act as you would keep and crown your Profession and Testimony to the truth of Jesus Lo here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Rev. 119.14,12 Patience is that which must compose you to and for Confession VVhen you are out of a spirit of patience you are out of your self-possession and therefore unfit for this sacred Profession or to suffer persecution Therefore our holy Master who hath given us an example of patience in profession gives us also this exhortation in order to our profession that in patience we possess our selves 1 Pet. 2.21 Luke 21.19 with 14. c. Patience will compleat you in confession and compensate other wants and adversities which befall you therein by giving you a self-composedness a sweet constancy and serene conscience and sweet communion with and experience of that God that Christ which you suffer is and for Let patience have but its perfect work and ye shall be entire wanting nothing Iam. 1.4 Patience will quiet and comfort you also therein notwithstanding persecutions For patience works experience by and under them and this again works hope which maketh not ashamed and it waits also for the expected end and happy issue promised Rom. 5.4,5 Ia. 5.7 Mic. 7.7 c. Be patient therefore Brethren The more patience the better profession and the more perseverance Stablish your hearts against the difficulties that discourage you and in and to the duties to be discharged by you And be you followers of them who through faith and patience have accomplished their Profession and do inherit the Promises Isa 5.8,10,11 Hebr. 6.11 3 Keep up a spirit of prayer The most eminent for the spirit of prayer have been most eminent for sincere and steady Profession Witness Elijah Jacob Moses Daniel c 'T is true a listless saying prayer will not produce any such signal effects But a lively praying in prayer as is said of Elias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he prayed in prayer they will both prevail with God and preserve you and the interest of Godliness Ja. 5 17. There were in Iudes time such as had exchanged their strict profession for a sensual practice But by what meanes might the Saints to whom he writes be preserved therefrom By praying in the Holy Ghost So might they keep themselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternal life Iude 19,20 The spirit of Prayer bears down what stands in the way of Profession both inwardly in your selves and outwardly amongst sinners The Priests of Baal fell before it and Peter bound with two chaines was freed by it 1 Kings 18.36 c. Acts 12.5,6 c. The spirit of prayer brings in divine skill and strength and whatever else is requisite to make good our Profession or to make our Profession good Ia. 1.5 Acts 4.29 Rom. 8.26,27 The spirit of prayer binds also devout soules to a strict and steady perseverance suitable to their own prayers and this holy Profession Eph. 6.18 Rom. 8.15,17 Cease not prayers then which ingage God interess the Gospel and improve his perfections and promises unto thy strengthning and that without might and unto all patience suffering with joyfulness Col. 1.11 Thus far of the meanes how we may the manner followeth how we should confess Christ And though the former parts of this discourse may afford directions at least implicit I shall yet adde some things to direct you more explicitely You must confess Christ then 1. Vnderstandingly With your own and to others understanding With your own Far be it that you should not understand what you say or whereof you affirm The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way Unless you have how can you give a reason of the hope that is in you And indeed without understanding what you profess you act therein the part of a Parrot rather then of a Professor 1 Tim. 1.7 Eph. 5.17 1 Pet. 3.15 Prov. 14.8 Your Confession must be to others understanding also You should rather speak five words with your understanding that by your voice you may teach others also then ten thousand words in an unknown tongue or which is to the same effect in unknown termes Else you speak to the aire rather then to advantage and edification and are Barbarians to others who did you speak words easie to be understood might happily bless God for you and be built up in godliness by you 1 Cor. 14 2 20. Let thy mouth then speak of wisdom and the meditation of thy heart be of understanding Psal 49.3 2. Vndoubtedly As beleevers should not be of doubtful mindes so nor of doubtful mouthes but without cloudie obscurities should confess openly as things are according to the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel and the present circumstances wherein they are after the precedents of Jesus himself and John his fore-runner Luke 13.8 2 Cor. 12.13 Iohn 10.24,25 1.19 24. Your discourses should drive home to the consciences of them that hear you that by manifestation of the Truth you may commend your selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God That if their consciences do not acquit you as the Pharisees once did Paul yet they may awe and accuse them 2 Cor. 4 2,5,11 Act. 23,9,24,25 3. Vndauntedly With boldness of spirit within and boldness of speech without yea with all boldness alwayes Phil. 1.20 Act. 4.29 you should open your mouth with boldnesse to make known the mystery of the Gospel This will shake the confidences of sinners and both search and seize the consciences and spirits of the hearers strengthen the communion of Saints and is sealed with the concurrence of God himself Eph. 6.19 Act. 4.13 13.46 4.31,32 14.3 Consider I beseech you the precious consequence the pattern of Christ the primitive Confessors the prints of God and his Gospel upon your Cause and Call and what then may daunt or dismay you Sirs you should wax confident not cold by our bonds and be much more bold not more backward to speak the Word of God without fear Phil. 1.14 Eph. 6.20 4. Vndividedly both as to your selves and as to other Saints Confession is a work that requireth a ready concourse of your whole selves of the soul and spirit and body for the outward act and inward animation Rom. 10.9 1 Pet. 3.15 And a real concurrence of all the Saints Gebal and Ammon and Amalek combine in ungodliness and shall the godly quarrel one the other in the Gospel Oâ—… Where are the golden taches of the Tabernacle that should unite the many Curtains into one tent of Confessors Alas for the staffe of beauty and for the staffe of bands so strangely broken When shall Christians stand fast in one spirit with one mind and strive together for the faith of the Gospel and no more against one another in ungodly factions The unity of Confessors will be their glory and his also to whom they confess 'T is
frequently to the test and to the tormentors They loved not their lives to the death their liberties to bands and suffered joyfully the spoyling of their goods Rev. 12.11 Act. 20.23,24 Hebr. 10.34 What mean these subterfuges and shifting fetches that shyness and straitning fear which so hold or oppress you Come shew your selves men if not Saints Yea be followers of them who through faith and patience do inherit the promises Hebr. 6.12 III. Look you to what is past of your own selves Remember that time when you were without Christ Oh! How long How long did ye outstand his calls oppose his commands cause and concerns in the world oppress your own Spirits and offend his holy Spirit Brethren should not the time past suffice you should you not study to repair his honor and right holiness as much as in you lieth 1 Pet 4.1 Rom. 6 19. If you are indeed in Christ let your strict confessions now make some amends for your loose conversations then Though you cannot intrinsecally repair his honor you may and should extrinsecally Paul was not so eminent a persecutor but he willingly becomes as eminent a professor when the power of transforming grace hath once past upon him He had lived more adversly to Christ then all before his conversion and labors more abundantly for Christ then they all after his conversion 1 Cor. 1.5 9,10 4. § Fourthly look you forward Oh! how will the confession of Christ be reciprocated and rewarded How will the contrary thereunto be reciprocated and revenged I. First How will your confession of Christ be reciprocated and rewarded confesse him and he will confesse you confesse him on earth and he will confesse you in heaven confesse him before men in your day end he will confesse you before men before Angels and before his father in his day Mat. 10.32 Rev. 3.5 Luke 12.8 Plead his cause and he will plead yours vindicate His Name and he will vindicate Yours contend for him and he will contend for you and contend against them that contend against you Psal 35.51 Lam. 3.58 Isa 49.25 51.22 Sirs how would you that Christ should carry it towards you when he cometh in his glory Would you be cleared and confessed by him then would you that he acquit acknowledg and approve you then As ever you would be found on his side then with the glorified comprehensors in patriâ fall in with his side now amongst the gracious Confessors in viâ II. Secondly how will the contrary be reciprocated and revenged Deny him and he will deny you deny him before men on earth and he will deny you before the Angels of God and before his Father in heaven 2 Tim. 2.12 Mat. 10.33 Luke 12.9 Are you ashamed of him he also will be ashamed of you If you are ashamed of him and his words in this adulterous and sinful generation he also will be ashamed of you when he cometh in his own glory and in his Fathers and in the holy Angels Mark 8.38 Luke 9.26 He will admit no claim of theirs to him then who will not assert his claime to them now but will abandon them for ever with an I never knew you Mat. 7.22,23 Luke 13.27 5. § Fifthly look you inward I. First for this are all those holy principles from God imparted to you and his holy and pure Law imprinted within you Psalm 40.8,9,10 There is not one talent but is to trade with Holy faith hope love c. are all for exercise and imployment and so for evidence to the praise and honour of the giver though not for popular ostentation by the user All the fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 True grace is compared to light to fire c. which are not only communicative of their vertues but carry a self-evidence Love and faith are not without their evident works and labour and become effectual by the acknowledging every good thing Rom. 13.12 Psal 39.3 1 Thes 1.3 Philem. 5.6 Can you then believe in Christ with your hearts and not confesse Christ with your mouths These two are connexed Rom. 10.9,10 Can there be hope in you and you abide wholly carelesse to render a reason of it when thereunto required and the object of your hope will be thereby also honoured 1 Pet. 3.15 II. Secondly upon this the holy presence and inhabitation of God is insured to you Whosoever shall believe and confesse that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God 1 John 4.15 O sweet promise O the signal priviledge of sincere professors God and the godly confessour have a mutual cohabitation with one another a mutual inhabitation in one another Every new act of your holy confession will be a new advance in this happy communion Now ordinarily is the most soul enriching intercourse with God and the most soul-ravishing illapses from God even to joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.6,7,8 Now it was that Stephen saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God And that he said to others Behold I see the heavens opened c. Now when the showers of stones like a storm of haile fell upon this holy Confessour who was yet full of the holy Ghost and of power Act. 7.55,56 III. Thirdly to this all those holy relations whereinto you are called ingage you You are his subjects his servants nay his friends his brethren his bride Who should witnesse to and for him if you do not You are my witnesses saith the Lord Is 43.10 Sirs you are neerest related to him of all the world May I not say to you in the words of Pilate Behold your King Treason of the deepest dye to say with those wicked Jews Away with him away with him and crucifie him rather then adventure to confesse him Iohn 19.14,15 Behold your master your friend that calls you not henceforth servants i. e. comparatively not so much servants as friends for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But saith he I have called you friends John 15.15 What! and yet loath to confesse him Where is the loyalty of a servant Where is the love and ingenuity of a friend Behold your elder brother one that is not ashamed to call you brethren though lifted up to the throne far above all principality and power Heb. 2.11,12 And are you ashamed to call him brother that yet lie upon the dung-hill In short Behold your beloved husband you are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones This is a great mystery How should your thoughts be taken up in expatiating touching his honour and your happinesse How should your tongues be tuned to the imblazoning of his excellencies How should you tell every one that asketh you in the language of the spouse Cant. 5.9 ad finem He is the chiefest among ten thousand he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend O ye daughters of
being conquered and through their boasts and cracks who will triumph over the Truth through your fall and ignorance Doth the Antagonist out match you in abilities and happily glorieth over you in that you decline the Contest Be it so A plain and pious asserting of the important truths of Jesus and of the evidence and influence hereof as to your Consciences together with a plain and particular acknowledgement of your inability to so uneven a conflict will both bespeak your humility and the Gospels honor If you could say no more but with that happy Martyr Though I cannot dispute for the truth yet I can and will dye for the truth yet this will be a seed of comfort to you and of conviction to them II. Secondly Will a virtual confession best serve these ends in the circumstances you are in You may not fail as to it or as to the way whether active or passive whereby these ends will be accomplished 1. Will the expliciteness of your profession in an active way best promote these ends Let it put you upon present action that you may celebrate this holy Confession both by the openness of your own practice and by owning other professors Quest Whether and how far Confessors are bound to be open in the practice of Christianity especially in times of persecution Though we may not un-necessarily draw our secret duties of Piety or deeds of Charity into publique sight and observance which would be alien from the special nature of such duties and adverse to our Saviors directions and an ambiating of applause with men and therefore of no acceptance with or recompence from God Math. 6.1 to 7. And though no part of our Christian practice be designed finally for approbation with men or to be seen of them which were gross hypocrisie and is so far from finding commendation with God that it is certainly followed with his curse and many complicated woes Matth. 23.5,27,28 2 Cor. 10.18 Yet as God is exalted the godly edified the Gospel enlarged and the ungodly are either exposed to shame or egregiously silenced or effectually won over from sin by the evidence of our good works Gal. 1.23,24 Eph. 4.16,29 1 Pet. 3.1,16 So 't is not onely lawful that we may but laudable and needful that we should have our Conversation so conspicuous amongst men that they may by our good worâ—s which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation And so is the will of God that with well doing ye put to silence the ignorance of foolish men 1 Pet. 2.12,15 'T is true you must not inordinately affect the sight or censures of any man or men But if you subordinate your actions and appearances before men to the sight and approbation of God and do therefore perform your Christian obedience before them that they may thereby be perswaded to convert to and honor him you do but therein answer his ends and your own engagements And should not feed your fears of being hypocrites or forbear this expliciteness when you make your own glory to serve his and are so far from seeking the praise of men more than the praise of God that you first seek this and shoot at it as your mark and seek that onely for this its sake and use it onely as your butt that you may the better hit this mark Hear therefore your duty and our Saviors direction Let your light not onely be but shine and that before men and so shine before them that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Mat. 5.16 Nor should times of persecution take you off from this publickness but cause you to mend your pace and to spread your sayls to every wind that will blow you the swifter and surer into this happy Port. The Saints scattered through the storms of persecution must yet shew out of a good conversation their works with meekness of wisdom The Philippians notwithstanding the night of persecution must and do shine as lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation Isa 3.13 Phil. 2.15 with 1.28,29,30 Daniel in this case sticks not to make up his private Christian Offices of publick and common observance opening his windows as well as not omitting his work that others might take Copy and Courage from his Constancy in his family to follow after God fully and not forego their duty to God upon feares of violating the Decrees of men Dan. 6.10 The Apostles also do not will not quit their preaching of the sincere Word or performance of the spiritual and solemn Worship to the best degree of publickness they might how sharp soever the winds of Adversity and Affliction blow upon them or they be scurrilously treated as pestilent and seditious fellows for it Acts 4.18 â—9 5.42 24.5,14 The degree of expliciteness in our Châ—istian practice which becomes our duty in case of persecution will best be directed by attending the ends mentioned and the attainment thereof by such expliciteness See Conclusion second Quest Whether and how far are we bound to own the Confessours of Christ publiquely especially in case of persecution Though you are not bound to own such in any sinful or unlawful matter who therein do not own but oppose your Master as neither by any sinful or unlawful meanes for his good doth not want nor will warrant your evil as neither by stepping or moving out of or beyond the bounds and limits of your Callings For every one must abide in the Calling wherein he is called of God Gal. 2.11 Rom 3.8 1 Cor. 7.20,24 Yet wherein and as far as they publickly own Christ and Christ will be publickly honoured by them you must according to your capacities publickly own them and partake with them in the defence and confirmation of the Gospel whereunto all the consolations in Christ all the comforts of Love and the communion of the Spirit and of the Saints are so many quick and cogent arguments Phil. 1.7,17,27 2.1,2,4 Publick Magistrates then should not onely do no unrighteousness in judgement to them upon the informations or instigation of the ungodly For he that justifieth the wicked and condemneth the just even they both are an abomination to the Lord Lev. 19.15 Prov. 17.15 Isa 5.23 But 1. should declare the innocency of their persons and injustice of their prosecution as the Princes did concerning the Prophet Jeremy This man is not worthy to die for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God Jer. 26.16 2. Should defeat the wiles and purposes and disappoint the wrath and power of their adversaries 3. Should deliver them out of the jaws of the wicked and from the injuries of false witnesses And 4. defend the worth and integrity of their persons and professions Acts 23 27. Job 29.12 to 18. Heb. 1 4 Isa 59 4. By this as God is honored so their government will be upheld and happy This is the very design and dignity of
Proposition 6 and 7. Yet because such Doctrines will hardly down with flesh and blood which will divert and draw back I will subjoyn something more 1 Let the consideration of the end move you Is the glory of God think you your upmost end or no If not Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord upon this case Jer. 2.12 Isa 1.2 Mic. 6.1,2,3 That the whole Creation the very dumb and inanimate creatures should declare his glory and in conformity to his unbounded government and for the good of the Universe should deny their being their motion that light bodies contrary to their nature should move downward and heavy bodies contrary to their nature should move upward â—o preserve the Compages of things together That the Sun should stand still and go back at his beck and for mans benefit And that man whom God hath invested with an internal principle of knowledge and conscience to improve all means and motives to these high and noble ends that man on whom God hath imprinted the special marks of his love and likeness above all the Creatures on this side Angels to engage him in the pursuit of this end That man whom God hath so interessed in and intrusted with his Glory by all the mercies of Creation Conservation and in Christ that he may intend this end Yea more that a Christian who by that Name professeth to and before all the world that he doth first seek the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereof that he is no longer his own but the Lords That he doth not live nor may dye to himself but to the Lord That himself and all he hath and is is devoted and delivered up to his service That a Christian who hath the Scriptures of God and Spirit of God besides the Servants of God to instigate and instruct him in and so many Ordinances Offices and Obligations to and from Christ to engage him to this end That a Christian should not all this while have intended the glory of God as his last end and scope Well may I say Hear O Heavens and give ear O earth But I may not thus dilate But do you say that you have intended and still do the Glory of God upmost Be it so and can you decline that duty because of the danger that attends it whereby his Glory in your and others good will be visibly furthered Will not men part with any with all else that is subordinate rather than with that end which is their supream Will not the Mariner rather part with all his loading than with one life How unworthy then are they of God and of his Gospel whom a Farm or Friend or Father or Wife or Life or any Fruition or Relation whatsoever shall hold from their Duty to God and Godliness from a Duty to his Glory and therein to their own felicity as this is manifestly Luke 14 12,34 Math. 10.37 2 Let the Constellation of Martyrs excite you Did they boggle at this Duty because it would bring danger when their Confession would give God the glory No Dungeon no Den no Distress no Stones no Straights no Fire no Furnace no Bonds nor Banishment nor bloody Tortures did or could move them from this Duty when they saw a manifest door of hope open that they should administer to others good and to Gods glory Recal the many instances I have given you and read over that Martyrology Heb. 11. Tell me was not the Confession of Christ their Duty in the Cases before them notwithstanding the arduous difficulties and calamities did visibly enough attend it Doubtless it was their Duty for we should call them rather Mad men than Martyrs that would eâ—pose themselves to such extremities for but a matter arbitrary If it were their Duty to confess Christ in such extremities for serving this end how got you a dispensation Should you not be followers of them and take them for an example of profession and of patience Heb. 6.12 Jam. 5.10,11 Seeing then you are compassed about with so great a cloud of Witnesses or Martyrs see that you run with patience the race that is set before you looking unto Jesus Heb. 12.1,2,3 3 Let the command of your Master engage you Need I give you the many express and iterated commands of Christ again to this purpose I must remit you to what hath been said already Is publick confession of Christ and his concerns a plain command as hath been instanced once and again Remember you may not loose where Christ hath bound you From what he hath made duty who or what can discharge you He hath not made the terms of your discharge from it at any time to be the extremity of your suffering for he hath often warned you of this and armed you for this but in that these ends will not thereby be secured but shipwrackt rather as you have seen already Propos 6 and 7. 4 Let the competition of interests be attended by you 1. Between whom is it Between God and man the Creator and the creature your selves and your Savior Whether they must now lose their honor and your obedience by the suspension and secrecy of your confession Or you must lose your hopes of ease honor c. by the plainess and publickness of your confession Not onely Christianity but the whole Creation will come in and plead against you and for him in this case Psal 19.1,2 c. Rom. 1.20,21 2. Between what is the competition Let the matter motives main-spring scope be considered Is it not between spirituals yea eternals and your temporals Whether they must not be foregone at least forborn rather than these forsaken And if the moments of Salvation and your immortal Souls be of no more worth than this momentary ease and enjoyments then farewell confession conscience and the Kingdom of grace and glory also Is it not between a spirit of faith and sound love on the one hand and a spirit of fear and self-self-love on the other Whether they must not sit down in silence for the sake of these and these steer sway and supersede them Whether the flesh must not onely oppose but overcome the spirit and the spirit be ordered and over-born by the flesh If this must be granted tell us no more of godliness Is it not between Gods glory and self-safety Whether that must not be subordinated unto this and this be secured and sought beyond and above that Whether since one must lose and part with something God should not rather lose his present government and glory then thou shouldst part with thy present life and liberty To this issue it runs and if thou art thus resolved I must call thee no more a man but a monster but a devil that wouldst stoop and bend heaven to earth and set man above his Maker and as if this were not madness enough interpretatively and in effect to deny thy self herein to be a Creature
shall be made as Grass and forgettest the Lord thy Maker c. Fear thou not loe I am with thee be not dismaied for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the Right-hand of my righteousness Fear not thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel I the Lord thy God will hold thy right-hand c. Isa 51.12,13 41.10 17. Turn your fears then into the right proper channel turn them in upon sin and upon the severities of God for sin But stand fast in the Faith quit quit you like men and strive together for the faith of the Gospel 1 Cor. 16.13 Phil. 1.27 Be not afraid of their terrours nor be troubled But fanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and let him be your fear and your dread and so be you ready alwayes to give to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meeknesse and fear Being nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God 1. Pet. 3.14,15 Phil. 1.28 2 Quicken and keep up such affections as have good for their object especially spiritual love hope and joy First Quicken and keep up love If you love Christ how can you be loath to confess Holy love fetches in fixeth and fireth the interiour minde and exteriour members to and for its beloved The love of Christ saith Paul constrains us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it hath hems in and holds in the whole man together and there is no getting out from the holy siege and coarctation of this holy love 2 Cor. 5,14 Love unites the strength of the soul within it self and upon its object beloved and the streams thereof never flow more freely then when it can vent and unbosom it selfe in the confessions and commendations of this object most fully How sick was the Spouse of love to Christ and therewith to be declaring of discussing about and dilating upon her dearest and altogether lovely Cant. 5.8 ad sinem 2.5 c. Love is venturous vehement victorious and will at no hand be either flattered and bribed out of or frighted and beaten from Christ or any of his concernments Christian love is an holy Fire that is quenched by none but consumeth all the waters of adversity and affliction that are cast upon or come near unto it Cant 8.6,7 Christian love facilitates also and makes the difficulties of the Command and of the Cross easie amiable admirable and to no small degree desirable and delicious 1 Iohn 5.3 2. Cor. 12.10 Did Iacobs service seem but a few dayes to him for the love that he had to Rachel Gen. 29.20 Oh! how easie will be the yoak how light will be the burden of confession to us when our hearts are once over powered with divine love to this dear Redeemer Cantic 1.3,4 2.3 c. Secondly Quicken and keep up hope The Aspect and Acts of divine hope refer you all to Christ that he may be glorified by you in the confession of him and you may be glorified with him in his confession of you who is the Object of our hope 1 Tim. 1.1 Phil. 1.20 Eph. 1.12 Tit. 1.13 Acts 28.20 Sirs this holy hope will anchor and rest your hearts in the greatest stormes you now foresee or shall feel and find While those threaten shipwrack to the faithful Confessors beneath this hath firme anchoridge within the veil above so that even then you may have strong consolation through the power and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father Hebr. 6.18,19 1 Thes 1.3 Christians will you but cast out this anchor you may ride out the most violent times and tempests with an unmoveable and unshaken confidence as Iob and David have done before you Job 19.13 29. Psal 16.8 ad finem Sirs this holy hope will assure and rejoyce your hearts and that in the greatest straits that are or can come upon you for confessing the Name of Jesus This hath Cordial and Celestial waters in its hand for you to revive you in every swoon and refresh you in every sadness Oh Christians how may you rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God and glory in tribulations also Rom. 12.12 5 2-6 No marvel if your hearts are sad when your hopes are sunk Quicken and call forth these hopes often into act and employment And think it not enough that you have but you must hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of your hopes firme and stedfast unto the end Heb. 3.6,14 Thirdly Quicken and keep up joy Joy sets open the doors of the soule to let in all encouraging means and motives Fears shrivel contract and straiten the heart but Joy dilates and widens and enlarges it to do the utmost duties and indure the utmost dangers that may come upon us for confessing Christs Name 2 Cor. 6.4 12. Joys strengthen whereas fear and grief weaken The Joy of the Lord is our strength Nehem 8.10 Joy sweetens whereas fear and grief embitters the affliction that is coming on It sweetens the Cross and so contemns the shame that it cast upon him for the sake of Christ yea and counts it his Credit his Crown and blesseth that happy Providence that calls him forth to witnesse and counts him worthy to suffer for the Name of Jesus Heb. 12.2 Acts 5.41 I am filled with comfort saith Paul I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation 2 Cor. 7.4 Maintain your comforts then as you would maintain the Interest of Christ and pay your debt of Confession Let your course be finished with joy and your confession will be full of ingenuity and freedom Act. 20.24 yield not to your own despondencies upon increasing difficulties Count a joy all joy when you fall into divers temptations Here is no reason for any retractation without or of racking fears griefs or cares within Rejoyce rather in as much as ye are made partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy Jam. 1.2 1 Pet. 4.13 Sect. 3. Thirdly be strong in the spirit The flesh will pull you back and at best profits nothing 'T is the spirit alone that can savingly impower and enable you to a suitable and sincere Confession of Jesus Christ No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Jo. 6.63 1 Cor. 12.3 Set not about it then in thine own strength which is weakness But be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Alas what are all created streams of strength without the fresh supplies from the spring and fountain of it God himself Eph. 6.10 Psal 73.26 Sollicit Heaven then as well as strive with thine own heart that thou mayst be strengthned by Gods spirit in the inner man In that thy strength is so little and the service is so great ply heaven the harder and fetch down a