us God would never have come to dwell and to walk in us If we are in Christ God who is personally present with his Humane Nature will be graciously present with us as Members of of him We shall be preserved in Christ as pieces of him by that special Presence which accompanies those that are in him Our blessed Saviour prays that those that were given him might be kept through the Fathers Name Joh. 17.11 that is through that Divine Power Wisdom Mercy and Grace which is with them Again let us secure our walking in Christ Let us walk after his Command and Pattern that is in Meekness of Wisdom in Zeal for Gods Glory in readiness of Obedience in sweetness of Charity in an universal Compliance witht the Divine Will Let there be somewhat of Christ in every step this is the way to have the Divine Presence with us Thus our Saviour left us If any man Love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our aboad with him Joh. 14.23 Such as keep his words shall have the Shechinah the Divine Presence in a peculiar manner with them This will be to them Joy in Sorrow Security in Fears Strength in Weakness Life in Death and All things in the want of All. CHAP. IV. Preparation for Suffering the first direction is Try thy Heart see the Deceit of it what Reliques of Sin are there how it steals out of Duties how false it is in Promises how it extenuates Sin Search see what uprightness is there Doth thy Heart set God before thee doth it respect all Commands doth it eye Gods Glory and did it make a right contract with Christ HAving spoke somewhat in general touching Preparation for Suffering I now come to speak of it more particularly And here I shall lay down several Directions and shew how a Christian may be in a fit posture for suffering 1. If we would be in a fit posture for Suffering let us diligently try our own Hearts Suffering is a searching thing it tries a man as fire doth Metals sifts and winnowes him as Corn is shaken in a Sieve and discovers his thoughts and the bottom of his Heart Many a man seems to be fully for God yet when the Test comes proves to be for the World Therefore it is very proper for us to search our selves before hand to try our Hearts inwardly before the outward trial come to sift and winnow our selves before Providence do it to discover our Hearts to our selves before God discover them to others This is Gods own direction to his People Gather your selves together yea gather together O Nation not desired or as the words in the original may be rendred search lift your selves yea search lift your selves O nation not desired before the Decree bring forth before the day pass
valuation of him it esteems him to be such an one as he is set forth in Scripture To be the only wise God the only Potentate the only One that is good to be all these essentially fontally supereminently He that hath such an estimate of him will be ready to suffer for him To such an one it is folly to learn the only Wise weakness to leave the only Potentate misery to leave the only Good And how can he leave so excellent an Object to such an one it is prudence to adhere to the only Wise strength to adhere to the only Potentate happiness to adhere to the only Good And how can he chuse but adhere to him It was the saying of an Ancient Minut. 〈◊〉 18. Tum dignè Deum aestimamus cum inaestimabilem dicimus then we rightly esteem God when we account him inestimable Estates Bodies Lives may be valued but he is infinitely beyond all estimation All creatures are but as shadows and little drops of being in comparison of him It is a just debt we owe to him to rate him incomparably above all things and in so doing the Soul it self is ennobled and made fit to suffer for him As a man by valuing the World above itself becomes base and brutish and like the Beasts that perish so a man by estimating God above all things becomes heroical and Divine and like the Angels that live altogether upon him Such an one is able to part with life in the Channel to have it in the Fountain to let go all other things to have all in the one All-sufficient God 2. Love to God stands in holy D sires after him it makes the soul pant after him as the heart panteth after the Waterbrooks Duleissimo Deo totus immergi cupit inviscerari Carthus and go out of itself in holy anhelations after union with him Such is the Heavenly property of it that it aspires to be one Spirit with him to have idem Velle and idem Nolle to will as he wills and nill as he nills and when once our Wills are melted into his every thing that comes from him will be welcome to us Though Flesh and Blood may cry out of Suffering as a very hard thing yet Love will say that nothing can be wiser or better then that which our Father orders and laies out for us If desire after God as the supream good once put our Souls into motion we shall follow him not into Ordinances only but into Sufferings also His gratious Presence is in both In Ordinances it is in a good measure but in Sufferings which are the highest Services on Earth it is in a more eminent manner God doth not barely say to his afflicted people I am with thee but I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteousness Esay 41.10 many words are heaped up together to impart the excellency of his presence with them O let our hearts burn within us with ardent desires after him that we may be able to bear the fiery Trial at its coming 3. Love to God stands in an holy Complacence in him it makes the Soul rest upon him as Noah's Dove did upon the Ark and Center in him as in the supream Good Holy desires end in inward satisfaction David thirsting after God comes to have his soul satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63.5 And Christians that breathe after him come to have sweet spiritual joys and delights tasts of Heaven and drops from the pure rivers of pleasures that are above These are able to sweeten the bitterest sufferings It is said of the Thessalonians that they received the word in much affliction with joy of the holy Ghost 1 Thessal 1.6 The Gospel doth not go alone but Affliction accompanies it neither will affliction go down alone but the joy of the holy Ghost sweetens it The blessed Martyrs have experimentally found these divine joys in their hearts It is said of Alexander the Martyr Magd. hist Cent. 2. Chapt. 12. famous for his Love to God that ne ingemuit he did not so much as fetch a groan in the midst of his Torments and doubtless he had strong consolations within to bear him up in his Sufferings The Martyr Algerius being in prison wrote thus in the dark Dungeon I find a Paradise of Pleasure in a place of sorrow dwells tranquillity in an Infernal Cave I have joy of Soul O how good is the Lord How easy and sweet his yoke Such Heavenly Cordials will bare up Christians in the greatest trials O let us labour to delight our souls in God that we may be able to suffer for him 4. Love to God stands in an holy Benevolence towards him it delivers and surrenders up the whole man to him it wills and endeavors so far as a poor Creature can to an Infinite Creator to bring all service and glory to him Thus the 24. elders fel down before him and cast down their crowns saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power Revel 4.10 11. renouncing themselves they referr all that they have and are to him alone This is an excellent preparative to Suffering If we would indeed serve him we must be willing to suffer for him for that is the highest Service that can be done to him on earth If we would indeed glorify him we must be ready to Suffer for him for that is the greatest glory that we can possibly give unto him therein we do practically declare to all the World that God is our All Riches Honours Relations Life it self are as nothing to him O let us labor to surrender up our selves to him in other things that we may not fail to make the greatest surrender of all in Suffering 2. Love to Christ is a preparative to suffering Ignatius whose Motto was Amor meus crucifixus My Love was crucified would suffer any thing for Christ The Martyr Felicitas was so in love with Christ Magd. hist Cent. 2. cap. 12. that she would not only suffer herself but have her seven sons suffer for him also Love to Christ stands in four things each of which will dispose us to suffer for him 1. Love to Christ stands in an high Valuation of him it esteems him altogether pretious Pretious in his Person being Immanuel God and man in one pretious in his atoning sufferings which being by his Deity elevated into a kind of infinity were enough to pay for the sin of a World pretious in his holy words his Mysteries being heights his Commands rectitude his Promises Grace pretious in the rich Treasures of Grace which are in him and everflowing out towards Believers He that thus esteems of him will be ready to suffer for him To leave his atoning sufferings is to run into Hell to leave his words is to run into all Error to leave his Treasures of Grace is to run into Spiritual Poverty And how can we leave
a Persecution be justled out of this World but he hath a better to go to where there are Crowns of Glory Rivers of Pleasures Plenitudes of Joy and all in the blessed God Our Saviour Christ for the joy that was set before him endured the cross Hebr. 12.2 St. Paul would finish his course that he might have the Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.7 8. When the Martyr Babylas suffered he sung that of the Psalmist Magd. hist cent 3. cap. 12. Return unto thy rest O my Soul his mind was upon the eternal Sabbath in Heaven When Basil the great was threatned with Banishment and Death he was not at all moved at it Banishment is nothing to him that hath heaven for his Countrey neither is Death any thing to one to whom it is the way to Life He that is in the way to Heaven hath great reason to break through all Difficulties to get thither CHAP. XIII The tenth Direction for suffering is Patience under Gods will With respect to the Christian it makes him possess his Soul conquer the World and have inward Satisfaction With respect to God it subjects the Soul to his Will it waits upon God for strength and a good Issue it produces spiritual Joy and Praise THe tenth Direction is this if we would be in a fit posture for suffering we must labor after Patience under the will of God this must be joyned to our Obedience that we may be able to answer to all his will As obedience respects Gods commanding will so Patience which is also a duty respects his disposing one Ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise Saith the Apostle Hebr. 10.36 We are not only to do other Commands by Obedience but when Providence cals us to it we are to do that of taking up the Cross by Patience Other Graces may help to bear the Cross but Patience takes it up upon its back It is its proper peculiar office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make a man abide piously under the Cross This Grace may be considered two waies either in that which it doth with respect to the Christian in whom it is or in that which it doth with respect to God both ways it is of singular use in order to sufferings 1. Patience may be considered in that which it doth with respect to the Christian in whom it is and thus three things may be noted 1. Patience makes a Christian possess his soul Luke 21.19 there is a great difference between the wordly mans patience the Christians The word by man endeavours much that he may possess the things that are without him but the Christian bears that he may possess his own Soul The Christian in a fit of Impatience loses himself and puts himself as it were out of possession not only of his Rational Faculties but of his Graces too at that time he acts not like a Man or a Christian When Jonah told God that he did well to be angry unto death Jon. 4.9 he was in his furious passion more like a Beast than a Man or a Saint If thou deal thus with me saith Moses to God kill me out of hand Numb 11.15 The word thou here is of the Feminine Gender At for Aita the perturbation of Mind made Moses the meekest man on earth unable to fill up his words or to speak as he meant to do It is by patience that the Christian possesseth himself and hath the free use of his Reason and holy Graces While he is patiently bearing the Cross his Faith will roll out as Gold out of the Fire his hope will fix itself in the unmovable Heavens his love will burn within him towards God and his Glory All the Powers in Earth and Hell cannot put him out of the possession of himself or hinder his Graces from coming forth into act he will be like himself in his suffering 2. Patience makes a Christian to be a Conqueror of the persecuting World The Overcomer mentioned in the second and third chapters of the Revelation of St. John to whom so many pretious and excellent promises are there made is not one that overcomes by Martial Fighting but one that hath the Victory by Patient Suffering Who shall separate us saith St. Paul from the Love of Christ Shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword In all these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.35 37. More than Conquerors because they conquered by suffering while their Bodies were slain their souls were triumphing over death itself Thus St. Austin saith Epist 42. that the Pagans were overcome non a repugnantibus sed a morientibus Christianis not by resisting but by dying Christians Patience makes their Persecutors secure them and frame Crowns of Glory for them This made the Martyr Vincentius tell his Tormentor Nunquam aliquis adeò bene servivit mihi actu no man ever served me so much as thou hast done Patience doth so frame the heart to the will of God that it makes a Christian to be a King overhis Crosses losses to him are gain reproaches glory confinement liberty anddeath life While he suffers in any thing he is above it 3. Patience makesa Christian to have inward content and satisfaction in suffering It is the Apostles Exhortation Let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing Jam. 1.4 He that hath not Patience is but a lame and imperfect Christian he may go a little way in Religion as far as his Principles reach but if he come to suffering which is beyond them he will halt and turn aside But if a Christian hath an effectual Patience he is then perfect and entire wanting nothing he hath every thing that may fill up his Christianity or happiness in this Life The Cross may come but he hath Principles to bear it Outward Blessings may be taken away but he hath all in God St. Austin brings in patient Job De Simb ad Cateck stript of all but only his God speaking thus Quid mihi deerit si Deum habuero quid mihi alia prosunt si Deum non habuero What can I want if I have God What can other things profit if I have him not Patience gives the suffering Saint quiet and sweet satisfaction in God and not only so but in the very suffering as it is a pious submission to his will There is a sweetness and a secret reward in the doing of Gods will much more in holy suffering for Him The blessed Martyr Baynham at the Stake told the bloody Papists O ye Papists ye talk of Miracles behold here a true one these Flames are to me a bed of Roses It 's true all holy Sufferers cannot say thus but all of them find by experience that there is a sweet satisfaction in suffering for the good God 2. Patience
beaten tortured burned torn killed and yet they were multiplied Julian the Apostate learned this from persecution under Diocletian and upon that account he abstained for a time from exercising Torments and bloody Cruelties upon Christians Magd. cent 4. cap. 3. because he saw that the Christians by patient Suffering were multiplied and became more glorious in the eyes of the People Antichrist hath shed a great deal of pretious blood and the witnesses of the pure Religion have been slain under him yet hath the Evangelical Truth remained and the Witnessess which were Slain have from time to time revived and stood up in illustrious Successors who have held forth the same Truth and spoke in the same Spirit and Power as those before them had done When after the Parisian Massacre there happened to be a great serenity in Heaven Thuan Lib. 52. and a Barbery-tree blossoming in a time unusal some Papists said That the thing was grateful to God as if Heaven and Earth had rejoiced at it But the Protestants took it as a sign that the Church should revive and flourish again like the bush that burned and was not consumed The true Church which is founded in Christs blood is not propagated or multiplied by Martial Arms but by patient Sufferings This is the true way to do good to the Church and to continue the Gospel among us if we are indeed in a posture for suffering and ready to Seal up the Truth with our Blood we may comfortly hope that whatever Sufferings come the Gospel and gratious Presence of God shall not finally depart from our Nation 3. Pious Sufferers do give an evident token to the Persecutor that the wrath of God will come upon him When the Emperor Commodus was worshipping Jupiter Vincentius Eusebius Peregrinus Magd. hist cent 2. cap. 12. and Potentianus went about and exhorted the People to depart from the Worship of Devils and honour the One only true God lest they perished with Commodus and soon after they suffered Martyrdome for the same thing Though all the Martyrs did not in words warn the Persecutors that the Wrath of God would come upon them yet they all by their patient Suffering gave them an evident token of it St. Paul exhorts the Philippians to patient suffering upon this account Stand fast saith he in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel and in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of Perdition but to you of Salvation and that of God Phil. 1.27 28. The Persecutor comes with his Torments and Engines of Cruelty to terrify the Martyr but the Martyr by his Christian Patience and Courage gives the Persecutor and evident token that the wrath of God will come down upon him at last If bloody Persecutors who look upon the suffering Martyrs had but their Eyes open they would see cause enough to reflect upon themselves and say Surely these men have a patience more than humane and therefore they suffer for God and if so we in persecuting them fight against him may expect that his wrath should come down upon us as it hath upon former Persecutors Herod Agrippa was eaten up of Worms Nero with a trembling hand cut his own throat Trajan was thought to have poisoned himself upon the Persecution in the time of Antoninus Verus there followed Wars Earthquakes Inundations Pestilences as so many Tokens of Divine Vengeance Decius was slain together with his Children Dioclesian died of fearful and miserable Diseases Julian in the Persian war was mortally wounded by an Arrow from Heaven and threw up his blood thither with that horrible Blasphemy Vicisti Galilaee Valens in his war against the Gothes was wounded and flying into a Cottage was burnt with it by the Enemy The temporal Judgments that have befallen former Persecutors tell the after-ones what they may look for here in this World or if they might escape here eternal Vengeance will surely meet them hereafter Our Saviour Christ will at the great day bid those that did not feed cloth and Visit him in his Members depart into ever lasting fire Matth. 25.41 much more will he say so to those that Imprison torment and kill him in his Members When Henry the second of France in his running a Tilt received a fatal wound in his Eye he looked to the Prison Thuan. L. 22. where the poor Protestants were shut up as Captives for their Religion and often uttered these words That he was afraid that he had done the poor innocent men wrong Conscience then told him what it was to persecute Oh! That such things as these might stop Persecutors in their bloody ways as the Thunderbolt falling neer the Emperor Anrelianus did him in his intended Persecution of the Christians The patience of those that suffer under their cruel hands tell them that the wrath of God will fall upon them at Last I conclude with that of St. Cyprian Ad Demetrianum Quanto major persecutio tanto gravior pro persecutione vindicta The greater the Persecution is the heavier will be the Vengeance for it 4. Pious Sufferers are happy here and hereafter They are happy here upon a double account 1. They give the highest proof of their Sincerity that can be given Abraham gave a great proof of his Sincerity in leaving his Countrey and a greater in offering up his only Son Isaac at Gods command but I take it the Martyr gives a higher proof of it than is done in either of those it being more to part with all the World than to part with our Countrey and to offer up our selves to God than to offer up a Son The highest proof of Grace is in Suffering That Faith muh be right that endures the fiery Furnace that Love must be pure that practically lifts up God above all other things that Hope must be lively that lets go a present World for a future one that Obedience must be glorious that continues unto the death The Martyr hath a fair prospect with a comfortable sight of his own uprightness Conscience gives an Euge to his Graces and Sufferings nay the holy Spirit is as a seal and earnest of his Heavenly Inheritance It bears witness with his Spirit that he is a Son and Heir of God 2. As they give the highest proof of their Sincerity so they have the gracious Presence of God in the most eminent way with them All his glorious Attributes do as it were pitch their Tents round about them and put forth their Virtues in a gracious manner for their good His Power rests upon them to bear them up how weak soever in the fiery Trial his Wisdom directs them how to carry the selves under the Cross his Mercy melts over them while they are under mans Cruelty his Love is shed abroad in their heart while they bear the World hatred The Presence of God will be to them in stead of nay infinitely more than all other Comforts They may say If God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 Why Devils can wicked men can but Aquinas expounds the words Quis contra nos laesive prevalenter Who can be against us to hurt us and prevail over us That which is of God cannot be overthrown they may break out with St. Paul in that gallant triumph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor hight nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separare us from the Love of God in Christ Rom. 8.38 39. What St. Bernard saith of the Church is true of them a noble part of it In Cant. ser 79. Nec Verbositate Philosophorum nec Cavillationibus Haereticorum nec Gladiis Persecutorum potuit illa Separari à Charitate Dei quae est in Christo They cannot be separated from the Love of God in Christ neither by the words of Philosophers nor by the Cavils of Hereticks nor yet by the Swords of Persecutors God is in the midst of them and they shall not be moved Again They are happy hereafter this stands in two things 1. They are freed from all evils In Heaven they shall have no Corruption within nor Oppression without no Noise of Passion in the heart nor rout of turbulent Persecutors to disquiet them the will of the Flesh shall have a total Circumcision the infirmities of the Body shall have a perfect cure the Serpent cannot hiss in Paradise no temptations or miseries can fasten on a Saint in Glory There is Day without Night Love without Fear Joy without sorrow Life without Death all Happiness without the least mixture of Evil There the blessed Martyrs shall be freed from all their troubles and miseries 2. They are endowed with all good and happiness The promises made to the Overcomer in the Revelation of St. John shall be made good to them they shall eat of the Tree of Life in a blessed immortality they shall have the white stone in a perfect absolution they shall be clothed in Robes of Glory they shall be Pillars in the heavenly Temple standing there as ornaments in an immoveable Felicity they shall sit down with Christ in his throne and judge their Enemies that condemned them they shall inherit all things they that lost all for God shall enherit all in him who is goodness itself and the fountain of it They shall see him who is the original and Christal ocean of all truth they shall enjoy him who is the supream good and sabbath of souls they shall be swallowed up in the joy of infinite truth and goodness and their happiness shall not be for a time but run parallel with eternity itself they shall be for ever in the Lord in the blessed Region De Civit. Dei Lib. 22. cap. 30. There as St. Austin hath it God who is all in all Sine fine Videbitur since fastidio amabitur sine fatigatione laudabitur shall be seen without end loved without disdain and praised without weariness In the next World there will be a vast difference between Persecutors and Sufferers The Pride and Cruelty of the one will be paid for in Torments and endless Misery in the Prison of Hell and the Patience and Suffering of the other will be returned in Joys and eternal Felicity in the blessed Heaven FINIS
thee He knew that his strength was in God only Oh let us labor to have an humble dependance upon God that when sufferings come we may look and be supported wait and renew strength be nothing in our selves and have all in God So we shall be safe and secure from anxious fears dabitur in horâ support and comfort will come in the time of need CHAP. XII The ninth Direction for Suffering is Active Obedience to the will of God it flows from a good and honest heart it respects Gods will and Glory it makes us to grow up into Christ and to be allied to him it encreases Grace and spiritual strength it obtains the gracious Presence of God and it is the way to Heaven THe ninth Direction is this if we would be in a fit posture for Suffering we must labor after an Active Obedience to the Will of God to do in a right manner as he would have us to do It is a notable saying of the Rabbins Marces praeceptum praecepti one Precept is the reward of another He that rightly observes one Precept shall have in the name of a reward such Grace from God as shall enable him to do another and a more difficult Command It is an excellent thing to enure our selves to the doing of Gods will Obedience is the chain about the Spouses neck Cant. 4.9 one link hangs upon another one piece of Obedience draws on another Active Obedience will prepare us for passive the doing of Gods Will will dispose us for the Suffering of it The Apostle prays for the Colossians first that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and then in the next Verse that they might be strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness Col. 1.10.11 Where we may observe that an holy Life goes before and then suffering Graces follow after There are in Obedience six things observable each of which tend to prepare us for Suffering 1. True Obedience flows from a good and an honest heart nay I may adde it flows from the holy Spirit of God It flows from a good and honest Heart many unprofitable hearers that are but the good and honest Heart brings forth fruit It was an high Character which the Apostle gives to the Romans That they had obeyed from the Heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to them or as it is in the original into which they were delivered Rom. 6.17 The Gospel was not only delivered to them but they were delivered and as it were cast into the mould of it and that was the reason that they obeyed from the heart Nay further Obedience flows from the holy spirit it is a choice Promise in the Covenant I will put my spirit into you and cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36.27 Obedience being a meer supernatural act comes from the holy Spirit as the prime Cause thereof a general Concourse suffices not there must be a peculiar Motion and Impulsion of the Spirit in it which made Gerson say That all spiritual life was founded in miraculo influentiae divinae in the miracle of a Divine Influence We see what are the Principles and Fountains of Active Obedience and the very same will produce Passive too The good and honest heart brings forth fruit with patience Luke 8.15 The words with patience are very remarkable the good and honest heart may meet with Persecutions in the world yet it would blossome and bring forth fruit in the midst thereof The righteous flourishes as the Palm-Tree Psal 92.12 The Palm-Tree is a Symbol of Immortality growing under its burden and the Righteous who hath an Immortal seed in him flourishes under all the pressures of a persecuting World Again the holy Spirit which makes good men do Gods will will enable them to suffer it too St. Paul took pleasure in persecutions because when he was weak then he was strong 2 Cor. 12.10 that is the holy Spirit did strengthen his inward man to bear the Cross The holy Spirit in the Saints is a Well of water springing up to everlasting Life John 4.14 The persesecuting World would fain stop and damme it up but in the midst of all Oppositions it Springs and never leaves springing till the Saints be in Heaven and before they come thither it is as St. Peter speaks a spirit of glory resting upon them 1 Pet. 4.14 it brings down some glimpses of Heaven into their hearts whilst they are suffering for Religion 2. True Obedience hath a pure respect to Gods Will and Glory It hath a pure respect to Gods Will it doth not do the Commands of God upon a by-account as Jehu destroied Ahab's house but it doth them intuitu Voluntatis because it is the will of God it is that which swaies and casts the ballance in a good mans heart and life As in matters of Faith he believes because God hath said it so in matters of Practise he obeys because God hath commanded it Also it hath a pure respect to Gods Glory Mens cujusque id est quisque the man is as his mind is and the mind is as his end is An obedient person will not be a Center to himself nor make God the most excellent Being a medium to any other thing His great design is that God in all things may be glorified His Holiness is but to shine as a beam from the holy one his Mercy is but as a little drop flowing from the Divine Ocean his Obedience is to tell the World that God is supream like his Saviour Christ he seeks not his own glory but his Fathers Such an Obedience as this admirably disposes a man for suffering He that doth some things because they are commanded will take up the Cross too because it is in a peculiar manner commanded in the Gospel The stamp of the Divine Authority is not only found upon the Precepts of Piety and Justice but upon that of Patience too Also he that doth sincerely glorify God in other things will if occasion be glorifie him in pious sufferings Some honour may be done to God in other Duties but in no other thing is there such honour given to him as in bearing the Cross therein a man doth practically declare that he values God above all the World and therefore the Martyrs have as the School-men tell us a greater reward in heaven than others Others have the essential Glory in the Vision of God but for the Martyrs is reserved an Aureola a peculiar Coronet to be added to their Crown of Glory propter victoriam de mundo for their victory over the World 3. True Obedience makes us to grow up into Christ the Head and to be of neer alliance to him It makes us to grow up into Christ the head Eph. 4.15 Obedience being the exercise of all Graces brings us into a neer union with Christ and makes us more and more like to