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
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
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
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
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
truly walks with God in other things will through grace walk with him in Sufferings too He that hath an holy respect to Gods Presence and Eye at other times will have so in a time of Trial also The Constancy of God's People set forth in Psalm 44. is very observable they were given as Sheep for meat sold for nought made a reproach and a scorne a by-word and a shaking of the head among the people yet their heart was not turned back neither did their steps decline from Gods ways Verse 18. They were broken in the place of Dragons covered in the shadow of Death Yet they did not forget the name of their God nor stretch out their hands to a strang God Verse 20. And whence was this close adherence unto God The Reason is rendred in the 21th Verse if they should forsake God he would search them out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart We see how they were affected with the Presence and All-seing Eye of God and how doth it affect us If it make us depart from other sins it will much more make us depart from so great a sin as Apostacy is Again art thou true in thy active obedience to God Hast thou an universal respect to all the Commands even to those that call for right Hands and right Eyes This is very well he that is true in active obedience will be so in passive he that is for all the Commands of God will be for the Command of taking up the Cross and Suffering for Christ The Commands are copulative one of them is linked to another the stamp of Divine Authority is upon all the Glory of God is concerned in all they are all united in the root of Charity Those Principles of Grace which prompt to the obedience of one will prompt to the obedience of all He that is sincere in doing will be sincere in suffering Further hast thou a single Eye a pure intention at the great end is it thy real aim that God in all things may be glorified This is a good Sign he that hath a single Eye in one thing will have it in another he that glorifies God in other things will glorify him in sufferings too A man is as his end is what the forme is in Naturals that the end is in Morals He that hath God for his Center and ultimate end will embrace all the Mediums that tend thither and Suffering as the highest Medium of all therein is the highest Love demonstrated and God is practically lifted up above all his glory is upon the Throne and Estates Relations Lives all Earthly Concerns are at the Foot-stool Let us set our hearts upon the great end that whether we be doing Gods Commanding Will or suffering under his Disposing one the great design of God's glory may be still carried on by us Moreover ask thy self what was thy original contract with Jesus Christ How and upon what terms didst thou espouse him Didst thou take him entirely as he is offered in the Gospel Dist thou take him Cross and all Dist thou sit down and count what Christianity might cost thee It may be thou mayst be called to part with all to hate Father Mother Wife Children Life it self for Christ Dist thou deliberately consider these things and yet piously resolve that thou wouldst have Christ whatever he cost thee this is very excellent thou art now a Martyr in purpose Veniant crux ignis ossium confractiones modo Christum habeam Said Ignatius and Virtually hast swallowed down all the Persecutions that go along with the Gospel When the Cross comes thou wilt take it up upon thy back The flesh possibly may murmure but thou wilt say this was my original contract with Christ these were the terms of my Espousals I accept the Cross and will follow my suffering Saviour he is worthy for whom I suffer and the sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come Let us therefore be sure that we have made a right contract with Christ and accepted him Cross and all that when Sufferings come we may not fall off from him CHAP. V. The second direction for Suffering Mortification of sin an unmortified man is not in a capacity to suffer We must mortify all sin particularly the unbelief of the Heart the Love of the World in the three great Lusts of it the Hypocrisy in the Heart and the vain Superstition that is there Having dispatched the first Direction I come to a second If we would be in a posture for suffering let us seriously set our selves to mortify sin There is in Christians a double conformity to Christs Death the one stands in the mortification of Sin our old man is crucified with him Rom. 6.6 dying away by a secret virtue from his Cross The other stands in bearing the Cross thereby we fill up the afflictions of Christ Col. 1.24 The Sufferings of Christ in his Natural Body were full but the Sufferings of Christ in his Mystical Body at daily to be filled up The first conformity makes way for the second The mortifying of inward Lusts is an excellent preparative to the enduring of outward Sufferings An unmortified man that is under the power of his Lusts is in no fit capacity to suffer for Christ He is a part of that World that lieth in wickedness the World will love him as a part of it self and he will comply with the World as a part doth with the whole a little particle of Water will if it be possible fall into a round drop that it may answer to the figure of the great Ocean whereof it is a part and an unmortified man will be All-amode and of the same figure be it Pagan or Popish Idolatry with the corrupt World whereof he is a part his compliance will be such that he will have no occasion for sufferings neither is imaginable for what he will suffer from the World Will he suffer as good men do to avoid that greatest of evils Sin That is it which he allows and indulges in himself that is the darling of his Soul the joy of his way the current of his life the only element in which he converses and may he suffer to avoid such a thing as that is Or will he suffer to avoid the greatest of punishments Hell and Death No surely in willing his Lusts he virtually wils Hell and the torments of it in acting his sin his feet go down to death and all the wrath that is to come Or will he suffer for God out of Love to him and respect to his glory It is not imaginable that he should suffer for God whom he Serves not or Love him with the Idol in his heart or respect his glory against whom he is in arms and wose Laws and honour he treads down under his feet Or will he suffer or Christ his Saviour who died to wash away his Sins in his own blood It is not credible that he should
or Notion but it is an active and lively thing it doth not meerly look to the glory above but puts the Soul into a posture for it Every one that hath in him the hope of so great a thing as the seeing the blessed God is purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 He knows Darkness cannot have communion with Light unclean eyes cannot be opened in so pure a place as Heaven is the earthly heart is too gross to be in the Region of holy Spirits he that drowns himself in Sensual Pleasures is not meet to drink of the pure Rivers that are above Malitious Spirits cannot be capable of dwelling there wher infinite Love opens it self in all its sweetness The false-hearted Hypocrite can never be admitted to see Truth in the Original nor the evil man to drink Goodness at the Fountain-head He therefore that hath a right hope of being with God in Heaven will purifie himself for such an high estate he will labor to have more of the light of Faith to fit him for that of Vision to have more purity of heart to make him meet to see the holy One to have more of Heaven in his affections to prepare him for that blessed Region to have more spiritual delight here that he may be capable of entring into the joy of his Lord hereafter to have his heart more filled with holy Love that he may be in an apt posture for the rich effusions of Love in Heaven to have more truth and goodness in his heart that he may be the more ready to enjoy the Fountain and Fulness of both I mean the blessed God who is All in All Thus this lively Hope makes a man meet for Heaven and in so doing it makes him meet for those Sufferings that lie in his way thither That Purity which disposes him to enjoy God in Heaven doth also dispose him to suffer for him on Earth and the greater disposition is to Heaven the Center of blessedness the stronger will the motion be to break through all difficulties that are in the passage thereunto Let us therefore get a purilying Hope that we may be fit for the Cross 3. Hope doth not only dispose us for the good things to come but it waits for them unto the end Hope is a waiting grace it makes a Christians life to be a perpetual waiting All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come saith Job Chap. 14. Vers 14. Job had many changes but he waited for that great one which should bring him into a state of unchangeaale happiness Whatever holy men are a doing still they are in a waiting posture When Jacob was blessing his Sons he did not for get this but broke out in a Sudden sweet Ejaculation I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord Gen. 49.18 Hope makes Christians to wait for the good things to come at all times but in a Special manner in time of Sufferings St Paul speaking first of the suffering Saints and then of the groaning World Expresseth himself thus We our selves also which have the First-fruits of the Spirit groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption the Redemption of our Body for we are saved by Hope Rom. 8.23 24. Here we may observe the true state and posture of the Saints Afflictions make then groan but the Divine Hope the First-fruits of the Spirit make them wait for a better World in which Adoption and Redemption shall have their compleat perfection A Chrisstian in Afflictions being tormented in this World will wait for a better The Martyr Agatha having her Breasts cruelly cut off for Religion told the persecutor That yet she had two breasts remaining such as he could not touch the one of Faith the other of Hope which afforded her great Comforts in her Torments Faith adheres to the Promise Hope waits for the good things promised both strengthen in a day of Trial It is the very nature of Divine Hope to wait for the good things to come When the Sun of Prosperity Shines it waits in a way of obedience Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and do thy Commandments saith David Psal 119.166 He waited in a way of obedience to Gods Commands And when the storm of Perfecution comes it waits in a way of Patience Hence the Apostle speaks of the patience of hope 1. Thessal 1.3 That hope which in Prosperity waited in a way of Obedience will in Adversity wait in a way of Patience Hope would have the Christian to be always waiting for the upper World but when the Cross comes it presseth upon him more vehemently and will speak after this manner to him what hast thou waited for the great reward in Heaven in Duties and Ordinances and wilt thou not wait for it in Sufferings too Heaven is the same still and Sufferings are not worthy to be compared with it Do but suffer a little and thou shalt be there When the Martyr Ananias in the Persian Persecution seemed to tremble at the approaching Cross Pusices spake thus to him Sozom. L. 2. cap. 10. Paulisper O senex oculos claude nam statim lumen Dei videbis Shut thine eyes a little O old man and immediately thou shalt see the light of God Excellent is that of the Apostle Our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2. Cor. 4.17 18. Here it is observable Affliction is light and momentary but glory is a weight and eternal there is no proportion between them If by hope we look at the invisible and eternal things this will support our hearts that it is but a little short suffering and we shall be in Heavenly bliss for ever Let us therefore labor after a waiting hope that we may patiently bear the Cross CHAP. X. The Seventh Direction for Suffering is holy Fear not the Fear of man but of God not a diffidential Fear but a fiducial one not a servile Fear but a filial one Holy Fear looks at Sin more then at suffering at Sufferings in Hell more then at those on Earth at Spiritual and Eternal losses more then at Carnal and Temporal THe Seventh Direction is this if we would be in a fit posture for suffering we must get an holy Fear in our hearts The wise Solomon begins his Proverbs with this The fear of the Lord is the beginning or head of Knowledge Prov 1.7 and ends his Ecclesiastes with this That to fear God and keep his Commandments is the whole duty of Man Eccl. 12.13 Other things appertain to the Beast or the Devil but holy Fear is the All of man it makes him a perfect man not only to do Gods Will but to suffer under it In speaking to this I shall first consider
what that Fear is which prepares us for Suffering and then how it prepares us thereunto 1. I shall consider what that Fear is which prepares us for Suffering and this I shall dispatch in three things It is not the Fear of man but of God that doth it It is not the fear of man that can do it God gives us a charge against this Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall dye Esay 51.12 There is no cause to fear a weak piece of Clay a very Breath a fading Leaf he must dye and there is an end of him and all his thoughts perish with him The wise man tels us That the fear of man bringeth a Snare Prov. 29.25 It made Abraham dissemble as if he had no wife David change his behaviour as if he had no reason Peter curse and swear as if he knew not his Master This Fear disposes to apostacy and must be cured by that Fear of God which disposes to suffering When we are ready to drown in worldly sorrow it is of singular use to spring another a godly sorrow in our hearts and when the Fear of man puts us into trembling fits it is an excellent remedy to raise up the Fear of God in our Souls above the other Thus God directs his People not to fear the confederate Enemies but to sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself and to let him be their fear and their dread Esa 8.12 13. He is Lord of Hosts God over all and the fear of him should be above all other fears this is the way to have him to be a Sanctuary to us as it follows If we Fear him he will be an inviolable place of retreat where we may repose our selves in a day of Trouble 2. It is not a diffidential Fear but a fiducial one that doth it A diffidential Fear makes the mind as Meteors in the Air to hang in suspense and in case Affliction come to fail under the burden St. Peter walked upon the water to go to jesus but when he saw the wind boistrous he was afraid and began to sink Math. 14.29 30. By Faith he walked and by diffidence he began to sink Non ambularet nisi crederet nec mergeretur nisi dubitaret Aust de Verbis Rom. Serm. 14. Our condition is the very same in the waves of a troublesome World we stand by Faith but fall by diffidence That Fear which prepares us for suffering must be a fiducial one Ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield Psal 115.11 Holy fear is and must be in Conjunction with faith Fear flies from the evils of Sin and Hell Faith closes in with the Promises of Grace and Glory both concurr to make a man fit for suffering and such a sufferer shall have God for his help and shield 3. It is not a servile Fear but a filial one that doth it He that hath a meer servile fear of the wrath to come may forbear an act of sin but he hath the Love of it in his heart adbuc vivit in eo peccandi voluntas the Love of sin lives in him still as an Ancient hath it Such an one is not in a fit case to suffer for the Truth he hath not a Love to God to move him to it nor a capacity to have Heaven after it and how can he suffer It is very hard for a man to suffer for a God that he Loves not Or part with the good things of This World when he hath no hope of those in a better That Fear which prepares for Suffering is not servile but filial it stands not in conjunction with the love of Sin but with the Love of God the nature of it is such that he that hath it will displease man rather then offend God part with a World rather then let go the Truth and pure Worship nay and lay down his Life rather then forfeit the Divine Presence and Favour which are better then Life Thus much touching the nature of that Fear which prepares us for suffering 2. I come to consider how holy Fear doth prepare us for sufferings and this I shall open in three things 1. Holy fear looks upon sin as an evil much greater then any suffering suffering is opposite to the Creature but sin is opposite to the infinite God it is a Rebellion to his Soveraignty a contradiction to his Holiness a provocation to his Justice an abuse to his Grace a stain cast as much as in us lies upon his Glory nay as the Schools speak it is a kind of Deicidium it strikes in a sort at the very life and being of God it wishes that there were none at all and if it could effect it there should be none Suffering doth not make a man worse then he was before but sin doth it Those Saints that were destitute afflicted tormented wandring in Deserts and Mountains and Dens and Caves of the Earth were yet such excellent ones that the World was not worthy of them Hebr. 11.37 38. On the other hand Antiochus Ephiphanes who was as his name imports illustrious and glorious in the World was yet but a vile person and was made such by his wickedness Suffering strikes at the estate or body of man but sin strikes at his Soul a thing more pretious then a World nay and at the Divine Image there which is more worth then the Soul it self It doth where it can prevail turn men into Beasts in its sensual lusts or into Devils in its spiritual Wickednesses Suffering may have good nay great good in it but sin is evil only evil t is called by St. James 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the superfluity or excrement of all evil Jam. 1.21 It contains all evils in it and if all evils saith a worthy Divine were to have a scum or excrement crement sin is it as being the abstracted quintessence of all evil and having nothing at all of good in it Sin saith Bradwardine is a thing not to be done pro quantiscunque bonis lucrandis aut pro quantiscunque malis praecavendis for the gaining never so great a good or for the avoiding never so great an evil He that hath this holy Fear in his heart will chuse suffering as the lesser evil rather then sin which is much the greater When Antitiochus Epiphanes brought forth Wheels Rodds Hooks Rakes Racks Caudrons Joseph Ant. Cages Gridirons Gantlets Awles Bellows Brasen Pots and Frying-pans before Salamona here seven sons to terrify them they could not be induced by all his tormenting Engines to trespass so far as to eat of a little sacrificed Swines-flesh to save themselves from a cruel death It was the saying of Anselm That if Sin were set before him on one hand and Hell on the other he would rather chuse Hell then sin Scult Decad An. Dom. 1528 Henry Flander being a Prisoner for the Protestant Religion would not say that his Wife was his
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