yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it And to that purpose shall commend to your serious consideration the following particulars First Let us consider whose Law this is and we shall find that the Author of the Law does greatly recommend it to us How hard soever it may otherwise seem yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ that consideration is of great moment to reconcile us to it We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord and dear Redeemer lays upon us For we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us He hath given us great proof that he loved us when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God Let us stay a while upon this consideration and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake If our hearts be cold and chill if we find them dampt and sinking let us then meditate of our Lords love and that will be of great use to inflame them and give them spirit Does Jesus say that we must not fear them that kill the body that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples Good is that word of our Dearest Lord will the pious Soul say Death shall be welcome when ever it comes and it will be not only our duty to die when our Lord would have us but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us Alas this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father He was happy and glorious and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Heaven to Earth from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world He that was the brightness of his Fathers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh and with our infirmities He that upheld all things by the word of his power was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin to be wrapt up in swadling cloaths to lie in a Stable to be subject to his Creatures to be tempted by the Devil to be hungred and thirsty to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree that he might save lost Mankind He was at these pains for the helpless and for sinners for Caitiffs and Rebels for them who had dishonoured his Father and ruined themselves Here is a love without a Parallel a love that passeth knowledge a love that is stronger than death and that surpasseth the love of women Here are all the dimensions of love here is height and depth a length and breadth Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his Friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but few examples of it Our Lords kindness rose higher by far He died for the ungodly for the weak and them that were without all hope Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to die for him It is an easie task that lies upon us to love him that hath first loved us and to die for him that died for us This is very reasonable and a most gentle command to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country There are those would dare to die for a good man or for a faithful friend My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives or my fellow Creatures I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us is this That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth It is fit we should do it and he led us the way He hath recommended this Precept to us not only by his Doctrine but by his Example also Indeed our Lord was silent when he was reproached and inconsistently accused but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ Mat. 26.63 64. the Son of God or not He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate and tells him To this end was I born Joh. 18.17 and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud and does not put his Followers upon that which he declined himself This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done Every where we judge this very reasonable The Souldier thinks himself obliged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger And the Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by 2. Let us consider the command it self and that is that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord and forfeit our hopes of a better life This may at first sight seem a very hard saying but when we draw near and consider it well we shall find it a very reasonable Law and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said when he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden light The truth is we disquiet our selves in vain and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary so is a great part of our misery also We make a false judgment of things and set a very unequal rate and price upon them And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought so we judge death to be a greater evil than indeed it is I desire that you would under this general head consider well the following particulars And 1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment It is no high Prerogative and unvaluable peculiar For the smallest Mite or Ante the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we When Marcellinus was sick all that were about him flattered him and said that which they thought would please him most Every man
the fire that never goes out What proportion is there between Time and Eternity Between a sorrow that lasteth for a moment and that sorrow which excludes all hope of an end But then if we think of the Joys of Heaven that are the portion of the Pious and persevering Christian we shall find that all the sorrows of this life bear no proportion to them The Apostle tells us that they are not to be compared I reckon says he that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 If then we turn our Eyes from Time upon Eternity from the sufferings we feel to the glory which we wait for we shall not easily sink under our burden nor any longer impeach the Divine Care and Providence 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not says the Apostle For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen Let us now consider 3. The ends and usefulness of these Evils which happen to good men in this life For though we call these sufferings evils yet are they occasions of very much good And 1. They are for the general good of the world and the advancement of Religion amongst men Hereby men have taken occasion to enquire into the Principles of them that suffer and to acquaint themselves with that Religion which they overlooked before Hence they have been convinced of the truth of Religion and that it is a reality and will bear men up under all the evils of this world The patient sufferings of Holy men have greatly adorned and spread the Religion for which they suffered Hence many new Converts have been brought into the Faith and hereby men have been confirmed in the truth The undanted sufferings of good men for Religion have spread it more than learned Books and subtle Arguments could do Every man is not able to judge of the strength of an Argument nor to detect the Sophistry of cunning men He that is constant to the death does more by his patient sufferings than he could have done by his Wit and Learning We gain a great credit to our Religion when it supports us under our Evils which we suffer They that see this are convinced greatly in their Consciences They now believe Religion not only true but a Principle of power and great efficacy and that the pious man serves God for greater respects than any worldly thing It was a great Calumny against Job that he served God for his worldly ends only Job 1.11 But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face Thus doth Satan accuse Job unto God How false this Accusation was appeared from what followed By his patient enduring he shewed that he was a perfect and upright man that feared God and eschewed evil It is a cheap thing to profess Religion when there is no danger in it This does not recommend it unto others Men will suspect that this profession either serves a worldly interest or was owing to our education or some chance But he that dares to die for his Religion does greatly commend it to the Consciences of men By this means the world was vanquished and Christian Religion planted among men This course was of great power towards the confounding of Infidels and the gaining new Believers It served to strengthen the weak and confirm the strong The bloud of Martyrs was the Seed of the Church and he that died for his Religion spread it This was of greater moment than learned Arguments or carnal weapons Our Religion was founded upon sufferings and built upon a Crucified Saviour 2. As the sufferings of good men are for the good of the world so they are for the good of those men who suffer They are gainers by their sufferings and this Consideration doth serve to clear the care and Providence of God It may seem strange that the severe afflictions that befall us should be for our advantage That I should bury my only Child and my dearest Friend lose my Estate and be cast in a righteous cause that I should meet with contempt and scorn and great disappointments are indeed great trials but such as may conduce if I be not wanting greatly to my advantage It is true that the sorrowful sufferer does not see how this can be But yet afterwards he sees it clearly and lives to bless God for those very evils under which he sometimes groaned We know that Fire and the Lance rough and harsh medicines and methods cure some men that were in danger of perishing Joseph's imprisonment was no likely way to his advancement but yet God made it the occasion of his rise We do not presently understand these things but what Jesus said to Peter we find often verified in the case before us Joh. 13.7 What I do says he thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter One would think Clay and Spittle might put out the eyes of him that sees and yet we know our Lord by this means cured the blind I shall lay before you some of the advantages which a good man receives from the sufferings which befall him in this life First These evils conduce much to the destroying of the remainders of sin in a good man Our evil habits are not rooted out all at once There is some folly bound up in the hearts of good men which this rod of correction serves to beat out Prosperity generally hides our wickedness from us Afflictions are faithful friends they tell us our fault plainly they awaken us and conduce much towards our amendment And that they may gain their end it is frequently so contrived by the wise Providence of God that we may read our sin in our very suffering As our affliction is the unhappy off-spring of our fault so it hath upon it some features and signatures that speak it like its Parent We may very often read in our suffering what was our sin It were very easie to give you many instances to this purpose were it not too much out of the way of the present discourse It is very certain that our afflictions are instructive and very faithful Monitors to us Psal 119.67 71. Before I was afflicted I went astray says the Psalmist but now have I kept thy word Again It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes There is nothing so formidable as a constant and uninterrupted prosperity We are generally the worse for being prosperous And it is too often so that our Vices and our Prosperity grow up together It is rarely seen but even good men are somewhat the worse on this score It was a saying of one of the Ancients That he thought none could be more unhappy than that man who never met with any adversity
gave him that Counsel that they thought would be to him the most grateful But there came to him an honest Stoick that dealt sincerely with him He told him that he need not much afflict himself as if some great matter were before him Non est res magna vivere omnes servi tui vivunt omnia animalia c. Sen. Ep. 77. It is says he no great thing to live All thy Servants live and every Animal does it It is a great thing to die well wisely and undauntedly Life considered abstractly is of no great price and there are many Creatures that have it which we do not greatly value upon that score And when our Lord requires us to give up our life he does not command any great thing of us in doing that Life it self is at best but a manner or circumstance of being and there are those Creatures which have it whose condition is yet very mean and low Life alone does not import any happiness at all Instead of that it often serves to make them who have it sensible of their misery 2. That supposing life more valuable than it is yet it is but a very little of it we lose when we part with it by the hands of violence It is indeed of very great moment how we live of very little how long He that takes our life away does rob us of very little And when God calls for it we have no cause to murmur and complain We generally take false measures here and there is nothing in which we more frequently miscount than we do in this matter And hence it is that we judge so much amiss of our Saviours Laws For what is this life that we put so great a price upon What it is at the most I reckon that what we have spent of it is not at all and what is to come is not yet That which is past is gone irrecoverably and that which is to come is not yet at all so that all we have and all that we can be said to lose is the present moment In all things else we cannot properly be said to be deprived of what we had lost before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. Ant. l. 3. c. 8. or to lose what we never had No man can be deprived of more than what he hath in actual possession We live the present moment only For all the rest we either have lived it or it is uncertain whether we shall or not This is all then that we lose and indeed all that we can enjoy at once the present moment So that one of the Ancients said very truly That he that died very old and he that died very young losâ— but one and the same thing Id. l. 2. c. 12. For said he the present time is that only which any man can be deprived of Agreeably hereunto the Apostle speaks when he calls the sufferingâ— of this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.18 the sufferings of this present time It is but a moment that we suffer for it is but a moment that we live at once It is true indeed we flatter our selves with a long time that we have to live but we cannot promise our selves that which is to come and we cannot with any propriety of Speech be said to lose that which we never had 3. That supposing we might have lived longer had we not been cut off by the hands of violence yet is this a very inconsiderable â—oss Our Saviour is no hard Master if he call us hence in our youth and full strength and suffer us to fall under the hands of violence What does all this amount to We do but die a little sooner and after another way And sure we have little love for our Lord and our Religion if we think much to do this For suppose we might have lived longer yet that is not much which we lose Perhaps a few years or months and what does it signifie What proportion does this hold to Eternity Or of what moment is it if you consider the boundless love of God and our blessed Saviour A long life is no infallible token of Gods favour under the Gospel This was indeed a blessing under the Law of Moses But we are now received into a better Covenant We know it was otherwise before the Law of Moses was given Enoch that walked with God and that pleased him lived the shortest life of any of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noaâ— And many times so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he diâ— in his youth whom God loves I hath been esteemed a favour to bâ— removed hence betimes We muâ—â— die and if we are sure of that iâ— is of small moment when we diâ— And therefore when we die foâ— our Religion we do not lose muâ—â— for the sake of it For we must all die We are but deprived of thaâ— which we knew before would eâ—â— long be taken from us If our house had not been pulled or fired down yet in a little while it would have fallen of it self He that kills me does not by doing so make me mortal Si mortem possemus evadere meritò mori timeremus Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 6. he found me so We have no cause to fear death when we know we cannot escape it When we are killed it is life not immortality which we are deprived of Let us not phansie that our Lord requires any great matter of us when he commands us to lay down our life for his sake We must have died if he had never made this Law and it is a small matter which he requires of us when he would have us die for him Dlogen Laertius Socrat. When one told Socrates that the Athenians had decreed his death He told him that Nature had decreed theirs also His death was hastened by them it was determined by a superiour Power We have no cause to complain but great cause to bless God that since we must die he is pleased to call upon us to do it in a righteous cause We are very foolish and fond if we now murmur and complain I know very well that we are affrighted with the pain of a violent and unnatural death And perhaps the shame and reproach of it is also irksom to us For its reproach and shame it is the most trifling pretence imaginanable And I can hardly think that a wise man upon second thoughts can be moved with so vain a consideration as this The truth of it is there is not any shadow in this pretence For to die for our Religion whatever our death be is not more our duty than it is our priviledge and our honour The first Christians judged thus They rejoyced in this that they were esteemed worthy to suffer for the name of Christ It is no reproach to suffer any death in a good cause He that dies for his Country is not by any wise man reproached because he was found dead in
governs the World And it is well for us that so it is We are safer much in his hands than in our own and dearer we are to him than to our selves We rejoyce under the Government of a wise and good King We have greater cause to rejoyce in this that God reigns And that if we consider his infinite Wisdom his Goodness and Almighty Power His Wisdom assures that he will do what is best And we are not fit Judges of that We are not able to see into the secrets of Government It is enough to us that God is infinitely wise and so not only knows what is best but what is best for us and what is the fittest time of helping us But then his Goodness and Holiness give us a full assurance that he will not let them that are truly good and suffer upon that account lose their reward That he will not govern Arbitrarily but will do good to them that are good And since his Power is infinite also we are secure that he will not be defeated in bringing his own Counsels to pass And therefore the holy and pious soul give◠it self up intirely unto Gods disposal being well assured of Gods good will to him and knowing well that his infinite Wisdom cannot be deceived nor his Almighty Power defeated 3. I shall make some Application of this And that I shall do in the following Particulars First This may serve to reprove our murmuring and impatience under the evils which we meet with here below We complain bitterly under our several troubles and afflictions not considering the hand that lays them on us We do not as we ought when we are distressed look up with great reverence to our Creator but we curse our Stars or we are angry with our Brother who is the immediate Instrument of our trouble or we impute our misery to our inadvertence and do disquiet our selves in vain If our Child or Friend die we accuse the Physician or our selves If we suffer in our Goods we quarrel with our Servants or are angry at the Times In a word we are uneasie and restless not considering that God governs the World and that the very hairs of our head are numbred Our Friend did not die without Gods knowledge Our Goods were not lost without his regard And who are we that we should murmur and complain and say unto God What dost thou If God govern the World we may well be shamed to repine and murmur If he disposeth things below we shall be very blameable if we murmur at our own Lot and Portion Secondly Hence we may be seasonably exhorted to acknowledge this great truth by a suitable life and conversation It is a great influence which this belief ought to have upon us It ought to render us contented with our Lot and Portion of things To endue us with courage to encounter difficulties It ought to quicken us in our devotions Let us not faint under the sorrows that overtake us If God govern the World we ought quietly to commit our cause to him and not go about to wrest the Government out of his hand It becomes greatly to trust in him at all times and not to let go our Faith and our Hope whatever troubles befall us in this mortal life 1 Pet. 5.10 11. The God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. V. OUr Religion does assure us of the power and presence of the holy Spirit of God under our sufferings for righteousness sake and this is another great support which the sincere disciples of Christ are furnished with 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you It is worth our observing by the way that this Spirit is in this place represented to us under the Character of the Spirit of glory and that very fitly also when the Apostle assures those men of this divine assistance who are reproached for the name of Christ The Spirit of glory will sufficiently support good men under the reproach and scorn they meet withal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. N. T. Edit Curcellaei There is a certain Greek Copy that hath it the Spirit of glory and of power I shall not need to contend for that reading being well assured that he who receives the Divine Spirit receives the Spirit of power also as I shall have occasion to shew you afterwards It is to be observed that the Apostle assures them to whom he writes that this Holy Spirit whom he calls the Spirit of glory and of God shall rest upon them He shall not only give them a visit in their sorrows and so leave them but he shall stay and abide with them And this agrees with what our blessed Saviour promised Joh. 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Even the Spirit of truth c. But for my more orderly speaking to this matter I shall First Shew you the sufficiency of this divine assistance Secondly I shall lay before you the great assurance which we have that we shall receive this heavenly aid Thirdly The condition on our part required for the obtaining this assistance Fourthly The Application of it 1. I shall shew you the sufficiency of this Divine assistance which God hath made us the Promise of We shall have great cause to believe that our help will bear proportion to our work and that whatever is laid upon us does not exceed the proportion of the strength which we receive to bear it And then we shall have no cause to find fault of our Master or of our work when our help bears proportion to our work and duty Now we need more than an ordinary help in these two Cases First To enable us against persecutions for the sake of our Religion Secondly To support and comfort us under our losses and other afflictions which we shall meet with in this present life I shall therefore shew you that the Spirit of God will afford sufficient help in both these cases 1. We need more than ordinary assistance to enable us against persecutions for the sake of our Religion The Christian hath as quick a sense of pain as other men his Religion does not destroy his flesh and bloud and change it into Brass Heb. 12.11 He is as apprehensive and as sensible of the evils of life as any other man is And besides that he is is by his Profession exposed to all the miseries of humane life To cold and nakedness To hunger and thirst To scorn and reproach To stripes and to buffetings To Wheels and Racks to restraint and to death death it self It were not an easie thing to recount the very many