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
a ditch It is the Crime not the kind of death that makes death dishonourable He falls well whatever hand pull him down that falls in a good cause Our Lord died upon a Cross His was a painful and the most shameful death It was the punishment of Slaves and the most infamous Criminals Now it is said of our Lord Heb. 12.2 that he endured the Cross despising the shame The pain was very afflictive to his flesh but yet such was his love that he endured that But then his death was as shameful as his Enemies could have devised but the shame our Lord despised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Antonin l. 7. 2.23 And sure if our Lord did this for us well may we do it for him Well may we glory in that Cross which our Lord hath born But then for the pain of a violent death we shall not need much to disquiet our selves we affright our selves without cause and we do disquiet our selves in vain We think of Racks and Wheels of fire and faggot when we think of our Enemies from whom we expect no mercy But it is certain that we often torment our selves with evils that shall never overtake us But yet we will suppose that we meet with great pain What then This pain will be tolerable or not If it be tolerable we may endure it if not we shall not be long troubled with it That will end or we shall We cannot last long under extreme pain Besides it is not unlikely but a disease may put us to sharper and longer pains than a Tyrant will ever do A Calenture may be more troublesom to us than fire and faggot and the flames of a Fever may scorch us more severely than other flames And they that have felt the extremity of the Gout and Stone will easily grant that it is a favour to die by the Sword of a Tyrant Quid refert in Equuleum an in lectulum torquendus ascenderis Petrarch Arrian Epictet l. 2. c. 6. We do not know but we may be tortured on our Beds and what great matter is it whether we be exercised upon a Bed or upon a Wheel It is very likely that a Tyrant will sooner release us than a disease What needest thou care says the heathen Philosopher what way thou goest into another World They are alike But yet if thou art willing to know the truth that is the shortest which a Tyrant sends Never was any Tyrant six months in killing any man A Fever hath often detained men a whole year What is it then that we fear Is it the Sword of an Enemy But are we sure we shall die an easier death Perhaps this Sword may may rescue us from greater pains and miseries Arrian l. 4. c. 7. When once I had learnt says the same Philosopher that he that is born must also die I am indifferent whether I die by a Fever or the fall of a Tile or I be killed by a Souldier But if I must compare I know that a Souldier will destroy me with the least pain It is very inconsiderable since we must die after what manner we do it And if there be any difference perhaps this way of dying by a Tyrant may be the gentler 4. That the life which we part with when we die for our Reliligion is not worth the keeping upon those terms upon which alone we have the liberty to preserve it Life I grant is a very valuable thing Especially the life of a man But let us consider a while what that is that makes it so It is not because it gives us the opportunity of eating and drinking and sporting our selves in the World This is the life of a Brute and not the life of a man much less of a worshipper of God But our life is desirable as it relates to a better life and it serves the purposes of Eternity They are the causes or ends of life which make it desirable So long as they continue life is not only a blessing but a most unspeakable one The great ends of life are the service of God and doing good to one another in order to a future glory and immortality It is here we lay a foundation for a future bliss and happiness This life is the Stage on which we act our parts well This is the state of trial and this life is very valuable considered with its reference and subordination to that glory which we expect hereafter We know there is a reward for the righteous and out of respect to that it is that we strive to abound in all the fruits of righteousness and perfect holiness in the fear of God Whiles our life serves so great an end it is worth the preserving but without this it is nothing worth For barely to live is not the happiness and perfection of a man If then it come to this that we must lose our life or prostitute our Consciences and deny the faith our life is not worth the keeping upon these hard terms For when the end of life is gone what is life it self but a burden and reproach to him that hath it In other things we judge thus We value things by their end and usefulness And when they are rendred unfit for their end we value them not any longer Who regards any thing any farther than as it answers its end Who regards an unfruitful and dry Vine or Fig-tree Who values adulterate Coin or useless Beasts It is the end and usefulness of things that sets a rate and price upon them We reject those things that are useless as we do Salt that hath lost its savour But nothing is more vile and contemptible than our life when it is deprived of its end A man that hath Shipwracked his Faith and prostituted his Conscience to save his goods and his life is of all Creatures in this lower world the most deplorably miserable He lives indeed but he is an uneasie burden to himself and a cumber to the Earth He lives but his life is nothing worth when he is bereft of his integrity and hath forfeited his future hopes Life is not worth any mans keeping upon such terms as these are Plat. Ap. Socr. Socrates told the Athenians that if they would offer him his life upon condition that he should no longer Philosophize he would thank them indeed but not accept of life upon those terms And adds that he would rather obey God than them Hence it was that the first Christians would rather die than do that which was evil And some of the honester Heathens did thus also Arrian Epictet l. 1. c. 8. Priscus Helvidius was a Senator of Rome and considered the duty of his place The Emperour sent to him and forbid him to come into the Senate Priscus told him It was in his power to remove him from being a Senator till that was done he would go into the Senate Then the Emperour commanded him if went into the Senate to
miseries with which holy men have been persecuted Apostles and Prophets wise and holy men men of whom this World was not worthy have been sawn asunder stretched upon the Rack tormented on the Wheel exposed upon Gibbets torn apieces by violence rosted upon the fire and taken off by death that hath been not only violent but merciless Now these trials require a mighty aid and no less than an heavenly and a divine assistance It is an easie thing for us to despise the danger that is at a distance To speak big words when we know the Enemy is afar off To profess that we will rather die for Jesus than we will deny him Our Lord hath many such forward Disciples as these who give him their word that they will not forsake him and yet for all their good words they deny him in a time of danger And indeed so it is that we shall then need a great assistance Nor can we tell how soon we may be put to the trial It is much for our Interest to discern whence our strength is to be expected The Holy Spirit is able to strengthen us to undergo undantedly all these evils And no aid less than that of the Holy Spirit would be sufficient It must be a power from above an help from God that can enable us to stand up against all the Wit and Malice the Craft and the Cruelty of men and Devils Indeed we are very apt to despond and our hearts fail within us We fear we shall never hold out under great pains and torments and we do much disquiet our selves about it But here is an help at hand and we shall find that he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world And this will appear if we consider the following particulars 1. That this Spirit is a Spirit of power and that power is Divine also The Holy Scriptures give us a large and very particular account of this matter and therein we have a full assurance that by the help of this heavenly aid we may be able to do more than we can think He that hath this Spirit of God is endued with a mighty power from above a power that is sufficient against all the powers of darkness When the Virgin asked the Angel who had told her she should conceive and bring forth a Son How this be seeing I know not a man Luk. 1.35 We find what answer he made viz. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee and then it follows Ver. 37. For with God nothing shall be unpossible The Holy Spirit is called the finger of God Luk. 11.20 And the great and mighty works which Jesus and his followers did were wrought by this Holy Spirit of God And these works are an irrefragable proof of the mighty power of the Spirit of God To this purpose we read of the demonstration of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 and of power And where in one place St. Act. 6.5 8. Stephen is said to be full of the Holy Ghost in the other place he is said to be full of Power He that receives the Spirit receives Power 2 Tim. 1.7 God hath not given us the Spirit of fear but of Power St. Peter says 1 Pet. 3.18 That Christ was put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit St. Paul expresseth the same truth in other words and that Variety confirms the truth of what I am now asserting St. Paul says That he was crucified through weakness 2 Cor. 13.4 yet he liveth by the power of God Here can be no defect of Power then where the Holy Spirit is The mighty works wrought by this divine Spirit sufficiently declare that no Power is wanting where he does assist And therefore why should we distrust and despond when we have the promise of this Power from on high We shall not need to fear even death it self if we be possessed of this heavenly help Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you We have just cause to distrust our selves indeed and we may well suppose that we cannot be able to stand upright but what shall be too hard for us when we have received that Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead Well may God lay on us what he thinks fit when he thus assisteth us with his Divine Spirit 2. This Holy Spirit is promised to this end to help us in these straits and necessities Luk. 12.11 12. And when they bring you into the Synagogues and unto Magistrates and Powers take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say It is enough and we ought to think it so that we have this assistance when we need it and are to use it And the Apostle tells us that we are happy even then when we are judged most miserable by the World 1 Pet. 4.14 when we are reproached for Christs sake because the Spirit of God and of glory resteth on us God hath provided well for us under the Gospel which is the ministration of the Spirit that he has promised a more than ordinary assistance in cases that are extraordinary 3. Besides we have sufficient proof that this heavenly assistance hath not been wanting to others in these difficulties We have to this purpose very great examples of those that were assisted by this holy Spirit in all their sufferings and persecutions They were by the Holy Ghost enabled under all that pain and suffering which they endured to glorifie God in the day of Visitation And whereas before they were weak and feeble as other men had the same fears and despondencies which other men are importuned with yet when they were assisted by this good Spirit of God they were full of Courage and undaunted amidst the severest trials which they underwent We know that St. Peter before the descent of the Holy Ghost was so fearful that he denied his Master when he was questioned by a silly maid But after the Holy Ghost descended he was bold as a Lion and durst confess him before all the House of Israel Acts 2.36 Now those men that were ready to forsake their Lord before they do not only own him publickly but they departed from the presence of the Council Act. 5.41 rejoycing that they were counted worthâ— to suffer shame for his name Nor was this Divine and supernatural assistance a Peculiar belonging to the Apostles and first Preachers of Christianity nor was it limited to those early days of Christianity It was continued in the Church of Christ and does still continue according to the Promise of our Lord and Saviour Joh. 14.16 And hence it came to pass