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
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
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
pleasantly First be sure to keep the heart right within be sure to keep all at peace within thy soul you know according to the temper within so there is the relishing of things without He that hath peace within can easily go through the duties that are required without with joy Further exercise faith in the work and office of the holy Ghost that office that the holy Ghost is designed unto by the Father and the Son to be the Comforter of his people to bring joy and comfort to them look upon the holy Ghost as designed by the Father and the Son to bring joy and delight to the souls of his people What an infinite difference there is between the comforts of a carnal heart and the comforts of the godly The one come from a little meat and drink and the other come from the exercise of faith about the office of the holy Ghost that is designed to this work Thirdly in all that thou doest be sure to be upright Though thou beest able to do but a little in any way of God if thou beest upright God accepts of it and and thou wilt finde comfort Thou sayest thy duties are mean it may be so but if thou beest upright thou mayest have comfort it becomes the upright to be joyful whereas the most glorious performances if they be not in uprightness are but abominable Again sweeten all your duties by spiritual meditation a Christian that treasures up spiritual meditation and every duty that he performs brings it in by meditation and hath a great many meditations to rowl his duty up and down in this is delight To go to duty and to have a barren heart to act there is no delight but to go to a duty and to exercise spiritual meditation this is sweet Again labor to principle thy heart aright in the ways of godliness to understand what they are if thou understoodest what they are they would be delightful and the reason why many do not go on delightfully is because they do not understand what is in the ways of God to cause delight You will say What is there in the ways of God to cause delight First every work of godliness and that ability that grace hath to exercise is a beam of that infinite choice eternal electing love of God upon thy soul if thou lookest upon it so it will be wonderfully delightful Secondly look upon every duty of godliness as having more of the glory of God in it then the whole frame of heaven and earth besides Take all Gods works in the Creation in Providence in the Heavens the Sun Moon and Stars in the Earth and the Seas there is not so much of the glory of God in them all as in one gracious action that a Christian performs and if you looked at it thus it could not but have pleasure in it Thirdly look at that action of grace as that in which God attains his end in creating heaven and earth more then in other things besides as there is more of God in it so God attains more in it the end of God in his counsels is more attained by any gracious act then by any thing else that can be done save of the same nature How delightful should we be in the ways of godliness if we looked thus at them Fourthly look upon every gracious act as the seed of glory and eternal life Every work of grace in the heart and life of Gods people is a seed of glory and eternal life And these four considerations being put upon every gracious act do confirm that which was said in the opening of the point they must needs be full of pleasantness Be not satisfied in doing any thing in the ways of God till you do it pleasantly I hear the ways of God are pleasant I have gone on being haled by conscience but little have I understood of the pleasantness of them there is more to be looked after then I have attained to By this thou shalt come to be mightily strengthened and it wil be a marvellous help to make thee continue in the ways of godliness And as I said in handling that argument of the easiness of the ways of godliness those that are continually thinking of the hardness of Gods ways will fall off but by having them pleasant it will carry thee on against temptations and the current of all arguments The last Use of all is If the ways of wisdom be ways of pleasantness what is the end of wisdom If the neather springs be so sweet what will the upper be If the lower Jerusalem be paved with gold surely that upper Jerusalem is paved with pearls It is an excellent speech of Bernard Good art thou O Lord to the soul that seeks thee what art thou then to the soul that findes thee How sweet and pleasant are the ways of wisdom then How sweet and delightful is the end of wisdom If grace be pleasant how pleasant is glory therefore the Saints dye so pleasantly because there is a meeting of grace and glory Grace is delightful glory more delightful but when these both meet together what delight will there then be It is a speech of Jerome speaking of carnal delights None can go from delight to delight but it is not so spiritually the more delight we have here the more we shall have hereafter and therefore let this be all our prayer Lord give us evermore this pleasure satisfie our souls with this pleasure if the drops be sweet the rivers of pleasure and joy that are at Christs right hand how sweet are they Moses his Choice The second Part. CHAP. XVI A spiritual eye can see an excellency in Gods people though under great affliction THe fourth Doctrinal Conclusion that was raised from the words was That a spiritual eye can see an excellency in Gods people though under never so great affliction Moses chooses rather to suffer affliction with the people of God Who were this people A despised people an afflicted people Yet Moses could see an excellency in them while they were making their brick while they were whipped by their task-masters and contemptible in the eyes of all the Egyptians yet by the eye of faith Moses could look upon them as the most excellent of the earth as the most glorious people that lived in the world and desires rather to joyn with them though in the greatest afflictions then to abide Pharaoh's Court in the enjoyment of all worldly delights let the world cast what dirt they will upon them and darken their glory what they can yet they are precious and honorable in the Saints eyes The excellent of the earth and the glory of the world Job scraping his sores upon the dunghil and Jeremy sinking into the mire in the dungeon are more beautiful and glorious then the great men of the earth when they are crowned upon their Thrones Though you have lien
no partner But that this might not be an offence so as to keep us from joyning in Communion with the people of God let us know if this might have been offence enough to keep men from joyning with them it would have kept men in all times from joyning with the Churches since Christs time You know what difference was between Paul and Barnabas two Apostles And so the Apostles do complain of the dissentions and divisions in the Church of Corinth in the Primitive times and if that had been enough to keep out men from joyning with them then there had been no joyning with the Church of Corinth and other Churches Basil complains I have lived now to the age of a man and I see more union in Arts and Sciences then in Divinity for in the Church I see such dissentions as do dissipate it and rend it asunder And so between Chrysostom and Epiphanius the one wished the other might never dye a Bishop and the other wished that he might never go home alive And between Jerome and Ruffinus and Luther and Oecolampadius There is a most sad story we have of those that fled to Frankford from England in Queen Maries time and when they came there though they fled for Religion and for their lives yet there were such grievous breaches as they sought the lives of one another picking out some words against the Emperor in a Sermon that Master Knox had preached in England long before and now accusing him for them to the Magistrates of Frankford upon which divers of them were fain to flee This is through the malice of the Devil in sowing tares and therefore if you will be offended in this way of scandal you must be offended Yet we must all take heed of giving offence for though offences will come yet wo to them by whom they come Howsoever there fall out offences through the sinful distempers of mens hearts let not the Ordinance of God be challenged as the cause of these offences Joyning in Church-fellowship is a special Ordinance of God to maintain love and peace amongst his people yet by the abuse of it many times divisions and dissentions are stronger and more bitter in the Church then elsewhere let not Gods Ordinance be accused as the cause of it nor declined for this but let the wickedness of mens hearts be accused let us seek to have it purged Christ came into the world to dissolve the works of the Devil and yet the Devil never more raged then in Christs time and a while after We never read of men so possessed of the Devil before Christ came as they were then Shall we therefore accuse Christ for bringing the Devil into the world for being the cause of mens being possessed of the Devil Those who thus reason against the Ordinance of Christ because of this evil that falls out by accident upon it may as well yea and certainly would as readily reason against Christ if they lived in his time because of such possession of Devils which never was so before he came as it was then but as the true reason why the Devil thus prevailed upon Christs coming was the just judgement of God against men for contemning and rejecting Christ who came amongst them so it is here the judgement of God for the evil of mens hearts in abusing such a blessed Ordinance of love and peace So likewise the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a Sacrament appointed by God to maintain love and peace in the Church it is an Ordinance for communion it hath the denomination from thence it is called communion Yet what hath occasioned such dissentions in the Christian world as the controversies about the Sacrament Shall therefore this Ordinance be accused as the cause of dissention O let us for ever learn this truth that whatsoever evil falls out Gods Ordinances be not blamed but mans corruption let that be condemned and purged Origen writing to Celsus says If you will take offence at the dissentions in Christian Religion then you may take offence at dissentions in other things Valens the Emperor objected the same against Christians Nicephorus 11. 45. brings in one Themistius answering that those of the Graecian superstition had as great dissentions amongst them There is dissention amongst Merchants and other Trades you do not say therefore I will not binde my childe to that Trade they dissent amongst themselves If there be profit and accommodations in the Trade men will not be hindred by this plea but joyn with them notwithstanding And so come you and joyn with the Saints though there be some dissentions though there may be some rigid distemper'd hot spirited men that may cause some trouble yet there is not so much union and love in all the world as with them set but aside some and there are a company if you be gracious your soul may take pleasure in and bless God for and therefore away with all such stumbling blocks and reasonings against the Ordinances of God come you thirsting after the Ordinances of God and my soul for yours if you do not finde that sweetness in communion with them as never was found before There are many objections against this way and many are a long time ensnared in them but Isa 57. 13. where God promises the inheritance of his holy Mountain ver 14. he promises to make the way plain to it And Exod. 15. 13. God guides his people in his strength to his holy habitation it must be the strength of God that must carry through all objections all difficulties over all stumbling blocks to Gods habitation Thus much to those that yet are not joyned in that nearness of communion with Gods people which they may be CHAP. XXII Instructions to those who are joyned in communion with Gods people SEcondly if it be such a blessed thing to enjoy communion with Gods people then there are many things that are to be said to those that are joyned in communion First labor to approve to God and your own souls that you are indeed Gods people particularly you are his people in a way of outward profession and to men you do approve your selves so far as we hope you are Gods people but you must approve your selves to God and to your consciences If you be conscious to your selves of any secret filth and yet dare come and deceive the people of God in joyning with them you bring your selves in more danger then you are aware We read Deut. 22. ver 21. that if a damsel having defiled her self before marriage and so deceiving a man he marries with her when this is discovered she is to be stoned to death Uncleanness in such as were single was not by the Law to be punished with death but she must dye although her uncleanness was while she was single because she deceived the man in marrying to him in her defilement So know your filth in not joyning to Gods people is not so evil and
godly convincing conversation Suppose others have cast an aspersion upon the ways of godliness because such are false and covetous yet walk thou in the contrary that Gods people may answer Though such and such be so what say you to such an one is not the breach made up in those And so much for that Use Sixthly we must not onely labor to wipe away the reproach of Christ But if Christ have suffered so much in us and for us let us labor to honor Christ as much as we can in the world and set up the name of Christ as much as others pull it down How are we to set up the name of Christ First in holding forth the beauty and glory of the Spirit of Christ in our lives that though Christ be reproached in others he may be glorified in us Others may be forced to say in their consciences Blessed be God that ever I saw such men I never saw the graces of Christ shine more brightly in any then in them And then set up Christ in speaking all the good we can of Christ in bringing others in love with him As they in the Canticles said What is thy beloved more then another beloved says she My beloved is the chiefest among ten thousands Again let us set up the Ordinances of Christ therein appears the honor of Christ and let the beauty of his holiness appear in his Ordinances that men may say Blessed are the people that are in such a case Fourthly let Christ have the honor of our names and of all our comforts Surely if he have the shame of our reproaches he should have the honor of our honors If he have the pain of our sufferings surely he must have the praise of our comforts Christ hath a share in our sorrows shall he not have a share in our comforts when we are reproached he is reproached when we are honored let him be honored too What a sad thing will it be that when you go out of the world it should be said Christ hath had more dishonor by you then he hath had honor Seventhly If Christ suffers in all our sufferings hence we learn not to rush into sufferings before we be called to them nor to withdraw from sufferings when we are called to them Christ suffers in all our sufferings then it is not in our liberty to rush into sufferings when we please though it should be in the cause of Christ Indeed if we suffered alone we might venture but because Christ is interessed in it we must stay till we know whether Christ be willing to suffer though our time be come yet it may be Christ will say My time is not yet come because it is in a good cause you think you may suffer in it but consider is Christs time come In Proverbs 10. 10. it is said He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow but a prating fool shall fall when a man is loth to stand for those truths of God that shall bring him into suffering he winks He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow he will bring sorrow to his heart But others will say We will not wink with the eye it is the cause of God and we will stand for it but a prating fool shall fall A true man may ride in the rode and fear no danger yet he will not willingly ride into dangerous places and so a man is not to ride into danger As now if you be partners with another you cannot give what you will because it is not your own but it is your partners too If a man have a cottage of his own alone in a field he may set it on fire but if he set his own house on fire in the town it may cost him his life because others are interessed in the damage as well as himself Again if Christ do call we must go freely because they are the sufferings of Christ It is reported of Peter in Ecclesiastical Story that he was coming out of Rome for fear of suffering and as he was coming out of the gates he met Christ and he asked Christ wherefore he came says he I come to be crucified then he thought Christ came to be crucified in him and therefore he went back and resolved to suffer and so he was crucified And so though we be shy of suffering yet if we know Christ calls to it we must yield as being willing to suffer in us But when are we called There is an ordinary call and an extraordinary call The extraordinary call is by the Spirit And that is first when there are none that will stand for the cause of God in an ordinary way Secondly those that God calls extraordinarily are such as have extraordinary graces They act not their own natural boldness but are carried beyond it by a mighty work of Gods Spirit And therefore thou mayest suspect thy self that thou art not called extraordinarily but after much humiliation and much abilities to deny thy self But for an ordinary call First then we are called when if we do not suffer Gods cause will suffer Secondly when God does take away the means and helps of delivering us from suffering Thirdly the more helps are taken from us the more we finde the consolation of Gods Spirit come into us But when helps are taken away and the Spirit of God does absent it self shall we fear then that we are not called Some think surely they must not suffer then they shall betray Gods cause If they do because they do not finde God present with them If God do give you a fair way to escape when his presence is gone you may take it but if he shut you up that you cannot escape you may comfortably go on though now he be gone he will return again as it was with Mr. Glover who wanted the presence of God even till he came to the Stake and then he clapt his hands and cryed He is come he is come The last Use of the point is this If Christ suffer in his people and if all the evil you cast upon Gods people is Christs then all the good you do to them is Christs If when you speak evil of Gods people and reproach them you reproach Christ then when you speak well of Gods people you speak well of Christ If when you persecute Gods people you persecute Christ then when you relieve Gods people you relief Christ Christ will own the good that is done to his people as well as the evil And therefore as the argument once was Relieve all strangers for some unawares have done good to Angels So now do all the good you can to Gods people for unawares you may do much good to Christ And thus I have finished the second point from this Verse That the reproaches of Gods people are the reproaches of Christ Now we are to proceed to the third CHAP. XXXVIII A gracious heart hath a high esteem of
of the Martyrs in a way of honor to them Basil speaking of the forty Martyrs breaks out into this expression O blessed tongues which put forth such a confession as the ayr receiving it was even made holy by it You must suppose the expression to be hyperbolical yet so as shews how honorable the Martyrs were in their professions of Christ Thirdly it is a greater dignity in some degree then God puts upon the Angels in Heaven the Angels glorified God in a way of service but the Angels and Saints in Heaven have not this way to glorifie God they are not called to suffer in the cause of God Thirdly the reproaches we suffer for Christ are riches of imployment in this they are called to be imployed in the greatest work that God hath to do in the world there are no people in the world imployed so to set out Gods praise as they are that are called to suffer this is the lowest subjection that can be to God but the highest honor And they are called to be maintainers of the truth of God Says Calvin upon this argument What are we poor worms full of vanities and lyes that we should be called to be maintainers of the truth The great cause of Gods truth is maintained especially in Gods peoples suffering for the truth Here is a glorious contending for the faith of God that is delivered to the Saints Those who are in Prison says Cyprian Confess God with a glorious voyce Again they are imployed in bringing credit to the Church of God Gods people that suffer are a great honor to the Church of God whereas Apostates do disgrace the Church of God those that stand out in the defence of the truth in suffering make up that honor that the Church hath lost these are great employments A gracious heart accounts it as great riches to bring honor to the Church as to have honor himself of which before It is a notable expression that Cyprian hath to set out the honor the Church hath by such who suffer for the truth O blessed Church which in our times is made glorious by the glorious blood of the Martyrs it was white by the works of the brethren now it is purple by the blood of Martyrs there are neither Lillies nor Roses wanting in her flowers white garlands from their works and purple from their sufferings Fourthly they are riches of improvement First grace is improved grace is never so improved as it is at that time when a soul suffers for Christ they most profit me says Luther who speak worst of me as opposition of sin in the wicked improves their sin so opposition of grace in the godly improves their grace Lutherus pascitur convitiis Luther made reproaches his food he was nourished by them virtutem intelligo animosam excelsam quam incitat quicquid infestat Sen. Ep. 72. Secondly here is improved whatsoever Gods people do enjoy that they are willing to lose no such improvement of a mans credit or estate as the loss of it for Christ if we would devise how we should improve and lay out all our talents for God we cannot lay them out better we shall quickly gain from five to ten here If men know how to improve their stocks to the utmost they count the knowledge of that way more then if a man had given them many hundred pounds we come to improve all that we have in a glorious maner when God calls unto suffering Thirdly by suffering Gods people come to improve the malice and wickedness that is in the Devil and men that is a great improvement when I can turn the malice of the Devil and wicked men into my riches It is a notable speech that one Vincentius had of his Persecutors Never any man did serve me better then you serve me and he told them what a great deal he did get by their malice in persecuting of him if a man were able to turn dirt into riches how would that enrich a man but to have that which can turn the dirt of wicked men and the Devil into our riches that must be a rich thing Again a childe of God never improves his time so wel as when he is suffering for God when he is a doing good he is improving his time but when he is suffering he does as much in a little time as he was doing a great while before God does much reckon upon the time of his people in suffering Fifthly sufferings and reproaches are riches of experiences As first when they are called to suffer for Christ to be reproached for Christ they have experience of Gods power in upholding them Secondly experience of the ways and many passages of the providence of God towards them in all their sufferings Thirdly they come to have experience of the working of their own hearts And lastly they come to have experience what it is to be in a suffering condition men have another apprehension of a suffering condition before they are called unto it then when they are called to it and therefore they are ready to say I never knew what a prison meant and what reproaches meant till now I do not finde that in them that I was afraid of and these experiences are great riches Sixthly reproaches and sufferings bring in rich promises and they bring in a great deal O that Christians did but know their riches in regard of the precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. Every promise is a pearl to enrich Gods people withal and where there is true grace that soul does count it self more enriched by the promises then by any trading Now the promises that are so rich unto a gracious heart they are of divers sorts As first the promise of Gods presence with them and they count those promises to be rich things as the promise of Gods gracious presence and the promise of his glorious presence and the promise of his abiding presence For his gracious promise in Isa 43. 2. When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Again his glorious presence and his abiding presence for that you have one promise take in both together 1 Pet. 4. 14. If you be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you there is the Spirit of God in all the Saints but there is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of glory on those that are reproached for Christ that is The glorious Spirit of God the Spirit of God in a glorious maner Secondly the Spirit of God and of glory rests upon you it does not pass away but rests upon you now what a rich promise is here and what is in all the world that may be named with this promise Secondly
happiness at all but besides it hath a kinde of infinite capacity whereby it is made capable of the highest happiness that belongs to the capacity of a Creature and certainly God hath not made this in vain God does intend to fill this capacity You will say An infinite capacity of happiness how is that Thus for there are two things in the rational part of man his understanding and his will now the capacity of this part must be judged according to the objects that are suitable unto these two faculties in mans soul For the understanding it is not any particular thing that is the object of it but truth in general take truth in the utmost latitude of it in the universality of it that is the object of mans understanding and therefore the understanding is infinite because it is not satisfied in this or that particular but truth in the utmost extent And for the object of the will it is good in the general it is not this or that particular good but good in the universality of its nature and therefore till it come to enjoy God that does eminently contain all good in him it can never come to have full satisfaction And here observe the difference between the capacity of mans nature and the capacity of other Creatures as for other Creatures their faculties can extend no further then some particular good and they are limited within the narrow bounds of their own nature and therefore if so be the eye have colour it goes no further and if the ear have sound it goes no further and so taste it goes no further then some particular good but the intelligent soul the rational soul goes beyond all particulars Now God having made mans nature of such a capacity for good and happiness certainly God intends great things for the children of men other maner of things then there are in this world and if for any surely for the righteous Thirdly surely there is a reward because it is the great design that God had in the making of the world in all his works to lift up and advance the glory of the riches of his mercy and grace now if this be Gods great design to advance the glory of his infinite mercy then certainly there must needs be a glorious condition for some of the children of men for that is not yet done though there be something of Gods mercy manifested that we have cause to admire at yet certainly God does not reveal that in the world whereby he should attain to the great design of lifting up of the glory of his great Name Fourthly the chief of the deep infinite counsels of God and the works of his wisdom that have been from all eternity have been and are yet exercised about this especially namely to bring mankinde to his eternal estate and to communicate unto the children of men that glory that he hath appointed for them that it might be in the most glorious way that can be now if God have set his infinite wisdom on work from all eternity about this namely what might be the most glorious way of communication of himself in the riches of his goodness unto mankinde certainly when this comes to pass that God should communicate himself as much as he does intend it must be infinitely glorious certainly there are great things and glorious things to be communicated hereafter Fifthly the power of God hath been already exercised in subserviency to other attributes of his to make known his wisdom and his bounty and his general goodness the power of God have been wonderfully manifested in the works of creation and providence now certainly the power of God is as well to be put forth in a way of subserviency unto his grace and mercy now if there be such a time as Gods infinite power is to be let out and work unto that end that it might be subservient unto the infiniteness of his mercy then certainly there are glorious and great things to be revealed and made known Sixthly certainly there are glorious and great things for mankinde in that God hath raised the nature of man unto such a heighth as he hath done in Christ namely to unite mans nature unto himself unto the second person of the Trinity and that with the nearest union that possibly can be namely an hypostatical union certainly then God intends great things for the children of men for that nature that is one person with the Divine nature This is such a great work of God as all other of the works of God are darkned in the honor of this great work Seventhly the great purchase that Jesus Christ hath made in that he hath been content to leave so much glory certainly this was to purchase great glory and in that he was content to be made a curse for mans-sin and to shed his blood and to give his life for man surely this was not onely to purchase outward comforts in the world it was to purchase higher things and therefore great must needs be the fruit of the purchase of the blood of Christ and therefore great are the things that are to be revealed hereafter Eighthly there are in Scripture many glorious promises which yet are not fulfilled abundant rich and glorious promises that have infinite treasures of good in them there must be a time of fulfilling of them all to the utmost extent of them and therefore certainly there are great things to be revealed hereafter Thy word O Lord is setled for ever in Heaven Psal 119. 89. Ninthly the great things that God hath done for his enemies is a demonstration that there is a glorious condition for Gods people afterward in that God hath filled their bellies with his hid treasure what treasures hath God to fill the souls of his own people with when as he does fill the bellies of the wicked whom he does intend to cast out as accursed Tenthly it appears there are great things for the people of God hereafter because of the great hopes that are wrought in the hearts of Gods servants by the power of the Holy Ghost Now surely such hopes as are wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost they must attain unto glorious things Rom. 15. 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost the hope of Gods people is that which is not onely wrought by the Holy Ghost but by the power of the Holy Ghost and such an hope as God is pleased to stile himself the God of this hope and therefore certainly glorious things are to be revealed Another demonstration is this the very natures and excellency of grace is to take off our hearts from these present things in the world and from all the good that is here in the creature God does give grace for this end now then I reason thus if the chief excellency