your peace with God and your own conscience If vapours be not got into the earth and stir not there they are not all the storms and tempests abroad that can make an earthquake but if vapours be within and work there an earthquake is caused so where there is peace within all troubles and oppositions without cannot shake the heart but if there be no peace within every little thing troubles the spirit terrours without and terrours within both are very hard Be not thou a terrour to me O Lord says Jeremy chap. 17. 17. for thou art my hope in the day of evil I care not though all the world be a terrour to me so be it thou beest not a terrour if I have peace with thee it is enough what ever evil befal me Oh therefore maintain and keep this peace above all it is no matter whether you have peace or no with the world so be it you have the peace of the Gospel in your hearts it is one special part of that spiritual armory we read of Ephes 6. to be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace that is that blessed peace of the Gospel which is a strong preparation to endure any troubles or afflictions that Christians meet withal the reason of that phrase to be shod is this because we are to go amongst briars and thorns in our way to Heaven we are to meet with many hard things we are to pass through therefore we had need be well shod if a man be not so he will be as one that goes upon sharp flints bare-foot or a mongst thorns or bushes so that the blood tricles down his feet every step he takes surely such a man cannot hold out long thus it is with the soul that is not fenced with the Gospel of peace Be careful in nothing let not your spirits be divided for so is the word Phil. 4. 6 7. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and mindes the word is shall guard your hearts afflictions and troubles are as enemies compassing us about but the peace of God guards our hearts from the evil of them this enables Gods children though not in the letter yet in some sort to tread upon the Adder and Asp to shake off Vipers and receive no hurt Having peace with God we glory in tribulations we are not onely patient under them but we glory in them How were the spirits of those blessed Martyrs we read and hear so much of strengthened with this blessed peace of the Gospel Take heed therefore that you never maintain peace with any sin Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Psal 119. 165. Oh how many of you have broke your peace with God! at least the comfort of it is exceedingly darkned you would fain have outward ease and peace but you have neglected the comforts of this peace and that is the reason you have no strength to suffer any thing for the truth Nehem. 8. 10. The joy of the Lord is your strength that joy that comes from this inward peace but where this is not there is nothing to sweeten sorrows and therefore they must needs be very bitter That time therefore that God gives you yet respite from afflictions let it be spent in making up your peace more with God then ever and getting clearer evidence and sense of his love If ever you knew what peace with God meant I appeal unto you when at any time the sense of it hath enlarged your hearts with joy whether then have you not found your selves willing to suffer any thing for God you could then go through fire and water your spirits could triumph with the Apostle I am per swaded that neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come shal ever be able to seperate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus Fifthly labour to see more into the fulness of all good in God the Lord told Abraham that he was God all-sufficient as the onely means to strengthen him against whatsoever evils he was like to meet withal Labour to have the insight into Gods fulness in these three particulars First look at all the excellency beauty comfort and good in the creature and know that it is all in him in a most eminent and glorious maner There is no good in the effect but the causes together have it in them now God is the first cause and so all causes have their principle in him and therefore all good must needs be in him Secondly all possible good is in the Lord that is as there is no actual good but is for the present in him so there can be none but it is in him already there is such fulness of good in him that it is impossible that there should be any good added to him in the least degree Thirdly look at God as taking infinite delight in communicating himself in letting out his goodness to his creature let God be seen thus and let these three meditations of the fulness of good in God be wrought upon the heart and they will mightily support the spirit in all afflictions for what is the loss of any thing to me when I see where I can have it made up what is any bitterness when I see such infinite sweetness to sweeten all When tempests come upon Mariners and they be in narrow seas where they want sea-room there is danger but if they have sea-room enough there is no fear Thus if we are acquainted with the infinite fulness of good in God we should see our selves safe in the midst of all tempests we should feel our spirits quiet under the sorest afflictions Sixthly A sixt preparation for the bearing further crosses is an humble cheerful bearing of present afflictions and an humble submitting to the present condition That soul that is willing to yield to God in the present condition God will fit it for the future many cast about in their thoughts what they shall do hereafter if troubles should befal them and yet in the mean time they neglect the duties of their present condition Go on therefore humbly and patiently in the performance of the duties that God calls now for and they will prepare you for whatsoever duties shall be required of you hereafter there is no good to be expected from any in a new condition who are not careful to perform the duties of the present many are ready to promise When we shall be in such a condition then we will do thus or thus but what do you in your present never think to be able to suffer if God call you to a new condition if you cannot be patient under the troubles you meet with now especially when these troubles are small and petty in comparison of those you are like to meet withal Mr Bilney the Martyr used to put his finger into the candle to
quickly gone Christs sufferings both in himself and in his Church is but drinking of the brook not a spring of water for perpetuity Besides the afflictions of Gods people are in their season it is now the very season to be afflicted and shall we be troubled to have affliction in its season this time of our life is appointed for this end it is our winter time will a man be troubled to see frost and snow in winter time It is better to see frost and snow in winter time then to see the corn blooming or earing in January and February so while we are in the body the winter of affliction is in season it is not the time to be delivered from affliction now that is hereafter and therefore why should we be troubled that we meet with affliction Lastly these afflictions that you say will discourage they will bring forth a gracious end they are but as a dark entry into your Fathers house a dirty lane to a Palace do but shut your eyes and there will be a change and as a Martyr said Though we have an ill breakfast we shall have a good dinner Now put all these together what great matter is there to discourage any from the ways of God But now come to the other part A gracious heart discourses of the ways of sin what if I should choose the pleasure of sin and should go on that way 1. If I go on in those ways I shall be sure to go on in a way of direct opposition against the God of all the world and so treasure up to my self the wrath of an infinite God And is it nothing for a poor creature to go on in a way of opposition and enmity to an infinite Diety how much better were it for me if I had never been born then thus to do 2. I shall be sure to have no peace in those ways in my own spirit in conscience I shall have within me a conscience galling girding and lashing of me the worm gnawing of my heart my conscince continually damping of my soul telling of me Surely I am not in those ways an immortal soul should walk in I shall never have any pleasure but when my conscience shall be stopped and what cursed pleasure is this for a man that he can never have it but onely when he can stop his conscience if his conscience had but the mouth open he could not have pleasure and all the pleasure that he hath he must steal it at that time when his conscience is asleep he can never have it upon other terms if a mans conscience be enlightned and awaked it is impossible to have pleasure in the ways of sin it is poor living when a servant or childe can get no victuals but as they steal it when the master or mistress is asleep or is on the to side and so it is poor pleasure that the world hath when it must be stoln when conscience is asleep What good is it for a man to have a broken leg and a silken stocking and what great content is it for a man to have outward pleasure and inward dampings of spirit 3. Again in these ways of sin as I shall have no peace so do what I can I shall have some trouble in spight of my heart let me go on in the ways of sin as I will and seek for my contentment I shall have some trouble in spight of me and how grievous will that trouble be that shal come with the curse of God and the wrath of God and the hatred of God what shall I have to support me in trouble A little water in a leaden vessel is heavy so a little trouble in an evil conscience 4. And in these ways of sin I shall be sure to be a stranger from God never to know what any communion with God means go up and down in the world as a forlorn forsaken creature of God that when as others of Gods people have communion with God and with Christ and have the light of Heaven and the joy of Angels I shall be set to my swill 5. And as for my eternal estate I shall hazard to miscarry therein and oh my soul dost know what it is to miscarry to eternity Surely there need be some great matter that should procure the least peace to a man in the way of sin much more to procure delight to a man But you will say You take sin at the worst side at first sin hath a delightful side and that will please you and allure you though the other would not therefore let us see the fairest side of sin a gracious heart will look on every side The pleasures that you speak of what are they are they not fleshly onely reach to the sensual part What must God Heaven eternal life be neglected for these What shall that body that must within a while be gnawn on by worms and lie rotting as a filthy carcase now be so regarded now have such content given to it as all that is to be had in God and Jesus Christ must be neglected for it When thou shalt hereafter at the great Day meet with this wretched carcase of thine and see how vile it is what confusion will be upon thee when thou shalt think Was this the vile carcase that must have such content for which God and Heaven and all the good in Christ is now lost for ever Secondly it hath been the care of all Gods dearest servants to keep down their bodies to deny contentment to the flesh and wilt thou give it all the content thou canst Daniel was afraid of taking liberty to his flesh in eating the Kings meat and the time when he had his 〈◊〉 heavenly visions he ate no pleasant bread neither came flesh nor wine in his mouth neither did he anoint himself at all You know the mean provision that Iohn the Baptist the Forerunner of Christ had his fare was locusts and wilde honey and yet there was not a greater born of a woman before him St. Paul was careful to beat down his body to club it down even till it was black and blew so the word signifies Timothy although he was sickly yet would not take liberty to drink a little wine but onely water till Paul wrote to him and in that liberty there was but a little granted and that for his stomacks sake and his often infirmities not for his lusts sake and to maintain riotousness If I should tell you of the mean provision for the flesh that many of the Ancients who were the most worthy instruments of God the most eminent in all true excellency were contented withal and that before the superstition of Popery prevailed it would be even incredible unto you Basil in an Epistle to Iulian mentions the mean fare he and others with him lived withal he ate no flesh they had need of no Cook the leaves of plants and a little bread
the chief contentment of thy soul Is it possible that the chief contentment of a creature should be in sinning against an infinite God That thy chief contentment should be in departing from God in striking at God So thou doest in the way of sin That thy chief contentment should be in incensing the wrath of an infinite Deity against thy soul That thy chief contentment should be in putting thy self under the everlasting curse that bindes thee over to eternal death That thy chief contentment should be in that which being committed if ever it comes to be pardoned must cost more then Heaven and Earth is worth Thou goest out in the morning and goest into thy company and countest thy self happy that thou hast money to spend and so takest thy pleasure This day thou hast done that which if ever it be pardoned it must cost more then Heaven and Earth is worth There must be a price paid more worth then a thousand worlds to purchase the pardon of it Canst thou choose that for thy chief contentment which was such a dreadful but then to Jesus Christ that made the soul of Christ to be heavy to the very death that squeazed out clods of blood from him What is the chief pleasure and delight of thy soul in that which a true enlightened gracious heart would rather suffer all the torments in the world then do it If so be it were put to him either such a sin must be committed or else all the tortures that can be devised by all the world must be inflicted upon him A gracious heart had rather choose all the tortures that can be inflicted then do that which thou makest the great pleasure of thy soul What an infinite difference is between thy base heart and a gracious heart Thy wretched heart doth choose this deliberately as the great pleasure of thy life which a gracious heart would rather suffer all the torments of the world then be brought to do it To delight in sins against conscience is the most desperate folly in the world No man rejoyces in any error or fault in other things but is rather ashamed onely in the errors in the rule of life and obedience men owe to God they rejoyce in Secondly those come under this reprehension who though they do not choose things for their chief pleasures that are sin yet do choose to themselves pleasures that come in by sin and though this be not so ill as the other yet ill enough that is those that shall strain their consciences to get something in the world to raise their estates and when they have got estates and money and things well about them then they can be merry then their tables are furnished and they can eat and drink and this they delight in O poor deluded heart what is this that can give thee so much content Thou hast cause to look upon thy table and every morsel that thou eatest as having death in it and every draught you drink as having the curse of God in it Little cause thou hast if thou knewest all to rejoyce in these pleasures that come in by sin certainly there can be no good that comes in by sin as sin I know God may turn sin to the good of some but that which sin brings in of it self it is impossible good should come of it that which thou takest pleasure in that which thou art merry and jocund in delighting thy self withal is it may be the calamity and misery of others and how hard is that heart that can make that his mirth and joy that is the sorrow and distress of his brother Chrysostom in a Sermon against luxury and excess cryes out against those who riot in those things that they have got by making others miserable and says It is the most grievous thing that can be Thirdly those who do neither of these they choose not to themselves the pleasures that are sin nor the pleasures that come in by sin but such pleasures in the enjoyment of which they do sin though the pleasures be in themselves lawful they choose to let out their hearts unto them and spend the strength of their spirits on them they think because there is no hurt in them in themselves therefore they may give liberty to themselves there is a great deal of mistake in this we may sin exceedingly in things that are lawful when men shall spend so much time as many that are professors do in giving themselves content in some sports and delights to the flesh as they cut God short of his time that time that should be spent in examining their hearts humbling their souls seeking the face of God is spent in some slight vain idle sport Many are guilty of this especially those that have means and their callings do not require such a necessity of continual attendance How is that time spent wherein you have liberty from your callings Certainly no good account can be given of that time much might be gained to your souls in it and much converse and communion you might have with God and what ill choice do you make when as many poor Christians would bless God if they could have a little liberty from their callings On the one side there is this liberty for you to enjoy communion with God and furnish your souls with heavenly excellencies On the other side there is a little vain delight and carnal content and ease to the flesh and you rather choose this It may be though God hath helped you in the main you chose right yet be convinced this day of the evil of this particular choice in giving such inordinate contentment to your selves in giving that ease to your bodies liberties to the sluggishness of your spirits and reform You have not honored God as you ought and therefore your lives are not so beautiful In the general you continue in the ways of Religion but there is not that convincing lustre and beauty in your lives you do not draw others to that love of godliness because your hearts become so vain and so slight in choosing inordinate liberties to your selves in spending your times and strength in the pleasures of the flesh and therefore when you come to spiritual employment you have no strength but your hearts are dead I appeal to your consciences when you have given your selves leave to have content to the flesh when you come to communion with God what dead flat hearts have you Let me speak to such this day from the Lord this liberty you take to your selves in the pleasures of the flesh hath been the root of the Apostacy of many as 2 Pet. 2. 18. those who fell off were allured through the lusts of the flesh even though they are said to be clean escaped from them who live in error yet through wantonness they were drawn aside Wanton professors seldom prove lasting professors at least in any power of godliness Take this one note
you must not revile again when you are reviled And so the spirits of Gods servants as St. Paul and the Martyrs when they were reviled they would not give ill language again Again by reviling you come to harden those that reproach you in their sin when they sin and see the same sin in you they think they do not worse then you so they come to be hardned in their sin and you come to be guilty of their sin you turn their sin to be yours because you harden them in theirs Thirdly you by this means stir up more corruption and more sin whereas those that know what sin means and are tender of it they should by all means labor to suppress it and beat it down as when a neighbors house is on fire we will labor what we can to quench it and not to put more fire to it shall we have more care of our neighbors house then of our neighbors soul his heart is on fire and his tongue is on fire and will you bring more fire this is abominable Fourthly you come by this means to adde your sin to his sin What is not God dishonored enough by his reviling but must you adde to Gods dishonor Again fithly here you shew your exceeding folly that you do not apprehend a greater evil in the evil of sin then in the evil of suffering for if we did apprehend the evil of suffering to be less then the evil of sin we would never labor to deliver our selves from the evil of suffering by the evil of sin let a man come and cast dirt in your face the worst that can be in this is an evil of suffering at first till you make your selves guilty but how will you deliver your selves by the evil of sin what ignorance is this Are you acquainted with the ways of God Is this the way to clear your selves by defiling your selves more That filth that comes out of you defiles you more then that which is cast upon you from without Again further another evil that comes from this reviling is this you shew a vile base spirit as if you had no other means to deliver you from an ill name but an ill tongue those that know any excellency that they have in themselves will know that there are a great many other ways to deliver themselves from an ill name rather then an evil tongue But you are put to your shifts you have evil cast upon you and you have no way to deliver your selves from this evil but by your reviling tongue It is a sign there is no excellency in you nothing but baseness in you Seneca says of those that are disorderly affected with reproaches that are cast upon them They shew that there is no wisdom nor no confidence of any excellency in themselves to oppose that evil Again hereby you come to be injurious to your selves you deprive your selves from any help of God to clear your names If you had hearts to commit your selves to God he would provide for you but when you seek to clear your selves this way you put your selves from any care that God should have to provide for you That we read of David Psal 38. 12 13 14 15. is very observable They which seek my hurt saith he speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all the day long but I as a deaf man heard not and again verse 14. I was as a man that heareth not but mark verse 15. In thee O Lord do I hope thou wilt hear The less he heard the more confidence he had in God that he would hear and could the more comfortably commit his cause to him but if he had been too quick to hear himself God would not readily have heard for him and what had he got by that Now by all this you cannot but be convinced in your thoughts that it is a great evil to revile again and you that have been guilty of this let your hearts smite you and know what cause you have to be humbled before the Lord. But is it possible not to revile again Who can but do so when they come and give such ill language so injurious so false Those that have the Spirit of Christ can do otherwise Those that know the evil of sin to be a greater evil then the evil of suffering can do this And those that are wise and will not mischief themselves can do this Can any by reproaches force you to take a knife and cut your selves If they force you to commit sin they force you to worse Certainly you think every man is in bondage consider what miserable bondage men should be in for to be in the power of their enemies when they list to make them to mischief themselves can there be any worse bondage for an enemy to draw any body where he will is not so much but to make me to hurt my self this is a great and a sore bondage indeed Wherefore there is no contending with reproaches this way by reproaching again here the overcomer is the loser When Demosthenes was reproached by one I will not saith he strive with thee in this kinde of fight in which he that is overcome is the better man Fiftly take heed you be not hindred in your way or break off your course when you are reproached what though there be filth cast in the way shall we decline our way though the clouds do arise and darken the light of the Sun does the Sun cease in its course and cease shining because it is darkned no it goes on its course and shines till it breaks forth so you are going on shining in a good conversation some come and cast reproach upon your way and darkens your course What shall you cease No go on and in time you will break through the clouds Was there ever such a fool as to be jeered out of his inheritance A man hath an inheritance worth a thousand pounds a year and a company shall go and scorn him and contemn him and reproach him and he shall be rather willing to part with his inheritance then to be thus jeered Was there ever any such a fool Is not our way of Religion a greater inheritance to us then an inheritance of a thousand pounds a year If you should be moved to go out of your way upon reproaches know that this will be infinite more reproach to you then if all the men of the world did cast reproach upon you this will reproach you to your conscience and that before God and all the Angels and Saints before all Gods people And then besides this will further reproach you before wicked men too you will be the more scorned and vilified I remember a speech of a Heathen Philosopher If any man begin to embrace Philosophy he must be reproached They will say What we shall have a Philosopher of you by and by what pride and conceitedness is this But do
prepare him for the burning of his whole body A patient bearing of less troubles for the present will prepare the heart for the bearing of greater afterwards Seventhly enjoy all your comforts of prosperity as from God and God in them and them all for God First from God therefore whatsoever he takes away it is but his own and what are we that we must always have comfort and content who are poor beggerly creatures who have nothing of our own Secondly enjoy God in all the enjoyment of God in all is a mystery the world is not acquainted with onely a gracious heart knows what it is it looks at all creatures but as the pipe of conveyance the sweet and comfort and blessing is God in them therefore in any affliction that befals so long as God may be enjoyed the comfort and sweet and blessing of all is not lost although the creature be lost Thirdly all for God Why then should not God have the glory of all his own way We in the general acknowledge God should have glory from all that we are or have but we would have him have it our way so as may stand with our ease with our liberties peace and ends but God must have the honor of all that way that is good in his own eye And againe if all we have be for God then when he is honored by any thing we do enjoy it hath its end and perfection a comfort is then the most perfect comfort when God hath the glory of it when it is resigned to him either in a way of service or suffering as he calls for it And lastly if our comforts be enjoyed for God then our hearts are not let out to any of them further then leads us to God and if so then when God calls for the parting with them in a suffering way the enjoyment of them cannot lead to God any further but would draw off the spirit from God and therefore such a heart is willing now to part with them it is not grievous to it to leave them because the excellency of them is not now in the enjoyment of them but in the parting with them Eighthly be often renewing your resignations of all unto God and your covenant with him to be at his dispose that so when any trouble comes at any time this resignation of heart and renewal of covenant may be fresh upon your spirits the soul will be ready to suffer much if it be called to it when an actual resignation and renewing of covenant hath been a little before and the power of it is now fresh upon the heart sometimes immediately after a day of solemn humiliation where this hath been the soul thinks then it could do or suffer any thing but in a little time except this be renewed again the heart grows drossie and cleaves to present things and mingles it self with them the often renewing of this keeps the heart very loose from the creature a thing that hangs loose from another may soon be taken off from it but if it cleaves to it it is not taken off without difficulty it oftner rends in the taking off thus it is when the heart cleaves to any creature-content Ninthly lay up provision against an evil day There is a threefold provision we should treasure up to prepare us for our afflictions First treasure up the consolations of God that he affords upon occasion that at any time you feel in the performance of duties in the exercises of graces in the use of Ordinances Secondly treasure up the experiences of Gods ways towards you and his gracious dealings with you in former straights Thirdly treasure up soul-supporting soul-quickning soul-reviving soul-comforting promises and that of several kindes sutable to several afflictions for thou knowest not what kinde of afflictions thou mayest meet with Tenthly labor much to strengthen every grace it is strong grace that is suffering grace a strong wing will flye against the wind as it is said of the horse Job 33. because he hath strength he mocketh at fear and is not affrighted neither turneth he back for the sword ver 22. A candle will hold light in the house but if we go abroad in the air there is need of a torch there must be a stronger light there weak grace may serve turn to uphold us now but in time of afflictions it had need be strong a little grace will soon be spent then as a candle is soon spent when it stands in the wind Lastly set much before you the example of Christ and Gods people who have endured very hard things In the example of Christ consider first who it was that suffered the Son of God who was God blessed for ever the glory of the Father when we suffer base worms worthy to be trodden under foot suffer Secondly what he suffered even the wrath of God and the curse of the Law he was made a curse in the abstract as the Scripture speaks which was another maner of thing then any of our afflictions Thirdly for whom he suffered it was for us vile worms wretched sinful creatures who were enemies to him we suffer for God who is infinitely blessed to whom we owe all we are or have Fourthly how freely he suffered it was of his own accord his own free grace moved him to it he laid down his life none could take it from him it is not in our liberty whether we will suffer or no we are under the power of another Fifthly how meekly he suffered he was as a sheep before the shearer his suffering no way disquieted his spirit but it kept in a sweet quiet frame in the middest of all Sixthly consider how his strength is with you in your sufferings And lastly how he is honored in them He strives with us in the combate he joyns with us in the fight of our agony he crowns and is crowned says Cyprian Bernard would have us never to let go out of our mindes the thoughts of a crucified Christ Let these says he be meat and drink unto you let them be your sweetness and consolation your honey and your desire your reading and your meditation your contemplation your life death and resurrection Would you learn obedience would you learn contempt of honors would you see the highest patience set a suffering Christ before you Sureus reports of a noble Earl Elzearius when his wife wondred at his exceeding patience under fore afflictions he answers her thus What good will it be to be angry and impatient certainly none at all but I will open my heart unto you you know sometimes my heart is ready to rise with indignation against such as wrong me but I presently turn me to the thoughts of the wrongs offered to Christ and I say thus to my self desiring to imitate him Although my servants should pull my beard and strike me on the face these were
were these Kenites How long since was his kindeness shewed What was this kindeness For the first The Kenites were the posterity of Jethro Moses his Father in Law this you may see Judges 1. 16. For the second This kindeness was four hundred and twenty years before this time at the least for so long it was from the Children of Israels being then in the wilderness and this time of Sauls reign For the third It is thought of some to be the kinde visit of Iethro visiting his son in law and Israel in the wilderness and besides directing him in a way of government of the people that he might not wear away himself which was a great blessing to Israel at that time And further whereas Moses desired him to go with him to direct him in the way of the wilderness where they should go it is like he did it in part but though he did not stay with him but returned to his Country yet it is probable that some of his children staid and went along with Israel and were helpful to them in their way for Iudges 1. 16. The children of the Kenite are said to go up out of the city of palm-trees with the children of Iudah now this is by Jericho the first City the Israelites took in Cannan as appears Deut. 34. 3. therefore it s like that they accompanied Israel along in the wilderness and so shewed kindeness unto them which the Lord here remembers Ye who are willing to shew kindeness to Gods people in their affliction know there is mercy laid up in store for you and your posterity that childe not yet born may many years hence have the blessing of this your love Let no vain objections therefore no carnal reasonings hinder you in this great and honorable service of Christ for appearing for for defending of rejoycing in the persecuted despised afflicted Saints of God be not ashamed of them look not shy upon them deal not ruggedly with them let your hearts and houses be open to them let their spirits be comforted their bowels be refreshed their names vindicated their cause maintained their persons honored their sorrows eased their burthens lightened by what you have or can do by your selves or others If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies if any hope any desire that Jesus Chirst should know your souls in the day of your adversity fulfil this truth now opened before you applyed unto you this duty urged upon you It may be some of you have been Moses's such as have been drawn out of the water out of great afflictions be you now Moses's to others seek to draw them out if it may be howsoever to relieve and help them while they are in the waters and the blessing not of Moses but of Jesus Christ the mighty Savior the great stander up for and comforter of his people in times of straights be upon you CHAP. XIX Enjoyment of communion with Gods people is worth the enduring much affliction WE are now come to the sixth doctrinal Point that we have here in this part of Moses choice That the enioyment of communion with Gods people is worth the enduring of a great deal of affliction Moses chooses to suffer affliction with the people of God he saw they were Gods people and that it was a good thing to be with them and therefore rather then he would not be with them he was content to lose all the honors of Pharaohs Court and put himself under the sorest affliction that he could meet withal nothing should hinder him from joyning with them In the worst times of the Church wherein the hardest things were to be suffered in joyning with Gods people yet even then would those who had gracious hearts choose to be with them upon the hardest terms rather then to be from them with all outward ease and carnal delight It was a very ill time when there was a separation between the ten Tribes and the rest when the ten Tribes left the Temple left the Ordinances of God and followed after Jeroboam this was a very hard time and the rather because Jeroboam set watchers to observe who would go from him unto Judah to joyn with Gods people there for there remained the true Church And this is the meaning of that place Hos 5. 1. Hear ye this O Priests and hearken ye house of Israel and give ye ear O house of the king for judgement is towards you because you have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor Now these two places were places that were between Samaria the ten Tribes and Jerusalem whosoever should go from them to Ierusalem to joyn with Gods people there in the true worship of God those that were set at Mizpah and Tabor would spy them and so they were ready to be taken This was the hard condition of Gods people then and they did mightily scorn at those that would go to Jerusalem to worship and to joyn with them in that way of worship And therefore Amaziah said to Amos Chap. 7. ver 12. O thou Seer go flee thee away into the land of Judah and there eat bread and prophesie there as if Amaziah should say Judah is a fitter place for you then this you are so precise and strict you had need be gone to Judah we are Idolaters here and no true Church but in Judah such as you are had better be gone to Judah And so it is usual for those that are carnal and prophane to scorn at those that are godly Yet though things were so hard in these times that there were watches and spies set to watch over them and they did contemn those that did look towards Judah yet those that were godly would not be discouraged but would go and joyn with Gods people notwithstanding all this and therefore you have it in 2 Chron. 11. 16. what was the way of Gods servants in that time when it was such a difficult thing to joyn with Gods people All such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel there were a company of them that would stay in Samaria that might have good wishes that times were better and things were better but would not suffer any thing to go and joyn with Gods people where they might have the Ordinances in a pure maner but all such as set their hearts to seek the Lord and resolved whatsoever came of it they would have God in the purity of his Ordinances they went up to Jerusalem And So it was in the Primitive times they were very hard times for Gods people and the people of God and Christians were discovered by their meetings together if so be all of them would have separated one from another and kept their Religion to themselves they might not have been discovered but though it were with hazard of their lives they would joyn together and meet together and
the end of things that are but for a season were present they could not satisfie Now a gracious heart makes the end of all things that are but for a season to be really present If grace enables a man to make the things of God and eternal things to be present much more will grace in the heart make the end of all worldly things to be really present Now a gracious heart being wise and considering and looking upon these things that are but for a season as if the end now were hence it is that it hath the same judgement of things that are but for a season now as it shall have when the end of all shall be Now when the end of all things we enjoy for a season is come then every man will see the vanity of them and cry out of them and say they will not satisfie Yea we shall not onely see the vanity of them but in some respect see it a greater misery then if we had never enjoyed them now that thing which will not onely fail us but when it shall fail us it will be a greater vexation to us that we had them then if we had never enjoyed it certainly they which know this cannot be satisfied with it Eighthly a gracious heart makes use of all the experiences that it hath had of the vanity of the creature of all things that are but for a season when God in the way of his providence gives to one that is gracious experience of things he will treasure up his experience vain light hearts though God do give them experience of the vanity of the creature and of things that are but for a season they do not treasure up their experiences but though they cry out of the vanity of the creature at some time yet they run out again as greedily in their desires after it as before but a gracious heart findes when God takes away the creature wherein it had placed a great deal of confidence God hath shewed it how fading it was and the setled condition of it is nothing but vanity and so the experience of the vanity of former things does take off his heart from any thing that it looks upon as abiding for a season Lastly that which is but for a season does want an especial ingredient in it which is required for satisfaction the special ingredient unto satisfaction is security that there may be soul-safe security Augustine says The soul cannot enjoy any thing freely with satisfaction unless it can enjoy it with security Now when the soul enjoys a thing for a season it cannot be satisfied because it must be solicitous to provide something when that is gone which it hath for the present So that these arguments being put together you may see evidently Nothing that is for a season can give satisfaction to a gracious heart Having laid these things in the explication of the point all that we have to do is to apply it Hence we may see the excellency of a true gracious spirit where there is grace in the soul it puts a wonderful excellency upon the soul as in many other respects so this one does wonderfully declare the excellency of a gracious heart that it is so raised so enlarged so greatned that nothing that is for a season can satisfie it but it looks for things beyond a season Let all the world the things that are in Heaven and Earth present themselves to the soul to satisfie it the soul will say What are you temporal or eternal If the answer be given temporal the soul rejects them and puts them off as too mean things to be satisfaction for it If you had brought eternity with you says the soul I could have embraced you and closed with you and have been satisfied in the enjoyment of you but if the inscription of eternity be not in you you are too mean for me my happiness is not here I must look higher I am lost for ever if I do not look higher then these things When Basil was offered money and preferment to tempt him he answers Give money that may last for ever and glory that may eternally flourish CHAP. XXVI Perswasions to take off the heart from temporal things SEcondly hence let us all make use of this Argument to take off our spirits from all earthly things that are here below Let us look upon all things in the world as under this notion that they are but for a season and let us improve this argument to the utmost that possibly we can for the working our hearts off from the things of this world The beauty of all worldly things is but as a fair picture drawn upon the Ice that melts away with it The fashion of this world passeth away When Alexander saw himself wounded and in danger of death he then saw the vanity of those flatterers that would have perswaded him he was a God So when we see those things upon which we set our hearts as if our chief good as if a Deity were in them to be wounded and ready to perish let us learn to alter our thoughts of them to take off our hearts from them Much may be done in the improving of this argument of the fading vanishing nature of creature-comforts the Scripture makes much use of it to take off the hearts of People from them Why wilt thou set thy heart upon that which is not Riches have wings and will fly away It charges them that have riches that they trust not in uncertain riches Man that is made in honor abides not They sing to the Tabret and Harp and make merry and in a moment they go down to hell This Moses argument is the strong Scripture argument there is nothing but uncertainty mutability vanity upon every creature that is here below The fashion of the world passeth away and the lustre of it there is no enduring substance here Those in the Hebrews were content to part with any thing that endured but for a season so they might have an enduring substance and so Abraham looked for a City that had foundations Heb. 11. 10. these cities have no foundations All earthly things are like the earth it self it hangs upon nothing Job 26. 7. and therefore there can be no certainty in them no continuance in the enjoyment of them neither will the things of this world abide they perish in the using of them and that which perishes in the using we must not set our hearts upon It s the expression of Gregory Nyssen The things of the world are as if a man were writing upon the water with his finger as any thing is written the impression vanishes and nothing appears not as one were writing upon the sand or dust which although any little wind blows smooth yet it stays a while till the wind riseth So the creature is not vain onely because it leaves us after a while but the comfort of the creature
you still go on in your way and those who reproached you before will after admire you But if you fall off after you have begun not being able to bear reproach This says he deserves a double reproach Your reproachers will reproach you much more they will say Here is a time-server who will do any thing as the times serve for his turn None so much contemned as Apostates Those that opposed Nehemiah and sought to hinder his work did it to reproach him if he had left his work for reproaching they would have reproached him much more How would this cut you to the heart that those that did reproach you if you go out of the way should reproach you much more Consider does this beseem the spirit of a Christian Had you ever any experimental knowledge of the evil of sin or any good in the ways of God Will this be an answer before God when you come to give an account why you went out of your way Lord I suffered so much reproach I could not bear it And again will it not be just with God for to suffer you to fall into some vile scandalous sin to be reproached for after another maner because that you would not suffer reproach for his name you should suffer reproach for your sin These are the things we are to be warned of CHAP. XXXI How we are to bear Reproaches BUt how are we to bear reproaches We are to bear our reproaches wisely patiently fruitfully joyfully and to return good for evil First we are to bear them wisely there is a great deal of wisdom required in bearing of reproaches and evils that men are accused of the exercise of wisdom does appear much in the bearing of reproaches though we should not be insensible yet not to take too much notice of every reproach that is castp on us It was the speech of a Philosopher when one was reproaching of him some told him they deride thee but says he I am not derided I will not take to my self that which is cast upon me It is wisdom for people to go away and take but little notice of any thing that is cast upon them and therefore when upon every idle reproach there come a company tatling and say Such a one says thus and thus such should be sent away with an angry countenance it is a dishonor to you to receive them as if you would take notice of every word and as if you had no other things to take up your thoughts Dionysius having not very well used Plato at the Court when he was gone he feared lest he should write against him therefore he sent after him to bid him not to write against him says he Tell Dionysius I have not so much leisure as to think of him so we should let those that reproach us to know that we have not leisure to think of them as S. Paul when the Viper came upon his hand he shaked it off some would have swelled and almost dyed at the very sight of such a thing but he did but shake it off And so should we do by our reproaches when reproaches are opposed they do grow as hair the more it is cut the more it grows when they are despised they will vanish away there is a great deal of evil comes by making much ado about reproaches First by this means they are kept up in the mouthes of people and so the evil is worse as a dunghil stirred stinks the worse Again it may occasion those that reproach us to raise up things that were dead a great while ago and adde that to our reproach Again it may occasion abundance of new matter though false to make our reproaches greater If a man should undertake to answer every reproachful speech there would be no end for the Devils breast says Luther is very fruitful with lyes Again our making much stir does but stir them the more that do reproach us and by making ado and stir it comes to be more divulged Lastly when we do stir if we do not clear every little minute to the utmost it will be a means to make us suspected of all and therefore do not take much notice of reproaches It is a notable example that we finde of one Pericles as he was sitting before others in a meeting a foul-mouthed fellow railed upon him all the day long at night when it was dark and the meeting broke up the fellow followed him and railed at him even to his door and he took no notice of him what he said but when he came at home this is all he said It is dark I pray let my man light you home But men will take me for guilty if I let it pass quietly Not so we know many times Christ himself took no notice of a great deal of evil that was said against him so that the Rulers wondred How is it that they lay these things to your charge and you answer nothing Again rather the other will shew us guilty it was a speech of Ambrose concerning those that cannot suffer reproach while they clear themselves guilty they approve themselves to be more guilty of that evil which is said against them Obj. But we shall hearten them more in accusing of us Answ No it will rather be a means to hearten them by keeping a stir for then they have something to feed upon Obj. How shall we stop their mouthes Ans First walk innocently innocency wil clear all and overcome in time hence David saith that thou mayest be clear when thou judgest St. Paul quoting this Rom. 3. 4. he hath it That thou mayest overcome when thou judgest he puts overcome for clear because those who are clear will overcome But more then this in the second place you must labor to be eminent in that which is quite contrary to that which you are reproached for Perhaps he reproaches you for one that is a dissembler labor for the greatest eminency of plainness of heart and sincerity If it be for covetousness labor to be eminent in liberality doing good wisely not where they would have you but in a gracious way ordering your affairs by discretion If it be for pride clear your selves not by yielding to their humor but labor for an eminency of humility another way that those that can judge right may see there is humility in you thus labor to entertain reproaches with wisdom Secondly labor to bear reproaches patiently And therein first I shall labor to take away those pleas whereby men are hindred in their patience Secondly I will shew what powerful arguments there are for bearing reproaches Thirdly give some means how to bear them patiently First to take away the pleas and objections that people have against patience Some will say if it were not wrongfully I could bear it it would never grieve me One would wonder that ever there should come
running up and down from one witness to another but a gracious heart hath other ways to help it self it cryes to God most high and looks for help from Heaven God sends forth his mercy and truth to help and there is help indeed Fifthly another help is this if you can but get your hearts quietly and kindely to lament the condition of your reproachers this will be a marvellous means tosweeten the heart and to help to bear reproaches It was the answer of Socrates to one who wondred at his patience towards one who reviled him If we should meet one says he whose body were more unsound then ours should we be angry with him and not rather pity him why then should we not do the like to him whose soul is more diseased then ours The folly of our reproachers should cause us to pity them to be patient towards them and pass by the wrong they do unto us this was one of the arguments that Abigail brought to David to quiet his spirit that was so stirred against Nabal because of that reproach he cast upon him Nabal saith she is his name and folly is with him it is his folly rather pity him it is too low a thing for such a spirit as Davids is to be stirred with it Instead of being troubled with the reproaches that are upon you your spirits should be most troubled for their sin Now there is infinite cause we have to be troubled for their sin more then for any evil that befals us An evil tongue devours and is an abomination and in Prov. 8. 13. God says The froward mouth he hates Now if you have any love you should think thus This poor man what hath he done he hath brought himself under the hatred of God now this should mightily affect the hearts of the godly As he is an abomination to God so he is an abomination to men Prov. 24. 9. The scorner is an abomination to men scornful spirits love to cast shame and ignominy upon others And in Prov. 18. 7. A fools mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul we should think he hath but ensnared his own soul and so fall a lamenting of his wretched condition And so in Isa 33. 10. Your breath as fire shall devour you If the breath of any man devours him the breath of revilers and reproachers and slanderers does The Heathens called a reproacher A three tongued man because he hurts three at once he hurts him that he reproaches and him that heard the reproach and himself worst of all do but get power over your hearts to bewail this sin and your reproach will not be so troublesom Trilinguis Gallesius a writer upon Exod. 22. ver 28. observes the exceeding patience of those three Emperors Theodosius Honorius Arcadius towards those who spake evil of them they would have them subject to no punishment for they said If it comes from lightness of spirit it is to be contemned if from madness it is worthy of pity if from injury it is to be pardoned wrongs are to be forgiven Again labor to possess your souls with the reality of the sweet of and the honor there is in the ways of God so no reproach will be grievous to you As it is said of the covetous man when some told him Such and such hiss at thee but says he I care not I rejoyce in what I have at home that I have so much money in my chest So it should be with a gracious heart he should say I have sweet enough in my own heart what need I trouble my self with what others think or say Seventhly labor to satisfie your souls in the glory of God and Christ Though my name be cast out as filth yet the name of God and Christ is blessed and glorious and so shall be for ever let Devils and wicked men do what they can against it It was a good speech of Luther writing to his friend Spalatinus bemoaning his condition to him because of the scorn and contempt he suffered yet comforting himself in this that Christ lived and reigned Luther is accounted even a Devil but Christ lives and reigns he addes his Amen to it Thirdly it is not enough to bear reproaches patiently but we must bear them fruitfully a christian should think he hath not done that which belongs to a christian unless he hath got some good by them a christian should not think it enough to free himself from the scorn of the tongue but he must improve it for good by it First consider what ends God aims at by it and labor to work them upon your selves that you may attain to those ends Secondly labor to draw what good instructions you can from the reproaches of others As namely thus when I hear men reproach and revile O what a deal of evil is there secretly in the heart of man that is not discovered till it have occasion I did not think that such and such could ever have been reproachers if they had not been provoked Again do I see another so vigilant over me to finde me out to reproach me how vigilant should I be over my self to finde out what is in me to humble me Again is there so much evil to be under the stroke of mans tongue what a great evil is it to be under the stroke of Gods justice Lastly to be fruitful that is set upon what duty God calls for at the present surely this is one great general duty that the less credit I see I have in the world let me labor to have the more credit in Heaven I see there is a breach of my name here let me seek to make up my name in Heaven 4. And then they must be born joyfully but we shall speak of that afterwards in the third point that a gracious heart is not onely willing to bear reproach when God calls unto it but in the cause of CHRIST to triumph and rejoyce in his reproaches 5. Lastly we should return good for evil then you come to the top of Christianity This is a sign of great progress in Religion If I be weak saith Ambrose perhaps I may pardon one charging me falsly but if I have profited although not altogether perfect though he flows in upon me with reproaches I hold my peace and answer nothing but if I be perfect I then bless him that reviles me according to that of St. Paul Being reviled we bless If you can do thus if you can heartily pray for your reproachers and desire good to them and be willing to take notice of any good in them to clear up their innocency where there is iust cause if you can be ready to offer any offices of love and respect and kindeness to them and so heap coals of fire upon them this is a great sign of grace you have made a good progress indeed in Gods way Mat. 5. 44
that which thou sayest is hypocrisie is but the skin of the wilde beast thy own unshapen conceits to make thy self and their adversaries run upon them that you may the more freely venture because the wilde beasts would not venture upon the body of a man so freely but when they saw the body of a man in the shape of such a beast as they hated they ran upon it freely And so thou dealest with Gods Saints in putting an unshapen form upon them to let out thine heart more freely upon them But what if that which thou callest hypocrisie God account godliness yea know that this thy aspersion upon godliness to say it is hypocrisie and upon the people of God to say they are hypocrites is the reproach of Gods people and there is a great deal of evil in it more then thou art aware of In Mark 3. from verse 22. and so on when Christ cast out devils they said He casts them out by Beelzebub the Prince of devils well says Christ All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation So that it seems these Pharisees had sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost in that they said He had an unclean spirit because they attributed that to an unclean spirit which was done by the Spirit of Christ onely they did this against knowledge and in malice I do not say that all reproachers do sin against the Holy Ghost but if it be against knowledge and in malice consider how near it comes as their attributing that to an unclean spirit which came from the spirit of God was it so does not thy attributing that to hypocrisie which comes from the Spirit of God in sincerity come near it But lastly if it be for hypocrisie that thou reproach and not for godliness then it is for an evil if it be for an evil that thou doest reproach them then the better thou art and the better mood thou art in the more thou wilt reproach them But we see the contrary evident Wicked men they reproach the godly for hypocrisie as they say but they do it when they are in the height of their lusts but if they be in a good mood when they are on their sick beds or death beds and in their best condition they reproach them least therefore sure it was the good they reproached and not the evil But thus much concerning the first branch The second is this it calls for a trembling heart from those that shall rejoyce at the reproaches of Gods people Perhaps thou art one that wilt not reproach thy self yet thou mayest rejoyce at the reproaches of Gods people There is a great deal of evil in this Surely thou hast no love to them for love does not rejoyce in iniquity 1 Corinth 13. 6. When the Devil does sow the seed thou dost come with the harrows to cover the seed when thou dost rejoyce in their reproaches Proverbs 18. 8. The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly It may be translated The words of a tale-bearer are as the words of them tbat are wounded That is The tale-bearers that come and tell you things they come with expressions of a great deal of brokenness of heart as if their spirits were grieved at that they hear and they speak as if they spoke in the defence of them and then they are as wounds not the wounds of them they speak of but the wounds of the wounded And if any come in this way to cast reproaches upon Gods people they are taken down into the belly and they go glib down This is a slight of the Devil to make them pass without the least questioning for those that reproach seem to speak out of wounded troubled hearts But we do not rejoyce in this that we hear any evil of Gods people but we rejoyce that they are discovered and this is the work of God 1. If so be thy conscience be convinced that through the concealing of such and such things there was a great deal of mischief done before and there is a great deal of good like to come to the publike cause and the name of God in the discovery then you may rejoyce Secondly I appeal to conscience Suppose the discovery do a great deal of hurt Gods name does suffer by it is there a proportionable measure of grief in thy heart for the suffering of Gods name unto the joy that is in you for the discovery But thirdly suppose it were one that were near to you suppose it were your Father or Brother the Wife of your bosom the dearest friend you had that were discovered would your hearts rejoyce then if you rejoyce because God hath glory by the discovery then would you rejoyce if the dearest friend you had were discovered Fourthly yea suppose you did suffer much by this discovery that it were much to your prejudice you should lose something that your hearts are much set upon would you rejoyce then Fifthly if so be that it were for the discovery that you rejoyce then you would not rejoyce that they are discovered to such as will not honor Gods name You are glad that any know of it that Gods enemies know of it that will not make a good use of it but will be hardened in their sin and dishonor Gods name Take heed you do not deceive your selves to rejoyce so in the discovery of the people of God there is a great deal of evil in it more then you think of Joseph he feared Mary but he feared the name of God might suffer and therefore he would not make her a publike example The third branch is to those that are divulgers of the reproaches of Gods people Consider what you do they are the reproaches of Christ take heed you do not divulge the reproaches of Gods people Suppose they prove false do you think that after Gods people have suffered so much this will be enough to answer God and Christ for all the dirt that hath been cast upon his face I heard so that the names of Gods people may suffer much when they are under false reproaches As it is with a stick a stick when it is in the water it looks as if it were broken pull it out of the water and it is straight So it is with the names of Gods people when their names are under reports that go abroad in the world they look as broken but when their names are pulled out from the reports of the world they appear whole And therefore take heed of divulging the reproaches of those that are godly You may in this do the Devils work and carry the Devils pack The Apostle in 1 Timothy 3. 11. speaking of women says That they must be grave not slanderers The word in
busie to tend on him and to make a fire and get him dry cloathes So when the people of God meet with such hardship in the world when they shal come and meet with Christ for whom they have suffered how shall they be entertained What riches of glory shall they enjoy in the highest heavens for ever hereafter our sufferings are but the seeds of our glory and the deeper the furrows are the more plentiful will the Harvest be and therefore Gordius the Martyr said It is to my loss if you bate me any thing in my sufferings Are you reproached for Christ Blessed are you for the Brand of reproach says Basil shall be turned into the glory of an Angel A gracious heart counts it more riches to be conformable to Christ then to have Crowns upon his head As in Phil. 3. 8. he counted all the things of the world dogs meat for the fellowship of Christs sufferings he did not count all the world dogs meat for the glory he should have by Christ onely but for the fellowship he should have in the sufferings of Christ Truly happy is that soul and to be equalled with Angels says Jerome who is willing to suffer if it were possible as great things for Christ as Christ hath suffered for it Vera est illa anima faelix Angelis aequanda quae pro nomine opere Christi tanta quanta pro nobis ille sustinuit voluit sustinere Hyeronym Epist ad Oceanum Such as have been followers of eminent men they highly esteemed to be like their Masters though in things that were some dishonor As Plato was a man of a crooked back and his Schollars counted it an ornament for to go crooked And Aristotle had a lisping speech and his Schollars thought it an honor to have a lisping speech And Alexander had somewhat a wry neck and a harsh speech and his soldiers thought it an honor to be like him how much more should the godly count their sufferings an honor because they are comformable to Christ For Application In the first place hence we see the excellency of grace what an excellent and glorious thing it is wheresoever it is that it does conduce so far to encrease riches out of any thing great must needs be the gain of godliness when it gains from their sufferings and reproaches grace is such a thing as can turn dust into gold The Philosophers stone is counted a rich thing because it turns dust into gold grace will do it the dirt that the world casts upon Gods people is turned into gold well may it be called the Divine nature for as God brings light out of darkness and comfort out of sorrow and riches out of poverty and glory out of shame so does grace How does grace conduce to the comfortable life of Gods people as for the service that God employs them in they count that honorable and the sufferings that God calls them to they count them comfortable we need not therefore be so afraid of sufferings indeed if we have not a principle to change the nature of them we may be afraid but if God do put a principle into us to turn our shame into glory and sufferings into riches we need not be afraid If any did see Moses his Serpent he would be afraid but if he had Moses hand he would not be afraid because Moses hand had a divine vertue with it to turn the Serpent into a rod and so if we look upon sufferings as a Serpent ready to devour us we may be afraid but when we consider the excellency of grace that it hath a divine power to turn the Serpent into a rod you need not be afraid labor to prize this jewel of grace that can do such great things It was the curse upon the wicked that God would turn their glory into shame It is the blessing of grace that it will turn shame into glory Secondly we see a reason of the meekness and quiet behavior of Gods people in sufferings Though they are persecuted they carry themselves meekly and are ready to forgive they are not discouraged and sink in their sufferings because they look upon sufferings with another eye then the men of the world do they look upon their sufferings as their glory and riches When a man hath riches coming in he is quiet and though he were angry passionate and vexing before yet when riches come in that quiets his heart and he is ready to do any office of love then this is the reason why Gods people are ready to do any office of love to them that do persecute them because they look upon them as their glory St. Paul was a man that had a high esteem of his sufferings and therefore when he suffered much and from those that were his friends in Gal. 4. 12. see his behavior Brethren I beseech you be as I am for I am as you are ye have not injured me at all As if he should say How soever you have carried your selves yet be as I am I am as you are let our hearts close and joyn together you have not injured me at all Thus his spirit was carryed in this quiet and meek frame because he had a right understanding of the nature of sufferings And so we read of Stephen when they were stoning him says he Lord forgive them What was the ground of this He saw the heavens opened and Christ stand at the right hand of his Father he saw a great deal of glory that was in his sufferings when he suffered thus for Christ he could pray for his persecutors What was the reason Christ endured all so quietly he knew the good that was in his sufferings Indeed as for those that see no good in them that finde nothing but trouble and vexation no marvel though their hearts fret and revile again but where a gracious heart findes sweetness and good in suffering surely there need not be that fretting and vexation of spirit in them as in others And why should we vex and fret when we suffer any thing for God it must be upon one of these two grounds either because of the evil that we do endure or the evil of those from whom we do endure The evil that we do endure cannot cause fretting because it is turned to such great riches But you will say The suffering it self I do not care for but the base malicious hearts of those from whom I suffer that troubles me To that I answer It is reported concerning Socrates being once reproached and yet behaving himself meekly and quietly one came and asked him how he could be so meek and quiet when he was reproached by such a one as he was that did reproach him Socrates answered If as we go along we should meet with a man that had a diseased body more diseased then our bodies more weak then ours should we fret at him because we see the disease of his body more grievous
for righteousness sake I would this foolish world would all rise up against me to reproach me Secondly Gods people have been greedy of them Origen was so earnest to suffer with his father when he was a youth of sixteen years of age that if his mother had not kept his clothes from him he would have run to the place where his father suffered to profess himself a Christian and to have suffered with him And so the story of the poor Woman in the book of Martyrs that made haste to the place where many Christians were to be burned and meeting with the Persecutor says he What need you make such haste to that place there are many to be burned Ah says she that I know and I am afraid all will be done before I come I and my childe would fain suffer with them And many blessed the day of their suffering Alice Drivers expression was That never neckerchief became her so well as that chain did and are you so shy of them what difference is between you and their spirits Again what unthankfulness and dishonor is this to Christ that hath suffered so much for you Christ hath gloried in the sufferings he suffered for you and why should you be afraid of sufferings for him it was a notable speech of an Ancient Acceptable is the reproach of the Cross to him that is not unthankful to him that was crucified upon the Cross And what confusion will it be upon you another day when you shall see those that suffered are so glorified that their sufferings are crowns of such immortal glory O consider what you do deprive not your selves of such glorious riches Fifthly let us labor to get this Christian magnanimity of spirit namely for to glory in all that we suffer for Christ Heathens can be patient in sufferings but Christians must go beyond them and glory in their sufferings You have been bold in suffering for sin if you might have your minde and will now if you may have your minde and will for Gods glory in suffering in a good way why should you not suffer Mark the expressions that we have of Job Did I fear a great multitude or did the contempt of families terrifie me that I kept silence and went not out of the door O that one would hear me behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine adversary had written a book let them say what they can against me write a book against me Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and binde it as a crown to me Thus it should be with the people of God they should take their reproaches as an ensign of honor This indeed is truly in a spiritual sense to tread upon the Asp and the Adder that when the Asp and Adder and the old Serpent does spit out her venomous poyson a gracious heart should tread upon them There are three things that will put a spirit of suffering and so a holy magnanimity into us All the arguments in the world will not do it unless we have a suffering spirit and these three things will put a suffering spirit in us First if you had a full satisfaction of your own spirits in the cause of God you maintain and the ways of God you walk from your own experience you have in them if you take upon you the profession of Religion by the reports of others and be carried by the example of others that will not do it but if in your own experiences you finde that sweet and onely satisfying content in the truths and ways of God this will do it It was a notable resolution of Luther My purpose is not says he to maintain my life or name in respect what men say or can say of me for my maners but my purpose is to maintain the cause of God let whosoever will tear my life and name in this regard Propositum est mihi neque vitam neque mores tueri sed solam causam lacerent mores meos quicunque velint Luth. ad Nicolaū Hansman Secondly if you get your hearts inflamed with love to Christ Love delights in opportunities of expressing it self and it hath never such a full opportunity of expressing the strength and heat of it as in suffering much for the Beloved Thirdly if you have an eye of faith and can behold God the Father and Christ and the blessed Angels looking upon you when you are in your sufferings By the eye of faith look up to heaven and see God looking upon you and saying Here is a servant of mine is called to suffer for me now you shall see his behavior and Christ and the Angels looking upon you to see your behavior and this will do it not onely make you patient but glory in them Sixthly if there be so much glory and such riches in suffering Hence we have an Use of abundance of comfort and encouragement to them that are willing to endure reproaches for Christ There are five or six branches of consolation to Gods people in this Use First are you willing to suffer reproaches and to glory in them I remember a notable speech of Gulielmus Parisiensis O happy pallat that can taste such delicates O it is a blessed thing that God hath given you such a taste Again know if you glory in your sufferings for God God will glory in doing for you None shall glory in suffering for him but he will count it his glory to be doing for them Thirdly if you glory in your sufferings for Christ God will count it his glory to uphold you in his sufferings Fourthly do you glory in the low condition you are put into for Christ certainly God will own your souls and glory in you when you are in the lowest condition when your souls shall be in adversity God will know you then Fifthly can you glory in a suffering Christ when Christ comes in glory he will own you when he shall be glorified his glory shall be yours Those that are ashamed of me I will be ashamed of them says Christ before my Father and the Angels But those that glory in Christ Christ shall be their glory Lastly now you glory in Christs sufferings you shall glory in his praises Seventhly if so be that Gods people account themselves so enriched by sufferings and reproaches let us take heed we do not despise any that do suffer for Christ that we have not low esteem of them because of their sufferings God hath high esteem of them when they suffer and they themselves see cause to glory in their condition and are you that are standers by ashamed of them and do you disesteem of them for their sufferings while the Saints of God flourish in the world they are esteemed of by many carnal hearts but let them suffer any thing and be disgraced and they withdraw themselves from them they are despised as
and Jesus Christ it seeing that the bottom and ground of all this glorious recompence of reward is in the free and eternal love of God in Jesus Christ that did work about this before the foundation of the world was laid this does mightily enflame the heart with love to God and therefore it wishes as that Martyr did O that I had as many lives as I have hairs on my head to lay down for Christ And it is sorry that it hath no other opportunity to testifie its love to God the soul says I have but this little time to testifie my love to God and I can but testifie little in doing O what a happiness is it that that which I want of testifying my love in doing I have it in testifying my love in suffering Shall a dog that hath but a few crums or bones from his Master be willing to venture his life in defence of his Master and shall not a gracious heart that expects not crums and bones but Crowns and unconceiveable glory in Heaven be willing to venture life for God in the cause of God Ninthly there is a great deal of power in having respect to the recompence of reward to carry on a soul in suffering because according to the things that are apprehended there is the like impression left upon the spirit As a gracious heart apprehending holy things is made holy and apprehending spiritual things is made spiritual and apprehending great things is made great thee is a holy gracious magnanimity put into the heart A man that is lift up on high upon a high Tower or a high Mountain he looks upon things below as little things The apprehension of this glory lifts the soul on high and puts an impression of greatness and glory upon the heart and so causeth an heroical spirit in the heart to look upon all things below as small as the Martyrs though they were weak spirits by nature even women and children yet apprehending such great things they had heroical magnanimious spirits and looked upon their sufferings as small things because they had an impression of the object they beheld left upon their spirits and in some measure were made like it Lastly there is a mighty deal of power in looking to the recompence of reward to help in sufferings because it hath much power to cleanse the heart every one that hath this hope purgeth himself 1 Iohn 3. And hence the Christians in the Primitive times fering Those that write the stories of Egypt report that there is no country in which there are more venemous Creatures then in Egypt and also they write there is no Country hath so many Antidotes to help against poyson so godliness brings with it many troubles and sufferings but then godliness hath much in it to help against troubles and sufferings Thirdly hence we come to see the reason why so many are overcome in a way of suffering and do yield and so basely Apostatize rather then they will go on in a way of suffering for God they have not an eye to look up to Heaven and to see all the glory that is revealed they do not know within themselves that there are such things as it is said of those in Heb. 10. 34. They knew within themselves what they had in Heaven they look upon these things as conceits and imaginations In Phil. 3. 18. the Apostle speaks of some that were enemies to the Cross of Christ but what were they They were men that minded earthly things but says the Apostle Our conversation is in Heaven What was the reason that Demas forsook Paul It was for this present world he was not acquainted with the powers of the world to come and therefore he forsook Paul rather then he would suffer in the cause of God with Paul Certainly those that fall off in the time of suffering are such as never had a taste of the powers to come or have lost it this dew of Heaven hath not faln upon their hearts to moisten them and therefore every suffering does scorch up the root If the root be kept moist though scorching heat come it does not dry up the plant but it is green and flouwere so able to suffer because they had their hearts so purged by faith Acts 15. 9. Take a man that was strong if he have many ill humors in his body all his strength is gone but if the Phisitian gives him something to purge out his ill humors though hee have no Cordials given him to strengthen him yet he is strong and he is able to endure and to do more then before So those spirits that are full of distempered humors that are unsound they can bear nothing undergo no difficulty but when there is any thing to purge the heart and make it clean then it is able to do or suffer more sin lies rotting at the heart and by rotting does weaken a rotten rag hath no strength to bear any thing so those that have old sins lie rotting they can bear nothing The spirit of power and of a sound minde is put together 2 Tim. 1. 7. now the hope of this glorious reward purges the heart and makes it sound and so carries it on in power Now put all these together and no marvel that Moses by having an eye to the recompence of reward could suffer so much many are afraid of suffering hard things in the cause of Christ but you see what will enable you to endure all Now I should apply this in many particulars First If there be such power in this to help to suffering then surely there is power in this to help to service you that know what these things mean be ashamed to complain of any difficulty in any service Secondly hence we see cause much to bless God that reveals such things to us to carry us through sufferings though godliness brings much suffering yet it brings that which will strengthen against sufrishing still It is the dew of Heaven the hope of the glory of Heaven that keeps our root moist and so we shall hold out in the time of suffering It is given as the cause of the seed in the stony ground not come to perfection Luke 8. 6. Because it wanted moisture many froward people in Religion prove like the stony ground they have not moisture this dew of Heaven lies not at their hearts And the reason why many do not hold out is because they want the Anchor of hope In a tempest if there be not an Anchor well fastened the ship will be carried upon the rocks or the sands Now Hope is the Anchor that must hold the soul in all affliction if that hold let storms and winds be never so loud yet the heart will be kept from being split upon the rocks and swallowed up in the sands but many have but a paper Anchor a conceited hope not a strong hope fastned upon the infallibility of God in his word and promises and
Recompence of Reward may be attained BUt what is to be done that we may attain to this glorious recompence of reward I answer Are your hearts serious in asking this question Do your souls ask this question indeed in the earnestness of them as they did Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved so as to be willing to yield to whatsoever God shall reveal If you have such a resolution know this comes from Heaven and if it be followed to purpose it will bring you to Heaven But for direction if you would make your selves partakers of this reward First consider the infinite distance that is between you and Heaven naturally That blessed Martyr Mr. Hooper though he was a gracious man yet he cryed out Lord thou art Heaven and I am hell If he cryed out so how much more may many of you whose consciences may accuse you Lord thou art heaven but I am one not onely that deserve hell but that am hell it self What ever wickedness is in hell is in every mans heart naturally when as any are cast into hell certainly hell puts no new sin into them there is but the venting of that sin which was there before and all the wickedness of mens hearts that was restrained is now let open Now look what infinite distance is between hell and all this glory and the glorious thoughts of God for the salvation of a poor creature the same difference is between this glory and that condition a man is in naturally O labor to see this and be convinced of this and work this upon your hearts what is that reward that you do deserve make your hearts truly sensible of that Secondly it concerns us much if we would not miscarry here to acquaint our selves with the mystery of the Covenant of Grace for it is upon that your eternal estate depends more then any thing else onely in the Covenant of Grace is revealed the counsels of God concerning bringing mankinde to eternal happiness and how he will bring about this glory and without some knowledge of the Covenant of Life and Grace in Christ all that can be done in the world can never bring any soul to Heaven and that soul is in a very good forwardness to eternal life that is acquainted with the Covenant of Grace Thirdly consider what is the special sin that your heart is naturally most inclined unto and you finde the corruption of your hearts vent it self most in and look to that take heed that be not your bane in the conclusion let there be a renouncing of that or else all is to no purpose all your serving of God is nothing St. Paul when he spoke concerning his running the race and attaining an incorruptible crown says I therefore so run not as uncertainly and so fight I as not one that beateth the air as if he should say I hope my labors and endeavors after Heaven and this incorruptible Crown shall not be in vain as one that beateth the air How so because I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others my self should be cast away He was afraid of that body of his wherein corruption did stir and his giving way to some bodily fleshly content that he found stirring in him should disappoint him and therefore says he I keep down my body in the Original it is I beat my body black and blew I club it down his conscience was convinced of Gods ways but he felt the flesh and body of his working in some sinful way and his conscience began so far to reflect upon himself as to think if I do not look to this body of mine I shall lose this incorruptible crown and I shall but beat the ayr therefore says he I keep under my body What shall St. Paul such a glorious Apostle so filled with the grace of God as he was have such thoughts for fear he should labor after Heaven and the incorruptible crown as one that beateth the ayr what shall become of a company of wretched creatures that do nothing but satisfie the flesh minde nothing but to give full satisfaction to the desires of the flesh every way their thoughts are after nothing else but to make provision for the flesh If you will not labor after heaven as one that beats the ayr beat down your bodies if you do not beat down your bodies there is little hope of the salvation of your souls it was St. Pauls care let it be yours Again further if you would have this recompence of reward labor to unsnarl your selves from the creature labor to get your hearts loose and untangled from whatsoever is in the world from all earthly engagements It is a speech that I have read of one Demades when the Emperor sent to his Countreymen of Athens to give him Divine honor and they were loth to yield unto it but consulted about it says he Take heed you be not so busie about heavenly matters as to lose your earthly possessions that indeed is the voyce of a carnal heart Let not me look after the high conceits of heavenly matters as to lose my earthly possessions but rather turn it the other way Take heed you be not so busie about earthly matters as to lose your heavenly possessions I have read of Antipater King of Macedonia that when one presented him a Book treating of happiness his answer was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have no leisure you have been presented with Sermons and now with a Book treating of heavens happiness take heed that no earthly entanglements so take your heart that you should put off all with such a thought I must minde and follow my occasions let no other things take up your heads or hearts that you should have no liberty to your spirits to seek after these glorious things or at least not so to seek after them as becomes things of such a high and glorious nature as these are The Apostle in 1 Tim. 6. 19. says They that will be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition they that set their hearts upon the creature they must have so much of the creature they drown themselves in the creature As a man when he is drowning he catcheth hold of any thing that is next him and by fastening upon that which is next him he loses fastening upon that which might save his life So those that have their hearts engaged to the creature and resolve they must have so much of the creature they are drowning in perdition and they catch hold upon that which is next them some present content and pleasure and though something be cast to deliver them they let that go We in the Gospel cast forth a line to you to help you from drowning for every man naturally is sinking in perdition but because
they bear them hard weather tryes what soundness and health there is in the body so afflictions and troubles what soundness the Spirit hath Wooden or earthen vessels if they be set to the fire empty they are soon riven and break but not when they are filled with liquor so empty hearts when they feel the heat of afflictions they soon break but if filled with grace and the comforts of the holy Ghost they hold sound When a mans cloaths are on the deformities of his body cannot be seen but when he is stripped naked then all appears In Summer time when the trees are covered with leaves you cannot see the knots and rifts and mossiness of the tree but in winter when the leaves are gone then you may see all Hence the Hebrew word that is used for Winter comes from a word that signifies disgrace and shame because winter takes away the glory and beauty of the earth and puts a kinde of shame and disgrace upon it The deformities and distempers of mens hearts are much discovered in the winters of their affliction although there was much glory and beauty on their profession before yet now they appear most vile and base We read Luke 2. 35. That Christ was appointed for the fall of many and for a rock of offence that is in regard of the sufferings that should follow upon the profession of the Gospel and mark what God ayms at in this it is that the thoughts of mens hearts might be revealed there are many secret thoughts secret haunts of evil in mens hearts secret windings and turnings of mens spirits that are not revealed until then when the cause of God and our own ends come in competition when they must part one from the other then is the tryal what we are as when a serving-man follows two Gentlemen you know not whose he is until they part one from the other as we read Ezek. 21. 21. the King of Babylon stood at the parting way at the head of the two ways to use divination the best divining of men is at the parting way although the times of afflictions in regard of the darkness of them one way be called the night of afflictions yet they have light in them and may be called a day in regard of the discovery they make of a man what he is In prosperity a man is apt to judge amiss of himself not onely because ignorance deceiveth the minde but because of the present contentment he hath he is unwilling to be disquieted with any thoughts of disparagement Adversity though it be a hard Tyrant yet it is a true Judge though it speaketh roughly yet it speaketh truly We read Deut. 8. 2. that God led his people through the wilderness to humble them and to prove them and to know what was in their hearts God knew before but he would make themselves and others to know I read of Nazianzen walking by the Sea shore seeing how the sea wrought in a storm that it cast up light and empty things but not things solid and heavy he applies this to afflictions and says that light and empty spirits are tossed up and down by them and keep not their constancy but solid spirits are like the rock that stands firm and abides the same men do not know their own hearts they finde their hearts otherwise when troubles come then ever they thought before they never thought they had had so much pride so much impatience so much unbelief they thought before they could have submitted to the hand of God that they could have born more then is now upon them with patience and meekness but now they finde their wretched hearts murmure repine fret vex now they finde corruptions stir exceedingly they had thought they could have depended upon God in straits but now they finde their hearts sinking they finde they have base shifting hearts When the fire comes to green wood there comes out abundance of watery stuff that was not discerned before so when the fire of affliction comes much evil runs out that you saw not that neither you nor others thought to be in your hearts before When a Pond is empty then appears the mud and the filth and Toads in the bottom so when God empties men when he takes from them his blessings then much filth many crawling lusts appear that did not before sometimes more grace appears in afflictions then did before some of Gods people are low in their own eyes they suspect and fear themselves they think their graces will fail them in trouble that their peace is false yet when it pleases God to bring them into trouble they finde more peace more assurance more strength then ever they did before or then they thought they should have done never such sweet joy never such full assurance never such use of faith and patience and love as in the sorest and strongest afflictions This indeed is very rare there are few that finde more good in their hearts in afflictions then they thought they had before but where this is it may be a sweet seal to the soul of the sincerity of it ever after When Corn stands in the field we may guess what it may yield but we cannot know fully till it come to the flail and then it yields sometime more though often less then we made account of When grapes come to be pressed then is discerned what is in them Fourthly an afflicted condition gives opportunity for much exercise of grace it calls forth whatsoever grace there is in the heart to the exercise of it Rev. 13. 10. St. John speaking of the sufferings of the Saints Here says he is the faith and the patience of the Saints here is matter for their faith and patience to be exercised about this calls for the working of their faith and patience and so for other graces as humility self-denyal love to God Physick stirs up natural heat and makes it active so afflictions the souls Physick What mighty prayers and lively stirrings of spirit are there many times in afflictions Esay 26. 16. They pour out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them our prayers do but drop out before now they are poured out and one work of heart do's so follow another that there is no intermission it is all but one prayer they have poured out not prayers but a prayer and it is observable the word that here is translated prayer is a word that is used for inchantment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because such words were conceived to be full of efficacy containing much in a little room So the prayer now is not an empty thing but full of efficacy containing much in a few words The graces of Gods Spirit are the most lovely things in the world in Gods eyes and therefore God delights much to see the exercise of them When spices are beaten then they send forth their fragrant smell so when Gods servants are in afflictions then their graces send forth their
secrets of all hearts shall be opened of being shy of the ways of Religion because of affliction many when they see they must suffer in those ways although they be convinced of them yet they are ready to say with Augustine as he confesses of himself I do not love to pass through those straits it is too hard and narrow away for them If such thoughts work in thee at any time take these considerations for the rebuking of thy self and the raising of thy heart to a more Christian magnanimity of spirit First at what a low rate doest thou prize the ways of God the glory of God that such and such more low comforts must not be laid down for them that such light afflictions must not be endured for the maintenance of them Secondly consider if Christ had stood upon such terms as to have said I could be content indeed that these poor creatures might be delivered from misery but seeing such grievous evils must be suffered for their deliverance let them perish I am not willing to be their deliverer upon such hard terms What had become of us if Christ had reasoned thus if this argument had prevailed with him against us as it prevails with us against him Thirdly thou who art so shy of suffering mayest be forced to suffer in spight of thy heart and what a sad thing will that be to thee What a sad thing was it to Cranmer after he had recanted for fear of sufferings yet he was forced to suffer what a darkning was it to this spirit his cause and name Mr. Fox relates of a Smith in King Edwards time who was the means of conversion of a friend of his who in Queen Maries time was cast into prison whereupon he sends to this Smith who had been the means of his conversion wondring that he hears not of his apprehending and imprisonment this Smith sends him word again that it was true that he had taught him such and such things and those things were certain truths but for his part he could not burn but a while after the house of this Smith was on fire and he was burnt in it God made him burn whether he would or no and so may he make you suffer whether you will or no who refuse to suffer for his truth Fourthly whatsoever prosperity thou enjoyest when God calls thee to suffer for him is cursed unto thee if thou blessest thy self in thy estate thy liberty thy name thy life that thou enjoyest having avoided the way of suffering that God called thee unto thou deceivest thy self for there is no blessing in them they are all accursed unto thee Fifthly all duties of Religion that now thou performest out of a suffering condition are not now accepted of God thou must not think now having avoided suffering for Gods truth that because thou art willing to perform duties to be diligent in some service for God that God now accepts of thee No it was another work that God called thee unto a work of suffering seeing thou hast refused this do what thou canst God casts it as dung in thy face and regards it not this is a sad condition What joy can such a man have of his life if he hath an enlightned conscience Sixthly what intolerable pride and delicacy is this in thee that thou wilt not venter the loss of any thing the enduring of any thing for God and his truth the least truth of God is worth more then heaven and earth and what is thy ease thy liberty thy name thy life to it Thou art too delicate O Christian says Tertullian who must have pleasure in this world Seventhly How vile is the unbelief of thy heart who darest not trust God with thy name estate liberty How canst thou trust God with thy soul thy eternal estate How lightly doest thou regard all the faithfulness the mercy goodness wisdom power of God working for his people in their suffering conditions Of what little account are all these gracious blessed promises of the Lord for their encouragement herein thy base shyness and cowardise of spirit is such as if there were no God no faithfulness mercy wisdom power to help as if there were no promise to support and relieve thee Eighthly there is a necessity of thy miscarrying in the ways of eternal life for if God hath so ordered things in his providence as that such ways must be in ways of affliction and thy heart cannot bear affliction how is it possible but that thou must needs miscarry in them It is a woeful thing to have a mans heart opposite to Gods order in any thing but much more in things of infinite consequence if afflictions be a block to thee in the way of life you must have this block Ninthly How little love is there in thine heart to God when thou art so shy of any thing to be suffered for God love rejoyces in suffering for the beloved The avoiding hell and the getting Heaven are no great things says Chrysostome where the love of God is then surely the avoiding outward troubles and the enjoyment of outward comforts would be no great matter to us if the love of God were in us Tenthly Did you never suffer affliction in your ways of sin and will you not now be willing to suffer as much in the ways of God Shall your sins have a greater testimony of respect to them from you then God himself Art thou nor confounded at the mention the thought of such a thing as this so unreasonable so vile Eleventhly What honor should God have in the world where would there be any witness to truth against the rage and malice of devil and wicked men if all should do as thou doest If there be any Christian blood left in thee if any spirit worthy of thy profession be ashamed of thy baseness this way and be not so shy of afflictions Secondly when thou art under afflictions let there be an humble contented frame of spirit as beseems a Christian seeing thou art now under an Ordinance of God take heed of the least murmuring repining against God as if he were a hard Master or as if his ways were hard and burthensom because of the afflictions thou meetest withal when thy spirit begins any way to rise in such workings charge thy soul to be silent unto God it is a great shame for a Christian not to be well skilled in that art instructed in that mystery of Christian contentation Say with thy Savior Shall not I drink of that cup my Father hath given me to drink It is Gods appointment that his people should be in an afflicted estate in this world it is the cup of my Father and shall not I quietly and contentedly drink of that cup Now thou hast an opportunity to manifest the power and excellency of thy grace to shew what thy grace can enable thee to do strength of reason
wil go far in quieting and calming of the heart under afflictions but grace surely where it is true will go farther It is the most unseemly sight in the world to see a murmuring fretting Christian if thy God if Christ if Heaven were lost it were not much to see wringing of hands and sinking of heart but to see this upon loss of a few outward comforts upon enduring of a few outward afflictions this is a most unseemly a vile and an abominable thing in thee S. Augustine upon the 12. Psalm brings in God rebuking a discontented Christian thus What is thy faith have I promised thee these things what wert thou made a Christian that thou shouldest flourish here in this world Well may God and Conscience and all the Saints upbraid a murmuring fretting Christian What didst thou expect in the entrance upon profession of Christianity what was thy aim what didst thou make account to live at ease to have no trouble to the flesh Where there is not quiet of spirit in passive obedience the sincerity of active obedience may be suspected How far art thou from rejoycing in tribulations who hast not a quiet contented spirit in tribulations I will not enlarge my self in this argument now intending a Treatise by its self of Christian contentation onely for the present take this one argument which surely hath much strength in it to quiet the heart under any affliction It is this God is willing to accept of thy service that thou tendrest up to him though it be mixed with much sin why shouldst not thou accept of his ways towards thee though there be a mixture of much affliction The sin of our service should be a greater cause for God to be displeased with what comes from us then the sorrow and affliction that comes in the ways of his providence can be to cause us to be displeased with what comes from him that surely is worse that is mixed with sin then that which is mixed with sorrow yet as the one is accepted by God from us let then the other be accepted by us from God Lastly let us not onely be contented under Gods afflicting hand but labour to thrive under it to improve all our afflictions that befal us Certainly there is a blessing in every Ordinance of God if we have wisdom and care to draw it forth to make it our own and so in this way of God towards his people it is indeed a gracious work to get our hearts lye quietly under affliction but it is too low a work for a Christian to rest there he must look to improve every affliction for his advantage By improving them we make our Benonies our Benjamins that is the sons of our sorrow the sons of our right hand Although waters in the Sea be salt yet if they be raised up to the Heavens and sent down again then they are sweet so though afflictions be brackish yea brine-salt yet a spiritual heart can spiritualize them and make them sweet and wholesom Afflictions are great opportunities for spiritual advantage if we have hearts to improve them and the loss of an affliction is a great loss S. Augustine in his second book of the City of God cries out against such who did not profit by Gods judgement You says he have lost the profit of the calamity he speaks of it as a great loss to them that it was over and they had got nothing by it As it is a sign of great wickedness to turn blessings into curses so it is a sign of great grace to turn curses into blessings By this improvement we shall not onely get water but honey out of the rock But how should we improve afflictions First be jealous of your selves lest it should pass away unsanctified be more afraid of the affliction leaving of you thus then of the continuing of it upon you and therefore lay out your strength more for a sanctified use of it then for deliverance from it Secondly labor to know Gods minde in your afflictions The man of wisdom sees Gods name upon this rod and understands what God intends First whether he sends them for sin or for other ends and if for sin for what particular For the first it is true God sends affliction sometimes for trial and other ends rather then for sin yet it is sin that makes us capable of such a way of trial were we not sinful God would not deal with us that way he would bring about his purposes by us some other way therefore it is good in all to be humbled for sin you may be helped in the knowledge of Gods end First if the affliction be extraordinary and come in an extraordinary way and upon examination you finde your self not guilty of any special evil besides daily incursions then you may comfortably hope Gods intentions are not specially for sin but for some other end so it was in Job and Joseph Secondly you may know from the work of the affliction which way it tends and how God follows it whether in it God settles not sin upon your heart for humiliation more then ordinary or whether the work of Gods spirit be not rather for the stirring up of the exercise of some other grace for God in his dealings with his people will work for the attaining the ends he aims at Thirdly much may be learned from the issue of an affliction when God comes chiefly for trial in the issue his grace does much abound towards his servants as it did in Joseph and in Job what honor was Joseph advanced unto and Job had given him twice as much as he had before chap. ult ver 10. In all the land there were no women so fair as the daughters Iob ver 15. but when the afflictions is for sin it doth not use to have such an issue it is well if the sinner may be restored into such a comfortable condition as he was in before When David was afflicted for his sin some scars stuck by him after his deliverance he scarce ever was brought into that comfortable condition he was in before But how may we finde out the particular sin First look what sins and afflictions the word hath coupled together although every sin deserves all kinde of affliction yet the word joyns some special correction to special transgressions as God sorts several promises to several graces so he sorts several afflictions to several sins Secondly consider what sins and afflictions providence couples in respect of similitude God often stamps the likeness of the sin upon the judgement Iudges 1. 7 8. Thirdly enquire at the mouth of God by prayer and humiliation as David did 2 Sam. 21. and Job cap. 10. 2. and those in Jeremy cap. 16. 10 11. Fourthly hearken to the voice of conscience that is Gods officer in your soul especially in time of affliction conscience will deal impartially and take this
rule for your help herein After much humiliation and seeking of God then listen to the voice of conscience for as it is with an Officer whom you would have search the Records if you would have him diligent indeed in the search you must give him his fee else he will do the work but slightly so you must give conscience Gods Register his fee that is let conscience have much prayer and humiliation which it calls for and then it will tell you Gods minde more fully Fifthly consider what truths have been most pressed upon your hearts before the affliction for afflictions do use to come as seals to instructions as Iob 33. 16. A writing hath not that authority with it before it be sealed as it hath after but when the seal is set on then it comes with authority so it is in regard of Gods instructions before they did not come with power to your hearts now God seals them that they may prevail and by considering what those instructions were you may be helped to finde out what God aims at in your afflictions A third Rule is when you have found out your sin stir up your heart against it with indignation This is that which hath caused me all this wo that hath brought all this trouble and smart As Acts 21. 28. the Jews took hold on Paul crying Men of Israel help This is the man that teacheth every where against the people So should we take hold on our sin that we have found out and cry to the Lord Help O Lord this is that sin that hath made the breach this is that sin that hath been the cause of so much evil unto me As we read of Antonius after Julius Caesar was murthered he brought forth his coat all bloody and cut and laid it before the people Look here says he you have your Emperors coat thus bloody and torn whereupon the people were presently in an uproar and cryed out to slay those murtherers and they took their tables and stools that were in the place and set them on fire and ran to the houses of those who had slain Caesar and burnt them Thus the looking upon our afflictions and considering what mischief sin hath done us our hearts should be raised to flye upon our sin with indignation and not to be satisfied without the destruction of that which would have destroyed us A fourth rule is when God stirs your heart in affliction to promise and covenant reformation begin the work while the affliction is upon you do something now presently do not put off all till you be well till you be recovered and think then I will do it there is much deceit of the heart this way many miscarry in their vows to God upon this ground because they put off all till they be out of their affliction and by that time the impression that was upon their spirits is abated their hearts are cooled and so the duty is neglected wherefore do something presently and be always in doing till that which is vowed be fully performed Fifthly let every affliction drive you much to God in prayer Is any man afflicted let him pray says S. James It is a similitude of Chrysostom As clouds darken the heavens cause lowring weather but being distilled into drops then sweet Sun-shine and fair weather follows so sorrows and cares in the soul cloud the soul till they be distilled in prayer into tears and poured forth before the Lord then the sweet beams of Gods grace come in and much blessing follows Sixthly treasure up all the experiences you have had of God and your own heart in the time of your affliction keep them fresh in your heart and work them upon your spirit and make use of them as God offers occasion Seventhly what you wished you had done then be sure now to set about and never rest till it be done that when affliction comes again it may not finde it undone if it does it will make the affliction very bitter unto you It was the advice of one Theodoricus to Segismund the Emperor who asked him how he should be happy Do says he that now which when you have been tormented with a fit of the stone or the gout you would wish you had done that which he said of that particular afflictions is true of others We should have glorious reformations if this rule were well observed surely that which is true in times of affliction is true out of it and that which conscience upon ground judges to be right and good then is right and good now Eighthly take heed of trusting to your own promises that you have made to God for obedience rather then to his promises that he hath made to you for assistance Ninthly often call your self to account after the affliction is over What is become of it how was it with me then and how is it now have I more peace now then I had then and how comes it about Hath my peace grown upon good grounds so as it may-hold I had workings of Spirit then what are become of them have I been faithful to God and to mine own soul And thus we have finished this doctrine of affliction which by Gods ordinance is the portion of his people in this world They have been are and shall be an afflicted people CHAP. X. Wicked men have pleasures in ways of sin while Gods people endure much hardship in ways of holiness THe second point is that God sometimes gives wicked men pleasure in the ways of sin whilest he suffers his own people to endure much affliction The Israelites make the brick and are under sore bondage and the Egyptians dwell in houses living in jollity and mirth Thus it was with Elijah he must flye for his life and live in caves and be fed by ravens whilest four hundred false prophets are fed deliciously at Jezabels table While the King and Haman sits drinking in the city Shushan is in perplexity Esther 3. 15. Job says of the wicked That they take the timbrel and harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ they spend their time in wealth but of himself he saith that his calamity was heavier then the sand of the sea that the arrows of the Almighty were within him that the poyson of them drank up his spirit that the terrors of God did set themselves in battle array against him Chap. 6. 1 2 3. And David says of the wicked that they are not in trouble as other men their eyes stands out with fatness they have more then their heart could wish but for himself all the day long he was plagued and chastened every morning Psal 73. Christ tells his Disciples the world shall rejoyce but they shall have trouble But why does God thus suffer wicked men to enjoy their pleasure thus in the ways of sin First here is their portion they are never like to have any other consolation but
that they have here here is their All. This is as it were their Kingdom They are upon their own dunghil Secondly God hath time enough hereafter to torment them to make sin bitter unto them and therefore he does not care though they have their pleasure and go on for a while in the enjoyment of their delights And God hath time enough to glorifie his Saints to give them everlasting consolation and therefore although here they be cut short of the pleasures of the flesh God does not regard that Thirdly God hereby would shew to all the world his own fulness and how little he esteems of these carnal things they are but bones therefore he gives them to dogs they are but swill even the very cream of them therefore he lets swine have them Luther in his Comment upon Genesis cap. 21. hath a notable vilifying expression of the great things of the world which God gives to wicked men The Turkish Empire says he as great as it is it is but a crust of bread which the rich master of the family casts to dogs When retainers when dogs have such allowance it is a sign of a great deal of plenty in the house Fourthly God grants pleasure and prosperity in just judgement to them to ripen their sin to harden them in it The Sun-shine of prosperity ripens the sins of the wicked apace and so fits them for destruction this hardens them against the ways of God it makes them bless themselves in their way They spend their days in wealth therefore they say to God depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways What is the Almighty that we should serve him There is no truer misery then false joy says Bernard There is a great difference between the prosperity of the wicked and that which the godly have God carries his people when he exalts them as the Eagle her yong upon her wings he exalts them to safety according to that expression that we have Job 5. 11. that those which mourn may be exalted to safety but when God exalts the wicked he lifts them up as the Eagle lifts up her prey in her talons he lifts them up to destroy them It was a speech of Augustine upon the 26 Psalm Many are miserable by loving hurtful things but they are more miserable by having them it is not what men enjoy but the principle from whence it comes that makes them happy Fifthly God is a patient God and in the day of his patience even the wicked are suffered to enjoy their hearts desire Obj. But it may be said God is patient towards his people and yet they are afflicted Answ Those afflictions that come upon Gods people may better stand with the glory of patience then if the same things should be upon the wicked because in the afflictions of the Saints there is no revenge there is no hatred in them but if God should inflict the same things upon the wicked they would come out of revenge against them and hatred of them and so there would not be such manifestation of that glory of patience that God hath to manifest here in this world Hence let Gods people learn not to be greedy in their desires after outward pleasures they are but the portion of dogs and reprobates It is true godly men may have them but never as their portion God hath afforded you better pleasures hath he not reserved better things for you As when we enjoy outward prosperity we must not bless our selves in it because it is that which wicked men have so when we are afflicted our hearts must not be dejected because we are onely deprived of that which God gives most many times to those that he hates most God will keep his people from being prevailed against by this temptation David was in this temptation Psal 73. but he says verse 23. that God held him by his right hand When men see how the world lives in pleasure and the Saints are afflicted they are in danger of stumbling but God holds his own by his right hand that they fall not Secondly let us learn not to envy the men of the world who live in pleasures who wallow in the sensual delights of this life The reason why they take so much delight in such things is because they know no better they seek after no better Ambrose in his first Book de officiis brings in godly men objecting thus Why do the wicked rejoyce why do they riot it out why do not they labor as well as I He answers They have not put in for the crown yea says he if you object thus the wicked may answer you as the spectators in their Olympiack games if those that labor and wrastle in them should call the spectators and say Come you and labor and strive here as well as we the spectators would answer You without us shall get the glory of the crown if you overcome Besides there is little cause we should envy all their jollity they must give an account for it and dear When a Soldier was to dye for taking a bunch of grapes against the Generals command and going to execution he went eating his grapes one of his fellows rebuked him What are you eating your grapes now The poor man answers I pray thee friend do not envy me these grapes for they cost me dear so they did indeed for they cost him his life and so will these vain delights of wicked men they will cost them their lives And yet further consider ere long things will turn Gods people shall have pleasure and the world shall have afflictions Affliction did I say nay Misery with torment time is at hand when it shall be said to every wicked man Son remember in thy life time thou hadst pleasure and my servants who walked faithfully with me had affliction but now thou art tormented and they are comforted Time is at hand when that Scripture shall be fulfilled Esay 65. 13 14. Behold my servants shall eat and ye shall be hungry my servants shall drink and ye shall be thirsty my servants shall rejoyce and ye shall be ashamed my servants shall sing for joy of heart and ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of spirit Thirdly let not wicked men bless themselves in the enjoyment of their pleasures you have no other then thousands have had before you who are now in Hell If that you have were of any great worth you might be sure you should not have it if you knew how the Lord brings about your destruction by your pleasures you would have little cause to rejoyce in them Haman rejoyced when Esther invited him rather then others to the banquet but if he had known that in his banquet there was a snare laid for his life his heart would have faln it would have been but a sad banquet to him certainly there is a
Christ Fifthly while I walk in these ways I shall be safe for eternity I shall not be in danger there and when the fear of eternity falls upon the heart it sees it is a most dreadful thing to miscarry to eternity the thoughts of eternity work mightily upon my spirit let me be safe for eternity whatsoever become of me in these ways It is reported of one Myrogenes when great gifts were sent unto him he sent them back I onely desire this one thing at your Masters hand to pray for me that I may be saved for eternity Now in these ways of godliness I shall walk with God I shall have peace of conscience I shall have that I have in love I shall enjoy communion with the Father with Christ and with the holy Ghost and I shall be safe for eternity surely there can be no evil that can countervail this good whatsoever I suffer whatsoever I endure in this world yet my soul shall say It is good for me to draw near to God sure I shall choose and like well of the ways of godliness whatsoever I endure But you look onely upon the best side of godliness but turn the other side you shall finde a great many afflictions that attend the ways of godliness and when you see them you will not be so in love with these ways A gracious heart is willing to examine both sides What are the afflictions you speak of that will discourage any from delighting in Gods ways First they are but such as are upon the body those things that do afflict the godly are bodily things they do therefore but bring pain and trouble to this carcase to this body of clay to this lump of earth to this body of sin to that body that is to be beaten down in this world to that body of vileness for so it is called Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile body in the Original it is this body of vileness It was the speech of a Heathen when as by the Tyrant he was commanded to be put into a morter and be beaten to pieces with an Iron pestel he cryes out to his persecutors You do but beat the vessel of Anaxarchus you do not beat me You do but beat the Case and Vessel that contains another thing yea the word in the Greek that Clemens Alex hath relating the Story signifies a husk his body was to him but as a husk A Heathen counted his body but the Case the husk he counted his soul himself If a man had a precious Jewel in a Case and the Case was torn in pieces and the Jewel be safe it is no matter and so by all these afflictions a gracious heart knows it is but the Case that is torn in pieces the Jewel is safe Fear not says Christ those that can kill the body and do no more Christ would have us know afflictions that do but reach the body are but slight things And for these troubles let them be the most terrible that can be they are such as may stand with Gods love the dearest of Gods love such as the dearest of Gods people have met withal says God in Ieremiah I gave the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies Indeed if they were such as could not fal but from Gods hatred it were another matter but they may stand with Gods love yea with the very same love wherewithal God the Father did love Jesus Christ and would you have better love then that you may be sure that all your afflictions that you do endure for godliness and the ways of godliness they are not such but you may have them in the same love that God loved Jesus Christ and one would think that were enough to satisfie any soul in the world John 17. ult there Christ prays that his Disciples might be loved with the same love wherewith he was loved now notwithstanding the love of the Father to the Son he was afflicted and suffered as much trouble as you are like to suffer and if you in suffering may be in no worse case then he was and may have the same love that he had notwithstanding your sufferings sure your sufferings are no great matter there is no more evil in your sufferings then may stand with the love of God to your souls the same love wherewith God loved Christ and if a soul knows this it will not be discouraged from the ways of godliness notwithstanding afflictions indeed if in affliction there were the venome of Gods wrath and the curse of the Law it were something but the sting and venome is taken out and there is no great evil Again these afflictions that the world so speak of they may not onely stand with Gods dearest love but are such as may proceed from Gods dearest love as thus they may come as fruits of the love of God and therefore sure they are no great discouragements from the ways of godliness you heard what abundance of good God brought out of the afflictions of his people and therefore there may be abundance of love from whence they come they may be onely but to fit and square and fashion the soul to be fit to be laid in the highest place of new Jerusalem The stones that are laid below in some mean place are not hewed and hacked as the stones that are in the highest part of the building or the forefront of the building to the view of all those that are most for the beauty of the building are most hacked and framed and so those that God does intend to be the most beautiful stones in that glorious Temple that is in Heaven God suffers them here to be fashioned and hacked most afflicted and therefore they may come from love Besides they are no great matter take them at the worst they are but little things these light afflictions there is no such grievous burthen in them as the world thinks there is for there is the hand of Christ to hold them up in all their afflictions they are but such things as rather seem grievous then are grievous indeed as Heb. 12. 11. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous they are things that are grievous in appearance and in shew onely rather then in truth as the prosperity of the wicked is but in shew so the affliction of Gods people are rather shews they do rather seem grievous then have any realty of grief in them and therefore they are not so much to be feared Again they are but for a little time but for a moment As it was the speech of Athanasius when he was banished and his friends came to bewail his misery says he It is but a little cloud and will quickly be gone All the time of the rage and malice of wicked men is but as an hour says Christ This is their hour and the power of darkness it is but an hour and is
if they lived the onely brave lives but 2 Pet. 2. 13. they are called spots and blemishes for they are indeed base the most base spirited men that live These do most vilely lowre mans nature they are infinitely beneath the happiness of an immortal soul The Heathen accounted a life of pleasure a life of beasts What man would not rather dye says Tully cited by Lactantius then to be turned into the form of a beast though he should retain the minde of a man How much more miserable is it for one to be in the form of a man and to have the minde of a beast yea of a wilde beast Guliel Parisiensis calls luxury a scab and says the salt-water of tribulation must purge it and he brings in Augustine giving the same name unto it confessing that he was wont to delight in the scab of his lusts This scab says Parisiensis makes the minde of man ulcerous running with filthy putrified stuff and abominable to God above that that any man would think which no bodily filth does Sixthly The evil of nourishing of all maner of wickedness All sin in Scripture is called flesh and the work of the flesh because the pleasure of the flesh is the cause of so much sin in us When Christ spake of the servant who gave himself to riotousness in his Masters absence he calls him the evil servant There are swarms of all maner of evils in sensual hearts they are the fennish grounds that breed filthy poysonsom creatures so all venemous-lusts are bred and nourished by these Job 40. 21. it is said the Behemoth lieth in the fens which Guliel Parisiensis applies to the Devil in sensual hearts he lies in moist places says he that is in those whose spirits are moistened by their lusts Wherefore it is said of the unclean spirit That he walks in dry places seeking rest and found none But says he men giving themselves to pleasures they seek what they can to give the Devil rest in their hearts and to keep off all that may hinder his quiet Flies and Wasps use to come to honey and sugar and such sweet things The Devil who is called Beelzebub that is the God of flyes loves to be in souls glutted with sensual pleasures yea swarms of Devils love to follow such Hence such as these are most desperate enemies unto godliness contemners and scorners of all Religion That which is honest is vile and contemptible to him who makes too much of his body says a Heathen Where pleasures reign vertue connot be says another When the Jews accuse Christ of the worst their malice could devise they call him a Wine-bibber Seventhly they likewise harden in all maner of evil when men are heat in sensual delights their hearts are so glutted that they never think of their pain It is observed that when the people of Israel had got Aaron to make the Calf and they set down to drink and rose up to play they offered burnt-offerings but no sin-offerings were thought of These beset the heart and make it even uncapable of any spiritual good St. Paul says of the Widows that live in pleasures they are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. Let us eat and drink to morrow we shall dye Why do you say to morrow says Chrysostom ye are dead already We read Ezek. 47. 11. that when the waters of the sanctuary flowed the miry places could not be healed How seldom does the waters of the Sanctuary heal miry souls Augustine says of such As the earth by too much rain becomes nothing but mire and dirt so as it is made unfit for tillage so these Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart Hos 4. 11. Who are the most desperate enemies to the Cross of Christ but such whose God is their belly Phil. 3. 18 19. Who are they that cannot cease from sin but such as sport themselves with their own deceivings while they feast amongst you having eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2. 13 14. Who are those that are wholly void of the Spirit and even uncapable of it such as walk after their own ungodly lusts and sensual Jude 18 19. Who are they that say to God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways but such as take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ and spend their days in wealth Job 21. 11 12 13. Pleasures do not so much delight the flesh as they endanger the soul therefore better it is a great deal to be preserved in brine then to rot in honey to be fed upon the salt marshes and short commons and to live then to be glutted in rank pastures and so fatted up for destruction And thus you see the evil of them whereupon Chrysostom in one of his Sermons concerning the Martyrs The joys of this present world are to be feared by Christians and certainly so they are rather then to be desired Sixthly if there were not so much evil yet they are vain flashy things there is no reality in them they are all res nihili things of nought The Heathen could say Believe me true joy is no light thing but what windy frothy contents are these pleasures to the flesh do they leave any sweetness behinde them after they are over as it was wont to be said of Plato's feast his discourse of Phylosophy at the table though the chear was mean was sweet divers days after soul-delights leave a sweet relish in the spirit after their acts are past but the day after fleshly pleasures what is left but bitter humors in the body and a sting in conscience what wise man can please his thoughts after his pleasures are over in thinking what pleasures he hath had much less will any man of wisdom glory in what he hath eat or drunk or that he hath filled his sensual appetite with all the delights he could Who can at night after a day of sports and fulness of delights to the flesh bless God from his soul that he hath had a day so full of pleasure in his flesh Plutarch in his Morals hath an excellent discourse upon this argument to prove that according to the Rules of Epicurus No man can live a true pleasurable life not that by his Rules no man can live a vertuous life that perhaps would be granted by many but that no man can have a life of pleasure by those Rules that is the thing that he undertakes to prove and amongst other arguments he hath these First That it is not probable for any modest and temperate men to give way to let their thoughts abide upon any such pleasures he accounts them so vain and slight for the pleasures of the minde men that are wise and sober delight in the thoughts of such A second argument that he useth is That never as he says to this day were known any that would offer sacrifice to
as to want none of these pleasures it would make the moderation of them more pleasant then the excess You would finde more pleasure in the very act of self-denial then in all the pleasure of your lives and if there be so much pleasure in the denying false pleasure what then is there in the enjoying true Surely God hath pleasure enough for you if you had a heart to trust him with your pleasure you shall onely lose your sin not your pleasure Bernard hath a notable expression in a declamation of his De bonis deserendis If you be willing says he to sacrifice your Isaac which signifies laughter that is your pleasure your Isaac your pleasure shall not dye it is the Ram that is your stoutness of spirit your self-willedness that shall dye but Isaac shall live you shall have pleasure still Do not harbor ill thoughts of God to think that God is an enemy to your pleasure and delight he does not delight to grieve the spirits of men if you would trust him with your pleasure you should have pleasure it may be in this world but howsoever in the conclusion you shall have pleasure enough my soul for thine You must trust God with your souls and eternal conditions and will you not trust him with your pleasures Do you think Christ came to dye and shed his precious blood to bring men into worser conditions then before O no certainly Christ did not come to take away any pleasure from his people but to bring them the pleasures of Heaven and of earth too so far as they are needful Is it not more like thou shouldst have pleasure when thou art reconciled to God then when thou art an enemy We read of Cajus the Emperor Agrippa having suffered Imprisonment for wishing him to be Emperor that afterward when he came to be Emperor the first thing he did was to prefer Agrippa and gave him a Chain of Gold as heavy as the Chain of Iron that was upon him in Prison And so if any do suffer for God do you think that God will let him lose by him Suppose you have a Servant about your business and he suffers much trouble and opposition will you not recompence him for that which he suffers for your sake Do you think that God will let his people sink in their sufferings for him God forbid we should have any such thoughts of him Do not judge of the ways of God by outward appearance but judge according to the true value and worth of things Shall we in other things judge according to the value and worth of things and onely in the ways of God judge by outward appearance and not according to the worth Do but come near to the ways of godliness you will finde them other things then you imagine As Peter Martyr had a speech in his Sermon that was the means of that Marquess Galeacius his conversion If so be says he one should see a company of Musitians that are playing and dancing according to their art a great way off he would think that they were mad men but if he come nearer and nearer and hear the melodious sound of the musique and observe their art in all they do he will be of another minde And so men of the world look upon Gods people afar off and think them mad men to take such courses but if they would come nearer and observe their ways and see the equity and reason and observe the excellency and beauty that is in them they would be of other mindes You that have hard thoughts of Gods way you have looked upon them as things a great way off come nearer pry into them a little further make tryal of them a little that you may have experience of them you will think otherwise of them if it were possible for you to enter upon Gods ways with the same base hearts that you have Gods ways would indeed be tedious but if you enter into the ways of God your hearts will be changed and you will be other men and when your hearts are changed those things that were grievous to you will be delightful to you St. Augustine in his Confessions hath this notable expression How sweet was it to me of a sudden to be without those sweet vanities And those things which I was afraid to lose with joy I let go for thou who art the true and onely sweetness didst cast out those from me and instead of them didst enter in thy self who art more delightful then all pleasure more clear then all light but it was not thus with me heretofore when I sate in darkness Now if you have any conviction at all tell me Are you willing to enter into the ways of God Do you think them worthy of regard if it were not for trouble and affliction Then so it stands if you were not to suffer affliction you would embrace them and what an ignoble spirit is this unbeseeming a Christian whose spirit should have true Nobility and Magnanimity and you come off thus basely If you should never suffer if have no trouble Truly God is much beholden to you as we may speak with holy reverence you would have God choose you notwithstanding all your sins that are grievous to him Why will not you choose God and his ways notwithstanding the afflictions and sufferings that are grievous to you Do you think the sufferings you are like to meet withal in Gods ways are more grievous to you then your sins are to him Yet notwithstanding your sins he chooses you Why notwithstanding the sufferings you may meet with should not you choose him Suppose Christ had stood upon these terms and said It is true I see poor wretched sinful man ready to perish and must lie under the wrath of an infinite God and it pities me to see his misery and I could be content to redeem him but I must suffer so much be in the form of a servant and be despised and persecuted and suffer a cursed death and therefore let him rather perish If Christ had stood at this what had become of you Yet you stand at this Gods ways are good my ways are evil I could be content to embrace Gods ways but I must suffer If Christ did not make a stand at this when he saw thy misery but was content to redeem thee and brake through all sufferings Why should not you be content to embrace him in his ways through all sufferings Why should not your hearts be convinced by that which hath so much reason in it It is reported of one Marinus a Soldier when it fell to him to be preferred in some place he was like to lose it because he was a Christian and he began to stagger and to have thoughts rather to leave off Religion then to lose his place Then came one Theodistus and brings him into the Temple and laid by him the Sword and the Testament the Gospel and bade him take his choice
Here is the Sword which is an emblem of thy place and here is the Gospel choose the one you must have but one Then his heart gave in and so left the Sword and chose the Gospel The wisdom of God this day hath stood and still stands before you pleading with you crying to you to come in and embrace her to make a happy choice for thy soul folly likewise hath her pleadings and perswasions to draw thee to the lusts of the flesh both make their offers unto thee as they say of Hercules when he was yong he saw vertue and vice in the likeness of two Virgins wooing him vice like a painted Harlot and vertue like a sober chaste Virgin both presenting themselves with wooing offers unto him It is very observable that we finde Prov. 9. concerning wisdom and the foolish woman both pleading to draw the hearts of men to them and they begin in the same maner they both make offers to draw the heart ver 4. Who so is simple let him turn in hither as for him that wanteth understanding she saith to him and verse 16. the foolish woman useth the same words to draw after her and as wisdom is upon the high places of the City ver 3. so is folly ver 15. yet wisdom is above the foolish woman for the Text says of wisdom she is upon the highest places and of the foolish woman it is onely said she is in the high places And observe further Wisdom calls to eat her bread and drink her wine ver 5. and the foolish woman makes her offer her delights are sweet she says but they are but sweet waters and that stoln too and her bread she says is pleasant but it is secret such as she is even ashamed of her self In the choice that wisdom presents and that which folly presents you have life and death set before you as Moses therefore said to the people so I to you I have set before you this day life and death Now what answer will you give to God Will you go on in the ways of the pleasure of the flesh Are your hearts so bold and venturous that you dare venture to go on in these ways Wo unto you for the cursed hardness of your hearts Were it indeed that you never heard the ways of God opened to you it were another matter but in that you have and yet you go on in your choice after this Sermon God may say Be it unto thee as thou hast chosen God may set to his seal thou hast chosen vanities and a lye and base pleasures and vanities and a lye and base pleasures to thy flesh thou shalt have Wherefore that thou mayest be delivered from this seal this night O consider what a mercy of God it is that thou hast yet time to make thy choice How many hath God cast off And now it is too late to choose God hath determined the business O that yet there should be time O that this would move your hearts We are fain thus to labor and strive with mens spirits to take them off from vain pleasures to urge the strength of all arguments we can with all our might were it that mens hearts were not very sensual and hardened in their sensuality it would not be needful thus to strive the very propounding some one argument might be sufficient to prevail It was a speech of Gregory Nyssen who lived almost thirteen hundred years ago He that does but hear of Hell is without any further labor or study taken off from sinful pleasures Mens hearts are grown harder since But what if I should come in now I who have given so much pleasure to the flesh would God accept of me and regard me Be it known unto thee thou that hast given thy self liberty in injoying the pleasures of the flesh to the utmost thou that hast been most wretched if thou hast a heart to come in this day and turn thy choice God is yet ready to embrace thee we have commission to offer grace and mercy to thee upon thy recalling thy self yea we have a promise you shall have abundance of mercy if you have a heart to come in Prov. 1. 22 23. How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you If any of you have gone so far when we have spoken against the pleasures of the flesh and for the ways of godliness you have scorned the word of the Lord if you have been scorners and contemners yet turn and make your choice better Behold I will pour out my Spirit to you When God pours forth his Spirit he pours forth his grace and mercy and goodness you see the offer of God if you have hearts yet to make choice of his ways And consider the longer you have stayed in the satisfying your selves in the pleasures of the flesh the more unfit will you be to suffer hard things for God O give in your answer and say The Lord forbid I should go on in my former ways I see other things I have to regard peace with God pardon of sin that I have to look after let God reveal to me what his good will and pleasure is and though I should never enjoy good day in the flesh yet I give my self up to that way of God O that there might come this voice up to Heaven this night that your souls may be blessed for ever in this days choice And if God do begin to stir your hearts now take the opportunity choose the things that please him and take hold of the Covenant if you be convinced of the good ways of God now close with them cleave to them let your hearts fasten take such fast hold of the Covenant as you may never let it go Observe how these two are joyned together Isaiah 56. 4. Choose the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant Take hold now for it is your life CHAP. XV. The true pleasantness of all the ways of godliness NOw that you may be further convinced that in the choice of the ways of godliness you shall not lose but change pleasures you shall finde pleasures sweet and satisfying of a higher nature in them then ever before your souls were acquainted with consider what Solomon saith of the ways of wisdom Solomon who had experience of all other pleasures whatsoever yet of them he saith Proverbs 3. 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness That the yoke of Christ was an easie yoke and the ways of godliness had ease in them we have spoken largely As they have ease so they have pleasantness all the ways of godliness are pleasant to that at this time Ordinarily we cannot expect any dependence in these Proverbs but yet in this you have there is a dependence of these words upon the 13.
humor in the spittle meeting with a humor in meat and drink suitable to it what pleasure must needs be in the exercising and acting of a creature that is of the highest nature that ever God made creature and these creatures raised with the highest principles for the kinde that any creature is capable of and exercised about the highest objects that it is possible for a creature to be exercised about for the kinde God and Christ and Eternity if we see pleasure in the other that is so low and not in this certainly we must pull out our eyes and willingly besot our own hearts if we yield not that the pleasure herein is abundantly more and more glorious So the pleasure of the eye what is it but the visive spirit that is in the eye meeting with colour abroad it hath pleasure therein If the visive spirit in the eye which is a poor mean thing that brute beasts have as well as our selves meeting with such a poor thing as the colour is becomes such delight what delight must be in exercising the highest faculties about the highest objects And so the smell is nothing but that humor in the nostrils meeting with another humor that is without And so of the ear and of the touch we might instance there the delight comes from nothing but the exercise of the faculty about mean things but if godliness exercises such glorious faculties so elevated about such glorious objects there must needs be a great deal of pleasantness Fourthly the ways of wisdom must needs be ways of pleasantness because they are the life of God himself the soul in the ways of wisdom does live the very life of God The Scripture speaks of the Life of Grace it is the life of God Now all pleasure and comfort is according to the life that a creature lives comfort is nothing else but the feeding of such a kinde of life Sensitive comforts is the feeding of that life rational comforts the feeding of that life and the life of God being a higher life then any other then sense or reason that must have its comforts too and there must be delight and pleasure for the filling up of this now the work of Grace in the hearts of Gods people in their lives it is the life of God and therefore there must needs be a great deal of comfort in the exercise of such a life Fifthly much pleasantness there is in the ways of godliness because in them the people of God do communicate unto God their souls in all that they have or do by a letting out of the soul into God that is the fountain of all good Now there is an infinite delight in this All the delight that there is in God or in the creature is in communication In God himself because God would have delight in himself therefore he would have that that he might communicate himself to and because he would have infinite delight according to his infinite nature therefore he would have that that he might infinitely communicate himself unto and therefore the Son of God the second Person of the Trinity is the infinite delight of his Father because the Father does infinitely communicate himself unto him And now because God would have further delight though there be nothing that he can infinitely communicate himself unto but his Son yet that he may have such delight as his creature may understand he makes a world and the special end why God made the world is that he might have creatures to communicate himself unto in his wisdom and goodness and glory and therefore those creatures that are most capable of Gods communicating himself unto are called Gods delight God rejoyces in the habitable parts of the earth because there are creatures that he can communicate himself unto and especially his pleasure is among his people because there are creatures that are capable of communicating of himself Thus you see that the delight of Gods is communicating himself And so the delight of the creature is in communicating themselves and therefore of all natural delights that of marriage is the most because there is the greatest communication of one creature to another Now when as Gods delight is in communication and our delight is in natural communication then much more when we come to communicate our selves spiritually to God There is a delight in the life of friendship because one friend communicates himself to another but in marriage greater because that communication is greater and according to the degrees of communication the degrees of delight are then the delight in the ways of God must be the greatest because there is the greatest and highest and most glorious communication of a creature it communicates it self and le ts out it self fully into the infinite Ocean of all good If there were nothing but a letting out of it self into an ordinary good it were delight but to let out it self into an infinite Ocean of all delight this is pleasure and this is a mystery this is a ground why no hypocrite hath the delight of the ways of godliness because he does not communicate himself fully unto God but when the heart comes off fully to communicate it self to God there is infinite delight in them The ways of godliness surely are ways of pleasure if this be in them as it is Sixthly the ways of godliness are ways of pleasure because in them the soul hath the presence of God and walks with God walks up and down in the light of his face There is a blessed shine of Gods countenance and of his love upon the soul and influences of his graces unto the soul in those ways as the soul hath delight in the communication of its self unto God so they are ways of pleasantness because in them there is a communication of God unto the soul That place in Psal 89. 19. hath a notable expression of the sweetness of the ways of godliness and the delight that Gods people have in those ways Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance God is in them and le ts out himself unto them now the quintessence of all good put together is in every beam of Gods face and therefore when God shall let out himself and be thus the portion of a soul it must needs be a great deal of delight Seventhly ways of godliness are the ways of pleasure because the principles of them all is love whatsoever comes from love hath much delight and pleasure and the principle of every way of God is love God would have nothing from us but out of love and that may carry us unto love of God himself and that love by which the heart is carried unto God is the chariot of love There is a sweet expression for this that we have in Cant. 3. 9 10. the estate of the Church is set out by Solomons making himself a Chariot of
acknowledge we do not know what the ways of wisdom mean if we do not subscribe to this truth that her ways are ways of pleasantness Ways of pleasantness they are and this pleasantness that is in her ways hath abundance of excellencies in it Very many I thought to have spoken of and enlarged take onely the very mention of them because I must not be too long and then we will answer to some quaeres and apply all and so conclude For the excellent properties of this pleasantness it is that which is the sweetest soul-satisfying pleasantness the very rule it self is sweet sweeter then honey oh how sweet is the souls acting by it it hath the very quintessence of all other delights extracted in it it is the most solid such as hath not vanity and froth in it as other delights have it is such a delight as ennobles the soul it spiritualizeth the heart it is immixt not dangerous as others are it is abiding not vanishing it is continually virid and fresh though there is a fulness in it yet it grows not to satiety by use but grows more and more sweet for it raiseth and enlargeth the faculty it is Heavenly it is divine it is independent in regard of the creature there needs no sharking out to the creature for the upholding it all other delights depend on this there is no pleasure had but in the ways of godliness Una guttula malae conscientiae totum marae mundani gaudii absorbet One drop of an evil conscience swallows up the whole Sea of worldly joy says Luther but one drop of this delight is enough to sweeten all sorrows one drop of gall will imbitter much sweet but one drop of sweet cannot sweeten much gall but here it is otherwise one drop of this sweet sweetens all bitterness of afflictions but all the bitter of afflictions cannot imbitter one drop of this delight Yea this pleasure is the rule of all pleasure and the end of all pleasure whatsoever pleasure is not regulated by this and subordinate to this is evil But how are the ways of wisdom the ways of pleasantness It appears otherwise for the ways of godliness do abridge men of abundance of pleasure and delight in many things in the world What is so great an enemy to the pleasures of men and women as Religion It causeth them to be cut short of abundance of delightful things that others rejoyce in To that I answer first Suppose it were so you heard in the commendation that the pleasantness of the ways of godliness was exceeding great that it hath that excellency in it to make up whatsoever pleasure it wants Though it should cut you short of abundance of pleasure if it shall put a principle that shall enable you to stand in no need of that pleasure it cuts you short of what have you lost As suppose a man that is weak and hath little blood or spirits in him and is chill and cold and puts on many clothes to keep himself warm if these clothes should be al taken away save only his inward garment if there could be put into him spirits and blood and marrow and that which should make him not to be sensible of the want of his clothes it is a great deal better What man that is weak and sickly and is fain to have abundance of clothes to keep him warm would not be willing to part with his clothes if he might have spirits and blood put into him not to feel the want of those clothes So why is it that your hearts are set upon the delight of the creature because you want a principle within to satisfie your souls withal and therefore you are fain to seek the cloathing of the creature and to keep your selves warm with the cloathing of the creature but if Religion take away those things and give you a principle not to feel the want of them but have them made up another way and better you have no cause to complain of the want of pleasantness Secondly I answer that godliness abridges us of no lawful pleasure if it abridges of any it is delightfulness to want those delights that godliness abridges us of What hast thou delight in that which is sinful if it be not sinful Religion does not abridge thee of it onely such delights in which thou dishonorest God and provokest him against thee But secondly How are the ways of God ways of pleasantness when they require abundance of humiliation trouble for sin and is not that bitter and grievous To that I answer First there is more sweetness in that which thou callest bitterness then in all the delightfulness of the world besides those waters Christ does turn into wine And to convince you that these are not bitter waters but that the tears of repentance and humiliation are sweet refreshing waters of life consider from what fountain they come First the work of humiliation if it be right the principle of it is the melting work of the Gospel in the soul the sweetness of the goodness and mercy of God in Jesus Christ melting the heart and causing it to dissolve and fall down under the hand of God certainly that which comes from such a sweet principle cannot have much bitterness in it Secondly the soul in the work of humiliation melting before the Lord eases it self in that melting of abundance of sin and much sweetness there must needs be in those tears that ease the soul of and deliver the soul from much sin Thirdly in the work of humiliation there is much delight because the soul hath much delight in looking back to that sorrow it hath had and if godliness makes mourning to be delightful what does it make rejoycing to be But if it be said in the third place But there are many hardthings that Gods people do meet withal in the ways of godliness and the ways of godliness put them upon such things as cause them to meet with sore temptations and trials here in the world how then can the ways of godliness be so pleasant To that I answer Here is a mighty commendation to the pleasantness of the ways of Religion notwithstanding the hardest and sorest things a godly heart meets with there is that delight in the ways of godliness as upholds the heart under all and carries the heart sweetly on What commendation was it to the grace in the hearts of the Martyrs that did uphold their hearts and carry their hearts sweetly in the enduring of such hard things Secondly these being hard to flesh and blood hinder not the pleasure of a gracious heart it is the highest improvement of all our estates that can be the highest testimony of giving your respect to God whereby the soul enjoys most of God all times The Spirit of God and glory resteth upon the soul while it is enduring such things And how opposite is thy heart and
what difference between Christs heart and thine Christ bids you leap for joy when you meet with such things and you think they take away all joy But we see it in experience contrary when people come into the ways of godliness they do not finde that delight and joy you speak of their spirits are heavy and lumpish and sad For answer to that It may be it is but seriousness and thou thinkest it is sadness Secondly it may be they are not in their element and therefore they do not express chearfulness If the fish be upon the earth it cannot take delight the bird does not sing when it is upon the ground but when it is got up to the air Those that you say are melancholly and lumpish put them to religious and gracious exercises and get up their hearts to God and they will be merry Thirdly it may be it is your company makes them so because they see so much dishonor to God in your company let them be among their own company and they know how to be joyful Fourthly it is not because of Religion but because they are no more religious because they finde so much want of godliness in their hearts Fifthly it is not because they have so much cause of sorrow as you but they come to see more then you not because their hearts are not so pleasant as yours but because God hath discovered the danger of their condition more to them and the things that concern their souls and eternal estates such things as if thou didst but see would sink thy heart into dismal bottomless sorrow and desperation Thou thinkest much to see them so sad as they are If thou didst but see that they see thou wouldst sink down into the gulf of desperation among the damned spirits It is a mighty argument they have some mighty work of God to uphold them and that grace comes from a mighty principle that they have some chearfulness notwithstanding they see such things as if one that were meerly natural should see them he would sink down into hell and yet they can hope in God and sometimes notwithstanding all unbelief do rejoyce in God Alas thy pleasantness and delight is such as every little toy is enough to damp if thou beest crossed in the least thing in the creature thou art damped But what if God should shew thee all his terrors the infinite evil of sin and the infinite danger thou art in in regard of thy eternal estate that would damp thee indeed and therefore acknowledge that that joy that the godly have considering what they see is exceeding strong that upholds them as it doth Sixthly their joy is a secret inward thing which strangers shall not intermeddle withal thou hast no skill in it What was it for Nebuchadnezzar to say No Nobleman had such pleasure as he when he was among the beasts thou hast no principle to judge of it and therefore art no meet Judge For Application Hence we see one special and great reason why Gods people are taken off so much from carnal pleasure as they are they have met with better and the sweet of the world is not so much to them because they have met with that which is abundantly more sweet It is the sweet savor of Christs precious oyntment that draws the hearts of the Saints after him that makes them cry out Draw us and we will run after thee Cant. 1. 3 4. But the savor of base pleasures draws vile hearts after them Trahit sua quemque voluptas The light of the Sun darkens the light of the candle and puts out the light of the fire The light that Gods servants do meet with in the ways of God do darken all and take away the lustre of all carnal delight and this is the reason that Satan does not go that way to work to tempt a gracious heart with sensual pleasures because he is so far above them and therefore he is fain to tempt them with spiritual pride and lusts of a higher nature It were a wonderful dishonour for any that profess godliness to have their hearts taken with any pleasures of the flesh but onely in order to better pleasures that are to be enjoyed in the ways of godliness in the ways of wisdom In the second place What infinite cause have we to bless the Name of God that gives us such pleasant ways unto glory Though his ways were never so full of torment we had cause to bless God but for to pave our way to Heaven with such delights and to afford unto us such soul-satisfying contents here while we live in this our poor pilgrimage this is praise-worthy If we were to ascend to Heaven in a fiery Chariot we were to praise God but this is the Chariot of Solomon the midst whereof is paved with love as you heard How are we to bless God for this Thirdly if it be so here is an aggravation of the wickedness of those that shall take delight in sinful pleasures God sees it is impossible for any of his creatures but they must seek for pleasures some way and that God might take our hearts to himself he hath provided ways wherein we may have pleasure and an infinite aggravation it will be to your wickedness to seek for pleasure in the ways of sin in dishonoring God when thou mayest have pleasure in honoring of God Consider this and let thy soul upbraid it self for abominable wickedness and ingratitude There are ways of delight wherein God may be honored and my soul satisfied there are other ways that have delight but such ways as God will be dishonored in them and my soul endangered Now when as God does give me a cup full of all delicacy to satisfie my thirst with for me to take a cup of poyson to satisfie my thirst with this is folly and this is abominable wickedness of mens hearts God sets his cup of salvation and tenders it in his ways to satisfie your souls withal and the Devil comes with his cup of poyson and do but speak of delight and when you are athirst you rather take the cup of poyson then the cup of Salvation the more delight there is in Gods ways the more abominable is thy wickedness to forsake them Fourthly hence the great scandal of the ways of godliness that the world stumbles at is taken away they call them dumpish ways The Saints of God never knew the minde of God if this be so The world deals with the ways of God in this case as they did with the Christians in the Primitive times they used to put Christians into Bears and Dogs skins or ugly creatures and then bait them and so the men of the world put Religion into ugly conceits and then speak against them and truly that they speak against is only their own conceits and not any thing in themselves they are lovely and excellent and glorious onely they appear
to be sad and evil by the conceits thou hast put upon them In the fifth place by that which hath been said let all be drawn to the love of the ways of godliness I have often hinted upon such an argument as this and therefore will pass lightly over it Fear not pleasure trust God with it thou shalt finde enough Wouldst thou never be sad live well says Bernard Tell me wouldst thou embrace the ways of Religion if thou wert sure of pleasure I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that which I have spoken of the ways of wisdom are truths of God they are not notions not conceits but certain realities God hath engaged himself to make this good and abundantly more Oh come and taste how sweet the Lord is do not stand aloof off they may seem to be unpleasant ways a great way off but when you come near you will see delight Wherefore all you that have been acquainted with the ways of wisdom manifest this that God hath brought you into blessed paths that these things are true Religion does mightily suffer by the Professors of it when those that look on see no such things manifested It is our duty to rejoyce in the Lord and to walk in the ways of wisdom as it may appear they are ways of pleasantness to carry ous selves delightfully in these delightful ways Delightfulness in the ways of godliness puts a beauty upon them It is an excellent similitude that Chrysostom hath to express this As says he a beautiful face at all times is pleasing to the eye but then especially when there is joy manifested in the countenance joy in the face puts a new beauty and makes that which before was beautiful to be exceeding beautiful it puts a lustre upon beauty so though the ways of Religion be in themselves beautiful yet when there is spiritual joy added they appear then beautiful with a double beauty We have a sweet promise Isa 65. 18. Oh that we could see it fulfilled I will create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy a joy even in the abstract not onely joyful but a joy and God will create this it must be Gods work and though to the eye of flesh and blood there be no matter of joy yet God will create her people a joy You know what charges the Prophet lays upon this what a comely thing it is and see that in any case you rejoyce Onely take heed you do not mistake in pleasantness many that are godly may be pleasant in their way upon that ground because Christians must be pleasant but do not mistake natural pleasantness for spiritual pleasantness How shall we know the difference between natural pleasantness in a Christian and spiritual pleasantness There may be a great many of temporal pleasures that God gives forth to Christians in its place but you must rise higher then that and put another maner of lustre upon the ways of Religion then natural pleasantness First if it be a spiritual pleasantness it will be serious such as becomes Christian gravity Yea not onely seriousness and gravity is to be mixed with pleasantness but if it be spiritual pleasantness Secondly it is such as can stand with fear and the work of repentance and humiliation these do not hinder a spiritual pleasantness though it hinders that which is natural You know the Scripture that says Rejoyce with trembling and Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord and greatly delights in his Commandments That is a spiritual pleasantness which hath a gracious mixture of seriousness and other graces of Gods Spirit with it Thirdly Again if it be a gracious pleasantness it is a delight in all the ways of wisdom many can delight in some ways of wisdom the stony ground received some truths with joy but others they cannot close with but when the pleasantness is spiritual there is rejoycing in all Fourthly Again if the pleasantness be spiritual it is our strength it carries on the soul in the ways of God more fully it is oyl that causes the wheels of thy soul to go on more freely in the ways of Religion I appeal to thee Does thy pleasantness carry thee on more sweetly in the ways of Religion Thou hast been merry in company but does this carry thee on more fully in the ways of God If you have had pleasure in natural things and when you come to spiritual things your hearts are dead certainly you went beyond your bounds Fifthly Again if it be spiritual pleasantness it will bear up the heart in the want of all outward pleasantness and though all outward content be taken away Habbak 3. 17 18. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vines the labor of the Olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation When all is dark abroad in the world the soul does rejoyce in God alone A soul that hath but natural pleasantness of spirit is all amort and down when any affliction befals him You that have the most delightful spirits when you have friends and all that you like you are jocund and merry but when affliction comes how quickly are your spirits down and how are you vext and troubled whereas if there were this spring of pleasantness in the heatt it would bear up the heart joyful in affliction though servants and friends should cross this delightfulness of spirit within would carry the heart on chearfully But those that are delightful when they are well pleased yet every little thing that crosses them makes them dumpish This is another argument it is not spiritual pleasantness their hearts are filled with it is not from the delight they have found in the ways of God that makes them so merry This by way of Caution But if we be sure that our pleasantness is spiritual let us expatiate our selves to the utmost It is a work of grace to moderate all carnal pleasures and to keep them down but it is the special work of grace to expatiate the soul to the utmost in all spiritual pleasure Therefore if God hath given thee this spring of delight and pleasure expatiate it to the glory and praise of God Blessed is the man that greatly delights in the ways of Gods Commandments And if God takes pleasure in thee how much more shouldst thou take pleasure in him God gives out his pleasure to be joyned to our pleasantness and if we should not carry on the ways of Religion pleasantly it will be a dishonor to God and a disgrace to our selves and we cannot expect that acceptance from God of what we do as otherwise we might for as God loves a chearful Giver so a chearful Server How shall we carry on the work of God
amongst the pots says the Psalmist yet you are as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and whose feathers are covered with yellow gold We read of the Christians that lived in the time between the Prophets and Christ in the latter end of this Chapter that were as mean as almost the rage of men and poverty and disgrace could make them wandring up and down in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins and in the dens and caves of the earth and yet says the Text they were such as the world were not worthy of Chrysostom carries it thus Take all the men of the world they are not worth one of the people of God though never so mean in regard of outwards But I rather take it thus The world was not worthy of such a priviledge to have them live amongst them they are fitter to be set as Stars in Heaven and to be continually before the Throne of God Many times under mean outsides there are precious things within in earthen vessels rich treasures The Tabernacle of God covered meanly outwardly and yet precious within It is said of Christ himself that he had no form and comeliness at all outwardly Isa 53. No beauty to a carnal eye And yet in Cant. 5. where the Church is put upon the description of Christ she says He is altogether lovely altogether desires so it is in the Original See what a different esteem is of Christ in the thoughts of the world and the thoughts of a gracious heart And as of Christ so of Christians Christ is precious to them that do believe To you he is precious says the Apostle but to others a rock of offence so to a godly gracious heart the godly are precious though contemned of those that are ungodly The arguments that a gracious heart goes upon or reasons why a spiritual eye should see so much excellency in Gods people under their outward means are First because they judge as God judges it is of the Spirit of God that they have received and therefore they must needs judge of things as God judgeth A childe esteems of things usually as his father doth if there be any of you manifest a slight esteem of any among whom you live before your children your children will have the like esteem of them if you manifest a high esteem of any your children will do the like Hence it is if those that are prophane do despise and scorn at Gods people before their children their children will quickly learn to despise them Now because Gods people have Gods Spirit and God is their Father they judge as their Father does Righteous men and Kings in Scripture phrase are made all one those who are Righteous God looks upon as Kings and such as are Kings are not respected of God if they be not Righteous Compare those two Scriptures Mat. 13. 17. and Luke 10. 24. in the one it is thus Many Prophets and Righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see But in the other it is Many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things which ye see God does not judge of men in regard of outwards what are outwards before the Lord What is it to have gold and fine clothes before God Those things that are braveries in the world and take up the eyes of men to admire at them what are these to God God does not esteem of men at all for these things neither doth he disesteem them for the want of them the want of clothes and of money and of the things of the world what is this to God Does God look at any man the worse for want of these things God is no respecter of persons if he looks at any with high esteem he looks at the poor and humble and contrite God delights to look down into the world upon those that are poor he reserves a poor people that shall trust in his name Zeph. 3. 12. The Lord passeth by the great things of the world he brings down the mighty and regards the low estate of his handmaid the low estate of his people It is a poor and contrite spirit that he that dwelleth on high looketh at the prayer of the destitute he regards Psal 102. 17. The word in the Original is A poor shrub that which is in the Wilderness and the beasts tread upon that no man regards that seems to be altogether worthless It may be one comes with brave words and hath mighty expressions God throws them as dirt in his face There comes another and can hardly groan out his meaning and yet there being grace God regards him If a proud scornful spirit should hear a poor gracious heart groan out his complaints to God he would think it non-sence but God knowing the meaning of his Spirit and seeing his grace he hath respect to him A broken and contrite heart thou canst not despise God can despise Princes and Emperors of the earth when they sit upon their Thrones but a broken and a contrite heart he cannot despise let him be never so despicable in the eyes of the world God cannot despise him no more then he can deny himself and cease to be God It is Gods judgement of men that the righteous is more excellent then bis neighbor Prov. 12. 26. Let his neighbor be the most excellent in regard of parts riches honors and other excellencies and the godly man despised and every way contemptible in regard of outwards yet he is more excellent then his neighbor It is observed that the Eagle and the Lyon those brave creatures were not offered in sacrifice to God but the poor Lamb and Dove God regards the Lamb and the Dove before the Eagle and the Lyon to note that your great and brave spirits of the world that are as Eagles high and lofty and as the Lyon God regards not those but your poor Lambs and Doves your poor meek spirits that are contemptible in the eyes of the world those are precious to God Not many mighty great and noble but God hath chosen the base things of the world the foolish contemptible things of the world to confound the wise and the great things of the world It is very observable when John sent to Christ to know whether he were the Messiah or no whether they should look for another he did not send him a direct answer but says he Go tell him The blinde see the lame go the dead are raised and the poor receive the Gospel Mark how Christ puts the poors receiving of the Gospel amongst the rest the other were arguments of Gods power and glory but what argument of Christs glory was this that the poor a contemptible people received the Gospel Yes God does as much glory in the poors receiving the Gospel as in raising up the dead Some would think that this should be an offence to John that the poor receives the Gospel one would rather think he were the Messiah if the rich had received the
therefore when any was converted it is said they were added to the Church And S. Paul Heb. 10. 25. lays a charge upon them though it were at such a time as they hazarded their lives Not to forsake the assembly of the Saints as the maner of some is And Mr. Calvin in a Sermon upon that Text Seek ye my face interpreting it thus The face of God is Gods Ordinances as a man is known by his face so God maketh himself known in his Ordinances and so he urges that place Seek my face that all Christians in conscience are bound to go where Gods Ordinances may be enjoyed if possibly they can And he says further It is better they should scrape the ground with their nails then to be any where else where they should not ioyn with Gods people in the ways of his Ordinances Certainly it is a great blessing to be with them though upon never such hard terms in regard of afflictions That is observable that we read of Jacob blessing his sons Gen. 49. 28. it is said He blessed every one of them How was that for you shall finde he rather seemed to curse three of them Reuben Simeon and Levi he speaks onely of evil to them but because they were not rejected from being amongst Gods people although they were to be under great and sore afflictions yet they are said to be blessed Well but why should we suffer much affliction for the joyning with Gods people What is there in them or amongst them that makes joyning with them to be so desireable First that point we handled before might be enough to shew the reason of this they are the excellent of the earth Isaiah 43. 4. I do not now speak of them particularly though every Saint is honorable but especially they are honorable in a way of Church communion Now we know it is a credit and priviledge to have society with those that are honorable Gods people are so they are the glory of the world as for others God speaks of them as dirt and dross Psal 119. 118 119. but now Gods people are called the glory of God himself Isaiah 4. 5. now it is good being with such as those are Peter when he saw but two of Gods servants together with Christ Moses and Elias says It is good being here let us make three Tabernacles one for thee one for Moses and one for Elias he never thought of himself it is good being here though he should lye in the field and in the rain and so says a gracious heart It is good being here with Gods people for they are precious whatsoever hardship we suffer amongst them Secondly there is no such comfortable communion in the world as with Gods people It is comfortable First in the very beholding of the shining of the graces of Gods Spirit in them says Heathen Seneca The very look of a good man delights me What is the glory of God himself but to see his own glory shining in the world in the works of creation and providence If God delights so much to see the resplendency of that glory that shines in his works surely it must be a great delight to those that have any work of grace to see grace shining in others Besides there is a blessed fragrancy of graces in Gods people as the eye is satisfied in beholding the beauty of them so the heart is satisfied in the sweetness of them Cant. 6. 2. My beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of spices the Catholike Church is as the garden and every particular Church if it be as it should be is as a bed of spices that gives forth a very fragrant smell It is reported of Alexander his body was of such an exact constitution that it gave a sweet scent where it went and so a Church is of so good a constitution that it gives forth a wonderful sweet fragrant smell to those that have their right senses Again no such comfort as in communion with Gods people in regard of the nearness of their union one with another their hearts joyn and are one if they be truly spiritual other societies are but as the iron and the clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzars Image they may cleave together but they will not incorporate one into another The more spiritual any thing is the more it does unite with that which is spiritual spiritual things are more unitive then such things as are bodily as if you have a heap of stones they do not joyn so close together but now a thousand beams of the Sun will unite together in one point because they are spiritual things in comparison and this is the reason why there is such a full union between God and a spiritual heart because God is so spiritual and the more spiritual the heart is the more union and so Christians having grace and grace being spiritual the more grace the more spiritual and the more spiritual the more union and the reason why in Church-fellowship there is so little union is because they are so carnal and therefore the Apostle says the contentions that were in the Church of Corinth were because they were carnal If you were more spiritual there would not be such division between you As it is in wicked communion those who are more spiritually wicked for there is a kinde of spiritual wickedness they do more unite together those that are more fleshly wicked do not so closely unite as your drunkards and prophane fellows though they call good fellows yet upon every cross word they are ready to fall out but others that are wicked in a malicious way against the godly and wicked in a way of policy to work to undermine the way of godliness such as those joyn together a great deal more strongly then those that joyn together in an outward fleshly way Now because Gods people are spiritual in a gracious way therefore they have such near union and union causes abundance of comfort We read Exodus 26. of two sorts of Curtains for the Tabernacle the one verse 1. of fine twined linen blew purple and scarlet and the tatches were of gold to couple them the other were of goats hair ver 7. and the tatches to couple them were of brass ver 11. Which may set forth the several sorts of people in the Church some are of a finer make then others more spiritual and the bonds of their union are golden others are more course and the bonds of their union are not so glorious but this is a truth for ever the more spiritual the more union the more pure the souls of men are and of the more excellent temper the more close sweet excellent in their union Again no such comfort as with Gods people because of the suitableness of that disposition that is in their spirits one with another having but one spirit and but one divine nature led by the same principles
and rules and have the same ends and affections hopes and desires and joys and where there is such a suitableness surely there must needs be a great deal of comfort for all comforts come from a suitableness between the heart and the object if the thing be never so good if there be not a suitableness between the heart and it there is no comfort but no such suitableness as between Gods people and therefore no such comfort Fifthly no such joy as is to be had in communion with them because of their entireness of love entireness of love is a lovely sight Dionisius seeing two entire friends together wished himself the third Cant. 6. 9. My Dove is but one and it follows the daughters saw her and blessed her an oneness of heart is a blessed thing no such entireness such oneness any where as amongst the Saints their love is spiritual and not upon base grounds as the love of others is there is not that base aiming at self as in others a carnal heart cannot love another but in some base respect to himself but now it is not self self that is the the ground of the love between those that are truly gracious and godly but God that is between them and with them the ground of their love is more spiritual and therefore it is a kinde of divine love and not so drossie as others Sixthly no communion so comfortable in regard of their faithfulness they dare trust one another They call themselves brethren and they will dye for another says Tertullian the men of the world cry out Of all men I would not trust those that are so precise Indeed if you do take all refuse that make profession you may say so but a gracious heart can savor who is godly and will not trust every one that talks of Religion but such as are truly godly they dare trust them and venture their lives with them no communion in which we can ease our selves of our burthens as where there are a company of true gracious humble Saints in communion one with another So that put these together and you see the second reason why it is worth the enduring so much affliction to have communion with the people of God Thirdly it is worth the enduring a great deal of affliction to have communion with them because it is in their communion in which the solemn worship of God is set up now it is worth the enduring of a great deal to be where that is In Judah is God known and his name is great in Israel he hath honor by others but his name is great in Israel in his Church What a comfortable thing is it and blessed and worth the enduring of much to have multitudes of Gods people joyn with one heart in setting out the praises of God sitting at his Table sitting before him lifting up the name of the great God making his praise glorious When the Saints are gathered together for this end in this work Christ is there present with them praising God he joyns with them in this work Heb. 2. 12. In the midst of the Church will I praise thee this is spoken of Christ it is quoted out of Psal 22. 22. which is prophetical of Christ who would not be in such acts of worship to joyn with such as Christ joyns with If God be our God and dear to our souls his worship is dear to us and if there be any people in the world among whom God is truly worshipped it is a great affliction not to be with them It is the observation of one Interpreter upon that place in Isa 6. where the Cherubims cryed Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts the earth is full of thy glory the Prophet cryes out Wo unto me I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips unfit to joyn with those that are praising of God howsoever the meaning of that place be yet thus we may make use of it to be a great affliction and cause there is to cry out Wo to our selves when we hear of Gods people crying out Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts if we be not amongst them though it be in the wilderness yet if Gods worship be set up the people of God have a feast When the Israelites were to go from Egypt into the wilderness Moses says they must go thither to keep a feast unto the Lord What was that feast in the wilderness but the setting up the worship of God Fourthly no communion no society in which there is so much profit and benefit as to be amongst these As Abigail said to David The Lord shall binde up the soul of my Lord in the bundle of life to be amongst Gods people is to be bound up in the bundle of life much good we enjoy in them and the more communion we have the more interest we have in all their gifts and graces and prayers and therefore we read of Daniel when he had a great work to do how he makes use of that interest he had in the prayers of the godly Daniel 2. 17 18. It is a great blessing to have an interest in the prayers of the Saints and so in all their gifts 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas c. all are yours and you are Christs as if he should say there need no such envying one at another to say I am of Paul and another of Apollos and another of Cephas for all are yours all the gifts and graces of all the worthies of the Lord are all yours they are all for your good and you have interest in them all in communion with the Saints there is watching over one another and quickning one another and admonishings and wholesome counsels and stirring up the graces of God that are in one another Have you not felt your selves when you have come away from a spiritual communion to come away with hearts raised and spirits inflamed for God and so strengthened that your resolutions have been up to do or suffer any thing for the Lord as in Mal. 3. 16. Those that feared the Lord spake often to one another quickned the hearts of one another and so in Acts 18. 5. And when Silus and Timotheus was come from Macedonia Paul was pressed in spirit and testified to the Iews that Iesus was Christ Certainly in their converse together S. Paul found his spirit wrought upon and refreshed so that the Text says when Timotheus was come Paul was pressed in spirit Fifthly it is good being with Gods servants though it be in suffering affliction because God takes so much delight in them if God takes delight in being with them certainly there is great cause we should take delight in them there are admirable expressions of Gods taking delight in them Zeph. 3. 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save thee he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love
Lord is pleased to condescend to our weakness to express his especial presence with his Church and therefore it is good to be with them these are the expressions of it But wherein does the presence of God with his people appear more then with other people In these two things especially First because there God makes himself known reveals himself there and makes his beauty to appear Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple It is the glory of Heaven to see God in his beauty and this is one of the greatest promises of God to his Church that they shall see the King in his majesty We may see some glimmering light of God in the Heavens Sun Moon and Stars but in the Church there God shews his beauty there we may see the face of God and this is that which Moses did desire Lord-shew me thy glory It is much granted to us in the Church in enjoying his Ordinances and there is no way to see Gods face so clearly as this way Every childe of God that is in the Temple shall speak of Gods glory for they see God in his glory in a special maner Secondly the especial presence of God with his people is especially manifested in that he communicates to his people as namely First the choice mercies of God are communicated to his people If you would have any share in Gods choice mercies his peculiar mercies come amongst Gods people joyn with them as that place is observable in Psal 134. 3. The Lord that made Heaven and earth bless thee out of Sion He does not say the Lord that made Heaven and Earth bless thee out of Heaven and Earth but the Lord that made Heaven and Earth bless thee out of Sion as if he should say The blessings that come out of Sion are the choice blessings and the peculiar mercies of God even above any that come out of Heaven and Earth Secondly God communicates his mercies more fully then any where else Isa 25. 6. And in this mountain that is in the Church I will make a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow c. and Psal 36. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures In a private way there may be some drops of pleasure from God but there is not that full communication from God as with his people in his Ordinances there is in the world in the creature drops in private communion there are ponds but in a pulique Church-communion there are rivers of pleasure and that is the height of all Thirdly God communicates his mercies more powerfully in the Church then any where else Psal 133. 3. For there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore God did not onely speak and said there should be a blessing but spake in a commanding way There Where is that There in the Church amongst his people there God commanded the blessing even life for evermore Lastly God blesseth more universally with all kinde of blessing and therefore he is more present there and in that respect the Psalmist says Psalm 87. 7. All my springs are in thee This whole Psalm is to set out the excellent condition of the Church and he concludes the Psalm with this All my springs are in thee Now this expression is very emphatical Spring is taken two or three ways in Scripture The Law of God the Doctrine of Gods Law is compared to a spring and heavenly knowledge is compared to a spring and then it is thus All my springs All the truths I have all the knowledge I come to be made partaker of are all in the Church Again All my springs all the comforts of my heart and that good and joy my spirit receives and all the graces of the Spirit that I have and all the quickning and strengthning I have is communicated to me this way And upon this ground the Church is called the very perfection of all beauty Psal 50. 2. Out of Zion the perfection of all beauty God hath shined Out of Zion there is his glory wonderfully apparent The word that is translated the perfection of beauty is translated by some the universality of beauty all kinde of beauty all kinde of excellency as if the Psalmist should say Put all excellencies together that possibly you can imagine to make a thing comely and lovely they are all in the Church Thus you see it is good being with Gods people when as God is thus present with them in a special maner Eighthly it is good being with Gods people because there is Gods special protection others are but as the wilderness the Church is as a garden enclosed Cant. 4. 12. A man regards his garden that he hath enclosed and bestowed cost about more then a wilde field the fields have hedges to keep out the beasts but gardens have brick wals or wood walls Isa 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day How full is this his care over it is such as he threatens those which shall but touch it Jer. 12. 14. to pluck them out of their land Zach. 2. 5. God promiseth he will be a wall of fire round about his people alluding to the custom of travellers in the wilderness who used to make fires round about them in the night for their safety because then none of the wilde beasts durst come near them such a defence is God to his people There is nothing in the Book of God wherein God is so full in his expression as when he comes to this argument to manifest his affection to his Church Christ is the Shepherd and when sheep are together they are under the protection of the Shepherd when the sheep are scattered the Shepherds eye is not so over them And therefore in Hosea 4. 16. God threatens his people he would feed them as a Lamb in a large place as a Lamb getting from the fold goes up and down bleating so when Gods people are scattered they are as a Lamb in a large place and when God would threaten the sorest judgement against his people Ezekiel 34. he says He will scatter them and they shall become to be meat to the beasts of the field And hence it is that the condition of the Church is so stable a condition and therefore in Isaiah 60. 15. the Church is called an eternal excellency because it is under the Lords protection and is it not good being there to be under the wing of God Ninthly to be amongst Gods people is a blessed thing because they have so many
dangerous as if you being conscious to your self dare yet joyn with them if you deceive the Church herein God may justly avenge himself of you it may cost you your life Revel 2. 9. I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not It is by God accounted blasphemy for any to say they are Jews and are not to make profession of godliness and not to be godly is blasphemy Surely then it is not sufficient to be with Israel but we must be of Israel not to be a Jew outwardly but a Jew inwardly so as God may own you in the last day when there shall be a narrow search who are the true people of God that then you may be found to be such indeed it will be a dreadful thing for any of you that now seem to be of Gods people and that have lived amongst the sheep if you should be found amongst the goats standing at the left hand when you shall see others of Gods people stand at the right hand looking upon you and say Yonder is one who lived with us and we could never discover him to be an hypocrite though sometimes we had jealousies of him there he stands now he is discovered therefore approve your selves to be of the true Israel of God Quest But who is a true Israelite Answ Such a one as can approve to his own heart an inward effectual call of God calling him out of the world as well as an outward call by the Ordinances such a one as hath testimony to his own spirit that he is separated set apart for God that he hath an inward sanctification of the holy Ghost such a one as in whose spirit there is no guile this is a true Israelite indeed Secondly if it be such a great blessing to be joyned in union and communion with the people of God hence labor to bless God for this great blessing that is such an amiable desireable condition it is your heaven upon earth that mercy that should sweeten all other mercies yea that should sweeten your afflictions to you Gods holy mountain Isaiah 57. 13. is promised as an inheritance opposed to vanity and promised as the blessing upon trusting in the Lord Vanity shall take them but he that putteth his trust in me shall inherit my holy mountain Let us not enjoy the world in all their vanity but bless we our selves in our God let us rejoyce in our inheritance the mountain of the Lord. Though we beg our bread says Luther is it not made up with this That we are fed with the bread of Angels with eternal life Christ and the Sacraments c We have cause to bless God that we might be with Gods people though in caves and woods and banished from all we have much more cause to bless God when we can be with them thus publiquely and peaceably and can go from Gods house to our own houses and have communion there this is the rest that the Land of Canaan did typifie for which the name of God is to be mganified God might so have left us that we should have had communion onely with the prophane ones and drunkards yea we might have been cast out from God to have had communion onely with reprobates and that now we may have communion with the godly it is a wonderful mercy Rev. 14. we read of Christ standing upon the Mount Zion and having so many people standing up to joyn with him in Church-fellowship for that is the meaning of that place there they were rejoycing at the mercy of the Lord that they were upon the Mount with the Lamb though there might be time when our Harps hanged upon the Willows yet if we be called to the Lamb upon Mount Zion Let us have our Harps in our hands Is there nothing in the delight that God hath in his people and the presence of God with his people and the great priviledges they have to raise our hearts to praise the Lord and let it not be verbally but really As namely thus Is it that we are Gods delight let him be our delight if we be his treasure let him be our treasure if we be his portion let him be our portion if he communicates choice mercies to us let us give choice endeavors to him if he gives us protection let us protect his truths and name if he honor us let us give him his honor And so I slip into a third particular which is a third branch of this exhortation 3. If there be so much excellency in communion with the people of God you that are such take heed you do not darken that excellency that God hath put in communion with his people there are three ways especially that darkens this excellency First if we rest in any Church-priviledge we have and make that to be our Religion and the strength of our spirits be let out about these things we enjoy more then others so as we begin to decline in the savour and power of godliness if others that knew us before when we had not those priviledges and mercies that we have now shall say What good is to be had there I knew such and me thinks they had more savour and relish in the ways of God then now more sweetness and warmth to be had in their company then now there is Take heed of this of giving occasion to any to say so It is a very evil and a dangerous thing to rest in Church-priviledges to make all our Religion to consist in being in a Church-way we may have this revealed to us and yet little of Heaven revealed There were two vails of the Tabernacle one covered the Holy of Holies the other the place where the Priests entred it may be we have had the first opened to us but yet the second which leads to the Holy of Holies may still be vailed Many whose hearts are very carnal may be much for Church-Ordinances We have in the 24. of Ezekiel ver 21 22. seven several expressions of carnal hearts prising Church-priviledges First they accounted them their strength Secondly the excellency of their strength Thirdly the desire of their eyes Fourthly that which their souls pitied Fifthly their glory Sixthly the joy of their glory Seventhly that whereupon they set their mindes What a noise did they make about the Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord Ier. 7. 4. and yet they were carnal Take heed therefore you rest not in the Church-priviledges by this you will deceive your selves and darken the excellency of this blessed communion Secondly take heed of darkning this by any scandalous way as those do who profess themselves to be the people of God and yet by their wretched ways of sensualities or any other ways are a scandal unto Gods people this is an evil and a bitter thing Christ walks amongst the golden candlesticks Every Church should be a golden candlestick holding forth light in
of the world do envy one another because the good they look upon as their last end is so strait that if one have much room the other is straitned but the godly need not be straitned their good is in God and they have place enough to expatiate themselves and satisfie themselves If men were riding or sailing in a narrow passage they would envy him that were sailing before them that hinders but in the Sea they do not envy them because they have room enough to sail So in Christians that place their happiness in God where there is room enough there should not be envy Fourthly take heed of pettishness and frowardness or passions these do darken communion the meek spirit is fit for communion Moses suffered much for communion with Gods people and indeed he was fit to get good and to do good by communion he was the meekest man upon earth Fifthly take heed of self-ends in communion when men are so politick as to wheel about their own ends and not seem to aym at such things this hinders the sweetness of communion and though such may carry things a while as not to be discerned yet at last they will be discerned to have self-ends and all will be shy of them If you would have sweet communion indeed labor for open hearts to one another that you may trust one another Sixthly labor so to improve your communion now as every time you do enjoy it it may make your hearts to spring putting you in minde of that blessed communion you shall have with God and his people and think thus If we finde so much joy in enjoying communion with Gods people here what will there be in that communion our souls shall have in Heaven when we shall not onely have communion with some few of Gods servants but with all Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets and Patriarchs As Cicero hath a notable speech concerning the happiness of his death O famous day that I shall go to the counsels of those famous men that I shall go from this rout of people and go and converse with those famous men But brethren for us to think that we through Gods mercy here have communion with Gods people and shall hereafter enjoy communion with the Saints of God for ever what is it worth the enduring if it were but the enjoying of communion with Moses alone it were worth all you have endured and therefore comfort your selves for the present in that you have and let your hearts be raised in hope of better things hereafter when you shall have them perfect Now we rejoyce that we are with Gods people if they be conferring about any thing of God and Christ but hereafter we shall see nothing but God in his Saints we shall see the full glory of God shining in them then the very bodies of the Saints shall shine more glorious then the Sun How glorious shall their souls be then There shall then be no more danger of fallings out and frampold carriages no more jealousies and suspitions but we shall see the image of God perfectly in them and we shall have perfect love to rejoyce in the salvation of any as in your own salvation and then we shall be with them in all holy exercises It is good to be with Gods people to trade with them but better to be with them to pray with them to receive Sacraments with them the better the exercise is the better it is to be with them Then what is it to enjoy communion with them and to be always in holy exercises always singing praises to the Lamb and giving glory to him that sitteth on the Throne for evermore blessing God for the great Mystery of the Gospel And therefore improve your communion so here as not onely to put you in minde of your communion hereafter but to prepare and fit your souls for it And thus is this point finished and now we are come to the seventh and last Doctrinal point out of Moses his Choice which is from the last words of the Verse Then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season The Doctrinal Conclusion is this CHAP. XXV Whatsoever is but for a season cannot satisfie a gracious heart THat whatsoever is but for a season cannot satisfie a gracious heart Or Nothing but that which is eternal can satisfie a gracious heart Moses if he would have been satisfied with any thing that abided but for a season he might have had satisfaction enough but his heart was set upon eternity and therefore could have no satisfaction in things that were but for a season St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4. 18. We look not at things that 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 We do not so much as look at things seen for they are temporal but there are other things that our hearts are upon which are eternal we look not at things that are seen but at things not seen The word notes these two things especially not onely that we believe things that are not seen eternal things but we look at them we minde them we do not much minde things that are temporal but eternal things are minded of us Secondly we do not make things that are seen that are temporal to be our scope and aim that which satisfies the heart is that which is looked at as the end and aim and scope of the spirit so that if a man could look at things seen as his aim and scope they would satisfie him but nothing that is seen can be the scope and aim of a gracious heart but eternal things are his scope and aim and therefore they satisfie him That nothing which is but for a season can satisfie a heart rightly principled appears First because there is no proportion between an immortal soul and fading transitory things indeed the sensitive soul that does depend upon the present temper of the body that is satisfied onely with present things and the reason is because it depends upon that which is present but the rational soul being immortal and not depending upon any such thing whatsoever it be that continues not for ever cannot satisfie it Secondly a gracious heart knows the things of eternity after another maner then any other does God hath revealed eternal things to it and upon the sight of those eternal things it comes to know it is taken off from all temporal things for all temporal things be they never so glorious yet in comparison of eternal they are but as the point of a centre to an infinite circumference Indeed while a man knows no better then temporal things the heart is let out upon them as the greatest good but when it comes to know the things of eternity the heart is greatned and all temporal things are but small to that soul when it comes to
leaves us in the using Seneca says We live amongst things that are perishing We hear much of the vanity of the creature and we can speak much of it but how is it improved how if you perish eternally for setting your hearts upon these things and notwithstanding all your talk this dreadful noise shall be heard from you We have lost eternity for setting our hearts upon things that were for a season It is a notable speech that Ambrose hath Why will you make that which cannot be eternal for use eternal for punishment It is fading in regard of the use but it proves to be eternal in regard of the punishment Therefore when any temptation comes to draw your hearts to any thing that gives content to the flesh for a season O that you might improve this Argument to resist the temptation What shall I while away that time I have to improve for eternity to seek after you and take content and pleasure in you you are not onely temporal your selves but you do hazard the loss of eternal things and hazard the bringing of eternal evils And therefore do not think it much that I press this argument because it is ordinary all that perish perish because they set their hearts upon that which is for a season and therefore though the knowledge of this in some general notion be ordinary yet the truth is to know it powerfully indeed and effectually it is a riddle to the world It is a notable place we have in Psalm 49. 3 4. The whole scope of the Psalm is to shew the happy secure estate of the godly in all troubles and the vanishing condition of all ungodly in prosperity now mark how he calls to us in the beginning of this Psalm to hearken to this argument We might say this is an argument we have heard a hundred times and know what it is Why should we hearken so Though you think this is an ordinary Theam yet this is the great wisdom and understanding of a gracious heart to know this is the dark saying that I will open so says the Psalmist My mouth shall speak of wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding I will open my dark saying So when you hear us speaking of this argument you say This is an ordinary argument but the true knowledge of it is a dark hidden thing to the men of the world and it is the work of the Spirit of God to make men know this truly and when God works any saving work upon the soul he begins in this way to settle upon the soul this truth That all the things that it hath satisfied it self in are fading and what is a year or two to enjoy all the contentments my heart can desire if then I must be gone and bid farewel to all have not I an immortal soul and when shall be the time that I shall provide for eternity And therefore I beseech you look into this argument and ponder it a little more There are three worms that are in every thing of the world to eat out the strength of it and make it fading First the worm that is bred in the natural principles the things that we set our hearts upon are made of fading principles Secondly there is the worm of the general curse that is come upon them by mans sin Thirdly there is another worm and that is the particular curse that we bring upon the creatures by our own proper sins as especially when we set our hearts upon any fading transitory things below all things in the world are subject to vanity by the general curse but the particular curse makes them more vain and shall we think to satisfie our selves in the things of the world that have these three worms feeding upon them continually to eat out the strength of them What are your hearts upon I urge it upon you as in the name of God and answer in your secret thoughts What are your hearts upon either upon things that are for a season or eternal Things that are eternal you look upon them as high notional things that never took up your thoughts much but to go into company and eat and drink and laugh and get money these are the things that are but for a season and these your hearts close with and bless themselves in What are become of all those that have had as great dealings and as many merry meetings as you and have satisfied the flesh as much as you they are gone rotten in their graves and their souls it may be crying under the wrath of an infinite God and all their bravery and delight at an end would you be in their condition It is a good observation of Abulensis to shew to us the vanity of all worldly excellency that those who have been the most glorious in what man accounts glorious and excellent have had inglorious ends by which their glory hath been stained and thereby our hearts might be taken off from such things and set upon those things which are so glorious as they will make us for ever glorious He instances in Sampson for strength and yet what a contemptible end had he So Absolom for beauty Achitophel for policy Asael for swiftness Alexander for great conquests and yet after twelve years poysoned He instances likewise in Kingdoms the Chaldaean Persian Graecian Roman how soon were they gone It is a notable speech Augustine hath Go says he and mark and attend the Sepulchres of rich men and when you see their rotten bones consider who they once were and know they do cry unto you O you men why do you seek so much to satisfie your selves in these fading things and heap upon your selves vexation to attain happiness for your selves in these things Consider our bones here and be struck with astonishment to abhor your luxury and covetousness for says he they cry thus to you You now are and we were and time will be when you shall be what we are And then consider with your selves what a doleful condition that man is in that hath set his heart upon things that are for a season When those are at an end he may say Now the thoughts of my heart and all my hopes are at an end now I must bid an eternal farewel to all my comforts to husband and wife and neighbors and friends and companions I shall never meet with you more and never have mirth and jollity and sporting and gaming any more but I must bid farewel to all the Sun is set and the season is at an end for all my comfort and before me I see an infinite vast Ocean and I must lanch into it Lord what provision have I for it What a dreadful shreek will that soul give that sees an infinite Ocean it must lanch into and sees no provision that it hath made for it Indeed those that dye and are besotted and know nothing of this infinite Ocean that they must lanch into
not hell This is the great complaint of a soul in the time of trouble O how long shall it be for ever But so we cannot say of any afflictions here in this world that they shall be for ever In Dan. 11. 25. speaking of the great affliction of the Church this is brought to alleviate all yet the end shall be at the time appointed so long as a man can look to the end of an evil it is not much it is for a season if he can but see banks he is well Yea and the evils that we do endure here as they are but for a little season so they are but in the due season they are in this season and that is that which should comfort us because there is not so much danger in any thing we suffer here while we suffer it in this season Suppose any of you had your Ship leak if it leaks when it comes into harbor though it be an evil to you and brings trouble yet you comfort your selves in this It is not in the main Ocean though If I had had this leak in the main sea what had become of me and so for troubles and sorrows you may say It is upon me but blessed be God it is upon me here Indeed if it should prove to be upon me eternally hereafter it were a great evil but it is here S. Augustine said Here Lord cut me do what you will with me but spare me hereafter It was the prayer of Fulgentius Lord grant patience here and pardon hereafter though I have never so much affliction here it is no great matter so I shall have pardon hereafter Yea the enduring of affliction in this season shall be that which may deliver us from enduring evils eternally hereafter God ayms at it and he hath no other end but onely to deliver from eternal sorrows We are chastened that we might not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11. And that he does by causing a man or woman when any afflictions are upon them to think thus Lord is this evil and pain so grievous to me that lasts but for a while what will eternal evils be to me Drexelius reports of a yong man that was given to his lust and pleasure and could not endure to be crossed but of all things he could not bear it To be kept from sleep and to awake in the dark and being sick he was kept awake in the night and could not sleep and he began to have these thoughts and think What is it so tedious for to be kept from sleep one night and to lie a few hours here in the dark O what is it to be in torments and darkness everlastingly I am here in my house upon a soft bed in the dark kept from sleep but one night O to lie in flames and in darkness for ever and ever how dreadful will that be And this was the means of the conversion of that yong man that was given to all maner of lusts before O that the Lord would settle this argument upon you so as to work it every way to be useful for your pleasures they are but for a season why should I set my heart upon them And for sorrows if those be grievous if a fit of the Stone or of the Strangury or the Fever be so grievous what will that be to be eternally scalding in the wrath of God Thus you see the consideration That things are but for a season how useful it is for to take our hearts from them and to uphold our hearts in any evils and troubles that we should endure CHAP. XXVII Exhortation to seek after eternal things THe last Use is an Use of Exhortation that seeing nothing that is for a season can satisfie the heart what remains but that we should seek after that which is beyond a season for the satisfaction of our hearts Look at the things that will satisfie an immortal soul let it be of the largest extent that can be these cannot upon this ground because they are but for a season Then let our hearts be after eternal things I am this day to speak to divers hundreds of you here that must every one of you live in eternity one way or other yong and old you must live in a time beyond this season Now having to speak to you that must live eternally this is that which I have to do To get your hearts up to seek after eternal things and O that this might be done if I should never preach more and you should never hear more yet if this should be obtained that you should live eternally that you should have your hearts got up to eternal things you should be blessed and I should think my self happy Philip King of Macedon would have a man come and cry to him every morning You are mortal this is that which I should rather choose that you might daily here a voyce that You are immortal The better part of you must live eternally Were it that eternity were presented to us in the reality of it how mightily would it work to draw our hearts to eternal things Certainly our thoughts are not upon eternity the thoughts of eternity are mighty prevailing thoughts they are over-awing thoughts soul ballacing thoughts that would ballast our hearts they are infinite pertinent thoughts that do infinitely concern us You that have had a company of sleight thoughts and have set the strength of your spirits in thinking of chaffy things O this day here is an object presented to you to help you against sleight thoughts This one word Eternity and the thoughts of this word may be enough for you to banish vain and chaffy thoughts away for ever it concerns us to have the strength of our spirits busied about this There is a request that I have to every one of you and I will put it as fair and easie and low as may be because I would not have it denyed that is That every one that God by his providence hath brought this day here into this Assembly would resolve in their own thoughts and covenant with God to spend but one half quarter of an hour in meditating of eternity every day there is no such great difficulty in it to have such thoughts as these renewed every day This body of mine though frail and mortal it must live for ever and this soul of mine it must live eternally I have spent a great deal of time in seeking after contentment to my flesh for the present but O Lord what have I done to provide for eternity The renewing of this daily and setling of this daily upon the heart what might it do It cannot be imagined what it might do Precious are the thoughts of eternity so precious that there is many a soul that would not for a thousand worlds but have had those thoughts to be setled upon them so precious as many souls are now in Heaven magnifying and blessing of God that they
you no good and if this argument prevail to get off your hearts beyond things that are for a season there will arise these two questions O that I did but know how it should go with me eternally O how shall I get eternal things to be my portion CHAP. XXVIII How we should know how it will be with us for eternity and what we should do that it may be well with us eternally IF you say How shall I know how it shall be with me for eternity shall it be well or not well with my soul when I am beyond things that are for a season You may have some guess by those thoughts you have had upon things for eternity you that have given liberty to your selves to satisfie your selves in the things of the flesh and your hearts have been fully satisfied in the things of the world and this point is a strange point to you you have cause to conclude with your selves that you are in a miserable condition for eternity but if your consciences can testifie that this point the getting of your hearts from things that are but for a season and setting them upon the things that are eternal is that which the Lord hath setled upon your hearts for many years when you wake in the night or in the morning the same thoughts that are presented to me by the Word the Lord hath presented to me by his Spirit the strength and chief of my thoughts have been busied about this argument It is a good sign that God does intend good for that soul to eternity whom he is pleased to possess with the thoughts of it so deeply for the present Again consider could you not wish in your hearts that you might live always and that the content and delight in this world in meat and drink and sports do satisfie you and you think your selves happy in the enjoyment of them certainly God hath not yet savingly made known the things of eternity to you Those that God does prepare for his eternal mercies in Heaven God does take off their hearts from all things in the world that if it were put to your choice though you might have a thousand worlds you would not have them for your portion no there are more glorious more excellent things for my soul to have and therefore God forbid I should have my portion in these things though they were to endure Augustine brings in Plotinus acknowledging it the mercy of God to man that his soul is in a mortal body that the body is not immortal but that after a little time the bodies of men may be dissolved and so their souls be there for ever where the soul of the world is that is his expression 3. A third Argument that it shall be well with you for eternity is this To know what seeds of eternity God hath begun to plant in your hearts This is a certain truth There is no soul that God intends eternal life unto but God begins eternal life in this world You know what St. John says He that hates his brother hath not eternal life abiding in him Eternal life is begun in this world in all that shall be saved therefore think with your selves What seeds of eternity have I put into my soul All common graces and moral vertues are not a seed that will grow up to eternal life but saving grace will though it be under the clods for the present it will grow up eternity Fourthly Examine the Scriptures look into the book of God and see whether the Scripture speaks well on your side because that in this Book in this Scripture there God hath revealed the eternal counsels of his will and the great things about mans eternal estate there is little in all the Book of the Creature the Book of Creation revealed of the counsels of Gods will about bringing man to his eternal estate but in this Book of the Scripture he hath revealed his will concerning this and therefore confider does this speak well of your side Thus by these arguments you may know how it shall be with you for eternity But what shall we do to get a portion in those things that shall be eternal First labor to bring all things in subordination to eternity do not make other things your scope make them an underling and take no further content in them then that they may further your souls to eternity Suppose you have an estate encreasing more then another what will you do with it how will you use it wherein do you count the good of it to consist that by these things I have coming from God I hope to make use of them to fit me for eternal mercies and to treasure up eternal mercies by a sanctified holy use of these things but when temporal things come in and your hearts rest upon them without subordination to eternal things this is infinitely dangerous Secondly make conscience of the little time you have O it is but a little time you have let that be consecrated and devoted to God it is eternal happiness that you look for hereafter why should you not be willing to spend as much of this little time for it as can be Thirdly labor to be exact in all that you do for you are working for eternity As Zeuxis the Painter when he was askt why he was so accurate in his Painting says he I Paint for eternity Let us in our Christian profession be exact in our way because we live for eternity There is nothing that does make men so accurate in their way as this and let the men of the world know that this is the reason of the exactness of the ways of Gods people because they know they live to eternity Hypocrites who in Religious duties aim onely at some present some temporal good they are not exact they rest in outsides but the Saints who make eternity their aym are exact in all things especially those things that have a more immediate influence into eternity Fourthly be sure all you do you do upon divine and eternal grounds take heed of being carnal and earthly in your spiritual services but in all duties in Gods worship look to an eternal God and let your principles aims grounds and intentions be eternal The Temple was called Bethgnolam the house of Eternity do all you do in the house of God in his Ordinances in order to eternity that it may indeed be an house of eternity unto you Lastly be sure you be constant abide constantly to the end do not onely begin and now and then in a good mood have some thoughts of a good life and providing for your souls but abide be constant And if you take these ways by this you shall come to choose Moses Choice O that now in my winding up of all by all that hath been said some soul or other may have cause to bless God in being inclined to choose the same
by Ishmael and it is observable when the Apostle speaks of the reproach of Isaac in Gal. 4. 29. it is said Ishmael persecuted Isaac now that persecution was nothing but his mocking and reproaching of Isaac We read of Job a holy man how lyable he was to reproach and contempt Job 16. 9 10. there you may read of the bitter reproaches he had from the abjects such as he would not set with his dogs that had not bread to eat and were driven from men to live among bushes and nettles In Psal 35. 15. David complains the abjects of the people made a scorn of him the basest wretches that are can finde a taunt and mock at Religion reproachers are the most base spirits In Nehemiahs time those that sought to build the Temple were scorned in Nehem. 2. 19. it is said Tobiah the servant one that had been but a slave a base wretch he comes and laughs them to scorn And so in great mens houses if the Masters do scorn at the godly the basest servants will do so too David hath many bitter complaints of the reproach he suffered I was a reproach among all my enemies but especially among my neighbors Now the reproaches of professors one against another are the bitterest and most vile reproaches and the reason of it is this because usually reproach arises from some contestation about excellency for a Prince that is a great deal above another hath not contestation with beggers he does not reproach them nor they him for this distance is too great but reproach is between equals when one stands in the light of the other or from inferiors who have others by them who are above them and their excellency stands in their light and they cast dirt upon their excellency that theirs may appear the brighter Now those that have a contestation about Religion have a contestation about the greatest excellency and where their hearts are unsavory their reproaches will be the bitterest reproaches In Psal 109. 25. I became also a reproach unto them when they looked upon me they shaked their heads and in other places the drunkards made songs of him David was a man of such an admirable spirit the sweet singer of Israel and God had blest him with all things that might make him honorable and had he not been religious it were impossible that such a man as he should have endured such reproaches And we have the Church complaining in Lam. 3. 30. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him he is filled full of reproach So all the Prophets that were the most eminent were reproached as Isaiah in Isa 28. Precept upon precept line upon line that was a scoff they put upon Isaiah we have nothing but line upon line and precept upon precept the very sound of the words as they are in the Original carries with them a taunting reproachful expression Zan la Zan Kan la Kan manda remanda manda remanda as scornful people by the tone of their voice and ryming words scorn at such as they despise And so Jeremy complains in the bitterness of his spirit that the word of the Lord was made a reproach to him And Ezekiel see how he was scorned Ezek. 33. 30 31 c. And as they did the Prophets so Christ and the Apostles when they were filled with the Spirit of God they mocked them and said they were filled with new Wine And Christ tells them they shall revile them and speak all maner of evil unto them And so St. Paul a man of most admirable parts yet he says of himself and of the other Apostles 1 Cor. 4. 13. Being defamed we intreat the word translated defamed signifies blasphemed We are made as the filth of the world and are the off-scouring of all things to this day We are made the filth of the world as if we were scraped out of the filth of the filth of the world There is an emphasis in that word the filth of the world why the world lies in filth is even nothing else but filth as in 1 John 5. 19. the whole world lieth in wickedness as a carrion in the slime of it to be accounted the filth of such a filth is a most vile esteem of one indeed that filthiness must needs be great Mundus hath the name à munditie of cleanness but as lucus à lucendo as mons à monendo quia minimè lucet minimè monet so quia minimè mundus est And further the off-scouring of all things to be the off-scouring of some things is not so vile but of all things the most base and contemptible things how vile is that The word signifies the dung-cart that goes through the city into which every one brings his filth and casts in every one had some filth to cast upon Paul and the rest of the Apostles And in the Primitive times the people of God were then a people under great reproach What strange things does Tertullian tell us they reproached them withal as that in their meetings they made Thyestes suppers who invited his brother to a supper and presented him with a dish of his own flesh they charged them with uncleanness because they met in the night for they durst not meet in the day and said they blew out the candles when they were together and committed filthiness they reproached them for ignorance saying they were all unlearned and therefore the Heathens in Tertullians time used to paint the God of the Christians with an Asses head and a book in his hand to signifie that though they pretended learning yet they were an unlearned silly people rude and ignorant Bishop Jewel in his Sermon upon Luke 11. ver 15. cites this out of Tertullian and applyes it to his time Does not our adversaries do the like saith he at this day against all those that profess the Gospel of Christ O say they who are they that favor this way they are none but Shoomakers Taylors Weavers and such as never were at the University They are the Bishops own words He cites likewise Tertullian a little after saying that The Christians were accounted the publike enemy of State And Josephus tells us of Apollinaris speaking concerning the Jews and Christians that they were more foolish then any Barbarian And Paulus Fagius reports a story of an Egyptian concerning the Christians who said They were a gathering together of a most filthy leacherous people and for the keeping of the Sabbath he says they had a disease that was upon them and they were fain to rest the seventh day because of that disease And so in St. Augustines time he hath this expression Any one that begins to be godly presently he must prepare to suffer reproach from the tongues of adversaries and this was their usual maner of reproach What shall we have of you an Elias a Jeremy And Nazianzen in one of his Orations says It is so ordinary to reproach that I cannot think to go
reproached Alexander the General came to him and smote him says he I did not hire you to reproach Alexander but to fight against him If a Heathen cannot endure the reproaches of his enemy how much less should God endure his children reproaching one another It was a brave speech of Calvin Though Luther call me a Devil yet I will honor him as a servant of God and so though those that are our brethren do cast reproach upon us we should honor the grace of God in them and not cast reproach upon them again for these reproaches are bitterness But the main Use of the point is an Use of Direction how to carry our selves under reproach this is the estate of Gods people it hath been so and does continue so and is like to continue so it should teach us as to make account of them so when they befal us to behave our selves Christianly under them This is a lesson of Use wherefore in this lesson of bearing reproaches take these things First labor to bear your reproaches Christianly not Stoically insensibly for certainly they are afflictions A good name is a precious oyntment and therefore reproaches though never so wrongfully are afflictions and not to be born insensibly Secondly not to bear them desperately not to care what become of your Names as many desperate wretches will do Let men speak the worst of me I care not I must appeal to God Though it is true Innocency is a good bulwark yet we are not onely to care to approve our selves to God but we are to care to approve our selves to men and not onely to have a good esteem in Heaven but to have a good esteem in the world To provide things honest before all men especially amongst the people of God and the Churches of God for to have an evil name is a great judgement of God Isa 65. 15. Ye shall leave your name for a curse For people to say they care not what men say of them it is a great evil for by this it appears they are not affected with shame and those that are not affected with shame before others they are deprived of a special bridle that should keep them from evil and a special means to further repentance And besides it is an argument there is no worth no good in thee who art so careless those who have any true worth will be careful to preserve it but others are desperate As a man that hath a good garden full of good flowers and herbs will be careful to pull up every weed but if the place be a dunghil or over-grown he neglects it Wherefore let us labor to behave our selves Christianly not carelesly desperately under reproach Again we must not carry our selves passionately under reproach though it is true it is good to be sensible of the wrong done to our names more then the wrong done to our estates yet neither are the wrongs to our names nor to our estates to be born passionately There are five evils follow upon this distemper of heart First there is a great disturbance to the spirit and that is a greater evil to have the heart disturbed then to have a great deal of dirt cast upon us To have a disturbance within the body is worse then a violent motion without Secondly we are made lyable to discover a great deal of evil in us that though we are unjustly reproached yet we may discover so much evil as to be a just cause of reproach Thirdly we do feed the humor of those that reproach they have part of their end to see us so disturbed Fourthly we shew the baseness of our spirits to be so soon put out of frame Seneca speaking of the complaint of those that are under reproach They are says he the complaint of squeamish spirits Fifthly it is a means to make others to think we are guilty There is no means whereby I would think one were guilty of what he is reproached as that namely a mighty inordinate passion at hearing of those things If you hear a couple disputing commonly he that wants arguments for his case will fall into giving ill language and passion and therefore those men that have power over their passion in reasoning do what they can to bring those they reason withal into passion for then they have them at their will And so those that are brought into passion when they are reproached gives a great suspition of the weakness of their cause and are thought to be guilty Fourthly let us not carry our selves revengefully under our reproaches not to desire the reproachers might have an evil name in the same kinde It is ordinary for people that are reproached to do thus but many though they dare not say so yet secretly they would be willing that those that do reproach them might have an evil name But where have we those that do labor to clear the innocency of those that do reproach them it would be the glory of Christians to be so far from revenge to those that reproach them as to clear their innocency and to speak well of them as occasions serve as the Apostle says We being defamed we intreat and are not glad if they fall into any evil Many people if any have spoken evil of them and they fall into evil how does it please them Let us suffer never so much God forbid we should think the evil of our reproach so great as to be glad to have it wiped away with any sin against God Such and such have sinned such and such sins and by those sins my reproach is wiped away and therefore I am glad God forbid we should have the wiping away of our reproaches at so dear a rate We read in Hosea 4. of the great charge that was laid upon the Priests they eat up the sin of the people because the Priests had some advantage by the sins that the people committed for they brought Sacrifices for their sin and the Priests had part upon this they set their hearts upon the sin of the people this is an abominable thing to be glad of the sin of another because of any advantage that comes to us by it True it is God shall have a great deal of glory by clearing the innocency of his servants but we must not desire that God may have his glory this way by the commission of any sin nor rejoyce in such a way of Gods glory But the special and most ordinary revenge in the bearing of reproaches is reviling again speaking evil for evil if they call you one ill name you will call them another this is unbeseeming Christians And consider what evil is in it First this is that which is most opposite to the Spirit of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of Gods people that place you know 1 Pet. 2. 23. Who when he was reviled reviled not again if you profess your selves to be Christs
are weak or ignorant or such as are malicious Weak and ignorant for any one that hath wisdom to be troubled at the reproaches of those that are weak it is a wonderful disgrace Will any man care that is a workman to have an unskilful man reproach his work It is a notable speech of Seneca Some are possest with such great folly and madness to think they may be reproached by a woman And for the malicious alas they reproach themselves a great deal more then they reproach you they do but discover their own filth in it and therefore are compared to swine swine will leave other things and continually be rooting in dung and so those that love to be reproaching leave the good that is in any and will always be rooting in their filth here they shew their swinish dispositions One compares a reproacher to the stone that struck down Nebuchadnezzars Image whose head was of gold and the breast and upper parts of silver and the feet of clay the stone came and struck the feet the clay and so struck it down so reproachers do not look at the gold and silver the parts and graces of Gods people but if there be any clay any infirmities or sins they strike at them and so fell them down The godly had need fence their feet of clay and infirmities that they do not lie open to malicious men Erasmus tells of one who collected all the lame and defective verses in Homers Works but passed over all that were excellent So these if they can spy any thing defective and evil they observe it and gather all they can together but will take no notice of that which is good and praise-worthy like the Kite who flies over the fair meadows and flowers and lights onely upon the carrion or like flyes that love onely to be upon the sore galled places of the horses back And what is it you are reproached for it is either good or evil if it be good you have no cause to be troubled if it be evil it is threefold the evil of sin or natural infirmities or outward meanness If it be the evil of sin then either you are guilty or not guilty if you be guilty it is not reproach but right judgement of thy condition and if there be such a great evil for others to speak of it what a great evil is it for thee to be guilty of it and therefore you should turn all the trouble that you have for the notice which is taken of it upon your guiltiness in it and many times although the thing be true they say of you yet it is so poor and mean a thing that you may comfort your self in this that surely they cannot perceive worse in you for if they could they would make use of that Latimer in his last Sermon before K. Edward says He was glad when any objected indiscretion against him in his Sermons for says he by that I knew the matter was good else they would soon have condemned that And if you be not guilty innocency is bulwark enough Says Seneca He is to be ashamed that does unjustly and shall you be ashamed that are innocent Yes others think I am guilty But if you go on in an innocent way whosoever do think so do disgrace themselves for suppose one should say the Sun were dark and another should believe it who is disgraced the Sun or the man that either said it or believed it so if an aspersion be cast upon those that are godly and they walk in a shining conversation before others it will be such a reproach to any that raises the reproach as it will keep others from believing of it But if the evil be some natural infirmity weakness of parts or the like then thou mayest comfort thy self in this that there is no dishonor in natural infirmity it is onely sin that brings shame there is a relation between sin and shame but between nothing else and shame it is a sign also they want other things when they reproach thee for natural infirmities Seventhly consider what honor God hath put upon you and what he intends to put upon you if you be godly he hath put honor enough upon you and that may be enough to uphold the heart under all the reproaches and stains that men and Devils can cast upon you Hath not the Lord been pleased to bring you into the honorable estate of sonship and hath put his glory upon your souls and hath honored you by that near relation you have to Christ he hath honored you by the glorious priviledges of the Gospel he hath honored you by giving himself and Christ to you he hath honored you in the hearts of his Saints men of precious spirits who know much of Gods minde who are able to judge wherein true excellency consists their hearts are with you they bless God for you the esteem of one godly man is more to be regarded then thousands of others your name is precious amongst the Saints and that is enough When Doeg reproached David with devouring words in Sauls Court yet David blessed himself in this Psalm 52. 8. But I am a green Olive-tree in the house of God Doeg flourisheth in the Court and my name may be blasted there but In the house of God there my name is precious I am there as a green olive-tree and that is more to me then flourishing in Sauls Court Now shall the reproach of an evil tongue take away the comfort of a godly heart that hath so great honors We count it a great evil and exceeding was the basenes of the spirit of Haman when he was so honored by the King and his Nobles yet that he should be vexed because Mordecai would not bow to him that all his honor should do him no good so is it not the baseness of the spirits of Gods Servants truly it is to be called by no other name when as God hath raised them to such glory when as God hath made them Members of and Coheirs with his Son and they are invited to the Banquet of the Lord to the great Supper of the Lamb and the Lord hath provided for them all the glory of Heaven and there are such glorious things spoken of them in the word yet for all this if they come into wicked company and have but an evil tongue speak against them they are so discouraged and cast down as if all the honor that God had put upon them were nothing What an evil thing is this And how do you derogate from the goodness of God to walk thus unbeseeming Christians If you had never so much filth upon you for the present being there is so much honor to come what need you to care If a man be going to be crowned and to be glorified and those that do not know him as he goes contemn him what cares he He knows that within a few days he shall be honored by
further consider what a great deal of good there is in bearing reproaches patiently First there is a great deal of honor in it There is more honor in bearing reproaches patiently then there is disgrace in having them cast wrongfully upon you now what do you lose then Suppose there be hot water and I put so much cold to it it loses its warmth but if I put more warm then cold to it then the water hath lost nothing of its warmness So suppose you be reproached and God brings more honor then the reproach did scandal then you have lost nothing Every fool can cast reproach but it is the part of a wise man to bear it well Again if we can bear reproaches patiently what a quiet will it be to our hearts otherwise we should never be quiet for we live amongst those that will cast reproaches and unless we can get power this way we shall never have comfortable lives and we should think it much that the comfort and quiet of our lives should lie at the mercy of others Thirdly the bearing of reproaches patiently is a mighty help to the progress of godliness in us As those that have overcome the evil of shame in a way of sin grow mightily hardned in their sins so those that have got that strength to go on in the ways of God so as not much to regard any reproach that is cast upon them in that way they will mightily grow in those ways Lastly consider there is much danger in being honored by men and in many regards the honors of men are as much if not more to be feared then their contempts and dishonors Luther writing to a friend of his says He would not have the glory and fame of Erasmus my greatest fear is the praises of men but my joy is in their reproaches and evil speeches CHAP. XXXIII What we should do that we may be able to bear reproach BUt you will say these arguments may move us to do it and convince us we should do it but how shall we do it First be sure to keep conscience clear that that do not upbraid thee be careful of what you do and then you need not be much careful of what men say if conscience do not reproach you reproach without will not much move you consciences testimony for thee is more then ten thousand slanders against thee As the storms and winds without do not move the earth but vapors within that causes earthquakes As Ambrose says of David he was not much troubled with Shimei's railing because his conscience did abound with good works If thou canst say with Job Chap. 27. 6. My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live thou art safe enough from the evil of reproach Secondly if you be failing in any thing begin with your selves before any begin with you accuse your selves before God first so some interpret that place in Psal 119. I am wiser then my enemies though my enemies are witty and do plot and their malice do help them with invention yet I am wiser I can finde out the ways of my own heart and my own evils better then all my enemies Thirdly Christians should exercise themselves in great things in the things of God and Christ and eternity and labor to greaten their spirits in a holy maner and be above reproach It was a speech of Seneca Men that know their greatness are not troubled with reproaches he will think himself above reproach And therefore if our spirits be truly greatned not with pride but with the exercising of our spirits in things that are above the world reproaches would be nothing in our eyes It is a notable expression that St. John hath against the evil tongue of Diotrephes Ep. 3. ver 10. He prates against us with malicious words in the Original it is he trifles although his words were malicious and Diotrephes a great man yet all was but trifles so high was St. Johns spirit above them Aquinas gives two figns of a weak spirited man one that he delights in light and foolish words a second that he cannot endure contempt such a man says he although he should work miracles yet he is beneath the perfection of vertue his spirit hath no true greatness in it The sinking of the heart under reproaches or to be put out of the way by them argues too vile a pusillanimity such a poor low spirit as is not consistent with the true magnanimity of a Christian Gulielmus Parisiensis in his Treatise De virtutibus hath notable Expressions to this purpose Little things saith he yea meer nothings cast down poor weak spirited men The words of vain men are small things whosoever fears such words so as to do evil or to leave off good are the weakest of men these are like unto Soldiers who are cast down and overcome not with some violent strong tempest but with some small weak puff of winde these are the more ridiculous and not to be reckoned amongst Warriers nay they are not to be reckoned amongst men who fall off for fear of words which yet have not been spoken as if a man should fall for fear of the wind which yet blows not such are those who dare not do good or leave evil for fear of reproaches Fourthly another means is to make your moan to God and lay your case before him as Hezekiah when Rabshekah came and reviled God and the people of God he went and spread the letter before God and made his moan before God If we can do so there will be that satisfaction to our souls that is unspeakable and that will be a great argument of our innocency Many will say Oh they are innocent and God knows their hearts but can you go and make your moan before God when you are reproached and acquaint God with the cause and receive refreshment that way as Job 16. 20. My friends scorn me but mine eyes pour out tears to God And David Psal 109. 1 2. Hold not thy peace O God of my praise for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitfal are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue they have compassed me about with words of hatred they are mine adversaries but I prayer for so the words are in the Original not I give my self but onely thus but I prayer as if he should say as for my part all that I do to help my self withal is to pray to God and make my moan Others have their evil tongues to help them and run to this witness and that witness to seek to help themselves but I prayer Psal 57. 2 3. I cry unto God most high he shall send from heaven and save me from reproach of him that would swallow me up Selah God shall send forth his mercy and truth A carnal heart hath no way to deliver it self but by reproaches again by
45. Bless them says Christ that curse you pray for them that despitely use you that ye may be the children of your Father c. Why were they not children before Yes but this declares it now God owns them for his children If we behave our selves thus we shall have the comfort of this that our reproaches come to us as to Gods people whereas others cannot have the comfort of this you cannot have any comfort from this argument unless you behave your selves under reproaches after this maner Now what a great evilis this to cut a man off from that comfort which hath been spoken of in this argument and if you do behave your selves christianly under reproaches God is more and more engaged to stand for your names and you are more prepared for glory As he is not fit to govern that is not fit to serve but he that is fit to serve is so much the fitter to govern so those that can bear disgrace are fit to be honored and the greater glory will be afterwards As the Sun that shines through the clouds shines the brightest so when honor shall come through dishonor it shall be the greatest honor And then you shall come to know that honor is sanctified to you and that it is in love and you shall be more able to rejoyce in the honor that God shall bring to your names then you would have done and so your reproachers shall be servants to you There is onely one place of Scripture that I shall adde and so I have done with this point Job 17. compare the 6. verse with the 8. and 9. verses ver 6. He hath made me also a by-word of the people Job was a godly man and yet he was made a by-word What then at the 8. verse Upright men shall be astonied at this How Two ways either they shall be astonished at the horrible wickedness of men that shall contemn so godly a man as Job was and say Lord what boldness is in the hearts of the wicked that shall presume to dare to contemn such a servant of thine or the upright shall be astonished they shall admire at the wonderful way of God towards his people that the Lord shall suffer wicked men so far to go on in wickedness as to reproach his people The innocent the godly man shall see those that are hypocrites for not onely gross prophane ones are reproachers often times but hypocrites The innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite he shall not be damped but stir up his thoughts against the hypocrite The righteous also shall hold on his way shall not decline and not onely so but he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger And so I pass to the next point CHAP. XXXIV The reproaches of Gods people are the reproaches of Christ. IF you take the reproaches either materially or formally materially that is when all the sufferings of Gods people for which they are meanly esteemed and looked upon as contemptible all their sufferings are the sufferings of Christ Formally and that is the very scorn that is cast upon them is the scorn of Christ I intend to handle this point in both these materially and formally So that the thing we have to handle is That all the sufferings and contempt and disesteem of Gods people are the sufferings and contempt and disesteem of Christ So that Gods people may turn the speech of Christ concerning his Father The reproaches of them that have reproached thee have fallen upon me But we may say Lord and blessed Savior the reproaches of them that have reproached us are fallen upon thee and mark therefore in Heb. 13. 13. the reproaches of Christs people are called the reproach of Christ Let us go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach And the sufferings of Gods servants are called the sufferings of Christ Colloss 1. 24. and fill up that which is behinde of the afflictions of CHIST they are the afflictions of Christ and every one must make account to fill them up not the satisfactory sufferings of Christ but the sufferings of Christ in his mystical body in his members And so every member is to fill up a share in his sufferings And so Isa 63. 9. In all their afflictions he was afflicted The sufferings and troubles of Gods people are the sufferings and troubles of Christ he is sensible of them and therefore in Acts 9. 4. Christ cryes out Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Further compare two places together in one Psal 79. ver 4 12. at the 4. verse says the Text We are become a reproach to our neighbors a scorn and derision to those that are round about us And at the twelfth verse it is Render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach wherewith they have reproached thee O Lord He goes on in the same argument and first he calls them the reproach of the Church and then the reproach of God But is it said here the reproach of Christ It may be asked Why not the reproach of God the Father or the reproach of the Holy Ghost The reproaches of Gods people are the reproaches of Christ in a special maner because Christ is the head of the Church and it is from the fulness of Christ that they have that grace conveyed which is reproached and the union they have with God and with the Spirit is by Christ and therefore it is the reproach of Christ here named according to the several workings of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost so the three persons are reproached by mans sin There is a reproach unto God as God and unto Christ as Christ and unto the Spirit as the Spirit There is a reproach unto God as he is Creator the preserver of the world and governor of all things When the work of God the first Person of the Trinity is reproached then he is reproached Prov. 14. 31. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his maker It is a work of the Father to order things so as to make one poor and one rich And you take an advantage to mock at the poor upon this difference which God hath made in the world when as you should honor the work of God in making any difference between you and others but in stead of honoring of it you cast an aspersion upon his work and despise others because God hath put them in a low condition you reproach your Creator in this And when the work of Redemption is despised when that is opposed and when the profession of the Gospel hath dishonor put upon it then Christ is reproached Heb. 6. 6. the Apostle says Those that fall off after they have tasted of the heavenly gift and the good word of God and the powers of the world to come they put the Son of God to an open shame And when enlightning and drawing and the quickening and comforting work of the Spirit is reproached and vilified then the Spirit
is reproached Heb. 10. 29. They do despite to the Spirit of grace So that you see both Father Son and Holy Ghost all three are reproached by mans sin not that the sin of man is able to cast the least stain upon the glory of the blessed God or make God to be less glorious no more then a little dust cast up into the air can darken the brightness of the Sun shining in its strength but it keeps the glory of God from shining upon others and upon himself so as he and others shall not see it and admire it and adore it as they ought If you ask why the reproaches of Gods people are called the reproaches of Christ I answer First as Chrysostome because they do suffer the same things that Christ suffers you shall finde the reproaches of Gods people and the reproaches of Christ are just alike one another In Psal 42. 6 7 8. there are three things upon which Christ seems to be reproached and they are the three special things upon which Christians are reproached As first the outward means of Christ in the world I am a worm and no man so the outward mean and low condition of Gods people subjects them to reproach Secondly Christ bore the world in hand that he trusted in God and depended upon God and no outward help and therefore they said Let us see whether he will deliver him being he trusted in him so the men of the world scorn at Gods people because they speak so much of God and trusting in God Thirdly they reproached him because he said God delighted in him so because the Saints of God do profess their relations to God and do expect an especial love of God therefore the world reproaches them Secondly it is the reproach of Christ in regard of the near relation and close union that is between Christ and his people As the reproach of the Wife is the reproach of the Husband and the reproach of the Husband is the reproach of the Wife because of their union and therefore in 1 Cor. 11. the Apostle calls the woman the glory of the man Either in regard that the man may glory in her if she be godly and good or else because the woman does honor the man the Wife is to honor her Husband and to give glory to him as the people of God are called The glory of God partly because God does glory in them and partly because they do give glory to God so the woman should be such a one as the man may glory in her and such a one as may give glory to her husband Now the Church is the glory of Christ as the wife is the glory of the man and therefore it is said in 2 Cor. 8. 23. speaking of Titus and others which were messengers of the Church he says they are the glory of Christ then certainly their reproaches must be the reproaches of Christ Nay there is a nearer union then this for this is onely by convenant but there is a union between the head and the members that is a nearer union the Church is not onely flesh of Christs flesh and bone of Christs bone but it is the flesh of Christ and the bone of Christ it is the very fulness of the body of Christ Eph. 1. 23. it is a high expression Yea and besides this the Church is called Christ mystical Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. For as the body is one and hath many members all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ that is The Church having many members ought to be joyned in union as the body yea there is yet anearer union between Christ and his people the in-being is mutual Christ is in them and they are in Christ John 14. 20. You in me and in you The arm is in the body but the body is not in the arm the branch is in the vine but the vine is not in the branch but here as the Saints are in Christ so Christ is in them and in regard of this near union between them their reproaches may well be esteemed the reproaches of Christ Thirdly because they are reproached for the sake of Christ if a dog be abused for the sake of his master it is the abuse of his master much more when Gods own people are abused for the sake of Christ and therefore we finde that this hath been the plea of Gods people for thy sake have we been killed all the day long it was for Christs sake rather then any evil in themselves And therefore though they be reproached for their sins it may come to be the reproach of Christ namely thus When as men shall take advantage the rather against them because they are professors of Religion and were it not for this reason they might justly reproach them yet when as they put in this reason They could bear well enough with the sin were it not they were professors of Religion then the reproaches that they justly might suffer for their sins do come to be the reproaches of Christ And further when in these they will take advantage to reproach the shews of Religion which in others they cannot bear well enough as when one that is a Professor expresses devotion in lifting up his eyes or his hands to Heaven they will reproach him for making shews of Religion and presently they are Hypocrites and yet there are others can make mighty shews and they are commended Again they are the reproaches of Christ because they are reproached in the work of Christ As when David sent messengers to the children of Ammon to congratulate their King and they cut off their garments half way and cut off half of their beards David presently counted it his reproach and so when Gods people are in Gods work and reproached surely it Christs reproach So Nehemiah was in Gods work and he suffered a great deal of reproach and mark how God is more provoked then Nehemiah Nehem. 4. compare the third verse with the fifth Lastly it is the Spirit of Christ that is in them that is reproached As if so be that the skill or influence that comes from a skilful Attificer that is put into one that hath learned that does as it were but act his spirit if he shall see him reproached for that work which is done by vertue of that influence which he had of his spirit in him then he counts himself reproached so all the gracious works of Gods people are by the influence of the spirit of Christ and therefore when they are reproached Christ is reproached we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God says the Apōstle this is the reason of all opposition because of the difference of spirits now the spirit of God and the Spirit of the world are opposite But to come to the application of the point First if the reproaches of Gods people be the
for one reproach thus to follow upon another and for one evil to follow another it will break my heart ah if you did bear it alone but Christ bears the weight of our reproaches Seventhly if they be the reproaches of Christ then for that part you do bear although it be but little you may expect his strength in you are not left to bear that little by your own strength Christ gives out his own strength to bear his own reproaches if the burthen be his you bear you shall have strength from him to bear it Again this is an eighth stream of comfort if they be the reproaches of Christ they are the reproaches of all the members of Christ who sympathize with you and help to bear the burthen with you Ninthly it may be comfort that your names shall be vindicated your names are as dear to Christ as his own and it does as much concern Christ to vindicate your names as to vindicate his own Again if our reproaches be Christs reproaches and Christ is content to own our reproaches surely he will not leave us to take our sins upon our selves if his love be such as he will take the burthen of our sufferings upon himself surely his love is such as not to see us sink under the burthen of our sins No our sins are upon him as well as our sufferings not that he takes them upon him to be guilty but only by imputation the Text says He was made sin what abundance of consolation is this that Christ is willing both to take off our sins and sufferings there are nothing but these two that should trouble us in the world our sins and sufferings and Christ takes them off both 11. And yet further if Christ will own our reproaches proaches then he will own our services there is no great difficulty of believing the one if we believe the other we may comfortably go to Christ and say Blessed Savior wilt thou own upon thy self the dirt cast upon our faces and wilt not own the work of thine own Spirit though we may stain the work of Gods grace by our sin yet Christ that is so indulgent to take reproaches will surely own our services he will own our active obedience as well as our passive obedience Again then we may be assured there will come good of them and that we shall be carried through them consider three or four things here for our help in this to assure us of a blessing in these our sufferings First were it that we onely did know that God had a love to us and were merciful to us that were enough to assure us But secondly God may have love and not binde himself by promise but as he hath love so he hath engaged himself by promise to help his people in sufferings and that is more But thirdly we have the experience of Gods dealings with his people that he never left them in suffering And fourthly we may rise higher it is Gods own case we have further assurance by this If a man love me I hope it will be well with me if he promise me that is more if others have had experience I am more assured but if it be his own cause I am sure enough If a man go to sea and he knows the Mariner hath skill and he loves me and the Mariner promises he will have care and others have had experience of his care this is much but when I consider my life is the Mariners life if I perish he perishes this assures me that as far as the Mariner can do it it shall be well with me Luther writing to Melancton troubled with fears If we fall saith he Christ falls Again here we have a notable ground to go to God in prayer in all sufferings because we can go with this argument Lord it is thy own Name that was the plea of Moses Lord if thou destroyest thy people what will become of thy Name our names are nothing what though ten thousand such as we are come to nought and rot but if God put his name to ours and twist them together there is abundance of safety then our names are a strong argument Yea suppose we be in such a condition as we cannot pray yet here is comfort in this our sufferings are the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of Christ do present themselves as a mighty prayer to God The sufferings of Christ have a mighty cry in the ears of the Father and they will be heard And yet further if so be our sufferings be the sufferings of Christ then surely Christs sufferings are our sufferings if Christ have an interest in our sufferings then we have an interest in his sufferings for how come our sufferings to be Christs but by vertue of our relation to him and therefore his sufferings must be ours by the relation of Christ to us Lastly there will be an end of sufferings they cannot last always for they are the sufferings of Christ and it cannot stand with infinite justice that Christ which hath undertaken for us should be eternally under suffering if he shal not suffer always we shal not always suffer for so long as we suffer he must suffer the time therefore is a coming wherein Gods people shall be too high for to be reproached they shall be in such a condition as it shall be impossible for any to reproach them for reproach comes from some kinde of apprehension of the reproacher to be in some measure above the reproached no man can reproach another for a thing that he fully knows and certainly believes that he is above him in that thing and therefore the people of the world do reproach the people of God because they apprehend themselves to be above Gods people in wisdom or the like but time will come that the dignity of Gods people shall be raised to such a heighth that though wicked men do hate them they shall not be able to reproach them they cannot possibly have a conceit to be above Gods people in any thing And these are the consolations that arise from this point that our sufferings and reproaches are Christs and these considerations being put together why should we distract our selves and take immoderate care what shall become of us if we be unbelieving Christ will count it a dishonor to him and say Is it not my case we need not take any shifting courses to help our selves a man that hath an enemy surprize him if he have no weapon in his hand it may be he will take up stones and dirt but if he have his weapon he useth that and scorns to take up stones and dirt when people are reproached that have no interest in Christ reproaches come upon them and take them unarmed and they take up any thing near hand and reproach and revile again but those that have interest in Christ have this weapon they know all their
reproaches are the reproaches of Christ and we shall not need to depend upon any outward comfort for to comfort us much less have we need to help our selves by reviling again The comfort of a Christian is this That his reproaches are the reproaches of Christ this is enough to quiet his heart you need not comfort your selves in your parts or estates this is enough alone do but answer all your distractions and troublesome workings of your hearts with this and this will quiet them Quest But how shall I know that my reproaches are the reproaches of Christ Answ First if you be reproached for the sake of Christ though you be not a member of Christ yet if your adversaries reproach you because they take you for a member of Christ there is some comfort in this Secondly if you can under all reproaches bring your hearts in subjection unto Christ and quiet your hearts under reproaches in obedience unto him Thirdly if you finde the rule by which you are guided and acted in that condition to be the rule of Christ Fourthly if you finde the chiefest comfort that you gather in to help you to be the comfort of Christ Fifthly if you finde the end you do aim at in your bearing them is the honor of Christ and that you do desire rather that Christ may be in the conclusion honored then your selves cleared Sixthly take this as a special note if you make those reproaches that Christ suffers in his cause his truth his people yours then he makes yours his how does your hearts stand affected to the reproaches Christ suffers in others Zeph. 3. 17 18. God promises much mercy to such to whom the reproach of the solemn assemblies were a burthen That heart that is burthened with the reproaches of Gods ways shall finde ease in the comforts of Gods Spirit If these things be in you certainly these come from the Spirit of Christ and if from the Spirit of Christ then you are Christs and if you be Christs then your reproaches are Christs A third Use is this Seeing Christ suffers for us and all our reproaches are the reproaches of Christ Let us take heed that he do not suffer by us Now Christ may come to suffer by us two ways First if so be that we cause the name of Christ to be spoken evil of Secondly when we come to be actors our selves in speaking evil of Christ or of his people First if we cause Christ or his people to be spoken evil of by any sinful way of ours this is the reproach of Christ but not in that sense I spoke of before Christ does not onely suffer in you but he suffers by you This is the charge that the Apostles lays upon the Romans For your sake is the name of God blasphemed we had need look to our selves in this Mark what charge the Apostle lays upon women 1 Tim. 5. 13 14. that they should take heed of tatling and carrying themselves unchristianly and that they give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully That was the reason why Nehemiah was so careful in his business in Neh. 5. 9. Because of the reproach of the Heathen And so I say to you that are Gods people Is it not enough that Christ hath suffered for you and in you but must he suffer by you O that the fear of God might be upon you because of the reproach of your adversaries Is Christ dear to you did Christ ever do any thing for you Is it not better a thousand times that you were crost and your lives were taken away and you laid rotting in the grave if your names could wash away any stain that is upon the name of Christ know there are many that Christ have fuffered reproach by and you cannot clear your selves of it and know what an evil and bitter thing it is that after all the goodness and mercy of Christ to you and the near relation that he hath taken you into will you abuse all this mercy and this near relation if Christ had never taken you for his own had you been never so vile Christ had not suffered reproach by you but now in regard of your near relation to him he suffers reproach by you and is this the use you make of your near relation When therefore you finde your hearts begin to stir and corruption boil consider the name of Christ lies prostrate before you and will you trample upon the name of Jesus Christ if one were set upon going to a place to do mischief and his Father and Mother should throw themselves in the path that if he goes on he must tread upon them and they should say You shall tread upon the bowels out of which you came upon the loyns that begat you this would be a great stop and so you that are Professors of the Gospel if you have a temptation to a lust the name of Christ calls Stay and says If you go you shall trample upon me and my blood and bring reproach upon me will not this stop you Never think that gain that you get by the reproach of Christ It is true indeed if we be going on in our duty and do that we should though men say the name of Christ shall be reproached we are to go on and do our duty and let Christ vindicate his name if he will but if it be any thing that concern out selves and the satisfaction of our own wills and desires whereby Christ may be reproached this is a mighty argument to keep us from it the word hath scarce a stronger argument to keep us from an evil way then this The name of Christ shal suffer by it for the people of God to suffer reproach by you is an evil thing for a man to have but his kindred ashamed of him what an evil thing is it but that it may be said of one that is a Professor of Religion that he is not onely a reproach to the Church of God but a reproach to Jesus Christ if you have any ingenuity in you this might strike to your hearts It is reported of Alexander having a Soldier of his name and his Soldier being a coward he came to him and said Either leave off the name of Alexander or be a Soldier and so we have the name of Christians but when we are vile in our lives Christ says Either leave off your profession your name or be a Christian indeed do not come in amongst the number of Professors to let profession suffer by you And so Alexander Severus the Emperor seeing a company of Christians fighting together he commanded them to leave off the name of Christians for says he You profess your selves to be Christians and yet you are thus contending this is not the spirit of him whom you do profess It is a lamentable thing that we should profess such a glorious name as we do and that we should handle the
the Original is that they must not be Devils So that to carry slanders and evil reports up and down is the work of the devil Again wilt thou spread the reproaches of Gods people when as it is the great work of God to cover the sins of his people And further consider doest thou stand in need of so much covering of thy own sins and wilt thou have a hand in spreading abroad the sins of others How just will it be with God to let thee fall into some gross sin and spread abroad thy shame seeing his name and the names of his people are not dear in thine eyes CHAP. XXXVII Seeing Christ makes our sufferings his we should make his sufferings ours FIfthly if Christ will take our sufferings and our reproaches and make them his then we are to take Christs sufferings and Christ reproaches and make them ours It was the burning love of Christ and his zeal to his people that made him take the reproaches of his people to himself and so our burning love to him and zeal for him should make us take his reproaches upon our selves Christ is many ways reproached in the world not onely in his person when he lived upon the earth and in his people and so we are not onely to take the reproaches of Christ upon us in these regards but in any particular whatsoever reproach falls upon Christ any way let us account of it as our own When the Doctrine of the Gospel is reproached then he is reproached when the ways and light that God hath discovered to his people is reproached he is reproached when the Ordinances are slighted when as the blood of Christ is counted a common thing and every base lust is preferred before it when as the blessed authority of Christ is villified and slighted either when it is slighted openly or secretly if the authority of Christ be cast off then he is reproached Numb 15. 6 30. When you put a reed into the hand of Christ and bow to him and say Hail King of the Jews when you shall profess obedience and subjection unto Christ and in stead of a Scepter put a reed into his hand then he is reproached Again when Gods people walk unworthy of Christ then Christ is reproached And when Christ is reproached in any of these let us take them to heart as throughly as if we were reproached yea take them more to heart because the reproaches of Christ are far worse then our reproaches Those that are first upon Christ and then upon us are worser then those that are first upon us and then upon Christ To spit upon the face of a man is more reproach to the body then to spit upon some other member of the body is a reproach to the face and so the reproach of Christ that is the face of the Church is more then the reproach of any other member And therefore confider whether your hearts be more broken when Christ is reproached then when you your selves are reproached this is a good sign of grace And if you demand what should be the behavior of a gracious heart when he is in any company that he hears Christ reproached in I answer First thy spirit should rise in indignation against such desperate evils and wickedness as this that any should dare to be so bold as to reproach the holy One of God such a blessed one as Christ is that is so infinitely dear to thy soul and hath done so much for thy soul though in our own causes we may be quiet and give way yet when it comes to the cause of Christ it is good for the heart to rise It is the speech of Oeclampadius to his fellow Minister Let our Zeal be hot and burning not when scorns and reproaches are cast upon us but when the truth is endangered and the name of God is blasphemed Ye have heard that of King Croesus his son who though he were dumb all his life yet when one would have struck at his Father the affection to his Father broke the bars of his speech and he said Take heed of killing the King And so though we be dumb in things that concern our selves yet when Christ comes to be reproached let our hearts swell in us and break out Again look upon them with trembling hearts that ever the patience of God should suffer such wickedness as this As they did admire at Mordecai when he would not bow to Haman they held their peace and wondered what would become of that matter Yea we should if it were possible labor to wipe off all the reproach of Christ and take it upon our selves that we might rather be spit upon and contemned then Christ It was a brave speech of Ambrose he wished it would please God to turn all the adversaries from the Church upon himself and let them satisfie their thirst with his blood This is a true christian heart And therefore if it be for our sakes and we have any thing in the business by which Christ is reproached we should be willing rather to sacrifice our selves then that Christ should be reproached And as Jonah when he knew that the tempest rose for his sake says he Cast me into the sea And so Nazianzen when contention rose about him says he Cast me into the sea let me lose my place rather then the name of Christ should suffer for me Again the behaving of a Christian should be this it should take his heart from his own name so long as Christ is reproached What though I have esteem Christ is not esteemed he is contemned I have these comforts and I through Gods mercy want nothing and my friends cleave to me and prize me but Christ is not cleaved to he is not prized and what are all my comforts to me they are Ichabods the glory of all is departed from me And further we should be willing to interest our selves in the cause of Christ when we hear any of Gods people reproached we should not say What have we to do with them let them clear themselves but be willing to interest our selves in it and take it upon our selves as if our own name were to be cleared And lastly we should labor to wipe away the reproach of Christ in laboring to express the convincing power of that grace which is contrary to their carriage for which Christ is reproached Such a one is scandalous and Christs name suffers in that let me labor to make up the breach in being so much the more faithful and walking in the contrary grace Such a one is proud let me be more humble such a one is covetous let me be more liberal that there may be somewhat to answer As it is said of the wise son when his father is reproached he carries himself so as his father hath wherewithal to answer from his good carriage Prov. 27. 11. So let Christ have wherewithal to answer his reproaches from your
lane and such a craggy mountain though he would be glad they were not yet when he comes at them he is glad because they are signs of the way he must go Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life Master Bradford made use of that place when he came to the Stake and looked upon his sufferings as an evidence to him that he was in the right way Secondly they are an evidence to him of that difference that God hath made between others and him there was a time when as other men could close with me and agree with me now see what a difference there is they nothing but contemn me and despiseme I might have gone on and have been a scorner and a mocker as they are O the difference that God hath made between me and them that God should call me from them who was as vile as they and suffer them to be reproachers of godliness and make me a sufferer for godliness Jerome writ to Augustine that it was a great sign of glory to him that all Hereticks did hate him Thirdly it is an evidence of the sincerity and the power of his grace and his love that he bears to Christ and this is great riches for a gracious heart says Lord try me Lord prove me he would fain have an opportunity to manifest the truth of his love to Christ all the while I go on in a way of prosperity and have the desire of my heart wherein appears my love to Christ but now when I am called to suffering and to part with much for Christ here is an opportunity to shew I love Christ for himself that my love to him does not depend upon any thing that I gain by him in the world The Apostle says The tryal of your grace he speaks of faith is more precious then silver and gold and not onely your grace is more precious but the tryal of grace is more precious then gold and silver A gracious heart does rejoyce much in evidencing love to Christ as any dear friend rejoyces much in any opportunity of manifesting his love to another friend and the greater the opportunity is the more does he rejoyce And likewise the power of grace is manifested as David said to the King Achish Thou shalt know what thy servant can do and so a gracious heart thinks here is an opportunity to manifest the strength and power that is in grace Fourthly they are an evidence that much good is done that Satans kingdom is shaken in sufferings we see the rage of the Devil and he rages then most when he sends most opposition to his kingdom wherefore those against whom he rages most may have hereby evidence that they were most instrumental against him I rejoyce says Luther That Satan does so rage and blaspheme as often as I do but touch him he took it as an argument that much good was done otherwise the Devil would not have been so vexed he would not have raged so much Fifthly a gracious heart hath an evidence to it self that God will spare him when others shall suffer from his wrath Certainly the more any one is called to suffer in the cause of God and when he findes his heart ready and willing to yield to God in suffering the more evidence may he have to his soul that when others shall be called to suffer from Gods wrath he shall be spared and this is the bottom of the prayer of the Psalmist Psal 89. 50. Remember Lord the reproach of thy servants how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of the mighty people I read of one Escelus being condemned to be stoned to death and all the people were ready to cast stones at him and his brother came and run in and shewed that he had but one hand and the other hand he had lost for the defence of his countrey and then none would stone him and so the marks of the Lord Jesus are notable marks to safeguard thee in the time of trouble when the Lord goes out in his wrath he will set his mark upon those that he will save and none more notable marks then the reproaches and sufferings they bear for Christ This was Jeremiahs plea before the Lord chap. 15. ver 5. O Lord thou knowest remember me and visit me know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke Lastly it is an evidence of salvation Phil. 1. 28. not that all that suffer shall be saved but a gracious heart that suffers in a gracious Christian maner hath God sealing to him by his spirit in his sufferings his salvation Put these together and we see one cause why we should count the reproaches of Christ great riches yea this is greater riches then the riches of Egypt Secondly the reproaches and sufferings which we endure for Christ are riches of preferment It was a speech of Ignatius when he was to suffer It is better for me to be a Martyr then a Monarch Epist 12. ad Romanos Euseb l. 8. c. 7. To be preferred to honor is counted great riches now there is a preferment of Gods people here these three or four ways Basil upon that famous Martyr Bar-aam says he rejoyced in stripes as in honors he exulted in the severest punishments as if praeclara bravia acceperet First the Saints look upon this as high preferment because it is a testimony that God hath a high esteem of them God does not use to call those that are weak and mean to great sufferings but his servants that are most eminent God will dispose of the conditions of his people suitable to their dispositions therefore he will not call those to the strongest work that are weakest A Captain does not call out his mean Soldiers to a notable enterprize but he calls out his most able couragious Soldiers and the more desperate the enterprize is the more honor the Soldier thinks it to be called out so the greater work God calls one to the more preferment is in it and we have cause to admire that God should deal so with us his poor creatures rather then others as if we were fitter then ' others though we cannot say we are fitter because we are conscious to our selves of so much weakness but God honors us as if it were so Secondly by this we come to be honorable in the eyes of the Churches and the Saints of God nothing makes Gods people more honorable in the eyes of the Saints then when they are called to suffer much for God And so in the Primitive times they esteemed much of the Martyrs even too much Chrysostom speaking of Babylas the Martyr calls him a great man a man to be admired and says if I may call him a man and Tertullian writing to some of the Martyrs says I am not worthy to speak to you he writes that it was a custom of some in those times to creep to the Chains
promises of direction says Christ Take no thought when you are called before rulers for my names sake how or what you shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak Thirdly there are promises of assistance I will be with you to the end of the world Fourthly there is a promise of acceptance He that forsaketh houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive a hundred fold and inherit eternal life Fifthly a promise of blessing Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all maner of evil falsly on you for my sake Sixthly a promise of a Kingdom If we suffer with him we shall likewise reign with him Luke 22. 28 29. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations and I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my father hath appointed unto me the appointing of a Kingdom follows upon their continuing with Christ in temptation Brethren God promises much to those that shall be sensible of the reproaches of others much more when thou thy self sufferest in the cause of Christ In Zeph. 3. 18. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn Assembly time was when the solemn Assemblies of Gods people their gathering together to hear a Sermon was their reproach and they were contemned by many were you ever in any place where the Assemblies of Gods people were reproachful and was this a burthen to your souls and grievous to you mark the blessed promise I will gather them together but to be reproached our selves and to bear our reproaches in a Christian maner great and rich promises are made unto it Seventhly in reproaches and sufferings for Christ there are rich consolations never such consolation let out to a gracious heart as when it is under reproaches and sorest persecutions if ever Christ does turn water into wine it is the tears of Gods people that are turned into wine of consolation Basil in his Oration for Barlaam that famous Martyr says He delighted in the close Prison as in a pleasant green meadow and he took pleasure in the several inventions of tortures as in several sweet flowers And Vincentius the Martyr speaking of the great things he suffered for Christ hath this expression I have always desired these dainties Luther reports of that Martyr St. Agatha that as she went to Prisons and Tortures she said she went to Banquets and Nuptails And Iames Bainham said when they kindled the fire at his feet Me thinks you strew roses before me And Mr. Saunders hath a most full expression of his consolation he felt a wonderful sweet refreshment flow from his heart unto all the members of his body and from all the parts of his body to his heart again And that Martyr Hawks lifts up his hands above his head and claps them together when he was in the fire as if he had been in a triumph this is a special fruit of the Spirit of God and of glory of which St. Peter speaks 1 Pet. 4. 14. If ye suffer reproaches happy are ye the Spirit of God and glory rests upon you and one consolation one beam of Gods face is worth all the riches of the world The Sun enlightens the world says Cyprian but he that made the Sun is a greater light to you in prison that darkness which is the horrible deadly darkness of the place of punishment to others he irradiates to you with his bright and eternal light Vobis idem qui Solem fecit majus in carcere lumen fuit horribiles caeteris atque funest as paenalis loci tenebr as aeterna illa candida luce radiante Cyp. Ep. 16. Eighthly in reproaches and sufferings there are riches of glory both before the day of Judgement and after riches of glory before if so be that opinion of some be true which I dare not altogether deny of Christs coming to reign in the world here before the day of Judgement though I will not affirm it as a truth yet if there be not a truth in it I confess I cannot make any thing of many places of Scripture Rev. 20. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Blessed holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years I know this is ordinarily interpreted of the resurrection from sin to grace and reigning with Christ a thousand years that is reigning with him in Heaven but this cannot be the meaning of the Text this thousand years must be before the day of Judgement because Satan must be loosed after now if this prove to be true O the riches of glory that those that suffer for Christ shall have all those that have suffered for Christ they especially shall be raised up to reign with Christ on the earth and therefore you have it in ver 4. And I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and reigned with Christ a thousand years Suppose it to be so then the more any do suffer for withdrawing himself from Antichrist the more glory they shall have when Christ comes to reign upon the earth Some are loth to receive the mark of the Beast upon their foreheads openly to appear for Antichrist yet they will have the mark of the Beast in their hands but here is a promise to them that shall refuse both and it is not meant onely of those that suffer death in their lives the death in our liberties and death in our estates and other kinde of deaths shall not go unrewarded it is a point that was spoken of in the Primitive times and afterward it was condemned upon this ground because many grew to be sensual and thought the Kingdom of Christ should be for a thousand years in pleasure to the flesh but take the Kingdom of Christ to be spiritual in the glory of his Ordinances as I am confident that Christ shall reign Personally in his flesh I will not say but Spiritually farre more gloriously then he hath done But then at the day of Judgement O the glory of those that suffer for Christ they shall have Crowns upon their heads and Palms in their hands and all their persecutors stand as base creatures before them O the imbracings that there shall be then If a father send his childe abroad about business and the childe meet with much difficulty and comes home in a rainy tempestuous day how gladly his father receives him and all are
Christs suffering for us I have shewn in eight particulars the riches of sufferings for Christ I might in as many particulars shew the riches of Christs sufferings for us First riches of the infinite deep wisdom of God Secondly the riches of the infinite love of God to mankinde Thirdly the rich patern of humility Fourthly there is riches of honor that is put upon the Children of men such a price is paid for them and such great things are done by the Lord for them Fifthly there is a rich fountain of mercy cleansing of all pollution and the healing of all souls in Christ Sixthly there are the riches of the springs of all graces Seventhly there are the riches of the rich treasure of all consolations Eighthly a rich purchase thus our sufferings for Christ are riches and Christs sufferings for us are riches Chrysostom speaking of Christs reproaches hath this expression These things which we suffered are most beautiful and glorious to me in these I do principally glory neither is my spirit less raised by the thousands that be raised from the dead then by the dolours that suffered How rich is a Christian in regard of sufferings as men use to look at their riches and be thinking of their riches so let us be viewing and looking at our riches the riches of our sufferings and Christ makes us to glory in our riches It is an expression of Chrysostom upon the Sermon in Matthew 26. speaking of the sufferings of Christ says he They are glorious things he glories more in them then in raising thousands from the dead Christ glories in them And that is observable in the ninth of the Acts where Christ appears to Saul says he Saul Saul why persecutest thou me says Paul Who art thou I am Jesus of Nazareth why does he say Jesus of Nazareth does any good come out of Nazareth he does not say I am the second person of the Trinity the Son of God the King of the Church no but I am Jesus of Nazareth that was a reproach that was cast upon Christ and Christ glories in that surely we should glory in it then Lastly if there be so many riches in suffering for Christ in reproaches what riches are there in the Crown in the reward of the reproaches and sufferings men do dig riches out of dark holes and mines in the Earth here is a hole though it be dark yet it is a mine where-out you may dig great riches if you have wherewithall to dig if you have a true Christian Spirit you see out of this deep dark pit you may dig riches CHAP. XXXIX There is glorious reward for the people of God BUt what was the ground that made Moses thus esteem reproaches He had respect unto the recompence of reward From whence the point of Doctrine is this That There is a glorious reward for the people of God the respect unto which is a great encouragement to Gods servants to go on in a way of suffering and hardship for him It was this that helped David in the midst of his sore temptation that did arise from his affliction in the way of God Psalm 37. 24. Thou shalt guide me mith thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory as if he should say Howsoever it be with the men of the world who enjoy their prosperity according to their desires and howsoever it be with me that I am afflicted and must endure hard things here yet this is that which upholds me through all Thou shalt afterward receive me to glory This is that which upheld the Spirit of Saint Paul 2 Cor. 4. 17. where he brings in a most notable and high expression of the glory that is to come for the upholding his spirit in his suffering For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory This is that which Saint Paul propounded unto Timothy to uphold his heart in all his sufferings 2 Timothy 2. 12. If we suffer we shall also reign with him This is that which strengthned the Spirits of the Christians that suffered in the times of the Maccabees Heb. 10. 34. As those clusters of Grapes that were brought from the land of Canaan that shewed to the people what the fruitfulness of that land was was an encouragement to them to pass through all difficulties that they were like to meet withalin the possession of the land to fight against the children of Anak so that which God hath revealed of Heaven is like those clusters of grapes those little things that we have made known to us in comparison of the glory that is to come are to that end revealed to encourage us in our way here In the handling of this point there are these five things we shall endeavor to do First to shew that there is a reward for the righteous Secondly how far a Christian may have an eye unto this reward Thirdly shew somewhat what this reward is Fourthly wherein lies the power of the believing of this to help us to endure any hardship Lastly make Application of all That there is a reward Certainly there is a more blessed condition for Gods people hereafter they have not received that which is prepared for them there are other maner of things to be revealed then those that you see Psal 58. 11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous surely it is so notwithstanding a carnal sensual heart doth not see it yet verily there is a reward though the ways of Gods providence do seem outwardly to work otherwise yet surely there is a reward notwithstanding our unbelieving hearts are ready to question it yet surely there is a reward verily there is a reward for the righteous There is a great deal of power in this one thing to raise up our hearts from the creature from grovelling here below to make us at least to look upward to know our happiness is not here to know that there are glorious things to be expected and that appears First God hath infinite riches of glory infinite treasures of happiness there are infinite great things in God and God takes infinite delight to communicate himself and let out himself unto the creature now if there be such infinite riches with God such glorious treasures of happiness and he delights to communicate himself certainly there are great things to be communicated then for wherefore is it that God hath such infinite riches in him but that in due time he will make them known and reveal them and communicate them it is but little that is revealed and communicated for the present therefore there are other things to be revealed and communicated from God Secondly God hath made mankinde to be of such a nature as to have a kinde of infinite capacity whereby it is made capable of happiness beyond that which any creature besides Angels is capable of Properly no creature but the rational creature is capable of
things not seen so that the work of faith is there seen Whosoever speaks of the reward that is in heaven if the glory of the world be not darkned in their eyes it argues there is no true saving faith A second difference is a gracious heart looks upon the reward by some experimental sweet and good that he findes in himself as the beginning of that eternal good he expects whereas others look upon the reward as a thing onely to come unto them hereafter He reads in the word and hears Preachers say so and so he can speak of them but it is not from any experimental sweetness that he findes of the beginning of eternal life wrought in him That place is very remarkable for this in Heb. 10. 34. Knowing in your selves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance Other men may know in others in books that there is a reward but a gracious heart knows in himself by that experimental sweetness of the beginning of eternal life that he findes in himself A third difference is The eye that a gracious heart hath unto the recompence of reward is a fixed eye a setled constant eye Another man that is an hypocrite may have a flash of lightning even from heaven it self that may discover something unto him of the glorious condition of the people of God as Balaam Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his This was more then natural I may call it a supernatural work that was upon Balaam yet not saving and gracious It appeared not to be saving because it had not a saving power went with it and it was not constant and so many hypocrites that are unfound when they have enlargement in prayer they may have some flashes of lightning let into their hearts they may have some glimmerings of the glorious things of heaven and as the Holy Ghost speaks in Heb. 6. 5. they may have a taste of the powers of the world to come but a gracious heart hath it not as a flash of lightning but as a constant light that is set up in his soul and as that light which does transform his spirit into light and makes him to be a childe of light Fourthly there is a great deal of difference in this the eye that a gracious heart hath is truly spiritual the other is but carnal A spiritual eye what is that that is he looks at the reward as a spiritual thing a carnal heart looks at it carnally O the flashes of joy to have a crown and a kingdom but a spiritual heart looks at the reward spiritually time is coming when I shall be wholly free from the body of sin and death time is coming when as the image of God shall be made perfect in my soul time is coming when I shall behold the blessed face of God and live to the praise of that blessed God without any intermission joyning with those blessed creatures that are eternally blessing God Now the heart that looks at it thus spiritually and looks at the top of it to be a spiritual good such an one sees the reward after another maner then any carnal heart doth The last difference is the eye of the gracious heart is a believing eye such an eye as he looks upon the glorious and blessed things of heaven as the things that his soul hath an interest in as the things wherein his riches and happiness does consist another may look upon them as glorious things that may be desired but for an eye to be fixed upon the promise so as to be content to venture all upon the bare word of God for such great things so as to count his riches to consist in these things that he hath but a bare word for such a believing eye as this is not the eye of a carnal heart CHAP. XLI What is this recompence of reward NOw the third thing that we are to come to is to shew what this reward is we can but give you a little glimpse of it Whatsoever will be said it will rather even darken it then otherwise in regard of the wonderful excellency of it all the stars in heaven if they were all Suns they would be but a dark shadow to set out this reward and therefore it is reserved to eternity to be known but yet because the Lord hath been pleased to let out a beam of light unto us in his word we shall endeavor to give a little glimpse of it to you so that the hearts of Christians may be revived in their way and they may gather up their feet to go on chearfully in their course having respect with a discerning experimental spiritual fixed believing eye unto the glorious recompence of reward First take all the beauty excellency the sweet and good that there is in all the world if there could be a confluence and extract of the quintessence of all good in all creature in this world and all to be communicated to one man yet it were but as a dark shadow of the glory that is to be revealed Secondly this reward certainly it is that which is beyond all the expression that we have in Scripture of it Great things are spoken in the word but there is more to be revealed and to be enjoyed then is yet revealed in all the Book of God Isa 64. 4. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him And therefore in 2 Thess 1. 10. it is said Christ shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe Now the cause of admiration it is the sight of something more then was known before that was not thought of and was not understood even then at the first coming of Christ he shall appear in so much glory as he shall be admired as if the Saints should say We heard much concerning Christ and his glory but we never thought that there was so much glory in Jesus Christ as now we finde and therefore we stand admiring at the glory of Christ Thirdly all those consolations those admirable soul-ravishing comforts that the Saints of God have ever had in this world have all been but the first fruits of those glorious things that are hereafter to to be revealed they are but as the Clusters of grapes that that blessed Land of Canaan is so full of Fourthly then all the expressions that man can give of those things that are to be hereafter must needs be but dark resemblances of what shall be revealed hereafter As the infant in the womb knows not what the light the glory and beauty of the world is so we while we are in this darkness know little of the beauty and glory of heaven St. Augustine speaking concerning what we can say of it says It is
let out immediately from God and this is indeed the special difference of all from whence flow many excellent consequences which would even require a particular of it self I may hereafter enlarge my self in this in some other Treatise And thus you may see the blessed condition of Gods people when they come to the recompence of reward We have something here and we rejoyce in it and bless God for it but those ways that God hath to communicate himself to his people hereafter are glorious ways O that our hearts were raised to look after that communication of God that we shall have hereafter O those base and drossie spirits that we have Because we receive some goodness of God here we are ready to be quieted here and rest here as if God had nothing to communicate to the Children of men but that we have here See the vileness of our hearts we are here ready to rest upon the lowest things that God communicates and do not so much as rise in our hearts to the highest things that are communicated here but a christian heart should rise higher then the most excellent things that are here in the world namely to the most blessed things that are hereafter let us shew our selves that we are men of hopes to enjoy God after another maner then here Many do not desire enjoyment of God let them have the creature they never think of any communication of God so much as through the creature whereas a true Christian that hath grace he receives nothing in the world but he thinks with himself how have I God here how does God communicate himself to me in meat and drink and cloathes and friends and the like it is well if you go thus far but you must go higher are there not choyce mercies O yes there are blessed things communicated through the ordinances through prayer and the word and sacraments there are blessed things few mens hearts look so high as to look to the communication of Gods choyce mercies in this world but a gracious heart rises higher does as it were bathe it self with those refreshments that are to come through Gods mercy I have the creature and the communication of God through that and I have the ordinances and Gods choyce mercies communicated through them but there are glorious things to be communicated hereafter and those my soul rejoyces in Now God does communicate himself onely in that way which is suitable to our condition now we are but narrow vessels and have but narrow mouthes and are not capable of that greatness of Gods communication but time will come when as God will communicate himself in a more glorious maner and in that I bless my self and therefore I will not regard any of Gods communication of himself to me here but in order unto that glorious communication of God to me hereafter And thus we have seen something of the recompence of reward comparing it with what we have here Now secondly we are to compare it with the condition of Adam in the estate of Innocency As for the estate of Adam in Paradise it was a blessed condition yet far under the happiness of the Saints in the recompence of the reward For Adams body was but natural and his Paradise was but a natural Paradise and a possibility there was he might lose his happiness and if he should have stood there should not have been that glorious distinct working of the three Persons of the Trinity about mans happiness that there now is and therein especially lies the difference Thirdly compare it with the Angels and you shall finde in Scripture some expressions of the happiness of the Saints beyond the happiness of the blessed Angels themselves For the union that the Saints shall have with the Deity is a nearer union in divers respects then the union that the Angels have with the Deity and the righteousness wherewith the Saints stand righteous before the Lord is an higher righteousness then Adam or the Angels should have been in First the union that the Saints have with the Deity is a nearer union then that of the Angels First the humane nature in general that is advanced to an higher dignity then all the glory of the Angels put together Because there is an Hypostatical union between the humane Nature and the Divine in Christ Again we have many expressions in Scripture of the union of Saints with the Deity whereby it appears their union is nearer then the union of the Angels They are called the friends of Christ They are said to have fellowship with Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 9. They are the Brethren of Christ They are Co-heirs with Jesus Christ There are no such expressions of the Angels And yet there are nearer expressions of their union they are the Spouse of Christ the Bride the Angels are but as the servants They are the members of Christ and are made one with Christ They are those that are to be one with the Father as the Father and the Son are one Iohn 17. 21. Christ there prays As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us he never prayed so for the Angels Lastly they are said to be loved of the Father with the very same love wherewith he loved the Son now though God loves the Angels yet it is not said that he loved them with the same love that he loved his Son These are the expressions we finde in Scripture concerning the near union that the Saints have with the Deity in some respects beyond the Angels but of the union of the Saints with the Deity we shall speak of more when we come to speak of the reward positively And then the righteousness wherewith they stand righteous before God is greater then the righteousness of Adam in Paradise or the Angels because it is the righteousness of the second Person of the Trinity and that is of an higher nature and a more glorious righteousness then the righteousness of any meer creature Now the righteousness of the Angels though it be perfect in its kinde yet it is not a righteousness of such an high nature as that righteousness which is the Son of God And thus of this recompence of reward comparatively CHAP. XLIII The perfection of the bodies and souls of the Saints in glory NOw thirdly let us consider it positively now in this positive consideration these things are to be followed First the perfection of their natures that they shall be raised to Secondly the glory that shall be put upon them at the day of Judgement Thirdly the possession of Heaven Fourthly the having God to be their Portion Fifthly their blessed communion with Jesus Christ Sixthly their communion with the Saints and Angels Lastly the eternal Sabbath that they are to keep in Heaven Under these seven heads all that we have to say concerning the positive reward of the Saints may be contained First the perfection that their
the highest things that a body can be in without any weariness Thirdly there must be a great deal of power to be able to bear the weight of glory that shall be put upon them 2 Cor. 4. 17. Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory such a weight as certainly if the body were not by the power of God upheld it were impossible it should bear it here we finde when there is great joy in the heart the body is not able to bear it but then there shall be a power to bear the weight of glory they shall have And the last is that which I finde expressed in Luther namely The bodies of the Saints shall have that power as to toss the greatest mountains in the world like a Ball. And I finde it in an expression of Anselem It shall be such power as they shall be able to shake the whole earth at their pleasure and we cannot think this incredible upon that ground that was named before there is not so much difference between the raising a thing from the lowest degree of power to the highest possibility as in raising a thing from nothing to the lowest degree of power Suppose a creature had but so much power now as to stir the least mote that is in the Sun to raise this power so high as to stir the whole earth does not require so much power as to make a thing out of nothing and if God do intend to manifest his power in glorifying the Saints and in making of them powerful why should we not think that God will extend that possibility of power that is in the body to that heighth certainly glorious shall be the power of the bodies of the Saints and that is the third thing Fourthly it is sowen a natural body and it shall be raised a spiritual body not that it shall be turned into a spirit It shall remain a body but the spiritualness consists in three particulars First that it shall be in a spiritual condition they shall have no more need of meat or drink or clothes or marriage or the like that now the body stands in need of the Angels themselves shall have as much need of meat and drink and clothes as their bodies shall so says Christ They shall not be married nor given in marriage but they shall be as the Angels in Heaven Secondly the spiritualness of the body consists in the absolute subjection of the body to the spirit as to be fully and absolutely serviceable to the spirits of the Saints which here they are not Here many times is a strife between the spirit and the flesh the spirit is willing when the flesh is not but then there shall be an absolute subjection of the body to the spirit As here the spirit of a carnal man is called flesh because his soul is serviceable to the flesh to make provision for the sins of the flesh his soul is counted carnal the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God As the soul now is as it were carnal because it is serviceable to the flesh so the body shall be spiritual because it shall be serviceable to the spirit for you to have such a body as to be serviceable to your souls as you would desire it were a great blessing time will come when it shall be so Thirdly the spiritualness of the body consists in the agility of the body the ability it shall have to move up and down which way it will and that suddenly they shall move in the Heavens as the birds do in the ayr I remember an expression that Luther hath that the body shall move up and down like a thought And Augustine saith They shall move to any place they will as soon as they will These words we do not finde in Scripture but lay this for a ground that whatsoever we can expect for the excellency of a body it is that we speak of or beyond it and then we have a great deal of liberty to invent what expressions we can for our comfort certainly there shall be that happiness of the body that shall come to that we speak of or to more Fourthly some make the spiritualness of the body to consist in the transparency of it Aquinas says It shall be so clear and transparent that all the veins and humors and nerves and bowels shall be seen as in a glass Now brethren the reasons why God will reward the Saints in this part are First because humane bodies as well as humane souls have an hypostatical union with the second person of the Trinity and therefore God rejoyces to raise humane bodies as well as humane souls unto happiness Secondly Christ suffered so much in his body therefore God will glorifie the bodies of the Saints Thirdly our bodies are part of the members of Christ our bodies are joyned in a mystical union with Jesus Christ Fourthly our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost and God will glorifie his own temples Fifthly our bodies are in part sanctified as well as our souls and therefore shall also be glorified Lastly our bodies shall be glorified for the further terror and confusion of the damned because they in their bodies shall see the glory of the Saints and be confounded Here you see a way to get your bodies in a blessed condition here is a stir for clothing of our bodies but there shall be a cloathing with immortality you that have sickly and weak bodies remember this you shall one day receive your bodies in another maner then you have them now Eusebius tels us of one of the children of the Macchabees that were put to death for the profession of the truth when they cut off his members says he I have received these from Heaven and now I do give them unto the God of Heaven and I hope I shall have them again Let us be willing to put our bodies to pain if our bodies suffer hunger or thirst or nakedness or be tyred or suffer Imprisonment or any violence be offered to our bodies in the cause of God What great matter is it we shall receive our bodies in another maner The overcoming of the flesh is the destruction of it but the overcoming the flesh is the glory of it When we speak of the happiness of our souls we are not so capable of it but when we speak of the happiness of our bodies we are sensible of that Now certainly there shall be much more for our bodies here is a way to provide for your bodies Lay up provision for your flesh is spoken as an argument of a carnal heart in Rom. 13. 14. the Apostle exhorts them not to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof but there is a way of laying up provision for the flesh that is lawful and that this day I exhort
that they cannot be satisfied with any thing but God himself Suppose God should cause all the Emperors and Kings of the world to come and cast down their Crowns before the Saints and say All these are yours An heart that is truly raised would say This is not enough this is not God himself Suppose God should bring all the splendors of all the creatures in heaven and earth and they should be cast at the feet of the Saints they would say This is not enough for this is not God Suppose God should cause all the glory of heaven not onely of Sun Moon and Stars but of the highest heaven to be laid before the Saints they would say This is not enough this is not God If all the Angels should come and say We are sent to put all our glory upon you they would say This is not enough this is not God and therefore when God hath given them heaven he must give them himself to or else they are not happy And that is the fourth thing CHAP. XLV The Saints enjoyment of God to be their portion their happiness in having his presence GOd himself will be the portion of the Saints Augustine says of the happiness of the Saints If God gives such good things to wicked men does he keep nothing for the Saints Yes he keeps heaven it self but says he Surely I speak of too low a thing when I speak of heaven he will give himself to them Heaven is beautiful but more beautiful is God himself the God of heaven Therefore God must give himself to them or else their souls are not satisfied It is a sweet and excellent expression that Bernard hath Lord as whatsoever we give unto thee unless we give our selves cannot satisfie thee so Lord Whatsoever thou givest to us unless thou givest thy self we cannot be satisfied The Lord said to Abraham Fear not I am thy exceeding great reward but says Abraham What wilt thou give me seeing I go childeless Surely he had respect to Christ or else it could not but be a fault that Abraham should not be fully satisfied in what God said for as God does make the Saints to be his portion so God is the portion and the inheritance of the Saints The enjoyment of God is Heaven it self and therefore in Scripture God is called heaven I have sinned against heaven In this there are these seven things First the presence of God Secondly the blessed vision of God Thirdly the happy union with God Fourthly the glorious communion with God Fifthly the fruition of God Sixthly the rest that their souls shal have in God Seventhly the enjoyment of themselves in God O beloved for preparation to hear these things that we had spiritual hearts says one It is not for your carnal base sensual voluptuous spirits to hear of those things For those that know no better things then to eat and drink and to be unclean what is it for them to hear of such excellent things As for the pleasures of the flesh they do infect and defile the soul and make it unfit for the hearing of such things we had need of spiritual ears to hear them God says to Abraham in Genes 13. 16. I will make thy seed to be as the dust of the earth afterward in Gen. 15. 5. he says He will make his seed as the stars of heaven The seed of Abraham are of two sorts Some are of the seed of Abraham that are visible members of a Church and yet have earthly hearts but there are others of his seed and they are as the stars of Heaven of spiritual hearts now as we are of the seed of Abraham outwardly in profession let us not be of that seed that are of the dust of the earth onely fit to hear of earthly things but let us shew that we are of the seed of Abraham that are as the stars of Heaven and shall hereafter come to enjoy the God of Heaven For the first the presence of God that glorious presence that the Saints shal have of God in Heaven is a great part of their happiness Heaven it were not Heaven without the presence of God The presence of God in the most miserable place that can be were a greater happiness then the absence of God in the most glorious place that can be David would not be afraid though he walked in the valley of the shadow of death so that God were with him Psal 23. Luther would rather be in Hell with Gods presence then in Heaven God being absent If the presence of God takes away the dread of the shadow of the valley of death and makes Hell to be more desired then Heaven what will the presence of God make Heaven to be The three Children in the fiery furnace with Gods presence were happy how happy then are the Saints with Gods presence in Heaven The Saints desire Gods presence even when he is angry they are loth to be out of his presence then It is very observable that we have recorded of David Psal 51. ver 9. he cryes to God to hide his face from his sins for Gods face was then an angry face against him yet ver 11. he cryes again Cast me not away from thy presence he was not willing to be out of Gods presence howsoever upon which St. Auguhath this expression Whose face he fears even his face he invocates God made rich promises to Moses yet he could not be satisfied without the presence of God If thy presence be not with us bring us not hence And the Apostle when he would set out the misery of those that are damned in 2 Thess 1. 9. says the Text They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord now the presence of God must needs be the happiness of the Saints First because this must needs draw out all their graces in all the sweet savor of them Cant 1. 12. While the King sitteth at his table my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof As it is with the Sun it draws forth all the vertue that there is in the plant and makes a sweet savor in things so the presence of God must much more draw forth the fragrancy of all the graces of his Spirit in the souls of his Saints Secondly the presence of God must needs quicken all the comforts of the souls of his people and keep them always in vigor and activity for as we know the Sun it does quicken things that lay dead so the presence of God hath a wonderful quickning power it keeps the comforts of Gods people fresh so long as we have the presence of God all our comforts are green and lively The Saints in heaven have always the presence of God and therefore their comforts are always vigorous and lively When they shall be presented faultless before the presence of his glory it shall cause exceeding joy Jude 24. the word there signifies leaping springing exalting joy
shining through a red glass causes a red reflection and the same Sun shining through a blue glass causes a blue reflection and so the same excellency of God shining one way and working after one maner we call by one name and the same excellency of God working another way we call by another name and yet it is all one in God and though we cannot apprehend it now yet we shall see God in his unity afterward Thirdly we shall see God in the Trinity though there be but one God yet there are divers persons to see how the Father begot the Son and how the Spirit did proceed from the Father and the Son and the difference between the procession of the Spirit and the generation of the Son the sight of God in the mystery of the Trinity is a most glorious thing Fourthly we shall see God in his glory in Isa 33. 17. there is a promise They shall see the King in his beauty or in his glory there is a great deal of difference between seeing the King at an ordinary time and seeing of him when he is in his Robes with his Crown upon his head and his Scepter in his hand and set upon his Throne with all his Nobles about him in all his glory so God does manifest himself a little now but this is not all that he does intend and for to see God now as he does manifest himself is somewhat but to see God in his greatest glory that ever he shall manifest himself in that must be a great happiness Fifthly to see God in his eminency that is they shall see how all excellencies that are in the creature are eminently contained in the absolute perfection of the Divine nature all the good that is in the effect is in the causes and the good of those causes in their causes and so at length they come to the first principle so all the good that we can see in all objects that give content we may see all eminently in God and see God in all The latitude of the object of mans understanding is such as it comprehends all beauty all excellency all truth in it and therefore cannot be satisfied till it sees into all in God it findes all united and therefore in him onely it findes blessedness it is eternal life to know him Sixthly they shall see God as he is 1 John 3. 2. now there is a great deal in that to see God as he is and for explication of that there are these five branches That is first not to see him onely negatively that is not to see him as he is the most that we see of God now is by way of negation rather then any positive sight when we say of God he is incomprehensible that is he is such a God as cannot be comprehended that 's but negation when we say of God that he is infinite that is such a God as hath no bounds of his being this is stil a negation to say what God is not and when we say God is a spirit though the expression seem to have an affirmation in it yet it is but the apprehension of God rather by negation that is that God hath no bodily substance in him for to speak properly God is not a Spirit but only that is the most excellent thing that we can conceive of and by way of negation that he is no body and is invisible one that we cannot see and feel and the like when we say he is holy he hath no spot of sin this is by way of negation but now in Heaven we shall not see God onely by negation but we shall see that positive excellency of God we shall see him as he is Secondly we see God much by relation unto other things as when we speak of God and would open the excellency of God we say God is the King of Heaven and Earth and our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and Creator and Governor of all things and these are but relative expressions and a great part of our knowledge of God is by way of relation but hereafter we shall see him as he is Thirdly you shall see God as he is not by framing any representations of him in our mindes there shall be that immediate presence of God to the minde that there shall not need be any representation that we now form in our mindes as in the sense of Seeing the object of the eye being absent from it there must be a species to represent it so there are some kinde of representations of God to our understandings here but there shall be that immediate union with God in the understanding that there shall need no kinde of representation of God but we shall see him as he is Fourthly we shall see him not in his effects in the creature the greatest part that we see of God now is in his effects and not as he is in himself we do not see the face of God but his back parts We look upon the Sun and there we see somewhat of the power of God but it is but the effect of Gods power and not Gods power it self and when we look upon the world we see much of Gods wisdom we see the effect of Gods wisdom and not the wisdom of God it self Fifthly we shall see God as he is distinguished from all creatures here now we see almost nothing of God distinguished from created things Say what you will of God that he is a Spirit that he is a created thing that he is wise or holy or just or merciful there is somewhat of all these in the creature onely he is infinitely above all and that is by way of negation But we do not see him in that positive excellency which does difference him from all created things but now it will be a blessed thing to see God as he is differenced from all created things to see him as he is Sixthly the Saints shall see the counsels of God and all the ways of God what have been and what shall be to all eternity about election what his counsels were about creating of things before they were created and what the workings of his counsels were about the several ways of his providence before there was any manifestation of them in his creature and so all his counsels about rejection of so many thousands of men and Angels It is an expression of S. Augustine We shall see the reason why one is reprobate and one elected why one is rich and one is poor we do not see the reason now but by seeing God we shall see all things that may make for our happiness we shall know all the works that ever God did and that ever he will do to all eternity It is a great thing for a man to know what is done in his generation but to know all the ways of God since the beginning of the world must be a
means that are used to attain this end and rest as namely the work of God in sending the second person in the Trinity to take mans nature upon him and all the works of God in Election in Redemption in Adoption in Justification in Sanctification yea all the works of God in creation in providence the designing the Holy Ghost to that office he is designed to and all the Ordinances of God look what preciousness is in all these works of God and means it sets out unto us the preciousness and excellency and glory that there is in the last end whereunto Gods people shall attain and that rest they shall have The seventh and last thing in having God to be their portion is the enjoyment of themselves in God as they shall enjoy God and God in themselves so they shall enjoy themselves in God living in God continually the fish does not more truly live in the water and move in the water then the souls of the Saints shall live in God and move in God Col. 3. 3. Your life is hid with Christ in God the life of Saints here is an hidden life and it is hidden in God but then it shall be a revealed life and revealed in God and enjoyed in God Hence is that Phrase Enter into your masters joy that enters not into you but you must enter into it it is your masters joy not onely that joy that your master gives but the same joy your master hath that you shall enter into and live in It is said of Saint John in Rev. 1. that he was on the Lords day in the Spirit it is not said that the Spirit was in him but it is said he was in the Spirit that was as a beginning of the glorious condition of the Saints of God that they shall be in the Spirit of God not onely God in them but they in God as a drop of water in the Sea swallowed up in it Put a drop of wine into the Sea it is changed into the nature of the Sea and so though we cannot be changed into the Divine Nature yet we shall be swallowed up in God so as we shal not any further minde our selves our own good as a created thing nor our selves as creatures but altogether God our mindes shall be so wholly upon God as if they were wholly emptyed of any created good and had nothing to do but with an increated good it shall not will any thing to it self nor to any other creature but all to God and so wholly taken upon with God and upon that ground because they have that likeness unto God and partake of the Divine Nature Here we do good to others because of their likeness to our selves But the Saints shall will all good to God not because God is like them but because they are like to God so that they shall love themselves for God There are three degrees of love to God loving of God for our selves and loving God for himself and loving our selves for God the one is but a natural love the second is a gracious love the third is a love of the glorified Saints First to love God for our selves so an hypocrite may love God because he hath gifts and many blessings from God this is but a natural love But grace goes further then nature that is to love God for himself though we should never have any thing yet if we be gracious we love God for himself but the glorified Saints go further then grace and that is to love themselves for God whereas heretofore we did onely love God for our selves or for himself now we come to love our selves for God and in this kinde of love of God and enjoyment of our selves in him the soul shall be ravished with God and be in a kinde of extasie eternally Now there is a twofold extasie one that is through the weakness of the inferior faculties of the soul when the minde of a man is taken up about an high object seriously the other faculties being weak they fail and so men come to be in a trance and extasie many have had great joy that they have even dyed with it the heart hath so dilated it self as the vital spirits have flown out But there is an extasie comes from the excellency of the object that the minde is busied about but without any weariness of any inferior faculty If then we put all together that hath been said about God and the enjoyment of God and having God to be the portion of the Saints you see the principal part of Heaven and the spiritual part of the glory of the Saints Here is faith called for and why should not our faith go beyond reason to rectifie reason as reason rectifies sense these things be high and great mysteries When as reason says How can this be as when Christ was speaking of the new birth says Nicodemus How can this be let but faith get as far above reason as reason hath got above sense and we may easily see how they can be by sense If a man look up to the Firmament and see the Sun shine he would think it were little bigger then a Bushel or the like now reason will tell men otherwise reason that tells men that this creature that appears to be but in this bigness it is many hundred times bigger then the Earth now if reason can rectifie sense so far Why should not faith go beyond reason as far Now reason will tell us of much happiness that may be had We may conceive by reason by understanding that the rational creature is capable of abundance of glory but when you hear things delivered by the word which are more then reason can conceive let us get faith to rectifie reason and we shall not call those truths into question and yet know that our glory will be beyond our faith as our faith is beyond our reason Here you may see that most people in the world mistake Heaven and look at Heaven in a sensual maner when we speak of Heaven where have we a man or woman that looks at Heaven in these spiritual excellencies about enjoying God in this maner As the Jews looked for a carnal Messiah whose Kingdom should be in the earth and whose glory should be external not considering the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ so most in the world look but for a carnal Heaven It is a good evidence of the truth of grace if you can look to Heaven with a right eye in a right maner to look at the spiritual part and spiritual excellency in Heaven But that which makes people to call these things in question is first because they are not acquainted with God but are sensual their hearts are acquainted with nothing but sensual and earthly things and therefore their hearts are not raised to these things but they look at them as notions but that soul that is acquainted with God and the counsels of God and
of the glorious reward fills the heart with precious liquor that you may set it by the fire and put it into troubles it will not break As a Gyant refreshed with wine hath great strength to undertake any thing so the soul that is filled with this comfort of the hope of Heaven and glory can go forth as a Gyant refreshed with wine and make nothing of those things that others make great matters of When the heart is filled with joy hope of believing and so filled with light within whatsoever darkness is abroad it cares not As Oecolampadius when he was to dye and they spoke of the light without says he What is the light without I have light enough within And so a gracious heart says there is enough within to strengthen me let there be without what there will When Alexander gave away great things almost all he had one of his Officers aked him what he would have left for himself says he Hope so says a gracious heart though all things be gone yet it is enough to fill my heart with joy that I have hope of the glory that is to be reveald A natural chearful spirit can be able to undergo great things that one that is naturally timorous cannot the Wise man saith The Spirit of a man shall sustain his infirmities A man that hath a natural chearful spirit is able to sustain many infirmities that others cannot As for melancholy spirits every thing that comes cross to them is ready to sink them and they cannot undergo those troubles which a chearful spirit can because they want the sweetness within What strength is there then in the filling the heart with joy in believing of these things As a man that hath his bones filled with marrow and hath abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body he can endure to go with less cloathes then another because he is well lined within so it is with a heart that hath a great deal of fat and marrow joy and peace within though such a one hath not many cloathes and outward comforts to strengthen him he will go through troubles well enough Proverbs 14. 14. A good man is satisfied from himself And it is enough for good men to know within themselves that they have an enduring substance Heb. 10. 34. A tree that hath a great deal of sap within can bear great weights and burthens that others cannot and that is the fifth ground because the hope of these things does fill the heart with joy and so strengthens the heart A sixth thing wherein the power of having respect to the recompence of reward appears is in that it hath a great deal of power to resist any temptation of Satan and to quench the fiery darts of Satan In Ephes 6. where the spiritual armor is spoken of the helmet the armor that is for the head and keeps that from being hurt with any stroke is the hope of salvation and the hope of glory so that whatsoever temptations of the Devil comes by this helmet they are kept off that they do not so much as take the judgement As we might instance in the several temptations that the Devil hath to keep one from sufferings as when he comes and says Why will you undo your selves in such a way as this Presently the hope of salvation is held up and the soul answers It is so far from undoing of me that it is the onely way to provide for my self He that will save his life shall lose it and he that will lose his life for my sake shall save it If the Devil comes with this temptation Surely God does not require such things of his people to be brought into such straits and suffer such hard things The soul that hath the hope of his glory holds it up and makes this answer Why seeing the Lord hath laid up such glorious things hereafter why should I not think that God may require hard things for the present If he comes with this temptation Why will you go on in a singular way from others A gracious heart upon this argument answers I expect choice and singular mercies from God and why should I think much to go on in a way that is singular though others do otherwise it may be they shal never be partakers of such singular things If the Devil comes and say Surely God does not love you if he did he would not suffer such great calamities and sore troubles to befal you and if it were his cause he would assist you in it the soul answers Hath the Lord laid up such glorious things for me hereafter and shall I call Gods love in question because I am deprived of these mean things and undergo such afflictions as these certainly those things that God hath laid up for me shall so uphold my heart as that I shall never call in question Gods love though I suffer never so much here and that is the sixth particular Seventhly there is a great deal of power in this argument to help on the soul in a way of suffering because by looking at this recompence of reward the soul comes to see what glorious things sufferings do prepare for hasten unto and work to the encrease of First what glorious things sufferings prepare for As it is a notable expression Mr. Hawks hath in a Letter he writ to encourage Mr. Philpot being cast into the Bishops Cole-house says he This Bishops Cole-house is but to scour you and make you bright and to fit you to be set up upon the high shelf meaning Heaven as when you would set up vessels of brass or iron you first take cinders or ashes and scour them and by rubbing them with such things they are fit to be set up so all sufferings are but the means that God uses to scour his people to make them bright to set them up on high God will not set up his servants on the high shelf till first he hath made them bright and he uses this way to do it and then they hasten to great things the more one suffers the nearer he comes to glory and to Heaven Let the world do the worst it can it can but take away your estates and meat and drink and put you in the cold and hasten death and the hastening of death is the hastening of glory The greatest sufferings of Gods people are but as the fiery Chariots to carry Gods people home in This was the answer of Basil to the Emperors Lieutenant when he threatned death to him Death is a benefit to me it will send me sooner to God to whom I live to whom I desire to hasten And then they do encrease glory it is but a trade of less things to encrease greater all sufferings are the seeds of glory Eighthly there is a great deal of power in this to carry on the soul in a way of suffering because it does mightily enflame the soul with love to God
all I must have my sin Though you do not say so directly yet if after you have heard all this you go on in a sinful way you do in effect say so for the Scripture says Know you not that no drunkard nor whoremonger nor covetous nor unclean person nor extortioner and the like shall enter into the Kingdom of God You know this it is not possible that any should be so ignorant but he knows such shall never enter into the Kingdom of God you going on then in such a way you do as it were say Farewel God and heaven and farewel all that Christ hath purchased by his blood rather then I will lose my sin How will this confound you another day how will conscience accuse you when it shall tell you what you have heard and what you might have had and you have lost all for your lust God shall say I revealed to you what my ways and counsels were concerning man that this was the great work and design that I intended to make wretched man happy to bring vile dust into glory and was that my great master-piece that I intended nothing in your eyes but must it be despised for the satisfying of your lusts Christ shall plead against you Was I content to leave the bosom of my Father and to be in the form of a servant and to be made a curse to lose my precious blood my life to purchase glory for man and must this be slighted for your base lusts How will the Spirit of God plead against you What was not I in the mouth of my Ministers to reveal these glorious things and deep things of God that now in the Gospel are made known and must all that work of mine be neglected and slighted for your base lusts Yea how may all the creatures in the earth come to plead against you Lord thou didst not make us capable of any such happiness as thou didst the children of men and yet we did honor and serve thee in our order but thou madest this creature capable of eternal happiness and yet all is despised for the satisfying of their base lusts Yea how may the Devils come and plead against thee Lord when we were once fallen thou wouldst never enter into covenant with us to give us any hope of any mercy at all much less hope to receive any such great things there was hope for these wretched creatures to be eternally happy and yet they neglected all for their lusts therefore shal their punishment be no more then ours shall their fire be no hotter then ours These things that I have delivered though they be comfortable to the people of God they will be terrible things to the wicked and will be a dreadful aggravation to sin as Heb. 10. 29. Of how much sorer punishment do you think those worthy of that in neglect of these things do even tread under foot the blood of the Son of God as cap. 2 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation If the salvation that we speak of were not great salvation it would not deserve such great punishment for the neglect of it See how great the mercy of God is in revealing such great salvation so great shall the punishment be of those that neglect such great salvation We use to say to some that will be bold to venture upon such ways as others will not They may say and do what they will they have nothing to lose but if a man have any thing to lose he is more wary it is true if we had nothing to lose it were not so much for us to go on boldly and carelesly in our way but know we are capable of abundance of glory that we are in danger to lose if we go on carelesly Consider what you are like to lose and let that raise your heart against the ways of sin nothing can make it up For one to do any thing that shall prejudice the right to a Crown this is counted a great offence and is not past by without blood Sin seeks to deprive us of a Crown of Heaven of immortality O the mischief that is in sin let our hearts rise against it with hatred to death when any temptation comes let us use this argument as a help to answer temptation O in this temptation there is that will deprive me of all my hope of heaven of glory and of my crown and of all my good if I take not heed and therefore now shal I sin will any sin do you that good as will countervail the cutting you off the hope of all this glory will it make you amends for this evil If a man might have a whole world given him for to lose his eyes no wise man would lose the benefit of his fight for the whole world wilt thou venture the loss of the sight of God and of Christ and of all communion to be had with them for a lust and for a base pleasure what worth is in it to make thee so venturous When a temptation to sin comes make use of this argument as Saul did to his men What can the son of Jesse give you vineyards and oliveyards So you may say to every temptation to the ways of sin What can my sin give me Heaven and glory and immortality can my sin reward me as God will reward me if I walk in his way If a Chapman should come to you who are Merchants and offer you for a commodity twenty times less then it is worth your hearts will rise against him in disdain and contempt of him Now when sin comes to offer any pleasure or content to the flesh let your hearts rise in disdain against it it offers you infinitely to your loss base momentary pleasure for Heaven and all the glory that hath been opened to you As one said when a Harlot askt a great price for pleasure with her one night I will not buy repentance at such a rate And so when sin comes say I will not buy pleasure at such a rate It was an aggravation of the sin of Israel that they would return into Egypt because the Land of Canaan was so good a Land So it argues base hearts in people to despise all that is in Heaven and the glory of it for to turn to Egypt to some base lust Thirdly if there be such a glorious reward for the Saints this rebukes all base worldly drossie spirits that seek for no higher good then meerly to enjoy the use and comforts of the creature and content to their flesh for a while How many are there in the world that would bless themselves in these things Might I have but such an estate and such content in the world it were enough they should think themselves happy As that Duke of Burbone in France if he might have his Palace in Paris he would not change it for Paradise A company of base drossie spirits that could be content
if he should say Do you know whom you serve You serve the Lord the high and mighty and glorious and infinite God and therefore you had need be fervent in spirit do that you do with all your might and power for it is for that God that will do such great things for you As David when he danced before the Ark he did it with all his might Michol not knowing his meaning scorned him in her heart but says he It was before the Lord that chose me before your Fathers house that hath bestowed such mercies upon me and will bestow more mercies and if this be to be vile I will be more vile Carnal hearts cannot endure earnestness and fervency in Gods service as the wilde beasts cannot endure fire so beastly carnal spirits cannot endure fire fervency and zeal in Gods ways but suppose they should oppose you for fervency in Gods ways you might answer them If this be to be vile I will be more vile It is for that God that hath done great things for me and that I hope to receive great things from hereafter eternally Fourthly if there be such a glorious reward be encouraged to be abundant in Gods service this is the Argument of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 15. 58. Be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord. By that which hath been said you may know your labor is not in vain with the Lord be abundant in service there shall not be one tear nor one sigh nor one prayer lost many say Why do you so much will not less serve The godly do not onely aym at the reward that will require abundance but they would have the heigth of the reward and therefore they think they never have done enough It is an expression of Austin If a man should serve the Lord a thousand years it would not deserve an hour of the reward in Heaven much less an eternity Though it is true the grace of the Lord is glorious and he does accept of his grace as the most glorious thing in the world yet considering what our actions are how much corruption is mingled with them it would not deserve a moment in Heaven and therefore we had need do as much as we can 2 Peter 3. 11. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what maner of persons ought ye to be in all maner of holy conversation and godliness We should be ashamed and confounded in our thoughts that we can do no more and if there should be shame in Heaven when the Saints shall see and enjoy so much there would they not be ashamed that they have done no more for that God so glorious in his bounty goodness here Fifthly if there be such a glorious recompence of reward then let us labor to be faithful with God because we have such a good Master that is so good and gracious to us Princes make account they engage the hearts of their subjects that are about them to be faithful with them by their great rewards and by keeping of them in expectation of great things The great things that God hath prepared for us do lay more engagements upon our hearts to be faithful with him Let us not be false to such a God as this is God expects we should be faithful upon this ground Isaiah 63. 7 8. There are large expressions of the goodness of the Lord unto his people and what follows Surely they are my people children that will not lye As if he should say These are a people that I expect should be satisfied with me In Psal 36. 5. there God joyns his mercy and his faithfulness both together As Gods mercies and faithfulness are joyned together so let the hope of Gods mercies to us and our faithfulness unto God be joyned together It was an argument of God unto Abraham I am God All-sufficient and I am your exceeding great reward walk before me and be upright As if he should say You need not go and shark unto any other creature you have reward enough in me therefore walk before me and be upright So by all that which God hath revealed unto you concerning this glorious reward of his people God says You need not go and seek any thing else you need not be sharking up and down after the creature Is there not enough in me to satisfie any creature living The ground why any depart from God in a way of unfaithfulness is because they have distrustful thoughts and think there is not enough to be had in God but they had need shift for themselves another way If we understand this glorious reward and our hearts close with it this temptation could not have power to draw our hearts from it Therefore God is so plentiful in the manifestation of his goodness because his people should not have any shifting thoughts there is enough in God and in the treasures of his grace to make up all Now by that which hath been said be encouraged to go on in those ways in which you have no present encouragement there are many ways in which you have no encouragement from God or men you pray and hear and perform duties and do not finde God come in that way let the reward that is to come be enough to encourage you You do many good things and men are ungrateful and will not requite them well let this quiet you There is a glorious reward to come I remember a speech of Luther That servitude to men though it be to ungrateful men does please God and God says he wil abundantly reward you for it and that should be more sweet to us then all the treasures in the world In Isa 49. 4. says the Prophet I have labored in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet truly my judgement is with the Lord and my work with my God It is a speech of Latimer speaking of Ministers that would leave their flock because they did no good says he It is very naughtily done we must look to that which God commands us and leave the issue to God Christ saith Follow me me me three times he hath it and not your own lusts let us do our own work and leave the reward with God Though it be a sweet encouragement for the Ministers of God to see something of their labor yet if they do not it is enough to make them go on in a way of obedience for the present because God commands it though there were no reward but when we do obey God and please God for the present and it shall be rewarded so gloriously hereafter let not this be any excuse We can do no good if you be convinced of a duty whether there be good or no good come of it whether there be present encouragement or not it is enough that it shall be gloriously rewarded hereafter Sixthly if there be
such a glorious reward such blessed things as these reserved for the people of God hence then let us dwell a little in admiring at the goodness of God at the infinite treasures of the riches of the glory of the grace of God towards the children of men Certainly Brethren great are the thoughts of God towards mankinde wonderful are his ways to this poor creature of his What is man says the Psalmist nay what is man indeed when as we consider what God hath done for him In Rom. 8. 31. after the Apostle had spoke of glorification and of the blessed estate of Gods people hereafter says the Apostle What shall we say to these things So seeing these things are so that are revealed What shall we say to these things O the heighth and length and depth and breadth of the loving kindeness of the Lord how unsearchable are his judgements shall we say How unsearchable are his mercies and his mercies past finding out O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought before the sons of men Psal 31. 19. If ever God wrought about any thing it was about the communication of his goodness to mankinde yea how great is it before the sons of men before us that have but a little made known to us How great is it before Angels then and before God himself In Psal 113. 6. it is said God humbleth to behold things that are done in heaven It is much that God should vouchsafe to behold any thing in heaven but now that God should vouchsafe to behold such a poor wretched creature as man is here upon earth and not to behold him onely but to work thus gloriously for him and that from all eternity to make it his great work to communicate himself to man O how does God humble himself here and how is his mercy and goodness to be admired and adored by the sons of men God is to be praised for the least of his mercies here but he is to be admired in the glory of his rich grace in heaven We read Psal 136. God is praised twenty five times for his mercies but the conclusion of all is Praise the God of Heaven for his mercies endure for ever his mercies as he is the God of heaven they are the glorious mercies indeed When the Scripture would set forth the excellency of a thing it expresseth it by heaven as the excellency of Christ He is the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. The excellency of God the God of heaven Jonah 1. 9. It is made the top of Christs glory that he is made higher then the heavens Heb. 7. 26. When Christ would shew the excellency of the bread of life he says It is bread from heaven the excellency of spiritual blessings is set out in this that they are blessings in heavenly places Eph. 1. Because gold is the most precious mettal therefore we lay it over other things not onely wood and cloth but silver it self so because heaven is so excellent the Lord gilds as it were his choicest blessings with this adjunct and all to shew the wonderful excellency there is in heaven it self Brethren God hath therefore revealed these things to us to that end that the glory of his grace might be great in the world God would have us have high and honorable and glorious thoughts of his goodness God would have the high praises of his grace to be in the hearts and in the mouthes of his Saints it is a great evil to have low and mean apprehensions of the glorious grace of God to mankinde you do not know what dishonor you bring to God in it If your hearts be not raised on high and enlarged in the thoughts of the free and glorious grace of God to mankinde it is an exceeding dishonor to him To see the riches of Gods glorious grace to the children of men it is a mighty work of faith and such a work as the soul is enabled to do onely by a mighty and glorious work of the holy Ghost in it indeed there is in the world a base and poor and mean apprehension of the grace of God in Christ such as does not work at all to raise and enlarge and glorifie the heart of a man but the true sight of the riches of Gods glorious grace it hath a mighty power to raise and enlarge and glorifie the hearts of the children of men while they are here as mark the expressions of the Apostle in his Prayer for the Ephesians 1 Ephes 17. 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints not the inheritance of the Saints but the inheritance in the Saints and the glory of the inheritance and the riches of the glory and they must not onely have understanding to know this but the eyes of their understanding must be enlightened and this must come from the knowledge of Christ from the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation and from the Father of glory the God of our Lord Jesus Christ The sight of the excellency and riches of Gods grace here it is that that is the work of God shining into the heart 2 Cor. 4. 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ The unsearchable truths of the Gospel are in that which hath been revealed so far as we are able to wade into them The sight of Gods rich glory is that which the Princes of the world have not known it is that which requires a work of the Spirit of God Of that Spirit which searcheth the deep things of God O brethren if you had a true spiritual sight of the richness of the goodness of God in the way of his communication of happiness and glory to the children of men then you see into the great design of God into the deep counsels of his wisdom then God hath laid open his heart unto you God hath brought you into the treasures of his riches and given you a view of them the very secrets of Gods soul are imparted to you and blessed are your eyes that have seen these things if the sight of Gods glory in his grace towards mankinde be seen in true beauty and height and glory indeed there is no fear that they should do hurt to any soul it is true the apprehension of the grace of God in a natural way is the cause of security or presumption in many but there was never any in the world that was furthered in a way of security and presumption upon the spiritual sight and view they
for communion with a Church are fit for heaven and therefore the question may be true Who shall dwell in thy holy hill who shall be partakers of these things Blessed are they that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God But who are they It is necessary you should labor to make this sure because it is a matter so great and so glorious and not to lay the weight of that which is of infinite consequence upon poor weak slight and sandy foundations certainly we do not know what the grace of God towards mankinde is if we content our selves with slight hopes but if God hath enlightned your souls to know the reality and glory of them they wil never be at rest till you have got certain and infallible grounds for them In things of small consequence we are content with slight evidences but if a man have to deal in any business upon which his whole estate depends he would not have any man think it ill if he does make sure if he will have bonds and seals so we should make sure of heaven and of glory because it is such a great matter Some I suppose that meerly upon the hearing of the greatness of these things cannot but have some misgiving thoughts If these things be so great surely they concern not me they belong not to me Can I think in my conscience that I am that man or woman that God should have such great thoughts upon and should look upon me so as to make it the greatest design that he hath to glorifie the riches of his mercy upon me What work of Gods grace have I ever had upon me I would not have those that are affected with the greatness of Gods grace to mankinde think that these things do not belong to them because they are great But those that never had their hearts affected with the excellency and glory of Gods grace toward man when they hear of the greatness and glory of those things that are reserved for the Saints they may justly have their consciences misgive them and think surely they do not belong to them Canst thou that art a base drunkard that prizest nothing but a little drink and some outward things think that God should make it the greatest work that he hath in the world for to communicate the riches of his grace and goodness unto thee The greatness of these things may be enough to cast thee off As it is with a Beggar a Beggar comes and asks an alms if a man put his hand in his pocket and take out a peny or two pence he hath hope to have that but if he take out a piece of gold he hath no hope of that because it is so much So when men have but natural thoughts of heaven and happiness hereafter you think you might have that but when you come to have heaven opened to you and you see it is such a great and glorious thing your hearts may justly think it is not for us Cast a bone to a Dog he falls to it presently but set a joynt of meat before him well drest in a large dish and he goes away he dares not venture upon that So for these things in the world the ordinary favors of God these bones that God casts to Dogs you may fall upon them and think these are for you but when you come to the dainties and infinite treasures of God can such a swinish heart such a base filthy unclean spirit as yours is that never minded nothing but the satisfying of your base lusts think that these are for you you cannot but have misgiving thoughts and think either these things are but notions or else I have no part in them CHAP. LV. To whom the Recompence of reward appertains BUt how may any know that they shall have this glorious reward Carnal and sensual hearts because they have no principles of Gods grace to shew them the great things of God and the minde of God they think no man can know we must have hopes and hope well but who can know what God hath in heaven for us Those that are acquainted with the mysteries of God in the Gospel they know what Gods minde hath been from all eternity concerning them and what God will do for them to all eternity How do they know First would you know whether you shall have this Recompence of reward Have you made Moses Choice Certainly those that have made Moses Choice shall have Moses Reward What Moses Choice was you have heard Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Moses might have had honor and esteem enough in Egypt but he accounted afflictions with the people of God in Gods ways a great deal better He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches then all so I may have Christ and communion with his people let me be reproached and contemned and despised I care not Now do you finde this Though there was a time my heart was taken with the glittering shews of things here and I saw no excellency in the ways of God they were but notions to me at length God wrought mightily upon my soul and shewed me the vanity of all things that I accounted for glorious things and shewed me a beauty in Gods people and began to knit my heart to them so as I was willing to part with any thing to have communion with them and to venture all upon the bare word and promise of God for those glorious things that are revealed in it and this choice I have made and my soul is setled in it whatsoever befals me in this world hath there been such a work upon your souls that you have made Moses Choice then you shall have Moses Reward Secondly are you begotten unto the hope of these glorious things Whosoever shall be partaker of this glorious reward must be one that is born to it There are some dignities in the world that are got no way except they be born to them so if you have this reward you must be born to it 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us unto a lively hope Whosoever hath the true hope of Heaven it is one that is begotten to it that is There must be a mighty work of God upon your hearts a new birth a regeneration in you otherwise there is nothing you have done or can do that can get this reward In Mat. 19. 28. says Christ unto his Disciples after Peter had spoken what they had left for him Ye that have followed me in the Regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel As if Christ should say Peter you have forsaken all and followed me but know the bare forsaking is not enough but you who