Epistles were written when he was in bonds yet he preacht and though he was accounted as an evil doer yet he preacht that the Elect might be sanctified and saved Though his persecutors did lay Irons upon his legs yet they did not lay a law of silence upon his lips and though they shut him up from going to others yet they did not shut out others from coming to hear him for even in bonds he exercised his ministerial office As cruel as his persecutors were they would not shut the prison doors upon them that waited on his Ministry So Philemon was converted by Paul when he was in bonds Phil. v. 10. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus whom I have begotten in my bonds Paul had a blessing going along with his Ministry when he was in bonds as well as when he was at liberty Onesimus was converted when Paul was a prisoner God made Pauls prison to be a Paradise to Onesimus Paul by his preaching patience and chearfulness in suffering converts Onesimus to the faith prisons in these times were turn'd into Churches And so they were in Queen Maries daies Act. and Mon. fol. 1457. for as bloody as her Raign was most of the prisons in England were turn'd into Christian Schools and Churches saith Mr. Fox so that there was no greater comfort then for Christians to resort to prisons and to hear the Martyrs to pray and preach and to behold their holy humble heavenly gratious conversation Ibid. 1381. So the afflictions and persecutions of the Saints in the primitive times issued in the conversion and salvation of many souls We read that Cicilia a poort Virgin by her gracious behaviour in her martyrdom was the means of converting 400. to Christ Adrianus by seeing the Martyrs suffer so patiently and chearfully was converted to the faith and afterwards sealed to the truth with his blood Justin Martyr was also converted in the same way In the third persecution Faustus and Jobita Citizens of Brixia suffered Martyrdom with such invincible patience courage and chearfulness that Caeloccrius cryed out Vere magnus Deus Christianorum Verily great is the God of the Christians Upon which words he was presently apprehended and so suffered martyrdom with them And that was a remarkable saying of Luther Ecclesia totum mundum convert it sanguine oratione the Church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer Now if by your troubles afflictions and persecutions and the exercise of grace under them you shall be instrumental to convert and save a soul or souls from wrath to come it will turn wonderfully to your advantage and you shall shine as the stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 That same power presence wisdom and grace that converted others by the sufferings of former Saints is able to accomplish the same glorious effects by the sufferings of the Saints of this Generation and therefore beare up bravely and neither fear nor faint under your present sufferings But Fourthly The troubles afflictions and persecutions that Christians meet with in their pursuit after holiness will further the increase and growth of their grace grace never rises to so great a height as it do's in times of persecution suffering times are a Christians Harvest times Psal 69.7 8 9 12. Let me instance in that grace of zeal I remember Moulin speaking of the French Protestants saith When Papists hurt us for reading the Scriptures we burn with zeal to be reading of them but now persecution is over our Bibles are like old Almanacks c. All the reproaches frowns threatnings oppositions and persecutions that a Christian meets with in a way of holiness doth but raise his zeal and courage to a greater height Micha's scoffing at David did but inflame and raise his zeal 2 Sam. 6.20.21 22. If this be to be vile I will be more vile Look as fire in the winter burns the hotter by an Antiperistasis because of the coldness of the air so in the winter of affliction and persecution that divine fire the zeal of a Christian burns so much the hotter and flames forth so much the more vehemently and strongly In times of greatest affliction and persecution for holiness sake a Christian hath first a good Captain to lead and encourage him Secondly a righteous cause to prompt and embolden him Thirdly a gracious God to relieve and succour him Fourthly a glorious heaven to receive and reward him and certainly these things cannot but mightily raise him and inflame him under the greatest opposition and persecution These things will keep him from fearing fawning fainting sinking or flying in a stormy day yea these things will make his face like the face of an Adamant as God promised to make Ezekiels Ezek. 3.7 8 9. Job 41.24 Pliny Now an Adamant is the hardest of stones 't is harder then a flint yea 't is harder then the nether-milstone The Naturalists observe that the hardness of this stone is unspeakable the fire cannot burn it nor so much as heat it thorow nor the hammer cannot break it nor the water cannot dissolve it and therefore the Greeks call it an Adamant from its untameableness and in all storms the Adamant shrinks not it fears not it changeth not its hue let the times be what they will the Adamant is still the same in times of persecution a good cause a good God and a good conscience will make a Christian like an Adamant 't will make him invincible and unchangeablâ— When one desired to know what kind of man Basil was there was presented to him in a dream saith the History a Pillar of fire with this motto Talis est Basilius Basil is such a one he is all on a light fire for God persecutions will but set a Christian all on a light fire for God Look as Well-water is warmest in the winter time so real Christians are warmest for God his glory truth and ways in the winter of affliction and persecution true grace rises by opposition persecution many a man had not been so good if the times had not been so bad many a man had not been so gratious if the times had not been so dangerous many a man had not been so holy if the times had not been so prophane many a man had not been so zealous if the times had not been so lukewarm many a man had not been so stout and resolute against bowing the knee to Baal if multitudes had not been worshppers of Baal Rev. 14 1. 6. All the afflictions and persecutions that befall the people of God do but add to their spiritual life light and lustre As Stars shine brightest in the darkest nights and as Spices smell sweetest when pounded and as Vines are the better for bleeding and Gold the brighter for scowring and Palm-trees the better for pressing so the graces of the Saints shine brightest and smell sweetest and rise highest in times of affliction and persecution The Naturalists have long since observed that though
to rise against it and to cry out Away with it it was never good dayes since we have had so much preaching and hearing Or when the Word comes to be scorned slighted disgraced opposed or persecuted oh then they turn their backs upon it and quickly grow weary of it As the Jussians in Strabo delighted themselves with the musick of an excellent Harper till they heard the market bell ring then they run all away save a deaf old man that could take but little delight in the Harpers ditties So let these men but hear the bell of lust or the bell of profit or the bell of pleasure or the bell of applause or the bell of honour or the bell of errour or the bell of superstition sound in their ears and presently they will run from the sweet musick of the Word to follow after any of these bells But now a man that loves the Word and that is affected and taken with the Word as it is a holy Word no bell can ring him from the Word no disgrace no affliction no opposition no persecution can take him off from affecting the Word and from taking pleasure in the Word The cause of his love is abiding and lasting and therefore his love cannot but be lasting and continuing Not but that a holy heart may sometimes be more affected and taken with the Word then at other times As first when a man enjoyes much communion with God in the Word Or 2. when God speaks much peace and comfort to the soul by the Word Or 3. when God assures a man more clearly and fully of the goodness and happiness of his condition by the Word Or 4. when God lets in very much quietness or quickness or sweetness or seriousness or spiritualness into a mans spirit by the Word Oh then a man may more then ordinarily be affected and taken with the Word But now though a holy Christian is not at all times in the same degree and measure taken with the Word yet take such a Christian when he is at worst and you shall find two things in him 1. You shall find in him a holy love to the Word And 2. you shall find in him a real love to holy Christians Fourthly He that loves the Word and that is affected and taken with the Word as it is a holy Word he is most affected and taken with those parts of the Word that do most incite to holiness that do most promote holiness and that do most provoke to holiness As 1 Pet. 1.15.16 But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy I shall give you light into these words when I come to open the holiness of God to you Ad similitudinem non aequalitatem Calv. So Mat. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect Our summum bonum in this world consists in our conformity to the heavenly pattern in all imitations it is best to chuse the most perfect pattern There is nothing more laudable and commendable then for a Christian to endeavour more and more to resemble his God in the highest perfections of righteousness and holiness So Ephes 5.15 16. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redeeming the time because the dayes are evil Christians must walk precisely curiously exactly accurately As the Carpenter works by line and rule so a Christian must walk by line and rule he must labour to get up to the very top of godliness he must go to the utmost of every command as the original word importeth So Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmless or sincere the sons of God without rebuke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Sine querela sine reprehensione in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine or shine ye as lights in the world Gods sons should be spotless sons as the Greek imports that is they should be without all such spots as are inconsistent with Sonship or Saintship And so in Col. 2.6 As ye have therefore received Jesus Christ the Lord so walk ye in him They had received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Law-giver they had received Christ as a ruling Christ as a reigning Christ and as a commanding Christ and now the great duty incumbent upon them is to walk at such a rate of holiness as may evidence that they have thus received Christ And so in 1 John 2.6 Iohn 13.15 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked Christians are to set all Christs moral actions before them as a pattern for their imitation in his life a Christian may behold the lively picture or lineaments of all vertues and accordingly he ought to order his conversation in this world To walk as Christ walked is to walk humbly holily justly righteously meekly lowly lovingly fruitfully faithfully Matth. 4. uprightly with an As of quality or similitude but no◠with an As of equality for that is impossible for any Saint on earth to walk so purely so holily so blamelesly Mat. 5.44 45 46 47. so unspottedly so spiritually so heavenly as Christ walked that is with an as of equality To walk as Christ walked is to slight the world and contemn the world and make a footstool of the world and to live above the world and to triumph over the world as Christ did that is 1 Pet. 2.20 21 22 23. with an As of quality but not with an As of equality To walk as Christ walked is to love them that hate us to pray for them that persecute us to bless them that curse us and to do good to them that do evil to us but still with an As of similitude but not with an As of equality To walk as Christ walked is to be patient and silent and submissive and thankful under the vilest reproaches the heaviest afflictions and the greatest sufferings with an As of quality but not with an As of equality Now a holy heart that is taken with the holiness of the Word he is certainly taken most with those parts of the Word that do most call for holiness and that do most strongly press the soul to make a progress in holiness I have given you a taste of some of the most principal Scriptures that do incite most to holiness and I shall leave it to your own consciences to give in witness for you or against you according to what you find in your own spirits Certainly to a holy man there are no Prayers no Sermons no Discourses no Conferences no books nor no parts of Scripture to those that do most encourage and provoke to holiness But Fifthly and lastly He that loves the Word and that is affected and taken with the Word as it is a holy Word he highly prizes and values
sake the least dram of which being more worth then a thousand thousand of those things for which they have suffered such exquisite paines and torments Ah what great things what hard things doe many men daily suffer to gratifie their own lusts and to satisfie the lusts of others Ah how frequently doe many venture their lives their estates their names their consciences yea their very souls to court a Dalilah Oh the hell of horrors and terrors which are worse then a thousand deaths that many a sinner daily wades thorough to enjoy his sin and why then shouldst thou be startled in thy pursuit after holiness because of afflictions and persecutions that may attend thee when they are nothing to what many suffer from within and without to enjoy that which will undoe them to all eternity c. But Eleventhly I answer Though persecutions may attend the pursuit of holiness yet God has a thousand thousand wayes to preserve his people from being ruined and destroyed by perseting hands 2 Tim. 3.11 Compared with that 13 and 14. of the Acts. Severall afflictions and persecutions befell Paul at Antioch at Iconium at Lystra but out of them all the Lord delivered him As a righteous cause led him into sufferings so a righteous God led him out of sufferings both Jews and Gentiles Barbarians and Grecians Princes and people were as madly set upon persecuting of him as he was once madly set upon persecuting of the Saints but God delivered him from every hand of violence divine power and wisdom wrought gloriously for him both in six troubles and in seven it brought him clearly off and bravely out not of some but out of all his dangers and distresses afflictions and persecutions c. First Now God sometimes preserves his people from being ruined and destroyed Gen. 41.32 Chap. 11.33 Chap. 4. ch 31.29 compared by laying a law of restraint upon the spirits of their persecutors as he did upon Labans and Esaus that they could not hurt him yea in stead of kicking and killing behold kissing and embracing God tyed up those curst Doggs and laid such a restraint upon their wrath rage and malice that they could not so much as touch a hair of Jacobs head God stop't their mouthes and bound their hands that they were not able to act any thing to the prejudice of Jacob. That God that laid a restraint upon the fierce wild creatures in Noahs Ark that they might not prey upon the tamer and that chain'd up the Lyons from preying upon Daniel that God chained up these two Lyons that they could not make a prey of innocent Jacob. But Secondly God does this sometimes by setting persecutors one against another When the Moabites were confederated with the Ammonites and those of Mount-Seir against Judah 2 Chron. 20.22,23,24 Judg. 1.22 Chap. 9.55 56 57. compared God made them turn their swords into one anothers bowels and so they mutually became their own executioners and by this means poor Judah escaped God sometimes saves his Lambs by setting the Wolf and the Dogg together by the ears When that Wolf Saul was even ready to devour David the Lamb God le ts loose those Doggs the Philistines upon Saul 1 Sam. 23.27 and so by this means David was pâ—eserved and secured Acts 23.6 7 8. And so Paul by setting the persecuting Pharisees against the persecuting Scribes he escaped persecution And so the Lord by stiring up the Persians against the Babylonians he brought about the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity and afterwards by stirring up the Grecians against the Persians and the Romans against the Grecians and the Gothes and Vandals and other barbarous Nations against the Romans he brought about the deliverance of his people In all Ages God by engaging one furious Lyon against another has preserved his sheep in quiet When the Emperor of Germany threatned utter ruine to all the Protestants within his Empire God let loose the Turk to fall with great fury upon his Empire and by that means diverted the Emperors rage and preserved his poor people which were as sheep appointed to the slaughter Ah England England if God had not set thine enemies together by the ears year after year how had they combined and conspired together to have swallowed thee up long before this day But Thirdly God does sometimes save his people from persecutions by passing a sentence of death upon their persecutors And thus by his sudden and fearful judgement upon Herod he gave rest liberty and quiet to his people Acts 12.23 24. And so by his vengeance on persecuting Emperors he gave rest to his people When Julian the Apostate had vowed to to make an oblation of all the lives of the surviving Christians as Gregory Nazianzen reports God struck him with an Arrow from heaven Orat. 4. in Iul. so that he died reviling of Christ and casting up his blood to heaven as if he would have cast it into the very face of Christ And when Eugenius the Tyrant endeavored to destroy the Armies of the Christians under the Emperor Theodosius God gave the very winds a command to wrest the weapons out of their enemies hands and so preserved his people And in 88. how did God make the very winds to fight for his people and so saved them from that bloody invasion by causing his winds to blow and their enemies to sink as Lead in the mighty waters And by giving Achitophel Rope enough he preserved David from perishing But Fourthly God does this sometimes by altering and changing the very hearts and natures of their persecutors And thus by changing Pauls nature Acts 9.31 by turning that Wolf into a Lamb that devil into a Saint he gave the Churches rest throughout all Judea Galilee and Samaria and this is one of the most desirable things in the world that God would save his people from outward ruine by ruining their persecutors sins and by changing their hearts and saving their souls This way God has taken and this way God may take being a free Agent to work when and where and how and on whom he pleases but I can't turn to a promise wherein he has engaged himself to make converts of persecutors his common way of dealing with such is to give them up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart and searedness of conscience and perversness of spirit that so their hell may be the hotter at last But Fifthly God does this sometimes by taking persecutors feet in the same snares that they have laid for others Psal 9.16 Psal 57.6 The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah Higgaion Selah signifies matter of great admiration and of deep meditation that the wicked should be snared in the work of his own hands is matter of perpetual admiration and of most serious meditation Who won't admire that Goliah should be slain with his own sword and that proud Haman should hold Mordecaies stirrup and
except there be sound repentance on his side and pardoning mercy on Gods Take another instance in that Prov. 23.20 21. The glutton and the drunkard were to be stoned to death Deut. 21.20 21. Basil calls drunkenness a self chosen devil When Aechines commended Philip King of Macedon for a jovial man that would drink freely Demosthenes being by told him that was a good quality in a Spunge but not in a Prince Be not among wine-bibbers amongst riotous eaters of flesh For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall cloath a man with raggs Many Dukes Earles Lords and Gentlemen of great estates have â—adly experienced the truth of this Scripture society and luxurious company hath brought many a man to extream poverty The full cup makes an empty purse and the fat dish makes a lean bagg he that fills thee wine with one hand and sets before thee dainty dishes with the other hand will be sure to pick thy pockets with both hands and this Caligula the Roman Emperor found by experience for his gluttony brought him to incredible poverty Diogenes hearing that the house of a certain prodigal was offered to sale said I knew that house was so accustomed to surfeting and drunkenness that ere long it would spue out the Master Excessive drinking is now so great in England that the Germans may fear the loss of their Charter There was a street in Rome called vicussobrius the sober street because there was never an Ale-house in it but this I think is hard to say of any street in London yea of any street in England It is an observation amongst the Marriners that as the Sea grows daily shallower shallower on the shoars of Holland and Zealand so the Channel of late waxeth deeper deeper on the Coasts of Kent and Essex Ah sirs what is more evident then this that as drunkenness ebbs in Holland so it flows in England O what a deal of ground has this sin got within this few months upon English hearts there was a time when drunkards were as rare in England as Wolves but now they are as common as Swine Ah what staggering reeling and shameful spewing is to be found both among the great ones the Priests and people of this Nation The Prophet Hosea Hos 7.5 complained in his time that the Princes upon their Kings day made him sick with bottles of wine This day of their King was either his birth day and so Pagnine rendreth it here Die natalis ejus or his Coronation day and so the Chalde paraphrast carrieth it or the day wherein their King Jeroboam set up his golden Calves at Dan and Bethel as some others conceive Now in this day of their King there was such carnal triumphing and such pampering of the flesh and such roaring carouzing Richard the third drowned his brother in a Butt of Sack and drinking of bottles of wine that the Princes drank themselves sick drowning their bodies and souls in bottles and Butts of wine Memorable is the Kings late Proclamation against all such debauched persons who pretending to drink His Health destroy their own by a shameful abusing of the precious creatures of God But if the Prophet Hosea were now alive in this Nation If one may credit relations many hav drunk themselves dead within this few months Ah what cause would he have to complain that both high and low men and women young and old have given themselves to this beastly sin that unmans a man and that besots the soul and that destroys the body and that proves a Canker-worm to mens estates What are most Ale-houses but hell-houses but the Devils-houses in which the name of God is notoriously blasphemed Religion scorned the Saints derided the Sabbaths prophaned young ones impoysned and old ones hardned and many thousand families impoverished And why then should it be almost as easie a task to conquer the West Indies to overcome the Turke and to bring down the Pope as 't is to bring down such wretched Ale-houses as are the very Nurseries of all sin and the Synagogues of incarnate Devils and the very sinks of all misery poverty and beggary By these instances 't is most clear that 't is not holiness but wickedness that exposes men to the greatest poverty and misery But 1 Kings 17.10 17. Mr. Fox in his Act. and Mon. pag. 1874. edit ult Speaks of a poor woman who being threatned that she should have but a little bread one day and a little water on the next replyed If you take away my meat I hope God will take away my hunger and then 't will be all one as if I had meat Thirdly Consider That God can make a little with holiness go a great way A little with holiness shall serve the turn and then enough is as good as a feast God can make a handful of Meal in the Barrel and a little Oyl in the Cruse hold out a long while So Deut. 8.4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee neither did thy foot swell these fourty years Chap. 29.5 And I have led you fourty years in the wilderness your clothes are not waxen old upon you and thy Shâ—o is not waxen old upon thy foot Their raiment in fourty years time was not the worse for wearing their garments were not worn out with wearing in all that time they were not grown old and so unfit to wear O no but they were as fresh and strong and fit for use at the last as they were when they first came into the wilderness and this was by a divine power that preserved them from decay God supplyed all the backs and bellies of the Israelites in such state as if every Israelite had been a Prince When God brings his people into a wilderness condition he will make their mercies last and hold out as long as their wilderness condition continues Some of the learned are of opinion that the garments and Shoos of children and young men grew up with their persons so that as their stature increased so their apparel and Shoos waxed larger and longer But I suppose that 't is not safe for us to imagine or multiply miracles without necessity and clear warrant from Scripture and therefore I shall rather fall in with those worthy men who thus judge viz. That when any began to out-grow their Apparel and Shoos they laid them aside and took others that were fit for their present stature and that those which they laid aside were as sound and fresh and fit for service as when they first began to use them and so those they put off were fit for others to put on that were of a less stature and thus God lengthned out their mercies in their wilderness condition So in that Prov. 15.16 17. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Sheep can live upon bare Commons where fat Oxen would be quickly starved c. then great treasure and trouble therewith
greater shall bee my reward hereafter and therefore O my Soul grow in grace perfect holiness and abound in the work and service of the Lord knowing that thy labour shall not bee in vain in the Lord And thus I have given you the reasons that prove that there shall bee degrees of glory in Heaven Now I have nothing further to do upon this point but to give a few brief Answers to such Objections as are commonly raised against this truth that I have asserted and proved Obj. First Some object and say that one Christ bought us all and that all our portions are bought by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and that therefore all beleevers shall share alike in the inheritance of the Saints in light now to this Objection I shall Answer First That all Saints shall bee equal sharers in the substantial and essential glory of Heaven c. but of this I have spoken before and therefore Secondly Though a Father buyes a rich inheritance for all his Children yet this laies no necessity nor obligation at all upon him to alot to every one of his Children an equal portion so though our Lord Jesus Christ hath by his blood purchased a rich inheritance for his Children yet this layes no necessity nor obligation at all upon Jesus Christ to divide this rich inheritance by equal portions among his Children t is true that Christ hath purchased all with his blood and t is as true that hee may divide his purchase among his people as hee pleases if every man may do with his own as hee pleaseth why may not Christ must hee needs bee bound when others are free Thirdly and lastly I answer that as it is true that the merits and satisfaction of Christ is the ground and foundation of our reward and that alone which makes our works capable of a reward so t is as true that our works are the subject of reward and this is most agreeable to the compact that was made between Christ and his Father that everlasting happiness and blessedness that eternal glory and felicity should bee measured out to the Saints according to their different measures of grace and different degrees of service that they have been engaged in in this world and all this upon the credit of Christs blood certainly there is nothing under heaven below the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that can make differing works capable of a different reward the Papists are most sadly out for they are so blinde and bold as to affirm that the more grace any man hath the more glory hee merits by his grace these men make degrees of grace and not the blood of Jesus Christ to be the meritorious cause of degrees of glory and therefore of all men I think they are furthest from glory certainly this is the beleevers glory and his crown of rejoycing that all recompences and rewards shall flow in upon him not upon the account of his merits but upon the account of Christs blood and thus much shall suffice to have spoken by way of Answer to this Objection Obj. 2. But now in the Second place I shall come to answer their grand and main objection and that is taken from that Parable in the 20 Matth. where the Kingdome of Heaven is compared to a vineyard now in this Parable there is mention made of a Husband-man that call'd several labourers into his vineyard at several hours in the day some hee call'd at the first hour and some hee call'd at the third and some at the ninth and some at the eleventh now when they came all to receive their wages the story tells us that hee gave every man a penny hee gave every man an equal reward they that laboured from the first hour and they that laboured from the third hour and they that laboured from the sixth hour of the day had no greater a recompence than hee that came in at the eleventh hour and so had labour'd but one hour in the vineyard and bore but little if any of the heat of the day from whence the Objectors conclude that there are no degrees of glory in Heaven but that all shall have glory alike happiness and blessedness alike every man shall have his penny every man shall have an equal reward and no mans penny in Heaven shall bee brighter or bigger than anothers Now by way of answer to this objection give mee leave to premise these three things First That this Parable of the housholder in giving to every man a penny hath no reference at all to Heaven nor to the reward nor to the glory that shall bee confer'd upon the Elect and this I shall clearly and fully prove by these four following Arguments First This illative particle for in vers 1. sheweth that this Parable is inserted to expound the former conclusion viz. that the first shall bee last and the last shall bee first and therefore the end of the Parable is concluded with the repetition of the same sentence vers 16. the last shall bee first and the first shall be last Christ by this Parable would teach his hearers that there is no reason under Heaven why they which are first called in respect of time should boast or triumph over others because hee can easily call the uncalled at pleasure and either make them equal with them or else prefer them before them which are first The scope of Christ in this Parable is not to set forth the equality of celestial glory 't is not to prove that the happiness and blessedness of the Saints shall be equal in Heaven but the very drift of the Parable is to shew that they which are first called and converted have no cause at all to despise the uncalled unconverted or to trample upon them with the foot of pride considering that they who are yet in their sins and in their blood and in an unconverted and unsanctified estate may yet be called and either made equal to them or preferred before them But Secondly Interpreters do generally agree in this that by the Husbandman wee are to understand God himself and by the Labourers men upon earth and by the Vineyard the Church of God and several of them say Chrysostom Origen Jerom Gregory Austin that by the five hours in the Parable wee are to understand the five ages of man First By those who were called in the morning See my Apples of Gold and sent into the Vineyard wee are to understand those who in their childhood are called and converted they are such who begin to seek the Lord and to serve the Lord even as soon as they are capable of the use of reason As Samuel did and as Josiah did and as Timothy did Secondly By those who are called at the third hour wee are to understand those who are converted and turned to the Lord in their youth in the prime the spring and morning of their daies Thirdly By those who were called at the
the South wind be more pleasant yet the North wind is more healthfull for the South wind with his warmth raiseth vapours which breed putrefaction and cause diseases but the North wind with his cold drieth up those vapours purging the blood and quickning the spirits so the North wind of affliction and persecution contributes most to the drying up of sinful vapours and to the quickning up of a Christians Graces Though the wind may blow and the rain in stormy weather may beat upon a painted Post or Sign whose colour is laid in oyle yet the wind and rain is so far from blowing or washing off the colour or beauty that is upon the Post or Sign that it rather adds to their beauty and makes them shine more beautifull then before so the rain of affliction and the wind of persecution do rather add to the beauty and lustre of a Christians graces then any way cloud them or take off the spiritual beauty and glory of them But Fifthly Persecuting times are uniting times oh the discord the division the wrangling biting quarrelling that is to be found among professors in times of peace prosperity but when affliction and persecution comes upon them this unites them together In persecuting times the Saints have been but as one man which made their very persecutors to say Ecce ut invicem se diligunt see how these Christians love one another see how they knit and close together Eusebius in Hist Psalm 83.3 to verse 9. 2 Chron. 20.1 4 12. Though the sheep in Sun-shine dayes feed at a distance and wander one from another yet when a storm comes or the Wolf comes then they run all together and so it 's with Christians Some Religious Bishops that could by no means agree when they had their freedom and liberty yet could well enough agree when they were in prison together Though children in a Family may fall out among themselves yet they quickly unite when a common enemy assaults them Persecuting times unite Christians closer together in their affections resolutions and prayers they who formerly could hardly be brought to eat together or trade together or live together or walk together in persecuting times will be brought to hear together and pray together and fast together and communicate experiences together and stand together and fall together and rise together c. When Gebal Ammon and Amaleck did combine the people of God kept close together for they very well knew that broken forces were soon dissipated I have read of Ptolomeus Philadelphius King of Egypt that he caused the Bible to be translated by seventy Interpreters which seventy were severally disposed of in seventy several Cels though they knew not the names of one another nor never saw the faces of one another yet they did so well agree in their several Translations that there was no considerable difference betwixt them in rendring the Text so when the people of God shall be put into Cells and Prisons and Goals then they will so agree together Acts 7. that there will be little or no difference betwixt them As all the stones that came about Stephens ears did but knock him closer to Christ the corner stone so all the stones that come about the Saints ears will but knock them the nearer to Christ and the closer one to another But Sixthly As persecuting times are uniting times so persecuting times are truth-advancing times truth thrives most when it is most opposed and pesecuted Phil. 1.12 13 14. But I would ye should understand Brethren that the things which hapned unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel So that my Bonds in Christ are manifested in all the palace Veritas vincit and in all other places And many of the Brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear Both Court City and Countrey did ring of Pauls bonds and the cause thereof Pauls Iron chain made more noise and was more glorious and wrought more blessed effects then all the Golden chains in Nero's Court for by his bonds and chains many of the Brethren were mightily imboldned and encouraged to preach the word without fear the Brethren when they saw that Paul preacht and kept up the exercise of his Ministry though a prisoner and though he was in bonds and chains could not but reason thus with themselves Si veritas est causa discordiae mori possum tacere non possum If truth be the cause of our discord I may dye but I may not be silent said Jerom to Helvidius if Paul a prisoner holds up and holds on in preaching the word though he be in bonds chains ah how much more ought we who are at liberty to hold up hold on in preaching the truth and advancing the truth in spreading of the truth There were many that took an occasion from Pauls imprisonment bonds and sufferings to disgrace his Apostleship the Apostle meets with these and tells them that though they designed and intended the disgrace and hinderance of the Gospel by his imprisonment and bonds yet God had by his wonderfull providence and goodness so ordered the matter that his bonds and imprisonment turned to his great honor and fame and an occasion of further spreading and advancing the Gospel Though Satan and his instruments may disturb the truth yet they cannot suppress it for magna est veritas praevalebit great is truth shall prevail So upon the persecution of Stephen many of the Brethren preached the word far and near and the hand of the Lord was with them to the conversion of many Act. 11.19 25. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word to none but the Jews only and some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene which when they were come to Antioch spake unto the Grecians preaching the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the Church which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people were added unto the Lord. The Brethren that were dispersed and scattered by reason of persecution fall upon preaching of the Lord Jesus and though they were Lay-men yet the hand of the Lord was mightily with them so that a great number believed and turned to the Lord. God is a free agent and can work the hearts of men over to himself by what hand he pleases and many times he doth the greatest works by the