that which thou sayest is hypocrisie is but the skin of the wilde beast thy own unshapen conceits to make thy self and their adversaries run upon them that you may the more freely venture because the wilde beasts would not venture upon the body of a man so freely but when they saw the body of a man in the shape of such a beast as they hated they ran upon it freely And so thou dealest with Gods Saints in putting an unshapen form upon them to let out thine heart more freely upon them But what if that which thou callest hypocrisie God account godliness yea know that this thy aspersion upon godliness to say it is hypocrisie and upon the people of God to say they are hypocrites is the reproach of Gods people and there is a great deal of evil in it more then thou art aware of In Mark 3. from verse 22. and so on when Christ cast out devils they said He casts them out by Beelzebub the Prince of devils well says Christ All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation So that it seems these Pharisees had sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost in that they said He had an unclean spirit because they attributed that to an unclean spirit which was done by the Spirit of Christ onely they did this against knowledge and in malice I do not say that all reproachers do sin against the Holy Ghost but if it be against knowledge and in malice consider how near it comes as their attributing that to an unclean spirit which came from the spirit of God was it so does not thy attributing that to hypocrisie which comes from the Spirit of God in sincerity come near it But lastly if it be for hypocrisie that thou reproach and not for godliness then it is for an evil if it be for an evil that thou doest reproach them then the better thou art and the better mood thou art in the more thou wilt reproach them But we see the contrary evident Wicked men they reproach the godly for hypocrisie as they say but they do it when they are in the height of their lusts but if they be in a good mood when they are on their sick beds or death beds and in their best condition they reproach them least therefore sure it was the good they reproached and not the evil But thus much concerning the first branch The second is this it calls for a trembling heart from those that shall rejoyce at the reproaches of Gods people Perhaps thou art one that wilt not reproach thy self yet thou mayest rejoyce at the reproaches of Gods people There is a great deal of evil in this Surely thou hast no love to them for love does not rejoyce in iniquity 1 Corinth 13. 6. When the Devil does sow the seed thou dost come with the harrows to cover the seed when thou dost rejoyce in their reproaches Proverbs 18. 8. The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly It may be translated The words of a tale-bearer are as the words of them tbat are wounded That is The tale-bearers that come and tell you things they come with expressions of a great deal of brokenness of heart as if their spirits were grieved at that they hear and they speak as if they spoke in the defence of them and then they are as wounds not the wounds of them they speak of but the wounds of the wounded And if any come in this way to cast reproaches upon Gods people they are taken down into the belly and they go glib down This is a slight of the Devil to make them pass without the least questioning for those that reproach seem to speak out of wounded troubled hearts But we do not rejoyce in this that we hear any evil of Gods people but we rejoyce that they are discovered and this is the work of God 1. If so be thy conscience be convinced that through the concealing of such and such things there was a great deal of mischief done before and there is a great deal of good like to come to the publike cause and the name of God in the discovery then you may rejoyce Secondly I appeal to conscience Suppose the discovery do a great deal of hurt Gods name does suffer by it is there a proportionable measure of grief in thy heart for the suffering of Gods name unto the joy that is in you for the discovery But thirdly suppose it were one that were near to you suppose it were your Father or Brother the Wife of your bosom the dearest friend you had that were discovered would your hearts rejoyce then if you rejoyce because God hath glory by the discovery then would you rejoyce if the dearest friend you had were discovered Fourthly yea suppose you did suffer much by this discovery that it were much to your prejudice you should lose something that your hearts are much set upon would you rejoyce then Fifthly if so be that it were for the discovery that you rejoyce then you would not rejoyce that they are discovered to such as will not honor Gods name You are glad that any know of it that Gods enemies know of it that will not make a good use of it but will be hardened in their sin and dishonor Gods name Take heed you do not deceive your selves to rejoyce so in the discovery of the people of God there is a great deal of evil in it more then you think of Joseph he feared Mary but he feared the name of God might suffer and therefore he would not make her a publike example The third branch is to those that are divulgers of the reproaches of Gods people Consider what you do they are the reproaches of Christ take heed you do not divulge the reproaches of Gods people Suppose they prove false do you think that after Gods people have suffered so much this will be enough to answer God and Christ for all the dirt that hath been cast upon his face I heard so that the names of Gods people may suffer much when they are under false reproaches As it is with a stick a stick when it is in the water it looks as if it were broken pull it out of the water and it is straight So it is with the names of Gods people when their names are under reports that go abroad in the world they look as broken but when their names are pulled out from the reports of the world they appear whole And therefore take heed of divulging the reproaches of those that are godly You may in this do the Devils work and carry the Devils pack The Apostle in 1 Timothy 3. 11. speaking of women says That they must be grave not slanderers The word in
lane and such a craggy mountain though he would be glad they were not yet when he comes at them he is glad because they are signs of the way he must go Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life Master Bradford made use of that place when he came to the Stake and looked upon his sufferings as an evidence to him that he was in the right way Secondly they are an evidence to him of that difference that God hath made between others and him there was a time when as other men could close with me and agree with me now see what a difference there is they nothing but contemn me and despiseme I might have gone on and have been a scorner and a mocker as they are O the difference that God hath made between me and them that God should call me from them who was as vile as they and suffer them to be reproachers of godliness and make me a sufferer for godliness Jerome writ to Augustine that it was a great sign of glory to him that all Hereticks did hate him Thirdly it is an evidence of the sincerity and the power of his grace and his love that he bears to Christ and this is great riches for a gracious heart says Lord try me Lord prove me he would fain have an opportunity to manifest the truth of his love to Christ all the while I go on in a way of prosperity and have the desire of my heart wherein appears my love to Christ but now when I am called to suffering and to part with much for Christ here is an opportunity to shew I love Christ for himself that my love to him does not depend upon any thing that I gain by him in the world The Apostle says The tryal of your grace he speaks of faith is more precious then silver and gold and not onely your grace is more precious but the tryal of grace is more precious then gold and silver A gracious heart does rejoyce much in evidencing love to Christ as any dear friend rejoyces much in any opportunity of manifesting his love to another friend and the greater the opportunity is the more does he rejoyce And likewise the power of grace is manifested as David said to the King Achish Thou shalt know what thy servant can do and so a gracious heart thinks here is an opportunity to manifest the strength and power that is in grace Fourthly they are an evidence that much good is done that Satans kingdom is shaken in sufferings we see the rage of the Devil and he rages then most when he sends most opposition to his kingdom wherefore those against whom he rages most may have hereby evidence that they were most instrumental against him I rejoyce says Luther That Satan does so rage and blaspheme as often as I do but touch him he took it as an argument that much good was done otherwise the Devil would not have been so vexed he would not have raged so much Fifthly a gracious heart hath an evidence to it self that God will spare him when others shall suffer from his wrath Certainly the more any one is called to suffer in the cause of God and when he findes his heart ready and willing to yield to God in suffering the more evidence may he have to his soul that when others shall be called to suffer from Gods wrath he shall be spared and this is the bottom of the prayer of the Psalmist Psal 89. 50. Remember Lord the reproach of thy servants how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of the mighty people I read of one Escelus being condemned to be stoned to death and all the people were ready to cast stones at him and his brother came and run in and shewed that he had but one hand and the other hand he had lost for the defence of his countrey and then none would stone him and so the marks of the Lord Jesus are notable marks to safeguard thee in the time of trouble when the Lord goes out in his wrath he will set his mark upon those that he will save and none more notable marks then the reproaches and sufferings they bear for Christ This was Jeremiahs plea before the Lord chap. 15. ver 5. O Lord thou knowest remember me and visit me know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke Lastly it is an evidence of salvation Phil. 1. 28. not that all that suffer shall be saved but a gracious heart that suffers in a gracious Christian maner hath God sealing to him by his spirit in his sufferings his salvation Put these together and we see one cause why we should count the reproaches of Christ great riches yea this is greater riches then the riches of Egypt Secondly the reproaches and sufferings which we endure for Christ are riches of preferment It was a speech of Ignatius when he was to suffer It is better for me to be a Martyr then a Monarch Epist 12. ad Romanos Euseb l. 8. c. 7. To be preferred to honor is counted great riches now there is a preferment of Gods people here these three or four ways Basil upon that famous Martyr Bar-aam says he rejoyced in stripes as in honors he exulted in the severest punishments as if praeclara bravia acceperet First the Saints look upon this as high preferment because it is a testimony that God hath a high esteem of them God does not use to call those that are weak and mean to great sufferings but his servants that are most eminent God will dispose of the conditions of his people suitable to their dispositions therefore he will not call those to the strongest work that are weakest A Captain does not call out his mean Soldiers to a notable enterprize but he calls out his most able couragious Soldiers and the more desperate the enterprize is the more honor the Soldier thinks it to be called out so the greater work God calls one to the more preferment is in it and we have cause to admire that God should deal so with us his poor creatures rather then others as if we were fitter then ' others though we cannot say we are fitter because we are conscious to our selves of so much weakness but God honors us as if it were so Secondly by this we come to be honorable in the eyes of the Churches and the Saints of God nothing makes Gods people more honorable in the eyes of the Saints then when they are called to suffer much for God And so in the Primitive times they esteemed much of the Martyrs even too much Chrysostom speaking of Babylas the Martyr calls him a great man a man to be admired and says if I may call him a man and Tertullian writing to some of the Martyrs says I am not worthy to speak to you he writes that it was a custom of some in those times to creep to the Chains
nothing to those which thy Lord suffered he suffered more and greater things and know assuredly says he to his wife I never leave off thinking of the wrongs my Savior endured till my minde be still and quiet He that is afraid to suffer cannot be his disciple who suffered so much says Tertullian Certainly the example of Christ in humbling himself to suffer so much for us should be mightily prevalent with us if he emptyed himself so much to become the Son of man how much more should we be willing to empty our selves that we may be the Sons of God Worthy is the Lamb that was slain he is worthy of all honor from us who being Lord of all was content to be in the form of a servant to suffer for us and how can we express our honoring of him our respect to him better then in being to suffer for him I have read of a Roman servant who knowing his Master was sought for by officers to be put to death he put himself into his masters cloaths that he might be taken for him and so he was and was put to death for him whereupon his master in memory of his thankfulness to him and honor of him erected a brazen statue Christ who was not a servant but our Lord yet when he saw we were like to dye he took upon him the form of a servant he came in our likeness that he might dye for us and he dyed he requires not us to erect up brazen statues in memory of him in honor to him but that we should be willing to suffer for him when he calls us thereunto let not us put off the cloaths of our Christian profession that we may avoid sufferings for him as many do who put on the cloaths of our humanity yea of our servility that he might suffer for us The example of the servants of God in all times suffering in his cause is likewise a special help to us in our way of suffering Let us warm our hearts often at the meditation of the fiery tryal of the Martyrs Consider what precious choycespirited men they were how holy heavenly spiritual what service they did for God and yet that they should suffer such hard things as they did what are we in comparison of them Chrysostom in an Oration upon two famous Martyrs raising their honor and speaking how the worthies of God in former times endured hard things How is it says he that thou ô Christian must be so delicate a Soldier so dainty canst thou overcome without fight triumph without combate And in his Sermons upon the Colossions Remember the chains of Paul and consider what an absurd thing it is that he should be in bonds and you should live deliciously Does the desire of pleasures take remember the Prison of Paul Wouldest thou be cloathed in silks remember Pauls chains and silken cloaths will be more vile to thee then filthy rags Wouldest thou be adorned with gold remember Pauls chains and they will shew you that such ornaments are no better then the dirt under your feet Would you be beautiful with your hair think of the filth of the deformity of Paul in the Prison and thy heart will rise with indignation against such beauty and will account it extream deformity What would you have sweet oyntments consider of his tears I have read of Phocion an Athenian Captain when he was condemned to death by his ungrateful Countrey he saw one Tudippus condemned to the same death but very fearful he comforts him with these words Is it not enough for thee Tudippus that thou art to dye with Phocion so we may say to our own hearts Is it not enough for us that we have such a cloud of witnesses such a noble Army of Martyrs before us and with us be not therefore so afraid of the ways of God because of afflictions as thou hast been but submit thy self to God in this way of his CHAP. IX Duties required of us when God calls us to an afflicted condition SEeing God hath so ordered things that his people must be in an afflicted estate in this world when God calls us to suffer afflictions let us know there are three duties required of us First that we be willing to yield to Gods call to come under that condition he hath appointed us unto Secondly that we behave our selves Christianly with all humble submission patience contentedness in this condition Thirdly that we labor to improve our affliction that shall be layed upon us For the first when our cross comes we must be willing to take it up freely and readily to submit unto it It was the honor of the three children in Daniel that they yielded their bodies to those fiery flames they were cast into Dan. 3. 28. Let us not seek to put off sufferings by distinctions certainly the best policy in dangerous times is the greatest purity The Lacedemonians were wont to say It is a shame for any man to flye in time of danger but for a Lacedemonian it is a shame for him to deliberate How much more truly may this be said of a Christian when God calls him to suffer he should be such a resolved man beforehand that it should be a shame now for him even to deliberate It is argument enough for a Christian to suffer any thing because it is the will of God out of bare submission to God but when it is not onely so but in the cause of God in witness to his truth in vindicating his honor this call to suffer comes with strength indeed it is unworthy of a Christian once to deliberate the avoyding of this How much better is it to suffer a little to prevent a sin and so prevent Gods wrath then by avoyding sufferings to fall into sin which being once committed Gods wrath incensed by it cannot be pacified though we should be willing to suffer a thousand times as much Our condition is such that we must suffer one way or another while we live here Is it not better then to suffer for God then any other way This was Chrysostoms argument in his Sermons upon the 2 Cor. chap. 12. Sermon 26. If you suffer not for Religion you will suffer for some other unprofitable light cause Seeing then says he we following this or the other course of life we must suffer affliction why do we not choose such a suffering which with the affliction brings unspeakable glory Certainly it is infinitely better to suffer for Christ then for our sin We read of Peace-offerings that were offered there might be oyl mixed but not so in Sin-offerings in those afflictions we endure for Christ we offer up our selves as Sacrifices of Peace-offerings and in them there is joy much oyl of gladness is mixed in such offerings but when we suffer for our sins there is no oyl of gladness mixed there Let us take heed that we be not found guilty before the Lord when the
and rules and have the same ends and affections hopes and desires and joys and where there is such a suitableness surely there must needs be a great deal of comfort for all comforts come from a suitableness between the heart and the object if the thing be never so good if there be not a suitableness between the heart and it there is no comfort but no such suitableness as between Gods people and therefore no such comfort Fifthly no such joy as is to be had in communion with them because of their entireness of love entireness of love is a lovely sight Dionisius seeing two entire friends together wished himself the third Cant. 6. 9. My Dove is but one and it follows the daughters saw her and blessed her an oneness of heart is a blessed thing no such entireness such oneness any where as amongst the Saints their love is spiritual and not upon base grounds as the love of others is there is not that base aiming at self as in others a carnal heart cannot love another but in some base respect to himself but now it is not self self that is the the ground of the love between those that are truly gracious and godly but God that is between them and with them the ground of their love is more spiritual and therefore it is a kinde of divine love and not so drossie as others Sixthly no communion so comfortable in regard of their faithfulness they dare trust one another They call themselves brethren and they will dye for another says Tertullian the men of the world cry out Of all men I would not trust those that are so precise Indeed if you do take all refuse that make profession you may say so but a gracious heart can savor who is godly and will not trust every one that talks of Religion but such as are truly godly they dare trust them and venture their lives with them no communion in which we can ease our selves of our burthens as where there are a company of true gracious humble Saints in communion one with another So that put these together and you see the second reason why it is worth the enduring so much affliction to have communion with the people of God Thirdly it is worth the enduring a great deal of affliction to have communion with them because it is in their communion in which the solemn worship of God is set up now it is worth the enduring of a great deal to be where that is In Judah is God known and his name is great in Israel he hath honor by others but his name is great in Israel in his Church What a comfortable thing is it and blessed and worth the enduring of much to have multitudes of Gods people joyn with one heart in setting out the praises of God sitting at his Table sitting before him lifting up the name of the great God making his praise glorious When the Saints are gathered together for this end in this work Christ is there present with them praising God he joyns with them in this work Heb. 2. 12. In the midst of the Church will I praise thee this is spoken of Christ it is quoted out of Psal 22. 22. which is prophetical of Christ who would not be in such acts of worship to joyn with such as Christ joyns with If God be our God and dear to our souls his worship is dear to us and if there be any people in the world among whom God is truly worshipped it is a great affliction not to be with them It is the observation of one Interpreter upon that place in Isa 6. where the Cherubims cryed Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts the earth is full of thy glory the Prophet cryes out Wo unto me I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips unfit to joyn with those that are praising of God howsoever the meaning of that place be yet thus we may make use of it to be a great affliction and cause there is to cry out Wo to our selves when we hear of Gods people crying out Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts if we be not amongst them though it be in the wilderness yet if Gods worship be set up the people of God have a feast When the Israelites were to go from Egypt into the wilderness Moses says they must go thither to keep a feast unto the Lord What was that feast in the wilderness but the setting up the worship of God Fourthly no communion no society in which there is so much profit and benefit as to be amongst these As Abigail said to David The Lord shall binde up the soul of my Lord in the bundle of life to be amongst Gods people is to be bound up in the bundle of life much good we enjoy in them and the more communion we have the more interest we have in all their gifts and graces and prayers and therefore we read of Daniel when he had a great work to do how he makes use of that interest he had in the prayers of the godly Daniel 2. 17 18. It is a great blessing to have an interest in the prayers of the Saints and so in all their gifts 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas c. all are yours and you are Christs as if he should say there need no such envying one at another to say I am of Paul and another of Apollos and another of Cephas for all are yours all the gifts and graces of all the worthies of the Lord are all yours they are all for your good and you have interest in them all in communion with the Saints there is watching over one another and quickning one another and admonishings and wholesome counsels and stirring up the graces of God that are in one another Have you not felt your selves when you have come away from a spiritual communion to come away with hearts raised and spirits inflamed for God and so strengthened that your resolutions have been up to do or suffer any thing for the Lord as in Mal. 3. 16. Those that feared the Lord spake often to one another quickned the hearts of one another and so in Acts 18. 5. And when Silus and Timotheus was come from Macedonia Paul was pressed in spirit and testified to the Iews that Iesus was Christ Certainly in their converse together S. Paul found his spirit wrought upon and refreshed so that the Text says when Timotheus was come Paul was pressed in spirit Fifthly it is good being with Gods servants though it be in suffering affliction because God takes so much delight in them if God takes delight in being with them certainly there is great cause we should take delight in them there are admirable expressions of Gods taking delight in them Zeph. 3. 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save thee he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love
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
reproaches in the cause of Christ THat a gracious heart hath a high esteem of the reproaches of Christ he highly esteems of every disesteem he suffers for Christ And not onely bears reproaches and sufferings patiently but triumphingly he is not onely contented with them but counts himself enriched by them This is a great riddle and mystery to the world that Sufferings Troubles Miseries and Reproaches should be rejoyced in and esteemed highly of We are to understand by reproaches is this point likewise not onely slanders and mocks and scorns the sufferings of Gods people in their names formally but materially their sufferings they suffer for Christ upon which they come to be contemned So that whatsoever Gods people do suffer in the cause of God and for Christ they have high thoughts of it If God should give unto them all the riches and honors of the world they could not count themselves so enriched as they do by their sufferings For men to be enriched by the glorious things of heaven this is no wonder but to be enriched by their sufferings and reproaches this is the great wonder of the world that onely those that have the Spirit of God are acquainted withal Says St. Paul in Rom. 5. 3. We glory in tribulations There is a patient bearing of tribulation and a rejoycing in tribulation and glorying in tribulation now they did not onely bear them patiently and rejoyce in them but they did esteem them their glory It is a notable speech in Acts 5. 41. It is said of the Apostles when they were called before the Councel and were very ill handled They departed from the Councel rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name to be worthy of shame is a strange kinde of phrase But in the Original it is They counted it honor to be dishonored In Luke 6. 22 23. you have another Text to shew forth unto us this truth clearly Blessed are you when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of mans sake Here is an expression of the greatest dishonor that can be to Gods people What should they do then Rejoyce in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven As if Christ should say I do not bid you bear it patiently but joyfully and more then an ordinary joy leap for joy And that is remarkable of St. Paul in 2 Cor. 11. where he reckons up many things to vindicate his Apostleship wherein he was equal and above others you shall finde they are his sufferings principally he endured for Christ at verse 23. Are they the Ministers of Christ I speak as a fool I am more in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft now this is brought to shew the dignity of his Apostleship and therefore in the conclusion at verse 30. when he was put upon glorying he shews what he most gloried in If I must needs glory I will glory in things that concern mine infirmities by infirmities we are not to understand the infirmities of sin but his weakness and evils that he endured for Christ And so in chap. 12. ver 10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake And thus the people of God in former times have much gloryed in that they have suffered in the cause of Christ It is the speech of Tertullian Your cruelty is our glory We read of tender mothers beholding their childrens suffering death for Christ as their Trophees and Triumphs and delighting in their last breathings as in most melodious musick And it is reported of Balilas when he was to dye he required this favor to have his chains to be buried with him as the ensigns of his honor It was the maner of the Romans when any had received any wounds for their countrey they would shew the scars and places of their wounds for their glory Pliny tells us of one because he got forty five wounds for his countrey by that he got immortal honor amongst the Romans Thus Saint Paul seems to argue Let no man put me to business I bear about me the marks of the Lord Jesus And Ignatius professed he had rather be a Martyr then a Monarch And Prudentius tells us of the Martyrs in his time and especially of Vincentius that the great torments that were presented to them were but sports and plays to them they delighted themselves in those things they suffered for Christ they trod upon burning coals as if they had trod upon roses And so in the Primitive time they were wont to call Martyrdom by that name The crown of Martyrdom I desire to know nothing says St. Paul but Christ and him crucified And we know how superstitiously they did use the Cross of Christ in former times and how high respect they would give unto a piece of wood that Christ was crucified upon yea if they had but that piece of wood in imagination what a deal of business was there made by Constantines mother about the Cross of Christ Certainly it grew upon this it was but the abuse of the high esteem that the people of God had of sufferings The Emperor Baldwyn thought himself blest if he had but a piece of the Cross of Christ that he would carry about with him in his arms It is reported of one King of England that he bestowed as much upon a Cross as the Revenues of his Kingdom came to in a year And that esteem which they had of a piece of wood the Martyrs in the Primitive times had of the Cross of Christ namely of the sufferings they endured for Christ Quest. But you will say wherein does it appear and how comes it to pass that Gods people do so esteem of their sufferings for Christ Ans There are great riches in them First the riches of evidence Secondly the riches of preferment Thirdly the riches of employment Fourthly riches of improvement Fifthly riches of experience Sixthly riches of promises Seventhly riches of comforts Eighthly riches of glory First they are great riches because they have rich evidences from them and that in these four or five particulars First by the sufferings they suffer for Christ they have an evidence to themselves that the way they are in is the right way They have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed there was a time when they walked in the ways of sin in their footsteps and then they were never reproached but now they have changed their way and walk in the footsteps of the anointed now they are reproached If a man being going in a way the end of which is of great consequence and if he should miscarry in his way he were undone If one should tell him some marks of the way as you go you shall meet with such a dirty
for righteousness sake I would this foolish world would all rise up against me to reproach me Secondly Gods people have been greedy of them Origen was so earnest to suffer with his father when he was a youth of sixteen years of age that if his mother had not kept his clothes from him he would have run to the place where his father suffered to profess himself a Christian and to have suffered with him And so the story of the poor Woman in the book of Martyrs that made haste to the place where many Christians were to be burned and meeting with the Persecutor says he What need you make such haste to that place there are many to be burned Ah says she that I know and I am afraid all will be done before I come I and my childe would fain suffer with them And many blessed the day of their suffering Alice Drivers expression was That never neckerchief became her so well as that chain did and are you so shy of them what difference is between you and their spirits Again what unthankfulness and dishonor is this to Christ that hath suffered so much for you Christ hath gloried in the sufferings he suffered for you and why should you be afraid of sufferings for him it was a notable speech of an Ancient Acceptable is the reproach of the Cross to him that is not unthankful to him that was crucified upon the Cross And what confusion will it be upon you another day when you shall see those that suffered are so glorified that their sufferings are crowns of such immortal glory O consider what you do deprive not your selves of such glorious riches Fifthly let us labor to get this Christian magnanimity of spirit namely for to glory in all that we suffer for Christ Heathens can be patient in sufferings but Christians must go beyond them and glory in their sufferings You have been bold in suffering for sin if you might have your minde and will now if you may have your minde and will for Gods glory in suffering in a good way why should you not suffer Mark the expressions that we have of Job Did I fear a great multitude or did the contempt of families terrifie me that I kept silence and went not out of the door O that one would hear me behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine adversary had written a book let them say what they can against me write a book against me Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and binde it as a crown to me Thus it should be with the people of God they should take their reproaches as an ensign of honor This indeed is truly in a spiritual sense to tread upon the Asp and the Adder that when the Asp and Adder and the old Serpent does spit out her venomous poyson a gracious heart should tread upon them There are three things that will put a spirit of suffering and so a holy magnanimity into us All the arguments in the world will not do it unless we have a suffering spirit and these three things will put a suffering spirit in us First if you had a full satisfaction of your own spirits in the cause of God you maintain and the ways of God you walk from your own experience you have in them if you take upon you the profession of Religion by the reports of others and be carried by the example of others that will not do it but if in your own experiences you finde that sweet and onely satisfying content in the truths and ways of God this will do it It was a notable resolution of Luther My purpose is not says he to maintain my life or name in respect what men say or can say of me for my maners but my purpose is to maintain the cause of God let whosoever will tear my life and name in this regard Propositum est mihi neque vitam neque mores tueri sed solam causam lacerent mores meos quicunque velint Luth. ad Nicolaū Hansman Secondly if you get your hearts inflamed with love to Christ Love delights in opportunities of expressing it self and it hath never such a full opportunity of expressing the strength and heat of it as in suffering much for the Beloved Thirdly if you have an eye of faith and can behold God the Father and Christ and the blessed Angels looking upon you when you are in your sufferings By the eye of faith look up to heaven and see God looking upon you and saying Here is a servant of mine is called to suffer for me now you shall see his behavior and Christ and the Angels looking upon you to see your behavior and this will do it not onely make you patient but glory in them Sixthly if there be so much glory and such riches in suffering Hence we have an Use of abundance of comfort and encouragement to them that are willing to endure reproaches for Christ There are five or six branches of consolation to Gods people in this Use First are you willing to suffer reproaches and to glory in them I remember a notable speech of Gulielmus Parisiensis O happy pallat that can taste such delicates O it is a blessed thing that God hath given you such a taste Again know if you glory in your sufferings for God God will glory in doing for you None shall glory in suffering for him but he will count it his glory to be doing for them Thirdly if you glory in your sufferings for Christ God will count it his glory to uphold you in his sufferings Fourthly do you glory in the low condition you are put into for Christ certainly God will own your souls and glory in you when you are in the lowest condition when your souls shall be in adversity God will know you then Fifthly can you glory in a suffering Christ when Christ comes in glory he will own you when he shall be glorified his glory shall be yours Those that are ashamed of me I will be ashamed of them says Christ before my Father and the Angels But those that glory in Christ Christ shall be their glory Lastly now you glory in Christs sufferings you shall glory in his praises Seventhly if so be that Gods people account themselves so enriched by sufferings and reproaches let us take heed we do not despise any that do suffer for Christ that we have not low esteem of them because of their sufferings God hath high esteem of them when they suffer and they themselves see cause to glory in their condition and are you that are standers by ashamed of them and do you disesteem of them for their sufferings while the Saints of God flourish in the world they are esteemed of by many carnal hearts but let them suffer any thing and be disgraced and they withdraw themselves from them they are despised as
the life of Camillus of the Gauls that after they had once a taste of the sweet wine of the grapes that grew in Italy they inquired in what Countrey such sweet wine was and after they understood where the grape of that wine grew they would never be at rest till they got to that Countrey where such sweet and pleasant things grew I have endeavored in the opening of this point to bring unto you some of the Clusters of Canaan and some of that wine which is to be drunk in the Kingdom of Heaven now if you account it to be sweet and good let not your hearts be at rest till you come at that Countrey till you come to enjoy the sweet and good of that Countrey It is reported of one Adrianus who seeing the Martyrs suffer such grievous things in the cause of Christ he asked what was that which caused them to suffer such things and one of them named that Text Eye hath not seen nor ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what is laid up for those that love God and the naming of that Text converted him and had such an effect as made him to profess Religion and so to profess it as to be a Martyr for it You have not onely one Text named but many have been used about this argument let not all be in vain We read in Mark 10. 17. of a yong man that came running and kneeled before Christ and asked him Good Master what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life O that God would move the hearts now of some yong ones that hearing what eternal life means they may now come running to get part in it that that activity and vigor of their youth may be exercised and spent about this What may I do that I likewise may be partaker of eternal life and of these glorious and blessed truths that are here revealed You that are in a poor condition in the world that have little here here are great things for your hearts to make after here are glorious things that are as obvious for you ac for the greatest in the world you cannot expect to have great matters in the earth but here you may expect to have great matters You that are old likewise though you have not been acquainted with the excellency of the Kingdom of God now bless God that you may yet further know more concerning it If a man come to know more of an inheritance that did befal him or of any outward gain then before he is glad that he lived to that time so bless God that you may know yet more concerning eternal life before this life be at an end What is it that your hearts are set upon There are none but their hearts are set upon some good that they apprehend to be good Now what is that good Certainly there is an eminency of all good contained in this It was a charge of God unto Baruch that we read of in Jer. 45. ult Seekest thou great things for thy self Seek them not for I will bring evil upon all flesh and that which I have planted I will pluck up The argument runs thus Seekest thou great things for thy self in any outward matter do not seek them for I am about to bring evil upon my people the time of publique calamity is coming and doest thou seek great things for thy self But when we are about this argument the glory of the Kingdom of God Doest thou seek great things for thy self We cannot say Seek them not God would have his people seek glorious things for themselves seek them to the utmost that possibly you can So follow these things as not to be satisfied with any thing under these God would have his servants to be of such spirits as though content with the least mercies they do enjoy to acknowledge themselves unworthy of them yet not to be satisfied with the greatest things in the world for their portion What will a reprobates portion serve you Certainly the glory of the world if you had it all it were but the portion of a reprobate What will a Dogs portion satisfie you All the things of the world are but Dogs meat so the Apostle calls them in Phil. 3. I account all things in the world as dross and dung or dogs meat and will this satisfie you Is there nothing else for you to seek after First seek the Kingdom of God says Christ and the righteousness of it let that be your first endeavor Strive to enter into the strait gate though it be never so strait yet if it be the way unto life and unto these things strive to enter We have not spoken more then that is real It is a saying of one Neither Christ nor Heaven can be hyperbolized that is there cannot be more said of the excellency of Christ and of Heaven then it is in its self and therefore do not think any thing that hath been spoken is an hyperbole but a real expression of some little glimpse of the glory of the recompence of reward It may be some of your hearts when you hear much of the wrath of God against sin and the dreadfulness of Gods displeasure your hearts are ready to rise and belk and these are hard things and hard sayings and who can bear them but now you have not heard so much concerning that but you have heard of the goodness of God and of the glory of God and of the riches of the grace of God and of the wonderful thoughts that God hath for the everlasting good of mankinde how do your hearts work now Shall your hearts stir when you hear Gods wrath and when you hear of Gods grace shall not your hearts stir then If God does intend good to any soul he will cause that soul to see into the reality and excellency of these things and that all things should be neglected in comparison in seeking after these Consider that God hath given unto you natures capable of these glorious things God might have made you worms or bruit beasts and there would have been an end of you presently you had not been any way capable of these things but God hath made you of such a nature such creatures as ye are capable of the highest excellency that ever any creature that God made was capable of and therefore being of such a nature of such a large extent it concerns you to seek after those things which might fill it they are not little things that can fill large capacities now mans nature an immortal soul is of a large capacity and when the time shall come that God shall discover to any soul what it was capable of how infinitely will it be confounded in it self when it shall know what poor things it sought after and minded Men live here in the world as though they were capable of no other happiness but meat and drink and clothes and
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
you no good and if this argument prevail to get off your hearts beyond things that are for a season there will arise these two questions O that I did but know how it should go with me eternally O how shall I get eternal things to be my portion CHAP. XXVIII How we should know how it will be with us for eternity and what we should do that it may be well with us eternally IF you say How shall I know how it shall be with me for eternity shall it be well or not well with my soul when I am beyond things that are for a season You may have some guess by those thoughts you have had upon things for eternity you that have given liberty to your selves to satisfie your selves in the things of the flesh and your hearts have been fully satisfied in the things of the world and this point is a strange point to you you have cause to conclude with your selves that you are in a miserable condition for eternity but if your consciences can testifie that this point the getting of your hearts from things that are but for a season and setting them upon the things that are eternal is that which the Lord hath setled upon your hearts for many years when you wake in the night or in the morning the same thoughts that are presented to me by the Word the Lord hath presented to me by his Spirit the strength and chief of my thoughts have been busied about this argument It is a good sign that God does intend good for that soul to eternity whom he is pleased to possess with the thoughts of it so deeply for the present Again consider could you not wish in your hearts that you might live always and that the content and delight in this world in meat and drink and sports do satisfie you and you think your selves happy in the enjoyment of them certainly God hath not yet savingly made known the things of eternity to you Those that God does prepare for his eternal mercies in Heaven God does take off their hearts from all things in the world that if it were put to your choice though you might have a thousand worlds you would not have them for your portion no there are more glorious more excellent things for my soul to have and therefore God forbid I should have my portion in these things though they were to endure Augustine brings in Plotinus acknowledging it the mercy of God to man that his soul is in a mortal body that the body is not immortal but that after a little time the bodies of men may be dissolved and so their souls be there for ever where the soul of the world is that is his expression 3. A third Argument that it shall be well with you for eternity is this To know what seeds of eternity God hath begun to plant in your hearts This is a certain truth There is no soul that God intends eternal life unto but God begins eternal life in this world You know what St. John says He that hates his brother hath not eternal life abiding in him Eternal life is begun in this world in all that shall be saved therefore think with your selves What seeds of eternity have I put into my soul All common graces and moral vertues are not a seed that will grow up to eternal life but saving grace will though it be under the clods for the present it will grow up eternity Fourthly Examine the Scriptures look into the book of God and see whether the Scripture speaks well on your side because that in this Book in this Scripture there God hath revealed the eternal counsels of his will and the great things about mans eternal estate there is little in all the Book of the Creature the Book of Creation revealed of the counsels of Gods will about bringing man to his eternal estate but in this Book of the Scripture he hath revealed his will concerning this and therefore confider does this speak well of your side Thus by these arguments you may know how it shall be with you for eternity But what shall we do to get a portion in those things that shall be eternal First labor to bring all things in subordination to eternity do not make other things your scope make them an underling and take no further content in them then that they may further your souls to eternity Suppose you have an estate encreasing more then another what will you do with it how will you use it wherein do you count the good of it to consist that by these things I have coming from God I hope to make use of them to fit me for eternal mercies and to treasure up eternal mercies by a sanctified holy use of these things but when temporal things come in and your hearts rest upon them without subordination to eternal things this is infinitely dangerous Secondly make conscience of the little time you have O it is but a little time you have let that be consecrated and devoted to God it is eternal happiness that you look for hereafter why should you not be willing to spend as much of this little time for it as can be Thirdly labor to be exact in all that you do for you are working for eternity As Zeuxis the Painter when he was askt why he was so accurate in his Painting says he I Paint for eternity Let us in our Christian profession be exact in our way because we live for eternity There is nothing that does make men so accurate in their way as this and let the men of the world know that this is the reason of the exactness of the ways of Gods people because they know they live to eternity Hypocrites who in Religious duties aim onely at some present some temporal good they are not exact they rest in outsides but the Saints who make eternity their aym are exact in all things especially those things that have a more immediate influence into eternity Fourthly be sure all you do you do upon divine and eternal grounds take heed of being carnal and earthly in your spiritual services but in all duties in Gods worship look to an eternal God and let your principles aims grounds and intentions be eternal The Temple was called Bethgnolam the house of Eternity do all you do in the house of God in his Ordinances in order to eternity that it may indeed be an house of eternity unto you Lastly be sure you be constant abide constantly to the end do not onely begin and now and then in a good mood have some thoughts of a good life and providing for your souls but abide be constant And if you take these ways by this you shall come to choose Moses Choice O that now in my winding up of all by all that hath been said some soul or other may have cause to bless God in being inclined to choose the same
are weak or ignorant or such as are malicious Weak and ignorant for any one that hath wisdom to be troubled at the reproaches of those that are weak it is a wonderful disgrace Will any man care that is a workman to have an unskilful man reproach his work It is a notable speech of Seneca Some are possest with such great folly and madness to think they may be reproached by a woman And for the malicious alas they reproach themselves a great deal more then they reproach you they do but discover their own filth in it and therefore are compared to swine swine will leave other things and continually be rooting in dung and so those that love to be reproaching leave the good that is in any and will always be rooting in their filth here they shew their swinish dispositions One compares a reproacher to the stone that struck down Nebuchadnezzars Image whose head was of gold and the breast and upper parts of silver and the feet of clay the stone came and struck the feet the clay and so struck it down so reproachers do not look at the gold and silver the parts and graces of Gods people but if there be any clay any infirmities or sins they strike at them and so fell them down The godly had need fence their feet of clay and infirmities that they do not lie open to malicious men Erasmus tells of one who collected all the lame and defective verses in Homers Works but passed over all that were excellent So these if they can spy any thing defective and evil they observe it and gather all they can together but will take no notice of that which is good and praise-worthy like the Kite who flies over the fair meadows and flowers and lights onely upon the carrion or like flyes that love onely to be upon the sore galled places of the horses back And what is it you are reproached for it is either good or evil if it be good you have no cause to be troubled if it be evil it is threefold the evil of sin or natural infirmities or outward meanness If it be the evil of sin then either you are guilty or not guilty if you be guilty it is not reproach but right judgement of thy condition and if there be such a great evil for others to speak of it what a great evil is it for thee to be guilty of it and therefore you should turn all the trouble that you have for the notice which is taken of it upon your guiltiness in it and many times although the thing be true they say of you yet it is so poor and mean a thing that you may comfort your self in this that surely they cannot perceive worse in you for if they could they would make use of that Latimer in his last Sermon before K. Edward says He was glad when any objected indiscretion against him in his Sermons for says he by that I knew the matter was good else they would soon have condemned that And if you be not guilty innocency is bulwark enough Says Seneca He is to be ashamed that does unjustly and shall you be ashamed that are innocent Yes others think I am guilty But if you go on in an innocent way whosoever do think so do disgrace themselves for suppose one should say the Sun were dark and another should believe it who is disgraced the Sun or the man that either said it or believed it so if an aspersion be cast upon those that are godly and they walk in a shining conversation before others it will be such a reproach to any that raises the reproach as it will keep others from believing of it But if the evil be some natural infirmity weakness of parts or the like then thou mayest comfort thy self in this that there is no dishonor in natural infirmity it is onely sin that brings shame there is a relation between sin and shame but between nothing else and shame it is a sign also they want other things when they reproach thee for natural infirmities Seventhly consider what honor God hath put upon you and what he intends to put upon you if you be godly he hath put honor enough upon you and that may be enough to uphold the heart under all the reproaches and stains that men and Devils can cast upon you Hath not the Lord been pleased to bring you into the honorable estate of sonship and hath put his glory upon your souls and hath honored you by that near relation you have to Christ he hath honored you by the glorious priviledges of the Gospel he hath honored you by giving himself and Christ to you he hath honored you in the hearts of his Saints men of precious spirits who know much of Gods minde who are able to judge wherein true excellency consists their hearts are with you they bless God for you the esteem of one godly man is more to be regarded then thousands of others your name is precious amongst the Saints and that is enough When Doeg reproached David with devouring words in Sauls Court yet David blessed himself in this Psalm 52. 8. But I am a green Olive-tree in the house of God Doeg flourisheth in the Court and my name may be blasted there but In the house of God there my name is precious I am there as a green olive-tree and that is more to me then flourishing in Sauls Court Now shall the reproach of an evil tongue take away the comfort of a godly heart that hath so great honors We count it a great evil and exceeding was the basenes of the spirit of Haman when he was so honored by the King and his Nobles yet that he should be vexed because Mordecai would not bow to him that all his honor should do him no good so is it not the baseness of the spirits of Gods Servants truly it is to be called by no other name when as God hath raised them to such glory when as God hath made them Members of and Coheirs with his Son and they are invited to the Banquet of the Lord to the great Supper of the Lamb and the Lord hath provided for them all the glory of Heaven and there are such glorious things spoken of them in the word yet for all this if they come into wicked company and have but an evil tongue speak against them they are so discouraged and cast down as if all the honor that God had put upon them were nothing What an evil thing is this And how do you derogate from the goodness of God to walk thus unbeseeming Christians If you had never so much filth upon you for the present being there is so much honor to come what need you to care If a man be going to be crowned and to be glorified and those that do not know him as he goes contemn him what cares he He knows that within a few days he shall be honored by
running up and down from one witness to another but a gracious heart hath other ways to help it self it cryes to God most high and looks for help from Heaven God sends forth his mercy and truth to help and there is help indeed Fifthly another help is this if you can but get your hearts quietly and kindely to lament the condition of your reproachers this will be a marvellous means tosweeten the heart and to help to bear reproaches It was the answer of Socrates to one who wondred at his patience towards one who reviled him If we should meet one says he whose body were more unsound then ours should we be angry with him and not rather pity him why then should we not do the like to him whose soul is more diseased then ours The folly of our reproachers should cause us to pity them to be patient towards them and pass by the wrong they do unto us this was one of the arguments that Abigail brought to David to quiet his spirit that was so stirred against Nabal because of that reproach he cast upon him Nabal saith she is his name and folly is with him it is his folly rather pity him it is too low a thing for such a spirit as Davids is to be stirred with it Instead of being troubled with the reproaches that are upon you your spirits should be most troubled for their sin Now there is infinite cause we have to be troubled for their sin more then for any evil that befals us An evil tongue devours and is an abomination and in Prov. 8. 13. God says The froward mouth he hates Now if you have any love you should think thus This poor man what hath he done he hath brought himself under the hatred of God now this should mightily affect the hearts of the godly As he is an abomination to God so he is an abomination to men Prov. 24. 9. The scorner is an abomination to men scornful spirits love to cast shame and ignominy upon others And in Prov. 18. 7. A fools mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul we should think he hath but ensnared his own soul and so fall a lamenting of his wretched condition And so in Isa 33. 10. Your breath as fire shall devour you If the breath of any man devours him the breath of revilers and reproachers and slanderers does The Heathens called a reproacher A three tongued man because he hurts three at once he hurts him that he reproaches and him that heard the reproach and himself worst of all do but get power over your hearts to bewail this sin and your reproach will not be so troublesom Trilinguis Gallesius a writer upon Exod. 22. ver 28. observes the exceeding patience of those three Emperors Theodosius Honorius Arcadius towards those who spake evil of them they would have them subject to no punishment for they said If it comes from lightness of spirit it is to be contemned if from madness it is worthy of pity if from injury it is to be pardoned wrongs are to be forgiven Again labor to possess your souls with the reality of the sweet of and the honor there is in the ways of God so no reproach will be grievous to you As it is said of the covetous man when some told him Such and such hiss at thee but says he I care not I rejoyce in what I have at home that I have so much money in my chest So it should be with a gracious heart he should say I have sweet enough in my own heart what need I trouble my self with what others think or say Seventhly labor to satisfie your souls in the glory of God and Christ Though my name be cast out as filth yet the name of God and Christ is blessed and glorious and so shall be for ever let Devils and wicked men do what they can against it It was a good speech of Luther writing to his friend Spalatinus bemoaning his condition to him because of the scorn and contempt he suffered yet comforting himself in this that Christ lived and reigned Luther is accounted even a Devil but Christ lives and reigns he addes his Amen to it Thirdly it is not enough to bear reproaches patiently but we must bear them fruitfully a christian should think he hath not done that which belongs to a christian unless he hath got some good by them a christian should not think it enough to free himself from the scorn of the tongue but he must improve it for good by it First consider what ends God aims at by it and labor to work them upon your selves that you may attain to those ends Secondly labor to draw what good instructions you can from the reproaches of others As namely thus when I hear men reproach and revile O what a deal of evil is there secretly in the heart of man that is not discovered till it have occasion I did not think that such and such could ever have been reproachers if they had not been provoked Again do I see another so vigilant over me to finde me out to reproach me how vigilant should I be over my self to finde out what is in me to humble me Again is there so much evil to be under the stroke of mans tongue what a great evil is it to be under the stroke of Gods justice Lastly to be fruitful that is set upon what duty God calls for at the present surely this is one great general duty that the less credit I see I have in the world let me labor to have the more credit in Heaven I see there is a breach of my name here let me seek to make up my name in Heaven 4. And then they must be born joyfully but we shall speak of that afterwards in the third point that a gracious heart is not onely willing to bear reproach when God calls unto it but in the cause of CHRIST to triumph and rejoyce in his reproaches 5. Lastly we should return good for evil then you come to the top of Christianity This is a sign of great progress in Religion If I be weak saith Ambrose perhaps I may pardon one charging me falsly but if I have profited although not altogether perfect though he flows in upon me with reproaches I hold my peace and answer nothing but if I be perfect I then bless him that reviles me according to that of St. Paul Being reviled we bless If you can do thus if you can heartily pray for your reproachers and desire good to them and be willing to take notice of any good in them to clear up their innocency where there is iust cause if you can be ready to offer any offices of love and respect and kindeness to them and so heap coals of fire upon them this is a great sign of grace you have made a good progress indeed in Gods way Mat. 5. 44
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
and Jesus Christ it seeing that the bottom and ground of all this glorious recompence of reward is in the free and eternal love of God in Jesus Christ that did work about this before the foundation of the world was laid this does mightily enflame the heart with love to God and therefore it wishes as that Martyr did O that I had as many lives as I have hairs on my head to lay down for Christ And it is sorry that it hath no other opportunity to testifie its love to God the soul says I have but this little time to testifie my love to God and I can but testifie little in doing O what a happiness is it that that which I want of testifying my love in doing I have it in testifying my love in suffering Shall a dog that hath but a few crums or bones from his Master be willing to venture his life in defence of his Master and shall not a gracious heart that expects not crums and bones but Crowns and unconceiveable glory in Heaven be willing to venture life for God in the cause of God Ninthly there is a great deal of power in having respect to the recompence of reward to carry on a soul in suffering because according to the things that are apprehended there is the like impression left upon the spirit As a gracious heart apprehending holy things is made holy and apprehending spiritual things is made spiritual and apprehending great things is made great thee is a holy gracious magnanimity put into the heart A man that is lift up on high upon a high Tower or a high Mountain he looks upon things below as little things The apprehension of this glory lifts the soul on high and puts an impression of greatness and glory upon the heart and so causeth an heroical spirit in the heart to look upon all things below as small as the Martyrs though they were weak spirits by nature even women and children yet apprehending such great things they had heroical magnanimious spirits and looked upon their sufferings as small things because they had an impression of the object they beheld left upon their spirits and in some measure were made like it Lastly there is a mighty deal of power in looking to the recompence of reward to help in sufferings because it hath much power to cleanse the heart every one that hath this hope purgeth himself 1 Iohn 3. And hence the Christians in the Primitive times fering Those that write the stories of Egypt report that there is no country in which there are more venemous Creatures then in Egypt and also they write there is no Country hath so many Antidotes to help against poyson so godliness brings with it many troubles and sufferings but then godliness hath much in it to help against troubles and sufferings Thirdly hence we come to see the reason why so many are overcome in a way of suffering and do yield and so basely Apostatize rather then they will go on in a way of suffering for God they have not an eye to look up to Heaven and to see all the glory that is revealed they do not know within themselves that there are such things as it is said of those in Heb. 10. 34. They knew within themselves what they had in Heaven they look upon these things as conceits and imaginations In Phil. 3. 18. the Apostle speaks of some that were enemies to the Cross of Christ but what were they They were men that minded earthly things but says the Apostle Our conversation is in Heaven What was the reason that Demas forsook Paul It was for this present world he was not acquainted with the powers of the world to come and therefore he forsook Paul rather then he would suffer in the cause of God with Paul Certainly those that fall off in the time of suffering are such as never had a taste of the powers to come or have lost it this dew of Heaven hath not faln upon their hearts to moisten them and therefore every suffering does scorch up the root If the root be kept moist though scorching heat come it does not dry up the plant but it is green and flouwere so able to suffer because they had their hearts so purged by faith Acts 15. 9. Take a man that was strong if he have many ill humors in his body all his strength is gone but if the Phisitian gives him something to purge out his ill humors though hee have no Cordials given him to strengthen him yet he is strong and he is able to endure and to do more then before So those spirits that are full of distempered humors that are unsound they can bear nothing undergo no difficulty but when there is any thing to purge the heart and make it clean then it is able to do or suffer more sin lies rotting at the heart and by rotting does weaken a rotten rag hath no strength to bear any thing so those that have old sins lie rotting they can bear nothing The spirit of power and of a sound minde is put together 2 Tim. 1. 7. now the hope of this glorious reward purges the heart and makes it sound and so carries it on in power Now put all these together and no marvel that Moses by having an eye to the recompence of reward could suffer so much many are afraid of suffering hard things in the cause of Christ but you see what will enable you to endure all Now I should apply this in many particulars First If there be such power in this to help to suffering then surely there is power in this to help to service you that know what these things mean be ashamed to complain of any difficulty in any service Secondly hence we see cause much to bless God that reveals such things to us to carry us through sufferings though godliness brings much suffering yet it brings that which will strengthen against sufrishing still It is the dew of Heaven the hope of the glory of Heaven that keeps our root moist and so we shall hold out in the time of suffering It is given as the cause of the seed in the stony ground not come to perfection Luke 8. 6. Because it wanted moisture many froward people in Religion prove like the stony ground they have not moisture this dew of Heaven lies not at their hearts And the reason why many do not hold out is because they want the Anchor of hope In a tempest if there be not an Anchor well fastened the ship will be carried upon the rocks or the sands Now Hope is the Anchor that must hold the soul in all affliction if that hold let storms and winds be never so loud yet the heart will be kept from being split upon the rocks and swallowed up in the sands but many have but a paper Anchor a conceited hope not a strong hope fastned upon the infallibility of God in his word and promises and