yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it And to that purpose shall commend to your serious consideration the following particulars First Let us consider whose Law this is and we shall find that the Author of the Law does greatly recommend it to us How hard soever it may otherwise seem yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ that consideration is of great moment to reconcile us to it We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord and dear Redeemer lays upon us For we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us He hath given us great proof that he loved us when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God Let us stay a while upon this consideration and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake If our hearts be cold and chill if we find them dampt and sinking let us then meditate of our Lords love and that will be of great use to inflame them and give them spirit Does Jesus say that we must not fear them that kill the body that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples Good is that word of our Dearest Lord will the pious Soul say Death shall be welcome when ever it comes and it will be not only our duty to die when our Lord would have us but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us Alas this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father He was happy and glorious and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Heaven to Earth from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world He that was the brightness of his Fathers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh and with our infirmities He that upheld all things by the word of his power was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin to be wrapt up in swadling cloaths to lie in a Stable to be subject to his Creatures to be tempted by the Devil to be hungred and thirsty to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree that he might save lost Mankind He was at these pains for the helpless and for sinners for Caitiffs and Rebels for them who had dishonoured his Father and ruined themselves Here is a love without a Parallel a love that passeth knowledge a love that is stronger than death and that surpasseth the love of women Here are all the dimensions of love here is height and depth a length and breadth Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his Friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but few examples of it Our Lords kindness rose higher by far He died for the ungodly for the weak and them that were without all hope Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to die for him It is an easie task that lies upon us to love him that hath first loved us and to die for him that died for us This is very reasonable and a most gentle command to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country There are those would dare to die for a good man or for a faithful friend My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives or my fellow Creatures I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us is this That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth It is fit we should do it and he led us the way He hath recommended this Precept to us not only by his Doctrine but by his Example also Indeed our Lord was silent when he was reproached and inconsistently accused but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ Mat. 26.63 64. the Son of God or not He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate and tells him To this end was I born Joh. 18.17 and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud and does not put his Followers upon that which he declined himself This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done Every where we judge this very reasonable The Souldier thinks himself obliged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger And the Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by 2. Let us consider the command it self and that is that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord and forfeit our hopes of a better life This may at first sight seem a very hard saying but when we draw near and consider it well we shall find it a very reasonable Law and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said when he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden light The truth is we disquiet our selves in vain and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary so is a great part of our misery also We make a false judgment of things and set a very unequal rate and price upon them And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought so we judge death to be a greater evil than indeed it is I desire that you would under this general head consider well the following particulars And 1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment It is no high Prerogative and unvaluable peculiar For the smallest Mite or Ante the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we When Marcellinus was sick all that were about him flattered him and said that which they thought would please him most Every man
as far as he is able And whatever his sin hath been he ought to confess it and to shame himself for it and to give all the possible proofs of a through and hearty and particular repentance as far as his time and ability will reach and he must to this purpose call in Gods help and implore his grace and mercy in Christ Jesus And then if afterward he give his body to be burnt as a farther token of his Contrition he will not lose his reward There is a fond opinion among the Jewish Writers that the death of a Criminal expiates for his Crimes But yet one of their wises Writers tells us Maimon H. Teshub c. 1. that neither the Sacrifice which the sinner brought nor the death which was inflicted on him did make expiation for him unless he did repent 5. They that now make this Objection ought to make the right Use of it That is they ought forthwith to set upon an holy life upon crucifying their lusts and killing their sins that so they may not be afraid of death in what form soever it shall present it self They ought to provide for sufferings and especially for death before it makes its approach unto them CHAP. X. I Shall now proceed to shew what preparations we ought to make against Sufferings and how we are to demean our selves under them We ought to consider before-hand that we may meet with great trials and exercises in our way to to heaven And it very well becomes us to provide against the worst of things And this is very reasonable because if we should not be called out to suffer for our Religion yet we shall be sure to die and it is our duty as well as our interest to provide for death And therefore what I have to offer cannot be unseasonable because it will serve to prepare us for our other sufferings and for the stroke of death though we should not be persecuted for righteousness sake And it is a foolish thing not to prepare for death in the time of our prosperity and our health I shall therefore recommend to you some particulars which will be of great Use to us to prepare us for our bearing all sort of afflictions and particularly tend to deliver us from the fear of violence and death it self And to that purpose 1. Make it your care to bear witness to the Truth by your lives and this will be a great preparation against all evils and even against death it self In this sense we may all be Martyrs though we do not shed our bloud For we may bear witness to the Truth by our life as well as by our death And the doing it by a good life is the best preparative to the other Martyrdom of bloud 1 Pet. 2.15 We may by well-doing as well as by suffering well put to silence the ignorance of foolish men If there be no Tyrant Cyprian de dupliei Martyria says one of the Ancients no Tormentor no Plunderer yet there will be Concupiscence giving us daily matter of Martyrdom Besides the evils of this mortal life that are common to the good and bad will afford us the Crown of Martyrdom if we bear them with alacrity and thanksgiving Who dares deny says he Abraham and Isaac and Job to be Martyrs What Racks did ever torment the body more than natural affection tortured the mind of that Patriarch when he in compliance with Gods Command was ready to offer up his Son his only and beloved Son in whom was the hope of Posterity What was wanting to the making Isaac a Martyr who without murmuring suffered himself to be bound and laid upon the wood Whose Martyrdom may we compare with the things which Job suffered The same Author does well observe that in that Catalogue of Saints and holy men Heb. 11. though there were but few of them died a violent death yet to let us see that we might be Martyrs by an exemplary life it is said of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by faith they obtained a good report To which I add Heb. 11.2 that they are all called Martyrs or Witnesses afterward Ch. 12.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We shall have fair occasion to shew our Courage our Patience our Resignation and our Faith though we do not suffer upon a Wheel or at a Stake And he that bears all his other troubles well is in a great preparation to suffer death also Whereas those men that are impatient and peevish under every little sorrow and cross have much to do before they will be fit to endure the severest torments If then we would be able to endure a violent death for the sake of our Saviour let us set upon the practice of the hardest of his Precepts Let us cut off our right hands and pluck out our right Eyes part with our most beloved lusts and crucifie the desires of the flesh Let us mortifie our inordinate Anger destroy all wrath and bitterness all our covetous desires and sensualities Here is a great and difficult task before us if we do this death will not much astonish us We shall not be greatly afraid of death when we see our sins and lusts dead before us Those lusts which made death a formidable evil to us No man is so fearless of death as that man that is crucified to the world and hath mortified his inordinate desire of worldly things If in the whole course of our life we give up our selves to the Laws of Christ if we exercise our selves to patience and self-denial to meekness and long-suffering to Temperance and Chastity to contempt of the world and an heavenly mind we shall find it a very easie task when we shall be required to resign up our mortal life for the sake of our Lord Jesus He that obeys Christ in all his holy and strictest Precepts will be in great readiness and preparation of mind to lay down his life for him He that dares kill his Lusts and crucifie the old man will not think much to resign this mortal life that he may be cloathed with Immortality When one bid Socrates prepare for his trial He asked him whether he thought he had not done that all his life-time But then again he asked Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian Epict. l. 2. c. 2. what preparation he had made He told him that he had done what was in his power to do He asked him How Socrates told him he had never done an unjust action publickly or privately If we would prepare for sufferings and for death let us do it by a good life 1 Pet. 4.19 and commit the keeping of our souls to God in well-doing 2. Entertain your selves with the thoughts of troubles and the frequent thoughts of death before they come nigh you It is of great moment that we be not suprized by the evils which we meet withal It is a great astonishment to us to meet with evils which
THE Christian Sufferer supported OR A DISCOURSE Concerning the Grounds OF Christian Fortitude SHEWING At once that the Sufferings of good men are not inconsistent with Gods special Providence as also the several supports which our Religion affords them under their Sufferings and particularly against the fear of a Violent Death By Richard Kidder Rector of St. Martin Outwich London LONDON Printed for W. Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1680. THE PREFACE THough many of the evils of this life which we daily complain of are Phantastick and imaginary as our happiness in this world generally is And many others under which we are uneasie are intirely owing to our own folly and the just fruit of our wicked lives Yet certain it is that we are born to trouble as the Sparks flye upwards and we are beset with very many and very severe evils And we can hardly turn any way but we may meet with one or other ready to entertain us with the sad story of what they feel or what they justly fear And those very persons who seem most prosperous to the stander by have those troubles mingled with their prosperity which render it not at all desirable Consolat ad Polyb Look upon all Mortals says Seneca and you will every where find a large and constant occasion for weeping One man's pinching Poverty calls him out to his daily Labour Another man is soliciteed by his restless ambition Another man fears those riches which he had desired before and is afflicted with what he himself prayed for One man is rack'd by care another by labour a third is disquieted with a multitude and crowd of Clients or Visitants This man is sorrowful because he hath Children another because he hath lost his Many are the evils to which we are incident and which we may therefore justly expect Such are Reproach and Poverty Sickness and Pain Oppression and Violence Sorrow for the death of our Friends and the dread and fear of our own There are many in the world whose misery is great upon them and who are perpetually bowed down with some or more of these evils It is great wisdom therefore to provide against these evils and to contrive how to turn them the right way And since it is so that we shall meet with these troubles it is the highest wisdom to arm our selves that they may neither surprize nor hurt us But that we may be able to continue in great patience and well doing and at last receive an unspeakable reward It is a very sad consideration to think how commonly men fear the evils which threaten them and how rarely they prepare for them They use their endeavours to keep off the stroke when they take no care to bear it and to make it a blessing They live in perpetual anxiety and disquiet and at last go in sorrow to their graves whiles they have been negligent of making the right use of their fears and other afflictions It is a certain truth that God does not take any delight in afflicting the Chlidren of men He does it for our profit and advantage And considering the lapsed and corrupt condition of mankind these evils are necessary for us They are not only justly inflicted but they are medicinal also A constant prosperity is a very formidable condition Magna ira est quando peccantibus non irascitur Deus Hier. Epist ad Castrutium and God is then angry with us when he does not chastise our follies It is our duty to look up to him that strikes us and to see that we improve our evils to the best advantage as well as to bear them with courage It is a poor and mean thing barely to design to save our selves from the blow or only to project that it may do us no harm Plutarch de Capiend ex host utilitate We ought to consider how we may turn these things to our profit Men at first were only careful that wild Beasts did them no hurt this was all their design when they fought them But men in after-times learnt the way to make these Beasts useful to them They did then eat of their flesh cloath themselves with their hair arm themselves with their skins and make use of some parts of them for Medicines in their distempers We ought to learn this Art and to use our evils as instruments of great good The loss of our Goods the death of our Friends the pain of our Bodies and our fears of Death may be so ordered as to make for the advancement of Piety in us and the securing our precious and immortal souls And then in the mean time it stands us in hand to bear up under our troubles and to possess our souls in patience and not to suffer our selves out of the fear of a temporal evil to part with an eternal good and plunge our Souls in everlasting horror and misery But then if we would do all this we must have recourse to those helps and powerful motives which Christian Religion does afford us The Doctrine of Jesus Christ will give us the best directions and furnish us with the most effectual assistances They are mean and low arguments which are to be found in the Philosophy of the Heathens in comparison with those which our Religion lays before us And what those helps and assistances are you will find in the following Discourse and I make no doubt but we shall also find them effectual to gain their end if we apply our selves with great care and diligence calling in with all fervency the divine grace to our assistance to the use of them They disparage their Religion that think it a mean and ineffectual Principle And they reproach it greatly who affirm that it renders men sneaking and cowardly For as the Author of it shewed the greatest fortitude and courage when he contemned the world and witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate so do the Principles of this holy Religion mightily fortifie and encourage all the Followers of Jesus to follow the glorious example of their Lord and Master It is an argument of great fortitude to contemn the World not to be drawn aside by its blandishments nor dismaid with its threats He shews a generous and great mind that in cold blond chooses to die rather than deny the truth and that can forgive an enemy that thirsts after his bloud This our Saviour did and both by his Example and his Precepts commends this lesson to us On the other hand to be transported to revenge upon every little trespass is a certain argument of a weak and feeble mind And to that purpose it is well observed that generally those who are of the weaker frame that are most contemptible and of the shortest wit are ever most inclined to revenge And those of the truest valour and best judgment are the farthest from it The truth of it is these men have the same and no better pretence to Fortitude that
hold his peace But Priscus told him that he would speak what he thought was just and right But Priscus added If you say you will kill me when did I affirm that I was immortal Do you your part I will do mine It is your part to kill It is mine to die undauntedly It is your part to banish it is mine to go away without grief Our life is worth preserving but not with the loss of our integrity It is its end and its relation to a future state that gives it value 3. Let us consider the ground or reason of this command of our Lord. The truth is our Lords will in this case ought to be ground enough to us It should be enough that our Lord hath said it it will not become us to dispute our Saviours Law But yet our Saviour deals with us with great condescension he does not govern us after an arbitrary manner His Laws are founded upon Justice and do carry with them a great conviction that they are just and reasonable And as it is thus every where else so it is in the matter that lies before us Our Lord requires us to part with our lives but it is upon a good account that he requires it And we cannot but judge this very reasonable when it is considered that when our Lord requires this he does it only then when by our obedience we are assured to avoid a greater evil than what we suffer and to attain a greater good than we forego By our obedience to this Law we are sure to avoid a greater evil than that is which we suffer And this will be evident if we will but take the pains to consider what it is we suffer and what evils we avoid by it For our suffering it can amount to no more than the loss of this present life This is the utmost that we can suffer No force or malice can reach any farther than this comes to Let us make the most of it it will not be much we lose And whatever evil the loss of this life is yet it holds no proportion at all to the evils which by this means we avoid And they are these two 1. We avoid the horrors and clamours of an accusing Conscience Say that we decline our suffering and deny our Religion that to avoid death we wrong our Conscience Do not think your trouble is now at an end when you have taken this course and that you shall live pleasant days for the future This is but as if a man did flee from a Lion Amos 5.19 and a Bear met him Or went into the house and leaned his hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Alas poor man thou dost but run from one evil into another and which is the saddest from the least into the greatest From bodily pain into the horrors of a guilty mind And sure I am there is no compare between the one and the other There is no sorrow like that of a wounded Spirit Others may be avoided or they may be cured they may be diverted and they have been born But a wounded spirit who can bear This is an evil from within a perpetual disquiet at home The other evils are but foreign and from without There is no plague like that of the heart All other strokes they do but batter the out-works this throws down the main Fort. Greater madness cannot be than to wrong our Consciences that we may save our lives To wound our Souls that we may keep our Skin intire This is to regard the Garment more than we do what it covers What is it that bewitches us Can we meet with any evil in this world to be compared with the guilt and horrors of our own minds Will any thing comfort us when our own minds upbraid us Will any thing be able to hold us up when our hearts sink within us Surely all other sorrows are very trifling things to this one sorrow of a guilty and unawakened mind For we find that it is this that makes our other sorrows sharp and poinant it is this that gives them a keen edge and makes them pierce deep Guilt renders even our outward Crosses and sorrows double It is this that presses and weighs us down under our other burdens We run into a greater evil than we run from when to escape a suffering we commit a sin We do but divert the blow from our body and receive the deadly stroke upon our souls For sure I am that Fire and Faggot Wheels and Gibbets all the Instruments of cruelty and death are very gentle Evils to the horrors and lashes of a guilty and accusing Conscience But then 2. We avoid by this means an eternal and unspeakable misery The flames of Hell I mean which opens its mouth to receive those profane sinners that choose that everlasting burning before the sufferings of this present life What proportion is there now between a Temporal and an Eternal death Between the sorrows of this present time and those everlasting sorrows Is there any burning to be compared to that fire which never goes out Any Dungeon or Prison fit to be compared with those chains of darkness Does not that worm that never dies speak infinite more terror than any Crâ—â—â—â— or Gibbet any pain or torment here below Can we conceive what it is to die eternally Is there any evil like unto this Is any sentence so formidable as that of Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25.41 Certainly the parting of the soul from the body is but a small thing to the parting of the soul from God the fountain of its being and happiness We look upon death as formidable which strips us of our worldly properties divides us from this body and from this world but what is it then to be eternally separated from our God To depart from God to depart with a Curse to depart into everlasting fire to depart into the portion of Devils and apostate Fiends is more than can be expressed in time My God my God why dost thou part from me Was such a grief as cannot be The Son of God cried out when he was for a while deprived of a sense of Gods favour when he was in that agony which he underwent upon our score But who can tell nay who can think how sad this will be when God will be merciful to a man no more When we die for our Religion it is that we may not die eternally When we lose our life here it is that we may not die the second death Having premised these things I shall now proceed to lay before you the helps and assistances that our Religion does afford us against the severest trials that we shall meet with in our Christian Course and Warfare CHAP. III. FIrst Our Religion lays before us the hope of eternal life for our support under the sufferings and calamities of this short life Rejoyce says
things Especially when we remember that in that estate we shall be perfect men That our weakness and our folly shall be taken away and all that which hinders and indisposes us in this lower World shall be taken out of the way Our Understandings shall then be clear and we shall no more be troubled with the fumes and mists that now are before our eyes We shall judge no longer by false Rules and Measures we shall not be blinded by prejudice and prepossession by passion and by secular respects We that now know as Children do shall then know clearly and as we are known And then our Wills that are now crooked and perverse and in great measure unresigned which is the source of our trouble in this life shall be rectified and swallowed up into the Divine Will Our Passions shall no longer disturb and blind us but we shall be perfected and completed throughly refined and purified and perfectly relish the Joys of a future state which as much surpass all the good things of this World as the Heavens surpass this lump of Earth we tread on After all this it must be remembred that that state shall abide for Ever We shall there for Ever be with the Lord. Our Kingdom shall have no end nor shall our Crown fade away We shall not know what the infirmities of Age and what the fears of Death mean There will be an eternal Day without a succeeding Night a Shine without fear of Clouds or Tempest a perpetual Triumph without mixture and Allay This gives an unspeakable weight to that Crown of glory and it will not now sit uneasily upon our heads we not being burdened with the anxious thoughts of death and a future reckoning 2. I consider the clearness of the Revelation of this Eternal life For this is a Consideration of great moment in the case that lies before us For had not the revelation been clear the thing it self could not have wrought very powerfully upon us The heathen world wanted this discovery to animate them to worthy actions And for the Jews we read nothing in the five Books of Moses of Eternal life I do not deny but that devout and holy men amongst them had about them an expectation of a future Bliss Nay more I make no doubt they had also among them some shadows and obsecure Images of this Blessed State But then as this was not on Gods part any express Promise so it is certain that they had but very obscure notices of this happiness But thanks be to God the case is better with us Our Lord hath abolished death 2 Tim. 1.10 and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel We have it now clearly and openly revealed and have by the Religion of Jesus Christ received the utmost assurance of it It is not now obscured under Types and Veils under the wealth and plenty of a Land that flowed with Milk and Honey but it is now revealed clearly and our Lord hath given us the utmost assurance that we could desire in the case He hath not only taught us this Doctrine but confirmed it to us by many Miracles and particularly by his own Resurrection from the dead and after that he himself ascended into Heaven in the sight of his Disciples What shall we say now Can we forbear to use the Apostles words 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope or to the hope of life as one Greek Copy hath it by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you We are now begotten to the hope of life and immortality The Blessed Tidings thereof was brought us from heaven by the Son of God and he confirmed what he said by Miracles that were unquestionable and to give us the greatest assurance he did himself rise out of the Grave and ascended thither visibly What is there wanting now to confirm our faith if we do but credit the very History of the Gospel That tells us the many wonders that Christ did even besides what are written and that these are written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing Joh. 20.31 we might have life or as one Greek Copy hath it eternal life through his name 3. I consider how fit this hope of Eternal life is to work upon us and to render us patient and constant under the sufferings which meet us in our way to Heaven Surely the Apostle judged so when he said Rejoyce 1 Pet. 4.13 inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy It will have a mighty force upon us if we be not much wanting 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal There is enough in the thing it self to support us And if it do it not it is because we do not believe it or do not keep our eye fixt upon it For we find that the hope of other things incomparably less hath a mighty force and influence upon us Out of the faint hope of Riches we endure labours and Watchings we patiently dig into the bowels of the earth and adventure our lives upon the uncertain Seas we deny sleep to our eyes and slumber to our eye-lids We are content to endure repulses and disappointments that we may get preferment and enjoy our pleasure afterward We keep something in our eye that supports us under our pain and labour of life And in yet these things we have not that assurance of success nor yet if we had can we have any certainty that we shall long enjoy what we so vehemently pusue Besides all the mean while we do but grasp at a shadow and court a trifle Let us then be perswaded to keep our eyes fixt upon our Reward and we shall find our selves much at ease under the labours and sufferings of this life Let us raise up our wearied hearts and eyes to that state of Rest and Bliss into which our Lord is entred to prepare a place for us If we think of the good Land we are going to possess we shall support our selves under the labours of a barren Wilderness And if our hearts be but throughly set on Heaven we shall not greatly complain of the roughness of the way to it The hopes of a Child to be born into the world reconciles the otherwise fearful Mother to the pains of her Travail What will not then the hope of Eternal glory be able to do We are here but forming a new for a more blessed state of things We hope to be brought forth ere
vindicate his Religion from those aspersions that are cast upon it No man does more effectually refute the slanders against Religion than he that dies for it chearfully as for example This course confirms the truth of Religion There are those who would insinuate that Religion is a State-Engine contrived for worldly ends and for the better government of men That Heaven and Hell are no realities but contrived for the interest of humane Societies He that is willing to part with his life in defence of his Religion does destroy this insinuation and makes it evident that his Religion does not serve a worldly interest and that Heaven and Hell are great realities There are others that insinuate that Religion is an ineffectual Principle And if you were to judge of Religion by the Lives as well as Doctrines of some men you would be apt to think it a very dull and ineffectual Principle that were destitute of all power to enable men to do what it does command But then the man that forsakes this world that despises all its glories and continues undaunted under all its threats and frowns He that dares to be good whatever he suffer on that behalf such a man as this makes it appear that his Religion is a very powerful Principle and that it is accompanied with a Divine Assistance Again They that suffer for Religion do recommend the excellency and inward glories of Religion They discover the beauties of it And that they do when they give so great a proof of what it commends to us viz. A fervent love of God a contempt of the World a profound Meekness Patience and Charity Justice and Truth These are those things which shine in these examples and do speak aloud the perfections of that Religion which does produce them CHAP. VII I Come now to lay before you some other helps and assistances that the afflicted and persecuted Christian is provided with And in the next place I desire you to consider The Intercession of the Son of God And this is an unspeakable comfort and support where it is duly considered And that so it is we may learn from what we read of St. Stephen You know very well that he was accused and though he made his defence yet he was so far from appeasing his Enemies thereby that they were more enraged We read that they were cut to the heart Acts 7.54 55 56. and they gnashed on him with their teeth But though his Enemies were enraged and disturbed yet this holy man continues calm and quiet And what was it that kept him so We read what it was in these words But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God Here was that which kept him undisturbed when his Enemies were transported with fury Hence he had his strength and his undauntedness He says himself Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God And now though his Enemies gnash on him with their teeth though they cry out with a loud voice though they stop their ears and run upon him with one accord and cast him out of the City and stone him Yet the holy man is not for all this discomposed nor so far disturbed but that he was able to continue to call upon God and his blessed Saviour and to pray for his Enemies that put him to death And after this it is not said that he was killed or stoned that he was murdered or the like but that he fell asleep Ver. 60. After this gentle manner is this Saints death expressed But that which made his death so easie to him was that as he was full of the Holy Ghost so he saw Jesus at the right hand of God And we shall find that this sight of Jesus at Gods right hand will be of great moment towards our support under the greatest and sharpest miseries of this life Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect says St. Paul It is God that Justifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died But we have greater comfort than this and therefore he goes on Yea rather that is risen again nor does the Apostle stay here neither who is even at the right hand of God he goes farther still who also maketh intercession for us This is a great height indeed we are now very secure from danger since Jesus did not only die for our sins and rise again for our Justification but after this went into Heaven and is there concerned on our behalf Well might the Apostle now Triumphingly go on and he does so when he says Ver. 35 36 37 38 39. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or Sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all these things we are more than Conquerours through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But for the better proceeding in this comfortable Argument of Christs interceding for us in Heaven I shall First Shew where Christ now is viz. in Heaven at Gods right hand Secondly I shall shew you how far he is there concerned on our behalf Thirdly I shall shew you how this tends towards our support and comfort under the troubles of this life 1. I shall shew where Christ is viz. in Heaven He was contented for our sakes to be born of a Woman to lie in a Manager to be tempted in a Wilderness to die upon a Cross and to be buried in a Sepulchre But thanks be to God he that was born ever lives and he that died and was buried was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven Heb. 1.3 and is sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Chap. 2.9 crowned with glory and honour Chap. 7.26 Eph. 5.10 Chap. 1.20 21. Made higher than the Heavens He is ascended up far above all Heavens Far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but that which is to come Phil. 2.9 God hath highly exalted and given him a Name which is above every name 1 Pet. 3.22 He is gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him It cannot be denied but the Air and the Clouds are called by the name of heaven and consequently when Christ was in them he might be said to have been in Heaven But certain it is that the expressions
gave him that Counsel that they thought would be to him the most grateful But there came to him an honest Stoick that dealt sincerely with him He told him that he need not much afflict himself as if some great matter were before him Non est res magna vivere omnes servi tui vivunt omnia animalia c. Sen. Ep. 77. It is says he no great thing to live All thy Servants live and every Animal does it It is a great thing to die well wisely and undauntedly Life considered abstractly is of no great price and there are many Creatures that have it which we do not greatly value upon that score And when our Lord requires us to give up our life he does not command any great thing of us in doing that Life it self is at best but a manner or circumstance of being and there are those Creatures which have it whose condition is yet very mean and low Life alone does not import any happiness at all Instead of that it often serves to make them who have it sensible of their misery 2. That supposing life more valuable than it is yet it is but a very little of it we lose when we part with it by the hands of violence It is indeed of very great moment how we live of very little how long He that takes our life away does rob us of very little And when God calls for it we have no cause to murmur and complain We generally take false measures here and there is nothing in which we more frequently miscount than we do in this matter And hence it is that we judge so much amiss of our Saviours Laws For what is this life that we put so great a price upon What it is at the most I reckon that what we have spent of it is not at all and what is to come is not yet That which is past is gone irrecoverably and that which is to come is not yet at all so that all we have and all that we can be said to lose is the present moment In all things else we cannot properly be said to be deprived of what we had lost before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. Ant. l. 3. c. 8. or to lose what we never had No man can be deprived of more than what he hath in actual possession We live the present moment only For all the rest we either have lived it or it is uncertain whether we shall or not This is all then that we lose and indeed all that we can enjoy at once the present moment So that one of the Ancients said very truly That he that died very old and he that died very young losâ— but one and the same thing Id. l. 2. c. 12. For said he the present time is that only which any man can be deprived of Agreeably hereunto the Apostle speaks when he calls the sufferingâ— of this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.18 the sufferings of this present time It is but a moment that we suffer for it is but a moment that we live at once It is true indeed we flatter our selves with a long time that we have to live but we cannot promise our selves that which is to come and we cannot with any propriety of Speech be said to lose that which we never had 3. That supposing we might have lived longer had we not been cut off by the hands of violence yet is this a very inconsiderable â—oss Our Saviour is no hard Master if he call us hence in our youth and full strength and suffer us to fall under the hands of violence What does all this amount to We do but die a little sooner and after another way And sure we have little love for our Lord and our Religion if we think much to do this For suppose we might have lived longer yet that is not much which we lose Perhaps a few years or months and what does it signifie What proportion does this hold to Eternity Or of what moment is it if you consider the boundless love of God and our blessed Saviour A long life is no infallible token of Gods favour under the Gospel This was indeed a blessing under the Law of Moses But we are now received into a better Covenant We know it was otherwise before the Law of Moses was given Enoch that walked with God and that pleased him lived the shortest life of any of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noaâ— And many times so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he diâ— in his youth whom God loves I hath been esteemed a favour to bâ— removed hence betimes We muâ—â— die and if we are sure of that iâ— is of small moment when we diâ— And therefore when we die foâ— our Religion we do not lose muâ—â— for the sake of it For we must all die We are but deprived of thaâ— which we knew before would eâ—â— long be taken from us If our house had not been pulled or fired down yet in a little while it would have fallen of it self He that kills me does not by doing so make me mortal Si mortem possemus evadere meritò mori timeremus Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 6. he found me so We have no cause to fear death when we know we cannot escape it When we are killed it is life not immortality which we are deprived of Let us not phansie that our Lord requires any great matter of us when he commands us to lay down our life for his sake We must have died if he had never made this Law and it is a small matter which he requires of us when he would have us die for him Dlogen Laertius Socrat. When one told Socrates that the Athenians had decreed his death He told him that Nature had decreed theirs also His death was hastened by them it was determined by a superiour Power We have no cause to complain but great cause to bless God that since we must die he is pleased to call upon us to do it in a righteous cause We are very foolish and fond if we now murmur and complain I know very well that we are affrighted with the pain of a violent and unnatural death And perhaps the shame and reproach of it is also irksom to us For its reproach and shame it is the most trifling pretence imaginanable And I can hardly think that a wise man upon second thoughts can be moved with so vain a consideration as this The truth of it is there is not any shadow in this pretence For to die for our Religion whatever our death be is not more our duty than it is our priviledge and our honour The first Christians judged thus They rejoyced in this that they were esteemed worthy to suffer for the name of Christ It is no reproach to suffer any death in a good cause He that dies for his Country is not by any wise man reproached because he was found dead in
are very divine and mightily fitted to gain their end They are words that couch under them very great Arguments to move us by If God have given us life which nothing but his kindness could move him to do we need not doubt of meat to preserve that life He that hath given us a body that needs cloathing will surely give us something to cloath it withal The Fowls are fed that can neither sow nor reap nor do they gather into Barns and shall we distrust Our anxiety is burdensom indeed but it does not advance us It neither feeds nor cloaths us God cloaths the flowers and Lillies of the field which are not capable of care and anxiety and that after a more gay manner than what any Monarch even Solomon himself was clothed And if the grass of the field which was not designed for any long continuance be thus beautified by God shall we fear nakedness These cares may better become the Heathens who had but a slender belief of God's special Providence they become us not who do profess a belief that God knows what our needs are These are the powerful Arguments that our Lord lays before us And can there be any thing more convincing than what our Saviour hath said Can any thing be more effectual to rid us of our troublesom cares for ever Can any thing be added to this Discourse If there may it is that surely which our Lord himself has added in the next words Mat. 6.33 34. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Take therefore no thought for the morrow For the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof If we will be careful let us take care to do the Will of God Let us do our part and God will take care of us We shall have enough to do with our present work let us leave futurities to him that is only wise and good But perhaps it is the least of our care what we shall eat and drink and wherewith we shall be cloathed We are careful about greater matters than these are And that is the smallest of our care what provision we shall make for our bodies We are full of thoughts how we shall be able to suffer persecution and continue constant to the death We may be brought before the great men of the World and how shall we do then for Wisdom and Courage We may be delivered up into the hands of powerful men What shall we then do Our Lord does not leave us in that case When they deliver you up says he take no thought how or what ye shall speak Mat. 10.19 For it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak It will be enough that we have help when we need it We ought to consider that we shall not be forgotten by God That nothing shall happen to us without his knowledge and permission Ver. 29 30 31. Are not two Sparrows sold for a farthing And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many Sparrows These words give us assurance of the very particular care and Providence of God and therein the greatest support under all our afflictions that is imaginable The World was greatly in the dark in the question of Gods Providence and there were great and foul errors crept into the World concerning it Thus Epicurus is said to have denied the Providence of God altogether Aristotle to have confined it to the Heavens Some of the Arabians to have restrained it to Universals only and some of the Jews to have limited it to Mankind and not extended it unto Beasts Nay some of the Jews were narrower still and would needs confine the Providence of God to the Jewish Land or Nation only Vid. Jacchiad in Dan. 7.3 Cum Annot. L. Emper. v. Abraven on Exod. 23.20 who were Gods Portion and Lot But our blessed Saviour does in the words above-named assure us that Gods care is not to be bounded and restrained And thus though he be not equally concerned for all his Creatures yet they are all a part of his care And he hath not only a general care of Mankind but a care of the Individuals also and a very special and particular care of his Worshippers and Followers Nay the very Beasts themselves are part of his care and not only Oxen Beasts of great labour and usefulness but the smallest fowls of the air even the Sparrows those cheap and inconsiderable ones Nor is God only concerned for the life of a man Our Saviour descends lower when he says The very hairs of your head are all numbred We are further assured by the Apostle that God careth for us and that therefore we ought to cast all our Care or burden 1 Pet. 5.7 as it is in the Psalmist Psal 55.23 to which these words seem to refer upon him But then he would have us cast all our care upon him Not only our care for meat and drink c. Our care for our selves but our care for our Friends and our Relatives Our care for future Events and Contingencies Phil. 4.6 Be careful for nothing says another Apostle 1 Cor. 7 3â—.35 And elsewhere he tells them to whom he writes that he would have them be without carefulness and that they might attend upon the Lord without distraction That is we must from the consideration of Gods special Providence discharge our selves of all our tormenting and disquieting cares giving up our selves intirely to the will of that God who rules and governs this lower World 2. I shall now shew how powerful an argument this is towards our support And that is First As by it we are discharged of our anxiety and disquiet of mind which for want of this consideration afflicts and burdens us If God govern the World we may be quiet and still We have nothing to do but obey his Will and to submit chearfully to his disposal of things We are not fit for the government and well it is for us that we are not concerned We want Wisdom and Power and are too shallow and too weak for so great a weight We have nothing to do now but Adore the Divine Wisdom and Goodness and to follow God It is well for us that we are discharged from a burden which neither we nor our Fathers were ever able to bear Psal 97.1 The Lord reigneth let the Earth rejoyce let the multitude of Isles be glad thereof Secondly As by this Doctrine we receive assurance that all things will be well administred and tend to a good account at last We shall not now need to fear We need not disquiet our selves with the things that happen as if they came to pass by chance or an inevitable fate God
times afterwards we have very large accounts of the sufferings of the Apostles and Primitive Christians for a long time and a very particular account of the exemplary patience and meekness courage and undauntedness of them that suffered These are things very well known to them that have read the holy Scriptures and the ancient Writers of the Christian Church Besides the many examples we have upon record of those who have with great patience suffered for the truth in the later Ages of Christianity We have many examples of those who have chearfully gone into Goales and given their bodies to be burnt for the sake of the truth Thirdly I shall shew you the great usefulness of these great examples to us For when we are directed to reflect upon them it is supposed that it is for our advantage that we should do so For it cannot be denied but that the Church hath gained much by the exemplary sufferings of holy men The bloud of Martys hath been a fruitful Seed And the Church did then grow when it was persecuted Phil. 1.12 14. I would ye should understand Brethren that the things which hapned unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel And many of the Brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the Word without fear Holy men have done great service to the Church by a resolute dying for the Truth Their death hath been like that of Samson's who destroyed more Philistins then than he had at any time before The Heathen could say of good men That if in their life they were profitable v. Arrian Epictet l. 4. c. 1. they were much more so in their death For by this means the Truth hath got ground and the Religion hath been spread in the world Men are very prone to favour the persecuted and afflicted side and where they see the afflicted support undauntedly they are very much inclined to judge favourably of their Cause Hence in the Primitive times men came into the Church when they saw the Christians suffer the greatest torments with the most invincible patience They began to enquire what this Religion was which did thus support its Followers And hence they were induced to the Profession of that Religion which did so powerfully support its Followers Plures efficimur quoties metimur à vobis Tert. Apol. c. 45 And thus when some were cut off others came in from the Heathen world But I shall particularly consider the usefulness of these examples to us I shall shew you what benefit we may receive from the patient sufferings of Martyrs and other holy men 1. We are by this means assured that the greatest torments may be endured and supported under We do very often fear that we should never be able to bear the scorching flames that we can never endure the torments of a Rack extremity of cold and hunger and other pains For we have been tenderly brought up and have been uneasie under small pains And have not known what hunger and thirst cold and nakedness mean Hence we conclude that we should never be able to endure great severities The truth is It were much to be feared that we should rather renounce our Religion than hold out under the sharpest perseution did we only look into our selves But when we consider the power of God and look upon the examples of holy Martyrs we have great cause to hope that we shall be able to submit to torments and to death for the sake of our Religion For if we are weak if we have been brought up tenderly if we are of a timerous nature c. so were many of those Martyrs who yet rejoyced afterwards in Prisons welcomed the Fire and Faggot and rejoyced that they were thought worthy to die for the name of Jesus And those have done this who did suspect themselves and were suspected by others also We are hereby encouraged to hope well when we see that men that were subject to the like passions with us have continued stedfast to the last 2. We are further hereby assured that God will not fail to give assistance in the time of need Which is a truth the belief whereof does much tend to quiet and comfort us amidst our many fears and distractions Hence we are encouraged to hope that God will stand by us and help us when our burden is heavy upon us and we can now come boldly unto the throne of grace Heb. 4.16 that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need This is the use that we are called upon to make of the sufferings of our Lord Cha. 12.3 Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds Indeed God hath been pleased to assure us Heb. 13.5 that He will never leave us nor forsake us And the Apostle says 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able But will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it In which words we are assured that God will give us a good event if we call in and depend upon his help and assistance 2 Thes 3.3 The Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from all evil And the same Apostle elsewhere speaks to the same purpose 1 Thes 5.22 23 24. saying Abstain from all appearance of evil And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it These are great promises and assurances which God hath been pleased to give us and we ought upon all occasions to consider them But so it is we are of little faith and very prone to fear But then seeing we are incompassed with so thick a cloud of Witnesses to whom these promises have been made good we are farther confirmed that he who hath done it will still perform the word which he hath spoken For these examples before our eyes have a great force towards the ridding us of those fears which are apt to solicite us For from them we learn what weak Creatures can do when they are assisted by a power from above 3. We are by this means farther confirmed in our Religion and consequently thereupon the more firmly obliged to continue stedfast in the Profession of it He that dies for his Religion and does it undauntedly does more than he that defends it by learned Discourses It is not every man can discern the force of Arguments He that lives well and that dies with courage for his Religion 't is he that defends his Faith and commends it to the Consciences of men This man does most effectually
is easie and a burden that is light We are called upon to accept our own happiness Courted to embrace all that bliss which we in vain look for from the World and from our Sins Our Lord and our interest bid us come Our Lord who laid down his life for us and who hath highly deserved of us he invites us and assures us of rest and peace and that his yoak is easie and his burden light And as the Scriptures do invite and encourage Sinners to enter themselves under our Lord Jesus and to become his sincere Followers and Disciples as they do invite us to the profession and practice of the Laws of God so they do greatly encourage us by the excellent promises which they contain to continue in that profession The comforts of Religion are unspeakably great and no man is provided for as the Religious is under all events of things Do we suffer for the sake of the Truth For our comfort it is written Mat. 5 1â— Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Are we reproached and reviled nick-named and flouted at For our comfort it is written 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you Again Mat. 5.11 12. Blessed are you when men shall revile you c. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Are we rifled and spoiled of our Goods For our comfort it is written Mar. 9.29 30. There is no man that hath left House or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred-fold in this time and in the world to come life everlasting Are we threatned with death To our unspeakable comfort it is written Mat. 10.39 He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it Jam. 1.12 Again Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Rev. 14.13 Again And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write blessed are the dead which die in the Lord and surely they that die for him cannot then be excluded from this blessing from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours Psal 116.15 and their works do follow them And Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the Saints And if the Scripture afford us so great comfort under persecutions and against the fear of death it does not fail to do it under our other troubles and lighter afflictions We need not fear the want of what is needful when we have that Promise Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee We shall not need distract our selves about what we shall eat and drink and wherewith we shall be cloathed when it is said by truth it self Mat. 6.33 that all these things shall be added unto us We have no cause to disquiet our selves with the thoughts of what we shall do when we come to a great trial and appear before our potent Enemies Our Lord hath said Take no thought how or what ye shall speak Mat. 10.19 for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak And we are elsewhere assured of grace to help in the time of need Heb. 4.16 The Holy Scriptures afford comfort under every affliction The Widows and the Fatherless are assured that a Father of the Fatherless Psal 68.5 and a Judge of the Widows is God in his holy habitation They that are oppressed here find comfort Psal 9.9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble Here the poor are refreshed There is no want to them that fear him Psal 34.9 10. The young Lions do lack and suffer hunger But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing The sick receive their comforts also from the holy Scriptures Psal 41.3 hence they are furnished with suitable Meditations with pious Ejaculations and Prayers We are farther assured that all things work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 And how comfortable a consideration is this to those that meet with such variety of things as do entertain us in this present world For now we have but one Care about us and that is to see that we do indeed above all things love God If we do this we may discharge our other Cares and for ever send away our fears and jealousies There will be nothing can do us any hurt nay more than that nothing can possibly befal us but it will do us good and advance us fairly towards our great End and Happiness If our hearts be inflamed with the love of God this world will make but vain attempts upon us Whatever storm or shock may happen to us they will be but like those Winds that leave the Trees which they shake the more firmly settled and rooted If it be thus with us we are safe and shall not need to fear the greatest evils that can befal us in this present life Poverty and Sickness Pain and Oppression and the other miseries of life will leave us better than they found us They will serve to rid us of our remaining folly and wantonness To call us off from the Creature to the Creator They will but take from us our dross and filth and render us more prepared and fitted for our Masters use Nay Death it self which we commonly think the greatest evil will do us a friendly office when it shall take us from this Valley of tears and shadow of death and translate us to those joys and pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore For death it self is a great blessing to a good man And if it be at any time otherwise it is our sin that hath rendred death a formidable evil Death is indeed a great Tyrant but it is so to them only that are unfit and unwilling to die who are therefore haled to it against their wills But then for those that are fit and willing to die death is a faithful Servant that does but carry them whither they greatly desire to go CHAP. IX IT remains now that we consider what hath been said before and make use of the helps which God hath been pleased to provide us and that we rather choose to suffer than to sin It is no great matter what we lose if we do not wrong our Consciences and displease our God Take courage then and dare to be good whatever it cost thee and thou wilt soon find that greater is he that is with thee than he that is against thee Suppose thou suffer death it self and that a violent and a shameful one yet wilt thou not want a present assistance
and a sufficient support even in that case Our Religion were a very mean Institution if it would not bear a man up against the fears of death I shall to what hath been said above add some things to your farther consideration to encourage you to give up your life rather than to deny your Religion and wrong your Consciences And I. That it cannot be supposed that death can hurt a man If death have any evil belonging to it it is owing to our own folly It is our sin only that gives it a sting It is impossible it should hurt him that is sincerely good Socrates told the Athenians that they would rather hurt themselves than him by taking away his life and that for his Accusers he did not believe they could do him hurt he not thinking it reasonable to believe it in the power of evil men to hurt the good It is indeed in their power to kill it is not in their power to hurt them that are good That death can do us no hurt that hath had a good life gone before it The worst of men desire to die the death of the righteous Of all men those that are good have least cause to fear dying For they have placed their happiness beyond this world And death is to them unwelcom that live at ease here II. That it is very certain that many men have overcome the fear of death from a mean and low Principle compared with that of the Christian who suffers for righteousness sake Death I grant strikes a dread upon Mankind It is that which we commonly startle at It comes to take us apieces to remove us from our Friends and Familiars that for some time we have conversed with And hence it is that men generally fear death and decline it what they can But yet we know that many have overcom this fear of death some of them from a mean and others from an evil Principle Death is formidable and a good man is not quite rid of all the fear of death yet there are many considerations that make death seem desirable Revenge triumphs over it Love makes light of it Honour is ambitious of it fear of disgrace chooses it Sorrow runs after it it Fear prevents it A weak and foolish Passion a trifling and a faulty Principle reconciles men to death Some have thrown away their lives others have given them up many have parted with them upon trifling accounts and sometimes upon evil ones They have been contented to part with their lives from an evil Principle or from a trifling one How many have proved Martyrs to their Lusts How many to gratifie their Lust and their Revenge have brought upon themselves a lingring or a sudden death How many have fallen Sacrifices to their Luxury and Intemperance their Pride and Lust Pudeat semper tantum in vobis posse turpes causas nil posse pulcherrimas Petrarch And is it not a great shame that we should stick to do that from a good Principle which others do from a faulty one Is it not a shame that the Lusts of men should prevail more than the Laws of Christ And that men should make themselves miserable at that expence which they refuse to be at in order to their happiness There have been those who have died for a silly Woman for a point of Honour for their Fame and for their Country These things have prevailed with them to endure torments and devote themselves to destruction So much have these things prevailed with them Tanti vitream Quanti veram Margaritam Tertul. ad Martyr that their lives were not precious in their own eyes It is a great reproach to us if we refuse to suffer that for the sake of Christ and his Gospel which others have suffered for the sake of this World The Heathen could not but take notice of this speaking of death Senec. Ep. 4. Seest thou not says he upon what frivolous accounts it is contemned One hangs himself at the door of his Mistris Another throws himself headlong from the house top to avoid a churlish and unquiet Master Another stabs himself that he may prevent his return home Dost thou not think that vertue might have done that which an excess of fear hath done Shall a foolish Lust and an impotent Passion have more force than the sense of our duly and the well grounded hopes of eternal happiness We read in our Books of some that have sacrificed their lives to their Fame or thrown them away in compliance with the foolish customs of their Country or from a Principle of Superstition M. Anton. l. 5. se 14. It is a very astonishing thing says one of the Heathens that Ignorance and Ostentation should be more powerful than Wisdom We have a story in the Acts of our Church of a man in Queen Maries days who when he was put in mind to suffer for that truth which he had for some time professed replied that he could not burn Nor did he burn for his Religion But in the days of Queen Elizabeth this man's house was on fire and then to save his Goods he adventures into his house and he and his Goods were burnt in the same flames He that would not burn to save his Soul ventures into the fire to preserve his Goods And then he lost his Goods and his Life and it is to be feared his Soul also III. The good man does not want very considerations to perswade him to quit this present life for the sake of a better He is well assured that by thus losing his life he shall save it That he shall be assisted in his conflict and rewarded when he hath finished his course He is not left without a Comforter and he is assured of a plentiful Reward He knows in whom he hath believed and can commit the keeping of his Soul unto God as unto a faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4.19 He does but put off his flesh and knows that he shall be cloathed with life and immortality He does but part with an earthly Tabernacle for a building not made with hands And by his constant sufferings he glorifies God spreads his truth confirms his Servants and makes way for a greater glory to himself Do not then fear to follow your Lord and all those blessed Souls that have led the way When your Lord commands make no demur but follow him chearfully though it be to the place of skulls It is not worth your while to preserve your life with the loss of your innocence Gods favour is more than life and that will stand us in stead when this life shall be no more It is a madness to forfeit our eternal hopes that we may live here a little longer especially when our life will be but a plague and burden to us when we have purchased it with the loss of our innocence We shall find the horrours of a guilty mind more painful than the flames and much more lasting
we thought not of before He is a very miserable man indeed who promised himself pleasure and meets with sorrow and so is he that meets with some misery that he never expected It is a great piece of wisdom to suppose the worst which may happen Death does greatly astonish the man that thought of living long and pleasantly of going to such a City and buying and selling and getting gain 1 Pet. 4.12 The Apostle would not have them to whom he writes look upon the fiery trial as some strange thing If we would bear our troubles let us expect them that when they come we may not be surprized When we have often thought of them before we shall in great measure despise them whereas if we be surprized we shall be astonished with a small evil Much of our misery arises from our inconsideration Men that go to Sea ought not to promise themselves a Calm and a good wind They ought to suppose they may meet with Tempests and contrary Winds Why should we suppose our selves exempt from the common condition of mankind We are born to troubles and must certainly die and may die a violent death This we ought to think of frequently If we bury our friend We knew he was mortal before and we never expected immortality from a mortal Creature You lose your goods perhaps But you should have considered that those external things were subject to this loss That they were things which Moth might corrupt or Thieves might steal It will not become a wise man in these cases to say that he did not think that such things could have hapned to him For whatever hath hapned to another may also happen to me And I may as well admire that what is brittle should break or what is combustible should burn as that what is mortal should die or what is without me should be taken from me We should prevent much of our trouble if we would but expect it before hand and look for it And to think very often and seriously of death would deliver us in great measure from the fears and terrours of it Familiarity even in this sense breeds contempt The Fox in the Fable was greatly afraid when he first saw a Lion but less afraid the second time and after that was so far from fear that he came near him and conversed with him The frequent thoughts of death will rid us of much of our fears of it And it must needs be so because they tend very much to prepare and dispose us for it For these thoughts are apt to awaken in us a care to live well and that is a mean to deliver us from our slavish fears It was wisely said by the Son of Syrach Ecclus. 7.36 Whatsoever thou takest in hand remember the end and thou shalt never do amiss The due consideration of our death is one of those things which an Ancient Jew tells us will keep men from transgression Pirke Avoth c. 3. m. 1. To think of death is a great instrument of Vertue and true Wisdom It will help to slake our lusts bridle our desires of wealth and honour and stop our course of sinning It will serve to quicken our devotions to wean us from this life and to excite us to well-doing It is of great moment towards our resisting temptations which now gain upon us and the putting us upon the careful spending the several portions of our time Epictet Enchir. c. 28. Let death be always before thine eyes says the Heathen and thou wilt not mind any low or mean thing nor greatly desire any thing III. Use your selves to labour to a severe course of life Do not indulge your appetite and your sloth but give up your selves to great diligence and industry He that would endure the greatest pain and torment must harden and prepare himself by degrees and inure himself to bear the Yoak betimes A soft and sensual life will render us very unfit for a fiery trial And he that knows not how to deny his licentious appetite what it at any time craves will be very unfit to be a Martyr It will well become us to keep under our bodies and to withdraw from them some of those Supplies which it craves that we may be the better prepared to endure greater hardships Let us learn to contemn sensual pleasures and to deprive our selves of some of our liberties that we may the more patiently bear the being totally deprived Let us strip our selves of some of our conveniencies of life and we shall the more patiently bear the being stripped of all the rest Miles supervacuo labore lassatur ut sufficere necessario possit Sen. Ep. 18. They that run in Races were wont to exercise before And the Souldier is trained and used to labour and weariness before he comes to the battel They did this that they might be able to overcome when they were put to the trial They that indulge themselves in a delicate and soft life will be very unfit for great severities Woe be to them that are at ease in Zion We shall be afraid of dying if we give up our selves to a sensual life Sensual pleasures do much indispose us for the business of this as well as for the bliss of a future life Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares Death and sufferings will be a great surprize and terrour to all them that have lived at ease Oh death Ecclus. 41.1 how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions IV. Make it now your constant care to resign up your Will to the Will of God Let this be your daily exercise as it is your Prayer By this means you will be wonted to that Lesson which makes way for a patient suffering even death it self whenever it shall please God to call us to it You will be very unfit to resign your selves up to death it self if you have not formerly made it your great care to bring your own Wills to a compliance with the Will of God We are never safe till it is thus with us and when ever we are arrived to this we are secure and sufficiently prepared for all events of things Nothing now will be able to make us miserable because nothing can possibly befall us against our wills For as nothing can make us happy but God so nothing can make us miserable but our own Will and that does never hurt us but when it runs Counter to the Will of God This is the way to peace and rest to part with our own Will and to suffer it to be guided and governed by the Divine If it be thus with us we shall be quiet and still under every Calamity safe under every stroke and fitted for what ever may happen to us Thus it was with our
Saviour He prayed that if it were possible the Cup might pass but then he adds Not my will but thy will be done There is great danger in neglecting our duty in this matter and he will be very ready to deny his Lord who hath not throughly learned this Lesson Whatever happens to us now let us resign our selves to Gods Will. Is my dearest Friend or Child dead Is our health impaired Is our Estate wasted Let us say always Let the will of the Lord be done By these steps we shall perfectly learn this Lesson and practise it then when God shall send for us by death into another World V. Do all the good which you can This tends to the making our death more easie unto us For our account is lessened hereby and consequently death it self is the less to be feared Besides that acts of mercy have a promise of mercy belonging to them They that shew mercy shall receive it It is enough that they are sure of their reward This takes away much of the terrour of death it self And the merciful man is well dealt with if he be supported under the Agonies of death This is better for him than to be delivered from it Psal 41.3 And we know there is a particular promise of support to the merciful man even then when he is threatned with death On the other hand he that shews no mercy must not expect to find it He that hides his Talent in a Napkin is unprepared to meet his Lord He will have a very sad account not only that squanders away but he that hides his Lords Money VI. Frequently and diligently examine your selves Call your selves to a strict and severe account often This will be a great preparation for any evils which may happen to us and against death it self We shall never be safe if we do not take this course For this examination is in order to the knowing our state to God-ward and to our repentance and consequently our pardon We must confess our sins and in order to that we must know them For our Confession the more general it is the more dangerous the more particular the more safe For though we hope for pardon upon a general repentance where we cannot find out all our secret sins yet this does not give us hope of pardon upon a general repentance where upon search we may be more particular From whence it may easily appear how much a strict and diligent examination of our selves tends to our comfort and our peace and how much it does dispose and prepare us for sufferings and for death it self We are at ease and at liberty when our accounts are cleared and setled Whereas it is a burden to every honest mind to think that his affairs are entangled and perplexed and that he is not able to adjust his accounts Let any man but seriously consider how much he offends every day either in doing what he should not or not doing what he should In omitting his duty or in doing it slightly and he will soon find he hath work to do at the close of every day before he betake himself to rest And then sure he will be very unfit for death if he have the follies and errors of a whole life or a great part of it to unravel and to account for Such a man must needs be full of fears and jealousies that all is not right who hath not been very careful to try whether it be so or not It were well that this self-examination were the work of every day For as we might find enough to employ our selves in without troubling our selves with the faults of our Neighbours so I am sure we could not take a better course to secure our own souls And it was required that a man should examine himself before he received the Communion 1 Cor. 11.28 at that time when Christians communicated very frequently if not every day And though we excuse our selves too easily from frequent communicating yet they that do that cannot deny but that it is their duty to be prepared for it and consequently to examine themselves also VII Set your house in order My meaning is that we would do that duty which we owe to one another in order to our more comfortable passage hence And there are many things that fall under this head which every wise and good man would do before he goes hence Such are the making our Wills and setling our worldly Estate making restitution where we have done wrong being reconciled where there hath been a grudge or difference disburdening our Consciences where they are oppressed seeking satisfaction where we are in doubt and clearing our accounts with others where they are entangled These things and such like have a tendency toward the comfort and ease of our minds and when they are done we are left at greater liberty and freedom chearfully to bear whatever evil God thinks fit to exercise us with VIII Be very much in Religious Exercises and in the Service of God Such as reading and hearing meditating of heavenly things and receiving the Sacrament and frequent Abstractions from the hurries and the amusements of this lower world But especially let us give our selves much to Prayer Let us with all humility and fervour with all attention and watchfulness with prostrate souls and broken hearts implore the aid and assistance of God and of his Holy Spirit that we may continue faithful unto death that we may receive the Crown of righteousness Prayer is very seasonable at such a time as this Jam. 5.13 and it is recommended to us from the Example as well as from the Precept of our blessed Saviour Luk. 21.36 22.44 of whom it is said that being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly I shall now shew you how we are to demean and behave our selves under our sufferings And before I do that I shall premise the following particulars First That we ought not to run after sufferings and to bring them upon our selves We are not obliged to throw away our lives but to stay till God calls for them at our hand Our Religion allows us the wisdom of Serpents though it strictly require the innocence of Doves It is lawful in some cases to flee and decline our sufferings and in many Cases it is fit and expedient that we should do so Mat. 10.23 By this means we may reserve our selves for farther service and avoid the temptation But if our flight betray our Religion and endanger our Brethren that are under our charge we ought to stand to it and rather part with our lives Our lives are then to be given up when we gain a greater end but they are so long to be preserved as we may keep them without prejudice to our Conscience and the Salvation of our Brother Secondly That we are to take great heed that we do not suffer as evil doers 1 Pet 4.15 Let none of you suffer as a murderer or as
a thief or as an evil doer or as a busie-body in other mens matters It is the cause not the suffering which makes the Martyr We are happy if we suffer for righteousness sake Rebellion and Treason against our Prince cannot make men Saints and Martyrs These men are evil doers whatever ever tokens of fortitude they seem to shew I now proceed to shew how we ought to demean our selves under our sufferings And that you may take in the following particulars which concern us as we stand related to God to our Neighbour and to our selves And I. As to God whose hand we must look at we must suffer without murmuring and repining We must entirely resign up our selves unto God and imitate our blessed Saviour when he said Not my will but thy will be done Our Lord went like a Sheep to the slaughter he opened not his mouth It becomes us to refer all to Gods wisdom and disposal not to choose the kind and form of our sufferings but to leave all that to him and depend intirely upon him It is the Lord we ought to say let him do what is good in his own eyes II. As to our Neighbour and especially those who are the instruments of our sufferings we are to shew the greatest meekness and charity In this our Saviour was a great pattern 1 Pet. 2.22 23. Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously It becomes us to imitate this glorious example us it becomes who are vile sinners and have deserved our sufferings from Gods hand though we suffer in a righteous Cause Father forgive them says our dying Lord for they know not what they do Our Lord did not threaten his enemies No he pitied them and he prayed for them And so must we do also if we would suffer as Christians We must forgive our Enemies pity them as we do people that are blind or delirant Their folly and their rage and madness call for our compassions and our hearty Prayers for their precious and immortal souls De dupl Martyr Thus St. Cyprian describes the manner of Christians sufferings We see not says he that placid and meek and sublime temper of mind joyned with humility unless it be in the Martyrs of Christ They do not look upon the Executioner with fierce eyes they do not threaten the Tyrant They are more grieved for their blindness than for their own afflictions Even Christ cries in them Father forgive them c. They look at nothing but heaven where their hope is laid up c. III. As to our selves that we undergo our sufferings undauntedly and with constancy that we do not any thing unbecoming our Christian Profession It is not to be imagined but that the Christian hath as quick a sense of pain as any other man he is not stupid and unconcerned all that is required is this that he hold out with courage and Christian Fortitude and be not betrayed by his fear It is not necessary that he should be rid of all fear It is enough that it do not prevail upon him so far as to cause him to distrust God or deny the Truth It is not every one that can triumph in Flames and shew tokens of joy upon Racks and Wheels It is not every Martyr that can express great exultation of mind 2 Cor. 7.5 Some fear is very consistent with the greatest Sanctity He is not to be deprived of the glory of Martyrdom that continues constant under his sufferings though he went to them with fear and suspicion of himself THE General CONTENTS CHAP. I. THe Introduction and design of the following Discourse The necessity of believing the particular Care and Providence of God The Evils which befal good men are reconcileable with the Providence of God A more particular consideration of the Persons to whom these Evils befal of the Evils themselves of their usefulness and the supports which good men are furnished with Page 1. CHAP. II. That it is very reasonable that in obedience to Christ's Law we should suffer even death it self A more particular consideration of the Law-giver the Equitableness of the Law it self as also of the ground and reason of it p. 31. CHAP. III. The first great support under our sufferings is the hope of eternal life A more particular consideration of the greatness of the reward the clearness of its revelation and its fitness to work upon us p. 63. CHAP. IV. The consideration of Gods particular care and Providence another great support under our afflictions A more particular consideration of the assurance which the Gospel gives us of Gods special Providence How much this tends to our support The Application p. 79. CHAP. V. The Assistance of the Holy Spirit another support A more particular consideration of the sufficiency of this Divine assistance The great assurance we have of receiving this heavenly aid The condition on our part for the obtaining this Assistance p. 97. CHAP. VI. Of the Example of Christ and holy men who have suffered the greatest evils That we are obliged to place their example before our eyes A short account of their sufferings The usefulness of these examples to us p. 124. CHAP. VII The support we receive from the Intercession of the Son of God That Christ is now in heaven That he is there concerned on our behalf How this tends toward our support under the afflictions and sufferings of this life p. 140. CHAP. VIII Of the Comfort of the Scriptures A more particular consideration how the Scriptures tend to our comfort under our sufferings p. 165. CHAP. IX An Exhortation to use these helps and not to be dismayed at death it self for righteousness sake The reasonableness of this Exhortation farther considered Advice to those who are afraid to suffer death because they have not lived as they ought p. 195. CHAP. X. Of preparing for sufferings and for death A more particular consideration of what we are to do toward the fitting our selves for what ever evils may happen especially for death and the severest persecution for righteousness sake How we are to demean our selves under our sufferings p. 212. THE END