death with Shells some were burnt with their Entrails torn out some broyl'd upon Grid-irons some roasted alive against the Fire some Women had their Breasts some Men their Legs and Thighs sear'd with hot Irons some were tost to death upon Bulls-horns some hang'd by the Neck and Heels some were burnt in a Furnace some fry'd in an Iron Chair some had their Bones broken with Batts some were beaten with Cudgels some had sharp points thrust in under their Nails some were put in Vessels of boyling Oyl some dragg'd through the Streets and Kennels some had their Tongues cut out some had their Eyes bor'd out some were sawn asunder some flead alive some torn in pieces with wild Horses some kill'd with Famine some suffer'd to perish in Frost and Snow Where was God where was the Lord Jesus all the while will some say why he was there he was with them in all their Torments gave them Courage to endure all this Strength to bear up under all their Miseries Here the Power of God appear'd more than it would have done in their greatest Prosperity This made the World to gaze and stare and think they must be more than Men that suffer'd with so much Patience This gave Reputation to Religion By this means the Name of the Lord Jesus came to be glorified This converted Heathens wrought upon Infidels pull'd down Idolatry chased the Devil from his Throne This made Men come in to Christ in multitudes This made them forsake the Devil and the World this made them part with their Sins and Lusts and lay force upon the Kingdom of Heaven And thus the World was overcome and Scepters and Crowns were made to stoop to the Cross of Christ and it 's hard to say whether more were converted by Miracles or by these patient and heroick Sufferings of Christians their Sufferings forc'd people into a belief of a future Reward and the Torments they endur'd made God amiable that thousands did embrace him And yet III. As in other things so even in matter of Persecution great mistakes may be committed and therefore in judging of Persecution we must ever attend and look to the cause for which men are said to be persecuted This caution is very necessary that we may not wrongfully accuse men whose office it is to punish Offenders nor flatter our selves with the satisfaction of a good work when we have done nothing less Persecuting for righteousness sake is a very great sin a sin that cries for Vengeance which is the reason why God even in this present life hath poured out his Wrath upon persons guilty of this crime Nero was thrown down from the Imperial Throne proscrib'd by the Senate as an Enemy of mankind and at last forc'd to kill himself Domitian was slain in his Chamber not without the consent of his Wife and all his Images and Statues thrown down by order of the Senate Decius was kill'd in Battle and depriv'd of the common Honour of Burial Valerianus was taken by the Persians and put in a Cage and at last flead and his Skin hung up for a Trophy in one of the Persian Temples Aurelianus in the very beginning of his Persecution dies miserably and wallows in his own blood Galerius a prodigious and unusual Sickness seizes him a sore rising in the nether part of his Belly which bred such a swarm of Worms as made him stink above Ground Maxentius was vanquish'd by Constantine the Great and his body thrown into the River Tiber not to mention any more Instances of this nature And I wish that this trade of persecuting had been confined to Heathens but here it stay'd not After that the World turn'd Christian it was not long before one Party began to persecute another The Arrians were the first that began it and the Church of Rome soon learn'd this art beginning with the Novatians but practised it afterwards with greater cruelty upon the Waldenses and Albigenses and all those whom she is please to style Hereticks The Greek Church when she had Power and Princes that favour'd her Interest hath run too often upon the same Rock And I know this very Church we are Members of hath been often charged by our dissenting Brethren with a persecuting Spirit I shall not now enquire into the truth or falshood of this charge being willing to forget what is past even the shadow of it the rather because the Point will require examining various circumstances which either heighten or very much qualify the pretended sin but whatever Errors Rudenesses or Insolencies have been committed by officers of Justice in executing the Law upon Dissenters which must not be presently charg'd upon the Doctrine and Temper of the Church Blessed be God there is at this time in our Church a general Inclination to Tenderness Compassion and Mildness to the moderate sort of those who differ from the Sentiments of the Church and to hearken to a reasonable Accommodation of Matters to the satisfaction of those who look upon themselves as Sufferers That which I chiefly aim at in this Discourse is that we must not rashly charge every thing that looks like Punishment with the odious name of Persecution for Righteousness sake neither in the persons that inflict Punishment nor in those that suffer it And indeed a person that suffers or is like to suffer for an Opinion or Practice of his own had need consider well before he suffers what he is going to suffer for and whether the thing he is ready to suffer for is worth it To suffer for any Catholick Doctrine receiv'd in all Ages by all Churches or for a known Article of Faith or for a thing expresly commanded or forbid by the Gospel is great and noble and Christian-like but to suffer for an Invention of our own or for things which have no solid Foundation in Scripture hath nothing of Glory or Christian Magnanimity in it nor will God give us any thanks for it and in this case a Christian had a thousand times better endeavour to rectify his Judgment especially when no substantial Doctrine or Duty is prejudiced by it and comply with the Will and Desire of the Magistrate than suffer for a thing for which he hath no good Authority from the word of God I might apply this to some particular differences but I forbear and though I do believe that many who have suffer'd for such things which are not plainly deliver'd in Scripture may have found very great comfort in their Sufferings yet whether that comfort was a sign that they were persecuted for Righteousness sake I very much question However if such persons do suffer wrongfully they shall lose nothing by their sufferings for God is not unrighteous to forget our Work and labour of love and the time will come when God will bring forth our Righteousness as the Light and our Judgment as the Noon-day The truth is Men's understandings being of various capacities and sizes and apt to be by ass'd by various
love and affection to the World c. may be gone that God would arise and that these Enemies may be scatter'd they use means they enquire what they must do to mortify these unruly desires they deny themselves they fast they are angry with these Corruptions yet ever and anon before they are aware they fall and imprudently yield to Temptations of this nature they would feign be Masters of those vertues accomplishments and perfections which did shine so bright in the primitive Saints but cannot as yet arrive to that excellent Temper for this they mourn and are dejected and sorrow seizes upon their hearts and minds yet still blessed are these mourners 5. Such as mourn because their stay in this World is long because they are kept out of Heaven and from the perfect enjoyment of God because they are obliged to continue in this barren Wilderness of the World where they must see their God dishonoured his Name profaned his Creatures abused his Ordinances derided his Providences disregarded his Precepts slighted his Promises undervalued his Threatnings scorned and Charity grow cold and Iniquity abound This draws from them David's complaint Wo is me that I must dwell in Mesech and have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar Ps. CXX 5. Indeed such mourners are but few most Men being desirous to enjoy the World as long as they can yet some there are that have made their Calling and Election sure and long to be gone long to be dissolved and to be with Christ and to be cloath'd upon with their House from Heaven long to join the Quire of Angels long to be freed from this Earthly Tabernacle and all this upon the excellent Principle of the love of God not from impatience under their pain and sickness or frowns of the World or their mean condition here but because the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts and because they are kept from enjoying their desire because the amorous Needle is with-held from clinging to the beloved Magnet they mourn blessed mourning But what You 'll say do no mourners under Temporal losses and crosses come into the Number of these blessed Men I answer yes 1. If the cause for which and in which they suffer losses of their Goods or Friends be great and noble if they sulfer for the Gospel's sake upon the Account of Righteousness and a good Conscience in this case their mourning under their Temporal losses may intitle them to blessedness provided that their mourning be mingled with faith and hope and a holy self-resignation and that they mourn more for the wickedness of the Person who are the instruments of their Persecution than for the want of their Corn and Wine and Oil and the Garlicks and Onions of Egypt 2. If under their Temporal losses they mourn chiefly for their sins which have both caused and deserved these sufferings Sorrow barely for Temporal losses and for being deprived of the satisfactions of the flesh cannot be reconciled to that Spiritual life the Gospel presses something there must be to sweeten that sour Sop as it stands alone it comes under the notion of sorrow of the World and that we are told works death 2 Cor. VII 10. And consequently happiness cannot be the fruit or effect of it The Soul therefore that mourns under such outward Calamities must look off from the Calamity to the cause of it or Sin which hath procured it and that sanctifies the sorrow and makes the mourner blessed Yet to prevent mistakes I must necessarily add these following cautions 1. We are not to think that in order to arrive to this Blessedness a Man or Woman must do nothing but mourn There is a time for every thing and there are other things to be done besides mourning even the particular Duties and Vertues and Self-denials required and commanded in this Chapter so that when it is said here blessed are they that mourn the meaning is blessed are they that do so as they have occasion to reflect either upon the Spiritual Evils which are present or upon the Spiritual Blessings that are absent from them It 's enough that there be a disposition or aptitude to mourn which exerts it self whenever any opportunity offers it self to consider and to think of such Objects as deserve and require our mourning else Spiritual Joy would be no Duty and if our lives were to be fill'd with mourning the Apostle's Exhortation had been useless Phil. IV. 1. Rejoyce in the Lord always i. e. upon all occasions and again I say Rejoyce Neither 2. Must the stress be laid upon the bare mourning as if the mourning and weeping and sadness alone were pleasing to God and groans were the only livery of Heaven but this mourning must be in order to a greater end even to establish our Souls in the love of God to strengthen our graces to corroborate our repentance and aversion from sin and to purifie our outward and inward Man more and more and therefore it is emphatically call'd sorrowing to Repentance 2 Cor. VII 9. Nor 3. Are we to think that a certain degree of mourning is always necessary even mourning expressed in so much weeping and sorrowing as we find in other Christians of our Acquaintance All men's conditions are not alike a Person that hath been profane and lewd hath reason to mourn more than he whose Sins have been of a lesser size not but that it was commendable to weep bitterly even for infirmities but the obligation of mourning is greater certainly upon a rapacious Publican than upon the pious Couple Zacharias and Elizabeth Besides all men's Constitutions are not alike some being of that tender Complexion that the least touch or sense of things makes them weep others of a hardier make who may be astonish'd and concern'd at great things but cannot make that outward shew of mourning that others can It 's enough therefore that the sorrow be rational and that the mind be so affected with the object that causes or deserves mourning as to work in us a willingness to mourn more if we could and an indignation against the Spiritual Evils which are present and an earnest longing and endeavour after the Spiritual Blessings which are absent and we stand in need of Having set down these cautions I proceed to the second Part to acquaint you II. Wherein the Blessedness of such mourners consists 1. This mourning is the Character of Saints Ezek. IX 4. 2 Cor. XII 21. Why what Blessedness is there in this will some say How no Blessedness in being a Saint what 's the reason then that Kings and Princes wish they were so what 's the reason that most wicked Men when they come to die would fain be of that Number Nay what 's the reason that in your Creed you believe a Communion of Saints Is it not in this Creed that you profess the greatest Blessings that were ever bestow'd upon the Children of Men And if the Communion of Saints be one must it
from Aaron's head ran down to his Beard and the skirts of his Cloathing Therefore as it was devout and serious without the help of the body and in the good works in which the Body was concern'd was the first mover of the fact so it shall see the Glory of God before the Body and separated from the Body and while the Body participates of the common Fate But 4. Let me end all with David's excellent Motto Psal. LXXIII 1. Truly God is good to Israel even to them who are of a clean Heart Good indeed good to them in a time of Peace good in Adversity good to them in publick Commotions good to them in his Promises good to them in their life time good to them at their Death and good to them after Death The pure in heart they tast they see they feel his Goodness this supports them this comforts them this strengthens them All the World see his Goodness but O how great is that Goodness that God hath laid up for the pure in heart The pure in heart they shall see God Ay! that 's the Goodness God hath laid up for them And O what a happiness do they enjoy the purblind World sees not the Beauty the Order the Harmony of Providence the pure in Heart behold it and are thankfull Good God! To see thee what ravishments must that cause To see the fountain of Goodness what delights must flow from that sight To enter into a Prince's Cabinet and to see the Pearls the Diamonds the Rubies the precious Stones the Curiosities the Rarities the Riches the Plenty the costly Things the great Variety that is there this is something But what is all this to the seeing of God in whom are concenter'd all the Beauties and Rarities of Heaven and Earth To see but one Attribute of his clearly and distinctly suppose his Wisdom is enough to charm a Soul into eternal Admiration Behold how men run to see an Indian or African Ambassador or a Craesus a Darius an Alexander any thing that is attended with Pomp and Greatness Rejoyce ye that are pure in heart you run to see a greater thing than the greatest Emperour in the World Could you see all the Riches and Glories of the world at one view all that is above and within the Earth all that is within and above the sea and all the Men and Women that have been since the Creation of the World it would not be so stately a sight as a clear sight of God blessed for evermore This is your shield your exceeding great reward this most glorious Object you shall see at last see him and admire him see him and desire to be with him see him and love him see him and rejoyce in him see him and be united to him see him and cling to him for ever You shall see all the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets all the holy Apostles all the Martyrs that have suffered for the Testimony of Jesus You shall see the great Jesus that died at Jerusalem was crucified on Mount Calvary sweated drops of Blood in the Garden of Gethsemane was crucified and rose again and is set down on the right hand of Majesty on high The Believers St. Peter speaks of saw him not yet rejoyced in him with joy unspeakable and full of Glory What then will your joy be when you shall see him face to face For this we want expressions and therefore I shall draw a veil over it and leave you to live in joyfull Thoughts and expectations of it that when his Glory shall appear you also may appear with him in Glory SERMON IX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 9. Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God AS in this divine Sermon of our Saviour Men and Women are pronounced blessed and happy with respect to things which the dull sensual World spies no felicity in or as here those are counted happy whom the World counts miserable and those miserable whom the World counts happy so it fares with the persons mentioned in the words before you and the Blessedness which attends them the world you know magnifies great Generals and Soldiers and Martial Men who can fight well and are very skilfull in besieging Towns and in scaling Walls in bombarding Castles and surprizing Forts and defeating Armies and slaying Men and he that with Saul hath kill'd his thousands and with David his ten thousands is cry'd up and the Bells ring at his entrance into a conquer'd Town all sing his Praises Flowers of Rhetorick and Applause are strow'd in his way publick Intelligences are fill'd with his Commendations and who so much talk'd of as the man who is very expert in making maintaining and managing a War Our blessed Master over-looks all these partial verdicts of the World and knowing that Nature and Vice and Profit and Honour Ambition and Lust are enough to inspire a man with courage and Wisdom to fight and to cause Disorders and Disturbances among Men instead of commending men who are skilfull in making War set a peculiar mark of favour on those who are skilfull in making Peace in the words I have read to you Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Blessed are the Peace-makers what All Peace-makers Then Turks and Infidels Heathens and Pagans and the most licentious of Christian Princes do all come into the number of the blessed and all must be Children of God For there is no Prince though never so great a Tyrant though he hath spilt Blood like Water in his Conquests though he hath made no more of destroying mens Lives than Tarquinius did of taking off the heads of Poppies or Domitian of killing Flies yet makes Peace sometimes and tired with the Toyl and Fatigue of the War concludes a Truce at last with his Enemy and what Do all these come into the society of the blessed To give you light into this affair I shall enquire I. Who these Peace-makers are that are pronounced blessed here II. I shall examine the reasons of the supposition or the thing supposed and implied here that those who have an aversion from this Peace-making are and cannot be blessed III. I shall take the blessedness of these Peace makers into consideration and shew how and upon what account they are and shall be call'd the Children of God I. Who these Peace-makers are that are said to be blessed here The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as Interpreters observe in Greek Authors signifies and denotes strictly those who make or procure Peace among Persons who disagree and unite those who are at variance but in Scripture the expression is of a larger extent and includes a great deal more than a bare reconciling of Enemies and the persons here aimed at are as follows 1. Such as do make Peace with God and with their Consciences To this purpose is the exhortation Job XXI 22. Acquaint now thy self
Societies would fall under this Notion No no to suffer as an evil doer is a very different thing from being persecuted for Righteousness sake St. Peter hath determined this long agoe 1 Pet. ii 20. What glory is it if when ye are buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God and again 1 Pet. iv 15. Let none of you suffer as a Murtherer or as a Thief or as an evil doer or as a busy-body in other mens matters but if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed That old Saying is very true Not the Suffering but the Cause makes the Martyr Indeed it is to be considered in all Sufferings and it skills very much what it is we suffer and what we suffer for and what manner of man the person is who suffers Some we read of that have suffer'd for Vain-glory as Peregrinus in Lucian and the Gymnosophists and Regulus and Mutius and the Alexandrian Woman and others in the Greek and Roman Histories And the Circumcelliones of old were so fond of suffering Martyrdom that some would cast themselves down head-long from steep Hills or throw themselves into Fire or into Water and even courted men to knock them on the head And therefore the Church Ps. xliv 21 22. to remove all suspicions that she suffered upon a wrong Principle or for a sinister End appeals to God the searcher of all Hearts He knows the secrets of the Heart for thy sake are we killed all the day long as if she had said Thou O Lord who knowest all things knowest that it is not for a sinister End or for Trifles that we suffer but it is for thy Name 's sake and because we will not lift up our Hands to a strange God 2. Nor is it to suffer for every Cause where Conscience is pretended He that is persecuted for Righteousness sake suffers for his Conscience but not every one that suffers and pretends he suffers for Conscience is therefore persecuted for Righteousness sake We know the greatest Villanies have been carried on under a shew of Religion and Conscience hath been pleaded by Murtherers of Kings and Princes and Bishops and others and when such abominable wretches have suffered for it they have been most justly punished but far from being persecuted farther from being persecuted for Righteousness sake To pretend Conscience when Men act against a known Law of God is mocking of God and if it were lawfull to laugh at a thing so sad and dreadful deserves to be ridiculed more than argued Felix Mauz a turbulent Anabaptist in Helvetia being put to death for practising against the State and Government had the Impudence to thank God that he had called him to seal the Truth with his Blood and among other expressions before his death said Lord into thy hands I do commend my Spirit It 's like unwary and weak Spectators look'd upon his suffering as being persecuted for Righteousness sake but it was nothing less indeed no more than a just Punishment for his Treasonable Practices however colour'd over with Expressions and Sayings of Consciencious Men. He that deceives himself or suffers himself to be deceiv'd into an erroneous Doctrine or Practice and believes that his Conscience dictates to him both that Belief and Practice and suffers for it cannot properly be said to suffer for Righteousness sake if that Righteousness he pretends to and for which he thinks he suffers have no relation to the express word of God Conscience must be guided by the plain word of God I say plain for I do not think that obscure hard and knotty places of Scripture which have exercised the Wits of the Learnedst Men are an ordinary Rule of Conscience If a Man fancies that his Doctrine or Practice for which he suffers is commanded in the Word of God when really it is not he suffers indeed for an erroneous Conscience which he should have taken care to rectify and inform better but cannot be said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake because he suffers not for a notorious Doctrine or Action manifestly commanded in the Word of God and tho' I grant that the Magistrate who punishes him may be too severe upon him and the Officers of Justice who execute the Law may handle him rudely and barbarously and though I believe God will pardon his Error if accompanied with simplicity of Heart and free from Malice or sinister Designs yet still he cannot be said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake And having told you what being persecuted for Righteousness sake is not I must in the next place tell you what it is And here though you may guess at the Nature of it by what hath been said already yet for Orders sake 1. To be persecuted for Righteousness sake is to be evil entreated for asserting or maintaining a Principle or Doctrine which God hath plainly reveal'd either by the light of Nature or by the light of Scripture and for not subscribing to a Doctrine manifestly false or contrary to the Scripture I mention here the light of Nature for the light of Nature is the light of God as well as the Scripture It 's granted the Scripture is the brighter and the clearer light but still the light of Nature is the light of God And he that is persecuted for asserting there is but one God and that Polytheism or a multitude of Gods is Non-sense or a Fable as Socrates the Heathen Philosopher was who died for that Doctrine may be justly said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake because he suffers for a true and manifest Principle of the light of Nature and for a Truth written by God upon the Heart and which every Man is bound to assert and maintain which is the reason that Justin Martyr makes Socrates a kind of Christian and a Martyr for a standing Principle of Divinity After the same manner if a Man should be persecuted for maintaining the Resurrection of the Dead or that the Scripture is the Word of God or that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah and Saviour of the World and that he is God as well as Man and that he died for our sins and rose again from the Dead c. as the Apostles were persecuted by the Sadduces Pharisees and Heathens such a Person is truly persecuted for righteousness sake for these Truths are very clearly revealed in Scripture and every Christian is bound to profess them and the same may justly be said of those late Sufferers in the neighbouring Kingdom who suffer'd for not believing or not subscribing to the Doctrines of Transubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass Purgatory c. for these Doctrines are not only not to be found in the Word of God but are contrary to it 2. To be persecuted for righteousness sake is to be evil entreated for espousing a Worship or Practice which God hath plainly commanded on
you should encourage them and instead of giving them ill Language for being desirous to visit the House of God and to come to the Holy Sacrament at convenient Seasons you should rejoyce that God hath blessed you with such Mercies and sent you such Protectors of your Fortunes and adore the Divine Goodness who hath vouchsafed such shining and burning Lights to your Houses But this is the Nature of Vice and Corruption It hates the Light and those that walk in the Light It cannot be easie while it sees such Examples who are a perpetual Reproach to their Lives and Conversations Men wicked and debauch'd do not think themselves secure while their Domesticks chuse the better part and by so doing tell them that they are in the High-way to Damnation such Mens Condemnation will not be only just but greater than other Mens because they refuse not only him that speaks to them from Heaven but even those who by their Deeds speak to them here on Earth and make the Goodness they see in sober Men the Cause of their Anger which is intended as a Motive to their Remorse and Repentance But III. Let no Man's Heart fail him because he is reproach'd reviled or evil spoken of for the Name of Christ it is a blessed thing to be reproach'd for Righteousness sake to be reviled for being serious to be despised for doing the Will of God Hath not this been the Case of the best Servants of God When I wept and chasten'd my soul with fasting that was to my reproach I made sackcloth also my garment and I became a Proverb to them they that sit in the gate speak against me and I was the song of the drunkards saith the excellent David Psal. LXIX 10 11 12. John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he hath a Devil The son of man came eating and drinking and they say Behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners saith our Saviour Mat. XI 18 19. But Wisdom is justified of her children What you lose in the Opinion of wicked Men you gain in the Esteem of those who walk in the way of the Lord. It is a mercy to you that you have something to lose for Christ and an Honour to them that you do lose something for the Name of Christ and tho' you lose not an Arm a Leg a Hand an Eye or Life for his sake yet I say it is a very great Honour that you lose your good Name in his Cause and yet you do not lose it neither but you rather raise and make it greater for your Names are written in Heaven Whatever any Man loses for Christ he shall receive an hundredfold in Peace Content and Satisfaction here and in the world to come life everlasting Only Let patience have its perfect work Being reproached and cursed do you bless being abused do you pray for those which despitefully use you being defamed do you entreat and being made Spectacles to Angels and to Men do you rejoyce in the God of your Salvation The time will come when those very Men which revile you now for your Obedience to the Gospel will praise and admire you If God converts them here they will certainly do so and they cannot forbear but if they resist the Arguments of God and will not turn the Misery and the Torments that will fall upon them in the other World will extort and force this Admiration from them Let Men call you all to naught it is enough that God respects you and hath promis'd not to leave them nor to forsake them Do but wait for the Day for the glorious Day of the Manifestation of the Children of God and you will see the Scene of Affairs changed and a greater Revolution of things than ever happen'd since the Creation of the World Those that call you Fools now will magnify your Wisdom then those who count your Life Madness now will confess it was the most rational Course those that laugh at you now will weep when they behold how much they were mistaken and those who now make a Mock of your Devotion will own then that you acted upon very noble Principles Let no Reproaches fright you from fighting the good Fight These are the Temptations you must overcome Against these Enemies you are to fight that 's your Work your Task and the Race you are to run in and Blessed is the man that endureth Temptations for when he is tried he shall receive a Crown of Righteousness which God hath promis'd to them that love him Amen SERMON XII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 12. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you THE future Rewards which God hath promised to them that love him are things we have often occasion to speak of partly because the Holy Ghost is our Guide partly we can never say too much of it and partly because it is a thing which so nearly concerns us that it requires our daily Thoughts and Contemplations But as familiar as the Subject is it is always useful Christ having in all the preceding Beatitudes still shewn wherein the Blessedness of those vertuous Men whom he commends doth consist he doth the like in this for having in the foregoing Verses pronounc'd those Persons blessed who are reviled and evil spoken of for Righteousness sake or for the Name of Christ he declares in this the Nature of their Blessedness Rejoyce saith he and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven And to encourage to a more chearful bearing of these unjust Reproaches he sets before them the Example of the Prophets of old For so persecuted they saith he the Prophets that were before you as if he had said so they used them so they dealt with them so they calumniated them This was the Custom of the World many hundred a thousand two thousand three thousand Years agone to speak all manner of evil of those excellent Men so they call'd Moses a pragmatical Man and Samuel an old Dotard and Elijah a Troubler of Israel and an Enemy to the Commonwealth and Elisha Bald pate and Micaiah an impertinent Fellow and Amos a Man ungentile and clownish and so they dealt with Isaiah whom after many Revilings they saw'd asunder and so they used Jeremias whom after a thousand Reproaches they stoned to Death So persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And this will give me occasion to observe to you I. That the great Rewards of Heaven are just matter of Joy and Gladness to pious Sufferers Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven II. It 's comfortable to suffer in good Company For so persecuted they the Prophets of old 1. The great Rewards of Heaven are just matter of Joy and Gladness to pious Sufferers If it were not so Christ would never have encouraged those who are unjustly reviled for his Names sake to rejoyce
Thoughts upon this Reward and move him to dwell upon it The Bitterness of his Affliction gives that Reward a greater Sweetness and is the same that makes him relish it the more Hence comes this Joy and the nobler the Cause is in and for which he suffers the greater is the Joy But 5. Though all this helps yet the Holy Spirit of God must work with it and work in and upon the Heart and make the Impression of the future Reward so lively that it shall cause Joy and Rejoycing much depends upon the Spirits mingling those Rewards with the Thoughts of the Mind whereby the Affections are affected and rouz'd and elevated into Joy and Rejoycing and such Joy as shall carry the Soul above her Sufferings and make her contentedly want those Accommodations and Conveniencies and Advantages that others do enjoy For this Spirit as it must assure us of our Right to that Reward Rom. VIII 16 17. so it is from that Assurance that this Joy rises which is the Reason why it is emphatically called Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. XIV 17. And yet after all it must be confessed that good Company doth not a little contribute toward their Joy Which leads me to the Second Proposition viz. It 's comfortable to suffer in good Company so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you That 's the Comfort Christ gives here to Persons suffering and bids them solace themselves with the Company of the antient Prophets And this Proposition also I shall explain in these following Paragraphs 1. Solitariness in Affliction aggravates Affliction which is the Reason that Jeremy makes it an Ingredient of the greatness of Jerusalem's Misery Lam. I. 1. How doth the city sit solitary which was full of people how is she become as a widow that was great among the nations she that was a princess among the provinces how is she become tributary All the Heathen Nations round about swam in Plenty Prosperity crown'd their Labours and Ease and Liberty was their Companion Jerusalem alone sigh'd under her Load and groan'd under her Burthen and wept while her Neighbours rejoyc'd and triumph'd in the Success of their Attempts and Enterprizes Company in Affliction is a kind of Balm which supplies the Spirit and gives some Refreshment to a wounded Soul it takes off from the greatness of the Grief and makes the Burthen lighter Solitariness looks strange like a stinking Weed in a curious Flower-garden and coming in the shape of that which is unusual it surprizes more and consequently afflicts more and that 's the Reason may be why Men bear a common Calamity where many fare alike better than they do a private where they have no Partners in their Sorrows And yet 2. It 's hard to conceive how a Man can be solitary in Affliction except by Solitariness we mean that in the Parish or Street or House or Family we live in there is none that is afflicted as we are Set this aside there can hardly any Affliction be named but some or other in the World have been and are as great or greater Sufferers than we are and in this sense a Man cannot want Company in Affliction But then in this case the Mind must call the Company in and the Understanding represent their Sufferings to the Thoughts and Meditation must make their Afflictions present which being a thing generally neglected by Persons who suffer they are very apt to sink into this Fancy That none are miserable in the World as they are as we see Jerusalem complained Lam. I. 12. Behold and see whether there be such a sorrow as my sorrow is wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his anger And yet 3. It is not suffering in every Company that is comfortable To suffer with Evil-doers is a Grief rather than a Consolation and to be afflicted with Malefactors is made an Ingredient of the Bitterness of our blessed Saviour's cup Mark XV. Nor will Company in Hell be any Ease to the Sufferers but rather increase their Torments none being able to help the other The Comfort arising from suffering in Company is confined to this present World and in this case the Company must be such as a Man hath no reason to be ashamed of and that must be the Company of truly pious Men whether they be present or absent whether they have lived lately or a thousand or two thousand Years agone whether they dwell in the same Town or City or Village we are of or a hundred Miles off for this Company of good Men with whom we suffer are either as good as we are or better than we 1. If they be as good as we our selves are the Reflexion is very natural If this be the Lot and Portion of Persons under the same Circumstances I am under then no strange thing happens to me then God deals with me as he doth with his other Children If I am not better than they why should I expect more favourable Dealings at his hands and yet these Dealings are favourable too If Men as good as my self have look'd upon the Crosses that have befallen them as Marks of God's Favour why should not I look upon mine thro' the same Glass How can it be said that I am as good as they if I make not the same pious Constructions of these Providences if I fall short of these rational Interpretations of God's Dispensations I must needs fall short of their Goodness Or 2. The good Men in whose Company I suffer are better than I and then the Argument of Comfort will be stronger still Have the Heroes of Religion suffered so much and shall I a puny Christian complain Have the great Champions of the Gospel endured as much or more than I and shall a Christian of an ordinary size find fault Have such Men as St. Paul and the Holy Apostle's gone thro' firy Tryals and shall I a Disciple of those great Masters tremble at the Fire Have the Fathers the strong Men in Grace old Disciples been scratch'd and wounded with Briars and Thorns and shall I a Babe look to tread on Carpets Have the Generals the Captains in Christ's Army gone thro' a Sea of Adversity and shall I a common Soldier shrink at the Waves Have such Men as Samuel Elijah and Elisha Men that could in a manner command Heaven by their Prayers been reviled traduced reproach'd and shall I a Shrub take it ill that I am call'd out of my Name This is a very strong Argument of Comfort So that you see that the Comfort arising from suffering with other good Men lies partly in the Ease the Mind receives by their Society and partly in that their Examples give us opportunity to make use of the same Motives to Patience which held them up 1. In the Ease the Mind receives from the suffering Society It gives a sort of Content which all the Physick in the World cannot give especially if the suffering Company be present for then the