or Superiour commands without disputing as to obey God and Christ in what he commands This therefore is another piece of their Idolatry setting up their Church or Superiours in the place of God Parish Sir I shall not call you to more instances being assured that in every suffering of the Martyrs of Jesus under the Whore of Babylon one of these or all these are the Ingredients in their Accusation that they deny the Churches Traditions and Infallibility and Authority and the Popes Supremacy and Transubstantiation which they call the real presence ignorantly and slanderously imputing to us that we deny the real presence of the Body and Blood of Christ because we deny their sensless fiction of Transubstantiation But I long to hear you discourse of those other two excellent Heads Namely of the qualifications of a Martyr and of the supports and rewards he may expect Minist Indeed Sir I longed to come to them my self as knowing they are speculation yeilding ten times more sweetness than the controversal part of the discourse because we could not treat on that without reflexion on others wickedness or errour which is no pleasing prospect to humble and charitable Persons But the rest of our way will be all beset with the fragrant Graces of Gods Spirit and the Fruit-bearing Trees of his rich and precious promises I shall proceed therefore 1. He is very ignorant of the nature of God who thinks God stands in need of a vile and profligate wretch living yet in the practise of known sins to assert the cause of his holy truth for his praise is in the Congregation of his holy ones and dear in his sight is the death only of his Saints But he putteth away the wicked of the Earth like dross First Therefore none are fitted to be Martyrs but sincere Mourners for their former sins When thunders and Storms are without and swelling Winds are in the Bowels of the Earth there must needs be a terrible Earth-quake So he that is called to suffer for the truth and hath the Enemies of truth raging and menacing without him and conscience accusing him within that he is not only an high transgressor but a careless neglecter of seeking his peace with God can never confidently dye in the best Cause When the Philistines were coming upon Saul 1 Sam. 13. the careless man then is awakened by his own terrours and cries out verse 12. the Philistines will now come down upon me to Gilgal and I have not made Supplication to the Lord so will Conscience say to the impenitently careless how darest thou venture thy Life in the cause of that truth thou hast neglected to obey never seriously searching thy heart and ways never sincerely mourning for thy sins never applying thy self by earnest prayer to the mercy of God in Christ I do not deny that a man who is under great fears and doubts having for some considerable time been earnestly seeking Gods favour in Christ prizing his loving kindness more than life may make a couragious Martyr for such an ones thoughts will work at this rate Lord thou knowest how I have longed for thy Salvation though therefore I yet walk in darkness and see no light only a little dawning of hope appears I will not set my Comforts at a greater distance from me by a cowardly betraying of thy Cause whether therefore thou please to lift up the light of thy countenance upon me or no yet will I trust in thee and live and dye to thy to thy Glory knowing that duty is my work and must be my care and comfort is thy free gift and it coming at any time or in any degree is both more and sooner than I deserve as said the three Children Dan. 3. 17. we know our God can deliver us but if he will not be it known unto thee we will not serve thy Gods nor worship the Golden Image which thou hast set up so saith the humble penitent God can make the bones which he hath broken to rejoyce but however I will not depart from him nor betray that truth he calls me to own This is one of the Greaves or Bootes mentioned Ephes 6. 15. For amongst other parts of the Spiritual Armour the Apostle exhorts to have their feet shod with the prepraration of the Gospel of peace the preparation of it according to the Doctrine of Saint John Baptist Christs forerunner is Repentance Matth. 3. 2. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand But he that is yet a careless impenitent hath no Boots or Greaves on but his naked Feet are subject to be wounded with the Gall-traps of his Enemies when Conscience tells him that according to the Tenor of the Gospel he is in no capacity for peace or for pardon and his Enemies without suppose Heathen tell him he shall perish here and hereafter as an Enemy to the gods or Popish persecutors curse him solemnly with Bell Book and Candle to the Fire of Hell as well as to the Flames here and forbid the people to pray for them as they did in Queen Marys days prohibit all to assist the Martyrs so much as by a prayer for them how can such a one dye couragiously But still I must take heed of discouraging any sincere though late penitent for I do not question but as our Saviour received the penitent Thief upon the Cross so some have entred profane wretches into Prison who yet have had such conviction of the preciousness of the truth they were urged to renounce that they durst not deny it and have come out to Execution sincere penitents nay it may be rejoycing through hope and have died happily yea comfortably in the Lord But serious repentance and sorrow founded in serious search of our ways and heart sooner or later is a necessary qualification for a Martyr of Jesus Secondly So also is mortification necessary that is that the Martyr hath endeavoured faithfully to subdue every lust in himself and to cleanse himself from all defilements of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear and love of God for God will not receive a polluted Sacrifice though offered with the Fire of his own Altar nor can such expect the assistances of Gods Spirit who have grieved that good Spirit by wilful allowance of themselves in known sins not denying their lusts One living lust is like a potent opposite party in a Garrison that will weaken the hands of the Defenders the Conscience of being under the power of one ruling Sin will cut the Sinews of our courage and God will say to such as Psal 50. Why takest thou my Law into thy Mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed Why offerest thou to fight my battels against the adversaries of my truth seeing thou fightest against my fear obeying the adversaries of my honour thy lusts This is the other Boot or Greave of the preparation of the Gospel of Peace which according to St. John Bapists Doctrine is prepared
for by reformation of our hearts and lives Luke 3. 5. Let every valley be silled and every mountain be brought low and the crooked be made straight the rough ways be made smooth let the low groveling worldling and filthy sensual fill up the Valley setting his affections on things above and every Proud and Ambitious person bring his thoughts low minding Gods glory not his own and every crooked cunning deceiver get a strait Spirit in simplicity and godly sincerity and every angry and revengful person make the rough ways smooth by endeavoring to obtain a Spirit of meeltness and kindness and then both feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace and God will both receive and assist such in the conflict for his truth and glory And as Rom. 12. 1. They can confidently present their bodles a living holy Sacrifice acceptable to God which is their reasonable rational service whereas an unmortified person in whom brutish lusts do yet raign if he dyed in a good cause yet offered up a brutish unreasonable Sacrifice no way acceptable unto God Thirdly The Christian must take the sheild of Faith that is confidence in Gods promises of assistance and supports in the day of his Tryal Ephes 6. 16. He must be assured that Gods goodness and faithfulness will never suffer him to fail who flyes for refuge to his grace and mercy Thus saith David By this I know that thou favorest my righteous cause seeing mine enemy doth not Triumph over me and as for me thou preservest me in mine integrity Thus saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 1 8 9. Christ will confirm you unto the end and keep you blameless to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ or in the day of Christ that is emphatically the day of suffering for Christ and will confirm you unto the end The Christian Matron falling in Travel of Child-birth in the Prison cryed out in her strong pains and was thus assaulted by the Jaylor If saith he you cannot bear those pains without such outcrys how will you be able to bear the torments provided for you She answered These pains I suffer as the burden lay'd upon our Sex for the sin of our first Mother but in that conflict I shall have the assistance of his grace which is able to preserve me through faith against every evil work and his grace shall be sufficient for me Thus the Victory by which we overcome the world is our faith Fourthly Who ever will be a couragious Martyr must have full assurance of the goodness of his Cause that it is the truth and way of God and Christ for which he suffers and worthy of all his suffering for it This is that girdle of Truth Ephes 6. 14. As a girdle or belt not only strengthens the loins but by compacting and compressing the Muscles of the back gives an advantage and tightness to the cords or sinews of even the hands and feet also so the assurance that it is the cause of God for which we stand will make us confident that we shall not be confounded whereas but to doubt of our cause looseneth all our powers of spirit and courage Thus the Apostle prays for his Colossians Col. 2. 2 3 4. That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge The great cause maintained by the Apostolical Christians against the Jews was the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ that is that the infinite goodness and wisdom of God of old had carried on the Salvation of the Ancient Fathers of the world in the same way of Repentance and Faith in his mercy through the mediation of the promised Seed that ours is now carried on since Christs coming in the Flesh Now had any doubted whether this way of Salvation Preached by the Apostles and received by the Churches was the truth of God or questioned whether it was all of a piece with the old method of bringing Sinners to glory how could they have suffered confidently in the cause For staggering betwixt two opinions whether the Mosaical Law or Repentance towards God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ was the way to justification they would have been unstable in all their ways But being assured that there was but one name and way of life Jesus Christ the same to day yesterday and for ever they had a full assurance of understanding which is the Girdle of Truth necessary to gird up the loins of the Martyrs mind I do not say a Christian must be able to answer all the subtle Fallacies and Sophisms of the Adversaries of the Truth but he must be assured that notwithstanding all their Cavils it is the truth of God for which he appears And that he is assured of because he finds it works effectually in him believing it purifying his heart by the faith of it incouraging his hope and increasing his love to God and Christ and all good Men yea to all Men for Christs sake and what works so cannot he is assured be other than the Truth of God A mean-bred man who should hear a Sceptick dispute whether the snow was white arguing that the water from whence it comes is black and therefore the effect must be as is the cause yet would not however be brought to disbelieve his eyes but would continue confident the snow was white as his sight represented it for he found the effect of that whiteness in dispersing his visual Rayes and Spirits Such an assurance must every suffering Christian have of the Truth for which he suffers and that it is the true grace of God wherein he stands and for which he stands and therefore an ignorant unstudied Christian can hardly make a Martyr Fifthly Whoever will be a Martyr must have his heart ingaged in a sincere design to promote Gods glory both by doing and suffering This is that Breast-plate of Righteousness and Sincerity Ephes 6. 14. which gives courage to a suffering Saint For if there be any Hypocritical design of seeking Reputation to our selves or bringing credit to an espoused Faction or Party it flats our courage but the single eye makes the body full of light and heat also On this account it was that the Primitive Christians in times of Persecution received the Eucharist so frequently in St. Cyprians time in the Decian Perfecution they took it daily thereby renewing their Baptismal vow to live and die to Gods glory if called to it As when some great Battel was expected the Roman Generals used to renew the Sacramentum Militare the Souldiers Oath That they would not disobey nor forsake their General their Imperator So that who ever hath not frequently and seriously Consecrated himself to God to live and die to him will hardly make a Martyr that being an
A PREPARATION For Martyrdom A DISCOURSE about the Cause the Temper the Assistances and Rewards OF A MARTYR of JESUS CHRIST IN A DIALOGUE Betwixt a Minister and a Gentleman his Parishioner Matt. 5. 11 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Pet. 4. 14. If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of God and of Glory resteth upon you LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel 1681 A Preparation FOR Martyrdom IN A DIALOGUE Betwixt a Minister and a Gentleman his Parishioner Parish SIR though I justly esteem my self who am so great a sinner unworthy of the honour to suffer for the Name of Christ yet I know it is my Duty to be prepared in Spirit for it if God vouchsafe to call me to it I request therefore your Pastoral assistance herein that whether I live I may live unto the Lord or whether I die I may die unto the Lord. Min. I bless God Dear Sir who inclines your heart to seek after such holy dispositions as are required in those whom Christ will honour in calling them to suffer for his Name But I pray tell me Why you are at this time so sollicitous to gather up your Spirit into that frame Parish There need no account be given of that betwixt you and I who have been fellow-sufferers in the late times for adhering to the cause of our Soveraign and of the Protestant Church of England and whose Persons and Fortunes do yet wear the Scars of their Loyalty and we are not secure that we may not be called to suffer on the same account again And though neither of us have at any time blessed be God made any unkind returns to those who then Persecuted us nor have since gained any thing by our Loyalty but our losses yet if the like times should return again we are like to be in the first rank of Sufferers But I confess that though the Cause we then undertook and suffered for was as just a Cause as any could fall out in a Christian Nation yet I then both acted and suffered in another manner of Spirit than I now see reason to desire to be acted by I did indeed think then and do so still that I was bound in conscience to do my utmost to secure the Person and Honour of my Soveraign and to maintain the Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical then in being till they should be orderly changed by the Consent and Authority of my Soveraign in Parliament yet I did as I fear too many of our side did espouse an humour of Prophaneness in opposition to that Profession of Godliness which I ununcharitably thought that all on the other side did make only to drive on Rebellious Designs which probably the great Artificers of our troubles did do And certainly we Royalists by the overspreading of prophaneness amongst us ruined the best Cause that ever Loyal Subjects undertook to bear up upon the points of their Swords But it is another manner of Spirit I desire now to be baptised into namely that whereinto our suffering Lord and Saviour and his Holy Apostles and Martyrs were baptised And to deal plainly I do not think the next Tempest that will Assault us will come from that Quarter My chief fears therefore are from the success of Popish Arms abroad especially under the Conduct of that Great Monarch who seems to have sworn the utter extirpation of the Protestant Name and the prevailing of Popish Arts at home to the breaking of us with Division upon Division These I say with the loud crying sins done and countenanced amongst us makes me expect a Storm and I desire to be prepared for it Min. I hope God will bless the unwearied endeavours of our Gracious Soveraign and his most Honourable Privy Council at present and of the English Parliament when one shall by his Sacred Majesty be called to frustrate the Attempts of the Popish Adversaries both at home and abroad Parish I thankfully acknowledg that by the blessing of God on the Prudent Conduct of publick Affairs by his Sacred Majesty we yet enjoy Peace when many of the neighbouring Nations round about us feel the sad miseries of War so that if our sins stood neuter and did not strike in with our Enemies I would not fear either their Forces or Consults but alas there can be no Fencing or Walling betwixt us and Heaven to which our sins cry aloud for vengeance Min. It is very true we are great sinners but not greater than other Nations whom God is pleased yet to respit what sins therefore of this Nation seem to you so ripe for vengeance Parish Truly there are many of them and some of them seem especially to call for Popery as the only scammony strong enough to purge them out Such are the frequent and avowed Sinonaical Contracts betwixt some Patrons and their unworthy Clerks Such also are the most unchristian practices of many of our Planters abroad not only in the inhumane cruelties they exercise upon the poor Negroes and other Heathen their Slaves but especially in their discouraging and opposing all endeavours for the Conversion of those poor Infidels to Christianity For have not the Mahumetan Priests travelled to the vast Plain of Tartary and Mountains of Africa to propagate their Superstition Yea have not the Jesuits and other Romish Missionaries gone to the furthest Indies to spread that sort of Christianity which they profess and probably they taught for the substance of it the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ though they built Hay Straw and Stubble on that Foundation And their Converts in Japan and other where suffering for the owning one God and one Mediator 'twixt God and Man Christ Jesus are justly numbred in the Catalogue of Christian Martyrs Shall not these Romanists therefore rise up in Judgment against us and other Protestants who oppose the Conversion of our own Slaves Nay may not God justly say to them concerning us as he did once to Nebuchadnezzar Ezek. 29. 20. That he gave him the Land of Aegypt as his hire for his labour wherewith he served against Tyre So may God say He will give unto the Popish Emissaries those Protestant Churches who are negligent in propagating the Faith as their hire for that service they have served against Heathenisme in the new found world And did not those excellent Persons who preached before the Lords and Commons on the Fast-day Dec. 22. 1681. proclaime it in the Name of the Lord That the vine bringing forth sowre grapes would cause God to pluck up the hedge and fence and let in both the Wild-Beasts and the Wild-Boars into his Vineyard This the Learned and pious Dr. Burnett with much integrity and freedom told the Honorable House of Commons as of other sins of the Nation so of the Drunkenness and Debauchery Which saith he hath not only