of suffering shall turn to God's people for a Testimony I shall open this under these two Heads 1. It shall turn to a Testimony on God's part towards them 2. It shall be a Testimony on their part towards God I shall open both these in several particulars 1. It shall be a Testimony on God's part to them 1. Of a great honour which God putteth upon them this the Apostles understood tho our sense understandeth it not therefore it is said that they went away from the Councel rejoycing that they were thought worthy to suffer shame for his Name Acts 5.41 When the Persian Emperour asked Haman his Favourite What should be done to the man whom the King delighted to honour If a man maketh answer Esther 6.8 Let the Royal Apparel be brought which the King useth to wear and the Horse the King rideth upon and the Crown Royal which is set upon his head and let this Apparel and Horse be delivered to the hand of one of the Kings most Noble Princes that they may array the man withal whom the King delighteth to honour and bring him on horseback through the Streets of the City and proclaim before him Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour And the King said to Haman make haste and take the Apparel and the Horse and do even so to Mordecai the Jew But God takes a quiâ—e contrary method Is there a man whom the King of Kings hath a mind to honour Let saith he the Crown of Thorns be brought forth which my only begotten Son wore when he walked in humane flesh and let that be set on his head and let the Scarlet Robe be brought forth which they put upon my Son in derision a little before his suffering and let that be upon him and let him be scourged with the Whip with which he was scourged and the Gall and Vinegar that was given him to drink and let a company of miscreants deride and scoff him let the hands that buffeted my Son buffet him and proclaim this before him Thus shall it be done to the man whom the God of Heaven delighteth to honour Paul was one whom God delighted to honour Thou shalt saith he be a Witness unto all men A Minister and a Witness It is true as Ministers men are Witnesses but a sufferer is an eminent Witness he is not a meer verbal Witness Hence the Antients were wont to call suffering The Crown of Martyrdom and some say that Stephen had his name predictive of this We read in our Martyrologies of a Female Martyr who having a Child in her arms seeing some Martyrs suffering in haste gave it to another and offer'd her self to be a Martyr saying Crowns are not to be distributed every day Amongst men he counteth himself mightily honoured whom the King will make choice of to be his Champion Every sufferer for Christ is his Champion What shall we think of that man whom God picks out of a whole Parish a whole City to be a Champion for him It is said of Luther that great Instrument of God that in a Letter to some persons condemned to die he thus preferred them before himself I have made saith he a great deal of bustle in the World and done a great deal of work for God but God hath not yet done me the honour to suffer for him It is an honour to be chosen as a Second to Christ in incountring the World It is not only a Testimony that God loveth and favoureth such a man but it is a Testimony that God hath put an honour upon him and made him one of his first threes such honour have not all his Saints but those that have it are honoured by it 2. It is a Testimony of great Influences of grace and favour with which God hath blessed and will bless them 1. I say of great Influences of Grace with which God hath blessed them God doth not use to cull out young Souldiers to this Combate they are usually veterani he will not put new Wine into old Bottles lest they break he will not have thoâ—e who are weak in Faith receiv'd to doubtful disputations much less those that are weak in Faith and Love doth he call out to sharp Trials and Sufferings the honour of God is mightily concerned in the Victory of every Christian Combatant He therefore usually chuseth some to whom he hath given strength enough for the Battel There is no Soul more jealous of it self than that Christian who is most sincere When God calleth such a one out to suffer for his Name it is a sign that he hath more Faith more Courage than he judged himself to have 2. It is also a further Sign or Testimony to them of some further Influences of grace with which God designeth them God's prisoners use not to live upon their own charge As great and Noble Princes use to maintain their prisoners with Bread and Water so the great God maintains those that are in sufferings for his sake with Divine Influences proportioned to their wants What these Influences are I have heretofore shewed you upon another Text. One shall have Wisdom which the Adversaries shall not be able to resist another shall have an inward Strength and Courage a third shall have the Consolations of the Spirit of Grace and that which may confirm us in this is not only the promise of God as never to leave nor forsake his people so more especially to be with them when they pass through the Waters and through the Fires so as the Waters shall not drown them nor the Fires kindle upon them but also the concernment of the honour and glory of God in the case It is not for God's honour that his Combatants should fail No man goeth to Battel at his own charge is eminently true of the good fight of those that fight the Lord's Battels not with fleshly weapons but such as are spiritual such as God armeth the Soul with in its strivings against sin So that as a Child of God may at all times build upon that sure promise I will never leave you nor forsake you and upon the credit of it have its conversation at all times without covetousness so he may especially build upon it at a time when God calleth him out to suffer for his Names sake 3. This suffering is a Testimony on Gods part towards them of a great reward which they shall receive from God eithâ—â— in this life or in that which is to come Matth. 19.27 28 29. Behold saith Peter we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore And Jesus said unto them Verily I say unto thee that ye which have followed me in the Regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel And every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or
THIRTEEN SERMONS UPON Several Useful Subjects Two of them Being Funeral Discourses occasioned by the Death of the Reverend Mr. Nathanael Mitchel Minister of the Gospel I. The Crown of Righteousness and for whom prepared Vpon 1 Tim. 4.7.1 2 Serm. II. The Influence of God upon getting wealth Vpon Deut. 8.18 1 Serm. III. The small influence that abundance hath upon mans life Vpon Luke 12.15 1 Serm. IV. The nature of that Testimony which Christians are bound to give to the Lord Jesus Christ Vpon 2 Tim. 1.8 4 Serm. V. The nature of Persecution for Righteousness sake and the blessedness of those so persecuted Vpon Matth. 5.10 3 Serm. VI. The Riddle of a persecuted Believers life Vpon 2 Cor. 4.9 1 Serm. VII How Persecution turneth to Believers for a Testimony From Luke 21.13 1 Serm. By John Collinges D. D. LONDON Printed by T. S. for Edward Giles Bookseller in Norwich near the Market place And sold at the Phoenix in St. Pauls Church-yard 1684. To my Dear Sister Mrs. Mary Mitchel Dearest Sister WHen I composed the following Discourses it was in the same streights of time which usually are allowed for Meditations of that nature nor did I ever think of a further Publication then to those that heard me nor do I see any thing in them worthy of a more publick remark unless the great President of Divine Grace which it pleased God to shew you in the Man of your Bosom by the Power of which Grace he was saved in a Battle wherein few escape I know not what particular fancy it is that some Persons have to Sermons made upon Funeral Occasions that hath obtained of me the Copy of these Notes I hope it is their desires of many remembrances of their latter end which we have all sufficient need of Our Prophets are gone Our Fathers where are they When once I had agreed the Publication of them I needed no deliberation to whom I should inscribe them You Dear Sister had the greatest share in him to whose memory they were designed you had the nearest view of his Conversation for more then twenty years you were the greatest sharer in his long trial of affliction These things considered with my Relation to you made me quickly determine that thing I shall think my labour not lost in transcribing these Papers if any thing in them as well as the Example of your late dear Husband may incourage you or be any ways helpful to you in fighting the good fight and finishing your course The decays we find in our selves the deaths of our Friends the dayly Bells we hear telling us that such or such Persons our Neighbours are removed to their long homes mind us of our mortality Our Bones are not of Brass nor our Sinews of Iron which yet if they were both the one and the other we see are daily diminishing by the influence of the ill air in which we breath Our very breath is no such inheritance as doth not corrupt and fade away Our dearest Friends that are dissolved have only got the start of us we are in the same race and must stop at the same post Death is the End of all It is more then forty years that he who was the common Father both to you and me left this world Some of whose last words to me were Dear Child Learn to die Fear God and keep his Commandments so shalt thou learn to die We have been since that more then forty years at School in the world to learn amongst others this one great thing to Die We have had many Friends many dear Relations since that time who have by their dying Examples been speaking over the same thing to us Learn to die This discourse is of that tendency to learn us this great Lesson That the Lord would bless it to my self to you to all that shall read it is the Prayer of Your most Affectionate Brother John Collinges TO THE Christian Reader Reader THou hast here put together Thirteen Sermons of very heterogeneous Subjects I desire thou shouldst understand that the Composition pleased the Bookseller not the Author who upon that account hath nothing to say to thee but that he hopes there is none of these discourses but may be useful to any Persons He that is Rich had need know and remember That it is the Lord that giveth to man a power to get wealth He that is Poor had need not only to know that but that a mans life lyeth not in the abundance of what any one possesseth Both Rich and Poor had need understand how to finish their course fight the good fight and keep the faith When men complain of Persecution they had need understand what it is when they speak of giving Testimony to Christ and his Gospel they had need know what kind of Testimony that should be that they may not suffer in vain Thou art Reader to expect nothing in these discourses but what was proper to discourse to a plain Country Auditory which came to hear out of love to Gods Word and the truths in it revealed at least I hope so not to hear a lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument If any thing in these discourses may do thee good I shall rejoice and be exceeding glad and that all in them may shall be the hearty prayer of one that wisheth well to every Soul and is Thy Friend J. C. An Account of the Crown of Righteousness SERMON I II. 2 Timothy 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Righteous Judge shall give unto me in that day and not unto me only but to all those also who love his appearance HE who speaketh these words is the great Apostle of the Gentiles one who had been in deaths often who had been for Christ's sake killed all the day long as he speaks Rom. 8.36 who died daily as he elsewhere tells us yet was not wearied out of his life and was willing to be dying still so that Christ might be magnified in his body by life or death Phil. 1.20 And though he desired to be dissolved yet it was upon better motives than the taedium or burden of his dying life that he might be with Christ which was best of all v. 23. Not that he might be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life as he speaks 2 Cor. 5.4 nor was he so fond of glory but he preferreth his service to Christ before a present entrance into it and was willing to wait God's time I am saith he in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you And having this confidence I know I shall abide and continue with you all But a time must come
this promise is to those that fight the good fight that finish their course that keep the faith c. Ah how many are there that fight indeed but is it the good fight They are fighters against God opposers of his interest they would if possible root the very name of of God and profession of Godliness out of the world They have such an antipathy to piety that as they say of the Basilisk it hath such an emnity to man that it will fly upon his picture so they have such an enmity to Christ and holiness that they fly upon any Persons or things who have any thing of Christs Image and Superscription upon them others are fighters great disturbers of humane societies with their quarrels But now for the good fight which is to be managed against our passions exorbitant affections and all the motions of the Soul that are contrary to the will of God how few of those are to be found that fight this fight How few are those that will manage an opposition for the glory of God against the temptations of the world How few are there that can glory in this that they have finished either their more general course as Christians or more particular Course as Christians under such or such circumstances How full is the world of those who have yet their first step to take in the way of Gods Commandments their life is a meer walking in the counsels and Imaginations of their own hearts a meer gratification of their sensitive appetite not only as moving contrary to the law of Christ but to the very law of reason Living beneath the better sort of heathens How many more whose only business is to heap up gold as dust and silver as thick clay but the way of Religion and holiness they have not known How few are there that mind the duties of their particular relation but as they use their own Souls as if they were the meer condiment of their bodies so they behave themselves to their Wives Husbands and Children as if they had no trust of their Souls committed to them How many that have lost the faith first delivered to the Saints and are fallen into pernicious and damnable heresies making Shipwrack both of faith and a good conscience Can these men possibly love the appearanâ—e of Jesus Christ But leaving others let us take the advantage Use 3 of this discourse to enter into our own Souls and to commune with our own hearts inquiring whether we be such Persons as when we shall be ready to dye shall by any Providence of God be made apprehensive that the time of our departure is at hand shall be able to say that henceforth there is laid up for us a Crown of Righteousness which the righteous Judge shall in that day give out to all such as love the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To satisfy us as to these things we have heard in the explication of this text that we have several things to inquire upon they may be reduced to six or seven heads 1. What opposition we have made to the carnal desires and motions of our own hearts contrary to the revealed will of God You shall observe that a sinful walking in holy Writ is very ordinarily expressed by a walking according to the counsels and imaginations of our own hearts so contrary are the natural desires counsels and imaginations of the heart of man to the revealed will of God there is no surer sign of a wicked man then for him to walk after his own imaginations or for him to use Jobs expression to suffer his heart to walk after his Eyes Hence self-denial is by our Saviour made the condition and character of being one of his disciples and we are often in Scripture Commanded to mortify our members and the deeds of our bodies This kind of conversation which lyeth in the gratifying of our sensitive appetites is the broad way in which many walk but it is the high way to eternal destruction 2. What opposition we have made to the world either the men of the world or the things of it attemping either to frown or flatter us out of the duty which we owe unto God He who is at the worlds beck cannot be at the Command of Christ If we be the Servants of men we cannot be the Servants of God As Christ pleased not himself so neither did he please the men of the age wherein he lived in their oppositions to the will of his Father It is most certain that the generality of the men of the world love no Child of God as such they are two different seeds betwixt which there ever was and ever will be an emnity If they take us by the chin and kiss us it is but that they may have the better opportunity to smite us under the fifth rib The truth is their open war is better than their dissembled amity but that also requires in us wisdom when to oppose so as not to suffer as evil doers and courage and resolution that we may be able to stand 3. How we walk as to our more general conversation It is certainly a true saying grande est Christianum esse non dici It is a great thing not to be called but to be a Christian and in Christianity Tantum es quantum agis a man is just so much as he acteth in an uniform obedience having a regard to all the Commandments of God He that wilfully breaketh any of Gods Commadments is guilty of all for there is the same reverence due to God as to one Precept as unto another We have also further to enquire 4. How we discharge the duties of our particular Relations Not only how we run that race which we have to run in Common with others but that particular course which God hath set us how we have managed our duties as parents Children Husbands Wives Masters Servants Magistrates or Subjects Ministers or People c. 5. What steadiness wee keep as to the faith once delivered to the Saints It is true every warping in opinion from the truth is not damnable but we must take heed of warping in such points as a warping in is inconsistent with the exercise of repentance and faith I will not undertake punctually to determine what things are to be believed upon pain of damnation but I am sure every one that doth not repent and believe in or close with the Lord Jesus Christ is in an ill condition and from thence it follows that such opinions drank in as hinder the exercise of repentance or faith must needs be pernicious unto Souls 6. What particular faith and dependance we keep up in God and the Lord Jesus Christ The Scriptures are so full of texts giving testimony to the necessity of faith in Christ in order to eternal salvation that I need not instance in many see John 3.18 36. the Scripture saith expresly that he that believeth not shall be damned
to God such was this name Timothy some think Timothy was born at Lystra a place in Asia there Paul found him Acts 16.1.2 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra and behold a certain Disciple was there named Timotheus the Son of a certain Woman which was a Jewess and believed but his Father was a Greek Which was well reported of by the Brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium chap. 14.6 They were awâ—re of it and fled unto Lystra and Derbe Cities of Lycaonia His Father was a Greek his Mother was a Jew Acts 16.1 Her name was Eunice her Mother Lois they brought him up from a Child in the knowledge of the Scriptures 2 Tim. 1.5 When I call to mind the unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy Grandmother Lois and thy Mother Eunice and I am persuaded that in thee also chap. 3.41 15. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them And that from a Child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus His Father being a Greek he was not circumcised at his birth but afterwards Acts 16.1 2 3. After which Paul took him about with him in his Travels and made great use of him sometimes he was sent as a Messenger 1 Tim. 5.11 Sometimes as a Preacher and he had many bodily weaknesses so as he was glad to drink a little wine for his stomach sake but he abounded with excellent graces faith wisdom temperance he was at last ordained a Minister with the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery 2 Tim. 1.6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands the Apostle telleth us he had none like minded to him Phil. 2.19.20 21 22. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state V. 20. For I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state For all seek their own V. 21. not the things which are Jesus Christs V. 22. But you know the proof of him that as a Son with the Father he hath served with me in the Gospel he calls him his Brother his Beloved Son faithful in the Lord his natural Son in the faith the Minister of God his fellow helper he joineth him with himself At last he leaveth him at Ephesus but he seemeth not to have been there when he wrote this Epistle 2 Tim. 4.12 And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus This Epistle seemeth to have been written the last of the Epistles and a little before Pauls death 2 Tim. 4.6 For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand Paul died as is said in the 37th year after Christ in the 14th year of the reign of Nero. This Epistle as the rest consisteth of a Preface wherein is shewed the substance of the Gospel the Preface is in the five first verses The substance of the Epistle is hortatory consolatory and minatory he exhorteth Timothy v. 6. To stir up the gift of God that was in him and this he presseth by some arguments v. 6.7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind in the verse where the text is he exhorteth him not to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ nor of him though a prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel which he presseth by several arguments to the end of the 12th verse This verse is made up of an Exhortation and the Argument the Exhortation is in three branches 1. Not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord Jesus 2. Not to be ashamed of St. Paul who was at this time a prisoner 3. To partake of the afflictions of the Gospel the Propositions of the text are these Prop. 1. That Ministers and Christians have a testimony to give unto our Lord Jesus Christ in the giving of which they are not to decline a Prison Prop. 2. That it is the duty of faithful Ministers and People not to be ashamed to give this testimony nor of others when they do give it Prop. 3. There are Afflictions that are proper to the Gospel Prop. 4. That both Ministers and People ought to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel Prop. 5. It must be through the power of God that any one is inabled to partake of the afflictions of the Gospel According to the power of God It is the third of these only that I intend to make the subject of my discourse the others will fall in in the handling of that Prop. That it is the duty both of Gospel Ministers and Christians owning the Gospel not to be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ nor of the afflictions of the Gospel but to be partakers of them In the handling of this Proposition there are these Questions which I shall speak unto in their order Qu. 1. What is meant by the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ Qu. 2. What afflictions are they which are said to be the afflictions of the Gospel Qu 3. When may men be said to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord and how far are we bound not to be so Qu. 4. Why are we bound not to be ashamed of the testimony of Christ and why ought we not to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel Qu. 1. What is meant by the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ A Testimony is an attestation which any one giveth concerning any person or concerning any thing In every testimony there is to be considered three things 1. The Person who giveth the Testimony 2. The Thing to which the Testimony is given 3. The Way by which the Testimony is given As to the present Testimony of which we are speaking the Persons that give it are the Ministers of the Gospel such a one was Timothy but they are not all so Rev. 6.9 St. John saith I saw under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held every Minister is a special witness and to bear his Testimony and every good Christian is also to be a witness It is said of Christ 1 Tim. 6.13 who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession every Christian ought in this to be conformable unto Christ 2. Another thing which is to be considered in a Testimony is the thing or person to which it relateth for the term Testimony is a Relative word and the proper Correlate to it is Truth which relates again either to a Proposition or to a matter of fact no person can be under any obligation to give Testimony to a lie but now truth relateth either to a Proposition or
his Father or should a Servant be ashamed to attest the truth for his Master or should a Member be ashamed to attest the truth for its Head should the Tongue be ashamed to speak for the Head Which of you that are Parents if you had a Child that should be ashamed if called to speak the truth for you would not disown such a Child There is never a Christian but is the Son or the Daughter of God the Child of God and his relation to God doth oblige him not to be ashamed of this Testimony 2. We stand in the Relation of Witnesses 1 Pet. 5. Ch. v. 1. Paul calleth himself a Witness of the sufferings of Christ Acts 1.8 Christ when he left the Earth told his Disciples You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost be come upon you and you shall be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth Indeed good Christians ought some to be special Witnesses Acts 10.41 Not to all the People but unto Witnesses chosen before of God But every Child of God is the Lord's Witness though there lieth an eminent Obligation upon some especially the Ministers of the Gospel yet every Child of God is to be the Lord's Witness and to give his Testimony for God 3. Every Christian standeth in the Notion of a Soldier hence the Apostle speaketh to Timothy to endure hardship as a good Soldier of Christ all Christians are required to fight the good Fight and our Life upon Earth is but a Warfare wherein we are to fight the good Fight and shall a Soldier decline the Fight and refuse to be partaker of the Battel How shall we discharge either the relation of Children to our Father or Servants to our Lord or Members to our Head or Witnesses or Soldiers if we shall either be ashamed of the Testimony of Christ or afraid to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel 7. Another Obligation that is upon us is from those private Laws that we have laid upon our selves and that two ways 1. By our Baptism 2. By our Profession We are all Baptized and the Apostle saith we are Baptized into Christ one part of the sense of which is that we are Baptized into the profession of Christ no person is Baptized but he taketh a Vow upon him to be the Lord's Servant besides our profession is another private Law that we have laid upon our selves the name of a Christian is an Obligation upon us to act for Christ and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ the Press-mony you know obligeth the Subject to fight for his Prince there is no Christian but besides the general Laws that are laid upon him hath layed a private Law upon himself both by his Vow and Promise in Baptism and by his taking upon him the name of a Christian how doth he deserve the name of a Christian that is ashamed of the Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ how doth he answer his Vow in Baptism that refuseth to fight under the Lords Banner and to give a Testimony unto Christ when he is called thereunto 8. There lyeth a great Obligation upon us from our duty of conformity to our Fellow-members we are not only the Members of Christ but are also Members one of another Ephes 4.25 For we are Members one of another The Church of Christ from the beginning of the World unto the end of it will be but one and we ought to be as Members like one another so that the example of the Saints and Servants of God in all Ages who have stood up in testimony of the Gospel or who have been partakers of the Afflictions of the Gospel layeth an Obligation upon us to go and do likewise that as we might have a fellowship with Christ in his Death and in his Testimony and his Afflictions so that we might be conformable unto those Saints and Servants of God which have been before us and to their Testimony John glorieth in this and putteth into his Titles Rev. 1.2 Who bare record of the word of God and of the Testimony of Jesus Christ He calleth himself v. 9. Their Brother and Companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ For the word of God and for the Testimony of Christ Rev. 6.9 The Angel saw under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the Testimony which they held And the seed of the Woman with whom the Dragon was wroth are described to be such as keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 19.10 The Angel telleth John I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Jesus 9. A Ninth Obligation that is upon us not to be ashamed of this Testimony of our Lord is the reward that such shall have who shall not be ashamed and the danger they run that are ashamed I will put both these together because the proof of them lieth in the same Texts Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels Matth. 10.33 But whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven Luke 12.8 Whosoever shall confess me before Men him shall the Son of Man also confess before the Angels of God The danger lieth here that if we be ashamed of Christ he will be ashamed of us if we deny him he will deny us 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he will also deny us The reward you see is if we suffer with him we shall reign with him Rom. 8.17 If so be we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together If we confess him he will also own confess and acknowledge us before his Father which is in Heaven this I take to be what every one will grant that by the very Law of Nature every one is bound to decline that which will bring evil upon him and to do that which will bring him any valuable and considerable good so that let us but consider the danger of Christ's disowning us and the good of Christs owning us at the day of Judgment and we shall easily understand what Obligation lieth upon us not to be ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord and to be ready to give our Testimony to him and to the Gospel but may some say who are those whom Christ will own or disown at the last day and how will Christ disown Men in the day of Judgment I suppose you may understand it from some Texts Math. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven
but live in an expectation of such a time that is my first counsel to you 2. Above all Labour to ensure your peace with God and get the best evidence for Heaven that you can get it is the policy of the Princes of the Earth when they see they shall certainly have a great War with some of their fellow Princes to make Leagues and Treaties with other Princes that they may not have them all upon them I am sure it is great policy for the poor Flock of God in the world when they see they are like to have a War with the world to give all diligence to make their Callings and Election sure to have a doubt or any fears of the wrath of God when the wrath of men boileth high against Christians is a very uncomfortable thing if ever there be a time for men to wrestle with God in prayer and to use all their endeavours to ensure their interest in God it is a time when the world is most likely to quarrel with them and they are likeliest to have the sharpest contest with men in the world that so they may not have at once two enemies on their Backs 3. Labour the mortification of those lusts which may disturb your Souls in an hour of persecution it is the policy of all States and all Nations when they fear a War to weaken that party which when the War comes they cannot trust to and to put them out of all Command at least if they cannot quite quit them of the place it will be the policy of your Souls if you would prepare for a time of persecution to weaken your lusts and corruptions if you cannot out them at least to get them out of Command in your Souls especially such lusts as will be most subject to betray your Souls you will say what are those lusts What are those corruptions which are most subject to betray us in an hour of persecution I will instance in some of them 1. A love of pleasures it is given as the Character of wicked men 2 Tim. 3.4 Lovers of pleasures they spend their years in pleasure and in a moment go down to the Grave Titus 3.3 serving divers lusts and pleasures These are things that are very grateful to our nature but he that harboureth them in his bosome will be very unfit for an hour of persecution as he said who saw a brave Building and Gardens These are the things that make us unfit for death so truly we may say these are the things that make us unfit for persecution they that cannot satisfy themselves without the delight of the Eyes and without the delight of the Ears will hardly know how to endure a Prison or how to endure affliction which were not affliction if it were not a denial of our pleasures Study the mortification of your hearts as to all the pleasures of this Life Moses Heb. 11.25 chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season 2. Secondly Study the mortification of wrath anger and passion a time of persecution is a time that will anger us we had not need be Cholerick and Techy in such a time the want of this is that which maketh Christians in suffering to render evil for evil reviling for reviling and to study revenge passion wonderfully roileth the Soul in an evil day and keepeth it from bearing the Yoke of God with that quietness with which it ought to submit to the good pleasure of God 3. A Third Lust which much prejudiceth us in an hour of persecution is Pride and having an high opinion of our selves in such a day as this God is levelling high Mountains God is humbling all the pride of mans glory take heed of a heart lifted up and swelling high in the opinion of your selves if ever you would endure an hour of persecution 4. Get your hearts as much mortified to the World as you can Paul gloried in the Cross of Christ by which the World was Crucified to him and he Crucified to the World Gal. 6.14 All that persecution can hurt you in is to divide you from the World and to imbitter the World to you it cannot reach you as to your heavenly concern as to your interest there so that the looser you stand to the World both as to your inward affections and as to your more outward dealings and trading in it the fitter you will be for such an hour of trial what signifieth the dividing of him from the World who is already dead to the World When the heart is glued to worldly profits or worldly relations or worldly employments and business persecution maketh a great breach but where the heart is divided from the World as to all these so as it is not fond of any of these things it hath no pleasure no delight in them it can live without them persecution doth little hurt There is nothing so commendable to the study of a Christian as a preparation for persecution as the loosening themselves from Worldly employments which are as Nets and entangle the Soul and the loosening the Soul from Worldly enjoyments pleasures and profits from hearty affections to the World this was that which made the Saints of God take the spoiling of their goods with joy this is that hating of Father and Mother Wife and Children which our Saviour so presseth upon his Disciples it is a not loving of them more than God a loving them so as we can part with them all rather than sin against God and wound our Consciences 5. Take heed of any actions by which you may hasten or aggravate persecution and make it appear more bitter than it is Though persecution be the lot of the People of God yet God should chuse their lot for them they ought not to carve for themselves afflictions are in themselves evils and we may pray against them and may use means to prevent them and it is our duty so to do there are two things that may hasten aggravate and imbitter persecution to the people of God 1. Sinnings against God There is no evil in the City which God hath not done God useth the Sword of Persecutors to avenge his quarrels take heed then of sinning against God 2. Indiscreet imprudent conversations towards men Take heed of any provocative carriages carry your selves as innocently as you will the World will be angry with you take heed of making them more angry by things which you are not obliged to do which if done will disoblige the Men of the World there is nothing that more imbitters our crosses to us than the sour reflections of our Consciences upon us under them 6. Live in a daily contemplation of eternity and a viewing of him who is invisible it is impossible that any thing should make us willing to cut off the inch of time which we think may be added to our Lives but the view of eternity that any thing should make
you 3. It is one thing for a Christian to rejoyce in persecution as it is a token of God's anger and displeasure another thing for to rejoyce in it as a means by which it pleaseth God to make the Soul of his Saints perfect unto glory The Apostle tells us that no affliction is joyous at present but grievous 3 Obj. The last Question which remains is What ground of solid joy and rejoycing hath a Christian under persecution I shall open this to you in several particulars I begin with those of the Text. 1. Because the Lord hath blessed them This is matter of joy Is it not matter of joy to a Christian that he is in such a condition as he is under a blessing yea not under a single blessing but under a treble blessing Is it nothing to you Sirs to be blessed of God to have him who knoweth the state of every Soul in whose hand are all blessings and cursings and whom he blesseth they shall be blessed and whom he curseth they shall be cursed Is it nothing for you to be in such a state that you are sure you are under the blessing of God that you are some of those he hath pronounced blessed thrice over blessed though you be here some of them who are hated reviled and persecuted and spoken evil of falsly for the Lords Name sake 2. Yours is the Kingdom of Heaven You have a phrase very like this which will come into consideration Great is your reward in Heaven I shall not at present consider it in that sense Our Saviour saith elsewhere The Kingdom of Heaven is within you The Kingdom of Heaven within us is the Throne of Christ set up in our hearts 1 Pet. 4.14 The Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you So this shall be an evidence unto you that the Kingdom of God is set up in your hearts Thus the words of our Saviour are made good It shall be unto you for a testimony The Kingdom of Christ is then set up in any Soul when Christ ruleth and other things truckle under him and his Law when a Christian overcometh in a good fight when he is too hard for the World that they cannot flatter him into a disobedience to Christ nor frown him into a disobedience of Christ it is a sign that Christ sitteth as Lord and as King in that Soul and the Kingdom of Heaven is within that man it is a testimony of grace and that the Spirit of God resteth upon that man and the Spirit of Glory resteth on that man On your part saith the Apostle he is glorified 3. Great is your reward in Heaven The Papists make a great stir about the term of a reward as if it must needs be a correlative to a work but as there is a reward of debt as you reward a man that hath laboured for you and done you some valuable service so there is also a reward of grace The Father saith to the Child if you will do such a thing I will give you a new Coat here is a reward given upon the Child's obedience but yet the Child's obedience doth not earn it There is a reward of grace as well as a reward of debt there is a reward of a work which is not always a just reward for a work life everlasting is promised as the reward of them that suffer persecution But our afflictions are saith the Apostle but light and momentany afflictions though they work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory James 1.12 Is not this matter of rejoycing that the reward of a man is great in Heaven 2 Thes 1.7 It is a token to you of rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed 4. They persecuted the Prophets that were before you There is a great cause of rejoycing in this 1. It is no new thing to you it is but what hath been the Lot of the people of God formerly 2. As it is no new thing to men so particularly not to the most eminent Servants of God Such were the Prophets nay the more eminent they were in their Generation the more they have been brought under this Rod. 3. This administreth further comfort to Christians in suffering that those who have professed to the same Religion yet have persecuted those born after the Spirit The Jews owned the same God and the same Religion that the Prophets did yet they persecuted the Prophets Lastly 4. It speaketh you the true Members of the Church You partake of the common afflictions of the Members of it that our Lord might let them know that it was no new thing he saith They persecuted the Prophets which were before you that our Lord might let them know they were not too good for persecution he says So persecuted they the Prophets who yet were the best of the Servants of God lest it should be a trouble to them that persons owning the same Religion were their Enemies he saith So persecuted they the Prophets that he might shew them with whom they had communion in their sufferings namely with the Antient Church of God he saith For so persecuted they the Prophets 5. I must yet rise one note higher you are partakers of the afflictions of Jesus Christ this is a ground of rejoycing Rejoyce saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.13 in as much as you are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed you may be glad also with exceeding joy Phil. 1.20 Christ shall be magnified in my body Col. 1.24 Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh St. Paul Phil. 3.10 desired to know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his Death If saith the Apostle we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together Rom. 8.17 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Thus far I have discoursed the duty of God s people relating to an hour of persecution whether imminent or already come upon them but in all persecution there must be an Agent as well as a Patient Last Vse Must this be the Lot of the Servants of God of all those that will live godly in Christ Jesus to suffer persecution take heed your hand be not upon them Offences must come saith our Saviour Luke 17.1 2. but woe unto him through whom they come It were better for him that a Milstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the Sea The will of God concerning an event will not justifie the proximate cause or agent in an action undoubtedly of all sins there is no sin that is greater in its kind than this 1. Consider with your selves by way of comparison if it be a great sin for a man to do hurt to those that are innocent how
Children or Lands for my Name sake shall receive an hundred fold and inherit everlasting Life Mark repeateth the same passage but with some Variation he saith he shall Receive an hundred fold now in this time Houses and Brethren and Sisters and Mothers and Children and Lands with Persecutions and in the World to come Eternal Life Luke ch 18.30 repeating it saith He shall receive manifold more in this present time and in the World to come life everlasting As to the reward of another life they all agree that is out of doubt If so be we suffer with him we shall be glorified together 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him The sufferings of the people of God are a manifest token of the righteous Judgment of God that we may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which we suffer 2 Thes 1.5 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense To those that are troubled rest When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels Sufferings for Christs sake are tokens of Salvation and that of God Phil. 1.28 Suitable to this was the vision which St. John had Rev. 20. v. 4. Where he saw thrones and they sat upon them and Judgment was given unto them and he saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshiped the beast nor his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads Or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years It hath been questioned by some whether any but Martyrs shall be saved And answered That none shall be saved but either such as have been Martyrs actu or Voluntate either actually or who have been willing and ready to be so if God had called them to it But of this there is no question as to the promise The only question is how they receive an hundred fold in this time or as Luke saith manifold more at this time Mark saith with persecutions this is generally interpreted concerning the internal influences of the Spirit of God upon the Souls of his people Solatia promittuntur non deliciae saith an eminent Interpreter God promiseth inward comforts not sensible or sensual delights But God often maketh it good of sensible things in this life As it is said of Job after his long trial of Affliction Job 42.12 That God blessed his latter end more then his beginning In his beginning we read his Inventory thus he had 7000 Sheep and 3000 Camels 500 yoke of Oxen 500 she asses ch 1. 3. In his latter end all was doubled ch 42. 12. He had 14000 sheep 6000 Camels 1000 yoke of Oxen and 1000 she Asses So it hath been observed that God hath strangely blessed those families whose heads have been sufferers for him I have particularly heard it observed of those Walloons who left their country and fled hither in the time of D' Alva's rage in Flanders So that often times God giveth manifold more in this life then they lose for his sake much more sensible comforts But oftner he gives them an hundred fold with persecutions that is if together with their persecutions they weigh the consolations they have from the Spirit of God if they set the one against the other or weigh the one with the other they are manifold more And this is that which the Apostle experienced 2 Cor. 1.5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ The sum is sufferings for the name of Christ are a Testimony or a Token to those that suffer of great rewards which God hath designed them and prepared for them either in this life or in that life which is to come In this life either with persecutions mixing their bitter cups with the Sweet consolations of his holy and blessed Spirit to that degree that the sweet tast shall drown the bitter tast and they shall have no tast of the wormwood and the gall Or when the persecutions are over for Nubeculae sunt transibunt they are but storms and will go over repairing their losses building them up fairer houses then the fire hath burnt and giving them better estates then they have lost Or in the life to come giving them as the Apostle calleth it 2 Cor. 4.17 a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory for I reckon saith the Apostle Rom. 8.18 That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Fourthly They are a Testimony on Gods part to those that suffer That the Lord will destroy their enemies Thus Stella expoundeth this Text. Quod illi impiè contra vos egerunt juste damnentur That they have dealt unjustly and wickedly with you and shall justly be condemned This is that which the Apostle saith 2 Thes 1.4 So that we our selves glory in you in the Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you indure which is a manifest taken of the righteous judgment of God that ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which ye suffer Mark ye There is one thing of which it is a manifest token but then it followeth v. 6. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you It is a manifest token of that also Now the reason of this lyeth in the heinous nature of this sin which ordinarily goeth before unto Judgment And is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a mortal sign in every Soul where it is found A Soul may be sick of lusts of the flesh sick of intemperance in eating and drinking sick of incontinence filthy lusts and uncleanness sick of other lusts and yet through grace may recover such were some of you saith the Apostle to the Corinthians but now you are washed But it is very rare that a Soul is sick of rage and malice against Christ and his name and gospel so as it breaks out in overt acts I say it is very rarely that it recovers This disease of rage and malice against Christ and his Gospel which is seen in mens dealings with the publishers and professors of it is much like that disease in the body which they call a Cancer which may lurk a great while and the person may live so long as he can keep it from breaking but if it once breaketh there is very little hope of long life God according to his infinite patience beareth a long time with these vessels of wrath fitted for destruction there are thousands in the World who have this cancerous humour within them who are full of wrath malice and rage and hatred of Christ and his Gospel but they keep it from breaking out into overt-acts they will think ill enough of God and Christ and his ways and sometimes they will also talk hardly enough these may live