blasphemed it is no time to fear but to cry out yea he professes that he had rather be accounted any thing then to be accused of wicked silence in Gods cause Let me be reputed proud covetous an adulterer a murtherer an enemy to the Pope guilty of all kinde of vices so I be not found guilty of wicked silence when the Lord Christ suffers In Eusebius his History l. 5. c. 3. we finde a Letter that the Christians of Vienna and Lyons in France sent to their brethren in Asia and Phrygia in which they tell of a notable example of a brave Noble man Vetius Epagathus appearing in the cause of the Christians not being able to bear their unjust dealings against them when he heard those vile accusations against them and condemnations of them he desired that he might be heard to plead for the brethren but those at the Tribunal being utterly against it because he was a Noble man the President would not admit of his petition but onely asked him if he were a Christian he professed aloud that he was and so was taken amongst the number of Martyrs and called the Advocate of Christians Secondly appear for them by visiting them in their troubles that is a special duty that Christ looks for and will examine at the great Day whether it hath been performed be not shy of this lest you should be suspected to be one of them Chrysostom in an Oration upon the praise of two Martyrs says of Christians that they would not be kept from visiting the Confessors in Prison although it was forbidden with many threatnings terrors and it was great danger to them Thirdly we must be ready and willing to entertain such as suffer Fourthly we must use all the interest we have in any friends improve all opportunities for the relief of such as suffer Theodoret tells a famous story of one Terentius a Captain in the Emperor Valens his Army who returning from Armenia with a great Victory the Emperor bade him ask what reward he would he onely asked as a recompence of all his Service that there might be granted a Church to the Orthodox in Antioch that they might freely meet in publique this he knew could not but be exceeding displeasing to Valens the Emperor because he was an Arrian and so it proved for the Emperor tore his Petition and bade him ask something else but Terentius gathered up the torn pieces of the Paper and said This I ask as a reward of my Service and I will ask nothing else How few wil now improve such interest in great ones such opportunities for the relieving the persecuted Servants of God Fifthly we must improve all our gifts parts abilities for them in pleading for them Thus in the Primitive times God stirred up many of great learning of excellent parts to plead for the persecuted Christians who did much service this way as Justin Martyr in his Apologies and Tertullian and one Aristides an Athenian Phylosopher a man admirably learned and eloquent because the Emperor then was much delighted in learning he made use of his eloquence and learning for Christ and his Saints making eloquent Orations before the Emperor for them and another Quadratus Atheniensis when Adrian came to Athens he presented a Book to him pleading for Christian Religion God blessed the endeavors of these much for the mollifying the Emperors heart towards the Christians Sixthly we must be willing to suffer with them we must be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren much more suffer with the brethren we must be willing to have fellowship with them not onely in their priviledges but in their sufferings Rev. 1. 9. I John who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ many are willing to be brethren and companions in the kingdom but not in tribulation and in the patience of Jesus Christ Heb. 10. 33. it was the commendations of those Christians mentioned there that they were companions of those that were ill used for the cause of Christ Wherefore for application let us know our duty and shew our selves more ready and forward to joyn with and shew our selves to the servants of God in their persecuted estate in the times of their prosperity there is not so much need we should manifest our selves to be for them this is the time wherein we are called especially to manifest our love to them our siding with them The greater their affliction is the more we must appear for them When the people of God were in a comfortable estate in Egypt as they were in Josephs time Joseph did not leave the Court to joyn with them but when they were in an afflicted estate as in Moses his time Moses left all to joyn with them here you have a tryal upon what side you will be now you have an opportunity to witness for God Those words Hosea 11. 12. Judah ruleth with God the old Latine hath it Testis descendit cum Deo He descends a witness with God and so the words will bear if the pricks be altered which may be being according to the opinion of many put in in latter times Ribera maintains this reading and hath two good notes upon it First Others leave the true worship of God but Iudah continues and so witnesses to his truth Secondly He descends he is content to be in a lower condition though he be fewer and not so flourishing as Israel yet if he may be Gods witness he is content Thus should we be willing to descend to witness for the truth to leave the flourishing people of the world and to joyn with the lowest and meanest Ordinarily men deal with the suffering servants of God as Demas dealt with St. Paul they forsake him embracing this present world but if you finde any inclination of heart that way conceive as if Christ were now speaking to you Will you also forsake me Take heed of flattering your selves of putting off this duty with any vain pleas or pretences or excuses God sees what lies at the bottom We read Iudg. 5. divers of the Tribes are blamed for not coming in to help to joyn with Barak and Deborah and in their rebuke their excuses are mentioned as some were to follow their business at sea they could not come and especially Asher he was to stand in his own breaches to defend himself ver 17. Reuben must follow his business and look to his sheep he could not come ver 16. yet these are rebuked but Zebulon and Nepthali are commended for a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death they are honored for this The people of God were now in a low condition in great affliction and no excuse could serve turn for their not joyning with their brethren whatsoever necessities inabilities we may pretend that keep us from appearing in the behalf of and joyning with Gods people in their afflicted estate
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
Thirdly the presence of God in heaven shall be the accomplishing of all that sweet and good that ever they have had in Gods presence in this world they have had by pieces many sweet manifestations of God unto them but often God hath been absent and they have been fain to seek for their Beloved but now all those pieces as we may so speak which they have had some at one time and some at another shall be all joyned together and they shall have the accomplishment of all in one and the perfection of all in one and so for ever enjoy it Fourthly the presence of God must needs fill their souls and bodies with glory for it fills the heaven with glory much more it must needs fill an immortal soul with glory because that is more capable of glory then the heaven If the Sun can put a glory upon these poor dark creatures here below much more can the presence of God put glory upon the glorified bodies and souls of the Saints Further the presence of God must needs be very glorious unto the souls of the Saints in regard of the maner of the bringing into Gods presence for they shall be brought into it by the hand of Christ the Bridegroom he shall as it were take the Saints by the hand and lead them to the Father he shall say Come now I will shew you my Father that I have spoken so much of to you before to that end that the Father may delight in you As suppose the Prince were married to one and upon their marriage he takes his Spouse by the hand to lead her unto his father to that end his father may take notice of her and manifest respect unto her so this coming into the presence of God shall be by the hand of Christ There is a glorious leading of our souls into the presence of God in this world Eph. 3. 12. In whom we have boldness and access the word signifies A leading by the hand and in Canticles 1. 4. it is said of Christ That he brings the Spouse into the Chambers He brings the Church the souls of his people into the Presence-Chamber and that makes the presence of God sweet unto the Church but hereafter there shall be a more glorious leading of the Saints unto God by Christ how much more shall the presence of God be sweet unto them then Sixthly what a blessed security must there needs be to the souls of the Saints in the presence of God To be under the shadow of the Almighty is a secure condition to be hid in the secrets of Gods presence is a secure condition but to be in the glorious presence of the Almighty as it shall be in heaven O the happy security then A childe when it is gotten into the presence of his father or mother thinks it self safe the Saints then that shall always be in the presence of God must needs be in an happy security Lastly hence will follow an holy boldness the Saints of God shall stand in the presence of God with an holy boldness they shall have nothing whereof they shall be ashamed though the light of God shall shine most gloriously upon them yet it shall not discover any thing in them that shall cause any shame or fear in them It is the promise of God to the diligent They shall stand before Kings Those that are now diligent in making their calling and election sure in providing for their eternal estate this is the blessing of them they shal stand before the King of glory before the King of heaven with an holy boldness And this is the first thing which the Saints shall have in having God to be their portion The presence of God CHAP. XLVI The happiness of the beatifical vision discovered SEcondly they shall have the Beatifical Vision of God we shall be where he is and we shall see his face Says Christ Father I will that those which thou hast given me be where I am that is a blessing but in Rev. 22. 4. it is said They shall see his face and that is more They shall know as they are known 1 Cor. 13. 12. It is the promise of the pure in heart that they shall see God 1 Iohn 3. 2. Behold now we are the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is It is the happiness of the Angels that they behold the face of God so it shall be the happiness of the Saints to behold the face of God in heaven As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Psal 17. 15. and so we may have the help of divers Scriptures to shew that this is the happiness of the Saints The glory of this may appear in these particulars First to see God as the first being of all or the principle of all good is a most blessed thing to see Adam the first father or Eve the first mother of mankinde or for a childe to see his father or mother out of whose loyns and bowels he came whom he hath not seen in many years this is a joy and comfort but to see the Creator the first Principle of all things that must be a great an infinite contentment and to see him that hath done all the good in the world hath much satisfaction in it We would rejoyce to see a man that hath been an instrument to do great things in some Countrey as the King of Sweden or the like but to see God that hath done all the great things in the world what a blessed joy and contentment will that be The rational creature does naturally desire to know the causes and principles of things no other creature looks at the principles and causes of things but the rational creature If other creatures may have that which is suitable to sense they look no farther but a rational creature cannot be satisfied in whatsoever it hath unless it knows something of the principles and causes of the thing it hath and when it knows the cause of one thing it would know the cause of that and nothing will quiet it till it comes to see the cause of all and when it comes to know that it hath full contentment Shew us the Father and it sufficeth Secondly they shall see God in his unity whereas now we understand God onely according to his several Attributes as the manifestation of the Infinite Simple First being in one way we call Power in another way we call Mercy and Bounty in another way Justice and so we apprehend God according unto the several Attributes that God hath manifested himself in whereas there are not many things in God but all those several Attributes that we apprehend diversly are but one excellency in God as one beam of the Sun
secrets of all hearts shall be opened of being shy of the ways of Religion because of affliction many when they see they must suffer in those ways although they be convinced of them yet they are ready to say with Augustine as he confesses of himself I do not love to pass through those straits it is too hard and narrow away for them If such thoughts work in thee at any time take these considerations for the rebuking of thy self and the raising of thy heart to a more Christian magnanimity of spirit First at what a low rate doest thou prize the ways of God the glory of God that such and such more low comforts must not be laid down for them that such light afflictions must not be endured for the maintenance of them Secondly consider if Christ had stood upon such terms as to have said I could be content indeed that these poor creatures might be delivered from misery but seeing such grievous evils must be suffered for their deliverance let them perish I am not willing to be their deliverer upon such hard terms What had become of us if Christ had reasoned thus if this argument had prevailed with him against us as it prevails with us against him Thirdly thou who art so shy of suffering mayest be forced to suffer in spight of thy heart and what a sad thing will that be to thee What a sad thing was it to Cranmer after he had recanted for fear of sufferings yet he was forced to suffer what a darkning was it to this spirit his cause and name Mr. Fox relates of a Smith in King Edwards time who was the means of conversion of a friend of his who in Queen Maries time was cast into prison whereupon he sends to this Smith who had been the means of his conversion wondring that he hears not of his apprehending and imprisonment this Smith sends him word again that it was true that he had taught him such and such things and those things were certain truths but for his part he could not burn but a while after the house of this Smith was on fire and he was burnt in it God made him burn whether he would or no and so may he make you suffer whether you will or no who refuse to suffer for his truth Fourthly whatsoever prosperity thou enjoyest when God calls thee to suffer for him is cursed unto thee if thou blessest thy self in thy estate thy liberty thy name thy life that thou enjoyest having avoided the way of suffering that God called thee unto thou deceivest thy self for there is no blessing in them they are all accursed unto thee Fifthly all duties of Religion that now thou performest out of a suffering condition are not now accepted of God thou must not think now having avoided suffering for Gods truth that because thou art willing to perform duties to be diligent in some service for God that God now accepts of thee No it was another work that God called thee unto a work of suffering seeing thou hast refused this do what thou canst God casts it as dung in thy face and regards it not this is a sad condition What joy can such a man have of his life if he hath an enlightned conscience Sixthly what intolerable pride and delicacy is this in thee that thou wilt not venter the loss of any thing the enduring of any thing for God and his truth the least truth of God is worth more then heaven and earth and what is thy ease thy liberty thy name thy life to it Thou art too delicate O Christian says Tertullian who must have pleasure in this world Seventhly How vile is the unbelief of thy heart who darest not trust God with thy name estate liberty How canst thou trust God with thy soul thy eternal estate How lightly doest thou regard all the faithfulness the mercy goodness wisdom power of God working for his people in their suffering conditions Of what little account are all these gracious blessed promises of the Lord for their encouragement herein thy base shyness and cowardise of spirit is such as if there were no God no faithfulness mercy wisdom power to help as if there were no promise to support and relieve thee Eighthly there is a necessity of thy miscarrying in the ways of eternal life for if God hath so ordered things in his providence as that such ways must be in ways of affliction and thy heart cannot bear affliction how is it possible but that thou must needs miscarry in them It is a woeful thing to have a mans heart opposite to Gods order in any thing but much more in things of infinite consequence if afflictions be a block to thee in the way of life you must have this block Ninthly How little love is there in thine heart to God when thou art so shy of any thing to be suffered for God love rejoyces in suffering for the beloved The avoiding hell and the getting Heaven are no great things says Chrysostome where the love of God is then surely the avoiding outward troubles and the enjoyment of outward comforts would be no great matter to us if the love of God were in us Tenthly Did you never suffer affliction in your ways of sin and will you not now be willing to suffer as much in the ways of God Shall your sins have a greater testimony of respect to them from you then God himself Art thou nor confounded at the mention the thought of such a thing as this so unreasonable so vile Eleventhly What honor should God have in the world where would there be any witness to truth against the rage and malice of devil and wicked men if all should do as thou doest If there be any Christian blood left in thee if any spirit worthy of thy profession be ashamed of thy baseness this way and be not so shy of afflictions Secondly when thou art under afflictions let there be an humble contented frame of spirit as beseems a Christian seeing thou art now under an Ordinance of God take heed of the least murmuring repining against God as if he were a hard Master or as if his ways were hard and burthensom because of the afflictions thou meetest withal when thy spirit begins any way to rise in such workings charge thy soul to be silent unto God it is a great shame for a Christian not to be well skilled in that art instructed in that mystery of Christian contentation Say with thy Savior Shall not I drink of that cup my Father hath given me to drink It is Gods appointment that his people should be in an afflicted estate in this world it is the cup of my Father and shall not I quietly and contentedly drink of that cup Now thou hast an opportunity to manifest the power and excellency of thy grace to shew what thy grace can enable thee to do strength of reason
they will esteem of them but when the esteem of the world is taken away their esteem is taken away As it is with the Deer that is hunted when the Huntsman goes into the Park he stirs up all and all run together but if one be shot and they see the blood run down they will all push him out of their company so while Gods people go on and are in credit and esteem with the world others that are slight professors of Religion will esteem them and they shall be welcom into their company till they be shot and they see disgrace put upon them then they look upon them with a lowry countenance If a man be travelling and there be a Sun-dial by the high-way if the Sun shine he will go out of his way to take notice of it but if the Sun do not shine he may go a hundred times by and never regard it and so when the Sun shines upon Gods people they are much made of but if a cloudy day do come and take away the Sunshine they are not esteemed and many people instead of helping them in their affliction will adde to their affliction and say You needed not to have been so forward and to have appeared so much It was your want of wisdom brought you into this trouble and the like If you had a gracious heart if you saw one of Gods Servants go on in the way of God and suffer in that way though he had failed in some particulars you would pass them by and not be ready to take advantage to speak against him for them If a man do plead for the King every circumstance is not taken up and aggravated against him and so for those that are for God every circumstance should not be aggravated against them It is better for one to be forward in Gods cause though he should fail in some circumstances then to be lukewarm If a man be going earnestly and do fall forward there is not so much danger in that as to fall backward so a man that is forward in that which is good though he may carry some things indiscreerly and suffer somewhat that way yet his fall is but forward and there is not so much danger in that as in a time-server and apostate that falls backward he may break his neck And therefore we should not aggravate the afflictions of the Saints if they be right in the main we should countenance them and appear for them though we venture something as Moses here he might have saved himself and yet he had such a high esteem of Gods people as he would venture all for them but of this in the next Point Thirdly If God does move the hearts of any preciously to esteem of his people though afflicted outwardly hearken to a word of encouragement Certainly thou art blessed of God It is a note of a wonderful strong eye-sight that thou hast that thou canst see Spiritual excellency through outward meanness there is more skill in being able to see the preciousness of a thing then to see the glory and lustre of it that which is not true pearl may have as much lustre as the true but the skill of the Lapidary is to know that is not precious but the other although it be fullied with dirt It is a note of sincerity of grace that thou lovest grace for grace It is a note of the power of grace that thou canst pass by that which is a stumbling to so many Certainly God will know thy soul in adversity and will look through all thy infirmities upon thee that canst look with an honorable esteem upon his people through all afflictions And in that time when thou suspectest the work of grace in thee this may be one argument to uphold thee though thou canst not discern the work of grace in thine own heart yet thou canst prize it in another it is an argument it is in thy soul though now thou canst not see it though people want other notes yet this many have Fourthly You that are the Servants of God and God hath so ordered it as you are mean in the world mean in your parts and estates and mean in regard of your friends be not discouraged do not think I am a poor contemptible man or woman no body looks at me or regards me God hath a high esteem of you the Angels have a high esteem of you the Saints have a high esteem of you and therefore be not discouraged As you have it in Isaiah 56. 3 4. Let not the Eunuch say I am a dry tree for if he will take hold of my name and keep my Sabbath I will give him an everlasting name better then of sons and daughters Many because they are outwardly mean do go on discouraged and say of themselves We are dry trees If thou didst but see the thoughts of Gods people and see the thoughts of wicked men as if thou couldst but unfold the consciences of wicked men they do reverence thee and wish they were in thy condition if they were to dye though you have not that respect from the godly which they seem to shew to others that they have more use of and are more serviceable to them to do their business and so there is a shew of more outward familiarity yet do not think but that you are more highly esteemed then they are But suppose no man should regard you it is enough that God does regard you It is a notable speech of Salvian Such as are truly blessed in their own consciences cannot be miserable by the false judgements of other men But I say though that were enough yet you have more you have God and his Angels and Saints and the consciences of wicked men though we should not regard the esteem of the men of the world but go on in our way onely be careful that they may not speak ill of our Religion but the esteem of the Saints is not slightly to be esteemed for it is a blessing of God and therefore St. Paul was earnest with the Romans to pray to God for him that his service might be accepted of by the Saints On the other side for one to be in such a condition as those that are godly wise and humble shall call their estates into question and be suspitious of them such need look to themselves many that are truly godly may be very guilty of censuring and so do much wrong both to those that are godly and to Religion but take those that are wise and humble and I say if such should be jealous of me I should have great cause to be suspitious of my self for such have the Spirit of God and do know the things of God A spiritual man judgeth all things and therefore we should make good use of their opinions of us If they be afraid of us we should fear our selves as Isaiah says There is no peace to the wicked says my God that God that my
and danger and hazard himself in joyning with your childe in his affliction and danger you would take it well at his hands Secondly they hold out the honor of God in the world in their sufferings they are Gods witnesses Isaiah 44. 8. They stand for God in appearing therefore for them and their cause ye appear for God himself the cause is yours as well as theirs if God be yours Thirdly they need encouragement especially in the time of their affliction the best have flesh and blood and if they be deserted in their cause much advantage is given to temptation Wo to him that is alone If any should fail if any should miscarry through your deserting or not coming in and joyning with them it will prove a sore and a fearful evil against you If any of Gods servants in affliction shall go to God and make their means to him and in the grief of their souls tell him how you have left them how they are alone in so great a cause whereas such and such might have afforded much help and encouragement surely this will witness fearfully against you and it will go ill with you Certainly you bring much guilt upon your souls in deserting the Saints in the time of their affliction Hence Paul prayed that God would not lay to the charge of those in Asia that left him in his first answer Fourthly not appearing is a betraying the truth It is a speech of Zuinglius in his third Epistle We may as well with Dioclesian worship at the Altar of Jupiter or Venus as hide our faith under Antichrist He that is not with me is against me says Christ Fifthly Christ appears most for his people in their afflictions when they are at the lowest Isaiah 63. 9. In their affliction he was afflicted the Angel of his presence was then with them his love and his pity was towards them he bare them and carried them Psal 69. 9. The Zeal of thine house hath eaten me up the reproaches of them that reproached thee are faln upon me You know the place is spoken of Christ and these words were spoken when the Church was in a very ill case as appears in the Psalm Sixthly times of affliction are the especial times to manifest our true love to the Saints which are near to us in many bonds It is an ill part of a wife or friend to forsake husband or friend when in affliction Josephus reports of Herodias wife to Herod the Tetrarch who when the Emperor had deprived her husband of his Tetrarchy and banished him annexing his Tetrarchy to Agrippa his kingdom understanding that Herodias was Agrippa's sister the Emperor gave her her husbands substance supposing that she would not accompany her husband but she answered the Emperor There is a cause that hinders me from partaking the benefit of your bounty the affection I bear to my husband whom if I should forsake in this his misery it would very ill beseem me in that I have been a partner with him in his felicity the Emperor displeased with her answer banished her likewise with her husband a brother a friend a wife is for the time of adversity Especially hence it is recorded of Davids brethren and fathers house 1 Sam. 22. 1. When David was persecuted and came to the Cave of Adullam when they heard it they went down thither to him they ventured the displeasure the rage of Saul the forfeiting all their estates to go down to David their brother both his father and mother was there though very old now as appears ver 3. Basils forwardness in appearing for his friend in danger mightily affected Chrysostom he tells of him that he hazarded himself much to deliver his friend in danger and being blamed by some for venturing so much he gave this answer I have not learned to love otherwise I know not how to manifest my love but thus Seventhly when Gods people suffer most in Gods cause it is then most honorable to be called forth to appear for it to assist in it Amongst the Persians the left hand is accounted the most honorable Xenophon reports of Cyrus that those whom he honored most he placed at his left hand upon this ground because that hand was weakest and most subject to danger the most honorable of the kingdom were set to defend where there was most weakness and most danger If the people of God be brought low if they be brought under by affliction if the cause of God in them seem to be in danger then to come in and appear to stand by them and for them this is honorable Eighthly this appearing for the Saints and joyning with them in their affliction shall be highly rewarded of God When David was in his affliction persecuted by Saul Abiathar fled to him with the Ephod and abode with him Although self-respects might move him Saul having slain his father and fourscore and four priests of the Lord and if he had not escaped he had gone to it too yet because he was with David in his affliction mark how Solomon respects him for it 1 Kings 2. 26. Thou art worthy of death but I will not put thee to death but go to Anathoth to thine own fields because thou barest the Ark of the Lord God before my father David and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted Josephus reports of Agrippa that being bound with chains and sent to prison by Tiberius for wishing Caius in the Empire one Thaumastus one of Caius his Servants carrying a pitcher of water met him and Agrippa being very thirsty desired him to give him drink which he willingly did upon which Agrippa said This service thou hast done in giving me drink shall do thee good another day afterwards when Caius was Emperor and Agrippa was made King he first begged Thaumastus his liberty of the Emperor and made him a free man then he made him his chief Officer over all his affairs and after his decease he took order he should continue in the same office with his son This Agrippa was a wicked man who thus rewarded him that relieved him in his affliction it was the same Agrippa whom the Angel smote and was eaten up of worms because he gave not glory unto God How much more then will Christ reward those who shall give him in his members cups of water in their affliction yea who shall so joyn with them as to hazard themselves for them surely they shall not go without their reward when Christ comes in his glory he will own them But how must we appear what doth this point require of us First when Gods servants and their cause are accused and condemned you must not be silent you must not let it pass as being afraid to be accounted one belonging to them Luther in an Epistle to Staupitius a German Divine says That when Jesus Christ is condemned and
no partner But that this might not be an offence so as to keep us from joyning in Communion with the people of God let us know if this might have been offence enough to keep men from joyning with them it would have kept men in all times from joyning with the Churches since Christs time You know what difference was between Paul and Barnabas two Apostles And so the Apostles do complain of the dissentions and divisions in the Church of Corinth in the Primitive times and if that had been enough to keep out men from joyning with them then there had been no joyning with the Church of Corinth and other Churches Basil complains I have lived now to the age of a man and I see more union in Arts and Sciences then in Divinity for in the Church I see such dissentions as do dissipate it and rend it asunder And so between Chrysostom and Epiphanius the one wished the other might never dye a Bishop and the other wished that he might never go home alive And between Jerome and Ruffinus and Luther and Oecolampadius There is a most sad story we have of those that fled to Frankford from England in Queen Maries time and when they came there though they fled for Religion and for their lives yet there were such grievous breaches as they sought the lives of one another picking out some words against the Emperor in a Sermon that Master Knox had preached in England long before and now accusing him for them to the Magistrates of Frankford upon which divers of them were fain to flee This is through the malice of the Devil in sowing tares and therefore if you will be offended in this way of scandal you must be offended Yet we must all take heed of giving offence for though offences will come yet wo to them by whom they come Howsoever there fall out offences through the sinful distempers of mens hearts let not the Ordinance of God be challenged as the cause of these offences Joyning in Church-fellowship is a special Ordinance of God to maintain love and peace amongst his people yet by the abuse of it many times divisions and dissentions are stronger and more bitter in the Church then elsewhere let not Gods Ordinance be accused as the cause of it nor declined for this but let the wickedness of mens hearts be accused let us seek to have it purged Christ came into the world to dissolve the works of the Devil and yet the Devil never more raged then in Christs time and a while after We never read of men so possessed of the Devil before Christ came as they were then Shall we therefore accuse Christ for bringing the Devil into the world for being the cause of mens being possessed of the Devil Those who thus reason against the Ordinance of Christ because of this evil that falls out by accident upon it may as well yea and certainly would as readily reason against Christ if they lived in his time because of such possession of Devils which never was so before he came as it was then but as the true reason why the Devil thus prevailed upon Christs coming was the just judgement of God against men for contemning and rejecting Christ who came amongst them so it is here the judgement of God for the evil of mens hearts in abusing such a blessed Ordinance of love and peace So likewise the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a Sacrament appointed by God to maintain love and peace in the Church it is an Ordinance for communion it hath the denomination from thence it is called communion Yet what hath occasioned such dissentions in the Christian world as the controversies about the Sacrament Shall therefore this Ordinance be accused as the cause of dissention O let us for ever learn this truth that whatsoever evil falls out Gods Ordinances be not blamed but mans corruption let that be condemned and purged Origen writing to Celsus says If you will take offence at the dissentions in Christian Religion then you may take offence at dissentions in other things Valens the Emperor objected the same against Christians Nicephorus 11. 45. brings in one Themistius answering that those of the Graecian superstition had as great dissentions amongst them There is dissention amongst Merchants and other Trades you do not say therefore I will not binde my childe to that Trade they dissent amongst themselves If there be profit and accommodations in the Trade men will not be hindred by this plea but joyn with them notwithstanding And so come you and joyn with the Saints though there be some dissentions though there may be some rigid distemper'd hot spirited men that may cause some trouble yet there is not so much union and love in all the world as with them set but aside some and there are a company if you be gracious your soul may take pleasure in and bless God for and therefore away with all such stumbling blocks and reasonings against the Ordinances of God come you thirsting after the Ordinances of God and my soul for yours if you do not finde that sweetness in communion with them as never was found before There are many objections against this way and many are a long time ensnared in them but Isa 57. 13. where God promises the inheritance of his holy Mountain ver 14. he promises to make the way plain to it And Exod. 15. 13. God guides his people in his strength to his holy habitation it must be the strength of God that must carry through all objections all difficulties over all stumbling blocks to Gods habitation Thus much to those that yet are not joyned in that nearness of communion with Gods people which they may be CHAP. XXII Instructions to those who are joyned in communion with Gods people SEcondly if it be such a blessed thing to enjoy communion with Gods people then there are many things that are to be said to those that are joyned in communion First labor to approve to God and your own souls that you are indeed Gods people particularly you are his people in a way of outward profession and to men you do approve your selves so far as we hope you are Gods people but you must approve your selves to God and to your consciences If you be conscious to your selves of any secret filth and yet dare come and deceive the people of God in joyning with them you bring your selves in more danger then you are aware We read Deut. 22. ver 21. that if a damsel having defiled her self before marriage and so deceiving a man he marries with her when this is discovered she is to be stoned to death Uncleanness in such as were single was not by the Law to be punished with death but she must dye although her uncleanness was while she was single because she deceived the man in marrying to him in her defilement So know your filth in not joyning to Gods people is not so evil and
bearing one anothers burthens As the curtains of the Tabernacle were joyned together by loops so should the members of the Church be joyned one to another by love In the Primitive times we finde the Heathens and enemies of the Church did acknowledge there were no people in the world did love one another so as Christians did The Church of Philadelphia is blamed for nothing Philadelphia signifies brotherly love when brotherly love rules in Churches they grow to a blameless conversation before God and man Sixthly be bountiful and liberal The men of the world having skill in these things and they seeing no eminency of these in you they say Let them make what profession they will in those things we have no skill in we believe them not they are a company of false hearted people Fifthly if you would walk so as to draw others in love to communion with you labor to manifest the power of godliness by doing such things as the men of the world cannot do if the men of the world can see that men that make profession of Religion are able to do that they cannot do they see now there is some reality in Religion You know how it was with Pharaoh and his Magicians all the while Moses wrought such things that Pharaohs Magicians could do Pharaoh was not convinced but when Moses did such things that the Magicians could not do this convinced them and so for you to do that the men of the world do or can do this does not convince them says Christ If I had not done such things as no man did you had had no sin What is it to do those things which the men of the world cannot do First the resisting of strong temptations every slight temptation overcomes them but when they shall see you stand out against powerful temptations they see you have a power beyond theirs When Nebuchadnezzar saw the three Children in the fiery furnace and they were not touched by the fire he was convinced so when the men of the world shall see you in the midst of prevailing temptations and you keep your selves untouched they will be convinced and say Surely there is a power with these that we have not Secondly the overcoming of strong passions this convinces them When as those you live withal shall know there was a time you were outragious and forward at every thing that did displease you and since God hath wrought on your hearts you can be meek and patient and those passions and temptations cannot overcome you now that did before When Christ commanded the winds and seas and they were still at his word they wondred and said Who is this that the winds and seas obey him And so when you have storms and passions arise in you and you by the word of God can make all quiet men will wonder and say Who is this Thirdly if you be able to deny your selves in your wills and ends this is a thing they cannot do but now the godly if there come any word of God to shew their wills are not right they do not only change the thing their will is upon but their will is bowed to Gods word And as it was with David when he had Saul at an advantage and might have had his own will upon Saul and yet spared him how did this convince Saul Who having his Enemy would have spared him As if he had said If I had had thee at an advantage at my own will I must have had my ends And so is there any thing that the men of the world can see you may have your ends in you should rather deny your selves in them Brethren Gods people are to strive and contend with the world above all people and that for God now then that we may manifest unto the world that when we do contend with them that it is meerly-for God when it comes to our selves and our own causes we should be the most yieldable people in the world There is a time when we must contend with the world our consciences put us upon it and the cause of God puts us upon it and then they say we are stubborn proud spirits now to take off this reproach and to convince them it is not self-will therefore when it is onely your own cause yield to the utmost you can and this will convince them when you do not yield that it is not for self but for God and conscience Fourthly do good for evil this is that which the men of the world cannot do We must labor to do some singular thing for God if you onely do good for good the Publicans can do so but we must do good for evil As it is reported of Bishop Cranmer they used to say of him If they would have Bishop Cranmer their friend let them do him some ill turn Do you not think how you may be even with them that have done you an ill turn but rather go home and all the way you are going be musing and studying how you may return some good to that man that hath done you wrong and so you shall not be even with him but above him by this you shall heap coals of fire upon his head This beseems the people of God that are the peculiar of God It was a notable speech that Balaam had in Numbers 23. 9. Lo the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the Nations They are a people peculiar amongst themselves if they be such a people as are so peculiar as they must not be reckoned amongst the Nations then they must do such things as cannot be reckoned amongst the ways and works of the Nations If we should read all Authors of the Heathens yet we may finde such things in Gods people as we cannot finde in all the Authors Fifthly be joyful in affliction rejoycing in God and Christ then when all outward delight fails in very convincing If people speak so much of faith and living by faith on the promises and yet if they be crost in any thing in the world their hearts are as low and sinking as the hearts of any when men of the world see this they say Where is all their faith But if they see when affliction comes even such as would make their hearts sink and the people of God carry them out chearfully they will say Surely there is some real principle in them that we cannot see As Justin Martyr when he saw the Christians suffer such great things so chearfully says he Surely these men have more then the men of the world they have other principles and so he enquired what maner of people they were and so came to embrace the truth It is not so much to be merry and joyful over their cups the people of God cannot be merry and joyful in sensual delights but put them into afflictions and hardships and they can be chearful more then you they are not so dumpish
promises of direction says Christ Take no thought when you are called before rulers for my names sake how or what you shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak Thirdly there are promises of assistance I will be with you to the end of the world Fourthly there is a promise of acceptance He that forsaketh houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive a hundred fold and inherit eternal life Fifthly a promise of blessing Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all maner of evil falsly on you for my sake Sixthly a promise of a Kingdom If we suffer with him we shall likewise reign with him Luke 22. 28 29. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations and I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my father hath appointed unto me the appointing of a Kingdom follows upon their continuing with Christ in temptation Brethren God promises much to those that shall be sensible of the reproaches of others much more when thou thy self sufferest in the cause of Christ In Zeph. 3. 18. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn Assembly time was when the solemn Assemblies of Gods people their gathering together to hear a Sermon was their reproach and they were contemned by many were you ever in any place where the Assemblies of Gods people were reproachful and was this a burthen to your souls and grievous to you mark the blessed promise I will gather them together but to be reproached our selves and to bear our reproaches in a Christian maner great and rich promises are made unto it Seventhly in reproaches and sufferings for Christ there are rich consolations never such consolation let out to a gracious heart as when it is under reproaches and sorest persecutions if ever Christ does turn water into wine it is the tears of Gods people that are turned into wine of consolation Basil in his Oration for Barlaam that famous Martyr says He delighted in the close Prison as in a pleasant green meadow and he took pleasure in the several inventions of tortures as in several sweet flowers And Vincentius the Martyr speaking of the great things he suffered for Christ hath this expression I have always desired these dainties Luther reports of that Martyr St. Agatha that as she went to Prisons and Tortures she said she went to Banquets and Nuptails And Iames Bainham said when they kindled the fire at his feet Me thinks you strew roses before me And Mr. Saunders hath a most full expression of his consolation he felt a wonderful sweet refreshment flow from his heart unto all the members of his body and from all the parts of his body to his heart again And that Martyr Hawks lifts up his hands above his head and claps them together when he was in the fire as if he had been in a triumph this is a special fruit of the Spirit of God and of glory of which St. Peter speaks 1 Pet. 4. 14. If ye suffer reproaches happy are ye the Spirit of God and glory rests upon you and one consolation one beam of Gods face is worth all the riches of the world The Sun enlightens the world says Cyprian but he that made the Sun is a greater light to you in prison that darkness which is the horrible deadly darkness of the place of punishment to others he irradiates to you with his bright and eternal light Vobis idem qui Solem fecit majus in carcere lumen fuit horribiles caeteris atque funest as paenalis loci tenebr as aeterna illa candida luce radiante Cyp. Ep. 16. Eighthly in reproaches and sufferings there are riches of glory both before the day of Judgement and after riches of glory before if so be that opinion of some be true which I dare not altogether deny of Christs coming to reign in the world here before the day of Judgement though I will not affirm it as a truth yet if there be not a truth in it I confess I cannot make any thing of many places of Scripture Rev. 20. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Blessed holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years I know this is ordinarily interpreted of the resurrection from sin to grace and reigning with Christ a thousand years that is reigning with him in Heaven but this cannot be the meaning of the Text this thousand years must be before the day of Judgement because Satan must be loosed after now if this prove to be true O the riches of glory that those that suffer for Christ shall have all those that have suffered for Christ they especially shall be raised up to reign with Christ on the earth and therefore you have it in ver 4. And I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and reigned with Christ a thousand years Suppose it to be so then the more any do suffer for withdrawing himself from Antichrist the more glory they shall have when Christ comes to reign upon the earth Some are loth to receive the mark of the Beast upon their foreheads openly to appear for Antichrist yet they will have the mark of the Beast in their hands but here is a promise to them that shall refuse both and it is not meant onely of those that suffer death in their lives the death in our liberties and death in our estates and other kinde of deaths shall not go unrewarded it is a point that was spoken of in the Primitive times and afterward it was condemned upon this ground because many grew to be sensual and thought the Kingdom of Christ should be for a thousand years in pleasure to the flesh but take the Kingdom of Christ to be spiritual in the glory of his Ordinances as I am confident that Christ shall reign Personally in his flesh I will not say but Spiritually farre more gloriously then he hath done But then at the day of Judgement O the glory of those that suffer for Christ they shall have Crowns upon their heads and Palms in their hands and all their persecutors stand as base creatures before them O the imbracings that there shall be then If a father send his childe abroad about business and the childe meet with much difficulty and comes home in a rainy tempestuous day how gladly his father receives him and all are
communication of himself to them and all the glory of one another Look how many Saints shall be in heaven they shall rejoyce in every ones happiness as in their own their own happiness will cause joy but so many Saints as shall be happy so many times shall their joy be double and therefore it must be full joy Comfort proceeds from the suitableness between the faculty and the object now here is the greatest suitableness between the faculty and the object that can be because here is not onely good in the Concreat but goodness in the Abstract and union with goodness it self is more then union with a good thing Surely the joys of heaven must needs be great because a little taste of them here that the Martyrs have had hath made exquisite tortures grievous and dreadful pains not onely tolerable but comfortable And it is Divine joy It may be said to be Divine in three respects First it comes from God Secondly it is in God Thirdly it is with God First it comes from God being caused by the Spirit of God and that is another maner of joy then the men of the world have Secondly it is in God rejoycing in God and that is other maner of joy then rejoycing in meat and drink Look what difference there is between the excellency that is in God and the excellency that there is in meat and drink and idle sports so much difference is between the joy that Gods people have in God and the joy that wicked men have in the creature And it is divine in regard that it is joy with God it is the same joy that God himself hath carnal hearts rejoyce one with another in sensual things but God does not rejoyce in those things you rejoyce in but the Saints in heaven shall be exercised in the same joy that God himself hath and rejoyce in the same things that God shall rejoyce in to have the beams of our joy mingle with the beams of Gods joy and so to have Gods joy and ours put into one that must needs be admirable joy Notwithstanding this joy of the Saints shall be thus glorious yet the utmost happiness of man consists not in it though joy be a necessary concomitant to mans blessedness yet mans blessedness consists not in it We do not seek the enjoyment of God that we might delight in this enjoyment but we seek delight in the enjoyment because the enjoyment is the greatest good And besides all this there are some circumstances that serve to set out all that I have said yet further and to make the happiness of Gods people yet more glorious First it is a prepared happiness that happiness that God hath had his thoughts upon from all eternity and laid the ground of it from all eternity God hath been working from all eternity to provide this Secondly in that it comes to the people of God by such a glorious way as the purchase of Jesus Christ that I have it and that I have it by such a glorious way that will be exceeding comfortable Thirdly that we who are so vile and so wretched and so abominable as we are in our selves that we who by nature are but firebrands of hell and fuel for eternal wrath that we should be raised to such a height of happiness Fourthly that we are so few Not many wise nor rich nor noble but the mean ones of the world that there should be so many of the world and the great ones of the world cast out and a handful of poor contemptible people should be raised to this glory this is a mighty aggravation of the happiness of Gods people Fifthly that this should be a reward for that which we owe in a way of obedience we owe all our services in a way of obedience to God and we may say When we have done all we are unprofitable Servants and that we do we are bound to do as creatures and yet that God should reward that which we owe to him in a way of obedience this aggravates the happiness of the Saints as if a Master should give his Servant all his estate for doing that which he is bound to do We have more then wages here then how much more is that we shall have hereafter Again that which God is pleased to reward it is but poor mixt service take our duties at the best they are such as deserve Hell there is no one act but if God should observe what is amiss you deserve to be cast from God for ever for it now when we rather deserve that God should cast us down to Hell yet that God should reward us with all this glory what a glorious thing is this Again that the Lord is pleased to make this sure to us if God had left it to uncertainty and bidden us work it might be well with us and may be he will think of us this might have been a comfort to us but that God is pleased to binde himself thus and to make all sure As if a King should make his Crown Kingdom sure to a poor wretch in the way of reward for a poor service so does God he makes this glory ours by reward in a way of Covenant and Testament by Covenant such a Covenant as he does not only cause to be written in his word but in our hearts we have witness of this in heaven and earth three bear witness in heaven and three in earth and he gives us seals to confirm this Covenant and he confirms it by an Oath he swears by himself because there is no greater to swear by and he makes it sure by way of Testament Covenant we think we may break but that which is given by Testament and confirmed by the death of the Testator that is sure and thus hath God made it sure unto us Again all things that do befal us in this world and all the ways of Gods providence do but tend to the furtherance of us to our reward and to the encrease of our reward and that is the wonderful happiness of Gods people this should sweeten all conditions If I be in a meaner condition then another yet this is in order to my reward and this is more then if I had a Kingdom in the world if it were not in order to that but whatsoever I have in the world though never so hard to flesh and blood it is in order to this this satisfies Again this reward is near we shall not stay long for it If God required of us to be burning a thousand years and then to have it we had yet cause to rejoyce but it is at hand and nearer at hand to us in this latter age of the world then to our Fore-fathers God hath but a few things to do in the world to gather but a few more of the Gentiles and his own people the Jews and to pull down Antichrist and then all is done
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