this promise is to those that fight the good fight that finish their course that keep the faith c. Ah how many are there that fight indeed but is it the good fight They are fighters against God opposers of his interest they would if possible root the very name of of God and profession of Godliness out of the world They have such an antipathy to piety that as they say of the Basilisk it hath such an emnity to man that it will fly upon his picture so they have such an enmity to Christ and holiness that they fly upon any Persons or things who have any thing of Christs Image and Superscription upon them others are fighters great disturbers of humane societies with their quarrels But now for the good fight which is to be managed against our passions exorbitant affections and all the motions of the Soul that are contrary to the will of God how few of those are to be found that fight this fight How few are those that will manage an opposition for the glory of God against the temptations of the world How few are there that can glory in this that they have finished either their more general course as Christians or more particular Course as Christians under such or such circumstances How full is the world of those who have yet their first step to take in the way of Gods Commandments their life is a meer walking in the counsels and Imaginations of their own hearts a meer gratification of their sensitive appetite not only as moving contrary to the law of Christ but to the very law of reason Living beneath the better sort of heathens How many more whose only business is to heap up gold as dust and silver as thick clay but the way of Religion and holiness they have not known How few are there that mind the duties of their particular relation but as they use their own Souls as if they were the meer condiment of their bodies so they behave themselves to their Wives Husbands and Children as if they had no trust of their Souls committed to them How many that have lost the faith first delivered to the Saints and are fallen into pernicious and damnable heresies making Shipwrack both of faith and a good conscience Can these men possibly love the appearanâ—e of Jesus Christ But leaving others let us take the advantage Use 3 of this discourse to enter into our own Souls and to commune with our own hearts inquiring whether we be such Persons as when we shall be ready to dye shall by any Providence of God be made apprehensive that the time of our departure is at hand shall be able to say that henceforth there is laid up for us a Crown of Righteousness which the righteous Judge shall in that day give out to all such as love the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To satisfy us as to these things we have heard in the explication of this text that we have several things to inquire upon they may be reduced to six or seven heads 1. What opposition we have made to the carnal desires and motions of our own hearts contrary to the revealed will of God You shall observe that a sinful walking in holy Writ is very ordinarily expressed by a walking according to the counsels and imaginations of our own hearts so contrary are the natural desires counsels and imaginations of the heart of man to the revealed will of God there is no surer sign of a wicked man then for him to walk after his own imaginations or for him to use Jobs expression to suffer his heart to walk after his Eyes Hence self-denial is by our Saviour made the condition and character of being one of his disciples and we are often in Scripture Commanded to mortify our members and the deeds of our bodies This kind of conversation which lyeth in the gratifying of our sensitive appetites is the broad way in which many walk but it is the high way to eternal destruction 2. What opposition we have made to the world either the men of the world or the things of it attemping either to frown or flatter us out of the duty which we owe unto God He who is at the worlds beck cannot be at the Command of Christ If we be the Servants of men we cannot be the Servants of God As Christ pleased not himself so neither did he please the men of the age wherein he lived in their oppositions to the will of his Father It is most certain that the generality of the men of the world love no Child of God as such they are two different seeds betwixt which there ever was and ever will be an emnity If they take us by the chin and kiss us it is but that they may have the better opportunity to smite us under the fifth rib The truth is their open war is better than their dissembled amity but that also requires in us wisdom when to oppose so as not to suffer as evil doers and courage and resolution that we may be able to stand 3. How we walk as to our more general conversation It is certainly a true saying grande est Christianum esse non dici It is a great thing not to be called but to be a Christian and in Christianity Tantum es quantum agis a man is just so much as he acteth in an uniform obedience having a regard to all the Commandments of God He that wilfully breaketh any of Gods Commadments is guilty of all for there is the same reverence due to God as to one Precept as unto another We have also further to enquire 4. How we discharge the duties of our particular Relations Not only how we run that race which we have to run in Common with others but that particular course which God hath set us how we have managed our duties as parents Children Husbands Wives Masters Servants Magistrates or Subjects Ministers or People c. 5. What steadiness wee keep as to the faith once delivered to the Saints It is true every warping in opinion from the truth is not damnable but we must take heed of warping in such points as a warping in is inconsistent with the exercise of repentance and faith I will not undertake punctually to determine what things are to be believed upon pain of damnation but I am sure every one that doth not repent and believe in or close with the Lord Jesus Christ is in an ill condition and from thence it follows that such opinions drank in as hinder the exercise of repentance or faith must needs be pernicious unto Souls 6. What particular faith and dependance we keep up in God and the Lord Jesus Christ The Scriptures are so full of texts giving testimony to the necessity of faith in Christ in order to eternal salvation that I need not instance in many see John 3.18 36. the Scripture saith expresly that he that believeth not shall be damned
due respect to those to whom he giveth his Testimony and who agreeth and doth not contradict himself and yet is bold and couragious speaking with freedom hence you shall find that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used about the testimony that the Apostles did bear to the truth a free bold testimony in any cause doth it great service while the stammering lisping Witness that useth no freedom in his Speech rather hurteth a cause than doth it good the Scripture speaketh much of and commendeth a Christians boldness a boldness in Faith and Prayer and a boldness in a bearing testimony to our Lord when we are not afraid of the Faces of men that would outface the truths of God a Christian should be bold in the Faith bold in Prayer and bold in his Confession 7. Let your Testimony be a hearty testimony a free ready chearful testimony God loveth a chearful giver saith the Apostle indeed in all our Gifts unto God it is so God loveth a freedom and chearfulness of Spirit we should not be subpoena'd into a Testimony to our Lord Jesus Christ indeed we are subpoena'd by that dreadful Text Matth. 9. A Christian should give a Testimony freely not to provoke and challenge danger and dare a Trial but when he seeth suffering at hand so that God calleth him to give a testimony to him and to the truths of the Gospel then chearfulness becometh a Christian chearfulness as it is opposed to grudging 8. I will add but one thing more it should be a patient Testimony Rev. 19 St. John giveth this Character of himself I John who also am your Brother and Companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ Patience under evils is what is often called for in Scripture and pressed upon the Servants of God with a great variety of Arguments by a patient Testimony I understand three things 1. A patient continuance in the Testimony of Christ a flitting and incertain Christian in the truths of God who is of one mind to day and another mind to morrow is no good Witness in the cause of Christ semper idem is the true Motto of every Christian of every such Witness he that is one day of one mind another day of another like a Wave of the Sea tossed about may possibly get to Heaven at last as through fire but he is no good Witness for Christ you know amongst men a good Witness must abide by his testimony if he varieth his testimony is weakned Therefore Christians are highly concerned to examine Propositions well before they profess them and when they profess them to think well with themselves before they part with them a man never is a good witness for the Lord in that point wherein he hath been incertain himself 2. It must be a patient testimony with respect unto those affronts which he may suffer from men while he is giving his Testimony a good and steady Witness in your Courts is not moved by the affronts of any Lawyer that setteth himself to baffle him out of his Testimony he that is a good Witness in the cause of Christ must not be affected at the affronts of Men that would baffle him out of his Testimony he must be patient both as to the flatteries and enticements of enemies and also as to their frowns and menaces 3. A patient Testimony must be a Testimony attended with that patience which they had need of who may suffer for giving their Testimony for though no Man ought to suffer for bearing Witness to the truth yet there is nothing more ordinary then for men and women to suffer for giving a Testimony unto truth and thus now I have shewed you what kind of Testimony it is that every good Christian is bound to give unto the Lord. I have but two things more to do first to encourage you to it by some Arguments then to direct you in the fulfilling of it now for Arguments to perswade you not to be ashamed of the Testimony of Christ you have heard enough already I have shewed you a Ten-fold Obligation lying upon you 1. It is the Will of God 2. Remember Christ is your Lord 3. You cannot otherwise shew your gratitude to him for that Testimony which he gave for you 4. Thus you shall be conformable unto Christ and what is behind of the suffering of Christ shall be filled up in you 5. Remember the nature of the Gospel and of the truths of it 6. Consider the Station which you take up in the World of a Witness a Souldier a Child to our Heavenly Father a Servant to a Heavenly Master 7. Remember the private Law that you have laid upon your selves 8. Remember the duty which lieth upon you to be conformable to your fellow members 9. Remember the danger of forbearing and the reward of your giving this Testimony 10. Consider your oneness with the Members of Christ after all these what need any further Arguments yet because we are of our selves not forward unto this our Hearts are awk and backward to the partaking of the affliction of the Gospel and averse to the giving of this Testimony let me by way of a further Argument in this cause name to you and press upon you the Arguments which the Apostle useth in this place and by which he himself presseth this Exhortation 1. The first lieth in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the power of God One great discouragement that is upon our Spirits to keep us in a day of Testimony that we should not testify is the fear we should never be able to speak and to give our Testimony To give a Testimony for our Lord is a noble thing to receive a Crown the Crown of Martyrdom is a great dignity But when the Lord by his providence seeketh out for us to set this Crown upon our Heads we too frequently hide our selves and the reason is we distrust our selves but Christian fear not we shall have the power of God it is a wonderful thing to observe that the power of God hath been so seen in no other thing as in this you read of a Testimony that Stephen gave to the Gospel First a vocal then a real Testimony Acts 6.9 10. And they were not able to resist the Wisdom and the spirit by which he spake Stephen had then a dispute with the Libertines The power and presence of God from the beginning of the Gospel hath been seen in nothing more than in Gods assistance of his Witnesses you have a promise Luke 12.12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say Matth. 10.19 20. But when they deliver you up take no thought how or what you shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak For it is not you that speak but the spirit of your heavenly Father which speaketh in you Luke saith When they bring you unto the Synagogues and unto
law of Charity to give a testimony to the truth for his Neighbour when his estate or his life is concerned or any thing of his interest and every Subject taketh himself more highly concerned to give his testimony to the truth on the behalf of his Prince or on the behalf of his Master because there is a relation betwixt the Prince and the Subject and betwixt the Master and the Servant certainly there must needs lie an obligation upon every Christian who owneth Christ as his Soveraign Lord and Master to give a testimony unto Christ it is a testimony for the Soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth for him whom we call our Father whom we own as our Master every Testimony to the Gospel and the truth of the Gospel is a testimony to Christ every testimony for Christ is a testimony for him who is our Lord and whom we own and avow to be our Lord. 3. This obligation ariseth from that gratitude which we all owe to the Lord Jesus Christ every one looketh upon himself indebted unto him who hath done him good and there is nothing more usual in that case then to promise a requital and to express a trouble that we know not how to make him or her amends and to express our willingness to it the testimony of our Lord is the testimony of him who left his Fathers Throne and came down upon the Earth and clothed himself with our nature and died in our stead that we might not perish for ever ever he ascending up into Heaven hath left us in charge with his truth Philip. 1.27 striving together for the faith of the Gospel Jude v. 3. that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Now which of you if you had but an ordinary friend like your selves who had done you some great and eminent kindness and left you in charge but to give a testimony unto him and for him should not think your selves under an obligation to it Oh! how great is the obligation which lieth upon every Christian that liveth in the world to bear his testimony for Christ if he doth but consider what Jesus Christ hath done for him shall Christ come and die for us love not his life unto death and shall we be ashamed to give a testimony unto him or to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel of our dearest Lord this ought not to be if the kindness of a man layeth an obligation upon us to do what in us lieth to serve him surely the kindness of the Lord our Saviour layeth a much higher obligation upon us 4. Another thing from whence this obligation doth arise is from the duty incumbent upon us to be conformable unto the Lord Jesus Christ we ought to study a conformity to him in his life and in his death in his life he commandeth us to be holy as he is holy in his death thus the Apostle prayeth for a fellowship of his sufferings For this cause was I born and for this cause did I come into the world that I might bear witness unto the truth and it is particularly said of him that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession 1 Tim. 6.13 He endured affliction in the first publication of the Gospel what was the testimony Christ gave but this that there were a people in the world who were very dear to him chosen unto eternal life for him though he was the eternal Son of God thought fit to cloath himself with flesh and to die upon the Cross that he might redeem this people unto himself now it is our duty to be conformable to Christ conformable to this testimony not being ashamed of this testimonony conformable also in not being ashamed of Affliction this yet is advantaged by another consideration that we are to fill up the Afflictions of Christ Col. 1.24 Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the Afflictions of Christ The sufferings of Christ are either those things which he suffered in his own person Now concerning them he said all is finished the Papists vainly dream of the filling up of those sufferings or else those sufferings which every good Christian shall suffer in his Mystical Body to the end of the World and there is much behind of the sufferings of Christ which we are to fill up and filling them up we act both in a conformity unto Christ who is our Head and also unto the multitude of the Churches that have gone before us who have tasted of this Cup and drank a little of it but there is much more of these that is yet to be filled up 5. The Obligation ariseth upon Christians from the nature of the Gospel and the truths of it to which we give our Testimony I have told you before in this Discourse that every Man and Woman is a Debtor to truth no Man ought to decline a Testimony unto truth but now by how much any truths are of greater moment of greater weight and importance by so much we are the greater Debtors to them you have the substance of the Gospel in that one Text 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners He said true who said that Christians could better want the Sun in the Firmament than that one piece of the Gospel the truths of the Gospel are of that high importance that the comfort and peace of all the Souls of the People of God in this Life and the eternal Salvation of the Souls of all People in the Life to come doth depend upon the stability of them if the truths of the Gospel did not stand firm and fixed the Souls of Christians are undone to all eternity there is no foundation of peace for them in this Life there is no hope of an eternal Salvation for them in that Life which is to come We stand therefore highly concerned to give a Testimony to these truths and to be partakers of afflictions in giving a Testimony to those truths and to that Gospel upon which so much of our eternal interest and concern doth lye there is no truth but we owe a Testimony to it but there are some Propositions of Truth that are not of that moment that we should endure affliction for the justification of them but the truths of the Gospel are of that nature that no Testimony we can give to them can be too high no affliction we can suffer for them can be too great 6. A Sixth Obligation that lyeth upon Christians is from the station they take up in the World I shall here inlarge upon Three things 1. They are God's Witnesses 2. They are God's Soldiers 3. They are God's Children and Servants and Christ's Members 1. Every Christian is the Child of God the Servant of God the Member of Christ now should a Child be ashamed to attest the truth for
his Father or should a Servant be ashamed to attest the truth for his Master or should a Member be ashamed to attest the truth for its Head should the Tongue be ashamed to speak for the Head Which of you that are Parents if you had a Child that should be ashamed if called to speak the truth for you would not disown such a Child There is never a Christian but is the Son or the Daughter of God the Child of God and his relation to God doth oblige him not to be ashamed of this Testimony 2. We stand in the Relation of Witnesses 1 Pet. 5. Ch. v. 1. Paul calleth himself a Witness of the sufferings of Christ Acts 1.8 Christ when he left the Earth told his Disciples You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost be come upon you and you shall be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth Indeed good Christians ought some to be special Witnesses Acts 10.41 Not to all the People but unto Witnesses chosen before of God But every Child of God is the Lord's Witness though there lieth an eminent Obligation upon some especially the Ministers of the Gospel yet every Child of God is to be the Lord's Witness and to give his Testimony for God 3. Every Christian standeth in the Notion of a Soldier hence the Apostle speaketh to Timothy to endure hardship as a good Soldier of Christ all Christians are required to fight the good Fight and our Life upon Earth is but a Warfare wherein we are to fight the good Fight and shall a Soldier decline the Fight and refuse to be partaker of the Battel How shall we discharge either the relation of Children to our Father or Servants to our Lord or Members to our Head or Witnesses or Soldiers if we shall either be ashamed of the Testimony of Christ or afraid to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel 7. Another Obligation that is upon us is from those private Laws that we have laid upon our selves and that two ways 1. By our Baptism 2. By our Profession We are all Baptized and the Apostle saith we are Baptized into Christ one part of the sense of which is that we are Baptized into the profession of Christ no person is Baptized but he taketh a Vow upon him to be the Lord's Servant besides our profession is another private Law that we have laid upon our selves the name of a Christian is an Obligation upon us to act for Christ and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ the Press-mony you know obligeth the Subject to fight for his Prince there is no Christian but besides the general Laws that are laid upon him hath layed a private Law upon himself both by his Vow and Promise in Baptism and by his taking upon him the name of a Christian how doth he deserve the name of a Christian that is ashamed of the Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ how doth he answer his Vow in Baptism that refuseth to fight under the Lords Banner and to give a Testimony unto Christ when he is called thereunto 8. There lyeth a great Obligation upon us from our duty of conformity to our Fellow-members we are not only the Members of Christ but are also Members one of another Ephes 4.25 For we are Members one of another The Church of Christ from the beginning of the World unto the end of it will be but one and we ought to be as Members like one another so that the example of the Saints and Servants of God in all Ages who have stood up in testimony of the Gospel or who have been partakers of the Afflictions of the Gospel layeth an Obligation upon us to go and do likewise that as we might have a fellowship with Christ in his Death and in his Testimony and his Afflictions so that we might be conformable unto those Saints and Servants of God which have been before us and to their Testimony John glorieth in this and putteth into his Titles Rev. 1.2 Who bare record of the word of God and of the Testimony of Jesus Christ He calleth himself v. 9. Their Brother and Companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ For the word of God and for the Testimony of Christ Rev. 6.9 The Angel saw under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the Testimony which they held And the seed of the Woman with whom the Dragon was wroth are described to be such as keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 19.10 The Angel telleth John I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Jesus 9. A Ninth Obligation that is upon us not to be ashamed of this Testimony of our Lord is the reward that such shall have who shall not be ashamed and the danger they run that are ashamed I will put both these together because the proof of them lieth in the same Texts Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels Matth. 10.33 But whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven Luke 12.8 Whosoever shall confess me before Men him shall the Son of Man also confess before the Angels of God The danger lieth here that if we be ashamed of Christ he will be ashamed of us if we deny him he will deny us 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he will also deny us The reward you see is if we suffer with him we shall reign with him Rom. 8.17 If so be we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together If we confess him he will also own confess and acknowledge us before his Father which is in Heaven this I take to be what every one will grant that by the very Law of Nature every one is bound to decline that which will bring evil upon him and to do that which will bring him any valuable and considerable good so that let us but consider the danger of Christ's disowning us and the good of Christs owning us at the day of Judgment and we shall easily understand what Obligation lieth upon us not to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord and to be ready to give our Testimony to him and to the Gospel but may some say who are those whom Christ will own or disown at the last day and how will Christ disown Men in the day of Judgment I suppose you may understand it from some Texts Math. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven