It is very rarely that we make any great attainments unless we meet with Crosses Secondly They are very useful to the weaning of good men from this world and all worldly things They teach them to make a right judgment and estimate of things And this is a fruit of great wisdom and a step to the greatest perfection He that prospers knows but one part of the world he looks upon it on one side and does not know it throughly We do not know it perfectly till we come to suffer Till then we see the fair and glozing and false side of the world He that sees no more than this runs a great hazard The Shepherd in the Fable was tempted out of the hopes of gain to turn a Merchant He did so and lost his adventure upon a rough and tempestuous Sea But then he gained this wisdom by his loss not to trust to the Sea when it was calm The world does us the greatest mischief when it smiles and never does us a greater hurt than when it speaks us fair It is a great proficiency to be able to contemn the smiles and Courtship of the world Thirdly They are of great use to make us more earnest contenders for heaven They bring the good man nearer to God and to his happiness By these sufferings the good man is prepared for the enjoyment of God The contempt he meets with here makes him aspire after a future glory His poverty and pain and confinement put him upon breathing after the plenty and the joys and enlargement of a future state what he loses here he gains above And we are very happy when we do whatever the occasion be endeavour earnestly after an incorruptible Crown Fourthly They give us an experiment of our selves We know not what we are till we are tried It is easie to be valiant when we are in no danger Our courage is then proved when we are surrounded with danger It is the Storm that shews the skill and courage of the Sea-man We are reproached we shall now know whether or no we can pray and forgive them that speak evil of us without a cause We are injured now we shall know whether or not we can forgive an enemy We lose our goods we shall now see whether our faith and patience be genuine or not We are affronted this is the time to take a proof of our meekness If these things had not hapned the graces of good men had not been known to others nor to themselves But by this means good men have the comfort of this experience and others an advantage also It is much better to bear our evils well than to meet with none at all Jam. 1.2 3. Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience Rom. 4.3 4. We glory in tribulation also says St. Paul knowing that tribulation worketh patience wherein ye greatly rejoyce says St. 1 Pet. 1.6 Peter though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried in fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ Though we had these graces before we might yet have been without the comfort and our Brother without the advantage and God without the glory had we not been tried Fifthly Good men that have suffered much and in a good cause and with an undanted courage shall have a greater reward in an other life There are degrees of glory in the other state and these holy men shall be placed in the higher Stations of glory Rom. 8.17 If we suffer with him we shall be glorified together If we bear an heavy Cross we shall receive a glorious Crown I consider IV. That good men are supported under their sorrows and troubles here And if God enable them to endure well may he lay upon them what he pleaseth For the good man is well dealt with when he is enabled here and hath a sure Reward hereafter I do intend to discourse of the supports which the pious man will meet with in another place CHAP. II. HAving cleared the good Providence of God and shewed that the sufferings of good men are very consistent with his particular care and government I shall Secondly Shew you the great reasonableness of the Laws of Christ by which we are oblige to suffer for righteousness sake no only reproach and the loss of oâ—â— worldly goods but even life it self Our Saviours Precept is plain 〈◊〉 this matter Luk. 14.26 with Mat. 10.37 If any man come to mâ— says Christ and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yeâ— and his own life also he cannot be 〈◊〉 Disciple The meaning of theâ—â— words is plainly this that we caâ— not be the true Disciples of Chriâ—â— if we do not prefer his command before Father and Mother â— and our very life it self To hatâ— these things is to love them less thaâ— we do our Saviour as appearâ—â— from a parallel place Luk. 9.23 It is but fâ—â— we should choose to dye rathâ—â— than deny our Saviour and renounce our Religion And we aâ—â— frequently commanded by ouâ— Lord to deny our selves Mar. 8.34 to take up his Cross to follow him And we are assured that he that loseth his life for his sake shall find it Oâ— the other hand we are excluded from the hopes of mercy in another life if we do now deny our Saviour before men If we suffer Mat. 10.39 Ver. 33. 2 Tim. 2.12 we shall also reign with him If we deny him he will also deny us It is our interest as much as it is our duty to part with life it self in the confession of the truth Mat. 10.28 Fear not them says our Saviour which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell And in another place he tells us Joh. 12.25 He that loveth his life shall lose it And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal Now certain it is that our Lord is no hard Master and that all his Laws are very righteous and good Our Blessed Saviour promiseth us rest if we will become his followers and assures us Mat. 11.29 30. that his yoke is easie and his burden light He that undertakes the Laws of Christ and sincerely sets himself to obey them will never have any cause to complain of his Master or his Work They that find fault with the Laws of Christ are those that do not understand them aright or never did seriously apply themselves to the practice of them That we should choose to die rather than break his Laws and renounce his Religion is indeed one of the hardest Laws of Christ But
gave him that Counsel that they thought would be to him the most grateful But there came to him an honest Stoick that dealt sincerely with him He told him that he need not much afflict himself as if some great matter were before him Non est res magna vivere omnes servi tui vivunt omnia animalia c. Sen. Ep. 77. It is says he no great thing to live All thy Servants live and every Animal does it It is a great thing to die well wisely and undauntedly Life considered abstractly is of no great price and there are many Creatures that have it which we do not greatly value upon that score And when our Lord requires us to give up our life he does not command any great thing of us in doing that Life it self is at best but a manner or circumstance of being and there are those Creatures which have it whose condition is yet very mean and low Life alone does not import any happiness at all Instead of that it often serves to make them who have it sensible of their misery 2. That supposing life more valuable than it is yet it is but a very little of it we lose when we part with it by the hands of violence It is indeed of very great moment how we live of very little how long He that takes our life away does rob us of very little And when God calls for it we have no cause to murmur and complain We generally take false measures here and there is nothing in which we more frequently miscount than we do in this matter And hence it is that we judge so much amiss of our Saviours Laws For what is this life that we put so great a price upon What it is at the most I reckon that what we have spent of it is not at all and what is to come is not yet That which is past is gone irrecoverably and that which is to come is not yet at all so that all we have and all that we can be said to lose is the present moment In all things else we cannot properly be said to be deprived of what we had lost before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. Ant. l. 3. c. 8. or to lose what we never had No man can be deprived of more than what he hath in actual possession We live the present moment only For all the rest we either have lived it or it is uncertain whether we shall or not This is all then that we lose and indeed all that we can enjoy at once the present moment So that one of the Ancients said very truly That he that died very old and he that died very young losâ— but one and the same thing Id. l. 2. c. 12. For said he the present time is that only which any man can be deprived of Agreeably hereunto the Apostle speaks when he calls the sufferingâ— of this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.18 the sufferings of this present time It is but a moment that we suffer for it is but a moment that we live at once It is true indeed we flatter our selves with a long time that we have to live but we cannot promise our selves that which is to come and we cannot with any propriety of Speech be said to lose that which we never had 3. That supposing we might have lived longer had we not been cut off by the hands of violence yet is this a very inconsiderable â—oss Our Saviour is no hard Master if he call us hence in our youth and full strength and suffer us to fall under the hands of violence What does all this amount to We do but die a little sooner and after another way And sure we have little love for our Lord and our Religion if we think much to do this For suppose we might have lived longer yet that is not much which we lose Perhaps a few years or months and what does it signifie What proportion does this hold to Eternity Or of what moment is it if you consider the boundless love of God and our blessed Saviour A long life is no infallible token of Gods favour under the Gospel This was indeed a blessing under the Law of Moses But we are now received into a better Covenant We know it was otherwise before the Law of Moses was given Enoch that walked with God and that pleased him lived the shortest life of any of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noaâ— And many times so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he diâ— in his youth whom God loves I hath been esteemed a favour to bâ— removed hence betimes We muâ—â— die and if we are sure of that iâ— is of small moment when we diâ— And therefore when we die foâ— our Religion we do not lose muâ—â— for the sake of it For we must all die We are but deprived of thaâ— which we knew before would eâ—â— long be taken from us If our house had not been pulled or fired down yet in a little while it would have fallen of it self He that kills me does not by doing so make me mortal Si mortem possemus evadere meritò mori timeremus Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 6. he found me so We have no cause to fear death when we know we cannot escape it When we are killed it is life not immortality which we are deprived of Let us not phansie that our Lord requires any great matter of us when he commands us to lay down our life for his sake We must have died if he had never made this Law and it is a small matter which he requires of us when he would have us die for him Dlogen Laertius Socrat. When one told Socrates that the Athenians had decreed his death He told him that Nature had decreed theirs also His death was hastened by them it was determined by a superiour Power We have no cause to complain but great cause to bless God that since we must die he is pleased to call upon us to do it in a righteous cause We are very foolish and fond if we now murmur and complain I know very well that we are affrighted with the pain of a violent and unnatural death And perhaps the shame and reproach of it is also irksom to us For its reproach and shame it is the most trifling pretence imaginanable And I can hardly think that a wise man upon second thoughts can be moved with so vain a consideration as this The truth of it is there is not any shadow in this pretence For to die for our Religion whatever our death be is not more our duty than it is our priviledge and our honour The first Christians judged thus They rejoyced in this that they were esteemed worthy to suffer for the name of Christ It is no reproach to suffer any death in a good cause He that dies for his Country is not by any wise man reproached because he was found dead in
a thief or as an evil doer or as a busie-body in other mens matters It is the cause not the suffering which makes the Martyr We are happy if we suffer for righteousness sake Rebellion and Treason against our Prince cannot make men Saints and Martyrs These men are evil doers whatever ever tokens of fortitude they seem to shew I now proceed to shew how we ought to demean our selves under our sufferings And that you may take in the following particulars which concern us as we stand related to God to our Neighbour and to our selves And I. As to God whose hand we must look at we must suffer without murmuring and repining We must entirely resign up our selves unto God and imitate our blessed Saviour when he said Not my will but thy will be done Our Lord went like a Sheep to the slaughter he opened not his mouth It becomes us to refer all to Gods wisdom and disposal not to choose the kind and form of our sufferings but to leave all that to him and depend intirely upon him It is the Lord we ought to say let him do what is good in his own eyes II. As to our Neighbour and especially those who are the instruments of our sufferings we are to shew the greatest meekness and charity In this our Saviour was a great pattern 1 Pet. 2.22 23. Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously It becomes us to imitate this glorious example us it becomes who are vile sinners and have deserved our sufferings from Gods hand though we suffer in a righteous Cause Father forgive them says our dying Lord for they know not what they do Our Lord did not threaten his enemies No he pitied them and he prayed for them And so must we do also if we would suffer as Christians We must forgive our Enemies pity them as we do people that are blind or delirant Their folly and their rage and madness call for our compassions and our hearty Prayers for their precious and immortal souls De dupl Martyr Thus St. Cyprian describes the manner of Christians sufferings We see not says he that placid and meek and sublime temper of mind joyned with humility unless it be in the Martyrs of Christ They do not look upon the Executioner with fierce eyes they do not threaten the Tyrant They are more grieved for their blindness than for their own afflictions Even Christ cries in them Father forgive them c. They look at nothing but heaven where their hope is laid up c. III. As to our selves that we undergo our sufferings undauntedly and with constancy that we do not any thing unbecoming our Christian Profession It is not to be imagined but that the Christian hath as quick a sense of pain as any other man he is not stupid and unconcerned all that is required is this that he hold out with courage and Christian Fortitude and be not betrayed by his fear It is not necessary that he should be rid of all fear It is enough that it do not prevail upon him so far as to cause him to distrust God or deny the Truth It is not every one that can triumph in Flames and shew tokens of joy upon Racks and Wheels It is not every Martyr that can express great exultation of mind 2 Cor. 7.5 Some fear is very consistent with the greatest Sanctity He is not to be deprived of the glory of Martyrdom that continues constant under his sufferings though he went to them with fear and suspicion of himself THE General CONTENTS CHAP. I. THe Introduction and design of the following Discourse The necessity of believing the particular Care and Providence of God The Evils which befal good men are reconcileable with the Providence of God A more particular consideration of the Persons to whom these Evils befal of the Evils themselves of their usefulness and the supports which good men are furnished with Page 1. CHAP. II. That it is very reasonable that in obedience to Christ's Law we should suffer even death it self A more particular consideration of the Law-giver the Equitableness of the Law it self as also of the ground and reason of it p. 31. CHAP. III. The first great support under our sufferings is the hope of eternal life A more particular consideration of the greatness of the reward the clearness of its revelation and its fitness to work upon us p. 63. CHAP. IV. The consideration of Gods particular care and Providence another great support under our afflictions A more particular consideration of the assurance which the Gospel gives us of Gods special Providence How much this tends to our support The Application p. 79. CHAP. V. The Assistance of the Holy Spirit another support A more particular consideration of the sufficiency of this Divine assistance The great assurance we have of receiving this heavenly aid The condition on our part for the obtaining this Assistance p. 97. CHAP. VI. Of the Example of Christ and holy men who have suffered the greatest evils That we are obliged to place their example before our eyes A short account of their sufferings The usefulness of these examples to us p. 124. CHAP. VII The support we receive from the Intercession of the Son of God That Christ is now in heaven That he is there concerned on our behalf How this tends toward our support under the afflictions and sufferings of this life p. 140. CHAP. VIII Of the Comfort of the Scriptures A more particular consideration how the Scriptures tend to our comfort under our sufferings p. 165. CHAP. IX An Exhortation to use these helps and not to be dismayed at death it self for righteousness sake The reasonableness of this Exhortation farther considered Advice to those who are afraid to suffer death because they have not lived as they ought p. 195. CHAP. X. Of preparing for sufferings and for death A more particular consideration of what we are to do toward the fitting our selves for what ever evils may happen especially for death and the severest persecution for righteousness sake How we are to demean our selves under our sufferings p. 212. THE END
yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it And to that purpose shall commend to your serious consideration the following particulars First Let us consider whose Law this is and we shall find that the Author of the Law does greatly recommend it to us How hard soever it may otherwise seem yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ that consideration is of great moment to reconcile us to it We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord and dear Redeemer lays upon us For we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us He hath given us great proof that he loved us when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God Let us stay a while upon this consideration and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake If our hearts be cold and chill if we find them dampt and sinking let us then meditate of our Lords love and that will be of great use to inflame them and give them spirit Does Jesus say that we must not fear them that kill the body that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples Good is that word of our Dearest Lord will the pious Soul say Death shall be welcome when ever it comes and it will be not only our duty to die when our Lord would have us but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us Alas this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father He was happy and glorious and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Heaven to Earth from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world He that was the brightness of his Fathers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh and with our infirmities He that upheld all things by the word of his power was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin to be wrapt up in swadling cloaths to lie in a Stable to be subject to his Creatures to be tempted by the Devil to be hungred and thirsty to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree that he might save lost Mankind He was at these pains for the helpless and for sinners for Caitiffs and Rebels for them who had dishonoured his Father and ruined themselves Here is a love without a Parallel a love that passeth knowledge a love that is stronger than death and that surpasseth the love of women Here are all the dimensions of love here is height and depth a length and breadth Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his Friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but few examples of it Our Lords kindness rose higher by far He died for the ungodly for the weak and them that were without all hope Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to die for him It is an easie task that lies upon us to love him that hath first loved us and to die for him that died for us This is very reasonable and a most gentle command to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country There are those would dare to die for a good man or for a faithful friend My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives or my fellow Creatures I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us is this That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth It is fit we should do it and he led us the way He hath recommended this Precept to us not only by his Doctrine but by his Example also Indeed our Lord was silent when he was reproached and inconsistently accused but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ Mat. 26.63 64. the Son of God or not He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate and tells him To this end was I born Joh. 18.17 and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud and does not put his Followers upon that which he declined himself This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done Every where we judge this very reasonable The Souldier thinks himself obliged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger And the Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by 2. Let us consider the command it self and that is that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord and forfeit our hopes of a better life This may at first sight seem a very hard saying but when we draw near and consider it well we shall find it a very reasonable Law and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said when he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden light The truth is we disquiet our selves in vain and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary so is a great part of our misery also We make a false judgment of things and set a very unequal rate and price upon them And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought so we judge death to be a greater evil than indeed it is I desire that you would under this general head consider well the following particulars And 1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment It is no high Prerogative and unvaluable peculiar For the smallest Mite or Ante the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we When Marcellinus was sick all that were about him flattered him and said that which they thought would please him most Every man
a ditch It is the Crime not the kind of death that makes death dishonourable He falls well whatever hand pull him down that falls in a good cause Our Lord died upon a Cross His was a painful and the most shameful death It was the punishment of Slaves and the most infamous Criminals Now it is said of our Lord Heb. 12.2 that he endured the Cross despising the shame The pain was very afflictive to his flesh but yet such was his love that he endured that But then his death was as shameful as his Enemies could have devised but the shame our Lord despised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Antonin l. 7. 2.23 And sure if our Lord did this for us well may we do it for him Well may we glory in that Cross which our Lord hath born But then for the pain of a violent death we shall not need much to disquiet our selves we affright our selves without cause and we do disquiet our selves in vain We think of Racks and Wheels of fire and faggot when we think of our Enemies from whom we expect no mercy But it is certain that we often torment our selves with evils that shall never overtake us But yet we will suppose that we meet with great pain What then This pain will be tolerable or not If it be tolerable we may endure it if not we shall not be long troubled with it That will end or we shall We cannot last long under extreme pain Besides it is not unlikely but a disease may put us to sharper and longer pains than a Tyrant will ever do A Calenture may be more troublesom to us than fire and faggot and the flames of a Fever may scorch us more severely than other flames And they that have felt the extremity of the Gout and Stone will easily grant that it is a favour to die by the Sword of a Tyrant Quid refert in Equuleum an in lectulum torquendus ascenderis Petrarch Arrian Epictet l. 2. c. 6. We do not know but we may be tortured on our Beds and what great matter is it whether we be exercised upon a Bed or upon a Wheel It is very likely that a Tyrant will sooner release us than a disease What needest thou care says the heathen Philosopher what way thou goest into another World They are alike But yet if thou art willing to know the truth that is the shortest which a Tyrant sends Never was any Tyrant six months in killing any man A Fever hath often detained men a whole year What is it then that we fear Is it the Sword of an Enemy But are we sure we shall die an easier death Perhaps this Sword may may rescue us from greater pains and miseries Arrian l. 4. c. 7. When once I had learnt says the same Philosopher that he that is born must also die I am indifferent whether I die by a Fever or the fall of a Tile or I be killed by a Souldier But if I must compare I know that a Souldier will destroy me with the least pain It is very inconsiderable since we must die after what manner we do it And if there be any difference perhaps this way of dying by a Tyrant may be the gentler 4. That the life which we part with when we die for our Reliligion is not worth the keeping upon those terms upon which alone we have the liberty to preserve it Life I grant is a very valuable thing Especially the life of a man But let us consider a while what that is that makes it so It is not because it gives us the opportunity of eating and drinking and sporting our selves in the World This is the life of a Brute and not the life of a man much less of a worshipper of God But our life is desirable as it relates to a better life and it serves the purposes of Eternity They are the causes or ends of life which make it desirable So long as they continue life is not only a blessing but a most unspeakable one The great ends of life are the service of God and doing good to one another in order to a future glory and immortality It is here we lay a foundation for a future bliss and happiness This life is the Stage on which we act our parts well This is the state of trial and this life is very valuable considered with its reference and subordination to that glory which we expect hereafter We know there is a reward for the righteous and out of respect to that it is that we strive to abound in all the fruits of righteousness and perfect holiness in the fear of God Whiles our life serves so great an end it is worth the preserving but without this it is nothing worth For barely to live is not the happiness and perfection of a man If then it come to this that we must lose our life or prostitute our Consciences and deny the faith our life is not worth the keeping upon these hard terms For when the end of life is gone what is life it self but a burden and reproach to him that hath it In other things we judge thus We value things by their end and usefulness And when they are rendred unfit for their end we value them not any longer Who regards any thing any farther than as it answers its end Who regards an unfruitful and dry Vine or Fig-tree Who values adulterate Coin or useless Beasts It is the end and usefulness of things that sets a rate and price upon them We reject those things that are useless as we do Salt that hath lost its savour But nothing is more vile and contemptible than our life when it is deprived of its end A man that hath Shipwracked his Faith and prostituted his Conscience to save his goods and his life is of all Creatures in this lower world the most deplorably miserable He lives indeed but he is an uneasie burden to himself and a cumber to the Earth He lives but his life is nothing worth when he is bereft of his integrity and hath forfeited his future hopes Life is not worth any mans keeping upon such terms as these are Plat. Ap. Socr. Socrates told the Athenians that if they would offer him his life upon condition that he should no longer Philosophize he would thank them indeed but not accept of life upon those terms And adds that he would rather obey God than them Hence it was that the first Christians would rather die than do that which was evil And some of the honester Heathens did thus also Arrian Epictet l. 1. c. 8. Priscus Helvidius was a Senator of Rome and considered the duty of his place The Emperour sent to him and forbid him to come into the Senate Priscus told him It was in his power to remove him from being a Senator till that was done he would go into the Senate Then the Emperour commanded him if went into the Senate to
governs the World And it is well for us that so it is We are safer much in his hands than in our own and dearer we are to him than to our selves We rejoyce under the Government of a wise and good King We have greater cause to rejoyce in this that God reigns And that if we consider his infinite Wisdom his Goodness and Almighty Power His Wisdom assures that he will do what is best And we are not fit Judges of that We are not able to see into the secrets of Government It is enough to us that God is infinitely wise and so not only knows what is best but what is best for us and what is the fittest time of helping us But then his Goodness and Holiness give us a full assurance that he will not let them that are truly good and suffer upon that account lose their reward That he will not govern Arbitrarily but will do good to them that are good And since his Power is infinite also we are secure that he will not be defeated in bringing his own Counsels to pass And therefore the holy and pious soul give◠it self up intirely unto Gods disposal being well assured of Gods good will to him and knowing well that his infinite Wisdom cannot be deceived nor his Almighty Power defeated 3. I shall make some Application of this And that I shall do in the following Particulars First This may serve to reprove our murmuring and impatience under the evils which we meet with here below We complain bitterly under our several troubles and afflictions not considering the hand that lays them on us We do not as we ought when we are distressed look up with great reverence to our Creator but we curse our Stars or we are angry with our Brother who is the immediate Instrument of our trouble or we impute our misery to our inadvertence and do disquiet our selves in vain If our Child or Friend die we accuse the Physician or our selves If we suffer in our Goods we quarrel with our Servants or are angry at the Times In a word we are uneasie and restless not considering that God governs the World and that the very hairs of our head are numbred Our Friend did not die without Gods knowledge Our Goods were not lost without his regard And who are we that we should murmur and complain and say unto God What dost thou If God govern the World we may well be shamed to repine and murmur If he disposeth things below we shall be very blameable if we murmur at our own Lot and Portion Secondly Hence we may be seasonably exhorted to acknowledge this great truth by a suitable life and conversation It is a great influence which this belief ought to have upon us It ought to render us contented with our Lot and Portion of things To endue us with courage to encounter difficulties It ought to quicken us in our devotions Let us not faint under the sorrows that overtake us If God govern the World we ought quietly to commit our cause to him and not go about to wrest the Government out of his hand It becomes greatly to trust in him at all times and not to let go our Faith and our Hope whatever troubles befall us in this mortal life 1 Pet. 5.10 11. The God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. V. OUr Religion does assure us of the power and presence of the holy Spirit of God under our sufferings for righteousness sake and this is another great support which the sincere disciples of Christ are furnished with 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you It is worth our observing by the way that this Spirit is in this place represented to us under the Character of the Spirit of glory and that very fitly also when the Apostle assures those men of this divine assistance who are reproached for the name of Christ The Spirit of glory will sufficiently support good men under the reproach and scorn they meet withal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. N. T. Edit Curcellaei There is a certain Greek Copy that hath it the Spirit of glory and of power I shall not need to contend for that reading being well assured that he who receives the Divine Spirit receives the Spirit of power also as I shall have occasion to shew you afterwards It is to be observed that the Apostle assures them to whom he writes that this Holy Spirit whom he calls the Spirit of glory and of God shall rest upon them He shall not only give them a visit in their sorrows and so leave them but he shall stay and abide with them And this agrees with what our blessed Saviour promised Joh. 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Even the Spirit of truth c. But for my more orderly speaking to this matter I shall First Shew you the sufficiency of this divine assistance Secondly I shall lay before you the great assurance which we have that we shall receive this heavenly aid Thirdly The condition on our part required for the obtaining this assistance Fourthly The Application of it 1. I shall shew you the sufficiency of this Divine assistance which God hath made us the Promise of We shall have great cause to believe that our help will bear proportion to our work and that whatever is laid upon us does not exceed the proportion of the strength which we receive to bear it And then we shall have no cause to find fault of our Master or of our work when our help bears proportion to our work and duty Now we need more than an ordinary help in these two Cases First To enable us against persecutions for the sake of our Religion Secondly To support and comfort us under our losses and other afflictions which we shall meet with in this present life I shall therefore shew you that the Spirit of God will afford sufficient help in both these cases 1. We need more than ordinary assistance to enable us against persecutions for the sake of our Religion The Christian hath as quick a sense of pain as other men his Religion does not destroy his flesh and bloud and change it into Brass Heb. 12.11 He is as apprehensive and as sensible of the evils of life as any other man is And besides that he is is by his Profession exposed to all the miseries of humane life To cold and nakedness To hunger and thirst To scorn and reproach To stripes and to buffetings To Wheels and Racks to restraint and to death death it self It were not an easie thing to recount the very many
and a sufficient support even in that case Our Religion were a very mean Institution if it would not bear a man up against the fears of death I shall to what hath been said above add some things to your farther consideration to encourage you to give up your life rather than to deny your Religion and wrong your Consciences And I. That it cannot be supposed that death can hurt a man If death have any evil belonging to it it is owing to our own folly It is our sin only that gives it a sting It is impossible it should hurt him that is sincerely good Socrates told the Athenians that they would rather hurt themselves than him by taking away his life and that for his Accusers he did not believe they could do him hurt he not thinking it reasonable to believe it in the power of evil men to hurt the good It is indeed in their power to kill it is not in their power to hurt them that are good That death can do us no hurt that hath had a good life gone before it The worst of men desire to die the death of the righteous Of all men those that are good have least cause to fear dying For they have placed their happiness beyond this world And death is to them unwelcom that live at ease here II. That it is very certain that many men have overcome the fear of death from a mean and low Principle compared with that of the Christian who suffers for righteousness sake Death I grant strikes a dread upon Mankind It is that which we commonly startle at It comes to take us apieces to remove us from our Friends and Familiars that for some time we have conversed with And hence it is that men generally fear death and decline it what they can But yet we know that many have overcom this fear of death some of them from a mean and others from an evil Principle Death is formidable and a good man is not quite rid of all the fear of death yet there are many considerations that make death seem desirable Revenge triumphs over it Love makes light of it Honour is ambitious of it fear of disgrace chooses it Sorrow runs after it it Fear prevents it A weak and foolish Passion a trifling and a faulty Principle reconciles men to death Some have thrown away their lives others have given them up many have parted with them upon trifling accounts and sometimes upon evil ones They have been contented to part with their lives from an evil Principle or from a trifling one How many have proved Martyrs to their Lusts How many to gratifie their Lust and their Revenge have brought upon themselves a lingring or a sudden death How many have fallen Sacrifices to their Luxury and Intemperance their Pride and Lust Pudeat semper tantum in vobis posse turpes causas nil posse pulcherrimas Petrarch And is it not a great shame that we should stick to do that from a good Principle which others do from a faulty one Is it not a shame that the Lusts of men should prevail more than the Laws of Christ And that men should make themselves miserable at that expence which they refuse to be at in order to their happiness There have been those who have died for a silly Woman for a point of Honour for their Fame and for their Country These things have prevailed with them to endure torments and devote themselves to destruction So much have these things prevailed with them Tanti vitream Quanti veram Margaritam Tertul. ad Martyr that their lives were not precious in their own eyes It is a great reproach to us if we refuse to suffer that for the sake of Christ and his Gospel which others have suffered for the sake of this World The Heathen could not but take notice of this speaking of death Senec. Ep. 4. Seest thou not says he upon what frivolous accounts it is contemned One hangs himself at the door of his Mistris Another throws himself headlong from the house top to avoid a churlish and unquiet Master Another stabs himself that he may prevent his return home Dost thou not think that vertue might have done that which an excess of fear hath done Shall a foolish Lust and an impotent Passion have more force than the sense of our duly and the well grounded hopes of eternal happiness We read in our Books of some that have sacrificed their lives to their Fame or thrown them away in compliance with the foolish customs of their Country or from a Principle of Superstition M. Anton. l. 5. se 14. It is a very astonishing thing says one of the Heathens that Ignorance and Ostentation should be more powerful than Wisdom We have a story in the Acts of our Church of a man in Queen Maries days who when he was put in mind to suffer for that truth which he had for some time professed replied that he could not burn Nor did he burn for his Religion But in the days of Queen Elizabeth this man's house was on fire and then to save his Goods he adventures into his house and he and his Goods were burnt in the same flames He that would not burn to save his Soul ventures into the fire to preserve his Goods And then he lost his Goods and his Life and it is to be feared his Soul also III. The good man does not want very considerations to perswade him to quit this present life for the sake of a better He is well assured that by thus losing his life he shall save it That he shall be assisted in his conflict and rewarded when he hath finished his course He is not left without a Comforter and he is assured of a plentiful Reward He knows in whom he hath believed and can commit the keeping of his Soul unto God as unto a faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4.19 He does but put off his flesh and knows that he shall be cloathed with life and immortality He does but part with an earthly Tabernacle for a building not made with hands And by his constant sufferings he glorifies God spreads his truth confirms his Servants and makes way for a greater glory to himself Do not then fear to follow your Lord and all those blessed Souls that have led the way When your Lord commands make no demur but follow him chearfully though it be to the place of skulls It is not worth your while to preserve your life with the loss of your innocence Gods favour is more than life and that will stand us in stead when this life shall be no more It is a madness to forfeit our eternal hopes that we may live here a little longer especially when our life will be but a plague and burden to us when we have purchased it with the loss of our innocence We shall find the horrours of a guilty mind more painful than the flames and much more lasting