hold his peace But Priscus told him that he would speak what he thought was just and right But Priscus added If you say you will kill me when did I affirm that I was immortal Do you your part I will do mine It is your part to kill It is mine to die undauntedly It is your part to banish it is mine to go away without grief Our life is worth preserving but not with the loss of our integrity It is its end and its relation to a future state that gives it value 3. Let us consider the ground or reason of this command of our Lord. The truth is our Lords will in this case ought to be ground enough to us It should be enough that our Lord hath said it it will not become us to dispute our Saviours Law But yet our Saviour deals with us with great condescension he does not govern us after an arbitrary manner His Laws are founded upon Justice and do carry with them a great conviction that they are just and reasonable And as it is thus every where else so it is in the matter that lies before us Our Lord requires us to part with our lives but it is upon a good account that he requires it And we cannot but judge this very reasonable when it is considered that when our Lord requires this he does it only then when by our obedience we are assured to avoid a greater evil than what we suffer and to attain a greater good than we forego By our obedience to this Law we are sure to avoid a greater evil than that is which we suffer And this will be evident if we will but take the pains to consider what it is we suffer and what evils we avoid by it For our suffering it can amount to no more than the loss of this present life This is the utmost that we can suffer No force or malice can reach any farther than this comes to Let us make the most of it it will not be much we lose And whatever evil the loss of this life is yet it holds no proportion at all to the evils which by this means we avoid And they are these two 1. We avoid the horrors and clamours of an accusing Conscience Say that we decline our suffering and deny our Religion that to avoid death we wrong our Conscience Do not think your trouble is now at an end when you have taken this course and that you shall live pleasant days for the future This is but as if a man did flee from a Lion Amos 5.19 and a Bear met him Or went into the house and leaned his hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Alas poor man thou dost but run from one evil into another and which is the saddest from the least into the greatest From bodily pain into the horrors of a guilty mind And sure I am there is no compare between the one and the other There is no sorrow like that of a wounded Spirit Others may be avoided or they may be cured they may be diverted and they have been born But a wounded spirit who can bear This is an evil from within a perpetual disquiet at home The other evils are but foreign and from without There is no plague like that of the heart All other strokes they do but batter the out-works this throws down the main Fort. Greater madness cannot be than to wrong our Consciences that we may save our lives To wound our Souls that we may keep our Skin intire This is to regard the Garment more than we do what it covers What is it that bewitches us Can we meet with any evil in this world to be compared with the guilt and horrors of our own minds Will any thing comfort us when our own minds upbraid us Will any thing be able to hold us up when our hearts sink within us Surely all other sorrows are very trifling things to this one sorrow of a guilty and unawakened mind For we find that it is this that makes our other sorrows sharp and poinant it is this that gives them a keen edge and makes them pierce deep Guilt renders even our outward Crosses and sorrows double It is this that presses and weighs us down under our other burdens We run into a greater evil than we run from when to escape a suffering we commit a sin We do but divert the blow from our body and receive the deadly stroke upon our souls For sure I am that Fire and Faggot Wheels and Gibbets all the Instruments of cruelty and death are very gentle Evils to the horrors and lashes of a guilty and accusing Conscience But then 2. We avoid by this means an eternal and unspeakable misery The flames of Hell I mean which opens its mouth to receive those profane sinners that choose that everlasting burning before the sufferings of this present life What proportion is there now between a Temporal and an Eternal death Between the sorrows of this present time and those everlasting sorrows Is there any burning to be compared to that fire which never goes out Any Dungeon or Prison fit to be compared with those chains of darkness Does not that worm that never dies speak infinite more terror than any Crâ—â—â—â— or Gibbet any pain or torment here below Can we conceive what it is to die eternally Is there any evil like unto this Is any sentence so formidable as that of Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25.41 Certainly the parting of the soul from the body is but a small thing to the parting of the soul from God the fountain of its being and happiness We look upon death as formidable which strips us of our worldly properties divides us from this body and from this world but what is it then to be eternally separated from our God To depart from God to depart with a Curse to depart into everlasting fire to depart into the portion of Devils and apostate Fiends is more than can be expressed in time My God my God why dost thou part from me Was such a grief as cannot be The Son of God cried out when he was for a while deprived of a sense of Gods favour when he was in that agony which he underwent upon our score But who can tell nay who can think how sad this will be when God will be merciful to a man no more When we die for our Religion it is that we may not die eternally When we lose our life here it is that we may not die the second death Having premised these things I shall now proceed to lay before you the helps and assistances that our Religion does afford us against the severest trials that we shall meet with in our Christian Course and Warfare CHAP. III. FIrst Our Religion lays before us the hope of eternal life for our support under the sufferings and calamities of this short life Rejoyce says
THE Christian Sufferer supported OR A DISCOURSE Concerning the Grounds OF Christian Fortitude SHEWING At once that the Sufferings of good men are not inconsistent with Gods special Providence as also the several supports which our Religion affords them under their Sufferings and particularly against the fear of a Violent Death By Richard Kidder Rector of St. Martin Outwich London LONDON Printed for W. Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1680. THE PREFACE THough many of the evils of this life which we daily complain of are Phantastick and imaginary as our happiness in this world generally is And many others under which we are uneasie are intirely owing to our own folly and the just fruit of our wicked lives Yet certain it is that we are born to trouble as the Sparks flye upwards and we are beset with very many and very severe evils And we can hardly turn any way but we may meet with one or other ready to entertain us with the sad story of what they feel or what they justly fear And those very persons who seem most prosperous to the stander by have those troubles mingled with their prosperity which render it not at all desirable Consolat ad Polyb Look upon all Mortals says Seneca and you will every where find a large and constant occasion for weeping One man's pinching Poverty calls him out to his daily Labour Another man is soliciteed by his restless ambition Another man fears those riches which he had desired before and is afflicted with what he himself prayed for One man is rack'd by care another by labour a third is disquieted with a multitude and crowd of Clients or Visitants This man is sorrowful because he hath Children another because he hath lost his Many are the evils to which we are incident and which we may therefore justly expect Such are Reproach and Poverty Sickness and Pain Oppression and Violence Sorrow for the death of our Friends and the dread and fear of our own There are many in the world whose misery is great upon them and who are perpetually bowed down with some or more of these evils It is great wisdom therefore to provide against these evils and to contrive how to turn them the right way And since it is so that we shall meet with these troubles it is the highest wisdom to arm our selves that they may neither surprize nor hurt us But that we may be able to continue in great patience and well doing and at last receive an unspeakable reward It is a very sad consideration to think how commonly men fear the evils which threaten them and how rarely they prepare for them They use their endeavours to keep off the stroke when they take no care to bear it and to make it a blessing They live in perpetual anxiety and disquiet and at last go in sorrow to their graves whiles they have been negligent of making the right use of their fears and other afflictions It is a certain truth that God does not take any delight in afflicting the Chlidren of men He does it for our profit and advantage And considering the lapsed and corrupt condition of mankind these evils are necessary for us They are not only justly inflicted but they are medicinal also A constant prosperity is a very formidable condition Magna ira est quando peccantibus non irascitur Deus Hier. Epist ad Castrutium and God is then angry with us when he does not chastise our follies It is our duty to look up to him that strikes us and to see that we improve our evils to the best advantage as well as to bear them with courage It is a poor and mean thing barely to design to save our selves from the blow or only to project that it may do us no harm Plutarch de Capiend ex host utilitate We ought to consider how we may turn these things to our profit Men at first were only careful that wild Beasts did them no hurt this was all their design when they fought them But men in after-times learnt the way to make these Beasts useful to them They did then eat of their flesh cloath themselves with their hair arm themselves with their skins and make use of some parts of them for Medicines in their distempers We ought to learn this Art and to use our evils as instruments of great good The loss of our Goods the death of our Friends the pain of our Bodies and our fears of Death may be so ordered as to make for the advancement of Piety in us and the securing our precious and immortal souls And then in the mean time it stands us in hand to bear up under our troubles and to possess our souls in patience and not to suffer our selves out of the fear of a temporal evil to part with an eternal good and plunge our Souls in everlasting horror and misery But then if we would do all this we must have recourse to those helps and powerful motives which Christian Religion does afford us The Doctrine of Jesus Christ will give us the best directions and furnish us with the most effectual assistances They are mean and low arguments which are to be found in the Philosophy of the Heathens in comparison with those which our Religion lays before us And what those helps and assistances are you will find in the following Discourse and I make no doubt but we shall also find them effectual to gain their end if we apply our selves with great care and diligence calling in with all fervency the divine grace to our assistance to the use of them They disparage their Religion that think it a mean and ineffectual Principle And they reproach it greatly who affirm that it renders men sneaking and cowardly For as the Author of it shewed the greatest fortitude and courage when he contemned the world and witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate so do the Principles of this holy Religion mightily fortifie and encourage all the Followers of Jesus to follow the glorious example of their Lord and Master It is an argument of great fortitude to contemn the World not to be drawn aside by its blandishments nor dismaid with its threats He shews a generous and great mind that in cold blond chooses to die rather than deny the truth and that can forgive an enemy that thirsts after his bloud This our Saviour did and both by his Example and his Precepts commends this lesson to us On the other hand to be transported to revenge upon every little trespass is a certain argument of a weak and feeble mind And to that purpose it is well observed that generally those who are of the weaker frame that are most contemptible and of the shortest wit are ever most inclined to revenge And those of the truest valour and best judgment are the farthest from it The truth of it is these men have the same and no better pretence to Fortitude that
It is very rarely that we make any great attainments unless we meet with Crosses Secondly They are very useful to the weaning of good men from this world and all worldly things They teach them to make a right judgment and estimate of things And this is a fruit of great wisdom and a step to the greatest perfection He that prospers knows but one part of the world he looks upon it on one side and does not know it throughly We do not know it perfectly till we come to suffer Till then we see the fair and glozing and false side of the world He that sees no more than this runs a great hazard The Shepherd in the Fable was tempted out of the hopes of gain to turn a Merchant He did so and lost his adventure upon a rough and tempestuous Sea But then he gained this wisdom by his loss not to trust to the Sea when it was calm The world does us the greatest mischief when it smiles and never does us a greater hurt than when it speaks us fair It is a great proficiency to be able to contemn the smiles and Courtship of the world Thirdly They are of great use to make us more earnest contenders for heaven They bring the good man nearer to God and to his happiness By these sufferings the good man is prepared for the enjoyment of God The contempt he meets with here makes him aspire after a future glory His poverty and pain and confinement put him upon breathing after the plenty and the joys and enlargement of a future state what he loses here he gains above And we are very happy when we do whatever the occasion be endeavour earnestly after an incorruptible Crown Fourthly They give us an experiment of our selves We know not what we are till we are tried It is easie to be valiant when we are in no danger Our courage is then proved when we are surrounded with danger It is the Storm that shews the skill and courage of the Sea-man We are reproached we shall now know whether or no we can pray and forgive them that speak evil of us without a cause We are injured now we shall know whether or not we can forgive an enemy We lose our goods we shall now see whether our faith and patience be genuine or not We are affronted this is the time to take a proof of our meekness If these things had not hapned the graces of good men had not been known to others nor to themselves But by this means good men have the comfort of this experience and others an advantage also It is much better to bear our evils well than to meet with none at all Jam. 1.2 3. Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience Rom. 4.3 4. We glory in tribulation also says St. Paul knowing that tribulation worketh patience wherein ye greatly rejoyce says St. 1 Pet. 1.6 Peter though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried in fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ Though we had these graces before we might yet have been without the comfort and our Brother without the advantage and God without the glory had we not been tried Fifthly Good men that have suffered much and in a good cause and with an undanted courage shall have a greater reward in an other life There are degrees of glory in the other state and these holy men shall be placed in the higher Stations of glory Rom. 8.17 If we suffer with him we shall be glorified together If we bear an heavy Cross we shall receive a glorious Crown I consider IV. That good men are supported under their sorrows and troubles here And if God enable them to endure well may he lay upon them what he pleaseth For the good man is well dealt with when he is enabled here and hath a sure Reward hereafter I do intend to discourse of the supports which the pious man will meet with in another place CHAP. II. HAving cleared the good Providence of God and shewed that the sufferings of good men are very consistent with his particular care and government I shall Secondly Shew you the great reasonableness of the Laws of Christ by which we are oblige to suffer for righteousness sake no only reproach and the loss of oâ—â— worldly goods but even life it self Our Saviours Precept is plain 〈◊〉 this matter Luk. 14.26 with Mat. 10.37 If any man come to mâ— says Christ and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yeâ— and his own life also he cannot be 〈◊〉 Disciple The meaning of theâ—â— words is plainly this that we caâ— not be the true Disciples of Chriâ—â— if we do not prefer his command before Father and Mother â— and our very life it self To hatâ— these things is to love them less thaâ— we do our Saviour as appearâ—â— from a parallel place Luk. 9.23 It is but fâ—â— we should choose to dye rathâ—â— than deny our Saviour and renounce our Religion And we aâ—â— frequently commanded by ouâ— Lord to deny our selves Mar. 8.34 to take up his Cross to follow him And we are assured that he that loseth his life for his sake shall find it Oâ— the other hand we are excluded from the hopes of mercy in another life if we do now deny our Saviour before men If we suffer Mat. 10.39 Ver. 33. 2 Tim. 2.12 we shall also reign with him If we deny him he will also deny us It is our interest as much as it is our duty to part with life it self in the confession of the truth Mat. 10.28 Fear not them says our Saviour which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell And in another place he tells us Joh. 12.25 He that loveth his life shall lose it And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal Now certain it is that our Lord is no hard Master and that all his Laws are very righteous and good Our Blessed Saviour promiseth us rest if we will become his followers and assures us Mat. 11.29 30. that his yoke is easie and his burden light He that undertakes the Laws of Christ and sincerely sets himself to obey them will never have any cause to complain of his Master or his Work They that find fault with the Laws of Christ are those that do not understand them aright or never did seriously apply themselves to the practice of them That we should choose to die rather than break his Laws and renounce his Religion is indeed one of the hardest Laws of Christ But
crowd of Professors there are many Hypocrites and Unbelievers 2. Supposing these sufferers sincerely and universally good yet they are but imperfectly so There is some folly bound up in the heart of the wisest and best of men There is some defect in the most perfect Saint All menneed some grains of allowance Nullum magnum ingenium sine venia placuit Sen. And as there is some flaw in the greatest wit so there is some defect even in them who have made the greatest proficiency in goodness And whatinjustice is there in chastising the follies of good men especially when this chastisement is for their Emendation It is folly and fondness to suffer an otherwise towardly Child to go on in an evil and unbecoming course It is greater kindness to correct than to indulge him There is no man so good but doth sometimes go astray It is no impeachment of the Divine Providence to correct the faults of the best of men This is just and very consistent with the Divine care and providence It rather confirmes it and strengthens our belief of it Psa 89.20 22 27 28 29. I have found David my Servant with my holy Oyl I have anointed him The enemy shall not exact upon him nor the Son of wickedness afflict him Also I will make him my first-born higher than the Kings of the earth My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him his Seed also will I make to endure for ever and his Throne as the Laws of heaven These are great Promises and such as give assurance of a very particular Care and Providence But all these great things do not imply that Davids Children shall not be chastised They may be corrected for their sin without the least diminution to the Promise or impeachment of Gods care and Providence Ver. 30 32 33 34. It follows If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgments then will I visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity with stripes Nevertheless my loving kindness I will not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips It is an act of mercy and kindness in God to correct his Children Heb. 12.6 Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth If God did it not Intelligimus esse nos Deo curae quibus quoniam peccamus â—rascitur Lactant Inst l. 5. c. 23. we might have greater cause to impeach his care and doubt of his Providence We commend the care of that Master of a Family who does correct the disorders of his own house Good men are Gods peculiar His Church is His Family Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the Families of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities not to do thus would be cruelty and disregard And it is the greatest Plague to meet with none at all It is said of the worst of men Psa 73.5 They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men And it is a severe threat no merciful promise which we read Hos 4.14 I will not punish your Daughters when they commit Whoredom nor your Spouses when they commit Adultery As the faults of good men make it just that they should be corrected so their relation to God makes it necessary God may justly do it because they deserve it and He does it because they are His. There is in it Justice and Kindness at once Be it then that the good man suffer yet hath he deserved it from God Be it that he is sincerely good yet he is imperfectly so He fails in many things He is too cold in his Prayers or too weak in his Faith too contracted in his Charity or too propense to the world Be it that he be Gold there may be some dross that may be taken away by the Discipline of Heaven Let us consider in the next place II. The evils themselves which are in this world the lot and portion of good men They meet with Evils but what Evils are they How great and how durable or what proportion do they bear to their demerits or their mercies They meet with Evils indeed but not with the worst of things And this will appear if we consider 1. That the evils which good men meet with are not strictly evils They are in some sense Evils but not of the greater size and character That is indeed a great Evil which makes us evil and is not consistent with real goodness As that is truly good which makes us good so that is only an evil in the truest sense which makes us so Poverty restraint reproach sickness death are in some sense evils But they are not such evils as Pride Wantonness Prophaness Injustice a guilty mind and unquiet Conscience They are evils but they are tolerable ones The Spirit of a man may bear his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear The good man meets with evils then but not with the worst of things for such things will imply him not to be good A good man may be killed but he cannot be hurt Men may kill his body they cannot deprave his soul He may be banished from his Country not from his God Men may make him poor they cannot make him covetous and proud earthly and sensual They may load him with Calumnies but not with Guilt He hath goods of which he cannot be rifled and stripped He may fall under the anger and power of a Tyrant or popular Tumult but is not by that force robbed of his integrity The good man is well dealt with he hath good things which no malice or force can take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian Epictet l. 3. c. 17. Why do we blame Providence which allots the best of things to the best of men Is it not better to be modest than to be rich Is it not better to be good than to be great Is not integrity of mind better than health of body If it be then the good man does not meet with the very worst of things and though he may be afflicted with sundry evils which other men avoid yet he hath many very good things belonging to him which other men want 2. The evils which good men meet with are but Temporal evils at most Sharp they may be and painful to the flesh but they are but short The best man may meet with a fiery trial he will not fall into everlasting burnings His sufferings bear no proportion to a future misery or glory If we think of eternal sorrows we cannot think our short ones worthy to be compared with them The good man meets with all his pain here there is none remains for him in reversion Alas what compare is there between a fire and fagot and eternal fire Between a Gibbet and a Rack and the Worm that never dies and
yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it And to that purpose shall commend to your serious consideration the following particulars First Let us consider whose Law this is and we shall find that the Author of the Law does greatly recommend it to us How hard soever it may otherwise seem yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ that consideration is of great moment to reconcile us to it We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord and dear Redeemer lays upon us For we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us He hath given us great proof that he loved us when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God Let us stay a while upon this consideration and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake If our hearts be cold and chill if we find them dampt and sinking let us then meditate of our Lords love and that will be of great use to inflame them and give them spirit Does Jesus say that we must not fear them that kill the body that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples Good is that word of our Dearest Lord will the pious Soul say Death shall be welcome when ever it comes and it will be not only our duty to die when our Lord would have us but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us Alas this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father He was happy and glorious and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Heaven to Earth from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world He that was the brightness of his Fathers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh and with our infirmities He that upheld all things by the word of his power was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin to be wrapt up in swadling cloaths to lie in a Stable to be subject to his Creatures to be tempted by the Devil to be hungred and thirsty to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree that he might save lost Mankind He was at these pains for the helpless and for sinners for Caitiffs and Rebels for them who had dishonoured his Father and ruined themselves Here is a love without a Parallel a love that passeth knowledge a love that is stronger than death and that surpasseth the love of women Here are all the dimensions of love here is height and depth a length and breadth Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his Friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but few examples of it Our Lords kindness rose higher by far He died for the ungodly for the weak and them that were without all hope Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to die for him It is an easie task that lies upon us to love him that hath first loved us and to die for him that died for us This is very reasonable and a most gentle command to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country There are those would dare to die for a good man or for a faithful friend My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives or my fellow Creatures I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us is this That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth It is fit we should do it and he led us the way He hath recommended this Precept to us not only by his Doctrine but by his Example also Indeed our Lord was silent when he was reproached and inconsistently accused but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ Mat. 26.63 64. the Son of God or not He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate and tells him To this end was I born Joh. 18.17 and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud and does not put his Followers upon that which he declined himself This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done Every where we judge this very reasonable The Souldier thinks himself obliged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger And the Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by 2. Let us consider the command it self and that is that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord and forfeit our hopes of a better life This may at first sight seem a very hard saying but when we draw near and consider it well we shall find it a very reasonable Law and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said when he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden light The truth is we disquiet our selves in vain and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary so is a great part of our misery also We make a false judgment of things and set a very unequal rate and price upon them And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought so we judge death to be a greater evil than indeed it is I desire that you would under this general head consider well the following particulars And 1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment It is no high Prerogative and unvaluable peculiar For the smallest Mite or Ante the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we When Marcellinus was sick all that were about him flattered him and said that which they thought would please him most Every man