nothing to those which thy Lord suffered he suffered more and greater things and know assuredly says he to his wife I never leave off thinking of the wrongs my Savior endured till my minde be still and quiet He that is afraid to suffer cannot be his disciple who suffered so much says Tertullian Certainly the example of Christ in humbling himself to suffer so much for us should be mightily prevalent with us if he emptyed himself so much to become the Son of man how much more should we be willing to empty our selves that we may be the Sons of God Worthy is the Lamb that was slain he is worthy of all honor from us who being Lord of all was content to be in the form of a servant to suffer for us and how can we express our honoring of him our respect to him better then in being to suffer for him I have read of a Roman servant who knowing his Master was sought for by officers to be put to death he put himself into his masters cloaths that he might be taken for him and so he was and was put to death for him whereupon his master in memory of his thankfulness to him and honor of him erected a brazen statue Christ who was not a servant but our Lord yet when he saw we were like to dye he took upon him the form of a servant he came in our likeness that he might dye for us and he dyed he requires not us to erect up brazen statues in memory of him in honor to him but that we should be willing to suffer for him when he calls us thereunto let not us put off the cloaths of our Christian profession that we may avoid sufferings for him as many do who put on the cloaths of our humanity yea of our servility that he might suffer for us The example of the servants of God in all times suffering in his cause is likewise a special help to us in our way of suffering Let us warm our hearts often at the meditation of the fiery tryal of the Martyrs Consider what precious choycespirited men they were how holy heavenly spiritual what service they did for God and yet that they should suffer such hard things as they did what are we in comparison of them Chrysostom in an Oration upon two famous Martyrs raising their honor and speaking how the worthies of God in former times endured hard things How is it says he that thou ô Christian must be so delicate a Soldier so dainty canst thou overcome without fight triumph without combate And in his Sermons upon the Colossions Remember the chains of Paul and consider what an absurd thing it is that he should be in bonds and you should live deliciously Does the desire of pleasures take remember the Prison of Paul Wouldest thou be cloathed in silks remember Pauls chains and silken cloaths will be more vile to thee then filthy rags Wouldest thou be adorned with gold remember Pauls chains and they will shew you that such ornaments are no better then the dirt under your feet Would you be beautiful with your hair think of the filth of the deformity of Paul in the Prison and thy heart will rise with indignation against such beauty and will account it extream deformity What would you have sweet oyntments consider of his tears I have read of Phocion an Athenian Captain when he was condemned to death by his ungrateful Countrey he saw one Tudippus condemned to the same death but very fearful he comforts him with these words Is it not enough for thee Tudippus that thou art to dye with Phocion so we may say to our own hearts Is it not enough for us that we have such a cloud of witnesses such a noble Army of Martyrs before us and with us be not therefore so afraid of the ways of God because of afflictions as thou hast been but submit thy self to God in this way of his CHAP. IX Duties required of us when God calls us to an afflicted condition SEeing God hath so ordered things that his people must be in an afflicted estate in this world when God calls us to suffer afflictions let us know there are three duties required of us First that we be willing to yield to Gods call to come under that condition he hath appointed us unto Secondly that we behave our selves Christianly with all humble submission patience contentedness in this condition Thirdly that we labor to improve our affliction that shall be layed upon us For the first when our cross comes we must be willing to take it up freely and readily to submit unto it It was the honor of the three children in Daniel that they yielded their bodies to those fiery flames they were cast into Dan. 3. 28. Let us not seek to put off sufferings by distinctions certainly the best policy in dangerous times is the greatest purity The Lacedemonians were wont to say It is a shame for any man to flye in time of danger but for a Lacedemonian it is a shame for him to deliberate How much more truly may this be said of a Christian when God calls him to suffer he should be such a resolved man beforehand that it should be a shame now for him even to deliberate It is argument enough for a Christian to suffer any thing because it is the will of God out of bare submission to God but when it is not onely so but in the cause of God in witness to his truth in vindicating his honor this call to suffer comes with strength indeed it is unworthy of a Christian once to deliberate the avoyding of this How much better is it to suffer a little to prevent a sin and so prevent Gods wrath then by avoyding sufferings to fall into sin which being once committed Gods wrath incensed by it cannot be pacified though we should be willing to suffer a thousand times as much Our condition is such that we must suffer one way or another while we live here Is it not better then to suffer for God then any other way This was Chrysostoms argument in his Sermons upon the 2 Cor. chap. 12. Sermon 26. If you suffer not for Religion you will suffer for some other unprofitable light cause Seeing then says he we following this or the other course of life we must suffer affliction why do we not choose such a suffering which with the affliction brings unspeakable glory Certainly it is infinitely better to suffer for Christ then for our sin We read of Peace-offerings that were offered there might be oyl mixed but not so in Sin-offerings in those afflictions we endure for Christ we offer up our selves as Sacrifices of Peace-offerings and in them there is joy much oyl of gladness is mixed in such offerings but when we suffer for our sins there is no oyl of gladness mixed there Let us take heed that we be not found guilty before the Lord when the
ways in affliction if there were always prosperity in the ways of God it were nothing but when it is with affliction it is so much the more an argument of thy love to God and thy sincerity and therefore he takes it so kindely Bless God for it and bless him the rather because he hath begun with you betimes If the Lord hath given you a heart when you are yong to make this choice what a great mercy is this what abundance of sin does such a one prevent If one that is yong goes on in the ways of Religion though he suffers much in the family wherein he lives his brethren scorn at him and his Parents hate him yet he hath cause to rejoyce and bless himself in the goodness of the Lord. 4. Again thou hast further cause to bless God because he hath given thee such encouragements since thou hast made thy choice thou madest thy choice many years ago I ask thee Hast thou not had encouragement in thy choice Hast any cause to repent thee O no! blessed be God I have found more good then I looked for 5. And know within a while the end of thy choice will be attained and then it shall appear before men and Angels thou madest a good choice and all the world shall bless thee for thy choice Blessed be that man or woman that ever they were born to make such a choice and thou shalt be honored of all those that do despise thee now and they shall wish they had made thy choice It is reported of a yong man who loved his pleasures standing by St. Ambrose and seeing his excellent death he turned to other yong men by him and said O that I might live with you and dye with him Thou hast little cause to envy them that will choose vanities for their portion let them have them though thou hast lost something of thy bravery of thy carnal delight for this choice be content it is made up infinitely here and shall be made up more hereafter And seeing God hath thus enclined your heart to himself be for ever established in your choice seeing God hath shewn to you his ways say as Pilate in another case That I have written I have written so That I have chosen I have chosen If any temptation come to tempt you from your choice as flesh and blood would be ready to mutter and think I might have lived as brave a life as such a one might have had as much pleasure as such a one I have lost so many friends and so much means and brought my self into a great many straights indeed they spake much of Gods Ordinances and I was taken with it and I ventured and I have brought my self into troubles and upon the mutterings of flesh and blood you are beginning to bethink your selves again and examine things again and think whether you did wisely or no O take heed of that first degree of Apostacy namely that suspition of your choice Many in their yong time are very zealous in the ways of Religion while all is well with them and now they meet with other things then they looked for and they begin to think they were too forward and wish they were not so far engaged as they are they begin to repent as chapmen who have out-bid themselves Many go on in a profession and suffer much because they are engaged in that way and they know not how to get off if they could get off they would take heed of repentings of your choice lest God lead you out with the workers of iniquity do not listen to the reasonings of flesh and blood Cassianus reports of a yong man that had given himself up to a Christian life and his Parents misliked that way and they wrote Letters to him to perswade him from it and when he knew they were Letters come from them he would not open them but threw them into the fire and so flesh and blood will come and say Do thus and thus you may do well enough at last throw away these letters these suggestions of flesh and blood and do not answer them but be resolved in thine own heart I know in whom I have believed I know whom I have chosen I did not choose rashly but I felt the power of God upon my heart before I made my choice and I had grounds and arguments of my choice and what shall I by such an argument as this be perswaded to the contrary Therefore go on and be established in your choice and the Lord confirm you in it and give my soul part with you in that choice you have made let flesh and the world and temptations say what they will peace will be in the end You have found some good already that might make you say with David Surely it is good for me to draw near to God and though I do meet with some troubles and temptations that do cry down this way yet let my soul say It is good for me to draw near to God it is good for me that I left such and such things it is good for me that I have these Ordinances though it be with the loss of some outward comforts and my estate be abated and my trading less say as David in the 73. Psalm Truly God is good to Israel however it be yet God is good to Israel though many things seem to the contrary and therefore conclude with thine own heart Though I should never see good day in the world yet that comfort I have received in the ways of God it is enough to make me prize them for ever if now I should dye and be annihilated if God should deprive me of the joys of Heaven and turn me into nothing yet that good that I have had already in Gods ways should be enough to countervail all the troubles that I have met withal in the world or ever shall meet withal though God should withdraw himself in all the course of my life and I should be in darkness and have nothing but trouble yet I have had enough in God already to countervail all Hath God thus spoken peace to thy soul remember that text in Psal 85. 8. Return not again to folly the Lord hath spoken peace already to thy soul in afflictions and therefore God forbid that thou shouldst return to folly but continue in thy way and go on constantly in thy way to the end and the Lord bless thee in thy way And this is for the encouragement of the hearts of Gods people that have with Moses made this choice Rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season CHAP. XIII The evil of an ill choice discovered IN the third place hence those are justly rebuked who have made an ill choice this was a blessed choice of Moses and whosoever makes this choice are blessed of the Lord but how few have we of Moses his minde it
that which thou sayest is hypocrisie is but the skin of the wilde beast thy own unshapen conceits to make thy self and their adversaries run upon them that you may the more freely venture because the wilde beasts would not venture upon the body of a man so freely but when they saw the body of a man in the shape of such a beast as they hated they ran upon it freely And so thou dealest with Gods Saints in putting an unshapen form upon them to let out thine heart more freely upon them But what if that which thou callest hypocrisie God account godliness yea know that this thy aspersion upon godliness to say it is hypocrisie and upon the people of God to say they are hypocrites is the reproach of Gods people and there is a great deal of evil in it more then thou art aware of In Mark 3. from verse 22. and so on when Christ cast out devils they said He casts them out by Beelzebub the Prince of devils well says Christ All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation So that it seems these Pharisees had sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost in that they said He had an unclean spirit because they attributed that to an unclean spirit which was done by the Spirit of Christ onely they did this against knowledge and in malice I do not say that all reproachers do sin against the Holy Ghost but if it be against knowledge and in malice consider how near it comes as their attributing that to an unclean spirit which came from the spirit of God was it so does not thy attributing that to hypocrisie which comes from the Spirit of God in sincerity come near it But lastly if it be for hypocrisie that thou reproach and not for godliness then it is for an evil if it be for an evil that thou doest reproach them then the better thou art and the better mood thou art in the more thou wilt reproach them But we see the contrary evident Wicked men they reproach the godly for hypocrisie as they say but they do it when they are in the height of their lusts but if they be in a good mood when they are on their sick beds or death beds and in their best condition they reproach them least therefore sure it was the good they reproached and not the evil But thus much concerning the first branch The second is this it calls for a trembling heart from those that shall rejoyce at the reproaches of Gods people Perhaps thou art one that wilt not reproach thy self yet thou mayest rejoyce at the reproaches of Gods people There is a great deal of evil in this Surely thou hast no love to them for love does not rejoyce in iniquity 1 Corinth 13. 6. When the Devil does sow the seed thou dost come with the harrows to cover the seed when thou dost rejoyce in their reproaches Proverbs 18. 8. The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly It may be translated The words of a tale-bearer are as the words of them tbat are wounded That is The tale-bearers that come and tell you things they come with expressions of a great deal of brokenness of heart as if their spirits were grieved at that they hear and they speak as if they spoke in the defence of them and then they are as wounds not the wounds of them they speak of but the wounds of the wounded And if any come in this way to cast reproaches upon Gods people they are taken down into the belly and they go glib down This is a slight of the Devil to make them pass without the least questioning for those that reproach seem to speak out of wounded troubled hearts But we do not rejoyce in this that we hear any evil of Gods people but we rejoyce that they are discovered and this is the work of God 1. If so be thy conscience be convinced that through the concealing of such and such things there was a great deal of mischief done before and there is a great deal of good like to come to the publike cause and the name of God in the discovery then you may rejoyce Secondly I appeal to conscience Suppose the discovery do a great deal of hurt Gods name does suffer by it is there a proportionable measure of grief in thy heart for the suffering of Gods name unto the joy that is in you for the discovery But thirdly suppose it were one that were near to you suppose it were your Father or Brother the Wife of your bosom the dearest friend you had that were discovered would your hearts rejoyce then if you rejoyce because God hath glory by the discovery then would you rejoyce if the dearest friend you had were discovered Fourthly yea suppose you did suffer much by this discovery that it were much to your prejudice you should lose something that your hearts are much set upon would you rejoyce then Fifthly if so be that it were for the discovery that you rejoyce then you would not rejoyce that they are discovered to such as will not honor Gods name You are glad that any know of it that Gods enemies know of it that will not make a good use of it but will be hardened in their sin and dishonor Gods name Take heed you do not deceive your selves to rejoyce so in the discovery of the people of God there is a great deal of evil in it more then you think of Joseph he feared Mary but he feared the name of God might suffer and therefore he would not make her a publike example The third branch is to those that are divulgers of the reproaches of Gods people Consider what you do they are the reproaches of Christ take heed you do not divulge the reproaches of Gods people Suppose they prove false do you think that after Gods people have suffered so much this will be enough to answer God and Christ for all the dirt that hath been cast upon his face I heard so that the names of Gods people may suffer much when they are under false reproaches As it is with a stick a stick when it is in the water it looks as if it were broken pull it out of the water and it is straight So it is with the names of Gods people when their names are under reports that go abroad in the world they look as broken but when their names are pulled out from the reports of the world they appear whole And therefore take heed of divulging the reproaches of those that are godly You may in this do the Devils work and carry the Devils pack The Apostle in 1 Timothy 3. 11. speaking of women says That they must be grave not slanderers The word in
reproaches in the cause of Christ THat a gracious heart hath a high esteem of the reproaches of Christ he highly esteems of every disesteem he suffers for Christ And not onely bears reproaches and sufferings patiently but triumphingly he is not onely contented with them but counts himself enriched by them This is a great riddle and mystery to the world that Sufferings Troubles Miseries and Reproaches should be rejoyced in and esteemed highly of We are to understand by reproaches is this point likewise not onely slanders and mocks and scorns the sufferings of Gods people in their names formally but materially their sufferings they suffer for Christ upon which they come to be contemned So that whatsoever Gods people do suffer in the cause of God and for Christ they have high thoughts of it If God should give unto them all the riches and honors of the world they could not count themselves so enriched as they do by their sufferings For men to be enriched by the glorious things of heaven this is no wonder but to be enriched by their sufferings and reproaches this is the great wonder of the world that onely those that have the Spirit of God are acquainted withal Says St. Paul in Rom. 5. 3. We glory in tribulations There is a patient bearing of tribulation and a rejoycing in tribulation and glorying in tribulation now they did not onely bear them patiently and rejoyce in them but they did esteem them their glory It is a notable speech in Acts 5. 41. It is said of the Apostles when they were called before the Councel and were very ill handled They departed from the Councel rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name to be worthy of shame is a strange kinde of phrase But in the Original it is They counted it honor to be dishonored In Luke 6. 22 23. you have another Text to shew forth unto us this truth clearly Blessed are you when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of mans sake Here is an expression of the greatest dishonor that can be to Gods people What should they do then Rejoyce in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven As if Christ should say I do not bid you bear it patiently but joyfully and more then an ordinary joy leap for joy And that is remarkable of St. Paul in 2 Cor. 11. where he reckons up many things to vindicate his Apostleship wherein he was equal and above others you shall finde they are his sufferings principally he endured for Christ at verse 23. Are they the Ministers of Christ I speak as a fool I am more in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft now this is brought to shew the dignity of his Apostleship and therefore in the conclusion at verse 30. when he was put upon glorying he shews what he most gloried in If I must needs glory I will glory in things that concern mine infirmities by infirmities we are not to understand the infirmities of sin but his weakness and evils that he endured for Christ And so in chap. 12. ver 10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake And thus the people of God in former times have much gloryed in that they have suffered in the cause of Christ It is the speech of Tertullian Your cruelty is our glory We read of tender mothers beholding their childrens suffering death for Christ as their Trophees and Triumphs and delighting in their last breathings as in most melodious musick And it is reported of Balilas when he was to dye he required this favor to have his chains to be buried with him as the ensigns of his honor It was the maner of the Romans when any had received any wounds for their countrey they would shew the scars and places of their wounds for their glory Pliny tells us of one because he got forty five wounds for his countrey by that he got immortal honor amongst the Romans Thus Saint Paul seems to argue Let no man put me to business I bear about me the marks of the Lord Jesus And Ignatius professed he had rather be a Martyr then a Monarch And Prudentius tells us of the Martyrs in his time and especially of Vincentius that the great torments that were presented to them were but sports and plays to them they delighted themselves in those things they suffered for Christ they trod upon burning coals as if they had trod upon roses And so in the Primitive time they were wont to call Martyrdom by that name The crown of Martyrdom I desire to know nothing says St. Paul but Christ and him crucified And we know how superstitiously they did use the Cross of Christ in former times and how high respect they would give unto a piece of wood that Christ was crucified upon yea if they had but that piece of wood in imagination what a deal of business was there made by Constantines mother about the Cross of Christ Certainly it grew upon this it was but the abuse of the high esteem that the people of God had of sufferings The Emperor Baldwyn thought himself blest if he had but a piece of the Cross of Christ that he would carry about with him in his arms It is reported of one King of England that he bestowed as much upon a Cross as the Revenues of his Kingdom came to in a year And that esteem which they had of a piece of wood the Martyrs in the Primitive times had of the Cross of Christ namely of the sufferings they endured for Christ Quest. But you will say wherein does it appear and how comes it to pass that Gods people do so esteem of their sufferings for Christ Ans There are great riches in them First the riches of evidence Secondly the riches of preferment Thirdly the riches of employment Fourthly riches of improvement Fifthly riches of experience Sixthly riches of promises Seventhly riches of comforts Eighthly riches of glory First they are great riches because they have rich evidences from them and that in these four or five particulars First by the sufferings they suffer for Christ they have an evidence to themselves that the way they are in is the right way They have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed there was a time when they walked in the ways of sin in their footsteps and then they were never reproached but now they have changed their way and walk in the footsteps of the anointed now they are reproached If a man being going in a way the end of which is of great consequence and if he should miscarry in his way he were undone If one should tell him some marks of the way as you go you shall meet with such a dirty
lane and such a craggy mountain though he would be glad they were not yet when he comes at them he is glad because they are signs of the way he must go Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life Master Bradford made use of that place when he came to the Stake and looked upon his sufferings as an evidence to him that he was in the right way Secondly they are an evidence to him of that difference that God hath made between others and him there was a time when as other men could close with me and agree with me now see what a difference there is they nothing but contemn me and despiseme I might have gone on and have been a scorner and a mocker as they are O the difference that God hath made between me and them that God should call me from them who was as vile as they and suffer them to be reproachers of godliness and make me a sufferer for godliness Jerome writ to Augustine that it was a great sign of glory to him that all Hereticks did hate him Thirdly it is an evidence of the sincerity and the power of his grace and his love that he bears to Christ and this is great riches for a gracious heart says Lord try me Lord prove me he would fain have an opportunity to manifest the truth of his love to Christ all the while I go on in a way of prosperity and have the desire of my heart wherein appears my love to Christ but now when I am called to suffering and to part with much for Christ here is an opportunity to shew I love Christ for himself that my love to him does not depend upon any thing that I gain by him in the world The Apostle says The tryal of your grace he speaks of faith is more precious then silver and gold and not onely your grace is more precious but the tryal of grace is more precious then gold and silver A gracious heart does rejoyce much in evidencing love to Christ as any dear friend rejoyces much in any opportunity of manifesting his love to another friend and the greater the opportunity is the more does he rejoyce And likewise the power of grace is manifested as David said to the King Achish Thou shalt know what thy servant can do and so a gracious heart thinks here is an opportunity to manifest the strength and power that is in grace Fourthly they are an evidence that much good is done that Satans kingdom is shaken in sufferings we see the rage of the Devil and he rages then most when he sends most opposition to his kingdom wherefore those against whom he rages most may have hereby evidence that they were most instrumental against him I rejoyce says Luther That Satan does so rage and blaspheme as often as I do but touch him he took it as an argument that much good was done otherwise the Devil would not have been so vexed he would not have raged so much Fifthly a gracious heart hath an evidence to it self that God will spare him when others shall suffer from his wrath Certainly the more any one is called to suffer in the cause of God and when he findes his heart ready and willing to yield to God in suffering the more evidence may he have to his soul that when others shall be called to suffer from Gods wrath he shall be spared and this is the bottom of the prayer of the Psalmist Psal 89. 50. Remember Lord the reproach of thy servants how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of the mighty people I read of one Escelus being condemned to be stoned to death and all the people were ready to cast stones at him and his brother came and run in and shewed that he had but one hand and the other hand he had lost for the defence of his countrey and then none would stone him and so the marks of the Lord Jesus are notable marks to safeguard thee in the time of trouble when the Lord goes out in his wrath he will set his mark upon those that he will save and none more notable marks then the reproaches and sufferings they bear for Christ This was Jeremiahs plea before the Lord chap. 15. ver 5. O Lord thou knowest remember me and visit me know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke Lastly it is an evidence of salvation Phil. 1. 28. not that all that suffer shall be saved but a gracious heart that suffers in a gracious Christian maner hath God sealing to him by his spirit in his sufferings his salvation Put these together and we see one cause why we should count the reproaches of Christ great riches yea this is greater riches then the riches of Egypt Secondly the reproaches and sufferings which we endure for Christ are riches of preferment It was a speech of Ignatius when he was to suffer It is better for me to be a Martyr then a Monarch Epist 12. ad Romanos Euseb l. 8. c. 7. To be preferred to honor is counted great riches now there is a preferment of Gods people here these three or four ways Basil upon that famous Martyr Bar-aam says he rejoyced in stripes as in honors he exulted in the severest punishments as if praeclara bravia acceperet First the Saints look upon this as high preferment because it is a testimony that God hath a high esteem of them God does not use to call those that are weak and mean to great sufferings but his servants that are most eminent God will dispose of the conditions of his people suitable to their dispositions therefore he will not call those to the strongest work that are weakest A Captain does not call out his mean Soldiers to a notable enterprize but he calls out his most able couragious Soldiers and the more desperate the enterprize is the more honor the Soldier thinks it to be called out so the greater work God calls one to the more preferment is in it and we have cause to admire that God should deal so with us his poor creatures rather then others as if we were fitter then ' others though we cannot say we are fitter because we are conscious to our selves of so much weakness but God honors us as if it were so Secondly by this we come to be honorable in the eyes of the Churches and the Saints of God nothing makes Gods people more honorable in the eyes of the Saints then when they are called to suffer much for God And so in the Primitive times they esteemed much of the Martyrs even too much Chrysostom speaking of Babylas the Martyr calls him a great man a man to be admired and says if I may call him a man and Tertullian writing to some of the Martyrs says I am not worthy to speak to you he writes that it was a custom of some in those times to creep to the Chains
for righteousness sake I would this foolish world would all rise up against me to reproach me Secondly Gods people have been greedy of them Origen was so earnest to suffer with his father when he was a youth of sixteen years of age that if his mother had not kept his clothes from him he would have run to the place where his father suffered to profess himself a Christian and to have suffered with him And so the story of the poor Woman in the book of Martyrs that made haste to the place where many Christians were to be burned and meeting with the Persecutor says he What need you make such haste to that place there are many to be burned Ah says she that I know and I am afraid all will be done before I come I and my childe would fain suffer with them And many blessed the day of their suffering Alice Drivers expression was That never neckerchief became her so well as that chain did and are you so shy of them what difference is between you and their spirits Again what unthankfulness and dishonor is this to Christ that hath suffered so much for you Christ hath gloried in the sufferings he suffered for you and why should you be afraid of sufferings for him it was a notable speech of an Ancient Acceptable is the reproach of the Cross to him that is not unthankful to him that was crucified upon the Cross And what confusion will it be upon you another day when you shall see those that suffered are so glorified that their sufferings are crowns of such immortal glory O consider what you do deprive not your selves of such glorious riches Fifthly let us labor to get this Christian magnanimity of spirit namely for to glory in all that we suffer for Christ Heathens can be patient in sufferings but Christians must go beyond them and glory in their sufferings You have been bold in suffering for sin if you might have your minde and will now if you may have your minde and will for Gods glory in suffering in a good way why should you not suffer Mark the expressions that we have of Job Did I fear a great multitude or did the contempt of families terrifie me that I kept silence and went not out of the door O that one would hear me behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine adversary had written a book let them say what they can against me write a book against me Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and binde it as a crown to me Thus it should be with the people of God they should take their reproaches as an ensign of honor This indeed is truly in a spiritual sense to tread upon the Asp and the Adder that when the Asp and Adder and the old Serpent does spit out her venomous poyson a gracious heart should tread upon them There are three things that will put a spirit of suffering and so a holy magnanimity into us All the arguments in the world will not do it unless we have a suffering spirit and these three things will put a suffering spirit in us First if you had a full satisfaction of your own spirits in the cause of God you maintain and the ways of God you walk from your own experience you have in them if you take upon you the profession of Religion by the reports of others and be carried by the example of others that will not do it but if in your own experiences you finde that sweet and onely satisfying content in the truths and ways of God this will do it It was a notable resolution of Luther My purpose is not says he to maintain my life or name in respect what men say or can say of me for my maners but my purpose is to maintain the cause of God let whosoever will tear my life and name in this regard Propositum est mihi neque vitam neque mores tueri sed solam causam lacerent mores meos quicunque velint Luth. ad Nicolaū Hansman Secondly if you get your hearts inflamed with love to Christ Love delights in opportunities of expressing it self and it hath never such a full opportunity of expressing the strength and heat of it as in suffering much for the Beloved Thirdly if you have an eye of faith and can behold God the Father and Christ and the blessed Angels looking upon you when you are in your sufferings By the eye of faith look up to heaven and see God looking upon you and saying Here is a servant of mine is called to suffer for me now you shall see his behavior and Christ and the Angels looking upon you to see your behavior and this will do it not onely make you patient but glory in them Sixthly if there be so much glory and such riches in suffering Hence we have an Use of abundance of comfort and encouragement to them that are willing to endure reproaches for Christ There are five or six branches of consolation to Gods people in this Use First are you willing to suffer reproaches and to glory in them I remember a notable speech of Gulielmus Parisiensis O happy pallat that can taste such delicates O it is a blessed thing that God hath given you such a taste Again know if you glory in your sufferings for God God will glory in doing for you None shall glory in suffering for him but he will count it his glory to be doing for them Thirdly if you glory in your sufferings for Christ God will count it his glory to uphold you in his sufferings Fourthly do you glory in the low condition you are put into for Christ certainly God will own your souls and glory in you when you are in the lowest condition when your souls shall be in adversity God will know you then Fifthly can you glory in a suffering Christ when Christ comes in glory he will own you when he shall be glorified his glory shall be yours Those that are ashamed of me I will be ashamed of them says Christ before my Father and the Angels But those that glory in Christ Christ shall be their glory Lastly now you glory in Christs sufferings you shall glory in his praises Seventhly if so be that Gods people account themselves so enriched by sufferings and reproaches let us take heed we do not despise any that do suffer for Christ that we have not low esteem of them because of their sufferings God hath high esteem of them when they suffer and they themselves see cause to glory in their condition and are you that are standers by ashamed of them and do you disesteem of them for their sufferings while the Saints of God flourish in the world they are esteemed of by many carnal hearts but let them suffer any thing and be disgraced and they withdraw themselves from them they are despised as
wil go far in quieting and calming of the heart under afflictions but grace surely where it is true will go farther It is the most unseemly sight in the world to see a murmuring fretting Christian if thy God if Christ if Heaven were lost it were not much to see wringing of hands and sinking of heart but to see this upon loss of a few outward comforts upon enduring of a few outward afflictions this is a most unseemly a vile and an abominable thing in thee S. Augustine upon the 12. Psalm brings in God rebuking a discontented Christian thus What is thy faith have I promised thee these things what wert thou made a Christian that thou shouldest flourish here in this world Well may God and Conscience and all the Saints upbraid a murmuring fretting Christian What didst thou expect in the entrance upon profession of Christianity what was thy aim what didst thou make account to live at ease to have no trouble to the flesh Where there is not quiet of spirit in passive obedience the sincerity of active obedience may be suspected How far art thou from rejoycing in tribulations who hast not a quiet contented spirit in tribulations I will not enlarge my self in this argument now intending a Treatise by its self of Christian contentation onely for the present take this one argument which surely hath much strength in it to quiet the heart under any affliction It is this God is willing to accept of thy service that thou tendrest up to him though it be mixed with much sin why shouldst not thou accept of his ways towards thee though there be a mixture of much affliction The sin of our service should be a greater cause for God to be displeased with what comes from us then the sorrow and affliction that comes in the ways of his providence can be to cause us to be displeased with what comes from him that surely is worse that is mixed with sin then that which is mixed with sorrow yet as the one is accepted by God from us let then the other be accepted by us from God Lastly let us not onely be contented under Gods afflicting hand but labour to thrive under it to improve all our afflictions that befal us Certainly there is a blessing in every Ordinance of God if we have wisdom and care to draw it forth to make it our own and so in this way of God towards his people it is indeed a gracious work to get our hearts lye quietly under affliction but it is too low a work for a Christian to rest there he must look to improve every affliction for his advantage By improving them we make our Benonies our Benjamins that is the sons of our sorrow the sons of our right hand Although waters in the Sea be salt yet if they be raised up to the Heavens and sent down again then they are sweet so though afflictions be brackish yea brine-salt yet a spiritual heart can spiritualize them and make them sweet and wholesom Afflictions are great opportunities for spiritual advantage if we have hearts to improve them and the loss of an affliction is a great loss S. Augustine in his second book of the City of God cries out against such who did not profit by Gods judgement You says he have lost the profit of the calamity he speaks of it as a great loss to them that it was over and they had got nothing by it As it is a sign of great wickedness to turn blessings into curses so it is a sign of great grace to turn curses into blessings By this improvement we shall not onely get water but honey out of the rock But how should we improve afflictions First be jealous of your selves lest it should pass away unsanctified be more afraid of the affliction leaving of you thus then of the continuing of it upon you and therefore lay out your strength more for a sanctified use of it then for deliverance from it Secondly labor to know Gods minde in your afflictions The man of wisdom sees Gods name upon this rod and understands what God intends First whether he sends them for sin or for other ends and if for sin for what particular For the first it is true God sends affliction sometimes for trial and other ends rather then for sin yet it is sin that makes us capable of such a way of trial were we not sinful God would not deal with us that way he would bring about his purposes by us some other way therefore it is good in all to be humbled for sin you may be helped in the knowledge of Gods end First if the affliction be extraordinary and come in an extraordinary way and upon examination you finde your self not guilty of any special evil besides daily incursions then you may comfortably hope Gods intentions are not specially for sin but for some other end so it was in Job and Joseph Secondly you may know from the work of the affliction which way it tends and how God follows it whether in it God settles not sin upon your heart for humiliation more then ordinary or whether the work of Gods spirit be not rather for the stirring up of the exercise of some other grace for God in his dealings with his people will work for the attaining the ends he aims at Thirdly much may be learned from the issue of an affliction when God comes chiefly for trial in the issue his grace does much abound towards his servants as it did in Joseph and in Job what honor was Joseph advanced unto and Job had given him twice as much as he had before chap. ult ver 10. In all the land there were no women so fair as the daughters Iob ver 15. but when the afflictions is for sin it doth not use to have such an issue it is well if the sinner may be restored into such a comfortable condition as he was in before When David was afflicted for his sin some scars stuck by him after his deliverance he scarce ever was brought into that comfortable condition he was in before But how may we finde out the particular sin First look what sins and afflictions the word hath coupled together although every sin deserves all kinde of affliction yet the word joyns some special correction to special transgressions as God sorts several promises to several graces so he sorts several afflictions to several sins Secondly consider what sins and afflictions providence couples in respect of similitude God often stamps the likeness of the sin upon the judgement Iudges 1. 7 8. Thirdly enquire at the mouth of God by prayer and humiliation as David did 2 Sam. 21. and Job cap. 10. 2. and those in Jeremy cap. 16. 10 11. Fourthly hearken to the voice of conscience that is Gods officer in your soul especially in time of affliction conscience will deal impartially and take this
rule for your help herein After much humiliation and seeking of God then listen to the voice of conscience for as it is with an Officer whom you would have search the Records if you would have him diligent indeed in the search you must give him his fee else he will do the work but slightly so you must give conscience Gods Register his fee that is let conscience have much prayer and humiliation which it calls for and then it will tell you Gods minde more fully Fifthly consider what truths have been most pressed upon your hearts before the affliction for afflictions do use to come as seals to instructions as Iob 33. 16. A writing hath not that authority with it before it be sealed as it hath after but when the seal is set on then it comes with authority so it is in regard of Gods instructions before they did not come with power to your hearts now God seals them that they may prevail and by considering what those instructions were you may be helped to finde out what God aims at in your afflictions A third Rule is when you have found out your sin stir up your heart against it with indignation This is that which hath caused me all this wo that hath brought all this trouble and smart As Acts 21. 28. the Jews took hold on Paul crying Men of Israel help This is the man that teacheth every where against the people So should we take hold on our sin that we have found out and cry to the Lord Help O Lord this is that sin that hath made the breach this is that sin that hath been the cause of so much evil unto me As we read of Antonius after Julius Caesar was murthered he brought forth his coat all bloody and cut and laid it before the people Look here says he you have your Emperors coat thus bloody and torn whereupon the people were presently in an uproar and cryed out to slay those murtherers and they took their tables and stools that were in the place and set them on fire and ran to the houses of those who had slain Caesar and burnt them Thus the looking upon our afflictions and considering what mischief sin hath done us our hearts should be raised to flye upon our sin with indignation and not to be satisfied without the destruction of that which would have destroyed us A fourth rule is when God stirs your heart in affliction to promise and covenant reformation begin the work while the affliction is upon you do something now presently do not put off all till you be well till you be recovered and think then I will do it there is much deceit of the heart this way many miscarry in their vows to God upon this ground because they put off all till they be out of their affliction and by that time the impression that was upon their spirits is abated their hearts are cooled and so the duty is neglected wherefore do something presently and be always in doing till that which is vowed be fully performed Fifthly let every affliction drive you much to God in prayer Is any man afflicted let him pray says S. James It is a similitude of Chrysostom As clouds darken the heavens cause lowring weather but being distilled into drops then sweet Sun-shine and fair weather follows so sorrows and cares in the soul cloud the soul till they be distilled in prayer into tears and poured forth before the Lord then the sweet beams of Gods grace come in and much blessing follows Sixthly treasure up all the experiences you have had of God and your own heart in the time of your affliction keep them fresh in your heart and work them upon your spirit and make use of them as God offers occasion Seventhly what you wished you had done then be sure now to set about and never rest till it be done that when affliction comes again it may not finde it undone if it does it will make the affliction very bitter unto you It was the advice of one Theodoricus to Segismund the Emperor who asked him how he should be happy Do says he that now which when you have been tormented with a fit of the stone or the gout you would wish you had done that which he said of that particular afflictions is true of others We should have glorious reformations if this rule were well observed surely that which is true in times of affliction is true out of it and that which conscience upon ground judges to be right and good then is right and good now Eighthly take heed of trusting to your own promises that you have made to God for obedience rather then to his promises that he hath made to you for assistance Ninthly often call your self to account after the affliction is over What is become of it how was it with me then and how is it now have I more peace now then I had then and how comes it about Hath my peace grown upon good grounds so as it may-hold I had workings of Spirit then what are become of them have I been faithful to God and to mine own soul And thus we have finished this doctrine of affliction which by Gods ordinance is the portion of his people in this world They have been are and shall be an afflicted people CHAP. X. Wicked men have pleasures in ways of sin while Gods people endure much hardship in ways of holiness THe second point is that God sometimes gives wicked men pleasure in the ways of sin whilest he suffers his own people to endure much affliction The Israelites make the brick and are under sore bondage and the Egyptians dwell in houses living in jollity and mirth Thus it was with Elijah he must flye for his life and live in caves and be fed by ravens whilest four hundred false prophets are fed deliciously at Jezabels table While the King and Haman sits drinking in the city Shushan is in perplexity Esther 3. 15. Job says of the wicked That they take the timbrel and harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ they spend their time in wealth but of himself he saith that his calamity was heavier then the sand of the sea that the arrows of the Almighty were within him that the poyson of them drank up his spirit that the terrors of God did set themselves in battle array against him Chap. 6. 1 2 3. And David says of the wicked that they are not in trouble as other men their eyes stands out with fatness they have more then their heart could wish but for himself all the day long he was plagued and chastened every morning Psal 73. Christ tells his Disciples the world shall rejoyce but they shall have trouble But why does God thus suffer wicked men to enjoy their pleasure thus in the ways of sin First here is their portion they are never like to have any other consolation but
if they lived the onely brave lives but 2 Pet. 2. 13. they are called spots and blemishes for they are indeed base the most base spirited men that live These do most vilely lowre mans nature they are infinitely beneath the happiness of an immortal soul The Heathen accounted a life of pleasure a life of beasts What man would not rather dye says Tully cited by Lactantius then to be turned into the form of a beast though he should retain the minde of a man How much more miserable is it for one to be in the form of a man and to have the minde of a beast yea of a wilde beast Guliel Parisiensis calls luxury a scab and says the salt-water of tribulation must purge it and he brings in Augustine giving the same name unto it confessing that he was wont to delight in the scab of his lusts This scab says Parisiensis makes the minde of man ulcerous running with filthy putrified stuff and abominable to God above that that any man would think which no bodily filth does Sixthly The evil of nourishing of all maner of wickedness All sin in Scripture is called flesh and the work of the flesh because the pleasure of the flesh is the cause of so much sin in us When Christ spake of the servant who gave himself to riotousness in his Masters absence he calls him the evil servant There are swarms of all maner of evils in sensual hearts they are the fennish grounds that breed filthy poysonsom creatures so all venemous-lusts are bred and nourished by these Job 40. 21. it is said the Behemoth lieth in the fens which Guliel Parisiensis applies to the Devil in sensual hearts he lies in moist places says he that is in those whose spirits are moistened by their lusts Wherefore it is said of the unclean spirit That he walks in dry places seeking rest and found none But says he men giving themselves to pleasures they seek what they can to give the Devil rest in their hearts and to keep off all that may hinder his quiet Flies and Wasps use to come to honey and sugar and such sweet things The Devil who is called Beelzebub that is the God of flyes loves to be in souls glutted with sensual pleasures yea swarms of Devils love to follow such Hence such as these are most desperate enemies unto godliness contemners and scorners of all Religion That which is honest is vile and contemptible to him who makes too much of his body says a Heathen Where pleasures reign vertue connot be says another When the Jews accuse Christ of the worst their malice could devise they call him a Wine-bibber Seventhly they likewise harden in all maner of evil when men are heat in sensual delights their hearts are so glutted that they never think of their pain It is observed that when the people of Israel had got Aaron to make the Calf and they set down to drink and rose up to play they offered burnt-offerings but no sin-offerings were thought of These beset the heart and make it even uncapable of any spiritual good St. Paul says of the Widows that live in pleasures they are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. Let us eat and drink to morrow we shall dye Why do you say to morrow says Chrysostom ye are dead already We read Ezek. 47. 11. that when the waters of the sanctuary flowed the miry places could not be healed How seldom does the waters of the Sanctuary heal miry souls Augustine says of such As the earth by too much rain becomes nothing but mire and dirt so as it is made unfit for tillage so these Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart Hos 4. 11. Who are the most desperate enemies to the Cross of Christ but such whose God is their belly Phil. 3. 18 19. Who are they that cannot cease from sin but such as sport themselves with their own deceivings while they feast amongst you having eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2. 13 14. Who are those that are wholly void of the Spirit and even uncapable of it such as walk after their own ungodly lusts and sensual Jude 18 19. Who are they that say to God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways but such as take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ and spend their days in wealth Job 21. 11 12 13. Pleasures do not so much delight the flesh as they endanger the soul therefore better it is a great deal to be preserved in brine then to rot in honey to be fed upon the salt marshes and short commons and to live then to be glutted in rank pastures and so fatted up for destruction And thus you see the evil of them whereupon Chrysostom in one of his Sermons concerning the Martyrs The joys of this present world are to be feared by Christians and certainly so they are rather then to be desired Sixthly if there were not so much evil yet they are vain flashy things there is no reality in them they are all res nihili things of nought The Heathen could say Believe me true joy is no light thing but what windy frothy contents are these pleasures to the flesh do they leave any sweetness behinde them after they are over as it was wont to be said of Plato's feast his discourse of Phylosophy at the table though the chear was mean was sweet divers days after soul-delights leave a sweet relish in the spirit after their acts are past but the day after fleshly pleasures what is left but bitter humors in the body and a sting in conscience what wise man can please his thoughts after his pleasures are over in thinking what pleasures he hath had much less will any man of wisdom glory in what he hath eat or drunk or that he hath filled his sensual appetite with all the delights he could Who can at night after a day of sports and fulness of delights to the flesh bless God from his soul that he hath had a day so full of pleasure in his flesh Plutarch in his Morals hath an excellent discourse upon this argument to prove that according to the Rules of Epicurus No man can live a true pleasurable life not that by his Rules no man can live a vertuous life that perhaps would be granted by many but that no man can have a life of pleasure by those Rules that is the thing that he undertakes to prove and amongst other arguments he hath these First That it is not probable for any modest and temperate men to give way to let their thoughts abide upon any such pleasures he accounts them so vain and slight for the pleasures of the minde men that are wise and sober delight in the thoughts of such A second argument that he useth is That never as he says to this day were known any that would offer sacrifice to
running up and down from one witness to another but a gracious heart hath other ways to help it self it cryes to God most high and looks for help from Heaven God sends forth his mercy and truth to help and there is help indeed Fifthly another help is this if you can but get your hearts quietly and kindely to lament the condition of your reproachers this will be a marvellous means tosweeten the heart and to help to bear reproaches It was the answer of Socrates to one who wondred at his patience towards one who reviled him If we should meet one says he whose body were more unsound then ours should we be angry with him and not rather pity him why then should we not do the like to him whose soul is more diseased then ours The folly of our reproachers should cause us to pity them to be patient towards them and pass by the wrong they do unto us this was one of the arguments that Abigail brought to David to quiet his spirit that was so stirred against Nabal because of that reproach he cast upon him Nabal saith she is his name and folly is with him it is his folly rather pity him it is too low a thing for such a spirit as Davids is to be stirred with it Instead of being troubled with the reproaches that are upon you your spirits should be most troubled for their sin Now there is infinite cause we have to be troubled for their sin more then for any evil that befals us An evil tongue devours and is an abomination and in Prov. 8. 13. God says The froward mouth he hates Now if you have any love you should think thus This poor man what hath he done he hath brought himself under the hatred of God now this should mightily affect the hearts of the godly As he is an abomination to God so he is an abomination to men Prov. 24. 9. The scorner is an abomination to men scornful spirits love to cast shame and ignominy upon others And in Prov. 18. 7. A fools mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul we should think he hath but ensnared his own soul and so fall a lamenting of his wretched condition And so in Isa 33. 10. Your breath as fire shall devour you If the breath of any man devours him the breath of revilers and reproachers and slanderers does The Heathens called a reproacher A three tongued man because he hurts three at once he hurts him that he reproaches and him that heard the reproach and himself worst of all do but get power over your hearts to bewail this sin and your reproach will not be so troublesom Trilinguis Gallesius a writer upon Exod. 22. ver 28. observes the exceeding patience of those three Emperors Theodosius Honorius Arcadius towards those who spake evil of them they would have them subject to no punishment for they said If it comes from lightness of spirit it is to be contemned if from madness it is worthy of pity if from injury it is to be pardoned wrongs are to be forgiven Again labor to possess your souls with the reality of the sweet of and the honor there is in the ways of God so no reproach will be grievous to you As it is said of the covetous man when some told him Such and such hiss at thee but says he I care not I rejoyce in what I have at home that I have so much money in my chest So it should be with a gracious heart he should say I have sweet enough in my own heart what need I trouble my self with what others think or say Seventhly labor to satisfie your souls in the glory of God and Christ Though my name be cast out as filth yet the name of God and Christ is blessed and glorious and so shall be for ever let Devils and wicked men do what they can against it It was a good speech of Luther writing to his friend Spalatinus bemoaning his condition to him because of the scorn and contempt he suffered yet comforting himself in this that Christ lived and reigned Luther is accounted even a Devil but Christ lives and reigns he addes his Amen to it Thirdly it is not enough to bear reproaches patiently but we must bear them fruitfully a christian should think he hath not done that which belongs to a christian unless he hath got some good by them a christian should not think it enough to free himself from the scorn of the tongue but he must improve it for good by it First consider what ends God aims at by it and labor to work them upon your selves that you may attain to those ends Secondly labor to draw what good instructions you can from the reproaches of others As namely thus when I hear men reproach and revile O what a deal of evil is there secretly in the heart of man that is not discovered till it have occasion I did not think that such and such could ever have been reproachers if they had not been provoked Again do I see another so vigilant over me to finde me out to reproach me how vigilant should I be over my self to finde out what is in me to humble me Again is there so much evil to be under the stroke of mans tongue what a great evil is it to be under the stroke of Gods justice Lastly to be fruitful that is set upon what duty God calls for at the present surely this is one great general duty that the less credit I see I have in the world let me labor to have the more credit in Heaven I see there is a breach of my name here let me seek to make up my name in Heaven 4. And then they must be born joyfully but we shall speak of that afterwards in the third point that a gracious heart is not onely willing to bear reproach when God calls unto it but in the cause of CHRIST to triumph and rejoyce in his reproaches 5. Lastly we should return good for evil then you come to the top of Christianity This is a sign of great progress in Religion If I be weak saith Ambrose perhaps I may pardon one charging me falsly but if I have profited although not altogether perfect though he flows in upon me with reproaches I hold my peace and answer nothing but if I be perfect I then bless him that reviles me according to that of St. Paul Being reviled we bless If you can do thus if you can heartily pray for your reproachers and desire good to them and be willing to take notice of any good in them to clear up their innocency where there is iust cause if you can be ready to offer any offices of love and respect and kindeness to them and so heap coals of fire upon them this is a great sign of grace you have made a good progress indeed in Gods way Mat. 5. 44
third union that the Saints have with God is a union of love love is an uniting grace and there is a most entire love between God and every Saint and so their hearts are close united and mingled by love Again in this life there is a mystical Union and that is an union higher then any other an union with Christ being made members of the Son of God and so they come to have union with the Son of God according to that expression in 1 John 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ There is a mystical union between us and Christ and so we come to have union with God the Father also and to be joyned to the Lord we are one Spirit with him Now for the union that the Saints have with God in Heaven there are many intricate notions that some of the Schoolmen have about this as that the soul shall be turned into the same Idea that God made it of and that there shall be an Illapsus of God into the soul but we must know there can be no union with God but it must be by vertue of the influence of some good from God for speak of what union you will God cannot in his Essence be more present with the creature then he is here but onely in regard of some manifestation or communication of himself in some gift or good thing but certainly there will be a wonderful glorious union between God and the soul in Heaven and that upon these four grounds First there is not such distance between God and the soul but that it is capable of union with God One would think how is it possible that God should be so united to the soul being there is such an infinite distance between God and it but there is not such an infinite distance between God and the soul of man as that there should not be a glorious union between them there is a great deal of likeness between God and the soul First in the spirituality God is a Spirit the soul is a Spirit Secondly in immortality God is immortal the soul is immortal Thirdly in the high excellency of God the understanding and will the soul is endued with understanding and will the perfection of God as we can conceive is his understanding and will and so it is in the soul Fourthly in the several operations that the soul hath and herein there is more likeness between God and mans soul then is between God and Angels in that one rational soul should perform so many works as the same God the same Excellency working upon the creature works in one thing one way and in another thing another way so the soul represents God in this in that one rational soul hath such variety of workings in the body for understanding for sense for vegetation which Angels have not Again the soul resembles God in the infiniteness the soul is not onely infinite in duration but in regard of the infiniteness of the working of it and here is a mighty difference between the soul of man between rational creatures and all other creatures for the sensitive creature that onely works about some particular thing that concerns its own preservation and its own good within its narrow compass but the object of mans soul is universal infinite it is not any particular truth that will satisfie the understanding let there be never so many truths revealed yet the understanding desires infinitely more if there be any truth that is not revealed it would have that Let the sense have some particular object before it suitable to sense it looks no further as if the eye have colour it goes no further nor the ear goes no further then sound but the understanding hath desire to all truth And so for good the sensitive creature hath no desire of good but onely that which does preserve sense but the will of man is for good in general and this shews how capable the soul is to be raised to such an excellency as to have communion with God if we knew what our souls were capable of we would not think we could satisfie them with such things as bruit beasts are satisfied with Secondly there may well be a glorious union between God and and the souls of the Saints because God shall see nothing but himself in the souls of the Saints now when God shall see nothing but his own in such a creature this is a full ground of Gods near and most glorious union with it as when a man comes to see in another much of his own his heart is united to him things that are of a like nature do unite Bring an hot fire-brand to the fire and it does unite presently because the fire does finde something of it self there if there were some moisture in the brand it would not so fully unite And so here we cannot have full union with God because though God sees somewhat of his own in us yet there is a great deal in us that is not Gods but when we shall be wholly free from sin and God shall see nothing but his own in us that must needs be a ground of a most glorious union Thirdly in Heaven there shall be nothing in God but shall be suitable to the nature of a glorified Saint and suitableness is the cause of union if there be not a suitableness there cannot be union There cannot be suitableness between God and other creatures but between a glorified Saint and God there shall be an infinite suitableness and therefore an infinite glorious union Again there shall be an infinite inflamed love here is an union of love but in Heaven there will be a further degree of love and love being enflamed there must needs be a most glorious union Fifthly if you consider what the bond of connexion of the soul and God together is namely the mediation of the Son the second person of the Trinity there must needs be an infinite close and glorious union of the Saints with God This vision and union with God is enough to cause the souls of Gods people to be so satisfied as to say Let all things be taken from me it is enough I have somewhat of Gods presence here but I shall have the glorious presence and vision of God and union with God hereafter and though my eyes should never see good day after or never see comfortable object in the world this is enough I shall see God and have full union with God Though there be a separation between me and all temporal comforts in the world though God should rend this creature or that creature the dearest husband or the dearest wife or the dearest comfort in the world and those things that my soul do most cleave to here from me yet it is enough that
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